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Go to 12649
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8043
Defeat a "real possibility" in Afghanistan: Ashdown
Reuters – February 13, 2008

NATO is in disarray and the West faces defeat in Afghanistan unless it overhauls its counter-insurgency and reconstruction strategy, Britain's Paddy Ashdown wrote in an article published on Wednesday.

Ashdown, who was rejected last month by Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the post of senior U.N. envoy to the country, called in the Financial Times for renewed efforts to win Taliban moderates away from the insurgency.

"With fighting in Afghanistan now entering its seventh year, no agreed international strategy, public support on both sides of the Atlantic crumbling, NATO in disarray and widening insecurity in Afghanistan, defeat is now a real possibility...

"We have not lost in Afghanistan ... But we will lose if we do not start doing things differently," he warned.

Ashdown said the consequences of failure in Afghanistan would be appalling.

"Global terrorism would have won back its old haven and created a new one over the border in a mortally weakened Pakistan," he said.

Ashdown called for more cooperation between international military and civilian efforts and a greater focus on governance and the rule of law across in a country where corruption and lawlessness is widespread.

Of an international security effort which has at times caused civilian casualties, he said:

"Breaking up the Taliban by winning over the moderates is a far better route to success than bombing and body counts."

U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001, but Taliban rebels launched an insurgency two years ago and violence has risen sharply since then.

Washington has called on NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan and to commit more of them to the south of the country where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL13880959

(Reporting by Mark John; editing by Keith Weir)



Go to 12648
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8053
Suspicion and Intrigue Surround Death of 9-11 Conspiracy Book
February 15, 2008

The publication of the book, Smack Down 9-11, a 500-pg. tome by New York author, Tom Modern, went under contract for publication with Publish America of Maryland in 2006. The book chronicles the 9-11 attacks and is a virtual catalogue of 9-11 data. It stands to prove that the 9-11 attacks were a much more protracted and extensive operation than anyone was previously told.

About the time Tom was preparing a final draft of his manuscript, is when things got strange. “That’s when all the fun started,” Tom says. “First, a young, attractive, educated-looking woman tried to steal my manuscript at a public library. I caught her red faced and red handed. She was no ordinary thief.” The woman then sat back down in the back of the room where she had a view of the entire place. Shortly afterward, she was standing outside a couple doors down talking exasperatedly on her cell phone. “I guess she blew her first mission….” Tom surmises.

Next, Tom’s mail was continually tampered with. “I got letters torn open in half, or missing the envelopes entirely. I don’t know how you can even deliver mail like that.”

Then came the kicker. “Somebody forged the Certified Mail signature for the termination of contract notice sent by the publisher in April 2007. I finally got the letter in July, yet someone had signed for it back in April.”

Tom claimed Breach of Contract, originally claiming one million dollars in damages against Publisher America. Tom took the publisher to arbitration in January 2008, yet still lost. “Let me just say that when the fix is in, it has a way of trickling down to all levels. I had a very strong case and I believe I argued that case successfully.”

Tom believes the moral of the story is that “As soon as you go against the official, Simple-Simon 9-11 story, everyone throws you under the bus…..”

Willie Nelson, a recent 9-11 dissenter, was countered by some saying, ‘Oh, but he smokes pot.’

The defense counsel for Publish America, Victor Cretella, can be reached at:

vec@publishamerica.com

Tom Modern can be reached in NYC at:

tom_modern@hotmail.com

Tom is presently putting the polish on a Feature Film Script.



Go to 12647
http://www.infowars.com/?p=222
Venezuela Halts Oil Sales to Exxon Mobil

Fabiola Sanchez
Associated Press
February 12, 2008

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s state oil company said Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to the U.S. oil company’s drive to use the courts to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. Venezuela is the United States’ fourth largest oil supplier.

Read full article.



Go to 12646
http://www.infowars.com/?p=215
FEMA: Trains To Take You To The Camps

Lee Rogers
Rogue Government
February 13, 2008

The U.S. government continues to expand its plans to setup a nationalized concentration camp system under the guise of emergency management. FEMA has already come a long way in establishing their concentration camp system, but now it looks as if they might be trying to figure out a way to transport people to these facilities. A disturbing revelation from a FEMA official confirmed that the institution is looking at ways to use passenger trains to get elderly and sick people out of harms way during an emergency situation. According to an Associated Press report, FEMA official Glenn Cannon made these revelations testifying in front of a congressional subcommittee in New Orleans. Although this might seem like a relatively minor development, it is actually very serious considering preparations the U.S. government has already made for martial law and the establishment of FEMA run concentration camps. Looking back in history, the Nazis used trains to transport large groups of Jews to concentration camps where many of them were put to death. It appears as if FEMA is moving in the direction of setting up a similar transportation system that could take not just the sick and elderly but all sorts of people to these concentration camps.

Below is the entire Associated Press report on this subject.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency may expand use of passenger trains to evacuate the elderly and sick if hurricanes threaten the Gulf Coast.

FEMA official Glenn Cannon today testified before a congressional subcommittee in New Orleans.

Cannon says FEMA is looking at passenger trains as a method to get people with physical impediments out of harm’s way.

New Orleans has become something of a guinea pig for train evacuations.

After 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak was hired to be on hand if another hurricane struck — to evacuate people with special needs. Cannon says FEMA is now devising disaster plans for other Gulf Coast cities based on the New Orleans model.

City officials say Congress and FEMA should create a national plan to use trains in disasters.

According to this report, it appears as if New Orleans was a test model to setup train evacuations. Cannon even admits that FEMA is devising similar disaster plans based off of the New Orleans model. With city officials saying that Congress and FEMA should create a national plan to use trains to transport people in emergency situation, this should immediately draw a great deal of concern. The U.S. government and FEMA failed to help people during Hurricane Katrina, so why should we put any trust in what they are doing now with these train evacuations? Cannon says that this is only for the elderly and the sick, but can this really be believed? In fact, considering the track record of FEMA, the true purpose of this organization appears not to be a vehicle to help people during an emergency, but instead to ensure government continuity and be the administrative and executive arm of the government during a martial law scenario.


During the Iran Contra hearings in the 1980s, the existence of a plan called Readiness Exercise 84 (Rex 84) was revealed. Rex 84 outlined a plan for concentration camps which would be placed under the operational control of FEMA should martial law need to be implemented. It is a matter of public record that a number of these concentration camps do exist. In fact there are even some reports indicating that there are hundreds of these FEMA run concentration camps. Video of these concentration camps indicate that they have fences with barb wire pointing inward so people that are in the camps can’t get out. Also, many of these concentration camps are accessible via rail which will allow them to conveniently transport large amounts of people into these facilities.

The fact that we already have concentration camps in the United States many of which are accessible by rail makes it pretty obvious what these people have in mind. They need to have a system in place to transport large amounts of people to these concentration camps during a martial law scenario. All the evidence indicates that they are in fact setting up a concentration camp system for this purpose and it is comparable to what the Nazis setup in Germany. Whatever you do, do not go to a government run FEMA camp. If you do, you might end up dead like the Jews in the Nazi death camps.



