MF Awards for 2005

M. Kane Jeeves (sometimes credited as Ed Naha) 12/30/2005
The first annual M.F. awards
Filed under: Constructive Criticism — MrBogle @ 2:24 pm
With 2006 upon us, the voices in my head and I decided this would be the perfect time to study the behavior of politicians and pundits last year and inaugurate “The First Annual M.F. Awards.” It’s a contest of sorts wherein the person with the most awards gets crowned “M. F.” of the year. Get your minds out of the gutter, dear readers (my own has dibs). I’m talking biggest Miserable Failure of The Year. So, let the award ceremony begin.

THE “DUMB AND DUMBER” AWARD goes to George W. Bush for this gem: “The war in Iraq has been vary difficult. More difficult than expected.” Two words: “General Shinsecki.”

THE “BLIND MAN’S BLUFF” AWARD goes to George W. Bush (who’s taking an early lead, here). When asked by NBC’S Brian Williams if BushCo. was wrong in expecting to be “welcomed as liberators” in Iraq, Bush opined. “I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome.” Shock and awe has a way of putting a damper on things, don’t it?

THE “NIGHT OF THE FRISKY DEAD” AWARD goes to Tom DeLay for commenting on brain-dead Terri Schiavo: “She talks and she laughs and she expresses likes and discomforts.” Apparently, he was watching an episode of “Veggie Tales” instead of her hospital video.

THE “BE NICE TO MOTHER NATURE” AWARD goes to Rush Limbaugh, who summed up the Republican push to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge thusly: “If you put together a video of ANWR, you would see nothing but snow and rock. It is no place anybody’s ever going to go. The wildlife that lives there wishes it didn’t, but it’s too stupid to figure out how to move anywhere. They don’t have moving vans sent to their places like people in Philadelphia do when they want to get out of someplace. This is absolutely absurd.” Russ also cheered when Bambi’s mother died.

THE FORK-TONGUED AWARD GOES to George W. Bush who stated: “It’s up to Congress to show the American people that we have the capacity to de-fund programs which don’t work, and fund programs which do work.” De-fund? Wow! He’s invented another word for his duh-ictionary.

THE DELUSIONAL AWARD goes to Donald Rumsfeld who declared: “We don’t have an exit strategy. We have a victory strategy.” He was playing with his new X-Box at the time.

THE “IT’S A MISERABLE LIFE” AWARD goes to Dennis Hastert who, while pushing a bankruptcy bill that favored credit card companies and crushed the middle class and the poor, declared: “Those who abuse the system make getting credit more expensive for everyone. Bankruptcy is for those who need help, not those who want to shift costs to other hardworking Americans.” Hastert would go into bankruptcy for his dinner bills alone if he worked at a factory.

THE “IT’S GREAT TO BE AN AMERICAN” AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, at a town hall meeting in Nebraska, encountered a divorced single mother of three children, one of whom was mentally challenged, and was forced to work three jobs. Said Bush: “Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is FANTASTIC that you’re doing that.” Yeah, and “Roots” was a real knee-slapper of a mini-series.

THE “MR. WIZARD” SCIENCE AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, en route, to one of his gasbagging gigs, remarked: “And flying in, I saw a lot of people on tractors. It’s a good sign. But it reminded me about what is possible when it comes to reasonable energy policy. See, one day I hope that those tractors are planting fuel so we become less reliant on foreign sources of energy.” Yes, let’s plant oil seeds, shall we?

THE ADMINISTRATION’S HINDENBURG AWARD. Three words: Social Security Overhaul.

THE RUNNER-UP TO THE ADMINISTRATION’S HINDENBURG AWARD. Two words: Harriet Miers.

THE DONNA REED DOES DALLAS AWARD goes to Laura Bush who joked about George: “He’s learned a lot about ranching since that first year when he tried to milk the horse. What’s worse, it was a male horse.” Not funny, Laura. He’s been jerking us off since his coronation.

THE “MY FREUDIAN SLIP IS SHOWING” AWARD goes to George W. Bush who actually said: “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” Incoming!

THE “WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE” AWARD goes to the Republican Party’s top lobbyist Jack Abramoff whose multi-faceted investigation will do for the Republican controlled Congress what Hurricane Katrina did for New Orleans.

THE CRY-BABY AWARD goes to former Republican California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham who, when caught with his hand in a half-dozen cookie jars, yachts and mansions confessed his guilt before TV cameras and cried like a girly-man.

THE RIP VAN WINKLE AWARD goes to Senator John Kerry who, every so often, wakes up and says something relevant but in such long-winded, sonorous tones that he puts everyone else to sleep.

THE NYAH-NYAH AWARD goes to Dick Cheney who, bristling over an Amnesty International report showing that the U.S. tortures its prisoners, quipped: “Frankly, I was offended by it. For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly don’t take them seriously.” Fortunately, nobody takes Cheney seriously, either.

THE MOST HACKNEYED PHRASE OF THE YEAR AWARD goes to all Republicans who, in terms of the Iraq fiasco, state: “We’re fighting the terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” UH, until we invaded? There were no terrorists there, clowns.

THE DUMBEST THING KARL ROVE HAS SAID, YET, AWARD goes to Karl Rove. “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war,” he slimed, at a speech before conservative yahoos, “liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.” Karl? Take two aspirins and call your lawyer in the morning.

THE DUMBEST THING A MILITARY MAN HAS EVER SAID ABOUT IRAQ CASUALTIES award goes to Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, in charge of National Guard forces in Iraq, who stated that the dangers faced by Guard troops have been largely exaggerated and that’s why not many kids are signing up. “I lose, unfortunately, more people through private automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents over the same period of time (as the Guard has been deployed in Iraq).” Okay, maybe play Jan and Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve” and you’ll get more cannon fodder volunteers, idiot.

BEST CHRISTIAN QUIP OF THE YEAR AWARD goes to Colorado Republican House knuckle-dragger Tom Tancredo who said, re: foreign terrorists attacks: “If this happens in the United States and we determine that it is the result of extremist fundamentalist Muslims, …you know, you could take out their holy sites.” Sniff. And that’s why the world loves us.

BEST Q AND A AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, replying to a reporter saying “But power is perception,” quipped: “Power is being President.” Modest little monkey, isn’t he?

THE MOST HACKNEYED PHRASE ABOUT IRAQ AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, every six minutes, says: “As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.” Great. War as “Simon Says.” Next year? Look for Iran and Twister!

THE WORST PARADE EVER AWARD goes to Donald Rumsfeld for this creative idea: “Every year since the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans have commemorated that anniversary. This year the Department of Defense will initiate an ‘American Supports You Freedom Walk.’” People had to sign up to get into the parade. Their credentials were checked upon arrival. They were given patriotic T-shirts if they passed muster. Unfortunately, not too many turned out for this festive event in the land of the free.

BEST HURRICANE KATRINA HEADLINE AWARD: After New Orleans was under water, a wire-service headline proclaimed: PRESIDENT CUTS VACATION SHORT TO RETURN TO WASHINGTON. Apparently, Bush was still too engrossed by the book “My Pet Goat” to notice anything was going on.

BEST SEPARATED AT BIRTH AWARD goes to Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff and “Tales From the Crypt’s” host The Crypt Keeper. That would explain why FEMA, under Homeland Security, allowed so many people to die when Katrina struck. Chertoff was talking about Avian Flu at a previously scheduled event while New Orleans was under water. He didn’t declare Katrina a national disaster for 36 hours. Scary stuff.

THE “LET THEM EAT DEBRIS” AWARD goes to George W. Bush for this explanation as to why there’d been a delay in removing debris in hurricane zones, largely populated by the poor and retirees. “They didn’t want to be moving federally-paid dozers on private property. Imagine cleaning up the debris and a person shows up, and says, where’s my valuable china? Or, where’s my valuable art?” If you’re on Food Stamps? You’re not gonna have many Picassos lying around, Junior.

THE BEST SUMMATION OF CONGRESS HEADLINE AWARD goes to this nifty blurb: “Congress seeks to slash food aid for poor.”

THE BEST “HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE, AGAIN” HEADLINE AWARD goes to this wire service story: “Bush touts economy.” Two days later, it was revealed that the U.S. poverty level has risen for five straight years.

THE BEN DOVER AWARD goes to Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman who has been kissing Bush’s ass so much he now buys his Chapstick in bulk.

THE DUMBING DOWN OF DIPLOMACY AWARD goes to Condoleezza Rice, who explained, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the intricacies of Iraq: “Our strategy is to clear, hold and build. The enemy’s strategy is to infect, terrorize and pull down.” Guess who’s winning, kid? Pull this.

THE DOUBLE O DUBYA AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, not happy with being the Bumbler-in-Chief, decided to become a spy guy, illegally getting the NSA to monitor international and domestic phone and computer chats and spy on the United Nations. Chirped our spymeister: “I just want to assure the American people that, one, I’ve got the authority to do this; two, it is a necessary part of my job to protect you; and, three, we’re guarding your civil liberties.” Translation: It’s good to be the King.

THE MERRY CHRISTMAS AWARD goes to Bill O’ Rielly who, enraged that people say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” railed: “I am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. I’m gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that.” He, then, French kissed a loofah.

SO, THE WHO ARE WE FIGHTING, NOW? AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, in the past three months, has identified our enemies in the Iraqi war as rejectionists, Saddamists, terrorists, Bathists, foreign fighters and al-Qaeda. By February, he’ll be tossing in the Amish because they’re “sneaky looking.”

THE DEFINITION OF “IRONY” AWARD goes to Michael Brown, the former FEMA head who transformed New Orleans into Atlantis. Shortly after leaving FEMA he announced he was opening a consulting firm, selling his expertise on emergency preparedness. Next month: Charles Manson teaches grade schoolers how to whittle.

