Unspeakable grief and horror
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Know them by their fruit:
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Unspeakable grief and horror
Know them by their fruit: |
The Negative Return Economy — a discourse on America’s black budget
Fascinating and lucrative
Keep the people frightened
Black Budget? What Black Budget?
At the time of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001 according to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), Pentagon had incurred $3.4 trillion of “undocumentable transactions,” that is to say that there were $3.4 trillion worth of financial transactions for which there was no discernible purpose.
Of things they cannot know Is the secret of the Tomb If they knew what you and I know They would know it is just men Who rob them, cheat them, kill them Then start it all again — Orville X |
The day before the attack, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned that the lack of control over its budget was a greater danger to the national security of the United States than terrorism.
After the attacks, the government stopped publicly disclosing information about “undocumentable transactions”.
Blame the Bookkeeper
The problem is not restricted to the Pentagon but affects the entire spectrum of government agencies and departments from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Defense Department.
For a number of years the GAO has compiled a parallel set of books for the Federal Government called the Financial Report of the United States.
This report attempts to impose “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” to the government’s financial
reporting process in order to give a clearer picture of the government’s actual assets and liabilities and thereby
enable better planning. Neither the Pentagon nor the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to name just two, have ever been able to pass a GAO audit on this basis.
Significantly, the government does not employ double entry bookkeeping in the preparation of its accounts.
This has been standard accounting practice since the seventeenth century, which classifies and tracks sources and uses of funds to create an accurate picture of a business (or public) enterprise.
Today the Pentagon utilises no accountable means of tracking money authorised by Congress from its initial authorisation to its use, say in developing a fighter plane.
Running a 21st century military machine using antique accounting methods is an anomalous situation with interesting implications, not least of which is that government agencies cannot, or will not, explain what they are doing with the money that is appropriated for their operations by Congress.
A similar state of affairs prevails at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
It exists primarily, at least in law, to ensure that low income Americans have access to affordable housing, which HUD provides as well as both credit and credit insurance on a nationwide scale.
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Yet HUD has never compiled information on its activities so that it or anyone else can see, by place, whether or not its activities in that place make money, lose money, or are simply irrelevant.
Conflict of Interests
Few Americans are probably aware that Lockheed Martin, builder of the F22 air superiority fighter, is also a major outside contractor supplying financial control and accounting systems to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon for its part is Lockheed Martin’s biggest customer.
This example is by no means unique.
Lockheed also has a subsidiary employed by HUD to administer housing in American cities, an unusual diversification for a corporation the majority of whose business is done with the military and intelligence agencies. [ii]
Similarly Dyncorp (recently acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation) is another contractor that, like Lockheed, derives almost all its revenue from government security and military contracts.
It is also a contractor supplying information technology to a variety of government agencies including the Pentagon, HUD, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice.
At the Department of Justice it manages the case management software used by DOJ lawyers to manage investigations. [iii]
A prime example of overlapping interests is Herbert “Pug” Winokur. Not only was he on Dyncorp’s board of directors but he is also the Enron director in charge of that company’s risk management committee, and a long-standing board member of the Harvard Management Corporation, which invests in HUD projects.
AMS Inc., a computer software firm hired by HUD in 1996 to take over the management of its internal software for accounting and financial control, presided in two short years over an explosion in undocumentable transactions of nearly $76 billion. AMS violated fiduciary and control practices by installing its own equipment and software with no parallel runs against the legacy software and accounting system.
In those same two years, HUD’s management more than tripled the volume of loan and insurance business being pushed through the system. Anyone familiar with running such systems in a bank or an insurance company immediately understands that a decision such as this (for it had to be a decision) would result in huge losses. [iv]
Is this incompetence or design? Only the credulous would believe accident: the reward for Charles Rossotti, president of AMS, was to be named Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner at the Department of the Treasury, from which position he oversaw significant Treasury contract amendments to AMS.
He was a direct beneficiary of this as a special White House waiver permitted Rossotti and his wife to retain their AMS
stock.
Government’s response to criticism
The reaction of many people to the sorts of facts related above is to dismiss them as no more than evidence of incompetence and accident.
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The government does little to resist this sort of interpretation; on the contrary, it encourages it.
For example, in response to calls for an investigation of its financial control, the Pentagon countered with an offer to investigate credit card abuse.
Complaints about the performance of outside contractors such as AMS have been answered by a government-wide contract award to IBM for the standardisation of IT systems and practices.
IBM, in turn, has awarded subcontracts to AMS, Lockheed, Dyncorp, SAIC and Accenture (formerly spun out from Arthur Andersen of Enron fame).
It is these firms that have failed to provide systems that can pass a GAO audit.
This manoeuvring and the government’s justifications affront common sense and are unethical.
As private sector firms, they have to pass audits before their own accounts can be approved and reported to shareholders. Yet they routinely fail to meet the same standard for the government.
Often the government blames the previous, outgoing administration.
However, consider that the incoming Bush administration replaced all the senior Clinton political appointees except: the Comptroller of the Currency, John D. Hawke; IRS commissioner Charles Rossotti (formerly of AMS); Comptroller General David Walker (Formerly of Arthur Andersen [v] and CIA director George Tenet.
(see: http://www.npr.org/programs/npc/2001/010423.dwalker.html)
In short, the key positions necessary for the control of the federal credit, financial control, audit and intelligence.
Comptroller of the Currency, John D. Hawke ---->control of the federal credit
This undisturbed transition from Democratic to Republican administrations represents a remarkable cross-party consensus, and highlights the real positions of power. With the exception of Rossotti, all these men are still in place in 2004. And Rossotti? He left the IRS to become a senior adviser to the Carlyle Group for information technology. A more richly symbolic and meaningful job move could scarcely be imagined.
Carlyle’s business is global venture venture capital, which is to say it invests in corporate acquisitions all over the world with a speciality in arms manufacturers and technology.
The large levels of undocumentable transactions at HUD and the Department of Defense inevitably inspire curiosity.
Where is the money associated with those transactions?
It is no great leap of imagination to wonder equally where the Carlyle Group raises the money with which to finance its
acquisitions. [vi]
The trusts are dead. Long live the trusts
The cartelisation of the American economy was for all intents and purposes completed by the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. [vii]
IRS commissioner Charles Rossotti ----> financial control Comptroller General David Walker ----> audit CIA director George Tenet ----> intelligence |
In 1889, America’s leading banker JP Morgan held a meeting at his 5th Avenue mansion in New York. Its purpose was to reach a consensus whereby the owners of America’s railroads merged their competing interests. [viii]
This was no mere group of transportation executives agreeing to fix prices. The railroads also controlled the nation’s coalfields and oil supplies, and were tightly bound to the nation’s largest banks.
The creation of the Federal Reserve in 1914 completed this process of consolidation.
In effect, Congress ceded control of the US currency system and the federal credit to the banks, thereby officially recognizing the cartel.
This placed a relatively small number of men in a position to set prices across the economy with a degree of control heretofore unknown in US history.
The banking cartel’s interest in war
American foreign policy and the wars that America has fought over the course of the twentieth century (including the Spanish American War in 1898 [ix] and the present War on Terror) have successfully extended the cartel’s control over the world economy.
The American Civil War was fought to determine control of the US economy. [x] Most Americans would explain the last 150 years of warfare as sadly necessary for reasons beyond America’s control.
The implication is that America has accumulated its preponderant international position by some providential accident and not by design.
Arguments for a contrary view elicit derisive accusations of falling victim to “conspiracy theory.”
Reassuringly, they believe that self-interested individuals and organisations are incapable of collaboration to achieve
common ends.
When JP Morgan sat the owners of America’s railroads around a table and hammered out a non-compete agreement, it was no accident. Similarly, neither have America’s wars been accidents; they have been far more profitable than is widely understood.
The US confiscated billions of dollars worth of German and Japanese war treasure at the end of World War Two. President Truman made a conscious decision to not reveal this to the public or repatriate it.
Instead, it was used to finance covert operations. [xi]
Command economy
Popular myth has it that the trusts were broken up in the first decade of the twentieth century thanks to the crusade of Theodore Roosevelt on behalf of the middle class.
Roosevelt certainly used his public stance against “big business” to successfully bid for campaign money from the very businessmen whom he was attacking.
This perhaps explains why he subsequently signed legislation repealing criminal penalties for those same businessmen.
This is a common trait of “liberal” or “progressive” presidents.
The second Roosevelt, Franklin, is remembered as the champion of the downtrodden, who put an end to the Great Depression.
It was he who established the nation’s social security system which in reality was (and is) funded by a highly regressive tax on its beneficiaries.
Matching contributions from business were allowed to be deducted as a business expense before tax which simply extended the regressive nature of the program by financing business’ share out of foregone tax revenue.
Roosevelt, a superb politician, won a landslide victory on a platform of reform which he adroitly sidestepped fulfilling.
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Instead, he declared a national economic emergency, short-circuiting any constitutional challenge to his power in the court.
He promptly defaulted on the gold clause in the government’s bond contracts, and established the Exchange Stabilisation Fund (ESF) in 1934.
Ostensibly meant to promote dollar stability in the foreign exchanges, the Fund in practice was and is something quite different.
It is exempt from reporting to Congress and is answerable only to the President and Secretary of the Treasury.
It is, in short, an undisclosed fund that can tap federal credit.
Apparatus of a Command Economy
The establishment of the ESF was an extension of the same logic behind the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1914.
The latter, the Fed, was also created in response to a crisis: the crash of 1907.
The Wall Street legend credits JP Morgan’s genius and patriotism with saving the Nation.
In reality, the crash and resulting depression enabled Morgan to destroy his competitors, buy up their assets and in the process revealed to the nation and the world just how powerful the banks and Morgan were.
Not all were grateful, and some demanded legislative action to bring the federal credit and national monetary system under public oversight and control.
In a campaign of masterful political legerdemain, the Federal Reserve was created in 1912 by an act of Congress to do just this.
But by creating it as a private corporation owned by the banks, Congress effectively ceded to the banks a position even stronger than they had occupied before.
Even today it is not widely understood that the Fed is a privately held business owned by the very interests that it nominally regulates.
Thus the control of federal credit and the US monetary system and the rich flow of insider information that results from that control are veiled from public view and are privately controlled in secret which rather explains the Delphic nature of the Fed’s chairman.
The extension of secret control was not limited to finance.
The National Security Act of 1947 created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Council (NSC) and consolidated control of the three armed services under one roof at the Pentagon.
This merely served to extend this principle of secrecy to the field of “national security.”
Like the Fed, the CIA was exempted from public disclosure of its budget and was given budgetary control over the entire intelligence community, while the National Security Council was set up as a policy-making body separate from the existing organs of state policy such as the State Department and the military commands reporting directly to the president.
The CIA Act of 1949 created a budget mechanism that allowed the CIA to spend as much money as it wanted “without regard to the provisions of law and regulations relating to the expenditure of government funds.”
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In short, the CIA has a way to fund anything — legal or illegal — behind the protection of national security law. [xii]
Implementation
Having created the bureaucratic means to conceive and make policy in secret, the next development was to create the means to implement it.
The main issue was how to control money flows in the national economy.
The government’s solution was to assume a commanding position in the credit markets.
To that end, it created first the Federal Housing Authority in 1934 (forerunner of HUD and now part of HUD) [xiii] and subsequently Ginnie Mae and then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to supply mortgage finance and insurance for homebuyers.
The underlying political purpose is more subtle.
Combined with the power of the Federal Reserve (i.e. the cartel) to set the price of money, the ESF, the GSEs, and latterly the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), have proven to be a powerful force for regulating money flows and demand in the US economy.
The military, too, was reformed with the adoption for the first time in American history of a wartime military budget and force structure in peacetime.
In the early 60s this was fine tuned with the adoption of an explicit cost-plus acquisition process.
The justification for this was, as usual, national security.
This military budget has proven as effective in regulating the industrial sector as control over home finance has proven in regulating credit.
Together they confer virtual control over the economy as conventionally measured in terms of money GDP.
Credit, credit, and more credit
A few moments reflection on the institutional structure briefly outlined above makes clear the central importance of the federal credit in underwriting it.
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The federal government underwrites the GSEs by extending to them a subsidised line of credit from the Treasury. An additional indirect subsidy in the form of lower borrowing costs flows from the belief in the marketplace that this constitutes an implicit government guarantee of their solvency.
While this subject from time to time excites controversy, the truth is that the GSEs are not the only corporate entities benefiting from government support.
Since the failure of Continental Illinois in the early 80s, the government has informally made it clear that it stands behind the banking system. This was made even more explicit with the bailout of Citibank in the early 90s and the implicit subsidy that the entire banking industry received as a result.
Nor are financial institutions the only ones to enjoy this kind of support.
Both Lockheed Martin and Chrysler have been effectively saved from insolvency by the taxpayer in the past, presumably due to their status as major defence contractors.
Such a system places a significant value premium on sheer size, if for no other reason than what the banking system cheerfully and disingenuously refers to as the “too-big-to-fail” doctrine.
But for industrial firms, too, there is significant value in having a contracting relationship with the Pentagon.
Not only is there the economic nirvana of cost-plus contracting but, if you are big enough, your fundamental business risk is underwritten for national security reasons.
Thus, there is a tendency for firms to migrate their businesses to military rather than purely civilian markets; today the Boeing Company is a perfect case study of this in action.
And a result is that civilian business in sector after sector has been driven into insolvency or into acquisition by the very national security industry that is ostensibly protecting them. [xiv]
The dynamics of cost-plus contracting are such that profits rise as costs rise. [xv] This explains a great deal about the size of American military budgets, which have risen inexorably over the years even as military
preparedness has fallen. [xvi]
But as we have seen, the losses in terms of lower productivity are felt across wide swaths of the economy as non-military contracting competition is squeezed out or acquired.
Obviously these losses in the real economy have to be financed, producing a higher demand for credit than would otherwise be the case.
Given declining productivity and a narrowing production base, it was inevitable that at some point net exports would become negative, a condition that the US entered in 1982 and which has intensified since.
Today the US net foreign debt [xvii] is on the order of $3,000 billion (30% of GDP) and is increasing at a rate of some $500 billion per year (5% of GDP). [xviii]
Concentrating capital
To finance such a large foreign borrowing requirement without currency depreciation requires both the ability to control as much of the national cash flow as possible as well as the collaboration of at least a few key foreign countries to achieve the same sort of control over international cash flows.
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In the latter case, this takes the form, in part, of ever larger amounts of intervention on the part of those countries running dollar surpluses and strong net export positions to prevent the markets from driving the dollar lower.
In practice this means that they accumulate more and more dollars, which they in turn invest in US Treasury securities.
Foreigners now own some 45% of US Treasury debt outstanding.
In January this year the Bank of Japan intervened in the currency markets on behalf of Japan’s Ministry of Finance, purchasing a whopping $69 billion in that month alone, or more than 30% of its total intervention in 2003 which was itself a record year.
Current trends
All of this may seem to have little to do with the black budget, which most people associate with intelligence covert “black” operations.
The truth, however, is that the black budget cannot be understood in isolation without understanding the political, historical and economic context from which it springs.
One way of understanding this is by comparing trends.
For example, in 1950 the Dow Jones Industrials stood at 200, and today the Dow is at 10,600.
In 1950 narcotics trafficking was a relatively unknown crime in the United States.
Today it is endemic, and not only in cities but in smaller towns and rural communities as well.
In 1950 the US possessed most of the world’s gold and was the world’s biggest creditor.
Today it is the world’s biggest debtor.
In 1950 the US was a major exporter of industrial goods to the rest of the world.
On current trends the US is not self-sufficient in manufactured goods and will not even have a manufacturing industry worth the name by 2020.
Then And Now
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Narcotics trafficking and the stock market
Is there a connection between these trends or are they random?
It may seem strange to think of a positive correlation between narcotics trafficking and the stock market, but consider: in the late 90s the US Department of Justice estimated that the proceeds of such trade entering the US banking system were between $500 and $1.000 billion annually, or more than 5-10% of GDP.
Now the proceeds of crime need to find a way into legitimate, that is legal, channels or they are worthless to the holders.
If one further imagines that the banking system earns a fee of 1% for handling this flow (rather low considering that money laundering is a seller’s market) then the profits for the banks from this activity are on the order of $5 to $10 billion.
Applying Citigroup’s current stock market multiple of 15 or so to this yields a market capitalisation of anywhere from $65 to $115 billion.
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One can thus readily see the importance of the illegal drug trade to the financial services industry.
As it happens, this trade in illegal profits is concentrated in four states: Texas, New York, Florida and California, or four Federal Reserve districts: Dallas, New York, Atlanta and San Francisco.
Can anyone seriously suppose that the Fed is unaware of this if the Department of Justice is?
It, after all, handles the flows.
Narcotics trafficking and the National Interest
One reason for the Fed’s silence is that agencies of the government itself have been involved in drug trafficking for sixty years or more. [xix]
For the purposes of understanding the black budget, one needs to be aware of the American practice of opening the American consumer market for drugs to foreign exporters in order to pursue strategic objectives abroad.
The portability of narcotics and the huge price mark up from production to point of sale makes them a particularly useful source of financing for covert operations.
Even more important is that the proceeds from narcotics sales fall completely outside conventional, constitutional channels of funding.
