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Wednesday 8/15/2007

They Can Count on the Democrats - Why the Neocons Won't Miss Karl Rove  8/15/2007 Counterpunch: "The counties have responded to critics with an absurd array of "dog ate my homework" excuses reminiscent of Rove's laptop during his lighter moments. Some of the ballots were ruined by a coffee pot, says one county. Flooding hit others, they say. In one county, recyclers were to blame. In another, counterfeit ballots have been discovered. In short, the excuses for destroying Ohio's election records are every bit as credible as Rove saying he's resigning to "spend more time with my family." But far from reacting with outrage, the Democrats have merely shrugged, much as they've done with the continuation of the Iraq War and the shredding of the Constitution. Ohio's Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has told the media she sees "no evidence" this mass deep-sixing of official records was done "purposefully" by nearly two-thirds of the state's counties."

MINUSTAH Hospitality  8/15/2007 Free Haiti: "Evel Fanfan (a committed and well known human rights organizer of AUMOHD who has been threatened on numerous occasions) was nearby. He observed that this was a common practice for the UN troops. MINUSTAH regularly harasses Haitian journalists and poor people, forcing them to allow a MINUSTAH soldier with a camera to take a close-up photo of their face, a form of data collection for UNOPS intelligence, he explained. Two young Haitian journalists from Cite Soleil told me that MINUSTAH tightly censors those journalists they allow into UN gatherings in Port-au-Prince."

If Politicians Won't Lead, Citizens Must - Boycott Movement Targets Israel  8/15/2007 SF Chronicle

Sequoia Voting Systems Responsible for 2000 Presidential Debacle?  8/15/2007 Wired

Tuesday 8/14/2007

'This One Is So Hot': The Censorship of Walt and Mearsheimer 8/14/2007 American Council on Middle East Policy: "Walt and Mearsheimer point out that Michael Oren spoke at the Council earlier this year on Middle East matters without "context." Oren is a neoconservative who made aliyah to Israel in the 70s and who served as an officer in the Israeli army. John Mearsheimer served as an officer in the United States Air Force. Let us be very clear about this: A former officer in the Israeli Army who lives in Israel (and has lately served in the Israeli Reserves) may hold forth about our policy in the Middle East, but a former officer in our Air Force has no place to do the same. You don't have to be a nativist to find this mindboggling. Mearsheimer and Walt are all for Oren speaking, they just want to be able to speak too. And just compare the literary and analytical work of Oren and Mearsheimer; there is no comparison. Oren is a polemicist, Mearsheimer a serious student of American policy. Deeply dispiriting. Where is Alan Dershowitz, to decry the censorship?"

Exclusive excerpt: The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America 8/14/2007 Guerrilla News Network: "In this exclusive excerpt from his powerful new book, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press), UC Berkeley professor emeritus Peter Dale Scott asks whether there is a connection between America’s historical use of terror as a political weapon and the recent moves by the Bush administration to suspend the Constitution and create a “shadow government” in the wake of the next terrorist attack."

Sunday 8/12/2007

Arctic sea ice 'lowest in recorded history': scientists  8/12/2007 Physorg: "Sea ice in the northern hemisphere has plunged to the lowest levels ever measured, US polar specialists said, adding they expect the record low to be "annihilated" by summer's end."

The Nazi Connection to the John F. Kennedy Assassination  8/12/2007 The Rebel: from Larry Flynt's The Rebel, 1/84

Italian arms investigators see Iraqi ties  8/12/2007 USA Today: Perugia, Italy - "Operation Parabellum, the investigation led by Dario Razzi, anti-Mafia prosecutor in this central Italian city, began in 2005 as a routine investigation into drug trafficking by organized-crime figures, branched out into an inquiry into arms dealing with Libya, and then widened to Iraq. Court documents obtained by the AP show that Razzi's break came early last year when police monitoring one of the drug suspects covertly opened his luggage as he left on a flight to Libya. Instead of the expected drugs, they found helmets, bulletproof vests and the weapons catalog. Tapping telephones, monitoring e-mails, Razzi's investigators followed the trail to a group of Italian businessmen, otherwise unrelated to the drug probe, who were working to sell arms to Libya and, by late 2006, to Iraq as well, through offshore companies they set up in Malta and Cyprus. Four Italians have been arrested and are awaiting court indictment for allegedly creating a criminal association and alleged arms trafficking — trading in weapons without a government license. A fifth Italian is being sought in Africa. In addition, 13 other Italians were arrested on drug charges. In the documents, Razzi describes it as "strange" that the U.S.-supported Iraqi government would seek such weapons via the black market."

Saturday 8/11/2007

Chavez deepens Petrocaribe oil pledges  8/11/2007 AP: ""If we truly unite ... the grandchildren of our grandchildren will have no energy problems," Chavez said. He predicted oil prices will soon hit $100 a barrel but said "the Caribbean shouldn't have problems this century and beyond." "Venezuela puts this oil wealth at the disposition of our peoples of the Caribbean," Chavez said. "It belongs to all of us. We're going to share it like Christ. ... It will be enough for everyone." Venezuela still counts the United States as its top oil buyer, although Chavez has sought to diversify his clientele amid tensions with Washington by selling more to Latin America, the Caribbean and as far away as China. Since 2005, when Chavez created Petrocaribe, 14 countries have joined Venezuela's pact, which lets them finance up to half their oil bills over 25 years at low interest. It is set to expand with the addition of Nicaragua, which was represented at the talks by President Daniel Ortega. Countries are allowed to pay off part of their oil bills in goods and services. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said his country hopes to begin an exchange program offering hotel and tourism training to visiting Venezuelans. Caribbean countries have already financed nearly $1 billion in fuel purchases, and due to interest as low as 1 percent, have seen savings of $450 million, Chavez said. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Friday that Venezuela is also making progress helping upgrade or build refineries in Cuba, Jamaica and Dominica — an effort that comes as Chavez's government seeks to decrease its reliance on a network of U.S. refineries."

Shape of Things to Come?  8/11/2007 Brilliant at Breakfast: "If we were to depend on AP, we’d never know that Diebold machines were being used in Romney’s stunningly predictable “victory” in Iowa. (Free Market News has more on the Republican fuckuppery that AP and other news outlets will be too chivalrous to mention.) Ron Paul, who actually tried to poach votes by telling people to take advantage of Romney’s buses to the straw polls and paying the $35 registration fee so they could vote for him, is hopping mad so don’t think that this will gently go into that good night. They can't even have a one party straw poll without poking and slapping themselves like Moe, Larry and Curly. This is going to be a wild and wooly presidential election so make sure you bring seat belts to the polls next November."

