Alex Constantine's Blacklist

Canadian Ambassador Kenneth Taylor Revealed as a CIA Spy Chief in Iran

2010-01-24T15:35:00.000-08:00

By Barry O'Regan
Examiner | January 24, 2010

Canada’s own spy who came in from the cold has been revealed 30 years later. Ken Taylor, once Canada’s Ambassador in Iran in 1979 has been revealed to be a CIA Station chief.

Ken Taylor under the direction of then Prime Minister Joe Clark was to work with the Central Intelligence Agency under the United States Jimmy Carter administration. The plan to invade Iran and restore western influence and democracy to Iran failed miserably once Iran’s Islamic Student revolutionaries and supporters of Khomeini gained control of the country.

Previous to the future Islamic Republic taking control, Iran, an oil rich country was once a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary style of government, woman had the power to vote in elections, complete with a relaxed atmosphere allowing western style dress for both men and women. Iranians for the most part enjoyed a western style democracy and education, including one of the lowest illiteracy rates amongst its populace.

All that changed in 1979. Iran was undergoing turbulent times during Mohammed Reza Shah’s reign. Many Iranian citizens took exception of the widespread western influence by the United States, western dress and a decadence many felt was contrary to Islamic teachings.

During World War II, Iran’s friendly relations with Germany, resulted in Western allies ousting the elder Reza shah of Iran from the throne and placing his son Mohammed Reza Shah as his successor, with promises of a new reign, western powers were accepting of this new monarch.

Under the rule of the new Reza shah, political infighting, riots, food shortages and accusations of mass torture by the state secret police had many Iranians living in fear. In the mid 70’s the Shah crowned himself King of Kings as Emperor of Iran, certainly many saw this as a man with a bigger ego than god, thus his eventual downfall.

Islamic cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, a thorn in the side of the Shah was exiled in France. The Ayatollah’s followers in Iran yearned for the old days of strict Islamic rule and to oust all form of Western influence.

In 1979, the Shah of Iran was overthrown and the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini quickly took power, reverting Iranian society to a strict Islamic code of conduct, which stands to this day. The Shah of Iran and his family fled to Europe.

Western Embassies in Iran were immediately targeted by the new Islamic revolutionaries, with many embassy staff fearing for their lives soon fled to their home countries. The Canadian and Swedish embassy in downtown Iran seemed safe for the ime being, perhaps because Canada and Sweden has never been seen as a threat to any country and always had a good reputation amongst all countries worldwide.

The United States on the other hand suffered the slings and arrows of Iran’s Islamic revolutionaries bent on removing by hook or by crook all things American, including taking U.S. citizens hostage as the Iranian guard overthrew the U.S. Embassy in Iran. The lucky few who escaped looked to Canada’s Ambassador Ken Taylor. Ken Taylor may have feared that anymore U.S. Embassy staff falling into Iranian hands may result in discovering Canada’s involvement with the U.S.A.

Ken Taylor took in the six U.S. Embassy staff who excaped capture, under the guise as Canadian tourists. Ken Taylor with the help of the U.S.A. gave the Americans Canadian passports, a crash course in lessons on Canadiana and when it was safe to do so brought them through Iranian security checkpoints and home safely under the guise as Canadian citizens.

The U.S. hostages still in Iranian hands were eventually released in January 1981....

Who would have thought Canada would have a spymaster working for the U.S.A? Certainly not Iran, Canadians nor Americans. Surprisingly, Canada had a wolf in sheep’s clothing called Ken Taylor, de facto CIA station chief.

Bespectacled Ken Taylor more Milquetoast than spy looks nothing like the James Bond type western citizens are fed in countless spy movies and novels, certainly Ken Taylor would be difficult to point out in a crowd....

http://www.examiner.com/x-29795-Vancouver-Social-Policy-Examiner~y2010m1d24-Canadas-homegrown-hero-Ken-Taylor-revealed-as-a-CIA-spy-chief-in-Iran

Former Army Top Brass Address Gitmo, Obama And More

2010-01-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

" ... 'We know from experience that torture does not produce reliable intelligence, and acting on information derived through such abuse is dangerous, to our troops, and to our nation. ... Misinformation abounds, as some have taken to the airwaves to tell us that we must abandon the rules of law, the very principles and values we have cherished since the founding of our nation, the values that [make] America America' ... "

Tejinder Singh - AHN Correspondent
AllHeadlineNews | January 22, 2010

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - Today a year ago, new incoming U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order to "provide the process whereby Guantanamo will be closed no later than one year from now."

Today, in a letter to President Obama, a group of retired U.S. generals say they are "deeply concerned by the hysteria permeating the public debate" around closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and filing cases against terrorism suspects in civilian court.

"Opponents of your plan to close Guantanamo are using the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as an excuse to renew their calls to keep the Guantanamo prison facility open and to oppose bringing terrorist suspects to justice in federal courts," reads a letter from 33 retired flag and general officers.

"We know from experience that torture does not produce reliable intelligence, and acting on information derived through such abuse is dangerous, to our troops, and to our nation."

Four of these retired generals who signed the letter to Obama and who are members of the group of retired Generals and Admirals concerned about prisoner treatment and interrogation policies, spoke to journalists criticizing those who wanted to keep detainees as enemy combatants.

With the lengthening shadows of Christmas Day bombing in the background, Gen. David M. Maddox, Lieut. Gen. Harry E. Soyster, Major Gen. William L. Nash, and Brigadier Gen. James P. Cullen, discussed Guantanamo and Handling of Terrorist Suspects addressed a National Press Club Newsmakers press conference on Thursday, Jan. 21 in Washington, DC.

"We need to close Guantanamo Prison Facility and bring terrorists to justice. Doing so will make America more secure on the battlefield, in the skies, and on our soil," said Maddox, who said that misinformation has dominated the public debate over the issues.

"Misinformation abounds, as some have taken to the airwaves to tell us that we must abandon the rules of law, the very principles and values we have cherished since the founding of our nation, the values that makes America America," Maddox said.

Maddox disclosed that the ongoing process has already made way clear for all but 70 inmates of Guantanamo saying, "not that they're all released yet, but actions determine they will be, down to about 70."

Soyster, on his part warned against "the hysteria that is permeating in the public debate around how the United States should deal with terrorism suspects is not only unwarranted, it is dangerous. It's dangerous to us."

"Gripped by fear, some are calling for the return to the use of torture techniques against terrorism suspects in hopes of garnering useful intelligence," he said.

Soyster, an intelligence pundit asked, "If the father of the Christmas day bomber believed that America would torture his son, would he have turned him in?" adding, "We need more fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins and aunts to trust in American justice and come forward with the tips, the intelligence that we need to thwart those who seek to do us harm."

The generals cautioned that the Guantanamo prison facility provides the support for al-Qaeda in recruiting, in attracting and then using the gullible young men for terrorist activities against the U.S.

Nash echoed the views of others calling for abolition of torture with, "I would just say to you that there's a direct relationship between how we behave and how people react to our behavior, especially in light of our values."

Cullen, a lawyer by profession and hailing from New York, argued, "Bringing somebody back to the scene of the crime has been the traditional thing we do."

Citing that after the World War II, "the high-ranking Nazis" were brought "to trial at Nierenberg, because Nierenberg was so associated with the rise of the terrorists of that era, the Nazi party," Cullen said, "I think the right decision was made in bringing these guys up to New York for trial once they're ready to proceed."

Members of the group had met with eight of the presidential candidates during the 2008 campaign, and when President Obama signed the Executive Orders ending torture and ordering the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility in the second full day of his presidency, 16 of the group's retired Generals and Admirals stood with him in the Oval Office.

Today, the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains open with about 200 inmates.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017602970#ixzz0dT9r7JYQ

Pravda: Google's China Hypocrisy Ignores Deep CIA Connections

2010-01-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

By: Pravda | Jan 14, 2010

The western media is currently full of articles on Google's 'threat to quit China' over internet censorship issues, and the company's 'suspicion' that the Chinese government was behind attempts to 'break-in' to several Google email accounts used by 'Chinese dissidents'.

However, the media has almost completely failed to report that Google's surface concern over 'human rights' in China is belied by its their deep involvement with some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet:

Google is, in fact, is a key participant in U.S. military and CIA intelligence operations involving torture; subversion of foreign governments; illegal wars of aggression; and military occupations of countries which have never attacked the U.S. and which have cost hundreds of thousands of lives in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

To begin with, Google is the supplier of the core search technology for 'Intellipedia, a highly-secured online system where 37,000 U.S. spies and related personnel share information and collaborate on their devious errands.

Agencies such as the so-called 'National Security Agency' have also purchased servers using Google-supplied search technology which processes information gathered by U.S. spies operating all over the planet.

In addition, Google is linked to the U.S. spy and military systems through its Google Earth software venture. The technology behind this software was originally developed by Keyhole Inc., a company funded by Q-Tel http://www.iqt.org/ , a venture capital firm which is in turn openly funded and operated on behalf of the CIA.

Google acquired Keyhole Inc. in 2004. The same base technology is currently employed by U.S. military and intelligence systems in their quest, in their own words, for "full-spectrum dominance" of the planet.

Moreover, Googles' connection with the CIA and its venture capital firm extends to sharing at least one key member of personnel. In 2004, the Director of Technology Assessment at In-Q-Tel, Rob Painter, moved from his old job directly serving the CIA to become 'Senior Federal Manager' at Google.

As Robert Steele, a former CIA case officer has put it: Google is "in bed with" the CIA.

Googles Friends spy on millions of Internet Users

Given Google's supposed concern with 'break-in's to several of its email accounts, it's worth noting that Google's friends at In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA, are now investing in Visible Technologies, a software firm specialized in 'monitoring social media'.

The 'Visible' technology can automatically examine more than a million discussions and posts on blogs, online forums, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, and so forth each day. The technology also 'scores' each online item, assigning it a positive, negative or mixed or neutral status, based on parameters and terms set by the technology operators. The information, thus boiled down, can then be more effectively scanned and read by human operators.

The CIA venture capitalists at In-Q-Tel say they will use the technology to monitor social media operating in other countries and give U.S. spies “early-warning detection on how issues are playing internationally,” according to spokesperson Donald Tighe. There is every possibility that the technology can also be used by the U.S. intelligence operatives to spy on domestic social movements and individuals inside the U.S.

Finally, there is a curious absence from the statements emanating from Google - and from U.S. media reports - of any substantive evidence linking the Chinese government with the alleged break-in attempts to several Google email accounts.

Words like 'sophisticated' and 'suspicion' have appeared in the media to suggest that the Chinese government is responsible for the break-ins. That may be so. But it is striking that the media has seemingly asked no questions as to what the evidence behind the 'suspicions' might be

It should be noted that the U.S. government and its intelligence agencies have a long history of rogue operations intended to discredit governments or social movements with whom they happen to disagree. To see how far this can go, one need only recall the sordid history of disinformation, lies, and deceit propagated by U.S. government and media to frighten people into supporting the Iraq war.

Whether the attacks on Google email originated from the Chinese government, or from elsewhere, one thing is clear: A company that supplies the CIA with key intelligence technology; supplies mapping software which can be used for barbarous wars of aggression and drone attacks which kill huge numbers of innocent civilians; and which in general is deeply intertwined with the CIA and the U.S. military machines, which spy on millions, the company cannot be motivated by real concern for the human rights and lives of the people in China.

By Eric Sommer
Pravda.ru

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article16486.html

Lou Dobbs' Fascist Fantasia

2010-01-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

Also see: Lou Dobbs' Spokesman, Knight of Malta Robert Dilenschneider

Is CNBC prepared to Invest in Dobbs and His Record of Conspiracy Theories and Inflammatory Rhetoric?
Media Matters | December 01, 2009

A December 1 New York Times blog post reported that Lou Dobbs "has held talks with the business news network CNBC in recent weeks" and that he "could conceivably host a prime time program for CNBC" or "become a commentator for the business news network." Given Dobbs' record of promoting baseless conspiracy theories and engaging in inflammatory rhetoric, Media Matters for America questions why CNBC would want to tarnish its brand -- as CNN did -- by hiring him.

From the December 1 New York Times blog post:

Lou Dobbs, who is likely to make a decision about his post-CNN career this month, has held talks with the business news network CNBC in recent weeks, two people with knowledge of the discussions say.

Mr. Dobbs, a free agent whose exit from CNN last month prompted speculation about plans for a political bid, could conceivably host a prime time program for CNBC. He could also become a commentator for the business news network.

The people who spoke about the talks requested anonymity because they were not authorized by their employers to speak about it. [The New York Times' Media Decoder, 12/1/09]

Is this the kind of brand CNBC wants to be associated with?

Dobbs repeatedly advanced false conspiracy theories about Obama's birth certificate.

As Media Matters extensively documented, Dobbs suggested on his July 15 CNN show that the birth certificate President Obama provided to FactCheck.org was not "the real document" and suggested on his radio show that day that it was not "the real deal." After asking if Obama should be "more forthcoming" about his birth certificate, Dobbs added: "One of our callers, by the way, pointed out that he didn't release -- he didn't release his medical records, either. Now isn't that interesting? And hasn't produced some other documents. What's the deal? What is the deal here? I'm starting to think we have a -- we have a document issue. Do you suppose he's un -- no, I won't even use the word undocumented. It wouldn't be right." On his July 21 radio show, Dobbs faulted "certain quarters of the national liberal media" for "absolutely trying to knock down the issue of President Obama's birth certificate." On his July 23 radio show, Dobbs addressed media reports on his conspiracy theories by declaring, "I do believe in a national left-wing media conspiracy in which they work in concert and attack like hell."

Dobbs used CNN to elevate wild conspiracy theories and legitimize hate groups. The notion that Obama was born outside the United States wasn't the first outrageous theory that Dobbs promoted on CNN. As Media Matters documented, Dobbs has repeatedly accused the U.S. government of secretly plotting with the governments of Mexico and Canada to merge the three countries into a "North American Union" -- a charge his own CNN colleagues labeled a "conspiracy theor[y]." Dobbs has promoted the smear that Mexican immigrants are conspiring to reclaim the Southwest for Mexico and at one point illustrated this theory by using a graphic sourced to the Council of Conservative Citizens, a hate group that "oppose[s] all efforts to mix the races of mankind." Dobbs famously aired a false report about a purported spike in leprosy cases linked to illegal immigration and repeatedly defended his show's reporting even after it had been proven wrong.

Dobbs had close ties to "hate group" FAIR. In September, Dobbs helped lead the annual "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" radio host rally organized by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) -- an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a "hate group." On August 28, Media Matters president Eric Burns wrote an open letter to CNN president Jonathan Klein urging him to prohibit Dobbs from participating in the FAIR event. Media Matters also documented that Dobbs used his CNN show to report on the FAIR rally without disclosing during those reports that he was helping lead it. A year earlier, Dobbs had broadcast his CNN show from the FAIR rally. In addition, the group has given Dobbs an award for "his continued efforts in leading the immigration reform movement through both his talk radio show and his television show." In the past year, Dobbs has cited FAIR as a credible source on immigration issues at least six times and has routinely failed to disclose his close association with the group.

Dobbs smeared U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as sympathetic to "Mexico's export of drugs and illegal aliens." On March 10, Dobbs criticized Obama for delivering a speech on education to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Dobbs accused Obama of "pandering to the pro-amnesty open-borders lobby" and aired a clip of a FAIR spokesman saying, "We don't want the president to make it appear as if he's favoring one particular group in the disposition of public benefits." Dobbs also said, "Making a decision to talk about a national initiative on education from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which is effectively an organization that is interested in the export of American capital and production to Mexico, and Mexico's export of drugs and illegal aliens to the United States. This is crazy stuff." On March 17, Dobbs said he "made a mistake," explaining, "I, of course, do not believe that the chamber supports or condones either drug or human trafficking. My apologies to the ... U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and I hope that they will forgive me for that misspeaking."

Dobbs declared, "Mexico has become our enemy." As Media Matters documented, Dobbs complained on his March 3 radio show that there are people "trying to control our political agendas" and "social agendas with political correctness, trying to control thought, and, of course, speech through political correctness." He added that while it may be "politically incorrect," it is "absolutely factually correct" that "Mexico has become our enemy."

— J.H.

http://mediamatters.org/research/200912010022

Citizens United used 'Hillary: The Movie' to take on McCain-Feingold

2010-01-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post | January 22, 2010

David Bossie, a veteran Republican campaign operative [Swiftboater] who made his mark investigating the Clintons, thought his group could offer a conservative answer to Michael Moore's successful films. After Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" premiered in 2004, Bossie's Citizens United group released "Celsius 41.11."

And after it became clear that Bossie's longtime enemy Hillary Rodham Clinton would run for president, Citizens United released another flick: "Hillary: The Movie." Featuring a who's-who cast of right-wing commentators, the 2008 film takes viewers on a savaging journey through Clinton's scandals. The sole compliment about the then-senator comes from conservative firebrand Ann Coulter: "Looks good in a pantsuit."

But "Hillary: The Movie" never became a blockbuster. The Federal Election Commission restricted Citizens United's ability to advertise the film during the 2008 primary season, a decision that Bossie and other conservative activists saw as a threat to their freedom of speech.

"The marketplace for my movie was completely and totally shut down by the Federal Election Commission," Bossie said in an interview Thursday.

So he sued -- and thus was born Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the legal drama that resulted in Thursday's dramatic Supreme Court decision to overturn restrictions on corporate spending on behalf of or in opposition to political candidates.

Critics said Citizens United created the withering movie knowing that it would fall under the tangle of broadcast and advertising restrictions in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

"The movie was created with the idea of establishing a vehicle to chip away at the decision," said Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign, a group that opposed Thursday's decision. "It was part of a very clear strategy to undo McCain-Feingold." ...

Bossie and his legal team fast-tracked the case, appealing to the Supreme Court. They easily recruited one of the right's most experienced lawyers, Theodore B. Olson. He worked with the group's counsel, Michael Boos, and Floyd Abrams, a veteran First Amendment lawyer who worked on the Pentagon Papers case.

Olson, a former solicitor general, had argued before the Supreme Court countless times, including representing George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida recount. But this case was special.

"Hillary: The Movie" was dedicated to his wife, Barbara Olson, a conservative commentator who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. She was a longtime Clinton critic, working with Bossie in the trenches on Capitol Hill through the 1990s investigations, and wrote the book "Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton." ...

Full story at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103582.html?hpid=topnews

Sarah Palin wasn't McCain's First One?

2010-01-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

Questions over Deaths of 3 Guantanamo Detainees Raised by Magazine Article

2010-01-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

Also see: The Suppressed Fact: 100 Deaths by U.S. Torture

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)

WASHINGTON — Three Guantanamo Bay detainees whose deaths were ruled a suicide in 2006 apparently were transported from their cells hours before their deaths to a secret site on the island, according to an article in Harper's magazine.

The published account released Monday raises serious questions about whether the three detainees actually died by hanging themselves in their cells and suggests the U.S. government is covering up details of what precisely happened in the hours before the deaths.

Harper's reports that the deaths of the three detainees, or the events that led directly to their deaths, most likely occurred at a previously undisclosed facility a mile or so from the main Guantanamo Bay prison complex.

Harper's based much of its account on interviews with several prison guards who said they knew of the existence of the "black" site and that they saw three detainees removed from Camp Delta several hours before the deaths were reported and were in a white van proceeding toward the secret site.

Those who knew of the black facility referred to it as "Camp No," reported the magazine, quoting Army Sgt. Joe Hickman, one of the guards.

Anyone who asked if the black site existed would be told, "No, it doesn't," the magazine reported, quoting Hickman.

After the terror attacks on U.S. soil on Sept. 11, 2001, the CIA set up a number of so-called "black" sites around the world, where harsh interrogations of terrorism-era suspects took place. The Harper's article suggested such a site at Guantanamo Bay may have belonged to the CIA or to the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command.

On Monday, in response to the article, Army Col. Michael Bumgarner said in an email that "this blatant misrepresentation of the truth infuriates me."

Bumgarner said that Hickman "is only trying to be a spotlight ranger; he knows nothing about what transpired in Camp 1 or our medical facility. I do, I was there." Camp 1 is the facility where the three detainees were ordinarily held."

Bumgarner added that he would have to get clearance before he can talk to the news media, "but rest assured, I do want to talk to you very badly and set the record straight."

The three Guantanamo detainees who died the night of June 9-10, 2006 were Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, 37, of Yemen; Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, 30, of Saudi Arabia; and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, 22, of Saudi Arabia.

The article says that at a 7 a.m. meeting on June 10, 2006 with 50 or so soldiers and sailors, Army Col. Michael Bumgarner said that the three men had died by swallowing rags, causing them to choke to death. Bumgarner was a commander at Guantanamo Bay.

According to the magazine, Bumgarner went on to say that the news media would be guided to report something different - that the three prisoners had committed suicide by hanging themselves in their cells.

The servicemen were to make no comments or suggestions that in any way undermined the official report, Bumgarner reminded them, according to the Harper's piece, written by Scott Horton, an attorney who has worked for years on Guantanamo Bay detainee issues.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h97BGvSdx97hHzNDkUiDzI8JsB7A

Qaeda Says Fighters Alive, Yemen Vows More Strikes

2010-01-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda said on Monday its fighters had survived an air strike last week that Yemeni officials said killed six leaders of the militant group.

"The Yemeni government has been making many false claims ... against the Mujahideen leaders in the Arabian Peninsula," al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said in a statement on an Islamist website used by the group.

"The latest of these claims is that it killed six of them between the provinces of al-Jawf and Saada. We assure our Muslim nation that none of the Mujahideen were killed in that strike, but some have suffered mild injuries," it added. ...

Yemen ... came to the forefront of U.S.-led efforts to battle militants after al Qaeda's Yemen wing said it was behind an attempt on December 25 to bomb a U.S.-bound passenger plane. ...

Friday's strike on two cars was reported to have killed the Yemeni al Qaeda wing's military chief Qasim al-Raymi as well as Ayed al-Shabwani, accused of sheltering militants on his farm in Maarib province where their training took place. ...

The death of another militant, Anwar al-Awlaki, who Yemen reported last month might have been killed in an air strike, was never confirmed.

FULL STORY

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60H1MP20100118

The Brother of James Earl Ray Links the CIA to the Murder of Martin L. King and Details His Abuse at the Hands of the FBI

2010-01-18T08:27:00.001-08:00

Also see: "MLK: Sex, Lies & (FBI) Idiot Types"

By Alex Constantine

The following letter to Barry F. Kowalski, former special counsel at the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice, was written by John Larry Ray, brother of James Earl Ray, on March 8, 1999. I acqured this document shortly after it was written, and am revealing some of its contents here for the first time.

The letter has not been edited for typographical and grammatical errors. It is transcribed here exactly as typed.

Joseph Paul Franklin, mentioned in the text, crippled Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler, for life with a bullet meant to silence the publisher's investigation of the John Kennedy assassination. Franklin has never been tried for the attempted murder of Mr. Flynt, but was convicted for an unrelated homicide.
••••••
Greetings Barry F. Kowalski:

In 1998, u.s. attorney-general Janet Reno put you in charge of conducting a limited investigation into the shooting of Rev. Martin Luther King. A few months later, I made copies of confessions of James Earl Ray, and John Larry Ray to you, and told you to make information from these confessions available to the public, such information as:

• That military policeman James Earl Ray, and the OSS/CIA agents had connections to another racial shooting in Germany.

• That James Earl Ray accepted a sum of money from mobsters, and CIA agents in Illinois, and Canada to carry out some type of assignment.

• That since 1968, all the FBI directors, all the Attorney Generals, and members of Congress has buried this connection between Ray, and the CIA.

• That all the afore-mentioned FBI directors, Attorney Generals, and Congressmen carried out the following act of terrorism against John Larry Ray because he wouldn't join up with them in this Grand Conspiracy:

1) That the feds put John Larry Ray under custody for 18 years for supposedly picking a person up on a highway, who was not found guilty of robbing a bank in St. Peters, Missouri.

2) That the feds added an additional three (3) years to this sentence, because he was tardy about submitting a sample of his handwriting to the FBI.

3) That the feds ran John Larry Ray in and out of prisons, because he would not give testimony to Congress supporting their conspiracy.

4) That the feds tried to get serial-assassing Joseph Paul Franklin to give testimony that John Larry Ray was connected to the shooting of Urban-League president Vernon Jordan.

5) That the feds tried to put the SPECIAL DANGEROUS OFFENDERS ACT on the back of John Larry Ray.

6) That the feds beat on the head of John Larry Ray so much that he had to take two brain waive tests. Once at the Incarante Word hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and once at the St. Johns hospital in Springfield, Illinois. Its believed by some doctors that such injuries can cause Diabetes.

7) That the feds withheld Diabetic medication from John Larry Ray, wich shortened his lifespan, and made a cripple out of him for life.

9) That the feds tried to put John Larry Ray in an Illinois insane asylum, because he would not go along with their Grand Conspiracy, but a sanity jury ruled, that there was nothing wrong with the sanity of John L. Ray.

10) That the feds accused,or charged John Larry Ray of committing more than 30 felonies in justifying holding him under custody for more than 25 years.

I am still waiting for you to made the afore-mentioned information available to the public. If you do not I will have to make such information available to the public. If I do not make such information available to the public, I moght wind up in solitary confinement in some asylum in the united states, or stretched out beneath a tombstone before my time.

One reason I believe that the feds are involved in assassinations is that after each investigation, they seal up their findings for 50 years, thus, the feds
investigating assassinations in the united states, would be like Jack the Ripper investigating who was carving up ladies of the night in England.

I Remain,

John Larry Ray,
Soulard City, Missouri

Scott Brown, Right-Wing Nut: Smeared Obama as Born Out of Wedlock

2010-01-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2010

(ChattahBox)—-A recent video uncovered by the blog Blue Mass Group, reveals Massachusetts Republican senatorial candidate Scott Brown to be something of a right-wing birther nut. It’s long been known that the state lawmaker has sought out and received support from fringe teapartiers and right-wing corporate front groups, such as the Club for Growth and Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, which are funded by Wall Street to kill the health care bill and financial regulatory reform. But it’s not been known how much of the fringe right-wing conspiracy laced Kool-Aid Scott has consumed. Well, according to an interview in 2008, Brown has OD’ed on the stuff.

Brown advanced the fringe conspiracy notion that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama was illegitimate. The former nude Cosmo model apparently thought it was amusing to falsely suggest that Barack Obama was born out of wedlock to an unmarried 18-year-old mother.

Brown even gleefully chuckled when responding to the interviewer’s statement that Obama’s parents were married when he was born, “Well I don’t know about that.” “Uh huh huh,” Brown chuckled.

According to the report by Blue Mass Group, Brown was part of a panel that aired on the now-defunct CN8 cable news channel shortly after the 2008 Republican convention. During the panel discussion, Brown vigorously defended Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate as having “a lot of good core values.”

When the discussion turned towards Bristol Palin’s teenage pregnancy, Brown compared the situation to Obama’s mother Ann Dunham who was 18-years-old when she gave birth to Obama. Brown then odiously suggested that Obama was born out of wedlock:

“And quite frankly Barack’s mom had him when she was—18 years old?” When the interviewer noted that Obama’s parents were married, Brown replied, “Well, I don’t know about that. Uh huh huh.”

As pointed out by the Blue Mass Group, the context to Brown’s suggestion that Obama is illegitimate is important. During that time in 2008, fringe birther conspirators were promoting a campaign to discredit Obama as illegitimate to become President of the United States, claiming that he was not a natural born citizen. Right-wingers like Jerome Corsi, co-author of “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry,” and the fevered swamps of World Net Daily pushed the lie that Obama was born out of wedlock, despite ample evidence that his parents were married when he was born in 1961.

The right-wing birthers somehow linked their crazed conspiracy theories to the notion that Obama was illegitimate. As encapsulated by Steve Benen of the Political Animal: “Brown wasn’t just attacking the future president and his parents during the interview; he was also lending credence to fringe right-wing stupidity.”

Brown has attempted to distance himself from Sarah Palin during his campaign and he has portrayed himself as a voice for ordinary citizens who are tired of the political machine. “It’s me against the machine,” says Brown. But based on his past statements, and present associations with fringe right-wing groups, if he somehow becomes elected to the U.S. Senate, Brown intends to appease the crazed right-wingers and his corporate masters; not the people of Massachusetts. The prospect is chilling.

Watch Brown gush over Sarah Palin and suggest Obama was born out of wedlock:

Pacifica Radio's Steve Brown (WBAI-NY Station Board) is a Mail-Order Fraud

2010-01-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

Steve Brown is a prominent member of the Local Station Board (LSB) of WBAI 99.5FM in New York. He is currently running for reelection and is a leader of the Alliance for Community Elections (ACE), which has endorsed 8 other board candidates.

Steve Brown is also a multi-millionaire with a history of being one of the biggest direct mail marketers in the US. According to the Seattle Times, at one point Steve Brown claimed to be responsible for four percent of all the junk mail in the country. According to the New York Times, in 1986 alone he earned $500,000 in salary and up to $13 million in dividends.

Steve Brown's Direct Mail Career

The businesses Steve Brown owned engaged in questionable practices that caused the Attorneys General of seven states, including New York, to step in.

They "investigated, filed suit or forced the company to halt various business practices." (NYT) The Times notes that "The F.T.C. in 1986 issued a consent decree under which Raffoler [one of Brown's business names], without admitting guilt, paid a $150,000 penalty and agreed not to violate mail order rules."

In 1988, "Elizabeth Bradford, an assistant attorney general, said last summer in a complaint filed in State Supreme Court, "Having shown themselves incapable of making an honest sale or a consistently timely delivery, they should not be permitted to conduct any further mail order business in the state of New York." (NYT) According to Crain's, "In January [1992], DME [Direct Marketing Enterprises, another business name of Brown's] settled a five-year-old lawsuit with the New York state attorney general. DME, while admitting no guilt, agreed to changes in advertising, complaint resolution and its refund procedures. It also paid the state $175,000 in investigation costs."

For more detailed info:

A NY Times exposé on Steve Brown's mail-order business practices
Crain's New York Business on complaints against Steve Brown's company
The Seattle Times on Steve Brown's marketing to the gullible
UPI on Steve Brown's settlement with the NY State Attorney General
Crain's on a canceled IPO and a Post Office probe
Misc. articles about complaints and legal actions against Steve Brown's companies
Steve Brown's $7 million French chateau
A bibliography of articles referenced
WBAI LSB disassociates itself from public comments of Steve Brown
Video: Behind Steve Brown's Fabulous Wealth

Brown's company's plan to go public was scuttled -- in part because investors' confidence was shaken by a US Postal Service probe. "Investors apparently won't get their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy stock in Direct Marketing Enterprises Ltd., the Long Island mail-order company known for its low-priced, hyperbolically promoted merchandise." (Crain's)

Incidentally, Steve Brown also owns an 18th century French Chateau, called Chateau des Thons, on sale for $7 million, which had been disassembled in France and brought to the US and reconstructed in Long Island.

Steve Brown's Controversial Actions in the WBAI Community

At WBAI Steve Brown has been a member of a group that has opposed affirmative action in the governance of Pacifica, and has attacked and vilified progressive African American Program Director Bernard White. The attacks have been on a number of fronts. Brown has regularly exaggerated, distorted and even fabricated stories about the program director and has used e-mail for the last several years to spread the stories.

Steve Brown has issued clear, unequivocal calls to turn the station's main focus away from oppressed communities and in the direction of serving the white middle class -- the same kind of audience that NPR and Air America already serve. In 2003 on a public email list he wrote: "... There is not just 'one' WBAI audience -- but 'two.' The first of these audiences, we have always sought to attract -- it comprises the voiceless, the downtrodden, and the oppressed. But we must be careful not to indulge in an orgy of misguided nobility and political correctness by convincing ourselves that this should be our ONLY audience, or even our 'main' audience."

Steve Brown has relentlessly used racist and violent imagery to attack Black station staff. At one point after making unsubstantiated charges against Bernard White, Brown wrote: "If you were there, you should have been at her [Interim General Manager Indra Hardat's] side whacking Bernard with a baseball bat and then calling the police." At another point he wrote: "One witness describes coming to the station these days as like living in the South Bronx, where rival gangs are shooting at each other and all you can do is keep your head down to keep from getting beaten up, knifed, or shot." This is not only a patently and outrageously false depiction of the station, it is also designed to play on the racial fears of white people.

What Does This Mean for the WBAI Elections?

Steve Brown is the leader of ACE, the Alliance for Community Elections. ACE is the 2006 makeover of List-Prog, the 2004 slate in which he also played a leading role. List-Prog members discarded the name following widespread criticism of their role in pushing out Don Rojas, the General Manager of WBAI, attempts to remove Program Director Bernard White, and an attempt to remove Father Lawrence Lucas from the WBAI Local Station Board after he became hospitalized, saying he had "unexcused absences."

Steve Brown brings to WBAI the kind of tactics that made him a wealthy but legally embattled king of the direct mail business. And now WBAI is paying the price.

For an alternative to Steve Brown, visit the Justice & Unity website.

http://whoisstevebrown.info/

New poll shows broad public support for health-care reform, even as Obama’s approval ratings suffer

2010-01-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Story at the Moderate Voice.

Court: Feds Can Hide Alleged Spying on Gitmo Lawyers

2010-01-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

By David Kravets
December 30, 2009

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the government’s refusal to admit or deny it has documents related to warrantless eavesdropping on Guantanamo Bay detainees and their lawyers.

