December 30, 2006

Bush crime family murders their former business partner during Muslim feast of sacrifice

Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein in happier times

Saddam Hussein was a world class tyrant who killed hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. He was backed by the American empire during most of his reign of error, most notoriously when he was encouraged to attack Iran in September 1980 and then supported during the eight year long Iran-Iraq war. Saddam's worst crimes were committed during that conflict, such as his use of poison gas (the chemicals were supplied by Western corporations with the tacit approval of the US and its allies).

His 1990 invasion of Kuwait was winked at in advance by US Ambassador April Glaspie, who told him that the US did not have an opinion on Arab-Arab border disputes. A State department spokeperson also told a press conference a few days before the invasion that the US did not have a defense committment to Kuwait, even though Iraqi troops were massed on the border. When Iraq attacked Kuwait, the US Central Command was conducting "Internal Look," a war game exercise that simulated the actual events that unfolded - and may have enabled US forces to get into place (blockading Iraqi ports) before the United Nations Security Council could meet to discuss the situation. The film Hidden Wars of Desert Storm is an excellent resource about this conflict, which resulted in perhaps a quarter million deaths.

While few will grieve the dead dictator, it is worth noting that the US invasion has probably killed more people than Saddam did, and the US empire has killed more people since World War II than the six million Jews killed during the Nazi Holocaust. (Retired CIA agent John Stockwell made that comparison more than a decade ago, and it's even more true today.)

Saddam's murder was carried out by the US puppet regime at the height of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is a sacred duty for all Muslims to do at least once in their life, if they are able to do so. The culmination of the Hajj is marked by the festival of Eid al-Adha, which commemorates the sacrifice by Abraham. The Bush team has a warped sense of humor to kill their former business partner to celebrate this holiday, which seems calculated to be as offensive as possible to Muslims, even the vast majority who couldn't stand Saddam and are glad that he's no longer in power. And as horrible as Saddam was, most Iraqis report that life was more pleasant under the tyrant than under foreign military occupation. One of the best testimonies about the tragedy that has befalled Iraq is the Riverbend Blog, aka Baghdad Burning, at http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com

Saddam may be gone, but the legacy of the US attacks on Iraq will remain for generations to come, especially fallout from depleted uranium weapons, the destruction of Iraqi infrastructure, the creation of millions of refugees (Iraq now has the greatest refugee exodus of any country), and the shattering of what was once a prosperous society with one of the best educated population. Iraq has gone from being a relatively gender-equal society (by Middle Eastern standards) to a fearful conflict zone where women are rarely able to be educated or appear in public without the veil. This outcome makes it hard not to suspect that the US plan all along as been to break up Iraq into three fragments to make the oil easier to control.

from a BBC story on Eid al-Adha:
www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/faith/2004/01/eid_al_adha.shtml
February 2004
Eid al-Adha
by Adam Yosef Ali

Eid al-Adha is the Celebration of Sacrifice or Slaughter which is to celebrate the Sacrifice made by the Prophet Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice his own son.
It was with a heavy heart that Abraham agreed to do so but was ready to show his commitment and loyalty to his Lord.
Abraham's son, Ishmael, also recognised the importance of God's commandment and was happy to participate. Abraham drew his knife to slaughter his son but just as the knife drew near, God intervened and Abraham's child was replaced by a sheep.
Abraham was happy and relieved when he saw that his son was safe. God had asked him to sacrifice his son to test his faith and when Abraham proved that he was willing to do it, God did not need him to commit the slaughter of his own son, whom Abraham dearly loved.
The celebration of Eid al-Adha commemorates this event as Muslims all over the world sacrifice an animal during this Eid. This sacrifice is known as Qurbani.

 

and from the New York Times coverage of the execution:
December 30, 2006
Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity
By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE

"According to the law, no execution can be carried out during the holidays" said another official, "After all the hard work we have done, why would we break the law and ruin what we have built?"
The Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha begins Saturday for Sunnis and Sunday for Shiites, who now control the government.
Iraqi law seemed to indicate that executions were forbidden on the holiday.
But Judge Haddad was dismissive of those concerns, injecting some of the sectarian split that is pervading the country. "The official Id in Iraq is Sunday," he said.

Perhaps God, or the Goddess, or Allah, or the Universe, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster (depending on your flavor of spirituality) does have a sense of humor, too:

Bush Sheltered During Tornado Alert
Dec 29 9:59 PM US/Eastern
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
CRAWFORD, Texas

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were moved to an armored vehicle on their ranch Friday when a tornado warning was issued in central Texas, the White House said.
The vehicle was driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch at 1:30 p.m. CST, and the president, Mrs. Bush and their two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, sat inside until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. They were never moved into the shelter, he said. The shelter is a few hundred yards away from the president's house on the ranch.
"He was in the vehicle for about 10 minutes and then he went back to the house," Stanzel said, adding that other members of the staff at the ranch were sheltered as well.
About an hour later in Groesbeck, roughly 60 miles west of Crawford, a man was killed when a tornado struck an assisted living facility for veterans, emergency management officials said.
The rush to the tornado shelter interrupted Bush's day at the ranch where he cleared some cedar and was kept abreast of plans to execute Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

December 26, 2006 - Boxing Day (British / Canadian holiday)

Gerald Ford, the only officially unelected President in US history, has died of old age.

But Ford wasn't the only "unelected President."

The current office holder wasn't elected either, although there is a difference between vote fraud and being appointed.

Ford's earlier career included serving on the Warren Commission, which covered up the coup d'etat against President Kennedy. His loyalty to the secret state is probably a reason he was allowed to become an officially unelected President.

update from yesterday:

Several readers wrote to recommend the 2005 French film Joyeux Noel about the 1914 Christmas truce.

December 25, 2006 - Christmas stories

Terry Gilliam's movie BRAZIL is perhaps the best parody of Christmas consumerism ever captured on celluloid.

Monty Python's The Life of Brian is also a great antidote to the season's absurdities (the story of the boy born next door to Jesus).

www.mwscomp.com/movies/brian/brian.htm
Monty Python's The Life of Brian

Some serious explorations of deeper meanings behind the holidays:

www.counterpunch.org/leupp12242005.html
The True Meaning of December 25th
Happy Birthday Mithras!
By GARY LEUPP

www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/4176
Celebrate Christmas the Old-Fashioned Way: Defy Authority!

Read about the 1914 Christmas truce (a Christmas story for modern times). Here are a variety of perspectives on this hidden history:

www.post-gazette.com/pg/06358/748101-42.stm
Silent Night: The little carol that could
Sunday, December 24, 2006

The message of peace in "Silent Night" has come to the forefront many times over the years, but one of the most dramatic examples occurred in 1914, during an unofficial truce on the front lines during World War I.
Stanley Weintraub, a retired Penn State University professor and author of a book on the truce, said that on that first yuletide of the war, the front lines between the British, French and Belgians on the one side and the Germans on the other were often only 75 yards apart.
The Germans shipped thousands of tabletop Christmas trees to their trenches, Dr. Weintraub said, and the soldiers often put lights on them and gathered around to sing "Stille Nacht," which could be heard by curious Allied soldiers who had crawled out into the muddy No Man's Land between the lines.
That led to peaceful contacts between individual soldiers, and by Christmas Day, the rank-and-file combatants had agreed on their own to form solemn burial parties, after which they exchanged gifts, sang carols and played soccer matches all up and down the lines.

www.gracematters.org/interviews/s.weintraub.html
December 24, 2006 Guest - Stanley Weintraub
Program: Silent Night

www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=0452283671
Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce
by Stanley Weintraub
(order the book on-line)

BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/197627.stm
World War I Tuesday, 3 November, 1998, 11:26 GMT
The Christmas truce

World Socialist Web Site:
www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/xmas-j17.shtml
War, football and the 1914 Christmas truce
By Harvey Thompson
17 July 2003

Snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/truce.asp
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Holidays (Christmas Truce)
Snopes is sometimes a reliable source, sometimes not (they make 9/11 complicity somehow dependent on the false "no plane hit Pentagon" claim).

from musician John McCutcheon:

Christmas in the Trenches
words & music by John McCutcheon

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool,
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung,
Our families back in England were toasting us that day,
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, "Now listen up, me boys!" each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
"He's singing bloody well, you know!" my partner says to me
Soon one by one each German voice joined in in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war.

As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was "Stille Nacht," "Tis 'Silent Night'," says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky.
"There's someone coming towards us!" the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one lone figure coming from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
As he bravely strode unarmed into the night.

Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeeze box and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men.

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?"
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone for evermore.

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I I've learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

©1984 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

"I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

December 8, 2006 - McKinney introduces Impeachment resolution for Bush, Cheney & Rice

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) introduced a resolution to impeach George W. Bush, Richard Cheney and Condolezza Rice today. Since McKinney was defeated in a primary run-off in August, the resolution will be her final act as a member of Congress (unless she runs for office again in 2008 and is elected).

Most pundits will probably ignore or ridicule the resolution, since she is a pariah in the Democratic Party, the Democrats don't want to impeach, and McKinney is leaving Congress anyway. But it is a "shot across the bow" for the incoming Democratic Congressional leadership that they need to perform their Constitutional duty to uphold the rule of law and impeach officials who hijacked the country for their illegal wars. Hopefully, the grassroots pressure for accountability and impeachment can use this resolution as a basis for "regime change" in the new Congress.

http://mattpascarella.blogspot.com/2006/12/congresswoman-mckinney-files-articles.html
12.08.2006
Congresswoman McKinney Files Articles of Impeachment
By Matt Pascarella

http://www.truthout.org/pdf/5.120806.HR1106_impeachment.pdf
copy of McKinney's resolution to impeach Bush, Cheney and Rice

McKinney was featured in the documentary American Blackout from Guerrilla News Network, which includes McKinney quizzing War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the 9/11 war games, the missing trillions of dollars, and military contractors engaged in child prostitution.

www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/030105_mckinney_question.shtml
"Mr. Chairman, I have a question"
On-the-Record: Representative Cynthia McKinney Rocks Rumsfeld on War Games
and a follow-up: www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/031505_mckinney_transcript.shtml

McKinney was also the chair of the 9/11 Citizens Commission, an incredible hearing held in New York City on September 9, 2004. The documentary produced from this event is the single best video about 9/11. Excellent as an introduction to the best evidence of complicity. Speakers include Cynthia McKinney, Michael Ruppert, Barrie Zwicker, John Judge, Michael Springman, Indira Singh, and others.

