(2017 - 2018) WARNING -- THE DARK SIDE OF YOUTUBE

WHY MILLENNIALS ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH AND OPTING FOR THE ‘SCIENCE’ OF WITCHCRAFT, ASTROLOGY AND GOOP – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

WHY MILLENNIALS ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH AND OPTING FOR THE ‘SCIENCE’ OF WITCHCRAFT, ASTROLOGY AND GOOP

ON OCTOBER 21, 2017 BY AARONHALIMIN ASTROLOGY, CHRISTIANITY, MILLENIALS, WITCHCRAFTEDIT

Melissa Jayne, owner of Brooklyn-based “metaphysical boutique” Catland, said she has seen a major uptick in interest in the occult in the past five years, especially among New Yorkers in their 20s. The store offers workshops like “Witchcraft 101,” “Astrology 101,” and a “Spirit Seance.” “Whether it be spell-casting, tarot, astrology, meditation and trance, or herbalism, these traditions offer tangible ways for people to enact change in their lives,” she said. “For a generation that grew up in a world of big industry, environmental destruction, large and oppressive governments, and toxic social structures, all of which seem too big to change, this can be incredibly attractive.”

by Geoffrey GriderOctober 20, 2017

WHEN COCO LAYNE, A BROOKLYN-BASED PRODUCER, MEETS SOMEONE NEW THESE DAYS, THE FIRST QUESTION THAT COMES UP IN CONVERSATION ISN’T “WHERE DO YOU LIVE?” OR “WHAT DO YOU DO?” BUT “WHAT’S YOUR SIGN?”

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3,4 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jesus in Revelation 3 tells us that the last professing Christian church will be weak and powerless, focused only on money, prestige and material gain. Jesus Himself locked outside the door, and knocking to be let back in. So is it any wonder that millions of millennials are abandoning this pusillanimous Laodicea and seeking answers in the stars and soothsayers? When Antichrist arrives, millennials will flock to him in droves, lapping up his lies like a Starbucks Frappuccino. What’s worse than believing nothing? Believing everything…but Jesus.

“So many millennials read their horoscopes every day and believe them,” Layne, who is involved in a number of nonreligious spiritual practices, said. “It is a good reference point to identify and place people in the world.”

Interest in spirituality has been booming in recent years while interest in religion plummets, especially among millennials. The majority of Americans now believe it is not necessary to believe in God to have good morals, a study from Pew Research Centerreleased Wednesday found. The percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 29 who “never doubt existence of God” fell from 81% in 2007 to 67% in 2012.

LET THE MILLENNIALS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES:

This short video, filmed right here in Saint Augustine, shows what millennials actually believe. 

Meanwhile, more than half of young adults in the U.S. believe astrology is a science, compared to less than 8% of the Chinese public. The psychic services industry — which includes astrology, aura reading, mediumship, tarot-card reading and palmistry, among other metaphysical services — grew 2% between 2011 and 2016. It is now worth $2 billion annually, according to industry analysis firm IBIS World.

Melissa Jayne, owner of Brooklyn-based “metaphysical boutique” Catland, said she has seen a major uptick in interest in the occult in the past five years, especially among New Yorkers in their 20s. The store offers workshops like “Witchcraft 101,” “Astrology 101,” and a “Spirit Seance.”

“WHETHER IT BE SPELL-CASTING, TAROT, ASTROLOGY, MEDITATION AND TRANCE, OR HERBALISM, THESE TRADITIONS OFFER TANGIBLE WAYS FOR PEOPLE TO ENACT CHANGE IN THEIR LIVES,” SHE SAID. “FOR A GENERATION THAT GREW UP IN A WORLD OF BIG INDUSTRY, ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION, LARGE AND OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENTS, AND TOXIC SOCIAL STRUCTURES, ALL OF WHICH SEEM TOO BIG TO CHANGE, THIS CAN BE INCREDIBLY ATTRACTIVE.”

