Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
UN-War * K-Endorsed * CIA-Drugs-Nam-JFK * Patriot?
10 February 2003
1) Ramsey Clark's letter to the UN security Council
2) A Draft Kucinich Endorsement
3) Vietnam, CIA's Illegal Drug Trafficking, and JFK's Assassination
4) Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act
Editor's Notes:First the bad news. North Korea has engaged a process to make more plutonium. Now the worst news, Bush avenges to attack Iraq with or without further UN support. This makes a strong action by the UN or member nations vital in stopping the US invasion on Iraq! Item 1 has more on this thinking in a letter by Ramsey Clark to the UN security Council. Following are UN email addresses for you to write. Please take actions and join in the International Actions for Peace especially on the weekend of February 15 and 16! The best chance to stop the US from attacking Iraq is by international and responsible actions. A war on Iraq is the last thing the world needs at this time. A policy of Containment is better. International negotiations for disarmament is best.
There is no question that containment would reduce world terrorism while a US invasion would create more terrorism. It is vital to have all resources focused on dealing with the dangers realized by North Korea's generation of plutonium at this moment. We need to work out some deal with North Korea now, before the US spreads uncontrollable terror around the world.
Item 2 is a ringing endorsement for the campaign to draft Dennis Kucinich for 2004-US President. Congressman Kucinich appeared on the ABC News-TV program, last Sunday morning, interviewed by George Stephanopoulos. Kucinich's upcoming appearances in Iowa was mentioned, but clearly, Kucinich demonstrated a keen articulation for peace and a real alternative for an unprecedented grass roots campaign for freedom, peace, and democracy.
Item 3 is another segment from Victor Thorn's review of Michael Collins Piper's book, Final Judgment. This is on the relationship between Vietnam, the CIA's illegal drug trafficking, and JFK's assassination. Recommended, too, for an overview on the history of CIA Covert Operations and US interventions since World War II, is the video compilation called: "What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy: The War Against the Third World": Information on this video is posted at FlybyNews.com
Item 4 is on a recently breaking news story on another clear sign of "the terrorism plan" unfolding...the US Justice Department drafted a sweeping expansion for Anti-Terrorism laws. Watch Out!
But it is getting difficult to post all the breaking news, which is coming at us in a blur. Last Monday, Colin Powell hailed a new "intelligence report" put forth by Tony Blair. UK's Channel 4 News the next day reported that this document was plagiarized from a postgraduate student's work related to the build-up to the 1991 Gulf War. The media reported this, commentators laughed, noting that the "intelligence report" didn't even correct some grammatical errors that were in the student's report; yet Bush continues to rally the troops and the public's attention span fades away into oblivion and obliged blind consent. Yet, one of these moments, if we continue to act, people will awaken, perhaps, before it is too late.
For the complete article "Government plagiarised Iraq data," see:
http://www.itv.com/news/1894417.htmland for more information and resources, visit:
http://www.traprockpeace.org/#upcoming* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Public Demonstrations for PEACE *
February 15 & 16
"The World Says No to War" - for more information, see:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=sub&sub=30
1) Ramsey Clark's letter to the UN security CouncilRamsey Clark
Founder / Former U.S. Attorney General
International Action Center
39 West 14th St., #206,
NY, NY 10011
iacenter@action-mail.org
http://www.iacenter.orgFebruary 7, 2003
The following is former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark's letter to the UN security Council. It was also sent to all member nations of the UN.
Dear Secretary General Annan,
Only firm opposition to war can serve and save the United Nations.
The peoples and nations of the world are looking to the United Nations to prevent the United States from waging a war of aggression against Iraq. This is the purpose for which the United Nations was created. To fail to firmly oppose military action against Iraq as a clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations and international law will propel the United Nations toward irrelevancy, or worse, apologist for an aggressor Superpower.
The great majority of the people and the nations of the United Nations oppose aggression against Iraq. By saying "no" to the scourge of war, the United Nations may save the United States from its own misguided leadership. It will at least save the moral stature of the United Nations.
If the United Nations yields its authority to United States aggression, it may never achieve independence to pursue its founding purpose, a world free of war and the domination of violent forces. Better to oppose U.S. aggression and struggle to preserve the principles and major participation of peoples and nations in its cause than yield to the coercive will of the Bush Administration. The balance of world political, social and moral power has shifted against further United States aggression. Through the courage now to say no to war, the United Nations will prevail.
