The Anthrax Attacks Attempted Cover-up -
Monday round-up - 14 articles - [ Day 4 ] ===
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Journalists,
their lying sources, and the anthrax investigation
Special Note - A
quote...."
The
Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum argued yesterday
that despite the need for journalists to use confidential sources, "the
profession -- and the rest of us -- [are] better off if sources know
that they run the risk of being unmasked if their mendacity is
egregious enough to become newsworthy in its own right." Drum added:
"I'd say that part of [Ross'] re-reporting ought to include
a full
explanation of exactly who was peddling the bentonite lie in the first
place, and why they were doing it."
Nonetheless, Drum said: "In practice, most journalists refuse to
identify their sources under any circumstances at all, even when it's
clear that those sources deliberately lied to them." --
Also posted at ICH
Was
the US public misled about the anthrax attacks?
Special Note - A
quote...."ABC News' behaviour surrounding one of its biggest "scoops"
is already an object lesson of what's wrong with American journalism.
The news organisation has proved unwilling - so far, at any rate - to
come clean about how it was manipulated in the 2001 (and later)
investigation into the anthrax attacks in the US following September
11. - The network's hyperventilating broadcasts of leaked, false
allegations purportedly tying the anthrax to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi
regime (see Glenn Greenwald's meticulous examination of the coverage)
was bad enough. What the organisation is doing now is journalistically
unforgivable."
Three
Questions For ABC News About Its Anthrax Reporting
A quote...."No need for a big preamble. Dan Gillmor and I are posting
these questions simultaneously. (Here's his case for them.) We think
ABC News should answer them. They arise from two columns by Salon's
Glenn Greenwald, who has been tracking this story for some time."
ABC
News Is Selling the Governments Anthrax Story Once Again
A quote...."ABC News is at it again, folks. Someone email Glenn
Greenwald, he’ll love this. -- On the front page of ABC News’ website,
you will find a storyabout Dr. Bruce Ivins but don’t expect it to be an
example of journalistic integrity. At all. -- All it is, is ABC News’
attempt to help the feds put this
anthrax story
to bed before the end of the Bush/Cheney regime. Kinda like they did
back in 2001 when they
helped
sell the
Bush/Cheney
plan
for war with Iraq by reporting the false claim that the anthrax used in
the Sept. 2001 attacks contained an additive that proved Saddam was
behind it; all based on “4 high ranking sources” that turned out not
only to be wrong, but to have
completely
invented that story altogether. "
Twists
and Turns in the Anthrax Case
A quote...."There is a very coordinated push to leak details about the
late Bruce Ivins to certify that he is the "lone nut" anthrax killer,
details which don't entirely hold up upon scrutiny. There's definitely
a desire on the part of the government to make this an open and shut
case seven years after the fact, but it doesn't completely hold
together. In fact, the media reports are almost all contradictory."
The
Anthrax Attack Was a Classic False Flag Operation Targeting Arabs
A quote...."Whether or not Bruce Ivins had a role in the anthrax
attacks, trying to now blame him alone for the attacks is ignoring the
elephant in the room: the anthrax attack was a classic false flag
attack blamed on Arabs."
Ivins
is the Third Scientist the FBI has Tried to Pin the Anthrax Attacks On
A quote...."Ivins is the
third
scientist who the government has accused of being the Anthrax killer. -
First the
Egyptian
scientist, Dr. Ayaad Assaad, was framed. - When that frame-up fell
apart, they tried to frame Stephen Hatfill. - Now,
a
couple of weeks after
the frame-up against Hatfill unraveled, they are claiming that
Ivins is the guy."
Questions
about the Anthrax Suspect and His Interactions with Mental Health
Professionals
A quote...."Why was a newly certified group addiction counselor who
herself has a history of battery, drugs, DUIs and bankruptcies fully
briefed on one of the most sensitive criminal investigations in
history?"
Anthrax
And The Iraq War - [and Colin Powell]
A quote...."If you haven't already, be sure to read Glenn Greenwald's
posts about ABC and the anthrax-by-mail case
here,
here
and
here.
