10/8/01
9:10:00 PM
AFRICAN WILDLIFE DATABASES BENEFIT ANIMAL CONSERVATION EFFORTS
The health and welfare of African lions, leopards and cheetahs are coming into focus in Illinois. What is being learned, researchers say, will help with the management of the threatened big cats in Africa, as well as those in zoos throughout the world.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011001072318.htm
WE "HEAR" PERSONALITY IN COMPUTER-GENERATED SPEECH AND THE MORE IT SOUNDS LIKE US, THE MORE WE LIKE IT
People read personality into a synthetic voice even when they know that its made by a computer. Whats more, if the voice mirrors their personalities, people will like and be more readily influenced by that voice. These new findings, which have implications for the design and use of increasingly widespread text-to-speech (TTS) systems, appear in the September issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011001072153.htm
PRAYER MAY INFLUENCE IN VITRO FERTILIZATION SUCCESS; BLINDED AND RANDOMIZED INTERNATIONAL STUDY REVEALS SURPRISING RESULTS
Prayer seems to almost double the success rate of in vitro fertilization procedures that lead to pregnancy, according to surprising results from a study carefully designed to eliminate bias.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011002065831.htm
RESEARCHERS UNCOVER ALARMING NUMBER OF UNDIAGNOSED HYPERTENSION, DIABETES IN HEART STUDY
A landmark heart disease study at UT Southwestern Medical Center, which will continue for at least seven more months, has already identified a large number of study participants who have undiagnosed high blood pressure or diabetes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011003064352.htm
ADAPTIVE-DECISION STRATEGY OFFSETS UNCERTAINTIES IN CLIMATE SENSITIVITY
The uncertainty of climate change because of global warming is much greater than previously thought, and as a result, policy-makers should adopt a robust, adaptive-decision strategy to cope with potential consequences, researchers at the University of Illinois say.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011003064020.htm
SCIENTISTS IMAGE MATERIAL THAT COULD IMPROVE MRI TECHNOLOGIES
Using a technique similar to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) widely applied by hospitals for medical diagnosis but at a resolution 10,000 times greater, physicists at Northwestern University have gained insights into a high-temperature superconductor that might one day benefit hospital MRI technologies and the patients who rely on them.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011004065731.htm
THE ACOUSTICS OF LAUGHTER: NEW INSIGHTS INTO THIS MYSTERIOUS FORM OF EXPRESSION
While scientists have thoroughly researched many other human sounds, such as singing and talking, remarkably little is known about the acoustics of laughter. Seeking to rectify this, Vanderbilt psychologist Jo-Anne Bachorowski and Cornell psychologist Michael Owren studied 1024 laughter episodes from 97 young adults as they watched funny video clips from films such as "When Harry Met Sally" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." The surprising results were published in the September issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011004065312.htm
SANDIA'S SOIL AND GROUNDWATER CHEMICAL "SNIFFER" MAY HELP PROTECT THE NATION'S WATER SUPPLY
A real-time gas- and water-quality monitoring system that consists of a miniature sensor array packaged in a weatherproof housing developed by the Department of Energys Sandia National Laboratories may become one tool in the effort to protect the nations water supply.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011005065414.htm
TERASCALE COMPUTING SYSTEM -- THE MOST POWERFUL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD COMMITTED TO UNCLASSIFIED RESEARCH -- INSTALLED AT PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER
The Terascale Computing System (TCS), the most powerful system in the world committed to unclassified research, is installed on schedule. Developed and implemented by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center in collaboration with Compaq Computer Corporation, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the TCS provides computational capability to scientists and engineers nationwide.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011003063130.htm
10/8/01
8:52:34 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Vietnam floods kill 200, waters still high - VIETNAM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12695/story.htm
US science panel plans new fuel-efficiency study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12693/story.htm
Northeast Util says missing nuclear fuel rods safe - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12682/story.htm
UPDATE - Oil mop-up starts after Alaskan pipe is punctured - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12691/story.htm
US plants could be harmed by warmer climate - study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12689/story.htm
UPDATE - US utilities, green groups huddle on emissions - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12688/story.htm
Greens launch legal case to stop UK nuke plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12683/story.htm
New green targets may hit UK aluminium recycling - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12704/story.htm
UK power industry readies for green energy trading - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12699/story.htm
UPDATE - Ex-British Gas service arm mulls flotation - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12702/story.htm
Sweden says green power plan will lift prices - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12697/story.htm
UPDATE - Greenpeace urges Novartis to recall baby products - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12692/story.htm
Norway establishes green natural gas committee - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12687/story.htm
Rotten fish cargo source of power for Denmark - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12694/story.htm
Japan to dismantle first commercial reactor - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12698/story.htm
German court allows appeal against bottle deposits - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12703/story.htm
More than 100 join French Chernobyl cancer claim - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12700/story.htm
Sharon ruining Palestinian environment - minister - EGYPT http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12696/story.htm
10/8/01
8:49:29 PM
Follow the Money
Remember what Deep Throat said "Follow the Money". It brought down the Nixon Administration.
The best lead on who was behind this was the puts purchased (stock option contracts betting the price will fall). On one of the cable shows on finance a analysist said the number of puts in United Airlines, American Airlines (only in the airlines used by the hijackers) and businesses in the WTC that were going to be substantially impacted, was 90 times the number of puts purchase on a daily average THE DAY BEFORE THE ATTACK and this was WORLDWIDE purchases. He gave some examples of a put purchased for $375,000 that was worth $2.4 million the day after the attack. Who would gamble that much without insider knowledge? The numbers of puts purchased, in addition to the size of the investments, indicate that an extremely large number of people, possibly thousands, knew the exact day of the attack, the exact target, and the exact means.
The "money trail" was a big story for a day and then very suddenly no further mention has been made of it. It was used just long enough to secure the seizure of money from targeted groups and additions to the anti-terrorist legislation.
One more thing I picked up on the news. Some bigwig in the military, I don't remember his name, was being interviewed on the 17th day following the attack. He was asked "when can we expect some action in Afganistan". His reply "The buildup there has been going on for several weeks so it could be very soon." 17 days is a little short of "several weeks". The quick response indicates the buildup was beginning even before the attack took place.
A thought I had - If you know, or suspect, you are going to be attacked, it might be strategic to stage an attack on yourself so you can be ready with the response. Thus catching your enemy off-guard and unprepared. When comparing this operation with the attack on WTC in 1993 it appears far too sophisticated and effective for the type of group it is being blamed on. It would seem that Some intellegence would have been picked up on an operation of this size. It could be that some in the intellegence community allowed, or even assisted, in it happening for the strategic purposes of those they answer to.
If not guilty for the actual attack there are those in the US governmnet that are guilty of knowing about it and letting, if not aiding and abetting, in making it happen. It is interesting to note how little criticizm there has been of the CIA, FBI, or the intellegence community for letting this happen. Rather they have been rewarded with bigger budgets and more power.
What people need to continue to ask themselves is not just "who had motive" but WHO BENEFITED THE MOST.
10/8/01
8:38:03 PM
US Officials : Terrorist Cells' Activities Mirror Attackers' Acts
(CNN) -- 10.05.01 | Recent activities of known and suspected members of terrorist cells resemble those of the reputed hijackers and their associates in the days preceding the September 11 terrorist attacks, two senior U.S. law enforcement sources told CNN Friday.
There was no evidence of "a specific threat" against the country, the sources said. But, as one noted, recent information "adds to the sense of unease" among law enforcement and other government officials.
"There are people we are watching who are talking the same language -- things like "you will be happy soon" -- and other things reminiscent of pre-9-11 activities," one source said, referring to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "People talking the same language, circles of calls: things that are just very similar."
Suspicious activities included travel in and out of Afghanistan, the second official said. Monitored conversations and other activities "much more overseas than here" in the United States also have raised red flags, the source said.
"People taking a trip, people not showing up for work: things that match the string we have put together as we re-create the events on and just before 9-11," have alerted authorities, the source said.
Law enforcement and intelligence officials believe the risk remains high that there could be another terrorist attack in the United States, especially if the country uses its military as part of the campaign against terrorism.
10/8/01
8:31:51 PM
Mock Terrorists Breached Security At Weapons Plants
By Stephen J. Hedges and Jeff Zeleny, Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau
October 5, 2001
WASHINGTON -- America's 10 nuclear weapons research and production facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attack and have failed about half of recent security drills, a non-government watchdog group has found.
U.S. Army and Navy commando teams penetrated the plants and obtained nuclear material during exercises designed to test security, according to the Project on Government Oversight report, being released Friday.
In a drill in October 2000 at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, "the mock terrorists gained control of sensitive nuclear material which, if detonated, would have endangered significant parts of New Mexico, Colorado and downwind areas," the report says.
In an earlier test at the same lab, an Army Special Forces team used a household garden cart to haul away enough weapons-grade uranium to build several nuclear weapons.
In another test at the Rocky Flats site near Denver, Navy SEALs cut a hole in a chain link fence as they escaped with enough plutonium for several nuclear bombs. They were discovered only as they left the facility.
Government security rules require the nuclear facilities to defend themselves against the theft of nuclear materials by terrorists or through sabotage.
A spokeswoman at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a branch of the Energy Department, declined Thursday to comment on the report.
The report is based on information provided by 12 whistle-blowers, according to Danielle Brian, the non-government watchdog group's director, as well as declassified Energy Department material that describes the security exercises.
The repeated security breaches are cause for serious concern, Brian said, because Energy Department employees were warned before each security exercise but still failed to stop would-be terrorists in more than half of the drills.
"These are tests where the security forces are necessarily dumbed-down so that they know the tests are coming," Brian said. "They are very restrictive tests [but] they're still losing half of the time.
"No one thought it really mattered, until two weeks ago," Brian added.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon have raised alarms about security concerns, from local community responses to chemical and biological weapons to the security at nuclear power plants.
