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The Rant
New CIA director Hayden plans massive expansion of spying on Americans
By DOUG THOMPSON
May 31, 2006, 08:19




Now that he is officially sworn in as the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael Hayden plans to build a vast domestic spying network that will pry into the lives of most Americans around the clock.

President George W. Bush told Hayden to "take whatever steps necessary" to monitor Americans 24/7 by listening in on their phone calls, bugging their homes and offices, probing their private lives, snooping into their financial records and watching their travel habits.

Can I prove this in a court of law? No. Do I know it is happening? Yes, without a doubt. Enough sources within the CIA, FBI, NSA and Pentagon have come forward in recent days to warn about Hayden's plans for an expanded, consolidated spy network aimed at Americans, not terrorists, and violating numerous laws that prohibit such activities against citizens of this country.

"What Hayden plans to do is not only illegal, it is immoral," says a longtime CIA operative who may retire early rather than participate in what he sees as an illegal extension of the spy agency's activities.

Hayden, who oversaw the National Security Agency's questionable monitoring of phone calls and emails of Americas, plans to consolidate much of the country's domestic spying into a new desk at the CIA, calling it a "domestic terrorism prevention" operation.

The desk will oversee not only NSA's increased monitoring of electronic communications by Americans but also the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's "terrorist information awareness" program that monitors travel and financial activities by Americans by gathering real-time data from banks, airlines, travel agencies and credit card companies.

The CIA operation will also coordinate with the Pentagon's domestic spying program that monitors activities of anti-war groups, organizations critical of the Bush administrations and others tagged as enemies of the state.

FBI agents will step up monitoring of journalists to identify leaks of stories embarrassing to the government. The bureau is already monitoring phone calls and emails by reporters on a routine basis and has increased surveillance of writers for major news organizations and monitoring of travel and financial records using the DARPA computers.

"This is not 'total information awareness' but 'total information control' aimed at watching Americans fulltime and ignoring the protections that are supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution," says an FBI agent familiar with the programs. "I didn't sign on for this and I'm getting the hell out."

In fact, resignations at major U.S. spy agencies are at an all-time high. Exact numbers are classified but sources say field agents, data analysts and others are leaving in droves rather than join the frenzy to spy on Americans.

Hayden sailed through the Senate confirmation process defending his domestic spying program at NSA, claiming it was legal. Privacy experts and Constitutional law professors say otherwise but the Senate rubber-stamped Bush's choice anyway, choosing to ignore the threats to freedom.

Hayden will have little problem concealing the operation from the public and Congress. Many of the CIA's programs are classified and the agency has, in the past, concealed programs even from the intelligence committees in both the House and Senate. The DARPA project and the Pentagon domestic spying programs are "black bag" operations that do not require Congressional approval or oversight.

Likewise, many of the details of the NSA domestic spying program were withheld from Congress and escaped public notice until media reports unearthed them and the Bush administration now threatens to jail the reporters who broke the story.

I wish I could prove this. I wish one, just one, source on the inside was willing to come forward and allow his or her name to be used but those who might be tempted see what happened to Mary McCarthy, the CIA employee fired and under threat of prosecution for leaking information about CIA torture camps in Europe.

But I know it is happening. People I've known for years and trust tell me it is happening and the past record of spying, lies and deceit by the Bush administration point to just such an operation.

This nation is under attack. We, the people, are under attack. And the enemy in this case is not an Islamic radical hiding in a cave in Afghanistan but a cabal of truly evil men and women at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and on Capitol Hill aided by carefully-picked, law-ignoring appointees at the Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, a black glass-walled building at Fort Meade, MD, and a complex in Langley, Virginia.

© Copyright 2005 Capitol Hill Blue

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Olmert Hits the Jackpot

Olmert hits the jackpot May. 28th, 2006 @ 04:33 pm
By Neal AbuNab

Ehud Olmert, the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel, arrived in the United States like a conqueror and was received with more honors and pomp than is normally bestowed upon royalty. His visit this past week was a continuation of the election campaign and he worked the media selling his ideas. The other side to the story was totally absent from the debate, and for all intents and purposes the Palestinian story has disappeared from the American political scene.

Olmert sought the mandate of the American people for his unilateral disengagement plan and he got it. He marketed the idea as a great sacrifice by Israel in the name of peace, and as the most humane solution for the Palestinians. He was "concerned" about the humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories and never once did he mention that he had ordered the blockade that is causing it. Throughout his three-day visit the much-dreaded "O" word (occupation) never came up in anybody’s jargon.

If your community commands enormous political influence in the United States, like the Jewish community, this is the perfect time to extract concessions. The beleaguered Bush's weakness at home strengthened the negotiating hand of Israel, as if it needed any more strengthening. Olmert, in fact, got more than he had hoped for. Bush gave away the store, so to speak. He gave Olmert everything he had asked for in return for one lousy meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The irony of it all is that the future of Palestine is in the hands of Bush and he gives away so cheaply what does not belong to him. He blessed the Olmert plan that extends to 2010. Bush even sold the negotiating ability of the next U.S. President.

Olmert spent six hours at the White House talking and dining privately with Bush. During those hours a major shift in U.S. policy towards the Middle East took place. At their joint press conference Bush praised Olmert for his "bold ideas." The same day the U.S. Congress groveled to Olmert by passing a resolution that banned all US aid to the Palestinian Authority and barred its members from entering America. It was a sad day for America to see its leaders trampling over each other in a mad stampede to please Israel.

Olmert received the greatest privilege, only reserved for blood allies like Britain’s Tony Blair, in addressing the most powerful deliberative body in the world, the U.S. Congress, on Wednesday. In his speech, he extended his hand and urged the Palestinians not to "ignore our outstretched hand for peace." At that very moment Palestinians were experiencing Olmert's hand of "peace" and it came in the form of bullets. Israeli army units were raiding downtown Ramallah and Olmert's "outstretched hand for peace" was shooting Palestinians indiscriminately. They killed 4, wounded 60 and arrested a resistance leader. Such incursions are commonplace and part of every day life under occupation. And this is what Palestinians are resisting. They have no resistance towards peace.

In his speech to the Congress, Olmert emphasized the common values shared by the two nations. He said "the unbreakable ties between our two nations extend far beyond mutual interests. They are based on our shared goals and values stemming from the very essence of our mutual foundations." He quoted three verses from the Bible to affirm Israel’s claim to the land of Palestine. In an election year, he was clearly directing these remarks to the all-powerful Christian voter group. He went on to remind everyone of the goal of defeating terrorism and called on Hamas to "renounce the culture and education of terror."

Olmert’s motive to invoke the theme of common values and to talk about it for almost half an hour can be interpreted in two conflicting views. Was it because America is finding it increasingly hard to attack Muslim nations on behalf of Israel? Or was it because America and Israel have genuinely joined in a common destiny and vision for this world? I suspect it was more of the latter than the former. In 2002, Bush said, "fearful people live behind walls like the Berlin Wall." Today, America’s eyes are focused on building a massive wall on its border with Mexico. Israel has been building its apartheid wall for the past three years. The common values of liberty, democracy and human rights have become so frail that they need massive walls to protect them.

Olmert described Iran as the "world’s leading sponsor of terror" and said that every generation is tested by "a moment of truth and trial." In a clear bid for military action he urged the Congress "our moment is now. We will be judged by the actions we take now. Not by our resolve but by our results."

He went back to list the impressive credentials of Israel and that it had more companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock market than any other foreign nation. He described the country he immigrated to, Israel, as "an oasis of hope and opportunity in a troubled region." He addressed the Palestinian people as an entity separate from its leadership and asked them to be courageous in choosing "peace over terror." He dangled the carrot of a modern prosperous democratic state living side by side with Israel and closed by saying, "we hope and pray that our Palestinian neighbors will also awaken," referring to the promise of a bright future.

In my opinion, every Palestinian yearns for peace and will gladly take that carrot over the fiery stick of steel that has been tormenting him for almost 60 years.

The problem is that Olmert has no mandate from his people to abide by U.N. resolutions or to respect the will of the international community. He wants Abbas to disarm all Palestinian militias, force Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist, and have the Hamas-led Palestinian government abide by all agreements signed between Israel and the PLO. Israel itself has not abided by a single agreement it had signed with the PLO. Israel, not the Palestinians, declared the Oslo Accords dead in 2001.

Olmert has no intention of negotiating with the Palestinians. Let me translate what he is saying in layman's language: we’ll go to a meeting with Abbas and if we don't like what he’s saying we’ll just go ahead and do what suits us. He has already set the expectations of failure for negotiations. He will not sit down and talk to the Palestinians under a United Nations framework which abides by the will of the International community. That is the true test of negotiating in good faith. He says that "we can't wait forever" and if Israel can't find a Palestinian partner then it will draw its own borders unilaterally.

Olmert’s rhetoric about going the extra mile to achieve a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians is a smoke screen intended for U.S. public opinion. It reminds me of the impossible conditions imposed by Ariel Sharon on Arafat in 2001. This rhetoric is a prelude to a massive Israeli military action probably planned for 2007. Abbas will undoubtedly fail in the eyes of the Israeli government and it won’t be long till they declare him, like they did Arafat, an accomplice to terrorism.

In the Middle East, we have learned that it is far safer to place a bet on war as the odds for peace are getting slimmer by the day.

Neal AbuNab can be reached at nealabunab@todaylink.com or 313.506.4409

http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=5388

Hmmmm

May 28, 2006 -- Nigerian connections to political bribes ultimately linked to U.S. oil industry. According to informed sources, the $90,000 found in Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson's freezer by the FBI had its origins with Nigerian politicians who include two 2007 presidential hopefuls, current Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former President Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, as well as former Nigerian President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is looking at the three politicians and evidence that they have been used by foreign oil companies to launder money into the coffers of Nigerian and foreign politicians, including Jefferson. The Louisiana congressman is being investigated for receiving over a half million dollars in bribes from iGate, Inc., a Louisville, Kentucky-based company that was using Jefferson to promote its Internet and wireless business in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. In the case of Nigeria. Jefferson allegedly attempted to double dip by receiving a finder's fee from iGate for an introduction to Nigerian political leaders and company officials of Nigeria's Netlink Digital Television of Nigeria and also receive direct sales commissions from Netlink. Netlink's lawyers blew the whistle on Jefferson's illegal gambit.



William Jefferson, Dick Cheney, and Nigerian bribes: Did the FBI raid Jefferson's office and seize evidence to protect Cheney?

