Day: September 13, 2008

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Green Party activist Peter Camejo, 68, dies

Dandelion Salad

Updated: added Nader’s statement and a couple of videos

My sincere condolences to Peter’s family and friends.  Sad news.  ~ Lo

sacbee.com
Bee Metro Staff
Last Updated 6:20 pm PDT Saturday, September 13, 2008

Civil rights activist Peter Miguel Camejo, an advocate of third party politics, died early today at his home in Folsom, according to Ralph Nader, who notified The Bee in an e-mailed tribute.

Nader said Camejo’s wife, Morella, was at his side.

Camejo, 68, had been battling lymphoma cancer. Nader said Camejo’s condition had deteriorated over the past few days.

Breaking News – Green Party activist Peter Camejo, 68, dies – sacbee.com.

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Updated

Nader Issues Statement on the Passing of Friend and 2004 Running Mate, Peter Camejo

Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Toby Heaps, Nader for President, 202-441-6795

Ralph Nader Comments on the Passing of Peter Camejo, a Sentinel Force for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and Expander of Democracy

Peter Miguel Camejo, a civil rights leader, socially responsible investment pioneer, and magnanimo caballero for third party politics in the US, peacefully passed away early Saturday morning at his home in Folsom, CA with his wife Morella at his side — only days after completing his autobiography.

The 68-year-old justice fighter had been battling a reoccurrence of lymphoma cancer, and his condition had rapidly deteriorated over the past few days.

Peter was a student leader, civil rights advocate, leader in the socially responsible investment industry with his own investment firm, Progressive Asset Management, Inc., and author of books on investment and history including Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877, The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction, California Under Corporate Rule, and his recent book, The SRI Advantage: Why Socially Responsible Investing Has Outperformed Financially.

Peter used his eloquence, sharp wit, and barnstorming bravado to blaze a trail for 21st century third party politics in the US. He was a third party candidate for state and national office, making three gubernatorial runs in California as a Green, including one in the 2002 election when he earned 5.3 percent of the vote. In the 2003 recall election, he debated Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, and in the 2004 Presidential election, he was my running mate on our Independent Ticket.

Among the many causes Peter forcefully championed were a living wage, healthcare for all, and making the US the world leader in renewable energy. He was also a passionate advocate for electoral reform, pressing for proportional representation and internal run-off voting (allows voters to rank their top choices) in an effort to overturn the “200-year-old dysfunctional money-dominated winner take-all system that disrespects the will of the people.”

Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere. Everyone who met Peter, talked with Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the passing of a great American.

Peter Camejo is survived by his wife Morella, his father Daniel, his daughter Alexandra, his son Victor, three brothers Antonio, Daniel, and Danny, and three grandchildren Andrew, Daniel, and Oliver.

When his autobiography (with the working title Northstar) is published, we will all be able to get a vivid sense of the great measure of Peter Camejo as a sentinel force for civil rights and civil liberties, and expander of democracy. His lifework will inspire the political and economic future for a long time.

Nader Issues Statement on the Passing of Friend and 2004 Running Mate, Peter Camejo — Ralph Nader for President in 2008.

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Ralph Nader endorsed by Peter Camejo

votenader08

2008 Presidential Candidate, Ralph Nader receives a resounding endorsement by legendary social activist Peter Camejo at the Peace and Freedom Delegate Convention in Sacramento, CA on Aug 2nd, 2008

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Ralph Nader endorsed by Peter Camejo“, posted with vodpod

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Green Governor 4 California – Camejo debates in 2003 recall

mfeinsteintube

Green Party 2003 gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo debates independent Arianna Huffington, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Republicans Tom McClintock (state senator) and Peter Ueberroth, a former baseball commissioner for 90 minutes in a session that was preceded by a separate appeal by Governor Gray Davis to voters not to toss him out of office in the October 7th, 2003 California recall election. This was the first televised debate of the campaign.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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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Which Side Are You On? + Capitulation By Peter Camejo

Ralph Nader Posts & Videos

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The Threat of a Military Coup in Bolivia? by Jorge Martin

Dandelion Salad

by Jorge Martin
Global Research, September 13, 2008

Paramilitary forces occupy government buildings

The situation in Bolivia remains one of confrontation between the oligarchy, backed by U.S. imperialism on the one side, and the masses who support the Evo Morales government on the other. Tuesday, September 9th, marked a high point in the reactionary offensive of the oligarchy in Santa Cruz and the other departments in the East of the country, where they control the regional prefects. (see Renewed offensive of the oligarchy – time to strike back!).

