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Gadahffi Video

FOLEY GADAFFI VIDEO-Here's what James Foley meant to us | GlobalPost

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James Foley reporting in Tripoli, Libya in August 2011. (Courtesy of Jonathan Pedneault)

BOSTON '-- The scene is pure adrenaline.

First, you hear panicked rebels crying ''Allahu Akbar'' '-- God is great.

Foley knows better than to turn off the camera, in case there's more action, or the worst happens. As he runs for his life, the image goes berserk: anxious breathing, a stampede of feet, the ground twisting this way and that as his arms pump. You can almost feel Jim's death grip on the camera.

Seconds later: the brief, screeching whistle of the incoming shell.

The dull thwack of impact.

The image cuts to a scene in a truck, speeding from the front. Hapless Libyan rebels on foot run madly to escape the advancing troops of Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

Jaws dropped as we watched. Hearts hammered. Yet we were all in the safety of GlobalPost's editorial offices.

''Holy shit,'' someone muttered as the video wrapped.

That was April of 2011. We published the video under the title, ''Who are the Libyan rebels?''

As always, we urged Jim to exercise caution. In the end, he made it out of Libya, but only after spending 44 days as a prisoner of Gaddafi's regime, and only after witnessing his friend South African photographer Anton Hammerl take lethal gunfire from the dictator's forces.

Foley was unstoppable, however. He came back to the US, caught his breath and helped raise money in New York City to support Hammerl's widow and three children. Then he jumped back on a plane to cover the final hunt for Gaddafi, in the dictator's hometown of Sirte.

Those were rough days. For several weeks, Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch's director of emergency research, slept alongside Foley ''in a refrigerated truck with a bunch of smelly rebels,'' Bouckaert recalls. ''The night before Gaddafi was killed we literally had Grad rockets flying over our heads all night.'' The next morning, the two men witnessed a battlefield strewn with more than a hundred bodies, a ''scene of absolute devastation,'' as Bouckaert put it. (The following night, they were lucky enough to discover in their luggage a bottle of Johnny Walker Black that they had forgotten about. Bouckaert confirms that the contents didn't last.)

''Jim couldn't bear to watch from afar as the rebel tide finally turned against Gaddafi,'' recalls Solana Pyne, his video editor at GlobalPost. On that last day in Libya, ''rebels claimed Gaddafi had been killed in a firefight, but Jim found eyewitnesses who confirmed the despot had in fact died at the hands of his former subjects.''

That scoop would change the narrative of Gaddafi's demise, and prompt United Nations officials to call for a war crimes investigation. It would also win the prestigious Overseas Press Club award for Foley and for colleague Tracey Shelton, who obtained the video of Gaddafi's final moments.

Not one to embrace accolades, Foley celebrated the recognition in his own way. Jim enjoyed a practical joke, and when GlobalPost Editor Thomas Mucha returned to his hotel room after the award ceremony, he found himself taking the brunt of Foley's humor. ''Every chair in the room was upside down. My bed was upside down. The desk lamps were upside down. Pillows were scattered everywhere,'' Mucha says. ''Foley, of course, had broken in to 'rearrange the place to my liking.'''

*****

When war broke out in Syria in 2011, it quickly became clear that journalists would take a heavy toll in the fighting, and even be directly targeted. The story was too vital to ignore, but GlobalPost's editors were anxious for the safety of our correspondents working there. Middle East Editor Pete Gelling took to sleeping with his cell phone under his pillow again '-- a habit he'd started when Foley was in Libya.

Foley was able to file some incredible journalism from Syria '-- gut wrenching tales of lives annihilated by the violence.

But on Thanksgiving day in 2012, near the Turkish border after reporting from the war zones near Aleppo, he was captured by armed militants, a fact that remained under media blackout to improve his chances of release. For more than a year, his whereabouts were unknown to us and his family.

As the world now knows, he was ultimately turned into a pawn of terrorist propaganda. On Tuesday, Aug. 19, a grisly video emerged of an Islamic State militant decapitating him in the desert.

Aside from being a dedicated correspondent, Jim Foley was a dear friend to GlobalPost. Between stints in war zones, he had worked for months as an editor at our Boston headquarters '-- although it quickly became clear that wasn't where he wanted to be. His fearless war coverage was integral to our quest to tell stories no one else covers.

He will remain an inspiration to all of us.

In Jim's work ''I hear his love and passion for journalism,'' writes Mexico senior correspondent Ioan Grillo. ''He brought fresh, human voices to help us understand one of the most important issues on the planet. I am proud to have my work alongside Jim Foley's at GlobalPost.''

*****

Having met such a grim fate, however, questions inevitably arise.

Why would he do it? Why would he put his life at risk? Why would he subject his adoring friends and family to the anguish of knowing he could end up dead '-- especially after he had come so close to it already?

In Jim's case, it was about altruism, about telling the stories that needed to be told. In the words of Bishop Peter A. Libasci who spoke at his memorial service, Jim risked his life ''so that we may open our eyes.'' He was appalled by the suffering across the Middle East, and particularly in Syria, where many thousands had died by the time he was captured.

