This article below is from the Israeli Coalition Against Housing Demoitions. The Director, Jeff Halper, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize two years ago. He's an Israeli working on behalf of justice in the Occupied Territories. He's an academic as well as an activist and to me. He is an Israeli who is critical of Israel and calls it to account. Below is his organization's perspective on Gaza. This stuff does not make the Western News.
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:33:02 +0200Subject: Analysis ISRAEL IN GAZA: A CRITICAL REFRAMINGFrom: info@icahd.orgTo: friends@icahd.org
ISRAEL IN GAZA: A CRITICAL REFRAMING
Israel's core messages, listed below, argue for the justice of its invasion of Gaza in late December, 2008, cast Israel as the victim and endeavor that its "war on Hamas" not be seen against the background of prolonged occupation, closure and sanctions, but of the broader Western "War on Terror." The alternative view presented below argues otherwise. As Israelis committed to human rights, international law and a just peace as the only way out of our interminable and bloody conflict with the Palestinians, we contend that security cannot be achieved unilaterally, especially as Israel shows no signs of fully relinquishing its 41 year Occupation so that a truly sovereign and viable Palestinian may emerge. In that context, Israel's attack on Gaza can be considered merely another attempt to render its Occupation permanent by destroying any source of effective resistance. The immediate pretext of Israel's attack, rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, does not explain the disproportionality of its attack, especially given the unrelenting sanctions, attacks and assassinations carried out by Israel throughout the cease-fire. Indeed, we argue that Israel could have avoided all attacks upon it over the last twenty years, as well as the rise of Hamas to power, if it had accepted the PLO's offer of a two-state solution proffered already in 1988 and has entered into negotiations in good faith. Instead, Israel, the strong party in the conflict and the sole Occupying Power, chose to dramatically increase its settler population, construct a permanent infrastructure of separation and control, remove "Greater Jerusalem" from Palestine and encircle the West Bank with its expanded borders: that of the Separation Barrier incorporating Israel's major settlement blocs and the "security border" of the Jordan River. Israel is not a victim; it is the active perpetrator of a permanent apartheid regime over all of Israel/Palestine. It is toward that goal that Gaza is being violently pacified today, Israel's killing with impunity scores of Palestinian civilians constituting nothing less than State Terrorism.
The following pages present the essential elements of the Israeli government's framing of its assault on Gaza, followed by a critical re-framing that introduces context, policies and aims which the government's version purposely omits.
· Israeli PR: Like all countries, it has a right and duty to defend its citizens.
An alternative framing: To pursue offensive policies of prolonged occupation as well as sanctions, boycotts and closures which rob another people of its rights, aspirations and very livelihood, and to then refuse to truly engage with that people's elected leaders (a policy preceding Hamas's rise to power), is what puts your own people at risk. To expect your citizens to live in security while a million and a half subjugated people just a few kilometers away live in misery is both unrealistic and presumptive. Israel will only be able to defend its citizens – which is indeed its duty – if it addresses the causes of their insecurity, which is a 41 year-old occupation which the oppressed will resist, by "legitimate" means or not.
· Israeli PR: Israel had no choice but to attack in response to the barrage of 8,500 Hamas rockets fired from Gaza into Israel over the past eight years that have killed 20 Israeli civilians.
An alternative framing: Israel had a choice. In the past three years alone Israel – together with the US, Europe and Japan – imposed an inhumane siege of Gaza while conducting a campaign of targeted assassinations and attacks throughout the cease-fire that left 1,700 Palestinians dead. This war is no "response:" it is merely a more deadly round of the tit-for-tat arising out of a political vacuum. Hamas firings on Israel were for the most part, if not exclusively, responses to Israeli actions either not reported in the press or discounted as legitimate unilateral action – such as assassinating leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian organizations, often with a high toll in civilian casualties. To present the "barrage" as an independent variable disassociated from wider Israeli policies that led to them is disingenuous. Indeed, had there been a genuine political process which offered the Palestinians hope for self-determination, the rocket firings could have been avoided altogether.
· Israeli PR: Hamas is a terrorist organization that refuses to recognize Israel or enter into a political process.
An alternative framing: "Terrorist" is a problematic term. States always use it to delegitimize and demonize non-state actors who resist their oppressive policies, as apartheid South Africa did, for example, with the ANC. The term assumes that states, bad as they may be, have the right to employ military force as they see fit. If, however, we take "terrorism" to mean the killing, harming or intimidation of non-combatant civilian populations, then states are far more terroristic, kill far more innocent civilians, than do non-state groups. In the eight years since the second Intifada broke out (September 2000), almost 500 Israeli civilians have been killed by Palestinians while almost 5000 Palestinians have died at the hands of Israelis. All attacks on civilians are unacceptable, no matter how just the cause. Yet it is only the Palestinians to whom the term "terrorist" is applied.
An alternative framing: Presenting Hamas as merely a "terrorist organization" removes the political element from their struggle and presents them as a criminal organization. This not only distorts reality in a fundamental way but, by preventing negotiations, it ensures the perpetuation of mutual suffering. Hamas has its military wing – though nothing compared to the Israeli army – but it is essentially a grassroots religious-political movement that democratically won the Palestinian elections in 2006 and earned the right to establish a government – which was denied it by Israel, the US…and the Fatah part of the Palestinian Authority. It does deny Israel's legitimacy, as any colonized people would, and there is no reason why it should accept the loss of 78% (or more) of its historic homeland. But Hamas has agreed, as a signatory to the "Prisoners' Document" and in repeated public pronouncements, to respect the outcome of negotiations of other Palestinian parties (like Fatah) with Israel, if they result in a complete withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. So despite its militant and scary image, despite the fact that it will not legitimize what it considers another people's colonization of its homeland, Hamas does accept, as a practical political matter, a two-state solution. Given the fact that negotiations with Israel since the Madrid Conference of 1991 have yielded nothing – indeed, Israel's massive settlement enterprise has perhaps eliminated the possibility of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel – Hamas's resort to armed resistance is understandable. All attacks on civilians are prohibited in international law. In this regard both Hamas and Israel engage in terrorism, with the later taking by far the greatest of civilian dead, injured and traumatized.
· Israeli PR: There is no occupation – in general, but specifically in Gaza. Israel ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005 with the "disengagement." Gaza could have flourished as the basis of a Palestinian state, but its inhabitants chose conflict.
