Belafonte: Bush administration backs Gestapo tactics 21 Jan 2006 Entertainer Harry Belafonte, one of the Bush regime’s harshest critics, compared the national Homeland Security department to the Gestapo and attacked the president as a liar during a fiery Saturday speech. “We’ve come to this dark time in which the Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended,” Belafonte told thousands of people at the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference.
Belafonte Says Bush Misleads —Singer Laments Erosion of Rights 22 Jan 2006 Entertainer Harry Belafonte, one of the Bush administration’s harshest critics, compared the Homeland Security Department to the Nazi Gestapo on Saturday and attacked the pResident as a liar.
Pentagon spies on Halliburton protesters handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 30 Jan 2006 Newsweek, summary of article by Michael Isikoff –To U.S. Army analysts at the top-secret Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), the peanut-butter protest* was regarded as a potential threat to national security. Created three years ago by the Defense Department, CIFA’s role is “force protection”—tracking threats and terrorist plots against military installations and personnel inside the United States… A Defense document shows that Army analysts wrote a report on the Halliburton protest and stored it in CIFA’s database. [*In June 2004, a group of about 10 peace activists showed up outside the Houston headquarters of Halliburton… The demonstrators wore papier-mache masks and handed out free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to Halliburton employees as they left work.]
“I hope the administration ceases and desists, at least out of respect for their own liability.” Future charges possible, Dems warn White House –Statute of limitations extends past 2008, congressman says 21 Jan 2006 House Democrats warned Dictator Bush, top leaders of his administration and officials of the National Security Agency on Friday that if the political climate changes they could face criminal prosecution for ordering and carrying out warrantless domestic eavesdropping. “These are clearly crimes and the statute of limitations extends beyond this president’s term,” which will end in January 2009, said Rep. Jerry Nadler D-N.Y., at an ad hoc hearing called by House Judiciary Committee’s Democrats to assail Bush’s contention that his order for warrantless domestic wiretaps on American citizens is legal. Another member, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, said, “I hope the administration ceases and desists, at least out of respect for their own liability.”
Kennedy resolution demands Bush wiretap probe 21 Jan 2006 Sen. Edward Kennedy assailed pResident Bush yesterday for conducting unauthorized eavesdropping on Americans and introduced a resolution that seeks to undermine Bush’s legal reasoning for the program.
ACLU to protest monitoring 21 Jan 2006 The Cleveland office of the American Civil Liberties Union plans to hold a news conference Tuesday to draw attention to reported monitoring of two local anti-war groups, a local activist said Friday.
CIA runs detention center in Afghanistan: newspaper 22 Jan 2006 The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been running a detention center near the Afghan capital of Kabul, an Afghan newspaper reported Sunday.
Human rights group criticizes Bush policy on Guantanamo 22 Jan 2006 A US human rights organization that has been seeking to secure the release of detainees held by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba on Saturday accused the Bush administration of using propaganda to mask the deteriorating situation there.
Westminster misled over CIA torture flights 22 Jan 2006 Pressure over the use of British airports for secret CIA torture flights increased dramatically yesterday after it emerged that a Foreign Office minister misled Parliament over a meeting between the UN and UK civil servants about the issue.
MPs accuse Straw over ‘rendition’ 22 Jan 2006 The Foreign Secretary has been formally challenged by a parliamentary committee to explain why he twice gave them misleading answers during inquiries over the secret transport of terrorism suspects around Europe.
Straw in rendition flight denial 20 Jan 2006 There are no cases of US ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights involving the UK which the Government hasn’t been told about, Jack Straw says. He rushed out a written statement -after a memo from the Foreign Office to 10 Downing Street was leaked.
Italy wants CIA agents questioned over Milan kidnap 22 Jan 2006 Italy has asked the United States to assist its prosecutors investigating 22 CIA agents accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Milan, officials said on Sunday.
US army officer convicted for former Iraqi general’s death 22 Jan 2006 A low-ranking U.S. army officer was found guilty of negligent homicide, but not guilty on the more serious charge of murder of an Iraqi general during an interrogation in 2003, local media reported on Sunday.
CIA Role a Mystery at Army Court-Martial 22 Jan 2006 After this past week’s testimony, any role the CIA had _ or didn’t have _ in the interrogation of an Iraqi general who died in U.S. custody remains a tantalizing and mysterious backdrop to the court-martial of Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. The CIA is “the ghost at the banquet,” said Eugene R. Fidell, an expert in military law who has been following the court-martial but doesn’t know if the CIA was involved in the case.
Zarqawi ‘sleeps in suicide belt’ [Can we get Bush to do that?] 22 Jan 2006 Iraq’s most ‘wanted man’ [?!? Then why does Halliburton/Blackwater USA keep letting him go, every time he is ‘captured?’] Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, goes to sleep every night wearing a suicide belt packed with explosives, according to a leading ‘insurgent’ who met him two weeks ago.
Osama’s New Threat 19 Jan 2006 (‘NewsHour with Jim Lehrer’ transcript) “MAMOUN FANDY [Senior fellow specializing in Middle East politics at Rice University’s Baker Institute and columnist for the Pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat]: Right, but this particular tape is not terribly inspiring, just looking at the language of it. This is the first tape of bin Laden that has no single verse from the Koran. It does not have the flowery language of Arabic. It seems to me that it is written in English first, and then translated into Arabic. It is very western style of tape. It is not very characteristic of bin Laden, at least it tells me that the non-Arabic speaking within the al-Qaida network are taking over the organization — JIM LEHRER: You mean he didn’t write this is what you are suggesting? MAMOUN FANDY: The Arabic speakers in al-Qaida, the parts that are coming from the Arab world, are losing to the non-Arabic speaker, so it’s really becoming more of a South Asian organization, rather than an Arab organization.”