Go to 12645
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20080212&articleId=8055
Kosovo: The US and the EU support a Political Process linked to Organized Crime
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is part of a criminal syndicate

by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, February 12, 2008

Our orientations are clear. The building of the state of Kosova, economic development, economic and social well-being and rigorous measures against corruption, organized crime and negative behavior, so we can have improved security and integrate Kosova into European Union structures.

(Hashim Thaci, chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Prime Minister of the Kosovo provisional government, former KLA leader and known criminal)

The PDK, led by Hashim Thaci, former Kosovan Liberation Army commander, took control of many municipalities after the war. The party has close links with organized crime in the province. (The Observer, 29 October 2000)

Mr. Thaci, nicknamed "the Snake" during his KLA days, is a sharp-suited 32-year-old former rebel commander with poor oratory skills, links to organized crime and a determination to preserve relations between his party and the United States (The Scotsman, 20 October 2000)


I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists," US Special Envoy and Ambassador Robert Gelbard

Hashim Thaci founded the "Drenica-Group" an underground organization that is estimated to have controlled between 10% and 15% of all criminal activities in Kosovo (smuggling arms, stolen cars, oil, cigarettes and prostitution).



Go to 12644
http://breakingthesilence.org.il/press_item_e.asp?id=59
The loss of human form / Guy Benyovitz 17/11/2004

Jewdo-nazis , said ISAIA LEIBOVITZ , that is what the Israeli army would become while staying in occupied territories. And that's what really happens, slowly but surely.
What is the exact point in which a person loses the human form? Where is the point in which a society should declare a full stop for reassessment , because its direction is leading to abyss of no return.
Good morning Israel, this point has already came and vanished. The regime which treat harshly another race ate our inner organs , and all that remains is rot and stench and that stench is strongly felt through stories like the one that is published this weekend in "7 days" appendix of" Yediot Acharonot ", about the new trend of our soldiers to have their pictures taken together with parts of corpses of Palestinians .
Terrorists ? Maybe , but not necessarily. One soldier talks about a popular corpse which was called " chafi" because he was innocent.{chaf- not guilty in Hebrew}/

I hereby ask to apologize officially before the late Isaiah leibovitz, a man who told the truth right in our face,- and we did not want to listen. Jewdo-nazis he said, that's what will become of your army in a couple of years, and that's what is happening, Mr Leibovitz , slowly but surely. First you do verification of death to a 12 years old girl, and then they take pictures with parts of bodies .I wonder what will come next.

You read the responses to this affair, and you are astonished. " you have no right to judge these soldiers, they are performing a holy duty." Wrote onE of the readers. " It was always acceptable" writes another. So here are some news for you, dears. These nice soldiers are the person who will stand behind you in line at the supermarket, and if you will upset him he may decide to shoot you, because your life means shit to him. that's what he learned in the IDF.

And maybe not? Maybe they will be the ones that will return to normal life, and one day 2 or 20 years from now, the sounds and sights will return. And all the shrinks in the world would not be able to mend what 3 years of stupidity had wronged. Ask the members of "Breaking the Silence" . They will tell you some stories that will make you hide the circumcision mark in your pants and feel ashamed. Are you still proud to be Jews?

And this is not the question of " what will say abroad? It is our business ,all of us .If a low rank officer would have thrown to jail a soldier who molested a corpse, the massage would have come through. If you would have told your friend who came back for an "after" and told how his unit took pictures with a corpse: "you ugly beast, get your self a shrink" the massage would have come through. If the leaders of politics and the army would have dedicated 1% of the budget arguments time to discuss the moral image of the soldiers something might have changed.

So, with your permission, let everybody do what they want. The soldiers will take pictures with corpses, making it clear for those who have not yet made up their minds that there is no difference between us and the worst of our enemies: and we shall continue to believe that we have an army of angels who glorify the" purity of the weapon". And lo and behold, no Jewdo-nazis , Mr. Leibovitz, not at all.



Go to 12643
http://breakingthesilence.org.il/press_item_e.asp?id=59
REPORT FROM NEW ZEALAND
Natural medicines – the safest way to avoid death

A report just released by the Acting Chair of the Coroner’s Council has shown natural medicines have the lowest fatality rate of all medical treatments in this country.

Despite extensive research, coroner Dr Wallace Bain found no deaths have occurred in this country due to natural medicines such as vitamins, minerals and herbal products.

Dr Bain, who is also a trained pharmacist and lawyer, undertook the study in light of growing opposition to new legislation that will see New Zealand’s natural health industry come under Australian laws.

The safety of natural products is often sited as a reason for the need for such a move.

The Labour government plans that the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Authority (ANZTPA) will soon replace the current Medsafe agency as part of a `trans-Tasman harmonisation’ push. Opponents fear this move will decimate New Zealand’s natural health industry as has already occurred in Australia.

At present lack of support from New Zealand First, the Maori and Green parties is the only thing stopping the legislation coming into effect.

Says Dr Bain: “In my capacity as Acting Chair of the Coroner’s Council, I enquired of all Coroners as to whether or not from a search of their Coronial findings they could find any instances where there had been a problem with any of these natural products.

“They were asked to provide any information from inquests where these products had been involved whether or not a death had resulted. At the same time the Coronial records held by the Ministry of Justice in Wellington were searched at my request by ministry staff.”

Dr Bain’s study returned a finding of zero deaths from natural remedies.

His only findings were:

A three-year-old child who choked to death on a vitamin tablet in 2003 that was too large for the child to swallow
A woman who terminated her third pregnancy after a scan showed the foetus had spina bifida. The woman had been taking 300mg of folic acid a day rather than the recommended 800mg per day
A man who died from non-viral hepatitis of unknown origin who also had a pre-existing prostrate cancer condition. The man had been taking an Indian herbal product K4. The Corner’s report said despite no certainty of a link with the herbal product, the remedy such be banned until more was known about its effects on liver toxicity
Some ongoing inquests into party pills


In contrast, deaths in 1998 (the last year of detailed official statistics available) caused by adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs killed 1524 New Zealanders and deaths associated with medical injury (mistakes by doctors and medical staff) killed 4222 New Zealanders.

Says Dr Bain: “A recent Australian study shows that 1 in 10 patients presenting to a general practitioner had an adverse pharmaceutical drug event in the preceding six months with 50% of those being in the moderate to severe range and 8% requiring hospitalisation.

“A New Zealand study reported in July of 2006 and referred to Parliament’s Health Committee pointed to previous research suggesting problems such as hospital acquired infection, drug error and staff mistakes are costing this country around $870 million a year. This prompted the Health Minister to ensure that District Health Boards gave priority to reducing such adverse events – most clearly identified as being drug induced.”

Also in Dr Bain’s report is mention of a US study that puts complications resulting from medication errors in American hospitals at $US1.5 billion dollars per year. Studies also show that prescription drug errors double a person’s risk of dying in hospital. Another study put the cost of a single adverse drug event to a hospital in the US at $US2,500.

“The estimate of costs incurred by US hospitals as a result of drug-related injury or death was put at $US76.6 billion which was three times the cost of all diabetes care in the United States,” says Dr Bain.

