I Will Stand Up For You If You Stand Up For Me
I Was Silent When They Came for You … So There Was No One Left to Help When They Came for Me
First they tortured a U.S. citizen and gang member …I remained silent;
I wasn’t a criminal
Then they tortured a U.S. citizen, whistleblower and navy veteran …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a whistleblower
Then they locked up an attorney for representing accused criminals …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a defense attorney
Then they arrested a young father walking with his son simply because he told Dick Cheney that he disagreed with his policies …
I remained silent;
I’ve never talked to an important politician
Then they said an entertainer should be killed because she questioned the government’s version of an important historical event …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t an entertainer
Then they arrested people for demanding that Congress hold the President to the Constitution …
I did not speak out;
I’ve never protested in Washington
Then they arrested a man for holding a sign …
I held my tongue;
I’ve never held that kind of sign
Then they broke a minister’s leg because he wanted to speak at a public event …
I said nothing;
I wasn’t a religious leader
Then they shot a student with a taser gun and arrested him for asking a question of a politician at a public event …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a student
Then they declared that they could label U.S. citizens living on U.S. soil as “unlawful enemy combatants” and imprison them indefinitely without access to any attorney …
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to be labeled an enemy
Then they declared that they could assassinate U.S. citizens living on U.S. soil without any due process of law …
I remained silent;
I assumed I wasn’t on a list
Then they threw political dissenters in psychiatric wards …
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to be seen as crazy
When they came for me,
Everyone was silent;
there was no one left to speak out.
Inspired by the poem First They Came by Martin Niemöller, which was written about the Nazis.
I originally wrote this poem in 2007. I have updated it with additional verses as current events have unfolded.
Syrian False Flag Planned?
by Stephen Lendman
Never bet against Washington’s imperial plans. New tactics follow failed ones. Efforts to oust Assad continue. Proxy killers can’t do it alone. They’re no match against Syria’s superior military strength. It’s committed to rout them.
Expect NATO intervention anytime or perhaps post-US November elections. Libya 2.0 looks increasingly likely. What better way to finesse it than by staging a false flag attack blamed on Assad.
America’s false flag history suggests it. In 1898, Spain was falsely accused of blowing up the USS Maine in Havana, Cuba harbor. The Spanish-American war followed.
Roosevelt manipulated Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. South Korea was used to instigate war on the North. Lyndon Johnson wanted war on Vietnam and got it.
Fake threats sent US marines to Grenada. Manufactured incidents precipitated America’s Panama invasion.
Saddam was head-faked into invading Kuwait. The Gulf War, two decades of sanctions, another war, and occupation followed.
September 11, 2001 was the mother of all false flags. It’s the big lie of our time. Eleven years of imperial wars followed. One segues to another without end. Syria is Washington’s latest. Iran is next. Proxy wars always rage. Media silence makes pretexts unnecessary.
On August 20, Obama perhaps signaled US intervention intentions. He told reporters:
“I have indicated repeatedly that President al-Assad has lost legitimacy, that he needs to step down. So far, he hasn’t gotten the message, and instead has double downed in violence on his own people.”
“I have, at this point, not ordered military engagement in the situation. But the point that you made about chemical and biological weapons is critical.”
“That’s an issue that doesn’t just concern Syria. It concerns our close allies in the region, including Israel. It concerns us. We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people.”
“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”
“We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.”
These comments signal possible intervention. The New York Times said Obama’s warning advances things “a step closer to direct American intervention.”
Syrian Foreign Ministry Jihad Makdissi clearly said chemical weapons won’t be used internally. Nor will they be used against other nations except in self-defense.
Of course they won’t. Why would Assad give Washington and other NATO countries reason to intervene?
No matter. Incidents are easy to manufacture. Scoundrel media hyperbole manipulates readers and viewers to expect it. Propaganda hypes fear.
On August 17, Mossad-connected DEBKAfile (DF) headlined “Syria’s neighbors braced for chemical threat. Assad warns Turkey on Stingers,” saying:
“The US and its allies are discussing a worst-case scenario that could require up to 60,000 ground troops to go into Syria to secure chemical and biological weapons sites following the fall of the Assad government, an unnamed American source said Thursday night, Aug.16.”
Securing weapons is deceptive cover perhaps for a planned chemical false flag blamed on Assad. DF, Obama, other officials, and Western media are manipulating public opinion to accept another full-scale war.
Alleged Iraq WMD threats facilitated shock and awe and occupation. Others initiated NATO’s destruction of Libya. Expect something similar for Syria. Washington’s bag of tricks contains all dirty ones.
Chemical warfare threats are hyped. DF said US special forces are positioned in Jordan, Turkey and Israel. “Reconnaissance teams from potentially targeted countries have infiltrated Syria.”