As Greenwald details, the behavior in this of ABC and the government
has been
even more horrifying than normal, which is saying a
lot. -- Greenwald argues the anthrax case had a large impact on the
willingness of Americans to invade Iraq. I think he's correct, but
there's some important evidence he doesn't cite. In particular, we
should remember that Colin Powell used the anthrax case in his
UN
presentation, carefully giving the impression that Iraq may have
been responsible without explicitly saying so:"
Anthrax
Mystery: Questions Raised over Whether Government Is Framing Dead Army
Scientist for 2001 Attacks
Audio/Video Interview
- A quote...."The FBI’s prime suspect in the October 2001 anthrax
letters
case died last week in an apparent suicide. Bruce Ivins was an elite
government scientist at the biodefense research lab in Fort Detrick,
Maryland. He was among the nation’s top experts on the military use of
anthrax. But many of his colleagues have expressed deep skepticism over
the FBI’s claims.
We speak to anthrax
expert Dr. Meryl Nass and blogger Glenn Greenwald. [includes
rush transcript]" -- ||
Real Video Stream ||
Real Audio Stream ||
MP3 Download ||
More…
|| - bold by website editor.
Anthrax
Evidence Called Mostly Circumstantial
A quote...."The evidence amassed by F.B.I. investigators against Dr.
Bruce E. Ivins, the Army scientist who killed himself last week after
learning that he was likely to be charged in the anthrax letter attacks
of 2001, was largely circumstantial, and a grand jury in Washington was
planning to hear several more weeks of testimony before issuing an
indictment, a person who has been briefed on the investigation said on
Sunday."
Remember
Collin Powell telling the UN about Anthrax in Feb 2003?
A quote...."Now "they" knew that the Anthrax that was used in America
in 2001 was from Ft. Detrick, MD and yet Powell stood up and talked
about Saddam's mobile bio-weapons factories in 2003 to the U.N.?"
McCain,
Anthrax & the Afghan Blunder - Posted at
ConsortiumNews
A quote...."The scene of John McCain – during the anthrax attacks in
October 2001 – opining to David Letterman that Iraq might be
responsible underscores McCain’s central role in what may go down as
one of the biggest strategic blunders in U.S. military history, the
premature pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq."
Pressure
Grows for F.B.I. to Show Anthrax Evidence
A quote...."WASHINGTON — After four years of painstaking scientific
research, the F.B.I. by 2005 had traced the anthrax in the poisoned
letters of 2001 to a single flask of the bacteria at the Army
biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., according to government
scientists and bureau officials."
End - The Anthrax Attacks Attempted Cover-up - Monday round-up - 14 articles -
[ Day 4 ] ==========
Book
says White House ordered forgery
Special Note - A
quote...."A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White
House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from
the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein. - Suskind writes in
“The Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged
forgery – adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray
a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification
for the Iraq war. - The author also claims that the Bush administration
had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official “that there were
no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in
plenty of time to stop an invasion.”
Hersh:
Cheney Office Considered Manufacturing Provocation to Start War with
Iran
A quote...."One thing
Hersh, Think Progress and others have not mentioned is that the
original incident was itself almost certainly a GOP provocation, since
unarmed speedboats do not actually pose a danger to US destroyers, and
funny business went on with artificial matching of videotape to an
audio transmission in English of undetermined origin. When I gave the
Iranian video and audio at my site at the time, wingnuts attacked me
for allowing the other side to get a hearing. One of the techniques of
the Right is to make sure only one voice can be heard, their own, and
all other voices are condemned and marginalized as traitorous. It is so
much easier to march people to war when there is only one public
narrative available about its rights and wrongs."
Was
it recently revealed that the U.S. found uranium in Iraq after the
invasion in 2003?
A quote...."....I wonder if the claim "the U.S. found massive amounts
of yellowcake" can be substantiated and, maybe as a followup, if true,
I wonder why the major media seems to have ignored this. -- No. Uranium
recently shipped from Iraq to Canada was left over from Saddam
Hussein's defunct nuclear weapons program and had been in sealed
containers, under guard, since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991.
Claims that this material is "vindication" for President Bush's WMD
claims in 2003 are completely false."
Obama
Joins the [Big] Club
A quote...."....Obama has promised some degree of withdrawal from Iraq
and a level of communication with Iran. But even these promises are
ambiguous and can be easily modified to fit political interests and
lobby pressures at any time. Any military redeployment in Iraq would,
now we are told, be matched with greater military build up in
Afghanistan, a sign that the militant mentality that motivated the war
hawks in the Bush administration is yet to change; the valuable lesson
that bombs don't bring peace, yet to be heeded."
Also posted at PC
--
For more on this issue see....You
Have No Choice - You Have Owners - (YouTube - 3 min 17 sec -
Added: October 23, 2007) -
George
Carlin, contains harsh langauge.