Like the existence of God, however, there’s no actual scientific proof. Astrology has been debunked by numerous academic studies, but Banu Guler, co-founder of artificial intelligence powered astrology app Co—Star said the lack of structure in the field is exactly what drives young, educated professionals to invest their time and money in the practice.

“It’s very different from the way we usually work and live and date, where everything is hyper-mediated and rational,” she said. “There is a belief vacuum: we go from work to a bar to dinner and a date, with no semblance of meaning. Astrology is a way out of it, a way of putting yourself in the context of thousands of years of history and the universe.”

CASE IN POINT: CO—STAR’S SERVERS WERE SO OVERWHELMED BY DEMAND AFTER IT LAUNCHED ON OCTOBER 12 THAT THE APP CRASHED THREE TIMES IN ITS FIRST WEEK.

Astrology isn’t the only spiritual field overwhelmed by demand: Danielle Ayoka, the founder of spiritual subscription service Mystic Lipstick, said her customer base is growing exponentially. The self-described astrologer sells a “mystic box” subscription, which includes crystals, “reiki-infused bath salts,” and incense customized to the unique energy of the current moon cycle for $14.99 a month. She says she’s seen 75% increase in her audience in the past year.

“When I started my journey in 2010, I was the weirdo,” she said. “Now it is becoming more and more normalized, and I believe it is because more people are looking to heal. Millennials are much more open-minded.”

With this overwhelming demand comes a rise of products claiming metaphysical benefits, not all of which take the cultural context of the occult into account, notes Layne. Urban Outfitters sells sage, a product that has its roots in indigenous cleansing ceremonies, for $18 a pop and a crystal mobile for $32.

“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” Revelation 9:20,21 (KJV)

Actress turned CEO Gwyneth Paltrow sells a variety of spiritual wares on her website, many of which are borrowed or “inspired” by other cultures. A jade egg that costs $66 has its roots in ancient Taoist practice. Her $85 “Goop Medicine Bag” is “inspired by the Shaman’s medicine bag from various indigenous traditions,” and a $59 Tarot card deck features “mystical artwork” that mirrors Native American patterns.

But Layne, whose interest in Eastern medicine is rooted in her Taiwanese heritage, said white women are often able to profit from ancient practices that are not theirs to sell.

“It is really important to give credit to who is doing the work,” Layne said. “There is a whole culture of white women who capitalize off of spirituality, but it all comes from people of color. People need to do their homework: being in touch with your spiritual side is a natural, human thing to do. To be able to connect yourself is essential to healing not only your own wounds, but healing together.” source

WHY MILLENNIALS ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH AND OPTING FOR THE ‘SCIENCE’ OF WITCHCRAFT, ASTROLOGY AND GOOP – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Saudis Order Review of Mohammed’s ‘Teachings’ to Combat Terror – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Saudis Order Review of Mohammed’s ‘Teachings’ to Combat Terror

ON OCTOBER 20, 2017 BY AARONHALIMIN ARAB NATIONS, ARABIZATION OF ISLAM REVISED, WAHABISEDIT

Home > World > Saudi Arabia > Saudis Order Review of Mohammed’s ‘Teachings’ to Combat Terror

BY CLARION PROJECT Thursday, October 19, 2017

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman (Photo: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a decree ordering the establishment of a body to review the interpretations of the teachings of the Islamic prophet Mohammed that are being used to justify violence and terrorism.

These teachings, known as the hadiths (reports or narratives) comprise accounts of the sayings, habits and actions of Mohammed written many years after his death. Different sects of Islam accept different collections of hadith. Some Muslims who call themselves Quranists, only accept the validity of the Quran and none of the hadiths.

Salman directed the Saudi Culture and Information Ministry to establish a body to investigate the hadiths that are being used by extremist organizations to justify their actions.

The ministry said the aim of the new authority would be to “eliminate fake and extremist texts and any texts that contradict the teachings of Islam and justify the committing of crimes, murders and terrorist acts.”

