1 August 2004
Italian spies 'faked documents' on Saddam nuclear purchase
Nicholas Rufford, Sunday Times (Britain)
'The Sunday Times has tracked down a mysterious middleman who was a key figure in the notorious Niger hoax before the Iraq war, writes Nicholas Rufford.
'Speaking to a reporter in a cafe in Brussels last week, he claimed he had been an unwitting dupe in the scam ...'
John Scarlett (the new head of MI6, who took up his post this weekend) tried to persuade the Iraq Survey Group to include unreliable claims about Saddam's WMD in a report, the Mail on Sunday claims.'
(ITV Teletext, 1 August 04, p.304)
US Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge claims that financial buildings in New York, Washington and and Newark, New Jersey, are the target of a Qaeda plot. He said security at the New York Stock Exchange and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington were being stepped up.
Ridge credited President Bush's efforts for data obtained from overseas intelligence.
In what is patently pre-election campaigning. Targeting specifically swing-voters in librul New York.
Why don't they get the Brownshirts out there to beat up Democrat voters while they're about it.
Editor's note, 29 July 04: '... Earlier this month, [the above authors] broke the story of how the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistani officials to apprehend high-value [terrorist] targets (HVTs) in time for the November elections — and in particular, to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. ...'
US officials "pressuring" Pakistan included CIA Director George Tenet, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca, State Department counter-terrorism chief Cofer Black, and an unnamed "top CIA south Asia official".
According to one anonymous ISI (Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence) official, a White House aide told ISI director ul-Haq that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of (any) HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July" — the first three days of the Democrat national Convention in Boston.
Suicide car-bombers have attacked Christian churches in Iraq. (Three percent of Iraq's population is Christian.)
Janis Karpinski, the reserve general formerly in charge of Abu Ghraib, says Lt Gen Miller told her that supreme commander Sanchez had allocated jails in Iraq to specific senior officers, and that Abu Ghraib was "his" (Miller's). Miller denies this.
This report on British Channel 4 News in connection with Lynddie England's trial for abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
2 August 04
The alleged information on the "plot" to truck-bomb US east-coast financial HQs came from the laptop computer of Ghailani, a Qaeda "bigwig" "captured" in Pakistan late last month. (See July 2004 diary, under 29 July.)
This purported information comes from the Pakistani information minister.
President Bush has backed the suggestion for creating an overall head of US intelligence agencies.
So far from having exposed the real machinations behind 9/11, the 9/11 Commission is now serving to further the construction of the imperial police state — the purpose of 9/11.
In a neat dovetailing of the twin terror campaigns,
A Saudi diplomat was arrested in London after allegedly having sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl, but was released after he claimed diplomatic immunity.
These commie pedophile Kayeeda perverts, I can once more here my redoubtable buddy Col. Blitzenburger ranting ...
In another "disaster coincidence",
At least 300 people have died in a supermarket fire in the Peruvian capital. Security guards locked them in to prevent looting.
A similar incident happened in S America about two years ago.
3 August 04
A nation in danger. Or a president in peril?
Andrew Buncombe, The Independent
'America was bracing itself last night after intelligence agencies warned al-Qa'ida could be planning to attack financial institutions on the East Coast and that its operatives had already carried out surveillance missions on the targets. ...
'"We are a nation in danger," said President George Bush, after the nation's state of alert was raised to "orange" (high) on Sunday evening. ...
'Officials said the warning was based on information gathered following the unannounced arrest in Pakistan on 13 July of a computer engineer, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, 25, who allegedly operated an al-Qa'ida communications system. ...
'The US has issued numerous terror alerts since the attacks of September 2001, and some people were sceptical yesterday as to the nature of the administration's latest warning. The former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean highlighted the concerns of many without access to the information. "It's hard to know what to make (of it). None of us outside the administration have access to the intelligence which led to this determination," he said.
'I am concerned that every time something happens that's not good for president Bush, he plays his trump card, which is terrorism," he told CNN. ...'
