Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol. 8 Issue 30…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…July
29, 2005
News
You Use
Beyond Treason
Modern nuclear warfare includes munitions hardened with depleted uranium. Some believe
the array of illnesses known as Gulf War Syndrome is caused by exposure to
depleted uranium munitions used on the battlefield during Desert Storm and the
current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where birth defects and cancers among
children and adults have increased significantly.
Others believe chemical and biological exposures are culprits in Gulf War
Syndrome. An even larger group of veterans, their families and supporters
believe experimental vaccines given to troops, without their knowledge or consent,
may have led to the deaths of many of our soldiers. In reality, a combination
of overlapping exposures to depleted uranium, chemical and biological agents
and experimental vaccinations could cause Gulf War Syndrome.
The US Veterans Administration (VA) has determined that 250,000 troops are now
permanently disabled, 15,000 troops are dead and more than 425,000 are ill and
slowly dying from what the Department of Defense (DOD) still calls a "mystery
disease." As they await answers from their respective governments,
ailing Gulf War veterans from all twenty-seven (27) coalition countries slowly
die of "unknown causes." While the military establishment has
provided neither satisfying nor credible answers, two decades of records point
to negligence and even culpability on the part of DOD and its "disposable
army" mentality.
A growing number of scientists and respected experts in their fields have come
forward to share their research and first-hand knowledge of official betrayal.
Their testimony and evidence is included in the film "Beyond Treason: The
US Government's Long History of Experimenting on Military Troops...and Their
Own Documents That Prove It." The film and its accompanying CD-Rom, which
contains thousands of pages of documentation, present comprehensive and
compelling evidence from US government archives that point to a massive
cover-up lasting more than two generations.
For more about this film and the plight of Gulf War veterans, visit www.gulfwarvets.com.
Atomic Skies Falling
By Carah Ong
With Hiroshima eyes I weep for a world
self-destructing,
never learning lessons from
the atomic apocalypse of skies falling.
With Nagasaki ears I listen to the
woeful cries
of more and more victims,
each one muted by preemptive
Destruction.
With Bikini and Moruroa lips I mourn
so many stories unheard, untold
a legacy of catastrophe
buried by atolls of coral.
With Nevada skin I burn
to tell a Truth obstructed
of desolate Earth and People
united by a cataclysmic obsolescence.
With Lop Nor legs I run
to find a secret crevice
where I lie hidden from a home
on the brink of nuclear precipice.
With Novaya Zemlya and Chernobyl arms I
reach
to embrace an untainted vision,
a reality not beholden since
before the Trinity explosion.
Unlike Pokhran and Chagai,
I can not celebrate a new era of
annihilation
concealed in formidable disguise
justifying my security by threatening
our demise.
Nuclear
Storm: August 1945
Deriving
its energy from nuclear fission, the atomic bomb is a weapon of mass
destruction. On July 16, 1945, the first weapon of this type was detonated at
Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA.
On
August 6, 1945, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, flying high above the industrial
city of Hiroshima, Japan, dropped a similar bomb fashioned with uranium-235. At
8:15 A.M., Japanese time, the bomb exploded with a blinding flash, a great rush
of air and a loud rumble. The initial blast fell buildings, sparked fires and a
great cloud of dust and smoke darkened the city. The powerful explosion, the
equivalent of 22,000 tons of TNT, instantly killed 66,000 people and injured
more.
Hiroshima's
city center suffered almost complete destruction; casualties in un-reinforced
buildings were almost 100%. Fires, which sprang up simultaneously all over
Hiroshima, combined in an immense "firestorm" (high winds blowing
inwards toward the center of a large conflagration), burning almost everything
that had not already been incinerated in a roughly circular area of 4.4 square
miles radius around the point of the explosion.
On
the day after the Hiroshima strike, the US War Department began a propaganda
campaign against the Japanese Empire. The campaign included dropping leaflets
on Japanese cities, broadcasting propaganda at regular intervals over radio
Saipan and distributing Japanese language newspapers containing stories and
pictures of the atomic bomb attack.
On
August 9, 1945, at 11:02 AM, another atomic bomb exploded over the industrial
valley of Nagasaki, almost midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works,
in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works), in the
north. The powerful explosion composed of fissionable material plutonium-239
totally destroyed 1 1/2 square miles of the city, killing 39,000 persons and
injuring 25,000 more.
On
August 10, 1945, the Japanese government requested permission to surrender
under terms of the Potsdam Declaration of July 26th. US President Harry Truman
claimed the attack was designed to minimize civilian casualties and quickly end
the war; Hiroshima's city center, where schools and hospitals were located,
took the direct hit. The widely held belief in the US that these attacks were
necessary has been refuted by the likes of Winston Churchill, Truman's Chief of
Staff William Leahy and General Dwight Eisenhower, who observed, 'Japan was at
the very moment seeking some way to surrender…It wasn't necessary to hit them
with that awful thing.' (Sources: www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon,
www.quaker.org and Current, Williams and Friedel, American
History: A Survey)
The
Plot Thickens
Ever
wonder why a "company" man like George Tenet would step down from his
coveted position as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)? By not
forcefully speaking up in its defense, he allowed the agency and others in the
intelligence community to take the blame for the really bad information used to
justify the war in Iraq. Did Tenet have to fall on his sword for that?
