Thursday, April 2 2009   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

By Charlotte Dennett
April 1, 2009
ConsortiumNews.com

Those of you following the George W. Bush prosecution trail will be interested to know that Patrick Leahy's "truth commission" is a no-go. I was in a meeting with Leahy and four other Vermonters on Monday when he broke the news to us.

We had asked for the meeting to learn why he supported a truth commission over the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Halfway through the allotted 30 minute meeting (with him taking up much of the time explaining why he was not generally opposed to prosecution, since he had been a DA for eight years and had the highest conviction rate in Vermont), he told us that his truth commission had failed to get the broad support it needed in Congress, and since he couldn't get one Republican to come behind the plan, "it's not going to happen."

 

Thursday, April 2 2009   -   Other Important News

April 1, 2009
By Chris Floyd
Empire Burlesque - Chris-floyd.com

Here's a purely hypothetical scenario. Let's say you were a dedicated imperial militarist who believed that your country's security, prestige and financial interests could best be served by war and the ever-present threat of war. Let's say you had some really hot and juicy operations going on, endless deadly conflicts that were pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into your war machine and entrenching national policy even more deeply in the militarist philosophy – the machtpolitik – that you believe in.

But there's a problem. The general public – the cow-like herd out there that doesn't understand grand strategy the way you and your fellow elites do – is growing weary, and wary, of your Long War. The national treasury is bankrupt, the national infrastructure is rotting, the nation's communities are dying; millions of people are out of work, losing their homes, losing their dreams, spiraling down into want, privation and despair. Yet you have big plans to escalate the war, expand your war machine, and maintain the global dominance that you believe is the right and natural role for your special nation – and its elites. What to do? How to galvanize the truculent, self-absorbed herd into enthusiastically supporting your vital agenda once more?

 

Wednesday, April 1 2009   -   First Responders/Health Effects

Pols: 9/11 workers likely to get health help

BY Tom Brune
March 31, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Sponsors of a bill to compensate and cover health care costs of ailing 9/11 responders and recovery workers predicted Tuesday the House would pass the long-pending legislation this year.

It's too late: GOP tells 9/11's sick that it's been too long since the attack for compensation

March 31, 2009
By Michael Mcauliff

Some Republicans objected that the time frame was too long, and suggested it would be subject to abuse. They also feared creating a semi-permanent fund for victims of the terror attacks would open a precedent that would require similar funds.

 

Wednesday, April 1 2009   -   Other Important News

. . . "Are you saying that you think Vice President Cheney is still having a chilling effect on people who might otherwise be coming forward," asked Gross. "I'll make it worse," answered Hersh, adding that he believes Cheney "put people back" in government to "stay behind" in order to "tell him what's going on" and perhaps even "do sabotage":

HERSH: I'll make it worse. I think he's put people left. He's put people back. They call it a stay behind. It's sort of an intelligence term of art. When you leave a country and, you know, you've driven out the, you know, you've lost the war. You leave people behind. It's a stay behind that you can continue to contacts with, to do sabotage, whatever you want to do. Cheney's left a stay behind. He's got people in a lot of agencies that still tell him what's going on. Particularly in defense, obviously. Also in the NSA, there's still people that talk to him. He still knows what's going on. Can he still control policy up to a point? Probably up to a point, a minor point. But he's still there. He's still a presence.

 

Tuesday, March 31 2009   -   Truth Movement News

Professor David Ray Griffin, renowned author of a series of eye-opening books that recount his painstaking research into the attacks of September 11, 2001, begins his new European tour in London on 14th April. Stressing the fact that the time has come for a second look at the events of that fateful day, the tour will include stops in Paris, Brussels and Madrid, and several other cities.

Professor Griffin's talks will afford the public an excellent opportunity to learn more about the fundamental questions surrounding 9/11. The 9/11 Truth Movement, which started out as a disparate, grass-roots undertaking, has blossomed into a serious community that now includes many specialized branches, such as Pilots for 9/11 Truth, Firefighters for 9/11 Truth, Lawyers for 9/11 Truth, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, Medical Professionals for 9/11 Truth, Political Leaders for 9/11 Truth, Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth, Veterans for 9/11 Truth, and Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice (a group which includes a significant number of prominent scientists). Many former intelligence officers also support the movement and have contributed to the ever-growing list of evidence that proves far beyond a reasonable doubt that the explanations provided by the Bush-Cheney administration are quite simply false.

