impeachment toolkit: more on Cheney's secrecy

**
COST OF SECRECY SYSTEM REACHES RECORD HIGH

The cost of implementing the national security classification system in
government and industry reached an all-time high of $9.91 billion last
year, according to the latest annual report from the Information
Security Oversight Office (ISOO).

http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/2007rpt.pdf

The 2007 classification cost figure, which includes physical security,
computer security and other aspects of classified information security,
was a 4.6 percent increase over the year before and is the highest
amount ever reported by the ISOO.

Is that too much? Not enough? The right amount? The new report
doesn't venture an opinion. Instead, it suggests that "the annual rate
of growth for total security costs is declining." That is not strictly
true, since the rate of growth actually increased from 2006 to 2007,
though it is now lower than it was in the immediate post-2001 period.

The ISOO annual report each year presents a unique snapshot of
classification and declassification activity throughout the executive
branch, though the data provided are often of uncertain significance
and are cited with exaggerated precision.

The number of new secrets ("original classification decisions")
increased by 1% in 2007 to 233,639, ISOO reported. Meanwhile,
"derivative" classification decisions, referring to the restatement of
previously classified information in a new form or a new document,
increased sharply by 12.5 percent for a combined total of 23,102,257
classification actions (original and derivative) in 2007. Again, no
judgment on the quality or propriety of these classifications is
offered.

Of 59.7 million pages reviewed for declassification last year, 37.2
million pages were declassified government-wide, a decrease both in the
number reviewed and the number declassified but an increase in the rate
of declassification. (At the Central Intelligence Agency, the
situation was reversed: There was a 138 percent increase in the number
of pages reviewed and a slight increase in the number declassified, but
"a significant decrease" in the proportion of reviewed pages that were
declassified.)

The Department of Transportation reviewed 380,000 pages but
declassified none of them because they all had to be referred to other
agencies for further processing. The President's Foreign Intelligence
Advisory Board (recently renamed the President's Intelligence Advisory
Board) reviewed 130 pages and declassified 40 of them.

ISOO reported uneven compliance with basic classification system rules
and regulations at several agencies.

"Disappointingly, we continued to find deficiencies at multiple
agencies relating to basic requirements concerning implementing
regulations, security education and training, self-inspections,
classification, and document markings," the report stated.

One interesting data point that does not appear in the report is the
number of classification challenges filed by authorized holders of
particular information who believe that it is improperly classified.
(Section 1.8 of Executive Order 12958, as amended, authorizes and
encourages such classification challenges.)

In response to an inquiry from Secrecy News, ISOO indicated that there
were 275 classification challenges filed by cleared personnel in FY
2007. The number of challenges that were actually accepted or approved
by the originating agencies was not available.

The "2007 Report to the President" from the Information Security
Oversight Office, which is the first issued by the new ISOO director
William J. Bosanko, was transmitted to the White House on May 30 and
made public today.

The new report makes no mention of the Office of the Vice President
(OVP) and its continuing refusal to cooperate with ISOO's reporting
requirements on classification and declassification activity. That
refusal, highlighted by a complaint filed by the Federation of American
Scientists in 2006, led to a confrontation between the OVP and ISOO's
former director J. William Leonard last year, and the issue remains
technically unresolved.

War Crimes Dossier: recent updates on reforms of government misconduct - FAS.org

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy

Volume 2008, Issue No. 54
June 4, 2008

Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Support Secrecy News
http://www.fas.org/sgp/donate.html


** OBAMA INTRODUCES NEW TRANSPARENCY LEGISLATION
** OPEN SOURCE CENTER VIEWS ANIMAL POX VIRUS RESEARCH
** DOD: DETAINEES ARE TO BE TREATED HUMANELY, NO EXCEPTIONS


OBAMA INTRODUCES NEW TRANSPARENCY LEGISLATION

On the same day that he became the presumptive Democratic nominee for
President, Sen. Barack Obama introduced new legislation to expand
public access to information about government spending.

The bill, known as "The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability
in Federal Spending Act of 2008," was crafted on a bi-partisan basis
with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).

Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, is also an
original co-sponsor of the bill, as is Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE).

The new bill would build upon and improve previous efforts by Senators
Obama and Coburn to provide public access to federal grant and contract
information through the USASpending.gov web site. Among other things,
it would require copies of each federal contract and details of the
bidding process to be published online.

The provisions of the bill were outlined in a joint press release on
June 3.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2008/06/obama-coburn.html

"People from every State in this great Nation sent us to Congress to
defend their rights and stand up for their interests," Sen. Obama said
in a prepared floor statement. "To do that we have to tear down the
barriers that separate citizens from the democratic process and to
shine a brighter light on the inner workings of Washington. This bill
helps to shine that light."

