tagged w/ Bush Administration
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DEM NADLER CALLS FOR SPECIAL PROSECUTOR ON BUSH WATERBOARDING
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LONDON (Reuters) - The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture if his admission in a memoir that he authorized waterboarding holds true, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
In "Decision Points," published this week, Bush defended his decision to authorize waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning condemned by some as torture.
Bush said the practice was limited to three detainees and led to intelligence breakthroughs that thwarted attacks and saved lives. He told NBC in an interview to publicize the book that his legal adviser had told him it did "not fall within the anti-torture act."
Amnesty International's Senior Director Claudio Cordone said in a statement: "Under international law, anyone involved in torture must be brought to justice, and that does not exclude former President George W. Bush."
FULL REUTERS STORY FOLLOWS BELOW
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture if his admission in a memoir that he authorized waterboarding holds true, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
In "Decision Points," published this week, Bush defended his decision to authorize waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning condemned by some as torture.
Bush said the practice was limited to three detainees and led to intelligence breakthroughs that thwarted attacks and saved lives. He told NBC in an interview to publicize the book that his legal adviser had told him it did "not fall within the anti-torture act."
Amnesty International's Senior Director Claudio Cordone said in a statement: "Under international law, anyone involved in torture must be brought to justice, and that does not exclude former President George W. Bush.
"If his admission is substantiated, the U.S.A. has the obligation to prosecute him," he said. "In the absence of a U.S. investigation, other states must step in and carry out such an investigation themselves."
Waterboarding was banned by Bush's successor, President Barack Obama, shortly after he took office in 2009.
Interrogators are now required to follow interrogation guidelines laid out in the U.S. Army Field Manual, which excludes the practice.
Bush wrote that waterboarding was first approved for Abu Zubaydah, an al Qaeda figure arrested in Pakistan in 2002 who was suspected of involvement in a plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport.
When Abu Zubaydah stopped answering questions from the FBI, CIA Director George Tenet told Bush he thought the detainee had more information to offer.
Bush wrote that there were two techniques, which he did not describe, that he felt went too far even though they were legal and he ordered that they not be used. But he approved the use of waterboarding.
"No doubt the procedure was tough, but medical experts assured the CIA that it did no lasting harm," he wrote.
(Reporting by James Jukwey)LONDON (Reuters) - The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush... more
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President Bush became the latest ex-president to write a book. And the worst of it? Kanye West:
Former president George W. Bush told NBC News's Matt Lauer that the "all-time low" of his eight years in the White House came when notorious loose-cannon Kanye West appeared on a Hurricane Katrina relief fundraiser and said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."President Bush became the latest ex-president to write a book. And the worst of it?... more
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Renowned Jewish-American scholar Noam Chomsky says US invasion of Afghanistan was illegal since to date there is no evidence that al-Qaeda has carried out the 9/11 attacks.
"The explicit and declared motive of the [Afghanistan] war was to compel the Taliban to turn over to the United States, the people who they accused of having been involved in World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist acts. The Taliban…they requested evidence…and the Bush administration refused to provide any," the 81-year-old senior academic made the remarks on Press TV's program a Simple Question.
"We later discovered one of the reasons why they did not bring evidence: they did not have any."
The political analyst also said that nonexistence of such evidence was confirmed by FBI eight months later.
Read More: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/chomsky-us-led-afghan-war-criminal.htmlRenowned Jewish-American scholar Noam Chomsky says US invasion of Afghanistan was... more
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Pelosi: ‘It’s All About Fairness in Our Country’
October 19, 2010
by Jonathon M. Seidl
TheBlaze.Com
Speaking at a United Steelworkers event on Monday, Nancy Pelosi railed against the wealthy and income inequality in America:
“We’re talking about addressing the disparity of income where the wealthy people continue to get wealthier and some other people are falling out of the middle class when we want to bring many more people into the middle class.
Click to Watch....(VIDEO) Wealthy Multi-Millionare Nancy Pelosi ‘All About Fairness’ With Your Money, JUST NOT HERS!!!...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/video-wealthy-multi-millionare-nancy-pelosi-all-about-fairness-with-your-money-just-not-hers/Pelosi: ‘It’s All About Fairness in Our Country’
October 19,... more
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Clearly, the eight (8) years of the Bush Administration has desecrated the Republican Party in the eyes of Americans and the whole world. In a desperate attempt to breath life into the GOP, the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign contributions is aimed squarely at and provides significant advantage in assisting the beleaguered Republican Party to fund propaganda campaigns - in the absence of voter contributions.
