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CORRUPTION UPDATES 96 July 28, 2007 The CORRUPTION UPDATES posts corruption news stories from California, the Nation and the World, and gives you the straight story. |
CORRUPTION UPDATES 96
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1) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.
FBI director contradicts Gonzales on wiretaps
Friday, July 27, 2007
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/27/MNG6FR7VK01.DTL
(07-27) 04:00 PDT Washington -- FBI Director Robert Mueller contradicted the sworn testimony of his boss, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, on Thursday by telling Congress that a prominent warrantless surveillance program was the subject of a dramatic legal debate within the Bush administration.
Mueller's testimony appears to mark the first public confirmation from a Bush administration official that the National Security Agency's Terrorist Surveillance Program was at issue in an unusual nighttime visit by Gonzales to the hospital bedside of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was under sedation and recovering from surgery.
Mueller's remarks to the House Judiciary Committee about the contentious meeting differed from testimony earlier in the week from Gonzales, who told a Senate panel that a legal disagreement aired at the hospital did not concern the National Security Agency program. Details of the program, kept secret for four years, were confirmed by President Bush in December 2005, provoking widespread controversy on Capitol Hill.
"The discussion was on a national -- an NSA program that has been much discussed, yes," Mueller said in response to a question from Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas.
Mueller told another lawmaker that he had serious reservations about the warrantless wiretaps.
His testimony presents a new problem for Gonzales, whose credibility has come under attack from Democrats and some Republicans who say the beleaguered attorney general deceived them on myriad topics, ranging from the National Security Agency program to events surrounding the firings last year of nine U.S. attorneys.
Complicating the administration's predicament, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., issued subpoenas Thursday to White House adviser Karl Rove and one of his deputies, Scott Jennings, demanding their testimony by Thursday as part of the panel's long-running investigation into the U.S. attorney firings and the alleged politicization of Justice Department career personnel jobs.
Gonzales is under fire in particular for testimony in February 2006 that there had been "no serious disagreement" about the wiretapping program. Since then, Gonzales and his aides have said he was referring only to the monitoring of international communications that had been confirmed by Bush, and not to other, undisclosed "intelligence activities" that attracted controversy within the administration.
"The disagreement that occurred in March 2004 concerned the legal basis for intelligence activities that have not been publicly disclosed and that remain highly classified," Roehrkasse said.
But other officials, including Mueller and several Democratic lawmakers who were briefed on the National Security Agency's activities, have now said the Terrorist Surveillance Program, or a part of it, was at the heart of the dispute.
Mueller declined at the hearing to discuss Gonzales' statements on the topic. "I really can't comment on what Judge Gonzales was thinking or saying," he said. "I can tell you what I understood at the time."
Mueller's testimony is particularly striking in light of his opposition to Gonzales' view of the matter at issue during the 2004 legal dispute. Then-acting Attorney General James Comey sought Mueller's help in ensuring that an FBI security detail did not evict Comey from Ashcroft's hospital room during the joint visit by Gonzales, then White House counsel, and Andrew Card, then the White House chief of staff.
Mueller was not present during the hospital visit but testified Thursday that Ashcroft briefed him on the conversation. He repeatedly said he agreed with Comey's version of events, which included testimony that Mueller, Ashcroft, Comey and others were prepared to quit if the program went ahead without changes to render it legal.
Signaling that Democrats intend to keep pursuing the issue, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., wrote to Mueller after Thursday's hearing requesting notes about the 2004 hospital incident. Mueller testified that he kept records because the episode was "out of the ordinary."
The request by four senators for appointment of a special prosecutor was sent to Solicitor General Paul Clement, who has taken charge of all matters relating to the U.S. attorney firings and related controversies because Gonzales and numerous other aides are recused.
Leahy also raised the possibility this week of asking Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine to open a perjury investigation of Gonzales if the attorney general declines to correct testimony that he considers inaccurate.
Noose of Lies Tightening around Gonzales' Neck
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., July , 2007
We are now getting the outlines of a palace rebellion against Bush's unconstitutional and illegal expansion of NSA programs into the United States.
Apparently Bush authorized some type of Domestic NSA program in early 2002. The confrontation between Ashcroft and Gonzales happened in March of 2004. Prior to this, from early 2002 until March 2004, Ashcroft had been on board with authorizing the initial illegal domestic NSA searching program.
This indicates that Bush presented a new NSA plan for Justice Department approval. Ashcroft's resistance indicated that the new NSA program was significantly expanded from the original NSA program that Ashcroft had previously signed onto.
From the outside, the public became aware of these crimes when the NY Times exposed the NSA program in December of 2005, after withholding the information for about a year. Bush admitted his crimes on the 19th of December, after the Times article was published. This is where the information provided by Mark Klein, a retired ATT technician, becomes very important.
In 2002 Klein observed the NSA establish a room at the San Francisco hub of ATT communications that tapped into all voice and data communications that traveled through the SF ATT hub.
Frontline reported that the NSA set up 15 to 20 domestic sites in ATT hubs across the nation capable of collecting 10 to 15% of all domestic internet traffic. It is likely that other secret rooms were set up in other telecommunication providers hubs as well.
This brings us back to Ashcroft. In March of 2004, Ashcroft refused to sign off on an NSA program, and resigned in November of the same year. This indicates that there were at least two illegal NSA domestic spying programs. The first program consisted of the massive data capture program that Klein observed being installed in 2002, that Ashcroft apparently approved of, and there is the NSA program that Ashcroft refused to sign off on in March 2004.