“What is ironic here is that what is being held out as a justification for high regulation and compliance in the area of complementary medicines and natural products in New Zealand is public safety and risk. Despite a diligent search of Coronial records and the literature, no instances have been found to demonstrate that in fact these products have any serious public health issue or risk.

“The problem is clearly with prescription and other drugs,” says Dr Bain. “The Coronial and literature searches in so far as natural products are concerned and linkages to public safety and risk can be described legally as De minimis no curat lex. That is – of minimal risk importance.

“The law does not and should not concern itself with such trifles.”

Dr Bain’s report has been sent to Annette King, Health Minister.



Like to interview Dr Bain? Please contact Kimberley Paterson on 09 4244218 or kimberleypaterson@paradise.net.nz

You can also contact Dr Bain directly on 021 750 704



Go to 12642
http://www.rense.com/general80/roth.htm
Rothschild Files
2-15-8

"I care not what puppet is placed on the throne of England to rule the Empire, ... The man that controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire. And I control the money supply.''

-- Baron Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) London financier, one of the founders of the international Rothschild banking dynasty http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Nathan.Mayer.Rothschild.Quote.4F94

"The Rothschilds, and that class of money-lenders of whom they are the representatives and agents -- men who never think of lending a shilling to their next-door neighbors, for purposes of honest industry, unless upon the most ample security, and at the highest rate of interest -- stand ready, at all times, to lend money in unlimited amounts to those robbers and murderers, who call themselves governments, to be expended in shooting down those who do not submit quietly to being robbed and enslaved." -- Lysander Spooner

(1808-1887) Political theorist, activist, abolitionist Source: "No Treason #6" (1870) http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Lysander.Spooner.Quote.4F91



Go to 12641
http://thinkprogress.org/the-architects-where-are-they-now/
THE ARCHITECTS OF WAR: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Click here to comment on this report.

President Bush has not fired any of the architects of the Iraq war. In fact, a review of the key planners of the conflict reveals that they have been rewarded — not blamed — for their incompetence.

PAUL WOLFOWITZ

Role In Going To War: Wolfowitz said the U.S. would be greeted as liberators, that Iraqi oil money would pay for the reconstruction, and that Gen. Eric Shinseki’s estimate that several hundred thousand troops would be needed was “wildly off the mark.” [Washington Post, 12/8/05; Wolfowitz, 3/27/03]

Where He Is Now: Bush promoted Wolfowitz to head the World Bank in March 2005. Two years into his five-year term, Wolfowitz was rebuked by the World Bank investigative committee for engineering an unethical pay and promotion package for his girlfriend and, after repeated calls for his resignation, stepped down on May 17, 2007. Wolfowitz is now a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank that “has the President’s ear” on national security issues. [Washington Post, 3/17/05, 5/18/07; Financial Times, 6/28/07]

Key Quote: “The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason [for going to war].” [USA Today, 5/30/03]

DOUGLAS FEITH

Role In Going To War: As Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Feith spearheaded two secretive groups at the Pentagon — the Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans — that were instrumental in drawing up documents that explained the supposed ties between Saddam and al Qaeda. The groups were “created in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, believed to be true.” Colin Powell referred to Feith’s operation as the Gestapo. In Bob Woodward’s Plan of Attack, former CentCom Commander Gen. Tommy Franks called Feith the “f***ing stupidest guy on the face of the earth.” [LAT, 1/27/05; NYT, 4/28/04; New Yorker, 5/12/03; Plan of Attack, p.281]

Where He Is Now: Feith voluntarily resigned from the Defense Department shortly after Bush’s reelection. He is currently writing a memoir of his Pentagon work and teaching a course at Georgetown University “on the Bush Administration’s strategy behind the war on terrorism.” The Defense Department’s Inspector General found that Feith’s secretive groups at the Pentagon “developed, produced, and then disseminated” deceptive intelligence that contradicted “the consensus of the Intelligence Community.” These groups are still under investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee. [Washington Post, 1/27/05;Georgetown press release, 5/1/06; NYT, 2/9/07]

Key Quote: “I am not asserting to you that I know that the answer is — we did it right. What I am saying is it’s an extremely complex judgment to know whether the course that we chose with its pros and cons was more sensible.” [Washington Post, 7/13/05]

STEPHEN HADLEY

Role In Going To War: As then-Deputy National Security Advisor, Hadley disregarded memos from the CIA and a personal phone call from Director George Tenet warning that references to Iraq’s pursuit of uranium be dropped from Bush’s speeches. The false information ended up in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address. [Washington Post, 7/23/03]

Where He Is Now: On January 26, 2005, Stephen Hadley was promoted to National Security Advisor. [White House bio]

Key Quote: “I should have recalled at the time of the State of the Union speech that there was controversy associated with the uranium issue. … And it is now clear to me that I failed in that responsibility in connection with the inclusion of these 16 words in the speech that he gave on the 28th of January.” [Hadley, 7/22/03]

RICHARD PERLE

Role In Going To War: Richard Perle, the so-called “Prince of Darkness,” was the chairman of Defense Policy Board during the run-up to the Iraq war. He suggested Iraq had a hand in 9-11. In 1996, he authored “Clean Break,” a paper that was co-signed by Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, and others that argued for regime change in Iraq. Shortly after the war began, Perle resigned from the Board because he came under fire for having relationships with businesses that stood to profit from the war. [Guardian, 9/3/02, 3/28/03; AFP, 8/9/02]

Where He Is Now: Currently, Perle is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he specializes in national security and defense issues. He has been investigated for ethical violations concerning war profiteering and other conflicts of interest. [Washington Post, 9/1/04]

Key Quote: “And a year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they’ve been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation.” [Perle, 9/22/03]

ELLIOT ABRAMS

Role In Going To War: Abrams was one of the defendants in the Iran-Contra Affair, and he pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress. He was appointed Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East and North African Affairs during Bush’s first term, where he served as Bush’s chief advisor on the Middle East. His name surfaced as part of the investigation into who leaked the name of a undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. [Washington Post, 5/27/03, 2/3/05]

Where He Is Now: Abrams was promoted to deputy national security adviser in February of 2005. In that position, he has led a smear campaign to attack Speaker Nancy Pelosi for visiting Syria. [Slate, 2/17/05; IPS, 4/9/07; Washington Post, 2/15/07]

Key Quote: “We recognize that military action in Iraq, if necessary, will have adverse humanitarian consequences. We have been planning over the last several months, across all relevant agencies, to limit any such consequences and provide relief quickly.” [CNN, 2/25/03]

SCOOTER LIBBY

Role In Going To War: As Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Libby repeatedly pressured CIA analysts to report that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda. He also provided classified government information to New York Times reporter Judith Miller that formed the basis of a series of articles highlighting Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction that were later entirely discredited. Along with Hannah, Libby was a principal author of the discredited draft UN presentation. [Washington Post, 6/5/03; National Journal, 4/6/06; FAIR, 3/19/07; NYT, 10/30/05]

Where He Is Now: On June 5, 2007, Libby was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for perjury and obstruction of justice for his role in the CIA leak case. On July 2, 2007, Bush commuted Libby’s prison sentence, ensuring he would serve no time in jail. [NYT, 6/5/07; Bush, 7/2/07]

