The GOP vs The Intelligence
DECEMBER 07, 2007 KEITH OLBERMANN
Legal Fallout from Destroyed Interrogation Tapes
Spies, Lies and Video Tape
Worst Person: Sen. Mitch McConnell
see
Senators Kennedy, Dodd & Durbin Respond To The Destruction Of CIA Tapes + WH Briefing (videos)
Scott Ritter: Cheney’s Iran Policy Still Stands (audio link)
CIA destroyed video of ‘waterboarding’ al-Qaida detainees By Suzanne Goldenberg
Washington, Dec 7 – The American College of Physicians, representing 124,000 physicians, endorsed a single-payer health care system this week, acknowledging change is necessary to aid a failing health care system.
ACP backed the approach to health care reform because access to health care has deteriorated the decreasing supply of primary-care physicians. Costs continue to rise unchecked, fueled in part by dramatic increases in administrative costs.
ACP is the largest general-interest doctor group to support a single-player plan.
“I welcome ACP’s emphatic endorsement of doctor and patient-run health care to the growing chorus of supporters. They include tens of thousands of nurses, former Surgeons General and former Editors of the New England Journal of Medicine,” Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said.
Kucinich coauthored HR 676, Medicare for All, with Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). The bill was introduced on January 24, 2007, and currently has 86 cosponsors.
“HR 676 is the only health care plan that addresses all three health care issues: quality, accessibility, and cost,” Kucinich said. “This plan would cost the same amount of money that is now spent on health care, but would insure every American and guarantee them the care their doctors prescribe.”
HR 676 would institute a single-payer health care system in the United States by expanding a Medicare system to all. It would cover all U.S. residents for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care, chiropractic and long term care. HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.
HR 676 currently has the backing of 342 union organizations in 48 states including 93 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 28 state AFL-CIOs (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK and KS). Additionally, the Kansas and New Hampshire state legislatures have endorsed HR 676 as has the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
Piano Wire Puppeteers: The Constitution, Media & Dennis Kucinich By Sean Penn (+ video) (updated)
The Only Progressive Presidential Candidate + One World, One Love (videos; Kucinich)
Answers to these questions and more on Link TV ‘s Mosaic Intelligence Report.
For more visit http://www.linktv.org
Added: December 07, 2007
see
12.06.07 Uncensored News Reports From Across The Middle East (video; over 18 only)
2007.12.05
original location:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73850Added: December 05, 2007, December 06, 2007, December 07, 2007
see
John Stossel interviews Ron Paul – ABC Afraid to put it on TV (video)
replaced video
John Stossel Interviews Ron Paul 2007.12.07 part 1
John Stossel Interviews Republican on Personal Freedom, Drugs, Prostitution and Gay Marriage. 2007.12.07
original location: http://www.abcnews.go.com/2…
Vodpod videos no longer available.
see
John Stossel interviews Ron Paul – ABC Afraid to put it on TV Part II (video)
Warning
.
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
A video that describes how the situation is like in Iraq based on photos from Iraq and a very famous Iraq song.
Added: December 05, 2007
h/t: ICH
Dandelion Salad
By Suzanne Goldenberg
ICH
Washington
12/07/07 “The Guardian”
The CIA destroyed video evidence of the coercive interrogation of al-Qaida operatives held under its secret rendition programme in order to shield agents from prosecution, it was revealed yesterday.
The decision to destroy two videotapes documenting the use of waterboarding against Abu Zubaydah and another high-value al-Qaida detainee was made in November 2005 – as American media were just beginning to focus on the existence of the secret CIA prison network.
“The tapes posed a serious security risk,” the CIA’s director, Michael Hayden, told agency employees in a statement yesterday. “Were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of your CIA colleagues who had served in the programme, exposing them and their families to retaliation from al-Qaida and its sympathisers.”
Hayden’s message to CIA employees went out a day after he learned that the New York Times planned to publish an article today about destruction of the videotapes.
