posted by profmarcus at
1/19/2008
What began as a minor scandal without fanfare in April of 2006 with the bust of an American-registered DC-9 airliner carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula gathered momentum when a Gulfstream business jet flying out of the same airport was busted in the Yucatan 18 months later carrying 4 tons of cocaine.
The level of citizen outrage increased with the crash-landing of the second American plane. With the news that the number of American planes sold to Mexican drug traffickers was not just one or two planes—but 50—the scandal is now threatening to mushroom into something much larger.
[...]
When a bank robber steals a few thousand dollars before holing up with a hostage, does the FBI take more than eighteen months before divulging the name of the suspect?
Certain cases involving politically-connected Americans suspected of involvement in drug smuggling, through ownership of drug smuggling aircraft, seem to be being treated, not as crimes, but as urgent matters of national security.
Labels: CIA, drug trafficking, drugs, FBI, MadcowMorningNews
Submit To Propeller
posted by profmarcus at
1/19/2008
THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.
The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network.
Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.
She says the FBI was investigating a Turkish and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file.
Edmonds believes the crucial file is being deliberately covered up by the FBI because its contents are explosive. She accuses the agency of an “outright lie”.
“I can tell you that that file and the operations it refers to did exist from 1996 to February 2002. The file refers to the counterintelligence programme that the Department of Justice has declared to be a state secret to protect sensitive diplomatic relations,” she said.
The freedom of information request had not been initiated by Edmonds. It was made quite separately by an American human rights group called the Liberty Coalition, acting on a tip-off it received from an anonymous correspondent.
The letter says: “You may wish to request pertinent audio tapes and documents under FOIA from the Department of Justice, FBI-HQ and the FBI Washington field office.”
It then makes a series of allegations about the contents of the file – many of which corroborate the information that Edmonds later made public.
Labels: cover-up, FBI, Freedom of Information Act, Israel, London Sunday Times, Luke Ryland, nuclear weapons, Sibel Edmonds, Turkey
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/19/2008
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Sen. Barack Obama in the Nevada Democratic caucuses today, while former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney prevailed earlier in the Nevada Republican caucuses.
With nearly 70 percent of the vote counted, Clinton led with 51 percent to 45 percent for Obama (Ill.). Former senator John Edwards trailed far behind with five percent.
Labels: 2008 candidates, 2008 Election, caucuses, Nevada
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/19/2008
In a rare public warning to the power and utility industry, a CIA analyst this week said cyber attackers have hacked into the computer systems of utility companies outside the United States and made demands, in at least one case causing a power outage that affected multiple cities.
"We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet," Tom Donahue, the CIA's top cybersecurity analyst, said Wednesday at a trade conference in New Orleans.
Donahue's comments were "designed to highlight to the audience the challenges posed by potential cyber intrusions," CIA spokesman George Little said. The audience was made up of 300 U.S. and international security officials from the government and from electric, water, oil and gas companies, including BP, Chevron and the Southern Co.
"We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of the attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge," Donahue said. He did not specify where or when the attacks took place, their duration or the amount of money demanded. Little said the agency would not comment further.
The remarks come as cyber attackers have made increasingly sophisticated intrusions into corporate computer systems, costing companies worldwide more than $20 billion each year, according to some estimates.
Cyber extortion is a growing threat in the United States, and attackers have radically increased their take from online gambling sites, e-commerce sites and banks, which pay the money to prevent sites from being shut down and to keep the public from knowing their sites have been penetrated, said Alan Paller, research director at the SANS Institute, the cybersecurity education group that sponsored the meeting.
Labels: CIA, Civil liberties, cyber extortion, cybercrime, cyberspace spying, internet surveillance, privacy
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/19/2008
With nearly 11 million hits, it is one of YouTube's most watched videos: 1,500 orange-suited inmates, plus one pony-tailed prisoner in mules and a halter-top, in a Filipino prison doing a perfectly choreographed version of the dance sequence of Michael Jackson's Thriller video.
The video of the dancing inmates at Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Centre was uploaded to YouTube in July by Byron Garcia, a security consultant for the Cebu provincial government and the brother of the province's governor, Gwendolyn Garcia.
Michael Jackson's role is played by Crisanto Niere, with Wenjiel Resane playing "the girl" ; both are on drug-trafficking charges. Most of the inmates in the video are on remand awaiting trial for alleged crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking.
