[Federal Times] A former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has pled guilty to making false statements during an investigation into a leak of classified information about a covert cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright entered the plea at a hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. When Leon asked if Cartwright understood the charge, he said: "I do, sir."
The offense carries a maximum of five years in prison, but Cartwright's attorney told the judge that the government and defense counsel had agreed on a recommended sentence of no more than six months. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January and it will be up to Leon to decide the sentence.
Cartwright told investigators that he was not the source of classified information contained in a book by New York Times journalist David Sanger, according to charging documents unsealed by prosecutors.
Neither the book nor the classified subject is identified in court papers. But Sanger has written about a covert cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities and the use of a computer virus called Stuxnet to temporarily disable centrifuges that the Iranians were using to enrich uranium.
The charging documents also said Cartwright misled prosecutors about classified information shared with another journalist, Daniel Klaidman.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland announced the case on Monday.
Prosecutors said Cartwright was charged via criminal information, a document that is filed with a defendant's consent and that signals that a plea agreement has been reached.
Gregory Craig, an attorney for Cartwright, had no immediate comment, but his office said he would issue a statement later on Monday.
Cartwright, 67, was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 until 2011, and was considered a key adviser to Obama. A former fighter pilot, the Marine general was known for his expertise in the more highly technical areas of cyberwarfare and America's nuclear enterprise.
#4
Cartwright should have been given twenty years. In the last twenty years at least, Stuxnet was likely the most successful intel coup that involved the USA.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has said the Americans are ignoring to target the gunnies beyond the Afghan borders, accusing the United States for playing double game in Afghanistan.
In interview with the Russia Today, Karzai said the Americans are ignoring the pleas by the Afghans to target extremism beyond the Afghan borders, emphasizing that the US should admit it failed its mission to bring peace and security to Afghanistan.
Karzai further added that the United States must seek help from the big neighbors of Afghanistan, including Russia, China, India, and Iran and find ways of addressing the issue of radicalism with these countries, insisting that these countries are also affected.
According to Karzai, Pakistain should also be engaged in a manner to help ease to compete against extremism. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... he said the US and Pakistain lack interest in stopping Afghan war and stall progress of Afghan peace talks.
The former Afghanistan's Caped President also added that Taliban can’t be defeated in war and only peace talks can bring the civil strife of the Afghan nation to an end.
He said the Afghan people can reconcile with Taliban emphasizing that ’they are Afghans like us but poppy growing is a real curse’.
Karzai also warned the Taliban group that they will not be able to overrun the whole country and will manage to seize a few bustling provincial capitals.
The other issues the former President pointed were Pakistain’s desire dominance in Afghanistan and US drone strikes that prevent in seeking peace and are making Taliban fight harder instead of forcing them to start talks.
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10/18/2016 00:00 ||
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Political commentators and some ex-Taliban commanders have said that Pakistan's continued support of Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada has had a significant impact on the unity of the Taliban, adding that interference into the affairs of the Taliban by Pakistan's intelligence agency - Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) - has led to the emergence of more dissident factions within the group.
Referring to recent reports that Pakistan had launched a crackdown against three top Taliban leaders, the commentators said that the detention of the three commanders in Quetta city earlier this week had nothing to do with Haibatullah as the three commanders were not his supporters and did not see him as a credible leader of the Taliban movement.
According to analysts, Pakistan's recent efforts to reunite the Taliban had not yielded positive outcomes and instead these efforts have expanded the power struggle within the hardline movement.
"This was a politically motivated move by Pakistan. Pakistan wanted to show the foreigners that they act against the Taliban on their demand," said former Taliban governor Sayed Akbar Agha.
"Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada is a trusted element of Pakistan's ISI. If anyone opposes Akhundzada's guideline and refuses his ideology or enters negotiations on his own, Pakistan will act against them," said a former diplomat to Pakistan Ahmad Saeedi.
In a new development, a dissident Taliban faction led by Mullah Abdul Rassoul has indicated they will consider entering peace negotiations with the Afghan government.
"Mullah Abdul Rassould has shown an interest for negotiations. Then we have to work in this respect and talk with the international community particularly the US and also with Pakistan," said Mohammad Amin Weqad, member of the Afghan High Peace Council.