On Thursday, September 11, 9 people were killed and 50 were injured in clashes in the department of Pando. A group of peasants was travelling to Cobija, the department capital, to attend a mass meeting called to organise the resistance against the right wing offensive. They were intercepted by a group of employees of the regional prefect, travelling in a car belonging to the road maintenance service, and armed with assault rifles. As a result of the subsequent clashes, 9 people died. This is the highest death toll in the recent violence so far.

Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz, armed gangs of the fascist Union Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC) attempted for the second night to take over the main public squares in the 300,000-strong working class neighbourhood of Plan 3000. Throughout the night there were running battles, but the UJC was repelled by the people of Plan 3000. Comrades present report that although the people in the neighbourhood heavily outnumber the UJC thugs, the problem is that the UJC are heavily armed with tear gas grenades, bullet proof vests, assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, etc.

We have also received reports from Santa Cruz that local MAS leaders dissuaded the workers and peasants of San Julian (the department’s second largest city and a stronghold of the MAS) from marching to the capital Santa Cruz to counter the fascist gangs. The argument was that “we should not fall for provocations”, “what the prefects want is for people to die so they can have their martyrs”, etc.

www.Econoticiasbolivia.com published a full report of all the public buildings taken over by paramilitary forces in the last few days:

In Santa Cruz, the offices of the Agrarian Reform Institute, telecommunications company Entel, Tax Revenue, Graco, Caja Nacional de Salud, the state oil company Yacimientos, Terminal Bimodal, Education Department, Labour Directorate, Forestry Commission, Almacenes Bolivianos, Migration Office and the Import Duty.

In Cobija also Import Duty, Agrarian Reform, Roads, Forrestry and the airport

In Beni the airport, AASANA, post office Ecobol, Entel, Migration and other airports

In Tarija, Digecco, Agrarian Reform, Tax Office, Hydrocarbons, Migration and Import Duty.

In Sucre, Entel and Tax Office

In most of the cases, police and army units that were protecting these building were overrun by the violent gangs of fascists, because they were under strict orders not to shoot and not to use violence to protect them.

The mood in factories and peasant communities throughout the country is one of rage and at the same time impotence, as the oligarchy is allowed to attack government offices, social organisation offices, airports, gas fields, border crossing points, etc., with no response by the government. They are seething with discontent, but no lead is being given. A number of mass organisations in El Alto, Cochabamaba and other parts of the country are calling on the government to declare a state of siege and use its powers against this “slow motion” coup. A national march on La Paz is being planned, to being on September 16th, but that might be too late.

The government’s inaction, and even in some cases its stopping of the initiative of the masses, could have the effect of demoralising the workers and peasants who support it.

The government’s inaction and the threat of a military coup

Vice-president Alvaro García Linera correctly characterised what is happening in the country as a “civic bosses’ coup” and called on Bolivians to remain vigilant to “defend democracy and national unity”. The problem is that he did not explain how the Bolivian masses are supposed to “defend democracy”. As we have seen in the massacre in Pando and the clashes in Plan 3000, the unarmed masses can do little against the heavily armed gangs of fascists.

Once again, government ministers are calling for respect for the rule of law, for the judges to implement the laws and the prosecutors to prosecute those who break them. But these are just words when the oligarchy is tearing up the law in defence of their interests.

To add to the confusion, at the same time that several government ministers rightly blamed the deaths and the violence on the prefects of Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni and Tarija and the civic committees, others called again for negotiations, and a meeting with the prefect of Tarija has been set up for today, Friday, even putting a government plane at his disposal so that he can go to the capital La Paz.

In Beni, the regional army command has signed a truce with the regional prefect. The agreement involved the army withdrawing from the public institutions they were protecting (!!), while the prefect agrees not to take them over.

