Newspapers are reporting that the United States State Department under Hillary Clinton made the extraordinary decision to refuse assistance requested by the United Arab Emirates into the assassination of a top Hamas commander. Israel’s Mossad is widely viewed as responsible for the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhoh, which broke a host of international and domestic laws. The reports are based on Wikileaks documents and again suggests that the Administration misled the public in its position on the assassination.
The article below notes that the U.S. denied publicly that it had received a request for assistance from Dubai. The Obama Administration stands accused of not only refusing assistance but lying about the request.
The newspaper reports that senior U.A.E. officials asked the American ambassador and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to probe urgently “cardholder details and related information for credit cards reportedly issued by a U.S. bank to several suspects” in the murder. That is a critical piece of evidence that could have established links while the trail was hot in the investigation. It has long been doubted that the United States would assist in an investigation that would embarrass Israel.
If true, this is another dangerous example of politics trumping principle. What happens when we need information from UAE in a future case in pursuing, for example, an Iranian conspiracy. Countries may find themselves similarly ill-disposed to assist the United States.
Source: Haaretz
anon nurse:
I watched the You Tube video clip/link you provided. How scary it must have been for that family. At the end there were other similar video’s offered. There was this one:
http://www.youtube.com/v/6Zm6Zi8_IPw?version=3
It is fascinating. It is Mike Wallace (he looks like a kid) intervewing Alduous Huxley. It’s black and white film.
It is amazing, still fresh, and exceedingly relevant.
I’m trying to embed the vid, but it’s not working, perhaps because of the style (movie?)… The full article is worth reading, IMO.
Terrorist by Association: The Justice Department targets nonviolent solidarity activists
By Jeremy Gantz / December 13, 2010
‘Anyone who does international solidarity or anti-war work, anyone who goes against the grain of American politics, is affected by this,’ says activist Mick Kelly, whose home was raided by the FBI.
September 24 began like any other Friday for Joe Iosbaker and Stephanie Weiner. Then, at 7 a.m., FBI agents knocked on the door of the Chicago couple’s house in the city’s North Side.
Armed with a search warrant, more than 20 agents examined the couple’s home, photographing every room and combing through notebooks, family videos and books, even their children’s drawings. Some items were connected to their decades of anti-war and international solidarity activism, but others were not. “Folders were opened, letters were pulled out of envelopes,” says Weiner, an adult education professor at Wilbur Wright College. “They had rubber gloves and they went through every aspect of our home.” (See video interview with Weiner and Iosbaker above.)
Source / In These Times
http://fluxedupworld.blogspot.com/2010/12/signs-of-sick-society-afraid-of-your.html
Jill, you wrote that you will not support any politician who doesn’t support universal single payer health care.
Do you realize that the Federal government has no authority to do that as the Constitution is now written?
James Madison wrote:
“If congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every state, county, and parish and pay them out of the public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post raods, in short everything, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of congress.”
So the only way to justify Obamacare is the general welfare clause. And I believe Madison would say it cannot be justified. In fact, the government tried to argue Obamacare on the basis of general welfare after it had tried to argue that it was the commerce clause that allowed it. The truth is nothing in the Constitution allows it. If it did, there is no power the government may not grab. And it is impossible that the founders meant for that to happen. So Obamacare is unconstitutional because it conflicts completely with the notion of limited power.
The problem (philosophically) with what you wish is that it moves from taxation to theft. The difference is the difference between killing and murder. One is unfortunately understandable, the other contemptable.
I don’t owe anyone but my own health care and no one owes it to me or mine. If I cannot afford it, that is life. There are many things I cannot afford that ultimately may cause my demise. That is life. That is NATURAL. It is nature. All creatures face this reality. All of us come to an end. Some early. Some late. Fate or God demands it. If we can delay it, fine. If not, it is nature’s way, God’s way.
Don’t be afraid to die. Or even to suffer. When people live in fear they tend to destroy what is good in life when they panic. It is like a drowning person who drowns the person swimming in to rescue him. He was afraid and in his panic he killed off his best chance to live.
Don’t be afraid to live and suffer what nature has brought to your body or to die when nature calls it back to the earth.
I would posit that the states are free to run their own health care systems if the people of those states desire. I find no Constitutional prohibition for that. And perhaps that could be something you could focus your attention to. I would still have a moral problem with it as I see it as theft.
But, the idea of America is to allow states to experiment with different forms of powers within the powers of the Federalist system. And so, I say let some states try health care and let others reject it. Then see what becomes of it. The feds must abandon their interference in it for it for anything to work well.
Anon Nurse: Agreed, common ground. Fighting the totalitarain apparatus is it.