Interestingly, the Republican Party and it's paid for sub group the Tea Baggers, have revived the Busheney era strategy of fear mongering. Remember the boggy man is out to getcha!? The sky is falling and all hell is going to break out. Well, considering that the attack on the United States of America during the Bush Administration was unprecedented, it can only be concluded that the such a thing was made possible by the incompetence of the said administration on watch at the time.
In the aftermath of the Bush Administration, the Republican Party has desperately turned to corporate America or should I say, people from corporations who once relied upon lobbyists to purchase favorable votes in Congress, primarily with the Republican Party have now taken to running for office themselves. These corporate sharks heavily funding their campaigns themselves in an effort to buy their way into office.
Will it work? Will the very people who have collectively fired millions of Americans and sent jobs oversees for personal gain and profit be voted in to office by the people the took jobs away from? Have the American people learned from the eight years of the Bush Administration and the associated Republican stranglehold on government?Clearly, the eight (8) years of the Bush Administration has desecrated the Republican... more
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In a long interview in Rolling Stone recently, Omar Bin Laden spoke about his life now, his beliefs, his childhood, the time he spent in Afghanistan with his father before 9/11 and his eventual decision not to become, as he says his father had hoped, the leader of Al Queda. Bored as a teenager and cut off from the world at Tora Bora, after studying to become a warrior, he decided to leave and said goodbye to his father for the last time:
Osama's Prodigal Son
My father is a wealthy man," Omar recalls. "He gave me $10,000 in cash. He told me to get a car and go." Omar's eyes well with tears. "If he wanted to keep me, he had to follow my way. If I wanted to keep him, I have to follow his way. I had a broken heart as I drove away. We don't show our feelings. I kissed his hand and said goodbye. This is the last time I saw him."
He remembers his last glimpse of his father: As Osama bin Laden walked away, he wore the same small, mysterious smile he had when he suggested his sons become suicide bombers.
Alone for the first time in his life, Omar took a car to the Pakistan border. A few months later, his father destroyed the World Trade Center, killing thousands. "I never thought the attack would be civilian buildings," Omar says. "I thought it would be a ship, like the USS Cole. My father's dream was to bring the Americans to Afghanistan. He would do the same thing he did to the Russians. I was surprised the Americans took the bait. I so much respected the mentality of President Clinton. He was the one who was smart. When my father attacked his places, he sent a few cruise missiles to my father's training camp. He didn't get my father, but after all the war in Afghanistan, they still don't have my father. They have spent hundreds of billions. Better for America to keep the money for its economy. In Clinton's time, America was very, very smart. Not like a bull that runs after the red scarf.
Then he explains why his father was happy when Bush was elected. Bush unlike Clinton who was smarter, not allowing himself to be pushed into war. The Neocons were pressuring Clinton also. So Bush's election made it a certainty that all these forces would come together to get these wars started, and to plunge the U.S. into debt to keep them going.
I was still in Afghanistan when Bush was elected," he continues. "My father was so happy. This is the kind of president he needs — one who will attack and spend money and break the country. Even Bush's own mother says he is the biggest idiot boy of his family. I am sure my father wanted McCain more than Obama. McCain has the same mentality as Bush. My father would be disappointed because Obama get the position."
"Do you think Obama can win in Afghanistan?"
"Out of what you see," Omar asks, "what do you think?"
According to Omar, Americans are actually lucky that his father has not been captured or killed. "It is going to be worse when my father dies," he says. "The world is going to be very, very nasty then. It will be a disaster."
"Omar always says that without the head, the arms and legs will run wherever," Zaina says.
"I know this for a fact," Omar says. "People were always asking my father to attack more. They would say, 'Sheik, we must do more.' Crazy fucking things. My father has a religious goal. He is controlled by the rules of jihad. He only kills if he thinks there is a need."
"Will there be more attacks?" I ask.
"I don't think so," Omar says. "He doesn't need to. As soon as America went to Afghanistan, his plan worked. He has already won."
Emphasis mine. Edited to include that highlighted paragraph.
He also speaks about the U.S. helping to create Al Queda in the eighties and how his father was then an ally of the U.S.