The body will include Islamic scholars from around the world and be headed by SheikhMohammed bin Hassan al-Sheikh, a member of the Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars, the kingdom’s highest religious authority.

Earlier this year, during a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump, Salman inaugurated the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology “to expose, combat and refute extremist ideology,” according to the center’s Twitter account.

While Saudi Arabia has made moves against extremism, it is, at the same time, spending billions of dollars to spread its own extremist version of Islam, Wahhabism, throughout the world through the funding of mosques staffed with Saudi-approved imams. The kingdom has also made enormous donations to U.S. and Western universities to establish Middle Eastern study departments.

Wahhabism has inspired terror groups from ISIS to al-Qaeda and others. The September 11 attacks were carried out mainly by Saudis.

Saudis Order Review of Mohammed’s ‘Teachings’ to Combat Terror – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Kill Them All: France on French ISIS Fighters – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Kill Them All: France on French ISIS Fighters

ON OCTOBER 20, 2017 BY AARONHALIMIN CHANGING FACE OF ISLAM, DAY OF JUDGMENT, EXISTENTIAL THREAT, ISIS, ISIS SUFFERS MASSIVE LOSES, ISLAMIC STATE, ISLAMICTERRORISTS, ISLAMISTS, JIHADISTS, MUSLIM RADICALS, MUSLIM REFUGEESEDIT

Home > World > France > Kill Them All: France on French ISIS Fighters

BY ELLIOT FRIEDLAND Thursday, October 19, 2017

An Iraqi counter terrorism forces member stands guard in the Mosul. (Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP / Getty Images)

The question of what to do with captured ISIS fighters has vexed many European countries who have nationals fighting for the terrorist group. With the fall of Raqqa, the de facto ISIS capital and reports of 400 ISIS fighters surrendering, that question has become more urgent.

France has a simple solution, as reported in The Times of Israel: Kill them.

“We are committed along with our allies to the destruction of Daesh (Islamic State) and we’re doing everything to that end,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly told reporters. “What we want is to go to the end of this combat and of course if jihadists die in the fighting, then I’d say it’s for the best.”

This fits with reports of previous French policy. When asked if the government of Emmanuel Macron would continue French policy of killing ISIS fighters with French citizenship, French government spokesman Christophe Castaner told reporters, “I say to all fighters who join the Islamic State group and then go abroad to wage war that waging war brings risks, and they must accept those risks.”

The Times of Israel also reported an understanding between the Iraqi army and the French to kill any French citizens fighting for ISIS that are caught: “We will prevent as much as possible any French person leaving Mosul alive,” said Abdelghani al-Assadi, a top commander in the Counter-Terrorism Service, quoted by Paris Match. “Our aim is to kill them so that no one from Daesh can flee.”

Kill Them All: France on French ISIS Fighters – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Religion and Morality Drive Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Say Media Experts – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Religion and Morality Drive Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Say Media Experts

ON OCTOBER 20, 2017 BY AARONHALIMIN CHRISTIANITY, ISRAEL EXISTED SINCE ABRAHAM TIME, ISRAEL JEWISH TRUE HOMELANDEDIT

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN OCTOBER 18, 2017 , 1:30 PM

43 12

5 2Email 81Share

“Do what is right and good in the sight of Hashem, that it may go well with you and that you may be able to possess the good land that Hashem your God promised on oath to your fathers.” Deuteronomy 6:18 (The Israel Bible™)

(Shutterstock)

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a “religious, spiritual and moral conflict,” said David Parsons, vice president and senior international spokesman for the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ), on Tuesday. “If you ignore that, then you ignore the heart of the problem.”

Parsons, who was addressing a group of Christian journalists during a panel discussion about media bias on Tuesday as part of the government’s Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem, said he believes faith still motivates and drives people in the region far more than the mainstream media understands.

“Most reporters completely ignore it,” Parsons said.