''He cared deeply about his colleagues and the stories he was covering,'' says Bouckaert, who became a close friend after working to get Foley released from the Libyan prison. ''Journalism is a world with a lot of testosterone and machismo, and Jim was the exact opposite.''

''In a field full of painfully massive and destructive egos, Jim had none whatsoever,'' says Peter Gelling, his editor at GlobalPost.

Seeing Jim wallpapered across the world's media for the past week, sweat and dust on his rugged face, donning dark shades in the desert sun and brandishing a black video camera as if it were an M16 '-- you could be forgiven for sensing an oversized ego.

On the contrary, Jim was quiet, humble, and at times somewhat awkward. He often spoke slowly, as if struggling to get the words out '-- but when they came out, he always had something to say.

''In a field full of painfully massive and destructive egos, Jim had none whatsoever,'' says Gelling, who edited his work for GlobalPost.

You could say Foley was a journalist's journalist; that would be a compliment to the rest of the profession.

Although tenacious and driven in his reporting, Jim wore none of his adventures or accomplishments as a badge. Around the office, dressed in jeans, running shoes and an XL polo shirt, you rarely got the sense he was the guy who had seen so much, who had weathered a Taliban ambush and prison in Libya.

''He did not see himself as important,'' recalls Gelling. ''He hated being the subject of the story after his captivity in Libya. All that mattered to him was the people he wrote about. Telling their stories accurately led him to take risks. But this was why I loved working with Jim Foley.''

*****

Friends remember Jim as sweet and caring. But ''selfless'' is the adjective used most often in describing him.

His approach was so unorthodox that colleagues who worked with him in war zones sound almost mystified by his generosity. ''He was so brave,'' remembers Shelton. But ''he wasn't like normal journalists who brag about their own stories. He was always the first to praise you.'' She says when the duo won the Overseas Press Club award for GlobalPost, he was always ''talking up my contribution to the award.''

Jim's reporting style also impressed his editors. "James had a very raw, riveting approach to his work," says Mark Scheffler, senior video producer at the Wall Street Journal who previously held the same position with GlobalPost.

"He wanted to be immersed in the moments he was covering, often at tremendous risk to himself," Scheffler adds. "What James ended up showing were humans under duress and populations under siege '-- and the dignity with which they carry on through the fighting. I don't always know what drove James to the extreme places he went to. I just know that what he found when he got there helped us come away more moved and more knowledgeable than we were before. He was true grit."

Jim had character. He was impossible not to like, or at least to sympathize with. That fact no doubt helped explain the deep kinship GlobalPost Founder and CEO Phil Balboni developed for Jim and his family '-- a bond that drove Balboni to work tirelessly for nearly two years, at a seven-figure cost, to save him.

"Jim was the kind of extraordinarily brave and dedicated journalist you might be lucky to work with once or twice in a career," says Balboni, a lifelong journalist. "He believed that telling the human stories in these conflicts was vitally important and his respect and affection for his subjects set his work apart."

The Jim Foley that we knew was willing to risk everything to tell the stories of people whose language he barely spoke, whose faith he didn't share '-- so the world wouldn't ignore the slaughter in Syria. He was driven to do what he could to expose the appalling crimes he witnessed against Syria's civilians. He was no criminal, terrorist or spy.

''He simply cared about the story, and the people behind these stories. And that's why we loved him,'' says Thomas Mucha, GlobalPost's editor.

To us, who Jim was and what he stood for '-- that's what makes his brutal execution so cold-blooded.

*****

''Jim lost his life doing what he thought was so very important '-- telling real stories of real people in a troubled world,'' notes Mucha. ''And while his death is still incomprehensible to many of us, his dedication to this high principle of journalism gives us at least a little bit of comfort.''

The stories Foley told were as insightful as they were unique. ''He was not the kind of guy who would just show up for a week or two, write a story and add it to his resume,'' Bouckaert says. ''He really wanted to delve deeply into these crises and understand them.''

In Foley, his editor Peter Gelling found a kindred spirit. ''Jim and I shared a desire to tell stories about how the decisions of the powerful affected the lives of the ordinary '-- stories that are rarely told because they are too dangerous to tell. He was better at that than most because he was compassionate. Strangers would feel immediately comfortable opening up to him, even in the most harrowing conditions.''

Foley had a previous career as a teacher in Phoenix, and friends say he brought to war reporting the skills of controlling a classroom, interacting with people and crossing cultures.

As a teacher, ''He was this East Coast white guy, trying to speak Spanish,'' says former student Carlos Garcia. ''His Spanish was terrible,'' Garcia adds, but he earned respect and admiration just for trying. Garcia, who now works for Verizon, credits Foley with ''pointing a lot of us in the right direction,'' in a school district where drugs, crime and teen pregnancy were the norm.

''Jim knew how to get the reporting details that make a story come alive,'' Editor Thomas Mucha says.