However, WMR sources report that the Jefferson bribe involving Nigerian businesses is just one small part of Nigerian interests funneling oil dollars to foreign politicians, including Americans. The financial network, largely composed of GOP operatives, uses Nigerian politicians like Abubakar and Buhari to make contact with U.S. politicians for the purpose of arranging "investments" into their private and public coffers. In return, the politicians are blackmailed into supporting the interests of the oil companies, including the largest ones operating in Nigeria, including Exxon Mobil and Halliburton. The same GOP and Nigerian interests were likewise involved in the infusion of money into the 2004 election in order to buy off local elections officials and technicians. In that case, reported by this editor, there was also a significant connection to Kentucky.

The Nigerian bribery scandal involving Jefferson is also linked to previous bribes paid to Nigerian politicians by U.S. oil companies, including $180 million in bribes paid by Halliburton, while Dick Cheney was its chairman, to Nigerian officials in return for a gas liquefaction plant contract in Nigeria. That bribery scheme (known as the "Technip Affair") resulted in a multinational criminal investigation of Halliburton that included the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. Buhari, a former chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and was the Executive Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) from 1995 to 1999, when the fund was abolished. During Buhari's tenure, the Technip scandal involving Halliburton and NNPC blew wide open. Buhari has been a frequent visitor to Washington and one WMR source has reported an attempt by the former Nigerian president to enlist his political support in return for a large sum of money. The FBI's raid on Jefferson's office may have had more to do with eliminating evidence involving U.S. oil companies in Nigerian bribery schemes (and, therefore, protect Cheney) than in nailing Jefferson.

Under the Radar...again

Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision.

The timing of Bush's move is intriguing. On the same day the President signed the memo, Porter Goss resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency amid criticism of ineffectiveness and poor morale at the agency. Only six days later, on May 11, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had obtained millions of calling records of ordinary citizens provided by three major U.S. phone companies. Negroponte oversees both the CIA and NSA in his role as the administration's top intelligence official.

FEW ANSWERS. White House spokeswoman Dana M. Perino said the timing of the May 5 Presidential memo had no significance. "There was nothing specific that prompted this memo," Perino said.

In addition to refusing to explain why Bush decided to delegate this authority to Negroponte, the White House declined to say whether Bush or any other President has ever exercised the authority and allowed a company to avoid standard securities disclosure and accounting requirements. The White House wouldn't comment on whether Negroponte has granted such a waiver, and BusinessWeek so far hasn't identified any companies affected by the provision. Negroponte's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Securities-law experts said they were unfamiliar with the May 5 memo and the underlying Presidential authority at issue. John C. Coffee, a securities-law professor at Columbia University, speculated that defense contractors might want to use such an exemption to mask secret assignments for the Pentagon or CIA. "What you might hide is investments: You've spent umpteen million dollars that comes out of your working capital to build a plant in Iraq," which the government wants to keep secret. "That's the kind of scenario that would be plausible," Coffee said.

AUTHORITY GRANTED. William McLucas, the Securities & Exchange Commission's former enforcement chief, suggested that the ability to conceal financial information in the name of national security could lead some companies "to play fast and loose with their numbers." McLucas, a partner at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr in Washington, added: "It could be that you have a bunch of books and records out there that no one knows about."

The memo Bush signed on May 5, which was published seven days later in the Federal Register, had the unrevealing title "Assignment of Function Relating to Granting of Authority for Issuance of Certain Directives: Memorandum for the Director of National Intelligence." In the document, Bush addressed Negroponte, saying: "I hereby assign to you the function of the President under section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended."

A trip to the statute books showed that the amended version of the 1934 act states that "with respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States," the President or the head of an Executive Branch agency may exempt companies from certain critical legal obligations. These obligations include keeping accurate "books, records, and accounts" and maintaining "a system of internal accounting controls sufficient" to ensure the propriety of financial transactions and the preparation of financial statements in compliance with "generally accepted accounting principles."

Rat Bastards

Mr. Olmert Comes to Washington -- What Israel's Prime Minister Didn't Say May. 27th, 2006 @ 02:35 pm
New America Media, Commentary, Jamal Dajani, May 26, 2006

Editor's Note: The Israeli leader described to Congress a forward-thinking, high-tech state ready to make peace with its Palestinian neighbors. The reality for Palestinians, the writer says, is repressive tactics from the apartheid era or earlier. New America Media contributor Jamal Dajani is director of Middle Eastern programming at Link TV. He was born and raised in Jerusalem and travels there frequently.

SAN FRANCISCO--Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert swept through the nation's capital this week and garnered President George Bush's approval for further unilateral actions against Palestinians.

Olmert victoriously addressed a joint session of Congress, which almost unanimously passed HR 4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, a resolution intended to criminalize all Palestinians, regardless of their political affiliations.

This new resolution bans direct assistance to the Palestinian population. Even desperately needed humanitarian aid being provided by NGOs will be affected. It forbids or severely restricts the movement of Palestinian diplomatic representatives within the United States. The nature and ramifications of this resolution are so severe that even the Bush administration found it excessively punitive.

In his Congress speech Olmert recounted the history of his parents. "My parents Bella and Mordechai Olmert were lucky...They escaped the persecution in Ukraine and Russia and found sanctuary in Harbin, China. They immigrated to Israel to fulfill their dream of building a Jewish state living in peace in the land of our ancestors."

What Olmert failed to tell Congress is the fact that several days earlier, on May 15, Palestinians throughout the world commemorated Al Nakba Day (The Catastrophe), 58 years since the day Israel was declared a state atop the ruins of Palestinian homes and hundreds of ethnically cleansed towns and villages.

In a speech partially drafted by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel, Olmert spoke about Palestinian terrorism, the Iranian nuclear threat and introduced new words to the lexicon of the Israeli understanding of a peace agreement, such as "convergence" and "realignment." He completely ignored words such as "occupation," "oppression" and "apartheid."

The Wall, or as Israeli leaders call it, "the fence," was not on Olmert's agenda, or the fact that once completed, it will gobble up another 10 percent of the 22 percent remaining of historic Palestine. This land was intended to be the future home of the Palestinian people who, according to Israeli calculations, in less than five years will outnumber Jews living in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Olmert talked about offering a hand of peace to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, recalling Ariel Sharon's words. "The Palestinians will forever be our neighbors," Olmert said. "They are an inseparable part of this land, as are we. Israel has no desire to rule over them, nor to oppress them. They too have a right to freedom and national aspirations."

He did not mention Israel's containment and control of the entire civilian population in Palestine, by fortress-like walls and mazes of checkpoints. It's a medieval strategy the Holy Land used during the Crusades, when besieged cities were deprived of food and water and hygiene was disregarded, causing the spread of epidemics.

Neither did he mention his last order to the Israeli Shabak, just before departing to meet with Bush, to authorize yet another extrajudicial assassination of a Palestinian in Gaza. This one resulted in the "crossfire" killing of a young boy, his mother and a female relative.

Moreover, shortly before Olmert came to Washington, in a decision that recalls South Africa's "Mixed Marriages Act," the Israeli Court upheld the Citizenship and Entry Into Israel Law, which bars Israeli citizens and their Palestinian spouses from the occupied territories from living together legally in Israel. Under the law, a man or woman from the West Bank who is married to an Israeli citizen or permanent resident cannot acquire Israeli citizenship or residency rights. Mentioning Israeli discriminatory policies against non-Jews might not have played out too well among his Washington audience.

Olmert's speech to Congress was a skillful confection, portraying a vision of a modern Israel in sync with the 21st century. "Israel has impressive credentials in the realms of science, technology, high-tech and the arts and many Israelis are Nobel Prizes laureates in various fields," he said. An Israel "on the cutting edge of technology" has moved beyond occupation to "realignment."

But beneath this appealing veneer lies the reality of a country in a regressive historical tailspin, spiraling downwards from apartheid laws that designate what class of people may lawfully couple with one another to siege strategies abandoned shortly after Middle Ages.

By encircling Palestinian towns and villages with walls and turrets, Israel has gained complete control of ingress and egress to the populations within. The flow of food and other resources vital to these populations depends entirely on Israel's whims and purposes.

Inside de facto Israel, its Palestinian citizens face their own brand of discrimination and are treated as third-class citizens, if treated as citizens at all. They are denied educational opportunities, welfare benefits, access to land and are even restricted to where they are permitted to live (similar to the Group Areas Act in South Africa).

Olmert did not mention any of the realities of what actual life for a Palestinian is like, and he was wise not to. Instead, he spoke of paving the way for "realignment": "Should we realize that the bilateral track with the Palestinians is of no consequence, should the Palestinians ignore our outstretched hand for peace, Israel will seek other alternatives to promote our future and the prospects of hope in the Middle East. At that juncture, the time for realignment will occur."

This realignment will eventually complete the Bantustanization of Palestine. It is the real reason behind Olmert's triumphant visit to Washington. It is something neither the Bush administration, Congress nor AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee, will tell you about. That's because Olmert's next plan, according to many Arab and Israeli analysts, is to ask Congress for upwards of $10 billion in U.S. aid to help Israel realize its grand vision of unilateral, partial withdrawals and relocation of distant Israeli settlements.

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=ceb4f5f0c824ad510896b3767dcf9215

Autopsy: No Arabs on Flight 77

By Thomas R. Olmsted, M.D

I am an ex Naval line officer and a psychiatrist in private practice in New Orleans, a Christian and homeschool dad. It troubled me a great deal that we rushed off to war on the flimsiest of evidence. I considered various ways to provide a smoking gun of who and why Sept 11th happened. Astute observers noticed right away that there were no Arabic sounding names on any of the flight manifests of the planes that "crashed" on that day.

A list of names on a piece of paper is not evidence, but an autopsy by a pathologist, is. I undertook by FOIA request, to obtain that autopsy list and you are invited to view it below. Guess what? Still no Arabs on the list. In my opinion the monsters who planned this crime made a mistake by not including Arabic names on the original list to make the ruse seem more believable.

When airline disasters occur, airlines will routinely provide a manifest list for anxious families. You may have noticed that even before Sep 11th, airlines are pretty meticulous about getting an accurate headcount before takeoff. It seems very unlikely to me, that five Arabs sneaked onto a flight with weapons. This is the list provided by American of the 56 passengers. On September 27th, the FBI published photos of the "hijackers" of Flight 77.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), does a miraculous job and identifies nearly all the bodies on November 16th 2001.


