Thursday, September 06, 2007

THE CONSTRUCTION OF SYNTHETIC TERROR

The Construction of Synthetic Terror

September 05, 2007
C R Sridhar

“Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the State."
James Jesus Angleton, Head of CIA Counter Intelligence 1954-1974.

Implicit in the strident rhetoric on the War against Terror is a Manichean struggle between Good and Evil symbolized by the clash between Western Democracies espousing liberal values and Islamic totalitarianism representing obscurantist religious dogmas. The simplification of the issue of terrorism was evident when George Bush in his address to the National Endowment for Democracy said ‘some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.’ The whipped up frenzy of al Quaeda and the shadowy figure of utmost evil Osama Bin Laden is standard fare in most media reinforcing the mass hysteria about terrorism.

Post 9/11; there have been growing voices of dissent that the demonisation of Islam as a prime agent of terrorism is an artificial construct to suit the interests of a narrow oligarchy in the US government linked to the powerful oil lobby. ‘ We must stress the idea, unfamiliar and suppressed as it is,’ says W.G. Tarpley, a Fulbright Scholar and an expert on terrorism, ‘that the vast majority of international terrorism conducted on a spectacular scale is indeed state-sponsored terrorism.’ ‘The Arab who feels sympathy,’ he continues, ‘for al Qaeda needs to be forcefully reminded that al Quaeda was created by CIA and continues to be steered by the CIA, through various intermediaries and cut-outs, or discreet go-betweens.’ Terrorism in the modern era is the means adopted by Oligarchies to wage war against its own members of society when its power is threatened.1 Such terror is synthetic in nature as it is artificially created, shaped and guided by a shadowy government for its own ends embedded within a legally constituted government and whose power is not subject to any constitutionally approved checks and balances.

State–sponsored terrorism

The theoretical basis for Synthetic terror was provided by an Italian intellectual Gianfranco Sanguinetti who published in 1979 a remarkable treatise on terrorism titled ‘Del Terrorismo E Dello Stato: La teoria e la practica del terrisomo per la prima volta divulgat’ which was partly translated as ‘On Terrorism and the State’. The publication of this book caused a major scandal in Italy as Sanguinetti boldly asserted that when the state is in crisis, it resorts to acts of terrorism against its own citizens with the terrorism emanating from the parallel structures within the state. Thus, the secret police infiltrates subversive militant organization, substitutes itself at the top of the command structure by arresting or killing the leaders of such groups in encounters with the police. With the infiltrated elements of the secret police within the militant organization, it becomes easy to guide the organization to suit the purposes of the state. As Sanguinetti wryly observes2

‘From then on, the parallel services of the State find they have, at their disposal, a perfectly efficient organism to do as they please with, composed of naive or fanatical militants, which asks for nothing other than to be directed. The original little terrorist group, born of the mirages of its militants about the possibilities of realizing an effective strategic offensive, changes strategists and becomes nothing other than a defensive appendage of the State, which manoeuvres it with the utmost agility and ease, according to its own necessities of the moment, or what it believes to be its own necessities.’

Whenever state power is confronted by social upheavals such as worker strikes, communist movements and demands for distributive justice and if oligarchic interests perceive such threats as grave enough to upset status quo, it swings into action by committing terrorist outrages against its own citizens and blaming them on extremist terrorist organization. As Sanguinetti puts it ‘The outrages that are accomplished directly by the detached corps and parallel services of the State are not usually claimed by anybody, but are each time, imputed or attributed to some or other convenient culprit’ or scapegoat.

The object of such state-sponsored terrorism, in Sanguinetti’s words, ‘is to make the whole population, who, nowadays, can no longer suffer, or is struggling against, this State, believe that it has at least an enemy in common with this State, and from which this State defends it on the condition that it is no longer called into question by anyone.’ By creating the monster of terrorism and blaming it on infiltrated terrorist outfits, the state is able to ward off any threats to its existence. Again as Sanguinetti sums up ‘The population, which is generally hostile to terrorism, and not without reason, must then agree that, at least in this, it needs the State, to which it must thus delegate the widest powers so that it might confront with vigour the arduous task of the common defence against an obscure, mysterious, perfidious, merciless, and, in a word, chimeric, enemy.’

The extraordinary observation of Sanguinetti on state-sponsored terrorism was based on his experience of seemingly inexplicable and bizarre acts of terrorism, which rocked Italy from the mid sixties to the late seventies. Elsewhere in other parts of Europe like Germany and France also witnessed similar acts of terrorism, assassinations, and electoral subversion. The acts of terrorism in Italy ranged from train bombing, random killing of policemen, bombing of a bank at Piazza Fontana to the sensational kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro- a prominent politician belonging to the Italian Christian Democratic Party who wanted the communists to join the government. Though these acts of terrorism were blamed on anarchists, Red Brigade and other left groups, Sanguinetti exposed that the Italian state was behind the outrages planned and executed by neo-fascist and extreme right-wing groups. Sanguinetti astutely perceived that the state-sponsored terrorism was a diabolical ruse to break the back of striking workers and Communist movements in Italy.

Swordplay.

The stand of Sanguinetti was vindicated by a bizarre twist of circumstances. In 1990 Prime minister Giulio Andreotti (member of the Italian Christian Democratic Party) publicly recognized the existence of Gladio. This sensational disclosure was followed by Parliamentary Committee reports, which investigated the unsolved acts of terrorism in various parts of Europe and slowly pieced together the frightening duplicity of Western Intelligence Agencies, namely, CIA and MI6, which cynically planned the terrorist acts in collusion with neo-fascists groups, ex-nazis, neo-fascist P-2 Masonic lodge and extreme right wing groups with the tacit support of the Military Intelligence/ Secret services of Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Denmark , Finland and Greece.

Operation Gladio (from Latin Gladius, meaning sword) was, in the words of Chris Floyd, ‘a decades-long covert campaign of terrorism and deceit directed by the intelligence services of the West — against their own populations. Hundreds of innocent people were killed or maimed in terrorist attacks — on train stations, supermarkets, cafes and offices, which were then blamed on "leftist subversives" or other political opponents.’3

The strategy of tension.