In doing so, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted a little-known defense called the Glomar doctrine. The doctrine, the court ruled, allows the National Security Agency to refuse to acknowledge to the lawyers suing under the Freedom of Information Act that there are any documents responsive to allegations their clients had been or are being targeted under the Terrorist Surveillance Program adopted following the 2001 terror attacks.

“Confirming or denying the mere existence of specific records in a general surveillance program would logically be both confirming or denying that the NSA was targeting a specific individual and confirming or denying that the NSA is conducting a general surveillance program,” (.pdf) the New York-based appellate court wrote Wednesday.

Typically, under Freedom of Information Act requests unrelated to national security, the government announces that it has documentation related to a request, and releases or withholds some or all of it. ...

More: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/gitmo-lawyer-eavesdropping/

Obama Staffer wants ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ of 9/11 Conspiracy Groups

2010-01-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

Suggestion: Tax revenue would be better spent on the cognitive infiltration of Harvard University. The ranking Ivy League institution offers no course on the history of fascism and its corporate roots - because students would quickly come to realize that they live in a fascist state, that their basic beliefs about themselves and their country are cooked public relations concepts. The cognitive infiltration of Harvard is necessary to correct this perceptual imbalance and introduce lackluster academic minds like Prof. Sunstein's to actual reality, a place where fascism is inherently conspiratorial and not a "theory." Students exposed to the cognitive infiltration of reality at Harvard will recognize that Prof. Sunstein is an enabler of fascism whose counter-Constitutional proposals have underpinnings of intellectual quackery and state propaganda. - AC

By Daniel Tencer
Raw | January 13th, 2010

Cass Sunstein

In a 2008 academic paper, President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated "cognitive infiltration" of groups that advocate "conspiracy theories" like the ones surrounding 9/11.

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard law professor, co-wrote an academic article entitled "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures," in which he argued that the government should stealthily infiltrate groups that pose alternative theories on historical events via "chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine" those groups.

As head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Sunstein is in charge of "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs," according to the White House Web site.

Sunstein's article, published in the Journal of Political Philosphy in 2008 and recently uncovered by blogger Marc Estrin, states that "our primary claim is that conspiracy theories typically stem not from irrationality or mental illness of any kind but from a 'crippled epistemology,' in the form of a sharply limited number of (relevant) informational sources."

By "crippled epistemology" Sunstein means that people who believe in conspiracy theories have a limited number of sources of information that they trust. [?]Therefore, Sunstein argued in the article, it would not work to simply refute the conspiracy theories in public -- the very sources that conspiracy theorists believe would have to be infiltrated.

Sunstein, whose article focuses largely on the 9/11 conspiracy theories, suggests that the government "enlist nongovernmental officials in the effort to rebut the theories. It might ensure that credible independent experts offer the rebuttal, rather than government officials themselves. There is a tradeoff between credibility and control, however. The price of credibility is that government cannot be seen to control the independent experts."

Download a PDF of the article here.

Sunstein argued that "government might undertake (legal) tactics for breaking up the tight cognitive clusters of extremist theories." He suggested that "government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action."

"We expect such tactics from undercover cops, or FBI," Estrin writes at the Rag Blog, expressing surprise that "a high-level presidential advisor" would support such a strategy.

Estrin notes that Sunstein advocates in his article for the infiltration of "extremist" groups so that it undermines the groups' confidence to the extent that "new recruits will be suspect and participants in the group’s virtual networks will doubt each other’s bona fides."

Sunstein has been the target of numerous "conspiracy theories" himself, mostly from the right wing political echo chamber, with conservative talking heads claiming he favors enacting "a second Bill of Rights" that would do away with the Second Amendment. Sunstein's recent book, On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done, was criticized by some on the right as "a blueprint for online censorship."

Sunstein "wants to hold blogs and web hosting services accountable for the remarks of commenters on websites while altering libel laws to make it easier to sue for spreading 'rumors,'" wrote Ed Lasky at American Thinker.

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/obama-staffer-infiltration-911-groups/

Sarah Palin, Polar Bears and Exxon Junk Science

2010-01-15T01:46:00.000-08:00

Posted by kert_davies | Greenpeace | 10/01/2008

Guardian writer Ed Pilkington took a fresh swat at Governor Sarah Palin's use and defense of Exxon-funded junk science on polar bears in the State of Alaska's attempts to to kill the listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. ...

Much has been made of Palin's denial of global warming since she was nominated as the GOP Veep candidate, but no one has questioned her credibility for using 'research' that was funded by ExxonMobil, American Petroleum Institute and Charles Koch Foundation.

We are wondering if Gwen Ifill of PBS will ask Ms. Palin a pointed question tomorrow? or if Senator Biden has read the Guardian story?

Tom Kizza at the Anchorage Daily News has followed this story the best. ...

This classic ExxonSecrets map of the junk science authors from the Dyck, Soon, et al article shows once again the tentacles of the Denial Machine (see page 9 for acknowledgement of funding from Exxon and friends). Palin's goon squad cited the Dyck, Soon paper 6 times and even attached a copy of the article (pre-publication) to their 49 page submission to the Department of Interior.

All the background documents can be found on Greenpeace Investigations:

Exxon funded junk science
rebuttal by real polar bear scientists
Alaska's submissions to Department of Interior

No reporters have questioned Exxon or API about funding this research and no one has gotten the scientists themselves on the record as to how much money they got from Exxon and friends and the marching orders attached to that funding.

http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/exxonsecrets/2008/10/01/sarah_palin_polar_bears_and_exxon_junk_s

Scott Ritter Charged in Child-Sex Sting

2010-01-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Ex-UN weapons inspector in child-sex sting
Ritter had said earlier charges were meant to silence criticism of Iraq war
Mike Groll / AP via MSNBC
Police Affidavit

Scott Ritter talks to reporters at his home in Delmar, N.Y., on Thursday.

PHILADELPHIA - A longtime U.N. weapons inspector who blamed a 2001 sex-sting arrest on his criticism of the Iraq war has again been charged in an online child-sex case, and this time he was caught on camera.

Scott Ritter, 48, of Delmar, New York, engaged in a sexually graphic online chat with an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl nearly a year ago, police in northeastern Pennsylvania said. He then turned on a webcam and masturbated on camera, they charged.

Monroe County authorities traced the exchange to Ritter through a cell phone number he provided, and confirmed the match through photographs, according to a police affidavit. Charges were filed in November and the Pocono Record revealed Ritter's involvement on Thursday.

Ritter, an ex-Marine, declined to comment to reporters gathered Thursday at his home near Albany, New York.

"I told you guys I'm not going to say anything, so please just go away," he said after answering the door to the home, adorned with a welcome mat that reads "U.S. Marine Corps, The Ritters."

Ritter, born William Scott Ritter Jr., served as a UN weapons inspector from 1991 to 1998 before resigning. He soon became a harsh critic of the administration of President George H.W. Bush administration's push toward war with Iraq.

In 2003, he acknowledged in TV news appearances that he had faced online child-sex charges in 2001 in New York, but said they were designed to silence his war criticism. The charges were dismissed.

Ritter waived a Dec. 17 preliminary hearing and is free on $25,000 bail. He is due in court Feb. 23 for a status hearing, and would face trial March 9 barring any requests for continuance.

Defense lawyer Todd Henry did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

According to published interviews, Ritter has twin daughters who are about 16. He met his second wife, Marina, a translator, while assigned as a counterintelligence officer in the former Soviet Union. They moved to upstate New York about 10 years ago.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34864444/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

The CIA Deliberately Misspells Terrorists' Names and Bypasses TSA to Let Terrorists Fly

2010-01-13T12:38:00.001-08:00

The CIA Misspells Al Qaeda Terrorists Names and Bypasses TSA to Let Terrorists Fly – A DCBureau.org Exclusive
11 Jan 2010
DCBureau.org
Press Release

WASHINGTON - (Business Wire) One of the 9/11 hijackers appeared on the no-fly list with a deliberately misspelled name. The CIA supplied that name just like they did Umar Farouk Abulmutallab’s. DCBureau is publishing the page from the 2006 no-fly list with the misspelled 9/11 hijacker’s name.

Veteran investigative reporters Susan and Joseph Trento, who first obtained and exposed the flaws in the no-fly list in 2006, have completed a new investigation of the CIA’s role in airline security. It reveals that the CIA is bypassing other government agencies and following terrorists on airplanes without telling TSA or the airlines involved. It shows how terrorists and nuclear proliferators have been allowed to fly because the CIA has refused to add their correct names or aliases to the no-fly list.

Part I of their two-part investigation –“The No Fly List”– is posted on the DCBureau.org Web site. The two part investigation reveals:

The CIA deliberately misspells names and does not provide aliases of suspected terrorists and criminals who are being targeted for recruitment or have relationships with the agency when it passes names on to the National Counterterrorism Center to be integrated in the Terrorism Identity Datamart Environment (TIDE), Selectee, and no-fly lists.

Khalid al-Mihdhar was known to the CIA as one of two men who had attended a meeting of Al Qaeda officials in Malaysia before coming to the United States. That hijacker was also a Saudi Arabian intelligence agent with the General Intelligence Directorate, the Saudi agency that works closely with the CIA. Al-Mihdhar was on the no-fly list as “al-Midham.” Al-Mihdhar helped fly American Airline Flight 77 into the Pentagon on 9/11. Fourteen other 9/11 hijackers appeared on the list five years after they had supposedly died in the attacks. The report also discloses the CIA refused to share language software that would vastly ease problems in matching Arab names to other government agency lists.

DCBureau reveals that the CIA in 2006 deliberately allowed a flight school associate of the 9/11 hijackers to fly to New Zealand and lost track of him only to have New Zealand authorities learn that he had signed up for airline training.

DCBureau reports that Issa Abdullah (Cleven Holt) is not on the no-fly list even though he was a suspect in the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing and was suspected of planning attacks on US troops in Bosnia during a visit by President Clinton. Holt visited the United States last fall and had no trouble flying into the country.

All articles published by DCBureau.org can be reprinted for free with attribution by any outlet.

DCBureau.org
Joseph Trento, 202-466-4310
mobile: 202-255-2441

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/the-cia-misspells-al-qaeda,1114977.shtml

Oliver Stone Suggests Hitler is 'Easy Scapegoat'

2010-01-13T12:10:00.001-08:00

" ... The director ... said his intention was to broaden minds, delving into the funding of the Nazi party and how American corporations were involved in it. ... "

Oliver Stone, the controversial film director, is facing another backlash after suggesting that Hitler was made an "easy scapegoat" by history.

By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Telegraph | 10 Jan 2010

Stone ... has made a new documentary series which he says will place historical figures including Hitler and Stalin "in context".

The director claimed many people in America did not understand the connection between the First World War and the Second World War and said his intention was to broaden minds, delving into the funding of the Nazi party and how American corporations were involved in it.

Stone said he did not want to make an "easy" history programme and talked about trying to understand people he despises. His series will aim to uncover little reported facts that shaped the modern United States.

Professor Peter Kuznick, the lead writer on the series, said the programme would not portray Hitler in a more positive light, but would describe him as a historical phenomenon rather than "somebody who appeared out of nowhere".

Stone has courted controversy before, most notably in his film JFK which suggested a high level conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. He has also polarised opinion with controversial films about President George W Bush, and Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader.

Stone said his latest series would show history from an internationalist, rather than an American, point of view. That included a "complete other story" about how Stalin had fought against the German war machine more than anyone.

The director said he fully expected to face a backlash from conservative pundits.

He said: "Obviously, Rush Limbaugh is not going to like this history and, as usual, we're going to get those kind of ignorant attacks." Stone, 63, who won Oscars for directing Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, also won a Purple Heart for his own military service in Vietnam.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/6962475/Oliver-Stone-suggests-Hitler-is-easy-scapegoat.html

Blood Politics: The Rise of White Nationalism

2010-01-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

Flight 253: The Cover-Up (Re UnderpantsGate)

2010-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

See: "UnderpantsGate: Big Oil, the CIA and the Attempted Bombing of Flight 253 as Justification for Military Operations in Yemen & Nigeria (w/Updates)"

NOW we'll get to the bottom of this ...

Ex-CIA official to lead inquiry into plane incident
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post | January 9, 2010

The Obama administration's top intelligence official has appointed a retired CIA analyst to head an internal investigation of the failures that led to the Dec. 25 attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

John E. McLaughlin, a former deputy CIA director, will lead a review of missteps by U.S. intelligence agencies and assess proposals for correcting weaknesses in a system that did not respond to warnings about terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, said Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair.

Blair said the review will also examine the events leading to the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Tex. The assessments will produce "candid, constructive guidance to improve our future performance," he said.

McLaughlin, 67, was named deputy CIA director under George J. Tenet in 2000. McLaughlin briefly served as acting director of the spy agency after Tenet stepped down in 2004. McLaughlin retired later that year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803754.html

And WHO is John McLaughlin?

" ... With this appointment, President Barack Obama has assured that the culture of intelligence cover-up will continue. ... "

President Obama, the CIA and the Master of the Cover-Up
11 December 2010

by: Melvin A. Goodman

The Obama administration quietly announced Friday the appointment of John McLaughlin, former deputy CIA director, to head the internal investigation of the intelligence failures that led to the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Delta airliner headed for Detroit as well as the events leading to the shootings at Fort Hood in November.

With this appointment, President Barack Obama has assured that the culture of intelligence cover-up will continue. McLaughlin has participated in and sought to cover-up many of the CIA's most egregious failures and misdeeds of the past decade. When he left the CIA, he then served as the agency's chief apologist.

So, who is John McLaughlin? Most of official Washington and the mainstream media view McLaughlin as the mild-mannered, professorial CIA bureaucrat, who former CIA director George Tenet called the "smartest man he had ever met."

Few people understand, however, that McLaughlin played the most important role in making sure that the Bush administration received the intelligence that would be used and misused to justify the use of force against Iraq in 2003.

Washington insiders remember that it was CIA director Tenet who told President George W. Bush, "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk," in response to the president's demand for stronger intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to provide to the American people. Few people remember that it was McLaughlin who actually delivered the "slam-dunk" briefing to the president in January 2003.

McLaughlin was the "villain" behind the politicized intelligence on Iraq in the run-up to the war. He perverted the intelligence process, ignored high-level briefings on the weakness of the intelligence on WMD and tried to silence David Kay, the chief of the Iraq Survey Group, when the weapons inspectors found no evidence of strategic weapons in Iraq.

When Kay returned to CIA headquarters from Baghdad, Tenet and McLaughlin made sure that Kay was given a tiny, windowless office at the end of a distant, deserted corridor undergoing construction. It had no secure phone or classified computer. Kay called it Siberia.

McLaughlin was also the villain behind the CIA's preparation of Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations in February 2003 that used phony intelligence to convince an international audience of the need for war. According to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Powell's chief of staff, Tenet and McLaughlin lied to the secretary of state about the sourcing of serious allegations dealing with Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain strategic weapons.

The most serious allegation came from an Iraqi con man known as "Curveball," who maintained that Iraq had mobile biological laboratories, a key charge in the phony intelligence to justify the Iraq war. German intelligence debriefed Curveball, and German intelligence officials warned the CIA that Curveball was unstable and that there was no validation for his claims. Tyler Drumheller, the chief of CIA's European Division, knew that Curveball was mentally unstable and a liar, and he urged McLaughlin to drop all references to the mobile biological labs from Powell's speech. McLaughlin ignored him, too.

Five weeks after the invasion of Iraq, Powell and McLaughlin shared a table at the White House correspondents' dinner, where McLaughlin, an amateur magician, agreed to perform a few magic tricks during a break in the action. The CIA deputy director conjured coins out of thin air and transformed a single dollar into a $100 bill;
everyone at the table laughed except for Powell, who seemed tense and out of sorts.
According to Bob Drogin, who wrote an authoritative book on Curveball, Powell stared at McLaughlin and requested another trick. "Let's see you find the WMD in Iraq," an unsmiling Powell demanded. McLaughlin looked surprised and his broad grin faded. "We will," he replied, "they're there and we'll find them."

In addition to being one of the ideological drivers for the CIA's policies of torture and abuse, secret prisons and extraordinary renditions, McLaughlin demonstrated early in his career that he was a company man willing to do what was necessary to advance his career. In the 1980s, when CIA Director William Casey and his Deputy Robert Gates were "cooking the books" on intelligence dealing with the Soviet Union, Central America and Southwest Asia, McLaughlin offered no dissent.

When the CIA did an internal investigation of one of the worst examples of politicization of intelligence, the case for Soviet complicity in the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981, McLaughlin made sure there were no references to politicization in the final report and made every effort to hide Gates' role in preparing the Papal plot intelligence assessment. When Gates' nomination as CIA director was in trouble during the confirmation process in 1991, it was McLaughlin who stepped forward to defend his former boss from charges of politicization. ...

http://www.truthout.org/article/president-obama-cia-and-master-cover-up

Jordanians: CIA Bomber Was No Double Agent

2010-01-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Intel Sources Tell TIME that Suicide Bomber Wasn't Working for al Qaeda but That He Was Angry over Civilian Casualties

CBS News | Jan. 7, 2010

(CBS/ AP) The Jordanian doctor accused of blowing himself up and killing seven CIA operatives at a U.S. camp in Afghanistan may not have been a double agent after all, according to a published report.

Anonymous Jordanian intelligence sources told TIME that Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was not a double agent working for al Qaeda, as claimed by the U.S. government. ... He had provided bona fide information, including the location of al Qaeda leaders killed by CIA drone strikes, but a U.S. intelligence official says "there were still questions" about his "reliability" and the "access" he claimed to have to senior al Qaeda leaders, reported CBS News chief national security correspondent David Martin. ...

A top al Qaeda leader Wednesday praised the Dec. 30 attack on the CIA outpost and said it was to avenge the deaths of a Pakistani Taliban leader and two al Qaeda figures. The claim was made in a message on jihadist Internet forums. It added further confusion to which group orchestrated the suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer and wounded six.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/07/world/main6068776.shtml

UnderpantsGate: Big Oil, the CIA and the Attempted Bombing of Flight 253 as Justification for Military Operations in Yemen & Nigeria (w/Updates)

2010-01-02T23:01:00.002-08:00

Also see: "American Sponsorship of Global Terrorism," and "USAID Officer Arrested with Terrorists in Islamabad," also "DynCorp Sub-Contractor Inter-Risk was Behind the Oct. 10th Suicide Bombing of Pakistan's Army HQ," and "Extraditing Headley will Expose CIA"

By Alex Constantine

It's All, Once Again, About Big Oil ...

Mutallab's exploding unmentionables

"Why Was Umar AbdulMutallab in Houston in August 2008? Whom Did He Visit There? What Did He Plan?"

The press reports that he was attending a seminar, but it has also been established that he and his family were in contact with a Houston publisher (of a newspaper that gave us a curiously "Kenyan-Born" Barack Obama, an error in reporting that did wonders for the Birther movement):

Flight 253 Terrorist Suspect on Magazine's Radar

HOUSTON - A Houston-area magazine publisher has met and been following members of a suspected terrorist's family for years.

Chido Nwangwu publishes USAfricaOnline.com, one of the most widely-visited internet publications devoted to Nigerian-American relations.

Nwangwu has been following Forouk Abdul Mutalab's family for years before the 23-year-old man left Nigeria for college in the United Kingdom. The suspected terrorist's father, Alhaji Umuru Mutallab, is considered one of the most powerful men in Nigeria ...

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/international/091228-umar-farouk-abdulmutallab-houston

Dr. Gary Maxey

Publisher Chido Nwangwu hails from the West Africa Theological Seminary, founded and chiefly directed by Dr. Gary Maxey, an American evangelical missionary who has dual homes in Atlanta, GA and Lagos, Nigeria.

BIG OIL AND FRIENDS OF THE WEST AFRICA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: Robert Dyer, ExxonMobil; James Bates, Vice President, ChevronTexaco Canada; Dr. Edward Beaver, Preacher, Realtor, Businessman; Dr. Bill Brown, Businessman, WATS Adjunct Faculty, Salisbury, North Carolina ...
http://www.watsonline.org/friend.html

Recall that Dutchman Jasper Schuringa, who apprehended the bomber, the star of the Flight 253 "action movie" - all of it reportedly on tape - is the son of a Shell Oil executive. Shell, Chevron and Nigerian terrorists are warring: "Nigeria, whose population of about 140 million people makes it Africa’s most populous country, is almost evenly split between the mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian south. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said Dec. 19 it attacked a pipeline in the southern oil region used by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp." - Bloomberg, Dec. 26, 2009

ABOUT THAT VIDEO TAPE

Passenger films Northwest Flight 253 bomb attempt
January 5, 2010, Las Vegas Democrat Examiner, David Phillips

Patricia "Scotty" Keepman tells 620WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News." that she and her family were seated about 20 rows behind Abdulmutallab in a center aisle, and that she saw a man who videotaped the entire flight. Patricia Keepman went on to say "He sat up and videotaped the entire thing, very calmly. We do know that the FBI is looking for him intensely. Since then, we've heard nothing about it."

There has only been one picture released to the media taken on flight 253 - it’s an exclusive on CNN showing uniformed officers removing the Christmas Day bomber from the plane. ...

[T]he American public won’t be seeing that video anytime soon, if at all, and it seems that the Federal government doesn‘t want to mention it. But what is also even more interesting, is that CNN and other main stream media outlets have yet to follow up with any questions about the man standing with a camcorder filming the bomber on flight 253. ...
http://www.examiner.com/x-21777-Las-Vegas-Democrat-Examiner~y2010m1d5-Passenger-films-Northwest-Flight-253-bomb-attempt

"'The War of Terror' is about Protecting the Free Flow of Oil"

"Some, like author and researcher F. William Engdahl, insist that the ‘war on terror' is, and always has been, more about protecting the free flow of oil than stemming the tide of terrorism. "The evidence suggests that the Pentagon and US intelligence are moving to militarize a strategic chokepoint for the world's oil flows ... [using] claims of a new Al Qaeda threat arising from Yemen," writes Engdahl. "In addition, undeveloped petroleum reserves in the territory between Yemen and Saudi Arabia are reportedly among the world's largest."

"Impending US military actions in Yemen - strategically located on an important trading route linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea - are directly linked to US oil interests in Nigeria," wrote Ken Boyte in January at AllVoices.com. He goes on to cite a feasibility study produced by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1975 that identified Yemen as "a target for invasion."

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1829/1/

Africom's Priorities & a Nigerian War Game to "Secure the Oil"

In addition to U.S. military officers and intelligence officers,
"Unified Quest 2008" brought together participants from the State Department and other U.S. government agencies, academics, journalists, and foreign military officers (including military representatives from several NATO countries, Australia, and Israel), along with the private military contractors who helped run the war games: the Rand Corporation and Booz-Allen. ...

One participant, U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Mark Stanovich, drew up a plan that called for the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops within 60 days....

Among scenarios examined during the game were the possibility of direct American military intervention involving some 20,000 U.S. troops in order to "secure the oil," ...

[W]hen General Ward appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on March 13, 2008, he cited America's growing dependence on African oil as a priority issue for Africom and went on to proclaim that combating terrorism would be "Africom's number one theater-wide goal." He barely mentioned development, humanitarian aid, peacekeeping or conflict resolution. ...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14783

The Nigerian Bomber & AFRICOM

" ... the serious furore created by Abdulmulltallab’s action will further justify the Obama administration’s commitment to AFRICOM’s escalation of the military role of the command in fighting the alleged global war on terrorism (GWOT). ... "

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/15430

---
PROVOCATIONS

DECEMBER 19, 2009 BBC REPORT: "Nigeria rebels attack oil pipeline"

And that wasn't the end of it: "Nigeria rebels vow more attacks after 'warning strike' on oil pipeline"

We've all been hit by shock waves from the attacks, but Big Oil most of all:

Nigerian Rebels Drive Up Oil Prices
Shell Facility Hit, Crimping Output
Washington Post | June 30, 2009

WHAT DO WE KNOW OF THESE REBELS? - BBC: "Little is known about the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta but it has shown that it is capable of destablising Nigeria's oil industry."

On Big Oil in Yemen, see: "The Yemen Hidden Agenda: Behind the Al-Qaeda Scenarios, A Strategic Oil Transit Chokepoint"

" ... In addition to its geopolitical position as a major global oil transit chokepoint, Yemen is reported to hold some of the world’s greatest untapped oil reserves. ... "
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16786

BRUTAL "PARTNERS" IN YEMEN

from: Scapegoats and scaremongers
Alan Maass unravels the deceptions and hidden motives in the government and media response to the plot to set off a bomb on a plane bound for Detroit.

... The government of Yemen is notoriously corrupt and brutal. It is one of the few countries in the world with a record of executions to rival the U.S., and one where the CIA rendition program sent detainees to be tortured by an allied regime. Yemeni military forces have been happy to collaborate with U.S. "war on terror" operations, especially when this furthers the government's ongoing campaigns against opposition groups in the north and secessionists in the south.

But Obama says he's "made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them." ...
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/05/scapegoats-and-scaremongers

THE PATH TO DETROIT

But how on earth were Big Oil and its Saudi partners going to convince the war-weary American public to finance yet another foreign invasion? Pipeline security doesn't wring a driblet of sympathy from the recessionary taxpayer. The answer was too obvious - a covert operation ...

CIA/Saudi Foreshadowings

George W. Bush Let Terrorists Behind Christmas Bombing Out Of Gitmo

Air America: "Brian Ross of ABC News reports that two of the four men behind the plot to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day were actually prisoners of the United States and that, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, were released into a Saudi art rehabilitation program. ..."
http://airamerica.com/politics/12-28-2009/bush-let-christmas-bombing-planners-out-gitmo/

Saudi King, CIA chief meet amid Yemen fighting
www.presstv | 16 Nov 2009

Saudi Arabia's King Abdallah receives the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as both countries become more involved in the deadly war in Yemen.

The meeting between King Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta took place in Riyadh on Sunday, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Apparently, King Abdallah also held another meeting on the same day with the Head of Russian Federal Commission of Military and Technical Cooperation Michael Dimitriv.

The report, however, did not include any specific details about the topics that were discussed during the two meetings, simply announcing that there was an exchange of greetings between the king and US President Barack Obama through the CIA director.

The meeting between the Saudi leader and the CIA chief came just days after both the US and Saudi Arabia decided to get more involved in the bloody conflict in northern Yemen ...

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111411§ionid=351020205

So Panetta travelled all the way to Riyadh for "an exchange of greetings between the king and US President Barack Obama?" King Abdallah couldn't dial a telephone? Perhaps, for the sake of argument, they talked about something else, something very sensitive ... like how to persuade the American people to support further covert and overt military adventures in Yemen. We had already established a CIA presence there ...

CIA present in Yemen since 2008: Report

INTELLIGENCE "FAILURES"

The CIA Deliberately Misspells Terrorists' Names and Bypasses TSA to Let Terrorists Fly

" ... Veteran investigative reporters Susan and Joseph Trento, who first obtained and exposed the flaws in the no-fly list in 2006, have completed a new investigation of the CIA’s role in airline security. It reveals that the CIA is bypassing other government agencies and following terrorists on airplanes without telling TSA or the airlines involved. It shows how terrorists and nuclear proliferators have been allowed to fly because the CIA has refused to add their correct names or aliases to the no-fly list. ... "
http://alexconstantine.blogspot.com/2010/01/cia-deliberately-terrorists-names-and.html

" ... the CIA failed to circulate a report it had about bombing suspect ... "
http://www.examiner.com/x-22397-Providence-Business-News-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Breaking-Flight-253-Terror-Plot-CIA-failed-to-circulate-report-about-bombing-suspect

" ... Yesterday it was claimed MI5 knew three years ago of his "multiple communications" with extremists in Britain while at University College London. ...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/04/jet-bomber-s-visa-con-115875-21940595/

" ... Abdulmutallib was also on a terror watch list, although that fact, and the fact that he had been known to anti-terror officials for several years, did not prevent him from boarding Flight 253 ... "
http://frontpagemag.com/2009/12/28/flight-253-and-counterterror%E2%80%99s-epic-fail-by-robert-spencer/

" ... The CIA said it worked with embassy officials to make sure that Abdulmutallab's name made it into the government's database of suspected terrorists and noted his potential extremist connections in Yemen. The CIA also said it forwarded that information to the National Counterterrorism Center. ... it is unlikely Abdulmutallab would have been flagged because the Customs and Border Patrol officers do not routinely screen all passengers against the names of individuals on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, known as TIDE, which was the only place that Abdulmutallab was listed. ... "
http://www.sphere.com/nation

"Israeli Intelligence" Ties to AQ Extremists in Yemen?

The BBC reports that Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen -led by the commandos released by Bush - are really Israeli agents though they have organized attacks against US targets:

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence. Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group's links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen. The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying.

"A terrorist cell was arrested and will be referred to the judicial authorities for its links with the Israeli intelligence services," Mr Saleh told a gathering at al-Mukalla University in Hadramawt province. "Details of the trial will be announced later. You will hear about what goes on in the proceedings," he added.

The 17 September attack was the second to target the US embassy since April. Militants detonated car bombs before firing rockets at the heavily fortified building.

Mr Saleh did not identify the suspects, but official sources were quoted saying it was same cell - led by a militant called Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani - whose arrest was announced a week after the attack.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9951

VIDEO UPDATE, 1-5-10: OFFICIAL STATEMENTS REVERSED:

The Political Rebirth of Attorney Kurt Haskell: "Today is the second worst day of my life after 12-25-09. Today is the day that I realized that my own country is lying to me and all of my fellow Americans."
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_kurt_hask.html

Passenger's account of Flight 253 suspect disputed
Flier says man who tried to get on flight may be from Sudan
Paul Egan | The Detroit News
January 05. 2010

" .... A passenger on the Christmas Day flight that was targeted in a terrorist attack says the man a fellow passenger saw attempting to board the flight without a passport may have been a Sudanese refugee, not the accused bomber. BEAU TAYLOR of Jackson, an international development consultant who was aboard the flight from Amsterdam, said he saw a young man being accompanied on the airplane by a flight attendant. ... "

Beau Taylor & USAID, an agency on intimate terms with the CIA ... and, some say, Hizb-ut-Tahrir terrorists: "International Development, USAID contracting, Managerial and Strategy Consulting, Negotiations, Hiring, Recruiting, Management, Russian Language, International Relationship Development, Cross-Cultural Management, Marketing, Finance, USAID." Mr. Taylor is "currently charged with operational oversight of a $20,000,000 project to stabilize communities in Baquba, Iraq. This is part of the larger CSP project, a $300,000,000 development project to support USAID efforts in Iraq."
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/beau-taylor/1/3b4/799\

REWARDING IRAQI INSURGENTS - ACCORDING TO A USAID STATEMENT, RE CSP (Community Stabilization Program), the program that employed Beau Taylor, has in fact been discontinued: "... a 2008 audit [found] evidence of fraud, phantom workers, and money being diverted to insurgents through trash collection contracts. ... " - USAID funding Iraqi insurgents?

THE SECOND MAN - AN OFFICIAL RETRACTION

"Federal officials for several days denied accounts by Haskell and his wife, Lori, also an attorney, that they had seen a second man from their flight led away in handcuffs at Detroit Metro after a dog reacted to something inside the man's bag.

"But late Friday, Ron Smith, the chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer for Detroit, confirmed that the incident did happen and apologized for not correcting the information earlier. He said the man from Flight 253, who was handcuffed, later was released without charges. ... "
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100105/METRO/1050370/1409/METRO/Passenger-s-account-of-Flight-253-suspect-disputed

CAUGHT IN THE ACT: WHY THE OFFICIAL DENIAL WAS RETRACTED

" ... Government officials initially denied that anyone other than Mutallab was detained; but, after other witnesses came forward to corroborate the Haskells, they had to admit that someone else was detained. ... "
http://www.theendrun.com/2010/another-buried-christmas-day-arrest-uncovered/

JOE LIEBERMAN'S SOLUTION
TO THE EXPLOSIVE UNDERPANTS PROBLEM

"On Sunday, the neocon Joe Lieberman said the U.S. needs to bomb Yemen and pronto. A script on Yemen and al-Qaeda is now being uniformly followed by the corporate media ... "
http://www.infowars.com/man-videotaped-underwear-bomber-on-flight-253/

The Flaming Diarhhea Psyop

Abdulmutallab had been given erroneous directions for detonating the bomb, and it's fairly certain that the intention was to scare, not kill - after all, there were "actors" planted on the plane. AP reports: " ... The Dutch government said the plan to blow up the Detroit-bound aircraft was professional but called its execution 'amateurish.' ... [Interior Minister Guusje] Ter Horst said Abdulmutallab apparently assembled the explosive device, including 80 grams of PETN, in the aircraft toilet, then planned to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals. She said the explosives appeared to have been professionally prepared and had been given to Abdulmutallab, but did not elaborate.

"If you want to detonate it, you have to do that another way than he did. That is why we talk about amateurism," she said."

Everything was "professional" about the PETN bomb ... but the bomber had no idea how to ignite it. This only adds up if he was a psyop patsy.

THE THIRD TERRORIST SUSPECT ARREST WAS A NIGERIAN PETROLEUM ENGINEER:

"Authorities said the passenger was a 36-year old Nigerian petroleum engineer who became unhappy when he was ordered to his seat one hour before landing, as required under new in-flight rules following the attempted Christmas day bombing of the same flight by another Nigerian citizen. The passenger supervises 90 employees at the multinational petroleum company he works for in Yemen. ... "
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/food-poisoning-blamed-northwest-flight-253-bomb-scare/story?id=9430057

The Hero & Shell Oil Co.

