"I was building a bridge," an Afghan contactor said, one evening over drinks. "The local Taliban commander called and said 'don't build a bridge there, we'll have to blow it up.' I asked him to let me finish the bridge, collect the money -- then they could blow it up whenever they wanted. We agreed, and I completed my project." Who is funding the Afghan Taliban? You don't want to know. 13 Aug 2009. In Afghanistan, one of the richest sources of Taliban funding is the foreign assistance coming into the country. Virtually every major project includes a healthy cut for the insurgents. Call it protection money, call it extortion, or, as the Taliban themselves prefer to term it, "spoils of war," the fact remains that international donors, primarily the United States, are to a large extent financing their own enemy... The manager of an Afghan firm with lucrative construction contracts with the U.S. government builds in a minimum of 20 percent for the Taliban in his cost estimates. The manager, who will not speak openly, has told friends privately that he makes in the neighborhood of $1 million per month. Out of this, $200,000 is siphoned off for the insurgents.
Deadly blast shakes NATO HQ in Kabul 15 Aug 2009 A car bomb explosion outside NATO headquarters has rocked the Afghan capital, killing seven people and wounding 91 others as the country prepares for a presidential 'election.' The explosion, at the main gate of the NATO compound, occurred about 8:30 a.m. local time in a heavily fortified area that also includes the US embassy and the Afghan presidential palace, the Telegraph reported.
Captain Removed After Slamming Afghan War --A British Army captain who anonymously wrote a scathing attack about the Afghan war has been removed from his unit, Sky News understands. 14 Aug 2009 The unnamed officer wrote the emotive article in Monday's Independent newspaper. "My motivation is simple" he said. "Writing this helps vent off some of the frustration at what is happening out here in Afghanistan to those serving in the British Army, where death and serious injury are sickeningly common occurrences." The officer, who has been in the Army for eight years, is likely to be brought back from Afghanistan and faces disciplinary action and a possible court martial. Serving members of the Armed forces are banned from speaking to the media without prior agreement from the Ministry of Defence.
Top General in Afghanistan Looks to Replace Support Force With Combat Troops --McChrystal is considering a 12 percent rollover from support personnel to combat troops 14 Aug 2009 The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan may look to replace desk jockeys with gun-toters while keep troop levels even in the Taliban-infested war zone, The Washington Times reports. Gen. Stanley McChrystal is preparing a major strategy review to be sent to the White House shortly, and while some advisers have suggested he request as many as 21,000 more troops, Pentagon chief Robert Gates has been downplaying the idea of building on top of the 68,000-strong force already committed there by the end of the year.
New Obusha money pit opens: U.S. to Resume Training Georgian Troops 14 Aug 2009 The United States is resuming a combat training mission in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to prepare its army for counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan, despite the risks of angering Russia, senior Defense Department officials said Thursday. The training effort is intended to prepare Georgian troops to fight at NATO standards alongside American and allied forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon officials said.
Iraqi protest at media censorship --New rules censor books, ban websites 14 Aug 2009 About 200 Iraqi journalists, writers and publishers have protested in Baghdad at what they say is growing state interference in their work. The protest follows the introduction of new rules for censoring books, and a proposal to ban certain websites. Some journalists say there has been an increase in lawsuits against those investigating security or corruption. [Most Iraqis likely prefer Saddam Hussein over the US-installed Maliki-ExxonMobil-Monsanto dictatorship. --LRP]
Double Suicide Bombing Kills at Least 21 in Northern Iraq 14 Aug 2009 Two suicide bombers killed at least 21 people in a cafe in northern Iraq on Thursday, Iraqi officials said. The double bombing occurred about 5 p.m. in the Ayoub coffeehouse in Sinjar, a town about 240 miles northwest of Baghdad. At least 30 people were wounded.