This helps explain the ubiquitous presence of narcotics trafficking in zones of conflict around the world, from Columbia to Afghanistan. [xx]
Little examined, however, is the impact of narcotics trafficking on communities and economies at the point of sale.
Consider, for example, the impact on real estate markets and financial services.
Real estate is an attractive area in which to employ the cash surplus resulting from narcotics sales because it is, as an industry, entirely unregulated with respect to money laundering.
Because cash is an acceptable and in some places familiar method of payment, large sums can be disposed of easily and with little comment.
This can and does result in considerable distortion to local demand, and in turn provide fuel for real estate speculation and increased credit demand to finance it along with considerable opportunities for speculation and fraud. [xxi]
The Iran Contra episode during the 1980s contained all these elements; although many are familiar with the sale of arms to Iran to provide cash to finance CIA backed guerrillas in Nicaragua and death squads in El Salvador, less well-known is the systematic looting of local financial institutions and narcotics sales in the US.
Banking allows the application of leverage to the cash that is generated by “illegal” activity while simultaneously making it possible to launder the funds.
And when a bank fails, it is the shareholders, uninsured depositors and the taxpayer who pick up the bill.
The point here us that narcotics trafficking creates a milieu in which the incentives to engage in uneconomic activity are greater than those to engage in economic activity.
In a word, the profits from stealing are higher than the profits from playing by the rules.
What counts from a public policy point of view in the cartelised economy is the ability to control and concentrate cash flows of any kind.
To this end, it is less important that a bank fails than that the federal credit is available to make good the losses.
In doing so, the cash cost of losses is shifted, or socialised, to the national taxpayer base.
As long, therefore, as there are willing lenders to the Federal Government, the game can go on.
Technology gives an edge
Government’s power combined with advancing computer technology has over the last thirty years vastly simplified the task of managing the national — and by extension the international — cash flow.
Politically, the American victory in the Second World War meant that the entire West and its dependencies were co-opted into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiated at Bretton Woods in 1944.
Forty-five years later, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 meant that for the first time in history there was no alternative monetary or political choice in the international arena.
The British Empire had surrendered to the Americans precisely because America, represented an alternative to sterling, namely the dollar.
Today the US presides over a more or less fully closed global monetary system centred on the dollar.
In practice this means that those countries within the system must exchange real value in the form of manufactures and commodities with the US cartel in exchange for dollars, which are no more than an accounting entry created out of thin air.
This is analogous to a company with no assets exchanging watered stock for cash, and indeed this is no accident.
It was a favoured technique by which the JP Morgans of the nineteenth century successfully financed the consolidation of American industry and finance.
Today their heirs are busily dong the same thing, but on a global scale.
The diagram is a stylized representation of the relationship between the cartel and its allies outside the United States. Flows are both concrete and abstract.
Concrete flows are manufactures, narcotics and commodities (mainly oil) inwards and arms outwards.
Abstract flows are money outwards in payment for concrete flows inwards, which profits are recycled inwards where they both finance the inflation of the Federal Credit as well as buying political influence.
Technology has transformed the possibilities for creative management in banking.
Its sheer number-crunching power has rendered the cost of iterative calculations to more or less zero.
This has enabled the creation of a new sector in the industry, the derivatives business, which is nothing more than the breaking down of financial instruments such as stocks and bonds into their constitutive parts.
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This has increased the power of the banks many-fold, thanks to the cooperation of the Federal Reserve and Congress, who have allowed the banks to not only self-regulate their derivatives portfolios and businesses but have enacted rules to force other banks to use derivatives to “control” risk.
In practice this has meant that the most profitable business of the banks has been moved off balance sheet, in effect creating a high level of secrecy in their business.
It also confers a huge advantage on the largest banks to whom the others have to come for their derivatives.
This has, in part, fuelled the manic consolidation in banking over the last twenty five years and has been applied with tremendous success internationally thanks to the imposition of the Basel Accords on money and banking which have forced other country’s financial institutions to either cooperate, which in practice has largely meant be acquired, or go out of business.
The banks’ tactics have been copied and refined by industry.
An excellent example of this is the case of Enron, nominally an industrial company engaged in the production and transport
of petroleum and natural gas, but which was transformed into a highly leveraged financial operation with a huge off balance sheet business trading derivatives.
It secured a release from regulatory oversight by the time-tested method of purchasing lawmakers and by suborning its auditors.
This gave it the power to restate earnings, virtually at will, simply by changing the assumptions on future interest rates embedded in the options, swaps and futures contracts constituting its unregulated derivatives book.
Enron is a model also of the increasingly blurred distinction between the public and private sector.
It employed as many as twenty CIA officers.
One of its senior executives, Thomas White, was an army general before joining Enron and then left Enron to become Secretary of the Army.
Enron executives were intimately involved with Vice President Richard Cheney’s energy task force.
It is difficult to avoid concluding that Enron was anything other than a money-laundering operation employed in the interest of “National Security” on behalf of the cartel. [xxii]
The US has embarked on a costly global military adventure the outcome of which is anything but certain.
This marks the culmination of more than fifty years of nearly continuous overt and covert warfare.
In this it is supported by the most sophisticated financing apparatus in history, capable of mobilising the cash generated from a wide variety of activities both open and covert.
The price has been the progressive hollowing out of the American economy itself, and the progressive erosion of civil liberties and the rule of law.
The black budget is not the cause of this but the means.
(rearranged by Kewe.cc — originally at beginning of page)
Introduction
The United States government has operated a secret budgeting and spending program for decades outside the framework of the American Constitution. The institutional and political roots of this system of clandestine finance reach back to at least a century.
The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries saw the consolidation of American industry and banking under the control of a restrictive cartel that for all practical purposes assumed control of the economy. The great magnates of American industry and finance in the late nineteenth century were superb practitioners of covert operations.
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Witness to this fact are the institutions set up during the twentieth century through which their descendants maintain
control.
This paper is a summary of the structure of the American political economy which fits the facts better than the official model.
Officially, American capitalism is characterised by democracy, opportunity, self-improvement, open and free markets, and constructive regulation for the public good, in short, happiness.
Under this construct America has never fought a war of aggression and harbours no designs to do so.
Its leaders have the nation’s interests at heart, and its politicians listen to their constituencies.
The truth is different.
Why the United States is so widely misunderstood is due in part to a controlled educational system and media.
As the system evolved over the decades, time lent it legitimacy spanning the political spectrum.
Gustavus Meyers, author of the seminal work History of the Great American Fortunes and no panegyrist, believed — following Marx as did many on the left — that the consolidation of American industry was inevitable and that the men who accomplished it were acting their part in a predetermined historical evolution.
Once monopoly control had been achieved, the proletariat would rise and its dictatorship would begin.
We shy away from such determinism; nothing happens but as a consequence of what men do and choose to do.
If Meyers were alive today, he would still be waiting.
Published in Scoop: Thursday, 26 August 2004
About the authors
Catherine Austin Fitts — http://www.solari.com is the founder of Solari, Inc and a member of the advisory board of Sanders Research Associates.
Ms. Fitts is a former managing director and member of the board of directors of Dillon Read & Co, Inc, a former Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner in the first Bush Administration, and President of The Hamilton Securities Group, Inc.
She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School.
Chris Sanders — http://www.sandersresearch.com is a principle of Sanders Research Associates in London.
Mr. Sanders has been a banker and asset manager for 21 years, and is a visiting professor in international finance at the School of Public Administration at the University of Göteburg in Sweden.
He has degrees from in political science from Duke University and Arabic literature from the University of Michigan. He began his financial career as a private banker with Citibank in Saudi Arabia in 1979.
Since 1984, he has lived in London and worked in the international investment management industry. He founded Sanders Research Associates in 1997.
Sanders Research Associates Ltd. provides international strategic planning and risk management services to both corporate and private clients. SRA also publishes a webzine available by subscription. Visit http://www.sandersresearch.com to get a good feel for the real deal.
FOOTNOTES:
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[i] Remark attributed to a Wall Street broker in 1895 describing J.P. Morgan. Gustavus Meyers (2002). History of the Great American Fortunes. University Press of the Pacific, Volume 3, p.225.
Morgan, regularly portrayed as a patriot, was at the time deeply engrossed in relieving the government of its gold reserve.
[ii] Lockheed’s contract was recently terminated by HUD — an action that the company is contesting.
[iii] Dyncorp was appointed as well to run the Department of Justice’s asset forfeiture program in 1993, winning a $60 million five year contract to do so.
[iv] For an insider’s account of the problems at HUD, see Catherine Austin Fitts, The Myth of the Rule of Law at www.sandersresearch.com.
[v]
See http://www.npr.org/programs/npc/2001/010423.dwalker.html
[vi] See Dan Briody (2003), The Iron Triangle, Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken. ISBN 0-471-28108-5. Carlyle’s phenomenal success as an investment firm owes a great deal to its ability to lure former political figures and senior industry executives onto its executive team and advisory board. Examples are former US President George H.W. Bush and former British Prime Minister John Major; Frank Carlucci, former deputy director of the CIA and former Secretary of Defense; James Baker III, former Secretary of State; Richard Darman former director of the Office of Management and Budget; Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and present Secretary of State (a Carlucci protégé); William Kennard, former head of the Federal Communications Commission; Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Park Tae Joon, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, and Louis Gerstner, former chairman of IBM. Of some interest as well has been the involvement of the Bin Laden family as major private investors in the Carlyle Group, represented by Shafiq Bin Laden, a brother of Osama Bin Laden. |
[vii] For a brilliant history of the rise of America’s elite and its disenchantment with democracy and free markets, see Sven Beckert (2001). The Monied Metropolis. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 0521790395.
[viii] Gustavus Meyers (2002). History of the Great American Fortunes, Volume 3. University Press of the Pacific: Honolulu. (Reprint of the 1910 edition), p.225.
[ix] See Walter Karp ((1979). The Politics of War. Harper & Row: New York) for an analysis of the move to war in the case of both the war with Spain and WWI.
Of particular interest here is Woodrow Wilson’s extension of a domestic security apparatus ostensibly to deal with a supposed foreign threat during war time.
In fact, the draconian legislation and executive orders that created the FBI as a new appendage of the Department of Justice was hardly used during wartime, but were deployed after the war against domestic political opponents in the labour unions and the Progressive Movement.
[x] See Beckert, op. cit.
[xi] See Tim Weiner ((1990) Blank Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget, Warner Publishing) and Sterling and Peggy Seagrave ((2003) Gold Warriors, Verso Press: New York). There is ample evidence that these funds were invested and have grown substantially in the years since, and are still used to further political and personal agendas.
[xii] Seagrave, Sterling and Peggy, op. cit., pp 119-120.
The use of National Security as a rationale for acts that would otherwise be considered unconstitutional and illegal has become embedded in the America legal system, a curious inversion of original intent.
Franklin Roosevelt declared a national economic emergency in the 30s which was used to justify extraordinary measures by the executive, including the abrogation of the government’s obligations to redeem government debt I gold.
The Supreme Court refused to hear a case contesting the administration’s action.
More recently, the government intervened in a labour dispute between the International Longshoremen Workers Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, citing the Patriot Act of 2001 and equating the union’s position to economic “terrorism”.
In fact, rather than the union striking, the PMA locked the union out of the ports.
Government intervention was in the form of the direct intercession of Tom Ridge, head of the Department of Homeland Security to force the union to accede to PMA demands.
[xiii] Notably, this is the same year in which the Exchange Stabilisation Fund was set up.
[xiv] In a similar fashion, manufacturing firms have migrated into finance, finding it easier to make money by arbitrage than by competition.
Thus General Motors manufactures cars as collateral for its leasing business; similarly GE or Boeing make as much or more money out of financing the purchase of their products than from making them.
[xv] This is to say nothing of the wholesale transfer gratis of research undertaken at the taxpayer’s expense; for example nuclear technology transferred to the power industry.
[xvi] See Franklin Spinney, The Defense Death Spiral, www.d-n-i.net for an in depth analysis of the micro economics of military procurement and its impact on force readiness.
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[xvii] This is the cumulative borrowing from abroad to finance net exports (or the trade deficit if you prefer).
[xviii] The annual rate of increase is the current account deficit.
[xix] See Alfred McCoy (1991). The Politics of Heroin in South East Asia. 2nd ed. Lawrence Hill Books: Brooklyn. ISBN 1556521251.
McCoy documents thoroughly the genesis of US wartime cooperation with the mafia in Italy during WWII and its post-war toleration of narcotics trafficking in the US as a quid pro quo for the cooperation of Corsican and Italian organised crime in its covert war against the Communist Party in France and Italy.
In Asia, it supported the opium and heroin business of a Chinese nationalist army in Burma after the Chinese Revolution in 1948.
In Indochina the US supplanted French colonial rule after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, inheriting in the process French covert ties to opium production amongst the Hmong hill tribes.
With overt American intervention in 1965 the importance of this traffic grew enormously, financing an escalation of the ground war in Laos.
See also Seagrave, Sterling and Peggy, op. cit.
There is ample international precedent for American involvement in narcotics trafficking, beginning with the British organisation of opium production in Bengal two centuries ago and of its illegal distribution into China.
For that matter, Japan turned Manchuria under its occupation into the biggest producer of opium and refined opiates in the world, the cash flow from which proved to be immensely useful to the operations of Japan’s Manchurian Army and intelligence services.
[xx] Peter Dale Scott (2003). Drugs, Oil and War: the United States in Afghanistan, Columbia and Indochina. Rowman & Littlefield Pub: Oxford. ISBN 0742525228.
[xxi] See Roger Morris ((1999) Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America, Regnery Publishing) for a case study of the interaction of covert operations, narcotics trafficking, financial markets and politics in Arkansas during the governorship of Bill Clinton.
[xxii] See Catherine Austin Fitts and Daniel Armstrong, The Real Deal About Enron at www.sandersresearch.com.
Copyright (c) 2004 Scoop Media
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| In 2000 the US merchandise trade deficit with China became larger than the chronic US trade deficit with Japan. By 2003 the US trade deficit with China was almost twice as large as the US deficit with Japan: $124 billion versus $66 billion. 2004 the US trade deficit with China was $162 billion, a 30.9% increase. |
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Classified Spending On the Rise
By Dan Morgan Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 27, 2003; Page A23 "Black," or classified, programs requested in President Bush's 2004 defense budget are at the highest level since 1988, according to a report prepared by the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The center concluded that classified spending next fiscal year will reach about $23.2 billion of the Pentagon's total request for procurement and research funding. When adjusted for inflation, that is the largest dollar figure since the peak reached during President Ronald Reagan's defense buildup 16 years ago. The amount in 1988 was $19.7 billion, or $26.7 billion if adjusted for inflation, according to the center. "It's puzzling. It sets the mind to wondering where the money's going and what sort of politically controversial things the administration is doing because they're not telling anybody," said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a research group in Alexandria that has been critical of the administration's defense priorities. Pike said part of the surge in the classified budget probably can be explained by increases for the Central Intelligence Agency's covert action programs, which are central to the war on terrorism. Traditionally, Pike said, much of the funding for the CIA is hidden in Air Force weapons procurement accounts. But unlike the 1980s, when it was widely known that the 'black' budget was going to the development of stealth aircraft such as the B-2 bomber and F-117 fighter, the uses of the classified accounts today are far murkier, Pike said. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is a Washington research group that analyzes many aspects of the defense budget. Steven Kosiak, who prepared the report on classified spending, said he reached his conclusions by comparing sums requested for 'open,' or nonclassified, programs with the total Defense Department request for fiscal 2004. Some black spending in the Pentagon budget is designated for code-named programs such as the Army's "Tractor Rose" and the Navy's "Retract Larch." But sources said some names may be accounting fictions that do not stand for actual programs. Other classified spending is accounted for under such bland headings as "special activities." Officials at the Pentagon and in Congress declined to comment on the center's report, which was compiled earlier this summer. Key congressional defense committees will meet in the next several weeks to resolve differences over the 2004 Pentagon spending plan, including those involving classified programs. According to the Kosiak analysis, the Air Force's classified weapons procurement budget has jumped from $7 billion in 2001 to almost $11 billion as requested for 2004. In dollar terms, total classified spending in the Pentagon budget request has almost doubled since the mid-1990s, according to tables provided by Kosiak. Kosiak said in his report that performance in the classified programs has been mixed. He noted that highly successful weapons systems such as the F-117 and the B-2 were initially developed within the classified budget. But so was the Navy's A-12 medium attack plane, which was canceled in 1991 after a series of technical problems and cost increases. After it was canceled, manufacturers complained that secrecy in the program kept them from acquiring critical data needed to head off some of the problems. "Restrictions placed on access to classified funding have meant that the Defense Department and Congress typically exercise less oversight over classified programs than unclassified ones," Kosiak wrote. In the case of the new defense budget, it is anybody's guess where most of the classified money is going, Pike said. But he said it is a good bet that some of it is going to programs that the administration is known to strongly favor, such as missile defense and the development of hypersonic planes that can fly beyond Earth's atmosphere. "This is an administration that likes to play I've got a secret," he said.
"The growth of the classified budget appears to be part of a larger pattern of this administration being secretive."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company |
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James Forrestal’s oil portrait always hung prominently in one of the private Dillon Read dining rooms for the eleven years that I worked at the firm. Forrestal, a highly regarded Dillon partner and President of the firm, had gone to Washington, D.C. in 1940 to lead the Navy during WWII and then played a critical role in creating the National Security Act of 1947.
