Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Real Drug Lords
from:
Slinshot
Early Spring 1997
Berkely California
-------
The Real Drug Lords
A brief history of CIA involvement in the Drug Trade
by William Blum
http://www.csun.edu/coms/ben/news/cia/970504.hist.html
1947 to 1951, FRANCE
According to Alfred W. McCoy in The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia,
CIA arms, money, and disinformation enabled Corsican criminal syndicates in
Marseille to wrestle control of labor unions from the Communist Party. The
Corsicans gained political influence and control over the docks -- ideal
conditions for cementing a long-term partnership with mafia drug
distributors, which turned Marseille into the postwar heroin capital of the
Western world. Marseille's first heroin laboratones were opened in 1951, only
months after the Corsicans took over the waterfront.
EARLY 1950s, SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Nationalist Chinese army, organized by the CIA to wage war against
Communist China, became the opium barons of The Golden Triangle (parts of
Burma, Thailand and Laos), the world's largest source of opium and heroin.
Air America, the ClA's principal airline proprietary, flew the drugs all over
Southeast Asia. (See Christopher Robbins, Air America, Avon Books, 1985,
chapter 9 )
1950s to early 1970s, INDOCHINA
During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air
America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. Many Gl's in Vietnam
became addicts. A laboratory built at CIA headquarters in northern Laos was
used to refine heroin. After a decade of American military intervention,
Southeast Asia had become the source of 70 percent of the world's illicit
opium and the major supplier of raw materials for America's booming heroin
market.
1973-80, AUSTRALIA
The Nugan Hand Bank of Sydney was a CIA bank in all but name. Among its
officers were a network of US generals, admirals and CIA men, including
fommer CIA Director William Colby, who was also one of its lawyers. With
branches in Saudi Arabia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and the U.S.,
Nugan Hand Bank financed drug trafficking, money laundering and international
arms dealings. In 1980, amidst several mysterious deaths, the bank collapsed,
$50 million in debt. (See Jonathan Kwitny, The Crimes of Patriots: A True
Tale of Dope, Dirty Money and the CIA, W.W. Norton & Co., 1 987.)
1970s and 1980s, PANAMA
For more than a decade, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was a highly
paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities
as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking
and money laundering. Noriega facilitated ''guns-for-drugs" flights for the
contras, providing protection and pilots, as well as safe havens for drug
cartel otficials, and discreet banking facilities. U.S. officials, including
then-ClA Director William Webster and several DEA officers, sent Noriega
letters of praise for efforts to thwart drug trafficking (albeit only against
competitors of his Medellin Cartel patrons). The U.S. government only turned
against Noriega, invading Panama in December 1989 and kidnapping the general
once they discovered he was providing intelligence and services to the Cubans
and Sandinistas. Ironically drug trafficking through Panama increased after
the US invasion. (John Dinges, Our Man in Panama, Random House, 1991;
National Security Archive Documentation Packet The Contras, Cocaine, and
Covert Operations.)
1980s, CENTRAL AMERICA
The San Jose Mercury News series documents just one thread of the
interwoven operations linking the CIA, the contras and the cocaine cartels.
Obsessed with overthrowing the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua,
Reagan administration officials tolerated drug trafficking as long as the
traffickers gave support to the contras. In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on
Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (the Kerry committee)
concluded a three-year investigation by stating: "There was substantial
evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual
Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots mercenaries who worked with the
Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region.... U.S. officials
involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of
jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua.... In each case, one or
another agency of the U.S. govemment had intormation regarding the
involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter....
Senior U S policy makers were nit immune to the idea that drug money was a
perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems." (Drugs, Law Enforcement
and Foreign Policy, a Report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and Intemational Operations, 1989)
In Costa Rica, which served as the "Southern Front" for the contras
(Honduras being the Northern Front), there were several different ClA-contra
networks involved in drug trafficking. In addition to those servicing the
Meneses-Blandon operation detailed by the Mercury News, and Noriega's
operation, there was CIA operative John Hull, whose farms along Costa Rica's
border with Nicaragua were the main staging area for the contras. Hull and
other ClA-connected contra supporters and pilots teamed up with George
Morales, a major Miami-based Colombian drug trafficker who later admitted to
giving $3 million in cash and several planes to contra leaders. In 1989,
after the Costa Rica government indicted Hull for drug trafficking, a
DEA-hired plane clandestinely and illegally flew the CIA operative to Miami,
via Haiti. The US repeatedly thwarted Costa Rican efforts to extradite Hull
back to Costa Rica to stand trial.
Another Costa Rican-based drug ring involved a group of Cuban Amencans
whom the CIA had hired as military trainers for the contras. Many had long
been involved with the CIA and drug trafficking They used contra planes and a
Costa Rican-based shnmp company, which laundered money for the CIA, to move
cocaine to the U.S.
Costa Rica was not the only route. Guatemala, whose military intelligence
service -- closely associated with the CIA -- harbored many drug traffickers,
according to the DEA, was another way station along the cocaine highway.
Additionally, the Medell!n Cartel's Miami accountant, Ramon Milian Rodriguez,
testified that he funneled nearly $10 million to Nicaraguan contras through
long-time CIA operative Felix Rodriguez, who was based at Ilopango Air Force
Base in El Salvador.
The contras provided both protection and infrastructure (planes, pilots,
airstrips, warehouses, front companies and banks) to these ClA-linked drug
networks. At least four transport companies under investigation for drug
trafficking received US govemment contracts to carry non-lethal supplies to
the contras. Southern Air Transport, "formerly" ClA-owned, and later under
Pentagon contract, was involved in the drug running as well. Cocaine-laden
planes flew to Florida, Texas, Louisiana and other locations, including
several militarv bases Designated as 'Contra Craft,'' these shipments were
not to be inspected. When some authority wasn't clued in and made an arrest,
powerful strings were pulled on behalf of dropping the case, acquittal,
reduced sentence, or deportation.
1980s to early 1990s, AFGHANISTAN
ClA-supported Moujahedeen rebels engaged heavily in drug trafficking while
fighting against the Soviet-supported govemment and its plans to reform the
very backward Afghan society. The Agency's principal client was Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and leading heroin refiner. CIA
supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used
to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan Pakistan border. The
output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United
States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe. US officials
admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against
the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and
Afghan allies. In 1993, an official of the DEA called Afghanistan the new
Colombia of the drug world.
MlD-1980s to early 199Os, HAITI
While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power,
the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients' drug trafficking. In 1986, the
Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian
organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). SIN was purportedly
created to fight the cocaine trade, though SIN officers themselves engaged in
the trafficking, a trade aided and abetted by some of the Haitian military
and political leaders.
William Blum is author of Killing Hope: U.S Military and CIA Interventions
Since World War ll available from Common Courage Press, P.O. Box 702, Monroe,
Maine, 04951, USA; tel: (207) 525-0900; fax: (207) 525-3068
-------
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Peace Be.
Roads End
---
For list service help, send a message to ciadrugs-request@mars.galstar.com with a subject of HELP.
Slinshot
Early Spring 1997
Berkely California
-------
The Real Drug Lords
A brief history of CIA involvement in the Drug Trade
by William Blum
http://www.csun.edu/coms/ben/news/cia/970504.hist.html
1947 to 1951, FRANCE
According to Alfred W. McCoy in The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia,
CIA arms, money, and disinformation enabled Corsican criminal syndicates in
Marseille to wrestle control of labor unions from the Communist Party. The
Corsicans gained political influence and control over the docks -- ideal
conditions for cementing a long-term partnership with mafia drug
distributors, which turned Marseille into the postwar heroin capital of the
Western world. Marseille's first heroin laboratones were opened in 1951, only
months after the Corsicans took over the waterfront.
EARLY 1950s, SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Nationalist Chinese army, organized by the CIA to wage war against
Communist China, became the opium barons of The Golden Triangle (parts of
Burma, Thailand and Laos), the world's largest source of opium and heroin.
Air America, the ClA's principal airline proprietary, flew the drugs all over
Southeast Asia. (See Christopher Robbins, Air America, Avon Books, 1985,
chapter 9 )
1950s to early 1970s, INDOCHINA
During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air
America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. Many Gl's in Vietnam
became addicts. A laboratory built at CIA headquarters in northern Laos was
used to refine heroin. After a decade of American military intervention,
Southeast Asia had become the source of 70 percent of the world's illicit
opium and the major supplier of raw materials for America's booming heroin
market.
1973-80, AUSTRALIA
The Nugan Hand Bank of Sydney was a CIA bank in all but name. Among its
officers were a network of US generals, admirals and CIA men, including
fommer CIA Director William Colby, who was also one of its lawyers. With
branches in Saudi Arabia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and the U.S.,
Nugan Hand Bank financed drug trafficking, money laundering and international
arms dealings. In 1980, amidst several mysterious deaths, the bank collapsed,
$50 million in debt. (See Jonathan Kwitny, The Crimes of Patriots: A True
Tale of Dope, Dirty Money and the CIA, W.W. Norton & Co., 1 987.)
1970s and 1980s, PANAMA
For more than a decade, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was a highly
paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities
as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking
and money laundering. Noriega facilitated ''guns-for-drugs" flights for the
contras, providing protection and pilots, as well as safe havens for drug
cartel otficials, and discreet banking facilities. U.S. officials, including
then-ClA Director William Webster and several DEA officers, sent Noriega
letters of praise for efforts to thwart drug trafficking (albeit only against
competitors of his Medellin Cartel patrons). The U.S. government only turned
against Noriega, invading Panama in December 1989 and kidnapping the general
once they discovered he was providing intelligence and services to the Cubans
and Sandinistas. Ironically drug trafficking through Panama increased after
the US invasion. (John Dinges, Our Man in Panama, Random House, 1991;
National Security Archive Documentation Packet The Contras, Cocaine, and
Covert Operations.)
1980s, CENTRAL AMERICA
The San Jose Mercury News series documents just one thread of the
interwoven operations linking the CIA, the contras and the cocaine cartels.
Obsessed with overthrowing the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua,
Reagan administration officials tolerated drug trafficking as long as the
traffickers gave support to the contras. In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on
Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (the Kerry committee)
concluded a three-year investigation by stating: "There was substantial
evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual
Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots mercenaries who worked with the
Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region.... U.S. officials
involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of
jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua.... In each case, one or
another agency of the U.S. govemment had intormation regarding the
involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter....
Senior U S policy makers were nit immune to the idea that drug money was a
perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems." (Drugs, Law Enforcement
and Foreign Policy, a Report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and Intemational Operations, 1989)
In Costa Rica, which served as the "Southern Front" for the contras
(Honduras being the Northern Front), there were several different ClA-contra
networks involved in drug trafficking. In addition to those servicing the
Meneses-Blandon operation detailed by the Mercury News, and Noriega's
operation, there was CIA operative John Hull, whose farms along Costa Rica's
border with Nicaragua were the main staging area for the contras. Hull and
other ClA-connected contra supporters and pilots teamed up with George
Morales, a major Miami-based Colombian drug trafficker who later admitted to
giving $3 million in cash and several planes to contra leaders. In 1989,
after the Costa Rica government indicted Hull for drug trafficking, a
DEA-hired plane clandestinely and illegally flew the CIA operative to Miami,
via Haiti. The US repeatedly thwarted Costa Rican efforts to extradite Hull
back to Costa Rica to stand trial.
Another Costa Rican-based drug ring involved a group of Cuban Amencans
whom the CIA had hired as military trainers for the contras. Many had long
been involved with the CIA and drug trafficking They used contra planes and a
Costa Rican-based shnmp company, which laundered money for the CIA, to move
cocaine to the U.S.
Costa Rica was not the only route. Guatemala, whose military intelligence
service -- closely associated with the CIA -- harbored many drug traffickers,
according to the DEA, was another way station along the cocaine highway.
Additionally, the Medell!n Cartel's Miami accountant, Ramon Milian Rodriguez,
testified that he funneled nearly $10 million to Nicaraguan contras through
long-time CIA operative Felix Rodriguez, who was based at Ilopango Air Force
Base in El Salvador.
The contras provided both protection and infrastructure (planes, pilots,
airstrips, warehouses, front companies and banks) to these ClA-linked drug
networks. At least four transport companies under investigation for drug
trafficking received US govemment contracts to carry non-lethal supplies to
the contras. Southern Air Transport, "formerly" ClA-owned, and later under
Pentagon contract, was involved in the drug running as well. Cocaine-laden
planes flew to Florida, Texas, Louisiana and other locations, including
several militarv bases Designated as 'Contra Craft,'' these shipments were
not to be inspected. When some authority wasn't clued in and made an arrest,
powerful strings were pulled on behalf of dropping the case, acquittal,
reduced sentence, or deportation.