One Big Reason Markets are Plunging - China's Threat to the Dollar is Real - By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS  8/11/2007 Counterpunch: "To understand the shortcomings of the statements by the Wisconsin professor and Treasury Secretary Paulson, consider that if China were to increase the value of the yuan by 30 percent, the value of China’s dollar holdings would decline by 30 percent. It would have the same effect on China’s pocketbook as dumping dollars and Treasuries in the markets. Consider also, that as revaluation causes the yuan to move up in relation to the dollar (the reserve currency), it also causes the yuan to move up against every other traded currency. Thus, the Chinese cannot revalue as Paulson has ordered without making Chinese goods more expensive not merely to Americans but everywhere. Compare this result with China dumping dollars. With the yuan pegged to the dollar, China can dump dollars without altering the exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar. As the dollar falls, the yuan falls with it. Goods and services produced in China do not become more expensive to Americans, and they become cheaper elsewhere. By dumping dollars, China expands its entry into other markets and accumulates more foreign currencies from trade surpluses."

Friday 8/10/2007

US Navy ‘wanted to kill Mintoff’  8/10/2007 Malta Independent: "In 1976, two years after Secretary of State Henry Kissinger threatened then-Italian Foreign Minister Aldo Moro about forming a coalition with the Communists, right-wing hardliner Senator ‘Scoop’ Jackson, on a trip to Italy, issued a similar warning to Moro. In Philip Willan’s Puppetmasters, Moro’s widow recounted Kissinger’s warning, which was undoubtedly echoed by Jackson: “You must abandon your policy of bringing all the political forces in your country into direct collaboration… or you will pay dearly for it.” Moro was kidnapped for 55 days by the so-called Red Brigades, who were later found to be in the service of Italian fascists, Italian intelligence, the P-2 Masonic Lodge, a parallel SID (Italian Defence Intelligence Service), and the CIA. Some of these same elements would be behind the infamous Niger yellowcake forgeries used by the neo-cons to prove the case for war against Iraq."

Israel: Embarrassing history By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE  8/10/2007 UPI: the author is former CIA writing in a Rev Moon publication - "Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian and Haifa University lecturer, whose ninth book is titled “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” documents how Israel was born with lands forcibly seized from its Palestinian inhabitants who had lived there for hundreds of years. During the British mandate (1920-1948), Zionist leaders concluded Palestinians, who owned 90 percent of the land (with 5.8 percent owned by Jews), would have to be forcibly expelled to make a Jewish state possible. Pappe quotes David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, addressing the Jewish Agency Executive in June 1938, as saying, “I am for compulsory transfer. I do not see anything immoral in it.” "

Report: Israelis fighting guerillas in Colombia  8/10/2007 Ynet News, Israel: "Colombia's defense minister confirmed recently that ex Israeli military men were helping his government fight guerilla organizations, Colombia weekly Semana recently reported. Meanwhile, Colombian guerilla group FARC stated that Israeli commandos, along with American and British forces, were operating in the jungles against drug lords and guerilla fighters While denying this report, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos did admit that a group of Israeli advisors was working alongside local defense officials in the last year. According to Semana, "A group of former Israeli military officials is counseling the military's top brass on intelligence issues." The paper added that the Israelis were hired by the Colombian Defense Ministry in order to improve the army's intelligence gathering capabilities and the command and control structure within the military. Defense Minister Santos, said the Semana, was put in touch with the Israelis last year by former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami. Ben Ami's spokesman stated that Santos has been referred to the relevant authorities in Israel. The contract between the Israeli advisors and the Colombian Defense Ministry was signed in April this year, and sources in the country said that it stood at $10 million… In recent years, Israel has become Colombia's number one weapon supplier, with the arms mainly used to battle drug lords. These weapons include drones, light arms and ammunition, observation and communication systems and even special bombs capable of destroying coca fields. "Israel's methods of fighting terror have been duplicated in Colombia," a senior defense official said Thursday, adding that arms export to Colombia has increased significantly in recent years, totaling tens of millions of dollars."

Thursday 8/9/2007

How We Can Take the Constitution Back From the Brink 8/9/2007 Alternet: "The American Freedom Campaign has stepped up to the plate and is working to build bipartisan grassroots support "to reverse the abuse of executive power and restore our system of checks and balances." The group was spearheaded by Wes Boyd, the founder of MoveOn.org; David Fenton, the executive director of Fenton Communications; William Haseltine, a scientist and social entrepreneur; and Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. They've been joined in their efforts by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, MoveOn.org, and other partner organizations."

Wednesday 8/8/2007

Bush, Colombia & Narco-Politics  8/8/2007 Consortium News: "The new disclosures also have brought back to public attention the Uribe family’s long history of ties to drug lords and paramilitary militias. Colombia’s Supreme Court announced in July that it was investigating Senator Mario Uribe, the president’s cousin and his point man in the Colombian Congress, for alleged links to the AUC. Several paramilitary leaders have said Mario Uribe was one of their allies and an intermediary with the government. He has denied any wrongdoing. But the family link to purported drug lords dates back several decades. As a young man and an aspiring politician, Álvaro Uribe lost his position as mayor of Medellín – after only five months on the job – because the country’s president ousted him over his family’s suspected connections to traffickers, according to media reports at the time. His father Alberto Uribe, a wealthy landowner, reputedly had been a close associate of the Medellín cartel and its kingpins, such as Pablo Escobar and the Ochoa brothers, who were personal friends. In 1983, Alberto Uribe was reportedly wanted by the U.S. government for drug trafficking when he was killed in a kidnapping attempt by the FARC. According to media accounts, his body was airlifted back to his family by one of Escobar’s helicopters. In the early 1990s, Álvaro Uribe’s brother, Santiago, was investigated for allegedly organizing and leading a paramilitary militia that was headquartered at the Uribe family hacienda. He was never charged and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. But Santiago was photographed alongside Fabio Ochoa at a party even after the government had declared Ochoa one of the most notorious Medellín cartel kingpins. The incident with Santiago Uribe coincided with Álvaro Uribe’s eight years in the Senate, where he opposed extradition of drug suspects. His critics accused him of working for the Medellín cartel."