An ex-agent of Gladio, Vincenzo Vinciguerra who in his sworn testimony revealed that the objective of the entire operation was to demonize designated enemies and frighten the public into supporting ever-increasing powers for government leaders — and their elitist cronies. As he said ‘you had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple: to force ... the public to turn to the state to ask for greater security.’ The CIA, for the purpose of frightening the national political classes into adopting US policies, used the strategy of tension.4

The strategy of tension was used by US and its Western allies in its hegemonic quest for world domination. As Mark Curtis says ‘Mutual Anglo-American support in ordering the affairs of key nations and regions, often with violence, to their design has been a consistent feature of the era that followed the Second World War…’5 The compelling reason, according to Director of Research of the California-based Institute for Economic Democracy (IED), Dr. J. W. Smith was, ‘All [Western] intelligence agencies have been, and are still in, the business of destabilizing undeveloped countries to maintain their dependency and the flow of the world’s natural wealth to powerful nations’ industries at a low price and to provide markets for those industries at a high price.’6

More importantly, the consent of the American public had to be obtained by raising the bogey of the Soviet threat and the ogre of Communism. As Michael Parenti says ‘Anti-communism and the Soviet threat seem less a source for policy than a propaganda ploy to frighten the American public and rally support for overseas commitments.’7 After the ending of the cold war new threats to American Freedom had to be reinvented. The bogey of Islamic terrorism came handy to manage public opinion for the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq.

Puppet on a string

The terror of al Qaeda - a chimerical monster of evil with its mastermind Osama Bin Laden - could well be an artificial construct for US to conduct outrageous terror acts in its name. That this view is not as fanciful as it sounds could be collaborated by the testimony of Pierre-Henry Bunel, a former agent for French military intelligence, who said ‘The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the 'TV watcher' to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US and the lobbyists for the US war on terrorism are only interested in making money.’ In December 2001, a secret French military court convicted Maj. Pierre-Henri Bunel for passing classified documents.

Even Hamas, the arch rival of Israel, says Paul Joseph Watson, ‘was founded and funded by Israel’s dominant Likud party and continues to be bankrolled to this day by political bodies pushing a one-world government system. It is a documented fact reported on by mainstream news outlets and admitted by respected individuals within the US and Israeli governments and intelligence agencies.’8 The same is the case of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was encouraged by Shin Bet (Israeli Intelligence Service) to wage a fratricidal war against secular and progressive groups in the Arab world and liquidate them. The plan was diabolically clever as secular and progressive intellectuals posed a greater threat to US interests and its ally the State of Israel than the Kalashnikov-wielding masked militants.9

The present war on terror against Islamic extremism is a continuation of the geopolitical goal of preserving Anglo- American domination of oil. The strategy of synthetic terrorism is useful to weaken countries like Russia, China and even India. The oligarchic interests see the weakening of the Dollar, as a cause for concern for it is a shock to the system. Synthetic terrorism, as history has shown time and again, could be useful in consolidating US control over oil and other strategic metals by weakening or destabilizing other rival claimants

Distorted images, Distorting mirrors.

In the shadowy world of secret service and military intelligence there are double agents, agent provocateurs, and false flag terror operations. With the controlled media dispensing news about Terrorism, new monsters are created to guide public opinion for the benefit of the few. We see distorted images of terrorism from distorting mirrors. The custodians of law parade patsy Islamic militants accused of horrific terrorist crimes before us. Then they are produced before the court to be sentenced and punished. Platitudes then get written in the press about the horrors of terrorism asking parliament to pass draconian laws to curb it. But the terrible moment of truth arrives sooner or later and when it does- disturbing questions assail our soul- Are they the true terrorists? Or they mere puppets in a synthetic spectacle controlled by someone else? Can we ever see the Puppeteers or the Ringmasters above them?

It is then we hear the mocking laughter of Sanguinetti and see him pointing his finger at the drawn sword of the state.

Notes:
1. 9/11 Synthetic Terror- Made in USA-W.G.Tarpley.
2. On Terrorism and the State- Gianfranco Sanguinetti.
3. Sword Play: Attacking Civilians to Justify "Greater Security”- Chris Floyd February 29 2005
4. Informationliberation- Operation Gladio.
5. The Ambiguities of Power, Mark Curtis.
6. Economic Democracy- Dr. J. W. Smith.
7. Against Empire- Michael Parenti.
8. Puppet On A String: Hamas Dances To Israel’s Tune- Paul Joseph Watson.
9. Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam - Robert Dreyfuss

Sridhar is a Koshy's regular, a Tinto Brass fan, and a cynical Bangalorean.

OPERATION GLADIO

Operation Gladio

? 1997 David Guyatt
All Rights Reserved - Reprinted With Permission



When on the morning of 17 June 1982, the body of Roberto Calvi was found hanging beneath London's Blackfriars bridge, it was to speed a process that prised open a series of events spanning four decades. The circumstances of Calvi's death led knowledgeable observers to darkly whisper of a Masonic ritual slaying. With his hands tied behind his back and a brick thrust into his coat pocket, Calvi had been strangled, apparently by the rope that had been noosed around his neck. Moreover, the location itself was believed to be symbolic. Blackfriars bridge sits astride the border that connects the Masonically named "Square Mile" of the City of London to the rest of the Capital city.

The initial inquest into his death returned a verdict of suicide. Appealing against what they believed to be prejudice on the part of the Coroner - and suspicious of the Masonic affiliations of the City police - Calvi's family called for a second, more thorough inquest, which belatedly returned an open verdict. Meanwhile, Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi's massive, privately-owned bank, collapsed on the news of his death, revealing a huge "black hole" in the balance sheet amounting to $1.3 billion. A large proportion of the missing money was later located in accounts owned by the Vatican bank. The connections that unfolded in the wake of the Calvi "affair" were to link Masons with Mafiosi, Monks with Murder and Spies with wanted Nazi war criminals.

World War Two had barely ground to a final halt when, in 1947, Allied strategists set about planning for World War Three. Even as British and US intelligence officials scoured Europe seeking to apprehend Nazi's wanted on war crimes charges, other more secretive US and British intelligence units were actively engaged in helping those same Nazi's to escape.

Europe's "Stay Behind" Units

Italy was not alone in having covert "stay behind" units in operation. The operation encompassed all of western Europe. In France the unit was called "Glaive" - again named after a Gladiatorial sword. Austria's unit was named "Schwert," also meaning sword. In Turkey the unit was named "Red Sheepskin" and in Greece "Sheepskin." Sweden's unit was called "Sveaborg." In Switzerland it went by the title P26. Other units in Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark and Holland remain unnamed. Not least, the United Kingdom's unit was simply known as "Stay Behind."

The means of escape were the Vatican run "Ratlines." Operated with the knowledge and blessing of highly placed US and British government officials, the Ratlines guided 30,000 wanted Nazi's to sanctuary. Safe haven locations included the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the favourite bolt hole of them all: South America.

Those who reached safety in this manner read like a "Who's Who" of the most wanted Nazi war criminals. Klaus Barbie, the cruel Gestapo officer known as the "Butcher of Lyons;" Franz Stangl, Commandant of the notorious Treblinka extermination camp; Gustav Wagner Commandant of Sorbibor extermination camp; Alois Brunner, a brutal official in the Jewish deportation programme. Of the most famous to escape along the ratlines were Adolf Eichmann, the chief architect of the "Holoucast" and Dr Joseph Mengele, the "White Angel" of Auschwitz concentration camp. Not least was Deputy Fuhrer Martin Bormann. Incredibly, an entire Waffen SS division - the notorious "Galician Division" - consisting of 8000 men were smuggled to England and given "free settler" status.