THE DEFINITION OF “IRONY” RUNNER-UP AWARD goes to FEMA…which, on its web site, lists Hurricane Katrina as one of it’s three greatest accomplishments of 2005. Way back when, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow referred to the Chicago Fire as “my defining moment.”

THE “AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH” AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, at a recent press conference, charmed reporters with “I’ll repeat the question. If I don’t like it, I’ll make it up.” So, what else is new?

THE “HALLMARK CARD” AWARD goes to Senator Bill Frist who, visiting tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka, advised one of his staff photographers to “Get some devastation in the back.”

THE “LAW AND ORDER” AWARD goes to “The Book of Virtues’” author Bill Bennet who stated: “I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” Happy Kwanzaa, Bill.

THE “DOCTOR KILDARE MEETS X-RAY SPECS” AWARD goes to Senator Bill Frist who diagnosed Terri Schiavo’s condition without actually visiting her. “I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office. She certainly seemed to respond to visual stimuli.” Shortly thereafter, he gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to a log. Amazingly, it didn’t respond.

THE “WE’RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND” AWARD goes to Tom DeLay who, visiting hurricane survivors bivouacked at the Astrodome, smiled at three youngsters. “Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?” Yeah, and Hiroshima was a laff riot.

THE “WAR IS HECK” AWARD goes to Donald Rumsfeld who summed up many Americans’ revulsion towards the Iraqi invasion thusly: “Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.” Gee, ya think?

THE “CARNAC THE MAGNIFICENT” AWARD goes to Dick Cheney who, back in May, declared: “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” At May’s end, the American death toll in Iraq was 1667. As of this writing, it’s 2178. Boy, is this guy good or what? He’s even better with his tin foil hat on.

THE “YOU’RE TERMINATED” AWARD goes to California guvuhnator Arnold Schwarzenegger, who forced a special election down Californians throats and had all four of his ballot initiatives go down in flames. Kind of like “The Last Action Hero” did at the box office.

THE “MOTHER OF MERCY” AWARD goes to Barbara Bush who, visiting hurricane victims housed at the Houston Astrodome, cooed: “What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckles) - this is working very well for them.” Yow! She probably ate the “Nun bun,” too.

THE STENOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD: a tie between Judith Miller and Bob Woodward. Get me re-write! There’s an actual fact in this story!

THE WORST INTERVIEWER IN THE WORLD AWARD goes to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer who, while interviewing Jimmy Carter, asked Carter IF the bogus intelligence spewed by BushCo. had been true would Carter have supported the Iraqi invasion. This is closely akin to asking “If Godzilla was fighting Mothra outside your house, would you be scared?” Sheesh!

THE “ME, ME, ME” AWARD goes to Senator Joe Biden (who apparently bunks out on the set of “Meet the Press”) who has the tendency to answer every question with “As I’ve always said,” “If you remember, I’ve always maintained,” and “When I was on the show last year, Tim, I pointed out…” Oh, stop it. No way in hell are you going to get the nomination, Sparky. Just Chill.

THE “UH-OH” AWARD goes to George W. Bush for this statement: “This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table.” The guy knows how to work a room.

THE BIGGEST LOSER OF THE YEAR AWARD goes to America’s favorite stooge Ahmed Chalabi who, after feeding bogus intelligence to BushCo. in order to justify the invasion of Iraq and after envisioning himself as a power player in the new Iraq, wound up getting diddly votes in the last election, thus assuring him a one-way ticket to Palookaville. Maybe he and Judith Miller can team up and take their ventriloquist act on the road.

THE “MAKE MONEY WORKING OUT OF YOUR OWN HOME” AWARD goes to Senator Bill Frist…whose blind trust was actually 20-20.

THE “I’D LIKE TO GIVE THE WORLD A COKE” AWARD goes to Ann Coulter for quipping: “The government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo.” She then broke into the classic Disney song “It’s A Small World, After All.”

THE NOTSO INTELLIGENT DESIGN AWARD goes to Pat Robertson for referring to those who believe in evolution as “fanatics.” “I mean, it is a religion. It’s a cult. It is a cultish religion.” You’re the expert, Pat.

THE “FREEDOM FRIES” AWARD goes to Dennis Hastert who re-named the West Lawn’s “Holiday Tree” the “Capitol Christmas Tree.” He also re-named Bush’s pardoned Thanksgiving turkey -“lunch.”

THE “FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE” AWARD goes to Dennis Hastert who, shortly after New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, questioned bothering to rebuild the city. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “But you know, we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness.” Talk about your compassionate conservatism!

THE WORST RETRACTION EVER AWARD goes to Dennis Hastert who got his ass kicked for the above statement. His retraction, however, basically was the same statement, adding that rebuilding the city without doubling or tripling New Orleans’ levees “probably wouldn’t be very smart.” At present, the government is replacing the old levees with duplicates of the old levees. Ooopsie.

THE HOUSE LEADERSHIP AWARD goes to Dennis Hastert who, after calling the House into a special session to pass a Katrina relief package, skipped out on the actual vote to attend a political fund-raiser in Indiana and an antique car auction.

THE “MY BUDDY” AWARD goes to “Hardball’s” Chris Matthews who summed up Dubya by gushing: “Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs on the left. I mean, I like him personally.” Stalin was, supposedly, a real charmer, too, Chris.

THE CLASSIC BUSH CARES ABOUT THE TROOPS HEADLINE AWARD goes to: “Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged.” Ooops. Mission Accomplished.

THE “CAUSE AND EFFECT” AWARD goes to George W. Bush in this classic Q&A. Question: “Why do you think bin Laden has not been caught?” Bush: “Because he’s hiding.” Thanks, Sherlock.

Drumroll, please. Naaah. Never mind. I don’t think we have to actually count the votes to give our M.F. award, gang. It’s pretty obvious. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the biggest Miserable Failure of 2005 prize goes to our esteemed President of the United States, George W. Bush. Why don’t we all drop him a line and tell him that we’re proud of him? Simply Google “miserable failure” and hit “I’m feeling lucky.” You’ll be taken directly to the White House web site!

I get teary-eyed every time I do that.

Then, the anti-depressants kick in and I’m fine.

God bless America. God help us all.

12 Responses to “The first annual M.F. awards”
Sindi Says:
December 30th, 2005 at 3:43 pm
I particulary like this one:
THE “IT’S GREAT TO BE AN AMERICAN” AWARD goes to George W. Bush who, at a town hall meeting in Nebraska, encountered a divorced single mother of three children, one of whom was mentally challenged, and was forced to work three jobs. Said Bush: “Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is FANTASTIC that you’re doing that.” Yeah, and “Roots” was a real knee-slapper of a mini-series.
I remember thinking, I think I would slap the shit out of him if he had said that to me…..damn…..
Why did we have to take out minds out of the gutter???? Mine is there most of the time, along with my little friendly voices LOL.
May you, Suzanne and the fur babies have a wonderful new year

Sindi + Baby Maggie

jpricher Says:
December 31st, 2005 at 5:52 am
Mornin’ Ed.

I enjoyed this one immensely! Glad you didn’t leave out a couple of democrats in your rant. Kerry is not to be believed, and Lieberman should be forced to give up his donkey tie clip. If that guy had his nose any farther up Dubya’s ass, he could tell us what he had for lunch.

As expected, the justice department is launching an investigation into “who leaked” the news about the chimp’s illegal wiretaps. Does it appear to you, as it does to me, that Alberto “we don’t need no steenkin’ Geneva Convention” Gonzales may have not been the best candidate for our chief law officer? The networks, of course, appear to be doing their usual “stellar” job of reporting this whole sordid tale.

Here’s hoping for better in 2006.

Peace and Solidarity,

Jerry

Frances Says:
December 31st, 2005 at 10:07 am
I’m one of those people who had their mind in the gutter and even thought it was awfully nice of the Smirking Chimp to let you give out such an award. Then you spoiled it.
I knew from the beginning it was going to Bush, not that he doesn’t deserve it, but he has been held in this type of low esteem so often I thought someone else deserved a chance. Someone like our Vice President would be good, and I certainly want to see Cheney get something more than knee surgery this year.
For example Bush certainly was slow in responding to Katrina, but Cheney almost disappeared off the face of the earth last summer, buying himself a mansion in Wyoming.
In a NY Times editorial, “Mr. Cheney’s Imperial Presidency” they had this to say about him,” ..Dick Cheney has spearheaded an extraordinary expansion of the powers of the presidency - from writing energy policy behind closed doors with oil executives to abrogating long-standing treaties and using the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to invade Iraq, scrap the Geneva Conventions and spy on American citizens.” Enough said on behalf of my candidate.
There are so many great awards it’s hard to pick favorites, but “Let Them Eat Debris,” “Be Nice To Mother Nature ” and “It’s a Miserable Life,” are my choices, and rightly given to three miserable bastards.
It’s interesting how David Limbaugh who wrote, “Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity” has a brother who is dedicated to the corporate world and repeatedly fails to see the sacred in nature and both brothers are unable to recognize Christ as a progressive.
Hastert should watch the PBS special, “Secret History of the Credit Card,” in which they state that the credit card industry using various techniques are making record profits while they sink people into debt.” Hastert, another Born Again, somehow manages to support the money changers.
And as for Bush, he makes me feel absolutely sure it is easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than a rich man into heaven.
Bestest
Fran
PS I’m sure you already know that a Mr. Duffy who is somebody to the president claimed Bush is an avid reader and informed the press that the president is spending his Xmas vacation reading, “When Trumpets Call,” by Patricia O’Toole that examines Teddy Roosevelt’s frustrations after leaving office, and “Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground,” by Robert Kaplan.
I like Roosevelt, but he was an imperialist and a war monger, and Kaplan according to a review in the NY Times wrote that we are being thrifty with our troops in our fight on terror and should become more tolerant of our casualties. Mr. Kaplan goes on to say, “It was the elite’s that had a more difficult time with the deaths of soldiers and marines,” and he feels their concerns are misplaced because, ” The grunts have an unpretentious willingness to die,” which he feels is, “the product of their working-class origins. The working classes have always been accustomed to rough and unfair lives and turns.” His book is studded with these remarks.
At the end of Kaplan’s book he reflects on war as being part of the American experience and to be denied that experience is not to be fully American. Interesting what the president chooses to read for Christmas. While you are in an award giving frame of mind what M. F. award would you give Kaplan?
PPS Enjoy the day! And to all-Happy New Year!

