Saturday, March 31, 2007
Russian official says US will be ready to strike Iran in April
John Byrne
Raw Story
Friday, March 30, 2007
A report filed today by the Russian News agency RIA Novosti indicates that Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran, and will be ready to strike in early April.
Citing "a security official, the article alleges the U.S. had already compiled a list of possible targets on Iranian territory and practiced the operation during recent exercises in the Persian Gulf. The report aligns with previous reports by The New Yorker and RAW STORY surrounding buildup towards a possible strike.
US carrier deploys amid Iran tensions
AFP
Friday, March 30, 2007
Nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz will sail Monday to support US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Navy said, amid a spike in tensions over Iran's seizure of 15 British marines and sailors.
"She should be strung up"
Actor and radio host, Danny Bonaduce giving us his ha'pennyworth on MSNBC's Scarborough County.
Paul Joseph Watson has made some comments on this sickening clip of Danny Bonaduce's appearance on MSNBC's Scarborough County in an article on prison planet, but I think that the video clip speaks for itself.
All I can say is that these people are either too stupid, or too lazy, or simply lack the courage to look at the evidence behind Rosie O'Donnell's comments on 9/11 and the Iran hostage crisis, a crisis of our own making.
Last weekend, I forced myself to read Judy Wood's, "How indeed did the WTC Towers disintegrate?" It was not something I was particularly looking forward to doing, but I had to do it because I believed that what she had to say was important. It takes a lot of courage to look into these matters because this issue is deeply unpleasant and what you find out goes against what you would like to believe about the world we live in and the people who govern us. This the folks on this video clip clearly lack.
I would like to believe that by presenting these people with the evidence you can win them round to your point of view, but they are set set in their ways that no amount of evidence is ever going to do the trick, becaue it involves not only a change in their view of the issues Rosie is rasing, but in their whole view of the world. Their comfortable view of the world is under threat, hence their anger at and their inability to take on board what Rosie is saying. Arguing with such people is a waste of time.
It's just very very sad.
I'd rather know the truth, however unpleasant, however distasteful, about the world we live in, than live in a never never land of fantasy.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Blair's Faked Border
Moon Of Alabama
Friday, March 30, 2007
As former British ambassador Craig Murray points out, the British seem to have faked a maritime boundary.
The British Ministry of Defense has released coordinates where fifteen British sailors and marines were picked up by Iranians after searching a merchant ship:
"As shown on the chart, the merchant vessel was 7.5 nautical miles south east of the Al Faw Peninsula and clearly in Iraqi territorial waters. Her master has confirmed that his vessel was anchored within Iraqi waters at the time of the arrest. The position was 29 degrees 50.36 minutes North 048 degrees 43.08 minutes East.The MoD asserts that this position is within Iraqi waters:
This places her 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi territorial waters. This fact has been confirmed by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.Additionally the MoD provides a map with the position marked and with a line labeled "Iraq / Iran Territorial Water Boundary". I have taken this map and made two circles with the ship-position the MoD marked as the center. This is a part of the graph.
The complete bigger graph is hereThe blue line is the circle centered in the given position and touching the nearest point of the Iranian coast. The green line is the circle centered in the given position and touching the nearest point of the Iraqi coast. The distance from the given position to Iraqi land is considerably larger than that to Iranian land.
But the MoD map also says "positions for illustrative purposes", so let's not rely on them. The next map is copied from Microsoft Encarta. The maps there include latitude and longitude lines. Using such and the MoD coordinates I interpolated by pixel-count and marked that position in red.
The complete bigger graph is here
The blue line is the circle centered in the given position and touching the nearest point of the Iranian coast. Again it is obvious that the position is more near to the Iranian than the Iraqi coastline.
Which leads to the obvious question. On what basis are the British asserting that the line they painted in their graphic is indeed the "Iraq / Iran Territorial Water Boundary."
That boundary is simply not well defined and Iran and Iraq have fought several wars about the Shatt al-Arab and its waterways. There is no binding or otherwise recognized international agreement about the maritime boundaries.
If one would use a maritime boundary defined by equidistance from the Iraqi and Iranian coastlines, as is commonly (see Art.7) done in such cases, the result would be something like this purple line.
The complete bigger graph is here
The merchant vessels position as given by the British and the British forces themselves would then have been well in Iranian waters.
Tony Blair should get some sense and tone down the hype over this. The British sailors and marines certainly will soon be returned to their homeland.
To rely on dubious boundaries that are not supported by the geography but drafted by his own Ministry of Defense is certainly not a strong argument for further agressions.
A Brief look at British Violations of Iranian Territory
IRNA
Friday, March 30, 2007
The British media and officials have launched a wave of propaganda campaign against Iran immediately after Iranian border guards arrested British marines who had violated Iranian territorial waters on March 23.
Regardless of the GPS surveys monitored by Iran and offered to the British government, they insist that the British navy has not violated Iranian waters.
Under the current circumstances, the US officials and media have rushed to support the British officials in their insistence that they had not violated Iranian territorial waters in order to put pressure on Iran.
The British insistence on non-violation comes when both the US and UK military forces have violated Iranian territory on land, at sea and in the air and Iran has compiled documents to prove such trespasses.
British marine Mrs. Faye Turney has acknowledged to the trespass and made an apology for it.
Let's have a brief look at violations of Iranian territory by the British armed forces:
1. British unmanned reconnaissance plane RPV violated Iranian airspace in northeastern Abadan in June 2004 and was hit by Iranian anti-aircraft guns. RPV debris is available.
2. At 11 O'clock local time on June 22, 2004, three British speed boats with eight navy personnel on board trespassed Iranian borders and were arrested by Iranian coast guards.
