Eyeing Iran, US seeks to rush production of 30,000-pound bomb

The US Defense Department is seeking to accelerate by three years the development of a 30,000-pound bomb, a move that underscores growing unease over nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, the Bloomberg news network reported on Friday.

The formal request was made by Comptroller Robert Hale to the four congressional defense committees earlier this month, the report said.

The bomb would be the US military’s largest and six times bigger than the 5,000-pound bombs that the Air Force now uses to strike deeply buried nuclear, biological or chemical sites.

In his 8 July request, Hale said that there was “an urgent operational need for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high-threat environments.”

He told lawmakers that top commanders of US forces in Asia and the Middle East “recently identified the need to expedite” the bomb program.

Hale asked lawmakers for permission to shift 68 million dollars in the Defense Department’s budget to the program, to ensure that the first four bombs could be mounted on B-2 bombers by July 2010. More

“There’s no such thing as cyber terrorism”

But there is International Terrorism

“Both cyber terrorism and cyber warfare are concepts that are gross exaggerations of what’s possible through Internet attacks,” the Director of Information Policy Studies at the CATO Institute, Jim Harper, told RT.

Angel in Satanic Ritual Sacrifice

[...] The William Morris Agency also represents up and coming child models and had solicited a contract from the Ramsey’s for the 'services' of JonBenet. It should also be noted that in early 1996 the Denver Police had been investigating a Denver Child-Porno Protection ring linked to and run by none other than the Wm. Morris Agency and FBI Div. #5 (FBI Special/Black Ops).

John Ramsey ran a company called Access Graphics with offices in the Philippines, Amsterdam, Holland and Denver, Colorado. Access Graphics did business with the Wm. Morris Agency and had service contracts directly with what is commonly known as Iran Contra. Access Graphics major bank accounts were parked at the noted Iran Contra money-laundry Silverado Savings and Loan and administered by none other than Director of Silverado, Neil Bush, George W. Bush's brother. Ramsey was also on a list of witnesses never subpoenaed by former Iran Contra Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh. It can now be reported that Ramsey had either knowingly, or unknowingly, pimped his daughter out as a prostitute to the Wm. Morris Agency who were taking these child 'Models' and using them to provide sexual services for pedophile's in Government, Industry and so on in addition to their Modeling shows (shows often displayed in video footage in the many news specials on JonBenet's murder). [...]

Nathan Levi A Cannibal That Ate 27 Children

The History of Jewish Human Sacrifice

Purim Sacrifice

India plans to build 99+1 warships

India has plans to add about 100 warships to its navy over the next decade as it seeks to modernise its armed forces, and develop its low-cost shipbuilding capabilities.

Captain Alok Bhatnagar, director of naval plans at India’s ministry of defence, said on Thursday that 32 warships and submarines were under construction in the country’s shipyards.

Work on 75 more ships, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and amphibious vessels, would begin over 10 years.

More

[Full Article in 1 parag.]

Lockheed to rake in profits on India defense contracts

Berlusconi 'offered escort EU seat'

The escort at the centre of a sex scandal involving Silvio Berlusconi has said the Italian prime minister offered her a seat in the European Parliament.

Patrizia D'Addario told the BBC the plan was abandoned by his party, People of Freedom, after his wife complained.

He also did not pay her to sleep with him, but instead promised to resolve an issue over a building permit, she said.

The allegations follow the release of audio recordings purportedly of their liaison in his official Rome residence.

Mr Berlusconi has not denied that Ms D'Addario attended a party at the Palazzo Grazioli, but insists he did not pay for sex.

Mr Berlusconi's personal life has been under scrutiny since his wife, Veronica Lario, filed for divorce in May.More

US Nuke Hypocrisy

Israel recently asked the United States to assist in the establishment of a nuclear power plant in the southern Negev desert, without signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty

The report said that the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government has recently sent the requirement to the US government for getting its approval, but has received no response so far.

Israel wants to build the nuclear power plant in southern Negev desert, where its ambiguous Dimona reactor is located, in order to deal with the predicted growing domestic demand for electricity in the coming decade, according to the report.

Israel is interested in adopting the “Indian model,” which could allow it to build an internationally monitored civilian reactor while avoiding monitoring of other nuclear capabilities, the report said.

Israel has never formally admitted it has nuclear weapons, although there is a widespread international belief that the country does have such a military capability. More

“It’s not a legal war” – US sergeant on Afghanistan war

“One of the criteria for a just war is that you have to eliminate more evil than you bring in,” says ex-US Army sergeant Geoff Millard. “The war in Afghanistan has brought more evil into the world than it’s taken out.”

Jewish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that Spain's 780-strong force fighting under NATO colours in Afghanistan could be boosted by extra troops, in an interview published Thursday.

Civilian Toll Rising in Afghanistan, U.N. Says

Brazil, Spain question US Colombia bases

Brazil, Chile and Spain challenged the United States' decision to use and expand military bases in Colombia, saying they feared the move could heighten simmering tensions in Latin America.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile said in Sao Paulo they would put the issue before an August 10 meeting of a nascent South American Defence Council in Ecuador.

Spain's foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, simultaneously told reporters in Brasilia that they would demand explanations from Washington over the bases.

The Colombian government's announcement July 15 that three of its military air bases were to be used by the United States as part of joint anti-drug operations has ignited concerns and anger among Colombia's neighbours.

Venezuela and its ally Ecuador have warned the move could aggravate already deep tensions with Colombia.

US tourists 'being held by Iran'

Washington has said it is checking reports that three US tourists were detained by Iranians while hiking along the northern Iraqi border.

The three are reported to have gone missing in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region which borders Iran.

Local Iraqi officials suggested the Americans might have been detained after straying into Iranian territory.

There was no immediate comment from Iran. A US official said the US embassy in Baghdad was investigating.

"We are using all available means to determine the facts in this case," said the state department official, Robert Wood.

A senior security official in the Iraqi city of Suleymaniyeh, Qadr Hamajan, told Reuters news agency that the Americans were among a group of four tourists had arrived there on Wednesday.

