The politics of greed is what keeps this world wrapped in corruption. If you want to stick around for a while longer, I suggest you educate yourself and try to do something constructive to help save what little good, honesty, and trust we have left.

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Go to 12387
http://www.newstarget.com/022499.html
FDA Announces Plan to Eliminate Vitamin Companies
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 by: Byron Richards
NewsTarget) The FDA, emboldened by its transformation into a drug company, has embarked upon an anti-American plan of interfering with business and intentionally eliminating various dietary supplement companies from the market. The FDA announcement came on Friday, June 22, 2007 under the guise of a final rule for dietary supplement good manufacturing practices (CGMPs). Within this 800 page rule the FDA states, "We find that this final rule will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities... Establishments with above average costs, and even establishments with average costs, could be hard pressed to continue to operate. Some of these may decide it is too costly and either change product lines or go out of business... 140 very small [less than 20 employees] and 32 small dietary supplement manufacturers [less than 500 employees] will be at risk of going out of business... costs per establishment are proportionally higher for very small than for large establishments... The regulatory costs of this final rule will also discourage new small businesses from entering the industry." (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Elrd/fr07625a.html)

This FDA rule will directly raise the price of dietary supplements for all consumers. The FDA acknowledges this and says "We expect that the majority of these costs will be borne by consumers of dietary supplements, who will likely respond to the increase in prices by reducing consumption." Thus, the FDA is intentionally seeking to shrink the size of the dietary supplement industry and reduce the influence of safe and effective options to improve the dreadful trend in the health of Americans. The goal is to leave toxic drugs as the primary health option.

Independent analysis of this FDA rule has placed cost of compliance at 10 fold what the FDA estimates with as many as 50% of small companies unable to comply.

The gutless cowards of Congress, a majority of whom are on the Big Pharma payroll or will be on it once they leave Congress, have delegated their lawmaking powers granted by the U.S. Constitution to a bunch of Big Pharma-friendly unelected bureaucrats at the FDA, who are in turn using this power to undermine free commerce and help Big Pharma eliminate competition from the market. This is the behavior of a government in tyranny, inviting a revolution by the people. It is noteworthy that fascist governments of the past have eliminated health freedom and health options as a necessary condition to enslave and brainwash a population (http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=2108&print_view=true) . Congress has delegated its responsibility to the people to such an extent that over half the laws in this country are now concocted by unelected bureaucrats with vested interests.

A Vehicle for Unprecedented Harassment

Any company that can afford to comply with the costs and regulations of this new FDA rule can be targeted and eliminated at will by the FDA. In essence, the FDA is seeking to make the dietary supplement industry document every phase of production, including expensive testing at multiple points in the production process. Massive record keeping will be required, including all customer complaints and returns for any reason! This is utterly draconian and an unnecessary interference and burden to free commerce. It is completely Anti-American.

No doubt, the FDA will impose user fees as an additional charge so that FDA agents will have the funding required to enforce the regulations. Under the new rule any flaw in bookkeeping can result in a company's products being declared adulterated, allowing the FDA to remove them from the market even though nothing is wrong with them! A company can then be forced out of business because they won't be able to sell any products to raise the money to comply. The rules are so complex and vague that the FDA can selectively target any company it chooses, even those attempting to comply in good faith.

The FDA is doing this under the pretense of improved consumer safety. Consumer safety could readily be guaranteed by simply having all companies test their final products for purity and potency. Instead of this simple approach the FDA has gone to the extreme of burdening the dietary supplement industry with regulations in excess of the drug industry. Supplements are foods, not drugs. The food industry couldn't begin to comply with these FDA rules, even though food contamination is far more dangerous to health than dietary supplements.

The FDA intends to phase this rule in over the next three years. This means that within five years half the industry and many of the health options individuals rely on will either be gone or significantly more expensive.

Even more chilling is that forces within the dietary supplement industry itself are in no small part responsible for this FDA final rule.

Trade Groups and their Big Companies Turn on America

The Natural Products Association (formerly the National Nutritional Food Association – NNFA) and the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) have been instrumental in forcing these drug-like rules on dietary supplements. These globalist organizations are selling out America, destroying American jobs, undermining the U.S. Constitution, and working in conjunction with pharmaceutical companies to usher in Codex and the New World Order. Consumers of dietary supplements should learn who these companies are before buying their products and helping to inadvertently fund the destruction of health freedom in this country.

When DSHEA was passed in 1994 part of that law required the FDA to establish current good manufacturing practices (CGMPs) for the dietary supplement industry. During a period of FDA outreach to the industry the FDA was surprised to learn that CRN and NPA were in favor of drug-like CGMPs for the dietary supplement industry. These trade groups, working closely with Senators Orin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), have intentionally taken the supplement industry down a slippery slope. It is noteworthy that Hatch takes in more money from Big Pharma than he does from dietary supplement companies. Not only is Hatch a big supporter of the Medicare Part D drug rip off of Americans he has saved Big Pharma billions by protecting them from generic competition, as he is currently attempting to do with his legislation for new biologic drugs. Hatch also has a son working for NPA and another son that lobbies for NPA and the dietary supplement industry. When Hatch leaves the Senate he will be first in line for a six or seven figure Big Pharma salary.

The CRN has been taken over by multinational drug and food companies. Key players are the nutritional divisions of Bayer, BASF, Cargill, Monsanto, Wyeth, and Archer Daniels Midland (http://www.crnusa.org/who_omc.html). Nutrition companies that participate are in most cases owned by pharmaceutical companies, heavily invested in pharmaceutical companies, or jockeying for position in the international market as part of the New World Order. Key names include Mannatech, Shacklee, Herbalife, GNLD International, The Vitamin Shoppe, and GNC. These companies are glad to eliminate competition from small companies and start up ventures.

Carrying on the general theme of Big Pharma ownership and a globalist agenda are the companies that control the NPA. One need only look at the new NPA China board to understand who these key players are (http://www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_China) . Jarrow Formulas, Now Foods, GNC, and Herbalife top the list. At the end of 2006 Jarrow and Now helped lead the charge with Senators Hatch and Harkin to burden the dietary supplement industry with bizarre Adverse Event Reporting legislation (AER) which insisted that dietary supplement companies keep extensive records on any type of consumer complaint. Aspects of this AER law are now implemented in the FDA final rule on CGMPs. Of course, NPA was quick to offer expensive training to its members to indoctrinate them into how to comply with the rules that NPA, working on behalf of the FDA, just forced on its own members. Are their member companies really this stupid? Or are they all working together? I would recommend that any NPA member that believes itself to be a true American company that values our constitution immediately withdraw from NPA membership – consumers will be looking to see who you are (http://www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_Board) .

The picture is now crystal clear for any person who cares to look. Numerous dietary supplement companies are anti-American and actively selling out our country and our constitution, working hand-in-glove with the FDA and Big Pharma. The majority of such companies can be found as members of CRN and NPA. It will be up to the American consumer to save the dietary industry from itself and preserve their own access to safe and effective natural health remedies. This is a relatively simple task. Quit buying products from or quit being a distributor in these fascist organizations. Support the small companies that are the backbone of America, otherwise they will soon be extinct.

Update on S.1082 Threat to Dietary Supplements

Many of you have been following the extreme threat to dietary supplements posed by S.1082 (http://www.wellnessresources.com/health_freedom.php) . Similar legislation has now cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is headed for the floor of the House in the next week or two. The House version of this bill now contains the "food and food ingredients" language that the FDA can use to apply drug-related risk/benefit analysis to dietary supplements and have them removed from the market at their whim.