In the last decade, several media outlets have come under fire for their anti-religious attitudes and for hiring correspondents with little understanding of religious issues. Brexit and the victory of President Donald Trump highlighted the liberal, elite media’s struggle to understand “ordinary people.”

From left: Chris Mitchell, CBN News bureau chief in Jerusalem; David Parsons, Vice President, International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem; Judy Maltz, reporter, Ha’aretz; Amy Kaufman, freelance reporter; and Caroline Glick, contributing editor, Jerusalem Post. (Maayan Hoffman/Breaking Israel News)

Author and former Associated Press (AP) correspondent Matti Friedman agreed the situation in Israel is even more complex than in the rest of the world, but emphasized the moral aspect over the religious one.

“The Israel story is not a political story, not a violence story, not a Middle East story – it’s a story about morality,” said Friedman. “Stories about Jews are always stories about morality – Jews are the moral actors that fail.”

Friedman, also speaking to Christian media on Tuesday, said Jews have forever claimed to have a moral mission from God. He said the claim that God has given the Jews a special job is “annoying” to some members of the liberal, Western world, and has led to anti-Semitism.

Jews, he explained, have been characterized as acting with unforgiving hostility toward Christians, as greedy,  tribal, or too cosmopolitan.

“It’s a deep-thought virus and I think that is what is going here,” said Friedman about the unbalanced focus the media puts on Israel.

Friedman backed up his claim with numbers. While he was working for AP in 2006, the bureau had 40 full-time news staff covering Israel, which, Friedman pointed out, makes up one-one-hundredth of the surface of the world, 0.2 percent of the Arab world, and has only around 8 million citizens.

In contrast, there were far fewer reporters in China (1.4 billion people) or India (1.3 billion people), and more reporters in Israel than in all the sub-Sahara African states and in Africa combined. There was only one AP reporter in Syria in 2006.

Friedman emphasized that interest in Israel goes beyond the perceived high rate of violence and conflict in the region. The entire city of Jerusalem, with its 830,000 residents, had only 18 violent fatalities in the last year, including all people killed in stabbing attacks, assailants nabbed by security forces, Israelis and Palestinians. In contrast, the city of Jacksonville, Indiana had 119 homicides.

Motti Friedman (Maayan Hoffman/Breaking Israel News)

“But you won’t see those numbers spelled out because it would undermine the idea that this is a very important story,” Friedman said.

As an example of where anti-Semitism has been leveraged in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Caroline Glick at the summit recalled when in 2016 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claimed rabbis had called to poison Palestinian water in a speech to the Parliament of the European Union. The incident, which was condemned as promoting blood libels and anti-Semitic tropes, was underreported by the mainstream press.

Chris Mitchell, Christian Broadcasting Network News bureau chief in Jerusalem, said one reason for the under-reporting might have been media fatigue.

“We so often hear these blood libels by the PA that the media might just say, ‘Well, here we go again,’” he told the Summit.

Parsons, however, was not willing to let the media off so easy. He said that these types of blood libels are a “Christian import” to the Middle East. As such, reporting on such statements “is important for us as Christian journalists.”

“I am motivated to tell the Muslim world, ‘We got it wrong about the Jewish world before. We are here to tell you what’s wrong,’” Parsons said.

Parsons and Mitchell both said Christian reporters have a Biblical mandate to report the truth from Israel, based on verse 12:33 in 1 Chronicles.

Men who knew how to interpret the signs of the times, to determine how Yisrael should act. 1 Chronicles 12:33

Mitchell added that in order for Christians to pray for Israel, they need to know the truth. “Our role is to make a complex, complicated region understandable,” he said. “Our audience wants to pray and they want to know how to pray.”

Speaking to Breaking Israel News, Mitchell said Christian media looks at the conflict from a different worldview than its secular counterparts, and he feels that puts those reporters at a disadvantage.

“You cannot understand the situation unless you understand the Bible and the Koran,” said Mitchell. “The Bible informs the situation and the Bible should inform your coverage.”

