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Posted: August 28, 2007

News Stories from August 14 to 28

 

CORRUPTION UPDATES 105

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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.

 

Embattled Gonzales Resigns
Attorney General Was Criticized for Terrorism Policy, Prosecutor Firings

By Dan Eggen and Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 28, 2007; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082700372_pf.html

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, one of President Bush's closest confidants and a key architect of his controversial counterterrorism policies, announced yesterday that he is quitting after seven months of bitter confrontation with Congress over his honesty and his competence to run the Justice Department.

His resignation, submitted Sunday to President Bush and disclosed yesterday, removes one of the nation's most controversial attorneys general since the Watergate era. He will leave behind a Justice Department battered by allegations that partisan politics has infected its law enforcement mission.

Gonzales had long been a lightning rod for critics of the administration's harsh interrogation policies, its secret overseas prisons and its expanded domestic surveillance -- all supported by legal analyses conducted under his supervision or with his concurrence. But his political undoing stemmed from his tangled account of having approved the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 while denying detailed knowledge of the circumstances or reasons.

The events that led to his resignation began with a Democratic-led inquiry into those firings, and they included accusations that Gonzales had lied to lawmakers.

Gonzales, a son of migrant workers and the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, gave no reason for his departure during a brief news appearance in Washington, emphasizing his "remarkable journey" from a poor childhood in Texas to the height of power in Washington.

The FBI director and others undercut Gonzales's standing in recent months by providing accounts of events surrounding the government's warrantless surveillance program and the prosecutor firings that were at odds with Gonzales's account. Justice investigators have said they are examining whether Gonzales purposely misled Congress or attempted to improperly influence a witness in his employ.

Gonzales also repeatedly angered lawmakers by saying that he could not recall key episodes and details related to the U.S. attorneys' dismissals, testifying nearly 70 times at one hearing alone that he could not remember specific events. Some Democrats called for a special prosecutor to conduct a perjury probe, while a handful of Republicans said the department would be improved by his departure.

Although lawmakers from both parties lauded his decision, key Democrats disagreed over whether they should continue their investigations of his decisions. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said the inquiries should go forward in any event, while Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), one of Gonzales's most outspoken critics, signaled that the probes could end if a suitable successor is named.

"My own view is that the replacement of the attorney general with an objective, credentialed, strong individual is a very good solution" to the political battles, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a key swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Justice Department has also been hit by an unusually large number of resignations in recent months, including its deputy attorney general, associate attorney general and legislative affairs chief.

Gonzales's troubles began when he characterized the unusual firings of a group of U.S. attorneys last December as routine, performance-based dismissals. Subsequent testimony and documents showed that the firings were part of an effort with the White House to identify and remove prosecutors partly based on their supposed disloyalty to the Bush administration or the GOP.

Lawmakers also questioned Gonzales's truthfulness in testifying that a National Security Agency surveillance program had not provoked any serious dissent among Justice lawyers. Testimony and documents showed that half a dozen senior Justice and FBI officials were prepared to resign in early 2004 because they had concluded that the program was illegal and required changes.

Gonzales's public image also took a hit when a former deputy attorney general and the FBI director both said that he had tried to pressure then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft into certifying that the program was legal, while Ashcroft was ill and in the hospital recovering from surgery. Gonzales eventually clarified his remarks on the NSA program and said he did not intend to mislead Congress.

. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), a Judiciary Committee member, said that damage done by Gonzales may be irreparable and that the Justice Department may remain in a "demoralized" state under Bush.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Who Will Defend the President's Crimes Now?

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 28, 2007

Bush has real problems now. He must find a new AG who will sign off on, well, what will he have to sign off on? Not much. Congress just passed an illegal and unconstitutional law that gives the President the power to conduct unlimited, warrantless searches on Americans. So that issue is settled. Congress covered Bush's illegal searches with a criminal law of its own, so the new AG is off the hook for illegal domestic searches.

Then we come to the President's use of kidnapping, unlimited secret detentions, and torture. I'm sure there are a set of super-secret findings somewhere in the Justice Department that contend the President has the power to secretly kidnap, detain, and torture anyone he wants. The new AG has a real hot potato here. Italy and Germany are prosecuting CIA agents in absentia for our kidnappings on their soil, moving them to secret detention facilities, and torturing them. Will our next AG have a problem with defending kidnapping?

It depends on if the next AG agrees with John Yoo and Gonzales' contentions that the President Can do Anything He Wants. This outrage was confirmed by Congress in the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This unconstitutional "law" grants the Presidential the right to kidnap, secretly detain, and torture anyone he wants, including American Citizens. The next AG will have no problem defending American kidnapping, secret detentions, and torture as Congress passed a law authorizing these crimes here. But that will not cover our international crimes, but that responsibility will fall into the capable hand of Rice at State.

The next AG should have it easy. Congress, besides laying the legal groundwork for an unchecked, Unconstitutional President, is currently fully funding all of the President's crimes. It has been rather easy for Gonzales to defend the President's crimes, as Congress has been a willing partner under both parties. The same will be true for the next AG.

If we had a real Constitutional Democracy, a real Attorney General would review all of the unconstitutional findings of Gonzales and Yoo, and throw them into the dustbin of Fascist History, where they belong. A real AG would identify, investigate and immediately charge all of the criminals who have searched without warrants, kidnapped, tortured, or secretly detained anyone anywhere. A real AG would immediately turn over all the CIA participants in the European kidnappings to Italy and Germany for trial.

