CIA analysis finds no Iranian nuke drive

from agence france-presse: A classifed draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter has said.

Seymour Hersh, writing in an article for the November 27 issue of the magazine The New Yorker released in advance, reported on whether the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was more, or less, inclined to attack Iran after Democrats won control of Congress last week.

A month before the November 7 legislative elections, Hersh wrote, Vice President Dick Cheney attended a national-security discussion that touched on the impact of Democratic victory in both chambers on Iran policy.

"If the Democrats won on November 7th, the vice president said, that victory would not stop the administration from pursuing a military option with Iran," Hersh wrote, citing a source familiar with the discussion.

Cheney said the White House would circumvent any legislative restrictions "and thus stop Congress from getting in its way," he said.

The Democratic victory unleashed a surge of calls for the Bush administration to begin direct talks with Iran.

But the administration's planning of a military option was made "far more complicated" in recent months by a highly classified draft assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency "challenging the White House's assumptions about how close Iran might be to building a nuclear bomb," he wrote.

"The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear-weapons program running paallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency," Hersh wrote, adding the CIA had declined to comment on that story.

A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis and said the White House had been hostile to it, he wrote.

Cheney and his aides had discounted the assessment, the official said.

"They're not looking for a smoking gun," the official was quoted as saying, referring to specific intelligence about Iranian nuclear planning.

"They're looking for the degree of comfort level they think they need to accomplish the mission."

The United States and other major powers believe Iran's uranium enrichment program is ultimately aimed at producing fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Iran insists it will use the enriched uranium only to fuel nuclear power stations, something it is permitted to do as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The major powers have been debating a draft United Nations resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany that would impose limited sanctions on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile sectors for Tehran's failure to comply with an earlier UN resolution on halting enrichment.

On Wednesday, Israel's outgoing US ambassador Danny Ayalon said in an interview that Bush would not hesitate to use force against Iran to halt its nuclear program if other options failed.

"US President George W. Bush will not hesitate to use force against Iran in order to halt its nuclear program," Ayalon told the Maariv daily.

Israel, widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, views Iran as its arch-foe, pointing to repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe the Jewish state off the map.

kissinger: Iraq military win impossible

from washington post: Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday.

Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the U.S. government must enter into dialogue with Iraq's regional neighbors - including Iran - if progress is to be made in the region.

"If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

But Kissinger, an architect of the Vietnam war who has advised President Bush about Iraq, warned against a rapid withdrawal of coalition troops, saying it could destabilize Iraq's neighbors and cause a long-lasting conflict.

"A dramatic collapse of Iraq - whatever we think about how the situation was created - would have disastrous consequences for which we would pay for many years and which would bring us back, one way or another, into the region," he said.

Kissinger, whose views have been sought by the Iraqi Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker III, called for an international conference bringing together the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Iraq's neighbors - including Iran - and regional powers like India and Pakistan to work out a way forward for the region.

"I think we have to redefine the course, but I don't think that the alternative is between military victory, as defined previously, or total withdrawal," he said.

blair admits Iraq is a 'disaster'

from daily mail: Tony Blair admitted that British intervention in Iraq has been a disaster last night - sending shockwaves through Westminster.

In his frankest admission about the war to date, Mr Blair admitted that Western forces have been powerless to stop the descent into violence.

The Prime Minister stopped short of accepting the blame for plunging Iraq to the brink of civil war - blaming instead the insurgent uprising that has killed 125 British troops.

But his admission in an interview with the Arab news channel Al Jazeera will be seen as an historic climbdown for Mr Blair, who has always fought to put a positive gloss on often disastrous events.

Challenged by veteran interviewer Sir David Frost that the Western invasion of Iraq has"so far been pretty much of a disaster", Mr Blair said: "It has."

His words were last night seen as an olive branch to other states in the Middle East and his critics at home.

pentagon announces US troop deployments to Iraq

from military.com: The Pentagon announced Friday that 57,000 U.S. troops, including five combat brigades, have been told to deploy to Iraq early next year - a move that will maintain current force levels there.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed the deployment orders for about 20,000 Soldiers from active duty Army brigades based in North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, Kansas and Italy. Another 10,000 reserves and 27,000 active duty troops are scheduled to go to Iraq in smaller units...