This situation of constant zig-zags by the government is creating the feeling that power is slipping away from its hands. This is very dangerous. Amongst the military officers, many of whom are opposed to the government anyway, there is already talk of the need for a coup to restore law and order. From their point of view, the institution of the military has been humiliated, having been over-run by civilians, while carrying out their duties loyally. How can they continue to obey a government that seems to be giving up ruling the country? This is probably what many think already.

That a military coup is being discussed is also clear from Hugo Chávez’s statement on Thursday night. After revealing that a coup plot had been uncovered in Venezuela and making an appeal for mass mobilisations, he said that in solidarity with the Bolivian people and government he was also expelling the US ambassador in Venezuela and recalling the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington. He then added a warning to the Bolivian military. He said: “Any movement by the oligarchy, the yanquis, or the army to overthrow the Bolivian government or kill Evo Morales, would give us carte blanche to intervene and support any armed movement to restore the people in power”.

A plan of struggle is needed

Today, the national enlarged meeting of the COB (its national leadership and representatives from all regions and unions) is taking place in La Paz, and they will report back on their decisions at similar meetings in all departments tomorrow. This is a crucial meeting.

In the present situation, a clear plan of struggle is needed. The COB should organise for an indefinite general strike, the holding of cabildos abiertos (mass meetings) in all cities and towns, the setting up of Popular Assemblies (committees of action), the creation of self-defence organisations based on these assemblies, call for and implement the immediate arrest of all those involved in the violent and illegal activities of the last few days, and mobilize to expropriate of the property of the oligarchy.

The onslaught of the oligarchy can only be stopped by the action of the masses in the streets, but they must be armed. 35 years ago, a few days before the military coup in Chile, a million workers marched in Santiago, demanding weapons to defend against the coup that everybody knew was coming. Salvador Allende believed until the very last minute that the army and the oligarchy were going to respect the democratic institutionality. As a result, he was assassinated along with thousands of workers, peasants and youth. The country was plunged into decades of ferocious dictatorship. That should be a powerful lesson.

Evo Morales and Garcia Linera have correctly identified the threat as a “civic bosses coup”, but now they should act accordingly. They received the support of 67% of the vote in the recall referendum on August 10th. More than 2 million Bolivians support them and the idea of a fundamental transformation in the country. The oligarchy is only a minority, but they have economic power, weapons, links to the military and support from imperialism. But even with all of these things in their favour, they can only control the streets and appear strong because of the inaction of the government and the leaders of the mass movement.

If Evo Morales were to issue an appeal to the workers and peasants to come out in the streets to smash the counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the coup plotters would flee,  nothing could stop the mobilized masses. He should give immediate orders to arrest the coup conspirators. If the police and the army refuse to obey these orders, he should appeal to the rank and file soldiers to put their officers under arrest, distribute arms to the workers and peasants and carry out the arrests themselves. He should issue a decree for the immediate expropriation of the property of the coup plotters and appeal directly to the mass organisations of workers and peasants to carry it out. And if the government is not prepared to do so, then the COB and the CONALCAM must take the initiative.

The situation is very dangerous. This is no time for words or negotiations. This is the time for action, to put an end once and for all to the power of the oligarchy. There is no time to waste.

No coups in Bolivia or Venezuela!

No to U.S. interference!

Defend the Bolivian and Bolivarian revolutions!

Smash the counter-revolutionary oligarchy!

Forward to socialism!

© Copyright Jorge Martin, Global Research, 2008

The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10185

see

Bolivia: Fascist right launches ‘civic coup’ by Federico Fuentes & Stuart Munckton

From Pristina to La Paz: Expelled US Ambassador to Bolivia had been in charge of Kosovo Secession

Oppose the fascist coup in Bolivia! (Sign the petition)

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Pakistan army ordered to hit back at U.S. forces

Dandelion Salad

Tehran Times
September 13, 2008

TEHRAN (Press TV) — The Pakistani Army has been given orders to retaliate against any unilateral strike by the Afghanistan-based U.S. troops inside the country.

Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night.

The decision was made on the first day of the two-day meeting of Pakistan’s top military commanders to discuss the U.S. coalition’s ground and air assault in Waziristan region which killed dozens of civilians.

Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the meeting which began in Rawalpindi on Thursday at the Army General Headquarters.

Pakistan’s military commanders expressed their determination to defend the country’s borders without allowing any external forces to conduct operations inside the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, sources said.

[…]

tehran times : Pakistan army ordered to hit back at U.S. forces.

h/t: CLG

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

Gareth Porter: Pakistani Air Strikes + Leaked US-Iraqi Draft Agreement

Kucinich: Bush-Ordered Attacks in Pakistan Further Destabilizing World Security

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9/11 and the “American Inquisition” by Michel Chossudovsky

Dandelion Salad

Many pictures/photos at the original source.

by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
September 11, 2008

Today’s “Global War on Terrorism” is a modern form of inquisition. It has all the essential ingredients of the French and Spanish inquisitions.

Going after “Islamic terrorists”, carrying out a Worldwide preemptive war to “protect the Homeland” are used to justify a military agenda. Continue reading →

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Deliver Us From Chaos: Ten Political Commandments by William Cox

Dandelion Salad

Sent to me by the author, thanks William.

by William Cox
http://www.thevoters.org
Sept. 13, 2008

When the CIA engineered the overthrow of the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in 1953 in favor of the more compliant Shah, who would have ever thought that 26 years later the nation’s youth would invade our embassy and take our diplomats as hostages?  When our president’s national security advisor instigated secret support for the Afghanistan Mujahideen the same year in their resistance against the Russian army, who would have imagined that 22 years later one of the Mujahideen leaders, Osama bin Laden, would direct the 9-11 attacks on America?  When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 without just cause, who could have foreseen that five years later as many as a million Iraqis have been killed, tens of thousands of American soldiers have been grievously wounded or died, more than a trillion tax dollars have been wasted, and our troops are still not welcomed as liberators?  When the CIA and the U.S. ambassador secretly engineered the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia in 2003 and after the U.S. encouraged the Israeli-trained Georgian army to invade the disputed enclave of South Ossetia five years later, who could have predicted Russian peacekeepers would be killed causing Russia to invade Georgia and overrun its lilliputian army provided by U.S. taxpayers?  The only thing for certain to result from all such Machiavellian maneuvers is chaos, pure chaos. Continue reading →

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Gareth Porter: Pakistani Air Strikes + Leaked US-Iraqi Draft Agreement

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!

Sept 10, 2008

Gareth Porter: Bush Admin Ignored Warnings Against Pakistani Air Strikes

In Pakistan, twenty-five people, including several women and children, are now reported to have been killed in Monday’s US drone attack on a compound in western Pakistan. A new article by investigative journalist Gareth Porter reveals that the Bush administration ignored warnings against such raids from the American intelligence community. They said that such raids could benefit the Taliban and destabilize the Pakistani military.

Real Video Stream

Real Audio Stream

MP3 Download

Democracy Now! | Gareth Porter: Bush Admin Ignored Warnings Against Pakistani Air Strikes.

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As US Announces Withdrawal of 8,000 Troops from Iraq, Leaked US-Iraqi Draft Agreement Envisions Indefinite Occupation

On the heels of President Bush’s announcement of the withdrawal of 8,000 US troops from Iraq by February of next year, we speak to Iraqi blogger and political analyst Raed Jarrar. He has translated a recently leaked draft of an Iraqi-US agreement that outlines the long-term status of US forces in Iraq. Jarrar says the agreement does not set a deadline for the withdrawal of non-combat US troops in Iraq.

Real Video Stream

Real Audio Stream

MP3 Download

Democracy Now! | As US Announces Withdrawal of 8,000 Troops from Iraq, Leaked US-Iraqi Draft Agreement Envisions Indefinite Occupation.