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2008/s3077.html

While most government agencies have cooperated with the contracting
transparency requirements that were adopted in 2006, some intelligence
agencies have dragged their heels in opposition. The Defense
Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,
which used to disclose their unclassified contracts, actually withheld
such information from the USASpending.gov database in 2007 and 2008
(Secrecy News, Dec. 18, 2007).


OPEN SOURCE CENTER VIEWS ANIMAL POX VIRUS RESEARCH

Dozens of countries are conducting research involving animal pox
viruses, according to a descriptive survey performed for the U.S.
intelligence community's Open Source Center.

There are various potential public health and security concerns
associated with pox viruses (such as smallpox), the OSC report says in
a background discussion.

"Naturally occurring smallpox disease was eliminated worldwide in 1977.
Routine vaccination of US civilians against smallpox was discontinued in
1971, but allowed for travelers to endemic regions until the late 1970s.
In most other countries, vaccination of the general population ended by
1982. As a result of this halt in vaccination, most of the US
population could now become ill with smallpox disease should it be
reintroduced by accident or intentionally."

"In addition, humans are susceptible to several naturally occurring
viruses related to smallpox, one of which could become a serious
disease risk through natural evolution. Routine smallpox vaccination
previously protected against these viruses. Finally, there is concern
about the potential creation of a genetically engineered poxvirus that
might be markedly pathogenic for humans."

Like most finished intelligence products from the Open Source Center,
the report on animal pox viruses has not been approved for public
release. But a copy was obtained independently by Secrecy News.

See "Recent Worldwide Research on Animal Pox Viruses," MITRE
Corporation, January 2008:

http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/pox.pdf


DOD: DETAINEES ARE TO BE TREATED HUMANELY, NO EXCEPTIONS

Not even a valid intelligence requirement can be used to justify cruel
treatment of a detained enemy combatant, according to Defense
Department doctrine on "detainee operations."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff last week issued a slightly revised version
of that DoD doctrine on detainees (the second revision this year).

The document reaffirms that all detainees must be treated humanely.

"Inhumane treatment of detainees is prohibited by the Uniform Code of
Military Justice, domestic and international law, and DOD policy.
There is no exception to this humane treatment requirement."

"Accordingly, the stress of combat operations, the need for
intelligence, or deep provocation by captured and/or detained personnel
does not justify deviation from this obligation."

See Joint Publication 3-63, "Detainee Operations," 30 May 2008:

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/jp3_63.pdf
Publish Post

ACTIVISM!! The Harper is shutting down Freedom of Information,

Stephen Harper has just shut down the Co-ordinated Access to Information Requests system site. The CBC blog about it is overwhelmingly expressing alarm. Here is a petition you can sign calling for CAIRS to be brought back http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCAIRS/

Write a letter to your MP and MLA demanding that CAIRS be re-established. It cost $50,000 a year to operate, a small price to pay for government transparency. It provides invaluable information to organizations and researchers allowing them to see what the government has been doing behind closed doors.

Please sign the petition write a letter and call in to your local radio shows to raise this issue. Forward this letter to your contacts ASAP.

Thanks

Dan Merchant

www.whatisthespp.com

Save CAIRS

• petition text
• signatures
• email friends

The petition

The Canadian Federal Government has quietly killed the Co-ordinated Access to Information Requests system. The system had served to make the government more open. With the death of CAIRS, the federal Conservatives have shut the door on transparency and accountability.

We want the government to know how important it is for our democracy that the CAIRS system is maintained and improved. Access to information is absolutely vital to holding our governments accountable and the loss of CAIRS is a step backwards that CANADIANS DO NOT WANT.

Keep Canada strong, accountable, and transparent.

CAIRS must stay intact!

New Documents Reveal North American Union PR Campaign

New Documents Reveal NAU PR Campaign

Category: NAU/NAFTA/EU

Journalist acquires memos detailing secretive group's efforts to counter critics

Steve Watson
Infowars.net

New documents have been uncovered that reveal how heads of state of the U.S., Mexico and Canada are beseeching business leaders they privately meet with to launch public relations campaigns in order to counter critics of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).

The documents detail how corporate representatives have been urged to "humanize" North American integration, promote NAFTA success stories to employees and unions and evolve the harmonization agenda "without fueling protectionism".

The documentation consists of internal memos from Canada's Foreign Affairs and Internal Trade ministry, which were obtained by the World Net Daily reporter Jerome Corsi under an Access to Information Act request.