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Follow
This Dime - Why Misgovernment Was No Accident in George W. Bush's
Washington
A quote...."Washington is the city where the scandals happen. Every
American knows this, but we also believe, if only vaguely, that the
really monumental scandals are a thing of the past, that the golden age
of misgovernment-for-profit ended with the cavalry charge and the
robber barons, at about the same time presidents stopped wearing
beards. -- I moved to Washington in 2003, just in time for the
comeback, for the hundred-year flood. At first it was only a trickle in
the basement, a little stream released accidentally by the president's
friends at Enron. Before long, though, the levees were failing all over
town, and the city was inundated with a muddy torrent of graft." --
Also posted at CommonDreams
Disaster
Capitalism: State of Extortion
A quote...."It's been ten months since the publication of my book The
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, in which I argue that
today's preferred method of reshaping the world in the interest of
multinational corporations is to systematically exploit the state of
fear and disorientation that accompanies moments of great shock and
crisis. With the globe being rocked by multiple shocks, this seems like
a good time to see how and where the strategy is being applied."
Regarding the two articles
shown above, see this quote....
“My book is now being criticized
for drawing too many connections….but of course (pause) my friend
Shamus Mill who is the op-ed editor at the Guardian….he calls it the
“cock-up theory of history". I didn’t realize there was a cock-up
theory of history. But the theory is that everything happens just
because of some big “cock-up” Some big mess-up, it’s a series of
mistakes…..and if you actually say that there are motives and interests
behind it [i.e.
follow the money] you are a conspiracy theorist.” -- *Naomi Klein*, speech given
September 27, 2007 at Town Hall Seattle. -- posted 07-10-08
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Scott
Horton Interviews Larry Velvel
Audio Interview - A
quote...."Larry Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law and
sponsor of the upcoming Justice Robert Jackson Conference On The
Planning For Prosecution Of High Level American War Criminals,
featuring Francis Boyle, Vincent Bugliosi, Philippe Sands and others,
discusses the many crimes of the Bush administration, the history of
unaccountability of our leaders, the legal gymnastics perpetrated by
the Bush regime lawyers, the immunity clauses of the Military
Commission Act and how they might effect potential foreign prosecutions
of American war criminals." -- ||
MP3 here.
(34:20) ||
Scott
Horton Interviews Warren Richey
Audio Interview - A
quote...."Warren Richey, crime reporter for the Christian Science
Monitor, discusses the first Guantanamo military commission “trial” of
Bin Laden’s driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the extremely low bar the
government is trying to set as precedent by trying such a low level bin
Laden associate first, Hamdan’s doom to stay detained as an enemy
combatant for the rest of his life whether convicted or aquitted of war
crimes, the possibility that the Boumedine case could be used as
precedent for those “convicted” at Guantanamo to appeal to civilian
federal courts, the ability of the federal courts to handle terrorism
cases as they did in the 1990s and some remaining open questions." --
||
MP3
here. (38:22) ||
FBI concedes
Aafia Siddiqui in US custody: lawyer
A quote...."WASHINGTON, Aug 3: Five years after her mysterious
disappearance in Karachi, the FBI has finally conceded that an
MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist is alive and is in US custody in
Afghanistan. -- Aafia Siddiqui, 36, disappeared with her three children
while visiting her parents’ home in Karachi in March 2003, around the
same time the FBI announced that it wanted to question her over her
alleged links to Al Qaeda."
Why
Is Habeas Corpus Such A Threat To Those In Power?
A quote...."Why is the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold habeas corpus
rights for the Guantanamo detainees so scary that Senator Lindsey
Graham, with the support of McCain, will “explore the possibility, if
necessary, of a constitutional amendment to blunt the effect of this
decision”? -- What is so fundamentally wrong with the Supreme Court’s
decision, whose members are conservative or Bush appointees, to warrant
amending our constitution? Have Senators Graham and McCain lost their
minds?" --
Neo-Romans at play with
our constitutional rights. - mpg
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Seoul
Probes Civilian `Massacres’ by US
A quote...."SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean investigators, matching
once-secret documents to eyewitness accounts, are concluding that the
U.S. military indiscriminately killed large groups of refugees and
other civilians early in the Korean War." -
The more things change....the
more they
stay the same. - mpg
In Korea's
`crying' cave, 100s died in US attack
Related Article - A quote...."Truth commission finds US attack killed
hundreds of refugees in Korea's `crying' cave The war refugees,
frigid, laden with baggage, trudged down a mountain road on a winter's
day in 1951, toward the safety of U.S. Army lines. But they were turned
back at gunpoint, to return home to a fiery doom."