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Bush, Pakistan and Iraq

IWantDemocracyNow

see

Kucinich: Bush-Ordered Attacks in Pakistan Further Destabilizing World Security

US-Iraqi Agreement: Leaked (Full Text)

US attack inside Pakistan threatens dangerous new war

Iraq

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Ossetia-Russia-Georgia By Noam Chomsky

Dandelion Salad

By Noam Chomsky
09/11/08 “ICH”

Aghast at the atrocities committed by US forces invading the Philippines, and the rhetorical flights about liberation and noble intent that routinely accompany crimes of state, Mark Twain threw up his hands at his inability to wield his formidable weapon of satire. The immediate object of his frustration was the renowned General Funston. “No satire of Funston could reach perfection,” Twain lamented, “because Funston occupies that summit himself… [he is] satire incarnated.” Continue reading →

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Open the Debates Rally Speech Uncut + Ron Paul Press Conference featuring Ralph Nader

Dandelion Salad

Updated: added videos Aug. 22, 2011 & Sept. 22, 2011

Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney & Ralph Nader on stage together!

66 min – Sep 11, 2008

September 10, 2008 C-SPAN Representative Ron Paul held a news conference support third party presidential candidates and urge his supporters to consider backing independent candidates rather than the Republican or Democratic nominees. He was joined by independent Ralph Nader, the Green Party’s Cynthia McKinney and the Constitution Party’s Chuck Baldwin. Representative Paul did not endorse a specific candidate.

http://www.c-span.org/Events/Rep-Ron-Paul-R-TX-Press-Conference-on-Third-Party-Candidates/11261/

Continue reading →

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IIB Films: Road to Terrorstorm (2008 Final Edition)

By Ignorance Isn’t Bliss
Featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Sept 13, 2008

Updated: Sept 15, 2008

(NEW) TORRENT DOWNLOAD PAGE: http://www.mininova.org/tor/1807883

Ignorance Is Futile

141 min – Sep 10, 2008 Continue reading →

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September 11, 2001: 21 Reasons to Question the Official Story about 9/11 by David Ray Griffin

Dandelion Salad

by David Ray Griffin
Global Research, September 11, 2008

Note: Although the points are stated briefly, I give in each case the pages in my most recent book—“The New Pearl Harbor Revisited”—where the issue is documented and discussed more extensively.

(1) Although the official account of 9/11 claims that Osama bin Laden ordered the attacks, the FBI does not list 9/11 as one of the terrorist acts for which he is wanted and has admitted that it “has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11” (NPHR 206-11).

(2) Although the official story holds that the four airliners were hijacked by devout Muslims ready to die as martyrs to earn a heavenly reward, Mohamed Atta and the other alleged hijackers regularly drank heavily, went to strip clubs, and paid for sex (NPHR 153-55).

(3) Many people reported having received cell phone calls from loved ones or flight attendants on the airliners, during which they were told that Middle Eastern hijackers had taken over the planes. One recipient, Deena Burnett, was certain that her husband had called her several times on his cell phone because she had recognized his number on her Caller ID. But the calls to Burnett and most of the other reported calls were made when the planes were above 30,000 feet, and evidence presented by the 9/11 truth movement showed that, given the technology of the time, cell phone calls from high-altitude airliners had been impossible. By the time the FBI presented a report on phone calls from the planes at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui in 2006, it had changed its story, saying that there were only two cell phone calls from the flights, both from United 93 after it had descended to 5,000 feet (NPHR 111-17).

(4) US Solicitor General Ted Olson’s claim that his wife, Barbara Olson, phoned him twice from AA 77, reporting that hijackers had taken it over, was also contradicted by this FBI report, which says that the only call attempted by her was “unconnected” and hence lasted “0 seconds” (NPRH 60-62).

(5) Although decisive evidence that al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks was reportedly found in Mohamed Atta’s luggage—which allegedly failed to get loaded onto Flight 11 from a commuter flight that Atta took to Boston from Portland, Maine, that morning—this story was made up after the FBI’s previous story had collapsed. According to that story, the evidence had been found in a Mitsubishi that Atta had left in the Logan Airport parking lot and the trip to Portland was taken by Adnan and Ameer Bukhari. After the FBI learned that neither of the Bukharis had died on September 11, it simply declared that the trip to Portland was made by Atta and another al-Qaeda operative (NPHR 155-62).

(6) The other types of reputed evidence for Muslim hijackers—such as videos of al-Qaeda operatives at airports, passports discovered at the crash sites, and a headband discovered at the crash site of United 93—also show clear signs of having been fabricated (NPHR 170-73).