He then became Secretary of War (later termed Secretary of Defense) in September 1947 and served until March 28, 1949.
Given the central banking-warfare investment model that rules our planet, it was appropriate that Dillon
partners at various times lead both the Treasury Department and the Defense Department.
Shortly after resigning from government, Forrestal died falling out of a window of the Bethesda Naval Hospital outside of Washington, D.C. on May 22, 1949.
There is some controversy around the official explanation of his death — ruled a suicide.
Some insist he had a nervous breakdown. Some say that he was opposed to the creation of the state of Israel.
Others say that he argued for transparency and accountability in government, and against the provisions instituted at this time to create a secrete “black budget.”
He lost and was pretty upset about it — and the loss was a violent one.
Since the professional killers who operate inside the Washington beltway have numerous techniques to get perfectly sane people to kill themselves, I am not sure it makes a big difference.
Approximately a month later, the CIA Act of 1949 was passed.
The Act created the CIA and endowed it with the statutory authority that became one of the chief components of financing the “black” budget — the power to claw monies from other agencies for the benefit of secretly funding the intelligence communities and their corporate contractors.
This was to turn out to be a devastating development for the forces of transparency, without which there can be no rule of law, free markets or democracy.
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Protecting the brand with dirty tricks — Enforcement Terrorism The profitable liquidation of every place — Coutts, bank for British Queen and royals Catherine Austin Fitts — Dillon Reid and Co. Inc. And the Aristocracy of Stock Profits |
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What Briody does not mention is allegations regarding Brown & Root's involvement in narcotics trafficking. Former LAPD narcotics investigator Mike Ruppert once described his break up with fiance Teddy — an agent dealing narcotics and weapons for the CIA while working with Brown & Root, as follows:
“Arriving in New Orleans in early July, 1977 I found her living in an apartment across the river in Gretna. Equipped with scrambler phones, night vision devices and working from sealed communiqués delivered by naval and air force personnel from nearby Belle Chasse Naval Air Station, Teddy was involved in something truly ugly.
She was arranging for large quantities of weapons to be loaded onto ships leaving for Iran.
At the same time she was working with Mafia associates of New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello to coordinate the movement of service boats that were bringing large quantities of heroin into the city.
The boats arrived at Marcello controlled docks, unmolested by even the New Orleans police she introduced me to, along with divers, military men, former Green Berets and CIA personnel.
“The service boats were retrieving the heroin from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, oil rigs in international waters, oil rigs built and serviced by Brown and Root.
The guns that Teddy monitored, apparently Vietnam era surplus AK 47s and M16s, were being loaded onto ships also owned or leased by Brown and Root.
And more than once during the eight days I spent in New Orleans I met and ate at restaurants with Brown and Root employees who were boarding those ships and leaving for Iran within days.
Once, while leaving a bar and apparently having asked the wrong question, I was shot at in an attempt to scare me off.”
Source: "Halliburton’s Brown and Root is One of the Major Components of the Bush-Cheney Drug Empire" by Michael Ruppert, From the Wilderness
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Dark Alliance — The Story Behind the Crack Explosion The "Good Guys" Who Can Do No Wrong
Profoundest suspicions of white malfeasance were true |
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The Clinton Administration took the groundwork laid by Nixon, Reagan and Bush and embraced and blossomed the expansion and promotion of federal support for police, enforcement and the War on Drugs with a passion that was hard to understand unless and until you realized that the American financial system was deeply dependent on attracting an estimated $500 billion-$1 trillion of annual money laundering.
Globalizing corporations and deepening deficits and housing bubbles required attracting vast amounts of capital.
Attracting capital also required making the world safe for the reinvestment of the profits of organized crime and the war machine.
Without growing organized crime and military activities through government budgets and contracts, the economy would stop centralizing.
The Clinton Administration was to govern a doubling of the federal prison population.
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Published on Friday, August 17, 2007 by the Independent/UK
US Food Aid is ‘Wrecking’ Africa, Claims Charity
by Leonard Doyle
Selling heavily subsidised US produced food
WASHINGTON — Critics of US food aid subsidies say they help cause obesity among Americans and starvation among Africans.
Now Care, one of the world’s biggest charities, has announced that it will boycott the controversial policy of selling tons of heavily subsidised US produced food in African countries. Care wants the US government to send money to buy food locally, rather than unwanted US produced food.
Causing rather than reducing hunger
The US arm of the charity says America is causing rather than reducing hunger with a decree that US food aid must be sold rather than directly distributed to those facing starvation.
In America, the subsidies for corn in particular, help underpin the junk food industry, which uses corn extracts as a sweetener, creating a home-grown health crisis.
The farm lobby meanwhile has a stranglehold on Congress, which has balked at making any changes that would interfere with a system that promotes overproduction of commodities.
Undermines African farmers’ ability to produce food
Critics of the policy say it also undermines African farmers’ ability to produce food, making the most vulnerable countries of the world even more dependent on aid to avert famine.
Under the system Washington buys tens of millions of dollars of surplus corn and other products from agribusiness.
The food, which can only be exported on US flagged ships, is then sold by charities to raise money to pay for emergencies.
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Globally, about 800 million are chronically hungry and the number is rising every year.
US farmers love the present system, but it is slow and unresponsive when there are food emergencies.
Upset US agribusiness and shipping interests
Care has caused a huge upset in the American charitable sector by deciding to phase out the practice.
It has also upset US agribusiness and shipping interests, which benefit to the tune of some $180m a year from the practice.
Attempts to get Congress to end the policy, as it debates a new farm bill that will last for the next five years, have failed.
Don’t think Americans who generously donate want people to go hungry at their expense
Alina Labrada, a spokeswoman for Care said: “I don’t think that Americans who generously donate want people to go hungry at their expense.”
Care’s decision has led to a rift with some of the biggest US charities, including World Vision, Feed the Children and Africare, who rely on the system to fund a large part of their budgets.
They argue that it keeps hard currency in impoverished countries and stops food prices rising.
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Much of aid lost in overheads of shipping it to Africa
The US claims to be the world’s most generous provider of food aid, giving $2bn annually.
Much of that aid lost in the overheads of shipping it to Africa.
Food grown and bought locally can be shipped within days
Not only does subsidised US food hurt African farmers, but food purchased in the US regularly takes four months to reach the destination where there is an emergency.
In contrast food bought locally takes only days to arrive.
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COMMENTS
jbs August 17th, 2007 12:21 pm
“Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa” By Uzodinma Iweala
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Look this up for an african’s take on ‘aid’.
She will open your eyes to American and world hubris toward 'Third World' countries.
curmudgeon99 August 17th, 2007 1:51 pm
To Care:
Hip, Hip, Hurray
Hip, Hip, Hurray Hip, Hip, Hurray Care has got it right. Kudos. I have a friend whose family in Africa has benefited from this change! Hopefully more will get the message
marctileston August 17th, 2007 1:28 pm
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This corrupt government knows that as long as they continue to export our surplus crops, they can…
A) continue to subsidize and thus control US agriculture.
B) manipulate global food prices. C) destroy markets for local farmers, forcing foreclosures D) buy up foreclosed land to sustain US controlled corporate agribusiness. Thanks for the help America!
ARA Charleston August 17th, 2007 2:20 pm
Why would we want revolution to happen there?
We need to make sure that our corporations can bribe the corrupt governments there so that they can buy up all the land and not allow the locals to have their own land, thus forcing the locals to work the land
(I’m lookin at you, Starbucks) for $0.03/hr.
Plus, an unstable govt = easy control for us over African oil.
After all, they’re all terrorists, right?
wdmax3 August 17th, 2007 2:22 pm
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.
Charities do an honorable job taking care of people that need immediate attention.
This of course is a double edged sword that can do harm in the long run.
Dependence on foreign aid can wreck havoc on a nation’s people.
I have no solution for this dire problem, but it seems that most of the time our government and corporations are doing more harm than good.
Charity should never be profitable.
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Awful decision to allow brain-killing mercury to be injected into young children Children — Thimerosal, Autism, Mercury |
Hunger, children, animals dying AIDS killing |
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"An imminent response is not likely!"
It's not true of course.
Those black ops boys and girls — you know the one's funded by your taxpaying dollars....
The unaccounted billions passed through the US budget by authorization of your Congress person.
The US black budget that starts it all — that pays for the growth of the cells.
The billions perhaps trillions missing — events coming from the cells....
Even drug money traded out of Columbia and Afghanistan....
They have more than enough to attack America.
Have they done it before?
Is red the color of blood? |
The Negative Return Economy — a discourse on America’s black budget Fascinating and lucrative Black Budget? What Black Budget? |
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BBC — Friday, 6 July 2007
DNA reveals Greenland's lush past
Armies of insects once crawled through lush forests in a region of Greenland now covered by more than 2,000m of ice.
DNA extracted from ice cores shows that moths and butterflies were living in forests of spruce and pine in the area between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago.
Researchers writing in Science magazine say the specimens could represent the oldest pure DNA samples ever obtained.
The ice cores also suggest that the ice sheet is more resistant to warming than previously thought, the scientists say.
"We have shown for the first time that southern Greenland, which is currently hidden under more than 2km of ice, was once very different to the Greenland we see today," said Professor Eske Willerslev from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and one of the authors of the paper.
"What we've learned is that this part of the world was significantly warmer than most people thought," added Professor Martin Sharp from the University of Alberta, Canada, and a co-author of the Science paper.
Ice-locker
The ancient boreal forests were thought to cover southern Greenland during a period of increased global temperatures, known as an interglacial.
Temperatures at the time were probably between 10C in summer and -17C in winter.
When the temperatures dropped again 450,000 years ago, the forests and their inhabitants were covered by the advancing ice, effectively freezing them in time.
Studies suggest that even during the last interglacial (116,000-130,000 years ago), when temperatures were thought to be 5C warmer than today, the ice persevered, keeping the delicate samples entombed and free from contamination and decay.
At the time the ice is estimated to have been between 1,000 and 1,500m thick.
"If our data is correct, then this means that the southern Greenland ice cap is more stable than previously thought," said Professor Willerslev. "This may have implications for how the ice sheets respond to global warming."
Research by Australian scientists has suggested that a 3C rise in global temperatures would be enough to trigger the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
In 2006, research conducted by researchers at Nasa suggested that the rate of melting of the giant ice sheet had tripled since 2004.
While in February 2006, researchers found that Greenland's glaciers were moving much faster than before, meaning that more of its ice was entering the sea.
And in 1996, Greenland was losing about 100 cubic km per year in mass from its ice sheet; by 2005, this had increased to about 220 cubic km.
A complete melt of the ice sheet would cause a global sea level rise of about 7m; but the current picture indicates that while some regions are thinning, others are apparently getting thicker.
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Plant-life
The new results were obtained from the sediment rich bottom of ice cores.
The 2km-long Dye 3 core was drilled in south-central Greenland, whilst the 3km-long Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) core was taken from the summit of the Greenland ice sheet.
Samples from other glaciers, such as the John Evans Glacier on Ellesmere Island, in northern Canada, were used as a control, to verify the age of the samples and to confirm that the DNA was from plants that grew in southern Greenland, rather than from plant matter carried by wind or water from elsewhere in the world.
Although the ice contained only a handful of pollen grains and no fossils, the researchers were able to extract DNA from the organic matter held in the silt.
Comparisons with modern species show that the area was populated by diverse forests made up of alders, spruce, pine and members of the yew family.
Living in the trees and on the forest floor was a wide variety of life including beetles, flies, spiders, butterflies and moths.
The discovery pushes forward the date when the last forests were known to exist in Greenland by nearly two million years.
Previously, the youngest fossil evidence of a native forest in the region came from fossils found in the Kap Kobenhavn Formation in northern Greenland. There, the fossils date from around 2.4m years ago.
The study paves the way for scientists to probe beneath the ice in other parts of the world.
"Given that 10% of the Earth's terrestrial surface is covered by thick ice sheets, it could open up a world of new discoveries," said Dr Enrico Cappellini of the University of York, UK. |
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Kalaallit Nunaat ( previously Greenland ) Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations Remarkable climate stability of the Holocene these past 10,000 to 12,000 years |
| Tortured by US Israel paid for PA forces. |
Mo'ayyad Bani Oadah, a 22-year-old, declared clinically dead at an Israeli hospital after being imprisoned.
Palestinian Information Center
August 10, 2007
NABLUS, TUBAS, (PIC) — Mo'ayyad Bani Oadah, a 22-year-old Hamas activist was declared clinically dead at an Israeli hospital according to PA security sources.
Bani Oadah was moved to an Israeli hospital from the PA Junaid jail in Nablus where he was subjected to torture at the said prison according to Palestinian sources.
The family of Bani Oadah held the Abbas's security forces responsible for the death of their son who was arrested by those forces on the 2nd July from his house in Tamoun village.
The victim's family say that their son used to work in tiling and that he was in very good health before his arrest.
The family said in a statement that they were told by the PA security that their son will be brought before a court in Nablus and that a defence lawyer was appointed to represent him.
At the court Bani Oadah denied all charges and said that confessions were taken under torture.
The family also stated that on Wednesday evening they have received conflicting news about their son, one of them says that he was taken to a hospital in Nablus in a critical condition and another says that he was taken to an Israeli hospital.
When the family tried to get an answer from the PA security again they got conflicting answers, they were told he was not in Nablus but he was still detained in Tubas.
Another told them that he was well at a police station in Nablus.
A third told them that he was taken to an Israeli hospital because he was depressed.
A fourth said that he was taken to an Israeli hospital for tests.
A fifth said that he suffered kidney failure and was taken to Hadassa hospital in Jerusalem.
After that the PA security in Nablus denied the presence of a detainee carrying such a name in Nablus.
His family further said that they visited their son at Junaid prison in Nablus a couple of days earlier and that he was well and had no health problems.
Hamas for its part said that this case proves that detainees at PA prisons are being severely tortured and called on all Palestinian factions and human rights organisations to condemn such practices and to pressure President Abbas to order the release of political prisoners in PA jails.
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August 8, 2007
Uncle Sam, Your Banker Will See You Now ...
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Digging a Hole to China |
E arly this morning China let the idiots in Washington, and on Wall Street, know that it has them by the short hairs.
Two senior spokesmen for the Chinese government observed that China’s considerable holdings of US dollars and Treasury bonds “contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency.”
Should the US proceed with sanctions intended to cause the Chinese currency to appreciate, “the Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar.”
If Western financial markets are sufficiently intelligent to comprehend the message, US interest rates will rise regardless of any further action by China.
At this point, China does not need to sell a single bond.
In an instant, China has made it clear that US interest rates depend on China, not on the Federal Reserve.
The precarious position of the US dollar as reserve currency has been thoroughly ignored and denied.
The delusion that the US is “the world’s sole superpower,” whose currency is desirable regardless of its excess supply, reflects American hubris, not reality.
This hubris is so extreme that only 6 weeks ago McKinsey Global Institute published a study that concluded that even a doubling of the US current account deficit to $1.6 trillion would pose no problem.
Strategic thinkers, if any remain who have not been purged by neocons, will quickly conclude that China’s power over the value of the dollar and US interest rates also gives China power over US foreign policy.
The US was able to attack Afghanistan and Iraq only because China provided the largest part of the financing for Bush’s wars.
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If China ceased to buy US Treasuries, Bush’s wars would end. The savings rate of US consumers is essentially zero, and several million are afflicted with mortgages that they cannot afford.
With Bush’s budget in deficit and with no room in the US consumer’s budget for a tax increase, Bush’s wars can only be financed by foreigners.
No country on earth, except for Israel, supports the Bush regimes’ desire to attack Iran.
It is China’s decision whether it calls in the US ambassador, and delivers the message that there will be no attack on Iran or further war unless the US is prepared to buy back $900 billion in US Treasury bonds and other dollar assets.
The US, of course, has no foreign reserves with which to make the purchase.
The impact of such a large sale on US interest rates would wreck the US economy and effectively end Bush’s war-making capability.
Moreover, other governments would likely follow the Chinese lead, as the main support for the US dollar has been China’s willingness to accumulate them.
If the largest holder dumped the dollar, other countries would dump dollars, too.
The value and purchasing power of the US dollar would fall.
When hard-pressed Americans went to Wal-Mart to make their purchases, the new prices would make them think they had wandered into Nieman Marcus.
Americans would not be able to maintain their current living standard.
Simultaneously, Americans would be hit either with tax increases in order to close a budget deficit that foreigners will no longer finance or with large cuts in income security programs.
The only other source of budgetary finance would be for the government to print money to pay its bills. In this event, Americans would experience inflation in addition to higher prices from dollar devaluation.
This is a grim outlook.
We got in this position because our leaders are ignorant fools.
So are our economists, many of whom are paid shills for some interest group.
So are our corporate leaders whose greed gave China power over the US by offshoring the US production of goods and services to China.
It was the corporate fat cats who turned US Gross Domestic Product into Chinese imports, and it was the “free trade, free market economists” who egged it on.
How did a people as stupid as Americans get so full of hubris?
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U.S. Debt Escalating Military Spending — Income Redistribution in Disguise |
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Due to US, European, South American and Asian imports, China now World's No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions |
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Warming of glaciers threatens millions in China
Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Anyemaqen Mountains, China — More than 3 miles above sea level in these jagged, wind-scoured mountains, there's little doubt that global warming is endangering China's future.
