9/29/09
Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner has begun consideration of NYC CAN’s motion to reject Referee’s Louis Crespo’s recommendation that the NYC CAN 9/11 petition not be submitted to the voters on November 3. The petition would ask whether or not there should be an independent New York City investigation into 9/11.
Responding to a motion brought by NYC CAN attorney Dennis McMahon, a hearing was held Tuesday September 29 at the New York State Supreme Court, and concluded with the understanding that the Court will likely render a decision on the petition’s legality by Friday, October 2.
The City’s previously assumed deadline of September 30—spurred by the printing deadline for military absentee ballots—was brushed away by Judge Lehner as he suggested the printing of absentee ballots would likely not be ordered on Wednesday, September 30, since runoff elections were being held while the Court was in session. Even if the ballots were ordered on Wednesday, Lehner indicated, this should not prevent the referendum from being put before the vast majority of the electorate who would be voting in New York City.
Judge Lehner’s postponement of the supposed deadline came after McMahon had requested that the Judge carefully consider both sides’ arguments, rather than render a rush decision and fail to adequately contemplate NYC CAN’s legal arguments, as the Referee had done.
Initially there was a question as to whether oral arguments would go forward as a clerical mishap resulted in the Judge not being presented with the papers on time. As a result of the snafu, the procedure for the Court to hear arguments was inverted, whereby oral arguments were heard first and served to orient the Judge.
Over the next few days the Judge will go through both sides’ legal memos, as well as the applicable statutes and case law.
Surprisingly, the file forwarded from the Referee to the Judge did not contain NYC CAN’s legal memo, which McMahon told the Court seemed apropos, since the referee had barely considered the Petitioners’ memorandum of law.
The Judge proceeded to invite discourse on why an investigation was needed. When McMahon raised as an example the 9/11 Commission’s omission of the collapse of Building 7 from its final report, the Judge replied in puzzlement, “Building what?”
When asked by the Judge whether or not there has been an investigation into 9/11 by New York City authorities, Steve Kitzinger, the City’s lawyer, replied, “It’s irrelevant”, to which the packed courtroom was loudly disdainful, some openly laughing in disbelief. At which point Mr. Kitzinger prevailed upon Judge Lehner to quiet the crowd, which the Judge did.
With order restored, the Judge again asked Kitzinger if the City had done anything to investigate 9/11. Kitzinger flatly responded, “No.”
“The City never did anything?” retorted the Judge in disbelief. Nothing, Kitzinger admitted.
As part of his unrelenting attack on the NYC CAN petition, Kitzinger repeatedly alluded to the proposed commission’s intention to investigate national security matters beyond its jurisdiction such as “intelligence failures”. A simple reading of the petition shows such assertions to be completely unfounded.
Later, Judge Lehner seemed unimpressed by Kitzinger’s argument pertaining to the limited jurisdiction of New York City to investigate 9/11, on the grounds of inherent limits to a municipality’s subpoena power. “You can investigate anything, can’t you?” the Judge asked rhetorically. “Because somebody may have jurisdiction over certain witnesses doesn’t mean you can’t have a commission.”
On the complicated question of the commission being a privately funded entity but still having subpoena power granted under the auspices of New York City government, the Judge made comments that gave the Petitioners hope for a favorable ruling. “You want a law that says this private commission shall have the right to subpoena people?” To which McMahon assented. Offering similar examples, the Judge noted, “A private lawyer can issue subpoenas… a lawyer issues [subpoenas] in connection with an action [during] litigation in court.”
After the hearing, the consensus among NYC CAN members and supporters in attendance was that Judge Lehner is intrigued by the proposed referendum, and that he will give both sides’ arguments due consideration.
Near the end of the hearing, McMahon stated emphatically, “The citizens are desperate. We want to find out what really happened on 9/11.”
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Rescue Me’ star Daniel Sunjata joins 9/11 protest march
Rescue Me’ star Daniel Sunjata joins 9/11 protest march
http://rawstory.com/2009/09/rescue-...-protest-march/
By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, September 28th, 2009 -- 2:45 pm
A lead actor from the popular FX television show “Rescue Me” joined a large group of 9/11 activists and survivors on Sunday in a march from New York City’s Battery Park to city hall.
During an afternoon rally in the park, Daniel Sunjata, who plays the role of Franco Rivera in the firefighter drama featuring actor Dennis Leary, took the stage with an impassioned call for a new investigation.
The march was held to support the NYC CAN coalition, which is currently engaged in a court battle with city hall over the legality of their ballot measure calling for a new 9/11 investigation.
The group has gathered over 80,000 signatures from New Yorkers in support of its ballot initiative, and even won a recent legal skirmish over a challenge to the validity if its petition’s signatures. The city’s challenge to the initiative’s legality continues, however, with a court referee recently advising the judge to find for the city.
An NYC CAN media advisory, which refers to the 9/11 Commission Report as a “disgrace,” notes that the group’s lawyers were to file a motion for reconsideration on Monday, Sept. 28.
Story continues below...
“We have received, for our efforts, a slap in the face and a kick in the mouth,” said Sunjata, speaking at the NYC CAN rally on Sunday. “Although 80,000 New Yorkers have voice their desire, in writing, to include on November’s mayoral ballot the referendum for a new and actual investigation into 9/11, New York City has responded by taking the position that it has no jurisdiction in that matter.”
“No jurisdiction?!” he shouted. “No jurisdiction into the murder of 3,000 of its own citizens? No jurisdiction or the intent of seeking such jurisdiction. Bloomberg.”
A ruling on the city’s motion for summary judgment on the initiative’s legality was expected today, although the group’s new motion would appear to delay that for at least a little longer.
“A favorable ruling would likely be appealed by the City pushing the issue to the Appellate Court,” an NYC CAN advisory predicted. “If the Petition overcomes all legal challenges, goes to November ballot and the referendum passes, it would lead to the creation of a local, independent commission with subpoena power that would be tasked with comprehensively reinvestigating the attacks.”
“While the specter of 9/11 is raised repeatedly, ghoulishly, dangled before us to justify the dismemberment of our Constitution, the trampling of our civil liberties,” said Sunjata. “Questioning 9/11 itself? Oh, that is strictly prohibited. Do you hear that, New York? Do you hear that, family members? Cops? Firefighters? First responders? Your government has just told you, again, again, that you are good enough to die for them, but that asking questions about the inciting event is un-American, unpatriotic and just quite simply out of bounds.”
Sunjata’s support for a fresh investigation into the attacks are well known to regular “Rescue Me” viewers. Earlier this year, a “Rescue Me” subplot even incorporated his belief that the attacks were an “inside job.”
Other speakers at Sunday’s rally included “9/11 family members Bob McIlvaine and Manny Badillo, New York University’s Professor of Media Studies [and] Mark Crispin Miller,” noted NYC CAN.
A request for comment from New York City Hall’s legal department had gone unanswered at time of publication.
A majority of the presentation, which includes Sunjata’s speech (from 18:38 to 23:57), is available here.
This video is from YouTube, broadcast Sept. 27, 2009.
http://rawstory.com/2009/09/rescue-...-protest-march/
By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, September 28th, 2009 -- 2:45 pm
A lead actor from the popular FX television show “Rescue Me” joined a large group of 9/11 activists and survivors on Sunday in a march from New York City’s Battery Park to city hall.
During an afternoon rally in the park, Daniel Sunjata, who plays the role of Franco Rivera in the firefighter drama featuring actor Dennis Leary, took the stage with an impassioned call for a new investigation.
The march was held to support the NYC CAN coalition, which is currently engaged in a court battle with city hall over the legality of their ballot measure calling for a new 9/11 investigation.
The group has gathered over 80,000 signatures from New Yorkers in support of its ballot initiative, and even won a recent legal skirmish over a challenge to the validity if its petition’s signatures. The city’s challenge to the initiative’s legality continues, however, with a court referee recently advising the judge to find for the city.
An NYC CAN media advisory, which refers to the 9/11 Commission Report as a “disgrace,” notes that the group’s lawyers were to file a motion for reconsideration on Monday, Sept. 28.
Story continues below...
“We have received, for our efforts, a slap in the face and a kick in the mouth,” said Sunjata, speaking at the NYC CAN rally on Sunday. “Although 80,000 New Yorkers have voice their desire, in writing, to include on November’s mayoral ballot the referendum for a new and actual investigation into 9/11, New York City has responded by taking the position that it has no jurisdiction in that matter.”
“No jurisdiction?!” he shouted. “No jurisdiction into the murder of 3,000 of its own citizens? No jurisdiction or the intent of seeking such jurisdiction. Bloomberg.”
A ruling on the city’s motion for summary judgment on the initiative’s legality was expected today, although the group’s new motion would appear to delay that for at least a little longer.
“A favorable ruling would likely be appealed by the City pushing the issue to the Appellate Court,” an NYC CAN advisory predicted. “If the Petition overcomes all legal challenges, goes to November ballot and the referendum passes, it would lead to the creation of a local, independent commission with subpoena power that would be tasked with comprehensively reinvestigating the attacks.”
“While the specter of 9/11 is raised repeatedly, ghoulishly, dangled before us to justify the dismemberment of our Constitution, the trampling of our civil liberties,” said Sunjata. “Questioning 9/11 itself? Oh, that is strictly prohibited. Do you hear that, New York? Do you hear that, family members? Cops? Firefighters? First responders? Your government has just told you, again, again, that you are good enough to die for them, but that asking questions about the inciting event is un-American, unpatriotic and just quite simply out of bounds.”
Sunjata’s support for a fresh investigation into the attacks are well known to regular “Rescue Me” viewers. Earlier this year, a “Rescue Me” subplot even incorporated his belief that the attacks were an “inside job.”
Other speakers at Sunday’s rally included “9/11 family members Bob McIlvaine and Manny Badillo, New York University’s Professor of Media Studies [and] Mark Crispin Miller,” noted NYC CAN.
A request for comment from New York City Hall’s legal department had gone unanswered at time of publication.
A majority of the presentation, which includes Sunjata’s speech (from 18:38 to 23:57), is available here.
This video is from YouTube, broadcast Sept. 27, 2009.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Elizabeth Kaplan Interviews Jon Gold
Elizabeth Kaplan Interviews Jon Gold
Audio
Click Here
Elizabeth Kaplan and I met on Facebook. She asked me to be a guest on her show, Subterranean Homesick News, so I was. Thank you Elizabeth for giving me the time.
Audio
Click Here
Elizabeth Kaplan and I met on Facebook. She asked me to be a guest on her show, Subterranean Homesick News, so I was. Thank you Elizabeth for giving me the time.
Obama will bypass Congress to detain suspects indefinitely
Obama will bypass Congress to detain suspects indefinitely
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/ob...s-indefinitely/
By John Byrne
9/24/2009
President Barack Obama has quietly decided to bypass Congress and allow the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects without charges.
The move, which was controversial when the idea was first floated in The Washington Post in May, has sparked serious concern among civil liberties advocates. Such a decision allows the president to unilaterally hold "combatants" without habeas corpus -- a legal term literally meaning "you shall have the body" -- which forces prosecutors to charge a suspect with a crime to justify the suspect's detention.
Obama's decision was buried on page A 23 of The New York Times' New York edition on Thursday. It didn't appear on that page in the national edition. (Meanwhile, the front page was graced with the story, "Richest Russian's Newest Toy: An N.B.A. Team.")
Rather than seek approval from Congress to hold some 50 Guantanamo detainees indefinitely, the administration has decided that it has the authority to hold the prisoners under broad-ranging legislation passed in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. Former President George W. Bush frequently invoked this legislation as the justification for controversial legal actions -- including the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.
"The administration will continue to hold the detainees without bringing them to trial based on the power it says it has under the Congressional resolution passed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, authorizing the president to use force against forces of Al Qaeda and the Taliban," the Times' Peter Baker writes. "In concluding that it does not need specific permission from Congress to hold detainees without charges, the Obama administration is adopting one of the arguments advanced by the Bush administration in years of debates about detention policies."
Constitutional scholar and Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald discussed the policy in a column in May. He warned that the ability for a president to "preventively" detain suspects could mushroom into broader, potentially abusive activity.
"It does not merely allow the U.S. Government to imprison people alleged to have committed Terrorist acts yet who are unable to be convicted in a civilian court proceeding," Greenwald wrote. "That class is merely a subset, perhaps a small subset, of who the Government can detain. Far more significant, 'preventive detention' allows indefinite imprisonment not based on proven crimes or past violations of law, but of those deemed generally 'dangerous' by the Government for various reasons (such as, as Obama put it yesterday, they 'expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden' or 'otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans'). That's what 'preventive' means: imprisoning people because the Government claims they are likely to engage in violent acts in the future because they are alleged to be 'combatants.'"
"Once known, the details of the proposal could -- and likely will -- make this even more extreme by extending the 'preventive detention' power beyond a handful of Guantanamo detainees to anyone, anywhere in the world, alleged to be a 'combatant,'" Greenwald continues. "After all, once you accept the rationale on which this proposal is based -- namely, that the U.S. Government must, in order to keep us safe, preventively detain "dangerous" people even when they can't prove they violated any laws -- there's no coherent reason whatsoever to limit that power to people already at Guantanamo, as opposed to indefinitely imprisoning with no trials all allegedly 'dangerous' combatants, whether located in Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Western countries and even the U.S."
The Obama Administration appears to have embraced "preventive detention" in part because of problems with how Guantanamo prisoners' cases -- and incarceration -- were handled under President Bush. Military prosecutors have said that numerous cases could not be brought successfully in civilian courts because evidence was obtained in ways that wouldn't be admissible on US soil. The Bush Administration originally sought to try numerous detainees in military tribunals, but the Supreme Court ruled that at least some have the rights to challenge their detention in US courts.
Baker notes that Obama's decision to hold suspects without charges doesn't propose as broad an executive authority claimed by President Bush.
"Obama’s advisers are not embracing the more disputed Bush contention that the president has inherent power under the Constitution to detain terrorism suspects indefinitely regardless of Congress," Baker writes.
In a statement to Baker, the Justice Department said, “The administration would rely on authority already provided by Congress [and] is not currently seeking additional authorization.”
“The position conveyed by the Justice Department in the meeting last week broke no new ground and was entirely consistent with information previously provided by the Justice Department to the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the statement added.
Roughly 50 detainees of the more than 200 still held at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are thought to be affected by the decision.
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/ob...s-indefinitely/
By John Byrne
9/24/2009
President Barack Obama has quietly decided to bypass Congress and allow the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects without charges.
The move, which was controversial when the idea was first floated in The Washington Post in May, has sparked serious concern among civil liberties advocates. Such a decision allows the president to unilaterally hold "combatants" without habeas corpus -- a legal term literally meaning "you shall have the body" -- which forces prosecutors to charge a suspect with a crime to justify the suspect's detention.
Obama's decision was buried on page A 23 of The New York Times' New York edition on Thursday. It didn't appear on that page in the national edition. (Meanwhile, the front page was graced with the story, "Richest Russian's Newest Toy: An N.B.A. Team.")
Rather than seek approval from Congress to hold some 50 Guantanamo detainees indefinitely, the administration has decided that it has the authority to hold the prisoners under broad-ranging legislation passed in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. Former President George W. Bush frequently invoked this legislation as the justification for controversial legal actions -- including the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.
"The administration will continue to hold the detainees without bringing them to trial based on the power it says it has under the Congressional resolution passed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, authorizing the president to use force against forces of Al Qaeda and the Taliban," the Times' Peter Baker writes. "In concluding that it does not need specific permission from Congress to hold detainees without charges, the Obama administration is adopting one of the arguments advanced by the Bush administration in years of debates about detention policies."
Constitutional scholar and Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald discussed the policy in a column in May. He warned that the ability for a president to "preventively" detain suspects could mushroom into broader, potentially abusive activity.
"It does not merely allow the U.S. Government to imprison people alleged to have committed Terrorist acts yet who are unable to be convicted in a civilian court proceeding," Greenwald wrote. "That class is merely a subset, perhaps a small subset, of who the Government can detain. Far more significant, 'preventive detention' allows indefinite imprisonment not based on proven crimes or past violations of law, but of those deemed generally 'dangerous' by the Government for various reasons (such as, as Obama put it yesterday, they 'expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden' or 'otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans'). That's what 'preventive' means: imprisoning people because the Government claims they are likely to engage in violent acts in the future because they are alleged to be 'combatants.'"
"Once known, the details of the proposal could -- and likely will -- make this even more extreme by extending the 'preventive detention' power beyond a handful of Guantanamo detainees to anyone, anywhere in the world, alleged to be a 'combatant,'" Greenwald continues. "After all, once you accept the rationale on which this proposal is based -- namely, that the U.S. Government must, in order to keep us safe, preventively detain "dangerous" people even when they can't prove they violated any laws -- there's no coherent reason whatsoever to limit that power to people already at Guantanamo, as opposed to indefinitely imprisoning with no trials all allegedly 'dangerous' combatants, whether located in Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Western countries and even the U.S."
The Obama Administration appears to have embraced "preventive detention" in part because of problems with how Guantanamo prisoners' cases -- and incarceration -- were handled under President Bush. Military prosecutors have said that numerous cases could not be brought successfully in civilian courts because evidence was obtained in ways that wouldn't be admissible on US soil. The Bush Administration originally sought to try numerous detainees in military tribunals, but the Supreme Court ruled that at least some have the rights to challenge their detention in US courts.
Baker notes that Obama's decision to hold suspects without charges doesn't propose as broad an executive authority claimed by President Bush.
"Obama’s advisers are not embracing the more disputed Bush contention that the president has inherent power under the Constitution to detain terrorism suspects indefinitely regardless of Congress," Baker writes.
In a statement to Baker, the Justice Department said, “The administration would rely on authority already provided by Congress [and] is not currently seeking additional authorization.”
“The position conveyed by the Justice Department in the meeting last week broke no new ground and was entirely consistent with information previously provided by the Justice Department to the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the statement added.
Roughly 50 detainees of the more than 200 still held at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are thought to be affected by the decision.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
"Explosive" Sibel Edmonds Cover Story At "The American Conservative"
'Explosive' Sibel Edmonds Cover Story at 'The American Conservative'
4,000 word exclusive interview with 'the gagged FBI whistleblower on espionage, al-Qaeda, and secrets for sale'...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7421
9/18/2009
Broke the news on air tonight. 4,000 word cover story on FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds in The American Conservative to hit stands and web tomorrow, by former CIA agent Phil Giraldi.
