tagged w/ "War on Terror"
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The Bush administration; they have scrubbed your phone calls, your e-mails, your affiliations, and they seem to remain above the law themselves.....
How did White House e-mails go missing? A federal appeals court is cool to the idea of forcing the Bush administration to reveal records that might explain what happened.
During a half-hour-long argument Nov. 14, the three-judge panel suggested that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to the records, a signal that the court would allow the documents to remain confidential.The Bush administration; they have scrubbed your phone calls, your e-mails, your... more
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American historians, may yet be able one day to sort what happened and why. Something all Americans have a right to know and should know about the Bush adminitration's decision making process.........we can only hope.
Two nonprofit organizations are applauding a court victory that is likely to keep their efforts to retrieve missing White House e-mails afloat until the next -- and likely more cooperative -- administration takes office.
The U.S. Court for the District of Columbia on Monday denied White House lawyers' motion to dismiss the groups' separate 2007 complaints that the Bush administration failed to preserve electronic communications as required by the 1950 Federal Records Act.
"Even though the judge has not ultimately ruled [on the case], this decision is a tremendous victory," said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel for The George Washington University's National Security Archive, one of the organizations that launched a complaint. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a separate lawsuit.American historians, may yet be able one day to sort what happened and why. Something... more
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Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions, and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US official told the Financial Times.
On each occasion, the cyber attackers accessed the White House computer system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information before US computer experts patched the system.
US government cyber intelligence experts suspect the attacks were sponsored by the Chinese government because of their targeted nature. But they concede that it is extremely difficult to trace the exact source of an attack beyond a server in a particular country.
Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple... more
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The Bush administration must give to a federal court documents related to government wiretapping of domestic communications without a warrant after the September 11 attacks, according to a recent court order.
U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy signed the order on Friday requiring the U.S. Justice Department to provide the court for private review certain documents that were sought in lawsuits filed by the civil liberties groups.
Kennedy ordered the administration to provide the documents from the White House Office of Legal Counsel by November 17, and said he will review them in private to see if their release would endanger national security.
The department argued that it was serving as the attorney for the administration and thus attorney-client privilege would allow it to keep classified information from public viewing, but Kennedy said its arguments were too vague.
"The attorney-client privilege is not necessarily the means for protecting this information," the order said. "Without more information, the court cannot conclude that the attorney-client privilege applies."
Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said: "We're reviewing the opinion and will respond appropriately in court."
The Bush administration must give to a federal court documents related to government... more
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The Defense Department has not taken steps to prevent companies whose Iraq reconstruction contracts were terminated for poor performance from receiving additional government work, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reported on Monday.
In a report on deficient Iraq reconstruction contracts, the SIGIR found that even when contracts were terminated for default due to poor performance, no action was taken to suspend or debar contractors from future contracts.
In several cases, poor performing contractors were awarded additional contracts. In two cases, contractors suspended for fraud and other criminal violations received new construction contracts after being placed on the Excluded Parties List System.
The inspector general identified 1,262 Defense Department projects for Iraq reconstruction that have been terminated as of June 2008. The majority, 732, were ended "for the convenience of the government," while another 530 were terminated for default on the part of the contractor.
These terminated projects had initial obligations of nearly $1 billion, according to the report, of which about $600 million had been paid to contractors, including $89.7 million on projects ended for default.
Although the Federal Acquisition Regulation does not require agencies to suspend or debar contractors for poor performance, the report noted, it does authorize agencies to suspend or debar them for failure or refusal to perform on a contract and for any other action of a serious and compelling nature affecting responsibility.
The Defense Department has not taken steps to prevent companies whose Iraq... more
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For a 13-month stretch starting in March 2005, three environmentalists working for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network were listed in a Maryland State Police data base as being “suspected of involvement in terrorism.” The description went on to note that the police had “no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime,” and the listing, and possible tracking, did not continue. But the activists — not surprisingly — were not happy to hear about this when they received letters from the state police earlier this month informing them of the situation. The American Civil Liberties Union is investigating the investigations.For a 13-month stretch starting in March 2005, three environmentalists working for the... more
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Khawar Mehdi: What happened to Pakistani military after 9/11? Part 4 of 4
In part 4 of this series, Pakistan analyst Khawar Mehdi tells Pepe Escobar about the repercussions of Musharraf's crucial policy switch after 9/11, abandoning the Taliban and embracing the Bush-declared "war on terror". Mehdi recalls the visit by a Pakistani delegation to Afghanistan that allegedly asked Taliban emir Mulah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden. Mehdi argues that the true story was that the head of the delegation, Pakistani ISI chief Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, convinced the Taliban to implement a new Pakistani plan, advising the Taliban to retreat instead of facing overwhelming US military power. Mehdi also discusses how Musharraf's radical U-turn has been extremely confusing for the Pakistani armed forces and for the ISI - which had nurtured the Taliban since the mid-1990s.