The announcement comes as some Democrats, who are poised to take control of the House and Senate, continue to press for substantial reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq, and a timetable for that drawdown.

iraq for sale: the war profiteers

iraq for sale: the war profiteers will be showing in portland at performance works northwest on sunday night at 7. it is also available on dvd from the disinformation corporation.

from wikipedia: Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is a documentary about the ongoing Iraq War and the behavior of companies with no-bid contracts working within Iraq. The movie was made by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films. The movie criticizes the perceived greed, waste, and ineffectiveness of the contractors in a war that has been privatized by corporations on a historic level. Specifically, the film claims contractors are over-billing the government and doing substandard work while endangering the lives of American soldiers and private citizens. The documentary contends these major four companies are composed of ex-military and ex-government workers who unethically help these companies get and keep enormous contracts and milk the American taxpayer.

The companies criticized are: Blackwater, KBR-Halliburton, CACI, and Titan.

also, here is an interview with robert greenwald on the conscious media network...

is john bolton blackmailing those who'd vote him out of UN post?

from wayne madsen: One of the signs that there is an intensive clash between the increasingly influential James Baker, Robert Gates, Brent Scowcroft group affiliated with George H. W. Bush and the remaining administration neo-cons centered around Vice President Dick Cheney is the battle to keep John Bolton at the US Mission to the UN.

The neo-cons in the administration are trying to come up with ways to keep Bolton in his position even though the current Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee (with the support of defeated Rhode Island Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee) does not look likely to approve Bolton's nomination. Incoming chairman Joe Biden said as far as he is concerned the Bolton nomination is dead.

However, neo-cons, including Cheney, are toying with the idea of appointing Bolton to the third ranking position at the UN mission, which does not require Senate confirmation. By not filling the vacant ambassador position, Bolton would serve as an unconfirmed acting ambassador.

It is well known that following Donald Rumsfeld's ouster at the Pentagon, Bolton is one of Cheney's sole remaining allies. Bolton is also vehemently anti-Iranian and opposed to the Baker-Hamilton committee's outreach to Tehran.

Therefore, it is important for Cheney to keep Bolton at the UN to rattler sabers at Iran. Bolton is also supported by the Israeli lobby in Washington that does not want to see any Washington-Tehran talks dedicated to working together on Iraq.

There is also another wild card working in Bolton's favor. While he was at the State Department, Bolton gathered a number of NSA intercepts on US persons and may be using their content to blackmail members of the administration and Congress to support his continued tenure at the UN.

WMR reported on Bolton's involvement in the NSA surveillance on May 15, 2005:

According to National Security Agency insiders, outgoing NSA Director General Michael Hayden approved special communications intercepts of phone conversations made by past and present U.S. government officials. The intercepts are at the height of the current controversy surrounding the nomination of Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. It was revealed by Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd during Bolton's Senate Foreign Relations Committee nomination hearing that Bolton requested transcripts of 10 NSA intercepts of conversations between named U.S. government officials and foreign persons. Later, it was revealed that U.S. companies [also treated as "U.S. persons" by NSA] were also identified in an additional nine intercepts requested by Bolton. However, NSA insiders report that Hayden approved special intercept operations on behalf of Bolton and had them masked as "training missions" in order to get around internal NSA regulations that normally prohibit such eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.

pentagon video held back by fbi

from 9/11 blogger: The FBI has further delayed the release of a video that many bloggers have speculated may show the impact of flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11th 2001.

Following last week's article detailing the imminent release of the Doubletree hotel video, a reader has informed us that after calling Judicial Watch and asking when the video would be made public, he was told:

'The Government said they needed more time'. When asked when enough time would pass before they could release the tape, they said they didn't know and it was indefinite...

Judicial Watch had previously announced that the video would be released before November the ninth and even speculated that it may be used as a political tool in order to sway mid-term election votes.

Ongoing FOIA requests and subsequent lawsuits should now have forced all known video tapes of the Pentagon attack out into the open. It seems that abiding by judicial law is something that the FBI refuses to be a part of however.

outside the box #77

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on november 9, 2006.

from alex ansary: Commentary of post-2006 Mid-term election and the new speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

republicans propose last-minute spy bill

from zdnet: The outgoing Republican chairman of a key U.S. Senate committee has made a last-minute attempt at giving the Bush administration what he calls the necessary "resources" for carrying out its phone call and Internet surveillance within the law, but critics remain unconvinced.

In remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter marketed his new 11-page proposal as "a significant advance in protecting civil liberties." ...

Specter's new bill arrives less than a week after President Bush called on the lame-duck Congress to prioritize legislation that would effectively authorize the administration's terrorist surveillance project, which is already the target of a few dozen lawsuits. The House of Representatives in September approved an administration-backed bill that drew fire from civil libertarians, who argued it would expand the government's electronic spying powers to unprecedented levels.