We'll pick this up tomorrow after I get a look at it. You East Coasters will likely beat me to it. But here's the teaser from TAC...:
There’s a new issue of The American Conservative going to press today, and it includes a story that will make more than a few congressmen and foreign lobbyists intensely uncomfortable: an in-depth interview between Phil Giraldi and FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. She tells us exactly how Turkish intelligence have penetrated national secrets, suborned government officials, and blackmailed Congress. It’s going to be explosive.
Good. Rightwingers are covering it. So hopefully that means the "liberal media" will now pay attention!
UPDATE 9/18/09 1:15pm PT: Sibel posted the cover over at her site, and I've added it above. She also notes that the story is currently online available online to subscribers only until Monday when they'll release "a major press release" along with the print version out the same day. The story should then be available to all online on Tuesday.
The cover title: "Whose Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?: The gagged FBI whistleblower on espionage, al-Qaeda, and secrets for sale"
In an email she just sent me just now, she notes: "We've been getting foreign MSM inquiries; tons. Zilch here; so far..."
Not much of a surprise by now. After all, what U.S. media would possibly care about members of the U.S. Congress and high-ranking State and Defense Dept. officials taking bribes, being blackmailed, and enabling the theft and sale of U.S. nuclear secrets? Even if the allegations came under sworn and video-taped deposition by a former FBI translator who overheard such things first hand. Non-story, apparently.
4,000 word exclusive interview with 'the gagged FBI whistleblower on espionage, al-Qaeda, and secrets for sale'...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7421
9/18/2009
Broke the news on air tonight. 4,000 word cover story on FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds in The American Conservative to hit stands and web tomorrow, by former CIA agent Phil Giraldi.
We'll pick this up tomorrow after I get a look at it. You East Coasters will likely beat me to it. But here's the teaser from TAC...:
There’s a new issue of The American Conservative going to press today, and it includes a story that will make more than a few congressmen and foreign lobbyists intensely uncomfortable: an in-depth interview between Phil Giraldi and FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. She tells us exactly how Turkish intelligence have penetrated national secrets, suborned government officials, and blackmailed Congress. It’s going to be explosive.
Good. Rightwingers are covering it. So hopefully that means the "liberal media" will now pay attention!
UPDATE 9/18/09 1:15pm PT: Sibel posted the cover over at her site, and I've added it above. She also notes that the story is currently online available online to subscribers only until Monday when they'll release "a major press release" along with the print version out the same day. The story should then be available to all online on Tuesday.
The cover title: "Whose Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?: The gagged FBI whistleblower on espionage, al-Qaeda, and secrets for sale"
In an email she just sent me just now, she notes: "We've been getting foreign MSM inquiries; tons. Zilch here; so far..."
Not much of a surprise by now. After all, what U.S. media would possibly care about members of the U.S. Congress and high-ranking State and Defense Dept. officials taking bribes, being blackmailed, and enabling the theft and sale of U.S. nuclear secrets? Even if the allegations came under sworn and video-taped deposition by a former FBI translator who overheard such things first hand. Non-story, apparently.
Al Jazeera exposes Iraq's booming, 'endemic' drug trade
Al Jazeera exposes Iraq's booming, 'endemic' drug trade
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/al...mic-drug-trade/
9/19/2009
A little-noticed report by Arab news network Al Jazeera on Friday shined a light on an often overlooked aspect of occupied Iraq: Its blossoming drug trade, fueled by Afghanistan and Iran, the profits from which have begun to spill over from the drug cartels to the militias.
In an interview with Dr. Abdul Rahman Hamid, of Almuthanna province, the veterinarian claimed that drug smugglers have been cutting open camels' humps to stow their illicit cache. "It is criminal, what they are doing to these animals," he said.
Discussing the report, Al Jazeera's host framed a strikingly broad question: "Today, drug use and trafficking has become endemic in Iraq, threatening the very fabric of society. Has the Iraqi government lost the war on drugs?"
Mustafa Alani, program director of security and terrorism studies at the Gulf Research Center, quoted Iraqi government figures from 2007 which suggested the country had just 14,000 drug users. He further suggested that under the "previous regime," Iraq was "clean from the drug" and had a "zero rate of drug using and drug trafficking."
According to the International Organization for Migration, Iraq has just under 28 million residents. The likelihood that merely 14,000 used a drug in 2007 is, to say politely, minuscule.
Despite the imaginary numbers, Alani held out hope that "we still have some chance to save the country."
Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of political science with the University of Tehran, rebutted both Alani and the show's host and defended Iran against allegations that officials have looked the other way and allowed traffickers to inundate Iraq.
Zibakalam cited numerous police-state dictatorships, such as North Korea, the Soviet Union and Saddam's Iraq, saying of course "ruthless" regimes had no drug problems.
Alani interrupted: "This is an achievement."
"When you have democracy, you are bound to have drug problem, because it is one of the most fundamental problems posed by liberalism," Zibakalam replied.
The host appeared incredulous and suggested the professor had claimed democracy makes an endemic drug trade "okay."
"I am not saying that if you have a democracy, you must have drug problem," Zibakalam said. "All I am saying is, democracy begins with this fundamental, principle question: Is the individual free to do what he or she likes? Or is the individual must do what the state tell him?"
Again, the host was incredulous, and simply dashed his guest's argument as being in defense of drug abuse and trafficking.
The entire segment is like a brief glimpse into Iraq's own right-wing media, where some facts are specific but the broader picture skewed, and host is not afraid to shout down a guest he may disagree with.
But more than that: The whole exchange between the three men -- where one is damned for advocating freedom and another is allowed to call a tyrannical regime an "achievement" -- just seems so very ... American.
-- Stephen C. Webster
This video was broadcast by Al Jazeera on Sept. 18, 2009.
Video At Source
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/al...mic-drug-trade/
9/19/2009
A little-noticed report by Arab news network Al Jazeera on Friday shined a light on an often overlooked aspect of occupied Iraq: Its blossoming drug trade, fueled by Afghanistan and Iran, the profits from which have begun to spill over from the drug cartels to the militias.
In an interview with Dr. Abdul Rahman Hamid, of Almuthanna province, the veterinarian claimed that drug smugglers have been cutting open camels' humps to stow their illicit cache. "It is criminal, what they are doing to these animals," he said.
Discussing the report, Al Jazeera's host framed a strikingly broad question: "Today, drug use and trafficking has become endemic in Iraq, threatening the very fabric of society. Has the Iraqi government lost the war on drugs?"
Mustafa Alani, program director of security and terrorism studies at the Gulf Research Center, quoted Iraqi government figures from 2007 which suggested the country had just 14,000 drug users. He further suggested that under the "previous regime," Iraq was "clean from the drug" and had a "zero rate of drug using and drug trafficking."
According to the International Organization for Migration, Iraq has just under 28 million residents. The likelihood that merely 14,000 used a drug in 2007 is, to say politely, minuscule.
Despite the imaginary numbers, Alani held out hope that "we still have some chance to save the country."
Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of political science with the University of Tehran, rebutted both Alani and the show's host and defended Iran against allegations that officials have looked the other way and allowed traffickers to inundate Iraq.
Zibakalam cited numerous police-state dictatorships, such as North Korea, the Soviet Union and Saddam's Iraq, saying of course "ruthless" regimes had no drug problems.
Alani interrupted: "This is an achievement."
"When you have democracy, you are bound to have drug problem, because it is one of the most fundamental problems posed by liberalism," Zibakalam replied.
The host appeared incredulous and suggested the professor had claimed democracy makes an endemic drug trade "okay."
"I am not saying that if you have a democracy, you must have drug problem," Zibakalam said. "All I am saying is, democracy begins with this fundamental, principle question: Is the individual free to do what he or she likes? Or is the individual must do what the state tell him?"
Again, the host was incredulous, and simply dashed his guest's argument as being in defense of drug abuse and trafficking.
The entire segment is like a brief glimpse into Iraq's own right-wing media, where some facts are specific but the broader picture skewed, and host is not afraid to shout down a guest he may disagree with.
But more than that: The whole exchange between the three men -- where one is damned for advocating freedom and another is allowed to call a tyrannical regime an "achievement" -- just seems so very ... American.
-- Stephen C. Webster
This video was broadcast by Al Jazeera on Sept. 18, 2009.
Video At Source
Friday, September 18, 2009
Dueling marches pit Iran hardliners vs. reformers
By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran – Tens of thousands of protesters — many decked out in the green colors of the reform movement and chanting "Death to the dictator!" — rallied Friday in defiance of Iran's Islamic leadership, clashing with police and confronting state-run anti-Israel rallies.
In the first major opposition protests in two months, demonstrators marching shoulder-to-shoulder raised their hands in V-for-victory signs on main boulevards and squares throughout the capital.
Lines of police, security forces and plainclothes Basij militiamen kept the two sides apart in most cases. At times they waded into the protesters with baton charges and tear gas volleys. The demonstrators responded by throwing stones and bricks, and setting tires ablaze.
Hard-liners attacked two senior opposition leaders who joined the protests. Former pro-reform President Mohamad Khatami was shoved and jostled, gripping his black turban to keep it from being knocked off as supporters rushed in to protect him, pushing away the attackers and hustling him away.
The protests were a significant show of defiance after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei explicitly banned anti-government marches on Quds Day, an annual memorial created by Iran's Islamic Republic to show support for the Palestinians and denounce Israel. Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.
It was also a show of survival. The opposition has been hit hard by a fierce crackdown in which hundreds have been arrested since disputed June 12 presidential elections sparked Iran's worst political turmoil in decades. Friday's protests could escalate the confrontation — hard-line clerics have demanded the arrest of any opposition leaders who defy Khamenei's order and back protests on Quds Day.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who the opposition contends won re-election by fraud, delivered a nationally televised address, railing against Israel and the West.
Speaking before a crowd of supporters at Tehran University, he questioned whether the Holocaust was a "real event" and called it a pretext for the creation of Israel. He said the Jewish state was founded on "a lie and a mythical claim."
Outside the university, while the speech blared on loudspeakers, opposition protesters shouted "liar, liar!"
U.S. officials denounced the Iranian leader's comments on the Holocaust, which Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called "hateful." She said President Barack Obama would not meet with Ahmadinejad during next week's gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
In protests around Tehran and other Iranian cities, demonstrators chanted "Not Gaza, not Lebanon — our life is for Iran" in a challenge of the government's priority of supporting Palestinian militants in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas instead of focusing on problems at home.
The Quds Day rallies, which attracted several hundred thousand people, far outnumbered the tens of thousands who turned out for the opposition — a reflection of the government's freedom to rally supporters.
Opposition supporters wearing green T-shirts and wristbands poured onto main boulevards and squares in the capital, waving green banners and balloons, and pictures of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to be the rightful winner of the election. "Death to the dictator!" they shouted.
Just hundreds of yards away, crowds of Ahmadinejad supporters marched carrying huge photographs of the president and supreme leader Khamenei. Some chanted, "Death to those who oppose the supreme leader!"
A group of hard-liners attacked Khatami nearby, surging toward him as his supporters shoved them away and surrounded the cleric, witnesses said.
Elsewhere, government supporters also tried to attack the main opposition leader, Mousavi, when he joined another march. As supporters scuffled with the attackers, Mousavi was rushed into a car and driven away, a witness said.
All the witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation.
The government imposed restrictions on journalists, allowing them to cover the Quds Day rallies but not opposition protests. As often happens during opposition demonstrations, Internet access and phone service was frequently cut, apparently in a state attempt to sever protesters' communications.
In one of Tehran's main squares, Haft-e Tir, security forces wielding batons and firing tear gas tried to break up an opposition march, and were confronted by protesters throwing stones and bricks, witnesses said. Several policemen were seen being taken away with slight injuries.
Protesters set bonfires during another clash in the city, and young men and women wrapped green scarves over their faces against the clouds of tear gas.
At least 10 protesters were seized by plainclothes security agents in marches around the city, witnesses said.
The pro-government Quds Day rallies were held around the country, and the opposition staged competing rallies in several cities. In Shiraz to the south, police rushed protesters with batons, scuffling with them, witnesses said. Footage put out by the opposition showed hundreds of protesters fleeing a police charge in the northern city of Rasht.
Hundreds of thousands marched in support of Mousavi in the weeks after the June election, until police, Basij militiamen and the elite Revolutionary Guard crushed the protests, arresting hundreds. The opposition says 72 people were killed in the crackdown, though the government puts the number at 36. The last significant protest was on July 17.
The Quds Day occasion was established in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic Republic. Customarily on Quds Day, Iranians gather for pro-Palestinian rallies in various parts of Tehran, marching through the streets and later converging for the prayer ceremony.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad hailed the commemoration as a "day of unity" for Iranians and denounced criticism of the election.
TEHRAN, Iran – Tens of thousands of protesters — many decked out in the green colors of the reform movement and chanting "Death to the dictator!" — rallied Friday in defiance of Iran's Islamic leadership, clashing with police and confronting state-run anti-Israel rallies.
In the first major opposition protests in two months, demonstrators marching shoulder-to-shoulder raised their hands in V-for-victory signs on main boulevards and squares throughout the capital.
Lines of police, security forces and plainclothes Basij militiamen kept the two sides apart in most cases. At times they waded into the protesters with baton charges and tear gas volleys. The demonstrators responded by throwing stones and bricks, and setting tires ablaze.
Hard-liners attacked two senior opposition leaders who joined the protests. Former pro-reform President Mohamad Khatami was shoved and jostled, gripping his black turban to keep it from being knocked off as supporters rushed in to protect him, pushing away the attackers and hustling him away.
The protests were a significant show of defiance after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei explicitly banned anti-government marches on Quds Day, an annual memorial created by Iran's Islamic Republic to show support for the Palestinians and denounce Israel. Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.
It was also a show of survival. The opposition has been hit hard by a fierce crackdown in which hundreds have been arrested since disputed June 12 presidential elections sparked Iran's worst political turmoil in decades. Friday's protests could escalate the confrontation — hard-line clerics have demanded the arrest of any opposition leaders who defy Khamenei's order and back protests on Quds Day.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who the opposition contends won re-election by fraud, delivered a nationally televised address, railing against Israel and the West.
Speaking before a crowd of supporters at Tehran University, he questioned whether the Holocaust was a "real event" and called it a pretext for the creation of Israel. He said the Jewish state was founded on "a lie and a mythical claim."
Outside the university, while the speech blared on loudspeakers, opposition protesters shouted "liar, liar!"
U.S. officials denounced the Iranian leader's comments on the Holocaust, which Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called "hateful." She said President Barack Obama would not meet with Ahmadinejad during next week's gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
In protests around Tehran and other Iranian cities, demonstrators chanted "Not Gaza, not Lebanon — our life is for Iran" in a challenge of the government's priority of supporting Palestinian militants in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas instead of focusing on problems at home.
The Quds Day rallies, which attracted several hundred thousand people, far outnumbered the tens of thousands who turned out for the opposition — a reflection of the government's freedom to rally supporters.
Opposition supporters wearing green T-shirts and wristbands poured onto main boulevards and squares in the capital, waving green banners and balloons, and pictures of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to be the rightful winner of the election. "Death to the dictator!" they shouted.
Just hundreds of yards away, crowds of Ahmadinejad supporters marched carrying huge photographs of the president and supreme leader Khamenei. Some chanted, "Death to those who oppose the supreme leader!"
A group of hard-liners attacked Khatami nearby, surging toward him as his supporters shoved them away and surrounded the cleric, witnesses said.
Elsewhere, government supporters also tried to attack the main opposition leader, Mousavi, when he joined another march. As supporters scuffled with the attackers, Mousavi was rushed into a car and driven away, a witness said.
All the witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation.
The government imposed restrictions on journalists, allowing them to cover the Quds Day rallies but not opposition protests. As often happens during opposition demonstrations, Internet access and phone service was frequently cut, apparently in a state attempt to sever protesters' communications.
In one of Tehran's main squares, Haft-e Tir, security forces wielding batons and firing tear gas tried to break up an opposition march, and were confronted by protesters throwing stones and bricks, witnesses said. Several policemen were seen being taken away with slight injuries.
Protesters set bonfires during another clash in the city, and young men and women wrapped green scarves over their faces against the clouds of tear gas.
At least 10 protesters were seized by plainclothes security agents in marches around the city, witnesses said.
The pro-government Quds Day rallies were held around the country, and the opposition staged competing rallies in several cities. In Shiraz to the south, police rushed protesters with batons, scuffling with them, witnesses said. Footage put out by the opposition showed hundreds of protesters fleeing a police charge in the northern city of Rasht.
Hundreds of thousands marched in support of Mousavi in the weeks after the June election, until police, Basij militiamen and the elite Revolutionary Guard crushed the protests, arresting hundreds. The opposition says 72 people were killed in the crackdown, though the government puts the number at 36. The last significant protest was on July 17.
The Quds Day occasion was established in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic Republic. Customarily on Quds Day, Iranians gather for pro-Palestinian rallies in various parts of Tehran, marching through the streets and later converging for the prayer ceremony.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad hailed the commemoration as a "day of unity" for Iranians and denounced criticism of the election.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Why Is Obama Still Using Blackwater?
By Jeremy Scahill
September 16, 2009
Two years ago on September 16, 2007, on a steamy hot Baghdad day with temperatures reaching 100 degrees, a heavily-armed Blackwater convoy entered a congested intersection at Nisour Square in the Mansour district of the Iraqi capital. The once upscale section of Baghdad was still lined with boutiques, cafes and art galleries dating back to better days. The ominous caravan consisted of four large armored vehicles with machine guns mounted on top.
As the Blackwater convoy was entering the square that day, a young Iraqi medical student named Ahmed Hathem Al-Rubaie was driving his mother Mahasin in the family's white opal sedan. As fate would have it, they found themselves stuck near Nisour Square. The family were devout Muslims and were fasting in observance of the holy month of Ramadan.
Ali Khalaf Salman, an Iraqi traffic cop on duty in Nisour Square that day, remembers vividly when the Blackwater convoy entered the intersection, spurring he and his colleagues to scramble to stop traffic. But as the Mambas entered the square, the convoy suddenly made a surprise U-turn and proceeded to drive the wrong way on a one way street. As Khalaf watched, the convoy came to an abrupt halt. He says a large white man with a mustache, positioned atop the third vehicle in the Blackwater convoy, began to fire his weapon "randomly."