A transcript is at http://911citizenswatch.org/September-Hearings.pdf

free downloads of the Citizens Commission event are at
911busters.com/911-Commission.html
911 busters has a lot of great information on line, but it also pushes the no plane hoax (so be careful!).

Hoaxers involved with the film "In Plane Site" created a booklet in mid 2005 purporting to be the "9/11 Citizens Commission" although their booklet deliberately does not mention the September 9, 2004 event and pushes the "no plane hit Pentagon" hoax. This booklet makes the Citizens Commission hearing harder to find on the internet. Unfortunately, the loudest voices for "9/11 truth" have ignored this event and the associated DVD, prefering instead to promote videos pushing the false "no plane" claims and demolition theories.

December 7, 2006 - anniversary of the Old Pearl Harbor

 

The Pearl Harbor section of the 9/11 Parallels page has been updated, slightly.

 

Here's a great comment about the claims and counter-claims regarding the Litvinenko murder:

http://rigint.blogspot.com/2006/12/rogue-elements.html#comments
Anonymous said...
Putin Vs. Berezhovsky vs. Litvinenko: an enigma wrapped within a riddle inside a conundrum, with a peanut butter center and a chocolate cookie outside. When Godzilla fights Mothra, do you choose sides? Does it matter who's at fault in the latest skirmish? Or do we wish a plague on both their houses?

November 30, 2006

The Russian government is claiming innocence for the polonium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2477277,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=World

The Times November 29, 2006
Moscow points the finger of blame at billionaire exile Boris Berezovsky
Tony Halpin in Moscow, Richard Beeston and Daniel McGrory

Ultraconservative commentator Pat Buchanan and investigative journalist Wayne Madsen largely agree, with the latter claiming that the murder was a false flag operation.

Whatever the truth (or not) of these counter claims, these facts are indisputable:

• the Russian assault on Chechnya has resulted in severe human rights atrocities
• it's a good idea not to take sides in a struggle between a semi-dictator who used to run the successor to the KGB and billionaires who looted Russia after the fall of the USSR - taking sides is one of the root causes of wars

November 22 - 24, 2006

An indigenous perspective on empire as an antidote to the "Thanksgiving" holiday

There have been countless indigenous commentaries on the American empire since 1492. One of the most relevant is the incredible analysis of "Basic Call to Consciousness," written by the Six Nation Iriquois Confederacy - their understanding of the rise of industrial civilization. Several chapters from it are archived at

www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/BasicCtC.html
A Basic Call to Consciousness
The Hau de no sau nee Address to the Western World
Geneva, Switzerland, Autumn 1977
copyright © 1978 by Akwesasne Notes, Mohawk Nation, Via Roseveltown, NY.

The best way to understand the natural world is to spend more time connected to it, and less time attached to technological gadgets. A walk in the park, time spent in a garden, close examination of small plants or animals, paying attention to the natural cycles (sun, moon, seasons) are all excellent teachers. If modern industrial civilization is capable of shifting to be more compatible with natural laws so that we don't cause an enormous mass extinction or omnicide, we need to reorient to the patterns of nature, not the patterns of artificial constructs such as business cycles, quarterly profits, election campaigns, digital clocks and other manifestations of cultural control.

An excellent resource for this transition is Janine Benyus's book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, available at www.biomimicry.net

Updated oilempire pages:

Israel

Media 9/11 Strategy

Peak Grain: Feeding Nine Billion After Peak Oil and Climate Change

November Surprise: why the Democrats were allowed to win in 2006 (good cop, bad cop)

Some days it seems that the "news" should really be renamed "the murder report," or as the musician Sting once sang, "history is a catalog of crimes."

JFK, the American coup d'etat: 43 years later

November 22 is the 43rd anniversary of the coup d'etat against President Kennedy.

Perhaps the simplest question to understand who perpetrated the assassination of President Kennedy is to ask

"Who had the power to change the motorcade route?
(the original route would not have passed next to the Book Depository nor the famous "grassy knoll")

In the film JFK, the character played by Donald Sutherland (loosely based on Colonel Fletcher Prouty), states:

That's the real question, isn't it - why? The how and the who is just scenery for the public. Oswald, Ruby, Cuba, the Mafia - keeps them guessing like some sort of parlor game. Prevents them from asking the most important question: Why was Kennedy killed? Who benefited? Who has the power to cover it up?

The question of WHY is also important to understand other crimes of state: the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, and Senator Paul Wellstone (to cite a few victims).

Perhaps the simplest question to understand the level of official complicity in 9/11, the current "elephant in the living room" of American politics, is to ask

Who had the power to suppressed warnings from allied governments, FBI agents and other sources that 9/11 was imminent, and then to schedule overlapping war games on 9/11 that resembled actual events?

This website states that WHY 9/11 was allowed and assisted is ultimately more important than the technical details of HOW it was engineered, although the logistics of suppressed warnings, manipulation of Middle East politics, overlapping wargames, and remote control are important to understand to avoid similar scandals in the future. The use of disinformation against the "JFK Truth Movement" is also important for 9/11 truth activists to be familiar with given the large number of false claims and bait distracting the current efforts to expose complicity in the American Reichstag Fire.

The underlying reasons for JFK and 9/11 were similar - endless war that provides vast profit and the excuse to convert aspirations for genuine democracy into an Orwellian state. The success of the coup against JFK emboldened the perpetrators to commit many more crimes: the war on Viet Nam, Watergate, toppling democracies in Chile and other countries, the 1980 October Surprise, Iran-Contra, the wars in Central America in the 1980s, the invasion of Panama, the Desert Storm massacre (Saddam Hussein was lured by the US to attack Kuwait, and perhaps 300,000 people were killed in that war), etc.

Perhaps the best way to commemorate the anniversary is to read President Kennedy's speech at American University where he called for an end to the Cold War. It is sad to fantasize about what this change of direction could have meant for the United States, and the world, if the shifts recommended in this speech had been allowed to happen. It is not too late to redirect the immense flow of wealth and talent and physical resources invested in the military-industrial complex toward programs aimed at ending hunger, poverty, injustice, global warming, wasteful energy practices, etc.

But even if the new Democratic majority in Congress was able to perform the miracle of radical transformation for survival and cooperation instead of dominance, there is no way to avoid the problems created by decades of denial and suppression of efforts to make these needed shifts. It is too late to have a painless transition, but it is not too late to dedicate civilization for life instead of mass extinction. Survival of the human race - and the tens of millions of other species - is not a political, partisan, nationalistic issue - it is the most important task that we all must work together to achieve. The lesson that our species is slowly learning is that our survival is dependent on others surviving, too -- the interconnected realities of the global economy, communications and weapons technologies suggest that the whole human race will either evolve together or go extinct together. This is the opposite strategy from the militaristic approach of countless counts, kings, shahs, Popes, Presidents for Life, Prime Ministers, Chancellors, Party Chairmen, Dear Leaders and other titles created by extremely hierarchical political systems that assume that one group's well being depends on oppressing another's.

Lisa Pease, co-author of the excellent book The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X, recently wrote:

http://realhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2006/08/kennedy-assassination-in-news.html
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Kennedy assassination in the news
... I have argued for years that by not demanding the truth about the past, we're giving people permission to lie to us about the present, and the future. The comparision is apt. By not demanding accountability from the government for the failure of government at every level to protect the citizens hit by Katrina, we're essentially giving the government a blank check to fail us again.

RFK and the CIA

A new BBC documentary claims to have found evidence that key CIA personnel were present at the scene of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Lisa Pease thinks that the BBC report may be disinformation:

http://realhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2006/11/did-cia-kill-bobby-kennedy-probably.html
Monday, November 20, 2006
Did the CIA Kill Bobby Kennedy? Probably - but not with THOSE guys

People who have read my work, published in the volume The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK, and Malcolm X (Feral House, 2003) are well aware that I believe strongly that the CIA was deeply involved in the JFK and RFK assassinations and investigations that followed.
But when I got this story in my mailbox today, my heart sank. Because I believe this will result in the discrediting of the notion that the CIA killed Kennedy. I think it will be shown that the photos and videos do not show David Morales or George Joannides.

Rigorous Intuition has an excellent commentary on the RFK case and the recent news about the poisoning (and ultimately murder) of dissident KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko:

http://rigint.blogspot.com/2006/11/bobby-and-alexander.html
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Bobby and Alexander

Russia:

Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in a British hospital after being poisoned, probably by the Russian "intelligence" services. He was co-author of a book on the "9/99" false-flag terrorism in Russia that was used to justify a new war on Chechnya and the rise of Vladimir Putin to become President of Russia. An excellent bilingual (Russian and English) website detailing the 9/99 crimes is at http://eng.terror99.ru

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2013283.ece
Alexander Litvinenko
KGB secret agent turned political dissident who lifted the lid on the Russian security services
Published: 25 November 2006
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko, intelligence agent: born Voronezh, Soviet Union 30 August 1962; married (one son); died London 23 November 2006.

... In 2002, Litvinenko co-authored Blowing up Russia: terror from within, in which he accused the Russian security services of responsibility in a series of deadly attacks on apartment buildings in Moscow. The attacks in September 1999, which killed 300 people, led to Putin declaring the second war on the rebellious Russian republic of Chechnya.
The attacks were officially blamed on Chechen militants, and Litvinenko was certainly not alone in questioning the official version. The Independent reported the accusations against the FSB in January 2000. A friend of Litvinenko, Andrei Nekrasov, made a film, Disbelief (2004), detailing the allegations, which Putin has described as "delirious nonsense". But the most prominent person to accuse the Russian security services of responsibility for the apartment block attacks was Berezovsky, who financed Litvinenko's book.