Foley's journalism gave voice to people the world may never otherwise know: shy, gentle gun-wielding men who had left mundane jobs as welders or accountants to fight for freedom against Gaddafi, or Syrian mothers who lost their sons to Bashar al-Assad's merciless crackdown. His videos had an understated pacing, with telling details '-- a rebel's toe sticking out through worn boot leather, for example, or a soldier struggling to fire a weapon he couldn't handle.

''Jim knew how to get the reporting details that would make a story come alive: the vernacular and mannerisms of US soldiers fighting in Afghanistan; the way Libyan rebels in the desert used homemade artillery and RPGs; how rebels and civilians of Syria's bloody civil war fought, suffered and grieved,'' observes Mucha. ''He never complained about how much work that really takes to pull off. Time and again he would go back into the field and back to his sources to get those details. And time and again that dedication and work ethic paid off.''

And then there were moments of sheer mayhem.

The Gaddafi assault in Libya was hardly the first time Foley was nearly seared by the heat of combat. On a US military embed in Afghanistan's hostile Kunar Province, Taliban fighters ambushed his convoy. As always, Foley is right up there with the action, lying on his back, filming a 19-year-old Army private gunning from the turret just a few feet away. Then you hear the dull whack of a bullet slamming into his helmet (at 1:55 in the video).

''Ahhh shit,'' cries the private.

''Are you hit?'' hollers a voice from inside the vehicle.

''In the head,'' he responds.

Foley continues filming. There's no evidence that his hands are shaking.

On Location Afghanistan: A firefight in Kunar Province from GlobalPost on Vimeo.

For sure, like most war correspondents, Jim was seduced by the adrenaline, by getting close to the action and witnessing life at its most extreme.

Violence ''does a strange thing to you,'' he told an audience at the Medill School of Journalism after being released from prison in Libya. ''It doesn't always repel you. Sometimes, as you know, it draws you close. ... It's a strange sort of force.''

Foley was feeling that force on the morning of April 11, 2011, when he passed the last checkpoint near the front lines outside Brega, Libya, along with journalists Clare Morgana Gillis, Manu Brabo and Anton Hammerl. He later shared his recollections of that day in a GlobalPost interview.

''This doesn't look safe,'' he quoted Hammerl as saying. ''This seems a little crazy. The adrenaline was starting to race.'' Then a group of young teenagers in a car warned the reporters ''Gaddafi forces 300 meters away.''

''I didn't want to be the guy that said, let's turn around,'' Foley said, the regret visible on his face. ''I didn't want to do that.''

Because Gaddafi forces had typically targeted the roads that rebels used to attack, the journalists strayed off into the desert. ''That was a huge, huge mistake,'' Foley said. Almost instantly, two heavily armed Gaddafi pickup trucks came over the rise, guns blazing. Moments later, Hammerl lay bleeding in the sand. The others were beaten and taken captive. They never saw their friend again.

When he worked at GlobalPost's office, Foley seemed haunted by that incident. He spoke of the responsibility he felt for Anton's death, about how Anton's children would never know him. ''We made mistakes, and it could have been any of us who were killed. But Anton was killed,'' he later told the BBC.

It would be easy to speculate that Foley's selflessness in Syria '-- his willingness to put the needs of other prisoners above his own '-- stemmed from this guilt, from a yearning to make things right after the Hammerl tragedy.

Garcia, his former student, argues that's just the way Jim was.

Foley coached the school's basketball team, and Garcia says he would dig into his own wallet to make sure the students had things the school couldn't afford. There was no gym available, so Foley arranged for them to play at a local YMCA. ''We couldn't afford buses, so Mr. Foley would carpool: He'd put us in his car, take us to the gym, and go back and get another bunch of guys.'' The team came in second place, Garcia recalls. ''We presented him with a plaque because he put so much effort into it.''

Foley's style may have been rugged, fearless, and not exactly fine-tuned for corporate success. But he made an impact, and he left a legacy that will endure with all of us at GlobalPost, and with many others around the world.

After his death, a group of men from Kafranabel, Syria paid him tribute.

We couldn't agree more.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/140827/what-james-foley-meant-to-us

Gaddafi sodomized: Video shows abuse frame by frame | GlobalPost

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WARNING: IMAGES BELOW ARE PARTICULARLY GRAPHIC AND UPSETTING.

SIRTE, Libya '-- An analysis of video obtained by GlobalPost from a rebel fighter who recorded the moment when Col. Muammar Gaddafi was first captured confirms that another rebel fighter, whose identity is unknown, sodomized the former leader as he was being dragged from the drainpipe where he had taken cover.

A frame by frame analysis of this exclusive GlobalPost video clearly shows the rebel trying to insert some kind of stick or knife into Gaddafi's rear end.

Full coverage: Death of Muammar Gaddafi

GlobalPost correspondent Tracey Shelton said there is some question as to whether the instrument was a knife from the end of a machine gun, which Libyans call a Bicketti, or some kind of stick.

This latest video discovery comes as international and human rights groups call for a formal investigation into how the former Libyan leader was killed. In video clips that have emerged of his capture, Gaddafi can be seen injured but alive. Later he is seen with what appears to be gunshot wounds to his head and chest. According to the Geneva Conventions, however, abuse of prisoners under any circumstance is not permissable.