The massive data collection technology that Klein observed being installed in 2002 had to be part of the program that Ashcroft had approved in 2002. This begs the question of just what type of program Ashcroft rejected, after approving a massive data collection program in 2002?
The answer the President and his men have given is to claim the President has unlimited, unchecked authority to search American's homes, phones, and computers at will. The scope of the President's claims indicate that the combination of NSA programs operating within the United States offers comprehensive surveillance capabilities.
I take the confession the President made, after the NY Times revealed his illegal program, at face value: Bush searches who he wants, when he wants to search them. If Bush wants to search everyone, he does it.
Currently there is no one, in Congress or the Courts who has proved capable of defeating the idea, let alone the exercise, of the unitary powers of our presidential tyrant.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES: LEAVE IT TO THE TIMES TO LIPSTICK THESE PIGS"
Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on the page, "PRESIDENT TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION: CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND ABOVE THE LAW"
Corruption Update 34, Jan., 31, 2006, 7th article on page, "ALBERTO FIGHTS FOR UNCONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENTIAL POWERS"
Corruption Updates 43, 2nd article on the page, "Gonzales Lied about US Attorney Massacre"
Corruption Updates 47, 2nd article on the page, "Gonzales has US Attorneys in Babylonian Captivity"
Corruption Updates 88, 6th article on the page, "Bush Authorized Domestic Spying: Bush is a Criminal, and an Enemy of our Constitution"
Corruption Updates 91, 7th article on the page, "Gonzales Knew About Violations, Officials Say: US Attorney General a Liar"
Corruption Updates 91, 8th article on the page, "Gonzales Was Told of FBI Violations"
ACLU Article: NSA Spying on Americans Is Illegal (12/29/2005)
Illegal spying: Department of Injustice
Illegal Spying: The President
Search the Corruption Database under
Gonzales
US Attorney
Illegal Searches
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2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.
Saudis’ Role in Iraq Frustrates U.S. Officials
NYT, July 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/world/middleeast/27saudi.html?ref=
This article was reported by Helene Cooper, Mark Mazzetti and Jim Rutenberg, and written by Ms. Cooper.
WASHINGTON, July 26 ...Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia’s counterproductive role in the Iraq war. They say that beyond regarding Mr. Maliki as an Iranian agent, the Saudis have offered financial support to Sunni groups in Iraq. Of an estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month, American military and intelligence officials say that nearly half are coming from Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis have not done enough to stem the flow.
One senior administration official says he has seen evidence that Saudi Arabia is providing financial support to opponents of Mr. Maliki. He declined to say whether that support was going to Sunni insurgents because, he said, “That would get into disagreements over who is an insurgent and who is not.”
Senior Bush administration officials said the American concerns would be raised next week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates make a rare joint visit to Jidda, Saudi Arabia.
Officials in Washington have long resisted blaming Saudi Arabia for the chaos and sectarian strife in Iraq, choosing instead to pin blame on Iran and Syria. Even now, military officials rarely talk publicly about the role of Saudi fighters among the insurgents in Iraq.
In agreeing to interviews in advance of the joint trip to Saudi Arabia, the officials were nevertheless clearly intent on sending a pointed signal to a top American ally. They expressed deep frustration that more private American appeals to the Saudis had failed to produce a change in course.
The Bush administration’s frustration with the Saudi government has increased in recent months because it appears that Saudi Arabia has stepped up efforts to undermine the Maliki government and to pursue a different course in Iraq from what the administration has charted. Saudi Arabia has also stymied a number of other American foreign policy initiatives, including a hoped-for Saudi embrace of Israel.
Of course, the Saudi government has hardly masked its intention to prop up Sunni groups in Iraq and has for the past two years explicitly told senior Bush administration officials of the need to counterbalance the influence Iran has there. Last fall, King Abdullah warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq’s Shiites if the United States pulled its troops out of Iraq, American and Arab diplomats said.
Several officials interviewed for this article said they believed that Saudi Arabia’s direct support to Sunni tribesmen increased this year as the Saudis lost faith in the Maliki government and felt they must bolster Sunni groups in the eventuality of a widespread civil war.
Saudi Arabia months ago made a pitch to enlist other Persian Gulf countries to take a direct role in supporting Sunni tribal groups in Iraq, said one former American ambassador with close ties to officials in the Middle East. The former ambassador, Edward W. Gnehm, who has served in Kuwait and Jordan, said that during a recent trip to the region he was told that Saudi Arabia had pressed other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — which includes Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman — to give financial support to Sunnis in Iraq. The Saudis made this effort last December, Mr. Gnehm said.
The closest the administration has come to public criticism was an Op-Ed page article about Iraq in The New York Times last week by Mr. Khalilzad, now the United States ambassador to the United Nations. “Several of Iraq’s neighbors — not only Syria and Iran but also some friends of the United States — are pursuing destabilizing policies,” Mr. Khalilzad wrote. Administration officials said Mr. Khalilzad was referring specifically to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia has grown increasingly concerned about the rising influence of Iran in the region.
A spokesman at the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not return telephone calls on Thursday. But one adviser to the royal family said that Saudi officials were aware of the American accusations. “As you know by now, we in Saudi Arabia have been active in having a united Arab front to, first, avoid further inter-Arab conflict, and at the same time building consensus to move toward a peace settlement between the Arabs and Israel,” he said. “How others judge our motives is their problem.”
The American officials in Iraq also say that the majority of suicide bombers in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia and that about 40 percent of all foreign fighters are Saudi. Officials said that while most of the foreign fighters came to Iraq to become suicide bombers, others arrived as bomb makers, snipers, logisticians and financiers.
