News

"Able Danger" Could Have Prevented 9/11

Former F.B.I. Director Louis Freeh is baffled by the 9/11 commission and its bogus reports. "Recent revelations from the military intelligence operation code-named "Able Danger" have cast light on a missed opportunity that could have potentially prevented 9/11". Military officers assigend to "able danger" identified Mohamed Atta as an Al-Qaeda operative in 2000, however they were prevented from sharing this information with the F.B.I. and C.I.A. Why? How could the 9/11 commission conclude that this knowledge was "not historically significant?"

Democrats Demand the Truth from Oil Executives

Democrats want Oil Executives to come back to the hill and testify under oath. They simply want the truth about the alleged meetings with Cheney's Energy Task Force members. Senator Harry Reid and other Democrats were fuming when they found out a secret service document proved Oil Execs met with members of Cheney's Energy task force in 2001. The House Minority Leader said; "we expected that they would tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Today, we learned that this was a standard they were not prepared to meet." During a press conference yesterday Senator Frank Lautenberg said, "I want to be certain this gets an appropriate review, so I've written to the attorney general asking him to investigate whether any of these oil company CEOs broke the law by making false statements to the Congress."

Pentagon Acknowledges Use of White Phosphorus

The Pentagon acknowledged the use of incendiary white-phosphorus munitions during the siege on Falluja. Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. military had not used the highly flammable weapons against civilians. This was a blatant lie. White phosphorus munitions are primarily used by the U.S. military to make smoke screens and mark targets. The Pentagon still defends it's use of the substance as legal, despite the horrific pictures and reports by the Italian press.

Bill Clinton Calls Iraq "Big Mistake"

While speaking in front of students at the American University of Dubai, Bill Clinton was asked about the war in Iraq. He told the students the United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq. However, Clinton did say the U.S. had done some good things in Iraq: the removal of Saddam, the ratification of a new constitution, and the holding of parliamentary elections.

Senate Goes with Republican War Strategy

All of the hubbub in the Senate yesterday centered around a pair of amendments offered to the defense authorization bill. Both the Democrats and Republicans realize Bush's "don't bother me about the war" policy is not flying with Americans. The Democrats drafted an amendment sponsored by Senator Carl M. Levin that required the Bush administration to provide quarterly reports to Congress about the war and a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. The Democratic amendment lost 58 to 40. The Republican amendment was co-sponsored by Warner and Frist. It was very similar to the Democratic amednment, but the requirement for the administration to establish a timetable for withdrawal was left out. The Republican amendment passed with a 79 to 19 vote.

Senate Allows GuantÃƒÆ’Ã†’Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¡namo Prisoners to challenge their Detentions

After an 84 to 14 vote, the Senate approved a bipartisan compromise that will allow the GuantÃƒÆ’Ã†’Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¡namo prisoners to challenge their detentions in federal court. The Senate says agreed they should be able to appeal automatically any convictions and sentences handed down by military tribunals in excess of 10 years. The detainee provisions, if enacted into law, will codify the military court system established by the White House for "enemy combatants."

New Document Shows BIg Oil Dictates U.S. Energy Policy

A documnet from the White House may prove executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001. When the Oil Executives from Shell, BP America, Conoco and Exxon Mobil "testified" at a joint hearing last week in front of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, they denied ever meeting with Cheney or officials from the Energy task force. This document gives specific names and lists specific times of meetings that took place in the White House between oil execs and task force staff members. The document shows most meetings took place with Andrew Lundquist, the task force's executive director.

Bush Arrives in South Korea

Bush arrived in Busan, South Korea, on Wednesday night for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. He met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. Bush urged China to "continue down the road of reform and openness". After his controversial comments about the long-time commmunist nation, he praised Taiwan saying the country has embraced freedom at all levels and delivered prosperity to its people. Comparing Taiwan and China, even indirectly could hurt U.S.-China relations.

American Torture Chambers a.k.a. "Black Sites"

The C.I.A. set up secret prison facilities as part of a covert prison system in eight countries. The hidden global internment network was set up four years ago and is the central element in the unconventional war on terror. The facilities are located around the world and are referred to as "black sites" in classified White House, CIA, Justice Department and congressional documents.

President Carter Says Bush Lied about Iraq

Jimmy Carter says Bush and his cronies manufactured the evidence used to justify the war with Iraq. On NBC's "Today" show Carter alos said, " he supports the move by Senate Democrats to force an update on the investigation into prewar intelligence on Iraq."

Top Al-Qaeda Leader Escapes

Associated Press - KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ A U-S official says security has been tightened at a military prison in Afghanistan following the escape of a suspected al-Qaida leader. Omar al-Farouq was considered one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast Asia. Indonesian authorities captured him in 2002 and turned him over to the United States. He was one of four suspected Arab terrorists to escape in July from the detention facility at the main U-S base in Afghanistan. The U-S just confirmed his identity yesterday. An Indonesian anti-terror official has criticized the U-S for not telling him about the escape. He calls al-Farouq ``a dangerous terrorist'' whose escape increases the threat of terrorism in Indonesia.

U.S. Helicopter Crash in Iraq

A U.S. Marine attack helicopter crashed Wednesday near Ramadi, killing two U.S. crewmembers. Insurgents also fought with American ground forces in the city and destroyed at least one of their Humvees, police said. Police Capt. Nassir al-Alousi said insurgents used guns, rockets and roadside bombs to attack U.S. patrols late Tuesday.

Closed-Door Senate Session Yesterday

Democrats used a rarely invoked Senate rule to force a secret senate session to get answers about the war in Iraq. Democratic leader, Harry Reid said, "Republican Senators have repeatedly chosen to protect their own rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why." Democrats used Rule 21, which dates back to 1795, to get some answers from the Right-wingers. A six-member, bi-partisan, task force was appointed to review the Intelligence Committee's work and report to their respective leaders by November 14th.

Global Warming is Real

Authors of a study being published today in The Journal of Climate say, "the longer we wait to do something about global warming, the worse the consequences." Scientists programmed a computer simulation to run as if the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide rose about 0.45 percent a year through 2300. That is slightly less than the current rate, about 0.5 percent. The effects were staggering.

A New Judge for Tom Delay

From the Associated Press -

The judge in Rep. Tom DeLay's conspiracy case was removed at the congressman's request Tuesday because of his donations to Democratic candidates and causes.

A new judge will be appointed to preside over the case, a judge who came out of retirement to hear the dispute ruled. The ruling came after a hearing in which attorneys for the former House Republican leader argued that state District Judge Bob Perkins' political donations called his impartiality into question. Perkins, a Democrat, has contributed to candidates such as John Kerry and the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org.

"The public perception of Judge Perkins' activities shows him to be on opposite sides of the political fence than Tom DeLay," defense attorney Dick DeGuerin told Judge C.W. Duncan, who was called out of retirement to decide the matter.

Perkins had declined to withdraw from the case, and prosecutor Rick Reed argued at the hearing that DeLay must prove that a member of the public would have a "reasonable doubt that the judge is impartial" before Perkins could be removed.

"Judges are presumed to be impartial," Reed said. Judges are elected in Texas and are free to contribute to candidates and political parties.

Rare Closed Session for Senate

In light of the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session today. They are demanding answers about the intelligence that led to the war in Iraq.