Sunday, March 30, 2008

Bushfire, Part 2

Continued from Part 1

My mind's been going places without me lately



Cracking the Case: An Interview With Sibel Edmonds August 22, 2005

SH: That is very interesting. In fact, my next guest after you will be Bob Dreyfuss about the AIPAC spy scandal and something that occurred to me last night as I read the Vanity Fair piece An Inconvenient Patriot about you, was that some of the things I read about in there, and we'll try to get to some of this a little bit later, were about "unnamed Department of State and Department of Defense employees," which made me wonder whether perhaps your case is tied in with the AIPAC spy scandal case in any way.

SE: Absolutely. And I cannot go into any details -- and maybe some other investigative journalist from across the ocean will come here and do the rest of this article -- as article part two. But even the AIPAC spy scandal, as far as I'm reading today, is just touching the surface of it. It's going only to a certain degree. It doesn't go high enough, in what it involves and how far it goes, and that's as far, and the best -- as far as I can explain.


I need your arms to take me down



Bin Laden, Iran, and the KLA: How Islamic Terrorism Took Root in Albania September 19, 2001

IRAN IN ALBANIA: IDEOLOGY AND TERRORISM

A report of 22 March, 1998 in the Times of London confirmed that bin Laden and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had signed a pact (on 16 February in Teheran) consolidating their operations in Albania and Kosovo, hoping "to turn the region into their main base for Islamic armed action in Europe." This was the unfortunate but logical outcome of almost a decade of a growing Iranian presence in Albania, and a growing radicalization of the Albanian "freedom fighters."

At the 1994 summit of Islamic countries in Jeddah, an agreement had been reached to "help the 'brothers in the Balkans' with all available means, including military aid.... The Balkan peninsula was chosen as a beachhead for an organized penetration of Islam into Europe."


Take me to the ground



9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN: Part 1: 'Independent' commission April 7, 2004

Andrew Rice, chair of the 9-11 Commission Committee of the September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows organization, is one among millions of terribly frustrated Americans. He believes that as far as this official 9-11 Commission is concerned, the "fix was in" from the beginning. Beverly Eckert, whose husband died on September 11, adds: "We wanted journalists, we wanted academics ... We did not want politicians."

The commission comprises nine men and a woman, five Republicans and five Democrats. They include two former governors, a former navy secretary, a former deputy attorney-general, two former Congressmen, two former senators and a former White House counsel. It's a consummate bunch of establishment arch-insiders, all inter-connected. One wonders how such a body can possibly investigate what's behind the myriad of political, military and intelligence interplay. Even the commission itself has been forced to admit that of the 16 federal agencies covered by its investigation, only the State Department is being "fully cooperative", with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a distant second. This is leading to a growing perception, not only in Washington but in other parts of the world, of a "hidden agenda". "They seem to be interested in putting up a good show as a coverup; and of course they're very worried about damage control," says a diplomat from the European Union.


But I hold back



Sibel Edmonds: Still Silenced, But Why? December 17, 2004

We are getting closer to parallel confirmation of Ms. Edmonds' gagged testimony from independent sources. These sources have uncovered, either through personal knowledge or exhaustive investigations, the same names and countries that Ms. Edmonds may not disclose. Nor may she confirm such reports.


Get away from the heat



Sibel Edmonds: Still Silenced, But Why? December 17, 2004

In the documents are names like Atta, Ahmad, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Dostum, Khalilzad, and Bin Laden; and groups like Al Qaeda, the ISI of Pakistan, and the Taliban. The names of companies like Enron, Halliburton, Bechtel, Unocal, and Bin Laden Group appear connected to the off-shore banks that hide money for three infamous families: Marcos, Bush, and Bin Laden. And the same names, like Bush, Cheney, Rice, Bin Laden, Zelikow, Woolsey, and Giffen, intersect in the perpetration of unspeakable atrocities in the quest of empire and power.


Hold back



Cracking the Case: An Interview With Sibel Edmonds August 22, 2005

SH: Okay, and you mention when you talk about criminal activity, drug-running, money-laundering, weapons-smuggling...

SE: And these activities overlap. It's not like okay, you have certain criminal entities that are involved in nuclear black market, and then you have certain entities bringing narcotics from the East. You have the same players when you look into these activities at high-levels you come across the same players, they are the same people.