"After the successful military operations carried out by the security forces in foiling the Omari operation, the successful conclusion of Brussels Summit, the successful outcome of negotiations with Hizb-e-Islami and the recent political developments in the region, peace supporters in the ranks of Taliban have also expanded," said Tawab Ghorzang, spokesman for the National Security Advisor.
Earlier this week Pakistani officials announced that at least three senior Taliban leaders , including Ahmadullah Muti, also known as Mullah Nanai who served as Taliban's designated intelligence chief, Sulaiman Agha, Taliban's designated governor for Daikundi province and Mullah Sani, also known as Samad Sani, head of a religious school and a well-known Afghan businessman, who have links with the Taliban, have also been taken into custody in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.
Pakistani media reported that Mullah Nanai was arrested at a madrassa compound in Quetta city, the provincial capital of Baluchistan.
Mullah Nanai, who is originally a native of southern Kandahar province, has served in some key positions within the group. He worked as deputy head of the Peshawar commission, minister of public works, Balkh governor and Herat governor in the Taliban regime (1996 to 2001).
Previously, Pakistan launched similar crackdowns against a number of influential Taliban leaders in that country, including the dramatic detention of the group's top commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. However, Pakistan never showed willingness to handover them over to the Afghan government – a move that raised serious questions on Pakistan's counter-terror policy.
According to reports, Pakistan is faced with increasing pressure from the international community over its controversial role in the war against terrorism.
Bilateral ties between Kabul and Islamabad have also been strained over Pakistan's reluctance to target Taliban's hideouts in Pakistan, reports indicate.
"U! No, U! No, U"
[al-Manar] Saudi Arabia is prepared to agree to a ceasefire in Yemen if the Ansarullah powerful group agrees, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Monday.
The US, Britain and the United Nations called on Sunday for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Yemen in a bid to end the brutal Saudi-led aggression on the country.
Supported by Gulf states, a Saudi-US campaign in Yemen has come under heavy criticism since an airstrike this month on a funeral gathering in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that killed 140 people according to a UN’s estimate.
[Ynet] Romanian border police officer Marius Stuparu is driving through pouring rain in an SUV, monitoring for any sign of migrants trying to enter the country from Serbia and Hungary.
While Hungary has erected razor-wire fences on its borders to try to keep out migrants, Romania is relying on manpower backed by technology for border control in a region stretching from Calafat in the southwest to further north in Beba Veche.
Border guards told The Associated Press this month they are using helicopters and boat patrols on the Danube River, heat-sensitive equipment, cameras on watch towers and devices used to detect heartbeats under trucks.
Merkel: National Push Needed in Germany to Deport Migrants With no Right to Stay
17 Oct 2016
(REUTERS) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that Germany needed to make a national effort to deport migrants who do not have the right to stay in the country.
German Birthrate Hits 33-Year High, Boosted by Migrant Babies
17 Oct 2016
(REUTERS) – The birthrate in Germany reached the highest level in 33 years last year, boosted mainly by babies born to migrant women, the Federal Statistics Office said on Monday.
British Journalists Attacked by Calais Migrants
17 Oct 2016
A British television crew has been attacked by a gang of migrants in Calais during filming, with over 20 individuals using sticks, stones, and knives to repel the men.
UK: Former Archbishop and Activists Sidestep Government to Bring in Migrants From France
17 Oct 2016
The UK began accepting migrant youths from Calais on Monday after campaigners and a former archbishop lobbied local authorities to take advantage of a new loophole in immigration law.
Sex Attacks, Brawling, Theft: Far Left Youth Club Admits Migrant Outreach Failed
17 Oct 2016
A far left club and youth centre in Leipzig has issued a statement admitting its outreach efforts with migrants resulted in a huge increase in sex attacks, brawling, and theft.
Migrants Riot in Greece after Woman and Child Killed by Car
17 Oct 2016
Greek police say migrants living in a camp outside the northern city of Thessaloniki have rioted after a woman and her son were struck and killed by a car.
Thousands March on Anti-Mass Migration PEGIDA’s Second Anniversary
17 Oct 2016
BERLIN (AP) — Several thousand people have turned out for a demonstration in the eastern German city of Dresden marking the second anniversary of the anti-Islam and anti-immigration group PEGIDA.