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2469142,00.html
The Times
November 24, 2006
'The bastards got me, they won't get us all'
Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor

Yet in his final remarks, the former spy remained defiant in his battle against President Putin and the Russian security services.
He also managed a joke at his own expense, suggesting that his poisoning was proof that his campaign against the Kremlin had targeted the right people. “This is what it takes to prove one has been telling the truth,” he said.
He was referring to allegations he made in a book, The FSB Blows up Russia, which accuses the Russian security services of causing a series of apartment block explosions in Moscow in 1999 that helped to propel Mr Putin into the presidency.

www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2006/11/death-by-radionuclide-polonium-210.html
Friday, November 24, 2006
DEATH BY RADIONUCLIDE: Polonium-210, 4,500 Curies/gram
The grim and agonizing death of Alexander Litvinenko in a London hospital was guaranteed from the moment his unknown assailant put it in his food or drink. Discovered by Marie Curie, polonium-210 is an astonishingly active alpha particle emitter.
The figures from this Argonne National Lab fact sheet on the element are all one needs to know. Its specific activity, a measure of its radioactivity by weight, is very high: 4,500 Curies per gram. "The energy released by its decay is so large . . . that a capsule containing about half a gram reaches a temperature above 500 degrees C.," reads the report.
One milligram, a thousandth of a gram, would deliver 4.5 Curies of the material.
Litvinenko was cooked from the inside.
And since polonium-210 is an alpha emitter, it was trapped inside him, not reaching those standing in the same room, making a very small amount of it fairly easy to clandestinely transport and deliver.
"Between 50 and 90 percent of the polonium taken in by ingestion will promptly leave the body in feces," continues the report. "The fraction remaining in the body enters the bloodstream . . . It is estimated that 45 percent of ingested polonium will be deposited in the spleen, kidneys and liver, with ten percent deposited in bone marrow . . ."
All of these factors must have contributed to the difficulty in identifying the poison, an identification which would have only revealed that Litvinenko stood no chance of survival.
An utterly nefarious application, one that will have you looking at your food and drink with a bit of fear and trembling when in the presence of suspected enemies for some time to come!
From the point of view of the Russian black bag ops division that allegedly commissioned the application, it must send a grisly and fearsome statement to whistle-blowers and dissidents.

This death comes a month after Anna Politkovskaya, Russia's most courageous journalist, was murdered in her Moscow apartment building. She was killed on Putin's birthday.

www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8023316
Anna Politkovskaya
Oct 12th 2006
From The Economist print edition
Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist, was shot dead on October 7th, aged 48
SHE was brave beyond belief, reporting a gruesome war and a creeping dictatorship with a sharp pen and steel nerves. It may be a chilling coincidence that Anna Politkovskaya was murdered on Vladimir Putin's birthday, but her friends and supporters are in little doubt that her dogged, gloomy reporting of the sinister turn Russia has taken under what she called his “bloody” leadership was what led to her body being dumped in the lift of her Moscow apartment block.

Another dissident who was killed on the birthday of a dictator was the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, who was attacked on September 7, 1978, the birthday of then Bulgarian dictator Todor Zhivkov. Markov, like Litvinenko, lived in exile in London, and was poisoned by a tiny dart fired from a gun concealed in an umbrella (he was waiting for a bus when he was hit). It took Markov a couple of days to die from the ricin contained in the dart. This incident is extremely famous in the annals of the Cold War. It is widely assumed that the Bulgarian regime got help from the KGB to kill Markov.

Lebanon:

About the same time that the governments of Iraq and Syria restored diplomatic ties (after a gap of more than two decades), Syria was accused of orchestrating the assassination of Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon's Industry Minister and the son of Phalangist leader Amine Gemayel, a former President. As with the case of Rafik Hariri, killed in 2005, while it is theoretically possible that Syria was behind it, if they are indeed the culprits they would have been both criminal and crazy, since the Syrian dictatorship clearly did not benefit. The murder of Hariri triggered the "Cedar Revolution," which kicked out Syrian military presence from Lebanon.

Wayne Madsen reports in his November 22 commentary that Syria has a back channel to the "adult" branch of the Bush administration (George H.W. Bush, James Baker, the "old guard" of the Republican party) that this crime is probably intended to sabotage.

With the closing of From the Wilderness in early November (hopefully the archives on that website will stay on-line), Wayne Madsen Report is perhaps the best daily news service for keeping track of "deep politics" developments. If you have some spare cash, please support that website by purchasing Madsen's new book "Jaded Tasks."

and a cautionary positive (at last!) story:

Papal prophylactic policy

www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1954759,00.html
After decades of opposition, Vatican view on condoms begins to shift
John Hooper in Rome
Thursday November 23, 2006
The Guardian

The Roman Catholic church has taken the first step towards what could be a historic shift away from its total ban on the use of condoms.
Pope Benedict XVI's "health minister" is understood to be urging him to accept that in restricted circumstances - specifically the prevention of Aids - barrier contraception is the lesser of two evils.
The recommendations, which have not been made public, still have to be reviewed by the traditionally conservative Vatican department responsible for safeguarding theological orthodoxy, and then by the Pope himself, before any decision is made.

 

Pope John Paul I, who lasted 33 days in 1978, was reportedly planning to change Vatican prohibitions against contraceptives. It's likely that his more controversial plans to challenge the power of the Vatican Bank is what got him suddenly removed from office, just like President Kennedy was removed from office for changing his mind on the Cold War. If the report in The Guardian is correct, it would be nice to see the new Pope take a tentative step toward the change that John Paul I supposedly sought about contraceptives. How would recent history have been different if John Paul I had been able to implement anti-corruption initiatives and give support to the Liberation Theology movement? How can this form of unnecessary suffering be avoided in the future as the world slides into climate crisis, Peak Oil and other symptoms of overshoot?

November 9, 2006 - 11/9 (the opposite of 9/11)

In the aftermath of the Democrats taking control of Congress (despite the vote suppression tactics of the Karl Rove Republicans), this site has a new page on the November Surprises. Having the Democrats run Congress, even if it's both houses, is only a minor improvement (if even that). Perhaps the most encouraging aspect is to see that tens of millions of people turned out to express their new disgust with the regime (although many who have turned against Bush's war have not really though about the implications of this dissent, and the potential for the end of the empire - a good thing, but a difficult thing).

The shift is an opportunity, however, if people choose to use it - and some of the D's who were just elected still respect constitutional government (Senator Elect John Tester of Montana reportedly supports repeal of the USA Patriot Act). But it's worth recalling the D's ran Congress through most of the Cold War, a Democrat bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Democratic leadership helped cover up Iran-Contra, the Iraq war scandals (1991 and 2003), and of course 9/11. Bush would not have been able to accomplish his crimes if the Democratic Party had not acquiesed in the cover-ups.

It's nice to fantasize that the Democratic Congress could summon the spinal fortitude to

• repeal the Military Commissions Act (detention without trial), USA Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act and other illegal, unconstitutional shredding of civil liberties. These dictatorial laws are not needed to prevent terrorism (especially since efforts by honest FBI agents to stop 9/11 were blocked by headquarters). Ultimately, the best way to reduce the terrorism threats would be to change US imperial foreign policy and drop plans for a "New American Century" that seeks to control global oil supplies.
• investigate war crimes: Iraq, Afghanistan, the "rendition" program, torture at Guantanamo and elsewhere, etc.
• follow Rep. Dennis Kucinich's advice that we need a South Africa style "truth and reconciliation commission" to investigate the full truths of 9/11. That might even be more important, in the long run, than an impeachment of Cheney and Bush, especially if the impeachment is a limited hang out focusing on the small and medium crimes while avoiding the biggest scandals.
• create a peace dividend that could redirect some of the bloated military budget for a mobilization of civilization to cope with the crises of global warming, Peak Oil, peak grain, water shortages, declining fisheries and other limits to growth. The tools to cope with these problems exist but need to become the dominant paradigm, not a small sideshow that is treated as a curiosity (at best).

Unfortunately, three of the most interesting candidates lost their campaigns:

• Colleen Rowley in Minnesota (she was an FBI agent who tried to stop 9/11 but was blocked by senior management in DC),
• Clint Curtis in Florida (whistleblower who was involved in fraudulent voting machine manipulation) and
• Lt Col. Bob Bowman in Florida (who worked in the Star Wars program under Carter and campaigned for exposing the truths of 9/11).

Having any of them in the new Congress would have been very interesting, and great substitutes for the loss of the Honorable Cynthia McKinney (defeated by a combination of media smears, dirty tricks and Diebold voting machines). Fortunately, a number of other new voices will join Congress who are grassroots oriented, and hopefully will be able to use their new positions to help in the great shift that is long overdue.

One thing that the new Congress could easily pass is a moratorium on voting machines that are not auditable or use secret software. While a "paper trail" is merely a "limited hang out" for the issue of corrupt counting of the votes, a paper trail in combination with software for the tabulators that is in the public domain could stop most of this form of election fraud. The prosecution of efforts to prevent voters from voting (especially from "Voting While Black") could deter similar efforts in future elections. Democrats who shudder at the projected candidacy of Hillary Clinton should prioritize honest elections (funding, media influence, voting machines, voter suppression, etc) to create potential space for a better candidate who does not have business ties to the Bush crime family (unlike the Clintons, who do have such ties).

There are many honest Republicans who do not support the crazy neo-cons nor the theocratic fringe groups and are frustrated with the corruption, incompetence, viciousness and fascism in their Party.

Most Democrats (in the rank-and-file) are not fans of the Party leadership, which is nearly as tone-deaf to public opinion and resistant to input as the R's.

The Green Party is a nice idea, but under a "winner take all" system it is unlikely to win races beyond City Councils in liberal college towns. A Canadian or European style parliamentary democracy would allow the Greens (and other so-called minor parties) to gain representation in the legislature, which would force the dominant parties to take their concerns much more seriously. (The proposals for "Instant Runoff Voting" are a inadequate substitute, offering the illusion of power while ensuring that Greens would not be elected nor taken seriously by the Democratic Party). Unfortunately, the Greens "blew it" by staying largely silent about the vote fraud in Florida in 2000 that tipped the race to Bush, allowing the D's to blame the Greens for Bush's alleged victory. By the time the National Green Party worked to challenge the vote fraud in Ohio (and elsewhere) in 2004, the damage was done.

