tagged w/ PNAC
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On December 13, 2000 the chosen president Al Gore made his withdrawal speech to the country. After more than a month of trying to count all of the votes in Florida but running into nothing but corruption and foul play from Katherine Harris and her goons and also voting committees of both parties, intimidation tactics, brownshirt tactics, corrupted voting lists, media brainwashing and the brother of Bush who had covered for him, Al Gore withdrew (I will not say concede because he had gone as far as he could) after the USSC unconstitutionally appointed George W. Bush in a judicial coup (that unsurprisingly was to not set a precedent) that has now led this country to where we are now.
I remember watching the USSC decision. I was sitting in front of my tv with my then nine yr old son in my lap. After it was read I just held my son very close and tight and cried. I knew then that what the USSC had done which was outside their jurisidiction had sealed the fate of this country as far as democracy and representation by the people and that went beyond party.
Since then we have seen our country plummet. Fate has not been kind to us because I believe we missed our chance to truly stand up when it mattered the most. Subsequently the NORC count did show that Al Gore received thousands more votes than what had been allowed to be counted and by law then deserved the electoral votes of the state of Florida. George W. Bush was never a legitimate president and I never uttered the words president and Bush in the same sentence for eight years. For those years Al Gore was my president.
After that catastrophe of democracy I knew something should be done. I decided to start a PAC and called it Patriots for Al Gore. There weren't a lot of members but we raised money, did radio ads and tried a campaign to have Al Gore as a write in candidate in the 2004 primary elections. We did OK in New Hampshire and New Mexico with a few thousand even writing him in for Vice President. And believe me that was grassroots. I then decided that we needed more so I constructed an amendment to the constitution whereby if fraud could be proven beyond a doubt which kept a duly elected president from serving their term that they could be "restored" to the term they were denied. We even had buttons saying, "Restore Gore." I sent out letters to Congress but of course nothing came of that. My PAC then focused on environmental issues, voting issues, prison issues, social justice issues and advocating for paper ballots and a rein on the unconstitutional abuses of Bush.
Eventually due to lack of participation and deridement from other Gore supporters of other sites who supported Kerry then and thought I was overstepping for standing up for my convictions and wanting the Congressional Black Caucus to at least give their superdelegate votes to Al Gore in a show of support at the 2004 convention after our PAC endorsed him for President over John Kerry, I disbanded the PAC. But I never gave up on the man who was destined to be president then who was treated so badly even by his own party and I think we can see clearly now why that was the right thing to do. I do not regret any of it, but can say that experience shook my faith in government, politics and yes in people.
So today and tomorrow we remember just what can happen to our government when we are detached from it and not taking part in working to make it just and better and also in not sticking to our convictions regarding what is right instead of what is popular or status quo. As I watch this speech I watch my President.
"Some have asked whether I have any regrets and I do have one regret: that I didn't get the chance to stay and fight for the American people over the next four years, especially for those who need burdens lifted and barriers removed, especially for those who feel their voices have not been heard. I heard you, and I will not forget."
President Al Gore in his withdrawal speech of December 13, 2000.
Thank you Mr. Gore for your grace through all of that. I just wish we'd had the strength of character as a people collectively to look beyond our partisanship and see this for what it was and demand accountability and justice. I wish we could have experienced a Gore Presidency... but then, the work you have done out here for our planet since then has been more than presidential and will benefit so many people for so many years to come.On December 13, 2000 the chosen president Al Gore made his withdrawal speech to the... more
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Don't let that title make you think this is something good- it isn't. PNAC, or the Project For A New American Century was a policy paper written by a neo conservative think tank of the same name (with illustrious criminals like Dick Cheney and Richard Perle) and released only two months prior in 2000 to the presidential s-election. It lays out a precise plan for American domination around the world starting with the attack on Iraq following the 9.11 attack on the WTC (which would coincidentally certainly qualify as the "New Pearl Harbor" laid out in the paper needed to facilitate this plan.) And it is still being facilitated today as recently as in Libya. So for those who think this is some "conspiracy theory" I would say you are wrong.
Also don't wonder why Al Gore, the duly elected president of this country in 2000 was not allowed to serve his term. He would not have engaged this agenda, so he too had to be kept from serving the people. Wonder why as well there was such a concerted media attack on him and still is? This had all been planned and it appears the current administration is following through with it. And that goes all the way in my view to the OWS protests which are being silenced now. It is the OILIGARCHY which has such a chokehold on this world that is also behind this. You know, the BP that has just been given permission to once again drill and despoil the Gulf, as well as Shell which is going to be allowed to now despoil the Arctic. Why do you think these companies are never truly held responsible for their crimes and are just allowed to keep going no matter what? In my view nothing will truly change in this world or country until the OILIGARCHY is brought down and we won't do that by continuing to drive our cars everywhere we go and continuing to vote for propped up candidates who approve drilling and pipelines on any side.
This is also why you see no real movement regarding climate change in the U.S. government nor any aggressive move to renewable energy (also mentioned in the video) that could have been accomplished already if this system wasn't rotten to its core. So for those as well who think climate change is some hoax while decrying PNAC, you actually help them in their work. It is not renewable energy and holding these corporations part of this plan accountable that will break this economy, it is the WARS already being fought to accomodate THEIR GREED that have already brought down the world economies.
So listen to this video as it lays out some truth about more than likely why our entire voting system in America was subverted in 2000 as the first step to this takeover and domination of the world oil markets and other resources at any cost and then go from there connecting the dots. You may well be totally surprised at the fact that those you think are on your side don't really care about you in comparison to the true prize they think they are getting at the expense of our planet.
The Bush clan and those who enable them are evil personified and may I say traitors to this country and they still walk free while we were denied a truly good president. Ask how that can happen in a country that is a "democratic republic" and supposedly on the side of truth, justice and the law. And don't wonder why some of us have lost complete faith in both parties. One party that subverts and the other that enables it. Both the same in my book.
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From the video:
Established in the spring of 1997 and funded largely by the energy and arms industries, the Project for the New American Century was founded as the neoconservative think tank whose stated goal was to usher in a "new American century".
Having won the cold war and no military threat to speak of, this group of ideologues created a blueprint for the future whose agenda was to capitalize upon our surplus of military forces and funds and forcing American hegemony and corporate privatization throughout the world.
Their goals:
1) Increase an already enormous military budget at the expense of domestic social programs
2) Toppling of regimes resistant to our corporate interests
3) Forcing democracy at the barrel of a gun in regions that have no history of the democratic process
4) Replacing the UN's role of preserving and extending international order
http://www.newamericancentury.org/Don't let that title make you think this is something good- it isn't. PNAC,... more
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Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed to US Streets in Roving Vans
As the privacy controversy around full-body security scans begins to simmer, it’s worth noting that courthouses and airport security checkpoints aren’t the only places where backscatter x-ray vision is being deployed. The same technology, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets.
American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents, Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at the company told me in an interview. While the biggest buyer of AS&E’s machines over the last seven years has been the Department of Defense operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reiss says law enforcement agencies have also deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs in the U.S.
