by cameron | Jun 20, 2007 | CIA, US politics
5am. Haven’t been able to sleep. So I got up about 2am intending to work and have instead done what I always do at this hour – watch YouTube videos on 80s film clips. Sad. Very sad.
******
When the JFK Airport bomb plot thing broke in the headlines a few weeks ago, I immediately smelled a rat. So I set up a Google news alert on the name of the main guy, Russell Defreitas, so I could track the developments once the main thrust and hype of the original story had died down.
And in the last week, there has already been a lot of interesting reports picked up.
Wired News has this story about how sensationalist the US media has been over the report.
The recently publicized terrorist plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, like so many of the terrorist plots over the past few years, is a study in alarmism and incompetence: on the part of the terrorists, our government and the press.
What that story doesn’t explain, as this one does, is that Defrietas once worked for Evergreen International Airlines. Who are Evergreen?
A nine-part series in The Oregonian newspaper in 1988 reported that Evergreen International Airlines has close ties to the Central Intelligence Agency and functions as an “ad hoc government air arm that thrives on a combination of covert and commercial work.” Work the company had been contracted for included “black ops” missions in Central America, War on Drugs operations around the world, and delivering arms to the Egyptian military, while non-military contracts included tracking ice floes in the Arctic, providing security for John Paul II, and spraying anti-locust pesticides in the Niger.
(source)
So the main guy accused of plotting to blow up JFK airport used to work for a company that is a front for the CIA. Is this starting to sound like a bad film plot yet?
The other thing about this story which interests me is how the “informant” who gave away the JFK plot, Steve (Toro) Francis, is a twice-convicted convicted drug dealer who entrapped the plotters. According to this article, Defreitas and the informant were introduced “last July by another government operative”.
So… the story shapes up like this.
We have an ex-CIA employee who was introduced by the CIA to a twice-convicted crack dealer who then claims there was a plot to blow up JFK airport. No bombs were ever made, no plans even drawn up.
Kurt Nimmo writing in The Daily Scare has this quote:
As Paul Joseph Watson notes, the JFK case reveals “that the terror threat has been overhyped and magnified a thousand-fold for political propaganda,†a fact demonstrated “by documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that show only 0.0015 percent of the total number of cases filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were terrorism related, despite the fact that the Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that it is the primary focus of the DHS.â€
Bruce Schneier. who wrote the Wired News article, hit the nail squarely on the head in an earlier article:
“There are two basic ways to terrorize people. The first is to do something spectacularly horrible, like flying airplanes into skyscrapers and killing thousands. The second is to keep people living in fear through constant threat warnings, security checks, rhetoric, and stories of terrorist plots foiled by the diligent work of the increasingly intrusive Department of Homeland Security.â€
Now – while the mainstream media in the US and Australia blared the details of the JFK plot across front pages and TV news coverage, how much, if any, coverage will they give to these newly-emerging details? Will they get the same treatment? Or will they be either printed down the back of the paper near the obits or ignored altogether?
Don’t buy into the sensationalist press coverage. Read between the lines. Research. Use the web to get the facts.
by cameron | Jun 18, 2007 | CIA, Iran, Iraq, US politics
Charley Reese (ex-Orlando Sentinel) has written an interesting piece for AntiWar.com about Iran. He makes the following points:
I don’t see how any honest man can believe that Iran is a threat to the United States or its neighbors. Iran has not invaded anyone in the past 100 years. Iran has from the beginning insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes, and there has been no evidence – I repeat, no evidence – to the contrary. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty explicitly authorizes countries to enrich uranium. In other words, Iran has not done anything illegal.
Iran has no intercontinental missiles, and the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons is Israel. Please note that the United States flatly refuses to endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel has refused to sign it. Iran admits international inspectors. Israel flatly refuses to allow international inspectors. The only country in today’s Middle East with weapons of mass destruction and a history of invading and occupying other people’s countries is Israel.
So why are the US so interested in Iran? According to Wikipedia:
Iran ranks second in the world in natural gas reserves and third in oil reserves.
Or course, the US has been trying to get its hands on Iran for decades. The Iran-Iraq war was started when Saddam Hussein, backed by the USA, invaded Iran in 1980.
According to Robert Parry there was a secret encouragement by the US administration (President Jimmy Carter, conveyed through Saudi Arabia) which was embroiled in a dispute with the new Islamic Republic of Iran. In the words of Alexander Haig, secretary of state from 1981, “It was also interesting to confirm that President Carter gave the Iraqis a green light to launch the war against Iran through Fahd.”