The Bush administration’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has deteriorated steadily since the United States invasion of Iraq, culminating in April when, bitingly, King Abdullah, during a speech before Arab heads of state in Riyadh, condemned the American invasion of Iraq as “an illegal foreign occupation.”
The administration “thinks the Saudis are no longer behaving the role of the good vassal,” said Steve Clemons, senior fellow and director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. The Saudis, in turn, “see weakness, they see a void, and they’re going to fill the void and call their own shots.”
Bush Wars Push Saudi Arabia out of American Axis
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., July , 2007
When Bush attacked Iraq, he also attacked the stability and credibility of the Saudi Royal Family. The Saudi royal family's position is delicately balanced on a double-edged sword. One edge of the sword faces America. The other edge of the sword faces the Arab people.The Arabs hate our support of Israel, and resent our support for the resource-rich tyrannies that ring the Gulf, and dominate middle eastern politics and economics.
When Bush attacked Iraq, the Saudi royal family's position became unbalanced between their people and our empire. The "King" has three choices: turn the sword towards America, the people, or himself.
Bush has destabilized this delicate balance, requiring the "king" to re calibrate his position between his people and American foreign policy. As the "king" depends on American power to maintain his tyrannical dictatorship, lessening his dependence on America requires broadening his appeal to his own people.
The King's people are sunnis who are seriously pissed off about Iraq. Bush's Iraq adventure has so enraged the Sunni Arabs that the "King" has been forced to take drastic action to preserve his dictatorship.
The "King" will no longer turn up oil production at our command. The "King" has declared that our occupation of Iraq is illegal. It appears that the "King" is tolerating the movement of Saudi fighters and dollars into Western Iraq to directly confront the Illegal American Occupation. The "King" has independently tried to restart negotiations with Israel. Saudi Arabia is now acting independently of American influence in the middle east.
Bush' response to this shocking change reveals the outlines of a vague plan forming in his addled brain. As the invasion of Iraq has empowered Iran, Bush is now being forced by the Saudi shift to accommodate the ex-Bathist Sunni in Western Iraq.
Bush is now arming and supporting the same Sunni insurgents we brutalized in Falluja, while simultaneously backing a Shite-dominated government. Bush has been forced down the contradictory path of arming both sides in the ongoing Iraqi civil war as a result of his inability to foresee, or understand, the complexities of Iraqi society that lay under the rule of Saddam before invading Iraq. If we write down every move Bush has made in Iraq, we see the outlines of a recipe for disaster.
This indicates that Bush has finally realized that his invasion and occupation has failed. Since American power has proven itself incapable of holding Iraq together, Bush has instead decided to pull it apart. This dramatically increases the risk that the Sunni-Shite civil war in Iraq could turn into a regional war.
Bush's anticipation of an Iraqi breakup and the associated risks is behind the 30 billion dollar arms package to the Saudis, the Sunni the gulf state emirates, and Israel.
This arms sale is a strong indication that Bush is anticipating a partition of Iraq that may ultimately spark a regional war between the Sunni and Shite. Even with billions in American arms the Saudis and Sunnis are no match for Iran, and will suffer terribly without significant direct American military support. Thus the billions in arms to the Saudis, and support for the American-killing Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
The arming of the Saudis and Sunni insurgents may well come back to shoot us in the ass. The Sunni insurgents in Iraq will most certainly turn against the occupation, and the Saudis are already charting an independent course as we arm them to the teeth.
The bottom line is that the Saudi ruling family will do what is necessary to maintain their hold on power. It is probable this will require they become completely independent of American power.
The balance of power in the middle east has already shifted out from under American control. American dominance has been diminished on two fronts. First, the location of power has shifted geographically, moving to the east towards Iran, and away from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Even more importantly, the notion of legitimate political authority has been dramatically transformed, shifting away from foreign supported dictators and "kings" towards a notion of legitimacy based on independent local political authority.
Bush has dramatically accelerated these pre-existing trends, but decades of colonial domination of the middle east lays behind these rapid dramatic shifts.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 45, 2nd article on the page, "U.S. Iraq Role Is Called Illegal by Saudi King"
Corruption Updates 56, 1st article on the page, "White House Rejects Saudi View on Iraq"
Search the Corruption Database under
Saudi Arabia
Iraq War
Supporting Dictators
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11 Revolutionary Guards Die in Iran Clashes
July 11, 2007
The Associated Press
The New York Times
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2007&m=07&d=22&a=11
TEHRAN, Iran -- An armed group killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard in clashes in the country's lawless southeast, state-run television reported Saturday.
The report said the Revolutionary Guards clashed with drug traffickers Thursday in a mountainous area near Iran's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan and killed four of them.
A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God's Brigade, has been active in the area and was blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops. In February, Iran hanged a member of the group who was convicted of a bombing that killed 11 guardsmen in Zahedan, the capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Iran, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program, has in the past accused the U.S. and Britain of backing militant and ethnic opposition groups in an effort to destabilize the country. The United States and Britain have denied the accusations.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Is America Backing Suicide Bombers in Iran?
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
The first link below refers to Iranian accusations that America has funded Baluch terror against Iran. The second link below refers to American accusations against Iran for trading arms for Afghan opium. America kidnapped Iranian consular officials in Urbil, and the Iranians seized Iranian-American academics in Iran. Each side makes regular displays of force in the Gulf and the Straight.
There is a bit of Irony in seeing the Neo-Cons, who believe they have the right to impose their corporate morals on Americans and the world, lined up against a fundamentalist Muslim state, which believes it has the right to impose its values within Iran.
It's a contest between the Christian Taliban and the Shite Pope.