“This product is now the largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever,” says Reiss.
The Z Backscatter Vans, or ZBVs, as the company calls them, bounce a narrow stream of x-rays off and through nearby objects, and read which ones come back. Absorbed rays indicate dense material such as steel. Scattered rays indicate less-dense objects that can include explosives, drugs, or human bodies. That capability makes them powerful tools for security, law enforcement, and border control.
It would also seem to make the vans mobile versions of the same scanning technique that’s riled privacy advocates as it’s been deployed in airports around the country. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is currently suing the DHS to stop airport deployments of the backscatter scanners, which can reveal detailed images of human bodies. (Just how much detail became clear last May, when TSA employee Rolando Negrin was charged with assaulting a coworker who made jokes about the size of Negrin’s genitalia after Negrin received a full-body scan.)
“It’s no surprise that governments and vendors are very enthusiastic about [the vans],” says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC. “But from a privacy perspective, it’s one of the most intrusive technologies conceivable.”
AS&E’s Reiss counters privacy critics by pointing out that the ZBV scans don’t capture nearly as much detail of human bodies as their airport counterparts. The company’s marketing materials say that its “primary purpose is to image vehicles and their contents,” and that “the system cannot be used to identify an individual, or the race, sex or age of the person.”
Though Reiss admits that the systems “to a large degree will penetrate clothing,” he points to the lack of features in images of humans like the one shown at right, far less detail than is obtained from the airport scans. “From a privacy standpoint, I’m hard-pressed to see what the concern or objection could be,” he says.
But EPIC’s Rotenberg says that the scans, like those in the airport, potentially violate the fourth amendment. “Without a warrant, the government doesn’t have a right to peer beneath your clothes without probable cause,” he says. Even airport scans are typically used only as a secondary security measure, he points out. “If the scans can only be used in exceptional cases in airports, the idea that they can be used routinely on city streets is a very hard argument to make.”
The TSA’s official policy dictates that full-body scans must be viewed in a separate room from any guards dealing directly with subjects of the scans, and that the scanners won’t save any images. Just what sort of safeguards might be in place for AS&E’s scanning vans isn’t clear, given that the company won’t reveal just which law enforcement agencies, organizations within the DHS, or foreign governments have purchased the equipment. Reiss says AS&E has customers on “all continents except Antarctica.”
Reiss adds that the vans do have the capability of storing images. “Sometimes customers need to save images for evidentiary reasons,” he says. “We do what our customers need.”
GO TO STORY:
http://yourdaddy.net/2010/09/27/feds-to-deploy-full-body-scan-technology-to-us-streets-in-roving-vans/Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed to US Streets in Roving Vans
As the privacy... more
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In the new emails released by Anonymous we discover that HBGary Inc. may have been working on the development of a new type of Windows rootkit that was undetectable and almost impossible to remove.
Crowdleaks.org cannot confirm how far into development this project went. However we do know by looking at the following email that the Magenta Rootkit proposal was forwarded from Greg Hoglund at HBGary to Ray Owen, President of Farallon Research LLC.
From: Greg Hoglund To: Ray.owen@farallon-research.com Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:29:25 -0800 Subject: Fwd: Magenta Rootkit (for Ray)
Full headers
—–
mime-version: 1.0
received: by 10.147.181.12 with HTTP; Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:29:25 -0800 (PST)
in-reply-to:
references:
date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:29:25 -0800
delivered-to: greg@hbgary.com
message-id:
subject: Fwd: Magenta Rootkit (for Ray)
from: Greg Hoglund
to: Ray.owen@farallon-research.com
content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=000e0cd3ea788d10dc0499492677
Attachments: MAGENTA.docx (13878 bytes)
Farallon Research LLC is privately held government contractor based in Gatos, CA. Their website offers no insight into who they are or what they do other than an “About Us” page which simply states: “The mission of Farallon Research LLC is to connect advanced commercial technologies and the companies that develop them with the requirements of the U.S. government.”
In the following message we can see that Shawn Bracken, Principal Research Scientist at HBGary, attached and sent the initial Magenta Rootkit proposal to Greg Hoglund.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Shawn Bracken
Date: Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 11:07 AM
Subject: Magenta Rootkit (for Ray)
To: Greg Hoglund
G,
Attached is the requested rootkit proposal � let me know what you think.
Cheers,
-SB
Shawn Bracken
Principal Research Scientist
HBGary, Inc.
(916) 459-4727 x 106
shawn@hbgary.com
In the attached word document (MAGENTA.docx) we find:
Description: Magenta would be a new breed of windows based rootkit, which HBGary refers to as a multi-context rootkit. Magenta is a 100% pure assembly language implemented rootkit. The magenta rootkit body is injected into kernel memory via the DriverEntry() partial-load technique. Once loaded into kernel memory, Magenta would automatically identify an active process/thread context to inject itself into via an APC (Asynchronous Procedure Call). Once the APC fires in the new process context, the body of the rootkit will be executed. Finally, At the completion of each APC activation, magenta will move itself to a new location in memory and automatically identify one or more new activation PROCESS/THREAD combination’s to queue one or more additional activation APC’s into.
When Activated, the Magenta rootkit will be capable of searching for and executing imbedded command and control messages by finding them wherever they may exist in physical memory on the compromised host. This is ideal because it’s trivial to remotely seed C&C messages into any networked windows host – even if the host in question has full windows firewalling enabled. The Magenta payload will also contain imbedded capabilities for injecting these C&C payloads directly into user-mode processes. This will allow injectable C&C payloads to be written to perform user-mode tasks on the compromised host.
Key Features:
New breed of rootkit – There isn’t anything like this publicly
Extremely small memory footprint – (4k or less)
Almost impossible to remove from a live running system
o Once the injected Magenta rootkit body is loaded into kernel memory, it will be fire-and-forget. You can delete the original .sys file used to load it if you wish.
o Any physical memory based tools that would allow you to see the current location of Magenta body would only be of limited use since by the time the responder tried to verify his results Magenta will have already moved to a new location & context
Elegant/powerful C&C message system. There is a near endless amount of ways to get a small seeded C&C message into the physical memory of a networked computer even with zero credentials.
Invisible to kernel mode defense components that rely on the PsSetLoadImageNotifyRoutine() notification routine to detect/analyze/block drivers.
o HINT: PsSetLoadImageNotify() callbacks only get called for drivers who returned TRUE in their DriverEntry()
Project Development Phases:
HBGary recommends using at least a two phase project to build out Magenta. In Phase-1 HBGary would build a fully functional prototype for Windows XP – Service Pack 3 (X86). This would allow an end-to-end proof of concept prototype to be developed and demonstrated. Phase-2 would purely consist of porting the Magenta rootkit to all current flavors of Microsoft Windows (x86 & x64)
Crowdleaks.org cannot confirm that the Magenta Rootkit proposal was even accepted but given HBGary’s involvement in Stuxnet research, it’s a chilling proposal that was likely taken seriously by HBgary INC. and probably not the first of its kind.