The AFIP suggest these numbers; 189 killed, 125 worked at the Pentagon and 64 were "passengers" on the plane. The AA list only had 56 and the list just obtained has 58. They did not explain how they were able to tell "victims" bodies from "hijacker" bodies. In fact, from the beginning NO explanation has been given for the extra five suggested in news reports except that the FBI showed us the pictures to make up the difference, and that makes it so.

Now, being the trusting sort, I figured that the government would want to quickly dispel any rumors so we could get on with the chore of kicking Osama/Sadaam's butt (weren't these originally two different people?). It seemed simple to me. . .produce the names of all the bodies identified by the AFIP and compare it with the publicized list of passengers. So, I sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the AFIP and asked for an expedited response, because we were getting ready to send our boys to war on the pretext that Osama/Saddam had done the deed. Fourteen months later, a few US soldiers dead, many Iraqi civilians pushing up daisies, and I finally get the list. Believe me that they weren't a bit happy to give it up, and I really have no idea why they choose now to release it.


No Arabs wound up on the morgue slab; however, three ADDITIONAL people not listed by American Airlines sneaked in. I have seen no explanation for these extras. I did American the opportunity to "revise" their original list, but they have not responded. The new names are: Robert Ploger, Zandra Ploger, and Sandra Teague. The AFIP claims that the only "passenger" body that they were not able to identify is the toddler, Dana Falkenberg, whose parents and young sister are on the list of those identified. The satanic masterminds behind this caper may be feeling pretty smug about the perfect crime, but they have left a raft of clues tying these unfortunates together.

The Passengers

In the foregoing, I presented evidence from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), that there were no Arabs on American Airlines Flight 77. This doesn't really jibe with the official story, so someone isn't telling the truth. This list itself is suspect because there is a special group of "bone guys" that are called in whenever the government needs an "adjustment" to their story.

About "bone guys": No, we're not talking folks that hang around secret Ivy League fraternities. On May 31, 2002, the Washington Post had this to say about 'bone guys':

"...When remains of the Waco dead or 9/11 Pentagon victims or Desert Storm casualties -- or most recently Chandra Levy -- need to be studied, the bone guys at the Smithsonian are called in. The bone guys read skeletons like intricate topological maps. Sometimes they can make identification from a skull fragment the size of a quarter. They can read race in the teeth and gender in the brow. They can tell you who had an asymmetric nose. They can tell you who may have been a factory worker, because bones grow more pronounced to accommodate certain muscles, and who may have been a weaver or a tailor, based on grooves in the teeth where thread was held...."

In other words, these were the fellows who helped tidy up the government's story at Waco and are "studying" the Sept 11th remains as well.

By now you have probably heard that many of the "hijackers" named by the FBI are alive and well. The Information Times, an on-line publication, reported that Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told the Arabic Press after meeting with President George W. Bush on Sept. 20: "It was proved that five of the names included in the FBI list had nothing to do with what happened."

According to The Orlando Sentinel, the Saudi Arabian embassy confirmed that four of the five mentioned by Al-Faisal - Saeed Alghamdi, Mohand Alshehri, Abdulaziz Alomari and Salem Alhazmi- are not dead and had nothing to do with the heinous terror attacks in New York and Washington. (source: Christopher J. Petherick - American Free Press)

From photos of all of those that perished on that flight, it is clear that none are even "Arab looking." This seems to rule out Arabs sneaking aboard under assumed names.

If you are familiar with Operation Northwoods (see Body of Secrets by James Bamford or thumbnail description here) then you know that the National Security Agency (NSA) has both the will and ability to orchestrate an "operation" such as Sept 11th if they decided it was for the "greater good." Not saying that they choose to conduct September 11 attack, but they clearly have the ability. According to Bamford, "Operation Northwoods" was not planned by any "rogue element" but proposed by General Lemnitzer, himself, and then thankfully spiked by President Kennedy. Think also of FDR's foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor as exposed by Robert Stinnett in his book Day of Deceit. Stinnett actually agrees with FDR's decision to allow it to happen.

Brush up on the Lusitania hoax, the USS Liberty cover-up, the Gulf of Tonkin fiction, and the Gulf War I falsified satellite photos, etc. if you are not convinced that government officials are capable of stretching the truth (for our own good, of course). It is very hard to keep a secret of this gravity. One possible way to cut down chatter is to eliminate as many witnesses as possible, preferably during the crime itself.

Critics of "conspiracy theorists" have tried to nullify talk of remote controlled planes as being the talk of lunatics. Global Hawk (Raytheon) is a large military aircraft that has flown 7000 miles without a pilot as discussed in this Air Force public affairs article, and is being widely used in the current Iraq war.


They also make large commercial planes for FedEx that fly by remote control as reported by the Associated Press. The "success" of this operation depended on the planes reaching their destination. Would the planners (be they Arab or otherwise) trust poorly trained "pilots" when this technology was at their disposal?

Reported only in a Portuguese newspaper, The Portugal News Weekend Edition (May 8, 2002) , a group of US pilots deliberated nonstop for 72 hours in an independent analysis of the 911 story. The inquiry stated, "The so-called terrorist attack was in fact a superbly executed military operation carried out against the USA, requiring the utmost professional military skill in command, communications, and control." Captain Kent Hill USAF Ret, a friend of Chuck Burlingame (the pilot of Flight 77), confirmed the ability of flying aircraft from the ground. An ex Vietnam fighter pilot said, "Those birds either had a crack fighter pilot in the left seat, or they were being maneuvered by remote control."

The following list of passengers was gathered from many sources posted on the Internet:

Dong Lee, Ruben Ornedo, and Chad Keller all worked for Boeing. Lee also worked for the NSA. Stanley Hall, "the dean of electronic warfare," (along with Peter Gay, David Kolvacin, and Kenneth Waldie on other flights), worked for Raytheon.

William Caswell was a particle physicist who worked for the Navy. His job was so classified that his family had no clue as to what he did and did not know why he was flying to California.

Charles Droz, LCDR USN Ret, was a software developer for EM solutions (manufacturer of Wide Area Networks).

Robert Penniger worked for BAE Systems, ("an industry leader in flight control systems"), whose Board is comprised of many from the intelligence community. BAE has apparently removed their Board of Directors page, but it list a "who's who" of high level connections to the CIA, DARPA, and NSA. (See the appendix for a list of outside directors of BAE Systems that were not on Flight 77.)

Robert Ploger and his wife were added "late" to the original CNN passenger list. He is the son of Major General Robert R Ploger USA, Ret, another "flag" link. The other "late" addition was Sandra Teague, a physical therapist at Georgetown University Hospital.

John Sammartino and Leonard Taylor worked at Xontech (missile defense), another company connected to the intelligence community, also with ties to Boeing.

Vicki Yancey worked for Vreedenberg Corp, yet another company connected to the intelligence community. Her father describes her death as a "planned murder." Her widower works for Northrup-Grumman.

Mary Jane Booth was in a position to know what was going on at Dulles Airport as secretary for American Airlines general manager.

John Yamnicky, 71, Capt USN Ret, was a defense contractor for Veridian who had done a number of "black ops," according to his son.

The physicians, lawyers, biotech representatives, and "human interest" victims who were aboard, could also provide important clues, but in the interest of space, we will save them for future consideration.

Many readers recall a particular Fox Television TV show called "The Lone Gunmen" which was aired on March 2, 2001 [Download Episode]. In the show, the bad guys control a passenger airplane by remote control with intentions of flying it into the World Trade Center. The villains were a Pentagon insider faction; the motive to inflame the public and thereby legitimate new military budgets and operations. Life indeed imitates art.

It has been reported that some people were warned not to fly that day. One was reported to be Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco. Another was author Salman Rushdie. The person on that flight MOST likely to be warned was Robert Speisman. He was an executive at Lazare Kaplan, a diamond merchant, and son in law of Maurice Templesman. Templesman was Jackie Kennedy's long time lover and is highly connected according to Time Magazine. Time also reported about about his "special access" to the National Security Council. He has also "stepped out" with Madeleine Albright.

I attempted on three occasions to obtain a final passenger list from American Airlines. They refuse to give a list and in fact won't even verify that they gave the first list to CNN. Since the list is in the public domain, I find it curious that they would not take ownership nor provide a current, "correct" list.

Would it even be necessary to "lure" all expendables onto the designated death flights? Why not just grab those you want to get rid of and then slip them into the pile later? Have you seen an interview with the check-in personnel for the flights who can tell us who actually got on any of these flights? Not a chance. In fairness, Washington, D.C. and it's suburbs draw a great number of contractors for the military and intelligence communities in their normal course of business. It may be mere coincidence that these passengers were all on the same flight; however; the government refuses to release information which would relieve our concerns.

Appendix

List of outside diectors of BAE Systems that were not on Flight 77:

Richard J. Kerr former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

Mr. Kerr served in the U.S. Intelligence community for 32 years - from September 1960 until March 1992. He started as a country analyst in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and ended his career as the senior professional intelligence officer in the U.S. government serving as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence.

Dr. William Schneider, Jr. former Under Secretary State for Security, Science and Technology

Prior to serving on the board, Dr. Schneider was formerly Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology (1982-1986). He served as Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (198l-2) prior to being nominated as Under Secretary by the President.

Dr. Robert S. Cooper former Director, DARPA

Dr. Cooper is currently President, CEO, Director and co-founder of Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation. From 1981 to 1985, Dr. Cooper was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Technology and simultaneously held the position of Director for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As Assistant Secretary, he was principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on the allocation of Department resources to research, exploratory development and advanced development projects.

General Anthony C. Zinni (Ret) former Commander-in-Chief, CENTCOM

Gen. Zinni was formerly Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command. While in the Marine Corps he held numerous command and staff assignments that include platoon, company, battalion, regimental, Marine expeditionary unit, and Marine expeditionary force command. His staff assignments included service on battalion, regimental, division, base, and service staffs in operations, training, special operations, counterterrorism, and manpower billets. Gen. Zinni most recently served as the United States Special Envoy to the Middle East.

General Kenneth A. Minihan (Ret) former Director National Security Agency; Central Security Service

Lt. Gen Minihan served more than thirty-three years of active commissioned service to the nation before retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 1999. On his final tour of duty, he served as the 14th Director of the National Security Agency/Central Security Service, a combat support agency of the Department of Defense with military and civilian personnel stationed worldwide. As Director, he was the senior uniformed intelligence officer in the Department of Defense. He also served as the Director of The Defense Intelligence Agency.

Robert L. Prestel former Deputy Director, National Security Agency

Mr. Prestel served as Deputy Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1990 - . He was the senior civilian presiding over this Defense Agency whose principal missions are the production of foreign Signals Intelligence and the protection of official U.S. Government communications and information systems.