It is noteworthy that both CRN and NPA have posted on their websites information stating that S.1082 is not a threat to dietary supplements. Both organizations are flat out wrong. They cite a colloquy by Hatch, Harkin, Kennedy, and Enzi as their evidence. This colloquy was a direct result of our grassroots campaign to alert the American consumer to this major threat. In no way does this colloquy protect dietary supplements. Until the language in the bill is changed the threat exists and is very real. CRN and NPA also tell their members that the Codex initiative to scare consumers into thinking that dietary supplements are unsafe above minuscule amounts and need to be regulated by international laws is also no big deal. It is clear that CRN and NPA, again working hand-in-glove with the FDA, are a major part of the problem and are actively engaged in forwarding the globalist agenda of the New World Order. While pretending to represent the dietary supplement industry these organizations are in fact shooting the industry in the back and undermining health options for Americans.

The FDA is Out of Control

The FDA is a tyrannical organization that is now emboldened and completely out of control. It is not surprising that the FDA is seeking to eliminate competition to Big Pharma, they have been doing that for much of the past century. What is surprising is that they are openly stating in their final rule a plan that directly eliminates small businesses from existence. This fascist organization believes itself to be above the rule of law and is actively working against America and the rights of Americans (http://www.emord.com/events/speeches/fda_violation.htm) . It must be stopped.


About the author
Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources (www.wellnessresources.com), is a Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a charter professional member of the International and American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists (IAACN) since 1991. He is a nationally-renowned health expert, radio personality, and educator.



Go to 12386
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3193447.ece
From The TimesJanuary 16, 2008

France signs up to £2 billion deal to build nuclear plants in the GulfSonia Verma in Dubai
France has agreed a £2 billion deal to build nuclear power stations in the Gulf and in return has secured a military base there.

The French base in Abu Dhabi would accommodate up to 500 troops. It would probably serve as a maintenance station for France's naval vessels in the Gulf and could also be used as a springboard to send troops into the troubled region.

“France responds to its friends,” President Sarkozy said, calling the deal “a sign to all that France is participating in the stability of this region”.

The French moves followed an American promise to sell £10 billion of weaponry to Gulf states to help them to counter the influence of Iran.

Related Links
George Bush tries to rally Gulf allies against Iran
French seal $12bn Chinese nuclear deal
Sarkozy under fire for Gaddafi nuclear deal
Mr Sarkozy toured the region on the heels of President Bush, who is wrapping up his week-long visit today in Egypt. The timing of Mr Sarkozy's announcement hints at an emerging contest for clout in the Gulf, where Sunni countries are regarded as key allies for the West.

While the prime concern of Mr Bush has been to shore up support for his efforts to isolate Iran, Mr Sarkozy touted his trip as pure business. The French deal is poised to deliver a £3 billion windfall to French power companies including Areva, Total and Suez.

With the price of oil soaring to $100 a barrel, Gulf states are desperate to develop alternative energy sources to fuel refineries and construction in order to free up their own oil for export.

Nuclear power would also provide a cheap way of meeting the region's demand for desalinated water and electricity, which has skyrocketed as countries such as the United Arab Emirates pursue aggressive growth.

Under the agreements, French companies would develop civilian nuclear energy in Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Some analysts worry that the build-up of nuclear capacity in the area could trigger a regional arms race with Iran. Others consider a Western-allied, nuclear-powered Gulf as presenting a possible way out of the crisis with Iran, which has huge economic ties to the UAE, just across the Strait of Hormuz.

“One could imagine a scenario where the Gulf becomes a place where Iran could base its enrichment facilities, overseen by a reputable third country,” said Michael Knights, a lead analyst at Olive Group, a security consultancy company.



Go to 12385
http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.net/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=198051

The Surfing The Apocalypse Network
HAL TURNER OUTED - ON FBI PAYROLL

Posted By: Il_Bagattel
Date: Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 3:44 p.m.

COINTELPRO spook, Turner, giving up radio. Good riddance.


Provoking Stupidity and Violence
Henry See
SOTT.net
Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:11 EST

Dave Neiwert at Orincus recently wrote a blog post describing how rabid, right-wing talk show host Hal Turner was outed as an FBI agent when hackers found incriminating emails on his server. Neiwert cites a report from the SPLC that says in part:

On Jan. 1, unidentified hackers electronically confronted Turner in the forum of his website for "The Hal Turner Show." After a heated exchange, they told Turner that they had successfully hacked into his server and found correspondence with an FBI agent who is apparently Turner's handler. Then they posted an alleged July 7 E-mail to the agent in which Turner hands over a message from someone who sent in a death threat against Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.). "Once again," Turner writes to his handler, "my fierce rhetoric has served to flush out a possible crazy." In what is allegedly a portion of another E-mail, Turner discusses the money he is paid.

On Thursday, as the E-mail exchange was heatedly discussed on a major neo-Nazi website, Turner suddenly announced he was quitting political work. "I hereby separate from the 'pro-White' movement," he said, adding that he was ending his radio show immediately. "I will no longer involve myself in any aspect of it."

Paid agents who spread disinformation is a topic we return to over and over again at SOTT and on our forum. Why is it that people are so gullible, that they refuse to admit the possibility? The use of provocateurs goes back thousands of years. Why should we think it is any different today, or that it only happens elsewhere?

Hal Turner was a right-winger nutzoid, but there are such agents on the left, in the so-called 911 Truth Movement, and in every other channel by which information is broadcast and transmitted. Disinformation is pervasive. It is the water in which we swim every day.

The only way to see it is to be aware that it exists and to THINK! We have to use our critical capacities and understand the system in which we live. The system is controlled by powerful forces that act through corporations, government, intelligence agencies, police forces and the courts, the education system, and on and on. Why would they leave alone alternative news sources, sources that could potentially work to unite normal people against the pathocrats?

They would never leave such channels free. On the contrary, they would spend large sums of money to control them to ensure that the only news that people receive keeps them within the bounds that are permissible in the pathocracy. Opposition must be controlled. People need to have the appearance of free speech and of a certain choice in where they get their information. That is just part of the capitalist marketplace that promotes the illusion that it is your choice in what you consume that makes you free. News and information are no different. But that means that even news and information that appears to be oppositional must really be held within certain acceptable boundaries.

That is why critical thought and analysis are so important. Nothing can be accepted at face value. Just because someone claims that they are in opposition doesn't mean that he or she really is. If they are not exposed, they become Pied Pipers leading their followers deeper and deeper into the swamp. Anger at current policies and injustices can be used and then spent to fuel pointless and even dangerous responses that accomplish nothing positive and that in fact simply make the situation worse and feed into the long-term plans of the pathocrats.

An example is what Neiwert calls "exterminationist rhetoric": the calls to violence that we hear from so many right wing talking heads. Turner may have gone far beyond what we hear from the pundits on Fox News, but he lays the groundwork and pushes the boundaries.

Hal Turner was a real extremist, calling for people to take the law in their own hands up to the point of murder. He was being paid out of your pocket books and wallets. However, his rhetoric was just a bit more extreme than the nonsense one hears from Michelle Malkin or Anne Coulter when they also speak of violence against liberals, even if they claim they are joking and shrug it off. Turner paves the way, pushing the limit on what is permissible. It is a dangerous game.

And he was doing it as his job for the FBI.

Moreover, it only takes a few agents like Turner to influence others, to set an agenda, to set an example on what is permissible and what is not in terms of "exterminationist rhetoric". Such extremes can be used to justify paramoralisms from the mouths of the likes of Malkin and Coulter.

When psychopaths and other deviants assume the major roles in society, we all become infected by their conscienceless world view. It permeates every corner of life from politics to professional sport, from entertainment to the education system. To pull oneself out of it is hard work. It means being continually aware.

