Investigative Reporter Wayne Madsen Flees Washington Over Assassination Threats
"Wayne Madsen, a former National Security Agency employee turned reporter, has been a thorn in the side of the Bush administration for his inside reports, revealing financial corruption linking the Bush administration to major foreign and domestic scandals, including 9/11. The highly controversial reporter has undergone months of harassment by Bush operatives, including getting him fired from his job at a Washington think tank and repeatedly attempting to strip him of his membership in the Washington Press Club.
Madsen revealed he received firsthand intelligence information from a Washington insider, trusted by Madsen, who warned him to leave town immediately, saying the threat on his life was “imminent and real.” The warning sent to Madsen, causing him to flee Washington, read as follows:
“We have reason to think that a "project" will be undertaken against "someone" considered problematic now...not next week but NOW. That person is not specified but is in the US, in an apartment setting and lives alone. It is a "he" and he works via www. The "project" will be assigned to "parallel contractors" who will make any action appear random and witnesses would suggest Middle Eastern in source. Actions would be carried out in or near the home. We do not hear things like this often (almost never) and so far every warning of this type has been within 24 hours of action and these warnings have proven 100% accurate in the past."
Madsen and Caylor also wanted the report circulated in public since others who fit Madsen’s similar profile may also be in danger.

Is Blair ashamed to accept highest honour from US?
More than two years have elapsed since Tony Blair was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for being a “staunch and steadfast ally” of the United States in the war on terror, but Downing Street yesterday said the Prime Minister still does not know when he will pick it up. This exceptional 772-day delay is beginning to raise eyebrows in Washington, where suspicions are growing that Mr Blair wishes to avoid being photographed receiving America’s highest civilian honour from President Bush.


Iraq's marginalised Sunnis rally for Saddam
BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands marched in adoring praise of Iraq's deposed leader Saddam Hussein on Friday, offering a stark display of the loss of power and leadership felt by some of Iraq's Sunni Arabs. Marchers in Baquba danced and chanted his name and condemned plans by the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government to push through draft constitution to create a federal Iraq. They accused the Shi'ite Islamists in government of kowtowing to Iran, Iraq's non-Arab neighbor where many Shi'ites sought refuge during Saddam's rule, and the United States, which backs the government with some 140,000 troops.
"Bush, Bush, listen well; We all love Saddam Hussein!" crowds chanted. "We reject the American and Iranian constitution" and "No to a constitution that breaks up Iraq," their placards read. "Shame on the backwardness of Arab princes and agents who have let foreign dogs run all over them," another man shouted. "If words don't work, we know how to deal with the occupiers and cowardly agents."
Unlike Shi'ites, who display often cult-like loyalty to clerics with huge influence in government, Sunnis have no secular or religious figure to champion their cause. But they have found a powerful ally in charismatic Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has come out against the federal option as long as the country remains under U.S. occupation. Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters protested on Friday in cities across Iraq, from Basra in the Shi'ite south to Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city in the north that Kurds want to wrest from Arab control to include in their autonomous region.
In Diwaniya in the south, 3,000 of them walked in silence bearing images of Iraq sliced up by a bloody knife of federalism. "Federalism is a dagger that the occupiers and their allies want to plunge into the body of the country," said mosque preacher Tarek Abdullah, in rhetoric similar to that of Sadr.


9/11 Accusations Fly Within CIA
CIA Director Porter Goss must decide whether to heed the recommendation of his top watchdog to hold disciplinary reviews for current and former officials who were involved in faulty intelligence efforts before the Sept. 11 attacks. CBS News has learned that all of the former top CIA officials singled out in the inspector general's report have already filed strong rebuttals to the agency. The officials named in the report — including former CIA Director George Tenet — view the inspector general's report as "wrongheaded and wildly off the mark."
The former officials are likely candidates for proceedings before an accountability board, which could take a number of actions, including letters of reprimand or dismissal. Alternatively, the proceedings could clear the former officials of wrongdoing. The highly classified report contains censures of Tenet for allegedly failing to enact a plan to fight al Qaeda before 9/11. Despite public outcries for accountability, many in the intelligence community believe Goss would be loath to try to discipline popular former senior officials and cause unrest within the agency.
California Rep. Jane Harman, the Intelligence Committee's senior Democrat, and other members of Congress are pushing for the CIA to produce a declassified version of the report so the public can debate these and other issues. Some family members of 9/11 victims have also called for the report's immediate release. "The findings in this report must be shared with all members of Congress and with the American public to ensure that the problems identified are addressed and corrected, thus moving to restore faith in this agency," a group called Sept. 11 Advocates said in a statement Thursday.

More military parents join Cindy Sheehan

Rock On, Cindy Sheehan!
Be suspicious of anyone or any media voice that disputes Cindy's right to protest!
"You know this is the place where the end of the occupation of Iraq started. This is the place where America comes to say, “We’ve had enough – enough. You might be able to lie to Congress. You might be able to lie to the media, but you’re not lying to us anymore.” And this is it, this is where it’s going to begin and we’re not going stop today, we’re not going to stop on the 31st. We’re not going stop ever, ever."

Senators Demand Answers From Roberts on Guantanamo Bay Ruling
Two Democratic senators are calling on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to explain before his confirmation hearings why he continued to judge a lawsuit against the Bush administration while being interviewed to be a justice. In that case, Roberts ruled in favor of the Bush administration on a case that said the Bush administration could deny Guantanamo prisoners constitutional rights they would theoretically have in US courts...Meanwhile, there is still controversy over the White House refusal to release all of existing documents on Roberts. According to the Washington Post, one file withheld deals with the Iran- contra affair. It was a draft memo from Roberts to his bosses with a heading referring to the establishment of the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office. The office was one of the ways the Reagan administration circumvented the Boland amendments, which prohibited U.S. intelligence agencies from giving money to the Contras. The office was used to funnel large amounts of money to the death squads.

Mercenary "Privateers" making a killing in Iraq
"The DOD “private security” contracts run into unknown billions of dollars. The companies are cleared by DOD to stockpile weapons. The companies recruit largely from the ranks of ex-military. They pay their American employees $400 to $700 per day. Many of the soldiers hail from third-world countries (and are paid considerably less). The soldiers interviewed by the Times make no bones about it: they are in Iraq for a hefty payday. 60 to 80 companies, operating under DOD contract, have provided at least 25,000 armed soldiers to assist the U.S. military in Iraq." You do the math.