Medical preparations have been made. “Israeli hospitals are on war alert.” Fortified emergency wards were opened. “IDF Home Front Command units embarked on a series of chemical attack drills….”
Soldiers wore anti-contamination clothing. Underground parking areas are ready as bomb shelters. “Assad is resolved more than ever to stand fast” and fight.
DF hyperbole sounded like Western media reports during the Blitz.
On August 21, Voice of Russia headlined “Russia denies sending chemical weapons to Syria,” saying:
Colonel Vladimir Mandych, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Department for Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons, said none were sent to Syria, adding:
“Chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction. (Their) use leads to colossal consequences for people involved in armed conflicts and the civilian population and inflicts irreparable damage to the environment.”
“Of course, the international community should take measures to prevent the use of chemical weapons in different regions in the 21st century.”
At the same time, SANA state media reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejects outside intervention and safe zones. He said:
“Statements saying (the Geneva agreement) is as good as dead imply that someone seeks a pretext for military intervention. This is worrying as it can only lead to catastrophe in the region.”
He added that Russia continues discussions with “everyone” to prevent what’s bad getting worse. He fears it for good reason.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expects no Security Council resolution. On August 20, her follow-up comments suggested intervention, saying:
Washington’s position is well-known. “We don’t think there’s going to be peace in Syria until Assad steps down and the bloodshed ends.”
America’s agenda remains unchanged, “that is to get to a political transition strategy, to get to an end to the bloodshed, and to get to a real transition with those countries who are willing to participate, outside the UN if necessary.”
On August 19, SANA state media reported Britain’s Sunday Times saying UK intelligence “is covertly aiding the armed terrorists to launch terrorist attacks in Syria….”
A Syrian opposition official was quoted saying:
UK authorities “know about and approve 100%” of intelligence from their Cyprus military bases. It’s being sent through Turkey to Free Syrian Army forces.
“British intelligence is observing things closely from Cyprus. The British are giving the information to the Turks and the Americans and we are getting it from the Turks.”
Information includes Syrian army movements in Aleppo. CIA elements are involved. So is German intelligence. The Bild am Sontag weekly reported that a spy ship off Syria’s coast uses Federal Intelligence Service (BND) technology. It’s provides information to insurgents.
Germany’s Defense Ministry confirmed its presence. The vessel Oker provides early warnings, communications and reconnaissance. It’s able to monitor troop movements up to 600 km inside Syria. Information is sent to Washington, Britain and insurgents.
BND agents are also stationed in Adana, Turkey. They’re monitoring Syrian telephone and radio communications.
Oker is part of Germany’s UNIFIL mission (UN Interim Force in Lebanon since 1978 until August 31, 2012 unless renewed). It’s not authorized to conduct Syrian intelligence. No parliamentary mandate approved it.
Perhaps Angela Merkel is freelancing on her own. She’s part of NATO’s imperial regime change coalition. Germany is also involved with the “Economic Reconstruction and Development” working group.
Last May, the Syrian National Council’s (SNC) Finance and Economic Affairs Bureau (FEAB) adopted a post-Assad privatization plan. Dozens of countries and 10 organizations are involved. Germany and the UAE lead the initiative.
They want Syrian spoils carved up among them. Plunder is their mandate. Subterfuge masks it. They call it a mission to benefit all Syrians. They plan erasing the Syrian Arab Republic and remaking it in their own image.
They envision unfettered capitalism unleashed in its most savage form. They want Syria replicating the new Iraq and Libya. Profits, not people, matter. Iraq more closely resembles hell than “the cradle of civilization.”
Violence ravages Libya. No end of conflict and human misery is imminent in either country. Full-scale war rages in Afghanistan. American-style liberation is more charnel house than democratic freedom.
Syrians experienced it for months. No end in sight is near. The worst is yet to come. Bet on it.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
________________________________________________________________________
Netanyahu 'Determined to Attack Iran' Before US Elections
By Times of Israel
The
report added that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak believe
Obama would have no choice but to give backing for an Israeli attack
before the US presidential elections in November.
Ryan Adviser Calls On Congress To Authorize War With Iran
By Zack Beauchamp
If
we are unwilling as a nation to state that we will act to prevent Iran
from acquiring a nuclear weapon, that conclusion should solidify
support for what would then become the inevitable Israeli strike.
Appeal to Non-Aligned Leaders Meeting in Tehran
By Veterans for Peace
Israel's
leaders regard the period between now and the U.S. election on Nov. 6
as the most opportune time to virtually guarantee U.S. support for such
an attack. And the continuing buildup of U.S. forces in the area of
the Persian Gulf strengthens the impression of U.S. readiness to provide
it.
They Snipe at us Then Run and Hide in Sewers'
By Robert Fisk
So
many Aleppo citizens talked to me, out of earshot of soldiers, about
armed "foreigners" in their streets along with Syrians "from the
countryside" that the presence of considerable numbers of non-Syrian
gunmen appeared to be true.