US Tour Details below	European Tour Details at Time for a Second Look - European Tour
April 7th, 2009 - Wayne, Pennsylvania	April 14th, 2009 - London	May 7th, 2009 - Lucerne
April 8th, 2009 - Poughkeepsie, NY (Vassar College)	April 15th, 2009 - Brussels	May 9th, 2009 - Hamburg
April 9th, 2009 - Portsmouth, New Hampshire	April 17th, 2009 - Paris	May 11th, 2009 - Stockholm
April 10th, 2009 - Keene, New Hampshire	April 18th, 2009 - Lausanne	May 13th, 2009 - Trondheim
April 11th, 2009 - Boston, Massachusetts	April 20th, 2009 - Madrid	May 14th, 2009 - Oslo

 

Monday, March 30 2009   -   First Responders/Health Effects

On February 11, 2009, 911truth.org posted notice "9/11 Health Bill Reintroduced in Congress--CALL NOW," including this intro:

Rep. Maloney has posted a very useful link at her House website: World Trade Center Health Registry--Number of Registrants by State and Congressional District based on June 2007 current addresses. When you call your Representative to ask him/her to cosponsor H.R. 847, you might mention the number of first responders from your district, and your state, listed on the Health Registry. All 50 states are included. Maloney states, "...at least 10,000 people came from around the country to help in the aftermath of the attacks." Clearly, this is a national issue and we challenge ANY Representative to give a valid reason why s/he should not support a bill that provides needed care, especially for their own constituents!

TODAY, we appeal to you to do this again, now. FealGood Foundation members and supporters will travel to Washington DC tomorrow to attend a markup hearing on this bill, and your support will make a huge difference in the response they get. At this point, the number of Cosponsors of HR847 has grown to 55 (list of cosponsors can be found at http://thomas.gov, enter HR 847 in search bar and click the 'bill number' button, then search.); yet the health registry includes registrants from all 50 states.

 

Monday, March 30 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

More Than 20 Types Of War Crimes Against Children Ascribed To Ex-President Bush In Iraq And Afghanistan

Monday, 23 March 2009
Press Release: Sherwood Ross
Scoop World Independent News

Torture has received the most attention among the many war crimes of the Bush administration. But those who support Bush's pursuit of the "war on terror" have not been impressed by recriminations over torture. Worse than torture are the murders of at least 50 prisoners in Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo, but again the hard-hearted are unimpressed when those whom they perceive as terrorists receive illegal extrajudicial capital punishment.

The case for abusing children, however, is more difficult to support. The best kept secret of the Bush's war crimes is that thousands of children have been imprisoned, tortured, and otherwise denied rights under the Geneva Conventions and related international agreements. Yet both Congress and the media have strangely failed to identify the very existence of child prisoners as a war crime. In the Islamic world, however, there is no such silence. Indeed, the prophet Mohammed was the first to counsel warriors not to harm innocent children.

 

Monday, March 30 2009   -   Fear Factors

Notice any familiar pattern here, at all?

-Wednesday - "Britain warned of a growing terrorist risk from chemical, biological and radiological weapons and pinpointed al Qaeda in Pakistan"
-Friday, March 27 - Obama rolls out his "new" Afghanistan and Pakistan War on Terror Overseas Contingency Plan ...
-Sunday, March 29 - Newest "Be Very Afraid" alert hits the wires -- Threat of a Dirty Bomb "more likely than ever" for G20 leaders in London...
-Also Sunday, Washington Post announces torturing alleged al Qaeda #2 didn't foil any dastardly plots. (Pentagon Department of Information surely huddles to determine the best path to re-terrorize The People so they'll look past this little tidbit...)
-Also Sunday, Spain announces they'll go ahead with investigation of a "98-page complaint to prosecutors that accuses former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and five others of being the legal architects of system that allowed torture." (After which the Obama legal team surely huddles to determine the best path so they can continue to 'look forward' while assuring The People that 'no one's above the law' ... 'really')

Articles follow. Are we convinced yet that "those people" are SO dangerous that we'll support sending another 21,000 US troops (plus mercenaries and civilian aid workers) into Afghanistan, and CIA drones into Pakistan, more rendition, more torture, more slaughter, or will it take a few more "dirty bomb" and "Anthrax" threats from the government to get us there? Really??? Are we even asking ourselves that question? Can we continue to overlook the illegal actions of this administration and nonrepresentational, slacking legislative branch? Since when did it become legal for "CIA drones" to bomb another country? Wasn't there something about a War Powers Act once...?

Do we see the government's pattern of issuing red alerts coincidental with announcing American hegemony-building war plans? Many people became clear about that while Bush was in power, but fewer are discussing it openly now that we have "new" leadership. So what about it? Can you talk with coworkers or friends about the absurdity of this, and counter the nationalist propaganda and fear-mongering strongly enough to speak out and stand up? Food for thought . . .  

Monday, March 30 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

by Kenneth J. Theisen
28 March 2009
WorldCantWait.net

President Barack Obama continued with his latest escalation of the war in Afghanistan by announcing his plans to send an additional 4,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to train Afghan government puppet forces. He also announced plans to send hundreds of diplomats and civilian officials to the country, in what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called an "integrated military-civilian strategy". Like his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama raised the specter of "terrorism" to justify his actions.