SNIP

The rest of this very good article here:
=http://www.sott.net/articles/show/147249-Provoking-Stupidity-and-Violence



Go to 12384
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Warmington_Joe/2008/01/15/4773522-sun.php
Tue, January 15, 2008

A T.O. organization received $15M from the province. A professor says he has found proof of political influence

By JOE WARMINGTON

Throughout Ontario's highly publicized slush fund scandal last year, Premier Dalton McGuinty insisted there was no political motivation behind his government's decision to throw millions in cash at multicultural groups.

And when the province's auditor criticized the government for failing to ensure the $32.5 million in grants were handed out in an "open, transparent or accountable" manner -- but failed to find they had been politically directed -- McGuinty claimed vindication.

However, a letter obtained by the Sun suggests McGuinty and his cabinet colleagues did play a role in helping a local Jewish fundraising organization receive a $15-million grant from the province.

The March 30, 2007, letter from prominent Toronto businessman and Liberal party fundraiser Larry Tanenbaum, found in a Freedom of Information request by a York University professor, thanks McGuinty for his "support and commitment to the Tomorrow campaign."

'YOUR GENEROSITY'



"What started as a dream to renovate the Downtown Jewish Community Centre, build a community campus in York Region and redesign our main North York campus will now become a reality in no small part because of your generosity and vision," Tanenbaum told the premier.

"This support would not be possible without the assistance of yourself and Cabinet Colleagues," he said in reference to the $15-million grant.

"Ministers (Mike) Colle, (Monte) Kwinter, (David) Caplan and (Greg) Sorbara have all been strong and vocal supporters of this project," he said.

The letter was obtained through Access to Information by York University professor David Noble, an outspoken and somewhat controversial history prof who has had issues with Tanenbaum in the past.

"As far as I am concerned this letter seems like a smoking gun," Noble told the Sun yesterday.

The letter, he suggests, puts the premier, for the first time, in the middle of the slush fund decision-making process.

"All I want to see happen is a public inquiry to see if this was done properly," Noble said.

Karman Wong, McGuinty's press secretary, last night denied the premier was involved in the grant decision-making process.

"The auditor general looked into this matter thoroughly and rejected claims made by the Opposition," Wong said.

"Following the recommendations from the auditor general, we improved the process for organizations that wanted to apply for this type of funding," Wong said.

"Any organization that received funding will continue to be accountable and report back to our government on their progress."

Wong also defended the government's decision to approve the grant.

"The funding provided to the UJA Federation will be used to build or renovate community centres in three different neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area," Wong said.

"These centres are open to all people in the community and will provide immigrant and settlement services. This investment is about supporting diversity in our communities and helping newcomers in Ontario."

Tanenbaum, a minority owner of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, is listed as a co-chairman of the Tomorrow Campaign, which received the grant along with Gerald Schwartz. Both men are well-connected to the Liberal party and have raised funds for the party in the past.

Noble, 62, said what this shows is a cozy relationship. "The Liberal party connections are obvious," he said.

"Tanenbaum is identified in Canadian Who's Who (2006) as the national revenue chairman of the Liberal Party of Canada."

The letter also "implicates the premier and the most powerful cabinet members" of having personal interest in this specific project, Noble suggested.

"Would others looking for funding have this access?" asked Noble, who has been a thorn in the side of Jewish groups before and has launched a lawsuit against one for defamation for being allegedly labelled anti-semitic.

"I am not anti-semitic," he said. "I am Jewish."

The Sun attempted to contact Tanenbaum and Schwartz about the grant yesterday but neither could be reached.

Noble, a New Yorker who came to York University in 1990 after a 10-year stint at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., also said he doesn't oppose the new community centre project.

"My problem is the process and making sure it's fair to everybody," he said. "This is public money."

But when Tanenbaum's group received funding, there were "no applications, no request for proposals and no bidding" for the funding.

"It's mind-boggling," Noble said. "There was no process, no protocol, no administrators and no bureaucrats involved in it all ... I do think it merits an inquiry."

• You can call Joe Warmington at (416) 947-2392 or e-mail at joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca

• Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to torsun.editor@sunmedia.ca

Columnists Home



Go to 12383
http://www.rense.com/general80/dgen.htm
Do Bird Flu Pandemic Plans
Threaten Civil Rights?
By Maggie Fox
Health and Science Editor
Reuters North American News Service
1-16-8

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. policy in preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic is veering dangerously toward a heavy-handed law-enforcement approach, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday.

The group, which advocates for individuals' legal rights based on the Constitution, said federal government pandemic plans were confusing and could emphasize a police and military approach to outbreaks of disease, instead of a more sensible public health approach.

"Rather than focusing on well-established measures for protecting the lives and health of Americans, policymakers have recently embraced an approach that views public health policy through the prism of national security and law enforcement," the ACLU report reads.

But the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) said the group had misunderstood the government's approach and said current plans already incorporate many of the ACLU's recommendations.

Infectious disease experts agree that a pandemic of some sort of influenza is inevitable, and most worries focus on H5N1 avian influenza. Although it mainly attacks birds, the virus has infected 349 people since 2003 and killed 216 of them.

A few mutations could turn it into a highly infectious disease for people and could kill millions globally.

Most countries are working to develop plans to deal with the potential consequences. The U.S. plans are available on Web sites such as http://pandemicflu.gov.

The ACLU said it was worried that the plan called for military and police involvement in enforcing a quarantine.

The ACLU experts said they were especially disturbed by an October executive order from President Bush that directed HHS to establish a task force to plan for potential catastrophes like a terrorist attack, pandemic influenza or a natural disaster that would ensure full use of Department of Defense resources.

The Bush order does not specify what the Department of Defense role would be, but also mentions military medical research facilities that have played a role in health for decades.

"Pandemic planning today tends to emphasize mandatory vaccination and forced treatment," the ACLU's Tania Simoncelli told a news conference.

"It also means that sick people are being treated as criminals and enemies of the state rather than individuals in need of care."

The ACLU said plans should focus on how to help people stay home without losing pay, and instead of merely advising citizens to stockpile food, should provide for ways to help them do so.

HHS spokesman Bill Hall said the government plan stressed community and individual involvement.

"They have mischaracterized our planning efforts. They are confusing a containment attempt as our overall pandemic response once the virus has spread beyond our ability to stop it," Hall said in a telephone interview.

=http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=4657

"Respecting civil liberties has been an important component of our pandemic planning."

He said many of the recommendations ACLU makes, such as voluntary vaccination and treatment, were in the plan. (Editing by Will Dunham and Philip Barbara)



Go to 12382
http://www.newstarget.com/022502.html
U.S. Hospitals Plagued by Ten Times More MRSA Superbug Infections than Previously Thought
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 by: David Gutierrez

(NewsTarget) Nearly five percent of patients in U.S. hospitals may have acquired a particular antibiotic resistant staph infection, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Researchers surveyed a total of 1,200 hospitals and other health care facilities from all 50 states, and found 8,000 patients infected or colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) -- or 46 out of every 1,000. This suggests that up to 1.2 million hospital patients across the country may be infected every year.

Colonized patients are those who were found to be carrying the bacteria in or on their bodies, but who had not showed any symptoms of disease.

"This rate is between eight and 11 times greater than previous MRSA estimates," APIC wrote.

The majority of the infections had originated within the medical facility; 67 percent arose in patients being treated for general medical conditions (such as diabetes or pulmonary or cardiovascular problems) and not in intensive care patients.

APIC recommended simple measures, such as hand washing, to prevent the spread of MRSA within medical institutions. A number of studies have shown that many health care workers are not appropriately vigilant about washing their hands consistently.

"Hand hygiene is the most important means of preventing the spread of infection," said APIC President Denise Murphy.

MRSA is resistant to all forms of penicillin, which has earned it the moniker of "superbug." Due to its drug resistance, it is twice as fatal as other staph infections.

In 1974, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 2 percent of the staph infections occurring in medical facilities were cases of MRSA; in 2004, the estimate had risen almost to 63 percent.

