Monday, May 24 2010   -   Civil Liberties-Police State

May 21, 2010
By Glenn Greenwald
Salon.com
(updated below - Update II)

Few issues highlight Barack Obama's extreme hypocrisy the way that Bagram does. As everyone knows, one of George Bush's most extreme policies was abducting people from all over the world -- far away from any battlefield -- and then detaining them at Guantanamo with no legal rights of any kind, not even the most minimal right to a habeas review in a federal court. Back in the day, this was called "Bush's legal black hole." In 2006, Congress codified that policy by enacting the Military Commissions Act, but in 2008, the Supreme Court, in Boumediene v. Bush, ruled that provision unconstitutional, holding that the Constitution grants habeas corpus rights even to foreign nationals held at Guantanamo. Since then, detainees have won 35 out of 48 habeas hearings brought pursuant to Boumediene, on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to justify their detention.

Immediately following Boumediene, the Bush administration argued that the decision was inapplicable to detainees at Bagram -- including even those detained outside of Afghanistan but then flown to Afghanistan to be imprisoned. Amazingly, the Bush DOJ -- in a lawsuit brought by Bagram detainees seeking habeas review of their detention -- contended that if they abduct someone and ship them to Guantanamo, then that person (under Boumediene) has the right to a habeas hearing, but if they instead ship them to Bagram, then the detainee has no rights of any kind. In other words, the detainee's Constitutional rights depends on where the Government decides to drop them off to be encaged. One of the first acts undertaken by the Obama DOJ that actually shocked civil libertarians was when, last February, as The New York Times put it, Obama lawyers "told a federal judge that military detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment there, embracing a key argument of former President Bush's legal team."

 

Saturday, May 22 2010   -   Other Important News

(AFP) -- May 21, 2010
Googlenews.com

LONDON -- Inquests into the deaths of 56 people in London's July 2005 suicide bombings will probe alleged failings by police and MI5 intelligence before the attacks, the coroner conducting the hearings said Friday.

Judge Heather Hallett also ruled that inquests into four suicide bombers will be held separately from those of the 52 victims, a relief to families who had protested plans to hold the inquests together.

The suicide bombers set off near-simultaneous explosions on three London Underground trains and a double-decker bus on the morning of July 7, 2005, in what has become known as 7/7, nearly four years after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Hallett, giving details of arrangements for the inquests due to start in October, said they would probe what police and MI5 officers knew ahead of the shock attacks.

"The scope of the inquest into the 52 deaths will include the alleged intelligence failings and the immediate aftermath of the bombings," she said.

 

Friday, May 21 2010   -   Politics & 9/11

May 21, 2010
by Sander Hicks
Sanderhicks.com

This Sunday will be historic.

We are talking about starting what will soon become a major political force: something optimistic, smart, and savvy.

We will win elections. We will change the world.

As many of you saw from my blog, I have left the Green Party. But I learned a lot there, and it's time for a new formation.

All good people are invited to an experimental, exploratory discussion and meeting, chaired by me, Sander Hicks, regarding the founding of a new political party. The working name of the party is currently "The Truth Party" but there's also been some discussion of that name, see below.

 

Friday, May 21 2010   -   Truth Movement News

Submitted by John Bursill
Story by Naomi Breeze
May 20, 2010

Below is a moving and powerful story by one of the hardest working and most determined 9/11 Truth Advocates I know, Naomi Breeze. She has guts and determination in spades and will not be stopped in her quest to get justice for the victims of the 9/11 attacks that include ten Australians!

Solo Truth Action in Newcastle, Australia on the 14 of May 2010

Story by Naomi Breeze

After stumbling across 9/11 Truth on the internet about three years ago I contacted John Bursill of 9/11 Truth Australia and have been a passionate 9/11 Truther ever since. I feel privileged to have been involved with two successful conferences in Sydney, Australia and am honoured to have met some of my 9/11 Truth heroes.

I attended a talk in my hometown of Newcastle on 14 May 2010 by ex-Fire Fighter, ex-Chief Dan Daly, about 9/11 and how it changed his life. The talk was organised by a Catholic Church Chaplain through his Passionist Family Group and cost $5.00. The Chaplain is a personal friend of Dan and was in New York on September 11, 2001.

