Nukes Over America
October 22, 2007
Return to the Raging Planet -- After going under the knife and a few days out of commission, bloodied but unbowed, returning to earth. I raise my head like Rip Van Winkle and survey the news.
Funnyman Bush -- Gotta hand it to Bush, he hasn't lost his comedic touch. Having him speak out against anti-democratic repression in Myanmar (Washington Post) is ironic to the point of hilarity. Something like his "freeing" of Iraq. What a guy! What a sense of humor! Of course, as Amy Goodman points out at TruthDig, without Bush's and Condoleezza's buddies at Chevron the tyrants in Myanmar wouldn't be able to buy toothpaste. Like It Is -- Every once in a while one of the Washington's Parliament of Whores speaks in plain English about the outrages of this government, but of course everyone turns on him like rabid hyenas. Bay Area Congressman Pete Stark, justifiably outraged over Republicans vetoing a bill to fund an extension of health insurance for poor children, said, "You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." (See breitbart.tv for the video) Naturally, Grand Disappointment Nancy Pelosi used her wee bit of political clout to turn on Stark in defense of the War Regime (NY Times). When CNN put it to a vote whether Stark should apologize, 89 percent of a huge turnout voted no, he should not apologize. In case you think Stark's comments about Bush "amusing himself" with the war in Iraq, remember this: "These Weapons of Mass Destruction Gotta Be Somewhere". Funny George. Bushco Out of Control -- In an interview with Spiegel Online, the Amsterdam-based military historian Gabriel Kolko talks about the prospect of war with Iran and argues that many in the US military now view the White House as being 'out of control'." Garbage News -- On October 18 I retrieved from a garbage can a copy of the New York Post, sister publication to the Wall Street Journal, once an actual newspaper, now a foul rag. The front page story, taking up most of the page, had a photo of a steamy looking model and the caption: "Teen Model: My kinky sex with billionaire". This was their top story that day. No Immunity for Criminal Enablers -- According to USA Today, "Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Thursday that he will block a Senate vote on a White House-backed surveillance bill because it would include legal immunity for telecommunications companies that helped intelligence agencies carry out warrantless surveillance of Americans." Thank Senator Dodd by e-mail here. The Torture Obsession -- Tom Englehardt, writing at Tomdispatch.com, asks why so many torture memos have surfaced from the administration, repetitively over the last several years. "All of these memorandums, in turn, were written years after John Yoo's infamous 'torture memo' of August 2002 and a host of other grim documents on detention, torture, and interrogation had already been leaked to the public, along with graphic FBI emailed observations of torture and abuse at Guantanamo, those 'screen savers' from Abu Ghraib, and so much other incriminating evidence. In other words, in early 2005 when that endorsement of 'the harshest interrogation techniques' was being written, its authors could hardly have avoided knowing that it, too, would someday become part of the public record. But, it seems, they couldn't help themselves. Torture, along with repetitious, pretzled 'legal' justifications for doing so, were bones that administration officials -- from the President, Vice President, and Secretary of Defense on down -- just couldn't resist gnawing on again and again. So, what we're dealing with is an obsession, a fantasy of empowerment, utterly irrational in its intensity, that's gripped this administration. None of the predictable we're shocked! we're shocked! editorial responses to the Times latest revelations begin to account for this." Anti-War Voice Silenced -- According to London's Daily Mail, "Weapons expert Dr David Kelly was assassinated, an MP claims today. Campaigning politician Norman Baker believes Dr Kelly, who exposed the Government's 'sexed-up' Iraq dossier, was killed to stop him making further revelations about the lies that took Britain to war. He says the murderers may have been anti-Saddam Iraqis, and suggests the crime was covered up by elements within the British establishment to prevent a diplomatic crisis."