Key Quote: “I’m a great fan of the Vice President,” Libby told Larry King in 2002. “I think he’s one of the smartest, most honorable people I’ve ever met.” [Time, 10/28/05]

JOHN HANNAH

Role In Going To War: As deputy national security advisor to Vice President Cheney, Hannah served as the conduit between Ahmad Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress and the Bush administration, passing along false information about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction that the administration relied upon to justify the invasion. Hannah was also a principal author of the draft speech making the administration’s case for war to the UN. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and CIA director George Tenet rejected most of the content of the speech as exaggerated and unwarranted. [Newsweek, 12/15/06; NYT, 10/30/05]

Where He Is Now: On October 31, 2005, Cheney promoted Hannah to national security advisor, replacing the role served previously by Scooter Libby. [CNN, 10/31/05]

Key Quote: Reprising his role in misleading the country to war with Iraq, Hannah has told a U.S. ambassador that 2007 is “the year of Iran” and that a U.S. attack is “a real possibility.” [Washington Post, 2/11/07]

DAVID WURMSER

Role In Going To War: At the time of the war, Wurmser was a special assistant to John Bolton in the State Department. Wurmser has long advocated the belief that both Syria and Iraq represented threats to the stability of the Middle East. In early 2001, Wurmser had issued a call for air strikes against Iraq and Syria. Along with Perle, he is considered a main author of “Clean Break.” [Asia Times, 4/17/03; Guardian, 9/3/02]

Where He Is Now: Wurmser was promoted to Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs; he is in charge of coordinating Middle East strategy. His name has been associated with the Plame Affair and with an FBI investigation into the passing of classified information to Chalabi and AIPAC. [Raw Story, 10/19/05; Washington Post, 9/4/04]

Key Quote: “Syria, Iran, Iraq, the PLO and Sudan are playing a skillful game, but have consistently worked to undermine US interests and influence in the region for years, and certainly will continue to do so now, even if they momentarily, out of fear, seem more forthcoming.” [Washington Post, 9/24/01]

ANDREW NATSIOS

Role In Going To War: Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Andrew Natsios, then the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, went on Nightline and claimed that the U.S. contribution to the rebuilding of Iraq would be just $1.7 billion. When it became quickly apparent that Natsios’ prediction would fall woefully short of reality, the government came under fire for scrubbing his comments from the USAID Web site. [Washington Post, 12/18/03; ABC News, 4/23/03]

Where He Is Now: Natsios stepped down as the head of USAID in January and was teaching at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh’s School of Foreign Service as a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and Advisor on International Development. In September 2006, Bush appointed him Special Envoy for Darfur. [AP, 2/20/06; Georgetown, 12/2/05; Washington Post, 9/19/06]

Key Quote: “[T]he American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this.” [Nightline, 4/23/03]

DAN BARTLETT

Role In Going To War: Dan Bartlett was the White House Communications Director at the time of the war and was a mouthpiece in hyping the Iraq threat. Bartlett was also a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG). The main purpose of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]

Where He Is Now: Bartlett announced his resignation on June 1, 2007 to pursue his “prospects in the private sector.” He was promoted to Counselor to the President on January 5, 2005, and was responsible for the formulation of policy and implementation of the President’s agenda. [Washington Post, 6/2/07]

Key Quote: “Most people would argue we are part of the solution in Iraq, not part of the problem.” [CNN, 10/23/06]

MITCH DANIELS

Role In Going To War: Mitch Daniels was the director of the Office of Management and Budget from January 2001 through June of 2003. In this capacity, he was responsible for releasing the initial budget estimates for the Iraq War which he pegged at $50 to $60 billion. The estimated cost of the war, including the full economic ramifications, is approaching $1 trillion. [MSNBC, 3/17/06]

Where He Is Now: In 2004, Daniels was elected Governor of Indiana. [USA Today, 11/3/04]

Key Quote: Mitch Daniels had said the war would be an “affordable endeavor” and rejected an estimate by the chief White House economic adviser that the war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion as “very, very high.” [Christian Science Monitor, 1/10/06]

GEORGE TENET

Role In Going To War: As CIA Director, Tenet was responsible for gathering information on Iraq and the potential threat posted by Saddam Hussein. According to author Bob Woodward, Tenet told President Bush before the war that there was a “slam dunk case” that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. Tenet remained publicly silent while the Bush administration made pre-war statements on Iraq’s supposed nuclear program and ties to al Qaeda that were contrary to the CIA’s judgments. Tenet issued a statement in July 2003, drafted by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, taking responsibility for Bush’s false statements in his State of the Union address. [CNN, 4/19/04; NYT, 7/22/05]

Where He Is Now: Tenet voluntarily resigned from the administration on June 3, 2004. He was later awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He released a memoir in April 2007 critical of many in the Bush administration for their roles in the Iraq war and currently teaches at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh’s School of Foreign Service. [Washington Post, 6/3/04; CBS, 4/29/07]

Key Quote: “It’s a slam dunk case.” [CNN, 4/19/04]

COLIN POWELL

Role In Going To War: Despite stating in Feb. 2001 that Saddam had not developed “any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction,” Powell made the case in front of the United Nations for a United States-led invasion of Iraq, stating that, “There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction.” [Powell, 2/5/03; Powell, 2/24/01]

Where He Is Now: Shortly after Bush won reelection in 2004, Powell resigned from the administration. Powell now sits on numerous corporate boards. He succeeded Henry Kissinger in May 2006 as Chairman of the Eisenhower Fellowship Program at the City College of New York. In September 2005, Powell said of his U.N. speech that it was a “blot” on his record. He went on to say, “It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now.” [ABC News, 9/9/05]

Key Quote: “‘You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people,’ he told the president. ‘You will own all their hopes, aspirations, and problems. You’ll own it all.’ Privately, Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage called this the Pottery Barn rule: You break it, you own it.” [Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack]

DONALD RUMSFELD

Role In Going To War: Prior to the war, Rumsfeld repeatedly suggested the war in Iraq would be short and swift. He said, “The Gulf War in the 1990s lasted five days on the ground. I can’t tell you if the use of force in Iraq today would last five days, or five weeks, or five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that.” He also said, “It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.” [Rumsfeld, 11/14/02; USA Today, 4/1/03]

Where He Is Now: After repeated calls for his resignation, Donald Rumsfeld finally stepped down on November 8, 2006, one day after the 2006 midterm elections. Rumsfeld is now “working on setting up a new foundation…to promote continued U.S. engagement in world affairs in furtherance of U.S. security interests” so that he can “remain engaged in public policy issues.” He is also shopping a memoir, in the hopes of receiving “a large cash advance.” [AP, 11/8/06; Reuters, 3/19/06; Washington Times, 5/18/07; NY Sun, 6/27/07]

Key Quote: “You go to war with the Army you have. They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.” [CNN, 12/9/04]