Libertarians are strong supporters of civil liberties and opponents of Bush era shredding of the Constitution (although they often seem ideologically opposed to understand that economics rarely limits toxic pollution that harms people and the biosphere).

The bottom line: all of the political parties are flawed, but a majority of people in all of the parties could work together, despite philosophical differences, on the great challenges of how to survive and thrive in the era of global warming and Peak Oil - a challenge that could be seen as more exciting than war, if we want civilization to continue and the biosphere to continue to support agriculture that keeps us alive.

Some 9/11 "truth" activists claim that we need a big tent to include those who promote any and all ideas of complicity, although including those promoting offensive nonsense usually alienates more people than it attracts. The real big tent is with the majority of our society: joining together liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Christians, Jews, Muslims, athiests, straight, gay, urban, suburban, rural, wealthy, poor, etc. is possible, if we look beyond what are often relatively shallow philosophical differences that get in the way of implementing the countless solutions that exist to these problems. Perhaps one start would be to drop the ridiculous "red state / blue state" construct the media uses to keep us divided, since Tuesday's election shows this dichotomy isn't quite as clearcut as it is marketed. Most people want a good life, have compassion for their children, and are decent human beings -- the political, philosophical and religious labels usually get in the way of communication and while they have importance, our common humanity is far more important if we want to avoid the potential "dieoff" scenarios. The resources we waste on war - money, materials, people - will have to be shifted toward renewable energy, international cooperation, public health, organic food, relocalization of production, etc. for society to be functional a few decades from now. The "deep politics" understanding of the Peak Oil wars (PNAC, 9/11, the oil motivations for the Iraq war, etc) is mostly relevant to the extent that it can shift from military to peaceful uses of global resources and talents for our collective survival. In short, convert the "War on Terror" to a planetary wide effort to restore the biosphere and create a more just economic system (probably a hybrid of many things, ultimately based on energy flows).

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.
--J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known, pp. 51-52

October 27, 2006

A cautionary message with relevance to the 9/11 truth movement:

from "VeganOutreach.org Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating"

"Honest Advocacy is Powerful Advocacy"

In today's society, it seems that if you don't scream the loudest, you are not heard. Because moderate voices are often drowned out, it can feel necessary to make fantastic claims in order to advance your cause.

In the long run, however, this can do more harm than good. When it comes to advocating for the animals, most people are looking for a reason to ignore us -- no one sits around thinking, "I want to give up my current favorite foods and create tension with my friends and family!" Therefore, we can't give anyone any excuses to ignore the terrible and unnecessary suffering endured by today's farmed animals. For this reason alone, it is imperative that we present information that the public will not regard as ludicrous nor dismiss as drawn from biased sources.

This can be hard, of course, as there is a natural tendency to accept any claim that seems to support our position, as well as to argue any side issue that comes up. But we have to remember: our message is simple. We mustn't distract people from it by trying to present every piece of information we've heard that sounds vaguely pro-veg or by trying to answer every argument that's tossed at us. Rather, we must keep the focus of the discussion on the fact that eating animals causes needless suffering.

October 17, 2006

Best comments on the prospect for a Democratic controlled Congress

www.alternet.org/rights/42458/
The illusion of democracy...
Posted by: SteveB on Oct 9, 2006 1:30 PM
is just too useful to the American ruling class to ever do away with.
Why not continue the pretense? Why not continue with two parties that both follow the corporate line, a "free press" that publishes corporate propaganda, all while maintaining the illusion that we all live in a democracy?
This system is much more stable (and profitable) than any military dictatorship. If you think the corporate elites who hold the real power in this country are going to throw it all away just to keep Bush in office, you're wrong.
My prediction: now that the Republicans are no longer proving useful to their purposes, our ruling class will throw their weight behind the Democrats, who will mostly pursue the same policies pursued by the Republicans. The illusion of democracy will be maintained, and those detention camps will remain a figment of some people's paranoid imaginations.

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.
-- Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time (one of Bill Clinton's teachers at Georgetown University)

the potential for an "October Surprise?"

This Washington Post story has received considerable attention - are Bush and Rove really confident in the outcome of the election because of rigged voting machines and / or some sort of nasty "October Surprise?" Or are they merely delusional and the Democrats are going to sweep the mid-term elections and take over both Houses of Congress (which would be nice, but would not likely change the situation that much).

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/14/AR2006101401051_pf.html
White House Upbeat About GOP Prospects
Self-Assurance of Bush, Rove and Others Is Not Shared by Many in the Party
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 15, 2006; A04

Mike Ruppert thinks there will not be an attack on Iran - hopefully his prediction will be correct. It is certainly true that a US attack on Iran would probably disrupt oil shipments through the narrow Strait of Hormuz (where nearly half of the world's oil is transported). If this happens, there is no "map" to understand what occurs afterwards, but it would not be pleasant.

www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com
Thursday, October 12, 2006
OF COURSE there is no attack planned on North Korea. Duh! Since at least Ronald Reagan it is U.S. policy to only invade countries that are defenseless. There will be no invasion of North Korea or Iran.The possibility of invasions such as these – the equivalent of starting World War III – will only enter the realm of possibility when the bumpy plateau of oil production ends and irreversible decline begins, never to turn back again.

Rep. Weldon and "Able Danger"

The FBI raided the home of Rep. Curt Weldon's (R-Pennsylvania) daughter yesterday. The Associated Press article noted that

FBI Raids Home of Rep. Weldon's Daughter
Oct 16 2:00 PM US/Eastern
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press Writer
MEDIA, Pa.
...Weldon, regarded by some as a foreign policy expert, has clashed at times with the Bush administration. In the last year, he has repeatedly said a secret military unit called "Able Danger" used data- mining to link four Sept. 11 hijackers to al-Qaida more than a year before the attacks. A Pentagon report rejected the idea.

Is this raid, timed just before the election, merely an example of FBI criminal investigation that merely had an inconvenient timing for the accused? Or is Team Bush sabotaging a Republican who stumbled onto part of the truth?

The Center for Cooperative Research has an excellent timeline of the Able Danger scandal at
http://cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger

north Korea goes nuclear

North Korea, perhaps the world's most repressive regime, has now tested a nuclear bomb. This is an obvious consequence of the US invasion of Iraq - countries on the "to invade next" list of the neo-cons are now pressured to "go nuclear" to prevent an attack. While this website is against all uses of uranium for any purpose, it is logical and not a surprise that North Korea, Iran and probably other countries are going nuclear.

In all of the noise surrounding this test, the fact that US War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sat on the board of a company that provided nuclear technology to the Communist monarchy was rarely mentioned:

www.swissinfo.org/eng/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1648385

February 24, 2003 - 8:51 AM
Rumsfeld was on ABB board during deal with North Korea
Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defence, was on the board of technology giant ABB when it won a deal to supply North Korea with two nuclear power plants.
Weapons experts say waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called “dirty bombs”.
The Swiss-based ABB on Friday told swissinfo that Rumsfeld was involved with the company in early 2000, when it netted a $200 million (SFr270million) contract with Pyongyang.

Democracy Now! reports the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (which regulates and promotes nuclear energy) is warning that 30 countries could easily develop nuclear weapons. It is probable that some of these potential nuclear states already have developed weapons or have at least developed the technology to manufacture an arsenal (perfecting the non-nuclear parts of an atomic bomb is within the range of any modern, technologically advanced country).

www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/17/1439224
ElBaradei: 30 More Nations Could Develop Nukes
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is warning that as many as 30 nations could soon develop nuclear weapons. Mohamed ElBaradei said more countries than ever are starting uranium enrichment programs or have the technology to do so.

Mohamed ElBaradei: "We need to develop a new system of international approach or multinational approach to this (nuclear safeguards) so not to end up a capacity to develop nuclear weapons in a very short span of time."

The bottom line is anyone with a sizeable nuclear reactor can make a nuclear bomb, whether for alleged peaceful purposes or explicity for weapons material production. India started its weapons program with allegedly peaceful reactors from Canada. The Bush regime recently conducted a nuclear technology trade with India despite that country's refusal to conform to the Non Proliferation Treaty. But the NPT is not sufficient to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, since the inspections are weak and any signatory country can withdraw from the treaty with a few months notice. The only safe, peaceful nuclear power is solar energy (the reactor has a 93 million mile evacuation zone).

• Solar energy cannot make weapons of mass destruction.
• Solar power is decentralized and more democratic.
• Solar power does not require a police state apparatus to control the sale of the raw materials used in the technology.
• Solar power cannot contaminate farmland for thousands of years.
• Solar power does not generate huge amounts of heat that can alter local climates.
• Solar power does not require the huge amounts of coal power needed to enrich uranium. (Solar panels do require energy inputs, but much less than a nuclear reactor.)
• Solar power does not generate ultrahazardous nuclear wastes that are dangerous for eons.

It will be interesting to see if neighboring countries (south Korea, Japan, etc) go nuclear now that north Korea is an admitted nuclear state. Japan has a very sophisticated nuclear program complete with plutonium reprocessing at Tokai Mura The Japanese "self defense forces" could easily have a nuclear arsenal in a short time, since a reprocesing facility such as this one extracts weapons grade plutonium that can be used for weapons. If starving, resource poor north Korea has nuclear weapons, Japan could easily go nuclear on a much larger scale. The ghosts and survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki warn the world that this is a disaster ...

There doesn't seem to be any easy way out of this mess, but some observers have suggested that formally declaring the Korean War over (which was never done) would cost nothing and might ease tensions slightly. Perhaps the successors to Bush-Cheney will be less crazy and won't threaten invasions of country after country, which is a prerequisite for stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. The Non-Proliferation Treaty requires the nuclear states to abandon their weapons of mass destruction in exchange for the non-nuclear countries staying nuclear-free, a requirement that has been blatantly ignored for four decades. The NPT also needs to be changed to eliminate the provisions that non-nuclear weapons countries can acquire allegedly peaceful nuclear power, since that is an oxymoron. A global renewable energy initiative could meet basic energy needs for rich and poor countries and avoid the nightmare scenario of dozens of countries having nuclear weapons.

