The Saddam Interrogation: Ten Years After the Tyrant’s Execution, the CIA Agent Who Grilled Him Reveals the Shattering Truth

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. . .Capturing Saddam was all very well, but now we had to get to the truth about his regime, and in particular the weapons of mass destruction that had been the pretext for the invasion. His response was simply to mock us . . .

‘Iraq is not a terrorist nation,’ he said. ‘We did not have a relationship with (Osama) bin Laden, and did not have weapons of mass destruction… and were not a threat to our neighbours. But the American President [George W Bush] said Iraq wanted to attack his daddy and said we had ‘weapons of mass destruction.’

Ignoring his goading, we asked Saddam if he’d ever considered using WMDs pre-emptively against US troops in Saudi Arabia. ‘We never thought about using weapons of mass destruction. It was not discussed. Use chemical weapons against the world? Is there anyone with full faculties who would do this? Who would use these weapons when they had not been used against us?’ . . .

The CIA profile of Saddam suggested he was a chronic liar, yet he could be quite candid. Our perception that he ruled with an iron grip was also mistaken. It became clear from our interrogations that in his final years, Saddam seemed clueless about what had been happening inside Iraq. He was inattentive to what his government was doing, had no real plan for the defence of Iraq and could not comprehend the immensity of the approaching storm . . .

Saddam was quick, too, to deny involvement in 9/11. ‘Look at who was involved,’ he said. ‘What countries did they come from? Saudi Arabia. And this [ringleader] Muhammad Atta, was he an Iraqi? No. He was Egyptian. Why do you think I was involved in the attacks?’ (Read more from “The Saddam Interrogation: Ten Years After the Tyrant’s Execution, the CIA Agent Who Grilled Him Reveals the Shattering Truth” HERE)

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Amazon Staff Blast ‘Intolerable’ Conditions

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Amazon’s staff are falling asleep on their feet and being taken away in ambulances as they struggle to meet warehouse targets, an investigation has claimed.

Cameras monitor every move as employees try to process up to 300 items an hour, it has been alleged. Screens remind them if they are falling short.

Exhausted staff are said to cover clocks so they are not reminded how long there is to go on their shifts, and have to walk up to a third of a mile to use the toilet.

The claims in a newspaper were made about the online retailer’s newest warehouse – which the company refers to as a ‘fulfilment centre’ – in Tilbury, Essex.

The packing plant is the biggest in Europe, the size of 11 football pitches, and is due to ship 1.2million items this year. (Read more from “Amazon Staff Blast ‘Intolerable’ Conditions” HERE)

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‘Jesus’ Dropped From Official Prayer

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“Jesus” has been banished from a prayer to open New Zealand’s parliamentary sessions.

The traditional prayer for decades has ended with “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” the Christian Post reported.

The Labour Party-led government proposed a new version of the prayer that leaves out Jesus and initiated a consultation process.

But Speaker Trevor Mallard used the prayer before the period of consultation ended.

The Christian Post said an even more radical proposed change to the prayer was rejected by members of the parliament that removed all religious references. (Read more from “‘Jesus’ Dropped From Official Prayer” HERE)

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Geologists See 2018 as Year of Monster Quakes

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Geophysicists who studied seismic activity over the past 117 years report 2018 could be shaping up as a year of monster earthquakes – especially around the equator . . .

The signal that causes the alarm from a historical pattern, they say, is the slowing of the Earth’s rotation.

The new study, presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, in Seattle, is published in Geophysical Research Letters by geologists Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana.

It tracked the incidence of magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes worldwide since 1900, revealing through recent history, such major quakes occur about 15 times per year. Yet, over the last 117 years, there have been evenly spaced intervals in which the annual total jumped to between 25 and 30 . . .

While the researchers caution that 117 years is a relatively short period of time in the history of the Earth, something else caught the attention of the researchers. (Read more from “Geologists See 2018 as Year of Monster Quakes” HERE)

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Militants Target Mosque in Egypt

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Suspected militants attacked a crowded mosque during a Friday sermon in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, setting off bombs, opening fire on worshippers and killing at least 235 in the deadliest ever attack on Egyptian civilians by Islamic militants, the official MENA news agency reported.

Some 130 people were also wounded, according to the news agency.

The local Islamic State affiliate — Sinai Province — appeared to be responsible for the gruesome incident, in the first attack on a large mosque since the militants began their terror campaign in 2013, the Associated Press reported.

