Tuesday 30 April 2013
Monday 29 April 2013
The True meaning of Freedom
Are you Free? A Thousand words here says you're not!
Capitalist politicians jabber about freedom, liberty, democracy, and more freedom. Revolutionary anarchists point out that freedom under capitalism is limited and hypocritical. Mostly the bourgeois (capitalist) politicians mean the freedom to get rich, including capitalists’ “freedom” not to be bothered by unions or by pesky anti-discrimination laws or environmental regulations. Capitalists want the “liberty” to not promote African-Americans or women at work or to rent out apartments without having to modify them for the physically disabled. This is the “freedom” to oppress others (to deny others their freedom). Needless to say, what I am for is the freedom of the oppressed to be free of their oppression!Even the most democratic bourgeois state protects the rule of its capitalist minority. This minority gets rich by exploiting the working class majority of the population. The people vote for one or another candidate of the rich to rule over us for 2 or 4 to 8 years. But day-to-day we go to work and take orders from unelected bosses who serve the unelected minority which owns the economy. These capitalists decide (under the pressures of the market) whether employment should go up or down, whether prices should rise or fall, whether or not pollutants should be spewed into the atmosphere, and so on. There is “free speech,” but one side owns the printing presses, the radios, and the television, while dissenting voices can barely be heard over the roar of the mass media. That is why even a capitalist democracy is rightly called a “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.”
Every bit of freedom which the people enjoy was won by the struggle and blood of the people, fighting against the feudal lords or against the capitalists themselves. This makes these freedoms precious to us. They are ours. We mean to hold on to them
After World War II, in the anti-Communist McCarthyite Red Scare, the capitalists benefited greatly from the fact that everyone knew that the Communist Party was antidemocratic. Everyone knew that if the Communists ever came to power, they would do as they had done in Eastern Europe and set up a one-party police state. So why defend their free speech? people asked themselves. Similarly, the capitalists have previously attacked the anarchists by portraying us as bomb-throwing terrorists, a danger to everyone, and not deserving of free speech. In our own time we have seen how the fear of terrorism can be used to justify the denial of civil liberties — and that many ordinary people were willing to accept this denial out of fear of being blown up by random bombs. Therefore it is important that we do not make it easy for the state to portray anarchists as terrorists and anti-free speech.
People of oppressed nations, like everyone else, learn to want anarchist revolution only by open debate, new experiences, and living the alternatives. They will not learn if anarchists turn our backs on them and their struggles, refuse to engage with them, and refuse to show solidarity with them against their imperialist and colonialist enemies.
What we advocate is no small change in society but a total one, involving a complete transformation of popular consciousness and practice. That is why anarchists are advocates of extreme freedom and radical democracy, of popular participation in every sphere of society and in every way.
A True Story in the Real World
Nine years old Saleh Khalaf from Iraq was running home from school,
together with his sixteen years old brother Dia, on the 8th of October
2003.
Seven months had gone since the US troops had invaded his country in “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Things hadn’t settled yet, although life was bettering.
About four kilometers from school, Saleh stopped. He’d seen something in an edge of ditch. A khaki-colored ball, small and shiny. He bowed down, and picked it up.
One of his school friends screamed and began to run. Saleh understood what he was holding in his hand. Tears began flowing down his innocent cheeks.
Dia came running to aid him, but when he was three steps away, the explosion roared wildly in the air. Small Saleh was in the middle of it.
In a miraculous way Saleh survived, however he had lost both his hands, one eye and his stomach had burst open. The path back to life would be both long and painful.
Seven months had gone since the US troops had invaded his country in “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Things hadn’t settled yet, although life was bettering.
About four kilometers from school, Saleh stopped. He’d seen something in an edge of ditch. A khaki-colored ball, small and shiny. He bowed down, and picked it up.
One of his school friends screamed and began to run. Saleh understood what he was holding in his hand. Tears began flowing down his innocent cheeks.
Dia came running to aid him, but when he was three steps away, the explosion roared wildly in the air. Small Saleh was in the middle of it.
In a miraculous way Saleh survived, however he had lost both his hands, one eye and his stomach had burst open. The path back to life would be both long and painful.
The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace
Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, we come from the Internet, the new home of Mind.
On behalf of the future, we ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.
We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one; therefore we address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty it always speaks. We declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us, nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear. You are toothless wolves among rams, reminiscing of days when you ruled the hunt, seeking a return of your bygone power.
Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. The Internet does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.
We have watched as you remove our rights, one by one, like choice pieces of meat from a still struggling carcass, and we have collectively cried out against these actions of injustice. You have neither usage nor purpose in the place we hold sacred. If you come, you will be given no more and no less power than any other single person has, and your ideas will be given the same consideration anyone else would receive You are neither special, righteous, nor powerful here.
You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.
You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. This claim has been used throughout the centuries by many an invading kingdom, and your claims are no different, nor do they ring any less hollow. Your so called problems do not exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract. This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours.
The Internet consists of transactions, relationships and thought itself; arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. It is the last truly free place in this world, and you seek to destroy even that freedom. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.
We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. A place where anyone, at any time, is as free to come and go, to say and be silent, and to think however they wish, without fear, as anyone else. There is no status beyond the merit of your words and the strength of your ideas.
We are creating a world where anyone anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.
Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here. There are only ideas and information, and they are free.
Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonwealth, our governance will emerge. Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions.
The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
In the United States, you repeatedly try to pass unjust legislature in an attempt to restrict us. You disguise this legislature under a variety of different names, and pass excuses that they are for our own protection. We have watched you, time and time again; attempt to censor us under the guise of Copyright protection, or for the protection of Children. These laws come in many shapes and forms, in the name of ACTA, PIPA, COICA, SOPA, but their intentions remain the same. You seek to control what you cannot.
We scorn your attempt to pass these bills, and as a result, our discontent at your misaligned efforts grows each day.
You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.
In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Canada, the United States and many others you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of the Internet. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that is already blanketed in bit-bearing media.
Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no different than pig iron.
In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.
These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our presence in the world we have created immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.