(7) In addition to the absence of evidence for hijackers on the planes, there is also evidence of their absence: If hijackers had broken into the cockpits, the pilots would have “squawked” the universal hijack code, an act that takes only a couple of seconds. But not one of the eight pilots on the four airliners did this (NPHR 175-79).

(8) Given standard operating procedures between the FAA and the military, according to which planes showing signs of an in-flight emergency are normally intercepted within about 10 minutes, the military’s failure to intercept any of the flights implies that something, such as a stand-down order, prevented standard procedures from being carried out (NPHR 1-10, 81-84).

(9) Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta reported an episode in which Vice President Cheney, while in the bunker under the White House, apparently confirmed a stand-down order at about 9:25 AM, which was prior to the strike on the Pentagon. Another man has reported hearing members of LAX Security learn that a stand-down order had come from the “highest level of the White House” (NPHR 94-96).

(10) The 9/11 Commission did not mention Mineta’s report, removed it from the Commission’s video record of its hearings, and claimed that Cheney did not enter the shelter conference room until almost 10:00, which was at least 40 minutes later than he was really there, according to Mineta and several other witnesses, including Cheney’s photographer (NPHR 91-94).

(11) The 9/11 Commission’s timeline for Cheney that morning even contradicted what Cheney himself had told Tim Russert on “Meet the Press” September 16, just five days after 9/11 (NPHR 93).

(12) Hani Hanjour, known as a terrible pilot who could not safely fly even a single-engine airplane, could not possibly have executed the amazing trajectory reportedly taken by American Flight 77 in order to hit Wedge 1 of the Pentagon (NPHR 78-80).

(13) Wedge 1 would have been the least likely part of the Pentagon to be targeted by foreign terrorists, for several reasons: It was as far as possible from the offices of Rumsfeld and the top brass, whom Muslim terrorists presumably would have wanted to kill; it was the only part of the Pentagon that had been reinforced; the reconstruction was not finished, so there were relatively few people there; and it was the only part of the Pentagon that would have presented obstacles to a plane’s flight path (NPHR 76-78).

(14) Contrary to the claim of Pentagon officials that they did not have the Pentagon evacuated because they had no way of knowing that an aircraft was approaching, a military E-4B—the Air Force’s most advanced communications, command, and control airplane—was flying over the White House at the time. Also, although there can be no doubt about the identity of the plane, which was captured on video by CNN and others, the military has denied that it belonged to them (NPHR 96-98).

(15) The Secret Service, after learning that a second World Trade Center building had been attacked—which would have meant that terrorists were going after high-value targets—and that still other planes had apparently been hijacked, allowed President Bush to remain at the school in Sarasota, Florida, for another 30 minutes. It thereby revealed its foreknowledge that Bush would not be a target: If these had really been surprise attacks, the agents, fearing that a hijacked airliner was bearing down on the school, would have hustled Bush away. On the first anniversary of 9/11, the White House started telling a new story, according to which Bush, rather than remaining in the classroom several minutes after Andrew Card whispered in his ear that a second WTC building had been hit, immediately got up and left the room. This lie was told in major newspapers and on MSNBC and ABC television (NPHR 129-31).

(16) Given the fact that the Twin Towers and WTC 7 had steel columns running from their basements to their roofs, they simply could not have come down as they did—straight down at virtually free-fall speed—unless these columns had been sliced by means of explosives. Therefore, the official theory, according to which the buildings came down because of fire plus (in the case of the Twin Towers) the impact of the planes, is scientifically impossible (NPHR 12-25).

(17) The destruction of the Twin Towers had many other features—such as the horizontal ejections of steel beams, the melting of steel, and the sulfidation and thinning of steel—that can be explained only in terms of powerful explosives. For example, the fires could not have come within 1000 degrees Fahrenheit of the temperature needed to melt steel (30-36).

(18) Members of the FDNY (Fire Department of New York) provided oral histories shortly after 9/11 in which one fourth of them testified to having witnessed explosions in the Twin Towers. Explosions in the WTC 7 as well as the towers were also reported by city officials, WTC employees, and journalists (NPHR 27-30, 45-48, 51).