Origins of the Stay Behind Network

Information that surfaced in recent years suggests that the "Stay Behind" concept first arose in Britain. Senior military sources told the Guardian newspaper in December 1990, that a British guerrilla network was already in place following the fall of France in 1940. Numerous arm "caches" were buried for later use by a special forces ski battalion of the Scots Guards under the leadership of Brigadier "Mad Mike" Calvert. After the war, the decision was taken to create new units throughout Europe. The plan was conceived by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and spearheaded by the newly formed CIA.

Secretly granted immunity these and thousands of other battle hardened Nazi soldiers were to form the fighting nucleus of a top secret Allied contingency group conceived by the first Director of the CIA, Allen Dulles. Loosely known as operation "Stay Behind," the idea was to build a Europe wide secret network of anti communist guerrillas who would fight behind the lines in the event of a Soviet invasion. The plan was later codified under the umbrella of the Clandestine Co-ordinating Committee of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), the military arm of NATO.

US planners worried over the growing influence of Italy's large and popular communist party, established Operation "Gladio" in 1956. The name derived from the short sword used by Roman legionnaires 2000 years earlier, and was almost certainly drawn from the crest of SHAPE which features two swords arranged in an "A" shape. The Gladio network was operated by the secret services and initially funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency. 622 people were recruited and trained by US and British specialists in Sardinia. It is believed that up to 15,000 members were ultimately recruited to the Gladio network.

By 1972, with the prospect of a Soviet invasion receding, a decision was taken to "make a pre-emptive attack" on the Italian communist party - who had polled 27% in that year's election - and who would go on to increase their vote to 35% just four years later. There immediately followed a series of bomb outrages signalling the beginning of a "strategy of tension," designed to shift Italian politics sharply to the right. In April 1972 a Fascist bomb attack killed three carabinieri. In November 1973, an Argo 16 aircraft was destroyed in a mid-air explosion.

Covert Political Destablisation in Britain

Britain's "Stay Behind" unit was modified after the war, for a "secondary use." This was to combat "the takeover of civil government by militant leftwing groups." The network was operated by Britain's intelligence services and selected members of the armed forces. Rumours persist that Harold Wilson's Labour government was the target of a Gladio type campaign not dissimilar to that of Italy. Wilson's surprise resignation has been credited to a dirty tricks campaign operated by British intelligence at the behest of the US. Known as operation "Clockwork Orange" Army psyops personnel began "fabricating" evidence that showed that senior members of the Wilson Cabinet, including the Prime Minister himself, were Soviet dupes. Waiting in the wings were senior military and other rightwing figures alleged to be planning a military style "Coup D'Etat" in the event that the Labour government won the forthcoming election

But if the Gladio network was the armed force, the secret Masonic lodge "Propaganda Due" (P2) was the Elitist "shadow government" tasked with directing them. Adhering to a right wing ideology bordering on fascism, P2 was headed by Licio Gelli - known as the "Puppet-master." During the war Gelli had been a member of Mussolini's notorious "Black shirts," and later acted as liaison officer to the Hermann Goering SS division. By 1974 P2 had in excess of 1000 members comprising a "who's who" of Italian political, military and economic power. Members included four Cabinet ministers, three intelligence chiefs, 160 senior military officers, 48 MPs, the Army Chief of Staff, as well as top diplomats, bankers, industrialists and media publishers.

It was also during 1974 that Gelli met secretly with Alexander Haig. Formerly, the NATO Supreme Commander, Haig had meanwhile become President Nixon's White House Chief of Staff. The secret meeting was held in the US Embassy in Rome. Receiving the blessing of Henry Kissinger, the US National Security Adviser, Gelli left the meeting with a promise of continued financial support for the Gladio network and it's plan for the "internal subversion." of Italian political life. As welcome as this was, Gelli required additional funds to support P2 and operation Gladio.

He turned to P2 member Roberto Calvi, Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano - the largest non-state owned bank in Italy. Calvi began to illegally siphon money from his bank, using the Vatican bank - the Istituto per de Religione (IOR) to launder it. Almost certainly, Gelli had a hold over Calvi. Earlier, in 1967, the former head of the Italian Secret Service had joined P2 and brought with him 150,000 sensitive dossiers that had been compiled on highly placed individuals of Italian society.

Whether as a result of blackmail or political ideology, Calvi continued to funnel a vast amount of funds to Gelli and P2, bankrupting his bank in the process. Meanwhile, other events were to occur that shocked not only Italy but the entire world. In early 1978, Prime Minister Aldo Moro was kidnapped and later assassinated by the so called "Red brigades" - a revolutionary pro Soviet group. Evidence now exists that shows Moro's murder was orchestrated by P2, and that both the "Red" and "Black" brigades were heavily penetrated by US intelligence - who are credited with "running" them.

Licio Gelli and Propaganda Due

"The doors of all bank vaults open to the right." The words were spoken by Licio Gelli, the Venerable Master of Propaganda Due (P2), an Italian Masonic lodge with extreme right wing affiliations. P2 was a "covered" lodge, a term that denoted it was secret and operated outside of normal Masonic control. Numbered amongst its 1000 plus members were senior individuals from Italy's ruling elite. These included members of the armed services, the security and intelligence services, parliamentarians, civil servants, members of the judiciary and prominent figures from finance, industry, publishing and other sectors.

Born in Tuscany in 1919, Gelli was a fascist who saw service in a Black Shirts Battalion in the Spanish civil war. During WW11 he became a liaison officer in the SS Hermann Goering Division. This background leapfrogged him to the attention of the Italian Secret Service and later to the British and Soviet secret services. Thereafter he was to assume a shadowy and powerful role as a broker of influence in the CIA and NATO sponsored "Operation Gladio" - a covert operation that created turmoil throughout Italy during the 1960s and 1970s. Gelli's power arose from the most sensitive files gathered by the Italian secret service that were handed to him in 1967. Armed with this inside information he was able to blackmail and coerce his way across the spectrum of Italy's ruling elite, for which he was dubbed "The Puppet Master."

