Saturday, January 06, 2007

PREMEDITATED MERGER: How leaders are stealthily transforming USA into North American Union

It seems unthinkable. But then, so did 9/11 before it happened.
Can it really be possible that Americans are witnessing a governmental program designed to merge – slowly but surely – the United States, Mexico and Canada?
That question is generating a major amount of below-the-media-radar buzz. In recent months, e-mails and telephone calls have poured into radio talk shows and congressional offices asking: Is there a plan to create a "North American Union"? Will a new currency, the "amero," replace the dollar? Is it true that Mexicans will now get Social Security?
Yet Congress (except for a few representatives like Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul) as well as the establishment press (with notable exceptions like CNN's Lou Dobbs) turn a blind eye – despite major evidence mounting daily.
Just recently, for example, confirmation surfaced that the U.S. government is indeed planning on providing full Social Security benefits to Mexicans – which critics predict will bankrupt the already-shaky system. And a report by the powerful Council on Foreign Relations, regarded by many as something of a "shadow government," has called for a massive transfer of wealth from the U.S. to Mexico and the establishment of a "security perimeter" around North America – rather than securing America's borders with Mexico and Canada.
So, while many dismiss plans to integrate the three North American countries as wild Internet "conspiracy theories," the January edition of WND's acclaimed Whistleblower magazine – titled "PREMEDITATED MERGER" – boldly lays out the disturbing evidence for all to see.
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Someone thinks vetsfor.911truth.youaremighty.com

Someone believes the Vets for 9/11 Truth are mighty. Thank you somebody!
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Thursday, January 04, 2007

Ralph Schoenman - The Underlying Politics of 9/11 (Video)

Must See this! 18 Minute Video
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Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Protesters Disrupt Press Conference on Lobbying Reform

Negroponte to Leave Intel Director Post

Anne Gearan contributed to this reportJan 3, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- National Intelligence Director John Negroponte will resign after 20 months in the job to become deputy secretary of state, two U.S. government officials said Wednesday night. Negroponte took over in April 2005 as the nation's first intelligence chief, responsible for overseeing all 16 U.S. spy agencies. He will return to his roots as a career diplomat to become the No. 2 to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the officials said. One of the officials said that the timing of Negroponte's departure was uncertain but that it was expected soon. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no announcement of the move.
Negroponte, 67, is stepping down as President Bush develops a new strategy on Iraq. The president has ordered reviews from his own agencies and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which recommended a series of changes to reverse the "slide toward chaos." Negroponte has held a series of tough posts in the Bush administration and has been at the center of the Iraq debate since before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. He served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. from 2001 to 2004 and ambassador to Baghdad until March 2005 before becoming intelligence chief. He also was ambassador to Mexico, from 1989-93.
Democrats taking control of Congress on Thursday have promised greater oversight of government agencies. The Senate Intelligence Committee, for instance, is planning hearings this month on the intelligence overhaul that Negroponte helped put in place.
A top candidate for the intelligence chief opening is retired Adm. Mike McConnell, the director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996. McConnell is now a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, a government contractor and consulting firm.

9/11 Speaking Out: An Interview with Craig Bartmer (Video)

9/11 Eyewitness NYPD Craig Bartmer Speaks Out
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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

See - Hear the Demolition Wave at the WTC (Video)

This 18 second Video lets you hear the boom, boom, boom, boom, boom that precedes the collapse. Source BBC.
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John Perkins: Author Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man