An alternative framing: Israel claims there has never been an occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza; instead, these are "disputed" territories with no clear claimant – and certainly not the Palestinians who, in Israel's view, do not constitute a people with rights of self-determination in the Land of Israel and who never exercised sovereignty over any part of Palestine. This position is rejected utterly by the international community. Indeed, the Road Map initiative uses the term "occupation" explicitly. Neither does it accept Israel's claim that the occupation of Gaza really ended with "disengagement" in 2005, since occupation is defined in international law as exercising effective control of a foreign territory, which Israel obviously does over Gaza. To then argue that Gaza could have developed under these conditions is unfair and unreasonable. Neither Israeli control exerted over Gaza since 1967 nor the economic closure imposed upon it in 1989 ever ceased, even if Israel removed its settlers and army. Gazans were never allowed to open their sea or air ports, nor were any conditions conducive to economic development allowed to develop. And then, in early 2006, less than six months after "disengagement," Gaza was sanctioned and hermetically isolated by Israel and the international community as punishment for voting the wrong way. John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, wrote that this was the first time in history the oppressed was sanctioned and the Occupying Power freed of any responsibility. Economic development, not to mention a political process which might have prevented the violence on both sides, was actively prevented by both Israel and its international supporters, which share responsibility for the present tragedy in Gaza.
Let us also remember Israel's special responsibility towards the people of Gaza. These "civilians" are, for the most part, refugees driven from their homes in Israel in 1948 and their descendants, people dying and suffering at the hands of Israel for the past 41, if not 60, years. This adds a particular poignancy to the assault – yet another assault.
· Israeli PR: Only Hamas violated the cease-fire, and thus it carries full responsibility.
An alternative framing: Israel and Hamas agreed to a truce (through Egypt) by which Israel would allow the opening of the Gazan border crossings (at least partially) in return for a end to rocket fire on Israel. Hamas largely, though not entirely, kept its part of the bargain; Israel almost never did. Killings of Palestinians from the air continued, and on the American election day in early November it attacked the tunnels (which functioned as alternative means of supplying Gaza in the absence of open borders, which would have allowed control over the movement of arms), killing a number of Hamas people. In response Hamas launched rockets and….the truce began breaking down.
· Israeli PR: There is no humanitarian crisis; Israel is only attacking the "infrastructure of terror."
Alternative View: Being the elected government, all the infrastructure, from traffic cops (non-combatants under international law) to schools to military installations, "belong" to Hamas. It is clear that Israeli attacks go beyond "the infrastructure of terror." Gazan sources claim that some 5000 homes have been demolished and the Islamic University has been severely damaged. According to the UN OCHA report of January. 5, the tenth day of the war:
ü "More than a million Gazans still have no electricity or water, and thousands of people have fled their homes for safe shelter;.
ü Gaza's water and sewage system is on the verge of collapse, 75% of Gaza's electricity has been cut off;
ü The sewage situation is highly dangerous, posing serious risks of the spread of water-borne disease;
ü Hospitals are unable to provide adequate intensive care to the high number of casualties. There is also an urgent need for more neuro-, vascular-, orthopedic- and open heart surgeons.
· Israeli PR: Israel only targets Hamas fighters.
An alternative framing: Who's a "Hamas fighter?" The graduating class of traffic cops that was slaughtered in the first aerial attack on Gaza? Professors and students who attend the "Hamas" Islamic University? Family members of Hamas military figures? People who voted for Hamas? Attacking a grassroots political-religious-social movement engaged in military resistance to occupation in densely crowded urban settings makes it either impossible or inconvenient for an invading army to distinguish between civilians and fighters.
· Israeli PR: Civilians may die, but it's because Hamas hides its fighters and weapons factories among ordinary people.
An alternative framing: Gaza being such a barren, exposed and tiny area (360 sq.km./223 sq. miles, half the size of London), separating civilian from military areas, though desirable, is impossible, especially since, in concept, Hamas is a people's militia. It's worth noting, however, that Israel's military headquarters are located in the center of Tel Aviv, the military headquarters over the West Bank are in the densely populated Neveh Ya'akov neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel's center for biological and chemical warfare is located in the town of Ness Tziona, close to Tel Aviv, its main weapons development centers or in Haifa, and most settlements in the West Bank have military camps embedded within them – or vice versa.
Hamas, of course, as both a government and a military organization, carries responsibility for protecting the civilian population and keeping the fighting away from them. In a situation where this is impossible, as in Gaza, an invading force like Israel should avoid engagement, or engage only when legitimate military and political aims (such as defense) are genuinely endangered – which is not the case here. Israel has political and negotiating options that can end both the immediate threat of rockets and the longer-term conflict, but it chooses not to use them.
A terrifying development: According to the Israeli press, Israel has decided to ignore the distinction between civilians and combatants which lies at the root of international laws of warfare. Citing what the IDF calls the "Georgia rules," the two military correspondents of Ha'aretz (Jan. 6 and 7) explain:
[IDF Chief of Staff Gabi] Ashkenazi had said in earlier discussions that use of major fire power would be inevitable even in the most densely populated areas. The Israeli solution was thus to be very aggressive to protect the lives of the soldiers as much as possible. These are 'Georgia rules,' which are not so far from the methods Russia used in its conflict last summer. The result is the killing of dozens of non-combatant Palestinians. The Gaza medical teams might not have reached all of them yet. When an Israeli force gets into an entanglement, as in Sajaiyeh last night, massive fire into built-up areas is initiated to cover the extraction. In other cases, a chain of explosions is initiated from a distance to set off Hamas booby-traps. It is a method that leaves a swath of destruction taking in entire streets, and does not distinguish military targets from the homes of civilians….
The incident in which some 40 Palestinian civilians were killed when Israel Defense Forces mortar shells hit an UNRWA school in the Jabalya refugee camp Tuesday surprised no one who has been following events in Gaza in recent days. Senior officers admit that the IDF has been using enormous firepower. "For us, being cautious means being aggressive," explained one. "From the minute we entered, we've acted like we're at war. That creates enormous damage on the ground ... I just hope those who have fled the area of Gaza City in which we are operating will describe the shock. Maybe someone there will sober up before it continues." What the officer did not say explicitly was that this is deliberate policy. Following the trauma of the war in Lebanon in 2006, the army realized that heavy IDF casualties would erode public (and especially political) support for the war and limit its ability to achieve its goals. Therefore, it is using aggressive tactics to save soldiers' lives. And the cabinet took this into account when it approved the ground operation last Friday, so it has no reason to change its mind now. Nor is it likely that Tuesday's incident, with its large number of civilian deaths, will result in an immediate cease-fire…. Until Tuesday's incident, the world appeared relatively indifferent to Palestinian civilian casualties. On Monday, 31 members of the Samouny family were killed when a shell hit their house in Gaza City; that same day, 13 members of the Al-Daiya family where killed by another Israeli bomb. Yet international media coverage of these incidents was comparatively restrained.