The glaciers that ripple off the peaks of Anyemaqen, a mountain range in the western China province of Qinghai, are shrinking rapidly, endangering hundreds of millions of people who depend on the waters flowing eastward through the Yellow River.
With the rest of the country punished by record heat waves, floods and droughts this summer, it's no wonder that Beijing, which has long viewed global warming as a problem that rich nations should solve, is waking up to the fact that China may be especially at risk.
Qinghai, a poor, Texas-size stretch of the northern Tibetan is a plateau where yaks outnumber humans.
Qinghai Lake is a saltwater body about 200 miles away.
Deaths from floods, lightning and landslides across China in recent weeks have reached nearly 700, state media reported this week, and officials warned that global warming is likely to cause even more violent weather.
Records for worst-in-a-century rainstorms, droughts and heat waves are being broken more often
"The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are increasing — records for worst-in-a-century rainstorms, droughts and heat waves are being broken more often," said Dong Wenjie, director-general of the Beijing Climate Center.
"This in fact is closely associated with global warming."
At Anyemaqen, a hike into the remote area last week by a Chronicle reporter found that the 5-mile-long Halong Glacier has shrunk by several hundred yards since it was last photographed by a Greenpeace activist in 2005 — and by a mile since a similar photo in 1981.
Local nomads say their livelihood is at stake.
"When I was a child, it was very cold and the grass was long, up to here," said Namgyal Tsering, a 22-year-old herder, motioning to his shin as he perched on a high ridge and watched his flock of sheep.
"Now the grass is short, and many people have moved into towns."
Area of glaciers has shrunk by 30 percent
The Qinghai-Tibetan plateau is warming up faster than anywhere else in the world, Chinese scientists said last week.
The region's average annual temperature is rising at a speed of 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit every 10 years, threatening to melt glaciers, dry up the 3,395-mile Yellow River and cause more droughts, sandstorms and desertification.
The plateau once contained 36,000 glaciers covering an area of 18,000 square miles, but in recent decades, the area of these glaciers has shrunk by 30 percent, say scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The government has forcibly moved thousands of nomads into local towns, giving them free housing and 8,000 yuan (about $1,060) per year.
A scattering of interviews with the resettled nomads showed that while some liked their new life and some didn't, all agreed that their life before had become untenable.
"Before, there was no grass, and the rats dug holes everywhere and the ground was black," recalled Chith Tsering, holding her 1-year-old daughter as she multitasked around her family's three-room house in Dawu.
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Even a sport utility vehicle
Since she moved from her remote grassland ranch three years ago, "it's better, but it's sad," she said.
Around Qinghai's steep canyons and rolling grassland, there's an obvious new prosperity among the rural Tibetan people.
China's surging economic boom has reached into even the most remote hamlets.
Nearly every tent or house has a new motorcycle — or even a sport utility vehicle — parked outside, evidence that rising demand by city dwellers for meat had driven up prices for the region's yaks and sheep.
From village to village, Tibetan Buddhist temples that were torn down during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and early 1970s are now being rebuilt — often with money from newly wealthy businessmen in major cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou.
Spidery webs of prayer flags stretch up mountainsides at seemingly every bend in the road, a testament to the resurgence of ethnic Tibetans' spirituality as the Chinese government loosens its harsh restrictions on religious life.
China due to US, European, South American and Asian imports, world's No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions
The nationwide economic boom has propelled China into overtaking the United States as the world's No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to new data released in May.
China's output of emissions is rising by an annual amount that far outstrips the cutbacks that wealthy nations are committed to make under the Kyoto Protocol.
"The Chinese government is gradually realizing that global warming is something that will deeply affect the Chinese people and their economic security," said Yang Ailun, climate program coordinator for Greenpeace in China.
In international climate negotiations, China's leaders have refused to consider binding limits on the country's emissions, arguing that limits should be imposed only on wealthy nations.
Instead, China has adopted a goal of reducing the amount of energy expended per unit of wealth — a weaker yardstick that many environmentalists have criticized as insufficient.
In recent months, however, officials have discussed these goals with increasing urgency, noting the recent extreme weather.
But the effects of climate change can be fickle, as Paulson found Monday.
During drought years in the late 1990s through 2005, the salt lake's area shrank by more than a fourth.
But during a Chronicle reporter's recent visit, the salt lake was brimming over its banks because of weeks of steady rains — the same weather pattern that, farther east, was causing severe flooding.
The hills surrounding the lake were verdant, and yaks have abundant pasture, locals said.
Downstream on the Yellow River, where farmers depend on the trickle to water their crops, floods and hail killed 17 people across four provinces last weekend alone.
Beijing inundated by torrential rains, Shanghai hit all-time record of 103 degrees Fahrenheit
Beijing was inundated by torrential rains Monday night, and Shanghai hit an all-time record of 103 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend.
Two hundred miles south in Dawu, however, Chith Tsering said she was glad her family had moved off the land.
"The weather is changing, and it's so hard to make a living off your animals," she said.
"There are many people still on the land who are suffering."
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Soot's effect on ice melt and glaciers Washington State's Glaciers are Melting |
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'Oh! You don't believe the 9-11 official version,' they say.
'You mean where they want you to accept the buildings were not blown up from below.
'Plane fuel! Substance never burns higher then a gas stove! That it caused the inner core steel to melt!
'Steel melting!
'Concrete vaporizing!
'
'No! I don't believe that conspiracy theory.
'Cheney! Bush! Rudy Giuliani! HA! HA!
'Tower 7 that never had a plane hit — just came tumbling down!
'You believe that, eh!
'Ever think it had to be blown up because the plane scheduled to fly into it was off getting shot down.
'Thermite in Tower 7's walls, you see — incriminating evidence — impossible to get out without people watching!
Had to be blown up!
'Next you'll be saying Obama is not a Wall Street Illuminati banker stooge?
'Take your pick: The partner in a comedy team who feeds lines to the other comedians.
'Him who allows himself to be used.
'Oh! I can't really blame you, Television it turns minds to pulp.
'Turn off the television. It's the only way.'
'Turn off the television?'
'Get rid of it really. I mean what else is there to do!'
'Get rid of the television?'
'Don't forget all radio garbage is propaganda, even the songs.
'Then those five minute propaganda hits they send you every hour!
'The ones they refer to as News
'Get rid of all the propaganda from your brain, the only way to do it.'
'Stop being hooked on those Hollywood movies — even those that make you think they are making you think'
'All paid performers to make your brain dead.
'You turn the brainwashing off, you'll begin to become yourself.
'It really is the only way!'
'Oh!'
Kewe — TheWE.biz
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Listen to PNAC radio
Matt Conner, Jon Roberts, Matt Dayton — and the rest of those lovable PNAC's We The People Radio Network
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9/11
By all accounts, the unprecedented events of September 11th, 2001 changed the way our country functions, and in turn, the world.
It is therefore critical that conscientious Americans, as well as people around the globe, understand these events in detail.
Unfortunately the official reports, including The 9/11 Commission Report and the NIST WTC Report, written by those working under the direction of the Bush Administration, have been proven to be elaborate cover-ups.
Film: 9/11 Revisited
September 11th Revisited is perhaps the most riveting film ever made about the destruction of the World Trade Center.
This is a powerful documentary which features eyewitness accounts and archived news footage that was shot on September 11, 2001 but never replayed on television.
Featuring interviews with eyewitnesses & firefighters, along with expert analysis by Professor Steven E. Jones, Professor David Ray Griffin, MIT Engineer Jeffrey King, and Professor James H. Fetzer.
This film provides stunning evidence that explosives were used in the complete demolition of the WTC Twin Towers and WTC Building 7.
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For Film: 9/11 Revisited
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
An excellent documentary about the families of the victims of 9/11 and their fight to uncover and expose the truth about what happened that day.
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For Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Mysteries
90 minutes of pure demolition evidence and analysis, laced with staggering witness testimonials.
Moving from “the myth” through “the analysis” and into “the players,” careful deconstruction of the official story set right alongside clean, clear science.
The 9/11 picture is not one of politics or nationalism or loyalty, but one of strict and simple physics. How do you get a 10-second 110-story pancake collapse?
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'Oh! You don't believe the 9-11 official version,' they say.
'You mean where they want you to accept the buildings were not blown up from below.
'Plane fuel! Substance never burns higher then a gas stove! That it caused the inner core steel to melt!
'Steel melting!
'Concrete vaporizing!
'
'No! I don't believe that conspiracy theory.
'Cheney! Bush! Rudy Giuliani! HA! HA!
'Tower 7 that never had a plane hit — just came tumbling down!
'You believe that, eh!
'Ever think it had to be blown up because the plane scheduled to fly into it was off getting shot down.
'Thermite in Tower 7's walls, you see — incriminating evidence — impossible to get out without people watching!
Had to be blown up!
'Next you'll be saying Obama is not a Wall Street Illuminati banker stooge?
'Take your pick: The partner in a comedy team who feeds lines to the other comedians.
'Him who allows himself to be used.
'Oh! I can't really blame you, Television it turns minds to pulp.
'Turn off the television. It's the only way.'
'Turn off the television?'
'Get rid of it really. I mean what else is there to do!'
'Get rid of the television?'
'Don't forget all radio garbage is propaganda, even the songs.
'Then those five minute propaganda hits they send you every hour!
'The ones they refer to as News
'Get rid of all the propaganda from your brain, the only way to do it.'
'Stop being hooked on those Hollywood movies — even those that make you think they are making you think'
'All paid performers to make your brain dead.
'You turn the brainwashing off, you'll begin to become yourself.
'It really is the only way!'
'Oh!'
Kewe — TheWE.biz
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| It's kind of a fun gameYou see the aim of those inner forces who guide the Elite —
For them the real agenda is to kill you your children your grandchildren It is to have fun watching your stupidity as you destroy your planet But most haven't figured it out yet! If you stop them with the nuclear weapons — then it's the 400+ MPH, KPH wind, the UVB, UVC, UVA rays due to loss of stratospheric ozone. It's the climate! Your Elite — tools and servants of Lucifer |
Gustave Doré's illustration for Paradise Lost by John Milton |
UVC in the 10 to 290 nanometer band UVB, 290 to 320 nanometers UVA, 320 to 400 nanometers |
Submerged village in Darbhanga district Bihar state, India
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BBC — Thursday, 2 August 2007
European fires near record levels
Forests fires that have ravaged southern Europe during the past month were some of the worst on record, the European Commission has said.
More than 3,000 sq km (1,200 sq miles) of forest had already burned this year, almost as much as in the whole of 2006, the commission said.
It warned of more fires in the days ahead, with Spain and Portugal, where temperatures are soaring, most at risk.
Most recently, fires in the Canary Islands have forced thousands to flee.
Firefighters there are continuing to battle two major fires which have razed some 350 sq km (135 sq miles) of land in the last few days.
Experts described the fires on Tenerife and Gran Canaria as an environmental catastrophe. Some 20% of forests have been destroyed, and recovery is expected to take years.
Rapid reaction force
The normal fire season in Europe has only just started but blistering heat and hot dry winds have already fanned wildfires across parts of southern Europe.
July 2007 was one of the worst-ever months on record, according to figures from the European Forest Fire Information System, which date back some 20 years.
Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy have all been affected, as well as countries like the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Turkey.
The EU executive is currently working on proposals for a permanent rapid reaction force to fight fires in Europe, with units ready to intervene at short notice.
The BBC's Dominic Hughes in Brussels says as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather patterns, closer European co-operation on fire-fighting is becoming more pressing. |
Flooded paddy field Rautahat, Nepal
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Global weather, environment and climate change — Global youth climate movement |
Remnants of knowledge would be retained with those on higher ground. A few people here, a few there. Translations of discussions with The WE |
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Published: Monday, July 30, 2007
Oscar Heck: Venezuela is paradise … and the USA is Hell in comparison...
VHeadline commentarist Oscar Heck writes: I think it is time to remind us all once again of the atrocities which the US military has been committing against their invented enemies … before they decide to invade Venezuela.
A few days ago, on 'The View' ... a US-based morning television talk show watched by millions of Americans and Canadians and whose main anchor person is Barbara Walters.
By: RYAN LENZ - Associated Press
TIKRIT,Iraq — Four more US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya, the military said Sunday …
The five were accused Saturday following an investigation into allegations that American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division raped the teenager and killed her and three relatives at her home south of Baghdad …
The March 12 attack on the family was among the worst in a series of cases of U.S. troops accused of killing and abusing Iraqi civilians.
The affidavit estimated the rape victim was about 25. But a doctor at the Mahmoudiya hospital gave her age as 14.
He refused to be identified for fear of reprisals. Green is accused of raping the woman and killing her and three relatives — an adult male and female and a girl estimated to be 5 years old. An official familiar with the investigation said he set fire to the rape victim's body in an apparent cover-up attempt …
— Five US soldiers and a former soldier charged in the March 12 rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya. Four soldiers charged with rape and murder and one with dereliction of duty. Ex-soldier Steven D. Green has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four counts of murder.
— Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, Spc. Juston R. Graber, Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard and Spc. William B. Hunsaker charged with premeditated murder of three male detainees in Salahuddin province in May. Clagett, Girouard and Hunsaker also charged with obstructing justice for allegedly threatening to kill another soldier who was a witness in the case.
— Hospitalman Third Class Melson J. Bacos; Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III; Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson; Pfc. John J. Jodka; Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda; Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington; Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr.; and Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas charged with premeditated murder in April shooting death of Iraqi man in Hamdania. All eight also charged with kidnapping, larceny, conspiracy, assault and housebreaking.
— Sgt. Milton Ortiz Jr. and Spc. Nathan B. Lynn charged in shooting death of unarmed Iraqi man near Ramadi in February. Both also charged with obstructing justice. Lynn charged with voluntary manslaughter. Ortiz also faces charges of assault and communicating a threat in separate incident involving another Iraqi man.
— Capt. James Kimber, Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich and an unidentified Marine under investigation for killings of two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians in western town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005 in revenge attack after one of their own died in a roadside bombing. The military also investigating if there was a cover-up.
CONVICTIONS:
— Staff Sgt. Cardenas J. Alban convicted of killing severely wounded 16-year-old Iraqi during fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Sentenced to one year's confinement, demoted to private and given bad-conduct discharge.
— Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne Jr. pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder in same case as Alban. Sentenced to three years in prison, had rank reduced to private and given dishonorable discharge. Horne's prison sentence later reduced to one year.
— Cpl. Dustin Berg convicted and sentenced to 18 months in military prison for shooting death of Iraqi police officer.
— Spc. Rami Dajani convicted of making a false statement following fatal shooting of Iraqi translator. Sentenced to 18 months' confinement and given a reduction in rank and bad conduct discharge.
— Spc. Charley L. Hooser convicted of involuntary manslaughter in same case involving Dajani. Hooser sentenced to three years in prison and given a reduction in rank and bad conduct discharge.
— Capt. Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet convicted of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter in shooting death of wounded Iraqi. Dismissed from armed forces.
— Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida pleaded guilty to killing 17-year-old Iraqi soldier after the two had consensual sex. Sentenced to 25 years in prison, given a reduction in rank and dishonorably discharged.
— Marine Maj. Clarke Paulus convicted of dereliction of duty and maltreatment in case stemming from death of Iraqi prisoner who was dragged out of holding cell by the neck, stripped naked and left outside for seven hours in June 2003. Paulus, who commanded the Marine detention facility Camp Whitehorse in southern Iraq, was dismissed from the service.
— Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in alleged drowning of Iraqi man but convicted of assault for forcing the man and his cousin into Tigris River. Sentenced to six months in prison.
— 1st Lt. Jack Saville pleaded guilty to assault and other crimes in same incident as Perkins. Sentenced to 45 days in military prison.
— Pfc. Edward Richmond convicted of voluntary manslaughter for shooting Iraqi in back of head. Received three years in prison.
— Sgt. Michael P. Williams convicted in court-martial of one count of premeditated murder and one count of unpremeditated murder in deaths of unarmed civilians during operations near Sadr City. Sentenced to life in prison and given a reduction in rank. Sentence later reduced to 25 years.
— Spc. Brent May convicted in court-martial of one count of unpremeditated murder in same incident as Michael Williams. Sentenced to five years in prison.
— Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer convicted of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty in death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush after an interrogation at a detention camp. Restricted to his home, office and church for two months. Charges against three others dropped.
(Information — above — compiled by The Associated Press News and Information Research Center.)
And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Gringos and Christian missionaries, leave the world alone, go home and stay home.
We don’t need nor want your guns or crucifixes.
(Blow the crap out of the enemy and then send in the Christian missionaries! It has been tried before … but we are no longer living in the Middle Ages or in the times of colonialization. The guns and crucifixes might be bigger … but the ruthless heart remains the same.)
And leave Venezuela out of it!
Oscar Heck
© 2007 VHeadline.com |
Venezuela The elections of Hugo Chávez |
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New Evidence Clearly Indicates Pat Tillman Was Executed
Army medical examiners concluded Tillman was shot three times in the head from just 10 yards away. No evidence of "friendly fire" damage at scene. Army attorneys congratulated each other on cover-up. Wesley Clark concludes "orders came from the very top." Murder of pro-football star because he was about to become an anti-war political icon |
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Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet | July 27, 2007
Astounding new details surrounding the death of Pat Tillman clearly indicate that top brass might have decided to execute the former pro football star in cold blood to prevent him from returning home and becoming an anti-war icon.