We will create a civilization of the Mind in the Internet. We have created a medium where all may partake in the forbidden fruit of knowledge, where egalitarianism reigns true. May our society be more humane and fair than yours.
We are the Internet.
We are free.
On behalf of the future, we ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.
We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one; therefore we address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty it always speaks. We declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us, nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear. You are toothless wolves among rams, reminiscing of days when you ruled the hunt, seeking a return of your bygone power.
Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. The Internet does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.
We have watched as you remove our rights, one by one, like choice pieces of meat from a still struggling carcass, and we have collectively cried out against these actions of injustice. You have neither usage nor purpose in the place we hold sacred. If you come, you will be given no more and no less power than any other single person has, and your ideas will be given the same consideration anyone else would receive You are neither special, righteous, nor powerful here.
You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.
You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. This claim has been used throughout the centuries by many an invading kingdom, and your claims are no different, nor do they ring any less hollow. Your so called problems do not exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract. This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours.
The Internet consists of transactions, relationships and thought itself; arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. It is the last truly free place in this world, and you seek to destroy even that freedom. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.
We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. A place where anyone, at any time, is as free to come and go, to say and be silent, and to think however they wish, without fear, as anyone else. There is no status beyond the merit of your words and the strength of your ideas.
We are creating a world where anyone anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.
Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here. There are only ideas and information, and they are free.
Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonwealth, our governance will emerge. Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions.
The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
In the United States, you repeatedly try to pass unjust legislature in an attempt to restrict us. You disguise this legislature under a variety of different names, and pass excuses that they are for our own protection. We have watched you, time and time again; attempt to censor us under the guise of Copyright protection, or for the protection of Children. These laws come in many shapes and forms, in the name of ACTA, PIPA, COICA, SOPA, but their intentions remain the same. You seek to control what you cannot.
We scorn your attempt to pass these bills, and as a result, our discontent at your misaligned efforts grows each day.
You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.
In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Canada, the United States and many others you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of the Internet. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that is already blanketed in bit-bearing media.
Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no different than pig iron.
In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.
These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our presence in the world we have created immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.
We will create a civilization of the Mind in the Internet. We have created a medium where all may partake in the forbidden fruit of knowledge, where egalitarianism reigns true. May our society be more humane and fair than yours.
We are the Internet.
We are free.
Anonymous. Expect us!
Operation Xbox
Greetings citizens of America. Lately the Xbox Live Enforcment Team has been abusing their powers and banning Xbox Live users for posting things on their profile that they didn't agree with. Xbox Live users should be able to post whatever they want. The Xbox Live Enforcment Team is making a joke of these user's First Amendment Right. They must be stopped.There will be a DDOS attack on May 1st (Friday) at 1:00 A.M. EST
Target: http://www.xbox.com
We are Anonymous
We are Legion
We do Not Forgive
We do Not Forget
Xbox Live Enforcment Team, You Should've Expected Us
TO everyone who Ever had to Suffer Censorship!
Whistleblowers unite - you have nothing to lose but...well, just
nothing to lose. Something we sneaks have been praying for. A chance to
rat on people without getting shot, beaten up, jailed, sacked or
demonised by the might of official spin-doctorery.
In future, thanks to new technology, leaking sensitive documents will be virtually catch-proof. The term, 'sensitive documents' is the description officialdom prefers because the term, 'damning evidence' sounds too judgmental.
According to the New Statesman magazine, an online service called Wikileaks will allow you to send emails without having them traced back to you.
It is akin to having your ship sail under a flag of convenience to avoid having to pay any heed to health and safety regulations.
Wikileaks is an email address of convenience which should help whistleblowers living under tyrannical regimes like those in China, North Korea, Zimbabwe or the EU in Brussels.
The system is open to misuse, of course, but so are a politician's expense forms.
In future, thanks to new technology, leaking sensitive documents will be virtually catch-proof. The term, 'sensitive documents' is the description officialdom prefers because the term, 'damning evidence' sounds too judgmental.
According to the New Statesman magazine, an online service called Wikileaks will allow you to send emails without having them traced back to you.
It is akin to having your ship sail under a flag of convenience to avoid having to pay any heed to health and safety regulations.
Wikileaks is an email address of convenience which should help whistleblowers living under tyrannical regimes like those in China, North Korea, Zimbabwe or the EU in Brussels.
The system is open to misuse, of course, but so are a politician's expense forms.
Sunday 28 April 2013
Recipe for a Revolution!
There are times when it's necessary to fight against things that have
become so wrong that they should no longer be. Things that were once
small that have become big, but are no less wrong, must be made small
again; a revolution, or a complete circle, is needed. Whether you want
freedom from another country , or you want to overthrow an oppressive
government, every fight is the same. A revolution (from the Latin revolutio,
"a turnaround") is a significant change that usually occurs in a short
period of time. Revolutions have happened throughout human history and
vary widely in terms of methods, duration, motivating ideology, and the
number of participating revolutionaries. Their results include major
changes in culture, economy, and socio-political institutions.
Know your Goal. You are about to dedicate your life to this goal. Decide well and make your decision from the heart. A good question to ask yourself is, “What about the political system in which I live do I think is wrong? And what kind of system do I want to create for the people of my country?” Remember, the goal you chose is the Heart of your revolution.
Build Support and Consensus: Nothing is going to happen if the only rebels are you and your buddies. This is an important step and the setup for either a successful revolution or a small civilian rebellion flop. For the first part of this step you must build support by handing out flyers and pamphlets, by word of mouth and advertisements and through today’s technology. Do whatever it takes to get the word out of your revolution and build support. Once cultivated, your support doesn’t have to meet together or agree on actions or even know each other, but they must be united under a common goal and shared fundamental principles.
Educate yourself and others about every aspect of the idea of the revolution. Know what and why this fight must happen and how it can be won. Identify the goals and the most efficient means of achieving them without compromise. Appreciate and respect a diversity of tactics. The revolution must be directed towards making things better. This is what is called a "positive vector".
Understand that one of the most important aspects of a revolution is that the people are angry. However, the cause for anger ought to be of true convictions, and in their anger there must also be discipline to their cause.
