Monday, March 30 2009   -   Fear Factors

Notice any familiar pattern here, at all?

-Wednesday - "Britain warned of a growing terrorist risk from chemical, biological and radiological weapons and pinpointed al Qaeda in Pakistan"
-Friday, March 27 - Obama rolls out his "new" Afghanistan and Pakistan War on Terror Overseas Contingency Plan ...
-Sunday, March 29 - Newest "Be Very Afraid" alert hits the wires -- Threat of a Dirty Bomb "more likely than ever" for G20 leaders in London...
-Also Sunday, Washington Post announces torturing alleged al Qaeda #2 didn't foil any dastardly plots. (Pentagon Department of Information surely huddles to determine the best path to re-terrorize The People so they'll look past this little tidbit...)
-Also Sunday, Spain announces they'll go ahead with investigation of a "98-page complaint to prosecutors that accuses former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and five others of being the legal architects of system that allowed torture." (After which the Obama legal team surely huddles to determine the best path so they can continue to 'look forward' while assuring The People that 'no one's above the law' ... 'really')

Articles follow. Are we convinced yet that "those people" are SO dangerous that we'll support sending another 21,000 US troops (plus mercenaries and civilian aid workers) into Afghanistan, and CIA drones into Pakistan, more rendition, more torture, more slaughter, or will it take a few more "dirty bomb" and "Anthrax" threats from the government to get us there? Really??? Are we even asking ourselves that question? Can we continue to overlook the illegal actions of this administration and nonrepresentational, slacking legislative branch? Since when did it become legal for "CIA drones" to bomb another country? Wasn't there something about a War Powers Act once...?

Do we see the government's pattern of issuing red alerts coincidental with announcing American hegemony-building war plans? Many people became clear about that while Bush was in power, but fewer are discussing it openly now that we have "new" leadership. So what about it? Can you talk with coworkers or friends about the absurdity of this, and counter the nationalist propaganda and fear-mongering strongly enough to speak out and stand up? Food for thought . . .  

Monday, March 30 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

by Kenneth J. Theisen
28 March 2009
WorldCantWait.net

President Barack Obama continued with his latest escalation of the war in Afghanistan by announcing his plans to send an additional 4,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to train Afghan government puppet forces. He also announced plans to send hundreds of diplomats and civilian officials to the country, in what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called an "integrated military-civilian strategy". Like his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama raised the specter of "terrorism" to justify his actions.

Obama stated that, "If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taliban or allows al-Qaida to go unchallenged, that country will again be a base for terrorists." Obama warned that the al-Qaida "terrorists" were actively planning further attacks on the U.S. from havens in Pakistan. He stated, "So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future." He went on to claim, "That is the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: we will defeat you." Does this sound a little too much like Bush's excuse for the initial invasion in 2001? I was waiting to hear Obama say, "bring 'em on."

 

Monday, March 30 2009   -   Legal Response to 9/11

Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say
By Peter Finn and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 29, 2009; A01

When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him.

The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads.

In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

 

Sunday, March 29 2009   -   Accountability

Reuters
March 28, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A top Spanish court has moved toward starting a probe of six former Bush administration officials including ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in connection with alleged torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, The New York Times said on Saturday.

The criminal investigation would focus on whether they violated international law by providing a legalistic justification for torture at the U.S. detention camp in Cuba, the Times said.

. . . The other Americans named are William Haynes II, former general counsel for the Department of Defense; Jay Bybee, Yoo's former boss at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel; and David Addington, chief of staff and legal adviser to ex-Vice President Dick Cheney.

 

Sunday, March 29 2009   -   Truth Movement News

March 29, 2009
by Sander Hicks
http://sander.gnn.tv

NYPD Central Booking (212) 374-3921

NEW YORK, NY -- Last night, in an attempt to get Mayor Bloomberg to answer questions about the Mayor's alleged neglect of 9/11 First Responders, three activists from the nation-wide "9/11 truth" group We Are Change were suddenly arrested and held over night in Central Booking.

The Mayor had been at the Times Square Hilton for a fund-raising event. The activists claim they were not asked to leave the premises, and were illegally arrested.

"All of the members of WeAreChange immediately complied with all instructions given by the security detail so that they could exit the building but within seconds arrest orders were given. According to WeAreChange camera operators, there is video of these unlawful arrests as it appears that in some cases there were no warnings given and some people were simply arrested just for being in the lobby of the hotel." Members of We Are Change also allege that police engaged in unnecessary brutality. Three video cameras were confiscated.

