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8/23/2002
Secret Court Rebuffs Ashcroft :.The Justice Department was acting improperly!? I'm shocked! The secretive federal court that approves spying on terror suspects in the United States has refused to give the Justice Department broad new powers, saying the government had misused the law and misled the court dozens of times, according to an extraordinary legal ruling released yesterday.
posted by Kevin at 7:05 AM
Iraqi Consulate Raid Staged by CIA? :.NOTE: This entry is based on information submitted anonymously to cryptome.org. It may be real, and it may just as easily be a complete fabrication. Whatever it is, it is definitely food for thought! Remember, a couple of weeks ago, when I wrote this: There is going to be an attempt to place at least some of the blame for the 9/11---and maybe even Oklahoma City---attacks on Iraq. Flash forward to yesterday: Apparently one of the two Iraqis was convinced that the diplomatic compound housed certain documents that could establish a link between at least one consular official and the Sept. 11 hijackers who operated primarily out of Germany.
As you know, the break-in into the Iraqi compound in Berlin occurred yesterday and the previously unknown group of dissidents managed to have nearly six hours to search for records.One has to wonder about this curious event in Berlin. There's something about Gerhard Schr�der. He strikes me as a straight shooter. I can't imagine him going along with such an outrageous and risky plot. I mean, come on, a staged raid on a foreign government's embassy? An act of war!? Could the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, Germany's intelligence service) have been in on this with the CIA? I would almost have to say that both agencies would have had to be in on it. Was Grenz Schutz Gruppe 9 (GSG9, elite German counter terrorism unit) tipped off to the fact that the "terrorists" would just be giving up peacefully, in order to make sure nobody got killed as a result of this? Any European readers who are following this incident, please write in with any interesting details that may be related to a possible joint CIA/BND plot.
posted by Kevin at 6:34 AM
"America, You Are a Goddamn Shame" :.This is a maddening time to be a dissident. I listened to a recent Chomsky talk last night and you can hear it in his voice: Doom. He's not just talking about the threats to democracy, etc. He's talking about annihilation of the human species. You think, "Things have gotten so bad, people will finally have to wake up!" But guess what: Hardly anybody gives a damn. As long as the Budweiser is cold and the MTV is coming in loud and clear, nobody cares that the entire show is falling apart. And they won't care, even as the ID numbers are stamped on their arms, and the chips are implanted in their tiny, pink faced babies. They won't care as their cities are broken down into sectors and zones and soldiers control their movement. They won't care as people start to disappear. Oh. Woops. That's already happening. I would say to all of you out there in Internetland: Enjoy things while you can. Spend time with your family and friends. Just BE conscious in the moment. Things are so far gone that we shouldn't beat ourselves up too much at this late date. Am I saying to give up? No. All I'm asking is that you consider one thing: When the curtain comes down, will you be able to say that you tried to make a difference? I was actually stunned that this letter appeared in print. I think it's excellent. At some point, I will be creating an hyperlinked version of Mr. McDougall's letter so those interested in understanding some of his points in more detail may have easy access to the information. The vast majority of you are spiritually, emotionally and intellectually dead.
When did you stop caring, America? Was it after your own FBI and intelligence agencies plotted the murder of President John F. Kennedy? Or is this just the raving lunacy of the conspiracy nut? What does your gut tell you, America? Is something a little amiss here? [See the ABOUT section of this web site] Today, you excoriate, ridicule and ostracize the brave and true among you. Your best investigative journalists are fired from their jobs and ignored. Congress's few courageous souls are laughed at and dismissed out of hand as crackpots. The most honest and conscientious political leader in the country, Ralph Nader, is a powerless, near-invisible curiosity easily side-lined by hired goons.Special thanks to JH for submitting this one!
posted by Kevin at 5:24 AM
An Open Letter to President BushFrom: Hanna Levinson
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 8:01 AM
To: president@whitehouse.gov
Cc: Dennis Kucinich
Subject: An Open Letter to President George W. Bush
An open letter to President George W. Bush - August 22, 2002 (Please feel free to copy and forward; may you be further moved to write your own letter to President Bush, and copy your friends and representatives. Please also sign the petition at http://www.moveon.org/nowar/)
Dear President Bush:
In your apparent rush to War with Iraq, it appears to many in our country and abroad that you and your cabinet are chiefly interested in subverting civil and human rights and paving the way for U.S. interests to gain control of the natural resources of the Middle East.