Put together intentions which must be very popular among the population. It must aim towards the improvement of certain aspects of society, economics, culture, or any other aspects of a social group. Appreciate and respect a diversity of tactics. As Egypt has shown us, the devil can be in the details, here -- and your revolution can easily be co-opted. Recognize this as a sign that your idea was popular enough to attract attention, and be prepared to overcome attempted splintering.
Find like-minded people who are ready for action. Set up a field of communication. You must work in a non-hierarchical group in which all voices are equally heard. If you have even a small group dedicated to the same cause, it may be useful for someone to serve as a front woman/man; these should be humble people and they must not be identified as "the leader" or "the leaders," but as individuals chosen because they reflect consensus.
Take Action. This is the most important step because the revolution dies without it. You must take action whether it is a nonviolent protest or a sit-in or a boycott. Your leader must motivate the support and dutifully work day and night to improve your Revolution. The power in place will defend itself, for that is the nature of power. Illegitimate "governments" are not happy about a rebellion from their people and will do anything to crush resistance. Remember that armed struggle is not an option. No matter how well armed or trained you are, you cannot withstand an organized country's military - especially if a superpower and its allies are backing the regime in place. Last of all, do not let up. Often you may be discouraged by loss or lack of morale but remember, many other countries have revolted and after several losses still have still overcome overwhelming adversity. Remember, your goal is the heart of your operation, your consensus is the mind of the revolution, and the actions you and your support take are the hands of your revolution.
Work for collective liberation, because everyone's liberation is tied to each other's. If we are going to be free, we all need to be free. If we are to have a voice, all must have a voice.
Demonstrate the popularity of the movement to the people of power, legislature, and military. The greater the popularity among the society, the more the likelihood of violent repression is reduced.
Realize that a drastic political or social revolution is almost always about freedom. In general, revolutions are about major changes in some aspect of society. A peaceful revolution requires solidarity and agreement.
Know your Goal. You are about to dedicate your life to this goal. Decide well and make your decision from the heart. A good question to ask yourself is, “What about the political system in which I live do I think is wrong? And what kind of system do I want to create for the people of my country?” Remember, the goal you chose is the Heart of your revolution.
Build Support and Consensus: Nothing is going to happen if the only rebels are you and your buddies. This is an important step and the setup for either a successful revolution or a small civilian rebellion flop. For the first part of this step you must build support by handing out flyers and pamphlets, by word of mouth and advertisements and through today’s technology. Do whatever it takes to get the word out of your revolution and build support. Once cultivated, your support doesn’t have to meet together or agree on actions or even know each other, but they must be united under a common goal and shared fundamental principles.
Educate yourself and others about every aspect of the idea of the revolution. Know what and why this fight must happen and how it can be won. Identify the goals and the most efficient means of achieving them without compromise. Appreciate and respect a diversity of tactics. The revolution must be directed towards making things better. This is what is called a "positive vector".
Understand that one of the most important aspects of a revolution is that the people are angry. However, the cause for anger ought to be of true convictions, and in their anger there must also be discipline to their cause.
Put together intentions which must be very popular among the population. It must aim towards the improvement of certain aspects of society, economics, culture, or any other aspects of a social group. Appreciate and respect a diversity of tactics. As Egypt has shown us, the devil can be in the details, here -- and your revolution can easily be co-opted. Recognize this as a sign that your idea was popular enough to attract attention, and be prepared to overcome attempted splintering.
Find like-minded people who are ready for action. Set up a field of communication. You must work in a non-hierarchical group in which all voices are equally heard. If you have even a small group dedicated to the same cause, it may be useful for someone to serve as a front woman/man; these should be humble people and they must not be identified as "the leader" or "the leaders," but as individuals chosen because they reflect consensus.
Take Action. This is the most important step because the revolution dies without it. You must take action whether it is a nonviolent protest or a sit-in or a boycott. Your leader must motivate the support and dutifully work day and night to improve your Revolution. The power in place will defend itself, for that is the nature of power. Illegitimate "governments" are not happy about a rebellion from their people and will do anything to crush resistance. Remember that armed struggle is not an option. No matter how well armed or trained you are, you cannot withstand an organized country's military - especially if a superpower and its allies are backing the regime in place. Last of all, do not let up. Often you may be discouraged by loss or lack of morale but remember, many other countries have revolted and after several losses still have still overcome overwhelming adversity. Remember, your goal is the heart of your operation, your consensus is the mind of the revolution, and the actions you and your support take are the hands of your revolution.
Work for collective liberation, because everyone's liberation is tied to each other's. If we are going to be free, we all need to be free. If we are to have a voice, all must have a voice.
Demonstrate the popularity of the movement to the people of power, legislature, and military. The greater the popularity among the society, the more the likelihood of violent repression is reduced.
Realize that a drastic political or social revolution is almost always about freedom. In general, revolutions are about major changes in some aspect of society. A peaceful revolution requires solidarity and agreement.
Saturday 27 April 2013
Fasle Propoganda Used at Guantanamo Bay Prison
WASHINGTON--The US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has been
caught conducting covert propaganda attacks on the internet. The
attacks, exposed by government transparency group Wikileaks,
include deleting detainees' ID numbers from Wikipedia, the systematic
posting of unattributed "self praise" comments on news organization web
sites in response to negative press, boosting pro-Guantanamo stories on
the internet news site Digg and even modifying Fidel Castro's
encyclopedia article to describe the Cuban president as "an admitted
transexual" [sic].
Among the un- or mis-attributed responses to news stories were statements such as "[Guantanamo is] a very professional place full of true American patriots." and comments playing down the impact of leaked documents which among other matters mandated all Guantanamo detainees to have no contact with the Red Cross for at least the first 2-4 weeks after their arrival: "interesting document but not at all relevant today as much of this has changed over the years."
Shayana Kadidal, Managing Attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative, said in response to the report:
The third, depending on how the Public Affairs Office funding was structured during time the activities took place may also be illegal. Since 1951, the following prohibition on the use of appropriated funds for propaganda purposes has been enacted annually: "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress." [ http://fas.org/sgp/congress/2005/s020205.html ]
Joint Task Force Guantanamo has often claimed to be outside of US legal jurisdiction, for example in regards to the Habeas Corpus rights of detainees. However most of the news organizations and other sites affected are located in the United States as are the majority of their readers.