Related: Gaddafi to be buried in "secret desert location"

Here is a frame by frame look at the attack. Below the frames is video decoding the cell phone footage of the capture. And, finally, at the bottom is the full video. You can see the attempt to sodomize Gaddafi at the 16 second mark.

WARNING: Extremely graphic

DECODING MUAMMAR GADDAFI'S CAPTURE:

FULL VIDEO OF MUAMMAR GADDAFI'S CAPTURE:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111024/gaddafi-sodomized-video-gaddafi-sodomy

The Overseas Press Club Foundation | Overseas Press Club of America

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Graduate and undergraduate students, studying at American colleges and universities, or Americans studying abroad, who aspire to become foreign correspondents, are invited to apply for one of fourteen scholarships or internships to be awarded by the Overseas Press Club Foundation.

Winning an OPC Foundation scholarship or internship is more than a cash award. Winners are invited to join the Overseas Press Club family. They are encouraged to network and keep the organization apprised of their career moves. The Foundation pays travel and living expenses for interns in foreign bureaus at such leading news organization as the Associated Press and Reuters, among others, and at foreign English-language media companies like the South China Morning Post and Cambodia Daily. In many cases, winning a prestigious OPC Foundation award has helped launch careers.

The judges require that applicants submit a Cover Letter, Resume and Writing Sample. The applicant's name and school should appear at the top of each page. The Writing Sample of approximately 500 words should concentrate on an area of the world or an international issue that is in keeping with the applicant's interest. It can be in the form of a story, news analysis or a traditional essay. Recent winners have written on such diverse topics as playing black jack on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, political activism in Morocco, and social upheaval in China. Applicants are also encouraged to submit essays showing a strong understanding of, or interest in, global economic issues such as trade, finance, emerging markets, immigration or environmental impacts.

The Cover Letter should be autobiographical in nature addressing such questions as how the applicant developed an interest in this particular part of the world, a story pitch, or how he or she would use the scholarship to further journalistic ambitions. The judges respond well to applications showing strong reporting skills, color, and understanding or passion.

Winners will be contacted in December so that arrangements can be made for them to attend the Foundation Scholarship Luncheon in February 2015 in New York City. Recipients are expected to attend.

You may email, fax or mail your application. Email is preferred.

For more information, contact Jane Reilly, Executive Director, by e-mail (select Foundation/Scholarship) or call 201-493-9087.

Email:e-mail (select Foundation/Scholarship)Fax:

201-612-9915

OPC Foundation Website:

Mail:William J. HolsteinPresident Overseas Press Club Foundation40 West 45 Street New York NY 10036

Digital First Media Announces Partnership With GlobalPost | GlobalPost

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New York, NY'-- Digital First Media, which operates MediaNews Group, Journal Register Company and Digital First Ventures, announced today a content partnership with the world news site GlobalPost.

The partnership will provide Digital First Media access to all content produced by GlobalPost's growing network of more than 50 journalists across the globe.

''In a short time, GlobalPost has built one of the industry's leading sources of international news. GlobalPost's vast network of in-country journalists provide perspective that makes the world's news local and they provide the context so readers understand the impact on all areas of our lives,'' said Jim Brady, Editor-in-Chief of Digital First Media.

Since it was founded in 2009, GlobalPost's reporting has spanned more than 50 countries each month and has been recognized with multiple prestigious media awards including a Peabody Award, two Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the Overseas Press Club Award for Breaking News in 2011 for its reporting on the fall of Gaddafi. GlobalPost's ''On Location'' video reports '' a collection of 75 video reports from 34 nations '' earned both the Peabody and the Murrow awards.

''It is an honor for us and a milestone for our syndication efforts to partner with Digital First,'' said GlobalPost's President and CEO, Philip S. Balboni. ''We are excited about the opportunity to have our reporting available to their sixty million news consumers each month through a vast array of daily newspapers and multiplatform products. This is a great opportunity to extend the reach of the important content that our journalists in every corner of the globe create every day.''

The agreement with GlobalPost is part of Digital First Media's strategic initiative to provide its audience with the highest-quality and most diverse story selection across all platforms.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/130122/digital-first-media-announces-partnership-globalpost

The 74th Annual OPC Awards | Overseas Press Club of America

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From left: Tom Brokaw, Richard Engel of NBC and Tom Gjelten of NPR

MEDIA CONTACT: Tamara Boorstein (347) 628-8983 or tamara.boorstein@gmail.com

Syria and China Lead in Top International Stories of the Year at the 74th OPC AwardsTom Brokaw Receives Lifetime Achievement Award; Diane Foley, mother of James Foley, will light the candle in memory of the Journalists Killed and Missing in ActionWatch the Acceptance SpeechesNEW YORK, April 24 '-- 2012 saw key international press coverage originating from Syria and China. Those two countries dominated the annual awards from the Overseas Press Club, with both the Associated Press and National Geographic capturing three prizes each.