Do you really know, Mr. President, that Saddam Hussein is plotting war against America? If you have proof of Mr. Hussein's complicity with the September 11th terrorists, or any other band of terrorists attacking or planning to attack this or any other country, then it is incumbent upon you as President of the United States, acting on behalf of the American people, to present your evidence to the World Court. In this age of possible nuclear annihilation, any consideration of war should and must be brought before all the Nations of this earth in order to determine the appropriate course of action.
Mr. President, I beg you to explain to the American people and the World why you are apparently ignoring the advice of the chief U.S. Weapons Inspector previously stationed in Iraq and why you have not sought counsel from members of the House Oversight Committee and the Senate of the United States as you consider and apparently make plans for going to war against Iraq. A good President works with the House and Senate, a good World Leader works with the United Nations, and a good human being puts the welfare of humanity above personal or political gain.
In closing, Mr. President, I believe that this proposed War on Iraq, is ill-conceived and destined to wreak more havoc than you or any of us can possibly know at this time. I am grateful that we live in a World where technology provides better communication between people of all nations. The mass of humanity is watching you, Mr. President. I pray you will meet and cooperate with the United States Congress and Senate, the United Nations and the World Court in every effort to gain World consensus and help bring us closer to a world at peace. The alternative is much less attractive.
Yours most sincerely,
H. Levinson
Santa Monica, CA USA
www.truthpoint.net
posted by Kevin at 4:21 AM
8/22/2002
N.Y. Times Reporter Suicided? :.I haven't yet looked into Myerson's background, but I will. And, I have no evidence that this was murder. But, keep this sentence in mind. It's from the CIA Assassination Manual ( original FOIA document scans) used around 1954: The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface.NEW YORK, Aug 22 (Reuters) - A business editor at The New York Times, Allen Myerson, died on Thursday after falling from the top floor of the Times' building in midtown Manhattan, a spokeswoman for the newspaper said.
Police said his death appeared to be a suicide but that the case remained under investigation.
The body of Myerson, 47, was found on the roof of a parking garage next to the Times building on West 43rd Street shortly before 10 a.m. (1400 GMT), Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said.
Police said he was pronounced dead at the scene.
It appeared Myerson fell from the top floor of the 15-story Times building, Mathis said. That floor of the Times is commonly used for receptions.Other CIA political assassination documents related to Guatemala are here.
posted by Kevin at 3:50 PM
Iraq: U.S. Invasion Force Almost In Place :.U.S. military personnel and equipment have been slowly trickling into the Persian Gulf region since just after September 11, 2001. Efforts have been stepped up in recent months and preparations are ongoing: There are growing signs that the United States is putting into place the necessary equipment for an eventual attack upon Iraq. At least two large cargo ships have been hired to carry military supplies to the region, according to Pentagon reports, and the US Air Force is also stockpiling munitions and equipment at its key bases in the Gulf.Mike Ruppert has completed an extensive analysis of the military buildup. Unfortunately, the report is not public (paid subscribers only) so there is no direct link. According to Ruppert's work, an attack could happen within a matter of days or weeks, rather than months: Aug. 21, 2002, 13:00 PDT (FTW) -- It may be too late for President George W. Bush to change his mind on the invasion of Iraq. An analysis of troop deployments in the region shows that the U.S. already has well over 100,000 military personnel in as many as 11 countries around Iraq. Additional analysis shows that another 100,000 or more crack assault and support personnel have just completed a major training exercise for a hypothetical conflict that bears a strong resemblance to Iraq. These troops can be ready to fight in the region on 96-hour notice. "Stealth" mobilizations of Reserve and National Guard units, begun after Sept. 11, also indicate that as many as another 150,000 military personnel can be deployed within days or weeks of an initial surprise attack.