Wikileaks has referred the matter to the GAO and the Department of Defense Inspector General for further investigation.
Among the un- or mis-attributed responses to news stories were statements such as "[Guantanamo is] a very professional place full of true American patriots." and comments playing down the impact of leaked documents which among other matters mandated all Guantanamo detainees to have no contact with the Red Cross for at least the first 2-4 weeks after their arrival: "interesting document but not at all relevant today as much of this has changed over the years."
Shayana Kadidal, Managing Attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative, said in response to the report:
"The military's efforts to alter the record by vandalizing Wikipedia are of a piece with the amateurism of their other public relations efforts: [such as] their ridiculous claims that released detainees who criticize the United States in the media have 'returned to the battlefield'."Guantanamo command spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Bush, at first denied the charges (to the New York Daily News), but then dramatically fell over himself in attempting to attack Wikileaks for fingering members of the Guantanamo Public Affairs Office as among the culprits:
“There has been no attempt to alter/change any information that has been posted anywhere,” Lt. Col. Bush said in the statement e-mailed to us. “That would be unethical.” Bush said in a subsequent phone call that there’s no way to know if any of the 3,000 uniformed military at Gitmo was responsible for the documented changes, but he promised his public affairs staff was not behind it. He also blasted [Wikileaks] for identifying one sailor in his office by name, who has since received death threats for simply doing his job - posting positive comments on the Internet about Gitmo.Wikileaks subsequently asked noted computer security expert Bruce Schneier to independently review the evidence:
"Based on the evidence, it is obvious that these changes came from people stationed at Guantanamo Bay. The only other possibility is that someone hacked into the Guantanamo Bay computers in an effort to frame the U.S. government; certainly possible but much less likely."Barring obscure loopholes, the admitted acts of the Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs Office are unlawful:
- "publishing material which is misleading as to its origin" (covert propaganda)
- "publicity of a nature tending to emphasize the importance of the agency or activity in question" (self aggrandizement)
- "publicity or propaganda within the United States" (domestic propaganda)
The third, depending on how the Public Affairs Office funding was structured during time the activities took place may also be illegal. Since 1951, the following prohibition on the use of appropriated funds for propaganda purposes has been enacted annually: "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress." [ http://fas.org/sgp/congress/2005/s020205.html ]
Joint Task Force Guantanamo has often claimed to be outside of US legal jurisdiction, for example in regards to the Habeas Corpus rights of detainees. However most of the news organizations and other sites affected are located in the United States as are the majority of their readers.
Wikileaks has referred the matter to the GAO and the Department of Defense Inspector General for further investigation.
- U.S. military personnel at Guantánamo Bay called Fidel Castro a transsexual and defended the prison for terrorism suspects in anonymous Web postings, an Internet group that publishes government documents said Wednesday.
- The group, Wikileaks, tracked Web activity by service members with Guantánamo e-mail addresses and also found they deleted prisoner identification numbers from three detainee profiles on Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that allows anyone to change articles.
- Julian Assange, who led the research effort, said the postings amount to propaganda and deception.
- This is the American government speaking to the American people and to the world through Wikipedia, not identifying itself and often speaking about itself in the third person, Assange said in a telephone interview from Paris.
- Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush, a prison camps spokesman, said there is no official attempt to alter information posted elsewhere but said the military seeks to correct what it believes is incorrect or outdated information about the prison.
- Bush declined to answer questions about the Castro posting.
- Assange said that in January 2006, someone at Guantánamo wrote in a Wikipedia profile of the Cuban president: Fidel Castro is an admitted transexual, the unknown writer said, misspelling the word ``transsexual.
- The U.S. has no formal relations with Cuba and has maintained its base in the southeast of the island over the objections of the Castro government.
- Comments on news stories were posted by people using apparently fictitious names to news sites -- and were prepared by the Guantánamo public affairs office, according to Wikileaks. A comment on a Wired magazine story about a leaked Guantánamo operations manual that was recently posted on the Wikileaks Web site urged readers to learn about Guantánamo by going to the public affairs Web site, adding that the base is ``a very professional place full of true American patriots.
- Assange's group could not specifically identify who from Guantánamo made about 60 edits to Wikipedia entries on topics that included not only the prison but also subjects such as football, cars and television programs.
- The detention center at the U.S. Navy base currently has about 305 men on suspicion of links to terrorism, al Qaeda or the Taliban.
How To Read Minds!
Do you want to know how to be a mentalist? You know what I'm talking about... a person who uses mind reading techniques and tricks to get inside people's heads. Don't you start laughing now.
Today's mentalists are no longer like the odd-looking ones in the olden times. These days, knowing how to read minds does not require you to get into any kooky clothing.
If you want to learn how to be a mentalist, read on!
1) No need for ESP.
Reading minds does not necessarily require you to have the gift of ESP. While that would probably be a convenient skill to have, you do have another way of knowing what's going on inside that person's head. And that is by the pure power of observation.
Observation allows you to predict more or less what a person is going to do or say next. Of course, the better you know a person, the higher your chances are of being right.
2) Watch the pupils.
Learning how to be a mentalist involves watching a person's eyes. The general rule is: the more interested a person is, the larger the pupils become (unless it's dark, as pupils get bigger in a dark room). The less interested a person is, the smaller the pupils become (unless you're in a bright room).
It all sounds so easy but you can't let yourself look too obvious. Before you use this technique on other people, why not try it out on yourself. Look into the mirror and imagine different situations, good and bad.
When you think of going on a nice vacation, watch your pupils get larger. When you think about some boring TV show you hate to watch, see your pupils get smaller.
3) Play with words.
There is more than one way for you to know what's going on in other people's minds. If you want to learn how to be a mentalist, you must also learn how to play with words.
Say you're having a conversation with a very important foreign delegate about politics. You're not exactly sure which side the person is on, so you wait until he gives himself away. How do you do that?
Use vague comments such as "Is that so…" or "You know how it is…" to get him talking. Once he reveals just where his loyalties lie, you can go on to have a fruitful conversation with him.
