September 11

Day of Infamy

September 11 will live in the hearts of millions as the day of great tragedy, when a small group undertook a campaign of terror against a democratic government. When it was over, thousands were dead or arrested, repressive measures were in place, a fascist, military-controlled government was in place, and Salvador Allende, the democratically elected President of Chile, lay murdered.

The military coup in Chile thirty years ago today was financed and coordinated by the Nixon government. As Henry Kissinger remarked "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people."

In thirty years, things have only gotten worse.

According to an Amnesty International report:

Combined with the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission this brought the number of 'disappearances' to 1,102 and extrajudicial executions and death under torture to 2,095, making a total of 3,197 cases that were officially recognised by the Chilean state.

More people died or "disappeared" as a result of the US backed coup thirty years ago in Chile than died in the collapse of the Twin Towers. The toll for New York now stands at 2,792, which includes 42 missing. This, of course, neither justifies nor excuses the deaths in New York two years ago. But when we understand that it was the same forces at work perpetrating the two events, we can see a certain symbolism that unites them. The secret government in the US, the merged military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned against at the end of his term, does not believe that American lives are any more sacred than Chilean lives. Look at the plight of the 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq. They were certainly willing to sacrifice those in the WTC in order to implement their plans.

Afghanistan, Iraq, greater controls at home, these were all in the planning stages well-before September 11, 2001. At "best", the Bush Reich used the tragedy in New York to put them into action. At worst, they planned the attack in order to fundamentally change our world to their advantage. This is widely accepted outside of the US where people look at who benefited from the day, not the rhetoric in the jingoist American media. The cleavage between the US and the rest of the world is becoming more and more marked.

Chile

Salvador Allende was a physician. He helped to found the Socialist Party in Chile in 1933, a Marxist party that was in opposition to the Soviet supported Communist Party. He was a Senator from 1945 until 1970. He ran unsuccessfully for President in 1952, 1958, and 1964. The campaign against Allende by the CIA began well before he was elected President in 1970:

The ClA's attempts to dislodge Allende from power in Chile were the culmination of a long agency campaign against Allende. Twice before-in 1958 and in 1964- Allende had run for the presidency, and on both occasions the CIA worked clandestinely to block him. To influence the outcome of the 1964 elections, the agency spent $3 million. As part of this effort, the CIA organized a media "scare campaign" (campana de terror) and secretly paid over half the costs of the victorious Christian Democratic campaign.

Philip Agee, who was a CIA operative in Uruguay in 1964, has described how some of this money was funneled into Chile through the Montevideo branch of the First National City Bank, with the help of the assistant manager, John M. Hennessy. Five years later, Hennessy was the assistant secretary of the treasury for international affairs and in that post helped to coordinate the economic aspect of the Nixon administration's anti-Allende campaign.

Hennessy's dual role vividly illustrates the interlocking, overlapping nature of American corporate and government involvement in Chile-and, indeed, in all Latin America. United States corporations dominated the key sectors of Chile's economy-including the vital copper industry. By 1970, loans by financial institutions controlled or dominated by the United States-AID, the Export-lmport Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank-had given Chile the highest per-capita foreign debt in the world. With the knowledge and encouragement of the United States government, companies including Anaconda Copper and ITT contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-Allende candidates.

Allende's speech to the United Nations in 1972 described the situation in his country.

This analyst has made the point that Allende was viewed as a danger by Kissinger precisely because he was a committed "democrat":

Kissinger set the CIA against Allende, not to preserve democracy or to counter a Soviet puppet in Latin America, but to prevent a charismatic socialist from providing a democratic alternative to American policy. "Henry thought that Allende might lead an anti-United States movement in Latin America more effectively than Castro, just because it was the democratic path to power," commented an ex-staff aide. In fact, it was precisely because Allende was widely regarded as a believer in democratic institutions that there was so much shock connected to his overthrow, especially in the Third World and southern Europe. What Kissinger was saying-and backing up with covert American power-was that adherence to democracy wasn't enough; that countries would not be allowed to switch over to a socialist way of running their economies even democratically. The message of Chile was: no matter how unjust or corrupt the alternative, the United States would not allow meaningful economic or social change, at least with a Marxist label, and a willingness to have good relations with Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union.

This sets up a curious situation where, in response to the Americans contempt for democracy when it goes against American interests, countries like Cuba have to crack down on political dissent in order to protect the gains for the poor and disenfranchised. This opens them up to charges of being "non-democratic." Castro made the following analysis of Allende's defeat in 1974:

"Allende respected all these rights. The opposition press conspired. There were newspapers conspiring for a coup d'etat every day, and they finally delivered the coup. Everyone had the right to conspire, and the results were that they overthrew the Allende government and set up a fascist regime."

Castro believed-and Kissinger seemed to be confirming-that there could be no socialism in Latin America with democratic freedoms and without armed power to back it up. In the end, the very specter that Kissinger raised for Chile if Allende stayed in power-abolition of basic freedoms-was the final result of the secret American foreign-policy goal of destablizing Chile.

The US government has openly funded counter-revolutionaries in Cuba since the overthrow of Batista in 1959. The Bay of Pigs is only the tip of the iceberg. One only has to ask what would happen to "terrorists" who tried to plot the overthrow of the US Government. Oh, yeah. That was what happened when Bush came to power. A stolen election and a coup d'etat.

Even when Cuba tries to cooperate in the "war against terror" it is manipulated by the US, as described in this interview with Noam Chomsky:

[Bernie Dwyer] Because of 43 years of non-stop aggression Cuba has obviously had to take matters into their its own hands even though they did appeal to the United States to stop some of this terrorism emanating from the right-wing anti-Cuba groups in Miami. Are you familiar with the case of the five Cuban political prisoners in the US who were incarcerated for fighting against terrorism?

[Noam Chomsky] That’s an amazing case! Cuba approached the United States with an offer to cooperate in combating terrorism and, in fact, the FBI sent people to Cuba to get information from the Cubans about it. The next thing was that Cubans who had infiltrated the terrorist groups in the United States were arrested. That is utterly shocking! Do you think it’s reported? Nobody knows about it. I mean, here are Cubans who are infiltrating illegal, terrorist organisations in the United States, which are violating US law and the infiltrators are arrested, not the terrorists. It’s astonishing. The US has refused intelligence cooperation with Cuba on terrorism because it would lead directly back to terrorist groups based in the United States.

Further information on CIA efforts to destabilize Chile are found in this article, as well as here, as well as in declassified documents from the US government.

Although a coup and assassination were not ruled out, the beginnings of the US plans were economic:

The stage was set for a clash of two experiments. One was Allende's "socialist" experiment aimed at lifting Chile from the mire of underdevelopment and dependency and the poor from deprivation. The other was, as CIA Director William Colby later put it, a "prototype or laboratory experiment to test the techniques of heavy financial investment in an effort to discredit and bring down a government."