GO TO STORY:
http://crowdleaks.org/hbgary-inc-working-on-secret-rootkit-project-codename-magenta/In the new emails released by Anonymous we discover that HBGary Inc. may have been... more
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Wednesday, 16. February 2011
by Sibel Edmonds
To Those Who Second-Guess Our Police State Status: Shame on You!
I just received the following news and I am way too upset to write a coherent piece on this. Ray McGovern is a good friend of mine. We live less than 10 miles apart. Together we have participated in many events and protests. He is one of the most informed, articulate, gentle, peace-loving and peace-seeking human beings I’ve ever known…For me, this hits too close to home: My father was similarly brutalized by dictator regimes, and that was only the beginning, before it escalated to being tortured and having his toenails pulled out by the state police. Why? He was a doctor, a surgeon with an inquiring mind, and he spoke out whenever he could against dictatorships and for liberties. Participating in peaceful demonstrations, encouraging others to rise up for their rights, and reading authors such as Steinbeck (the American author black-listed there as ‘communist and anarchist’) landed him on the list of to-be-punished and pacified…
Right now, at this point, all I have to say to those who second-guess our nation’s police state status is this: “Shame on you!” As for my irate minority friends over here at Boiling Frogs, please help disseminate this news, because the scum bag media won’t;’ thank you.
At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised & Arrested for Standing Silently
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday, condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt.
Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr. McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, “So this is America?” As you see, Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in the assault.
Mr. McGovern is being represented by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). “It is the ultimate definition of lip service that Secretary of State Clinton would be trumpeting the U.S. government’s supposed concerns for free speech rights and this man would be simultaneously brutalized and arrested for engaging in a peaceful act of dissent at her speech,” stated attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the PCJF.
# # # #
GO TO STORY:
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/02/16/breaking-news-ray-mcgovern-brutalized-left-bleeding-by-hillary-clinton-police-“so-this-is-america”/Wednesday, 16. February 2011
by Sibel Edmonds
To Those Who Second-Guess Our Police... more
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NEW TECHNOLOGY...
LANTERN 2.0
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Katana Forensics designs tools that target iOS devices and "EXTRACT ALL DATA LEGALLY". Katana delivers tools that supports Apple mobile devices, and doesn’t portend to support thousands.Lantern 2.0 will analyze devices, backups, and physical images.
Lantern Version 2.0 Features
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Parse SKYPE Calls & Messages
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Cellular Sites & Wi-Fi Location Geo Data
Wi-Fi Connections History
Improved Internet History
Geo Locate Videos & Photos
Application Usage Data
Analysis from .dd Images & Backups
Data Carving Images & Videos
Timeline Analysis
Bookmarking
View Data while Processing Acquisition
Physical Image Email Analysis
Document Analysis
>Lantern version 2.0 Brochure<
LANTERN Features
Supports all generations of iPhone, iPad, and iPOD Touch, OS 2.2 to 4.2
Pass code bypass with certificate file from syncing computer
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Locked artifact files, preventing changes to the evidence
Call Logs
Contacts
Messages, SMS and MMS
Notes
Calendar
Media synced and created by the iPhone Camera
Voice recordings
Images both synced and from the iPhone Camera, with EXIF and GPS info
Maps with GPS history
Acquisitions of multiple iPhones within a single case
Granular acquisitions
Reporting in various formats; html, pdf, xml, word. etc
Analysis of third party applications, Import file directory structure Encase, FTK
Lantern Requirements v2.0
INTEL MAC WITH A MINIMUM OF 2GB OF RAM RECOMMENDED 4GB
GO TO PAGE & SEE SCREEN SHOTS OF LANTERN 2.0:
http://katanaforensics.com/lantern/lantern-v2-0/NEW TECHNOLOGY...
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Katana Forensics designs tools... more
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Dr. Alex Karp, the Co-Founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, one of three data intelligence firms who worked to develop a systematic plan of attack against WikiLeaks and their supporters, has severed all ties with HBGary Federal and issued an apology to reporter Glenn Greenwald.
The move comes just twenty-four hours after The Tech Herald reported on the plans, thanks to a tip from Crowdleaks.org
After the tip from Crowdleaks.org, The Tech Herald learned that Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal, and Berico Technologies, worked together with law firm Hunton and Williams to develop a proposal for Bank of America in order to deal with the “WikiLeaks Threat.”
Hunton and Williams were recommended to Bank of America’s general counsel by the Department of Justice, according to the email chain viewed by The Tech Herald. The law firm was using the meeting to pitch Bank of America on retaining them for an internal investigation surrounding WikiLeaks.
“They basically want to sue them to put an injunction on releasing any data,” an email between the three data intelligence firms said. “They want to present to the bank a team capable of doing a comprehensive investigation into the data leak.”
Hunton and Williams would act as outside counsel on retainer, while Palantir would take care of network and insider threat investigations. For their part, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal would analyze WikiLeaks.
Some of the things mentioned as potential proactive tactics against WikiLeaks include feeding the fuel between the feuding groups, disinformation, creating messages around actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization, and submitting fake documents to WikiLeaks and then calling out the error.
“Create concern over the security of the infrastructure. Create exposure stories. If the process is believed to not be secure they are done. Cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters. This would kill the project. Since the servers are now in Sweden and France putting a team together to get access is more straightforward,” the proposal said.
Moreover, reporter Glenn Greenwald, who writes for Salon.com, was singled out in the proposal as a person offering a level of support to WikiLeaks that needed to be disrupted. This disruption would include making Greenwald, and others in similar situations, choose between professional preservation and cause.
Our original coverage on this topic can be viewed here.
On Thursday evening, Dr. Alex Karp sent The Tech Herald a statement on the events and information presented in the story.
“As the Co-Founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, I have directed the company to sever any and all contacts with HB Gary,” the statement starts.
Dr. Karp explains that Palantir Technologies provides a software analytic platform for the analysis of data. They do not provide – “nor do we have any plans to develop” – offensive cyber capabilities.
In addition, the statement says that Palantir does not build software that is designed to allow private sector entities to obtain non-public information, engage in so-called cyber attacks, or take other offensive measures.
“I have made clear in no uncertain terms that Palantir Technologies will not be involved in such activities. Moreover, we as a company, and I as an individual, always have been deeply involved in supporting progressive values and causes. We plan to continue these efforts in the future,” Dr. Karp added.
“The right to free speech and the right to privacy are critical to a flourishing democracy. From its inception, Palantir Technologies has supported these ideals and demonstrated a commitment to building software that protects privacy and civil liberties. Furthermore, personally and on behalf of the entire company, I want to publicly apologize to progressive organizations in general, and Mr. Greenwald in particular, for any involvement that we may have had in these matters.”
Palantir Technologies’ statement comes at a time when HBGary has refused to talk about the WikiLeaks proposal, or any other topic for that matter, related to the security incident caused by Anonymous after HBGary Federal’s Aaron Barr went to the press claiming he had infiltrated the loosely associative group.
The only statement from the company on the incident appeared on their website before it was fully restored.
