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PD #12: GRANT US PEACE
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Joyce Lynn, Editor
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Apr 18, 2003 16:39 PDT
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POLITICAL DIARY
The Inside Source for News
Joyce Lynn, Editor
By email: politicaldiary3 at hotmail dot com
www.topica.com/lists/politicaldiary
For archived editions: Click on Read this List
POLITICAL DIARY, based on the truth-telling power of dreams, is
founded on the premise each of us has an Inside Source, which can reveal
the truth that will bring peace. Through investigative reporting,
interpretative analysis, commentary, tips, and other journalistic tools,
POLITICAL DIARY reports the news so we can make informed choices.
Issue #12: GRANT US PEACE
April 2003
IN THIS ISSUE:
From the Editor’s Desk:
Families Charge Bush as Guilty’ as 9/11 Skyjackers
Inside Source
‘We Honor the Victims by Learning the Truth’
The Whitewash Commission?
Connecting the Dots….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK:
When political leaders use religious fundamentalism to justify terrible
destruction, we must call upon our own inner compass for guidance. I
heard this simple but profound message from a rabbi in a reform Jewish
synagogue during the U.S. “shock and awe” bombing of Iraq.
A powerful way to touch my own moral center is reciting my favorite and
my father’s favorite prayer from the Hebrew Union prayer book. This
simple act holds a mirror to my own behavior. This simple act especially
when said in community takes on ironic and painful significance. This
simple act engages and directs the journey. May these words or ones you
find guide positive thought and action.
Grant us peace, Thy most precious gift, O Thou eternal source of peace,
and enable Israel to be its messenger unto the peoples of the earth.
Bless our country that it may ever be a stronghold of peace, and its
advocate in the council of nations. May contentment reign within its
borders, health and happiness within its homes. Strengthen the bonds of
friendship and fellowship among the inhabitants of all lands. Plant
virtue in every soul, and may the love of Thy name hallow every home and
every heart. Praised be Thou Giver of peace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FAMILIES CHARGE BUSH ‘JUST AS GUILTY’ AS 9/11 SKYJACKERS
by
Joyce Lynn
Charging gross negligence and intentional malfeasance by G.W. Bush and
other top administration officials, a group of 9/11 family members say
the U.S. government is responsible for the attacks.
In blunt language, the plaintiffs maintain that “by allowing the 9/11
attacks to occur, despite their knowledge and foreknowledge of this
attack plans, the defendants acted in a manner just as culpable and
liable and guilty as skyjackers who actually seized control of the 9/11
jets.”
In a suit filed in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
in Oakland, last May, the plaintiffs called the officials are
“dangerous” and sought removal from their jobs.
Then, last September, the plaintiffs sought and the court granted
dismissal of the case to reassess their position and pursue remedies
under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
San Francisco attorney Stanley Hilton, who filed the case, has not
returned repeated PD calls for an update. However, last month in a radio
interview Hilton went far beyond the printed filing. He claimed 9/11 was
not an intelligence failure but a shadow government operation. He told
radio host Alex Jones depositions reveal the alleged hijackers were
double agents, play boys not Islamic fanatics, trained and paid for by
the U.S. He said a former wife of one of the alleged hijackers says they
operated in cells in the U.S.
This is the first legal suit to spell out the U.S. complicity scenario
PD outlined last year (PD #5).
The suit sought $7 billion in damages against each defendant including
Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Ashcroft. The
complaint was not served on any defendant.
The most startling charge in the dismissed case is that the 9/11 planes
were remotely controlled and that the U.S. could have disabled the
technology diverting the attacks – but failed to do so.
Here are allegations from the original suit:
• Bush et al “willfully and intentionally” failed to act on intelligence
information they received between May 23, 2001 and September 11, 2001,
specifically a memorandum dated August 6, 2001, when FBI and other memos
and briefings “clearly informed him of the threat and intent to skyjack
jets.”
“Defendants had adequate knowledge of threats and dangers and
deliberately chose to ‘ignore’ these threats in order to deliberately
allow the skyjackers to skyjack the planes on September 11, 2001 and to
fly them into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon.
…..the purpose of defendants in allowing the 9/11 bombings to occur was
to boost the popularity of defendant Bush in political polls and to
serve as a pretext for declaring a dubious and worthless ‘war on
terrorism’ which defendants then used to manipulate the Congress into
passing numerous restrictive laws.
“All this action was designed for defendant’s personal political goals
and was counter to the interests of plaintiffs….
“Defendant Bush specifically violated his constitutional oath to
‘preserve, protect and defend’ this country and plaintiffs and the
Constitution from attack by foreign agents and entities.
• Defendants manipulated and used the “CYCLONE” ground remote control
technology to control the jets’ flight paths. “Defendants had in their
possession on 9/11 the technical means and computer programs to disable
the pilot controls but “they inexcusably failed to do so.”