The Busheviks

By Bill Gallagher

05/26/06 "NFR" -- -DETROIT -- When the Liar in Chief declares, "We're not mining or trolling into the personal lives of innocent Americans," the enlightened know that is precisely what his fascist government is doing.

President George W. Bush lies in small matters -- like his absurdly folksy claim that his greatest thrill and the "best moment" of his presidency was catching a fish. So when it comes to covering up his domestic spying program, you know he's spewing his Orwellian whoppers big-time.
The only problem the Busheviks had with their secret wiretapping program was they got caught. But don't worry, Bush assured us, it's only those "international communications" he wanted to "aggressively pursue."

Always the master of the deceptive oversimplification to buttress his point, Bush added, "If there are people inside our country who are talking to al-Qaeda, we want to know." Little details like the law and the Constitution couldn't restrain our "wartime president" who claims absolute, unfettered authority to do anything he wants to "protect" our nation.

So now he's caught kicking it up a notch to include widespread surveillance of domestic phone records and spying on millions of innocent Americans. USA Today blew the lid off the National Security Agency's spying and monitoring of domestic phone activities. One source told USA Today that the NSA spying program has produced "the largest database ever assembled in the world."

This Big Brother snooping was done with the ignominious cooperation of phone company giants Verizon, AT&T and Bell South. Qwest, to its great credit, refused to cooperate in the sordid deed of betraying its own customers.

Joseph P. Nacchio, Qwest's former CEO, refused to provide the NSA with private phone records of its customers. Nacchio -- who's under indictment on an insider trading charge -- smelled serious legal issues when the NSA came knocking on his door.

In a prepared statement for The New York Times, Nacchio's lawyer, Herbert J. Stern, said the government first approached his client in the fall of 2001.

"Mr. Nacchio made an inquiry as to whether a warrant or other legal process had been secured in support of that request," Stern stated.
He added, "When he learned that no such authority had been granted, and there was a disinclination on the part of the authorities to use any legal process," Nacchio became suspicious, figured the NSA requests violated privacy requirements and told his people "to refuse to comply."

Any officer at Verizon, AT&T and Bell South who did comply should be summarily fired. Company board members should be outraged, and shareholders should be demanding accountability. This may be the incident that sparks the biggest class-action lawsuit ever. The company officers broke the law and their contracts with their customers.

A $5 billion suit has already been filed against Verizon for sharing customer information with government spies.

"This is the largest and most vast intrusion of civil liberties we've ever seen in the United States," said Bruce Afrin, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit.

The folks at the NSA must have been huffing over Qwest's resistance. Imagine that! What's all this "warrant or other legal process" crap? What kind of people are these? How dare they defy our "wartime president"? All those legal niceties are OK in theory, but times have changed. Our government gets what it wants, when it wants it, and woe betide those who dare to think otherwise.

Predictably, Bush claimed everything is perfectly lawful, saying in his weekly radio address that "the privacy of all Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities." Sure.

Warrantless searches, phone trolling, torture, kidnapping, indefinite imprisonment without charges, denial of legal representation, you name it. It's all legal. Just ask Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If the president says it's legal, it's legal. When we're at war, the Constitution, the Congress and civility are out the door.

Bush always plays the fear card, telling us he's "protecting" us from al-Qaeda as he takes us on our national plunge into fascism. He seizes power with impunity, and the Republicans in Congress are willing accomplices as they abrogate the fundamental responsibilities of their branch of the federal government to a power-crazed madman.

As America sleeps, basic rights, especially privacy, are under assault. The concentration of claimed authority in the Executive Branch -- removed from congressional authorization and outside the scope of judicial review -- is dangerous and frightening.

The Busheviks are not conservatives -- they are neo-fascists with an agenda aimed at protecting a privileged elite and using the unbridled power of an authoritarian government to enhance and protect their wealth.

They're not wearing black shirts, boot-stomping down Pennsylvania Avenue in the style of the more theatrical of their ilk. But their insidious threat is real and chilling.

Doug Olson, a reader from Madison, Wis., provided me with an important analysis of what the Busheviks are doing. Doug says when he brands them fascists, he doesn't mean it as a "barstool put-down." Doug has a good grasp of what fascism historically is. "I mean it quite literally," he says. "Most people have no idea what fascism is. They think you need to have a bunch of swastika-wearing thugs out rounding up the Jews. This is completely wrong. The Bush people fit my definition of fascism to a T: They are radical, conservative, corporate, authoritarian, nationalist supremacists.

"Their supreme 'master race' is not racial but economic -- the top 10th of a percent of wealth-holders in America. They have no respect for human rights. They have no respect for democracy, except as a cover and propaganda tool. They pervert language -- for them, language is merely a tool of deceit."

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., is the most forthright, courageous and prophetic voice in Washington today. He brands the Bushevik regime's systematic assaults on our liberties as the egregious deeds they are. He also had the guts to oppose the war in Iraq and is now calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Feingold calls the phone-record mining "a frightening prospect." Before the latest spying revelation, Feingold had already offered a resolution in the Senate to censure Bush for ordering the NSA's warrantless searches.

Feingold -- unlike so many gutless Democrats on Capitol Hill -- doesn't mince words and challenges Bush on the most vital issues of our times. "We must get out of our foxholes and be willing to clearly and specifically point out what a strategic error the Iraq invasion has been," he told a National Press Club gathering last week.

Feingold wants U.S. troops withdrawn by the end of the year.

"I believe the situation would probably be better," he said. "The lesson of insurgency is, when the occupying power leaves, it tends to lessen, rather than increase, the level of violence."

Feingold's views are in direct contrast to Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has never admitted her vote to support the war was a horrible mistake. She ducks the crunch questions about force withdrawal.

Sen. Clinton did, however, say she finds the phone-record mining "deeply disturbing." Why, then, is her name not on Feingold's censure resolution? The Clinton-infatuated media gave more attention to Rupert Murdoch's planned fund-raiser for her than Feingold's substantive presentation on Iraq and national security.

Last week, Hillary gushed over George W. Bush's "charm and charisma." I just don't know where anyone can find any "charm" in a fascist-loving war criminal.

Bill Gallagher, a Peabody Award winner, is a former Niagara Falls city councilman who now covers Detroit for Fox2 News. His e-mail address is gallaghernewsman@sbcglobal.net.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Bastards Inc.

May 26, 2006 -- On May 24, the National Security Council contravened US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and ruled out direct negotiations with Iran that were promised by Khalilzad after the appointment of a new Iraqi government. However, State Department sources report that there are direct negotiations taking place between Iran and the United States. However, the American side is not represented by the U.S. government but by Halliburton. The oil company, with long ties to Dick Cheney, is negotiating with Iran on potential contracts to refurbish Iran's aging oil production infrastructure. The saber-rattling from the Bush White House over Iran is either a smokescreen to draw attention away from U.S.-Iranian oil talks or represents a new fracture between the neocons in the Bush administration: the financially-motivated vs. the politically-motivated necons. This fissure may represent the first discernable break between Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Eavesdropping, Gagging, and the Constitution

By Ray McGovern

05/25/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Is the National Security Agency being "turned against the people," as the Congressional committee led by Sen. Frank Church warned might happen? We the people cannot know; it's classified.

Thursday's slick but evasive testimony by Gen. Mike Hayden, the president's nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, put the spotlight on Hayden's personal role in an aggressive NSA program that skirts strict 30-year-old legal restrictions on eavesdropping on American citizens. As NSA director from 1999 to 2005, Hayden did the White House's bidding in devising and implementing that program without adequately informing Congress - as required by law. When an unauthorized disclosure revealed the program to the press, Hayden agreed to play point-man with smoke and mirrors. Small wonder that the White House considers him the perfect man for the CIA job.

The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect us from "unreasonable searches and seizures," unless the government can establish "probable cause" that a crime is involved. The NSA, FBI, and other agencies of government had been running programs in clear violation of the amendment in the decades before the Church committee held extensive hearings on these matters in 1975.

While acknowledging the NSA's technological capability as a "sensitive national asset valuable to national defense," the Church committee sharply warned, "If not properly controlled ... this same capability could be turned against the American people, at great cost to liberty." The upshot was the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which passed in 1978 in an effort to ensure that (1) this capability could play an effective role for national defense and (2) it would not be "turned against the American people."

The football lingo favored by Gen. Hayden provides an instructive metaphor here. FISA was essentially an "end run" around the Fourth Amendment. But it was a legal play authorized by the 1978 legislation out of concern that this valuable eavesdropping tool not be lost to intelligence officials charged with protecting US national security. To ensure as much as possible that Constitutional protections would not be jeopardized, the 1978 law gave the government permission to eavesdrop on Americans only with a warrant from a special court set up for that purpose (the FISA court). At the same time, in recognition of the occasional need for intelligence officers to act quickly, the law specifically allows eavesdropping on US citizens for 72 hours before a warrant must be sought.

Illegal Procedure

After 9/11, at the urging of Vice President Dick Cheney and his counsel David Addington, President George W. Bush authorized what can be likened to an end run around the FISA end run. But since this new play ignores the requirement for a court warrant, it amounts to "illegal procedure." And this is recognized by virtually everyone but the most zealous fans of the Bush team, who argue vehemently that the play should not be called back and the team not be penalized.

As I noted in an earlier article, Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, NSA director (1977-81), who over a long career has earned wide respect from Republicans and Democrats alike, recently leveled pointed criticism at the new administration program. Inman stressed, "There clearly was a line in the FISA statutes which says you couldn't do this." He also pointed to an "extra sentence put in the bill, which said, ‘You can't do anything that is not authorized by this bill.'" He added that we should get away from the idea that the program can continue.

Fouling One Off

Switching to the baseball lingo equally favored by Hayden, at his confirmation hearing Thursday he swung at a fat pitch from administration loyalist, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Missouri). But instead of knocking it over the fence, per the game plan, Hayden fouled up by fouling it off. Bond's delivery:

"Did you believe that your primary responsibility as director of NSA was to execute a program that your NSA lawyers, the Justice Department lawyers, and White House officials all told you was legal, and that you were ordered to carry it out by the president of the United States?"

Instead of the simple "Yes" that was anticipated, Hayden paused and spoke rather poignantly - and revealingly:

"I had to make this personal decision in early October 2001, and it was a personal decision.... I could not not do this."

Why should it be such an enormous personal decision whether or not to obey a White House order? No one asked Hayden, but it requires no particular acuity to figure it out. This is a military officer who had indoctrinated NSA employees with what used to be known as NSA's "First Commandment" - Thou Shalt Not Eavesdrop on US Citizens; an officer who, like the rest of us, had sworn to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; a military man well aware one must never obey an unlawful order.