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Preparing
for War Through Negotiations?
A quote...."August 5, 2008 -- The latest series of test missiles
launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the northern part of the
Persian Gulf and the eastern Hormuz Strait has fueled new concerns over
a military conflict in the region. Despite apparent diplomatic progress
between Tehran and six world powers in recent weeks, the report of
missile tests has added a renewed sense of uneasiness over the fate of
negotiations about Iran's controversial nuclear program. A specter of
conflict now haunts the region, with the Iranian, Israeli, and American
militaries making serious preparations for a possible military
conflict."
Iran
tests 'new weapon' for use at sea
A quote...."TEHRAN, Iran—Iran announced Monday that it has tested a new
weapon capable of sinking ships nearly 200 miles away, and reiterated
threats to close a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf
if attacked."
Lebanese
Cabinet allows Hizbullah to keep its weapons
Full quote...."The Lebanese Cabinet approved on Monday a bill approving
Hizbullah's right to use any means necessary in order to regain
territories conquered by Israel. -- Three days ago Lebanese
political factions reached a compromise on Hizbullah's empowerment by
releasing a vaguely worded draft statement that implies the militant
group can keep its weapons. (AP)"
Chavez
warns U.S. after getting Russian warplanes
A quote...."MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - President Hugo Chavez said
Venezuela had taken delivery of 24 Russian Sukhoi fighter jets, and
warned the U.S. Fourth Fleet that his country is ready to defend
itself." --
Also posted at InfoWars
Regarding the four articles
shown above see....The
Iran Game - All Over Again - 05-27-08 - mpg
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Robert
Fisk: Syrian leader gets top billing in Middle East by doing nothing
A quote...."President Bashar al-Assad is once more one of the "triple
pillars" of the Middle East. We may not like that. George Bush may
curse the day his invasion of Iraq helped to shore up the power of the
Caliph of Damascus. But Mr Assad's latest trip to Tehran – just three
weeks after he helped to toast the overthrow of the King of France
beside President Nicolas Sarkozy – seals his place in history. Without
a shot being fired, Mr Assad has ensured anyone who wants anything in
the Middle East has got to talk to Syria. He's done nothing – and he's
won." -- Also posted at
CommonDreams
& ICH
& TruthDig
Pakistani
spy unit sustains militants
A quote...."“There is a cold war between India and Pakistan. They say
hands off Kashmir, we say hands off Afghanistan,” said Shujaat Ali
Khan, a retired general who headed the internal wing of the ISI. - The
ISI, Pakistan’s largest and most powerful intelligence agency, is a
branch of the army and its main aims are to “contain” India and to
ensure that Afghanistan does not fall into the hands of a hostile
power."
WTO
talks: A tsunami averted - Posted at
OnLineJournal
A quote...."The tyrants of international food trade will surely launch
a renewed assault to arm-twist, coerce and lure developing countries
into submission. US President George Bush will certainly have an uphill
task before he quits. Three phone calls to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh in a matter of three days failed to get India to sign on the
dotted line. He must be disillusioned. Perhaps he is angry. How can the
two emerging economies -- India and China -- refuse to accept the trade
terms of US hegemony? Is the developing world waking up to a new dawn
of economic and political independence? -- I am not sure whether the
developing countries have emerged from the shadows of the colonial
past. But what is clearly evident is that at least some countries are
picking up the courage and standing up to the two bullies -- the United
States and European Union."
Hollow
Time Olmert's Exit
A quote...."HE IS a total politician, and nothing else. Not a
statesman. Not a leader. Not a man with a vision. Only a political
technician. Intelligent. A very smooth speaker. I friend among friends.
A politician for whom power is the aim, not a means to achieve an aim. "
RPT-UPDATE
1-Pentagon closes controversial intelligence unit
A quote...."The Defense Department said it had "disestablished" the
Counterintelligence Field Activity office, or CIFA, created in February
2002 by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to manage defense and
armed service efforts against intelligence threats from foreign powers
and groups such as al Qaeda." --
They
just changed it's name. - mpg
Murdoch
to invest $100 million in India TV
A quote...."Rupert Murdoch's Star Group Ltd. will invest $100 million
to launch six new regional television channels in India, Murdoch
announced Monday. -- Speaking at a press conference in India's
financial capital, Mumbai, Murdoch said the group would roll out the
expansion over the next year."