The revelation is bound to reignite debate in Congress about the use of torture in the war on terror. But far more seriously for the Bush administration, it raises the prospect that the CIA withheld information from and obstructed the work of the commission investigating the September 11 attacks as well as lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 11th hijacker. Officials from the September 11 commission told the New York Times yesterday they had formally requested from the CIA evidence of interrogations, and had been informed that all materials had been handed over.
The Washington Post, which also carried a story on its website yesterday about the destroyed videotapes, reported that the order to destroy the tapes came from Jose Rodriguez Jr, then the director of the CIA’s clandestine operations.
The leaders of the house and Senate intelligence committees – which were then under Republican control – were aware of the existence of the footage and the CIA’s decision to destroy the material, Hayden said in his memo. However, Democratic committee members who had long demanded that such interrogations be videotaped, were not made aware of the existence of the tapes, the Times reported.
Hayden said the interrogations were filmed in 2002 after George Bush authorised the use of harsh interrogation, including the controversial practice of controlled drowning, known as waterboarding, against al-Qaida suspects.
“The agency was determined that it proceed in accord with established legal and policy guidelines,” Hayden wrote. “So, on its own, CIA began to videotape interrogations.”
However, the CIA soon discontinued the practice, and it is believed that only two detainees were filmed while undergoing interrogation. It has long been believed that Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi believed to be a close associated of Osama bin Laden, was subjected to harsh treatment following his capture in Pakistan in March 2002.
The footage would have clarified what practices such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation – both of which a gravely wounded Abu Zubaydah was subjected to – involve.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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Senators Kennedy, Dodd & Durbin Respond To The Destruction Of CIA Tapes + WH Briefing (videos)
By Mike Whitney
12/07/07 “ICH”
A nation’s economy is a reflection pool. The face that looks back from the water; is the face of the culture and the prevailing ethos. It’s no different with America. The stewards of the US economic system—Paulson and Bernanke—are inextricably linked to a political/military establishment which has been thoroughly marinated in a culture of violence and corruption. Paulson’s “Marshall Plan” for subprime homeowners is just the gloved hand of the despot. The other hand is still busy gouging out eyes at Guantanamo, or clubbing foreign nationals at CIA black sites, or dropping incendiary bombs on schoolchildren in Falluja. It’s all the same. The culture of war and demagoguery has its roots in the economic system. Its financial leaders are just as culpable as any low-ranking GI at Abu Ghraib.
The Paulson plan has nothing to do with saving working class people from the ravages of foreclosure. Oh, no. The Bush administration is ideologically opposed to helping people in need. We know that already. Just look at Katrina. The real purpose of the proposed “bailout” is to allow enough people to keep making minimal payments on their mortgages so the banking system doesn’t shatter into a million pieces. That’s it. It doesn’t take a genius to see that desperation has set in at the Federal Reserve. The last time the government orchestrated a bailout of this magnitude was during the ’30s. And, guess what? George Bush is no F.D.R.
The truth is, the system is cratering and the Fed’s panic-button is “blinking red”. It’s obvious. They are doing everything in their power to keep the train on the tracks, but they’re not succeeding. They’re slashing rates, accepting dodgy collateral (like Commercial paper and shaky mortgage-backed securities) as repos, and they’ve extended the length of the repos indefinitely, which is the same as “monetizing” the debt. Paulson has tried to set up a Super SIV to help the major investment banks off-load their mortgage-backed junk on the wary public, but that isn’t working either. Nothing is working. Meanwhile, the headwinds keep getting stronger, the waves keep crashing over the bow, and ship-o-state keeps listing perilously on its side. It’s a mess.
The banks are the conduit for the paper-money scam run by the Federal Reserve. It’s a crooked business run by the same people who send our kids to war while rewarding themselves with tax cuts. It stinks. Now the system is in dire straights. Are we supposed to feel bad?
Foreign central banks and investors are dumping their dollars and dollar-backed assets, the Gulf States are threatening to de-link petroleum from the dollar, and investors everywhere know they’ve been ripped off by a shoddy mortgage-laundering swindle that got the “green light” from US regulators. It’s a bad scene all around. And now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Cluck, cluck.