CONDOLEEZZA RICE

Role In Going To War: As National Security Adviser, Rice disregarded at least two CIA memos and a personal phone call from Director George Tenet stating that the evidence behind Iraq’s supposed uranium acquisition was weak. She urged the necessity of war because “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” [Washington Post, 7/27/03; CNN, 9/8/02]

Where She Is Now: In December of 2004, Condoleezza Rice was promoted to Secretary of State. [ABC News, 11/16/04]

Key Quote: “We did not know at the time — maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the agency — but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery. Of course it was information that was mistaken.” [Meet the Press, 6/8/03]

DICK CHENEY

Role In Going To War: Among a host of false pre-war statements, Cheney claimed that Iraq may have had a role in 9/11, stating that it was “pretty well confirmed” that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence officials. Cheney also claimed that Saddam was “in fact reconstituting his nuclear program” and that the U.S. would be “greeted as liberators.” [Meet the Press, 12/9/01, 3/16/03]

Where He Is Now: Cheney earned another four years in power when Bush won re-election in 2004. Despite some conservatives calling for him to be replaced, Cheney has said, “I’ve now been elected to a second term; I’ll serve out my term.” Cheney continues to advocate for preemptive military intervention, recently delivering threats toward Iran in a speech aboard an aircraft carrier off Iran’s coast. [CBS Face the Nation, 3/19/06; NYT, 5/11/07]

Key Quote: “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” [Larry King Live, 6/20/05]

GEORGE W. BUSH

Role In Going To War: Emphasizing Saddam Hussein’s supposed stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, supposed ties to al Qaeda, and supposed nuclear weapons program, Bush built public support for — and subsequently ordered — an invasion of Iraq. [State of the Union, 1/28/03]

Where He Is Now: In November 2004, Bush won re-election. Since that time, popular support for the war and the President have reached a low point — nearing the levels of Richard Nixon during Watergate. [Chicago Sun-Times, 6/19/07]

Key Quote: “Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” [Bush, 10/7/02]



Go to 12640
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/13/economic-indicators/
Bush Administration Hides More Data, Shuts Down Website Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators
The U.S. economy is faltering. Family debt is on the rise, benefits are disappearing, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the mortgage crisis has worsened. Conservatives have attempted to deflect attention from the crisis, by blaming the media’s negative coverage and insisting the United States is not headed toward a recession, despite what economists are predicting.

The Bush administration’s latest move is to simply hide the data. Forbes has awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its “Best of the Web” awards. As Forbes explains, the government site provides an invaluable service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data:

This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration and combines data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and durable goods shipments. The site simply links to the relevant department’s Web site. This might not seem like a big deal, but doing it yourself–say, trying to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau’s site–is such an exercise in futility that it will convince you why this portal is necessary.

Yet the Bush administration has decided to shut down this site because of “budgetary constraints,” effective March 1:


Economic Indicators is particularly useful because people can sign up to receive e-mails as soon as new economic data across government agencies becomes available. While the data will still be available online at various federal websites, it will be less readily accessible to members of the public.

In its e-mail announcement on the closing of Economic Indicators, the Department of Commerce acknowledged the “inconvenience” and offered “a free quarterly subscription to STAT-USA®/Internet™” instead. Once this temporary subscription runs out, however, the public will be forced to pay a fee. So not only will economic data be more hidden, it will also cost money.

It’s ironic that the Economic and Statistics Administration is facing “budgetary contraints,” considering Bush recently submitted a record $3.1 trillion budget to Congress for FY ‘09.

UPDATE: Steve Benen has compiled other examples of the Bush administration hiding inconvenient data.



Go to 12639
http://www.rense.com/general65/over74.htm
The Overthrow Of The
American Republic - Part 74
Bond Collapse
By Sherman H. Skolnick
5-13-5

The TITANIC did not have enough life-boats. And you know what happened.

By September 9, 2001, the Anglo-American Aristocracy knew full well that an American financial melt-down, including a Bond Collapse, was imminent. Their creature, the privately-owned Federal Reserve, masquerading as a U.S. government agency, did not have enough life-boats, nor the inclination, to save common Americans from the torment. A world-wide meeting of economists in Moscow, the week-end before 9-11, predicted the impending collapse of Financial U.S.A.

So a pre-planned treason was invoked. Under cover of being three or more mock drills, of how to deal with foreign invaders and terrorists, the icons of American business, New York's World Trade Center twin towers would be taken down. With the people in it! [A supposed fiction documetary-like production of what became 9-11, was telecast by FOX TV in March, 2001. Airplanes, hi-jacked by Moslems, running into the Twin Towers, World Trade Center, New York.]

After all, as known to the designers, builders, leasors, and others, the towers were approaching the fourth and expected last decade of their existence and usefulness. They had swayed in the wind plenty. To take down the towers the hard way, the whole area, to be on the safe side, would have to be cleared of people. And piece by piece, the towers would be taken down. Estimated cost, about Twenty Billion Dollars.

Another, newer way, is through controlled internal explosives, where the building, like a no longer used old hotel, implodes upon itself. Cheap and quick. Reasonably safe, that is, if no one is in the building when wireless signals are used by the computer-generated split-second-timed demise, floor by floor, to coincide with detonating the foundation many basements down.

The declining American Empire sucked up most of the planet's oil each day.There were not that many new oil reserves to be yet located. And the Moslems and break-away provinces of the collapsed Soviets had quite a bit of the oil underneath their lands.

To justify seizing these oil-fields, use a latter-day prior-knowledge Pearl Harbor. Wake up half-asleep ordinary Americans. Blame the treachery of September 11, 2001, on the Moslem World.. A Christian Crusade against the Arabs, just like many centuries ago.

The invasion slogan was simple. BOMB IRAQ INTO DEMOCRACY. Afghanistan also. Yes, Saddam Husein was a son-of-a-bitch. BUT, he was the Iraqi peoples' son-of-a-bitch. The American CIA, with the help of Daddy Bush, created and installed Saddam.

Claim commercial airplanes, hi-jacked supposedly by Arabs, crashed into the twin towers. And there were no U.S. Military planes to interfere with the Arab "terrorists". Why was there a military stand-down? Simple. Three mock drills were set for that very same morning, to confuse the U.S. Military, the FAA, air traffic controllers, and others in the bureaucracy.

Something also hit the symbol of U.S. Military, the Pentagon. The twin towers of New York, made of steel-reinforced concrete, about an hour after something hit each tower (over-ridden possibly by holograms), and each tower collapsed, pulverized. First time in history such buildings fell down like that. Many hours later, World Trade Center Building Seven, hit by nothing, also collapsed.

The next day, released by America's secret political police, the FBI, were supposed pictures of the 19 Moslems that "did it". The oil-soaked, spy-riddled, massive tax-cheating Monopoly Press followed orders. Never mentioned, of course, was that most of these "Moslem terrorists" had been trained and living at U.S. naval and military facilities, California and Florida, among other places. To put it in espionage jargon, these Arabs, like Lee Harvey Oswald, thought they were part of something, not patsies on what spy-talk labels as a parallel track.

Notice, seven or more of the "terrorists" are still alive!

The Aristocracy accomplished several purposes.