Khalaf looked in the direction of the shots, on Yarmouk Road, and heard a woman screaming, "My son! My son!" The police officer sprinted toward the voice and found a middle-aged woman inside of a vehicle holding a 20-year old man covered in blood, who had been shot in the forehead. "I tried to help the young man, but his mother was holding him so tight," Khalaf recalled. Another Iraqi policeman, Sarhan Thiab also ran to the car. "We tried to help him,'' Thiab said. "I saw the left side of his head was destroyed and his mother was crying out: 'My son, my son. Help me, help me.'''
Officer Khalaf recalled looking toward the Blackwater shooters. "I raised my left arm high in the air to try to signal to the convoy to stop the shooting." He says he thought the men would cease fire, given that he was a clearly identified police officer. The young man's body was still in the driver's seat of the automatic vehicle and, as Khalaf and Thiab stood there, it began to roll forward, perhaps as a result of the dead man's foot remaining on the accelerator. Blackwater guards later said they initially opened fire on the vehicle because it was speeding and would not stop, a claim hotly disputed by scores of witnesses. Aerial photos of the scene later showed that the car had not even entered the traffic circle when it was fired upon by Blackwater, while the New York Times reported, "The car in which the first people were killed did not begin to closely approach the Blackwater convoy until the Iraqi driver had been shot in the head and lost control of his vehicle," meaning Blackwater had already shot the man. "I tried to use hand signals to make the Blackwater people understand that the car was moving on its own and we were trying to stop it. We were trying to get the woman out but had to run for cover," Thiab said.
"Don't shoot, please," Khalaf recalled yelling. But as he stood with his hand raised, Khalaf says a gunman from the fourth Blackwater vehicle opened fire on the mother gripping her son and shot her dead before Khalaf and Thiabs' eyes. "I saw parts of the woman's head flying in front of me, blow up," Thiab said. "They immediately opened heavy fire at us." Within moments, so many shots had been fired at the car from "big machine guns" that Khalaf says it exploded, engulfing the bodies inside in flames, melting their flesh into one. "Each of their four vehicles opened heavy fire in all directions, they shot and killed everyone in cars facing them and people standing on the street," Thiab recalled. "When it was over we were looking around and about 15 cars had been destroyed, the bodies of the killed were strewn on the pavements and road." When later asked by US investigators why he never fired at the Blackwater men, Khalaf told them, "I am not authorized to shoot, and my job is to look after the traffic."
The victims were later identified as Ahmed Hathem Al-Rubaie and his mother Mahasin. That attack on Ahmed and Mahasin's vehicle would be the beginning of a fifteen minute shooting spree that would leave seventeen Iraqis dead and more than twenty wounded.
One of the Blackwater "shooters" that day, Jeremy Ridgeway, later admitted in sworn testimony, that he had killed Mahasin by firing "multiple rounds" into her vehicle and that "there was no attempt to provide reasonable warning."
After Ahmed and Mahasins' vehicle exploded, sustained gunfire rang out in Nisour Square as people fled for their lives. In addition to the Blackwater shooters in the four Mambas, witnesses say gunfire came from Blackwater's Little Bird helicopters. "The helicopters began shooting on the cars," officer Khalaf said. "The helicopters shot and killed the driver of a Volkswagen and wounded a passenger" who escaped by "rolling out of the car into the street," he said. Witnesses described a horrifying scene of indiscriminate shooting by the Blackwater guards. "It was a horror movie," said officer Khalaf. "It was catastrophic," said Zina Fadhil, a 21-year-old pharmacist who survived the attack. "So many innocent people were killed."
Another Iraqi officer on the scene, Hussam Abdul Rahman, said that people who attempted to flee their vehicles were targeted. "Whoever stepped out of his car was shot at immediately," he said.
"I saw women and children jump out of their cars and start to crawl on the road to escape being shot," said Iraqi lawyer Hassan Jabar Salman, who was shot four times in the back during the incident. "But still the firing kept coming and many of them were killed. I saw a boy of about 10 leaping in fear from a minibus--he was shot in the head. His mother was crying out for him. She jumped out after him, and she was killed."
Salman says he was driving behind the Blackwater convoy when it stopped. Witnesses say some sort of explosion had gone off in the distance, too far away to have been perceived as a threat. He said Blackwater guards ordered him to turn his vehicle around and leave the scene. Shortly after, the shooting began. "Why had they opened fire?" he asked. "I do not know. No one--I repeat no one--had fired at them. The foreigners had asked us to go back, and I was going back in my car, so there was no reason for them to shoot." In all, he says, his car was hit twelve times, including the four bullets that pierced his back.
Ridgeway, the Blackwater operative, admitted that he and the other Blackwater operatives "opened fire with automatic weapons and grenade launchers on unarmed civilians." None of the victims that day "was an insurgent," he said, adding that "many were shot while inside of civilian vehicles that were attempting to flee." Ridgeway said one Iraqi was shot "while standing in the street with his hands up."
Mohammed Abdul Razzaq and his 9 year old son Ali were in a vehicle immediately behind Ahmed and Mahasin, the first victims that day. "We were six persons in the car -- me, my son, my sister and her three sons. The four children were in the back seat." He recalled that the Blackwater forces had "gestured stop, so we all stopped.... It's a secure area so we thought it will be the usual, we would stop for a bit as convoys pass. Shortly after that they opened heavy fire randomly at the cars with no exception." He said his vehicle "was hit by about 30 bullets, everything was damaged, the engine, the windshield the back windshield and the tires.
"When the shooting started, I told everybody to get their heads down. I could hear the children screaming in fear. When the shooting stopped, I raised my head and heard my nephew shouting at me 'Ali is dead, Ali is dead.'"
"My son was sitting behind me," he said. "He was shot in the head and his brains were all over the back of the car." Razzaq remembered, "When I held him, his head was badly wounded, but his heart was still beating. I thought there was a chance and I rushed him to the hospital. The doctor told me that he was clinically dead and the chance of his survival was very slim. One hour later, Ali died." Razzaq, who survived the shooting, later returned to the scene and gathered the pieces of his son's skull and brains with his hands, wrapped them in cloth, and took them to be buried in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. "I can still smell the blood, my son's blood, on my fingers," Razzaq said two weeks after his son died.
In all, the melee reportedly lasted about 15 minutes. In an indication of how out of control the situation quickly became, US officials report that "one or more" Blackwater guards called on their colleagues to stop shooting. The word cease-fire ''was supposedly called out several times,'' a senior official told The New York Times. "They had an on-site difference of opinion." At one point a Blackwater guard allegedly drew his gun on another. "It was a Mexican standoff," said one contractor. According to an Iraqi lawyer who was in the square that day, the Blackwater guard screamed at his colleague, "No! No! No!" The Iraqi lawyer himself was shot in the back as he tried to flee.
As the heavy gunfire died down, witnesses say some sort of smoke bomb was set off in the square, perhaps to give cover for the Blackwater Mambas to leave, a common practice of security convoys. Iraqis also said the Blackwater forces fired shots as they withdrew from the square. "Even as they were withdrawing, they were shooting randomly to clear the traffic," said an Iraqi officer who witnessed the shootings in Nisour Square.
Within hours, Blackwater would become a household name the world over, as word of the massacre spread. Blackwater claimed its forces had been "violently attacked" and "acted lawfully and appropriately" and "heroically defended American lives in a war zone." "The 'civilians' reportedly fired upon by Blackwater professionals were in fact armed enemies." In less than 24 hours, the killings at Nisour Square would cause the worst diplomatic crisis to date between Washington and its own puppet regime in Baghdad. Though its forces had been at the center of some of the bloodiest moments of the war, Blackwater had largely existed in the shadows. Four years after Blackwater's first boots hit the ground in Iraq, it was yanked out of the darkness. Nisour Square would send Erik Prince down the fateful path to international infamy.
Jeremy Ridgeway later pled guilty to one count of manslaughter. Five other Blackwater guards have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges for their role at Nisour Square that day. Blackwater forces "fired at innocent Iraqis not because they actually believed that they were in imminent danger of serious bodily injury and actually believed that they had no alternative to the use of deadly force, but rather...because of their hostility toward Iraqis and their grave indifference to the harm that their actions would cause," US prosecutors allege. "[T]he defendants specifically intended to kill or seriously injure the Iraqi civilians that they fired upon at [Nisour] Square." Prosecutors also allege that "defendant Nicholas Slatten made statements that he wanted to kill as many Iraqis as he could as 'payback for 9/11,' and he repeatedly boasted about the number of Iraqis he had shot." Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince, has faced no consequences for the actions of his forces.
Two years to the day after the Nisour Square massacre, Blackwater remains in Iraq, armed and dangerous. As The Nation has reported, the Obama administration recently extended the company's contract there indefinitely. Blackwater has big money contracts in Afghanistan as well, working for the State Department, the Defense Department and the CIA. As in Iraq, Blackwater forces are alleged to have shot and killed innocent civilians there. We now know that Blackwater was hired as part of the secret CIA assassination program that former vice president Dick Cheney ordered concealed from Congress and that the company continues to work for the CIA as part of its drone bombing campaign in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A former Blackwater employee, known as John Doe #2, recently alleged in a sworn statement originally obtained by The Nation that Erik Prince, "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life." Prince, the former employee charged, "intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.... Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to 'lay Hajiis out on cardboard.' Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as 'ragheads' or 'hajiis.'"
Another former Blackwater employee, an ex-US Marine, charged in a sworn statement that "Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq." He states that he personally witnessed weapons being "pulled out" from dog food bags. Doe #2 alleges that "Prince and his employees arranged for the weapons to be polywrapped and smuggled into Iraq on Mr. Prince's private planes, which operated under the name Presidential Airlines," adding that Prince "generated substantial revenues from participating in the illegal arms trade."
Meanwhile, a new lawsuit has been filed against Prince by four Iraqis who claim they were shot by Blackwater operatives a week before Nisour Square on September 9, 2007. According to Susan Burke, the lawyer for the Iraqis who works with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Prince runs the operations of his "heavily-armed private army" in Iraq and elsewhere from a 24-hour command center known as the "war room." Burke also alleges that in Iraq "Prince's private army of men went 'night hunting' on more than one occasion. This 'night hunting' entailed Mr. Prince's men, armed with night goggles and riding in Mr. Prince's wholly-owned helicopters after 10pm over the streets of Baghdad, killing at random."
On the second anniversary of the single worst massacre of Iraqi civilians committed by a private force since the US invasion, President Obama should be forced to explain to the American people and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan why he continues to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to this company and why he permits them to remain on the ground, representing the United States in these countries. At a recent hearing of the bipartisan Wartime Contracting Commission, commissioner Linda Gustitus asserted that in not canceling Blackwater's contracts after Nisour Square, the State Department "helped to send a message to other contractors that you can do a lot and not have your contract terminated."
September 16, 2009
Two years ago on September 16, 2007, on a steamy hot Baghdad day with temperatures reaching 100 degrees, a heavily-armed Blackwater convoy entered a congested intersection at Nisour Square in the Mansour district of the Iraqi capital. The once upscale section of Baghdad was still lined with boutiques, cafes and art galleries dating back to better days. The ominous caravan consisted of four large armored vehicles with machine guns mounted on top.
As the Blackwater convoy was entering the square that day, a young Iraqi medical student named Ahmed Hathem Al-Rubaie was driving his mother Mahasin in the family's white opal sedan. As fate would have it, they found themselves stuck near Nisour Square. The family were devout Muslims and were fasting in observance of the holy month of Ramadan.
Ali Khalaf Salman, an Iraqi traffic cop on duty in Nisour Square that day, remembers vividly when the Blackwater convoy entered the intersection, spurring he and his colleagues to scramble to stop traffic. But as the Mambas entered the square, the convoy suddenly made a surprise U-turn and proceeded to drive the wrong way on a one way street. As Khalaf watched, the convoy came to an abrupt halt. He says a large white man with a mustache, positioned atop the third vehicle in the Blackwater convoy, began to fire his weapon "randomly."
Khalaf looked in the direction of the shots, on Yarmouk Road, and heard a woman screaming, "My son! My son!" The police officer sprinted toward the voice and found a middle-aged woman inside of a vehicle holding a 20-year old man covered in blood, who had been shot in the forehead. "I tried to help the young man, but his mother was holding him so tight," Khalaf recalled. Another Iraqi policeman, Sarhan Thiab also ran to the car. "We tried to help him,'' Thiab said. "I saw the left side of his head was destroyed and his mother was crying out: 'My son, my son. Help me, help me.'''
Officer Khalaf recalled looking toward the Blackwater shooters. "I raised my left arm high in the air to try to signal to the convoy to stop the shooting." He says he thought the men would cease fire, given that he was a clearly identified police officer. The young man's body was still in the driver's seat of the automatic vehicle and, as Khalaf and Thiab stood there, it began to roll forward, perhaps as a result of the dead man's foot remaining on the accelerator. Blackwater guards later said they initially opened fire on the vehicle because it was speeding and would not stop, a claim hotly disputed by scores of witnesses. Aerial photos of the scene later showed that the car had not even entered the traffic circle when it was fired upon by Blackwater, while the New York Times reported, "The car in which the first people were killed did not begin to closely approach the Blackwater convoy until the Iraqi driver had been shot in the head and lost control of his vehicle," meaning Blackwater had already shot the man. "I tried to use hand signals to make the Blackwater people understand that the car was moving on its own and we were trying to stop it. We were trying to get the woman out but had to run for cover," Thiab said.
"Don't shoot, please," Khalaf recalled yelling. But as he stood with his hand raised, Khalaf says a gunman from the fourth Blackwater vehicle opened fire on the mother gripping her son and shot her dead before Khalaf and Thiabs' eyes. "I saw parts of the woman's head flying in front of me, blow up," Thiab said. "They immediately opened heavy fire at us." Within moments, so many shots had been fired at the car from "big machine guns" that Khalaf says it exploded, engulfing the bodies inside in flames, melting their flesh into one. "Each of their four vehicles opened heavy fire in all directions, they shot and killed everyone in cars facing them and people standing on the street," Thiab recalled. "When it was over we were looking around and about 15 cars had been destroyed, the bodies of the killed were strewn on the pavements and road." When later asked by US investigators why he never fired at the Blackwater men, Khalaf told them, "I am not authorized to shoot, and my job is to look after the traffic."
The victims were later identified as Ahmed Hathem Al-Rubaie and his mother Mahasin. That attack on Ahmed and Mahasin's vehicle would be the beginning of a fifteen minute shooting spree that would leave seventeen Iraqis dead and more than twenty wounded.
One of the Blackwater "shooters" that day, Jeremy Ridgeway, later admitted in sworn testimony, that he had killed Mahasin by firing "multiple rounds" into her vehicle and that "there was no attempt to provide reasonable warning."
After Ahmed and Mahasins' vehicle exploded, sustained gunfire rang out in Nisour Square as people fled for their lives. In addition to the Blackwater shooters in the four Mambas, witnesses say gunfire came from Blackwater's Little Bird helicopters. "The helicopters began shooting on the cars," officer Khalaf said. "The helicopters shot and killed the driver of a Volkswagen and wounded a passenger" who escaped by "rolling out of the car into the street," he said. Witnesses described a horrifying scene of indiscriminate shooting by the Blackwater guards. "It was a horror movie," said officer Khalaf. "It was catastrophic," said Zina Fadhil, a 21-year-old pharmacist who survived the attack. "So many innocent people were killed."
Another Iraqi officer on the scene, Hussam Abdul Rahman, said that people who attempted to flee their vehicles were targeted. "Whoever stepped out of his car was shot at immediately," he said.
"I saw women and children jump out of their cars and start to crawl on the road to escape being shot," said Iraqi lawyer Hassan Jabar Salman, who was shot four times in the back during the incident. "But still the firing kept coming and many of them were killed. I saw a boy of about 10 leaping in fear from a minibus--he was shot in the head. His mother was crying out for him. She jumped out after him, and she was killed."
Salman says he was driving behind the Blackwater convoy when it stopped. Witnesses say some sort of explosion had gone off in the distance, too far away to have been perceived as a threat. He said Blackwater guards ordered him to turn his vehicle around and leave the scene. Shortly after, the shooting began. "Why had they opened fire?" he asked. "I do not know. No one--I repeat no one--had fired at them. The foreigners had asked us to go back, and I was going back in my car, so there was no reason for them to shoot." In all, he says, his car was hit twelve times, including the four bullets that pierced his back.
Ridgeway, the Blackwater operative, admitted that he and the other Blackwater operatives "opened fire with automatic weapons and grenade launchers on unarmed civilians." None of the victims that day "was an insurgent," he said, adding that "many were shot while inside of civilian vehicles that were attempting to flee." Ridgeway said one Iraqi was shot "while standing in the street with his hands up."
Mohammed Abdul Razzaq and his 9 year old son Ali were in a vehicle immediately behind Ahmed and Mahasin, the first victims that day. "We were six persons in the car -- me, my son, my sister and her three sons. The four children were in the back seat." He recalled that the Blackwater forces had "gestured stop, so we all stopped.... It's a secure area so we thought it will be the usual, we would stop for a bit as convoys pass. Shortly after that they opened heavy fire randomly at the cars with no exception." He said his vehicle "was hit by about 30 bullets, everything was damaged, the engine, the windshield the back windshield and the tires.
"When the shooting started, I told everybody to get their heads down. I could hear the children screaming in fear. When the shooting stopped, I raised my head and heard my nephew shouting at me 'Ali is dead, Ali is dead.'"
"My son was sitting behind me," he said. "He was shot in the head and his brains were all over the back of the car." Razzaq remembered, "When I held him, his head was badly wounded, but his heart was still beating. I thought there was a chance and I rushed him to the hospital. The doctor told me that he was clinically dead and the chance of his survival was very slim. One hour later, Ali died." Razzaq, who survived the shooting, later returned to the scene and gathered the pieces of his son's skull and brains with his hands, wrapped them in cloth, and took them to be buried in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. "I can still smell the blood, my son's blood, on my fingers," Razzaq said two weeks after his son died.
In all, the melee reportedly lasted about 15 minutes. In an indication of how out of control the situation quickly became, US officials report that "one or more" Blackwater guards called on their colleagues to stop shooting. The word cease-fire ''was supposedly called out several times,'' a senior official told The New York Times. "They had an on-site difference of opinion." At one point a Blackwater guard allegedly drew his gun on another. "It was a Mexican standoff," said one contractor. According to an Iraqi lawyer who was in the square that day, the Blackwater guard screamed at his colleague, "No! No! No!" The Iraqi lawyer himself was shot in the back as he tried to flee.