The suit also claims the officials allowed the bin Laden family to leave
the U.S. and Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda forces to escape
Afghanistan and go into hiding “to create more terror attacks and to
whip up hysterical fears” so that defendants could “tighten their grip
on the U.S. political and military and government apparatus, all in
gross violation of the Constitution and plaintiffs constitutional
rights.”
Two of the hijacked airliners were destined for San Francisco, so a
number of the plaintiffs live in the Bay Area. Also, federal offices are
located in San Francisco and Oakland.
Hilton says the government has claimed national security and refused to
turn over documents. He does not expect the case to go to trial until
next year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INSIDE SOURCE
Before U.S. bombs began falling on Iraq, “Karen,” a landscape architect,
repeatedly dreamt of the inside of a house. Its infrastructure was
hard-wired. Her interpretation of this repeated nightmare scenario: the
corruption at the core of the U.S. government that the government is
building throughout the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘WE HONOR THE VICTIMS BY LEARNING THE TRUTH’—9/11 Activists Demand
Government, Media do Their Jobs
Refusing to wag the Iraqi dog’s tail, 9/11 activist groups on both
coasts are seeking to refocus attention on what they see as the pretext
for the U.S. endless global wars – the events of 9/11.
9/11 CitizensWatch, a group that includes family members was formed to
demand the National 9/11 Commission investigate unanswered questions and
monitor the commission.
“Any one of the these talking points with supporting evidence and
sources raises profoundly disturbing questions...Taken together, they
build a compelling case that, at the very least, justifies our demand
for a full, open and aggressive investigation as to accountability for,
and culpability in, the attacks of September 11th,” founder Kyle Hence
said at a press conference March 31, the day the commission opened its
investigation at the Customs House in New York City.
"We honor the victims by learning the truth and by learning the truth of
what happened that day and why, we help ensure that such a tragedy never
happens again,” he said.
The 9/11 Truth Commission, comprised of activists and researchers many
from the San Francisco Bay Area, will host two events next week in a bid
to a recalcitrant media to investigate many of the same questions.
Their program will feature Guerrilla News Network’s investigative
documentary, “Aftermath- Unanswered Questions from 9-11” at the Herbst
Theatre in San Francisco April 21, and at Spangenberg Theatre in Palo
Alto on April 22. The events will also include a panel with researchers
Michael Ruppert, Peter Dale Scott, and Richard Heinberg (April 22) and
legal expert Riva Enteen. Barrie Zwicker, who made the documentary The
Great Deception, will moderate.
”The Bush Administration has used 9/11 to justify its wars throughout
the world and its attack upon the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The screenings are designed to create a public space for serious
questioning of the official narrative of 9/11,” said organizer Carol
Brouillet.
Hence’s Unanswered Questions helped formed CitizensWatch is also
creating a Citizens' Investigative Commission on 9/11
Ryan Amundson, whose brother Craig died in the attack on the Pentagon,
said of the National Commission, "I desperately want to be able to trust
the government, but as long as these questions remain unanswered, I will
always have doubt in my mind."
Several 9/11 family members raised the unanswered questions during their
testimony at the March 31 hearing. CitizenWatch and the 9/11 Truth
Commission want issues investigated and answered including:
• FBI headquarters’ obstruction of field agent investigations of
potential terrorists or terrorist financiers
• Detailed warnings, which U.S. officials ignored from the intelligence
services of Britain, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Russia, Italy, and other
foreign governments
• Warnings to prominent travelers to avoid flying on 9/11
• Spikes in the number of "puts" on the stocks of airline and insurance
companies in the weeks prior to 9/11
• The wire transfer of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta prior to the attacks by
the chief of Pakistani Intelligence, Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed, who met with
members of Congress on 9/11
• Lack of U.S. fighter jets defending the Pentagon despite the passage
of an hour and 20 minutes from the onset of the multiple hijackings
• Eyewitness accounts of the behavior and movements of lead hijacker
Mohammed Atta that conflict with the government investigation
• No government official held accountable for the September 11 tragedy
and some government officials rewarded with promotions
• Ties of U.S. government and intelligence agencies with the terrorists
• U.S. plans for a war in central Asia prior to September 11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE WHITEWASH COMMISSION?
As a few grieving and pained 9/11family members amid a sea of empty
seats hauntingly held photos of their loved ones, a mother and widow
pleaded with the National 9/11 Commission at its opening hearings March
31 to investigate anomalies in the government’s story. C-span cut to
crowded Capitol Hill hearings on Iraq. The next day the Commission
thumbed its noses at the families’ requests to probe unanswered
questions and listened instead to a panel of academics ponder the
origins of terrorism.