US terror plot intelligence 'old'
BBC News online
'... US newspapers say officials investigating the information believe much of it was compiled by al-Qaeda before the 11 September 2001 attacks.
'The sources reportedly told the New York Times and Washington Post that they were unsure if Osama Bin Laden's network was still conducting surveillance on the sites. ...'
In the UK, thirteen people have been arrested on terrorist charges. Police refused to say if the arrests were connected with the alleged US plot.
Hundreds of US marines are in Chad "to help with terrorism there".
Or to pave the way for a Sudan invasion?
4 August 04
Terror alert: how four-year-old information was transformed into clear and present danger
Andrew Buncombe, Nigel Morris and Jason Benetto, The Independent
'The Bush administration was forced into the embarrassing admission yesterday that "new" intelligence about al-Qa'ida's plans to attack US financial institutions ... was up to four years old and predated the 11 September [2001] attacks. ...
'Tom Ridge, the Homeland Security Secretary, admitted yesterday that the decision to warn the financial institutions was based on information that was at least three years old.
'He said, however, that the threat remained real [...?]
'But Mr Ridge ... and other officials insisted the information was "alarmingly" more specific than the usual intelligence chatter. [This is the right term for it. Information recovered after Mr Khan's arrest was a "potential treasure trove", they said. [Interesting use of language, betraying the purposes to which this "information" was intended to be put.] ...'
See also Glenn Kessler, "Old Data, New Credibility Issues", Washington Post, 4 August 04, p.A01.
Britain is complicit in this horror
Straw and MI5 share the blame for the degradation of Guantanamo
Victoria Brittain, The Guardian, comment, 4 August 04
'The dossier by three young men from Tipton reported by the Guardian today, with its graphic images of torture in Guantanamo Bay, reveals the horror of what has been suffered, and is still being suffered in that lawless place, by British citizens and residents, with the complicity of MI5 and the Foreign Office. This is a dossier that highlights the lies and incompetence of MI5 and Foreign Office officials. No minister should ignore it for a day, knowing that four British citizens and two residents are living this hell now.
'Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed have set out the degradation they and their colleagues of many nationalities suffered: shackling in a bent position to a ring in the floor for hours or days, isolation for weeks or months, being held naked, kept in freezing air conditioning, sleep deprivation, near-starvation, imposed injections, forced shaving of hair and beard, withholding of family mail, refusal of medical attention, beatings, interrogations, psychological torture to force false confessions or false testimony against others, being confronted with confessions they never made, sexual humiliation, being shown pornographic photos and videos.
'Their report is newly corroborated by four colleagues and will be impossible to dismiss. Two of the Frenchmen released on July 27 told their lawyer, Jacques Debray, details of ill-treatment they suffered in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, which Mr Debray described as "close to those of Abu Ghraib". And on radio the Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali, also released last month, described torture and sexual humiliation. ...
'... how can British intelligence officials quietly go along with the US practice of sending men like Mamdouh Habib, an Australian, to Egypt to be tortured? When he returned to Guantanamo he bled from his nose, ears and mouth when asleep.
'Egypt and other allies who do this dirty work for the US and Britain are also the source of much of the false information that has made being friendly with critics of those governments' corrupt and repressive habits enough to confine men without charge in Guantanamo or Belmarsh.
'And how can Britain knowingly be party to another outrageous kidnapping by the Americans, of five Algerians from Bosnia, after a Bosnian court had ordered their release for lack of evidence? Or how can we quietly accept the fate of men like the Kuwaiti Fouad Mahmoud al-Rabiah, and numerous Pakistani detainees who were sold to the Americans? ...
'Donald Rumsfeld and the ranking US generals in Iraq may have survived the Abu Ghraib scandal, but in Britain we should do things differently. [Foreign Secretary] Jack Straw and [MI5 head] Eliza Manningham-Buller should apologise and resign over Guantanamo. ...'