1980s to early 1990s, AFGHANISTAN
ClA-supported Moujahedeen rebels engaged heavily in drug trafficking while
fighting against the Soviet-supported govemment and its plans to reform the
very backward Afghan society. The Agency's principal client was Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and leading heroin refiner. CIA
supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used
to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan Pakistan border. The
output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United
States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe. US officials
admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against
the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and
Afghan allies. In 1993, an official of the DEA called Afghanistan the new
Colombia of the drug world.
MlD-1980s to early 199Os, HAITI
While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power,
the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients' drug trafficking. In 1986, the
Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian
organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). SIN was purportedly
created to fight the cocaine trade, though SIN officers themselves engaged in
the trafficking, a trade aided and abetted by some of the Haitian military
and political leaders.
William Blum is author of Killing Hope: U.S Military and CIA Interventions
Since World War ll available from Common Courage Press, P.O. Box 702, Monroe,
Maine, 04951, USA; tel: (207) 525-0900; fax: (207) 525-3068
-------
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Peace Be.
Roads End
---
For list service help, send a message to ciadrugs-request@mars.galstar.com with a subject of HELP.
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis
From
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4249
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis
Glenn Greenwald
Salon
August 31, 2008
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning — one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.
Read article
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4249
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis
Glenn Greenwald
Salon
August 31, 2008
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning — one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.
Read article
Iraq’s Operation Phoenix
From
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4248
Iraq’s Operation Phoenix
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
August 31, 2008
“More than 3,500 insurgents have been ‘taken off the streets of Baghdad’ by the elite British force in a series of audacious ‘Black Ops’ over the past two years,” reports Sean Rayment for the London Telegraph. “It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organization known as ‘al-Qa’eda in Iraq’ have been killed by the SAS.”
Recall the Washington Post, the CIA’s favorite newspaper, admitting that the putative leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq," the criminal retard Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was little more than a Pentagon PSYOP.
The assassination program in Iraq is a collaborative effort between the British SAS and the American Delta Force. It is called “Task Force Black.” General Petraeus was so impressed with the assassination effort he remarked: “They have exceptional initiative, exceptional skill, exceptional courage and, I think, exceptional savvy. I can’t say enough about how impressive they are in thinking on their feet.”
Let’s rewind. Recall the Washington Post, the CIA’s favorite newspaper, admitting that the putative leader of “al-Qaeda in Iraq,” the criminal retard Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was little more than a Pentagon PSYOP.
“The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,” wrote Thomas E. Ricks in a front page story for the newspaper on April 10, 2006. “For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi’s role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the ‘U.S. Home Audience’ as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.”
As Michel Chossudovsky notes, much of this fairy tale propaganda is delivered to the corporate media by “top feeders” at the Pentagon. “Disinformation and war propaganda are an integral part of military planning. What the Washington Post fails to mention, however, is its own role in sustaining the Zarqawi legend, along with network TV, most of the printed press, and of course CNN and Fox News, not to mention a significant portion of the alternative media,” writes Chossudovsky. As we know, the Washington Post was long ago compromised by the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, so this role is now reflexive.
US military-intelligence has created it own terrorist organizations. In turn, it has developed a cohesive multibillion dollar counterterrorism program “to go after” these terrorist organizations. To reach its foreign policy objectives, the images of terrorism in the Iraqi war theater must remain vivid in the minds of the citizens, who are constantly reminded of the terrorist threat. The Iraqi resistance movement is described as terrorists led by Zarqawi.
In other words, “al-Qaeda in Iraq” is a fabrication designed to discredit the Iraqi resistance.
Two SAS operatives captured in Iraq after attempting to stage a false flag terrorist attack.
Sean Rayment and the London Telegraph would have us believe the British SAS is only killing “al-Qaeda in Iraq” members. In fact, it appears they are targeting the leadership of the Iraqi resistance while capturing and imprisoning street level “terrorists,” that is to say fighters resisting occupation.
The SAS is a natural for this sort of work. It was formed during WW11 by David Stirling with the intention to operate behind enemy lines and to perform acts of sabotage and assassination. The SAS also worked against indigenous groups under the rubric of “counter insurgency” in Malaya, Oman, Borneo, and elsewhere.
“By 1969, the SAS had been sent to Northern Ireland to perform covert operations against the IRA — which included assassination,” writes David Guyatt. “Perhaps the best known incident that involved the SAS in a ‘wet operation’ was the assassination of an IRA unit in Gibraltar.”
In fact, British intelligence created much of the terrorism attributed to the IRA. Kevin Fulton (a pseudonym), the British agent who was assigned to infiltrate the IRA, writes in his book, Unsung Hero, that the he met FBI and MI5 agents and was given money to buy an infra-red device to be used to set off IRA bombs. “In New York he attended a meeting with FBI agents and British intelligence officers. There he agreed to expose IRA operatives in America to the FBI. However, the same terrorists, who were arrested months later, were first allowed to procure and send the infrared technology to the IRA. Fulton claims this technology was used in the Troubles and forms the basis for insurgent bombs in Iraq,” Enda Leahy wrote for the Sunday Times on March 19, 2006. For more on the dirty tricks of British intelligence and the SAS in particular, see my British “Pseudo-Gang” Terrorists Exposed in Basra, Global Research, September 24, 2005.
As for British involvement in creating terrorism in Iraq, recall the two SAS agents captured by the Iraqis attempting to stage terror attacks. “Iraqi security officials on [September 19, 2005] variously accused the two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi forces or trying to plant explosives,” the Washington Post reported. As I wrote at the time (see link above), “the next time you read or hear about crazed ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq’ terrorists blowing up children or desperate job applicants, keep in mind, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, the perpetrators may very well be British SAS goons who cut their teeth killing Irish citizens.”
The CIA ran likewise operations in Vietnam. As former CIA employee Ralph McGehee notes, the “U.S. and Saigon intel services maintained an active list of VC cadre marked for assassination” in the late 1960s. Dubbed Operation Phoenix, the assassination program “called for ‘neutralizing’ 1800 [alleged Viet Cong] a month.” Approximately one third of the Viet Cong targeted for arrest were summarily killed by so-called “security committees” in provincial interrogation centers outside of judicial control and funded by the CIA. More than 40,000 Vietnamese were killed under Operation Phoenix at an estimated cost of nearly $2 billion (see Ralph McGehee, CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam).
The collaborative effort between the British SAS and America’s Delta Force is obviously designed to take out the leadership of the Iraqi resistance, led by a disparate and not necessarily connected combination of former Ba’athists, nationalists, Sunni and Shi’a militias. It is intended to decimate the leadership — referred to as “al-Qaeda in Iraq” terrorists in the corporate media — as the United States prepares to downsize its presence in Iraq and shift emphasis under a new administration to Afghanistan.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4248
Iraq’s Operation Phoenix
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
August 31, 2008
“More than 3,500 insurgents have been ‘taken off the streets of Baghdad’ by the elite British force in a series of audacious ‘Black Ops’ over the past two years,” reports Sean Rayment for the London Telegraph. “It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organization known as ‘al-Qa’eda in Iraq’ have been killed by the SAS.”
Recall the Washington Post, the CIA’s favorite newspaper, admitting that the putative leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq," the criminal retard Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was little more than a Pentagon PSYOP.
The assassination program in Iraq is a collaborative effort between the British SAS and the American Delta Force. It is called “Task Force Black.” General Petraeus was so impressed with the assassination effort he remarked: “They have exceptional initiative, exceptional skill, exceptional courage and, I think, exceptional savvy. I can’t say enough about how impressive they are in thinking on their feet.”
Let’s rewind. Recall the Washington Post, the CIA’s favorite newspaper, admitting that the putative leader of “al-Qaeda in Iraq,” the criminal retard Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was little more than a Pentagon PSYOP.
“The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,” wrote Thomas E. Ricks in a front page story for the newspaper on April 10, 2006. “For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi’s role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the ‘U.S. Home Audience’ as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.”
As Michel Chossudovsky notes, much of this fairy tale propaganda is delivered to the corporate media by “top feeders” at the Pentagon. “Disinformation and war propaganda are an integral part of military planning. What the Washington Post fails to mention, however, is its own role in sustaining the Zarqawi legend, along with network TV, most of the printed press, and of course CNN and Fox News, not to mention a significant portion of the alternative media,” writes Chossudovsky. As we know, the Washington Post was long ago compromised by the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, so this role is now reflexive.
US military-intelligence has created it own terrorist organizations. In turn, it has developed a cohesive multibillion dollar counterterrorism program “to go after” these terrorist organizations. To reach its foreign policy objectives, the images of terrorism in the Iraqi war theater must remain vivid in the minds of the citizens, who are constantly reminded of the terrorist threat. The Iraqi resistance movement is described as terrorists led by Zarqawi.
In other words, “al-Qaeda in Iraq” is a fabrication designed to discredit the Iraqi resistance.
Two SAS operatives captured in Iraq after attempting to stage a false flag terrorist attack.
Sean Rayment and the London Telegraph would have us believe the British SAS is only killing “al-Qaeda in Iraq” members. In fact, it appears they are targeting the leadership of the Iraqi resistance while capturing and imprisoning street level “terrorists,” that is to say fighters resisting occupation.
The SAS is a natural for this sort of work. It was formed during WW11 by David Stirling with the intention to operate behind enemy lines and to perform acts of sabotage and assassination. The SAS also worked against indigenous groups under the rubric of “counter insurgency” in Malaya, Oman, Borneo, and elsewhere.
“By 1969, the SAS had been sent to Northern Ireland to perform covert operations against the IRA — which included assassination,” writes David Guyatt. “Perhaps the best known incident that involved the SAS in a ‘wet operation’ was the assassination of an IRA unit in Gibraltar.”
In fact, British intelligence created much of the terrorism attributed to the IRA. Kevin Fulton (a pseudonym), the British agent who was assigned to infiltrate the IRA, writes in his book, Unsung Hero, that the he met FBI and MI5 agents and was given money to buy an infra-red device to be used to set off IRA bombs. “In New York he attended a meeting with FBI agents and British intelligence officers. There he agreed to expose IRA operatives in America to the FBI. However, the same terrorists, who were arrested months later, were first allowed to procure and send the infrared technology to the IRA. Fulton claims this technology was used in the Troubles and forms the basis for insurgent bombs in Iraq,” Enda Leahy wrote for the Sunday Times on March 19, 2006. For more on the dirty tricks of British intelligence and the SAS in particular, see my British “Pseudo-Gang” Terrorists Exposed in Basra, Global Research, September 24, 2005.
As for British involvement in creating terrorism in Iraq, recall the two SAS agents captured by the Iraqis attempting to stage terror attacks. “Iraqi security officials on [September 19, 2005] variously accused the two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi forces or trying to plant explosives,” the Washington Post reported. As I wrote at the time (see link above), “the next time you read or hear about crazed ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq’ terrorists blowing up children or desperate job applicants, keep in mind, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, the perpetrators may very well be British SAS goons who cut their teeth killing Irish citizens.”
The CIA ran likewise operations in Vietnam. As former CIA employee Ralph McGehee notes, the “U.S. and Saigon intel services maintained an active list of VC cadre marked for assassination” in the late 1960s. Dubbed Operation Phoenix, the assassination program “called for ‘neutralizing’ 1800 [alleged Viet Cong] a month.” Approximately one third of the Viet Cong targeted for arrest were summarily killed by so-called “security committees” in provincial interrogation centers outside of judicial control and funded by the CIA. More than 40,000 Vietnamese were killed under Operation Phoenix at an estimated cost of nearly $2 billion (see Ralph McGehee, CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam).
The collaborative effort between the British SAS and America’s Delta Force is obviously designed to take out the leadership of the Iraqi resistance, led by a disparate and not necessarily connected combination of former Ba’athists, nationalists, Sunni and Shi’a militias. It is intended to decimate the leadership — referred to as “al-Qaeda in Iraq” terrorists in the corporate media — as the United States prepares to downsize its presence in Iraq and shift emphasis under a new administration to Afghanistan.
Frederick News Post column proclaims Ivins’ innocence
From http://www.prisonplanet.com/frederick-news-post-column-proclaims-ivins-innocence.html
Frederick News Post column proclaims Ivins’ innocence
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StumbleUponKatherine Heerbrandt
Frederick News Post
Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
When Norm Covert, a conservative former Fort Detrick public affairs officer, and attorney Barry Kissin, liberal activist opposing Detrick’s biolab expansion, agree that Bruce Ivins was not the anthrax killer, either the world’s spinning off its axis, or the truth is staring us so hard in the face we’d have to be blind to miss it.
