ISI Claims That Operation AGAINST Militants Has Begun–(We’ll see.)

Four soldiers killed, 12 injured in South Waziristan operation

An intelligence official said soldiers, tanks and artillery were being taken towards militant areas. Telephone services had apparently been suspended to the region. —AP/File Photo

ISLAMABAD: More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a much-awaited ground offensive in an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border early Saturday, officials told The Associated Press.

Four soldiers were killed and 12 others wounded during clashes in Waziristan the army said. Meanwhile nine militants have so far been killed in the operation.

‘The army has launched an operation after receiving orders from the government. The operation was launched early in the morning. Both air and ground troops are taking part,’ Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

The offensive in South Waziristan follows months of air strikes intended to soften up militant defences that have also forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

South Waziristan is a key base for foreign and national militant groups planning attacks on American and Nato targets in Afghanistan and beyond. The US is racing to send in night-vision goggles and other equipment to aid the latest operation.

The region is remote and mountainous. It has a leaky border with Afghanistan and fiercely independent tribes who have long resisted government interference. With winter snows just weeks away, the army has limited time to pursue a major ground attack there, and even if it does manage to wipe out its intended targets, it’s unclear whether troops will occupy the area or for how long.

The officials Saturday – two with intelligence, three with the government and one senior army official – gave few details but said the troops were pursuing militants holed up in the region, including in major trouble spots such as Ladha and Makeen towns.

The army has sent more than 30,000 troops to the region to participate in the combat, said one of the intelligence officials. He said the ground forces were attacking from different directions while helicopter gunships and other aircraft also were bombing various sites.

The military already has said it already has sealed off many supply and escape routes.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information or because they did not have authority to release it to media on the record.

In a previous interview with AP, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the assault would be limited to slain Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud’s holdings – a swath of territory that stretches roughly 3,310 square kilometres.

The plan is to capture and hold the area where Abbas estimates 10,000 insurgents are headquartered and reinforced with about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them of Central Asian origin. ‘There are Arabs, but the Arabs are basically in the leadership, providing resources and expertise and in the role of trainers,’ he said.

Taliban spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday.

Communications in and around the region appeared jammed, making it difficult to reach local residents or other witnesses.

The army expects the militants to use guerrilla tactics including ambushes, suicide attacks and roadside bombs.

Despite sometimes rocky relations with the Pakistani military, the US is trying to rush in equipment that would help with mobility, night fighting and precision bombing, a US Embassy official told The Associated Press in a recent interview, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive.

In addition to night-vision devices, the Pakistan military has said it is seeking additional Cobra helicopter gunships, heliborne lift capability, laser-guided munitions and intelligence equipment to monitor cell and satellite telephones.

The army has considered the weather in the timing the offensive. Snows in the region could block major roads. At the same time, a harsh winter could work to the army’s advantage by driving fighters out of their unheated mountain hideouts.

Reaping the whirlwind

By Inayatullah

Pakistan’s federal government, led by the PPP, sowed the wind and is now reaping the whirlwind. Its inadequacies, shenanigans and poor performance are taking their toll. It mishandled the energy problem. It let the sugar and atta crises spin out of control, while its grip on the law and order is weak and disappointing. Stories about corruption, extravagance and mismanagement abound. Cavalierly, it jogs along and hopes to muddle through for another three years.
What the government cannot get away from is the manner in which its present leadership managed to grab power. How very smart of it indeed. How, after the assassination of the Party’s leader, a cabal of grasping upstarts rushed into the portals of power and how they resorted to all kinds of tricks to retain their hold on the helm. It is ironic, indeed, that all their endeavours to win the confidence of their masters in Washington and London have failed to improve their tarnished image. It is not only their past, but their inability to deliver that keeps them in the dock.
Furthermore, the Kerry-Lugar Bill, more than anything else, brings into bold relief the federal government’s remarkable characteristics and capabilities. One: Their obsession with begging. Give us otherwise we will die of starvation. Please, friends come to our help. Please, please don’t let us down. If you don’t help us, you too will suffer. The whole world will feel the pain. You are free to attach any conditions, just promise us a free flow of dollars. Two: We are apprehensive of the military’s influence. So please help us control their ambition. Three: We have no objection to your interrogating our nationals involved with our nuclear programmes. It doesn’t really matter. With friends like you why should we worry about the protection of our national assets? Four: We have no objection to your monitoring activities of Pakistanis in places like Quetta and Muridke. Please help us to stop them using our territories against our neighbours. Of course, we are an independent country. We are only exercising our freedom when we let you do so many things, on our behalf. As the saying goes: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” Five: Knowing that it is your money, it is only fair that we let you use it the way you think it is best for us. What is the harm in your bypassing the Government of Pakistan, in larger mutual interests? Let our procedures and rules of business not hamper you from selecting projects, choose places for various activities, opt for organisations and personnel. We are sure that your plans and designs will bring us prosperity and success.

Whether you do it or we do it, after all the beneficiaries will be Pakistanis. Six: Why should we object to the 50 percent or so of the funds going back to your country if you are good enough to provide consultants (whatever be their calibre), contractors and other intermediaries? Why shouldn’t you too benefit? After all we are talking about an Enhanced Partnership, as spelt out in the Congressional Act of 2009. Partnership, indeed, implies benefits on both sides.
Seven: We are a democratic government elected by the people of Pakistan. Therefore, there was no need for us to consult the opposition, our coalition partners and the military as far as the Kerry-Lugar Bill is concerned. We, after all, have the peoples’ mandate. But still when the opposition and the military stirred up a storm, we responded and permitted a discussion to be held on the bill in the Parliament. We have taken the extraordinary step to send our foreign minister back to Washington. He has been able to secure a “historic” explanation from the US Congressional leaders. They have certified that the sovereignty of Pakistan will remain unscathed. What more could we do? Just read the Joint Explanatory Statement: “The legislation does not seek in any way to compromise Pakistan’s sovereignty, impinge on Pakistan’s national security interests, or micromanage any aspect of Pakistani military or civilian operations.”
(Quite another matter that the whole text of the Act, stays totally intact, with all its conditions and clearly spelt out obligations on the part of the Government of Pakistan.) Eight: What is most disconcerting is that the opposition, military, judiciary, media and even the Americans do not trust us.
And finally a word about PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif. For more than a month he was out of the country and now on his return he is accusing us of ‘betraying the national interest’. All along he has been assuring us of his support. Why doesn’t he keep his word?
Yes, we have usually not kept our word or commitments. We despite assurances have not repealed the 17th Amendment. But this does not mean that Mian Sahib should oppose the Kerry-Lugar Bill which brings so much money to our poor country. Strange that we do so much for the good of the people and our beloved country, and nobody appreciates our selfless services. Yes, we are the products of NRO. But it is because of the NRO that we forced Musharraf to resign and therefore the co-chairman of the PPP is the honourable occupant of the presidency. Long live NRO. Long live Kerry-Lugar Bill. Long live honourable Berman, Kerry, Lugar and Biden. Three cheers for Mr Barack Hussein Obama for signing the Kerry-Lugar Bill and turning it into an Act of partnership. Long live Islamabad-Washington partnership.
Pakistan Paindabad.
The writer is a political and international relations analyst.
Email: pacade@brain.net.pk

Pakistani Press Pointing Fingers, But Still Afraid to Name Names

[Until Pakistan's defenders of democracy can openly say that the United States is behind the wave of terrorism that engulfs them, there is little hope of escaping the onslaught.]