"Killing MRSA infections is easy," countered consumer health advocate Mike Adams. "Manuka honey easily kills MRSA infections, as does colloidal silver, tea tree oil and literally thousands of other botanical medicines. While conventional medicine remains baffled by this antibiotic resistant infection, the world of natural medicine has known how to beat such infections for literally thousands of years," Adams said.

Worldwide, approximately 2.7 percent of S. aureus carriers are estimated to be infected or colonized with MRSA.



Go to 12381
http://www.rense.com/general80/harm.htm
In Harm's Way
Jim Kirwan
1-15-8

Everyone in the ordinary world of everyday life in America now, is at extreme risk of very suddenly finding themselves directly "In Harm's Way."
If that sounds over-the-top, then you have not been following what's really going on in the fantastic world of the paranoid United States Congress.

Lately Ron Paul has come under fire for his casual dismissal of "the 911-truthers." His defenders in this case, seem to believe that all that's really at issue is whether or not the Congressman- candidate for president ­ really believes or disbelieves in the government line regarding the events of 911.
(1)

However, that is NOT the most dangerous thing that all of us must face in this perhaps overtly-political season. This is about yet another of Mr. Paul's statements: 'I think all Americans should be free to speak their minds,' he said. And therein lies the rub. H.R. 1955 passed the US House of Representatives by a margin of 404 to 6: This is now waiting for the Senate to breeze through their own rubber-stamping of this same legislation. (2)

This Bill has identified and defined "Thought Crimes," and as such will put additional restrictions upon the minds of every citizen and will become the single most damning change in the lives of Americans, since before we became a nation. This goes beyond the stuff of Orwell and his novel "1984." In fact this exceeds anything that any other developed nation has ever thought about imposing on its own people.

So while the events of 911 remain incorrectly investigated: this "new wrinkle" that flies directly in the face of the Bill of Rights, will soon begin to convert the minds of all our citizens into mini-prisons. The effect of all this upon the population cannot be overstated.

Imagine being imprisoned within the confines, not of a physical place from which you might escape; but inside your own mind. This goes beyond nightmare and borders on a surreal experience that could easily destroy the basis for all sanity.

This gentle reader is what we are about to tolerate, if we don't begin to act against this government.

Generally the public has remained on the sidelines throughout this battle between the administration and its critics- but please hear this - this law shall apply to every American, without exception. It is this pending law that is currently awaiting the Senate's vote and that will place every one of us directly, In Harm's Way!

We've already lost our freedom of speech politically: now we're about to lose the freedom to think-critically about any topic that might offend one of the Outlaws, or any division of this Rogue government-and all of this is being done in the name of National SECURITY.

Of course the truth is; this is the latest salvo in the end of our way of life-unless we act to stop this Draconian violation of the most basic right of all people: Namely to be able to think for ourselves, in the privacy of our own minds!

So if you're waiting for Ron Paul or anyone else "to save you" then you are in for a very rude awakening. This political fight, in this election is about whether or not we shall have any right to even think our own private thoughts ­ or to pursue things like the truth behind the events of 911. Once this set of mental shackles are locked in-place, then everything the Outlaws have done to this point, will become irrefutably SECRET.

Is this the kind of country you want to live or die in-because nothing less than that, is riding on how much you do to stop this Senate Bill from being passed. This ought to also be a litmus test for anyone in the presidential campaigns-not just a simple yes or no either. Make them spell out their reasoning, in detail: Because this is truly obscene and the vitality of your life actually does depend upon the specifics of how this issue is finally resolved!

kirwanstudios@sbcgloba.net



Go to 12380
http://www.rense.com/ufo6/green5.htm
Greenspan Reportedly
Bribes & Aids Bush In
Various Matters
Part 5
By Sherman Skolnick
3-4-00

Greenspan, the Bush Family, and the Oil-Soaked Crooked Courts


In the 1950s, George Herbert Walker Bush got into the oil business with his partners, the Liedtke brothers. Bush was assisted by his father, Prescott Bush, Sr., who was one of Adolph Hitler's bankers jointly with the Bush relative, George Herbert Walker.


Also greatly assisting Bush was Eugene Meyer who had reportedly built up his fortune by massive fraud misusing Liberty War Bonds, used to suck money out of common Americans with the then new, conspiratorial Federal Reserve, all used to finance and force Americans to fight in England and Europe's bloodbath, World War One. With his loot, Meyer bought the then failing Washington Post newspaper. Meyer's daughter, Katherine Graham, became publicly known as if she were the sole "owner" of the Post, despite the fact that British royalty had a large financial interest in the Post and later, sister publication Newsweek Magazine. Suppressed was the first edition of a book that showed the Washington Post was a front for the American CIA, Deborah Davis' book "Katherine the Great".

Much later, Bush brought in numerous British royalty into his oil ventures. Later, Bush was given honorary title by the Queen. Yet, the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, forbids U.S. officials to have titles of nobility and be beholden to foreign kings and princes. And Bush is a distant cousin of the Queen of England. As we pointed out in earlier parts of this series, according to the secret Federal Reserve bank wire transfers, Bush had a joint account with the Queen of England in the British Monarchy-owned Coutts Bank, London. As arranged by Alan Greenspan, using his secret codes,directly supervising the same. This, in part, facilitated British Counter-Intelligence operatives, M1-6, to do bloody, dirty tricks against U.S. citizens IN THE UNITED STATES, such as in heavy Irish Catholic populated areas like Chicago, where a per centage of the Irish sympathize with anti-crown, anti-British IRA. M1-6 works directly under the orders of the Monarchy. [Al Fayed claims they murdered his son Dodi and intended, pregnant wife Princess Diana of Wales. Visit his website: http://www.alfayed.com]


Following World War Two, Bush's elders were instrumental in bringing to the U.S. and South America, the surviving anti-Soviet Nazi intelligence apparatus, the Gehlen Organization. This under the auspices of the American CIA and U.S. Military Intelligence. U.S., Argentina, and Brazil became a base for such post-war Nazi operations. [I tried to expose the U.S. operation through a seminar in Chicago, 1976, and, strange as it may seem to naive people, I was opposed by the Jewish aristocracy in Chicago, not the common people.] Finding new oilfields within the continental U.S. was declining. Bush and his cronies realized that the new, mammoth oil finds would be offshore under hundreds of feet of war in the continental shelf or the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The name of the Liedtke/Bush operation was changed from Zapata Petroleum Company to Zapata Offshore. The Liedtkes went on to supposedly form a separate firm, Pennzoil, although Bush had a large financial interest in that company as well.

Soon,Zapata had some 600 units and affiliates. Strange, but they seemed to set up shop often in the world hotspots and places of insurgency against colonial rulers. Zapata reportdly was a CIA proprietary, a supposedly "private" firm acting as an adjunct to the spy agency and espionage bloody tricks. Thus Bush was with CIA long, long before becoming Director of Central Intelligence for eleven and a half months in 1976. Thereafter, by the way, he became a director for about 4 years, of Eli Lilly Company, major producer of cocaine, supposedly for pharmaceutical purposes.

Being beyond the U.S. jurisdiction limits, Zapata's offshore oil rigs reportedly became drop-off points by ship and helicopter for contraband, including transit points for the major dope traffic. Reportedly assisting in the dope traffic from Colombia and Venezuela was George Herbert Walker Bush's son, John E. Bush, called Jeb and his Mexico-born wife, Columba. Jeb was the resident banker for Texas Commerce Bank. Like the bribery of judges, the major proceeds from the dope traffic are not out in an alley, but through banks owned and operated by the corrupters. [In an earlier story, by error, I said his wife was born in Colombia.]