Although there were few individual features of this experiment which were unique for the CIA, in sum total it was perhaps the most multifarious intervention ever undertaken by the United States. In the process it brought a new word into the language: destabilizatlon.

"Not a nut or bolt [will] be allowed to reach Chile under Allende", warned American Ambassador Edward Korry before the confirmation. The Chilean economy, so extraordinarily dependent upon the United States, was the country's soft underbelly, easy to pound. Over the next three years, new US government assistance programs for Chile plummeted almost to the vanishing point, similarly with loans from the US Export-Import Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, in which the United States held what amounted to a veto; and the World Bank made no new loans at all to Chile during 1971-73. US government financial assistance or guarantees to American private investment in Chile were cut back sharply and American businesses were given the word to tighten the economic noose.

Noam Chomsky gives this summary of what happened:

Q. Nevertheless, Allende won. A few days after his victory, Nixon called in CIA Director Richard Helms, Kissinger and others for a meeting on Chile. Can you describe what happened?

A. As Helms reported in his notes, there were two points of view. The "soft line" was, in Nixon's words, to "make the economy scream." The "hardline" was simply to aim for a military coup.
Our ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry, who was a Kennedy liberal type, was given the job of implementing the "soft line." Here's how he described his task: "to do all within our power to condemn Chile and the Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty." That was the soft line.
There was a massive destabilization and disinformation campaign. The CIA planted stories in El Mercurio [Chile's mostprominent paper] and fomented labor unrest and strikes.
They really pulled out the stops on this one. Later, when the military coup finally came [in September, 1973] and the government was overthrown-- and thousands of people were being imprisoned, tortured and slaughtered -- the economic aid which had been cancelled immediately beganto flow again. As a reward for the military junta's achievement in reversing Chilean democracy, the US gave massive support to the newgovernment.
Our ambassador to Chile brought up the question of torture to Kissinger. Kissinger rebuked him sharply -- saying something like, Don't give me any of those political science lectures. We don't care about torture -- we care about important things. Then he explained what the important things were.
Kissinger said he was concerned that the success of social democracy in Chile would be contagious. It would infect southern Europe -- southern Italy, for example -- and would lead to the possible success of what was then called Eurocommunism (meaning that Communist parties would hook up with social democratic parties in a united front).
Actually, the Kremlin was just as much opposed to Eurocommunism as Kissinger was, but this gives you a very clear picture of what the domino theory is all about. Even Kissinger, mad as he is, didn't believe that Chilean armies were going to descend on Rome. It wasn't going to be that kind of an influence. He was worried that successful economic development, where the economy produces benefits for the general population --not just profits for private corporations -- would have a contagious effect.
In those comments, Kissinger revealed the basic story of US foreign policy for decades.

For more on the crimes of General Pinochet, check out this site and this one. More links on Chile and Allende can be found here.

This article from CNN shows you how the US media speaks around the issues. Look at how the role of the US in the destabilization of Chile and the murder of Allende is whitewashed.

The CIA timeline we are presenting elsewhere on this page shows, and the experience of Chile is but one example, that the US has been actively interfering in the affairs of other countries for many decades. Many researchers from around the world, as well as independent thinkers in the US, have made the case, based upon the available evidence, that it was the US, most likely via help from Mossad, that were behind the supposed "terrorist" attacks of two years ago. The evidence, even if it does not include a smoking gun, all points to this answer. Who has benefited from this so-called act of "Islamic fundamentalists"? Certainly not the Islamic countries nor the Moslem people. Two Moslem countries have been invaded and reduced to barbarism, Afghanistan and Iraq. The Israeli genocide of the Palestinain people is proceeding apace with no opposition from any of the Western governments. Legislation, such as the Patriot Act, have been passed, removing longstanding democratic rights from American citizens. Anyone who is labelled a "terrorist" can be held with no legal recourse for as long as the "freedom loving" Bush nazis wish to hold them.

And in the face of this, the overwhelming majority of Americans remain asleep. They cannot entertain the idea that "their" government would be willing to sacrifice 2792 "American" lives to accomplish their deeds. The facts show that this same government has been willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of other people, from other countries, to ensure American domination of the globe. But the brainwashing is so thorough that they cannot entertain the idea that the American people are the next in line.

"9/11 The Big Lie"

by Thierry Meyssan
Extracts from Chapter One.

In order to cause the greatest amount of damage, the Boeing should have dived into the Pentagon's roof. This would in fact have been the simplest course, as the building covers a surface of 29 acres. Instead, the terrorists chose to strike one of the facades, although its height was only 80 feet.

The plane suddenly approached the ground, as if to land. While remaining horizontal, it came down almost vertically, without damaging the lights along the highway that runs by the Pentagon parking lot, either through direct impact or the backwash of its passage. Only one lamppost in the parking lot itself was cut down.

The Boeing struck the building's facade at the height of the ground and first floors. It managed to do all this, as one can see in the photo on the front cover of this book, without damaging the magnificent lawn in the foreground, or the wall, or the parking lot, or the heliport (there is a landing pad for small copters close to the point of impact).

Despite its weight (a hundred tons) and its speed (between 250 and 440 mph), the plane only destroyed the first ring of the building. This can be seen quite distinctly in the photo below.

The shock was felt throughout the entire Pentagon. The plane's fuel, stored in the aircraft's wings, was set ablaze and the fire spread to the building. 125 people lost their lives, to which should be added the 64 people aboard the Boeing.

Luckily (if that can be said at all), the plane hit a section of the Pentagon that was undergoing renovation. They had just finished installing the Navy's brand new Command Center.14 Many offices were still unoccupied and others were being used by the civilian personnel in charge of the renovation. That explains why most of the casualties were civilians, and why only one general was to be found among the military victims.

A half-hour later, the upper floors collapsed.

These first elements of the official story are very unlikely, while the rest is strictly impossible.

If one superimposes the plane's outline onto the satellite photo below, it can be seen that only the nose of the Boeing entered the building. The fuselage and the wings remained outside.

The plane was stopped dead, without its wings having struck the facade. There is no visible trace of any impact except that from the Boeing's nose.

We should thus be able to see the wings and the fuselage outside, on the lawn in fact.

While the plane's nose is made of carbon and the wings, containing the fuel, can burn, the Boeing's fuselage is aluminum and the jet engines are built out of steel. At the end of the fire, it would necessarily have left a burnt out wreck. If you refer to the Associated Press photo (on the front cover of this book), you will clearly observe that there is no plane. The shot was nevertheless taken in the very first minutes: the fire trucks had arrived, but the firemen had not yet deployed.