Three of them set off the following day for the tourist resort of Ahmad Awa, about 150km (93 miles) to the east and near the Iranian border, he said.

MSM Silent as Synagogue Mice on Russia Protests

No Twitter, no Color Revolution, not even a word

Police in central Moscow detained almost 50 protesters, including Eduard Limonov, a leader of the Other Russia opposition coalition, over an attempt to hold an unauthorized march on Friday.

"Police detained 47 people over an attempt to hold an unsanctioned protest - a March of Dissent - on Triumfalnaya Square," spokeswoman Zhanna Ozhimina said.

According to eyewitness accounts, about 200 protesters turned out for the march, and there were around 50 reporters.

City Hall had refused to give the Other Russia coalition permission to hold the march, it but decided to go ahead with the event anyway.

When permission to hold the march was denied last week, Limonov said he had been detained by police five times for taking part in dissenters' marches and challenged all fines that had been imposed on him.

Other Russia said it would hold marches on the last day of July, August, October and December.

Police dismiss car bomb claims by Russian oppositionist Limonov
Russia's Limonov will appeal to Strasbourg over party ban
Russian opposition to go ahead with unauthorized March of Dissent

London 'co-ordinating' Iranian protest movement

Russia dashing American pipe dreams

Russia has embarked on a massive gas transfer project, which threatens the future of the highly sought Asian markets by the US ExxonMobil.

On Friday, Russia's state-owned gas exporter Gazprom launched the project to supply its Pacific Ocean port city of Vladivostok with an eye on complementing gas transit to East Asian countries in the future, Bloomberg reported.

Attending the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, “The development of gas transportation infrastructure in the east will let us diversify our exports.”

An annual volume of 150 billion cubic meters of gas is expected to be produced in Vladivostok by 2020 -- the year when the company is set to sell up to 25 billion cubic meters in the Far East.

The fuel, mainly sourced from Sakhalin Island, is to be diffused through the pipeline in 2011, one year before Vladivostok is to witness the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group.

ExxonMobil Corp, the largest of the non state-owned energy companies, stands most to lose from the project if Gazprom chooses to venture into the Chinese markets. Japan has also been tipped as a destination for the gas that travels through the 1,800-kilometer pipeline. More

U.S and Israel Test Missile Defense Radar System

The United States Military and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) this week conducted a joint exercise of an advanced X-Band radar missile detection system, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The Aipac boy

The powerful radar system, located in southern Israel, gives the IDF additional time to track and destroy incoming missiles. The United States deployed the system in Israel last October in an effort to fortify Israeli defenses in face of Iran's nuclear program and growing ballistic missile capabilities.

The United States and Israel are set to hold another joint exercise in October to improve interoperability between two other American systems that will deploy alongside Israel's Arrow missile defense system.

For decades, missile defense has been the cornerstone of a decades-long strategic relationship between the United States and Israel. Jewpac

2 Ga. officers suspended for investigating Obama

County officials have suspended two police officers after the Secret Service notified them that the officers ran a background check on President Barack Obama.

According to county spokeswoman Sheila Edwards, Officer Ryan White and Officer C.M. Route were placed on paid administrative pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation. Each has been with the department for about two years.

That investigation was prompted after the Secret Service contacted the county telling them that someone had accessed two police databases on July 20 around 4:40 a.m. to perform a background check on the president.
Edwards said that the Secret Service is leaving the investigation up to the county.

While DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis was not available for comment Wednesday, Edwards said that he will not tolerate this type of conduct and that there’s an expectation that all police officers will conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times.

There is no time frame on the investigation by Internal Affairs, but Edwards added that they are acting swiftly. http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090730/NEWS01/90730005/

Obama's Military Government

Zionist Terror Attack against America now imminent

A shift in authority has given military officials at the White House a bigger operational role in creating a backup government if the nation’s capital were “decapitated” by a terrorist attack or other calamity, according to current and former officials involved in the decision.

The move, which was made in the closing weeks of the administration of President George W. Bush, came after months of heated internal debate about the balance of power and the role of the military in a time of crisis, participants said. Officials said the Obama administration had left the plan essentially intact.

Under the revamped structure, the White House Military Office, which reports to the office of the White House chief of staff, has assumed a more central role in setting up a temporary “shadow government” in a crisis.

And the office, a 2,300-person outfit best known for flying Air Force One, has taken on added responsibilities as the lead agent in shepherding government leaders to a secure site at Mount Weather in rural Virginia, keeping classified lists of successors and maintaining computer systems, among other operational duties. Many of these types of tasks were previously handled by civilians at other agencies, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. More

Cheka in Amerika: Spy On Each Other

A top US domestic security chief announced Wednesday a strategy to make ordinary citizens the first line of defense against an increasingly multi-faceted terrorist threat.

"For too long, we've treated the public as a liability to be protected rather than an asset in our nation's collective security," Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a speech in New York.

"This approach, unfortunately, has allowed confusion, anxiety and fear to linger."

Napolitano, who also announced an extra 78 million dollars in anti-terrorism funding for 15 mass transit systems nationwide, said modern communications had increased the sophistication of threats since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"The tools for creating violence and chaos are as easy to find as the tools to buy music online or restocking inventory," she said. "If 9/11 happened in a web 1.0 world, terrorists are certainly in a web 2.0 world now."

Napolitano urged a "much broader society response" in which the public helps curb a growing phenomenon of so-called home-grown terrorism.

Referring to a spate of arrests around the country of US citizens and residents charged with jihad-type militancy, Napolitano said that ordinary people were often the best eyes and ears.

"You are the ones who know when something is not right in your communities," she said in her speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"Indeed if you look at the last couple of weeks, arrests have been made in places like Minneapolis and North Carolina," she said.

"So I think better education, about the breadth of the threat and how it can be carried out, is important."

In the latest case, seven people were arrested Monday, including an American-born Muslim convert and his two sons living in a quiet North Carolina suburb.

Napolitano even called on children to join an effort previously shouldered by police and other security services.

