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US leading world to nuclear war over Syria: Ex-US Senate candidate

Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui has been found guilty of trying to kill US military personnel and FBI agents in Afghanistan two years ago. Siddiqui has vehemently denied all charges against her during the trial, calling them 'ridiculous' and insisting that she was framed, jailed and tortured by US agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Siddiqui was accused of grabbing a US warrant officer's M-4 rifle in a police station in Ghazni province in 2008 and firing two shots at FBI agents and military personnel while being interrogated for her alleged possession of documents detailing a 'terrorist' plan. In March 2003, Siddiqui vanished in Karachi, Pakistan with her three children. It was reported in local newspapers that she had been taken into custody on terrorism charges. Many political activists believe she was Prisoner 650 of the notorious US detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, where they say she was tortured for five years until the US authorities claimed in an announcement that they had found her in Afghanistan. Recorded February 04, 2010 at 0800GMT

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US. \\\"Without a doubt, the leaders of the global arrogance engineered [this plot] and [were in charge of] the command room of these atrocities,\\\" the Leader said. Ayatollah Khamenei added that \\\"Zionist think-tanks which hold the most influence on the US government and its security and military organizations\\\" were among the accomplices in the scenario. \\\"This incident and previous incidents clearly show that what the global arrogance is attacking today is the foundation of Islam and the Holy Quran,\\\" Ayatollah Khamenei said. The Leader said that the enemies\\\' main objective behind this abominable act was to drag their fight with Islam and Muslims to all levels of the Christian society and to give it a religious pretext by bringing the Church into play. \\\"We must all realize that this recent incident is not related to the Church and Christianity and the puppet actions of a few foolish and mercenary priests must not be attributed to Christians and their clergy,\\\" Ayatollah Khamenei said. The Leader said Muslims would never adopt similar measures against the religious sanctities of other faiths. \\\"All Muslims hold the US government and their politicians accountable. If the US government is sincere in its claims of not having been involved in this incident, it must mete out a befitting punishment to the main perpetrators of this serious crime... who have hurt the sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims,\\\" the Leader said. After Florida pastor Terry Jones called off his Quran burning plans in the face of fierce international condemnation, other anti-Islam elements in the US attempted to burn copies of the holy book on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Saturday. Two evangelical preachers in Tennessee also set copies of the Quran on fire and members of the group Operation Rescue tore pages from the holy book of Islam. The police made no efforts to stop the desecrating acts.

Lebanon condemns Quran burning plan Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has condemned a US church\'s plan to burn copies of the Muslim holy book to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11 attacks. Speaking on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, Sleiman said on Wednesday that the controversial decision contradicts Christian teachings and humanitarian values such as love and respect, a Press TV correspondent reported. \"The president condemns the announcement of a religious group in the United States of its intention to openly burn copies of the Quran,\" read a statement released by the president\'s office. Burning the Quran \"is a clear contradiction of the teachings of the three Abrahamic religions and of dialogue among the three faiths,\" Christianity, Islam and Judaism, AFP quoted the Christian president as saying. Pastor Terry Jones, who is part of the Dove World Outreach Center, a small evangelical Christian church in Gainesville, Florida, with an anti-Islam philosophy, has threatened to burn some 200 copies of the Quran on Saturday evening, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The threat has drawn international condemnation with Muslims launching protest rallies around the globe. US officials have also denounced the plan but no legal measure has been taken yet to block the blasphemous move. The US State Department also called the move \"un-American,\" while the US Attorney General Eric Holder called the idea \"idiotic and dangerous.\" EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton condemned the planned act, while Arab League chief Amr Mussa dubbed Jones a \"fanatic\". The Vatican council has blasted the Florida church\'s scheme as an \"outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community.\" Many Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Indonesia have already held massive demonstrations against the US church\'s intent. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/141762.html

