Steven Gaal

The Muslim Brotherhood, Our Ally by Srdja Trifkovic • July 30, 2012 At the same time, Administration officials are continuing to press Egyptian generals into gradual surrender to the Muslim Brotherhood’s takeover of the country. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Mike Hammer declared in Cairo last week that Washington would deal with “satisfaction” with the new Egyptian leadership and that Egypt “is moving in a positive direction.” Hammer added that “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a very positive meeting with President [Mohamed] Morsi,” whose victory in the presidential election last June was the Brotherhood’s greatest success to date. Hammer’s visit followed the State Department’s waiver of congressional restrictions in order to transfer $1.5 billion dollars in aid to Egypt after the Brotherhood’s victory in the parliamentary elections. The decision to treat the Muslim Brotherhood as a strategic partner has been on the cards ever since February 10 of last year – one day before Hosni Mubarak’s resignation – when President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made an astounding statement. He told the House Select Committee on Intelligence that the Brotherhood “is an umbrella term for a variety of movements… a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaida as a perversion of Islam.” The assertion by a top-ranking member of Obama’s team that the Muslim Brotherhood is “largely secular” defies belief. It came into being in 1928 as a reaction against secularism, and to this day it is based on a simple credo: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” In other words, the Brotherhood is an archetypical Islamic revivalist movement that opposes the ascendancy of secular ideas and advocates a return to integral Islam as a solution to the ills that had befallen Muslim societies. Today it has branches in every traditionally Muslim country and all over the world, including the United States. Its members all share the same long-term goal: the establishment of a world-wide Islamic state based on Sharia law. They all believe that the Koran justifies violence to overthrow un-Islamic governments, and they look upon America as a sworn enemy. During the Cold War Washington routinely pandered to various Islamists as a means of weakening secular Arab nationalist regimes. In the mid 1950s the Americans even promoted the idea of forming an Islamic bloc, led by Saudi Arabia, to counter the Nasserist movement. That may have made some sense during the Cold War, but not today. To any sane person the lesson of American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan should have been that militant Islam cannot be turned into a tool of policy. “Blowback” is the apt metaphor: the strategy of effective support for Islamic ambitions in pursuit of short-term political or military objectives of the United States has helped turn Islamic radicalism into a truly global phenomenon detrimental to U.S. security interests. The ridiculous notion that the Muslim Brotherhood can become America’s user-friendly partner merely proves that the architects of our Middle Eastern policy have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

Doctors don't trust their own hospitals Up to two-thirds of doctors and nurses at some hospitals would not recommend that their family and friends are treated where they work, internal NHS figures disclose on Friday. http://www.telegraph...-hospitals.html 3/1/13

=================================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BLACKJADE BOONDOCKS SITE PART 4 Gamaa Islamiya Update: In my comments at the beginning of this thread, I wondered if the CIA, or more precisely the US "intelligence community," was going to find another job for Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and his followers to do, such as going to fight the jihad against Assad in Syria. Yeah, that's the way it looks. Jama'a al-Islamiya: Dozens of jihadis to join Syrian rebels within days: [August 26, 2012] "Assem Abdel Maged, media official at Jama'a al-Islamiya [Gamaa Islamiya], has said that a group of jihadis are ready to travel to Syria within days to join the rebels in an attempt to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Abdel Maged told Al-Masry Al-Youm that other groups had previously fought overseas, including in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, denied rumors that he had taken up arms in Syria. 'I did not and will not travel to Syria, and I have no intention to leave Egypt now to start with,' he said. 'All that has been said about me traveling with jihadis to Syria is absolutely not true.' Magdy Salem, leader of Tala'e al-Fateh (Vanguards of Islamic Conquest), one of the jihadi movements that split from the Egyptian Islamic Jihad movement, said that his movement has not officially called for its members to travel to Syria. 'The participation of jihadis in the liberation of Syria is not a general trend in the jihad movement,' he said. 'Everyone is not doing enough to support Syria, but whoever decides to travel there, his decision is individual and has nothing to do with us.' Informed sources said that the jihadis will fight with the Free Syrian Army, and denied any rift between them. The source pointed out that a number of members of jihad organizations are in Syria with the rebels, after they fought with the Libyan rebels who revolted against Muammar Qadhafi and contributed to his fall. According to the source, Egyptian jihadis will get together with other Arab fighters in one of the neighboring countries and will wait until they are provided with the needed weapons to enter the country." I am sure that plenty of jihadis are with the Free Syrian Army. Did those "Egyptian jihadis" and "Arab fighters" get their arms at a base in Turkey, where French & British special forces are training the Free Syrian Army with the CIA & US special forces providing "communications assistance"? And, of course, even the US "mainstream" press now admits this: C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition: "A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers. The weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the officials said." "Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri," doesn't have to leave Egypt, in order to recruit jihadis to fight in Syria or to go back to work for the Saudi-based International Islamic Relief Organisation [iIRO]. The Al Rajhi Bank patriarch, Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi, was a "Board member" of the IIRO. Very interesting to see that recently This Al-Rajhi Bank "announced a donation of SR 5 million" to "the campaign in support of Syrians facing oppression under the regime of Bashar Assad." Also note that: "Abdullah Al-Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, urged international charitable organizations and NGOs to support the Syrians who are facing the worst form of oppression under Bashar Assad’s regime." International Islamic Relief Organisation [iIRO] just happens to be the "relief department of the Muslim World League." In the late 1990's, the IIRO was banksrolling "volunteers who enlist in the Liberation Army of Kosovo," which was generally known as the Kosovo Liberation Army [KLA or UCK]. And one of the IIRO's "employees" in Albania, was Mohamed al-Zawahiri, who became "a chief of the guerrilla’s special forces." Indeed, when the CIA was training the KLA on bases in Albania: "One of the leaders of an elite KLA unit was Muhammed al-Zawahiri, the brother of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader in an Egyptian Jihad organization and a military commander of Osama bin Laden.... During the 'honeymoon' period between the CIA and Jihad holy warriors, Fatos Klosi, the head of SHIK, said he had reliable information that four groups of Jihad warriors from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algiers, Tunisia and Sudan were in northern Albania and fighting with the KLA." This must be one of the longest "honeymoons" in human history. First it was in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet army, then in the Balkans in the 1990's, then last year in Libya, and now the CIA and their jihadis are in Syria. Mohamed al-Zawahiri does have a fascinating history. On this thread, Egypt orders retrial of brother of new al-Qaeda leader, I explained how he was "sentenced to death in absentia" by Mubarak's police state in 1998, during the timeframe when he was employed by the IIRO and when he was a commander of that "elite KLA unit." In April 1999, he was "renditioned" to Egypt by the CIA with a group of "Returnees from Albania." But remarkably this death sentence was never carried out, although he was said to have remained in Mubarak's prisons from 1999 through March 2012, when he was released by the new Egyptian government, who had replaced Mubarak, after the US staged that "Arab Spring" operation in early 2011. Actually he was released for a brief time in March 2011, then "re-arrested" until his release in March 2012. But for five of his previous 13 years in detention, "from 1999 to 2004, he had seemed to disappear." In October 2001, Russian and Macedonian sources caught someone identified as "Zaiman Zawahiri," Ayman al-Zawahiri's brother, running a training camp in the US-occupied sector of Kosovo. His trainees were headed for the jihad in Macedonia. "Zaiman" may be another Zawahiri brother or this may be a name that Mohamed Al-Zawahiri was using. It is not unprecedented for the CIA to find another job for US intelligence assets, who have been "renditioned" or sent to Guantanamo. For instance, LIFG founder Abdelhakim Belhaj was used in CIA, MI6, and NATO operations to get rid of Qaddafi. Abdurahman Khadr admitted he was on the CIA's payroll when he was in Bosnia and other places, during the timeframe when he was supposedly still in Guantanamo. At any rate, recently "rumors" may have circulated that Mohamed Al-Zawahiri "had taken up arms in Syria" because of his history in Albania and Kosovo. This Free Syrian Army resembles the KLA before NATO's War of Aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999, when the CIA and special forces from the US, France, and Britain were training the KLA, which included "Bin Laden's Al Qa'ida."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BLACKJADE BOONDOCKS SITE PART 2 To: LSJohn I don't take it as "an absolute" that Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was 100 percent guilty of every US charge against him. I also don't buy Rahman's story that he was just "a cleric who prayed in a mosque," that he "did not speak," and his statement that "I did not give orders. I have nothing to do with anything." I think that the truth lies somewhere in between everything that the prosecutors said and his claim of total innocence. In Peshawar, "CIA and Special Forces officers" called Rahman their "valuable asset," and he received four visas from "CIA agents acting as consular officers" because Rahman had a strong influence with his followers. He was deemed to be a gifted orator, with a reputation as the "spiritual leader" of Gamaa Islamiya and this Alkifah group in Brooklyn. He was also a dynamic recruiter and fund-raiser for the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Soviet-backed puppet regime, and later against the Bosnian Serbs. Thus he was not just another "cleric" who prayed with his followers at a mosque. As to the 1993 WTC, there's no question that, through informant Emad Salem, the FBI was directing and supervising the operation. The FBI depended on this band of Rahman's followers, based at the Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, to carry out this plot. Rahman, the "spirtual leader" or "spiritual guide" for this group was the glue that held the group together and motivated them. Thus I would say that the FBI was the "mastermind," with Rahman, Ramzi Yousef, Ali Mohamed, and others as "co-conspirators." I don't believe that Rahman and the others were "framed." They were part of this conspiracy, which was directed by the FBI through Salem. Ali Mohamed also had received a visa as a CIA "asset." He also was "a sergeant in the U. S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg, and a former officer in the Egyptian Army," who provided Rahman's Brooklyn followers with paramilitary training. Ali Mohamed also became an FBI informant. FBI informant Emad Salem seems to be from a similar background. He served as an "Egyptian army officer." He "claimed to have fought as a sniper in the Yom Kippur War of 1973." He may have worked for Egyptian intelligence at one time. I don't know about that. But I don't buy Lynne Stewart's claim that Salem was a spy for Mubarak's regime, who "manipulated" the FBI into going after Rahman. The FBI knew that Rahman was a protected US intelligence asset, which is why the FBI stuck to the "lone gunman" story in the Kahane case. THE CIA AND THE SHEIK: "'Why aren't we going after the sheikh [Abdel Rahman]?' demanded the [FBI contract employee] undercover man. 'It's hands-off,' answered the [FBI] agent. 'Why?' asked the operative. 'It was no accident that the sheikh got a visa and that he's still in the country,' replied the agent, visibly upset. 'He's here under the banner of national security, the State Department, the NSA [National Security Agency], and the CIA.' The agent pointed out that the sheikh had been granted a tourist visa, and later a green card, despite the fact that he was on a State Department terrorist watch list that should have barred him from the country. He's an untouchable, concluded the agent. 'I haven't seen the lone-gunman theory advocated [so forcefully] since John F. Kennedy.'".... Sheikh Abdel Rahman left Egypt in 1990, in the wake of a series of bloody clashes between his militant fundamentalist group, Al Gamaat al Islamia, and the secular Egyptian government. The sheikh traveled to Pakistan, where he met with representatives of the Afghan mujahedeen, who were providing training for his underground terrorist group in Egypt, the very same mujahedeen who were receiving financial aid and training from the CIA in the war to rid Afghanistan of the Soviet Army. Even after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in February 1989, the U.S. and the Saudis continued to aid the mujahedeen through Pakistan until December 1990, in an attempt to topple the Afghan government." Lynne Stewart, who calls herself a "civil liberties" attorney defending unpopular clients, also seems to be covering for her client's CIA ties. The CIA's Jihad: "Sheikh Rahman’s lawyer, Lynne Stewart, says her client denies ever working for the CIA. 'Just because the CIA and I were on the same side in Afghanistan doesn’t mean we were allies,' Stewart says he told her. But according to Professor Rubin, not long after the sheikh was arrested, a source asked Robert Oakley, former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, how the U.S. would respond if the sheikh disclosed he had worked for the CIA. Oakley laughed, saying it would never happen, because the admission would ruin the sheikh’s credibility with his militant followers." According to AP, May 29, 1993, Rahman's immigration attorney, Barbara Nelson, also said that Rahman "has said he never worked for the CIA." Of course, Rahman would deny that he had any relationship with the CIA for the reasons stated by Oakley. I would also expect the CIA to deny any relationship with Rahman. Mubarak reportedly said this about Rahman: "The sheik has been a CIA agent since his days in Afghanistan. He still earns a salary.... The visa he got was not issued by mistake. It is because of the services he did." Mubarak also said that "The FBI wants Abdel-Rahman out of the country, while the CIA wants him to stay." What Mubarak said about Rahman makes more sense, in light of Rahman's history. =================================++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BLACKJADE BOONDOCKS SITE PART 3 To: LSJohn LSJohn wrote on Sun, 01 July 2012 17:09 Quote: What Mubarak said about Rahman makes more sense, in light of Rahman's history. Mubarak cannot be considered credible in assertions about Rahman. Rahman was known far and wide for advocating Mubarak's overthrow, and was jailed without charges in Egypt once for a year, and was twice charged with capital crimes for which he was acquitted by Egyptian courts. Almost everything you have presented as evidence of Rahman's activities can be seen as pro-U.S. Many who knew him but were NOT his followers have said Mubarak would be a far more likely target than the U.S. Like Usama, Rahman taught that intentionally harming innocents or their property is not permitted in Islam. I can't say he's innocent, but can't assume him guilty either. We KNOW that the people who charged him here are not credible, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Rahman may have said that "intentionally harming innocents or their property" was not acceptable in Islam. So the Pentagon says that US drone attacks don't target civilians and that civilians are just "collateral damage." Just about everybody denies that they are targeting civilians. I don't take these claims at face value. If by "pro-U.S.," you mean official sources or those who defend the US government's position, most of my information has not come from "pro-U.S." sources. I don't find Rahman's statement "I did not speak.... I did not give orders. I have nothing to do with anything" to be any more credible that the statements of the prosecutors. Emad Salem was part of this group of Rahman's followers in Brooklyn. Reports like this from Robert I Friedman, not exactly a US government source, explained why the CIA brought Rahman to Brooklyn, because of Rahman's influence with his followers: "Shiekh Omar Abdel Rahman commands an almost deified adoration and respect in certain Islamic circles....By all accounts, Rahman was brilliant at inspiring the faithful." As to Mubarak, I was referring specifically to this statement that he made about Rahman in May 1993, which came from a Mubarak interview in the Egyptian media: "The sheik has been a CIA agent since his days in Afghanistan. He still earns a salary.... The visa he got was not issued by mistake. It is because of the services he did." I do find it hard to believe that Rahman got 4 visas from "CIA agents acting as consular officers at American embassies in Khartoum and Cairo" by accident or because somebody forgot to "check the microfiche file." If the CIA thought that it was that important to bring him to Brooklyn, it's logical that the CIA would help pay for his expenses. So Rahman shows up in Brooklyn to inspire his followers to recruit and keep donations going to the mujahideen in Afghanistan. And after the fall of the Soviet empire, Rahman & his followers moved on to Bosnia, as I said in my comments at the beginning of this thread. Rahman did want to overthrow Mubarak. So did his followers in Gamaa Islamiyya (The Islamic Group) and Egyptian Islamic Jihad [EIJ]. U.S. Secretly Met With Followers of Blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman Before Controversial Visa Application. In 1989, US officials met with both groups at the US embassy in Cairo, and both organizations saw Rahman as their "main spiritual guide." Even when Mubarak was receiving billions of dollars in US aid, US intelligence was building up an international network of assets in Gamaa and EIJ, two radical offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak would have reasons to be concerned about these US ties with his mortal enemies, and it makes sense that by 1993, he would blow this whistle on the CIA's relations with Rahman. On this thread, Convicted Militant Seeks Retrial in ’95 Case, I provided links and sources on a meeting in the 1990's between Abu Mohamed al-Amriki and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Bin Laden Puppetmasters Smoked Out In Balkans: "The $50 million offer was accompanied with the assurance that the United States would not interfere with an 'Islamist' takeover of Egypt, and allegedly proposed a {modus vivendi} between U.S. forces and the 'Islamists' in the Balkans." As I said on that thread, the biographical data on Al-Amriki matches that of CIA asset Ali Mohamed, a member of Rahman's group at Alkifah in Brooklyn. Documents from the 1998 US embassy bombings trial show that the conspirators called Ali Mohamed "Abu Mohamed al-Amriki' or "Mohamed the American." Very interesting that last year, through the NED and Freedom House, the US did get rid of Mubarak. This led to the growing power of the Muslim Brotherhood, but in Egypt's elections, the Muslim Brotherhood did not plan to have a candidate for president. As I said here, The Muslim Brotherhood comes to America, after a meeting with Senators John McCain & Lindsey Graham, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders changed their position and decided to run Khairat al-Shater as a candidate. McCain is chairman of the International Republican Institute, a branch of the NED, and Lindsey Graham is on the IRI Board. Another Muslim Brotherhood candidate won the election. And President-elect Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood promised "to work for the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman." We'll see what happens. Maybe after the 2012 US presidential election, Rahman will return to Egypt under "house arrest" or some other arrangement.

