HAARP to be officially offline from June 2014

The US Air Force has given Congress official notice that it plans to start dismantling its Alaska-
based High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program ahead of the sites shutdown later this
summer.
The controversial program, also known as HAARP, has been home to a large number of
conspiracy theories, but it will officially be taken offline at the conclusion of a final research
experiment in June.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, exactly what will happen to the facility which
features nearly 200 high-frequency antennas across 30 acres and was used to conduct
experiments related to the Earths ionosphere remains unclear. The University of Alaska is
reportedly considering a takeover of the site, but it has not committed to paying the annual cost
of $5 million needed to keep operations running.
As for the Air Force itself, David Walker, the services deputy assistant secretary for science,
technology and engineering, recently told the US Senate that HAARP is "not an area that we
have any need for in the future," noting that money could be better spent elsewhere.
Officially, HAARP was used by the US to study enhanced communications technologies, and
was employed for experiments that involved shooting powerful signals into the atmosphere in
order to see their effect on radio waves. The facility also allowed scientists to learn how charged
particles reacted when in the ionosphere.

As noted by the website iO9, HAARPs official objectives were defined to "identify, investigate,
and, if feasible ... serve to enhance future DOD Command, Control and Communications
capabilities Research areas that will be explored include generation of very low and
extremely low frequency waves, generation of geomagnetic field-aligned irregularities, electron
acceleration, and investigation of upper atmospheric processes.
If no organization steps forward to take control of the facility, the location will likely be shut
down permanently. Walker added that the Air Force would start removing important equipment
in the summer in order to avoid the expense of winterization.
"We're moving on to other ways of managing the ionosphere, which the HAARP was really
designed to do,"Walker said, according to the ADN. "To inject energy into the ionosphere to be
able to actually control it. But that work has been completed."
The last experiment, meanwhile, is being conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA). Although HAARP cost about $290 million to construct, DARPA Director
Arati Prabhakar told ADN its only natural for the agency to jump into other work.
"The 'P' in DARPA is projects, she said. We're not in the business of doing the same thing
forever, so very naturally as we conclude that work, we're going to move on. It's not an ongoing
need for DARPA despite the fact that we had actually gotten some good value out of that
infrastructure in the past."