(1) They destroyed the FBI and other agency records of an on-going investigation of purported federal Anti-Trust crimes and massive overseas bribery committed by the left-overs of Mobil Oil. Why were that not back-up records away from the twin towers and Building Seven?

(2) They stopped an impending Bond Collapse. Toward the top of one of the twin towers were the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald & Company. The firm were specialists in wholesale traffic in bonds. Almost every one of the more than 600 employees, perished. About the only survivor was the boss-man who arrived late for work that day.

The Anglo-American Aristocracy, as well as the pro-Nazi, pro-British Monarachy, that is the Bush Crime Family, did not cry for Cantor Fitzgerald & Company,made up principally of Jews and Irish Catholics. Nor did the Bushies cry for the local police and firemen, principally Catholics and blacks, who bravely went up into the twin towers to rescue people, and perished with the internal explosive collapse of the towers.

To falsely draw the U.S. into a world war, to save England from being over-run by the Nazis, three thousand Americans lives were thrown away by the Anglo-American Aristoracy at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

Likewise, the Aristocracy commanded the events of September 11, 2001, where three thousand American lives were thrown away, to prevent a Bond Collapse, so common Americans would take the "hit".

In 9-11, the agent for the British Monarchy, J.P. Morgan Chase, occupying some thirty floors in the World Trade Center, survived, losing almost none of their people. What prior knowledge arranged THAT?

So currently, several big dealers, hedge funds with derivatives hocus-pocus, involving General Motors and General Electric BONDS, are facing collapse. Basically, they bet wrong on GE and GM. They may pull down the financial apparatus of America. These mysteries of derivatives have a fall-out of trillions of dollars.

So now again, like the Titanic, the Federal Reserve does not have enough life-boats. To try to prevent a Bond Collapse, what kind of a treasonous trick is the Aristocracy going to pull off THIS TIME?

And, what big lies are the American press-fakers going to foist on the common people THIS TIME?

By the way, was it just a coincidence, that right before 9-11, was published "Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency" by James Bamford? The book revealed for the first time the "Northwoods Project", proposed in 1962 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To make excuses for the U.S. to directly invade Cuba (not like secretly aborted in 1961 in the CIA concealed invasion at the Bay of Pigs), the U.S. military brass laid out a scheme to blow up American commercial airplanes, buildings, and such, killing innocent Americans, to falsely blame onto Fidel Castro.

The Northwoods Project document, in Bamford's book, reads somewhat like what happened at 9-11.

AND, was it just a coincidence, that the firm getting the contract to haul away the debris from the collapse of the WTC twin towers, was Controlled Demolition, Inc., specializing in knocking down an old building, with internal explosives, to implode the building on itself? The left-overs of steel, without permitting forensic examination to determine what happened, was quickly hauled away to be secretly melted down and used by South Korea and Red China.



Go to 12638
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSGOR27660220080212?sp=true
Depression risk might force U.S. to buy assets
Tue Feb 12, 2008
By John Parry

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fear that a hobbled banking sector may set off another Great Depression could force the U.S. government and Federal Reserve to take the unprecedented step of buying a broad range of assets, including stocks, according to one of the most bearish market analysts.

That extreme scenario, which would aim to stave off deflation and stabilize the economy, is evolving as the base case for Bernard Connolly, global strategist at Banque AIG in London.

In the late 1980s and early 1990's Connolly worked for the European Commission analyzing the European monetary system in the run up to the introduction of the euro currency.

"Avoiding a depression is, unfortunately, going to have to involve either a large, quasi-permanent increase in the budget deficit -- preferably tax cuts -- or restoring overvaluation of equity prices," Connolly said on Monday.

"If conventional monetary policy is not enough to produce that result, the government may have to buy equities, financed by the Fed," Connolly said.

Legal changes would be needed to give the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government the authority to buy stocks. Currently the Federal Reserve can buy only debt issued by the Treasury, as well as U.S. agency debentures and mortgage-backed securities.

While Connolly already sees some parallels with the 1930s, he expects that a more pro-active central bank and government will probably help avert a repeat of that scenario today.

The build up of a credit bubble in recent years was similar to the late 1920s run-up to the Great Depression, he said.

Then, investors were very optimistic about new technologies, and stocks rose against a backdrop of low inflation, and a trend toward globalization. There was even an equivalent of the modern day subprime mortgage debt meltdown in the form of U.S. loans to Latin American countries which had to be written off.

"The big difference is the attitude of central banks and specifically the attitude of the Fed," Connolly said.

Some economists have blamed the U.S. economy's travails in the 1930s on the Federal Reserve's hesitation to inject reserves into the banking system.

However, today's Fed has tried to preempt the danger of a protracted economic slump and has responded swiftly to a credit crunch in the past year and gathering signs of deterioration in the economy, Connolly said.

The Fed has stepped up its temporary additions of reserves to the banking system, and swiftly slashed its benchmark fed funds target rate to 3.0 percent from 5.25 percent in September. Analysts expect at least another 0.5 percentage point cut in next month.

At the same time, "the fed funds rate can't stay significantly above the 2-year note yield," Connolly said.

On Tuesday, the 2-year Treasury note yield was at 2.00 percent, not far above the lowest level since 2004.

The Fed "almost certainly" has to cut the funds rate to 2.0 percent by the end of this monetary easing cycle, he said. If conditions in the banking sector worsen, the Fed could cut the funds rate to 1.0 percent, a low last seen in June 2004.

Global banks have already written down more than $100 billion of bad debts associated with the U.S. subprime mortgage debt meltdown and housing market decline.

However, Fed rate cuts alone are unlikely to avert a prolonged period of economic weakness because the danger still exists that a burdened banking sector will choke off credit to consumers and households.

"The Fed probably can't fix it all on its own now," Connolly said. "There is a chance the Fed gets forced into unconventional cooperation with government," which could involve buying a range of assets to reflate their value.

That would be reminiscent of some steps the U.S. government took in the 1930s when the economy was mired in deflation and high unemployment.

One turning point came when agricultural prices were restored to their pre-slump levels, Connolly said. Such measures were among the New Deal programs that President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched to bolster the economy.

Either way, investors face bleak prospects now without some kind of further government intervention, he said.

Those steps might offer clues to investors in stocks and commodities, which Connolly expects the government might be ultimately force to step in and buy to stabilize markets. He expects that a depression may be averted, but only by the state and the Fed reinflating the price of such assets.

Beleaguered housing, non-government fixed-income securities and even the now overvalued Treasury market have little hope of generating substantial returns for investors over the next few years, he said.

"If we don't avoid depression, the only thing worth holding is cash," he added.

(Reporting by John Parry; Editing by Tom Hals)



Go to 12637
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-finds-white-house-officials-in-contempt-of-congress-2008-02-14.html
House finds Bolten, Miers in contempt of Congress
By Alexander Bolton and Klaus Marre
Posted: 02/14/08 02:21 PM [ET]
The House voted Thursday to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a panel investigating the firing of several United States attorneys.

Ahead of the vote, Republicans had walked out in an effort to show that they want to work on a permanent update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) rather than be part of a “partisan fishing expedition,” as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) put it.