That, it seems clear, is why Hayden found it a difficult personal decision. Did the new, post-9/11 "paradigm" created by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and David Addington trump the Constitution? President George W. Bush on January 23, 2006: "I had all kinds of lawyers review the process." Seems so. The same ones who were concurrently devising ways to "legalize" torture and indefinite detention without due process.

No American, save perhaps Adm. Inman, who was present at the creation of FISA, knew the FISA law better than Hayden. Nonetheless, the general said Thursday that he did not even require a written legal opinion to satisfy himself that this very aggressive surveillance program, to be implemented without warrant and without adequate consultation in Congress, could be considered legal. Attorneys from the Justice Department and elsewhere were said to have blessed the program. But when Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) asked now-Attorney General Gonzales to have lawyers look into the advice rendered at the time by Justice attorneys, he was told that Justice had to drop the investigation. The lame excuse? The NSA had refused to grant the attorneys from Justice the needed clearances to look into the NSA program.

The Powell Virus

Infected like so many other senior military officers by what might be called the "Powell virus," Hayden could "not not" salute his commander in chief - whether the order be legal or illegal. He could not summon the courage to say "Sir, no sir," as the excellent new film on Vietnam puts it.

Hayden's Prussian boot-click is what we can anticipate if he is confirmed as director of the CIA. This is why the White House considers him so highly qualified for the job. But it is hardly what the country needs in dealing with the long train of abuses and usurpations adopted post-9/11, including kidnapping, extraordinary rendition, torture, sequestering detainees without notification to the Red Cross, and illegal surveillance.

Lies, Leaks, and the Constitution

The confirmation hearing also raised the issue of leaks, with Gen. Hayden subjecting them to harsh criticism. After all, his nomination would slide through easily, were it not for unauthorized disclosures showing that, at the behest of the vice president (and maybe the president too, who knows?), Hayden devised and ran illegal programs in violation of FISA and the Fourth Amendment. We retirees who have had first-hand experience with the value of leaks have been working hard to put them in perspective.

Twenty months ago a dozen former government officials established the Truth-Telling Coalition to encourage serving officials to expose consequential government lies - the varying reasons adduced for attacking Iraq, for example. Our initial appeal issued on September 9, 2004, was very direct:

"We know how misplaced loyalty to bosses, agencies, and careers can obscure the higher allegiance all government officials owe the Constitution, the sovereign public, and the young men and women put in harm's way. We urge you to act on those higher loyalties."

We were trying to challenge the pervasive temptation - especially among officials working on classified matters - to hunker down and avoid placing job and financial future at risk. The coalition urged government officials instead to provide such information both to Congress and, through the media, to the public. "Truth-telling is a patriotic and effective way to serve the nation," we wrote.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that many officials still serving in the national security parts of our government have found ways to expose crimes like kidnapping "suspected terrorists," torturing them or "rendering" them to other countries to be tortured, holding them incommunicado without the required notice to the Red Cross, warrantless eavesdropping.... The list goes on.

The bad news is that administration officials and those in Congress who do their bidding seem determined to intimidate those like Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) from exercising our First Amendment rights to speak out against that which we should speak out against: What the Nuremberg Tribunal called "the supreme international crime" of initiating a war of aggression. Especially considering that, as Nuremberg stressed, such a war contains the "accumulated evil of the whole." Just like the evils mentioned above, which are still going on.

It is abundantly clear that the George W. Bush administration - enjoying abroad "sole-remaining-superpower" status, and at home effective control of all three formerly independent branches of government - believes it has carte blanche to continue these abuses under the rubric of the "Long War" on terror. So, rather than addressing these abuses, the executive branch and its courtiers in Congress have been fixated on stemming the flow of revelations to the press.

Goss and His Lie Detectors

Toward this end, before former CIA director Porter Goss was given a pink slip on May 5, he had earned the dubious distinction of blowing more electrical circuits than any of his predecessors through overuse of polygraph machines for "single-issue" questioning: i.e., have you talked to the press? Goss fired senior analyst Mary McCarthy ten days short of retirement as a warning to those misguided souls who may still believe the Fourth Estate has an important role to play in curbing government excesses.

During his tepid exit interview with President George W. Bush, the president described him (accurately) as a "transition" leader. The transition has been from bad ("slam-dunk" Tenet) to worse (yes-man Hayden). Gen. Hayden, by most accounts, was a decent sort until he fell in with bad companions - Vice President Dick Cheney, his "sure-you-can-do-anything" lawyer David Addington, Alberto Gonzales, and other hired-gun lawyers. Sniffing absolute power can do things to the most righteous. Forget the warrantless eavesdropping. What kind of person would lust after a job, the description of which includes supervising kidnapping, rendition and torture?

Under pressure from his patron, Vice President Dick Cheney, to plug the leaks, Goss repeatedly condemned public discussion of intelligence matters - not only by current employees, but also by retirees - and was extremely critical of the media for publishing unauthorized disclosures. Similarly driven by Cheney, House Intelligence Committee chairman Pete Hoekstra has expressed outrage at the disclosures, particularly those regarding warrantless eavesdropping and secret CIA-run prisons abroad.

The problem is that Hoekstra is in a position to do something about it. The odor of fascism rises from his latest effort to intimidate those like VIPS from speaking and writing about administration behavior. Hoekstra inserted the following into the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY'07 (HR 5020), which has passed the House:

SEC. 413. STUDY ON REVOKING PENSIONS OF PERSONS WHO COMMIT UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURES OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

(a) Study - The Director of National Intelligence shall conduct a study on the feasibility of revoking the pensions of personnel in the intelligence community ... who commit unauthorized disclosures of classified information, including whether revoking such pensions is feasible under existing law or under the administrative authority of the Director of National Intelligence or any other head of an element of the intelligence community.

Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte would have 90 days from the date of enactment (the bill has not yet made it to the president's desk) to conduct and submit the study to the House and Senate intelligence committees.

Who decides what constitutes "classified information?" Not CIA retirees, you can be sure. Administration spokesmen have stressed that, despite previous disclosures to the press, programs like the eavesdropping and secret prisons remain classified. Journalists, too, are in jeopardy. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales warned Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that they can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, and insisted that the government will not hesitate to track telephone calls involving reporters as part of criminal investigations regarding leaks. Gonzales said he understood the role of the press, but insisted that the rights of a free press cannot trump national security concerns.

There it is, folks. The same Addington/Gonzales team that created a "post-9/11 paradigm" to justify torture can use that paradigm to trump the First Amendment as well. And we now have it straight from the mouth of the attorney general.

If the bill is passed with Hoekstra's SEC. 413 intact, we who have been speaking out against administration misdeeds will be reduced to hoping that any penalties are not made retroactive. The cognoscenti tell us not to worry; the Constitution will in the end trump draconian legislation of that kind. But given the current whiff of fascism wafting over Washington, it seems altogether possible the administration would not shy away from using our tax dollars to bring us to trial, and deprive us of our pensions for use in defending ourselves.

O Tempora, O Mores!

Ray McGovern works with "Tell the Word," the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. A CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, he served nine directors and seven presidents, and is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

Dictator Bushit

Leave spy judgements to government: officials

Adam Tanner / Reuters | May 25 2006

Comment: Do not question authority, the government knows what is best and that is illegally spying on citizens.

The United States government, not any court, is the best judge of whether to keep programs such as its controversial effort to eavesdrop on citizens a secret, an assistant attorney general said on Wednesday.

Peter Keisler, an assistant attorney general, and other U.S. officials made the claim in the latest filing to a lawsuit alleging that telecommunications firm AT&T illegally allowed the government to monitor phone conversations and e-mail communications.

"In cases such as this one, where the national security of the United States is implicated, it is well established that the executive branch is best positioned to judge the potential effects of disclosure of sensitive information on the nation's security," they wrote in a filing on Wednesday evening.

"Indeed, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that courts are ill-equipped as an institution to judge harm to national security."

The privacy rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation says the program allows the government to eavesdrop on phone calls and read e-mails of millions of Americans without obtaining warrants. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that would order the government to stop the program.

President George W. Bush has acknowledged a domestic spying program under which the National Security Agency, without court warrants, has listened to international calls and monitored e-mails by U.S. citizens if one party was thought to be linked to terrorism.

The U.S. government is asking a federal court in San Francisco to dismiss the case. The judge will review the motion on June 23.

U.S. officials are asking federal Judge Vaughn Walker to review classified materials they say bolster their case that U.S. national security is at stake. Under that proposal, the plaintiffs would not have access to those materials and thus could not directly argue against them.

"The Court should consider the materials submitted by the United States in support of its assertion of the state secrets privilege in order to fully understand and avoid the dangers that would result from any such litigation," the filing said.

"In sum, the Court has the inherent authority to consider classified information in camera and ex parte without violating plaintiffs' right to due process."

In a court filing on Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said their right to legal due process would be jeopardized if the judge alone reviewed the classified documents offered by the government.

"Unless a party can see and respond to evidence submitted against it, the Court's impartiality is jeopardized," they wrote. "Ex parte proceedings that limit a party's ability to participate in hearings, and to consider and even attempt to refute the government's evidence, violate the very spirit of due process."

Mindlock, Part Two

THE MINDLOCK, PART 2

9/11 will never be solved

People and publishers remain
afraid to confront the real issue



... it is important to stress that the delegates of the International
Red Cross found no evidence whatever at the camps in Axis occupied
Europe of a deliberate policy to exterminate the Jews. In all its 1,600
pages the Report does not even mention such a thing as a gas chamber.
http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2005/01/18220.php




The 9/11 puzzle will never be solved, because all those investigating
are too cowardly to consider the most important issue of that sorry
day.

I titled my explanation of 9/11 "The Day America Died" when I wrote it
three years ago, and it remains a true title. We all, the barely
living, died a little that day. America, certainly. Liberty was
replaced by politically correct torture. Until recently, I was the only
writer who actually said that the key factor in all that needless death
and destruction on 9/11 and the worldwide state of permanent war that
followed was Jewish. The permanent silence that has followed is the
reason the crime has not been solved.

The owners of the skyscrapers, the men running the government, and the
media telling the stories — all Jewish. A perfect fabric for covering
up a false flag crime that was created as a reason to fight the very
enemies it invented — the perfect enemy, one who doesn't exist except
as a useful target, and hence can't ever be captured or defeated. The
perfect enemy. The result is the endless war we now have. Perfect. For
profit.