This is an absolutely unacceptable development in modern warfare – particularly urban warfare which involves and entraps large populations of civilians – and must be condemned and rejected by the international community. If the Israeli-Georgian "rules" become a de facto norm of warfare, the entire edifice of human rights and international which has been constructed over the past 60 years will collapse and we will enter into a new age of barbarism. Again, All attacks on civilians must be opposed, whether sanctioned or not by military doctrine.
· Israeli PR: Hamas is a global problem, part of Islamist fundamentalism together with Iran and Hezbollah.
An alternative framing: Hamas was allowed by Israel to develop as a political force in Occupied Palestine in the late 1980s in order to counterbalance the secular PLO, which Israel regarded then as its real enemy but today considers a "moderate" force which should be supported in order to counterbalance Hamas(!). It has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, but is a particularly Palestinian phenomenon that arose in response to increasing Israeli repression, the loss of Palestinian land, rights and honor, and the corruption and high-handedness of the ruling Fatah party. It cannot be conflated with the Shi'ite Hizbollah (which emerged in Lebanon only in the wake of threw 1982 war), al-Qaida (which has a completely different global agenda and ideology) or Iran (in which the theocrats were an organized but quite small political force until the U.S. overthrew Iran's democracy in 1954 and installed the repressive regime of the Shah – for whom Israel trained his dreaded SAVAK security police, noted for their widespread torture of "dissidents"). Painting Hamas as part of a global conspiracy when it's a product of the Occupation itself is disingenuous and a gross distortion of history. Indeed, as the history of Hamas, Hizbollah and the Iranian clerics shows, Israel itself had played a significant role in the rise of political Islam.
An alternative framing: have to get beyond such simplistic and self-serving terms as "terrorists" and "terrorism" – especially since the Western politicians that use them refuse to apply them to themselves, as in the case of Israel in Gaza. It will do no good to dismiss Hamas as a "terrorist organization." The issues, grievances and demands upon which it arose must be addressed. From the point of view of its voters, who include many who do not share Hamas's religious or political agenda, Hamas is a quintessential liberation movement, a Palestinian liberation movement. Attempts by Israel to delegitimize Hamas and disassociate it from the Palestinian people, even to have the gall to suggest that the carnage created by Israel in Gaza will benefit the people by "releasing them from Hamas's grip," only serve – as they are intended to do – to neutralize Hamas as an effective source of resistance to Israel's Occupation.
· Israeli PR: In attacking Hamas in Gaza, Israel is only doing its part in the West's War on Terror.
An alternative framing: This brings us to why Israel actually attacked Gaza and why the slaughter has gone on far beyond Israel's declared goal of ending the rocket fire through negotiations. Immediate causes played their role, to be sure. Public pressure to end the rocket fire, especially in an election period, could not be ignored, nor the need to assert national pride. But this does not explain the immense scale of the operation; the rocket firings were the immediate trigger (and Hamas may have erred in its brinksmanship), but not the true reasons, which were several.
First, the invasion of Gaza was an exercise in pacification. On one level, it is an attempt to destroy Hamas as a political force, the only effective Palestinian resistance to Israel's ability, through the Annapolis Process, of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestine. On another level it seeks to pacify the Palestinian people by delivering "a message:" If you keep resisting, this is what is waiting for you. You have no hope to force Israel to withdraw from its settlements and expanded borders. Second, it is an attempt to resuscitate Israel's image as an effective ally in the War on Terror after the humiliation of the Second Lebanon War in 2006. This is crucial for Israel's security politics, especially vis-à-vis the US, and the Palestinians are paying the price for Hizbollah's success. Third, it is an exercise in urban warfare, an opportunity to field-test new weaponry and tactics of counterinsurgency in dense urban environments that can be exported – both as part of Israel's security politics (earning its place with the Big Boys at the table of the War Against Terror) and as part of its economic export strategy (60% of Israeli export firms deal in security). "Tested in Gaza" (or Nablus or Fluja) is one of Israel's most effective marketing pitches.
Gaza demonstrates in microcosm the shift in Israeli priorities and policies as its long-standing commitment to hold onto the Occupied Territories for both nationalist and security reasons comes into conflict with its broader regional and global agendas, centered today around its campaign to neutralize Iran's nuclear potential. The Saudi Initiative, endorsed by the Arab League, holds out the tantalizing offer of Israeli integration into the Middle East – meaning that Israel, whose foreign policy interests match those of the "moderate" Arab states, could assume a regional role. But because of public opinion in the Arab and Muslims worlds, this offer is good only if Israel relinquishes enough of the Occupied Territories that the Palestinian leadership could sign off on an agreement. Hence Israel's courting of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Mubarak and even Assad of Syria and the Saudis. And hence Israel's readiness to offer Abbas yet another "generous offer – short, however, of dismantling its major settlement blocs, relinquishing control over "greater" Jerusalem or giving up control of the border with Jordan, for which no Israeli government has a mandate. Caught between the necessity of maintaining its settlements – a position Netanyahu still endorses – and its desire to assume a role as one of regional hegemons, Israel is trying to find a way to finesse its way through. This explains Olmert's sudden readiness to change direction and talk of the necessity for a two-state solution, as well as the hasty Annapolis Process. Hence Abbas and Mubarak's support for Israel's action in Gaza (with mild, perfunctory criticism of its excesses). Their virtual collaboration with Israel raises even further in the eyes by many Palestinians and other Arabs the standing of Hamas as the only genuine source of resistance.
So there are high stakes involved in the Israeli-Hamas war, which diminish the seemingly decisive role the firing of rockets into Israel had. We do not believe that Israel can either impose an apartheid regime on the Palestinian people nor sustain its Occupation. If anything, as is becoming obvious, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, emblematic as it is throughout the entire Muslim world and beyond (among, for example, progressives civil society on every continent), will impact negatively on European and especially American efforts to stabilize the global system, and in particular the volatile Middle East where the US remains bogged down. It is our role as proponents of human rights, international law, decolonization, the integrity of cultures and a just peace in Israel/Palestine and elsewhere to highlight the injustice and unsustainability of Israel's Occupation both on the ground and globally, the quicker to bring it to an end. May the suffering of the both peoples in this war on Gaza, one oppressed and the other held hostage to an image of the Palestinians as "permanent enemies," be the last straw. A just peace in Palestine will relieve a major obstacle towards global justice.
· Israeli PR: Israel, acting as any life-loving nation would, has a right to be a normal country living in peace and security.
An alternative framing: By now you should be empowered to provide a critical response of your own.
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is based in Jerusalem and has chapters in the United Kingdom and the United States.Please visit our websites:www.icahd.orgwww.icahduk.orgwww.icahdusa.org
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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
If you continue beating your head against a brick wall; it's bleeding, and it starts to hurt, don't you think it's time to stop beating your head against the wall? -- Barack Obama
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!ON BEHALF OF CANADA, THE UK, KENYA, ITALY AND EGYPT, WHO ALL WISHED THEY COULD HAVE VOTED TOO, AND WHO ARE ALL IN MARILYN'S AND MY BLOODSTREAM!!! - Joy
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I'm DD Pruett and I approve this message!