Bush/Liedtke/Pennzoil got a hammer-lock on a company much larger than Pennzoil. How? By Pennzoil bringing a suit in the crooked Texas courts claiming that the huge Texaco Company wrongly interfered with Pennzoil's purported contract to acquire and merge with Getty Oil Company. A Texas judge reportedly steered the case in such a way [that can be done by the evidence let in or kept out of the Court trial] that the jury awarded Pennzoil the largest judgment of its kind in Court history: 10.53 BILLION DOLLARS.

Texaco appealed the monstrous judgment to the Texas Supreme Court. Like the Illinois Supreme Court, the Texas high court is reportedly known for being "for sale". [In 1969, my public accusations of bribery, made directly into their faces, caused the Illinois Supreme Court judges to have me grabbed in my wheelchair and hustled off to prison for "contempt of court", because I refused to tell the accused judges how our group went about investigating them. I was vindicated. The ruckus caused the high court tribunal to be swept away in the biggest judicial bribery scandal in U.S. history.]

Typically, in a hard-fought case, when a lawyer arguing a matter can't find a precedent case to cite from his state, sometimes refers to a ruling by the highest court of another state. Once a Texas lawyer cited an Illinois Supreme Court decision. His opponent blurted out, "Your Honor, that is one of those crooked law-book published decisions from Illinois' wrecked, worthless high court. Your Honor is not going to be persuaded by that, are you Judge?" Likewise, Illinois lawyers hesitate for similar reasons to cite as precedent a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court.


The Texas high court refused to review the mammoth judgment, upholding it in secret. When a judgment is entered, the only way the "loser" can escape having their money and property seized, is to put up an Appeal Bond. Most states, as a safeguard, require the Appeal Bond to be 2-1/2 to 3 times the judgment amount. Where would Texaco get such an appeal bond to stop the running of the doomsday judgment of 11 Billion Dollars?

In a front page, detailed story, the Wall Street Journal showed the Texas courts are "for sale". The story was headlined "Quality of Justice- Texaco Case Spotlights Question of Integrity of the Courts in Texas", November 4, 1987. Shortly thereafter, in a large advertisement, Pennzoil said the Texas high Court somehow DID "review" the judgment. A careful reading, however, of Pennzoil's ad, shows the judgment was "reviewed" in secret without a written explanation. Chicago Tribune, 11/18/87.

At that time, the Court of last resort in America, the U.S. Supreme Court, was packed with Bush cronies and sympathizers, many of them having multi-multi-million dollar financial interests in some way tied to Bush and his social and business circle. America's highest tibunal refused to stop the enforcement of the horrendous judgment and refused to deal with the matter on its merits. Result: Texaco was forced into bankruptcy,as Pennzoil was in the process of seizing their properties.

Texaco had an important source of oil: Iraq. As we have mentioned in exclusive stories, based on being the only journalists covering a federal case in Chicago: For a decade Bush was the PRIVATE BUSINESS PARTNER of Iraqi strongman, Saddam Hussein. Together, they shook down the oil-pumping weak sheikdoms in the Persian Gulf for Billions and Billions of dollars per year, from 1980 to 1990. The Persian Gulf War, stripped to its essentials, was simply a falling out of private business partners. And Bush, with the help of Hillary Rodham Clinton, was instrumental in supplying weapons to Iraq, to fight Iran, 1980 to 1988. To understand the situation, consult: "Spider's Web---How The White House Armed Iraq" by Alan Friedman. Through American LaFarge, Bush and Hillary reportedly supplied poison gas ingredients to Iraq that used them against their own dissidents, the Kurds, and against the Irans who fought Iraq with wave after wave of very young, throwaway soldiers. Key portions of these events occurred just as Alan Greenspan was put up as the Commissar of the highly secretive PRIVATE central bank, the Federal Reserve, August, 1987. The press pretend it is a U.S. GOVERNMENT ENTITY, which it is not. The Fed issues paper money, masquerading as the "U.S. Dollar", backed by hot air, not gold, not silver, nothing.


How did George Herbert Walker Bush with his sons reportedly buy the Texas Courts to benefit Pennzoil? Benefits later carried into effect by Fed dictator Greenspan. And Greenspan approved of secret bank wire transfers to and from the Bush family accounts, billions of dollars. Some of the funds reportedly the proceeds of the massive dope traffic. Other funds used to corrupt public officials in the U.S. and elsewhere. Some the illicit proceeds of the CIA-dope traffic. Banks with their Bush family accounts reportedly involved: ===Chase Manhattan Bank of Florida, Clearwater, Florida.

===Banco de Occidente, Panama, City, Panama


===NCNB of Texas, Garland, Texas


===First Federal of Miami, Miami, Florida

===Banco de Panama,

===Banco De Exterior De Espana, Malaga, Spain [shown on an earlier part of this series]


NOTE: Former Director of Central Intelligence, Admiral Stansfield Turner, was seriously injured in a sabotaged plane crash a short time before this story is posted. Turner's wife died in the crash along with several members of foreign secret police units assisting Turner. The Admiral was investigating the Bush Family and their reported links to major dope trafficking and proceeds through the mentioned banks, including the one in Malaga, Spain.


From our more than four decades of investigating bribery corruption, exposing judges and others, we know that the malign, if not corrupt, influencing of judges and other public officials is done very often through domestic and offshore escrow accounts. The judges and other public officials are in a position to know:

[1] That if they make an important decision favoring the corrupter, that at a later date, funds will be deposited in escrow;


[2] If the judge, or other public official makes the arbitrary, corrupt ruling, and the ruling "sticks" and does not "bounce" or be exposed as purely crooked; then the funds, waiting in escrow, are forwarded to a concealed account for the judge or other public official's later use and benefit, sometimes years later, sometimes for THEIR CHILDREN'S use and benefit.

Crooked rulings are seldom C.O.D. but rather by the methods I mention.

The pressfakers censor the news sometimes by simply not bringing up known details when it is pertinent and important to consider the same. Some forget, for example, that the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the early 1970s was a Nixon Republican and later, a Bush Republican. Visit our website: http://www.skolnicksreport.com Scroll down to our story "The Murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--unspoken details" Part One. Consider the details that the Rev. Jackson is reportedly an accomplished extortionist and is a reputed FBI stool pigeon all his adult life.


So, it should come as no great surprise, that Rev. Jesse Jackson led the campaign in 1996 to strong-arm more than 180 million dollars from Pennzoil/Bush competitor Texaco that got their oil from Bush's now disgruntled former private business partner Saddam Hussein and Iraq oil. " 'The mission is not complete',declared [Rev.Jesse] Jackson, who is calling for a boycott of Texaco despite last week's settlement of the lawsuit" [showing a picture of Rev.Jackson]. Time Magazine, 11/25/96, page 33.

References to understand George Herbert Walker Bush and his family and the social and business links to the Nazis also British pro-Nazi royalty:


"Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler", by Antony Sutton

"Trading With the Enemy" by Charles Higham "American Swastika" by Charles Higham "The Secret War Against the Jews" by John Loftus and Mark Aarons "George Bush-The Unauthorized Biography" by Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaikin "The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben" by Joseph Borkin


Click on the items below to view a few samples of the reportedly authenic records we have of secret bank wire transfers, authorized by Fed boss Alan Greenspan for the corrupt purposes of the Bush Family and also some hand-written notations by a Senior Official of the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Internal Affairs. More details coming. Stay tuned.

Documents
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Go to 12379
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/british_exit119.html
CHAOS REIGNS AS BRITISH EXIT SOUTHERN IRAQ

By Richard Walker

The mutilated bodies of dozens of women dumped in the Basra area of southern Iraq confirms that the British withdrawal will be followed by a rise in the brutal enforcement of Islamic rule.

