Marine erased photos of civilians murdered by US troops

Marine says he erased photos of Haditha victims

A staff sergeant testified Thursday that he was ordered to destroy grisly pictures of women and children killed by Marines so that the images would not be part of a statement being prepared for an investigative officer and a magazine reporter. The testimony by Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, taken under a grant of immunity, is the first evidence suggesting that any Marine officer may have engaged in a coverup in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005.
Laughner arrived several hours after a roadside bomb had killed a Marine from the battalion's Kilo Company. After that blast, Marines killed five young men outside their car and, after being ordered to search for insurgents in nearby houses, killed 19 civilians. Laughner testified that Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, who led the troops involved in the shootings, told him that the men in the car had "engaged" the Marines with weapons, that Marines encountered an insurgent firing at them in one house, and that AK-47s were found in the houses. Prosecutors say all three assertions are lies.
Laughner said Wuterich did not tell him that the Marines had killed women and children in the houses. But when Laughner went to the houses to look for evidence of insurgents, he found instead a young girl who was in hysterics. He said that his interpreter told him what the girl was screaming: "She said the Marines came into her house and killed her family," Laughner said.

US Sends Troops Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight

The U.S. military is sending troops with serious psychological problems into Iraq and is keeping soldiers in combat even after superiors have been alerted to suicide warnings and other signs of mental illness, a Courant investigation has found. Despite a congressional order that the military assess the mental health of all deploying troops, fewer than 1 in 300 service members see a mental health professional before shipping out.

Blackwater Sues Families Of Slain Employees To Shut Them Up
The following article is by Daniel J. Callahn and Marc P. Miles, the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah. After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet. This article was first posted on AlterNet.org's website.
The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed, Blackwater Security Consulting. After Blackwater lost a series of appeals all the away to the U.S. Supreme Court, Blackwater has now changed its tactics and is suing the dead men's estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court.
Following these gruesome deaths which were broadcast on worldwide television, the surviving family members looked to Blackwater for answers as to how and why their loved ones died. Blackwater not only refused to give the grieving families any information, but also callously stated that they would need to sue Blackwater to get it. Left with no alternative, in January 2005, the families filed suit against Blackwater, which is owned by the wealthy and politically-connected Erik Prince.
Blackwater quickly adapted its battlefield tactics to the courtroom. It initially hired Fred F. Fielding, who is currently counsel to the President of the United States. It then hired Joseph E. Schmitz as its in-house counsel, who was formerly the Inspector General at the Pentagon. More recently, Blackwater employed Kenneth Starr, famed prosecutor in the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to oppose the families. To add additional muscle, Blackwater hired Cofer Black, who was the Director of the CIA Counter- Terrorist Center.
After filing its suit against the dead men's estates, Blackwater demanded that its claim and the families' existing lawsuit be handled in a private arbitration. By suing the families in arbitration, Blackwater has attempted to move the examination of their wrongful conduct outside of the eye of the public and away from a jury. This comes at the same time when Congress is investigating Blackwater.
Over 300 contractors have been killed in Iraq with very little inquiry into their deaths. The families claim that Blackwater is attempting to cover up its incompetence, its cutting of corners in favor of higher profits, and its over billing to the government. Due to lack of accountability and oversight, Blackwater's private army has been able to obtain huge profits from the government, utilizing contacts established through Erik Prince's relationships with high-ranking government officials such as Cofer Black and Joseph Schmitz.
In addition to assembling its litigation troops, Blackwater also stonewalled the families concerning any information about how the men were killed. Over the past two and a half years, Blackwater has not responded to a single question or produced a single document. When the families' attorneys, Callahan & Blaine, obtained a Court Order to take the deposition of a former Blackwater employee with critical information about the incident, Blackwater quickly re-hired him and sent him out of the country. When the witness returned to the United States more than a year later, the families obtained another Court Order for his deposition. Blackwater again prevented them from taking his deposition by seeking the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office to block the deposition under the guise that he possibly possessed national secrets. Following an investigation, the U.S. Army reported that the witness had no secret information and that it had no objection to the deposition.
Blackwater has now lifted this atrocity to a whole new level by going on the offensive and suing the families for $10 million. The families now find themselves looking down the barrel of a gun as Blackwater, armed with a war chest and politically-connected attorneys, is aggressively litigating against them. Blackwater has also threatened to hold the administrator of the estates personally liable to scare him into abandoning his position, and has threatened the families' attorneys as well.
The families are simply without the financial wherewithal to defend against Blackwater. By filing suit, Blackwater is trying to wipe out the families' ability to discover the truth about Blackwater's involvement in the deaths of these four Americans and to silence them from any public comment. In February, the families testified before Congress.
However, Blackwater's lawsuit now seeks to gag the family members from even speaking about the incident or about Blackwater's involvement in the deaths. This is a direct attack to their free speech rights under the First Amendment.
"I initially took this case because it was the right thing to do in helping the families find closure by discovering the events surrounding their loved ones deaths, " said Daniel J. Callahan, attorney for the families. "I have found the evidence concerning Blackwater's involvement in the deaths to be overwhelming and appalling. Even more disturbing though is the callous nature in which Blackwater has not only concealed the truth, but also outright sued to force the families to stop pursuing the case and to silence them." Blackwater has spent millions of dollars and hired at least five different law firms to fight the families, rather than meeting and addressing what should be Blackwater's top priority - the safety and well being of the mothers, wives, and children left behind. Blackwater has said that it will not pay one red cent to assist or console the surviving families, but instead has counter sued for $10 million.
Without help, Blackwater will succeed in avoiding scrutiny for its conduct, escaping accountability for its actions, and silencing the families of the four Americans killed in Fallujah. A defense fund has been established by which the public is able to donate money to assist the families with litigation costs and expenses.