As the heavy gunfire died down, witnesses say some sort of smoke bomb was set off in the square, perhaps to give cover for the Blackwater Mambas to leave, a common practice of security convoys. Iraqis also said the Blackwater forces fired shots as they withdrew from the square. "Even as they were withdrawing, they were shooting randomly to clear the traffic," said an Iraqi officer who witnessed the shootings in Nisour Square.
Within hours, Blackwater would become a household name the world over, as word of the massacre spread. Blackwater claimed its forces had been "violently attacked" and "acted lawfully and appropriately" and "heroically defended American lives in a war zone." "The 'civilians' reportedly fired upon by Blackwater professionals were in fact armed enemies." In less than 24 hours, the killings at Nisour Square would cause the worst diplomatic crisis to date between Washington and its own puppet regime in Baghdad. Though its forces had been at the center of some of the bloodiest moments of the war, Blackwater had largely existed in the shadows. Four years after Blackwater's first boots hit the ground in Iraq, it was yanked out of the darkness. Nisour Square would send Erik Prince down the fateful path to international infamy.
Jeremy Ridgeway later pled guilty to one count of manslaughter. Five other Blackwater guards have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges for their role at Nisour Square that day. Blackwater forces "fired at innocent Iraqis not because they actually believed that they were in imminent danger of serious bodily injury and actually believed that they had no alternative to the use of deadly force, but rather...because of their hostility toward Iraqis and their grave indifference to the harm that their actions would cause," US prosecutors allege. "[T]he defendants specifically intended to kill or seriously injure the Iraqi civilians that they fired upon at [Nisour] Square." Prosecutors also allege that "defendant Nicholas Slatten made statements that he wanted to kill as many Iraqis as he could as 'payback for 9/11,' and he repeatedly boasted about the number of Iraqis he had shot." Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince, has faced no consequences for the actions of his forces.
Two years to the day after the Nisour Square massacre, Blackwater remains in Iraq, armed and dangerous. As The Nation has reported, the Obama administration recently extended the company's contract there indefinitely. Blackwater has big money contracts in Afghanistan as well, working for the State Department, the Defense Department and the CIA. As in Iraq, Blackwater forces are alleged to have shot and killed innocent civilians there. We now know that Blackwater was hired as part of the secret CIA assassination program that former vice president Dick Cheney ordered concealed from Congress and that the company continues to work for the CIA as part of its drone bombing campaign in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A former Blackwater employee, known as John Doe #2, recently alleged in a sworn statement originally obtained by The Nation that Erik Prince, "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life." Prince, the former employee charged, "intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.... Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to 'lay Hajiis out on cardboard.' Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as 'ragheads' or 'hajiis.'"
Another former Blackwater employee, an ex-US Marine, charged in a sworn statement that "Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq." He states that he personally witnessed weapons being "pulled out" from dog food bags. Doe #2 alleges that "Prince and his employees arranged for the weapons to be polywrapped and smuggled into Iraq on Mr. Prince's private planes, which operated under the name Presidential Airlines," adding that Prince "generated substantial revenues from participating in the illegal arms trade."
Meanwhile, a new lawsuit has been filed against Prince by four Iraqis who claim they were shot by Blackwater operatives a week before Nisour Square on September 9, 2007. According to Susan Burke, the lawyer for the Iraqis who works with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Prince runs the operations of his "heavily-armed private army" in Iraq and elsewhere from a 24-hour command center known as the "war room." Burke also alleges that in Iraq "Prince's private army of men went 'night hunting' on more than one occasion. This 'night hunting' entailed Mr. Prince's men, armed with night goggles and riding in Mr. Prince's wholly-owned helicopters after 10pm over the streets of Baghdad, killing at random."
On the second anniversary of the single worst massacre of Iraqi civilians committed by a private force since the US invasion, President Obama should be forced to explain to the American people and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan why he continues to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to this company and why he permits them to remain on the ground, representing the United States in these countries. At a recent hearing of the bipartisan Wartime Contracting Commission, commissioner Linda Gustitus asserted that in not canceling Blackwater's contracts after Nisour Square, the State Department "helped to send a message to other contractors that you can do a lot and not have your contract terminated."
Charlie Sheen 'Twenty Minutes' Elicits Another Media Character Attack; Still No Coverage of Questions
Wednesday, September 16 2009 - In the Media
Charlie Sheen 'Twenty Minutes' Elicits Another Media Character Attack; Still No Coverage of Questions
Two weeks ago America's media, led by the Washington Times and quickly followed by particularly vitriolic television personalities, blasted Obama-appointed "Green Jobs" Advisor Van Jones for various personal positions and actions taken over the course of his life as an activist. Chief among them was his name being counted among signatories to a Statement issued by 911truth.org in 2004 asking for answers to 9/11-related questions, signed by 150 other "notable Americans" and 9/11 victims' family members. The ensuing blood bath did not involve Jones' positions on "Green" issues, for which he had been hired to advise - nor did the "Truther" feeding frenzy ever ONCE involve mention of the 12 questions listed on that Statement, questions which remain unanswered now. Readers of 911truth.org are aware of this media side-show, which eventually led to Jones' resignation on 9/12, and no doubt read the statement we issued to the press in response to their calls:
As the eighth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, what doesn't make sense to us is that media outlets choose to impugn the character of the signatories rather than carry out your responsibility as watchdogs to call attention to the as yet unanswered questions raised in the 2004 statement. Five years later, we challenge you to finally print those same unanswered questions and pursue their answers with the same vigor with which you pursue the signatories.
Now, similar "news" coverage is attacking Golden Globe winning actor Charlie Sheen, who dared to ask for a 20-minute meeting with President Obama to discuss 20 points relating to - again - unanswered questions surrounding 9/11. Sheen produced a fictionalized piece, "Twenty Minutes with the President" in which he sat down with "President Obama" to asked about twenty of these yet unanswered questions. Bob McIlvaine, whose son Bobby was killed on 9/11, has also joined with Sheen in requesting this meeting with the president.
In the ensuing days, media personalities have once again delighted in trotting out a litany of past "outrages" trolled up from Sheen's past, working doubletime to draw attention to everything BUT the 20 points contained in his script.
Like 911truth.org, Sheen has issued a statement about the behavior of the press and their unwillingness to look at the issues, and has put forth a challenge to anyone, ANYONE, to debate him and McIlvaine on Larry King Live. To date (as we have found time and again when 9/11 truth researchers, scientists, engineers and other credentialed professionals have issued challenges to debate), no one has come forward to meet Sheen's challenge. Once again, none of those in the media who have so viciously attacked his character are willing to attack his issues. (See for instance FOXnews, UK's Telegraph, and E!Online)
Time and again we have seen this same tired dance: Tucker Carlson attacking theologian David Ray Griffin and physicist Steven E. Jones. Scarborough Country attempting to discredit 911truth.org Media Spokesman Michael Berger. Glenn Beck's endless screeds calling 9/11 truth advocates "dangerous anti-Americans who work with ... al Qaeda to destroy America" (among other endless blather and name-calling). And not only has the corporate "right-wing" media taken this approach, supposed left-leaning publications have followed suit: Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone, Matthew Rothschild in Progressive , Bill Maher's Real Time, even Commondreams.org. (For more on this subject, see excellent article, Deconstructing Deceit: 9/11, the Media, and Myth Information by Mickey Huff and Paul Rea and the significant study from Peter Phillips and Project Censored, Left Progressive Media Inside the Propaganda Model.)
As Sheen put it, "We can no longer allow these cowards and shills to contaminate the reservoirs of truth. In addition to their slanderous folly, they have ignored my very public challenge to a debate on Larry King Live. If these cockroaches had but one shred of courage, they would embrace this opportunity."
We join Sheen in again challenging media to address the issues brought forward in both the 2009 Truth Statement from 911truth.org and the request for "Tewenty Minutes With the President" by Charlie Sheen.
Following is more from Charlie Sheen.
Twenty Minutes with the President
Reported by Charlie Sheen
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Read Sheen's 20 points script below, complete with documentation links, and watch the video here:
Charlie Sheen's statement issued 9/14/09 and his email correspondence to the White House:
Another Bin Laden tape has surfaced this morning. I will be monitoring the FBI's most wanted web site to see if this tape finally provides the Bureau with the evidence required to list "9/11? in Bin Laden's rap sheet. Thus far it has not.
I must point out as well, that the mainstream media has once again followed a desperate, juvenile and transparent script in their response to my letter, "Twenty Minutes with the President".
Not a single member of this mendacious side-show has focused their attention, for one second, on the 20 bullet points chronicled in my letter. Instead, they have attacked the man and ignored the facts. If this is their definition of, "responsible journalism", I urge all free thinking people to ignore these hopeless lap-dogs and responsibly do their own research. We can no longer allow these cowards and shills to contaminate the reservoirs of truth. In addition to their slanderous folly, they have ignored my very public challenge to a debate on Larry King Live. If these cockroaches had but one shred of courage, they would embrace this opportunity.
As of 1 o'clock PM, PST, on Sep. 14th, I still await a formal response from The White House. The emails I authored are printed below.
I thank you all for your patriotic support.
Respectfully -- Charlie Sheen
—————————————————-
Dear Mr. Gibbs -- I understand you are quite busy so I won't take up too much of your time. I have recently published a letter (article) online entitled, "Twenty Minutes with the President". It is currently garnering worldwide attention. It is a fictional account of myself and President Obama in an interview setting, discussing the events of Sep.11th. If you haven't read it yet, I would urge you to do so.
My request is pretty straightforward: I would like to invite our Commander in Chief to join me in a real discussion/interview focusing specifically on Sep. 11th and it's aftermath. If you would provide the President with a copy of my letter, he will have all of my questions and data ahead of time, therefore no surprises. I understand he is extremely busy and I can only imagine how many requests you receive each day.
If nothing else, it might be a welcome break from the stress of health care reform and the issues surrounding the economy. Twenty minutes, 1200 seconds, the location of your choice. America deserves this Mr. Gibbs.
I await your response. My very Best -- Charlie Sheen
—————————————————-
Dear Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Burton -- I'm deeply saddened to hear that my request to interview President Obama regarding 9/11 and present him with the facts has been declined. However, I am now making another request.
This request is on behalf of a large section of 9/11 victim's family members, more specifically Mr. Bob Mcllvaine, who tragically lost his son Bobby on that awful day. Mr. Mcllvaine represents and echoes a growing number of outspoken victim's family members who still have numerous unanswered questions regarding 9/11.
Mr. Mcvllaine and I would like to sit down with the President and focus solely on the 20 bullet points outlined in my document. Again gentlemen, these facts are not my opinions or theories, these glaring inconsistencies are supported and confirmed by 6 of the 10 commission members responsible for shaping and creating the "Official Report".
If this secondary request cannot be enacted, I would ask, at the very least, for an explanation in writing from the President himself, detailing the reason(s) for his decision.
Thank you for your time. My very best -- Charlie Sheen
September 14: In a segment broadcast on PrisonPlanet, Sheen and Bob McIlvaine talk about this outrageously distracting response by the media, and issue a challenge to public debate on Larry King Live, offered here in a 5-part youtube video (Or listen here: http://rss.nfowars.net/20090911_Fri_Alex.mp3)
Sheen Blasts Cowardly Media Respose to '20 Minutes' Letter
Actor labels corporate media shills "cockroaches" for completely failing to address 20 bullet points on 9/11
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
[Audio of 9/15 interview with Sheen here: http://rss.nfowars.net/20090915_Tue_Alex.mp3]
Charlie Sheen has blasted the cowardly corporate media response to his "20 Minutes With The President" letter, slamming the press as "hopeless lap-dogs" for failing to address a single one of his 20 bullet points on 9/11 while ignoring completely his challenge to publicly debate 9/11 truth debunkers.
Sheen's open letter to the President, which took the form of a fictionalized account of a meeting between the two in which Sheen grills Obama about the unanswered questions surrounding 9/11, received widespread media coverage and was featured in thousands of newspaper stories, online articles and TV segments. Awareness of the subject only increased after the subsequent release of a You Tube video in which Sheen personally appeals to the President to answer the questions.
However, not one single mainstream media report adequately covered even one of Sheen's 20 bullet points that were listed in the article and backed up by a substantial online bibliography.
Indeed, scores of corporate media hit pieces completely fabricated the content of Sheen's letter, attributing phrases to him that he had never made in an attempt to portray Sheen as abrasive and "insulting" to 9/11 victims and their families, despite the fact that the majority of family members share Sheen's questions.
Fox News was one of many corporate media outlets to claim that Sheen had stated "that Bush/Cheney planned it all," when in reality he had said no such thing. The media merely manufactured this spin so that they could politicize the issue, make it partisan, and then attack Sheen as just another deluded Hollywood liberal.
Claims that Sheen directly accused President Bush of planning 9/11 were erroneously carried by hundreds of media outlets despite the fact that the actor never made any such statement. The fact that the press had to invent a strawman stance and put words in Sheen's mouth to then attack him on proves how scared the media is of the power of the actual questions that Sheen asked in his letter.
(Continued here)
Script, "Twenty Minutes With the President"
Charlie Sheen -- Good afternoon Mr. President, thank you so much for taking time out of your demanding schedule.
President Barack Obama -- My pleasure, the content of your request seemed like something I should carve out a few minutes for.
CS -- I should point out that I voted for you, as your promises of hope and change, transparency and accountability, as well as putting government back into the hands of the American people, struck an emotional chord in me that I hadn’t felt in quite some time, perhaps ever.
PBO -- And I appreciate that Charlie. Big fan of the show, by the way.
CS -- Sir, I can’t imagine when you might find the time to actually watch my show given the measure of what you inherited.
PBO -- I have it Tivo’d on Air Force One. Nice break from the traveling press corps. (He glances at his watch) not to be abrupt or to rush you, but you have 19 minutes left.
CS -- I’ll take that as an invitation to cut to the chase.
PBO -- I’m all ears. Or so I’ve been told.
CS - Sir, in the very near future we will be experiencing our first 9/11 anniversary with you as Commander in Chief.
PBO -- Yes. A very solemn day for our Nation. A day of reflection and yet a day of historical consciousness as well.
CS -- Very much so sir, very much so indeed…. Now; In researching your position regarding the events of 9/11 and the subsequent investigation that followed, am I correct to understand that you fully support and endorse the findings of the commission report otherwise known as the ‘official story'?
PBO -- Do I have any reason not to? Given that most of us are presumably in touch with similar evidence.
CS -- I really wish that were the case, sir. Are you aware, Mr. President, of the recent stunning revelations that sixty percent of the 9/11 commissioners have publicly stated that the government agreed not to tell the truth about 9/11 and that the Pentagon was engaged in deliberate deception about their response to the attack?
PBO -- I am aware of certain “in fighting” during the course of their very thorough and tireless investigative process.
CS -- Mr. President, it’s hard to label this type of friction as “in fighting” or make the irresponsible leap to “thorough,” when the evidence I insist you examine regarding 6 of the 10 members are statements of fact.
(At this point one of Obama’s senior aides approaches the President and whispers into his ear. Obama glances quickly at his watch and nods as the aide resumes his post at the doorway, directly behind me.)
PBO -- No disrespect Mr. Sheen, but I have to ask; what is it that you seem to be implying with the initial direction of this discussion?
CS -- I am not implying anything Mr. President. I am here to present the facts and see what you plan to do with them.
PBO - Let me guess; your ‘facts,' allegedly supporting these claims are in the folders you brought with you?
CS -- Good guess Mr. President.
(I hand the first folder of documents to the President)
CS -- Again sir, these are not my opinions or assumptions, this is all a matter of public record, reported through mainstream media, painstakingly fact checked and verified.
(the President glances into the folder I handed him)
CS -- You’ll notice sir on page one of the dossier dated August of ‘06 from the Washington Post, the statements of John Farmer, senior council to the 9/11 commission, his quote stating, “I was shocked how different the truth was from the way it was described.”
PBO -- (as he glances down at the report, almost inaudible) …. um hmm….
CS -- He goes on to further state “The [NORAD Air Defense] tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years….”
(the President continues to view the documents)
Twenty Minutes With The President 080909top4
Charlie Sheen writing 20 Minutes with the President. Photo by Alex Jones.
CS -- On pages two and three, sir, are the statements, as well, from commission co-chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, commissioners Bob Kerrey, Timothy Roemer and John Lehman, as well as the statements of commissioner Max Cleland, an ex-Senator from Georgia , who resigned, stating:
“It is a national scandal. This investigation is now compromised. One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9/11 issue is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up."
He also described President Bush’s desire to delay the process as not to damage the ‘04 re-election bid. They suspected deception to the point where they considered referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Mr. President, this information alone is unequivocally grounds for a new investigation!
PBO -- Mistakes were clearly made but we as a people and as a country need to move forward. It is obviously in our best interest as a democratic society to focus our efforts and our resources on the future of this great nation and our ability to protect the American people and our allies from this type of terrorism in the coming years.
CS -- Sir, how can we focus on the future when THE COMMISSION ITSELF is on record stating that they still do not know the truth??
PBO -- Even if what you state, might in some capacity, begin to approach an open discussion or balanced debate, I can’t speak for, or about the decisions certain commission members made during an extremely difficult period. Perhaps you should be interviewing them instead of me. Wait, don’t tell me; I was easier to track down than they were?
CS - Not exactly sir, but let’s be honest. You’re the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, the buck stops with you. 9/11 has been the pretext for the systematic dismantling of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Your administration is reading from the same playbook that the Bush administration foisted on America through documented secrecy and deception.
PBO -- Mr. Sheen, I’m having a difficult time sitting here and listening to you draw distorted parallels between the Bush/Cheney regime and mine.
CS -- Mr. President the parallels are not distorted just because you say they are. Let’s stick to the facts. You promised to abolish the Patriot Act and then voted to re-authorize it. You pledged to end warrantless wire tapping against the American people and now energetically defend it. You decried the practice of rendition and now continue it. You promised over and over again on the campaign trail, that you would end the practice of indefinite detention and instead, you have expanded it to permanent detention of “detainees” without trial. This far exceeds the outrages of the former administration. Call me crazy Mr. President, but is this not your record?
PBO -- Mr. Sheen, my staff and I authorized this interview based on your request to discuss 9/11 and deliver some additional information you’re convinced I’d not previously reviewed. Call me crazy, But it appears as though you’ve blindly wandered off topic.