"There's actually an important role we can play in educating even our very young about watching for, and knowing what to do, if you're in an airport and you see a package left with no one around," she said.

However, she stressed she was not advocating "a culture of spying on one another."

She insisted that President Barack Obama's administration was committed to repairing the erosion of civil liberties that took place under his predecessor, George W. Bush.

"We have to be careful," she said. "That's a balance to be struck." [Like in Guantanamo?] More

Mass Murderer to be called to 'Iraq War Inquiry '

None can beat the Brits when it comes to whitewashing war crimes

Sir John Chilcot warned that his team would "not shy away from making criticism" if they uncovered mistakes.

Launching the long-awaited inquiry on Thursday, Sir John said the former prime minister, who sent British forces into the conflict alongside the US, would be among witnesses called; and he also suggested the current premier, Gordon Brown, would be on the list. More

Lesson #3 It Does Go all the Way to the Top

This is a continuation of the series, "Illuminati Profiles". My personal experience with Illuminati mind slaves.

PROFILE: Jill Beard claimed she was from California and related to a member of the Beach Boys. Her husband was Mike Beard. You could tell that, in her younger years, she was probably attractive. Her son was on the "modeling" circuit. Often, these runway shows were actually ways to model children forced into prostitution to the Global Elite. Pick out one you like and place your order. Her daughter was obese and failing every subject in school (I saw her report card).

ILLUMINATI ROLE: Alleged "Monarch" programmed sex slave, breeder, infiltrator and high level child prostution.

That's when I was visited by two "Secret Service Agents". For the unitiated, the Secret Service has two roles. One is to prosecute counterfeiters. The other is to defend and protect the POTUS (President of the United States). They never said anything about "funny money" but they did tell me that if I pursued criminal charges against Jill Beard I would have the Secret Service and the Federal Government to deal with. More

US Should Declare Victory and Leave Iraq, Says Top Military Officer

A top US military officer in Baghdad has stirred controversy by arguing in a confidential memo that the American presence in Iraq has outlived its welcome and that it was time "for the US to declare victory and go home".

'We beat the shit out of those Eyeraqi kids'

The memo, leaked to the New York Times, was written by Colonel Timothy Reese who calls for all US troops to be pulled out of Iraq by August next year. He draws on the adage "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days," adding: "Since the signing of the 2009 security agreement, we are guests in Iraq and after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose."

Under that Status Force Agreement, the US has agreed with the Iraqi government to complete withdrawal by the end of 2011. Though the numbers of troops pulled out so far is limited, the US military has begun to quit Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. More

U.S. Adviser’s Blunt Memo on Iraq: Time ‘to Go Home’

Ousted Honduran President Speaks from Nicaraguan Border

In a Democracy Now! national broadcast exclusive, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya joins us from the Nicaragua-Honduras border for a wide-ranging interview on his attempts to return home, who’s behind the coup, the role of the United States, and much more.

“I think the United States is going to lose a great deal of influence in Latin America if it does not turn the coup d’état around,” Zeleya says.

“It will not be able to put forth its idea about democracy. It won’t be credible before anyone.” On his message to the Honduran people, Zelaya says they should “maintain their resistance against those who want to take their rights away…so that no one will be able to disrespect them, which is what the coup regime is doing today.” [includes rush transcript]

US eyes private guards for bases in Afghanistan

U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan may hire a private contractor to provide around-the-clock security at dozens of bases and protect vehicle convoys moving throughout the country.

The possibility of awarding a security contract comes as the Obama administration is sending thousands of more troops into Afghanistan to quell rising violence fueled by a resurgent Taliban. As the number of American forces grow over the next several months, so too does the demand to guard their outposts.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he wants to cut back on the use of contractors that now provide a wide range services to American troops in war zones, including transportation, communications, food service, construction, and maintenance. As recently as February, however, Gates called the use of private security contractors in certain parts of Afghanistan "vital" to supporting U.S. bases. A contract for the work also creates job opportunities for Afghans, he said.

But the use of private contractors in Iraq has been highly contentious. Since a September 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians in Baghdad by guards employed by Blackwater (now Xe Services), critics have urged U.S. officials to maintain much tighter controls over hired guards. More

Afghanistan: Training Ground for War on Russia

UK soldier to Gordon Brown: why I won't return to Afghanistan

Picture No More Torture

President Obama refuses to release pictures of prisoners abused while in U.S. custody. Veterans For Peace calls on the President to “release the photos!”

We are collecting hundreds of pictures of people including veterans, kids, teachers, etc and will be adding the photos to this website and also sending each and every photo to the White House!

Why release the pictures?

• We have a right to know what the U.S. government has done in our name.
• We the U.S. public must access the proper course of action to take regarding the use of torture as a policy of our government. We need all available information to be fully informed citizens.
• Releasing the photos will show that the U.S. is not hiding behind the rhetoric of national security and give the world confidence that our government can be trusted.
• Candidate Obama promised transparency in his administration and President Obama should live up to his promises.
• Releasing the photos will help restore U.S. credibility around the world. More

Zimbabwe gems classed as 'blood diamonds'

Diamonds exported from Zimbabwe should be classed as "blood diamonds" and banned because of Robert Mugabe's human rights abuses, according to international inspectors.

Jaffa Oranges should be classed as "blood ritual Cannibalism"

Monitors from the Kimberley Process, the international watchdog set up to monitor the trade, made the recommendation to the scheme's bosses after visiting the country earlier this month.

They focused on the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, where mining is controlled by the country's military and police, and around 200 independent miners were massacred last year.

Mr Mugabe's regime uses the profits from the area to buy the loyalty of police and military commanders and units, according to a report by Human Rights Watch earlier this year.

In the Kimberley Process monitors' interim report, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, they say: "Violence undertaken by the Zimbabwe Republic Police and Zimbabwe National Army in removing illegal panners and then attempting to maintain control of the area is unacceptable within the Kimberley process framework."

The team was headed by a Liberian deputy minister, and their conclusions are the strongest condemnation yet of Mr Mugabe's regime by an African-led international mission.