JILL: Yes. The police-state is all in place.
To you both. I am not a Republican. But if there is any hope for us, it will be from the top recognizing the impending terror (by government itself).
Next week the GOP opens congress with a full-length reading of the Constitution. First time ever in history.
Now, the Republicans are a stupid bunch, and the Democrats evil, but that doesn’t sound so bad to me.
It seems we need a very large national debate about that document and what it means to us.
We need it soon and I don’t care who starts its. The powers of the Federal government were meant to be limited. No one in their right mind can think this is what they meant.
“The administration has already targeted dissenters in the US. This is totalitarianism.” -Jill
=============================
Jill,
This I know from personal experience…. And it is totalitarianism.
(I appreciate your comments and insights — they’ve been very helpful.)
anon nurse,
Even reporters from the NYTimes will say we have a “police state apparatus”. In the meantime 700 banks we already bailed out are about to fail. We are in multiple wars of empire and we torture with impunity. You’re correct to say the DOJ is well aware of it all. The administration has already targeted dissenters in the US. This is totalitarianism.
Annie,
It will depend on who runs and what their platform is. I will support no person who orders, countenances or in any way participates in any of the following: torture, murder, extradition to countries who torture, indefinite detention, failure to prosecute war and financial criminals, dissolves the rule of law and will not support universal, single payer health care, alternative energy, environmental stewardship, women’s full reproductive rights and an immediate end to the wars.
Obama supporters are extremely immoral and short sided to vote for him. Eventually, any power they hand over to him will pass to Liz Cheney or Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee etc. Bush supporters allowed Bush to dissolve our nation in secret. That was evil. Obama supporters are only too happy to see it dissolved and other people harmed, all in the open. That is also evil.
Tootie,
“Once the government tires of the Muslims here (there are so few of them), it will turn on you and me. Your friends. Your relatives. Your neighbors. Mine too.”
=====================
Tootie
Tragically for some, the tide has already turned… Our government is already targeting non-Muslims but, to date, the cat is still in the proverbial bag…
Colin Powell was right about our need to guard against the emerging “terror industrial complex”… Now that it’s with us, I fear that it’s here to stay.
Common ground. Those of us who so love this country need to keep looking for common ground.
anon:
Again. This is about government officials (ours) being prepped for mass murder of US citizens. Compete subjugation then follows.
There is always a target for government murderers and abusers, and the Muslims are too small in number (less than one percent of the US population)in comparison. And they are too small in number to justify the leviathan size and scope of the FBI, the Department of Homeland security (the proto-gestapo), and dangerous, extremist, subversive militaristic local Fusion Centers (the proto standing army).
Again, I remind you and the others. The government MUST have terrorism. It is an INDUSTRY government relies on for federal and union jobs.
Supply and demand.
The government must keep up the supply of terrorists in order to justify the alleged demand for security (all a lie because it government who lets in the terrorists.)
Terror is the US government’s number one job growth industry viz a viz the DHS. So one could say that the US congress is a state sponsor of terrorism inside the USA.
Once the government tires of the Muslims here (there are so few of them), it will turn on you and me. Your friends. Your relatives. Your neighbors. Mine too.
It will have developed a thrist and addiction to causing pain and suffering and the adrenal rush it brings. And that addiction to power will needs be satisfied.
Satisfied by torture, harassment, murder, or brutal imprisonment.
Keep typing. Keep hollering. Keep praying.
“Some Arab countries even have torture houses where Washington regularly sends ‘suspects’ for ‘interrogation and torture’, he said.” (find on rawstory, common dreams or al jazeera)”
-posted by Jill
Jill,
Thanks for this update. As I will continue to say, from time to time, because it’s truly a matter of life and death for those who are victimized, our intelligence agencies — along with law enforcement — are doing some draconian things right here at home.
I had hoped that these things would stop (and/or be rolled back), once Obama was elected, but it’s business as usual. DOJ is well-aware of the problem, but does nothing. Many in law enforcement are also aware, and participate in this domestic program. The design of the program is quite brilliant, as I’ve also said before. With NSLs, and the effective muzzling of the players, those involved act with a clear sense of impunity.
Jill
There is a great posting from yesterday at Lew Rockwell about Assange and any attempts to murder him by the US or others. Here is letter that the Rockwell link leads to:
“OPEN LETTER
TO:
THOSE INCITING MURDER UPON JULIAN ASSANGE AND/OR MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY.
We, among many law abiding citizens of the world deplore and condemn, as applicable, your utterances and writings calling for the extra judicial ie unlawful: kidnapping/assassination/murder/physical harm of Julian Assange, his supporters, Wikileaks workers or members of Assange’s family.