Self-Described Economic Hit Man John Perkins: “We Have Created the World’s First Truly Global Empire”
Most of the people in the United States have no idea that we've created this empire and, in fact, throughout the world it's been done very quietly, unlike old empires, where the army marched in. This is a must listen interview. Broadcast 02/15/06 on Democracy Now!
Excerpt:
AMY GOODMAN: Why didn't you work for the N.S.A.?
JOHN PERKINS: Because these days it's not done that way. Nobody wants to be able to connect the dots. So the N.S.A., the C.I.A., these types of organizations often recruit economic hit men and the jackals, the assassins, the 007 types, but they will recruit us, maybe train us, and then turn us over to a private corporation, so that you really can't make the connection, so that if I were caught at what I was doing in one of these countries, it would not reflect on our government; it would only reflect on the corporation that I worked for.
AMY GOODMAN: And who did you work for?
JOHN PERKINS: I worked for a company called Charles T. Main, a big consulting firm out of Boston.
AMY GOODMAN: And your job?
JOHN PERKINS: Well, I started off as economist, became chief economist, and my job really – I had a staff of several dozen people. My job was to get them, and for me to convince these countries to accept these very large loans, to get the banks to make the loans, to set up the deal so that the money went to big U.S. corporations. The country was left holding a huge debt, and then I would go in or one of my people would go in and say, “Look, you know, you owe us all this money. You can't pay your debts. Give us that pound of flesh.”
The other thing we do, Amy, and what's going on right now in Latin America is that as soon as one of these anti-American presidents is elected, such as Evo Morales, who you mentioned, in Bolivia, one of us goes in and says, “Hey, congratulations, Mr. President. Now that you're president, I just want to tell you that I can make you very, very rich, you and your family. We have several hundred million dollars in this pocket if you play the game our way. If you decide not to, over in this pocket, I've got a gun with a bullet with your name on it, in case you decide to keep your campaign promises and throw us out.”
AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain actually how that plays out, because it's not really in this pocket and that.
JOHN PERKINS: No, it’s – what I'm saying is that, you know, I can make sure that this man makes a great deal of money, he and his family, through contracts, through various quasi-legal means, and I can also – if he doesn't accept this, you know, the same thing is going to happen to him that happened to Jaime Roldos in Ecuador and Omar Torrijos in Panama and Allende in Chile, and we tried to do it to Chavez in Venezuela and are still trying – that we will send in the people to try to overthrow him, as, in fact, we recently did with the President of Ecuador, or if we don't overthrow him, we'll assassinate him. And these people all know the history. They know that this has happened many, many, many times in the past.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what happened to Torrijos, for example, in Panama, and what did you have to do with it?

Monday, January 01, 2007

Mail/Fax Impeachment Letters to Nancy Pelosi on Her 1st Day as Speaker of House

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors: ARTICLE II, SECTION 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Nancy Pelosi should have a half million signatures waiting for her her first day as Speaker of the House. She and the many of the Democrats want to do this, but to overcome the reluctance of the DC establishment and big money interests who are afraid their ox will be gored along with Bush & Cheney, she needs constant overwhelming evidence of public DEMAND not just support for impeachment. Fax or snail mail the letter below or your own variation to: FAX: 202-225-8259
Nancy Pelosi 2371 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515
District Office: 450 Golden Gate Avenue, 14th Floor San Francisco, CA 94102
CC a copy to your congressman too. You can find their address here: http://www.house.gov /

Speaker Pelosi,
The American people elected a Democratic majority to restore checks and balances, the rule of law, and our reputation as a law-abiding country in the world community. These cannot be accomplished unless President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are impeached. Their impeachable offenses dwarf those that led to proceedings against President Clinton and President Andrew Jonson, and the threatened proceeding against President Richard Nixon combined. The offenses below are already supported with evidence in the public record, including admissions of guilt. It is likely that investigations prior to impeachment would turn up even more.
IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY FOR:
* Lying to the American people, Congress, and the world about the threat from Iraq & need for war.
* War of aggression against Iraq, which posed no threat to US.
*illegal War Crimes committed against over 650,000 dead, innocent civilians, namely women and children.
* Exploiting 9/11 for political gain and for war to benefit oil companies and other cronies.
* Canceling Iraq's oil contracts with foreign companies and giving them to American corporations and restructuring Iraq's oil industry to their specification in violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
* Awarding no-bid contracts to cronies for rebuilding and oil exploitation in Iraq.
* Inciting animosity toward the US by attacking Iraq and falsely claiming it was part of "War on Terror."
* Authorizing the use of torture in violation of the Geneva Convention and US law and against the advice of the uniformed military.
* Participating in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Haiti and attempting to do so in Venezuela.
* Failure to fully cooperate with 9/11 Commission and joint congressional inquiry, and refusal to comply with Freedom of Information Act in other areas as well.
* Warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.
* Issuing signing statements that contradict the plain meaning of legislation, including on issues of torture.
* Denying Americans and others habeas corpus rights even after Supreme Court ruled against it.
* Coercing government employees to lie to Congress and the American people about the cost of Medicare drug benefit, global warning, and toxic hazard of NYC after 9/11.
* Failure to provide timely aid to Hurricane Katrina victims by FEMA.
* Barring Americans who disagree with the president from public events paid for with taxpayer money, and forcibly removing some with private security posing as Secret Service agents.
Listen to the American people so we can be confident we have a democracy again.
Sincerely, Your Name and Address