3. At 21:30 local time on November 1, 2006, two British Black awks (choppers) from Royal Navy hovered at the height of 150 meters at 47,700-17,400 coordinates on Khorramshahr map (Pole-No: new bridge) violating Iranian airspace and they entered Iraqi territory through 62,500-15,500 coordinates after 10 minutes.
4. On January 27, 2007 a British helicopter flew over mouth of Arvandrud (Arvand river) and violated Iran's airspace and they left the area after a warning from Iranian coast guards.
5. Three British Navy boats entered Khor Mousa mouth in Iranian territorial waters on February 28, 2007.
The sixth was trespass of two British Navy boats with 15 marines on board into Iranian territorial waters at Arvandrud which led to their arrest by Iranian coast guards.
British Manufactured Gulf Maritime Border Map
No such agreed upon border between Iraq and Iran exists, measurements show ship was nearer Iranian coast
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Friday, March 30, 2007
In claiming HMS Cornwall was within Iraqi territorial waters, the British government and the media have covered-up the fact there is no agreed upon Iraqi-Iranian maritime border, as other bizarre coincidences and dubious circumstances surrounding the hostage crisis begin to emerge.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Suspicious Circumstances Preceded Hostage Crisis
Prison Planet
Thursday, March 29, 2007
FROM A READER.....
I'm pretty amazed that no-one else has picked up on this but I just thought I'd draw yet another one of those amazing co-incidences that keep cropping up and maybe you could look into it.
On the day the soldiers and sailors were siezed by the Iranians - I noticed on one BBC report that the reporter opened up by saying "We've been on HMS Cornwall - where the Sailors and Marines we're based for a couple of days now ....." or somesuch .. isn't is amazing how the BBC / Navy chose THAT ship to have a reporter on board for a couple of days beforehand and who is in place and able to immediately report on this "unexpected" turn ..
But then - in just the last couple of days - things just get even more "co-incidental" .. They'd actually interviewd on camera Leading Seaman Faye Turney who was the only female captured before the Iranians stepped in. There she was, working away with the picture of a loved one blurred out and being all "human" and normal in every way.
And now - even more of a co-incidence, Leading Seaman Faye Turney is the hot topic and is said to be close to release by the Iranians - another co-incidence?
And to top off the lists of co-incidences - She's the only one of the captives to be shown of Iranian TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know - maybe it is just a whole load of "co-incidences" .. but it makes you think, huh?
Brits in the Gulf and a Doctored British Map? - UPDATED
03.28.2007
Barry Lando / Craig Murray
Former British Ambassador Craig Murray is now challenging the legitimacy of the map just published by the British government in the current dispute with Iran over those 15 captured British sailors and marines.
"Fake Maritime Boundaries
I have been unpopular before, but the level of threats since I started blogging on the captured marines has got a bit scary.
It is therefore with some trepidation that I feel obliged to point this out.
"The British Government has published a map showing the coordinates of the incident, well within an Iran/Iraq maritime border. The mainstream media and even the blogosphere has bought this hook, line and sinker.
"But there are two colossal problems.
Was The British-Iranian Hostage Crisis Staged?
Surfing the Apocalypse
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Many of you may be rightly highly suspicious of the timing of all this.
Evidently it appears that there is far more to this so called British hostage capture crisis than what has thus far been reported by virtually all of the MSM.
In a very revealing analytical studio commentary on The BBC's Newsnight programme last night: Diplomatic Editor: Mark Urban demonstrated to Host: Jeremy Paxman: that the video footage released by the Iranians yesterday - of those 15 British service personnel being "captured" - seems to have been FAKED in large part!
He also went on to illustrate how viritually inconceivable it is that such an event (like the alleged "ambush" of British Military personnel by the Iranians) could actually happen: given the fact that the area of water where this event supposedly took place was well within the Radar Scope of HMS Cornwall (not to mention a whole host of other vessels: WHICH WERE ALL MYSTERIOUSLY ABSENT at the moment when the Iranian interception party appeared on the scene!)
From this both he & show Host Jeremy Paxman conclude that The Royal Navy were (at the very least!) grossly negligent in their duty of policing The Shat Al Arab/International Waterways (hence their clamour to blitz the Media with "evidence" of their "innocence".)
Testimony On AG Scandal: "Decision Makers…Were The Attorney General And The Counsel To The President"
AP
LAURIE KELLMAN
March 29, 2007 02:12 PM
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush's former counsel approved the firings of eight federal prosecutors, Gonzales' one-time chief of staff told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
"I and others made staff recommendations but they were approved and signed off on by the principals," Kyle Sampson said, referring to Gonzales and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
READ FULL STORY
The 9/11 Truth Domino Effect
More and more going public everyday with vital information and valauble expertise
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The leaking of the until now withheld WTC blueprints this week represents a growing trend of truth seeking individuals putting aside politics and coming forth in an attempt to set the record straight on the defining event of the 21st century.
Below is a by no means extensive list with links that represents how this 9/11 truth domino effect is gathering pace in all walks of life.
100 Senior Military, Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and Government Officials Question the 9/11 Commission Report
Gonzales' Alibi
Comedy Central
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Jon's heard better excuses from his toddler about how feces got in the DVD player.
Karl Rove Rapping It Up
You Tube
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Karl Rove at the Radio-Television Correspondents' Association Dinner.
Cuban Resolute Against Neo-Con Intimidation
Billionaire remains determined to bring Loose Change to big screen in face of threats
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Despite several attempts on behalf Neo-Con and thugs and their mindless cheerleaders to threaten billionaire Mark Cuban into backing away from a project to mass distribute Loose Change, Cuban has remained resolute in his determination to bring the film to the big screen.