Religion and Morality Drive Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Say Media Experts – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Returning ISIS Jihadists Pose Long, Uncharted Challenges for US And Europe – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

Returning ISIS Jihadists Pose Long, Uncharted Challenges for US And Europe

ON OCTOBER 20, 2017 BY AARONHALIMIN ANTI-GOVERNMENT, ISIS, ISIS SUFFERS MASSIVE LOSES, ISLAMIC STATE, ISLAMICTERRORISTS, ISLAMISTS, JIHADISTSEDIT

BY ABIGAIL R. ESMAN/ALGEMEINER.COM OCTOBER 19, 2017

Share this article:

    

---

For months now, Western counterterrorism experts have sounded the alarm: as ISIS loses ground, foreign fighters from America and Europe may try to return home. 

When they do, the experts cautioned, they will carry the terror threat with them, ready and willing to strike in Western countries. And law enforcement agencies must be prepared.

Now, with the fall of the Iraqi city of Harija — the Islamic State’s last major stronghold — and the impending collapse of its Syrian capital, Raqqa, the time has finally come. But is law enforcement prepared?

Not really.

An estimated 5,000 Europeans have joined ISIS and other terrorist groups since fighting first broke out in Syria. While some surviving members may choose to remain in the region, or travel to other conflict areas like Afghanistan, a few thousand others will likely try to make their way back home. 

In countries such as France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, most of them will be taken into custody and ultimately tried for terror-related offenses.

But that only covers those who re-enter through legal means. Most will try clandestine paths. And porous borders make such illegal re-entry disturbingly simple, as the rampant smuggling of refugees has already made abundantly clear.

An ongoing lack of coordination of intelligence and security agencies across Europe will further enable terrorists to slip in unnoticed. That’s what happened with Mehdi Nemmouche, who shot and killed four people at the Brussels Jewish Museum in 2014. 

The same is true of Reda Kriket, who travelled to Syria twice, before being arrested in March 2016 on suspicion of plotting “at least one” attack in France. And Brussels airport bomber Ibraham El Bakraoui had previously been arrested by Turkish officials as he attempted to reach the Islamic State.

“Despite improvements since 9/11, foreign partners are still sharing information about terrorist suspects in a manner which is ad hoc, intermittent, and often incomplete,” a 2015 report of the Task Force in Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel said.

Such critical intelligence failures also pose risks outside of Europe. “The larger concern is that some European extremists might be able to make it to the United States undetected once they have left the battlefield,” the report’s authors said.

With visa-free entry into the US allowed for European citizens, such fears are not unfounded — and compound the threats posed by returning US nationals.

Even so, some US officials caution against overreacting to the threat that American returnees may cause. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper argues that most of the 40 Americans who have returned from the Islamic State did so for reasons “that don’t relate to plotting” — such as homesickness and family matters. 

Others, like analysts at the New America Foundation put a greater emphasis on the danger from jihadists who never actually left the US, but were radicalized locally or online.

But not everyone agrees.

“Whether or not returning fighters carry out attacks, they return with the prestige of warriors and credibility on the street,” a 2014 RAND report observed. “They are able to recruit other fighters to go to the Middle East and they can gather like-minded groups around them.”

RAND political scientist and International Center for Counterterrorism fellow Colin Clarke agrees, writing in The Atlantic that some returnees, both in the US and in Europe, may “attempt to resuscitate dormant networks, recruit new members, or conduct lone-wolf style attacks,” as some Europeans have already done.

Tackling the threat, US and European officials agree, depends heavily on European authorities’ ability to improve their intelligence capabilities — a daunting task at a time when rising crime rates, concerns about existing terror threats, logistically complex bureaucratic systems and international rivalries continue to draw on the intelligence agencies’ reserves.