The meltdown in the real estate market continues to send tremors through Wall Street. Trillions of dollars in complex bonds (CDOs and MBSs) are being downgraded as foreclosures increase and housing inventory soars. Banks, insurance companies, pension funds, bond insurers, hedge funds; are all among the living-dead. Many are already insolvent and many more will follow. It’s just a matter of time. The foundation of the financial markets is crumbling. The scheme to transform the liabilities of loan-applicants with bad credit into a reliable source of fat profits has failed. Alchemy still doesn’t work. Never has.
The subprime crisis and (subsequent) credit crunch originated at the Federal Reserve. The Fed triggered a speculative frenzy by lowering interest rates below the rate of inflation for over 31 months between 2002 and 2004. Trillions of dollars were fed into the banking system creating the biggest equity bubble in history. Now that the housing bubble is crashing to earth–and trillions of dollars in shaky bonds are headed for the landfill–the Fed is trying to distance itself from any responsibility. But we know the truth. The plan was authored and executed by the Fed and that’s where the blame lies. Everyone else is just a “bit player”.
What matters most, is that the system is collapsing. It is being slowly crushed by the accumulated weight of its own corruption. When the system crashes, the flag will be lowered over Guantanamo Bay, the present oligarchy of racketeers will be removed from office, and the troops will come home from Iraq. Sometimes positive results derive from tragedy.
There could be anarchy or tyranny or martial law or detention camps. Who really knows? It’s understandable that the public is worried about “what could happen” in the near future. But, consider this: can we continue moving in the same direction that we are now? Can we keep pouring the blood of innocent people all over the planet while claiming to own the world and all of its resources? Can we keep ignoring the species-threatening challenges of global warming, peak oil and nuclear proliferation?
No.
Well, then, is there any chance that the media, the congress, the courts, or the president will come to their senses; chart a different course, restore civil liberties, stop the human rights abuse, and withdrawal the troops?
No.
So tell me, dear reader, what hope is there for change apart from a full-system economic collapse?
Political systems do not have to be perfect to be acceptable. I’m not naive. But—for many of us—there are basic moral criteria that have to be observed to win our support. The Bush administration has elevated killing, torture and kidnapping to a level of state policy. This is unacceptable by any standard, and yet, all the levers of power are controlled by people who support the present doctrine.
Isn’t that so?
The United States is not a beacon of hope or a light unto the world. It is a menace and a growing threat to survival on earth. America’s political and military belligerence is just an extension of a domineering economic system which serves the sole interests of the rich and powerful. The Central Bank plays a critical role in this paradigm. Nation’s don’t go to war without the blessing of their main financial institutions. The “big money” guys are the silent partners in the plunder and bloodletting.
The men who own and oversee the US financial system; created the cancer which is presently devouring it from the inside. Now the tumor has metastasized and spread through the entire organism. The situation is irreversible. The economy is on its last legs and headed for a fall. US political leaders will have to accept a world in which America is just one of many states of equal power and significance. Military funding will slow to a dribble. The killing will stop. Finally.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
ICH
12/06/07
Antiwar Radio: Scott Horton Interviews Scott Ritter
Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine and UN weapons inspector, discusses the new Iran NIE,his admiration for Ron Paul and the need of the American people to destroy the careers of their warmonger representatives.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
Time to Impeach yet? ~ Lo
DECEMBER 07, 2007 C-SPAN THE SENATE
DECEMBER 07, 2007 CNN WOLF BLITZER
Senator Durbin
DECEMBER 07, 2007 C-SPAN
DECEMBER 07, 2007 CNN WOLF BLITZER
Ron Suskind: What was on the destroyed CIA Tapes?