In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals

Under Saddam you were likely to be tortured and shot if you let someone steal an antiquity; in today's Iraq you are likely to be tortured and shot if you don't. The tragic fate of the national museum in Baghdad in April 2003 was as if federal troops had invaded New York city, sacked the police and told the criminal community that the Metropolitan was at their disposal. The local tank commander was told specifically not to protect the museum for a full two weeks after the invasion. Even the Nazis protected the Louvre.

Alarm over gender-bending chemicals "NPEs"
An unusual mix of public health advocates, environmentalists and laundry workers joined yesterday in a petition demanding that federal authorities ban a chemical additive found in some household detergents and other cleaning agents.
The petition, which was submitted to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, also called for studies of human risks related to the dirt-lifting agents called nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs.
Studies have shown NPEs to be potent gender-benders, believed to be responsible for transforming male fish into females in waterways worldwide. Marine scientists at Stony Brook University say NPEs are the likely culprit in the decline of male winter flounder in Jamaica Bay.
The groups calling for a ban of NPEs say the transformed fish may be "the proverbial canaries in the coal mine," and that human safety issues have yet to be uncovered.
The EPA had no comment on the petition yesterday. European and Canadian regulators have banned NPEs in domestic laundry detergents and other cleaning agents. Petitioners, including the Sierra Club, want the EPA to require appropriate labeling of products with NPEs and to eventually ban their use in consumer products.
Nearly 400 million pounds of NPEs are manufactured in the United States annually, petitioners wrote.
"Nonylphenol ethoxylates are in the larger class of chemicals we refer to as endocrine disrupters. That's the concern," said Dr. Michael McCally, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Physicians for Social Responsibility, a public health advocacy organization, and one of the petition's signers.
"NPEs ... affect gene expression by turning on or off certain genes," McCally said.
As a class, endocrine disrupters are known for mimicking the female hormone estrogen, the reason some marine species have become females.
McCally, a clinical professor of preventive medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, theorizes that medical conditions that are far more insidious, requiring decades to manifest, could be caused by endocrine disrupters.
Corporations such as Procter & Gamble removed NPEs from their products more than a decade ago.
Eric Frumin, health and safety representative for Unite Here in Manhattan, a union that represents about 100,000 laundry workers in North America, is calling for safety studies involving NPEs. Unite Here signed the petition submitted to the EPA.
Frumin voiced concern for laundry workers at a Cintas laundry facility in Central Islip where he said hundreds of uniforms and other garments are laundered. Cintas Corp. has switched to non-NPE detergents at its Connecticut facility, Frumin said.
Wade Gates, spokesman at Cintas headquarters in Cincinnati, said the company's Connecticut facility is the only one nationally where the detergent has been changed because of state regulations.

Former GOP official admits Abramoff link

Italia Federici, former head of a Republican environmental advocacy group, pleaded guilty Friday to tax evasion and obstructing a Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. As part of her plea deal with the Justice Department, Federici agreed to provide information that people close to the case said could lead investigators to other officials in Congress and the Bush administration.
Federici admitted in court papers Friday she acted as a link between Abramoff and J. Steven Griles, a former deputy secretary at the Interior Department who for five years was her boyfriend. Federici acknowledged that as Griles provided Abramoff with "advice and internal DOI information" -- both directly and through her -- she "hindered" the Interior Department's system for tracking lobbyist contacts with Griles. Griles also has pleaded guilty to lying to Senate investigators about his relationships with Abramoff and Federici. Abramoff currently is in federal prison for a fraudulent Florida casino deal and is awaiting sentencing in the Washington public corruption case.
Federici agreed to pay $77,243 in back taxes and could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for each of the two counts. Under federal sentencing guidelines, she is more likely to get 10 months to 16 months plus a fine of $3,000 to $30,000 for each count.