" ... Jasper was born in Curacao, a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean though his family often moved, globetrotting for his father’s job with the Shell Oil firm. ... "

Dutch Hero Becomes National Pride
By Peter Valk and Jasper Fakkert
Epoch Times Staff | Dec 27, 2009

Netherlands—Dutchman Jasper Schuringa who reportedly prevented the terror suspect from blowing up the Northwest Airline jet with 289 passengers on board, is being cheered in the Netherlands as a new national hero. The 32-year-old film director’s act of bravery has made the down-to-earth Dutch proud as peacocks.

“We are extremely proud of him but also really shocked because in one second it could have ended up very differently,” Jasper’s parents were reported as saying by Dutch media.

Headlines in the Netherlands largest newspaper 'De Telegraaf', read "Dutch Jasper Overmasters Terrorist” and “Decoration for Hero Jasper Schuringa.” Other news articles in the Netherlands also focus on how “Dutch Jasper” is praised in American media.

Dutch Minister Wouter Bos spoke with Jasper over the phone and expressed his appreciation on behalf of the Dutch government.

Jasper himself seems rather sober about his part: “I just jumped. I didn’t think. I went over there and tried to save the plane,” he said in an interview with CNN.

Jasper was born in Curacao, a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean though his family often moved, globetrotting for his father’s job with the Shell Oil firm. ...

Besides Curacao, Jasper and his family lived in Oman, the Netherlands and Gabon, where they had to flee with help of the French foreign legion when the civil war broke out there. After secondary school he graduated from a film academy in Miami. Currently, he runs a video company called “Go With The Flow Productions." ...

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27065/

Abdulmutallab SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED his Seat

" ... Jasper, a video director and producer was sitting across the aisle from the bomber and when he heard a pop as did all the other passengers; he went into action seeing the smoke and fire. ... [R]eports are now suggesting that Abdulmutallab had requested his particular seat, there needs to be an evaluation of such request. ... "

http://www.examiner.com/x-7462-Atlanta-Faith--Family-Examiner~y2009m12d28-Hero-of-Flight-253-to-Detroit-Flying-Dutchman-Jasper-Schuringa-subdues-terrorist

Jasper Schuringa & the National Counter-Terrorism Center

" ... The Curacao-born Jasper Schuringa attended film school in Miami and he also lived in Oman. After accusations in the media that he was publicizing himself over the Muttalab incident, Schuringa largely receded from public view. Schuringa was en route to Costa Rica via Detroit to visit his sister. The National Counter-terrorism office in The Hague is being mum about any connections it had with Schuringa, according to the Dutch paper Parool.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5424.shtml

Payday

The Shady Mainstream Media Payday of Flight 253 Hero Jasper Schuringa
Gawker.com

Jasper Schuringa probably didn't think twice before dismantling Northwest Airlines Flight 253's would-be bomber. But before telling his story, he wanted money, and he got it. ... Yesterday Mediaite and TV Newser reported on Schurnga's two wares he's got for sale: the first, a blurry picture of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The second is himself, for interviews. CNN got to him first. They also got an interview. ...

All the media organizations found Schuringa's company website, which had his cell phone number on it. By the time he finally got to Miami, his final destination, CNN and The New York Post had gotten to him.

Once the Post and CNN got through to Jasper, he handed over all negotiations to his friend who lives in Miami who he came to the U.S. to visit. His name is Shai Ben-Ami. He's an Israeli guy who's in the restaurant business, as a Google search would turn up. ...

Schurnga sold the "TV Rights" of the first of his two photos to CNN for $10K.

The "print rights" went to the Post for $5K.

Later, Schuringa was paid upwards of $3K by ABC News for a second photo, which Schuringa tried to sell to other local news outlets for $5K, unsuccessfully. ...

"He was quite upfront about it," we're told. "He made it clear that Jasper was only talking to news organizations that paid."

http://gawker.com/5434950/the-shady-mainstream-media-payday-of-flight-253-hero-jasper-schuringa'

Abdulmutallab’s Lawyer is Public Defender Who Forged Documents in Detroit Terror Cell Trial - December 28, 2009 - Re Umar Abdulmutallab’s lawyer, Miriam Siefer, by conservative reporter Debbie Schlussel, the source of these allegations:

During the Detroit terror cell case, she represented Karim Koubriti, an Islamic terrorist in a cell, which plotted to blow up the U.S. Air Force Base in Turkey, where U.S. AWACS and Israeli F-16s are based and from where they took off. They also plotted to blow up hotels and casinos in Las Vegas and planned to detonate in Disneyland.

During the course of her “representation” of terrorist Koubriti, Siefer and her fellow public defender, Richard Helfrick a/k/a Rick Helfrick (who will probably also assist her in representing Abdulmutallab), stole the stationery of the then-Chief Judge of the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Lawrence Zatkoff, forged Zatkoff’s name, and sent it to another attorney in the case, accusing him of faking invoices (which wasn’t true). That makes at least several federal crimes that I can think of–theft, forgery, impersonating a federal official, mail fraud, etc. but they got away with it. ...
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/14360/abdulmutallabs-public-defender-is-dirty-trickster-who-forged-documents/

Mutallab's Blue-Chip Father

The Nigerian Bomber's Father & Big Oil: SaharaReporters - " ... Dr. Muttallab, who is currently the chairman of First Islamic bank, JBI, in Nigeria, sits on the board of that bank with Dr. Rilwan Lukman, the Minister of Petroleum resources. ... "

----------
The terror suspect who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane is the son of a Nigerian banker who alerted U.S. authorities to his "extreme religious views" months ago, it was reported Saturday.

The father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria, is shocked that his son was even was allowed to fly to the U.S., family members told the Nigerian newspaper This Day.

The dad was meeting with security officials to discuss his son, identified as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23. The younger Mutallab was not on any no-fly list when he flew from Nigeria to Detroit through Amsterdam, Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) told the Daily News. ...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/12/26/2009-12-26_father_of_umar_farouk_abdul_mutallab_nigerian_terror_suspect_in_flight_253_attac.html#ixzz0b8LDuSQV

Nigerian Terror Suspect: This Apple Fell Too Far From the Tree
USAfricaonline, Commentary, Chido Nwangwu, Posted: Dec 28, 2009

... The older Mutallab, a conservative Muslim, was born in 1939 in the north central state of Katsina (home of the current, ailing President Umaru Ya'Adua). A USAfricaonline.com count found that Umaru Mutallab was chairman of more than 36 blue chip companies inside Nigeria and overseas. ...

A highly respected conservative man whose friends cut across states, religion and gender, Mutallab is soft spoken and very intelligent and industrious.

Having reported and followed key aspects of Umaru Mutallab and Nigeria's military and civilian elite, I know that the older Mutallab benefited from his deft positioning across an immense network of family, geo-ethnic and professional layers of interests.

Consequently, the man has had a near permanent presence on Nigeria's economic landscape as a government official, banking investor, facilitator or shareholder - working the levers of power- all through civilian and military governments in Nigeria for more than 35 years.

Alhaji Mutallab is one of Nigeria's most respected technocrats and administrators, having also served as a Federal Minister of Economic Development & Reconstruction. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (FCCA), Institute of the International Bankers Association (FIBA, USA), the Institute of Bankers and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA).

Mutallab was appointed director of First Bank on March 8, 1996 and became chairman of the Board on March 18, 1999. In mid December, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab - after his massively rewarding decade at the helm of the First Bank Plc - fully retired as Chairman. He was succeeded by Oba Otudeko, a billionaire chairman of the Honeywell Group of Companies and immediate past President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Mutallab has been in strategic board positions of the banking sector for decades as CEO and/or Chairman of various financial institutions including United Bank for Africa (UBA).

“The man is amiable and always at the forefront of any economic revival committees and boards of government, the alleged link of his son to the alleged terrorism plot left many of his friends and associates devastated,” notes Obinwa Nnaji, USAfricaonline.com bureau chief in Lagos. “Other Nigerians still argue at their homes, various places and across USAfrica multimedia blogs that they still do not believe it to be a stock in trade of Nigerians to be found planting bombs in aircraft.” ...

[O]ne of the areas where the older Mutallab's skills and services did not yield much if any significant value for Nigerians was his tenure as chairman of the troubled and woeful former National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eb6dc82396fc6c958fae289fe7cbc3d3

Goldman Sachs, the Bomber's Father and VISION 2O20

‘Aggressive implementation of Vision 2020 commences January 2010’
Daily Trust | 29 November 2009

By January 2010, about four weeks from now, Nigerians will start feeling the impacts of the Vision 20:2020, the Chairman of the Business Support Group of the Vision, Alhaji Umuru Mutallab, CON, said in this interview.

Vision 20:2020 sought to accelerate the pace of the country’s growth & development and make it among the world’s twentieth economies by the year 2020. Mutallab said for the Vision to succeed, the civil service must be carried along. He spoke on many other issues.

It started during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo following the projections of Goldman Sachs which realises that countries like Brazil, Rusia, India and China have achieved phenomenal growth and said further that there are other sets of countries which if they put their acts together by the year 2025 would be among the top 20 economy of the world. Nigeria was among these countries ...

http://www.news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10311:aggressive-implementation-of-vision-202020-commences-january-2010&catid=26:business&Itemid=153
---
Mind Control?

Underwear Bomber Dazed, Stared "Into Nothing"
Tom Leonard
The Daily Telegraph | December 28, 2009

Mr Schuringa said he said he frisked the suspect and discovered his trousers were open and that he had a flaming object resembling a small, white shampoo bottle strapped to his left leg near his crotch.

"I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," he told CNN. ...

All the while, Mr Abdulmatallab seemed dazed, he said. "He was staring into nothing." When he got him into first class, Mr Schuringa pulled off his remaining clothes to check for further explosives and helped a crew member to handcuff him.

http://au.messages.yahoo.com/news/conspiracy_theory/11121/
--------UPDATES-------

Britain sends counter-terrorist forces to Yemen
Telegraph.co.uk - ‎Jan 2, 2010‎
Britain has dispatched a special counter-terrorist unit to Yemen as the mountainous Arab state emerges as the new frontline in the war against al-Qaeda, ...

Crack SAS team to hunt the terrorists
Mirror.co.uk - Rupert Hamer - ‎Jan 2, 2010‎
A crack squad of SAS troopers has been flown to the Yemen to wipe out new al-Qaeda terror camps. The move follows revelations that ...
---
Operation Underpants: A "Planned Event"

" ... The story seemed almost plausible, but the sequence of US government responses and controlled news releases about the alleged bomber over the 24-48 hours that followed proved otherwise. Just like in the cases of 9/11 and 2005 London bombings, the campaign of disinformation shows that ‘Terror in Detroit’ is another ‘planned event.’ ... " - From: "Christmas Terror in Detroit! Deception continues," by Ajit Randeniya

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/12/30/christmas-terror-in-detroit-deception-continues/

"Covert Sponsorship of Al-Qaeda Networks Continues"

>" ... As we have seen with Mohamed Atta, Richard Reid and Mohammad Sidique Khan, Abdulmutallab's "journey" was one undertaken by many before, often with a wink-and-a-nod by British and American security officials when it served the geostrategic ambitions of their political masters. As security researcher and analyst Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed wrote in New Internationalist in October: 'Islamist terrorism cannot be understood without acknowledging the extent to which its networks are being used by Western military intelligence services, both to control strategic energy resources and to counter their geopolitical rivals. Even now, nearly a decade after 9/11, covert sponsorship of al-Qaeda networks continues.' ... " - From: "Weird Underpants, Strange Backstory: The Untold Tale of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's Christmas Flight," by Tom Burghardt

http://pacificfreepress.com/news/1/5313-weird-underpants-strange-backstory-the-untold-tale-of-umar-farouk-abdulmutallabs-christmas-flight.html

The Northwest Flight 253 intelligence failure: Negligence or conspiracy?
World Socialist Web Site | 31 December 2009

... Both then and now, the government and the media expect the public to accept that all that was involved was mistakes. But why should anyone assume that the failure to act on the extensive intelligence leading to Abdulmutallab involved merely “innocent” mistakes—and not something far more sinister?

If this episode is to be examined seriously, the question must be asked: What would have happened had Northwest Flight 253 been destroyed?

There is no question but that such a catastrophe would have had immense repercussions both internationally and within the United States. It would have seriously destabilized the Obama administration, politically strengthened the most extreme right-wing sections of the ruling class, and cleared the way for an even more massive expansion of military-intelligence operations overseas and a drastic curtailing of democratic rights at home. ...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/pers-d31.shtml

Northwest Flight 253: Mounting Evidence of U.S. Complicity in Terrorism
by Gordon Duff

When nothing adds up, its time we start looking at what we kow. Our recent terrorist, now dubbed "the crotch bomber" is another dupe. He could have been working for anyone, drugged, brainwashed or simply influenced, maybe by crazy Arabs, maybe by the Mossad, maybe by the CIA. We only know the game is falling apart.

We do know a couple of things. Dad, back in Nigeria, ran the national arms industry (DICON) in partnership with Israel, in particular, the Mossad. He was in daily contact with them. They run everything in Nigeria, from arms production to counter-terrorism. Though Islamic, Muttalab was a close associate of Israel. He has been misrepresented. His "banking" is a cover. Next, what do we know about the two alleged Al Qaeda leaders Bush had released, the ones who allegedly planned this?

According to ABC news, the Al Qaeda leaders running the insurgency in Yemen were released from Guantanamo, although two of the alleged highest ranking known terrorist there, without trial.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody.

Both of the former Guantanamo detainees are described as military commanders and appear on a January, 2009 video along with the man described as the top leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Basir Naser al-Wahishi, formerly Osama bin Laden's personal secretary.

With all the hoopla about trials in New York, not a word is said when top level terrorists are released to Saudi friends of the Bush family who let them go. We are now fighting these two Bush friends in Yemen. They are running a major insurgency there. We have been using Cruise missiles and our jets to attack their bases in the last weeks.

New MSNBC theory: Maybe U.S. intel deliberately withheld info on Flight 253 from each other
posted at 9:10 pm on January 5, 2010 by Allahpundit

"John Gibson and Ace read this as Olby’s way of hinting that dark elements within U.S. intelligence tried to hurt Obama politically by intentionally letting an attack happen. ... Either way, do note that the strong-form conspiracy theory about shadowy forces using Flight 253 to ruin Obama is indeed being circulated ... "

http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1166984

Searching fot the "Hidden Agenda"

" ' ... It seems that the president is leaning very much towards thinking this was a systemic failure by individuals who maybe had an alternative agenda.' (emphasis added)

'I will accept that intelligence by its nature is imperfect" the President said, "but it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged.'

The question is why? And more pertinently from a parapolitical perspective, what 'alternative agenda' is playing out here that would put the lives of nearly 300 air passengers at risk? ... "

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/burghardt3.1.1.html

Detroit attack: US border guards knew alleged terrorist was on flight
Telegraph | 07 Jan 2010

" ... 'The people in Detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection,' said a an official quoted by the Times.' ... [The]database had picked up the State Department concern about this guy, that this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in Yemen ... They could have made a decision on whether to stop him from getting on the plane,' he said. ... "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6944598/Detroit-attack-US-border-guards-knew-alleged-terrorist-was-on-flight.html

CBS NEWS LEARNS CIA HAD ADVANCE INFORMATION ON DETROIT TERRORIST

CBS News has learned that as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed "The Nigerian," suspected of meeting with "terrorist elements" in Yemen.

Sources tell CBS News "The Nigerian" has now turned out to be Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. But that connection was not made when Abudulmutallab's father went to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria three months later, on November 19, 2009. It was then he expressed deep concerns to a CIA officer about his son's ties to extremists in Yemen, a hotbed of al Qaeda activity. ...
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16769

Delta black op bomb gave neocon Christmas gifts of nudity and fear
www.examiner.com | January 4

" ... Delta 253 passenger Jasper Schuringa, the young filmmaker that wrestled Mutallab to the ground and prevented his terrorist mission, "was driven to Schiphol on Christmas morning by his friend Chris Van Amersfoort. whose Facebook page lists him as a 'fan of' Dubai World’s owner 'His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum,' the Emir of Dubai. ... "
http://www.examiner.com/x-10438-Human-Rights-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Obamas-orders-for-security-ignored-FOX-refuses-to-release-segment-copy

---
Wayne Madsen Reports that Mutallab's Passport was Italian?

Intelligence sources: Plane incident a false flag involving trinity of CIA, Mossad, and RAW
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer | Jan 4, 2010

" ... The facts emerging are that Mutallab was not traveling on a Nigerian passport but on an Italian passport. Mutallab’s father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, happens to hold the Italian Order of Merit. In addition, Mutallab’s ticket was purchased in Accra, Ghana, with $2,831 in cash and was later re-issued, on December 16, with a different itinerary at the KLM office in Lagos. ... Previously, WMR reported that the security company that cleared Mutallab in Schiphol is ICTS, a firm that is headquartered in Israel and Amstelveen, Netherlands. The firm also cleared attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid for a Miami-bound American Airlines flight from Paris in December 2001. ... "

---
ORWELL FLEW IN ON FLIGHT 253

OMNESCIENCE NOW!

... In 2002, retired Adm. John Poindexter, an expert on information technology, devised a plan for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency called the Total Information Awareness program.

PART OF THAT program was designed to foil "asymmetrical warfare" — airline suicide bombers, for example — with vast data-mining computers that could link widely disparate pieces of information in scattered databases. Unfortunately, Poindexter was probably not the best salesman for the program with congressional Democrats.
From: "Join dots and stop the terror" | Scripps Howard News Service, 1-5-10
http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2010/01/05/opinion/srv0000007247531.txt

TORTURE AS A "MORAL OBLIGATION"

Time For Enhanced Interrogation
Investors.Com | 12/30/2009

War On Terror: The U.S. now holds a prisoner of war who has knowledge that could foil future terrorist operations. The Obama administration has a moral obligation to extract it from Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. ...

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=516683

THE LYING LIARS OF THE GOP

Obama's Use Of 'Terror': Reporters Still Struggling To Use Internet To Verify Claims
By Jason Linkins
Huffpost | 01-4-10

One of the last things I did in 2009 was to lament the awesome stupidity of a press corps that seemed unable to do even basic fact-checking, such as using available resources to test contentions like: "Did President Barack Obama stop using the word 'terror' or 'terrorism'?" Peter King told this lie, successfully, to CNN because apparently no one at CNN has access to a computer or a television or even has a teensy bit of electrical current running through the wet membranes found in their cranial cavity.

I was able to use this thing called Google to demonstrate that King was not telling the truth when he said, "Even when the president gave his speech at West Point about the troops going to Afghanistan, he didn't use the word 'terrorism'." It's no big deal. I didn't think I deserved a medal for journalistic excellence, at the time. But I'm starting to revise that belief now that it's 2010 and Greg Sargent has a piece up at the Plum Line documenting how Jim DeMint played all sorts of journalists for fools in a similar fashion over the weekend:

CNN let Senator Jim DeMint come on the network yesterday and claim, without any fact-checking, that Obama doesn't use the word "terror," which DeMint cited as proof of the President's lackluster approach to keeping us safe:

DEMINT: There's no question that the president has down-played the risk of terror since he took office. He is investigating the CIA, rather than build them up.

GLORIA BORGER: How has he -- Senator DeMint, how -- how has he down-played the risk of terror?

DEMINT: Well, it begins with not even being willing to use the word.

BORGER: Well, aside from the semantics, aside from that.

Again, in about15 seconds, you can go to the White House's website, click "Briefing Room", click "Speeches and Remarks", select the first entry, which is titled, "Statement by the President on Preliminary Information from his Ongoing Consultation about the Detroit Incident" and then see the very first paragraph, which reads:

Good morning. Yesterday I updated the American people on the immediate steps we took -- the increased screening and security of air travel -- to keep our country safe in the wake of the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day. And I announced two reviews -- a review of our terrorist watch list system and a review of our air travel screening, so we can find out what went wrong, fix it and prevent future attacks. ...

You can also see that Obama used some form of the word "terrorism" three additional times.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/04/obamas-use-of-terror-repo_n_410653.html
---
THE COVER-UP

NOW we'll get to the bottom of this ...

Ex-CIA official to lead inquiry into plane incident
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post | January 9, 2010

The Obama administration's top intelligence official has appointed a retired CIA analyst to head an internal investigation of the failures that led to the Dec. 25 attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

John E. McLaughlin, a former deputy CIA director, will lead a review of missteps by U.S. intelligence agencies and assess proposals for correcting weaknesses in a system that did not respond to warnings about terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, said Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair.

Blair said the review will also examine the events leading to the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Tex. The assessments will produce "candid, constructive guidance to improve our future performance," he said.

McLaughlin, 67, was named deputy CIA director under George J. Tenet in 2000. McLaughlin briefly served as acting director of the spy agency after Tenet stepped down in 2004. McLaughlin retired later that year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803754.html

And WHO is John McLaughlin?

" ... With this appointment, President Barack Obama has assured that the culture of intelligence cover-up will continue. ... "

President Obama, the CIA and the Master of the Cover-Up
11 December 2010

by: Melvin A. Goodman

The Obama administration quietly announced Friday the appointment of John McLaughlin, former deputy CIA director, to head the internal investigation of the intelligence failures that led to the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Delta airliner headed for Detroit as well as the events leading to the shootings at Fort Hood in November.

With this appointment, President Barack Obama has assured that the culture of intelligence cover-up will continue. McLaughlin has participated in and sought to cover-up many of the CIA's most egregious failures and misdeeds of the past decade. When he left the CIA, he then served as the agency's chief apologist.

So, who is John McLaughlin? Most of official Washington and the mainstream media view McLaughlin as the mild-mannered, professorial CIA bureaucrat, who former CIA director George Tenet called the "smartest man he had ever met."

Few people understand, however, that McLaughlin played the most important role in making sure that the Bush administration received the intelligence that would be used and misused to justify the use of force against Iraq in 2003.

Washington insiders remember that it was CIA director Tenet who told President George W. Bush, "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk," in response to the president's demand for stronger intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to provide to the American people. Few people remember that it was McLaughlin who actually delivered the "slam-dunk" briefing to the president in January 2003.

McLaughlin was the "villain" behind the politicized intelligence on Iraq in the run-up to the war. He perverted the intelligence process, ignored high-level briefings on the weakness of the intelligence on WMD and tried to silence David Kay, the chief of the Iraq Survey Group, when the weapons inspectors found no evidence of strategic weapons in Iraq.

When Kay returned to CIA headquarters from Baghdad, Tenet and McLaughlin made sure that Kay was given a tiny, windowless office at the end of a distant, deserted corridor undergoing construction. It had no secure phone or classified computer. Kay called it Siberia.

McLaughlin was also the villain behind the CIA's preparation of Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations in February 2003 that used phony intelligence to convince an international audience of the need for war. According to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Powell's chief of staff, Tenet and McLaughlin lied to the secretary of state about the sourcing of serious allegations dealing with Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain strategic weapons.

The most serious allegation came from an Iraqi con man known as "Curveball," who maintained that Iraq had mobile biological laboratories, a key charge in the phony intelligence to justify the Iraq war. German intelligence debriefed Curveball, and German intelligence officials warned the CIA that Curveball was unstable and that there was no validation for his claims. Tyler Drumheller, the chief of CIA's European Division, knew that Curveball was mentally unstable and a liar, and he urged McLaughlin to drop all references to the mobile biological labs from Powell's speech. McLaughlin ignored him, too.

Five weeks after the invasion of Iraq, Powell and McLaughlin shared a table at the White House correspondents' dinner, where McLaughlin, an amateur magician, agreed to perform a few magic tricks during a break in the action. The CIA deputy director conjured coins out of thin air and transformed a single dollar into a $100 bill; everyone at the table laughed except for Powell, who seemed tense and out of sorts.

According to Bob Drogin, who wrote an authoritative book on Curveball, Powell stared at McLaughlin and requested another trick. "Let's see you find the WMD in Iraq," an unsmiling Powell demanded. McLaughlin looked surprised and his broad grin faded. "We will," he replied, "they're there and we'll find them."

In addition to being one of the ideological drivers for the CIA's policies of torture and abuse, secret prisons and extraordinary renditions, McLaughlin demonstrated early in his career that he was a company man willing to do what was necessary to advance his career. In the 1980s, when CIA Director William Casey and his Deputy Robert Gates were "cooking the books" on intelligence dealing with the Soviet Union, Central America and Southwest Asia, McLaughlin offered no dissent.

When the CIA did an internal investigation of one of the worst examples of politicization of intelligence, the case for Soviet complicity in the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981, McLaughlin made sure there were no references to politicization in the final report and made every effort to hide Gates' role in preparing the Papal plot intelligence assessment. When Gates' nomination as CIA director was in trouble during the confirmation process in 1991, it was McLaughlin who stepped forward to defend his former boss from charges of politicization. ...

http://www.truthout.org/article/president-obama-cia-and-master-cover-up

Lee Hamilton is a leading light of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee "investigation" of Flight 253.

Hamilton is another veteran cover-up operative, who honed his skills in the Iran contra investigation, as I reported in 2004:

Full exposure of Iran-contra was hindered by a cover-up culture in Congress. George H.W. Bush was snared in the investigative net, so he enlisted the aid of a trusted ally in the House, Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming. Cheney was the ranking Republican in the Iran-contra probe. Robert Parry reports that Cheney "smartly exploited his relationship with Rep. Lee Hamilton," who "gave Bush a pass." The narrow, penlight focus of the investigation was the work of Cheney and Hamilton, who steered it away from "sensitive areas, such as contra-drug trafficking and the public diplomacy operation." (Iran-contra's Otto Reich was tarred by the Orwellian "public diplomacy" scandal under Reagan. A Cuban exile with a sordid history of romancing repressive Latin American regimes, he followed Armitage to the State Department, was appointed to the office of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in January 2002, under Powell.)

"Despite surrendering to Cheney's demands time and again, Hamilton failed, in the end, to get a single House Republican to sign the final report. Only three moderate Republicans on the Senate side - Warren Rudman, William Cohen and Paul Trible - agreed to sign the report, after extracting more concessions." Cheney and a few fellow Republicans filed "a minority report with the Committee that denied any significant wrongdoing had occurred."

http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/path-to-911-parts-1-7.html

Witness Tom Kean is well-known for his mishandling of the 9/11 investigation, among other cover-ups: " ... Hamilton and Thomas H. Kean, the former chairman of the commission, were witnesses before the committee during its second hearing in a week on the events of Flight 253. ... " (Detroit News)

Re Thomas Kean, 911 Commission Chairman, and Terrorism, Big Oil:

In 1994, I posted an article on Iran contra connections to 9/11 that detailed some little-known facts about Kean:

Not mentioned on Kean's official Commission biography was his role as director of Amerada Hess Corporation, which in 1998 formed joint venture Delta-Hess, with Delta Oil, in part owned by accused terrorist financier Khalid bin Mahfouz. Mahfouz inherited a controlling interest in the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, the country's largest bank, and was a director with 20% interest in BCCI, the now defunct financial conglomerate involved in money laundering, bribery, support of terrorism, arms trafficking and other crimes. Mahfouz paid $225 million to escape prosecution for his role in the BCCI scandal. Mahfouz also inherited the assets of the Saudi bin Laden group when Salem bin Laden died in a 1988 plane crash. These included an interest in Arbusto Energy, a Houston, Texas oil company founded by George W. Bush. Bin Mahfouz's interests were managed in part by James R. Bath, a close friend of Bush, who served in the Texas ANG with him. Bath's name was inexplicably redacted in Bush's Air National Guard military medical reports.
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/K/Khalid-bin-Mahfuz.htm

A previously unreported intelligence "lapse" surfaced in a hearing conducted by the US Senate Homeland Security Committee on January 20:

US Senate begins whitewash hearings on Northwest Flight 253 bomb plot
By Tom Eley } 21 January 2010

... In another bizarre lapse, the US State Department only declared Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the organization that allegedly sent Abdulmutallab onto Flight 253, to be a terrorist group on Tuesday. This is despite the fact that AQAP has operated for over a year, and was held responsible for terrorist attacks on South Korean tourists in Yemen in March 2009, high-ranking Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayif in August, and Flight 253 last month. One might also expect that the name of the organization itself would raise suspicions among anti-terrorism officials.

The implication of this announcement, however, was that until January 19, 2010, US officials were not legally required to “implement an asset freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo” against AQAP. This only raises more questions as to what connections US agencies might have had with the attackers.

The senators avoided dealing with these issues in Wednesday’s hearings, devoting much of their time instead to demanding further restrictions on democratic rights. ...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/bomb-j21.shtml

A Question Everybody Forgot to Ask

Experts: Why was plane parked at Detroit terminal?
AP via Chicago Tribune | January 29, 2010

ROMULUS, Mich. - The pilots of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 took the aircraft to a gate at Detroit Metropolitan Airport without knowing about possible risks after an explosive was extinguished inside the cabin on Christmas, a newspaper reported Friday.

Passengers were allowed to get off the plane and luggage was unloaded before the aircraft was moved to an isolated spot and searched, the Detroit Free Press said, citing records from airport police and fire agencies. ... The plane remained at a terminal gate for about two hours before it was moved to search for a bag that belonged to Abdulmutallab, the Free Press reported.

Taking the plane to the terminal was a "violation of common sense," said Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. "It's a violation of common standard operating procedure. It's a violation of common security rules, regulations and directives," Bloom told the newspaper.

Asked about the decision to park at the terminal, Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said the airline, which acquired Northwest, relies on the "professional assessment" of law enforcers to "determine the appropriate course of action." ...

Glen Winn, former head of security at United Airlines, said there is no national standard for handling a suspected bomb on a plane.

"The normal procedure historically is you just don't take it to a terminal," he said.

FULL STORY

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-airlineattack,0,317514.story

The Jimi Hendrix Political Harassment, Kidnap and Murder Experience

2009-11-25T21:15:00.001-08:00

From The Covert War Against Rock (Feral House, 2000)

By Alex Constantine

"I don't believe for one minute that he killed himself. That was out of the question." — Chas Chandler, Hendrix Producer

"I believe the circumstances surrounding his death are suspicious and I think he was murdered." — Ed Chalpin, Proprietor of Studio 76

"I feel he was murdered, frankly. Somebody gave him something. Somebody gave him something they shouldn't have." — John McLaughlin, Guitarist, Mahavishnu Orchestra

THE MURDER OF JIMI HENDRIX

He didn't die from a drug overdose. He was not an out-of-control dope fiend. Jimi Hendrix was not a junkie. And anyone who would use his death as a warning to stay away from drugs should warn people against the other things that killed Jimi—the stresses of dealing with the music industry, the craziness of being on the road, and especially, the dangers of involving oneself in a radical, or even unpopular, political movements.

COINTELPRO was out to do more than prevent a Communist menace from overtaking the United States, or keep the Black Power movement from burning down cities. COINTELPRO was out to obliterate its opposition and ruin the reputations of the people involved in the antiwar movement, the civil rights movement, and the rock revolution. Whenever Jimi Hendrix's death is blamed on drugs, it accomplishes the goals of the FBI's program. It not only slanders Jimi's personal and professional reputation, but the entire rock revolution in the 60's. — John Holmstrom. "Who Killed Jimi?"(1)

As the music of youth and resistance fell under the cross-hairs of the CIA's CHAOS war, it was probable that Jimi Hendrix—the tripping, peacenik "Black Elvis" of the '60s—should find himself a target.

Agents of the pathologically nationalistic FBI opened a file on Hendrix in 1969 after his appearance at several benefits for "subversive" causes. His most cutting insult to the state was participation in a concert for Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale and the other defendants of the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial.(2)

"Get [the] Black Panthers," he told a reporter for a teen magazine, "not to kill anybody, but to scare [federal officials]....I know it sounds like war, but that's what's gonna have to happen. It has to be a war....You come back to reality and there are some evil folks around and they want you to be passive and weak and peaceful so that they can just overtake you like jelly on bread. ... You have to fight fire with fire."(3)

On tour in Liesburg, Sweden, Hendrix was interviewed by Tommy Rander, a reporter for the Gotesborgs-Tidningen." In the USA, you have to decide which side you're on," Hendrix explained. "You are either a rebel or like Frank Sinatra."(4)

In 1979, college students at the campus newspaper of Santa Barbara University (USB) filed for release of FBI files on Hendrix. Six heavily inked-out pages were released to the student reporters. (The deletions nixed information "currently and properly classified pursuant to Executive Order 11652, in the interest of national defense of foreign policy.") On appeal, seven more pages were reluctantly turned over to the UCSB students. The file revealed that Hendrix had been placed on the federal Security Index, a list of "subversives" to be rounded up and placed in detainment camps in the event of a national emergency.

If the intelligence agencies had their reasons to keep tabs on Hendrix, they couldn't have picked a better man for the job than Hendrix's manager, Mike Jeffrey. Jeffrey, by his own admission an intelligence agent,(5) was born in South London in 1933, the sole child of postal workers. He completed his education in 1949, took a job as a clerk for Mobil Oil, was drafted to the National Service two years later. Jeffrey's scores in science took him to the Educational Corps. He signed on as a professional soldier, joined the Intelligence Corps and at this point his career enters an obscure phase.

Hendix biographers Shapiro & Glebeek report that Jeffrey often boasted of ...

