Pre-9/11 Administration Incompetency
- 9/11 Panel Not Told That Tenet Warned Rice in July
Members of the Sept. 11 commission said ... that they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a White House meeting in July 2001 [two months before the September 11 attacks] at which George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, about an imminent al Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action.
- Tenet Warned Congress in February 2001 About al-Qaeda
In February 2001, seven months before 9/11, George Tenet, then the director of the CIA, testified before Congress and told lawmakers that the single greatest threat to the United States was Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, according to a little known copy of Tenet's Congressional testimony.
During his report to Congress, Tenet eerily described a scenario that seven months later would become a grim reality.
- Condi Rice, 9/11 and Another Nest of Lies
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have committed perjury in her testimony before the 9/11 Commission in May of 2004. At a minimum, her testimony was a convenient mishmash of half-truths and omissions which served to paint the White House as innocent bystanders as the attacks of 9/11 unfolded. Certainly, her testimony omitted the fact that the two most senior intelligence officials in the nation delivered a stern warning regarding an impending terror attack two full months before 9/11.
Sunday's edition of the Washington Post carried a story titled "Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice." The story described a desperate attempt by CIA chief George Tenet and CIA counterterrorism chief J. Cofer Black to draw Rice's attention to the looming threat of an al-Qaeda strike against the United States. Tenet and Black insisted on a meeting with Rice on July 10, 2001. This meeting was first reported by Bob Woodward in his new book, "State of Denial."
- Rumsfeld, Ashcroft received warning of al Qaida attack before 9/11
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former attorney general John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaeda strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the attacks of September 11, 2001.
KIss Your Rights & Freedoms Goodbye
- Fatal Vision: The Deeper Evil Behind the Detainee Bill
Chris Floyd writes: "It was a dark hour indeed on Thursday when the United States Senate voted to end the constitutional republic and transform the country into a 'Leader-State,' giving the president and his agents the power to capture, torture and imprison forever anyone - American citizens included - whom they arbitrarily decide is an 'enemy combatant.' This also includes those who merely give 'terrorism' some kind of 'support,' defined so vaguely that many experts say it could encompass legal advice, innocent gifts to charities or even political opposition to US government policy within its draconian strictures."
- The Death of the First American Republic
"Bush has signed into a law a bill that guts the right of habeas corpus, legalizes the use of secret and coerced evidence, 'clarifies' the Geneva Conventions to allow torture on his command, prevents future war crimes prosecutions, and arrogates to himself the right to declare anyone - including American citizens - enemy combatants, who can be dragged from their families, thrown in any prison he chooses, anywhere on earth, for however long he chooses," writes Mark A. LeVine.
- Journalist Jailed for Refusing to Turn Over Protest Footage
Sarah Olson writes: "24-year-old independent journalist Josh Wolf has gone to prison protecting press freedom. At a time when the mainstream press is increasingly cowed into silence or submission by the Bush administration, and when a member of the Associated Press Board of Directors also sits on the board of Lockheed Martin, standing up for integrity in journalism is a lot for one 24-year-old to take on."
- American Fascism Is on the Rise
The precursors of fascism -- militarization of culture, vigilantism, masculine fear of female power, xenophobia and economic destabilization -- are ascendant in America today.
- One Less Eye on Gender Inequality
"The Bush administration guts another set of laws and policies that protect workplace equity for women."
- Military Fails Another Victim of Sexual Violence
Three years after the public and Congress demanded reform, sexual assaults remain a persistent fact of life in the military.
- U.S. Corporations Work to Prevent Chinese Workers' Rights
Corporations like Wal-Mart and Nike aren't just lobbying Washington against worker's rights, they're lobbying Beijing too.
Waging Illegal War
- Cheney's Statements on Justification of War Must Be Challenged
In a letter to Congress, signatories write: "Vice President Dick Cheney stated with little ambiguity that we would have invaded Iraq in 2003 even if we knew that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction. This statement by our nation's vice president repudiates the legal and moral principle of non-aggression that has been accepted by the international community and has won the United States international trust and respect. This repudiation must not go unnoticed or unchallenged by Congress and the American people."
- Last Man In Jail From 9/11 Sweeps Still Uncharged
Ali Partovi sits in a jail cell at an immigration detention center in Arizona. He is not charged with a crime, not suspected of a crime, not considered a danger to society. But he has been in custody for five years. According to the Department of Homeland Security, he is the last to be held of about 1,200 Arab and Muslim men swept up by authorities in the United States after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
- Marine Corps Issues Gag Order in Detainee Abuse Case
The US Marine Corps has threatened to punish two members of the military legal team representing a terrorism suspect being held at Guantanamo Bay if they continue to speak publicly about reported prisoner abuse, a civilian lawyer from the defense team said Saturday.
- War on Iraq: Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil
"Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as 'the prize.'"
- Bush thinking of 'replacing' Iraqi government? [VIDEO]
"A whole new definition of Democracy."
Iraq Fiasco
- Republican Commission: Iraq War is Over
We Lost
- The Ground Truth: "Cinematic Call to Arms"
"'The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends' takes an unflinching look at the training and dehumanization of US soldiers, and how they struggle to come to terms with it when they come back home. This film overrides familiar images of heroic soldiers in battle and their overjoyed returning faces as they reunite with their families with one effortless stroke. Instead, we see a scenario that includes illness, amputation and injury, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which Iraq has become a fertile breeding ground. While America's poor treatment of veterans is not news to most, 'The Ground Truth' makes it so personal and real, it is impossible to dismiss its characters simply as war statistics."
Miscellaneous Musts
- Marc Ash Interviews Bill Moyers Part I, II & III
"Recently I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Bill Moyers about his surprising October documentaries, the state of American journalism, and what we can all do to make a difference. Interesting stuff. "Capitol Crimes," part one of the series 'Moyers on America,' follows the Abramoff money trail. If you want to know how Abramoff did it, what part DeLay played, who's getting hurt and who profited - make sure you're sitting down, and watch 'Capitol Crimes'.... This documentary is sobering. Parts two and three of my interview ... examine the second and third broadcasts in the series, 'Is God Green?' ... and 'The Net at Risk.' - Marc Ash
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