They have recommend suspension of Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for "at least six months, but until such time as the KP team determines that minimum standards have been met", adding that the area must be "demilitarised" and adequate security installed.

The move would make Zimbabwe only the third country ever to be suspended under the Kimberley scheme after Ivory Coast and Congo-Brazzaville. More

Berlusconi 'Hid Ancient Graves'

Italian Mafioso Silvio Berlusconi has failed to declare the presence of 30 ancient tombs on his land, according to newly published recordings said to be of him.

The recordings allege Mr Berlusconi told escort Patrizia D'Addario of 30 Phoenician tombs at his Sardinia villa.

The tombs date from 300BC, a man said to be Mr Berlusconi was heard saying.

But officials say there is no record of him reporting any finds - a legal requirement for all Italians - and opposition MPs have called for a probe.

In the conversations, said to be between Mr Berlusconi and Ms D'Addario, the man boasts to her about his sprawling villa in Sardinia, where Mr Berlusconi has his own ice cream parlour and artificial lakes.

"Here we found 30 Phoenician tombs from [around] 300 BC," the voice said to be Mr Berlusconi is heard to say.

The Phoenicians were merchants and traders based around modern-day Lebanon, whose maritime expertise helped them extend their reach into the Mediterranean. More

The New Soviet Union

Vladimir Bukovsky spent many years in Russian labour camps and psychiatric prisons for defending human rights. He came to Britain in 1976. He lectures and writes on the old Soviet system and the EU.

AIPAC spy Larry Franklin double-agent for FBI

Larry Franklin gathered intelligence for FBI on Israel Lobby in United States.

Larry Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst convicted of revealing classified information, says he worked undercover as an FBI double agent to gather information on the pro-Israel lobby in the United States before the bureau turned on him and pressured him to plead guilty to spying for Israel.

Talking to a U.S. newspaper for the first time since his arrest five years ago, Franklin told The Washington Times that he wore a portable recording device for the FBI to capture conversations between Keith Weissman, a lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and Israeli Embassy official Naor Gilon and that he cooperated on other matters during a 10-week period in 2004.

He said he never sought to spy for Israel and felt betrayed when the same FBI agents whom he had assisted suddenly told him to get an attorney and threatened to send him to prison for disclosing classified information to AIPAC officials and the Israeli Embassy. More

Musharraf court hearing on misrule

A Pakistan Supreme Court hearing into allegations of misrule by former president Pervez Musharraf resumed Wednesday without any lawyers present to defend the ex-army chief, who left for London two months ago.

Last week, a 14-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry ordered Musharraf to answer charges that he had violated the constitution by ousting the judiciary and imposing emergency rule in November 2007 in a desperate move to extend his rule.

Fighting a Taliban insurgency in the northwest, dire economic challenges and doubts about its own standards of governance, Pakistan's fragile civilian government can ill-afford the distraction of raking over the past, according to critics.

Others say leaders should be held accountable if democratic institutions are to grow and future generals should be made to think twice before launching coups against civilian governments.

The army, which stepped back from politics after Musharraf's ouster, would be loath to be dragged into the controversy, but generals, having backed Musharraf's actions in 2007, would not want to see their old chief humiliated, according to analysts.

Opening proceedings Wednesday, Chaudhry received no response when asked who was present to represent Musharraf.

"We haven't received any notice so far and once we get it then we will decide whether to appear before the court or not," Saif Ali Khan, a member of Musharraf's legal team, told Reuters.

Roots

A Small World Indeed: Harvard Prof Gates Is Half-Irish, Related to Cop Who Arrested Him

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots.

Strangely enough, he and the Cambridge, Mass., police officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages.

In a PBS series on African-American ancestry that he hosted in 2008, Gates discovered his Irish roots when he found he was descended from an Irish immigrant and a slave girl.

He went to Trinity College in Dublin to have his DNA analyzed. There he found that he shared 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fourth century warlord who created one of the dominant strains of Irish genealogy because he had so many offspring. http://abcnews.go.com

'Theres no one as Irish as Barack OBama'

There's a New AIPAC in Town and We Want A Potato Blight Museum in Washington!

Gitmo Is Getting Worse

For many, Guantanamo Bay is a symbol of the excess in the lack of justice offered up by the Bush Administration. Unfortunately, for people such as Fayiz al-Kandari, Guantanamo Bay isn't a symbol of anything; it's the harsh reality of years of their lives. For Fayiz al-Kandari, that figure is 7½ years, and climbing.

Guantanamo is still in business, and things have become worse under Barack Obama, according to one person who has stood up for those who aren't getting justice -- Lt. Col. Barry Wingard.

Wingard is an attorney at Guantanamo and Fayiz al-Kandari is his client. For those who shouted loudly while George W. Bush was in charge, not as many have shouted in the last six months. Wingard has been the exception.

Wingard noted earlier that as bad as things were under the Bush Administration, it has only been in the last few months that al-Kandari's mail has been open, and the information used against his client. Attorney/client privilege? Gone.

Now Wingard isn't some snotty nose kid who is trying to make a name for himself. In his career, Wingard has seen a lot of examples of justice, so he can back up his concern over the lack of justice for al-Kandari.

From The Political Carnival's coverage: More

Guantánamo Bay: the inside story

A Case For Interrogating Dick Cheney

Some in Congress are stung by charges that former Vice President Dick Cheney ran an international assassination op from the White House without telling them about it.

They say he told the CIA to withhold the facts from Congress. This raises the question of how much power Cheney actually wielded---and the answer apparently is plenty.

In (Bush lawyer) John Yoo's version of events, writes Jane Mayer in her book "The Dark Side" (Anchor) "the impetus to break out of Geneva's strictures...came from the CIA. Many at the Agency, however, saw this differently, suggesting it was Cheney and his lawyer, (David) Addington, who pushed the Agency to take the path toward torture." A few days after 9/11 Cheney observed the CIA had gone over "to the dark side," but whether he starred in the role of Darth Vader needs to be established or denied.