Covert’s piece this week in thetentacle.com establishes what many in our community, including scientists and support staff at USAMRIID, past and present, know: Bruce Ivins had nothing to do with preparing or sending the anthrax letters. –
In a recent letter to the FNP editor, Amanda Lane speaks for many who knew him: “I want to shout from the mountain tops that Bruce was the kind of man we look up to … He was a decorated scientist and the humblest of men who didn’t use his title as a status symbol. He picked up a mop or emptied the trash without a moment’s hesitation. If he thought you were having a bad day he would offer candy or a catchy tune to cheer you up. If someone had to stay late to accomplish a task, Bruce would work with you so that the task would get completed faster.”
(Article continues below)
Covert echoes what is widely reported by reputable scientists. The anthrax in the mailings, he says, was “highly bred, weapons-grade … with a silica coating and a slight electrical charge so that each particle repelled the other … each particle no more than five microns.” Ivins had neither the expertise nor the equipment to create such a sophisticated form of anthrax.
But if not Ivins, then who or what?
“It’s the elephant in the room nobody’s talking about,” Kissin says.
Since Nixon terminated the offensive weapons program at Detrick in 1969, there has been only one corporation in our country that operates laboratories where anthrax is weaponized: Battelle Memorial Laboratories, the corporation that does the biolab work for the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.
In December 2001, FBI Director Mueller announced that the Battelle-operated labs in West Jefferson, Ohio and at Dugway had been “searched,” and that there were NO suspects in those labs.
The FBI has not mentioned Battelle since.
New York Times science writer William Broad covered the subject in his 2002 book “Germs, Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War.” According to Broad, Projects Jefferson and Clear Vision, begun in the late ’90s were ongoing secret anthrax weaponization projects. Project Clear Vision was managed by the CIA at the Battelle labs in West Jefferson, Ohio. Project Jefferson was managed by the DIA at the Battelle-operated labs at Dugway.
Kissin and writer Sheila Casey thread this information together in a recently published article in the Rock Creek Free Press, http://www.rockcreekfreepress.com/CreekV2No9-Web.pdf, to conclude that the case against Ivins is nothing but a flimsy cover-up of the secret workings of these anthrax weaponization projects.
How do Americans even begin to confront the reality that the only bioattack in our history came from an American military/intelligence lab? An attack we were told made the massive expansion of biolabs at Detrick and across the country necessary.
And guess who’s been hired for $750 million to manage and operate the first new biolab facilities at Detrick that are about to open?
Battelle Memorial Laboratories.
Frederick News Post column proclaims Ivins’ innocence
Email page
Share
Subscribe
Digg
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUponKatherine Heerbrandt
Frederick News Post
Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
When Norm Covert, a conservative former Fort Detrick public affairs officer, and attorney Barry Kissin, liberal activist opposing Detrick’s biolab expansion, agree that Bruce Ivins was not the anthrax killer, either the world’s spinning off its axis, or the truth is staring us so hard in the face we’d have to be blind to miss it.
Covert’s piece this week in thetentacle.com establishes what many in our community, including scientists and support staff at USAMRIID, past and present, know: Bruce Ivins had nothing to do with preparing or sending the anthrax letters. –
In a recent letter to the FNP editor, Amanda Lane speaks for many who knew him: “I want to shout from the mountain tops that Bruce was the kind of man we look up to … He was a decorated scientist and the humblest of men who didn’t use his title as a status symbol. He picked up a mop or emptied the trash without a moment’s hesitation. If he thought you were having a bad day he would offer candy or a catchy tune to cheer you up. If someone had to stay late to accomplish a task, Bruce would work with you so that the task would get completed faster.”
(Article continues below)
Covert echoes what is widely reported by reputable scientists. The anthrax in the mailings, he says, was “highly bred, weapons-grade … with a silica coating and a slight electrical charge so that each particle repelled the other … each particle no more than five microns.” Ivins had neither the expertise nor the equipment to create such a sophisticated form of anthrax.
But if not Ivins, then who or what?
“It’s the elephant in the room nobody’s talking about,” Kissin says.
Since Nixon terminated the offensive weapons program at Detrick in 1969, there has been only one corporation in our country that operates laboratories where anthrax is weaponized: Battelle Memorial Laboratories, the corporation that does the biolab work for the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.
In December 2001, FBI Director Mueller announced that the Battelle-operated labs in West Jefferson, Ohio and at Dugway had been “searched,” and that there were NO suspects in those labs.
The FBI has not mentioned Battelle since.
New York Times science writer William Broad covered the subject in his 2002 book “Germs, Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War.” According to Broad, Projects Jefferson and Clear Vision, begun in the late ’90s were ongoing secret anthrax weaponization projects. Project Clear Vision was managed by the CIA at the Battelle labs in West Jefferson, Ohio. Project Jefferson was managed by the DIA at the Battelle-operated labs at Dugway.
Kissin and writer Sheila Casey thread this information together in a recently published article in the Rock Creek Free Press, http://www.rockcreekfreepress.com/CreekV2No9-Web.pdf, to conclude that the case against Ivins is nothing but a flimsy cover-up of the secret workings of these anthrax weaponization projects.
How do Americans even begin to confront the reality that the only bioattack in our history came from an American military/intelligence lab? An attack we were told made the massive expansion of biolabs at Detrick and across the country necessary.
And guess who’s been hired for $750 million to manage and operate the first new biolab facilities at Detrick that are about to open?
Battelle Memorial Laboratories.
Give Them enough Rope and They'll Hang Themselves by Fritz Springmeier
From http://www.whale.to/b/sp/rope.html
Give Them enough Rope and They'll Hang Themselves
By F. Springmeier
In all my study of history I can't think of anything as scandalous as the story I'm about to relate. Government throughout history have done senseless crazy destructive things to their own people, but this story in my opinion is the worst.
One of my favorite expressions is "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself." Evil carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction.
We are now witnessing the ruthless senseless destruction of the American soldier, and this barbaric act will not be forgotten nor forgiven by the American people once they discover what has happened.
In order to get rid of radioactive waste uranium, depleted uranium was used by the American government to create armor piercing ammunition for Tomahawk missiles, Phalanx rapid fire guns, tank shells, artillery shells, and A-10 anti-tank 30mm shells. Uranium tipped shells work great because the heavy uranium burst through armor. The draw back, which has been callously known to the American military, is that the uranium in these shells vaporizes on impact into radioactive dust.
American uranium munitions were used all over Iraq in both Gulf Wars, and have spread radioactive dust over much of the country. There is no way to clean up such dust and it blows around with the wind. This dust remains radioactive for 5.5 billion years. In other words, Iraq is radioactive toast and so are all the American and allied soldier who have served there. Our entire army of invasion and occupation has been contaminated.
Those who are not aware of the serious health problems associated with depleted uranium weapons, may wonder why many Gulf War Vets appear healthy. Actually almost all of the Gulf War I Vets exposed to DU are having health problems related to depleted uranium (DU). Symptoms stemming from the radioactivity may take many years to show up as cancer and other incapacitating illnesses. And they are showing up.
There have been over 300,000 Gulf War I Vets who have developed incapacitating illness, which is about equal to the number who were on the ground in combat.
This means almost all of our men who loyally served their nation in Iraq and trusted the American leadership have been exposed to radioactive dust full of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation.
Depleted uranium weapons were outlawed by the UN as illegal weapons of mass destruction. They are a deathly type of weapon which indiscriminately causes enormous suffering to everyone and poisons the property they explode on.
Iraq complained to the UN about DU used in the Gulf War I. American soldiers with Gulf War Syndrome have complained for years. The power of the U.S. Government has been able to suppress this enormous scandal, but at some point the American people will realize all their soldiers in Iraq (regular, reserve and National Guard) were poisoned by radioactivity from our own weapons. When will the scandal hit? 5 years form now? 10 years from now? Or 15 years?--after many of these American soldiers are dead?
The suffering and death will hit, and when it is realized what was done, it will not be forgotten. This scandal is an incredible time bomb which will destroy the faith so many have placed in the American Government. If I were to list a litany of war crimes, broken treaties, crimes against humanity, they would not be able to hear the truth of history. But this tragic scandal will be different. When in the history of mankind has a government knowingly and sadistically destroyed the lives of their own entire field army? There have been scandals before like during the Crimean War, but I believe this scandal sets a new low.
_________________________
From http://web.archive.org/web/20060914073125/http://www.whale.to/b/sp/f2.html
Subject: Sacrificing Liberty in the Name of Security
SACRIFICING LIBERTY IN THE NAME OF SECURITY by Fritz Springmeier
I decided to write up something about the latest world crisis created when 3
airplanes hit important sites in America. I would call it the 9-1-1 crisis,
since 9�s and 11�s seem associated with the event. Some people will have
access to what is circulating on the Internet and will have garnered all the
facts they want. But for those who are interested in learning more about the
crisis, I have written the following article.
All the standard old deceptions used for centuries by the elite have been
employed in this latest operation. The goal of this operation is social
engineering of the world�s population. There is not a shred of doubt in my
mind that this was orchestrated by a small elite running this planet.
George Bush, Sr. had a joint bank account with Saddam during the Gulf War,
and I was aware of this. I was not in the least bit surprised that nothing
was done to Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was supplied with his biological
weapons by the U.S. and also received financial help and some military
hardware from the west. Now history comes close to repeating itself.
Our current President (George Junior) gave a gift of $43 million American
dollars to the Taliban leadership on May 24, 2001. What makes this
outrageous is that more than 100 congressmen the day before had sent him a
letter begging him to intervene on behalf of minority religions in
Afghanistan who are being required to wear I.D. labels on their clothes to
differentiate them from Muslims. Like Saddam Hussein, our CIA trained and
helped get Bin Laden into the terrorist business. My guess is that they will
keep Bin Laden around, like they did Hussein.
Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden are the best enemies that money could buy for
the elite who want global conflicts in order to social engineer the planet.
Basically, what we have is a manufactured crisis, that they are going to use
to get us into more trouble.
By more trouble I mean many things, one of which is war. All this talk about
war with Afghanistan is insanity. If Russia, which is next door to
Afghanistan, and gave it its best shot, got defeated, then our washed out
technology-heavy video game military is not going to do any better. .
I don't know how much you the reader have been reading about all this, so
please excuse me if you are already aware of the following.
1.How do hijackers get four planes without sky marshalls or any other
security being around? And why haven�t some obvious easy to install
security measures not been implemented. 2.Rather than implementing measures
that will work, we have these sad events followed by overkill overreactions.
The border with Canada has been shut down for days, causing enormous
hardships, and economic chaos. Why? The border with Mexico has been
basically business as usual. 3. How does an American aircraft carrier turn
around and head for NYC before any aircraft have hit the World Trade Center
buildings? Are they following psychics in the navy? 4. How do the
establishment TV anchormen immediately begin pointing the finger at Bin
Laden--within a few minutes of the attack? 5. How does a network of several
hundred people operate in this nation when all telephone conversations are
monitored, and they have double agents in every organization I can think of?
6. How do buildings that are built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707,
crumble from the bottom when they are hit at the top? One guy as he rode an
elevator down in the WTC said he heard explosions going off in the building
at different levels. Makes sense to me. A fireman who went to the 24th floor
on his last trip heard a bomb go off. The establishment are trying to tell
us the intense heat collapsed the structure. 7. A building near the twin WTC
towers blew up prior to the twin towers collapsing. This is most suspicious.
It is not my goal to list every suspicious circumstance of the World Trade
Center attack. I am simply trying to point out the kind of things that don�t
add up.
Even though most Americans will not realize that this thing was created, I
still have hopes
It is times like this that I have to have inner peace. This world is so
crazy, it could make a person weep. There is oversupply of anger and
stupidity in this world, and an undersupply of peace, love and objectivity.
I don't know how people who don't have faith in God keep their sanity.
This world would like to drag us down to their level, where we are living in
terror and anger from second to second. Let's rise above the individual eye
level of Joe Sixpack, and give a small example of something better.
Let's not lose our heads and hearts. Our nation needs to learn how to love
others. I would hope that Americans will mourn the innocent civilians that
our state sponsored terrorism is planning on killing in the name of revenge.
Our nation has long needed to learn to love others. Its time we quit
supporting the genocide of Palestinians, actively causing the mass murders
of a million Iraqi civilians, etc. Confession would be good for our
collective souls. Instead we get a saloon-type brawl between nations with
weapons of mass destruction that at least some will see this attack is not a
reason to take away more of our scarce liberty.