Nine of the weapons facilities are within 100 miles of cities with more than 75,000 people. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is near the San Francisco metropolitan area, which has more than 7 million people. The Rocky Flats site is near Denver, home to 2.6 million people.
Eight of the 10 weapons plants contained a total of 33.5 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium. Experts say it takes only a few pounds of plutonium to craft a nuclear bomb.
The study has drawn the attention of the House Reform Committee, which has launched its own review of security measure at the nuclear weapons plants.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of a national security subcommittee in the House, declined to discuss the report. But he issued a statement indicating he was "deeply troubled" that the nuclear facilities failed security tests even though they had been alerted in advance.
"We want to know what DOE is doing to resolve this deficiency, both in the short term and in the long term," Shays' statement said.
Security tests at the nuclear weapons facilities are simulated on computers and run as drills between an invading terrorist force and the plant's security team. Participants strap on devices similar to those from a laser tag game.
When someone is "killed" by an opposing force, they must lie down and end their participation in the exercise.
10/8/01
8:15:15 PM
Preventing A Terrorist Mushroom Cloud
by David Krieger
The images of the hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center are nightmare images of unspeakable horror that will forever be a part of our reality.
Imagine, however, another nightmare -- that of a mushroom cloud rising over an American city. This is a threat we can no longer ignore. Perhaps today citizens and leaders alike will better understand the seriousness of the nuclear threat.
The destruction of the World Trade Center was a powerful warning. It signals that determined terrorists are prepared to sacrifice their lives to harm us, that future attacks could involve weapons of mass destruction, and that nuclear dangers are increasing because of terrorist activity.
Our leaders have failed to grasp that our present nuclear weapons policies contribute to the possibility of nuclear terrorism against our country. We are simply not doing enough to prevent nuclear weapons or weapons-grade nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.
A US blue ribbon commission, headed by former Senate majority leader Howard Baker, has called for spending $3 billion a year over the next ten years to maintain control of the nuclear weapons, nuclear materials and nuclear scientists in the former Soviet Union. The Bush administration had planned to cut funding for this program from $1.2 billion to $800 million next year.
In 1998 India and Pakistan both demonstrated their nuclear capabilities. Pakistan, which borders on Afghanistan, is now the only country in the world to recognize the Taliban regime. Should there be a US led war in Afghanistan, it is possible that the Pakistani government could fall to extremists linked to the Taliban, thus putting nuclear weapons into the hands of a regime that might well support and harbor terrorists.
Up to now, the Bush Administration’s primary response to the nuclear threat has been to push for a national missile shield costing billions of dollars, the technology of which is unproven, and which would at best be years away from implementation. A missile shield would likely do irreparable harm to our relations with other countries, countries that we need to join us in the fight against international terrorism, including Russia.
The mad nuclear arms race during the Cold War, and the paltry steps taken to reverse it since the end of the Cold War, have left tens of thousands of nuclear weapons potentially available to terrorists. Today there is no accurate inventory of the world’s nuclear arsenals or weapons-grade fissile materials suitable for making nuclear weapons. Estimates have it, however, that there are currently some 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world. We simply don’t know whether these weapons are adequately controlled, or whether some could already have fallen into the hands of terrorists.
More than ten years after the end of the Cold War we and the Russians still have more than 10,000 nuclear weapons each with a total of some 4,500 of them on hair-trigger alert, ready to be fired in moments. Russia has been urging the US to move faster on START 3 negotiations to reduce the size of the nuclear arsenals in both countries, but US leaders have been largely indifferent to their entreaties.
Large nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert are Cold War relics. They do not provide deterrence against terrorist attacks. Nor could a missile shield have prevented the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, or protect against future nuclear terrorism.
The Bush administration’s foreign policy course has been unilateralism and indifference to international law. It seems now to have recognized, however, that we cannot combat terrorism unilaterally. A multilateral effort to combat terrorism will require the US to change its policies and embrace multilateral approaches to many global problems, including the control and elimination of all weapons of mass destruction.
The global elimination of nuclear weapons can no longer be a back-burner, peace activist issue. It is a top-priority security issue for all Americans, and it will require US leadership to achieve.
David Krieger, an attorney and political scientist, is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Other articles on nuclear dangers and other critical issues of peace may be found at the Foundation’s web site:
David Krieger, President
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1
Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794
Web site: http://www.wagingpeace.org
10/8/01
6:45:55 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
EUROPE TIGHTENS CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING RULES
By Donald Sutherland
BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has issued stricter guidelines for all financial environmental costs and liabilities reporting by companies covered by European Union accounting directives.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-01.html
U.S. VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY HITS RECORD LOW
WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - The average fuel economy of all car and truck models sold in the U.S. has fallen to 20.4 miles per gallon, the lowest level in two decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported this week.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-06.html
MANDELA USES PARK CREATION TO PLEAD FOR PEACE
PHALABORWA, South Africa, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - At the opening of an enormous new tri-national conservation area in southern Africa, former President Nelson Mandela called on the people of the world to get rid of the scourge of terrorism. At a ceremony Thursday he used the newly named Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park as an example of lasting global peace.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: OCTOBER 5, 2001
U.S., Mexico Agree to Cooperate on Cross Border Issues
Energy Awareness Month Offers Exhibits, Tours
EPA Grants Promote Energy Efficient Buildings
Army Will Review Impacts of Hawaii Training
Electronic Sniffer Could Monitor Water Safety
Children's Health Month Promotes Environmental Awareness
Burbot Could be Listed as Endangered
Global Warming Could Threaten Prairie Plants
Workshop Targets Invasive Desert Species
Savanna Army Depot Could Get Wildlife Refuge
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-09.html
HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Spend, Spend, Spend - Patriotism or Disconnection
In the wake of the September 11 tragedies, people all over the world began doing what our political and business leaders have deemed unpatriotic - they stayed closer to home, spent more time with their families, and bought only what they needed. A glorious opportunity was missed by those that govern us to begin fostering a nation and a world whose values could not be disputed.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05g.html
10/8/01
6:43:17 PM
The 1971 Montreal Sabotage Convention is directly on point here, and provides a comprehensive framework for dealing with the current dispute between the United States and Afghanistan over the tragic events of 11 September 2001. Both States are contracting parties to the Montreal Sabotage Convention, together with 173 other States in the World . The United States is under an absolute obligation to resolve this dispute with Afghanistan in a peaceful manner as required by UN Charter Article 2(3) and Article 33 as well as by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, as well as in accordance with the requirements of the Montreal Sabotage Convention-- all of which treaties bind most of the States of the World. In addition, the United States should offer to submit this entire dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (the so-called World Court) on the basis of the Montreal Sabotage Convention, and should ask the Government of Afghanistan to withdraw its Reservation to World Court jurisdiction as permitted by article 14(3) of the Montreal Sabotage Convention. Furthermore, all other contracting parties must invoke the Montreal Sabotage Convention against both the United States and Afghanistan in order to produce a peaceful resolution of this dispute.
Francis A. Boyle
Professor of International Law
Francis A. Boyle Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954(voice) 217-244-1478(fax)
Mailto:fboyle@law.uiuc.edu
10/8/01
6:39:21 PM
The UN International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of
1997 is directly on point, and is in effect. The US has signed but not yet
ratified. Nevertheless, the US is under an obligation so as not to defeat
the object and purpose of the Convention until it decides whether or not to
ratify. Article 17 says: "The States Parties shall carry out their
obligations under this Convention in a manner consistent with the principles
of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of
non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States." Afghanistan is not a signatory.
But there are 58 signatories, and 26 State Parties. Other States could
easily and quickly become parties. This would provide a comprehensive legal
alternative in order to deal peacefully with the terrorist bombings. The United States
should be focusing on getting all States, including itself, to sign up to
this Convention and then implement it, rather than planning for a clearly
illegal war against Afghanistan.fab.
10/8/01
6:35:49 PM
"Even if the Bush administration were to publicly provide clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Bin Laden and his organization were somehow behind the terrorist bombings in New York and Washington, the United States government would still have no valid justification or excuse for committing acts of war against Afghanistan. Both the United Nations Charter of 1945 and the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 absolutely require the United States to exhaust all means for the peaceful resolution of this dispute. So far the Bush administration has not even begun this legally mandated process."
The United States is under an absolute obligation to resolve this dispute with Afghanistan in a peaceful manner as required by UN Charter Article 2(3) and Article 33 as well as by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, as well as in accordance with the requirements of the Montreal Sabotage Convention-- all of which treaties bind most of the States of the World.
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954(voice) 217-244-1478(fax)
10/8/01
6:11:03 PM
REVOLT AGAINST THE EMPIRE - WELCOME TO THE GREAT BOYCOTT
This is a boycott against the eight biggest pesticide companies in the world, but it is much more than that. It's a boycott against THE POWER and against a way of life represented by all the gigantic multinational corporations, which every day extend their control over the planet. By the time you finish reading this material you'll realize how destructive their power is, in detail. You'll understand more clearly why these simple stark things need to be done:
1. stop buying these corporations' products;
2. don't buy their stock on whatever exchanges they're traded;
3. demand that others including institutions sell their stock in these companies;
4. don't work for these corporations;
5. find a way to personally pass on the word.
The eight corporations to be boycotted are:
Dow
Du Pont
Monsanto
Imperial Chemical Industries
Novartis
Rhone Poulenc
Bayer
Hoechst
There is one overriding reason for going after these eight corporations. They are all forwarding genetic projects to engineer food seeds so that our food supply in the fields will accept much higher doses of herbicides without curling up and dying. This will drench both the soil and our bodies with corporate toxic chemicals and improve their profit statements.