Stop a US/Israeli War on Iran

Let's Stop a US/Israeli War on Iran

By BILL and KATHLEEN CHRISTISON
Former CIA analysts

12/29/05 "Counterpunch" -- -- The peace movements of the entire world should be in crisis mode right now, working non-stop to prevent the U.S. and Israel from starting a war against Iran. (See the James Petras article in CounterPunch on December 24, 2005 titled Iran in the Crosshairs for the best summary of the present situation.) The reckless and unnecessary dangers arising from such a war are so obvious that one wonders why normal political forces in the two aggressor countries -- both of whom love to glorify themselves as democracies -- would not prevent such a war from happening.

But the "normal political forces" in both the U.S. and Israel have become badly distorted. Democracy has been seriously undermined in both. The cowboy-like personalities and aggressive tendencies of both countries' leaders tend to feed on each other. Domestic political difficulties and coming elections in both countries probably add to the macho inclination of the ruling elites to use force to remove any problems facing them. The glue binding these tendencies together is the ever-strengthening institutional link between defense establishments and military-industrial complexes in both countries, as well as, in the U.S, the growing power and influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) over both major political parties. The entire mix increases the probability, against all common sense, that this absurd war will actually happen.

Nothing else more dangerous to the world, to the Middle East, to the oppressed Palestinians, or to the true interests of the United States is happening today -- anywhere. Americans who do not want an eruption of a new world war, started by our own government, ought to be strongly lobbying the Bush administration and all members of Congress against supporting any military action by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. Globally, people who oppose such a war should be lobbying their own governments in similar fashion.

Background

It is worthwhile to discuss briefly the broader context of why a war with Iran today seems a real possibility. During his all-out public relations effort in late 2005 to regain support for his policies in the Middle East, Bush has made it clear that he plans to continue his drive for complete victory in the "War on Terrorism," without making significant changes in his own, very aggressive, foreign policies. Those policies will make this planet a less safe, more unjust place to live for most people around the world, as well as for most of us living in the U.S. The special relationship between the U.S. and Israel has long played an important role in these aggressive policies.

Outside the United States, it is widely understood that one of the true motives -- not the exclusive motive but a real and significant one -- behind the Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq was the desire of the neocons in Washington to conquer Iraq in order to benefit Israel. Although a few of the big-name neocons (Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Lewis "Scooter" Libby) have left high-visibility positions for various reasons, many remain, and it is clear that Bush himself, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice have taken as their own the main tenets of neocon beliefs.

Inside the U.S., on the other hand, the pressure of the neocons for war on Israel's behalf, or any hint that Bush himself participates in that pressure, is hardly ever mentioned. This taboo on discussing the Israeli link to the war in Iraq, enforced by the threat of being labeled anti-Semitic, introduces major distortions into practically every effort to examine and change policies that are causing massive hatred of the U.S. around the world.

But right now, three of the long-existing "problems" in the Middle East (i.e., situations that have been made problems largely by our own actions) have reached critical stages that may, if Washington's policies do not change quite quickly, result in our losing even the remnants of stability and peace that remain in that region today. The world could face instead nuclear warfare or, at a minimum, a practically unending "clash of civilizations" and conventional warfare at a much higher level than exists now. The first, and the most important right now, of the three problems is the main subject of this article: the problem that arises from the determined U.S. and Israeli policy of preventing Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons. The second and third problems, also situations brought on by the U.S. itself, have to do with Syria and the Palestinians. In the long run, they are also very important, but they are less urgent for now. These other problems will be considered briefly at the end of this article.

As was the case with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, one of the underlying causes of all these "problems" in the Middle East has been the success of the neocons in persuading the Bush administration to support aggressively the goals of the Israeli government throughout the area. And here again, the fear of being charged with anti-Semitism causes many Americans quietly to accept the taboo on discussing the Israeli link to the Bush administration's foreign policies. This is an absurd situation. Criticizing Israeli (or U.S.) policies and urging specific changes in those policies is not anti-Semitic (or anti-American). The arrogance of anyone who suggests the contrary is appalling. The following paragraphs contain suggestions on how we should work to remedy those aspects of this absurdity that bear on Iran and nuclear weapons.


What should be done to change U.S. policy on Iran's nuclear program?

First of all, don't fall into the trap of accepting Iran's public claims that it is not attempting to acquire nuclear weapons. Many of the nations that now have such weapons made similar claims while they were developing the weapons. Israel did so throughout the first half of the 1960s, engaging in elaborate subterfuges even when dealing with U.S. inspectors who occasionally came looking for weapons work. The Israeli claims were so much garbage (see Israeli author Avner Cohen's book, Israel and the Bomb). Then, after it acquired its first nuclear explosive device almost 40 years ago now, Israel simply adopted a well publicized policy of ambiguity and stopped talking publicly about whether it had any weapons. India and Pakistan also both claimed not to be working on weapons when in fact they were. Their claims were garbage too, which they quickly threw away once they joined the nuclear club and possessed their own deterrent. Iran almost certainly intends to do the same, and its public claims to the contrary are also almost certainly worthless.

The principal point to start with is that, unless the U.S. and Israel (and other nations as well) all agree to work seriously toward eliminating their own nuclear weapons, any Iranian government will consider that it has as much right as the rest of us to such weapons. Essentially, even if Iran, under pressure, were to sign new agreements, now or in the future, to forgo nuclear weapons, the new agreements would be meaningless unless the U.S., Israel, and other nuclear nations ended their own monumental hypocrisy of insisting that they can keep and expand their nuclear arsenals, while non-nuclear nations may not acquire such arsenals. In the eyes of most Muslims around the world and many other people too, Iran, with a population of close to 70 million, has at least as much right as Israel, with a population less than one-tenth as large, to have nuclear weapons

Most supporters of the global peace movements by definition oppose the solving of international problems through warfare, and they also oppose the further proliferation of nuclear weapons. Most are also aware that the critical bargain reached in the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) -- the bargain that made the treaty possible -- was a trade-off: the acceptance of continued non-nuclear-weapons status by states without those weapons, in return for the simultaneous agreement by states possessing nuclear weapons to pursue good-faith negotiations on nuclear, and complete and general, disarmament. This latter provision had no teeth, and certainly many "realists" in the U.S. foreign policy establishment expected that it would not and could not be enforced. Nevertheless, the existence of this provision was necessary to the NPT's ratification by numerous countries, and it gives any state dissatisfied with progress toward nuclear disarmament an excuse to abrogate or ignore the treaty.

Most people will not bother to make the niceties of international law an issue in this matter, but the question of which is more important, stopping the further proliferation of nuclear weapons to Iran or stopping our own side from instigating a war against Iran, is vital. The answer should be clear: The single most urgent objective we should have right now is to prevent a war, possibly nuclear, from being started by the U.S. and/or Israel against Iran. To repeat, such a war would be disastrous, and we should be doing whatever we can, with the highest possible priority, to prevent it from ever happening.

Every peace activist on the globe ought to be in the streets and elsewhere lobbying in support of something very simple: do not attack Iran, even if this means allowing Iran to develop its own nuclear weapons. We should put out the message that it is simply not worth a war, with consequences impossible to foresee, to prevent Iran from obtaining such weapons. From 1945 until we invaded Iraq in 2003, we never once took military action to prevent other nations from developing nuclear weapons. We relied instead on deterrence and containment (to prevent other nations from using such weapons after they had been developed). These may not be perfect policies, but they have a successful track record and can probably be applied more successfully than other policies to subnational groups as well as nation-states. The point is that these are still better policies than the recklessness of preemption, and we should use these policies in lobbying against U.S involvement of any kind in military actions or coup attempts against Iran. We should also very definitely support an effort to tie future U.S. aid to Israel to Israel's not engaging in military action against Iran.

We are talking here about supporting (by our silence), or opposing (by vociferous lobbying), what could become major, serious warfare -- warfare that could easily become global, and also could easily cause greater difficulties for the peoples of the Middle East than any they have yet faced from U.S. policies. With an election campaign intensifying the political volatilities of Israeli politics, with possibly fast-moving new uncertainties and vulnerabilities arising among both Republicans and Democrats jousting for advantage in a U.S. election year, and with a new, inexperienced president in Iran who, so far at least, believes aggressive speech strengthens his political position, the dangers in the situation are evident. As each week passes and no movement occurs anywhere -- particularly in Washington -- to reduce tensions by changing policies, the risk grows of a mistake that will lead to new hostilities, and possibly nuclear warfare. How many Iranians might we and the Israelis kill? How many Israelis might die? How many Americans?


How should the U.S. change its policies with respect to Syria?

The issues of Syria and Palestine are related to U.S. policy toward Iran. Policy on Syria today is to put constant pressure on that country's ruler, Bashar al-Assad, with the ultimate objective of ousting and replacing him with someone (not yet named by the Americans) who would be even more subservient to U.S. and Israeli desires. Assad himself has moved a considerable way toward subservience, giving the U.S. considerable help on intelligence matters and accepting certain U.S. prisoners "rendered" to his regime for purposes of torture, but the U.S., unsatisfied, keeps intensifying the pressure. The U.S. and Israel have succeeded in making it more difficult for Syria to provide support for the Palestinian resistance against Israel's occupation, but Damascus still provides some refuge for Hezbollah personnel.