“HBGary, Inc and HBGary Federal, a separate but related company, have been the victims of an intentional criminal cyberattack. We are taking this crime seriously and are working with federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities and redirecting internal resources to investigate and respond appropriately,” the statement said at the time.
“To the extent that any client information may have been affected by this event, we will provide the affected clients with complete and accurate information as soon as it becomes available. Meanwhile, please be aware that any information currently in the public domain is not reliable because the perpetrators of this offense, or people working closely with them, have intentionally falsified certain data.”
It is unlikely that Anonymous would forge thousands and thousands of emails or attachments. Yet, the complete severance of ties by Palantir Technologies, and the public apology to Greenwald, leaves little room for doubt that the information seen by The Tech Herald, Crowdleaks.org, and many others is legitimate.
Update:
Berico Technologies has cut ties as well. More information is here.
Update 2:
Palantir sent us some additional information. The blow points were emailed to us on Sunday.
Palantir never has and never will condone the sort of activities that HBGary recommended.
Specifically:
Palantir does not condone the recommendations in HBGary's presentations, proposals and emails. Moreover, the tactics proposed by HBGary were never accepted and never acted upon.
Palantir did not participate in the development of the recommendations that Palantir and others find offensive.
Palantir was NOT retained by any party to develop such recommendations and indeed it would be contrary to Palantir ethics, culture and policies to do so.
As we have previously stated, Palantir has severed all ties with HBGary going forward.
As you have probably already discovered in your research, there are two items we want to make very clear:
Palantir did not participate in any activities involving HBGary's proposed tactics.
The slide entitled "Potential Proactive Tactics" was authored solely by HBGary.
The Palantir logo on the slide is the result of a collated deck and does not represent Palantir's position.
Content can be found verbatim in HBGary's email / powerpoint.
GO TO STORY:
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201106/6804/Firm-targeting-WikiLeaks-cuts-ties-with-HBGary-apologizes-to-reporterDr. Alex Karp, the Co-Founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, one of three data... more
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"It is easer for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, that it is for a Rich Man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Or, maybe you just need to buy a bigger needle?
It's official: as Egypt was burning, Mubarak was stealing the gold. When we reported, presumably jokingly, two weeks ago that the Egyptian Central Bank may have been plundered, it turns out we were pretty much accurate once again. For all those wondering why Mubarak was refusing to hand over power for the past two weeks as hundreds of people were dying, we now have the answer - it was all just to make sure he transferred his assets, especially gold, to safe regimes (in the process paying tens of millions in commissions to that most noble of jobs - the banker class). The Telegraph reports: "A US official told The Sunday Telegraph: "Hosni Mubarak used the 18 days it took for protesters to topple him to shift his vast wealth into untraceable accounts overseas, Western intelligence sources have said...There's no doubt that there will have been some frantic financial activity behind the scenes. They can lose the homes and some of the bank accounts, but they will have wanted to get the gold bars and other investments to safe quarters. The Mubaraks are understood to have wanted to shift assets to Gulf states where they have considerable investments already – and, crucially, friendly relations. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have frequently been mentioned as likely final destinations for Mr Mubarak and possibly his family."As usual, we remind readers that according to the World Gold Council, Egypt had 75.6 tonnes of gold at the end of 2010. Should this number not be reduced following Mubarak's plundering, we will know just how pervasive Tungsten is in the world central banking cartel.
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From Telegraph: ---
The former Egyptian president is accused of amassing a fortune of more than £3 billion - although some suggest it could be as much as £40 billion - during his 30 years in power. It is claimed his wealth was tied up in foreign banks, investments, bullion and properties in London, New York, Paris and Beverly Hills.
In the knowledge his downfall was imminent, Mr Mubarak is understood to have attempted to place his assets out of reach of potential investigators.
On Friday night Swiss authorities announced they were freezing any assets Mubarak and his family may hold in the country's banks while pressure was growing for the UK to do the same. Mr Mubarak has strong connections to London and it is thought many millions of pounds are stashed in the UK.
But a senior Western intelligence source claimed that Mubarak had begun moving his fortune in recent weeks.
"We're aware of some urgent conversations within the Mubarak family about how to save these assets," said the source, "And we think their financial advisers have moved some of the money around. If he had real money in Zurich, it may be gone by now."
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Perhaps Goldman Sachs can take a proactive PR step and disclose to the population that the flow trade-frontrunning hedge fund had nothing to do with facilitating the transfer of Mubarak's billions in stolen wealth from point A to point B. And perhaps all other banks can follow suit. Either that, or we can all just wait for Mubarak's sworn deposition when he is put on trial for crimes against the Egyptian people some time in 1-2 months. Doing text searches for "Goldman" in those thousand page PDFs will be breeze...
GO TO STORY:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8320912/Egypt-Hosni-Mubarak-used-last-18-days-in-power-to-secure-his-fortune.html
Story By: Philip Sherwell, in New York, Robert Mendick, and Nick Meo in Cairo
Shadowy Cabal: Tyler Durden
Illustration & Art Work: Gérard Angé"It is easer for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, that it is for a... more
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Cairo, Egypt, 4th February 2011:
The violent assaults on TV journalists in Egypt are forcing some to pull out of the country. Many have been harassed, punched and some nearly killed.
TV2's Rasmus Tantholdt Yesterday one of the worst attacks took place against TV2 Denmark’s correspondent Rasmus Tantholdt and cameraman, Anders Bach.
TV2’s managing editor, Hans Peter Blicher, told TVZ what happened: “They were coming by car from the south to Alexandria. There was a huge crowd of people who stopped their car who had the feeling they were reporters. The people were very angry and started banging on the car with sticks and knives and broke the windows, trying to pull our correspondent out of the car by his hair. He shouted to the driver, ‘Drive! Drive!’ “
“The driver started the car and some of the crowd were thrown off and it became a very violent situation. But what happened next was the worst thing because 100 metres ahead was a road block and the crowd became even more angry attacking the car with everything and totally destroyed it. The crew were in no doubt for a second that they were going to be killed. But then three military people came and began shooting in the air to clear the crowd. They then escorted our people to a hotel.”
Hans Peter added, “This is our correspondent who has been to places like Afghanistan, Iraq – he is very experienced. He said this was the worst thing he had ever experienced. He was sure they were going to be killed.”
The crew are now back home.
They were not the only TV2 journalists to be attacked. Correspondent Steffen Jensen was set upon yesterday by pro-Mubarak supporters with clubs while reporting live on the phone from Cairo. He said, "I refused to give my phone and my passport to them and some of them grabbed my camera and my backpack and started giving me beatings with fists and clubs."
RTSI's Gianluca Grossi Another journalist who left Egypt yesterday is Gianluca Grossi, a journalist working for RTSI in Switzerland. He flew out of the country last night after being stopped by a crowd while in a taxi. He told TVZ, “I was harassed by a group of people who were apparently supporting the pro-Mubarak camp. Only the arrival of the army allowed me to continue safely. The army officer told me to hide my bag [containing TV gear] with a blanket because if they find out you’re a journalist, they’ll kill you.”
