Obama Accused by Lawyers of Stonewalling on Terror Questioning --Attorneys: Govt officials 'no more helpful than Bush administration' 23 Jul 2009 Lawyers for suspected terrorists at the U.S.'s Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba accused the Obama administration of failing to live up to its pledge of transparency and provide information that could free the detainees. The attorneys said government officials have been no more helpful than the Bush administration in sharing transcripts of interrogations of their clients. The prisoners may have been subject to harsh methods and possibly torture, the lawyers said.
Iraq PM admits US troops may stay 23 Jul 2009 The Iraqi prime minister has admitted US troops could stay in the country beyond 2011. Under the US-Iraq Status of Forces agreement, which sets out a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, American troops must exit the country by December 31, 2011. Al-Maliki's apparent willingness for US forces to stay in Iraq beyond the 2011 deadline comes a day after he met Barack Obama, the US president, at the White House.
Iraqi police official: 4 killed in attack 22 Jul 2009 A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq says American soldiers have killed two people who 'attempted to throw grenades' at a convoy west of Baghdad. In addition, Lt. Col. Philip Smith says one civilian was killed and four were wounded during the attack Tuesday on the American convoy in Abu Ghraib. An Iraqi police official gives a conflicting account of casualties. He says four civilians _ a boy and three bus drivers _ were killed when U.S. forces opened fire on the attackers near a bus station.
U.S. Military Holds Iraqi Journalist Without Charge by Quil Lawrence 20 Jul 2009 American forces arrested Iraqi journalist Ibrahim Jassam last year and continue to hold him without charge in a U.S. military prison camp -- even as the United States transfers jurisdiction to Iraqi authorities... One morning in September 2008, hours before dawn, a combined U.S. and Iraqi force cordoned off Jassam's neighborhood. They broke down the door of the house where he lived with his parents and siblings, handcuffed Jassam and dragged him away in his underwear.
Blackwater Seeks Gag Order By Jeremy Scahill 22 Jul 2009 It became common practice during the Iraq occupation for the US State Department to work with private security companies like Blackwater to help facilitate giving what amounted to hush money to the families of Iraqis shot dead by private security contractors... Now, Blackwater (which recently renamed itself "Xe") is attempting to use other means to silence its victims. On July 20, the company's high-powered lawyers from Mayer Brown, which boasts that it represents eighty-nine of the Fortune 100 companies and thirty-five of the fifty largest US banks, filed a motion in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to impose a gag order on Iraqi civilians suing the company.
KBR sued over headscarf ban 23 Jul 2009 KBR, the Houston-based war contractor, is already facing numerous legal troubles -- over toxic burn pits, the electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers due to faulty wiring, exposing troops to a cancer-causing chemical, involvement in human trafficking, and rapes of women employees in Iraq. Now it's facing fresh woes for firing a Muslim employee for wearing a headscarf. A lawsuit was filed against KBR in federal court this month by Karen Tounkara, a contract nurse hired to prepare company workers heading to Iraq.
U.S. warns Israel not to build up West Bank corridor 24 Jul 2009 The U.S. administration has issued a stiff warning to Israel not to build in the area known as E-1, which lies between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. Any change in the status quo in E-1 would be "extremely damaging," even "corrosive," the message said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed in the past to finally build the controversial E-1 housing project - as have several premiers before him, though none has done so due to American pressure.
US trooper killed in attack in Afghanistan 23 Jul 2009 A U.S. service member was killed Thursday in an 'insurgent' attack in the country's volatile south, a U.S. military official said, raising to 35 the number of American troops to die in the Afghan war this month.
Pakistan Seeks More U.S. Military Aid 23 Jul 2009 Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on Wednesday called on the United States to provide real-time intelligence, unmanned aircraft technology and other military assistance to help his country combat the Taliban without relying on attacks from U.S. drones. Gillani raised the issue with Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, who is on his fourth visit here since becoming the U.S. envoy to the region, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. [Oh, my God. See: US to send $110 million in emergency aid to Pakistan 19 May 2009; Pakistan to get billions from U.S. despite oversight concerns 27 Mar 2009; Taleban tax: allied supply convoys pay their enemies for safe passage: West funding insurgency in Afghanistan with Taleban payoff system --"We estimate that approximately 25 per cent of the money we pay for security to get the fuel in goes into the pockets of the Taleban." 12 Dec 2008 The West is indirectly funding the insurgency in Afghanistan thanks to a system of payoffs to Taleban commanders who charge protection money to allow convoys of military supplies to reach Nato bases in the south of the country; Billions in U.S. Aid to Pakistan Wasted, Officials Assert 24 Dec 2007; US Senate approves Pakistan aid worth $785m 20 Dec 2007.]