The recent assassinations of anti-Syrian leaders in Lebanon have provided new opportunities for the Bush administration to ratchet up its criticism of Syria still further, although the evidence of Syrian involvement in the assassinations is weak. It is at least possible that other groups, such as the Israel's Mossad or the CIA, are responsible.

Whatever the truth behind events in Lebanon, the events themselves could offer a U.S. president who is in some trouble at home the possibility of a low-cost, low-risk foreign policy victory if he could pull off, perhaps with the help of Mossad, a quick covert action that ousted Assad. Act II of a grand show might then proceed -- another U.S. occupation installed, another nation in the Middle East "democratized," elections held a year or two later and a puppet government set up, step-by-step takeovers of the economy implemented by U.S. and Israeli interests, further isolation of the Palestinians from other Arabs -- all in all, another great victory for the U.S-Israeli partnership.

Or so Bush, at least, might believe. In reality, the situation might turn into another morass like Iraq. But months might pass and the U.S. congressional election of November 2006 might be history before we knew that for sure. Might not a man like Bush who revels in chance-taking consider this a pretty good gamble? Meanwhile, how many Syrians would we kill? How many badly wounded Americans would come home to a questionable quality of life because bulletproof vests saved their lives? If Israeli military units moved into Syria (to help us, of course), how many Israelis would die?

We should all be lobbying members of Congress not to cast any votes in favor of aggressive U.S. policies toward Syria. Such votes cannot help, and will only take resources from, a majority of the world's peoples and a majority of Americans. Syria (and Lebanon) are not places where the United States benefits in any way from being a global policeman. While the neocons and probably some present top Israeli officials do see benefits to be gained from U.S. intervention in Syria, other senior and many ordinary Israelis do not. We also should urge members of Congress to tie further aid to Israel to Israel's not becoming involved in any military actions against Syria.


How should the U.S. change its policies with respect to the Palestinians?

We should make it as clear as we possibly can to members of Congress that the Palestine-Israel problem is the most central long-term issue to the peoples of the Middle East. Most Arab leaders have been so co-opted by the U.S. that they no longer object to our support for Israel's oppression of the Palestinians, but the peoples of the area are a different story. They do care about and object strenuously to that oppression.

Regardless of what happens anywhere in the Middle East, we will never end the "War on Terrorism" without, first, a solution to the Palestine-Israel issue that provides as much justice to the Palestinians as to the Israelis. Although many supporters of Israel try to compare the several-centuries-long U.S. conquest of American Indians to the Israeli attempt to conquer the Palestinians, there is no valid comparison. Quite apart from the immorality of any attempt to emulate the U.S. atrocity against its indigenous population, there are practical reasons why the comparison cannot be made. The population balances, for instance, are entirely different; there are proportionately far more Palestinians than there were American Indians.

Nevertheless, Israeli and U.S. policy in the West Bank, semi-hidden by a bogus withdrawal from Gaza, continues to seek permanent conquest of more and more territory. The daily injustices and cruelties imposed by Israel and the U.S. on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are today worse than they have been in the previous 38 years of occupation. This is not only a major human rights issue facing the United States. It is also a very large cause of the hatred against the U.S. throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds.

What is new in the last few months is Israeli intensification of settlement activity in the West Bank, particularly in East Jerusalem; intensification of land-confiscation (with no recompense to Palestinians); a speed-up in construction of the separation wall and of new "Israeli-citizens-only" roads, both of which also require more land-confiscation; more demolitions of Palestinian houses; and new, harsh Israeli measures of other types aimed specifically at forcing Palestinians out of areas, in which they have lived for generations, in and near Jerusalem.

All of this takes place with little Western media attention; the media devoted considerably more attention to the carefully televised "suffering" of the relatively few Israeli settlers forced to move from their luxurious homes in Gaza. The Israelis, with heavy U.S. financing, are busily establishing more "facts on the ground" that will make any peaceful solution providing equal justice to both sides less possible. That does not mean that Israel will "win." Given the determination and inexhaustibility (and large numbers) of Palestinians, it just means more terrorism, killing, and cruelty on both sides. It is a shocking waste of lives, and the U.S. is prolonging it by its one-sided support of Israel. Let's put it baldly. U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine is simply immoral in its one-sidedness. It should take no one who investigates what is actually happening to Palestinians in the West Bank more than 30 seconds to decide that the oppression and cruelties that can be seen there daily should be stopped. Here too, further U.S. aid to Israel should be directly tied to Israel's stopping the oppression and cruelties to Palestinians.

The position we should take in lobbying members of Congress is simple and obvious: Stop the one-sidedness. It is a blot that will stain all our other activities and policies in the Middle East, and probably elsewhere, for years to come. The longer we avoid changing this situation, the larger the blot will become.

Conclusion

All of these issues -- Iran, Syria, and Palestine-Israel -- are interrelated, and each issue enhances the perception around the world that the U.S. is hypocritical, oppressive, and interested only in advancing Israel's interests. All grow out of the one-sided U.S. support for Israel, and none will be resolved without a change in the U.S.-Israeli relationship. To put it baldly again, the widespread perception of the U.S. as immoral and unjust interferes in a quite serious way with the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. Neither we nor Israel "wins" if U.S. policy continues on the same path.

Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis.

Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession.

They both can be reached at christison@counterpunch.org .

Get Ready for The Coming "Flu" Psy-Ops and Martial Law

Influenza Spreads; More U.S. States Report Outbreaks (Update4) Listen
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The influenza epidemic is spreading in the U.S. as the number of states with big outbreaks almost doubled to 24 during the past week, a government report shows.

Flu outbreaks affected at least half of each state, the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. The epidemic hasn't peaked and health officials don't know how long it will last. At least three states have reported flu- related deaths, including nine Colorado children.

The virus is a particularly severe strain, called Fujian, that may cause brain infections, seizures and dehydration in children. Compounding the crisis is a shortage of flu shots caused by a surge in demand this month and a 13 percent reduction in vaccines available compared with a year earlier.

``Influenza began circulating in the United States unusually early this season, and influenza activity nationwide is expected to increase,'' the study by Atlanta-based CDC found.

The outbreak is most severe in western states. Sixteen states west of the Mississippi River have widespread outbreaks. The CDC reports these states have the worst flu outbreaks: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

All 50 states have reported outbreaks, and it's difficult to predict an exact number of flu cases because many aren't reported to the government.

83 Million Doses

Most of 83 million doses of flu vaccine available in the U.S. at the beginning of the outbreak have been distributed. The flu struck in October, which is much earlier than past seasons.

Drugmakers Aventis SA and Chiron Corp. make almost all the vaccine used in the U.S. After buying additional vaccines from Aventis, the government will ship 100,000 doses to states next week and another 150,000 for children in January, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said at a news conference.

The CDC has discussed buying another vaccine from Emeryville, California-based Chiron Corp. that is approved for use in England and not the U.S., said Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC. Additional testing of that vaccine is needed before it can be distributed, she told reporters.

FluMist

Even with the shortages of injected vaccines, supplies of FluMist nasal spray remain. The product, made by MedImmune Inc., was approved in June as the first nasal-spray vaccine in the U.S.

Sales of FluMist, which is much more expensive than shots, have faltered after insurers refused to cover it. However, Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp., the second- and third-biggest U.S. health insurers, and two Blue Cross plans announced today that they would pay for FluMist for this flu season because of the extraordinary outbreak.

The news sent MedImmune shares up 81 cents, or 3 percent, to $28.81 as of 4 p.m., New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Wyeth, which helps sell FluMist, rose 67 cents to $39.01 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The vaccine makers cut their production this year based on the amount of product that went unused last year.

People older than 50 or with chronic conditions like diabetes or asthma are at highest risk of flu complications. Women who are more than three months pregnant and health-care workers should seek shots, the CDC said. The agency encourages vaccination for children 6 months to 2 years old.

Last Updated: December 11, 2003 16:47 EST

Clowntime is Over

Clowntime is Over: The Last Stand of the American Republic
Wednesday, 28 December 2005
So now, at last, the crisis is upon us. Now the cards are finally on the table, laid out so starkly that even the Big Media sycophants and Beltway bootlickers can no longer ignore them. Now the choice for the American Establishment is clear, and inescapable: do you hold for the Republic, or for autocracy?

There is no third way here, no other option, no wiggle room, no ambiguity. The much-belated exposure of George W. Bush's warrantless spy program has forced the Bush-Cheney Regime to openly declare what they have long implied -- and enacted -- in secret: that the president is above the law, a military autocrat with unlimited powers, beyond the restraint or supervision of any other institution or branch of government. Outed as rank deceivers, perverters of the law and rapists of the Constitution, the Bush gang has decided that their best defense -- their only defense, really -- is a belligerent offense. "Yeah, we broke the law," they now say; "so what? We'll break it again whenever we want to, because law don't stick to our Big Boss Man. What are you going to do about it, chump?"

That is the essence, the substance and pretty much the style of the entire Bushist response to the domestic spying scandal. They are scarcely bothering to gussy it up with the usual rhetorical circumlocutions. The attack is being led by the fat, sneering coward, Dick Cheney, who has crawled out of his luxurious hidey-holes to re-animate the rotting husk of Richard Nixon and send it tottering back onto the national stage. Through the facade of Cheney's pig-squint and peevish snarl, we can see the long-dead Nixonian visage, his grave-green, worm-filled jowls muttering once more the lunatic mantra he brought to the Oval Office: "If the president does it, it can't be illegal." This is what we've come to, this is American leadership today: ugly, stupid men mouthing the witless drivel of failed, dead, discredited, would-be petty tyrants.