Graphic by WINSTON SMITH
Tony Blair slated to join the Carlysle Group after leaving office
WAR is The Carlyle Group's primary business. WAR and that which enhances it's operations... They own companies that build weapons, telecommunication systems, and aviation support. In fact, even our current president, Dubyah, had a position in 1991 with one of their properties (1a). The Carlyle Group, now 18 years old, is one of the main 'tree keepers' of the Bush Family Financial Tree. If you are unfamilar with them, here's a general starter...from the incredible news hound, Tom Feeley, and his Information Clearing House:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2321.htm

OPERATION NORTHWOODS:

1962: Joint Chiefs planned fake terror attacks on citizens to create support for Cuban War

From BODY OF SECRETS, James Bamford, Doubleday, 2001
'The Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up and approved plans for what may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government. In the name of antiCommunism, they proposed launching a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country in order to trick the American public into supporting an ill-conceived war they intended to launch against Cuba...(the plan) called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro...Among the most elaborate schemes was to "create an incident which will demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civil airliner en route from the United States to Jamaica, Guatemala, Panama or Venezuela.'
"The public has a duty to watch its Government closely and keep it on the right track." --Lieutenant Gen. Kenneth A. Minihan, USAF

Lunar Park

One of my favorite authors, Bret Easton Ellis, has a new novel out now.
Here's a review from SLATE. He's just as misunderstood as one of my other fave authors, Will Self.
It's called SATIRE, folks!

No Proof Found of Iran Arms Program--Uranium Traced to Pakistani Equipment
'Traces of bomb-grade uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated Pakistani equipment and are not evidence of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, a group of U.S. government experts and other international scientists has determined."The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with these conclusions," said a senior official.'

A legal rave held in Utah shut down by authorities:
VIDEO HERE
Watch as police in face masks & helicopters terrorize kids in t-shirts playing records.
"Turn it off now, or I'll take your ass to jail." They had a permit & a 2 million dollar insurance policy. The police did not have a warrant.
Taser gun & K-9 attack on peaceful anti-war protesters in Pittsburg:
VIDEO HERE A woman is tasered when she is on the ground, already restrained. "Two women protesting the war in Iraq were taken to a hospital Saturday after police broke up an unauthorized march involving about five dozen people on a busy one-way street near an Army recruiting station. David Meieran, who helped organize the protest, accused police of “inappropriate and excessive force.”"

ACLU: FBI has launched domestic terrorism investigations on non-violent protest groups
DENVER – The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado today released new documents that it says confirm that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is inappropriately treating people who engage in peaceful protest as potential terrorists. “These documents underscore the ACLU’s concern that the JTTF inappropriately regards public protest as potential ‘domestic terrorism,’ says an ACLU spokesperson.

Isn't there something about this in the US Constitution?
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Christian Pat Robertson calls for assasination of Hugo Chavez
Who would Jesus gun down?

"ABLE DANGER" snowjob-- just a way to blame Clinton admin. for 9/11?
Scott J. Phillpott, an active-duty Navy captain has become the second military officer to come forward publicly to say that a secret intelligence program tagged the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a possible terrorist more than a year before the attacks. He said in a statement on Monday that he could not discuss details of the military program, which was called Able Danger, but confirmed that its analysts had identified the Sept. 11 ringleader, Mohamed Atta, by name by early 2000. "My story is consistent," said Captain Phillpott, who managed the program for the Pentagon's Special Operations Command. "Atta was identified by Able Danger by January-February of 2000."

Mohamed Atta's father, El-Amir Atta-- connections to Lee Harvey Oswald's friend George de Mohrenschildt?
"De Mohrenschildt was business partners with Mohamed Al Fayed in 1964. Fayed had an affair with Alexandra de Mohrenschildt and James Angleton of the CIA was interested in this. This family connection ties George H.W. Bush to the September 11, 2001 crash, for Al Fayed blames the U.S. and British intelligence for Diana and his son's death. Bush Sr.'s business partner is today Al Fayed's brother-in-law Adnan Khasoggi. Al Fayed in 1964 was Senior officer of Egyptian Intelligence and representing El-Amir Atta, the father of one Mohamed Atta."

Poison Dust -- Depleted Uranium

Poison Dust
A documentary exposing the truth about Depleted Uranium use by the Department of Defense, and the consequences to human beings who come in contact with this toxic poison.
During the current Iraq War the U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons increased from 375 tons used in 1991 to 2200 tons. Geiger counter readings at sites in downtown Baghdad record radiation levels 1,000 and 2,000 times higher than background radiation. The Pentagon has bombed, occupied, tortured and contaminated Iraq. Millions of Iraqis are affected. Over one million U.S. soldiers have rotated into Iraq. Today, half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects among their newborn children. The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater. Many other countries and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive material which has a half-life of 4.4 billion years.

Former Head Of Pentagon's Depleted Uranium Project Says Thousands Of Troops Are Sick And Dying From Illegal DU Use And Military's Failure To Admit Responsibility
"Army Major Doug Rokke has been shot at, run off the road, threatened, harassed, black- balled, intimidated, called a liar and treated like a “hated enemy” not by opposition forces in Iraq, but by ‘secret ops’ in the U.S. government, obviously acting on orders from top military brass. Maj. Rokke, still active in the Army Reserves, has been a government target ever since going public in a May 1997 article in the Nation Magazine, criticizing the military for failing to clean-up depleted uranium used in Iraq during the first Gulf War. Maj. Rokke was the military expert assigned as director of the 1994 U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project in response to congressional inquiries and direct Department of Defense (DOD) orders.The study was commissioned after it was found the military lacked adequate preparation to deal with the adverse health and environmental effects regarding the use of DU in the battle field. This highly efficient ‘killing tool,’ which amounts to nothing less than a radioactive nuclear assault, has been extensively used in U.S. weaponry in the first Gulf War as well as the present Iraqi conflict, even though it is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention and United Nation regulations.
“It’s really very simple,” added Maj. Rokke. “I was asked to report on what they needed to do about the DU problem. Our team of experts then reported and provided our recommendations, plain and simple. But when I realized in 1997 we were being ignored and thousands of people, including myself, were sick and possibly slowly dying from DU exposure, I had to go public and blow the whistle.”

The really scary thing that people don't realize is that the DU, when it explodes or burns, turns into minute aerosolized glass-like particles that can then become part of the envirionment (the sand) and absorbed into the body by inhalation or thru contact with skin. But the sand and DU dust don't just stay where they are--it blows across the Atlantic Ocean and into the US. This is a regularly occurring weather phenomenon. Wouldn't it be ironic if Crawford, TX was poisoned by DU dust?

Air Quality Health Watch Alert for Harris County TX, July 16, 2003
Saharan Dust Approaches Texas
Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services is issuing an “Air Quality Watch/Health Alert.”HCPHES issues an “Air Quality Watch/Health Alert” when it appears that there is the likelihood that air pollutants may reach levels that can have an adverse impact on public health in Harris County.

Sahara Sandstorm 2000 This is a satellite photo of a large Saharan sandstorm showing a dust cloud over the Atlantic Ocean. This is a crop of a photo taken by NASA 26 February 2000. This cloud had reached the northeast coast of South America by 4 March 2000.