Anyway, I don't know if I'm saying anything you haven't thought of or heard.
I'm just hoping that you will not let this thing steal your and mine peace
of mind. They are going to get more of our money. They will get some of our
sons and daughters, who march off to war thinking that they are fighting
evil. But I hope they don't get our hearts, our minds, and the peace in our
hearts. This is just my viewpoint--what do you think? yours, Fritz
---What I wrote the morning of the attack still holds true, and I attach it
to the bottom of my more recent article�. Who are the next victims from
Order out of Chaos?�from Fritz, morning & mourning of 9/11/01
Christ said, �Blessed are the peace makers.� But our nation is already
preparing to lash out. CBS�s anchorman blathered that it was O.K. that
America hit the wrong targets when we retaliated for the embassy bombings
because we showed the world we could lash out, reach out and hit someone.
If our leaders really want to protect us, de-escalate the violence, don�t
escalate it. Will any leaders have the sense not to over-react, or will
every last one of them follow along with the most recent order-out-of-chaos
script?
One of the spin-offs from this event is that the lives of peaceful freedom
fighters in America are in danger. It is a very dangerous for people the
World Order doesn�t like. Allow me to warn you.
This order-out-of-chaos event is being labeled a second Pearl Harbor.
Emergency Net had (as some of you know) given a warning on Sept. 7, 01.
Prior to the first Pearl Harbor, the FBI had made out lists of the leaders
within the Japanese American community. These were the men who were most
respected and intelligent. Many were excellent businessmen, and all were
loyal to the United States. The arrests began while the attack was underway.
They wanted to �decapitate� the Japanese-American community so that they
would have a harder time stopping the next two lists of arrests. Without
community leaders the rest would just be individuals ripe for seizing and
looting. Three lists were used in sequence, and by the end of the third
list, essentially all Japanese-Americans had been sent to concentration
camps. I�ve heard it said that these camps were not as bad as the German
camps, as if that somehow made them acceptable. These innocent people lost
their businesses and farms, which were seized and never returned. They lost
all that they had worked their entire lives for. And the hysteria the media
is quietly stirring up now, could lay the groundwork for a similar tragedy.
By the way, if you don�t know it, the lists are already made up.
If a rounding up is to occur, what kind of innocent people are targeted?
You know people are going to be rounded up. But it is not likely we will
hear much about it. So the question remains, who will be the innocent
victims who have to endure some of the fallout of this sad event.
We do not have to become the battleground of insanity. What is ill with our
nation? For starters our leaders are stiff necked and proud and arrogant.
Terrorism is encouraged when the rights of people are trampled on and they
have no voice. It is sad that we have to drag ourselves through all these
sad events. One of the best ways our leaders could really protect us from
terrorism is to protect the rights of others around the world. But that
wouldn�t give them an excuse for more tyranny.
One of the first things our new President said in response to this attack
was that �Freedom will be defended.� I suggest that to understand this,
understand that it is meant to distract you from what is to happen which is
just the opposite. Read my lips, and watch the news, and see for yourself if
the common person is more free or more restricted in the coming days. We
have another wave of disguised tyranny in the works.
We must work on. We must be stoic. We must be a spiritual blessing to each
other. We must not lose our nerve. We are merely experiencing the kind of
pain many other nations have had to experience. We must not allow ourselves
to be stampeded into some passionate hate by the establishment media. Within
the first hour, the establishment media was already telling us that we had
�hate�. How dare they tell us our feelings.
Let us not lose our identity and become part of the mass of a screaming,
anxiety filled, media directed mob. Our nation needs to calmly develop new
and positive relationships with other peoples.
We often are our own worst enemy. It is one of the prices we pay for being
human. Our nation is often our own worst enemy. But no matter what mistakes
each of us has made, or our nation has made there can still be a time of
restoration. This is one of the strong messages of Christ, he gave hope
where people had given up hope. Never think that you can�t be made whole,
don�t think that you can�t be forgiven. Let us look inside ourselves and
improve ourselves as a nation�we can change ourselves if we want, but it is
doubtful that the terrorists will listen to our retaliatory terrorism any
more than our leaders will listen to their terrorism.
A very wise man once told us, �Blessed are the peacemakers.�
Give Them enough Rope and They'll Hang Themselves
By F. Springmeier
In all my study of history I can't think of anything as scandalous as the story I'm about to relate. Government throughout history have done senseless crazy destructive things to their own people, but this story in my opinion is the worst.
One of my favorite expressions is "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself." Evil carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction.
We are now witnessing the ruthless senseless destruction of the American soldier, and this barbaric act will not be forgotten nor forgiven by the American people once they discover what has happened.
In order to get rid of radioactive waste uranium, depleted uranium was used by the American government to create armor piercing ammunition for Tomahawk missiles, Phalanx rapid fire guns, tank shells, artillery shells, and A-10 anti-tank 30mm shells. Uranium tipped shells work great because the heavy uranium burst through armor. The draw back, which has been callously known to the American military, is that the uranium in these shells vaporizes on impact into radioactive dust.
American uranium munitions were used all over Iraq in both Gulf Wars, and have spread radioactive dust over much of the country. There is no way to clean up such dust and it blows around with the wind. This dust remains radioactive for 5.5 billion years. In other words, Iraq is radioactive toast and so are all the American and allied soldier who have served there. Our entire army of invasion and occupation has been contaminated.
Those who are not aware of the serious health problems associated with depleted uranium weapons, may wonder why many Gulf War Vets appear healthy. Actually almost all of the Gulf War I Vets exposed to DU are having health problems related to depleted uranium (DU). Symptoms stemming from the radioactivity may take many years to show up as cancer and other incapacitating illnesses. And they are showing up.
There have been over 300,000 Gulf War I Vets who have developed incapacitating illness, which is about equal to the number who were on the ground in combat.
This means almost all of our men who loyally served their nation in Iraq and trusted the American leadership have been exposed to radioactive dust full of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation.
Depleted uranium weapons were outlawed by the UN as illegal weapons of mass destruction. They are a deathly type of weapon which indiscriminately causes enormous suffering to everyone and poisons the property they explode on.
Iraq complained to the UN about DU used in the Gulf War I. American soldiers with Gulf War Syndrome have complained for years. The power of the U.S. Government has been able to suppress this enormous scandal, but at some point the American people will realize all their soldiers in Iraq (regular, reserve and National Guard) were poisoned by radioactivity from our own weapons. When will the scandal hit? 5 years form now? 10 years from now? Or 15 years?--after many of these American soldiers are dead?
The suffering and death will hit, and when it is realized what was done, it will not be forgotten. This scandal is an incredible time bomb which will destroy the faith so many have placed in the American Government. If I were to list a litany of war crimes, broken treaties, crimes against humanity, they would not be able to hear the truth of history. But this tragic scandal will be different. When in the history of mankind has a government knowingly and sadistically destroyed the lives of their own entire field army? There have been scandals before like during the Crimean War, but I believe this scandal sets a new low.
_________________________
From http://web.archive.org/web/20060914073125/http://www.whale.to/b/sp/f2.html
Subject: Sacrificing Liberty in the Name of Security
SACRIFICING LIBERTY IN THE NAME OF SECURITY by Fritz Springmeier
I decided to write up something about the latest world crisis created when 3
airplanes hit important sites in America. I would call it the 9-1-1 crisis,
since 9�s and 11�s seem associated with the event. Some people will have
access to what is circulating on the Internet and will have garnered all the
facts they want. But for those who are interested in learning more about the
crisis, I have written the following article.
All the standard old deceptions used for centuries by the elite have been
employed in this latest operation. The goal of this operation is social
engineering of the world�s population. There is not a shred of doubt in my
mind that this was orchestrated by a small elite running this planet.
George Bush, Sr. had a joint bank account with Saddam during the Gulf War,
and I was aware of this. I was not in the least bit surprised that nothing
was done to Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was supplied with his biological
weapons by the U.S. and also received financial help and some military
hardware from the west. Now history comes close to repeating itself.
Our current President (George Junior) gave a gift of $43 million American
dollars to the Taliban leadership on May 24, 2001. What makes this
outrageous is that more than 100 congressmen the day before had sent him a
letter begging him to intervene on behalf of minority religions in
Afghanistan who are being required to wear I.D. labels on their clothes to
differentiate them from Muslims. Like Saddam Hussein, our CIA trained and
helped get Bin Laden into the terrorist business. My guess is that they will
keep Bin Laden around, like they did Hussein.
Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden are the best enemies that money could buy for
the elite who want global conflicts in order to social engineer the planet.
Basically, what we have is a manufactured crisis, that they are going to use
to get us into more trouble.
By more trouble I mean many things, one of which is war. All this talk about
war with Afghanistan is insanity. If Russia, which is next door to
Afghanistan, and gave it its best shot, got defeated, then our washed out
technology-heavy video game military is not going to do any better. .
I don't know how much you the reader have been reading about all this, so
please excuse me if you are already aware of the following.
1.How do hijackers get four planes without sky marshalls or any other
security being around? And why haven�t some obvious easy to install
security measures not been implemented. 2.Rather than implementing measures
that will work, we have these sad events followed by overkill overreactions.
The border with Canada has been shut down for days, causing enormous
hardships, and economic chaos. Why? The border with Mexico has been
basically business as usual. 3. How does an American aircraft carrier turn
around and head for NYC before any aircraft have hit the World Trade Center
buildings? Are they following psychics in the navy? 4. How do the
establishment TV anchormen immediately begin pointing the finger at Bin
Laden--within a few minutes of the attack? 5. How does a network of several
hundred people operate in this nation when all telephone conversations are
monitored, and they have double agents in every organization I can think of?
6. How do buildings that are built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707,
crumble from the bottom when they are hit at the top? One guy as he rode an
elevator down in the WTC said he heard explosions going off in the building
at different levels. Makes sense to me. A fireman who went to the 24th floor
on his last trip heard a bomb go off. The establishment are trying to tell
us the intense heat collapsed the structure. 7. A building near the twin WTC
towers blew up prior to the twin towers collapsing. This is most suspicious.
It is not my goal to list every suspicious circumstance of the World Trade
Center attack. I am simply trying to point out the kind of things that don�t
add up.
Even though most Americans will not realize that this thing was created, I
still have hopes
It is times like this that I have to have inner peace. This world is so
crazy, it could make a person weep. There is oversupply of anger and
stupidity in this world, and an undersupply of peace, love and objectivity.
I don't know how people who don't have faith in God keep their sanity.
This world would like to drag us down to their level, where we are living in
terror and anger from second to second. Let's rise above the individual eye
level of Joe Sixpack, and give a small example of something better.
Let's not lose our heads and hearts. Our nation needs to learn how to love
others. I would hope that Americans will mourn the innocent civilians that
our state sponsored terrorism is planning on killing in the name of revenge.
Our nation has long needed to learn to love others. Its time we quit
supporting the genocide of Palestinians, actively causing the mass murders
of a million Iraqi civilians, etc. Confession would be good for our
collective souls. Instead we get a saloon-type brawl between nations with
weapons of mass destruction that at least some will see this attack is not a
reason to take away more of our scarce liberty.
Anyway, I don't know if I'm saying anything you haven't thought of or heard.
I'm just hoping that you will not let this thing steal your and mine peace
of mind. They are going to get more of our money. They will get some of our
sons and daughters, who march off to war thinking that they are fighting
evil. But I hope they don't get our hearts, our minds, and the peace in our
hearts. This is just my viewpoint--what do you think? yours, Fritz
---What I wrote the morning of the attack still holds true, and I attach it
to the bottom of my more recent article�. Who are the next victims from
Order out of Chaos?�from Fritz, morning & mourning of 9/11/01
Christ said, �Blessed are the peace makers.� But our nation is already
preparing to lash out. CBS�s anchorman blathered that it was O.K. that
America hit the wrong targets when we retaliated for the embassy bombings
because we showed the world we could lash out, reach out and hit someone.
If our leaders really want to protect us, de-escalate the violence, don�t
escalate it. Will any leaders have the sense not to over-react, or will
every last one of them follow along with the most recent order-out-of-chaos
script?
One of the spin-offs from this event is that the lives of peaceful freedom
fighters in America are in danger. It is a very dangerous for people the
World Order doesn�t like. Allow me to warn you.
This order-out-of-chaos event is being labeled a second Pearl Harbor.
Emergency Net had (as some of you know) given a warning on Sept. 7, 01.
Prior to the first Pearl Harbor, the FBI had made out lists of the leaders
within the Japanese American community. These were the men who were most
respected and intelligent. Many were excellent businessmen, and all were
loyal to the United States. The arrests began while the attack was underway.