 

Thursday, May 20 2010   -   Get Involved

In the fall of 2001 the U.S. suffered two assaults--the attacks of 9/11 and the anthrax mailings--that supplied the pretext for a new "war on terror." Unfortunately, the U.S. government's accounts of both events are fictional.

A presentation on
THE FICTIONAL BASIS OF THE WAR ON TERROR
by GRAEME MACQUEEN

Graeme MacQueen received his Ph.D. from Harvard and was founding director of the Center For Peace Studies at McMaster University. He has directed peace building projects in several war zones, including Afghanistan.

May 22, 2010, 7PM
at the
RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

 

Thursday, May 20 2010   -   Other Important News

May 19, 2010
Washingtonsblog.com

The U.S. government suppressed health information after 9/11. For example, as Newsday noted in 2003:

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available.

That finding is included in a report released Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA.

Because the government lied about the health risks involved, many heroic first responders didn't use any real precautions, and so have gotten sick and died. And see this.

The same thing appears to be happening in connection with the Gulf oil spill.

Specifically, marine toxicologist Ricki Ott writes:

 

Tuesday, May 18 2010   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

From NewsFocus.org
May 17, 2010
Posted to Vimeo

[Please click "Read More", below, to watch video.]

A short production of news clips detailing George W. Bush's 9/11 inaction, including his post-attack foot dragging on establishing an independent investigation into the worst attack ever on United States soil.

Bush was clearly negligent in his duty on 9/11, not only as President, but also as our Commander in Chief. His inaction alone is reason enough to re-open the 9/11 investigation. Throw in the fact that Donald Rumsfeld was not at his post directing a defense for this country, and that Dick Cheney tracked the Pentagon attack "vehicle" from over 50 miles out and still did not shoot the object down, and you have negligence and dereliction of duty at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Don't just ask for a new investigation. Ask for a real 9/11 investigation.

 

Monday, May 17 2010   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

Interview by John Bursill
May 17, 2010
Visibility911.com

Listen here: http://visibility911.com/blog/?p=1724.

It is a great pleasure to welcome back our regular guest Kevin Ryan to the Visibility 9-11 Podcast. Kevin is arguably the hardest working and most prolific scientific author within the 9/11 Truth Community!

In this show we ask Kevin to look back at the investigative work he and his peers have carried out for the Journal of 9/11 Studies, of which he is a Co-Editor and leading author. There are simply too many topics covered in this interview to mention them all here in the notes. Highlights include Kevin’s work on discovering who had access to the Towers, his recent correspondence with 9/11 Commission Co-Chairman Lee Hamilton and we also ask Kevin, “who did 9/11?”

 

Thursday, May 13 2010   -   Get Involved

May 7, 2010

Dear Readers,

We'll make this short and sweet.

First of all, a sincere THANK YOU to each of you who have recently contributed to 911truth.org or do so on a monthly basis. We couldn't keep going without you!

To readers who have not donated, or have not done so in a while, please consider - today - what you can give to help maintain the organization and the website. If it's useful to you, we'd appreciate your support.

It's easy - use Paypal, put it on a credit card, or mail it in. All the details are here.

Thank you!!

 

Thursday, May 13 2010   -   Get Involved

Revealing the Hidden Forces Behind World Events and Offering Creative Solutions

Santa Cruz, CA (PRWEB) May 10, 2010 -- Organizers of the May 14-16 Santa Cruz "Understanding Deep Politics" conference have announced a three-day summit of engaged scholars and activist leaders to shed new light on the corrupt forces driving current events, expose the corporate media's complicity, and craft tenable strategies of response.

According to "Understanding Deep Politics" coordinator Gabriel Day, "We believe the most powerful catalyst for positive social change would be a widespread understanding of deep politics and a corresponding outpouring of courageous activism addressing the real roots of our crises. We think that all participants will emerge from this weekend considerably smarter, better networked, and more hopefully prepared for the great challenges we face."

Details of live streaming, available free Friday night only or at low cost for full weekend, follow.

 

Thursday, May 13 2010   -   Legal Response to 9/11

By John Byrne
May 11th, 2010
RawStory.com

Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama's latest nominee to the Supreme Court, helped protect the Saudi royal family from lawsuits that sought to hold al Qaeda financiers responsible in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The suits were filed by thousands of family members and others affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. In court papers, they provided evidence that members of the Saudi royal family had channeled millions to al Qaeda prior to the bombings, often in contravention of direct guidance from the United States.