News reports from other sources confirm the following report by the Asia Times on Aug. 19. "Since March 12,000 troops have been added to Kuwait (8,000) and Qatar (4,000) and 5,000 Brits to Oman, bringing the April/May total to 62,000. In late June, the Turkish foreign ministry reported heavy air traffic of U.S. military transport planes aimed at increasing the number of U.S. troops in Southern Turkey from 7,000 to 25,000 by the end of July. Also in June, a contingent of 1,700 British Royal Marines were re-deployed from Afghanistan to Kuwait and a 250-man, highly specialized German NBC (nuclear-biological-chemical) warfare battalion equipped with "Fuchs" (fox) armored vehicles has been in Kuwait since early this year.
"An additional 2,400 U.S. troops are deployed in Jordan and, according to the Jordanian news agency Petra, are being reinforced by another 4,000 arriving since Aug. 12 at Aqaba for joint exercises with the Jordanian Army. Already, 1,800 U.S. troops (mostly Special Forces) are inside Iraq, at least since the end of March and, in fact, units there were visited two months ago by CIA director George Tenet during a side trip from Israel and Palestine. Between another 2,000 and 3,000 U.S. troops are in semi-permanent deployment in the Negev and Sinai deserts in accordance with old international agreements. On Aug, 9, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported that 5,000 Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq and taken over the Bamerni airbase north of Mosul. These numbers add up to about 105,000 U.S. and allied troops on bases surrounding and inside Iraq."
All told, including foreign troops, there are potentially 400,000 military personnel that are either in the theater of operations, ready to go, or deployable on very short notice. There are many other units that have gone into stealth mode and cannot be located. These advance deployments indicate that the Bush Administration likely committed itself to the invasion many months ago.Research credit for BBC piece: DG
posted by Kevin at 4:43 AM
U.S. and Britain Develop Active Armor :.We are witnessing the beginning of a new era in warfighting. This is essentially a crude deflector shield: Fitted on light armored vehicles such as personnel carriers, the force field uses a series of charged metal plates to dissipate the effects of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), a weapon found by the thousands from Mogadishu to Kabul to Baghdad.
RPGs and other "shape charge" munitions derive their destructive power from cones of copper embedded in their noses. When the warhead explodes, it crushes the cone, shooting out a jet of hot copper at 5,000 mph -- instantly destroying anything short of a tank.
The electrical armor system, powered by the vehicle's regular supply of electricity, stops the jets by zapping them with tens of thousands of amps of current. This vaporizes some of the deadly copper jets and reduces the rest to a relatively harmless mixture of melted and pulverized debris that disperses around the vehicle.
In recent proof-of-concept tests by the British military, RPG attacks on an electric-armor-equipped personnel carrier left only dents and scratches.
posted by Kevin at 4:40 AM
8/21/2002
Excellent "Enemy Combatant" Article :.Casting fundamental constitutional guarantees aside, the Bush administration is pressing forward with its policy of detaining people indefinitely, and without charges or access to legal counsel, as part of its so-called war on terrorism. Despite growing opposition to its policy, the Bush administration is preparing to expand the practice by allocating additional cells in military prisons and camps for detainees, including US citizens.
According to a news report in the August 8 Wall Street Journal, the Bush administration is formulating plans for a special committee�comprised of the attorney general, the secretary of defense and the CIA director�to designate �enemy combatants.� A person so labeled can then be transferred to military custody and held indefinitely in detention, incommunicado, subject to interrogations and beyond the reach of any judicial review. This policy violates multiple constitutional provisions, including the Fifth Amendment right to due process, which includes notice of charges and an opportunity to be heard, and the right to counsel.