During a radio interview last Friday, Fox bully Bill O'Reilly warned Cuban as well as Charlie Sheen who is set to narrate the movie, that he would be "looking out" for them and that Sheen's career would be "finished" if he went ahead with the project.
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Cuban restates his intention to distribute the film and fends off the intimidation of the attack dogs who wish to see the entire venture deep sixed.
Bill Maher Discusses Bush's 9/11 Non-Reaction On Olbermann
You Tube
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Bill Maher is asked if there is one question he would put to Bush, what would it be? Maher says he would confront Bush on why he completely failed to immediately react after he was told America was under attack on 9/11.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Did Dick Cheney Lie About His 9/11 Whereabouts?
Google Video
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
At least 2 noteworthy individuals contradict Dick Cheney's alleged arrival time in the White House emergency bunker on 9/11/2001. And at ... all » least one of these witnesses implies that Cheney may have issued a 'stand down' order to 9/11 military responders while in this bunker.
Did Dick Cheney lie about his whereabouts on the morning of 9/11 to conceal his issuance of a 'stand down' order that allowed the 9/11 attacks to succeed?
Globalists Love Global Warming
Trilateral Commission, chairman of British Petroleum, CFR, Club of Rome fan hysteria to achieve world government
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
A common charge leveled against those who question the official orthodoxy of the global warming religion is that they are acting as stooges for the western establishment and big business interests. If this is the case, then why do the high priests of the elite and kingpin oil men continue to fan the flames of global warming hysteria?
The Great Global Warming Swindle
Are you green? How many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe ... there's no need to feel bad. According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it. We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
U.S. Navy Launches Show Of Force Off Coast Of Iran
(AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
The U.S. Navy on Tuesday began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.
The maneuvers bring together two strike groups of U.S. warships and more than 100 U.S. warplanes to conduct simulated air warfare in the crowded Gulf shipping lanes.
The U.S. exercises come just four days after Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines who Iran said had strayed into Iranian waters near the Gulf. Britain and the U.S. Navy have insisted the British sailors were operating in Iraqi waters.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl said the U.S. maneuvers were not organized in response to the capture of the British sailors — nor were they meant to threaten the Islamic Republic, whose navy operates in the same waters.
He declined to specify when the Navy planned the exercises.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Why Indeed did the WTC Buildings Disintegrate?
Why Indeed did the WTC Buildings Collapse? is the title of a paper still to be found on the Scholars for 9/11 Truth website, in which Stephen E. Jones, former professor of Physics at Brigham Young University, gives his explanation for why the Twin Towers collapsed, although Jones has since left Scholars for 9/11 Truth and has formed a breakaway movement, Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice.
Why Indeed did the WTC Buildins Disintegrate? is "A peer-review of Stephen E. Jones'9/11 Research" by Morgan Reynolds and Judy Wood. As stated earlier on this blog, Judy Wood's A Refutation of the Official Collapse Theory was the work that more than anything else convinced me that what she calls "The Official Government Conspiracy Theory", or OGCT, was a hoax.
Having demonstrated the OGCT to be false, she now presents her explanation for how she believes the Twin Towers were destroyed.
I have added the link to her website in the WEBSITES box on the right, which she is currently in the process of building and which currently doesn't appear even to have a name.
It is, I believe, an improvement on James Fetzer's Scholars for 9/11 Truth website which has become too large and concentrates (perhaps rather like this blog) on too many issues.
Fetzer nevertheless remains an effective "popularizer" of Wood's views, as evidenced by the video pasted on this blog earlier today, and this constitutes an excellent introduction to Wood's work.
Mutha on Fire!
Jack Murtha talking with Wolf Blitzer on CNN on Friday March 23, 2007:
"He needs the money. So, he's going to have to deal with us."
Elizabeth and John Edwards - Press Conference
Elizabeth and John Edwards discuss family, health, and the campaign during a press conference in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Thursday, March 22, 2007.
Jim Fetzer: How was the WTC demolished?
Dr. James Fetzer, co-founder of Scholars for 911 Truth, speaks in Tucson at the University of Arizona about some of his latest research ... all » inspired by Dr. Judy Wood. Given the complete annihilation of the Twin Towers and their contents, where could all that energy have come from? This clip reminds us of the tremendous deficit in energy claimed to have been used and energy actually needed to thoroughly destroy the Twin Towers. The source of actual energy needed may be surprisingly obvious.
REQUESTS FOR CORRECTION OF NIST REPORT ON DESTRUCTION OF WORLD TRADE CENTER FILED
FRAUD AND DECEPTION CITED AS REASONS FOR CORRECTION REQUEST
March 22, 2007
Basic Facts:
A Request for Correction (RFC) submitted under the Data Quality Act (DQA) was filed with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on March 16, 2007
NIST acknowledged receipt of RFC in writing on March 19, 2007, via its Acting Chief of Management and Organization Division, Stephen Willett.
RFC challenges the integrity of NIST document NCSTAR 1 (National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee), Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers, issued in September 2005
See www.wtc.nist.gov
A full copy of the RFC filed by DR. Wood can be viewed at
http://janedoe0911.tripod.com/NIST_RFC.html
Dr. Judy Wood (with degrees in Civil Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, and Materials Engineering Science), widely acknowledged as the leading proponent of the theory that Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) were used to destroy the World Trade Center (WTC) complex, has filed a Request for Correction under the Data Quality Act with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), located in Gaithersburg, MD.
Dr. Wood is represented in this effort by Attorney Jerry Leaphart, a Connecticut-based trial lawyer, who states that NIST now has 60 days to respond to the RFC. After that, an appeal can be taken and/or other legal action may then follow.