We remind you of the laws in your country and others against incitement, inter alia:
Common law:
In English criminal law, incitement was an anticipatory common law offence and was the act of persuading, encouraging, instigating, pressuring, or threatening so as to cause another to commit a crime….The inciter must intend the others to engage in the behaviour constituting the offence, including any consequences which may result, and must know or believe (or possibly suspect) that those others will have the relevant mens rea.”
Codified Incitement Law:
(1) Australian Commonwealth
11.4 Incitement
(1) A person who urges the commission of an offence is guilty of the offence of incitement.
(2) For the person to be guilty, the person must intend that the offence incited be committed.
(2) Canada
464. Except where otherwise expressly provided by law, the following provisions apply in respect of persons who counsel other persons to commit offences, namely,(a) every one who counsels another person to commit an indictable offence is, if the offence is not committed, guilty of an indictable offence and liable to the same punishment to which a person who attempts to commit that offence is liable; and
(3) United Kingdom
(1)A person commits an offence if—
(a)he does an act capable of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence; and
(b)he intends to encourage or assist its commission.
(4)USA
There is no automatic 1st Amendment protection per
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969):
Freedoms of speech and press do not permit a State to forbid advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action
We remind you that while such prima facie incitement by way of utterances and writings may go unpunished in your country, they will not necessarily go unpunished in others, and especially so should you have the courage of your convictions to repeat them in those other jurisdictions.
We ask you respectfully, to contemplate this writing of Mahatma Gandhi:
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained.
And that truth is that Julian Assange is no terrorist; he is not a war defined “belligerent” acting against the United States; he cannot ever be a “traitor”to the USA since by definition he is not a citizen of the United States.
And lastly as Ron Paul put it so well:
In a society where truth becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that our foreign spying, meddling and outright military intervention in the post-World War 2 era has made us less secure, not more, and we have lost countless lives and spent trillions of dollars for our trouble. Too often it’s the official government lies that have given us endless and illegal wars resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and casualties.
Yours Faithfully
Peter H Kemp
The Wikileaks Central Crew
And I believe, so many others all over the world.”
Read it for yourself @
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/74204.html
I must make clear to all that I am not necessary against keeping state secrets or punishing those who expose them. I am, though, completely opposed to the government violating the Constitution to do it. But, sadly, a state as corrupt as ours appears to be keeping secret only how corrupt it is.
My beautiful America is almost lost. I morn her deeply already.
Buck:
Agreed. Sort of.
But truly, I’m not for reform. I’m for a return. I think we should simply return to the methods used before the Immigration Act of 1965 and ban Hispanic immigration.
Who are you supporting Jill? Give us a name.
Meanwhile, he is the latest: “DOHA – Top officials in several Arab countries have close links with the CIA, and many officials keep visiting US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with this key US intelligence agency, says Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks…
The interviewer, Ahmed Mansour, said at the start of the interview which was a continuation of last week’s interface, that Assange had even shown him the files that contained the names of some top Arab officials with alleged links with the CIA.
Assange or Mansour, however, didn’t disclose the names of these officials. The WikiLeaks founder said he feared he could be killed but added that there were 2,000 websites that were ready to publish the remaining files that are in possession of WikiLeaks after “he has been done away with”…
Some Arab countries even have torture houses where Washington regularly sends ‘suspects’ for ‘interrogation and torture’, he said.” (find on rawstory, common dreams or al jazeera)
I am asking Obama supporters to take a hard look at who they are supporting. Torture, murder? Is it really better that one criminal whom you like engages in this for a while before another criminal whom you don’t personally “like” (whatever it means to “like” someone who commits torture and murder) takes his place? Where is your conscience?
Tootie
I think you and I can agree on one thing; immigration reform is badly needed.
Nate:
I tried to rein it in. I failed. My apologies.
The point is a genocidal government like ours doesn’t care what other bad governments might do unless it is against them.
anon:
I guess you could say that to congress. Ha. 2000 pages plus…Obamacare…sheesh.
HenMan:
I am a native-born American. I was born no place else on the planet but US soil. I’m of European and Middle Eastern descent according to the CIA fact-book, though I’m non-Arab, non-Jew. At least I think so. I’m a mutt. Heinz 57.
American “Indians” come from Asian ancestors who crossed over a land bridge. Therefore they are of immigrant stock as well. Just like me.
Hispanics and Indians are probably from the same migrating folks (minus the Spanish conquistadors). They are immigrants on the American continents. Just like me. And just like you (whatever the heck you are).
I don’t keep a list. You would have to earn your status to be ignored anyway. Thus far you have failed.
😉
“Less is more”, comes to mind…