U.S. shipped 989 munitions containers to Israel week before Gaza invasion –Shipment included white phosphorous 10 Apr 2009 In the dying days of the Bush administration, and a week before Israel launched an aerial bombing campaign, followed by a land invasion of the Gaza Strip, the U.S. military shipped 989 containers of munitions to Israel. Each container was 20-feet long with a total estimated net weight of 14,000 tonnes. The shipment reportedly reached Israel last month at Ashdod, 40 kilometres north of Gaza. According to Amnesty International in the UK, the shipment included white phosphorous.
Cost of Iraq war will surpass Vietnam’s by year’s end –If Congress approves the latest funding request, as expected, the Iraq war will have cost about $694 billion, making it the second most expensive conflict in U.S. history behind World War II. 11 Apr 2009 The amount of U.S. money spent on the Iraq war will surpass the cost of Vietnam by the end of the year, making it the second most expensive military conflict in American history, behind World War II, according to Pentagon figures provided Friday. If Congress approves the supplemental funding request submitted this week by the Obama administration, the cost of the war will rise by $87 billion for 2009, including a previous supplement approved during the Bush administration.
Contractor Must Pay in Iraq Fraud, Court Rules 11 Apr 2009 A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a contractor [mercenaries] found to have committed widespread fraud in Iraq could not avoid paying millions of dollars in damages by claiming that the United States law governing false claims essentially did not apply there, as a previous judge had found on technical grounds. The earlier decision set aside a jury’s verdict in 2006 that the contractor, Custer Battles, must pay about $10 million in damages and penalties to the United States government and two whistle-blowers.
US setting stage for longer Iraq stay? 11 Apr 2009 The top US commander in Iraq has suggested increasing the number of combat forces in breach of a recently signed deal for their withdrawal. General Ray Odierno said in an interview with The Times that he would ask the White House to keep combat troops in the northern provinces of Mosul and Baqubah beyond a deadline set last year for their withdrawal by the end of June.
Is Gates channeling Cheney on Iraq with ‘last gasp’ remark? 10 Apr 2009 Midway through a week of mayhem in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised eyebrows when he said the recent resurgence of violence in Baghdad was “a last gasp” of Islamic extremists. It was an echo of former Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney, who in 2005 said the insurgency was “in the last throes.” The following two years were the deadliest period of the war. A truck bomb Friday in the northern city of Mosul killed five U.S. soldiers in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in 13 months. Since Monday, a series of explosions around the country has killed at least 60 Iraqis and injured 200.
Iraqi babies for sale: people trafficking crisis grows in corrupt system –At least 150 children a year sold for £200 to £4,000 –Some bartered youngsters become sex abuse victims 06 Apr 2009 Corruption, weak law enforcement and porous borders are compounding a growing child trafficking crisis in [Bush's] Iraq, according to officials and aid agencies, with scores of children abducted each year and sold internally or abroad. Criminal gangs [Xe/KBR] are profiting from the cheap cost of buying infants and the bureaucratic muddle that makes it relatively easy to move them overseas. Accurate figures are difficult to obtain because there is no centralised counting procedure, but aid agencies and police say they believe numbers have increased by a third since 2005 to at least 150 children a year.
‘Israel killed 437 kids in blockaded Gaza’ 11 Apr 2009 Israel’s three-week war on the Gaza Strip left 437 children dead and 1872 more wounded, the Ministry of Social Affairs in Gaza has said. Ahmad Al Kurd, Minister of Social Affairs, said on Friday that the Israeli army targeted women and children, and that its shelling targeted homes, hospitals, educational facilities and even mosques, International Middle East Media Center reported.
60 drone hits kill 14 al-Qaeda men, 687 civilians 10 Apr 2009 Of the 60 cross-border predator strikes carried out by the Afghanistan-based American drones in Pakistan between January 14, 2006 and April 8, 2009, only 10 were able to hit their actual targets, killing 14 wanted al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leaders, besides perishing 687 innocent Pakistani civilians. The ’success’ percentage of the US predator strikes is thus not more than six per cent.
Australian opposition says ministers fail to get exit strategy from U.S. 11 Apr 2009 Two Australian federal government ministers failed to get an exit strategy from Afghanistan when they met U.S. cabinet secretaries in Washington, the federal opposition said on Saturday. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon met with their U.S. counterparts, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, on Friday in Washington as part of the Australia-U.S. Ministerial (AUSMIN) talks.
120 more troops likely for Afghanistan 10 Apr 2009 Australia is set to send more troops to Afghanistan — most likely about 120 — to help protect ‘voters’ from attack when they go to the polls in August.
Russia test fires intercontinental missile 10 Apr 2009 Russia has successfully test-launched a PC-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile, Russian news agencies have reported. According to the agencies, the missile was jointly launched by the Strategic Rocket Forces and the Space Forces from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Friday.
US navy eyeballs Somali pirates in hostage standoff 11 Apr 2009 Somali elders sought to mediate between the U.S. navy and pirates holding an American hostage today in a high-seas standoff that presents President Barack Obama with a nasty new dilemma. Four pirates adrift in a lifeboat far out in the Indian Ocean with Richard Phillips, the American captain of a cargo ship they tried to seize on Wednesday, have demanded $2 million for his release and a guarantee of their own safety.
Officials: FBI launches criminal piracy probe 11 Apr 2009 FBI agents are investigating the Somali pirates who hijacked a U.S. ship and are holding its captain hostage, U.S. officials said Saturday, raising the possibility of federal charges against the men if they are captured.