They wanted to �decapitate� the Japanese-American community so that they
would have a harder time stopping the next two lists of arrests. Without
community leaders the rest would just be individuals ripe for seizing and
looting. Three lists were used in sequence, and by the end of the third
list, essentially all Japanese-Americans had been sent to concentration
camps. I�ve heard it said that these camps were not as bad as the German
camps, as if that somehow made them acceptable. These innocent people lost
their businesses and farms, which were seized and never returned. They lost
all that they had worked their entire lives for. And the hysteria the media
is quietly stirring up now, could lay the groundwork for a similar tragedy.
By the way, if you don�t know it, the lists are already made up.
If a rounding up is to occur, what kind of innocent people are targeted?
You know people are going to be rounded up. But it is not likely we will
hear much about it. So the question remains, who will be the innocent
victims who have to endure some of the fallout of this sad event.
We do not have to become the battleground of insanity. What is ill with our
nation? For starters our leaders are stiff necked and proud and arrogant.
Terrorism is encouraged when the rights of people are trampled on and they
have no voice. It is sad that we have to drag ourselves through all these
sad events. One of the best ways our leaders could really protect us from
terrorism is to protect the rights of others around the world. But that
wouldn�t give them an excuse for more tyranny.
One of the first things our new President said in response to this attack
was that �Freedom will be defended.� I suggest that to understand this,
understand that it is meant to distract you from what is to happen which is
just the opposite. Read my lips, and watch the news, and see for yourself if
the common person is more free or more restricted in the coming days. We
have another wave of disguised tyranny in the works.
We must work on. We must be stoic. We must be a spiritual blessing to each
other. We must not lose our nerve. We are merely experiencing the kind of
pain many other nations have had to experience. We must not allow ourselves
to be stampeded into some passionate hate by the establishment media. Within
the first hour, the establishment media was already telling us that we had
�hate�. How dare they tell us our feelings.
Let us not lose our identity and become part of the mass of a screaming,
anxiety filled, media directed mob. Our nation needs to calmly develop new
and positive relationships with other peoples.
We often are our own worst enemy. It is one of the prices we pay for being
human. Our nation is often our own worst enemy. But no matter what mistakes
each of us has made, or our nation has made there can still be a time of
restoration. This is one of the strong messages of Christ, he gave hope
where people had given up hope. Never think that you can�t be made whole,
don�t think that you can�t be forgiven. Let us look inside ourselves and
improve ourselves as a nation�we can change ourselves if we want, but it is
doubtful that the terrorists will listen to our retaliatory terrorism any
more than our leaders will listen to their terrorism.
A very wise man once told us, �Blessed are the peacemakers.�
Saturday, August 30, 2008
America’s Plantation Prisons
From http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10008
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4242
America’s Plantation Prisons
Maya Schenwar
Global Research
August 30, 2008
On an expanse of 18,000 acres of farmland, 59 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, long rows of men, mostly African-American, till the fields under the hot Louisiana sun. The men pick cotton, wheat, soybeans and corn. They work for pennies, literally. Armed guards, mostly white, ride up and down the rows on horseback, keeping watch. At the end of a long workweek, a bad disciplinary report from a guard - whether true or false - could mean a weekend toiling in the fields. The farm is called Angola, after the homeland of the slaves who first worked its soil.
This scene is not a glimpse of plantation days long gone by. It’s the present-day reality of thousands of prisoners at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. The block of land on which the prison sits is a composite of several slave plantations, bought up in the decades following the Civil War. Acre-wise, it is the largest prison in the United States. Eighty percent of its prisoners are African-American.
“Angola is disturbing every time I go there,” Tory Pegram, who coordinates the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3, told Truthout. “It’s not even really a metaphor for slavery. Slavery is what’s going on.”
Mwalimu Johnson, who spent 15 years as a prisoner at the penitentiary and now works as executive secretary of the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana, concurred.
“I would truthfully say that Angola prison is a sophisticated plantation,” Johnson told Truthout. “‘Cotton is King’ still applies when it come to Angola.”
Angola is not alone. Sixteen percent of Louisiana prisoners are compelled to perform farm labor, as are 17 percent of Texas prisoners and a full 40 percent of Arkansas prisoners, according to the 2002 Corrections Yearbook, compiled by the Criminal Justice Institute. They are paid little to nothing for planting and picking the same crops harvested by slaves 150 years ago.
On land previously occupied by a slave plantation, Louisiana prisoners pick cotton, earning 4 cents an hour. (Photo: Louisiana State Penitentiary) Many prison farms, Angola included, have gruesome post-bellum histories. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Angola made news with a host of assaults - and killings - of inmates by guards. In 1952, a group of Angola prisoners found their work conditions so oppressive that they resorted to cutting their Achilles’ tendons in protest. At Mississippi’s Parchman Farm, another plantation-to-prison convert, prisoners were routinely subjected to near-death whippings and even shootings for the first half of the 20th century. Cummins Farm, in Arkansas, sported a “prison hospital” that doubled as a torture chamber until a federal investigation exposed it in 1970. And Texas’s Jester State Prison Farm, formerly Harlem Prison Farm, garnered its claim to fame from eight prisoners who suffocated to death after being sealed into a tiny cell and abandoned by guards.
Since a wave of activism forced prison farm brutalities into the spotlight in the 1970s, some reforms have taken place: At Angola, for example, prison violence has been significantly reduced. But to a large extent, the official stories have been repackaged. State correctional departments now portray prison farm labor as educational or vocational opportunities, as opposed to involuntary servitude. The Alabama Department of Corrections web site, for example, states that its “Agriculture Program” “allows inmates to be trained in work habits and allows them to develop marketable skills in the areas of: Farming, Animal Husbandry, Vegetable, meat, and milk processing.”
According to Angola’s web site, “massive reform” has transformed the prison into a “stable, safe and constitutional” environment. A host of new faith-based programs at Angola have gotten a lot of media play, including features in The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor.
Cathy Fontenot, Angola’s assistant warden, told Truthout that the penitentiary is now widely known as an “innovative and progressive prison.”
“The warden says it takes good food, good medicine, good prayin’ and good playin’ to have a good prison,” Fontenot said, referring to the head warden, Burl Cain. “Angola has all these.”
However, the makeover has been markedly incomplete, according to prisoners and their advocates.
“Most of the changes are cosmetic,” said Johnson, who was released from Angola in 1992 and, in his new capacity as a prison rights advocate, stays in contact with Angola prisoners. “In the conventional plantations, slaves were given just enough food, clothing and shelter to be a financial asset to the owner. The same is true for the Louisiana prison system.”
Wages for agricultural and industrial prison labor are still almost nonexistent compared with the federal minimum wage. Angola prisoners are paid anywhere from four to twenty cents per hour, according to Fontenot. Agricultural laborers fall on the lowest end of the pay scale.
What’s more, prisoners may keep only half the money they make, according to Johnson, who notes that the other half is placed in an account for prisoners to use to “set themselves up” after they’re released.
Besides the fact that two cents an hour may not accumulate much of a start-up fund, there is one glaring peculiarity about this arrangement: due to some of the harshest sentencing practices in the country, most Angola prisoners are never released. Ninety-seven percent will die in prison, according to Fontenot.
(Ironically, the “progressive” label may well apply to Angola, relative to some locations: In Texas, Arkansas and Georgia, most prison farms pay nothing at all.)
Angola prisoners technically work eight-hour days. However, since extra work can be mandated as a punishment for “bad behavior,” hours may pile up well over that limit, former prisoner Robert King told Truthout.
“Prisoners worked out in the field, sometimes 17 hours straight, rain or shine,” remembered King, who spent 29 years in solitary confinement at Angola, until he was released in 2001 after proving his innocence of the crime for which he was incarcerated.
It’s common for Angola prisoners to work 65 hours a week after disciplinary reports have been filed, according to Johnson. Yet, those reports don’t necessarily indicate that a prisoner has violated any rules. Johnson describes guards writing out reports well before the weekend, fabricating incident citations, then filling in prisoners’ names on Friday, sometimes at random. Those prisoners would then spend their weekend in the cotton fields.
Although mechanical cotton pickers are almost universally used on modern-day farms, Angola prisoners must harvest by hand, echoing the exact ritual that characterized the plantation before emancipation.
According to King, these practices are undergirded by entrenched notions of race-based authority.
“Guards talked to prisoners like slaves,” King told Truthout. “They’d tell you the officer was always right, no matter what.”
During the 1970s, prisoners were routinely beaten or “dungeonized” without cause, King said. Now, guards’ power abuses are more expertly concealed, but they persist, fed by racist assumptions, according to King.
Johnson described some of the white guards burning crosses on prison lawns.
Much of this overt racism stems from the way the basic system - and even the basic population - of Angola and its environs have remained static since the days of slavery, according to Pegram. After the plantation was converted to a prison, former plantation overseers and their descendants kept their general roles, becoming prison officials and guards. This white overseer community, called B-Line, is located on the farm’s grounds, both close to the prisoners and completely separate from them. In addition to their prison labor, Angola’s inmates do free work for B-Line residents, from cutting their grass to trimming their hair to cleaning up Prison View Golf Course, the only course in the country where players can watch prisoners laboring as they golf.
Another landmark of the town, the Angola Prison Museum, is also run by multi-generation Angola residents. The museum exhibits “Old Sparky,” the solid oak electric chair used for executions at Angola until 1991. Visitors can purchase shirts that read, “Angola: A Gated Community.”
Despite its antebellum MO, Angola’s labor system does not break the law. In fact, it is explicitly authorized by the Constitution. The 13th Amendment, which prohibits forced labor, contains a caveat. It reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
That clause has a history of being manipulated, according to Fordham Law Professor Robert Kaczorowski, who has written extensively on civil rights and the Constitution. Directly after the 13th Amendment was enacted, it began to be utilized to justify slavery-like practices, according to Kaczorowski. Throughout the South, former slaves were arrested for trivial crimes (vagrancy, for example), fined, and imprisoned when they could not pay their fines. Then, landowners could supply the fine in exchange for the prisoner’s labor, essentially perpetuating slavery.
Although such close reproductions of private enslavement were phased out, the 13th Amendment still permits involuntary servitude.
“Prisoners can be forced to work for the government against their will, and this is true in every state,” Kaczorowski told Truthout.
In recent years, activists have begun to focus on the 13th Amendment’s exception for prisoners, according to Pegram. African-Americans are disproportionately incarcerated; one in three black men has been in prison at some point in his life. Therefore, African-Americans are much more likely to be subject to involuntary servitude.
“I would have more faith in that amendment if it weren’t so clear that our criminal justice system is racially biased in a really obvious way,” Pegram said.
Prison activists like Johnson believe that ultimately, permanently changing the status quo at places like Angola may mean changing the Constitution - amending the 13th Amendment to abolish involuntary servitude for all.
“I don’t have any illusions that this is a simple process,” Johnson said. “Many people are apathetic about what happens in prisons. It would be very difficult, but I would not suggest it would be impossible.”
Even without a constitutional overhaul, some states have done away with prison farms of their own accord. In Connecticut, where the farms were prevalent before the 1970s, the farms have been phased out, partially due to the perceived slavery connection. “Many black inmates viewed farm work under these circumstances as too close to slavery to want to participate,” according to a 1995 report to the Connecticut General Assembly.
For now, though, the prison farm is alive and well in Louisiana. And at Angola, many prisoners can expect to be buried on the land they till. Two cemeteries, Point Lookout 1 and 2, lie on the prison grounds. No one knows exactly how many prisoners are interred in the former, since, after a flood washed away the first Angola cemetery in 1927, the bodies were reburied in a large common grave.
Point Lookout 1 is now full, and with the vast majority of Angola’s prisoners destined to die in prison, Point Lookout 2 is well on its way, according to King.
“Angola is pretty huge,” King said. “They’ve got a lot of land to bury a lot of prisoners.”
No one knows how many of the prisoners kept in involuntary servitude at Angola are innocent. But at least one who has proven his innocence in court, overturning his conviction, is still behind bars. Please see “Declared Innocent, but Not Free.”
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4242
America’s Plantation Prisons
Maya Schenwar
Global Research
August 30, 2008
On an expanse of 18,000 acres of farmland, 59 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, long rows of men, mostly African-American, till the fields under the hot Louisiana sun. The men pick cotton, wheat, soybeans and corn. They work for pennies, literally. Armed guards, mostly white, ride up and down the rows on horseback, keeping watch. At the end of a long workweek, a bad disciplinary report from a guard - whether true or false - could mean a weekend toiling in the fields. The farm is called Angola, after the homeland of the slaves who first worked its soil.