Syria dominated the breaking news categories, with reporters and photographers taking home a large number of awards for their coverage of that dangerous conflict. Other stories focused on China's government and state-owned enterprise corruption, as well as corporate espionage.

Tom Brokaw, anchor of NBC News from 1982 to 2004, will receive the President's Award for lifetime achievement. Diane Foley, mother of James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria on Thanksgiving day last year, will light the candle in memory of journalists who have died in the line of duty in 2012 and in honor of those injured, missing and abducted.

Other news organizations winning awards include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, CNN, Harper's, CBS News, WGBH, WBEZ, Bloomberg News and Agence France-Presse. Recognizing the changed media landscape, 2012 is the first year that the OPC incorporated the online media platform into many of its awards previously designated only for the print medium.

Raja Abdulrahim of The Los Angeles Times won the prestigious Hal Boyle Award for best newspaper reporting from abroad for her series "Inside Syria," a vivid and powerful series of reports from inside Syria range from bomb making lessons to kidnapping and government tactics.

The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award, which honors press photography requiring exceptional courage and enterprise, went to Fabio Bucciarelli, whose combat images from Syria were published by Agence France-Presse.

"Covering the world has never been more dangerous and that is reflected in the stories that were prominent in the awards this year," said OPC President Michael Serrill. "We pay tribute to the men and women at the forefront of covering news around the world.''

There were also tales from more remote corners of the world. Especially noteworthy is a combination print, radio and video package by WBEZ and ProPublica that uncovers for the first time details of the military massacre that destroyed a village in Guatemala 30 years ago.

There were 441 entries in this year's competition.

Citation recipients >>

Complete list of winners >>

Watch the Acceptance Speeches >>

Overseas Press Club - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents.[1] The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member. The club seeks to maintain an international association of journalists working in the United States and abroad, to encourage the highest standards of professional integrity and skill in the reporting of news, to help educate a new generation of journalists, to contribute to the freedom and independence of journalists and the press throughout the world, and to work toward better communication and understanding among people. The organization has approximately 500 members who are media industry leaders.

Every April, the OPC holds a dinner to award excellence in journalism for the previous year. The awards are juried by industry peers. The organization also has a foundation that distributes scholarships to college students who want to begin a career as a foreign correspondent. Many scholarship winners secure international assignments at some of the most prestigious news outlets in the world.

In April 2008, the OPC relaunched its website to include community features for members like forums, commenting, page sharing through email/print/download and RSVP and bill pay functions.

Notes and references[edit]^About the OPC^http://opcofamerica.org/awards/awards-recipients^"OPC Adds 6 New Online Categories to Awards Roster", Overseas Press Club of America, 7 December 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2010.See also[edit]External links[edit]

site:overseaspressclubfoundation.org globalpost - Google Search

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The Ground Truth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about the documentary. For the technical term, see ground truth.The Ground Truth (also known as The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends) is a 2006 documentary film about veterans of the Iraq War. It was directed and produced by Patricia Foulkrod.

Synopsis[edit]The film addresses the issues many soldiers face upon their return from the War in Iraq, including problems with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and an inability to meld back into "normal" society. The film includes footage of soldiers in Iraq and personal interviews with about two dozen people directly affected by the war (either veterans or family members/friends of veterans). The veterans, both men and women, speak of their experiences before, during, and after the war. The veterans speak about recruitment and training, combat, their returns home, facing their families, and their difficulties in making the necessary changes needed to fit back into society. The Ground Truth was released in theatres on September 15 of 2006 and released on DVD on September 26 of the same year. People can sign up to host screenings of the film online at The Ground Truth or view a low-resolution copy online, see bottom.

About the soldiers and veterans[edit]The soldiers give their accounts of being in the U.S. military and stationed in Iraq. They focus on their experiences before, there, and the dealings afterwards. Before stationed, they joined the military forces and went through basic training. In basic training they mention such concepts as desensitization and depersonalization. The accounts given for the experiences in Iraq consist of the injuries to their physical bodies and to their own mentality. After they were discharged, they have to face and adapt back to the world they lived in before being stationed. Many mention the idea of post traumatic stress disorder, while also the adaptations made to their injuries; such as an amputated limb.

The accounts[edit]Robert Acosta is a specialist in the U.S. Army and felt his time in the army saved him from facing time in prison. He lost his right hand and part of his right foot in Iraq in a grenade explosion.

Charles Anderson served in the U.S. Navy from 1996-2005, serving time in Iraq in 2003. When discharged he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Upon his return from the war, Anderson became actively involved in the anti-war effort and publicly supported increased government-provided care for veterans returning from Iraq.

Aidan Delgado was a specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve. Delgado served in Iraq in 2003 and was discharged in 2005. After finishing his service in Iraq, he became active in an anti-war program where he spoke publicly about what he felt to be the truth about Iraq. He also became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

Kelly Doughtery served as a medic and military policewoman in the U.S. Army National Guard. Kelly spent a year in Iraq from 2003-2004. After returning home, she became the co-founder and Southwest Coordinator for Iraq Veterans Against the War. She also gave worldwide speeches expressing her views on the war.