And as Jews and their cowardly liberal minions scramble to evade this
charge and hide behind the facade names like Zionist, Israeli, Khazar,
Illuminati, Frankist and Straussian neocon to avoid the spotlight of
guilt for these crimes, do not be deceived by those who pretend to
preach peace and equality among men, nor those who say they are trying
to get to the bottom of things in their own way.

See the real words, and how they clothe layers of distraction into
patterns of activity — like peace demonstrations — that wind up going
nowhere, and ultimately are a waste of time. Many "sincere" Jews are
involved in these activities; in fact, they often run them. Going
nowhere. But appearing to be trying. Another subtle layer of
distraction.

Do you understand? Will you ever understand? Do you have the courage to
understand?

What happens to you when you contemplate the word which many in the
world are forbidden to utter, and those who do are in jail? Do you run?
Or will you stand and fight?

Virtually all efforts by so-called 9/11 skeptics ignore this most
important aspect, and instead focus on holograms, fake tape recordings
of stewardesses, and passengers and flights that existed only in some
criminals' manipulative imaginations, which were then established in
our minds by consensual (but not honest) Jewish media repetition.

American minds have been shifted into accepting the government's
version of reality, massacres turned into "good wars" and tales of
bravery taken from the exploits of men like John Kerry and Richard
Armitage, twisted from rabid mass murder into legends of American
paradigms. Total spin, turning pointless atrocities into worthy goals.

I've said for three years that the great gift of 9/11 was that it
provided a clear window to comprehend the American murder machine as it
operated throughout most if not all of its sorry history.

But most people still can't hear the call, because their paradigms are
shackled by never having read stories like this, all because of who
owns the media and prints the textbooks.

Red Cross: No evidence Nazis
tried to exterminate the Jews

... the Red Cross Report ... clarifies the true cause of those deaths
that undoubtedly occurred in the camps toward the end of the war. ...
"In the chaotic condition of Germany after the invasion during the
final months of the war, the camps received no food supplies at all and
starvation claimed an increasing number of victims.

Itself alarmed by this situation, the German Government at last
informed the ICRC on February 1st, 1945 ... In March 1945, discussions
between the President of the ICRC and General of the S.S. Kaltenbrunner
gave even more decisive results. Relief could henceforth be distributed
by the ICRC, and one delegate was authorised to stay in each camp ..."
(Vol. III, p. 83).

... The Red Cross are quite explicit in stating that food supplies
ceased at this time due to the Allied bombing of German transportation,
and in the interests of interned Jews they had protested on March 15th,
1944 against "the barbarous aerial warfare of the Allies" (Inter Arma
Caritas, p. 78). By October 2nd, 1944, the ICRC warned the German
Foreign Office of the impending collapse of the German transportation
system, declaring that starvation conditions for people throughout
Germany were becoming inevitable.

Check out this thought! It was the American bombing that caused the
deaths of all those people — Jews and others — in the camps because it
guaranteed starvation!

In dealing with this comprehensive, three-volume Report, it is
important to stress that the delegates of the International Red Cross
found no evidence whatever at the camps in Axis occupied Europe of a
deliberate policy to exterminate the Jews. In all its 1,600 pages the
Report does not even mention such a thing as a gas chamber. It admits
that Jews, like many other wartime nationalities, suffered rigours and
privations, but its complete silence on the subject of planned
extermination is ample refutation of the Six Million legend. Like the
Vatican representatives with whom they worked, the Red Cross found
itself unable to indulge in the irresponsible charges of genocide which
had become the order of the day. So far as the genuine mortality rate
is concerned, the Report points out that most of the Jewish doctors
from the camps were being used to combat typhus on the eastern front,
so that they were unavailable when the typhus epidemics of 1945 broke
out in the camps (Vol. I, p. 204 ff) - Incidentally, it is frequently
claimed that mass executions were carried out in gas chambers cunningly
disguised as shower facilities. Again the Report makes nonsense of this
allegation. "Not only the washing places, but installations for baths,
showers and laundry were inspected by the delegates. They had often to
take action to have fixtures made less primitive, and to get them
repaired or enlarged" (Vol. III, p. 594).

from http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2005/01/18220.php

Polish history professor Marek Glogoczowski writes the seminal phrase:

Holocaust as a POTENT REDEEMER
of "systematic, constant, vicious and remorseless" crimes
of USA, GB/EU & Israel

Could it be that if you believe in the Holocaust you’re more likely to
ignore other crimes — many horrific ones perpetrated by Israeli troops
who shoot Palestinian children in the head for sport, for instance?
Remember, this is wholly a Jewish practice.

It's even more than that. It's like an inoculation for some disease,
like mumps, designed to prevent you from ever getting it again because
you once had a mild case. Only in this case the "disease" is
conscience, and if you can erase your conscience it makes it so much
easier to kill all those children in Palestine and Iraq, not to mention
to completely destroy the American democracy with money, drugs and
cultural pornography.

What does the Law
have to do with your heart?

So you follow the rules and think you know what’s going on? Guess
again.

Referring to the Seven Noahide Laws, Gordon Ginn, PhD.,
comments: "A superficial reading of these 'laws' may elicit
a favorable response from those who have not done their
homework. But the crux of the matter is how they are
interpreted.

For example, if Orthodox Jews interpret them, every Christian would be
guilty of violating Number One (Thou shalt not engage in idol worship)
because no cross, crucifix, image, photograph or anything that could be
construed as an icon would be allowed, Christians would be guilty of
violating Number 2 because they believe that Jesus Christ was God in
the flesh, and that is blasphemy to the Jews. The Jews believe that
Jesus was not the Son of God but only a prophet.

Technically, every Christian on the face of the Earth could be executed
under these laws.

[Editorial note: How about number 7: That it is a violation of the
Seven Noahide Laws to eat the flesh of animals? Shall all Christians
then be executed because one witness saw them at Black Angus restaurant
eating a steak? Think about it.]

"Whoever is behind the 'Seven Noahide Laws' is not wasting any time
nailing down their dastardly plans.

On the day (March 2Oth) that George Bush signed the resolution into
law, the Wall Street Journal carried a front page story about the
Noahides. And now that we are saddled with this "law," the Noahides are
exploring the feasibility of taking it worldwide through the United
Nations. It seems to me that this fits right in with Bush's New World
Order." [ End of Ginn quote. ]

PUBLIC LAW 102-14:

EDUCATION DAY USA

Judaism/Talmudism is now the officially recognized religion of US
PUBLIC LAW 102-14.

And the crimes of 9/11 — the boxcar horrors of Afghanistan, the
deformed dead children of Iraq, the Palestinian kids with Israeli
bullets in their heads – all of these remain unsolved.

Because people will simply not choose to see the horror they endorse by
not resisting it. And with each passing moment it creeps closer to
their own false sanctuaries.



John Kaminski is a writer who lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida and
whose inspirational Internet essays have been seen on hundreds of
websites around the world. To support him, read his stories or buy his
books, go to http://www.johnkaminski.com/

New Zogby Poll Frightens Masters Of Terror Into Releasing 'Bin Laden Tape'
Nearly half of entire country sees 9/11 cover-up, 24 hours later 'Bin Laden tape' gets released

Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com | May 24 2006

A new Zogby International poll that shows over 45% of Americans want a new independent investigation of 9/11 has the masters of terror running scared and dreaming up new ways to blind side intrigued Americans into sticking their heads back in the sand and relinquishing their suspicions in return for government protection.

The outcome of the poll was that 45% supported calls for a new inquiry on behalf of Congress or an international tribunal and that 42% believed the 9/11 Commission was a cover-up.

Exactly 24 hours later, an audio tape alleged to contain the voice of dead CIA intelligence asset Osama bin Laden renforced the myth that he had personally directed 19 incompetent Arabs to carry out the attack.

This is an inept attempt to bolster the 'Bin Laden did it' fraud one day after the Zogby poll was released The emergence of bin Laden tapes repeatedly coincide with watershed moments either politically or from the 9/11 truth movement. See our archive for previous examples of this ridiculous theatre.

Is it a stretch to suggest that in reality the numbers swing even more in our favor?

Endless stories of warrantless NSA domestic eavesdropping have created a chilling climate, whereby Americans expect to have their every communication intercepted and catalogued by Big Brother. Would more have expressed a desire for a new investigation minus this fear factor?

What is amazing to consider is that after nearly five years of relentless monopoly establishment media and government promotion of the official 9/11 fable, it can't even muster the support of half the country.

This completely inept and impotent performance on the part of the establishment is coupled with Bush approval ratings dipping into the 20's as even his conservative base deserts him over a policy that would have been mandated if the 9/11 attack was perpetrated by the parties alleged by the government, closing the borders.
Is there a backlash on its way?

The sudden emergence of the so-called Bin Laden tape was an immediate and desperate response in an effort to prop up an official story that has about as much balance as a drunken prostitute.

Many have speculated that the Pentagon issue is a baited trap ready to snap the 9/11 truth movement. Mouthpieces of the elite have been busy at work attempting to rest the entire body of evidence on the foundation of whether or not Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon.

By placing the Pentagon joker at the bottom of the deck, the establishment is hoping to topple the whole house of cards by eventually releasing crystal clear footage, whether real or manufactured, of a Boeing 757 hitting the Pentagon.

The movement must prepare for that by re-emphasizing the collapse of Building 7 and incendiary devices within the twin towers as the central pillar of the cover-up.

This issue will no doubt encompass the central focus of the upcoming Chicago and Los Angeles 9/11 conferences, which will serve as a platform to educate the public and generate more mainstream press coverage.

Tickets are going fast but are still available for Alex Jones' *star studded* (hint hint) event.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Bilderberg to Meet in Canada - June 8-11
By James P. Tucker Jr.

Tue May 23, 2006 - The secretive group known as Bilderberg will hold its annual secret meeting at the posh Brook Street Resort a few miles from Ottawa, Canada, June 8-11. The location and part of the agenda was disclosed to American Free Press by a source inside Bilderberg's inner circle.

High on the Bilderberg's secret agenda this year are oil prices and the political upheaval in Latin America. When meeting last year in Rottach-Egern, Germany, Bilderberg called for dramatic increases in the price of oil. Oil prices started climbing immediately from $40 a barrel to $70.

Whether Bilderberg will call for still higher prices is unclear, but Henry Kissinger and others had gleefully anticipated ultimate prices at $150 a barrel a year ago. Bilderberg is certainly concerned about supply, which is related to the "Latin American problem," as one insider said.