"The text of the undated memo is an internal government summary of the third SPP summit meeting held Aug. 20-21, 2007, in Montebello Quebec," writes Corsi.

The memo details the SPP's behind closed doors inaugural meeting with the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), an advisory Council Comprised of 30 senior private sector representatives of North American corporations that were selected by the American, Canadian and Mexican governments at the June 2006 trilateral meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

The "PR offensive", as Corsi puts it, is detailed in the several paragraphs of the memo, the author of which and the persons referred to within are unknown.

Excerpts of the memo read:

"Leaders had a successful meeting with the members of the NACC, which had been launched at the leader's meeting in Cancun in March 2006, to counsel governments on how they might enhance North American competitiveness,"

"He also urged NACC members to assist in confronting and refuting critics of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP)."

"In closing, all leaders expressed a desire for the NACC to play a role in articulating publicly the benefits of greater collaboration in North America."

"Leaders discussed some of the difficulties of the SPP, including the lack of popular support and the failure of the public to understand the competitive challenges confronting North America."

"Governments are faced with addressing the rapidly evolving competitive environment without fueling protectionism, when industry sectors face radical transformation."

"In terms of building public support, President Bush suggested engaging the support of those who had benefited from NAFTA and from North American integration (including small business owners) to tell their stories and humanize the impressive results."

"NACC members should have a role in communicating the merits of North American collaboration, including by engaging their employees and unions."

The NACC is expected to meet annually with SPP ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an ongoing basis.

The media and the public are not invited to participate in or observe the meetings and the minutes of the meetings are to be kept secret.

The memo highlights how those advancing the North American integration agenda are concerned about the exposure and subsequent public backlash they have encountered recently.

The initial Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement was signed by President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Texas, March 23, 2005. It established working groups, under the North American Free Trade Agreement office.

Jerome Corsi brought attention to the SPP two years ago when he obtained SPP documents, under the freedom of information act, showing that a wide range of US administrative law is being re-written in stealth under a program to "integrate" and "harmonize" with administrative law in Mexico and Canada, just as has become commonplace within the EU.

The documents contained references to upwards of 13 working groups within an entire organized infrastructure that has drawn from officials within most areas of administrative government including U.S. departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Health and Human Services, and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

More recently representatives within Congress have petitioned the government on the secretiveness of the SPP and multiple states have introduced resolutions calling on their federal representatives to halt work on the so called "North American Union".

Related: Dear Deluded Mass Media, North American Union Agenda Exists

HiLIARy blast of the day ACTION: Pass it on

Hillary hopes you have forgotten. Have you ?

(ps this only half of it!! Don't forget. I am part of The Great Secret that they keep myself. Thanks so much Hillary! I have such a lovely life!! Let's have a bit of a talk about Frank Giustra and Khazkhstan, too, shall we? How about Norman Hsu, peter f. paul .. oh, so much goes begging here, not least of which is SANCTIONS and dead children all over the globe.)

Hillary Clinton has been telling America that she is the most qualified candidate for president based on her "record," which she says includes her eight years in the White House as First Lady - or "co-president" - and her seven years in the Senate. Here is a reminder of what that record includes:

** As First Lady, Hillary assumed authority over Health Care Reform, a process that cost the taxpayers over $13 million. She told both Bill Bradley and Pat Moynahan, key votes needed to pass her legislation, that she would "demonize "anyone who opposed it. But it was opposed; she couldn't even get it to a vote in a Congress controlled by her own party. (And in the next election, her party lost control of both the House and Senate.)

** Hillary assumed authority over selecting a female Attorney General. Her first two recommendations (Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood) were forced to withdraw their names from consideration, and then she chose Janet Reno. Janet Reno has since been described by Bill himself as "my worst mistake."

** Hillary recommended Lani Guanier for head of the Civil Rights Commission. When Guanier's radical views became known, her name had to be withdrawn.

** Hillary recommended her former law partners, Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy for positions in the Justice Department, White House staff, and the Treasury,respectively. Hubbell was later imprisoned, Foster committed suicide, and Kennedy was forced to resign.

** Hillary also recommended a close friend of the Clintons, Craig Livingstone, for the position of director of White House se! curity. When Livingstone was investigated for the improper access of up to 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies (Filegate) and the widespread use of drugs by White House staff, both Hillary and her husband denied knowing him. (FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene Confirmed in a Senate Judiciary Committee in 1996 both the drug use and Hillary's involvement in hiring Livingst one. After that, the FBI closed its White House Liaison Office, after serving seven presidents for over thirty years.)