No citations how compelling! Interesting that he refutes many of the more outlandish CTs regarding the bombing. // END COLBY ++++++++++++++++++++ DOES COLBY READ HIS OWN POSTS// DOES COLBY UNDERSTAND THE EDUCATIONAL TEXT GIVEN HIM ????? HOW CAN HE 'REFUTE' TO COLBY'S SATISFACTION IF HE HAS NO CITATIONS ?? WEIRD EH ?? WRITER SAYS THAT HE ISNT TOTALLY SURE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT POSITION , BUT HINTS THERE MIGHT BE MORE TO THE STORY , SINCE THERE IS MUCH REDACTED MATERIAL. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BLACKJADE BOONDOCKS SITE PART 1 http://www.thedailyb...washington.html Member of Egyptian Terror Group Goes to Washington Jun 21, 2012 7:52 PM EDT [by Eli Lake] Terrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him? It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries. Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member of parliament, is a member of the Gamaa Islamiya, or the Egyptian Islamic Group—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The group was banned under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and is now a recognized Islamist political party. Its spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman—also known as the “blind sheik”—was convicted in 1995 of plotting attacks on New York City landmarks and transportation centers, and is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina federal prison. Eldin, according to his Facebook page, was born in 1968 and resides in Suez, near the canal that unites the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. He was arrested in 1993 on terrorism charges after members of Gamaa Islamiya got into a shoot out with Egyptian security officials at a mosque. He has proclaimed his innocence in the shooting and says he was arrested because of his political activism against Mubarak. In an interview, Eldin confirmed he is a member of Gamaa Islamiya. By U.S. law, that means he would be denied a visa to enter the country. Nonetheless, he says, he got a visa from the State Department. A State Department spokesman said, “We have no information suggesting that he or anyone else in the delegation is a member of the Egyptian Islamic Group.” Eldin said in the interview that he is not a terrorist. "I have taken the American visa from the embassy as a member of the parliament representing a political party that has been elected and is a legitimate party," he said. "I was personally not involved in any violent action or terrorism against the United States or any other country. The years I spent in prison were under the regime of Mubarak, these were political charges and there was no judicial basis for them." In his meetings with senior Obama administration officials, Eldin says, he asked Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough about transferring Abdel-Rahman to an Egyptian prison. He said his request was declined. “When I raised this issue in the White House I was told it was not in their authority and all judicial issues relating to sentences must be discussed with the Department of Justice,” he says. Transferring Abdel-Rahman, says Eldin, “would be a gift to the revolution.” McDonough didn’t reply to requests for comment made Thursday afternoon. In addition to being convicted of planning the 1993 World Trade Center attack, Abdel-Rahman is also a cause celebre for radical Islamic fundamentalists, including al Qaeda, who have at times demanded his release. Juan Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former deputy national security adviser for counter-terrorism under President George W. Bush, said it looked like the Obama administration made a mistake by allowing Eldin to visit the U.S. "The United States has to walk a fine line when engaging extremists who are now entering the political process amidst revolution,” he said. Samuel Tadros, an Egyptian citizen and research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. who specializes in Egyptian politics was surprised that Eldin would receive a visa. “It would have taken the State Department five seconds to Google his name in Arabic and realize he is a member of a designated terrorist organization,” he said. Eldin is a member of parliament for the Building and Development party in Egypt, which some Egypt watchers say is an arm of Gamaa Islamiya. While in Washington, Eldin also visited the Wilson Center, a think tank that specializes in foreign policy issues. A State Department spokesman said the delegation was “invited to Washington by the Wilson Center. I refer you to the Wilson Center for any additional information on their visit.” A spokesman for the Wilson Center, however, said the delegation was selected by the State Department. “We can’t speak to the background of Eldin,” said Drew Sample the media relations coordinator for the Wilson Center. “The Wilson Center was one of the places on the delegation’s Washington visit. We did not invite these people, the State Department arranged the visit.” ************************************************************ *** COMMENTS: "Eldin confirmed he is a member of Gamaa Islamiya"? And "its spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman" is "also known as the 'blind sheik'"? But "Samuel Tadros, an Egyptian citizen and research fellow at the Hudson Institute...was surprised that Eldin would receive a visa"? Tadros said: "It would have taken the State Department five seconds to Google his name in Arabic and realize he is a member of a designated terrorist organization"? Anybody could have Googled his name in English and got this information. Judging from what I saw on the Google news website about Hani Nour Eldin's White House visit, I would say that the US "mainstream" media seems to have a case of collective amnesia. If anyone bothered to do a Google search under "Omar Abdel Rahman visa," Eldin's visa would not be such a "surprise" or some big mystery. When I Googled "Omar Abdel Rahman visa," I found plenty of reports like this: C.I.A. Officers Played Role In Sheik Visas, New York Times, July 22, 1993: "Central Intelligence Agency officers reviewed all seven applications made by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman to enter the United States between 1986 and 1990 and only once turned him down because of his connections to terrorism, Government officials said today.... In each case, they said, the C.I.A. employees were reviewing the applications in assigned roles as consular officers in United States embassies.." Officials from the Clinton administration said that these visas were issued to Rahman by "mistake," or that this was just an oversight. According to AFP, Obama's State Dept defended Hani Nour Eldin's visa as an attempt "to reach out to new faces in a fast-changing region." Interestingly, critics of the Obama administration did not say that the State Dept intended to bring somebody from Gamaa Islamiyya to the White House. So King is actually covering for the Obama administration in this case: "Representative Peter King, a Republican who heads the House Committee on Homeland Security and has chaired controversial hearings on Islamic radicalism in the United States, has demanded answers over Eldin's visa. In a letter Sunday to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, King said that there could be legitimate reasons to issue a visa to a member of a designated terrorist group, such as to advance peace negotiations. 'However, the nature of Eldin's visit suggests an absence of full vetting rather than a policy choice, or perhaps a breakdown in the screening missions of and coordination among our Federal agencies,' King said." Well, if the CIA just gave Rahman a visa by "mistake," the CIA must have got very "lucky" at just the right times, especially after their "valuable asset" showed up in Brooklyn. The CIA's Jihad: "In April, 1985, more than five years after the Soviet tanks first rolled into Afghanistan, President Ronald Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 166, a secret order that called for the CIA to expel the Russians ‘by all means available.’ Over the next decade, the U.S. spent $10 billion to arm and train the mujaheddin.... [Abdullah] Azzam was considered a prime asset because of his close connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi intelligence, and the Muslim World League.... By the time the Soviets finally withdrew from Afghanistan, in February, 1989, the U.S.-backed mujaheddin had inflicted a terrible toll, killing tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers and draining tens of billions of rubles, helping to precipitate the collapse of the Soviet Union. But still the CIA was not satisfied; it was also determined to topple the puppet government the Soviets left behind in Kabul. And so when Azzam was assassinated by a car bomb in Peshawar in November, 1989, the agency turned for help to one of Azzam’s closest spiritual kin, Sheikh [Omar] Abdel Rahman. Shiekh Omar Abdel Rahman commands an almost deified adoration and respect in certain Islamic circles. It was his 1980 fatwa – religious decree – condemning Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel that is widely believed to be responsible for Sadat’s assassination a year later. (Rahman was subsequently tried but acquitted.)... As a reward for his services, the CIA gave the sheikh a one-year visa to the United States in May, 1990 – even though he was on a State Department terrorism watch list that should have barred him from the country. After a public outcry in the wake of the World Trade Centre bombing, a State Department representative discovered that Rahman had, in fact, received four United States visas dating back to December 15, 1986. All were given to him by CIA agents acting as consular officers at American embassies in Khartoum and Cairo. The CIA officers claimed they didn’t know the sheikh was one of the most notorious political figures in the Middle East and a militant on the State Department’s list of undesirables. The agent in Khartoum said that when the sheikh walked in the computers were down and the Sudanese clerk didn’t bother to check the microfiche file. Says one top New York investigator: ‘Left with the choice between pleading stupidity or else admitting deceit, the CIA went with stupidity.’.... The sheikh [Rahman] arrived in Brooklyn at a fortuitous time for the CIA. In the wake of the Soviet Union’s retreat from Afghanistan, Congress had slashed the amount of covert aid going to the mujaheddin. The international network of Arab-financed support groups became even more vital to the CIA, including the string of jihad offices that had been set up across America with the help of Saudi and American intelligence. To drum up support, the agency paved the way for veterans of the Afghan conflict to visit the centres and tell their inspirational war stories; in return, the centres collected millions of dollars for the rebels at a time when they needed it most. There were jihad offices in Jersey City, Atlanta and Dallas, but the most important was the one in Brooklyn, called Alkifah [Refugee Center] – Arabic for ‘the struggle.’ That storefront became the de facto headquarters of the sheikh...." This is another article, which I found when I Googled "Omar Abdel-Rahman visa." This shows that the CIA was cultivating an international network of intelligence assets among Rahman's followers in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Group) and Egyptian Islamic Jihad [EIJ] or Al-Jihad, who were too extremist offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood: U.S. Secretly Met With Followers of Blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman Before Controversial Visa Application. In 1989, US officials met with both groups, who both saw Rahman as their "main spiritual guide." Thus for more reasons than one, since the overthrow of Mubarak, Rahman's family and followers have stood in front of the US embassy in Cairo demanding his release. Not too long after the Soviet-backed Afghan government collapsed, US strategists and intelligence agencies found more jobs for Rahman's followers. In 1992, the Bosnian war started when Warren Zimmerman, U.S. Ambassador in Belgrade, "persuade[d] Izetbegovic to renege on the agreement" with Serb and Croatian leaders "promising him all political, diplomatic and military aid if he agreed to do so." So Izetbegovic "stationed his green-berreted snipers on the roofs of central Sarajevo, reneged on the agreement, appealed for support in the Moslem world." Rahman's al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and the Alkifah network were conveniently available for this purpose. Bosnia begins deportations [Jan. 9, 2008] "A police source close to the anti-terror investigations told ISA Consulting that most of the Algerian fighters came to Bosnia in mid-1992 through the Algeria based Armed Islamic Group (GIA), via Croatian capital Zagreb - though the Bosnian Security Ministry has no evidence that Mimun himself was member of the group. The source also said that some Algerian nationals arrived in Bosnia through the Egyptian militant group Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya. The source said GIA had sent some high-ranking officials to Zagreb, where they set up a charity front called Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) or Al-Kifah - a center used for the logistical operations of infiltrating Bosnia. Western media quoted several unnamed intelligence officials as saying that MAK was founded in the mid-1980s by Osama bin Laden to raise funds for recruiting foreign fighters for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Al-Kifah also had branches in Pakistan and New York, and offices in 32 US cities. The New York branch was shut down right after the 1993 WTC bombing after an investigation proved that all of the bombers were connected to that office. Later on, at least six members of the Al-Kifah Zagreb office, including its head, Kamar Eddine Kherbane, were arrested throughout the world on various charges, including weapons smuggling, plotting terror attacks and membership in militant groups, including GIA, Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya and al-Qaida." Well, the Brooklyn branch of the Alkifah Refugee Center was not really "shut down." After the 1993 WTC attack, operations were moved from Brooklyn to the Boston branch, which was renamed Care International. The "director of the Boston branch of al-Kifah Refugee Center," Emadeddin Muntasser, "founded and incorporated Care in Massachusetts." According to Care International's financial records, "from August 1993 to June 1995, Muntasser wired close to $167,000 in the name of Care or al-Kifah to the Human Service Office (another name for MAK) in Bosnia." Then when did the CIA break off their ties with their "valuable asset"? Or were these ties never completely severed? Documents from the Jose Padilla case show that Rahman's followers were in contact with him at the prison during the Bosnian war. FBI probe that snared Padilla began in 1993: "Kifah Wael Jayyousi...was a 'supporter and follower' of [Omar Abdel] Rahman, frequently talking with the jailed sheik by telephone in 1994 and 1995, according to the FBI. Shortly after Rahman's arrest, Jayyousi had founded the American Islamic Group, which published the Islam Report. This newsletter carried news about the sheik and details glorifying the exploits of jihadists around the world. "Jayyousi would update the sheik with jihad news, many times reading accounts and statements issued directly by terrorist organizations" in Jordan and Egypt, FBI agent John T. Kavanaugh said in an affidavit. Jayyousi, who lived in San Diego, Detroit, Baltimore and Egypt during the probe, also allegedly used the Islam Report to raise money for Muslim extremists through nonprofit organizations used as cover: Save Bosnia Now, later changed to American Worldwide Relief. This purported charity had offices around the world, including San Diego, Bosnia, Germany and Croatia.... Hassoun was originally arrested on an immigration violation in 2002 and later indicted in the terrorism case. But he had been under FBI investigation since a January 1993 telephone call between Hassoun and Rahman, the blind sheik, according to court papers." I don't know if Rahman's followers were in direct contact with him at the prison during the Kosovo war. But the indictment states that the defendants, Jose Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, and Mohamed Hesham Youssef, "followed and supported Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman." From July 1998 through April 1999, the defendants were using the Global Relief Foundation to transfer funds to the "mujahideen" in Kosovo. How about that! This falls within the time frame of just before and during NATO's War of Aggression in Yugoslavia, when the CIA, German BND, NATO special forces, and "Bin Laden's Al Qa'ida" were all training, arming, and bankrolling the Kosovo Liberation Army! The Global Relief Foundation [GRF] was another charity front for MAK or Alkifah. GRF attorneys seemed outraged that the US government was not more grateful for their client's services. U.S. Labels Muslim Charity as Terrorist Group, October 19, 2002: "Lawyers for Global Relief and its co-founder, Rabih Haddad, denounced the government's action as anti-Muslim and McCarthyist. They focused on one piece of evidence Treasury cited to assert Global Relief is tied to al Qaeda -- that Haddad was a member of a bin Laden organization in the 1980s that preceded al Qaeda and that helped recruit guerrillas fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. 'The United States also supported that organization [Makhtab al-Khidamat] then,' said the foundation's Maryland-based attorney, Roger Simmons. 'None of this was illegal at the time, and it's Orwellian now to say it is. This is revisionist history.'.... In a statement released yesterday, Treasury pointed out that Global Relief for years promoted tapes and writings of Makhtab al-Khidamat's other co-founder, Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian scholar killed in a car bombing in 1989. 'His words are jewels,' one foundation publication said. 'He produced a new theory for saving the [islamic] nation from disgrace.'" Azzam was the CIA's "prime asset" during the "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan." Of course, the US did support MAK [or MK or Alkifah] at this time and also during the Bosnian war. Jose Padilla's testimony could be damning to the US intelligence establishment. Jose Padilla was imprisoned as an "enemy combatant" for three years, which kept him out of the reach of law enforcement investigators and the courts. Then the Bush administration released him from "enemy combatant" status and allowed the indictment against him to proceed, in order to avoid a confrontation with the Supreme Court. According to this and other accounts, Terror suspect was terrorized in a Navy brig, during Padilla's imprisonment as an "enemy combatant," his captors drugged him and tortured him "to break him mentally." Statements do change sometimes when statements have to be made under oath. The indictment contained no references to a "dirty bomb." Instead, Padilla was charged "as a conspirator in some 1990s Islamic extremist plots in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya." Obviously he had some "co-conspirators" in high places in Washington! More recently, Arab Spring and the overthrow of Mubarak was made in the USA, via the Freedom House and NED: The Protest Movement in Egypt: "Dictators" do not Dictate, They Obey Orders. After Mubarak was gone, Rahman's followers became stronger in Egypt during NATO's war against Qaddafi in Libya last year. How al-Qaeda got to rule in Tripoli: "Muammar Gaddafi's fortress of Bab-al-Aziziyah was essentially invaded and conquered last week by Belhaj's men - who were at the forefront of a militia of Berbers from the mountains southwest of Tripoli. The militia is the so-called Tripoli Brigade, trained in secret for two months by US Special Forces. This turned out to be the rebels' most effective militia in six months of tribal/civil war.... Abdelhakim Belhaj, aka Abu Abdallah al-Sadek, is a Libyan jihadi. Born in May 1966, he honed his skills with the mujahideen in the 1980s anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. He's the founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and its de facto emir - with Khaled Chrif and Sami Saadi as his deputies. After the Taliban took power in Kabul in 1996, the LIFG kept two training camps in Afghanistan; one of them, 30 kilometers north of Kabul - run by Abu Yahya - was strictly for al-Qaeda-linked jihadis...." It sure seems like it was convenient for the US and NATO to have Rahman's followers next door in Egypt, with the history of operational ties between the LIFG and Al-Gama`at al-Islamiyya. Dossier: Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG): "In addition to receiving military training from Al-Qaida instructors, LIFG recruits were also indoctrinated in Afghanistan by influential jihadist clerics such as Al-Qaida cofounder Dr. Abdullah Azzam, whose jihadist writings were later posted on the LIFG’s Internet website.20 Indicating the extent of that indoctrination, the LIFG website also contained audio and video recordings of Bin Laden himself, imprisoned Egyptian jihad leader Shaykh Omar Abdel Rahman, the El-Mudzahid Brigade in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Shaykh Mohammed al-Mohaisany—a prominent Saudi cleric who was detained by Saudi security forces following September 11, 2001..... Like other regional Islamist movements, the LIFG also found kinship with arguably the most dominant force among Afghan-trained extremists in North Africa: the Egyptian terrorist organization Al-Gama`at al-Islamiyya. By the mid-1990s, supporters of Al-Gama`at in Europe and North America began distributing news updates regarding LIFG operations targeting the “apostate” Libyan regime.33 Likewise, according to Al-Qaida deputy commander Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, LIFG propaganda magazines published corresponding statements received from representatives of Al-Gama`at al-Islamiyya.34 The LIFG has been a particularly vocal ally of Al-Gama`at al-Islamiyya’s imprisoned spiritual leader, the blind Shaykh Omar Abdel Rahman...." I strongly suspect that Rahman's followers did contribute to NATO's and the CIA's operations with the LIFG last year. Very interesting that this one slipped out in reports like this Al-Libi death a major blow for al Qaeda: In May 2012, "a previously unknown jihadist outfit calling itself the Imprisoned Omar Abdel Rahman Brigades claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the Red Cross in Benghazi." "Eldin...was arrested in 1993 on terrorism charges after members of Gamaa Islamiya got into a shoot out with Egyptian security officials at a mosque"? What was happening in 1993? That was during the Bosnian war. Even when Mubarak was receiving billions of dollars in US military aid, US intelligence was maintaining a relationship with his mortal enemies. "Eldin is a member of parliament for the Building and Development party in Egypt, which some Egypt watchers say is an arm of Gamaa Islamiya"? This came out June 12, 2011: Omar Abdel Rahman’s family to establish political party: "Members of the family of Omar Abdel Rahman, the jailed spiritual leader of the Jama'a Islamiya [Gama'a Islamiya], have announced that they plan to establish a new party called the Reform and Justice Party and that Abdel Rahman will be an honorary chairman. Abdel Rahman’s son Amar said the Jama'a Islamiya made the decision to establish the party in order to further Abdel Rahman’s legal case, especially since he was a supporter of political and party work. Amar went on to say that Abdel Rahman was one of the biggest supporters of public works, but that he was forced to approve the decisions made by the Jama'a’s Shura Council, which banned political and party work at that time. Amar added that the Jama'a had begun taking the necessary steps to establish a satellite television station, to be called 'A Word of Truth.' The name is the same as the title of Abdel Rahman’s book, which he wrote during his trial. Amar said the channel would express moderate Islamic views and would be mainly concerned with Abdel Rahman’s case and the demand that he be released. According to Amar, the channel’s main theme will be defending victims of injustice, and that it would be an Arabic channel with some English-language programs." Rahman's clan does seem to understand the art of PR and political compromise, by claiming to represent "moderate Islamic views." I don't know what happened to this "Reform and Justice Party." I don't know if this was renamed the "Building and Development Party." Both seem to have the same agenda. The latter seems to be more inclusive without the Rahmans in prominent official positions. Building and Development Party: "The Building and Development Party...is an Islamist political party in Egypt. It was initiated by the Jama'a al-Islamiya ("Islamic Group") and is seen as the political wing of the movement.[1][2] The party was established on 20 June 2011,[3] following the 2011 Egyptian revolution, and officially endorsed by the Supreme Administrative Court on 10 October 2011.[4] The party is chaired by Nasr Abdel Salam.[5] The Building and Development Party has participated in the Egyptian parliamentary election, 2011–2012 as part of the Alliance for Egypt (dubbed as the "Islamist Bloc"), led by the Salafist Al-Nour Party.[6] According to its manifesto, the party stands for a representative democracy with institutions guided by the principles of the Sharia, while rejecting any form of theocracy. Moreover, it favours a free economy and questions the size of the public sector.[7] Among the party's ranks is Abbud al-Zumar, who was imprisoned for nearly twenty years for involvement in the assassination of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat." Aboud al-Zumar "is a former Egyptian intelligence officer and a founding member and first emir of the Islamic Jihad group which gunned down Sadat during a military parade in 1981. He was succeeded by Ayman al-Zawahiri, with the Islamic Jihad group later merging with Al Qaeda. Al-Zumar is a member of the Egyptian Islamic Group’s [Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya] Shura Council. The Islamic Group renounced violence in the 1990s and is today part of the Egyptian political landscape, having formed the Building and Development Party. The Building and Development Party has 16 MPs." Rahman's kids will naturally have a lot of prestige among the Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya hierarchy, going back to the days of the anti-Soviet jihad. In October 2011, this group released this statement: Dr. Omar [the Blind Sheikh] "had sent a number of his sons to the Afghan Jihad in the days of the Russian occupation, and all of them returned with the exception of Ahmed, who was killed today." For reasons that I stated here, 3 Egyptians killed in recent Predator strike in North Waziristan, the timing of this announcement that Ahmed Omar Abdul Rahman was killed in a CIA drone attack in North Waziristan leads me to doubt that he was the target in this attack. At any rate, I haven't found anything that indicates that the Rahman family is opposed to this Building and Development Party for any reason. "In his meetings with senior Obama administration officials, Eldin says, he asked Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough about transferring Abdel-Rahman to an Egyptian prison. He said his request was declined"? And Eldin said that this "would be a gift to the revolution"? According to AP, June 22, 2012, Hani Nour Eldin and his delegation met "with Denis McDonough, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, and William Burns, the deputy secretary of state." William Burns was also Under Secretary of State during the Bush administration. In July 2008, he met with Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili and EU foreign envoy Javier Solana in Switzerland to talk about Iran's nuclear program. According to the article, which I posted at the beginning of this thread, Eldin said this regarding the transfer of Omar Abdel-Rahman "to an Egyptian prison": "When I raised this issue in the White House I was told it was not in their authority and all judicial issues relating to sentences must be discussed with the Department of Justice." Assuming that this account is accurate, the Obama administration did not say an outright "no" to this request for Rahman's transfer to a prison in Egypt. At least theoretically, McDonough or Burns could forward this request to the DOJ. Other followers of Rahman have demanded his release. When Eldin said that Rahman's transfer to an Egyptian prison would be a "gift to the revolution," this was evidently a reference to the "revolution," which overthrew Mubarak. I have noticed that in many reports, Rahman's clan or followers claim that Rahman was imprisoned in US because of pressure from Mubarak. After the US, by proxy, got rid of Mubarak's regime, in May 2011, this report came out: Egypt Demands Repatriation of the Blind Sheikh: "The Egyptian government reportedly has asked the United States to release the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel-Rahman, and send him back to Egypt, according to the Open Source Center, a government clearinghouse of publicly available foreign intelligence.... But his continued imprisonment could spur anger in Egypt and other Islamic states, said his son, Abdallah Abdel-Rahman. Keeping his father in custody would show that the United States did not seek to combat terrorism, but rather sought war on Islam. He asked Egyptian officials to make a similar request, and an official at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice indicated that had been done. The official recommended Abdallah Abdel-Rahman make his own request to the U.S. government for his father's repatriation since the two countries have no joint agreement for the exchange of prisoners. Last month, hundreds of Gama'a members protested near the U.S. embassy in Cairo demanding Abdel-Rahman's release." This is the US embassy in Cairo, where Rahman had received some of his visas from "CIA agents acting as consular officers" about 20-25 years ago. My guess is that after the election, President Obama or President Romney will agree to some compromise, maybe sending him back to Egypt for "house arrest," with a public pledge that Sheikh Rahman will not support terrorism or something like that. Rahman is known to be a diabetic and advanced in years. If he is close to death, he may be sent back to Egypt, in order to avoid any rumors of foul play connected with his death in an American prison. If the CIA finds another job for Rahman and his followers to do, such as with the jihad against Assad in Syria, Rahman could do more to "inspire" his followers if he was back in Egypt, instead of just arranging for somebody to put his messages on Facebook or Twitter. "A State Department spokesman said the delegation was 'invited to Washington by the Wilson Center. I refer you to the Wilson Center for any additional information on their visit'"? And "Drew Sample the media relations coordinator for the Wilson Center" said: "The Wilson Center was one of the places on the delegation’s Washington visit. We did not invite these people, the State Department arranged the visit"? The Wilson Center claims to have "Independent Research, Open Dialogue & Actionable Ideas." However, their website says: "The Board of Trustees, led by Chairman Joseph B. Gildenhorn, are appointed to six-year terms by the president of the United States. Trustees serve on various committees including executive, audit and finance, development, investment, fellowship, and investment policy." It sounds like the Wilson Center makes decisions to give the administration some "deniability." But ultimately it is the responsibility of the State Dept to issue visas. But I wonder if Eldin and maybe others in his delegation also got visas from a "CIA agent," who was "acting as a consular officer" at the US embassy in Cairo? [NOTE: re: Dossier: Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG): The NEFA Foundation website seems to be down right now. I hope they get it fixed soon! -- "BlackJade"]