(19) Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Peter Jennings of ABC News that day: “we set up headquarters at 75 Barclay Street . . . , and we were operating out of there when we were told that the World Trade Center was gonna collapse. And it [the South Tower] did collapse before we could actually get out of the building.” However, there was no objective basis for expecting the towers to collapse; even the 9/11 Commission admitted that none of the fire chiefs expected them to come down. The FDNY oral histories show that the information that they were going to collapse came from the Office of Emergency Management—Giuliani’s own office. How could Giuliani’s people have known that the towers were going to come down, unless they knew that the buildings had been laced with explosives? (NPH 40)

(20) NIST, which produced the official reports on the Twin Towers and (recently) WTC 7, has been “fully hijacked from the scientific to the political realm,” so that its scientists are little more than “hired guns,” a former employee has reported, and the 9/11 Commission was no more independent, being run by Philip Zelikow, who was essentially a member of the Bush White House (NPHR 11, 238-51).

(21) The official story about 9/11 is now rejected by constantly growing numbers of physicists, chemists, architects, engineers, pilots, former military officers, and former intelligence officials (NPHR xi).

David Ray Griffin. The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: 9/11, the Cover-Up, and the Exposé. Olive Branch Press, September, 2008, ISBN-10: 1566567297

© Copyright David Ray Griffin, Global Research, 2008

The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10145

see

Remembering 9/11 and Moving Forward by Dennis Kucinich

9/11 Ripple Effect

Ralph Nader supports 9/11 truth & opposes Blackwater

The official version of 9/11 questioned + Zero An Investigation Into 9/11

9/11 and the Great American Decline

9/11 The falling man

Was America Attacked by Muslims on 9/11? Part II By David Ray Griffin

The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: 9/11, the Cover-Up, and the Exposé – David Ray Griffin’s latest Book

9/11

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Remembering 9/11 and Moving Forward by Dennis Kucinich

Dandelion Salad

By Dennis Kucinich
Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Washington, Sep 11 – America must move from the errant, retributive justice of 9/11 to a healing, restorative process of truth and reconciliation.

Before the Congress adjourns, I will bring forth a new proposal for the establishment of a National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, which will have the power to compel testimony and gather official documents to reveal to the American people not only the underlying deception which has divided us, but in that process of truth seeking set our nation on a path of reconciliation.

We suffer in our remembrance of 9/11, because of the terrible loss of innocent lives on that grim day. We also suffer because 9/11 was seized as an opportunity to run a political agenda, which has set America on a course of the destruction of another nation and the destruction of our own Constitution. And we have become less secure as a result of the warped practice of pursing peace through the exercise of pre-emptive military strength.

It is not simply 9/11 that needs to be remembered.  We also need to remember the politicization of 9/11 and the polarizing narrative which followed, locking us into endless conflict, a war on terror which has wrought further terror worldwide and which has severely damaged our standing worldwide as an honorable, compassionate nation.   As we were all victims of 9/11, so we have become victims of the interpretation of 9/11.

Our government’s external response to 9/11 was to attack a nation which did not attack us.  Indeed on the first anniversary of 9/11, the Bush Administration issued a well-publicized stern warning to Iraq which was part of a campaign to induce people to believe Iraq had something to do with 9/11.

The deliberate, systematic connection of Iraq with 9/11 has led America into a philosophical and moral cul-de-sac as over one million Iraqis and over 4155 US soldiers have died in a war which will cost over $3 trillion.  Additionally, soldiers from 23 other countries have died in the Iraq war.

We attempt to unite Iraq by further dividing it.  We talk about restoring Iraq while taking steps to place control of its vast oil wealth in the hands of US oil giants.  And we intend to impose upon the Iraqi people the cost of rebuilding a country which our government ruined, keeping a once prosperous nation lashed to debt and poverty for a long, long time.  Iraq has paid for 9/11.  We all continue to pay for 9/11.

The heartbreaking loss of the lives and injuries to America troops further binds us to the Administration’s illogic of the Iraq war:  We remember our troops’ sacrifice by demanding more sacrifice; we support our troops by continuing the war.

