Daily Headlines:

It's hard to believe that today we have even more rhetoric threatening Iran with military action. Is this part of a plan?

U.S. General: We Can Successfully Attack Iran

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that the United States can successfully attack Iran, if necessary. His biggest worry is that Iran will "miscalculate our resolve.

Dempsey, speaking to CNN during a worldwide tour, spoke one day after Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that the American government will not allow Iran to produce a nuclear weapon.

He said that if Iran continues to enrich high-grade uranium, it could produce a nuclear weapon within a year, an estimate formerly given by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Besides repeating the often-used phrase“ all options are on the table,” General Dempsey went one step further and declared, "I am satisfied that the options that we are developing are evolving to a point that they would be executable if necessary.”

It was the most blatant warning made regarding Iran’s growing nuclear threat.

Assad losing control as 10,000 soldiers desert Syrian military

More than 10,000 soldiers have deserted the Syrian army, sources say, with as many as half the conscripts not reporting in the last three call-ups.

According to Western intelligence agencies, even though the top brass is still loyal to President Bashar Assad, lower-level officers are deserting in large numbers, and in some cases, whole units have deserted en masse

One of the main worries in the West is the fate of the army's rocket and missiles caches, as well as its chemical weapons. According to several media reports, Hezbollah has transferred several long-range missiles from Syria to Lebanon.

Syria conducts war games to deter attack

Syrian state television broadcasts what it claims is footage of the nation's air force and navy holding live-fire exercises aimed at deterring any attack on the country.

Most foreign journalists are barred from the country so independent verification of the footage is not possible but the Syrian news agency SANA said that naval forces executed a tactical project and successfully hit their targets.

China vows support to Jong-un in rapid order

China moved with rapid speed to offer condolences to North Korea over the loss of its leader and show support for new leader Kim Jong-un, fueling worries that the emerging giant will try to expand its influence over its communist ally.

Yesterday, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the North Korean Embassy in Beijing to offer condolences on the death of Kim Jong-il, a day after Chinese government agencies, including the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, quickly approved his son Jong-un as the new leader

China’s quick proclamation of support for the Kim Jong-un regime contains a calculated message to Washington, Seoul and Tokyo that they should not provoke the North in a time of emergency.

China, which fought for North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, has long been the North’s closest ally, but it has expanded its influence in recent years as the impoverished North sought increasing aid and investment. Kim Jong-il visited China four times in 15 months through August.

The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party news outlet, urged yesterday an increase in China’s influence over North Korea.

Terror fear as scientists deliberately create 'Armageddon' bird flu virus in lab

A super-strain of bird flu that could infect and wipe out millions has been developed in a laboratory.

Dutch scientists who created the ‘Armageddon virus’ say it is ‘probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make’.

Their research focused on what it took to convert bird flu – which can kill more than half of those infected but does not spread easily – into a highly contagious virus.

But others argue the virus should never have been created – and warn the potential if it escaped from the lab is ‘staggering’. There are also fears the recipe will be seized on by terrorists looking for a biological weapon.

The U.S. government is so concerned that its advisers are trying to block the details of the virus’s manufacture from being published.

National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity chairman Paul Kiem, an anthrax expert, said: ‘I can’t think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one. I don’t think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.’

U.S. urges science journals not to publish details of man-made pandemic-level bird-flu virus

The journals Science and Nature said Tuesday they were mulling whether to publish details of a man-made mutant killer flu virus that has sparked concerns of mass deaths if it were released.

A U.S. government’s science advisory committee urged that key details be withheld so that people seeking to do harm to the public would not be able to replicate the virus which could cause millions of deaths.

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) reviewed two scientific papers relating to the findings and recommended that the journals considering them “make changes in the manuscripts,” a statement said.

“Due to the importance of the findings to the public health and research communities, the NSABB recommended that the general conclusions highlighting the novel outcome be published, but that the manuscripts not include the methodological and other details that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm.”

In what appears as a shocking development, the authors may still decide to publish this information:

Nature’s editor-in-chief, Philip Campbell, said he was considering one of the two papers for publication and was in “active consultation” with the authors.

“Many scientists within the influenza community have a bona fide need to know the details of this research in order to protect the public, especially if they currently are working with related strains of the virus,” he wrote.

“Science editors will be evaluating how best to proceed,” he added, asking for more clarification on how the government would make the information available to “all those responsible scientists who request it.”

Wow. Would they really publish this information? Stay tuned, from this article it appears that they may actually go ahead with this publication.

Top Legal Expert: "President Obama...Says That He Can Kill [Any American Citizen Without Any Charge And] On His Own Discretion. He Can Jail You Indefinitely On His Own Discretion

I’ve previously noted that Obama says that he can assassinate American citizens living on U.S. soil.

This admittedly sounds over-the-top. But one of the nation’s top constitutional and military law experts – Jonathan Turley – agrees.

You can see the article for Mr Turley's credentials, which are quite impressive.

Turley said yesterday on C-Span (starting at 15:50):

President Obama has just stated a policy that he can have any American citizen killed without any charge, without any review, except his own. If he’s satisfied that you are a terrorist, he says that he can kill you anywhere in the world including in the United States.

Two of his aides just … reaffirmed they believe that American citizens can be killed on the order of the President anywhere including the United States.

You’ve now got a president who says that he can kill you on his own discretion. He can jail you indefinitely on his own discretion

I don’t think the the Framers ever anticipated that [the American people would be so apathetic]. They assumed that people would hold their liberties close, and that they wouldn’t relax …

This article contains a variety of links, so it is well worth the detailed read and going to some of the referenced documents.

As I’ve previously noted, this is especially concerning when almost any American could be labeled a “terrorist” if the government doesn’t happen to like them:

It is dangerous in a climate where you can be labeled as or suspected of being a terrorist simply for questioning war, protesting anything, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold, or stocking up on more than 7 days of food. [And the FBI says that activists who investigate factory farms can be prosecuted as terrorists.]

And it is counter-productive in an age when the government – instead of doing the things which could actually make us safer – are doing things which increasethe risk of terrorism.

And it is problematic in a period in which U.S. government officials “were trying to create an atmosphere of fear in which the American people would give them more power”, and even former Secretary of Homeland Security – Tom Ridge – admitst hat he was pressured to raise terror alerts to help Bush win reelection.

And it is counter-productive in an age when the government – instead of doing the things which could actually make us safer – are doing things which increasethe risk of terrorism.

And it is insane in a time of perpetual war. See this, this, this and this.

The key phrase above has to be this comment:

"I don't think the framers ever anticipated that the American people would be so apathetic. They assumed that people would hold their liberties close, and they wouldn't relax..."

Indeed, but that's the world we are living in now, as we rapidly approach the Tribulation.