No, maybe they did, maybe they didn't you've yet to provide a reliable citation (ABOVE) they have. Get back to us when you've found one. // end Colby (GAAL) =================== STRIKE FOUR (Colby please go to dugout) http://www.thedailyb...washington.html Member of Egyptian Terror Group Goes to Washington Jun 21, 2012 7:52 PM EDT [by Eli Lake] Terrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him? It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries. Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member of parliament, is a member of the Gamaa Islamiya, or the Egyptian Islamic Group—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The group was banned under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and is now a recognized Islamist political party. Its spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman—also known as the “blind sheik”—was convicted in 1995 of plotting attacks on New York City landmarks and transportation centers, and is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina federal prison. Eldin, according to his Facebook page, was born in 1968 and resides in Suez, near the canal that unites the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. He was arrested in 1993 on terrorism charges after members of Gamaa Islamiya got into a shoot out with Egyptian security officials at a mosque. He has proclaimed his innocence in the shooting and says he was arrested because of his political activism against Mubarak. In an interview, Eldin confirmed he is a member of Gamaa Islamiya. By U.S. law, that means he would be denied a visa to enter the country. Nonetheless, he says, he got a visa from the State Department. A State Department spokesman said, “We have no information suggesting that he or anyone else in the delegation is a member of the Egyptian Islamic Group.” Eldin said in the interview that he is not a terrorist. "I have taken the American visa from the embassy as a member of the parliament representing a political party that has been elected and is a legitimate party," he said. "I was personally not involved in any violent action or terrorism against the United States or any other country. The years I spent in prison were under the regime of Mubarak, these were political charges and there was no judicial basis for them." In his meetings with senior Obama administration officials, Eldin says, he asked Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough about transferring Abdel-Rahman to an Egyptian prison. He said his request was declined. “When I raised this issue in the White House I was told it was not in their authority and all judicial issues relating to sentences must be discussed with the Department of Justice,” he says. Transferring Abdel-Rahman, says Eldin, “would be a gift to the revolution.” McDonough didn’t reply to requests for comment made Thursday afternoon. In addition to being convicted of planning the 1993 World Trade Center attack, Abdel-Rahman is also a cause celebre for radical Islamic fundamentalists, including al Qaeda, who have at times demanded his release. Juan Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former deputy national security adviser for counter-terrorism under President George W. Bush, said it looked like the Obama administration made a mistake by allowing Eldin to visit the U.S. "The United States has to walk a fine line when engaging extremists who are now entering the political process amidst revolution,” he said. Samuel Tadros, an Egyptian citizen and research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. who specializes in Egyptian politics was surprised that Eldin would receive a visa. “It would have taken the State Department five seconds to Google his name in Arabic and realize he is a member of a designated terrorist organization,” he said. Eldin is a member of parliament for the Building and Development party in Egypt, which some Egypt watchers say is an arm of Gamaa Islamiya. While in Washington, Eldin also visited the Wilson Center, a think tank that specializes in foreign policy issues. A State Department spokesman said the delegation was “invited to Washington by the Wilson Center. I refer you to the Wilson Center for any additional information on their visit.” A spokesman for the Wilson Center, however, said the delegation was selected by the State Department. “We can’t speak to the background of Eldin,” said Drew Sample the media relations coordinator for the Wilson Center. “The Wilson Center was one of the places on the delegation’s Washington visit. We did not invite these people, the State Department arranged the visit.” ************************************************************ ***

Along with rolling out the red carpet for the Muslim Brotherhood in the US, the United States also continues to send hefty annual grants to Egypt. Indeed, being trillions of dollars in debt has not deterred the Obama administration from giving generously to Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egypt. (RAND) The State Department has an emissary in Egypt who trains operatives of the Brotherhood and other Islamist organizations in democracy procedures. We’re helping them get elected. The State Department announced that the Obama administration would be “satisfied” with the election of a Muslim Brotherhood–dominated government in Egypt. The State Department has collaborated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of governments heavily influenced by the Brotherhood, in seeking to restrict American free-speech rights in deference to sharia prohibitions against examination and negative criticism of Islam. The State Department has excluded Israel, the world’s leading target of terrorism, from its “Global Counterterrorism Forum,” a group that brings the United States together with several Islamist governments, prominently including its co-chair, Turkey. By the way, the Erdogan regime in Turkey now finances the terrorist organization Hamas, which is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch. At the forum’s kickoff, Secretary Clinton decried various terrorist attacks and terrorist groups; but she did not mention Hamas or attacks against Israel. Transparently, this was in deference to the Islamist governments the administration has chosen to partner with — to the exclusion of Israel. Those government’s adhere to the Muslim Brotherhood’s position that Hamas is not a terrorist organization and that attacks against Israel are not terrorism. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer about $1.5 billion dollars in aid to Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood’s victory in the parliamentary elections. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian territories notwithstanding that Gaza is ruled by the Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization under American law — meaning that to provide it with material support is a serious federal crime. The State Department and the administration recently hosted a contingent from Egypt’s newly elected parliament that included not only Muslim Brotherhood members but a member of the Islamic Group (Gama’at al Islamia). The Islamic Group is the jihadist organization headed by the Blind Sheikh (Omar Abdel Rahman), who is serving a life sentence for his leading role in a terrorist campaign against the United States in the early Nineties. Like Hamas, the Islamic Group is a designated as a terrorist organization to which it is illegal to provide material support. On a just-completed trip to Egypt, Secretary Clinton pressured the ruling military junta to hand over power to the newly elected parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and to the newly elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who is a top Brotherhood official. Secretary Clinton later met with Morsi, who has also been extended the honor of an invitation to visit the White House in September. ##################### ##################### No, maybe they did, maybe they didn't you've yet to provide a reliable citation (ABOVE) they have. Get back to us when you've found one. // end Colby (GAAL) =================== Storm warning | The Times of Israel ONE www.timesofisrael.com › Ops & BlogsCached You +1'd this publicly. Jan 16, 2013 – On a just-completed trip to Egypt, Secretary Clinton pressured the ruling military junta to hand over power to the newly elected parliament, ... Despite concerns, U.S. to give Egypt $1.5B - CBS News two www.cbsnews.com/8301.../despite-concerns-u-s-to-give-egypt-1-5b/Cached You +1'd this publicly. Mar 23, 2012 – (AP) WASHINGTON - The Obama administration told Congress on Thursday it will waive democracy requirements to release up to $1.5 billion in aid to .... The ruling military pledges to eventually transfer power to an .... of constitutional changes that eliminate restrictions on political rights and civil liberties. Wiesenthal Center Rejects State Department Letter on the Exclusion ... three www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c...b...ct...Cached You +1'd this publicly. UndoWhy would the U.S State Department exclude Israel in the first place? ... Cooper, the dean and founder and associate dean of the leading Jewish NGO asked. ... Israelis are a key target of terrorism and her citizens and Jews the world over are often ... targeted by the scourge of terror into the Global Counterterrorism Forum", ... 3 strikes Colby out !! OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!!