Peace, Best Wishes and Hope
I gotta say, when the opposition candidates can be so grossly shameless in their lying, I am losing my patience with post-partisanship. THOSE BASTARDS WANT TO HURT AMERICA. It's right out of Naomi Klein's "disaster capitalism" playbook. They WANT the majority of Americans to suffer. That's how they make their profits and "save" their souls.
Senator Obama and Senator Biden, if you f' this up, I might have to be through with the Democratic Party. Any political party that can throw away what should be a totally guaranteed landslide is useless to the people of the country. Partisan politics is no good when it is for the sake of partisanship, but the opposition today is beyond dangerous. They are downright pathological. They MUST be defeated, and if that takes anger and accusatory language, then so be it. Today, there is a GOOD REASON to be partisan--the other party will hurt America and the American people, and much of the rest of the world while they are at it. Undecided voters must know that Obama and Biden will not sit idly by while McCain and Palin lie and cheat and steal their way to the White House and the nuclear button.
You won't sit idly by, will you? Sirs, we have got to know that you mean business, that you are LEADERS who can face down the challenges that face this country. Right now, the biggest challenge is the prospect that McCain and Palin will win--and in so doing, doom us all. I want to hear you say that, loud and clear. Please don't let all of us down.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE www.democracynow.org
September 1, 2008
Contact: Dennis Moynihan Mike Burke
ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.
Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman’s office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).
Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amenmdent rights of these journalists.
During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.
Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism’s top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation’s leading independent news outlet.
Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.
Video of Amy Goodman’s Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
Filed under News
Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).
Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet.
Video of Amy Goodman's Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
For folks that find this type of operation incredible, here is an extensively, well documented false-flag example:
"Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a false flag conspiracy plan, proposed within the United States government in 1962. The plan called for CIA or other operatives to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Castro-led Cuba. One plan was to "develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington". This operation is especially notable in that it included plans for hijackings and bombings followed by the use of phony evidence that would blame the terrorist acts on foreign governments. The plan states, "The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere." Operation Northwoods was drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and signed by then-Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer, and sent to the Secretary of Defense."OPERATION NORTHWOODS, BAMFORD VIDEOJanuary 31st, 2003 Bush’s proposal to Tony Blair was to paint a U.S. plane in UN colors and fly it over Iraq in the hopes of getting it shot down was straight out of Operation Northwoods (Philippe Sands, Lawless World)
"Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a false flag conspiracy plan, proposed within the United States government in 1962. The plan called for CIA or other operatives to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Castro-led Cuba. One plan was to "develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington". This operation is especially notable in that it included plans for hijackings and bombings followed by the use of phony evidence that would blame the terrorist acts on foreign governments. The plan states, "The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere." Operation Northwoods was drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and signed by then-Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer, and sent to the Secretary of Defense."
OPERATION NORTHWOODS, BAMFORD VIDEO
January 31st, 2003 Bush’s proposal to Tony Blair was to paint a U.S. plane in UN colors and fly it over Iraq in the hopes of getting it shot down was straight out of Operation Northwoods (Philippe Sands, Lawless World)
*
Brzezinski: On The Path To War With IranThe Rationale for War “...a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran...” Zbigniew Brzezinski.01 Feb 2007 The National Security Advisor to former President Carter testified before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on 1 Feb 2007. Dr.Zbigniew Brzezinski delivered a scathing assessment of the core mistakes made by the Bush administration in the Middle East. Just before describing what he termed the “mythical historical narrative” of the policy, he offered a scenario that the Bush administration might use as a convenient invitation to attack Iran...“…by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran; culminating in a ‘defensive’ U.S. military action against Iran…”
Brzezinski: On The Path To War With Iran
The Rationale for War
“...a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran...” Zbigniew Brzezinski.
01 Feb 2007 The National Security Advisor to former President Carter testified before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on 1 Feb 2007. Dr.Zbigniew Brzezinski delivered a scathing assessment of the core mistakes made by the Bush administration in the Middle East. Just before describing what he termed the “mythical historical narrative” of the policy, he offered a scenario that the Bush administration might use as a convenient invitation to attack Iran...
“…by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran; culminating in a ‘defensive’ U.S. military action against Iran…”
To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At ThemThink Progress | July 31, 2008Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh -- a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker -- revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President's office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran.In Hersh's most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake of the overblown incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when a U.S. carrier almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats. The "meeting took place in the Vice-President's office. 'The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,'" according to one of Hersh's sources.During the journalism conference event, I asked Hersh specifically about this meeting and if he could elaborate on what occurred. Hersh explained that, during the meeting in Cheney's office, an idea was considered to dress up Navy Seals as Iranians, put them on fake Iranian speedboats, and shoot at them:HERSH: There were a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don't we build -- we in our shipyard -- build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.Hersh argued that one of the things the Bush administration learned during the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz was that, "if you get the right incident, the American public will support it.” "Look, is it high school? Yeah," Hersh said. "Are we playing high school with you know 5,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal? Yeah we are. We're playing, you know, who's the first guy to run off the highway with us and Iran."Transcript: HERSH: There was a meeting. Among the items considered and rejected -- which is why the New Yorker did not publish it, on grounds that it wasn't accepted -- one of the items was why not...There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don't we build -- we in our shipyard -- build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up. Might cost some lives...
To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them
Think Progress | July 31, 2008
Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh -- a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker -- revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President's office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran.
In Hersh's most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake of the overblown incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when a U.S. carrier almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats. The "meeting took place in the Vice-President's office. 'The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,'" according to one of Hersh's sources.
During the journalism conference event, I asked Hersh specifically about this meeting and if he could elaborate on what occurred. Hersh explained that, during the meeting in Cheney's office, an idea was considered to dress up Navy Seals as Iranians, put them on fake Iranian speedboats, and shoot at them:
HERSH: There were a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don't we build -- we in our shipyard -- build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.
Hersh argued that one of the things the Bush administration learned during the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz was that, "if you get the right incident, the American public will support it.” "Look, is it high school? Yeah," Hersh said. "Are we playing high school with you know 5,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal? Yeah we are. We're playing, you know, who's the first guy to run off the highway with us and Iran."
Transcript: HERSH: There was a meeting. Among the items considered and rejected -- which is why the New Yorker did not publish it, on grounds that it wasn't accepted -- one of the items was why not...There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don't we build -- we in our shipyard -- build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up. Might cost some lives...