Moreover, not all European states agree on the best way to handle returnees. While most of these jihadists are jailed and tried on terror charges, returnees to Denmark, for instance, are placed in rehab programs that offer schooling, job training and housing, among other benefits — with the hope being that they will rejoin society and reform.

Moreover, the EU Radicalisation Awareness Network put forth a series of recommendations in July for all member states. Countries, they said, should:

Create “re-socialization” programs for detainees, even pre-trial.

Provide religious guidance through “trustworthy chaplains.”

Employ mental health experts to work with those who may suffer from PTSD or “disillusionment.”

“Be aware that many returnees — even if not engaged in criminal behavior — may still strongly support ideologies opposing apostates, other religions, so-called infidels, women’s rights and even EU societies as such. Most have been subject to severe indoctrination. Consider dialogue, mentoring and other techniques for returnees with such strong beliefs.”

In part, this careful handling reflects the reluctance of countries like Denmark to treat returnees as criminals. But as RAND points out, it also comes as a result of difficulties in assessing “which returnees pose a terrorist threat and which do not.” These uncertainties could require monitoring all returnees for indefinite periods, raising civil rights questions as well as economic and other practical concerns.

Whether such careful handling will effectively thwart radicals remains to be seen. Meantime, US officials are taking a different, more punitive approach. Sentences in the US are longer — and can include the death penalty, which is banned in Europe.

Moreover, EU laws can be vague regarding which potentially terror-related activities constitute a crime. By contrast, RAND says, American courts are better prepared for the challenges of convicting returnees, thanks in part to the fact that, in the United States, “providing material support to a terrorist organization, which includes joining or attempting to join a terrorist group, is already a crime.”

But for both Europe and America, RAND suggests another alternative: encouraging returnees to cooperate with intelligence agencies in exchange for lighter sentences, thereby becoming valuable resources in the battle against jihadism in their homelands, and helping to locate and convict other terrorists returning from abroad, especially those who have entered illegally. These are the hardest people to find, and pose the greatest danger.

But even without cooperation from within, there may be other strategies. RAND’s Colin Clarke calculates that approximately half of all Islamist terrorists involved in attacks in Europe had criminal pasts. In contrast, others put the figure closer to 22 percent.

“Many foreign fighters began as criminals,” Clarke wrote on Lawfare, “and many might turn to crime on their return.” Indeed, those seeking to finance attacks are likely to look to criminal activity — such as drug trafficking — to secure it.

Hence, Clarke notes, “To root out returning foreign fighters, authorities should first look to the underworld from which the fighters originally emerged. Criminals inevitably return to what they know best.”

Clarke’s approach for Europe applies equally to America. Yet for all its practicality, the criminal element of these terrorists’ backgrounds also points to an additional danger. 

As Canadian counterterrorism analyst Mubin Shaikh has noted, “prisons are a factory for radicalization. The jihadis themselves say prison is the university of jihad.” Should those trained in militant jihad find their way back into the criminal circuit, that situation could only worsen.

Ultimately, the problem of returning jihadists promises to be a complicated one across the West, likely for years to come. In the face of an unprecedented terror threat, we have no map to travel by.

Originally published by Algemeiner.com – reposted with permission.

Returning ISIS Jihadists Pose Long, Uncharted Challenges for US And Europe – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

PROFIT at any cost: Big Pharma’s bribery and kickback schemes led to deaths of U.S. soldiers – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim

PROFIT at any cost: Big Pharma’s bribery and kickback schemes led to deaths of U.S. soldiers

ON OCTOBER 20, 2017 BY AARONHALIMIN BIG PHARMA BRIBERY, CONSPIRACY, MAHDI ARMYEDIT

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 by: Jayson Veley
Tags: Big Pharma, bribery, corporations, corruption, deaths, drug companies, military, soldiers, veterans

6,140VIEWS

(Natural News) The families of U.S. troops who have been killed or injured while fighting overseas in Iraq have filed a lawsuit against multiple U.S. and European pharmaceutical and medical supply companies after accusing the corporations of knowingly financing the Mahdi Army, an anti-American militia, through a series of bribes and kickbacks.