Four years earlier, in 1974, Moro - then Foreign Minister - visited the US. Aware of the popular, democratic support the Italian Communist Party (PCI) was receiving from Italian voters, Moro wished to reach an accommodation with the PCI, and offer their leaders Cabinet rank in a new centrist ruling party. His Washington visit did not go well. During a meeting with then Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, Moro was told that such a move was viewed in the US as "profoundly dangerous and mistaken." A later meeting with an unnamed intelligence official left Moro fearful for his life. The official told Moro he must abandon any idea to incorporate the communists ".or you will pay dearly for it." The official continued by warning Moro that "groups on the fringes of the official secret services might be brought into operation" if he didn't modify his position. It was a clear reference to P2 and the Gladio network. Moro cut short his visit and returned home in fear of his life, his wife later revealed.

Within months of Moro's assassination, the world awoke to hear the glad news that Albino Luciani had been elected Pope, taking the title Pope John Paul I. Revered as an honest, gentle and insightful man, Luciani's election caused anguish in many areas of the Vatican curia. Not least, Bishop Paul Marcinkus, the American head of the Vatican bank, felt his days were numbered. Marcinkus' removal from office would open a hornet's nest of financial sleaze. Via the Vatican bank, Marcinkus had engaged in a vast amount of financial skulduggery. In addition to his financial shenanigans with Banco Ambrosiano, the IOR was also using known Mafia figures to invest some of its vast wealth. Not least, Luciani was viewed by some on the far right of Italian politics to be soft on communism; his father being a committed Socialist and having once stood for political office.

Taken as a whole it was more than enough. Thirty three days after his election, the "Smiling Pope," as he was popularly known, was found dead. Replaced by Karol Wojtyla, who took the title of John Paul II, Bishop Marcinkus was not only reprieved but became a close confidant of the new Polish pope. Under the new, safer regime, Marcinkus went on to provide large sums to the Polish ship-workers union, Solidarity - which is largely credited with bringing an end to communism in Poland. Clearly, staunch anti communism was to be a continuing feature of Vatican life, as it had been under Luciani's predecessor, Pope Paul VI - who as the young Monsignor Giovanni Montini, the Under Secretary of State since 1937 - was heavily involved in the post war Ratlines.

In an additional "twist" it was revealed in 1992, by Mafia defector Francesco Mannino Mannoia, that Roberto Calvi had been strangled by Francesco Di Carlo, the Mafia's London based Heroin traffic manager. The order for the murder came from Pippo Calo, the Mafia treasurer and ambassador to Rome. Desperate to plug an increasingly large hole in his banks books, Calvi had agreed to launder large quantities of drugs money for the Corleone Mafia empire. Instead of laundering Mafia money, Calvi began skimming the profits to keep his bank afloat.

Faced with certain discovery and even more certain consequences, Calvi rushed to London to negotiate a loan from Opus Dei - a highly secretive and fabulously wealthy Catholic faction described by one authority as "sinister, secretive and Orwellian." A highly credible and knowledgeable source told this writer that Calvi met with the Treasurer of Opus Dei who had agreed to purchase a minority stake in Calvi's Banco Ambrosiano. The deal, had it proceeded would have provided the essential funds needed to repay the Mafia, and stave-off an imminent investigation into his affairs by Italy's Central bank.

Opus Dei - which translates as "God's work," had long sought to take effective control of the Vatican. Their cause had been advanced by the sudden death of Pope John Paul I and the election of a keen supporter: Pope John Paul II. With Machiavellian insight, senior figures of Opus Dei reasoned that with Calvi dead the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano would surely follow. This, in turn, would shake loose powerful enemies inside the Curia, opening the way for them to gain total dominance of the Vatican. Consequently, Roberto Calvi was thrown to the Wolves.

According to critics, Opus Dei is aggressively right wing in its teachings, and operates a form of thought control. Disciples undergo bouts of agonising self inflicted torture, allegedly designed to clarify thought and cleanse the spirit. They are also taught to avoid natural human feelings, being admonished instead to have a "reticent and guarded heart." Likewise, disciples are not permitted to read certain books, including those authored by communist ideologist Karl Marx.

Detractors believe it a religious faction that shares numerous values similar to the neo-nazi's that people the Masonic P2 lodge. Until recently - and for hundreds of years previously - any member of the Catholic church who was found to be a Freemason was automatically ex-communicated. Despite this many members of the Curia were discovered to be covert members of P2. Subsequently, in 1983, a new Canon Law announced that this would cease. Thereafter, any member of the Roman Church was free to become a Freemason.

Following the Calvi affair, the Vatican sought to diminish increasingly poor publicity by establishing a commission of enquiry. One of the so called "Four Wise Men" who sat on this enquiry was Dr Herman Abs, a senior German banker. During the war years Abs headed Deutsche Bank and was one of the principal financiers of Adolf Hitler. He also sat on the board of I G Farben, the massive Nazi conglomerate that used slave labour until they dropped. Farben also manufactured Zyklon B - the poisonous gas used with such devastating effect in the extermination camps. Arrested for war crimes at the end of WW11, Abs was quietly released following the intervention of the Bank of England.

Source: http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/gladio.html

NUCLEAR MISSILES FLOWN OVER U.S. BY ERROR

US mistakenly flies nuclear missiles over continental US

"A B-52 bomber mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, resulting in an Air Force-wide investigation, according to three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident," according to the Navy Times.

The site is down, due to traffic overload. CNN reports the story below. Excerpts:


The B-52 was loaded with Advanced Cruise Missiles, part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. But the nuclear warheads should have been removed at Minot before being transported to Barksdale, the officers said. The missiles were mounted onto the pylons of the bomber’s wings.

Advanced Cruise Missiles carry a W80-1 warhead with a yield of 5 to 150 kilotons and are specifically designed for delivery by B-52 strategic bombers.

Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Ed Thomas said the transfer was safely conducted and the weapons were in Air Force custody and control at all times. However, the mistake was not discovered until the B-52 landed at Barskdale, which left the warheads unaccounted for during the approximately 3 1/2 hour flight between the two bases, the officers said.

The following video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast on September 5.



Source: http://rawstory.com//news/2007/CNN_Military_loses_track_of_6_0905.html

TEST MARKETING

August 31, 2007

Test Marketing

If there were a threat level on the possibility of war with Iran, it might have just gone up to orange. Barnett Rubin, the highly respected Afghanistan expert at New York University, has written an account of a conversation with a friend who has connections to someone at a neoconservative institution in Washington. Rubin can’t confirm his friend’s story; neither can I. But it’s worth a heads-up:

They [the source’s institution] have “instructions” (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don’t think they’ll ever get majority support for this—they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is “plenty.”