The record appears to weight the case against him. Cheney has a long history of yeoman service to the Dark Side. To begin with, he is an unapologetic advocate of force, stating that force "makes your diplomacy more effective going forward, dealing with other problems." When the first President Bush failed to swing Panama's voters against General Manuel Noriega with $10 million in cash bribes, he called on Cheney, then his defense secretary, to crush Panama. Cheney did. During Christmas week of 1989, writes Tim Weiner in "Legacy of Ashes"(Anchor), "smart bombs blasted Panama City slums into rubble while Special Forces soldiers fought their way through the capital. Twenty-three Americans and hundreds of innocent Panamanian civilians died in the two weeks it took to arrest Noriega and to bring him in chains to Miami." That was an example of Cheney's work. More

10,000 Muslim Uighurs disappeared by China

Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled Uighur leader, today claimed that almost 10,000 Uighurs had "disappeared" during ethnic unrest in China's north-western region of Xinjiang earlier this month and called on the international community to launch an inquiry.

Speaking during a controversial visit to Japan, Kadeer said Chinese authorities had used undercover "snatch squads" to target Uighurs during clashes between Uighur and Han Chinese in the city of Urumqi on 5 July.

"Almost 10,000 people attending the protests in Urumqi disappeared in one night," Kadeer, president of the pro-independence World Uighur Congress, said. "Where did they go? If they died, where are their bodies? If they were detained, where are they being held?"

It was unclear where Kadeer got her numbers from.

The state news agency, Xinhua, said today that authorities in western China had arrested 253 more people suspected of being involved in the violence in Urumqi, in addition to the 1,434 detained earlier over suspected involvement in the 5 July riot. There are no details of the ethnicity of suspects. More

Jack Shaw: The Accused Consultant Found Dead

Jack M Shaw, a veteran New Jersey political consultant who was recently busted during the huge corruption sweep last week, was reportedly found dead in his Jersey City apartment on Tuesday, the same day that one of the three mayors charged in the case had resigned.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Mr.Shaw are “suspicious”, said Edward DeFazio, the Hudson county prosecutor. He also said that the death did not apparently seemed to be a homicide. “It could be natural, it could be accidental, it could be suicide,” said Mr.DeFazio, resenting to comment more on the issue revolving around the mysterious death of Shaw. According to the inside sources, an autopsy is supposed to be carried out on Wednesday.

Shaw’s death which was reported by a companion to the authorities at 5.17 p.m., came hours after Dennis Elwell, the mayor of Secaucus stepped down from his post after being charged in the sprawling political corruption case. More

CIA code expert found dead on Palm Springs trail. Robert Liebler developed secret codes for stealth communication.

Only USSA remains in "Multinational Force"

Commanders of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, as the American-led coalition is formally called, have a looming nomenclature problem.

Coaltion Force

Two days from now, there will no longer be any other nations with troops in Iraq — no “multi” in the Multi-National Force. As Iraqi forces have increasingly taken the lead, the United States is the last of the “coalition of the willing” that the Bush administration first brought together in 2003.

That is partly because the Iraqi Parliament left suddenly for summer recess without voting to extend an agreement for the British military to keep a residual training force of 100 soldiers in Iraq. As a result, those troops must withdraw to Kuwait by Friday, according to a British diplomat, who declined to be identified in keeping with his government’s practice.

As for the other two small remnants of the coalition, the Romanians and Australians, the Australians will be gone by July 31, too, and the Romanians left last Thursday, according to the Romanian chargé d’affaires, Cristian Voicu. NATO will keep a small training presence in Iraq, but its troops were never considered part of the Multi-National Force because of opposition to the war from many NATO countries. More

Colombians protest US military presence

Social and political organizations in Colombia called the people to gather on Tuesday to protest US military presence and defend national sovereignty.

According to the call on Monday, the decision by President Alvaro Uribe to allow the presence of US Army troops in several spots of the Colombian territory, in line with a military pact negotiated with Washington, rides roughshod over Colombia's independence and sovereignty.

Similarly, a call for debate was made by members of the Polo Democratico Alternativo Party at a plenary of the Senate of the Republic, presided over by Senator Gloria Ines Ramirez.

The wave of protest has been joined by members of the executive direction of the Unitary Workers Union (CUT), which demanded that the government respects national sovereignty by closing US bases in Colombian territory.

The CUT said Uribe's decision is against the so-far persued peace paths, thus contributing to worsen internal conflict and trigger external frictions.

These bases granted gracefully by the Uribe regimen to the United States, behind the nation and Congress' backs, add to the more than 700 such bases the United States has around the world, the workers central said in a communique.

Basing foreign troops in Colombia is banned under the Constitution, which only allows transit on prior authorization by Congress and the State Council, the text recalled. More

Chávez freezes ties with Colombia

Venezuela recalls ambassador and freezes relations in protest at claims it supplied arms to Farc rebels.

Colombian Special Commandos joining U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Problem for the "Jungle Commandos" -- there are no jungles in Afghanistan.

Mass Mobilization to Shut Down the School of the Americas

UK's rendition cover-up

The government is refusing to provide details of the torture and wrongful detention of a man rendered through British territory, it was claimed today, depriving him of a remedy for "serious civil and criminal wrongdoing".

Mohammed Madni, who was arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2002, is thought to be one of the two men the foreign secretary, David Miliband, admitted last year were rendered through the British Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia.

Milliband was forced to admit that the rendition, by the US, had used British territory, but has resisted calls that the identity of the men should be revealed and an apology issued.

"I defy the British government to deny that Madni was the person taken through Diego Garcia," said Clive Stafford Smith, founder of the charity Reprieve, which represents Madni. "Until the government admits this, it can't be said with absolutely proof. But the question for the British government is why not? Why not admit to the victim that you did it?"

He said detailed research and "a process of elimination" showed that Madni was one of the individuals rendered through Diego Garcia in 2002.