The next AG, if they have any sense of Justice and duty to our Constitutional rule of law, would begin a parallel investigation in the executive branch to determine who in the CIA, Pentagon, Justice Department, FBI, and White House approved of these crimes, and charge them accordingly. These are high crimes and misdemeanors against domestic and international law.

A real Congress would demand this of the next AG. But this Congress already indeminified the President's crimes before getting elected, when Pelosi "took impeachment off the table,"  and after getting elected with their bogus Spy "law," so don't get your hopes up. In fact, Gonzales' resignation came on the heels of passage of the repugnant Spy "law."

I smell a big, nasty, stinking secret deal between Congress and Bush: Congress gave Bush Criminal Search Powers, and Bush, after a short delay, gave Congress the Head of Gonzales. Thus Congress assured Bush that giving up Gonzales would not result in his immediate prosecution for illegal searches.

With Congress signing off on virtually all of Bush's crimes, and approving them with unconstitutional "laws," Bush has almost nothing to worry about, and Pelosi has finally and completely taken impeachment off the table.

Unless I'm completely wrong, and I hope I am, the next AG is going to be acclaimed by both parties, and is not going to challenge any of the President's illegal claims to royal authority to search, kidnap, detain, torture, and then run kangaroo courts on anyone he wants.

As the use of these criminal powers is being supported by Congress, rather than being taken away and repudiated, these criminal powers will continue to be used by future presidents against our people, our rights, and our Constitution. Congress' affirmation of these crimes has made them permanent presidential powers.

Since we have already lost control of our democracy, we face a future where, like now, the richest corporate factions will elect presidents. But unlike the past, our future Presidents will have unlimited, unchecked power to pay back their bribes, harass their political enemies with perpetual surveillance and fake prosecutions, and use the full power of the government to do the will of their corporate masters. This, my friends, is the face of Corporate Fascism.

Although Gonzales is gone, the attack on our civil rights is only now beginning to get really ugly. Establishing the foundation for unlimited illegal surveillance is just the start. Once they figure out how to use a complete record of everyone's communications, their power will be complete.

The first set of links below deals with Gonzales' lies to Congress about the Administration's attempts to railroad their illegal search program through an ill, but determined Ashcroft.

The second, longer set of links cover the wide range of governmental crimes Gonzales participated in, excluding the US Attorney Scandal.  A link following that list leads to the US Attorney Scandal Abstracts.

 

Also See:

Corruption Updates 70, 5th article on the page, Democrats May Subpoena N.S.A. Documents (Comey testified to Congress about the hospital assualt, Congress wanted legal justifications for program, and his side of the episode from Gonzales)

Corruption Updates 95, 5th article on the page, Gonzales testifies in firings row: And Lied to Congress about the hospital assault

Corruption Updates 104, 1st article on the page, Notes Detail Pressure on Ashcroft Over Spying: Gonzales Caught Lying, yet Again

Corruption Updates 88, 6th article on the page, Bush Authorized Domestic Spying: Bush is a Criminal, and an Enemy of our Constitution

Corruption Updates 88, 7th article on the page, Spying on the Home Front

Corruption Updates 104, 1st article on the page, Notes Detail Pressure on Ashcroft Over Spying

Also See:

Corruption Updates 21, 7th article on page, Ex-judges: Detainee law unconstitutional

Corruption Updates 23, 8th article on page, Harmon Calls Wiretapping Illegal

Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES"

Corruption Updates 25, 2nd article on page, December 8, 2006, GOP senator says war may be 'criminal'

Corruption Updates 25, 7th article on page, 12-6-06, Italy Seeks Indictments of C.I.A. Operatives in Egyptian’s Abduction

Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on the page, "FBI CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM"

Corruption Updates 31, 1st article on page, 1-17-07, AG criticizes judges for terror rulings

Corruption Updates 31, 2nd and 3rd articles on page, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Indefensible, and A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights

Corruption Updates 31, 7th article on page, 1-19-07, Pentagon Revises Its Rules on Prosecution of Terrorists

Corruption Updates 31, 8th article on page, 1-19-07, Pentagon sets rules for detainee trials

Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on the page, PRESIDENT TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION: CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND ABOVE THE LAW

Corruption Updates 34, 4th article on page, BUSH KIDNAPPING ON TRIAL IN GERMANY: WHY IS GERMANY HOLDING US TO THE RULE OF LAW?

Corruption Updates 36, 5th article on the page, White House Confirms Americans Have No Constitutional Protections

Corruption Updates 41, 5th article on the page, FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says: HOW DO YOU SAY ILLEGAL SEARCH? “National Security Letter"

Corruption Updates 51, 9th article on the page, Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law

Corruption Updates 54, 4th article on the page, A Root and Branch Survey:Gonzales allowed aides some hiring power, records show

Corruption Updates 69, 1st article on the page,  Kidnapping and Torture Disgraces America Around the World

Corruption Updates 75, 4th article on the page, Subpoena Vote Is Set in Wiretap Inquiry

Corruption Updates 90, 1st article on the page, White House says it won't hand over documents on attorney firings: BUSH REFUSES OVERSIGHT

Corruption Updates 91, 8th article on the page, Gonzales Was Told of FBI Violations: Gonzales lied, Yet Again

Corruption Updates 94, 1st article on the page, White House Warning on Contempt Charges: We Break the Law

Corruption Updates 95, 4th article on the page, Gonzales testifies in firings row

Corruption Updates 97, 2nd article on the page, "Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: They Crave the Same Powers. Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control"

Center for Constitutional Rights, Professor Jordan J. Paust, A precise accounting of the domestic and international War Crimes of Bush and his Administration

Search the Corruption Database under

Gonzales (74 Abstracts)

Illegal Searches (37 Abstracts)

Torture (47 Abstracts)

The Link List above omitted the a Vast Link List concerning Gonzales role in the US Attorney Scandal. This Link will bring you there.