But not even Nixon was as foul as this crew. When he was caught, he folded; some faint spark of republican conscience restrained him from pushing the crisis to the end. He was a vain, stupid, greedy, grasping, dirty man with blood on his hands, but in the end, he did not identify himself with the government as a whole. He did not say, "l'etat, c'est moi," he had no messianic belief that the life of the nation was somehow bound up with his personal fate, or that he and his clique and his cronies had a God-given right to rule. They just wanted power and loot -- as much of it as they could get -- and they pushed and pushed until the Establishment pushed back.

It has long been evident, however, that Bush and Cheney do believe their clique should by all rights rule the country -- and that anyone who opposes their unrestrained dominion is automatically "anti-American," an enemy of the state. For them, there is no "loyal opposition," or even political opponents in any traditional understanding of the term; there are only enemies to be destroyed, and herd-like masses to be manipulated. They believe that their dominion is more important than democracy, which they despise as a brake and hindrance to the arbitrary leadership of an all-wise elite -- i.e., them. They are the state; a police state.

Elections are just necessary evils, a way to manufacture the illusion of consent, shake down corporations for big bucks and calibrate the loyalty of courtiers. Democracy is simply another system to be gamed, subverted, turned to factional advantage -- in precisely the same way that Enron gamed the California electric grid. This accounts for the strange, omnipresent tang of unreality that permeated the last three national elections, in 2000, 2002, and 2004. It's because they were unreal: the results were gamed, sometimes in secret, sometimes in plain sight; the "issues" and rhetoric were divorced from the reality that we all actually lived and felt -- and the outcomes were as phony as an Enron balance sheet.

Dominion seized on such sinister and cynical terms will almost certainly be defended -- and extended -- by any means necessary. That is the great danger. The Bushists have already pushed on further than Nixon ever dared; will they "bear it out even to the edge of doom"? This is the crux of the matter; this is the crossroads where we now stand. Will the American Establishment push back at last? Will they say, This far we will go, but no further; this much we will swallow, but no more?

Some of us have been writing for years about Bush's piecemeal assumption of dictatorial powers. We have watched in rage and amazement as the Establishment meekly accepted Bush's repeated, brutal insults to democracy. Time and again, I've quoted the words of the Emperor Tiberius, after the lackeys of the Senate grovelled to do his bidding: "Men fit to be slaves." In one sense, then, the Rubicon was crossed long ago. Yet "we live in hope and die in despair," as my father always says. In the back of the minds of many an embittered dissident, there has been a spark of hope that somewhere down the line, one of the many, many Bush outrages would somehow take hold, gain critical mass, and force the Establishment to act, to rein in the renegade, break him, box him in if not remove him from office.

For let's be clear about this: only the Establishment -- the institutional powers-that-be -- can break an outlaw president. Millions marched in the street against Nixon and the system; whole city quadrants went up in flames in those days; but none of this was decisive in the corridors of power. (Nor to much of the American public, to be frank; after Kent State, after My Lai, after Cambodia, Nixon was still re-elected in a landslide.) It was his insult to the institutions -- the Watergate break-in of Democratic headquarters, the subsequent cover-up and subversion of the legal system, the defiance of Congress -- that led to his downfall. He pushed too far, tried to grab too much -- and the Establishment pulled him short.

And it will have to be the Establishment that breaks Bush -- or he won't be broken. All the blogs in the world won't bring him down, no matter how much truth they tell, how much bloodsoaked Bushist dirt they expose. Yes, perhaps if we had millions of outraged citizens marching in the street day after day across America, a sustained mass movement and popular uprising for liberty and democracy, this might obviate the need for Establishment action. But we all know that such marches are not going to happen. If there was sufficient fire for liberty and democracy in America, there would have already been a popular uprising -- and Bush would never have garnered enough public support to keep the election results close enough to be fudged. No, it will be the Establishment -- or no one.

That's why the spy scandal is so pivotal. Because it is a direct, open and unignorable challenge to the institutional life of the American Establishment. In it, the Bush Regime is saying to the various powers-that-be, especially in Congress and the courts, but also to centers of power and influence outside government: you no longer have any power. All real power is now in our gift. Your laws, your institutions, your traditions, the whole complex infrastructure of checks and balances that have sustained society are now essentially meaningless. As in ancient Rome, we will keep the old forms, but the life of the state has now passed into the hands of the autocrat and his court. His arbitrary will can override any law -- although of course, strong law will still be applied to his enemies, and to the riff-raff in the lower orders.

How will the Establishment deal with this direct challenge? The past few years give little grounds for hope: the Democrats spineless, conflicted, co-opted and corrupt; the Republicans slavish, bellicose, cruel and criminal; the media timorous, witless, corporate-controlled; big business absolutely rolling in gravy from the autocrat's larder; academia cowed, silenced, ignored, demonized; the military acquiescent in criminal aggression, top-heavy with time-servers currying autocratic favor. Only the courts provide some stray sparks of hope, although they too are now loaded with political sycophants, corporate bagmen and knuckle-dragging throwbacks produced by the Right's decades-long devolution of American jurisprudence. Prosecutors like Patrick Fitzgerald and Elliot Spitzer "keep hope alive," but their efforts will mean little in a system where lawlessness at the top has been countenanced by the rest of the Establishment. And in any case, the outcome of their work lies ultimately with the Supreme Court -- the same court that shredded the Constitution in awarding power to Bush in the first place, and which is now led by a Bushist apparatchik.

Still, you don't go through a constitutional crisis with the Establishment you want; you go through a constitutional crisis with the Establishment you have. And this sad, sick crew, ladies and gentlemen, is all we have. If they swallow the spy scandal, if they don't push back now -- and I mean really push back, not just make a lot of harrumphing noise or hold a few toothless hearings or get a couple of underlings offered up as ritual sacrifices to save the Leader -- then we will have well and truly and finally lost the Republic that Franklin, Jefferson and Madison gave us so long ago.

The next few weeks will show us if there is still some hope of restoring the Republic through the old institutions, or if we will have to follow the course laid out by Bob Dylan some 40 years ago: "Strike another match, go start anew." Who knows? Maybe we can make a better republic next time: one not born of blood, greed and fury -- those all-too-common elements of human organization -- but made from a new compound of mercy, justice, communion and liberty. Still imperfect, of course, still corrupt -- because that's our intractable human nature -- but with our worst instincts restrained by enlightened, ever-evolving law, and the predatory ambitions of the rich and powerful reined by elaborate checks and balances.

It's just a dream, of course; probably a vain one. But we will need some vision to guide us if, as seems likely, we must soon set forth into the unknown territory of an openly declared American autocracy.

Synthetic Terror Alert for NYC and DC Subways

Synthetic terror alert red for NYC, DC subways
(Total411.info) -- In light of the extension of the USA PATRIOT Act's expiring police-state provisions for only five weeks, this website is issuing a CODE RED SYNTHETIC TERROR ALERT through Feb. 3. Concerned citizens should be on the lookout for suspicious activities by government operatives over the next five weeks. An attack at this time would priovde the necessary impetus to hammer through an expansion of PATRIOT's Orwellian provisions. Bush will likely push for these provisions during his Jan. 31 State of the Union address to Congress.

Of particular concern in the New York subway system. The recent transit workers strike, provoked by unreasonable transigence of management, left the entire system closed to the public for three days. That means black-ops teams had free reign to plant explosives and/or bioweapons to be released at a later time.

Also vulnerable is the Washington DC subway system, called the Metro. Metro recently finished placing hundreds of new "blast-proof" trash cans throughout the systems. These would be the perfect conduit for an inside job -- explosives where the "blast-proof" shielding should be. Additionally, the Metro system shuts down each night, leaving several windows for insiders to plant terror devices. Some, including this editor, have noticed abnormal activity on the system as it closes down at midnight; such as clearing the entire platform at the Metro Center station even though more trains were still scheduled to arrive.

Concerned Americans should look for abnormal activity by "authorities," particularly "drills" over the next few weeks. Subway systems, particularly those in New York and Washington, should be monitored closely. You can call your Congressman and Senators' offices through the Congressional switchboard at 202-225-3121 and tell them not to let a synthetic terror attack again terrorize them into passing PATRIOT. Even better, tell them as they visit their home districts over the holidays. Americans can also call the White House at 202-456-1414 and tell the alleged President you won't be fooled or scared by any upcoming false-flag terror attack.

What Everyone Should Know About Padilla

What everyone should know about Jose Padilla

By Mike Whitney

12/27/05 "ICH" -- -- The constitution is the last flimsy obstacle between Bush and absolute power. That is why the administration has persisted for nearly 4 years in its case against Jose Padilla. The Padilla case has nothing to do with Al Qaida, “dirty bombers” or terrorism. These are simply the empty diversions that conceal the administration’s real intention; to remove the final impediment to the supreme authority of the executive.

The real issue in the Padilla case is whether or not the president can repeal the central tenet of the Bill of Rights and jail an American citizen without charges. The constitution states that a man’s liberty cannot be taken away without due process of law. Habeas corpus, the right to know why one is being imprisoned, is the clearly delineated fault–line between freedom and tyranny. If the administration succeeds in its efforts, Bush will have overturned that fundamental principle and the inalienable rights of man will become the provisional gifts of the president.

The importance of the Padilla case cannot be overstated. The final verdict will determine whether we are still a nation of laws or if we are simply governed by the arbitrary authority of one man, George Walker Bush.