The inmates carefully emulate every move from the Michael Jackson hit, their shoulders jerking zombie-style, heads swaying in time, clapping and swirling in a truly awesome display. One that needed a bigger audience, Mr Garcia reckoned.
The next step was to see if the prisoners would be allowed to perform at Sinulog, a popular street-music festival scheduled in Cebu next Sunday, saying it would add "something new to the traditional Sinulog presentation".
But Cebu city's mayor, Tomas Osmena, remains unmoved by the funky zombie dancing of the inmates. "I will not allow it even if Michael Jackson joins them," Mr Osmena told the Philippine News Agency. "In jail, the inmates can dance all they want."
The nine-day fiesta is organised by the Catholic Augustinian order to honour the infant Jesus with a solemn religious procession followed by a raucous street-party. It also includes a beauty pageant and a trade fair.
Labels: Cebu, Michael Jackson, Philippines, Prison labor
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/18/2008
Wall Street resumed its downward trek Friday as skittish investors, unable to hold on to much optimism about the economy, drew little comfort from President Bush's stimulus plan.
Investors had already pulled back from a big early gain, with the major indexes trading mixed as Bush began to speak. By the time the president finished announcing a plan for about $145 billion worth of tax relief, the indexes were well into negative territory.
"It's disappointed in the size of the economic growth package. Wall Street's showing its displeasure," said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. "Honestly, I think the institutional investors understand the limits to the government's ability to enact economic change."
Labels: currency crisis, economic stimulus plan, economy, financial markets, financial meltdown, George Bush, taxes, Wall Street
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/18/2008
Mexico. Brazil. Argentina. Mexico, again. Thailand. Indonesia. Argentina, again.
And now, the United States.
The story has played itself out time and time again over the past 30 years. Global investors, disappointed with the returns they’re getting, search for alternatives. They think they’ve found what they’re looking for in some country or other, and money rushes in.
But eventually it becomes clear that the investment opportunity wasn’t all it seemed to be, and the money rushes out again, with nasty consequences for the former financial favorite. That’s the story of multiple financial crises in Latin America and Asia. And it’s also the story of the U.S. combined housing and credit bubble. These days, we’re playing the role usually assigned to third-world economies.
Labels: economy, financial markets, financial meltdown, Paul Krugman, third world
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/18/2008
Sibel has previously said that from her experience:"The Department of State is easily the most corrupted of the major government agencies."
[G]uilty people are allowed to walk free, and Western governments go to great lengths to cover up the facts.
[T]he Guardian last Friday noted:National security is being invoked not to protect us but to shield politicians from embarrassment
[...]
There are genuine threats to national security and to our public and personal safety. It is a dangerous abuse if a government hoists the flag of national security and deploys the Official Secrets Act when all it is really trying to do is protect itself from embarrassment.
In the US, we've recently seen the State Secrets card played to cover up illegal spying, torture, and any number of other crimes - including complicity in the spread of nuclear weapons to our purported enemies.
Enough is enough.
Labels: Luke Ryland, national security, nuclear weapons, Sibel Edmonds, State Department, state secrets privilege
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/18/2008
Labels: George Bush, George Casey, Iraq, Karl Rove, Keith Olbermann, military, MSNBC, Veterans
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/18/2008
[Canada] has put the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on a watch list for torture.
[...]
The list includes Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. But surprisingly, it also included the United States, Guantánamo, and Israel.
It notes specific "U.S. interrogation techniques," which include "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation." The U.S. has repeatedly denied allegations by international groups that it tortures prisoners captured in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. However, U.S. officials have refused to comment on the Canadian list.
But international observers say they are heartened by the specificity of the Canadian list. Alex Neve of Amnesty International says he is surprised that Canada would risk offending allies by naming countries that potentially torture prisoners.
"These are countries where, sadly, the record is clear -- torture and ill treatment happens," said Neve.
But it appears that Ottawa may have had second thoughts about being so explicit. After the documents were released as evidence in a court case relating to Afghan detainees, the government tried to get them back. Sources say that Ottawa apparently wanted to black out sensitive parts that may anger allies.