A former NATO officer claims US Special Forces have conducted secret raids inside Pakistan's border regions. The operations were conducted between 2003 and 2008, but only one was ever made public. According to reports, troops were looking for high value targets among both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The one that became widely known in September 2008 was condemned as a provocation by the Pakistani government. Ethnic groups from Pakistans Belugistan province where most of the raids occurred blame the government in Islamabad for allowing these things to happen, said RT LIVE investigative journalist Webster Tarpley. He pointed out that President Obamas West point speech of December 2 is a thinly veiled declaration of war against Pakistan in the sense that it announces the intent of the US to promote the dismemberment, the partition of Pakistan along ethnic lines and in order to do that you have to create trouble on the ground. Ambassador Richard Holbrook, who is the US tsar for the region, was asked Do you have troops in Pakistan? and he said The US has intelligence personnel in Pakistan but not troops. And I would ask What about the contractors, Mr Ambassador? asked Tarpley. Webster Tarpley disclosed information published in The Nation and Vanity Fair magazines about Blackwater Select and Total Intelligence Solutions having massive snatch and grab and even assassination operations run out of Karachi, Pakistans largest city, under the command of the US Joint Special Operations Command and CIA. The Taliban refused to take responsibility for some explosions in public places in Pakistan and blamed the CIA for destabilizing the situation in the country through terror. I guess from some points of view the golden age of Blackwater was perhaps not under Bush/ Cheney but it is now under Obama, Tarpley said, and they are running wild in ways they trample the sovereignty of Pakistan as a country.

[31 May 2012] Pashtuns urge withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan - English Pakhtuns from Afghanistan and Pakistan held a two-day National jirga in metropolis Peshawar with the efforts to find ways to end the years-long insecurity, unrest and violence on their region which they believed has been caused by the US invasion of Afghanistan

[04 June 2012] 'US warships in Asia Pacific foolish' - English The US, under the guise of posing 'no threat' to China, has unveiled plans to send warships to surround the Asia Pacific region, which has prompted warning from Beijing. Press TV has interviewed Jeff Steinberg of the Executive Intelligence Review about the US potentially militarizing its relationship with power nations such as China and Russia.

[13 July 2012] Pakistanis angry at reopening US supply routes1 - English Anti-US and anti-government sentiment runs high in Pakistan following the government's decision to allow the US and its allied to resume shipping troop supplies to Afghanistan

[15 July 2012] Pakistan government kowtowing to US - English Pakistanis are in a long march protesting against Islamabad agreeing to reopen the border into Afghanistan, the questions many are asking: will this time make a difference and will Islamabad listen to the people's demands?

[22 July 2012] Another victim shot dead by US forces in Afghanistan - English Wali Khan was shot dead by US forces right after they burst into his home. The US military said they initially thought the man killed in the raid was a militant. But after further investigation, they admitted he was not.

[28 Aug 2012] Another US led soldier has been killed in Afghanistan - English

President Hamid Karzai for the first time has made public that the US wants to have permanent military presence in Afghanistan. He has also unveiled the number of bases the US is mulling over. Karzai wants to let the US have these bases but with some conditions. But on the streets, local Afghans are angry at the prospect of permanent US bases in their country. The say such bases will bring about more problems to Afghans, and that they no more trust foreign forces. It has now been 12 years of war since the US invaded Afghanistan, ostensibly to fight the Taliban and bring peace. Fayez Khorshid, Press TV, Kabul Follow our Facebook on: https://www.facebook.com/presstv Follow our Twitter on: http://twitter.com/presstv Follow our Tumblr on: http://presstvchannel.tumblr.com

The Supreme Court has come into action to expose the role of top officials of previous government of People Party for seeking the US military intervention and denuclearization of Pakistan, a nuclear state. The Court has ordered the newly elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to bring back from the US the fugitive Hussain Haqqani, the country\'s ex ambassador to Washington. Haqqani has been refusing to return home citing security concerns since last year when a Judicial Commission found him seeking the US military intervention in Pakistan after US marines carried out an operation to kill top Alqaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in northwest of country in 2011. Haqqani allegedly in league with President Asif Zardari was behind authorizing a memorandum seeking Pentagon\'s help to sack top Pakistani military officials. In return President Zardari would have allowed the direct US military operations to hunt down militants in the country. Javed Rana, Press TV, Islamabad

France says it cannot accept a partner like the US invading its privacy. This after new revelations that the US National Security Agency secretly Collected over 70 million recordings of French phone data in just 30 days, between late 2012 and early 2013. The extent and scope of the US spying scandal is raising questions on civil rights, trust between nations and accountability, all of which we\'ll be addressing on this edition of The Debate.

The chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin has met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to hammer out a security deal between the two countries. Levin told the Afghan leader that the US would not provide any further military support until a deal is signed. The two sides also discussed security agreement between Kabul and Washington. The issue over the agreement is related to America\'s drone attacks across Afghanistan, with many innocent civilians being wrongly targeted by US air-force drones. Karzai and US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this month said that the two sides have agreed on the terms of bilateral security agreement.

A group of protesters have taken to the streets of Tehran for yet another demonstration against the US and its policies. The protest is the latest in a series of weekly rallies held after Friday prayers. The demonstrators have dubbed this week\'s rally as \"the US apology for racism and deception.\" They chanted slogans against the US and torched its flag. The protesters also stepped on pictures of the US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman to show their anger at her anti-Iran remarks. Earlier this month, Sherman told a group of US senators that deception is part of the DNA, while she was talking about dealing with Iran.

Furious Afghan president says US drones have struck a home in Helmand, killing a small child and wounding two women. President Hamid Karzai has condemned the drone strike as yet another example of US disregard for civilian life. The strike comes in the midst of a standoff between the Afghan government and the US over a security deal. Washington is pushing for a military presence in Afghanistan after 2014 along with legal immunity for American troops. The US killing of civilians is a controversial issue in Afghanistan. The Afghan government wants the Americans to stop using airstrikes in populated areas, but those demands have so far fallen on deaf ears.

In the US prison at Guantanamo, despite various calls for a halt to humiliating and degrading treatment of inmates, such acts continue. In the latest development, US appeals court judges are questioning the need for genital searches of prisoners before meeting their lawyers. At a hearing of a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Thomas Griffith said that checking the prisoners\' private parts was both provocative and offensive. Griffith then cited the detainees\' right to have easy access to their lawyers as a legal obligation of the court. Some of the prisoners have decided not to meet their lawyers because genital searches were required beforehand. Meanwhile, another US appeals court is reviewing whether it is necessary to force-feed hunger-striking prisoners, an act which some people describe as torture.

The chorus of opposition to US drone attacks is getting louder and louder in Yemen. The Yemeni parliament has banned the drone attacks in a symbolic vote. Anger has been on the rise at the US drone attacks in Yemen. The country has seen several protests against deadly raids by the unmanned aerial vehicles. Washington has stepped up its drone operations in Yemen in recent months. The attacks have killed many people. The US says it\\\'s targeting al-Qaeda linked militants. But many Yemenis call this a violation of their sovereignty. The American drone strikes have killed large numbers of people in other Muslims countries, including Pakistan. The United Nations has condemned the US for using its drones for what the world body calls targeted killings.

US President Barack Obama is ending his fifth year in office matching the worst public approval ratings of his presidency. A new poll shows that Obama\'s approval rating has hit a new record low. The poll, conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post, shows that just 43 percent of US citizens currently approve the president\'s job performance down 11 points from this time last year. The poll has put the US president\'s disapproval at 55 percent up from 42 percent last year. That\'s the highest unpopularity mark in Obama\'s presidency so far. Political analysts say the US president\'s controversial healthcare law, known as the Obamacare, and his weak national security strategies are some of the main reasons for his waning popularity

Six US troops were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan this week. It\'s the deadliest day for US troops since a helicopter crash in 2012. The crash is under investigation, but in a statement , the NATO coalition said there was no enemy activity at the time of the crash. The deadly crash comes as casualties in the war have dropped to some of their lowest levels in years. The latest total of US troop deaths according to USA Today is at 119 this year--down from 294 the year before. Critics say leaders in both countries are at fault. Helicopter crashes have have caused some of the largest U.S. death tolls in Afghanistan.