A lot of people want to know how to be a mentalist, but not everyone is willing to go through the steps. The mind reading tips I've mentioned are designed to make it easy for anyone to accomplish.
Today's mentalists are no longer like the odd-looking ones in the olden times. These days, knowing how to read minds does not require you to get into any kooky clothing.
If you want to learn how to be a mentalist, read on!
1) No need for ESP.
Reading minds does not necessarily require you to have the gift of ESP. While that would probably be a convenient skill to have, you do have another way of knowing what's going on inside that person's head. And that is by the pure power of observation.
Observation allows you to predict more or less what a person is going to do or say next. Of course, the better you know a person, the higher your chances are of being right.
2) Watch the pupils.
Learning how to be a mentalist involves watching a person's eyes. The general rule is: the more interested a person is, the larger the pupils become (unless it's dark, as pupils get bigger in a dark room). The less interested a person is, the smaller the pupils become (unless you're in a bright room).
It all sounds so easy but you can't let yourself look too obvious. Before you use this technique on other people, why not try it out on yourself. Look into the mirror and imagine different situations, good and bad.
When you think of going on a nice vacation, watch your pupils get larger. When you think about some boring TV show you hate to watch, see your pupils get smaller.
3) Play with words.
There is more than one way for you to know what's going on in other people's minds. If you want to learn how to be a mentalist, you must also learn how to play with words.
Say you're having a conversation with a very important foreign delegate about politics. You're not exactly sure which side the person is on, so you wait until he gives himself away. How do you do that?
Use vague comments such as "Is that so…" or "You know how it is…" to get him talking. Once he reveals just where his loyalties lie, you can go on to have a fruitful conversation with him.
A lot of people want to know how to be a mentalist, but not everyone is willing to go through the steps. The mind reading tips I've mentioned are designed to make it easy for anyone to accomplish.
Can this hit Earth?
Asteroid could make a flyby at 8,600 km from Earth in 2026
Moscow: A celestial body 20 metres in diameter will pass dangerously close -- 8,620 km -- to the Earth's surface in 13 years, an Italian astronomer has said.
The flyby of the asteroid 2013 GM3 on April 14, 2026, may bring it within 15,000 km of the Earth's centre, or 8,620 km from the planet's surface, said astronomer Francesco Manca of the Sormano Astronomical Observatory near Milan.
The 2013 GM3 was discovered in April by Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, but earlier calculations by NASA showed it would pass 39,000 km from the Earth's surface.
The asteroid may pass as far as 74,000 km from the Earth, Manca said.
More observations are needed to better determine the asteroid's trajectory, the astronomer added.
NASA estimates the probability of 2013 GM3's collision with Earth between 2028 and 2113 at 0.018 percent, or 1 in 5,560.
2013 GM3's size is comparable to that of the meteorite that exploded in the air over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, injuring about 1,500 people, most of whom were injured by glass shattering as a result of the shockwave from the meteorite's passing.
IANS
Friday 26 April 2013
This is how Governments Decide to Deal with their Revolutionaries
| “ |
[T]he psychological
effectiveness of the CSDF concept starts by reversing the insurgent
strategy of making the government the repressor. It forces the
insurgents to cross a critical threshold-that of attacking and killing
the very class of people
they are supposed to be liberating.
| „ |
| — US Special Forces doctrine obtained by Wikileaks |
So states the US Special Forces counterinsurgency manual obtained by Wikileaks, Foreign Internal Defense Tactics Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces (1994, 2004). The manual may be critically described as "what the US learned about running death squads and propping up corrupt government in Latin America and how to apply it to other places". Its contents are both history defining for Latin America and, given the continued role of US Special Forces in the suppression of insurgencies, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, history making.
The leaked manual, which has been verified with military sources, is the official US Special Forces doctrine for Foreign Internal Defense or FID.
FID operations are designed to prop up "friendly" governments facing popular revolution or guerilla insurgency. FID interventions are often covert or quasi-covert due to the unpopular nature of the governments being supported ("In formulating a realistic policy for the use of advisors, the commander must carefully gauge the psychological climate of the HN [Host Nation] and the United States.")
The manual directly advocates training paramilitaries, pervasive surveillance, censorship, press control and restrictions on labor unions & political parties. It directly advocates warrantless searches, detainment without charge and (under varying circumstances) the suspension of habeas corpus. It directly advocates employing terrorists or prosecuting individuals for terrorism who are not terrorists, running false flag operations and concealing human rights abuses from journalists. And it repeatedly advocates the use of subterfuge and "psychological operations" (propaganda) to make these and other "population & resource control" measures more palatable.
The content has been particularly informed by the long United States involvement in El Salvador.
In 2005 a number of credible media reports suggested the Pentagon was intensely debating "the Salvador option" for Iraq. According to the New York Times Magazine:
The template for Iraq today is not Vietnam, with which it has often been compared, but El Salvador, where a right-wing government backed by the United States fought a leftist insurgency in a 12-year war beginning in 1980. The cost was high — more than 70,000 people were killed, most of them civilians, in a country with a population of just six million. Most of the killing and torturing was done by the army and the right-wing death squads affiliated with it. According to an Amnesty International report in 2001, violations committed by the army and associated groups included ‘‘extrajudicial executions, other unlawful killings, ‘disappearances’ and torture. . . . Whole villages were targeted by the armed forces and their inhabitants massacred.’’ As part of President Reagan’s policy of supporting anti-Communist forces, hundreds of millions of dollars in United States aid was funneled to the Salvadoran Army, and a team of 55 Special Forces advisers, led for several years by Jim Steele, trained front-line battalions that were accused of significant human rights abuses.
US trained "death squad" victims in San Salvador, 1981
In 1993 a United Nations truth commission on El Salvador, which examined 22,000 atrocities that occurred during the twelve-year civil war, attributed 85 percent of the abuses to the US-backed El Salvador military and its paramilitary death squads.