Leaphart further states that Dr. Wood knows that the implications of her theory that DEW were used to destroy the WTC complex shatter certain key beliefs that Americans as a whole cherish and hold dear. Her theory has generated a lot of interest and commentary within the 9/11 Truth Movement that relies primarily upon the Internet as its media source. Mainstream print and broadcast media do not cover the 9/11 Truth Movement, but may need to take heed of this administrative action filed by Dr. Wood, according to Attorney Leaphart.
Leaphart said that to his knowledge, only three RFCs concerning NIST's WTC report have been filed to date. One by Dr. Morgan Reynolds, another by Edward F. Haas and the one filed by Dr. Wood. All three are currently pending.
The 43 page RFC filed by Wood asserts that the basic integrity of NCSTAR 1 is lacking because, by its own admission, it did not investigate the actual destruction of the World Trade Center Towers.
NCSTAR 1 admits:
"The focus of the investigation was on the sequence of events from the instance of aircraft impact to the initiation of collapse for each tower. For brevity in this report, this sequence is referred to as the "probable collapse sequence," although it does not actually include the structural behavior of the tower after the conditions for collapse initiation were reached and collapse became inevitable." [See NCSTAR 1, pgs xxxvii, footnote 2 and/or 82, footnote 13]
Thus, to this day, Americans have not been given any explanation whatsoever for the destruction of the WTC complex that comports with information and quality standards.
In contrast, Dr. Wood's RFC contains a stunning array of visual evidence confirming highly unusual energy effects seen by all as the twin towers were almost instantaneously destroyed in less time than it would take a billiard ball to hit the ground if dropped from the height of the twin towers.
That fact is assessed on the basis of the two other laws of physics in Wood's RFC, thus confirming its scientific rigor. Wood also points to other compelling evidence that NIST ignored. Wood's RFC shows visual evidence of unusual and unexplained blast effects on vehicles parked blocks away from the complex. Wood also demonstrates unexplained visual damage in the form of perpendicular gouges in WTC 3, and WTC 4,5,6 and the near disappearance of WTC 3, all of which remain unexplained by NIST to this day. Wood goes further and points out that the incredible amount of dust resulting from the visible process of steel disintegrating before our very eyes all point to the use of directed energy weapons. One other element of Wood's proof is the almost complete lack of even a rubble pile at the WTC complex. Wood asks: Where did it go?
Added to all of that is the fact that whatever the energy and heat source was, it had no effect upon paper that was seen floating everywhere and not burning very much, if at all.
Dr. Wood's RFC demonstrates all of the above mentioned effects in its 43 pages of text and pictorial proof. The combined effects of gravity, jet fuel (a form of kerosene) and plane damage could not possibly have caused the massive destruction that occurred on September 11, 2001, in New York City, according to Dr. Wood. The wonder of it all is that more engineers and scientists have not come forward to challenge the woeful, scientific inadequacies of the official explanation.
Dr. Wood invites her peers and colleagues to set aside their emotional attachments and to view the evidence objectively. Then and only then can America come to grips with what happened on 9/11/01, according to Dr. Wood.
Gonzales attended meeting on U.S. attorney firings
Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:53PM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales attended a meeting last November that discussed the imminent enacting of a plan to fire U.S. federal prosecutors, the Justice Department said in documents released on Friday.
The documents showed a much greater involvement for Gonzales than previously acknowledged in the controversial dismissal of eight prosecutors that has prompted calls for his resignation and added to pressure on the Bush administration.
One email dated November 21, 2006 from Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, set plans for a meeting for November 27 on "U.S. Attorney appointments" and noted it would be held in the attorney general's conference room with Gonzales there.
Full Article
What Melted Cop Cars 7 Blocks From WTC On 911?
3-22-7
The official story about 911 is that burning airplane fuel weakened the steel buildings at the World Trade Center, causing them to collapse. But if that is true, how can one explain the strange damage inflicted upon autos as far away as FDR drive (7 blocks from the WTC )?
Figure 64. Peculiar wilting of car doors and deformed window surrounds on FDR Drive.
Figure Map. Areal view of lower Manhattan.
More Melted Car Photos...
Friday, March 23, 2007
Talking Heads: Burning Down the House
"Burning Down the House"!
I like it!
We did that during Madison's victorious little war of 1812. Nothing like a bit of good'ol fashioned british pyromania!
Then the buggers painted over the scorch marks in white, so it looked as good as new, and called it The White House!
But no amount of whitewash is going to make this White House look untarnished!
Now, where I my matches? I feel the urge for a little bonfire coming on!
Daily Show: "The White House Is Adamant That Their Advisors Retain The Right To Lie"
Daily Show correspondent John Oliver and anchor Jon Stewart discuss the last time Karl Rove testified.
Supplemental budget with Iraq War timeline passes House by razor-thin margin
Michael Roston
therawstory
Published: Friday March 23, 2007
The Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives succeeded in passing a controversial supplemental war budget that includes a timeline to remove troops from Iraq by August 2008. Fourteen Democrats voted against the funding bill, and two Republicans voted in favor of it.
More
House approves 2008 troop withdrawal from Iraq
Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:45PM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to impose a September 1, 2008, deadline for withdrawing all American combat troops from Iraq, prompting a quick veto promise from President George W. Bush.
Full Article
Iran seizes 15 British marines and sailors in Gulf
By Aref Mohammed
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen on Friday in the mouth of the waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Full Article
Video Story
Britain protests Iran seizure of sailors
By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors and marines who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf, British and U.S. officials said. Britain immediately protested the detentions, which come at a time of high tension between the West and Iran.