Agenda behind terrorism

THE series of terrorist acts across NWFP and Punjab should be a wake up call for the state that its policies, such as they are, to fight this lethal menace in Pakistan are deeply flawed. The post-9/11 premature jumping on to the US bandwagon in a misdirected “war on terror” altered qualitatively the nature of the terrorist threat in Pakistan. Following the erroneous US lead, Pakistan’s focus on a military-centric approach to fighting terrorism has only succeeded in generating more violent terrorism in the country, with new groups claiming centre stage like the TTP. The US drone attacks have hardly helped; nor has the growing chaos being caused by the US covert and overt intrusions in to Pakistan’s internal affairs.
Meanwhile, the government has failed to formulate a cohesive anti-terror policy in which the core should be a holistic socio-political-economic strategy supported by the state’s coercive power. The immediate goal in any such asymmetric war has to be isolation of the enemy from the people who provide the shelter for the terrorists. Pakistan continues to fall in to the US-laid trap of using the military option alone. The push now is for commencing a full scale military operation in North Waziristan – at a time when the blowback from the Swat operation is being felt across the country.
Meanwhile, the recent terrorist attacks reveal a new breed of terrorists who are well-trained and well-armed with highly sophisticated weaponry. Further, as the Interior Minister himself admitted, these terrorists are mercenaries, being paid for their dastardly acts. So there is no religious thread here at all. If one connects the dots, the pattern that is emerging is one where a deliberate trail of destruction is being created across Pakistan, which will create a situation desired in the US design outlined in a US Army Journal article entitled “Blood Borders” published in the wake of 9/11. Is it a mere coincidence that Quetta and Muridke have been targeted in the KLB Act and all religious groups identified by name but for the TTP? Is it also a mere coincidence that the new spate of terrorism has begun at a time when there is attention focused on the covert US operatives spreading across Pakistan; when the US is seeking to target Quetta with drones; when there is growing evidence of an Indian hand in Pakistan’s terrorism? Perhaps the most obvious pointer to a larger hidden anti-Pakistan agenda behind the terrorism is the US pressure for military action also in southern Punjab. This is a recipe for civil war. Already the centre of gravity of the “war on terror” has been shifted, first from Afghanistan to FATA and now to the centre of Pakistan, Punjab itself. Unless the Pakistani state sees the larger picture, our detractors’ plans will succeed.

15 killed in Peshawar suicide bombing

21 injured; police offices targeted

By Javed Aziz Khan

PESHAWAR: Fifteen people, including three policemen and a minor, were killed and 21 others wounded in a suicide attack on the offices of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the police, located a few meters away from the recently-established Swati Phatak military post, in the Cantonment area on Friday.

SSP Operations Karim Khan said the death toll was 15. The dead included a father and his two daughters, who were returning to their home in the Swati Pathak area.

Manzoor Hussain, employed at a local college, his elder daughter Naheed, who taught at the same educational institution, and her 10-year-old sister Aasia were caught in the blast and killed.

Others killed in the blast included three cops, Amir Nawaz, Zeeshan and Ahmad Khan, and Syed Hasan Raza and Sajjadullah. A boy in his school uniform was also killed, his face bloodied by injuries. A man carried his body in his arms towards a vehicle.

Another person and a woman killed in the blast could not be identified. The upper body of the woman was blown up, the reason why the cops believed she was the suicide bomber. The policemen wounded in the blast included Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pervez Khattak, Zarshad, Mohammad Naseer, Aurangzeb, Syed Ali Shah, Masood and Zainul Abideen. At least, two detainees at the police facility were among the injured and television images from the scene of the attack showed them in handcuffs while being taken to hospital.

The Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) officials estimated that around 70 kgs of explosives were used in the attack. Initially, the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Liaqat Ali said it was a triple suicide attack and the first of its kind as a female and two male suicide bombers were involved in it. However, there were reports that the police later retracted the suggestion, as evidence emerged that it could be only one suicide bombing and that the woman in question was an innocent victim of the blast.

“As the bomber stopped his car near the SIU building, a motorbike following the vehicle also stopped and a woman sitting on its rear seat started rushing towards the newly-constructed Army Flats,” the CCPO Liaqat Ali told media persons.

He claimed the security personnel asked the suspicious woman to stop but she did not comply. “The guards opened fire at the woman, after which she detonated explosives tied around her body. The two men also blew themselves up, hitting the SIU building,” he stressed.

He insisted that initial investigations suggested that there was more than one suicide bombing at the SIU facility, adding that the opinion of the Bomb Disposal Unit was also being sought. However, the Bomb Disposal Unit officials said that only one terrorist riding a white Suzuki car carried out the attack at around 1 pm. Shafqat Malik, an assistant inspector general of police and head of the unit, categorically stated that there was only one suicide bombing. He told a questioner that the motorbike was badly damaged as it was being driven close to the vehicle in which the suicide bomber was riding and was blown up.

Other senior police officials said the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the SIU building. The explosion damaged the building and the SIU premises, including an adjoining mosque where the faithful were preparing for Friday prayers. The SIU, previously called CIA, is the police facility in which captured militants and hardened criminals are interrogated.

As some alleged criminals and terrorists were locked up in the SIU lock-up, the policemen rushed to the scene immediately to shift them to other places. The SIU is located on the roadside and was thus vulnerable and a tempting target for the militants.

Keeping in view the fact that terrorist attacks invariably take place on Friday and due to innumerable threats to Peshawar from terrorists, the residents were scared since morning. A tense calm prevailed, as there was a feeling that something untoward might happen in Peshawar. Most roads wore a deserted look, bazaars were largely empty and there was a sense of fearful anticipation.

Following the series of terror attacks, the owners and occupants of several buildings had erected barriers to forestall acts of sabotage. Some media organisations also tried to upgrade their security arrangements following official reports of threats to the media.

NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who feared more attacks in the coming days, said Friday’s bombing was linked to the looming military operation in South Waziristan and the one in progress in Khyber Agency. “We faced the same situation when we launched the operation in Swat. We had neither accepted their pressure at that time nor can we be pressured now,” he stressed.

APP adds: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday strongly condemned the blast in Peshawar that killed several people. The president in his message said terrorism would be rooted out from the country. He said terrorists could not deter the government’s resolve to fight terrorism and extremism.

The prime minister in his message said: “Pakistan remains committed to the war against terror and its law-enforcement agencies will not rest till the elimination of all extremists and terrorists.” He expressed his deep sorrow over the loss of life.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Syed Sumsam Ali Shah Bukhari, Parliamentary Secretary for Information Azeem Daultana, Leader of the House in Senate Syed Nayar Hussain Bokhari and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Wasim Sajjad also condemned the blast and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed souls.

Your Favorite STARS Promote Submission to the False Messiah

ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC NETWORK STARS APPEAR TOGETHER IN PSA TO PROMOTE UNPRECEDENTED BLOCK OF TV PROGRAMMING TO ENCOURAGE VOLUNTEERISM

LOS ANGELES — Eight stars from the four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – join together in new public service announcement that encourages viewers to tune in to an unprecedented week of television, October 19 -25, as part of EIF’s iParticipate national initiative to promote service and volunteering.

Simon Baker (CBS’ The Mentalist), Emily Deschanel (FOX’s Bones), Eva Longoria Parker(ABC’s Desperate Housewives), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (CBS’ The New Adventures of Old Christine), Masi Oka (NBC’s Heroes), Michael Strahan (FOX’s Brothers), Kate Walsh (ABC’s Private Practice), and Rainn Wilson (NBC’s The Office) are featured in the 30-second spot, which reinforces that great change begins with small choices and one decision to change leads to others. The spot ends by encouraging people to tune-in starting October 19 to find out how the networks are participating. The PSA was produced by filmmaker Jesse Dylan, with his agency FreeForm. It begins airing the week of September 28 on all four broadcast networks.

EIF is mobilizing the entire entertainment community around the ground-breaking, multi-year iParticipate campaign, which promotes a new way of thinking about service and seeks to persuade millions more Americans to volunteer regularly. As a centerpiece, the major broadcast networks and others will spotlight service through scripted programming, segments and PSAs with inspirational messages and storylines about volunteerism. More than 60 shows have signed up to participate.