These measures further undermine the system of �checks and balances� which underlies the constitutional framework as a whole. No longer are people subject to arrest and incarceration only for violating acts of Congress, and no longer can they obtain access to courts to protect their rights. Instead a US citizen or foreign national can be stripped of his or her civil liberties solely on the basis of an executive decree.Research credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 5:05 AM
Afghan Opium Production Coming Back :.I think the purposes for the U.S. activity in Afghanistan is 80% oil and natural gas and 20% heroin: United Nations drug officials say the new Afghan Government has largely failed in its efforts to eradicate the opium poppy crop. A UN spokesman, Hector Maletta, said a government campaign, launched in April, had had a very limited impact. The announcement confirms reports earlier this year that hardly any opium poppies had been destroyed despite government assurances.Here's another story on increasing opium production. Research credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 5:02 AM
Power Lines Are Dangerous :.Freaks have been aware of this for easily two decades. "Experts" are a little slower to admit the obvious: "To one degree or another, all three of the DHS scientists are inclined to believe that EMFs (electric and magnetic fields) can cause some degree of increased risk of childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease and miscarriage," states a leaked copy of the final report from the California EMF Program, a study begun in 1993 on behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
posted by Kevin at 4:58 AM
Woops: NASA Rejects Claims it Plans Mind Reading Capability :.I wonder who will get the lucrative contract to serve up the crow over at NASA? This was a pretty good one! I was hoping it would grow to circus like proportions. It was good for a laugh, while it lasted: "NASA does not have the capability to read minds, nor are we suggesting that would be done," said Robert Pearce, Director, NASA's Strategy and Analysis Division in the Office of Aerospace Technology in Washington. "Our scientists were asked to think outside the box with regards to ideas that could aid the nation in the war on terrorism and that's what they are doing. We have not approved any research in this area and because of the sensitivity of such research, we will seek independent review before we do."
posted by Kevin at 4:54 AM
8/20/2002
College Days, and Chemical and Biological Weapons, Part 1
Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas :.The U.S. helped Iraq fight the war with Iran during the 80's. The U.S. also helped Iraq plan chemical warfare attacks which resulted, basically, in genocide. In 1995, a junior in college wrote, what was then, a rather controversial case study. It took seven years for some of the story to make it from the backwaters of unread books and student papers to the New York Times, but hey, the Times is just one of the biggest and most powerful papers on the planet. Oh, that college junior was me, and here's the paper I wrote. I chose to write about the U.S. role in the genesis of Hussein's war machine and not the tactical day-to-day of the war fighting. One critical thing the Times article doesn't mention is the fact that U.S. Special Forces were in combat, on Iraq's side. Some of them died. Family members were told the deaths resulted from "training accidents," or "car crashes." Additionally, we found out after the war that U.S. made chemical warfare artillery munitions were found in Iraq. Lots of crates with U.S. lot numbers. I watched the hearings on C-Span. It's all forgotten now, mostly because some of that stuff was fired at U.S. forces and Israel during the war. Remember when Bush warned Hussein not to do that, or he'd get nuked? Woops. Hussein did it anyway. The article never mentions where Iraq got the chemical/biological weapons. *wink* *blink* *nod* Gulf War Syndrome, etc... It could have been U.S. chem/bio fired from Iraqi artillery. It could have been Iraqi chem/bio made with U.S. know-how. It could have been U.S. made chem/bio fired from U.S. forces that then blew back on U.S. forces. It could have been all three. You never heard that Iraq used chem/bio during the Gulf War? And that lots of weapons of mass destruction were flung around?! The U.S. didn't nuke Iraq, but it might as well have. See Operation Black Dog. Anyway, while this NY Times piece is interesting, it's lacking in profound ways, as usual. I'm more interested in why this is being published now than in the contents of the article. There is absolutely nothing new here. Active Neutrality was the term used inside the White House to describe the following: "Having gone through the 440 days of the hostage crisis in Iran," he said, "the period when we were the Great Satan, if Iraq had gone down it would have had a catastrophic effect on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and the whole region might have gone down. That was the backdrop of the policy."
The Pentagon "wasn't so horrified by Iraq's use of gas," said one veteran of the program. "It was just another way of killing people whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn't make any difference," he said.