Dust will be in wind for few days
August 11, 2005
If the Wichita Falls air feels a little gritty over the next couple of days, blame it on the Saharan Desert. An extensive amount of Saharan dust was forecasted to blow into the North Texas atmosphere by late Wednesday, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Tech University-Wichita Falls Monitoring Operations. The dust particles could be potentially harmful to individuals with severe lung disease or asthma.
The season for Saharan dust in Texas runs from June through August, according to the TCEQ Web site. The dust originates from large dust storms in the Saharan Desert and Sub-Saharan areas of western Africa. The dust is carried by the trade winds across the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico to reach Texas.This 6,000-mile journey takes about 10 to 14 days. Typically there are about three to six Saharan dust events that reach Texas with "Moderate" or higher levels every summer. Each event usually lasts about one to three days at affected locations. In addition to the increased dust levels, the report warns area pollen counts have been slowly increasing during the past five days, which includes primarily grasses, elm and fungus pollens.
Are they even testing for DU?

Hazy Cloud of Saharan Dust Closing in on Texas
7/26/2005
An enormous, hazy cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert is blowing toward the southern United States, but meteorologists do not expect much effect beyond colorful sunsets.

War Games

Booga-Booga!!
"Two more retired generals now warn that the world is on the verge of nuclear war and terrorist attacks on the homeland are only weeks away. A high-ranking military officer has come forward saying "a real danger exists" for a large-scale terrorist attack in the coming weeks, adding Vice President Dick Cheney spends his entire day consumed with issues of terrorism and U.S. nuclear retaliation in the Middle East if an attack on American soil occurs. These reports compound earlier reports made last week by others in the military that Cheney had already ordered Strategic Command (STRATCOM) to prepare a nuclear attack against Iran, a fact verified by Washington insiders."
Better look out, Dick! The rest of the world has other ideas... Isn't Russia an ally of Iran?

China-Russia war games under way
"Russian and Chinese armed forces have begun their first joint exercises, involving some 10,000 personnel. Marines will storm beaches, to be joined by paratroopers in a mock invasion of an imaginary country. The eight-day operation got under way in Vladivostok, in Russia's far east, with consultations between military delegations from the two countries. Analysts say the two sides are signalling they are prepared to counter US dominance in international affairs. "Our exercises don't threaten any country," General Yuri Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian armed forces general staff, told a news conference in Vladivostok.General Liang Guanglie, chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said they were designed to "protect peace and stability in our region and the whole world". He said they were part of the "fight against international terrorism, separatism and extremism". (Don't you love the way he uses their own rhetoric!) He denied the two countries were planning some kind of military union.The exercises, involving air, sea, and ground units, involve mainly Chinese troops and will climax next week with an amphibious and paratroop landing on China's Shandong peninsula in the Yellow Sea."

Menezes' family calls for justice
Relatives of the Brazilian man killed by police on the Tube have demanded the resignation of London's top officer and the prosecution of those responsible. They accused Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair of lying about aspects of the shooting, and of attempting a cover-up. Sir Ian has "rejected utterly" the claims and said some of the disputed statements were never provided by his force. He has said he will not resign.

Democracy Now! live from Camp Casey
Broadcasting on location from Crawford, Texas, Democracy Now! brings you the voices of military families and anti-war activists who are speaking out against the occupation of Iraq. Cindy Sheehan left Crawford last night to attend to her sick mother, but we caught up with her on her way out of Texas.

Conyers Calls For Investigation Into Ascroft's Role In CIA Leak Case
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) is calling for an investigation into the role of former Attorney General John Ashcroft in the outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. Conyers' call comes after a new report by investigative journalist Murray Waas that a special prosecutor was appointed in the case in large part because FBI investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by Karl Rove. Rove had worked closely with Ashcroft in the past, and Ashcroft had been receiving daily briefs about the situation with Rove prior to recusing himself from the case.

Conflict of Interest?
Roberts' Interviews with White House Officials Prior to Gitmo Ruling Raise Questions About Impartiality. New details have emerged concerning the timing of John Roberts' interviews for his Supreme Court post with senior Bush administration officials which call into question his impartiality in a crucial case concerning military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Roberts was part of a three-judge panel that handed President Bush an important victory the week before he announced Roberts' nomination to the bench. Roberts' answers to a Senate questionnaire reveal that he met with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales six days before hearing oral arguments.

Nuclear Terror "Drill" set for Wed, Aug 17

A terrorism "drill" similar to the ones carried out in the US on 9/11/01 and London on 7/7/05, will be taking place this Wednesday in South Carolina. Looks as if a General who tried to prevent it from going live was fired under the pretext that he was having an extramarital affair!
from GLOBAL NEWS MATRIX:
"News is flying in regard to the nuclear terror drill set for this month. It is feared by informed researchers that an actual nuclear detonation may be piggybacked on the drill, as was the modus operandi in the 9/11 and 7/7 inside jobs. As reported at this site, the drill involving a nuclear warhead being smuggled into Charleston, South Carolina is to involve the Atlanta-area FEMA office and be run out of Fort Monroe, Virginia. Today, the four-star general in charge of Fort Monroe was fired. Anonymously-sourced and speculative reports on the leading alternative media websites posited General Kevin Byrnes was fired for attempting to prevent the drill from going live.
Now a Washington Times report, also anonymously-sourced, highlights the flimsy basis on which he was fired -- adultery. It also turns out Rumsfeld tried to chase him out the military three years ago. Looks like he finally found a pretext. " From WashTimes August 10 : An official announcement yesterday did not specify why Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes, 52, was removed from his command of all soldier training and doctrine development, but two retired Army officers said it was for having an extramarital affair. Adultery is illegal in the military, constituting conduct unbecoming an officer. The sources said they think the woman was not a subordinate of Gen. Byrnes at U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Va. It is rare in modern times for the Army to relieve a four-star general.
Wayne Madsen:
"The sudden firing of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine (TRADOC) Commander, four star General and New York City native Kevin P. Byrnes, one of only 11 four star generals in the Army, has much more to do with a policy dispute than an anonymous Pentagon-reported story about an alleged "extra-marital affair." Although Byrnes has recently been involved in divorce proceedings, Pentagon insiders report that Byrnes was fired for insubordination. Byrnes was faced with being retired at Lt. Gen. after he clashed with then-Rumsfeld aide Stephen Cambone over proposed troop strength cuts. Then Army Secretary Thomas White, intervened on behalf of Byrnes and he received his fourth star. White was later fired by the Pentagon neo-cons. What has not been reported is that recently, one of Byrnes' subordinate commands, Fort Rucker in Alabama,had been told to stand by for an influx of 50,000 military trainees -- a level the base has not seen since the Vietnam War. Pentagon insiders report that it was Byrnes' policy disagreements with the Pentagon neo-cons over the new recruitment policies and the potential for calling up Army retirees and reinstating military conscription without adequate TRADOC funding that resulted in his firing. The personal misconduct charges were concocted by the Pentagon to cover up the fact that there are serious disagreements with Bush and Rumsfeld among the flag officer ranks in the military."

Since when has any four-star general been fired for Adultery? This is starting to smell like "Seven Days in May." That would make a nice Hollywood update/remake!
"I'm suggesting Mr President, there's a military plot to take over the Government of the United States."
--Kirk Douglas, "Seven Days in May"

Liev Schreiber as the fictional Raymond Shaw, winner of the Congressional
Medal of Honor and brainwashed drone in "The Manchurian Candidate."