In Search of a Criminal: Donald Rumsfeld's Name Tops the List of Accused of War Crimes

By Alexia Garamfalvi
Legal Times December 25, 2006
No one thinks that Donald Rumsfeld will end his days in a German prison. Or that there is any real chance he will have to face trial in Germany over allegations that he authorized policies leading to the torture of prisoners at U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But that doesn’t mean that a complaint filed in Germany last month won’t have some ripple effects. The complaint asks a federal prosecutor there to begin an investigation, and ultimately a criminal prosecution, of the former secretary of defense and other U.S. officials for their roles in the abuses. “Rumsfeld is no longer untouchable,” says Wolfgang Kaleck, the German lawyer who filed the complaint along with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights. “He is now deeply connected with claims of abuses and torture. We have taken the first step to begin the legal discussion on his accountability.” The complaint against Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet, and other senior civilian and military officials, was filed in mid-November on behalf of 11 Iraqis who had been detained at Abu Ghraib prison and Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi detained at Guantánamo. It alleges that the defendants ordered, aided, and abetted war crimes and failed to prevent the commission of war crimes by their subordinates. In international law, war crimes are defined as grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including torture and inhuman treatment.
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Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order

The U.S. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power source -- antimatter, the eerie "mirror" of ordinary matter -- in future weapons.
The most powerful potential energy source presently thought to be available to humanity, antimatter is a term normally heard in science-fiction films and TV shows, whose heroes fly "antimatter-powered spaceships" and do battle with "antimatter guns."
But antimatter itself isn't fiction; it actually exists and has been intensively studied by physicists since the 1930s. In a sense, matter and antimatter are the yin and yang of reality: Every type of subatomic particle has its antimatter counterpart. But when matter and antimatter collide, they annihilate each other in an immense burst of energy.
During the Cold War, the Air Force funded numerous scientific studies of the basic physics of antimatter. With the knowledge gained, some Air Force insiders are beginning to think seriously about potential military uses -- for example, antimatter bombs small enough to hold in one's hand, and antimatter engines for 24/7 surveillance aircraft.
More cataclysmic possible uses include a new generation of super weapons -- either pure antimatter bombs or antimatter-triggered nuclear weapons; the former wouldn't emit radioactive fallout. Another possibility is antimatter- powered "electromagnetic pulse" weapons that could fry an enemy's electric power grid and communications networks, leaving him literally in the dark and unable to operate his society and armed forces.
Following an initial inquiry from The Chronicle this summer, the Air Force forbade its employees from publicly discussing the antimatter research program. Still, details on the program appear in numerous Air Force documents distributed over the Internet prior to the ban.
These include an outline of a March 2004 speech by an Air Force official who, in effect, spilled the beans about the Air Force's high hopes for antimatter weapons. On March 24, Kenneth Edwards, director of the "revolutionary munitions" team at the Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was keynote speaker at the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) conference in Arlington, Va.
In that talk, Edwards discussed the potential uses of a type of antimatter called positrons.
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Judge, Calling Florida Judicial System Corrupt, Now Targeted