This scene is not a glimpse of plantation days long gone by. It’s the present-day reality of thousands of prisoners at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. The block of land on which the prison sits is a composite of several slave plantations, bought up in the decades following the Civil War. Acre-wise, it is the largest prison in the United States. Eighty percent of its prisoners are African-American.
“Angola is disturbing every time I go there,” Tory Pegram, who coordinates the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3, told Truthout. “It’s not even really a metaphor for slavery. Slavery is what’s going on.”
Mwalimu Johnson, who spent 15 years as a prisoner at the penitentiary and now works as executive secretary of the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana, concurred.
“I would truthfully say that Angola prison is a sophisticated plantation,” Johnson told Truthout. “‘Cotton is King’ still applies when it come to Angola.”
Angola is not alone. Sixteen percent of Louisiana prisoners are compelled to perform farm labor, as are 17 percent of Texas prisoners and a full 40 percent of Arkansas prisoners, according to the 2002 Corrections Yearbook, compiled by the Criminal Justice Institute. They are paid little to nothing for planting and picking the same crops harvested by slaves 150 years ago.
On land previously occupied by a slave plantation, Louisiana prisoners pick cotton, earning 4 cents an hour. (Photo: Louisiana State Penitentiary) Many prison farms, Angola included, have gruesome post-bellum histories. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Angola made news with a host of assaults - and killings - of inmates by guards. In 1952, a group of Angola prisoners found their work conditions so oppressive that they resorted to cutting their Achilles’ tendons in protest. At Mississippi’s Parchman Farm, another plantation-to-prison convert, prisoners were routinely subjected to near-death whippings and even shootings for the first half of the 20th century. Cummins Farm, in Arkansas, sported a “prison hospital” that doubled as a torture chamber until a federal investigation exposed it in 1970. And Texas’s Jester State Prison Farm, formerly Harlem Prison Farm, garnered its claim to fame from eight prisoners who suffocated to death after being sealed into a tiny cell and abandoned by guards.
Since a wave of activism forced prison farm brutalities into the spotlight in the 1970s, some reforms have taken place: At Angola, for example, prison violence has been significantly reduced. But to a large extent, the official stories have been repackaged. State correctional departments now portray prison farm labor as educational or vocational opportunities, as opposed to involuntary servitude. The Alabama Department of Corrections web site, for example, states that its “Agriculture Program” “allows inmates to be trained in work habits and allows them to develop marketable skills in the areas of: Farming, Animal Husbandry, Vegetable, meat, and milk processing.”
According to Angola’s web site, “massive reform” has transformed the prison into a “stable, safe and constitutional” environment. A host of new faith-based programs at Angola have gotten a lot of media play, including features in The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor.
Cathy Fontenot, Angola’s assistant warden, told Truthout that the penitentiary is now widely known as an “innovative and progressive prison.”
“The warden says it takes good food, good medicine, good prayin’ and good playin’ to have a good prison,” Fontenot said, referring to the head warden, Burl Cain. “Angola has all these.”
However, the makeover has been markedly incomplete, according to prisoners and their advocates.
“Most of the changes are cosmetic,” said Johnson, who was released from Angola in 1992 and, in his new capacity as a prison rights advocate, stays in contact with Angola prisoners. “In the conventional plantations, slaves were given just enough food, clothing and shelter to be a financial asset to the owner. The same is true for the Louisiana prison system.”
Wages for agricultural and industrial prison labor are still almost nonexistent compared with the federal minimum wage. Angola prisoners are paid anywhere from four to twenty cents per hour, according to Fontenot. Agricultural laborers fall on the lowest end of the pay scale.
What’s more, prisoners may keep only half the money they make, according to Johnson, who notes that the other half is placed in an account for prisoners to use to “set themselves up” after they’re released.
Besides the fact that two cents an hour may not accumulate much of a start-up fund, there is one glaring peculiarity about this arrangement: due to some of the harshest sentencing practices in the country, most Angola prisoners are never released. Ninety-seven percent will die in prison, according to Fontenot.
(Ironically, the “progressive” label may well apply to Angola, relative to some locations: In Texas, Arkansas and Georgia, most prison farms pay nothing at all.)
Angola prisoners technically work eight-hour days. However, since extra work can be mandated as a punishment for “bad behavior,” hours may pile up well over that limit, former prisoner Robert King told Truthout.
“Prisoners worked out in the field, sometimes 17 hours straight, rain or shine,” remembered King, who spent 29 years in solitary confinement at Angola, until he was released in 2001 after proving his innocence of the crime for which he was incarcerated.
It’s common for Angola prisoners to work 65 hours a week after disciplinary reports have been filed, according to Johnson. Yet, those reports don’t necessarily indicate that a prisoner has violated any rules. Johnson describes guards writing out reports well before the weekend, fabricating incident citations, then filling in prisoners’ names on Friday, sometimes at random. Those prisoners would then spend their weekend in the cotton fields.
Although mechanical cotton pickers are almost universally used on modern-day farms, Angola prisoners must harvest by hand, echoing the exact ritual that characterized the plantation before emancipation.
According to King, these practices are undergirded by entrenched notions of race-based authority.
“Guards talked to prisoners like slaves,” King told Truthout. “They’d tell you the officer was always right, no matter what.”
During the 1970s, prisoners were routinely beaten or “dungeonized” without cause, King said. Now, guards’ power abuses are more expertly concealed, but they persist, fed by racist assumptions, according to King.
Johnson described some of the white guards burning crosses on prison lawns.
Much of this overt racism stems from the way the basic system - and even the basic population - of Angola and its environs have remained static since the days of slavery, according to Pegram. After the plantation was converted to a prison, former plantation overseers and their descendants kept their general roles, becoming prison officials and guards. This white overseer community, called B-Line, is located on the farm’s grounds, both close to the prisoners and completely separate from them. In addition to their prison labor, Angola’s inmates do free work for B-Line residents, from cutting their grass to trimming their hair to cleaning up Prison View Golf Course, the only course in the country where players can watch prisoners laboring as they golf.
Another landmark of the town, the Angola Prison Museum, is also run by multi-generation Angola residents. The museum exhibits “Old Sparky,” the solid oak electric chair used for executions at Angola until 1991. Visitors can purchase shirts that read, “Angola: A Gated Community.”
Despite its antebellum MO, Angola’s labor system does not break the law. In fact, it is explicitly authorized by the Constitution. The 13th Amendment, which prohibits forced labor, contains a caveat. It reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
That clause has a history of being manipulated, according to Fordham Law Professor Robert Kaczorowski, who has written extensively on civil rights and the Constitution. Directly after the 13th Amendment was enacted, it began to be utilized to justify slavery-like practices, according to Kaczorowski. Throughout the South, former slaves were arrested for trivial crimes (vagrancy, for example), fined, and imprisoned when they could not pay their fines. Then, landowners could supply the fine in exchange for the prisoner’s labor, essentially perpetuating slavery.
Although such close reproductions of private enslavement were phased out, the 13th Amendment still permits involuntary servitude.
“Prisoners can be forced to work for the government against their will, and this is true in every state,” Kaczorowski told Truthout.
In recent years, activists have begun to focus on the 13th Amendment’s exception for prisoners, according to Pegram. African-Americans are disproportionately incarcerated; one in three black men has been in prison at some point in his life. Therefore, African-Americans are much more likely to be subject to involuntary servitude.
“I would have more faith in that amendment if it weren’t so clear that our criminal justice system is racially biased in a really obvious way,” Pegram said.
Prison activists like Johnson believe that ultimately, permanently changing the status quo at places like Angola may mean changing the Constitution - amending the 13th Amendment to abolish involuntary servitude for all.
“I don’t have any illusions that this is a simple process,” Johnson said. “Many people are apathetic about what happens in prisons. It would be very difficult, but I would not suggest it would be impossible.”
Even without a constitutional overhaul, some states have done away with prison farms of their own accord. In Connecticut, where the farms were prevalent before the 1970s, the farms have been phased out, partially due to the perceived slavery connection. “Many black inmates viewed farm work under these circumstances as too close to slavery to want to participate,” according to a 1995 report to the Connecticut General Assembly.
For now, though, the prison farm is alive and well in Louisiana. And at Angola, many prisoners can expect to be buried on the land they till. Two cemeteries, Point Lookout 1 and 2, lie on the prison grounds. No one knows exactly how many prisoners are interred in the former, since, after a flood washed away the first Angola cemetery in 1927, the bodies were reburied in a large common grave.
Point Lookout 1 is now full, and with the vast majority of Angola’s prisoners destined to die in prison, Point Lookout 2 is well on its way, according to King.
“Angola is pretty huge,” King said. “They’ve got a lot of land to bury a lot of prisoners.”
No one knows how many of the prisoners kept in involuntary servitude at Angola are innocent. But at least one who has proven his innocence in court, overturning his conviction, is still behind bars. Please see “Declared Innocent, but Not Free.”
The Vatican and the Mafia
This is the link.
Note by Me: I disagree with the book's pro-7th Day Adventist bent though. Seventh Day Adventism was created by a false prophetess and has many false doctrines.
By Timothy
Note by Me: I disagree with the book's pro-7th Day Adventist bent though. Seventh Day Adventism was created by a false prophetess and has many false doctrines.
By Timothy
Sarah Palin and Paul Begala’s Sour Grapes
From http://www.infowars.com/?p=4238
Sarah Palin and Paul Begala’s Sour Grapes
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
August 30, 2008
Clinton operative Paul Begala says John McCain is “out of his mind” for picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
However, as a former Crossfire host and professor at Georgetown University, Begala knows Palin’s supposed inexperience matters not. Instead, what matter is that Ms. Palin, a former beauty queen and Wasilla nominated “Miss Congeniality,” looks good. She was selected because she will make make McCain look somewhat more palatable, sort of like a rose next to a pile of… well, you know.
Palin is strictly decorative, selected to sell a product, sort of like a cigar store Indian. It is hoped she will feminize the ugliness of the neocon agenda. Begala knows this. He also knows most Americans will fall for this distraction, as they are suckers for a pretty face.
“For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience,” writes Begala for CNN. “In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown that he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.”
This only makes sense if you buy into the mythology — that presidents actually count for something when it comes to “powerful, complicated, difficult” jobs. McCain was selected because he is a “war hero,” a POW, and because he has warmed a seat in the House, and then the Senate, since 1982, a feat accomplished largely due to his wife, Cindy Lou Hensley McCain, who has gobs of money as a beer distributor baroness. Palin will look good beside the presumptive first lady as well, a former Arizona Junior Rodeo Queen. It’s all about surface and has nothing to do with running the country.
McCain is a member of the CFR and so are his advisers, namely Bernard Aronson, Max Boot, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Henry Kissinger. McCain is also handled by the neocons, most notably Randy Scheunemann (also a lobbyist for Georgia), Max Boot (cross fertilized with the CFR), James Woolsey, Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, John Bolton, Gary Schmitt, Ralph Peters, and Joe Lieberman.
“Americans who have opposed the Iraq war and who are against another war with Iran should begin to worry, because a McCain-Lieberman ticket would be very electable,” Philip Giraldi opined back in February. Since that time, McCain has become even more electable, as elections are essentially decided on the basis of how people come off on television. Ms. Palin comes off rather well with her good looks and this will smooth out McCain’s substantial negatives, at least over the boob tube.
Paul Begala wrote his article because he knows Sarah Palin shines when compared to Joe Biden. Obama out shines McCain, but all of that may change between now and November, especially if something untoward happens in the Black Sea or the Strait of Hormuz, now that the warships are piling up.
Of course, at the end of the day on November 2, it will not matter because both candidates are stand-ups for the bankers, the multinational corporations, and their representatives at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg Group.
Even if McCain drops over dead on the day after the election and Ms. Palin assumes the presidency, it really does not matter because these guys issue the marching orders, as they have for some time.
Sarah Palin and Paul Begala’s Sour Grapes
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
August 30, 2008
Clinton operative Paul Begala says John McCain is “out of his mind” for picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
However, as a former Crossfire host and professor at Georgetown University, Begala knows Palin’s supposed inexperience matters not. Instead, what matter is that Ms. Palin, a former beauty queen and Wasilla nominated “Miss Congeniality,” looks good. She was selected because she will make make McCain look somewhat more palatable, sort of like a rose next to a pile of… well, you know.
Palin is strictly decorative, selected to sell a product, sort of like a cigar store Indian. It is hoped she will feminize the ugliness of the neocon agenda. Begala knows this. He also knows most Americans will fall for this distraction, as they are suckers for a pretty face.