False Flags by Captain Eric H. May Global Research, February 23, 2008The easiest way to carry out a false flag attack is by setting up a military exercise that simulates the very attack you want to carry out. As I'll detail below, this is exactly how government perpetrators in the US and UK handled the 9/11 and 7/7 "terror" attacks, which were in reality government attacks blamed on "terrorists."...
False Flags by Captain Eric H. May
Global Research, February 23, 2008
The easiest way to carry out a false flag attack is by setting up a military exercise that simulates the very attack you want to carry out. As I'll detail below, this is exactly how government perpetrators in the US and UK handled the 9/11 and 7/7 "terror" attacks, which were in reality government attacks blamed on "terrorists."...
The necon regime has had plenty of precedent to study and exploit. Let’s hope we can throw a monkey wrench into their schemes to prevent another.
More Info Here:
The Power of Nightmares - Why We Fight
When is a Surge not a Surge: When an Invasion/Occupation is not a War
For the past six years of relentless media pounding, the malleable public mind has been rendered into mush, brow-beaten into accepting the premise for the invasion and occupation of Iraq as, somehow, in fact, being based on a legitimate war. It is not a war and never has been. If you proceed from a false assumption, you will end up with a false argument. In this case, any reference to the term ‘Surge’ is a misnomer, and by default, an attempted extension to justify an already illicit deed. Therefore, any argument for, or against any kind of SURGE as working, or not, is simply a vain, elaborate attempt to mask and justify the mass slaughter and displacement of millions of people the current misconception has already left in its wake. This can not be dismissed, or condoned by a simple play on words. The architects should not be allowed, so easily, to wash from their hands the spilt innocent blood and wryly walk away!
Iraq never attacked the U.S., nor did it ever pose a threat. It was already occupied; cornered and bludgeoned by an already ongoing occupation initiated by Bush I. Bush II simply utilized the chaos that issued forth from the psychodrama of 9/11, as a means to escalate its belligerence against the Iraqi people to satisfy neocon agenda, seize the oil fields and restore U.S. Dollar supremacy. The U.S. Congress never declared war against Iraq, it simply signed off, giving Bush abusive powers to escalate existing aggressions of occupation; technically it has been nothing more than a congressionally sanctioned police action from the very beginning.
Now that the neocon warmongers wish to play a shell game with a ‘redeployment’ of troops from one illicit invasion: Iraq; transferring the focal point of its aggression by escalating those actions into the, long forgotten, initial invasion of Afghanistan, perhaps it would benefit all if we were to revisit the timeline encompassing the events of: Cheney/Enron – Taliban – Afghanistan – leading up to 9/11.
The Enron scandal runs so deep into the Bush/Cheney regime that evidence shows Enron may have been a major factor in Bush/Cheney complicity in 9/11 as pretext for the present "global war on terror" a war for the control of Central Asian oil, gas reserves and pipelines implicating the Bush/Cheney neocon regime in both the Enron scandal and 9/11, as Enron also had its interests in the Afghanistan/Central Asia energy grab.
From 2001 to 2003, Dick Cheney continued to openly break the law by defying GAO requests to turn over his records of meetings with Enron. The General Accounting Office decided not to challenge a judge's decision to dismiss the watchdog agency's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
The decision by GAO ended a nearly two-year battle with the White House over documents detailing meetings Cheney held with the National Energy Policy Development Group in 2001. The meetings resulted in the president's national energy policy and many of the officials there came from Enron Corp., the Houston-based energy company that filed for bankruptcy in December 2001 amid accusations of hidden debt, inflated profits and improper accounting methods.
There are indications that Enron and the White House were working closely with the Taliban -- including Osama bin Laden -- up to weeks before the Sept. 11 attack. Why was the bin Laden family, swiftly whisked out of the country, immediately following the events of 9/11?
The Bush Oil Team, and their neocon drivers can momentarily rely on the support of the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, may think that war and oil profits mix, but there is simply too much evidence that the War in Afghanistan was primarily about building UNOCAL's pipeline, not about fighting terrorism.
How does McCain fit into the Enron ball game? Following Enron’s collapse in December of 2001, it was McCain’s financial guru, Phil Graam, the evil genius of world high-way robbery, whose UBS interests scavenged the remnants of Enron’s energy and oil interests throughout the Middle East. In other words, the chameleon UBS is the new Enron. (The following material will allow you to see the Enron scandal and its ties to Bush-Cheney in a whole new light: Center for Research on Globalization.)
Since the Democrats continue buckling under the weight of their own invertebrate skeletal structure when it comes to defending the Constitution, perhaps the public would best be served, by enlisting the services of those members of courage, who still have eyes, ears and a backbone; to investigate Cheney’s Enron agenda prior to 9/11 and the secretive deals between Big Oil, Bush, and the Taliban in the early months of 2001. If the spineless majority continues to lay prostrate in the face of such questions, perhaps we should raise the specter of their own criminal malfeasance.
What ever the opinions may be regarding the sanitized version for its causes, much weight outside of the anointed pronouncements, suggest that 9/11 may very well have been a rouge GLADIO-CIA styled false-flag operation utilized to ignite the necessary psychodrama that has permeated, and swept the public mind into accepting the all consuming ‘global war on terror’, a bloody cover for imperial madness…money and power!
Think Oliver North type covert ops run by then VP (CIA) Bush-I, in sleepy Reagan’s basement, but this time, Cheney’s basement, along with all of the same Iran/Contra neocon planners. A pliable Bush II, still a complicit traitor, has simply been the epitome of Marx’s ‘useful idiot’ for the neocon agenda, to plunge the world into a clash of civilizations and force into existence a fascist order.
GLADIO - false-flag operations are quite frightening as they are, in fact, quite real! Many will ask, "Well, what happened to the passengers seen boarding the aircraft?" These folks are psyops specialists, mind-benders, who study deception and distraction. My response is, "how did the famous magician, David Copperfield, manage to make the statue of liberty disappear before a, massive, live audience?"Interestingly, numerous NORAD, and its eastern counterpart, NEADS gamers, were performing live, what if, hijacking scenarios at that very same precise moment; to add a fog of confusion, the actual event was piggybacked into these live games. Suspicion has it that the 'aircraft' may have been outfitted with a DARPA designed electronics mechanism 'Global Hawk', which had the capacity for disabling and over-riding onboard pilot control of the craft and placing it into the hands of a remote crew. (Webster Tarpley - 9/11 Synthetic Terror-Made in USA) “Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the state.” - James Jesus Angelton - Director of CIA Counter Intelligence (1954-74)“The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.” - William Colby - Director of the CIA (1973-76)
The corporate media, along with its PR firms, have done a masterful job in turning upside down the intended original meaning for the idiom ‘conspiracy’. With the association of negative thought patterns, evoked by images bound to such statements as: fringe, lunatic, left-wing, conspiracy-nut, etc, the public mind has been convincingly conjured into suspecting that it is the truth seeker that is fact the conspirator instead. The negative coloring of the word ‘conspiracy’ has effectively become a psychological repellant to any serious prying; as something beyond the pale of ordinary, rational thought; unworthy of consideration; a subliminal mental stop sign, impugning the rational mind that only lunatics and fringe elements dwell therein! Very effective indeed!
