The argument in favor of the National Security Agency intercepts is consistent with those that took us to war in Iraq. They are all a collection, an assemblage, a concatenation of fibs, exaggerations, misinterpretations, selected evidence, hype, false leads, vile suggestions, felonious deletions and the like, which marched us to Baghdad where we remain to this day.

Richard Cohen, Washington Post columnist

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Get Ready for the Next War

They're at it again: a Middle Eastern country is accused of having, aspiring to have, and wishing they had "weapons of mass destruction." Its leader is demonized as worse than Hitler. Its ambitions are described as virtually unlimited. And it is said to be threatening its neighbors – and the United States.

The same gang that lied us into war last time is preparing a rerun of the same nightmarish movie, only this time in a new location: Iran. Starring many of the same actors, this story line should sound eerily familiar to anyone who hasn't been under a rock somewhere. The same lies, mouthed by the same crew of warmongers, are uncritically broadcast by the "mainstream" media.

http://www.antiwar.com/

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Why Do They Always go after the Peace Groups?

National Security Agency mounted massive spy op on Baltimore peace group

According to the documents, the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, a Quaker-linked peace group, has been monitored by the NSA working with the Baltimore Intelligence Unit of the Baltimore City Police Department.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/National_Security_Agency_spied_on_Baltimore_0110.html

FBI targeting US activist activities as 'domestic terrorism'

The documents released by the ACLU also include FBI observances on supposed Communist leanings of the Catholic Workers Group

"The documents released by the ACLU also include FBI observances on supposed Communist leanings of the Catholic Workers Group (CWG). In an e-mail to the counterterrorism unit, an unidentified official wrote, “the Catholic Workers advocated peace with a Christian and semi-communistic ideology.” In another document, an agent writes, “Based on the author’s interpretation of comments made by various CWG protestors, CWG also advocates a communist distribution of resources.”"

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/1723783.php

FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You

According to records obtained by the ACLU under a Freedom Of Information Act request, the FBI’s targets included people involved in a “vegan community project” in Indianapolis, the Catholic Worker movement and its “semi-communistic ideology,” Code Pink, the anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice, Greenpeace and attendees of the Third National Organizing Conference on Iraq, which was held at Stanford University in May 2005. According to the documents, in some cases the FBI received information about those under surveillance from informers within the targeted groups.

www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2474/

Thank God for the American Civil Liberties Union

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On the Home Front

New Mexico ACLU wants apology to employee investigated on 'sedition'

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico wants the government to apologize to a nurse for seizing her computer and investigating her for "sedition" after she criticized the Bush administration.

www.freenewmexican.com/news/38858.html

Frozen Account Ruffles Nuns

ST. LEO - The nuns of the Holy Name Monastery say they have been swept into the net cast by the nation's antiterrorism laws.

The sisters say the monastery's main bank account was frozen without explanation in November, creating financial headaches and making the Benedictine nuns hopping mad. They were told the Patriot Act was the cause.

www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBTP976FJE.html

The Terrorists of Tiny Town: Homeland security keeping our country safe from kindergarteners

WHILE ATTORNEY GENERAL Alberto Gonzalez assures the U.S. Senate that the Bush Administration’s domestic eavesdropping program is a vital “early warning system” for terrorists, another homeland security measure strikes at a local elementary school.

www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=14089024

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The Drums of War

Iranian fingerprints on cartoon-rage riots?
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48716

Poll: Iran Biggest Threat to U.S.
www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/7/144522.shtml?s=ic&s=lh

Military strike against Iran may be necessary
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48227

Newt Gingrich: Iran’s President is the New Hitler
www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/25/100038.shtml?s=ic

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What I'm reading:

Ron Brown's Body: How One Man's Death Saved the Clinton Presidency and Hillary's Future by Jack Cashill

Cashill's book is better than I thought it would be given that it is published by WND Press, associated with WorldNetDaily, one of the nuttier wingnut news sites. I am not convinced that Ron Brown was murdered--and, in fact, the author himself says that an accident cannot be ruled out although he clearly leans toward murder. There is certainly information in this book that is suspicious to say the least. Cashill quotes "Wecht's Law", named after famed pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who has been a prominent Warren Commission critic for decades. Wecht's Law states: "The more controversial a case, the more likely evidence is to turn up missing." In the case of Ron Brown, the first set of x-rays, which appeared to show a "lead snowstorm", indicative of a bullet having been fired, disappeared and a new set of x-rays were taken. The second set of x-rays themselves then disappeared. Cashill also relates the stories of several witnesses, including a forensic photographer, Kathleen Janoski, and Lt. Colonel Steve Coswell, who describe the suspicious hole in Brown's head.