Labels: Afghanistan, Amnesty International, Canada, enhanced interrogation techniques, Guantánamo, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, torture
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/17/2008
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 306.95 points Thursday as investors confronted new chapters of a well-worn story: the economy is in trouble.Submit To Propeller
posted by profmarcus at
1/17/2008
Labels: And yes I DO take it personally, Blog Talk Radio, Brother Tim
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/17/2008
Dangerous ideas
Kucinich got a chance to participate in some debates, but overall the US news media has iced him out.
Little or no coverage, not-so-subtle ridicule, exclusion from many of the televised debates.
Why?
Just listen to what he has to say:
* He voted against the Patriot Act,
* He's pro-union
* He's against "new world order" trade agreements like NAFTA
* He's against military intervention overseas and
* He is pushing for Bush's IMMEDIATE impeachment.
In other words, he's someone who represents the citizens of the US, not its corporations and criminal/government class.
(Note: I'm not endorsing or not endorsing Kucinich. This was the best Kucinich video I found and it happened to have campaign information in the footer.)
Labels: censorship, debates, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, media
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/17/2008
Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.
The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.
Labels: Civil liberties, Microsoft, surveillance
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/16/2008
In the history of our nation, we have never encountered a moment where the actions of a President or a Vice President have more strongly demanded the use of the power of impeachment.
posted by profmarcus at
1/16/2008
How the Pentagon planted a false story
By Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON - Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the January 6 US-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.
The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs in charge of media operations, Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the navy itself.
[...]
Just two weeks earlier, on December 19, the USS Whidbey Island, an amphibious warship, had fired warning shots after a small Iranian boat allegedly approached it at high speed. That incident had gone without public notice.
With the reports from Fifth Fleet commander Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff in hand early that morning, top Pentagon officials had all day Sunday, January 6, to discuss what to do about the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz. The result was a decision to play it up as a major incident.
The decision came just as President George W Bush was about to leave on a Middle East trip aimed in part at rallying Arab states to join the United States in an anti-Iran coalition.
That decision in Washington was followed by a news release by the commander of the Fifth Fleet on the incident at about 4am Washington time on January 7. It was the first time the Fifth Fleet had issued a news release on an incident with small Iranian boats.
The release reported that the Iranian "small boats" had "maneuvered aggressively in close proximity of [sic] the Hopper [the lead ship of the three-ship convoy]." But it did not suggest that the Iranian boats had threatened the boats or that it had nearly resulted in firing on the Iranian boats.
On the contrary, the release made the US warships handling of the incident sound almost routine. "Following standard procedures," the release said, "Hopper issued warnings, attempted to establish communications with the small boats and conducted evasive maneuvering."
The release did not refer to a US ship being close to firing on the Iranian boats, or to a call threatening that US ships would "explode in a few minutes", as later stories would report, or to the dropping of objects into the path of a US ship as a potential danger.
That press release was ignored by the news media, however, because later that Monday morning, the Pentagon provided correspondents with a very different account of the episode.
At 9am, Barbara Starr of CNN reported that "military officials" had told her that the Iranian boats had not only carried out "threatening maneuvers", but had transmitted a message by radio that "I am coming at you" and "you will explode". She reported the dramatic news that the commander of one boat was "in the process of giving the order to shoot when they moved away".
CBS News broadcast a similar story, adding the detail that the Iranian boats "dropped boxes that could have been filled with explosives into the water". Other news outlets carried almost identical accounts of the incident.
The source of this spate of stories can now be identified as Bryan Whitman, the top Pentagon official in charge of media relations, who gave a press briefing for Pentagon correspondents that morning. Although Whitman did offer a few remarks on the record, most of the Whitman briefing was off the record, meaning that he could not be cited as the source.
Labels: Asia Times, fabricated incident, Fifth Fleet, Gareth Porter, George Bush, Iran, Iran war planning, Kevin Cosgriff, Pentagon, Presidential resignation, WWIII
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/16/2008
The White House has acknowledged recycling its backup computer tapes of e-mail before October 2003, raising the possibility that many electronic messages — including those pertaining to the CIA leak case — have been taped over and are gone forever.
The disclosure came minutes before midnight Tuesday under a court-ordered deadline that forced the White House to reveal information it has previously refused to provide.
Among the e-mails that could be lost are messages swapped by any White House officials involved in discussions about leaking a CIA officer's identity to reporters.