Finding child's severed head drove Iraq guard over edge, says family 15 Aug 2009 A former British soldier accused of shooting dead two colleagues in Iraq was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and should never have been given a job as a private security guard in the country, his family has said. Danny Fitzsimons was arrested by Iraqi police after the attack in Baghdad's International Zone last Sunday which left two fellow ArmorGroup employees dead and a third injured. Michael Fitzsimons recalled his brother sobbing as he spoke of the child's head he had found in Kosovo and picking up bits of his friend's brain in Iraq.
Israel told to probe murder of white flag Gazans 13 Aug 2009 Human Rights Watch has demanded that Israel probe into the "unlawful" killing of 11 civilians, including 4 children, who were murdered while waving white flags during the Gaza war. The New York-based organization said in a 63-page report on Thursday that the 11 civilians were only a small fraction of the civilians killed during the December-January Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Swiss move to ban minarets as 'symbols of Islamic power' 14 Aug 2009 The Swiss country town of Langenthal has become the focus of a virulent right-wing campaign to ban minarets from all mosques in the Alpine republic on the grounds that they symbolise ideological opposition to the country's constitution. Switzerland's "stop minaret" movement is backed by the influential ultra-conservative Swiss People's Party, (SVP) which was re-elected in 2007 with its largest ever share of the vote after mounting an anti-foreigner campaign that was denounced by the United Nations as racist. Ulrich Schüler, an SVP parliamentarian and leading member of the anti-minaret movement, says the edifices are political rather than religious.
Gag me with a chainsaw! Halliburton Expanding in Williston 13 Aug 2009 Williston's oil and energy sector is continuing to expand, thanks to Halliburton's latest investment in a new 30-acre facility. The project is estimated to cost between $15 and $20 million. Shane Goettle, North Dakota Chamber of Commerce Commissioner, says Halliburton's investment is a signal that they are here to stay for the long haul.
Pentagon, governors clash over emergency military powers 14 Aug 2009 The Pentagon is upsetting the nation's governors by pushing for authority to call up military reservists for natural disasters -- and to control how the troops would be used in any state. "Control" is the key word. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine reserves can be tapped by the president for military deployments overseas and for national emergencies such as terrorist attacks. Defense officials recently floated a new proposal on Capitol Hill, sparking a sharp response from the governors. At the heart of the disagreement is who will command reserve troops when they are sent to a particular state to deal with a hurricane, wildfire or other [H1N1] disaster.
Terrorism Trials May Be at New Va. Court --Security May Favor Newport News Over Alexandria 13 Aug 2009 A new, high-security courthouse in Newport News, Va., could be the site of terrorism trials for some Guantanamo Bay inmates, including the self-proclaimed [under torture] mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, if the Obama administration sends cases into the federal courts, law enforcement sources said. The Justice Department recently began sending the files of about 30 detainees prisoners to U.S. attorney's offices in Alexandria, Manhattan, Washington and Brooklyn. Prosecutors are trying to determine which terrorism suspects can be tried in federal courts, Justice Department sources have said, and each office is working with Defense Department prosecutors to decide whether some cases should be assigned to military tribunals.
Homeland Security Expands Biometric Security Program 14 Aug 2009 The Department of Homeland Security is expanding a pilot project that uses fingerprint scanners and kiosks to speed travelers headed overseas through airport security. On August 24th, the Global Entry Trusted Traveler program will be available at 13 additional airports in the United States and Puerto Rico, bringing the total number of airports equipped with the technology to 20. The program is also available at airports in the Netherlands through a partnership.
Nine USAF personnel monitoring PR blowback --Air Force used Twitter to track NY flyover fallout 10 Aug 2009 As the Pentagon warns of the security risks posed by social networking sites, newly released government documents show the military also uses these Internet tools to monitor and react to coverage of high-profile events. The Air Force tracked the instant messaging service Twitter, video carrier YouTube and various blogs to assess the huge public backlash to the Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty this spring, according to the documents... According to the Air Force One documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, a unit called the Combat Information Cell at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida monitored the public fallout from the April 27 flight and offered recommendations for dealing with the fast-breaking story. Formed two years ago, the cell is made up of as many as nine people who analyze piles of data culled from the Internet and other sources to determine whether the Air Force's message is being heard.