"undercover work against the Russians, of murder, mayhem and torture in foreign cities. ... His father says Mike rarely spoke about what he did—itself perhaps indicative of the sensitive nature of his work—but confirms that much of Mike's military career was spent in 'civvies,' that he was stationed in Egypt and that he could speak Russian."(6)

There was, however, another, equally intriguing side of Mike Jeffrey: He frequently hinted that he had powerful underworld connections. It was common knowledge that he had had an abiding professional relationship with Steve Weiss, the attorney for both the Hendrix Experience and the Mafia-managed Vanilla Fudge, hailing from the law firm of Seingarten, Wedeen & Weiss. On one occasion, when drummer Mitch Mitchell found himself in a fix with police over a boat he'd rented and wrecked, mobsters from the Fudge management office intervened and pried him loose.(7)

Organized crime has had fingers in the recording industry since the jukebox wars. Mafioso Michael Franzene testified in open court in the late 1980s that "Sonny" Franzene, his stepfather, was a silent investor in Buddah Records. At this industry oddity, the inane, nasal, apolitical '60s "Bubblegum" song was blown from the goo of adolescent mating fantasies. The most popular of Buddah's acts were the 1910 Fruitgum Company and Ohio Express. These bands shared a lead singer, Joey Levine. Some cultural contributions from the Buddha label: "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy," "Simon Says," and "1-2-3 Red Light."

In 1971, Buddha Records' Bobby Bloom was killed in a shooting sometimes described as "accidental," sometimes "suicide," at the age of 28. Bloom made a number of solo records, including "Love Don't Let Me Down," and "Count On Me." He formed a partnership with composer Jeff Barry and they wrote songs for the Monkees in their late period. Bloom made the Top 10 with the effervescent "Montego Bay" in 1970. Other Mafia-managed acts of the late 1960s were equally apolitical: Vanilla Fudge ("You Keep Me Hangin' On," "Bang, Bang"),(9) Motown's Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Curtis Mayfield.(10) In the '60s and beyond, organized crime wrenched unto itself control of industry workers via the Teamsters Union. Trucking was Mob controlled. So were stadium concessions. No rock bands toured unless money exchanged hands to see that a band's instruments weren't delivered to the wrong airport.(11)

Intelligence agent or representative of the mob? Whether Jeffrey was either or both—and the evidence is clear that a CIA/Mafia combination has exercised considerable influence in the music industry for decades—at a certain point, Hendrix must have seen something that made him desperately want out of his management contract with Jeffrey.

Monika Dannemann, Hendrix's fiancé at the time of his death, describes Mike Jeffrey's control tactics, his attempts to isolate and manipulate Hendrix, with observations of his evolving awareness that Jeffrey was a covert operator bent on dominating his life and mind:

"Jimi felt more and more unsafe in New York, the city where he used to feel so much at home. It had begun to serve as a prison to him, and a place where he had to watch his back all the time.

"In May 1969 Jimi was arrested at Toronto for possession of drugs. He later told me he believed Jeffrey had used a third person to plant the drugs on him—as a warning, to teach him a lesson.

"Jeffrey had realized not only that Jimi was looking for ways of breaking out of their contract, but also that Jimi might have calculated that the Toronto arrest would be an easy way to silence Jimi.... Jeffrey did not like Jimi to have friends who would put ideas in his head and give him strength. He preferred Jimi to be more isolated, or to mix with certain people whom Jeffrey could use to influence and try to manipulate him.

"So in New York, Jimi felt at times that he was under surveillance, and others around him noticed the same. He tried desperately to get out of his management contract, and asked several people for advice on the best way to do it. Jimi started to understand the people around him could not be trusted, as things he had told them in confidence now filtered through to Jeffrey. Obviously some people informed his manager of Jimi's plans, possibly having been bought or promised advantages by Jeffrey. Jimi had always been a trusting and open person, but now he had reason to become suspicious of people he didn't know well, becoming quite secretive and keeping very much to himself."(12)

Five years after the death of the virtuoso, Crawdaddy reported that friends of Hendrix felt "he was very unhappy and confused before his death. Buddy Miles recalled 'numerous times he complained about his managers.' His chief roadie, Gerry Stickells, told Welch, "he became frustrated ... by a lot of people around him."(13)

Hendrix was obsessed with the troubles that Jeffrey and company brought to his life and career. The band's finances were entirely controlled by management and were depleted by a tax haven in the Bahamas founded in 1965 by Michael Jeffrey called Yameta Co., a subsidiary of the Bank of New Providence, with accounts at the Naussau branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Chemical Bank in New York.(14) A substantial share of the band's earnings had been quietly drained by Yameta. The banks where Jeffrey opened accounts have been officially charged with the laundering of drug proceeds, a universal theme of CIA/Mafia activity. (The Chemical Bank was forced to plead guilty to 445 misdemeanors in 1980 when a federal investigation found that bank officials had failed to report transactions they knew to derive from drug trafficking.(15) The Bank of Nova Scotia was a key investor in the Bank of Commerce and Credit International, BCCI, once described by Time magazine as "the most pervasive money-laundering operation and financial supermarket ever created," with ties to the upper echelons of several governments, the CIA, the Pentagon and the Vatican.(16) BCCI maintained warm relationships with international terrorists, and investigators turned up accounts for Libya, Syria and the PLO at BCCI's London branch, recalling Mike Jeffrey's military intelligence interest in the Middle East. And then there were bank records from Panama City relating to General Noriega. These "disappeared" en route to the District of Columbia under heavy DEA guard. An internal investigation later, DEA officials admitted they were at a loss to explain the theft.(17)

Friends of Hendrix, according to Electric Gypsy, confiscated financial documents from his New York office and turned them over to Jimi: "One showed that what was supposed to be a $10,000 gig was in fact grossing $50,000."

"Jimi Hendrix was upset that large amounts of his money were missing," reports rock historian R. Gary Patterson. Hendrix had discovered the financial diversions and took legal action to recover them.(18)

But there was another factor also involving funds.

Some of Hendrix's friends have concluded that "Jeffrey stood to make a greater sum of money from a dead Jimi Hendrix than a living one. There was also mention of a one million dollar insurance policy covering Hendrix's life made out with Jeffrey as the beneficiary." The manager of the Experience constructed "a financial empire based on the posthumous releases of Hendrix's previously unreleased recordings."(19) Crushing musical voices of dissent was proving to be an immensely profitable enterprise because a dead rocker leaves behind a fortune in publishing rights and royalties.

Roadies couldn't help but notice that Mike Jeffrey, a seasoned military intelligence officer, was capable of "subtle acts of sabotage against them," reports Shapiro. Jeffrey booked the Experience for a concert tour with the Monkees and Hendrix was forced to cancel when the agony of playing to hordes of 12-year-old children, and fear of a parental backlash, convinced him to bail out.

As for the arrest in Toronto, Hendrix confidantes blame Jeffrey for the planted heroin. The charges were dropped after Hendrix argued that the unopened container of dope had been dropped into his travel bag upon departure by a girl who claimed that it was cold medicine.(20)

In July, 1970, one month before his death, at precisely the time Hendrix stopped all communications with Jeffrey, he told Chuck Wein, a film director at Andy Warhol's Factory: "The next time I go to Seattle will be in a pine box."(21)

And he knew who would drop him in it. Producer Alan Douglas recalls that Hendrix "had a hang-up about the word 'manager.'" The guitarist had pled with Douglas, the proprietor of his own jazz label, to handle the band's business affairs. One of the most popular musicians in the world was desperate. He appealed to a dozen business contacts to handle his bookings and finances, to no avail.(22)

Meanwhile, the sabotage continued in every possible form. Douglas: "Regardless of whatever else Jimi wanted to do, Mike would keep pulling him back or pushing him back. ... And the way the gigs were routed! I mean, one nighters—he would do Ontario one night, Miami the next night, California the next night. He used to waste [Hendrix] on a tour—and never make too much money because the expenses were ridiculous."(23)

The obits were a jumbled lot of skewed, contradictory eulogies: "DRUGS KILL JIMI HENDRIX AT 24," "ROCK STAR IS DEAD IN LONDON AT 27," "OVERDOSE." Many of the obituaries dwelt on the "wild man of rock" image, but there were also many personal commentaries from reporters who followed his career closely, and they dismissed as hype reports of chronic drug abuse. Mike Ledgerwood, a writer for Disc and Music Echo, offered a portrait that the closest friends of Jimi Hendrix confirm: "Despite his fame and fortune—plus the inevitable hang-ups and hustles which beset his incredible career—he remained a quiet and almost timid individual. He was naturally helpful and honest." Sounds magazine "found a man of quite remarkable charm, an almost old-world courtesy."

Hendrix biographer Tony Brown has, since the mid-'70s, collected all the testimony he could find relating to Hendrix's death, and finds it "predictable": "The official cause of death was asphyxiation caused by inhaling his own vomit, but in the days and weeks leading up to the tragedy anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that Hendrix was heading for a terrible fall. Unfortunately, no one close to him managed to steer him clear of the maelstrom that was closing in." Brown sent a report based on his own investigation to the Attorney General's office in February, 1992, "in the hope that they would reopen the inquest into Jimi's death. The evidence was so strong that they ordered Scotland Yard detectives to conduct their own investigation."

Months later, detectives at the Yard responded to Sir Nicholas Lyle at the Attorney General's office, rejecting the proposal to revive the inquest.(24)

The pathologist's report left the cause of death "open."

Monika Dannemann had long insisted that Hendrix was murdered. At the time of her death, she had brought media attention to the case in a bitter and highly-publicized court battle with former Hendrix girlfriend Kathy Etchningham. On April 5, 1996, her body was discovered in a fume-filled car near her home in Seaford, Sussex, south England. Police dismissed the death as a "suicide" and the corporate press took dictation. But the Eastern Daily Press, a newspaper that circulates in the East Anglian region of the UK, raised another possibility: "Musician Uli Jon Roth, speaking at the thatched cottage where Miss Dannemann lived, said last night: 'The thing looks suspicious. She had a lot of death threats against her over the years....I always felt that she was really being crucified in front of everybody, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.' Mr Roth, formerly with the group The Scorpions, said Miss Danneman 'is not a person to do something to herself.'" Roth threw one more inconsistency on the lot: "She didn't believe in the concept of suicide."

Devon Wilson, another Hendrix paramour, in Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell's view, "died under mysterious circumstances herself a few years later."

Red, Red Wine

Was Hendrix murdered while under the influence? Stanton Steele, an authority on addiction, offers a seemingly plausible explanation: "Extremely intoxicated people while asleep often lose the reflexive tendency to clear one's throat of mucus, or they may strangle in their vomit. This appeared to have happened to Jimi Hendrix, who had taken both alcohol and prescription barbiturates the night of his death."(26)

Evidence has recently come to light clarifying the cause of death — extreme alcohol consumption aggravated by the barbiturates in Hendrix's bloodstream — drowning. Hendrix is said to have choked to death after swallowing nine Vesperax sleeping tablets. This is not the lethal dose he'd have taken if suicide was the intent—he surely would have swallowed the remaining 40 or so pills in the packets Dannemann gave him if this was the idea—as Eric Burdon, the Animals' vocalist and a friend of Hendrix, has suggested over the years.

Hendrix was not felled by a drug overdose, as many news reports claimed. The pills were a sleeping aid, and not a very effective one at that. The two Vesperax that Dannemann saw him take before she fell asleep at 3 am failed to put him under. He had taken a Durophet 20 amphetamine capsule at a dinner party the evening before. And then Hendrix, a chronic insomniac with an escalated tolerance level for barbiturates, had tried the Vesperax before and they proved ineffective. He apparently believed nine tablets would do him no harm.

At 10 am, Dannemann awoke and went out for a pack of cigarettes, according to her inquest testimony. When she returned, he was sick. She phoned Eric Bridges, a friend, and informed him that Hendrix wasn't well. "Half asleep," Bridges reported in his autobiography, "I suggested she give him hot coffee and slap his face. If she needed any more help to call me back." Dannemann called the ambulance at 18 minutes past eleven. The ambulance arrived nine minutes later. Hendrix was not, she claimed, in critical condition. She said the paramedics checked his pulse and breathing, and stated there was "nothing to worry about."

But a direct contradiction came in an interview with Reg Jones, one of the attendants, who insisted that Dannemann wasn't at the flat when they arrived, and that Hendrix was already dead. "It was horrific," Jones said. "We arrived at the flat and the door was flung wide open...."I knew he was dead as soon as I walked into the room." Ambulance attendant John Suau confirmed, "we knew it was hopeless. There was no pulse, no respiration."(27)

The testimonies of Dannemann and medical personnel at the 1970 inquest are disturbingly contradictory. Hendrix, the medical personnel stated, had been dead for at least seven hours by the time the ambulance arrived. Dr. Rufus Compson at the Department of Forensic Medicine at St. George's Medical School undertook his own investigation. He referred to the original medical examiner's report and discovered that there were rice remains in Hendrix's stomach. It takes three-four hours for the stomach to empty, he reasoned, and the deceased ate Chinese food at a dinner party hosted by Pete Cameron between the hours of 11 pm and midnight, placing the time of death no later than 4 am.(28) This is consistent with the report of Dr. Bannister, the surgical registrar, that "the inside of his mouth and mucous membranes were black because he had been dead for some time." Dr. Bannister told the London Times, "Hendrix had been dead for hours rather than minutes when he was admitted to the hospital."(29)

The inquest itself was "unusual," Tony Brown notes, because "none of the other witnesses involved were called to give their evidence, nor was any attempt made to ascertain the exact time of death," as if the subject was to be avoided. The result was that the public record on this basic fact in the case may have been incorrectly cited by scores of reporters and biographers. Tony Brown: "Even [medical examiner] Professor Teare made no attempt to ascertain the exact time of death. The inquest appeared to be conducted merely as a formality and had not been treated by the coroner as a serious investigation."(30)

In 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky (1996), Bill Henderson describes the inquest and its aftermath: "Those who followed his death....noticed many inconsistencies in the official inquest. It has been an open and shut affair that managed to hide its racist intent behind the public perceptual hoax of Hendrix as a substance abuser....As a result, millions of people all over the world thought that Hendrix had died that typical rock star's death: drug OD amid fame, opulence, decadence. But it seems that Hendrix could very well have been the victim not of decadence, but of foul play."(31)

Forensic tests submitted at the inquest have been supplemented over the years by new evidence that makes a reconstruction of the murder possible. In October, 1991, Steve Roby, publisher of Straight Ahead, a Hendrix fanzine, asked, "What Really Happened?": "Kathy Etchingham, a close friend/lover of Jimi's, and Dee Mitchell, Mitch Mitchell's wife, spent many months tracking down former friends and associates of Hendrix, and are convinced they have solved the mystery of the final hours." Central to reconstructing Hendrix's death is red wine. Dr. Bannister reports that after the esophagus had been cleared, "masses" of red wine were "coming out of his nose and out of his mouth." The wine gushing up in great volume from Hendrix's lungs "is very vivid because you don't often see people who have drowned in their own red wine. He had something around him—whether it was a towel or a jumper—around his neck and that was saturated with red wine. His hair was matted. He was completely cold. I personally think he probably died a long time before....He was cold and he was blue."(32)

Henderson writes:

The abstract morbidity of Hendrix's body upon discovery may indicate a more complex scenario than has been commonly held. Hendrix was not a red wine guzzler, especially in the amounts found in and around his body. He was known to be moderate in his consumption. If he was 'sleeping normally,' then why was he fully clothed? And how could the ambulance attendants have missed seeing someone who was supposed to be there? The garment, or towel, around his neck is totally mysterious given the scenario so widely distributed. But it is consistent with the doctor's statement that he drowned. Was he drowned by force? In a radio interview broadcast out of Holland in the early '70s, an unnamed girlfriend answered 'yes' to the question, 'Was Hendrix killed by the Mafia?'"(33)

Tony Brown, in Hendrix: The Final Days (1997), correlates the consumption of the wine to the approximate time of death: "It's unlikely that he drank the quantity of red wine found by Dr. Bannister.... Therefore, Jimi must have drunk a large quantity of red wine just prior to his death," suggesting that the quantity of alcohol in his lungs was the direct cause.(34)

The revised time of death, 3-4 am, contradicts the gap in the official record, and so does the revelation that Jimi Hendrix drowned in red wine. While it is common knowledge that Hendrix choked to death, it has only recently come to light that the wine—not the Verparex—was the primary catalyst of death. Hendrix was, the evidence suggests, forced to drink a quantity of wine. The barbiturates, as Brown notes, "seriously inhibited Jimi's normal cough reflex." Unable to cough the wine back up, "it went straight down into his lungs....It is quite possible that he thrashed about for some time, fighting unsuccessfully to gain his breath."(35) It is doubtful that Hendrix would have continued to swallow the wine in "massive" volumes had it begun to fill his lungs. One explanation that explains the forensic evidence is that Jimi Hendrix was restrained, wine forced down his throat until his thrashings ceased. All of this must have taken place quickly, before the alcohol had time to enter his bloodstream. The post mortem report states that the blood alcohol level was not excessive, about 20mg over the legal drinking limit. He died before his stomach absorbed much of the wine. Jimi Hendrix choked to death. That much of the general understanding of his demise is correct, and little else.

The kidnapping, embezzling and numerous shady deceptions would make Jeffrey the leading suspect in any proper police investigation. And his reaction at the news of Hendrix's death did little to dispel any suspicions that associates may have harbored. Jim Marron, a nightclub owner from Manhattan, was vacationing with Jeffrey in Spain when word of the musician's death reached him. "We were supposed to have dinner that night in Majorca," Marron recalls. Jeffrey "called me from his club in Palma saying that we would have to cancel....I've just got word from London. Jimi's dead." The manager of the Hendrix Experience took the news completely in stride. "I always knew that son of a bitch would pull a quickie," Jeffrey told Marron.

"Basically, he had lost a major property. You had the feeling that he had just lost a couple of million dollars—and was the first to realize it. My first reaction was, Oh my God, my friend is dead."(36) But Jeffrey reacted coldly, comparing the fatality to a fleeting sexual romp in the afternoon.

His odd behavior continued in the days following the death of Hendrix. He appeared to be consumed by guilt, and on one occasion "confessed." On September 20, recording engineer Alan Douglas received a call from Jeffrey, who wanted to see him. Douglas drove to the hotel where Jeffrey was staying. "He was bent over, in misery from a recent back injury. We started talking and he let it all out. It was like a confession."

"In my opinion," Douglas observed, "Jeffrey hated Hendrix."

Bob Levine, the band's merchandising manager, was perplexed by Jeffrey's response to the tragedy. First, Hendrix's manager dropped completely out of sight. "We tried calling all of Jeffrey's contacts....trying to reach him. We were getting frustrated because Hendrix's body was going to be held up in London for two weeks and we wanted Jeffrey's input on the funeral service. A full week after Hendrix's death, he finally called. Hearing his voice, I immediately asked what his plans were and would he be going to Seattle. 'What plans?' he asked. I said, 'the funeral.' 'What funeral?' he replied. I was exasperated: 'Jimi's!' The phone went quiet for a while and then he hung up. The whole office was staring at me, unable to believe that with all the coverage on radio, print and television, Jeffrey didn't know that Jimi had died." As noted, Jeffrey had been notified and almost grieved, in his fashion. "He called back in five minutes and we talked quietly. He said, 'Bob, I didn't know,' and was asking about what had happened. While I didn't confront him, I knew he was lying."(37)

It was reported that Michael Jeffrey "paid his respects" sitting in a limousine parked outside Dunlap Baptist Church in Seattle. He refused to go inside for the eulogy.(38) Hendrix was buried at the family plot at Greenwood Cemetary in Renton.

Screenwriter Alan Greenberg was hired to write a screenplay for a film on the life of Jimi Hendrix. He traveled to England and taped an interview with Dannemann shortly before her death in April, 1996. In that interview, Dannemann sketched in more details of Jeffrey's skullduggery, which continued after Hendrix's death and has long been concealed behind a wall of misconceptions. On the Greenberg tapes, Dannemann denied allegations of heroin use, as do others close to Hendrix: "You should put that into the right perspective since all of the youngsters still think he was a drug addict. The problem was, when he died, I was told by the coroner not to talk until after the inquest, so that's why all these wild stories came out that he overdosed from heroin." The coroner found no injection tracks on Hendrix's body. That he snorted the opiate, a charge advanced by biographer Chris Welch in Hendrix, is disputed by Jimi's closest friends. He indulged primarily in marijuana and LSD. The popular misconception that Hendrix was a heroin addict lingers on but should have been buried with him. One of rock's greatest talents was maliciously smeared by the press on this count.

At times, the public has been deliberately misled about Hendrix's drug habits. Kathy Etchingham, a former girlfriend, was deceived into giving an article about Jimi to a friend in the corporate media, and it was snatched up by a newspaper, rewritten, and the story that emerged depicted the guitarist as a violent and drug-infested lunatic. The editor later apologized in writing to Kathy for falsifying the record, but failed to retract in print.(39) Media swipes at Hendrix to this day are often unreasonably vicious, as in this transparent attempt to shape public opinion from London's Times on December 14, 1993:

Not only did [Hendrix] leave several memorable compositions behind him; he left a good-looking corpse. Kathy Etchnigham, a middle-class mother of two, who used to be one of Hendrix's lovers, still mourns his passing and is seeking to persuade the police that there is something suspicious about the circumstances in which he died. Quite why she should bother is hard to say. Perhaps she is bored.

Hendrix, we are advised, "lived an absurdly self-indulgent life and died, in essence, of stupidity."

Close friends of Jimi Hendrix suggest that Jeffrey was the front man for a surreptitious sponsor, the FBI, CIA or Mafia. In 1975, Crawdaddy magazine launched its own investigation and concluded that a death squad of some kind had targeted him: "Hendrix is not the only artist to have had his career sabotaged by unscrupulous sharks and leeches." The recent memory of the death of Average White Band drummer Robby McIntosh from strychnine-laced heroin circulating at a party in L.A. "only serves to update this fact of rock-and-roll life. But an industry that accepts these tragedies in cold blood demonstrates its true nature—and the Jimi Hendrix music machine cranks out, unencumbered by the absence of Hendrix himself. One wonders who'll be the next in line?"(40)

On March 5, as if in reply, Michael Jeffrey, every musician's nightmare, was blown out of the sky in an airplane collision over France, enroute to a court appearance in London related to Hendrix. Jeffrey was returning from Palma aboard an Iberia DC-9 in the midst of a French civil air traffic control strike. Military controllers were called in as a contingency replacements for the controllers. Hendrix biographer Bill Henderson considers the midair collision fuel for "paranoia." The nature of military airline control "necessitated rigorous planning, limited traffic on each sector and strict compliance with regulations. The DC-9 however was assigned to the same flight over Nantes as a Spantax Coronado, which 'created a source of conflict.' And because of imprecise navigation, lack of complete radar coverage and imperfect radio communications, the two planes collided. The Coronado was damaged but remained airworthy; no one was injured. The DC-9 crashed, killing all 61 passengers and seven crew . . . ." There are [theories] that Jeffrey was merely a tool, a mouthpiece for the real villains lurking in the wings, that he was "the target of assassination."(41)

A quarter-century after Hendrix died, his father finally won control of the musical legacy. Under a settlement signed in 1995, the rights to his son's music were granted to 76-year-old Al Hendrix, the sole heir to the estate. The agreement, settled in court, forced Hendrix to drop a fraud suit filed two years earlier against Leo Branton Jr., the L.A. civil rights attorney who represented Angela Davis and Nat King Cole. Hendrix accused his lawyer of selling the rights to the late rock star's publishing catalogue without consent.

Hendrix, Sr. filed the suit on April 19, 1993, after learning that MCA Music Entertainment—a company rife with Mafia connections—was readying to snatch up his son's recording and publishing rights from two international companies that claimed to own them. The MCA deal, estimated to be worth $40 million, was put on hold after objections were raised in a letter to the Hollywood firm from Hendrix. By this time, Experience albums generated more than $3-million per a Ênnum in royalties, and $1-million worth of garments, posters and paraphernalia bearing his name and likeness are sold each year. All told, Al Hendrix received $2-million over the next 20 years.(42)

NOTES

1. John Holstrom, "Who Killed Jimi?" Lions Gate Media Works, http://lionsgate.com/Music/hendrix/I_ Dont_Live_Today.html.

2. John Raymond and Marv Glass, "The FBI Investigated Jimi Hendrix," Common Ground, University of Santa Barbara, CA student newspaper, vol. iv, no. 9, June 7, 1979, P. 1.

3. "Jimi Hendrix, Black Power and Money," Teenset, January, 1969.

4. Tony Brown, Hendrix: The Final Days, London: Rogan House, 1997, p. 43.

5. On Mike Jeffrey's undefined politics, see: John McDermott with Eddie Kramer, Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight, New York: Warner, 1992, p. 180.

6. Harry Shapiro and Ceasar Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, New York: St. Martin's, 1990, p. 120.

7. Bill Henderson, "IT'S LIKE TRYING TO GET OUT OF A ROOM FULL OF MIRRORS," Jimi Hendrix web page, http://www.rockmine. music.co.uk/jimih. html.

8. Fredric Dannen, Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Industry, New York: Times Books, 1990, p. 164-5.

9. Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, New York: St. Martin's, 1990, p. 294. The Fudge once booked a tour with Jimi Hendrixs, per arrangement between the band's mobbed-up management and Michael Jeffrey, Hendrix's manager.

10. Dannen, p. 165.

11. Shapiro and Glebbeek, p. 295.

12. Monika Dannemann, The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995, pp. 76-8.

13, John Swenson, "The Last Days of Jimi Hendrix," Crawdaddy, January, 1975, p. 43.

14. Ibid., p. 488 ff.

15. "Banks and Narcotics Money Flow in Suth Florida," U.S. Senate Banking Committee report, 96th Congress, June 5-6, 1980, p. 201.

16. Jonathon Kwitny, The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA, New York: Touchstone, 1987, p. 153.

17. Josh Rodin, "BANK OF CROOKS AND CRIMINALS?" Topic 105, Christic News, Aug 6, 1991.

18. R. Gary Patterson, Hellhounds on Their Trail: Tales from the Rock-n'-Roll Graveyard, Nashville, Tennessee: Dowling Press, 1998, p. 208.

19. Ibid.

20. Shapiro and Glebbeek, p. 473.

21. Shapiro and Glebbeek, p. 477.

22. Swenson. In Crosstown Traffic (1989), Charles Murray reports that Hendrix "began consulting independent lawyers and accountants with a view of sorting out his tangled finances and freeing himself from Mike Jeffrey" (p. 55).

23. Henderson Web site.

24. Brown, p. 7.

25. Mitch Mitchell with John Platt, Jimi Hendrix—Inside the Experience, New York: St. Martin's, 1990, p. 160.

26. Stanton Steele, "The Human Side Of Addiction: What caused John Belushi's death?" U.S. Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, April 1982, p. 7.

27. David Henderson, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, New York: Bantam, 1996, pp. 389-90.

28. Brown, p. 164.

29. Henderson, p. 392.

30. Brown, p. 163.

31. Henderson, p. 388.

32. Ibid., p. 392.

33. Henderson, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, p. 393. If the Mafia did indeed participate, Hendrix wasn't the first Afrifcan-American musician to have a contract on his head. In May 1955, jazz saxman Wardell Gray was murdered, probably by Mafia hitmen. Gray had toured with Benny Goodman and Count Basie in 1948. His remarkable recording sessions of the late 1940s, especially with Dexter Gordon, brought him fame. Bill Moody, a jazz drummer and disk jockey, published a novel in 1996, Death of a Tenor Man, based on the life and death of Grey. "It's strange," a publisher's press release comments, "that 1950s Las Vegas, a town in which the Mob and corrupt police worked hand in glove, became the home of the first integrated nightclub in the country. The Moulin Rouge was owned by blacks and had the honor of being the only casino hotel in Vegas that allowed African-Americans to mingle with white customers. On opening night, Nat 'King' Cole and Frank Sinatra sat in with Benny Carter's band. The second night, Wardell Gray, a black sax player in the Carter band with a growing reputation, was beaten to death. The police said he overdosed and 'fell out of bed,' dying later 'of complications.' Some suspected Gray's death was the Mob's way of telling the African-American businessmen who backed the Moulin Rouge that 'this town isn't big enough for the both of us.' Gray's murder has never been investigated. It "hung over the Moulin Rouge like a storm cloud" and remains unsolved. The casino went out of business a few months later.

And the 1961 attempt on the life of soul singer Jackie Wilson has never been rationally explained. Wilson was shot in the stomach by a fan supposedly trying to "prevent a fan from killing herself." He recovered from the assault and went on to release "No Pity (In the Naked City)," and "Higher and Higher."

The Halloween, 1975 murder of Al Jackson, percussionist for Booker T. and the MGs, at the age of 39, also appeared to be a premeditated hit. Barbara Jackson, his wife, was the sole eyewitness. She told police, according to Rolling Stone, that she "arrived home on the night of the shooting and was met by a gun-wielding burglar who tied her hands behind her back with an ironing cord." Al Jackson, who'd been taking in a closed circuit telecast of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, arrived an hour later. Any burglar would have collected valuables in the house and fled by this time, but he waited a full hour for Jackson to return home. Babara Jackson was freed from the ropes and the "burglar" ordered her at gunpoint to open the door for him. "After confronting Jackson and asking him for money, the intruder forced him to lie on the floor. He then shot Jackson five times in the back and left." (Rolling Stone, November 1975)

34. Brown, p. 165.

35. Brown, pp. 165-66.

36. McDermott and Kramer, pp. 286-87.

37. Ibid.

38. Ibid.

39. Shapiro and Glebeek, p. 474.

40. Swenson, p. 45.

41. Henderson Web site.

42. Chuck Philips, "Father to Get Hendrix Song, Image Rights," Los Angeles Times (home edition), July 26, 1995, p. 1. Also named as defendants were producer Alan Douglas and several firms that have profited from the Hendrix catalogue since 1974 under contracts negotiated by Branton: New York-based Bella Godiva Music Inc; Presentaciones Musicales SA (PMSA), a Panamanian corporation; Bureau Voor Muzeikrechten Elber B. V. in the Netherlands; and Interlit, based in the Virgin Islands.

Branton negotiated two contracts in early 1974—signed by Al Hendrix—that relinquished all rights to his son's "unmastered" tapes for $50,000 to PMSA and all his stock in Bella Godiva, his son's music publishing company, for $50,000."PMSA and the other overseas companies were later discovered to be part of a tax shelter system created by Harry Margolis," reported the L.A. Times, "a Saratoga attorney whom federal prosecutors charged but never convicted of tax fraud. The tax shelter plan collapsed after Margolis' death in 1987, and also [prompted] complaints from the estates of other entertainment clients, including singer Nat King Cole, screenwriter Larry Hauben as well as from followers of New Age philosopher Werner Erhard, who allegedly stashed revenues from his EST enterprise in the foreign account."

A Majority of GOP Voters Think ACORN Stole the ‘08 Election for Obama

2009-11-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2009/11/19/a-majority-of-gop-voters-think-acorn-stole-the-08-election-for-obama/

Greg Craig's Ties to Republican PR Firm

2009-11-23T03:16:00.000-08:00

Also see: Karl Rove's buddy resigns post as WH Counsel

Obama's White House Counsel Has Ties to Republican PR Firm
legalschnauzer.blogspot.com | August 5, 2009

The Obama administration's White House counsel has financial ties to a Republican-oriented government-relations firm in Washington, D.C., according to a whistleblower in the Don Siegelman case.

Greg Craig's most recent financial-disclosure form shows that he was paid by Ogilvy Government Relations, says Alabama attorney Jill Simpson. The firm had been known as the Federalist Group before changing its name in 2007 after Democrats took over the U.S. House of Representatives.

Simpson's revelations come on the heels of a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal that Craig might soon step down from his role in the Obama White House.

Simpson has firsthand knowledge of Ogilvy/Federalist Group. She served as a Republican opposition researcher and participated in a conference call about GOP plans to coordinate a political prosecution of Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. Simpson testified under oath that Alabama Republican operatives, led by Business Council of Alabama CEO Bill Canary, had worked out the plan with Bush White House strategist Karl Rove.

Simpson also has firsthand experience with Greg Craig. Then a lawyer with the D.C. firm of Williams & Connolly, Craig talked with Simpson about representing her prior to her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in fall 2007. Simpson shared her story about Rove's role in the Siegelman case before Craig backed out, saying he had a conflict.

After learning that Craig had represented Rove professionally and been a longtime personal friend, Simpson wrote a letter to Craig, demanding that he step down from any matters in the Obama White House related to the Bush administration. Simpson also voiced her suspicions that Craig violated legal ethics by sharing her privileged information with Rove.

Craig's ties to Ogilvy/Federalist Group should be a concern to anyone who hopes to see the Obama administration govern in a progressive manner, Simpson says. In fact, she is quite familiar with the firm's two principals--Stewart Hall, an Alabama native, and Wayne Berman:

The Federalist Group had close ties to the Bush White House. In fact, the gentlemen who ran it are Stewart Hall and Wayne Berman, who are very close to Karl Rove and George W. Bush. In fact, (Berman's wife) worked as the social secretary to both Mrs Cheney and Mrs Bush.

Simpson has stated under oath that Hall is friends with Rob Riley, an Alabama attorney and son of Governor Bob Riley. In fact, Federalist Group played a major role in Bob Riley's 2002 campaign, the one that ended with Don Siegelman mysteriously losing votes overnight in south Alabama, giving Riley the victory. Says Simpson:

Many may remember my testimony about Mr. Hall being close friends with young Mr. Riley. Well basically it is that office that helped run Bob Riley for Governor in 2002, and it is where many got together to plan for Bob Riley to get elected.

At the time, Mr. Craig . . . was the lawyer for all of Richard Shelby’s business endeavors and apparently the lawyer for Stewart Hall and Mr. Berman. So when we aren't getting any help (from the Obama White House on justice issues), one only has to look at Mr. Craig’s financial statements to see that he was paid a large portion of his last year's (income) before going into the White House by the Alabama gang who work at Ogilvy and also who had an interest in Digital Fusion.