Before October 2003, the White House recycled its backup tapes "consistent with industry best practices," according to a sworn statement by a White House aide.
Backup tapes are the last line of defense for saving electronic records.
Separately, the statement reveals the extent to which the White House is apparently unable to answer how many e-mails are missing from White House servers.
The White House "does not know if any e-mails were not properly preserved in the archiving process," said the statement by Theresa Payton, chief information officer for the White House Office of Administration. "We are continuing our efforts," said Payton, whose staff is responsible for the White House e-mail system.
If the e-mails were not saved, the White House might have violated two laws requiring preservation of documents that fall into the categories of federal records or presidential records.
Labels: accountability, CIA, covert agent, Dick Cheney, emails, George Bush, Presidential resignation, rule of law, U.S. Constitution, Valerie Plame, White House
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/16/2008
Labels: 2008 candidates, 2008 Election, Michael Bloomberg
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/15/2008
Hal Turner is one serious extremist. He may also be on the FBI payroll.
On Jan. 1, unidentified hackers electronically confronted Turner in the forum of his website for “The Hal Turner Show.” After a heated exchange, they told Turner that they had successfully hacked into his server and found correspondence with an FBI agent who is apparently Turner’s handler. Then they posted an alleged July 7 E-mail to the agent in which Turner hands over a message from someone who sent in a death threat against Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.). “Once again,” Turner writes to his handler, “my fierce rhetoric has served to flush out a possible crazy.” In what is allegedly a portion of another E-mail, Turner discusses the money he is paid.
On Thursday, as the E-mail exchange was heatedly discussed on a major neo-Nazi website, Turner suddenly announced he was quitting political work. “I hereby separate from the ‘pro-White’ movement,” he said, adding that he was ending his radio show immediately. “I will no longer involve myself in any aspect of it.”
The FBI declined comment. “Longstanding FBI policy prohibits disclosing who may or may not provide information,” Agent Richard Kolko of the agency’s press unit said. Reached in New Jersey, Turner also declined all comment.
We have to use our critical capacities and understand the system in which we live. The system is controlled by powerful forces that act through corporations, government, intelligence agencies, police forces and the courts, the education system, and on and on. Why would they leave alone alternative news sources, sources that could potentially work to unite normal people against the pathocrats?
They would never leave such channels free. On the contrary, they would spend large sums of money to control them to ensure that the only news that people receive keeps them within the bounds that are permissible in the pathocracy. Opposition must be controlled. People need to have the appearance of free speech and of a certain choice in where they get their information. That is just part of the capitalist marketplace that promotes the illusion that it is your choice in what you consume that makes you free. News and information are no different. But that means that even news and information that appears to be oppositional must really be held within certain acceptable boundaries.
That is why critical thought and analysis are so important. Nothing can be accepted at face value. Just because someone claims that they are in opposition doesn't mean that he or she really is. If they are not exposed, they become Pied Pipers leading their followers deeper and deeper into the swamp. Anger at current policies and injustices can be used and then spent to fuel pointless and even dangerous responses that accomplish nothing positive and that in fact simply make the situation worse and feed into the long-term plans of the pathocrats.
Labels: David Neiwert, disinformation, FBI, Hal Turner, Orcinus, Russ Feingold, Signs of the Times, Southern Poverty Law Center
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/15/2008
Labels: endless war, Iraq, Iraq insurgents, John Bruhns, violence
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/15/2008
Wholesale inflation shot up in 2007 by the largest amount in 26 years even though falling gasoline costs allowed price pressures to moderate in December.
The Labor Department reported that wholesale inflation was up 6.3 percent for all of 2007, reflecting a huge increase for the year in various types of energy costs ranging from gasoline to home heating oil.
The year ended on a more positive note, with wholesale prices falling by 0.1 percent in December. That reflected decreasing costs at the time for gasoline and other energy products. It was a significant slowdown after prices had soared by 3.2 percent in November, which had been the biggest one-month increase in 34 years.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell by 0.4 percent in December. It was a worse-than-expected decline and increased worries that the country could topple into a recession.
Labels: Argentina, inflation, Iran, Mexico, oil prices, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, United States, Venezuela
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/15/2008
Labels: endless war, Iraq
Submit To Propellerposted by jburke6000 at
1/14/2008
A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in Tuesday's candidates' debate in Nevada.