Of course, these mega-companies are up to their eyeballs in poisons. Poisons, you might say, are their life. These corporations and others like them stand for control of the planet, as around us the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Huge multinationals, of course blur with governments, thereby availing themselves of important political connections, intelligence agencies, military links.
http://home.earthlink.net/~alto/boycott.html
10/8/01
6:07:47 PM
The Other Tragic National Disaster
by Allene R Wahl
There are no disturbing headlines or graphic pictures in the media. A war has not been declared. Nor is there a coalition of irate citizens coming together to decry a domestic or foreign potentate. There are not just 6,000 victims but millions. It didn't all happen within an hour, but, it has been the ongoing, insidious destruction of the physical and financial health of unsuspecting and trusting human beings over the last twenty years or so. We call it collectively, Chemically Induced Immune Disorders which are caused primarily by our love affair with unnatural, toxic substances. These toxic substances have been foisted upon us by irresponsible corporations, through misinformation by their advertisers and with the complete approval of a government sworn to, and paid by us, to protect us from such harm. Additionally, our seriously flawed, Pasteur germ focused medical industry, completes the task of further damaging these immune compromised individuals by dispensing certain common pharmaceuticals which destroy gut flora. Since the gut flora is an integral part of our protective immune system, once destroyed, we are vulnerable to any pathogen (always present in the Earth's environment) to which we are exposed. The most common pathogens involved are viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis, Cytomegalovirus, herpes, etc. Other common pathogens in this population are Candida Albacans (fungal overgrowth), parasitic infestation and sometimes bacterial infections.
Call it AIDS, Gulf War Syndrome, Environmental Illness, Hepatitis C Epidemic, Silicone Prosthesis Induced Immune Disorder, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, etc., all of which share many, if not all, of the same litany of debilitating, AIDS-like symptoms heretofore mostly unheard of before the 1980's. History shows us that there is more than an obvious connection between the politics of the time and the dismantling of many existing environmental laws. And secondly, the over-prescribing of gut flora destroying, uncontested pharmaceuticals drugs.
There are no volunteers lined up to help; many times family, friends and associates withdraw out of frustration or fear. There are no collections to help defray the out-of-pocket cost for the natural therapies required just to remediate the symptoms.
Government, the medical industry and the media no longer mention much about this enormous and growing tragedy. The future of much of Mankind is in great jeopardy unless these signals of the HUMAN indicator species, described here, are heeded.
"It's the immune system, stupid"
Allene R. Wahl, Ph.D., C.N.C.
Int'l. Resource Center for Chemically Induced Immune Disorders
Ph. (847) 678-5934
e-mail: mailto:allenew@juno.com Website:
http://members.tripod.com/immune_disorders/index.html
10/8/01
6:02:27 PM
THE COVER-UP OF GULF WAR SYNDROME - A QUESTION OF NATIONAL INTEGRITY
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/arison/gws.htm
U.S. Chemical Weapons Cover-Up in Gulf War
http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/khamlog1.htm
10/8/01
6:00:32 PM
World Trade Center-Pentagon Terror Attacks News (This is really the place to start!)
http://www.konformist.com/911/911.htm
WHO'S TRULY BEHIND THE ATTACK ON AMERICA?
http://www.konformist.com/911/jimmarrs.htm
TAVISTOCK - THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN AMERICA (*Must* read!)
http://educate-yourself.org/nwotavistockbestkeptsecret.html
10/8/01
5:50:13 PM
WHO'S TRULY BEHIND THE ATTACK ON AMERICA?
by Jim Marrs
Many people have compared the horrendous terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. It is an apt comparison, though not for the reasons most people think.
For true students of history, it is now nearly beyond dispute that certain high-ranking officials in Washington, D. C. knew in advance of the Japanese intention to attack the U.S. fleet in Hawaii, yet did nothing to prevent it.
President Roosevelt, who at the time was blatantly violating the Neutrality Act, has been quoted as saying, "A Japanese attack on us.would certainly fulfill two of the most important requirements of our policy [to engage America in the war despite his pledge to keep us out of war.]"
Must the citizens of the United States wait another 50 years to learn that the 9-11 terrorist attack was allowed to take place just like Pearl Harbor?
Could such an appalling scenario possibly be true?
Consider the comment of Kenneth Katzman, a terrorist expert with the
Congressional Research Service, who told the Washington Post, "How nothing could have been picked up [by U.S. intelligence agencies regarding the coming attack] is beyond me."
Simple countermeasures against such an attack now seem apparent. For example, if the airlines would assigned just one armed plainclothes security man to each flight, this tragedy may have been averted since apparently the hijackers were armed only with knives or other type blades. So, how were they able to overpower a plane load of people and, more importantly, gain access to the cockpits? Who taught them to fly jumbo jets?
As in the case of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the key to understanding the event lies not in who actually committed the violence but rather who was able to strip away the normal security protection.
Government and airline officials knew immediately that planes had been hijacked, yet no interceptors appeared in the air until after the attacks were completed. Who stripped away the normal security protection of America on 9-11?
At least in this most recent case, the government cannot blame the attack on a lone deranged individual, some Lee Harvey McVeigh. They must deal with a full-blown conspiracy, even though authorities were quick to point the finger at Osama bin-Laden. Any investigation of bin-Laden must look beyond the man, to the backers and financiers behind him.
The trail of the terrorists will most probably become murky, with plenty of accusations for all concerned. But one thing appears quite clear, the tragic events of 9-11 play right into the hands of persons with an agenda aimed at eroding American liberties and sovereignty.
After decades of bloated and misused defense budgets, there are now calls for doubling our defense allocation. In a time of rising recognition that the CIA is an agency never sought by the public and one which has brought so much condemnation on this nation, there are now cries for doubling its size and budget. If the chief security officer for a large company fails to protect one of its most prized assets, is he more likely to be fired or have his pay doubled?
Watch for more anti-terrorist legislation to further shred the U.S. Constitution.
As we all scramble to deal with the effects of terrorism, are we in danger of losing our few remaining individual liberties? The media blithely reported that each of the cell phone calls made by doomed passengers on the hijacked airliners was recorded by the government. Doesn't this mean that all cell phone calls are, or can be, recorded? Whatever happened to telephone privacy? Where is the indignant outcry over such Big Brotherism.
But the biggest threat comes from the inner elite of the globalist societies. Within hours of the attack, the television and radio airwaves were full of ranking Council on Foreign Relations members, such as Henry Kissinger, Wesley Clark, Alexander Haig and Strobe Talbot. Talbot, President Clinton's deputy secretary of state, told Time magazine in 1992, "In the next century [today], nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority."
No matter who was speaking, their "party line" was the same: terrible tragedy, find and punish those responsible, stop terrorism. But, of course, since terrorists move between national boundaries, we must joined with other "freedom loving" nations and work with the United Nations and NATO to combat this new menace. This is a thinly-disguised effort to have a mourning and emotional American public stampeded into their New World Order.
Also, consider that we are distracted from a faltering economy [the current crisis may require more federal financial controls], a plummeting public opinion of George W. Bush and surging energy prices.
Would leaders allow a public disaster to happen with an eye toward advancing their agendas? It's happened before. in Nero's burning Rome, Germany's gutted Reichstag, at Pearl Harbor and gain at the Gulf of Tonkin.
While we should grieve for our losses, we must keep our heads. When the emotions of the moment run hot, we must remain cool and thoughtful so that we can find who is truly behind this attack on America.
Jim Marrs
jmarrs@ntws.net
9/13/2001
Source: http://www.konformist.com/911/jimmarrs.htm
10/8/01
5:42:27 PM
Mossad And 911
United Press International
September 26, 2001
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- The retired Pakistani general who is closest to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden contends the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington were the work of renegade U.S. Air Force elements working with the Israelis. Gen. Hameed Gul led Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence during the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Gul serves as an adviser to Pakistan's extremist religious political parties, which oppose their government's decision to support the United States in any action against Afghanistan's Taliban regime. Gul contends bin Laden had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, saying instead that they were the work of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service -- a version of events that has been endorsed by Islamic fundamentalist clerics and is widely accepted by Muslims throughout the Arab world.
Here is the transcript of the exclusive interview Gul gave to Arnaud de Borchgrave, United Press International editor at large:
De Borchgrave: So who did Black Sept. 11?
Gul: Mossad and its accomplices. The U.S. spends $40 billion a year on its 11 intelligence agencies. That's $400 billion in 10 years. Yet the Bush Administration says it was taken by surprise. I don't believe it. Within 10 minutes of the second twin tower being hit in the World Trade Center CNN said Osama bin Laden had done it. That was a planned piece of disinformation by the real perpetrators. It created an instant mindset and put public opinion into a trance, which prevented even intelligent people from thinking for themselves.
Q: So you're already convinced bin Laden didn't do it?
A: I know bin Laden and his associates. I've been with them here, in Europe and the Middle East. They are graduates of the best universities and are highly intelligent with impressive degrees and speak impeccable English. These are people who have rediscovered fundamental Islamic values. Many come from the Gulf countries where ruling royal families have generated hatred by the way they flout divine law, wasting billions on gratifying their whims, jetting around in large private jets by themselves, and sailing the Mediterranean in big private boats for weeks on end. Osama's best recruits come from feudal areas that are U.S. protectorates and where millions of poor people are seeking human dignity. I have even visited a Christian convent school in Murree, 60 miles from here, where my 13-year-old daughter is studying. The young girls there have told me Osama is their hero. Osama's followers identify with Mujahideen freedom fighters wherever they are defending Islam and its values.
Q: So what makes you think Osama wasn't behind Sept. 11?
A: From a cave inside a mountain or a peasant's hovel? Let's be serious. Osama inspires countless millions by standing up for Islam against American and Israeli imperialism. He doesn't have the means for such a sophisticated operation.
Q: Why Mossad?