Obama stated that, "If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taliban or allows al-Qaida to go unchallenged, that country will again be a base for terrorists." Obama warned that the al-Qaida "terrorists" were actively planning further attacks on the U.S. from havens in Pakistan. He stated, "So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future." He went on to claim, "That is the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: we will defeat you." Does this sound a little too much like Bush's excuse for the initial invasion in 2001? I was waiting to hear Obama say, "bring 'em on."

 

Monday, March 30 2009   -   Legal Response to 9/11

Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say
By Peter Finn and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 29, 2009; A01

When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him.

The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads.

In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

 

Sunday, March 29 2009   -   Accountability

Reuters
March 28, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A top Spanish court has moved toward starting a probe of six former Bush administration officials including ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in connection with alleged torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, The New York Times said on Saturday.

The criminal investigation would focus on whether they violated international law by providing a legalistic justification for torture at the U.S. detention camp in Cuba, the Times said.

. . . The other Americans named are William Haynes II, former general counsel for the Department of Defense; Jay Bybee, Yoo's former boss at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel; and David Addington, chief of staff and legal adviser to ex-Vice President Dick Cheney.

 

Sunday, March 29 2009   -   Truth Movement News

March 29, 2009
by Sander Hicks
http://sander.gnn.tv

NYPD Central Booking (212) 374-3921

NEW YORK, NY -- Last night, in an attempt to get Mayor Bloomberg to answer questions about the Mayor's alleged neglect of 9/11 First Responders, three activists from the nation-wide "9/11 truth" group We Are Change were suddenly arrested and held over night in Central Booking.

The Mayor had been at the Times Square Hilton for a fund-raising event. The activists claim they were not asked to leave the premises, and were illegally arrested.

"All of the members of WeAreChange immediately complied with all instructions given by the security detail so that they could exit the building but within seconds arrest orders were given. According to WeAreChange camera operators, there is video of these unlawful arrests as it appears that in some cases there were no warnings given and some people were simply arrested just for being in the lobby of the hotel." Members of We Are Change also allege that police engaged in unnecessary brutality. Three video cameras were confiscated.

 

Saturday, March 28 2009   -   Get Involved

On Tuesday we posted an appeal for readers to take action regarding a current state of national emergency in the US, declared by George W. Bush after 9/11/01. Since then, the appeal has been sent to at least 20,000 people via email, linked to from numerous other sites, and reposted in full at several sites. We are beginning to get notification from readers of specific Representatives and Senators to whom letters are being sent, with follow-up calls planned. Please continue to send those to us at responses[at]911truth.org. We intend to start posting that information shortly.

Some people have written to ask whether we've completely lost our collective mind... "Do you really think this Congress--who has refused to investigate or even talk about 9/11 crimes for all these years--is suddenly going to divulge honest information about their lack of oversight of National Emergencies, and act to terminate it just because you send them a letter?!" Well, uhm, not really, no. But, do we think some (continued)...

 

Saturday, March 28 2009   -   In the Media

Live Broadcast from Berkeley, Calif. --- Richard Gage, AIA
Saturday March 28th at: 7pm Pacific -- 10pm Eastern -- 02:00 GMT

9/11: Blueprint for Truth -- The Architecture of Destruction

LIVE BROADCAST -- at NoLiesRadio.org or 67.18.54.205/~nolies/
Hear Richard Gage's latest presentation on the controlled demolition of the towers in front of a lively Berkeley audience. This should be exciting. Please visit Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth to sign the petition.

SF Bay Area Residents: Support AE911truth.org by attending this event in person. 7pm Pacific, Saturday, March 28th. Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., Berkeley, California (corner of Bonita in North Berkeley).
 

Friday, March 27 2009   -   Anthrax

Sunday March 29, 2009 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld's Passionate Eye Showcase

Watch a :52 min promo here:

An investigation into the deadly world of germ weapons, Anthrax War begins in New York in the days following 9/11. Anthrax-laced letters, mailed to media and U.S. senators, killed five people and spread fear and panic throughout the nation.

For filmmaker Bob Coen, who was raised in Zimbabwe where the former white regime has been accused of unleashing anthrax against the black population, biological weapons have a deep personal meaning. He embarks on a journey that raises troubling questions about the FBI's investigation of the 21st century's first act of biological terrorism.

Coen's investigation takes him from the U.S. to the U.K. and from the edge of Siberia to the tip of Africa. In a rare interview, Coen confronts "Doctor Death" Wouter Basson, who headed Project Coast, the South African apartheid-era bio-warfare program. Project Coast used germ warfare against select targets within the country's black population.