So far, the administration has succeeded in its main objective; to keep Padilla behind bars for nearly 4 years while preventing him from accessing the criminal justice system. The case has meandered from court to court, giving the appearance that some form of legal process is taking place but, in fact, Padilla has been consistently denied all of his constitutional rights. (Note below) At no point in time, has he ever been given the opportunity to challenge the terms of his incarceration before a judge.

Bush’s actions have created a parallel justice system that exists outside statutory law and is answerable to the president alone. For Padilla, this means double jeopardy. First, he was held as an “enemy combatant” for 3 and a half years and, now, the administration wants to reverse itself and change that classification to “criminal suspect”. If the court allows the government to proceed on this track, Padilla’s years of solitary confinement will merely be dismissed as (what the 4th Circuit called) “a mistake”.

The moniker “enemy combatant” is critical to understanding the administration’s strategy. It is a label that was hatched in a right-wing think tank to create a special category of criminal who can be summarily stripped of all civil liberties and human rights without legal recourse. The very term “enemy combatant” challenges our traditional values vis-à-vis the rights of man. The fate of the enemy combatant, whether an American citizen or not, depends entirely on presidential discretion. It confers dictatorial and “unreviewable” power on the executive. It is the end of any meaningful notion of inalienable rights or of checks on presidential power.

The government clearly has no interest in Padilla, a luckless gang member whose connection to terrorism is sketchy at best. In fact, the Justice Dept’s claims have changed so frequently that it is impossible to know what they may be from one month to the next. It is the precedent that matters to the Bush administration, not the spurious allegations. They are seeking a judicial ruling that will vindicate the cancelling out constitutionally-guaranteed civil liberties. This will put the president squarely above the law.

The case has demonstrated the awesome power of the administration to manipulate public perceptions through demagoguery and to destroy Padilla’s chances for a fair trial. It has also exposed the collaborative role of the media in promoting the government’s position while obscuring the shocking violations to personal freedom. And, although the administration has now completely changed its position and wants to charge Padilla as a criminal, (a clear admission that he was falsely accused to begin with) not one media organization in the nation has called for Padilla to be released.

This week’s ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily upset the administration’s plans. Although the court endorsed the administration’s position that the president has the right to indefinitely imprison enemy combatants in the war on terror, it has rejected the government’s petition to vacate that ruling to prevent the case from going to the Supreme Court.

The administration’s motives are clear. They do not believe that the Supreme Court will rule in their favor and deny an American citizen the right to due process. Now, the administration must figure out a way to preserve the tenuous notion of “enemy combatant” which guarantees the enhanced power of the president.

Would the Supreme Court really reject the arguments of the man they helped to catapult into office by a 5 to 4 vote in the 2000 presidential election? Or will they find some way of defending these unconstitutional powers by issuing a purposely ambiguous verdict that will allow Bush to continue to act with impunity?

There’s no doubt that the administration believes in the supreme power of the executive and is dragging the nation towards some form of tyranny. The White House attorneys have worked tirelessly drawing up the legal justifications for everything from massive domestic spying operations to the cruel and inhuman treatment of foreign nationals. The solitary function of the Bush legal team is the dismantling of existing laws. Padilla’s case is no different.

Dick Cheney’s chief-of-staff David Addington, summarized it best when he stated, “Congress may no more regulate the president’s ability to detain and interrogate enemy combatants than it may regulate his ability to direct troop movements on the battlefield.”

The president is answerable to no one. He stands above the law and may do as he pleases. Padilla has no rights and, by extension, neither does any other American citizen.

It is now up to the Supreme Court to decide whether the Constitution has any meaning or if it just a “goddamned piece of paper” as Bush claims.

(Note: In fact, Padilla has now been charged with 3 counts; conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists in an 11 count indictment last month. The action of the 4th Circuit presents a challenge to the Bush administration and its petition to vacate the ruling. The court has said that the case is of such “national importance” that it should go to the Supreme Court. In other words, the court is challenging the administration’s choice to drop the “enemy combatant” argument and have Padilla charged as a criminal.)

William Cooper Had Some Answers

NWO 2006 Plans - William
Cooper Had Some Answers
As We Look To The New World Order's
2006 Agenda, It's Best To Review The
Research And Writings Of William Cooper



William Cooper, a former military intelligence officer and world-reknown lecturer and writer, was killed in a suspicious 2001 police shootout in his Arizona home. Author of the best selling underground book of all time, Behold A Pale Horse, his top secret intelligence document discoveries provide proof positive the Illuminati intends mass destruction of half the world's population, reaching its diabolical goal in what the author terms 'the age of deception.'

By Greg Szymanski
12-26-5

To better understand what the New World Order has planned for 2006 and the years to come, it's wise to review the life and works of writer and lecturer, William Cooper, killed in a Nov. 6, 2001, police shootout in his Arizona home.

Cooper, 58, author of more than 20 books including "Behold A Pale Horse," the best selling underground book of all time, was also a highly popular worldwide radio talk show host, his show, "The Hour of the Time," appearing on shortwave and the internet on the Worldwide Christian Radio station out of Nashville.

After Cooper's untimely and suspicious death, Mills Crenshaw, a KTALK radio host out of Salt Lake City, put the sad event into perspective:

"William Cooper may be one of America's greatest heroes and this story may be the biggest story in the history of the world."

This week in the minds of many people, starting a new year is like wiping life's slate clean, starting anew, with fresh ideas, with important new goals and renewed interests in becoming useful each and every day of the year.

So, with the New World Order gathering momentum, it's useful to remember a page out of Cooper's life by embracing in the final days of 2005 the efforts of one lone, brave man who dedicated his entire existence to exposing the Illuminati's diabolical plans to destroy America, as well as the rest of the world.

In one of his 1997 writings entitled "Majestytwelve," Cooper draws this conclusion:

"If you wish to remain Free you will have to fight for it... not because we want to fight, or you want to fight, but because the traitors (within our government) will give us no choice in the matter. There will be either a revolution (the Marxist's choice) or there will be a serious attempt to restore Constitutional Republican government under Law (the Patriots choice). In any event there WILL BE WAR between the Citizens of the United States of America and the Marxist minions of the subversive corporate United States' new world order."

In Cooper's final years, he worked alone in his Arizona home with his two dogs, rooster and chicken, sending his family out of the U.S . in 1999 for their security. Prior to several years of Arizona desert solitude, Copper became known as a world class lecturer, appearing at Wembly Hall in London as well as lecturing in every state of the Union for more during a 10 year period.

Known as a consummate researcher, backing his New World Order theories with hard data from his days in U.S. Navy Intelligence, Cooper always struck fear in the eyes of Presidents, including Clinton, who mounted an FBI attack to silence Cooper's views.

Shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing, Rush Limbaugh read a White House memo on the air during his broadcast, calling William Cooper, "...the most dangerous radio host in America". Cooper was later quoted as saying Clinton's pronouncement was "the greatest compliment that he has ever received."

Further, Cooper's FBI file which included references to his security clearances while in military service, was one of those unlawfully in possession of the White House in what has become known as, "Filegate". Shortly after this discovery, President Clinton ordered all federal agencies to begin investigation, persecution, and prosecution of Mr. Cooper to shut him up.

While engaged in ongoing federal battles with the FBI over free speech issues and the IRS who tried to put a financial stranglehold on his affairs, Cooper went to work full steam, creating several documentaries about the JFK assassination and the government's UFO hoax in order to strike fear in Americans.

Cooper also believed in empowering Americans with free thought through newspapers and the airwaves, starting the CAJI News Service, VERITAS national full size newspaper, The Intelligence Service, Harvest Publications, and has helped over 700 low power FM affiliate stations get equipped and on the air, including the station he managed as Trustee for the Independence Foundation Trust, 101.1 FM Eagar, Arizona, broadcasting to 7,000 people.

Under his leadership, his company also ventured into the publishing trade. The first book published being Oklahoma City: Day One by Michele Marie Moore... the definitive classic on the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

But to really understand Cooper's philosophy an where he obtained much of his secret information to be used in his later works, it's necessary to understand his military background, the place he became all to familiar with the real intentions of the New World Order

Cooper first served with the Strategic Air Command, United States Air Force, holding a secret clearance working on B-52 bombers, KC-135 refueling aircraft, and Minuteman missiles.

After the Air Force, he joined the United States Navy fulfilling a dream previously frustrated by chronic motion sickness. He served aboard the submarine USS Tiru (SS-416), USS Tombigbee (AOG-11), Naval Support Activity Danang RVN, Naval Security and Intelligence Camp Carter RVN, Danang Harbor Patrol RVN, Dong Ha River Security Group RVN, USS Charles Berry (DE-1035), Headquarters Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, USS Oriskany (CVA-34).

Cooper was a member of the Office of Naval Security and Intelligence serving as a Harbor and River Patrol Boat Captain at Danang and the Dong Ha River Security Group, Cua Viet, Republic of Vietnam, being awarded several medals for heroism during combat.

He also served on the Intelligence Briefing Team for the Commander In Chief of the Pacific Fleet, designated KL-47 SPECAT operator in the CINCPACFLT Command Center at Makalapa Hawai1 where he held a Top Secret, Q, SI, security clearance.

Being privy to top secret information for many years, Cooper later would call on his military background and expertise as a centerpiece for much of his writing, deciding to tell the truth and be a man of conscience instead of selling his own soul to the New World Order thugs.

Although Cooper's works are immense, covering almost every possible element of what is amounting to a global takeover by the Illuminati, anyone reading the following excerpts from a top secret documents uncovered by Cooper will conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that America's destruction is underway from within and the only way to get back the country staring in 2006 is by a revolution of the people.

In the article referenced above, entitled Majestytwelve, Cooper's words make the hair on anyone's head stand up:

"The following is fact. It is not a theory it is a genuine conspiracy. I witnessed the Top Secret/Magic documents from which this information is excerpted while a member of the United States Navy attached to the Intelligence Briefing Team of Admiral Bernard Clarey, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet.