Jim Driscoll helped found Vets4Vets, an organization which provides peer support for veterans.

Sean Huze served as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in Iraq in 2003. Upon his dischange, he was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Certificate of Commendation, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. After his return he became involved in theatre and used dramatic art and expression to address the issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He founded and is currently the artistic director for The VetStage Foundation, a non-profit theatre company for veterans.

Denver Jones was a U.S. Army after serving in DS, Dessert storm and re-enlisted initially in Army Reserve/NG (with the rank of PFC (rank) to serve in Iraq after the attacks on 9/11. Denver lost his higher rank status, due to prior service rules at the time, and his determined desire to serve, as soon as possible. During his service he was involved in a PLS.(type of combat transportation vehicle accident, which shattered his lower spine as well as receiving head injury, severe enough to bust two molars and brain damage. These injuries resulted in loss of use of his bladder and bowels, as well as the use of his Legs. The accident left him completely disabled. Jones suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after his return from Iraq. Jones also has other disabilities as well as being divorced due to his Injuries, However he chooses not to ask for credit by reporting his awards and various MOS.(military Job classification)

Joyce and Kevin Lucey became involved in the anti-war effort after their son (Jeffery Lucey '' a 23 year-old veteran of the Iraq war) committed suicide. Jefferey had spent five months in Iraq in 2003, and fought in the Battle of Nasiriyah. He suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the war.

Camilo Mej­a is a sergeant in the U.S. Army National Guard and fought in Iraq for a period of six months. After his return to America, he began to speak publicly about his experiences and disagreement with the War in Iraq.

Demond Mullins enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard and served five years. He was deployed to Iraq for one year in 2004. After his return he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Perry O'Brien was discharged as a conscientious objector (CO) after spending eight months in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. He later founded Peace-Out, a website offering assistance to soldiers wishing to obtain CO status. He also became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace.

Paul Rieckhoff served as a platoon leader in Iraq. After returning home, he joined the anti-war effort by trying to spread word of what he felt are the true conditions soldiers in Iraq face. He is the creator of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Stephen L. Robinson is a former Airborne Ranger and instructor at Ranger School. From September 2001 to January 2006, he served as Executive Director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. Robinson has been recognized as an expert on chemical and biological weapons and on Gulf War Illness. He served in the Gulf War, and also on the Veterans Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, and also as a Special Advisor for Vietnam Veterans of America. Robinson also became involved as the Government Relations Director for Veterans of America.

Awards and critical acclaim[edit]At the 2006 Sundance and Nantucket Film Festivals, critics hailed The Ground Truth as "powerful" and "quietly unflinching." The film has caused a great deal of critical controversy, mostly over its dealings with the sensitive subject of the Iraq War. The film has also been mentioned/critiqued in notable sources such as Newsweek, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, USA Today, and the New York Times. The film was one of 15 on the Oscar "short list" for the 2007 Academy Award Nominations.

Associated organizations[edit]10% of proceeds from the sale of The Ground Truth DVDs go to Operation Helmet. Other associated organizations include Iraq Veterans Against the War, AMVETS, Appeal for Redress, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the National Center for PTSD, the National Veterans Foundation, Purple Hearts Project, Soldiers Project, US Vets, Veterans for America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wounded Warrior Project, Vets 4 Vets, and several faith-based and student organizations.

Credits[edit]Director: Patricia Foulkrod;Producor: Patricia Foulkrod;Executive Producers: Jodie Evans, Carl Linderum, Victor Scherb, Louise J. Wannier, Andrew Mysko, *Jon Faiz Kayyem, Dal LaMagnaCinematographer: Reuben Aaronson;Editor: Rob Hall;Released by: Focus Films;Running time: 88 minutes;Rating: ROriginal Music by David Hodge. The Ground Truth was filmed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; *Iraq; and Venice L.A., California.DVD release information:ASIN B000HA4WSYExternal links[edit]

Ground truth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Sun, 31 Aug 2014 10:48

Statistics and Machine Learning[edit]In machine learning, the term "ground truth" refers to the accuracy of the training set's classification for supervised learning techniques. This is used in statistical models to prove or disprove researchhypotheses. The term "ground truthing" refers to the process of gathering the proper objective data for this test. Compare with gold standard (test).

Bayesian spam filtering is a common example of supervised learning. In this system, the algorithm is manually taught the differences between spam and non-spam. This depends on the ground truth of the messages used to train the algorithm; inaccuracies in that ground truth will correlate to inaccuracies in the resulting spam/non-spam verdicts.

Meteorology[edit]Ground truth is a term used in remote sensing; it refers to information collected on location. Ground truth allows image data to be related to real features and materials on the ground. The collection of ground-truth data enables calibration of remote-sensing data, and aids in the interpretation and analysis of what is being sensed. Examples include cartography, meteorology, analysis of aerial photographs, satellite imagery and other techniques in which data are gathered at a distance.