Titled the "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Oversight and Resource Enhancement Act of 2006," the latest Specter bill does not appear to grant as much latitude for warrantless spying as the approved House bill. Specter's proposal, for instance, would require the U.S. Supreme Court to review all appeals of cases challenging the legality of the specific spy program acknowledged by the president last December, whereas the version approved by the House would effectively quash all such challenges.

the carlyle white house

from op-ed news: It was bad enough when the Carlyle Group bought Dunkin' Donuts last year, forcing millions of conscientious caffeine addicts to look elsewhere for their daily fix. Now, it appears Carlyle has added 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to its formidable portfolio of acquisitions.

The Carlyle Group achieved national attention in the early days of the Iraq occupation, especially after Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" exposed the firm's umbilical ties to the Bush family and the House of Saud. For the uninitiated, Carlyle is a privately-owned equity firm organized and run by former members of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations.

Currently, Carlyle manages more than $44 billion in 42 different investment funds, which is an interesting fact in and of itself: Carlyle could lay claim to only a meager $12 billion in funds in December of 2001. Thanks to their ownership of United Defense Industries, a major military contractor that sells a whole galaxy of weapons systems to the Pentagon, Carlyle's profits skyrocketed after the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Some notable present and former employees of Carlyle include former president George H.W. Bush, who resigned in 2003; James Baker III, Bush Sr.'s secretary of state and king fixer; and George W. Bush, who served on Carlyle's board of directors until his run for the Texas governorship. One notable former client of Carlyle was the Saudi BinLaden Group, which sold its investment back to the firm a month after the September 11 attacks. Until the October 2001 sellout, Osama bin Laden himself had a financial interest in the same firm that employed the two presidents Bush.

How has Carlyle managed to acquire the White House? The newest edition of Newsweek begins to tell the tale in a story titled "The Rescue Squad": "Bush Senior has been relegated to watching all those political talk shows his son refuses to watch, wincing each time he hears his son's name being mocked or criticized. George H.W. Bush has been, in effect, sidelined by nepotism. He has repeatedly told close friends that he does not believe it is appropriate or wise to second-guess his son, or even offer advice beyond loving support. This time, however, was different. A source who declined to be identified discussing presidential confidences told NEWSWEEK that Bush 41 left 'fingerprints' on the Rumsfeld-Gates decision, though the father's exact role remains shrouded in speculation."

the 'nuzzling' terror cell

from infowars: The Insanity of Homeland Security enforced airline security measures reached a new high today as two American citizens were charged with violating the Patriot Act for "sexual play" on a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles.

Just when you thought it was safe to get back on a plane, just when you thought it may be possible to fly without fear of hijacking by liquid explosive baby milk wielding psychopath Islamofascists bent on destroying 400 airliners all at once thus igniting atmospheric gasses and triggering mass armageddon all over the planet, you were wrong.

You were wrong because now we must face the threat of the "nuzzling" terrorists.

Carl Persing and Dawn Sewell, a couple in their early forties, were observed nuzzling or kissing each other on the neck, and allegedly engaging in more adult sexual acts. "During these actions, Sewell was observed smiling," reads the indictment filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

OH NO, NOT "SMILING" AS WELL, HOW COULD THEY?

In all seriousness however, this may at first seem like an isolated incident, sadly it is not, it is the latest in an unending series of examples of ludicrous airport and airline incidents that indicate the extent to which freedom of movement is under attack. It is also the latest example in a long history of the use of the Patriot Act against lawful American citizens.

Persing and Sewell are facing up to twenty years in prison for violating legislation that, although unlawfully passed, is supposed to be for use against those who commit or intend to commit terrorist acts.

Today also saw a 65-year-old Australian man fined S$10,000 ($6,423), under the United Nations anti-terrorism regulations, by a Singapore court for uttering the word "bomb" on a flight to Indonesia.

He was lucky he wasn't gunned down like the incident in Miami where Rigoberto Alpizar was shot on board American Airlines Flight 924 for "saying he had a bomb".

Previous mind boggling airport and airline incidents include:

• A Wisconsin man who wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on a plastic bag containing toiletries was detained in September.
• An 83-year-old wheelchair bound breast cancer, broken hip from a fall and stroke victim was manhandled and treated to extra screening at at Denver International Airport, in April.
• Harraj Mann was reported to the British airport police for listening to a Clash record in a taxi on the way to the airport. The weasel driver was so frightened by some of the lyrics that he took them as a rallying call for a terrorist attack.
• A man was arrested in Portland airport in December 2002 for becoming angry when security groped his pregnant wife and ordered her to strip in front of hundreds of other passengers.
• Passengers on a flight returning from Malaga, Spain complained about two Asian men who they thought were potential suicide hijackers. The evidence? They were Asian! To the astonishment of the students they were marched off the plane at gun point before it took off.
• On August 14th, a British Airways flight bound for New York was diverted back to Heathrow Airport because a mobile phone rang at the rear of the plane and its owner was not to be found.
  