Jimmy Carter has some advice for the Korean situation - it's not perfect, but it would be better than what we have now.

www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106J.shtml
Solving the Korean Stalemate, One Step at a Time
By Jimmy Carter
The New York Times
Wednesday 11 October 2006

Nuclear weapons are evil and no one should have them. It's sick that the only country in the world that has dropped a nuclear bomb on a city can lecture other countries that they should not have them. May all the arsenals of the world Rust In Peace.

It is also probably not a coincidence that this nuclear test happened as south Korea's Foreign Minister became Secretary General of United Nations. Wayne Madsen Reports claims that the new Secretary General has ties to the empire of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, a shadowy international cult with intelligence ties.

www.consortiumnews.com/2006/101006a.html
Moon, North Korea & the Bushes
By Robert Parry
Consortium News
Originally published on 11 October 2000
Given the nuclear crisis involving North Korea, we are republishing, with minor revisions, this six-year-old article about millions of dollars allegedly funneled from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon - The Washington Times founder and a Bush family financial backer - to leaders of North Korea's communist dictatorship in the 1990s.

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's business empire, which includes the right-wing Washington Times, paid millions of dollars to North Korea's communist leaders in the early 1990s when the hard-line government needed foreign currency to finance its weapons programs, according to U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency documents.

October 5, 2006

Pagegate and the GOP (Greedy Oily Pedophiles)

The best coverage of the "pagegate" scandal has been at Wayne Madsen's website - www.waynemadsenreport.com

Rep. Foley is the tip of the iceberg and a distraction.

Anyone remember Jeff Gannon, the male prostitute posing as a journalist in the White House press corps? Sex is being used as a form of blackmail (to ensure obedient politicians will vote the way the President's people want them to). Given the number of gays in the leadership of the Republican party, clearly the R's don't have a "moral problem" with homosexuality - it's just a tool to rally the bigots who still vote Republican and to keep the politicians in line. It's similar to how these issues were used in the early days of Nazi Germany ...

This scandal ensures that the Democrats will win both houses of Congress next month (if vote fraud doesn't steal it again and if there's not another war before Election Day). Even some Republicans (ie. Pat Buchanan) have admitted this is a virtual certainty. Unfortunately, if that happens, it will merely be "regime rotation" and not regime change. The Hillary Clinton / Democratic Leadership Council faction of the Democratic Party (neo-liberal) will be running the show, not the Dennis Kucinich / let's impeach Bush grassroots of the Democratic Party. The conservative Democrats ran Congress throughout most of the Cold War, and the Democratic leadership is unlikely to investigate the worst of Bush's crimes. It's just "good cop, bad cop." Don't look for the new Democratic leadership to rescind the Patriot Act or investigate the 9/11 war games.

 

The Elites are Divided

www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/080906_global_elite.shtml
The Global Elite Abandon The Neo-cons
by Michael Kane

www.lewrockwell.com/floyd/floyd31.html
War in Heaven: Woodward's Book and the Establishment Insurgency
by Chris Floyd
Bob Woodward has long been the voice of the American Establishment – or of certain quadrants of it, at any rate. When Richard Nixon's criminal depredations and mental instability had gone too far and it was decided to rein him in, former military intelligence officer Woodward was there as a safe pair of hands to receive the damning revelations of "Deep Throat" and help bring down the Nixon presidency. When the Establishment decided it was best to throw in with the Bush Faction's aggressive militarism after 9/11 – lots of big money to be made out of war and fear, and those tax cuts were just too sweet to pass up – Woodward was there again, with a series of stories and books which, as Michiko Kakutani notes in the New York Times, "depicted the president – in terms that the White House press office itself has purveyed – as a judicious, resolute leader, blessed with the 'vision thing' his father was accused of lacking and firmly in control of the ship of state."
And now, when it is clear that George W. Bush is – to put it plainly – a self-deluding addlepate in the late Nixon mode (without any of Nixon's considerable intelligence, of course), and that the orgy of war profiteering and corporate welfare he has thrown for the elite has reached a level of such murderous frenzy that it threatens to kill the whole golden goose of American power – or at least seriously damage the bottom line for years to come – the Establishment has turned to Woodward once again. And the old trouper has delivered.

www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092506A.shtml
Retired Officers to Criticize Rumsfeld
By David Espo
The Associated Press
Monday 25 September 2006

 

An Iranian October Surprise?

www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/the-october-surprise_b_30086.html
The October Surprise
By Gary Hart
HuffingtonPost.com
Saturday 23 September 2006
It should come as no surprise if the Bush Administration undertakes a preemptive war against Iran sometime before the November election.

www.thenation.com/doc/20061009/lindorff
War Signals?
By Dave Lindorff
The Nation
Monday 25 September 2006
As reports circulate of a sharp debate within the White House over possible US military action against Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, The Nation has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have moved up the deployment of a major "strike group" of ships, including the nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship, to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast. This information follows a report in the current issue of Time magazine, both online and in print, that a group of ships capable of mining harbors has received orders to be ready to sail for the Persian Gulf by October 1.

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NAZ20061001&articleId=3361
The March to War: Naval Build-Up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research
Sunday 01 October 2006

September 2006 -- 9/11 + 5 = WW4

There is too much to mention as we pass the fifth anniversary of the American Reichstag Fire. As always, there are many excellent daily news services that do a great job keeping people current on the crash of civilization (it is like watching a train crash in slow motion).

Ruppert in Venezuela
Many readers of this website will probably already be aware that Michael Ruppert's From the Wilderness was physically attacked in late June, and Ruppert subsequently left the United States. You can read his farewell to America at the FTW website.

BY THE LIGHT OF A BURNING BRIDGE: A Permanent Goodbye to the United States
by Michael C. Ruppert
www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/081606_burning_bridge.shtml

In my book Crossing the Rubicon I wrote that events that took place in the five years following those attacks would determine the course of human history for centuries to come. We now stand at the brink of that fateful anniversary.
-- Michael Ruppert

9/11 Five Years Later: How We Won, And Lost
Emanuel Sferios of septembereleventh.org (the original 9/11 truth grassroots outreach campaign) has written an excellent memoire of his involvement in the early days of 9/11 truth -- how we won (by spreading the information far and wide) and how we lost (no political changes have happened). He suggests one of the reasons for our loss is the massive propaganda barrage that has succeeded in associating 9/11 truth with the kookiest claims, instead of the best evidence.

www.septembereleventh.org/five_years_later.php
9/11 FIVE YEARS LATER: WHAT HAVE WE ACCOMPLISHED?
An Assessment of the 9/11 Truth Movement
By Emanuel Sferios
September 11, 2006

How They Got Away With It
Commentator Michael Green has an excellent article on the 911Research site that suggests "How They Got Away With It."

http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/green/HowTheyGetAwayWithIt.html
How They Get Away With It
by Michael Green

Media 9/11 Strategy: focus on the "No Plane" hoaxes, ignore Best Evidence
Nearly every major media institution covered the "9/11 Truth Movement" around the time of the anniversary. Time magazine, The Washington Post, Newsweek, San Francisco Chronicle, Democracy Now! and many others highlighted the "no plane" hoaxes and demolition theories in order to ignore the best evidence (suppressed warnings and war games).

Two excellent articles summarizing this strategy are

http://stillcursedwithvision.blogspot.com/2006/09/alright-goddamnit.html

http://rigint.blogspot.com/2006/09/too-much-monkey-business.html
Friday, September 22, 2006
Too Much Monkey Business

"Towers of Deception: the Media Cover-Up of 9/11" by Barrie Zwicker
Barrie Zwicker has published his book "Towers of Deception," which focuses on how the media have ignored evidence of official 9/11 complicity. Zwicker is probably best known for his pioneering, courageous film The Great Deception (January 2002) and for narrating The End of Suburbia. He was also lead organizer of the May 2004 International Citizens' Inquiry into 9/11 in Toronto, and has been a major voice in the 9/11 truth movement.
Unfortunately, the book misses how the media has delighted in profiling 9/11 "truth" -- as long as it is confined to the no plane hoaxes and demolition theories. Since the 2004 Inquiries, there has been an onslaught of media interest in the kookier claims in the 9/11 truth world, but virtually no attention to the data presented by the Complete 9/11 Timeline or Michael Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon (those efforts are not so easily dismissed, so they are ignored).
Most curious is the complete omission of any mention of Peak Oil as a motivation for allowing (and assisting) the attacks, since Zwicker's first film showed this was a motivation for Bush policies in Central Asia, his narration of End of Suburbia showed deep understanding of energy issues, and his publisher (New Society) prints more book titles about Peak Oil than any other company. Some of those promoting a mix of real and fake claims for 9/11 truth have ridiculed the reality of Peak Oil in recent years, and have pressured truth activists to disconnect the issues of 9/11 complicity from probable Cheney administration planning for Peak Oil. The real scam of Peak Oil is that the public is excluded from decisions over how to use the remaining fossil energy reserves -- as a bridge toward a sustainable society, or to wage endless World War to dominate the oil fields as they run out.
Towers of Deception reads as if it was compiled three years ago, before the media began to focus on the 9/11 hoaxes as a substitute for covering the serious evidence, and before a number of 9/11 truth activists spoke out more loudly about the fake "no plane" claims. (Watching how the media zeroed in on the untruths masquerading as truths was a wake up call to many to see how the powers-that-be were trying to define the truth movement by its weakest links.)

9/11 Press For Truth
In the past year, there have been a number of "9/11 documentaries" that have purported to tell 9/11 truths. Many of them have promoted the no plane claims, demolition theories (both credible and absurd) but few have mentioned serious, well documented evidence.
The new film "9/11: Press For Truth" focuses on the 9/11 family members who demanded an inquiry into the mass murder of their relatives, and how they were betrayed by the official 9/11 commission. Their unanswered questions are available at www.911independentcommission.org
The film also profiles the Complete 9/11 Timeline, an impeccable database of mainstream media articles at www.cooperativeresearch.org This timeline proves that 9/11 was not a surprise to the administration, and they suppressed numerous specific warnings provided by France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Italy, Egypt, Russia and other countries.
Perhaps the main omission in Press for Truth is the lack of discussion of the 9/11 war games, even though this information is detailed at the Complete 9/11 Timeline. Press for Truth is an excellent introduction to these issues, but it also seems like it was produced three years ago (when some of the best evidence of the war games was not yet in the public domain).
Press for Truth is probably the best introductory film for people not familiar with the details.
Ruppert's films The Truth and Lies of 9/11 (November 2001) and Denial Stops Here: From 9/11 to Peak Oil and Beyond are also required viewing (Denial could have used a better editing job).
The best compilation to date is 9/11 Citizens Commission (New York City, September 9, 2004), but it is over five hours long.