October 26, 2007
More on the Lost Nuclear Cruise Missiles -- Here's the USA Today report on the lost nuclear bombs. Here's an article by Wayne Madsen. Swallow this: "WMR [The Wayne Madsen Report] has learned from U.S. and foreign intelligence sources that the B-52 transporting six stealth AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles, each armed with a W-80-1 nuclear warhead, on August 30, were destined for the Middle East via Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. However, elements of the Air Force, supported by U.S. intelligence agency personnel, successfully revealed the ultimate destination of the nuclear weapons and the mission was aborted due to internal opposition within the Air Force and U.S. Intelligence Community. Yesterday, the Washington Post attempted to explain away the fact that America's nuclear command and control system broke down in an unprecedented manner by reporting that it was the result of 'security failures at multiple levels.' It is now apparent that the command and control breakdown, reported as a BENT SPEAR incident to the Secretary of Defense and White House, was not the result of a command and control chain-of-command 'failures' but the result of a revolt and push back by various echelons within the Air Force and intelligence agencies against a planned U.S. attack on Iran using nuclear and conventional weapons." In other words, the Cheney-Bush neocon mob was going to nuke Iran, and some in the air force and intelligence agencies rebelled against what they saw as an illegal order, which the military code says should not be obeyed. We're back to the nuclear brinkmanship like that of the Cuban Missile Crisis.Nuclear Brink -- Meanwhile as Bush and Cheney set their sights on war on Iran, and World War III, or Iv, whatever you call it, continues to unfold, we've seen some extremely strange activities regarding nuclear weapons. London's Daily Mail reports that "The Pentagon was reeling last night from the American military's second major nuclear weapons blunder in a month. Congress is demanding a full scale investigation and serious questions are being asked about the competence of the officers in charge of the world's mightiest arsenal." The really scary one was "Last month 70 US airmen were demoted after they lost track of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles and allowed them to be flown halfway across America by a bomber crew that didn't even know they were there." Vote for Fun -- With the shadowy ruling powers setting up Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee, the corporate media telling us "it's all over but the voting," and now Hillary "moving to the center," supposedly, now that she has "the left" in her hip pocket, moving to the right, that is endorsing the war machine to get the power of the juggernaut behind her, I'm seriously considering supporting Stephen Colbert for president. A Rasmussen telephone survey showed that 13 percent of voters said they would support Colbert. (Rasmussen Reports) Why not? Otherwise, as the corporate media tell us, "It's all over but the voting," and we know what they do with our votes. The official election process has become a joke. Colbert is an inevitable result. Hillary will be our alternative to the out-and-out fascist Giuliani. Action From the Bottom Up on Climate Disaster -- According to a report in Maryland's Gazette.net, "The threat of severe climate change is spurring many businesses — from insurers, defense companies and hardware stores to the hospitality industry and watermen — to take action. ‘There is an urgency in dealing with climate change now that wasn’t there two or three years ago,' said Mary Glackin, deputy under secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ‘It’s maybe much later than we think.'" And that woman is a Bush administration official. U.S. Presses Nuclear Confrontation -- According to AFP, "The United States on Thursday escalated tensions over Iran's nuclear drive and alleged backing for terrorism with a raft of new sanctions against the Islamic republic's military and banks."
SUNDAY NEWS
October 28, 2007
Nukes Over America -- On the staggeringly frightening August 29-30 incident in which six armed cruise missiles were flown across the continental U.S. in launch position on a B-52H bomber little has been said. The Air Force released a report saying it was just "a mistake". But what leads to such a mistake even being possible. Here are a few links to some food for thought. Dave Lindorff at Democrats.com. "So what we have is pretty clearly a cover-up here. A cover-up of what though? Here we’re into speculation. One thing we need to keep in mind is that Barksdale AFB, on its website, advertises itself proudly as the base that prepares B-52s for duty in the Middle East Theater. Another thing we need to keep in mind is that Vice President Dick Cheney is trying hard to gin up a war against Iran, against the better judgment of top military leaders and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. And a third thing to remember is that these particular six warheads, called M80-1 warheads, are able to be adjusted to have a power of anywhere from 150 kilotons down to just 5 kilotons—a so-called 'tactical' size. Perfect for a tactical strike on an Iranian nuclear processing or research site, or for a 'false flag' type attack that could be blamed on a fledgling nuclear power…like Iran. Of course this is all speculation. What we do know is that for 36 hours, six nuclear warheads went missing. Nobody at the Pentagon in authority knew they were gone or where they were. And when they were discovered, the initial Pentagon response was to cover it all up. The only reason we know about this incident is that three Air Force officers became whistle-blowers and contacted a reporter at Military Times, a private newspaper trusted by and popular with the rank-and-file military. And what we know is that this couldn’t have been what the Air Force, six weeks and one 'investigation' late, is calling a 'mistake.'"Still a Mystery -- Robert Stormer, a retired lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve, writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, writes "Last month, six W80-1 nuclear-armed AGM-129 advanced cruise missiles were flown from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana and sat on the tarmac for 10 hours undetected. Press reports initially cited the Air Force mistake of flying nuclear weapons over the United States in violation of Air Force standing orders and international treaties, while completely missing the more important major issues, such as how six nuclear cruise missiles got loose to begin with." Stormer asks 10 questions about the incident, including, "Does the Bush administration, as some news reports suggest, have plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons?" Old Dog, Old Tricks -- All roads lead, of course, to Cheney. According to Michael Salla, Ph.D. writing in an article called "Dick Cheney & Vigilant Shield: Will a Missing Nuke from the B-52 Incident be used in a Simulated Terrorist Attack?" in OpEdNews.com, "The orders emanated from the office of the Vice President, and in particular Dick Cheney himself. Cheney’s orders were opposed