Approximately 120 international leaders in politics and finance will also discuss the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has caused a rare breach between American Bilderbergers and their European counterparts since the United States Iraq invasion in 2003. Whether the United States should invade Iran is also high on the agenda.

ESPECIALLY CONCERNED ABOUT VENEZUELA

Bilderberg is especially concerned about Venezuela, where as part of a plan to increase revenues from its petroleum industry President Hugo Chavez said May 7 he would impose a new tax on companies that extract oil from his country. Big Oil is represented at Bilderberg by Jeroen van der Veer of The Netherlands, chairman of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Franco Bernabe of Italy, vice chairman of Rothschild Europe, among others.

"We are going to create a new oil tax, called the tax on extraction," Chavez said. "The companies that are pumping oil in Venezuela are making a lot of money."

Chavez accused foreign oil companies of exploiting his country's vast petroleum reserves without paying sufficient taxes. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter but has troubled oil barons by sending cheap petroleum to needy American families and subsidizing domestic use so local citizens pay 12 cents a gallon. Venezuela has voided oil-pumping contracts with private companies at 32 fields and replaced them with a mixed-company model that gave
Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA a minimum 60 percent stake. Chavez has also sharply raised royalties and taxes, and reduced potential drilling acreage by almost two-thirds.

HE IS ALSO RESISTING EXPANSION OF NAFTA THROUGHOUT THE HEMISPHERE, A PRIME BILDERBERG GOAL.

Chavez's outspoken criticisms of the United States make it unlikely that American Bilderbergers can help smooth over the supply problem. However, banker David Rockefeller's family has always had a heavy interest in oil and other investments in South America. President Bush will have a top White House aide representing him at Bilderberg, and high officials of the state, defense and treasury departments will attend. Heads of state and other high officials in government and banking will attend from Europe and Canada.

BILDERBERG'S AGENDA ALSO INCLUDES THE TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST, NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON IRAN, NORTH KOREA AND PAKISTAN, AND GLOBAL WARMING.

The Bilderberg group takes it name from the hotel in Holland where the group met in 1954, during the earliest period of its inception. Bilderbergers meet regularly, presumably on a once-a-year basis, at various locations around the world, always in extreme secrecy, often at resorts controlled by either the Rockefeller or Rothschild families. The Rothschild family is the leading European force within the Bilderberg Group, sharing its power with the American-based Rockefeller empire.

Bilderberg maintains an extremely low profile and seldom, if ever, publishes reports or studies for the public, at least, under its own official aegis.

Participants denied the groups very existence for decades until it was forced into the open by the glare of media publicity, generated largely by the now defunct Spotlight newspaper. (Issue #22, May 29, 2006)

James P. Tucker Jr.

[enditem] - Article at Url.: http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_to_meet_in_canada.html

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What's Hopping?

North American Union to Replace USA?

by Jerome R. Corsi
Posted May 19, 2006

President Bush is pursuing a globalist agenda to create a North American Union, effectively erasing our borders with both Mexico and Canada. This was the hidden agenda behind the Bush administration's true open borders policy.

Secretly, the Bush administration is pursuing a policy to expand NAFTA to include Canada, setting the stage for North American Union designed to encompass the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. What the Bush administration truly wants is the free, unimpeded movement of people across open borders with Mexico and Canada.

President Bush intends to abrogate U.S. sovereignty to the North American Union, a new economic and political entity which the President is quietly forming, much as the European Union has formed.

The blueprint President Bush is following was laid out in a 2005 report entitled "Building a North American Community" published by the left-of-center Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The CFR report connects the dots between the Bush administration's actual policy on illegal immigration and the drive to create the North American Union:

At their meeting in Waco, Texas, at the end of March 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin committed their governments to a path of cooperation and joint action. We welcome this important development and offer this report to add urgency and specific recommendations to strengthen their efforts.

What is the plan? Simple, erase the borders. The plan is contained in a "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" little noticed when President Bush and President Fox created it in March 2005:

In March 2005, the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States adopted a Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), establishing ministerial-level working groups to address key security and economic issues facing North America and setting a short deadline for reporting progress back to their governments. President Bush described the significance of the SPP as putting forward a common commitment "to markets and democracy, freedom and trade, and mutual prosperity and security." The policy framework articulated by the three leaders is a significant commitment that will benefit from broad discussion and advice. The Task Force is pleased to provide specific advice on how the partnership can be pursued and realized.

To that end, the Task Force proposes the creation by 2010 of a North American community to enhance security, prosperity, and opportunity. We propose a community based on the principle affirmed in the March 2005 Joint Statement of the three leaders that "our security and prosperity are mutually dependent and complementary." Its boundaries will be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter within which the movement of people, products, and capital will be legal, orderly and safe. Its goal will be to guarantee a free, secure, just, and prosperous North America.

The perspective of the CFR report allows us to see President Bush's speech to the nation as nothing more than public relations posturing and window dressing. No wonder President Vincente Fox called President Bush in a panic after the speech. How could the President go back on his word to Mexico by actually securing our border? Not to worry, President Bush reassured President Fox. The National Guard on the border were only temporary, meant to last only as long until the public forgets about the issue, as has always been the case in the past.

The North American Union plan, which Vincente Fox has every reason to presume President Bush is still following, calls for the only border to be around the North American Union -- not between any of these countries. Or, as the CFR report stated:

The three governments should commit themselves to the long-term goal of dramatically diminishing the need for the current intensity of the governments’ physical control of cross-border traffic, travel, and trade within North America. A long-term goal for a North American border action plan should be joint screening of travelers from third countries at their first point of entry into North America and the elimination of most controls over the temporary movement of these travelers within North America.

Discovering connections like this between the CFR recommendations and Bush administration policy gives credence to the argument that President Bush favors amnesty and open borders, as he originally said. Moreover, President Bush most likely continues to consider groups such as the Minuteman Project to be "vigilantes," as he has also said in response to a reporter's question during the March 2005 meeting with President Fox.

Why doesn’t President Bush just tell the truth? His secret agenda is to dissolve the United States of America into the North American Union. The administration has no intent to secure the border, or to enforce rigorously existing immigration laws. Securing our border with Mexico is evidently one of the jobs President Bush just won't do. If a fence is going to be built on our border with Mexico, evidently the Minuteman Project is going to have to build the fence themselves. Will President Bush protect America's sovereignty, or is this too a job the Minuteman Project will have to do for him?

Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.

The Star War in Iraq

Please tune into HBO Sunday May 21 at 8PM for Baghdad ER and watch what these lying murderers in Washington are war profiteering from and if you are not moved to action...may God forgive you.

The Star War in Iraq
Maurizio Torrealta e Sigfrido Ranucci, RaiNews 24




May 19, 2006

VIDEO

Transcription

Majid Al Ghezali : They used incredible weapons

Patrick Dillon: Experimental weapons?

Majid Al Ghezali : Yes… Yes, I think. They shoot the bus. We saw the bus like a cloth, like a wet cloth. It seemed like a Volkswagen, a big bus like a Volkswagen.

This testimony was reported to American filmmaker Patrick Dillon a few weeks after the battle for the airport (April 2003) . The person interviewed, Majid al Ghezali, is a well-known and respected man in Baghdad, who is the first violinist in the city orchestra.
In addition to describing the battle, Majid al Ghezali wanted to show Patrick Dillon the site near the airport where this mysterious weapon was used, along with the traces of fused metal still visible, and the irregularly sized ditches where the cadavers were buried before they were exhumed.
We sought out Majid al Ghezali to hear more details of his story. We met up with him in Amman and he pointed out some inexplicable peculiarities on the bodies of the victims of the battle for the airport.

Majid Al Ghezali: Just the head was burnt. In the other parts of the body there wasn’t anything.

Al Ghezali reported that he had seen three passengers in a car, all dead, with their faces and teeth burnt, their clothes intact, and no sign of projectiles.

Majid Al Ghezali :There wasn’t any bullet. I saw their teeth, just the teeth, and they had no eyes, all of them, there was nothing on their bodies.

There were other inexplicable aspects: the terrain where the battle took place was dug up by the American military and replaced with other fresh earth; the bodies that were not hit by projectiles had shrunk to just slightly more than one meter in height.

Majid Al Ghezali ;Except the ones killed by the bullets, most of them became very small. I mean… like that… Something like that.

When we asked Majid what weapon he imagined had been used, he said that he had reached the conclusion that it must have been a laser weapon.

Majid Al Ghezali :One year later we heard that they used an update technology, a unique one, like lasers.

We found another disturbing document on the use of mysterious weapons in Iraq, which referred to episodes that took place almost at the same time as those described by Majid al Ghezali.

Saad al Falluji :They were 26 in the bus. About 20 of them had no head, the head had been cut, some of them had no arms or no legs. The only unwounded was the driver and really I don’t know how he reach our hospital, because one arm was on his side, one head just beside him. It was a very strange and horrible situation.
In the roof of the car there were parts of the body: intestines, brains, all parts of the body. It was a very very very miserable situation.

Geert Van Moorter (medical doctor working in Iraq during and after the war, as a volunteer for the belgiam NGO Medical Aid fot the Third World): Do you have idea with what kind of weapon the attacked the bus?

Saad al Falluji: We don’t know with what kind of weapon they hit this bus.

Doctor n°2 : It seems to be a new weapon

Saad al Falluji: Yes, a new weapon

Doctor n°2: They are trying to do experiments on our civilians. Nobody could identify the type of this weapon.

We went to Belgium to find the filmmaker of this sequence, Geert Van Moorter, a doctor working as a volunteer in Iraq.

Geert Van Moorter : This footage is taken at the General Teaching Hospital in Hilla, which is about 100 Km from Baghdad, and close to the historical site of Babylon. There I talked with the colleague doctor Saad al Falluji, which is the chief surgeon in that hospital.
Doctor al Falluji said me that the survivors that he operated said him that they did not hear any noise, so there was no explosion to hear, no metal fragments or shrapnels or bullets in their bodies, so they themselves were thinking of some strange kind of weapon which they did not know.

Let’s hear Dr. Saad el Falluji’s story about this in more detail.

Saad al Falluji : This bus was very crowded, they were going from Hilla to Kifil, to find their families, but before they had arrived at the American checkpoint the villagers said to them "return back, return back". When the bus tried to return back it was shot by the checkpoint.

Geert Van Moorter : No gunshot wounds?

Saad al Falluji : No, no, I don’t know what it was. We are here 10 surgeons and we couldn’t decide which was the weapon that hit this car.

Geert Van Moorter : But inside the bodies you did not discover ordinary bullets?