The lawsuit, which was filed against some of the biggest and most well-known names in the industry – including GE Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Roche Holdings – claims that the corporations sent financial aid to Iraq’s Ministry of Health through their local agents. Allegedly, these funds were then used by officials at the ministry to assist the militia as they carried out attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Needless to say, if the accusations made in the lawsuit really are true, then it would be one of the most egregious acts ever committed by pharmaceutical companies to date, and would even border on treason.

The money was sent in the form of “commissions” or “free goods,” and at times amounted to as much as 20 percent of the total value of a contract with ministry officials. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that the defendants included specific language in their contracts that promised Iraq’s Ministry of Health after-sales support and other services related to the product that was sold to them.

“In reality, such services were illusory and functioned merely to create a slush fund the local agents could use to pass on ‘commissions to corrupt (ministry) officials,’” the lawsuit states.

While the lawsuit claims that the money that was sent from these pharmaceutical companies to Iraq’s Ministry of Health violated the U.S. anti-terrorism act, Pfizer released a statement explaining that the company “categorically denies any wrongdoing.” In addition, GE said that they were “thoroughly reviewing the allegations,” and a spokeswoman for Roche declined to comment because the company had yet to be officially served with the lawsuit. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also refused to comment on the matter.

“Defendants did not intend for the ‘free goods’ provided to Kadima (health ministry’s pharmaceutical importing agency) to serve any legitimate charitable or medicinal purpose,” the lawsuit alleges. “It was widely understood in Iraq that MOH (Ministry of Health) operated more like a terrorist organization than a legitimate health entity, and no rational company would have viewed MOH as a suitable object for charity.”

Back in 2007, the global intelligence company Stratfor reported that U.S. led forces in Iraq had arrested the deputy health minister after he was accused of “selling health services and equipment in return for millions of dollars that he later funneled to Shiite militias.”

Unfortunately, this is hardly the first time that global brands have engaged in backdoor deals and shady transactions in exchange for special privileges from and relationships with politicians and lawmakers. In August, for example, Lee Jae-yong of Samsung was sentenced to five years in prison after it was revealed that he had paid almost $8 million in bribes to win over the support of South Korean President Park Geun-hye in the midst of ongoing corporate negotiations. In 2012, Walmart was accused of sending millions of dollars to the Mexican government in hopes of speeding up construction of their stores there, an issue that the company is still dealing with to this day.

Indeed, while these allegations against these pharmaceutical companies are certainly serious and warrant further investigation, it would be inaccurate to say that this sort of thing is rare and uncommon.

Attorneys working for law firms of Sparacino & Andreson and Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick stated that they have spent thousands of hours so far reviewing transactions that were made between the pharmaceutical companies in question and the Iraqi Ministry of Health between the years 2004 and 2013.

Ami Neiberger-Miller, whose 22-year-old brother was killed in a roadside bomb allegedly planted by the Mahdi Army in Baghdad back in 2007, explained that she wants the companies to be held accountable for providing them with financial aid. “I had always pictured my brother’s killers as faceless,” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought U.S. companies would have anything to do with his death. Those funds went directly from those companies to terrorists who had a mission to kill U.S. troops like my brother. They should be held accountable. Companies should know what is done in their name.” (Related: The US government admits that Agent Orange that was sprayed on GMO farms poisoned troops.)

Whether its U.S. corporations sending money to terrorists in Iraq, or even the disastrous and poorly run Department of Veterans Affairs, something needs to be done to improve the way veterans and military individuals are treated in this country. It’s sad, but far too often these brave men and women don’t receive the amount of respect and care that they deserve, and if U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies really did put our troops in danger for money, then it really is a sad day in America.

PROFIT at any cost: Big Pharma’s bribery and kickback schemes led to deaths of U.S. soldiers – Re-Shared and administered by Aaron Halim