A: Mossad and its American associates are the obvious culprits. Who benefits from the crime? The attacks against the twin towers started at 8:45 a.m. and four flights are diverted from their assigned air space and no air traffic controller sounds the alarm. And no Air Force jets scramble until 10 a.m. That also smacks of a small scale Air Force rebellion, a coup against the Pentagon perhaps? Radars are jammed, transponders fail. No IFF -- friend or foe identification -- challenge. In Pakistan, if there is no response to IFF, jets are instantly scrambled and the aircraft is shot down with no further questions asked. This was clearly an inside job. Bush was afraid and rushed to the shelter of a nuclear bunker. He clearly feared a nuclear situation. Who could that have been? Will that also be hushed up in the investigation, like the Warren report after the Kennedy assassination?
Q: At this point, someone might be asking what you've been smoking. What is Israel's interest in such a monstrous plot, which, of course, no one believes except Islamist extremists who concocted this piece of disinformation in the first place, presumably to detract from the real culprits?
A: Jews never agreed to Bush 41 (George H.W. Bush, the 41st president) or 43 (his son George W. Bush, the 43rd president). They made sure Bush senior didn't get a second term. His land-for-peace pressure in Palestine didn't suit Israel. They were also against the young Bush because he was considered too close to oil interests and the Gulf countries. Bush senior and Jim Baker had raised $150 million for Bush junior, much of it from Mideast sources or their American go-betweens. Bush 41 and Baker, as private citizens, had also facilitated the new strategic relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. I have this from sources in both countries. So clearly the prospect of a Bush 43 was a potential danger to Israel.
Jews were stunned by the way Bush stole the election in Florida. They had put big money on Al Gore. Israel has given its imperialist guardian parent opportunities to turn disaster into a pretext for imposing an all-encompassing military, political and economic agenda to further the cause of global capitalism. While Colin Powell is cautious and others are reckless and want to make up for their failure to defeat Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War 10 years ago, the global agenda is the same.
Israel knows it has a short shelf-life before it is overwhelmed by demographics. It is a state that was born in terrorism that terrorized Palestinians into the exile of refugee camps, where they have now subsisted in squalid refugee camps, and is now very much afraid of Pakistan's nuclear capability.
Israel has now handed the Bush family the opportunity it has been waiting for to consolidate America's imperial grip on the Gulf and acquire control of the Caspian basin by extending its military presence in Central Asia. Bush conveniently overlooks -- or is not told -- the fact that Islamic fundamentalists got their big boost in the modern age as CIA assets in the covert campaign I was also involved with to force the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Bush senior was vice president during that entire campaign. And no sooner did he become president on Jan. 20, 1989, than he summoned an inter-agency intelligence meeting and issued an order, among several others, to clip the wings of ISI (Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence) that had been coordinating the entire operation in Afghanistan. I know this firsthand as I was DGISI at the time (director general, ISI).
Q: So how do you read U.S. strategy in Pakistan?
A: The destabilization of Pakistan is part of the U.S. plan because it is a Muslim nuclear state. The U.S. wants to isolate Pakistan from China as part of its containment policy. President Nixon's book "The Real War" said China would be the superpower of the 21st Century. The U.S. is also creating hostility between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two Muslim states to reverse the perception that the Islamic world now has its own nuclear weapons. Bush 43 doesn't realize he is being manipulated by people who understand geopolitics. He is not leading but being led. All he can do is think in terms of the wanted-dead-or-alive culture, which is how Hollywood conditions the masses to think and act.
All summer long we heard about America's shrinking surplus and that the Pentagon would not have sufficient funds to modernize for the 21st century. And now, all of a sudden, the Pentagon can get what it wants without any Democratic Party opposition. How very convenient! Even your cherished civil liberties can now be abridged with impunity to protect the expansion of the hegemony of transnational capitalism. There is now a new excuse to crush anti-globalization protests.
Bush 43 follows Bush 41. Iraq was baited into the Kuwaiti trap when the U.S. told Saddam it was not interested in his inter-Arab squabbles. Two days later, he moved into Kuwait, which was an Iraqi province anyway before the British Empire decreed otherwise. Roosevelt baited the Pearl Harbor trap for the Japanese empire, which provided the pretext for entering World War II. And now the Israelis have given the U.S. the pretext for further expansion into an area that will be critical in the next 25 years - the Caspian basin.
Q: Were you a fundamentalist in the days of the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan when you worked closely with the CIA?
A: Not as much as I am today.
Q: What turned you against America?
A: Betrayals and broken promises and what was done to my army career.
Q: And what was that?
A: President Ishaq Khan, who succeeded Zia ul-Haq after his plane was blown out of the sky, wanted to appoint me chief of staff, the highest position in the Pakistani army. The U.S., which by then had clipped ISI's wings, also blocked my promotion by informing the president I was unacceptable. So I was moved to a corps commander position. As ISI director, I held the whole Mujahideen movement in the palm of my hands. We were all pro-American. But then America left us in the lurch and everything went to pieces, including Afghanistan.
The U.S. pushed for a broad-based Afghan government of seven factions and then waved goodbye. Even in the best of democracies, a broad-based coalition does not work. So we quickly had seven jokers in Kabul interested in only one thing - jockeying for power. The gunplay quickly followed, which led to the creation of Taliban, the students of the original Mujahideen, who decided to put an end to it.
Q: What happened to the 1,000 shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that were supplied by president Reagan in 1986 and 87 to the Mujahideen, and that literally grounded the Soviet air force?
A: After the Soviets pulled out, the CIA allocated $60 million to try to buy them back. This just drove the black market price up for one Stinger from $100,000 to $300,000. The Taliban still have about 250 of them for the kind of situation they face today against U.S. aircraft.
Q: Is the U.S. now your enemy?
A: Is the U.S. national interest in contradiction with the Muslim world? The U.S. needs oil, as do its European allies. You have between 6 and 8 million American Muslims and their ranks are growing. About the same number in Europe. Israel aside, we are America's natural allies. Prof. Sam Huntington in his "Clash of Civilizations" puts Confucius and Judeo-Christians in one corner, and us in the other. His prescription is wrong but is being adopted by Bush 43 who has now put 60 countries on his hit list. This is the diabolical school that wants to launch an anti-Muslim "crusade." Muslims understood what Bush meant when he used that word.
We need a meeting, not a clash, of civilizations. We are on the brink of disaster. It is time to pull back from the brink and reassess before we blow ourselves up. The purpose of Islam is service to humanity. The time for like-minded people to have a meeting of the minds is now.
Q: But you are against democracy, so how can there be a meeting of the minds?
A: Democracy does not work. Politicians are constantly thinking of their next election, not the public good, which means, at best, constantly shading the truth to hide it from their constituents. Their pronouncements are laced with lies and the voters are lulled or gulled into believing utter nonsense. The Koran says call a spade a spade. It is the supreme law and tells right from wrong. There is no notion of "my country right or wrong" under divine law. The creator's will predominates. All if subservient to Allah's will and adherence to a set of basic, fundamental values.
Q: So what kind of a system are you advocating?
A: The world needs a post-modern state system. Right now, the nation-state and round the clock satellite TV lead people to imitate America's way of life. Which is mathematically impossible. You have 4 percent of the world's population consuming 32 percent of the world's resources. The creator through Prophet Mohammed said equal distribution. Capitalism is the negation of the creator's will. It leads to imperialism and unilateralism.
Q: So what does this post-modern state system look like?
A: A global village under divine order, or we will have global bloodshed until good triumphs over evil. Islam encapsulates all the principal religions and what was handed down 1,400 years ago was the normal evolutionary sequel to Judaism and Christianity. The prophet's last sermon was a universal document of human rights for everyone that surpasses everything that came since, including America's declaration of independence and the U.N. Charter of universal rights. If you superimpose true secular values on true Islamic values, there is no difference. So surely divine law should supersede man-made law. Islam is egalitarian, tolerant and progressive. It is the wave of the future.
Q: Marxism also believed that the nation-state would eventually wither away.
A: Socialism jumped the rails when it was co-opted by the imperialist Soviet state. Islam believes in dynamism, Christianity stands for static statism. The pope in all his pronouncements has expressed a dogmatic attachment to the status quo. Why are so many black Americans converting to Islam? Because they are looking for true equality which they cannot find under capitalism. Allah has no gender, neither male nor female. Islam has no indirect taxation in an interest-free economy. Usury was a Jewish concept.
Q: Is Iran your model?
A: There isn't a single true Islamic state in the world today. Iran has moved forward from its 1979 revolution, but I am not sure whether it's the right direction.
Q: And Taliban?
A: They represent Islam in its purest form so far. It's a clean sheet. And they were also moving in the right direction when this crisis was cooked up by the U.S. Until Sept. 11, they had perfect law and order with no formal police force, only traffic cops without sidearms. Now, in less than two weeks, they have mobilized some 300,000 volunteers to fight American and British invaders if they come.
Q: And your reaction to U.S. demands on Pakistan?
A: If Pakistan gives the U.S. base rights we will have a national upheaval. And if the U.S. attacks Afghanistan, there will be a call -- a fatwa -- for a general jihad. All borders will then disappear and it will be a no-holds-barred Islamic uprising against Israel and American imperialism. Pakistan will be engulfed in the firestorm. So I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in Washington.
Q: What about the other U.S. demands?
A: Overflight rights are meaningless since the U.S. violates air space daily all over the world. As for intelligence sharing with
ISI, you can't even catch your own terrorists. And what ISI gives you will be of marginal value anyway.
Q: President (Pervez) Musharraf has made strong statements supporting the U.S.
A: He was my student in the army. He is a good man, but he doesn't understand Islam. The army will never fight the masses. If push comes to shove, Musharraf will say no to the Americans rather than turn against the people. He is not just facing a handful of angry people. By his own admission, it's 10 percent to 15 percent of the population, or at least 10 million people willing to fight. For openers, they would close the port of Karachi. A country cannot breathe without lungs.
Q: Back to Osama's terrorist network. Who was behind the bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya?