Other elements of EIF’s iParticipate initiative include:

• a dedicated website iParticipate.org, designed to make it easier than ever before for millions of Americans to find volunteer opportunities in their local communities across five key areas of service: Children and Education, Community Health and Wellness, Financial Security, Environmental Conservation, and Support for Veterans and Military Families. The website features calendars of events, maps, digital tool kits and uses the power of social networking vehicles like Facebook, to make it simple for individuals not only to volunteer, but to recruit friends to join them;
• a series of celebrity-driven public service announcements that will reinforce the importance of volunteerism and supporting causes like Welcome Back Veterans. Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew McConaughey are among the performers featured in the PSAs.
• grants from the Entertainment Industry Foundation to key volunteer organizations to help build capacity to accept, train and deploy volunteers.

iParticipate was recently launched in the heart of New York’s Times Square. EIF was joined by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and 15 mayors from around the country, numerous celebrities, including Ashton Kutcher, Tyler Perry, Tim Daly (ABC), Christine Baranski (CBS), Randy Jackson (FOX), and Michelle Trachtenberg (NBC), among others, and key service groups to launch the initiative.

Leading companies and organizations that have joined EIF in supporting iParticipate include AARP’s Create The Good volunteer network (www.CreateTheGood.org), Medco Health Solutions and its “Give Health a Hand” program (www.GiveHealthAHand.org), Major League Baseball and its “Welcome Back Veterans” initiative (www.WelcomeBackVeterans.org), and UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthgroup.com/main/SocialResponsibility.aspx). These organizations will engage their employees all over the country in grassroots service efforts.

The rate at which Americans volunteer regularly has not increased in 40 years and has generally remained around 26%, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly half of all people who currently volunteer started because they were asked by someone they know.

About the Entertainment Industry Foundation
The Entertainment Industry Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the leading charitable organization of entertainment industry, and has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support programs addressing critical health, education and social issues. Visit http://www.eifoundation.org or http://www.iParticipate.org.

Thought Crime Is Death

Thought Crime Is Death
Jim Kirwan
10-16-9

“Thought-Crime does not entail Death, Thought-Crime is death. This is the essential crime that contains all others in itself. April 4, 1984 from the past or to the future; to an age when thought is free from the Age of Big Brother from the Age of the Thought-Police – from a dead-man-Greetings.” These are the words of Winston Smith in the film called 1984, which is the forerunner for what we in the United States have just become. (1) Thursday, October 15, 2009 “An insidious brainwashing program set to be launched next week will “organically” weave the government’s political propaganda into prime time network television shows, with positive talking points about Obama’s environmental, bailout, health care and “servitude” agenda being seamlessly integrated into the content of dramas, reality shows and comedies. Under the auspices of a program run by the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), network TV shows will be used to promote “service and volunteerism” on behalf of the public as part of a “week-long of television programming on all four leading broadcast networks ­ ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and all affiliated broadcast and cable properties as well, and other networks, beginning October 19.” According to the EIF press release, “Network shows that will feature volunteerism in some way during the week of Oct 19th,” include the following. ABC All My Children, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Brothers and Sisters, Castle, Cougar Town, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Flash Forward, General Hospital, Good Morning America, Grey’s Anatomy, Hank, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Modern Family, One Life To Live, Private Practice, The Forgotten, The Middle, The View, Ugly Betty CBS Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Gary Unmarried, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs FOX America’s Most Wanted, Bones, Brothers, COPS, So You Think You Can Dance, Till Death NBC 30 Rock, Access Hollywood, Community, Days of Our Lives, Heroes, Parks and Recreation, The Biggest Loser, The Office, Today Show Despite the fact that this was announced back in September, a new investigation by John Nolte has revealed all kinds of surreptitious connections that give a solid indication of what we can expect to be promoted by the TV shows that will effectively be under government control from Monday onwards. Not only will program makers prostrate themselves to push Obama’s lies about health care, banker bailouts, global warming and creepy public service programs that border on mandatory volunteerism, but they will also lead unsuspecting victims of their brainwashing into the arms of groups like Planned Parenthood.” (2) Any attempt to minimize the effects of this most recent edict from the US government’s propaganda arm would be a monstrous mistake. Given that we already have in place, the military components of the World of 1984 in our pledge of “unending war for unending peace” we must now add Newspeak and Thought Crimes to the list of crimes that this government will now be able to charge the people of this country with, as we continue to obliterate the founding principles of the United States. This latest government intrusion into the public arena of communications fits nicely with the already established illegal spying that was set up by Cheney-Bush; seven months before the massive criminal act of 911, that set-up the nation and the world for the precepts contained in “1984.” This latest obscenity that allows the government to use commercial-television to broadcast their political propaganda, as ‘entertainment, while it continues to intensify and censor private communications of all types marks the actual physical beginning of the future, as foretold in George Orwell’s film “1984.” With this latest imposition, life in what was the USA will finally begin to look like the scenes in the film which are available in the first footnote below. If more proof is needed of just how far from reality we have fallen one need only listen to the words of the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Irene Kahn. An attractive and quite literate person she speaks to the world about her new book, “The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights.” She sounds sane; but when you try to fit what she says into the context of the reality of political corruption and global control-she sounds a lot more like Alice after she fell into the rabbit-hole. She ‘credits’ Obama with his unearned Nobel Peace Prize and turns her philosophy’s into unending-pretzels of justification, while trying to make sense of a world that has already embraced the absolute and total need for privatized criminal-enterprises to take over everything to do with either Poverty or Human Rights. It is clear that ‘Amnesty-International has also joined the herd of organizations that have caved-in to the New World Order, and to their universally malevolent barbarity toward compassion and the problems of the human race. (3) These new invasions and misinterpretations of the problems which the world faces now are due in large part to the stealth-role that the extreme-left has always played in support of the far more public extreme-right; as that was played out by the Cheney-Bush Era on the global stage. “1984″ is and was the result of both sides in this theoretical war for what’s left of the minds & hearts of the walking manikins that this society has now become-almost without exception. The truth of that sentence will either be shown or denied, based on whether the government gets away with this new and far more blatant attempt to control our every thought and word, as well as deed. . . kirwanstudios@sbcglobal.net 1) Nineteen Eighty-Four ­ the complete film http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5464625623984168940# 2) Government Propaganda to Infest Network TV Shows http://www.prisonplanet.com/government-propaganda-to-infest-network-tv-shows.html 3) Amnesty International Head Irene Khan on “The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights” http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/16/amnesty_international_head_irene_khan_on

Army Activates Strategic Lying Unit, Waging Mind-War Upon Unsuspecting Populations

Unique Army Reserve unit activates with state-of-the-art mission

Oct 15, 2009

By Spec. Peter Jun, 361st Public Affairs Operations Center

Photo credit Sgt. Joseph Morris, 361st PAOC

Units of the 151st Theater Information Operations Group salute during the unit’s activation ceremony at Fort Totten, N.Y.

FORT TOTTEN, N.Y. (Oct. 6, 2009) — “It’s a whole different Army now. It’s a different fight, and Information Operations paints the battlefield in what people believe, what they think,” said Col. Calvin DeWitt, during his speech as he assumed command of the newly activated and one-of-a-kind Army Reserve unit — the 151st Theater Information Operations Group at Fort Totten.

The launch of the 151st, the first unit of its type, will enhance the overall Army Reserve mission, according to DeWitt. The mission objective is to gain, maintain, and control the information environment on the battlefield by synchronizing related capabilities comprised of five core functions: electronic warfare, military deception, psychological operations, operational security, and computer network operations.

“This is the first Army Reserve unit to integrate all of these skill sets to perform this mission,” said DeWitt. “This war will be won by men and women who engage and influence populations with computers, psychological operations, electronics, and the media. In this day and age, this is a mission where the Army must be effective.”