CS -- Sir, the examples I just illustrated are a direct result of 9/11.
PBO -- And I’m telling you that we must move forward, we must endure through these dangerous and politically challenging years ahead.
CS -- Mr. President, we cannot move forward with a bottomless warren of unanswered questions surrounding that day and its aftermath.
PBO -- I read the official report. Every word every page. Perhaps you should do the same.
CS -- I have sir, and so have thousands of family members of the victims, and guess what; they have the same questions I do and probably a lot more. I didn’t lose a loved one on that horrific day Mr. President and neither did you. But since then I, along with millions of other Americans lost something we held true and dear for most of our lives in this great country of ours; we lost our hope.
PBO -- And I’d like to believe that I am here to restore that hope. To restore confidence in your leaders, in the system that the voting public chose through a peaceful transfer of power.
(An odd moment of silence between us. Precious time ticking away).
CS -- Mr. President, are you aware of the number of days it took to begin the investigation into JFK’s assassination?
PBO -- If memory serves I believe it was two weeks.
CS -- Close. Seventeen days to be exact. Are you aware sir, how long it took to begin the investigation into Pearl Harbor?
PBO -- I would say again about….two weeks.
CS -- Close again sir, eleven days to be exact. Are you aware Mr. President how long it took to begin the investigation into 9/11?
PBO -- I know it must have seemed like a very long time for all the grieving families.
CS -- It was a very long time Mr. President – four hundred and forty days. Roughly 14 months. Does it bother you Mr. President that it only took FIVE HOURS for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after the initial attack to recommend and endorse a full scale offensive against Iraq?
PBO -- I am not aware of any such purported claim.
CS -- I have the proof Mr. President, along with scores of documents and facts I’d like you to take a look at. Here.
(I hand him another file -- much thicker than the first)
PBO -- I see you came prepared Charlie.
CS -- No other way to show up Mr. President. When in doubt over prepare I always say.
PBO -- Now you sound like the First Lady.
CS -- That’s quite a compliment sir.
PBO -- As you wish. Please continue.
CS -- Sir, I’d like to direct your attention to the stack of documents in the folder I just handed you. The first in from the top is entitled “Operation Northwoods”, a declassified Pentagon plan to stage terror attacks on US soil, to be blamed on Cuba as a pretext for war.
PBO -- And I’d like to direct your attention to the fact that the principle draftsman of this improbable blueprint was quickly denied a second term as Joint Chiefs chairman and sent packing to a European NATO garrison. Thank God his otherworldly ambitions never saw the light of day.
CS -- I wouldn’t be so certain about that Mr. President.
PBO -- I could easily say the same to you Charlie.
(the President checks his watch)
CS -- The next document reads “Declassified staged provocations.” Now, Honestly Mr. President I wish I was making this stuff up. I’m certain you are familiar with the USS Maine Incident, the sinking of the Lusitania, which we all now know brought us into WW1, and of course the most famous, the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
PBO -- Of course I am familiar with these historical events and I’m aware that there’s a measure of controversy surrounding them. But to be quite frank with you, this is all ancient history.
CS -- Mr. President, it has been often said; “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” And I concede to you sir, these events are the past.
PBO -- A vastly different world young man, shouldering a radically disparate state of universal affairs.
CS -- No argument sir, I‘m merely inviting you to acknowledge some credibility to the pattern or the theme. Case in point; the next document in your folder. It was published by the think-tank, Project For a New American Century and it’s entitled “Rebuilding Americas Defenses”, and was written by Dick Cheney and Jeb Bush. To quote from the document sir -- (the President interrupts)
PBO -- “Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”
CS -- Touché, sir. Your thoughts on this statement Mr. President?
PBO -- I would call this a blatant case of misjudgment fueled by an unfortunate milieu of assumption. For some, the uninformed denial of coincidence.
CS -- Interesting angle sir. Nevertheless, Vice President Cheney didn’t stop there. In early 2008, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh and MSNBC, both reported that Cheney had proposed to the Pentagon an outrageous plan to have the U.S. Navy create fake Iranian patrol boats, to be manned by Navy Seals, who would then stage an attack on US destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz. This event was to be blamed on Iran and used as a pretext for war. Does any of this information worry you Mr. President? Should we just ignore it, until these realities can be dismissed years from now by our children, as ancient history as well?
PBO -- Of course this information worries me, yet it’s not nearly as worrisome as you sitting here today suspiciously implying that 9/11 was somehow allowed to happen or even orchestrated from the inside.
CS -- Mr. President I am not suspiciously implying anything. I am merely exposing the documents and asking the questions that nobody in power will even look at or acknowledge. And as I stated earlier, I voted for you, I believed in your message of hope and change. Mr. President I have come to you specifically hoping for a change. A change in the perception that our government has not yet made itself open and accountable to the people. These are your words Mr. President not mine. The lives of thousands were brutally cut short and those left behind to suffer their infinite pain are with me today Mr. President. They are with me in spirit and flesh, and the message we carry will not be silenced anymore by media fueled mantras insisting how they are supposed to feel. Deciding for them, for 8 long years, what can be thought, what can be said, what can be asked.
PBO -- And I appreciate your passion, I appreciate your conviction. In spite of your concerns, in spite of what your data might or might not reveal, what you and the families must understand and accept is that we are doing everything we can to protect you.
CS -- Mr. President , I realize were very short on time, so please allow me to run down a list of bullet points that might illuminate some reasons why we don’t embrace the warm hug of Federal protection.
PBO -- We’ve come this far. Fire away.
CS -- Please keep in mind Mr. President everything I’m about to say is documented as fact and part of the public record. The information you are holding in your hands chronicles and verifies each and every point.
PBO -- You have five minutes left. The floor is yours. Brief me.
CS -- Thank you Mr. President. Okay, first; On the FBI’s most wanted list Osama Bin Laden is not charged with the crimes of 911. When I called the FBI to ask them why this was the case, they replied: “There’s not enough evidence to link Bin Laden to the crime scene,” I later discovered he had never even been indicted by the D.O.J.
CS -- Number 2; FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, was dismissed and gagged by the D.O.J. after she revealed that the government had foreknowledge of plans to attack American cities using planes as bombs as early as April 2001. In July of ‘09, Mrs. Edmonds broke the Federal gag order and went public to reveal that Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban were all working for and with the C.I.A. up until the day of 9/11.
CS -- Number 3; The following is a quote from Mayor Giuliani during an interview on 9/11 with Peter Jennings for ABC News. “I went down to the scene and we set up headquarters at 75 Barkley Street, which was right there with the Police Commissioner, the Fire Commissioner, the Head of Emergency Management, and we were operating out of there when we were told that the World Trade Center was going to collapse. And it did collapse before we could actually get out of the building, so we were trapped in the building for 10, 15 minutes, and finally found an exit and got out, walked north, and took a lot of people with us.”
WHO TOLD HIM THIS??? To this day, the answer to this question remains unanswered, completely ignored and emphatically DENIED by Mayor Giuliani on several public occasions.
CS -- Number 4; In April 2004, USA Today reported, "In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties." One of the targets was the World Trade Center.
CS -- Number 5; On September 12th 2007, CNN's ‘Anderson Cooper 360’, reported that the mysterious "white plane" spotted and videotaped by multiple media outlets, flying in restricted airspace over the White House shortly before 10am on the morning of 9/11, was in fact the Air Force's E-4B, a specially modified Boeing 747 with a communications pod behind the cockpit; otherwise known as “The Doomsday Plane”.
Though fully aware of the event, the 9/11 Commission did not deem the appearance of the military plane to be of any interest and did not include it in the final 9/11 Commission report.
CS -- Number 6; Three F-16s assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, ten miles from Washington, DC, are conducting training exercises in North Carolina 207 miles away as the first plane crashes into the WTC. Even at significantly less than their top speed of 1500 mph, they could still have defended the skies over Washington well before 9am, more than 37 minutes before Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, however, they did not return until after 9:55am.
Andrews AFB had no armed fighters on alert and ready to take off on the morning of 9/11.
CS -- Number 7; WTC Building 7. Watch the video of its collapse.
CS -- Number 8; Flight 93 is fourth plane to crash on 9/11 at 10:03am. V.P. Cheney only gives shoot down order at 10:10-10:20am and this is not communicated to NORAD until 28 minutes after Flight 93 has crashed.
Fueling further suspicion on this front is the fact that three months before the attacks of 9/11, Dick Cheney usurped control of NORAD, and therefore he, and no one else on planet Earth, had the power to call for military sorties on the hijacked airliners on 9/11. He did not exercise that power. Three months after 9/11, he relinquished command of NORAD and returned it to military operation.
CS -- Number 9; Scores of main stream news outlets reported that the F.B.I. conducted an investigation of at least FIVE of the 9/11 hijackers being trained at U.S. military flight schools. Those investigations are now sealed and need to be declassified.
CS -- Number 10; In 2004, New York firefighters Mike Bellone and Nicholas DeMasi went public to say they had found the black boxes at the World Trade Center, but were told to keep their mouths shut by FBI agents. Nicholas DeMasi said that he escorted federal agents on an all-terrain vehicle in October 2001 and helped them locate the devices, a story backed up by rescue volunteer Mike Bellone.
As the Philadelphia Daily News reported at the time, “Their story raises the question of whether there was a some type of cover-up at Ground Zero.”
CS -- Number 11 – Hundreds of eye witnesses including first responders, fire captains, news reporters, and police, all described multiple explosions in both towers before and during the collapse.
CS -- Number 12; An astounding video uncovered from the archives shows BBC News correspondent Jane Standley reporting on the collapse of WTC Building 7 over twenty minutes before it fell at 5:20pm on the afternoon of 9/11. Tapes from earlier BBC broadcasts show news anchors discussing the collapse of WTC 7 a full 26 minutes in advance. The BBC at first claimed that their tapes from 9/11 had been "lost" before admitting that they made the "error" of reporting the collapse of WTC 7 before it happened without adequately explaining how they could have obtained advance knowledge of the event.
In addition, over an hour before the collapse of WTC 7, at 4:10pm, CNN's Aaron Brown reported that the building "has either collapsed, or is collapsing."
CS -- Number 13; Solicitor General Ted Olson's claim that his wife Barbara Olsen called him twice from Flight 77, describing hijackers with box cutters, was a central plank of the official 9/11 story.
However, the credibility of the story was completely undermined after Olsen kept changing his story about whether his wife used her cell phone or the airplane phone. The technology to enable cell phone calls from high-altitude airline flights was not created until 2004. American Airlines confirmed that Flight 77 was a Boeing 757 and that this plane did not have airplane phones on board.
According to the FBI, Barbara Olsen attempted to call her husband only once and the call failed to connect, therefore Olsen must have been lying when he claimed he had spoken to his wife from Flight 77.
CS -- Number 14; The size of a Boeing 757 is approximately 125ft in width and yet images of the impact zone at the Pentagon supposedly caused by the crash merely show a hole no more than 16ft in diameter. The engines of the 757 would have punctured a hole bigger than this, never mind the whole plane. Images before the partial collapse of the impact zone show little real impact damage and a sparse debris field completely inconsistent with the crash of a large jetliner, especially when contrasted with other images showing airplane crashes into buildings.
CS -- Number 15; What is the meaning behind the following quote attributed to Dick Cheney which came to light during the 9/11 Commission hearings? The passage is taken from testimony given by then Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta.
During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, "The plane is 50 miles out." "The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to "the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the Vice President, "Do the orders still stand?" And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"
As the plane was not shot down, in addition to the fact that armed fighter jets were nowhere near the plane and the Pentagon defensive system was not activated, are we to take it that the orders were to let the plane find its target?
CS -- Number 16; In May 2003, the Miami Herald reported how the Bush administration was refusing to release a 900-page congressional report on 9/11 because it wanted to "avoid enshrining embarrassing details in the report," particularly regarding pre-9/11 warnings as well as the fact that the hijackers were trained at U.S. flight schools.
CS -- Number 17; Top Pentagon officials cancelled their scheduled flights for September 11th on September 10th. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, following a security warning, cancelled a flight into New York that was scheduled for the morning of 9/11.
CS -- Number 18; The technology to enable cell phone calls from high-altitude airline flights was not created until 2004, and even by that point it was only in the trial phase. Calls from cell phones which formed an integral part of the official government version of events were technologically impossible at the time.
CS -- Number 19: On April 29, 2004, President Bush and V.P. Cheney would only meet with the commission under specific clandestine conditions. They insisted on testifying together and not under oath. They also demanded that their testimony be treated as a matter of “state secret.” To date, nothing they spoke of that day exists in the public domain.
CS -- And finally Mr. President -- Number 20; A few days after the attack, several newspapers as well as the FBI reported that a paper passport had been found in the ruins of the WTC. In August 2004, CNN reported that 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah's visa was found in the remains of Flight 93 which went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
At least a third of the WTC victim's bodies were vaporized and many of the victims of the Pentagon incident were burned beyond recognition. And yet visas and paper passports which identify the perpetrators and back up the official version of events miraculously survive explosions and fires that we are told melted steel buildings.
(The Senior aide appears again beside the President whispering in his ear. He then quickly moves off).
PBO -- Well Charlie I can’t say this hasn’t been interesting. As I said earlier you’ve showed up today focused and organized. Regardless how I feel about the material you’ve presented, I must commend your dedication and zeal. However, our time here is up.
(the President rises from his chair , I do the same).
CS -- Mr. President! One more second!
(The President starts towards the door -- I follow him quickly step for step).
CS -- Mr. President, I implore you based on the evidence you now possess, to use your Executive Power. Prove to us all Sir, that you do, in fact, care. Create a truly comprehensive and open Congressional investigation of 9/11 and its aftermath. The families deserve the truth, the American people and the rest of the free world deserve the truth. Mr. President -
(He pauses. We shake hands).
CS -- Make sure you're on the right side of history.
(The President breaks the handshake).
PBO -- I am on the right side of history. Thank you Charlie, my staff and I will be in touch.
(I watch as he strides gracefully out of the room, the truth I provided him held firmly by his side; in the hand of providence.)
Twenty Minutes With The President 080909sig
Author’s Note: What you have just read didn’t actually happen… yet.
This is an open letter to the President requesting a new investigation.
Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen 'Twenty Minutes' Elicits Another Media Character Attack; Still No Coverage of Questions
Two weeks ago America's media, led by the Washington Times and quickly followed by particularly vitriolic television personalities, blasted Obama-appointed "Green Jobs" Advisor Van Jones for various personal positions and actions taken over the course of his life as an activist. Chief among them was his name being counted among signatories to a Statement issued by 911truth.org in 2004 asking for answers to 9/11-related questions, signed by 150 other "notable Americans" and 9/11 victims' family members. The ensuing blood bath did not involve Jones' positions on "Green" issues, for which he had been hired to advise - nor did the "Truther" feeding frenzy ever ONCE involve mention of the 12 questions listed on that Statement, questions which remain unanswered now. Readers of 911truth.org are aware of this media side-show, which eventually led to Jones' resignation on 9/12, and no doubt read the statement we issued to the press in response to their calls:
As the eighth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, what doesn't make sense to us is that media outlets choose to impugn the character of the signatories rather than carry out your responsibility as watchdogs to call attention to the as yet unanswered questions raised in the 2004 statement. Five years later, we challenge you to finally print those same unanswered questions and pursue their answers with the same vigor with which you pursue the signatories.
Now, similar "news" coverage is attacking Golden Globe winning actor Charlie Sheen, who dared to ask for a 20-minute meeting with President Obama to discuss 20 points relating to - again - unanswered questions surrounding 9/11. Sheen produced a fictionalized piece, "Twenty Minutes with the President" in which he sat down with "President Obama" to asked about twenty of these yet unanswered questions. Bob McIlvaine, whose son Bobby was killed on 9/11, has also joined with Sheen in requesting this meeting with the president.
In the ensuing days, media personalities have once again delighted in trotting out a litany of past "outrages" trolled up from Sheen's past, working doubletime to draw attention to everything BUT the 20 points contained in his script.
Like 911truth.org, Sheen has issued a statement about the behavior of the press and their unwillingness to look at the issues, and has put forth a challenge to anyone, ANYONE, to debate him and McIlvaine on Larry King Live. To date (as we have found time and again when 9/11 truth researchers, scientists, engineers and other credentialed professionals have issued challenges to debate), no one has come forward to meet Sheen's challenge. Once again, none of those in the media who have so viciously attacked his character are willing to attack his issues. (See for instance FOXnews, UK's Telegraph, and E!Online)
Time and again we have seen this same tired dance: Tucker Carlson attacking theologian David Ray Griffin and physicist Steven E. Jones. Scarborough Country attempting to discredit 911truth.org Media Spokesman Michael Berger. Glenn Beck's endless screeds calling 9/11 truth advocates "dangerous anti-Americans who work with ... al Qaeda to destroy America" (among other endless blather and name-calling). And not only has the corporate "right-wing" media taken this approach, supposed left-leaning publications have followed suit: Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone, Matthew Rothschild in Progressive , Bill Maher's Real Time, even Commondreams.org. (For more on this subject, see excellent article, Deconstructing Deceit: 9/11, the Media, and Myth Information by Mickey Huff and Paul Rea and the significant study from Peter Phillips and Project Censored, Left Progressive Media Inside the Propaganda Model.)
As Sheen put it, "We can no longer allow these cowards and shills to contaminate the reservoirs of truth. In addition to their slanderous folly, they have ignored my very public challenge to a debate on Larry King Live. If these cockroaches had but one shred of courage, they would embrace this opportunity."
We join Sheen in again challenging media to address the issues brought forward in both the 2009 Truth Statement from 911truth.org and the request for "Tewenty Minutes With the President" by Charlie Sheen.
Following is more from Charlie Sheen.
Twenty Minutes with the President
Reported by Charlie Sheen
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Read Sheen's 20 points script below, complete with documentation links, and watch the video here:
Charlie Sheen's statement issued 9/14/09 and his email correspondence to the White House:
Another Bin Laden tape has surfaced this morning. I will be monitoring the FBI's most wanted web site to see if this tape finally provides the Bureau with the evidence required to list "9/11? in Bin Laden's rap sheet. Thus far it has not.
I must point out as well, that the mainstream media has once again followed a desperate, juvenile and transparent script in their response to my letter, "Twenty Minutes with the President".