A: Mossad is strong in both countries. Remember the Israeli operation to free hostages in Entebbe (Uganda)? Both Kenya and Tanzania were part of the logistical tail. A so-called associate of Osama was framed at Karachi airport. The incidents took place on Aug. 8, 1999, and on the 10th a short, clean-shaven man disembarks at Karachi airport and presents the passport of a bearded man. Not your passport, he was told. He then tries to bribe the clerk with 200 rupees. A ludicrously small sum given the circumstances. The clerk says no and turns him in and he starts singing right away. Not plausible. Osama has sworn to me on the Koran it was not him and he is truthful to a fault. Pious Muslims do not kill innocent civilians who included many Muslim victims. The passport must have been switched while the man was asleep on the plane in what has all the earmarks of a Mossad operation. For 10 years, the Mujahideen fought the Soviets in Afghanistan and not a single Soviet embassy was touched anywhere in the world. So this could not have been Osama's followers.
Q: What if bin Laden has been lying to you and is guilty. Is that inconceivable?
A: If Taliban are given irrefutable evidence of his guilt, I am in favor of a fair trial. In America, one is entitled to a jury of peers. But he has no American peers. The Taliban would not object, in the event of a prima face case, to an international Islamic court meeting in The Hague. They would in turn extradite Osama to the Netherlands.
10/8/01
5:36:52 PM
"Today the Tavistock Institute operates a $6 Billion a year network of Foundations in the U.S., all of it funded by U.S. taxpayers' money. Ten major institutions are under its direct control, with 400 subsidiaries, and 3000 other study groups and think tanks which originate many types of programs to increase the control of the World Order over the American people. The Stanford Research Institute, adjoining the Hoover Institution, is a $150 million a year operation with 3300 employees. It carries on program surveillance for Bechtel, Kaiser, and 400 other companies, and extensive intelligence operations for the CIA. It is the largest institution on the West Coast promoting mind control and the behavioral sciences."
10/8/01
5:32:17 PM
AF Intel source: pro-Bush gov't factions 'absolutely' behind Tuesday's mass devastation!
NewsHawk
"The enemy is very much within"
TOP_VIEW has just conducted a brief yet immeasurably important phone interview --set up by a trusted and totally reliable intermediary already known to us -- with an Air Force Reserve intelligence specialist.
The interview was carried out this evening, over two days after the incredible death and devastation that took place in New York City and Washington D.C.
Our Air Force source told us his superiors had activated him at about 10 AM Tuesday morning.
He absolutely refused to permit us to record the conversation, even though he was speaking into some kind of electronic gizmo that substantially altered the sound of his voice; making him sound like Darth Vader with a serious chest cold. Some portions of his statements were unintelligible, and he refused to repeat several of these. Although this source was somewhat taciturn and close-lipped, for the most part he was cooperative in terms of giving us enough time to transcribe what he was saying. Overall what is stated plainly and unequivocally is of absolutely paramount importance for every single person in this nation and the world: certainly among those of us who value our inalienable human rights and liberties and want them to remain un-imperiled, un-abrogated and unabridged.
TOP_VIEW: We'd like to hear what you have to say about the events on Tuesday. First of all, I assume you have knowledge of the events that goes above and beyond what the public is being told by the media and the government?
Intel source: That's quite correct.
TOP_VIEW: Can you -- are you able and willing to relay this information to us?
Intel source: Well, that depends. Some of it. You're going to publish this?
TOP_VIEW: On the Internet.
Intel source: It's essential that nothing which could possibly be used to identify myself or "**" (our intermediary) is made public.
TOP_VIEW: We totally understand. Completely. That's exactly how it will be, and -
Intel source: You've known "**" a long time?
TOP_VIEW: For about 6 years, sir.
Intel source: So... he'll vouch for you? (Chuckles) Fire away.
TOP_VIEW: Well... it's becoming increasingly clear that certain federal government sectors had prior knowledge of the destruction carried out on Tuesday. Would you concur with this?
Intel source: (unintelligible)
TOP_VIEW: Excuse me? I didn't understand you.
Intel source: Never mind.
TOP_VIEW: Is it true that our government knew what was going to happen?
Intel source: You could say that. Actually there are certain (pause) groups in our government who pretty much ran the whole show.
TOP_VIEW: Are you saying that there was cooperation and collaboration between elements of our government and the perpetrators?
Intel source: No. What I'm saying is that these groups (within the federal government -TV) were the perpetrators of the action, right down the line from top to bottom.
TOP_VIEW: This is really incredibly shocking, what you're saying here. Did I understand correctly, that you say elements of the federal government were the prime force behind these so-called terrorist attacks Tuesday?
Intel source: That's correct. Absolutely.
TOP_VIEW: God, what a horrifying thing to come to grips with! What is your feeling about this sir, and exactly why are you even talking to us about this? Are you positive about what you're saying?
Intel source: (laughs) What should I answer first? I would never make this kind of statement without being fully certain it was factual. My own feeling is that it's completely sickening. It's repugnant and unacceptable and I'm completely opposed to what was done. But it's true and we all have to deal with it. There are forces within our government who are completely determined to change the structure of our society at the most basic level, and these are the kind of things they're going to be doing to make sure that (fundamental changes in our society) happens.
TOP_VIEW: What's going on in the military right now with regard to what's occurred? Do many military higher-ups know this, and if so what's their position?
Intel source: (unintelligible)
TOP_VIEW: Excuse me?
Intel source: I said some do know and some don't. Some wouldn't believe it, just like many citizens wouldn't believe it. There are certainly lots of conflict going on at the upper levels of the military right now between people aware of the true facts.
TOP_VIEW: What about yourself?
Intel source: I consider myself to be a patriotic American who believes strongly in the Constitution. I'll do whatever is in my power to uphold and defend those principles, and so will many others.
TOP_VIEW: Well that's something I wanted to get to. The primary motivation for an atrocity of this magnitude would seem to be to soften up the country for some serious curtailment of civil liberties, in the name of protecting us from such "terrorist" attacks. I've likened it to Hitler's burning of the Reichstag in Germany.
Intel source: That's a good comparison. (Unintelligible)... one of the main reasons the action was carried out Tuesday. There's also other agendas having to do with control of the Middle East oil fields, and things related to that (issue).
TOP_VIEW: Well, are people such as yourself in any way prepared to, or able to, oppose these forces?
Intel source: Speaking for myself, I'd say there's a lot I'm prepared to do and will do. Speaking to you is one of those things. And there are many more like me.
TOP_VIEW: Now, how does the attack on the Pentagon figure into this whole thing?
Intel source: I can't discuss that at all.
TOP_VIEW: Can you some time in the future?
Intel source: Maybe. I think I'll need to sign off here soon.
TOP_VIEW: Is there anything else in particular you'd care to say, any advice or whatever?
Intel source: I'd say that our way of life is facing the biggest threat in our history, and the enemy is very much within. VERY MUCH WITHIN.
TOP_VIEW: So it boils down to: what happened on Tuesday was an inside job?
Intel source: Absolutely. All the way down the line and to a much higher level than most of you could ever imagine. There's a very intense struggle going on within our government like I said.
TOP_VIEW: It's a struggle we're all involved in, sir.
Intel source: That's quite true.
TOP_VIEW: It seems very clear to me that the Bush administration was way involved in the attacks. Would that be correct? They obviously want to bring about the exact kind of fundamental social restructuring that you mentioned.
Intel source: It's a good bet. Right now, it's best we cut this short.
TOP_VIEW: Good night and thank you very much for speaking with us.
This concluded our short but vastly significant interview with a patriotic Air Force intelligence officer.
Folks, we've heard it from the proverbial horse's mouth. Americans are in the most critical struggle in our entire history, and the enemy is a deceptive, malevolent and indeed demonic force deeply ensconced within the very fabric and structure of our federal government, and which also infests even our news and information sources, our entertainment, our schools and workplaces and many other aspects of our life and our society.
As our source stated: "the enemy is very much within."
Source: http://www.konformist.com/911/newshawk2.htm
10/8/01
5:12:40 PM
Pakistan's ex-spy chief blames Mossad
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were perpetrated by renegade U.S. Air Force elements working in conjunction with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, according to the retired Pakistani general who is closest to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
Gen. Hameed Gul, head of Inter Services Intelligence, the equivalent of a CIA-cum-FBI combination, during the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, spent two weeks in the war-torn country immediately prior to Sept. 11. He has been acting as "strategic adviser" to Pakistan's extremist religious political parties. Four religious leaders left his house in the army's principal garrison town as this reporter arrived at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The interview lasted 90 minutes.
Already countless millions of Muslims believe that the World Trade Center and Pentagon suicide attacks were part of a Mossad plot to force the United States into confrontation with the Muslim world. Now Gul has added a new disinformation wrinkle to the plot. And what Gul says or writes is taken at face value by religious leaders and is repeated in thousands of mosques at Friday prayers.
In an exclusive interview with United Press International, the fundamentalist general said it is now clear that there was also a plot by U.S. Air Force officers against the Pentagon.
"The twin towers were first attacked at 8:45 a.m.," he said, "and four flights were diverted from their assigned air space, and yet Air Force jets didn't scramble until 10 a.m. That smacks of a small-scale Air Force rebellion, a coup attempt against the Pentagon perhaps? Radars are jammed, transponders fail. No IFF -- friend or foe identification -- challenge ... This was clearly an inside job. (President) Bush was afraid and rushed to the shelter of a nuclear bunker.
"(Bush) clearly feared a nuclear situation. Who could that have been? Will that also be hushed up in the investigation, like the Warren report after the Kennedy assassination?"
Gul said that his friend bin Laden had sworn to him on the Koran that he was not involved.
"From a cave inside a mountain or a peasant's hovel," Gul asked, how could bin Laden mount such a sophisticated operation? "Let's be serious," he said with a smile. "Mossad and its American associates are the obvious culprits," he added by asking, "Who benefits from the crime?"