The initiative originated from Gen. David Petraeus, current commander of U.S. Central Command, and the architect behind the success of the “surge” in Iraq. It was Petraeus who emphasized that the Army needed to focus on influencing foreign civilian and governmental populations, especially in a counter-insurgency environment. That need, said Dewitt, started on Sept. 11, 2001, in lower Manhattan’s financial district, just a half hour drive from the 151st’s new headquarters at the Ernie Pyle Army Reserve Center in neighboring Queens.

The 151st supports contingency operations around the world with primary support to the European Command and the Africa Command. In the future, 151st deployments will usually occur in teams of five to 10 soldiers. Those teams will represent various core competencies and be tailored to the particular mission requirement.

Maj. Gen. Mari K. Eder, commander of the U.S. Army Reserve Joint and Special Troops Support Command, Salt Lake City, Utah, addressed the troops during the activation ceremony and reminded them of their important role in the Army’s future and in “the information operations revolution.” Eder’s command serves as the higher headquarters for the 151st.

“To see a unit that stands up and activates … to see new traditions begin … new missions begin to form, I think it’s a great day and a bright day for our future,” said Eder. Countering the ideological support of terror by utilizing every aspect of information in this modern information age is why the activation of this unit came about,” she said.

“From what I have seen I know any challenge can be met by the soldiers in this unit,” said Eder. “They’re greatly trained, greatly experienced and ready to take on the challenges of this revolution in information.”

DeWitt, who will now travel from Lawrence, Kansas, to command the 151st, said the biggest challenge thus far in standing up the unit has been recruiting and training over 150 new positions for the headquarters element and two subordinate battalions, which are also located at Fort Totten.

Ultimately, he hopes to recruit against the authorized strength of more than 300 Soldiers. DeWitt, who previously commanded a Psychological Operations company in Iraq, is an instructor of the Army’s Information Operations Officers Qualification Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He has been using his experience to lead his new soldiers in a new direction.

One of these new Soldiers is Pfc. Thina Ngin, who has been in the Army for three months. She was only 12 years old on Sept. 11, 2001, but was sitting in school in New York City when World Trade Center towers were hit. She could see the smoke billowing out of the structures from the window of her school.

“September 11th didn’t really impact me at the time, I was only a kid,” said Ngin, who serves as a local area network manager in the 301st Information Operations Battalion, a subordinate unit of the 151st. “I never thought I would join the military. But as I got older I wanted direction in my life. And I looked to the Army for that direction.” Her spirit is indicative of many of the troops in the unit, who just have a desire to serve country during a difficult period in its history, but bring a wealth of technical skills and savvy to the mission, having grown up in this information revolution.

“Today we have Soldiers who were 10 years old when terrorists attacked New York City. They are standing where other Soldiers have stood, prepared to do their part in a war that may go on for years.” said DeWitt. “These Soldiers will be fighting an enemy our predecessors never considered — with capabilities they couldn’t have imagined.”

“The truth is the nation needs a new breed of Soldiers able to reach out to the populations of the Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq. And as of today we stand ready to answer that call,” he said.

The 151st TIOG unit crest displays the Twin Towers with a banner that reads in Latin “Nos Memor– We Remember.” And as the 151st TIOG crest reminds us — especially those who serve this country — that we as Americans should always remember.

CIA fuels suspicion with fight over JFK-era documents

By Scott Shane
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday, October 17, 2009

WASHINGTON — Is the CIA covering up some dark secret about the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Probably not. But you would not know it from the agency’s behavior.

For six years, the CIA has fought in federal court to keep secret hundreds of documents from 1963, when an anti-Castro Cuban group it paid clashed publicly with the soon-to-be assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The agency says it is only protecting legitimate secrets.

The files in question involve the curious career of George Joannides, the case officer who oversaw and helped finance the dissident Cubans in 1963. In 1978, the agency made Joannides the liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations but never told the committee of his earlier role.

That concealment has fueled suspicion that Joannides’ real assignment was to limit what the House committee could learn about CIA activities.

The agency’s deception was first reported in 2001 by Jefferson Morley, a journalist and author who has pursued the files ever since, represented by a Washington lawyer specializing in Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

“The CIA’s conduct is maddening,” said Morley, 51, a former Washington Post reporter.

After years of meticulous reporting on Joannides, who died at age 68 in 1990, he is convinced that there is more to learn. “I know there’s a story here,” Morley said. “The confirmation is that the CIA treats these documents as extremely sensitive.”

Gerald Posner, the author of an anti-conspiracy account of the Kennedy assassination, “Case Closed,” said the CIA’s withholding of such aged documents is “a perfect example of why nobody trusts the agency.”

Posner said that if there really were something explosive involving the CIA and Kennedy, it would not be in the files.

The CIA last year released material confirming Joannides’ involvement with the Cubans. But the agency is withholding 295 specific documents from the 1960s and ’70s and refusing to confirm or deny the existence of many others.

Obama In Texas to Praise His Grandfather, or Was That “Godfather”?

Obama urges people to serve their communities

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

	President Barack Obama is welcomed by former President George H. W. Bush, left, at Texas A&M University to mark the 20th anniversary of the Points of Light community service movement Friday, Oct. 16, 2009 in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Calling public service “the essence of our liberty,” President Barack Obama on Friday urged Americans to step up and volunteer in their communities.

Speaking at a community service forum in Texas, Obama said there’s only so much government can do in tackling the nation’s problems. He said government can build the best schools, but it can’t run the PTA. It can buy the armed forces the best equipment, he said, but it can’t give a home-cooked meal to a military family stretched thin.

“The need for action always exceeds the limits of government,” Obama said. “While there’s plenty that government can and must do … there’s a lot that government can’t and shouldn’t do and that’s where active, engaged citizens come in.”

The event was hosted by former President George H.W. Bush at Texas A&M University. Bush was the first president to create a permanent White House office dedicated to promoting volunteerism.

The forum was affiliated with the Points of Light Institute, which honors people and groups who participate in community service.

Bush first spoke of the “thousand points of light” in his acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican convention, using it as a metaphor for all the things Americans do, individually and in groups, to help fellow citizens. He created the Daily Point of Light Award in 1989 to honor volunteers. Friday’s event honored the 20th anniversary of his volunteer movement.

In recognizing that initiative, Obama said Bush “didn’t call for one blinding light to shine from Washington, but for a vast galaxy of people and institutions to solve problems in their own backyards.”

The president said he’s optimistic about the future, despite the recession and security threats, because young Americans today are more engaged in service activities than any generation in decades.

“In the end, service binds us to each other and to our community and to our country in a way that nothing else can,” he said.

Obama, a Democrat, initiated a “United We Serve” call to service in June that culminated in a national day of service on the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Our 44th president is absolutely right,” Bush said as he was introducing Obama. “There isn’t a more important time than now for us all to get involved.”

Obama cited Bush’s long record of public service, which began as a young fighter pilot in World War II. He said Bush’s “life of service is an inspiration to all of us.”

Several hundred protesters gathered outside the auditorium where Bush and Obama spoke. Bush had said the event was not political, but the protesters gave speeches criticizing Obama’s efforts to revamp health care. Many of the protesters were from anti-tax Tea Party groups that bused in members from around the state.