“For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience,” writes Begala for CNN. “In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown that he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.”
This only makes sense if you buy into the mythology — that presidents actually count for something when it comes to “powerful, complicated, difficult” jobs. McCain was selected because he is a “war hero,” a POW, and because he has warmed a seat in the House, and then the Senate, since 1982, a feat accomplished largely due to his wife, Cindy Lou Hensley McCain, who has gobs of money as a beer distributor baroness. Palin will look good beside the presumptive first lady as well, a former Arizona Junior Rodeo Queen. It’s all about surface and has nothing to do with running the country.
McCain is a member of the CFR and so are his advisers, namely Bernard Aronson, Max Boot, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Henry Kissinger. McCain is also handled by the neocons, most notably Randy Scheunemann (also a lobbyist for Georgia), Max Boot (cross fertilized with the CFR), James Woolsey, Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, John Bolton, Gary Schmitt, Ralph Peters, and Joe Lieberman.
“Americans who have opposed the Iraq war and who are against another war with Iran should begin to worry, because a McCain-Lieberman ticket would be very electable,” Philip Giraldi opined back in February. Since that time, McCain has become even more electable, as elections are essentially decided on the basis of how people come off on television. Ms. Palin comes off rather well with her good looks and this will smooth out McCain’s substantial negatives, at least over the boob tube.
Paul Begala wrote his article because he knows Sarah Palin shines when compared to Joe Biden. Obama out shines McCain, but all of that may change between now and November, especially if something untoward happens in the Black Sea or the Strait of Hormuz, now that the warships are piling up.
Of course, at the end of the day on November 2, it will not matter because both candidates are stand-ups for the bankers, the multinational corporations, and their representatives at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg Group.
Even if McCain drops over dead on the day after the election and Ms. Palin assumes the presidency, it really does not matter because these guys issue the marching orders, as they have for some time.
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE LAWYER WORKS AGAINST PROTECTION FOR THE PREBORN
From http://www.all.org/article.php?id=11568
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE LAWYER WORKS AGAINST PROTECTION FOR THE PREBORN
by Katie Walker
Released August 29, 2008
Washington, DC (29 August 2008) – American Life League Vice President Jim Sedlak denounced comments made by National Right to Life Committee lawyer James Bopp. Bopp's comments opposed an amendment to the Republican Party platform that would protect preborn persons against the threat of embryonic experimentation.
"It is incredible that Mr. Bopp, while clearly identifying himself as speaking for the National Right to Life Committee, would state that embryonic experimentation is acceptable," said Sedlak.
Bopp spoke against a platform amendment to work toward a ban on embryonic stem cell research and cloning Aug. 27. He told the committee:
"It may very well be in our future that there is therapeutic research that can be done on human embryos, and there is nothing unethical immoral, improper or ... that disregards the sanctity of life if we are involved in therapeutic research."
Sedlak remarked, "Mr. Bopp clearly said he opposed creating human embryos for experimentation, but said it could be OK to experiment on human embryos that already existed. The thought that any representative of a national pro-life group would endorse experimentation on the tiniest humans is outrageous."
In the past Bopp has opposed measures against embryonic stem cell research for purely political reasons. He also consistently opposes proposed state constitutional amendments that would protect innocent preborn children as persons.
"Bopp panders for the sake of politics rather than principle. Thank God the platform defenders remained strong and did not listen to his flawed thinking." Sedlak said. "American Life League calls on the leadership of the National Right to Life Committee to disavow Mr. Bopp's comments and to make it absolutely clear that the National Right to Life Committee is totally opposed to embryonic experimentation, just like every other major pro-life organization in the country."
American Life League was co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
National Review Online: Re: Cell Breakthrough (28 August 2008)
JillStanek.com: Bopp Promotes "Therapeutic" Embryo Research (28 August 2008)
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE LAWYER WORKS AGAINST PROTECTION FOR THE PREBORN
by Katie Walker
Released August 29, 2008
Washington, DC (29 August 2008) – American Life League Vice President Jim Sedlak denounced comments made by National Right to Life Committee lawyer James Bopp. Bopp's comments opposed an amendment to the Republican Party platform that would protect preborn persons against the threat of embryonic experimentation.
"It is incredible that Mr. Bopp, while clearly identifying himself as speaking for the National Right to Life Committee, would state that embryonic experimentation is acceptable," said Sedlak.
Bopp spoke against a platform amendment to work toward a ban on embryonic stem cell research and cloning Aug. 27. He told the committee:
"It may very well be in our future that there is therapeutic research that can be done on human embryos, and there is nothing unethical immoral, improper or ... that disregards the sanctity of life if we are involved in therapeutic research."
Sedlak remarked, "Mr. Bopp clearly said he opposed creating human embryos for experimentation, but said it could be OK to experiment on human embryos that already existed. The thought that any representative of a national pro-life group would endorse experimentation on the tiniest humans is outrageous."
In the past Bopp has opposed measures against embryonic stem cell research for purely political reasons. He also consistently opposes proposed state constitutional amendments that would protect innocent preborn children as persons.
"Bopp panders for the sake of politics rather than principle. Thank God the platform defenders remained strong and did not listen to his flawed thinking." Sedlak said. "American Life League calls on the leadership of the National Right to Life Committee to disavow Mr. Bopp's comments and to make it absolutely clear that the National Right to Life Committee is totally opposed to embryonic experimentation, just like every other major pro-life organization in the country."
American Life League was co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
National Review Online: Re: Cell Breakthrough (28 August 2008)
JillStanek.com: Bopp Promotes "Therapeutic" Embryo Research (28 August 2008)
The Democrats endorse the "Global War on Terrorism": Obama "goes after" Osama
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9995
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-democrats-endorse-the-global-war-on-terrorism-obama-goes-after-osama.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9974 (I disagree with the article advocating socialism though)
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-democrats-endorse-the-global-war-on-terrorism-obama-goes-after-osama.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9974 (I disagree with the article advocating socialism though)
The War on Terror Debunked, America Tries to Raise a Dead Enemy from the Grave
From http://www.infowars.com/?p=4235
The War on Terror Debunked, America Tries to Raise a Dead Enemy from the Grave
George Washington’s Blog
August 30, 2008
The war on terror has been thoroughly debunked (see this and this).
So the military-industrial complex is trying to find another enemy sufficiently scary to justify trillions of dollars in defense spending and the continuation of the perpetual state of war.
Our former enemy - the Soviet Union - has now broken up. Russia’s economy pales in comparison to that of the former USSR. Russia is run more by billionaires and the Russian Mob than by the Communists. And Russia harbors very few imperial ambitions.
But that isn’t stopping people like Dick Cheney from trying to raise the "Red menace" from the dustbin of history.
Remember - in the 70’s - Cheney was instrumental in generating fake intelligence exaggerating the Soviet threat in order to undermine coexistence between the U.S. and Soviet Union, which conveniently justified huge amounts of cold war spending. See also this article.
Indeed, Cheney and Don Rumsfeld were probably more responsible than anyone else for the original Red scare and Cold War.
With the air quickly escaping from the whole "War on Terror" fiasco, Cheney and the boys are trying a re-run of their tried-and-true fear tactics regarding the Ruskies, even though the "Soviet menace" is dead and buried.
Remember that, according to former British Defense Secretary, Cheney called the shots in the Iraq war. And a top official at the State Department stated there was a secret "cabal" involving Cheney, and that Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the country’s foreign policy.
Friday, August 29, 2008
History and Challenges
The Protestors in the DNC are continuing to exist. Patti Thorn from the Rocky Mountain News on Thursday, at August 28, 2008 made manifest that about 3,000 people marched in the DNC. Some call it the largest demonstration in the Convention so far. They flashed the words “Follow Us. Welcome to Denver.” on an electronic sign. The protestors were made up of Iraq war veterans and anti-war protestors. They marched in downtown Denver. The event, which was co-sponsored by the anti-war group Tent State University and Iraq Veterans Against the War, was unpermitted. Yet, the parade proceeded peacefully. It began in the Denver Coliseum and ended at the Pepsi enter perimeter just in about 3 hours later. The veterans wanted to contact Obama to endorse an immediate withdrawal of all occuping forces from Iraq among other places. That's a great thing to do, but Obama (with his statements about fighting in Pakistan if necessary) and McCain (and he talks too aggressively against Russia) don't support that. Each want to stay and the difference is how long they will stay. Obama wants a gradual withdrawal and McCain seeks a longer time to end the war in Iraq. The protestors were mostly peaceful. One Denver cop slamed a Code Pink protestor to the ground. 9/11 Truthers were also in the rally to legitimately support 9/11 Truth. Some in Recreate 68 have proven to do numerous shill tactics from assaulting people (including dressing up like wizards and attempting to symbolically levitate the mint building in Denver) to supporting the fake neo-conservative Michelle Malkin (who supports big government, nation building, civil liberty violations like the promotion of internment camps, torture, and big wars). Recreate '68 should allow the real protestors protest in Denver. People are exposing the new world order more than ever nowadays. Bill Clinton gave his speech about supporting Barack Obama. Barack Obama gave his speech yesterday. It was a historic time, because he was the first black American nominated for the Presidency of a major party in the Western world. Also, it was the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. He used the enthusiasm of the crowd to make his message. His speech covered many issues and outlined criticism against John McCain. His criticism was firm, yet not going overboard except you can make the case for him questioning McCain's temperment. Barack Obama believes that he is the one person to inspire change in Washington. He outlined his plans in the economy, foreign policy, health, and education. From a Democratic perspective, he did what he had to do in his speech (and used a connection of his life experience to the world today). Obama called for common ground. This was probably pound for pound Barack Obama's greatest speech in terms of oratory. His speech was great in oratory ability and skill even if you disagree with him. One problem with the speech is the omission of many of his views and other issues. He omitted his support for FISA, his non-support for concealed weapons, his support for still a small military contingent in Iraq (despite saying he wants to leave Iraq responsibily), and his non-support for even the partial birth abortion ban (even when doctors prove that the life of the mother exception isn't necessary). This doesn't mean Obama is wrong on everything. He's right on some issues like promoting alternative energy, that the government can't solve every problem under the sun alone, we can agree to disagree peacefully on issues without questioning folks' motives or characters, and believing in middle class tax cuts. John McCain and the Republicans will have a hard time competing with the Democrats' Convention though.
An arrest occured against an ABC reporter. BRIAN ROSS from ABC News on August 27, 2008 wrote about how an ABC reporter was arrested in Denver for taking pictures of Senators and big Donors. Police in Denver did it. They arrested an ABC News producer. They were trying to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel. The person's name who was arrested is Eslocker. He was charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order. He said that the arrest followed a signed complaint from the Brown Palace Hotel. He was loaded in the back of a police van and sent to a nearby police station. There is video taken of a man (with the uniform of a Boulder County sheriff) ordering Eslocker off the sidewalk in front of the Hotel, to the side of the entrance. The officer said that Eslocker was on the sidewalk, which was owned by the hotel. Later, he is seen pushing Eslocker off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic. He is forced to go into the other side of the street. The trespassing charge is disputed. Yet, there is no excuse for the officer to act belligerent and push the man into the street. Also, one of the officer threatening the man that he isn't lucky that he didn't knock him out. Eslocker was released after posting $500 bond. Police brutality is real and we still have a long way in keeping some officers under control.
The Iraq War is still a controversial war. Reuters from August 27, 2008 described on how some U.S. soldiers said that they executed Iraqis. 3 U.S. soldiers killed 4 handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi prisoners. They were pistol shot on the bank of a Baghdad canal last year. Sergeant First Class Joseph P. Mayo, the platoon sergeant, and Sergeant Michael P. Leahy Jr., Company D’s senior medic and an acting squad leader, made sworn statements in January to Army investigators in Schweinfurt, Germany probing the incident. A newspaper reported on its website. The men outlined each killing one of the Iraqi detainees as direct by First Sergeant John E. Hatley (according to the statements). Hatley shot 2 other detainees with a pistol in the back of the head. May and Leahy told investigators this according to the New York Times. A spokesman for the U.S. Army in Europe declined to comment. He said that he couldn't speculate on any future legal action. According to Leahy's statement (as cited by the NYT), Army officials directed Hatley's convoy to release the men because they were insufficient evidence to detain them. Leahy said in his statement that later First Sergeant Hatley made the call to take the detainees to a canal and kill them. Leahy said that he and First Sergeant, Sgt. First Class Mayo took the detainees out of the back of the Bradley (or a fighting vehicle) to kill them as they were lined up. No charges have been filed against Hatley, Mayo or Leahy -- all from Company D, First Battalion, Second Infantry, 172nd Infantry Brigade. However, four other soldiers have been charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder relating to an incident that occurred last year in Baghdad, the U.S. Army in Europe said in a statement last month. The lesson here you have to be careful in many situations that you're in. You can't murder innocent people.