 

Speak your Mind here! Send your Comments about the Topic Above for Posting!

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2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Bush losing key advisor at a low ebb

The close confidant will be the last Texan to depart the president's inner circle. He says it's the right time.

By Maura Reynolds
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 14, 2007

WASHINGTON —

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush14aug14,0,3333454.story?coll=la-home-nation

From the Los Angeles Times

 

President Bush will finish his final 17 months in office without his political guru and alter ego, Karl Rove, who announced Monday that he would leave the administration at the end of the month.

Bruce Buchanan, a presidential scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, said no other advisor has had as much influence, personal and professional, on a president as Rove.

Rove operated in political and policy realms, with simultaneous jobs as White House political director and deputy chief of staff for policy.

Rove was also a central figure in two of the most high-profile investigations of the Bush era -- the politically charged firing last year of eight U.S. attorneys and the 2003 leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Democrats who consider Rove their political bete noir accused him, in part, of trying to duck allegations that he helped choreograph the firings of the federal prosecutors for failing to pursue voter fraud and public integrity cases that would have benefited the Republican Party.

"I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "There is a cloud over this White House and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelopes Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House."

On the advice of the White House, Rove this month did not appear before the judiciary committee, which is investigating the firings. Despite a subpoena, Rove asserted that any conversations or advice he had about the dismissals were protected by executive privilege.

In the CIA leak case, Rove came close to being charged with illegally covering up his involvement. Former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted in March of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case. Libby's lawyers said he believed the White House had conspired to have him take the fall to protect Rove. Bush later commuted Libby's sentence.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Bush Co-Conspirators Jumping off the Burning Ship

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 28, 2007

Rove is a political sociopath. Rove mixed politics and policy so thoroughly that the government no longer had any pretense of representing the people of this country, or their best interests. Only the Special Interests.

With Bush's blessings, and Rove's guidance, government exclusively represented the interests of those who supported the Administration, and all the powers of government were bent to serve them in return. Rove was the middle-man for this corrupt transaction.

The dems are exactly the same, and happily operate under the same corrupt system, but are not nearly so accomplished, or as skillful as Rove. Rove and Bush were successful enough that they have exposed the truth of our system; Our elections and parties are based on an unconstitutional, undemocratic relationship between private wealth and political power that has transformed our democracy into a corporate fascist state.

Rove revealed that the President has no clothes, as has no shame about his naked power, while the Dems just have no shame.

Also See:

Rove Links:

The Abramoff Scandal

Search the Corruption Database under

Rove (65 Abstracts)

Plame

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3) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

A Timeline of Significant Events in Gonzales' Career

The Associated Press
Monday, August 27, 2007; 1:37 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082700800_pf.html

Some significant dates in the career of Alberto R. Gonzales, the nation's 80th U.S. attorney general who announced his resignation Monday.

1979: Receives bachelor's degree from Rice University, after enlisting in the Air Force in 1973 and serving at Fort Yukon, Alaska.

1982: Earns law degree from Harvard University; joins the Houston-based law firm Vinson and Elkins, whose client list included Enron and Halliburton.

1995-1997: Served as general counsel to then-Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.

Dec. 1997-Jan. 1999: Named Texas Secretary of State. In the post he serves as an adviser to the governor and as Bush's liaison on Mexico and border issues.

1999: Appointed by Bush to the Texas Supreme Court.

January 2001: Named President Bush's White House legal counsel.

Jan. 25, 2002: In a memo to Bush, Gonzales contended that the president had the right to waive anti-torture laws and international treaties that provide protections to prisoners of war. Critics, including some Senate Democrats, have said the memo helped lead to abuses of the type seen at Abu Ghraib.

June 18, 2004: Gonzales is questioned by a federal grand jury in the criminal investigation into who in the Bush administration leaked the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Feb. 3, 2005: Confirmed and sworn in as 80th attorney general of the United States, replacing John Ashcroft, who resigned. The Senate approved the nomination, 60-36, on a largely party-line vote. His confirmation hearings grew contentious over his 2002 memo waiving anti-torture laws.

April 27, 2005: While seeking renewal of the broad powers granted law enforcement under the USA Patriot Act, Gonzales told the Senate Intelligence Committee, "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse" from the law enacted after the 9/11 terror attacks.

July 24: Gonzales says he notified White House chief of staff Andy Card after the Justice Department in 2003 opened an investigation into who revealed a covert CIA officer's identity, but waited 12 hours to tell anyone else in the White House.

Dec. 15: The New York Times reports on its Web site that Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States without getting search warrants.

Feb. 6, 2006: The Times reports that U.S. long-distance carriers cooperated with the NSA's warrantless wiretapping of international calls.

Feb. 6: Gonzales tells Congress the president is fully empowered to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants as part of the war on terror.

April 6: The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says Gonzales is "stonewalling" Congress on the warrantless eavesdropping program.

May 21: Gonzales says he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information.