The women were murdered for refusing to adhere to strict Islamic dress codes. The grisly nature of the killings was a warning to other women of what to expect if they adopted a western style of dress. The murders show that Iraq, which President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair once declared would be democratic and tolerant, is more likely to follow the strictly religious Iranian model if Shiite militias in Basra prevail.

The British withdrawal from Basra, which is close to the Iranian border, began on Dec. 16 and was marked by a show of strength by Iraq’s fledgling military. As a colorful spectacle, it masked a different reality: the Iraqi military is incapable of imposing order in Basra and its four provinces. Beginning in 2003, when Blair sent 45,000 troops to Iraq as part of Operation Telic, Basra has been ungovernable.

The moment British troops put their boots on the sands of Iraq it was clear
the majority Shiites in the area were opposed to the occupation. A recent survey showed that only 2% of residents approved the British presence. If there is such a thing as not losing a war while not winning it, the British have that distinction.

In February, before leaving office, Blair promised a phased withdrawal to avoid offending the White House. Now there are 2,500 British personnel in the Basra region and they will remain stationed in barracks until the middle of 2008. The fact is British troops rarely left their barracks in the past year and it was clear Blair’s Iraq policy was a failure.

The three groups battling for Basra (which is now mostly Shiite, the Sunnis having being forced to flee under the eyes of the British) are the Mahdi army of the fiery cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Fadhilamilitia that has close links to the Iraqi government and the Badr Brigade, a group run by the ISCI-Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. The ISCI has the backing of the U.S. and Britain because its leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, often regarded as pro-Iranian, established a dialogue with the U.S. military, beginning last year.

From a U.S. and British perspective, support for one militia is driven by a strategy of divide and conquer in order to marginalize al-Sadr’s Mahdi army and the Fadhila. So far, the Mahdi army has maintained a truce with the ISCI because it has U.S. support but all that could change as the battle for Basra and its provinces intensifies. In that event, the Mahdi army with its deep roots in the slums of Baghdad and Basra could win the day, creating an even bigger headache for U.S. forces and the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Sadr has shown that, at any moment, he can bring tens of thousands of supporters onto the streets of most Iraqi cities. He demonstrated this on Nov. 15 when he held a march to honor his late father, the revered Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr.

The White House and the Israeli leadership believe al-Sadr is Iran’s man in Iraq. The Israelis have tried to persuade Washington that Iran plans to help al-Sadr transform his militia into another Hezbollah, the Iranian supported Lebanese group that gave Israel a bloody nose when it invaded Lebanon in 2006.

Other observers say al-Sadr is not a leader like Hezbollah’s Sheik Nasrallah, who is well educated and is regarded as a shrewd political and military tactician. The British withdrawal leaves Washington with no coalition of the willing. In 2008, Poland and Australia will withdraw their forces.



Go to 12378
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/border_security_sabotaged120.html
BORDER SECURITY SABOTAGED

Democrats appear to be trading votes in return for lax border security policies in danger

By James P. Tucker Jr.

Democrat s will try to rush more immigrants, legal and illegal, into citizenship in time for the 2008 elections, as they have in the past, because they can and have affected election outcomes. More than 90% of immigrants from Latin America vote Democratic, immigrant advocacy groups boast.

Just days after the 2006 elections, immigration advocates held press conferences to celebrate claims that immigrant voters decided elections in several states. They boasted that the immigrant vote was the deciding factor in defeating Sen. GeorgeAllen (R-Va.), a strong supporter of border control. They claimed 9,000 Hispanic votes for Democrat JimWebb, who won by only a handful of votes.

The trend began in 1996, when President Bill Clinton demanded that naturalization be speeded up. In fiscal 1995, which ended in October in time for the November voting, there were 488,000 naturalizations. In 1996, the number more than doubled to 1,045,000—a 114% increase. After the election, the number dropped back to 598,000 in 1997 and 463,000 in 1998.

An audit of the 1996 naturalization campaign found that 250,000 applicants were naturalized by short-circuiting background checks. Of those, 75,000 had arrest records and another 60,000 were naturalized with no fingerprint checks at all. It is a matter of mathematical certainty that some terrorists became citizens. Some politicians chose to prostitute U.S. citizenship in exchange for votes. Is there any other possible explanation for their anti-American behavior?

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, listed Democratic rejections of immigration reform. In the past two years, he said, an overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted against almost every piece of legislation intended to reduce illegal immigration:

• 80% rejected enhanced border security and increased enforcement of laws prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens. The proposed bill required the use of a basic pilot program, which helps employers determine whether their employees are legal.

• 74% rejected national security standards for drivers licenses to prevent alien terrorists from obtaining identification documents. The Real ID Act was intended to keep out and remove alien terrorists from this country.

• 63% opposed strengthening border security by constructing reinforced fences along the Mexico border. Senate Democrats also have refused to reduce illegal immigration. For example:

• 75% rejected enforcing immigration laws before beginning the legalization process for up to 20 million criminal aliens already in this country. In opposing the Coburn Amendment, Democrats spat upon the voters overwhelming (69%) call for immigration enforcement.

• 86% said no to increasing the number of detention beds, allowing for the confinement of illegal aliens to ensure their appearance for immigration hearings. At present, most arrested suspects simply fade into the streets and never appear.

• 84% opposed funding 800 more immigration investigators.



Go to 12377
http://www.rense.com/general80/amnest.htm
Using Bhutto For
Imperial Gain
By Stephen Lendman
1-14-8

Benazir Bhutto led the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) as "chairperson for life" until her death. She was the privileged daughter of former Pakistan President and Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 at the likely behest of Washington and replaced by military dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He later outlived his usefulness and died in a "mysterious" plane crash CIA may have arranged that allowed Bhutto to become Prime Minister in 1988.

She sought the post to avenge her father's death and twice held it as the first ever woman PM of an Islamic state - first from 1988 - 1990, then again from 1993 - 1996. In the end, she was too clever by half and it cost her. She lost out thinking she'd cut a binding deal with the Bush administration to return her to power a third time as Pervez Musharraf's number two and fig leaf democratic face in the scheduled January 8 elections, now postponed. On November 6, she may have been right when she returned from self-imposed exile. Like now, the country was in turmoil, and Washington arranged a power-sharing deal (so it seemed) to restore stability in the wake of this series of events:

-- Musharraf suspended Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in March, falsely accused him of "misconduct and misuse of authority," and used that excuse to remove a key official likely to block his plan for another five year term as President while illegally remaining chief of army staff (COAS) where the real power lies.

-- The response was outrage from opposition parties, lawyers organizations and human rights groups. They called the action unconstitutional and publicly rallied against it.

-- On October 6, Musharraf held a bogus election like all others in a country where democracy is a joke. It was stage-managed by the military, clearly unconstitutional, and Musharraf won all but five parliamentary votes and swept the Provincial Assembly balloting.

-- Afterwards, Pakistan's Supreme Court said no winner could be declared until it ruled if Musharraf could run for office in his joint COAS capacity. Constitutionally, he can't, protests erupted, the country has been in turmoil since, and Musharraf lost all credibility;

-- That was Bhutto's chance to return, again serve in the post she twice before held, and she thought her Washington allies arranged it. Maybe yes or maybe not. It didn't matter that she was being used - to be a democratic face and fig leaf adjunct to Musharraf's dictatorship, but whatever was then clearly changed by December 27 without Bhutto's knowledge. Now she's gone, and Musharraf nominally transferred his army chief post to close ally General Ashfaq Kayani last November. He also lifted a six week long state of emergency in mid-December ahead of the scheduled January 8 elections, now postponed after Bhutto's assassination until February 18 as of this writing.

Today, she's bigger in death than life, spoken of reverentially as a populist, and her 19 year old son, Bilawal (in school at Oxford), now heads the PPP as its figurehead leader and third generation family dynasty standard-bearer with his father, Asif Zardari, co-party chairman and de facto chief. More on him below.