Iraqi police say US soldiers kill three civilians 22 Jan 2006 Iraqi police accused U.S. soldiers on Sunday of shooting dead at least three civilians after an attack on their patrol, but the U.S. military said the dead men were ‘insurgents.’ [Yeah, right!]
US troops kill 3 Iraqi soldiers north of Baghdad 22 Jan 2006 U.S. troops opened fire at civilian cars Saturday night in Baiji town, some 200 km north of Baghdad, killing three people, who turned out to be U.S.-trained Iraqi army soldiers, a source from the Iraqi-US liaison office in Tikrit told Xinhua on Sunday.
Iraq ‘Insurgent’ Attacks Kill at Least 13 22 Jan 2006 Bomb blasts, shootings and rocket-propelled grenade attacks killed at least 13 people throughout Iraq, including a policeman’s four children, officials said Sunday.
Suicide car bomb kills two US Marines 21 Jan 2006 A suicide car bomber has killed two US Marines in western Iraq, the military said on Saturday.
Iraq says expects US to free women 22 Iraq’s Justice Ministry said on Sunday it still expects U.S. forces to release six Iraqi women prisoners this week, despite U.S. comments to the contrary.
As Elections Near, Officials Challenge Balloting Security —In Controlled Test, Results Are Manipulated in Florida System 22 Jan 2006 Four times over the past year, Leon County supervisor of elections, Ion Sancho told computer specialists to break in to his voting system. And on all four occasions they did, changing results with what the specialists described as relatively unsophisticated hacking techniques. To Sancho, the results showed the vulnerability of voting equipment manufactured by Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems, which is used by Leon County and many other jurisdictions around the country.
Ney shown to have long history of accepting gifts 22 Jan 2006 Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney has a history of close relations with lobbyists and special interests that predate golf partner Jack Abramoff.
Mystery firm linked to US lobbyist scandal 21 Jan 2006 US government investigators probing Washington’s explosive Congressional bribery scandal centered on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff recently visited Hong Kong, according to a witness interviewed by the authorities.
One Houston Station to Air Anti-DeLay Ad 22 Jan 2006 At least one Houston television station that rejected an ad targeting embattled U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said Saturday it would air a toned-down version.
Medicare Drug Program May Harm, Not Help, GOP 21 Jan 2006 Only months ago, congressional Republicans thought the new Medicare prescription drug benefit would help them make political inroads among traditionally Democratic senior citizens. Instead, they are facing a potentially damaging backlash among members of that crucial voting bloc, their families and even conservative activists dismayed over the program’s bungled launch.
Bush’s predatory Capitalism continues to kill US workers: Bodies of Two Coal Miners Found in W.Va. 22 Jan 2006 Rescuers on Saturday found the bodies of two miners who disappeared after a conveyor belt caught fire deep inside a coal mine, bringing to 14 the number of West Virginia miners killed on the job in less than a month.
Group Seeks Souter Eviction As Protest 21 Jan 2006 Angered by a Supreme Court ruling that gave local governments more power to seize people’s homes for economic development, a group of activists is trying to get Supreme Court Justice David Souter evicted from his own home.
‘Blue’ States Tackling Energy On Their Own —Federal Efficiency Rules Fall Short, Some Say 22 Jan 2006 Democratic-leaning states increasingly are regulating energy use and emissions, working around a GOP-controlled federal government that state officials say has not done enough.
Privatised nuclear clean-up ‘will cause accidents’ 22 Jan 2006 Plans to privatise the £56 billion clean-up of Britain’s ageing nuclear sites will cause serious accidents, one of the industry’s most senior figures has warned.
France investigates possible human bird flu case 22 Jan 2006 France is investigating a possible case of bird flu in a woman who recently visited Turkey, the French health ministry has said. https://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html
[21 Jan lead stories:] Bin Laden threats may boost Bush 20 Jan 2006 Bush bin Laden’s first message for more than a year will be a chilling and visceral reminder that he remains at large, waiting to strike again. It may raise awkward questions about why the world’s most advanced military and intelligence services are unable to capture Bin Laden [!?!], believed to be hiding in a rugged area along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Yet the most immediate political effect will probably be a boost in support for pResident George W Bush. The commander-in-chief [thief] has been under intense pressure in recent weeks, accused of trampling on civil liberties in pursuit of terror suspects. His defence has been that America is a nation at war. So Bin Laden’s latest threats to launch new attacks on the US will only serve to underline this argument.
Al Qaeda’ May Already Be in U.S., Security Officials Warn 20 Jan 2006 The nation’s top law enforcement officials warned today that ‘al Qaeda’ may have plotters already inside the United States. “We have to assume that there are persons out there that want to attack us,” said FBI director Robert Mueller. [Yes, and they are located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.]
CIA Confirms Bin Laden’s Voice On New Tape 19 Jan 2006 Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape from ‘Osama bin Laden,’ who says ‘al-Qaida’ is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offers a truce on “fair” but undefined conditions. [Of course the CIA *confirms* the tape- they *made* the tape! Notice there is never available video, just audio – which can be easily synthesized in any CIA lab.]
US rejects ‘Osama bin Laden’s’ truce offer 20 Jan 2006 The White House has flatly rejected a truce offer made on a audiotape that CIA analysts verified as an authentic recording of Osama bin Laden… “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. [If we put terrorists out business, why is Bush bin Halliburton still in operation???]
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CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, General Manager. Copyright © 2006, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.