RAND Report Reveals Obama Administration’s Intricate Collaboration With The Muslim Brotherhood By: Candice Lanier (Diary) | November 30th, 2012 The Obama administration has been diligent in employing a strategy of engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood. But, it is the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda that is the focus of this joint effort, instead of the interests of the United States. This is according to a report done by the RAND Corporation’s National Defense Research Institute, which is a federally funded research and analysis center and is overseen by a Department of Defense advisory board in support of official administration policies and goals. And, instead of concentrating on how the Muslim Brotherhood conducts itself, the main objective is on changing how the U.S. perceives the Muslim Brotherhood. Moreover, the authors of the report also suggest that this strategy be carried out quietly. An excerpt from the RAND report: “Regularize and routinize engagement, including among members of Congress and FJP parliamentarians, to reduce politicization of engagement efforts. Engagement will be most effective when it has bipartisan support in the United States and embeds contact with the MB as part of broader engagement with Egypt’s profusion of political parties. The more regular and normalized that contact becomes, the less engagement is vulnerable to becoming a target of political attacks in the United States and the more it will be viewed as the normal course of diplomacy. As Nathan Brown argues, now that the MB operates a legal political party and has become a dominant player in Egyptian politics, ‘having normal diplomatic contact with the [MB] makes sense. But trumpeting the policy . . . is a mistake—it generates exaggerated expectations and fears all around.’” Engagement can also be insulated from domestic political attacks by having more members of Congress, rather than just administration officials, directly meet MB members. The Obama administration has already reached out to the Hill to educate members on the MB, address concerns, and plan more parliamentary exchanges.51 Exchanges between American congressional and Egyptian parliamentary staff could also prove fruitful. In addition, Congress can host FJP parliamentarians and staff to observe American political processes, such as nominating conventions.” Additionally, according to internal documents acquired in a police raid, following 9/11, “Destroying Western civilization from within” is one of the “General Strategic Goals” of the Muslim Brotherhood. “Using deception to mask intended goals” is another stated tenet. Islam allows for the deception of non-Muslims, according to the Manual of Islamic Law (r8.2), headed “Permissible Lying.” Hence, Islam has been billed as the religion of peace. Along with the previously stated goals, the following actions were outlined in the documents: The concerted demonization of Israel Support of ‘Palestinians’ claims of victimhood and discrimination High-profile, pro-Islamic activities on college campuses This demonstrates how the gradual, often subtle, imposition of Sharia is accomplished. The West tends to view these concessions as an outreach to a minority group, while Islamists intend it as an advance towards Sharia. The road to worldwide Sharia is enmeshed in a web of financial networks and extensive social networks of schools, Islamic centers, ‘charitable’ organizations and social media. Robert Spencer, of Jihad Watch, refers to this as “Stealth Jihad.” Other tactics include the the revisionist history found in some school textbooks, in regard to Islam’s conquests and subjugation through the centuries. This has has been done at both universities and government offices — officials and agents who influence policy, legal cases, immigration and more. It is important to note that the Muslim Brotherhood is the parent organization of Al Qaeda and Hamas. The organization was founded in 1928, in Egypt, specifically for the purpose of reinstating the Islamic Caliphate (Empire) which was abolished by Kemal Atatürk. The intended reach of the caliphate is global and would impose Sharia law on all. “The Koran is our law, Jihad is our way” is the motto, in part. Because Sharia law is “incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy,” it is reasonable to expect that in order for Sharia to exist in the West, Western democracy must be abolished. This concept is being actively promoted in Europe and in other parts of the West. An example of this is Anjem Choudary saying: “Our campaign… will be — Rotten Britain, and destroying the foundations of Western civilization. So… be part of the project of forbidding man-made law… and calling for the Sharia.” Another example is Egypt’s President Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood member and pharaoh wannabe, who wasted no time, following election to office, in achieving the following: Suppression of the constitutional rights of Christians Christians attacked, and some killed Churches and shops set on fire Young women and girls abducted, forcibly converted, and ‘married’ to their Muslim captors Slow police response, if they show at all Sharia now trumps the Constitution. Mobile rural ‘health’ buses for performing schoolgirl genital mutilation are in existence Morsi has shut down opposition in the media Mubarak sympathizers removed from the administration Morsi edicts declared mandatory and unappealable Hard-line Islamic group, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, has threatened that anyone who acts against Morsi’s declaration is marked for death The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Dr. Muhammad Badie, has proclaimed its “greatest goal… mastership of the world” while a predecessor, Muhammad Mahdi Akef, said in 2007: “Islam will invade Europe and America… the Jihad will lead to smashing Western civilization and replacing it with Islam…” According to Michael Copeland, writing for EuropeNews, Mohammed Badie has also pointed out that “Jihad is obligatory.” To clarify, “Jihad”, according to the Manual of Islamic Law, “means to war against non-Muslims.” The Muslim Brotherhood has branches in 70 countries and territories, including its main contingents in Egypt, Syria, Gaza, Libya, Tunisia, and Jordan. It also maintains active branches in the UK, France, and in several other European countries as well as in the US. According to founder al-Banna, “It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” The organization’s full motto is: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” Additionally, it is also the intent of the Muslim Brotherhood to “liberate Jerusalem.” Along with rolling out the red carpet for the Muslim Brotherhood in the US, the United States also continues to send hefty annual grants to Egypt. Indeed, being trillions of dollars in debt has not deterred the Obama administration from giving generously to Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egypt. The RAND report can be viewd here

Washington's Blog The chief electrical engineer who wired the World Trade Centers (Richard Humenn) says that people working on the elevators could have planted explosives: Mechanical engineer Gordon Ross, in his talk on the destruction of the Twin Towers, that: “Those [core] columns which were situated adjacent to and accessible from inside the elevator shafts failed at an early stage of the collapse. Those columns which were remote from the elevator shafts, and not accessible from the elevator shafts, survived the early stages of the collapse.”* Indeed, a top demolition expert says that with access to the elevator shaft, a team of loading experts would have access to the columns and beams: According to USA Today: “On Sept. 11, ACE Elevator of Palisades Park, N.J., had 80 elevator mechanics inside the World Trade Center“. And NIST itself says that, on 9/11, “Elevators 6A and 7A were out of service for modernization“. (NIST NCSTAR 1-8, p.97). In addition, Ace worked in and around structural steel: A run of approximately 80 vertical feet, employed over 300 running feet of 2-1/2″ x 8″ and 2″x 2″ trough raceway. This run traveled through plaster ceilings, concrete floors and around structural steel. Indeed, there had been numerous elevator renovation and and asbestos removal projects in the 6 years prior to 9/11 which allowed access to core building structures, including: 1995 1997 1998 1998 2000 These are just a few of the known, public examples of opportunities to plant bombs. There were undoubtedly many additional opportunities available to skilled operatives. And as experts such as one of the world’s top structural engineers – Hugo Bachmann, Professor Emeritus and former Chairman of the Department of Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – notes, there could have been tenants of the World Trade Centers who planted bombs in their own, rented space, before moving out and vacating their office spaces.

The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing: Decoys, Aliases and NeoConspiracy Theories http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-1993-world-trade-center-bombing-decoys-aliases-and-neoconspiracy-theories/5324430 ========================= Like so many major terrorist attacks, the World Trade Center (WTC) bombing of February 1993 occurred shortly after the US presidential election. The incoming Bill Clinton was confronted with a new menace: Islamic terror had for the first time carried out a major strike on US soil. The first new president after the end of the Cold War and the previous president’s announcement of a ‘new world order’ was within weeks given a stark reminder that with the Soviet Union out of the way the US still faced a clear and present danger. Of course, I speak rhetorically. Six people died in the blast, and while it was tragic for their bereaved families and painful for the over 1000 people injured, the bark was worse than the bite in this attack. The bomb built by Ramzi Yousef shocked many, and managed to destroy a surprisingly large amount of the underground parking garage at the WTC, but given that the idea was to topple one tower into the other potentially killing 250,000 people, it was a miserable failure. Nonetheless, the bombing remains the subject of much conjecture, some well evidenced and some not, and served to implant the idea in the American and Western consciousness of Islamic terrorists attacking the WTC. The Blind Sheikh The first major port of call in any investigation of the bombing, or telling of the story, is the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman. He was the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group (IG, or al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya), at the time perhaps the largest overtly militant Islamic group in the country. The crackdown following the assassination of Anwar Sadat had produced in typically polarising fashion a backlash in favour of Islamic radicalism. That this happened at the same time as the extremely well-funded NATO effort to use radical Islam as a weapon against the Soviet Union is no coincidence. Towards the end of the 1980s, as the Soviet-Afghan war was coming to its inevitable conclusion, the Blind Sheikh escaped from house arrest in Egypt and paid several visits to the US. Specifically, he fostered a following at the Al-Kifah Refugee Centre at the Al Farooq moseque in New York. Al-Kifah was the local branch of the Maktab Al-Khidamat or Services Office for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, and was central to the process by which young men were recruited, moved around the world for training and ultimately deployed against the Soviets. The CIA has remained tight-lipped about their involvement in Al-Kifah but given the timing of its development, its location and the fact that their agents posing as consular officials arranged the visas that allowed the Blind Sheikh to enter the US, it is obvious that they were at the least happy about Rahman’s growing influence there. In April and May 1989 US officials secretly met with followers of the Blind Sheikh in Egypt, including a lawyer representing the group. The cables recording these meetings were signed by Frank Wisner — the US ambassador to Egypt and the son of the veteran of CIA black ops. A year later the Blind Sheikh moved to New York permanently. Six months after that El Sayyid Nosair, a follower of Rahman, assassinated prominent rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defence League and a former FBI informant. A few weeks later the State Department revoked all of the Blind Sheikh’s visas, but nothing else happened to him. Nosair was arrested but the investigation didn’t reach into the question of what was going on at the Al-Kifah. Rahman was never arrested or deported. A couple of months later the Emir of the Farooq mosque Mustafa Shalabi was murdered, almost 2 years to the day prior to the WTC bombing. Rahman effectively took over the mosque and the Al-Kifah center at that point. Meanwhile, notorious triple agent Ali Mohamed had been providing training sessions in intelligence and paramilitary operations to those who frequented the mosque, including Nosair. He also trained virtually the entire group involved in and ultimately convicted for the WTC bombing. The Decoy It is at this point in the story that the alternative explanations of the bombing focus on one Emad Salem — a former Egyptian army officer recruited as an informant by the FBI. He had infiltrated the Al-Kifah and the circle around the Blind Sheikh and was provided regular intelligence on what they were doing. However, what almost every alternative theory about WTC93 gets wrong is that they claim Salem built the bomb that was used, usually based on a few seconds of audio of Salem talking to one of his FBI handlers, John Anticev. In reality, Salem was fired by the FBI in bizarre circumstances in the summer of 1992. He didn’t build the bomb – terrorists do not build a bomb and then wait around for six months before using it. Exactly why Salem was fired is not clear, but when his original handler Nancy Floyd started asking questions the FBI leaked stories to the press that she was sleeping with Salem and ultimately subjected her to a career-damaging internal affairs investigation. As a result, six months before the bombing the FBI lost their eyes and ears inside the Blind Sheikh’s group. After the bombing, Salem was re-recruited by the FBI to infiltrate the Al-Kifah once more, which he did. At that point he was paid a large sum of money to act as a sting operator, encouraging the Blind Sheikh to make incriminating statements that Salem secretly recorded, and encouraging Rahman’s followers to develop plans for terrorists attacks that they were then arrested for, and prosecuted and convicted. The recordings of Salem talking with Anticev come from this period, spring-summer 1993. When the FBI swooped in the summer of ’93, they arrested the Blind Sheikh and most of the group around him, and Salem’s evidence became the basis of the prosecution case. At this point the State Department, having revoked the Blind Sheikh’s visas 2 1/2 years earlier in late 1990 but done nothing to him in the meantime, carried out a Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation of the decision to grant him the visas in the first place. This involved trying to see the files in Cairo from the period when CIA agents were granting the visas, but the papertrail from the State Department is heavily redacted and it appears the 1993 OIG investigation never actually got to see the Cairo files. Ultimately the OIG concluded that they didn’t know whether the decisions to grant the visas was correct because they couldn’t definitely say what was known at the time. No one got blamed, everyone kept their jobs, it was business as usual. With Salem functioning as something of a decoy in this story, the question remains: who did build the bomb used in the WTC? A.K.A. According to the official story, and his own extended confession, and much of the evidence, the real bomb-maker was Ramzi Yousef, born Abdul Basit but also known as Dr Paul Vijay, Dr Adel Sabah, Muhammud Azan, Rashid Rashid, Kamal Ibraham among many other pseudonyms. Ramzi arrived in New York in September 1992, following six months training in Afghanistan in explosives. He conveniently turned up just after Emad Salem had been removed from watching the Al-Kifah. Trained in Britain in electrical engineering, Yousef was smart and capable and found in the Al-Kifah a willing reception committee for his plan to blow up something in New York. That said, it wasn’t plain sailing. In particular, Mohammed Salameh (convicted in the first of the three WTC trials) was a complete moron, managing to crash a car loaded with chemicals for making the bomb which resulted in Yousef ending up in hospital. He also forgot to give Yousef the planned early morning wake-up call on the day of the bombing. Nonetheless, this relatively ragtag group who were inspired by CIA asset the Blind Sheikh and trained by triple agent Ali Mohamed managed to pull off the bombing. However, that is far from the end of the story. For one thing the damage to the WTC was considerable — several floors were partly destroyed, including a 5000 square foot hole on one floor. This suggests that the truck bomb may not have been the only explosive used at the WTC, that as in Oklahoma City there is a case for the prosecution case being true but being only part of the story. What is certain is that there was no trace of the main explosive charge found in the rubble of the WTC explosion, and that the FBI explosives examiner David Williams essentially guessed at what explosive was used, and then modified his guesses to fit the prosecution evidence, and he repeatedly gave untrue testimony against Salameh et al in the 1994 trial. Due to the whistle blowing efforts of Fred Whitehurst the Department of Justice OIG carried out an investigation into the crime lab, including Williams role in the WTC investigation which concluded that, ‘Williams gave inaccurate and incomplete testimony and testified to invalid opinions that appear tailored to the most incriminating result.’ While not all of Whitehurst’s complaints were upheld, it does put a few cracks in the official WTC bombing story. For another, who was Ramzi Yousef? This international man of mystery was certainly not particularly religious, and enjoyed B-girls and brothels on his travels around the world. He may well have been trained by Ali Mohamed, who according to multiple testimonies from trainees was in the same area of Afghanistan as Yousef for much of 1992. When Yousef left New York on the evening of the WTC bombing he spent the next two years on the run from the FBI, travelling all over Asia carrying out various acts of terrorism before being brought to ground in February 1995. How did he manage this? It appears he had help from the ISI. Simon Reeve’s remarkably prescient and accurate book The New Jackals, based on an extraordinary degree of access to the security services around the case only a year or two after Yousef had been convicted, records several instances of this. When Yousef landed in Pakistan in May 1992 his fake Iraqi passport had the wrong seal on the visa, and yet he was waived through. Similarly, when he and Ahmed Ajaj first entered the US on badly faked passports, Ajaj was arrested but Yousef was not, despite it being clear they were travelling together. When Yousef’s Pakistani immigration records were checked as part of the WTC investigation, much of the paperwork had disappeared. The implication is that someone was clearing a path for him. NeoConspiracy Theories Another misdirection in this story is the theory propounded by NeoConservative mouthpiece Laurie Mylroie, who claimed that Yousef was in fact an Iraqi spy. Prior to the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, Yousef (then known as Abdul Basit) and his family lived in Kuwait, though ethnically they were Baluchi. This is why another of Yousef’s pseudonyms, given to the FBI when he signed a waiver of his miranda rights, was Adam Baloch. Due to discrepancies in official records on Yousef/Basit, Mylroie claimed that the invading Iraqi army killed Basit and his family and replaced him with a spy using the Basit/Yousef identity. Who was between 4 and 6 inches taller and has never mentioned anything about being an Iraqi secret agent even though he’s now languishing in solitary confinment serving prison sentences amounting to hundreds of years and therefore has nothing to lose. Mylroie has been widely criticised for this rather ridiculous theory, but she was still hired in 2005 to write a History of Al Qaeda for the Pentagon, and paid $75,000 for her trouble. She once again put forth the theory that Iraq and Al Qaeda were closely related, that Yousef was an Iraqi spy, that Iraq bombed the WTC. The problem was that following the NATO invasion of Iraq in 2003 a lot of Iraqi government files were seized, and they were published alongside two Pentagon studies in 2006-2008. One file in particular is an audio recording and a transcript of a meeting between Saddam and his ministers where they discuss the WTC bombing. There was no mention of Yousef, no hint of Iraqi involvement in the attack, nothing that would substantiate Mylroie’s daft and misguiding allegations, and quite a lot that contradicts her. For one thing, one of the conspirators named Abdul Yasin fled to Iraq after the bombing but he was arrested by the Iraq authorities in 1994 and held until at least 2002, though he has not been heard from since then. In the meeting, Saddam expressed how important it was that Yasin remain alive in custody, and not be killed or commit suicide. Hussein did try to use Yasin as a bargaining chip with the Americans, but this always failed. Saddam also discussed how it was possible that the American, Israeli or Saudi governments were really behind the WTC blast, and how the Iraq government should find ways to exploit the bombing through propaganda. It was a remarkably explicit conversation, and yet nothing in any way backed up Mylroie’s contentions. So what the hell happened? With this concrete example of the story (or legend) of Ramzi Yousef being used to bolster a politically useful myth we are left to wonder what else in his story is not true. After his arrest he provided extensive confessions, all of which fits in with most of the prosecution case against the WTC accused. He even had a proffer session, recorded in an FBI 302, with the State’s Attorney’s office in New York where he outlined how he built and delivered the bomb. It seems that he did actually bomb the WTC, though exactly why he did that, and why those who helped him did so remains something of a mystery. That the WTC bombing in 1993 has been used to substantiate the Al Qaeda myth, and in particular the Iraq-Al Qaeda fantasy, does show that there is a degree of spook theatre to all of this. The FBI were blindsided for reasons that have never been adequately explained, in largely the same way as happened in the run up to 9/11. Whatismore, the 9/11 Commission’s records at the National Archives are woefully incomplete on the subject of the Blind Sheikh, with over 200 pages of CIA and State Department material withdrawn for National Security reasons. The 9/11 Commission barely even acknowledged Ali Mohamed’s existence, let alone the importance of a triple agent who was close friends with Ayman Zawahiri and was so trusted by Bin Laden that he trained Osama’s bodyguards. With a cover-up now lasting 20 years (20 years tomorrow at the time of writing) it is difficult to know exactly what happened and why the WTC was bombed in February 1993. Nonetheless there is abundant material available on the case, which I have sought to whittle down to the key source material in the WTC93 Document Collection, a free e-book comprising nearly 250 pages of material and featuring an introduction explaining the relevance of each document. There is no smoking gun, though it is interesting that in recent days a story has hit the headlines that Ramzi Yousef is suing for an explanation of why he is still subject to ‘special administration measures’, such as not being allowed to communicate with other people. Unsurprisingly the news coverage has portrayed Yousef solely as an inhuman bomber who deserves to be treated inhumanely and has ignored the bigger picture, and maybe that was the point all along.