Iraq Has Been The Victim Of U.S. Aggression For 12 Years.
Far from being a threat to the United States, or any other people, Iraq has been a victim of U.S. aggression for 12 years. Between January 16, 1991 and March 1, 1991 the U.S. acknowledges it dropped 88,500 tons of bombs the equivalent of 7 ˝ Hiroshima bombs, on a defenseless Iraq. The U.S. targeted and destroyed essential parts of the civilian life support system; water storage, pipe lines, pumping stations, filtration plants; food production, processing, storage and marketing; medical facilities services and supplies; transportation; communications; housing; schools; mosques, churches and synagogues.
Asked his assessment of Iraqi casualties in the U.S. assault in 1991 General Colin Powell then the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Armed Forces responded, "It's really not a number I'm very interested in." Patrick Tyler, New York Times, March 23, 1991, p. A1.
The U.S. placed its casualties during its assault at 157. More than 1/3 was from friendly fire, the remainder from mechanical failures and accidents. General Norman Schwartzkopf estimated Iraqi casualties repeatedly at 100,000 during March 1991. The Wall Street Journal reported that General Schwartzkopf provided the Congress with a report estimating 100,000 Iraqi soldiers dead on March 20, 1991. The Defense Intelligence Agency on May 25, 1991 formally estimated 100,000 Iraqi casualties.
The London Times reported allied intelligence estimated as many as 200,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed. The Nouvelle Observateur reported French intelligence placed the Iraqi military death toll at 200,000. A former U.S. Secretary of the Navy estimated 200,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed.
Tens of thousands of civilians died during the 42 days of constant bombing. These were 110,000 U.S. aerial sorties, averaging one every 30 seconds. Civilians were killed directly by the bombs and from accidents, lack of medicines to treat injuries and bad water resulting from the bombing. There was no public water system working within 24 hours of the first attacks. Thousands died from drinking contaminated water, often directly from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. 9,000 civilian homes were destroyed. Most hospitals were damaged.
More deadly than that bombing, twelve years of sanctions have inflicted death on over 1,500,000 people in Iraq, the majority children under 5 years old.
You must remember the enormity of this genocide as you consider whether to agree to another major U.S. military assault on Iraq. U.S. plans for intense bombardment of Iraq followed by land invasion discussed daily in the media would take thousands of Iraqi lives, however successfully executed. Violence that could radiate out from such a criminal assault may have catastrophic effect far more deadly and long lasting than the sanctions on Iraq.
The Only Rational Explanation For President Bush's Obsession With Attacking Iraq Is Oil And Related Geo-Political Power.
No rational analysis can support war against Iraq from fear it now has, or might later develop and use weapons of mass destruction. Iraq did not use such weapons when it was mercilessly bombed in 1991 though the U.S. falsely insists it used weapons of mass destruction "against its own people" during the Iran-Iraq war. See Stephen C. Pellstierre, N.Y. Times Op. Ed, January 31, 2003, "Iraq was not to blame for the Halabja massacre." Iraq has not used weapons of mass destruction while enduring 12 years of sanctions.
U.N. Inspectors have searched Iraq over most of the past twelve years and found nothing. The U.N. Inspectors have reduced the risk that Iraq might develop, use, or provide others with weapons of mass destruction far below the risk of the more than forty nations known to possess, or considered to be seeking, such weapons. President Bush has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Iraq. Any realistic hope for the elimination and future prevention of weapons of mass destruction must began with nations known to possess them.
The certainty of violence in a war against Iraq and probability of prolonged and proliferating violence from it, far exceed any risk that Iraq might develop and use weapons of mass destruction, or commit acts of aggression.
An Attack On Iraq Will Cause Terrorism, Not Prevent It.
The only rational explanation for a war on Iraq is an intention by the U.S. to control and exploit its oil, use oil sales to pay for the cost of the war and occupation, benefit U.S. oil companies and petroleum engineering firms with awards of contracts, control the price of oil to enrich the U.S. and enlarge U.S. geo-political power in the region.