 

Saturday, March 28 2009   -   Get Involved

On Tuesday we posted an appeal for readers to take action regarding a current state of national emergency in the US, declared by George W. Bush after 9/11/01. Since then, the appeal has been sent to at least 20,000 people via email, linked to from numerous other sites, and reposted in full at several sites. We are beginning to get notification from readers of specific Representatives and Senators to whom letters are being sent, with follow-up calls planned. Please continue to send those to us at responses[at]911truth.org. We intend to start posting that information shortly.

Some people have written to ask whether we've completely lost our collective mind... "Do you really think this Congress--who has refused to investigate or even talk about 9/11 crimes for all these years--is suddenly going to divulge honest information about their lack of oversight of National Emergencies, and act to terminate it just because you send them a letter?!" Well, uhm, not really, no. But, do we think some (continued)...

 

Saturday, March 28 2009   -   In the Media

Live Broadcast from Berkeley, Calif. --- Richard Gage, AIA
Saturday March 28th at: 7pm Pacific -- 10pm Eastern -- 02:00 GMT

9/11: Blueprint for Truth -- The Architecture of Destruction

LIVE BROADCAST -- at NoLiesRadio.org or 67.18.54.205/~nolies/
Hear Richard Gage's latest presentation on the controlled demolition of the towers in front of a lively Berkeley audience. This should be exciting. Please visit Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth to sign the petition.

SF Bay Area Residents: Support AE911truth.org by attending this event in person. 7pm Pacific, Saturday, March 28th. Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., Berkeley, California (corner of Bonita in North Berkeley).
 

Friday, March 27 2009   -   Anthrax

Sunday March 29, 2009 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld's Passionate Eye Showcase

Watch a :52 min promo here:

An investigation into the deadly world of germ weapons, Anthrax War begins in New York in the days following 9/11. Anthrax-laced letters, mailed to media and U.S. senators, killed five people and spread fear and panic throughout the nation.

For filmmaker Bob Coen, who was raised in Zimbabwe where the former white regime has been accused of unleashing anthrax against the black population, biological weapons have a deep personal meaning. He embarks on a journey that raises troubling questions about the FBI's investigation of the 21st century's first act of biological terrorism.

Coen's investigation takes him from the U.S. to the U.K. and from the edge of Siberia to the tip of Africa. In a rare interview, Coen confronts "Doctor Death" Wouter Basson, who headed Project Coast, the South African apartheid-era bio-warfare program. Project Coast used germ warfare against select targets within the country's black population.

 

Thursday, March 26 2009   -   Legal Response to 9/11

... Mike Low, the father of a flight attendant who died on one of the hijacked planes, said afterwards that he was disappointed but not surprised by Hellerstein's position.

Low sued in spring 2003 on behalf of his daughter, Sara Low, 28, a Boston-based flight attendant who died when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center.

"A few days after 9/11, a veil of secrecy came down. It's still there," he said.

He said his main reason for not settling the case was because he wanted to make sure the public learned everything it could from the investigation of flaws in security that allowed 19 hijackers to board four planes. ...

 

Thursday, March 26 2009   -   Legal Response to 9/11

by Rory Eastburg
March 24, 2009
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

A Manhattan federal court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on whether more than a million pages of documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks should remain sealed.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court in New York City will hear arguments from The New York Times and the Reporters Committee, as well as victims' families and attorneys for the aviation industry defendants.

The documents come from lawsuits the families of certain Sept. 11 victims brought against airlines and related defendants. According to a statement from the plaintiffs' attorneys, more than a million documents remain sealed by an overbroad protective order that allowed the defendants to unilaterally designate vast numbers of documents as containing confidential trade secrets.

 

Wednesday, March 25 2009   -   Legal Response to 9/11

By Joe Dwinell
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
News.BostonHerald.com

. . . "My mother went through the most public murder you could imagine . . . and I've been putting up with this crap for seven years," Keating said of his refusal to settle his case out of court.

Keating's 72-year-old mother, Barbara, a Framingham native, died aboard American Airlines Flight 11.

Keating is making legal history today, along with the families of Mark Bavis, 31, and Sara Low, 28, by asking Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Federal District Court in Manhattan to lift the order keeping all the evidence hidden.