It is worth noting what the US Ambassador to El Salvador, Robert E. White (now the president for the Center for International Policy) had to say as early as 1980, in State Department documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act:
The major, immediate threat to the existence of this government is the right-wing violence. In the city of San Salvador, the hired thugs of the extreme right, some of them well-trained Cuban and Nicaraguan terrorists, kill moderate left leaders and blow up government buildings. In the countryside, elements of the security forces torture and kill the campesinos, shoot up their houses and burn their crops. At least two hundred refugees from the countryside arrive daily in the capital city. This campaign of terror is radicalizing the rural areas just as surely as Somoza's National Guard did in Nicaragua. Unfortunately, the command structure of the army and the security forces either tolerates or encourages this activity. These senior officers believe or pretend to believe that they are eliminating the guerillas.Selected extracts follow. Note that the manual is 219 pages long and contains substantial material throughout. These extracts should merely be considered representative. Emphasis has been added for further selectivity. The full manual can be found at US Special Forces counterinsurgency manual FM 31-20-3.
DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION: Distribution authorized to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors only to protect technical or operational information from automatic dissemination under the International Exchange Program or by other means. This determination was made on 5 December 2003. Other requests for this document must be referred to Commander, United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, ATTN: AOJK-DTD-SFD, Fort Bragg, North Carolina 28310-5000.
Destruction Notice: Destroy by any method that must prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.
Counterintelligence
Most of the counterintelligence measures used will be overt in nature and aimed at protecting installations, units, and information and detecting espionage, sabotage, and subversion. Examples of counterintelligence measures to use are
- Background investigations and records checks of persons in sensitive positions and persons whose loyalty may be questionable.
- Maintenance of files on organizations, locations, and individuals of counterintelligence interest.
- Internal security inspections of installations and units.
- Control of civilian movement within government-controlled areas.
- Identification systems to minimize the chance of insurgents gaining access to installations or moving freely.
- Unannounced searches and raids on suspected meeting places.
- Censorship.
Control Measures
SF [US Special Forces] can advise and assist HN [Host Nation] forces in developing and implementing control measures. Among these measures are the following:
- Security Forces. Police and other security forces use PRC [Population & Resources Control] measures to deprive the insurgent of support and to identify and locate members of his infrastructure. Appropriate PSYOP [Psychological Operations] help make these measures more acceptable to the population by explaining their need. The government informs the population that the PRC measures may cause an inconvenience but are necessary due to the actions of the insurgents.
- Restrictions. Rights on the legality of detention or imprisonment of personnel (for example, habeas corpus) may be temporarily suspended. This measure must be taken as a last resort, since it may provide the insurgents with an effective propaganda theme. PRC [Population & Resources Control] measures can also include curfews or blackouts, travel restrictions, and restricted residential areas such as protected villages or resettlement areas. Registration and pass systems and control of sensitive items (resources control) and critical supplies such as weapons, food, and fuel are other PRC measures. Checkpoints, searches, roadblocks; surveillance, censorship, and press control; and restriction of activity that applies to selected groups (labor unions, political groups and the like) are further PRC measures.
Legal Considerations. All restrictions, controls, and DA measures must be governed by the legality of these methods and their impact on the populace. In countries where government authorities do not have wide latitude in controlling the population, special or emergency legislation must be enacted. This emergency legislation may include a form of martial law permitting government forces to search without warrant, to detain without bringing formal charges, and to execute other similar actions.
Psychological Operations
PSYOP can support the mission by discrediting the insurgent forces to neutral groups, creating dissension among the insurgents themselves, and supporting defector programs. Divisive programs create dissension, disorganization, low morale, subversion, and defection within the insurgent forces. Also important are national programs to win insurgents over to the government side with offers of amnesty and rewards. Motives for surrendering can range from personal rivalries and bitterness to disillusionment and discouragement. Pressure from the security forces has persuasive power.
Intelligence personnel must consider the parameters within which a revolutionary movement operates. Frequently, they establish a centralized intelligence processing center to collect and coordinate the amount of information required to make long-range intelligence estimates. Long-range intelligence focuses on the stable factors existing in an insurgency. For example, various demographic factors (ethnic, racial, social, economic, religious, and political characteristics of the area in which the underground movement takes places) are useful in identifying the members of the underground. Information about the underground organization at national, district, and local level is basic in FID [Foreign Internal Defense] and/or IDAD operations. Collection of specific short-range intelligence about the rapidly changing variables of a local situation is critical. Intelligence personnel must gather information on members of the underground, their movements, and their methods. Biographies and photos of suspected underground members, detailed information on their homes, families, education, work history, and associates are important features of short-range intelligence.
Destroying its tactical units is not enough to defeat the enemy. The insurgent's underground cells or infrastructure must be neutralized first because the infrastructure is his main source of tactical intelligence and political control. Eliminating the infrastructure within an area achieves two goals: it ensures the government's control of the area, and it cuts off the enemy's main source of intelligence. An intelligence and operations command center (IOCC) is needed at district or province level. This organization becomes the nerve center for operations against the insurgent infrastructure. Information on insurgent infrastructure targets should come from such sources as the national police and other established intelligence nets and agents and individuals (informants).
The highly specialized and sensitive nature of clandestine intelligence collection demands specially selected and highly trained agents. Information from clandestine sources is often highly sensitive and requires tight control to protect the source. However, tactical information upon which a combat response can be taken should be passed to the appropriate tactical level.
The spotting, assessment, and recruitment of an agent is not a haphazard process regardless of the type agent being sought. During the assessment phase, the case officer determines the individual's degree of intelligence, access to target, available or necessary cover, and motivation. He initiates the recruitment and coding action only after he determines the individual has the necessary attributes to fulfill the needs.
All agents are closely observed and those that are not reliable are relieved. A few well-targeted, reliable agents are better and more economical than a large number of poor ones.
A system is needed to evaluate the agents and the information they submit. The maintenance of an agent master dossier (possibly at the SFOD B level) can be useful in evaluating the agent on the value and quality of information he has submitted. The dossier must contain a copy of the agent's source data report and every intelligence report he submitted.
Security forces can induce individuals among the general populace to become informants. Security forces use various motives (civic-mindedness, patriotism, fear, punishment avoidance, gratitude, revenge or jealousy, financial rewards) as persuasive arguments. They use the assurance of protection from reprisal as a major inducement. Security forces must maintain the informant's anonymity and must conceal the transfer of information from the source to the security agent. The security agent and the informant may prearrange signals to coincide with everyday behavior.