Uncle Sam, Your Banker Will See You Now … In the Hole to China - By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS  8/8/2007 Counterpunch: "How did a people as stupid as Americans get so full of hubris?"

Venezuela Hosts Indigenous Congress, Gives Land Titles to Indigenous  8/8/2007 Venezuela Analysis: "Caracas, August 8, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Coinciding with the launch of the First International Congress of the Anti-imperialist Indigenous Peoples of Latin America (Abya Yala), yesterday, in San Tomé, Anzoátegui state, Venezuelan vice-president Jorge Rodriguez, together with Nicia Maldonado, the Minister of Popular Power for Indigenous Peoples, handed over eleven housing and land titles recognizing indigenous ownership of various indigenous groups throughout the country. Minister Nicia Maldonado assured that along with the recognition of land titles, the government will provide financial support for projects of integral development and housing for the indigenous communities of Pumé, Yaruro, Kariña and Warao, the first peoples of the states of Apure, Anzoátegui, and Bolívar. She also said that during the past eight years the Venezuelan government has handed over nine-hundred thousand hectares of land titles to the indigenous peoples of various regions of Venezuela."

Monday 8/6/2007

The Junk Credit Crisis - Judgment Week on Wall Street  8/6/2007 Counterpunch

PRINCES OF PLUNDER  8/6/2007 Nexus: published 2/05 - "A furious Colonel Tucker, the regimental commander of the American 504th – that had secured the bridge, vehemently argued there was no time to waste before the Germans reinforced and that the British must grab the chance to reinforce Frost at Arnhem. Immune to these arguments, the English Major repeated “Well, we can’t move our tanks at night,” and then added “We will move them in the morning.” 33 The next morning, as expected, the whole area was heavy with German armoured reinforcements. Cornelius Ryan does not name the Grenadier Guards Major in his book, which is unusual… The Grenadier Guards officer he was referring to was Major Peter Alexander Rupert Smith, of the extremely powerful and influential Smith family - an almost publicly unknown dynasty of bankers that dates back 350 years. It was in the 1650’s when Thomas Smith founded Samuel Smith & Co, Bankers in Nottingham, which is believed to have been the first English bank headquartered outside of London. Successive generations of Smiths ensured that the family business flourished and by 1902 a total of ten branches were operating. Not only did a leading member of the family befriended Lord Rothschild, but a family member later married a Rothschild. A further dynastic marriage was to the well-known Baring family of bankers. Their influence kept on expanding and expanding. Frances Dora Smith married Sir Claude Lyon-Bowes, who were the grandparents of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who would marry Prince Albert (Bertie) in 1923. Prince Albert became King George V1 in 1936 and Elizabeth become Queen Elizabeth 1 - later known as the Queen Mother. Frances Dora Smith married Sir Claude Lyon-Bowes, who were the grandparents of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who married Prince Albert (Bertie) in 1923. Prince Albert became King George V1 in 1936 and Elizabeth become Queen Elizabeth 1 - later known as the Queen Mother. In recent years, newspaper article concerning the Queen Mothers favourable attitude to the “pro-peace movement” spoke of her “desire to avert war with Germany and for closer ties to be established between the two countries.” 36 One newspaper went so far as to state that the Queen would have willingly accepted a German occupation providing that the monarchy and her place in it remained intact.37 Her brother, David Bowes-Lyon, to whom she was exceptionally close was, before the war, a director of Lazard Brothers bankers and who also held an “important but vaguely defined role in SOE.”38 The Lazard’s connection is significant inasmuch as this bank was a link to pro-Nazi Sir Henri Deterding of Royal Dutch Shell and Viscount Bearsted of Hill Samuel, both of whom connect to Baron Kurt von Schroder – a hard core Nazi, a financier of SS chief Heinrich Himmler and a leading member of the “circle of friends of the Reichsfuhrer.” Von Schroder coincidentally employed Allen Dulles as his American attorney. 39 He was also a director of Lazard Brothers and a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship, which was founded in 1935 by German banker Ernest Tennant - a close friend of Hitler’s Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop - and had numerous members who admired Hitler. Some, went even further. For example, Sir Oswald Mosley founded the fascist British Black shirts, which was funded by Berlin. Another was nazi enthusiast, Admiral Sir Barry Domville, who would later become a Shickshinny Knight 40. Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe Coburg & Gotha was sent by Hitler to England to be the President of the Fellowship with instructions to improve Anglo-German relations and to push for an alliance between both countries. Another member was the Duke of Hamilton, who as we have seen, was the British point of contact sought by Rudolf Hess in his flight to Scotland. Saxe Coburg Gotha is, of course, the real family name of the British royal family, who changed to Windsor during the First World War to dilute any expressions of animosity by the British public."

Project Hammer Reloaded  8/6/2007 Nexus: "Riches looted by the Nazis and Japanese during WWII and recovered by the United States OSS and CIA have been used to finance secret government projects over the decades and save major banks from insolvency."

THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION REMEMBERED  8/6/2007 Pheonix Liberator: published 12/30/91

The Secret War Against the Jews  8/6/2007 Second Opinion

Friday 8/3/2007

Syracuse University Enlists in the Global War on Terror 8/3/2007 Counterpunch: "In 2003 Syracuse University created an interdisciplinary program of the College of Law, which the Maxwell School joined in 2004, called the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT) [1]. According to the Maxwell Perspective article mentioned above, “The Old Rules No Longer Apply” by freelance writer Renee Gearhart Levy [2], the program’s purpose is to “tackle” questions of law and policy having to do with security and counterterrorism. In 2005 INSCT formed a partnership with the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) [3] of Herzliya, Israel – a program of higher education and think tank concerned with global terrorism and homeland security. The partnership purportedly will help both institutions promote the vision of a generational US-led war against Islamic terrorism (referred to as the “Long War” by Washington insiders) which has been the core of the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Officials from both INSCT and ICT have expressed great enthusiasm about their joint venture. Maxwell Dean Mitchel B. Wallerstein, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, calls it an “exciting collaborative relationship.” [4] It is not, in our opinion, at all clear that this effort is compatible with the greater educational and humanistic mission of a leading American university. The ICT, part of the broader Interdisciplinary Institute (IDC), is one of the most influential Israeli security institutes, one which has extremely close connections to the Israeli government and military. The chairman of the board of directors of ICT is Shabtai Shavit, who is a former head of the Mossad (the Israel intelligence agency). The American zillionaire Ronald Lauder is one of the main benefactors of the IDC, in fact the ICT is part of the Lauder School of Government. Lauder is a powerful member of the pro-Israel lobby. The ICT also contains a commercial security consulting business called Counter Terrorism Solutions Ltd. (CST). [5] Naomi Klein recently wrote in The Nation, [on July 2, 2007] that Israel has turned the Long War into a “brand asset, pitching its uprooting and occupation of the Palestinian people as a half century head start in the ‘global war on terror.’” The institute also operates an office in Washington which lobbies Congress and other US government officials on behalf of Israel. [6]"