More specifically, ground truth may refer to a process in which a pixel on a satellite image is compared to what is there in reality (at the present time) in order to verify the contents of the pixel on the image. In the case of a classified image, it allows supervised classification to help determine the accuracy of the classification performed by the remote sensing software and therefore minimize errors in the classification such as errors of commission and errors of omission.

Ground truth is usually done on site, performing surface observations and measurements of various properties of the features of the ground resolution cells that are being studied on the remotely sensed digital image. It also involves taking geographic coordinates of the ground resolution cell with GPS technology and comparing those with the coordinates of the pixel being studied provided by the remote sensing software to understand and analyze the location errors and how it may affect a particular study.

Ground truth is important in the initial supervised classification of an image. When the identity and location of land cover types are known through a combination of field work, maps, and personal experience these areas are known as training sites. The spectral characteristics of these areas are used to train the remote sensing software using decision rules for classifying the rest of the image. These decision rules such as Maximum Likelihood Classification, Parallelepiped Classification, and Minimum Distance Classification offer different techniques to classify an image. Additional ground truth sites allow the remote sensor to establish an error matrix which validates the accuracy of the classification method used. Different classification methods may have different percentages of error for a given classification project. It is important that the remote sensor chooses a classification method that works best with the number of classifications used while providing the least amount of error.

Ground truth also helps with atmospheric correction. Since images from satellites obviously have to pass through the atmosphere, they can get distorted because of absorption in the atmosphere. So ground truth can help fully identify objects in satellite photos.

Errors of commission[edit]An example of an error of commission is when a pixel reports the presence of a feature (such as trees) that, in reality, is absent (no trees are actually present). Ground truthing ensures that the error matrices have a higher accuracy percentage than would be the case if no pixels were ground truthed.

Errors of omission[edit]An example of an error of omission is when pixels of a certain thing, for example maple trees, are not classified as maple trees. The process of ground truthing helps to ensure that the pixel is classified correctly and the error matrices are more accurate.

Military usage[edit]In US military slang, "ground truth" is used to describe the reality of a tactical situation as opposed to what intelligence reports and mission plans assert the reality to be. The term is reflected in the title of the 2006 Iraq War documentary The Ground Truth and is used in military publications, for example Stars and Stripes saying "Stripes decided to figure out what the ground truth was in Iraq."

The military usage of the term is long-standing but its origins are obscure. It is plausible but difficult to prove that "ground truth" began life as military terminology and then was applied to other domains such as remote sensing control.

External links[edit]

Bake Family Trust - GroundTruth

- google for "The Bake Family Trust"

- spot this in results (pdf): https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-326537A1.doc

- it's about construction of a new transatlantic fiber link, very last paragraph says:

Emerald, an Ireland corporation, is a majority-owned subsidiary of Aqua Ventures International FZE (Aqua Ventures), a United Arab Emirates

company. See Letter from Robert E. Stup, Jr., counsel to Emerald Networks Holdings Limited, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, dated

April 8, 2014, at 1. Aqua Ventures owns over 70% of, and controls, Emerald. The Bake Family Trust directly owns 100% of Aqua Ventures.

The sole, indirect owner of Aqua Ventures is Christopher Paul Bake, a Dutch citizen. Mr. Bake is the sole beneficiary of the trust. Dominion

Fiduciary Trust Limited, a company incorporated under the laws of the Bailiwick of Jersey, is the trustee of the Bake Family Trust. No other

person or entity holds a ten percent or greater ownership interest in Emerald. Id.

- google for Christopher Paul Bake

- chairman at vitol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitol

- owns aqua sailing team: http://www.teamaqua.org/en/team/sailing_team.php?idContent=1

- was 'exposed' here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/oct/21/conservatives-links-fossil-fuel-lobbyists

Fears grow over Conservatives' links to fossil fuel lobbyists | Environment | The Guardian

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Fri, 29 Aug 2014 08:38

Anti-fracking campaigners in Southport last year. Environmental groups are increasingly concerned over links between Conservative ministers and fossil fuel companies. Photograph: Mar Photographics/Alamy

Government backing for new forms of gas extraction such as "fracking" are under acute scrutiny after a sacked energy minister warned against "betting the farm" on them and green groups expressed alarm at links between the fossil fuel lobby and the Tories.

The Observer has established that two key executives of the energy trading giant Vitol, whose boss has given more than £500,000 to the Conservatives, were personal shareholders in a company bringing "hydraulic fracturing", commonly known as fracking, and a related technology, coal bed methane (CBM) extraction, to the UK.

But doubts are growing over whether such technologies can deliver the cheap energy prices the gas lobby claims.

Writing for the Observer, former energy minister Charles Hendry, who lost his job in the reshuffle, warns that shale gas "cannot bring the UK the same benefits as in America, where consents are much easier and prices are kept artificially low by the lack of export facilities".

After a week in which David Cameron staked his credibility on reducing energy bills, Hendry writes: "We may face a golden age for gas, but don't assume it will be cheap. Last year's energy price rises owed more to rising global wholesale gas prices than anything else, so betting the farm on shale brings serious risks of future price rises."