The dominant color of our new national security since 911 is neither red, white nor blue.  Everyday is orange.  Everyday reminders of fear of 9/11 become banal…  Yet we no longer hear the airport announcements nor see the orange colored warnings because they have commonplace standards in our new national security state, as is the Patriot Act, wiretapping, and a host of invasions of privacy and diminution of civil liberties.  The Constitution has been roundly attacked by the very people who took an oath to defend it.

There is a powerful desire across America for change, not necessarily from control by one political party to another, but a change from living with lies to living with truth.

Over two dozen nations, facing peril within and without, deeply divided by politics and war have travelled down a path of restoring civil society through a formal process of reconciliation.  At some point within each of those countries it was understood that the way forward is shown through the light of truth.  This process is not without pain because it requires a willingness to study evidence to which eyes had been averted and ears had been closed.  But in the process of truth and reconciliation, nations found new strength, new resolve, and new commitment.

The South African Truth and Reconciliation enabled that nation to come to grips with its past through a public confessional, bringing forward those who committed crimes and having the power to grant amnesty for full disclosure of crimes against the people.  Of course, our path may necessarily be different:  High US government officials stand accused in Impeachment petitions of violating national and international law.  Our continued existence as a democracy may depend upon how thoroughly we seek the truth.  I will call upon the American people to join me in supporting this effort.

The truth can move us forward, as a unified whole, so that we can one day become a re-United States. 9/11 is the day the world changed.  It is the day America embraced a metaphor of war. If we are open to truth and reconciliation, we may one day be able, once again, to embrace peace.

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Impeach

Kucinich: Bush-Ordered Attacks in Pakistan Further Destabilizing World Security

September 11, 2001: 21 Reasons to Question the Official Story about 9/11 by David Ray Griffin

9/11 Ripple Effect

Ralph Nader supports 9/11 truth & opposes Blackwater

The official version of 9/11 questioned + Zero An Investigation Into 9/11

9/11 and the Great American Decline

9/11 The falling man

Was America Attacked by Muslims on 9/11? Part II By David Ray Griffin

9/11

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Countdown: Sarah Palin Interviews + Palin Perpetuating the 9-11 Myth

Dandelion Salad

heathr456

Sept. 12, 2008

Sarah Palin Interviews

Keith reports on the spin coming out of the Sarah Palin interviews with Charlie Gibson in the last two days.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Countdown: Sarah Palin Interviews“, posted with vodpod

G.O. Propaganda

Keith reports on the press finally waking up a bit and starting to call the McCain campaign out for lying in their campaign ads. Markos Moulitsas from DailyKOS weighs in.

Palin Perpetuating the 9-11 Myth

Keith reports on Sarah Palin continuing to perpetuate the myth that Iraq had anything to do with 9-11. Chris Hayes weighs in.

Richard Wolffe Interview on Palin

Richard Wolffe weighs in on the Sarah Palin interviews and notes that Barack Obama would have been savagely attacked by the right wingers if he had made some of the same mistakes that Sarah Palin has.

John McCain on The View

Keith shows a short portion of McCain’s appearance on The View today.

Bushed!

Tonight’s: President Petulant-Gate, Blood for Oil-Gate and Mastermind-Gate.

McCain in the Membrane

Today’s edition of McCain in the Membrane showing McCain in October 2007 talking about how he was prepared to be President and not just a Mayor for a short time or Governor for a small amount of time.

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Palin-Sarah

Sarah Palin on Climate Change & Drilling in ANWR + Interview With Charlie Gibson

Reflections on Sarah Palin’s Qualifications To Be Vice President By Gary Corseri

Pitbulls And Colonialist Ghosts By John Steppling

No Wolf Whistles for Sarah Palin’s Compassion by Walter Brasch

From “Dominion” to Domination: The Duplicity and Complicity of Matthew Scully

God Does Love the Republicans By Steven Jonas + Bible Thumper

The Daily Show: Sarah Palin Gender Card

Ron Paul: Do You Even Think About Americans?

Georgian conflict poses dilemma for Turkey

The Voice of War and Oil By Rand Clifford