These same criminals might then have engaged in a sophisticated conspiracy to create a phony "friendly fire" cover story.
Shocking new facts emerged about the case last night but were bizarrely underplayed by the Associated Press under nondescript headlines like 'New Details on Tillman's Death' — a complete disservice to the horrific implications that the new evidence carries.
[MyWay.com has better version of AP report Tillman Comrade Recalls Final Moments — TheWE.biz]
Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.
The doctors - whose names were blacked out - said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.
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The report also states that "No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene — no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck."
The article also reveals that "Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments."
So there was no evidence whatsoever of friendly fire, but the ballistics data clearly indicated that the three head shots had been fired from just 10 yards away and then the Army tried to concoct a hoax friendly fire story and sent gloating back-slapping e mails congratulating each other on their success while preventing the doctors from exploring the possibility of murder.
How can any sane and rational individual weigh this evidence and not come to the conclusion that Tillman was deliberately gunned down in cold blood?
The evidence points directly to it and the motivation is clear — Tillman abandoned a lucrative career in pro-football immediately after 9/11 because he felt a rampaging patriotic urge to defend his country, and became a poster child for the war on terror as a result.
But when he discovered that the invasion of Iraq was based on a mountain of lies and deceit and had nothing to do with defending America, he became infuriated and was ready to return home to become an anti-war hero.
As far back as March 2003, immediately after the invasion, Tillman famously told his comrade Spc. Russell Baer, "You know, this war is so fucking illegal," and urged his entire platoon to vote against Bush in the 2004 election.
Far from the gung-ho gruff stereotype attributed to him, Tillman was actually a fiercely intellectual man with the courage of his convictions firmly in place.
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Tillman had even begun to arrange meetings with anti-war icons like Noam Chomsky upon his return to America before his death cut short any aspirations of becoming a focal point for anti-war sentiment. |
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Daily Koss:
AP reported that the Army stopped doctors from investigating if Tillman had been murdered.
Shots were fired at close range and in his head.
[Wesley Clark appeared on Keith Olbermann's Countdown ] and believes that the orders came from the very top as Tillman was a political symbol.
It was well known he was against the war in Iraq.
No indication if orders were to murder him, but at the least to cover it up ( Burned clothes- lost evidence etc)
There is much discussion about what actually happened so please read the comments as there are vets on here. |
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| Pat Tillman (left) and his brother Kevin stand in front of a Chinook helicopter in Saudi Arabia before their tour of duty as Army Rangers in Iraq in 2003
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Excerpt from March 3, 2005, memorandum by Brig. Gen. Gary Jones describing how Capt. William Saunders, the commander of Pat Tillman's Ranger company, was threatened with perjury charges.Jones' memo said Saunders made false claims that he had informed his superiors that platoon commander Lt. David Uthlaut had protested orders given to him leading up to the incident.Despite this threat, Saunders was allowed to change his testimony and was granted immunity.
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| Pat Tillman (center) is flanked by his brothers, Kevin (left) and Richard, at his graduation from Arizona State University in 1998.
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The United States will stand with Israel now and forever.
Now and forever.
29 July 2007
Israel hails US military aid rise
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has confirmed that the United States is planning a significant increase in military and government aid to Israel.
The package would amount to more than US $30bn increase.
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Britain’s Gordon Brown becomes patron of Zionist agency
By Redress Information & Analysis
28 July 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to become patron of the UK arm of the Jewish National Fund, whose funds have contributed to Israeli ethnic cleansing, the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expropriation of Palestinian land, and whose constitution requires it to promote and implement policies that discriminate against Israel’s Arab population.
Gordon Brown has crossed a new threshold on the path to becoming a fully-fledged Zionist.
According to a report in the Jewish Chronicle, Gordon Brown has agreed to become a patron of the British arm of the Jewish National Fund (JNF UK) “following an invitation from JNF UK President Gail Seal, who wrote conveying her good wishes the day after he took office”.
In a letter to Gail Seal, Gordon Brown said that he was “delighted to accept your offer to become a patron of JNF UK”.
A spokesman for Brown confirmed that the British prime minister had “agreed to become a patron of JNF UK”, and that he had done so “in order to encourage their work to promote charitable projects for everyone who lives in Israel”.
In fact, far from being “a charity” that benefits “everyone who lives in Israel”, the JNF is a principal tool of Israel's discriminatory system of land administration.
Founded in 1901 to help establish a Jews-only state in the Arab country of Palestine, the JNF’s constitution requires it to benefit Jews exclusively. It therefore promotes and implements policies that discriminate against the Arab population of Israel.
The JNF is also guilty of ethnic cleansing, the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expropriation of Palestinian land.
According to PalestineRemembered.com, in its operation in Israel, the JNF has:
Expropriated illegally most of the land of 372 Palestinian villages which had been ethnically cleansed by Zionist forces in 1948.
The owners of this land are over half the UN-registered Palestinian refugees.
The JNF had actively participated in the physical destruction of many villages, in evacuating these villages of their inhabitants and in military operations to conquer these villages.
Today, the JNF controls over 2500 sq. km of Palestinian land which it leases to Jews only.
It also planted 100 parks on Palestinian land.
In addition, the JNF has a long record of discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel as reported by the UN.
The JNF also extends its operations by proxy or directly to the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza.
All this is in clear violation of international law and particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the confiscation of property and settling the occupiers' citizens in occupied territories.
Ethnic cleansing, expropriation of property and destruction of houses are war crimes. As well, use of tax-exempt donations in these activities violates the domestic law in many countries where JNF is domiciled.
Since becoming prime minister at the end of June 2007, Gordon Brown has appointed several Israel apologists to key positions in the British government.
He has also been at pain to stress his Christian Zionist credentials.
As patron of JNF UK, Gordon Brown will join a club that includes prominent British politicians and religious figures who, on the one hand, speak of the need for peace and justice in the Middle East while, on the other, promote and defend the racist Jews-only state of Israel.
They include Tony Blair, Conservative leader David Cameron and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who is said to be a close friend of Brown.
Copyright © 2002-2007 Interestudio
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Revealed: MI5's role in torture flight hell
· British source tells of betrayal to CIA
· 'I was stripped and hauled to US base' David Rose Sunday July 29, 2007 An Iraqi who was a key source of intelligence for MI5 has given the first ever full insider's account of being seized by the CIA and bundled on to an illegal 'torture flight' under the programme known as extraordinary rendition. In a remarkable interview for The Observer, British resident Bisher al-Rawi has told how he was betrayed by the security service despite having helped keep track of Abu Qatada, the Muslim cleric accused of being Osama bin Laden's 'ambassador in Europe'. He was abducted and stripped naked by US agents, clad in nappies, a tracksuit and shackles, blindfolded and forced to wear ear mufflers, then strapped to a stretcher on board a plane bound for a CIA 'black site' jail near Kabul in Afghanistan.
He was taken on to the jail at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba before being released last March and returned to Britain after four years' detention without charge.
'All the way through that flight I was on the verge of screaming,' al-Rawi said.
'At last we landed, I thought, thank God it's over.
But it wasn't - it was just a refuelling stop in Cairo.
There were hours still to go ... My back was so painful, the handcuffs were so tight.
All the time they kept me on my back.
Once, I managed to wriggle a tiny bit, just shifted my weight to one side.
Then I felt someone hit my hand.
Even this was forbidden.'
He was thrown into the CIA's 'Dark Prison,' deprived of all light 24 hours a day in temperatures so low that ice formed on his food and water.
He was taken to Guantanamo in March 2003 and released after being cleared of any involvement in terrorism by a tribunal.
A report by Parliament's intelligence and security committee last week disclosed that, although the Americans warned MI5 it planned to render al-Rawi in advance, in breach of international law, the British did not intervene on the grounds he did not have a UK passport.
The government claimed he was the responsibility of Iraq, which he fled as a teenager when his father was tortured by Saddam Hussein's regime.
The report confirmed that al-Rawi, 39, was only held after MI5 sent the CIA a telegram, stating he was an 'Islamic extremist' who had a timer for an improvised bomb in his luggage.
In reality, before al-Rawi left London, police confirmed the device was a battery charger from Argos.
The committee accepted MI5's claim, given in secret testimony, that it had not wanted the Americans to arrest him, in November 2002, concluding the incident had damaged US-UK relations.
But al-Rawi alleged that the CIA told him they had been given the contents of his own MI5 file - information he had given his handlers freely when he was working as their source.
He said an MI5 lawyer had given him 'cast iron' assurances that anything he told them would be treated in the strictest confidence and, if he ever got into trouble, MI5 would do everything in its power to help him.
When al-Rawi was in Guantanamo, he asked the American authorities to find his former MI5 handlers so they would corroborate his story but, because he did not know their surnames, MI5 said it could not assist.
The committee report cited MI5 testimony claiming that when al-Rawi was transported in December 2002, it could not have known how harsh his treatment might be.
Yet eight months earlier, Amnesty International had published a lengthy report on US detention in Afghanistan, quoting several ex-prisoners who described conditions very similar to those experienced by al-Rawi.
He had conveyed messages between the preacher Abu Qatada and MI5 when Qatada was supposedly in hiding in 2002.
At MI5's behest, he came close to arranging a meeting between the two sides.
Al-Rawi has now spoken out in an effort to help his friend Jamil el-Banna, who remains in Guantanamo.
A Jordan-ian who also lived in London for years, where his wife and five children are British citizens, he too has been cleared by the Americans.
However, he has been unable to leave Guantanamo because Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, says she is reviewing his right of residence on national security grounds.
Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East in London, where el-Banna lives, said his case revealed 'decrepitude at the heart of the government'.
The government had 'no regard for the welfare of his children'.
His lawyers have filed a statement from al-Rawi as part of a judicial review case.
In the action, they accuse MI5 of having a 'causative role' in both men's ordeals, stating it was 'complicit' in the illegal rendition and guilty of an 'abuse of power'.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007 |
| 140,000 cases of cancerClose to a million dead4 million plus people displaced |
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23 July, 2007
Iraqis blame U.S. depleted uranium for surge in cancer
CAIRO, July 23 (RIA Novosti) — Iraq's environment minister blamed Monday the use of depleted uranium weapons by U.S. forces during the 2003 Operation Shock and Awe for the current surge in cancer cases across the country.
As a result of "at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing" with depleted uranium (DU) weapons, Nermin Othman said, the nation is facing about 140,000 cases of cancer, with 7,000 to 8,000 new ones registered each year.
Speaking at a ministerial meeting of the Arab League, she also complained that many chemical plants and oil facilities had been destroyed during the two military campaigns since the 1990s, but the ecological consequences remain unclear.
"Our ministry is fledgling, and we need international support; notably, we need laboratories to better monitor air and water contamination," she said.
The first major UN research on the consequences of the use of DU on the battlefield was conducted in 2003 in the wake of NATO operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, and Montenegro.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in its report after the research that DU poses little threat if spent munitions are cleared from the ground.
"Health risks primarily depend on the awareness of people coming into contact with DU," UNEP writes in its 2004 brochure "Depleted Uranium Awareness."
No major clean-up or public awareness campaigns have been reported in Iraq.
© 2007 RIA Novosti |
Depleted Uranium — its use in Afghanistan, Iraq, Balkans Photos of Iraq children being born deformed |
| Was it worth it folks?
To lose your country.
To lose your freedom.
If 9/11 was not an inside job — increasingly evidence proves it was.
Was it worth it folks?
Wouldn't you really rather be fighting for your freedom (if needed) yourself? Without these goons (Thugs hired to intimidate) telling you what to do? |
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twenty twenty
On 29th June, 1934, Chancellor Adolph Hitler, accompanied by the Schutzstaffel (SS), arrived at Wiesse, where he personally arrested the leader of the Strum Abteilung (SA), Ernnst Roehm.
During the next 24 hours 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse.
Many were shot as soon as they were captured but Hitler decided to pardon Roehm because of his past service to the movement.
However, after much pressure from Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler, Hitler agreed that Roehm should die.
At first Hitler insisted that Roehm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Roehm was shot by two SS men. (Spartacus.schoolnet.co)
Later, Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichstag in which he justified the murders of his rivals saying:
"If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this:
In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people.
It was no secret that this time the revolution would have to be bloody; when we spoke of it we called it ’The Night of the Long Knives.’
Everyone must know for all future time that if he raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot."
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The Night of the Long Knives is seen by many as the turning point where Hitler made it clear that he was above the law and the supreme leader of the German people.
Newly-built Halliburton detention centers
Operation Falcon: Blueprint for removing dissidents and political rivals
The Bush administration has carried out three massive sweeps in the last two years, rolling up more than 30,000 minor crooks and criminals, without as much as a whimper of protest from the public.
So far, not one of the more than 30,000 victims has been charged with a terror-related crime.
Operation Falcon is the clearest indication yet that the Bush administration is fine-tuning its shock-troops so it can roll up tens of thousands of people at a moment’s notice and toss them into the newly-built Halliburton detention centers.
This should be a red flag for anyone who cares at all about human rights, civil liberties, or simply saving his own skin.
Operation Falcon was allegedly the brainchild of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his counterpart in the US Marshal’s office, (Director) Ben Reyna.
But its roots go much deeper into the nexus of right-wing Washington think tanks where fantasies of autocratic government have a long history.
The name, Falcon, is an acronym for “Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally.”
It relates to the more than 960 state, local and federal agencies which are directly involved in the administration’s expansive criminal dragnets.
Typically, law enforcement agencies are protective of their own turf and wary of outside intervention.
The Falcon program overrides these concerns by streamlining the information-sharing processes and setting up a chain-of-command structure that radiates from the Justice Department.
This removes many of the traditional obstacles to agency interface.
It also relocates the levers of power in Washington where they can be manned by members of the Bush administration.
Dictatorships require strong centralized authority
Dictatorships require strong centralized authority and the Falcon program is a logical corollary of that ambition.
It creates new inroads for Bush to assume greater control over the nationwide police-state apparatus.
That alone should be sufficient reason for alarm.
The first Operation Falcon took place during the week of April 4 to April 10, 2005.
According to the US Marshal’s official website:
“The emphasis centered on gang related crimes, homicides, crimes involving use of a weapon, crimes against children and the elderly, crimes involving sexual assaults, organized crime and drug related fugitives, and other crimes of violence.”
More than 10,000 criminal suspects were arrested in a matter of days.
It was the largest criminal sweep in the nation’s history and, according to U.S. Marshall chief Ben Reyna, “produced the largest number of arrests ever recorded during a single initiative.”
The Washington Times noted, “The sweep was a virtual clearinghouse for warrants on drug, gang, gun and sex-offender suspects nationwide.”
The emphasis was clearly on quantity not quality.
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Still, this doesn’t explain why state and federal agencies had to be integrated with local law enforcement simply to carry out routine police work.
More importantly, it doesn’t explain why local police ignored their duty to protect the public just so they could coordinate with outside agencies.
According to one report “162 accused or convicted of murder” were picked up in the first sweep.
That means that the police knowingly left murderers on the street and put the public at risk while they orchestrated their raids with federal agencies?
That’s irresponsible.
It also suggests that there may be a more sinister motive behind the program than just ensuring public safety.
The plan appears to have been devised to enhance the powers of the “unitary” executive by putting state and local law enforcement under federal supervision.
Once again, it’s an attempt by the administration to extend its grip to the state and local level.
New Orleans after Katrina
We saw a similar strategy unfold after Hurricane Katrina when the Bush administration used the tragedy to seize control of local police and National Guard units so they could establish de facto martial law.
Troops, armored vehicles and mercenaries were deployed to New Orleans to fight lawlessness and looting even though desperate people were still stranded on their rooftops waiting for food, water and medical attention.
Operation FALCON II was another massive dragnet which covered the western half of the country and focused primarily on “violent sex offenders”.
The raids took place from April 17-23, and succeeded in apprehending 9,037 alleged fugitives.
The US Marshals web site boasts that the operation “took some of the country’s most dangerous wanted criminals off the streets and made America’s communities safer”.
Nonsense.
Despite the claims of success, only 462 “violent sex crime” suspects were arrested, along with 1,094 “unregistered sex offenders” and other minor “sex crime” suspects.
That leaves 7,481 suspects who were rounded up for other unrelated reasons.
Who are they and what crime did they commit?
7,481 people who were incarcerated are unaccounted
Were these drug violations, dads who were delinquent on child-support payments, traffic tickets, jay-walking?!?
7,481 people who were incarcerated are unaccounted by the government’s estimate.
This means that the bulk of them were probably undocumented workers who were shunted off to the INS (Immigration and Naturalization) or dispatched to Cheney’s tent-city gulags in western Texas.
(See: Democracy Now “Human Rights Groups Call for Closure of Texas Jail Holding Undocumented Immigrants” 2-23-07)
Similar inconsistencies appear in “Operation FALCON III, which covered the eastern half of the country from October 22 - 28, 2006.”
State, local and federal police-units arrested 10,773 fugitives; including 1,659 sex offenders, 971 unregistered sex offenders, 364 gang members, 140 homicide suspects, and 3,609 drug violations.
Once again, the US Marshal’s official tally doesn’t pencil out.
This time, 4,030 extra people were rounded up without any further explanation.
Who are they and have they been charged with a crime?