5 August 04
Police question terror suspects [in UK]
BBC News online
'Detectives are continuing to question 12 men arrested in a series of anti-terrorism raids across England on Tuesday [3 August 04]. ...
'... According to Home Office figures, by May this year only 14 of the 562 people arrested under the Terrorism Act since 11 September 2001 had been convicted of charges under it. [The Terrorism Act of 2000 came into force in Feb. 2001.] ...'
Al-Qaeda 'planned Heathrow raid'
BBC News online, 5 August 04
'Intelligence officials are probing reports claiming that a man arrested in Pakistan was helping to plan an attack on Heathrow airport by al-Qaeda.
'Naeem Noor Khan is accused of being al-Qaeda's "dispatch boy" who passed coded messages between agents, including details of US terror targets.
'The Times newspaper reports that Khan had detailed maps of the airport.
'But a BBC correspondent in Pakistan says investigators have not confirmed the existence of a Heathrow plot. ...
'In February last year 1,700 policemen and 450 troops were sent to the airport after an alleged Algerian plot to shoot down a plane was uncovered. ...'
6 August 04
President [Bush] gaffes in terror speech
BBC News online
'... "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful — and so are we," the US President told a high-level meeting of Pentagon officials.
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people — and neither do we." [My emphasis.] ...'
Which simply underlines the fact that, regardless of Bush's intention, the truth comes gurgling through his lips willy-nilly, in a Bush-slip (or Bushism).
And that Bush is aware that al-Qaeda is but his puppet-masters reflected in the mirror.
Ayatollah Sistani, spiritual leader of Iraqi Shias, is being flown to London "because of a heart condition".
US says it has killed 300 militiamen in fighting in Najaf. The Iraqi deputy PM has said this is not a civilized way to behave.
Moqtadr Sadr's side denies the figures, saying they were only 36.
'USA[:] A disbarred [sic] lawyer has been charged with fraud after falsely claiming to have been abused by a Catholic priest at the centre of a scandal in Oregon.'
(ITV Teletext, p.318)
7 August 04
The British Daily Mail's lead story is that one of recently-arrested terror suspects in Britain is Osama bin Laden's "general" in Britain.
Maybe he could star in a recruitment poster: "Your country needs George Bush".
Benjamin Vanderford, 25, from San Francisco, admitted staging a hoax video showing hin apparently being beheaded by al-Zarqawi miltants in Iraq. The video appeared on a militant Islamist website. Vanderford did it, he says, to show how easily the media can be deceived.
In Britain, another "terrorist suspect" released, 11 still being questioned.
8 August 04
In Britain, two arrestees no longer terrorist suspects, but still questioned about fake-ID and immigration offences. Nine left ...
And if ten green bottles get accidently smashed — is there any redress?
10 August 04
"Bush nominates new CIA director
BBC News online
'US President George W Bush has chosen Congressman Porter Goss to be the new director of the CIA.
'Mr Goss, a Republican who heads the House of Representatives intelligence committee, must gain Senate approval. ...
'Mr Goss, 65, is a former officer with US army intelligence and the CIA.
'He represents a Florida district and has served in Congress since 1989. ...'
John McLaughlin has been the acting director of the CIA since Tenet stepped down.
12 August 04
Evidence gained by torture allowed by British judges
Robert Verkiak, The Independent (Britain)
'The use of torture to obtain evidence against suspected terrorists was endorsed yesterday by the Court of Appeal in a ruling that has brought Britain into conflict with international human rights campaigners.
'Two of the country's senior judges granted the Home Secretary [David Blunkett] the right to hold terror suspects on the basis of intelligence from tortured prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other US detention camps. ...'
US and Iraqi forces are mounting a campaign in the holy city of Najaf against the militia of radical Shia cleric Moqtadr al-Sadr.
13 August 04
In the UK, Detective Constable Brian Stevens has been found guilty of perjury and sentenced to eight months' imprisonment. He was found to have lied about his whereabouts at the time "questionable pictures" were downloaded onto his laptop.