These few minutes of televised time captured the success of the
administration’s strategy to divert public and press attention from
inquiries into 9/11.Through direct intervention by Vice President Dick
Cheney, lack of funding, and lack of cooperation, the administration has
tried to scuttle inquiries. Despite these attempts, Joint Congressional
Intelligence hearings last fall (PD #10) revealed administration
foreknowledge of 9/11.
PD predicted last fall the administration would stall the National
Commission hearings until a war on Iraq could drown them out. With oil
at the heart of 9/11 (PD #4) and covert/overt CIA roles in the events of
9/11 (PD #5), the members and their activities mock the trust the 9/11
families have placed in the government to investigate the tragedy.
The commission members’ conflicts are deep and wide. According to the
Centre for Research on Globalisation and the World Socialist website,
the foxes are guarding the hen house. At least five panel members work
for law firms that represent US airline companies including American and
United, the two airlines whose planes were hijacked on 9/11.
Paenl chairman: Thomas Kean, former New Jersey Republican governor and
president of Drew University, earned nearly $200,000 as a director of
Amerada Hess Corporation. The oil giant had a joint venture in
Azerbaijan with Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia. This company is owned by
Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Khalid bin Mahfouz, who does business
with the Carlyle Group. George H.W. Bush is an advisor to the equity
investment company. In the wake of 9/11, Khalid was exempted from
Treasury Department investigations into Saudi businesses and charities.
Delta Hess was established in 1998 to develop the Caspian region oil
fields. Delta Oil was also part of the consortium with UNOCAL to build
the oil/gas pipeline through Afghanistan. Hess Delta was one of the
companies named in the $1trillion lawsuit filed last August by 9/11
victim families.
Kean was also a director of the federally funded National Endowment for
Democracy, established as a CIA adjunct during Ronald Reagan’s first
term. The Endowment collaborated with US administrations to undermine
democratically elected governments in Nicaragua in the 1980s and the
current Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez.
Also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, Kean co-chaired the
Homeland Security Project of the Century Foundation, which led to the
creation of the Office of Homeland Security.
Other Republicans include:
Fred Fielding, legal counsel to president Reagan, now handles legal work
for Bush fundraisers and also represents Spirit and United Airlines.
Slade Gorton, senator from Washington for 18 years until he was defeated
in the 2002 election, represents Delta Airlines.
Jim Thompson, former Illinois governor, represents American Airlines.
Democrats:
Lee Hamilton, vice chairman, former Democratic Congressman, served on
the House Intelligence Committee until he retired in 1999. He is an
advisor to Bush’s Homeland Security Department, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld’s National Security Study Group, and the CIA Economic
Intelligence Advisory Council.
Tim Roemer, recently retired Congressman, participated in the
Congressional investigation as a member of the House Select Committee on
Intelligence.
Jamie Gorelick, Bill Clinton’s deputy attorney general, is currently a
director of Schlumberger, Ltd, a large oil service company, and United
Technologies, a major defense contractor and airline engine
manufacturer. She also serves on the CIA’s National Security Advisory
Panel.
Richard Ben-Veniste, former Watergate prosecutor who served as defense
attorney for Bill Clinton and attorney for Democratic National Committee
Chairman Terry McAuliffe,
Max Cleland, senator from Georgia defeated in the 2002 election,
represents airline clients.
Last November, Bush’s named Henry Kissinger as the panel’s chairman.
Kissinger, who helped mastermind secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos in
1969 and the CIA-supported overthrow of the Allende government of Chile
in 1973, resigned from the commission after two weeks, refusing to
identify his consulting firm’s clients.
The Commission begins hearings nearly a year and a half after the
9/11attacks with a budget far less than the projected budget of NASA’s
investigation into the Columbia space shuttle disaster, which killed
seven people or the $50 million government investigation of Clinton’s
financial and sexual exploits.
The law requires the commission issue its report by May 2004.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECTING THE DOTS.. . . . . .Insights from the Inbox……
In no particular order…
The SF Chronicle ran an Open Forum titled Hero Worship with pictures of
Bruce Willis, star of “Tears of the Sun,” and a real life soldier. The
caption: “Hollywood movies such as ‘Tears of the Sun’ encourage us to
idolize violent heroes. Such hero worship takes on added significance in
times of war, as we are called on to identify with the U.S. soldier in
Iraq (pictured) as the embodiment of our national values.”
The audience drowned out the final line of Michael Moore’s acceptance
speech at the Academy Awards: Moore, who claimed microphones were
strategically placed next to the half dozen nay sayers, concluded: When
both the Pope and the Dixie Chicks are against you, Mr. Bush, you know
your time is up…..
According to the Washington Post, 9.5 hours passed between the supposed
CIA report about Saddam Hussein’s whereabouts and the explosion that
launched the U.S. invasion of Iraq aimed at those “whereabouts.” . . .