He said, “I think in Cairo there is a group of people who are hunting journalists. I consider the danger very high because of this. There is no safe place to go; even the hotels are not safe. I saw one Greek journalist coming back to the hotel with a big wound to his head. I saw another middle-aged, blonde, European journalist being taken away by people from the pro-Mubarak camp. I don’t know what happened to him. There is no police to turn to.”
Gianluca added, “I always follow my instinct and this time my instinct told me I had to leave. I spoke this morning with a Western diplomatic source and they told me that many journalists are on their way to the airport. Many times you have a problem as a journalist in a conflict area but you don’t feel the people want you out; in Cairo you feel they want you out.”
TRT journalist Metin Puran was also the victim of an attack yesterday. TRT’s Foreign Newsdesk editor, Burcu Altinyeleklioglu, told TVZ Metin was punched by a group of people he thought to be pro-Mubarak supporters. He was rescued by an army officer but only after the crowd “took his cellphones and camera, his wallet, his IDs, his money, everything.”
Burcu added, “He was shocked and frightened but he was on air just after the incident. He himself became the news.”
GO TO STORY"
http://www.tvz.tv/?c=messages&s=more&id=4216Cairo, Egypt, 4th February 2011:
The violent assaults on TV journalists in... more
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With US-made tear gas canisters fired on protesters in Cairo, Washington's role in arming Egypt is under the spotlight...
In early January 2010, Bob Livingston, a former chairman of the appropriations committee in the US House of Representatives, flew to Cairo accompanied by William Miner, one of his staff. The two men were granted meetings with US Ambassador Margaret Scobey, as well as Major General FC "Pink" Williams, the defence attaché and director of the US Office of Military Cooperation in Egypt. Livingston and Miner were lobbyists employed by the government of Egypt, helping them to open doors to senior officers in the US government. Records of their meetings, required under law, were recently published by the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington, DC watchdog group.
Although the names of those who attended the meetings have to be made public, the details of what was discussed are confidential. I called Miner to ask him about their meetings, but he referred me to Karim Haggag, the spokesman for the Egyptian embassy in Washington, who did not respond. Miner did confirm that he was a retired Navy pilot who had worked for clients like the Egyptian government, as well as several military contractors.
The cozy relationship between the lobbyists, members of the US Congress, Pentagon officials and the Egyptian government is easily explained: much is at stake. Egypt has received over $70bn in economic and military aid approved by the US Congress in the past 60 years, according to numbers compiled by the Congressional Research Service. Maj Gen Williams is the man in charge of the $1.3bn in annual US military aid supplied to the country.
Specifically, the aid money pays for US-designed Abrams tanks assembled in suburban Cairo under contract with General Dynamics. Boeing sells Egypt CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, Lockheed Martin sells F-16s, Sikorsky Aircraft sells Black Hawk helicopters. Lockheed Martin has taken in $3.8bn from Egypt in the last few years; General Dynamics $2.5bn; Boeing $1.7bn; among many others.
In addition, hundreds of Egyptian military officers come for short training courses to the US each year. Two days after Livingston and Miner met with the US officials in Cairo, the embassy sent a cable to Washington with a list of Egyptian officials approved to take a three-week military training course in the US in February 2010. Under the "Leahy law" – a human rights requirement named after Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont that prohibits US military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights – the embassy must, as a matter of routine, vouch for the prospective trainees.
One of the training courses listed in the cable made public by WikiLeaks was listed as one in how to handle explosives. The WikiLeaks cables show that numerous officials working for "state security", aged between 30 and 50 with ranks from major to lieutenant colonel, were given clean bills of health to take a variety of such specialised military training programmes.
After the US lobbyists returned to their offices in Washington, DC, Miner kept in touch with "Pink" Williams, corresponding via email. A little over three months later, an Egyptian military delegation led by Major General Mohamed Said Elassar, assistant to Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the Egyptian minister of defence, came to Washington. Livingstone and Miner were on hand once again to take the Egyptian officials to meet with a number of members of Congress, as well to visit the office of the secretary of defence to discuss "US/Egyptian security issues".
So, when protesters in Cairo last week were struck by tear gas canisters fired by Egyptian security officials, it was not surprising that pictures taken by ABC TV would show that the canisters were manufactured in the US. Nor does it seem that surprising that a journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald would find 12-gauge shotgun shells with ''MADE IN USA'' stamped on their brass heads when he visited the wounded in a makeshift casualty ward in a tiny mosque behind Tahrir (Liberation) Square.
The photographs show that the tear gas comes from a company named Combined Systems Inc (CSI), which describes itself as a "tactical weapons company" and is based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. A similar picture from the protests in Egypt was posted on Twitter of a "Outdoor 52 Series Large Grenade" grenade made by CSI, which is designed to discharge "a high volume of smoke and chemical agent through multiple emission ports". (CSI did not return calls for comment.)
Although CSI markets these products as "less-than-lethal", several incidents indicate that they can cause injury and death. Bassem Abu Rahmah, a Palestinian man, was reportedly killed on 17 April 2009, when a CSI 40mm model 4431 powder barricade penetrating tear gas grenade struck him in the chest, according to a report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. Nels Cooper Brannan , a US marine deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, unsuccessfully sued CSI for injuries caused by an allegedly defective MK 141 flashbang grenade that caused serious damage to his left hand when it exploded accidently.
While the Egyptian protesters were facing tear gas grenades fired by security forces in Cairo, another delegation of Egyptian senior military officials led by Lieutenant General Sami Hafez Enan, the chief of staff of Egypt's armed forces, was back in Washington to meet with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (No public records have been filed yet, so it is unclear if Miner and Livingstone were escorting them again.)
Within hours of the news of the huge protests, Enan cut short his trip and dashed back to Cairo last Friday, but his boss, Minister Tantawi, has kept in touch with Washington, making daily phone calls to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates. Both men – together with Egypt's spy chief, Omar Suleiman – are among President Hosni Mubarak's closest allies and enjoy close ties with Washington, according to the diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks. And it was these men that Thomas E Donilon, the US national security adviser, was frantically phoning last weekend to try to gauge how to prevent the collapse of the Mubarak regime.
It could days, maybe even weeks, before the future of the Egyptian government is decided, and with it, the relationship with the US. But one thing is clear: the Egyptian protesters are well aware of the close ties between officials in Cairo and Washington and not happy about the US training and tear gas shells supplied to the Egyptian military. Crowds gathered in Liberation Square last week chanted: "Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, both of you are agents of the Americans." The protesters believe that the billions in military aid that kept Mubarak in power have helped him keep democracy from flowering in Egypt.
Two years after Obama's famous speech in Cairo, in which he called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims", it might be a little late for his administration to heed the words of Mostafa Amin, Egypt's most famous columnist and journalist:
Maybe America gains a lot when it exports to us arms and cars or planes, but it loses more when it does not export the best that its civilisation has produced, which is freedom and democracy and human rights. The value of America is that it should defend this product, not only in its country but throughout the world! It may harm some of its interests, but it will make gains that will live hundreds of years, for the friendship of peoples live forever, because the peoples do not die, but governments change like the winter weather.