Agent Orange in Vietnam: Ignoring the Crimes Before Our Eyes

Nobody was brought to justice for these crimes, and even history  has been widely silenced by the whore media…

Agent Orange in Vietnam: Ignoring the Crimes

Before Our Eyes

By Dave Lindorff

Agent Orange Victims October 15, 2009 Agent Orange and its Effect “Agent Orange” Vietnam On Oct. 13, the New York Times ran a news story headlined “Door Opens to Health Claims Tied to Agent Orange,” which was sure to be good news to many American veterans of the Indochina War. It reported that 38 years after the Pentagon ceased spreading the deadly dioxin-laced herbicide/defoliant over much of South Vietnam, it was acknowledging what veterans have long claimed: in addition to 13 ailments already traced to exposure to the chemical, it was also responsible for three more dread diseases—Parkinson’s, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia. Under a new policy adopted by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the VA will now start providing free care to any of the 2.1 million Vietnam-era veterans who can show that they might have contracted any of those new diseases by their exposure to Agent Orange . This is another belated step forward in the bitter decades-long struggle by Vietnam War veterans to get the Defense Department and the VA to own up to the American government’s responsibility for poisoning them and causing permanent damage to them and often to their children and grandchildren. Dioxin, one of the most poisonous substances known to man, is known to cause many serious systemic diseases, autoimmune illnesses, cancers and birth defects. (This story is also a warning about the general Pentagon and government approach to other hazards caused by its battlefield use of toxins—most significantly the increasingly common use of depleted uranium projectiles in bombs, shells and bullets—an approach which features lack of concern about health effects on troops and civilians, denial of information to troops, and denial of care to eventual victims.) Missing from the Times article, written by military affairs reporter James Dao, which did include mention of the obstructionist role the government has played through this whole sorry saga, was a single mention of the far larger number of victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam—the people on whose heads and lands the toxic chemical was actually dropped, or of the adamant refusal by the US government to accept any responsibility for what it did to them. Thai Thi Nga, 16, a 2nd-generation victim of US spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam According to the article, the VA estimates that there may be as many as 200,000 US veterans who are suffering from Agent Orange-related illnesses. But according to a court case brought on behalf of Vietnamese victims, which was dismissed by a US Federal District Judge who, incredibly, ruled that there was “no basis for the claims,” there are at least three million Vietnamese, and possibly as many as 4.8 million, who are suffering the same Agent Orange-related illnesses as American veterans and their children. It is estimated that as many as 800,000 Vietnamese in the country’s south currently suffer from chronic health problems due to Agent Orange exposure, either to themselves, or to a parent or grandparent. Most of these victims, some of whom are retarded, and others of whom cannot walk or have no use of their arms, need constant care. Veterans for Peace, an organization whose membership includes a large number of Vietnam War veterans, has issued a call for the US to provide funds for health care, education, vocational education, chronic care, home care and equipment to clean up hotspots of dioxin in Vietnam—a call which Congress and the White House have consistently ignored. Tests have found dioxin levels around the sites of the three main former US bases in what was South Vietnam to be 300-400 times recognized safe levels. The US dumped huge amounts of Agent Orange for miles in the heavily populated areas around those bases to kill off jungle cover that Vietnamese fighters could use to approach the bases, but it was never cleaned up when the US pulled out. One organization that includes a number of American veterans of the war, including former military doctors or soldiers who later became physicians, is the Vietnam Friendship Village Project USA Inc., which raises funds to help establish communities in Vietnam to care for the victims of Agent Orange. It may seem a pathetic stab at principle, given America’s use of two nuclear weapons against civilian targets in Japan a few years later, but back in World War II, in the midst of the most brutal island-to-island fighting during the Pacific War, a US Judge Advocate General in the Pentagon ruled that a military request for permission to use herbicides against the Japanese on Pacific islands would be illegal under the Hague Convention (forerunner of what are now called the Geneva Conventions). He ruled that trying to destroy the crops of civilians on those islands to deny food to the Japanese troops would be a war crime. The US went ahead and used the herbicides anyway, arguing that even though it was illegal, the US was free to go ahead, since the Japanese had already broken the laws of war by using strychnine to kill military guard dogs in Siberia. Under the rules of war, if one side breaks a rule, the other side is no longer bound by it. But the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese never used toxic materials against US forces or against South Vietnamese forces. And the Pentagon in the Vietnam War never even considered whether spraying a highly toxic herbicide over 1.4 million hectares—12% of the total land area of Vietnam and almost 25% of the southern half of the country—might be a war crime. Moreover, the Pentagon knew, before it began its massive defoliation campaign, about studies showing that Agent Orange was heavily laced with deadly dioxin, but covered up those studies, some by the chemical’s makers, Dow Chemical and Monsanto, and never even warned the troops who handled the material daily, or who were sent out to fight in areas that had been heavily sprayed. The ongoing medical disaster in Vietnam caused by America’s criminal use of Agent Orange to defoliate a nation would be a good place for President Obama to start earning his just-awarded Nobel Peace Prize. He could kick off his peace campaign by finally honoring President Richard Nixon’s immediately broken promise to provide several billion dollars in reconstruction aid to Vietnam at the conclusion of peace talks at the end of the war. Not a dollar of such promised aid was ever given. Meanwhile, perhaps the New York Times could salvage a bit of its journalistic reputation by having Dao or some other reporter write a piece about the impact of America’s Agent Orange use on the people of Vietnam.

: Article nr. 58956 sent on 16-oct-2009 06:30 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=58956

Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago

more about “Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in …“, posted with vodpod

Maureen Clare Murphy

Approximately 30 activists — mainly students from area universities — disrupted a lecture given in Chicago by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday which was hosted by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. While Olmert’s speech was disrupted inside the lecture hall, approximately 150 activists protested outside the hall in the freezing rain.

Protesters inside the hall read off the names of Palestinian children killed during Israel’s assault on Gaza last winter. They shouted that it was unacceptable that the war crimes suspect be invited to speak at a Chicago university when his army destroyed a university in Gaza in January. They reminded the audience of the more than 1,400 Palestinians killed during the Gaza attacks and the more than 1,200 killed during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Both invasions happened during Olmert’s premiership.

With interventions coming every few minutes throughout his appearance, Olmert had difficulty giving his speech and often appeared frustrated. At one point he appealed for “just five minutes” to speak without being interrupted.

The demonstration was mobilized last week after organizers learned of the lecture, paid for by a grant provided by Jordan’s King Abdullah II. Within hours an appeal was issued, urging those concerned with Palestinian rights to call the university and demand that the lecture be canceled. The call was put out by major community organizations such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)-Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine and the United States Palestine Community Network, as well as solidarity organizations al-Awda, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, the International Solidarity Movement, the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago and area campus groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at DePaul University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as the Arab Student Union at Moraine Valley.

The security presence at the lecture was severe with university police, the US Secret Service and Israeli security present — many of them visibly armed — with Israeli security checking in those who had registered in advance to attend the lecture. Video and photography was banned inside the hall and media were not allowed to cover the lecture. Despite these restrictions, activists managed to take video inside the hall and drop an eight-foot-long banner from the mezzanine that read “Goldstone” in both English and Hebrew, referring to the recently published UN report investigating violations of international law during the Gaza invasion. One activist was arrested and put in a headlock by a police officer, witnesses said, and released around midnight. Approximately 30 supporters waited for him at the police station while he was detained.

Towards the end of the lecture, Olmert put his hand over his brow and squinted to search out the source of the shout, “There’s no discussion with a war criminal — the only discussion you should be having is in court!” That call was made by Ream Qato, who graduated from the university in 2007, and added, “You belong in the Hague!” Qato told The Electronic Intifada that yesterday’s protest “Set the stage for University of Chicago students and students in the Chicago area … no one should be afraid of speaking out against someone.” She added that the demonstration was significant because “The Palestinian community [in Chicago] for the first time went to a university campus to protest.”

Approximately 150 protesters demonstrated outside the University of Chicago hall where former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was speaking. (Maureen Clare Murphy)

Second-year medical student Afshan Mohiuddin was removed from the hall after she voiced her disapproval at the Harris School dean’s on-stage assertion that Olmert was invited to express his views. “He can do that at the International Court of Justice, not at this university,” Mohiuddin shouted, adding, “[Olmert] belongs in a cage, not on a stage!”