At a press conference15 held on September 12, the Arlington County fire chief, Ed Plaugher, made it clear that his men were employed in fighting the fire's spread within the Pentagon, but had been kept away from the immediate crash site. Only the FEMA's special Urban Search and Rescue teams came into contact with the plane.

A surreal dialogue then took place during this press conference:

Reporter: "Is there anything left of the aircraft at all?"

Plaugher: "First all, the question about the aircraft, there are some small pieces of aircraft visible from the interior during this fire-fighting operation I'm talking about, but not large sections. In other words, there's no fuselage sections and that sort of thing." […]

Reporter: "Chief, there are small pieces of the plane virtually all over, out over the highway, tiny pieces. Would you say the plane exploded, virtually exploded on impact due to the fuel or...?"

Plaugher: "You know, I'd rather not comment on that. We have a lot of eyewitnesses that can give you better information about what actually happened with the aircraft as it approached. So we don't know. I don't know." […]

Reporter: "Where is the jet fuel? Just ...?"

Plaugher: "We have what we believe is a puddle right there that the... what we believe is to be the nose of the aircraft" (sic).

So, although officials, members of Congress and military personnel all claimed to have seen the aircraft fall, no one saw the smallest piece of the plane, not even from the landing gear: there were only unidentifiable metal fragments. As for the video surveillance cameras in the Pentagon parking lot, they did not see the Boeing either, at any point of time or at any angle.

To recap the official version: a hijacked Boeing eluded the F-16 fighters sent in its pursuit and foiled the anti aircraft defense system in Washington. It landed vertically on the Pentagon parking lot while remaining in a horizontal position. It struck the facade at ground level. Its nose and fuselage are supposed to have penetrated into the building. One of its wings, perhaps both of them, burned outdoors, while the fuselage disintegrated inside. The fuel, stored' in the wings, burned just long enough to start a fire in the building, and then was transformed into a puddle which moved itself to the spot where the plane's nose supposedly came to a halt.

Not withstanding the respect owed to the high rank of the "eye witnesses" - including military officers and members of Congress - it is impossible to swallow such nonsense. Far from lending credit to their depositions, their rank only underlines the importance of the means deployed by the United States army to distort the truth.

[...] CNN also interviewed Hosni Mubarak on September 15.17 At that point in time, the Egyptian president did not have the same information at his disposal that we have now. He did not know what a detailed analysis of the attack teaches us. On the other hand, he did have confidential intelligence concerning the preparations for the attack that he had transmitted several weeks earlier to the American government.

President Hosni Mubarak: "[...] Not any intelligence in the world could have the capability in the world to say they are going to use commercial planes with passengers on board to crash the towers, to crash the Pentagon, those who did that should have flown in the area a long time, for example. The Pentagon is not very high, a pilot could come straight to the Pentagon like this to hit, he should have flown a lot in this area to know the obstacles which could meet him when he is flying very low with a big commercial plane to hit the Pentagon in a special place. Somebody has studied this very well, someone has flown in this area very much."

CNN: "Are you suggesting it was an inside operation? I may ask, who do you think is behind this?"

Mubarak: "Frankly speaking, I don't want to jump to conclusions, you in the United States when you catch somebody, some rumors about somebody, you say 'Oh no, it is not Egyptian, it is Saudi, it is Emirates... all this is inside any house of an Arab, the people say the Arabs are participating... you cannot foretell, it is better wait.' You remember Oklahoma... there came rumors immediately that the Arabs did it, and it was not Arabs, who knows... let us wait and see what is the result of the investigations, because something like this done in the United States is not an easy thing for some pilots who had been training in Florida, so many pilots go and train just to fly and have a license, that means you are capable to do such terrorist action? I am speaking as a former pilot, I know that very well, I flew very heavy planes, I flew fighters, I know that very well, this is not an easy thing, so I think we should not jump to conclusions for now.

Numerous people, who were in their cars on the highway running alongside the Pentagon, heard the sound of a plane passing overhead. This sound was shrill, like that of a fighter aircraft, not a commercial airliner. Some said they saw this aircraft. They then described it as a small plane that might have contained eight to twelve persons, not a Boeing 757.18

Danielle O'Brien, an air traffic controller at Dulles airport, described to ABC News the behavior of this aircraft, as seen on radar.19 It was flying at a speed of around 500 mph and was heading at first for the protected airspace surrounding the White House and the Capitol, then veered sharply towards the Pentagon. For O'Brien and her colleagues, there was no possible doubt: given its speed and maneuverability, it could not be a commercial airliner, but only a military aircraft.

The aircraft penetrated the building without causing major damage to the facade. It traversed several rings of the Pentagon, opening successively wider holes in each partition as it passed. The final orifice, perfectly circular in form, measured roughly seven feet in diameter. In traversing the Pentagon's first ring, the aircraft started a fire, as gigantic as it was sudden. Immense flames issued from the building, licking at the facades. They withdrew just as quickly, leaving behind them a cloud of black soot. The fire spread within a section of the first ring and in two perpendicular corridors. It was so sudden that the building's fire protection devices were ineffective.

All of this testimony and these observations could correspond with the firing of one of the latest generation of AGM type missiles, armed with a hollow charge and a depleted uranium BLU tip, and guided by GPS. This kind of weapon does look like a small civilian airplane, but it's not a plane at all. It produces a whistling noise similar to that of a fighter aircraft, can be guided precisely enough to enter a building by a window, can pierce the toughest armor, and can cause - independently of its armor piercing effect - an instantaneous fire giving off heat in excess of 3,600o Fahrenheit.

That being said, only a missile of the United States armed forces transmitting a friendly code could enter the Pentagon's airspace without provoking a counter missile barrage. This attack could only be committed by United States military personnel against other U.S. military personnel.

If the Bush Administration faked the attack on the Pentagon to cover up certain internal problems, did it also dissemble concerning some elements of the attacks that occurred at the World Trade Center?

Comment: Thierry Meyssan wrote a follow-up to this book that concentrated entirely on what he called Pentagate. You can download the book in French as a pdf here. He has a site on the book here. He has organized a 9/11 document base and written an article with pictures of the Pentagon.

You can also check out our collection of articles on the subject, American Coup d'état, as well as Laura Knight-Jadczyk's article on American "official culture."

For a "light-hearted" approach that raises some very serious questions, try the Pentalawn page.

Fabricating a War Without End:

The Problem:

"There is a chance for the President of the United States to use this disaster to carry out what his father....a phrase his father used .. I think only once.. and hasn't been used since.. and that is a New World Order" - Gary Hart Co-Chair of the CFR, Former Senator of Colorado at the CFR meeting on CSpan after September 11th.

"The process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" - Project for a New American Century

"… But in the meantime, it is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus of also challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book...The attitude of the American public toward the external projection of American power has been much more ambivalent. The public supported America’s engagement in World War II largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." - 'The Grand Chessboard ­ American Primacy And It’s Geostrategic Imperatives' - Zbigniew Brzezinski, Basic Books, 1997.