"I certify that the following information is true and correct to the best of my memory and the research that I have accomplished. I will swear to it in any court of Law.

"I can produce the names of approximately 38 U.S. Navy officers and enlisted men who witnessed these documents while in the service of their countryI can produce the names of approximately 80 others whom I suspect have witnessed these same documents. I will not reveal the names except in a court of Law that is willing to prosecute the People and organizations involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States of America to bring about a socialist totalitarian world government."

After Cooper went to great lengths to add authenticity and credibility to his discovery while in the military, he went on to delineate the intentions of the diabolical forces behind the secret military documents.

"Many years ago I had access to a set of documents that I eventually realized was the plan for the destruction of the United States of America and the formation of a socialist totalitarian world government. The plan was contained within a set of Top Secret documents with the title "MAJESTYTWELVE". There was no space between majesty and twelve. The term honored the planned placement of ultimate power in a body of wise men who are destined to rule the world as the disciples of a Messiah front man. This "Messiah will serve as a buffer between the wise men and the sheeple. I discovered these documents between 1970 and 1973 while I was a member of the Intelligence Briefing Team of the Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet.

"MAJESTYTWELVE was in a tall thin font style...imagine the title squeezed together between the M and E with all of the letters stretched vertically. The key to access was a Top Secret (Q) (SCI) security clearance with the compartmentalization of "MAJIC" (not magic). I cannot remember the exact font except that it is a tall thin version of San Serif... the exact name escapes me after all these years... but it is a key to access.

"The plan outlined the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government. It is to be ruled by a behind-the-scenes council of wise men. A so-called benevolent dictator, will be presented as the Messiah.

"The Constitution for the United States of America and its Bill of Rights will be scrapped. A parliamentary form of government will take its place. All military forces and individuals are to be disarmed except for an internal police force which will carry only the minimum weapons needed to maintain internal order."

Although Cooper only lived to see a little more than a year of the Bush Presidency, he was a firm advocate that President Clinton, although posing as a man of the people, was in fact one of the biggest and most diabolical front men for the New World Order.

And to prove his point, the following two Clinton quotes illustrates his true intentions:

"When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans... And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities." Said President Bill Clinton on MTV on March 3, 1994.

He further stated on several days later in a USA Today interview: "We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans"

Besides pointing the finger at Clinton, Cooper claimed the true source of the global conspiracy based in fact was to be found in a body known as the Illuminati, a group made up of the highest level of the so-called secret orders and secret societies. Explaing their origin and purpose, Cooper wrote:

They are bound together by blood oaths, a secret religion, and the promise of an elite status within regional government, or the world supra government. Their religion is based upon the Kabbalah, the Luciferian Philosophy, and the worship of the Sun. They are not bound by any oath or allegiance save their own. They are loyal to no government or People save their own. And they are Citizens of no country save their already in place secret world government. In their own words, "If you are not one of us you are nothing." To garner some sense of "feel" for the concept see the movie "They Live."

"It is a largely 'open' conspiracy, in that much of its membership, structure, methods, and operations, are matters of public record, however scattered and obscure. Its manner of coordination is atypical. Two nuclei - the elite core of the Wall Street clique (orbiting the House of Rockefeller) and the elite core of the European financial clique (orbiting the House of Rothschild) - coordinate this global conspiracy by waging psychological warfare on the rest of the conspirators, telling each no more than is necessary for him to fulfill his designated role, often with explicit recognition neither of his role, nor of the unarticulated rules that govern him.

"Thus, the overwhelming bulk of the conspirators do not know, but only suspect, that they are part of and in service to 'a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."

In his article about the secret military documents, he delves into the inner workings of the Illuminati, showing how some candidates rise to the top, hand picked for progress beyond the 13th Degree (York Rite) or 32nd Degree (Scottish Rite). Cooper claims those 'chosen few' disappear behind the veil and become one of the "Thousand Points of Light," are more properly known as the "Magi."

Looking back at history, Cooper adds:

"The process of initiation and blood oaths have always been the protection of the Illuminati in a Christian world that has had a tendency to "burn at the stake" those who differed in belief or philosophy. The "burning alive" of Jacques DeMolay, the persecution of men like Gallileo and Giordano Bruno by the Catholic Church, and the persecution of their Orders has resulted in the "Brotherhoods" hatred of Christianity and the goal of the extermination of all religions save theirs.

"You may verify the goal of the Illuminati by visiting the home page of Freemasonry's Grand Lodge of Scotland (if that link does not work click here). You will notice the flag of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the "Universal" flag of Freemasonry is displayed. The "Universal" flag of Freemasonry is the United Nations Flag. (We thank those of you who responded with affidavits confirming this paragraph.) Since this paragraph has become well known the Grand Lodge of Scotland has replaced the United Nations Flag (Universal Flag of Freemasonry) on their WebPages with a graphic of the earth."

And buried deep in the documents uncovered by Cooper, which he vigorously tried to expose until his untimely death, was the call for a mass extermination in what he termed the "goal in the age of deception."

If anyone ever wonders on the dawn of this new year where the U.S. is headed after Oklahoma City and 9/11, listens to Cooper's predictions based on what he learned from years working in the military intelligence field:

"This is the age of deception. The world is on the razor. One half is scheduled to be exterminated if these people have their way, and the other half is scheduled to be enslaved when the mystical union between the moon IS (Isis or Church) and the sun RA (Osiris or Doctrine) greets the Son of the morning EL (Horus or full body of Adepts) on the horizon (Horus risen) in the New Dawn (ISRAEL or realization of the New World Order).

"When the process is complete a new worldwide Soviet Union will emerge to thin the herd, shear the sheople, and march them off to enslavement or slaughter depending upon their individual ability to accept and adhere to their reeducation.

As Cooper ponders the fate of America and the world, his 1997 words appear to be coming true as we enter 2006.

"There will be no individual Rights only privileges. These will be granted or denied at will by the world supra government. All property is to be owned by the State. There will be a redistribution of wealth. They plan to eliminate class differences and reduce the standard of living to a lower level in the advanced nations, such as the United States, and to a higher standard of living in the so-called third world nations.

"This leveling of the standard of living will be accomplished through a global economic collapse which is in its beginning stages. The economic collapse will fulfill the goal of Marx and Engles' Communist Manifesto mandating the elimination of the middle class. The graduated income tax was the first implementation of this process and is one of the planks of the Communist Manifesto. NAFTA and GATT are a part of this process encouraging industry to move into third-world nations in order to exploit cheap labor.

"All existing religions will disappear. The only religion will be the state religion (humanism or illuminism).

"All County and State governments will be eliminated and replaced with regional government. These regional governments (Home Rule) are already in place. Regionalism is gradually taking control throughout America.

"There will be no more cash. Trade will be accomplished by a system of computer credits with accounts accessed through debit cards or computer chip implants. The cards or implants will also serve as personal identification, drivers license, and etc. When this is completed the human race will be shackled to a computer in a never ending cycle of debt. No action or movement will ever again be private."

Further delving into the age of new world order deception, Cooper points to the UFO and alien hoax thrust on America, finding within the Majestytwelve secret documents the entire plan for the creation of a socialist world government is protected by an artificial extraterrestrial threat from space. He adds the entire UFO phenomenon and the uFOOLogy movement has been created to further the protection and activation of the plan, outing Coast to Coast talk show host Art Bell, as one of the main Illuminati spokesman.

"Within MAJESTYTWELVE is Operation Majority justifying the plan by presenting an extraterrestrial threat as the reason for the necessity for world government ala "Who speaks for planet Earth... Argentina?" Exactly the manner in which Stanton T. Friedman ends his UFOs Are Real lectures," said Cooper.

"When I saw Operation Majority while serving in the Navy I believed the alien threat was real just like everyone else. It was not until I had performed many years of research that I was able to fully understand exactly what it was that I had seen. It was extremely difficult for me to believe that my government and the United States Navy had used me, especially since I had dedicated my life to government and military service. Most government and military personnel cannot and will not believe such and idea.

"The plan is real. The extraterrestrial threat is artificial. The threat is presented through the use of secret technology originally developed by the Germans in their secret weapons programs during WW-II, by geniuses like Nikola Tesla, and many others."

Concerning Bell's role in the New World Order agenda, Cooper again relies on the "age of deception" theory, as well as decoding Illuminati signs and symbols in order to find out the real truth among the many messages of deception. Referring to Bell's well-known logo of a gold pyramid in a deep blue sea with his name at the top of the pyramid, Cooper illustrates his point about Bell's role:

"I have long recognized that Art Bell is a shill for the New World Odor. It is confirmed in his book . World government is, in fact, the theme of the book.

"Did you know that the sea (mare or Mary) is a symbol of vast numbers of People, the masses in Marxist symbology? Did you notice that the pyramid rises from the sea (People) and dominates the scene as a promise, or savior? Did you know the pyramid missing the capstone represents the Great (unfinished) Work of the Mystery School? Did you know that the Great Work represents social engineering (socialism) working toward the apotheosis of the race (perfected man, sixth root race) as promised to Adam and Eve by Satan, and a New World Order?

"Did you notice that the name Art Bell straddles the capstone signifying that he is the Light Worker, or Illumined Man, or Master Mason, or Horus, or perfected god-Man, or Savior, who completes the Great Work? Did you notice the Bright Star fallen from heaven just above the capstone? Do you know who or what it represents? Do you see the Thousand Points of Light working in silence behind the veil (clouds) in the heavens. Illuminism is Marxism. It is a false promise that the human race will be perfected bringing a perfect utopian society through social engineering. This is a brainwashing mechanism whereby an ignorant slave race may be created to be ruled by a totalitarian socialist world government.