 

Tuesday, March 24 2009   -   Get Involved



March 24, 2009
Peter Dale Scott and Dan Hamburg

On 9/11 the Bush administration declared a State of Emergency (SOE), which was formally proclaimed on September 14, 2001, and extended by Bush repeatedly thereafter, most recently on August 28, 2008.¹ Under cover of this SOE, Bush secretly enacted many extreme measures, ranging from suspension of habeas corpus to preparations for martial law in America; all these were undertaken as part of secret so-called "Continuity of Government" (COG) procedures associated with the SOE, and first instituted on 9/11.^{2 and 3}

The National Emergencies Act, one of the post-Watergate reforms so detested by Vice-President Cheney, requires specifically that

Not later than six months after a national emergency is declared, and not later than the end of each six-month period thereafter that such emergency continues, each House of Congress shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine whether that emergency shall be terminated.
(50 U.S.C. 1622 (2002)⁴

Last fall one of us appealed on the Internet for the Democrats in Congress to take this statutorily required step, and also to learn what secret COG measures were being enacted under the SOE.⁵ There was no response.

 

Tuesday, March 24 2009   -   9/11 Precedents

SERBIA: Gabriel Ronay
Sunday Herald (Scotland)
March 22, 2009

THE LATE President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serb death squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegrating Yugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, according to the independent Belgrade Radio B92.

The claim that from 1992 until the end of the decade, Jovica Stanisic, head of Serbia's murderous DB Secret Police, was regularly informing his CIA handlers of the thinking in Milosevic's inner circle has shocked the region.

Stanisic is said to have loyally served his two masters for eight years. He is facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

In the terrifying years of Yugoslavia's internecine wars, he acted as the willing "muscle" behind Milosevic's genocidal campaigns in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia, including Sebrenica.

 

Tuesday, March 24 2009   -   Other Important News

Declassified documents show U.S. Embassy knew that Guatemalan security forces were behind wave of abductions of students and labor leaders.
National Security Archive calls for release of military files and investigation into intellectual authors of the 1984 abduction of Fernando García and other disappearances
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 273
By Kate Doyle and Jesse Franzblau
English / Español

(Guatemala Documentation Project Home)

(See many significant related postings at the source.)

Washington, DC, March 17, 2009 -- Following a stunning breakthrough in a 25-year-old case of political terror in Guatemala, the National Security Archive today is posting declassified U.S. documents about the disappearance of Edgar Fernando García, a student leader and trade union activist captured by Guatemalan security forces in 1984. The documents show that García's capture was an organized political abduction orchestrated at the highest levels of the Guatemalan government.

Guatemalan authorities made the first arrest ever in the long-dormant kidnapping case when they detained Héctor Roderico Ramírez Ríos, a senior police officer in Quezaltenango, on March 5th and retired policeman Abraham Lancerio Gómez on March 6th as a result of an investigation into García's abduction by Guatemala's Human Rights Prosecutor (Procurador de Derechos Humanos--PDH). Arrest warrants have been issued for two more suspects, Hugo Rolando Gómez Osorio and Alfonso Guillermo de León Marroquín. The two are former officers with the notorious Special Operations Brigade (BROE) of the National Police, a unit linked to death squad activities during the 1980s by human rights groups.

According to the prosecutor Sergio Morales, the suspects were identified using evidence found in the vast archives of the former National Police. The massive, moldering cache of documents was discovered accidentally by the PDH in 2005, and has since been cleaned, organized and reviewed by dozens of investigators. The National Security Archive provided expert advice in the rescue of the archive and posted photographs and analysis on its Web site.Last week, Morales turned over hundreds of additional records to the Public Ministry containing evidence of state security force involvement in the disappearance of other student leaders between 1978 and 1980. As the Historical Archive of the National Police prepares to issue its first major report on March 24, more evidence of human rights crimes can be expected to be made public.

Government Campaign of Terror

The abduction of Fernando García was part of a government campaign of terror designed to destroy Guatemala's urban and rural social movements during the 1980s. On February 18, 1984, the young student leader was captured on the outskirts of a market near his home in Guatemala City. He was never seen again. Although witnesses pointed to police involvement, the government under then-Chief of State Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejía Víctores always denied any role in his kidnapping. According to the Historical Clarification Commission's report released in 1999, García was one of an estimated 40,000 civilians disappeared by state agents during Guatemala's 36-year civil conflict.

 

Tuesday, March 24 2009   -   Get Involved

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