Not a single member of this mendacious side-show has focused their attention, for one second, on the 20 bullet points chronicled in my letter. Instead, they have attacked the man and ignored the facts. If this is their definition of, "responsible journalism", I urge all free thinking people to ignore these hopeless lap-dogs and responsibly do their own research. We can no longer allow these cowards and shills to contaminate the reservoirs of truth. In addition to their slanderous folly, they have ignored my very public challenge to a debate on Larry King Live. If these cockroaches had but one shred of courage, they would embrace this opportunity.
As of 1 o'clock PM, PST, on Sep. 14th, I still await a formal response from The White House. The emails I authored are printed below.
I thank you all for your patriotic support.
Respectfully -- Charlie Sheen
—————————————————-
Dear Mr. Gibbs -- I understand you are quite busy so I won't take up too much of your time. I have recently published a letter (article) online entitled, "Twenty Minutes with the President". It is currently garnering worldwide attention. It is a fictional account of myself and President Obama in an interview setting, discussing the events of Sep.11th. If you haven't read it yet, I would urge you to do so.
My request is pretty straightforward: I would like to invite our Commander in Chief to join me in a real discussion/interview focusing specifically on Sep. 11th and it's aftermath. If you would provide the President with a copy of my letter, he will have all of my questions and data ahead of time, therefore no surprises. I understand he is extremely busy and I can only imagine how many requests you receive each day.
If nothing else, it might be a welcome break from the stress of health care reform and the issues surrounding the economy. Twenty minutes, 1200 seconds, the location of your choice. America deserves this Mr. Gibbs.
I await your response. My very Best -- Charlie Sheen
—————————————————-
Dear Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Burton -- I'm deeply saddened to hear that my request to interview President Obama regarding 9/11 and present him with the facts has been declined. However, I am now making another request.
This request is on behalf of a large section of 9/11 victim's family members, more specifically Mr. Bob Mcllvaine, who tragically lost his son Bobby on that awful day. Mr. Mcllvaine represents and echoes a growing number of outspoken victim's family members who still have numerous unanswered questions regarding 9/11.
Mr. Mcvllaine and I would like to sit down with the President and focus solely on the 20 bullet points outlined in my document. Again gentlemen, these facts are not my opinions or theories, these glaring inconsistencies are supported and confirmed by 6 of the 10 commission members responsible for shaping and creating the "Official Report".
If this secondary request cannot be enacted, I would ask, at the very least, for an explanation in writing from the President himself, detailing the reason(s) for his decision.
Thank you for your time. My very best -- Charlie Sheen
September 14: In a segment broadcast on PrisonPlanet, Sheen and Bob McIlvaine talk about this outrageously distracting response by the media, and issue a challenge to public debate on Larry King Live, offered here in a 5-part youtube video (Or listen here: http://rss.nfowars.net/20090911_Fri_Alex.mp3)
Sheen Blasts Cowardly Media Respose to '20 Minutes' Letter
Actor labels corporate media shills "cockroaches" for completely failing to address 20 bullet points on 9/11
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
[Audio of 9/15 interview with Sheen here: http://rss.nfowars.net/20090915_Tue_Alex.mp3]
Charlie Sheen has blasted the cowardly corporate media response to his "20 Minutes With The President" letter, slamming the press as "hopeless lap-dogs" for failing to address a single one of his 20 bullet points on 9/11 while ignoring completely his challenge to publicly debate 9/11 truth debunkers.
Sheen's open letter to the President, which took the form of a fictionalized account of a meeting between the two in which Sheen grills Obama about the unanswered questions surrounding 9/11, received widespread media coverage and was featured in thousands of newspaper stories, online articles and TV segments. Awareness of the subject only increased after the subsequent release of a You Tube video in which Sheen personally appeals to the President to answer the questions.
However, not one single mainstream media report adequately covered even one of Sheen's 20 bullet points that were listed in the article and backed up by a substantial online bibliography.
Indeed, scores of corporate media hit pieces completely fabricated the content of Sheen's letter, attributing phrases to him that he had never made in an attempt to portray Sheen as abrasive and "insulting" to 9/11 victims and their families, despite the fact that the majority of family members share Sheen's questions.
Fox News was one of many corporate media outlets to claim that Sheen had stated "that Bush/Cheney planned it all," when in reality he had said no such thing. The media merely manufactured this spin so that they could politicize the issue, make it partisan, and then attack Sheen as just another deluded Hollywood liberal.
Claims that Sheen directly accused President Bush of planning 9/11 were erroneously carried by hundreds of media outlets despite the fact that the actor never made any such statement. The fact that the press had to invent a strawman stance and put words in Sheen's mouth to then attack him on proves how scared the media is of the power of the actual questions that Sheen asked in his letter.
(Continued here)
Script, "Twenty Minutes With the President"
Charlie Sheen -- Good afternoon Mr. President, thank you so much for taking time out of your demanding schedule.
President Barack Obama -- My pleasure, the content of your request seemed like something I should carve out a few minutes for.
CS -- I should point out that I voted for you, as your promises of hope and change, transparency and accountability, as well as putting government back into the hands of the American people, struck an emotional chord in me that I hadn’t felt in quite some time, perhaps ever.
PBO -- And I appreciate that Charlie. Big fan of the show, by the way.
CS -- Sir, I can’t imagine when you might find the time to actually watch my show given the measure of what you inherited.
PBO -- I have it Tivo’d on Air Force One. Nice break from the traveling press corps. (He glances at his watch) not to be abrupt or to rush you, but you have 19 minutes left.
CS -- I’ll take that as an invitation to cut to the chase.
PBO -- I’m all ears. Or so I’ve been told.
CS - Sir, in the very near future we will be experiencing our first 9/11 anniversary with you as Commander in Chief.
PBO -- Yes. A very solemn day for our Nation. A day of reflection and yet a day of historical consciousness as well.
CS -- Very much so sir, very much so indeed…. Now; In researching your position regarding the events of 9/11 and the subsequent investigation that followed, am I correct to understand that you fully support and endorse the findings of the commission report otherwise known as the ‘official story'?
PBO -- Do I have any reason not to? Given that most of us are presumably in touch with similar evidence.
CS -- I really wish that were the case, sir. Are you aware, Mr. President, of the recent stunning revelations that sixty percent of the 9/11 commissioners have publicly stated that the government agreed not to tell the truth about 9/11 and that the Pentagon was engaged in deliberate deception about their response to the attack?
PBO -- I am aware of certain “in fighting” during the course of their very thorough and tireless investigative process.
CS -- Mr. President, it’s hard to label this type of friction as “in fighting” or make the irresponsible leap to “thorough,” when the evidence I insist you examine regarding 6 of the 10 members are statements of fact.
(At this point one of Obama’s senior aides approaches the President and whispers into his ear. Obama glances quickly at his watch and nods as the aide resumes his post at the doorway, directly behind me.)
PBO -- No disrespect Mr. Sheen, but I have to ask; what is it that you seem to be implying with the initial direction of this discussion?
CS -- I am not implying anything Mr. President. I am here to present the facts and see what you plan to do with them.
PBO - Let me guess; your ‘facts,' allegedly supporting these claims are in the folders you brought with you?
CS -- Good guess Mr. President.
(I hand the first folder of documents to the President)
CS -- Again sir, these are not my opinions or assumptions, this is all a matter of public record, reported through mainstream media, painstakingly fact checked and verified.
(the President glances into the folder I handed him)
CS -- You’ll notice sir on page one of the dossier dated August of ‘06 from the Washington Post, the statements of John Farmer, senior council to the 9/11 commission, his quote stating, “I was shocked how different the truth was from the way it was described.”
PBO -- (as he glances down at the report, almost inaudible) …. um hmm….
CS -- He goes on to further state “The [NORAD Air Defense] tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years….”
(the President continues to view the documents)
Twenty Minutes With The President 080909top4
Charlie Sheen writing 20 Minutes with the President. Photo by Alex Jones.
CS -- On pages two and three, sir, are the statements, as well, from commission co-chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, commissioners Bob Kerrey, Timothy Roemer and John Lehman, as well as the statements of commissioner Max Cleland, an ex-Senator from Georgia , who resigned, stating:
“It is a national scandal. This investigation is now compromised. One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9/11 issue is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up."
He also described President Bush’s desire to delay the process as not to damage the ‘04 re-election bid. They suspected deception to the point where they considered referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Mr. President, this information alone is unequivocally grounds for a new investigation!
PBO -- Mistakes were clearly made but we as a people and as a country need to move forward. It is obviously in our best interest as a democratic society to focus our efforts and our resources on the future of this great nation and our ability to protect the American people and our allies from this type of terrorism in the coming years.
CS -- Sir, how can we focus on the future when THE COMMISSION ITSELF is on record stating that they still do not know the truth??
PBO -- Even if what you state, might in some capacity, begin to approach an open discussion or balanced debate, I can’t speak for, or about the decisions certain commission members made during an extremely difficult period. Perhaps you should be interviewing them instead of me. Wait, don’t tell me; I was easier to track down than they were?
CS - Not exactly sir, but let’s be honest. You’re the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, the buck stops with you. 9/11 has been the pretext for the systematic dismantling of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Your administration is reading from the same playbook that the Bush administration foisted on America through documented secrecy and deception.
PBO -- Mr. Sheen, I’m having a difficult time sitting here and listening to you draw distorted parallels between the Bush/Cheney regime and mine.
CS -- Mr. President the parallels are not distorted just because you say they are. Let’s stick to the facts. You promised to abolish the Patriot Act and then voted to re-authorize it. You pledged to end warrantless wire tapping against the American people and now energetically defend it. You decried the practice of rendition and now continue it. You promised over and over again on the campaign trail, that you would end the practice of indefinite detention and instead, you have expanded it to permanent detention of “detainees” without trial. This far exceeds the outrages of the former administration. Call me crazy Mr. President, but is this not your record?
PBO -- Mr. Sheen, my staff and I authorized this interview based on your request to discuss 9/11 and deliver some additional information you’re convinced I’d not previously reviewed. Call me crazy, But it appears as though you’ve blindly wandered off topic.
CS -- Sir, the examples I just illustrated are a direct result of 9/11.
PBO -- And I’m telling you that we must move forward, we must endure through these dangerous and politically challenging years ahead.
CS -- Mr. President, we cannot move forward with a bottomless warren of unanswered questions surrounding that day and its aftermath.
PBO -- I read the official report. Every word every page. Perhaps you should do the same.
CS -- I have sir, and so have thousands of family members of the victims, and guess what; they have the same questions I do and probably a lot more. I didn’t lose a loved one on that horrific day Mr. President and neither did you. But since then I, along with millions of other Americans lost something we held true and dear for most of our lives in this great country of ours; we lost our hope.
PBO -- And I’d like to believe that I am here to restore that hope. To restore confidence in your leaders, in the system that the voting public chose through a peaceful transfer of power.
(An odd moment of silence between us. Precious time ticking away).
CS -- Mr. President, are you aware of the number of days it took to begin the investigation into JFK’s assassination?
PBO -- If memory serves I believe it was two weeks.
CS -- Close. Seventeen days to be exact. Are you aware sir, how long it took to begin the investigation into Pearl Harbor?
PBO -- I would say again about….two weeks.
CS -- Close again sir, eleven days to be exact. Are you aware Mr. President how long it took to begin the investigation into 9/11?
PBO -- I know it must have seemed like a very long time for all the grieving families.
CS -- It was a very long time Mr. President – four hundred and forty days. Roughly 14 months. Does it bother you Mr. President that it only took FIVE HOURS for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after the initial attack to recommend and endorse a full scale offensive against Iraq?
PBO -- I am not aware of any such purported claim.
CS -- I have the proof Mr. President, along with scores of documents and facts I’d like you to take a look at. Here.
(I hand him another file -- much thicker than the first)
PBO -- I see you came prepared Charlie.
CS -- No other way to show up Mr. President. When in doubt over prepare I always say.
PBO -- Now you sound like the First Lady.
CS -- That’s quite a compliment sir.
PBO -- As you wish. Please continue.
CS -- Sir, I’d like to direct your attention to the stack of documents in the folder I just handed you. The first in from the top is entitled “Operation Northwoods”, a declassified Pentagon plan to stage terror attacks on US soil, to be blamed on Cuba as a pretext for war.
PBO -- And I’d like to direct your attention to the fact that the principle draftsman of this improbable blueprint was quickly denied a second term as Joint Chiefs chairman and sent packing to a European NATO garrison. Thank God his otherworldly ambitions never saw the light of day.
CS -- I wouldn’t be so certain about that Mr. President.
PBO -- I could easily say the same to you Charlie.
(the President checks his watch)
CS -- The next document reads “Declassified staged provocations.” Now, Honestly Mr. President I wish I was making this stuff up. I’m certain you are familiar with the USS Maine Incident, the sinking of the Lusitania, which we all now know brought us into WW1, and of course the most famous, the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
PBO -- Of course I am familiar with these historical events and I’m aware that there’s a measure of controversy surrounding them. But to be quite frank with you, this is all ancient history.
CS -- Mr. President, it has been often said; “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” And I concede to you sir, these events are the past.
PBO -- A vastly different world young man, shouldering a radically disparate state of universal affairs.
CS -- No argument sir, I‘m merely inviting you to acknowledge some credibility to the pattern or the theme. Case in point; the next document in your folder. It was published by the think-tank, Project For a New American Century and it’s entitled “Rebuilding Americas Defenses”, and was written by Dick Cheney and Jeb Bush. To quote from the document sir -- (the President interrupts)
PBO -- “Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”
CS -- Touché, sir. Your thoughts on this statement Mr. President?
PBO -- I would call this a blatant case of misjudgment fueled by an unfortunate milieu of assumption. For some, the uninformed denial of coincidence.
CS -- Interesting angle sir. Nevertheless, Vice President Cheney didn’t stop there. In early 2008, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh and MSNBC, both reported that Cheney had proposed to the Pentagon an outrageous plan to have the U.S. Navy create fake Iranian patrol boats, to be manned by Navy Seals, who would then stage an attack on US destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz. This event was to be blamed on Iran and used as a pretext for war. Does any of this information worry you Mr. President? Should we just ignore it, until these realities can be dismissed years from now by our children, as ancient history as well?
PBO -- Of course this information worries me, yet it’s not nearly as worrisome as you sitting here today suspiciously implying that 9/11 was somehow allowed to happen or even orchestrated from the inside.
CS -- Mr. President I am not suspiciously implying anything. I am merely exposing the documents and asking the questions that nobody in power will even look at or acknowledge. And as I stated earlier, I voted for you, I believed in your message of hope and change. Mr. President I have come to you specifically hoping for a change. A change in the perception that our government has not yet made itself open and accountable to the people. These are your words Mr. President not mine. The lives of thousands were brutally cut short and those left behind to suffer their infinite pain are with me today Mr. President. They are with me in spirit and flesh, and the message we carry will not be silenced anymore by media fueled mantras insisting how they are supposed to feel. Deciding for them, for 8 long years, what can be thought, what can be said, what can be asked.
PBO -- And I appreciate your passion, I appreciate your conviction. In spite of your concerns, in spite of what your data might or might not reveal, what you and the families must understand and accept is that we are doing everything we can to protect you.
CS -- Mr. President , I realize were very short on time, so please allow me to run down a list of bullet points that might illuminate some reasons why we don’t embrace the warm hug of Federal protection.
PBO -- We’ve come this far. Fire away.
CS -- Please keep in mind Mr. President everything I’m about to say is documented as fact and part of the public record. The information you are holding in your hands chronicles and verifies each and every point.
PBO -- You have five minutes left. The floor is yours. Brief me.
CS -- Thank you Mr. President. Okay, first; On the FBI’s most wanted list Osama Bin Laden is not charged with the crimes of 911. When I called the FBI to ask them why this was the case, they replied: “There’s not enough evidence to link Bin Laden to the crime scene,” I later discovered he had never even been indicted by the D.O.J.
CS -- Number 2; FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, was dismissed and gagged by the D.O.J. after she revealed that the government had foreknowledge of plans to attack American cities using planes as bombs as early as April 2001. In July of ‘09, Mrs. Edmonds broke the Federal gag order and went public to reveal that Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban were all working for and with the C.I.A. up until the day of 9/11.
CS -- Number 3; The following is a quote from Mayor Giuliani during an interview on 9/11 with Peter Jennings for ABC News. “I went down to the scene and we set up headquarters at 75 Barkley Street, which was right there with the Police Commissioner, the Fire Commissioner, the Head of Emergency Management, and we were operating out of there when we were told that the World Trade Center was going to collapse. And it did collapse before we could actually get out of the building, so we were trapped in the building for 10, 15 minutes, and finally found an exit and got out, walked north, and took a lot of people with us.”
WHO TOLD HIM THIS??? To this day, the answer to this question remains unanswered, completely ignored and emphatically DENIED by Mayor Giuliani on several public occasions.
CS -- Number 4; In April 2004, USA Today reported, "In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties." One of the targets was the World Trade Center.
CS -- Number 5; On September 12th 2007, CNN's ‘Anderson Cooper 360’, reported that the mysterious "white plane" spotted and videotaped by multiple media outlets, flying in restricted airspace over the White House shortly before 10am on the morning of 9/11, was in fact the Air Force's E-4B, a specially modified Boeing 747 with a communications pod behind the cockpit; otherwise known as “The Doomsday Plane”.
Though fully aware of the event, the 9/11 Commission did not deem the appearance of the military plane to be of any interest and did not include it in the final 9/11 Commission report.
CS -- Number 6; Three F-16s assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, ten miles from Washington, DC, are conducting training exercises in North Carolina 207 miles away as the first plane crashes into the WTC. Even at significantly less than their top speed of 1500 mph, they could still have defended the skies over Washington well before 9am, more than 37 minutes before Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, however, they did not return until after 9:55am.
Andrews AFB had no armed fighters on alert and ready to take off on the morning of 9/11.
CS -- Number 7; WTC Building 7. Watch the video of its collapse.
CS -- Number 8; Flight 93 is fourth plane to crash on 9/11 at 10:03am. V.P. Cheney only gives shoot down order at 10:10-10:20am and this is not communicated to NORAD until 28 minutes after Flight 93 has crashed.
Fueling further suspicion on this front is the fact that three months before the attacks of 9/11, Dick Cheney usurped control of NORAD, and therefore he, and no one else on planet Earth, had the power to call for military sorties on the hijacked airliners on 9/11. He did not exercise that power. Three months after 9/11, he relinquished command of NORAD and returned it to military operation.