Is America sponsoring terrorism in Iran? According to Seymour Hersh of New Yorker magazine, US special forces are operating in Iran. After watching our behavior in Vietnam, our death squads in Central America, and our torture at Abu Garib and Gitmo, it would not surprise me if we were funding, if not directly participating in terror attacks in Eastern Iran.
The below was written on March 29, 2007:
Is the big game, war with Iran coming? Bush has "lost" the middle-east, and America seems incapable of dealing with our self-created crisis. Or are we?
Although we are incapable of admitting it, Bush will be known to history as the man who LOST THE MIDDLE EAST, empowered China with our manufacturing, and pushed Russia enough to make them openly stand against us.
Bush's options around the world, and our influence in the middle east, are decreasing by the second. Bush has few viable options.
There are two basic paths we can follow: We can continue fighting to prop-up our Egyptian, Saudi, and Jordanian dictatorships, or attempt to re impose our western dictatorships in the Iran and Iraq, as we are now.
At best, this path will lead to regional war, internal revolutions, and the eventual emergence of a bitterly Anti-American oil-rich middle east. At worse, the middle eastern rejection of American authority will provide an anti-American center around which Russia, China, and India will build a new global balance of power which rejects American Globalism.
Our second option is to acknowledge the moral and political sins we have committed while seeking world domination, and dominating the middle-east, followed by our granting honest self-determination for the Arab peoples. This would require that we get our fucking foot off their necks.
Depend on Bush to take the first option, and get our feet cut off.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 45, 3rd article on the page, "Is a U.S.-Iran War Inevitable?"
IPS News, June 20, 2007; "U.S.-IRAN: New Arms Claim Reveals Cheney-Military Rift"
BBC, January 17, 2005; "US special forces 'inside Iran'"
Search the Corruption Database under
Iran (34 Abstracts)
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4) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.
New Violence at Reopened Pakistan Mosque
By SADAQAT JAN
Associated Press Writer
12:12 PM PDT, July 27, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A suspected suicide bomber killed 13 people at a hotel near Islamabad's Red Mosque on Friday as the government reopened the religious complex for the first time since a bloody army raid ousted Islamic militants from the site.
Hundreds of students clashed with security forces outside the mosque and occupied it for several hours before being dispersed. They denounced President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and demanded the return of a pro-Taliban cleric who was detained during the siege earlier this month.
Kamal Shah, another top Interior Ministry official, said initial reports suggested it was a suicide attack targeting police. Authorities recovered human remains that led them to suspect the bombing had been carried out by a suicide attacker...
Cheema said the government had received intelligence information about a possible suicide bombing in Aabpara, the market area where the hotel is located. "There will be an inquiry for the security lapse," he said.
The bombing came soon after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who called for hard-line cleric Abdul Aziz lead the prayers at the mosque.
The demonstrators threw stones at an armored personnel carrier and dozens of police in riot gear on a road outside the mosque. After the demonstrators disregarded calls to disperse peacefully, police fired tear gas, scattering the crowd.
"Musharraf is a dog! He is worse than a dog! He should resign!" students shouted.
Over mosque loudspeakers, protesters vowed to "take revenge for the blood of martyrs."
The students had forced a government-appointed cleric assigned to lead prayers to retreat, and a cleric from a seminary associated with the mosque eventually led the prayers.
Police later retook control of the mosque, said Zafar Iqbal, the city police chief. Some protesters resisted and about 50 people were arrested.
Friday's reopening was meant to help cool anger over the siege, which triggered a flare-up in militant attacks on security forces across Pakistan. Public skepticism still runs high over the government's accounting of how many people died in the siege, with many still claiming a large number of children and religious students were among the dead. The government says the overwhelming majority were militants.
Friday's crowd shouted support for the mosque's former deputy cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who led the siege until he was shot and killed by security forces after refusing to surrender. Ghazi was the public face of a vigilante, Islamic anti-vice campaign that had challenged the government's writ in the Pakistani capital.
"Ghazi, your blood will lead to a revolution," the protesters chanted.
In a speech at the mosque's main entrance, Liaqat Baloch, deputy leader of a coalition of hard-line religious parties, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, condemned Musharraf as a "killer" and declared there would be an Islamic revolution in Pakistan.
"Maulana Abdul Aziz is still the prayer leader of the mosque. The blood of martyrs will bear fruit. This struggle will reach its destination of an Islamic revolution. Musharraf is a killer of the constitution. He's a killer of male and female students. The entire world will see him hang," Baloch said.
Pakistan's Geo television showed scenes of pandemonium inside the mosque, with dozens of young men in traditional Islamic clothing and prayers caps shouting angrily and punching the air with their hands.
Officials were pushed and shoved by men in the crowd. One man picked up shoes left outside the mosque door and hurled them at news crews recording the scene.
American Dictator Provokes Widespread Resistance:
Blood Running in the Streets of Pakistan
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
The Pakistani army has made a decision: They will continue to support Musharraf in the face of overwhelming opposition, and Blood is running in the streets of Pakistan's cities.
Violence will continue until the military, the post-colonial urban elite, and the mountain folk come to an honest agreement among themselves on how to govern themselves. Between now and then sits Musharraf and the military, with the full economic and military backing of the US.
The question now is how much blood will flow until the military relents, throws Musharraf overboard, and cuts a deal with the other two major factions?
If the military does not moderate itself, there is a good chance they will lose control of Pakistan, and its nukes, to elements that will scare the hell out of Israel and India.