Judge Cliff Barnes reached the breaking point of what he saw as judicial corruption, and decided to take the bull by the horns and report the judicial corruption. As a result, he has become the target of the very corrupt judicial system he is seeking to hold accountable. In particular, on July 10, 2006 Judge Barnes filed a Writ of Mandate in the Appeals Court of Florida to compel various named judges to comply with established law governing their conduct, and with the Constitution they have sworn to uphold.
St. Lucie County Judge Cliff Barnes claims his fellow judges, the state attorney and the public defender are breaking the law at first-appearance hearings and wants an appeals court to intervene.
As a result of his pursuit of justice, he is now being pursued by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), which appears more interested in weeding out principled judges than on judicial discipline of wayward judges. A similar incident happened with Florida Judge Matt McMillan, who is now with Florida JAIL4Judges. A recap is written up on this story at Judge McMillan.
St. Lucie judge charged with violating judicial code (Orig link "Missing")
By Sarah Prohaska, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 10-27-06
St. Lucie County Judge Cliff Barnes could face disciplinary action "including the possibility of being removed from office" after a state judicial commission found probable cause to launch an inquiry into allegations he "demeaned the integrity and independence of the judiciary."
The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, the panel that investigates alleged misconduct by state judges, filed formal charges Thursday against Barnes, alleging he violated both the code of judicial conduct and Florida statutes. Barnes in July filed a petition (Writ of Mandate) asking the Fourth District Court of Appeal to order several of his fellow judges, along with county sheriff, the Treasure Coast's public defender and state attorney, to change the way they conduct criminal defendants' first court appearances, alleging that the procedure they follow is illegal. The commission's charges allege Barnes violated the judges' code by making these complaints public. Behold, we now have a judge accused of violating the law by unveiling the corrupt conduct of judges who are violating the law.
Formal Charges Issued
Response to Charges
Motion to Dismiss

Front Page News in Vermont: Reopen 9/11 investigation, local group says

Reopen 9/11 investigation, local group says
Published: Sunday, December 31, 2006
By John BriggsFree Press Staff Writer
A Burlington group has gathered nearly enough signatures on a petition to put a ballot question before voters on Town Meeting Day urging a new investigation of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Spokesman Marc Estrin, a Burlington writer and musician, said the group has been meeting for several months and has more than 1,200 of the roughly 1,350 signatures needed to place the matter on the ballot. The question would advise the Vermont congressional delegation to demand a new 9/11 investigation. Estrin said Burlington would be the first city in the country to formally make such a demand.The group includes Burlington attorney Frank Haddleton, University of Vermont physics professor Joanna Rankin, Charles Simpson, chairman of the department of sociology and criminal justice at SUNY Plattsburgh, a chemist, an engineer, a video producer and former city councilor Doug Dunbebin. Dunbebin, a graphic designer, has created a Web site for the group that explains the weaknesses it sees in the 9/11 Commission Report of July 2004. The city's director of elections, Jo Lamarche, said that because the City Council in September unanimously passed a resolution promising to honor advisory ballot questions when the required number of signatures has been gathered, the question would likely be on the ballot in March. She said the council might adjust the wording. The deadline for gathering the signatures is Jan. 29, but Estrin said the petition drive will be completed in a few days. Lamarche said the issue would be on the council's agenda for its Jan. 8 meeting. Estrin said that because the 9/11 attacks led directly to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American people deserve an objective investigation of what happened. In a news release, the group said the ballot question "does not advance any particular alternative theory" about what happened on 9/11, but "focuses on the need to get answers to hundreds of questions" raised by families of victims and others, including "members of the intelligence community." Estrin said the group believes the 9/11 Commission, in part because its work was directed by administration insider Philip Zelikow, ignored obvious questions about why the World Trade Center towers fell as they did and why nearby Building 7, a part of the World Trade Center complex, fell in what appeared to be a "controlled demolition." The "free-fall" collapse of the three buildings, Estrin said, is "both technically and architecturally problematic" and wasn't adequately investigated by the commission. He said independent researchers also have raised questions about the thoroughness of the commission's investigation of the damage at the Pentagon and of the absence of plane wreckage there and at the crash site of the plane in Pennsylvania. Estrin said the group also would like an explanation of why routine air-defense protocols weren't followed Sept. 11 in scrambling fighter interceptors. A new "objective and nonpartisan" investigation, he said, "seems a reasonable thing to do about such a crucial event."Estrin said the ballot question is a logical way to move such an investigation forward, particularly given the city's history of engagement with national and international issues. "The events of 9/11 have affected Burlington residents," he said, and added, "Democracy resides not just at the center, but at the periphery. Citizens are supposed to have a voice in national issues."Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggs@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
BALLOT TEXT The wording of the advisory ballot question for Burlington on Town Meeting Day: "Shall Vermont's Congressional Delegation be advised to demand a new, thorough, and truly independent forensic investigation that fully addresses the many questions surrounding the tragic events of September 11, 2001?" More information is available at the local group's Web site, www.vt911.org. The site provides an overview of what the group sees as the inadequacies of the official 9/11 Commission report and pro-vides links to related sites. The 585-page official 9/11 Commission report can be found online at www.9-11commission.gov.
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The Executioner's Face is Always Well Hidden