In August of this year we saw the mother of all fake terror alerts used to beta test a system of total tyrannical control within airports where mothers carrying baby milk as well as gel bra wearers, lip gloss users, people who wear coats and children who carry dolls were treated as possible terrorists.

Several incidents have occurred where people who rely on medication have become ill or even fallen into comas because airport staff have refused to let them take medicines on board.

While a couple of weeks before a tabloid reporter had "planted a bomb" on a nuclear waste train by just walking onto it, the British and American public were being ordered around, background checked, screened and analyzed in any airport they entered.

Similarly, test runs where terrorists smuggle dummy nuclear bombs across the US border without being apprehended were successfully conducted by Glenn Spencer's American Border Patrol on three separate occasions. Airports and the general public, however, remain the focus of beefed up security measures.

Immediately after the very dubious plot details broke the British Government again attempted to ram though draconian detainee legislation, only to face a fierce backlash from the public who were sick and tired of being treated like mindless fools that believe anything they are told by their leaders.

Airline companies too have viscously attacked the government, this week it was revealed that BA's "terror alert" bill has hit 100 million pounds.

It is now clear that anything anyone does in an airport or on a plane, including talking and kissing, is being categorized as possible terrorism. This is an excuse to implement the first stage of an agenda to create a two tier caste system whereby only government authorized citizens will be able to travel and everyone will be subject to intense airport style harassment on city streets.

Such idiotic excuses are being used everyday to cram our lives with escalating security measures, biometric and body scans, lie detector tests, behavior analysis, facial analysis and spot teams to spy on passengers. We are being acclimatized to these things, first within airports. Technology and measures that you don't even see used in prisons or high security facilities are being passed off as completely normal in airports.

Every indication suggests that there are moves afoot to implement these measures and methods into everyday life. A year ago we were told that Federal air marshals were to expand their work beyond airplanes, launching counterterror surveillance at train stations and other mass transit facilities. So called "Visible Intermodal Protection and Response" teams — or VIPER teams, may soon be permanently implemented on everyday transport facilities.

With no real threat to counter such teams will busy themselves busting people selling tokens and herding people around like cattle in 'shock and awe' programs, whatever the hell that term is supposed to mean now, prodding them through transit scanners.

We are told that an attack on transit systems with in the US is inevitable. In Canada, record levels of funding are now being poured into transit security to develop new surveillance networks, including cameras; develop risk assessments and security plans, and hire staff. Of course this is necessary because despite the moves to totally crank up security on transit systems, Al-Qaeda has them as their main targets.

The airports are merely a beta test for the exact same measures to be rolled out in major cities, where regular checkpoint officials inspect internal passports and consumers are body scanned to enter a supermarket or any kind of public event as spy drones swoop overhead to catalogue movement and alert authorities to any suspicious body language (remember Poindexter's gait analysis?).

The majority of what I outlined is already being implemented at major transport and police hubs in the US and Britain. When the technology to automate these measures is more widely used, its cost will drop and in turn spread like wildfire outside of the major cities and into local communities - unless we scream bloody murder and stop it before it makes it out of the airport terminal and onto our street corners and we all end up being categorized as suspects along with the "nuzzling terrorists".

abramoff to prison

from reuters/yahoo: Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, at the center of a political corruption scandal that contributed to the Republican loss of Congress in last week's elections, began serving his prison sentence on Wednesday.

The federal Bureau of Prisons said Abramoff, who has been cooperating in the government's influence-peddling investigation, arrived at about 6:30 a.m. at a minimum security federal prison camp in Cumberland, Maryland, 130 miles west of Washington.

moving monarchy

with all that's going on in the world, it's bad timing, but i have to move...
so posting will sporadic for a little while. but at least i'll go on hiatus with some good news...

from forbes: democrats win house; senate now tied

from houston chronicle: rumsfeld to step down, republicans say

... be back soon ...

new breed of watchdog for election day

from wall street journal: When Americans go to vote... a new breed of activist will be on guard, monitoring polling stations for everything from voting-machine glitches to long lines to registration snafus.

Energized by disputed results in 2000 and 2004, they have left jobs as music conductors, real-estate agents and software engineers to form groups that expect to turn out thousands of volunteers who don't trust the country's ability to count its votes and have decided to do something about it.