Our determination to support the Pakistani military dictatorship is the most dangerous course possible. But it reveals an even more disturbing and dangerous fact. The United States is no longer controlled by its people, and our illegitimate leadership will use any means at its disposal to control nations that threaten American control of global resources.
The greatest danger to America lays not in Pakistan, or the middle east, but in Washington, and the corporate special interests that control our politicians.
Originally written on June 8, 2007, for Corruption Update 70_7:
Musharraf Desperation Deepens:
Shallow Accusations and Falling Support Spelling End of Musharraf
Musharraf is failing. His party's murder of 45 protesters in Karachi did not dissuade further public protest, nor did it satisfy Musharraf, judging by his complaints about lack of party support. Sometimes murder is not sufficient to maintain dictatorial power.
At this point, Musharraf barely has time and maneuvering room to exit gracefully. His options for keeping power are limited.
He can back off, reappoint Chaudry, and focus on guiding his fatally wounded dictatorship towards stealing the next presidential election, set for this year.
This is unlikely, as resistance to his Dictatorship is growing in all quarters.
Musharraf's most likely path, if he can keep the Army behind him, will be to put the Army in the Streets, adding the tool of direct State Violence to his use of mass political arrests, and closing the media.
In any case, neither side has backed off, and a showdown is coming.
If Musharraf stands his ground, blood will soon be running through the streets of Pakistani cities. If Musharraf flees, the Army may not be able to impose another general, and may be forced to step back, and cut a deal with the opposition groups to hold a real election.
America is responsible for heavily arming and funding Musharraf, and directly supporting his military dictatorship. We have raised no objections to his dictatorship, despite our oft repeated goal of "democratization," nor have we spoken against his latest arbitrary uses of violence and political power.
If blood runs in the streets of Karachi and Islamabad, we must bear a great deal of responsibility.
For commentary on how this will affect the Afghan War, see:
Corruption Updates 31, 10th article on page, “Pakistan's old new year"
Corruption Updates 44 , 3rd article on page, “American backed Dictator Attempting to Crush Pakistan's Judiciary"
Corruption Updates 38, 10th article on the page, "American Dictator Removes Chief Justice in Pakistan"
Corruption Updates 61, 5th article on the page, "Musharraf 'seeks Karachi peace'"
Corruption Updates 62, 7th article on the page, "Pakistan's ex-top judge has addressed thousands..."
Corruption Updates 63, 9th article on the page, "Pakistan: 4 Arrested in Killing of Judge’s Aide"
Corruption Updates 67, 4th article on the page, "Musharraf Issues Decree Cracking Down on News Media"
Corruption Updates 69, 2nd article on the page, "Pakistan Arrests 300 Workers From Opposition"
Corruption Updates 70, 7th article on the page, Paki: Protests Rage Against Musharraf; Aides Criticize Justice He Ousted
Corruption Updates 72, 1st article on the page, Musharraf Rescinds Media Regulations After Public Outcry
Corruption Updates 74, 5th article on the page, Pakistan: Judge Gains Legal Ground
Corruption Updates 84, 2nd article on the page, Pakistan Is Building New Reactor
Corruption Updates 87, 3rd article on the page, Musharraf Suffers Setback in Effort to Remove Pakistan’s Chief Justice
Corruption Updates 88, 9th article on the page, Musharraf’s Plane Fired Upon as Mosque Standoff Continues
Corruption Updates 88, 10th article on the page, As Pakistan’s Chief Looks Ahead, Army Holds the Cards
Corruption Updates 92, 8th article on the page, U.S.: Pakistan Will Fight Militants: American Dictator Save Pakistan from itself
Corruption Updates 92, 9th article on the page, Islamabad Bombing Kills at Least 12: Pakistani Blood Bath Beginning with full US Support
Corruption Updates 95, 1st article on the page, Pakistani justice's reinstatement is blow to Musharraf
Corruption Updates 95, 2nd article on the page, Parties to Challenge Pakistan Election Plan
Corruption Updates 96, 4th article on the page, New Violence at Reopened Pakistan Mosque: American Dictator Provokes Widespread
Search the Corruption Database under
Pakistan (24 Abstracts)
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Somalia: 10,000 Flee Fighting in Capital
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 24, 2007
World Briefing | Africa
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/world/africa/24briefs-somalia.html?pagewanted=print
About 10,000 people fled Mogadishu last week alone, and the exodus continues, the United Nations said. Since Ethiopian forces drove out an Islamist government in December, the city has been plagued by roadside bombs, attacks on government installations, assassination attempts and gun battles that often catch civilians in the cross-fire. About a fifth of the city’s two million residents fled in the spring. “It is really a horrible place to be,” said one resident, Said Dahir Haji Igal. “I have no option but to flee for the safety of my children.”
especially see: U.S. support key to Ethiopia's invasion, usa today, 1/8/07
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.
A Christian-led nation in sub-Saharan Africa, surrounded almost entirely by Muslim states, Ethiopia has received nearly $20 million in U.S. military aid since late 2002. That's more than any country in the region except Djibouti.
Last month, thousands of Ethiopian troops invaded neighboring Somalia and helped overturn a fundamentalist Islamic government that the Bush administration said was supported by al-Qaeda.
The U.S. and Ethiopian militaries have "a close working relationship," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter said. The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training that gives the Ethiopians "the capacity to defend their borders and intercept terrorists and weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Advisers from the Guam national guard have been training Ethiopians in basic infantry skills at two camps in Ethiopia, said Maj. Kelley Thibodeau, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Djibouti.
There are about 100 U.S. military personnel currently working in Ethiopia, Carpenter said.