France Invades US (Part 11), For parts 1 to 10 click here
Satire, By Jerry Ghinelli
The government of France announced early today that former US President George Walker Bush was executed for crimes against humanity, after all his legal appeals had been thoroughly exhausted. French liberation forces, the very same who invaded the US back in 2003 to bring democracy to the American people, handed the former President George W. Bush over to a newly elected, Vichy-style American administration. Shrouded in ski masks to conceal their identity, the American executioners, who would later identify themselves only as Northeast liberals, immediately transported their prisoner, a defiant George W. Bush, from his damp, dirty prison cell in the walled-off enclave in Washington, DC, to the gallows at an undisclosed location. In his hand clutching the same Bible that he had used for his inauguration back in January 2001, Bush remained defiant to the end, declaring the French invasion of the US illegal and those Americans who had collaborated with the hated French “traitors.” He called on all his supporters and opponents, Black and White, Christian and Jewish, rich and poor, to unite and expel the French invaders from the North American continent. After a lengthy trial by a series of judges, approved by Paris, George W. Bush was convicted for crimes committed against his own people while he reigned as governor of the State of Texas in the 1990s. Bush was condemned to the gallows for executing 152 Texas prisoners using lethal chemicals concealed in hypodermic needles. All 151 men and one woman (Karla Faye Tucker) had proclaimed their innocence and referred to the Texas legal system as old-West, cowboy-style, kangaroo justice. Bush, however, cheated history and never stood trial for his alleged international crimes, which stemmed from his illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those actions defied international law and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, said a spokesman for the French government. On vacation at his villa in Nice, French President Jacques Chirac issued a brief statement, declaring that justice had been served to the brutal tyrant who enslaved the American people during his long reign of terror: “This is an important milestone in America becoming a democracy that can govern itself.” Chirac rejoiced at the collective will of the American people and concluded his brief statement with his customary “Vive la France” patriotic boast. It was French president Chirac’s decision, back in March 2003, to invade the US in order to abolish America’s weapons of mass destruction, sever links to terrorist groups—such as Britain's MI6 and Israel’s Mossad—and bring peace and security to the special people of French Quebec.
Chirac often likened the US, along with Israel and Britain, as part of an “axis of evil.” Bush, you’ll recall, was captured in a spider hole a few miles from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, back in December 2003. Long-haired, bearded and wearing his trademark cowboy hat, the former US President was shaking and begging for mercy, according to the corporate French media. French troops arrested Bush and mocked the 43rd president of the US with a sarcastic French greeting: “Le Président Chirac envoie ses égards” (President Chirac sends his regards). Bush supporters, however, dispute this version, and witnesses claim that Bush was brandishing his defiant smirk and, in the spirit of Davy Crockett, resisted the French troops and bravely fought them in hand-to-hand combat as he repeatedly shouted, “God bless America” at the overwhelming French forces. Soon the French called special elections in America, citing the illegitimacy of the Bush regime that, they claim, had seized power in 2000 in a fraudulent election. The newly formed US government, modeled on the French parliamentary system, ended years of tyranny inflicted on the American people who, proclaimed Chirac, are now free to enjoy the freedoms that the French people have always enjoyed. To date the French have spent over 300 billion euros and lost 