"This is going to be the most heavily watched election in history," predicts Marybeth Kuznik, who founded a group called VotePA after the 2004 election to monitor voting issues in Pennsylvania. Ms. Kuznik, a former arts educator, calls herself a "progressive," but says VotePA includes members of both major parties, two minor parties and independents.

rats abandon sinking ship

neo culpa
from vanity fair: As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself.

notorious warmonger washes his hands of iraq
from op-ed news: Michael "Creative Destruction Is My Middle Name" Ledeen, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, now claims, despite all evidence to the contrary, that "I opposed the military invasion of Iraq." One of the biggest rats yet to abandon the sinking ship.

evading responsibility for their war
from crooks & liars: Finally forced by reality and public opinion to confess what a disaster their invasion of Iraq has been, most neoconservatives are desperately seeking to heap the blame on George Bush, Don Rumsfeld, military leaders, the American media — anyone but themselves. Others are trying, even more despicably, to blame the Iraqis for the gross failure of the Epic Neoconservative War.

But one of the most vocal warmongers — Michael Ledeen, the "Freedom Scholar" at the neocon American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Contributing Editor of National Review – is desperately attempting, like a good Stalinist, to re-write history by blatantly lying and claiming that he opposed the invasion of Iraq, even though he was a vocal advocate of it. Yesterday, at National Review's Corner, Ledeen wrote:

I do not feel "remorseful," since I had and have no involvement with our Iraq policy. I opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place and I advocated—as I still do—support for political revolution in Iran as the logical and necessary first step in the war against the terror masters.

Ledeen's claim that he "opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place" cannot be described in any way other than as an outright lie. As Meteor Blades pointed out yesterday over at Daily Kos, Ledeen gave an August, 2002 interview to Jamie Glazov at David Horowitz's Front Page and repeatedly urged the invasion of Iraq, including:

Question #2: Okay, well if we are all so certain about the dire need to invade Iraq, then when do we do so?
Ledeen: Yesterday.

bush prepares to impose martial law

from the chattanoogan: The Republican re-writing of the Insurrection Act gives Bush the authority to declare martial law. For the first time since 1878, the president has the power to deploy troops within the United States. Bush and future presidents now have a power that, in other countries, is reserved to the dictator.

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this new law, there has been no outcry in the American media and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress.

The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) had historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), prohibited military involvement in domestic law enforcement.

Now, Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) allows the President to declare a "public emergency," station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor.

the following piece was written by father frank morales, an episcopal priest & longtime activist. listen to an interview with him here ...

from sf indymedia: In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law...

President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006 . In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law." ...

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

olbermann on firedoglake

keith olbermann is blogging on firedoglake book salon right now (2:43pst)... go thank him for his work & ask him something...

shaken saddam sentenced to hang

from reuters: An Iraqi court sentenced a shaken but defiant Saddam Hussein to hang on Sunday for crimes against humanity, sparking joy for Shi'ites he oppressed and resentment among hisfellow Sunnis across Iraq's violent sectarian divide.

As mortar rounds crashed on warring Baghdad neighborhoods and police reported sporadic clashes despite a curfew on the capital, Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for unity after the ousted leader was handed "the punishment he deserves".

The United States, which set up the court after its invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, called it "a good day for the Iraqi people". U.S. officials again dismissed charges the verdict was timed to aid President George W. Bush's Republicans at elections on Tuesday that have been dominated by dismay at Iraq's turmoil.

Defense lawyers, who said they saw little hope from an appeal in the coming months, dismissed it as "victor's justice".

Saddam, 69, initially refused to stand when brought in to hear the verdict from Kurdish chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman, at a quickfire, 45-minute hearing. When he did, shakily, with clear emotion, he yelled the defiant Arab battle cry "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live Iraq" as the judgment was read.

biometric ID database set for global takeover

from business online: A global database to monitor travellers entering and leaving the European Union and the United States is being tested in Britain and America. The project for the US Department of Homeland Security would create a global identity database using biometric identification such as digital fingerprinting. People involved in the trial say it could be extended to include countries such as Canada.

Troy Potter, biometrics manager for the US Department of Homeland Security’s border control programme, told The Business: “Early stage discussions about what we should be doing to make biometric information sharing happen are currently taking place between like-minded countries such as Britain and other European Union members.”

The task of checking the biometric data of hundreds of millions of European and American citizens is enormous. The trials will establish whether it is technically feasible to build such a network.

An industry source said governments in Britain and France were likely to demand a share of the huge hardware and software contracts were the project to go ahead. Matt Howell, vice president for justice, security and defence at Capgemini, said: “The project would be very significant in financial terms. Biometric technology is itself so sophisticated, it will inevitably drive up costs. Added to this is the extra cost associated with network security, which would be of paramount importance.”