Speaking today by phone from Pakistan, Madni said he had been arrested in Jakarta for being "in the wrong place at the wrong time" – a fact borne out, his lawyers say, by his eventual release without charge after six years in detention at Guantánamo Bay. More

Jerusalem Hotel Divides US, Israel

An old hotel in East Jerusalem is exacerbating the conflict between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations over Israel's settlement policy. The row has been going on for a while, but now it is being fought in public.

Irving Moskowitz is 81 and lives in Miami Beach. A devout Jew and the father of eight children, he has made hundreds of millions of dollars in the hospital and casino businesses. With a foundation financed with the profits from a bingo hall in Hawaiian Gardens, California, Moskowitz helps the victims of tsunamis, tornadoes and earthquakes, the poor in California and Israelis with cancer.

Moskowitz was born in New York to parents who immigrated to the United States from Poland. The Nazis killed many members of his family, which helps to explain why he is so passionate about Israel. He makes it clear that he wants to help develop the country into a "safe haven" for Jews from around the world, and he is consistent about living up to his promise. Moskowitz donates a lot of money -- his critics estimate $100 million (€70 million) to date -- to religious and often radical settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. More

The Birth of Modern Terrorism:

Russia, Iran hold joint naval exercise in Caspian Sea

For the first time, Russia and Iran will hold a joint naval maneuver in the Caspian Sea, The Iranian Mehr News Agency reported Wednesday.

According to the report, the maneuver will include 30 Russian and Iranian ships, as well as helicopters.

A senior official in the Iranian ports authority was quoted by the report as saying that the maneuver would increase the coordination between the two countries, and focus on search and rescue operations and the prevention of pollution.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

Russia enjoys extensive trade ties with Teheran and has been opposed to imposing further sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment program.

Moscow is building Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, has provided Teheran with weapons and needs Iranian assistance on the Caspian Sea and other regional issues.

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that Iran is "our neighbor, it's a country which can play a very important role in solving a number of acute international issues, such as the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq and different aspects of Mideast peace settlement." More

Iran Plans to Boost Naval Buildup in High Seas

Gov't Urged to Take Action against Sanctions on Iranian Aviation

Prosecute the Bankster Crime Syndicate

More.

Israeli leader calls Obama 'slave'

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of Israel's Shas Party, has called US President Barack Obama "a slave" who seeks to rule the world and control Tel Aviv's affairs.

Shas Kidney Rabbi Busted

"American insidiousness tells us to build here and not to build there as though we were slaves working for them," he said. "We live in a time when slaves are governing us and are trying to control us."

The racist remarks were made during Yosef's weekly sermon on Saturday during which he protested the Obama administration's policy to exert pressure on Tel Aviv over its settlement expansion.

"We are not employees of the Americans… and Israel does not work for the United States," he shouted.

Barack Obama, the first African-American US president, has come under increasingly pressure from Israel over his strategy for peace in the Middle East.

In Israel, President Obama is accused of pressuring Tel Aviv to please the Arab states and is criticized for personal dislike for hawkish Netanyahu.

In other parts of his provocative remarks, the senior rabbi attacked Arabs.

Shas party link to Syrian-Jewish money laundering ring revealed

American Al-Qaeda gets life in prison for Bush plot

US national Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was sentenced to life in prison Monday for joining an Al-Qaeda plot to assassinate then-president George W. Bush, court officials said. [Rendition & Tortured Confessions: The Appalling Case of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali]

The sentence against Abu Ali, read out by Judge Gerald Bruce in an Alexandria, Virginia courtroom, replaced a previous 30-year-sentence handed down in 2006, but later overturned by an appeals court as too "lenient."

One of Abu Ali's attorneys, Ashraf Nubani, told AFP that his client "will be pursuing an appeal in the hope that justice will prevail."

Abu Ali, 28, was born and educated in the United States. He was convicted in late 2005 on six charges, including providing material support to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Prosecutors specifically alleged that Abu Ali plotted with an accomplice to assassinate the former president, either by shooting him, planting a car bomb targeting the leader or carrying out a suicide bomb attack.

Abu Ali was arrested in 2003 by authorities in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where he had been studying theology for several months.

He was held in Saudi jails for two years before being extradited to the United States and his lawyers have said he was abused by authorities there.

"He continues to maintain his innocence and that he was tortured. He and his supporters are convinced that one day he will be vindicated," Nubani told AFP.

Expanding Imperial Presence in Colombia

Rest of South America has reason to be alarmed by future US military presence on Colombian bases

Concern over the US military's Guam build up.

Breaking sarcasm: Holder Joins Conyers in Demanding Action

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has called on Attorney General Eric Holder to open a criminal investigation into the misdeeds of former president George W. Bush and former vice president Richard B. Cheney.

Obama shakes Conveyors

Holder, in turn, has now called on Conyers to open impeachment proceedings against former head of the Office of Legal Council Jay Bybee, now a judge in the Ninth Circuit.

Conyers, in response, has demanded that Holder open a complete investigation of 14 different areas of criminal enterprise and appoint an independent counsel, offering a list of eight possible candidates.

Holder, in reply, has insisted that Conyers reissue all of the subpoenas his committee has failed to enforce over the past two and a half years and use the Capitol Police to enforce them at once.

In response, Conyers' office has issued a new report on the need to weed out corruption and undo politically motivated prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice.

This morning, the attorney general remarked at a televised press conference, "Chairman Conyers proposed five months ago to extend to 10 years the statutes of limitations on crimes allegedly committed under the previous administration. Introducing a bill might be a way to begin making that happen. Just an idea. I'm no expert."

Surprisingly, John Conyers removed a large Easter bonnet that had been disguising him, stood up in the back of the room and shouted: "Mr. Attorney General, the former vice president of the United States confesses to authorizing torture every time he leaves his house. You are required by law to indict him. Are you waiting for Marc Rich's permission?" More

Arnold Terminates Funding For Child Welfare, AIDS Prevention

Don't-be-economic-girlie-men-Governator-Nazi-Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a revised $85 billion budget Tuesday that he said contained "the good, the bad and the ugly," including additional cuts to child welfare programs, health care for the poor and AIDS prevention efforts.

Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto authority to save an additional $656 million that will let the state restore a reserve fund he said is needed for tough times. Democrats immediately questioned whether he had the authority to make some of the cuts.

The new budget should help the state's cash crisis. It remained unclear, however, how soon the state could stop issuing thousands of IOUs to vendors and contractors.

The governor's vetoes included $80 million from child welfare programs; $61 million from county funding to administer Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid; $52 million from AIDS prevention and treatment; $50 million from Healthy Families, the low-cost health insurance program for poor children; and $6.2 million more from state parks. More

First Madoff Interview: Can't Believe I Got Away With It

Israel: Iran the biggest supporter of terrorism

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev on Monday called Iran the biggest supporter of terrorism because of the money, support, and training the Islamic Republic gives to terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and South Lebanon.

Shalev added that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program and its support of terrorism pose a threat to the entire Middle East.

Shalev's comments came during a special UN Security Council session held to discuss the situation in the Middle East, in which she also called on the international community to take serious, immediate action to put a stop to Iran's nuclear program and support of terrorism.

Shalev also accused Iran of being responsible for the sabotage of the peace process. | www.haaretz.com

How the Jewish Criminal Network Used American Tax Payers' Money to finance, Organize, plan and execute the 9/11 False Flag

Zionism And The Birth Of Middle East Terrorism

Zionist Israel Is Run By Terrorists

Terrified Gates: Iran is a threat to Israel, US

Washington says Iran's nuclear program is a threat to both Israel and the United States, reaffirming its 'unbreakable bond' with Tel Aviv.

Gates looks terrified in front of his boss

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made the comments in a joint news conference with the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem (Al-Quds).

“We had a good meeting during which I reaffirmed the strong commitment of the United Sates to the security of Israel. As President (Barack) Obama said in Cairo last month our bond is unbreakable, “ he said.

“We also discussed the regional security challenges we both face from terrorism to the threat posed by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. “

The US Secretary of Defense added the US will continue to ensure that Israel has the most advanced weapons. More

Zelaya demands Obama make clear his position on Honduras coup

CIA Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya urged on Sunday the presidents from the Americas to demand the U.S. to make clear its position towards the coup of June 28 in Honduras.

During a speech to his followers in Ocotal, north of Nicaragua, Zelaya said that the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton most be demanded on making clear her position about the coup.

Zelaya spent Saturday's night in Ocotal, border with Honduras, after he entered on Friday some kilometers inside Honduran territory, but he desisted and returned to Nicaragua.

On Sunday, Zelaya set a camp with this followers and he said that he will try to enter Honduran territory to meet with his family and to be restituted in power.

"We continue fighting, to demand a right, but the militaries continues restricting the public freedoms of circulation and association," Zelaya said.

Till Sunday, Zelaya was in Ocotal city, 226km to Managua, he was accompanied by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. xinhuanet.com

Police expose flaws in army's torture inquiry

The day after a firefight in May 2004 between British soldiers and insurgents, the bodies of 20 Iraqis were returned to their families.

At the time, many relatives claimed the corpses showed signs of torture. Now an investigation by Greater Manchester police has raised the disturbing possibility of an army cover-up.

A military investigation into one of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq conflict, in which British soldiers allegedly murdered and mutilated unarmed Iraqis, has been severely criticised by police called in to assess its credibility.

A new inquiry has found that the Royal Military Police - who are responsible for investigating claims of wrongdoing by soldiers - failed to collect forensic evidence, ignored key witnesses and did not ask Iraqi witnesses relevant questions as they investigated the "Battle of Danny Boy" and its aftermath. More

China, Taiwan in direct exchange

The leaders of China and Taiwan have exchanged direct messages for the first time in more than 60 years.

Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a congratulatory telegram to Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou after his Sunday election to head of the ruling party.

Mr Ma responded, suggesting that they had "put aside disputes", a statement from Mr Ma's KMT party said.

Mr Ma was elected president last year on pledges to improve ties. The two sides split in 1949 amid civil war.

Taiwan's Nationalist Party (KMT) elected Mr Ma as its chairman on Sunday, giving him more control of the island's legislative agenda as well as its China policy.

"I hope our two parties can continue to promote peaceful cross-Strait development, deepen mutual trust, bring good news to compatriots on both sides and create a revival of the great Chinese race," said Mr Hu's message. More

US, China must shape future together: Obama

Karzai can only win with fraud

Many Afghan presidential candidates do not regard the Taliban as the greatest threat to their precarious democracy or to presidential elections slated for August 20.

Despite elaborate electoral machinery and strong foreign oversight, the candidates and many of their countrymen have become convinced that next month's election will be heavily rigged in favour of President Hamid Karzai.

"I do not think that I can be convinced that this election is open, free and fair," said Mohammad Sarwar Ahmadazi, a U.S.-educated lawyer who is one of 40 candidates challenging the incumbent.

"I was at the state department in Washington two weeks ago and nobody there could give me assurances that they are able to check whether the vote will be fair. Tribal chiefs are going to tick the boxes where they want. Money will pay a big role." More

Czechs march against U.S. radar base

Several tens of opponents of the construction of a U.S. radar base on Czech soil staged a protest march through the Brdy military district, some 90km southwest of Prague, where the base should be stationed.

The second such march was staged by the No to Bases initiative. The first march was organised two years ago.

Intensive protests against the radar as well as political discussion on the issue have subdued in the past few months because the new U.S. administration is very reserved about the plan of its predecessor.

The administration is also reassessing the project over the current economic crisis.

"We want to remind people that the radar issue is not yet by far decided. I would not like to again experience what I experienced in 2007 when the plan for the construction of the radar here was announced the day after the (Czech) government was appointed," Jince mayor Josef Hala (Communists, KSCM) told CTK. More

I AM APPALLED...

Says (The guy who threatens Iran) Admiral Mullen After Viewing Classified Detainee Photos.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed outrage to his combatant commanders after seeing some of the detainee abuse photos now under wraps by the Obama administration...

Ehud Barak warns Iran of possible Israeli strike on nuclear facilities

With the Robert Gates US Defence Secretary standing at his side, Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defence Minister, today warned Iran that a military strike on its nuclear facilities was still an option.