Mohiuddin told The Electronic Intifada that “it was ironic that they searched us [instead of him],” considering that Olmert is suspected of war crimes. She added, “As a University of Chicago student I was upset with the lack of commotion on behalf of the student body before the event … No one has protested the event.”

Mohiuddin’s frustration was echoed in a commentary published by the University of Chicago’s student publication The Chicago Maroon earlier this week, in which third-year student Nadia Marie Ismail decried the lack of protest by the university community towards the Olmert speech. She contrasted this silence with the pressure the Center for Middle Eastern Studies faced after a lecture earlier this year by The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah (who was the first to disrupt Olmert’s speech yesterday), University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Norman Finkelstein, whose lost bid for tenure at DePaul University is attributed to outside pressure by Israel government apologists. “[T]hat University center was put under unprecedented pressure for weeks before and months after the event, with claims that University centers and schools should not host ‘one-sided’ speakers,” Ismail wrote.

Olmert’s lecture in Chicago was one of several scheduled throughout the United States. His speech at the University of Kentucky the previous day was disrupted by activists and met with a protest outside. These demonstrations are part of a wave of notched-up dissent towards Israeli officials implicated in war crimes and racist policy. In 2003, former Israeli minister Natan Sharansky was greeted with a pie in the face by an activist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Last year at the UK’s Oxford University, a speech by Israeli President Shimon Peres was drowned out by protesters outside while students inside the hall disrupted his talk.

One of the organizers of the protest, Hatem Abudayyeh, National Coordinating Committee member of the United States Palestine Community Network, hoped for a larger count of protesters despite the adverse weather. However, he said, “The fact that there’s people around the world who know about it, the fact that PACBI [the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel] sent us a letter of support and endorsement of our action, the fact that there was coordination with the outside protest and the inside disruption — all of these components and aspects of the action made it one of the more successful ones that we’ve done.”

He added, “There is real change happening, whether it’s the international response to the Lebanon war or the international response to the Gaza war. The US is the most powerful country in the world, Israel is a powerful military as well, but the Palestinians have the world on their side.”

Video shot and produced by The Electronic Intifada.

Maureen Clare Murphy is Managing Editor of The Electronic Intifada and an activist with the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago, which co-sponsored the demonstration.

Israelis may stay home to avoid arrest in Europe

Disputed U.N. report on Gaza war puts officials at risk

By Eli Lake

Nabil Fahmy, a former Egyptian ambassador to the United States, said, “Middle Easterners are fed up with Israel’s excessive use of force, most recently in Lebanon and Gaza. This anger has now extended beyond the region to the international community because the Israeli practices are recurrent in flagrant violation of the rules of war and basic human rights.”

While the Goldstone report accuses both Israel and Hamas of suspected war crimes, Israeli officials see themselves as the biggest targets and charge that Mr. Goldstone’s findings effectively deprive the Jewish state of the right to self-defense.

One of the report’s recommendations is that countries that have signed the Geneva Conventions “start criminal investigations in national courts, using universal jurisdiction, where there is sufficient evidence of the commission of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Where so warranted following investigation, alleged perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with internationally recognized standards of justice.”

This concept was tested last month when 16 Palestinians in Britain asked a London court to issue an arrest warrant for Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister who also served in that position during the Gaza war in December and January. Deputy District Judge Daphne Wickham ruled that Mr. Barak had diplomatic immunity.

Nevertheless, Mr. Ya’alon last month “decided not to go to Britain because he learned that there was an attempt in the United Kingdom to try to press charges against him for war crimes following the attempt with Defense Minister Ehud Barak a week earlier,” Mr. Peled said.

The Goldstone report was commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body that includes many authoritarian states, such as Cuba, China and Saudi Arabia. The U.N. panel has focused much attention on Israel in recent years, with no similar investigations into abuses such as Sudan’s campaign against Darfur, Iran’s execution of minors or the Sri Lankan campaign against the Tamil Tigers.

Israeli and many Western critics of the Goldstone report say it ignores the fact that Hamas sought to increase civilian casualties by launching rockets and placing military positions amid the civilian population.

Ms. Leibovich said the Israel Defense Forces sought to minimize those casualties and consulted attorneys when decisions were made about targeting specific buildings in Gaza from the air. Given that Gaza is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, however, civilian casualties were inevitable.

A senior Israeli official, who asked not to be named because he was discussing ongoing diplomacy, warned that there could be repercussions for Israeli relations with European countries that seek to arrest Israeli officials because of the Gaza war.

“There is ongoing work with Spain, Norway, Britain and other countries,” the official said. “It is an ongoing effort to explain the dangers of universal jurisdiction [allowing third parties to take court action involving disputes to which they were not a party]. This should be about Somalia and Sudan who have no ability or interest to investigate themselves.”

This official added that there also could be implications for Israeli cooperation with the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank.

Earlier this month, Shalom Kital, an aide to Mr. Barak, said Israel would deny the necessary portion of the radio spectrum for a cell phone company contract in the West Bank if the Palestinian Authority did not drop its request to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court in light of the Goldstone Report.

The report gives Israel six months to investigate the charges before recommending that the matter be sent to that court.

Mr. Netanyahu also warned Monday that Israel would be less prone to restart peace negotiations with the Palestinians if its officials face prosecution over the Gaza war.

“Israel will not take risks for peace if it can’t defend itself,” he said.

Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

1 2

Post a comment

There are 60 comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Hamas to Comply With Goldstone Report, Investigate “War Crimes”

PCHR Welcomes Hamas Decision to Investigate Allegations of War Crimes, Comply With Goldstone Report

PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

PCHR – October 16, 2009

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) welcomes Hamas’ decision to endorse the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report), and their commitment to conduct effective investigations into all alleged violations of international law committed in the context of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip (Operation Cast Lead, 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009).

The UN Fact Finding Mission conducted extensive impartial investigations into the situation surrounding Operation Cast Lead. It found that all sides were responsible for serious violations of international law, including war crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The Mission found that there was sufficient evidence to indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed, and are, indeed, ongoing.

The Report of the Fact Finding Mission included extensive recommendations, which focused on the urgent need for accountability and the rule of law. Amongst other issues, the Mission recommended that all parties conduct effective, independent, investigations, to be monitored by an independent committee of experts over a six month period. In the absence of good faith investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pursuant to Article 13(b) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court. PCHR fully support the findings and recommendations of the Fact Finding Mission.

Hamas’ decision to conduct investigations is welcome. It is a first step towards upholding victims’ rights and enforcing the rule of the law.

PCHR stress that Israel is also under an obligation to conduct investigations, however, to date it has not cooperated with the Fact Finding Mission. On 12 October 2009, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed that Israeli soldiers and leaders will not stand trial for war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead, perpetuating a cycle of impunity which has been a consistent feature of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

If effective investigations are not forthcoming resort must be had to international judicial mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court. Victims’ right to an effective judicial remedy must be upheld, those responsible for violating international law must be held to account.

huge stories the 9/11 truth movement gatekeepers continue to ignore

more about “Core of Corruption“, posted with vodpod

Core of Corruption

“Kevin Barrett” <kbarrett@merr.com>

Webster Tarpley, Jonathan Elinoff on Truth Jihad Radio tomorrow! 5-7 pm Central, http://www.AmericanFreedomRadio.com

Details at http://truthjihadradio.blogspot.com/2009/10/webster-tarpley-jonathan-elinoff-coming.html

In case you missed it, Jonathan Elinoff of www.CoreOfCorruption.com broke a huge story on my show last week: http://truthjihad.blogspot.com/2009/10/jonathan-elinoff.html

Jonathan has posted photos of the “art students” (Israeli spies?) in the North Tower before 9/11, surrounded by boxes of 3-4 tons of…what? http://www.CoreOfCorruption.com

Ed Rynearson posted Jonathan’s segment from Truth Jihad radio at http://radiodujour.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/art-students-camping-on-the-90th-floor/#comments garnering thousands of hits and pushing RadioDuJour.com into the top 100 of wordpress blogs worldwide! Yet you will search in vain for this genuine 9/11 NEWS story at the leading 9/11 truth news gatekeeper site 911blogger.com .