The Precedent:

"On the evening of December 6, 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president of the United States, received a message intercepted by the U.S. Navy. Sent from Tokyo to the Japanese embassy in Washington.

It was imperative that the president see the message right away because it revealed that the Japanese, under the heavy pressure of Western economic sanctions, were terminating relations with the United States. Roosevelt read the thirteen-part transmission, looked up and announced, "This means war."

He then did a very strange thing for a president in his situation. Nothing."

"We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba…casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation. We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington...create an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft…At a designated time the duplicate would be…loaded with…selected passengers, all boarded under carefully prepared aliases. The actual registered aircraft would be converted to a drone [a remotely controlled unmanned aircraft]…the destruction of (that) aircraft will be triggered by radio signal." - Admiral Lyman Lemnitzer head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Operation Northwoods, 1962

The Solution

"The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning." - CIA Intelligence Report for President Bush, July, 2001 (60 Days Prior to 9/11)

"Americans will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland, and our military superiority will not entirely protect us. Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.' This was the first conclusion of our Commission after almost one year of investigation of what we called the 'New World Coming', which we described in our first public report. That conclusion was delivered on September 15, 1999, almost exactly two years to the day before our prediction came true." - Gary Hart, co-chair, U.S. Commission on National Security/21st CenturyUnited States Senate, testimony before the Committee on Government Affairs United States Capitol Washington, D. C. September 21,2001

The Evidence

WTC attack known by 1998

Sydney Morning Herald
September 20 2002

The United States intelligence community was told in 1998 that Arab terrorists were planning to fly a bomb-laden aircraft into the World Trade Centre, but the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration did not take the threat seriously, a congressional investigation into the September 11 attacks has found. [...]

"For 60 decisive minutes, the military and intelligence agencies let the fighter planes stay on the ground, 48 hours later, however, the FBI presented a list of suicide attackers. Within ten days, it emerged that seven of them were still alive. And why did the FBI chief take no position regarding contradictions? Where the list came from, why it was false? If I were the chief investigator (state attorney) in such a case, I would regularly go to the public, and give information on which leads are valid and which not. But a government which goes to war, must first establish who the attacker, the enemy, is. It has a duty to provide evidence. According to its own admission, it has not been able to present any evidence that would hold up in court." - Andreas Von Buelow, former German Defense Minister, interview in the German daily 'Tagesspiegel,' on Jan. 13, 2002

"Whoever wants to understand the CIA's methods, has to deal with its main tasks, [covert operations]: below the level of war, and outside international law, foreign states are to be influenced, by organizing insurrections, terrorist attacks, usually combined with drugs and weapons trade, and money laundering. This is essentially very simple: One arms violent people with weapons. Since, however, it must not under any circumstances come out, that there is an intelligence agency behind it, all traces are erased, with tremendous deployment of resources. I have the impression that this kind of intelligence agency spends 90% of its time this way: creating false leads. So that, if anyone suspects the collaboration of the agencies, he is accused of the sickness of conspiracy madness. The truth often comes out only years later. CIA chief Allen Dulles once said: In case of doubt, I would even lie to the Congress!" - Andreas Von Buelow, former German Defense Minister Jan, 2002

Flash Presentation - Bush Knew - An American Requiem

"[H]aving just been told the country was under attack the commander in chief appeared uninterested in further details. He never asked if there had been any additional threats, where the attacks were coming from, how to best protect the country from further attacks, or what the current status of NORAD or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Nor did he call for an immediate return to Washington.

Instead, in the middle of a modern-day Pearl Harbor, he simply turned back to the matter at hand; the day’s photo op. Precious minutes were ticking by, and many more lives were at risk. 'Really good readers, whew!' he told the class as the electronic flashes once again began to blink and the video cameras rolled. 'These must be sixth graders." - From James Bamford's "Body of Secrets"

Flash Presentation - A Nation Remembers...
Mark Fiore

Autopsy: No Arabs on Flight 77

03/07/02
By Thomas R. Olmsted, M.D

A list of names on a piece of paper is not evidence, but an autopsy by a pathologist, is. I undertook by FOIA request, to obtain that autopsy list and you are invited to view it below. Guess what? Still no Arabs on the list. It is my opinion that the monsters who planned this crime made a mistake by not including Arabic names on the original list to make the ruse seem more believable.[...]

On September 27th, the FBI published photos of the “hijackers” of Flight 77:

No Arabs wound up on the morgue slab; however, three ADDITIONAL people not listed by American Airline sneaked in. I have seen no explanation for these extras.

"We were the first ones in the second tower after the plane struck. I was taking firefighters up in the elevator to the 24th floor to get in position to evacuate workers. On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think there was bombs set in the building. I had just asked another firefighter to stay with me, which was a good thing because we were trapped inside the elevator and he had the tools to get out." - Louie Cacchioli, 51, is a firefighter assigned to Engine 47 in Harlem

Air Force Officer Delivers Blistering Excoriation Of Bush

Says Bush is Responsible for September 11th Attacks

A US Air Force officer in California recently accused President Bush of deliberately allowing the September 11 terror attacks to take place. The officer has been relieved of his command and faces further discipline. The controversy surrounding Lt. Col. Steve Butler's letter to the editor, in which he affirmed that Bush did nothing to warn the American people because he "needed this war on terrorism," received scant coverage in the media.

Universally ignored by the press, however, was that the officer was not merely expressing a personal opinion. He was in a position to have direct knowledge of contacts between the US military and some of the hijackers in the period before the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

The Aftermath

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!"- GW Bush, September 13, 2001

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - GW Bush, March 13, 2002

Thousands of civilians die in US attack on Afghanistan

Extortion, corruption and poverty everywhere in 'liberated' Afghanistan.

Afghanistan opium production leaps with overthrow of Taleban

Up to 10,000 civilians die in Iraq Invasion

Fury Rises In Baghdad- Saddam's Gone, Heroin Is Back

Blue Movies Proliferate in Post-Saddam Iraq

Iraqi women 'forced to veil' - significant increase in rape

"By way of deception, thou shalt do war."
- Motto of Israel's Mossad

A Timeline of CIA Atrocities

By Steve Kangas

The following timeline describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA. [...]

Comment: We recommend bookmarking this link, and rereading it any time you start to believe that America just wants to bring democracy to those Iraqis who are too stupid to take care of themselves. We cut some of the research out and do recommend reading the original. A quote from John Stockwell, former CIA official and author " ...the CIA has overthrown functioning democracies in over 20 countries."

1949

Radio Free Europe — The CIA creates its first major propaganda outlet, Radio Free Europe. Over the next several decades, its broadcasts are so blatantly false that for a time it is considered illegal to publish transcripts of them in the U.S.