In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office: "He was left in no doubt that we want them back," Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said after the meeting.
A spokesman for the U.S. Navy, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.
More...
Iraq war deadline bill to pass House: Democrats
11:00am EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have secured enough votes to pass legislation setting a September 1, 2008, deadline for withdrawing American troops from Iraq, lawmakers said on Friday.
Full Article
Declared US Presidential Candidates for the Democratic and Republican Party Nominations for the 2008 Election
Here are the declared U.S. presidential candidates for the Democratic and Republican Party nominations for the 2008 election. In alphabetical order:
DEMOCRATS:
Announced candidates:
Joseph Biden, U.S. senator from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator from New York and former first lady.
Chris Dodd, U.S. senator from Connecticut.
John Edwards, former U.S. senator from North Carolina and the vice presidential nominee in 2004.
Mike Gravel, former U.S. senator from Alaska.
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative from Ohio and 2004 presidential candidate.
Barack Obama, U.S. senator from Illinois.
Bill Richardson, New Mexico governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
Evan Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana.
Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor.
REPUBLICANS:
Announced candidates:
Sam Brownback, U.S. senator from Kansas.
James Gilmore, former Virginia governor.
Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor.
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor.
Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from California.
John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and 2000 presidential candidate.
Ron Paul, U.S. congressman from Texas.
Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor.
Tom Tancredo, U.S. representative from Colorado.
Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
None
For more details, see Presidential Candidates 2008
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Former CIA official supports Professor's claim that official 9/11 Islamist conspiracy theory are lies
Paul Chen
The Canadian
Thursday, March 22, 2007
David Ray Griffin is widely recognized as one of the leading spokespersons of the 9/11 truth movement. This is by virtue of his previous four books on the subject. Professor Griffin and a growing list of scholars, other researchers as well as diverse experts and activists, reject the official Islamist mastermind conspiracy theory about 9/11 advanced by Establishment interests.
Although the 9/11 truth movement was long ignored by the U.S. government and the mainstream media, recent polls have shown that (as Time magazine has acknowledged) the rejection of the official theory has become "a mainstream political phenomenon."
It is not surprising, therefore, that the U.S. government and the Big Business controlled media have shifted tactics. No longer ignoring the 9/11 truth movement, they have released a flurry of stories and reports aimed at debunking it.
In David Ray Griffin's new book entitled Debunking 9/11, shows that these attempts can themselves be easily debunked.
"Debunking 9/11 is a superb compendium of the strong body of evidence showing the official U.S. Government story of what happened on September 11, 2001 to be almost certainly a monstrous series of lies. Tragically, the entire course of U.S. foreign and domestic policies since that date has grown out of these almost certain falsehoods," says Bill Christison, former senior official of the CIA.
Mr. Christison further indicates that, "This single book could (and should) provide the basis for the United Nations International Court of Justice, or some specially constituted global body (independent of the U.S.) to investigate with highest priority, and publicly report its findings about, the charge that unknown elements within the U.S. Government, and possibly some individuals elsewhere closely allied to the U.S., caused or contributed to causing the events of September 11 to happen.”
More...
Bush Hit-Woman Behind Prosecutor Firings Has Long History Of Purges To Protect Bush
from the original reports for BBC Television and the Guardian (UK)
Greg Palast
Thursday, March 22, 2007
The Mister Big behind the scandal of George Bush’s firing of US Attorneys is not a ‘mister’ at all. The House Judiciary Committee has released White House emails indicating that the political operative who ordered the hit on prosecutors too honest for their own good was Harriet Miers, one-time legal counsel to the President.
But this is not the first time that Miers has fired investigators to protect Mr. Bush.
In 1999, while investigating Governor George Bush of Texas for the Guardian papers of Britain, I obtained an extraordinary, and extraordinarily confidential, memo to the US Attorney’s office in Austin. It disclosed that, in 1997, Governor Bush secretly suggested to the chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission that she grant a contract to the client of a Bush ally.
More...
New York Post Hit Piece On Sheen & O'Donnell
Richard Johnson
New York Post
Thursday, March 22, 2007
H'WOOD'S 9/11 IDIOT BRIGADE
SOME celebrities don't know when to keep their traps shut - like Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell, who are throwing their weight behind the twisted theory that the United States government was behind the 9/11 terror attacks.
Page Six has learned that Sheen, the hooker-loving Hollywood hunk, has agreed to narrate a new version of the loopy YouTube documentary "Loose Change," which claims that a corrupt faction within the federal government orchestrated the mass murder at the World Trade Center.
Sources say Sheen - whose father, Martin Sheen, has been arrested 63 times protesting on behalf of various leftist causes - is in talks with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures to distribute "Loose Change." Sheen has called for a new independent probe of the attack, telling Alex Jones' radio show: "It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory. It raises a lot of questions."
Sheen's rep confirmed his participation. Cuban e-mailed us: "We are having discussions about distributing the existing video with Charlie's involvement as a narrator, not in making a new feature. We are also looking for productions with an opposing viewpoint. We like controversial subjects, but we are agnostic to which side the controversy comes from."
More...
U.S. attorney's firing may be connected to CIA corruption probe
By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Sun, Mar. 18, 2007
WASHINGTON - Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice Department official sent an e-mail that said Lam needed to be fired, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.
Feinstein, D-Calif., said the timing of the e-mail suggested that Lam's dismissal may have been connected to the corruption probe.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse denied in an e-mail that there was any link.
"We have stated numerous times that no U.S. attorney was removed to retaliate against or inappropriately interfere with any public corruption investigation or prosecution," he wrote. "This remains the case and there is no evidence that indicates otherwise."