Now it's only "questionable images" ...
Charges of downloading child porn against Stevens were previously dropped "for unconnected reasons".
One-by-one, the selected targets of The Great Paedophile Campaign are being picked off, one way or another ...
'"BRITISH FBI" CHIEF NAMED
'An ex-head of MI5 has said phone tap evidence should be used in UK courts for the first time as he was appointed [by Home Secretary Blunkett] to a key job in the new "British FBI".
'Sir Stephen Lander was named chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA] — the first ex-spymaster to play such a crucial role in British policing. [It's going to be an intelligent police state.]
'National Crime Squad chief Bill Hughes was named director general and will be in operational control of the agency. [Under political commissar Lander?]'
'Sir Stephen had a 25-year career in the Security Service [MI5] and served as director general from 1996 to 2002' (when he was replaced by Eliza Manningham Buller).'
'Soca's 5,000 special officers will focus on drug smugglers, people traffickers and web paedophiles [neatly linking up with The Great Paedophile Campaign] and is a merger of two current squads.
'Soca will be formed by joining the National Crime Squad, National Criminal Intelligence Agency and investigations units at Customs and Excise and the immigration service.'
In another development, all criminal offences, no matter how petty, are to be made arrestable.
White House Warns of Terror Strike
Preelection Threat Not Based on New Data, Official Says
Mike Allen, Washington Post, 13 August 04
'The Bush administration believes more strongly than ever that al Qaeda terrorists plan to try to influence the presidential race [!!!] with a massive preelection attack, a strike that is more likely to come in August or September than in October, a White House official said yesterday. ...
'The ... official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity, said the government had not gleaned any new information about political motives [!! for an attack since the spring, when administration officials began saying they were concerned about an attack in conjunction with the Nov. 2 election. Nothing to date indicates "an imminent operation," the official said.
'Administration officials said over the weekend that they believe at least part of the plot has been disrupted with recent arrests and computer seizures. Nevertheless, the official referred to "the preelection plot" and said the government has intelligence in which suspected terrorists "were talking about the election." ...'
Was this the reason for the Spanish train-bomb attacks of 11 March last, which killed about 200 people? To queer the upcoming US elections in favour of the Bush puppet? The loss of Spain from the "coalition" was a small price to pay for this. The aim would have been to show that "al-Qaeda" wants to get the Democrat "wimps" in in America.
14 August 04
Fifty militants were killed when US planes bombed Samarra,in Iraq, the military said. Local Iraqi officials confirmed nine people had died.
16 August 04
'In Iraq, reporters remaining in Najaf have defied orders to leave — and have described how shots were fired at their hotel when they ignored the ultimatum. [At first, I assumed it was the Americans who did it. Like the western reporters fatally targeted by tank fire in the Palestinian Hotel in Baghdad during the invasion. But it may be the puppets learning at the knee of their master.]
'The Times and the Independent say the attempted media ban was reminiscent of the era of Saddam Hussein.
'The Telegraph says Iraq's interim prime minister [Allawi] needs to understand that a pre-condition for a free election is a free press to report it.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.148, reviews of British papers)
'[UK] WATCHDOG WARNS OVER ID PLANS
'The UK could "sleepwalk into a surveillance society" as a result of ID [identity] cards and other plans, the information commissioner Richard Thomas has warned [speaking in The Times].
'He is concerned about how much information will be collected and shared under the ID card plans.
'Mr Thomas is also concerned about plans for a population register and database of every child.
'He used General Franco's Spain as an example of what can happen when a state knows too much about its citizens.'
(BBC Ceefax, 16 August 04, p.106)
'... Mr Thomas said the government was planning three population databases that would make more personal information quickly available to more officials, yet citizens would not be able to find out what the government knew about them.