Late 40s

Operation MOCKINGBIRD — The CIA begins recruiting American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda. The effort is headed by Frank Wisner, Allan Dulles, Richard Helms and Philip Graham. Graham is publisher of The Washington Post, which becomes a major CIA player. Eventually, the CIA’s media assets will include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service and more. By the CIA’s own admission, at least 25 organizations and 400 journalists will become CIA assets.

1953

Iran – CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.

Operation MK-ULTRA — Inspired by North Korea’s brainwashing program, the CIA begins experiments on mind control. The most notorious part of this project involves giving LSD and other drugs to American subjects without their knowledge or against their will, causing several to commit suicide. However, the operation involves far more than this. Funded in part by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, research includes propaganda, brainwashing, public relations, advertising, hypnosis, and other forms of suggestion.

1954

Guatemala — CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.

1954-1958

North Vietnam — CIA officer Edward Lansdale spends four years trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam, using all the usual dirty tricks. The CIA also attempts to legitimize a tyrannical puppet regime in South Vietnam, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem. These efforts fail to win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese because the Diem government is opposed to true democracy, land reform and poverty reduction measures. The CIA’s continuing failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in the Vietnam War.

1956

Hungary — Radio Free Europe incites Hungary to revolt by broadcasting Khruschev’s Secret Speech, in which he denounced Stalin. It also hints that American aid will help the Hungarians fight. This aid fails to materialize as Hungarians launch a doomed armed revolt, which only invites a major Soviet invasion. The conflict kills 7,000 Soviets and 30,000 Hungarians.

Comment: Similar tactics used by George HW Bush before Gulf War I.

1957-1973

Laos — The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections. [...]

1959

Haiti — The U.S. military helps "Papa Doc" Duvalier become dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the "Tonton Macoutes," who terrorize the population with machetes. They will kill over 100,000 during the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal human rights record.

1961

The Bay of Pigs — The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro’s Cuba.[...]

Dominican Republic — The CIA assassinates Rafael Trujillo, a murderous dictator Washington has supported since 1930. Trujillo’s business interests have grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they have begun competing with American business interests.

Ecuador — The CIA-backed military forces the democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with its own man.

Congo (Zaire) — The CIA assassinates the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba. However, public support for Lumumba’s politics runs so high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power. Four years of political turmoil follow.

1963

Dominican Republic — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup. The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta.

Ecuador — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent (not socialist) policies have become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the 1964 elections, and begins abusing human rights.

1964

Brazil — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history.[...]

1965

Indonesia — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup. [...]

Dominican Republic — A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes.

Greece — With the CIA’s backing, the king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece.

Congo (Zaire) — A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.

1966

The Ramparts Affair — The radical magazine Ramparts begins a series of unprecedented anti-CIA articles. Among their scoops: the CIA has paid the University of Michigan $25 million dollars to hire "professors" to train South Vietnamese students in covert police methods. MIT and other universities have received similar payments. Ramparts also reveals that the National Students’ Association is a CIA front. Students are sometimes recruited through blackmail and bribery, including draft deferments.

1967

Greece — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government two days before the elections. The favorite to win was George Papandreous, the liberal candidate. During the next six years, the "reign of the colonels" — backed by the CIA — will usher in the widespread use of torture and murder against political opponents. When a Greek ambassador objects to President Johnson about U.S. plans for Cypress, Johnson tells him: "Fuck your parliament and your constitution."

Operation PHEONIX — The CIA helps South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in South Vietnamese villages. According to a 1971 congressional report, this operation killed about 20,000 "Viet Cong."

1968

Operation CHAOS—The CIA has been illegally spying on American citizens since 1959, but with Operation CHAOS, President Johnson dramatically boosts the effort. CIA agents go undercover as student radicals to spy on and disrupt campus organizations protesting the Vietnam War. They are searching for Russian instigators, which they never find. CHAOS will eventually spy on 7,000 individuals and 1,000 organizations.

Bolivia — A CIA-organized military operation captures legendary guerilla Che Guevara. The CIA wants to keep him alive for interrogation, but the Bolivian government executes him to prevent worldwide calls for clemency.

1969

Uruguay — The notorious CIA torturer Dan Mitrione arrives in Uruguay, a country torn with political strife. [...]

1970

Cambodia — The CIA overthrows Prince Sahounek, who is highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. [...]

1971

Bolivia — After half a decade of CIA-inspired political turmoil, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows the leftist President Juan Torres. In the next two years, dictator Hugo Banzer will have over 2,000 political opponents arrested without trial, then tortured, raped and executed. [...]

1972

Cambodia — Congress votes to cut off CIA funds for its secret war in Cambodia.

Wagergate Break-in — President Nixon sends in a team of burglars to wiretap Democratic offices at Watergate. The team members have extensive CIA histories, including James McCord, E. Howard Hunt and five of the Cuban burglars. They work for the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP), which does dirty work like disrupting Democratic campaigns and laundering Nixon’s illegal campaign contributions. CREEP’s activities are funded and organized by another CIA front, the Mullen Company.

1973

Chile — The CIA overthrows and assassinates Salvador Allende, Latin America’s first democratically elected socialist leader. The problems begin when Allende nationalizes American-owned firms in Chile. ITT offers the CIA $1 million for a coup (reportedly refused). The CIA replaces Allende with General Augusto Pinochet, who will torture and murder thousands of his own countrymen in a crackdown on labor leaders and the political left. [...]

1975

Australia — The CIA helps topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Edward Whitlam.[...]

Angola — Eager to demonstrate American military resolve after its defeat in Vietnam, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola. Contrary to Kissinger’s assertions, Angola is a country of little strategic importance and not seriously threatened by communism. The CIA backs the brutal leader of UNITAS, Jonas Savimbi. [...]

"The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" — Victor Marchetti and John Marks publish this whistle-blowing history of CIA crimes and abuses. Marchetti has spent 14 years in the CIA, eventually becoming an executive assistant to the Deputy Director of Intelligence. Marks has spent five years as an intelligence official in the State Department.

"Inside the Company" — Philip Agee publishes a diary of his life inside the CIA. Agee has worked in covert operations in Latin America during the 60s, and details the crimes in which he took part. [...]

The Rockefeller Commission — In an attempt to reduce the damage done by the Church Committee, President Ford creates the "Rockefeller Commission" to whitewash CIA history and propose toothless reforms. The commission’s namesake, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, is himself a major CIA figure. Five of the commission’s eight members are also members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a CIA-dominated organization.