"Art Bell is a Freemason. He is a member of the Illuminati. Art Bell's book 'The Quickening' is one of the most blatant, in your face, pieces of new world order propaganda that I have ever seen. In it Art Bell, claiming to be a patriotic American, shamelessly advocates the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government."

With most people heading into the new year with the thought of another terrorist attack on the horizon, Cooper claims these attacks are a new world order strategy to tell Americans any opposition will be met with brute force.

"Ruby Ridge, the Waco Massacre, the attack against Patriots and Militias, and other acts of aggression against the American People who might combat this fraud are acts of war. These acts are designed to demonize fundamentalist Christians, Jews, Moslems, the lawful Militia, and anyone else who might fight in defense of the Constitution or Freedom.

"These terrorist acts deliver a message to the American People that any opposition to the new world supra government will be met with overwhelming force and the complete genocide of the enemies of socialism."

And as everybody has a New Year's Eve toast, while wondering where the next terrorist "shoe will drop," listen to Cooper's concluding analysis and ominous 1997 predictions, making anyone reading immediately want to pour another stiff drink.

"MAJESTYTWELVE stated that the first terrorist attack in the United States would occur in a large city such as New York or Los Angeles . Based upon that statement I accurately predicted that it would occur in New York, and it did when the World Trade Center was bombed.

"MAJESTYTWELVE stated that terrorism would continue until the American People consented to be completely and thoroughly disarmed. The document stated that the second major target would be, "somewhere in the heartland such as Oklahoma City". The actual target was not named. Since the document was not specific as to the actual target and its location I did not predict Oklahoma City... but my prediction of continued terrorist attacks including major attacks upon the "heartland" of America was accurate."

Writing before 9/11, he further predicted the following:

"If these acts of terror do not succeed there will be more bombings, chemical, or biological attacks. They will escalate in the destruction, maiming and killing of men women and especially children. More shootings at shopping centers, restaurants, and schools will occur. As a last resort, if all else fails, the Illuminati are prepared to detonate an atomic weapon in a large American city such as New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles."

For more important articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com.

CIA Patsy Spins Another Fairy Tale

CIA Patsy Spins Fairy Tale Plot to Assassinate Bush
Friday December 23rd 2005, 6:12 pm

Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the captured al-CIA-duh “commander,” has supposedly revealed that it was his job to kill George Bush, probably at the behest of his dead leader and his right-hand man, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to a report published by the New York Daily News. Of course, an idiot patsy of al-Libi’s caliber would never get near Bush in a zillion years, but never mind—we are to be reminded, ad nauseam, of the viciousness of “al-Qaeda” (not the database but the myth), especially when Bush’s popularity ratings are at an all-time low.

In Bushzarro world few remember crucial details about events that occurred last month or last year and thus our rulers and their friends in the corporate media figure we will believe whatever absurd nonsense they feed us. For instance, in July of 2004, we learned that al-Libi had recanted his various confessions, most notably the big whopping lie that Osama and Saddam were best of buddies and Saddam trained “al-Qaeda” in the use of chemical weapons. “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and gases,” said Bush in an October 2002 speech in Cincinnati. “Other senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in a speech to the United Nations, made similar assertions. Al-Libi’s statements were the foundation of all of them,” the Washington Post reported on August 1, 2004. In short, Bush—or rather the Zionist neocons in the White House and Pentagon, since Bush is ostensibly little more than a good old boy yahoo from Texas (a fabrication since in reality he is a brain damaged member of the ruling elite and not a cowboy)—invaded Iraq based on a passel of lies. It is significant that at least some of these lies were extracted through torture.

In normal, non-Bushzarro times, the fact the neocons went to “war” predicated in part upon a fairy tale extracted under torture would be more grist for the impeachment mill. Of course, we no longer live in normal times and thanks in large part to the fact a large portion of the American public suffers from amnesia, the corporate media is able to float absurd stories about idiot patsies plotting to kill the president, who is in fact an appointed dictator.

Dictators

Blair rules out CIA flights probe
Tony Blair has ruled out an inquiry into claims that the CIA has used UK airports to move prisoners to third countries where they may be tortured.
He said he had no evidence to suggest that anything illegal had happened.

Mr Blair added that he did not want to "add fuel" to stories about the practice, which is known as "extraordinary rendition".

Human rights groups want an inquiry into hundreds of secret flights alleged to have passed through the UK.

Clarification

The Association of Chief Police Officers has begun an investigation after receiving information about the flights from Liberty.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw wrote to the US administration on behalf of the EU to seek clarification following reports that some of the detainees may have been flown to secret camps in former Soviet states in eastern Europe.


I am not going to start ordering inquiries into this, that or the next thing when I have got no evidence to show whether this is right or not
Tony Blair

US former Secretary of State Colin Powell said last weekend that European governments had been aware for decades that America used rendition to transport terror suspects where traditional extradition procedures were inappropriate.

Speaking at his monthly Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, Mr Blair said: "I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that anything illegal has been happening here at all.

"I am not going to start ordering inquiries into this, that or the next thing when I have got no evidence to show whether this is right or not."

'Out of order'

He added: "All I know is that the American practice in certain circumstances, with the consent of the country concerned, of taking someone and removing them to another country or back to the US - that's a practice they have avowed, never mind admitted, for a long period of time."

Asked if he approved of rendition, Mr Blair said: "It all depends what you mean by rendition. If it is something that's illegal, I totally disapprove of it. If it is lawful, I don't disapprove of it.

"All I know is we should keep within the law at all times.

"The notion that I or the Americans or anyone else approve or condone torture or ill-treatment or degrading treatment, that's completely and totally out of order in any set of circumstances."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4549338.stm

Published: 2005/12/21 13:33:25 GMT

© BBC MMV

Black Boxes and the Black Ops of 9/11

One of the more puzzling mysteries of 9-11 is what ever happened to the flight recorders of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center towers. Now it appears that they may not be missing at all.

Counterpunch has learned that the FBI has them.

Flight recorders (commonly known as black boxes, though these days they are generally bright orange) are required on all passenger planes. There are always two-a flight data recorder that keeps track of a plane's speed, altitude, course and maneuvers, and a cockpit voice recorder which keeps a continuous record of the last 30 minutes of conversation inside a plane's cockpit. These devices are constructed to be extremely durable, and are installed in a plane's tail section, where they are least likely suffer damaged on impact. They are designed to withstand up to 30 minutes of 1800-degree heat (more than they would have faced in the twin towers crashes), and to survive a crash at full speed into the ground.

All four of the devices were recovered from the two planes that hit the Pentagon and that crashed in rural Pennsylvania. In the case of American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon, the FBI reports that the flight data recorder survived and had recoverable information, but the voice recorder was allegedly too damaged to provide any record. In the case of United Airlines Flight 93, which hit the ground at 500 mph in Pennsylvania, the situation was reversed: the voice recorder survived but the flight data box was allegedly damaged beyond recovery.

But the FBI states, and also reported to the 9-11 Commission, that none of the recording devices from the two planes that hit the World Trade Center were ever recovered.

There has always been some skepticism about this assertion, particularly as two N.Y. City firefighters, Mike Bellone and Nicholas De Masi, claimed in 2004 that they had found three of the four boxes, and that Federal agents took them and told the two men not to mention having found them. (The FBI denies the whole story.) Moreover, these devices are almost always located after crashes, even if not in useable condition (and the cleanup of the World Trade Center was meticulous, with even tiny bone fragments and bits of human tissue being discovered so that almost all the victims were ultimately identified). As Ted Lopatkiewicz, director of public affairs at the National Transportation Safety Agency which has the job of analyzing the boxes' data, says, "It's very unusual not to find a recorder after a crash, although it's also very unusual to have jets flying into buildings."

Now there is stronger evidence that something is amiss than simply the alleged non-recovery of all four of those boxes. A source at the National Transportation Safety Board, the agency that has the task of deciphering the date from the black boxes retrieved from crash sites-including those that are being handled as crimes and fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI-says the boxes were in fact recovered and were analyzed by the NTSB.

"Off the record, we had the boxes," the source says. "You'd have to get the official word from the FBI as to where they are, but we worked on them here."

The official word from the NTSB is that the WTC crash site black boxes never turned up. "No recorders were recovered from the World Trade Center," says the NTSB's Lopatkiewicz. "At least none were delivered to us by the FBI." He adds that the agency has "always had a good relationship' with the FBI and that in all prior crime-related crashes or flight incidents, they have brought the boxes to the NTSB for analysis.

For its part, the FBI is still denying everything, though with curious bit of linguistic wiggle room. "To the best of my knowledge, the flight recording devices from the World Trade Center crashes were never recovered. At least we never had them," says FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak.

What the apparent existence of the black boxes in government hands means is unclear.

If the information in those boxes is recoverable, or if, as is likely, it has been recovered already, it could give crucial evidence regarding the skill of the hijacker/pilots, perhaps of their strategy, of whether they were getting outside help in guiding them to their targets, of how fast they were flying and a host of other things.

Why would the main intelligence and law enforcement arm of the U.S. government want to hide from the public not just the available information about the two hijacked flights that provided the motivation and justification for the nation's "War on Terror" and for its two wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, but even the fact that it has the devices which could contain that information? Conspiracy theories abound, with some claiming the planes were actually pilotless military aircraft, or that they had little or nothing to do with the building collapses. The easiest way to quash such rumors and such fevered thinking would be openness.

Instead we have the opposite: a dark secrecy that invites many questions regarding the potentially embarrassing or perhaps even sinister information that might be on those tapes.

Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled "This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press. Information about both books and other work by Lindorff can be found at www.thiscantbehappening.net.

He can be reached at: dlindorff@yahoo.com