GO TO STORY:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/04/egypt-arms-tradeWith US-made tear gas canisters fired on protesters in Cairo, Washington's role... more
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http://is.gd/hogVd3
By Gerard Ange'
This is a News Story about a new platform of protest. Similar to the civil rights marches and anti-war marches & protests of the past ~ people in the streets voicing their support of a worthy and valiant cause. A combined humanistic call to action to temporarily block traffic... To let the world know..... that they should pay attention to what is going on...
Today... nothing is changed The same ideals the same objections the same people trying to do something good! The same solidarity... The same look in their eyes... The sound of people marching... shouting to let the world know that they should pay attention to what is going on...! The only difference is the in 2011 is.... the people marching are on the "Cyber Streets" these are just as meaningful and just as valid as the Marches of people of the past... These are the marches and the protests of today 2011 Virtual Marches of tens of thousands of people blocking "Cyber Traffic" protesting against Fascism and Oppression... Anywhere it exists...
The word today is... Join the March!!! This is the future.... This is Our Future...
Our Future in NOW.... Not Tomorrow...
"Join AnonymousIRC now ~ protect freedom!"
STAND UP FOR THE TRUTH!
Protest Against Fascism!
Protest Against Oppression!
Protest Against Corruption!
Support Freedom of Speech!
Support Freedom of the Press!
Support Freedom of the Internet!
=== STAND UP FOR THE TRUTH! ===
#OpTunisia: 272 users
#OpAlgeria 161 users
#OperationPayback 155 users
TO GO THE ORIGINAL NEWS STORY CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW:
http://search.mibbit.com/channels/AnonOpshttp://is.gd/hogVd3
By Gerard Ange'
This is a News Story about a new... more
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http://sourceforge.net
By Marius Bosch and Georgina Prodhan
JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) - If anyone needed proof that cyber activists can create havoc in the real world, the last few weeks have provided evidence in megabytes.
Rallying behind WikiLeaks, the thousands of internet activists who made headlines in December by bringing down the websites of MasterCard and Visa have been branching out.
Operating under the banner "Anonymous", their other forms of action have included hacker defacements of websites, real-life protests such as mass leafleting, and a role in Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution".
Anonymous activists attacked and shut down several government websites before the ouster of former President Zine al Abedine Ben Ali. They have also targeted governments they see as enemies of free speech. Last month the website of Zimbabwe's finance ministry was hacked and the homepage replaced by a message from Anonymous.
A report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) this week said such attacks on computer systems are unlikely to cause a global shock on their own, though could do if launched in the midst of a natural disaster such as a large solar flare that wipes out satellites and other key communications hardware.
But this misses the point. Global chaos is not Anonymous' aim. As the WikiLeaks and Tunisia cases show, the group targets specific institutions and its attacks are designed to temporarily delay more than destroy. Think of them not as acts of cyber war but as high-profile guerrilla strikes.
1> CATALYSTS
A look inside some of the main online forums suggests that those behind the WikiLeak-inspired attacks are patient, coordinate almost organically, and remain wary of outsiders. That all means that their next moves remain unpredictable.
In the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels -- chat rooms where up to 3,000 participants at a time can discuss strategy and plot attacks -- reporters are treated with suspicion. Over the past few weeks, though, a few Anons -- as activists refer to themselves online -- agreed to talk to Reuters.
There is anecdotal evidence that Anonymous is growing stronger. Several Anons told Reuters the arrest of Assange and the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against Visa and Mastercard -- in which company websites were bombarded with so many requests they crashed -- inspired them to join the group.
"Saw it on a news article, joined the IRC, and things went on from there. 4 months ago," one Anon nicknamed "tflow" told Reuters in a private message on the IRC channel.
"I was angry at the arrest of Assange and how the credit card companies shut down WikiLeaks' accounts. Been here since," said another, going by the name of Noms9001, referring to the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Britain.
"I'm not a rebel, I can say that. For me, it's been an issue of governments and corporations attempting to control what we say and hear online."
One said they had been involved with Anonymous since the group's Project Chanology protests against the Church of Scientology in 2008. Another blamed a failed late December attack on Bank of America on a splinter group of Anonymous, and said an expected drop by WikiLeaks of documents related to the bank could provide an opportunity for a renewed effort to bring down its site.
2> MONITORING
Targets are chosen by consensus and can be attacked by as many as 10,000 computers simultaneously. Communication is mainly through IRC but supporters also use micro-blogging site Twitter and video-sharing site YouTube to release information.
The activists claim to come from all over -- Europe, the United States, China and elsewhere in Asia -- and share an almost paranoid concern with covering the tracks left by the software they use.
During the attacks on Tunisian government websites over the past couple of weeks, activists warned Tunisian citizens in the OpTunisia IRC channel against joining an assault on local internet hosting organisation ATI.
"If you are Tunisian, do not participate in the DDoS attack. Chances are that you will get traced and arrested. Unless you have means to conceal your IP and know what you are doing, do NOT attack," warned one activist.
"Do NOT give out any personal information on this IRC network. This is a public chat and you can be sure that it is monitored," the activist added.
There's a good reason for the caution. Two Dutch teenagers were arrested in December in connection with cyber attacks by WikiLeaks supporters. Both have been released and are awaiting trial.
And the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation raided a Texas server-hosting company last month looking for evidence that Anonymous had used its servers to launch attacks on PayPal, according to an affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun website.
Some activists hope their sheer numbers will prevent authorities from trying to trace them. "Imagine tracking 9,000 plus computers across the planet for an arrest," Calgarc said in the IRC channel in reply to a question on how an attacker can hide his tracks.
3> FIRE YOUR CANNON
All you need to wage cyber war is a fast-paced internet forum packed with hundreds of determined activists and a simple piece of software called a Low Orbit Ion Cannon. Activists download the LOIC -- initially developed to help internet security experts test website vulnerability to DDoS attacks -- and start firing packets of data at the targeted website.
If enough people join in, a DDoS attack prevents the overloaded server from responding to legitimate requests and slows the website to a crawl or shuts it down totally.
Attackers can even listen to a dedicated internet radio station, Radiopayback, during attacks.
A quarter of a million copies of the LOIC software have been downloaded from sourceforge.net so far, more than half of them since November when Web hosting and banking organisations began withdrawing support from WikiLeaks.
One in five downloads since the start of November was in the United States, with a few hundred in Tunisia, and a handful in bandwidth-deprived Zimbabwe.
Users of the software can be traced. A study by Dutch researchers found last year that the tool did not mask the host computer's internet protocol (IP) address.
Barrett Lyon, a security expert who specialises in protecting companies against denial of service attacks, said the LOIC program is fairly rudimentary but effective if used by thousands of people. "It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. It's not as focused as it could have been. If they got their software together in a more sophisticated kind of way, this kind of thing could have gotten easier with more violence."
Lyon said depending on the time of day there were 500-10,000 computers involved in the attacks.
"10,000 people have quite a bit of fire power," he added.