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Indications great majority of these people not violent at all
Furthermore, sex offenders, drug users and gang-bangers are not what we normally consider “some of the country’s most dangerous wanted criminals”.
In fact, there are indications that the great majority of these people are not violent at all.
For example, of the 30,110 total fugitives who were apprehended in all three Falcon sweeps, a measly 586 firearms were seized.
Clearly, the people who were arrested for the most part were not “armed and dangerous” nor were they a serious threat to public safety.
They were probably just the unwitting victims of an overzealous US Marshals office and an ideologically-driven Justice Department.
So, what was the real impetus for the Falcon raids?
Was it just a bean-counting exercise to see how many people would fit in the back of a Paddy-wagon or are they a dress rehearsal for future crackdowns on potential enemies of the state?
Bogus News Reports
The Falcon operation illustrates the incestuous relationship between the media and the state.
They are two wings on the same plane.
The Justice Department provided the TV networks with official footage of policemen and government agents raiding homes and handcuffing suspects; and the media dutifully aired the video on stations across the country.
The scenes were accompanied by a reassuring commentary lauding the administration’s new crime fighting strategies and linking homeland security with the nebulous war on terror.
Attorney General Gonzales told reporters:
“Operation FALCON is an excellent example of President Bush’s direction and the Justice Department’s dedication to deal both with the terrorist threat and traditional violent crime.”
He added,:
“This joint effort shows the commitment of our federal, state, and local partners to make our neighborhoods safer, and it has led to the highest number of arrests ever recorded for a single initiative of its kind.”
So far, not one of the more than 30,000 victims has been charged with a terror-related crime.
The media-hype surrounding the raids has been celebratory and uniform; cookie-cutter articles appeared throughout the US press (most of them unsourced) highlighting the cooperation between the divers agencies while providing an upbeat account of what amounts to police repression.
Thousands of nearly identical articles appeared in the nation’s newspapers which seem to have been authored by high-ranking officials at Homeland Security and protégés of George Orwell; although the difference between the two is far from certain.
Even stranger, most of the articles in the mainstream media can no longer be retrieved via a Google search.
They seem to have vanished into the black-hole of Homeland propaganda.
No matter.
If the media was supposed to make Gestapo-like crackdowns look like normal police operations; they succeeded admirably.
Mission accomplished.
Former Governor of Louisiana, Huey Long once opined, “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in an American flag.”
Indeed, he could have added that the corporate media will gladly provide the flag and the public relations campaign as they have with Falcon.
Falcon; new drills for a new world order
The Falcon operations can only be understood in the broader context of the ongoing assault on the constitutional system of checks and balances; including the repeal of habeas corpus, warrantless wiretaps and searches, and the use of torture.
For the last 6 years, the Bush administration has been busy dismantling the legal safeguards which protect the citizen from the arbitrary and, oftentimes, ruthless actions of the state.
To that end, detention camps are being prepared by Halliburton within the U.S.
Secret courts have been established which deny due process of law.
American citizens are arrested without charge.
Law enforcement is increasingly militarized.
And the media has strengthened its alliance with the central government.
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Additionally, in October 2006, George Bush quietly changed the Insurrection Act, which prevented the President from deploying troops inside the United States.
Bush’s revision effectively overturns the Posse Comitatus Act which put strict limits on the executive’s power to use US troops in domestic situations.
Just days earlier Bush signed a similar bill, "The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" which gives Bush the power to take command of National Guard units across the country which are traditionally under the control of the state governors.
Without fanfare, Bush has taken control of all armed forces and militias inside and outside of the country and now has a monopoly on all the state-sanctioned tools of organized violence.
It’s a coup that could never have succeeded without the tacit cooperation of the media.
Congress is powerless to stop him
Bush is now free to declare martial law in response to a natural disaster, a pandemic or a terrorist attack.
The congress is powerless to stop him.
Also, Bush recently signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which allows the president to arbitrarily declare citizens and non citizens “enemy combatants” and imprison them indefinitely without charge.
The new law gives Bush the authority to disregard the Geneva Conventions and the 8th amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment and apply “harsh interrogation” which may include torture.
Military Commissions Act cannot coexist with the US Constitution
The act effectively repeals habeas corpus, the cornerstone of American jurisprudence and the Bill of Rights.
The Military Commissions Act cannot coexist with the US Constitution; the two are mutually exclusive.
The Military Commissions Act, The John Warner Defense Authorization Act, the Homeland Security Act, the Patriot Act, and the myriad presidential signing statements have conferred absolute power on George Bush.
The question is whether or not some incident will arise that will persuade Bush to use his extraordinary new powers.
General Tommy Franks predicted that a “massive, casualty producing event” might cause “our population to question our own Constitution and begin to militarize our country;” a scenario that many see as likely now.
Is that it?
Will another terrorist attack provide the rationale for overturning republican government and declaring martial law?
If so, then we should know what to expect.
According to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) it would mean “the suspension of the normal functions of civilian government, implying the cancellation or postponement of state and federal elections.” (Global Research)
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Shadow government
It would also “close public and government facilities not critical for continuity of essential operations.” (FEMA)
Northern Command would assume control and under “the classified ’Continuity of Government” (COG) Operations Plan’ a secret ’shadow government’ would become functional, redeploying key staff to secret locations.” (Global Research)
Also, “all forms of public gatherings or citizen’s protests which question the legitimacy of the emergency procedures and the installation of a police state” would be banned.
The military would be deployed to carry out “police and judicial” functions.
Martial law in the US would be applied with the utmost attention to public sensibilities and perceptions, avoiding the garish display of force we see in Iraq.
It would be a “kinder and gentler” martial law with a limited number of military personnel on the streets (just enough to remind us that things have changed) and an emphasis on “preemptive” policing operations. (Expect Falcons’ 4, 5 and 6 etc)
It would probably be disguised by a carefully crafted public relations campaign and a predictably cheery moniker, such as, “The Security Enhancement and Homeland Fortification Act”.
The possibilities are limitless.
The Bush administration is also prepared if some unforeseen tragedy befalls congress, like another anthrax attack.
In fact, the American Enterprise Institute, to which the Bush team is closely aligned, has already "issued proposals for the operation of Congress following a catastrophic terrorist attack".
They advocate the "APPOINTING" of individuals to the House of Representatives "to fill the seats of dead or incapacitated members, a first in American history."
Continuity of Government Commission is self-commissioned
"The Continuity of Government Commission is self-commissioned’, its members being neither elected nor appointed by any government body and mostly made up of professional lobbyists". ( Read the whole article )
(Coincidentally, Newsweek article “White House Rehearses for Domestic Attack” 2-23-07; “The White House is staging a high-level exercise Saturday to test responses to the prospect of a massive domestic terrorist attack.”
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These drills are a critical part of the C.O.G. regimen dating back to the Reagan administration)
According to the AEI’s plan, the future United States congress will be comprised of lobbyists and industry representatives.
What else would one expect from an organization that believes that corporate interests should determine policy?
These are the chilling precedents which have paved the way for further government lawlessness and abuse.
They foreshadow the ominous transition from representative government to autocratic rule; from inalienable rights to martial law.
The Falcon operations are just a small part of this larger paradigm.
The program is not designed for rounding up minor crooks and drug dealers, (which no one really cares about anyway) but for removing leftists, dissidents and political rivals.
These are the real targets.
The power of the state is measured in terms of how effectively it defeats or eliminates its enemies.
And, the Bush administration has shown a remarkable aptitude for crushing its rivals.
The Crawford Fuehrer
One day, after a particularly savage domestic purge; we can expect President Bush to stride to the presidential podium and reiterate the same words that were uttered by his German predecessor 60 years ago:
"If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this:
In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the American people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the American people….
Everyone must know for all future time that if he raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot."
Mike Whitney
July 23, 2007
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| Was it worth it folks?
To lose your country.
To lose your freedom.
If 9/11 was not an inside job — increasingly evidence proves it was.
Was it worth it folks?
Wouldn't you really rather be fighting for your freedom (if needed) yourself? Without these goons telling you what to do? |
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Norman Solomon — July 19, 2007 CommonDreams.org As the New York Times was to report, President Bush “essentially won the added time he said he needed to demonstrate that his troop buildup was succeeding.”
Meanwhile, inside a movie theater on the opposite coast, the thunderous voice of Senator Wayne Morse spoke to 140 people at an event organized by the activist group Sacramento for Democracy.
The extraordinary senator was speaking in May 1964 — and in July 2007.
A typical dash of media conventional wisdom had set him off.
The moderator of the CBS program “Face the Nation,” journalist Peter Lisagor, told the guest:
“Senator, the Constitution gives to the president of the United States the sole responsibility for the conduct of foreign policy.”
“Couldn’t be more wrong,” Morse shot back.
“You couldn’t make a more unsound legal statement than the one you have just made.
“This is the promulgation of an old fallacy that foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States.
“That’s nonsense.”
Lisagor sounded a bit exasperated: “To whom does it belong, then, Senator?”
Again, Morse didn’t hesitate.
“It belongs to the American people,” the senator fired back.
And he added: “What I’m saying is — under our Constitution all the president is, is the administrator of the people’s foreign policy, those are his prerogatives, and I’m pleading that the American people be given the facts about foreign policy –”
“You know, Senator, that the American people cannot formulate and execute foreign policy –”
“Why do you say that?
Why, you’re a man of little faith in democracy if you make that kind of comment,” Morse retorted.
“I have complete faith in the ability of the American people to follow the facts if you’ll give them.
“And my charge against my government is we’re not giving the American people the facts.” |
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Slick Connections: U.S. Influence on Iraqi Oil Erik Leaver and Greg Muttitt Foreign Policy In Focus, July 17, 2007 "The oil belongs to the Iraqi people. It's their asset," declared President George W. Bush in a press conference on the White House lawn in June 2006. He had just returned from a surprise visit to Baghdad, in which oil had been one of the main subjects of discussion.
"We talked about how to advise the government to best use that money for the benefit of the people," he clarified.
But by January 2007, the euphemism of "advice" had been dropped, as passage of an oil law became a "benchmark," an instruction to the Iraqi government.
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Violating the very notions of freedom and democracy Bush invokes in nearly every speech on Iraq, the U.S. government has actively intervened in the restructuring of Iraq's oil industry since at least 2002.
At different times, the Iraqi government has been threatened that passing the oil law was a pre-condition for partial reduction of Saddam Hussein's debts, for the provision of reconstruction funds, and even for the continued survival (through U.S. military support) of the al-Maliki government itself.
The issues could hardly be more important for Iraq.
Oil accounts for more than 90% of government revenue, and is the main driver of Iraq's economy.
And decisions made in the coming months will not be reversible—once contracts are signed, they will have a major bearing on Iraq's economy and politics for decades to come.
No wonder polls have shown that roughly 75% of Iraqis think one of the main reasons why the United States invaded Iraq was "to control Iraqi oil."1
Attempting to reverse this perception and change U.S. policy, lawmakers passed legislation stating that the United States should not exert "control over any oil resource of Iraq."
But contradicting this sentiment, the Congress also passed a law that required reporting on a set of U.S. imposed benchmarks, which included language for the Iraqi parliament to pass " legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources."
The administration has used this benchmark to push a law that has almost nothing to do with revenue distribution among Iraq's sectarian groups, and everything to do with creating highly profitable opportunities for multinational oil corporations. 2
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Under pressure from the U.S. government, the Iraqi cabinet has endorsed the controversial oil law, which now awaits approval in the Parliament.
Yet among Iraqis, the law faces extensive opposition, including from two of the law's three original authors—as well as more than 100 of Iraq's most senior oil experts, the powerful oil unions, and other religious and secular civil society organizations.
Ironically, the law deemed to be needed to bring the country together, instead has the potential to violently rip it apart.
Oil Pressure: A History of U.S. Involvement in Iraq's Oil Development
Feb.-March 2001: White House Energy Taskforce produces a list of "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts." 3
December 2002-April 2003: U.S. State Department Oil and Energy Working Group brought together influential Iraqi exiles, U.S. government officials, and international consultants.
The result of the project's work was a "draft framework for Iraq's oil policy" that would form the foundation for the energy policy now being considered by the Iraqi Parliament.
The final report noted that Iraq "should be opened to international oil companies as quickly as possible after the war. 4
Later, several Iraqi members of the group became part of the Iraqi government.
The Group included future Iraqi Oil Minister, Bahr al-Uloum.
January 2003: The Wall Street Journal reported that representatives from Exxon Mobil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp., ConocoPhillips, and Halliburton, among others, were meeting with Vice President Cheney's staff to plan the post-war revival of Iraq's oil industry.5
January 2003: Phillip Carroll, a former chief executive with Royal Dutch-Shell, and a 15-member "board of advisers" were appointed to oversee Iraq's oil industry during the transition period.
According to the Guardian, the group's chief executive would represent Iraq at meetings of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). 6
Carroll had been working with the Pentagon for months before the invasion—even while the administration was still insisting that it sought a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis—"developing contingency plans for Iraq's oil sector in the event of war."
Carroll, in addition to running Shell Oil in the United States, was a former CEO of the Fluor Corporation, a well-connected oil services firm with extensive projects in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and at least $1.6 billion in contracts for Iraq's reconstruction.
One month after the invasion, Carroll took control of Iraq's oil production for the U.S. Government. He was joined by Gary Vogler, a former executive with ExxonMobil, in Iraq's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.
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Mr. Carroll made it clear to Paul Bremer, the U.S. occupation chief who arrived in Iraq in May 2003, that, "There was to be no privatization of Iraqi oil resources or facilities while he was involved." 7
Carroll leaves his job seven months later.
March 2003: Iraqi Oil Ministry was one of the few structures the invading forces protected from looters in the first days of the war.
April 2003: During the initial assault on Baghdad, soldiers set up forward bases named Camp Shell and Camp Exxon. 8
April 2003: President Bush called for UN sanctions against Iraq to be dropped.
The request sounds innocuous enough, but it masks an urgent U.S. desire for a free hand to start pumping Iraqi crude once again to raise funds for rebuilding the country. 9
April 2003: USAID Solicits Bid to Draft Economic Reorganization Plan for Iraq. The U.S. Agency for International Development asks BearingPoint, Inc to bid on a sole-sourced contract for "economic governance" work in Iraq.
The contract document was written by Treasury Department officials and reviewed by financial consultants.
The confidential 100-page request, titled "Moving The Iraqi Economy From Recovery to Sustainable Growth," states that the contractor will help support "private sector involvement in strategic sectors, including privatization, asset sales, concessions, leases, and management contracts, especially in the oil and supporting industries." 10
May 22, 2003: UN Security Council passed a resolution ending sanctions on Iraq.
Significantly, the resolution gave the United States decision making power over how the oil funds would be used with regard to relief, reconstruction, disarmament, and "other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq." 11
May 22, 2003: President Bush signed Executive Order 13303 providing full legal immunity to all U.S. oil companies doing business in Iraq in order to facilitate the country's "orderly reconstruction."
June 22, 2003: Iraq ships crude oil for the first time since the start of the war.
Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Paul Bremer, broached the politically sensitive issue of how oil revenue should be spent, proposing that some of the money be shared with Iraqis through a system of dividend payments or a national trust fund to finance public pensions.
"Iraq's resources cannot be restricted to a lucky or powerful few," Bremer said.
"Iraq's natural resources should be shared by all Iraqis." 12
July 2003: Bremer appoints the members of the Iraqi Government Council. Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a member of the State Department's energy working group, is tapped as Iraq's oil minister.
Al-Uloum soon proposed a privatization program, and endorsed production sharing agreements as the route to that goal. 13
October 2003: Carroll was replaced by Robert McKee, a former ConocoPhillips executive.
According to the Houston Chronicle, "His selection as the Bush administration's energy czar in Iraq" drew fire from Congressional Democrats "because of his ties to the prime contractor in the Iraqi oil fields, Houston-based Halliburton Co.
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He's the chairman of a venture partitioned by the ... firm." 14
The administration selected ChevronTexaco Vice President Norm Szydlowski to serve as a liaison between the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Oil Ministry.
Now the CEO of the appropriately named Colonial Pipeline Company, Szydlowski continued to work with the Iraq Energy Roundtable, a project of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which sponsored meetings to "bring together oil and gas sector leaders in the United States with key decision makers from the Iraq Ministry of Oil." 15
Terry Adams and Bob Morgan of BP, and Mike Stinson of ConocoPhillips would also serve as advisers during the transition. 16
November 2003: McKee quietly ordered a new plan for Iraq's oil.
The drafting would be overseen by a "senior adviser," Amy Jaffe, who had worked for Morse when he was the Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Jaffe now works for James Baker, the former Secretary of State, whose law firm serves as counsel to both ExxonMobil and the defense minister of Saudi Arabia.
The plan, written by State Department contractor BearingPoint, was guided, says Jaffe, by a handful of oil -industry consultants and executives. 17
December 19, 2003: BearingPoint releases "Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry," a report on the Iraqi oil industry favoring foreign participation as the most efficient way of developing the sector. 18
March 2004: CPA names new Iraq Oil Advisers: Mike Stinson of ConocoPhillips and Bob Morgan of BP. 19
March 2004: Iraq's interim constitution, the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) passed in March 2004 by Iraq's Governing Council, sets forth that CPA laws, regulations, and orders are to remain in force after the transfer of sovereignty unless a duly enacted piece of legislation rescinds or amends them. 20
June 2004: U.S. handover to the Iraq Interim Government. Mike Stinson becomes an adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.21 Thamir al-Ghadban is named as Iraqi Oil Minister.