From
phony documents on a Niger uranium purchase and fake ties to CIA-trained
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to stockpiles of weapons of mass
destruction, plenty of others in the Bush administration shaped intelligence to
sell the Iraq war to the public. After all, overthrowing Saddam Hussein and
controlling Iraq's oil reserves were high on the Bush administration agenda
long before the "intelligence failures" of 9-11.
Beltway
sources say rumors are rife implicating Tenet in those American Airlines put
options. Like Martha Stewart and the sell of her stocks, the options' owners
had advanced knowledge of the 9-11 attacks and benefited from insider
information. If true, Tenet knows more than what the public has been told about
9-11.
Not
to minimize their conclusions, some conspiracy theorists have long held that
9-11 was an inside operation. Bush and his neo-con allies needed a
justification to go to war and lay the groundwork for accomplishing their hegemonic
agenda. So, the plot thickens, not only because Tenet prematurely quit the
secrecy business, but because there are so many unanswered questions. For
instance, long before now questions about those put options should have been
answered. After all, there is a paper trail that even Congress and the 9-11
Commission could follow.
Perhaps,
in addition to trying to score big on a pending disaster, whether perpetuated
by insiders or foreign nationals, Tenet could not silence "company"
cries for justice in the outing of fellow agent Valerie Plame. In too deep, he
could neither publicly speak nor deep throat the Bush administration. He had to
demand an investigation. For the agency, he fell on his sword.
Military
Recruitment Targets Dummies
Military
men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." (Henry Kissinger quoted in "Kiss
the Boys Goodbye: How US Betrayed Its Own POW's in Vietnam")
Nick Turse in "An Army of (No) One" published at www.motherjones.com examines military
recruitment tactics. As Nation magazine editor Katrina van den Heuvel
succinctly wrote in her Editor's Cut blog, "The debacle in Iraq has made
recruiting an impossibly difficult job and recruiters are sinking to new lows
in the face of growing pressure to fulfill monthly quotas as well as fierce
opposition from parents who don't support the President's botched Iraq war
mission." Following are excerpts from Turse's analysis of the US
Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to counter lagging recruitment.
The military's recruitment arsenal includes JAMRS -- DOD's "program for
joint marketing communications and market research and studies." Targeting
green teens, the Pentagon has hired private contractors to create databases,
slick websites and other gimmicks to get inside teens' heads. To make
enlistment attractive, the DOD offers big sign-up bonuses as high as $20,000 to
lure cash-strapped teens.
With lower standards, DOD no longer dismisses new recruits for "drug
abuse, alcohol, poor fitness and pregnancy." Its "Moral Waiver
Study," which ostensibly "defines relationships between pre-Service
behaviors and subsequent Service success," simply allows potential recruits
with criminal records to enlist in the U.S. military. Under its College Drop
Outs/Stop Outs Study, which targets the 18-24 age group, DOD is eagerly
studying what it takes to get kids to "drop out" of school and how
the military might then scoop them up.
DOD has re-instituted Project 100,000, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's
scheme that combined the Vietnam War and War on Poverty. Annually, DOD enlisted
100,000 men that failed its qualifying exam. DOD claimed to outfit those
failing to meet mental standards, men McNamara called "subterranean
poor," with an education and training that could be used upon their return
to civilian life. Instead, "McNamara's moron corps," as they became
known within the military, were trained for combat at markedly elevated levels,
were disproportionately sent to Vietnam, and had double the death rate of US
forces as a whole.
DOD provides mortgage assistance, raised the maximum enlistment age and
sponsors sports, such as NASCAR and Arena football, that appeal to the lower
classes. Its television commercials glorify military service, and its slick
websites offer career counseling. DOD's Hispanic Barriers to Enlistment project
identifies factors contributing to under-representation of Hispanic youth in
the military and future strategies for increasing Hispanic representation.
During the Vietnam War, Hispanics took disproportionate numbers of casualties
and similar disparities have been reported in Iraq.
With its Mothers' Attitude Study, DOD is looking at ways to influence mothers
of teens to send their sons and daughters off to war. Clearly, DOD thinks
America's young people and their parents lack basic intelligence as it
downplays the danger of military service. However, based on its failure to meet
recruitment goals, it is clear America's teens already know DOD's slick
television commercials and websites do not reflect reality in the killing
fields of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The
Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro and his sidekick- Boy Wonder- have been
convinced they can swim. Challenged by the reality of swim lessons, they now
understand there is much to learn before one can claim to be a swimmer. In the
past, swimming for them was basically flipping, splashing and engaging in all
manner of horseplay. Engaged in such horseplay during free time after his
lesson, grandma admonished him to swim. In response, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro
wondered, "Grandma, how can I swim, when I can't swim?"