"According to a report published Monday by the Washington Post, the Pentagon has developed its first ever war plans for operations within the continental United States, in which terrorist attacks would be used as the justification for imposing martial law on cities, regions or the entire country. The article thus appears to be a deliberate leak conducted for the purpose of accustoming the American population to the prospect of military rule. The Post account declares, “The war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon, which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law enforcement.” A total of 15 potential crisis scenarios are outlined, ranging from “low-end” to “high-end,” after as many as three simultaneous catastrophic mass-casualty events, such as a nuclear, biological or chemical weapons attack. The reality is that the military brass is intensely interested in monitoring political dissent because its domestic operations will be directed not against a relative handful of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists but against the democratic rights of the American people."

Just the sort of attack Dick Cheney said could be the catalyst for an attack on Iran!!!!
And unnamed sources of booga-booga in the FBI are warning of possible tanker truck-bomb attacks on LA, NY, & Chicago and more attacks in London. Aren't we getting wise to this yet?

From Wayne Madsen Report:
August 10, 2005 -- U.S. prepared to grab Iran's southwestern majority Arab and oil-rich province after saturation bombing of Iranian nuclear, chemical, and command, control, communications & intelligence (C3I) targets. According to sources within the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst - BND), the Bush administration has drawn up plans to hit Iran's nuclear, other WMD, and military sites with heavy saturation bombing using bunker buster bombs and tactical nuclear weapons. The attack will be coordinated with urban and rural critical infrastructure sabotage carried out by elements of the People's Mujaheddin (MEK), Pentagon Special Operations units, and other Iranian dissident groups. The German intelligence comes from classified briefings provided by elements within the CIA that are concerned the neocons in the Bush administration will, in attacking Iran, set off a chain of events that will lead to world war. Intelligence on U.S. plans to attack Iran has also been passed by CIA agents to counterparts in France, Britain, Canada, and Australia

Meanwhile:
The United States Department of Homeland Security is seeking (non-lethal weapons) alternatives with broader uses like light lasers or guns firing electric bullets to combat all manner of felon. "People encountered can range from aggressors who are hardened criminals to mentally disturbed teenagers ... from protesting crowds that include children and elderly, to street gangs," the Homeland Security Department, which is soliciting prototypes from industry, said on its website.

And Donald Rumsfeld & the DoD are planning a "freedom march" celebration at the Pentagon on the anniversary of September 11th:
The Washington Post has no plans to withdraw its co-sponsorship of a controversial Sept. 11 memorial walk being organized by the Department of Defense, according to Publisher Bo Jones. But, he said the paper would pull out if the event turns out to be some kind of pro-war or political march. "This was part of the memorial of the 9/11 victims and an effort for veterans past and present and that is it," Jones said about the "Freedom Walk" slated for Sept. 11. "This has nothing to do with politics or the war or support of any political position."
Suuuuure, Bo!!
"This is a terrible thing for The Washington Post," said Bill Dobbs, spokesman for United for Peace and Justice. "It calls into question the media's credibility."
Also, Clint Black will be playing a concert, including his new song "Iraq and I Roll":

NOW YOU CAN COME ALONG
OR YOU CAN STAY BEHIND
OR YOU CAN GET OUT OF THE WAY
BUT OUR TROOPS TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE
FOR THE GOOD OLD U.S.A.

YOU CAN WAVE YOUR SIGNS IN PROTEST
AGAINST AMERICA TAKING STANDS
THE STANDS AMERICA'S TAKEN
ARE THE REASON THAT YOU CAN

Uh, yeah, right, Clint. A truly intellectual viewpoint there.

August -- Vacation Time!

Bush using helicopter to avoid the Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a dead Iraq war soldier
"I don't believe his phony excuses for the war," Ms. Sheehan has said of the President. She said she believes the war is really about oil and making Mr. Bush's friends richer. "I want him to tell me why my son died."
Anti-war activists are converging on Crawford, eager to seize on Ms. Sheehan's newfound notoriety and telegenic appeal to get their message across."The President says he feels compassion for me," Ms. Sheehan said, "but the best way to show that compassion is by meeting with me and the other mothers and families who are here. All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his five-week vacation to talk to us before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."
Interview from "Democracy Now" June 29, 2005
CINDY SHEEHAN: Actually, I met with the President in June of 2004, a couple of months after my son was killed. We were summoned up to Fort Irwin, Washington state, to have a sit down with the president. So my entire family went. When my family and I met with him, I met a man who had no compassion in him. He had no heart. Like Karen said, he cares nothing about us. We tried to show him pictures of Casey. He wouldn't look at them. He wouldn't even acknowledge Casey's name. He called me “Mom” through the entire visit. He acted like we were at a tea party, like it was something fun, that we should just be so pleased that we got to meet with the President who killed our son.
AMY GOODMAN: What did you say to him?
CINDY SHEEHAN: The first thing, he came up to me, and he goes, “Mom, I can't imagine your loss. I can't imagine losing a loved one, you know, whether it be a mother, a father, a sister or brother.” And I stopped him, and I said, “You have two children. Try to imagine them being killed in a war. How would that make you feel?” And he got a little bit of -- just a little bit of human flicker in his eye, like he might be connected for a minute, because this is a man that's disconnected from humanity. And he had just got a little flicker in his eye, and I said, “Trust me, you don't want to go there.” And you know what he told me? He goes, “You're right, I don't.” And so I said, “Well, thank you for putting me there.”
And then he moved on to the next person, and then a little while later we were talking, and he went up to my oldest daughter, and he said, “I wish I could bring back your loved one to replace the hole in your heart.” And she goes, “Yeah, so do we.” And he gave her the dirtiest look and turned his back on her and ignored her for the rest of the meeting. And then a little later on in the meeting, I said, “Why were we invited here? We didn't vote for you in 2000, and we're certainly not going to vote for you in 2004.” And he said, “It's not about politics,” which is just bologna, because he went through the campaign trail, and last night he said he meets with families, and we say that we’re praying for him and stuff like that.
You know, that’s not -- that wasn't our experience. And everybody else I’ve talked to who have met with him have about the same experiences I do. He comes in, says 'I want to extend the gratitude of the nation and express my condolences', but he says it, and his eyes don't convey that, his heart doesn't convey that. We felt – we left our meeting with him feeling worse than when we walked in, feeling more determined to stop the madness in Iraq than before.
Other parents who lost children in Iraq joining Cindy Sheehan's Crawford, TX protest
"Before my son was killed, I used to think that one person could not make a difference," she said Wednesday under a tent where she has slept since arriving. "But one person that is surrounded and supported by millions of people can be heard."
It's happening, it's finally happening! The Ameican people are waking up to the truth!
Video: Mother of fallen soldier asks questions of President Bush
"On April 4, 2004, my son Casey was killed in Iraq. He was only 24 and he died in his best friend’s arms," Sheehan says in the ad, directed at President Bush. "Casey was so good and so honest -- why can’t you be honest with us? You were wrong about the weapons of mass destruction-you were wrong about the link between Iraq and Al Queda—you lied to us. And because of your lies my son died. You said he died for a noble cause-- what cause?...It's time to admit mistakes and bring our troops home now."