But the revelation is sure to heighten demands in Congress for a full investigation into whether something other than job performance was behind the Justice Department's dismissals late last year of eight U.S. attorneys, including Lam.
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House panel votes to allow subpoenas in attorney firings
Carol J. Williams
CNN
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
House Democrats voted Wednesday to give their leaders the authority to force White House officials to testify on the firings of U.S. attorneys.
The House Judiciary subcommittee vote was to authorize subpoenas. It does not mean that subpoenas will be issued; only that they could be if the four White House officials Democrats want to question do not voluntarily testify under oath.
But the act puts congressional Democrats on a collision course with President Bush. He said Tuesday that the four -- top political adviser Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers, and their two deputies -- could be interviewed in the matter, but no oath could be administered and no transcript would be taken.
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What's Bush so afraid of?
Was JFK plot buried with Hunt?
Carol J. Williams
LA Times
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Howard St. John Hunt remembers the night of the Watergate break-in as a bonding experience with his father.
A sweating and disheveled E. Howard Hunt roused his 19-year-old son from a dead sleep to help him wipe fingerprints from the burglars' radios and pack the surveillance equipment into a suitcase. Then, father and son raced to a remote Maryland bridge, where they heaved the evidence into the Potomac River just before dawn on June 17, 1972.
"From that point on I felt relevant in his life, that I was the one he could count on," said Howard St. John Hunt, now 52, who is called St. John.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Bush Warns Dems to Take Offer in Firings
LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) - A defiant President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down. 
Democrats' response to his proposal was swift and firm: They said they would start authorizing subpoenas as soon as Wednesday for the White House aides.
"Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That's the formula for true accountability," said Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Seems like a good deal to me! What's Leahy's problem?
Monday, March 19, 2007
Senate may subpoena White House aide Karl Rove
Sun Mar 18, 3:52 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House political strategist Karl Rove will face a Senate subpoena this week if he does not agree to testify in a dispute over fired prosecutors that has put pressure on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to quit, a Senate committee head said on Sunday.
But minority Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee stopped short of seeking to compel members of the White House staff to testify under oath. They have called for Gonzales to come to Congress to explain the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and clear up the varying reasons given for their ouster.
The White House is in talks with Congress over whether to allow testimony by officials including Rove -- whose former aide had been selected to replace one of the fired prosecutors. The replacement helped fuel charges the dismissals were politically motivated.
But one way or another, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Judiciary Committee chairman, made it clear he wanted the officials to testify at the Senate under oath.
"The final decision on putting on the agenda subpoenas is mine," Leahy said on ABC's "This Week." "And it will be on Thursday this week, among the subpoenas that will be voted on, will be one for Karl Rove and one for (former White House counsel) Harriet Miers, another one for her deputy."
Tony Blair faces prospect of an International Criminal Court investigation for war crimes in Iraq.
By Gethin Chamberlain
Sunday Telegraph
17/03/2007
Tony Blair faces the prospect of an International Criminal Court investigation for alleged coalition war crimes in Iraq.
The court's chief prosecutor told The Sunday Telegraph that he would be willing to launch an inquiry and could envisage a scenario in which the Prime Minister and American President George W Bush could one day face charges at The Hague.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo urged Arab countries, particularly Iraq, to sign up to the court to enable allegations against the West to be pursued. Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations said that his country was actively considering signing up.
America has refused to accept the court's jurisdiction and is unlikely to hand over any of its citizens to face trial. However, Britain has signed up and the Government has indicated its willingness to tackle accusations of war crimes against a number of British soldiers. Mr Moreno-Ocampo said it was frustrating that the court was viewed in the Arab world as biased in favour of the West. Asked whether he could envisage a situation in which Mr Blair and Mr Bush found themselves in the dock answering charges of war crimes in Iraq, he replied: "Of course, that could be a possibility\u2026 whatever country joins the court can know that whoever commits a crime in their country could be prosecuted by me."
Human rights lawyers remain sceptical about whether charges will ever be brought.
More...,
Global Warming: A Convenient Lie
by Andrew Marshall
Global Research,
March 15, 2007
Recently, a documentary aired on the UK’s Channel 4, entitled “The Great Global Warming Swindle”, which challenged the prevailing political understanding that global warming is caused by man-made activity. The movie argues that it is in fact the sun that is responsible for the current changes in the Earth’s temperature and the film is riddled with the testimony of many scientists and climate experts, furthering a growing dissent to the man-made theory. After all, that’s all it is, a theory. As soon as people start to state that “the debate is over”, beware, because the fundamental basis of all sciences is that debate is never over, that questions must be asked and answered and issues raised in order for the science to be accurate. So what exactly are the arguments behind the Sun being the main cause of global warming?
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Sunday, March 18, 2007
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s Gitmo song
Larry Chin
Global Research
Saturday, March 17, 2007
According to a transcript of a Guantanamo Bay military tribunal newly released by the Bush administration, “Al-Qaeda mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has “confessed” that he directed the 9/11 attacks, and was fully or partially responsibility for more than 30 other terror plots and attacks. With this “confession”, the mysterious Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (or “KSM”) becomes the ultimate and lone fall guy for virtually all “Al-Qaeda”-attributed attacks prior to 9/11, and up to his alleged arrest in 2002.
Rather than put to rest all doubts about 9/11, the KSM “confession” refocuses all inquiries back on the Bush administration’s role behind the 9/11-Al-Qaeda-“terrorism” military-intelligence propaganda operation, and the manufacturing of the KSM legend.