3,000 soldiers, along with nearly 25,000 wounded, in their special sacrifice to guarantee security for France, bring peace and democracy to the good and well-deserving American people, and free them from the tyranny of the Bush regime and his cabal of neo-Con terrorists. Some skeptics, however, claim that the invasion of America had nothing to do with French security, freeing the American people or eliminating 10,000 nuclear weapons the US possessed at the time of the invasion. Rather it was to extend French hegemony on the North American continent; control the vast American natural resources; replace the Petrodollar with the PetroEuro as the world’s reserve currency, and provide security and prosperity for the newly formed, break-away nation of French Quebec. Having seceded from Canada after years of persecution through Anglo-American racism and bigotry, the democratic French nation of Quebec emerged as the only democracy on the entire North American continent, claimed Chirac. On the streets of American cities, the reaction to the execution of the former American president was mixed. While many traditional liberal Democrats despised the 43rd president, they remained perplexed and conflicted at the seemingly illegitimate trial, which defied international law and had all the earmarks of French manipulation. The former American system, wherein all men are presumed innocent, has been replaced by a newly inspired French system, modeled more on Robespierre than on Madison, noted one American, who wanted to remain anonymous. To most of the American people, the sight of their former president, hanged by a puppet-like government whose strings are pulled in Paris, was both troubling and humiliating. True, according to recent opinion polls, 71% of Americans despised the tyrant Bush, but 90% of Americans, despite being “liberated” by the French from the illegal, illegitimate and dangerous Bush neo-Con regime, hate the French so much more. The devout Christian supporters vowed to intensify their resistance to the French occupation and praised Bush as a martyr. The hanging of Bush, like the hanging of John Brown back in 1859, said one, will serve as a lightning rod for war. A spokesman for Chirac chuckled at the remark, suggesting that John Brown was a terrorist who, like Bush, had been brought to justice with a rope around his neck. He referred to the American Civil War, which took place from 1860 to 1865, as well as to the chaos caused by the 2003 French invasion as simply “sectarian strife.” Stuff happens, he quipped. The French corporate media appeared gleeful as it rolled macabre, grainy video footage of the final minutes of the former US President’s life. French politicians declared another corner has been turned in their divinely inspired mission to free the American people from the tyranny of the Bush regime, the British collaborators and all those Judeo-Christian fascists. On the streets of Paris, though, it was still Paris Hilton’s exploits rather than George Bush’s execution that remained the most important news of the day. This, of course, was only eclipsed by the recent decrease in the price of petrol and the record stock market close of the French CAC 40. The citizens of France cannot grasp the ingratitude of the American people for the sacrifices made by the French in blood and treasure on their behalf. They claim the Americans are not worthy of democratic self-rule, citing hundreds of years of their savagery towards Native Americans, African Americans, a bloody civil war, internment of Japanese Americans and countless race riots throughout America’s turbulent history.
“Can’t these people just get along?” noted one French pundit. George W. Bush has received the justice he denied to his victims, said a determined Jacques Chirac. When asked if the execution of the former US president was manipulated by Paris rather than being the will of the American people, Chirac dodged the question by reciting the lyrics from a song by Bob Dylan. “Remember,” he said, “the executioner’s face is always well hidden.” Yes, “and it’s a hard rain that’s gonna fall.”