CS -- Number 9; Scores of main stream news outlets reported that the F.B.I. conducted an investigation of at least FIVE of the 9/11 hijackers being trained at U.S. military flight schools. Those investigations are now sealed and need to be declassified.
CS -- Number 10; In 2004, New York firefighters Mike Bellone and Nicholas DeMasi went public to say they had found the black boxes at the World Trade Center, but were told to keep their mouths shut by FBI agents. Nicholas DeMasi said that he escorted federal agents on an all-terrain vehicle in October 2001 and helped them locate the devices, a story backed up by rescue volunteer Mike Bellone.
As the Philadelphia Daily News reported at the time, “Their story raises the question of whether there was a some type of cover-up at Ground Zero.”
CS -- Number 11 – Hundreds of eye witnesses including first responders, fire captains, news reporters, and police, all described multiple explosions in both towers before and during the collapse.
CS -- Number 12; An astounding video uncovered from the archives shows BBC News correspondent Jane Standley reporting on the collapse of WTC Building 7 over twenty minutes before it fell at 5:20pm on the afternoon of 9/11. Tapes from earlier BBC broadcasts show news anchors discussing the collapse of WTC 7 a full 26 minutes in advance. The BBC at first claimed that their tapes from 9/11 had been "lost" before admitting that they made the "error" of reporting the collapse of WTC 7 before it happened without adequately explaining how they could have obtained advance knowledge of the event.
In addition, over an hour before the collapse of WTC 7, at 4:10pm, CNN's Aaron Brown reported that the building "has either collapsed, or is collapsing."
CS -- Number 13; Solicitor General Ted Olson's claim that his wife Barbara Olsen called him twice from Flight 77, describing hijackers with box cutters, was a central plank of the official 9/11 story.
However, the credibility of the story was completely undermined after Olsen kept changing his story about whether his wife used her cell phone or the airplane phone. The technology to enable cell phone calls from high-altitude airline flights was not created until 2004. American Airlines confirmed that Flight 77 was a Boeing 757 and that this plane did not have airplane phones on board.
According to the FBI, Barbara Olsen attempted to call her husband only once and the call failed to connect, therefore Olsen must have been lying when he claimed he had spoken to his wife from Flight 77.
CS -- Number 14; The size of a Boeing 757 is approximately 125ft in width and yet images of the impact zone at the Pentagon supposedly caused by the crash merely show a hole no more than 16ft in diameter. The engines of the 757 would have punctured a hole bigger than this, never mind the whole plane. Images before the partial collapse of the impact zone show little real impact damage and a sparse debris field completely inconsistent with the crash of a large jetliner, especially when contrasted with other images showing airplane crashes into buildings.
CS -- Number 15; What is the meaning behind the following quote attributed to Dick Cheney which came to light during the 9/11 Commission hearings? The passage is taken from testimony given by then Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta.
During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, "The plane is 50 miles out." "The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to "the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the Vice President, "Do the orders still stand?" And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"
As the plane was not shot down, in addition to the fact that armed fighter jets were nowhere near the plane and the Pentagon defensive system was not activated, are we to take it that the orders were to let the plane find its target?
CS -- Number 16; In May 2003, the Miami Herald reported how the Bush administration was refusing to release a 900-page congressional report on 9/11 because it wanted to "avoid enshrining embarrassing details in the report," particularly regarding pre-9/11 warnings as well as the fact that the hijackers were trained at U.S. flight schools.
CS -- Number 17; Top Pentagon officials cancelled their scheduled flights for September 11th on September 10th. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, following a security warning, cancelled a flight into New York that was scheduled for the morning of 9/11.
CS -- Number 18; The technology to enable cell phone calls from high-altitude airline flights was not created until 2004, and even by that point it was only in the trial phase. Calls from cell phones which formed an integral part of the official government version of events were technologically impossible at the time.
CS -- Number 19: On April 29, 2004, President Bush and V.P. Cheney would only meet with the commission under specific clandestine conditions. They insisted on testifying together and not under oath. They also demanded that their testimony be treated as a matter of “state secret.” To date, nothing they spoke of that day exists in the public domain.
CS -- And finally Mr. President -- Number 20; A few days after the attack, several newspapers as well as the FBI reported that a paper passport had been found in the ruins of the WTC. In August 2004, CNN reported that 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah's visa was found in the remains of Flight 93 which went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
At least a third of the WTC victim's bodies were vaporized and many of the victims of the Pentagon incident were burned beyond recognition. And yet visas and paper passports which identify the perpetrators and back up the official version of events miraculously survive explosions and fires that we are told melted steel buildings.
(The Senior aide appears again beside the President whispering in his ear. He then quickly moves off).
PBO -- Well Charlie I can’t say this hasn’t been interesting. As I said earlier you’ve showed up today focused and organized. Regardless how I feel about the material you’ve presented, I must commend your dedication and zeal. However, our time here is up.
(the President rises from his chair , I do the same).
CS -- Mr. President! One more second!
(The President starts towards the door -- I follow him quickly step for step).
CS -- Mr. President, I implore you based on the evidence you now possess, to use your Executive Power. Prove to us all Sir, that you do, in fact, care. Create a truly comprehensive and open Congressional investigation of 9/11 and its aftermath. The families deserve the truth, the American people and the rest of the free world deserve the truth. Mr. President -
(He pauses. We shake hands).
CS -- Make sure you're on the right side of history.
(The President breaks the handshake).
PBO -- I am on the right side of history. Thank you Charlie, my staff and I will be in touch.
(I watch as he strides gracefully out of the room, the truth I provided him held firmly by his side; in the hand of providence.)
Twenty Minutes With The President 080909sig
Author’s Note: What you have just read didn’t actually happen… yet.
This is an open letter to the President requesting a new investigation.
Charlie Sheen.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Obama supports extending Patriot Act provisions
Obama supports extending Patriot Act provisions
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11136395
Posted: Sep 15, 2009 5:20 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration wants to extend three key parts of the Patriot Act that are supposed to expire at the end of the year.
The Justice Department sent that word to Congress in a letter that's now been made public.
At issue is the authority granted by the law to access business records, as well as to monitor so-called "lone wolf" terrorists and to conduct roving wiretaps.
Rights groups have criticized the provision on business records, saying it gives the government access to citizens' library records. As a candidate, President Barack Obama had said he would take a close look at the law, based on his background in constitutional law.
The Justice Department says it's willing to consider stronger civil rights protections as part of the extension.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the administration's position is a "mixed bag."
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11136395
Posted: Sep 15, 2009 5:20 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration wants to extend three key parts of the Patriot Act that are supposed to expire at the end of the year.
The Justice Department sent that word to Congress in a letter that's now been made public.
At issue is the authority granted by the law to access business records, as well as to monitor so-called "lone wolf" terrorists and to conduct roving wiretaps.
Rights groups have criticized the provision on business records, saying it gives the government access to citizens' library records. As a candidate, President Barack Obama had said he would take a close look at the law, based on his background in constitutional law.
The Justice Department says it's willing to consider stronger civil rights protections as part of the extension.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the administration's position is a "mixed bag."
Japan's PM, Cabinet resign
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer Eric Talmadge, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 5 mins ago
TOKYO – Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday to pave the way for parliament to elect Yukio Hatoyama as the country's next leader.
The top officials resigned after holding their final Cabinet meeting early Wednesday morning, the prime minister's office said.
The resignations were a formality so that parliament's lower house, now controlled by Hatoyama's party following their landslide election victory last month, can vote him in as Japan's prime minister. Hatoyama's victory ends more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by Aso's Liberal Democratic Party.
Hatoyama, head of the left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan, has promised to shake up Japan's political system, cutting government waste, reinvigorating the world's second-largest economy and focusing policies on consumers, not big business.
Parliament was to convene in a special session later in the day to formally select the new prime minister. Hatoyama's party controls 308 of the 480 seats in the body's lower chamber, which selects the prime minister, virtually assuring him of the post.
"I am excited by the prospect of changing history," Hatoyama said early Wednesday. "I also feel the weight of the responsibility of making history."
He will have a tough job ahead.
His first task would be to name a Cabinet. Media reports said he had already chosen Katsuya Okada as his foreign minister and Hirohisa Fujii as his finance minister. Though Okada has never held a Cabinet post, Fujii was finance minister under a coalition government in 1993-94, the only time in its 55-year history that the Liberal Democrats had previously been ousted from power.
Hatoyama has a limited pool of seasoned politicians to choose from. His party, created a decade ago, has never held power, and nearly half of the Democrats' members of the lower house will be serving in their first terms in parliament.
Though largely untested in power, Hatoyama and his party face huge tasks that they must deal with quickly.
Japan's economy is in its worst slump since World War II, unemployment is at a record high and wages are falling. The rapid aging of its population also threatens to be a drag on public coffers as the number of taxpayers decreases and pension responsibilities swell.
"The economy is in very difficult shape, so we must work hard to improve it," said Mieko Tanaka, one of the Democratic Party's new lawmakers.
Hatoyama will also be tested quickly on the diplomatic front. He has said he wants to attend a meeting in the United Nations in New York next week and possibly meet with President Barack Obama.
Hatoyama has said he wants to build a foreign policy that will put Tokyo on a more equal footing with Washington and force closer ties with Japan's Asian neighbors, particularly China.
Some members of Hatoyama's party have said they want to overhaul the U.S.-Japan security alliance under which 50,000 troops are deployed throughout Japan. That idea has met with strong opposition from Washington, although plans are already underway for 8,000 Marines to be relocated from the southern island of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam.
TOKYO – Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday to pave the way for parliament to elect Yukio Hatoyama as the country's next leader.
The top officials resigned after holding their final Cabinet meeting early Wednesday morning, the prime minister's office said.
The resignations were a formality so that parliament's lower house, now controlled by Hatoyama's party following their landslide election victory last month, can vote him in as Japan's prime minister. Hatoyama's victory ends more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by Aso's Liberal Democratic Party.
Hatoyama, head of the left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan, has promised to shake up Japan's political system, cutting government waste, reinvigorating the world's second-largest economy and focusing policies on consumers, not big business.
Parliament was to convene in a special session later in the day to formally select the new prime minister. Hatoyama's party controls 308 of the 480 seats in the body's lower chamber, which selects the prime minister, virtually assuring him of the post.
"I am excited by the prospect of changing history," Hatoyama said early Wednesday. "I also feel the weight of the responsibility of making history."
He will have a tough job ahead.
His first task would be to name a Cabinet. Media reports said he had already chosen Katsuya Okada as his foreign minister and Hirohisa Fujii as his finance minister. Though Okada has never held a Cabinet post, Fujii was finance minister under a coalition government in 1993-94, the only time in its 55-year history that the Liberal Democrats had previously been ousted from power.
Hatoyama has a limited pool of seasoned politicians to choose from. His party, created a decade ago, has never held power, and nearly half of the Democrats' members of the lower house will be serving in their first terms in parliament.
Though largely untested in power, Hatoyama and his party face huge tasks that they must deal with quickly.
Japan's economy is in its worst slump since World War II, unemployment is at a record high and wages are falling. The rapid aging of its population also threatens to be a drag on public coffers as the number of taxpayers decreases and pension responsibilities swell.
"The economy is in very difficult shape, so we must work hard to improve it," said Mieko Tanaka, one of the Democratic Party's new lawmakers.
Hatoyama will also be tested quickly on the diplomatic front. He has said he wants to attend a meeting in the United Nations in New York next week and possibly meet with President Barack Obama.
Hatoyama has said he wants to build a foreign policy that will put Tokyo on a more equal footing with Washington and force closer ties with Japan's Asian neighbors, particularly China.
Some members of Hatoyama's party have said they want to overhaul the U.S.-Japan security alliance under which 50,000 troops are deployed throughout Japan. That idea has met with strong opposition from Washington, although plans are already underway for 8,000 Marines to be relocated from the southern island of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Charlie Sheen, We Have Your Back!
On September 10th, 2009, Meghan McCain appeared on ABC's The View. During her appearance, the conversation was steered, by Whoopi Goldberg, to the impending anniversary of the attacks:
"So tomorrow is the eight anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks," said Goldberg, "and the conspiracy theories are as strong as ever. There are Internet sites, movies, and celebrities that are convinced that the government was complicit in the attacks. Is this ever going to change? I mean, conspiracy theories have always been around, but this seems a little much with all the information that we have."
With Elizabeth Hassleback absent, Meghan McCain served as an appropriate stand in. "Charlie Sheen is the latest celebrity to talk about how he doesn't believe in 9/11," she said. "I quoted Charlie Sheen yesterday about his experience with prostitutes, so really you're the one I should be listening to about 9/11?"
Where's Rosie O'Donnell when you need her?
Well, Meghan, do you think that your father is a more credible source? It was he who, in the days following 9/11, appeared on CNN and was asked what countries should be subject to retaliation, “Very obviously Iraq is the first country,” he replied. Why would you want or trust someone to who promoted the idea of a connection between Iraq and 9/11, something that was also promoted by the Bush Administration even though it was known not to be true from very early on? McCain also said that “the evidence is clear,” and there are “credible reports of involvement between Iraqi administration officials, Iraqi officials and the terrorists.” Additionally, he supported the fictitious claim that 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague. He was obviously eager to go into Iraq and support the PNAC agenda of regime change, regardless of whether or not Saddam was a threat or possessed weapons of mass destruction. On January 2, 2002 he would tell US troops on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, “Next stop, Baghdad!”
Also, according to an article published by Daniel Hopsicker on February 27th, 2008, a custom 727 that chauffeured your father to campaign events approximately four times during the 2000 election, was the same plane that was used to fly members of the Saudi royal family from Las Vegas to London in the wake of 9/11. What you should find even more interesting about that plane, considering you were so concerned with Charlie Sheen's alleged philandering with prostitutes, is the fact that the woman who arranged your father's flights on that plane was none other than Vicki Iseman. Remember, your father's lobbyist "friend?"
The point being, Sheen and the prostitutes and your father and Iseman are irrelevant (actually only partly, considering Iseman's connection to the company that, in addition to facilitating your father's campaign stops, also facilitated the Saudi exodus. However, that can be pushed aside for the time being). This is supposed to be a debate of facts, not a debate about who, between Sheen and your Father, is more of a sexual deviant.
Now, this is where the waters get a bit murky. I'm not entirely sure if you remember, but you and I spent time together, and had a conversation that I chose to keep private until now. On Sunday, November 18th, 2007, the Straight Talk Express paid a visit to my alma mater, Franklin Pierce University. While there, the senator filmed a television commercial in our television studio, and then addressed members of the student body and the community in Pierce Hall.
During his speech, and this is old news, he was questioned by a member of my former organization Student Scholars for 9/11 Truth:
During this time, however, I was supposed to be a member of the video crew that was running the three-camera shoot of the event. However, while backstage I became distracted when you appeared, and struck up a conversation with myself and my friend Eric Jackman.
"What is your main issue?" you asked.
I replied that my main issue was a new investigation into 9/11 and supporting the victims' family members. "I understand, because I went to school in New York City," you said. "A lot of the people I went to school with had the same concerns."
Prior to the event I had pinned on my shirt a black 1/4 inch button with an image of a white ribbon reading: "9/11 Truth Now." Later, in our conversation I took the button off and handed it to you. You took it and stuck it to you lapel as you were on your way to the straight talk express.
"Don't let your father see that!" I joked.
I am not trying to insinuate that you endorse Charlie Sheen's views on 9/11, but our conversation, proves that you, at least, know that Charlie Sheen doesn't not "believe in 9/11." You are fully aware of the issues that he is raising.
On the Alex Jones Show yesterday, Charlie Sheen challenged all of his critics, including you, Miss McCain, to a debate. Be intellectually honest and challenge Sheen on the points he made in this piece.
"So tomorrow is the eight anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks," said Goldberg, "and the conspiracy theories are as strong as ever. There are Internet sites, movies, and celebrities that are convinced that the government was complicit in the attacks. Is this ever going to change? I mean, conspiracy theories have always been around, but this seems a little much with all the information that we have."
With Elizabeth Hassleback absent, Meghan McCain served as an appropriate stand in. "Charlie Sheen is the latest celebrity to talk about how he doesn't believe in 9/11," she said. "I quoted Charlie Sheen yesterday about his experience with prostitutes, so really you're the one I should be listening to about 9/11?"
Where's Rosie O'Donnell when you need her?
Well, Meghan, do you think that your father is a more credible source? It was he who, in the days following 9/11, appeared on CNN and was asked what countries should be subject to retaliation, “Very obviously Iraq is the first country,” he replied. Why would you want or trust someone to who promoted the idea of a connection between Iraq and 9/11, something that was also promoted by the Bush Administration even though it was known not to be true from very early on? McCain also said that “the evidence is clear,” and there are “credible reports of involvement between Iraqi administration officials, Iraqi officials and the terrorists.” Additionally, he supported the fictitious claim that 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague. He was obviously eager to go into Iraq and support the PNAC agenda of regime change, regardless of whether or not Saddam was a threat or possessed weapons of mass destruction. On January 2, 2002 he would tell US troops on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, “Next stop, Baghdad!”
Also, according to an article published by Daniel Hopsicker on February 27th, 2008, a custom 727 that chauffeured your father to campaign events approximately four times during the 2000 election, was the same plane that was used to fly members of the Saudi royal family from Las Vegas to London in the wake of 9/11. What you should find even more interesting about that plane, considering you were so concerned with Charlie Sheen's alleged philandering with prostitutes, is the fact that the woman who arranged your father's flights on that plane was none other than Vicki Iseman. Remember, your father's lobbyist "friend?"
The point being, Sheen and the prostitutes and your father and Iseman are irrelevant (actually only partly, considering Iseman's connection to the company that, in addition to facilitating your father's campaign stops, also facilitated the Saudi exodus. However, that can be pushed aside for the time being). This is supposed to be a debate of facts, not a debate about who, between Sheen and your Father, is more of a sexual deviant.
Now, this is where the waters get a bit murky. I'm not entirely sure if you remember, but you and I spent time together, and had a conversation that I chose to keep private until now. On Sunday, November 18th, 2007, the Straight Talk Express paid a visit to my alma mater, Franklin Pierce University. While there, the senator filmed a television commercial in our television studio, and then addressed members of the student body and the community in Pierce Hall.
During his speech, and this is old news, he was questioned by a member of my former organization Student Scholars for 9/11 Truth:
During this time, however, I was supposed to be a member of the video crew that was running the three-camera shoot of the event. However, while backstage I became distracted when you appeared, and struck up a conversation with myself and my friend Eric Jackman.