June 7: Gonzales defends the FBI's search of a Democratic congressman's office, saying it was an "unusual step" but necessary in a bribery investigation.

Nov. 18: Gonzales says critics of the administration's warrantless surveillance program define freedom in a way that poses a "grave threat" to U.S. security.

Jan. 17, 2007: Gonzales changes course and puts the government's terrorist spying program under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Feb. 8, 2007: Former U.S. Attorney John McKay of Seattle says his resignation was ordered by the Bush administration without explanation, seven months after he received a favorable job evaluation.

March 6: Another fired federal prosecutor tells a Senate committee he felt "leaned on" by Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who hung up on him when told indictments in a corruption case against Democrats would not be issued before the fall elections.

March 9: Gonzales orders an internal Justice Department investigation into the FBI's use of the USA Patriot Act after an audit found that agents had improperly and, in some cases, illegally obtained personal information about people in the United States.

March 11: Citing the FBI's illegal snooping into people's private lives and the Justice Department's firing of federal prosecutors, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer says it's time for Gonzales to step aside. March 13: Gonzales accepts responsibility for mistakes in the way the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors.

March 13: Gonzales accepts responsibility for mistakes in the way the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors.

March 29: A former top aide to Gonzales says the attorney general was briefed regularly over two years on the firings of federal prosecutors, disputing Gonzales' claims.

April 19: At a contentious hearing, Gonzales struggles to convince skeptical senators he did nothing improper in firing eight federal prosecutors. He loses ground as a second Republican senator joins the calls for his resignation and others question his credibility.

April 23: Bush offers fresh support for Gonzales, saying "This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence."

May 10: Gonzales is questioned by the House Judiciary Committee, but seemed to weather the interrogation better than during his earlier appearance before the Senate. House Republicans echo Gonzales' call for Congress to move on from the issue of the fired prosecutors.

May 17: Two Senate Democrats say they will seek a no-confidence vote on Gonzales over accusations that he carried out President Bush's political agenda at the expense of the Justice Department's independence.

May 21: Bush calls an upcoming Senate vote of no confidence in Gonzales "pure political theater" and stands by his embattled friend.

May 23: The former Justice Department liaison to the White House, Monica Goodling, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, saying she believes Gonzales did see a list of U.S. attorneys to be fired. She also says that during a private conversation Gonzales "laid out for me his general recollection of ... some of the process regarding the replacement of the U.S. attorneys." She says she felt the conversation was not appropriate and didn't contribute to the dialogue.

June 11: Republican senators block a symbolic vote of no confidence against Gonzales. The 53-38 vote fell seven short of the 60 votes required under U.S. Senate rules to move the nonbinding resolution to a formal debate. Gonzales says, "I am focused on the next 18 months and sprinting to the finish line."

July 10: Democrats raise new questions about whether Gonzales knew about FBI abuses of civil liberties when he told a Senate committee that no such problems occurred. Lying to Congress is a crime, but it wasn't clear if Gonzales knew about the FBI's action before he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee seeking renewal of the broad powers granted law enforcement under the USA Patriot Act.

July 19: Gonzales is questioned in a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee about Bush's wiretapping program and the administration's response to congressional subpoenas. Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes says members were especially interested in the reasons behind Gonzales' controversial 2004 visit to the Ashcroft's hospital bedside, reportedly to pressure the ailing attorney general to endorse Bush's surveillance program.

July 23: Gonzales tells Congress in a statement that he's troubled that politics may have played a part in hiring career federal prosecutors.

July 24: In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Gonzales denies that he and former White House chief of staff Andy Card tried to pressure hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to re-certify Bush's domestic eavesdropping program. Gonzales' credibility was at issue throughout the proceedings, with senators of both parties growing exasperated and at some points accusing the attorney general of intentionally misleading the committee.

July 25: The Associated Press reports on documents it obtained showing that eight U.S. congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony the day before by Gonzales.

July 26: FBI Director Robert S. Mueller says the government's terrorist surveillance program was the topic of a 2004 hospital room dispute between top Bush administration officials, contradicting Gonzales' sworn Senate testimony.

July 30: The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee advises Congress to hold off on a perjury investigation of Gonzales over his apparent misstatements about warrantless spying.

July 31: In a carefully worded letter to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that never mentions Gonzales, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell notes that the administration first acknowledged its controversial surveillance activities and used the phrase "terrorist surveillance program" in early 2006. Also, Democratic House members introduce a measure directing the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether to impeach Gonzales.

Aug. 2: Senators in both parties concede that they don't have enough evidence to make a perjury charge stick against Gonzales.

Aug. 3: In a two-page letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Gonzales declines to provide more information about discrepancies in his sworn testimony about the purge of federal prosecutors and its aftermath.

Aug. 11: Gonzales arrives in Baghdad for his third trip to Iraq to meet with department officials who have been there to help fashion the country's legal system.

Aug. 16: The House Judiciary Committee releases partially censored notes from Mueller, dated March 12, 2004, describing a distraught and feeble Ashcroft in his hospital room just moments after being visited by then-White House counsel Gonzales and Card, the president's chief of staff at the time.

Aug. 24: Gonzales telephones Bush at his ranch and says he is considering resigning. Bush says this is a conversation they should have in person.

Aug. 26: Gonzales arrives at Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas, and they discuss the resignation over lunch. Gonzales signs letter of resignation.

Aug. 27: Gonzales announces his resignation and Bush publicly accepts.


THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

The American Dream: From Illegal to Criminal in the Corporate Fascist State

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 28, 2007

This last great immigration has one defining characteristic, among all the "diversity." This is, and will be known as, the Great Corporate Fascist Immigration. Gonzales is the rotten fruit of this putrid tree.

Our last massive immigration during the late 19th Century brought us the floods of immigrants who empowered the Robber Baron destruction of our farmer democracy, and formed the basis of the corporate aristocratic state that ruled us until this last immigration started.

The current immigration, the one that brought us Gonzales and Yoo, has empowered our Corporate Aristocracy with the willing obedient slaves to transform itself into a corporate fascist state.

The Corporate Aristocracy couldn't have done it without Gonzales, and millions of foreigners willing to put aside American sovereignty to serve their desires for wealth and power. Gonzales is one of the few "success" stories. Gonzales' American Dream is a corporate fascist nightmare. Choke on that one, American Dreamers.

The millions of legal and illegal immigrants we have received for the last forty years have entered a country that is illegitimate by the terms of its own Constitution. Our country is not a democracy, and it does not protect our civil or political rights. Without slavish immigrants, the corporations would have been unable to smash the middle-class, steal all the money, stuff our democracy into the toilet, and attack what's left of self-determination in the world.

None of that bothers the millions of cockroaches who have surged here to serve our corporate fascist state to make money. I hold Gonzales liable for the illegal war, criminal searches, illegal war and endless detentions, and torture. Gonzales was instrumental in bringing third-world instruments of police state powers into the United States.

Gonzales is a traitor to his people.

Strangely, both the foreign poor and our corporate elite operate by the same standards: Both will do anything for money, and neither obey or respect our Constitution. They both exist in violation of our right to decide who runs our country.

It is not so strange that immigrants like Gonzales fit in so well with American Corporate Fascism: The whole history of his family, and his people's massive immigration, has been in service to the Corporate Fascist State that has destroyed our democracy.

Hope your 40 pieces of silver spend better in Mexico than it spends here, amigos.

 

best list of Gonzales' lies: LIAR

Search the Corruption Database under

Crimigrants

Gonzales (74 Abstracts)

Illegal Searches (37 Abstracts)

Torture (47 Abstracts)

 

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4) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Fires Rage On Across Vast Swaths of Greece
Death Toll Hits 60; Ancient Olympia Escapes Damage

By John F.L. Ross
Associated Press
Monday, August 27, 2007; A09

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082600246_pf.html

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece, Aug. 27 -- Firefighters backed by aircraft dropped water and foam on the birthplace of the ancient Olympics on Sunday to stop wildfires from burning the 2,800-year-old ruins, one of the most revered sites of antiquity.

But the fires, which have been burning for three days, obliterated vast swaths of the country, and the death toll rose to 60. New fires broke out faster than others could be brought under control. Desperate residents appealed through television stations for help from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit, and many blamed authorities for leaving them defenseless.

"Fires are burning in more than half the country," fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. "This is definitely an unprecedented disaster for Greece."

Early Monday morning, the fire department said 42 major fires were still blazing out of control.

Forest fires are common during Greece's hot, dry summers, but nothing in memory has approached the scale of the past three days.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

America will Continue to Grow until the World Burns and Floods

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007

The defining characteristic of our climate is now uncertainty. The seasons are no longer beginning and ending at their expected times. Winds are blowing from unprecedented directions during all the seasons, drastically altering temperature and humidity and rainfall patterns.

Extreme heat, massive fires, an out of control monsoon, and drastic flooding have plagued this Summer in the northern hemisphere.

What is certain is that nothing will be done to address this catastrophe if it threatens corporate profits.

The only real question is how great of a climatic catastrophe will have to occur, how many people will have to die, before we actually address the source of our climate meltdown? If we are lucky, we will have a major decline in northern hemisphere crop production, and that will trigger the US to completely end our massive demographic growth, and the related massive expansion in consumption.

None of the politicians or scientists have the balls to target the source of American's position as the historical and current number one polluter in the world: the massive growth in America's population and consumption.

The only way to address the pollution is to stop the growth, then neutralize the emissions of our stabilized population. Unless we stop the growth, all the superficial programs of the politicians will be as effective as removing a drop of water from an ocean.

Also See:

Link List for recent articles on the Environment.

Corruption Updates 105, th article on the page, Fires Rage On Across Vast Swaths of Greece: America will Continue to Grow until the World Burns and Floods

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5) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Yahoo says it followed Chinese law in releasing user records

Monday, August 27, 2007

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/27/BUUVRQ98S.DTL

(08-27) 16:33 PDTSAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo Inc. insisted Monday that it was merely following Chinese law when it turned over user records to that country's authorities that ultimately led to the jailing of two dissidents.

The Sunnyvale Web portal's comments came as part of its first legal rebuttal to a case brought by the two Chinese prisoners, Wang Xiaoning, 57, and Shi Tao, 39, who sued the company under U.S. human rights laws earlier this year in federal court in San Francisco.

In the filing Monday, Yahoo said the case should be dismissed, arguing that Chinese law requires the company to provide evidence to police in that country and that Yahoo therefore cannot be held liable for any subsequent arrests or torture.

Morton Sklar, the attorney representing the two men, rejected Yahoo's assertion that the case should be dismissed, saying that the company is liable even if its actions took place in China.

