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Despite Increasing Threats And Violence, Americans Show Support For Muslim Neighbors
A shirtless activist holds a sign reading "Queers Against Islamophobia" at a June 30, 2016 "drag march" in New York City. (Flickr / Anthony Fine)
December 23, 2015
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Despite Increasing Threats And Violence, Americans Show Support For Muslim Neighbors

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

As Muslims in America face an unprecedented wave of violence in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, Americans of many faiths are coming together to show solidarity against these disturbing threats.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest advocacy group for Muslims in the United States, there have been 29 cases of attacks or vandalism against mosques in 2015 — the most for any year since the organization began tracking incidents in 2009.

“November 2015 was the most significant spike, with a total of 17 mosque incidents, with all but 2 of those incidents occurring in the wake of the November 13 Paris terror attacks,” CAIR reported.

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Deaths From Terrorism Increased 4,500% Since Beginning Of War On Terror
U.S. Army Sgt. William Reese watches flames rise into the night sky after setting canal vegetation ablaze in Tahwilla, Iraq, July 30, 2008. (Flickr / U.S. Army / Spc. David J. Marshall)
December 22, 2015
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Deaths From Terrorism Increased 4,500% Since Beginning Of War On Terror

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

An analysis of terror attacks since 2002 suggests U.S. efforts to combat terrorism — i.e., the “war on terror” — have led to a dramatic increase in death and suffering from terrorism.

Published this year on Sept. 11, Paul Gottinger, a staff reporter for Reader Supported News, analyzed incidents of terrorism from George Bush declaring the war on terror in the aftermath of 9/11 through the present, and found a staggering 6,500 percent increase in terrorism. Gottinger, who used data provided by the State Department in his analysis, found that casualties have increased by 4,500 percent.

Countries occupied by or being bombed the U.S. military seem to fare worst of all:

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US Stalling Release Of Thousands Of Torture Photos Worse Than Abu Ghraib
On January 7, 2013, Activists in black hoods and orange jumpsuits march in Washington, D.C. to protest the use of torture by the U.S. government. (Flickr / Justin Norman)
December 16, 2015
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US Stalling Release Of Thousands Of Torture Photos Worse Than Abu Ghraib

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Next month, the U.S. government will return to court again to prevent the release of thousands of photos of military personnel torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib and other sites in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been described as more horrific than the infamous Abu Ghraib torture photos.

It’s the latest round in a protracted legal battle that began in 2004 when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit demanding the release of some 2,000 photographs which were withheld by the government after it released the infamous images of Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison where U.S. soldiers tortured prisoners.

One photo is said to depict a mock execution, while another reportedly shows the body of a farmer shot who was by an American soldier while he was handcuffed.

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School Of The Americas: Training Torturers & Secret Police For US-Backed Dictators Since 1946
A guest instructor debriefs students from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School after a field training exercise. (U.S. Navy / RJ Stratchko)
December 14, 2015
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School Of The Americas: Training Torturers & Secret Police For US-Backed Dictators Since 1946

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

For the past 69 years, many of the most notorious U.S.-backed South American dictators, along with their secret police and torturers, have learned their dark arts from a secretive American training facility.

Located in Fort Benning, Georgia, the facility changed its name from “School of the Americas” to “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” in 2001. Human rights advocates say the change was purely cosmetic, a result of the increasing pressure the facility faced from activists and other critics. In November, thousands protested outside Fort Benning in what has become an annual occurrence.

Originally founded in 1946 and based in Panama, it was expelled from the nation in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. According to SOA Watch, a nonprofit which seeks the closure of the torture school, hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, murdered or “disappeared” through the work of its 64,000 graduates.

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Spike In Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Reflects America’s ‘Tremendous’ Bigotry Problem
A protest against Islamophobia and hate speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 17, 2016. (Flickr / Fibonacci Blue)
December 14, 2015
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Spike In Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Reflects America’s ‘Tremendous’ Bigotry Problem

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

America seems to be in the grips of an epidemic of hate and bigotry unseen since 9/11, and, once again, innocent Muslims are the target of threats and outright violence.

Mainstream media and social media have been flooded with troubling reports of Islamophobia across the country in recent weeks.

Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told MintPress News, “We’ve seen a tremendous spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in our society fomented by individuals like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum and others. We’ve seen a spike in hate crimes as well.”

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How ISIS Oil Flows Through Turkey And Israel On Its Way To Europe
File: ISIS (Daesh) parades through the desert on stolen trucks. (Flickr / Day Ddonaldson)
December 9, 2015
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How ISIS Oil Flows Through Turkey And Israel On Its Way To Europe

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

It’s widely recognized that Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group often called IS, ISIS or ISIL in the West) depends on oil sales to fuel its armies. Until recently, it’s been less clear who is buying Daesh’s oil, and how it ends up in their hands.

However, recent reports suggest that the oil flows to Europe and Asia through a complex process that implicates allies of the United States like Turkey and Israel. The U.S. is also facing increasing criticism for its failure to target the terrorist group’s oil infrastructure in a serious way until recently.

Cam Simpson and Matthew Philips, writing in November for Bloomberg Businessweek, called recent U.S. attacks on oil trucks an attempt by the Obama administration to “quietly” fix a “colossal miscalculation.” Government experts now argue that the U.S. dramatically underestimated Daesh’s oil profits:

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