Lobbyist with ties to DeLay faces fraud charges involving SunCruz
Mega-lobbyist Jack Abramoff was indicted Thursday on federal fraud charges involving his purchase of SunCruz Casinos, whose former owner was gunned down gangland-style four years ago. Abramoff, 40, has strong ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who once described the lobbyist as "one of my closest and dearest friends."
In the six-count indictment unsealed in Miami by U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta, Abramoff and Adam Kidan, a New York businessman, were charged in a complex, $23 million fraud scheme arising from their purchase of SunCruz in September 2000 from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Boulis, 51, was shot to death in Fort Lauderdale on the night of Feb. 6, 2001, months after he sold the highly profitable SunCruz. As he was driving from his office, a car stopped in front of his. A second car pulled alongside Boulis, and someone shot him three times.
Boulis did not disclose that he was under pressure from the government to divest. And neither the buyers nor the seller told Foothill or Capital that Boulis had agreed at the last minute to waive the buyers' $23 million cash down payment, instead accepting a $20 million promissory note and a role in the company. A fraudulent document was presented at the closing, the indictment says, indicating the $23 million in cash had been paid when, in fact, it had not. The indictment alleges Abramoff and Kidan used borrowed money as "flash funds" to impress the lenders, filed false statements about their financial health and created the fake document presented at the sale's closing.
Bankruptcy and related lawsuits resulted, as well as the grand jury investigation. Within a few months, Kidan defaulted on the promissory note to Boulis and was behind on payments to Foothill. SunCruz filed for bankruptcy on June 21, 2001, nine months after the new owners took over, and four months after Boulis' slaying.

From the New York Observer click on author to read each story in full
Francine Prose
What would we have concluded if, a mere five years ago, someone had told us that our society would demonstrate only passing outrage and no lasting curiosity about the fact that our soldiers had tortured prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba? How would we have greeted the suggestion that we might lose confidence in the electoral process, in the integrity and courage of our press, or in our own right to express our political opinions without being accused of treason? What would we have thought of the suggestion that the Constitution would be so widely ignored and devalued that a large percentage of the population believes that the separation of church and state is the nutty whim of a gang of godless liberals conspiring to subvert moral values? How would we have responded to hearing that we might find ourselves embroiled in a bloody, costly war waged for reasons that time has shown to be based on complete fabrications? Five years ago, we would have thought—naïvely—that none of these scenarios were likely, or even possible. If we ask ourselves questions, they only lead to other questions. How did this happen so quickly? Weren’t we paying attention? And what can we do about it now?
And who can blame us for feeling powerless about a seemingly endless war that’s simultaneously bankrupting our country and making us enemies all over the world? I’d bet that if the average household were bugged (which they very well may be, before too long, in the interests of national security), you’d hear a startling number of New Yorkers yelling at their unresponsive TV screens as the network anchormen intone the evening news. And who wouldn’t be moved to yell at the news broadcast that features the fresh, young faces of newly dead American soldiers and tolls the numbers of their dead without bothering to keep a running count of Iraqi civilian casualties? Meanwhile, the weather makes us think about what we’d rather not consider at all—that is, the disastrous long-term effects of the government’s environmental policy.
The circumstances that most often trigger depression “typically involve loss—of a valued person, of a role, of an idea about yourself—and are at their worst when they involve humiliation or a sense of being trapped.” I can’t think of a more painfully accurate description of the way we live now, and of the reason why New York feels, as any victim of depression might, so “unlike itself.” The problem, this summer, is neither the heat nor the humidity. It’s the humiliation of finding ourselves despised by so much of the world for something so far out of our control

Chris Lehmann
“Two thousand and three was the worst year for significant terror attacks since 1982,” said Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc., and the forthcoming The Osama bin Laden I Know. “In 2004, that number tripled. Donald Rumsfeld asks: ‘What are the metrics for winning the War on Terror?’ Well, I’d offer terrorism figures as a pretty good metric.”There are precious few metrics tilting in the Bush administration’s favor these days. For one, there’s a better-armed Iraqi insurgency, growing in its strength to disrupt reconstruction efforts and its ability to destroy U.S. military targets. And closer to home, there’s an increasingly disenchanted mood among the D.C. intelligence hands who closely monitor the war’s progress.
George W. Bush’s policy retinue will return from the August vacation to an early Washington autumn in which their credibility—and the war effort they’ve staked it on—are the objects of greater and greater public suspicion.
The Bush team, like many global adventurers in administrations past, is ill equipped for the moments when facts on the ground stray from the diagrams in the ideological playbook. Even as they affix their thumbprints in far-off corners of the world, Dick Cheney, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz et al. hold at deliberate arm’s length the simple truth that faraway lands and human events don’t admit themselves to easy control, no matter how messianic or stoically determined that bid for control may be.


Who would buy these? And does Dick Cheney smile like that?

Rovegate & AIPAC spy scandal

Why AIPAC Indictment Is Bad News for Rove
by David Corn, Mon Aug 8, 2005
The Nation -- I'm on vacation, but I couldn't resist posting the below on my davidcorn.com site, where I routinely obsess over the Karl Rove scandal. Last week, the Justice Department issued a new indictment of Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon official accused of passing secrets to officials of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying outfit. The indictment is bad news for the Bush White House and Karl Rove. That's not only because the Franklin case is embarrassing for the administration, the Pentagon, and their neocon allies. (Franklin worked with Douglas Feith, who until recently was a senior Pentagon official close to the neocons.) The Franklin indictment is a sign that Rove and any other White House aide involved in the Plame/CIA leak might be vulnerable to prosecution under the Espionage Act. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald--who is not involved in the Franklin prosecution--has not had to state publicly what sort of case he is trying to build in the Plame/CIA leak matter. The most obvious one would be based on the charge that the leaker violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. But that law was narrowly drawn, and to win a conviction Fitzgerald would have to prove that Rove or any other leaker knew that Valerie Wilson was working under cover at the CIA. There are, however, other laws under which Fitzgerald might charge the CIA/Plame leakers. The Franklin indictment points the way. (And criminal law aside, by sharing classified information with at least two reporters--Valerie Wilson's employment at the CIA was classified--Rove committed an offense that violated various rules and would get most government workers seriously punished or dismissed.)

The Franklin indictments notes:
On or about December 8, 1999, FRANKLIN signed a Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, a Standard Form 312 (SF-312). In that document FRANKLIN acknowledged that he was aware that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by him could cause irreparable injury to the United States or could be used to advantage by a foreign nation and that he would never divulge classified information to an unauthorized person. He further acknowledged that he would never divulge classified information unless he had officially verified that the recipient was authorized by the United States to receive it. Additionally, he agreed that if he was uncertain about the classification status of information, he was required to confirm from an authorized official that the information is unclassified before he could disclose it.