"U.S. corporations are not bound just by the laws of their host countries, but also the laws of the United States and standards of conduct that are placed upon them by the United States, and by the international community," Sklar said in an interview.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

US Government, Corporations Assist Chinese Police State

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007

Also See:

China Police State Prospers with Western Trade, Technology

American Greed-Consumption feeds Police State and Pollution in China

Corruption Updates 41, 9th article on the Page, "China jails editor for subversion"

Corruption Updates 59, 7th article on page, "Chinese Police Arrest 28 in Riots Against Family Planning Laws"

Corruption Update 105, 5th article on the page, Yahoo says it followed Chinese law in releasing user records: US Government, Corporations Assist Chinese Police State


Search the Corruption Database under

China (52 Abstracts)

Supporting Dictators

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6) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Close Aides to Musharraf Meet With His Opposition

By SALMAN MASOOD

NY Times, August 27, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/world/asia/27pakistan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=

todayspaper&pagewanted=print

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 26 — Close aides to Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf,

and the chief of the country’s intelligence agency are in London to hold talks with Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the president’s two main political opponents, two generally reliable Pakistani newspapers reported Sunday.

General Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, plans to run for re-election to a five-year term before Oct. 15 in a vote of the national and provincial assemblies. He faces an uphill task in securing a third term while still serving as army chief of staff.

The News, one of the most widely read newspapers in the country, reported that the chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, and the chief of staff to General Musharraf, Lt. Gen. Hamid Javaid, had arrived in London to hold talks with Mr. Sharif, a former prime minister, who was ousted in the 1999 coup. He has emerged as a major challenger to General Musharraf after a Supreme Court ruling last week that said he should not be hindered from returning from exile.

Tariq Aziz, a top civilian aide to General Musharraf, is also in London to work on an agreement with Ms. Bhutto, another former prime minister, The Daily Times, a leading daily from Lahore, reported. Ms. Bhutto has been in negotiations with General Musharraf and his aides for months over a power-sharing deal that would allow him to continue for another term as a civilian president and allow her to return to take part in elections, freed of legal impediments.

Contacts between government officials and top opposition figures have gained momentum as the date for the presidential election approaches, and the obstacles to General Musharraf staying in office have piled up. In particular, the recently reinstated chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who fought a five-month battle against his dismissal by General Musharraf, has shown an aggressive attitude toward government officials who are seen as showing disregard for the Constitution and the law.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

NY Times Softens Musharraf's Military Dictatorship

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007


The Times presents Musharraf as something other than an unconstitutional tyrant that rules through naked military power. He is not, and it is this type of support from the Western press, and the guns and dollars of the United States, that keeps tyrants in power around the world.

It has been reported that the US is putting pressure on both Bhutto and Musharraf to blend the corruption of the former, with the fascism of the latter, and like mixing chocolate with peanut butter, the US hopes that a corporate fascist state like ours will magically appear out of Pakistan's military dictatorship. This will not occur.

Will US broker a Musharraf-Bhutto alignment between Army and Secular Corruption?

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 25, 2007

(originally written for CU104_2)

Musharraf's position as the Army's "candidate" for the upcoming presidential contest received the backing of the Army when they assaulted the Red Mosque. The Army demonstrated they would use military force to back Musharraf.

Musharraf's legitimacy is nakedly based on army bayonets and American dollars. Bush has responded to the collapse of even the appearance of legitimacy in Pakistan's military dictatorship by encouraging Musharraf to cut political deals with the opposition he had banished to maintain military control of the government.

Bush's plan is to replicate General Zia's "rump" style civilian government, created in 1988. Zia's rump was supposed to put a civilian face on the Army's control of real power in Pakistan. Bush's plan will prove to be as unworkable as Zia's.

The problem is going to be that Neither Bhutto's People's Party, nor Shariff's Pakistan Muslim League are going to allow the military to maintain political control when they resume political participation in Pakistan. Bush's plan is leading to chaos, if not civil war, in Pakistan.

Bush has funded and armed Musharraf's dictatorship, and is continuing to do so. Bush is pressuring Musharraf to allow the appearance of democracy, while supporting his military dictatorship. Rather than withdrawing support for Musharraf, and dealing with the ensuing administration, Bush's plan is to create a political frankenstein, stitching together tyranny and democracy into a political abomination which is doomed to destroy itself.

Here's how it will go down: Bhutto and Sharif will win the elections, forcing the Army to assert martial law, kill the protesters, and arrest the political opposition. The Army will reimpose a dictator, possibly forcing Musharraf out in the process.

The alternative scenario is just as grim. If Bush can force a deal between the Army and the parties, a Bhutto-Sharif government will be elected, and Musharraf will remain as president. Within six months the civilian government will be driven from office by the army. The army will assert martial law, kill the protesters, and arrest the political opposition.

Bush's support and accommodation of Pakistan's military dictatorship is a huge source of the political instability in Pakistan. Our only hope of having a stable long-term relationship with Pakistan is to demand the military step out of politics, and allow the people of Pakistan to run their own affairs. If we were a democracy, we would find and develop long term friendship with democratic players around the world. Instead, we align ourselves with dictators, kings, and petty tyrants.

Bush's plan bet all of our chips on Musharraf and the Pakistani Military, and that relationship has weakened both the US and Pakistan. Our participation in propping up Musharraf's dictatorship has destabilized Pakistan, and our continued support for Musharraf and military authority will only bring a bigger blowup when Pakistan finally rejects foreign supported military dictators.