(Source: Wikipedia)
Robert Parry, btw, was the journalist who broke the Iran-Contra scandal involving Oliver North. For those of you too young to remember,
It involved several members of the Reagan Administration who in 1986 helped to illegally sell arms to Iran, an avowed enemy, and used the proceeds to fund, also illegally, the Contras, a right-wing insurgent organization in Nicaragua.
(Source: Wikipedia)
They also turned a blind eye to the Contras raising money by exporting crack cocaine to the US.
Ever wondered what happened to the people in the US administration that were convicted in the Iran-Contra affair? Most got away with it, pardoned by George H. W. Bush when he was President. Many of the people involved are now working for the current Bush administration. Including Robert Gates, the guy who replaced Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.
He served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991–1993 under George H.W. Bush. During Iran Contra he was Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the democratically-elected Sandinista government.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Where does that leave us?
It’s important to understand that the people running the US at the moment have a history. And anyone who thinks these things are “conspiracy theories” only need to read a couple of books. The Iran-Contra affair wasn’t a conspiracy theory. It happened. Ronald Reagan admitted his involvement in it (after first denying it). He admitted George H. W. Bush knew about it as well.
These things happened.
Israel, on the other hand,
has received substantial direct economic aid from the United States, including approximately $1.2 billion per year since the mid-1970’s, although that regular annual amount has been being tapered off by $120 million per year beginning in 1998.
(Source)
Israel’s relationship with the United Nations is pretty bleak.
From 1967 to 1989 the UN Security Council passed 131 resolutions directly dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Of the 131 resolutions passed, 43 could be considered neutral while the remaining 88 either criticized and opposed the actions of Israel or judged against its interests. Nearly half of the 88 resolutions against Israel “condemned,” “censured,” or “deplored” the member state or its actions. During this time, in the UN General Assembly, 429 resolutions against Israel were passed, and Israel was condemned 321 times.
(Source)
It makes you wonder.
by cameron | Jun 17, 2007 | US politics
This is strange. A few sites (link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4) are reporting that German police intercepted American agents trying to smuggle C4 explosive into the G8 conference at Heiligendamm. No coverage of this by MSM at the moment.
Sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that US security men tested German security by trying to smuggle C4 plastic explosive past a checkpoint at Heiligendamm.
German surveillance machinery detected the tiny stash in a suitcase in a car and the Americans in plainclothes then identified themselves. German police declined comment.
I wonder who the ‘sources’ were who reported it to DPA? And why would German police decline comment? If the story was untrue, surely they would just say so? I’m going to ping a few friends in Germany to see if it’s getting much coverage over there.
by cameron | Jun 1, 2007 | Australian media, Iraq
James Packer is selling down another 25% of PBL, taking his ownership to a minority share. I predicted this last October when Packer first announced he was selling off PBL.
As I pointed out back then, you probably won’t hear the mainstream media talking about the real reason Packer is selling down. They will focus on the his interest in gambling. Sure sure. Gambling is swell. But Packer doesn’t need to sell off PBL to get into gambling. He is James Packer. This isn’t like your university drop-out brother selling his PS2 so he can upgrade. The real reason (IMHO) that Packer is selling off PBL is that he wants to get out while he still can! He knows what we know, what Buffett and Gates and Murdoch know. The old media business is dead in the water. It’s a floater, just waiting for CSI to come along and fish it out with a long gaff so someone can autopsy the corpse.
Murdoch is the only guy who is still buying old media assets (apart from the vulture PE firms who can’t wait to pick the flesh off the bones… oh and Sam Zell). That’s because Rupert thinks he can just buy EVERYTHING. This is his last great gasp before he shuffles off to the Great Satellite Network in the Sky. He’s like Kane, buying all of the antiques of Europe, and then stuffing them into a warehouse somewhere in New Jersey, where a few years from now, a handful of guys will be sorting through them, chucking them into a great oven. I wonder if Rupert’s last dying words will be “Advertiserrrrr….”??
So anyway… I guarantee you won’t see a single mainstream media article in this country talk about the real reason why Packer is getting the hell out of dodge. Why? Because no-one wants to admit that their industry is on its last legs. The only old media guys I’ve met who are able to admit that are the ones that have resigned and walked away before the crash. Like Hugh Martin. I’m pretty sure Mark Jones would, but he’s still apparently counting on them for a pay cheque until he’s earning his keep from Yahweh.