"What is your main issue?" you asked.
I replied that my main issue was a new investigation into 9/11 and supporting the victims' family members. "I understand, because I went to school in New York City," you said. "A lot of the people I went to school with had the same concerns."
Prior to the event I had pinned on my shirt a black 1/4 inch button with an image of a white ribbon reading: "9/11 Truth Now." Later, in our conversation I took the button off and handed it to you. You took it and stuck it to you lapel as you were on your way to the straight talk express.
"Don't let your father see that!" I joked.
I am not trying to insinuate that you endorse Charlie Sheen's views on 9/11, but our conversation, proves that you, at least, know that Charlie Sheen doesn't not "believe in 9/11." You are fully aware of the issues that he is raising.
On the Alex Jones Show yesterday, Charlie Sheen challenged all of his critics, including you, Miss McCain, to a debate. Be intellectually honest and challenge Sheen on the points he made in this piece.
ACLU sues Pittsburgh, Secret Service over G20 protest permits
By Agence France-Presse
Published: September 12, 2009
A US rights group is suing the city of Pittsburgh and the US Secret Service on behalf of activists seeking to protest the upcoming G-20 summit to be held here September 24 and 25.
“After a month of negotiation with the city and the Secret Service, we have come to an impasse and today we filed a lawsuit in the US district court,” said Witold Walczak, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The group filed the suit on behalf of six groups, including pacifist organization Code Pink and the environmental group Three Rivers Climate Convergence.
“We’ve been very patient. We simply can’t wait any longer,” Walczak told AFP, adding that 13 requests for demonstration permits had been submitted to municipal authorities, but only two were approved, for dates before the summit.
Local authorities said they had preapproved eight requests.
The activists, who say in the lawsuit that they “represent thousands of people who oppose the undemocratic way in which the G20 operates” want permission use parks in the city as camping space for visiting protestors and the green light for a protest that would pass close to the conference center where heads of state are meeting.
“The plaintiffs seek to engage in peaceful, constitutionally protected expressive activities during the upcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh,” the lawsuit says.
Jules Lobel of the Center for Constitutional Rights offered support for the filing.
“The first amendment prohibits the government from deciding to allow or not certain people to speak whether they have different messages. The government can’t dictate who speaks their message.”
The court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case at the beginning of next week.
Published: September 12, 2009
A US rights group is suing the city of Pittsburgh and the US Secret Service on behalf of activists seeking to protest the upcoming G-20 summit to be held here September 24 and 25.
“After a month of negotiation with the city and the Secret Service, we have come to an impasse and today we filed a lawsuit in the US district court,” said Witold Walczak, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The group filed the suit on behalf of six groups, including pacifist organization Code Pink and the environmental group Three Rivers Climate Convergence.
“We’ve been very patient. We simply can’t wait any longer,” Walczak told AFP, adding that 13 requests for demonstration permits had been submitted to municipal authorities, but only two were approved, for dates before the summit.
Local authorities said they had preapproved eight requests.
The activists, who say in the lawsuit that they “represent thousands of people who oppose the undemocratic way in which the G20 operates” want permission use parks in the city as camping space for visiting protestors and the green light for a protest that would pass close to the conference center where heads of state are meeting.
“The plaintiffs seek to engage in peaceful, constitutionally protected expressive activities during the upcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh,” the lawsuit says.
Jules Lobel of the Center for Constitutional Rights offered support for the filing.
“The first amendment prohibits the government from deciding to allow or not certain people to speak whether they have different messages. The government can’t dictate who speaks their message.”
The court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case at the beginning of next week.
ASPARTAME AWARENESS WEEKEND, SEPT 11 - SEPT 13TH 2009
Posted: 10 September 2009
The very mission of Mission Possible is to make the public aware aspartame is not an additive but a deadly chemical poison, an excitoneurotoxic carcinogenic drug that interacts with other drugs and vaccines and needs to be banned. The first weekend after Labor Day is when the children are back in school, and we can work to get schools to remove diet soda with aspartame or any form of this deadly poison. World experts on aspartame have already written the articles so schools and school boards can benefit and have the facts. There are so many school boards across this planet that need the information, and the articles are all together in a Word Document. All you have to do is email this document to schools, boards, PTA, pediatricians and organizations dedicated to protecting the unborn and children. Here is the Report for Schools document: http://www.mpwhi.com/report_on_aspartame_and_children.htm
Unfortunately on every restaurant table you will find aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, E951, Canderel, etc.) and last year the Just Like Sugar people who make this safe sweetener manufactured the product in green packets for restaurant tables. This is the flyer from last year which can be used again to help remove this excitoneurotoxin from restaurants all over the world. "Waiter Kindly Remove This Neurotoxin from our Table": http://www.mpwhi.com/waiter_remove_this_neurotoxic_drug.htm Always leave a copy with restaurant management whenever you dine out.
A list of resources:
Aspartame medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, http://www.sunsentpress.com by H. J. Roberts, M.D., over 100 pages He also has other books on aspartame and is about to publish a new one.
Dr. Leonard Coldwell's Detox Formula: http://www.mpwhi.com/resources-coldwell.htm
Detox formula: "What To Do If You Have Used Aspartame" by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., http://www.wnho.net/wtdaspartame.htm
Dr. Blaylock is author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, http://www.russellblaylockmd.com He has an excellent CD titled: "The Truth About Aspartame", http://www.atavistik.com
Aspartame documentary: Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World, http://www.soundandfury.tv
Aspartame Information List, you can subscribe on http://www.mpwhi.com or http://www.wnho.net Scroll down to banners.
How to get aspartame out of your state: http://www.thenhf.com/press_releases/pr_24_feb_2009.html
Safe Sweetener: Just Like Sugar, http://www.justlikesugarinc.com Can be found in places like Whole Foods. Made of chicory and orange peel, Calcium and Vitamin C. Chicory has been used for 70 years to improve the health of diabetics. Dr. Russell Blaylock wrote in his newsletter, The Blaylock Wellness Report, http://www.russellblaylockmd.com "Finally a safe sweetener".
Aspartame information for distribution: The Artificially Sweetened Times, 24 page booklets on aspartame, http://www.idaho-observer.com
The Lethal Science of Splenda: http://www.wnho.net/splenda_chlorocarbon.htm
Studies have shown that sucralose can:
* Cause the thymus to shrink by as much as 40% (the thymus is your immune powerhouse - it produces T cells)
* Cause enlargement of the liver and kidneys
* Reduce growth rate as much as 20%
* Cause enlargement of the large bowel area
* Reduce the amount of good bacteria in the intestines by 50%
* Increase the pH level in the intestines (a risk factor for colon cancer)
* Contribute to weight gain
* Cause aborted pregnancy low fetal body weight
* Reduce red blood cell count
Particular warning to diabetics: Researchers found that diabetic patients using sucralose showed a statistically significant increase in glycosylated hemoglobin, a marker that is used to assess glycemic control in diabetic patients. According to the FDA, "increases in glycosolation in hemoglobin imply lessening of control of diabetes."
Web sites: http://www.mpwhi.com, http://www.dorway.com and http://www.wnho.net
Aspartame Toxicity Center: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
H. J. Roberts, M.D., FACP, FCCP who authored the medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, has recently written a new book called "A Manifesto For American Medicine". Every physician getting out of medical school should read this so he wouldn't be taken in by the propaganda from professional organizations, front groups and industry defending their poison. He goes into deficiencies in medical education and the FDA, disappointment with research and the medical literature, medical errors and preventable complications and failure to appreciate the adverse effects of drugs and vaccines. There is much more including aspartame. Because this is Aspartame Awareness Weekend Dr. Roberts has a special where you can get the medical text, Aspartame Disease, along with the new Manifesto for not much more than the medical text alone. Both are $60.00 and you get them from http://www.sunsentpress.com
This article from the Washington Post from 2001 admits if it wasn't for Donald Rumsfeld aspartame would not be on the market: http://www.mpwhi.com/the_best_defense.pdf With this in mind listen to James Turner, Atty, explain how Rumsfeld got this accomplished after the FDA had revoked the petition for approval: http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/rumsfeld.html This is from the documentary, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World.
Two studies on aspartame from the Ramazzini Institute have shown aspartame to be a multipotential carcinogen and that it can be passed on to the child the woman is carrying if the baby survives at all. Aspartame is an abortifacient and teratogen. Dr. Adrian Gross, the FDA toxicologist, who investigated aspartame and instrumental in attempting to get the company indicted for fraud, testified before Congress in 1985. He made it clear aspartame violated the Delaney Amendment since it causes cancer and because of this no ADI should ever have been established. To make matters worse when aspartame was approved for carbonated beverages FDA knew the ADI would be abused so took it upon themselves to raise the level. It's abuse at any level because its impossible to give a safe level when a product causes cancer as Dr.Gross brought out. Remember that aspartame has free methyl alcohol in it, a severe metabolic poison, that converts to formaldehyde and embalms living tissue. (Trocho Study). The other two components are aspartic acid, an excitotoxin, and phenylalanine, at 50% and isolated, a neurotoxin. The molecule breaks down to diketopiperazine, a brain tumor agent. Today researchers wonder why there is such an epidemic of brain cancer. It's not all just cell phones - you have over half the population consuming a brain tumor agent.
Dr. Leonard Coldwell has just completed a new book, The Only Answer to Cancer, and it will be on special through September 15th at $19.99, the day it becomes available. You can order it from http://www.instinctbasedmedicinestore.com I wrote a chapter on the cure for cancer as well as information on aspartame and cancer for this book. Dr. Coldwell also has an excellent detox formula: http://www.mpwhi.com/92_aspartame_symptoms.pdf When victims are warned they have reported everything from having their eye sight restored to the elimination of seizures, headaches, joint pain and MS symptoms. The medical text is 1000 pages of symptoms and diseases triggered by this poison.
Physicians should take a dietary history so they know to get patients off aspartame. What a blessing to watch them return to normal health. Because aspartame interacts with drugs and vaccines someone on it doesn't have a chance. Mission Possible basically deals with alerting the public on aspartame and other dangerous sweeteners and MSG. We make available to you what sweeteners are safe to use. However, this year there is the emergency of a planned pandemic and the vaccine can kill, and already has. You can imagine as dangerous as it is, if someone uses the flu vaccine and aspartame it would be much worse because of interaction. With this thought in mine, here are three posts that everyone should read.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon on Vaccine Horror: http://www.mpwhi.com/vaccine_horror_from_russell_blaylock.htm
The pandemic was planned. Here is the IBM Internal Memo, the smoking gun: http://web.me.com/donnicoloff/directlightproductions.com/Documents/
Entries/2009/9/2_IBM___IOT_PREDICT_2009_FLU_PANDEMIC_%E2%80%94_IN_2006!.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDR-UJYms6w&NR=1 Vaccine made and pandemic planned
As far as we know there are two vaccines that have been said to contain aspartame, cholera and typhoid. Please advise if you find any others.
Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum.
Founder, Mission Possible World Health International
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770-242-2599
E-Mail: BettyM19@mindspring.com
http://www.wpwhi.com
http://www.wnho.net
http://www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
The very mission of Mission Possible is to make the public aware aspartame is not an additive but a deadly chemical poison, an excitoneurotoxic carcinogenic drug that interacts with other drugs and vaccines and needs to be banned. The first weekend after Labor Day is when the children are back in school, and we can work to get schools to remove diet soda with aspartame or any form of this deadly poison. World experts on aspartame have already written the articles so schools and school boards can benefit and have the facts. There are so many school boards across this planet that need the information, and the articles are all together in a Word Document. All you have to do is email this document to schools, boards, PTA, pediatricians and organizations dedicated to protecting the unborn and children. Here is the Report for Schools document: http://www.mpwhi.com/report_on_aspartame_and_children.htm
Unfortunately on every restaurant table you will find aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, E951, Canderel, etc.) and last year the Just Like Sugar people who make this safe sweetener manufactured the product in green packets for restaurant tables. This is the flyer from last year which can be used again to help remove this excitoneurotoxin from restaurants all over the world. "Waiter Kindly Remove This Neurotoxin from our Table": http://www.mpwhi.com/waiter_remove_this_neurotoxic_drug.htm Always leave a copy with restaurant management whenever you dine out.
A list of resources:
Aspartame medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, http://www.sunsentpress.com by H. J. Roberts, M.D., over 100 pages He also has other books on aspartame and is about to publish a new one.
Dr. Leonard Coldwell's Detox Formula: http://www.mpwhi.com/resources-coldwell.htm
Detox formula: "What To Do If You Have Used Aspartame" by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., http://www.wnho.net/wtdaspartame.htm
Dr. Blaylock is author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, http://www.russellblaylockmd.com He has an excellent CD titled: "The Truth About Aspartame", http://www.atavistik.com
Aspartame documentary: Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World, http://www.soundandfury.tv
Aspartame Information List, you can subscribe on http://www.mpwhi.com or http://www.wnho.net Scroll down to banners.
How to get aspartame out of your state: http://www.thenhf.com/press_releases/pr_24_feb_2009.html
Safe Sweetener: Just Like Sugar, http://www.justlikesugarinc.com Can be found in places like Whole Foods. Made of chicory and orange peel, Calcium and Vitamin C. Chicory has been used for 70 years to improve the health of diabetics. Dr. Russell Blaylock wrote in his newsletter, The Blaylock Wellness Report, http://www.russellblaylockmd.com "Finally a safe sweetener".
Aspartame information for distribution: The Artificially Sweetened Times, 24 page booklets on aspartame, http://www.idaho-observer.com
The Lethal Science of Splenda: http://www.wnho.net/splenda_chlorocarbon.htm
Studies have shown that sucralose can:
* Cause the thymus to shrink by as much as 40% (the thymus is your immune powerhouse - it produces T cells)
* Cause enlargement of the liver and kidneys
* Reduce growth rate as much as 20%
* Cause enlargement of the large bowel area
* Reduce the amount of good bacteria in the intestines by 50%
* Increase the pH level in the intestines (a risk factor for colon cancer)
* Contribute to weight gain
* Cause aborted pregnancy low fetal body weight
* Reduce red blood cell count
Particular warning to diabetics: Researchers found that diabetic patients using sucralose showed a statistically significant increase in glycosylated hemoglobin, a marker that is used to assess glycemic control in diabetic patients. According to the FDA, "increases in glycosolation in hemoglobin imply lessening of control of diabetes."
Web sites: http://www.mpwhi.com, http://www.dorway.com and http://www.wnho.net
Aspartame Toxicity Center: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
H. J. Roberts, M.D., FACP, FCCP who authored the medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, has recently written a new book called "A Manifesto For American Medicine". Every physician getting out of medical school should read this so he wouldn't be taken in by the propaganda from professional organizations, front groups and industry defending their poison. He goes into deficiencies in medical education and the FDA, disappointment with research and the medical literature, medical errors and preventable complications and failure to appreciate the adverse effects of drugs and vaccines. There is much more including aspartame. Because this is Aspartame Awareness Weekend Dr. Roberts has a special where you can get the medical text, Aspartame Disease, along with the new Manifesto for not much more than the medical text alone. Both are $60.00 and you get them from http://www.sunsentpress.com
This article from the Washington Post from 2001 admits if it wasn't for Donald Rumsfeld aspartame would not be on the market: http://www.mpwhi.com/the_best_defense.pdf With this in mind listen to James Turner, Atty, explain how Rumsfeld got this accomplished after the FDA had revoked the petition for approval: http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/rumsfeld.html This is from the documentary, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World.
Two studies on aspartame from the Ramazzini Institute have shown aspartame to be a multipotential carcinogen and that it can be passed on to the child the woman is carrying if the baby survives at all. Aspartame is an abortifacient and teratogen. Dr. Adrian Gross, the FDA toxicologist, who investigated aspartame and instrumental in attempting to get the company indicted for fraud, testified before Congress in 1985. He made it clear aspartame violated the Delaney Amendment since it causes cancer and because of this no ADI should ever have been established. To make matters worse when aspartame was approved for carbonated beverages FDA knew the ADI would be abused so took it upon themselves to raise the level. It's abuse at any level because its impossible to give a safe level when a product causes cancer as Dr.Gross brought out. Remember that aspartame has free methyl alcohol in it, a severe metabolic poison, that converts to formaldehyde and embalms living tissue. (Trocho Study). The other two components are aspartic acid, an excitotoxin, and phenylalanine, at 50% and isolated, a neurotoxin. The molecule breaks down to diketopiperazine, a brain tumor agent. Today researchers wonder why there is such an epidemic of brain cancer. It's not all just cell phones - you have over half the population consuming a brain tumor agent.
Dr. Leonard Coldwell has just completed a new book, The Only Answer to Cancer, and it will be on special through September 15th at $19.99, the day it becomes available. You can order it from http://www.instinctbasedmedicinestore.com I wrote a chapter on the cure for cancer as well as information on aspartame and cancer for this book. Dr. Coldwell also has an excellent detox formula: http://www.mpwhi.com/92_aspartame_symptoms.pdf When victims are warned they have reported everything from having their eye sight restored to the elimination of seizures, headaches, joint pain and MS symptoms. The medical text is 1000 pages of symptoms and diseases triggered by this poison.
Physicians should take a dietary history so they know to get patients off aspartame. What a blessing to watch them return to normal health. Because aspartame interacts with drugs and vaccines someone on it doesn't have a chance. Mission Possible basically deals with alerting the public on aspartame and other dangerous sweeteners and MSG. We make available to you what sweeteners are safe to use. However, this year there is the emergency of a planned pandemic and the vaccine can kill, and already has. You can imagine as dangerous as it is, if someone uses the flu vaccine and aspartame it would be much worse because of interaction. With this thought in mine, here are three posts that everyone should read.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon on Vaccine Horror: http://www.mpwhi.com/vaccine_horror_from_russell_blaylock.htm
The pandemic was planned. Here is the IBM Internal Memo, the smoking gun: http://web.me.com/donnicoloff/directlightproductions.com/Documents/
Entries/2009/9/2_IBM___IOT_PREDICT_2009_FLU_PANDEMIC_%E2%80%94_IN_2006!.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDR-UJYms6w&NR=1 Vaccine made and pandemic planned
As far as we know there are two vaccines that have been said to contain aspartame, cholera and typhoid. Please advise if you find any others.
Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum.
Founder, Mission Possible World Health International
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770-242-2599
E-Mail: BettyM19@mindspring.com
http://www.wpwhi.com
http://www.wnho.net
http://www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
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