Saturday, June 26 2010   -   9/11 Consequences

Using the McChrystal Moment to Raise a Forbidden Question

David Ray Griffin
Submitted June 24, 2010
GlobalResearch.ca

There are many questions to ask about the war in Afghanistan. One that has been widely asked is whether it will turn out to be "Obama's Vietnam."¹ This question implies another: Is this war winnable, or is it destined to be a quagmire, like Vietnam? These questions are motivated in part by the widespread agreement that the Afghan government, under Hamid Karzai, is at least as corrupt and incompetent as the government the United States tried to prop up in South Vietnam for 20 years.

Although there are many similarities between these two wars, there is also a big difference: This time, there is no draft. If there were a draft, so that college students and their friends back home were being sent to Afghanistan, there would be huge demonstrations against this war on campuses all across this country. If the sons and daughters of wealthy and middle-class parents were coming home in boxes, or with permanent injuries or post-traumatic stress syndrome, this war would have surely been stopped long ago. People have often asked: Did we learn any of the "lessons of Vietnam"? The US government learned one: If you're going to fight unpopular wars, don't have a draft -- hire mercenaries!

There are many other questions that have been, and should be, asked about this war, but in this essay, I focus on only one: Did the 9/11 attacks justify the war in Afghanistan?

 

Friday, June 25 2010   -   9/11 Precedents

By Robert Parry (A Special Report)
June 24, 2010
ConsortiumNews.com

As the Official Story of the 1980 October Surprise case crumbles -- with new revelations that key evidence was hidden from investigators of a congressional task force and that internal doubts were suppressed -- history must finally confront the troubling impression that remains: that disgruntled elements of the CIA and Israel's Likud hardliners teamed up to remove a U.S. president from office.

Indeed, it is this disturbing conclusion -- perhaps even more than the idea of a Republican dirty trick -- that may explain the longstanding and determined cover-up of this political scandal.

Too many powerful interests do not want the American people to accept even the possibility that U.S. intelligence operatives and a longtime ally could intervene to oust a president who had impinged on what those two groups considered their vital interests.

To accept that scenario would mean that two of the great fears of American democracy had come true -- George Washington's warning against the dangers of "entangling alliances" and Harry Truman's concern that the clandestine operations of the CIA had the makings of an "American Gestapo."

It is far easier to assure the American people that no such thing could occur, that Israel's Likud -- whatever its differences with Washington over Middle East peace policies -- would never seek to subvert a U.S. president, and that CIA dissidents -- no matter how frustrated by political constraints -- would never sabotage their own government.

But the evidence points in that direction, and there are some points that are not in dispute. For instance, there is no doubt that CIA Old Boys and Likudniks had strong motives for seeking President Jimmy Carter's defeat in 1980.

Inside the CIA, Carter and his CIA Director Stansfield Turner were blamed for firing many of the free-wheeling covert operatives from the Vietnam era, for ousting legendary spymaster Ted Shackley, and for failing to protect longtime U.S. allies (and friends of the CIA), such as Iran's Shah and Nicaragua's dictator Anastasio Somoza.

As for Israel, Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin was furious over Carter's high-handed actions at Camp David in 1978 forcing Israel to trade the occupied Sinai to Egypt for a peace deal. Begin feared that Carter would use his second term to bully Israel into accepting a Palestinian state on West Bank lands that Likud considered part of Israel's divinely granted territory.

 

Wednesday, June 23 2010   -   Research/Evidence

New York City officials say a renewed search this year of debris in and around the World Trade Center site has recovered 72 human remains.

June 23, 2010
Telegraph.co.uk

The sifting of more than 800 cubic yards (612 cubic meters) of debris recovered from ground zero and underneath roads around the lower Manhattan site began in April and ended Friday.

The greatest number of remains -- 37 -- were found from material underneath West Street, a highway on the west side of ground zero. The new debris was uncovered as construction work made new parts of the site accessible.

The city began a renewed search for human remains in 2006. More than 1,800 remains have been found.

Some have been matched to previously unidentified 9/11 victims.

 

Sunday, June 20 2010   -   Other Important News

David Ray Griffin
Submitted June 18, 2010
911truth.org

William A. ("Bill") Christison, a former senior analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency who became a supporter of the 9/11 Truth Movement, died June 13, 2010, due to a rapidly advancing neurological disease, which he had contracted three months earlier. He leaves behind his wife, Kathleen McGrath Christison (who had also been a CIA analyst), two daughters (Lynda Carlson and Judith Wooten), and a son (Eric). He had been preceded in death by two other sons (Robert and Thomas). The memorial service was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Friday, June 18.