Asked why Israel would benefit, Gul replied, "Israel knows it has a short shelf-life before it is overwhelmed by demographics (and it) has now handed the (Bush administration) the opportunity it has been waiting for to consolidate America's imperial grip on the Gulf and acquire control of the Caspian basin by extending its military presence in Central Asia."
Gul said the U.S. plan was "the destabilization of Pakistan because it is a Muslim nuclear state. The U.S. wants to isolate Pakistan from China as part of its containment policy. President Nixon's book 'The Real War' said China would be the superpower of the 21st century. The U.S. is also creating hostility between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two Muslim states, to reverse the perception that the Islamic world now has its own nuclear weapons. Bush 43 doesn't realize he is being manipulated by people who understand geopolitics. He is not leading but being led. All he can do is think in terms of the wanted-dead-or-alive culture which is how Hollywood conditions the masses to think and act."
"Bush 43" is actually Washington shorthand for distinguishing President George W. Bush from his father. President George W. Bush is the 43rd president: George Bush Sr. was the 41st.
Gul admitted that he turned against America when the United States walked away from Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
"We were all pro-American (during the war) but then America left us in the lurch and everything went to pieces, including Afghanistan."
Asked if the United States was now his enemy, Gul replied, "Is the U.S. national interest in contradiction with the Muslim world? The U.S. needs oil, as do its European allies. You have between 6 and 8 million American Muslims and their ranks are growing. About the same number in Europe. Israel aside, we are America's natural allies. Professor Sam Huntington in his (book) 'Clash of Civilizations' puts Confucius and Judeo-Christians in one corner, and us in the other. His prescription is wrong but is being adopted by Bush 43 who has now put 60 countries on his hit list. This is the diabolical school that wants to launch an anti-Muslim 'crusade.' Muslims understood what Bush meant when he used that word. We need a meeting, not a clash, of civilizations."
If Pakistan gives the U.S. base facilities, Gul warned, "we will have a national upheaval" and if the United States attacks Afghanistan, there will be "a general jihad (holy war) ... and Pakistan will be engulfed in the firestorm. So I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in Washington."
Asked to consider the possibility that bin Laden -- or OBL as he is referred to in Pakistani conversations -- was lying to him and is indeed guilty as charged by the United States, Gul said, "If Taliban are given irrefutable evidence of his guilt, I am in favor of a fair trial. In America one is entitled to a jury of peers. But he has no American peers. The Taliban would not object, in the event of a prima face case, to an international Islamic court meeting in The Hague. They would extradite Osama to the Netherlands."
10/8/01
5:09:50 PM
And Osama bin Laden still visits Saoudi Arabia and is not estranged from his family there, as is being reported in American government circles. At least 100,000 Zulu translations of the Q'uoran were distributed in South Africa. This was confirmed by Yusuf Deedat, Bin Laden's representative in Durban. He and his father Ahmed visited Saudi Arabia to confer with the Bin-Laden family -- which is financing several of Deedat's projects. they also saw Osama there frequently.
More at http://www.rense.com/general13/zulus.htm
10/8/01
4:46:27 PM
MSNBC is about to launch a 5-part series by Michael Moran entitled: The Secret Empire: The U.S. Military in the 20th Century. Details at
http://www.msnbc.com/news/WARROOM_front.asp?0dm=V22AN
U.S. targets 23 terrorist camps
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20011003-37269.htm
Very interesting on the WTC BOMB PLOT:
http://eionews.addr.com/psyops/plot_within_a_plot_part2.htm
Peace breath (Magnificent!)
http://www.peacebreath.com/flash/index.html
10/8/01
4:41:58 PM
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it ...always."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Both above sent by "Jonathan Eveleigh" <rainbow@aum.freewire.co.uk>
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
- H.G. Wells
"The world is now too dangerous for anything less than Utopia."
- Buckminster Fuller
10/8/01
4:39:11 PM
AlterNet Launches New "Understanding Terrorism" Page
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=27
Since September 11, hundreds of thousands of readers have turned to AlterNet for the in-depth background information and analysis they need to understand 9-11's terrible events. We continue our coverage with the fourth in a series of special pages:
Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=27
Featuring
- Ten Things to Know about Terrorism
- insights into the terrorist mindset
- leftist excuses for past terrorism
- investigations of the Al Qaeda network
- an interview with Osama bin Laden
Also today on the AlterNet frontpage:
10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TERRORISM
Mark LeVine, AlterNet
How does an act of terrorism differ from an act of war? What is the history of terrorism? Find out in this 10-point summary.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11647
AFTER THE ATTACKS, CRISIS LOOMS FOR CHARITIES
Justin Rood, AlterNet
Many nonprofits fear that despite the huge giving to disaster relief efforts, many of the nation's 1.7 million charities will be left hard up for money in the wake of 9-11.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11655
ENVIRONMENTALISTS RE-CHECK PRIORITIES, STRATEGY AFTER 9-11
J.A. Savage, AlterNet
National green organizations fear being tainted as un-American for continuing to oppose Bush's anti-environmental policies, and are significantly shifting their strategies.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11656
A MESSAGE TO TROOPS, WOULD-BE TROOPS AND OTHER YOUTH
Jeff Paterson, AlterNet
The first active-duty military resister of the Persian Gulf War talks about his refusal to kill people in the Middle East, and why today's soldiers should do the same.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11648
OF CANNABIS AND COMPASSION
Sid Tafler, Monday Magazine
A trip through the (not so) underground cannabis culture in British Columbia, Canada. Is the world ready for the marijuana revolution?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11643
DREAMING OF WAR
Ellen Willis, The Nation
Will our nation's new confrontation with real terror kill our taste for the vicarious kind? Perhaps, but we will be no less susceptible to illusion.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11657
THE LONG TERM AFFECTS OF THE ATTACKS FOR LOW-INCOME AMERICANS
Torie Osborn, WorkingForChange
For millions of Americans living in poverty or teetering at the brink, the attack on the World Trade Center has imperiled any slight gains made in recent years.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11659
WAIVING THE FLAG
Erin Aubry Kaplan, LA Weekly
I understand America's need to fly flags, our need for symbols bigger than the biggest words. Then why was I shocked when my husband brought one home?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11646
VISIONARY AND LEADER PASSES ON
Farah Jasmine Griffin, LISTEN Inc.
This Monday saw the unfortunate death of Lisa Sullivan, the founder and president of LISTEN Inc., a unique youth development organization. She will be greatly missed around the country.
* In WireTap: http://www.wiretapmag.org
HYBRID CARS ARE READY, ARE YOU?
Ross Thompson, Conscious Choice
War in the Middle East could mean higher gas prices. That makes electric and hybrid cars a good choice for even the not-so-eco-minded driver.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11628
TRACKING TERRORIST MONEY -- TOO HOT FOR U.S. TO HANDLE?
Lucy Komisar, Pacific News Service
A controversial European book that exposed the secret banking systems possibly used by terrorists remains unpublished in the U.S. Ironically, Rudy Giuliani may already know its details.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11650
REICH: FED RESPONSE IS TOO TEPID
Robert Reich, AlterNet
Alan Greenspan is pushing on a wet noodle. Instead of interest rate cuts or corporate tax cuts, the government should cut payroll taxes by $100 billion over the next 12 months.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11658
10/8/01
4:23:50 PM
URGENT
TIME: ALMOST MIDNIGHT
PLACE: USA
If America’s Nuclear Power Plants had been targeted on September 11th, it could have resulted in 10s of millions of deaths and unspeakable suffering. Why are these plants still open, still creating mountains of deadly radioactive waste? Both the plants and their waste are extremely vulnerable to terrorism, accidents, and other foreseeable catastrophes.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear industry got lucky last time. Yet they are doing virtually nothing to protect us after the horrific "wake-up call". Why not? The answer is this: PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE! When's the last time you worried about nuclear power enough to get out and DO something, like write a letter to your local paper's editor, or to your congressperson?
Let's tell the politicians we are no longer indifferent! We woke up, and we want them to, too.
Announcing the 11th Day, 11th Hour Protest
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of every month, contact your elected representatives and tell them to SHUT DOWN the nukes and SWITCH to renewable energy. Make Boeing build windmills. Make General Electric build solar panels for roof-tops, and light-bulbs that are energy-efficient and last for decades. Make General Motors build magnetic-levitation mass transit systems. Make Electric Boat build wave and tidal energy systems. These technologiesexist; only the will-power is missing. Demand a switch away from oil, coal, and worst of all nuclear, and to renewable energy solutions: Wind, wave, tide, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, etc. etc.. All these technologies are currently feasible; let's use them.
We have to demand peace. We have to demand justice, not war. We have to demand that the World Bank cancel the "Third World Debt" as a gesture of love to the planet. We have to demand that tensions be reduced around the globe, by increased sharing and cooperation, and by public trials of those charged with crimes against us, not by summary executions using secret hunter-killer teams of unaccountable Special Forces, and not by wholesale slaughter of civilians either.
If we don't solve a whole lot of problems quickly, terrorism will inevitably increase in size, scope, and frequency.
Think about how much worse 9-11 could have been if each plane had attacked a nuclear power plant. Then, try to do something about it.
Contact "President George W. Bush" <president@whitehouse.gov>
For more information about the 11th day, 11th hour protest, contact:
Russell D. Hoffman
Coordinator, The Worldwide 11th Day, 11th Hour Protest Against Nukes
"11-11 coordinator" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
Here are some suggested links for more information about radiation:
www.ratical.org
www.nirs.org
Learn more about renewable energy options here:
www.geni.org
This document is available here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/11thhour.htm
Please add your name to this message and forward it to everyone you know This is a continuing monthly protest until ALL nuclear plants are shut down, ALL nuclear weapons are dismantled, and the radioactive waste issues are all somehow (good luck, world!) resolved!