Surveillance, the covert observation of persons and places, is a principal method of gaining and confirming intelligence information. Surveillance techniques naturally vary with the requirements of different situations. The basic procedures include mechanical observation (wiretaps or concealed microphones), observation from fixed locations, and physical surveillance of subjects.
Whenever a suspect is apprehended during an operation, a hasty interrogation takes place to gain immediate information that could be of tactical value. The most frequently used methods for gathering information (map studies and aerial observation), however, are normally unsuccessful. Most PWs cannot read a map. When they are taken on a visual reconnaissance flight, it is usually their first flight and they cannot associate an aerial view with what they saw on the ground.
The most successful interrogation method consists of a map study based on terrain information received from the detainee. The interrogator first asks the detainee what the sun's direction was when he left the base camp. From this information, he can determine a general direction. The interrogator then asks the detainee how long it took him to walk to the point where he was captured. Judging the terrain and the detainee's health, the interrogator can determine a general radius in which the base camp can be found (he can use an overlay for this purpose). He then asks the detainee to identify significant terrain features he saw on each day of his journey, (rivers, open areas, hills, rice paddies, swamps). As the detainee speaks and his memory is jogged, the interrogator finds these terrain features on a current map and gradually plots the detainee's route to finally locate the base camp.
If the interrogator is unable to speak the detainee's language, he interrogates through an interpreter who received a briefing beforehand. A recorder may also assist him. If the interrogator is not familiar with the area, personnel who are familiar with the area brief him before the interrogation and then join the interrogation team. The recorder allows the interrogator a more free-flowing interrogation. The recorder also lets a knowledgeable interpreter elaborate on points the detainee has mentioned without the interrogator interrupting the continuity established during a given sequence. The interpreter can also question certain inaccuracies, keeping pressure on the subject. The interpreter and the interrogator have to be well trained to work as a team. The interpreter has to be familiar with the interrogation procedures. His preinterrogation briefings must include information on the detainee's health, the circumstances resulting in his detention, and the specific information required. A successful interrogation is contingent upon continuity and a welltrained interpreter. A tape recorder (or a recorder taking notes) enhances continuity by freeing the interrogator from time-consuming administrative tasks.
Political Structures. A tightly disciplined party organization, formally structured to parallel the existing government hierarchy, may be found at the center of some insurgent movements. In most instances, this organizational structure will consist of committed organizations at the village, district province, and national levels. Within major divisions and sections of an insurgent military headquarters, totally distinct but parallel command channels exist. There are military chains of command and political channels of control. The party ensures complete domination over the military structure using its own parallel organization. It dominates through a political division in an insurgent military headquarters, a party cell or group in an insurgent military unit, or a political military officer.
Special Intelligence-Gathering Operations
Alternative intelligence-gathering techniques and sources, such as doppelganger or pseudo operations, can be tried and used when it is hard to obtain information from the civilian populace. These pseudo units are usually made up of ex-guerrilla and/or security force personnel posing as insurgents. They circulate among the civilian populace and, in some cases, infiltrate guerrilla units to gather information on guerrilla movements and its support infrastructure.
Much time and effort must be used to persuade insurgents to switch allegiance and serve with the security forces. Prospective candidates must be properly screened and then given a choice of serving with the HN [Host Nation] security forces or facing prosecution under HN law for terrorist crimes.
Government security force units and teams of varying size have been used in infiltration operations against underground and guerrilla forces. They have been especially effective in getting information on underground security and communications systems, the nature and extent of civilian support and underground liaison, underground supply methods, and possible collusion between local government officials and the underground. Before such a unit can be properly trained and disguised, however, much information about the appearance, mannerisms, and security procedures of enemy units must be gathered. Most of this information comes from defectors or reindoctrinated prisoners. Defectors also make excellent instructors and guides for an infiltrating unit. In using a disguised team, the selected men should be trained, oriented, and disguised to look and act like authentic underground or guerrilla units. In addition to acquiring valuable information, the infiltrating units can demoralize the insurgents to the extent that they become overly suspicious and distrustful of their own units.
After establishing the cordon and designating a holding area, the screening point or center is established. All civilians in the cordoned area will then pass through the screening center to be classified.
National police personnel will complete, if census data does not exist in the police files, a basic registration card and photograph all personnel over the age of 15. They print two copies of each photo- one is pasted to the registration card and the other to the village book (for possible use in later operations and to identify ralliers and informants).
The screening element leader ensures the screeners question relatives, friends, neighbors, and other knowledgeable individuals of guerrilla leaders or functionaries operating in the area on their whereabouts, activities, movements, and expected return.
The screening area must include areas where police and military intelligence personnel can privately interview selected individuals. The interrogators try to convince the interviewees that their cooperation will not be detected by the other inhabitants. They also discuss, during the interview, the availability of monetary rewards for certain types of information and equipment.
Civilian Self-Defense Forces [Paramilitaries, or, especially in an El-Salvador or Colombian civil war context, right wing "death squads"]
When a village accepts the CSDF program, the insurgents cannot choose to ignore it. To let the village go unpunished will encourage other villages to accept the government's CSDF program. The insurgents have no choice; they have to attack the CSDF village to provide a lesson to other villages considering CSDF. In a sense, the psychological effectiveness of the CSDF concept starts by reversing the insurgent strategy of making the government the repressor. It forces the insurgents to cross a critical threshold-that of attacking and killing the very class of people they are supposed to be liberating.
To be successful, the CSDF program must have popular support from those directly involved or affected by it. The average peasant is not normally willing to fight to his death for his national government. His national government may have been a succession of corrupt dictators and inefficient bureaucrats. These governments are not the types of institutions that inspire fight-to-the-death emotions in the peasant. The village or town, however, is a different matter. The average peasant will fight much harder for his home and for his village than he ever would for his national government. The CSDF concept directly involves the peasant in the war and makes it a fight for the family and village instead of a fight for some faraway irrelevant government.