4> CREDIBLE COUNTERFORCE
TO GO TO NEXT PAGE CLICK BELOW :
http://in.mobile.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-54257020110119?ca=rdt
http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2011/1/6/tunisia-cyber-special-anonymous-takes-down-the-government.htmlhttp://sourceforge.net
By Marius Bosch and Georgina Prodhan
JOHANNESBURG/LONDON... more
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Please support Wikileaks by donating.
Click here: http://213.251.145.96/support.html
Please sign the petition: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks...
If you would like to become even more involved, then there may be a "support Wikileaks protest" near you.
Click here for details: http://wlcentral.org/events-protests
Here is a list of Wikileaks mirror sites:
http://wikileaks.ch/mirrors.html
After Effects template for opening by Kenzei via Video Hive.
The statistics of how many have died as a result of the war on terror is an estimate taken from http://www.unknownnews.net
It is hard to pin pinpoint just how many have died due to the fact that this information isn't released. estimates have the toll somewhere between
800,000 and 1,200,000
Requests under freedom of information act denied by Obama Administration should read 49% - for more info
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/16...
Another point to make is that the clip of Obama talking about different terrorists was an except taken from an interview with Bill O'Reilly where he was explaining the difference between terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, i thought it was relevant as so much of the terminology in the media is focused around labelling wikileaks and it's people terrorists.
The song "Your the Voice" was by Coldplay featuring John Farnham - song was originally by John Farnham.
The clip was taken from a concert in Sydney "Sound Relief" where many bands came together to support people who were devastated by the Black Saturday fires. - of whom Coldplay were amongst them.
PLEASE POST THIS AROUND.
CheersPlease support Wikileaks by donating.
Click here: http://213.251.145.96/support.html... more
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Targeting Political Terrorism = LETS START HERE...
http://www.peopleokwithmurderingassange.com
Wikileaks today offered sympathy and condolences to the victims of the Tucson shooting together with best wishes for the recovery of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, a democrat from Arizona's 8th district, was the target of a shooting spree at a Jan 8 political event in which six others were killed.
Tucson Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, leading the investigation into the Gifford shooting, said that "vitriolic rhetoric" intended to "inflame the public on a daily basis ... has [an] impact on people, especially who are unbalanced personalities to begin with." Dupnik also observed that officials and media personalities engaging in violent rhetoric "have to consider that they have some responsibility when incidents like this occur and may occur in the future."
WikiLeaks staff and contributors have also been the target of unprecedented violent rhetoric by US prominent media personalities, including Sarah Palin, who urged the US administration to “Hunt down the WikiLeaks chief like the Taliban”. Prominent US politician Mike Huckabee called for the execution of WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange on his Fox News program last November, and Fox News commentator Bob Beckel, referring to Assange, publicly called for people to "illegally shoot the son of a bitch." US radio personality Rush Limbaugh has called for pressure to "Give [Fox News President Roger] Ailes the order and [then] there is no Assange, I'll guarantee you, and there will be no fingerprints on it.", while the Washington Times columnist Jeffery T. Kuhner titled his column “Assassinate Assange” captioned with a picture Julian Assange overlayed with a gun site, blood spatters, and “WANTED DEAD or ALIVE” with the alive crossed out.
John Hawkins of Townhall.com has stated "If Julian Assange is shot in the head tomorrow or if his car is blown up when he turns the key, what message do you think that would send about releasing sensitive American data?"
Christian Whiton in a Fox News opinion piece called for violence against WikiLeaks publishers and editors, saying the US should "designate WikiLeaks and its officers as enemy combatants, paving the way for non-judicial actions against them."
WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said: "No organisation anywhere in the world is a more devoted advocate of free speech than Wikileaks but when senior politicians and attention seeking media commentators call for specific individuals or groups of people to be killed they should be charged with incitement -- to murder. Those who call for an act of murder deserve as significant share of the guilt as those raising a gun to pull the trigger."
“WikiLeaks has many young staff, volunteers and supporters in the same geographic vicinity as these the broadcast or circulation of these incitements to kill. We have also seen mentally unstable people travel from the US and other counties to other locations. Consequently we have to engage in extreme security measures.”
“We call on US authorities and others to protect the rule of law by aggressively prosecuting these and similar incitements to kill. A civil nation of laws can not have prominent members of society constantly calling for the murder and assassination of other individuals or groups.”
More Examples:
http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2010/11/30/5_reasons_the_cia_should_have_already_killed_julian_assange/page/2
http://www.peopleokwithmurderingassange.com/Targeting Political Terrorism = LETS START HERE...... more
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Obama Should Read WikiLeaks Documents
Monday 03 January 2011
by: Ray McGovern | Consortium News | Op-Ed
Perhaps President Barack Obama should give himself a waiver on the ban prohibiting U.S. government employees from downloading classified cables released by WikiLeaks, so he can better understand the futility of his Afghan War strategy.
For instance, if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hidden from him Ambassador Karl Eikenberry’s cables from Kabul, he might wish to search out KABUL 001892 of July 13, 2009, in which Eikenberry reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is “unable to grasp the most rudimentary principles of state building.”
And, while he’s at it, he should dig out the September 2009 cable from the U.S. Ambassador in Pakistan, Anne Patterson, in which she warns: “There is no chance that Pakistan will view enhanced assistance … as sufficient compensation for abandoning support to these [Taliban and similar] groups in Pakistan.”
The same conclusion is contained in the recent National Intelligence Estimates on Afghanistan and Pakistan. My advice to Obama would be: Don’t let anyone gist them for you; read at least the Key Judgments.
Yet, in his recent defense of his Afghanistan-Pakistan policy, Obama acted as if he didn’t know or understand the full import of these disclosures. Instead, he simply reiterated the “three areas of our strategy” in Afghanistan:
“To break the Taliban’s momentum and train Afghan forces so they can take the lead; to promote effective governance and development; and regional cooperation, especially with Pakistan, because our strategy has to succeed on both sides of the border.”
But the Taliban’s momentum has not been broken nor is it likely to be, Mr. President. And good luck with President Karzai on that “effective governance” thing, not to mention the part about getting cooperation from Pakistan.
Indeed, the real Achilles heel of Obama’s strategy, the true showstopper, is the forlorn hope of stronger cooperation with Pakistan.
Other WikiLeaks cables make Pakistan’s deep concern about the encroachment of India in Afghanistan unmistakably clear. In one cable, for example, Pakistani Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani is reported to have been “utterly frank” about the consequences of a pro-India government coming to power in Kabul.
Kayani: “The Pakistani establishment will dramatically increase support for Taliban groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan … as an important counterweight.”
Go to the next Page:
http://www.truth-out.org/ray-mcgovern-obama-should-read-wikileaks-docs66524Obama Should Read WikiLeaks Documents
Monday 03 January 2011
by: Ray McGovern |... more
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AnonOps Communications~ We are the fighters for Global Freedom and Freedom of the Internet.AnonOps Communications~ We are the fighters for Global Freedom and Freedom of the... more
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Posted on January 4, 2011 by Crushing Bastards
Crew photo from my first deployment. The plane is a RC-135 "Rivet Joint."