It's interesting that he has not been arrested as so many others have for simply knowing Bin Laden. He seems to be free to go wherever he wants to.
He appears to be attracted to Western life's pleasures despite his background. He spent time with the reporter frequenting bars and strip clubs in Beirut, saying with a smile 'I'm glad my father doesn't run the world'.
It is after midnight when Osama bin Laden's fourth-born son, Omar, leads me into a nightclub called Les Caves de Boys in the center of Damascus. Marked only by a small neon sign on a side street in an upscale quarter of the city, the basement bar is dark and secluded, enveloped by an air of exclusivity. Omar brushes past the two heavyset Syrian thugs at the door and picks a booth in the back. A dozen or so wealthy Arab men are drinking whiskey and watching Russian strippers put on a show.
He is married to a British woman, a grandmother nearly twice his age. The author believes he is authentic in his rejection of his father's world:
Now 28, Omar is one of 11 sons of Osama bin Laden. But from an early age, Omar stood out from his brothers for his independence. Though Omar does not believe that any of his siblings are still by his father's side, he is the only bin Laden son to publicly disavow his father's violence. In Growing Up bin Laden, co-authored last year with his mother and an American writer named Jean Sasson, Omar not only captures the insanity and cruelty inside his father's world, but also provides an intimate portrait of what it is like to be the son of a sociopath. "In many ways, Omar's story represents how the modern Arab world is thinking through its views of the West," observes Steve Coll, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Bin Ladens and president of the New America Foundation. "They accept the critique provided by Al Qaeda but not its idea of never-ending war. Like Omar, they won't follow Osama onto the battlefield."
I'm surprised there isn't a Fatwa out on him. Or that the CIA never wanted to talk to him. Not really sure what to think, but the Bin Ladens seem to have immunity as far as the U.S. is concerned, compared to other Muslims who had far less knowledge of our supposed #1 enemy in the whole world, yet ended up in Guantanamo, 12 year old kids and elderly shepherds eg, for years.
However, I hope the Rightwingers who thought Bush was so tough and scary to Al Queda finally realize what many more practical people realized a long time ago, that nothing played more into the hands of extremists, than Bush's invasion of a ME country and of Afghanistan.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/sabrina%201/117In a long interview in Rolling Stone recently, Omar Bin Laden spoke about his life... more
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http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/189/547/724/
Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: United for a Fair Economy, UFE
"Let the Bush tax cuts that affect only the richest 2% of Americans expire on schedule at the end of the year. Congress needs to step up to the plate and make sure we don't continue one of the biggest economic injustices of the Bush era."
By the end of 2010, these tax cuts will cost our nation $2.5 trillion.
There is very little that so clearly demonstrates the callous venality of some members of Congress than the simultaneous demand to give Paris Hilton a tax cut while pushing benefit cuts to Social Security.
Tell Congress: Don't extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
There is simply no excuse for Congress to plead poverty when it comes to helping those in need while literally giving it away to those who don't need it.
Congress needs step up to the plate and make sure we don't continue one of the biggest economic injustices of the Bush era. Tell Congress: Don't extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Make the wealthy pull their weight. Tell Congress to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in 2010.http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/189/547/724/
Target: U.S. Congress... more
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In an interview with Bob Woodward earlier this year, President Obama said, “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever. … WE ABSORBED IT A AND WE ARE STRONGER.”
President Obama told Woodward: “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever…WE ABSORBED IT AND WE ARE STRONGER.”
“We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger,” Obama said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2010/09/bush-beat-obama-to-the-punch-o.html
“For each CI/KR [critical infrastructure and key resources] sector, we must collectively work to ensure the ability of power, communications, and other life sustaining systems to survive an attack by terrorists, a natural disaster, and other assessed risks or hazards. In the past, investments in redundant and duplicative infrastructure were used to achieve this objective."
"WE MUST NOW FOCUS ON THE RESILIENCE OF THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE---AN APPROACH THAT CENTERS ON INVESTMENTS THAT MAKE THE SYSTEM Better Able To Absorb The Impact Of An Event Without Losing The Capacity To Function.”