And what is Digital Fusion? Simpson explains:

Digital Fusion is a company in Huntsville that got a $117 million contract guarding missiles and is invested in by certain individuals out of the Federalist Group/Ogilvy PR firm. I suspect that is why we have not received to date any relief from the White House in the Siegelman matter. A sad reality in Washington is that often money speaks louder than words about truth and justice.
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/08/obamas-white-house-counsel-has-ties-to.html

Tea Party leader and regular CNN, Fox News guest Mark Williams repeatedly calls opponents "faggot"

2009-11-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, Mark Williams has a "lefty-liberal lobe," ie. his ear is pierced and bejewelled with a tiny onyx stud. Pretty, witty and, ah, confirmation from Williams himself is here.

" ... In a December 26, 2007, post, Williams referred to former President Jimmy Carter as a 'creepy little faggot' ... "

STORY AT MEDIA MATTERS, BITCHES.

Reverberations of the JF Kennedy Murder and Cover-Up: Karl Rove Link to the Connick Family

2009-11-22T15:53:00.001-08:00

Law and order Republican, conservatively-principled Karl Rove

"And I shouted out: 'Who killed the Kennedys?' ... " - Rolling Stones

Explanatory note: This may be the first part of a series on reverberations from Dallas, 11-22-63, a day that saw the country derailed and sent on a corporate/fascist timeline that culminated with the Bush bund in the White House, and even some of Obama's key appointments (eg. Eric Holder & associates from Covington & Burling, a law firm nearly as relevant to the assassination as Mudge, Rose). If my readers are responsive, there will be more on contemporary consequences of the Dallas coup.

Every one of us pays - many in blood - for graciously permitting Kennedy's killers to get away with it. (Aren't we the good little "patriots?")

"He was a friend of mine ... " - The Byrds

Harry Connick succeeded Jim Garrison as district attorney in New Orleans, in which capacity he refused to release documents related to the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Connick even refused to comply with a subpeona for the official records (see second installment below).

Criers of "conspiracy theory" can kiss my a**.

- AC
****
Letter from a Blacklist reader:

Alex:

I've been researching Karl Rove's Florida land/home. Interestingly a man named Edward Connick built Rove's house at Rosemary Beach, FL. It appears this Connick family originates in Louisiana, and there is/was a D.A. there (Harry Connick, Jr's father, Harry, Sr.) involved someway in the Kennedy coverup. The Connick family is Irish Catholic. I found it an interesting note. It appears they are "kinfolk." Harry Connick, Jr. has his businesses in Massachusetts.

-----------------
Other customers of the Connick Construction Co:

Home in Walton County, Florida....

Oliver Fuselier - Hollywood, LA, Studio City, Santa Rosa Beach, age: 53
Exec produecr at Incubator Films.. Director Lance Kelleher, Exec Producer Oliver Fuselier

Locations, LA, Studio City, West Hollywood, Glendale, Santa Rosa Beach, Tarzana, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Woodland Hills,

Music video by The Triplets performing You Don't Have To Go Home Tonight with Jim Shea, Oliver Fuselier (C) Universal Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

Madonna Bad Girl producer Oliver Fuselier, written by M Ciccone, and S pettibone...
--------------------
4/2006 Hugh J Stiel of 171 Audobon Blvd, New Orleans purchased the property..from Fuselier and Haynes.. PO Address 58 Gulf Ridge Drive< Santa Rosa beach for... 1,500,000.00

Stiel has a company: "Doctors Associates" which is, I think actually SUBWAY...

http://img.jigsaw.com/scid11587128/hugh_stiel.xhtml
Company Name: Doctor's Associates Inc. dba Subway
Headquarters: 325 Bic Dr. [map]
Milford, CT, 06461-3059
USA
www.subway.com
+1.203.877.4281
Industries
Retail: Restaurants and Bars
Employees 10K - 50K
Revenue > $1B
Ownership Privately Held
Last Updated by angeleyz ( 85 ) 88% on 06/02/2009
*******
http://www.copi.com/articles/subpoena.htm

FROM: TOM SAMOLUK
Washington, D.C.

Press Release

JFK Assassination Records Review Board Subpoenas Garrison Records From New Orleans District Attorney

Washington, March 7, 1996: The Assassination Records Review Board announced today that it has subpoenaed records from the investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy conducted by former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. The records are held by current New Orleans District Attorney Harry Connick. Connick has failed to comply with the subpoena. A federal judge in New Orleans did not grant a motion by the District Attorney to quash the subpoena, and ordered the parties to arrange for a convenient time for the transfer of documents to the Review Board. Connick has failed to comply with the judges order and the Board is now seeking enforcement of it.

The Review Board took this step to ensure that the public interest in these assassination records is protected, said the Honorable John R. Tunheim, Chair of the Review Board. It is still our hope and desire to resolve this matter without lengthy legal proceedings.

The subpoena required the District Attorney to produce all documents and records in [his] possession, custody or control relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including but not limited to handwritten notes, memoranda, drawings, photographs, tape recordings, and correspondence that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Clay Shaw by former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, with the exception of any grand jury materials still extant in the possession of the District Attorneys Office.

Connick did not produce the records by February 16, 1996, as required by the subpoena. On February 16, Judge Marcel Livaudais, Jr., of the U.S.

District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, ordered the Review Board and Connick to find a mutually agreeable time for production of the documents in New Orleans. Connick has failed to agree to a time to produce the documents. The Review Board filed papers today in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans seeking enforcement of Judge Livaudais order.

District Attorney Connick told the Review Board last summer that he would donate the files from Garrisons assassination investigation that remain in his office for inclusion in

the JFK Assassination Records Collection. The subpoena was issued after the District Attorney had failed to forward the Garrison-era records to the Review Board during the last eight months, despite the Review Boards repeated attempts to encourage Connick to do so. The records are defined as assassination records within the meaning of the Boards governing statute, The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Act).

Another matter related to the Garrison assassination investigation records is pending between the Review Board and District Attorney Connick. In July 1995, the Board received an unsolicited shipment of records that allegedly are Grand Jury transcripts from the Garrison investigation. These records have not been made public by the Board. The law presumes that the Board will preserve assassination records, such as the Garrison Grand Jury records, in its possession for inclusion in the JFK Assassination Records Collection at the National Archives. District Attorney Connick has sought the return of these records. The Review Board has not returned the documents, citing its legal obligation under the JFK Act, but has repeatedly offered to seek a resolution of the matter with the District Attorney. Connick has refused to engage in any discussions with the Board. The Assassination Records Review Board was established by The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, which was signed into law by President George Bush. The five members of the Board were appointed by President Clinton, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in on April 11, 1994. The law gives the Review Board the mandate and the authority to identify, secure, and make available all records related to the assassination of President Kennedy. It is the responsibility of the Board to determine which records are to be made public immediately and which ones will have postponed release dates.

Will Donor Scandals Doom Crist's Senate bid?

2009-11-22T15:15:00.000-08:00

" ... Three of Crist's top fund-raisers have been hamstrung by federal investigations in the past nine months, and a fourth, Jupiter sports agent and real estate investor Marc Roberts, is facing a federal lawsuit alleging he defrauded a business partner out of $100 million to support his own 'lavish personal lifestyle.' ... "

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/will-donor-scandals-doom-crist-s-senate-bid-78067.html

What's Wrong with this RFID Chip?

2009-11-22T15:08:00.001-08:00

RFID chip brought to you by the Carlyle Group and Matrics, Inc.

Baltimore: Cultist Withdraws Guilty Plea in Baby's Death

2009-11-22T14:26:00.001-08:00

By BEN NUCKOLS (AP) | Oct 30, 2009

BALTIMORE — A former member of a defunct religious cult has backed out of a plea deal and will face trial on charges he and others starved a toddler to death.

Marcus Cobbs had agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact. But his attorney abruptly withdrew the plea Friday morning after a dispute with prosecutors over the conditions of his release.

Cobbs will now face trial along with three other members of the cult on murder and child abuse charges in the death of 1-year-old Javon Thompson.

According to a statement read in court, Cobbs helped the cult members cover up Javon's death by destroying evidence and stuffing the toddler's body in a suitcase.

Cobbs would have received a five-year suspended sentence under the plea deal.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gOp8D56OG9y62Wg_Sobm7oVR4d_wD9BLIBJ00
--------------------
From: Guilty Plea Withdrawn In Cult Member Murder Case
wjz.com | Oct 30, 2009

... Marcus Cobbs, one of the four cult members charged in the toddler's death, had just entered a guilty plea to accessory after the fact. In return, no prison time, an outrage to Javon's grandmother. Under the plea deal, Cobbs agreed to testify against cult leader Queen Antoinette, that she ordered the boy be starved.

Also that the child's mother Ria Ramkissoon followed those orders, and her son died; that the body was kept propped up in a Baltimore home awaiting resurrection, and that Cobbs packed the boy's body in a suitcase and later helped hide it in a storage shed in Philadelphia.

Cobbs' attorney abruptly withdrew the plea Friday morning after a dispute with prosecutors over the conditions of his release. Cobbs now faces trial along with three other members of the cult on murder and child abuse charges in the death of 1-year-old Javon.

Prosecutors still have Ramkissoon. She's plead guilty and is expected to testify against the cult -- provided Queen Antoinette's hold over her has been broken.

Trial for the four cult members is set to begin January 27.

http://wjz.com/local/cult.baby.charges.2.1281003.html
-------------------
Circumstances of the Baby's Death

Police: 'Cult' Starved Boy Who Wouldn't Say 'Amen'
(AP) | Aug 12, 2008

The remains of a toddler were found inside a suitcase inside this shed in South Philadelphia in April of this year.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said Monday that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder. Police and Ramkissoon's family say the group is a cult.

Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two children.

He would have been about 15 months old when police say adults stopped feeding him in December 2006.

Ramkissoon, 21, was being held Monday in the psychiatric ward of Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center, and a bail review was postponed until Tuesday. Her public defender declined comment.

The three other people charged in Javon's death -- Queen Antoinette, 40, also known as Toni Ellsberry or Toni Sloan; Marcus Cobbs, 21; and Trevia Williams, who turns 21 Tuesday -- were already in custody.

They were arrested in May in New York City on warrants charging them with failure to appear in court in Baltimore. Those charges stemmed from a scuffle with police in a child custody dispute.

No one answered the phone Monday afternoon in the office of a public defender assigned to Antoinette, Cobbs and Williams.

A fifth alleged cult member, Steven Bynum, has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and remains at large, police said Monday. He was believed to be in New York.

Ramkissoon's family said she should not be held responsible for her son's death.

"She had no control over that situation at all," her stepfather, Craig Newton, said Monday.

Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, told The (Baltimore) Sun on Sunday that it wasn't her daughter's decision not to feed the boy.

"My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson," Khadan-Newton said. "Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."

Members of 1 Mind Ministries wore all white, swore off medical care and referred to some members with titles including queen and princess, according to court documents. The group was also accused of insisting that a pregnant woman give birth without access to doctors.

Ramkissoon joined 1 Mind Ministries after Javon was born. Ramkissoon's mother last saw her in April 2006; she later sued for custody of her grandson, writing in a letter to a judge that "the cult leaders" were preventing her from contacting her daughter. The documents show police interviewed two school-age children who had been part of the group but were taken away from members by Philadelphia police. The children told investigators that members stopped feeding Javon in December 2006, in part because the boy refused to say "amen" after dinner.

Members also viewed Javon as "a demon."

Another unnamed informant told police that after Javon died, Antoinette left the boy's body in a room for more than a week, claiming "God was going to raise Javon from the dead," the documents show.

Afterward, Antoinette burned the boy's clothing and a mattress and placed his body in a green suitcase, which she would periodically open and spray with disinfectant to mask the odor, police claim in the court documents.

In early 2007, the group members left Baltimore for Philadelphia. They left the green suitcase and other luggage inside a shed belonging to a man they befriended while there, police said, and then relocated to Brooklyn, N.Y.

Police recovered the suitcase in April after they got a tip from the confidential informant. The remains of a small child were inside. DNA tests are pending to confirm the boy's identity.

http://wjz.com/national/South.Philadelphia.Toddler.2.793479.html

Celebrities Lead Charge against Scientology

2009-11-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Hollywood figures quit 'rip-off' church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities

Peter Beaumont in London, Toni O'Loughlin in Sydney, and Paul Harris in New York
The Observer | 22 November 2009

The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston's waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city's bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise.

The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology's top legal adviser for a quarter of a century, Earle Cooley. The controversial head of Scientology worldwide, David Miscavige, delivered the eulogy, thanking his late friend for his contribution to the neo-religion during his career, much of which was spent pursuing journalists and former members who spoke out against it.

Miscavige may since have wondered privately what Cooley would have made of the events of last week. Scientology, founded in 1953 by the late science fiction pulp novelist, serial fantasist and inveterate self-publicist L Ron Hubbard, is under fire again across the globe, following years of struggle to be recognised – with some success – as a legitimate church.

The church has just been denounced in the strongest possible terms in the Australian parliament. Prime minister Kevin Rudd has expressed his concern over allegations of "a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality" and is contemplating a parliamentary inquiry. The organisation is under police investigation and yesterday angry ex-Scientologists, spurred on by the claims, converged on its Australian headquarters calling for its tax-exempt status to be revoked.

And it is not only in Australia that Scientology is facing problems. A new book in America – Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of the Church of Scientology – by Marc Headley, an employee of the church's Los Angeles headquarters for 15 years, details – as others have – allegations of systematic abuse and bizarre episodes, such as the three weeks Headley claims he spent under instruction from Cruise in how to move bottles and other objects by concentrating on them.

Headley's book follows a year in which Scientology has been plagued by unwelcome revelations from high-profile defectors and fresh media investigation into its practices.

Last month the church narrowly avoided being banned in France after being prosecuted for fraud, following claims that four leaders – all given suspended jail sentences – had preyed financially on several followers in the 1990s. In Belgium, too, Scientology is embroiled in a long criminal investigation. Perhaps most embarrassing for an organisation that prides itself on its wealthy Hollywood followers, Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis, an adherent of 30 years, abandoned Scientology in October, accusing it of homophobia.

That is not all. Some of the worst damage done to Scientology in the past two years appears to have been self-inflicted. Earlier this year the official spokesman in the US, Tommy Davis, son of the actress Anne Archer, stormed out of an ABC TV interview with Martin Bashir when Bashir had the temerity to ask about one of its central beliefs – relating to an evil intergalactic warlord named Xenu.

More ridicule was invited, unwittingly, by Cruise, the church's most high-profile member, in a leaked video produced for the organisation last year that went viral on the internet. It showed a rambling Cruise laughing inexplicably while saying that Scientologists were uniquely equipped with the knowledge necessary to cure most of the world's ills, including crime, drugs, mental health problems and violence.

A religion to some, a business certainly, and a cult to many, whose innermost cadres wear pseudo naval uniforms, Scientology's religious tenets are a mixture of therapy-style self-improvement steps – at least at first – mixed with a weird space-opera metaphysics, which is revealed only to its highest acolytes. The church has frequently been accused of breaking up families and preying on the vulnerable. The history of Scientology and its critics has been a story played out in the courts in interminable proceedings that supported Cooley's very lucrative career, underwritten by a very lucrative religious practice in which followers pay large sums of money to progress through a series of training courses called "auditing".

In a quote attributed in the US courts to the late Hubbard himself, it is made clear that the court cases serve a useful purpose, even when they are lost. According to Hubbard, "law can be used very easily to harass... If possible, of course, ruin… entirely."

Scientology has attempted to sue newspapers, including the Washington Post. Time magazine beat off a court claim for $400m after describing the church on its cover as "the Cult of Greed". It has pursued authors, those who have campaigned against it, defectors and rivals. It has also made unsuccessful claims that details of its most secret practices should be regarded as both copyright and a trade secret.

The repeated attempts to use the courts to silence critics have been criticised in the judgments that have been upheld against Scientology, including one in 1996 that described its "documented history of vexatious behaviour" and abuse of "the [US] federal court system by using it, inter alia, to destroy their opponents, rather than to resolve an actual dispute over trademark law or any other legal matter".

So when Nick Xenophon stood up last week in the Australian parliament he was the latest critic in a long line. Xenophon made a carefully calculated decision – to use the protection of parliamentary privilege to denounce an organisation that he claims "abuses its followers, viciously targets its critics and seems largely driven by paranoia". Xenophon's aim was simple: to challenge the tax-exempt status of Scientology as a religion.

If the allegations Xenophon detailed – including the claims by former high-ranking members that David Miscavige physically assaulted senior Scientologists – were familiar ones to critics of the movement, Xenophon's speech brought to the widest audience possible a synthesis of the recent and not so recent claims against the leadership of Scientology, allegations picked up worldwide within minutes of him speaking.

He described claims of "false imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, blackmail and the widespread deliberate abuse of information obtained by the organisation". At the centre of Xenophon's long, impassioned speech were the allegations of Aaron Saxton, who was "born" into Scientology and "rose to a position of influence in Sydney and the United States".

According to Xenophon, Saxton's abuse started as a child when his mother was coerced into signing over guardianship of him to the organisation and he was made a security guard at the age of 16. "In 1991 Aaron says he was sent to Scientology headquarters in Florida where he was involved in… putting five individuals under house arrest" and "ordered by superiors to remove documents that would link a Scientology staff member to murder".

"Aaron says women who fell pregnant were taken to offices and bullied to have an abortion. If they refused, they faced demotion and hard labour… Aaron says one staff member used a coat-hanger and self-aborted her child for fear of punishment. He says she was released from the organisation and the files were destroyed."

Saxton also "ordered more than 30 people to be sent to Scientology's work camps, where they were forced to undertake hard labour", Xenophon said.

He said another former Scientologist, Carmel Underwood, who worked as a financial officer in the organisation and claims to have been assaulted by another member, "witnessed a young girl who had been molested by her father being coached as to what she should say to investigating authorities in order to keep the crimes secret". In a letter described by Xenophon as "one of the saddest correspondences I have received", a father, Paul Schofield, admits to being part of a cover-up of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of his two daughters.

The Church of Scientology in Australia's response last week was to accuse Xenophon of abusing parliamentary privilege and adding that the allegations were "unquestionably false". "This was not free speech. It was abuse and slander protected by the forms of our parliament," spokesman Cyrus Brooks said in a statement. It did not, however, reply to a series of written questions from the Observer about the cases detailed.

But if something has changed in the past few years, it has been the emergence of an increasingly empowered and vocal global opposition to the Scientologists. The development has been fuelled in part by the internet's Anonymous movement – which posted the Tom Cruise video to YouTube last year – and has been behind a series of denial-of-service attacks on Scientology websites, protests and prank calls since the Scientologists had it removed it from the site, inevitably claiming copyright infringement. The Australian intervention by Xenophon was part of a wider and growing backlash against one of the world's most controversial movements.

If there has been a catalyst for many of the Scientologists' most recent problems it has been provided by a newspaper in Tampa, Florida – the St Petersburg Times – which covers the area including the organisation's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. The paper ran an investigative series featuring interviews with former members of the church's leadership. These included Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, two of the highest-ranking executives to leave Scientology.

According to the two men's accounts – denounced as "lies" by Miscavige and Tommy Davis – Miscavige routinely assaulted his lieutenants, including Rinder, 50 times. In one article, citing the testimony of four former members, the newspaper described Miscavige administering a vicious beating to another senior church figure, Tom De Vocht. The men described a complex system of internal justice, enforced by security checks and the threat of isolation as a so-called "suppressive person" or SP.

In the interviews the men admitted using violence against other members of the church, often, they claimed, at the behest of Miscavige, also alleging that the church used private information gathered on its members to bully them and force them to do its bidding.

At least some of the recent allegations will be familiar to Jason Beghe, the American actor. Last year he became the first of its celebrity followers – for whom the church maintains a "Celebrity Centre" – to break with it, after giving Scientology more than $1m in donations over 12 years.

These days Beghe prefers to warn that the church is "destructive and a rip-off". He claims that since his renunciation of Scientology he has been pursued to seminars in Europe – held to speak of its dangers – by private investigators employed by Scientology and "disconnected" from former friends who remain within it.

The decision of Beghe and Haggis to quit Scientology appears to have caused the movement its greatest recent PR difficulties, not least because of its dependence on Hollywood figures as both a source of revenue for its most expensive courses and an advertisement for the religion. The involvement of such high-profile figures as Haggis, Cruise and John Travolta has acted as a reassurance for potential recruits against the allegations of its critics.

And while Haggis quit the church over its attitude to gay marriage, his lengthy leaked letter of repudiation of Scientology, written to Davis, included another complaint: that he had lied on television about a key Scientology practice.

Haggis said he had been stunned to see a CNN clip of Davis denying that the church practises a policy of "disconnection" by encouraging members to cut ties with non-members who may disapprove of their beliefs.

"I was shocked," wrote Haggis. "We all know this policy exists. I didn't have to search for verification – I didn't have to look any further than my own home." He then detailed how his wife was ordered by the church to disconnect from her parents because they were themselves ex-members.

His wife followed the orders and did not speak to her parents for a year and a half. "That's not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago… To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?"

The answer to that question may now be sought within the context of an Australian parliamentary inquiry. Notoriously litigious and undoubtedly secretive, Scientology is under the microscope again.

After a bad year for Cruise's church, things could be about to become a whole lot worse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/22/scientology-cruise-haggis-us-australia

Two Fake Books on the Kennedy Assassination, Ultimate Sacrifice & Legacy of Secrecy, Move the Onus from CIA to Mafia

2009-11-21T16:47:00.000-08:00

" ... remarkably unconvincing ... revisionist ... censorship and tortured logic ... nonsense ... fabricated ... outlandish ... not scholarship ... a pretext to do a new spin on a Mob did it book ... "

Legacy of Secrecy
Reviewed by James DiEugenio

Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann wasted little time in writing a sequel to their first book Ultimate Sacrifice. That long and portentous volume was originally published in November of 2005. Some authors take awhile to fill the tank between new entries in assassination research. But not them. Just three years after their original foray they have now come out with a new volume. This one is called Legacy of Secrecy. And, at 864 pages, it is almost as long as the first book. Taken together, the length of the two volumes begins to approach Vincent Bugliosi territory. Which, of course, is a dubious distinction. The authors write that the original length of this book was a little more than three hundred pages. The reason the book clocked in much longer was their desire to include the RFK and MLK cases. What is so odd about their attempt to do so is that, in their discussions of those two cases, they do not come close to relating them to their main thesis about the JFK case.

The reader will recall that this is the concept of C-Day. That is, the so-called plan for a coup in Cuba that was scheduled for December 1, 1963. This was to partly consist of a Cuban exile invasion from the USA organized by the Pentagon and CIA. The plan was to have the so-called "coup leader" — who was acting as a double agent on the island — murder Castro, blame it on the Russians, call a state of emergency, and arrange for a flotilla of Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. The Pentagon would wait in the wings in case they were needed. Since the sizeable Russian force remaining in Cuba would hardly take this laying down, they probably were going to be needed. Yet when David Talbot asked Kennedy's Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara if he was aware of the upcoming invasion, McNamara said he never knew about it. And as I mentioned in that earlier review, neither did the other two Cabinet level officers who not only should have known, but had to have known. Namely Secretary of State Dean Rusk and National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy. A truly fantastic state of affairs to present to the reader. But the authors proceeded anyway. Even presenting meetings at which some officials knew about C-Day and some did not.

Who was the so-called "coup leader" who was going to pull off bloody treason in the new socialist state? In the hardcover edition of the book, he was not actually named. But it was very strongly hinted that he was Che Guevara. For reasons I stated in my review, this was topping an incredible scenario with an incredible choice for a double agent. David Talbot also called them on this point in his review in Salon. So on the way to the soft cover edition, aided by Liz Smith, the name was now revealed to be Juan Almeida. But here's the problem. For such a daring and bold plan one needed a coup leader the size and stature of Guevara. If for no other reason, to galvanize the Cuban public into turning on their Russian allies. Which would be no easy feat. Almeida had no such outsize stature. And the possibility exists he would have been rolled over by a combination of the Russians plus the Cubans still loyal to Castro. Which, in light of the objective, would have made things even worse than before.

In this new volume, for the first three parts of the book, the authors essentially discuss the JFK case, with the accent on C-Day again. That is up until about page 470. From there until about page 700 they mainly discuss the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy cases. Here's the problem with their presentation: I could find no credible linkage between the C-Day plotting and the other two cases. And since their argument about the other two cases is remarkably unconvincing, I really do not understand why they included King and RFK. But even the scope of those three epochal cases wasn't enough for these two radical - and insatiable - revisionists. The authors include a closing section on Watergate. Again, I don't know why. But I will make a guess later.

I

Although I have briefly summarized the key concept of Ultimate Sacrifice, I strongly recommend that the reader read the first section of my original review for a more detailed discussion of the concept of C-Day. (That can be read here.) One of the problems the authors have with their thesis is that writers who have since read these documents e.g. Jeff Morley and William Davy, do not agree with the spin Waldron and Hartmann place on them. (After my review came out, Davy told me, "Jim, those are contingency plans, and they are labeled as such.") Not even Peter Dale Scott, who had some praise for aspects of the book, buys into them as C-Day.

But perhaps the most devastating response to the book is by the writer who helped launch Lamar Waldron and his C-Day thesis into the research community. In my previous review, I detailed how Waldron was introduced by none other than Gus Russo at the 1993 Dallas ASK Conference. So one would think that the man who introduced the co-writer of the volume would stand beside the book. One would be wrong. Apparently, Russo got a bit perturbed at the authors for taking credit for revealing the documents to the world for the first time. Which they did on page two of the previous volume. Why did he feel like that? Because Russo discussed them in Live By the Sword eight years earlier.(Russo, pgs 176-179)

In fact, in his conversations with Vincent Bugliosi, Russo goes after the C-Day concept with abandon. Russo actually tackles one of Waldron's prime sources, Harry Williams. Russo questions how Williams could have known about these plans since it is "abundantly clear" that the documents refer to Manuel Artime's "Central American operation and have nothing to do with a December 'coup' or 'C-Day"' as Waldron refers to it." (Reclaiming History, End Notes, p. 762) In fact, parts of the plans actually refer to Artime's group, the MRR, in code. And right below this, Artime himself is also mentioned in code. (CIA record of 6/28/63) Waldron tries to counter this by saying that Williams told the authors that Artime was actually serving under him. But where is the documentary proof of this? Because to anyone who knows anything about Artime's special place in the CIA, it seems ridiculous on its face. This, I believe, is the beginning of a serious questioning of Williams as a source for the authors. It is an issue I will take up later.

Vincent Bugliosi, agreeing with Davy, quotes from parts of the plans to demonstrate their true nature. For instance, the CINCLANT (Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet) OPLANS 312 and 316 were prepared "in case of a revolt in Cuba." (op. cit. Bugliosi, p. 758, italics added) The plans were prepared by the US Army under the Joint Chiefs of Staff and are entitled "State-Defense Contingency Plans for a Coup in Cuba". (ibid) The fact that they are labeled State-Defense makes it even more incredible that neither McNamara nor Rusk knew about the upcoming invasion. But in light of the use of the word "contingency" in the title, that fact is made understandable. In other words, it was never a "go" project. In fact, one draft of the plan, under the above Contingency Plan title, was dated October 21, 1963. Just one month before the assassination. So it must have been clear to everyone what the nature of the project really was by the time of Kennedy's murder. In fact, one of documents even says that no invasion should be contemplated unless there is active aggression by Castro and/or the Soviets "that threaten the peace or security of the Hemisphere." (Undated Army memo to the President by Sterling Cottrell. Record No. 198-10004-10072) Since I have taken a lot of space in criticizing Reclaiming History, I am glad to give Bugliosi credit for this part of the book. Especially when he is backed up by the likes of William Davy.

Now let's get back to the late Harry Williams. Williams first surfaced on the JFK case through the work of William Turner and Warren Hinckle (especially the former) in their fine book The Fish is Red. Turner spent hours interviewing Williams for that book because the volume largely focused on American relations with Cuba during the Kennedy years. But when I talked to Turner about Waldron's thesis he told me that Williams never mentioned anything about the C-Day concept to him in any of their interviews. Further, when Waldron sent him a thank you note with a copy of Ultimate Sacrifice, Turner told me he wanted no thanks for that book. But with Legacy of Secrecy, this situation gets even worse. Because in this installment, Williams now talks about things that are not only not in The Fish is Red, but they are not even in Ultimate Sacrifice. Or at least, I don't recall them. And some of these belated revelations are so bombastic, I am sure I would have.

For instance, as I said, in the hardcover version of Ultimate Sacrifice Juan Almeida was not mentioned as the "coup leader". The emphasis was clearly on Che Guevara. But now, the authors write that Williams told them that Cyrus Vance of the Army was fully aware of Almeida's role. (Legacy of Secrecy, p. 22) Since Vance helped supervise plans that were labeled as "contingency", one might ask: His role in what? There is an incredible passage on page 287 that is supposed to describe a meeting that RFK had with President Johnson after Kennedy's assassination. The subject was C-Day. Since, conveniently, only Johnson and RFK were there, the source for this discussion is Harry Williams, allegedly channeling RFK.

According to the roundabout sourcing LBJ told RFK he was not continuing with the C-Day plans, but he would continue to fund some of RFK's favorite Cuban groups. This paragraph is actually not footnoted at all. But since the authors date other interviews that they did with Williams as taking place in 1992, they had to have known this for the first book. But yet it appears here for the first time. As does the following information (p. 296). RFK made sure that the CIA provided for Almeida's family members after LBJ decided to halt the C-Day plans. (How one can halt a contingency plan remains the authors' secret.) This bit of information comes from 1992 interviews with Williams. Again, it first surfaces here. Finally, through an unnamed RFK aide, Williams kept in contact with RFK all the way up to 1968 - even during the presidential campaign (p. 621). They even met privately during this hectic campaign time. And when they did, amidst all the swirling campaign pressures and furious updates, the subject of Almeida and his family "always came up". (The entire paragraph that contains this information has no footnotes.)

But there is one last bit of belated info from Williams that needs to be noted. In Ultimate Sacrifice, I discussed and criticized the authors' treatment of Oswald in Mexico City. One of the reasons I did so is that the authors seemed to accept the CIA's story that it was Oswald there the entire time. Well, in Legacy of Secrecy they surface a relevant piece of belated information from Williams in that regard. According to Waldron and Hartmann, Harry Williams saw a picture of Oswald entering the Mexico City Cuban Embassy. (p. 234) Somehow, this wasn't deemed important enough to include in their previous discussion of Oswald in Mexico City in 2005. Even though the discussion then was much more detailed than it is here. How did Williams see this photo? Through an unnamed Cuban exile linked to Artime. The reason he showed the photo to Williams is not mentioned. And worse, the authors apparently never were curious enough to ask that question of Williams. What makes it odd is that very, very few people have ever mentioned any picture of Oswald. Or claimed to have seen it. And when they have, it is described as shot from an angle and behind. So the identification is not really probative. The only person who has ever stated that such a photo definitely did exist was Winston Scott, the Mexico City station chief at the time of Oswald's visit. Why he, or anyone else inside the CIA's surveillance operation, would show such a photo to some unnamed Cuban exile escapes me. And why this exile would be allowed to keep such a photo is even more of a mystery. Especially in light of the fact that the CIA, under intense pressure by the investigators for the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), could produce no such picture. Which, of course, fed suspicions that Oswald never really entered the Cuban Embassy. But somehow, over lunch or a baseball game, an anonymous exile showed Williams this invaluable photo.

With what the authors have now done to Williams' credibility, plus the near universality of agreement on the true nature of the "C -Day plans," the end should be spelled out for this entire "second invasion" thesis. Because the only other "on the record" source they had for it the first time around was Dean Rusk. Yet Rusk made it clear that he only heard of such a plan after he left office. Which makes me believe that, while in office, the contingency plans were so contingent that they never even made it to the Secretary of State's desk. And with the collapse of the C-Day scenario, their use of it is now seen as what I argued it was before: a pretext to do a new spin on a Mob did it book.

II

Let's return to the frequent and disturbing use of unnamed sources in the book. This kind of sourcing for crucial and controversial pieces of evidence is something that recurs throughout Legacy of Secrecy. For instance, the authors just happened to have an unnamed Naval Intelligence source who was monitoring Oswald. And guess what? This anonymous source also saw this photo of Oswald in Mexico City! (ibid) So, by accident, Waldron and Hartmann have found almost as many people who have seen this photo as are mentioned in the entire Lopez Report. How do the authors know that it was the Mafia that killed JFK? Well, an unnamed top Kennedy aide revealed to them "the leading roles of Marcello, Trafficante, and Roselli in JFK's murder". And guess what? This top Kennedy aide knew all about C-Day. Must be nice to have sources like that.

But its even better to have one like the following. Every serious commentator on the JFK autopsy (e.g. Gary Aguilar, David Mantik) has noted the overwhelming evidence that the military controlled that medical procedure and not the Kennedys. (I used many of these sources in Part Four of my review of Reclaiming History.)