Bin Laden's son may have been killed: US official 23 Jul 2009 One of Osama bin Laden's sons "may be dead," a US counterterrorism official told AFP Thursday, after reports he was likely killed by a US missile strike in Pakistan earlier this year. "There are some indications that he may be dead, but it's not 100 percent certain," the official said. "If he is dead, Saad bin Laden was a small player with a big name. He has never been a major operational figure." An administration official said the Al-Qaeda leader's third-oldest son "was likely killed in Pakistan."
New Yorker Consulted Al-Qaeda About Transit Attack 23 Jul 2009 A New York man who pleaded guilty to launching a rocket attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan said he provided information to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leaders about New York City’s transit system for a bomb attack, court records say. Bryant Neal Vinas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, providing material support to a terrorist organization and receiving military-type training from a terrorist group on Jan. 28, according to court records in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
Chicago: F-16 fighter jets conduct military test overnight 21 Jul 2009 Around 1 a.m. last night, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) successfully carried out a military exercise over the Chicago area involving F-16 fighter jets. The training involved at least one plane headed toward downtown from the north and another going west, according to witnesses.
D.C.: NORAD To Conduct Exercise Over DC Area 21 Jul 2009 The North American Aerospace Defense Command will conduct a one-day exercise in the Washington area. The exercise, called Falcon Virgo 09-10, will be conducted beginning early Wednesday. The exercise will include training flights conducted in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Capital Region Command Center, the Joint Air Defense Operations Center, the Continental U.S. NORAD Region, Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and others.
'The company had been preparing for a pandemic for the last three-and-a-half years.' Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline predicts swine flu gold rush 22 Jul 2009 Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company is preparing to sell £3bn worth of swine flu drugs this year, it emerged today. GlaxoSmithKline revealed its vaccine, one of the world's first, could be available by September after the UK government placed advance orders for 60m doses. The chief executive, Andrew Witty, said the company had been preparing for a pandemic for the last three-and-a-half years and had spent more than £1bn to ensure its factories could crank up production at short notice.
Roche sales of Tamiflu soar 200% 23 Jul 2009 Swiss drugs firm Roche has seen sales of Tamiflu - the main drug being used to fight the swine flu pandemic - rise by 200% in the first half of the year. Sales of the drug hit 1bn Swiss francs ($937m; £567m), as Roche said Tamiflu production would be expanded to 400 million packs annually by early 2010. [See: Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug 12 Mar 2006 Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu.]
Anti-Squalene Antibodies Link Gulf War Syndrome to Anthrax Vaccine 23 Jul 2009 Data published in the February 2000 and August 2002 issues of Experimental and Molecular Pathology strongly suggests that Gulf War Syndrome is caused by a vaccine contaminated with squalene. The August 2002 article is entitled "Antibodies to Squalene in Recipients of Anthrax Vaccine" (Exp. Mol. Pathol. 73,19-27 (2002)). [Guess what's in the (untested) flu vaccine? Vaccine May Be More Dangerous Than Swine Flu --Vaccine contains squalene and gp120 By Dr. Russell Blaylock 07 Jul 2009.]
Cases of swine flu have doubled to 100,000 in one week 23 Jul 2009 Cases of swine flu have doubled in one week with 100,000 people diagnosed with the virus last week, officials have announced. Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer, said there are 840 patients in hospital in England with swine flu and 63 of them are in critical care. Children are being hit the hardest and there are relatively few cases amongst the elderly as it is thought they may have some immunity to H1N1 from previous pandemics.
U.S. spy chief sees more private sector input 22 Jul 2009 U.S. intelligence will seek more input from the private sector and outside experts such as academics to support core spy agencies, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said on Wednesday. In a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he described a future in which intelligence professionals remained at the center but outside elements also provided expertise.
FBI Processes 600 Billion Fingerprints Per Day 23 Jul 2009 WBNS News CrimeTracker 10 reports about an advanced federal research facility that processes 600 billion fingerprints a day underground. The FBI’s multi-billion dollar, two football-field-sized Criminal Justice Information Services building stores roughly 60 million sets of fingerprints and helps law enforcement...
Dow Closes Above 9,000 for First Time Since January 24 Jul 2009 Markets on Wall Street and in Europe moved higher on Thursday, with the Dow pushing past 9,000 for the first time since early January. Thursday’s push was fueled by some better-than-expected earnings reports, including one from the Ford Motor Company, and the latest government report on housing, which said that the sale of existing home rose 3.6 percent in June, the third consecutive monthly increase.
Rep. Kaptur Sticks an IED Inside Paulson and Then Presses 'BOOM' By Daily Bail 22 Jul 2009 "The Greatest Hail Mary Pass Of All Time." "What Interests Me Is Who You Helped And Whom You Didn't." "History Will Show That You Knew About Wall Street's Growing Losses Long Before The Bank Of America, Merrill Lynch Merger." "What Your Orchestration Yielded Was An Unprecedented Dumping Of Private Sector Losses On The Next Three Generations." Do not hesitate. Watch this clip now.