Likewise you will search 911blogger in vain for any news of Muslim Marine vet 9/11 activist Muhammed Abdullah, who has fought for 9/11 truth in court and then was targeted three weeks ago by a huge DHS raid that came in apparent reprisal for his 9/11 truth activism. http://m911t.blogspot.com/2009/10/muslim-marine-vet-truther-targeted-in.html Since when did the 9/11 truth movement stop caring when a truth activist is fired from his job for off-the-job activism, then intimidated by a DHS raid? Since 911blogger became an islamophobic gatekeeper site, that’s when. The anonymous entities running 911blogger, who took it over by BUYING it (rather than earning their position through real truth activism under real names) are starting to resemble those Jeff Gates calls “the people in-between,” meaning those who position themselves between the facts and the people who need to know those facts…http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15353

Below are some questions Jonathan Elinoff will address during tomorrow’s show. And below that, a compendium of information on the Israeli links to 9/11, courtesy of Dick Eastman. Funny how none of that stuff ever shows up on 911blogger.

Thanks for listening, and keep on following the truth wherever it leads.

Kevin

Open Letter To Citizens Of the U.S

Dear Citizens of United States,

We Pakistanis are ordinary beings like you, having the same dreams, same needs,  ambitions, emotions, reservations and same passion if not more for our country. We like you, to feel the same regret for wars, same grief for the world problems, same distress towards injustice, same hopes for a better tomorrow. We, like you, also fantasize having serene borders, comfortable homes for our children, fine education, some leisure, and a satisfied mind that what we are contributing to this country and the world at large today will benefit us and our future generations tomorrow. We fancy the feeling of living in sheer coziness of our homeland, away from overseas interventions and foreign-extremism in the exact same way as an average American desires.

We didn’t get our independence as a birthday present, we got it after much struggle and sacrifices (over 4 million lives were lost during the migration); after much strangling and many fatalities, we finally broke free of the quandary at the hands of British and Hindu rulers. After independence, we have shown remarkable progress in many areas despite having rulers who placed personal interests over national interests, who never really had to face the trauma of poverty, sickness, injustice, or leaving their loved ones behind to inhabit a land with no promises. Yet we did not give up and made a nation out of it. We did not fail as our current leaders try to put it, to solicit more and more aid to gratify their own greed. In our short history we have never been blessed with a true leader after our founder, and yet imagine our courage, we did not break down, we moved on and on. And we never really looked for shortcuts to this existence, we have paid plenitude.

We have now been presented with yet another aid package from your country which will be financed by American taxpayers money, which is the right of American citizens and on which we have got no claim. To your surprise neither do we need it to solve our problems. We do NOT need it. We have been seasoned to rely on our own resources, our own means; because at the end of the day this money will not be utilized for our poor nation it will land somewhere you cannot imagine its terminus to be. Period.

Let us give you a reality check, as the voice of our Pakistani country men and as a friendly gesture to the fellow citizens of U.S. who have a right to know. In all veracity this little aid which comes with a lot of dictation, will be utilized to finance foreign lavish trips of our government personnel who will take approximately 200 personnel including their family members to luxurious places. It will be utilized to provide notorious yet special security services that we cannot afford, to people who are not even part of the government but somehow our democratic rulers are much obliged to flatter. The so-called economic development this new aid promises will definitely not materialize. We know this because this has been happening for the last several decades.

The so-called promises to create jobs for us will never be fulfilled, whereby this money would rather be utilized for expanding the job market within the USA for the American people, which itself is being hit by the worst recession in decades. Not only that, the conditions mentioned will destabilize our civil system, will cripple our autonomy, our existence, will rob our craftsmen and the population on the whole of their much deserved earnings, and in turn will fan more frustration. The ordinary Pakistani is already paying a heavy return against the lending of IMF. Our electricity, fuel and other bills have been incremented, and those too over the dictation of the IMF. The Kerry Lugar Bill does not attempt to bring any solution for our challenges at all, instead, it will be sucking blood from our innocent population in the name of few miscreants who are not a part of us in the first place, in the name of a war that didn’t belong to us by any means and was imposed on us. Are we really attempting to build peace in here? Who are we fooling in the name of amity?

Islamic Republic of Pakistan is an independent country, which means that we are fully capable to take care of our needs, self reliant and complacent like Islam teaches us to be. We do not rely on shortcuts for realization of our needs. By the grace of our creator, we have been seasoned to work hard and achieve the impossible. The elite on powerful positions do not in anyway represent the opinion of general public. In their sinister yet sadly successful efforts, public is kept so busy in their basic problems that they never really get to question them on where was the Aid money utilized and why was it even asked for in the first place.

Its time the U.S realized that and leave the treachery of aiding us on the face and stabbing us at our backs. As the voice of enlightened Pakistanis, let us assure you, we will be delighted if the same money is utilized in your own country to deal with the recession it faces, to deal with the crimes soaring high with U.S. topping the list of most crimes in the world in a year. We will be glad if it is also spent on researches and precautionary measures on why so many Americans die with stress-related diseases every year, why life is getting tougher and tougher for an average American family and their social values are declining. We urge you to ask your Government  whether this aid package is really helping us, the fellow citizens of Pakistan, or are you helping our shameless government with their lifestyles and luxuries? Are you helping in setting up schools and better health care or fanning more extremism due to ill-utilization that our rulers will ensure and frustration that the brutal conditions on this sell-out package will bring for us? Are you actually helping to support our displaced countrymen or giving them more reason to hate you for financing our depraved rulers?

Your financial aid will not do us any good, since more than this amount already stays in the bank accounts of some of our narcissistic leaders, who occupy the `seats’ but are indifferent towards the distress of the majority. If you are still so keen to help us however, start sharing best practices, help us in establishing good governance, help us in making our systems more transparent, help us in medical researches, help us in building up universities to polish our youth else we really don’t need your help, we can help ourselves.

We also request you to ask your government on how this bill helps the American nation and us, when it will just land in a few pockets and exactly what will our unfortunate nation be faced with as conditions to comply, tragedy of which is unimaginable but appalling enough for us to reject any aid from U.S. at all! The Patriot act which has left your nation so vulnerable cannot be allowed to implement in Pakistan. Let us make it more apparent, we will not allow the U.S. access to any of our properties or our citizens. These citizens belong to a free country, accountable to none other than their own national laws and America as a knowledgeable and well-developed country should respect that. Our country is fully capable to deal with any miscreants itself and we have been doing it to our best since this so called war on terror started. We will not allow interference in any form whatsoever in the internal matters of our country, in its governance, in its institutions and above all in its authority that this bill carefully ensures. Our rulers may be dissolute, our nation is not.

Your country has not only deceived you in the name of wars to eliminate terror while being exceptionally involved in creating it, but it also has left many homeless, many innocent killed, many children orphans, many women widows, houses and hopes shattered. It hasn’t just betrayed us, it has betrayed you. And rest assured, the bullying tactics that your country specializes in will someday become a pit in itself. Haven’t we all started witnessing that it in front of our eyes already?

We however maintain, the U.S. citizens don’t deserve to be kept in darkness. Since World War II, your country has intimidated directly or indirectly at least 44 countries, if not more in the name of peace while creating havocs in real, distributing civil wars, turmoil, oppressing nations, breaking them into pieces, dictating policies that completely butcher the civil structure. As your infamous Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger once put it so correctly: “While being America’s enemy may be dangerous, being America’s friend is invariably fatal”. Who would comprehend that better than our nation, who has a history of 62 years being your ally and what did we get in return? Treachery, betrayal, deception?