1979

Iran — The CIA fails to predict the fall of the Shah of Iran, a longtime CIA puppet, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalists who are furious at the CIA’s backing of SAVAK, the Shah’s bloodthirsty secret police. In revenge, the Muslims take 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Afghanistan — The Soviets invade Afghanistan. The CIA immediately begins supplying arms to any faction willing to fight the occupying Soviets. Such indiscriminate arming means that when the Soviets leave Afghanistan, civil war will erupt. Also, fanatical Muslim extremists now possess state-of-the-art weaponry. One of these is Sheik Abdel Rahman, who will become involved in the World Trade Center bombing in New York.

El Salvador — An idealistic group of young military officers, repulsed by the massacre of the poor, overthrows the right-wing government. However, the U.S. compels the inexperienced officers to include many of the old guard in key positions in their new government. Soon, things are back to "normal" — the military government is repressing and killing poor civilian protesters. Many of the young military and civilian reformers, finding themselves powerless, resign in disgust.

Nicaragua — Anastasios Samoza II, the CIA-backed dictator, falls. The Marxist Sandinistas take over government, and they are initially popular because of their commitment to land and anti-poverty reform. Samoza had a murderous and hated personal army called the National Guard. Remnants of the Guard will become the Contras, who fight a CIA-backed guerilla war against the Sandinista government throughout the 1980s.

1980

El Salvador — The Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, pleads with President Carter "Christian to Christian" to stop aiding the military government slaughtering his people. Carter refuses.[...]

1981

Iran/Contra Begins — The CIA begins selling arms to Iran at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. [...]

1983

Honduras — The CIA gives Honduran military officers the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual – 1983, which teaches how to torture people. [...]

1984

The Boland Amendment — The last of a series of Boland Amendments is passed. These amendments have reduced CIA aid to the Contras; the last one cuts it off completely. However, CIA Director William Casey is already prepared to "hand off" the operation to Colonel Oliver North, who illegally continues supplying the Contras through the CIA’s informal, secret, and self-financing network. This includes "humanitarian aid" donated by Adolph Coors and William Simon, and military aid funded by Iranian arms sales.

1986

[...] Iran/Contra Scandal — Although the details have long been known, the Iran/Contra scandal finally captures the media’s attention in 1986. Congress holds hearings, and several key figures (like Oliver North) lie under oath to protect the intelligence community. CIA Director William Casey dies of brain cancer before Congress can question him. All reforms enacted by Congress after the scandal are purely cosmetic.

Haiti — [...] The CIA then rigs the upcoming elections in favor of another right-wing military strongman. However, violence keeps the country in political turmoil for another four years. The CIA tries to strengthen the military by creating the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which suppresses popular revolt through torture and assassination.

Comment: Do Americans somehow feel special and protected by God, and superior to the Haitians? Do they really believe this style of brutality could not become widespread in the United States? God help them, and may they wake up from the deep slumber before it is too late.

1989

Panama — The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega. Noriega has been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, and has been transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence have angered Washington… so out he goes.

1990

Haiti — Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy candidates, leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide captures 68 percent of the vote. After only eight months in power, however, the CIA-backed military deposes him. More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. As popular opinion calls for Aristide’s return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.

1991

The Gulf War — The U.S. liberates Kuwait from Iraq. But Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, is another creature of the CIA. With U.S. encouragement, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. During this costly eight-year war, the CIA built up Hussein’s forces with sophisticated arms, intelligence, training and financial backing. This cemented Hussein’s power at home, allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas. It also gave him all the military might he needed to conduct further adventurism — in Kuwait, for example.

The Fall of the Soviet Union —[...] Curiously, the intelligence community’s budget is not significantly reduced after the demise of communism. [...]

Comment: And they couldn't do a damned thing about 9/11, or so they say. It seems obvious that death of 3000 Americans would be nothing but a trifle to these international criminals.

"The major function of secrecy in Washington is to keep the U.S. people ... from knowing what the nation's leaders are doing." John Stockwell

Report says schools are unfair to America

Tuesday, September 9, 2003 Posted: 1605 GMT (12:05 AM HKT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's schools are telling an unbalanced story of their own country, offering students plenty about America's failings but not enough about its values and freedoms, says a report drawing support across the ideological spectrum.

Without a change of approach, schools will continue to turn out large numbers of students who are disengaged in society and unappreciative of democracy, the report contends. [...]

Comment: "Americans cannot teach democracy to the world until they restore their own." William Greider, journalist and author

The Secret Wars of the CIA

Excerpts from a talk by John Stockwell

The CIA & The Nazis

Iraq's 'special relationship'

BBC Online

[...] The coup that brought the Ba'ath Party to power in 1963 was celebrated by the United States.

The CIA had a hand in it. They had funded the Ba'ath Party - of which Saddam Hussein was a young member - when it was in opposition.

US diplomat James Akins served in the Baghdad Embassy at the time.

"I knew all the Ba'ath Party leaders and I liked them," he told me.

"The CIA were definitely involved in that coup. We saw the rise of the Ba'athists as a way of replacing a pro-Soviet government with a pro-American one and you don't get that chance very often.

"Sure, some people were rounded up and shot but these were mostly communists so that didn't bother us".
This happy co-existence lasted right through the 1980s.

When the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran in 1979, America set about turning Saddam Hussein into Our Man in the Gulf Region.

Washington gave Baghdad intelligence support.

President Reagan sent a special presidential envoy to Baghdad to talk to Saddam in person.

The envoy's name was Donald Rumsfeld.

Everyone knew that Saddam was using chemical weapons against Iranian conscripts.

When 5,000 Kurds were gassed at Halabja in 1988, Kurdish leaders turned to America for help. Mahmoud Osman was one of them.

Halabja, when Saddam used weapons of mass destruction "I couldn't get any of my friends in the State Department to return my calls," he said. [...]

Comment: Also see How the west helped Saddam gain power and decimate the Iraqi elite.

Results of the 1973 Church Committee Hearings, on CIA misdeeds, and the 1984 Iran/Contra Hearings

School of the Americas: School of Assassins, USA
 
World War II was the "good war". After that conflict, most Americans believed that US intentions in the world were noble -- the US was the punisher of aggression and a warrior for freedom. This image was for generations of Americans the measure by which they judged their country in world affairs. The war in Vietnam ended the illusion that America was always on the "right side". Today, America's image as a defender of democracy and justice has been further eroded by the School of the Americas (SOA), which trains Latin American and Caribbean military officers and soldiers to subvert democracy and kill hope in their own countries. [...]

Hall Monitors or Spies?

Wireless Tech to Track Building Occupants

Comment: Another article touting another invasive technology as necessary since 9/11.

Victory Act is no victory for the people

By CHARLES LEVENDOSKY
Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune

[...] The Hatch bill, entitled the Victory Act (Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act), is seen by some to be a substitute for the earlier proposed so-called Patriot Act II -- the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 -- which was leaked and caused a furor in Congress as well as among liberal and conservative civil liberties groups. A draft copy of the Victory Act, dated June 27, has been posted on the Web (ww.libertythink.com ).