[DeutscheWelle] Jaber Albakr's brother says the terror suspect was radicalized in Germany and murdered by police in prison. Authorities are looking into a remark about "imams" in Berlin, but there's skepticism over Alaa Albakr's words.
Alaa Albakr, the brother of the suspected terrorist Jaber Albakr, had a few things to tell the German media about his sibling's suicide in police custody in Leipzig . "I, Alaa Albakr, attest that Jaber was not a terrorist, and not a member of 'IS,' and the German police potted him," he told DW on Saturday, referring to the "Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... In an interview from his home in Saasaa, not far from Damascus, where he lived with his parents and several more siblings, Alaa threatened to sue the German police and take Dire Revenge on the three Syrians who turned his brother over to authorities.
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[IsraelTimes] Governorate warns residents of Turkish capital that ’banned terror organizations preparing actions in our province’
The Turkish capital Ankara on Monday banned all public gatherings and demonstrations until the end of November after receiving information about potential terror attacks, the governor’s office said.
The Ankara governorate said in a statement that all such meetings had been prohibited until November 30, in line with the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the failed July 15 coup.
It said that the decision was taken "to ensure people’s safety and public order."
The governorate, which is responsible for security throughout the capital and the wider province, said it had received intelligence "that banned terror organizations were preparing actions in our province."
Without naming which organizations, it said that the groups were thought to have been planning attacks on meetings and public demonstrations.
The capital has been hit repeatedly over the last 12 months by attacks blamed on jihadists and Kurdish Death Eaters.
KHAZER, Iraq: Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, backed by US-led coalition air and ground support, launched coordinated military operations early on Monday as the long-awaited fight to wrest the northern city of Mosul from Daesh fighters got underway.
Convoys of Iraqi, Kurdish and US forces moved east of Mosul along the front line as US-led coalition airstrikes sent plumes of smokes into the air and heavy artillery rounds could be heard.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced the start of the operations on state television, launching the country on its toughest battle since American troops left nearly five years ago.
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Posted by: badanov ||
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#1
It has been "broadcast" to the bad guys (who are they again?) that Iraq has offered Isis an "escape route."
Zero, Hilda and the rest are hoping for a "Liberation of Mosul" meme to carry "She Whose Name May Not Be Spoken" through the election.
BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces advanced Monday after launching an offensive aimed at retaking Mosul and dealing a death blow to the Daesh group’s “caliphate” in the city where it was declared two years ago.
The start of the long-awaited assault raised deep concerns for hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in Iraq’s second-largest city, with aid groups warning of a massive humanitarian crisis.
Some 30,000 federal forces are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault on Daesh’s last major Iraqi stronghold.
Iraqi forces could be seen readying weapons and ammunitions as columns of armored vehicles headed toward Mosul from the town of Al-Shoura, some 45 km south of the city.
The Pentagon described the operation as a “decisive moment” in the fight against Daesh but the US-led coalition’s top commander warned it could last weeks or more. It said early indications were that Iraqi forces were meeting objectives and were ahead of schedule.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced the beginning of the assault in a televised address in the early hours of Monday. “Today I declare the start of these victorious operations to free you from the violence and terrorism of Daesh,” Abadi said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said that Riyadh had urged the Iraqi government not to let Shiite militias enter Mosul, fearing “mass atrocities.”
Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir warned against a repeat of the events in Fallujah, which Daesh was chased out of in June. “We oppose any kind of involvement by the Shiite militias,” Al-Jubeir told a press conference in London.
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#1
“mass atrocities.”
And this is different than normal Muslim activity how?
#4
Well, as near as I can tell, its only an atrocity if the Shiia do it, now if it is Sunni, then the beheadings and burnings, rape and pillage are very Islamic.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
He obviously had a special relationship with POTUS. Could the leak have been directed ?
Political commentators and some ex-Taliban commanders have said that Pakistan's continued support of Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada has had a significant impact on the unity of the Taliban, adding that interference into the affairs of the Taliban by Pakistan's intelligence agency - Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) - has led to the emergence of more dissident factions within the group.