Police said militants in four off-road vehicles carried out the attack during prayers at the al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd, located 25 miles from the regional capital of el-Arish. The militants stopped people from escaping by blowing up cars and leaving the burning wrecks blocking the roads, police said.

President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi condemned the “criminal” and “cowardly” attack, and said that it “will not go unpunished.” He said the victims’ suffering will only “add to our insistence” to combat terrorism. (Read more from “Militants Target Mosque in Egypt” HERE)

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NASA’s ‘Fake News’ About Water on Mars

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It was big news in 2015 when NASA declared “liquid water found in Mars.”

Now, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the announcement that Mars contains large amounts of water was premature.

Scientists had reasoned that water must be present on the red planet to explain mysterious darkish streaks that appeared to ebb and flow with the seasons.

A new paper in Nature Geoscience says that “Recurring Slope Lineae,” or RSL, in Eos Chasma, a deep depression on the planet, are “inconsistent with models for water sources.”

The researchers — working in cooperation with the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project — found that the RSL were instead “identical to the slopes of sand dunes where movement is caused by dry granular flows.” (Read more from “NASA’s ‘Fake News’ About Water on Mars” HERE)

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Church to Stop Referring to God as ‘He’ or ‘Lord’

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The Church of Sweden is urging its clergy to use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity, refraining from using terms such as “Lord” and “he” in favour of the less specific “God.”

The move is one of several taken by the national Evangelical Lutheran church in updating a 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted in terms of language, liturgy, hymns and other aspects.

The decision was taken on Thursday at the end of an eight-day meeting of the church’s 251-member decision-making body, and takes effect on 20 May on the Christian holiday of Pentecost.

A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, some 37 miles north of the capital, the church has 6.1 million baptised members in a country of 10 million. It is headed by a woman, Archbishop Antje Jackelén. (Read more from “Church to Stop Referring to God as ‘He’ or ‘Lord'” HERE)

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North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection

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Pyongyang may have replaced its entire border security force after a North Korean soldier dramatically defected into South Korea last week.

Yonhap news agency on Friday cited an unnamed intelligence source who said there were “signs” the North had replaced its entire force of 35 to 40 men at the Joint Security Area.

The source said North Korea seems to have temporarily closed a bridge over which the defector drove a military jeep to reach the border before his dramatic escape on foot last Monday. The source said the North could be preparing to install a security gate at the bridge for strengthening its screening of personnel coming in and out of the area.

A photo posted on the Twitter account of the acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper, showed North Korean workers using shovels to dig what Knapper said was a trench at the spot where the defector crossed the border.

According to South Korea’s military, four North Korean soldiers using handguns and AK-47 assault rifles fired about 40 rounds at the defector, who rushed across the line that divides the Koreas after getting his vehicle stuck in a ditch. (Read more from “North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection” HERE)

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Beef in the Buff? Country Opens First Nudist Restaurant

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Leave your coats, your pants and your inhibitions at the door: a Paris restaurant has begun serving up classic French fare to diners in the nude.

Located down a quiet side street in southwest Paris, O’naturel, billed as the French capital’s first nudist restaurant, is the brainchild of 42-year-old twins Mike and Stephane Saada.

Former insurance salesmen, they aren’t nudists themselves — but they spotted a money-making opportunity in a country that enjoys a reputation as a top naturist holiday destination.

“People only get to be nudists in the summer,” explained Stephane.

O’naturel is considerably warmer in November than the roughly 460 designated outdoor nudist spots around France, most of them beaches and campsites. (Read more from “Beef in the Buff? Country Opens First Nudist Restaurant” HERE)

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Military Members Reassigned After Having Inappropriate Contact During Trump’s Asia Trip

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Three military members working for the White House have been reassigned after having alleged inappropriate contact with foreign women during President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Asia, a senior U.S. defense official has confirmed to Fox News.

The service members who worked as part of the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) are being investigated for allegedly breaking curfew in Vietnam, The Washington Post reported Tuesday . . .

The men are noncommissioned officers of the U.S. Army, working with the specialized military unit WHCA — a specialized military unit which runs technical support for presidential and vice presidential events and provides secure communications for White House officials. (Read more from “Military Members Reassigned After Having Inappropriate Contact During Trump’s Asia Trip” HERE)

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