KSM’s sudden penchant for “spilling his guts” comes at the moment the imploding and scandal-ridden Bush-Cheney cabal faces intensifying political heat and public outrage.
More importantly, the KSM “confession” fails to address the most fundamental issues and unanswered questions underlying the “war on terrorism”...
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The Confession Backfired
Paul Craig Roberts
Lewrockwell.com
Saturday, March 17, 2007
The first confession released by the Bush regime’s Military Tribunals – that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – has discredited the entire process. Writing in Jurist, Northwestern University law professor Anthony D’Amato likens Mohammed’s confession to those that emerged in Stalin’s show trials of Bolshevik leaders in the 1930s. 
That was my own immediate thought. I remember speaking years ago with Soviet dissident Valdimir Bukovsky about the behavior of Soviet dissidents under torture. He replied that people pressed for names under torture would try to remember the names of war dead and people who had passed away. Those who retained enough of their wits under torture would confess to an unbelievable array of crimes in an effort to alert the public to the falsity of the entire process.
That is what Mohammed did. We know he was tortured, because his response to the obligatory question about his treatment during his years of detention is redacted. We also know that he was tortured, because otherwise there is no point for the US Justice (sic) Dept. memos giving the green light to torture or for the Military Commissions Act, which permits torture and death sentence based on confession extracted by torture.
Mohammed’s confession of crimes and plots is so vast that Katherine Shrader of the Associated Press reports that the Americans who extracted Mohammed’s confession do not believe it either. It is exaggerated, say Mohammed’s tormentors, and must be taken with a grain of salt.
In other words, the US torture crew, reveling in their success, played into Mohammed’s hands. Pride goes before a fall, as the saying goes.
More...
Gonzales Implicated In Another Scandal
Crooks & Liars
Saturday, March 17, 2007
As if the prosecutorial purge scandal wasn't enough, Alberto Gonzalez will be called to answer even more questions about his role in blocking an investigation into the warrantless wiretapping program. Keith provides some context.
CBS is reporting Gonzales' days are numbered. How can he possibly survive this? And how long until we hear the "Clinton did it too!" defense?
Greenwald has more: Gonzalez's unprecedented efforts to block a FISA investigation:
Last July, it was revealed that the Office of Professional Responsibility in the Justice Department — the office "responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct involving Department attorneys" — repeatedly attempted to investigate whether DOJ lawyers acted improperly concerning their role in the President's warrantless eavesdropping program, but finally stopped their investigation because the President refused to give them the security clearances they needed to conduct the investigation.
Yesterday, Murray Waas reported in National Journal that it was Alberto Gonzales who advised the President to deny those clearances even after Gonzales "learned that his own conduct would likely be a focus of the investigation." The investigation which they blocked "would have examined Gonzales's role in authorizing the eavesdropping program while he was White House counsel, as well as his subsequent oversight of the program as attorney general."
Read more...
Will the Last Person to Leave the White House...
...Please Turn the Light Out!
Rumsfeld and Libby gone.
Gonzalez on the way out.
Who's next? The Porkrind himself?
Neocons in Cheney's Office Fund al Qaeda-Tied Groups ... and No One Cares?
By Tom Engelhardt,
Tomdispatch.com.
Posted March 17, 2007.
Seymour Hersh's recent report that Iran-Contra veterans working out of Dick Cheney's office are using stolen funds from Iraq to arm al Qaeda-tied groups and foment a larger Sunni-Shia war is a very big deal.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
White House Security Officer Learns of Concerns over Plame leak through Press
"Any White House employee who has knowledge of the loss or possible compromise of classified information should report the circumstances to the EOP security officer," 5 CFR Section 1312.30,
which position Dr James Knodell has occupied since August, 2004.
Did any WH employee during that time bring to Knodell's attention the Plame's covert status leak?
Did Fliescher? Did Rove who were both aware of the leak.
Apparently not. Here's how Waxman learns from Knodell how he became aware of this breach of security:
REP. WAXMAN: Mr. Knodell, I want to ask you about whether the White House officials complied with this requirement after the disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's identity. Let me start with the former White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer.
Mr. Fleischer had conversations with Walter Pincus of The Washington Post and David Gregory of "NBC News" about Ms. Wilson's identity. These conversations took place in July 2003. Almost immediately it was clear that Ms. Wilson's identity was classified information. Mr. Knodell, the regulations require Mr. Fleischer to report what he knew about this disclosure to you. Did he do that?
[Following a brief digression…}
MR. KNODELL: Mr. Chairman, that happened before my tenure in this current position. I began this position in August of 2004.
REP. WAXMAN: Mm-hmm. Well, do you -- are you aware of whether the report was made by Mr. Fleischer to your predecessor?
MR. KNODELL: No sir, I'm not, Mr. Chairman.
REP. WAXMAN: Are you aware if there's any investigation that ever took place in the White House about the release of this classified information?
MR. KNODELL: I am not.
REP. WAXMAN: Do you know whether Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, came forward and reported what he knew about the breach of Mrs. Wilson's identity? After all, we learned that Mr. Rove talked about her identity with at least two journalists, Robert Novak and Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine.
MR. KNODELL: Mr. Chairman, I have no knowledge of any investigation within my office.
REP. WAXMAN: Okay. How long have you been in that office?
MR. KNODELL: Since August of 2004.
REP. WAXMAN: Since August of 2004 -- two-and-a-half years. And were you aware in the last two-and-a-half years that this was an issue for which there was a lot of concern?
MR. KNODELL: Yes, Mr. Chairman. I was.
REP. WAXMAN: Did you learn that from people in the White House?
MR. KNODELL: Through the press.