Bush's new plan involves continuing the political ascendancy of the Pakistani military, which will only continue and deepen Pakistani political instability. It's kind of funny that Bush is only reaching for democracy in desperation, to save his military dictatorship in Pakistan.

If America actually stood for democracy and freedom, we would not be facing any of the dangers we now face in the Middle-East. American greed and aggression is conditioning the middle east to reject American "democracy" as nothing more than a cover for imposing dictators, suppressing the cultural and political voice of Muslims, and controlling the region's vast energy resources.

The whole world is coming to the clear conclusion that America does not stand for democracy or freedom. This will not change until Americans come to the same conclusion, and get off our asses and do something about our broken democracy.

Until then, our corporate fascist government will continue to rob us, and the world of its rights and resources.

Also 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 105, 6th article on the page, Close Aides to Musharraf Meet With His Opposition: NY Times Softens Musharraf's Military Dictatorship

Search the Corruption Database under

Pakistan (28 Abstracts)

 

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7) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Mexico’s Plutocracy Thrives on Robber-Baron Concessions

By EDUARDO PORTER

NY Times, August 27, 2007

Editorial Observer

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/opinion/27mon4.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print

Growing up in Mexico City, I always knew Mexico was an unjust country — a place where small coteries of the privileged control all power and wealth while half the population lives in poverty. But it never occurred to me that Mexico would have billionaires.

It does. According to Forbes magazine, last year there were 10 Mexicans among the world’s 946 billionaires.

, Fortune reported that Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican, had just surpassed Bill Gates to become the world’s richest man, with a fortune worth $59 billion.

To put it in perspective, Mr. Slim’s treasure is equivalent to slightly less than 7 percent of Mexico’s total production of goods and services — one out of every 14 dollars’ worth of stuff made by all the people in the country.

The income distribution in the United States may be fast approaching Mexican levels of inequality, but in relative terms, Mr. Gates isn’t even in Mr. Slim’s league. His $58 billion fortune is less than 0.5 percent of the nation’s G.D.P.

But the momentous scale is not the most galling aspect of Mr. Slim’s riches. There’s the issue of theft.

Like many a robber baron — or Russian oligarch, or Enron executive — Mr. Slim calls to mind the words of Honoré de Balzac: “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” Mr. Slim’s sin, if not technically criminal, is like that of Rockefeller, the sin of the monopolist.

In 1990, the government of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari sold his friend Mr. Slim the Mexican national phone company, Telmex, along with a de facto commitment to maintain its monopoly for years. Then it awarded Telmex the only nationwide cellphone license.

When competitors were eventually allowed in, Telmex kept them at bay with some rather creative gambits, like getting a judge to issue an arrest warrant for the top lawyer of a competitor.

Mr. Slim’s style of wealth accumulation is not rare in modern Mexico. From television to tortillas, vast swaths of the Mexican economy are controlled by monopolies or oligopolies. Many of Mexico’s billionaires were created by the government during the privatization of state-owned companies in the 1990s.

The United States today is heading toward a Mexican-style social contract. The concentration of 44 percent of the nation’s income among the top 10 percent of taxpayers is on a par with Mexico’s disparities. It’s getting hard to find government officials in Washington without deep ties to corporate interests.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Finally: Times Publishes Something about Massive Corruption Infecting Mexico and The US

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007

Ah Mexico. Like the Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea, it is what I call a "bitch State," who's authoritarian governments would not exist if they weren't propped up by our Corporate Fascist State.

All three provide willing slaves to work both here and there for our Corporation's profits and power.

The above article is excellent, except for one point: We invented Corporate Fascism. We are not "becoming like Mexico." We created the police state structures in Mexico, Taiwan, and South Korea. We are merely bringing the powers we created and used to dominate 3rd world countries back into the US.

We are revealing what we are, and bringing it home to roost. We are not actually changing anything.

And we are supplementing the decline of domestic democracy by bringing the foreigners who are willing to betray their countries in service of America here, where they can assist our corporations in their betrayal of our Constitution and country.

The Mexicans, like the Cubans, Koreans, and Taiwanese are bringing their desire to serve wealth and power here, to the homeland of tyranny, where the pay scale for servility and greed is higher than it is in their own bitch countries.

Now only if we can get Iran and Iraq to bitch out, everything will be just fine.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 60, 1st article on the page, Mexico to boost tapping of phones and e-mail with U.S. aid

Search the Corruption Database under

Crimigrants

Mexico

 

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8) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Supreme Court rules that ex-PM Sharif can return to Pakistan from exile

From the Associated Press 6:54 AM PDT, August 23, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-pakistan24aug24,0,2271088.story?coll=la-home-center

 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return from exile before upcoming elections, the Supreme Court ruled today, increasing the pressure on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to restore democracy in Pakistan.

Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, another banished ex-premier vowing to return, want to front a growing campaign for an end to eight years of military rule during which Musharraf has struggled to contain extremism.

Sharif and his family "have an inalienable right to enter and remain in the country as citizens of Pakistan," said Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the chief justice who recently defeated Musharraf's efforts to fire him.

Their return should not be "hampered or obstructed" by the authorities, he said.

Still, the court offered Sharif no protection against legal action threatened by the government or guarantees that they can take part in upcoming elections.

Outside the court, some 200 supporters of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party cheered and jigged in celebration. One bearded activist slaughtered six goats as a celebratory act in front of the white marble court complex, leaving the road smeared in blood.