-Bush White House National Security Document Archived on the White House Web Site
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/22/liz-cheney-absorb-attack/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42569.html
By the by, here's a Dick Cheney flashback:
Recall, During a 2002 appearance on "Meet the Press," Dick Cheney — the former vice president of the United States — told Meet the Press’s Tim Russert in 2002 that another terrorist attack was “almost a certainty.” He added it that it was only a matter of time before the U.S. got hit again: "The prospect of another attack against the United States is very, very real," adding that it was "not a matter of if, but when."
Vice President DICK CHENEY:
"The prospect of another attack against the United States is very, very real. It’s just as real, in my opinion, as it was September 12."
TIM RUSSERT, NBC News:
"Not a matter of if, but when?"
Vice President DICK CHENEY:
"NOT A MATTER OF IF, BUT WHEN."In an interview with Bob Woodward earlier this year, President Obama said, “We... more
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The reaction of establishment politicians and their corporate media mouthpieces to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments about 9/11 is akin to that of a guilty child caught with his hand in the cookie jar and chocolate smeared all over his face.
The move to inflate the situation by creating a media circus will ultimately backfire as more people discover that, unfortunately, the Iranian President’s comments, although cloaked in an ever present anti-Israel sentiment, are accurate.
Ahmadinejad stated simply that millions of people believe there is evidence to suggest the 9/11 attacks were an inside job of some kind – a statement of fact, no matter how repugnant he who delivers it may be.
US President Barack Obama has declared he is “outraged and offended” by the comments, later giving an interview to the BBC’s Persian service, in which he told the Iranian people that the comments were “offensive and hateful”.
As ever, the truth of the matter has been distorted beyond recognition as a minority of UN delegates walking out on Ahmadinejad’s speech yesterday was transformed overnight into a full scale revolt by the corporate media.
The EU, we are told, was so disgusted with Ahmadinejad’s comments that “all representatives of the 27 nations of the EU walked out”.
However, in 2008 when the European parliament hosted a debate on the events of 9/11, the evidence that contradicts the official explanation and the reasons why an independent investigation should be carried out, there was no outcry whatsoever.
When European member of parliament Giulietto Chiesa and former German defence minister Andreas von Bulow led the debate on 9/11 inconsistencies, no one walked out and the newspapers remained devoid of front page headlines, because there was no opportunity to smear and discredit the issue based on the characters of those raising it.
Similarly, when prominent Japanese politician Yukihisa Fujita held debates and spoke on questions surrounding 9/11, prompting Parliamentarians of various countries to consider asking the UN to investigate, no establishment politicians denounced him and the newspapers remained devoid of front page headlines.
When the former President of Italy, Francesco Cossiga, stated that in his view 9/11 was a vast intelligence operation overseen by the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the newspapers remained devoid of front page headlines.
When several members of the officially appointed 9/11 Commission stated that the intelligence apparatus and the US government had actively obstructed their investigation, no establishment politicians expressed outrage and the newspapers remained devoid of front page headlines.
When military leaders, scientists, engineers, architects, legal professionals, first responders, family members and all of the other thousands of individuals listed in this article questioned the US government’s explanation of 9/11, the newspapers remained devoid of front page headlines.
“that the United States was in any way responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks or that the majority of people in the US believe this to be the case, is outrageous and unacceptable.” said EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton today.
Whether you believe the official explanation of 9/11 or not, it is clear from multiple polls and surveys conducted over the past few years that a majority of Americans do question it, they do want an independent investigation and they do blame elements of their own government. These are simply facts:
CNN Poll: 89% Believe US Government Covering Up 9/11
New Zogby Poll: 51% Of Americans Want New 9/11 Investigation
Scientific Poll: 84% Say 9/11 Is A Cover Up
Poll: More Americans blame Bush for 9/11
Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 Investigation
Zogby Poll: Half of New Yorkers Believe Government Complicity in 9/11
The media hyped controversy rumbles on with British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to “denounce” Ahmadinejad at the UN today following the Iranian premier’s comments yesterday.
“…once again, an issue of grave global concern has been overshadowed by the bizarre, offensive and attention-grabbing pronouncements by President Ahmadinejad from this podium yesterday. His remarks were intended to distract attention from Iran’s obligations and to generate media headlines. They deserve to do neither.” Clegg’s speech reads.
If Clegg does not want headlines created why has he elected to switch his entire speech around thus creating them?