Sunday, December 31, 2006

US Army War College: NO PROOF SADDAM GASSED THE KURDS!

Memo to Jess Helms from InfoTimes. Note excerpt from US Army War College report that no evidence exists to support US claims that Iraq used gas on the Kurds.
I continue to make inquiry into the situation in Iraq, as it is likely to brew up into another crisis one of these days when the US Army War College has no choice but to conclude that Iraq is not hiding any weapons of mass destruction -- or if they are, they are so well hidden that nobody is going to find them. As you know, I'm sure, the warhawks in the United States will continue to insist that the embargo remain in place no matter what, and there will be assertions from around the world that we have not been acting in good faith. As you also know, I believe there are serious questions regarding our behavior toward Iraq that go back further. You would agree, I think, that at the very least our State Department gave a "green light" to Saddam Hussein to go into Kuwait in August 1990. The more I read of the events of the period, the more I believe history will record that the Gulf War was unnecessary, perhaps even that Saddam Hussein was willing to retreat back to his borders, but our government decided we preferred the war to the status quo ante.
In my previous correspondence with you on this matter, I had been in a quandary about the state of our relations with Baghdad during that critical period. In the months immediately preceding the "green light" given by our Ambassador, April Glaspie, a number of your Senate colleagues including Bob Dole had traveled to Baghdad, met with Saddam, and found him to be a head of state worthy of support. Even Sen. Howard Metzenbaum [D-OH], a Jewish liberal and staunch supporter of Israel, gave him a seal of approval. What disturbs me even now, Jesse, is that these meetings occurred after the Senate Foreign Relations committee had accused Iraq of using poison gas against its own people, i.e., the Kurds. Like all other Americans, in recent years I had assumed that what I read in the papers was true about Iraq gassing its own people. Once the war drums again began beating last November, I decided to read up on the history, and found Iraq denied having used gas against its own people. Furthermore, I heard that a Pentagon investigation at the time had also turned up no hard evidence of Saddam gassing his own people.
This is serious stuff, because the US Army War College tells us that 1.4 million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the sanctions, which is 3,000 times more than the number of Kurds who supposedly died of gassing at the hands of Saddam. Many of my old Cold Warrior friends practically DEMAND that we not lift the sanctions because if Saddam would gas his own people, he would gas anyone. Now I have come across the 1990 Pentagon report, published just prior to the invasion of Kuwait. Its authors are Stephen C. Pelletiere, Douglas V. Johnson II and Leif R. Rosenberger, of the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The report is 93 pages, but I append here only the passages having to do with the aforementioned issue:
Iraqi Power and U.S. Security in the Middle East Excerpt, Chapter 5 U.S. SECURITY AND IRAQI POWER
Introduction. Throughout the war the United States practiced a fairly benign policy toward Iraq. Although initially disapproving of the invasion, Washington came slowly over to the side of Baghdad. Both wanted to restore the status quo ante to the Gulf and to reestablish the relative harmony that prevailed there before Khomeini began threatening the regional balance of power. Khomeini's revolutionary appeal was anathema to both Baghdad and Washington; hence they wanted to get rid of him. United by a common interest, Iraq and the United States restored diplomatic relations in 1984, and the United States began to actively assist Iraq in ending the fighting. It mounted Operation Staunch, an attempt to stem the flow of arms to Iran. It also increased its purchases of Iraqi oil while cutting back on Iranian oil purchases, and it urged its allies to do likewise. All this had the effect of repairing relations between the two countries, which had been at a very low ebb.
In September 1988, however -- a month after the war had ended -- the State Department abruptly, and in what many viewed as a sensational manner, condemned Iraq for allegedly using chemicals against its Kurdish population. The incident cannot be understood without some background of Iraq's relations with the Kurds. It is beyond the scope of this study to go deeply into this matter; suffice it to say that throughout the war Iraq effectively faced two enemies -- Iran and the elements of its own Kurdish minority. Significant numbers of the Kurds had launched a revolt against Baghdad and in the process teamed up with Tehran. As soon as the war with Iran ended, Iraq announced its determination to crush the Kurdish insurrection. It sent Republican Guards to the Kurdish area, and in the course of this operation - according to the U.S. State Department -- gas was used, with the result that numerous Kurdish civilians were killed. The Iraqi government denied that any such gassing had occurred. Nonetheless, Secretary of State Schultz stood by U.S. accusations, and the U.S. Congress, acting on its own, sought to impose economic sanctions on Baghdad as a violator of the Kurds' human rights.
Having looked at all of the evidence that was available to us, we find it impossible to confirm the State Department's claim that gas was used in this instance. To begin with there were never any victims produced. International relief organizations who examined the Kurds -- in Turkey where they had gone for asylum -- failed to discover any. Nor were there ever any found inside Iraq. The claim rests solely on testimony of the Kurds who had crossed the border into Turkey, where they were interviewed by staffers of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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