The fact of the matter is that history is replete with conspiracies. The American Revolution was a conspiracy against the King of England, a premiere example.
Con – meaning against; Spire – from the Latin, to breath -- giving us the result: to breathe against; from this, have evolved terms such as: con-job, con-artist, or confidence man, all of which are individual conspirators. The only difference being that, a conspiracy involves a 'group' of individual confidence men, or con-artists – think big, think Federal Reserve and Wall Street, both involve 'consumer confidence'. The con builds its subject’s confidence, for the purpose of bilking the supplicant out of something that it has; something of value and which the con desires to take by slight of hand. In 1913, when the money powers centralized their control, consecrated in the creature of the Federal Reserve, the popular press from that bygone era criticized it as a, “den of vipers and thieves”, in other words, a sanctuary of con-artists.
If you tell a little lie, you’ll get caught, but if you tell a BIG lie, and tell it often enough it and teach it as the truth, eventually it will be perceived and accepted by all as the truth. (In other words, the larger and more magnificent the con, the more difficult it is to see through it, especially if it is sanctioned and cloaked in the respectable shroud of one’s own government.)
I’d be willing to venture a ten-fold return on your every dollar, that there are currently, and have been from the very beginning, numerous false-flag fires set off all over the Middle East landscape. To this bloody thought process, the ends justify what ever means are at its disposal.
If these things are not openly vetted, the House can only remain under the dark cloud it has gathered itself under, while innocent blood continues to spill and scream from the ground to haunt the ears of the living.
I say, reopen the investigations into Enron/Cheney (currently, morphed into the UBS of McCain/Gramm/Cheney) because this might very well be the thread to pull that will unravel the cloak, which was 9/11.
In 43 BCE, Cicero spoke these words to the Senate: A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is well known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.
Referenced Material-----
Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Bush Oil Team
ENRON Entanglements to UNOCAL Taliban to Texas and Controlling Afghanistan
UBS Is Enron
GLADIO-Death Plan for Democracy
The Flight of the Global Hawk
9/11 Synthetic Terror-Made in the USA
The Annotico Report (former president of Italy, Francesco Cossiga, reveals 9/11 as rouge GLADIO-CIA op)
McCain Whisperer, Brother Lieberman, attends Hagee conference: a McCain surrogate; a man McCain renounced. In attempt to incite and inflame the faitful flock, Brother Joseph, on a mission, spared no effort in spewing malicious villainy against Israel’s neighbor, Iran.
Leiberman Hagee - Real News (Video Clip)
Holy Warriors in the U.S. Armed Forces - Real News (Video Clip)
U.S. Military's Crusade Against the Middle East
Barack! Please take the matches away from all of these mad people!
Are we to be caught, like the proverbial frog, leisurely swimming in a pot of luke-warm water, which temperature is incrementally increased in a manner so as not to alarm the comfortably bathing frog to the point it is inclined to jump from the pot? Eventually the heat becomes sufficiently great to where the sinew of the frog’s muscular structure has become overwhelmed by the heat, incapacitating the frog from saving itself as it boils to death.
First the Patriot Act
Then FISA
Bush’s Executive Order Criminalizing Dissent--
Everything is now in place. All that is required for the neocon regime to implement and turn loose the treachery provided in above documents is a flash of panic.
For the necessary flash of panic, false-flag operations may already be underway in Iran:Two members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have been killed during clashes with rebels in Iran's East Azerbaijan Province.
US President George W. Bush signed a secret finding in March authorizing a covert offensive against Iran. Actions permitted under the secret directive include arming and funding terrorist groups such as the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) and the Jundullah (army of god) in an effort to destabilize the Iranian government...
Full Story Here
“Of course the people do not want war. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it is a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism” Herman Goering-Nazi Leader-Nuremberg Trial
What the hell are the, so called, majority Democrats doing – In Our Name!?
The White House is no longer so white, for it has gathered over itself a persistent dark cloud which the assembly insists on nurturing. They have made of itself the focus as a laughing stock for the entire universe.
Was Enron Behind the War in Afghanistan?
Now that the neocon warmongers wish to play a shell game by moving troops from one illicit invasion: Iraq, into another: Afghanistan, perhaps it would benefit all if we were to revisit the timeline encompassing the events of: Cheney/Enron – Afghanistan – 9/11.
There are indications that Enron and the White House were working closely with the Taliban -- including Osama bin Laden -- up to weeks before the Sept. 11 attack. Why were all of the bin Laden family memebers swiftly whisked out of the country, immediately following the events of 9/11?
The Bush Oil Team, and their neocon drivers can momentarily rely on the support of the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, may think that war and oil profits mix, but there is simply too much evidence that the War in Afghanistan was primarily about building UNOCAL's pipeline, not about fighting terrorism. The Democrats, who control the Senate and its investigation agenda, should investigate the secretive deals between Big Oil, Bush, and the Taliban.
Reading this material will allow you to see the Enron scandal and its ties to Bush-Cheney in a whole new light: Center for Research on Globalization.
9/11 may very well have been a rouge GLADIO-CIA styled false-flag operation utilized to ignite the necessary psychodrama that has permeated, and swept the public mind into accepting the all consuming 'global war on terror', a bloody cover for imperial madness…money and power!
Think Oliver North type covert ops run by then VP CIA Bush-I, in sleepy Reagan’s basement, but this time, Cheney’s basement, along with all of the same Iran/Contra neocon planners. Bush-II, although pliable traitor, still complicit, has simply been the epitome of Marx’s ‘useful idiot’ for this neocon agenda, to plunge the world into a clash of civilizations and force into existence a fascist order.
I say, reopen the investigations into Enron/Cheney, because this might very well be the thread to pull that will unravel the cloak, which was 9/11.
Dear Barack, WAKE UP - Stand Tall and stay alert! If not, these very same shadows will ride you to 'THEIR' finish line and the rest of us into the abyss!
There are means by which to circumvent ‘rational’ minds. If you compress a quartz crystal, it will generate electricity. This principle is well known and utilized to jump a spark across electrodes within a disposable, BIC, lighter for the purpose of igniting a gas.
These ‘sanctions’ are nothing more than villainous aggression, political blackmail, pressure points disguised and masquerading in the euphemism of sanctions.