Meanwhile, US Attorney General John Ashcroft is stumping around the country to generate support for the draconian USA Patriot Act of 2001 -- at the public’s expense.

Taxpayers are paying for Ashcroft to tell them you’re not really losing your liberties and besides we need these powers to catch terrorists. Ashcroft will be trying to sell audiences on granting the federal government even greater law-enforcement authority.

Once the cover was blown on Patriot Act II, Ashcroft and members of the Department of Justice backed away from it. For months before the text of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 was made public, Justice Department officials were telling Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the department was not drafting another antiterrorism bill. [...]

The ironically named Victory Act would not be a victory for freedom-loving people. It’s really a wish list for those who want more federal police power.

Bushwacked! Asia remembers 9/11

Aljazeera.com
Thursday 11 September 2003, 9:29 Makka Time, 6:29 GMT

On the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Australians remembered loved ones and US embassies across Asia lit candles, but the media criticised the Bush administration’s war-mongering policy.

[...] "The attacks on the US did indeed rouse the 'mighty giant' Mr Bush spoke of at the time," said Hong Kong's South China Morning Post in an editorial.

"But the world's only remaining superpower must realise that the 'with us, or against us' approach, and in particular the further use of aggression, will only fuel the hatred which motivated the attacks in the first place." It said.

These were sentiments echoed around the region - from the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, to former US foe and now trading partner, Vietnam. They served as a reminder of US military actions that have divided the world in the past two years.

[...] Editorials were more outspoken about the fallout from the US response that has now drawn its army into quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan and failed to net bin Ladin, the suspected September 11 mastermind.

"Two years after September 11 ... America instead goes towards a path of self-isolation and being unilateral in action," said an editorial in Vietnam's People's Army newspaper.

Australia's Sydney Morning Herald was more outspoken. "The goodwill of America's allies has been squandered," it wrote. "The threat represented by the terrible attacks of two years ago remains."

In Indonesia, site of the world's worst post-September 11 attacks when bombs killed 202 in Bali nightclubs last October, the Jakarta Post took a similar tone.

"There is also the fear that, unless it is carefully managed, the war against terrorism is likely to be perceived in the Islamic world as a crusade against them," it said.

"But, so far, President Bush is not only far from rooting out terrorist networks and getting to the core of the problem; he has triggered the emergence of more terrorists in the world," the Post said.

Bush Urges More Police Powers Vs. Terror

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 10, 8:27 PM ET

WASHINGTON - President Bush told Congress on Wednesday to "untie the hands" of law enforcement officials and arm them with wider legal powers to combat terrorists, saying the groups that struck America two years ago are wounded but still dangerous.

He specifically called for expanding use of the federal death penalty, tougher bail restrictions and greater subpoena powers that he said are available for other crimes, such as drug trafficking and embezzling, but can't be used against terrorism. "This disparity in the law makes no sense," Bush said in a speech at the FBI Academy in nearby Quantico, Va.

Bush's appeal threw the White House into a growing debate over the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act enacted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Critics say the law is too intrusive and a threat to civil liberties and fear that the administration is trying to pass a second version of the measure in piecemeal fashion. Even some House and Senate Republicans have talked about rolling back portions of the Patriot Act. [...]

This is what democracy looks like

Information Clearing House
09/10/03: A Readers Commentary

I was in the crowd yesterday, among the thousands who trekked to the distant forbidding alien landscape known by many as Wall Street - to demonstrate among the frightened excluded angry prescient thousands- standing and chanting in front of the building where the real George W once stood.

Here is what I saw.

Outside, on the steps of The Federal Building, there is a 15 foot tall bronze statue of the real George W in 1789. Wrapped in his enormous cloak, arms outstretched, talking to- THE PEOPLE. The real George is giving his most famous speech - caught in the act by the CNN of the time- a sculptor.

Above him, crouching on the parapets, and to his left and his right, are riot-gear laden camouflage wearing helmeted RIOT Police, with RK-15s slung at the ready, aimed at the crowd. Should I repeat that ? -- with RK 15s aimed at the crowd. At US.

One of us - a young black veteran, screams at them- "What are you doing ? We're AMERICANS."

I asked a Captain- what the hell are those guys doing ? Are they ready to SHOOT US? WE are the enemy ?

This is the fake George W's USA.

This is what the real George had to witness yesterday from his place on the steps of Federal Hall. Rapid fire machine guns being trained on American people by American cops. And inside, neither the real George nor his people were allowed to attend a speech by one of our EMPLOYEES.

Inside, a guy whose salary WE pay was refusing to let us hear him tell a group of cops and prosecutors and judges- all of whom we ALSO PAY - who also work for US- -- that what we had to fear was US.

The real George's words - spoken April 30, 1789 from those very steps, where ALL the people could hear him -- those words said :

"...the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted..."

In other words-- We, the government, are elected by you, the people, to perform the tasks that you, the people, in your wisdom and profound understanding of what this country is- shall prescribe. WE, the government, work for YOU, the people, and we deeply trust that YOU know better than all others, what should be done.

And inside -- spake John Ashcroft, who is to George Washington as Condoleeza Rice is to Martin Luther King--

NY Times:
The attorney general made clear that he believes the Justice Department's antiterrorism initiatives are fully in sync with the moral imperatives of God and country and that those who disagree may have failed to absorb the lessons of Sept. 11.
"Just two years have passed," Mr. Ashcroft said, "but already it has become difficult for some Americans to recall the shock, anger, grief and anguish of that day."

Roslynn R. Mauskopf, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that despite the exclusive nature of the attorney general's audience, "the message goes far beyond the people in the hall."
"The critics need to stop talking and start listening," she said. "The Patriot Act provides invaluable tools for fighting terrorism."

Back outside-

The real George wept bronze tears.
The riot cops stayed on full alert, RK-15s drawn against the crowd.
That's what democracy looked like yesterday.

Justice Dept. Defies Judge on Moussaoui

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
September 11, 2003

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The Bush administration is risking dismissal of charges against Zacarias Moussaoui by refusing for a second time to obey a court ruling that allows the terrorism defendant to question senior al-Qaida prisoners.

The Justice Department on Wednesday acknowledged that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema could respond by dismissing the case, but asked her to postpone any punishment pending an appeal.

Moussaoui is the only person charged in the United States as a conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. If his case is dismissed, the government has the option of sending the French citizen's case to a military tribunal. [...]

Kill Arafat says Israeli defence minister

11/09/2003

Israel must expel Yasser Arafat or even kill him, Israel’s defence minister said today in advance of a crucial cabinet meeting that will decide the Palestinian leader’s immediate future.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who cut short a visit to India, was convening his security Cabinet to decide on an Israeli response to the latest Hamas suicide bombings – two attacks that killed 15 Israelis on Tuesday.