These sources extend to the autopsists themselves, and even to Commander Galloway of the Bethesda Medical Center. The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), and the Assassinations Records Review Board (ARRB) both did extensive investigations about what happened that night. Every significant witness was talked to at least once. And many were talked to twice. In fact, there is a road map to follow in this regard. The FBI agents on hand, Jim Sibert, and Frank O'Neill, had a list of those people present. But apparently they missed someone. Because the authors have yet another crucial unnamed source who says he was at the autopsy. And, you guessed it, this guy also knew about C-Day. And contrary to dozens of other witnesses, including the autopsists themselves, this mysterious source — who escaped the HSCA and ARRB dragnet — knew that RFK had full knowledge of what happened that night. And further, that RFK probably even directed the autopsy. (p. 184) Hmm. Then why did Bobby Kennedy sign a document that granted "no restrictions" during the procedure? Why did Galloway testify that there were no instructions coming into the autopsy room from the Kennedy suite above? Why did Pierre Finck testify that it was the military that interfered with the autopsy during his famous appearance at the trial of Clay Shaw? But most importantly, in regard to the value of Legacy of Secrecy, why do the authors not mention any of the above proven and pertinent facts? Maybe because it brings into question the information rendered by their unnamed source?

But the prolific use of unnamed sources for crucial information does not end with the JFK case. It also figures importantly in this volume for the King case.

According to the authors, prior to the King assassination, a man named Hugh Spake collected money used in the King plot from workers at an Atlanta auto plant. And further, the authors posit that James Earl Ray called Spake the morning of the assassination. (pgs. 496-498) What is the basis for these rather dramatic revelations? Well if one turns to page 814 in the footnotes, the following sourcing appears:

" ... from confidential interviews conducted from early 1976 (when author Lamar Waldron was briefly employed at the Lakewood General Motors Auto Plant) to 2007."

This does not inspire confidence. Especially in light of the fact that Spake passed away three years ago. Therefore I don't understand the need to shield these sources after the subject is dead. Further, the southern rightwing racist groups the authors say he was associated with have gone into eclipse. Secondly, the author never explains why he was doing an investigation of the King case 34 years ago. I know Waldron says he has been studying the JFK case for a long time. But the King case?

In addition to the ready use of unnamed sources, there is an all too frequent use of unreferenced information in general. It is almost as bad here as it was with Joan Mellen's A Farewell to Justice. The authors have always been desperate to bring Carlos Marcello into the nexus of the CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro. So here they say that some recently declassified files relating to Cuban operations reveal that a certain unnamed case officer was a liaison between the CIA and Marcello. (p. 102) The entire paragraph in which this is revealed lacks footnotes. A few pages later (p. 106), we are informed that three unconfirmed reports place Roselli in Dallas on 11/22/63. This information is also not footnoted. But since the sources they do use also say that a woman drove Roselli and a Miami sharpshooter to the grassy knoll at the far end of Dealey Plaza, we can imagine what the unconfirmed reports are like. In mentioning CIA officer John Whitten and his investigation of Mexico City, the authors write that Richard Helms "knew that Oswald was also linked to his unauthorized Castro assassination operations ... "

This is an extremely puzzling statement. This information does not appear in the Inspector General report on the subject. It also does not appear in the Church Committee volumes. To my knowledge, neither Helms nor the CIA has ever uttered a word to this effect. So from where did the authors garner this? Its almost like they are indulging in posthumous mindreading. (As we shall see, they do this with Helms in another instance.)

It gets worse. According to Legacy of Secrecy, LBJ learned about the C-Day plans in the aftermath of the assassination from Hoover and CIA Director John McCone. (pgs. 171-172) Again, this goes unsourced. And it does not appear in the declassified phone transcripts made available by the ARRB. According to even more secret sources, Naval Intelligence began to shred files from its "tight surveillance" on Oswald on the afternoon of November 24, 1963. ONI also did their own secret investigation of the JFK murder. The authors' anonymous source actually saw the summary report and its "hundreds of supporting documents". (p. 247) And another anonymous source, independently vouched for this report. (ibid) Finally in this unfootnoted, anonymous sourcing field, the authors state that RFK knew about David Ferrie's relationship to Carlos Marcello back in 1963, maybe even earlier (p. 403). Again, this is strange. Not even Jim Garrison knew about this in 1963. And as everyone knows, when Garrison passed the Ferrie lead onto the FBI, they at first dropped it. And they then covered it up for the Warren Commission. But RFK knew about it before all this. But the prize in this regard goes to a paragraph on page 404. This paragraph deals with New Orleans matters. Mainly an alleged connection between Marcello and Dean Andrews, plus Clay Shaw's ties to the CIA. The attached footnote to this information reads as follows:

1994.05.09.10:43:33:16005 (p. 810, footnote 19).

That's right. Just a line of numbers related to nothing. And no one noticed this pre-publication. Maybe because they didn't care?

The continual use of this unscholarly practice — I could have named a dozen other similar instances — is a grievous shortcoming. Especially in a book that is attempting to revise the historical record on a serious subject. It indicates that, unlike with John Newman's JFK and Vietnam, the writers do not have the factual data to fulfill their new paradigm. Probably because the paradigm doesn't exist.

Another sure sign of this lack of a factual basis is their recurrent use of the assumptive mode. When they need something to happen, they just assume it did. As I demonstrated in my earlier review, one of their aims is to shift the cause of the JFK cover-up. It did not occur because Oswald was some kind of intelligence operative. Oh, no. The main reason was fear of exposing C-Day. Now, since Hoover was the mainspring of the cover up, the authors must write that, "over the coming days, Hoover would no doubt learn more about the ... coup plan ... " (p. 171)

They offer no evidence for this and no source I have ever read on Hoover refers to it. After JFK is assassinated, Santo Trafficante is carefree and smiling. Why? Because "Trafficante knew Jack Ruby, and he apparently felt confident that Ruby would be able to take care of silencing Oswald." (p. 180) Yet I could find no evidence in the book to certify Trafficante's arrangement with Ruby in advance.

Why is the tape of the Hoover/LBJ call on November 23rd, at 10:01 AM missing? According to the authors, "one possibility" is that if LBJ had been briefed on C-Day he could have mentioned it in passing to Hoover on this call. (p. 225) Even though, as I said earlier, there is no evidence that Hoover-or LBJ for that matter-ever knew about C-Day. And certainly nothing would indicate that these plans caused the FBI or Warren Commission cover-up. When RFK met with Helms after the 1967 Jack Anderson story first publicly exposed the CIA-Mafia plots, they "probably discussed" not just that subject, but the 1963 C-Day plan and "the current status of Almeida and his family." (p. 419) Even though there is no mention of C-Day in the CIA's Inspector General Report on those plots.

The most objectionable part of this whole fatuous C-Day cover-up story is that it detracts from the real cause of the cover-up. As demonstrated by writers like John Newman and John Armstrong, that would be the fabricated Mexico City tapes that were sent to Washington and Dallas the evening of the assassination. And which were then made to disappear. Why? Because the voice on the tapes was not Oswald's. And that would have exposed the whole charade in Mexico City. And as both Newman and the Lopez Report reveal, the three main culprits in that pre-planned charade were James Angleton, David Phillips, and Anne Goodpasture. Which completely vitiates what the authors write at the end of Chapter 17. Namely, that no evidence exists implicating any CIA official above David Morales in the JFK murder.

They also write that there is no confession to indicate any CIA officer's participation besides Morales' either. They neatly avoid David Phillips' teary-eyed, deathbed confession about being in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Which he himself made to his own brother. (Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much, 2003 edition, p. 272) And, if you can believe it, in the entire volume there is not one mention of Richard Case Nagell. In fact, I don't recall his name being in Ultimate Sacrifice either. So in 1,700 pages of writing about the JFK assassination Waldron and Hartmann choose to profusely quote liars like Frank Ragano and Ed Partin. But they couldn't find the space to mention the man who Jim Garrison called, "the most important witness there is".

III

Which brings us to their discussion of Jim Garrison, who was largely avoided in Ultimate Sacrifice. Although they mention aspects of Garrison's inquiry earlier, the main part of this discussion leads off at Chapter 29. Their first page makes for an interesting intro. They try to disarm the reader by saying they have reviewed all the "books, articles, and documents" about the DA and have come to the conclusion that he "emerges as neither devil nor saint". (p. 373) The implication being that after a long and painstaking review, Waldron and Hartmann are going to be fair-minded and objective about a controversial subject. As we shall see, that doesn't happen. They also add that they will focus on things not talked about previously that reveal the Garrison investigation in a new light. Again, that is not done. With the agenda the authors have, how could it?

I should note, the Garrison inquiry is mentioned prior to this chapter and its earlier treatment foreshadows what will come. For instance, the authors try to explain David Ferrie's trip to Texas on the day and night of the assassination as an attempt to retrieve his library card from Oswald. (p. 177) This is odd. It is true that Ferrie was asking for that card from Oswald's former landlady in New Orleans. But as Dick Russell notes in On the Trail of the JFK Assassins, Ferrie told his friend Ray Broshears that he was waiting for a phone call at the skating rink concerning flying participants in the plot out of Texas. (Russell, p. 107) Secondly, wouldn't it be kind of stupid for Ferrie to look for that card in Dallas? I mean, was he going to go to Ruth Paine's house and ask her if the police found it yet? Or walk into the Dallas jail and ask Chief Curry if he could have his card back? With those greased eyebrows and that mohair wig?

A second instance prior to Chapter 29 indicates the quality of their scholarship on the Garrison inquiry. They say that in 1964 Garrison called Robert Kennedy to talk to him about some of his ideas on the JFK case. But RFK hung up on him after some desultory conversation. (p. 254) The source for this piece of nonsense? None other than trashy biographer C. David Heymann. The authors never realize that Garrison could not have any theories to discuss with RFK at the time of this call because he was not investigating the JFK case in 1964. As I thoroughly demonstrated in my review of the book Regicide, Heymann cannot be trusted on anything concerning the JFK case. As is likely here, he has been shown to manufacture interviews. (This reliance on untrustworthy writers is another problem with the book that I will address later.)

What is the "new light" that Waldron and Hartmann shed on the Garrison investigation? Well they hint at it early on, before they even discuss Garrison in a systematic way. They say that the FBI backed off the investigation of David Ferrie and Guy Banister not because of their ties to Oswald and Clay Shaw. But because of their links to Marcello. This is bizarre since no one knew about any Banister-Marcello tie until 15 years later. And it wasn't what the authors present it as anyway. As I pointed out in my review of Ultimate Sacrifice, the HSCA stated that Ferrie got Banister some investigative work through Wray Gill, one of Marcello's lawyers. And Waldron and Hartmann shorthanded this into a Banister-Marcello connection. They continue this eccentric characterization here. Yet, as anyone knows who has studied what Garrison called the "Banister Menagerie", Banister did not do investigative work. This was just a front for his Cuban exile/CIA missions and other intelligence work he did e.g. planting infiltrators into college campuses. The people around his office who actually did investigative work were hangers-on like Jack Martin and Bill Nitschke. By this kind of logic, Martin and Nitschke were tied into the Mafia.

Why is it important to note this bizarre interpretation? Because when all is said and done, the "new light" the authors shed on the Garrison inquiry is really a hoary and disproven platitude. By about the middle of Chapter 37 Waldron and Hartmann are merely echoing the likes of their trusted authorities like John Davis, Dan Moldea, and David Scheim. They say that by 1968 Garrison's inquiry and his pursuit of Clay Shaw became a "grotesque sideshow" (p. 466). Why? Because it was a diversion away from the true perpetrators of the crime. Who of course were Marcello, Trafficante and Roselli. (pgs. 405, 421, 465) The origins of this discredited concept actually goes back almost forty years. To the infamous Life magazine hatchet job penned by FBI toady Sandy Smith. (William Davy, Let Justice Be Done, p. 162)

One of the strongest indicators of their faulty scholarship about Garrison is their use of some questions that allegedly the New York Times sent to the DA. (p. 370) They say they found a copy of these questions in Garrisons' files. One of the questions was about Ferrie's rumored, at that time, association with Marcello. The questions were dated November 21, 1966. What the authors do with these questions and Garrison's famous airplane trip with Senator Russell Long has to be detailed to understand their agenda on the subject. They actually try and say that because Long allegedly had ties to Marcello, and because Long's trip with Garrison came after the date of the questions, therefore Long convinced Garrison not to go after Marcello. (ibid) This is fevered John Davis propaganda of a virulent strain. And they have nothing of substance to back it except the NY Times questions. And they then cheat on this. How? By moving the Long/Garrison plane ride back to December of 1966. This way Garrison's discussion with Long about the JFK case comes after the alleged letter from the Times. But there is a big problem with it all. They are wrong about the date of the trip. The function that Garrison attended in New York occurred on November 13, 1966. In other words, it was before the date of the letter. (Davy, p. 57) But this is silliness anyway. Garrison had briefly investigated Ferrie back in 1963. And there are indications that he had intermittently started back onto the JFK case prior to the Long conversation. But his primary focus at these early points was on Oswald. And in 1966 and early 1967 it was on Oswald's connections as an agent provocateur being run by Banister. Which Marcello had nothing to do with.

What the authors do with Garrison and Bernardo DeTorres is even worse. De Torres is an incredibly intriguing personage who the HSCA showed a strong interest in. In fact, he was actually questioned in Executive Session. Gaeton Fonzi writes about DeTorres in his fine book, The Last Investigation. Except he conceals his name by calling him by the pseudonym "Carlos". DeTorres had been a military coordinator for the Brigade 2506 part of the Bay of Pigs invasion. (Davy, p. 148) He was strongly suspected of being in Dallas on 11/22/63. And even of having pictures of Kennedy being killed in Dealey Plaza. He had been offered a large sum of money for the photos by Life magazine. (See Probe Vol. 3 No. 6) Further, DeTorres claimed to know that Oswald was not involved in the assassination since he knew who actually was involved. And he knew this because "they were talking about it before it even happened." (Fonzi, p. 239) Later on, DeTorres worked with legendary CIA arms specialist Mitch Werbell, who some suspect of being involved in designing the weaponry used in Dealey Plaza. (See Spooks, by Jim Hougan, pgs 35-36)

What few people knew prior to the ARRB process is that DeTorres first surfaced as a suspect during the Garrison investigation. He was one of the very early infiltrators sent in by the CIA. Allegedly recommended to the DA by a policeman, he told Garrison that he had important information about the murder. He also used Miami DA Richard Gerstein as a reference. (Davy, ibid) Since he was from Miami, Garrison gave him the assignment of questioning Eladio Del Valle, Ferrie's colleague who Cuban G-2 strongly suspected of being part of the JFK plot. Not very long after DeTorres was sent to question him, Del Valle's mutilated corpse was found near the front stairs of DeTorres' Miami apartment. (ibid) This was at the same time that Ferrie was mysteriously found dead in his apartment. The HSCA later developed evidence that DeTorres was filing reports on Garrison for the Miami CIA station JM/WAVE as he was serving as a double agent in his office. By the time he worked with Werbell, the Cuban exile community knew that Bernardo was the man to see if you had a problem. Why? Because he had "contacts on a high level with the CIA in Washington D.C." (ibid)

All of this is absolutely riveting information. And it was not readily available until the time of the ARRB. The backward light it shines on Garrison is nearly blinding. Why? One reason is that Clay Shaw defenders sometimes say that the CIA was "monitoring" Garrison because he was accusing them in the press of being involved in the JFK conspiracy. But the DeTorres penetration occurred before the Garrison inquiry was even made public. And it also occurred before the DA had decided on the CIA as his prime suspect. So before Garrison made any public comments about the CIA, a highly connected Agency plant was sent in and was filing reports with JM/WAVE. And further, DeTorres may have been involved in the setting up of Del Valle because of his association with Ferrie. And it should be noted here that Richard Case Nagell was on the trail of both Ferrie and Del Valle in the spring of 1963 (Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much, 2003 edition, p. 182). Which, of course, is months before the assassination.

What Waldron and Hartmann do with all this remarkable information about DeTorres is kind of shocking. (pgs 387-88) They do refer to him as a spy in Garrison's camp. But they never mention him by name! Then, differing with Garrison authority Bill Davy, they say he was recommended to the DA not by the police, but by another Cuban. And finally Del Valle, "Garrison's [unnamed] investigator", and Rolando Masferer (What?) all had ties to Santo Trafficante. So the implication is that the Florida Don had Del Valle killed. Why? Because if he was linked to the JFK assassination, his empire would collapse. That's what they write. (p. 387) How he would be linked to the Kennedy assassination at this point in time is never explained. In fact, I don't think we are supposed to ask. But by concealing DeTorres' name, his background, his ties to JM/WAVE, and the circumstances of Del Valle's murder, it reverses the logical deduction of what happened to Del Valle. In other words, the censorship and tortured logic conceals a CIA operation and deliberately disguises it as Mafia oriented. The exposure of the above information about DeTorres proves this could not have been by accident. So does their concealment of his name. They didn't want you to know his name because then you would find out how tied in with the CIA he was. It's the same thing they did with Edwin Black's work on the Chicago plot. And as before, this had to have been done by design. ( I will return to Black's work later.)

Predictably, the flip side of the coin is also manifest here. If the deluded DA was being led astray, his attacker Walter Sheridan was on the right track. Because, of course, Sheridan suspected the Mafia, especially Carlos Marcello. (p. 465) A lot of their material about Sheridan and Garrison is drawn from David Talbot's book Brothers. In my review of that volume I minutely examined why Talbot was wrong about his depiction of what Sheridan was doing in New Orleans for NBC, and why he was doing it. The idea that Sheridan strongly suspected that Marcello was behind the JFK killing was brought into question by a conversation that Irving Davidson had on the day the HSCA report was issued. Lobbyist Davidson was a lifelong friend of Marcello's who also knew Sheridan. And Sheridan, who is sourced in those HSCA volumes, told Davidson that the HSCA report was a piece of crap. (Bugliosi, op. cit., p. 1175) As I said in my review of Brothers, the question now becomes: What did Sheridan actually believe about the JFK case? And further: Was he deliberately leading the HSCA astray? This is a question that Talbot sidestepped. And so do the present authors.

IV

As in the first book, the authors make some truly unbelievable statements that are almost perverse in their logic and sense. For instance, they write that if the idea behind the assassination was to provoke an invasion of Cuba, the conspirators would have kept Oswald alive longer so he would have been the focus of an outcry against Fidel. (p. 239) In reality, the longer Oswald was kept alive, the higher the risk was that he would betray who he really was to the authorities. In fact, this risk was seriously broached while he was being held. First, through his attempted call to Raleigh, North Carolina, and second, when the FBI listened to the Mexico City tapes and discovered the voice on them was not Oswald's. And at this point, Oswald did not even have a lawyer. So the longer he was held, the higher the risk he would declare himself an undercover agent.

Why did suspicion fall upon Oswald after the assassination? Legacy of Secrecy poses a novel approach to that mystery. Waldron and Hartmann posit that it was due to Oswald's friendly relations with minority employees. This created suspicion about him in the aftermath of the crime. (p.121) Of course, they present no evidence for this rather strange and revolutionary theory.

The Tom Tilson story about a man escaping down the railway embankment behind the grassy knoll has been discredited for many years (p. 116), most notably by Canadian author Peter Whitmey. But it gets trotted out here again. And in fact, it gets embellished. They say the man running to a car and throwing something in the back resembled Jack Ruby.

The interpretation that Waldron and Hartmann put on the alleged attempt by Oswald to shoot General Edwin Walker is startling-even for them. It begins with an incredible report that Oswald was in a New Orleans jail around April 1, 1963. (p. 263) Yet, he had not moved there yet. The authors insinuate that this was somehow part of the congressional investigations into the ordering of weapons through the mail. They then imply that somehow the Walker shooting was manipulated by Walker and his allies to divert attention away from themselves and also people like Marcello, Banister and Joseph Milteer. (p. 265) Conveniently left out of how the Walker tale was manipulated are two key elements. The first is Ruth Paine. She produced the note about the escapade allegedly left by Oswald, which had no fingerprints on it. This was turned over to the police on November 30, 1963. So even though the police had searched the Paine residence twice, they did not find it. It was this note that first caused the FBI to look at Oswald as a suspect in the Walker shooting. (John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee, p. 512) Second, it was this note which caused the FBI to switch both the caliber and the color of the bullet the Dallas Police retrieved from the Walker residence to match the ammunition of the Mannlicher Carcano. (Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust, p. 49) Incredibly, the authors do not even mention Ruth Paine's role in this charade and they minimize what the FBI did to transform the bullet. Even though McKnight shows that the FBI knew they were participating in a deception. (ibid pgs 49-50)

In this regard I must note that the authors pay me a backhanded compliment in this book. My review of Ultimate Sacrifice was fairly coruscating and it received some notoriety within the research community. Waldron and Hartmann clearly read it and took it seriously because they try and counteract several of my criticisms. One of the most serious ones was my relating of an anecdote in Richard Helms' autobiography entitled A Look Over my Shoulder. On November 19, 1963 Helms visited Robert Kennedy's office and told him that Castro was shipping a large amount of arms into Venezuela in order to upset their upcoming elections. (Helms, pgs 226-27). Helms has RFK saying nothing. He looks at the evidence the CIA took in—a foreign made submachine gun allegedly retrieved from an arms cache-and told Helms to go see President Kennedy. Helms and his assistant do so and JFK asked a couple of questions about how that large a shipment of weapons got through. They then left and later that day, Helms asked Kennedy's assistant, Ken O'Donnell, for a picture.

Now, in my original critique I posed the question that if C-Day was coming up in 12 days, and if all the principals involved in this episode were knowledgeable about it i.e. RFK, JFK and Helms, why would the CIA Director of Plans even bother to see the Kennedys if he knew we were invading Cuba shortly? This story shot a harpoon into the guts of their whole C-Day scenario. Because the authors maintained that even though McNamara, Rusk, and Bundy did not know about C-Day, Helms did. And it would be impossible for all four not to know. But this story, in Helms' own book, indicates he did not. When they relate this tale in Legacy of Secrecy (p. 36), they leave out the capper. In his book, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (p. 383), CIA analyst Joseph B. Smith mentions this specific arms seizure. And from the reports on it, he deduced that the CIA planted the weapons. So if Helms knew about C-Day, why did he go to the trouble of planting those weapons if he knew we were invading Cuba anyway?

This is their hapless reply to that question: Helms was testing JFK to see if he was getting cold feet about the invasion. But the problem is there is not any indication of this in Helms' book. On anyone's behalf. But further, the authors now contradict themselves in another important way to give their phony spin a pretext in reality. In their first book, they characterized JFK's back channel to Castro through people like Lisa Howard, Jean Daniel, and William Attwood as going nowhere. In my review, I showed this was false. There was progress being made and JFK was very interested in that progress continuing. I postulated that what Helms was actually trying to do with the planted arms cache was to scuttle those talks since he knew that JFK did not want Cuba interfering in Venezuela's elections. Now, sit down before you read the next sentence. Waldron and Hartmann have stolen my explanation and try and make it work for them! Now they say that Helms was doing all this to ensure the invasion against the back channel's imminent success. Without noting that in their previous volume they said there would be no point in doing such a thing since the talks were useless.

To me, the rearranging of facts, recasting of events, and posthumous mindreading into Helms' psyche, all this is not scholarship. Plain and simple, it is CYA.

Another instance where they try and counteract my critique is in regards to their alleged "confession" from Santo Trafficante about his role in the JFK assassination. Using Tony Summers' work (Vanity Fair, 12/94), I showed that the originator of this tall tale, Mafia lawyer Frank Ragano, was almost surely lying. Why? Because Ragano placed Trafficante in Tampa on the day of his phony confession. He could not have been there since 1.) He was undergoing dialysis treatments and was using a colostomy bag, 2.) Summers interviewed two witnesses who placed him in Miami on the day, 3/13/87, he made the ersatz confession in Tampa. 3.) His doctor in Tampa did not see him on the day in question, and 4.) His relatives said he had not been to Tampa in months. In the face of all this, the authors still vouch for Ragano's veracity. (p. 757) But they do not tell the reader about the colostomy bag, which would make the 280 mile drive or flight to Tampa ludicrous. And they leave out the two witnesses who placed him in Miami, and the fact he did not see his doctor while in Tampa.

A third effect of my review is that now the authors properly source Edwin Black's groundbreaking work on the attempt to kill President Kennedy in Chicago. If one recalls, in Ultimate Sacrifice they tried to disguise the proper source of this essay by footnoting that magazine article to a book by one George Black. A book that did not even discuss JFK's assassination. Here, they properly source it but incredibly, they never even note how they failed to do so in the first book. They then indirectly confirm my worst fears about why they did not. On page 787, in the Acknowledgments, they write the following sentence: "The work of the following people was useful in our research, even though at times we may differ with some in our conclusions". The first name listed of people they disagree with in conclusions is Edwin Black's. In other words, they didn't like what Black did with the Chicago plot. So they apparently wanted no one to find his work since it would contradict their own. With no thanks to Waldron and Hartmann, you can read Black's essay here.

What can one say about this kind of scholarship and honesty? Except that in each instance I mention, the evidence indicates that the authors knew about the information that I used. They chose to ignore it. And in the case of Black, they tried to bury it.

V

One of the reasons they desperately hang on to the Ragano/Trafficante fantasy is because they want to ballyhoo this "confessional" motif as evidence that they were right about the actual JFK culprits in Ultimate Sacrifice. That is, the Mafia killed JFK. So they hang on to the specious Ragano declaration because they need it for the Trafficante part of their confessionals. Even though it almost certainly did not happen.

They also use "confessions" by John Martino and David Morales. These are also dubious. In the case of Morales (p. 97), how can you call what he said a "confession"? After raging against what JFK did at the Bay of Pigs, he then said "Well, we took care of that son of a bitch didn't we." (Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation, p. 390) As John Simkin, among others, has commented, this can be fairly interpreted as being nothing but cheap braggadocio. Going further than that, I would be willing to wager that you could have heard dozens of remarks by both the Cuban exiles and CIA operators about JFK down through the years. Does that mean they were all involved in his assassination? But further, Morales was a CIA man all the way. So how does this prove their Mob-did-it thesis?

In my review of Larry Hancock's Someone Would Have Talked, I commented on the case of John Martino. The information Martino allegedly conveyed through friends and relatives — which is hard to keep track of since, 35 years later, it keeps on growing — does not connote Martino being part of a plot. To quote myself in my critique of that book, "As summarized above, the information Martino had could have been communicated to him through several of his Cuban exile friends. None of it connotes Martino being part of the plot. And Hancock advances no affirmative evidence to prove that point." And as I noted in that review, the other person Hancock uses, Richard Case Nagell, is a much more valuable witness than Martino. For me, and in practical terms, Nagell is worth ten times what Martino is worth.

Another "confession" Waldron and Hartmann use is allegedly by John Roselli. This one they source to Richard Mahoney's book Sons and Brothers. This is the sum and substance of the "Roselli confession" as it appears on page 229 of that book: "Washington attorney Tom Wadden, a longtime friend and attorney of Roselli's, subsequently confirmed Roselli's role in plotting to kill the president." One natural question in response to this single sentence is: What plotting was he talking about? What exactly did Roselli do? Because if there are no details, there is no confession. But it's actually worse than that. Because Mahoney never even interviewed Wadden. He got this from Bill Hundley, a former Justice Department lawyer under RFK. Wadden is mentioned exactly one other time in Mahoney's book. That is on page 333 along with a group of other Mafia attorneys like Jack Wasserman. Before I read about this "startling confession" I wondered why I did not recall any other author sourcing it in the ten years since the Mahoney book had been published. Now I know.

Obviously, in light of the above, the authors were getting desperate to come up with something of substance. So early on in the book, they foreshadow what will be their "crown jewel" in this regard. (pgs 46-51) That is a confession by Carlos Marcello. They refer to this as the "CAMTEX documents" since Carlos Marcello was in a Texas prison when they originated. And they mischaracterize them at the start. They say that these documents were discovered at the National Archives in 2006 (p. 47) The implication being that no one ever saw them before. Which is false. Ace Archives researcher Peter Vea sent them to me in 1997. Which is ten years before Waldron and Hartmann found them. They also write that the contents are being published in Legacy of Secrecy for the first time. (p. 46) Again, this is misleading. Vincent Bugliosi referred to them in Reclaiming History. (See the End Notes file, pgs. 658-659)

Both of the above shed light on why no one used them before. When Peter sent me the documents, he titled his background work on them as "The Crazy Last Days of Carlos Marcello." Peter had done some work on Marcello's health while he was incarcerated. And between that, and the reports that came out at the time of his 1993 death, he and I concluded that at the time of the CAMTEX documents Marcello was suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Today, the accepted gestation period for the disease is about seven years. There is little doubt that by 1988-89 Marcello's Alzheimer's was in full and raging bloom. And at this time period, Marcello's general health was beginning to collapse through a series of strokes. Now, the time period of Marcello's talks with the jailhouse informant who is one of the sources for the CAMTEX documents begins in 1985. So if you do the arithmetic you will see that Marcello's Alzheimer's was very likely well along by then. And later on, when told about the jailhouse informant's accusation that he had Kennedy killed, Marcello replied that this was "crazy talk". (Bugliosi op cit p. 658)

And in fact it is. The CAMTEX documents actually have Marcello meeting with Oswald in person and in public at his brother's restaurant. (p. 50) But that's nothing. According to CAMTEX, Marcello set up Ruby's bar business and Ruby would come to Marcello's estate to report to him! And so after being seen in public with both the main participants, he has the first one kill Kennedy and the second kill Oswald. But yet, the authors are so intent on getting the CAMTEX documents out there that they don't note that these contradict their own conclusion written elsewhere in the same book. Namely that Oswald didn't shoot Kennedy. (p. 121)

VI

This is already too lengthy to go into any long discussion of the parts of the book devoted to the King case, the RFK case, and Watergate. But, in my view, these are even worse than the JFK section of the book. Which is saying something. For instance, they conclude that James Earl Ray killed King. Without telling the reader that the rifle he allegedly used needed to be properly calibrated by machine. And it wasn't. Who put Ray up to it? Well it was Joseph Milteer, with the help of Carlos Marcello. (Talk about the Odd Couple.) What's the evidence for this? Almost all of it is the unnamed sources I noted above. ( In fact, Chapter 52 about Milteer and Spake meeting Ray in Atlanta comes off as near self-parody.)

And what these two do with Grace and Charlie Stephens is simply appalling. They actually smear her and try and rehabilitate him! This is the woman who, when the authorities went to her to get an ID on Ray, refused to sign the papers because the man she saw in the boarding house the day of the murder was smaller and older. She still refused when they offered her a 100,000 dollar reward. Even though she was poor. When they took the same deal to her husband Charles, he readily made the identification. Even though he was falling down drunk at the time of the shooting. When he tried to collect on the money, the offer was withdrawn. He sued and his efforts failed. So this drunk became the witness that got Ray extradited back for his phony trial. Just so his lawyer Percy Foreman could sell him down the river.

And what happened to Grace? She got stashed away in a mental institution for ten years. When Mark Lane finally found her there he asked her if he could talk to her about the King case. She agreed. But she told him she was not going to lie about the man she saw at the boarding house. Lane said that was fine. He just wanted her to tell the truth. She did, and the man she saw was not Ray.

Attempting to rehab Charlie Stephens is like rehabbing Howard Brennan in the JFK case. (All this information on the Stephens matter is reported in Code Name Zorro by Lane and Dick Gregory.) Further, if you can believe it-which you probably can by now-they ignore all the new material generated on the MLK case in the nineties. That is during the attempt by Judge Joe Brown to get the case retried at the time. But yet this is the newest material generated on that case. But it doesn't fit their agenda. So they ignore it.

They also strongly imply that Sirhan shot RFK (p. 686). Yep, hypnotized himself into doing it at the request of the Mafia. (p. 666) And that night at the Ambassador Hotel, Sirhan had those drinks to steel himself to kill RFK. (p. 629) See, Sirhan was a compulsive gambler who was losing hundreds of dollars. (p. 626) And ... you get the drift by now, don't you? Incredibly, in the entire section on the RFK case there is not one mention of either MK/Ultra or William J. Bryan. And Bryan is the man who most suspect of programming Sirhan. In fact, there is much evidence to show this is the case. Further, they say it was not Thane Cesar who shot RFK. (p. 641) Even though he was the only person in perfect position to deliver the fatal shot. In fact, any of the RFK shots. Shane O'Sullivan disconnected Michael Wayne from Khaiber Khan in Who Killed Bobby? to minimize that conspiracy angle. Waldron and Hartmann do the opposite: they discount Khan and do not even mention Michael Wayne. (pgs. 660)

What was the reason for the RFK cover-up? According to them one of the reasons was whether or not drug trafficking played a role in the case. (Read it yourself on p. 680) See, the LAPD acted then and now "not as part of a massive orchestrated cover-up, but to avoid embarrassment and scandal for the department." (p. 686) If you read Lisa Pease's review of An Open and Shut Case, you will see that what caused the cover-up. It was the probable 14 shots fired that night when Sirhan's weapon could only fire eight. Further, the acoustics tape indicates the shots came from two directions and therefore from at least two assassins. And Sirhan was not one of the assailants of RFK. Because if he was, they would not have had to substitute the bullet evidence at the Wenke Panel hearings. Which is what the evidence indicates happened. Incredibly, the book does not even mention those proceedings supervised by Judge Wenke. Which would be like discussing the JFK case and never mentioning the HSCA. Further, and perhaps even more shocking, the work done on the newly discovered audio tape of the shooting by sound technician Phil Von Pragg is also never discussed. Even though the cable TV special based on this key discovery was broadcast a year before the book came out.

And how do the authors support the nonsense they write about these two cases? By using authors like Gerald Posner in the King case and Dan Moldea in the RFK case.