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89316301_the_revamped_war_on_terror_exposed
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89316341_who_s_in_us_line_of_fire_in_pak_tribal_areas
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89318873_al_qaeda_and_jihad_s_tribal_connections
Khawar Mehdi: What happened to Pakistani military after 9/11? Part 4 of 4
In part 4... more
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Pakistani analyst Khawar Mehdi: The jihad's ideology and leaders. Part 3
In the third part of this series, Pakistani analyst Khawar Mehdi tells Pepe Escobar how al- Qaeda after 9/11 reorganized and established itself in North Waziristan in the tribal areas. But it's not only Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the historical al-Qaeda leadership that enjoys freedom of movement. There is also the Haqqani family, whose stalwart is fabled 1980s Afghan jihad commander Jalaluddin Haqqani; and another notorious old guard mujahid, Gulbuddiin Hekmatyar, very much favored by the Saudis during the 1980s and an avid practitioner of the politics of jihad. Hekmatyar fighters are even closing in on Peshawar, the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province, using the very popular rationale that "the Americans are now attacking us."
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89316301_the_revamped_war_on_terror_exposed
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89316341_who_s_in_us_line_of_fire_in_pak_tribal_areas
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89323433_pakistani_army_protected_bin_laden_and_taliban
Pakistani analyst Khawar Mehdi: The jihad's ideology and leaders. Part 3
In... more
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Unmanned drone launches missile strike in South Waziristan village.
US troops launched a missile strike in Northern Pakistan on Thursday, hours after Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, assured leaders that the US would respect the nation's sovereignty.
Unmanned drone launches missile strike in South Waziristan village.
US troops... more
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The revamped war on terror: Who's who in Pakistan's tribal areas. Part 2
In the second part of this series, Pakistan analyst Khawar Mehdi explains to Pepe Escobar how US forces crossed from Afghanistan to Pakistan in hot pursuit, in their raid on the tribal areas on September 2. Mehdi identifies the key tribal leaders the US is after, from fabled Mujahideen Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the jihad in the 1980s, to Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, the top Taliban group in the Pakistani tribal areas. The aims and strategies of different groups are also discussed. Included is rare, recent footage shot in North and South Waziristan.
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89316301_the_revamped_war_on_terror_exposed
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89318873_al_qaeda_and_jihad_s_tribal_connections
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89323433_pakistani_army_protected_bin_laden_and_taliban
The revamped war on terror: Who's who in Pakistan's tribal areas. Part 2... more
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How Pakistan reacts against US Special Forces in the tribal areas. Part 1
This is the first part of a series on the new face of the "war on terror" in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. This follows the latest US Special Forces operations inside Pakistan in the last few days. Journalist and analyst Khawar Mehdi tells Pepe Escobar about the main political players involved; the strain the new US strategy puts over the Pakistani military and government; the ways Pakistani public opinion and tribal area Pashtuns are angrily reacting to it; and the consequences of renewed anti-US sentiment spreading to most sectors of Pakistani society.
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89316341_who_s_in_us_line_of_fire_in_pak_tribal_areas
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89318873_al_qaeda_and_jihad_s_tribal_connections
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89323433_pakistani_army_protected_bin_laden_and_taliban
How Pakistan reacts against US Special Forces in the tribal areas. Part 1
This is... more
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Gareth Porter: Bush and US intelligence not speaking the same language. Part 3
In the third and final part of this series, investigative military historian Gareth Porter expands on the multiple factors at play behind the decision by the Bush administration to allow US Special Forces to conduct targeted strikes inside Pakistan, against the better judgement of the National Intelligence Council. Porter stresses how this constitutes a very dangerous escalation of the "war on terror", which may lead to further destabilization of Pakistan - a nuclear-armed nation of 170 million people - and even to a war between the US and Pakistan.
Gareth Porter is a historian and investigative journalist on US foreign and military policy analyst. He writes regularly for Inter Press Service on US policy towards Iraq and Iran. Author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89293442_al_qaeda_blames_iran_us_targets_inside_pakistan
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89297809_the_war_on_terror_targets_pakistanGareth Porter: Bush and US intelligence not speaking the same language. Part 3
In... more
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Beleaguered president leaves but Pakistan's problems remain.
