CLG: White House loosens restrictions on lobbyists, U.S. may send troops to Iraq - White House, Another Police Shooting in Ferguson, Missouri

News Updates from CLG
13 August 2014

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Previous edition: More Iraq Airstrikes Amid 'US Homeland Threat'. Google subscribers: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.

U.S. may send troops to Iraq - White House 13 Aug 2014 A senior White House official said on Wednesday that the United States would consider using American ground troops to assist Iraqis in 'rescuing Yazidi refugees' if recommended by military advisers assessing the situation. Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, told reporters on Martha's Vineyard that President Obama would probably receive recommendations in the next several days about how to mount a rescue operation to help the refugees, who are [allegedly] stranded on a mountaintop surrounded by Sunni militants. He said those recommendations could include the use of American ground troops. Mr. Rhodes said that like American forces anywhere, the troops would have the ability to defend themselves if they came under fire.

U.S. sends 130 additional troops to Iraq 12 Aug 2014 The United States sent about 130 additional military personnel to northern Iraq on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. Since June, the United States has sent about 700 military personnel to Iraq to protect U.S. diplomats there and take stock of Iraq's military capacity. The European Union gave the green light on Tuesday for its individual members to supply weapons to Kurdish forces in coordination with Baghdad.

US sends more military advisors to Iraq 13 Aug 2014 Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says the US has sent 130 more military advisors to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The personnel are in addition to about 250 military advisors already there. Speaking to servicemen and women at Camp Pendleton in California, he said the advisors were in Iraq to assist and advise Iraqi security forces who are fighting the militant group Islamic State (IS).

US likely to arm Iraq's new government with weapons to fight Isis 12 Aug 2014 Iraq's post-Nouri al-Maliki government is likely to receive accelerated shipments of missiles, guns and ammunition, according to US officials...Internal deliberations are said to continue within the Obama administration over the details and scope of a defense aid package to a yet-unformed successor government led by [US oil troll] Haider al-Abadi, who will inherit a country under assault from the army of the Islamic State (Isis).

British May Use RAF Tornados in Iraq Mission 11 Aug 2014 The British government will deploy RAF Tornado fast jets in northern Iraq which could play a role in the humanitarian mission, Downing Street has confirmed. In a statement, Number 10 said "a small number" of Tornado jets will be sent to the region and can be used, if required, to improve the UK's surveillance capability. The fighter jets are equipped with Raptor pods, giving them the ability to conduct long and short range surveillance and infra-red photography.

US Military: Airstrikes 'Won't Stop ISIS' 12 Aug 2014 Islamic militants fighting in northern Iraq are unlikely to be stopped by targeted airstrikes, a US general has warned. Joint staff operations director Lieutenant General William Mayville told a news conference that 15 airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) positions were focused initially on protecting US facilities [oil] and citizens, as well as aiding the humanitarian mission...Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee, after a No 10 source told Sky News there were no plans to recall Parliament to discuss the crisis despite mounting pressure. A Number 10 spokeswoman later confirmed after the meeting that "a small number" of RAF Tornado fast jets would be "pre-positioned" in the area in case their surveillance capabilities are needed to help organise humanitarian efforts.

Snowden Claims NSA Knocked Syria's Internet Offline --Former NSA contractor also says U.S. was working on automated cyberattack response system in WIRED interview 13 Aug 2014 National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has claimed a team of NSA hackers was responsible for effectively knocking the entire country of Syria offline two years ago during a period of intense fighting in its still-ongoing civil war. Snowden's claim is significant because many observers believed one of several other parties to be responsible for the outage, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, hackers aligned with but perhaps not a part of Assad's government, or Israel.

Gaza homes 'uninhabitable' as tens of thousands come back to rubble 12 Aug 2014 Tens of thousands of people across Gaza returned to their homes on Monday as a tenuous ceasefire held and hopes rose of an end to the month-long conflict between Israel and Hamas...Local officials and humanitarian workers began to inspect the latest damage the war had caused in the overcrowded enclave, with assessments indicating earlier estimates may have been optimistic.