True? I don’t know. Plausible? Absolutely. It follows the pattern of the P.R. campaign that started around this time in 2002 and led to the Iraq war. The President’s rhetoric on Iran has been nothing short of bellicose lately, warning of “the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.” And the Iranian government’s behavior—detaining British servicemen and arresting American passport holders, pushing ahead with uranium enrichment, and, by many reliable accounts, increasing its funding and training for anti-American militias in Iraq—seems intentionally provocative. Perhaps President Ahmedinejad and the mullahs feel that they win either way: they humiliate the superpower if it doesn’t take the bait, and they shore up their deeply unpopular regime at home if it does. Preëmptive war requires calculations (and, often, miscalculations) on two sides, not just one, as Saddam learned in 2003. When tensions are this high between two countries and powerful factions in both act as if hostilities are in their interest, war is likely to follow.

It’s one thing for the American Enterprise Institute, the Weekly Standard, et al to champion a war they support. It’s another to jump like circus animals at the crack of the White House whip. If the propaganda campaign predicted by Rubin’s friend is launched, less subservient news organizations should ask certain questions, and keep asking them: Does the Administration expect the Iranian regime to fall in the event of an attack? If yes, what will replace it? If no (and it will not), why would the Administration deliberately set about to strengthen the regime’s hold on power? What will the Administration do to protect highly vulnerable American lives and interests in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world against the Iranian reprisals that will follow? What if Iran strikes against Israel? What will be the strategy when the Iranian nuclear program, damaged but not destroyed, resumes? How will the Administration handle the international alarm and opprobrium that would be an attack’s inevitable fallout?

If this really is a return to the early fall of 2002 all over again, then I’m fairly sure that no one at the top of the Administration is worrying about the answers.

Postscript: Barnett Rubin just called me. His source spoke with a neocon think-tanker who corroborated the story of the propaganda campaign and had this to say about it: “I am a Republican. I am a conservative. But I’m not a raging lunatic. This is lunatic.”

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/2007/08/if-there-were-a.html

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE

Hebrews 12

1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29For our God is a consuming fire.

TROBLOUS TIMES RIGHT UPON US


Troublous Times Right Upon Us

After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. Rev. 7:1.


Four mighty angels are still holding the four winds of the earth. Terrible destruction is forbidden to come in full. The ... winds will be the stirring up of the nations to one deadly combat, while the angels hold the four winds, forbidding the terrible power of Satan to be exercised in its fury until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. {Mar 175.1}

The signs of the times give evidence that the judgments of heaven are being poured out, that the day of the Lord is at hand. The daily papers are full of indications of an intense conflict in the future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed by demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. All these things testify that the Lord's coming is near. {Mar 175.2}

The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, disasters by sea and by land, follow one another in quick succession. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. . . . {Mar 175.3}

The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. Even before the last great destruction comes upon the world, the flattering monuments of man's greatness will be crumbled in the dust. God's retributive judgments will fall on those who in the face of great light have continued in sin. Costly buildings, supposed to be fireproof, are erected. But as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance, so will these proud structures become ashes. I have seen vessels which cost immense sums of money wrestling with the mighty ocean, seeking to breast the angry billows. But with all their treasures of gold and silver, and with all their human freight, they sank into a watery grave.... But amid the tumult of excitement, with confusion in every place, there is a work to be done for God in the world. {Mar 175.4}

Maranatha, Ellen G. White, Page 175.

THE "GIFT" THAT KEEPS ON BLEEDING: IRAQ

Iraq: The "Gift" That Keeps On Bleeding

Submitted by John Stauber on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 21:24.

Shortly after the November 2006 election the Democracy Alliance, an exclusive group of about 100 Democratic Party millionaire activists, met in Miami, Florida. Members and their guests heard their keynote speaker and liberal legend Mario Cuomo analyze the Democratic Party in the wake of its stunning electoral victories that had given Democrats control of the US Congress. Cuomo criticized the Democratic Party for lacking vision, big ideas and a winning political argument. His recipe for future Democratic victories was simple: "You seize the biggest idea you can, the biggest idea you can understand. And this is what moves elections."

Cuomo then dared to voice an inconvenient truth: "Now it's 2006 and we're all rejoicing. Why? Because of Iraq. A GIFT. A gift to the Democrats. A lot of whom voted for the war anyway." The former New York governor challenged his partisan audience, "If Iraq is not an issue, then what issues do we have to talk about? … Where does that leave you? It leaves you in the same position you were in in 2004 – without an issue. Because you have no big idea."

The story of Cuomo’s speech is from the concluding pages of Matt Bai's new book The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics. Bai writes, “An uncomfortable silence hung over the ballroom. No one had yet expressed the situation quite that crassly, although everyone knew it was an accurate accounting.”

The Argument is an important book but Bai muffed the title. He should have titled it “The Gift,” because as Cuomo points out it was primarily the political gift of voter anger and revulsion over a horrific, continuing war that caused them to oust Republicans.




IVAW members at YearlyKos

And how have the Democrats treated their gift now that they control Congress? The Democratic House and Senate have continued to fund the war while posturing against it. For example Hillary Clinton, who pollsters regard as the Democratic frontrunner for her party's presidential nomination, told the New York Times that when she is elected she would keep troops in Iraq but run a smarter operation. The public's opinion of Congress has plummeted with no end in sight to the bloody occupation.

Bai's book is the first since the 2006 election to examine the new power alliance within the Democratic Party composed of the organizations referenced in his long subtitle. They include the “billionaires” such as George Soros and other members of the Democracy Alliance; the major liberal “bloggers” such as "Netroots Nation" guru Markos Moulitsas Zúniga with his Daily Kos blog and the Yearly Kos conventions; and the related “battlers” re-making the Democratic Party such as party chair Howard Dean. Bai devotes an entire chapter to MoveOn, the Netroots money and messaging machine controlling an email list of 3.3 million Americans built in large part on their opposition to the Iraq war. MoveOn's political action committee has become one of the top contributors of money to Democratic candidates.

These various players participated in the recent Yearly Kos bloggers convention in Chicago, a partisan event that FOX’s Bill O’Reilly attacked and most of the Democratic presidential candidates attended. My organization, the Center for Media and Democracy, organized an unofficial last minute event at the Yearly Kos, a "Coffee with the Troops" featuring the leadership of the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Extensive video of our event can now be viewed on YouTube.

We organized our event because, in my opinion, there was a lack of opportunity at the Yearly Kos for meaningful discussion and debate of how bloggers can best help end the Iraq occupation. Markos himself and his co-author Jerome Armstrong identified opposition to the war in Iraq as the over-arching issue uniting Netroots activists, writing in their 2006 book Crashing the Gates. As one of the IVAW soldiers told me in advance of our Coffee with the Troops, "we need bloggers to interview and tell the stories of Iraq veterans; it's essential to publicizing the truth about this war."

Leaders of the new Democratic power alliance examined in The Argument spoke prominently at Yearly Kos, including Andy Stern of the labor union SEIU and Tom Matzzie, the chief lobbyist for MoveOn. In January these two groups and others had launched Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI), directed by Matzzie. Some fifteen million dollars has reportedly been spent by this lobby effort that failed to prevent Bush's "troop surge," and then failed to stop the Democratic Congress from funding the war.