The contempt vote raises the stakes between the White House and Congress in the battle over the fired U.S. attorneys and could set up a constitutional showdown between the legislative and executive branches.

The matter will now be referred to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

If the fight comes to a head without a compromise having been reached, it could pit Congress’s power to hold White officials in contempt against the president’s right to assert executive privilege.

Democrats passed two resolutions through the adoption of a single rule, a procedural tactic that limited the time of debate, angering Republicans. One resolution holds Bolten and Miers in contempt. The second sets the stage for a civil suit the House would file against the administration to compel it to force Bolten and Miers to testify.

“I hope this administration will realize this Congress is serious about its constitutional role of oversight,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Pelosi, who stated that she “had hoped that this day would never have come,” added that, if White House officials instruct Department of Justice attorneys not to prosecute the contempt citations, “we will have power to go to federal court and seek civil enforcement of our subpoenas.”

Republicans argued that Congress should not seek a showdown with the White House on the issue, claiming that losing the case would hurt the legislative branch in the long run.

Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) said the case “creates the potential to undermine the power of the first branch of government.”

Members of both parties drew up nightmare scenarios, with Dreier indicating that losing a court case on the issue would make Congress a lesser branch, while Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) said not acting now would embolden future presidents to exert executive privilege more often.

The House acted Thursday after months of negotiations between Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and White House officials, and Pelosi blasted the Bush administration for stonewalling.

The White House offered to allow House investigators to question Bolten and Miers privately under strict conditions. Investigators would not have been allowed to make a transcript of the examination or copy documents. The House also would have had to agree not to seek further information, said Democrats.

Democratic leaders rejected the conditions out of hand, arguing that no lawyer would agree to such constraints.

“This is beyond arrogance,” said Pelosi. “It’s hubris taken to the ultimate degree.”

Conyers said he had already discovered “plenty of evidence of wrongdoing at the Department of Justice. He said officials made the decision to fire attorneys on the basis of whether they had pursued public corruption charges against Democratic government officials. He also said that Justice officials made misleading statements to investigators minimizing the apparent involvement of White House personnel in the firings.

Republicans blasted the move and its timing, with Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, calling the contempt measure an act of extreme partisanship.

Many GOP lawmakers also accused the Democratic leadership of wasting time on the contempt charges instead of passing the FISA update.

“On the eve of the expiration of critical intelligence legislation, the House Democratic Majority has chosen to put extreme partisanship ahead of our country’s safety,” Smith said. “Apparently, the Democratic majority cares more about the alleged steroid use of a few baseball players and the personnel decisions of the White House than they do about promoting national security.”



Go to 12636
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/neocon-godfather-podhoretz-trying-to-re-ignite-fires-of-war-against-iran/
The Ugly Truth
Just another WordPress.com weblog

Neocon Godfather Podhoretz Trying to Re-Ignite Fires of War Against Iran
February 14, 2008

Just as American Free Press predicted over a month ago with the release of the National Intelligence Estimate (stating that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons) the Neocons–as irrational and uncontainable as sharks in blood-tainted water–would not be deterred from getting the war they demand. Since the release of the NIE in early December, Israel’s supporters–both in the Jewish state and in the US–have made it clear by their collective rhetoric that the NIE should be ignored as if it were an issue of Reader’s Digest or a Marvel comic book and that a nuclear Iran ruled by fanatical Mullahs will result in Armageddon.

Now, one of the most dangerous, irrational and power-mad gangsters operating within the Neocon mafia–Normon Podhoretz–is again bringing his gruff, threatening voice to bear on the necessity of going to war against Iran for Israel’s sake. In a recent piece he penned for Commentary Magazine (the printed voice of the American Jewish Committee) entitled Stopping Iran: Why the Case for Military Action Still Stands the ‘former’ Communist-Trotskyite and unregistered agent for a foreign country makes it clear–Bush needs to bomb Iran, sooner rather than later, and if not Bush, than certainly the next guy (or gal).

In the same typical haughtiness that characterizes all things coming from the Jewish state and its mouthpieces, Podhoretz begins beating the war drum by calling into question the reliability of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence gathering organizations in the US. Citing the fact that the CIA did not foresee 9/11 and the fact that they ‘got it wrong’ with regards to Saddam Hussein’s WMD program, he all but labels the NIE and its authors as wet-behind-the-ears schoolchildren who couldn’t predict cold weather in winter.

Of course, in typical Zionist obfuscatory fashion what he fails to mention is the fact that Israel knew well in advance of 9/11 what was to transpire that day as evidenced by all the Mossad agents arrested in the days and weeks following the event. It should be remembered that some of them were in circumstances as incriminating as filming the Twin Towers coming down and cheering and who, on a television program in Israel, stated that they were sent to America to ‘document the event’. Furthermore, with regards to Iraq’s WMD program and the fact that America’s intelligence services ‘got it wrong’, he conveniently fails to mention that again it was Israel’s intelligence services funneling false information to the US government through official sources and its surrogate agencies including the Pentagon’s ‘Office Of Special Plans’ and Zionist agents such as Richard Pearle, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith.

Engaging in the predictable business of fear-mongering that is the main ingredient in all gruesome dishes cooked up in the Zionist witch’s cauldron of war and suffering, Podhoretz depicts an apocalyptic future with a nuclear-armed Iran under the throes of religious fundamentalism. Continuing with the shameless misquoting of Ahmadinejhad that began some time ago, Israel, the apple of God’s eye, would be ‘wiped off the map’. He again fails to mention that Iran, a relatively short distance away and armed to the teeth with missiles of the latest Russian design capable of defeating any anti-missile defense system could in all likelihood achieve that now if it wanted and yet has not.

Following in the tradition of former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban who (giddy as a giggling schoolboy who had just been kissed by the class beauty) was once quoted saying during the first Gulf War that ‘Never before did Israel have the privilege of having 500,000 foreigners fight for her, until now’, Podhoretz dismisses the idea of Israel fighting her own war against Iran. No, the danger to Israel, both physically as well as in the court of world-wide public opinion, would be too great. America must do it, despite the fact that without question horrible events would ensue. Without a hint of reservation or concern for the fact that America is already hated worldwide and her economy is on life-support, he speaks of ‘vast’ increases in the price of oil leading to ‘catastrophic consequences’ for every economy in the world, including America’s, concluding with his acknowledgement of the world‘s backlash against the ‘inescapable civilian casualties’. What he fails to mention but about which he must certainly be aware is that war with Iran means war with nuclear-armed Russia as well, something which does not seem to phase him.

As much as some may be tempted top dismiss Podhoretz and his recent piece as the scribblings of a lunatic with no real power, reality should be allowed to weigh in. Yes, he is a lunatic, but not of the variety normally seen in one of America’s larger cities pushing a shopping cart around and talking to himself. This is the man who predicted with all the cockiness and confidence of a seasoned gangster that Bush would bomb Iran before he left office and for which Podhoretz said he ‘prayed with all his heart’ as a Jew. Besides his own deluded fantasies of death, Jewish world domination and mayhem, as demonstrated on too many occasions Podhoretz is on a first-name basis with the recovering-alcoholic-turned-born-again-Apocalyptic-Christian named George Bush and can at anytime pick up the phone, call the White House and announce he is ‘dropping by for a chat’ and be ushered in with no delay. He has a direct line to the highest echelons within the Israeli government and its intelligence services and is often used by them as an asset in formulating and marshalling American Jewish opinion and activism at appropriate times.