The US may have to fly military equipment out of Afghanistan since the land route through Pakistan has been blocked because of anti-US protests. US officials say the possible air shipments would cost an additional one billion dollars. Sending the cargoes out through the normal routes via Pakistan would cost about five billion dollars. Dozens of Pakistani protesters continue to gather on the busy overland route more than a week after Islamabad promised Washington that it would take immediate action to quell the protests. Pakistanis are angry with US drone operations which have left scores of civilians dead and injured in their country.

Demonstrators have poured onto the streets of the Yemeni city of Sada\\\\\\\'a for yet another protest against the US and Israel. The protesters stormed the main streets of Sada\\\\\\\'a in the country\\\\\\\'s north, holding placards denouncing the US interference in Yemen\\\\\\\'s affairs. The demonstrators also chanted slogans against the Yemeni government over American drone attacks in the country. The protests come in the wake of a deadly US strike on a wedding in the country, killing 17 people. The US is estimated to have carried out at least a dozen strikes in the province since the start of 2012.

The US Congress says President Barack Obama\\\'s plans for the country\\\'s nuclear arsenal will cost 355 billion dollars over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report saying the expenses will cover the modernization of nuclear weapons, their delivery systems, and nuclear weapons production laboratories. The CBO report also said the cost is nearly one hundred and 50 billion dollars more than the administration\\\'s initial request last year. The US president claims the nuclear modernization plan is needed to boost the security of the US military and give political leaders enough confidence in nuclear talks with other world powers. The new nuclear budget request comes as US officials continue to wrangle over the country\\\'s rising budget deficit.

Six months ago, American whistleblower Edward Snowden started leaking the US National Security Agency\\\'s surveillance documents. Now the former NSA contractor says his mission has been accomplished. In an interview with The Washington Post, Snowden has said he\\\'s happy because the public is now informed about the US massive sweep of Internet and phone records. This is Snowden\\\'s first in-person interview since his June arrival in Russia under temporary asylum, that will expire in August. US federal prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint against Snowden, charging him with espionage and felony theft of government property. But Snowden says he\\\'s working to improve the NSA, adding this is the only thing Washington does not realize. Snowden\\\'s revelations have outraged civil liberties advocates. Even US allies have been angered by reports that Washington has been monitoring their leaders\\\' cellphone calls and other virtual communications.

A new report says al-Qaeda did not carry out last year\\\'s attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed the US ambassador. A bomb blast targeting the mission on September 11 left four Americans including US envoy Chris Stevens dead. The US later blamed al-Qaeda-linked groups for the explosion. The report by New York Times, however, says there\\\'s been no evidence of the involvement of any international group in the attack. The investigation added that local citizens might have been behind the bombing. It added that an anti-Muslim video and rumors that guards inside the American compound had shot Libyan protesters, could have been the trigger.

A new report says al-Qaeda did not carry out last year\\\'s attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed the US ambassador. A bomb blast targeting the mission on September 11 left four Americans including US envoy Chris Stevens dead. The US later blamed al-Qaeda-linked groups for the explosion. The report by New York Times, however, says there\\\'s been no evidence of the involvement of any international group in the attack. The investigation added that local citizens might have been behind the bombing. It added that an anti-Muslim video and rumors that guards inside the American compound had shot Libyan protesters, could have been the trigger.

A former US drone operator and analyst has slammed American and British militaries for fabricating faulty information on the civilian deaths in the US-led drone war worldwide. Heather Linebaugh has questioned the accuracy of the information collected by the drones saying the videos provided are NOT clear enough to detect militants from civilians. The former American analyst also said the drones in the U-S-led wars are not used as protection but rather as a weapon. The US military uses drones in several Muslim countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. US military sources claim the drones target militants but rights activist and local officials say many civilians are killed in such strikes.