“We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table. This is our policy. We mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position but we cannot dictate it to anyone,” Mr Barak said at a press conference with Robert Gates in Jerusalem.

The renewed threat of military action came a day after Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, told Iran that its pursuit of nuclear ambitions was “futile”.

Israel recently sent warships and a submarine through the Suez Canal in what was widely interpreted as a flexing of muscles toward the Iranian regime, still struggling to handle the fallout from disputed elections last month. More

Gates warns Iran of tough sanctions

Zionist-owned USSA to Arab states: Submit to Israel

Argentina's first couple deliver prosperity – for themselves

They were elected on the promise of delivering prosperity to Argentina, but statistics showing a stunning economic turnaround have come with a catch.

New figures show that since Nestor and Cristina Kirchner came to power in 2003, they have presided over a remarkable sixfold increase in their own wealth.

The couple have racked up a fortune through property speculation and investments that have thrived even as the economy has faltered. Last year alone their wealth jumped 158% to £7.3m.

Opponents have accused the Kirchners of exploiting political connections in their home state of Patagonia to buy municipal land cheaply and sell it at a vast profit. "It's a scandal," said Patricia Bullrich, a member of congress.

The couple, lawyers by training and leftists in the Peronist movement, denied any wrongdoing and through a spokesman said that being in office did not impede business deals: "That is the essence of capitalism." More

Czech president refers Lisbon Treaty to court

Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, has threatened to derail attempts to see the controversial Lisbon Treaty take effect before the end of the year.

Supported by 17 Czech senators, Mr Klaus, a critic of the treaty, plans to refer the document to his country's constitutional court at the start of August.

In seeking a ruling on whether the treaty complies with the Czech constitution, Mr Klaus would be able to delay signing the treaty into Czech law until the court had given its verdict.

That could thwart the ambitions of Sweden, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, to see the Treaty's provisions pushed through before the end of the year if Ireland votes to approve the treaty in its Oct 2 referendum. More

Secrets of CIA 'ghost flights' to be revealed

Guantánamo detainee's lawyers hail UK air firm's U-turn that allows rendition case to go to court

Confidential documents showing the flight plans of a CIA "ghost plane" allegedly used to transfer a British resident to secret interrogation sites around the world are to be made public. The move comes after a Sussex-based company accused of involvement in extraordinary rendition dropped its opposition to a case against it being heard in court.

Lawyers bringing the case against Jeppesen UK on behalf of the former Guantánamo Bay detainee, Binyam Mohamed, claimed last night the climbdown had wide-ranging legal implications that could help expose which countries and governments knew the CIA was using their air bases to spirit terrorist suspects around the world.

Jeppesen UK, a division of the Jeppesen Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing, is alleged to have provided a range of services that allowed planes owned by shell companies operating on behalf of the CIA to fly suspected terrorists to "black sites" . More

Iran’s nuclear program ‘futile,’ Clinton says

Israeli nuclear program good. US nuclear program even better. Proof? Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Iraq, (Yes it was nuked and so was) Afghanistan...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said the United States is doing everything in its power to ensure that Tehran does not acquire an atomic bomb. The Jewish bomb is our bomb, our property. Only 'we' can have it and use it against you if/when you don't submit...

Big Brother in the electronic age

WE’RE a big country so I guess it’s understandable that not only is Big Brother watching — but now it’s Big Sister, Big Uncle, Big Aunt, Big Whoever. It’s becom ing a Big Mother of an operation.

OK, we know about pat-downs at the airport that, for some of us, are the only time we have any physical body contact at all so let’s not knock that. But isn’t this whole invasion-of-privacy thing overdone? No place a private citizen can be private anymore. If a nice lady ends up in bed with a semi-nice guy in the so-called privacy of her own nice bedroom, she still can’t be sure she’s not being filmed. Spooks tell you super-mini-cameras can be tucked not only behind a painting or in a light fixture but in your ear, up your nose, between your toes or, with the greatest respect, God knows.

E-mail. The new generation doesn’t even know how to write longhand. Stationery has gone the way of papyrus. Stamps may be going up but letters are going down. Everyone e-mails. A guy’s breaking up with his longtime live-in? He does it by e-mail. You’re receiving a legal document? Comes by e-mail. A dumb married South Carolina governor getting it on with an overheated unmarried lady in downtown Argentina upchucks about the wonders of scratching her itch — on e-mail! Lawyers warn that you must be careful of e-mail. That there’s no way to ever get rid of it. That it’ll remain there longer than a hair transplant.

ATMs? These machines have big mouths. They know what you took and where you were when you took it. Can’t tell the missus you were in Cleveland on business when your ATM will state that on such-and-such particular Thursday you were in hot Buenos Aires pulling cash for a hot time on a hot bod. NEW YORK POST

Obama’s cool beer fails to cool fiery race row

The president’s reaction to the arrest of a black scholar has dented his reputation.

President Barack Obama 1961

THEY are calling it bar-stool diplomacy – a novel attempt by President Barack Obama to cool a heated racial controversy by inviting the offended parties to settle their differences over a beer at the White House.

Yet the president’s efforts to limit the fallout from a row over the arrest last week of Henry Louis Gates Jr, a black Harvard professor, may serve to extend a furore that has shaken the White House and raised questions about Obama’s vaunted leadership skills.

The row showed no sign of diminishing yesterday as Massachusetts media pressed for the release of police tapes that could shed new light on the angry exchanges between Gates and Sergeant James Crowley, a white officer who arrived at the professor’s Cambridge home to investigate a report of a break-in.

The incident led to a rare breakdown of Obama’s previously impressive political judgment. Having spent much of the past two years steering clear of racial controversy and nurturing an image of so-called “postracial” conciliation, the president plunged unexpectedly into the Gates affair. More

Police Report on Gates
Professor of victimology

Obama: Where have all his records gone?
Footprints of president's own history either vanish or remain covered up

NYT: On Television and Radio, Talk of Obama’s Citizenship