Senior Clark County District Court Judge Charles Thompson said if Kucinich is excluded, he'll issue an injunction stopping the televised debate.
The judge sided with a lawyer for the Ohio congressman, who says debate host MSNBC at first invited Kucinich to take part and then told him last week he couldn't.
Labels: 2008 candidates, 2008 Election, debates, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, MSNBC, Nevada
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/14/2008
“Lockheed Martin continues to focus on providing our Warfighters with new and innovative technologies that will make their jobs easier,” said Lionel Liebman, manager of Program Development – Applied Research at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
Labels: Cryptogon, endless war, Lockheed, power of words, warfighters, warriors
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/14/2008
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.
Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “will be a walk in the park compared to this,” McConnell said. “this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.”
The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site [PDF].
McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity.
"Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the autority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search," author Lawrence Wright pens.
“Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation, he said," Wright adds. "Giorgio warned me, 'We have a saying in this business: ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'"
A zero-sum game is one in which gains by one side come at the expense of the other. In other words -- McConnell's aide believes greater security can only come at privacy's expense.
[...]
The infrastructure to tap into Americans' email and web search history may already be in place.
In November, a former technician at AT&T alleged that the telecom forwarded virtually all of its Internet traffic into a "secret room" to facilitate government spying.
Whistleblower Mark Klein said that a copy of all Internet traffic passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's San Francisco office -- to which only employees with National Security Agency clearance had access -- via a cable splitting device.
Labels: ATT, cyberspace spying, DNI, FISA, George Bush, internet, Mark Klein, Mike McConnell, NSA, Police State, warrantless domestic wiretapping
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/14/2008
Behind the scenes from Propaganda USA Inc.
Footage you weren't supposed to see.
Politicians at work. Mama Bush pimping for George Sr.
Plus a Bill Clinton bonus.
Beneath a bone-chilling fog, former President Clinton wandered the muddy streets of Fernley on Sunday afternoon, surveying the damage from the Jan. 5 levee break.
It was a brief stop on the road between campaign rallies for his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton. But his mood reflected the grimness of the disaster scene before him.
With a stiff jaw, he scraped the muck from his boots before walking into the ruined home of Susan Camp.
"Sir, you don't have to wipe your feet," her son, Brad, said as the former president stood in the doorway.
"Of course I do," Clinton answered.
[...]
"I wanted to see the damage and express my support," Clinton said. "Disaster management response is one of the most important things a government can do. If you do it well, people feel that they are a part of our country--wherever they live, whatever the politics are, whatever the income is.
"And if you don't, people feel profoundly let down."
Labels: Barbara Bush, Bill Clinton, caucuses, disaster response, Fernley, George Bush, George H.W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Nevada
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/14/2008
Labels: 2008 Election, caucuses, Iowa, New Hampshire, primaries, Salon, Tom Tomorrow
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/14/2008
Asked why he thinks Guantánamo, Bay, commonly dubbed Gitmo, should be closed, and the prisoners perhaps moved to U.S. soil, [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen] said, "More than anything else it's been the image — how Gitmo has become around the world, in terms of representing the United States."
Critics have charged that detainees have been mistreated in some cases and that the legal conditions of their detentions are not consistent with the rule of law.
"I believe that from the standpoint of how it reflects on us that it's been pretty damaging," Mullen said, speaking in a small boat that ferried him to and from the detention facilities across a glistening bay.
Labels: Geneva Convention, Guantánamo, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, torture, U.N. Convention against Torture
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/13/2008
Labels: 2008 Election, Berkeley Breathed, debates, Opus, Salon
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/13/2008
President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."
Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.
"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact — an accord he said whose "time has come."
Chiding U.S. allies who have withheld civil liberties, Bush said governments will never build trust by harassing or imprisoning candidates and protesters. But his rebuke was general, and he did not single out any U.S. partner in the region for oppressive practices.
"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government," Bush said. "And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."
“He told the Israelis that he can’t control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE’s] conclusions don’t reflect his own views” about Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity.
Labels: Abu Dhabi, Civil liberties, George Bush, Iran, Iran war planning, irony, state-sponsored terrorism, Taliban, war-mongering
Submit To Propellerposted by profmarcus at
1/13/2008
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