American Sponsored Invasion of Somalia sparks chaos
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
American sponsorship of the Criminal Ethiopian Invasion of Somalia has destabilized the whole Horn of Africa. Rather than deal with the Islamic Courts that had restored a semblance of order in Somalia, we sponsored the war lords who shot our black hawks down.
When that misguided adventure failed, we upped the ante, and bankrolled the Ethiopian invasion. The Ethiopians have succeeded in creating an insurgency they cannot handle, and inflamed Muslim-Christian relations across the whole horn of Africa.
In the meantime, we have exported our apparatus of kidnapping, illegal detention, and torture to bear on Somalias in both Kenya and Ethiopia.
I'm going to spoil the end of this story for you, and reveal it now. So if you want to be surprised at the outcome, skip to the next abstract.
The Islamic Courts are going to drive Ethiopia out. They will defeat the warlords and the puppet government proffered by the western powers. The Ethiopia tyranny will be destabilized, and an actual democratic revolution may have some small chance of success.
This would be a very short-lived success. The failure of Ethiopia in Somalia may trigger a major war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
In either case Somalia will continue to be fucked, but they will be in control of the fuckers who fuck them, rather than being fucked by foreigners, as they have been for the last hundred and twenty years.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 41, 6th article on page, "BUSH LAWLESSNESS SPREADS TO KENYA:Kenya defends transfers, absolves U.S."
Corruption Updates 72, 4th article on page, "Sudan aids CIA's spy efforts in Iraq"
Corruption Updates 73, 8th article on page, "Ethiopian protest leaders guilty"
Africa LINKS
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In Arabic Textbook, Israel Calls ’48 War Catastrophe for Arabs
By ISABEL KERSHNER
NYT, July 23, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/world/middleeast/23mideast.html?pagewanted=print
JERUSALEM, July 22 — Israel’s Education Ministry announced Sunday that it had approved a textbook for use in the state’s Arab schools that for the first time described Israel’s 1948 war of independence as a “catastrophe” for the Arab population.
The action, addressing longstanding concerns of the country’s Arab population, immediately prompted criticism from right-wing Jewish politicians and calls for the education minister’s dismissal.
The book also reflects the Jewish version of the establishment of the state, as have previous books for the Arab curriculum, including the fact that the Arab parties rejected the 1947 United Nations partition plan for Palestine while the Jews were willing to accept it. About 700,000 Arabs who lived in what is now Israel left during 1948 and 1949. About 20 percent of the current population of just over seven million are Arabs.
Ms. Fenig, who is the national supervisor of homeland, society and citizenship studies, said, “Pedagogically, it is not right to hide facts and ignore Arab sensitivities if we want to live together and build something in common.”
Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the rightist National Religious Party and a member of Parliament, called for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Ms. Tamir, saying her decision was “anti-Zionist and goes against the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state.”
Most Arab and Jewish children study separately, in Arabic or Hebrew-language schools. Some Hebrew textbooks have over the years come to broach once-taboo subjects surrounding the establishment of the state, and the curriculum for Arab schools has also been slowly changing to take Arabic culture more into account.
But the Hebrew version of the third-grade book does not include the Palestinian version of the events of 1948. Ms. Fenig said that while the Arabic translation was adjusted to address Arab sensitivities and culture, Jewish third graders were considered too young to cope with the conflicting narratives.
The debate on Sunday took place as clashes between Israelis and Palestinians continued.
Deepening the constitutional crisis in the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian caretaker government of Salam Fayyad on Sunday failed for the second time to win a vote of confidence from the Palestinian Legislative Council, or the parliament, for lack of a quorum. Mr. Fayyad heads a government made up mostly of independents, appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, which governs from the West Bank. Hamas, which took over Gaza last month, does not recognize its legitimacy.
Only 33 of the 132 members of the parliament turned up for the session. About 45 members, most from Hamas, are detained in Israeli prisons. Other Hamas members and members from Fatah have both boycotted sessions in recent weeks, each for their own reasons.Arabs in Israel Live under Jim Crow Apartheid
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
The "democracy" of Israel sits on lands that have were ethnically cleansed after the British were driven out by European Jews. They drove the British out using terrorism and violence. The ethnic cleansing which followed swept away Palestinian families from their homes and lands to make way for the state of Israel.
Can a country born in terrorism and violence escape the legacy of its birth? So far, the answer in an unequivocal no.
Domestically, separate schools for Arab children reflects the contradictions of a state born by one people denying another people their existence. Those that remain are marginalized in education, economics, and politics.
Externally, the political security of Israel is based on a ring of Arab states held to subservience by American supported Dictators, Kings, and Emirs. Militarily, the security of Israel is based on us arming them to the teeth with the most sophisticated weaponry in the world.
What kind of "democracy" is it when equal access to rights and resources is based on religion. It is a democracy established on inequality.
I have experienced the grim legacy of my own country's birth in a two hundred year genocide of the American Indians countless times by Israelis who, after getting a few beers in them, explain that the birth and expansion of Israel in these terms: "it's just like the Indians (American Indians) when you settled here." Ah, touche! Genocide to Genocide to Genocide.
That begs the question of, "who am I, and just what are we, as Americans?" Israel offers those who are on the other side of the American Dream the opportunity to fight the same fight we lost against the Indian killers. Israel is the place where people of good will can come together to fight the worse elements of American Corporate Fascism.
Israel is a good place to take a stand against the politics of intolerance. Israel is the best place to take a stand against imposing authority using military power. And above all else, Israel is the place where people of good will from all walks of life can come together to repudiate the use of religion to first justify terror, then invasion, and finally the endless occupation and oppression of Palestine.