DAMN Journalists just get in the way of the child targets.(Gaal) Is America Like Adam Lanza? U.S. Drone Strikes Have Killed 176 Children in Pakistan Alone Is America Like Adam Lanza US Drone Strikes Have Killed 176 Children in Pakistan Alone The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that took place in Newtown, Connecticut, is going to affect the loved ones of the victims for years to come and this is something that should not be ignored. Although most of us do not know the victims or their families, the news reports each and every detail of the event, and our hearts and thoughts go out to those who are suffering. Yet, something about this seems entirely hypocritical; we as Americans largely ignore when our own government, in countries around the world, murders innocent children but when an American child dies, our media and our nation can focus on nothing else. Meanwhile, U.S. drones are killing children and terrorizing families abroad. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 176 children have been murdered in Pakistan alone. And along with drone attacks, an average of 4.8 children are killed per day in Afghanistan where earlier this year, a U.S. sergeant is reported to have killed 9 children. Will these murders be deemed worthy of our thoughts and prayers, or even our news headlines? These deaths abroad are tragic too. These deaths will also affect the loved ones of victims for years to come and their lives are no less-worthy of thoughts, prayers and government (or civilian) action. Some will disagree with me and say that we should care about the deaths of children in the U.S. to a greater extent than the deaths of those abroad, because children living here are part of our nation. But most of us don't know the loved ones of the deceased in Connecticut any better than we know deceased in other countries. With all men (and children) created equal, we as Americans should care when any child is killed, not just the ones who happen to be born in a certain geographical region called the United States. Here, we worry that our children might be afraid to go to school because there is now a 1 in 67,140 chance that their elementary school might be attacked. But we cause that same fear when we allow our government to fire missiles at schools abroad. Sadaullah Khan, a 15-year old boy who lost both legs in a drone strike says, "I used to go to school … I thought I would become a doctor. After the drone strikes, I stopped going to school." Here in the U.S., parents worry that they might have to attend the funeral of their own child. But our government strikes fear into the hearts of parents abroad when it kills their children during funerals. When we worry about the safety of our children, we forget that it is ourdrone strikes, ourmoney and ourdemocratically-elected government that cause the same fear in select countries around the world. And yet, Americans are going to spend thousands of hours supporting or protesting various gun laws to "save the children," here at home. But in reality, Americans could save many more children if they protested our own government's killing of hundreds of children abroad. But Americans won't spend their time this way, even if it would save more children's lives. It seems that Americans should care when any child is murdered, not just when American ones are.

GRABBE IS AN EXPERT <YOUR HOFFMAN IS STRAWMAN ==================================================== Debunking the Real 9/11 Myths: Why Popular Mechanics Can't Face up to Reality - Part 3 Evidently, PM’s writers and investigative journalists somehow missed an article written by Dr. Crockett Grabbe which refutes the arguments made in Seffen’s questionable paper even though Grabbe’s article was published in the very same journal as Dr. Seffen’s paper.12 Though PM touts Dr. Seffen and his paper as providing excellent analysis of the WTC collapses, there is no mention of Grabbe’s peer-reviewed response, even though Grabbe is a credentialed scientist. Instead, PM chose to cite an inflammatory remark on an obscure internet site. Dr. Seffen never responded to Dr. Grabbe’s discussion paper, which was published over three years ago. In addition, PM felt no need to quote Dr. Grabbe, who says on his website, “Seffen is an applied mathematician from Cambridge whose paper was on BBC News. I ripped his paper apart, and he never made any reply to my very critical comments.”13 PM finishes this section by quoting a section of NIST’s report on the collapse of the Twin Towers that discusses the rate of collapse. The section reads: Since the stories below the level of collapse initiation provided little resistance to the tremendous energy released by the falling building mass, the building section above came down essentially in free fall, as seen in videos. As the stories below sequentially failed, the falling mass increases, further increasing the demand of the floors below, which were unable to arrest the moving mass.14 PM also quotes from NIST’s FAQ on the WTC collapses: NIST estimated the elapsed times for the first exterior panels to strike the ground after the collapse initiated in each of the towers to be approximately 11 seconds for WTC 1 and approximately 9 seconds for WTC 2… Neither the duration of the seismic records nor video evidence (due to obstruction of view caused by debris clouds) are reliable indicators of the total time it took for each building to collapse completely.15 However, engineer and 9/11 researcher Jim Hoffman addressed both of NIST’s assertions. In regards to the first point, Hoffman writes: This does not explain either why the structure below failed to arrest the falling mass or how the structure failed to appreciably slow the falling mass. As in the preceding paragraphs, NIST begs these questions using a kind of circular argument: The towers fell rapidly because the stories below could not resist the tremendous energy of the falling mass. Videos clearly show that the upper section fell essentially in free-fall. Therefore the structures below offered minimal resistance to and were destroyed by the falling mass. The argument pre-supposes the conclusion that the force that overcame the resistance of the structures below was the falling mass, not some other force such as energy of explosives.16 As for the second point, Hoffman writes: To the contrary, video records, such as this record of the North Tower's fall, clearly establish upper boundaries on the times that it took for the vast majority of each tower to be destroyed.17 While citing several experts who support their assertion that the collapse rates of the Towers were nothing unusual, PM failed to acknowledge numerous other experts who say that the collapse rates clearly violated the laws of physics. The rate in which the Towers came down cannot be explained by the combined effects of fire and gravity. For more on the subject of the Towers’ collapse rates, the following articles are recommended: Twin Towers Evidence Blows Away Fire Theory by James Smith The Missing Jolt: A Simple Refutation of the NIST-Bazant Collapse Hypothesis, by Prof. Graeme MacQueen and Tony Szamboti Destruction of the World Trade Center North Tower and Fundamental Physics by David Chandler Showing that the South Tower of World Trade Center Collapsed from Forces More Powerful than Gravitation by Crockett Grabbe [in Part 4 of this monthly series, Taylor challenges Popular Mechanics’ misleading claims regarding the violent ejections of dust and building materials during the collapse of the Twin Towers. Look for Part 4 in the May edition of the Blueprint newsletter. For Part 2 click here] 12The paper can be read here: http://www.sealane.o...ffenrevpub.pdf 13Quoted from: http://www.sealane.o.../research.html 14Quoted from: NCSTAR 1, pg. 146 http://www.nist.gov/...?pub_id=909017 15Quoted from: http://www.nist.gov/..._wtctowers.cfm 16Quoted from: http://911research.w...ist/index.html 17Quoted from: http://911research.w..._FAQ_reply.html

The Missing Jolt: A Simple Refutation of the NIST-Bazant Collapse Hypothesis, by Prof. Graeme MacQueen and Tony Szamboti Three essential elements of NIST’s hypothesis of total collapse are made explicit in the Final Report and the companion volumes of the study: 1. Because of damage to stories 93 to 98, and especially because of column buckling due to fire, the top 12 stories of the North Tower (99-110) plus the roof were, in effect, separated from the rest of the Tower and began to behave as a unit. [2] 2. This "rigid block" of 12 stories plus the roof began to move. First it tilted, and then it abruptly fell onto the stories beneath it. [3] 3. The fall of the rigid block caused such damage to the lower structure that "global collapse began."[4] The rigidity of the upper block of stories is crucial to this explanation. If the upper block were to break, disintegrate or flow on impact it would certainly not threaten the 92 intact floors beneath it. In addition, the rigid block had to fall onto the rest of the building. Although this seems obvious, the NIST authors are often shy about saying it. We hear about the rigid block’s "descent."[5] We hear of tilting and "downward movement."[6] We have to look carefully to find the NIST authors using the language of falling. Whatever the reasons for their reticence, it is clear that it will not do for the upper block to ease itself onto the building beneath it, with a gradual creaking of buckled columns and sagging floors. If this were to happen, why would the structure beneath collapse? Journal of 911 Studies January 2009/Volume 24 2 There was nothing special about the weight of the upper block, rigid or otherwise. The lower part of the Tower had held up this weight without difficulty since 1970. The lower block had 283 cold steel columns, with less than 30% of their total load capacity being utilized for gravity loads, because of the factors of safety designed into the structure and the need to withstand high winds—and gravity loads were essentially the only loads the columns would have been subject to on a day such as 9/11 with little wind. The lower block was not weak, nor (excluding stories 93-98) was it damaged by plane impact or fire. The weight of the upper block posed no threat to it. If there were to be a threat, it had to come from the momentum of the upper block. But momentum is a product of mass and velocity, and since the upper block could not increase its mass it had to increase, if it were to become a threat, its velocity. Since NIST’s theory assumes the only energy at play at this stage of events was gravitational, the upper block had to fall, and the greater its velocity the greater its momentum. The longer and the less impeded its fall, the greater would be its impact on the lower structure. So it is no surprise that the NIST authors, however shy they are about affirming it, eventually come out in favour of the falling of the upper block. [7] Zdenek Bazant and Yong Zhou, with whose September 13, 2001 back-of-the-envelope theory (with subsequent revisions and additions) NIST largely agrees, have never hesitated to say that the upper block fell. [8] Bazant has likewise been frank about the need for severe impact as the upper and lower structures met: he believes the impact may have been powerful enough to have been recorded by seismometers. [9] In his view, collapse initiation of the lower structure required "one powerful jolt."[10] Of course, if there was a powerful jolt to the lower structure there must also have been a powerful jolt to the upper falling structure, in accord with Newton’s Third Law. In order to keep a sense of reality as we discuss NIST’s theory it may be useful to label the three interacting parts of the North Tower, as they are pictured by NIST, as RB-12+, DS-6 and RB-92. Where RB stands for rigid block, DS stands for damaged structure, and the numbers following the letters refer to the number of stories in each structure. The upper block comprised the 12 stories of 99-110 as well as the roof structure with antenna and hat truss; the intermediate area was damaged by plane impact and fire and was six stories high (93-98 inclusive); and the lower block was rigid and comprised, in addition to subterranean levels, the first 92 stories of the building. These designations actually underestimate the contrast between RB-12+ and RB-92, because the latter was not only largely undamaged by fire but was more massive per story. It was also stronger: the Tower’s columns tapered as they ascended. [11] Yet the fall of RB-12+, we are supposed to believe, put a catastrophic end to DS-6 and RB-92. What NIST essentially says, agreeing with Bazant, is that the lighter and weaker part initially fell with a powerful jolt onto the heavier and stronger part, which could not withstand its momentum, and that this caused a progressive collapse to initiate smashing the lower block to bits all the way to the ground. The NIST Final Report does not tell us what happened to RB-12+ after its impact with the two structures beneath it. Did it fall through them all the way to the ground (that is, to the rubble heap on the ground), maintaining considerable mass and rigidity the whole time--as Bazant argued in 2001 and has continued to argue? [12] ======= On this the NIST authors are silent. NIST also does not tell us how far RB-12+ fell before its impact with intact structure. Did it fall one story (roughly 12 feet), or several stories? We are left in the dark. Once again Bazant comes to the rescue. It fell "at least one story," he says. [13] To his credit, Bazant is willing to state the essential elements of the hypothesis. If this hypothesis is to hold any water at all there must be substantial impact: RB-12+ has a lot of work to do, so it had better fall at least one story. As we will show, for the purposes of the present refutation it does not matter whether RB-12+ fell one story, six stories, or somewhere in between. The Necessary Jolt: As Bazant has said, when the top part fell and struck the stories beneath it, there had to be a powerful jolt. While a jolt entails acceleration of the impacted object it requires deceleration of the impacting object. Even a hammer hitting a nail decelerates, and if the hammer is striking a strong, rigid body fixed to the earth its deceleration will be abrupt and dramatic. Although NIST does not explicitly speak, like Bazant, of a "jolt", and may therefore be thought to evade this paper’s refutation, it is impossible for NIST to escape the implications of its own assertions. The NIST report speaks of a strong, rigid structure (the upper structure or rigid block) falling freely onto another strong, rigid structure (the intact part of the building below the damaged area): the jolt cannot be avoided. [14] This was a necessary jolt. Without it the required work could not have been done. Testing for Deceleration: GO TO LINK ABOVE AND SEE ANALYSIS ##################################### ##################################### ##################################### Debunking the Debunkers From this point we get a discussion of the inward bowing seen happening in the videos of the Towers. Mr. Power parrots the explanations provided by NIST; that the fires in the buildings caused the floor trusses to sag downward, causing the exterior columns to bow inward and eventually breaking, initiating the collapse. The inward bowing of the Towers perimeter columns has been a subject of much debate regarding the controlled demolition of the Towers. As we have already established, NIST has no evidence of high temperatures in the buildings in the first place, and this sort of phenomenon has never caused the total collapse of a steel-framed high-rise before.[10] All NIST has is evidence that the columns bowed inward, but they have no evidence that fire alone is what caused it. Though Mr. Power asserts that controlled demolition cannot cause this event either, those in the Movement have proposed ways it can be done.[11] As noted by mechanical engineer Tony Szamboti: It is instructive that the first visible signs of failure on the North Tower are when the antenna mast moves downward by ten to twelve feet before the perimeter roof line moves. This is indicative of the central core suddenly and completely failing first. If you haven’t seen this watch it frame by frame at the link below. http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/videos/wtc1_close_frames.html These frames don’t show slow creep, they show sudden failure of the central core itself. They certainly don’t show the perimeter walls failing first. If the central core failed first it would cause the floor trusses, not to sag, but to follow them downward. In this situation the other end of the floor trusses would apply a tremendous force and bending moment to the perimeter wall columns, causing them to bow inwardly and ultimately to fail. Some of the NIST photos of WTC1, showing inwardly bowed perimeter columns, are frozen frames taken from video. In these photos the roof of the building and antenna mast are not shown. It would be interesting to see these videos, without cropping of the roofline and antenna mast, to determine if the bowing of the perimeter columns occurs after the antenna mast starts moving downward.[12] The inward bowing of the Towers’ columns in no way disproves the notion that they were destroyed through controlled demolition.[13] Free-fall speed The next issue Mr. Power discusses is the fall rates of the Towers. He explains that the Towers did not collapse at free-fall rate, noting that a) the collapses took longer than 10 seconds; parts of the cores were still standing after the collapses; and c) the debris falling outside the footprint of each building fell faster than the actual structure. a) Here I actually agree with Mr. Power, as more accurate measurements indicate that the Towers collapsed in approximately 15 seconds in either case.[14] While the Towers clearly did not collapse at free-fall, this is the case for most controlled demolitions as well. It has been established that the fall times for the Towers is consistent with the fall times of other controlled demolitions, and had the buildings really collapsed through natural causes, their collapses should have taken much longer.[15] Although parts of the cores of each Tower were standing after the collapses, analyses done by mechanical engineer Gordon Ross demonstrate that the cores were attacked first in the collapses, and that critical sections of them collapsed along with the rest of the structures.[16] c) It’s true that the debris fell faster than the actual structure. However, close inspection of the videos show that the debris actually falls at around the same rate as the wave of ejections seen travelling down the faces of each building.[17] Mr. Power also questions why truthers count the full height of the Towers when timing the collapses instead of counting only where the collapses started at the plane-impact areas. The reason for counting the full height of each building is rather simple. The videos show that the lower sections of the Towers do not even begin to start collapsing until the upper sections are completely destroyed. [11] See: A Hypothetical Blasting Scenario A Plausible Theory Explaining the Controlled Demolition of the Twin Towers Using Aluminothermic Incendiaries and Explosives with Wireless Ignition Means, by Jim Hoffman http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/thermite/blasting_scenario.html [12] Quoted from: The Sustainability of the Controlled Demolition Hypothesis for the destruction of the Twin Towers, by Tony Szamboti http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/200704/SzambotiSustainabilityofControlledDemolitionHypothesisForDestructionofTwinTowers.pdf [13] For more on the subject of the inward bowing issues, see: WTC Pre-Collapse Bowing Debunks 9/11 “Controlled Demolition” Theory? by John-Michael Talboo http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2010/07/wtc-pre-collapse-bowing-debunks-911.html