You are being lied to about pirates –Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling By Johann Hari 05 Jan 2009 Who imagined that in 2009, the world’s governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? …But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as “one of the great menaces of our times” have an extraordinary story to tell – and some justice on their side.
Poll: Three-quarters favor relations with Cuba 10 Apr 2009 A new poll shows that two-thirds of Americans surveyed think the U.S. should lift its travel ban on Cuba, and three-quarters think the U.S. should end its five-decade estrangement with the country. According to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted April 3 to 5, 64 percent of the 1,023 Americans surveyed by telephone thought the U.S. government should allow citizens to travel to Cuba.
Manchester link to plots across Europe 12 Apr 2009 The alleged Al-Qaeda plot to bomb shopping centres in Manchester over Easter had been ordered by a fugitive British terrorist, investigators believe. Rashid Rauf, identified by MI5 as Al-Qaeda’s “director of operations” [!] in Europe, is suspected of planning the bombing as part of a wider “master plan” for a number of attacks on cities across the Continent.
Pakistan arrests Briton on terror charges 11 Apr 2009 Pakistan interior minister chief says a British national has been arrested in Peshawar city on suspicion of having links with al-Qaeda. Rehman Malik said Saturday that the Pakistani authorities are interrogating the Briton without giving further information, a Press TV correspondent reported. The detention is largely viewed as retaliation to the Wednesday arrests in northwest England in which 12 people – among them 11 Pakistanis — were detain for allegedly planning terror attack on the British soil.
Pathologist in Ian Tomlinson G20 death case was reprimanded over conduct –G20 pathologist reprimanded over conduct –MP asks why first post mortem was held so quickly, and calls for public inquiry 11 Apr 2009 The initial post mortem examination of the man who died at the G20 protests after being attacked by a police officer, which found he had died of a heart attack, was conducted by a forensic pathologist once reprimanded about his professional conduct by the General Medical Council. Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper seller, died on April 1 after being assaulted at least once by officers policing the G20 demonstrations. He had been trying to walk home from work when he was confronted by police, hit with a baton and thrown to the ground.
Should Obama Control the Internet? –A new bill would give the President emergency authority to halt web traffic and access private data. By Steve Aquino 02 Apr 2009 Should President Obama have the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a state of emergency? Senators John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) think so. On Wednesday they introduced a bill to establish the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor–an arm of the executive branch that would have vast power to monitor and control Internet traffic to protect against threats to critical cyber infrastructure.
Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger’s site 11 Apr 2009 Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices. The bank has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website. Florida-based Mr Morgan began a blog entitled “Facts about Goldman Sachs” — goldmansachs666.com — just a few weeks ago.
All passengers will ‘go through the whole-body imager instead of the walk-through metal detector.’ Whole-Body Scans Pass First Airport Tests 07 Apr 2009 In a shift, the Transportation Security Administration plans to replace the walk-through metal detectors at airport checkpoints with whole-body imaging machines — the kind that provide an image of the naked body. Initially, the machines were supposed to be used only on passengers who set off the metal detectors, to provide them with an option to the customary secondary physical pat-downs and inspections by electronic wand. But Robin Kane, the agency’s acting chief technology officer, said that the initial results from pilot tests at some checkpoints at 19 airports in the United States had been so good that the idea of using the machines as the standard checkpoint detectors made sense.
Hundreds of Ill. patients possibly exposed to TB 11 Apr 2009 Hundreds of patients and staff at three Chicago-area hospitals may have been exposed to tuberculosis by a contagious doctor-in-training, officials said Friday. About 300 staff and 150 patients may have been exposed at Children’s Memorial Hospital, said Dr. Stan Shulman, the hospital’s chief of pediatric infectious disease. Seventeen patients may have been affected at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, officials said.
Suspected Nazi can stay in US for now: officials 11 Apr 2009 Suspected Nazi guard John Demjanjuk can remain in the United States while an immigration court considers his latest appeal against extradition to Germany, US officials said Wednesday. “It is a subject for the courts at this point,” said Pat Reilly, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable 12 Apr 2009 Battered by the recession Bush Depression and the deepest and most widespread budget deficits in several decades, a large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets — often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time. President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package… will offset only 40 percent of the losses in state revenues, and programs for vulnerable groups have been cut in at least 34 states, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a private research group in Washington.
Tell the Pesticide Peddlers: We support Michelle Obama’s organic garden. (CREDO) 11 Apr 2009 The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) has a bone to pick with Michelle Obama. MACA represents chemical companies that produce pesticides, and they are angry that – wait for it – Michelle Obama isn’t using chemicals in her organic garden at the White House. We are not making this up. In an email they forwarded to their supporters, a MACA spokesman wrote, “While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder.” MACA went on to publish a letter it had sent to the First Lady asking her to consider using chemicals — or what they call “crop protection products” — in her garden.
CLG needs your support.
http://www.legitgov.org/donate.html
Or, please mail a check or money order to CLG:
Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG)
P.O. Box 1142
Bristol, CT 06011-1142
Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible
Previous lead stories: General Odierno: US troop numbers in northern Iraq could rise rather than fall 10 Apr 2009 The activities of ‘al-Qaeda’ in two of Iraq’s most troubled cities could keep US combat troops engaged beyond the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, the top US commander in the country has warned. US troop numbers in Mosul and Baqubah, in the north of the country, could rise rather than fall over the next year if necessary, General Ray Odierno told The Times in his first interview with a British newspaper since taking over from General David Petraeus in September. [See: 'US behind recent Iraq bomb attacks' 09 Apr 2009.]