'The projects, he said, were the home secretary's identity card scheme, the citizens' information project (a population register proposed by the Office for National Statistics), and a planned database of every child in the country from birth to the age of 18. ...
'The [House of] Commons' home affairs select committee has warned that [Home Secretary] David Blunkett's secretive and uncosted plans for a biometric identity card scheme would alter the relationship between the individual and the state. Information on the cards would take three pages to list and be available to many, from the Inland Revenue to MI6, including any authorised government department. However, individuals would be barred from seeing the information on them. ...'
17 August 04
Yesterday the Bush administration announced extensive plans for US troop withdrawals from certain parts of Europe and Asia over the next ten years.
Some observers doubt the extent, however, especially for Asia, where they say much or most of the forces may be left in place.
But though she seemed to be in a fit,
'twas nothing but a feint.
17 August 04
The Venezuelan President, Chavez, appears to have won a referendum on his presidency, with 58% in his favour with 94% of the votes counted.
Crude oil prices eased — slightly — on the news.
18 August 04
'[UK] TERROR SUSPECTS APPEAR IN COURT
'Eight British men arrested in anti-terror raids two weeks ago have appeared in court on Wednesday [today] charged with conspiracy to commit a public nuisance [is this all the "plot" could credibly amount to?] by using radioactive material, toxic gas, chemicals or explosives. [Well, this is a broad enough net for catching the fish. To make sure, perhaps they could throw in conspiracy to use pea-shooters as well — not to far from the actual charge against one bailed "terrorist".]
'The men appeared at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court where a full list of charges was read out to them.
'They were all remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 25 August.'
One genuine terrorist incident, made under long and gross provocation — the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris — was made the pretext for Kristalnacht.
Terror suspects appear in court
BBC News online, 18 August 04
'... Dhiren Barot was charged with possessing reconnaissance plans of the Stock Exchange in New York, the IMF in Washington, and the Citigroup in New York and having notebooks with information on explosives, poisons, chemicals and related matters.
'He was also charged with possessing reconnaissance plans of the Prudential Building in New Jersey, US. ...'
Eyewitness: Terror suspects in court
Andy Tighe, BBC News online, 18 August 04
'... the limits set upon what can be said at these hearings are considerable — so as not to prejudice a jury that might hear the case in future. [Of course! Well, let's dispense with jury trials altogether, and shoot people on the spot. ...]
'And such are the current sensitivities around high-profile defendents that there was no surprise today when the prosecutor obtained an order preventing the publication of any photograph or drawing that might help identify any of the eight men. [Maybe the BBC can make a bid to take over Pravda.] ...
'There were a scattering of friends and relatives in the public gallery, together with some foreign journalists unable to get into the main courtroom. ...
'... The full details of the charges and of the men's defence will not become clear until a trial takes place.
'And with the police still to examine the contents of up to 100 seized computers, containing thousands of data files, that will almost inevitably be many months away.'
20 August 04
Top US Democrat lawmakers on terrorist watch lists
CNN online
'[Senator] Edward Kennedy is not alone.
'A second prominent lawmaker said Friday [today] that he's been subjected to extra security at airports because his name appears on a list designed to prevent terrorists from boarding planes.
'[Representative] John Lewis, [Democrat]-Georgia, a nine-term congressman famous for his civil rights work with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been stopped 35 to 40 times over the past year [my emphasis], his office said.
'Kennedy, [Democrat]-Massachusetts, told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on border security Thursday that he's been stopped several times because his name appeared on an airline watch list. [Kennedy was one of the senators targeted too in the anthrax attacks of autumn 2001. Cf. 'The Anthrax Putsch'.]
'Lewis contacted the Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security and executives at various airlines in a so-far fruitless effort to get his name off the list, said spokeswoman Brenda Jones.
'Instead, Lewis got a letter from the Transportation Security Administration that he can present to ticket agents indicating he has cleared an identity check with the agency. But the letter warns he might still be subject to extra security checks before being allowed to fly.