“…the Iranian president said there was evidence that the US government had at least supported the attacks, including passports in the rubble of the twin towers of men who had been involved with US officials, while no trace of the alleged suicide attackers was retrieved.” The London Guardian article states.
This paragraph is very interesting, because the Guardian journalist seems to think Ahmadinejad is implying that the evidence for elements of the US government being involved in the attacks consists of some passports found in the rubble, and that this is part of the “conspiracy theory”.
In actual fact what Ahmadinejad actually means is that the evidence that Islamic extremists carried out the attacks consisted of passports found in the rubble. That implausible claim forms part of the official version of events.
Indeed, if you actually read what Ahmadinejad said, it becomes clear that the point of his speech was to connect the 9/11 attacks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are still ongoing. No matter how much you may abhor Ahmadinejad, with good cause, this is a key point that is rarely, if ever, reiterated at international summits by politicians.
Without 9/11 as justification there would have certainly been no war in Afghanistan, and little international support for the invasion of Iraq. In accounting for the fallout of these wars of aggression, 9/11 must therefore be addressed. A thorough independent investigation of what happened on 9/11, how the attacks were carried out and by whom should have been the very least we could have expected – instead, it is now accepted as the norm that it is somehow “offensive”, “bizarre” or “hateful” to ask for a plausible explanation of the events, or even to talk about it.
This mindset is one step away from erasing the event from history altogether. It only serves to create even more suspicion that in turn drives people to explore the evidence and discover the truth for themselves.
You are expected to simply accept the fact that there are hundreds of thousands, most likely millions, of innocent Afghans and Iraqis now dead ultimately because of what happened on 9/11. If you do not unquestioningly accept that as just, you are “bizarre” or “offensive”.
In a widely covered press conference today, the Iranian President repeated his comments, noting:
“I did not pass judgment but don’t you feel that the time has come to have a fact finding committee?”
He also lashed out at the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as an overreaction to the attacks.
“The Americans should not occupy the entire Middle East… bomb wedding parties… annihilate an entire village just because one terrorist is hiding there.”
That a tinpot dictator with a disgusting record on human rights speaks more sense on this issue than our elected leaders is truly pitiful.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/establishment-reacts-to-ahmadinejad-911-controversy-like-kid-caught-with-hand-in-cookie-jar.htmlThe reaction of establishment politicians and their corporate media mouthpieces to... more
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A new campaign and website by American Crossroads Watch, an offshoot of Velvet Revolution that serves as a watchdog group of Karl Rove’s corporate-funded shadow RNC, is offering $100,000 to anyone with information leading to Rove’s arrest and conviction for “money laundering, election rigging or felony campaign finance violations.” Their “Wanted” poster cites Rove’s illustrious 40-year, Nixon-to-Bush history of dirty tricks.
Bad economy got you down? Help arrest Karl Rove and you’ll have more than enough to pay your bills!
Check out their WANTED poster and get more info about the campaign here:
http://bit.ly/dcxqyjA new campaign and website by American Crossroads Watch, an offshoot of Velvet... more
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Over three hours of mainstream documentation of Israel's involvement in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
Mark Dankof and Nashid Abdul Khaaliq join the program as we discuss the "anomolies" surrounding the act of war against America that took the lives of 3,000 people on September 11 and more importantly Israel's role in bringing this all about which led to the war on terror.
This issue is not going to go away any time soon so deal with it. Israel played a central role in the attacks of 9/11, and all of the evidence suggests that Israelis, not Muslim cave dwellers. carried out the attacks, and then used the media and US government to pin the blame on the entire Arab Muslim population of the world. This is being covered up by the mainstream media's inventing contoversies like the Ground Zero the Cordoba Initiative, and the Koran burning pastor who is a complete nobody, yet is given top billing on the nightly news.
.Over three hours of mainstream documentation of Israel's involvement in the... more
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Bobby is seven years old, but this is not the first time he has been subjected to electroshock. It's his third time. In all, over the next year, Bobby will experience eight electroshock sessions. Placed on the examining table, he is held down by two male attendants while the physician places a solution on his temples. Bobby struggles with the two men holding him down, but his efforts are useless. He cries out and tries to pull away. One of the attendants tries to force a thick wedge of rubber into his mouth. He turns his head sharply away and cries out, "Let me go, please. I don't want to be here. Please, let me go." Bobby's physician looks irritated and she tells him, "Come on now, Bobby, try to act like a big boy and be still and relax." Bobby turns his head away from the woman and opens his mouth for the wedge that will prevent him from biting through his tongue. He begins to cry silently, his small shoulders shaking and he stiffens his body against what he knows is coming.