LEFTY OBAMA ?? Is the US maintaining death squads and torture militias in Afghanistan? Afghan President Hamid Karzai and local residents insist that the answer is yey. Glenn Greenwald //guardian.co.uk, FEB/26/13 ===================================== Afghan President Hamid Karzai addesses military officers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013. Photograph: Ahmad Jamshid/AP (updated below) In 2010, as WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of classified documents relating to the conduct of the US government, government defenders dismissively claimed that they revealed nothing new. Among the many documents disproving that claim were ones relating to a US policy in Iraq set forth in "Frago 242", which ordered coalition troops not to stop or even investigate torture and other war crimes by the Iraqi forces they were training, but simply to "note" them. And note them they did: the logs record thousands of cases of Iraqi forces severely beating, brutalizing and torturing Iraqi civilians while US forces, with rare exception, did nothing to stop it (when the documents were released, the Guardian detailed just some of the illustrative cases). As the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder wrote at the time, the documents contain "incredibly awful reports of systematized detainee abuse by Iraqi soldiers and security forces right under the noses of the American-led coalition, which appears to have had virtually no incentive to put a stop to them" (as usual, these documents were classified not to safeguard US national security but rather to conceal bad and embarrassing acts on the part of the US government: that is why it is not hard to understand why the US government is so aggressive about punishing Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and other whistleblowers and journalists who expose these secrets). In Afghanistan on Sunday, President Hamid Karzai alleged that the US is doing something much worse: not merely standing by and watching their trained forces torture and kill, but actively and systematically participating. As the Guardian's Golnar Motevalli reported: "The Afghan government has ordered US special forces to leave one of Afghanistan's most restive provinces, Maidan Wardak, after receiving reports from local officials claiming that the elite units had been involved in the torture and disappearance of Afghan civilians. . . . "The provincial governor and other officials from Maidan Wardak presented evidence against US forces at the national security council meeting. The presidential palace later issued a statement saying: 'After a thorough discussion, it became clear that armed individuals named as US special forces stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people. "'A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge,' the statement added" . . . . "Aimal Faizi, spokesman for Karzai, said the decision came after of months of reports of abuse. "'People have been complaining about US special forces units torturing people, killing people in that province, and nine individuals were taken from their homes recently and they have just disappeared and no one knows where they have gone,' Faizi said." Since Sunday, the New York Times' Matthew Rosenberg has written two detailed articles on these events. On Monday, he noted that the Karzai spokesman specifically cited "a raid on a village on 13 February, when American troops and Afghans working with them detained a veterinary student. 'His dead body was found three days later in the area under a bridge," the spokesman said." This morning, Rosenberg noted that the student was actually beheaded. Motevalli noted that "US military officials have rejected the allegations". Rosenberg also notes that military officials express bewilderment over the allegation that these abuses are being "committed by Afghan irregulars who worked with elite American forces" and that "some Afghan officials believe the suspects are part of a force whose existence has been kept secret by the Americans." And a NATO spokesman said that it was unable to confirm past claims of torture on the part of their Afghan forces. But there's no question, as Rosenberg notes, that "throughout the war, the United States military and the CIA have organized and trained clandestine militias. A number still operate, and remain beyond the knowledge or control of the Afghan government." Recall that the CIA got caught making payments for years to Karzai's suspected drug-running brother, Ahmed, "for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar". These are the US-controlled militias, beyond the authority of the Afghan government, on which the US intends to rely if and when it "withdraws" from that country. It may very well be that US military officials are telling the truth when they claim they are not involved with these specific units, but that the Afghan grievances are completely accurate. That is because, as Rosenberg explains: "One possibility that would match the descriptions of attackers offered by local Afghan officials and, at the same time, exclude American military forces would be that the suspects were working with the Central Intelligence Agency, whose operatives run militias in a number of provinces. A spokesman for the CIA refused to comment on the issue. "One senior Afghan official said it was possible: Afghans, he said, make no distinction between military-type outfits. Americans with weapons, high-end gear and facial hair were 'all special forces. It's a phrase that catches all.'" What is absolutely certain is that what Rosenberg calls the "aggressive tactics" of US special forces have previously "resulted in abuses, and attempted cover-ups" of exactly the type being alleged now. As but one illustrative example: in 2010, as I wrote at the time, US forces in the Paktia Province, after surrounding a home where a celebration of a new birth was taking place, shot dead two male civilians (government officials) who exited the house in order to inquire why they had been surrounded, and then shot and killed three female relatives (a pregnant mother of ten, a pregnant mother of six, and a teenager). When local villagers loudly complained, the Pentagon lied about what happened, claiming that the dead males were "insurgents" or terrorists; the bodies of the three women had been found by US forces bound and gagged inside the home, and suggested that the women had already been killed by the time the US had arrived, likely the victim of "honor killings" by the Taliban militants killed in the attack. US media outlets, needless to say, mindlessly recited the US government's claims (CNN: "Bodies found gagged, bound after Afghan 'honor killing'"), but the Pentagon was finally forced to admit that its Special Forces had killed the women and then covered-up and lied about what happened. Whatever is true about these latest human rights abuses, the perception is widespread in Afghanistan that the US is responsible and that the militias it is training are no better than the Taliban. From Rosenberg: "The action also reflected a deep distrust of international forces that is now widespread in Afghanistan, and the view held by many Afghans, President Hamid Karzai among them, that the coalition shares responsibility with the Taliban for the violence that continues to afflict the country. . . . "But Afghan officials cited as even more troubling American Special Operations units' use of Afghan proxy forces that are not under the government's control. Afghan civilians and local officials have complained that some irregular forces have looked little different from Taliban fighters or bandits and behaved little differently." So that's where the US is after almost 12 years of waging war in that country, the longest war in its history. The US is blamed on equal terms with the Taliban, at least. It maintains and supports (if not directs) non-government militias which are perceived, with ample evidence, as being death squads and torture units. Thus do we find, yet again, that the fruits of US humanitarian interventions - liberating the oppressed and bringing freedom and democracy to the world - are little more than replicating the abuses of the tyrannical regime it targeted, just under a different owner. Most amazing of all, the next time a new "Good War" is proposed, none of this will stop large numbers of Americans from believing that both the goals and the likely outcome will be beneficent. UPDATE A 2009 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, found as follows regarding Afghanistan: That last line is key: "in the name of restoring the rule of law, heavily-armed internationals and their Afghan counterparts are wandering around conducting raids that too often result in killings and being held accountable by no one."

It's ironic that you of all people would cite him as a UNreliable source (COLBY/GAAL) ========================= Since you believe he got all the correct story about WTC 1993 Bombing. He is also correct about 911. YOU contend unreliable ?? POT/KETTLE IRONIC BLACK ========================= So your contention is these below did not occur ?? The State Department has an emissary in Egypt who trains operatives of the Brotherhood and other Islamist organizations in democracy procedures. We’re helping them get elected. The State Department announced that the Obama administration would be “satisfied” with the election of a Muslim Brotherhood–dominated government in Egypt. The State Department has collaborated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of governments heavily influenced by the Brotherhood, in seeking to restrict American free-speech rights in deference to sharia prohibitions against examination and negative criticism of Islam. The State Department has excluded Israel, the world’s leading target of terrorism, from its “Global Counterterrorism Forum,” a group that brings the United States together with several Islamist governments, prominently including its co-chair, Turkey. By the way, the Erdogan regime in Turkey now finances the terrorist organization Hamas, which is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch. At the forum’s kickoff, Secretary Clinton decried various terrorist attacks and terrorist groups; but she did not mention Hamas or attacks against Israel. Transparently, this was in deference to the Islamist governments the administration has chosen to partner with — to the exclusion of Israel. Those government’s adhere to the Muslim Brotherhood’s position that Hamas is not a terrorist organization and that attacks against Israel are not terrorism. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer about $1.5 billion dollars in aid to Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood’s victory in the parliamentary elections. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian territories notwithstanding that Gaza is ruled by the Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization under American law — meaning that to provide it with material support is a serious federal crime. The State Department and the administration recently hosted a contingent from Egypt’s newly elected parliament that included not only Muslim Brotherhood members but a member of the Islamic Group (Gama’at al Islamia). The Islamic Group is the jihadist organization headed by the Blind Sheikh (Omar Abdel Rahman), who is serving a life sentence for his leading role in a terrorist campaign against the United States in the early Nineties. Like Hamas, the Islamic Group is a designated as a terrorist organization to which it is illegal to provide material support. On a just-completed trip to Egypt, Secretary Clinton pressured the ruling military junta to hand over power to the newly elected parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and to the newly elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who is a top Brotherhood official. Secretary Clinton later met with Morsi, who has also been extended the honor of an invitation to visit the White House in September.

I replied in post #76, as for McCarthy's claims re: the State Dept. I didn't see any citations. // END COLBY ############## ############## AT BOTTOM OF said ARTICLE == seems he has credibility. Andy McCarthy is probably the best Federal Prosecutor that I have ever known. When he took on the prosecution of the “Blind Sheik” and his co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing and the plots to bomb tunnels, bridges, the Federal Building and the UN Headquarters in New York City he immersed himself in not only the evidence, but also the motive behind these actual and planned attacks. After concluding successful prosecutions of all of the Jihadists defendants Andy undertook to become a world class expert on the causes and actions of Radical Islamists and to understand their agenda. He has written two excellent books on the Islamist threat to America, they are: Willful blindness and The grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America. I highly recommend both books, however, the article below explicitly describes how a “Soft Jihad” is being built to undermine our Country and its Rule of Law under the Constitution. It is a very troubling issue facing our nation and we need to understand the consequences of ignoring or at least underestimating this threat.

I will see what I can do to see if he can pressure Rose. // DiEugenio Well everything I know and think say NO, if he checks with his minders. // GAAL ################################ Exposing Faux Capitalism Posts Tagged ‘CFR’ Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker laughs at the great increase in wealth disparity over the past 10 to 15 years, and at Americans for not speaking out more forcibly against it In an October 24, 2011 interview with Charlie Rose, former Fed Chairman and fellow Bilderberger, Paul Volcker, laughed at the great increase in wealth disparity in the United States over the past 10 to 15 years, and at Americans for not speaking out more forcibly against it (starting at 18:27). “But there is a feeling — which I’ve been a little surprised has not been expressed more forcibly before — the distribution of income, which has changed very radically in the last 10 or 15 years. And you have a situation in the United States where there’s been almost no growth in real income for the average family for 10 or 15 years, but way at the upper end of the income distribution, there’s been an enormous increase, of a kind that didn’t take place in my lifetime or even in your lifetime. (laughs)“ Rose responded with “it’s unbelievable!” — which is only genuine if he’s referring to Americans not speaking out more forcibly against it, and not the fact that it’s taken place, since he holds the Triple Crown for membership in globalist organizations where policies are discussed and made, and he regularly features fellow members on his program. Rose posted a short 4-minute YouTube from the nearly half-hour interview, conveniently omitting reference to fellow Bilderberger Paul Volcker laughing at fellow Americans.As to what the goal is of groups like the Bilderbergers, the CFR and the Trilateral Commission is — Bilderberg attendee, former CFR Director and Trilateral Commission founder David Rockefeller said it best in his own memoirs (emphasis mine): “Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.“ For more on Charlie Rose and his guests, see my articles: 1) Charlie Rose pulled the transcripts of his shows 2) Corporate welfare recipient Morgan Stanley Chairman working for China 3) IMF director says IMF “forces coordination” and “there’s no other solution” to Greek-style austerity 4) According to CharlieRose.com, the financial crisis ended on March 10, 2009 5) Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker admits the Federal Reserve is private and he attended Bilderberg Group meetings Read Full Post » Charlie Rose pulled the transcripts of his shows Triple Crown Charlie (CFR and Trilateral Commission member and Bilderberg attendee) Rose has pulled the transcripts of all the interviews on his site, CharlieRose.com. Maybe it was considered an unjustified expense, or perhaps it’s because people could easily look up and see what some of the top globalists have said about their plans for the world. Here are the most recent ones I covered, which received significant alternative media coverage: January 25, 2011: Corporate welfare recipient Morgan Stanley Chairman working for China December 19, 2010: IMF Director says IMF “forces coordination” and there’s “no other solution” to Greek-style austerity Read Full Post »

OUT OF THE BOX THINKING .....wouldnt killing the POTUS be OUT OF THE BOX THINKING ?? MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE Faking the Second Coming Born in 1908, Major General Edward Geary Lansdale served with the United States’ Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War. Then, in 1945, he was transferred to HQ Air Forces Western Pacific in the Philippines, and, in 1957, he received a posting to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, working as Deputy Assistant to the SoD for what were vaguely, but intriguingly, termed as Special Operations. And, certainly, no such Cold War era operation got more special (and weird) than one that Lansdale pretty much singlehandedly coordinated. It was one, truly, of biblical proportions. Indeed, it was designed to try and convince the leadership and the people of Cuba of two startling things: (1) that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ had arrived; and ( 2 ) that he was a big fan of the USA! Yep, I kid you not… Contained within the pages of a November 20, 1975 document titled Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, Interim Report of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, is a fascinating statement from one Thomas A. Parrott, who served with the CIA for twenty-four years, and who held the prestigious position of Assistant Deputy Director for National Intelligence Programs. Commenting on some of Lansdale’s more bizarre operations that were prompted by religion, ancient mythology, and legend, Parrott noted to the committee: “I’ll give you one example of Lansdale’s perspicacity. He had a wonderful plan for getting rid of [Fidel] Castro. This plan consisted of spreading the word that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent and that Christ was against Castro who was anti-Christ. And you would spread this word around Cuba, and then on whatever date it was, that there would be a manifestation of this thing. And at the time – this was absolutely true – and at the time just over the horizon there would be an American submarine that would surface off of Cuba and send up some star-shells. And this would be the manifestation of the Second Coming and Castro would be overthrown.” Star-shells, for those who may be wondering, are, essentially, pyrotechnic flares of the military designed to fill the skies at night with bright and widespread illumination. But, the ambitious plan that Lansdale had in mind involved much more than just dazzling the Cubans with mere flares. The feasibility was also looked into of using a U.S. Navy submarine to project images of Jesus Christ onto low-lying clouds off the coast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The plan also involved – at the very same time – the crew of a U.S. military plane, camouflaged by the clouds and with its engine significantly muffled, using powerful loudspeakers to broadcast faked messages from an equally-faked Christ to the people of Cuba, ordering them to overthrow their government and renounce communism. Executed properly, such a highly alternative operation might very well have convinced the Cubans that Jesus Christ himself really was calling – and he was not bringing good news for Fidel Castro. Ultimately, while the whole thing was seen as undoubtedly ingenious in nature, it was also viewed as an operation that had a very big chance of failing catastrophically. And if the Cubans got word there was a U.S. submarine in the very immediate area and took successful military action against it, the disastrous cost to American lives might have far outweighed anything that the operation could have achieved. Thus, this strange biblical charade of the Cold War was shelved. Of course, this begs a very important, significant and troubling question: if any sort of Second Coming really does occur at some point in the future of the Human Race, how will we know if it has its origins in Heaven or the murky and mysterious world of officialdom? Maybe we actually won’t know. Perhaps there are those in power who see the ingenious exploitation of religion as the ultimate tool of warfare, manipulation and overwhelming control…