Ralph Nader told the San Jose Mercury News that the U.S. invasion of
Iraq developed from “a messianic militaristic determination turned by a
closed mind, facilitated by a cowering Congress and opposition Democrat
Party and undeterred by a ‘probing’ press.” In case the interviewer
missed the message, Nader added that Bush is acting “in effect, as a
selected dictator.”…..
Facing dismal resistance to its performance at the United Nations, the
U.S. needed a win somewhere. Miraculously, with the aid of Pakistan,
Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, who the U.S. claims is the third ranking
al-Qaeda mastermind, was arrested in Pakistan and handed over to U.S.
authorities. The problem with this story: Asia Times last year reported
Khalid was killed in Karachi a bloody shootout with Pakistani security
forces coincidentally on September 11, 2002. . . .Saturday Night Live
depicted the resurrected Khalid threatening to sue the Pentagon for
releasing a picture of him resembling a mud wrestler.
Seen everywhere these days is the Project for the New American Century’s
report drawn up by U.S. hawks now known as neo-cons and Israel. The
report is touted as the blueprint to remake the Middle East in the
West’s image and replace Arab governments with designated Western
rulers. This ostensibly will make life safer for Israelis while giving
the U.S. and U.S.-based corporations strategic and economic advantages.
Already, one oil pipeline is being redirected through Israel.
. . . However, PD believes the U.S. will sell Israel down the Euphrates
for a barrel of oil. Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world – a
result PD believes fundamentalists in the U.S. secretly foster and
relish.. . . In a recent memo, Rabbis for Human Rights, alluding to what
could be called karma, urged Israel to (re)consider its aggressive acts.
.. . And now, along with Halliburton and Bechtel, who will profit from
the U.S. devastation of Iraq? Toting Bibles, Christian fundamentalists
led by Rev. Franklin Graham are making their way to Iraq. Graham’s
father, Rev. Billy Graham, helped G.W. Bush find Jesus. The same Graham
was heard on White House tapes uttering anti-Semitic remarks to Richard
Nixon . . . Maybe a half a barrel of oil.
Another item making the rounds is a “knock-knock” joke loaded with
devastating truthfulness: Three men are sittin' on a bench. One's a
Texan wearing a Stetson, one's a Muslim wearing a turban, and the last
an Apache with an eagle feather woven in his hair.
The Indian is glum and says "Once my people were many, but now we are
few."
The Muslim puffs up and says "Once my people were few, but now we are
many millions."
The Texan adjusts his hat, finishes rolling a smoke, leans back in his
chair and drawls, "That's cause we ain't played cowboys and Muslims
yet.. . . .
For those who have fallen for the “democracy in the Middle East”
rationale for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, take a look at reports from
Afghanistan. “Afghans recall U.S. promises/But vows to rebuild nation
are called empty as Taliban rampage” is the headline of an AP story in
the April 8 SF Chronicle. According to the article, “At a time when the
U.S. is promising a reconstructed democratic postwar Iraq, many Afghans
are remembering hearing similar promises not long ago. Instead, what
they see is thieving, warlords, murder on the roads, and a resurgence”
of Taliban violence. On the other hand, that oil pipeline crossing
Afghanistan that was scuttled prior to 9/11 is back in business. Watch
what this administration does – not what it says.
Another “we’ve seen that before” event: the staged scene of U.S.
soldiers with some local stand-ins pulling down Saddam’s statue. Foreign
news services report that the “locals” were actually bused in recruits
friendly to the Iraqi Congress. The scene reminded PD of the mobs
outside the county courthouse in Florida during the 2000 recount
–screaming hoards shipped in from Republican Congressional offices….
PD wonders the possible intentional deaths at the hands of U.S. troops
of journalists from Abu Dhabi TV and Al-Jazeera, and at the Palestine
Hotel in Bagdad from Reuters and TeleCinco television. PD wonders if
their senseless loss will further quash U.S. journalists afraid of
losing their jobs for asking government flaks a few tough questions or
whether they will at last rise up and seize the privilege of their
public trust and redeem their colleagues’ deaths.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright © 2003 Joyce Lynn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JOYCE LYNN is a journalist including eight years as a political reporter
in Washington, D.C. After she moved to San Francisco, she turned from
writing about the politics of social welfare issues to matters of the
mind. She initiated the POLITICAL DIARY in the aftermath of the 2000
election when dreams predicted with 100% accuracy its outcome and told
the story behind the story.
POLITICAL DIARY is archived at
www.topica.com/lists/politicaldiary.
Go to Read this List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Online and onsite, Joyce teaches INNER JOURNALISM: Using Dreams to
Report the Truth. This training is for journalists, activists, artists,
and others interested in personal and social change. For information,
contact Joyce at politicaldiary3 at hotmail dot com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To make an in-kind or cash contribution to continue and expand the work
of POLITICAL DIARY, contact Joyce at politicaldiary3 at hotmail dot com
or P.O. Box 682, Mill Valley, California 94942.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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