Howell added: “The project is entirely feasible in technical terms. The real stumbling blocks are governance and civil liberties issues, which are taken extremely seriously by the European Union.” It has not been determined which forms of biometric identification would be best suited to border control. Most systems use an easily identifiable part of the body, such as a fingertip or eye. But these methods do not work when the subject has an injury. A less intrusive and speedier form of identification could use digital cameras to match an instant shot of a traveller to the global database.

“Biometric identification refers to digital fingerprinting and also potentially to other techniques such as iris recognition and digital photos,” explained Potter.

outside the box #76

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on november 2, 2006.

from alex ansary: Journey into the world within the shady beltway of Washington DC with investigative reporter, Wayne Madsen. He joins Alex Ansary live in studio to discuss NSA wiretapping, the Bush crime family, and the real scoop on the Foley scandal. This is one hot edition of Outside the Box.

pentagon video in the nick of time for midterms?

from kurt nimmo: “The much anticipated release of the Doubletree Hotel security video that has been speculated it will show a Boeing 757 hitting the Pentagon is due to be released by one week from today,” writes the blogger Killtown. “So how much do you want to bet that this Doubletree Hotel security video will be released before this Tuesday (election day) to ’shock & awe’ the voters in hopes to sway the elections, especially if this video finally shows a plane hitting the Pentagon?”

If I was a betting man, I’d bet the farm on it.

However, simply releasing a five plus year old video with a predictable corporate media broadside taking “conspiracy nuts” to task, thus questioning their patriotism and even sanity, and suggesting Republicans were right all along about those cave-dwelling Muslims with their boxcutters, may not be enough to flip the election and keep the House and Senate in neocon hands.

As Killtown points out, “four days before the [2004] elections, the first video of bin Laden publicly taking credit for 9/11 which boosted Bush’s poll ratings in Ohio which lead to him being re-elected.” Indeed, after the video was aired, according to the Telegraph, Bush “opened a six-point lead over John Kerry…. If the trend is confirmed by other polls, Mr Bush may have his greatest enemy to thank for helping him secure another four years in the White House after the appearance of the video sparked a sharp final round of argument over which candidate can best defeat terrorism.” Of course, a little vote fraud in Ohio sure the heck didn’t hurt.

It would seem, as well, the Osama in the “October Surprise” video had plastic surgery, specifically to make sure he did not resemble the real Osama, who died nearly three years before the fake Osama went before the camera. Compare the Osamas on this page and decide for yourself.

A blurry security camera video shot from atop the Doubletree Hotel will be a shade better than the ludicrous video frames released in May, a pathetic effort lauded by the corporate media as a bold finale putting to rest once and all conspiracy theories about what hit the Pentagon. No doubt, as well, this latest effort, promised by the FBI and the suspicious Judicial Watch to be released no later than November 9th, will be heralded as conclusive evidence the aerobatic Hani Hanjour, who had trouble controlling and landing the Cessna 172, executed a flawless, 500 miles per hour maneuver of a Boeing 757 into the Pentagon.

media monarchy on the portland radio authority

media monarchy is now a weekly radio show on the portland radio authority! you can listen live right here every friday at 10am & there will be podcasts available soon!

today's episode features an exclusive recording of wayne madsen speaking wednesday night in downtown portland... plus there's music, media & all the news that's fit to suppress

ron paul vs the NAFTA superhighway

from op-ed news: By now many Texans have heard about the proposed "NAFTA Superhighway," which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor. What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention.

This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Offshoots would connect the main artery to the west coast, Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fiber-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running alongside.

This will require coordinated federal and state eminent domain actions on an unprecedented scale, as literally millions of people and businesses could be displaced. The loss of whole communities is almost certain, as planners cannot wind the highway around every quaint town, historic building, or senior citizen apartment for thousands of miles.

Governor Perry is a supporter of the superhighway project, and Congress has provided small amounts of money to study the proposal. Since this money was just one item in an enormous transportation appropriations bill, however, most members of Congress were not aware of it.

The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a quasi-government organization called the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America," or SPP.

The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco.

The SPP was not created by a treaty between the nations involved, nor was Congress involved in any way. Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments. One principal player is a Spanish construction company, which plans to build the highway and operate it as a toll road. But don't be fooled: the superhighway proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit politically-connected interests.

The real issue is national sovereignty. Once again, decisions that affect millions of Americans are not being made by those Americans themselves, or even by their elected representatives in Congress. Instead, a handful of elites use their government connections to bypass national legislatures and ignore our Constitution - which expressly grants Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade.