Indigenous groups reject French activities on Surinamese territory 8/3/2007 Final Call: "The Organization of Indigenous People (OIS) submitted the letter after the French army allegedly ordered the tribal groups not to hunt and fish in the area in question—a stretch of land between the Marowijne and Litani Rivers France is claiming as its territory. Reports have surfaced that French army troops entered Surinamese rivers, destroying the gold mining equipment of several small scale miners operating in the area. OIS chairman Nardo Aloema presented the petition to French ambassador Jean-Marie Bruno, who is leaving Paramaribo shortly, as his 3-year term in the country has come to an end. President Ronald Venetiaan, who also received a copy of the petition, noted that authorities of both governments will address the concerns, media reports said. Proposals from the French government to designate the disputed area as a two-million-hectare protected nature reserve have angered the Indigenous communities, since fishing, hunting and other forestry activities that are their main livelihood would be prohibited."

Thursday 8/2/2007

The Threat of U.S. Fascism: An Historical Precedent 8/2/2007 Common Dreams: "But no less important is the utter absence in 1934 of liberal attempts to educate the public to, and mobilize the population against, the fascist threat. FDR stood down. Although Rooseveltian/New Deal liberalism is dead, contemporary Democrats do sustain one of FDR’s least seemly qualities, namely his refusal to encourage effective mass opposition to fascist and imperialist politics. John Kerry boasted of having contributed to the drafting of the Patriot Act. And in the most recent round of crucial legislation regarding the war in Iraq, the Democrats gave Bush everything he wanted."

Wednesday 8/1/2007

CIRCLE OF POWER  8/1/2007 COPI: "As the decade of the "eighties" slowly slipped above the now less than pink eastern horizon, right-wing beneficiaries of a co-ordinated international destabilisation programme gave their heart-felt thanks. Among them were Britain’s Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher - Madonna of the Armaments industry - and America’s less brittle, and considerably less acute, Ronald Reagan - humble originator of the mega-tax-buck-swallowing SDI "Star Wars" programme and also, thus, a valued friend of the boys at Guns R Us International. These two decades saw a proliferation of right-wing, quasi official and secretive groups that co-ordinated intelligence, propaganda and undertook covert black-operations around the globe. One of the most shadowy of all is the "Pinay Cercle", named after its founder Antoine Pinay, Premier of France in 1951. Known more simply as "Le Cercle" it is recognised as a more clandestine sister organisation to the already very secretive Bilderberg Group1 - a "behind-the-scenes ‘invisible’ influence" network. 2 Both groups share a familiar membership which includes Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski and David Rockerfeller. Each of these three luminaries of the international power network are, in addition to the foregoing, influential members of The Trilateral Commission and the Council for Foreign Relations as well as being regular attendees at Britain’s "Chatham House" - The Royal Institute of International Studies - shadowy twin to America’s CFR."

From the Torching of the Louvain to Bomber Harris - If the US Strikes the Taliban in Pakistan …  8/1/2007 Counterpunch

Did "Le Cercle" Kill Diana?  8/1/2007 We The People: historical perspective on state terror in Europe

Tuesday 7/31/2007

Colombia’s military hit by ‘top-level infiltration’ 7/31/2007 FT: "Guerrillas and drug traffickers have infiltrated Colombia’s armed forces “at the highest level”, Juan Manual Santos, Colombian defence minister, has admitted. “We are aware that mafia groups are involved in this type of penetration,” Mr Santos said at a press conference on Monday. “Unfortunately, infiltration has reached a very senior level and there are a number of suspects.” More than 20 members of the armed forces are accused of collaborating with drug baron Diego Montoya, head of the Norte del Valle drug cartel based in western Colombia, who is alleged to have recruited retired military personnel to work in his cocaine-smuggling organisation. Seven have been arrested over the claims."

State: Fla. voting machines can be hacked 7/31/2007 Miami Herald: "Reversing an unofficial policy of denial, the Florida Secretary of State's office has conducted an elections study that confirmed Tuesday what a maverick voting chief discovered nearly two years ago: Insider computer hackers can change votes without a trace on Diebold optical-scan machines. The study by Florida State University found that, despite recent software fixes, an ''adversary'' could use a pre-programmed computer card to swap one candidate's votes for another or create a ''ballot-stuffing attack'' that multiplies votes for a candidate or issue."

Monday 7/30/2007

In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing  7/30/2007 Alternet: "In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been "accidentally" destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them -- it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen."

Who Killed Pat Tillman? And why?  7/30/2007 AntiWar: " "The Army used him," says his mother. "They knew right away he was killed by fratricide and [they] used him for their own purposes to promote the war, to get sympathy for the war, for five weeks." Mary Tillman has long suggested that her son was deliberately murdered by his fellow soldiers. After initially dismissing her allegations as a case of grief-gone-over-the-edge, I've come to believe that there is something awfully fishy about this whole incident. After all, why were Army attorneys sending "congratulatory e-mails" to each other for fending off criminal investigators on the case? The general who kept the details of Tillman's death from the Tillman family and the public claimed that he was having a problem with his memory, and that's why he just couldn't recall any important details of how Tillman's death was handled. Doctors who tried to reconcile the forensic evidence with the official account urged that a criminal investigation be pursued, but they were rebuffed. What's really suspicious, however, is that evidence of enemy fire at the scene was singularly lacking: no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any equipment damaged. According to numerous reports, there were no Taliban in the area."