In my field of vision



9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN: Part 1: 'Independent' commission April 7, 2004

It's unlikely fellow members at the 9-11 Commission will ask Kean to reveal to what extent he was aware of Mahfouz's links to al-Qaeda; or ask Amerada Hess to open its books and reveal what kind of deals it was cooking up with Mahfouz. After all, Bush himself also had a business connection with Mahfouz, owner of various investments in Houston, Texas. As to the 28 pages of the joint congressional committee detailing Saudi support to al-Qaeda, they also seem to have vanished into thin air.

The commission, for instance, also will not investigate the foreign policy that started it all in the late 1970s and early 1980s: the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) full support to the hardcore international Islamic brigades which joined the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan -- and then turned against the US after the first Gulf War in 1991. This would mean that the commission would have to seriously investigate Secretary of State Colin Powell and his number two, Richard Armitage, key players in those 1980s proceedings.


Hold back



'The Stakes Are Too High for Us to Stop Fighting Now' August 15, 2005

SE: You know how they always talk about these Islamic charities funding the terrorists, right?

CD: Yes...

SE: Well, and this is not a firm statistic, just a sort of ratio... but these charities are responsible for maybe 10 or 20 percent of al-Qaeda's fundraising. So where is the other 80 or 90 percent coming from? People, it's not so difficult!


Baby burning, fire



Bin Laden, Iran, and the KLA: How Islamic Terrorism Took Root in Albania September 19, 2001

Although it's hard to gauge to what extent radical Islam has propelled the quest for a "Greater Albania," there is no question that religion is now a key factor in uniting the fractious Albanian groups -- Kosovars, Gegs and Tosks -- who never liked each other much before 1990, and who probably would never have developed strong feelings of unity, without the imposition of the kind of radical Islam championed by Osama bin Laden. It's sad to say that the nurturing of radical Islam in the Balkans may prove to be America's most lasting contribution to the region.


Fire in a field of molten flowers (aaaah)



'The Stakes Are Too High for Us to Stop Fighting Now' August 15, 2005

CD: Can you elaborate here on what countries you mean?

SE: It's interesting, in one of my interviews, they say "Turkish countries," but I believe they meant Turkic countries -- that is, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and all the 'Stans, including Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and [non-Turkic countries like] Afghanistan and Pakistan. All of these countries play a big part in the sort of things I have been talking about.

CD: What, you mean drug-smuggling?

SE: Among other things. Yes, that is a major part of it. It's amazing that in this whole "war on terror" thing, no one ever talks about these issues. No one asks questions about these countries -- questions like, "OK, how much of their GDP depends on drugs?"

CD: But of course, you're not implying...

SE: And then to compare that little survey with what countries we've been putting military bases in --


Fire in a field of molten flowers (aaaah)



'The Stakes Are Too High for Us to Stop Fighting Now' August 15, 2005

SE: I mean, come on, I wasn't some big diplomat or official or secret agent or something -- I was just a lowly translator! So what could possibly be so dangerous about letting me speak? Why are they covering this up?

You know, I found out the other day that there has been no person in the history of the United States to have had as many gag orders as I have. So when I say I am the most gagged person in history, I mean it. They are terrified of letting me speak, and just why they might be terrified -- well, this is what the media should be concentrating on, not that the poor whistleblower got fired.


There's a bushfire burning, yeah (aaaah)



Vanity Fair: An Inconvenient Patriot August 15, 2005

Another call allegedly discussed a payment to a Pentagon official, who seemed to be involved in weapons-procurement negotiations. Yet another implied that Turkish groups had been installing doctoral students at U.S. research institutions in order to acquire information about black market nuclear weapons. In fact, much of what Edmonds reportedly heard seemed to concern not state espionage but criminal activity. There was talk, she told investigators, of laundering the profits of large-scale drug deals and of selling classified military technologies to the highest bidder.


You better hold back, hold back (aaaah)



One More Reason to Win - Let Sibel Edmonds Speak October 30, 2006

Currently, according to former CIA agent Philip Giraldi, there is an investigation into Israel's illegal sale of U.S. military technology to countries like China and India. The companies mentioned in this article also have ties to the defense industry through their members' history in government service -- who also share close ties with Turkish front groups (as well as an alliance with AIPAC and JINSA) currently under investigation by the FBI. That these Turkish groups would be involved in the same illegal sales with the aid of the aforementioned businesses is not that difficult of a dot to connect as it definitely reflects the "can of worms" that Edmonds' superiors at the FBI did not want opened. It's also worth mentioning that Turkey is a large hub in the drugs coming out of Afghanistan and Edmonds has alluded to the drug trade in her past statements.