November 2004: International oil companies launched voluntary efforts to train Iraq's oil workers and provide technical assistance, hoping to generate goodwill and eventually get access to the country's huge oil reserves.
Companies from the United States, Britain, and Russia—including ChevronTexaco Corp., BP, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Lukoil—are paying to send Iraqi oil workers out of the country to teach them the latest techniques in developing and managing oil fields. 22
December 22, 2004: Iraqi Finance Minister Mahdi, in a joint press conference with U.S. Undersecretary of State Alan Larson at the National Press Club, announced Iraq's plans for a new petroleum law to open the oil sector to foreign private investment.
Mahdi explained, "So I think this is very promising to the American investors and to American enterprise, certainly to oil companies." 23
Early 2005: New Government, old oil minister, al-Uloum reappointed to position of Minister for Oil. Ahmed Chalabi, head of the U.S.-backed Iraqi National Congress, was appointed chair of the Energy Council.
In 2002, Chalabi said, "U.S. companies will have a big shot at Iraqi oil." 24
May 2005: Approximately 30 international oil companies signed Memoranda of Understanding with Iraq, generally for the training of Iraqi staff, consulting work, and studies. 25
August 30, 2005: Bush says U.S. troops would continue fighting in Iraq in order to protect the country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists. 26
October 15 2005: The national referendum for the Iraqi constitution passes, containing an outline for oil revenue sharing and development.
December 2005: Iraq enters into agreement with the International Monetary Fund committing Iraq to draft a new petroleum law by the end of 2006 to allow foreign investment in the country's oil industry.
The arrangement was signed before the new Iraqi government had been appointed and one week after the December 2005 elections thus denying Iraqi voters a chance to react through the ballot box.
February 2006-June 2006: USAID contracts with BearingPoint to draft Iraq's oil law to provide "legal and regulatory advice in drafting the framework of petroleum and other energy-related legislation, including foreign investment." 27
March 15, 2006: Gen. John Abizaid, the Army general overseeing U.S. military operations in Iraq, said the United States may want to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq to bolster moderates against extremists in the region and protect the flow of oil. 28
May 2006: Iraq's new oil minister, Hussein al-Sharistani, began drafting legislation to govern Iraq's oil sector.
Following his appointment, Shahristani announced that one of his top priorities would be to pass a law allowing privatization through parliament by the end of 2006.
July 2006: U.S. Government and oil companies get a copy of the draft oil law. 29
September 2006: International Monetary Fund and World Bank receive a copy of draft oil law. 30
October 17, 2006: President Bush signs the 2007 Defense Authorization Act (PL No: 109-364) which states in SEC. 1519, "No funds ... in this Act may be obligated or expended ... to exercise United States economic control of the oil resources of Iraq.
February 2007: U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, "has been in intense talks with Kurdish leaders in the north to overcome their objections to the draft.
Iraqi officials say Mr. Khalilzad's negotiations were crucial to winning unanimous cabinet approval." 31
February 18, 2007: "Draft Hydrocarbon Law" was submitted to the Iraqi Cabinet (Council of Ministers). 32
February 26, 2007: "Draft Hydrocarbon Law" was passed by the Iraqi Cabinet and was submitted to the Iraqi Parliament (Council of Representatives). 33
April 19, 2007: Defense Secretary Robert Gates travels to Baghdad to push political benchmarks and specifically the oil law. 34
May 9 2007: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney travels to Baghdad to push political benchmarks and specifically the oil law. 35
June 12, 2007: U.S. Admiral Fallon, head of the Central Command, warned Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a closed-door conversation to pass the oil law by July. 36
July 3, 2007: Iraq cabinet approves amended oil law draft and resubmits to the Iraqi Parliament. 37
July 12, 2007: The White House released its Initial Benchmark Assessment Report. Benchmark #3, "Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources" is found to be not met.
The report notes, "The effect of limited progress toward this benchmark has been to reduce the perceived confidence in, and effectiveness of, the Iraqi Government.
This does not, however, necessitate a revision to our current plan and strategy, under which we have assigned a high priority to this subject, and the process overall has continued to move forward." 38
For Endnotes and FPIF website, click here |
| I have no doubt whatsoever that the condition for children today is much worse
Focus on Iraq is not on the lives of Iraqis living day in, day out, with deprivation, with lack of food, with lack of medical supplies.
No! It is to give the occupation military a paycheck!
No! It is to give the puppet government a paycheck
No! It is to allow the puppet government to fly out of the country, and stay out, whenever they desire.
No! It is to allow the criminals in Washington, Democrat and Republican, who voted, and continue to vote for this genocide of a people, to survive in office.
TheWE.biz |
Conditions for Iraqi children worsen sharply: UNICEF
AFP
July 17, 2007
GENEVA (AFP) - Conditions for children in Iraq have deteriorated sharply in recent years as their humanitarian plight has fallen largely into neglect, a senior UNICEF official said Monday.
"I have no doubt whatsoever that the condition today is much worse," Dan Toole, acting deputy executive director of the UN Children's Fund, told journalists after being asked for a comparison with the situation under Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Children who have had to flee Iraq — and millions have fled — are much worse off than a year ago and they certainly are much worse off than they were three years ago," he added.
Toole said there were signs that the health and nutrition for Iraqi children was "changing for the worst", despite recently released two-year-old indicators that had shown signs of an improvement.
UNICEF said the information gleaned from people leaving Iraq, and from the agency's "quite limited" access within the country, indicated that the number of female-headed households has increased "dramatically" because mostly men have been killed in the violence there.
"Many of those women are too frightened to bring their children to health clinics, many are too frightened to send their children to school," he added
Only two-thirds of Iraqis have access to clean water, according to UNICEF.
"My concern is that the focus on Iraq is on the political situation, the security situation, it is not on the lives of Iraqis living day in, day out, with deprivation, with lack of food, with lack of medical supplies," he said.
"That says something about the attention of the world, the attention of our leaders," Toole added, urging a greater focus on the impact on children.
UNICEF says its aid programmes for children in Iraq have only received about one-third of the funding they need.
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BBC — Saturday, 14 July 2007
Russia sends warning to the West
By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent
President Vladimir Putin's decision to suspend Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe, or CFE, treaty is a potent political signal.
It is yet another sign of the worsening relationship between Moscow and the West.
It shows that this relationship was not improved in any substantial way by the informal meeting at the start of this month between the US and Russian presidents at the Bush family's holiday home at Kennebunkport in Maine.
It is another diplomatic warning shot from Mr Putin across the bows of the Bush administration.
And with crucial issues like Iran's nuclear programme and the political future of Kosovo looming at the United Nations, it raises a new set of questions about how far Russia might go to block initiatives backed by Washington and its key allies.
The CFE treaty of 1990 was one of the most significant arms control agreements of the Cold War years.
It set strict limits on the number of offensive weapons — tanks, aircraft, artillery and so on — that the members of the Warsaw Pact and Nato could deploy in a broadly-defined Europe, stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals.
In the wake of the collapse of communism, the treaty was revised in 1999, in part to address Russian concerns.
This revised treaty has never been ratified by the Nato countries who first want Russia to withdraw all of its forces from the former Soviet Republics of Georgia and Moldova.
Now Russia's patience has run out.
President Putin's decree to suspend application of the treaty is not the same as a full-scale withdrawal — that would require a formal notification of the other parties.
This suspension is a unilateral Russian measure and its practical impact will be limited.
Various routine inspections, exchanges of data, and so on will presumably be halted.
Irrelevant?
In many ways the CFE treaty is not hugely relevant today.
The Cold War is over and whatever new tensions there may be between Russia and the West, nobody envisages a return to an armed stand-off on the European continent.
Nonetheless Mr Putin's decision matters.
For a start it raises questions about yet one more arms control treaty at a time when disarmament experts fear that the whole network of arms control treaties established during the Cold War years is increasingly under strain.
The United States pulled out of another key agreement, the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, in December 2001.
In a sense Mr Putin is just demonstrating that what the Americans can do in the name of their vital interests, so Russia can also threaten in the name of its national interest.
President Putin's move will be taken as yet another sign of a more assertive foreign policy — a policy buoyed up by Moscow's rising income from oil and natural gas.
But analysts wonder if this is really a sign of strength.
For all its energy revenues, Russia remains a shadow of the former Soviet Union in the superpower stakes.
Russian experts argue that Mr Putin realises this.
But in certain key areas, not least missile defence, he wants to be treated by Washington as an equal.
Russian opposition to US plans to deploy limited missile defence in Poland and the Czech Republic is at the heart of their current disagreements.
But Russia's ever more muscular noises that it might block a proposed United Nations deal on the political future of Kosovo adds a worrying dimension to what up to now has been largely a rhetorical row.
Add in "local difficulties" like the dispute between London and Moscow over the murder of a former Russian agent living in Britain and there is real danger that relations between Russia and the West could be heading back to the freezer.
It is clearly nonsense to speak of a new Cold War.
But several Russian foreign policy experts have expressed concern that relations could deteriorate significantly.
Mr Putin's position, they say, is more sophisticated and perhaps more nuanced than some Russian spokesmen's pronouncements might indicate.
Mr Putin has gone some way, for example, in acknowledging that Iran does represent a potential missile threat.
But Mr Putin is drawing on a strong well of anti-Americanism in Russia's military and foreign policy establishment.
That is why Mr Putin's whole approach risks sounding, and indeed becoming, blunter and more dogmatic than even he probably wants. | ||||||||||||
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BBC — Saturday, 14 July 2007
Russia suspends arms control pact
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the application of a key Cold War arms control treaty.
Mr Putin signed a decree citing "exceptional circumstances" affecting security as the reason for the move.
Russia has been angered by US plans to base parts of a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) limits the number of heavy weapons deployed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Urals mountains.
'Cornerstone'
The Russian suspension will become effective 150 days after other parties to the treaty have been notified, President Putin's decree says.
The suspension is not a full-scale withdrawal — but it means that Russia will no longer permit inspections or exchange data on its deployments.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said Moscow was not "shutting the door to dialogue".
"We have submitted to our partners proposals on ways out of the situation. And we continue to wait for a constructive reaction," Mr Kislyak said.
But a Nato spokesman said the alliance "regretted" Russia's decision.
"The allies consider this treaty to be an important cornerstone of European security," James Appathurai said.
He added that the move was "a disappointing step in the wrong direction".
Russia's suspension of its application of the treaty is yet another sign of a worsening relationship between the US and Russia, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, Jonathan Marcus.
An informal meeting earlier in July at the Bush family's Maine home seems to have done very little to improve ties between the two leaders, he says.
It is also yet one more sign of a more assertive Russian foreign policy, our diplomatic correspondent says.
The CFE agreement of 1990 was one of the most significant arms control agreements of the Cold War years.
It set strict limits on the number of offensive weapons — battle tanks, combat aircraft, heavy artillery — that the members of the Warsaw Pact and Nato could deploy in Europe, stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals.
In the wake of the collapse of communism, the treaty was revised in 1999, in part to address Russian concerns.
But this revised treaty has never been ratified by the Nato countries who want Russia to withdraw all of its forces from two breakaway regions with Russian-speaking majorities — Abkhazia in Georgia and Trans-Dniester in Moldova.
"The CFE treaty and missile defence are the two major irritants between Russia and the West.
It would have been easy, it still is easy, I think Nato allies feel, to move closer to ratifying the CFE treaty," the Nato spokesman added. | ||||||||||||||||
Published on Friday, March 2, 2007 by the Los Angeles Times
US to Develop New Hydrogen Bomb
by Ralph Vartabedian
The Energy Department will announce today a contract to develop the nation's first new hydrogen bomb in two decades, involving a collaboration between three national weapons laboratories, The Times has learned.
The new bomb will include design features from all three labs, though Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the Bay Area appears to have taken the lead position in the project. The Los Alamos and Sandia labs in New Mexico will also be part of the project.
Teams of scientists in California and New Mexico have been working since last year to develop the new bomb, using the world's most powerful supercomputers.
Take note of the words used folks — TheWE.biz
The weapon is known as the reliable replacement warhead and is intended to replace aging warheads now deployed on missiles aboard Trident submarines.
The contract decision was made by the Nuclear Weapons Council, which consists of officials from the Defense Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Energy Department. Plans were underway Thursday to announce the award this afternoon.
The nuclear administration will issue the contract and run the program.
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The cost of the development is secret, though outside experts said it would cost billions of dollars — perhaps tens of billions — to develop the bomb, build factories to restart high-volume weapons production and then assemble the weapons.
If Livermore does become the lead laboratory, confidence in the facility is likely to be bolstered, and political suggestions that its role in weapons development is unnecessary could be quelled.
A lead role by Los Alamos would help extract that facility from deep political problems growing out of security breaches.
The program is not expected to create a surge in employment at any of the labs
The program marks the first time the military has fielded a nuclear weapon design without an underground test. The last time scientists set off a hydrogen bomb was in 1991 under the Nevada desert.
President Clinton ordered a testing moratorium, and it has been continued by President Bush.
Note the words — how you are being persuaded to accept — TheWE.biz
Since the reason for building the new bomb is to maintain confidence in the nation's nuclear deterrent, experts say, the Nuclear Weapons Council will want the most conservative design, which gives Livermore the upper hand.
The design details are secret, but Livermore's version utilizes major components that had been tested — though not produced — for a Navy bomb about two decades ago.
By contrast, Los Alamos selected a design that involved an atomic trigger and a thermonuclear component that had been tested individually.
However, the two elements were never tested together, said Philip Coyle, who serves on scientific advisory committees and formerly was deputy director at Livermore.
Spin to keep you asleep — TheWE.biz
The Los Alamos design is said to contain highly attractive features, including innovative mechanisms that would prevent terrorists from detonating the bomb should they gain access to it, experts said.
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Those use controls were cited by military officials as a key factor in developing the weapon.
Proponents of the effort say that the nation's existing nuclear stockpile is getting old and that doubts will eventually grow about weapons reliability.
They say the new bomb will not have a greater nuclear yield and could not perform any new military missions beyond those of existing weapons.
So far, those arguments have attracted bipartisan support, including from Democrats who have long played a leading role in nuclear arms issues.
Critics say the existing stockpile is perfectly reliable and can be maintained for decades.
The new bomb will undermine U.S. efforts to stop nuclear proliferation, they say.
In addition, a recent study showed that plutonium components in existing weapons were aging much more slowly than expected.
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Hiroshima, Nagasaki — George Weller report |
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EndGame — Alex Jones, you have done the world a great favor
It has taken me until now to view this great masterpiece that chronicles the planet's true history
But I am glad for this delay as my awareness of reality, and the events that seemingly must unfold to educate humankind, have come from sentience off planet — now with this movie the circles merge
A movie par excellence, it will likely be considered the most significant in the downfall of the rich and powerful who control the world and rising politicians already in their pocket — the imprisonment of all those who seek to bring forth this horror, this enslavement of 'New World Order'
Kewe
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| The aim of TheWE.biz is to make us all aware that the most murderous violence and terror by far, committed by anyone, is done by The West
Violence and terror is the footprint and modus operandi of Western Government and the shadow power that operates from behind these 'elected officials'
This film helps us to focus on that reality
Indonesia's 9/11 — Exposing US government operations in the Bali Bombing
Kewe |
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Questioning War, Organizing Resistance — Carol Brouillet Glen Clancy, from Victoria, Australia, created "Fool Me Twice" described as 'A documentary about the Australian government's lies about the East Timor massacres, the cover-up of the Bali Bombings and subsequent anti-terror laws.' The 25 year old, Clancy is Australia's Dylan Avery (of Loose Change fame). The work was originally created to be viewed online, but Clancy is working on improving the resolution for larger screen and theatrical viewing. Glen wrote (at the Fool Me Twice Blog on December 4, 2008)
To all,
After discovering 911 was an inside job, through such movies as Loose Change, Terrorstorm and Zeitgeist, I decided to investigate the Bali bombings. The evidence was overwhelming. There had been a cover-up.
As shocking as the truth may be, please keep an open mind while viewing this documentary. FOOL ME TWICE is 100% sourced. Please see reference list below. I tried to produce a documentary as true to the genre as possible, limiting opinion and simply documenting the facts.
I believe that 911 Truth is one of the most important movements of our time and exposing the cover-up of the 2002 Bali bombings can help destroy the "911/War on terror/Al-CIAda" myth.
Please help spread this information.
Kind regards,
Glen
To listen to the March 10, 2008 interview of Glen Clancy by Carol Brouillet broadcast on:We The People Radio Network — Right Click Here (Save Target As, Link As, File) MP3 1 hour
Americans are politically paralyzed by both cognitive dissonance and by what psychologists call “learned helplessness,” the result of years of having one outrage after another foisted upon them, without there ever being any real accountability.
So, as many truthers have discovered, the most common reactions of average Americans, when presented with the facts of 9/11, are either, “My government would never do that,” or, “Okay . . . but what can anybody do about it?”
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Before that he was with the City of Sacramento as a Firefighter Paramedic.
He first began working in Emergency Services in 1988 in the Sacramento area with a 911 private paramedic ambulance company.
He has 20 years experience in Emergency Services.
He earned my pilot's license in 1987, and have been recreationally flying since.