Venezuela increases military strength to defend oil: Chavez  7/30/2007 People's Daily, China

Les services de renseignement allemands s’inquiètent de l’évolution de leurs homologues français  7/30/2007 VoltaireNet: "Dans son édition datée du 14 juillet 2007, l’influente lettre confidentielle bavaroise DeutschlandBrief assure que les émeutes qui ont secoué les banlieues des grandes villes françaises en novembre 2005 ont été provoquées en sous-main par les services secrets israéliens… À cette époque, le Réseau Voltaire avait eu confirmation, de source syndicale policière, que les principaux incidents avaient été délibérément provoqués, et que des agitateurs avaient distribué des bidons d’essence et des cocktails molotov. C’est d’ailleurs sur la base de ces mêmes informations que le président Chirac avait pris la décision de l’état d’urgence. DeutschlandBrief est édité par le Dr. Bruno Bandulet (ancien directeur de la rédaction du Welt et de Quick) et est très lu dans les milieux financiers et politiques allemands. Il est réputé proche du Service fédéral de renseignement (BundesNachrichtenDienst — BND). Selon le journal, Israël entendait sanctionner la « politique arabe » du président Chirac, mais aurait été dépassé par la réussite de son opération. En désignant la main du Mossad dans la provocation et l’amplification de ces émeutes, DeutschlandBrief engage sa crédibilité auprès de son lectorat et traduit l’inquiétude des milieux allemands du renseignement face aux nominations auxquelles le président Nicolas Sarkozy vient de procéder dans les services français."

Sunday 7/29/2007

Israeli PM announces 30 billion US dollar US defence aid  7/29/2007 Forbes

Ex-CIA officer Slams US Allegations against Iran as Sham - US Creating False pretexts for Another War  7/29/2007 Global Research: "He emphasised both the fact of Iranians' helpfulness in Iraq, in terms of pushing for greater stability, and also their help and cooperation in Afghanistan, as well as the reality of the deep hostilities between Shiia Iran and Sunni extremism of AlQaeda. Giraldi recalled the major attack against the Iranian consulate general in Afghanistan by the Taliban, a close ally of AlQaeda, in which 11 Iranian diplomats were killed, and the regular AlQaeda violent attacks against Shiia population in Iraq, and concluded that a Shiia Iranian-AlQaeda alliance was not a plausible possibility. He described the recent New York Sun's allegation [2] that AlQaeda prisoners in Iran led terrorist operations inside Iraq under the advice of the Iranian government, as one of many propaganda pieces making a case for war. He said how in 2003, the Iranian government, through the Swiss embassy, had offered to hand over the six AlQaeda prisoners kept in Iran, which includes Osama Bin Laden's son, in exchange for the US ceasing its support for the MEK, and how this offer was rejected by the US. He said of the MEK that it was sheltered and armed by Saddam against Iran, and now supported and armed by Pentagon against Iran. Highlighting what he called American "ultimate hypocrisy", Giraldi explained how the US government is supporting terrorist groups and ethnic division in Iran and charging the Iranians in Iraq for what the US was doing in Iran itself and with a lot more evidence. Giraldi talked of US's support for Jundollah which he described as a Sunni Baluchi separatist group in eastern Iran that has launched deadly terrorist attacks inside Iran. He also spoke of US support for separatists amongst the Arab minority which is closer to the border with Iraq. Giraldi repeated the alarm call he first made in his revelations in the American Conservative Magazine in 2005 that Dick Cheney, who has no authority under the constitution, had ordered the air force to draw up plans for air strike against Iran that even included the use of nuclear weapons. He said he thought there was a lot of evidence since then to suggest that nuclear weapons are still very much on the table and named Republican Senators such as McCain, Gilliani and Romney who had not "flinched at all" in the debate about the prospect of using nuclear weapons against Iran."

Report: Palestinian children in Israeli detention abused, tortured  7/29/2007 Guerilla News Network

Saturday 7/28/2007

Red Cross Allegedly Hides Donations from Katrina Survivors 7/28/2007 Web Wire: "A Senior Associate for Communications and Marketing for the Red Cross spoke with Ms. Sommers. “I was hired by the American Red Cross for the Hurricane Recovery Program in April 2006. They didn’t want to promote the program. I had an issue with this. I’m a Katrina survivor and how were the people going to get help if no one was going to tell them about it?” Even more unsettling was a comment Ms. Sommers received from another Red Cross employee. “The program was going to sunset in August 2006. It was set up to help survivors of Katrina, Rita and Wilma. There was $71 million for this program and they were talking about shutting it down even though they hadn’t even given away $1,000,000.” "

Friday 7/27/2007

FDR, Pearl Harbor and the U.N. 7/27/2007 Lew Rockwell: "A new book entitled The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable by George Victor and published by Potomac Books Inc. of Washington, D.C. is well researched and gives a very clear picture of how and why the Pearl Harbor myth was created. This "patriotic political myth" states that the attack by the Japanese was unprovoked and was a surprise to the Roosevelt administration, as well as, the key military personnel in Washington; but the commanders of Pearl Harbor were at fault for not being ready. Based on a good summary of the up-to-date research the author, who is an approving admirer of Roosevelt, concludes that Roosevelt deliberately provoked the attack and that he and his key military and administrative advisers clearly knew, well in advance, that the Japanese were going to attack both Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. Roosevelt wanted to get into the European War but he had been unsuccessful in provoking Germany; therefore, he considered the sacrifice of Pearl Harbor and the Philippines as the best way to get into the European War through the back door of Japan. The cover-up of this strategy started immediately after the attack and continues to this day. The author concludes that this information of the coming attack was intentionally withheld from the military commanders because it was known that the Japanese were depending upon the element of surprise and if warnings had been sent to the commanders of Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, their preparation for the attack would have caused the Japanese to cancel their plans."

Thursday 7/26/2007

What Really Caused World War 2?  7/26/2007 3 World Wars

The Whitehouse Coup  7/26/2007 BBC: "Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen.. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy."

