Even though we should have all been wise to it from the start.
Even though we all know the reality of it now.
Mike Whitney explains:
The FBI’s counterintelligence probe into Trump’s alleged connections to Russia was launched on the basis of information gathered from a report that was paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign.
The surveillance of a Trump campaign member (Carter Page) was approved by a FISA court on the basis of information from a report that was paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign.
The Intelligence Community Analysis or ICA was (largely or partially) based on information from a report that was paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign. (more on this below)
The information that was leaked to the media alleging Russia hacking or collusion can be traced back to claims that were made in a report that was paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign.
The entire Russia-gate investigation rests on the “unverified and salacious” information from a dossier that was paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton Campaign. Here’s how Stephen Cohen sums it up in a recent article at The Nation:
“Steele’s dossier… was the foundational document of the Russiagate narrative…from the time its installments began to be leaked to the American media in the summer of 2016, to the US “Intelligence Community Assessment” of January 2017….the dossier and subsequent ICA report remain the underlying sources for proponents of the Russiagate narrative of “Trump-Putin collision.” (“Russia gate or Intel-gate?”, The Nation)
There’s just one problem with Cohen’s statement, we don’t really know the extent to which the dossier was used in the creation of the Intelligence Community Assessment. (The ICA was the IC’s flagship analysis that was supposed to provide ironclad proof of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.) According to some reports, the contribution was significant. Check out this excerpt from an article at Business Insider:
“Intelligence officials purposefully omitted the dossier from the public intelligence report they released in January about Russia’s election interference because they didn’t want to reveal which details they had corroborated, according to CNN.” (“Mueller reportedly interviewed the author of the Trump-Russia dossier — here’s what it alleges, and how it aligned with reality”, Business Insider)
Bottom line: Despite the denials of former-CIA Director John Brennan, the dossier may have been used in the ICA.
In the last two weeks, documents have been released that have exposed the weak underpinnings of the Russia investigation while at the same time revealing serious abuses by senior-level officials at the DOJ and FBI. The so called Nunes memo was the first to point out these abuses, but it was the 8-page “criminal referral” authored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Lindsey Graham that gave credence to the claims.
When the history is written, I think we'll learn just what a cheater Hillary was.
We'll learn that her getting CNN debate questions ahead of time was the least of her dirty tricks.
We'll know that she's all about lying and trickery and that she was behind the whole RussiaScare and it was designed to subvert election results and sew dissension in the US.
She really is hideous.
And her win at any cost attitude risks another Cold War.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
15 years ago today Jeremy Corbyn spoke at the historic protest against the Iraq war
Today is the 15-year anniversary of the largest protest event in history – the Feb. 15, 2003 demonstrations against the imminent US invasion of #Iraq. On this occasion we republish an article detailing concerns that drove millions to take the streets.
Why so little coverage of today?
Well, it's not like the press can call us treasonous -- that is what some of them called us in 2003, remember?
"Treason." To protest an impending war was "treason."
To protest a war being built on lies was "treason."
We knew.
The 'experts' didn't know, but we did.
That's why we turned out in the largest numbers ever around the world.
Because we knew this was an illegal war. We knew we were being lied to.
And the press spat on us, lied about us, called us names.
That same press isn't interested in telling us today about the protests.
They sold the IraqWar.
They sold it with lies as well as with character attacks on us.
Remember, they're about making money, not about telling the truth.
And the truth about what they did 15 years ago doesn't fit with their image of 'truth tellers' today.
Meryl Streep was no where to be found 15 years ago. But today she whores her ugly ass to prop up the press as some wonderful body out to protect us. To do that, she has to appear in a film that lies and that's set in the early 70s which says a great deal -- all bad -- about the press itself.
We stood together 15 years ago and we were a rebuke to the governments wanting war and to the press selling it.
Our actions were evidence that it was obvious all along that the Iraq War was built on lies.
Honoring us, remembering us, today would be to indict themselves.
So they instead they try to disappear us.
Because we did make a difference.
We hoped to stop the war before it started.
That we failed at.
But we were a living testament against the war.
And we were right.
And that doesn't just sting them to this day, it's helped prevent larger wars, it's made them scared to get honest about troops stationed here and there.
15 years ago on this day, millions of people took to the streets across the world to protest against the invasion of Iraq. The Anti-War movement at the time, predicted huge unrest and instability in the Middle East and Iraq if an invasion where to take place. Sadly proven right.
The was very important ad showed large numbers of people in US and UK didn’t accept the lies and propaganda of the warmongers. The movement also politicised a generation of activists such as myself who were outraged by the sheer barbarity of the war in Iraq and the lies told.
The protests 15 years ago mattered and they matter to this day.
To get the war they wanted, they had to lie. They lie to this day.
Take the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The fighting in Iraq is over, but the task ahead is enormous. The UN stands with Iraqis as they build a country that is committed to unity and inclusivity. bit.ly/2suKWlA
The fighting is over?
Margaret Griffis (ANTIWAR.COM) just reported:
At least 15 people were killed, and two were wounded
in recent violence:
A bomb killed
a cattle rancher in Muqdadiya.
A sticky bomb in Ilam killed
one person.
In Baghdad, a bomb at a market left two
wounded.
Thirteen
militants were killed in airstrikes on Tal Afar, near Mosul.
But, hey, the fighting's over.
Once again, it's don't believe what's happening, believe what we tell you is happening.
Iraq held a fundraiser in Kuwait. They wanted between $88 and $100 billion dollars. They only got $30 billion. Worse, not all of that was a gift/donation -- that figure also includes loans.
REUTERS reports:
Iraq received pledges of $30 billion, mostly in credit facilities and investment, on Wednesday from allies but this fell short of the $88 billion Baghdad says it needs to recover from three years of war.
[. . .]
“If we compare what we got today to what we need, it is no secret, it is of course much lower than what Iraq needs,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told a news conference.
The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS, BLACK AGENDA REPORT, GORILLA NEWS and LATINO USA -- updated:
C.I.'s "