Their section on Watergate is just as outlandish. They say that the whole motivation behind the two year scandal was Nixon's attempt to get the Inspector General's Report on the CIA-Mafia plots. When that seems like thin gruel (because Nixon is not in the report), they shift over to the Inspector General's Report on the Bay of Pigs operation. (pgs 716-17) The point of all this thrashing about? The usual. The arrests at the Watergate were not engineered by Helms and the CIA. (p. 720) Even though, as Jim Hougan has proven in Secret Agenda, CIA agents James McCord and Howard Hunt deliberately sabotaged the break-in that night. And there are two sources-one through Hougan and one through Washington lawyer Dan Alcorn— that say Helms was alerted to the arrests as they happened.

I don't want to leave the impression that the book is utterly worthless. It's not quite that horrendous. There are some good tidbits in it. For instance, a CIA agent actually reviewed Edward Epstein's book Inquest when it was published. And this became the model for the famous "Countering the Critics" CIA memorandum prepared for Helms. (p. 380) There is a good description of how LBJ, Earl Warren, and Hoover plotted against the critical movement. (pgs 356-61) The authors note how quickly Johnson shifted the tone and attention in South Vietnam after Kennedy's death. (p. 275) Finally, they show that it was Arlen Specter who actually composed Dave Powers' false affidavit about where the direction of the shots came from in Dealey Plaza. (p. 308)

Unfortunately, that's about it for the positives. Which is a really bad batting average for a book of over 800 pages. Yet none of the travesty listed above stops people like Rex Bradford and John Simkin from having Waldron do interviews on their web sites. Which makes me think the assassinations are really more of a business interest for these two entrepreneurs than a pursuit of historical truth.

Let me conclude with one last point. One which I actually was not going to bring up at all. But I have to. Because, near the end, the authors bring it up themselves. Some of the supporters of Ultimate Sacrifice, like Mark Crispin Miller, have said that I accused Waldron of being some kind of agent in my review of that book. I did not. If you read the review carefully, I was talking about Gus Russo in that regard. And I have analyzed the Russo issue at length in my essay "Who is Gus Russo?" But the authors go out of their way to address this charge by saying that they "want to make it clear that they have never worked for the CIA." (p. 768) This may be technically true. But it is not the whole story. And we know this from the proverbial Horse's Mouth. A few years ago, Hartmann was giving a talk in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania about one of his many other books. Two JFK researchers were in attendance, Jerry Policoff and Steve Jones. They were both taken aback by one of his early statements. He admitted quite openly to having past ties to both the CIA and corporate America. The question then becomes: If he was open about that then, why is he being disingenuous about it now? To give Legacy of Secrecy the credibility it does not have on its own? Another question: Does Waldron know about this? Or is he just along for the ride?

http://www.ctka.net/2009/legacy_secrecy.html

Another Mega-Confabulating Psyop Artist on the Internet

2009-11-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

" ... At the heart of the matter, a U.S. Government UFO Working Group, dark secrets kept in the shadows under the guise of counter-intelligence operations of the United States Air Force, and decades-old rumors of extraterrestrial contact with 'something not of this world.' ... " - Gary Bekkum

By Alex Constantine

Gary Bekkum is upfront about it in his bio:

"Gary S. Bekkum is an independent 'occasional' rogue journalist & web author and researcher of material that blurs the distinction between fiction and reality."

There it is. No long-winded explanations required. Bekkum doesn't deny it - he's a shaggy-dog pusher, a natural for the Coast-to-Coast radio psyop. "In 2004, Bekkum created Starstream Research as an informal survey of exotic physics and consciousness concepts related to the survival or otherwise of the human race. The Starstream material now appears as the 'Spacetime Threat Assessment Report,' which is targeted to various select defense industry personalities."

Fiction ... or unadulterated kook programming, some might say. I happen to be one of them. More "blurring":

"Rogue journalist Gary S. Bekkum discussed his research on secret government documents, as well as UFO information and psychic premonitions. Project Stargate, the CIA-run program that used remote viewing for 'psychic spying,' ceased in 1995, and 89,000 pages of formerly classified material were then released. Some of the documents revealed predictions of events similar to 9-11, including mention of a 'Project 911' and drawings that resemble bin Laden, he detailed. Last hour guest, paranormal investigator Joshua P. Warren shared several different methods to contact the dead. ... "

Christ. "Psychic predictions of 9/11," occult channelling - fodder for the tabloids.

An alternative stirs to mind: Documented research that isn't fiction and addresses crticial deep political issues without stupid childhood fantasies - "aliens," "remote viewing" - because these distract from the covert crimes of the intelligence "services" and the bourgeois corporate culture they serve. Stare at the goats, not the jackals ... Why "blur the distinction between fiction and reality" at all if the purpose is not dissociation? Spooky Bekkumistic stretchers and War of the Worlds-style "blurring" are a smokescreen that only serve to conceal and dumb down.

Give Churches a Choice: Give Up Tax Exempt Status or Give Up Lobbying

2009-11-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

Marc Rubin
Examiner | November 21, 2009

For far too long many religious groups, most recently and most visibly the Catholic Church, have tried to have it both ways. They avail themselves of the constitutional separation of church and state to avoid paying taxes on their secular investments, and then violate the separation of church and state by maintaining a strong lobbying group in Washington to influence legislation.

Recently it became known that the Catholic Conference of Bishops was instrumental in authoring the anti-abortion amendment attachd the to House health care bill, a clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. And its a perfect example of a religious institution trying to have it both ways. ....

CONTINUED

http://www.examiner.com/x-6572-NY-Obama-Administration-Examiner~y2009m11d21-Give-churches-a-choice-give-up-tax-exempt-status-or-give-up-lobbying

Sarah Palin's Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories

2009-11-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

Also see: "Sarah Palin and the Rapture"

What Sarah Palin's "Jewish People will be Flocking to Israel" Prediction Means
Bruce Wilson
AlterNet | November 21, 2009.

Palin's associated with a religious tendency whose leaders promote anti-Jewish conspiracy theory

It's commonly understood that statements such as Sarah Palin's prediction that Jews will soon be "flocking to Israel" indicate Palin holds apocalyptic beliefs. What's not understood is that she's closely associated with a religious tendency whose leaders promote anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, including one most commonly used by the Third Reich, in the 1930's and 1940's, to whip up anti-Semitic hatreds: the claim that a worldwide cabal of Jewish bankers manipulates the world economy and preys on working classes.

Stumping for her new autobiography, Sarah Palin has made a round of interviews with high profile media figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters. In the Walters interview Palin justified her support for expansion of Jewish settler enclaves on Israel's West Bank with a strange prediction. Walters asked, "Now let's talk about some issues - the Middle East. The Obama Administration does not want Israel to build any more settlements on what they consider Palestinian territory. What is your view on this ?" Palin responded, "I disagree with the Obama Administration on that. I believe that, um, the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon because the population of Israel is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead."

Why might Palin's prediction come to pass?

In the 1920's and 1930's, rising anti-Semitism was propelled, in part, by conspiracy theories alleging that Jewish bankers such as the Rothschild banking family controlled both the German and world economies through the manipulation of global money markets. Leaders in Sarah Palin's religious tendency have for years been promoting extremely similar conspiracy theories. Some of these allege that the Rothschild banking family heads an international conspiracy that dominates much of the world economy and controls the U.S.economy through the Federal Reserve.

In the 1980's and 1990's that conspiracy theory was folded into a apocalyptic meta-conspiracy narrative claiming that Jews and "Illuminati" controlled, or were close to controlling, the US government and were plotting to implement a "New World Order." The narrative went on to claim that the Jewish/Illuminati conspiracy was imminently ready to call up hundreds of thousands of foreign troops hidden on US army bases and in National Parks, who would round up patriotic Christians and pack them into trains which would bring them to internment camps where, in some versions of the narratives, those Christians would be slaughtered via machine guns, guillotines, ovens, or poison gas.

While there are secular versions of that New World Order meta-conspiracy narrative, most of the narratives are rooted in Christian apocalyptic end-time narratives that envision, with the coming of the New World Order, the rise of a murderous, tyrannical anti-Christ figure. But the fusion of anti-Jewish conspiracy theory with an anti-Christ narrative has precedent.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, probably the single most destructive work of anti-Jewish propaganda ever created, was first popularized through being printed as the final chapter in Russian Orthodox priest Sergei Nilus' 1905 book The Great within the Small and Antichrist, an Imminent Political Possibility. Notes of an Orthodox Believer. Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's chief ideologist, tells of being given a copy of Nilus' book in 1917, while Rosenberg was studying in Moscow.

In short, this comes around to a concept widely promoted by Christian Zionists such as Christians United For Israel Founder, Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, of the "fishers and hunters":

"Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." - Jeremiah 16:16, KJV

Hagee and other Christian Zionists interpret that passage as a prophecy which applies to current-day Jews worldwide.

Christian Zionists, broadly speaking, are Christians who think God wills it that all Jews live in Israel - and who go to elaborate lengths to bring that about. Regardless of whatever differences there might be between John Hagee's and Sarah Palin's respective brands of Christianity, the two seem to share a narrative common to Christian Zionist theology, that a terrible upwelling of anti-Jewish hatred will in the end-times cause Jewish citizens of every nation on Earth to make aliyah and move to Israel.

"Fishers" are, in that expected scenario, evangelists who try to convert Jews to Christianity and coax them to move to Israel. "Hunters" are overt anti-Semites who will come to hunt and kill those Jews who have not listened to the "fishers" and moved to Israel. ...

CONTINUED

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/politics/144111/what_sarah_palin's_%22jewish_people_will_be_flocking_to_israel%22_prediction_means/

Consumer Group Responds to Governor Schwarzenegger's Incorrect Claims About the Impact of Medical Malpractice Caps

2009-11-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

Oct 29, 2009

Consumer Group Responds to Governor Schwarzenegger's Incorrect Claims About the Impact of Medical Malpractice Caps

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog
sent the following letter to Congressional leaders today in response to a
letter sent by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he
incorrectly cited California's draconian limits on the legal rights of injured
patients as a successful cost containment tool. Consumer Watchdog is a
nonpartisan nonprofit with offices in California and Washington, D.C. The
Governor's October 27, 2009 letter is available at
www.gov.ca.gov/archive/press-releases/.

October 29, 2009

The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Minority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable John A. Boehner
Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, Madam Speaker and Mr. Boehner,

Tuesday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote you regarding his views on health care reform. While Consumer Watchdog has detailed its views on comprehensive federal health reform many times over the past year, we write today in response to a particular element of the debate addressed by Governor Schwarzenegger, in which he incorrectly cited California's draconian limits on the legal rights of injured patients as a successful cost containment tool.

The plight of injured patients and families subject to unjust legal restriction in California has been well documented. Jury-ordered compensation been slashed by a one-size-fits-all damages cap unadjusted for three decades. Too many children, seniors and people with limited wage loss are unable to get legal representation and are locked out of the justice system altogether because of the restrictions. (See "Malpractice Law May Deny Justice," by Dan Costello, Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2007. For video testimony about the real impact of caps see http://www.JusticeForPatients.org.)

That human toll, however, is not the subject of this letter. Our purpose is to correct Governor Schwarzenegger's analysis of the relationship between malpractice caps and malpractice premiums.

California has, indeed, maintained severe caps on malpractice liability for doctors for more than 30 years, but the Governor ignores the fact that the caps did nothing to reduce doctors' insurance premiums for the first 13 years of the law. We have documented that premiums for California doctors went up by 450% between 1975 and 1988. Only after California voters enacted the comprehensive insurance regulatory system, known as Proposition 103, did doctors begin to see relief from skyrocketing malpractice rates. (You can read our study at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/documents/1008.pdf.)

In fact, in 2002 and 2003, medical malpractice insurers were attempting to push doctors' premiums skyward in California as in the rest of the nation. Our organization used Proposition 103's right to challenge insurers' rate proposals and fought off $66 million of attempted rate hikes. That is, even with the longstanding and severe malpractice caps in place, doctors in California were facing the same insurance hikes at the beginning of this decade that faced doctors everywhere.

In our challenge to a proposed rate hike by one of California's largest medical malpractice insurers, SCPIE, the company's Vice President and chief actuary James Robertson testified:

While MICRA was the legislature's attempt at remedying the medical malpractice crisis in California in 1975, it did not substantially reduce the relative risk of medical malpractice insurance in California. (A copy of the SCPIE testimony is available at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/documents/2058.pdf.)

The reason California doctors have fared comparatively well is not the limitations on patients' rights in California, but the voter-imposed limits on insurance company profiteering. We would be pleased to provide more details on this issue.

Sincerely,
Douglas Heller, Consumer Watchdog

cc: The Honorable Max Baucus
The Honorable Christopher J. Dodd
The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
The Honorable Mike Enzi
The Honorable Charles B. Rangel
The Honorable Henry A. Waxman
The Honorable George Miller
The Honorable Dave Camp
The Honorable Joe Barton
The Honorable John Kline

Members of the California Congressional Delegation
The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
Douglas Heller of Consumer Watchdog, +1-310-392-0522 ext. 309

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS262369+29-Oct-2009+PRN20091029

Lockerbie Megrahi Lifespan Row

2009-11-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

Lockerbie row reignited as Megrahi exceeds life expectancy when released

Three months after the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, American families of victims question medical advice

Ewen MacAskill in Washington, Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent, Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk | 20 November 2009

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is taken from Greenock prison to Glasgow airport. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Three months after the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the families of American victims of the Lockerbie bombing have reignited a row over the medical advice that allowed him to be freed early from his 27-year sentence.

Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds from prison in Greenock on 20 August after the Scottish justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, received advice that he was terminally ill with prostate cancer. It was said that the Libyan, who was convicted of carrying out the bombing, only had three months to live.

Relatives of the victims have been monitoring the release, counting down the days; today that three-month period passed.

Rosemary Wolfe, the president of Justice for Pan Am 103, which represents families of the 270 people who died, and who opposed the release, said: "It does not surprise me that he is alive and well. It was a major mistake for the Scots to let him go. It is just horrible."

Today a Democratic senator in New York called for the "immediate" return of the Libyan former intelligence agent to prison in Scotland.

"The bottom line is Megrahi should have never been released in the first place but it would be even more outrageous if he were to be able to live a long and free life after his release," said Charles Schumer, in a letter to the prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Megrahi has been treated at Tripoli's medical centre but has not been seen in public since September, when he was photographed in a wheelchair, coughing badly, looking frail and surrounded by visiting African MPs.

His brother, Mohammed, said 10 days ago Megrahi was in hospital but it is not clear whether he is still there or being cared for in the family's villa in the Dimashq suburb of the capital.

Megrahi's Scottish lawyer, Tony Kelly, said his client was alive, but refused to make any further comment.

"He's very ill," an Arab source close to the case told the Guardian. "His condition hasn't improved. It's just a matter of time."

Libya's state-controlled media has had nothing to say about the convicted Lockerbie bomber in recent weeks except to insist in October that he was alive after an incorrect media report that he had died.

The Libyan government has been anxious to avoid any further publicity since the international row over the hero's welcome given to Megrahi when he flew home.

The importance of the move was underlined by the fact that he was escorted by Saif al-Islam, the influential son and likely heir of the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The negotiations for his release were conducted by one of Libya's most respected officials.

The hope in Tripoli – as in London – is that relations with the UK, focusing on billions of pounds worth of business, investment and oil, can now develop quietly without further controversy.

In an interview earlier this month Gaddafi brushed aside a question about Megrahi's release, saying: "It is a matter of concern for the British, Scots, Americans. We are not really concerned about it."

The British and Scottish governments were braced for the row being rekindled as the three-month date was reached. They have sought to play down the damage done in the US by the release, but there is a lingering resentment in America and a renewed bout of publicity will not be welcomed by the governments.

The British embassy and its consulates in the US received hundreds of letters and phone calls expressing hostility to the release.

Conservatives in the Scottish parliament are pressing MacAskill to publish Megrahi's medical papers as well as the latest updates on his health. Under the terms of the release Megrahi is required to update officials in Scotland every month via a video link on his medical status.

Bill Aitken, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said: "Megrahi lost all rights to patient confidentiality when he became Britain's worst mass murderer. Scotland is still sickened by the sight of his hero's return to Tripoli."

At the time of his release MacAskill was at pains to say the three-month lifespan was an estimate. But he relied entirely on a report by Dr Andrew Fraser, the head of medical services for the Scottish prison service, stating that Megrahi's health had declined significantly in the weeks before his release. "The clinical assessment therefore is that a three-month prognosis is now a reasonable estimate for this patient," Fraser said.

Wolfe, from South Carolina, whose 20-year-old stepdaughter Miriam was killed by the bomb aboard the transatlantic flight in December 1988, said she had put in a freedom of information request seeking details of Megrahi's health but had been unsuccessful so far.

"If he was dying, I would want him to stay in prison. I would want him to be made comfortable but not let him go," she said.

Another relative, Susan Cohen, from New Jersey, whose daughter Theodora was killed on the flight, also opposed the release. "Scotland was shameful in this and the whole British government. It is absolutely sickening. I am very angry," Cohen said.

"He is in the hands of Libya and when he is dead, we want to see the body. If he had been in Scotland, we would have at least believed it when told he was dead," she said.

The US ambassador to Britain, Louis Susman, likened the Lockerbie row with Scotland to a "little fight … but you don't get divorced" when he visited Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister and Scottish National party leader, last month.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/20/megrahi-health-lockerbie-bomber

Racial Politics, Internet Fraud & the "Mayor of West Oakland"

2009-11-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

Also see - "Cannery: Black Panthers Strike Again"

West Oakland, internet fraud, and developers: a Lower Bottom scandal
Jonathan Bair | SF GATE
November 18 2009
[Thanks to Mister Mister for the lead]

Marcel Diallo

Today's East Bay Express tells the story of a fraudulent email defaming a West Oakland activist [entire story attached below], sent by another West Oakland activist. Earlier this year, an email purporting to come from Max Allstadt, a good-government and arts advocate who worked on live/work legislation among other issues, was sent to a variety of politicians and nonprofit leaders, using homophobic and racist language. Mr. Allstadt suspected the email came from a West Oakland entrepreneur named Marcel Diallo, whose grant request was spurned by the Community Development Block Grant Board, of which he (and InOakland's own V Smoothe) is an elected member. Several months and several lawyers later, Mr. Allstadt had strong evidence of the culprit, and told his story to the Express.

Marcel Diallo, who owns the personal internet account from which the defamatory email originated, earned a fair amount of local and even national renown for his drive to create a black cultural district in the neighborhood known as Lower Bottom (or, officially, Prescott - Oakland Point). Railing against hipsters and developers using racially-loaded language, Mr. Diallo sought to create a self-sustaining district of new homes and businesses marketed toward black professionals. Ultimately, however, his businesses failed, despite receiving almost a quarter of a million dollars in city grants, and he was bailed out by the area's largest developer, Rick Holliday of Central Station. The irony was not lost on East Bay Express reporter Robert Gammon, who wrote:

Indeed, records indicate that by late 2008, Diallo might have ended up on the street if it had not been for Rick Holliday. The local developer purchased Diallo's foreclosed home on Pine Street from Diallo's mortgage lender and then allowed Diallo to keep living there. Holliday also provided Diallo with inexpensive space in his nearby condominium development for the Black Dot Cafe. In other words, the black empowerment leader who had become one of the East Bay's loudest voices against gentrification is being propped up financially by a prominent white businessman from Emeryville.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inoakland/detail?&entry_id=51942#ixzz0XQOWVbLg
------------------------
You Don't Know Jack
By Robert Gammon
East Bay Express | Nov. 18, 2009

There's strong evidence that Marcel Diallo Jack, the self-styled "mayor of West Oakland," perpetrated a racist Internet fraud on a local activist.

Oakland activist and political blogger Max Allstadt was the victim of a vicious Internet fraud that could have happened to anyone. A scam artist set up a fake e-mail account, disguised as Allstadt, and then sent out an ugly e-mail full of racist and homophobic invective. Allstadt was stunned, but decided to fight back, and through a series of court-ordered subpoenas, he uncovered strong evidence that the person behind the fraudulent e-mail was Marcel Diallo, a well-known black-empowerment activist and self-styled "mayor of West Oakland" who was featured earlier this year on CNN.

Interviews and public records suggest that Diallo sent the fraudulent e-mail as revenge for a vote Allstadt cast while serving on a West Oakland city advisory panel. A nonprofit that Diallo controls had requested a $150,000 grant from the panel. Public records indicate that Diallo desperately needed the money after losing at least three properties to foreclosure. But Allstadt voted with a majority of the panel to turn Diallo down. After the vote, Allstadt said Diallo angrily confronted him and threatened him.

Determining who sent the fraudulent e-mail was anything but easy. The fraudster set up an e-mail account with Google under the name, MaxAllstadt@gmail.com, but the Internet giant refused to disclose the identity of the scam artist without a subpoena. So Allstadt, a carpenter by trade, borrowed some money, hired lawyers, and filed a libel suit against unnamed defendants. "Luckily, I had the resources that allowed me to borrow the money," he said in a recent interview. "If I hadn't, I would have had to just sit there and take it."

The information provided by Google revealed only that the fraudster had set up the e-mail account while using an Internet connection from Comcast. So Allstadt's lawyers subpoenaed the cable provider. But after being contected by Comcast, Diallo's attorney, Raymond Willis, intervened in the case in an attempt to block the subpoena, saying he represented Black Dot Artists, a nonprofit that Diallo runs out of his West Oakland home. However, the judge allowed the subpoena to go forward, and Comcast revealed that MaxAllstadt@gmail.com was set up using an account established and maintained by Diallo, according to legal documents provided by Allstadt.

Neither Diallo nor his lawyer returned phone calls for this story. But in court documents, Willis argued that anyone could have sent the racist e-mail because he said it came from a wireless account that's available to the public at Diallo's Black Dot Cafe. If true, then the wireless access also was probably available to others in the immediate vicinity. However, Google revealed that the person who set up the e-mail account did it at 2:47 a.m., so it likely didn't come from the cafe because it isn't open at that hour. In addition, the cafe and Diallo's nearby home are in a sparsely populated neighborhood, thereby severely restricting the number of people who could have used the wireless access — and known Allstadt. It also should be noted that Willis maintained in court documents that the Internet account belonged to Black Dot Artists, but the Comcast records showed that it was registered to Diallo, personally, at his home.

Moreover, public records raise serious doubts about Diallo's truth telling over the years, at a time when his various enterprises have been awarded at least $250,000 in city funds. For starters, the spoken-word poet's real name isn't Marcel Diallo; it's Marcel Diallo Jack. And for the past decade, records strongly indicate that the "mayor of West Oakland" has been living — at least part-time — in an apartment on the other side of town. Since 2000, he has been registered to vote at an apartment on Park Boulevard near Interstate 580, and county records show that he voted at a polling place just off Park in last November's election.

Public records also show that by the time that Allstadt and Diallo had their alleged run-in early this year, Diallo's financial world was crumbling. Among the three properties he lost to foreclosure by late 2008 was his sometime home on Pine Street near the Port of Oakland. Plus, according to court records, he had been evicted from his Park Boulevard apartment for failure to pay rent.

It was a startling turnaround for the West Oakland artist. At the beginning of the decade, he started buying up property in the far reaches of West Oakland. His plan was to establish a black-cultural district in the traditional "lower bottoms" neighborhood. "I think he was really trying to build up that part of the city," said City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, who represents West Oakland and said Diallo and his friends have "an entrepreneurial spirit."

Over the years, Diallo has preached black empowerment while denouncing gentrification and railing against young white hipsters. Although some viewed him as little more than a divisive race baiter, his message drew followers, especially among artists, young progressives, and the city's black establishment. He was featured favorably in stories in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, and the East Bay Express. In 2008, Mayor Ron Dellums appointed him to the city's cultural arts commission. And this summer, he made national news when CNN profiled him.

But public records indicate that he never had the financial wherewithal to keep his fledgling black-cultural district alive. From 2004 to 2006, he purchased several West Oakland homes at the height of the housing boom. It soon became apparent that he couldn't pay his many mortgages, despite the financial grants he had received from the city over the years for after-school arts programs.

In 2007, mortgage lenders foreclosed on two of his homes after he failed to make his monthly payments. And a year later, he lost his home on Pine Street to foreclosure. But he was stubborn. Court records show that two of his lenders were forced to take him court in order to get a judge to legally evict him from their property. His landlord on Park Boulevard also sued him for eviction when he stopped paying his rent.

Indeed, records indicate that by late 2008, Diallo might have ended up on the street if it had not been for Rick Holliday. The local developer purchased Diallo's foreclosed home on Pine Street from Diallo's mortgage lender and then allowed Diallo to keep living there. Holliday also provided Diallo with inexpensive space in his nearby condominium development for the Black Dot Cafe. In other words, the black empowerment leader who had become one of the East Bay's loudest voices against gentrification is being propped up financially by a prominent white businessman from Emeryville.

As Diallo's fortunes plummeted, Max Allstadt's were on the rise. The young white activist had moved to West Oakland several years earlier and hooked up with a group of friends who were challenging the neighborhood's traditional black and progressive power structure. Allstadt's clique includes Sean Sullivan, who ran unsuccessfully against Nadel in the 2008 council primary, and Rebecca Schneider, a city employee who operates the blog ABetterOakland.com under the pseudonym, VSmoothe. Allstadt himself is a guest blogger and frequent commenter on Schneider's site, (and also has posted several strongly worded criticisms of this reporter in comments at EastBayExpress.com). He also is politically active and won a spot last year on the West Oakland Community Development Block Grant board, which recommends financial grants to worthy nonprofits.

Allstadt's alleged clash with Diallo occurred in March of this year after the poet asked the block grant board for city money for his West Oakland urban farm project, Village Bottoms Farms. According to city records, Diallo's nonprofit requested a $152,000 city grant over two years. But at the March 14 meeting of the board, Allstadt and his friends instead voted to award city funding to an established urban farming nonprofit, City Slicker Farms.

In court documents, Allstadt alleged that Diallo was angry about the vote. "You're in trouble man, you voted against the people," Diallo said, according to a statement Allstadt filed in Alameda County Superior Court in an effort to obtain a restraining order against Diallo. According to Allstadt's filing, Diallo also said: "You're not going to be comfortable walking around your block. ... You're not going to be comfortable in West Oakland. I'll make sure of it."

Twelve days later, the racist e-mail was sent from Diallo's Comcast account to numerous people across the city, including local politicians, according to court records. Nadel told Full Disclosure that she received a copy. The e-mail was obviously intended to make people believe it came from Allstadt. Besides bearing his name, it mentioned the block grant board and ABetterOakland.com. It also mentioned "Mr. West Oakland himself," in an apparent reference to Diallo. It derisively referred to gays as "queens" and blacks as "sambos" and "jigaboos." It concluded by stating: "It's high time we Drained the Bay of Black People."

In an interview, Allstadt said he first learned of the e-mail when a friend phoned him about it. "My heart was pounding; I was shocked," he said. "I was also kind of scared. To be framed for being something that I'm not, especially living in a town that has ethnic tensions, it's potentially dangerous." Allstadt also was worried that the e-mail would destroy his reputation because it had been blind-copied to an unknown number of politicians and political activists.

Allstadt said he immediately suspected that Diallo had sent the fraudulent e-mail because of his block grant vote and their alleged confrontation. But it took months for him to uncover the evidence that points toward the 37-year-old Diallo. Finally, when he discovered that the e-mail came from Diallo's Internet account, Allstadt approached the Express to tell his story.

As for Diallo, his fortunes continued to nosedive after not receiving the grant. One bright spot came in May, when the Oakland City Council awarded him $50,000 to seismically upgrade his Black New World social club down the block from his Pine Street residence. The grant, however, appears questionable, considering that the building is a rusted, corrugated metal shack with at least one large hole in the side. As for Village Bottoms Farms, it's a gated vacant lot, and the only thing that appears to resemble a farm is a mid-size planter with some tomato vines in it.

In May, the state also placed a $13,125 lien against Diallo for failing to pay California taxes, county records show. And on October 30, two of Diallo's mortgage lenders recorded filings with the county, saying that they were going to sell two of his properties — the Black New World social club and Village Bottom Farms — at a foreclosure auction this week on the courthouse steps. It's unclear what will happen to the city's $50,000 grant if Diallo loses the Black New World to foreclosure, too.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/you-dont-know-jack/Content?oid=1428761

GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx used the Phrase "Tar Baby" on the House Floor

2009-11-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

By Paul Bedard | usnews.com | November 19, 2009

" ... Foxx had used the term 'tar baby' on the House floor and had suggested that the murder of gay student Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime. ... "

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/washington-whispers/2009/11/19/gops-foxx-republicans-passed-civil-rights-act.html

Who Will Investigate CIA/RAND/APA Torture “Workshop”?

2009-11-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

By: Jeff Kaye
firedoglake.com | November 19, 2009

Back in May 2007, while researching the activities of the American Psychological Association (APA) in support of the U.S. government’s interrogation program, I came across evidence that the APA had engaged in a discussion of torture techniques during a workshop organized by APA and the RAND Corporation, “with generous funding from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).”

The workshop was held at the Arlington, Virginia, headquarters of the privately-held but long linked-to-the-government RAND think tank. APA Director of Science Geoff Mumford acted as liaison to the CIA for the meeting. Susan Brandon, a key APA “Senior Scientist”, and former member of the Bush White House’s Office of Science & Technology Policy, helped organize the affair, along with psychologist Kirk Hubbard, who was then Chief of the Research & Analysis Branch, Operational Assessment Division of the CIA.

The workshop was titled the “Science of Deception: Integration of Practice and Theory”, and it discussed new ways to utilize drugs and sensory bombardment techniques to break down interrogatees. Those are signal techniques of psychological torture long utilized by the CIA and other intelligence agencies and military around the world. ...

CONTINUED

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/19/who-will-investigate-ciarandapa-torture-workshop/

Anti-Tea Party Tide Turning Bloody

2009-11-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

Experts worry fights may be next wave
www.newser.com
By Rob Quinn

(Newser) – Fistfights at tea party rallies over the weekend have some analysts worried that the violent backlash may be only just beginning. In Fort Lauderdale, anti-tea party activists chanting "Amnesty yes, racists no!" clashed with tea party protesters who entered their protest zone. The group had emailed members calling for "a militant confrontation" with "tea-baggers," the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Some activists have begun taking weapons to rallies, showing "a stronger degree of alienation and threat," noted one expert in social movements. Fights around tea parties aren't always between left and right, however. In Phoenix scuffles broke out when activists tried to prevent a group of neo-Nazis brandishing a swastika flag and a portrait of Adolf Hitler from joining an anti-immigration rally.

http://www.newser.com/story/74372/anti-tea-party-tide-turning-bloody.html

Benito Mussolini Regarded Adolf Hitler as a 'Sentimentalist'

2009-11-19T18:14:00.000-08:00

Benito Mussolini regarded Adolf Hitler as a teary-eyed "sentimentalist" but was jealous of the Nazi dictator's power and fame, diaries written by the Italian leader's mistress reveal.

By Nick Squires in Rome
The Telegraph | 16 Nov 2009

REUTERS Claretta Petacci's journals, which will be published this week, describe a meeting he had with the German leader in 1938 after British prime minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland.

"The Fuhrer was very kind. At heart, Hitler is an old sentimentalist. When he saw me he had tears in his eyes," Mussolini told his lover.

The diaries also show Mussolini was irritated by being regarded as a junior partner to Hitler, maintaining that his fascism and anti-Semitism dated back to the 1920s, before Hitler rose to prominence.

"I've been racist since 1921," he proudly told his mistress on a boating trip on August 4, 1938, two years before Italy declared war on Britain. ...

In another diary entry, Mussolini rails against Italians in Italy's African colonies having relationships with locals.

"Every time I get a report from Africa, it makes me upset. Just today, another five arrested for living with blacks. Ah! These dirty Italians, they are destroying in less than seven years an empire. They have no consciousness of race." ...

FULL STORY

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6583584/Benito-Mussolini-regarded-Adolf-Hitler-as-a-sentimentalist.html

A Marxist Perspective on Ponzi Capitalism and the Deepening Moral Crisis

2009-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

By Jarvis Tyner
Political Affairs | 11-02-09

Today we are faced with a major economic crisis, but along with it there is also a deepening moral crisis of US capitalism. However, the people who are always finding fault with poor people, from teen pregnancy to deadbeat dads, are not speaking out about the immorality of the sub-prime robbery that resulted in mass foreclosures, especially for Black and Latino families. They say nothing about the moral aspect of the crisis of over 12 million working families who are now stuck with overpriced homes. The growing poverty and unemployment is "not their thing." They want to define immorality in terms only of their opposition to gay marriage, their dislike for welfare cheats and fear of street criminals. But crime in the suites is of little concern to them.

According to recent polls, only about 20 percent of the American people today identify with the Republican Party, because GOP policies have nearly destroyed the country. We are in the fix that we are in because of the actions of greedy capitalists who put their profits before people and the money they collect from interest above the national interest. These are the big moral problems, problems that are rooted in an economic system that creates the conditions that destroy families and whole communities and, place tens of millions of working people of all races and nationalities at risk. These are the big moral questions. What are the policies responsible for turning poor communities into fertile ground for drugs, crime and broken homes? What is the ideology that has led to gross underfunding of public schools, millions without health care, and 2.5 million prisoners behind bars? Need we mention the immorality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have cost us dearly in blood and national treasure? ...

MORE

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/9139/1/376/

CIA 'Ran Secret Prison for Al-Qaeda' in Lithuanian Riding School

2009-11-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

A former horse riding school in the tiny Baltic state of Lithuania was used as a secret CIA prison to hold and interrogate top al-Qaeda terrorists, it has been claimed.