Dr Knodell Admits there was no WH Investigation into Leak of CIA agent's Name
Watch the OGF Committee Hearing on YouTube, which HR Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, posted on her blog.
Read excerpts from the transcript on Raw Story.
From The Gavel: House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Blog:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding a hearing on whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. Here Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-07) and Chairman Henry Waxman question Dr. James Knodell, Director of the Office of Security in the White House, on whether there was ever a White House investigation into the leak:
Chairman Henry Waxman:
“Right after the Novak column appeared, there was an outrage that this was disclosing a covert agent… the White House still has not initiated an investigation, am I correct in that statement?”
Dr. James Knodell
“That’s correct.”
More...
A Road Well Travelled
From the same article
John Pattison, 29, said he and his wife flew in from Portland, Ore., to attend his first anti-war rally. He said his opposition to the war had developed over time.
"Quite literally on the night that shock and awe commenced, my friend and I toasted the military might of the United States," Pattison said. "We were quite proud and thought we were doing the right thing."
He said the way the war had progressed and U.S. foreign policy since then had forced him to question his beliefs.
"A lot of the rhetoric that we hear coming from Christians has been dominated by the religious right and has been strong advocacy for the war," Pattison said. "That's just not the way I read my Gospel."
I recognise myself in John Pattison.
At first thinking our respective governments (I'm British, John is American), were telling us the truth and that in Afghanistan we were just giving them "what for" for 9/11, then, in the months following the invasion of Iraq, a country that we now know posed no threat to the UK or the USA, gradually realising that there was no link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, and the day by day assurances that WMDs would eventually be found, then the embarrassing realisation that there were none and that we had gone to war on the basis of a lie, a lie told to the British and American Governments by sources connected to the Iraqi Government-in-waiting, who had an obvious interest in going to war, a lie which, I believed then, our respective governments believed in good faith, but which I am now convinced, they knew was without basis all along.
So, was the war a big mistake?
No, not in their eyes.
They knew there was no Saddam-AlQaeda connection and that there were no WMDs from the get go and went to war for their own nefarious reasons.
Some Other Mother's Son
From the AP article on the White House Christian ant-war protests/arrests
Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia recounted how she learned of the death of her son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, who served in the National Guard. When a uniformed man came to her door asking if she was Baker's mother, she said yes.
'Yes,' and then I fell to the ground and somewhere outside of myself I heard someone screaming and screaming,' she said.
Hundreds Arrested At White House Christian Anti-War Protest
SARAH KARUSH
AP
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Jordan Schmidt, of Leesburg, Va., an anti-war protester, holds a candlelight vigil with others outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 16, 2007. An estimated 3,000 protesters march from the National Cathedral to the White House to protest the military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
WASHINGTON — Thousands of Christians prayed for peace at an anti-war service Friday night at the Washington National Cathedral, kicking off a weekend of protests around the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq.
Afterward, participants marched with battery-operated faux candles through snow and wind toward the White House, where police began arresting protesters shortly before midnight. Protest guidelines require demonstrators to continue moving while on the White House sidewalk.
"We gave them three warnings, and they broke the guidelines," said Lt. Scott Fear. "There's an area on the White House sidewalk where you have to keep moving."
About 100 people crossed the street from Lafayette Park _ where thousands of protesters were gathered _ to demonstrate on the White House sidewalk late Friday. Police began cuffing them and putting them on buses to be taken for processing.
Fear said 222 people had been arrested by Saturday morning. The first 100 were charged with disobeying a lawful order, and the others with crossing a police line. All of them were fined $100.
White House official: No probe launched into Plame leak
Andrew Bielak
The Raw Story
Published: Friday March 16, 2007
In testimony given today before the house oversight committee, James Knodell, Director of the Office of Security at the White House, revealed that the the administration had never launched an internal probe to determine the source for the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003. In addition to revealing a deep reluctance on the part of the administration in determining the party responsible for the leak, Knodell's testimony directly contradicted a prior statement from President Bush promising a full internal probe.
Forrest Gump of Manufactured Terrorism Confesses from Gitmo Dungeon
Kurt Nimmo
Thursday, March 15, 2007
"Of course, we have no evidence Mohammed exists, beyond a photo taken allegedly upon his capture in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, back in 2003. Prior to this, Pakistan’s ISI, the other half of the CIA’s project to manufacture terrorism, claimed to have killed Mohammed during a raid in Karachi which resulted in the capture of Ramzi Binalshibh, dubbed the “20th hijacker,” former roommate of Mohamed Atta, the pious Muslim who liked to drink Stoli and partake in lap dances. Apparently Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, not unlike the dimwit Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had more than one life to live, especially when the exigencies of neocon propaganda called."
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses to putting whoopie cusion on queen's chair at White House Banquet
Queen said to be "not amused".
Other stories in a similar vein...
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Confesses to Sinking The Maine!
Satire: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Confesses, and Wants His Fingers Back
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a restored photo on board the USS Maine just prior to the ruspicious explosion
And on a more serious note...
KSM Deconstructed
9/11 "Confession": How Real? (Updated and Bumped)
Pentagon Redacted Statements of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Discussing Torture
Officials: Mohammed Exaggerated Claims
KSM "Confessed" To Targeting Bank Founded After His Arrest
Why KSM's Confession Rings False
Important: Huge Problem with KSM Confession
US senators urge probe into 9-11 suspect's claims of abuse
Waxman sends letter to White House demanding explanation on lack of leak investigation
RAW STORY
Published: Friday March 16, 2007
The Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), today sent a letter to White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten requiring an explanation of a stunning admission by a White House official that no internal investigation was launched following the leak of classified information. The admission was made during a hearing on the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.
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