The Complete "No Planes on 9/11" Timeline
Inspired by the incredible, impeccable Complete 9/11 Timeline from the Center for Cooperative Research, this new compilation shows the history of the "no plane claims" (Rumsfeld was the first to say a "missile" hit the Pentagon) and how they have been used to smear 9/11 "truth."
Most of those who still believe the "no plane" claims (and their seemingly endless variations) are sincere, but that sincerity does not make their statements any less incorrect.

Pentagon Truth: 9/11 activists debunk Rumsfeld's "missile" meme
This page includes many of the best writers and investigators of 9/11 complicity who point out how the various "no plane" claims are not real.

Bush and Blair: new terror scare (August 2006)
In August, immediately after Senator Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut Democratic primary, the Blair and Bush regimes announced they had foiled a terror plot involving liquids. Fortunately, a number of political observers who have stayed quiet about 9/11 complicity have raised serious questions about the reality behind this new scare. While the full truth is probably not likely to be ever known, British media have reported that some the alleged conspirators did not have passports (which would make it difficult to get on a plane bound for the US). The new "security" measures imposed on airplane passengers are essentially a form of sado-masochism -- the security industry is enjoying poking through everyone's possessions, and we are supposed to enjoy the abuse in the name of safety. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, those who give up freedom for security will get neither.

Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah
The Israeli War on Lebanon (and the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel) seem to have been a trial run for the potential US / Israel attacks on Syria and Iran (the latter two countries wisely stayed out of the direct conflict in Lebanon this summer). The Israeli military dropped over a million cluster bomblets on Lebanon, many of them will act as land mines threatening civilian populations for many years to come. Depleted uranium weapons were also reportedly used, which is an ecological war crime.

Saudi oil and the Sunni / Shia demographic divide
the Shia live on most of the Middle East oil
One of the factors behind this proxy war is the Sunni / Shia demographics in the Middle East -- this divide is essential for understanding the Oil Empire's strategy to balkanize the Middle East. Most alarming is a June 2006 article in Armed Forces Journal that advocated splitting up Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries into several new states -- this new map shows that a new country would be created on top of most of the oil (along the Persian Gulf) that presumably would become an American client state.

The Oil Depletion Protocol
Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over and Powerdown, two of the best books about Peak Oil, has published The Oil Depletion Protocol. This new book is a short, excellent discussion of the need for global cooperation to manage the peaceful decline of petroleum extraction and combustion.

Council on Foreign Relations says terror threat exaggerated
The CFR published a very interesting article suggesting the terror threat has been exaggerated. While this is not exactly a novel observation, the fact that one of the country's most elite organizations is now saying this is extremely interesting, and suggests that some of the power structure has indeed turned on the Bush / Cheney regime.

www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090306A.shtml

www.foreignaffairs.org/20060901facomment85501/john-mueller/is-there-still-a-terrorist-threat.html

Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?
By John Mueller
Foreign Affairs
September/October 2006
Despite all the ominous warnings of wily terrorists and imminent attacks, there has been neither a successful strike nor a close call in the United States since 9/11. The reasonable -- but rarely heard -- explanation is that there are no terrorists within the United States, and few have the means or the inclination to strike from abroad.

July 4, 2006 (Interdependence Day?)

The Oil Empire page on 9/11 has been improved:

www.oilempire.us/911.html
beyond reasonable doubt: best proofs of 9/11 complicity

Best explanation of why it was allowed (and assisted) - pretext to seize the oil fields and impose Homeland Security
Best documented evidence - suppressed warnings and war games
Best theory of how 9/11 happened - hijack the hijackers with remote control
Best historical precedent - Reichstag Fire
Best "physical evidence" - Flight 77 was steered into the mostly empty, recently reconstructed sector of the Pentagon
Best areas for further investigation (an unlikely scenario) - Able Danger, black box data
Best politician who dares to ask inconvenient questions - Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Best questions from 9/11 family members
Best books about 9/11
Best movies about 9/11
Best 9/11 truth websites
Best 9/11 "blog" (web-log)
Best research guides
Best "physical evidence" website
Best 9/11 whistleblowers (most credible)
Best 9/11 truth propaganda
Best analyses of "left gatekeepers" who pretend 9/11 was a surprise attack
Best smear in the media against 9/11 skepticism
Best smear against this website
Best hoax: Rumsfeld's "Pentagon missile" hoax is the most important disinformation masquerading as 9/11 truth

www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0704-05.htm
Published on Tuesday, July 4, 2006 by the New York Times
CIA Closes Unit Focused on Capture of Bin Laden
by Mark Mazzetti
WASHINGTON - The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

www.consortiumnews.com/2006/070306.html
CIA: Osama Helped Bush in '04
By Robert Parry
July 4, 2006
On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as “Osama’s endorsement of John Kerry.” But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin-Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term.
This stunning CIA disclosure is tucked away in a brief passage near the end of Ron Suskind’s The One Percent Doctrine, which draws heavily from CIA insiders. Suskind wrote that the CIA analysts based their troubling assessment on classified information, but the analysts still puzzled over exactly why bin-Laden wanted Bush to stay in office.

Walter Cronkite told CNN’s Larry King on October 29, 2004, after seeing this video of Osama taking credit for 9/11, that he was “a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.”
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/29/lkl.01.html

This “October Surprise” video, released on the eve of the election, likely boosted support for Bush’s “re-election.”
Journalist Wayne Madsen wrote an excellent analysis of the significance of this video “Waking Up From Our Global Nightmare,” archived at
http://mkane.gnn.tv/blogs/698/Wayne_Madsen_on_the_Bush_bin_Laden_Connection

 

June 11, 2006

Two feedbacks from readers of the "New York Times" attack article about the 9/11 "truth" movement:

1. The movement has become a total joke now. It is really sad. It is all ego for people. They don't care about the truth. They just care about being popular. How else can one interpret the "excitement" over the NYT article? OR the number of speakers at the conference? IF all those speakers are bullshit it doesn't matter how many there are, after all. It's the sickness of our age... mass media and popularity dictate people's behavior. They measure success in terms of how much media coverage they get, how big their conferences are, etc. Very very sad.

2. I have seen what Mike Ruppert and Jamie Hecht are saying coming. There is no doubt that the disnformation specialists have done a great job of divide and conquer. As increasingly wild theories bloomed, I shook my head in dismay. I wrote to a few people involved questioning why American's are so quick to scream at each other. Too many 'seekers of truth' were too easily suckered by the Pentagon distraction. Massive hole could have been blown in the official story at the WTC. The puppet masters have been very clever!
Fact is, some people, some groups have done an outstanding job of analysis. Fact is, the official story is the real CT. So many facets of it are sheer physical, mathematical, engineering impossibilities. There can be no doubt that this was an inside job.
In my view, those working in a professional way, those who are professionals in the disciplines that are relevant, should continue their work. There has to be recorded for history a through analysis of this type. Not because I have any hope that the perpetrators will ever be brought to account. I have come to understand very well that only a very few of us can see reality. Want to know the truth, however shocking. I know that the vast majority, with their condition minds, simply cannot grasp the issues. They prefer to believe the official fabrication.
Right now I do not see a good conclusion for the human race. At times I think the candle of hope is flickering badly. But somehow we have to keep that little flame going! If there is no hope, then we are all finished. I try and get through to a few people, to snap them out of their media induced torpor, to get them to understand the enormity of what we face. But, most people just don't want to know. It is too much to grasp. The implications are too frightening.
The lights are fading Mark. It is getting very cold.

May 24, 2006

It is sad that this website received its all time highest traffic load on May 16, the day the Bush regime released excerpts of a videotape purporting to show the crash of Flight 77 into the nearly empty, recently reconstructed sector of the Pentagon. Apparently, the "no plane" hoax is more popular than analysis of how industrial society could cope with Peak Oil, climate change, depleted mineral resources and declining food production.

For the record, this website has stated for over a year that it is unlikely the surveillance videos showing Flight 77 will ever be released, since the "no plane" hoax has been so successful at discrediting "9/11 Truth" inside the Beltway and dividing the 9/11 Truth (sic) Movement that the perpetrators have no interest in dispelling the "no plane" fantasies. The release of the "new" video on May 16 just pours more fuel on the "no plane" fires - especially since they do not show a clear view of the plane. Hiding these surveillance videos is just "reverse psychology" -- hiding the evidence does not mean that the evidence does not show Flight 77, it just shows that certain interests want the skeptics to think this. Declassification of the many surveillance tapes seized by FBI (and others?) on 9/11 would not tell us anything we don't already know (that Flight 77 was flown into the mostly empty part of the Pentagon). Instead, a public process to review the data on the "black boxes" that were supposedly found at the scene (according to Newsweek) would be much more interesting, since that data would either confirm -- or refute -- the many allegations that some sort of remote control / computer piloting system was used to ensure the plane hit the Pentagon in the one part that would cause the fewest casualties and the least damage to military operations.

April 2, 2006

A few visitors to this website this weekend - not an April Fools joke.

• Moncton Flight College, New Brunswick, Canada - mail.mfc.nb.ca
• Air Force National Guard - cits-blue1.region2.ang.af.mil
• Computer Sciences Corporation (military contractor) - yucca.europe.csc.com
• Lockheed Martin corporation - proxy1d.external.lmco.com

March 30, 2006

A meal of Fine Food mixed with Dog Shit:
Charlie Sheen, Loose Change and why the media focus on hoaxes.

The 9/11 "truth movement" peaked two years ago this week at the International Inquiry in San Francisco. Shortly after that excellent event, the flood of disinformation and hoax claims on 9/11 accelerated (probably a response to the success of the Inquiry). A few months later, the mass media started efforts to discredit 9/11 truth by focusing on the fake claims. It's an old, old tactic.