Wall Street's Plot to Seize the White House: Facing the Corporate Roots of American Fascism  7/26/2007 Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade: check out the sources

The Plot to Sieze the White House by Jules Archer  7/26/2007 Dale Wharton

Outsourcing Intelligence: Author R.J. Hillhouse on How Key National Security Projects Are Contracted to Private Firms  7/26/2007 Democracy Now: "Author R.J. Hillhouse caused a stir in Washington last month when she revealed more than 50 percent of the National Clandestine Service has been outsourced to private firms. Now Hillhouse has exposed private companies are heavily involved in the nation's most important and most sensitive national security document – the President's Daily Brief. And there appears to be few safeguards from preventing corporations from inserting items favorable to itself or its clients into the President's Daily Brief in order to influence the country's national security agenda."

Israel killed JFK,says Vanunu  7/26/2007 PTI

The White House Putsch  7/26/2007 Seize the Night: "Although MacGuire denied Butler's account under oath, corroborating testimony came from Paul Comly French, a Philadelphia Record reporter. Butler had asked French to look into MacGuire's plot and shed some light on "what the hell it's all about." After checking with Butler, the voluble MacGuire agreed to see French. French testified that MacGuire told him, "We ned a fascist government in this country…to save the nation from the communists who want to tear it down and wreck all that we have built in America. The only men who have the patriotism to do it are the soldiers, and Smedley Butler is the ideal leader. He could organize a million men overnight." French continued: MacGuire "warmed up considerably after we got under way and he said, 'We might go along with Roosevelt and then do with him what Mussolini did with the King of Italy.'" If Roosevelt played ball, French summarized, "swell; and if he did not, they would push him out." According to French, MacGuire dropped names to give the impression that American Legion brass were involved in the plot. To impress Butler, MacGuire had flaunted a bank book itemizing deposits of more than $100,000 available to pay for "expenses." Later, he flashed a wad of eighteen $1,000 bills and boasted of "friends" who were capable of coughing up plenty more dough where that came from."

Business Plot  7/26/2007 Wikipedia: "The Business Plot, The Plot Against FDR, or The White House Putsch, was an uncovered conspiracy involving several wealthy businessmen to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Purported details of the matter came to light when retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler testified before a Congressional committee that a group of men had attempted to recruit him to serve as the leader of a plot and to assume and wield power once the coup was successful. Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 [1]. In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of several men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations on the existence of the plot,[2] but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten. General Butler claimed that the American Liberty League was the primary means of funding the plot. The main backers were the Du Pont family, as well as leaders of U.S. Steel, General Motors, Standard Oil, Chase National Bank, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company."

Wednesday 7/25/2007

The Impeachment Imbroglio: Sheehan, Conyers, Pelosi, and Feingold 7/25/2007 The Progressive: Of course, the Democrats are saying no such thing. Instead, they talk about getting on with the important business of the Congress, and not wasting time on impeachment. The argument that impeachment would be a time-waster is, according to Nichols, “bullshit.” He points out that the same Congress that impeached Richard Nixon accomplished a great deal, in terms of dialing down the Vietnam war, raising the minimum wage, passing environmental legislation, and making other important, progressive gains. “The idea that taking up impeachment will keep us from acting on health care, gay rights, etc., is ahistoric,” Nichols says. “The fact of the matter is that during the impeachment of Nixon back in the 70s, the reason Congress was so effective and got so much done was that Nixon was scared and, in a calculated move, started cooperating with Congress to avoid impeachment. So the right thing to do is move immediately–see what you can get out of Bush.”

Tuesday 7/24/2007

A Forgotten Black-Jewish Alliance 7/24/2007 Arutz Sheva: first published 1/05 - "The Bergson group was initially known as the Committee for a Jewish Army. From 1940 to 1943, it sought the creation of a Jewish armed force that would fight alongside the Allies against the Nazis. Black labor union leader A. Philip Randolph, president of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was an early backer of Bergson's Jewish army effort. So was W. E. B. DuBois, the leading African-American intellectual of his era. Eventually, the British agreed to establish the 5,000-man force, known as the Jewish Brigade. It fought with distinction on the European battlefield in 1945, and many of its veterans later took part in Israel's 1948 War of Independence… Two of the most famous African-American authors of that period, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, were sponsors of the Bergson group's July 1943 Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe. The conference, which was held in New York City, sought to counter the Roosevelt administration's claim that rescuing Jews from Hitler was physically impossible. More than 1,500 delegates listened to panels of experts on transportation, relief methods, military affairs and other fields, discussing specific, practical ways to save Jews from the Holocaust. One of the speakers was Walter White, executive director of the NAACP. In addition, the famous Black singer, actor and political activist Paul Robeson was one of the stars of a Madison Square Garden "Show of Shows" organized by Bergson in 1944 to raise money for his campaign to rescue Jewish refugees… During that same period, Walter White and the NAACP worked closely with the Bergson group to help bring about the desegregation of theaters in Baltimore, which restricted African-Americans to less desirable seats. In 1946, Bergson ally Ben Hecht, one of the most prominent screenwriters in Hollywood, authored a Broadway play called "A Flag is Born", to rally American public sympathy for the Jewish rebels battling the British for control of Palestine. On the eve of the staging of "Flag" at the Maryland Theater in Baltimore, the Bergson group and the NAACP joined hands to pressure the theater management to abandon its discriminatory seating policy -- "a tradition-shattering victory," as White called it."

Monday 7/23/2007

Theocrats Deny 'End Times' Theology Is Cause of Their Push for War With Iran 7/23/2007 Alternet: "Just as it had been during Hagee's appearance at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last spring, every effort was made to whitewash his apocalyptic religious beliefs (which include enforced Christianity for his Jewish allies at the end) and present him as a good friend of Israel and Jews. But Hagee's most recent book, Jerusalem Countdown, reissued with new material earlier this year, is all about the end of days and how nuclear war with Iran will ignite it. Hagee frequently talks about how Jesus Christ will rule the world from a throne on the Temple Mount after the battle at Armageddon. Hagee admits he has "written extensively about why I believe that the generation that is alive today will see the mass ingathering of believers commonly called the Rapture." ...After the press conference ended, reporters were talking outside the room. A representative of CUFI's public relations firm engaged a group of us in conversation. She insisted that Hagee wears two hats -- one as a pastor and one as a political activist -- and that the CUFI summit was about politics, not eschatology. We discussed whether it was possible for Hagee to separate his end times views from his political stance on Israel, based solely on the Bible, which Hagee describes as the "word of the living God ... the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Hagee's security personnel, along with hotel security guards, then escorted me, Max Blumenthal, and his accompanying camera man out of the building and off the premises. We were not, apparently, the right kind of Jews. (At the AIPAC conference, I had a similar discussion with one of its representatives, which attracted no attention. If Hagee is unfamiliar with the great Jewish tradition of debate, he can come to Shabbat dinner at my house.)"

