http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
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"Obama's Support for the New Graham-Lieberman Secrecy Law...
The White House is actively supporting a new bill jointly sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman -- called The Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 -- that literally has no purpose other than to allow the government to suppress any 'photograph taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009 relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside of the United States.' As long as the Defense Secretary certifies -- with no review possible -- that disclosure would 'endanger' American citizens or our troops, then the photographs can be suppressed even if FOIA requires disclosure. The certification lasts 3 years and can be renewed indefinitely. The Senate passed the bill as an amendment last week."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/01-9
-->Obama administration covering up US war crimes? The NY Times didn't see fit to publish this story. Nor did it cover the specifics of some of these photos: rape and sexual abuse. For that you would have to go to The Telegraph/UK:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/28
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"Obama Has 250,000 'Contractors' in Iraq and Afghan Wars, Increases Number of Mercenaries.
Newly released Pentagon statistics show that in both Iraq and Afghanistan the number of armed contractors is rising. The DoD says it sees ,similar dependence on contractors in future.'
...According to new statistics released by the Pentagon, with Barack Obama as commander in chief, there has been a 23% increase in the number of 'Private Security Contractors' working for the Department of Defense in Iraq in the second quarter of 2009 and a 29% increase in Afghanistan, which 'correlates to the build up of forces' in the country. These numbers relate explicitly to DoD security contractors. Companies like Blackwater and its successor Triple Canopy work on State Department contracts and it is unclear if these contractors are included in the over-all statistics. This means, the number of individual 'security' contractors could be quite higher, as could the scope of their expansion.
Overall, contractors (armed and unarmed) now make up approximately 50% of the 'total force in Centcom AOR [Area of Responsibility].' This means there are a whopping 242,657 contractors working on these two US wars."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/01-6
-->No report in the NY Times or in mainstream media that the US will continue occupying Iraq using hundreds of thousands of mercenaries. Obama is ending the Iraq war, remember?
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"Navy Vet Honored, Foiled Israeli Attack...
The first thing the Israeli aircraft bombed and strafed were the Liberty’s communications antennae and other equipment. They succeeded in destroying all the antennae that were functional. One antenna on the port side, though, had been out of commission and had escaped damage...
The deck was still being strafed, but Halbardier grabbed a reel of cable, ran out onto the deck, and attached new cable to the antenna so a radioman could get an SOS out to the 6th fleet in the Mediterranean.
'Mayday' went out; almost immediately the Israeli aircraft and torpedo ships broke off the attack and went back to base; the Israeli government sent a quick apology to Washington for its unfortunate 'mistake;' and President Johnson issued orders to everyone to make believe the Israelis were telling the truth — or at least to remain silent.
To their discredit, top Navy brass went along, and the Liberty survivors were threatened with court martial and prison if they so much as mentioned to their wives what had actually happened. They were enjoined as well from discussing it with one another."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/02-9
-->No mainstream media has ever dared to tell the story of the June 8, 1967 deliberate attack on the US Liberty by Israeli planes and ships. Two-thirds of the Liberty crew of 294 were killed or wounded that day. All hushed up by the power of the Israeli lobby. If you don't believe that the US media is censored when it comes to Israel, do a little research on the USS Liberty.