Secretary Of State Powell's Presentation To The Security Council On February 5, 2003 Was A Rhetorical Exercise Without Credibility.
"We're been looking at this for a year and we just don't think it's there." New York Times article on CIA and FBI summary of U.S. intelligence data of Iraqi efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, February 3, 2003 p. A13.
President Bush and other high U.S. political officials have long stated they believe Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Their "belief" is not based on intelligence data. It is a falsehood designed to overcome resistance to the war they intend to wage.
Secretary Powell's charts, photos and electronic intercepts of conversations require authentication. They are repetitious of old tactics like the U.S. claim North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. Navy ships in the Tonkin Gulf in 1964. Only later the U.S. admitted there were "no boats" there. Or the U.S. claim in early August 1990 that 250,000 Iraqi troops were poised to invade on Saudi Arabia's border, disproved by commercial satellite photos that showed no troops were there.
U.N. investigators have worked in Iraq for years. Their knowledge of the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq exceeds the knowledge of Secretary Powell. Their investigations impede any development of, or plan to use such weapons. Secretary Powell's rhetoric encourages the acquisition of such weapons by small countries as essential to sovereignty, self-defense and survival.
The investigative agencies of the United States government relied upon to determine whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or have any links to Al Queda, do not believe such weapons, or efforts to develop them, exist.
And if everything Secretary Powell feared and professed to find were true, an attack on Iraq would still be unlawful. International law does not permit a war of aggression for non-violent acts in the absence of an imminent threat of violence.
In Their Determination To Attack Iraq And Control Its Oil Resources U.S. Officials Will Say, And Too Often Do, Anything.
"All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested [by the U.S.] In many countries. And many others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way. They are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies." President George W. Bush, State of the Union message, February 4, 2003, broadcast and published worldwide.
President Bush was speaking of summary executions, or pre-emptive murder in the language of a grade B Hollywood movie on organized crime. His doctrine of "pre-emptive" or "first strike" war makes war prevention impossible and international law meaningless. His doctrine has increased violence, or the threat of violence in occupied Palestine, between India and Pakistan, on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. It promises the reign of violence and lawlessness.
The United Nations and each of its nations must say "No" to war.
Sincerely,
Ramsey Clark
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Please send your letter or resend the above letter to the United Nations Security Council members:
United Nations Security Council members' Email addresses:
france@un.int, Chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn, mexico@un.int, ang-un@angolamissionun.org, chile@un.int, contact@germany-un.org, Pakistan@un.int, spain@spainemb.org, rusun@un.int, usa@un.int, IPRD@mfa.government.bg, syria@un.int, Guinea@un.int, Cameroon@un.int, uk@un.int
2) A Draft Kucinich EndorsementDear friends and colleagues,
Congressman Dennis Kucinich is seriously considering a revolutionary grass roots campaign for the Presidency. As someone who has followed his career closely for three years, had the good fortune to meet him several times, and hear him speak four times, I can assure you that this is going to be a really major situation/opportunity if he decides to go for it.
Please consider supporting the initiatives to draft him, because this would really be politically constructive. No other candidate is entering the race at the urging of a massive wave of people who are awake and seriously fed up with the direction the country is being taken. If the already sizable 'Draft Kucinich' effort were to grow significantly, this would really contribute to him gaining traction and credibility quickly.
Experienced political operatives consider Kucinich's chances in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries to be very good because he is just the sort of inspiring, personable, authentic candidate primary voters gravitate towards. He is an eloquent, deeply committed, real-deal person of total ethical integrity, deep wisdom, and with a profoundly inspirational vision of the deeper meaning and purpose of this country. It is hard to overstate. You just have to get to know him, read his speeches, and so on, in order to begin to appreciate it.
It is going to require a massive groundswell of activated people fighting for the future of our country, and the world, to overcome the huge challenges to running without a traditional 'money machine' approach. There is a web site,
http://www.drafkucinich.com that contains some good information, including some of Dennis' great speeches. (I particularly recommend his Jan. 3rd speech at the Swearing In ceremony for his fourth term.)
He is really out in front as a clear national voice intelligently pointing out that Bush and Co. are leading us into a unnecessary war that will have grave 'side effects' for world stability for the indefinite future. He also is a skillful and intelligent voice on the serious issues of the rollback of civil liberties, on this creation of a 'fortress America', on the profound implications of this rush to militarize space, on the serious issue of genetically engineered food, and much more.