CNN Censors #1 Youtube 7/23/2007 Democrats.com: "CNN is congratulating itself profusely for its YouTube debate, and they showed a lot of excellent questions. But they refused to show the #1 video as voted on by visitors to CommunityCounts. The hands-down winning question was on impeachment."

Sunday 7/22/2007

The New Politics of Political Aid in Venezuela - US sponsored "Destabilization Plan"—An "Action Agenda" for Democracy 7/22/2007 Global Research

Friday 7/20/2007

The Threat of American Public Opinion - Israel's Dirty Little Secret  7/20/2007 Counterpunch

PAKISTAN: Suicide Bombings Demoralise Security Forces  7/20/2007 IPS

Overhaul Plan for Vote System Will Be Delayed  7/20/2007 NYT: "But critics say that while billions have been spent to improve voting since the disputed presidential election in 2000, the compromise would leave a patchwork and somewhat jury-rigged system that would still be vulnerable to tampering or computer malfunctions in next year’s elections. Many experts have criticized the add-on printers, which use thin rolls of relatively fragile paper, as too prone to paper jams and smearing to ensure that every vote is counted."

Tuesday 7/17/2007

Bush Government to Poor Voters: We Don't Want You to Vote  7/17/2007 Alternet

Analysis: Venezuela, Iran team up on oil  7/17/2007 Earth Times: "Venezuela and Iran are forging closer oil ties in hopes of reducing their dependence on the United States, inking a $4 billion deal to develop a block of the lucrative Orinoco Reserve in Venezuela. According to Venezuelan Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, production at the Ayacucho 7 block should begin in two years. The block is believed to hold more than 30 billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest in the country."

The Bush Family's Murky Dealings in Venezuela  7/17/2007 Trinicenter, Trinidad: published 7/04, this well researched article is a good read.

Monday 7/16/2007

Iran Says Shift Away From Dollar Economically Motivated  7/16/2007 Down Jones

Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran  7/16/2007 Guardian: "The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned. The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: "Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo.""

Where Is Venezuela Going?  7/16/2007 Venezuela Analysis: "As intense as the struggle on the land has become, the Venezuelan government has shied away from a direct confrontation with big capital and the foreign multinationals. This has constrained the government’s ability to boost living standards of workers and the poor. The constant injection of oil revenue into the economy has fueled inflation to 20 percent officially, often higher in reality. This has encouraged speculators to hoard staple food items like sugar and chicken in anticipation of inevitable price increases. Since the government’s Mercal subsidized markets rely on private suppliers who sell at fixed low prices to distributors, they are themselves faced with shortages. They are often forced to buy items from street vendors that should be on the Mercal shelves, but at much higher prices.90 Added to this economic pressure on workers and the poor is an epidemic of murders and violent crime. Venezuela’s murder rate is five times that of the U.S., and is the third highest in Latin America after El Salvador and Colombia, two countries that have seen prolonged civil wars and institutionalized political violence. There were 9,402 homicides reported in 2005; in April of the following year a high profile kidnapping and murder of three boys and their driver in Caracas made the issue into a political debate. The Right seized upon the killings as an example of Chávez’s failure to guarantee law and order, and the opposition took to the streets in protests. Several police were implicated in the murders “confirming public distrust of police forces widely seen as corrupt, ineffective, and at times complicit in crime.”91 To be sure, much of this crime is rooted in Venezuela’s rapid and prolonged economic decline in the 1980s and 1990s. But it also underscores the fact that even a red-hot economy and wide-ranging social reforms cannot substitute for the self-organization and shifts in consciousness that have curbed or reduced crime during revolutionary movements of the past. The revolutionary process is inhibited by the state bureaucracy itself, as Chávez himself often says. Leftist militants speak of a “Bolivarian bourgeoisie” clustered around PDVSA, the heads of government ministries, state governors, mayors, and “pro-revolutionary” business types. The recent sale of PDVSA bonds gives some idea of how this stratum consolidates itself in class terms. An anti-Chávez business analyst claims that a recent $7.5 billion PDVSA bond issue attracted bids worth $15 billion. This, he claimed, allowed a relatively small number of people close to the government to purchase the bonds at list price through a limited number of institutions, and then quickly resell the bonds for a much higher price, netting $780 million, a figure that is 20 percent higher than Venezuela’s total financial profits for the 2004–06 period.92 Even if these estimates are inflated by opposition figures, there’s no doubt that the enormous amounts of money flowing in and out of PDVSA inevitably binds company management and sections of the government closely to capital, however hostile individual capitalists may be to the Bolivarian project."

Sunday 7/15/2007

THE STORY OF A FBI-SPONSORED ORGY, THE COCAINE STING THAT WENT WRONG, AND THE ENSUING FALL-OUT  7/15/2007 NarcoNews: "In January, 2002, Perry and another recruiter ran 11 kilograms of FBI cocaine from Nogales to Tucson. More than 70 others, including military police from Oklahoma, a Nogales parking enforcement officer, a port inspector from the Mariposa port of entry and federal and Arizona prison guards all joined in, hungry for the chance at $1,500 a load."

Southern Gothic - NC Klan Cases Expose Seedy Underworld  7/15/2007 Southern Poverty Law Center

Venezuela's plans for a new national police force could be set for September  7/15/2007 Vheadlines

Friday 7/13/2007

Iran demands Japan's oil payments in yen, not US dollars 7/13/2007 Global Research

Drug czar gives warning - Federal official calls marijuana growers dangerous terrorists 7/13/2007 Record Searchlight, CA: "John P. Walters, President Bush's drug czar, said the people who plant and tend the gardens are terrorists who wouldn't hesitate to help other terrorists get into the country with the aim of causing mass casualties."