Strategic decisions are on the agenda, including the expulsion of Arafat and an invasion of the Gaza Strip, where Hamas leaders are based.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said expelling Arafat was the least Israel should do, and that killing the Palestinian leader should be considered.

He said will ask the security Cabinet to “expel Yasser Arafat immediately, without delay.” Mofaz said kicking out Arafat is the only way to get out of the current cycle of violence.[...]

Israelis call for Arafat's blood

By Lawrence Smallman
Thursday 11 September 2003

Fears are increasing for the future of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat after Israeli soldiers surrounded his compound HQ.

Tanks are positioned near the compound in Ram Allah which has been the scene of many an Israeli siege - but some Middle East observers believe Arafat could be forcibly removed and exiled ... or even assassinated.

[...] An Israeli newspaper called on the government to kill Palestinian President Yasir Arafat.

The Jerusalem Post told its readers on Thursday: “We must kill Yasir Arafat because the world leaves us no alternative … if we are going to be condemned in any case, we might as well do it."

War drums beating in the age of terror

September 11, 2003

America's violent response to September 11 has only served to heighten the risk of further terrorist attacks, says Noam Chomsky.

Amid the aftershocks of suicide bombings in Baghdad, Jerusalem and Najaf, and countless other horrors since September 11, it is easy to understand why many believe that the world has entered a new and frightening "age of terror", the title of a recent collection of essays by Yale University scholars and others. However, two years on, the United States has yet to confront the roots of terrorism, has waged more war than peace and has continually raised the stakes of international confrontation.

America's dirty torture secret

Henry Porter
The Guardian
Wednesday September 10, 2003

Remembering al-Qaida's attacks on America tomorrow, many will wearily note that the world did indeed change that day two years ago and that our newspapers are still full of the reverberations. Without 9/11 there would have been no Iraq war. Without Iraq there would be no Hutton, and without Hutton, TB wouldn't be looking quite as weak as he is.

The American press betrays the same pattern, but there is one important and - to me - astonishing absence. Weeks go by without serious newspapers investigating or commenting on human rights abuses by the American government. At home and abroad, hundreds, maybe thousands, of men are being held in camps and prisons by the military, by the CIA and by the justice department, incommunicado, without legal representation or hope of release, there to endure prolonged and terrifying interrogation. Alone, this is enough for the US government to place itself in contravention of the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, which it is obligated to uphold. But that is not all. There is evidence that the US authorities have encouraged the use of torture and may indeed have participated in the torture of those men they believe to hold information on past and future terrorist attacks. [...]

Researching my book Empire State, a novel set against the background of these abuses, I discovered that the information is not terribly difficult to come by. In March, prisoners at Bagram reported being beaten, deprived of sleep and made to lie naked on a sheet of ice. The same month, US military coroners ruled that the deaths of two prisoners in mysterious circumstances were homicides. Just before the invasion, I met an American who is attached to a shadowy military/espionage operation; I asked him about the rumours of torture. He replied with a look of astonishment, "Are you crazy? Of course. That's the war we've got on our hands. We didn't ask for it this way."

By far the most disturbing development is the American practice of handing over recalcitrant prisoners to be tortured by compliant regimes in Jordan, Morocco and particularly Egypt, where beating, drowning and even electric shock treatment are used.

When a man is transported bound and blindfolded - in the American parlance "packaged" - it is said that he has been "rendered" to a foreign service, and from the unutterable hell of his subsequent experience come "extreme renditions". The desired result of this process is a complete set of answers to questions drawn up by US intelligence that are then fed into a database which, without a trace of irony, has been codenamed Harmony.

Naturally, the CIA officers are not themselves applying the electrodes to genitals or rubber truncheons to the soles of the feet, but in the case of prisoners being tortured in Saudi Arabia, they are on hand, in the words of CIA director George Tenet, to "share the debriefing results". [...]

Torture survivor finds refuge, resolve in U.S.

By Bruce Finley, Denver Post International Affairs Writer
Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Scanning passenger faces on his routes around Denver, RTD bus driver Mory Traore wants to reveal a dark secret.

He used to work as a doctor in his native Conakry in Guinea, West Africa. He also helped run an opposition political party, for which he was tortured by national police.

In May 2001, he fled - via Sierra Leone, Senegal, Morocco and Canada - entering the United States in the trunk of a car. He still has bad dreams about police burning and whipping him, yet he is determined to resume his medical profession.

"I feel like telling some passengers my real occupation," said Traore, 33. "Then I think: 'No, they wouldn't believe me.' They wouldn't believe me because this doesn't happen here."

He's one of an estimated 500,000 people tortured in other countries who now have found refuge in the United States. And although some may limp, stammer or occasionally show scars, many don't stand out.

But more and more of them quietly seek help at a network of 33 torture victim centers in major cities. Most of these are funded in part by the U.S. government. Congress soon must decide whether to renew that funding.

Traore turned to the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center in Denver, where therapists report their caseload has increased from 117 victims treated in 1999 to 223 last year. The victims come from 34 countries, with 80 percent from Africa, and the tortures they endured range from repeated gang rape in captivity to electrical shocks on the genitals. [...]

Swedish minister dies after stabbing

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has died in hospital from stab wounds inflicted while she was shopping in a Stockholm department store.

Lindh, who suffered injuries to the chest, stomach and arms in the attack on Wednesday, spent most of the night in surgery as doctors tried unsuccessfully to save her life.

Her attacker remains at large and the motive for the killing is not known.

Feds Mull Charges in ABC News Probe

By JOHN SOLOMON
Thu Sep 11, 3:01 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a clash between security and the First Amendment, federal authorities are threatening criminal charges against ABC News reporters who smuggled harmless depleted uranium into the country for a second time during an investigation of border inspections.

ABC News said Wednesday it believed its actions constituted legitimate investigative journalism that highlighted U.S. anti-terror security on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"In our view, we do not believe we are in violation of the law because it was not our intent to defraud the U.S. government, to smuggle in contraband or to avoid duties," ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said. "It was to test the system." [...]

Big Brother Set to Guard a TV Near You

Wed Sep 10, 7:18 AM ET

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Big Brother technology that already allows people to be tracked through their mobile phones could soon be installed in household objects, tipping off police if they are stolen.

Televisions, DVD players and computers could be fitted with microchips identifying their location and their normal proximity to each other, automatically alerting police if they change unexpectedly, according to a scientist on Wednesday.

"We haven't yet proved the technology will do it, but we are confident it will," Professor Nigel Linge from Britain's Center for Networking Telecommunications Research told reporters.

He said a police-monitored pilot project testing the hybrid wireless and mobile phone technology should be up and running within six months in the northern English city of Manchester.

The technology could probably locate a tagged machine down to the nearest meter, he added. [...]

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