But Kagan, acting as President Obama's Solicitor General, argued that the case should not be heard even if evidence proved that the Saudis helped underwrite al Qaeda, because it would interfere with US foreign policy with the oil-rich nation. She posited "that the princes are immune from petitioners’ claims" because of "the potentially significant foreign relations consequences of subjecting another sovereign state to suit."

 

Monday, May 10 2010   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

May 10, 2010

On Tuesday, May 11 at 6:00pm CDT on 90.1 FM KKFI Community Radio (Kansas City), 'Tell Somebody' host Tom Klammer will feature former FBI Special Agent and Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel Coleen Rowley and 27- year CIA analyst and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity cofounder Ray McGovern. The program will stream live at www.kkfi.org.

Rowley's team had arrested Zacarias Moussaoui just three weeks before 9/11, and was denied a warrant to search his computer by FBI headquarters. Rowley was on the cover of Time magazine's 2002 Person of the Year issue with two other whistleblowers after she went public with a blistering letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Rowley just wrote a piece on the Huffington Post, headlined "Quarles Public Safety Exception--Constitutional and Proven Effective!" . We'll hear about that from Coleen Rowley as she returns to Tell Somebody this week.

After that, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern returns to the show. Ray's latest post on Consortium News is entitled, "Loose Lips on Iran Can Sink America".

 

Friday, May 7 2010   -   Research/Evidence

by Prof David Ray Griffin
April 30, 2010
Originally Published at Globalresearch.ca

In 2009, I published a little book entitled Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?¹ Much evidence, I showed, suggested that Osama bin Laden had died on or about December 13, 2001. (Although this book was ignored by the US press, it received major reviews in British newspapers,² and it even provided the basis for a BBC special.³) Pointing out that the only evidence to the contrary consists of "messages from bin Laden" in the form of audiotapes and videotapes that have appeared since 2001, I devoted one chapter to an examination of the most important of these tapes, showing that none are demonstrably authentic and that some are almost certainly fakes.

In the chapter preceding that examination, I discussed two videotapes containing purported interviews of Osama bin Laden in the fall of 2001, when the issue was whether he had been responsible for the 9/11 attacks. I suggested that both of these tapes, in which bin Laden allegedly admitted his responsibility, were fakes. If they were, I pointed out, this fact would increase the likelihood that all of the "Osama bin Laden tapes" appearing in the following years - when the question of whether he was still alive was added to that of his responsibility for 9/11 - were also fakes.

 

Friday, May 7 2010   -   Get Involved

Fri, May 7 San Rafael, CA
Sat, May 8 San Leandro, CA
Live Video Stream

9/11 Myths Exposed: Firefighters, Architects and Engineers Re-investigate the Destruction of the Three World Trade Center Skyscrapers

On September 11th, 2001 the greatest destruction and loss of life associated with the terrorist attacks took place in New York City. After almost nine years and numerous government investigations, many public misconceptions persist about the events of that tragic day, especially regarding the unprecedented destruction of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

During this live multimedia presentation Seattle firefighter Erik Lawyer and SF Bay Area architect Richard Gage, AIA, will examine the myths surrounding the events at the World Trade Center. Using well-documented forensic evidence, news footage and eyewitness accounts, they seek to correct the public record. Some of the myths they will address:

 

Thursday, May 6 2010   -   In the Media

UQÀM staff denounce 9/11 Truthers speech
May 4, 2010
CBC News

Administrators at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQÀM) say they will develop a formal policy for outside groups renting campus space for events after a controversial lecture about 9/11 drew fire by academic staff.

But the French-language university defended its right to have contentious speakers lecture on campus as part of free speech, saying it was appropriate to debate ideas, as long as events don't incite riots.

The Monday night lecture, hosted by World for 9/11 Truth, drew about 700 people who came to hear from two U.S. academics who deny the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were carried out by terrorists.

The researchers -- David Ray Griffin and Richard Gage -- believe the U.S. government played a major role in orchestrating the deadly attacks on New York City's Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Griffin and Gage are lobbying for an independent inquiry into the attacks, which killed 3,000 people. Their theories -- part of the self-titled Truthers movement that formed after Sept. 11 -- have been repeatedly discounted by scientists and civil engineering experts.
U.S. experts at UQÀM upset