Who Was Benazir Bhutto and Why Is She Important

Who was this woman, why the worldwide attention, and why another article with so many written and more likely coming? Bhutto was an aristocrat, privileged in every respect, and raised in opulence as the Harvard and Oxford-educated daughter of a wealthy landowning father who founded Pakistan's main opposition party (Pakistan Peoples Party - PPP) that Bhutto headed after his death.

While in office, she was no democrat in a military-run nation since its artificial creation in 1947. Elections, when held, are rigged, and the army runs things for Washington as a vassal state in a nation called a military with a country, not a country with a military. Its Army strength is 550,000, its Air Force and Navy 70,000, and 510,000 reservists back them with plenty of US-supplied weapons for the "Global War on Terrorism."

Today, FBI agents freely roam the streets, the Pentagon operates out of Pakistan military bases, and it has de facto control of its air space as part of the Bush administration's permanent state of war "that will not end in our lifetime." Pakistan is a client state, but what choice does it have. Post-9/11, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage warned Musharraf to comply or be declared a hostile power and "bombed back to the stone age." He got the message and a multi-billion dollar reward as well.

Bhutto knows the game, too, and the New York Times explained that she "always understood Washington more than Washington understood her" in a feature December 30 article called "How Bhutto Won Washington." Her relationship began in the spring of 1984 on her first "important trip" to the Capitol. At the time, she tried to persuade the Reagan administration it would be better served with her in power, but to do it she had to overcome her father's anti-western reputation. With considerable help she succeeded by assuring congressional members she was on board and supported Washington's proxy war on the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Faults aside, she had her attributes, and The Times called her "completely charming," very beautiful, and a woman "who could flatter the senators," understand their concerns, and better serve US interests than the man who hanged her father, General Zia-ul-Haq. At the same time, she began working with the Democratic National Committee's Executive Director, Mark Siegel, who later lobbied for her government when she was Prime Minister. Early on, he walked her through the halls of Congress, helped her develop relationships, and made her understand that to get along she had to go along.

She caught on fast, and it made her Prime Minister in December, 1988 after she ran for the post, won a plurality but not a majority, and got Reagan administration officials to arrange with Pakistan's acting President to have her form a government. According to a Washington insider, it was the "direct result of her networking, of her being able to persuade the Washington establishment, the foreign policy community, the press, the think tanks, that she was a democrat," a moderate, and that she backed the US Afghanistan agenda against the Soviets. Public rhetoric aside, she was on board ever since, but she paid with her life by not understanding how Washington operates: like other rogue states - using leaders and aspiring ones, then discarding them.

In the end, it didn't matter that she twice survived dismissal from office on corruption charges or that she managed to co-exist with her country's military and intelligence service (ISI) that deeply mistrusted her. Until her luck ran out, she maintained ties to Washington and key members of the press. She politicked well and "understood the nature of political life, which is to stay in touch with (key) people whether you're in or out of office" and let them know you back them.

Like others of her stature, she also relied on a PR firm to arrange meetings with the powerful and had plenty of resources to do it. She "kept up her networking," but she paid with her life. She tried to convince Washington that Musharraf's "war on terrorism" failed, she could do it better as a loyal ally, and she would eliminate extremist elements (meaning the Taliban and Al-Queda) by a determined effort to maintain pressure.

It sounded good but was risky and dangerous. Pakistan's army opposes it, especially in the ranks; a stepped-up effort assures a huge public outcry; disrupting the Taliban benefits India; and trying and failing might embolden their forces as the US occupation learned in Afghanistan. In the end, Washington and Pakistan's ISI may have concluded Bhutto was more a liability than an asset and had to go. Things came to a head on December 27, she's now a martyr, and larger than life dead than alive.

It wasn't that way as Prime Minister, however, when her tenure was marked by nepotism, opportunism, scheming, corruption, poor governance and selling out to the West. Her early popularity faded, especially when word got out about her businessman husband's dealings. Asif Zardari was known as "Mr. Ten Percent" (by some as "Mr. Thirty Percent") because he demanded a cut from deals as the Prime Minister's spouse and in some cases wanted more.

He was also reportedly into drugs trafficking and was investigated for it. With his wife in power, he amassed billions including what he stole in public funds that was even excessive by Pakistan standards and enough to get the country's President to sack Bhutto after 20 months in office. Whether personally culpable or not didn't matter. As Prime Minister, she made her husband a cabinet minister, gave him free rein to dispense favors in return for kick-backs, had to know about them, there was no evidence she objected, and she enjoyed the riches in office and thereafter.

In spite of it, Bhutto got a second chance. She returned as Prime Minister in 1993 for another three years, but was again dispatched on even greater corruption and incompetence charges than in her first term - this time by President Farooq Leghari, a member of the PPP and someone she thought was an ally. He certainly had cause as the amount stolen earlier was prologue for the fortune she and her husband (as Minister of Investment) amassed in her second term.

It was enough to get Transparency International, an independent watchdog group, to name Pakistan the second most corrupt country in the world in 1996 (Bhutto's last year in office). It also got her convicted in Switzerland of money laundering and bribe-taking and made her a fugitive with charges pending in Spain, Britain and her native Pakistan. That was until Musharaff signed a US-brokered "reconciliation ordinance," absolved her of all outstanding offenses, and allowed her to run for Prime Minister a third time as part of a power-sharing deal with her as number two.

Bhutto's earlier tenure had another notable feature as well. It was when Pakistan's military and ISI established the Taliban with covert CIA help. The link still exists, and at a September, 2006 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, General James Jones, former NATO Supreme Commander (who oversaw US-NATO Afghanistan operations), testified that it was "generally accepted" that Taliban leaders operated out Quetta, Pakistan, the capital of Baluchistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

Musharraf and other Pakistani officials deny it, but there's no hiding the facts or that nothing of consequence happens in Pakistan without Washington's knowledge and/or consent. It's also no secret that Pakistan's ISI is a CIA branch, and their regional activities are closely linked. Bhutto was on board, but what choice did she have.

All along, she was a daughter of privilege, acted like one, and enjoyed the good life the way billions allow. Today, the major media lionize her, but omit her dark side: as Prime Minister, she lusted for power, was arrogant and contemptuous, ignored the poor and Pakistani women, allowed outrageous laws to be enforced, gave the Army free reign including over nuclear weapons, and considered Pakistan her personal fiefdom. Her home was a $50 million mansion on 110 acres, and she ruled like a feudal overlord. The family still owns a 350 acre UK estate complete with helipad and polo pony stables, a mansion in Dubai, two Texas properties, six in Florida, more homes in France and large bank accounts strategically stashed around the world, including in the US and France.

From the time of her father's death to her own, Bhutto had close ties to Washington, the CIA, Pakistan's military, its ISI, as well as to the Taliban (established in her second term), "militant Islam" and Big Oil interests. She was a servant of power and pocketed billions for her efforts. In the end, she lost out and paid with her life on December 27.

Who Killed Bhutto and Why

Bhutto's now dead, shot in the back of the head by one or more assassins at close range, plus the effects of a suicide bombing that killed two dozen or more and wounded many others tightly packed around her. It happened in Rawalpindi, "no ordinary city" as Michel Chossudovsky explains. It's the home of Pakistan's military, its CIA-linked ISI, and is the country's de facto seat of power. Chossudovsky adds: "Ironically Bhutto was assassinated in an urban area tightly controlled and guarded by the military police and the country's elite forces."

Rawalpindi and the country's capital, Islamabad, are sister cities, nine miles apart. They swarm with intelligence operatives including from CIA, and Chussodovsky stresses that Bhutto's assassination "was (no) haphazard event." Blaming Al-Queda misses the point, but that's how these schemes work. They're also clearer when convincing video is broadcast as UK's Channel 4 did on December 30. It debunked the official story and exposed Musharraf as a liar - that Bhutto died from a fractured skull "when she was thrown by the force of the (explosion's) shock wave (and) one of the levers of (her car's) sunroof hit her."