'Other airline passengers have been given similar letters after they've complained to the TSA. ...
'Jones said Lewis's office has been contacted by another man named John Lewis seeking assistance from the congressman because he, too, has faced extra screening.
'Lewis is frustrated by the experience, Jones said.
'In one incident, security officials took "every single item" out of his luggage, she said. Another time, after he was allowed to board, security officials questioned him at his seat.
'Kennedy detailed similar stories at his hearing. ...'
My week as a terror suspect
Duncan Walker, BBC News Online magazine, 20 August 04
'Hundreds of people arrested under anti-terror laws [in the UK] since 11 September have subsequently been released without charge. One man tells how he copes with the lasting suspicion.
'Early one morning last year, Riaz's [a pseudonym] life changed for good; an armed police raid on his family home marked him out as a wanted man in the UK's war on terror.
'Dragged out of bed and off for questioning, it was seven days before police accepted he was not a terrorist an allowed him to return home, to a community which continues to regard him with suspicion.
'While in custody Riaz, who says he still does not know why he was arrested, also became a new dad. Fatherhood aside, the 30-year-old's story is not that unusual. According to the Home Office 609 people were arrested under anti-terror legislation between 11 September and 30 June of this year; 99 were charged with such offences. ...'
25 August 04
Mark Thatcher, the son of the Iron Lady, has been arrested at his home in South Africa on charges of helping finance a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. He denies the charges.
English mercenaries have recently gone on trial in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the plot. Some, including alleged plot-leader Simon Francis Mann, were arrested in Zimbabwe. Thatcher and Mann were called close friends and were said to have met in connection with the plot.
'US [military] INTELLIGENCE KNEW OF ABUSE
'Twenty-seven members of a US military intelligence unit at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail requested or condoned abuse of Iraqi inmates, an inquiry has found.
'General Paul [Kean/Kern], head of the US army investigation into the scandal, said that "serious misconduct and a loss of moral values" had been uncovered.
'"There is no single, simple explanation for why the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison happened," the report concluded.'
(ITV Teletext, 25 August 04, p.308)
26 August 04
Mark Thatcher was about to flee to Texas when arrested in Cape Town (see yesterday), reports say.
To the home of global gas-guzzling.
South African arms dealer Nick du Toit is facing possible execution over the alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.
"Ringleader" Simon Francis Mann, an ex-SAS (Special Air Service) man, is one of 70 defendants held in Zimbabwe, while another 19 are on trial in Malebo, capital of Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial Guinea, pumping 350,000 barrels of oil a day, is Africa's third-largest oil producer since offshore development began in the mid-1990s.
'US ADMITS "BOUNTY HUNTER" CONTACT
'The US Department of Defence has admitted having contact with a former US soldier, Jonathan Idema, charged in Afghanistan with torturing civilians. 'But it says it rejected Mr Idema's offer to work together in capturing terror suspects in Afghanistan.
'Mr Idema — who was arrested by Afghan security agents in July — says his operation was approved by the US.
'He and two other US citizens are being tried for torture, kidnapping and running a private jail in Kabul.'
(BBC Ceefax, 26 August 04, p.120)
Private operations through "former" members of intelligence and the special forces is the way in which the parallel government can escape the oversight of Congress. (See "Al-Qaeda: A CIA protege".
Cf. the item above about "former" SAS man Simon Mann, said to be leader of the planned putsch in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
'Israeli troops have cut [the] Gaza [Strip] into three parts and shut the border with Egypt after Palestinian militants fired crude rockets at a nearby Israeli town. ...'
(BBC Ceefax, 26 August 04, p.123)
27 August 04
Bush gives CIA chief new powers
BBC News online
'... including some control over other intelligence agencies, the White House says.
'He signed executive orders that would also launch a national counter-terrorism centre.
'Spokesman Scott McClellan said the CIA chief would have temporary authority to act as national intelligence director.
'But the orders do not create the post itself — a key recommendation by the independent [LMAO] 9/11 commission. ...