Thursday 7/12/2007

Saudi Flights on Mob, CIA linked Charters 7/12/2007 Mad Cow: "The owner of one of the air charter companies involved in the airlift of Saudi Royals and bin Laden family members out of the U.S. after the 9/11 attack has been identified in numerous published reports as a business partner and “close associate” of New England Mob Boss Raymond J. (Junior) Patriarca, the MadCowMorningNews has learned. Frank Zammiello's Northstar Aviation in Warrick R. I. flew four Saudis, including a Saudi Sheikh (name unfortunately redacted) on a flight which left Providence R.I. September 14, 2001 and flew to Paris. FBI documents refer to it as the “Northstar Aviation flight.” "

Wednesday 7/11/2007

Military Prostitution and the Iraq Occupation - Privatizing Women 7/11/2007 Counterpunch: "U.S. military deployments in the Gulf War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War have reinvigorated prostitution and the trafficking of women in the Middle East. Another major change has been the reliance of the U.S. military on private contractors, who have now surpassed the number of soldiers in Iraq. Public attention has begun to focus on the role of these contractors in U.S. war zones. Less attention has been paid to how private contractors are changing the nature of military prostitution. In the best known example, DynCorp employees were caught trafficking women in Bosnia, and some indications suggest that similar acts may be taking place in Iraq."

Hizballah Has Missiles for Downing Israeli Warplanes One Year after Lebanon War 7/11/2007 Debka: "Whereas Hizballah started the 2006 war with 12,000 rockets of different types, today the Lebanese Shiite terror group has accumulated 18,000 in its arsenal. Drawing lessons of that war, Hizballah has doubled the number of teams trained to launch rockets and given them a fleet of all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes for speedy movement between firing locations. Hizballah’s long-range rocket force, designated “Planning Unit,” is stationed in northern Lebanon in the Hermel district. Most of the new rocket supplies, including hundreds of Zilzal-2, Zilzal-3, and Fatah-110, which has a range of 250 km (reaching Tel Aviv and points south), are stored in large emergency depots on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon to keep them out of sight of UN peacekeepers and out of the way of the Israeli Air Force in a flare-up of hostilities… Hizballah has tripled its shore-to-sea C-802 missiles, one of which crippled an Israeli missile ship in July, 2006. With 25-30 of these weapons, the Shiite militia is capable of menacing any of the warships cruising Mediterranean waters opposite the Lebanese coast, be they Israeli missile boats, the American Sixth Fleet or the European flotilla attached to UNIFIL. Several dozen more are concealed across the Syrian border, ready for transfer at short notice. Hidden there too is double the number of anti-tank missiles in service with the Hizballah in 2006, of types which caused heavy damage and casualties to Israeli tank crews. Syria has upgraded this stock with a large supply of “Third Generation” missiles bought in Russia with Iranian funding. Another major difference between then and now is that Hizballah has established its first air defense unit armed with ground-to-air shoulder-borne Strela-7 missiles and the mobile Rapier 2s. Last year, Hizballah fielded 1,600 well-trained commandos, the backbone of its fighting force, and lost 750 in combat with the Israeli army. Since then, 1,200 fresh fighters have been recruited and are undergoing commando training at a special facility near Tehran. Each course of three to four months has an intake of 300 to 400 Hizballah recruits. The third course went into training in July. By the end of the year, Hizballah will have some 2,000 elite troops, 400-500 more than its number at the outset of the last war."

Tuesday 7/10/2007

Venezuelan-Iranian Car Company Releases First Models 7/10/2007 Venezuela Analysis

Sunday 7/8/2007

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales 7/8/2007 Irak War: "The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation. Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies. Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels."

Who Runs the CIA? Outsiders for Hire. 7/8/2007 Washington Post: "Over the past five years (some say almost a decade), there has been a revolution in the intelligence community toward wide-scale outsourcing. Private companies now perform key intelligence-agency functions, to the tune, I'm told, of more than $42 billion a year. Intelligence professionals tell me that more than 50 percent of the National Clandestine Service (NCS) -- the heart, brains and soul of the CIA -- has been outsourced to private firms such as Abraxas, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon… Today, when Booz Allen Hamilton loses a contract to SAIC, people rush from one to the other in a game of musical chairs, with not enough chairs for all the workers who possess both the highest security clearances and expertise in the art of espionage. Some inevitably lose out. Any good counterintelligence officer knows what can happen next. Down-on-their-luck spies begin to do what spies do best: spy. Other companies offer them jobs in exchange for industry secrets. Foreign governments approach them. And some day, terrorists will clue in to this potential workforce."

Saturday 7/7/2007

Report: Libby a long-time Israeli intelligence agent 7/7/2007 Global Research: "Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby (Leibowitz) has been a long-serving intelligence agent for Israel's Mossad, according to a veteran CIA "official cover" officer who spoke to the Wayne Madsen Report on deep background. The CIA's Clandestine Service has, over the years, gathered a tremendous amount of intelligence on Libby's activities on behalf of Mossad. Libby served as the lawyer for Switzerland- based American fugitive financier Marc Rich, aka Mark David Reich, who is also known to be an Israeli intelligence asset and someone Israel relies upon for missions that demand "plausible deniability" on the part of the Mossad. Rich heads up a worldwide empire of dummy corporations, foundations, and numbered bank accounts that have been involved in sanctions busting and weapons smuggling. The nations involved include Israel, United States, United Kingdom, Iran, Panama, Colombia, Russia, Iraq (under Saddam Hussein), Cuba, Spain, Nigeria, Singapore, Bolivia, Jamaica, Bermuda, France, Italy, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Ireland, Zambia, Sw In 1983, the then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York urged jail time for Rich and his partner Pincus Green for racketeering. The name of that U.S. Attorney is Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani, who is now running for president, praised Bush's decision to commute Libby's jail sentence. After Clinton 's pardon of Rich, Giuliani said he was "shocked." Paul Klebnikov, the Moscow editor for Forbes' Russian edition, wrote about the connections of Rich to Russian gangsters like Boris Berezovsky, a business partner of Neil Bush, in his book "Godfather of the Kremlin." Klebnikov was shot to death gangland-style on a Moscow street on July 9, 2004. Libby not only provided the Mossad with a top agent inside the White House but also an important conduit for the Russian-Israeli Mafia. Libby arranged for Rich's eleventh hour pardon by outgoing President Bill Clinton in January 2001. The pardon of Rich was urged in a phone call to Clinton by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as well as Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert."

"There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to Democracies as against despots: suspicion." -- Demosthenes

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World News 7/1/07 - 8/15/07

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Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A. Last modified: July 14, 2007

World News
7/1/07 - 8/15/07

Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A.
Last modified: July 14, 2007