February 26, 2013 Counterpunch Staring into the Abyss The Greek Economy is Kaput by MIKE WHITNEY “The Greek economy is finished. The Greek economy is in a great, great depression… There is no power, no force within the Greek economy, within Greek society that can avert it….Imagine if we were in Ohio in 1931 and we were to ask: What can Ohio politicians do to get Ohio out of the Great Depression? The answer is nothing.” - Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist After 5 years of negative growth, record-high unemployment and savage cuts to essential safety-net programs, Greek society is beginning to buckle. Diabetics cannot afford their insulin, suicides and anti-depressant usage is off-the-chart, tuberculosis and HIV rates are soaring, and desperate pensioners in Athens have been reduced to dumpster diving outside grocery stores for a few scraps of food to feed themselves and their families. The shocking devolution of a modern nation into a failed state did not happen overnight or without the help of EU bureaucrats and financial potentates who dictate economic policy from Brussels, Frankfort and Berlin. These so-called “managers” have steered the 17-member eurozone into the biggest slump since the Great Depression, imposing belt tightening measures that have choked off growth, sent unemployment skyrocketing, and incited protest and street violence across the continent. Greece has been particularly hard hit. Poverty and destitution are now widespread. The country is a basketcase. Here’s more from an article in the Guardian: “Greece is currently in the centre of a humanitarian crisis…. A large proportion of Greek households currently live in conditions of “material deprivation”. A little more than 11% actually live in “extreme material deprivation”, which means without enough heating, electricity, and use of either a car or a telephone…There has been explosive growth in soup kitchens and general food distribution. … the Church of Greece distributes approximately 250,000 daily rations… By recent government order, municipal rations will be expanded further because of rising incidence of children fainting at school due to low calorie intake. The evidence of poverty, inequality, and inability to access primary services confirms the increasingly desperate statements by people at the frontline.” (“Greece is facing a humanitarian crisis”, Guardian) The Guardian concedes that there are political reasons why the crisis has not been adequately covered in the media. “By acknowledging the severity of the situation, the Greek government and the EU would also have admitted that the current state of affairs has been brought about by the so-called economic “rescue” of Greece. So the authorities have chosen to keep quiet.” (Guardian) Greece has not been rescued nor was that ever the plan. From the beginning, austerity was meant to punish and humiliate, to shrink the state and expropriate anything of value. Still the charade goes on, and the EU stewards continue to claim that their discredited theory is achieving its objectives. Case in point, here’s vice president of the European Commission, Olli Rehn, cheerleading austerity as the antidote to Europe’s debt woes. “The decisive policy action undertaken recently is paving the way for a return to recovery. We must stay the course of reform and avoid any loss of momentum, which could undermine the turnaround in confidence that is under way, delaying the needed upswing in growth and job creation.” There is no recovery. The EZ is in the throes of a Depression. Economic fundamentals have been jettisoned to advance the interests of the wealthy overlords who benefit from from the imiseration of working people. Austerity is a sham that has laid much of the south to waste. An increasing number of families are now abandoning their children because they’re no longer able to provide for them. According to Press TV: “There has been an increase in the number of newborn babies dumped outside clinics and offloaded on charities ….”Families are breaking up, instances are mounting of mothers and fathers no longer being able to bring up their own kids,” General Secretary of the civil servants’ union ADEDY, Ilias Ilioupolis said.” (“Greek crisis ups abandoned kids”, Press TV) The political implications of austerity are equally worrisome. Growing opposition to Brussels diktats has led to a resurgence of right wing extremism notably the uber-nationalist Golden Dawn whose Nazi-like standard and anti-immigrant rhetoric is now finding broader appeal among Greece’s unemployed and disaffected youth. Xenophobia and anti-semitism are on the rise. Policymakers in Brussels could reverse this dangerous trend, but have chosen to intensify Greece’s humiliation by increasing their demands and withholding desperately needed fiscal assistance. As a result, reactionary elements are gaining strength while democratic institutions are progressively weakening. Meanwhile, the EZ economy continues to deteriorate. In Greece, for example, 3rd quarter output shrank by 7.2 percent, deeper than the 2nd quarter’s 6.3 percent decline. That means the economy is getting worse. It also means that Greece will not meet its deficit targets and will be forced to implement more austerity measures. As the government slashes public investment, demand will weaken, state revenues will fall, and the severity of the slump will intensify. The same pattern has been repeated for 20 quarters without change. Greece is being carved up and sold to deep-pocket corporations and wealthy businessmen. It’s being kept on life-support so that EU banks and bondholders avoid the losses for which they alone are responsible. The EU’s criminal elite have reduced the country to rubble. THE MEMORANDUM: A death warrant for Greece In February 2012, Greek parliamentarians signed the nation’s death warrant by ratifying the heinous “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), a document that effectively repeals Greek sovereignty and hands the nation over to foreign banks and corporations. The 43-page edict imposes strict rules on everything from reduced spending on life-saving drugs to “lifting constraints for retailers to sell restricted product categories such as baby food.” The MOU calls for a 10 percent cuts to government workers wages, cuts to “social security funds and hospitals”, and more privatizing of publicly-owned assets, all of which has further shrunk GDP. Ratherpath for Greece to exit its present slump, the Memorandum curtails public spending while creating new opportunities for exploitation and plunder. Here’s an excerpt from the MOU: “The Government stands ready to offer for sale its remaining stakes in state-owned enterprises, if necessary in order to reach the privatisation objectives. Public control will be limited only to cases of critical network infrastructure.” Public assets are being sold for pennies on the dollar to foreign corporations and entrepreneurs. Then there’s this: “The Government will neither propose nor implement measures which may infringe the rules on the free movement of capital.” In Greece, the interests of the people have been subordinated to the interests of profitmaking industries and their shareholders. Capital rules. The MOU turns the basic principal of representative government on its head. The memo also features predictable attack on organised labor. Here’s a clip: “The Government will take measures to foster a rapid adjustment of labour costs to fight unemployment and restore cost-competitiveness, ensure the effectiveness of recent labour market reforms, align labour conditions in former state-owned enterprises to those in the rest of the private sector and make working hours arrangements more flexible. This strategy should aim at reducing nominal unit labour costs in the business economy by 15 percent in 2012-14. At the same time, the Government will promote smooth wage bargaining at the various levels and fight undeclared work.” The Greek government must revoke collective bargaining rights and reject minimum wage laws that undermine “cost-competitiveness”, an Orwellian term which means “slave wages”. The authors of this rancid warrant try to conceal their animus for working people behind the public relations invention, “debt crisis”, but their real intention is clear. Here’s more from the MOU: “The Government establishes a task force (to) review the ….judicial case management, including the possibility of removing dormant cases from court registers.” …Following on the submission of the work plan for the reduction of the backlog of tax cases in all administrative tribunals and administrative courts of appeal in January 2012, which provides for intermediate targets for reducing the backlog by at least 50 per cent by end-June 2012, by at least 80 per cent by end-December 2012 and for the full clearance of the backlog by end-July 2013, the Government presents by end-May 2012.” The MOU provides a get-out-of-jail-for-free card for tax cheats. How does that help to balance the budget? It doesn’t, but it does help to illustrate that the “debt crisis” is a fraud designed to crack open Greece like a pinata and steal whatever big finance and their corporate colleagues can lay their hands on. The financial oligarchy is now using its political agents in Athens to intensify police state repression and quash any outbreak of organized resistance. According to the World Socialist Web Site: “The Greek government has now resorted to martial law on four separate occasions to force striking workers back to work since the European Union began dictating austerity measures for Greece. …Any form of effective collective resistance against the relentless austerity measures that have already cost tens of thousands of jobs and slashed wages and pensions has been effectively declared illegal… The attack on the right to strike in Greece is being carried out in collaboration with and support from other European governments and EU institutions. The so-called “troika”—the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB)—monitors every measure taken by the Greek government and has deployed observers to watch over specific Greek ministries. (“Greek government imposes martial law on ferry strikers”, World Socialist Web Site) Austerity is being used to mask the looting of Greece by foreign capital. The troika-led attack on the battered nation has pushed youth unemployment above 60 percent, reduced millions of working people to a state of “extreme material deprivation”, and left the public health care system in a shambles.

PART 2 PM claims that “professors and investigators contend it’s not surprising that [the Towers’] collapse-time estimates are close to would-be free-fall results” (pg. 44), and then proceeds to quote several of these said people. One of the people is MIT professor Dr. Thomas Eagar, who said it was not surprising that each Tower collapsed in ten seconds. PM writes: [Eager’s] analysis explains that as exterior columns bowed and joists on the most heavily burned floors gave way, the mass of the collapsing floors created a cascade of failures. (pg. 44) This first thing that should be noted about PM’s citation of Dr. Eagar is that his analysis actually contradicts NIST’s analysis of the Towers’ collapses. PM cites Dr. Eagar’s paper, Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science, Engineering, and Speculation, but when one actually reads what he wrote it is apparent that his analysis doesn’t promote NIST’s theory of collapse at all. In his paper, Dr. Eagar writes: As the joists on one or two of the most heavily burned floors gave way and the outer box columns began to bow outward, the floors above them also fell.6 Whereas NIST told us that the exterior columns bowed inward, Dr. Eagar’s paper asserts that the exterior columns bowed outward. By not quoting this section of his paper correctly, PM gives the impression that Dr. Eagar’s analysis is in total agreement with the NIST investigators (though Eagar’s paper currently provides a link to another article in the Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society that promotes NIST’s theory7). Instead, PM proceeds to directly quote from Eagar’s paper: The floor below (with its 1,300 ton design capacity) could not support the roughly 45,000 tons of ten floors (or more) above crashing down on these angle clips. This started the domino effect that caused the buildings to collapse within ten seconds, hitting bottom with an estimated speed of 200 km per hour.8 However, this analysis is flawed by the fact that actual measurements of the collapse of the Towers show that the upper sections of the Towers never exerted massive forces on the lower sections, due to the fact that the upper sections accelerated through the lower section. As physicist David Chandler has shown, the upper section of the North Tower fell into the lower section, and .9 Hence, there was no dynamic load being exerted on the lower section to cause it to collapse.The next alleged expert PM cites is Dr. Keith Seffen, a senior lecturer in the engineering department at the University of Cambridge. They cite his paper, Progressive Collapse of the World Trade Center: A Simple Analysis, published in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics,10 as evidence that the Towers could have collapsed as quickly as they did as a result of the jet fuel and office fires. Instead of mentioning the technical refutations of Seffen’s claims, PM quotes a non-technical writer, Peter Wakefield Sault, who cites that “Dr. Seffen is an accessory after the fact to mass murder”. Dr. Keith Seffen has yet to respond to questions surrounding his defense of the official explanation for the Twin Towers’ collapse PM’s citation of Sault’s comments highlights their obvious ploy to cherry-pick supporters of the 9/11 Truth movement to quote. Although a direct source for this quote is not provided (like most of the 9/11 Truth advocates quoted by PM), this statement is found not on the website PM provides, but on an obscure website. Sault is only commenting on a blog post about Keith Seffen.11 The fact that PM quotes from such an obscure source reveals their determination to portray anyone who questions the WTC collapses as a “crazy conspiracy theorist”. On the contrary, the study of the destruction of the Twin Towers entered the realm of laboratory research years ago with published articles in scientific and academic journals. The critique of Seffen’s WTC paper written by University of Iowa Physics Professor Dr. Crockett Grabbe points out the many unscientific arguments that Seffen made Evidently, PM’s writers and investigative journalists somehow missed an article written by Dr. Crockett Grabbe which refutes the arguments made in Seffen’s questionable paper even though Grabbe’s article was published in the very same journal as Dr. Seffen’s paper.12 Though PM touts Dr. Seffen and his paper as providing excellent analysis of the WTC collapses, there is no mention of Grabbe’s peer-reviewed response, even though Grabbe is a credentialed scientist. Instead, PM chose to cite an inflammatory remark on an obscure internet site. Dr. Seffen never responded to Dr. Grabbe’s discussion paper, which was published over three years ago. In addition, PM felt no need to quote Dr. Grabbe, who says on his website, “Seffen is an applied mathematician from Cambridge whose paper was on BBC News. I ripped his paper apart, and he never made any reply to my very critical comments.”13 PM finishes this section by quoting a section of NIST’s report on the collapse of the Twin Towers that discusses the rate of collapse. The section reads: Since the stories below the level of collapse initiation provided little resistance to the tremendous energy released by the falling building mass, the building section above came down essentially in free fall, as seen in videos. As the stories below sequentially failed, the falling mass increases, further increasing the demand of the floors below, which were unable to arrest the moving mass.14 PM also quotes from NIST’s FAQ on the WTC collapses: NIST estimated the elapsed times for the first exterior panels to strike the ground after the collapse initiated in each of the towers to be approximately 11 seconds for WTC 1 and approximately 9 seconds for WTC 2… Neither the duration of the seismic records nor video evidence (due to obstruction of view caused by debris clouds) are reliable indicators of the total time it took for each building to collapse completely.15 However, engineer and 9/11 researcher Jim Hoffman addressed both of NIST’s assertions. In regards to the first point, Hoffman writes: This does not explain either why the structure below failed to arrest the falling mass or how the structure failed to appreciably slow the falling mass. As in the preceding paragraphs, NIST begs these questions using a kind of circular argument: The towers fell rapidly because the stories below could not resist the tremendous energy of the falling mass. Videos clearly show that the upper section fell essentially in free-fall. Therefore the structures below offered minimal resistance to and were destroyed by the falling mass. The argument pre-supposes the conclusion that the force that overcame the resistance of the structures below was the falling mass, not some other force such as energy of explosives.16 As for the second point, Hoffman writes: To the contrary, video records, such as this record of the North Tower's fall, clearly establish upper boundaries on the times that it took for the vast majority of each tower to be destroyed.17 While citing several experts who support their assertion that the collapse rates of the Towers were nothing unusual, PM failed to acknowledge numerous other experts who say that the collapse rates clearly violated the laws of physics. The rate in which the Towers came down cannot be explained by the combined effects of fire and gravity. For more on the subject of the Towers’ collapse rates, the following articles are recommended: Twin Towers Evidence Blows Away Fire Theory by James Smith The Missing Jolt: A Simple Refutation of the NIST-Bazant Collapse Hypothesis, by Prof. Graeme MacQueen and Tony Szamboti Destruction of the World Trade Center North Tower and Fundamental Physics by David Chandler Showing that the South Tower of World Trade Center Collapsed from Forces More Powerful than Gravitation by Crockett Grabbe ************************************************************************************************** 6Quoted from: Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science, Engineering, and Speculation, by Thomas W. Eagar and Christopher Musso http://www.tms.org/p...agar-0112.html 7See: http://www.tms.org/p...novic-0711.html 8Quoted from: Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science, Engineering, and Speculation 9This analysis is shown in David Chandler’s paper: Destruction of the World Trade Center North Tower and Fundamental Physics http://www.journalof...ationOfWTC1.pdf (David Chandler also outlines this point in this video:) 10Seffen’s paper can be read here: http://winterpatriot...e_analysis.pdf 11See: http://laura-knight-...ecial-wtc.html 12The paper can be read here: http://www.sealane.o...ffenrevpub.pdf 13Quoted from: http://www.sealane.o..../research.html 14Quoted from: NCSTAR 1, pg. 146 http://www.nist.gov/...?pub_id=909017 15Quoted from: http://www.nist.gov/..._wtctowers.cfm 16Quoted from: http://911research.w...ist/index.html 17Quoted from: http://911research.w..._FAQ_reply.html