What did the US get out of it; a deteriorating economy, a failed social structure, not to mention countless killed soldiers? It isn’t a surprise the same Kissinger who believed in brutal de-population of the world and whose policies your government still follows, also said “Soldiers are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy”. Decide for yourself, where this face will lead you? This hatred your government is mongering against your beautiful country is pushing you down the path of obscurity too, with a point of no return.

Ask yourselves, are the U.S soldiers really worthless herds of cattle to be thrown into hostile territories just so that a few in the Govt. can benefit by selling their weapons to the U.S Govt., which buys them from these local multi-million dollar businesses at such dear cost of American tax-payers’ blood-earned money? Decide yourself, where this will lead you as a nation? This hatred your Government is mongering against your beautiful country is pushing you down the path of obscurity too, towards a point of no return.

We as responsible citizens of Pakistan request the responsible citizens of U.S. to really ask their government on the effectiveness of wars it has waged in the past and what it plans to wage in future. For instance, what did the Americans get out of the Vietnam war? Did the Vietnamese attack them? What did the Americans get out of the War between Iraq and Iran? What did the American people get out of the recent war in Afghanistan and Iraq? Did the American people get a share of the oil wealth that is being ripped off the Iraqis by use of brutal force?

Think about the latest package of deceit this Kerry Lugar Bill brings for us, the ruthless face of which we are already seeing, yet you are kept so oblivious to. We respectfully ask you to convince your government to keep the same money to themselves and utilize it to benefit your ailing economy, or maybe it can be used to return the debt that US owes to China.

Only then will we as a nation be inspired by the high spirits on your nation’s conscientiousness, and will be stimulated to follow your footsteps and will be thankful to you for our generations to come.

Sincerely,

A Pakistani.

UK Court Wants Repressed U.S. Intelligence on Detainee Published

UK court wants to publish U.S. intelligence on detainee

By Adrian Croft and Georgina Cooper

LONDON (Reuters) – Sensitive U.S. intelligence on former Guantanamo Bay inmate Binyam Mohamed should be published, Britain’s High Court ruled on Friday in a move condemned by the British government but welcomed by anti-torture campaigners.

In February, High Court judges said they would not release information on Mohamed’s treatment supplied by U.S. intelligence. Washington had threatened to end intelligence cooperation if Britain released evidence about his alleged torture in detention, they said.

But in a new ruling on Friday, the same judges said there was a "overwhelming" public interest in now disclosing the seven paragraphs cut from their original judgment.

"As the risk to national security, judged objectively on the evidence, is not a serious one, we should restore the redacted paragraphs to our first judgment," they said.

Mohamed, an Ethiopian with British residence, returned to Britain in February after being held at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for four years. He accused the U.S. government of inflicting "medieval" torture on him with British collusion.

He was detained in April 2002 in Pakistan for trying to travel on a friend’s passport. He was held for four months, when he says he was tortured and abused by Pakistani intelligence agents in the presence of British intelligence officers.

In July 2002, he said he was taken to Morocco on a CIA plane and again tortured and abused for 18 months before a transfer to Afghanistan and then finally to the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in September 2004.

Mohamed says his genitals were cut with a scalpel, he was suspended from his wrists and he was subjected to "waterboarding," or simulated drowning, while in detention.

U.S. authorities never charged him but at one time accused Mohamed of receiving training from al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mohamed has denied receiving training.

Mohamed told the BBC on Friday: "There is information in there, I’m 99 percent sure, which states that the U.S. sub-contracted the UK government to do its dirty work."

The seven paragraphs will not be released for now however, after the British government served notice that it would appeal.

"The government is deeply disappointed by the judgment … which concludes that a summary of U.S. intelligence material should be put into the public domain against their wishes," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement.

SUPPORTERS PLEASED

Katherine O’Shea, a spokeswoman for legal charity Reprieve which supports Mohamed, said: "We’re thrilled with the ruling. It upholds what we’ve always said — the public has the right to know what was done to Binyam, and by whom."

The British government has repeatedly denied its intelligence agents were complicit in overseas torture but police said last month they were investigating an incident involving intelligence agents operating overseas.

The judges’ initial decision not to publish the contested paragraphs sparked a debate about secrecy and alleged rights violations in the U.S. "war on terror" and raised questions about the close ties between Britain and the United States.

Italians Buying Peace With Taliban

United States admits tackling Italians over payments to the Taleban

Tim Reid in Washington

The US Government acknowledged for the first time yesterday that payment of protection money to the Taleban by Italian forces in Afghanistan was discussed by American officials and their Italian counterparts last year.

A senior US official confirmed, two days after The Times reported that Italian authorities had paid the bribes, that “the issue [of payments] was raised with the Italians”.

The official would neither confirm nor deny that the representation to Silvio Berlusconi’s Government was in the form of a démarche or diplomatic protest, but Nato officials have told The Times that such a complaint was made by the US in Rome last year.

The payment of Italian protection money was revealed after the deaths of ten French soldiers in August 2008 at the hands of a large Taleban force in Sarobi, east of Kabul. French forces had taken over the district from Italian troops, but were unaware of the secret Italian payments to local commanders to stop attacks on their forces, and misjudged threat levels.

The day after The Times report, a Taleban commander and two senior Afghan officials also said that Italian forces had struck deals to prevent attacks on their troops.

Bruce Riedel, who headed President Obama’s Afghanistan policy review this year but is no longer inside the Administration,

told The Times that he heard allegations of the Italian payments during a trip to Paris in the last week of September. A businessman with close ties to the French Government told him that the Italians had been paying the Taleban “but had forgotten to tell us [the French]”, Mr Riedel said.

Rome has angrily denied the report. “The Berlusconi Government has never authorised nor has it allowed any form of payment toward members of the Taleban insurgency,” said a statement by the office of the Italian Prime Minister.

Ignazio La Russa, Italy’s Defence Minister, insisted that the allegations were “absolute rubbish”. The French Opposition, however, has demanded an urgent explanation to Parliament, describing the details as “very serious”.

Yesterday Hervé Morin, the French Defence Minister, said the idea that an army might pay Taleban insurgents not to attack them would breach established military doctrine. He added: “I have no reason to question the word of the Italian Government.”

Canada has also been forced to deny reports that its soldiers paid the enemy in Afghanistan to keep the peace. A foreign wire service quoted an Afghan Army source as saying that Canadian soldiers in Kandahar province, in the Taleban-strong south, had made payments to insurgents.

“I haven’t heard of any type of payment that would be done by our troops in order to remain protected,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Lemay, a spokesman with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command. “With the number of casualties we’ve been getting, had we paid these guys they wouldn’t be holding up their end of the bargain.”

Baucus Bill Screws Everybody But Big Pharma

Baucus bill calls for a 40 percent excise tax on health insurance plans

Sen. Baucus: Fine Families $3,800 for Failure Get Health Insurance

Congressman Doug Lamborn

Colorado 5th District

Dear Friend,

As you may know, eariler this week, the Senate Finance Committee passed a health care bill written by Senator Baucus. In addition to what I consider are the many other negative aspects of this bill, I am concerned that many of you could be harmed by the potential tax increases in it.

The bill calls for a 40 percent excise tax on health insurance plans in excess of $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families — and raises taxes and fees by more than $500 billion.

And yet – the Democrats are trying to package the Baucus bill as a moderate, middle-of-the road compromise. In my opinion, this bill could do great harm to many hard-working families. 

In order to make the bill budget neutral, the Baucus bill cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare for seniors over the next ten years.

In light of this new development, I am holding a town hall meeting next Monday in Colorado Springs to update you on health care legislation.

Date: Monday, October 19, 2009

Time: 11:30-12:30 pm MT

Location: Stargazer Event Center, 10 S. Parkside Drive (off Pikes Peak Ave.), Colorado Springs, CO 80910