He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics from the University of California at Davis in 1993, with 2 years of elective Engineering courses, and a Minor in Psychology.
Erik wrote a moving account of his own shift in consciousness regarding 9/11 which prompted him to start Fire Fighters For 9/11 Truth entitled: MAYDAY...MAYDAY...MAYDAY.
Here's an excerpt:
I, like most Americans, remember exactly where I was when I saw the attacks and had the overwhelming urge to take action.
I was shocked, outraged, scared and confused.
I called my Battalion Chief and asked if Seattle would be sending any teams to help.
I was a member of the MMST, and figured we would be needed and I wanted to know where to report.
Due to the nature of the incident we were not called up, and instead USAR teams, including Seattle's, were sent.
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I first visited Ground Zero in October of 2001 with several firefighters from Seattle.
We went to pay our respect and show support.
We raised money for our brother firehouses and attended the funerals of our fallen Brothers.
I was deeply moved and humbled by the community support, the sheer enormity of the tragedy along with the courage and compassion of the FDNY "Brotherhood."
I vividly remember the anger, the intense desire for vengeance,the feelings of helplessness
Even though I listened to their stories for days, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and tragedy they suffered on that day and the years to come.
I vividly remember the anger I felt, the intense desire for vengeance, and the feelings of helplessness.
I was relieved when the government identified the terrorists and satisfied that we were going to have a swift deliverance of "justice."
I've been a conservative my entire life; a registered Republican since I could vote.
I am a self proclaimed Patriot with George Washington as one of my all time heroes.
So when conspiracy theories quickly surfaced, and "Liberals" cried foul on the erosion of civil liberties, I chalked it up to their political beliefs and bitterness towards the Republican President.
I read many debunking articles — including Popular Mechanics — and watched many debunking videos including, Farenhype 9/11.
I was convinced that these "Liberals" were misinformed and were grasping at straws to discredit the "official" story.
Don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!
Like most people with strong opinions, instead of looking at all the facts, I was specifically looking for anything that supported my own beliefs.
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As soon as I discovered any inaccuracy in a conspiracy claim, I wrote it off.
My father, a big city cop and Korean War veteran, loved to say, "don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!"
Well, I had my mind made up.
I told conspiracy theorists like my own Truck Officer, Lt. Earl Emerson, that they were insane if they thought anyone other than the terrorists did this.
Bin Laden confession tapes — how much clearer did they need it
Heck, we have ID cards, security camera videos, Bin Laden confession tapes — how much clearer did they need it?
The years went on and I was satisfied in my beliefs.
I even believed these "Wackos" that doubted the "official" story were distracting our country from focusing on the real threat of terrorism...
Fast forward to March of 2008.
A great friend of mine with a Business degree from West Point, as conservative and non-conspiratorial as they get, came over one night to talk about what he saw happening in the economy.
Began researching such things as economies, who is in control of currencies
He provided some disconcerting evidence that we as a nation are at risk of entering into another depression; he pointed out historical parallels where other countries, such as Germany, suffered economic collapse.
THAT was my eye opener.
I became obsessed researching things such as economies, who is in control of currencies, what causes depressions, who profits during war, etc.
So many things kept pointing to 9/11.
Another one of my dad's favorite quotes was, "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear."
So, I looked at both sides and quickly noticed a pattern.
On one side, the general media ignores some of the most compelling evidence that contradicts the "official" story...
When I voiced my new opinion and concerns most of my friends listened.
Shocked that a staunch Conservative could have such a major shift
I think because they were shocked that a staunch Conservative could have such a major shift, or because they thought I had lost my mind and wanted to diagnose the cause.
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Curiously, some became angry at my new questions and actually thought I was supporting Terrorists with my concerns.
Being a part of that same mindset myself only a few weeks ago, and then having a major shift in consciousness, really shook me to the core.
What has happened to our collective consciousness that we believe anyone who doubts the "official" story or what the government tells us is an enemy?
What has happened to us — are we not founded on Freedom of Speech and taught to check our Government?
Anyone who asks for the Truth is labeled a "Wacko" or "Terrorist Sympathizer?"
What has happened to us?
Are we not founded on Freedom of Speech and taught to check our Government?...
To be honest, I was asleep at the wheel, and relied on what I was being told by mainstream media.
The same media whose parent corporations, are some of the largest suppliers of weapons in this war.
Before this "awakening" I had no idea the extent of our civil liberties that had been eroded in the name of Terrorism.
I had never really wrapped my brain around what legalized torture means.
I had always claimed America was noble.
Just look at how we treated POW's during WWII and Vietnam compared to our enemies.
[Ever check out the real story of John McCain as a POW, keep investigating! — TheWE.biz]
That separated us.
We were setting the example of Human Rights to the rest of the world.
[Check out the real facts of US instigations in Central and South America! — TheWE.biz]
Sure, you'll always have individuals that will take things too far, but Government sponsored torture?
[Let's mention CIA activity across the planet since its inception, including inside the US, and other black budget US government special operations agencies! — TheWE.biz]
What has happened to our country?
What kind of example are we setting for our children, and the world?
You would be interested to learn how many of our own rights have been stripped away recently.
Look up the Military Commissions Act of 2006, John Warner Defense Authorization Act, Homegrown Terrorism Act, Presidential Directive 51.
Amazing the rights we have all lost
It is amazing the rights we have all lost in the past couple of years and very little is covered by the U.S. media.
After discovering this, I applied the "common sense" test that my Grandfather always said wasn't so common.
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Why would a government so aggressively suppress truth and blatantly destroy evidence if there was nothing to hide?
Why has every testimony from sworn government and military officials that points to "prior knowledge" been stricken from the 9/11 Commission Report?
How did paper business cards, cloth bandanas, and plastic ID's that implicate the terrorists survive so neatly through jet fueled fireballs hot enough to destroy titanium and steel?
I've seen bodies burned beyond recognition, yet I have never found one that was wearing unburned clothing.
These questions alone are enough to make me risk everything for a real investigation and accounting...
When I truly realized the enormity of the effect 9/11 has had on our Rights, our Economy, our Beliefs, our Fears, our Intolerances and our Government — I felt fear, then anger, then the need to take action.
Bill Chickering said it best:
“Anger is a very appropriate and necessary response to an injustice.
“But stand back now; the truth, clearly spoken, is always your best weapon.
“Calmly spoken, it can burn a hole through the hardest heart.”
When I realized the extent of the force and attitudes working to silence those who peacefully ask questions, demand answers, and seek truth, it became clear to me that our Country is in serious trouble and I must now stand alongside those Patriots who seek Truth and Constitutional Restoration.
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Richard Gage, AIA is the founding member of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth ae911Truth.org.
He has been a practicing Architect for 20 years and has worked on most types of building construction including numerous fire-proofed steel-framed buildings.
He is employed with a San Francisco Bay Area architecture firm and has most recently performed Construction Administration services for a new $120M High School campus including a $10M steel-framed Gymnasium.
Currently he is working on the Design Development for a very large mixed use urban project with 1.2M sq.ft. of retail and 320K sq.ft. of mid-rise office space — altogether about 1,200 tons of steel framing.
He has been one of the most tireless speakers on the issue of 9/11 truth, and more specifically on challenging the official narrative of the disintegration of the 3 major skyscrapers in the World Trade Center complex that took place on September 11th.
He has been lecturing widely across the US and in Canada.
Those who see his presentation rarely walk away still thinking that fires alone could have brought down the buildings.
When NIST came out with a report recently that fires were responsible for the destruction of WTC7, Richard and Architects and Engineers were quick to challenge that report.
See NY Times quotes Richard Gage on WTC7 "collapse"
Aside from the NYT's reporter and a media request from Bulgaria, the press has tried to ignore the serious criticisms that Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth has raised about their reports.
Richard Gage gives an insightful interview on major points that scientifically do not agree with the official story of 9/11.
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9/11
By all accounts, the unprecedented events of September 11th, 2001 changed the way our country functions, and in turn, the world.
It is therefore critical that conscientious Americans, as well as people around the globe, understand these events in detail.
Unfortunately the official reports, including The 9/11 Commission Report and the NIST WTC Report, written by those working under the direction of the Bush Administration, have been proven to be elaborate cover-ups.
Film: 9/11 Revisited
September 11th Revisited is perhaps the most riveting film ever made about the destruction of the World Trade Center.
This is a powerful documentary which features eyewitness accounts and archived news footage that was shot on September 11, 2001 but never replayed on television.
Featuring interviews with eyewitnesses & firefighters, along with expert analysis by Professor Steven E. Jones, Professor David Ray Griffin, MIT Engineer Jeffrey King, and Professor James H. Fetzer.
This film provides stunning evidence that explosives were used in the complete demolition of the WTC Twin Towers and WTC Building 7.
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For Film: 9/11 Revisited
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
An excellent documentary about the families of the victims of 9/11 and their fight to uncover and expose the truth about what happened that day.
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For Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Mysteries
90 minutes of pure demolition evidence and analysis, laced with staggering witness testimonials.
Moving from “the myth” through “the analysis” and into “the players,” careful deconstruction of the official story set right alongside clean, clear science.
The 9/11 picture is not one of politics or nationalism or loyalty, but one of strict and simple physics. How do you get a 10-second 110-story pancake collapse?
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'Oh! You don't believe the 9-11 official version,' they say.
'You mean where they want you to accept the buildings were not blown up from below.
'Plane fuel! Substance never burns higher then a gas stove! That it caused the inner core steel to melt!
'Steel melting!
'Concrete vaporizing!
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'No! I don't believe that conspiracy theory.
'Cheney! Bush! Rudy Giuliani! HA! HA!
'Tower 7 that never had a plane hit — just came tumbling down!
'You believe that, eh!
'Ever think it had to be blown up because the plane scheduled to fly into it was off getting shot down.
'Thermite in Tower 7's walls, you see — incriminating evidence — impossible to get out without people watching!
Had to be blown up!
'Next you'll be saying Obama is not a Wall Street Illuminati banker stooge?
'Take your pick: The partner in a comedy team who feeds lines to the other comedians.
'Him who allows himself to be used.
'Oh! I can't really blame you, Television it turns minds to pulp.
'Turn off the television. It's the only way.'
'Turn off the television?'
'Get rid of it really. I mean what else is there to do!'
'Get rid of the television?'
'Don't forget all radio garbage is propaganda, even the songs.
'Then those five minute propaganda hits they send you every hour!
'The ones they refer to as News
'Get rid of all the propaganda from your brain, the only way to do it.'
'Stop being hooked on those Hollywood movies — even those that make you think they are making you think'
'All paid performers to make your brain dead.
'You turn the brainwashing off, you'll begin to become yourself.
'It really is the only way!'
'Oh!'
Kewe — TheWE.biz
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| Click logo for architects & engineers for 9/11 truth | |
New study from Pilots for 9/11 Truth: No Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon
Thu Jun 21, 3:01 AM ET
Pilots for 9/11 Truth obtained black box data from the government under the Freedom of Information Act for AA Flight 77, which The 9/11 Report claims hit the Pentagon.
Analysis of the data contradicts the official account in direction, approach, and altitude.
The plane was too high to hit lamp posts and would have flown over the Pentagon, not impacted with its ground floor.
This result confirms and strengthens the previous findings of Scholars for 9/11 Truth that no Boeing 757 hit the buillding.
Madison, WI (PRWEB) June 21, 2007 - A study of the black box data provided by the government to Pilots for 9/11 Truth has confirmed the previous findings of Scholars for 9/11 Truth that no Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon on 9/11.
"We have had four lines of proof that no Boeing 757 hit the building," said James Fetzer, founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
"This new study by Pilots drives another nail into a coffin of lies told the American people by The 9/11 Commission":
The new society, an international organization of pilots and aviation professionals, petitioned the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) under the Freedom of Information Act and obtained its 2002 report on American Airlines Flight 77.
A Boeing 757 that, according to the official account, hit the ground floor of the Pentagon after it skimmed over the lawn at 500 mph plus, taking out a series of lamp posts in the process.
The pilots not only obtained the flight data but created a computer animation to demonstrate what it told them.
According to the report issued by Pilots for 9/11 Truth ( http://pilotsfor911truth.org/ ), there are major differences between the official account and the flight data:
a. The NTSB Flight Path Animation approach path and altitude does not support official events.
b. All Altitude data shows the aircraft at least 300 feet too high to have struck the light poles.
c. The rate of descent data is in direct conflict with the aircraft being able to impact the light poles and be captured in the Dept of Defense "5 Frames" video of an object traveling nearly parallel with the Pentagon lawn.
d. The record of data stops at least one second prior to official impact time.
e. If data trends are continued, the aircraft altitude would have been at least 100 feet too high to have hit the Pentagon.
As Robert Balsamo, co-founder of Pilots for 9/11 Truth, observes:
"The information in the NSTB documents does not support, and in some instances factually contradicts, the official government position that American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001."
The study was signed by fifteen professional pilots with extensive military and commercial carrier experience.
They have made their animation, "Pandora's Box: Chapter 2," available to the public at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4648624627192508186
According to James H. Fetzer, founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth ( http://911scholars.org ), this result fits into the broader picture of what happened at the Pentagon that day.
"We have developed four lines of argument that prove — conclusively, in my judgment — that no Boeing 757 hit the building.
The most important evidence to the contrary has been the numerous eyewitness reports of a large commercial carrier coming toward the building.
If the NTSB data is correct, then the Pilot's study shows that a large aircraft headed toward the building but did not impact with it. It swerved off and flew above the Pentagon."
Fetzer, who retired last June after 35 years of teaching courses in logic, critical thinking, and scientific reasoning, expressed pleasure over the Pilot's results, which, he said, has neatly resolved the most pressing issue that remained about the Pentagon.
He added,
"We have previously developed several lines of argument, each of which proves that no Boeing 757 hit the building."
(1) The hit point at the Pentagon was too small to accommodate a 100-ton airliner with a 125-foot wingspan and a tail that stands 44 feet above the ground; the kind and quantity of debris was wrong for a Boeing 757: there were no wings, no fuselage, no seats, no bodies, no luggage, no tail!
Not even the engines were recovered, and they are practically indestructible.
(2) Of an estimate 84 videotapes of the crash, the three that have been released by the Pentagon do not show a Boeing 757 hitting the building, as even Bill O'Reilly admitted when one was shown on "The Factor".
At 155 feet, the plane was more than twice as long as the 77-foot Pentagon is high and should have been visible.
There are indications of a much smaller plane, but not a Boeing 757.
(3) Indeed, the aerodynamics of flight would have made the official trajectory — flying more than 500 mph barely above ground level — physically impossible, because of the accumulation of a massive pocket of compressed gas (air) beneath the fuselage; and if it had come it at an angle instead, it would have created a massive crater; but there is no crater and the official trajectory is impossible.
(4) Flying low enough to impact with the ground floor would have meant that the enormous engines were plowing the ground and creating massive furrows; but there are no massive furrows.
The smooth, unblemished surface of the Pentagon lawn thus stands as a "smoking gun" proving the official trajectory cannot be sustained.
Members of Scholars have contributed to a new book that analyses the government's official account, according to which 19 Islamic fundamentalists hijacked four commercial airliners, outfoxed the most sophisticated air-defense system in the world, and committed these atrocities under the control of a man in a cave in Afghanistan.
Entitled, THE 9/11 CONSPIRACY (2007), it includes photographs of the hit point before and after the upper floors collapsed, the crucial frame from the released videos, and views of the clear, smooth, and unblemished lawn.
"Don't be taken in by photos showing damage to the second floor or those taken after the upper floors collapsed, which happened 20-30 minutes later," Fetzer said.
"In fact, debris begins to show up on the completely clean lawn in short order, which might have been dropped from a C-130 that was circling above the Pentagon or placed there by men in suits who were photographed carrying debris with them."
The most striking is a piece from the fuselage of a commercial airliner, which is frequently adduced as evidence.
James Hanson, a newspaper reporter who earned his law degree from the University of Michigan College of Law, has traced that debris to an American Airlines 757 that crashed in a rain forest above Cali, Columbia in 1995.
"It was the kind of slow-speed crash that would have torn off paneling in this fashion, with no fires, leaving them largely intact."
Fetzer has been so impressed with his research he has invited Hanson to submit his study to Scholars for consideration for publication on its web site, http://911scholars.org .
"The Pentagon has become a kind of litmus test for rationality in the study of 9/11," Fetzer said.
"Those who persist in maintaining that a Boeing 757 hit the building are either unfamiliar with the evidence or cognitively impaired.
Unless," he added, "they want to mislead the American people. The evidence is beyond clear and compelling. It places this issue 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. No Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon."
Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc. |
| It's kind of a fun gameYou see the aim of those inner forces who guide the Elite —
For them the real agenda is to kill you your children your grandchildren It is to have fun watching you destroy your planet But most haven't figured it out yet! Your Elite — tools and servants of Lucifer |
Gustave Doré's illustration for Paradise Lost by John Milton |
The Dark Side Initiates — Click here Dark path initiates depend on the denial The five-percent manipulator class is composed of those on the dark path |
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Unspeakable grief and horror
...and the circus of deception killing continues... | |||
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| Kewe Archives | TheWE.biz | The Poles |
President Putin's move will be taken as yet another sign of a more assertive foreign policy — a policy buoyed up by Moscow's rising income from oil and natural gas