all the way up the Department of Defense hierarchy including Admiral William Fallon, Commander of Central Command, and Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. This is supported by a recent report in the Telegraph newspaper that Gates has become the chief opponent to Dick Cheney’s plans to commit the U.S. to another war against Iran and is encouraging military officers to be more candid in their assessments of a new conflict." And what is worst of all, a discrepancy in the number of warheads in the different stories, making it very possible that there is a loose warhead floating around now. Did Cheney have plans for that warhead? Does he still? According to the article: "From October 15 to 19, 2007, a set of military and civil exercises will be held in Oregon, Arizona and Guam. The exercises, TOPOFF 4 and Vigilant Shield 08, are designed to test official responses to the detonation of radiological dispersal devices on U.S. territory. The exercises will be overseen by Vice President Dick Cheney who, according to unconfirmed reports, will travel to Portland to coordinate all Federal departments and agencies responses to the simulated attacks. This has led to a number of civilian groups expressing alarm that TOPOFF and Vigilant Shield might be used as a cover for False Flag operations that replicate what occurred during the 911 attacks. On September 11, 2001, Dick Cheney was overseeing a series of simulated terrorist attacks involving hijacked airplanes hitting buildings that was called 'Vigilant Guardian'. Vigilant Guardian was run simultaneously with NORAD training exercises called Vigilant Warrior and Northern Vigilance that altogether involved as many as eleven hijacked airplanes. This created much confusion and led to stand down orders for the US Air Force that was unsure if the 911 attacks were part of the simulated exercises or real attacks. This confusion accounted for the long delays between initial reports of hijacked planes being used in ‘terrorist’ attacks, and Air Force intercept missions being launched using the few planes not involved in the Northern Vigilance exercise." Rudy's Changing Story -- According to long-time Rudy-watcher Wayne Barrett writing in the Village Voice, Rudy's private testimony before the 9/11 commission contradicts his stump speech and all his chest-beating about being a great expert on terrorism. Luckily for Rudy, the speech is being withheld from the public until after the 2008 elections (why do they always do that?), but someone slipped a copy to the Voice. If the Voice's claims are false, Rudy can take legal action. If the claims are true, he dare not. The Newly packaged Giuliani for President claims to have known all along about Al Qaeda, being "an expert on terrorism" for 30 years and way ahead of virtually everyone else. But before the commission he took the standard party line at the time of duh, we didn't know nothin'. He told the commission it wasn't until "after 9/11" that "we brought in people to brief us on al Qaeda." Barrett dissects the testimony in detail, watching Rudy pass the buck, as always, on the fact that the fire department was stuck with the same nonfunctional radios they had back in 1993. Asylum Years -- Paul Krugman writes on his blog that "There was a long period, from 9/11 until somewhere well into 2004, when I and others felt like we were living in a nightmare — one of those nightmares where you’re screaming, but nobody can hear you. The bizarre personality cult built around George W. Bush; the enthusiastic rush to war with a regime that wasn’t involved in 9/11 and posed no threat; the refusal to acknowledge the mass corruption and incompetence that was obvious, to anyone with eyes to see, long before Katrina; and yet anyone who tried to point it all out was considered shrill, crazy, off his meds. And we still haven’t come to terms with what happened. As Atrios doesn’t quite put it, those who were right during the years of madness are still considered dirty foolish hippies by respectable opinion." FEMA Employees Posed as Reporters -- According to Reuters, "The main U.S. disaster-response agency apologized on Friday for having its employees pose as reporters in a news briefing on California's wildfires that no journalists attended. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, still struggling to restore its image after the bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing." How low can they go? How can anyone ever give the Bush administration credibility on anything? Anything. FEMA deputy administrator Harvey Johnson called it an "error in judgment". And said, "We can and must do better." Still has his job though. It apparently wasn't that bad an error in judgment. This is how FEMA tries to improve its image after the Katrina disaster. Put in fake reporters, then you can get the questions you want, control the information that is getting out. Perfect. In case anyone wonders, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said, "It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House." That's very reassuring. (LA Times) Edwards Advocates Corporate Reform -- John Edwards released a plan to increase corporate responsibility. According to the New York Times, the plan includes limits on executive compensation packages, requirements that big businesses operate more openly and the restoration of retirement security for the middle class through tax reforms and savings help. Go Jesus! Kill 'em! -- Anyone who is annoyed by these warmongers who have the nerve to claim to be followers of Jesus can go to 10questions.com to a video that asks the question "Who would Jesus bomb?". You have an opportunity to vote thumbs up for the question. The top 10 questions will be asked to presidential candidates. Another one worth a thumbs up is "Is our voting system broken?" Cuban Missile Crisis Reprise -- Russian President Vladimir Putin compared U.S. proposals to put a U.S. missile defense system in Europe to the incidents that kicked off the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. "Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,'" Putin said, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis. AP The Day Democracy Died -- Ohioans mourn anniversary of Ohio's "Death of Democracy", Columbus, Ohio, Friday, November 2, 2004. (Ohio Election Fraud) Maybe 9/11 Didn't Change Everything -- George Washington's Blog lists links showing that the Afghanistan war was planned before 9/11; the decision to launch the Iraq war was made before 9/11; the decision to launch a war against Iran was made before 9/11; the Patriot Act was written before 9/11; the government's spying on Americans began before 9/11; the government knew that terrorists could use planes as weapons -- and had even run its own drills of planes being used as weapons against the World Trade Center and other U.S. high-profile buildings, using real airplanes -- all before 9/11; the government heard the 9/11 plans from the hijackers' own mouths before 9/11; no steel-framed high-rise building had ever collapsed due to fire before 9/11; the neocons who now run the U.S. government lamented, before 9/11, that they could not institute their plans for global domination without a "new Pearl Harbor".
-- David Cogswell