What do the magicians hope to provoke in the frightened rabbit, cowering in the corner; perhaps a miscalculated abrupt move that is capable of being easily exploited? Once the fire of chaos is unleashed, madness prevails and everything goes.
***
Resolution calls for EMBARGO against Iran.
Gareth Porter says that US House Res. 362 SUGGESTS USE OF FORCE with new bill.
Please watch the Real News video clip on this.
The possibility that House Resolution 362 could lead to a blockade has led antiwar activists to label it the "IRAN WAR RESOLUTION" even though it clearly states in the final "whereas" clause, "nothing in this resolution shall be construed as an authorization of the use of force against Iran.
The language of the House and Senate resolutions tries to suggest that it doesn't involve the use of force. Well, you know, it does involve the use of force, just as the blockade at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis involved the use of force. And it is in effect a declaration of war against any country that tries to export goods to Iran, and particularly, of course, petroleum goods to Iran.The rapid endorsement of this resolution has been credited to the pro-Israel lobby, specifically the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which sent thousands of its members to Capitol Hill to lobby for the resolution in early June. Porter believes that Congress was responding more to the Israel lobby than to any new intelligence on Iran or events on the ground.
Barack should be on the lookout and mindful that his message of Peace, through 'Wisdom and Understanding', is not hijacked and run onto the rocks by those who worship the god of war; who seek nothing but mischief.
Things are heating up!
Evading a subpoena, Carl Rove flips Congress and the Judiciary the bird and flees the country.
For the second time this year, Karl Rove is ignoring a subpoena from Congress to testify under oath. ANP tracks down Rove to get his side of the story of why he won't show up in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Where is Carl Rove?
Kucinich issues impeachment articles while Nancy swoons.
Real News video clip displays Veterans For Peace in a dramatic confrontation with Chairman Conyers over his indecision on impeachment. What are Conyers and the rest of the government apparatus so afraid of? Are they all held hostage in their own chambers, by some invisible force? How is it that treason, with the slaughter and displacement of millions, become less offensive than an alleged blow-job? This assembly has become the laughing stock of the universe!
While Israel/U.S. get itchy trigger fingers with Iran in the cross-hairs.
Perhaps someone should put Bush and his thuggish neocon oligarchs under house arrest before they can do more damage than what has already been done.
Clear and present danger?
Considering that Microsoft software and applications are used on most personal and professional desktops in American, I am now beginning to become somewhat concerned over the personal security and freedom issues involving such a dominant corporate position within our general culture.
My reasons are simple:
There is no doubt that Microsoft embeds "hidden" codes in documents and other products produced with Microsoft software. Formally known as GUIDs (Globally Unique IDentifiers), these codes can allow the federal government, corporations or individuals to track documents, computer programs and other information back to a single computer and possibly to a single individual who used the computer on a specific date and time. Unless you store and transmit your information in clear, human-readable, plain-text, it is possible that your document, text file, audio file, video file or program contains personally identifying "metadata."
Microsoft: agent of the government?
Considering that Microsoft is subject to no-announce administrative summons such as those promoted by the Patriot Act and other legislation, it is theoretically possible for Microsoft to serve as an agent of the government to electronically surveil the American public without any further enabling legislation or violating the governments restrictions on compiling and maintaining massive databases for uses other than national defense.
The Microsoft way...
Allowing Microsoft to own and operate a large search engine under the most liberal interpretation of Microsoft's standard EULA (End User Licensing Agreement) and privacy agreements where "Microsoft can do anything it wants and is not responsible for the consequences of its actions" is unacceptable.....
Full Story:
Microsoft grows larger, stronger and more unaccountable...?
How can we possibly know weather or not one of Microsoft's, so called, 'security updates' is not intended as a NSA FISA worm geared to enhance the snooping capabilities of the thought police, whose desire will evolve to ferret out any disent, for what ever reason the oligarch cabal deems necessary?
Perhaps it is time we all moved to the Free, open source browser 'FireFox'. I use both, but now with the new and improved FISA tools, I am considering disabling the Microsoft browser completely.
by Alan Nasser
The Demands of HR 362
HR 362, sponsored by Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, calls for the president to enact more draconian economic sanctions against Iran. These include an embargo against any imports of refined petroleum. (While Iran is of course a major exporter of oil, it imports at least 40% of its refined petroleum.) The wording of the Resolution is chilling in the extreme: “Congress… demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by… prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products......
The “stringent inspection requirements” listed would require a naval blockade, thereby constituting an act of war. And this is how the resolution would be perceived by virtually all Iranians........
Congressional Democrats, the IAEA and Factual Falsehoods in HR 362
There is more support now than there was a year ago in Congress, especially among the Democrats, for military action against Iran. Thus HR 362’s co-sponsors include 96 House Democrats and 111 House Republicans. These are the same Democrats whom Americans voted into Congress, in November 2006, as majorities in both houses, based on what voters believed to be the Democrats’ opposition to war in the Middle East.
To add insult to injury, HR 362 justifies its content with demonstrably false accusations about Iran’s nuclear program. The Resolution charges that Iran’s importing and manufacturing of centrifuges are “covert” and “illicit.” But under both the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory, and Iran’s agreements with the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), these activities are entirely permitted. The IAEA has publicly stated its support of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which it states is in full accord with all treaty requirements to which Iran is subject.
Late last October IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei remarked to CNN: “Have we seen Iran having the nuclear material that can be readily used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponization program? No. … I very much have concern building confrontation, because that would lead to a disaster. I see no military solution. The only durable solution is through negotiations and inspections. My fear is that if we continue to escalate from both sides that we would end up on a precipice, we would end up in an abyss.” ElBaradei’s most recent statements repeatedly echo these October remarks.
The Role of AIPAC
That HR 362 has been so warmly received on Capitol Hill is a sad testimony to Congress’s willing dependence on external interests which cannot be assumed to be identical to those of most Americans. The Resolution is known to have been initially drafted by the American-Israeli lobby AIPAC. In early June AIPAC sent more than a thousand lobbyists to Congress to whip up support for this Resolution.
Congress’s well known subordination to AIPAC’s agenda should not be construed as a democratic response to the wishes of the American Jewish community. Polls show that more than 80% of Jewish-Americans oppose an attack on Iran. Congress’s compliance to AIPAC’s interests amounts to obeisance to a foreign State, not to any domestic constituency.......
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/08/10204/
By the way, as of Dec. 2007, Iran began trading oil in Euros, which is why empiricist Bush is getting an itchy trigger finger.
Again! Where is the bloody, freaken, mainstream media on this con-job Bush is silently pulling off on the Iraqi & American people? Where the hell are the, so called majority, Democrats, especially Barack? There is more than just FISA that is stewing away in this cauldron of usurped power!