Criticism of "Free Syrian Army" tactics is building
Pawns in Syrian Conflict Await an Endgame
Pawns in Syrian Conflict Await an Endgame
By Jonathan Steele in Damascus
As
destruction creeps nearer, the mood has changed dramatically in the
six months since I was last here. People on all sides - all feel that
Syria has become a victim and a plaything taken over by foreigners.
US Desperation Surfaces in Syria
By Tony Cartalucci
Obama's bizarre threats indicative of losing strategy and increasing desperation.
Lives In The Balance
A Must Watch 3 Minute Video
Jackson Browne - Lives In The Balance
Decent Men vs. Strutting Ogres
By Linh Dinh
Done
with making anything useful, the United States is the world's leading
producer of weapons and illusions, mostly of itself.
Human rights critics of Russia and Ecuador parade their own hypocrisy
By Glenn Greenwald
The media's new converts to civic freedom over the Pussy Riot and Assange asylum affairs show a jingoism blind to US abuses.
A World of Hillbilly Heroin:
The Hollowing Out of America, Up Close and Personal
The Hollowing Out of America, Up Close and Personal
By Chris Hedges
"I've
seen a lot of busts in the county over the last few years, and a lot
of the people that have been arrested are elderly people that are
sellin' their medication just to live,"
Death toll from Turkey bomb rises to 9:
Firat,
a pro-Kurdish news agency, cited militants as saying they were not
involved and guerrilla forces would not attack civilians
US kills 5 people in Pakistan: :
An
unmanned American aircraft fired missiles at a vehicle in a Pakistani
tribal area bordering Afghanistan Tuesday, killing five
Afghans to spy on own troops to stop 'insider' attacks:
Nine U.S. troops have been killed by their Afghan counterparts in the past 12 days
Four dead in Lebanon clashes:
Four
people were killed and more than 60 wounded in clashes between Sunni
Muslims and Alawites in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli as the war
in neighbouring Syria inflamed tensions there again, security and
medical sources said on Tuesday.
Engineering Consent for an attack on Syria :
Obama warns Syria against use of chemical weapons:
US
President Barack Obama has issued the toughest warning to his Syrian
counterpart Bashar al-Assad, saying the use of chemical or biological
weapons by Damascus would be a "red line" that would change his
calculus significantly and provoke a foreign military intervention.
Russia warns West on Syria after Obama threats :
"I
think this is the only correct path in today's conditions," Lavrov told
Dai, who also met President Vladimir Putin and his top security
adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, on Monday for consultations that went
unannounced by the Kremlin.
Syria Dismisses Obama Invasion Threat as Election Ploy:
"After
the Russian-Chinese veto [at the UN Security Council] the West is
looking for an opportunity for military intervention in Syria, but we
must say that such intervention is impossible," Jamil said. "Those who
are contemplating that evidently want to see the crisis expand and
spill over beyond Syria."
Russia: Syrian rebels getting lots of Western arms:
Russia
on Monday cited what it called increasing evidence that Syrian rebels
were obtaining large amounts of Western-made arms, suggesting the
United States and European countries are helping fuel persistent
violence in the divided country.
Syria slams UN envoy over "civil war"comments:
"To
speak of civil war in Syria contradicts reality and is found only in
the head of conspirators," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a
statement published by the official SANA news agency.
Man who armed Black Panthers was FBI informant, records show:
The
man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and
weapons training - which preceded fatal shootouts with Oakland police
in the turbulent 1960s - was an undercover FBI informer, according to a
former bureau agent and an FBI report.
Renewed String Of Anti-Islam Attacks Threaten U.S. Muslims During Ramadan:
This
year's Ramadan has been overshadowed by an uptick in Islamophobic
attacks against American Muslims in their schools, homes, and places of
worship.
Muslim spying led to no leads, terror cases:
In
more than six years of spying on Muslim neighborhoods, eavesdropping on
conversations and cataloguing mosques, the New York Police
Department's secret Demographics Unit never generated a lead or
triggered a terrorism investigation, the department acknowledged in
court testimony unsealed late Monday.
Anonymous releases how-to instructions on fooling facial recognition (VIDEO)
Big
Brother may indeed be watching, but that doesn't mean you have to make
his unwarranted surveillance mission easy to operate.
Number of Americans Living in Poverty Reaches All Time High :
Americans
are falling into poverty at a rapid rate, and have been for at least
the past 8 years. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,
inequality has risen to an all time high.
http://is.gd/JAUhUV
........................keep fighting the good fight, with your minds as weapons............
.................kosmicdebris...........................
........................keep fighting the good fight, with your minds as weapons............
.................kosmicdebris...........................
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