Israel is the original source of the expanding use of religion to justify terrorism around, by their first use of terrorism, and as a last resort of the desperate against terms of victory they can never accept. Until we nip the source, Israel, in the bud, this ugly plant will continue to propagate itself and grow.
Also See:
Book Review by Stepen Lendman: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappe.
Book Review by Kim Petersen: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappe.
Corruption Updates 37, 1st article on the page, "Poll: Israel, Iran, US most Negative Countries in World"
Corruption Updates 42, 4th article on the page, "Bolton Admits:US ALLOWED ISRAEL TO DESTROY LEBANON"
Corruption Updates 64, 3rd article on the page,"British Academics’ Union Endorses Israel Boycott"
Corruption Updates 64, 4th article on the page, "Largest Labor Union in Britain May Consider a Boycott of Israel"
Corruption Updates 83, 10th article on the page, "Top Official of Hamas Is Rebuffed Over Talks"
Corruption Updates 90, 10th article on the page, "Israeli Settlements Found to Grow Past Boundaries"
Al-Ahram, Egypt, 30 August - 5 September, 2007; Israel eyes Gaza
Al-Ahram, Egypt, 30 August - 5 September, 2007; 'No elections if Hamas will win
NY Times, September 12, 2007; U.S. Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last Week
NYT, July 23, 2007; In Arabic Textbook, Israel Calls ’48 War Catastrophe for Arabs: Arabs in Israel Live under Jim Crow Arparthiad
NYT, July 31, 2007; U.S. Arms Plan for Mideast Aims to Counter Iranian Power: Bush fuels middle eastern Arms Race
BBC NEWS: September 14, 2007; Small Israeli force enters Gaza
Al Ahram, 13 - 19 September 2007; Marching to war with cold feet
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Israel (14 Abstracts)
Egypt
Supporting Dictators
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Putin rebukes 'colonial' Britain
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed a UK request for Andrei Lugovoi's extradition as the remnant of a "colonial mindset".
Tuesday, 24 July 2007, 19:05 GMT 20:05 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/6914522.stm
"They have long forgotten that it is a long time since Britain was a colonial power," he told Russian TV.
The UK expelled four diplomats after Russia refused to extradite Mr Lugovoi who denies killing ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.
The Foreign Office said it was still trying get Moscow to extradite him.
Mr Putin was being filmed meeting pro-Kremlin youth groups at the presidential residence at Zavidovo when he was asked about the diplomatic row.
He said 30 people sought by Russian law enforcement agencies "for serious and very serious crimes" were taking refuge in London and Britain did not "bat an eyelid and did not even think about extraditing them".
"They (Britain) had the same problem, though to a lesser extent, with the USA, strange as it may sound, and with France and other countries," he said.
"They do not extradite to any country people who are hiding on their territory, including people who are suspected of and charged with terrorist activities."
He added that to other countries, Britain made "exaggerated claims", including "insulting advice" to "change our constitution".
"They should get their heads examined rather than tell us to change our constitution," he said.
'Respect partners'
Mr Putin said Britain's behaviour was "clearly a remnant of a colonial mindset".
"They don't have any colonies. And Russia, thank God, has never been a colony of Great Britain," he said.
The Russian president added: "It shows they still have in their heads the ideas of the last century or the century before that.
"They should treat their partners with respect. And if they do, we will treat them with respect."
Under the European Convention on Extradition 1957, Russia has the right to refuse the extradition of a citizen, and its constitution expressly forbids it.
A Foreign Office spokesman said that the government was still seeking to persuade Moscow to hand over Mr Lugovoi.
"We continue to look for a willingness from the Russian authorities to work constructively with us to bring this crime, committed in the UK, to justice in a UK court," he said.
Gordon Brown renewed his demand for the extradition of Mr Lugovoi on Monday and described the situation as "intolerable".
Last week, four Russian embassy staff were expelled from the UK after the British extradition request was refused.
That prompted Moscow to retaliate by asking four British embassy staff to leave within 10 days.
Putin Rejects British Superiority
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
Putin put his finger right on the pulse of the Anglo-American ego. We actually believe we are superior, and are very willing to impose our superiority through diplomatic, economic, and military means.
Putin's words were well chosen for the global audience. England has been the target of personal attacks carried out by English citizens descended from countries colonized by England. England is deploying military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, both former colonial possessions who had English law imposed on them.
If Putin can settle Russia's "Muslim problem," represented by Kosovo and Chechyna, England and the US are going to be in big trouble in the middle east.
Until then, Russia is going to have to be content with arming Iran, and contrasting England's colonial past with America's Global present, to our great discomfort.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 14, 1st article on the page, "Political Culture of Lies and War"
Corruption Updates 36, 1st article on the page, "Russia prepares to revise military doctrine in response to USA's missile defense plans"
Corruption Updates 36, 2nd article on the page, "Russia capable of hitting US missile shield"
Corruption Updates 39, 8th article on the page, "Who's to Blame for Russia?"
Corruption Updates 49, 4th article on the page, "Russian Minister Says No ‘Rogue State’ Missile Threat to Europe"
Corruption Updates 52, 2nd article on the page, "Dozens Arrested as Riot Police Beat Anti-Kremlin Protesters in St. Petersburg"
Corruption Updates 53, 10th article on the page, "Russia to Suspend Compliance With Key European Pact"
Corruption Updates 59, 4th article on the page, "Leading Russian Official Dismisses U.S. Treaty and Missile Shield"
Corruption Updates 64, 8th article on the page, "Russia, Putin: US imperialists start new round of arms race"
Corruption Updates 66, 2nd article on the page, "Putin warns Europe in missile row"
Corruption Updates 66, 3rd article on the page, "Gorbachev criticizes US 'empire'"
Corruption Updates 73, 6th article on the page, "Putin Plays Down I.M.F. and W.T.O."