Podhoretz’ latest piece demonstrates without question that he and all who think like him are not just mad, but wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing and traitors to America. As they have demonstrated on too many occasions–from Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty, the theft of America’s most sensitive defense secrets by Jewish spy Jonathon Pollard, 9/11 and the debacle in Iraq they are the most dangerous enemies America has ever had. As much as they may choose their words carefully in trying to appear as allies to the US, the fact is that they are Israelis first, second and third, and care nothing about how the demands of the Jewish state are quickly dragging the once-Christian nation known as America towards the abyss.

If indeed there is anything that Americans better realize soon before all is lost, it is not the religious fundamentalists in Iran or any other Muslim country that should frighten them as much as the religious nutcases in Israel and America who have openly declared themselves to be the physical incarnation of God on earth and who have promised to destroy mankind in a fiery Armageddon should their plans of world-wide domination fail.

2008 by Mark Glenn

Correspondent and Contributing Editor–American Free Press Newspaper



Go to 12635
http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/edison.html
THOMAS EDISON ON
GOVERNMENT CREATED
DEBT FREE MONEY

Prosperity, September 2000

In December 1921, the American industrialist Henry Ford and the inventor Thomas Edison visited the Muscle Shoals nitrate and water power projects near Florence, Alabama. They used the opportunity to articulate at length upon their alternative money theories, which were published in 2 reports which appeared in The New York Times on December 4, 1921 and December 6, 1921.

Objecting to the fact that the Government planned, as usual, to raise the money by issuing bonds which would be bought by the banking and non-banking sector -- which would then have to be paid back with money raised from taxes, and with interest added -- they proposed instead that the Government simply create the currency it required and spend it into society through this public project.

This is also the Prosperity proposal.

Thomas Edison made it plain in the following excerpt from The New York Times, December 6, 1921 issue ("Ford Sees Wealth In Muscle Shoals"). Here, the reporter is quoting Edison:

"That is to say, under the old way any time we wish to add to the national wealth we are compelled to add to the national debt.

"Now, that is what Henry Ford wants to prevent. He thinks it is stupid, and so do I, that for the loan of $30,000,000 of their own money the people of the United States should be compelled to pay $66,000,000 -- that is what it amounts to, with interest. People who will not turn a shovelful of dirt nor contribute a pound of material will collect more money from the United States than will the people who supply the material and do the work. That is the terrible thing about interest. In all our great bond issues the interest is always greater than the principal. All of the great public works cost more than twice the actual cost, on that account. Under the present system of doing business we simply add 120 to 150 per cent, to the stated cost.

"But here is the point: If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money brokers collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20 per cent, whereas the currency pays nobody but those who directly contribute to Muscle Shoals in some useful way.

" ... if the Government issues currency, it provides itself with enough money to increase the national wealth at Muscles Shoals without disturbing the business of the rest of the country. And in doing this it increases its income without adding a penny to its debt.

"It is absurd to say that our country can issue $30,000,000 in bonds and not $30,000,000 in currency. Both are promises to pay; but one promise fattens the usurer, and the other helps the people. If the currency issued by the Government were no good, then the bonds issued would be no good either. It is a terrible situation when the Government, to increase the national wealth, must go into debt and submit to ruinous interest charges at the hands of men who control the fictitious values of gold.

"Look at it another way. If the Government issues bonds, the brokers will sell them. The bonds will be negotiable; they will be considered as gilt edged paper. Why? Because the government is behind them, but who is behind the Government? The people. Therefore it is the people who constitute the basis of Government credit. Why then cannot the people have the benefit of their own gilt-edged credit by receiving non-interest bearing currency on Muscle Shoals, instead of the bankers receiving the benefit of the people's credit in interest-bearing bonds?"



Go to 12634
http://www.rense.com/general80/sell.htm
The Great Depreciation -
The Selling Of America
By Gerald Celente
2-13-8

RHINEBECK, NY -- The United States of America is up for sale, and the Federal Reserve keeps lowering the selling price.

On January 22nd, with the global financial markets in meltdown, the Federal Reserve again bowed to Wall Street's demands for cheaper money by slashing short-term interest rates 75 basis points the biggest one-day rate drop in Fed banking history. Pressured by credit squeezed banks, brokerages, buyout firms, faltering bond guarantors and assorted deal makers wanting deeper cuts and cheaper cash the Fed dropped rates another 50 basis points eight days later.

The equation is simple, the formula is proven and the outcome is predictable: The deeper the Fed cuts rates, the cheaper it is to borrow money. The cheaper it is to borrow money, the less the dollar is worth against stronger foreign currencies. The less the dollar is worth, the less it costs holders of stronger currencies to buy up America. And that's just what they're doing. Strong currency nations are buying up America like a third world country. (See "Top Trends 2008," Trends Journal, Winter 2008.)

Already holding trillions of greenbacks in reserve and getting billions more each day from the USA ­ which imports most of what it needs from other nations ­ foreigners flush with cash will accelerate the pace of acquiring American assets at bargain basement prices. Indeed, even before the latest Fed rate-cut frenzy, last year, with the dollar down double digits against key currencies, foreign interests bought into ­ or bought out ­ nearly a half-trillion dollars worth of American banks, brokerages, factories, properties and prized possessions.

Up 90 percent from 2006 and more than double the average of the last decade, the "Buying of America" trend is seen as an encouraging sign of economic vitality by Washington and applauded as beneficial by beleaguered financial firms scouring the globe begging for bailouts.

For example, once a staunch critic of Arab owned entities controlling vital US interests, New York Senator Charles Schumer applauded the recent $6.6 billion infusion of foreign cash into Merrill Lynch saying it " strengthens our economy and creates jobs."

"This is a vote of confidence in the American economy, the American marketplace and the American worker," echoed deputy US Treasury Secretary, Robert Kimmitt, along with the steady chorus of pundits and professionals featured in the business press praising foreign ownership of US assets.

Among the presidential candidates, if they address the "Buying of America" trend at all, the stock campaign promise is a call for more "transparency" from foreign owners as though they would make it happen and that it would really matter.

As for the general public ­ even as wages shrink, living costs increase and debt burdens grow ­ there is little understanding of how cheap dollars deteriorate their living standards or how foreign ownership will affect their future.

Trendpost: The Trends Research Institute does not provide financial advice we forecast trends. We forecast that despite periodic corrections, the US dollar will continue its downward slide, and that the weak dollar = strong gold trend will push gold to $2,000 per ounce. (See "Gold $2000," Trends in the News ®, 4 November 2007.)

Gerald Celente
Founder/Director
The Trends Research Institute
gcelente@trendsresearch.com
www.trendsresearch.com
Media Relations: 845.876.6700 Ext. 311
Cheri Van Deusen:
Cheri@trendsresearch.com
© MMVIII The Trends Research Institute



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