Headlines:
- Guantanamo Guard Converts to Islam, Demands Release of Detainees
- Regional Powers Struggle for Influence in Syria
- Jordan to Host Major 18-Nation Military Drill
- China is Winning the Cyber War Because They Hacked U.S. Plans for Real War
Details:
Guantanamo Guard Converts to Islam, Demands Release of Detainees:
Terry Holdbrooks was deployed to the Guantanamo Bay detention center to guard detainees. The Phoenix, Ariz., resident has become a devout Muslim and an unlikely advocate for the prisoners' rights. The ex-U.S. Army employee converted to Islam in 2003, inspired by the faith of the Guantanamo detainees he was charged with watching. Since then, he says he has lost his friends, received violent threats, and been labeled a "race traitor" online. But he hasn't gone quietly. The 29-year-old has done his fair share of media and has even signed on for a job as a speaker for the Muslim Legal Fund of America. Now the devout Muslim is racking up frequent flyer miles and touring the country with what he calls the "truth about Gitmo." "Gitmo was supposed to be a cushy deployment since we were just going to babysit detainees," Holdbrooks said. "But it changed me." The Phoenix, Ariz., resident spent the year between 2003 and 2004 guarding U.S. military prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was often given the job of escorting detainees to interrogation rooms. He says he witnessed atrocities committed by his fellow American soldiers that he never thought were possible. Speaking on the phone to the Daily News, Holdbrooks rattled off the grim list. "I saw people put in stress positions for eight hours until they defecated themselves," he said. "Then the guards would come in and emasculate them." He said he saw prisoners shackled to the ground with the air conditioner set high, then doused with cold water. He said that menstrual blood was smeared on their faces and that they were forced to hear the same music on repeat for hours. "Gitmo is 100 percent antithetical to the basis of our legal system," he said. "That's not the America I signed up to defend." While preparing for deployment, Holdbrooks said the Army trained him to think of the prisoners as the "worst of the worst" and "lower than humans."
Regional Powers Struggle for Influence in Syria:
At the moment, several conflicts are being fought simultaneously in Syria. The civil war began more than two years ago as a power struggle between the government and opposition forces. But it didn't take long for other states to get into the mix, turning the internal fight into a regional and international struggle for influence. In addition to Western countries as well as Russia and Turkey, neighbouring countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have become involved. The three countries are fighting a proxy war for regional dominance. The religious division between Sunnis, Shias and Alawites only plays a minor role. Syria is a strategically important country for Iran. The regime of President Bashar al-Assad is Tehran's only ally in the Arab world. In addition, Syria is an important link to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, said Stephan Rosiny, a Middle East expert at the Hamburg-based GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies. Speaking to DW, he added that Tehran, Damascus and Hezbollah see themselves as the resistance front against Israeli and Western interests in the region. On the opposite side of the Gulf, countries have apparently not paid much mind to the arms embargo. According to Western media reports, Qatar is said to have paid hundreds of millions of US dollars to some elements of the Syrian opposition. Moreover, at least a dozen planes loaded with weapons and ammunition are said to have been delivered to ‘selective' rebels via Turkey. According to US media reports, Saudi Arabia financed the purchase of, among other things, Croatian weapons which were then sent to Syria via Jordan. Earlier this year, former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal said: "I suppose we'll send weapons. If not, that would be a terrible mistake for us." The Gulf states have yet to deliver heavy weapons or high-tech equipment such as anti-aircraft missiles to the fractious opposition. The power struggle between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar runs along religious fault lines. On one side are the conservative Sunni monarchies that have backed the predominantly Sunni opponents of the Assad regime. On the other, the Shia Republic of Iran has supported the Syrian government in Damascus, along with the Alawites.
Jordan to Host Major 18-Nation Military Drill:
Jordan plans to host a major military drill with the participation of more than 15,000 soldiers from 18 different countries, including the United States, a Jordanian military official says. Citing an official speaking on condition of anonymity, Jordan's Petra news agency reported on Saturday that troops from countries including the US, Britain, Bahrain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen will take part in the military exercise, dubbed "Eager Lion 2013." The official added that troops from "friendly countries" will come to Jordan in the coming weeks to participate in the war games. He noted that the manoeuvre, which will last for two weeks, would follow a "successful" similar drill in 2012. On May 14, Jordan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lieutenant General Mishal Mohammed Zabin met with the army chiefs of the US, France and Turkey as well as the deputy secretary-general of the NATO, Alexander Vershbow, to discuss "preparations underway for the Eager Lion exercise." Jordan has received bulky aid from the US in recent years. Washington has granted USD $2.4 billion in aid to Amman in the past five years, according to official figures.
China Is Winning the Cyber War Because They Hacked U.S. Plans for Real War:
Ballistic-missile defences, joint-strike fighters, Black Hawks, and more - Chinese hackers have their hands on plans for these and more of the Pentagon's most sophisticated weapons systems, just the latest sign that the culture of hacking in China continues to put America on the defensive ahead of a tense meeting between President Obama and Xi Jinping, a summit bound to be tense with cyber warfare diplomacy. The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima reports in Tuesday's paper that Chinese cyber thieves have "compromised" mockups that form the "backbone" of some of the U.S. military's most important and high-tech defence technology, and that it could signal a copycat advancement of China's arms, while aiming to "weaken the U.S. military advantage" down the road. The Chinese government, as usual with these attacks - even when they seem connected directly to the People's Liberation Army - are distancing themselves from the pervasive, and this time very internationally unsound, hacking. "The Defence Science Board, a senior advisory group made up of government and civilian experts, did not accuse the Chinese of stealing the designs. But senior military and industry officials with knowledge of the breaches said the vast majority were part of a widening Chinese campaign of espionage against U.S. defence contractors and government agencies," the Post reports.
Abu Hashim
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