Yet, the indictment alleges, Franklin passed classified information to Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, two senior AIPAC officials. And the indictment claims Rosen and Weissman shared this information with Israel. Consequently, the indictment charges Franklin, Rosen and Weissman with "conspiracy to communicate National Defense Information under sections 793(d) and 793(e) of Title 18, United States Code. And Franklin was charged with three counts of "communication of National Defense Information"--not conspiracy--under section 793(d). He was also charged with one count of "conspiracy to communicate classified information" to a foreign government.

Let's look at sections 793(d) and (e). The first generally applies to government officials, the second to nongovernment officials. Both sections make it a crime to transmit national defense information--and the identity of an undercover CIA officer would probably count as national defense information--to a person unauthorized to receive it (such as a reporter). These sections define violators as

(d) Whoever, lawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it.

(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it. [Emphasis added.]

Rove, like Franklin, had to sign SF-312. As Rep. Henry Waxman noted in a short report he released on the Rove leak, this nondisclosure agreement states, "I will never divulge classified information to anyone" unauthorized to receive such information. Rove broke that vow. And Executive Order 12958--which Bush updated on March 25, 2003-- says that "officers and employees of the United States Government...shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently...disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified." The sanctions include "reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions." So Rove ought to be slapped with one of those punishments. But worse for Rove--from a legal perspective--is section 793. Rove did communicate classified information which could be used "to the injury of the United States" to a person "not entitled to receive it." The information was the identity of an undercover intelligence official working on anti-WMD operations. Such information could be used to thwart or undermine past or present CIA operations and assets connected to Valerie Wilson. The persons "not entitled" to received this info were Robert Novak and Matt Cooper (and perhaps there were more).

I am--as I've said before--no lawyer. But given the letter of the law in section 793, it seems to me there is a case to be made that Rove essentially did what Franklin did. There may be a difference in intent or awareness. Perhaps Rove did not know he was passing on classified information that could be used to the detriment of the United States (though he should have realized that had he given the matter a moment or two of thought), and it seems that Franklin had to know he was sharing classified material with outsiders. But section 793 does not say a violator must be aware he or she is passing on information that could cause harm to the United States if exposed. It only sets as a criterion that the violator "willfully" communicates this information. I assume that means a purely accidental slip of the lip would not be a crime. But Rove--who told at least two reporters about Valerie Wilson's CIA position--cannot argue he was not "willfully" communicating this information to others.

So might Fitzgerald have a case under section 793? Journalists don't like these sorts of prosecutions, for it brings us close to an official secrets act (like the one that exists in Britain). If prosecutors chased after government leakers--say those who leaked intelligence showing that the White House's case for war in Iraq was weak--the public would suffer. And the Justice Department's indictment of Rosen and Weissman--nongovernment officials--for passing along classified information is also worrisome for reporters who pass along classified information by publishing and airing stories that contain secret information. But Fitzgerald has certainly demonstrated he's not too concerned about pursuing legal cases and setting legal precedents that are bad for journalism. And that's why Rove ought to be sweating the Franklin indictment.

Leak Investigation: An Oversight Issue?
by Michael Isikoff
Newsweek, Aug. 15, 2005 issue - The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to. Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum is "likely" to be named as acting deputy A.G., a DOJ official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter tells NEWSWEEK. But McCallum may be seen as having his own conflicts: he is an old friend of President Bush's and a member of his Skull and Bones class at Yale. One question: how much authority Comey's successor will have over Fitzgerald.

When Comey appointed Fitzgerald in 2003, the deputy granted him extraordinary powers to act however he saw fit—but noted he still had the right to revoke Fitzgerald's authority. The questions are pertinent because lawyers close to the case believe the probe is in its final stages. Fitzgerald recently called White House aide Karl Rove's secretary and his former top aide to testify before the grand jury. They were asked why there was no record of a phone call from Time reporter Matt Cooper, with whom Rove discussed the CIA agent, says a source close to Rove who requested anonymity because the FBI asked participants not to comment. The source says the call went through the White House switchboard, not directly to Rove.

Some people like war, part 2

Halliburton Sold Iranian Oil Company Key Nuclear Reactor Components, Sources Say
8/6/2005