Disgruntled wants to know:
Currently, the US
has more nuclear waste that it can safely store. A ticking time bomb, no one
wants the toxic stuff in his/her backyard. While it pursues nuclear power, the
US opposes Iran's nuclear activities, which Iran claims are peaceful, including
its enrichment of uranium. The US claims Iran's purposes must be nefarious,
since it has huge oil reserves, as if the resource is not finite. Those opposed
to nuclear power and the toxic waste it generates believe it is foolish for any
country to pursue the technology. Given that the US is the most advanced in
this field and should well understand its negative consequences, why would it
invest in more nuclear power plants when there are safer energy alternatives
and conservation?
Disgruntled feels:
Duped! According to a letter written by Representative Henry Waxman to Speaker
of the House J. Dennis Hastert, a $1.5 billion provision in the just completed
Energy Conference Report is a giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton and
Sugar Land, Texas. In a highly deceptive maneuver, Waxman, who deserves kudos
for his efforts to shine light on this chicanery, writes, the provision was
inserted into the energy legislation after the conference closed, so committee
members had no opportunity to consider the measure. If allowed to remain part
of the legislation to be voted on by the House and Senate, this would be one
more time, that the public is duped by big oil and the best government money
can buy. The public has already been bamboozled by the Cheney Energy Task
Force, which produced the basic energy legislation. When Cheney sought to
conceal the operation of the energy task force by seeking a favorable ruling
from a conservative court rather than reveal information regarding his task
force participants, the public was denied the truth by something as nebulous as
executive privilege. For conservative judges, the public has no right to know
how legislation is formulated when it is being crafted to benefit big oil and
other large industries that enjoy influence at the highest levels of government.
Disgruntled says:
We now know that on the evening of Monday, September 29, 2003, the Justice
Department informed Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who was at the time
the White House counsel, that it had launched a criminal investigation into the
leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Gonzales, who has testified
before the grand jury looking into the leak, immediately informed White House
Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card of the criminal investigation. As of yet, we do
not know what Card did with this information. According to an interview on Fox
News Sunday, Gonzales did not inform other members on the White House staff,
including Karl Rove and George W. Bush, until the following morning. This
leaves an eight (8) hour gap. During this unaccounted for length of time, Card
could have easily warned others that could have in turn destroyed documents
pertinent to the leak investigation. As the nearly two year-old investigation
winds down, it is clear neither Rove nor Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's
Chief of Staff, acted without their bosses' knowledge in blowing Plame's cover.
Voting Rights Act (VRA)
Re-Authorization
On
August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was signed into law. The landmark
legislation, as amended and extended (1968, 1972 and 1982), outlawed certain
discriminatory state practices preventing blacks, Hispanics and low-income
citizens from unfettered access to the franchise. If not re-authorized, key
provisions of the measure will expire in 2007.
Civil
rights groups are calling on Congress to consider legislation to re-authorize
the expiring VRA provisions. Simultaneously, they are warning of efforts afoot
to make the provisions permanent. Some legal scholars claim making the
provisions permanent could in turn lead to the measure being overturned on
constitutional grounds by a conservative Supreme Court.
According
to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), Congress
will entertain a Voting Rights re-authorization measure after the August
recess. Similar legislation will be introduced in the Senate. Important to
note, contrary to urban legend, blacks will not lose the right to vote, if
Congress fails to re-authorize the VRA provisions set to expire in 2007. The
right to vote is "guaranteed" under the 15th Amendment to the
Constitution. Just as important, blacks should understand that even with the
key provisions in place, there is no guarantees that once cast black votes will
be counted. After all, the provisions in question were in place in 2000 and
2004.
Under
a strict interpretation of the US Constitution, Article 1 Section 2 calls for
counting only 3/5 of blacks for purposes of representation. Moreover, as the
Supreme Court reiterated in Bush v. Gore (2000), there is no specific right to
vote for president under the Electoral College System. Perhaps, civil rights
groups should work to end the Electoral College and repeal Article 1 Section 2,
which would make the US more resemble the ideal of a democracy it claims to be.
To
commemorate the 40th anniversary signing of the VRA, Rainbow/Push Coalition and
others will hold a march and rally on August 6, 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Marchers will assemble at the Richard B. Russell Building at 75 Spring Street
between 8:00 - 10:00 AM.
For
more information about VRA and the expiring provisions, log on to www.votingrightsact.org and www.renewthevra.org. For up-to-date information
on the march and rally, visit www.keepthevotealive.org.
|| 2005
Issues || The DISH ||