Russell D. Hoffman, Concerned Citizen, P.O. Box 1936, Carlsbad, CA 92018
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm
mailto:rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
10/5/01
8:31:05 PM
MOJOURNAL
NEW ON MOTHERJONES.COM
* The War Dividend * - Web Exclusive: Congress is poised to write a blank check for the Pentagon's favorite programs -- whether or not they have anything to do with fighting terrorism.
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/commentary/opinion/blank_check.html
* Beyond the Blasts * - Web Exclusive: Keeping the press at bay; generals leery of war; some arab-americans support profiling; anti-terror exercises; e-needles in haystacks; more
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/blast4.html
* Bush Files * - Web Exclusive: Homeland security office clash; Rumsfeld's new image; missile shield still bad idea; O'Neill on short leash; team Bush; tough questions no one's asking; more...
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/bushfiles.html
* Discuss * - If I had $20 billion: What would you do with the money Congress just allocated to fight terrorism?
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@@.ee99c61
10/5/01
8:18:15 PM
Public Citizen
Nuclear Industry Shouldn't Be Let Off the Hook for Accident Costs
Lawmakers Wrong to Force Taxpayers to Subsidize Nuclear Industry's Insurance Costs
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality was wrong to vote today to reauthorize the Price-Anderson Act, which calls for the government - and therefore taxpayers - to foot most of the bill in the event of a nuclear power accident, Public Citizen said today.
Not only is it a bad idea to reauthorize the act, but lawmakers should gather much more information about the security of nuclear power plants before even considering the legislation, particularly in light of the events of Sept. 11, Public Citizen said. The nuclear power industry has a dismal record of passing mock security drills, and recent published reports indicate that nuclear power plants could not withstand the attacks perpetrated on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"This is absolutely the wrong time for the Congress to be considering the extension of this program," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The current law doesn't expire until next August, but the leadership in the House of Representatives has put this legislation on a fast track. It's foolhardy to consider this until a full and thorough discussion of nuclear safety is conducted."
The Price-Anderson Act was passed in 1954 to help the nascent nuclear power industry get off the ground by providing government-backed indemnification in the event of any nuclear power accidents. Now, nuclear power plants must buy $200 million worth of insurance, and the industry's costs in the event of an accident would be capped at $9 billion. However, a nuclear accident would likely cost $500 billion, according to government estimates. The government would have to pay for what the nuclear industry doesn't cover. Under the pending legislation, the act would be reauthorized for 15 years. Public Citizen opposes the reauthorization, but says that if lawmakers do approve it, they should impose strict security requirements to protect against terrorism and assure the security of the reactors and surrounding communities.
Of particular concern in light of the events of Sept. 11 is the subcommittee's approval of concessions to new reactors constructed according to the pebble bed modular reactor design, which cuts costs by eliminating the traditional containment that protects the reactor from explosions and intrusions.
"This reckless move to promote dangerous new reactors is straight off the nuclear industry's wish-list," Hauter said. "There is no excuse for such blatant disregard of the safety risks that a new generation of nuclear plants would pose to the American public."
Further, the bill continues to require the American taxpayer to pick up the tab for willful and negligent actions of private contractors at U.S. Department of Energy facilities. As Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member John Dingell (D-Mich.) pointed out, neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor the Defense Department provide this level of subsidized indemnification to their private contractors who perform unsatisfactorily.
"What's the rush?" Hauter asked. "This is not the time to rush this legislation through the Congress. By doing so, we would expose our citizens to even more harm - financially and otherwise. Congress should put an end to corporate welfare for the nuclear industry."
For more information about the Price-Anderson Act, visit
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based on Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
10/5/01
8:15:08 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTIVISM UPDATE: New York Times Responds to FAIR, Calls Criticism a Distortion
October 5, 2001
FAIR's October 2 Action Alert, "Can the New York Times Count-- Or Quote-- Peace Activists?," got an immediate response from New York Times senior news editor Bill Borders.
Borders wrote a number of responses to FAIR activists, including several claiming that "as it often does, FAIR has, I think, distorted our position here." What follows below is one such response, along with FAIR's reply.
--From Bill Borders--
The crowd estimate of a "few hundred" appeared only in the first edition of last Sunday's paper. When the reporter wrote it, it was accurate. Later, the crowd grew, and the article was updated in all the other editions of the Sunday paper to "thousands." In retrospect, it would have been wiser not to put the smaller estimate into the early edition, but the reporter did not know that the crowd would grow so much.
FAIR is aware of these facts, but chose to withhold them from the "action alert" it sent you. I don't know why they did this; you might want to ask them.
Thanks for writing, and for holding us to a high standard.
Best, Bill Borders, The New York Times.
--FAIR's reply--
Dear Bill Borders:
Thank you for replying so quickly to our readers who inquired about the Times' coverage of peace activists.
Contrary to an assertion you made in some of your responses, FAIR did not knowingly withhold information from its readers. Making such an accusation without evidence is unprofessional.
In several responses, you wrote that "as it often does, FAIR has, I think, distorted our position here." We wrote our alert based on the third edition of the paper (labeled "Late Edition"), as well as the online edition, which as of this morning had not been changed to reflect the "growth" of the crowd. So our point was correct, as you acknowledge; I do not think that amounts to a distortion of your position.
If the Times does understand that its reporting was in error, it seems the most responsible thing to do would be to issue a correction that would be available to all of your readers. It is unlikely that very many people buy the final edition of the Times to fact-check what they have already read that morning.
I hope the Times will consider issuing a correction in this Sunday's edition.
Peter Hart, FAIR
It's also worth noting that Borders does not address FAIR's larger point about the Times' under-coverage and mischaracterization of peace protests (notably in the headline "Protesters in Washington Urge Peace with Terrorists"). The October 5 edition of the Times does, however, include a profile of peace activists that avoids many of the errors and distortions that so far have characterized some of the paper's previous coverage.
To read FAIR's original alert, "Can the New York Times Count-- Or Quote--Peace Activists?," visit
http://www.fair.org/activism/nyt-peace-activists.html
10/5/01
7:58:19 PM
Indict Katherine Harris, Democrats Urge
by Donna Ladd
Even as George W. Bush enjoys mountainous wartime popularity, one of his election lieutenants is causing cracks in the nation's veneer of political politeness. Within 24 hours of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's announcement that she would run for U.S. Congress next year, Democrats.com bit back with a Web site and an e-mail alert. The group, co-founded by the Web designer of President Clinton's White House Web site and a consultant for Geraldine Ferraro's 1998 Senate race, is not only reminding voters of last year's election debacle. They are calling for the Democrats' version of Cruella de Vil to be indicted of several crimes they say helped Bush stumble into the White House.
"Katherine Harris belongs in jail, not the U.S. Congress," wrote Democrats.com founder Bob Fertik, in the e-mail. Fertik and his partner, David Lytel, say Harris violated a list of state and federal laws including the Votings Rights Act, the Ballot Design Law, and the American With Disabilities Act. They are collecting signatures (and donations) to encourage Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth and Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs to bring up charges against Harris on 14 points associated with the 2000 presidential election. For one, Harris contracted with a private company for a "fraudulent felon purge," costing Democrat Al Gore thousands of votes, the group alleges. In addition, the congressional candidate allowed Republican operatives to work inside her office, draft speeches for her, and coordinate with Bush-Cheney attorneys on interpretation of election laws. And she allowed county canvassing boards to count 680 clearly illegal overseas military ballots, including some cast after Election Day.
Fertik says that Harris's entry into the race will help erode the bipartisan spirit that has swept the country since September 11. "Harris is such a divisive figure because she blocked the counting of 175,000 uncounted votes. How can we as a nation fight for 'Democracy' if our votes aren't counted?" Fertik told the Voice. He also accuses her of trying to cash in on the benevolent spirit of the moment, rather than waiting for a more appropriate time. "She thinks she can personally benefit from our present national unity, but she is doing tremendous damage to that unity instead," he said.
Citing a September 29, 2001, report in the St. Petersburg Times, Democrats.com is also fingering Harris for five non-Bush-related transgressions, including flying first class, making personal calls on her government-issued cell phone, and not allowing the state's inspector general to report directly to her, as required by Florida law. Harris recently fired Inspector General Dwight Chastain, who had complained that, despite numerous requests for meetings, he had almost no access to the secretary of state.
Fertik rejects any suggestion that Democrats.com is trying to use Harris to redirect attention back to the botched election and away from a suddenly popular Bush. "Katherine Harris chose to announce her campaign this week--not us," he said, adding, "We did not suspend law enforcement in the United States on September 11."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0140/ladd.php
10/5/01
7:44:43 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
ROCK ON!
Canadian Minister of Health Allan Rock said yesterday that labels on genetically modified food should be mandatory in the country. In August, a national task force recommended a voluntary labeling system in Canada, but Rock said the country should instead follow the lead of the European Union, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and impose labeling rules on the food industry. "It is about time government caught up to the will of Canadians to be reasonably informed about what they are putting in their bodies," Rock said. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Novartis confirmed yesterday that Greenpeace was correct in claiming that some baby food sold in the Philippines by Novartis subsidiary Gerber contained genetically modified soy.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12674/story.htm>
IF YOU BUILD IT, SPRAWL WON'T COME
In the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center tower, environmentalists are calling for a rapid rebuilding of lower Manhattan as a way to fight increased urban sprawl and traffic congestion. They worry that the sudden shortage of office space downtown, combined with concerns about security and the economy, could drive corporations out of the city center, at the expense of air quality and open spaces. As a result, some environmental groups say they would turn a blind eye to streamlined building procedures. Meanwhile, Grist diarist and environmental justice activist Swati Prakash continues to fight the good fight while simultaneously trying to meet the city's new, post-terrorism needs. Read her account of this week in New York City on the Grist Magazine website.
straight to the source: New York Times, Kirk Johnson, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/05/nyregion/05SPRA.html>
FILL UP YER CAMEL, SIR?