by Jason Leopold

Scandal-plagued Halliburton -- the oil services company once headed by Vice President Cheney -- sold an Iranian oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, say Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings. Halliburton was secretly working at the time with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and sold the components in April to the official's oil development company, the sources said. Just last week, a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, whose miltary unit just reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the means to build a nuclear weapon.
With Iran's new hardline government now firmly in place, Iranian officials have rounded up relatives and close business associates of Iran's former President and defeated mullah presidential candidate Hashemi Rafsanjani, alleging the men were involved in widespread corruption of Iran's oil industry, specifically tied to the country's business dealings with Halliburton. On July 27, one of Iran's many state countrolled news agencies, FARS, an 'information' arm of the Islamic judiciary, announced the arrest of several of the executives of the Oriental Oil Kish Company, which is owned by Rafsanjani's children and other relatives. "They were brought up on charges of economic corruption," according to a report posted on the Iran Press News website. “Following the necessary investigations by the judiciary's bailiffs, with warrants from the public prosecutor's office (mainly mullahs who only dole out Islamic jurisprudence), the case of economic corruption and malfeasance, certain of the authorities of Oriental Kish Oil Company have been arrested and under questioning. The head of the board of directors was also among those detained.”
Now comes word that Halliburton, which has a long history of flouting U.S. law by conducting business with countries the Bush administration said has ties to terrorism, was working with Cyrus Nasseri, vice chairman of the board of directors of Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies, on oil and natural gas development projects in Tehran. Nasseri is also a key member of Iran’s nuclear development team and has been negotiating Iran's nuclear development issues with the European Union and at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Nasseri, a senior Iranian diplomat negotiating with Europe over Iran's controversial nuclear program is at the heart of deals with U.S. energy companies to develop the country's oil industry,” the Financial Times reported. “A reliable source stated that, given the parameters, the close-knit cooperation and association of one of the key members of the regime's nuclear negotiation team with Halliburton can be an alarm bell which will necessarily instigate the dynamics of the members of the regimes' negotiating committee,” according to the Iran Press News story. Oriental Oil Kish is registerd in the United Kingdom and Dubai. Nasseri was interrogated by Iranian authorities in late July for allegedly providing Halliburton with Iran’s nuclear secrets and accepting as much as $1 million in bribes from Halliburton, Iranian government officials said. During the first round of interrogations in the judiciary, a huge network of oil mafia has been exposed, according to the IPS report. It’s unclear whether Halliburton was privy to information regarding Iran’s nuclear activites. Halliburton sources said the company sold centrifuges and detonators to be used specifically for a nuclear reactor and oil and natural gas drilling parts for well projects to Oriental Oil Kish.
A company spokesperson did not return numerous calls for comment. A White House spokesperson also did not return calls for comment.
In 1991, Halliburton sold Libya, another country that sponsors terrorism, nuclear detonator devices. The company paid more than $3 million in fines for violating a U.S. trade embargo that President Reagan imposed in 1986 because of Libya's ties to terrorist activities. Oriental Oil Kish dealings with Halliburton became public knowledge in January when the company announced that it had subcontracted parts of the South Pars natural gas drilling project to Halliburton Products and Services, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Halliburton that is registered in the Cayman Islands.
Following the announcement, Halliburton said the South Pars gas field project in Tehran would be its last project in Iran. The BBC reported that Halliburton, which took in $30-$40 million from its Iranian operations in 2003, "was winding down its work due to a poor business environment." Halliburton, under mounting pressure from lawmakers in Washington, D.C., pulled out of its deal with Nasseri's company in May, but has done extensive work on other areas of the Iranian gas project and was still acting in an advisory capacity to Nasseri's company, two people who have knowledge of Halliburton's work in Iran said. In an attempt to curtail other U.S. companies from engaging in business dealings with rogue nations, the Senate approved legislation July 26 that would penalize companies that continue to skirt U.S. law by setting up offshore subsidiaries as a way to legally conduct business in Libya, Iran and Syria, and avoid U.S. sanctions under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is part of the Senate Defense Authorization bill.
“It prevents U.S. corporations from creating a shell company somewhere else in order to do business with rogue, terror-sponsoring nations such as Syria and Iran,” Collins said in a statement. "The bottom line is that if a U.S. company is evading sanctions to do business with one of these countries, they are helping to prop up countries that support terrorism -- most often aimed against America," she said.
The law currently doesn’t prohibit foreign subsidiaries from conducting business with rogue nations provided that the subsidiaries are truly independent of the parent company. But Halliburton’s Cayman Island subsidiary never did fit that description. Halliburton first started doing business in Iran as early as 1995, while Vice President Cheney was chief executive of the company and in possible violation of U.S. sanctions. According to a February 2001 report in the Wall Street Journal, “Halliburton Products & Services Ltd. works behind an unmarked door on the ninth floor of a new north Tehran tower block. A brochure declares that the company was registered in 1975 in the Cayman Islands, is based in the Persian Gulf sheikdom of Dubai and is non-American. But, like the sign over the receptionist's head, the brochure bears the company's name and red emblem, and offers services from Halliburton units around the world.” Moreover, mail sent to the company’s offices in Tehran and the Cayman Islands is forwarded to the company’s Dallas headquarters.
Not surprisingly, in a letter drafted by trade groups representing corporate executives vehemently objected to the amendment saying it would lead to further hatred and perhaps incite terrorist attacks on the United States and “greatly strain relations with the United States’ primary trading partners. Extraterritorial measures irritate relations with the very nations the United States must secure cooperation from to promote multilateral strategies to fight terrorism and to address other areas of mutual concern,” said a letter signed by the Coalition for Employment through Exports, Emergency Coalition for American Trade, National Foreign Trade Council, USA Engage, U.S. Council on International Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Foreign governments view U.S. efforts to dictate their foreign and commercial policy as violations of sovereignty, often leading them to adopt retaliatory measures more at odds with U.S. goals.”
Still, Collins’ amendment has some holes. As Washington Times columnist Frank Gaffney pointed out in a July 25 story, “the Collins amendment would seek to penalize individuals or entities who evade IEEPA sanctions -- if they are "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States." “This is merely a restatement of existing regulations," Gaffney said. "The problem with this formulation is that, in the process of purportedly closing one loophole, it would appear to create new ones. As Sen. Collins told the Senate: "Some truly independent foreign subsidiaries are incorporated under the laws of the country in which they do business and are subject to that country's laws, to that legal jurisdiction. There is a great deal of difference between a corporation set up in a day, without any real employees or assets, and one that has been in existence for many years and that gets purchased, in part, by a U.S. firm. It is a safe bet that every foreign subsidiary of a U.S. company doing business with terrorist states will claim it is one of the ones Sen. Collins would allow to continue enriching our enemies, not one prohibited from doing so,” Gaffney said.
Going a step further, Dow Jones Newswires reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent letters in June to energy corporations demanding that the companies disclose in their security filings any business dealings with terrorist supporting nations. “The letters have been sent by the SEC's Office of Global Security Risk, a special division that monitors companies with operations in Iran and other countries under U.S. sanctions, which were created by the U.S. Congress in 2004,” Dow Jones reported. The move comes as investors have become increasingly concerned that they may be unwillingly supporting terrorist activity. In the case of Halliburton, the New York City Comptroller's office threatened in March 2003 to pull its $23 million investment in the company if Halliburton continued to conduct business with Iran.
The SEC letters are aimed at forcing corporations to disclose their profits from business dealings rogue nations. Oil companies, such as Devon Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp., that currently conduct business with countries that sponsor terrorism, have not disclosed the profits received from terrorist countries in their most recent quarterly reports because the companies don’t consider the earnings “material.” Devon Energy was until recently conducting business in Syria. The company just sold its stake in an oil field there. ConocoPhillips has a service contract with the Syrian Petroleum Co. that expires on Dec. 31.

Jason Leopold is the author of the explosive memoir, News Junkie, to be released in the spring of 2006 by Process/Feral House Books. Visit Leopold's website at www.jasonleopold.com for updates.

Karl who?

Bush wants non-Darwinist viewpoints taught in schools!

President Bush stirred the debate on the teaching of evolution in schools when he said this week that he supported the teaching of alternative viewpoints - such as the theory of Intelligent Design - to help students "understand what the debate is about".
"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Mr Bush said in comments to five Texas newspapers on Monday. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."
How about a few 9/11 conspiracy theories, then?
Pay no attention to the real issues!

Bush Insider Claim that WTC Collapse was Bogus Gets 'Huge Response'
By Greg Szymanski 8-3-5