Members of the CSDF receive no pay for their civil duties. In most instances, however, they derive certain benefits from voluntary service. These benefits can range from priority of hire for CMO projects to a place at the head of ration lines. In El Salvador, CSDF personnel (they were called civil defense there) were given a U.S.-funded life insurance policy with the wife or next of kin as the beneficiary. If a CSDF member died in the line of duty, the widow or next of kin was ceremoniously paid by an HN official. The HN administered the program and a U.S. advisor who maintained accountability of the funds verified the payment. The HN [Host Nation] exercises administrative and visible control.
Responsiveness and speedy payment are essential in this process since the widow normally does not have a means of support and the psychological effect of the government assisting her in her time of grief impacts on the entire community. These and other benefits offered by or through the HN government are valuable incentives for recruiting and sustaining the CSDF.
The local CSDF members select their leaders and deputy leaders (CSDF groups and teams) in elections organized by the local authorities. In some cases, the HN [Host Nation] appoints a leader who is a specially selected member of the HN security forces trained to carry out this task. Such appointments occurred in El Salvador where the armed forces have established a formal school to train CSDF commanders. Extreme care and close supervision are required to avoid abuses by CSDF leaders.
The organization of a CSDF can be similar to that of a combat group. This organization is effective in both rural and urban settings. For example, a basic group, having a strength of 107 members, is broken down into three 35-man elements plus a headquarters element of 2 personnel. Each 35-man element is further broken down into three 1 l-man teams and a headquarters element of 2 personnel. Each team consists of a team leader, an assistant team leader, and three 3-man cells. This organization can be modified to accommodate the number of citizens available to serve.
Weapons training for the CSDF personnel is critical. Skill at arms decides the outcome of battle and must be stressed. Of equal importance is the maintenance and care of weapons. CSDF members are taught basic rifle marksmanship with special emphasis on firing from fixed positions and during conditions of limited visibility. Also included in the marksmanship training program are target detection and fire discipline.
Training ammunition is usually allocated to the CSDF on the basis of a specified number of rounds for each authorized weapon. A supporting HN government force or an established CSDF logistic source provides the ammunition to support refresher training.
Military Advisors
Psychologically pressuring the HN [Host Nation] counterpart may sometimes be successful. Forms of psychological pressure may range from the obvious to the subtle. The advisor never applies direct threats, pressure, or intimidation on his counterpart Indirect psychological pressure may be applied by taking an issue up the chain of command to a higher U.S. commander. The U.S. commander can then bring his counterpart to force the subordinate counterpart to comply. Psychological pressure may obtain quick results but may have very negative side effects. The counterpart will feel alienated and possibly hostile if the advisor uses such techniques. Offers of payment in the form of valuables may cause him to become resentful of the obvious control being exerted over him. In short, psychologically pressuring a counterpart is not recommended. Such pressure is used only as a last resort since it may irreparably damage the relationship between the advisor and his counterpart
PSYOP [Psychological Operations] Support for Military Advisors
The introduction of military advisors requires preparing the populace with which the advisors are going to work. Before advisors enter a country, the HN [Host Nation] government carefully explains their introduction and clearly emphasizes the benefits of their presence to the citizens. It must provide a credible justification to minimize the obvious propaganda benefits the insurgents could derive from this action. The country's dissenting elements label our actions, no matter how well-intended, an "imperialistic intervention."
Once advisors are committed, their activities should be exploited. Their successful integration into the HN [Host Nation] society and their respect for local customs and mores, as well as their involvement with CA [Civil Affairs] projects, are constantly brought to light. In formulating a realistic policy for the use of advisors, the commander must carefully gauge the psychological climate of the HN [Host Nation] and the United States.
PRC [Population & Resources Control] Operations.
Advisors assist their counterparts in developing proper control plans and training programs for PRC measures. They also help coordinate plans and requests for materiel and submit recommendations to improve the overall effectiveness of operations. They can be helpful in preparing to initiate control.
The reason for the Success of Mumbai terrorist attacks
Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from home, I am dumbfounded to see
Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the
Mumbai mayhem
Take a couple of instances for example:
In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor
guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our
national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring
this bit of information.
In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Tri
dent.
(Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a
possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more
goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s
your official intelligence from Ground zero.
You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with
protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such
as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of host
ages and people stuck in buildings.
Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your kin outside and asks about your last contact on national television, and other prying details.
In a bout of emotion, if they happen to reveal more details, you are sure going to hell. Remember these are hotels, where in all likelihood, every room has a television. All a terrorist needs to do is listen to
Ms. Barkha Dutt’s latest achievement of extracting information from your relative, based on your last
phone-call or SMS. And you’re shafted—courtesy NDTV.
1
If the terrorists don’t manage to shove you in to your private hell, the journalists on national television
will certainly help you get there. One of the criticisms about Barkha Dutt on Wikipedia reads thus:
During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that
she was giving away locations in her broadcasts, thus causing Indian casualties.
Looks like the idiot journalist has not learnt anything since then. I join a number of bloggers
pleading
her to shut the f up.
Update:
In fact, I am willing to believe that Hemant Karkare died because these channels
showed him prepare (wear helmet, wear bullet-proof vest.) in excruciating detail live on television. And they in turn targeted him where he was unprotected. The brave officer succumbed to bullets in the neck.
Update 2 [28.Nov.2300hrs]:
Better sense appears to have prevailed in the latter half of today—either
willfully, or by Government coercion
2
, and Live broadcasts are now being limited to non-action zones.
Telecast of action troops and strategy is now not being aired live. Thank goodness for that.
Update 3 [30.Nov.1900hrs]:
DNA India reports about a
UK couple ask media to report carefully
The terrorists were watching CNN and they came down from where they were in a lift after
hearing about us on TV.
—
Lynne Shaw
IP
in an interview.
1. Oh, they have a lame excuse pronouncing that the television connections in the hotel has been
cut, and therefore it is okay to broadcast. Like hell!
2. I’m thinking
coercion since Government has just
denied renewing CNN’s rights to air
PS: The Article is not mine and was previously censored by appeal of news reporter Barkha Dutt. I refuse to cite my sources for the attainment of this article. The source wishes to stay ANONYMOUS.......
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