Mary is only five years old. She sits on a small, straight-backed chair, moving her legs back and forth, humming the same four notes over and over and over. Her head, framed in a tangled mass of golden curls, moves up and down with each note. For the first three years of her life, Mary was thought to be a mostly normal child. Then, after she began behaving oddly, she had been handed off to a foster family. Her father and
About the same time Dr. Bender was conducting her electroshock experiments, she was also widely experimenting on autistic and schizophrenic children with what she termed other "treatment endeavors." These included use of a wide array of psycho-pharmaceutical agents, several provided to her by the Sandoz Chemical Co. in Basel, Switzerland, as well as Metrazol, sub-shock insulin therapy, amphetamines and anticonvulsants. Metrazol was a trade name for pentylenetetrazol, a drug used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convulsions, as discovered in 1934 by the Hungarian-American neurologist and psychiatrist Ladislas J. Meduna.
Metrazol had been used in convulsive therapy, but was never considered to be effective, and side effects such as seizures were difficult to avoid. The medical records of several patients who were confined at Vermont State Hospital, a public mental facility, reveal that Metrazol was administered to them by CIA contractor Dr. Robert Hyde on numerous occasions in order "to address overly aggressive behavior." One of these patients, Karen Wetmore, received the drug on a number of occasions for no discernible medical reason. During the same ten-year period in which Metrazol was used by the Vermont State Hospital, patient deaths skyrocketed. In 1982, the FDA revoked its approval of Metrazol.
Here it should be noted that, during the cold war years, CIA and Army Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) interrogators, working as part of projects Bluebird and Artichoke, sometimes injected large amounts of Metrazol into selected enemy or Communist agents for the purposes of severely frightening other suspected agents, by forcing them to observe the procedure. The almost immediate effects of Metrazol are shocking for many to witness: subjects will shake violently, twisting and turning. They typically arch, jerk and contort their bodies and grimace in pain. With Metrazol, as with electroshock, bone fractures - including broken necks and backs - and joint dislocations are not uncommon, unless strong sedatives are administered beforehand.
A November 1936 Time mag. article seriously questioned the benefits of Metrazol, citing "irreversible shock" as a "great danger." The article described a typical Metrazol injection as such: "A patient receives no food for four or five hours. Then about five cubic centimeters of the drug [Metrazol] are injected into his veins. In about half-a-minute he coughs, casts terrified glances around the room, twitches violently, utters a horse wail, freezes into rigidity with his mouth wide open, arms and legs stiff as boards. Then he goes into convulsions. In one or two minutes the convulsions are over and he gradually passes into a coma, which lasts about an hour. After a series of shocks, his mind may be swept clean of delusions.... A patient is seldom given more than 20 injections and if no improvement is noted after ten treatments, he is usually given up as hopeless."
The Army, the CIA and Metrazol | This is just important sections go read whole thing!
Army CIC interrogators working with the CIA at prisoner of war camps and safe house locations in post-war Germany on occasion used Metrazol, morphine, heroin and LSD on incarcerated subjects. According to former CIC officer Miles Hunt, several "safe houses and holding areas outside of Frankfurt near Oberursel" - a former Nazi interrogation center taken over by the US - were operated by a "special unit run by Capt. Malcolm S. Hilty, Maj. Mose Hart and Capt. Herbert Sensenig.
Eventually, CIC interrogators working in Germany would be assisted in their use of interrogation drugs by several "former" Nazi scientists recruited by the CIA and US State Department as part of Project Paperclip. By early 1952, the CIC's Rough Boys would routinely use Metrazol during interrogations, as well as LSD, mescaline and conventional electroshock units.
Metrazol-like drugs are still used in interrogations today. According to reports from several former noncommissioned Army officers, who served on rendition-related security details in Turkey, Pakistan and Romania, drugs that produce effects quite similar to Metrazol are still used in 2010 by the Pentagon and CIA on enemy combatants and rendered subjects held at the many "black sites" maintained across the globe. Observed one former officer recently, "They would twist up like a pretzel, in unbelievable shapes and jerk and shake like crazy, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads."