Russia is in the news again. Ian Traynor from The Guardian on August 27, 2008 wrote about how US and Russian warships are squaring off in the Black Sea. This is in response to the controversial Georgian conflict. Russia have effectively controlled Georgia's main naval base of Poti. Moscow also dispatched the Moskva missile cruiser and two smaller craft on "peacekeeping" duties at the port of Sukhumi on the coast of Abkhazia (which is the breakaway region). The Kremlin recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia days ago. The U.S. are wary of the situation. So, they've cancelled the scheduled docking in Poti of the U.S. Coast Guard vessel, the Balls, and now sent it to the southern Georgian controlled port of Batumi. This is only 124 miles from Russian ships. These ships are delivering humanitarian aid. Dmitri Peskov, who is the spokesman for the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, said that he hopes no direct confrontation occurs. He said that Russian forces are using precaution around the Black Sea. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke to President Dmitri Medvedev opposing Russia. Angela wants Russia to go to UN related councils to handle their own disputes. The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, went as far as saying that Russia violated international law. The EU was prevented by Russia to give humanitarian aid to Russian dominated areas. The Russians say that this relief must be handed over to them before it's distributed to other people in the region. The geopolitics of this circumstance is complex as we all realize.
The man-made global warming lie is refuted more and more these days. There are real environmental issues like animal species extinction, deforestation, cross species hybrids (or chimeras), ocean pollution, etc. Although, CO2 is not a pollutant, but a necessary chemical that plants need to survive. There has been record winters globally in this year. The solar system warmed when the Earth Warmed when man-made CO2 never traveled into different planets. There has been a growth of the Arctic Circle by more than 30% in a year from 2007-2008. The Anarctic has grown its ice as well. Now, information about sunspots are going out. Many of these hypocrites who agree with global warming hysteria claim to be tolerant, but refuse to listen to any contrary ideas about the subject. William Livingston and Matthew Penn from National Solar Observatory, Tucson, AZ at Wednesday, on August 27, 2008 made the view that sunspots my vanish by 2015. They found spectroscopic changes in temperature sensitive molecular lines. This is in the the magnetic splitting of an Fe I line, and in the continuum brightness of over 1000 sunspot umbrae from 1990-2005. They found out that many sunspots are dissipating. Sunspots are cool dark regions on the solar surface with strong magnetic fields. They found that the sunspots are getting warmer and lack their magnetic fields. There is usually a 11 year sunspot cycle. This cycle is called Cycle 23 with a maximum in 2001. It's now entering a minimum phrase with few sunspots being visible. This event of low sunspots occured in the years of 1645-1715, known as the Maunder Minimum. The Maunder Minimum is corresponding to reduced average global temperatures on the Earth. That's why there is a prediction of a drop of temperatures. CNS News from Wednesday, on August 27, 2008 outine a new report calling into question about man-made global warming. Fred Singer, an atmospheric and space physicist, told CNSNews.com that there is a stronger link between solar activity and climate trends on Earth than greenhouse gases. He said that the climate of Earth mostly is caused by solar radiation. He believes that comsic rays from the sun can impact Earth's atmosphere. The IPCC even have been caught in overplaying the statistics of their assumptions. Therefore, we should help the environment, but we ought not to embrace extremism at all.
Pro Life Information is coming out daily. Steven Ertelt from LifeNews.com on August 27, 2008 outlined a British Amendment. This Amendment would put pregnancy center officials into jail for abortion advice. These aren't dealing with acts, but advice. That's fascism plain and simple. There are members of the British Parliament who will soon debate the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill that promotes promotes abortion and unethical scientific practices like human cloning. During the debate, they will consider amendments like targeting pregnancy centers with jail for helping woman. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, who is a leading pro-life group in the UK, said that the amendment appears to go after anyone who talks a woman out of an abortion. You could face 2 years in prison for just counseling a woman against an abortion in Britian if this bill becomes a law. Another part of the amendment forcing information affecting a woman's decision to be narrowed down to circumstances when an offence can be committed. It's against free speech obviously. Now, it's wrong to decieve a woman about abortion. On the other hand, it's legitimate to tell women that abortion can cause females serious and dangerous side effects. These side effects include physical problems and mental health issues. The amendment will target pro-life doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel who are pro-life. This restricts women to find healthy, better alternatives to abortion like assistant parenting and adoption. The SPUC worries the amendment "is worded in such a way as to rely upon a subjective measure of deception or likely deception, even when the information is factually correct." John Smeaton, who is director of the group, said that the bill is hypocritical since it doesn't restrict Planned Parenthood's lies about an unborn baby not being apart of human life until birth. John Bercow, a Tory MP, is the author of the amendment that mirrors efforts in the United States to target pregnancy centers. It's a disgrace really.
The Prison Industrial Complex is for real. It's apparent that the United States imprisons more people than anyone in the world. There has been a big explosure of this complex, especially in the 21th century. In times past, few realized of the corruption in prisons. Some just have the monolithic view that you just need to lock people up and everyone will be fine. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Crime rates are high in certain areas of the country and issues have to be addressed. There are many prisons that pay prisoners little money (for tons of works on jobs), some first time offenders treated like felonies, unfair mandatory minimum sentences (that has proven to not radically reduce crime) exist, the epidemic of the spreading of diseases, the epidemic of rapes occuring in male plus female prisons, and the stripping of education in some prisons. Jail isn't the spot to be. It's been glamorized in the movies and other forms of the media. Yet, it's a destructive place of despair and loneliness. The solution to these problems are easily apparent. There needs to be the treatment of prisoners as human beings. This doesn't mean we coddle criminals nor treat them as saints. This does mean we afford them the legitimate basic treatment as we afford any human being. That means we should eliminate mandatory minimiums and the three strike laws that hamper liberty (because crime should be handled on a case by case basis. Not all criminals are monolithic). There should be education in prisons and means to encourage restitution (plus rehabilitation) not just punishment. If you just punish a person, then that will increase the rate of recidivism (or criminals coming back into prison after they left jail) and could cause more crime. Being tough on crime alone doesn't work. Being fair toward crime (along with reforming the prison system, banning warrantless checkpoints, and ending the Federal Drug War) is a just, compassionate solution in ending this prison industrial complex.
Black Helicopters have been flying in many places before, even in Denver. Media Monarchy from Wednesday, on August 27, 2008 describe on how black helicopters were over Portland. They were performing DoD terror drills. It was apart of a military exercise. The Army and Navy are conducting Urban Military Training in Portland and Salem from August 17-30, 2008. This was reported by Newschannel Eight. The training will be about “low visibility movement, military operations in urban terrain, manual and low weight explosive breaching, fast-rope insertion, live fire.” Other exercises will exist according to a memo from Portland Mayor Tom Potter to the Navy's Special Warfare Development Group. A spokesperson for Mayor Potter's office said that the military asked permission to conduct the training in last November. The Portland Police Bureau specially trained SERT unit being involved in the training. Monday's exercise involved helicopters hopping from one downtown skyscraper to another. Many residents and downtown workers were concerned by the low flying helicopters. The Department of Defense provided no advance warning of the exercise. Training occured in Salem by the Urban Training Military Training. The deal is that the military is treating urban centers like an experimental petri dish. That's wrong since the military faciility are sufficient to handle these situations. Also, the military involved in city wide functions and the merging of the military plus the police is a clear violation of Posse Comitatus. That law has been violated a lot lately, especially after 9/11. The urban exercises have been increasing. What other conclusion can be met by these activities by the desenzitation of the people to the military into their everyday lives. These drills have occured for years with even using the military to steal guns in experiments.
Free Speech and other issues are coming up. Everyone knows that free speech rights are being restricted in America. Now, one example are the free speech zones in America and the militarized police everywhere. Now, recently, Colorado passed a law called SB 200 . Bob Unruh and others believe that messages from the Bible are criminalized with this law. Some feel it heralds the censorship of religious groups. Section 6. 24-34-701 of the laws bans materials from being shown in certain areas (like in a resort, amusement area, etc.) that are percieved as "discriminative." This ambigious term of "discriminative" can restrict anyone right to show literature that dissents with certain lifestyles if they desire to. In other words, if you own any type of personal business in Colorado, you are forbidden to distributing anything that dissents with certain lifestyle. This has nothing to do with you agreeing or disagreeing with lifestyles or discrimination. I don't believe in unfair discrimination at all of anyone. It has to do with free speech issues. What happened to the First Amendment? If the government can restrict religious messages, they can restrict your messages as well. There is a lie promoted by numerous liberals and neo cons that John McCain is for the Second Amendment. The truth is that McCain is pro-gun control just like Barack Obama is. McCain years ago wanted people to forced their guns locked up in their homes (when gun locks make it difficult for citizens to defend themselves in home where an intruder comes in). The highly respected Gun Owners of America (GOA) rates McCain with a grade of F-. Barack Obama is similar to McCain on that issue with saying he believes the Second Amendment is about individual rights (which is true). Yet, he doesn't agree with concealed weapons (which has been proven to lower crime in several states). Restricting gun rights of innocent citizens isn't about being pro-gun. It's being anti-gun. So, we need to enforce laws against criminals using guns, have gun education, banning criminals from ever using a gun until they paid their debt to society, and build up communities. On the other hand, this doesn't mean we violate the Second Amendment in the process. Gun control doesn't work in Chicago, New York, D.C., and Philadephia (with some of the strictest anti-gun laws in the land) with murders near record levels. So, gun rights are individual totally. Some even want only the police to have guns. That's unintelligent because if that happens, the police can do nearly whatever they want in law enforcement. Additionally, only criminals will have guns completely other than the police. If you think gun bans can't happen today against citizens, just look at Hurricane Katrina. What works are education, building up communities, encouraging concealed weapons, promoting real gun ownership, having gun education, and helping to improve our society. Prohibition of firearms only benefits criminals and it never works.
Secret Societies are something to expose. From the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, the Skulls and Bones, Labor Zionists, the Bohemian Grove, and other groups are important to be made known. Not to often, you hear even the alternative media exposing the Vatican/Jesuit connection to the new world order. As for me, I will expose these connection thoughtfully and thoroughly. They had a huge history in World War Two by Papal agent SS Major Josef Mengele who was involved in the killing fields of Aushwitz. Mengele went into South America with aid from Bishop Alois Hudal. The Vatican Ratlines allows Nazis to escape WWII as overseened by the intelligence services (as headed by the Knights of Malta. These men are loyal to the false Vicar of Christ then Pope Pius XII of the Vatican). Joseph Biden and others in Congress are influenced by the Jesuits and the Vatican as well in 2008. The Knights of Malta, the various papal knighthoods, and the Constantinian Order still have huge power over international corporations and many elites globally. High level Freemasonry (they are in politics as well from Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Chuck Schumer) and the Pilgrims are among the heads of the international bankers as well. Ralph Nader isn't perfect. Although, one thing that he is right about is that the 2 party monopoly (of Republicans and Democrats) want little choice in the political realm. They want third parties to be eliminated from the debate. There are tons of examples of this occuring. One is the Measure 65 being proposed in Oregon. This measure would force voters to be limited into voting for only 2 candidates in election, even if they are both from the same party. The 2 top voters in primaries would be in the ballot of the general eletion even if they are either 2 Republicans or 2 Democrats. This is one of the most sick, disgusting, and extremist forms of not only voter suppression, but against free speech ever inflicted in the state of Oregon. The ironic thing is that some Republicans and Democrats support Measure 65. If it passes, 3 parties could be extinct in Oregon. If this trend comes across the country, Bob Barr, Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Chuck Baldwin, and other third party candidates are eliminated from state ballots. Washington state already has this trash rule. True, fair elections wasn't even in existence decades ago and now it's just as bad in many arenas. It's a disgrace. Now, John McCain has picked Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate. Palin is famous in Alaska as its first term Alaskan Governor. She is pro-Life and agrees with the Second Amendment, which I agree with. Although, Palin like McCain are for the war on terror and the anti-civil liberty laws of the Patriot Act and the USA Commissions Act. Now, it's time to fight against eugenics, fight against Big Pharma promoting flouride in their water supply (including the trans fats, aspartame, and the MSG that can kill you), fighting against threats to our civil liberties, and fighting for individual liberty.
By Timothy