If there's any hope for the loose confederation called the 9/11 truth movement, it would require a shared understanding that the "no plane hit Pentagon" claim is a hoax designed to discredit us. Fortunately, the best investigators into 9/11 understand that "no plane" is not true -- a list of some of them is at www.oilempire.us/pentagon-truth.html Most people who are interested in these issues but unfamiliar with the details can easily be shown that the "small hole" claim is fake, that photos of the crash site show plane parts, and that hundreds of people saw the plane.

There's been some excitement at some websites over the fact that actor Charlie Sheen has stated he thinks the Bush regime was involved in 9/11. Sheen was even invited onto a CNN show to talk about this, which has caused some to think this is a major media breakthrough.

However, this is unlikely to be the outcome. Sheen stated that he didn't think a plane hit the Pentagon, which in his case is probably an honest mistake (he obviously did not check the facts). A follow-up show on CNN with actor Ed Asner and 9/11 author Sander Hicks was abruptly canceled (it's worth noting that Sander's book "The Big Wedding" mentions how the "no plane" claims are not true). The media leaders are not dumb - they know that any 9/11 "truth" coverage should focus on the fake claims and ignore the real ones.

CNN's latest focus on so-called "9/11 truth" is similar to other media efforts over the past two years. The media would prefer to ignore 9/11 conspiracy claims, but they have gotten enough traction (and support) so they cover the story by ensuring that the "no plane" hoax is at the center of the claims. CNN, Parade, Democracy Now, The Washington Post, Popular Mechanics, Scientific American and others have trashed 9/11 activists, focusing on the hoaxes while largely ignoring the real evidence.

A Greenpeace media guru gave this writer excellent advice a long time ago: if you are being interviewed and say ten smart things and one dumb thing, the dumb thing will be on TV. That is the modus operandi of the media.

It's been sad to watch a number of well-meaning "9/11 activists" promote the disinformation film "Loose Change" despite knowing that much of what's in that pseudo-documentary is nonsense. Loose Change is merely a recycling of the previous hoax production "In Plane Site," a 2004 campaign to distract and discredit 9/11 skeptics before the Kerry/Bush stolen election. The cover of the Plane Site DVD contained a subtle admission that it was just a bad joke hidden in plain sight. The main difference between Loose Change and In Plane Site is the newer production includes a few more pieces of truth, since the signal-to-noise ratio in IPS was so poor that many people understand it was a fake film.

Those who push "Loose Change" ignore the real documentaries that are high quality: Denial Stops Here, The Truth and Lies of 9/11, The Great Conspiracy, and the footage from the 9/11 Citizens Commission hearing in New York City on September 9, 2004. Links to these and other films are at www.oilempire.us/movies.html Some of those who suggest that we should promote the fake films do so because they are free, although there are some real clips on-line that are free (particularly the 9/11 Citizens Commission hearing), although they don't have fancy graphics or a rock music soundtrack. The fake film promoters who are sincere seem to assume that while 9/11 was a false flag operation, everyone promoting "truth" is sincere even if they advocate claims that are absurd and without evidence.

One political tactic that would be needed for positive change is for people to learn to "vote with their money" for products made by people doing good work. Mike Ruppert and Barrie Zwicker have done good work to produce documentaries on 9/11, and they deserve to make back their costs for these efforts.

While no one is likely to be 100% correct in their writings on these topics, the "no plane" stuff has been debunked for so many years that anyone still promoting this claim is either uninformed, unwilling to admit a mistake, or lying.

Mike Ruppert has an excellent commentary today that is must reading for everyone concerned with the ebbing of the 9/11 truth movement:

www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/033006_charlie_sheen.shtml
HEY CHARLIE SHEEN, WAKE UP!
There Are Good Reasons Why 9/11 is Having Its 15 Minutes of Fame Now – Look at Who’s In the Spotlight
by Michael C. Ruppert

A new website - flight77.info - has an excellent commentary on "Loose Change"

i hate sort of beating-up on certain segments of the collective of people who are skeptical about the official version of happened on 9/11... but here i go again: scholars for 9/11 truth: another just provocative web site. how can you tell? among other things, on their home page, they promote the 9/11 music video called 'loose change' that offers up every crack pot pod missile theory in the book. 'loose change' is out there just to provoke people emotionally. its substance is in its appeal to teens and twentysomethings. so why are the 'scholars for 9/11 truth' aligning themselves with a tin hat munching 9/11 music video? why are the 'scholars for 9/11 truth' also promoting the no 757 theory? answer: the web site is just provocative. it's using the blanket (AKA 'big tent'; throwing enough shit at the wall) approach to attract more people to the concept that 9/11 was an inside job. then by magic, one of these new people will uncover the proof we need to hang the true conspirators.
what's wrong with this 'scholarly' approach? anyone? anyone ? bueler? bueler?
once bush & co reach the end of their reign - that's the finish line, they win. once those powers-that-be are out of power, people lose interest. we need to get 'em for 9//11 while they're in office if we're going to end this endless war on terrorism.
so the problem with the scholars for 9/11 truth's throw-enough-shit-at-the-wall approach is that they're spinning a new generation of 9/11 skeptics into 9/11 goofballs who are going to spend the next 2 1/2 years looking at the same old pictures of the pentagon going, 'gee, that IS a small hole...' and who will spend endless hours replaying the WTC video trying to see the missile pods.
what does it gain the 9/11 truth movement if everyone is a member - but we're all full of shit reciting misinformation?
the purpose of the 9/11 truth movement isn't to have more members - it's to end the war on terrorism while it's still possible. and time is really running out.

 

Feburary 23, 2006

Citizens for Legitimate Government has excellent links to some amazing articles on the port scandal:

Gag me with a chainsaw! Pentagon: Ports uproar may pose security risk 24 Feb 2006 The second in command at the Pentagon [Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England] said Thursday that people who publicly oppose allowing a Middle Eastern company to take over management of some U.S. ports could be threatening national security. [LOL! I guess we're not allowed to talk about it, or Al CIAduh will attack!]

UAE Co., White House Had Secret Agreement 22 Feb 2006 The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.

President Bush On U.S. Ports: 'People Don't Need To Worry About Security' 23 Feb 2006 President [sic] Bush on Thursday defended his administration's decision to allow a company from an Arab country to operate six major U.S. ports, saying, "People don't need to worry about security." [We just need to worry about *him,* the world's most dangerous terrorist.]

Bush may accept delay in port deal 23 Feb 2006 President [sic] George W. Bush, under fire from Congress for letting a state-owned Arab firm acquire terminal management at six major U.S. ports, would accept a slight delay in implementing the deal, a senior White House adviser said on Thursday.

UAE Gave $100 Million for Katrina Relief 23 Feb 2006 Weeks before one of its companies sought U.S. approval for its ports deal, the United Arab Emirates contributed $100 million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, officials confirmed Thursday.

Dubai 'poised to make £3b buyout bid for P&O ports' 31 Oct 2005 Dubai Ports World, the world's sixth-largest port operator, is set to make a £3 billion bid this week to take over P&O, Britain's biggest ports and ferries group, the Sunday Times News Service reported from London yesterday.

Dubai wants IT business as well as U.S. ports --Dubai is encouraging companies to set up operations in the United Arab Emirates 23 Feb 2006 The United Arab Emirates, which is currently at the center of a controversy over whether outsourcing the management of six U.S. ports to a company based in the Persian Gulf should be allowed, wants to do more than manage ports: It wants Dubai, its capital, to become a major IT outsourcing destination.

Space Adventures Announces $265 Million Global Spaceport Development Project 17 Feb 2006 Space Adventures, Ltd., the world's leading space experiences company, announced today its plans to develop a commercial spaceport in Ras Al-Khaimah (the UAE), with plans to expand globally. The total estimated cost of the global spaceport development project is at least $265 million (USD) and will be funded by various parties, along with shared investments by Space Adventures and the government of Ras Al-Khaimah.

Port Authority: We're suing to stop sale to Dubai firm 23 Feb 2006 The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Thursday it has security concerns over a plan for a Dubai-based firm to take over operations at a Port Newark container terminal and it will file a lawsuit to terminate its lease at the port.

Ports: All 'Bout a Dealer Named Bout --A Russian arms merchant funnels money, guns, and dope through the United Arab Emirates By James Ridgeway 23 Feb 2006 "As for the Customs Service, it inspects as little as 5 percent of the cargo going through the New York ports. This is a dream setup for any arms or dope dealer, and that's exactly what the United Arab Emirates is all about. The ties between its top officials and royal family with the Taliban and Al Qaeda go back at least a decade. The UAE is not only the center of financial dealings in the Persian Gulf, it is switching central for dope and arms dealing."

Dubai Harbored Hijackers? Big Deal, Bush Says By Margaret Carlson 23 Feb 2006 "There is no professional who knows what [Michael] Chertoff is doing in charge of homeland security. The department Bush built from scratch is a disgrace, largely because to Bush all civil servants are bureaucrats and the government a piñata to be hit until all the goodies are disgorged. Oh, Why Not? Plunder Medicare for the drug industry? Done. Give away oil royalties to the energy industry? Done. Let the oil industry write the energy bill in secret? Done. Enrich insurance companies with Health Savings Accounts? Check. Appoint a lawyer to oversee disaster relief and homeland security when there are experts in the field who've devoted their professional lives to the subject? Oh, why not?"

Dubai and Toxic Tank Cars: What are Bush's Priorities? By Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth 23 Feb 2006 "Just look at what [George W.] Bush was already doing in our nation’s capital to prevent the D.C. Council from taking action against the threat of toxic tank cars. A Navy study found that an attack on one chlorine tank car could kill or injure as many as 100,000 people in a half hour in the District. On February 1, 2005, the D.C. Council enacted a law requiring railroads to route such dangerous cargoes around the District. Bush signaled his preference for protecting business interests over protecting the security of the people of Washington by sending his Justice Department to court to overturn the D.C. law. When U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan demolished their arguments in a decision upholding the law, Bush and the railroads appealed, where they succeeded in blocking implementation of the law. By a twist of fate, one of the railroads fighting the D.C. City Council is none other than CSX. Treasury Secretary John Snow, who signed off on this purchase, was formerly the head of CSX before he joined the Cabinet. A year after Snow joined the Cabinet, CSX sold off its overseas port operations to DP World for $1.23 billion. As chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Secretary Snow presided over the committee’s approval of the ports deal."