Please see the following links:
Sorry Barack, You've Lost Iraq by 'Executive Edict'
"Status of Forces Agreement" A Bush Blackmail
*****
Published on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 by Agence France Presse
Iraq Nears Agreement With US On Military Pact
by Salam Faraj
Iraq said on Wednesday it was on the verge of agreeing a controversial pact with the United States that will govern US troop levels and ground rules in the nation beyond 2008 when the UN mandate expires.
There's still a complete media blackout on this folks! Deadline is July 31, 2008!
Status of Forces Agreement will Decide Whether Iraq is Independent or "a Client State of the US"
Patrick Cockburn: There's been an explosive reaction, because this is a deeply divisive demand by the U.S. There will be some Iraqis who will be willing to accept it, mainly maybe the Kurds. There will be others in the government who will do it. But there will be many other Iraqis, almost certainly a majority, who will see this agreement as showing that the Iraqi government is a puppet of the U.S. It will delegitimize it. It will lay the basis for a further deepening of the war in Iraq...
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/88256/
Bush Doesn't Need Congress For Iraq Security Pact (Status of Forces Agreement)
If President Bush wants to play constitutional hardball, then, he's within historical practice to commit the United States to the long-term security of Iraq without a word of discussion with Congress. (More toys for the war boys)
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/004792.php
Sorry Barack, You've Lost Iraq:
The upshot is that the next president, Democrat or Republican, is likely to be handed a fait accompli that could well render moot his or her own elaborate withdrawal plans, especially the ones being considered by the two leading Democratic contenders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama, undeterred by the reported success of Bush's surge, is pushing ahead with his plans for a brigade-a-month withdrawals that would remove the U.S. military presence entirely.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/91651
And then, we have the Disney Land of MSM tinker-bell pundits who continue to sprinkle pixie-dust on this very deceptive act in hopes that the public will sleep through the issue until it becomes law; another metaphoric 'signing statement', circumvention of any public discourse.
So, what are the FISA flip-floppers going to do about this one?!
The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.by Symour M. Hersh
(The following are synoptic highlights of Hersh story. See link below for full account.)
Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious leadership....
The scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former Preparing the Battlefield officials....
The funding for the escalation was approved. In other words, some members of the Democratic leadership-Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections-were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party's presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy....
The Democratic leadership's agreement to commit hundreds of millions of dollars for more secret operations in Iran was remarkable....
There is a growing realization among some legislators that the Bush Administration, in recent years, has conflated what is an intelligence operation and what is a military one in order to avoid fully informing Congress about what it is doing....
"This is a big deal," the person familiar with the Finding said. "The C.I.A. needed the Finding to do its traditional stuff, but the Finding does not apply to JSOC. The President signed an Executive Order after September 11th giving the Pentagon license to do things that it had never been able to do before without notifying Congress....
"The agency says we're not going to get in the position of helping to kill people without a Finding," the former senior intelligence official told me. He was referring to the legal threat confronting some agency operatives for their involvement in the rendition and alleged torture of suspects in the war on terror. "This drove the military people up the wall," he said....
In recent months, according to the Iranian media, there has been a surge in violence in Iran; it is impossible at this early stage, however, to credit JSOC or C.I.A. activities, or to assess their impact on the Iranian leadership....
"The Special Ops guys are pissed off because Cheney's office set up priorities for categories of targets, and now he's getting impatient and applying pressure for results. But it takes a long time to get the right guys in place."....
There is another complication: American Presidential politics. Barack Obama has said that, if elected, he would begin talks with Iran with no "self-defeating" preconditions (although only after diplomatic groundwork had been laid). That position has been vigorously criticized by John McCain. The Washington Post recently quoted Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's national-security director, as stating that McCain supports the White House's position, and that the program be suspended before talks begin. What Obama is proposing, Scheunemann said, "is unilateral cowboy summitry."
Scheunemann, who is known as a neoconservative, is also the McCain campaign's most important channel of communication with the White House. He is a friend of David Addington, Dick Cheney's chief of staff....
Full Story:http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/29/9962/
So, what is Mussolini Bush's secret government doing in 'our good names'? I propose that the target of FISA be reversed and the spotlight shown onto the usurped power and its secret criminal activities, illuminating those sanctimonious halls where, currently, nothing but darkness prevails. It's time the public, the wire-tappee, tapped the wire-tapper!
Peace, Best Wishes and Hopehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU
Monday 23 June 2008
by: Maya Schenwar and Matt Renner, t r u t h o u t | Report
President Bush in Germany on June 11 emphasized that "all options are on the table" when discussing taking actions against Iran if it is found to be researching or developing nuclear weapons. Expected to arrive on the House floor this week is a non-binding resolution that leaves the door open for a military blockade of Iran.(Photo: Johannes Eisele / Reuters)
A non-binding resolution to demand that President Bush impose "stringent inspection requirements" on trade with Iran - language that leaves the door open for a military blockade - will likely come to the House floor this week, according to sources close to Congressional leadership. The legislation, H.Con.Res.362, which is paralleled by a similar Senate bill, has gained bipartisan support rapidly, with more co-sponsors signing on by the day. Once it hits the floor, it's bound to "pass like a hot knife through butter," a staffer in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office told Chelsea Mozen of the nonprofit Just Foreign Policy.
Trita Parsi, co-founder and president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), concurred, saying passage may happen as early as Tuesday.
"This bill will likely be put on the floor under suspension - meaning that it will pass without even a vote," Parsi told Truthout.
Bills placed under rules of suspension are usually uncontroversial. However, this one is an ominous exception, according to Parsi.
"It sets the stage for a very dangerous escalation," he said.
Moreover, the resolution would unquestionably send a hostile message to Iran, according to Chorin.
"The Iranians would certainly view this as an act of war.........
http://www.truthout.org/article/congressional-resolution-demands-bush-act-iran
**Not only are there unmitigated surveillance excesses offered up to the state, within the scope of FISA, disguised and sold to the public in the candy wrapper of 'security', the usurped power is now slowly tightening the screws on the Iranian's with additional political blackmail, in the guise of extreme 'sanctions'. As though the slaughter of the Iraqi nation wasn't already enough blood spilled to quench the oil vampire's voracious thirst!
Let's not forget the 'Status of Forces Agreement', the emperor's 'executive edict', desiged to subjugate the entire Middle East, by a continued military occupation of the region. Perhaps they will be free, once the oil stops flowing from the ground, then they will leave.
Where are the, so called, democrats? Except for the same few names, the rest sit on their hands, playing political chess games, posturing for position, fiddling while Rome burns. They are all guilty for the innocent blood they have spilled, that is screaming from the ground.