DECEMBER 07, 2007 CNN WOLF BLITZER
9/11 Commissioner Thomas Kern on CIA tapes destroyed
DECEMBER 07, 2007 BBC WORLD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXlqgasS1L8
And if you can stomach it:
WH Press Briefing, December 7, 2007
by Rep. Ron Paul
December 7, 2007
Before the US House of Representatives, December 5, 2007
Madame Speaker, I regret that I was unavoidably out of town on October 23, 2007, when a vote was taken on HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted against this misguided and dangerous piece of legislation. This legislation focuses the weight of the US government inward toward its own citizens under the guise of protecting us against “violent radicalization.”
I would like to note that this legislation was brought to the floor for a vote under suspension of regular order. These so-called “suspension” bills are meant to be non-controversial, thereby negating the need for the more complete and open debate allowed under regular order. It is difficult for me to believe that none of my colleagues in Congress view HR 1955, with its troubling civil liberties implications, as “non-controversial.”
There are many causes for concern in HR 1955. The legislation specifically singles out the Internet for “facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process” in the United States. Such language may well be the first step toward US government regulation of what we are allowed to access on the Internet. Are we, for our own good, to be subjected to the kind of governmental control of the Internet that we see in unfree societies? This bill certainly sets us on that course.
This seems to be an unwise and dangerous solution in search of a real problem. Previous acts of ideologically-motivated violence, though rare, have been resolved successfully using law enforcement techniques, existing laws against violence, and our court system. Even if there were a surge of “violent radicalization” – a claim for which there is no evidence – there is no reason to believe that our criminal justice system is so flawed and weak as to be incapable of trying and punishing those who perpetrate violent acts.
This legislation will set up a new government bureaucracy to monitor and further study the as-yet undemonstrated pressing problem of homegrown terrorism and radicalization. It will no doubt prove to be another bureaucracy that artificially inflates problems so as to guarantee its future existence and funding. But it may do so at great further expense to our civil liberties. What disturbs me most about this legislation is that it leaves the door wide open for the broadest definition of what constitutes “radicalization.” Could otherwise nonviolent anti-tax, antiwar, or anti-abortion groups fall under the watchful eye of this new government commission? Assurances otherwise in this legislation are unconvincing.
In addition, this legislation will create a Department of Homeland Security-established university-based body to further study radicalization and to “contribute to the establishment of training, written materials, information, analytical assistance and professional resources to aid in combating violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism.” I wonder whether this is really a legitimate role for institutes of higher learning in a free society.
Legislation such as this demands heavy-handed governmental action against American citizens where no crime has been committed. It is yet another attack on our Constitutionally- protected civil liberties. It is my sincere hope that we will reject such approaches to security, which will fail at their stated goal at a great cost to our way of life.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
Kucinich on HR 1955 Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
US House passes Democrat-crafted “homegrown terrorism prevention” legislation by Naomi Spencer
On The Issues: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul by Lo (updated)
The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act: A Tutorial in Orwellian Newspeak By Robert Weitzel
The Violent Radicalization Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 by Matt Renner
The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act by Philip Giraldi
Warning
.
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Selected Episode
Dec. 06, 2007
For more: http://linktv.org
“Iraqi Refugees Cannot Return,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Security Returns to Iraq’s ‘Kandahar'” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Kurdish Oil Deals Stir Debate,” Al Sharqiya TV, Iraq
“Women Killed for not Wearing the Hijab,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Sudan Rejects US Pressure,” Syria TV, Syria
“Iran’s Resolution at UN Approved,” IRIB2 TV, Iran
“US Intelligence Report Stuns Israelis,” IBA TV, Israel
“Lebanese Prepare for Christmas,” LBC TV, Lebanon
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.
The United States in in dire need of change. There is only one truly progressive presidential candidate – Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Added: December 07, 2007
h/t: After Downing Street
***
Time to make a change and move our country and the world forward into a new era.
Be your brother’s keeper as well as your planet’s.
Kucinich for President 2008
see
Piano Wire Puppeteers: The Constitution, Media & Dennis Kucinich By Sean Penn
John Nichols & David Swanson: Who Killed the Constitution? (videos; impeach) (updated)
Dandelion Salad 