Bushfire



9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN: Part 1: 'Independent' commission April 7, 2004

Former national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, also one of the key members of the Council on Foreign Relations, was the mastermind behind the building of an Islamic network in Afghanistan -- as part of a huge, covert CIA operation. To a large extent, the modern Islamic jihad exists thanks to Brzezinski. There are four members of the Council on Foreign Relations in the commission. There's hardly any chance of them investigating their fellow Brzezinski.


Bushfire



9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN: Part 1: 'Independent' commission April 7, 2004

Commissioner Jamie S Gorelick is very close to CIA director George Tenet. No wonder: she works on the CIA's National Security Advisory Panel, as well as on the president's Review of Intelligence. Tenet is one of the masterminds of the Bush administration "war on terror". This means no chance for the commission to investigate dubious covert operations by the CIA which may foment terrorism instead of fighting it.


Bushfire



9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN: Part 1: 'Independent' commission April 7, 2004

If the intellectual masterminds of the "war on terror" in the Council on Foreign Relations won't be investigated, neither will be those members of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). PNAC was prophetic in the sense that even before the Bush administration, in a 2000 white paper, their members were betting on "some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" so the American people would support their agenda of global politico-military dominance. All neo-conservative superstars -- like Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle -- are members of PNAC (see Asia Times Online, March 20, 2003, This war is brought to you by ...)


But I'm moving to the beat of a big bushfire



Whistleblowers' Dirty Dozen: Interview with Sibel Edmonds July 08, 2006

"The following members of Congress, by their action or inaction, have stood against real investigations, hearings, and legislation dealing with government whistleblowers who have exposed waste, fraud, abuse, and or criminal activities within government agencies. These representatives of the People are not only standing against whistleblowers, but against the public's right to know, effective oversight, accountability, and ultimately against the democratic processes that underpin our society."

The Whistleblowers' Dirty Dozen list is as follows (in alphabetical order):

Senator Hillary Clinton

Senator Mike DeWine

Rep. David Dreier

Rep. Dennis Hastert

Senator Orrin Hatch

Rep. Peter Hoekstra

Senator Jon Kyl

Senator Joseph Lieberman

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger

Senator Rick Santorum

Rep. James Sensenbrenner

Rep. Mark Souder


I'm dancing to the heat of a big bushfire



Clinton bucks the trend and rakes in cash from the US weapons industry October 19, 2007

The US arms industry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street's favourite. Investment bankers have opened their wallets in unprecedented numbers for the New York senator over the past three months and, in the process, dumped their earlier favourite, Barack Obama.

Mrs Clinton's wooing of the defence industry is all the more remarkable given the frosty relations between Bill Clinton and the military during his presidency. An analysis of campaign contributions shows senior defence industry employees are pouring money into her war chest in the belief that their generosity will be repaid many times over with future defence contracts.


And the flames are warm and getting brighter



Big money in politics - sign of excess? March 26, 2008

Klaman agreed.

"That is what should frighten Americans -- when these guys get elected are they looking primarily out for the good of the people or are there debts that they need to pay back," he said.


Whoo-hoo



Cracking the Case: An Interview With Sibel Edmonds August 22, 2005

SH: So let's get into some of that criminal activity then. The semi-legit organization that I think you are most often referring to is the American Turkish Council, which is headed by Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser of the United States, and is packed with the leaders of Raytheon, Motorola, Boeing, Lockheed, Martin Marietta, and some of the most powerful company names in the military-industrial complex.

SE: Correct.

SH: Is the ATC just one of many semi-legitimate organizations that you are referring to, or is most of this story focused on the ATC itself?

SE: There are many.


Well everybody likes to dance around the heat and fire



'The Stakes Are Too High for Us to Stop Fighting Now' August 15, 2005

CD: But you can start from anywhere --

SE: That's the beauty of it. You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people. There may be a lot of them, but it is one group. And they are very dangerous for all of us.


Stay tuned for Part 3

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