The guy obviously never read the reports the floor assemblies did expand but they were seated in such a way that they couldn't move horizontally so were forced to bow down. // end Colby NO NO NO Mr. Colby PART 1 The Truss Failure Theory Fanciful Theory Doesn't Begin to Explain Total Collapse Figure 2-20 from FEMA's Building Performance Study gives the impression that floors spanned the entire width of the Towers. The fine print indicates that the illustration depicts only a section of floors spanning the perimeter (left) and core (right). The truss failure theory, a key ingredient of the better known floor pancake theory, was endorsed by FEMA in its 2002 World Trade Center Building Performance Study . It invites us to imagine the floors assemblies detaching from their connections to the columns of the core and perimeter walls, precipitating a chain reaction of floors falling on one another. Without the lateral support of the floors, the columns, FEMA tells us, buckled and precipitated total building collapse. The truss-failure/pancake theory offered a way around the obvious problem with the column failure theory: the need for all the columns to be heated to 800º C. It offered instead prerequisite conditions that were far less implausible: that trusses holding up the floor slabs were heated to that temperature, and began to experience some combination of expansion and sagging. Floor trusses are much easier to heat because, unlike the columns, they are not well thermally coupled to the rest of the steel structure. The Truss Failure Theory was was abandoned by NIST's investigation in 2004 because NIST was unable to get floor assemblies to fail as required by the theory. Documentaries that had promoted the truss failure theory became obsolete, and were quietly replaced with updated versions. The Missing Steel Some critics of FEMA's theory attacked the truss failure theory for the wrong reasons. One assumption of the theory is that the floor sections that spanned the Towers' cores and perimeter walls were undergirded only by the light web trusses. Although many structural details remain mysterious thanks to the unavailability of detailed engineering drawings, this assumption appears to be mostly true, modulo the observation that some floors appeared to be framed entirely with solid I-beams. However, the anonymous Guardian author suggested that the idea that so many of the floors rested only on web trusses was a lie concocted to sell the pancake theory, arguing in a 2002 article that: FEMA's building description leaves 32,000 tons of steel unaccounted for in each tower, given that the towers were known to each use 96,000 tons of steel. A truss-only-based floor construction system would leave the floors too weak to transfer loads between the core and perimeter walls. Guardian's conclusion about the extent of web trusses in the Towers appears to be mistaken: Between construction photographs and 60s-era articles in the Engineering News Record, there appears to be sufficient evidence to establish that floors outside of the cores, with the exceptions of top-most, bottom-most, and mechanical equipment floors, were supported entirely by web trusses. However, Guardian's calculations about the quantities of steel accounted for by FEMA's building description underline the failure of the official reports to provide a truthful and complete picture of the Towers' construction. Deceptive Propaganda Since the failure of a few trusses on a floor wouldn't automatically lead to a whole floor falling and starting the pancake syndrome, some fine tuning in the theory was needed. Dr. Thomas Eagar provided us with the zipper theory to explain how the failure of one truss could cause adjacent ones to fail. A horizontal domino effect of unzipping would precede the vertical one of pancaking. NOVA created a website to feature Eagar's promotion of the pancake theory which included a misleading animation of falling trusses, which failed to show either the transverse trusses or the steel floor pans. From Sagging Trusses to Leveled Building The unverified assumptions of the truss theory listed above are the least of its problems. It pretends that a few truss failures would automatically lead to the entire steel building crushing itself. What would be the likely chain of events following a floor failure envisioned by the truss theory? Let's accept Dr. Eagar's zipper scenario (despite the clear evidence that fires did not cover a whole floor in either tower) and imagine that all the trusses of a floor failed in rapid succession and the whole floor fell. Then what? It would fall down about ten feet, then come to rest on the floor below, which was designed to support at least five times the weight of both floors, the fall cushioned by the folding of the trusses beneath the upper floor. But let's imagine that the lower floor suddenly gave up the ghost, and the two floors fell onto the next, and that failed, and floors kept falling. Then what? The floor diaphragms would have slid down around the core like records on a spindle, leaving both the core and perimeter wall standing. Truss theory proponents hold that the core and perimeter wall lacked structural integrity without mutual bracing provided by the floor diaphragms. That may have been true in the event of a 140 mph wind, but not on a calm day. Note that the core had abundant cross-bracing, and would have been perfectly capable of standing in a hurricane by itself. And even if one imagines the outer wall buckling without that support, it does not begin to explain how it shattered into thousands of pieces, many of the column sections ripped from the spandrel plates at the welds, and how it shattered so quickly that no part of the wall remained standing above the falling dust cloud.

When Colby doesnt respond to below datum ,it must be outa LOVE ... ( POST # 72) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The agent figures, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I guess you didn’t know this Saudi guy who was funding al Qaeda, right?” “Well,” our candidate responds, “as a matter of fact, we overlapped for seven years at that institute I worked at. Remember I told you that he’s the one who started it and I eventually worked there for twelve years? Well, turns out he stayed involved in it for decades — it was his baby … he gave the institution its mission and its vision. He was still there advising it and shaping it for my first seven years there. Then they took him off the masthead … right around the time he became a defendant in the civil lawsuit filed by the victims of the 9/11 attacks.” The agent is stunned. All he can think to ask is: “Why did you leave the institute?” “Oh,” our candidate replies, “I got offered a full-time job at the State Department, helping the secretary of State make U.S. foreign policy.” ............Their letter to the State Department’s inspector general stated that Ms. Abedin “has three family members — her late father, her mother and her brother — connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.” It turns out, however, that Huma Abedin herself is directly connected to Abdullah Omar Naseef, a major Muslim Brotherhood figure involved in the financing of al-Qaeda. ............The State Department has not only been supportive of this dramatic shift; it has embraced a number of Muslim Brotherhood positions that undermine both American constitutional rights and our alliance with Israel. To name just a few manifestations of this policy sea change: The State Department has an emissary in Egypt who trains operatives of the Brotherhood and other Islamist organizations in democracy procedures. We’re helping them get elected. The State Department announced that the Obama administration would be “satisfied” with the election of a Muslim Brotherhood–dominated government in Egypt. The State Department has collaborated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of governments heavily influenced by the Brotherhood, in seeking to restrict American free-speech rights in deference to sharia prohibitions against examination and negative criticism of Islam. The State Department has excluded Israel, the world’s leading target of terrorism, from its “Global Counterterrorism Forum,” a group that brings the United States together with several Islamist governments, prominently including its co-chair, Turkey. By the way, the Erdogan regime in Turkey now finances the terrorist organization Hamas, which is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch. At the forum’s kickoff, Secretary Clinton decried various terrorist attacks and terrorist groups; but she did not mention Hamas or attacks against Israel. Transparently, this was in deference to the Islamist governments the administration has chosen to partner with — to the exclusion of Israel. Those government’s adhere to the Muslim Brotherhood’s position that Hamas is not a terrorist organization and that attacks against Israel are not terrorism. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer about $1.5 billion dollars in aid to Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood’s victory in the parliamentary elections. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian territories notwithstanding that Gaza is ruled by the Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization under American law — meaning that to provide it with material support is a serious federal crime. The State Department and the administration recently hosted a contingent from Egypt’s newly elected parliament that included not only Muslim Brotherhood members but a member of the Islamic Group (Gama’at al Islamia). The Islamic Group is the jihadist organization headed by the Blind Sheikh (Omar Abdel Rahman), who is serving a life sentence for his leading role in a terrorist campaign against the United States in the early Nineties. Like Hamas, the Islamic Group is a designated as a terrorist organization to which it is illegal to provide material support. On a just-completed trip to Egypt, Secretary Clinton pressured the ruling military junta to hand over power to the newly elected parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and to the newly elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who is a top Brotherhood official. Secretary Clinton later met with Morsi, who has also been extended the honor of an invitation to visit the White House in September. All this, despite the Muslim Brotherhood’s extensive record of hostility toward the United States +++++++++++++++++++++++ Hilliary to MB ONE LOVE !!!!

The pound is actually down about 7% since Jan. 1 // end Colby FROM FEB 2012 to FEB 2013 POUND vs $$ Dollar greater than 10 % down GAAL The Devil in the details eh ?? POUND down over 10 % in year vs dollar. So far today VERY bad day for the pound. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ thinkprogress How Austerity Stifled The British Economy (And The Rest Of Europe) In Three Charts By Pat Garofalo on Feb 25, 2013 at 1:10 pm Last week, the United Kingdom received its first ever credit downgrade, as continued austerity has dragged down the country’s economic growth. Britain’s conservative government, however, is forging ahead. Finance Minister George Osborne yesterday called for the UK to “stick to its course.” The UK, though, is a prime example for why austerity should be avoided in a weak economy. As this chart from Reuters’ shows, the U.S., which embraced stimulus after the 2008 financial crisis, is in much better shape than the European countries that went for austerity: As this chart shows, the UK has not at all lived up to the projections for economic growth that were made in 2010: Austerity has actually had the opposite of its intended effect in the UK, killing growth while not bringing down debt. And that’s held true across Europe, as this chart from economists Paul De Grauwe and Yuemei Ji shows:

COLBY'S BELOVED US STATE DEPARTMENT ============================================= Dead French Photographer was State Department-Funded – Embedded in Syria With Al Qaeda By Tony Cartalucci Global Research, February 25, 2013 ============= Further indication of the depraved nature of the West’s campaign against Syria, and the depraved nature of its institutions, methods, and faux-NGOs, vindicating a growing trend of ejecting Western “journalists” and NGO’s from an ever increasing number of nations, it is revealed that a French photographer recently killed in Syria was embedded with terrorist militants in Idlib, northern Syria, and was working on behalf of the US State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded “Reporters Without Borders.” The UK Daily Mail revealed in their article, “French photographer killed by flying shrapnel in Syria as rebels launch fresh offensive on police academy in Aleppo,” that: A French photographer has been killed by flying shrapnel in Syria while covering operations of an armed opposition group. The French government said today Olivier Voisin had been working for Reporters Without Borders near the northwestern city of Idlib. Idlib, Syria, along with much of northern Syria is admittedly overrun by Al Qaeda. In fact, a recent Washington Post article stated that northern Syria was so overrun with Al Qaeda, that Western nations along with its Arab partners have decided to ship weapons in from Daraa in southern Syria. Of course, Daraa too is a long-time hotbed for extremist activity, including Al Qaeda, years before the so-called “uprising” even began. The Post article titled, “In Syria, new influx of weapons to rebels tilts the battle against Assad,” admits: A surge of rebel advances in Syria is being fueled at least in part by an influx of heavy weaponry in a renewed effort by outside powers to arm moderates in the Free Syrian Army, according to Arab and rebel officials. The new armaments, including anti-tank weapons and recoilless rifles, have been sent across the Jordanian border into the province of Daraa in recent weeks to counter the growing influence of Islamist extremist groups in the north of Syria by boosting more moderate groups fighting in the south, the officials say. Despite the rampant extremism in the north, French photographer Olivier Voisin found himself amongst these very militants in the midst of what we are told are waves of “rebel gains.” Apparently these “gains” are being made at high costs. Voisin’s organization, Reporters Without Borders, is a notorious faux-NGO that plays a pivotal role globally, undermining nations targeted by Western corporate-financier interests, working in tandem with US State Department-backed proxies in Iran, China, Russia, Sudan, and everywhere else Wall Street and London seek to plant their flag. In 2008, Reporters Without Borders received cash from the State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) whose board of directors is a who’s who of warmongering Neo-Conservatives and corporate special interests. While these corporate-financier interests constitute the antithesis of “human rights,” “human freedom,” and “democracy,” these very principles are used to leverage advantages and invoke public sympathy and support for subversion and regime change in targeted nations. Reporters Without Borders also received cash from the Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Overbrook Foundation, and the US State Department’s Washington DC-based “Center for a Free Cuba.” It should be noted that the Sigrid Rausing Trust also provides funding for the International Crisis Group (ICG) (along with BP, Chevron, Shell, Deutsche Bank Group, and Morgan Stanley) who in part helped blueprint and cheerlead the violence that ultimately claimed Voisin’s life. In fact, the ICG includes amongst its board of directors, Kofi Annan who helped buy time for NATO militants to rearm and redeploy with a disingenuous “peace plan.” And as Syria’s government and people fight against Al Qaeda militants coddled, armed, and funded by NATO, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/07/confirmed-turkey-running-proxy-invasion.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">admittedly based in Turkey side-by-side US-provided Patriot missile batteries, CIA agents, as well as French and British special forces, the Western corporate-media seems only able to condemn Voisin’s death along with unconfirmed, most likely fabricated accounts made by militants that Syria is firing “Scud missiles” into Aleppo. This, while confirmed, deadly car bombings bearing all of Al Qaeda’s hallmarks killed scores of civilians in Damascus, and was promptly excused, dismissed, and buried by the West. In fact, the US is blocking a UN resolution that would condemn the most recent Al Qaeda bombing in Damascus which claimed over 50 lives including school children. The runaway depravity of the West, its governments, institutions, media, and faux-NGO’s are permanently disfiguring any potential concept of “international law” and has left the people of the West with a floundering legitimacy that will inevitably impact all other aspects of their life, not merely foreign policy. Criminal foreign policy is just one of many symptoms of a corrupt, corporate-financier dominated ruling oligarchy that has hijacked the institutions, charters, and social contracts that bind together a functional society. The solution is to boycott and ultimately replace these corporate-financier monopolies, by creating and cultivating local institutions that directly serve the interests of the people. (well said ,ditto Gaal)

Newtown Tragedy: PBS Defies Basic Journalistic Standards to Push the Sandy Hook Official Narrative By James F. Tracy Global Research, February 24, 2013 This past week the Public Broadcasting Service presented its viewership with a flurry of reportage and commentary on the Newtown tragedy, taking special care to closely associate the incident with the issues of gun control, mental health, and school safety. Specific programs have included Washington Week, PBS NewsHour, NOVA, and FRONTLINE. This degree of coverage from an outlet with significant credibility among the educated professional class is especially unusual. Yet even more bizarre is the dubious assumption by PBS’s programming directors that the event has taken place as described by their often untrustworthy and sensationalistic commercial peers at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Instead of providing a genuine news alternative by acting as a corrective to such slipshod reporting PBS has wholeheartedly run with the “official story” of the event—that Adam Lanza was the sole perpetrator. With this the publicly-funded network has moved beyond a much-needed interrogation of the incident to evaluating what social control measures should be introduced or the extent to which existing ones should be ratcheted up. The FRONTLINE special, “Raising Adam Lanza,” which aired on Tuesday, February 19, is a case in point. Profiling an investigation into Adam and Nancy Lanza by veteran Hartford Courant reporters Alaine Griffin and Josh Kovner, the news magazine proceeds to “lead the witness-viewer” in the court of public opinion by driving home the narrative already well-established in the public mind by corporate media. Not only are the Hartford Courant and PBS asking the wrong questions and far afield from what might help in better understanding the tragic event, they appear to be knowingly misinforming their readers and viewership because the investigation—like almost all of the corporate coverage—proceeds in the absence of proof that Lanza committed the crime. Indeed, Mr. Kovner acknowledged such in a brief email exchange. On Feb 23, 2013, at 10:23 AM, “James Tracy” wrote: —– Forwarded Message —– From: James Tracy To: Alaine Griffin, Josh Kovner Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 1:04 PM Subject: “Raising Adam Lanza” Query on Prior Evidence Greetings. As you may know I have taken a special interest in researching the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and am thus most interested in your work. I recently viewed the PBS Frontline special profiling your work aired on February 19. I am curious to know if you have heretofore accessed and examined forensically viable postmortem, video, and/or photographic evidence of the Sandy Hook shooting itself (e.g. autopsies of the suspect and victims, and documentation of the crime scenes) that can confirm specifics of the incident and its genuine occurrence. It would appear to me that such information would be appropriate for journalists such as yourselves to interrogate prior to an in-depth biographical investigation of the suspect Adam Lanza. The courtesy of a response would be most appreciated. Thank you for your time Sincerely, James Tracy, Ph.D. 561- Mr. Kovner responded with the following: From: “Kovner, Josh” To: James Tracy Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2013 10:48 AM Subject: Re: “Raising Adam Lanza” Query on Prior Evidence The forensic evidence, including autopsy/toxicology reports and crime-scene photos, has not been available to us. The Public Broadcasting Act passed by the US Congress in 1967 mandates PBS and its parent corporation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to carry out a public service where the commercial sector has failed. In the Act Congress declared that it furthers the general welfare to encourage public telecommunications services which will be responsive to the interests of people both in particular localities and throughout the United States, which will constitute an expression of diversity and excellence, and which will constitute a source of alternative telecommunications services for all the citizens of the Nation The Hartford Courant and PBS particularly should provide a reasonable explanation as to why they have chosen to place basic journalistic standards attending to evidence and truth in abeyance and instead serve as an outlet for furthering the Obama Administration’s open agenda of heightened gun control, psychiatric surveillance, and school safety protocols. Without such they offer virtually no worthwhile alternative in terms of news and perspective aside from providing taxpayer and foundation-subsidized publicity to an audience that considers itself too sophisticated to be fooled by cable news claptrap.