Russia to send humanitarian convoy into Ukraine in spite of warnings 11 Aug 2014 Russia is sending a humanitarian convoy into Ukraine in cooperation with the Red Cross, the Kremlin has announced. [Hypocritical] Western leaders had previously warned Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, against using a humanitarian aid mission as a pretext for a military intervention in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. But Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the convoy would not include any armed personnel or soldiers. "It is being sent under the aegis of the Red Cross and with the agreement of Kiev," Peskov said, adding that the convoy would probably depart this week.

Russia sending aid convoy to Ukraine despite Western warnings of 'invasion pretext' 11 Aug 2014 President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso delivered a blunt message in a telephone call with Putin on Monday. "President Barroso warned against any unilateral military actions in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian," the Commission said in a statement. The Kremlin, in its own account of the conversation, made clear that Moscow would indeed send help to largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. [It's about time! *Apparently,* only USociopaths are allowed to send 'aid.' In fact, the US pig snout is sniffing for oil and water in nearly every nation on God's green earth, using 'aid' as a pretext for stealing resources and running - as in the 14-year illegal occupation of Afghanistan - the CIA's op--m routes. --LRP]

Another Police Shooting in Ferguson, Missouri 13 Aug 2014 Violence again erupted in the St. Louis area near the site of the police shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, according to local police. Early on Wednesday, a police officer shot and critically wounded a man who [allegedly] drew a handgun near the site of protests over the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, a St. Louis County Police Department officer said. Shortly after midnight, police fired tear gas into protesters who had confronted a line of officers after a far larger crowd dispersed, St. Louis County Police Department spokesman Brian Schellman said.

Missouri police fired wooden bullets at crowd during protest over teen's death 12 Aug 2014 Police fired at protesters with solid wooden bullets during the latest demonstrations in Missouri against the killing by a police officer of an unarmed black 18-year-old, Michael Brown...The morning after demonstrators in Ferguson reported being shot by what they called "wooden pellets", the Guardian found three wooden rounds along the side of a street where clashes had taken place.

Police, protesters again clash outside St. Louis 11 Aug 2014 Police in riot gear fired tear gas to try to disperse a crowd in a St. Louis suburb where an unarmed black teenager had been fatally shot by a police officer over the weekend. Between two nights of unrest, a community forum hosted by the local NAACP chapter Monday drew hundreds to a sweltering church in Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot multiple times. Witnesses have said that Brown had his hands raised when the unnamed officer approached with his weapon drawn and fired repeatedly.

Anonymous launches OpFerguson after cop kills unarmed Missouri teen 11 Aug 2014 Hacktivists have set their sights on the town of Ferguson, Missouri after police there on Saturday shot and killed an unarmed man, 18-year-old Michael Brown, elevating a wave of protests that have occurred in the days since to the digital realm. Demonstrations and vigils across the St. Louis, MO suburb have taken place ever since Saturday afternoon's incident in which Brown was shot eight times by a Ferguson cop after an altercation allegedly occurred between the two, reportedly just days before the victim was expected to begin college. By Sunday, however, peaceful protests aimed at raising awareness of the shooting death began to turn violent in the city of barely 20,000, and local law enforcement responded to reports of riots and looting by deploying SWAT teams and heavily weaponized police.

F.B.I. Opens Inquiry Into Police Killing of St. Louis Teenager 11 Aug 2014 The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday that it had opened an inquiry into the weekend shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer that sparked a night of looting and vandalism in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. Special Agent Cheryl Mimura, of the F.B.I.'s office in St. Louis, said that the agency had begun an investigation into possible civil rights violations connected to the death of Michael Brown, 18, who had been planning to begin college classes on Monday. On Monday, Chief Jon Belmar of the St. Louis County Police said that an autopsy had shown that Mr. Brown had been "struck several times by gunfire."

White House loosens restrictions on lobbyists 12 Aug 2014 President Barack Obama is loosening restrictions on lobbyists who want to serve on federal advisory boards, a White House official said on Tuesday, a setback [Setback? He did it himself. It's sell out!] to the president's efforts to tamp down special interest influence in Washington...Obama came to office pledging to curtail the sway of lobbyists and banned lobbyists from serving on such panels, which guide government policy on a range of topics ranging from cancer to towing safety.

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