With opponents vowing to impeach him, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday. According to the Guardian Newspaper Musharraf’s problems are far from over. Though covered for his military coup in 1999 by a constitutional amendment, he has no such protection for the state of emergency he declared last fall, and is thus open to prosecution as long as he remains in Pakistan. There are also a lot of people-mainly Islamic militants-who want to kill him. According to the Hindu newspaper “Musharraf’s exit is unlikely to undo Pakistani militants. “ It goes on to state that the country’s new civilian government has done "little to change Musharraf’s policies in the troubled northwest regions bordering Afghanistan. The coalition government wants to retain close ties to Washington, and support the international fight against Islamic extremism."Beleaguered president leaves but Pakistan's problems remain.
With opponents... more
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Winter Soldier Conference sponsored by IVAW and Democracy Now. Several soldiers detailing their time in Iraq
For the full clips and more please visit:
http://www.ivaw.orgWinter Soldier Conference sponsored by IVAW and Democracy Now. Several soldiers... more
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It was all over the news today that Aafia Siddiqui was allegedly recently captured in Afghanistan and brought to the USA to face charges of murder. Yet, if you read the April 3, 2003, article linked above, she was already arrested in Karachi five years ago. Her three young children "disappeared" with her. And now they are trying to tell us that she was recently arrested in Afghanistan - yet there is a lot of evidence pointing to her having been a prisoner of the USA in the infamous Bagram prison in Afghanistan for the past five years. The question remains - what has the USA done with her three little children?
See also http://soj.weblog.ro/2004-05-29/10410/The-mysterious-case-of-Aafia-Saddiqui.htmlIt was all over the news today that Aafia Siddiqui was allegedly recently captured in... more
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Five years after her mysterious disappearance in Karachi, the FBI has finally conceded that an MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist is alive and is in US custody in Afghanistan.
Aafia Siddiqui, 36, disappeared with her three children while visiting her parents’ home in Karachi in March 2003, around the same time the FBI announced that it wanted to question her over her alleged links to Al Qaeda.
Her family’s lawyer Elaine Whitfield Sharp said she believed recent media reports about Mrs Siddiqui’s incarceration increased pressure on the US and Pakistani authorities to divulge more information.
“I don’t believe that they just found Aafia,” she said. “I believe that she was there all along.”
The fate of her three young, American-born children is still unknown.
Before her disappearance, Mrs Siddiqui lived in a Boston suburb of Roxbury and studied at Brandeis University as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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More at link.
To learn more about who Aafia Siddiqui really is, click here: http://soj.weblog.ro/2004-05-29/10410/The-mysterious-case-of-Aafia-Saddiqui.html
In a 2006 report, Amnesty International listed Mrs Siddiqui as among a number of “disappeared” suspects in the war on terrorism. On July 6, 2007, AI listed Mrs Siddiqui as a possible CIA “secret detainee”, although she was still on the FBI’s Seeking Information - Terrorism list. Late last week, Mrs Siddiqui’s photo still appeared on the FBI’s list of people wanted for questioning.
Since no charges were ever filed against her, human rights groups treated her case as that of “extrajudicial detention”, although no government ever claimed detaining her.
Even the FBI does not mention any charges in the notice seeking information about her. “Although the FBI has no information indicating this individual is connected to specific terrorist activities, the FBI would like to locate and question this individual,” says the notice.
The “gray lady of Bagram”: On July 7, a British journalist Yvonne Ridley told a news conference in Islamabad that a Pakistani woman had been held in solitary confinement for years at the Bagram US base near Kabul. The identity of this prisoner remains unconfirmed. She has been nicknamed the “gray lady of Bagram”. Ms Ridley, however, speculated that she was Aafia Siddiqui.
Moazzam Begg and several other former captives also have reported that a female prisoner, prisoner 650, was held in Bagram. The former captives claim that she has lost her sanity and cries all the time.
Although it is still not clear if the “gray lady of Bagram” is Aafia Siddiqui, her family’s attorney told reporters on Friday that the FBI had finally conceded that Mrs Siddiqui is in US custody.
“It has been confirmed by the FBI that Aafia Siddiqui is alive,” said Ms Sharp, who said she spoke to an FBI official on Thursday.
“She is injured but alive, and she is in Afghanistan.”
For five years, US and Pakistani authorities denied knowing her whereabouts. But human rights groups and Mrs Siddiqui’s relatives had long suspected that she had been captured in Karachi and secretly taken into custody.
On Thursday, an FBI official visited Mrs Siddiqui’s brother in Houston to deliver the news that she was alive and in custody, Ms Sharp said.
FBI officials, however, would not say who was holding her or reveal the fate of her children.
“If she’s in US custody, they want to know where she is,” Ms Sharp said. “Who has got her? And does she need medical care?”
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment.
Five years after her mysterious disappearance in Karachi, the FBI has finally conceded... more
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