Musharraf, who ousted Sharif in 1999 after he tried to replace him as army chief, previously vowed to prevent the exiled former leaders from returning.

But with the United States urging stronger action against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan, he has begun talking of the need for political reconciliation and for moderates to unite against extremism.

Musharraf and Bhutto are currently engaged in talks about a possible power-sharing deal that could help him gain a new five-year presidential term this fall.

The presidential vote, due by mid-October, is to be followed by year-end parliamentary elections, where the main opposition parties of Sharif and Bhutto hope to make gains.

Bhutto, who left Pakistan in 1999 to avoid arrest on corruption charges, insists Musharraf must give up his military post to win her party's support.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Musharraf Dictatorship Unraveling

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007

Also See:

See related articles and links above

Search the Corruption Database under

Pakistan

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9) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Prime Minister Plays Down Pakistani Rivals’ Talks

By CARLOTTA GALL and SALMAN MASOOD

NYT, August 20, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/world/asia/20pakistan.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print

 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 19 — Pakistan’s prime minister played down the discussions between the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the opposition politician Benazir Bhutto in an interview on Sunday. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that any power-sharing deal would depend on the results of general elections later this year rather than on any prior agreement.

Mr. Aziz also spurned American involvement in negotiating the deal, saying it could hurt the parties involved.

American officials have said the deal is a way to unite and strengthen the moderate forces in Pakistan.

“With due respect, it is for the people of Pakistan who would decide who gets elected,” Mr. Aziz said. “Naturally, what these contacts result in, in terms of the impact on elections or postelections, is premature to say,” he said in an interview at his official hillside mansion above the capital.

The agreement between Ms. Bhutto and General Musharraf, which has been widely reported but so far denied by both sides, envisages Ms. Bhutto returning to Pakistan to contest elections and serving as prime minister under General Musharraf as president.

The agreement would allow General Musharraf, whose popularity is falling, to continue for another term as president and would allow Ms. Bhutto, who faces several corruption cases, to return to Pakistan and have the cases dropped. But both have encountered opposition to the agreement from within their own parties.

“Friendly countries are entitled to their views and we listen to them, but at the end of the day, Pakistanis are a very proud people and they want to manage things themselves,” said Mr. Aziz, who plans to stand for re-election. “These discussions are driven by local political considerations; the moment other considerations creep in, it hurts all the stakeholders.”

Other Pakistani officials have gone further, complaining that comments from Washington amount to interference in Pakistan’s affairs.

Mr. Aziz said the government was committed to holding free and fair elections and that only pending court cases were preventing Ms. Bhutto and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from returning to Pakistan to take part in elections. “There are a host of legal cases against both,” he said. “They have to consult their legal counsel and decide what is best for them, but the circumstances for each of them are driven by their legal situation.”

He said Ms. Bhutto was free to return, but that Mr. Sharif, who was forced out of power when General Musharraf seized control in a coup in 1999, had entered an understanding with the government to go abroad in return for having charges against him dropped.

General Musharraf, who is president and chief of the army, is expected to run for re-election as president between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. Parliamentary elections will be held by the end of the year, government officials have said. General Musharraf may give up his post as chief of army staff at the end of the year when a constitutional amendment allowing him to hold the two posts expires, one government official said.

A former banker, Mr. Aziz, 58, returned to Pakistan to serve in General Musharraf’s government in 1999, first as finance minister and since 2004 as prime minister. He said he was confident that the government’s record would bring it success in the elections.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Dictator Tries to Split Power between Corrupt Elites

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007

Also See:

See related articles and links above

Search the Corruption Database under

Pakistan

 

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10) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

U.S. May Provide Billions to Mexico to Fight Drug Cartels

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

 

NY Times, August 14, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/world/americas/14mexico.html?pagewanted=print

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 13 — Mexico and the United States are holding intensive talks to develop a plan for the United States to provide billions of dollars to Mexico to support its fight against drug cartels, but the negotiations are not likely to produce an agreement before next week’s trilateral meeting with Canada, officials from both countries said.

Both sides are trying to keep the details of the talks secret, but officials with knowledge of the issue said the aid would include money and training for the Mexican police, as well as advanced eavesdropping, surveillance and other spying technology.

Mexican officials insisted that any agreement would not involve operations by the United States military or drug enforcement agents on Mexican soil, as has happened in Colombia and Peru.

The new discussions come as Mr. Calderón has started using federal troops in a major offensive against drug cartels and has begun extraditing top drug traffickers to the United States, a break with past practice.

In general, Mexico is seeking money, training and advanced technology for its state and federal police forces.

While discussions so far have taken place between top diplomats and security experts in the executive branches of both countries, any major aid package for Mexico would probably have to have Congressional approval, officials from both sides said.

Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who represents a border district that includes Laredo, said he supported the proposal, saying it would mark a “historic shift in policy” by giving Mexico an array of tools to crack down on drug dealers. On the table are tools such as surveillance equipment, aircraft, and advanced radar and telephone-tapping equipment, Mr. Cuellar and Mexican officials said.

“It’s equipment and technology to make sure they are able to match the power of the drug cartels,” Mr. Cuellar said in a recent interview.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

US Provides Police State Technology to Mexican Police State

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007

See "Bitch State," Above

Also See:

Corruption Updates 60, 1st article on the page, Mexico to boost tapping of phones and e-mail with U.S. aid

Search the Corruption Database under

 

 

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