The AAEI has hired over 100 young organizers for its “Iraq Summer” campaign that is hounding targeted Republicans in their districts, but avoiding any similar tactics against pro-war Democrats. Matzzie and MoveOn’s pollster Stanley Greenberg shared a panel at the Yearly Kos convention examining how Democrats are doing in the polls. Matzzie exudes gung-ho confidence that AAEI’s tactics will bring about a “responsible” conclusion to the war.

Iraq Veterans Against the War expressed a different opinion during our event. "What will end this war?” asked Aaron Hughes, an Illinois National Guardsman who drove trucks in Iraq in a mission he once supported. “I'm not waiting for an election to end this war. We elected candidates to Congress and we really had faith that funding would be cut and they played this line that said 'we can’t cut funding because that would mean we are not supporting the troops.' Excuse me? We can't keep listening to these politicians and believing in them. We need to listen to each other."

As you can imagine, for Hughes and other Iraq veterans the war is something less than a “gift.” At our Yearly Kos event, Hughes and his IVAW colleagues -- Garett Reppenhagen, Josh Lansdale and Geoffrey Millard -- answered questions for more than an hour. These vets study how the Vietnam War was ended, and they well know the power of their words and actions.

IVAW was founded in 2004 and today it is a rapidly growing, grassroots, independent anti-war group with members active in 43 states and deployed on bases in Iraq. These rank and file soldiers are not partisans; they are Americans who have seen first hand the greatest political betrayal of our lifetime, the US attack on Iraq and the long occupation.

Iraq Veterans Against the War are not the concoction of a liberal think tank or PR firm; they have very little funding; they are not avoiding criticism of Democrats; and they are not playing political games trying to bank-shot Democratic candidates into the White House and Congress in 2008. They are in open non-violent revolt against US foreign policy, criticizing politicians of all stripes who would exploit the war for political gain.

Many IVAW soldiers are on active duty opposing the war openly and at personal risk; such is their conviction. On Saturday August 18, 90 IVAW soldiers demonstrated in St. Louis against a recruiting exhibit at a business expo, conducting the largest single action yet organized by anti-war veterans of Iraq. IVAW is stepping up its “truth in recruitment” efforts this September.

IVAW was in St. Louis to plan strategy to end the war. How do soldiers end a war? By refusing to fight. Garett Reppenhagen told journalist Aaron Glantz, "Iraq Veterans Against the War decided to make support of war resisters a major part of what we do. There's a misconception that they're cowards. Most war resisters have already gone on a tour in Iraq. They've seen the war firsthand and have come to the conclusion that it's morally wrong. This is something we all should support. So to break that timidness of how we view war resisters in America, IVAW decided to embrace them."

Watch the YouTube video of Iraq Veterans Against the War speaking out at Yearly Kos. Go to the IVAW website at IVAW.org and contact them directly. Support our own troops' opposition to the war. These American soldiers are determined to end the war. For them it has never been a “gift.” They are not waiting for an election, nor should anyone else.



This article is the analysis and opinion of John Stauber, the founder and executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. He is the co-author with Sheldon Rampton of 2003's Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, a New York Times bestseller, and five other books.

Coffee with the Troops is now viewable on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=CMDAug5wIVAW thanks to filmmakers Martha Spiess and Chris Thomas.

Source: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6368

KATIE COURIC EMBEDDED FOR 365 DAYS

KATIE THIS WEEK EMBEDDED IN IRAQ


Katie Couric with General Odierno in Iraq?

Here is the Propaganda Mavin reporting live from ground-zero in Iraq. Are there any publicity stunts that CBS is not willing to try to 'boost its ratings, and the war'?
Katie is roving through the streets of what seems to be a secured war zone, walking and talking to the upper echelons (Petraeus, Odierno, etc.) of the occupying forces in Iraq. She also sports a flack jacket, just like the boys in camouflage.
Is this real TV? Can news reporting become more bizarre than this? When the Anchorwoman is part of the news; Is it news?

Katie Couric interviews President George W. Bush in Iraq?


On Monday, September 3, 2007 Katie Couric interviewed President Bush, who made a surprise visit to Iraq
to see the Troops. So they conveniently arranged for this rendezvous to air on CBS Evening News. How coincidental that Katie was at the right place, and at the right time to see the Commander in Chief and have a Mano a Mano chat with him? Here Katie jettisons the flack-jacket, and sports a long-sleeve casual 'top'.
President Bush however, chooses to wear a 'short' short-sleeve shirt. There's an air of peace and safety. Serenity pervades the demeanor of both, the President, and the Anchorwoman. How peaceful? It's like a Middle-East VFW Post, or a neighborhood Bowling Alley. What a publicity stunt? Are we being manipulated here, or what?

MPO: Manipulating People's Opinions

One year to the day that Katie Couric was embedded as the Anchor of CBS Evening News, she is now embedded with the Generals, officers, and enlisted persons fighting for freedom in Iraq. It confirms the suspicions that I had the mission given her was two-fold: Raise the ratings, and put a favorable spin on the war on terror. 365 days later, she has combined both to produce this week's broadcasts on-site. Serving as news anchor remote from down-town Iraq. Demonstrating that she has the guts to go to war, and to show that the war isn't really that bad. This is intended to 'show' that her news 'show' is much better than it was before she joined it. Now the truth can be told from a compassionate RepubliCrat perspective. Geraldo Rivera, you missed the boat!

BUSH PLAYING WITH 'TROOP WITHDRAWAL'

Bush just playing us with 'troop withdrawal'

'Revelation' contradicts every other rationale offered in the last 500 days


MSNBC video
Special comment on Bush’s surprise Iraq visit
Sept. 4: In this special comment on President Bush’s surprise visit to Iraq “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann says President Bush is “playing us” on the state of the war in Iraq and when the troops will come home.

Countdown



SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
MSNBC
Updated: 9:20 p.m. ET Sept 4, 2007


Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'


Profile

And so he is back from his annual surprise gratuitous photo-op in Iraq, and what a sorry spectacle it was. But it was nothing compared to the spectacle of one unfiltered, unguarded, horrifying quotation in the new biography to which Mr. Bush has consented.

As he deceived the troops at Al-Asad Air Base yesterday with the tantalizing prospect that some of them might not have to risk being killed and might get to go home, Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying, is lying and will be lying about Iraq.

He presumably did not know that there had already appeared those damning excerpts from Robert Draper's book “Dead Certain."

“I'm playing for October-November," Mr. Bush said to Draper. That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan, which is “to get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence."

Comfortable, that is, with saying about Iraq, again quoting the President, “stay... longer."