And you won’t see Today Tonight, the kids that LOVE to throw the book at drunk drivers, talking about how their boss, Peter Meakin, has been sentenced to 18 month jail (on weekends) for trying to dodge a booze bus while he pissed behind the wheel. Nice one Pete. Nice to see his former colleagues at Nine News dancing on his grave as well. Classy, fellas.
And I doubt you’ll see any of them talking about the privatization of Iraq oil that I mentioned this morning.
Prove me wrong.
by cameron | Jun 1, 2007 | capitalism, Podcast
Another show with the brilliant Dr Peter Ellyard today. I popped around to his place yesterday without any planned agenda and, as I had hoped, we ended up talking about a whole range of interesting things, including:
What entrepreneurs dream about
Peter’s introduction to the operas of maestro Richard Wagner
How globalism and tribalism are playing out around the world
Why the United Kingdom might break up within five years
What “Australian values” are
Chavez’s activities in Venezuela
The rise of “sustainable individualism” over capitalism and communism
What a great gift this guy is.
If you missed them, check out my other shows with Peter.
GDAY WORLD #204 – Dr Peter Ellyard, Futurist
GDAY WORLD #213 – Dr Peter Ellyard, Futurist – part two
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by cameron | Jun 1, 2007 | Iraq, US politics
Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army and US Army Reserves and retired as a colonel. She served 16 years in the US diplomatic corps in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Micronesia and Mongolia. She resigned from the US Department of State in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq.
Here is what she wrote recently on TruthOut:
On Thursday, May 24, the US Congress voted to continue the war in Iraq. The members called it “supporting the troops.” I call it stealing Iraq’s oil – the second largest reserves in the world. The “benchmark,” or goal, the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is privatization of Iraq’s oil. Now they have Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds.
This threat could not be clearer. If the Iraqi Parliament refuses to pass the privatization legislation, Congress will withhold US reconstruction funds that were promised to the Iraqis to rebuild what the United States has destroyed there. The privatization law, written by American oil company consultants hired by the Bush administration, would leave control with the Iraq National Oil Company for only 17 of the 80 known oil fields. The remainder (two-thirds) of known oil fields, and all yet undiscovered ones, would be up for grabs by the private oil companies of the world (but guess how many would go to United States firms – given to them by the compliant Iraqi government.)
Read the full article with the link above.
This comment on AfterDowningStreet is informative:
The specific benchmark relates to what is called The Production Revenue Act and The Production Sharing Agreement,Look up these two terms and you will discover an unbelievable story of what is going on. For thirty years the oil monopoly companies would receive a majority percent of profits. Thus depriving Iraq of money needed for reconstruction and the US will simply pony up taxpayers money for the reconstruction needs.
Large media is ignoring this issue even though it is the number one Benchnark Bush wants to preserve. No other middle East oil countries will allow this sort of profit sharing. It reinforces the reason Bush went to war and ignored all intelligence about the future problems. How much more do Americans have to endure before Bush supporters come to their senses.Also Democratic leaders are ignoring it except for Kuchinch.
That lead me to this article on Al-Jazeera:
“The law is designed for the benefit of US oil companies,” Ramzy Salman, an Iraqi economist who worked for the Iraqi oil ministry for 30 years, said. “If approved, it would take things back to where they were before the nationalisation of Iraq’s oil in 1972.”
And this from UPI:
“The people as well as all the members of Parliament believe that this law is not only for robbing Iraq of its oil wealth but also for the division of Iraq,” said Mohammed al-Dynee, a member of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue’s contingent in the Parliament. “People have started understanding that at first they believed that America had come to give them freedom and democracy,” Dynee said, “and they have now started to understand that America did not come at all for that; they came for the oil, and the best proof of that is this oil law.”
Scoop has the “Summary and Notes from Congressman Kucinich’s One Hour Speech Before the United States House of Representatives On Administration’s Efforts to Privatize Iraq Oil”. Here’s just one excerpt:
Except for three scant lines, the entire 33 page “Hydrocarbon Law,” is about creating a complex legal structure to facilitate the privatization of Iraqi oil. As such, it in imperative that all of us carefully read the Iraqi Parliament’s bill because the Congress is on the record in promoting oil privatization.
This war is about oil. We must not be party to the Administration’s blatant attempt to set the stage for multinational oil companies to take over Iraq’s oil resources.
As Rosie O’Donnell again reminded us (who would have thought I’d ever be quoting Rosie??) last week on her final appearance on The View:
“Who are the terrorists?†“I’m saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?â€
Bush has been stitching up the deal with Talabani and is sending Meghan O’Sullivan back.
Wonkette has some coverage of her called “Lady Who Fucked Up Iraq to Fix It”.