'Mr McClellan ... said one executive ordedr would give acting CIA Director John McLaughlin "interim" authority to perform many of the functions of a proposed intelligence tsar in overseeing 15 intelligence agencies. ...
'Earlier this month Mr Bush nominated Republican Congressman Porter Goss to be the new director of the CIA ...
'Mr Goss ... must gain Senate approval to replace George Tenet, who resigned as CIA director last month. ...'
The moves are a confirmation of the ascent of the CIA, in which 9/11 was instrumental.
28 August 04
US examines 'Israeli spy' claim
BBC News online
'The FBI is investigating reports that a highly place Pentagon official spied for Israel, the US defence department has confirmed.
'The FBI reportedly suspects that the analyst gave Israel access to secret material on US policy towards Iran.
'US broadcaster CBS television said the suspect had ties to high-ranking officials at the Pentagon.
'Israel, a close US ally, has described the spying allegations as "completely false and outrageous".
'The suspected spy is said to have links to Douglas Feith, a key adviser to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
'Mr Feith, along with Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, is believed to have played a key role in planning the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. ...
'Citing unnamed sources, CBS reports that the alleged Pentagon spy handed over the draft of a US presidential directive concerning policy towards Iran last year.
'"This put the Israelis — acccording to one of our sources — inside the decision-making loop so they could try to influence the outcome," the television report said. ...'
This seems gross hypocrisy from a government behind whose foreign policy the ultraZionist lobby is arguably the single most influential group. Wasn't Richard Perle himself accused of spying for Israel in the 1970s or 1980s?
This bubble from the Mullerized, thorougly-purged FBI (like the late reawkening of "interest"in the anthrax attacks) seems a sop to public opinion and an election ploy.
'GILLIGAN RAPS BBC GOVERNORS
''Journalist Andrew Gilligan has launched a wide-ranging attack on the BBC Governors over their handling of the Dr David Kelly affair.
'The former Radio $ Today reporter said the Governors' weakness in the face of pressure from the Government had 'turned a crisis into a disaster".
'BBC news journalism, and the Today show in particular, had suffered as a result of their capitulation, he added.'
(ITV Teletext, 28 August 04, p.308)
Resigned BBC head Greg Dyke has also attacked Blair, saying he was either incompetent or lied about Iraqi WMD. ("Ready-in-45-minutes", etc)
'Police in New York have arrested 264 people demonstrating against President George W Bush ahead of next week's Republican Party Convention.
'They were among 5,000 cyclists who stopped traffic around Madison Square Garden, where the event will be held. ...'
(BBC Ceefax, 28 August 04, p.122)
29 August 04
'[SUNDAY] TIMES[:] The Pentagon and MI6 were warned in advance about the prospect of the African coup attempt that led to the arrest of Sir Mark Thatcher.'
(ITV Teletext, p.328, reviews of British papers)
They were behind it, more like.
30 August 04
'TIMES[:] The BBC's new director-general is planning a fundamental shake-up of programme-making which will give comedy the same priority as news.'
(ITV Teletext, p.328, reviews of British papers)
31 August 04
Three simultaneous terrorist attacks in the Old World to coincide with the Republican "War On Terror" electoral convention in New York.
A double bus-bomb attack in southern Israel kills at least 18 people and wounds 80; Hamas claims responsibility. A car-bomb in Moscow kills about eight; Chechen terrorism is (conventionally) blamed. And in Iraq, 12 Nepalese menial workers are shot on a video, by some group called "Ansar al-Sunna".
British Channel 4 News says Western intelligence says fighters from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Iran, etc, have crossed Iraq's "non-existent" borders and are working for al-Qaeda, etc.
All grist to the mill of oil empire.
Conrad Black, the former chief executive of Hollinger International, and others have been accused of pillaging $400 million (£223 million) from the company.
For them, World As Spoil has already arrived.
ITV Teletext news online BBC News online