Blair rejects "bribery'' probe

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected calls for an investigation into allegations that BAE Systems, Britain's biggest arms supplier, used a secret fund to pay millions of pounds to a prominent member of the Saudi royal family for negotiating a multi-billion pound arms deal in the eighties. Mr. Blair, who has been criticised for calling off an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) last December on grounds that it would have damaged relations with Saudi Arabia, insisted that a fresh probe would cause a "complete wreckage'' of Britain's "vital'' national interests.
His remarks came as Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a high-profile Saudi diplomat, who has been named as the recipient of alleged kickbacks of more than £1billion, "categorically'' denied receiving any improper payments. In a statement, issued through his lawyers, he refuted allegations that payments made through an American bank account represented "improper secret commissions or `backhanders' ''. Prince Bandar acknowledged that payments were made "pursuant to the al-Yamamah contracts'', the £43-billion defence deal which Saudi Arabia signed with BAE Systems in 1985, but said the money was made into the accounts of the Saudi Ministry of Defence and Aviation (MoDA). He was not the beneficiary of the funds.
This is the same "Bandar Bush" shown in "Fahrenheit 911".

Marshals Fired Rounds At Ed Brown's Dog Walker Before Planned Siege

Astounding testimony from Danny Riley, the man who was arrested by U.S. Marshals after walking Ed Brown's dog near his property yesterday morning, proves that Thursday's events in Plainfield New Hampshire represent a planned siege that was only aborted after Riley's disappearance gave the Browns early warning that militarized police and SWAT teams were descending on their home.

Insider Tells the Truth About the Cover-up of the Attack on the USS Liberty

In 2002, Capt. Ward broke his silence of 3 decades and released an affidavit to the public in which he admitted that the entire investigation was a sham, and that he was under orders (from persons of no less authority than President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara) to rule that the bloodiest day in American naval history since WWII took place as a result of ‘mistaken identity’ and that America’s ally, Israel–was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Israel's Attack on the USS Liberty, Revisited

As the Liberty listed in the choppy seas, its deck aflame, crew members dropped life rafts into the water and prepared to scuttle the ship. Given the number of wounded, this was going to be a dangerous operation. But it soon proved impossible, as the Israeli attack boats strafed the rafts with machine gun fire. No body was going to get out alive that way.

GOP Ron Paul - Five Million Dollar Man?

Congressman Ron Paul’s donations have moved up - not by hundreds of thousands - but by millions as a result of his debate performances and groundswell of support on the Internet and in New Hampshire, observers close to the campaign say. The move is especially impressive since as of March 31, 2007, he had perhaps $500,000 on hand (see candidate estimates below).
The CNN "Ron Paul" Ticker

Police raid wrong home

Resident says officers didn't ID themselves, kicked husband in groin.

Document details 'US' plan to sink Hamas

On April 30, the Jordanian weekly newspaper Al-Majd published a story about a 16-page secret document, an "Action Plan for the Palestinian Presidency" that called for undermining and replacing the Palestinian national-unity government.

Police assemble by Browns' home

The Browns insist federal income tax laws are invalid and have holed up in their hilltop home on 110 acres in Plainfield, which has a watchtower, concrete walls and the ability to run on wind and solar power. Brown said he has stockpiled food and supplies.

SWAT Teams, Armored Vehicle Seen Near Brown Compound

Neighbors of convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown reported police SWAT teams and at least one armored vehicle converging on a field near the home Thursday morning.

A Hypocritical Oath: Psychologists and Torture

First, do no harm. This tenet of medicine applies equally to psychologists, yet they are increasingly implicated in abusive interrogations, dare we say torture, at U.S. military detention facilities like Guantanamo. While the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association both have passed resolutions prohibiting members from participating in interrogations, the American Psychological Association refuses to, despite the outrage of many of its members.

Beyond PTSD: the Moral Casualties of War

Because soldiers still on active duty are being deployed longer and more often to Iraq, experts say that the PTSD rate among Iraq veterans could well eclipse the 30% lifetime rate found in a 1990 national study of Vietnam veterans. While these numbers are staggering and should give any rational human being pause, the readjustment difficulties suffered by active duty military and veterans because of their experiences in Iraq are not exhausted by references to trauma and PTSD. Tragically, as soldiers experience the horror and cruelty of war, especially urban counterinsurgency war, the moral gravity of their actions – displacing, torturing, injuring, and killing other human being (henceforth "combat behavior") – becomes apparent, soldiers suffer not only the effects of trauma, but what I will term "moral injuries," i.e., debilitating remorse, guilt, shame, disorientation, and alienation from the remainder of the moral community.