A court in Pakistan ruled yesterday that Britain's Premier Oil can go ahead with plans to test for natural gas in the country's largest national park, which is home to rare urial sheep, ibex, and chinkara gazelle. Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment and Friends of the Earth International say Premier's exploratory surveys would threaten the animals and disturb the 20,000 tribal people living in the park. They plan to appeal the ruling to the country's Supreme Court. For its part, Premier says it will minimize the environmental impact of the operation, going so far as to travel by camel where there are no roads.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12673/story.htm>
GOING WITH THE GRAIN
In a closely contested vote yesterday, the U.S. House defeated an amendment to a massive farm bill that would have shifted $19 billion from crop subsidies to conservation efforts. The defeat, which was engineered largely by lawmakers from traditional farming states, paves the way for approval of a 10-year, $171 billion farm bill that would increase subsides for grain and cotton farmers. Critics, including the Bush administration, say the bill gives too much money to large farms and not enough to environmental efforts, but supporters claim it is the greenest farm bill ever considered by Congress, with conservation spending up 78 percent from past packages.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Dan Morgan, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8360-2001Oct4.html>
straight to the source: New York Times, Elizabeth Becker, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/05/national/05FARM.html>
DRIVEN TO DRINK
The average fuel efficiency of new vehicles has hit a two-decade low of 20.4 miles per gallon, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. EPA. The report attributed the decline in fuel economy largely to the popularity of sports utility vehicles, which get notoriously poor fuel economy and are regulated by laxer rules than other passenger vehicles. The report will add fuel to the debate over whether the government should impose stricter fuel-economy standards on automakers. This summer, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report that found that higher standards could be implemented at a relatively low cost, but automakers are disputing that finding at a hearing today. Academy officials say any factual errors corrected as a result of the hearing would be unlikely to alter the report's conclusions.
straight to the source: Detroit News, Jeff Plungis, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.detnews.com/2001/autos/0110/05/b01-310950.htm>
do good: Take action to demand fuel efficient cars <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/autos.asp?source=daily#fuel>
10/5/01
7:37:15 PM
Blair Snitch Project
by Scott Shuger
Both the NYT and the LAT lead with the British government's release yesterday of what it claims is evidence linking Osama Bin Laden and his terror organization to the September 11 attacks. The material was introduced via prime minister Tony Blair's speech on the topic to Parliament and the posting of a 16-page official document on the Internet. USAT, which reefers the British revelations, leads with "DEATH TOLL IN NYC FALLS BY 1,400," which is happening because the NYPD is removing duplicate missing persons reports from its master list. The paper's headline is followed by this world-turned-upside-down subheadline: "Analysis offers hope it could be below 5,000." The WP, which fronts the British news, leads with the midair explosion of a Russian airliner enroute to Siberia from Tel Aviv that killed all 76 people onboard. The story says that terrorism has not been ruled out, but that a more likely explanation, seemingly supported by U.S. satellite data, is that the plane was accidentally struck by a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile launched during a military training exercise. The WSJ tops its front-page world-wide news box with a sketch of the U.S. strategy of its planned Afghanistan bombing campaign: targeting Taliban headquarters, training camps, airfields and military supplies in hopes of producing an atmosphere in which anti-Taliban armed factions will be encouraged to move against Osama Bin Laden. Roads, bridges and other civilian infrastructure will not be targeted, and food and medicine will be airdropped to the general population.
The coverage reports that the British brief against Bin Laden is often vague to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods but that according to Blair, it leaves no doubt. The papers also report that yesterday, Pakistani government officials stated that the evidence was sufficient even for a legal case against Bin Laden. The brief's highlights: 1) Known associates of Bin Laden warned of an attack on or around September 11, telling certain members of the organization to return to Afghanistan before that date; 2) An unnamed senior associate of Bin Laden's was in charge of planning the September 11 attacks; 3) It has been confirmed that three of the hijackers have been positively identified as members of Bin Laden's network, and one of them has been ID'd as involved in planning the 1998 East African embassy bombings and the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole; 4) A surviving participant in the Kenya embassy bombing afterwards called a telephone number in Yemen for money, a telephone number that was later the same day called by Bin Laden's phone. None of the papers' main stories has another similar datum, which is included in the official British government document: 5) The faxed claim of responsibility for the embassy bombings was traced to a phone number that had been in contact with Bin Laden's phone. Of the majors, only the WP's story includes the Web address for the British government site posting the case against Bin Laden--(www.number-10.gov.uk).
The WP front reports that U.S. intelligence officials have told members of Congress that there is a "high probability" that terrorists associated with Bin Laden will try to launch another major attack on American targets "in the near future," a likelihood rising to "100 percent" (in the words of one unidentified intelligence official) if the U.S. strikes Afghanistan.
The WSJ relays "the most graphic report yet" of how widespread the economic fallout from the September 11 attacks has been: initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 71,000 (to 528,000), more than double what Wall Street had been expecting. The paper quotes an economist predicting that the U.S. unemployment rate--which was at 4.9% in August--will hit 6% early next year.
The NYT lead editorial says that although it would be irrational and counterproductive to respond to the terror attacks with a drastic reduction in the number of immigrants and foreign visitors admitted to the U.S., homeland security officials need to "crack down on lax enforcement of the immigration laws, with a sense of urgency." Buried at the end of a WP Page 14 story on the U.S. consular system that seamlessly issued tourist or business visas to all 19 hijackers is the revelation that the State Dept. doesn't have quick access to FBI databases of suspected criminals, even though this information is commonly available to local police departments.
The USAT fronter on the U.S./British commando hunt for Osama Bin Laden, which the paper continues to say is already in progress on the ground in Afghanistan, says that two key members of Congress told the paper that the intelligence being acquired about Bin Laden's movements is "surprisingly good" and that the commandos "almost" know where he is.
The papers go inside with word that a 63-year-old Florida man has come down with pulmonary anthrax, which is common in farm animals but very unusual in humans (only 18 cases in the U.S. in the 20th century). The secretary of HHS, Tommy Thompson, said yesterday at a White House briefing that the man's disease was not caused by terrorism.
Notice to Sally Quinn: They also mess up your hair. The LAT goes inside with a gas mask debunker, which reminds that most of the masks available in surplus stores are there because they don't work, that you have to be taught how to wear one to get protection and to avoid suffocating, and they aren't effective absent a detection system that tells you when they're needed--a system utterly absent in civilian life. Plus, for protections against serious chemical or biological agents you need to be wearing a correctly fitted protective suit as well.
And what could be a more traditional value than insensitive stupidity? The WP reports that the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman and founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, said yesterday that the public and private relief agencies providing assistance to September 11 attack survivors should not aid surviving members of gay partnerships.
10/5/01
7:34:11 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
ANTI ANTI-WAR AND THEY HATE US?
by James Norton and Clay Risen, Flak Magazine
-- Political skepticism is a necessary element of any healthy democracy. But recent anti-war protests and foreign-policy critics risk destroying the Left's political capital for years to come.
WHY WE STILL NEED MOVIES
by Bob Westal, Film Threat
-- With Hollywood movie production at a standstill, one film critic reminds us why movies still matter.
CAREERS: CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
by Jennifer Long, Moxie
-- Every Spring college graduates finish school and often spend the summer figuring out what to do with themselves. Recent grad Jennifer Long's handy article is chock full of tips for the searching twenty-something.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
10/5/01
7:30:55 PM
The "Security" Charade
by Robert Bowman
If deceptions about terrorism go unchallenged, then the threat will continue until it destroys us.
The truth is that none of our thousands of nuclear weapons can protect us from these threats. No Star Wars system no matter how technically advanced, no matter how many trillions of dollars are poured into it, can protect us from a nuclear weapon delivered in a sailboat or a Cessna or a suitcase or a Ryder rental truck. Not one weapon in our vast arsenal, not a penny of the $270 billion a year we spend on so-called defense can defend against a terrorist bomb. That is a military fact.
As a retired lieutenant colonel and a frequent lecturer on national security issues, I have often quoted Psalm 33: "A king is not saved by his mighty army. A warrior is not saved by his great strength." The obvious reaction is, "Then what can we do?" Is there nothing we can do to provide security for our people?"
There is. But to understand it requires that we know the truth about the threat. President Clinton did not tell the American people the truth about why we are the targets of terrorism when he explained why we bombed Afghanistan and Sudan. He said that we are a target because we stand for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Nonsense!
We are the target of terrorists because, in much of the world, our government stands for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation. We are the target of terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things.
In how many countries have agents of our government deposed popularly elected leaders and replaced them with puppet military dictators who were willing to sell out their own people to American multinational corporations?
We did it in Iran when the US Marines and the CIA deposed Mossadegh because he wanted to nationalize the oil industry. We replaced him with the Shah and armed, trained, and paid his hated Savak National Guard, which enslaved and brutalized the people of Iran, all to protect the financial interests of our oil companies. Is it any wonder that there are people in Iran who hate us?
We did it in Chile. We did it in Vietnam. More recently, we tried to do it in Iraq. And, of course, how many times have we done it in Nicaragua and all the other banana republics of Latin America? Time after time we have ousted popular leaders who wanted the riches of the land to be shared by the people who worked it. We replaced them with murderous tyrants who would sell out their own people so the wealth of the land could be taken out by the likes of Domino Sugar, Folgers, and Chiquita Banana.
In country after country, our government has thwarted democracy, stifled freedom, and trampled human rights. That's why it is hated around the world. And that's why we're the target of terrorists.
People in Canada enjoy democracy, freedom, and human rights. So do the people of Norway and Sweden. Have you heard of Canadian embassies being bombed? Or Norwegian, or Swedish?
We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism and in the future, nuclear terrorism.
Once the truth about why the threat exists is understood, the solution becomes obvious. We must change our ways. Getting rid of our nuclear weapons unilaterally if necessary will enhance our security. Drastically altering our foreign policy will ensure it.
Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so