Fort Detrick, Quantico, DHS and Halliburton --What do they all have in common? They're all monitoring the CLG. By Lori Price 14 Aug 2009 I took a walk through the Citizens For Legitimate Government visitor logs over the past thirty hours and saw numerous .gov, .mil and state visitors in the logs. I compiled some of them. Note: This is only a snapshot!
Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash --Violent Signs, Gun, Standoff Latest in Emerging Anger Towards the President 14 Aug 2009 Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama, especially as the debate over health care intensifies and a pattern of threats emerges... While officials told ABC News that the President's daily threat matrix has yet to reflect a sharp increase in threats, White House officials privately admit deep concern and have told the Secret Service to keep security tight, even if Obama objects.
Man in Custody After 8-Hour Federal Building Standoff --The suspect made an unspecified threat against the White House, according to a law enforcement source. 14 Aug 2009 A man accused of making threats against the White House was taken into custody Thursday after an 8 hour standoff with police outside the Federal Building. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan identified the suspect as Joseph Moshe of Los Angeles. After several refusals to surrender to officials, Moshe withstood four rounds of tear gas tossed through his car window before officers fired a taser gun at him.
Mom in minivan tasered twice in Salina traffic stop; camera captures deputy's rough roadside arrest 13 Aug 2009 (NY) In January, an Onondaga County sheriff's deputy pulled over Audra Harmon, who had two of her kids with her in her minivan. A routine traffic stop escalated quickly. The deputy, Sean Andrews, accused her of talking on her cell phone. She said she could prove him wrong. He said she was speeding. She denied it and got out of the van. He told her to get back in. She did, then he ordered her back out. He yanked her out by the arm, knocked her down with two Taser shots and charged her with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. His rationale on the disorderly conduct charge: She obstructed traffic when she got out of the van. The speeding accusation: going 50 mph in a 45-mph zone.
International Swine Flu Conference --August 19-20, 2009 Workshop: August 21, 2009 - Washington, DC (New-Fields.com/ISFC) --Concurrent Breakout Session #1 Mass Fatality Management Planning Develop and implement training and exercise programs; Direct fatality management tactical operations; Activate fatality management operations; Conduct morgue operations; Manage ante-mortem data; Conduct final disposition --Session #7 First Responders: Fire Department Protect fire department first responders from falling ill & from being hurt in civil disturbances; Effectively transition into All-Hazards Incident Management Responders; Effectively undertake mass vaccinations; Enforce quarantines --Session #8 First Responders: Fire Department Protect public works first responders from falling ill or being hurt in civil disturbances
Glaxo Starts Testing Swine Flu Vaccine With Additive --Vaccine contains experimental adjuvant additive 14 Aug 2009 GlaxoSmithKline Plc has started clinical tests on its experimental swine flu vaccine, completing enrollment for the first of 16 studies planned. Glaxo, of London, said the first trial of adults ages 18 to 60 in Germany is part of a program to test the vaccine in 9,000 infants, children and adults in Europe, Canada and the U.S., the drugmaker said in an e-mailed statement today. [See: German health expert warning: Does virus vaccine increase cancer risk? 07 Aug 2009 German health expert Wolfgang Wodarg has given a shock warning about the swine flu virus vaccine - does it increase the risk of cancer?]
'In some cases, it's caused by the vaccine used to fight it.' Vaccine spreading polio in Nigeria, health officials warn 14 Aug 2009 Polio, the dreaded paralyzing disease stamped out in the industrialized world, is spreading in Nigeria. And health officials say that in some cases, it’s caused by the vaccine used to fight it. In July, the World Health Organization issued a warning that this vaccine-spread virus might extend beyond Africa.
U.S. tests system to break foreign Web censorship 13 Aug 2009 The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet. The "feed over email" (FOE) system delivers news, podcasts and data via technology that evades web-screening protocols of restrictive regimes, said Ken Berman, head of IT at the U.S. government's Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is testing the system.