Corruption Updates 90, 4th article on the page, "U.S. Diplomat Hints at Delay for Kosovo Independence"
Corruption Updates 92, 1st article on the page, "Russia sends warning to the West: American Military Empire Draws Russian Response"
Corruption Updates 92, 2nd article on the page, "British to Expel 4 Russian Diplomats"
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Russia (23 Abstracts)
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Trial of David Hicks 'a charade'
The trial of Australian national David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay was a charade that served to corrode the rule of law, Australia's top legal body has said.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007, 10:44 GMT 11:44 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/asia-pacific/6913374.stm
Law Council of Australia: http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/
The Law Council of Australia called government support for the US military tribunal process shameful.
David Hicks was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and spent more than five years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
At a military tribunal earlier this year he admitted supporting terrorism and, under a plea deal agreed with prosecutors, was jailed for seven years.
According to the report prepared by lawyer Lex Lasry, aspects of Hicks' plea agreement appeared "an attempt to protect the credibility and interests of the US government".
The deal also meant that his tribunal became "a contrived affair played out for the benefit of the media and the public".
It was "designed to lay a veneer of due process over a political and pragmatic bargain", the report said.
Mr Lasry called the Howard government's support for the tribunal process "shameful" and said Australia's moral authority had been diminished by it.
"Ultimately there has been no benefit from this process; only a corrosion of the rule of law," he wrote.
Bush Nazi Powers reviled by Australian Bar Association
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
Shame on every American who has sat indifferently by as our government continues to spiral out of control. It is not just the Kangaroo courts that "convicted" Hicks that are offensive, it is the whole nazi scheme of kidnapping, secret detention, and torture that proceeded his farcical hearing in our Kangaroo courts.
We should change our song. I suggest, "...land of the slave, and the home of greed..," replace "land of the free and home of the brave..."
That is much more fitting for our present character.
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Illegal Trials (21 Abstracts)
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Texas: 274 Immigrants Arrested in Raids
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/us/21brfs-274IMMIGRANT_BRF.html?pagewanted=print
Federal agents arrested 274 illegal immigrants over five days during raids in Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding suburbs, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The authorities took into custody 233 men, 28 women and 13 children, said an agency spokesman, Carl Rusnok. The operation, which began Monday and ended yesterday, yielded illegal immigrants, people wanted by immigration authorities and immigrants with criminal records. Of those arrested, 99 had criminal convictions, the agency said. “These operations are a critical element in removing threats to public safety,” said Nuria T. Prendes, field office director for the agency’s Office of Detention and Removal Operations.
Mexicans Belong in Mexico
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
Here's the deal: Come in through the front door, or get out. If you don't like how your leaders treat you, change them.
Serving our corporate leaders is not an acceptable alternative.
Search the Corruption Database under
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Please limit comments or essay to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number that you are referring to. Example: (82_1.)
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House Backs Barring Political Spouses From Pay Campaign
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 24, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/washington/24spouse.html?pagewanted=print
WASHINGTON, July 23 (AP) — Spouses would be barred from the payrolls of campaigns under a measure approved by voice vote on Monday in the House.
The bill would bar a federal candidate’s spouse from being paid by the candidate’s campaign or leadership political action committee. The ban would also apply to companies or firms in which the spouse was an officer or director. The measure would also require disclosure of payments from campaigns of PACs to other immediate members of a candidate’s family.
The longstanding practice of hiring relatives for campaign jobs “has shown the potential to foster corruption,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is chief sponsor of the measure.
In a recent report, the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington concluded that in the past six years about 60 current House members spent $5.1 million in campaign money to pay relatives, or relatives’ companies or employers.
The bill now goes to the Senate where its fate is uncertain.
House Ends Family Gravy Train?
Only for Show: Senate will Kill it
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 6, 2007
Campaign jobs for family members are so common it's become a commonplace method for our corrupt politicians to pocket campaign contributions.
The real money is in getting the lobbyists to hire your spouse, or hire you, after you get out of office. Billy Tauzin is the poster boy for collecting the wages of corruption from his corporate masters. The day he left office Tauzin took two and a half millions to serve the Pharmaceutical Industry as a lobbyist instead of serving them as a corrupt Congressman.
Another tool of the corporations who moves easily between serving the special interests in and out of office is ex-Senator Conrad Burns. After being thoroughly bribed by Abramoff, Burns moved from accepting bribes to distributing them as a lobbyist.
Another classic case of conflict of interest-approved by the "ethics"-committee is that of Jeffery Shockly. Shockley quit working for Jerry Lewis, the former Chair of the House Appropriations Committee to take a lobbying job, took almost 2 millions as "severance," then went back to work for Lewis. No problem, according to the "ethics" committee.
Here in California we have people like Martha Escutia, who, after passing ATT's deregulation of cable services, took a lucrative job with the lobbying firm that fronted for ATT's multi-million dollar campaign of bribes to pass this piece of work.
To solve this problem we must require that any politician, or employee of any politician who accepted money, contributions, or was employed by any entity or special interest, recuse themselves from participating in any legislative actions concerning any contributor or previous employer.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 18, 4th article on the page, "DOOLITTLE SOUGHT AND GOT ABRAMOFF JOB FOR WIFE"
Corruption Updates 29, 7th article on the page, "Ex-Sen Burns Trades Bribes for Paycheck"
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Jobs (45 Abstracts)
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