The previously unpublicised interests of two Vitol executives, Bob Finch, its head of trading, and Christopher Bake, managing director of Vitol, Dubai, in "unconventional gas extraction" assets suggests they believe it could be a major source of energy.

Alan Duncan, the international development minister, worked for Vitol in the 1990s and was a consultant for another company part-owned by Vitol.

Ian Taylor, its chief executive, who has donated around £550,000 to the Conservatives, was a guest at an intimate dinner party with David Cameron in his Downing Street flat last November. Weeks after the private dinner - for people who had donated more than £50,000 to the Tories - it emerged that Vitol had supplied oil to rebels in Libya. The revelation prompted suggestions the deal had been brokered by the Foreign Office, a claim comprehensively rejected by Vitol.

Last month, Vitol admitted it had bought and sold Iranian fuel oil. The Swiss-based company said: "A Bahraini subsidiary company purchased a spot cargo of fuel oil from a non-Iranian counterparty in July 2012. The fuel oil delivered ... was of Iranian origin. Vitol Group companies no longer purchase any product of Iranian origin."

Joss Garman, a campaigner with Greenpeace, said: "Call me cautious, but these don't sound like the kind of people we want to be entrusting with our land, countryside and climate. The government urgently needs to kick the UK's gas habit in order to stabilise energy bills."

Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP and now chairman of Cuadrilla, one of the UK's main shale prospectors, is an adviser to the government. He is also managing director of Riverstone Holdings, which has oil and gas investments in the North Sea. Ben Moxham, who worked for Browne at BP and Riverstone, is now Cameron's energy adviser.

A Cuadrilla site in Lancashire was forced to suspend test fracking in 2011 after two small earth tremors. In April a panel of experts appointed by the government ruled that test fracking could continue under stringent conditions.

Finch and Bake, along with two venture capital firms, acquired a 16% stake in a company called Dart Energy after selling it to a company called Greenpark that has a licence to conduct exploratory fracking at a site on the Anglo-Scottish border. Finch no longer has an interest in Dart, according to Vitol. Next February, Dart plans to start drilling 22 CBM wells on the bank of the river Forth, the largest venture of its kind in the UK.

Dart is a member of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, which employs Australian lobbyists Crosby Textor. A former Crosby Textor lobbyist, Guy Robinson, is special adviser to the environment secretary, Owen Paterson. Paterson, accused by green groups of being a climate-change sceptic, has voiced support for fracking, describing shale reserves as "one unexpected and potentially huge windfall".

Both fracking and CBM extraction are fiercely opposed by environmental groups. Fracking involves injecting fluid under high pressure to crack rocks underground and release the natural shale gas. The technique is banned in several countries, including France.

' This story was amended on 2 November 2012 to remove incorrect references to the Vitol Group being a shareholder in Dart Energy and to include Vitol's denial that the Foreign Office brokered a deal to supply oil to Libyan rebels

James Foley Video Had A Change Of Actor '' Expert Points Out - International Business Times

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Sat, 30 Aug 2014 04:55

A forensics expert points out hints that the James Foley beheading video was edited to give way to a change of actor.

Whiles experts has no doubt that Foley was actually killed, they were one in saying that the video showing his execution was edited to suit whatever purpose it wants to serve.

According to Ross Patel, a forensic expert, the change in stature of the man masked in black was a giveaway that there is another man or a second militant that acted the part. The second man could be the actual killer.

Patel pointed out that an obvious edit made it possible to conceal the appearance of the second man.

"There's definitely a change of actor. There are noticeable, there are subtle but there are also noticeable changes in their build, their physical appearance," the expert said.

Patel suggested that for investigators to track down the man in the video, the measurements of his face can be compared through databases of passport photos.

Patel was keen to observe that the knife being held by the man in the video has dimensions and style different from the knife left beside Foley's dead body and decapitated head. Furthermore, the man's pistol was holstered underneath his left armpit which suggests that he was right handed. However, the beheader who appeared in the video was left-handed.

Curiously, the whole footage appeared to be edited using "slick post-production techniques," according to an international forensic science company, which requested not to be named.

"I think it has been staged. My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped," the company's analysis of the video published by The Times reads.

Video experts, who had also spoken with The Times, observed that some portions of the video have play-acting.

In the instance that Foley's beheading video was elaborately edited using advance equipments, it will be logical to ask next as to how and where the ISIS gets its funding.

The group owns cash amounting to $2 billion amassed from private donations, taxes, ransoms and stolen millions of money from big infrastructures that the group had been seizing, The Guardian reports.

There is no way to determine the exact amount of funding that the group is getting, according to Australian National University's Middle East terrorism expert Dr Rodger Shanahan.

Shanahan said that it is a known fact that the group is amassing money from the Gulf to Syria, or their sales of oil from the locations that they now control. But as for the exact amount of money coming in, no one can definitely know "unless you're privy to their books of account."

Calling itself as a caliphate means that the group has its capacity to do everything that a government does as "the notion of holding dams is as much about claiming to be a government as it is about revenue raising," he said.

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