February 22, 2006

The destruction of the mosque in Samarra, Iraq is clearly an enormous provocation toward creating a civil war to split Iraq into fragments. While it is impossible to know exactly who did it, the beneficiaries seem obvious -- and the occupation by the US benefits greatly. The soon-to-come civil war gives Rumsfeld, et al and excuse not to leave any time soon, and breaking up Iraq into small parts could make it easier to dominate the parts that have oil. US foreign policy has promoted for a very long time the idea of "divide and conquer" -- a tactic that dates at least to the days of the Egyptian pharoahs. Riverbend and Rigorous Intuition have excellent commentaries, from very different perspectives.

It's nice to see the "Bush allows sale of port operations to Dubai" getting substantial media air time and opposition from Republican leaders of Congress. It would be nice to see Congress vote to block this and then override Bush's veto -- that might finally wake people up to what is really behind this scam. It's pathetic that some supporters of this are using the race card, implying that opponents of this deal are merely opposed to Arabs (that might be true for some people, but that is NOT the issue). Wayne Madsen has some interesting background on this latest scandal.

 

The Village Voice in New York City has published the latest attack on what is euphemistically called the 9/11 Truth Movement. It focuses almost entirely on the people promoting no planes hoaxes and similar claims, like nearly all mainstream and semi-mainstream coverage of these issues.

Two issues in the article are especially revealing.

First, the on line version only links to fringe sites peddling no plane claims (and extreme racism, in one case), but does not dare link to Jenna Orkin of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization (who is quoted in the article) or Michael Ruppert's From the Wilderness (which is referenced, but not quoted directly). This shows that the Voice wants to steer readers to the sloppy sites while avoiding guides to the better efforts - the modus operandi of the two pronged coverup (set up hoax sites and then get the media to debunk the hoax sites).

Second, the Voice did not mention its 2004 interview with Paul Thompson, the author of the incredible Complete 9/11 Timeline, the single best research guide to these issues. That interview was very sympathetic and respectful -- but the issues raised in that profile were ignored by this week's sleazy attack.

The article starts with the claim that 9/11 truth is all about physics, but this is mere misdirection -- it's about politics, covert operations, historical parallels with similar efforts like the Reichstag Fire (among others), means, motive and opportunity. Even if one argues about the physics of 9/11 from a convincing and / or accurate perspective, without understanding how these things can be allowed to happen - allowed by the "deep politics" of the empire - it is unlikely that many people will be motivated to accept this troubling paradigm.

Will there ever be a mainstream coverage of the best evidence of 9/11 complicity? Or will the media persist in making these stories fluff pieces about the freak show of the "truth movement" and mix up the best and the silly and the hoaxers to make it very difficult for readers to separate fact from fantasy? The issue is not the competence or carelessness of people saying "9/11 was an inside job," but what Cheney, Rumsfeld and their associates did on and around 9/11. In short, ignore the "truth movement" and focus on what the regime is doing!

The Seekers
The birth and life of the '9-11 Truth movement'
by Jarrett Murphy
February 21st, 2006
http://villagevoice.com/news/0608,murphy,72254,6.html

Conspiracy 101
The basics of alternative 9-11 theories
by Jarrett Murphy
February 21st, 2006
http://villagevoice.com/news/0608,murphy,72255,6.html

The Usual Suspects
What it takes to make a conspiracy theory
by Jarrett Murphy
February 21st, 2006
http://villagevoice.com/news/0608,murphy,72256,6.html

www.villagevoice.com/news/0416,mondo1,52830,6.html
Mondo Washington
Timeline of Tragedy
Picking up the pieces of 9-11, putting them in order, trying to make sense
by James Ridgeway
April 20th, 2004 12:25 PM

interview with Paul Thompson of the Center for Cooperative Research

February 20, 2006

Cartoons and shipping ports ...

About the "cartoon riots," here's some insightful commentary from Ran Prieur

I was going to write a long criticism of the cartoon riots. (Bugs Bunny showed an offensive picture to Yosemite Sam who got really mad.) But it's more complex than it looked at first. Probably, the right wing newspaper that published the Mohammed cartoons was trying to incite Muslims into actions that would then incite Europeans into supporting Dubya Dubya Three. But the fury of the Muslim response has been exaggerated. Also, I don't have a good link, but apparently most of the riots are not really about the cartoons. The cartoons are a catalyst to bring people together, and then these groups are rioting for perfectly sensible economic and political reasons. Also, I'm sure, some of the violence is being stoked up by agents of the Empire, to justify future military attacks.

taognostic.org has this comment:

this latest smear campaign had an added venom to it. As well as portraying most Muslims as a bunch of crazies who freak out and break things because of cartoons, this campaign placed the Muslim community at opposites, and hence as sworn enemies, of our beloved free speech. Some people said this was “an experiment in free speech”, but there were a lot of important people organising this experiment and the variables were adjusted so that a certain outcome would be inevitable. ....
This is why so many people were lost, and eventually made stupid and more racist by this whole event: smart people everywhere fell for this one like suckers. They heard “free speech” and came running. And all it took was a little spin to portray a part of the world as against our free speech, and by extension, against our very way of life. (Despite the fact that the Western world and free speech have less and less in common every day)
So, with civilisation coming to an end and all that, more and more people are realising the solutions available to us. With this increased clarity comes a greater threat of turning that clarity upside down and using it to imprison us. The cartoons were a big reminder of this. Our collective insight into our fate is becoming clearer every day and authority is doing what it does best to cloud the truth - throw more complexity at it.

Lots of discussion today about the seemingly insane decision by the Bush regime to allow the sale of strategic East Coast shipping port terminals to a company from the United Arab Emirates. The most likely explanation is that Cheney and Bush need another "new Pearl Harbor" to distract from the many ways that their administration is unraveling and provide a fresh excuse for escalating the wars on the Middle East and the war on freedom in the homeland.

Senator Schumer has a press release about it here, ABC News has an article about Congressional efforts to block the sale here, and the White House announces they have picked an executive from the company (DP World) purchasing the ports to be the new Administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation. DP World has a press release about their good news.

February 13, 2006

The abundance to things to comment on is more than usual.

• The psyop of the "Mohammed cartoons" to provoke endless war.
• Hamas victory in Palestine.
• The upcoming shift of Iranian oil sales to the euro.
• NSA spying controversies in Congress, the renewal of the unPatriot Act (and the "nerve gas" false alert in the Congressional office buildings, a not-so-veiled reminder of the Anthrax attack on the Democrats during the consideration of the original Patriot Act)
• Bush's claim that a second 9/11 was supposedly prevented in Los Angeles (a plot that supposedly never got past the fantasy stage for a handful of Jihadist terrorist wingnuts somewhere in southeast Asia).
• the Abramoff scandal
• Cheney and the Valerie Plame scandal
• KBR / Halliburton given more than one-third billion dollars to build emergency domestic detention camps
• the first US corporate employees are forced to have RFID tracking tags inserted into their bodies
• data mining (ie. Total Information Awareness) has accelerated with new programs
• Yahoo and Google are helping China censor the internet and arrest thought criminals
• climate change censorship and the acceleration of impacts
• obvious signs that Peak Oil is here
• the increasing calls for impeachment, even hints from within Congress that this should happen.
• FEMA's Michael Brown blames Bush White House for ignoring Katrina warnings.

All of these are amazing stories, scary and indicative of what type of year 2006 will probably be. But these stories, as interesting as they are, are distant seconds to the news released this weekend that Vice President Richard Cheney somehow managed to shoot a friend while on a hunting trip (the friend was not severely injured and will recover). One wonders what prosecution there will be (if any).

 

Cheney shoots man in hunt error
The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has accidentally shot and injured a man during a quail hunting trip in Texas.
The victim, named as Harry Whittington, was on the trip with Mr Cheney at the Armstrong Ranch when the accident happened on Saturday.
Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said Mr Whittington, 78, had been taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital where he was said to be "doing fine".
According to a spokeswoman, Mr Cheney spent Sunday afternoon at the hospital.
Ms Armstrong said Mr Cheney had turned round to shoot at a bird but sprayed Mr Whittington with shotgun pellets instead.
Mr Whittington was hit in the cheek, neck and chest, but is said to be "alert and doing fine" in hospital.
A laywer from Austin, Texas, Mr Whittington was initially treated at the ranch by medical staff who normally travel with the vice-president.
The men were part of a quail hunting expedition at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas.
The local sheriff's department is investigating the incident.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4707354.stm
Published: 2006/02/12 21:55:00 GMT
C BBC MMVI

James and Sarah Brady Comment on the Vice President's Hunting Mishap
2/12/2006 5:40:00 PM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: National Desk
Contact: Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 202-289-5792
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- James and Sarah Brady made comments today related to Vice President Cheney's reportedly accidental shooting yesterday in Texas.
"Now I understand why Dick Cheney keeps asking me to go hunting with him," said Jim Brady. "I had a friend once who accidentally shot pellets into his dog - and I thought he was an idiot."
"I've thought Cheney was scary for a long time," Sarah Brady said. "Now I know I was right to be nervous."
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-
/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

January 6, 2006

Far too much happening to summarize in this blog: the NSA spying scandals, Jack Abramoff, Rep. Murtha and General William Odom (ret., former director of NSA for Reagan) calling for withdrawal from Iraq, political succession in Israel, the potential war on Iran, Bush's poll ratings sinking toward impeachment levels, economic instability, and much, much more.

Please visit the new "news services" page for excellent guides to staying on top of the daily flood of information. There are also a number of innovations at oilempire.us to make site navigation considerably easier.

New pages at oilempire include the NSA scandal, the State Department 9/11 disinformation website and a collection of haiku (short poems).

Substantial updates include pages about the history of no planes on 9/11 hoaxes, impeachment, and propaganda patterns.