In 2008, at the behest of US Sens. Carl Levin, Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel and in reaction to a March 2008 article in The Washington Post, the Pentagon initiated an Inspector General Report on the use of "mind-altering substances by DoD [Department of Defense] Personnel during Interrogations of Detainees and/or Prisoners Captured during the War on Terror." It is not known if the investigation has been completed. Among the more famous recent cases of the use of drugs upon prisoners concerns one-time alleged "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, who had originally been accused of wanting to set off a "dirty bomb."
The government has gone to great efforts to keep the public uninformed as regards use of drugs on prisoners. In an article by Carol Rosenberg for McClatchy News in July 2010, Rosenberg reported that, when covering the Guantanamo military commissions trials, when the question of "what psychotropic drugs were given another accused 9/11 conspirator, Ramzi bin al Shibh, the courtroom censor hits a white noise button so reporters viewing from a glass booth can't hear the names of the drugs. Under current Navy instructions for the use of human subjects in research, the undersecretary of the Navy is described as the authority in charge of research concerning "consciousness-altering drugs or mind-control techniques," while at the same time is also responsible for "inherently controversial topics" that might attract media interest or "challenge by interest groups."Bobby is seven years old, but this is not the first time he has been subjected to... more
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Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night.
Goldman Sachs disclosed the list of companies to the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia.
Asked the significance of the list, Grassley said, "I hope it's as simple as taxpayers deserve to know what happened to their money."
He added, "We thought originally we were bailing out AIG. Then later on ... we learned that the money flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money went from these few big banks to dozens of financial institutions all around the world."
Grassley said he was reserving judgment on the appropriateness of U.S. taxpayer money ending up overseas until he learns more about the 32 entities.
Goldman Sachs (GS) received $5.55 billion from the government in fall of 2008 as payment for then-worthless securities it held in AIG. Goldman had already hedged its risk that the securities would go bad. It had entered into agreements to spread the risk with the 32 entities named in Friday's report.
Overall, Goldman Sachs received a $12.9 billion payout from the government's bailout of AIG, which was at one time the world's largest insurance company.
Goldman Sachs also revealed to the Senate Finance Committee that it would have received $2.3 billion if AIG had gone under. Other large financial institutions, such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, sold Goldman Sachs protection in the case of AIG's collapse. Those institutions did not have to pay Goldman Sachs after the government stepped in with tax money.
Shouldn't Goldman Sachs be expected to collect from those institutions "before they collect the taxpayers' dollars?" Grassley asked. "It's a little bit like a farmer, if you got crop insurance, you shouldn't be getting disaster aid."
Goldman had not disclosed the names of the counterparties it paid in late 2008 until Friday, despite repeated requests from Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel.
"I think we didn't get the information because they consider it very embarrassing," Grassley said, "and they ought to consider it very embarrassing."
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The initial $85 billion to bail out AIG was supplemented by an additional $49.1 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP, as well as additional funds from the Federal Reserve. AIG's debt to U.S. taxpayers totals $133.3 billion outstanding.
"The only thing I can tell you is that people have the right to know, and the Fed and the public's business ought to be more public," Grassley said.
The list of companies receiving money includes a few familiar foreign banks, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays.
DZ AG Deutsche Zantrake Genossenschaftz Bank, a German cooperative banking group, received $1.2 billion, more than a quarter of the money Goldman paid out.
Warren, in testimony Wednesday, said that the rescue of AIG "distorted the marketplace by turning AIG's risky bets into fully guaranteed transactions. Instead of forcing AIG and its counterparties to bear the costs of the company's failure, the government shifted those costs in full onto taxpayers."
Grassley stressed the importance of transparency in the marketplace, as well as in the government's actions.
"Just like the government, markets need more transparency, and consequently this is some of that transparency because we've got to rebuild confidence to make the markets work properly," Grassley said.
AIG received the bailout of $85 billion at the discretion of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which was led at the time by Timothy Geithner. He now is U.S. treasury secretary.
"I think it proves that he knew a lot more at the time than he told," Grassley said. "And he surely knew where this money was going to go. If he didn't, he should have known before they let the money out of their bank up there."
An attempt to reach Geithner Friday night through the White House public information office was unsuccessful.
Grassley has for years pushed to give the Government Accountability Office more oversight of the Federal Reserve.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Waterloo Democrat, said he would propose that the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations convene hearings on the need for more Federal Reserve oversight. Braley is a member of the subcommittee.
