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<DIV><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>I also thought the timing of this " terror scare "
was quite a coincidence, considering the recent Snowden asylum AND more
importent in my opinion, the close U.S. House vote on defunding the
NSA.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Like the criminals they are, they have an M.O. and
hence at times all too predictable.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>David J.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@hotmail.com href="mailto:tanstl@hotmail.com">David Sladky</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, August 03, 2013 7:27 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> One Day After Russian Asylum for Snowden: Obama
Administration Launches Terror Scare</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV id=post-5344836 class=post>
<DIV class=title>
<H2>One Day After Russian Asylum for Snowden: Obama Administration Launches
Terror Scare</H2>
<DIV class=meta>
<DIV class=post-info>
<DIV class=author>By <A title="Posts by Thomas Gaist"
href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/thomas-gaist">Thomas Gaist</A></DIV>
<DIV class=grDate>Global Research, August 03, 2013</DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV class=postThumbnail><IMG
class="attachment-single-post-thumbnail wp-post-image"
title=war_on_terror_uncle_sam alt=war_on_terror_uncle_sam
src="http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/war_on_terror_uncle_sam.jpg"
width=310 height=415> </DIV>Amid escalating denunciations and threats against
both Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) contractor-turned
whistle-blower, and Russia, which granted Snowden temporary asylum on Thursday,
the Obama administration on Friday issued a “global travel alert,” closing US
embassies in Tripoli, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Baghdad, Riyadh and Doha based on
supposed threats of Al Qaeda attacks.<BR>In total, 22 embassies and consulates
are to be closed, and a terror alert has been issued covering the entire Middle
East. Official statements have asserted that a contact from Yemen—a country that
has been under bombardment from US drones for years—gave information raising the
possibility of terror attacks against US embassies.<BR>All three major
television networks led their evening news reports with the government’s claims,
reporting them uncritically despite the lack of any substantiation or any
specific purported threats. Terrorism “experts” were trundled out in the usual
fashion to stoke up public alarm.<BR>None of the government’s claims should be
taken for good coin. They follow more evidence of broad popular support for
Snowden, whom the Obama administration is witch-hunting and targeting for
prosecution—or worse—for leaking details of secret surveillance programs that
invade the privacy and violate the rights of every American and millions more
people around the world.<BR>On Thursday, a Quinnipiac poll was released showing
that 55 percent of Americans believe Snowden is a whistle-blower, versus only 34
percent who buy the government line that he is a spy or traitor. Weeks of
official statements from Obama, top intelligence officials and politicians of
both parties claiming that the spying operations are needed to combat terror
threats have obviously fallen flat with the public. There is every reason to
believe that Friday’s terror scare was launched in an attempt to sow
disorientation and dissipate opposition to the illegal and unconstitutional
spying programs.<BR>The Obama administration has threatened to cancel a planned
meeting between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow following
the upcoming G20 summit in St. Petersburg. This would be one form of retaliation
for Moscow’s granting of temporary asylum to Snowden.<BR>Russia’s decision to
allow Snowden to leave the Moscow airport to which he had been confined for over
a month and settle in Russia for at least a year provoked furious denunciations
from the American political establishment. “Obviously this is not a positive
development,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Thursday. “We are
evaluating the utility of a summit.”<BR>Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of
New York called Snowden a “coward” and denounced Russia for “stabbing us in the
back.” Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said Snowden was a “traitor to
our country.”<BR>“Any time our president is seen to be disrespected, it’s not
good,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in an interview.
“Our foreign policy is not working. This is an example of it not
working.”<BR>Lon Snowden, father of Edward, told CBS in regard to the asylum
decision, “It’s the honourable thing to do, and as not just a citizen of the
United States, but a global citizen of this planet, an occupant of the Earth, I
am so thankful for what they have done for my son.”<BR>“As you know, he is
receiving threats from the United States government every day,” said Anatoly
Kucherena, the Russian lawyer who facilitated Snowden’s asylum request. “The
situation is heating up.”<BR>“The personal safety issue is a very serious one
for him,” Kucherena added. Security concerns will constrain Snowden’s movement,
according to Kucherena, who said that he “can’t go for a walk on Red Square or
go fishing.”<BR>Friday’s terror alert comes in the midst of a public relations
campaign by the administration to portray the spying programs as legal and
carefully monitored by Congress. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held
a hearing to take testimony from top officials of the NSA and the Justice
Department concerning the programs. Amid talk of the need for “transparency” and
“accountability” from some of the senators on the committee, the hearing only
underscored the absence of any serious or principled opposition in Congress and
the complicity of both parties, the Congress and the courts in the buildup of
the apparatus of a police state.<BR>Congress was fully informed about the NSA
programs for years before the<EM>Guardian</EM> published Snowden’s leaked
documents. Democratic Senators Mark Udall of Colorado and Ron Wyden of Oregon
have been trumpeted as adversaries of the NSA surveillance and defenders of
civil liberties. In fact, they make no serious challenge to either the programs
or the spy agencies that carry them out.<BR>Their supposed opposition is
two-faced and cowardly. Neither of them even voted against the confirmation this
week of a former Bush Justice Department official and supporter of torture and
the NSA spying programs as the new Federal Bureau of Investigation
director.<BR>They propose token measures to provide a fig leaf of legality and
constitutionality to programs that directly violate the Bill of Rights. In a
recent meeting between congressional would-be opponents of surveillance and
President Obama, Wyden proposed the addition of a “privacy and civil liberties
advocate” to the secret court that reviews surveillance requests.<BR>He claims
to oppose NSA programs that collect the records of all US telephone calls, but
adds caveats that would allow the government to continue to shred the Fourth
Amendment’s ban on warrantless searches and seizures. “I am open, for example,
on areas like these emergency authorities to make sure that our government is in
a position to get information needed to protect the public,” Wyden said after
the meeting with Obama.<BR>Neither Wyden nor any of the other congressional
“critics” of the spying programs defend Snowden or other whistle-blowers who
have exposed US government crimes, such as Bradley Manning and Julian
Assange.<BR>Meanwhile, virtually every day brings new revelations of pervasive
spying programs. A <A
href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57596791-38/fbi-pressures-internet-providers-to-install-surveillance-software/">CNET
report</A> released Friday stated that the FBI has been pressuring
telecommunications providers to install “port reader software” that enables
real-time interception of internet metadata, including IP addresses, e-mail
addresses, identities of Facebook correspondents, and sites visited by
government surveillance agencies. As CNET wrote: “The US government is quietly
pressuring telecommunications providers to install eavesdropping technology deep
inside companies’ internal networks to facilitate surveillance
efforts.”<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>