The video contradicts this. It shows a clean-shaven man in sunglasses watching close by with a concealed gun and the suspected suicide bomber behind him dressed in white. The gunman then approaches Bhutto's car and at point blank range fires three shots. Immediately after, the suicide bomber detonates his device, killing and wounding dozens nearby.

The question then is - not who killed her, but who ordered her killed and who profits from it? Musharraf quickly named the usual suspect - Al-Queda but ignored what William Engdahl observed in his January 4 Global Research article called "Bhutto's Assassination: Who Gains?" He notes how well protected political leaders are so it's no simple task killing them. "It requires agencies of professional intelligence training to insure the job is done" right, and no one can reveal who ordered it or the motive.

Engdahl also states that naming Al-Queda serves Musharraf and Washington. It increases public fear, revs up the "war on terror," and provides justification for it to continue. It also reinforces the Al-Queda myth as well as "enemy number one" bin Laden, and ignores the evidence that the CIA created both in the 1980s for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. It's just as silent on the possibility bin Laden is dead, killed (as Bhutto told David Frost last fall) by Omar Sheikh whom the London Sunday Times called "no ordinary terrorist but a man who has connections that reach high into Pakistan's military and intelligence elite and into the innermost circles" of bin Laden and Al-Queda.

If true, a dead bin Laden disrupts Washington's national security doctrine that needs enemies to scare the public, eliminates "enemy number one" as the main one, and exposes strategically released bin Laden tapes as made-in-Washington frauds. Today, we're told that bin Laden-led Islamic terrorists endanger the West, but at the same time we use them for imperial gain as we did against the Soviets, in the Balkans and now do in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere. If Al-Queda operatives killed Bhutto, it means Pakistan's ISI and CIA were involved, and what's more likely than that. Forget a lone gunman theory, a lose cannon terrorist or a sole anti-Bhutto assassin. Consider "Cui bono," examine the evidence, and it points to Washington and Islamabad.

Today in Pakistan, intrigue abounds, and the country is destabilized as Michel Chossudovsky observes in his December 30 Global Research article called "The Destabilization of Pakistan." Assassinating Bhutto contributes to it, and Chossudovsky sees a US-sponsored "regime change" ahead. Musharraf is so weak and discredited "continuity under military rule is no long the main thrust of US foreign policy." Musharraf's regime "cannot prevail," and Washington's scheme is "to actively promote the political fragmentation and balkanization of Pakistan as a nation."

From it, a new political leadership will emerge that will be "compliant," have "no commitment to (Pakistan's) national interest," and will be subservient to "US imperial interests, while concurrently....weakening....the central government (and fracturing) Pakistan's fragile federal structure."

It makes perfect sense as part of Washington's broader Middle East-Central Asia agenda. Pakistan is a key frontline state, a "geopolitical hub," with a central role to play in the "Global War on Terrorism." It includes "balkanizing" the country Yugoslavia-style the way it's planned for Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran - a simple divide and conquer strategy. Chossudovsky adds: "Continuity, characterized by the dominant role of the Pakistani military and intelligence (that worked up to now) has been scrapped in favor of political breakup and balkanization." The scheme is to foment "social, ethnic and factional divisions and political fragmentation, including the territorial breakup" of the country.

It's a common US strategy with covert intelligence support, and consider The New York Times article on January 6 called "US Considers New Covert Push Within Pakistan" to exploit Bhutto's death. It states that senior national security advisers (including Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen) may "expand the authority of the CIA and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan" against Al-Queda and the Taliban to counteract their efforts and "destabilize the Pakistani government."

The article states that Musharraf and the military are on board, gives the usual boiler plate reasons, but omits what's really at stake even as it admits Musharraf is unpopular and a US intervention could "prompt a powerful popular backlash against" both countries.

Chussodovsky fills in the blanks and explains that US strategy aims to trigger "ethnic and religious strife," abet and finance "secessionist movements while also weakening" Musharraf's government. "The broader objective is to fracture the Nation State....redraw the borders of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan" and replace Musharraf in the process. He's unpopular, damaged goods and has to go.

Bhutto was an unwitting part of the scheme but not the way she planned. She thought Washington needed here, and she was right - not as Prime Minister but as a martyr to destabilize the country and break it up if the plan works. It may as internal secessionist elements are strong, especially in energy rich (mostly gas) Balochistan province, and "indications" are they're supported by "Britain and the US." The idea is a "Greater Balochistan" by integrating Baloch areas with those in Iran and southern Afghanistan.

Chossudovsky explains that it was not "accidental that the 2005 National Intelligence Council-CIA report predicted a 'Yugoslav-like fate' for Pakistan" through internally and externally manufactured "economic mismanagment." Remember also that the country split before in 1971 when East Pakistan became Bangladesh following months of civil war and against India that took a million or more lives. Pakistanis may face that prospect again as US plans unfold.

Future Outlook Remains Uncertain

Big questions remain, and key ones are will breakup plans work, who'll emerge with enough popular support to lead it, and will the public go along. They've got no incentive to do it once anger over Bhutto's death subsides, and recent polling data show overwhelming public opposition to US or other foreign intervention that's very much part of the scheme. In the end, their views don't count, and it may happen anyway through political intrigue and Washington-led brute force.

Reports prior to Bhutto's assassination point that way. They suggest US Special and other forces already operate in Pakistan, and head of US Special Operations Command, Admiral Eric Olson, arranged with Musharraf and Pakistan's military last summer and fall to substantially increase their numbers early this year. Involved as well is what The New York Times reported in November that the "US Hopes to Use Pakistani Tribes Against Al Queda" in the country's "frontier areas."

The scheme is similar to the effort in Iraq's al-Anbar province with bribes and weapons to seal a deal apparently now finalized. US Central Command Commander Admiral William Fallon alluded to it in a recent Voice of America interview by saying we're ready to provide "training, assistance and mentoring based on our experience with insurgencies," but he left out the bribing part that's part of these deals.

Where this will lead is speculation, but consider a feature Wall Street Journal January 8 article. It's headlined "Bhutto Killing Roils Province, Spurring Calls to Quit Pakistan" and calls Bhutto's native Sindh province (second largest of Pakistan's four provinces) the "Latest Fault Line In a Fractured Country; Like Occupied Territory."

Mourners filed past Bhutto's grave chanting "We don't want Pakistan," and in the wake of her death "Sindh has been swept by nationalist rage." Many in the province are "calling for outright independence," and support for separation has grown among rank and file PPP members. There's even talk of an "armed insurgency" as anger is directed against neighboring Punjab, the largest province, and home of the military, ISI and government.

The Journal quotes Qadir Magsi, head of the nationalist Sindh Taraqi Passand movement saying...."Bhutto was the last hope (for unity). Now this Pakistan must be broken up." The article continues saying what's happening in Sindh is already in play in the Northwest Frontier province where central government authority withered in recent years. In addition, Pakistan's Army has been embroiled in Baluchistan's insurgency for the past few years adding to overall instability. The theme of the Journal article is that calls for unity are falling on deaf ears, and one PPP veteran sums it up: "What we need is separation."

That suits Bush administration officials fine, they're likely stoking it, and one thing is clear. US forces are in the region to stay, and Washington under any administration (Democrat or Republican) intends to dominate this vital part of the world with its vast energy reserves. The strategy appears similar to the divide and conquer one in Yugoslavia. There it worked, but the Middle East and Central Asia aren't so simple. Stay tuned as events will likely accelerate, the media will highlight them, and it looks like stepped up conflict (and its fallout) is part of the plan.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.



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