When Morgan Reynolds called the official story about 9/11 bogus, it seemed like the whole world stopped for a moment to listen. It seemed like a lighting bolt hit the heart of the government story, cracking it into a million unexplainable pieces. And when the dust settled from his explosive statements, the highest-ranking member of the Bush team to make such an accusation said he wasn't expecting any "invitations to the White House anytime soon." Two weeks ago, the former chief economist in the Labor Department during President Bush's first term told the world he thought the WTC fell from a controlled demolition, indicating 9/11 was "an inside government job." Reynolds, a respected economist and former Republican conservative, made his claims after researching many aspects of 9/11, including scientific and engineering data for and against the government story. He presented his findings on the Internet in a long, detailed article, concluding:
"It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and Building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings.
"More importantly, momentous political and social consequences would follow if impartial observers concluded that professionals imploded the WTC. Meanwhile, the job of scientists, engineers and impartial researchers everywhere is to get the scientific and engineering analysis of 9/11 right."
Considering his place among the Republican faithful, once the media got its "claws into his controversial remarks," his words quickly spread with the help of cyberspace like an out of control wildfire. Not only did millions read his story on the Internet, but Reynolds controversial comments then drew instant attention from numerous mainstream newspapers, radio and television stations, including UPI, MSNBC, FOX News and over a dozen other major market local radio and TV stations. It was a story that "grew wings," a story Reynolds never expected would get so much attention and such a large audience.
"I had a huge response and it really was amazing. I never expected so many people to respond so passionately," said Reynolds this week in a telephone interview. "I literally received hundreds and hundreds of emails, some agreeing with me and others, of course, disagreeing. After it was all said and done, as things are starting to finally quiet down now, I would guess it was about 5 to 1 in favor of what I was saying. However, I never imagined how much support there was out there for what I was suggesting occurred on 9/11."
Without mincing words, as he did in his article, Reynolds quickly changed the subject, again placing the blame squarely on the government for not coming clean about what happened on 9/11, saying it's important to get to the bottom of a "story that dwarfs all others in comparison. What it boils down to is that the government and the mainstream media are not digging into the 9/11 controversy because they are hiding something," said Reynolds. "From a media point of view, it's the story of the century and they are not even trying to connect the dots."
Continuing to throw some punches at his former employer, he added: "It's nothing new. The government has always lied about so many things. Look at the Downing Street Memo, for example, the document confirming that the Bush administration lied to us about its motives for getting into the war. If they lied to us about this, what else? Well, 9/11 is just another example."
To add more fuel to the hot 9/11 controversy, William Rodriguez, the WTC janitor who heard and felt a strong explosion in the basement levels of the north tower just seconds before the jetliner crashed into the top floors, recently came forward to tell his story, adding further credibility to Reynolds' conclusions. Rodriguez claims a massive underground explosion brought down the towers. His story is strengthened further by 14 other eye witnesses who can verify his claims, as well as a burn victim from the basement explosion who he helped to safety. Immediately following 9/11, Rodriguez tried to tell his story, but claims the 9/11 Commission and the mainstream media have systematically censored his words in order to protect the official government story, a story ignoring the possibility of explosives being used to bring down the WTC.
Commenting on Rodriguez, Reynolds said: "It's not a coincidence that there was first an explosion below and then the jetliner explosion seconds later above. At least there should have been a thorough investigation since the timing of the explosions strikes me as an impossibility if you believe, as the government contends, that only a jetliner brought down the towers."
Reynolds added that nobody from the Bush administration has officially contacted him about his statements suggesting 9/11 was an "inside job," but said he was aware that "administration operatives" have carried his message into the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "How high up it went, I just don't know," he added.
Asked if he was going to continue to research and write about 9/11, Reynolds said:
"Yes, of course, I see it as a citizen's duty and I hope to do some more writing on the subject very soon."

Got Milk?

Say hi to the new UN Ambassador!
Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that “the president has done a real disservice to our nation by appointing an individual who lacks the credibility to further U.S. interests at the United Nations. I will be monitoring his performance closely to ensure that he does not abuse his authority as he has in the past.”

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., sharply criticized the move. “The abuse of power and the cloak of secrecy from the White House continues,” Kennedy said. “It’s bad enough that the administration stonewalled the Senate by refusing to disclose documents highly relevant to the Bolton nomination. It’s even worse for the administration to abuse the recess appointment power by making the appointment while Congress is in this five-week recess.”

Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio also said he was disappointed in the appointment. “I am truly concerned that a recess appointment will only add to John Bolton’s baggage and his lack of credibility with the United Nations,” Voinovich said.


Read the full story at ROLLING STONE
To questions about Iraq, he almost always said, "Well, you guys wouldn't understand." He had nightmares every night, but he didn't talk about them. He had photographs of his buddies in Iraq, and also of rubble and ruined vehicles and wounded soldiers. One picture showed the aftermath of an improvised explosive device that had almost killed him, but he wouldn't say much about it. When he came home again for Christmas, he said he didn't want to return to Iraq. With no elaboration, he said the war was not right. "The only thing I think about is dying out there," he told his cousin Rebeca. "That's the worst thing that could happen to me is that my mom sees me die in Iraq." In public, he often said, unprompted, "These are all civilians." Many times he declared to family members, "You guys are considered civilians." He called men "males" and women "females" and sometimes spoke in Marine slang: zero-dark-thirty, gungy, deuce gear. His family kept saying, "We don't understand you," and he kept saying, "Oh, yeah, you guys are civilians," but he never really stopped.
......
By the time Raya got to Iraq, in February 2004, the Marines had invested scores of hours in teaching him how to kill other human beings and desensitizing him to the act. The military now excels at overriding the nearly immutable human instinct against intraspecies killing: In World War II, at least seventy-five percent of American soldiers under fire did not shoot their weapons; today, nearly ninety-five percent do. Five decades of military research has produced photo-realistic targets, complex and visceral virtual-reality scenarios, three-dimensional human mannequins that bleed and fall, and exercises in which live humans believably die when hit by simulated ammunition. Recruits kill in this way many hundreds of times, until destroying a manifestly fragile human form becomes automatic and affectless and associated with honor. They never have to label their marks humans or people or soldiers or even them. They shoot at targets or positions or hostile fire or the enemy. They are not killing; they are not even shooting: They are attriting, suppressing, returning, engaging.
.....
"The only way to stomp out the insurgency of the mind, " an American soldier told a reporter toward the end of Raya's tour, "would be to kill the entire population."

Is Haroon Rashid Aswat, the London Bombing "mastermind", a British agent?
LOFTUS: This is the guy, and what's really embarrassing is that the entire British police are out chasing him, and one wing of the British government, MI6 or the British Secret Service, has been hiding him. And this has been a real source of contention between the CIA, the Justice Department, and Britain.
JERRICK: MI6 has been hiding him. Are you saying that he has been working for them?
LOFTUS: Oh I'm not saying it. This is what the Muslim sheik said in an interview in a British newspaper back in 2001.
JERRICK: So he's a double agent, or was?
LOFTUS: He's a double agent.
JERRICK: So he's working for the Brits to try to give them information about Al-Qaeda, but in reality he's still an Al-Qaeda operative.
LOFTUS: Yeah. The CIA and the Israelis all accused MI 6 of letting all these terrorists live in London not because they're getting Al-Qaeda information, but for appeasement. It was one of those you leave us alone, we leave you alone kind of things.
JERRICK: Well we left him alone too long then.
LOFTUS: Absolutely. Now we knew about this guy Aswat. Back in 1999 he came to America. The Justice Department wanted to indict him in Seattle because him and his buddy were trying to set up a terrorist training school in Oregon.
JERRICK: So they indicted his buddy, right? But why didn't they indict him?
LOFTUS: Well it comes out, we've just learned that the headquarters of the US Justice Department ordered the Seattle prosecutors not to touch Aswat.
JERRICK: Hello? Now hold on, why? LOFTUS: Well, apparently Aswat was working for British intelligence.