Born in Boston in 1928, Christison graduated from Princeton in 1950 and immediately joined the CIA to begin what would become a distinguished 28-year career. Starting out as an analyst on Soviet affairs, he worked in the 1960s on the problem of global nuclear proliferation, with special emphases on France, Israel, India, and Pakistan. In the 1970s, he became the National Intelligence Officer for South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. (He and Kathleen met while they were both working in Saigon.) He finished his career as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis, supervising over 200 analysts covering, between themselves, every region of the world.

In 1979, he and his wife retired from the CIA and moved to Sante Fe, where he started becoming more critical of US foreign policy, especially when he saw that the fall of the Soviet Union, which by ending the Cold War was supposed to bring a "peace dividend," did no such thing, but instead prompted the United States to advance its imperial interests.

Becoming especially critical of US policy with regard to Israel and the Middle East, he (along with his wife) began writing articles for Counterpunch. Some of Christison's most important work, Counterpunch editor Alexander Cockburn told the Santa Fe New Mexican (Steve Terrell, "Former CIA Agent Bill Christison Advocated for Palestinians," The Santa Fe New Mexican, June 15, 2010), came in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In a March 2002 Counterpunch article, Christison wrote:

"My number one root cause (of terrorism) is the support by the U.S. over recent years for the policies of Israel with respect to the Palestinians, and the belief among Arabs and Muslims that the United States is as much to blame as Israel itself for the continuing, almost 35-year-long Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

 

Sunday, June 20 2010   -   9/11 Consequences

By Daniel Tencer
June 19th, 2010
RawStory.com

The Pentagon's spy unit has quietly begun to rebuild a database for tracking potential terrorist threats that was shut down after it emerged that it had been collecting information on American anti-war activists.

The Defense Intelligence Agency filed notice this week that it plans to create a new section called Foreign Intelligence and Counterintelligence Operation Records, whose purpose will be to "document intelligence, counterintelligence, counterterrorism and counternarcotic operations relating to the protection of national security."

But while the unit's name refers to "foreign intelligence," civil liberties advocates and the Pentagon's own description of the program suggest that Americans will likely be included in the new database.

 

Friday, June 18 2010   -   In the Media

By Marc Hansen
June 17, 2010
Des Moines Register On Tuesday night, Sean Michalek drove from Victor to Adel for the monthly 911 Truth of Central Iowa meeting.

The trek west took 105 minutes, but so what? Michalek, 64, would have driven nine hours to commune and commiserate with other Iowans who believe the official story of Sept. 11, 2001, is a big fat lie.

"It's the only game in Iowa," he said.

The only game, he meant, for people who think 9/11 is the least examined tragedy in American history.

 

Friday, June 18 2010   -   Legal Response to 9/11

By Benjamin Weiser
June 17, 2010
NYTimes.com

A federal judge in Manhattan who was criticized by families of victims of 9/11 for taking too long to decide motions in lawsuits they had filed has handed down a ruling dismissing claims made against many of the defendants.

The judge, George B. Daniels of Federal District Court, has overseen a group of lawsuits filed in the wake of the attacks. The suits sought to hold charities, financial institutions and individuals responsible for providing money and other support to Al Qaeda.

The terrorism-financing suits are not related to separate 9/11 wrongful death and injury claims brought by families and rescue and cleanup workers that are before another judge and appear near resolution. Judge Daniels, in his ruling made public on Thursday, cited jurisdictional grounds in dismissing dozens of defendants.

 

Saturday, June 12 2010   -   Other Important News

June 10, 2010
By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has forcefully put Yemeni citizen Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini on the path to freedom after eight years of incarceration at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a 36-page opinion formally released Thursday, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. called Odaini's continued detention "unlawful" and said he'd "emphatically" grant Odaini's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

The ruling issued secretly last month but published Thursday sets the 26-year-old Odaini up for potential release, though when and where he'll go remains unclear. The ruling also represents the latest defeat for U.S. officials in their efforts to keep Guantanamo detainees behind bars.

