Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the
Twenty-First Century
The Stalinist origins of "American Exceptionalism"
by Tom
Engelhardt, September 27, 2013
original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2013/09/26/eight-exceptionally-dumb-american-achievements-of-the-twenty-first-century/

“But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being
gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I
believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us
exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that
essential truth.”
– Barack Obama, address
to the nation on Syria, September 10, 2013
Let’s be Americans, which means being exceptional, which also means being
honest in ways inconceivable to the rest of humanity. So here’s the truth of it:
the American exceptionalism sweepstakes really do matter. Here. A lot.
Barack
Obama is only the latest in a jostling crowd of presidential
candidates, presidential
wa

NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans'
data with Israel
•
Secret deal places no legal limits on use of data by Israelis• Only official
US government communications protected• Agency insists it complies with
rules governing privacy• Read
the NSA and Israel's 'memorandum of understanding'www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents
Series: Glenn
Greenwald on security and liberty
Previous
| Index
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans'
data with Israel
•
Secret deal places no legal limits on use of data by Israelis• Only official
US government communications protected• Agency insists it complies with
rules governing privacy• Read
the NSA and Israel's 'memorandum of understanding'
Share
15847Tweet
this
12
Email
Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill The
Guardian, Wednesday 11 September 2013 10.40 EDT
Jump to comments
(…)

The agreement for the US to provide raw
intelligence data to Israel was reached in pri

Syrian rebels used Sarin nerve gas, not Assad’s
regime: U.N. officialBy Shaun Waterman - The Washington
Timeswww.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve
gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.
Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N.
Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete
suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust
Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used
the nerve agent.
But she said her panel had not yet seen any evidence of Syrian government forces using chemical
weapons, according to the BBC, but she added that
more investigation was needed.
Damascus has recently facing growing Western accusations that its forces used
such weapons, which President Obama has described as crossing a red li

10 Chemical Weapons Attacks
Washington Doesn't Want You to Talk About
Wesley Messamore in World 3 days agowww.policymic.com/articles/62023/10-chemical-weapons-attacks-washington-doesn-t-want-you-to-talk-about
Follow @policymic
Washington doesn't merely lack the legal authority
for a military intervention in Syria. It lacks the moral authority. We're
talking about a government with a history of using chemical weapons against
innocent people far more prolific and deadly than the mere accusations Assad faces from a trigger-happy Western
military-industrial complex, bent on stifling further investigation before
striking.Here is a list of 10 chemical weapons attacks carried out by
the U.S. government or its allies against civilians.
1. The
U.S. Military Dumped 20 Million Gallons of Chemicals on Vietnam from 1962 -
1971

Via: AP
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed 20
million gallons of chemicals, includi

Verify chemical weapons use before unleashing the dogs of wardailycaller.com/2013/08/29/verify-chemical-weapons-use-before-unleashing-the-dogs-of-war/Kenneth TimmermanPresident, Foundation
for Democracy in IranThe Obama administration has selectively used intelligence to justify
military strikes on Syria, former military officers with access to the original
intelligence reports say, in a manner that goes far beyond what critics charged
the Bush administration of doing in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war.
According to these officers, who served in top positions in the United
States, Britain, France, Israel, and Jordan, a Syrian military communication
intercepted by Israel’s famed Unit 8200 electronic intelligence outfit has been
doctored so that it leads a reader to just the opposite conclusion reached by
the original report.
The doctored report was leaked to a private Internet-based newsletter that
boasts of close ties to the Israeli intelligence community, and led to news
reports that the Uni

A war the Pentagon doesn’t
wantwww.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-military-planners-dont-support-war-with-syria/2013/09/05/10a07114-15bb-11e3-be6e-dc6ae8a5b3a8_story.html The tapes tell the tale. Go back and look at
images of our nation’s most senior soldier, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and his body
language during Tuesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Syria. It’s
pretty obvious that Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, doesn’t want
this war. As Secretary of State John Kerry’s thundering voice and arm-waving redounded in rage against Bashar al-Assad’s atrocities, Dempseywas largely (and respectfully) silent.
Dempsey’s unspoken words reflect the opinions of most serving military
leaders. By no means do I profess to speak on behalf of all of our men and women
in uniform. But I can justifiably share the sentiments of those inside the
Pentagon and elsewhere who write the plans and develop strategies for fighting
our wars. After personal exchanges with dozens of active and re