As avid HAARP watchers would know, the experimental nature of the site has sparked a lot of
controversy and conspiracy theories over the years, including allegations that the US used the
program to cause a variety of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and
earthquakes.
Even some world leaders couldnt help but speculate about possibly nefarious uses. As RT noted
previously, then-president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, used a United Nations General
Assembly meeting to claim the facility was responsible for devastating floods in Pakistan.
Former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, meanwhile, suggested HAARP was responsible for
initiating the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
The accusations havent stopped since then, either. Just recently, Serbian scientist Velimir
Abramovic claimed that recent rainfall in the country was caused by HAARP, since it did not
feature thunder or any of the typical kinds of rain patterns associated with the region.
"It seems as if the sky opened, and sea of water fell from it. These were not rain droplets that you
would typically expect to see. This was a designed weather pattern which I might add is not the
first, nor will it be the last by HAARP, he said, according to the Macedonian International News
Agency.
Other scientists, however, find the conspiracy theories to be outlandish. According to the ADN,
they said that even if the US wanted to control the ionosphere, which is up to 370 miles above
the Earths surface, doing so through HAARP is akin to controlling the Pacific Ocean by
tossing a rock into it.
ISIS
As ISIS, a group thought to consist of only a few thousand people led by a shadowy figurehead,
defeats forces many times its size to capture a large part of Iraq, RT looks into what is ISIS, and
how has it achieved its terrifying triumphs.
Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES on ISIS offensive in Iraq
So, what is ISIS? And is it even ISIS, or is it ISIL?
The worlds most committed and fanatical radical organization has only recently gone by its
current name, after the unrecognized Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was proclaimed in
April last year. Al-Sham has been most commonly translated from Arabic as the Levant, hence
ISIL. It was previously known as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic State of
Iraq.
The frequent name changes are not cosmetic but the direct result of the transforming
circumstances which have allowed ISIS to rapidly flourish. Initially focused on achieving
dominance in Iraq, it was kept under control in the relatively calm period between the initial
sectarian strife that broke out following the US-led invasion in 2003, and the outbreak of
hostilities following the American military withdrawal in 2011.
Since then, it has become a major player, receiving another critical boost when the civil war in
Syria turned into a sectarian conflict, bringing in millions of dollars in funding and thousands of
fresh recruits from around the world.
Currently, ISIS strongholds extend from Raqqa in northern Syria all the way down to the
outskirts of Baghdad a stretch of more than 500 km, though the group doesnt have
comprehensive oversight of the roads and settlements between them.
The speed with which the Islamist group is closing in on Baghdad can be compared if not
exceeds the pace of the 2003 invasion. Unlike the US and allies, though, ISIS does not have a
capability of launching destructive air strikes, however in its latest offensives the group has
reportedly managed to significantly boost its military power capturing dozens of US-made
armored vehicles and other heavy weaponry from the retreating Iraqi military.
SIS is part of and similar to Al-Qaeda, right?
No, it is significantly worse. Al-Qaeda has been the touchstone for the Western understanding of
terrorism ever since 9/11, but ISIS differs from it philosophically, organizationally, and even
officially, as it has declared itself an entirely separate body. If anything the two organizations
though both espousing Sunni Islam are currently more rivals than allies.
While Al-Qaeda, in its most well-known forms, is a terrorist organization, with sleeper cells,
training camps and terrorist attacks, ISIS as of now is more a militia and a rogue territory with its
own infrastructure, more similar to Boko Haram and other localized fiefdoms that have spawned
in lawless or failed African states.
Al-Qaeda has become more conscious of avoiding acts of indiscriminate or counter-productive
brutality since the demise of Osama Bin Laden, but ISIS revels in it, espousing a religious
philosophy so uncompromising it appears almost nihilistic.
The areas it has secured have been kept under control by an endless stream of floggings,
mutilations, beheadings and crucifixions. The targets can be well-chosen or arbitrary, but no one
is spared Shia opponents, Sunni rivals, captured soldiers or immoral women.
ISIS 'execute' 1,700 Iraqi soldiers, post gruesome pictures (GRAPHIC)
Unsurprisingly, although the first leader of ISIS, the late Abu Musab, did swear fealty to Al-
Qaeda back in the early 2000s, the two organizations have fallen out.
The breaking point was the internecine fighting between ISIS and Al-Qaeda-backed Nusra in
Syria. Pleas by Al-Qaeda to divide spheres of influence were flatly rejected by Abu Bakr, the
ISIS leader, who spent four years in US captivity, before being released in 2009. After
increasingly testy communication between the sides, Al-Qaeda disowned ISIS earlier this year,
in return provoking ISIS to call the organization traitors and a joke.
With the rise of ISIS, many say that it is now Al-Qaedas Ayman al-Zawahiri who should be
pledging allegiance to the 43-year old Abu Bakr.
How is ISIS funded?
ISIS operates as a half-mafia-style commercial enterprise, half pious international charity,
looking for wealthy donors in the Gulf States and throughout the globe.
It is certainly not lacking in opportunism in commercializing its military activities. In 2012 ISIS
or ISI as it was then took over oil fields in Syria, reaping profits from selling the oil at
discounted prices to anyone willing to pay. It has traded in the raw materials in areas it has
captured, and even dabbled in selling antiques from monuments under its control.
ometimes, it doesnt have to be so elaborate. Its biggest single success was plundering a
governmentvault in Mosul captured last week that reportedly contained more than $425
million. With the loot taken during its recent advances, ISILs estimated war chest now stands at
over $2 billion.
But just as important is ISIS income from its unknown yet easily guessed backers from the
Arabian Peninsula. As the worlds foremost proponents of Saudi-style Wahhabism, Iraqi
officials claim ISIS gets a steady stream of funds and support from politically engaged operators,
working from the safety ofSaudi Arabias and Qatars US-protected borders.
Like any up-and-coming enterprise, its recent publicity and burgeoning reputation is likely to
form a virtuous circle, where ISIS will receive additional funds, to wreak more impressive feats
of destruction to the delight of its backers.
How did ISIS manage to capture so much territory?
On June 10, less than a thousand of ISIS militants on soft-shelled pickup trucks occupied the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul with a population of 1.8 million people.
The city was supposed to be under the protection of the US-trained Iraqi military force of about
30,000 stationed in the region. It was equipped with sophisticated US-made military equipment
part of the weaponry and hardware supplied by Washington to Baghdad, which has been
estimated to cost billions of US dollars.
However, Mosul fell with no apparent resistance as scores of Iraqi troops fled dropping their
uniforms and leaving the precious hardware behind. The militants celebrated getting US-made
Humvees and tanks some of which have since headed to Syria to be used against the
government forces and even allegedly captured at least one Black Hawk helicopter.
General lack of morale and cohesion in the Iraqi army has been named the cause for the
humiliating loss of this and other cities including the strategic city of Tal Afar close to the
Syrian border and Saddam Husseins birthplace Tikrit.
Aiding this parade of ISIS victories has been the allegedly sweeping support of the local Sunni
population, who previously supported the Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein overthrown by the
US-led forces.
Sectarian factors, but also the way the post-invasion Iraqi PM Nouri al-Malikis government has
handled religious and social conflicts in the country, certainly contributed to Iraqi army being
unpopular in ISIS-occupied regions. Apparently, replacing some Sunni commanders with Shiites
locally did not help, and the way ISIS won the support of local tribes via negotiations has shown
how little the new central government is valued in northern rural Iraq.
However, one also has to realize that ISIS is no bunch of poorly-trained extremist thugs. With
years of experience on the Syrian battlefield, the group boasts training camps producing well-
prepared fighters, and it has been joined by scores of professionally trained overseas
mercenaries.
ISIS spokesman Shaykh Muhammad Adnani has explained the groups current success by the
will of God, saying that the [Islamic] State has not prevailed by numbers, nor equipment, nor
weapons, nor wealth, rather it prevails by Allahs bounty alone, through its creed in a recent
statement posted on YouTube.
It remains unclear for how long the brutal and repressive policies of ISIS will guarantee their
support on the ground in Iraq, while they are trying to win the locals hearts with
religious propaganda and dreams of a huge cross-border caliphate.
It is ironic that the hardcore Islamist group will be using the equipment provided by Washington
to Baghdad in the Western-backed insurgency in Syria, but at the same time may be confronted
by the West in Iraq, where the militants are now contesting the countrys largest oilfield.
Having spent billions on Iraq and war on terror for securing its own interests in the region, the
US and its allies have been unwilling to admit the devastating 2003 invasion was a mistake with
disastrous consequences for the whole Middle Eastern region. While 2013 was marked by
the bloodiest sectarian violence in Iraq in five years, it mostly went unnoticed with
the international community. Recently, the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair chose
to blamebad systems of politics mixed with abuse of religion as the root of all the problems
in Middle East.