Braley said of Geithner, "I would assume he would be someone we would want to hear from because he would have firsthand knowledge."
Braley also noted that the AIG bailout was negotiated under President George W. Bush, a Republican.
He said he was confident that the financial regulatory reform bill signed by President Obama this week would help provide better oversight than the AIG bailout included.
"There was no regulatory framework in place," Braley said. "We had to put something in place to begin reining them in. I'm confident they will begin to be able to do that."Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many... more
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Obama Signs War Funding Bill
President Obama has signed into legislation a war funding bill that provides $37 billion more for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama signed the bill Thursday without public remarks in a low-key Oval Office session. With the new war spending, the total amount of money that Congress has allotted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has now surpassed $1 trillion.Obama Signs War Funding Bill
President Obama has signed into legislation a war... more
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Unfortunately, this is a civil action(http://voices.washingtonpost.com/market-cop/2010/07/politically-connected_wyly_bro.html?hpid=topnews) and the most we can hope for are some SEC fines (which are ludicrously low). Too bad this isn't a criminal case, but at least it's some karmic return for the "Wyly Coyotes," who funded the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry. (They also funded George W. Bush's attacks on John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries.)
Oh, and by the way: The Manhattan district attorney's office referred this case to the SEC in 2005. Wonder what took them so long?
Samuel Wyly and Charles Wyly -- billionaire brothers in Texas who have spent millions funding political campaigns -- committed violations of federal securities laws and fraud by using offshore accounts to secretly trade the shares of public companies whose boards they sat on, reaping more than $550 million in profit, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed Thursday.
The politically-active Wylys, who have been generous donors to Republican causes over the years, have faced questions in recent years -- including a Senate probe -- about whether they ran an extensive network of tax shelters.
"The cloak of secrecy has been lifted from the complex web of foreign structures used by the Wylys to evade the securities laws," said SEC deputy director of enforcement Lorin L. Reisner. "They used these structures to conceal hundreds of millions of dollars of gains in violation of the disclosure requirements for corporate insiders."
The SEC alleges that the brothers created an elaborate network of accounts and companies in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands that they used to trade more than $750 million in stock in four public companies they served as board members. The SEC charges that they also committed an insider trading violation concerning one of the companies, earning almost $32 million.
The Wyly's attorney and stockbroker were also charged.
They also own Michaels, the national arts and crafts chain. So we can blame them for scrapbooking, too!Unfortunately, this is a civil... more
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BAGHDAD – The U.S. Defense Department is unable to properly account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil money tapped by the U.S. for rebuilding the war ravaged nation, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The report by the U.S. Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction offers a compelling look at continued laxness in how such funds are being spent in a country where people complain basic services like electricity and clean water are sharply lacking seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The audit found that shoddy record keeping by the Defense Department left the Pentagon unable to fully account for $8.7 billion it withdrew between 2004 and 2007 from a special fund set up by the U.N. Security Council. Of that amount, Pentagon "could not provide documentation to substantiate how it spent $2.6 billion."
The funds are separate from the $53 billion allocated by Congress for rebuilding Iraq.
The report comes at a critical time for Iraq.BAGHDAD – The U.S. Defense Department is unable to properly account for over 95... more
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False Flag Cyber Attack Could Takedown The Internet
Billion dollar cybersecurity industry at the forefront of ‘Top Secret America’ complex
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Wednesday, Jul 21st, 2010
An increasing clamour to restrict and control the internet on behalf of the government, the Pentagon, the intelligence community and their private corporate arms, could result in a staged cyber attack being used as justification.
Over recent months we have seen a great increase in media coverage of inflated fears over a possible “electronic Pearl Harbor” event, with reports claiming that the U.S. could be “felled within 15 minutes”.
(VIDEO WARNING) Cyber Security Emergency: False Flag Government Cyber Attack Could Takedown The Internet…http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/video-warning-cyber-security-emergency-false-flag-government-cyber-attack-could-takedown-the-internet/
Vastly over-hyped (and in some cases completely asinine) claims that the power grids and other key infrastructure such as rail networks and water sources are wired up to the public internet have permeated such coverage.False Flag Cyber Attack Could Takedown The Internet
Billion dollar cybersecurity... more
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