The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union--complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether.

A new resolution, introduced by Representative Virgil Goode of Virginia, expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a NAFTA superhighway, or enter into any agreement that advances the concept of a North American Union. I wholeheartedly support this legislation, and predict that the superhighway will become a sleeper issue in the 2008 election.

Any movement toward a North American Union diminishes the ability of average Americans to influence the laws under which they must live. The SPP agreement, including the plan for a major transnational superhighway through Texas, is moving forward without congressional oversight-- and that is an outrage. The administration needs a strong message from Congress that the American people will not tolerate backroom deals that threaten our sovereignty.

written by congressman ron paul

flashback: goodbye usa, hello north american union

nun dies from 9/11 dust

from wnbc: A nun who worked at the World Trade Center site in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks died Wednesday after a battle with lung disease that she said stemmed from inhaling toxic dust at ground zero...

Sister Cindy Mahoney had volunteered at ground zero to bless the remains of victims.

Attorney David Worby said Mahoney, who was suffering from interstitial lung disease, hoped her story would help prove the connection between exposure to dust at the World Trade Center site and fatal illness.

According to Worby, Mahoney requested that an autopsy be conducted after her death to prove that the toxic dust at ground zero made her sick.

Worby, whose lawsuit against New York City was given a green light last month by a federal judge, said Mahoney's initial autopsy was conducted in South Carolina Wednesday, but that additional tissue samples would be tested in the coming weeks.

World Trade Center nun dies
from wabc: The nun who spent six months blessing human remains in the rubble at Ground Zero lost her battle for life Wednesday, and her attorney believes her death is directly related to the air she inhaled at the site.

Officials say Sister Cindy Mahoney volunteered to work at the former World Trade Center site, only to develop lung disease years later.

The 54-year-old nun told attorney David Worby that she wanted her body autopsied to prove that she and her fellow Sept. 11th workers were sickened by the poisonous air at the site.

Worby's office, who was acting as her guardian, confirmed her death today.

He will oversee the autopsy, which he considers to be "God's work."

Mahoney, a former emergency-medical technician, took an ambulance to Ground Zero on Sept. 11th after the first plane hit the World Trade Center's north tower. She served as a chaplain there and at Pier 94, and years later developed the kinds of severe illnesses that have plagued World Trade Center workers.

Officials say only after spending weeks at Ground Zero was she was given a respiratory mask, but Worby said she was not told how to use it. And because her job was to pray and talk to people, he says she kept taking it off.

Worby, an outspoken advocate for the health of Sept. 11th workers, filed the first lawsuit for a leukemia-stricken NYPD detective who served at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill, a case that mushroomed into a massive class action with 8,000 World Trade Center workers.

Worby's autopsy is expected to be conducted by a medical examiner office in South Carolina.

flashback: 9/11 nun's dying plea

ex-bush backer says prez has 'lost his mind'

from editor & publisher: In a move that no doubt sent a shiver through several candidates in his own party, President Bush, in a special interview with wire service reporters in the White House, today guaranteed a job for his Pentagon chief for two more years, adding that both Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney "are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them."

But it wasn't only endangered Republicans who have been calling for Rumsfeld's ouster who may have blanched. Andrew Sullivan, the conservative writer who was once a key media supporter for the Iraq war, denounced the latest Bush statement on CNN on Wednesday night, stating that the president is so delusional, "This is not an election anymore, it's an intervention."

Sullivan said the president was "so in denial," comparing the Rumsfeld endorsement to applauding the job FEMA's Michael Brown did on Katrina: "It's unhinged. It suggests this man has lost his mind. No one objectively could look at the way this war has been conducted, whether you were for it, as I was, or against it, and say that it has been done well. It's a disaster.

"For him to say it's a fantastic job suggests the president has lost it, I'm sorry, there's no other way to say it... These people must be held accountable." He added that today, Richard Perle, a leading neocon and Iraq war backer, had today called the administration "dysfunctional."

Rep. John Boehner, the second-ranking Republican in the House, said, also on CNN: "Let’s not blame what’s happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld. But the fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president."

the TSA follies

from homeland stupidity: The Transportation Security Administration . . . Vigilant, Effective, Efficient. Yes, and pigs can fly, too.

Here are three examples of how the TSA is keeping you less secure, and giving a good laugh to those of us with enough sense to stay away from airports as long as the government is in charge of security.