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General
Motors and the Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Wall Street
A quote...."As punctuated by General Motors’ second quarter (6/30/08)
loss of $15.5 billion, General Motors is a company in financial
distress. In its attempt to survive the current economic milieu,
management has been looking to throw excess weight overboard to keep
the company afloat. GM is trying to ditch its declining Hummer brand,
and it has been rumored that Pontiac and Buick may be fire-sale
material. [1] The company has been offering massive rebates
on its trucks, along with 72-month, 0% financing in an attempt to
unload its weighty inventory. In spite of this, along with sagging car
sales, [2] a tightening credit market, junk-rated bonds, a
doomed balance sheet, massive production cuts, [3]
substantial layoffs, zooming gas prices, and eroding cash flow, Merrill
Lynch analyst John Murphy had maintained a “buy” on GM with a target of
$28 per share."
The
Hyperinflation Threat
Audio Interview - A
quote...."Lew Rockwell interviews Jörg Guido Hülsmann"
Inflationary
horror movie
A quote...."Martin Hutchinson reminds us that "It was established
pretty convincingly by Milton Friedman and proved beyond all doubt in
the inflationary episodes of the 1970s and 1980s that if you want to
bring inflation under control you must set interest rates at a margin
above the current inflation level." (See Volcker's best
apprentice, Asia Times Online, July 30, 2008.) "
Higher
inflation trumps tax rebates
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Real consumer spending fell in
June for the first time since February as the windfall of cash from
Washington was eaten up by the worst inflation in 27 years, the
Commerce Department reported Monday." --
Check out the comments. - mpg
Inflation
Takes Steam Out of Rise in Spending
A quote...."Consumers spent more in June, but only because the things
they bought cost more. -- Driven primarily by energy and food prices,
inflation grew 0.8 percent over May, the biggest monthly increase since
September 2005, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Monday.
Spending, by comparison, grew just 0.6 percent in June."
Budget
gaps triple for '09
A quote...."The drumbeat of bad fiscal news from statehouses is
intensifying. States collectively faced deficits of $40.3 billion in
writing their current budgets — triple the $13 billion shortfall states
weathered the previous year, a new report released July 23 shows." --
It's just the start. - mpg
A
second, far larger wave of U.S. mortgage defaults is building
A quote04/08/08 -- - NEW YORK: The first wave of Americans to
default on their home mortgages appears to be cresting, but a second,
far larger one is building with alarming speed." --
Also posted at BLN
Is the
U.S. Banking System Safe?
A quote...."There are many stories of people who are still living in
houses, twelve months after making their last mortgage payment. Their
banks have not started foreclosure proceedings. Is this due to
incompetence by the banks, or is this a way to avoid writing off the
loss? The FASB has joined the cover-up gang by delaying the
implementation of new rules that would have made banks stop hiding
toxic waste off-balance sheet. The new rule would have made banks put
these questionable assets on their balance sheet and would have
required a bigger capital cushion. What a surprise that bank
regulators, the Treasury and Federal Reserve urged a delay in
implementation. How very Enron like."
US
junk-bond defaults may quadruple
A quote...."Defaults on American corporate junk bonds could more than
quadruple in the next year as the declining economy in the United
States severely restricts companies' ability to repay their debts, the
Standard & Poor's ratings agency has said. -- The rate of default
on America's risky junk, or high-yield, corporate bonds jumped from a
25-year low of 0.97 per cent in December to 1.92 per cent at the end of
June. -- However, S&P said that it expected the figure to rise to
4.9 per cent by mid- 2009 and conceded that defaults could rise as high
as 8.5 per cent. --
By contrast,
there have been no defaults on European corporate bonds in the past
year, according to S&P's new report." -- bold by
website editor. --
Goes to show, Neo-Roman Empires
can be sooooooooooo expensive. - mpg
WCI
files for bankruptcy and names interim CEO
A quote...."BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Troubled residential builder WCI
Communities Inc. on Monday filed for bankruptcy, becoming the latest
casualty of Florida's brutal condo and housing pullback. The company
(WCI: Communities, Last: 0.02-1.24-98.41% 4:07pm 08/04/2008 WCI 0.02,
-1.24, -98.4%) said it and about 130 subsidiaries have filed for
Chapter 11 to restructure debt and capital. Billionaire investor Carl
Icahn, the company's chairman, said WCI had tried to avoid a bankruptcy
filing, but it became necessary "because of the recent failed effort to
obtain financing and the recognition that the company's entire $1.8
billion of debt may soon be in default."
1. The first set of letters were
sent from Trenton, New Jersey
2. At least 1 letter was dated 9/11/2001
3. The envelopes, the first batch, were post-marked 9/18/2001