The brutal truth about America's healthcare --An extraordinary report from Guy Adams in Los Angeles at the music arena that has been turned into a makeshift medical centre 15 Aug 2009 They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life. In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.
Republican Death Trip By Paul Krugman 14 Aug 2009 The truth is that the factors that made politics so ugly in the Clinton years -- the paranoia of a significant minority of Americans and the cynical willingness of leading Republicans to cater to that paranoia -- are as strong as ever... The question now is how Mr. Obama will deal with the death of his postpartisan dream. So far, at least, the Obama administration’s response to the outpouring of hate on the right has had a deer-in-the-headlights quality.
Dems Scurry from Tea-Baggers Over Health Care "Many progressives don't really feel they have a dog in this fight." By Glen Ford 12 Aug 2009 The so-called health care reform measure that single-payer advocate Rep. John Conyers calls "crap" got crapped on by a motley mob from the Sarah Palin Party. Like denizens of the original, 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead, Rush Limbaugh’s basic-unit American know-nothings and racists lurched into Democratic town hall meetings with mayhem on their rotting minds. The stage for the Revolt of the Zombies was set by Barack Obama himself, who from day-one of his presidency sowed mass confusion by never saying what he actually meant by health care reform, except that he was for it.
Cheney Volunteers For Obamacare Death Panel --Cheney said he would donate his collection of waterboards and other so-called enhanced interrogation equipment. By R J Shulman 15 Aug 2009 Once a fierce opponent to health care reform, former Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney made a surprise announcement that he now fully supports President Barack Obama's vision of health care. "When I learned that under Obama's health care bill there was going to be a death panel," Cheney said, "I realized that the president had finally gotten it right." (Satire)
Previous lead stories: National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot 13 Aug 2009 (ME) Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School will be the site of a National Guard riot control drill Thursday morning to prepare in the event of a panic over distribution of serum to treat the swine flu. The school on Route 26 at the Paris-Norway town line has been designated by state officials as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine. The drill is to prepare for a worst-case scenario should the serum have to be transported from Augusta and people rush to get it. On Thursday morning, four or five National Guard Humvees will travel from Augusta to Paris with vials of fake serum. The National Guardsmen will take on the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot. Plans were developed in April [?] to have vials of serum sent from the federal government to Augusta, Parker said... Local police chiefs have also been involved in the planning, Parker said. In a real event, local police would be in charge of security once the serum arrives in Paris.
German health expert warning: Does virus vaccine increase cancer risk? --German health expert Wolfgang Wodarg has given a shock warning about the swine flu virus vaccine - does it increase the risk of cancer? 07 Aug 2009 Lung specialist Wolfgang Wodarg has said that there are many risks associated with the vaccine for the H1N1 virus. He has grave reservations about the firm Novartis who are developing the vaccine and testing it in Germany. The vaccination is injected "with a very hot needle", Wodarg said. The nutrient solution for the vaccine consists of cancerous cells from animals and "we do not know if there could be an allergic reaction". But more importantly, some people fear that the risk of cancer could be increased by injecting the cells. The vaccine - as Johannes Löwer, president of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, has pointed out - can also cause worse side effects than the actual swine flu virus. Wodrag also described people’s fear of the pandemic as an "orchestration": "It is great business for the pharmaceutical industry," he told the 'Neuen Presse'. Swine flu is not very different from normal flu.
'Statute of Limitations Has Expired' on Many Secrets, Former Vice President Says --Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush 13 Aug 2009 In his first few months after leaving office, former vice president [sic] Richard B. Cheney threw himself into public combat against the "far left" agenda of the new commander in chief. More private reflections, as his memoir takes shape in slashing longhand on legal pads, have opened a second front against Cheney's White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush. Cheney's disappointment with the former president [sic] surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. [You know you're in trouble when... you reflect upon your term in office vis-à-vis the statute of limitations. --LRP]