And there it is. We've caught you. Your goal is not to bring some troops home, maybe, if we let you have your way now. Your goal is not to set the stage for eventual withdrawal. You are, to use your own disrespectful, tone-deaf word, playing at getting the next Republican nominee to agree to jump into this bottomless pit with you, and take us with him, as we stay in Iraq for another year, and another, and another, and anon.

Everything you said about Iraq yesterday, and everything you will say, is a deception, for the purpose of this one cynical, unacceptable, brutal goal: perpetuating this war indefinitely.

War today, war tomorrow, war forever!

And you are playing at it! Playing!

A man with any self respect, having inadvertently revealed such an evil secret, would have already resigned and fled the country! You have no remaining credibility about Iraq.

And yet, yesterday at Al-Asad, Mr. Bush kept playing, and this time, using the second of his two faces.

The president told reporters, “They (General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker) tell me if the kind of success we are now seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces."

And so, Mr. Bush got his fraudulent headlines today. “Bush May Bring Some Troops Home."

While the reality is, we know from what he told Draper, that the president's true hope is that they will not come home; but that they will stay there, because he is keeping them there now, in hope that those from his political party fighting to succeed him will prolong this unendurable disaster into the next decade.

But, to a country dying of thirst, the president seemed to vaguely promise a drink from a full canteen -- a promise predicated on the assumption that he is not lying.

Yet you are lying, Mr. Bush. Again. But now, we know why.

You gave away more of yourself than you knew in the Draper book. And you gave away more still, on the arduous trip back out of Iraq hours in the air, without so much as a single vacation.

“If you look at my comments over the past eight months," you told reporters, “it's gone from a security situation in the sense that we're either going to get out and there will be chaos, or, more troops. Now, the situation has changed, where I'm able to speculate on the hypothetical."

Mr. Bush, the only "hypothetical" here is that you are not now holding our troops hostage. You have no intention of withdrawing them. But that doesn't mean you can't pretend you're thinking about it, does it?


Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20593445/

5 DAY MARTIAL LAW EXERCISE--NORTHCOM

NORTHCOM Plans 5 Day Martial Law Exercise
09-04-2007

www.roguegovernment.com
Lee Rogers


The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has just announced plans for an anti-terrorism exercise called Vigilant Shield 08. The exercise which is slated to run from October 15th to October 20th is described as a way to prepare, prevent and respond to any number of national crises. The exercise is simply a test case scenario for the implementation of martial law. Although the description of the exercise is disturbing, USNORTHCOM also announced that they are more prepared for a natural disaster and a terrorist attack after they used their response to Hurricane Katrina as a test laboratory. During Hurricane Katrina, authorities violated the constitutional rights of citizens by stealing people’s firearms and even relocating people against their will. These announcements are incredibly disturbing on a number of levels as the nature of Vigilant Shield 08 and the admission that Hurricane Katrina was used as a test laboratory shows that the government is actively preparing the military and government institutions for martial law.

Below is the full press release from USNORTHCOM describing Vigilant Shield 08. Also check out the Vigilant Shield 08 fact sheet by clicking here.

North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command along with U.S. Pacific Command, the Department of Homeland Security as well as local, state and other federal responders will exercise their response abilities against a variety of potential threats during Exercise Vigilant Shield ‘08, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-designated, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)-sponsored, and U.S. Joint Forces Command-supported Department of Defense exercise for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities missions.

VS-08 will be conducted concurrent with Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4), the nation’s premier exercise of terrorism preparedness sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, and several other linked exercises as part of the National Level Exercise 1-08. These linked exercises will take place Ocober 15-20 and are being conducted throughout the United States and in conjunction with several partner nations including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Territory of Guam.

VS-08 and National Level Exercise 1-08 will provide local, state, tribal, interagency, Department of Defense, and non-governmental organizations and agencies involved in homeland security and homeland defense the opportunity to participate in a full range of exercise scenarios that will better prepare participants to prevent and respond to national crises. The participating organizations will conduct a multi-layered, civilian-led response to a national crisis.

USNORTHCOM’s primary exercise venues for VS-08 include locations in Oregon, Arizona and a cooperative venue with USPACOM in the Territory of Guam. NORAD’s aerospace detection and defense events will take place across all the exercise venues, to exercise the ability to mobilize resources for aerospace defense, aerospace control, maritime warning, and coordination of air operations in a disaster area.

This exercise is clearly a way to prepare government to respond to a national crisis with martial law. This announcement also follows a number of other news stories that indicate the government is becoming more actively prepared for the implementation of martial law.

These stories include the following:

George W. Bush issuing a presidential directive declaring that he is a dictator during the case of a national emergency be it a natural disaster, a terror attack or any number of crises.

KSLA reporting that members of clergy will be used to convince people to submit to government in the case of declare martial law. See the video below.

The U.S. Department of Treasury conducting a disaster drill to prepare for a potential economic crisis.

In addition to the announcement of Vigilant Shield 08, USNORTHCOM also announced that they have been using the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina to better respond to crises. The response to Hurricane Katrina was essentially used as a test laboratory to implement martial law in a city. People were forced to relocate against their will and authorities stole people’s firearms in the name of safety despite these actions being entirely unconstitutional.

From USNORTHCOM:

“Hurricane Katrina’s impact on this country was unprecedented. There are still many of our fellow Americans whose lives still haven’t returned to normal,” said Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and USNORTHCOM. “It will take many years for the Gulf Coast to fully recover.

“The United States military was deeply involved in the response to the hurricane and subsequent flooding,” Renuart said. “While our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines helped thousands of people, we also learned many lessons.”

According to Renuart, USNORTHCOM has been using the lessons learned from Katrina to modify plans to respond to both natural disasters and potential terrorist actions.

Northern Command also admits in the same article that they have pre-scripted mission assignments coordinated with FEMA to implement martial law under the pretext of disaster response.

From USNORTHCOM:

USNORTHCOM is ready to help federal, state and local officials to be prepared for a major hurricane and to be successful at conducting response operations, if necessary and requested by the primary responding agency. Some of the ways these objectives are being achieved are:

Through State Engagement programs, USNORTHCOM provides planning support to help states prepare for emergencies.

USNORTHCOM and its subordinates, as well as local, state and federal partners conduct major disaster exercises to refine processes and apply lessons learned.

Working with FEMA, USNORTHCOM has prepared pre-scripted mission assignments to accelerate the disaster response process.

USNORTHCOM conducted a major exercise with the National Guard in May to refine the interface between the National Guard and DoD.