Best,
Bruce First
(In Washington, DC)
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Flyby News' updated Dennis J. Kucinich page, see:
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1021307488,43210,m
3) Vietnam, CIA's Illegal Drug Trafficking, and JFK's AssassinationVietnam, the CIA's Illegal Drug Trafficking, and JFK's Assassination
An Overview of Michael Collins Piper's "Final Judgment"
by Victor Thorn
NOTE: The information below is derived from Michael Collins Piper's Final Judgment. My role is that of a reviewer, and all credit for the research must be given to Mr. Piper. I urge everyone to purchase a copy of this book. Final Judgment is published by The Center for Historical Review, 132 Third Street, SE, Washington, DC, 20003 (1-888-699-NEWS)
Perhaps the biggest secret of the Vietnam War is that our Central Intelligence Agency seized control of the infamous Golden Triangle during that time period, then, along with assistance from various elements of Organized Crime, shipped huge amounts of heroin out of that area into our country. Because piles of money were being made from this practice and many others, those who stood to profit from this horrendous war – the armament manufacturers, bankers, military men, and drug dealers – met any suggestion to withdraw from Vietnam with immediate consternation. But that's exactly what John F. Kennedy intended to do upon re-election. In fact, he had already planned on telling the American people that their troops would be back home by 1965. Think about this momentous decision for a moment. If we had exited Vietnam by 1965, EIGHT years of bloodshed in the jungles and civil unrest on America's streets and campuses could have been alleviated.
Michael Collins Piper writers in Final Judgment"Kennedy's intended change in Vietnam policy – his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the imbroglio – infuriated not only the CIA but elements in the Pentagon and their allies in the military-industrial-complex. By this time, of course, the Lansky Syndicate had already set-up international heroin running from Southeast Asia through the CIA-linked Corsican Mafia in the Mediterranean. The joint Lansky-CIA operations in the international drug racket were a lucrative venture that thrived as a consequence of deep U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia as a cover for drug smuggling activities."
Piper's simple one-paragraph explanation may be the most concise overview of the Vietnam War ever written. The military men and defense contractors were making out like bandits from the War Machine, while the CIA crooks and Lansky-led Mobsters (via Santo Traficante as the major wheeler-dealer) were likewise padding their pockets. Author Peter Dale Scott, in Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, said of this phenomenon, "The flood of drugs into this country since WWII was one of the major ‘unspeakable' secrets leading to the ongoing cover-up of the Kennedy assassination."
To provide a broader perspective on this situation, Professor Alfred McCoy stated in The Politics of Heroin, "Since the prohibition of narcotics in 1920, alliances between drug brokers and intelligence agencies have protected the global narcotics traffic. Given the frequency of such alliances, there seems a natural attraction between intelligence agencies and criminal syndicates. Both are practitioners of what one retired CIA operative has called the ‘clandestine arts' – the basic skill of operating outside the normal channels of civil society. Among all the institutions of modern society, intelligence agencies and crime syndicates alone maintain large organizations capable of carrying out covert operations without fear of detection."
On the government side, the two main Golden Triangle runners were Ted Schackley and Thomas Clines – the same two men who ran Operation Mongoose (the plot to take out Fidel Castro). Thus, from 1960-1975, the CIA deployed a secret force of 30,000 Hmong tribesmen to fight the Laotian Communists. They also created heroin labs in this area; then brought it out via their own private airline – Air America.
Alfred McCoy, in The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, describes how the CIA first gave smack to our own American soldiers in Vietnam before shipping it into the United States, where Lansky mobsters dealt it on the streets.
Sam Giancana's biographers reinforced this point by stating that while organized crime did its thing, "The CIA looked the other way – allowing over $100 million a year in illicit drugs to flow through Havana into the U.S. It was an arrangement similar to all the rest they'd made. The CIA received 10% of the take on the side of narcotics, which they utilized for their undercover slush fund."
After the Mob and the CIA generated this dirty money, they laundered it into secret bank accounts controlled by the international bankers. That way, the government couldn't get their hands on it and the funds could be invested in the stock market, loaned out to other businesses on the take, or channeled into the Secret Services' black budgets.