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow
The Telegraph | 19 Nov 2009

A photo taken on November 19, 2009 shows a training center of the Lithuanian State Security Department, the country's domestic intelligence agency, in Antavilis near Vilnius Photo: AFP/GETTY

The allegations have sparked a parliamentary inquiry after President Dalia Grybauskaite said she harboured "indirect suspicions" that such a facility existed.

According to unnamed former intelligence operatives quoted by ABC News, the CIA built the secret jail in 2004 and used it for more than a year, flying in at least eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists from Afghanistan.

MI5 and MI6 get go ahead for secret hearings The prison was reportedly built from scratch on the territory of a former horse riding school about 15 miles from Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, and included an underground annex. Pictures of the building said to be the former CIA jail show a bland-looking two-storey house surrounded by a fence and CCTV cameras. Locals say the building, which is now used as a training facility by Lithuania's state security service, originally had no windows.

Politicians in office at the time have denied all knowledge of such a prison and say there is no evidence to prove it existed. But President Grybauskaite has insisted that the claims be properly investigated.

"If this is true, Lithuania has to clean up, accept responsibility, apologise, and promise that it will never happen again," she said.

The scandal has affected the former Soviet republic's relations with Washington. Lithuania has said it will not accept a single former prisoner from the Guantanamo Bay prison until the matter is clarified. Former US government officials have suggested Lithuania was eager to please the Bush administration at the time in order to thank it for securing Lithuania membership of Nato in 2002.

The allegations make Lithuania the third European country after Poland and Romania to be accused of hosting secret CIA "black sites".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/lithuania/6607324/CIA-ran-secret-prison-for-al-Qaeda-in-Lithuanian-riding-school.html

Paying Off The Warlords

2009-11-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

Pratap Chatterjee: Anatomy Of An Afghan Culture Of Corruption
www.cbsnews.com | November 18, 2009

In Afghanistan, the Government of President Karzai is riddled with corruption. As Mandy Clark reports, many wonder how can Karzai fight corruption when his advisors are accused of crimes?

Karzai Paved Way for Taliban?

Has corruption within Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai's government caused the Taliban to exist? Journalist George Packer and military historian Kimberly Kagan talk with Katie Couric.

(CBS) Pratap Chatterjee is an investigative journalist and senior editor at CorpWatch. He is the author of Halliburton's Army: How A Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War (Nation Books, 2009) and Iraq, Inc. (Seven Stories Press, 2004). Dr Ali Safi contributed research and reporting for this article. A video story by Chatterjee related to this one can be seen at Britain’s Channel 4 News This piece originally appeared on TomDispatch. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kabul, Afghanistan: Every morning, dozens of trucks laden with diesel from Turkmenistan lumber out of the northern Afghan border town of Hairaton on a two-day trek across the Hindu Kush down to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. Among the dozens of businesses dispatching these trucks are two extremely well connected companies -- Ghazanfar and Zahid Walid -- that helped to swell the election coffers of President Hamid Karzai as well as the family business of his running mate, the country's new vice president, warlord Mohammed Qasim Fahim.

Some of the trucks are on their way to two power stations in the northern part of the capital: a recently refurbished, if inefficient, plant that has served Kabul for a little more than a quarter of a century, and a brand new facility scheduled for completion next year and built with money from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Afghan political analysts observe that Ghazanfar and Zahid Walid are striking examples of the multimillion-dollar business conglomerates, financed by American as well as Afghan tax dollars and connected to powerful political figures, that have, since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, emerged as part of a pervasive culture of corruption here. Nasrullah Stanikzai, a professor of law and political science at Kabul University, says of the companies in the pocket of the vice-president: "Everybody knows who is Ghazanfar. Everybody knows who is Zahid Walid. The [government elite] directly or indirectly have companies, licenses, and sign contracts. But corruption is not confined just to the Afghans. The international community bears a share of this blame."

Indeed, the tale of the "reconstruction" of Kabul's electricity supply is a classic story of how foreign aid has often served to line the pockets of both international contractors from the donor countries and the local political elite. Unfortunately, these aid-financed projects also generally fail -- as the Kabul diesel plants appear destined to -- because of a lack of planning and the hard cash to keep them operating.

The Rise of a Power Broker

Abdul Hasin and his brother, the vice-president, offer a perfect exemplar of the new business elite. The two men are half-brothers, born to the two wives of a well-respected religious cleric from the village of Marz in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul.

In the early 1980s, Fahim, the older brother, joined the mujahedeen forces of Ahmed Shah Massoud in the struggle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In 1992, three years after the Soviet army withdrew in defeat, Fahim was appointed head of intelligence in Afghanistan by the new president Burhanuddin Rabbani in the midst of a fierce and destructive civil war among the victors. When the Taliban took control of the country a few years later, Fahim became the intelligence chief for the Northern Alliance, also led by Massoud, which controlled less than a third of the country. On September 9, 2001, two days before the World Trade Center was attacked, Massoud was assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives and Fahim took control of the Northern Alliance, which the U.S. would soon finance and support in its "invasion" of Afghanistan.

A number of popular accounts of that invasion, such as Bob Woodward's book Bush at War, suggest that the Central Intelligence Agency directly gave Northern Alliance warlords like Fahim millions of dollars in cold, hard cash to help fight the Taliban in the run-up to the U.S. invasion. "I can take Kabul, I can take Kunduz if you break the [Taliban front] line for me. My guys are ready," Woodward quotes Fahim telling a CIA agent named Gary after pocketing a million dollars in $100 bills.

Once the Taliban was defeated, Fahim was invited to become vice president in the transitional government led by Hamid Karzai, a position he held for two years. It was at this juncture that Fahim's brothers, notably Abdul Hasin, started to build a business empire -- and not long after, good fortune began to rain down on the family in the form of lucrative "reconstruction" contracts.

In January 2002, while Fahim took whirlwind tours of Washington and London, meeting General Tommy Franks, who had commanded U.S. forces during the invasion, and taking the salute from the Coldstream Guards, his younger brother was putting together a business plan. Soon thereafter, Zahid Walid, a company named after Abdul Hasin's older sons, not so surprisingly won a series of lucrative contracts to pour concrete for a NATO base as well as portions of the U.S. embassy being rebuilt in Kabul and that city's airport, which was in a state of disrepair.

On a plot of land in downtown Kabul reportedly "seized" for a song by Fahim, Abdul Hasin also financed the construction of a high-rise building dubbed "Goldpoint," which now houses dozens of jewelry shops. Soon, the company was importing Russian gas, and not long after that, Abdul Hasin set up the Gas Group, a company which ran a plant in the industrial suburb of Tarakhil that marketed bottled gas to households and small businesses.

In the winter of 2006, Zahid Walid won a $12 million dollar contract from the Afghan ministry of energy and water to supply fuel to the old diesel plant in northwest Kabul, according to data published on the website of the government's central procurement agency, Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services. In the summer of 2007, the company won another $40 million diesel-supply contract, and last winter it took on a third contract worth $22 million.

On October 19th, I visited Zahid Walid's heavily guarded headquarters in the wealthy Kabul neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, not far from the even more heavily fortified U.S. embassy. There, Ramin Seddiqui, the managing director of the company's diesel-import business, filled me in on another exclusive contract the company had secured from the Afghan government only days before for an additional $17 million. Zahid Walid is now to supply diesel fuel to the new 100 megawatt diesel power plant being built by Black & Veatch, a Kansas construction company, with money from USAID.

Most senior Afghan government officials and political figures are loath to discuss how Zahid Walid has won all these contracts -- at least publicly. On a recent visit to the Ministry of Commerce, I asked Noor Mohammed Wafa, the general director of oil products and liquid gas, about them. He promptly claimed that he had never even heard of the company. He then shot a glance at my Afghan assistant and said in Dari: "That's Marshal Fahim's company, isn't it?" When I asked whether the rules were different for powerful political figures -- as everyone in Kabul knows is the case -- Wafa politely denied any suggestion of favoritism in the awarding of import licenses.

In fact, dozens of people assured me in private on my most recent visit to Kabul that favoritism and corruption are the essence of the Karzai government the U.S. has helped "reconstruct" over the last eight years.

A White Elephant Power Plant in Kabul

While Zahid Walid has won close to $100 million in diesel contracts from the Afghan government in these years, there is hard evidence that the money for this once-needed fuel is now essentially being squandered. Earlier this year, KEC, an Indian company, completed the first of two high voltage power lines from neighboring Central Asian countries that will bring cheap and reliable electricity into the capital.

The initial 220 kilovolt power line from Uzbekistan -- a $35 million project -- follows the same path as Zahid Walid's diesel trucks over the Hindu Kush. The comparison, however, ends there. True, the Indian engineers who constructed it had to survive the brutal snows in the Salang pass, but they are now done. On the other hand, the truckers continue to take the treacherous daily drive through the tunnel that connects northern Afghanistan to the south, bringing Turkmen diesel to Kabul at 22 cents a kilowatt hour. Meanwhile, the Uzbek electricity, traveling effortlessly through KEC's transmission lines, costs the Afghan taxpayer a mere six cents a kilowatt hour.

To add insult to injury, much of the diesel is meant for the USAID power plant at Tarakhil that has become a symbol of the sort of massive and widespread reconstruction waste and abuse that has gone on in this country for years. The plant, built by Black & Veatch, is now projected to cost $300 million, three times the price of similar plants in neighboring Pakistan. In addition, it will only be capable of supplying one-third of the power the Uzbek power line can deliver far less expensively. Nor will the Uzbek line be the only source of cheap electricity. KEC's engineers have broken ground on a second power line -- this one from Tajikistan -- that will supply 300 megawatts of electricity to Kabul, three times what the Tarakhil plant will produce at a bargain basement construction cost of $28 million.

"At full capacity, we burn 600,000 liters a day," Jack Currie, the Scottish manager of the Tarakhil plant told me as I toured it in late October. "And just how much will that cost the Afghan taxpayer?" I asked. "Well," replied Currie, "you can assume a dollar a liter of diesel." I quickly calculated and arrived at an annual total of $219 million per year, not including the plant's maintenance costs (estimated at another $60 million a year). Currie looked astonished when I mentioned the figure.

I took these numbers to Mohammed Khan, a member of the Afghan parliament and chair of its energy committee. "Will you approve the funds for this diesel power plant?" I asked. The soft-spoken Khan, a trained electrical engineer who worked for many years in the Kabul Electricity Department, answered simply: "No. Not unless we have an emergency."

So why build a power plant that, in terms of kilowatt hours made available, costs 26 times as much as the Indian-built power line? Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, Afghan's former finance minister, recalls the process. The idea, he says, originally came from then-U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann, who dreamed it up in April 2007 shortly before he left the country. He apparently envisioned it as a strategic alternative to the Uzbek power line. After all, at that time the repressive Uzbek regime had denied Washington the use of what was seen as a key military base in Central Asia, Karshi-Khanabad, and so functionally kicked U.S. troops out of the country. Naturally, then, it was also seen as an unreliable political partner for the U.S.-backed regime of Hamid Karzai.

Following up, USAID officials told the Karzai government that they could build a diesel plant in Kabul in just over two years for $120 million. It would, the ambassador indicated, be functional just in time for the 2009 elections, allowing Karzai to claim that he had provided power to the electricity-starved capital. The Afghan president readily agreed to the plan, instructing anxious officials at the ministry of finance to approve the scheme in early 2007. He even agreed to put $20 million of Afghan funds into the project -- after being assured that the U.S. would pay for the rest.

Over the next two years, while Indian engineers raced the Americans to provide power to Kabul (ultimately winning handily), the ministry of energy and water was having a hard time keeping the lights on during Kabul's harsh winters. And while the city waited for these promised sources of power to come on line, the new political-business elite, with its specially set up companies like Zahid Walid, was winning government-issued contracts to supply diesel to the old Kabul power plant -- and making money hand over fist.

Zahid Walid was hardly the only politically well-connected business to clean up: Ghazanfar, a company from Mazar-i-Sharif, also won $17 million in diesel-supply contracts in the winter of 2006-2007, and then an astonishing $78 million in new contracts for 2008-early 2009. Not surprisingly, Ghazanfar turns out to be run by a family that is very close to President Karzai. (One sister, Hosn Banu Ghazanfar, is the women's minister and a brother is a member of parliament.)

In March 2009, the Ghazanfars opened a new bank in the capital, plastering the city with giant billboard advertisements featuring a cascade of gold coins. Less than six months later, the bank wrote out a two million dollar interest-free loan to Karzai for his election campaign, paying back the favors his government had done for them over the previous three years.

This week, Mohammed Qasim Fahim will be sworn in as the next vice-president of the new government of Afghanistan. Under an agreement with USAID, this new government is required to spend Afghan money to buy yet more diesel for the Tarakhil power plant, which in turn will put money exclusively and directly into the vice president's brother's pocket.

Hamid Jalil, the aid coordinator for the Ministry of Finance, points out that wasting money on unnecessary projects like Tarakhil has helped to hobble Afghanistan's progress in the last eight years. "The donor projects undermine the legitimacy of the government and do not allow us to build capacity," he says, adding in the weary tone you often hear in Kabul today, "corruption is everywhere in post-conflict countries like ours."

Former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani summed up the whole profitably corrupt system that has run Afghanistan into a cul-de-sac this way. "It's not crazy, it's absurd,” he says. “Crazy is when you don't know what you're doing. Absurd is when you don't provide a sense of ownership and a sense of sustainability.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/17/opinion/main5688764.shtml

Tea-Party "Conservative" Threatens Repeat of Ft. Hood at Michigan Newspaper

2009-11-18T12:18:00.001-08:00

By Joe Strupp
Editor & Publisher | November 17, 2009

NEW YORK A woman who allegedly threatened the Times Herald of Port Huron, Mich., saying she would take a gun to the newspaper and "do what they did at Fort Hood," is being investigated, the paper reports.

The Gannett daily's Web site stated that a call came into a Gannett customer service center in Louisville, Ky., from a 60-year-old unidentified woman last Thursday.

"She was upset about an editorial in Thursday's paper," the Web site reported, adding, "The editorial criticized U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, for participating in a Nov. 5 Capitol rally. Police said the call was made about 11:40 a.m. Thursday." No charges have been filed in the investigation, the story said.

Earlier, the paper reported as follows:
*
The police department was provided a recording of the conversation, which happened about 11:40 a.m. An officer went to woman's home and took a statement, Baker said. He declined to say if the woman acknowledged making the threat.

Rep. Candice Miller

The editorial that sparked the threat criticized U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, for continuing to participate in a Nov. 5 Capitol rally after it turned nasty. The rally was organized by Rep. Michele Bachmann to speak out against the government's proposed health care legislation.

"Rally participants carried a variety of disturbing signs. One placard had a health care message superimposed over dead bodies from Holocaust concentration camps. One referred to President Barack Obama as 'Sambo.' One depicted the president as the evil 'Joker' from Batman movies. One referred to 'Obama and his Marxist buddies,'" the Times Herald's editorial board wrote. "If Miller truly has signed up with the right-wing fringe - the bigots, the hate-mongers and the Nazi chanters - all of us in the Blue Water Area might well need to take another look."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004043335

ALSO SEE: "Miller: I was proud to be part of rally" - Port Huron Times-Herald, November 15, 2009.

Liberia's Charles Taylor & the CIA

2009-11-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

" ... Mr. Taylor denied suggestions that he was an agent of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He admitted, however, that his rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), exchanged information with the CIA. ... 'The government of Liberia associated in so many ways in exchange of information with the CIA. Throughout my presidency, an agency of my government collaborated with the CIA,' the former president said. ... "

Liberia: Rebels and Government Exchanged Information With The CIA, Taylor Says; Denied Influencing Witnesses
Alpha Sesay
http://allafrica.com/stories/200911170030.html
16 November 2009

After his cross-examination got off to a stumble last week over the use of "new evidence," Charles Taylor today admitted to prosecutors that he shared information with the spy agency of the same country he has accused of plotting his downfall: the United States. Mr. Taylor also dismissed as "nonsense" prosecution allegations that he has been misusing his phone privileges while in jail to try to influence testimony of his defense witnesses.

When court resumed this morning, the prosecution's lead counsel Ms. Brenda Hollis indicated her team's willingness to go ahead with Mr. Taylor's cross-examination, having had more time to "rearrange strategies" after the court refused to allow the use of "new evidence" which had not been part of the prosecution's case and was not raised in Mr. Taylor's direct-examination. As the cross-examination proceeded, Mr. Taylor denied suggestions that he was an agent of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He admitted, however, that his rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), exchanged information with the CIA – a collaboration and exchange that continued into his presidency.

"The organization [NPFL] provided information to the CIA. The NPFL at the time did provide information to the CIA and there was information from the CIA to us too. There was exchange of information, mostly from between 1991-92," Mr. Taylor said.

"The NPFL and the CIA exchanged information on certain operations. They were mostly internal to the Liberia operation," he added.

Mr. Taylor explained that the collaboration with the CIA continued when he became president in 1997.

"The government of Liberia associated in so many ways in exchange of information with the CIA. Throughout my presidency, an agency of my government collaborated with the CIA," the former president said.

Despite this previous collaboration with an agency of the United States, the accused former president has consistently accused the United States of plotting his downfall through support to rebel forces who fought to unseat him in Liberia, and his subsequent trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. ...

Mr. Taylor is responding to charges that he was involved in a joint criminal enterprise with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor has denied allegations that he supplied arms and ammunition to the rebels in return for Sierra Leone's blood diamonds and that he helped them plan certain operations during which atrocities such as rape, murder and amputation of civilian arms were committed. From July 14 to November 10, 2009, Mr. Taylor testified in direct-examination as a witness in his own defense. He is currently being cross-examined by the prosecution. ...

FULL STORY

MIND CONTROL: DEBKAFILE, AN ISRAELI PSYOP, MAKES YOU DUMBER

2009-11-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

Mister Peres, tear down that web site ...

Does reading Debkafile make us smarter, or dumber?
http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/debkafile/
15 June 2008

For those who enjoy reading the output from skilled psy-ops experts, the Internet makes it easy to find. For those not careful where they get their information, they will learn that the Internet can make us dumber.

Then there is Debkafile Whatever it is they do, nobody does it better. Let’s flip through their portfolio of warnings. These are in sequence, so their latest at at the end of the list (you cannot properly appreciate it without seeing what has come before).

Update: Information Dissemination (a professional navy-centric blog) takes an expert’s look at Debkafile.

Debkafile, where war always looms in the foggy but near future

“Iran’s Looming Missile-cum-Nuclear Threat Sparks Fresh Tensions“, Debkafile (8 August 2004) — Contains many ominous details, including reports of Israel’s submarines “lurking in waters just outside the Persian Gulf”.

The war started on April 6, at least according to this Debkafile article (31 March 2007) — Excerpt:

Intelligence sources in Moscow claim to have information that a US strike against Iranian nuclear installations has been scheduled for April 6 at 0040 hours. The Russian sources say the US operation, code-named “Bite,” will last no more than 12 hours and consist of missile and aerial strikes devastating enough to set Tehran’s nuclear program several years back.

“Syrian and Iranian Generals in Intensive War Consultations“, Debkafile (9 June 2007) — Excerpt:

During most of last week, two high-ranking Iranian delegations spent time in Damascus. One was composed of generals who held talks with Syrian leaders on coordinated preparations for a Middle East war in the coming months.

“Russians employed at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor suddenly depart in a body“, Debkafile (1 October 2007) — Excerpt:

The Khorramshar News Agency, which is published by the ethnic Arab underground of Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan, reported early Oct. 1 that the entire staff of Russian nuclear engineers and experts employed in building the nuclear reactor at Bushehr had abruptly packed their bags Friday, Sept. 28, and flew back to Russia. The agency’s one-liner offers no source or explanation. DEBKAfile have obtained no corroboration of its report from any other source. If true, DEBKAfile can offer three hypothetical scenarios to account for the Russians’ precipitate departure:

1.Another crisis has cropped up in the patchy Russian-Iranian dealings over the Bushehr reactor. This is unlikely because …

2.Moscow or Tehran has been tipped off that a US or Israeli attack is imminent on the Bushehr plant and Iran’s other nuclear installations and acted to whip Russian personnel out of harm’s way.

3.Moscow has learned that an Iranian pre-emptive attack is imminent against American targets in Iraq and the Persian Gulf and/or Israel.

“Olmert sounds alarm: Iran has crossed red line for developing a nuclear weapon. It’s too late for sanctions“, Debkafile (30 October 2007) — Excerpt:

This is the message prime minister Ehud Olmert is carrying urgently to French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday and British premier Gordon Brown Tuesday, according to DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources. Last week, Olmert placed the Israeli intelligence warning of an Iranian nuclear breakthrough before Russian president Vladimir Putin, while Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak presented the updated intelligence on the advances Iran has made towards its goal of a nuclear weapon to American officials in Washington, including President Bush. Olmert will be telling Sarkozy and Brown that the moment for diplomacy or even tough sanctions has passed. Iran can only be stopped now from going all the way to its goal by direct, military action.

Information of the Iranian breakthrough prompted the latest spate of hard-hitting US statements. Sunday, Oct. 21, US vice president Cheney said: “Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions.” Friday, the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen said US forces are capable of operations against Iran’s nuclear facilities or other targets. At his first news conference, he said: “I don’t think we’re stretched in that regard.”

“Iran and Israel Poised for Possible Military Clash over Mughniyeh’s Death“, Debkafile (16 March 2008)

“Exclusive: Limited US attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards bases in sight“, Debkafile (3 June 2008) — Excerpt:

Our Washington sources report that president George W. Bush is closer than ever before to ordering a limited missile-air bombardment of the IRGC-al Qods Brigade’s installations in Iran. It is planned to target training camps and the munitions factories pumping fighters, missiles and roadside bombs to the Iraqi insurgency, Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.

“Exclusive: Flurry over possible Israeli attack on Iran galvanized by race to succeed Olmert“, Debkafile (6 June 2008) — Excerpt:

It is self-evident to every Israeli that Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear bomb would threaten the Jewish state’s existence and no government can afford to stand by and watch it happen. For Mofaz, who is campaigning to succeed Olmert as Kadima leader and next prime minister, a hawkish position on Iran has the best chance of garnering popular support.

This does not promise an attack on Iran is about to happen. So far, Olmert and Barak have been treading water on the Iran problem; they are even dragging their feet on the lingering Hamas missile offensive which is progressively depopulating southwestern Israel.

US Carriers, always on their way to attack Iran

The is an sizable group of geopolitical alarmists, whose behavior is much like those sheep that faint at the slightest scare. One story that consistently sets their pulses racing is news of US carrier movements. Since our carriers are almost always in motion, their adrenal glands get frequent exercise. Debkafile often feeds the flames of their fears, with mention of US carrier movements adding a menacing touch. Here are just a few of their “exclusive” alerts and alarms.

“The American Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group joins US build-up opposite Iran“, Debkafile (30 October 2006) — Not a carrier, but makes the same point.

US aircraft carriers USS Eisenhower and USS Enterprise in the Red Sea off the Saudi Arabian coast“, Debkafile (7 November 2006) — Excerpt:

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, and its accompanying carrier strike group, passed through the Suez Canal on Monday, Oct. 30, and arrived in the Red Sea on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the USS Eisenhower is at sea off the Saudi Arabian coast, together with another aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise. The presence of the two US aircraft carriers, and their accompanying strike groups, in a body of water as small as the Red Sea is an extraordinary development.

… With the arrival of the USS Eisenhower in the region, there are now three US aircraft carriers in the Persion Gulf and surrounding waters, including the USS Iwo Jima. Accompanying the USS Eisenhower are the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, the guided-missile destroyers USS Rampage and USS Mason and the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Newport.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that a fourth US aircraft carrier, the USS Boxer, will arrive on the scene by the beginning of next week, together with its carrier strike group.

“Washington again ups the military stakes against Iran, plans deployment of 600 Patriot anti-missile missiles in Middle East“, Debkafile (19 January 2007)

“Cheney Lines up Middle East Arab Allies for US Iraq Pull-out and Possible Iran Attack“, Debkafile (12 May 2007) — Excerpt:

US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Riyadh Sat. May 12, with a full caseload for his talks with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz . He is seeking coordination with the Saudis in good time for the approaching winding-down of US military forces in Iraq. … Friday, aboard the USS John Stennis, one of two US air carrier strike groups deployed in Gulf waters, the vice president pledged the US would “stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region.”

“A third US carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group is speeding towards the Persian Gulf“, Debkafile (29 June 2007) — Excerpt:

According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week’s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel’s southwestern border.

“Two US carrier-strike groups are bound for Persian Gulf region, bringing number back to three“, Debkafile (18 September 2007) — Excerpt:

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that from the third week of July, the only American strike force- carrier in the Persian Gulf-Arabian Sea region was the USS Enterprise. By the end of September, it will be joined by the USS Nimitz and the USS Truman Strike Groups. Our sources note that with their arrival, three American naval, air and marine forces will again confront Iranian shores at a time of crisis in the military and civilian leadership of Iran – signaled by the abrupt change of Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders, rising Israel-Syrian tensions and a troubled situation in Lebanon.

“US Gulf armada built up again amid preparations for third round of Security Council sanctions against Iran“, Debkafile (4 December 2007) — Excerpt:

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that a third aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman , arrived in the Central Command area over the weekend to join the USS Enterprise and USS Nimitz . All three head mighty strike groups of assorted warships, aircraft, marine forces, amphibious craft and nuclear submarines. Our sources interpret the new build-up as signifying US preparedness for a possible military confrontation with Iran.

“First frank talk of potential war on Iran from top US soldier“, Debkafile, 8 April 2008 — Excerpt:

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources reported Friday that the USS Harry S. Truman Strike Group has just taken up position in Persian Gulf waters. It consists of 12 warships led by the giant LSD-41 class USS Whidby Island landing craft, submarines and eight assault squadrons. The legend on their banner is: Give ‘em Hell.

Another nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, will soon set out for the region from the South China Sea, along with two more US naval strike forces: the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Nimitz attended by strike groups.

“Three major US naval strike forces due this week in Persian Gulf“, 12 August 2008 — Disturbing news! Or rather it would be, except that the USS Theodore Roosevelt is docked at Norfolk. Excerpt:

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the arrival of the three new American flotillas will raise to five the number of US strike forces in Middle East waters – an unprecedented build-up since the crisis erupted over Iran’s nuclear program.

This vast naval and air strength consists of more than 40 carriers, warships and submarines, some of the last nuclear-armed, opposite the Islamic Republic, a concentration last seen just before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

… DEBKAfile’s military sources name the three US strike forces en route to the Gulf as the USS Theodore Roosevelt , the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Iwo Jima . Already in place are the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea opposite Iranian shores and the USS Peleliu which is cruising in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

“Arab world fears an Iran war may be impending“, Debkafile, 18 August 2008 — Debkafile sticks by their story, despite the fact that the Roosevelt is still docked at Norfolk. Excerpt:

The scare was fed by the impending arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima in the Persian Gulf to reinforce the US strike forces in the region, as first revealed by DEBKAfile on August 11. They are to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is patrolling the Arabian Sea opposite Iran, and the USS Peleliu, on beat in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This deployment would be the largest naval task force the US and its allies had massed in the region since the 1991 Gulf War.

A US Pentagon spokesman last week denied that these forces were gathering to impose a partial naval blockade on Iran, but declined to disclose their mission. The denial apparently failed to convince the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait.

---
1.Is Iran dangerous, or a paper tiger? (13 November 2007)

2.Will Israel commit suicide? More rumors of a strike at Iran (22 December 2007)

3.A new story about a possible war with Iran (21 May 2008) — About the 20 May Jerusalem Post story, originally reported by Army Radio.

4.“As things look, Israel may well attack Iran soon” (3 June 2008) — About the Fischer story in the 30 May Daily Star.

5.“Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable” (8 June 2008) — War-talk by a former Defense Minster of Israel.

6.Der Spiegel: “Israeli Ministers Mull Plans for Military Strike against Iran” (17 June 2008) — Rumors in Der Spiegel of a strike by Israel on Iran.

7.More rumors of a strike at Iran by Israel (1 July 2008)

8.Leaks about a possible strike at Iran (are there any hotter issues today?) (7 July 2008)

9.The most expensive psy-war campaign - ever! (13 July 2008)

MOVIE: Saudi Prince Nayef Al-Shaalan, International Cocaine Trafficker

2009-11-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

Documentary about Saudi Prince Nayef Al-Shaalan, who was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail on charges of involvement in a cocaine smuggling gang [46mins]

Your browser is not able to display this multimedia content.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/16/18628884.php

The 53-year-old prince was one of 10 people handed jail terms of four to 10 years in connection with an operation which landed two tonnes of cocaine at an airfield outside Paris in 1999. The judge ruled to uphold international arrest warrants against Prince Nayef and the nine other defendants, who include three former Colombian drugs barons.

Prince Nayef was convicted of illegally importing drugs, of complicity in the transport, detention and provision of drugs and of criminal conspiracy. He is accused of using his diplomatic immunity to smuggle drugs to France on board a private jet. A grandson of Saudi Arabia's founding monarch Abdulaziz and son-in-law to the Saudi deputy defence minister, the prince denies any involvement in drug trafficking. A Saudi representative at the hearing said he intended to appeal.

The investigation leading to his prince's conviction began in June 1999, when police acting on a tip-off seized 800 kilos of cocaine with a street value of $30 million a raid near Paris. Prince Nayef - who is alleged to have made contacts with Colombia's Medellin cartel while studying at the University of Miami in the early 1980s - is accused of providing a jet to transport the drugs from Colombia to Paris.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MzM1Mzk1NDcz
http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk

Obama's DOJ Against Siegelman Appeal to Supreme Court

2009-11-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

By Andrew Ramonas | Main Justice | November 17, 2009

The Justice Department opposes an appeal from former Alabama Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman for the Supreme Court to reconsider his 2006 conviction on corruption charges, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

Siegelman, who is out on bond pending his appeal, is asking the Supreme Court to review an earlier decision by a federal court in Alabama that let most of his conviction stand. Siegelman, who served as governor from 1999-2003, was sentenced in 2006 to seven years in a federal prison on bribery and mail fraud charges brought by Middle District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Leura Canary. Canary still serves in that post, as a holdover from the Bush administration, while the Obama administration works on getting its own nominee in place. Her then-counterpart in the Northern District of Alabama, Bush U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, also pursued charges against Siegelman, but was unsuccessful.

Members of Congress and 44 former state attorneys general have questioned the conviction, which many critics have claimed was the politically motivated work of then-Bush aide Karl Rove and other Republican officials. We reported last month that the Justice Department Office of Special Counsel found no evidence to support a whistleblower’s claims that the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Alabama acted inappropriately in the prosecution of the former governor and his co-defendant, former HealthSouth Corp. CEO Richard Scrushy, who is serving a sentence of almost seven years arising from the 2006 conviction.

Siegelman and Scrushy have maintained their innocence. Their attorneys have argued that donations the health care business executive made to the then-governor’s lottery fund and Scrushy’s later appointment to the Alabama health board wasn’t criminal, just ordinary politics.

DOJ recommended that the Supreme Court not hear the appeal, court papers filed Friday night said, according to the AP.

“Under a standard that requires not just a quid pro quo, but one that is verbally spelled out with all ‘i’s dotted and ‘t’s crossed, all but the most careless public officials will be able to avoid criminal liability for exchanging official action for campaign contributions,” the DOJ argued, according to the AP.

http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/11/17/doj-against-siegelman-appeal/

Men Sue Mormon Church, Boy Scouts over Alleged Sex Abuse in 1970s

2009-11-17T03:45:00.000-08:00

By Marcus Wohlsen
The Associated Press
November 16, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — The Mormon church and Boy Scouts of America were named as defendants in lawsuits Monday claiming childhood sexual abuse by youth leaders decades ago.

Alleged victims filed suits against both organizations in San Francisco and Seattle, and against the church alone in Portland. The plaintiffs are all represented by Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who has brought similar suits against the church and the Boy Scouts in the past.

In the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, three brothers claim the church ignored their complaints about being molested by their Silicon Valley Boy Scout and Mormon youth leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

“These are men who believe in the best of these institutions and believe that this kind of lawsuit can help improve these institutions and prevent child abuse,” Clark said. ...

More

The Problem with the Congressional Ft. Hood Investigation Witness List

2009-11-16T22:26:00.000-08:00

Also see: "Fort Hood Massacre - Mind Control?"

White House won't provide witnesses for Fort Hood hearing
By Ben Pershing
Washington Post | November 16, 2009

The first public congressional hearing on the Fort Hood attack will not include testimony from any current federal law enforcement, military or intelligence officials because the Obama administration "declined to provide any" such witnesses, according to a Senate committee source.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has released the witness list for its hearing "The Fort Hood Attack: A Preliminary Assessment," scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. The list includes four experts on terrorism and intelligence issues: retired Gen. Jack Keane, the former U.S. Army vice chief of staff; Brian Jenkins, a senior advisor at the Rand Corp. [also the extremely conservative International Chamber of Commerce]; Mitchell Silber, the director of analysis for the New York City Police Department's Intelligence Division; and Juan Zarate, a senior advisor for the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

ONLY PROBLEM WITH THIS "WITNESS LIST" (BESIDES A STONEWALLING, FOOT-DRAGGING EXECUTIVE BRANCH, SPOOKS, THE WAR-MAKING RAND CORP. AND CSIS BLACK PROPAGANDA SPECIALISTS) IS ...

... the list does not include anyone actively involved in investigating the Fort Hood attack, or anyone who might have been responsible for decisions made by various government agencies before the attack about whether to investigate the shooting suspect, Nidal Hasan. . ...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/11/fort_hood_hearing_wont_include.html