Saad al Falluji : We didn’t find bullets, but most of the passengers were dead, so they took them immediately to the refrigerator and we couldn’t dissect and see, but in those who were alive we didn’t find any kind of bullet. We didn’t find bullets in their bodyes.

Doctor n°2 : Something cutting organs, cutting limbs, attacking the abdomen, attacking the neck and goes out.

Dr. Falluji also ended up speaking about a laser weapon....

Saad al Falluji : I don’t think that the bombing, or the cluster bombs, or the laser weapons can bring democracy to our country.

As in any war, the war in Iraq, left us a dreadful gallery of horror - images of mutilations that not even doctors can explain. The witnesses referred to laser weapons, arms with mysterious effects. We do not know what kind of weapons could produce such terrible effects. We tried to learn more about it, by asking for interviews to members of companies manufacturing laser and microwave weapons. Yet, the US Defence Department prevented any information from being released to us. They also did not answer – up to the time the film was edited – the questions we had sent them in order to know weather or not experimental weapons had been tested in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We then reviewed the Pentagon’s media conferences released before the II Gulf War. Willingness to test new weapons emerged form the words of both the Defence Secretary and General Meyers. The questions from the media on direct energy and microwave weapons produced a certain amount of embarrassment.

American journalist : Mr. Secretary, can I ask you a question about some of the technology that you're developing to fight the war on terrorists, specifically directed energy and high-powered microwave technology? Do you — when do you envision that you can weaponize that type of technology?

Donald Rumsfeld : Goodness, it is in — for the most part, the kinds of things you're talking about are in varying early stages. (To the general.) Do you want to — do you have anything you would add?

General Myers : I don't think I would add much. It's — I think they are in early stages and probably not ready for employment at this point.

Donald Rumsfeld in the normal order of things, when you invest in research and development and begin a developmental project, you don't have any intention or expectations that one would use it. On the other hand, the real world intervenes from time to time, and you reach in there and take something out that is still in a developmental stage, and you might use it. So the — your question's not answerable. It is — depends on what happens in the future and how well things move along the track and whether or not someone feels it's appropriate to reach into a development stage and see if something might be useful, as was the case with the unmanned aerial vehicles.

American journalist : But you sound like you're willing to experiment with it.

General Myers : Yeah, I think that's the point. And I think — and it's — and we have, I think, from the beginning of this conflict — I think General Franks has been very open to looking at new things, if there are new things available, and has been willing to put them into the fight, even before they've been fully wrung out. And I think that's — not referring to these particular cases of directed energy or high-powered microwaves, but sure. And we will continue to do that.

But what is meant by directed-energy and microwave weapons? We went to ask retired colonel John Alexander, former program director in one of the most important military research laboratories in the United States, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Retired Colonel John B. Alexander : The research and the concepts for directed energy weapons go back many decades. What is happening is that the technology has now advanced sufficiently that now we are starting to see these weapons becoming real.
There are several types of directed energy weapons and basically what they do is they’re known as "speed of light" because they shoot electrons very fast over very long distances. Lasers of course are in the light range, then there are microwave weapons that are operating at other frequencies, but basically they’re beam weapons, which is nothing physical that goes out, because they move electrons, while the kinetic weapons shoot big bullets to go out and physically hit and destroy something. These work because the energy is deposed on the target and causes some effect.

These images document one of the THEL tests. THEL stands for Tactical High Energy Laser. In the sequence, you can see the laser beam hit and destroy missiles and mortar rounds as they are about to hit the objective.
In this other test we see the laser beam identify and destroy two missiles at the same time.

It doesn’t make any noise and it’s invisible?

Retired Colonel John B. Alexander : Some are visible, some are just outside… You have, you know, in the infrared range…
What’s emerging now are laser weapons where the effect is that that of the laser. They can be all burners, in what we call High Energy Lasers, because with the concentrated energy you can literally drill holes, you know, in the target.

Former Pentagon analyst William Arkin, who presently works as a journalist for the Washington Post, also confirms this revolutionary change from kinetic weapons to energy weapons.

William Arkin : For thousands of years, the way in which you have killed someone is you have hit them with a sword, a sphere, an arrow, a bullet, a bomb. It’s kinetic, you’re killing them by hitting them. And now, all of the sudden, out of nowhere, you have a completely new physical principle being applied in killing people, in which they don’t know that they’re being killed because their skin and body is being heated by high power microwaves or they are being hit by a laser that would have an instantaneous effect.

There are other types of weapons made with lasers, such as the device we can see in this sequence. The target is not hit by a projectile, but rather by an impulse of energy that manages to bore through the armor of an armored car.
Excluding acoustic weapons, for the moment, the only sign of the use of energy weapons in a war scenario is a laser device known as Zeus. According to official Pentagon sources, military vehicles equipped with this laser device have been used in Afghanistan to explode mines. According to two reliable military information sites – Defense Tech and Defence Industry Daily - at least three such vehicles are being used in Iraq as well and some people report having seen them.

Geert Van Moorter : When you showed me the picture of what you described that is a laser weapon, it reminded me that I was talking with some American soldiers, in August 2003, and there was some kind of box on their tank with a blue light like this. I recall it very well not because they said me what it was used for, but because I was teasing a translator, which was an Iraqi female, by telling her "look, with this kind of thing they can look through and see somebody without clothes". That’s why I remind it, but I have seen for sure this kind of thing on that tank.

William Arkin is one of the American experts who follows the Pentagon activity most closely. So what does Arkin think about the possibility of the use of directed energy weapons in battle in Iraq?

William Arkin : You know, there’s even some possibility that high power microwaves have been used experimentally. I think that the panic about IEDs, about Improvised Explosives Devices, has been so bad that if these things are sitting in the lab, I’m sure that they want to get them to Iraq to see whether they are effective. So I can imagine that there could be some, what we call, "black" use of these weapons, but not in any significant way, and certainly not in such a way that one would conclude that they’ve had any impact.

But let’s look at the Pentagon budget figures to see how important the outlay is for directed energy weapons.

William Arkin : Right now you have about $50 million a year being spent for non-lethal weapons, you have about another $200 million or so being spent on High Power Microwaves, Active Denial type Systems, you’ve got probably another $100-200 million being spent on "secret", "black" laser programs, and then you have the big lasers, the High Energy Lasers of the Air force and the other Tactical Lasers. So probably, when you add all of that up, you know the United States are probably spending $½ billion a year right now on directed energy weapons. This is a significant amount of money; this is the size of the Defence Budget of some countries in Europe.

You might think that energy weapons only pose a danger for the countries involved in a military conflict, but that’s not the case. One particular weapon called the Active Denial System – better known as the pain ray – has been built specifically for use in maintaining public order. Given its claim to be non-lethal and the suffering it produces, this weapon could become a very controversial one.

Retired Colonel John B. Alexander: The Active Denial System is a Millimetre Wave System, operates at about 93 GHz. It sends out a beam for a very long distance, and what’s important about it is that when it hits the skin it penetrates only a very slight, for a few millimetres under the skin and it it’s the pain receptors and causes, you know, people to be adverse to the pain.
It hurts, it hurts a lot.
The tests that had been run they were to go for 3 seconds, each individual was given a kill switch and nobody made 3 seconds. The answer to the pain is extremely rapid, and you don’t have to do it very long, I mean, it gets your attention instantly.

To understand the consequences this new weapon could have for human rights we went to the Empire State Building in Manhattan, home of the offices of Human Rights Watch, one of the most important human rights organizations.

Marc Garlasco : We can see the effects of a gun very easily and understand them, but when you cannot see the effect of a weapon because it is not visible and because the science is not very well understood because technology is so new, then it becomes a grieve concern that enrages the states for potential human rights violations and abuses. And that is something that we have to understand about the Active Denial System, that it exists to create pain and is very different in most other non-lethal weapons where the desire is either to immobilize someone or make it so that they cannot walk in the area. With the Active Denial System the main desire is pain, and we have to be very careful because in international law is very clear that devices created solely for the creation of pain can eventually lead to torture and are therefore illegal, and it’s very critical that the United States does a careful legal review of the Active Denial System and is open with their findings. To date they have not been open.

William Arkin: Some people say "ooh acoustic weapons, or High Power Microwave weapons, the Active Denial System, we can use it for crowd control…"
What crowd control? What does that mean?
It pretends that anyone in the crowd is eighteen years old, and male and in good health, and we’re just going to shoot these microwaves or shoot these acoustic weapons on this crowd, and it’s going to be carefully calibrated at a power level, in the intensity and at a range to affect all these eighteen years old men in the crowd.
Well, what crowd is made up of just eighteen years old men?
Look at the Intifada, look at any riot in Iraq today: children, women, pregnant women, old people, and so the effect… the effect that you would need in order to have an impact on a healthy male, you target, would be too much for a child or a pregnant woman or an old person.

Marc Garlasco : There’s been a lot of discussion also about the potential for eye damage. They have done some tests on the skin to show that is not harmful, but where is the eye test? And there are concerns raised by scientists about potential harm to the eyes. And we also have concerns about the effects to children, to the infirm, to the elderly… Why are they not producing the data? Why are they not sharing it with us?

As regards the use of the pain ray in the field of war, the military review Defence Industry Daily reports that three Sheriff vehicles were ordered at a price of about 31 million dollars, and that approval has been requested for another 14 vehicles by Brigadier General James Haggin, chief of staff of the multinational forces in Iraq.

Retired Colonel: John B. Alexander In my view the next global conflict has already began and we don’t have an understanding of what that conflict looks like. Because of the issues of terrorism for instance the adversaries are going to be I think mixed in with civilian populations. We need weapons that allow us to be able to sort, minimize what they call "collateral casualties". I think the battlefields are going to be in urban areas.

William Arkin: If you look at the Active Denial System, or the High Power Microwaves, or the LRAD, the acoustic weapon, what you see is enthusiasm for those are being displayed by the Us Northern Command, which is the homeland defence command of the United States, or other counterterrorism organizations, which are looking at them like "oh well, maybe, in some special circumstances we can take these secret weapons, boutique weapons, you know, we have only 10 or 20 of them somewhere in a secret place and if we need them we can pull them out and use them in this kind of specialty warfare". So ironically, even though the Americans would probably think "oh yeah, special new weapon, it would make sense because Iraq is such a mess and maybe we can do something to turn that corner in some way with the use of this weapon, the truth is that the only real way in which they, the military, sees the prospects for the deployment of these is in their domestic use. And you know quite well… that if the United States adopts these weapons for their domestic defence… Nato in Italy are not far behind…

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