posted by Kevin at 8:37 AM
College Days, and Chemical and Biological Weapons, Part 2
The Use of Horror in Perception Management :."Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies." ---Col. Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) from Apocalypse Now When I was in college, I took a class called Science and Technology in International Relations. It dealt primarily with armaments, energy, international finance and the environment. Since the class was small and didn't contain a single female, the professor decided to show us a video to prompt a discussion on the nature of chemical and biological warfare. You have to understand my day up until that point. It was 1996, the sun was out, the sky was clear. I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee. A little part of me got the it's-movie-day-in-class-today-I'll-be-able-to-take-it-easy kind of feeling one usually gets in highschool, except for the fact that I was a senior in college. I had no idea that what I was about to watch would concretize much of what I suspected about the U.S. government and change my perception of it forever. I think the video was taken from 60 Minutes. The piece was about the chemical and biological warfare efforts of the United States. The scenes were beyond horrific. And there were lots of them. The death didn't occur in dusty caves or barnyards, but rather in Nazi-esk death labs. I specifically remember what happened when one drop of VX nerve agent was dropped into a cage containing one rabbit. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but it's safe to say that the dozen or so of us in the room were traumatized to some degree. I know I was. One guy got up to leave the room so he could vomit. The professor looked at us with a very serious gaze. It was as if he was thinking, "This is where the rubber meets the road, gentlemen, take a good look cuz' it aint pretty." After a few terrifying seconds the rabbit's body lay motionless. The scene cut to a wide shot of what looked like hundreds or thousands of large, cylindrical containers, like those tanks on railway cars. All of them full of VX, BZ, sarin, phosgene and other hellish concoctions. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of the stuff. At this point, I was no longer thinking about the U.S. government. I was thinking, "Humanity is doomed. Any species that would think up something like this, make it real and actually contemplate using the capability is, without a doubt, doomed." After the video was over the professor told us of other horrors. The one that stands out involved the incineration of dozens of beagle puppies, apparently to observe their behavior as the heat in the chamber rose slowly, eventually burning them alive. Anyway, these kinds of things are routine in U.S. DoD laboratories. So: If the media is making al Qaeda out to be monsters for what is depicted in these recent ALLEGED al Qaeda videos, why hasn't the same critical zeal been applied to the U.S. government for its ghoulish activity? Or any other industrialized country, for that matter!? Many states engage in this type of practice! First of all, the U.S. Army PSYOPS personnel in the CNN air studio might not appreciate it. Second, and most importantly, the average American needs to be molded into supporting a major war against Iraq, a major war against terrorism...or whatever the whim of the day happens to be. Nothing more. Nothing less. And it's working. The imbeciles at CNN shake their heads and speak in somber tones about how difficult it is to show those images, but, by golly, they just have to do it. I'm thinking about starting a business: Selling clothes pins to "Consumers" who need the use of both hands when they watch television. You see, "Consumers" may use a clothes pin to seal their nostrils instead of their fingers. The stench emanating from the television will be a thing of the past and they will have both hands free to gobble up that tasty reconstituted lard, bovine anus, 100% synthetic cheese food, rat excrement or whatever other Corporate Toxic Waste they may have hauled home from Walmart! Maybe in addition to the clothes pins, some Support Our Troops baby bibs would be big sellers. Oh ya, and God Bless America. Can't get enough of that!
posted by Kevin at 8:15 AM
8/18/2002
In the Event of Another Attack: "Forget About Civil Rights" :.Bush emissary Peter Kirsanow told a Detroit crowd last week that America could "forget about civil rights" if there is another terrorist attack on the United States by "the same ethnic group that attacked the World Trade Center," the Detroit Free Press reports.
What's more, such heathen devilry would cause the righteous folk in the Homeland to rise up and demand that the Regime chuck every last Arab-American into a concentration camp, Commissioner Kirsanow proclaimed.
Kirsanow -- one of Bush's many prank appointments, a "Civil Rights" commissioner who has spent his career opposing civil rights programs -- said that he wasn't advocating an Auschwitz for Arabs, you understand. He was just saying that the public outcry for one would be almost impossible for the Bush administration to withstand. (And you know they'd try really, really hard, too.)
"Nobody will be crying in their beer if there are more stops, more detentions, more profiling," Kirsanow told the crowd -- which was made up largely of Arab-Americans, who came to protest the ongoing, unconstitutional detention of Arabs without formal charges being carried out by Bush's biggest joke appointment: Attorney General John Jesus Jehovah Ashcroft.From the ABOUT section of this web site: I think it would be wise to bear in mind that the events of 9/11 will probably pale in comparison to the diabolical plots that may be hatched in the near future. I say that because, even as bad as 9/11 was, it wasn't enough to polarize the world. Something else is going to happen that will require a bold move by the G8 states. I don't know what that event will be, but it will be transformational in nature, changing the way we think about freedom of speech and movement, money, surveillance, state sovereignty and many other factors. Research credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 6:15 AM
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:. Reading
 Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
 Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
 The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
 Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
 The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
 When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
 The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
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