"(U.S.) officials kept a young man from Yemen in detention in Cuba from age eighteen to age twenty-six," Kennedy wrote. "They have prevented him from seeing his family and denied him the opportunity to complete his studies and embark on a career."

Pointedly, Kennedy added that "the evidence before the court shows that holding Odaini in custody at such great cost to him has done nothing to make the United States more secure."

 

Saturday, June 12 2010   -   Other Important News

by Philip Shenon
June 10, 2010
The Daily Beast - Blogs & Stories

Anxious that Wikileaks may be on the verge of publishing a batch of secret State Department cables, investigators are desperately searching for founder Julian Assange. Philip Shenon reports. Plus, Daniel Ellsberg tells The Daily Beast: "Assange is in Some Danger."

(This story has been updated to reflect new developments on Assange's whereabouts, including the cancelation of a scheduled appearance in Las Vegas.)

Pentagon investigators are trying to determine the whereabouts of the Australian-born founder of the secretive website Wikileaks for fear that he may be about to publish a huge cache of classified State Department cables that, if made public, could do serious damage to national security, government officials tell The Daily Beast.

The officials acknowledge that even if they found the website founder, Julian Assange, it is not clear what they could do to block publication of the cables on Wikileaks, which is nominally based on a server in Sweden and bills itself as a champion of whistleblowers.

 

Thursday, June 10 2010   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

June 9, 2010
Interview by John Bursill
Listen Here: http://visibility911.com/blog/?p=1749

Visibility 9-11 welcomes for the first time a tireless campaigner for peace, justice and liberty for the American People, hero and patriot Bob Bowman. In my opinion and from what Bob has achieved on a shoestring budget over the last six years, it is fair to say he would have in all likelihood become the current President of the USA in a different and truthful world. That is a world where we had a free and honest press in the US and had the truth of the 9/11 attacks exposed to all. Bob is the man that best represents the phrase speaking truth to power and was the man that brought that term to the 9/11 Truth Movement through speeches throughout America and the world!

In this interview Bob talks about issues and ideas never before raised with him on air. This interview is a must listen!

 

Tuesday, June 8 2010   -   Other Important News

June 7: UPDATE: THE "LEGAL" SYSTEM IN DC IS SAYING THAT WE PROBABLY CAN'T RESCHEDULE THE TRIAL (FOR AN INFRACTION) UNTIL AUGUST, SEPTEMBER OR OCTOBER. THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE FINANCIALLY AND CONSTITUTIONALLY. SINCE I HAVE ALREADY LOST HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS ON AIR-FARE AND DAYS OUT OF MY LIFE THAT I WILL NEVER GET BACK, ETC FOR THIS TRIAL, I AM DEMANDING MY SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL TO BE HELD WHEN I AM IN DC FOR SIZZLIN' SUMMER PROTESTS IN JULY.

THEY WANT TO BREAK ME, BUT I WASN'T BROKEN WHEN THEY KILLED MY SON--WHAT DO THEY THINK THEY CAN DO TO ME NOW?

June 7, 2010

PeaceoftheAction.organization

The trial for Cindy Sheehan and six others for their arrest in front of the White House on March 20th is this Thursday, June 10th at DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana, NW in room 120.

There will be a short pro-peace/pro-1st Amendment Rally and press conference at 8:15am in front of the Court.

Some statements from the "Peace Criminals" and their attorneys:

. . . Jon Gold: (Core Team Member of Peace of the Action and 911 Truth Activist arrested for crossing a police line)

In response to our Government lying about, and covering up the 9/11 attacks, I began fighting for truth, accountability, and justice for what happened that day. My efforts, for the past eight years, have been on behalf of the people that lost someone that day, and for the 9/11 first responders that needed health care because of the toxic dust down at Ground Zero. The United States Government has used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to launch illegal, preemptive wars and to take away our civil liberties. The resulting bankrupting of this country is unacceptable to me, and I felt it was my duty as a citizen to help to expose the cover-up. Ultimately, that fight led me to be in Washington D.C. on March 20th. It greatly saddens me that I was arrested, and will have to stand trial for such a trivial crime. I was under the impression that Americans have the right to peaceably assemble. Paradoxically crossing a police line is treated as a crime, but our leaders are not held accountable for their much more serious crimes of murder and genocide. It is also quite tragic to me that Cindy Sheehan, a mother of a lost soldier, has to stand trial because she believes in ending the illegal and unjust occupations that led to her son's death.