There is no question that Vigilant Shield 08 is either government preparation for the implementation of martial law or a way for criminal elements within the government to distract emergency responders in order to conduct a false flag terror attack as a pretext to actually implement martial law and engage in foreign war. On September 11th, 2001 there were drills run by NORAD including Vigilant Guardian which served as a way to ensure that there was no adequate military response to the hi-jacked planes. A similar scenario unfolding with Vigilant Shield is not out of the question.

Vigilant Shield 08 is one of many news stories that indicate that the U.S. government is actively preparing for a time when it will become necessary to declare martial law. A false flag terror attack like another 9/11 or an economic crisis would certainly pave the way for the President making such a declaration.

Source: http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=3781

THE SILLINES OF MICHAEL O'HANLON (NYT)

The Silliness of Michael O’Hanlon

Written by Larry C. Johnson
Wednesday, 05 September 2007




by Larry C. Johnson
Just when you thought Michael O’Hanlon’s supply of chapstick had run dry, he puckers up again and gets busy pressing his lips to Bush’s backside. Compare the boy’s analysis with the actual data that is on display in Tuesday’s New York Times. O’Hanlon writes:
Nonetheless, the military momentum appears real, despite the tragic multiple truck bombings in Ninevah Province on Aug. 14 that made that month the deadliest since winter. Overall, civilian fatality rates are down perhaps one third since late 2006, though they remain quite high. There are also signs that roughly six of Iraq’s 18 provinces are making significant economic and security gains, up from three a year ago. The story in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province is by now well known: attacks in the city of Ramadi are down 90 percent, and the economy is recovering. But there is progress in several regions with more complex sectarian mixes as well.
But take a look at the actual data (click thumbnail to enlarge):
iraq-scorecard.jpg

But even the Brookings Institute’s own facts tell a different story.

1. While more US troops are in Iraq the number among the “coalition of the willing” is shrinking.

2. The number of deaths of US troops remains at an all time high.

3. While more Iraqi troops are supposedly available their casualties have declined. That means they are not bearing the burden of fighting. We are.

4. Daily insurgent attacks are down from a year ago but remain higher than in any of the previous years.

5. Number of prisoners held by the United States have skyrocketed. Are we going to keep them in jail forever? Without due process? Don’t think so. And guess what happens when they are eventually released back into society? Building on relationships forged in the “joint” they will be back on the warpath.

6. O’Hanlon and company try to insist fewer Iraqis are being displaced by the violence. As I pointed out earlier, the success of ethnic cleansing (documented by Newsweek) means there are fewer Iraqis alive to move on or flee conflicted neighborhoods. Here again, recent reporting by the L.A. Times and Newsweek explode O’Hanlon’s wishful thinking..

The fact that this so-called expert is allowed to spew his nonsense on television unchallenged is further testimony that many in the media prefer fantasy to fact. Nothing like mixing spin with a dollop of wonkism. O’Hanlon is welcome to his own bizarre analysis but an alternative voice should be heard. We’ll keep punching and hope to break through to a few.

MEXICAN TRUCKING PROGRAM (NAU) BEGINS

September 3, 2007

Mexican Trucking Program Tied to North American Union By Dana Gabriel
Many ideas and decisions being made now don't make a lot of sense unless you view them with the understanding that the goal is to further merge Mexico, the U.S, and Canada, How else would you account for the lack of immigration enforcement, the push for total amnesty, and open borders. Mexican long haul trucks being granted full access to U.S. roads under a demonstration program is part of the NAFTA commitment. It is also part of a bigger agenda which includes the construction of a superhighway and the creation of a North American Union. It's about reducing costs and increasing profits for the global elite and multinational corporations at the expense of our middle class, safety, security, and sovereignty.

Under NAFTA, Mexican trucks should have already been granted full access to the U.S., but it was then president Bill Clinton who restricted them to a 25 mile commercial zone because of safety concerns. Many safety issues still exist today despite assurances by the Department of Transportation that all Mexican trucks will be pre-screened before crossing the border. The Teamsters Union and others don't believe that the pilot project has complied with all the congressional requirements that were to be met. In an effort to try and block the program, the Teamsters along with Public Citizen and the Sierra Club filed suit. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to temporarily block the demonstration program which could begin as early as September 6.

Many feel that all the safety issues have not been addressed or resolved, and what they are simply asking for is that Mexican trucks and drivers meet the same requirements as their American counterparts. Teamsters Union spokesperson Leslie Miller said, “Just because we have a free trade agreement doesn't mean people can come to our country and do business in a way that doesn't meet our standards.” Mexico lacks any effective safety standards for their drivers or trucks and has no reliable national criminal or driving database. They also have no accurate drug or alcohol policy in place and no certified testing facility. Also worrisome is that these same drivers and trucks will be granted access across the border in as little as 15 seconds as part of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Free and Secure Trade System. Teamsters president James Hoffa said of the pilot project, “We believe this program clearly breaks the law. We will continue to fight for safety and national security in the courts and in the Congress.”

There are to be 100 Mexican trucking companies participating in this pilot program, which is scheduled to last one year. In light of the time constraints and the number of trucks involved in the program, it may not serve as an adequate assessment of possible safety, security, and environmental concerns. Josh Dorner of the Sierra Club said, “There isn't enough evidence that the proposed pilot program will yield statistically valid results.” In this whole process, the stumbling block for some was the condition that American trucks be granted the same access to Mexico, and it appears as if new rules have been implemented to make this become a reality. A big concern of mine has always been when this program becomes fully implemented and they attempt to make it permanent, it could put thousands of American truckers out of work and severely undercut wages. This demonstration program is part of NAFTA and the corporate NAU agenda of further opening up our borders.

Millions of dollars is being spent upgrading deep water ports on Mexico's Pacific coast. The goal is to have more Chinese containers entering the U.S. from Mexico and to have them unloaded by cheap labor and avoid ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Texas ports in Houston and Corpus Christi are also expected to see an increased flow of containers from China. The Texas Department of Transportation has designs of tying in the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) with these ports. The TTC is to be the first leg of a NAFTA Superhighway, and having new infrastructure in place will save costs and give China full access to the continental United States.

The Bush administration has said that any more delays in allowing Mexican trucks full access to the U.S could strain diplomatic relations with Mexico. It shouldn't be surprising that benefits to other countries and multinational corporations would come before our safety and best interests. In an effort to bypass union longshoremen on the West coast, Mexican ports are being upgraded and will allow for more Chinese goods to enter the U.S. cheaper and faster. Don't think for a second that these savings will be passed on to consumers as this is another measure to ensure big corporate profits. James Hoffa stated, “They basically want to erase all the borders. This is big business that wants to be able to run stuff out of Mexico, which is much cheaper, into Canada and into the United States.” It's all about having open borders to allow for the freer flow of goods and cheap labor and this cross-border program is yet another step towards a North American Union.

Source: http://www.newworldordermustbestopped.com/DanasBlog.html