In Miami, a dozen TSA officers from the graveyard shift were arrested and charged with grand theft and conspiracy to defraud last week after being caught not going to work — and having their co-workers punch them in. “If you can hand [ID badges] to different people, they can be handed off to the wrong people,” Miami-Dade Detective Javier Prellazo told the Miami Herald. “The bottom line is we were looking at this as a security issue. We want this airport to be secure.”

Good luck with that.

In Hawaii last week, an air passenger flying from Kona to Honolulu was shocked to open his duffel bag after getting home and finding a notebook labeled “Explosive Trace Detection” full of TSA sensitive security information (SSI), namely logs from an explosive detection machine, in the bag he’d checked through. “It makes me think, ‘Hey, what kind of people do we have working at TSA?’ Where they just accidentally leave this in a bag?” Joe Langer told KITV. He returned the notebook to the airport — but not before showing it to the television station.

The kind of people who will do criminal background checks on the families of September 11 victims who are suing to gain access to SSI they believe will be useful in their lawsuit against the airports and airlines for lax security, but will work while half-asleep and stuff SSI into passengers’ luggage and, some days, just not come in to work. As if the 9/11 victims are going to turn around and become terrorists themselves. Ridiculous.

related: TSA screeners still fail to find guns, bombs

hersh slams war crimes

from mcgill daily: Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine, has been a thorn in the side of the U.S. government for nearly 40 years.

Since his 1969 exposé of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, which is widely believed to have helped turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War, he has broken news about the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia, covert C.I.A. attempts to overthrow Chilean president Salvador Allende, and, more recently, the first details about American soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq... Hersh described video footage depicting U.S. atrocities in Iraq, which he had viewed, but not yet published a story about.

If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said.

“In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation,” he said. “It isn’t happening now, but I will tell you – there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.”
Hersh came out hard against President Bush for his involvement in the Middle East.

“In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said.

Hersh hinted that the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq lies with eight or nine members of the administration who have a "neo-conservative agenda" and dictate the U.S.’s post-September 11 foreign policy.

“You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. The military is going to do what the President wants,” Hersh said. “How fragile is democracy in America, if a president can come in with an agenda controlled by a few cultists?”

Throughout his talk Hersh remained pessimistic, predicting that the U.S. will initiate an attack against Iran, and that the situation in Iraq will deteriorate further.

“There’s no reason to see a change in policy about Iraq. [Bush] thinks that, in twenty years, he’s going to be recognized for the leader he was – the analogy he uses is Churchill,” Hersh said. “If you read the public statements of the leadership, they’re so confident and so calm…. It’s pretty scary.”

can this machine be trusted?

from time: The U.S.'s new voting systems are only as good as the people who program and use them. Which is why next week could be interesting...

More than 80 million Americans will go to the polls, and a record number of them--90%--will either cast their vote on a computer or have it tabulated that way. When that many people collide with that many high-tech devices, there are going to be problems. Some will be machine malfunctions. Some could come from sabotage by poll workers or voters themselves. But in a venture this large, trouble is most likely to come from just plain human error, a fact often overlooked in an environment as charged and conspiratorial as America is in today.

Four years after Congress passed a law requiring every state to vote by a method more reliable than the punch-card system that paralyzed Florida and the nation in 2000, the 2006 election is shaping up into a contest not just between Democrats and Republicans but also between people who believe in technology and those who fear machines cannot be trusted to count votes in a closely divided democracy.

as always, please go to black box voting for the real deal on electronic voting... also, check out vote smart for information on every candidate, issue & initiative under the sun

no, thank you

i'd like to take a moment to throw out some thanks for some recent links to media monarchy...

freedom fight & furious nads both linked to the story about the psy-op drill that scared the piss out of kids in order to desensitize them to police state measures...

and here is a bad babelfish translation of la hora del pueblo's link... i believe it's basically saying that media monarchy is a good site that "focuses in giving alternative versions to the 9/11 and other subjects..."

and, finally, i really appreciate richard grove for thanking me in episode 12 of 9/11 synchronicity...

wayne madsen in portland

investigative journalist and syndicated columnist wayne madsen is on a tour of the pacific northwest to promote his latest book, jaded tasks: brass plates, black ops & big oil - the blood politics of george bush & co. madsen has written for wired, the village voice, the miami herald & counterpunch. he has also appeared on 20/20, nightline, 60 minutes, hannity & colmes and was featured in bush family fortunes.

Nov. 1 - First Unitarian, 1011 SW 12th St., Portland, OR 7 pm.

Nov. 3 - 23rd Avenue Books, 1015 NW 23rd Ave., Portland, OR 7 pm.

Nov. 4 - Orca Books, 509 E. 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 7 pm.