So, even though the above information is only the tip of the iceberg, now do you see why it was so important to the CIA/Mobster/international banker cabal that JFK didn't pull America out of Vietnam? The money (via illegal drug trafficking and for the War Machine) was incredible, while CONTROL of another area of the globe (the Golden Triangle) was secured.
As a final note, only FOUR DAYS after John Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Baines Johnson, his successor, put his name on NSAM 273, which secured our increased involvement in Southeast Asia. These guys weren't wasting any time! Within a few short months, our involvement in Vietnam went from 20,000 troops to a quarter of a million! The CIA had won, and ten years later 57,000 American soldiers were dead - truly shocking and abysmal behavior – an embarrassment and blight on the American consciousness.
Info received via Babel Magazine < babelmagazine@adelphia.net >
http://www.babelmagazine.com/issue92/finaljudgment92.htmlNEXT WEEK: The Media's complicity in JFK's Assassination
Also from Babel Magazine
Dexter Raymond III The New World Order and Iraq:
Towards World Empire or World Government?
http://www.babelmagazine.com/issue92/newworld.htmlWe urge EVERYONE to tune into "The Victor Thorn Show" this Monday night at 9:00 pm eastern standard time at:
http://www.realityradionetwork.com. Our guest this week is Mr. Peter Kawaja . . .Kawaja acquired evidence in 1989 on U.S. Government and Israeli Agents through civilian contractors developing new Weapons of Mass Destruction inside the U.S. under a Mossad/CIA plot to make it look like an Iraqi/Saddam operation so they could test/use them in the upcoming (planned in advance) Gulf War on American service-members as well as on Iraqis.. For more information, search for "Peter Kawaja" via search engines. For Babel Magazine's homepage, visit
http://www.babelmagazine.com
4) Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism ActJustice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act
Center Publishes Secret Draft of ‘Patriot II' Legislation
By Charles Lewis and Adam Mayle
February 7, 2003
(WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2003) -- The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information.
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained a draft, dated January 9, 2003, of this previously undisclosed legislation and is making it available in full text (12 MB). The bill, drafted by the staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft and entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, has not been officially released by the Department of Justice, although rumors of its development have circulated around the Capitol for the last few months under the name of "the Patriot Act II" in legislative parlance.
"We haven't heard anything from the Justice Department on updating the Patriot Act," House Judiciary Committee spokesman Jeff Lungren told the Center. "They haven't shared their thoughts on that. Obviously, we'd be interested, but we haven't heard anything at this point."
Senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee minority staff have inquired about Patriot II for months and have been told as recently as this week that there is no such legislation being planned.
Mark Corallo, deputy director of Justice's Office of Public Affairs, told the Center his office was unaware of the draft. "I have heard people talking about revising the Patriot Act, we are looking to work on things the way we would do with any law," he said. "We may work to make modifications to protect Americans," he added. When told that the Center had a copy of the draft legislation, he said, "This is all news to me. I have never heard of this."
After the Center posted this story, Barbara Comstock, director of public affairs for the Justice Dept., released a statement saying that, "Department staff have not presented any final proposals to either the Attorney General or the White House. It would be premature to speculate on any future decisions, particularly ideas or proposals that are still being discussed at staff levels."
An Office of Legislative Affairs "control sheet" that was obtained by the PBS program "Now With Bill Moyers" shows that a copy of the bill was sent to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Vice President Richard Cheney on Jan. 10, 2003. "Attached for your review and comment is a draft legislative proposal entitled the ‘Domestice Security Enhancement Act of 2003,'" the memo, sent from "OLP" or Office of Legal Policy, says.
Dr. David Cole, Georgetown University Law professor and author of Terrorism and the Constitution, reviewed the draft legislation at the request of the Center, and said that the legislation "raises a lot of serious concerns. It's troubling that they have gotten this far along and they've been telling people there is nothing in the works." This proposed law, he added, "would radically expand law enforcement and intelligence gathering authorities, reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over surveillance, authorize secret arrests, create a DNA database based on unchecked executive ‘suspicion,' create new death penalties, and even seek to take American citizenship away from persons who belong to or support disfavored political groups."
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