I am a US Air Force Intelligence veteran of the war in Afghanistan and I support Wikileaks.
During my service I held a Top Secret security clearance and worked as an Afghan-Pashto linguist; my duties included consuming and producing a large number of intelligence reports. After reading many of the Iraq/Afghan/Cablegate logs I am compelled to inform my fellow citizens that I saw nothing in these logs that could endanger our troops or public servants.
Here’s what I did see: I saw Iraq war logs that painted a very bleak picture of the situation there which doesn’t match up with the “improved security” that’s been reported by the “Defense” Department for years. I saw proof of public officials acting dishonestly and abusing their posts. Overall, I saw an out of control government that is in over its head and does more to endanger the lives of its people than any publishing organization ever could.
I volunteered to protect this country under the impression that my government followed the will of the American People and adhered to the US Constitution. As it turns out, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were never constitutionally declared and despite public opinion being against the two wars they continue to grow more destructive. My experiences in these wars differed greatly from the propaganda the American people were sold by America’s mainstream media outlets; many times I would return from a mission to see wild inaccuracies being reported on Fox/CNN/MSNBC about the very operation I had just been supporting. Wikileaks has helped shine light on the true nature of these illegal wars and the policymakers that perpetuate them, for this I am thankful.
Speaking of policy makers that perpetuate war… Apparently, this nation is bankrupt. The US dollar, under the custodianship of Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve System, continues to lose its purchasing power as new dollars are printed to pay for warfare and corporate welfare (in the form of bailouts for bankers). We must recognize that printing more money will not solve our problems, it will only make Americans increasingly poorer. The foundation of America’s financial system is corrupt and dishonest; Wikileaks is also working to unmask this corrupt central-banking system.
For too long, bastards (using Julian Assange’s definition) have been able to use America’s good reputation as a cover for their misdeeds. These days, it seems that powerful interests wield more influence in Washington than the whole of the American electorate. These interests see the American people as nothing more than sheep to be fleeced and so they use their influence to make it easier for us to be held down. I support Wikileaks because I want to see these insidious influences exposed. My hope is that the 21st Century will be one of liberty and transparency, not of greater secrecy and slavish submission to authority.
Let it be known that there are many of us who will resist any attempts to stifle 1st Amendment protections; that America’s veterans take seriously their oaths to the US Constitution and will demand transparency and honesty from government officials; that America’s veterans stand ready to defend the ideals of a free society in the 21st century.
http://crushingbastards.org/blog/2011/01/04/i-am-a-us-air-force-intelligence-veteran-of-the-war-in-afghanistan-and-i-support-wikileaks/Posted on January 4, 2011 by Crushing Bastards
Crew photo from my first... more
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Wikileaks has shown that our government and military form a 'vast lying machine' that perpetrates mass murder in our name.
January 3, 2011
Do you believe that it is in Americans' interest to allow a small group of U.S. leaders to unilaterally murder, maim, imprison and/or torture anyone they choose anywhere in the world, without the knowledge let alone oversight of their citizens or the international community? And, despite their proven record of failure to protect America -- from Indochina to Iran to Iraq -- do you believe they should be permitted to clandestinely expand their war-making without informed public debate? If so, you are betraying the principles upon which America was founded, endangering your nation, and displaying a distinctly "unamerican" subservience to unaccountable authority. But if you oppose autocratic power, you are called to support Wikileaks and others trying to limit U.S. Executive Branch mass murder abroad and failure to protect Americans at home.
These two issues became officially linked for the first time when former U.S. Afghan commander General Stanley McChrystal explicitly stated that the murder of civilians increases rather than decreases the numbers of those committed to killing Americans, and actually implemented policies -- since reversed by General Petraeus -- to reduce U.S. murder of civilians. McChrystal said that “for every innocent person you kill, you create 10 new enemies." By so doing he made it clear that killing civilians is not only a moral and war crimes issue, but -- in today's interdependent world -- also threatens U.S. national security.
As important as is the issue of free speech, it is the question of whether the U.S. Executive is in fact protecting the American people through its mass murder abroad that really lies at the heart of the Wikileaks controversy. Executive Branch officials justify persecuting and threatening to murder Assange on the grounds that he has damaged U.S. "national security." If McChrystal is right, however, it is the past decade of U.S. Executive mass murder in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, now revealed beyond any doubt by Wikileaks, that is the real threat to U.S. national security.
The chilling fact is this: whether you believe that September 11, 2001 was due to incomprehensible fanaticism or genuine grievances, it seems likely that U.S. leaders’ murder of countless Muslims since 2001 will cause the next 9/11 should, God forbid, it occur, The recent suicide-bomber in Sweden who came perilously close to succeeding taped a message saying "so will your children, daughters, brothers, and sisters die, like our brothers, sisters, and children die." Similar sentiments were voiced by the Times Square bomber, and it is likely that those responsible for future American deaths will also be motivated by revenge for the hundreds of thousands of Muslims for whose deaths U.S. leaders are responsible since 2001.
This is not, of course, to justify such attacks. Any attacks on civilians, whether by the Taliban or General Petraeus, are totally unjustified and crimes of war. But if the issue is how best to enhance U.S. national security, it is critical to rationally discuss the most prudent and sensible means of preventing further attacks -- which in this case is to stop creating huge numbers of people who want to kill Americans. If General McChrystal is correct, every American should tremble at the long-term danger to America caused by the last decade of U.S. war-making in the Muslim world. If only 1/100th of 1% of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims are moved to want to attack America because of America's post-9/11 killing of Muslim civilians, for example, the U.S. Executive will have created a pool of 160,000 Muslims devoted to murdering Americans.
View Next Page:
http://www.alternet.org/story/149393/wikileaks_most_terrifying_revelation:_just_how_much_our_government_lies_to_usWikileaks has shown that our government and military form a 'vast lying... more
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Wikileaks ~ A Swedish Documentary Film About Julian Assange & Wikileaks
(60 Min / SVT)Wikileaks ~ A Swedish Documentary Film About Julian Assange & Wikileaks
(60 Min... more
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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ruled out the presence of any U.S. troops in Iraq after the end of 2011, saying his new government and the country's security forces were capable of confronting any remaining threats to Iraq's security, sovereignty and unity.
Mr. Maliki spoke with The Wall Street Journal in a two-hour interview, his first since Iraq ended nine months of stalemate and seated a new government after an inconclusive election, allowing Mr. Maliki to begin a second term as premier.
A majority of Iraqis—and some Iraqi and U.S. officials—have assumed the U.S. troop presence would eventually be extended, especially after the long government limbo. But Mr. Maliki was eager to draw a line in his most definitive remarks on the subject. "The last American soldier will leave Iraq" as agreed, he said, speaking at his office in a leafy section of Baghdad's protected Green Zone. "This agreement is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration. It is sealed."
He also said that even as Iraq bids farewell to U.S. troops, he wouldn't allow his nation to be pulled into alignment with Iran, despite voicesPrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ruled out the presence of any U.S. troops in Iraq after... more
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