Useless is as useless does: Reid: No Vote on Health-Care Reform Before Aug. Recess 23 Jul 2009 Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) confirmed Thursday that the Senate would not pass health-care reform legislation before the August recess. That the Senate would miss President Obama's Aug. 7 deadline had been obvious for days, if not weeks, as the Finance Committee methodically crafts the one version of the legislation that is expected to gain bipartisan support succor the pharma-terrorists. But Reid finally made it official, informing reporters that he had granted a request for more time from GOP negotiators.
Christian right aims to change history lessons in Texas schools --State's education board to consider adding Christianity's role in American history to curriculum 22 Jul 2009 The Christian right is making a fresh push to force religion onto the school curriculum in Texas with the state's education board about to consider recommendations that children be taught that there would be no United States if it had not been for God. Members of a panel of experts appointed by the board to revise the state's history curriculum, who include a Christian fundamentalist preacher who says he is fighting a war for America's moral soul, want lessons to emphasise the part played by Christianity in the founding of the US and that religion is a civic virtue.
Obama Criticizes Arrest of Harvard Professor 23 Jul 2009 President Obama bluntly accused the police of acting "stupidly" in arresting the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week after an officer had established that Mr. Gates had not broken into his own home in Cambridge, Mass. Mr. Obama stopped short of accusing the police department of racial profiling, as Mr. Gates has done. But at a prime-time White House news conference that was otherwise largely devoted to health care, Mr. Obama weighed in on the Gates case and suggested that the police should never have arrested him.
Public Corruption Investigation Nets Prominent N.J. Politicians --Federal Agents Arrest 44 People for Corruption, International Money Laundering 23 Jul 2009 Federal agents on Thursday arrested 44 people -- including three New Jersey mayors, other politicians and several rabbis -- as part of a major investigation of corruption and international money laundering schemes that included the trafficking of human kidneys between Israel and the United States, authorities said.
New Jersey mayors and rabbis arrested in corruption investigation 23 Jul 2009 Two New Jersey mayors and dozens of political and religious figures were arrested today and charged in a massive bribery and money laundering scheme that included traffic in human body parts. As part of an 10-year investigation into pervasive public corruption in New Jersey, hundreds of FBI agents fanned out across the state this morning to make arrests and search offices. Later, law enforcement vehicles crowded in front of agency offices as agents waited to unload their quarry.
EPA Administrator Acknowledges Need to Clean Up Vieques By Brendan DeMelle 23 Jul 2009 EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson acknowledged the need to clean up the island of Vieques in her address at the national convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) last week. In her speech at LULAC, Jackson explained that EPA wants "to have a few long-overdue conversations, and get moving forward together on critical environmental issues." She noted the "tragic consequences" of "what happens when you are on the margin of the environmental conversation."
White Sox Mark Buehrle Throws Perfect Game --Pitcher Throws First Perfect Game in Five Years, His Second No Hitter 23 Jul 2009 Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle took the mound today for an afternoon start against the Tampa Bay Rays and walked off hours later as just the 18th pitcher in Major League Baseball to throw a perfect game, the first in five years. The 5-0 win was Buehrle's second career no hitter, making him just the sixth in MLB history to throw both a perfect game and a no-hitter.
Previous lead stories: UnitedHealth Group Q2 Profit Jumps 155% 22 Jul 2009 Health care company UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Tuesday that its second quarter profit more than doubled from last year, but its health insurance enrollment continued to decline amid the economic recession. The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based company reported second quarter net income of $859 million, or 73 cents per share, compared with only $337 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Last year’s results included a pretax charge of $922 million, or 47 cents per share, however.
'Swine flu is going to be positive for the performance [of the company].' Glaxo unmasked: drug firm to make £1bn from swine flu 23 Jul 2009 Britain's largest pharmaceuticals company could make up to £1bn from sales of its swine flu vaccine by the end of the year, industry analysts said yesterday as the first trials of the drug began in Australia. GlaxoSmithKline is to sell the vaccine for up to £6 a dose in Western countries, and the first supplies are due to arrive in Britain in September. Andrew Witty, GSK's chief executive, refused to apologise for the boost in earnings, pointing out that GSK had invested more than $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in its vaccine [pandemic] development programme over the past few years.
Swine flu vaccine will need compensation rules: Expert --No plans here to aid those injured from the immunization 21 Jul 2009 A leading public health expert is calling on Canada to create a no-fault compensation program for people who may be harmed by a swine flu vaccine that millions of Canadians will be urged by the government to get this fall. Kumanan Wilson, Canada research chair in public health at the University of Ottawa, said in an interview with Canwest News Service that children and adults could be exposed to an incompletely tested vaccine and that a compensation scheme is needed to encourage the public to buy into any mass immunization program. [We are not 'buying into' Baxter's pandemic propaganda promoting their WMDs. --LRP]
