Washington - The ornate ballroom of the Willard Hotel buzzed with activity on a Saturday morning in July. Crowded together on the stage sat a cadre of the nation's most influential former government officials, the kind whose names often appear in boldface, who've risen above daily politics to the realm of elder statesmen. They were perched, as they so often are, below a banner with a benign conference title on it, about to offer words of pricey wisdom to an audience with an agenda.
That agenda: to secure the removal of the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) from the U.S. government's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. A Marxian Iranian exile group with cult-like qualities, Mujahideen-e Khalq was responsible for the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970s, along with staging a handful of bombings. But for a terrorist organization with deep pockets, it appears there's always hope.
Puppet Masters
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
Chavez arrived in Caracas on Friday night, the Associated Press reported.
Surgeons at Havana's Cimeq Hospital operated on the 57-year-old socialist leader for 90 minutes late on February 27.
He had been diagnosed with a two-centimeter-long lesion in the same part of his body from which a cancerous tumor was removed in 2011.
The Venezuelan leader, who came to power in 1999, is seeking another six-year term in the upcoming presidential election, which will be held on October 7, 2012.
© Agence France-Presse/The Associated Press
Gen. Hugh Shelton, left, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh are among the top former U.S. government officials whose speaking fees have been subpoenaed.
Gen. Hugh Shelton, left, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh are among the top former U.S. government officials whose speaking fees have been subpoenaed.
The investigation, being conducted by the Treasury Department, is focused on whether the former officials may have received funding, directly or indirectly, from the People's Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK, thereby violating longstanding federal law barring financial dealings with terrorist groups. The sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said that speaking fees given to the former officials total hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"This is about finding out where the money is coming from," an Obama administration official familiar with the probe said. "This has been a source of enormous concern for a long time now. You have to ask the question, whether this is a prima facie case of material support for terrorism."
Freeh and Shelton are among 40 former senior U.S. government officials who have participated in a public lobbying campaign - including appearing at overseas conferences and speaking at public rallies - aimed at persuading the U.S. government to remove the MEK from the terror list.
© The Associated Press/Ng Han Guan
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman holds up a paper with the Chinese proverb "We will not attack unless we are attacked, if we are attacked, we will certainly counterattack.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman holds up a paper with the Chinese proverb "We will not attack unless we are attacked, if we are attacked, we will certainly counterattack.
China, which has close energy and trade ties with Iran, has urged a negotiated solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions and long opposed unilateral sanctions on Iran.
"For us, it's crucial to explain our position to our Chinese partners," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters on a visit to Beijing. "It's crucial to clarify our position to China in the hope they understand our concerns, our problems," he said, adding that Israel would "continue the dialogue" with China.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned Iran in January against any effort to acquire nuclear weapons but apart from that, China has shied away from speaking out strongly against Iran.
That position on Iran underscores the tricky path China is trying to steer between pressure from the United States and its allies and, on the other hand, expectations from Iran, which looks to China as a sympathetic power and a big oil customer.
© The Associated Press/New Zealand Herald/Glenn Jeffrey
In this Aug. 1, 2008 file photo the King of Tonga George Tupou V sits on his throne in Nuku'aloka,Tonga.
In this Aug. 1, 2008 file photo the King of Tonga George Tupou V sits on his throne in Nuku'aloka,Tonga.
He was 63. Tupou V's younger brother and the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka, was with him when he died while on a visit to Hong Kong. A government statement confirming his death was read on local radio.
The New Zealand government, a major aid donor to Tonga, said he would be remembered for ushering in significant political change.
"He believed that the monarchy was an instrument of change and can truly be seen as the architect of evolving democracy in Tonga. This will be his enduring legacy," said Prime Minister John Key in a statement.
Shortly after Tupou V ascended the throne in 2006, demonstrations demanding greater democracy turned into riots in which eight people died and large parts of the commercial centre of the capital, Nuku'alofa, were destroyed.
The Oxford-educated king then said he would relinquish most of his power in the last Polynesian monarchy to a broadly popularly elected government after 165 years of feudal rule.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales (left) one of up to 20 US Marines who massacred 16 Afghan villagers. Here he is seen training at a US military mock up of a typical 'rag-head ville'.
"There will be moments like this when you're searching for the meaning of this loss. There will be moments like this, when your emotions are governed by anger and a desire to strike back. Now is not the time for revenge, now is not the time for vengeance, now is the time to look deep inside your souls, remember your mission, remember your discipline, remember who you are."This little detail, as motive, seems to have been 'forgotten' by the mainstream media in their coverage of the recent massacre of 16 Afghan villagers by up to 20 drunken US soldiers. Indeed, the reports that up to 20 'drunken' troops were involved in the massacre have also been conveniently ignored by the Western media, who have chosen to go with the US military-provided "lone crazed assassin" lie that has served so well to cover up previous planned murders by US forces of Empire. The fact of the matter is, General Allen knew that his troops were planning 'revenge', but obviously could do nothing to stop it.
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The settlement, reported to be worth $25 billion, was announced February 9 and hailed by President Obama as a serious rebuke to the banks and boon to distressed homeowners. (See: "Obama administration brokers pro-bank mortgage fraud settlement").
It is nothing of the kind. It quashes investigations by 49 state attorneys general into wholesale fraud and illegality committed by the five biggest mortgage servicers in their rush to foreclose on homeowners and seize their houses. The abuses first surfaced in the fall of 2010, amid reports of "robo-signing" of foreclosure papers and court submissions.
It was revealed that bank employees and contractors routinely vouched for the accuracy of documents affirming the banks' title to targeted homes without having ascertained the facts or having even read the documents they were signing. The process was rife with forgeries, fraudulent notarizations, inflated job descriptions of the signers and other violations of the law.
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The proposal was to build computing systems that could suck up every electronic communication on the planet and filter them through a smart super-computer that would flag certain conversations, emails, transactions and other items of interest for further review. It was a program so monstrous in scope that after a brief legislative battle, Congress imposed strict regulations on the type of technology that could accomplish those ends, prohibiting it from ever being used against Americans.
But if well sourced intelligence reporter James Bamford is to be believed, as of this year, their efforts to stop it are moot.
According to Bamford, the NSA's new data center in Utah will be the most all-encompassing spy machine ever conceived, capable of breaking almost any encryption, reading any email and recording any phone call anywhere in the world, even if it's not made over the Internet. A network of ultra-sensitive satellites enhance the center's intelligence-finding capabilities with the unique ability to sniff electronic communications from a massive distance.
© Center for Food Safety
In Only 6 Months, Already 850,000+ Public Comments To FDA In Support Of Labeling
This morning a bicameral letter signed by 55 Members of Congress was sent to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg calling on the agency to require the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods. The bicameral, bipartisan letter led by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) was written in support of a legal petition filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) on behalf of the Just Label It campaign and its nearly 400 partner organizations and businesses; many health, consumer, environmental, and farming organizations, as well as food companies, are also signatories. Since CFS filed the labeling petition in October 2011, the public has submitted over 850,000 comments in support of labeling.
China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, will take steps to prevent European trade sanctions disrupting shipments from the Persian Gulf nation, said tanker operator China Shipping Development Co.
The government has discussed ways of helping shipping companies get insurance once sanctions against Iran kick in on July 1, General Manager Yan Zhichong told reporters in Hong Kong today. The ministry of transport and National Development Reform Commission has had special meetings on the issue, he said.
The government has discussed ways of helping shipping companies get insurance once sanctions against Iran kick in on July 1, General Manager Yan Zhichong told reporters in Hong Kong today. The ministry of transport and National Development Reform Commission has had special meetings on the issue, he said.