One fact struck me: clearly someone with a lot of money was interested in investigating the death of Ron Brown. One of Cashill's sources was an apparently highly-regarded researcher by the name of Stephen Dresh, a high-level ($250 an hour) "forensic economist", who requested that his clients not be named. Nor did Dresch work alone--Cashill refers to his "Russian associates working for him on the ground in Croatia."

Regardless as to whether Ron Brown was murdered or died in a tragic accident there is much interesting material in this book. As he states:

Even if the plane crash were accidental, Brown and the thirty-four others died for no higher purpose than to secure a sweetheart deal between a fascist dictator and a notoriously corrupt American company.

That company was Enron. And as Cashill states:

Enron execs would become frequent flyers on Brown trade missions. On the last one, with impressive clairvoyance, they chose to take their own planes.

Cashill is no fan of Bill Clinton. Clearly he believes that Ron Brown's activities related to the so-called Chinagate scandal, namely allegations that Bill Clinton damaged this nation's security by allowing the transfer of dual-use technology to China, in exchange for campaign contributions.

The issue is not that clear-cut. Clinton did change his campaign positions and grant waivers allowing sensititive technology to be sold to China, however, there was a debate in his administration between those who favored a more restrictive approach, and those who favored a policy of "constructive engagement" with China. Clinton was under heavy pressure from some of the wealthiest and most powerful businessmen in the country to grant the waivers:

Motorola. Loral. Hughes. MCI. RSA Security. They all wanted the same thing--an open door to China, national security be damned.

To be fair, there are those who view Clinton's effort to "liberalize" export controls as a kind of necessary reform. They include much, if not most, of the high-tech corporate leadership and at least a few academics.

A few years back, WorldNetDaily and similar sites were full of stories hyping the China threat, and the likelihood, if not inevitability of war with China. Now, of course, we have a new enemy, the war on terror, and the China threat has faded in the minds of the Right. It might be argued that the policy of "constructive engagement" was successful and that America's economic ties with that nation are so strong as to make war undesirable on either side.

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The CIA Leak: Plame Was Still Covert

Feb. 13, 2006 issue - Newly released court papers could put holes in the defense of Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, in the Valerie Plame leak case. Lawyers for Libby, and White House allies, have repeatedly questioned whether Plame, the wife of White House critic Joe Wilson, really had covert status when she was outed to the media in July 2003. But special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald found that Plame had indeed done "covert work overseas" on counterproliferation matters in the past five years, and the CIA "was making specific efforts to conceal" her identity, according to newly released portions of a judge's opinion.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11179719/site/newsweek

So now Sean Hannity and the rest of them will put that lie to rest, right? Did anyone really think that the CIA would have referred this matter for prosecution if Plame did not meet the standards of the statute? Valerie Plame was a covert operative and her status was betrayed by officials at the highest level of the Bush administration. The fact that Karl Rove still has a security clearance is a travesty.

Larry Johnson, whose background is with the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism has this to say:

This much I do know. The CIA, as matter of standard operating procedure, conducted a prelimnary damage assessment once Valerie's identity was publicly compromised. Human intelligence assets who had worked under Valerie's direction were damaged. Their lives were put at risk (I don't know if anyone died) and their ability to serve as clandestine assets reporting to the United States was destroyed. Remember, Valerie was working on projects to identify terrorists and criminals who were trying to procure weapons of mass destruction. Part of this information was the basis for the referral to the Justice Department in September 2003 to investigate this as a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

Regardless of whether Fitzgerald can prosecute an Intelligence Identities Protection case, this much is clear--people who work for President Bush knowingly compromised an intelligence officer's identity. What is truly shameful are the prominent Republicans who are raising funds for Libby's defense fund. They are endorsing an act of treason and excusing it for political expediency. That may not be a crime, but it is wrong.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/02/vindication_in_.html#more

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