** In order to open "slots" in the White House for her friends the Harry Thomasons (to whom millions of dollars in travel contracts could be awarded), Hillary had the entire staff of the White House Travel Office fired; they were reported to the FBI for "gross mismanagement" and their reputations ruined. After a thirty-month investigation, only one, Billy Dale, was charged with a crime - mixing personal money with White House funds when he cashed checks. The jury acquitted him in less than two hours.

** Another of Hillary's assumed duties was directing the "bimbo eruption squad" and scandal defense: ---- She urged her husband not to settle the Pau! la Jones lawsuit ---- She refused to release the Whitewater documents, which led to the appointment of Ken Starr as Special Prosecutor After $80 million dollars of taxpayer money was spent, Starr's investigation led to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill lying about and later admitting his affairs.

** Then they had to settle with Paula Jones after all.

** And Bill lost his ! law license for lying to the grand jury.

** And Bill was impeached by the House.

** And Hillary almost got herself indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice (she avoided it mostly because she repeated, "I do not recall," "I have no recollection," and "I don't know" 56 times under oath).

** And don't forget her part in Vince Foster's "suicide".

** Hillary wrote "It Takes a Village," demonstrating her Socialist viewpoint.

** Hillary decided to s! eek election to the Senate in a state she had never lived in. Her husband pardoned FALN terrorists in order to get Latino support and the New Square Hassidim to get Jewish support. Hillary also had Bill pardon her brother's clients, for a small fee, to get financial support.

** Then Hillary left the White House, but later had to return $200,000 in White House furniture, china, and artwork she had stolen

** In the campaign for the Senate, Hillary played the "woman card" by portraying her opponent (Lazio) as a bully picking on her

** Hillary's husband further protected her by asking the National Archives to withhold from the public until 2012 many records of their time in the White House, including much of Hillary's correspondence and her calendars. (There are ongoing lawsuits to force the release of those records.)

** As the junior Senator from New York, Hillary has passed no major legislation. She has deferred to the senior Senator (Schumer) to tend to the needs of New Yorkers, even on the hot issue of medical problems of workers involved in the cleanup of Ground Zero after 9/11.

** Hillary's one notable vote, supporting the plan to invade Iraq, she has since disavowed.

Quite a resume, isn't it?

Sounds more like an organized crime family.

Make sure America remembers and Pass this on.

Respectfully,

Jim Newborn, EFHFI
Colonel, US Army Retired

THE BIG SCARE - I've been terrified of this since July

Well, this made me SO sick I did not post it here on publication.

I've dreaded this article appearing since July when I brought up the issue of PROTECTING those living here who have LEGALLY and OTHERWISE and have sought Canadian asylum - and asked people to consider what the blow back towards us is going to be.

I am already a persona no grata from the United States and I will be one of the very first hauled off to a camp, if I live that long.

I've put up with animosity here in Canada since I first came, although these lands belong to First Nations peoples who WELCOMED ME IN - yes, personally. They gave me money to start me off, NOT the Canadian government. It's "politically" correct to care about the Mexican rebels who are here and perhaps they will be provided some "cover" - but I doubt that, too. Everyone will get SO strident about THEIR rights being stripped. The US is ever so good at being devisive among dissenters and now their entire crew will be (and already is) up here creating HAVOC to get CONTROL.

The posters to militarize Canada's youth are already huge at the bus stop corners ..

It is not mentioned below, but this is just another stage in the usurption of sovereign native lands in Canada, for the benefit of WARMONGERS and those who would strip life from its REAL PEOPLE's .. its here in Canada and Mexico that the damage will be done.

The United States believes it owns the world .. and now the Canadian think they will pitch tents with them and help the United States and the Israeli's wipe out ALL indigenous peoples everywhere.

The last Ultimate Grab in Turtle Island - but hey! The US and Israeli jets will continue to fly.

They will be selling the water and owning the sky. The complete wreckage will be complete. A few power point slides sold this outrage at a few very sick meetings with White Guys.

The professors attack on the underlying racism doesn't even begin to cover the EVIL that lurks in this "plan" - this new signed agreement.

As for the Canadian Parliament, for shame!

Paul Martin was a TRAITOR and is guilty of TREASON, but will he ever see a court? Most doubtful unless we FIGHT BACK.

Everyone is waiting for some Mythic Synthetic Terror event - me, I am just waiting for the pandemic .. which is eminent. That Ultimate Terror event (they created it! No teaching people how to build their immune systems or how to avoid aspirin and deal with viruses) rather a steady build up of FEAR and counting on the fact that they will run to The State to 'save' them.

"Take the chip and we'll give you medicine!"

.. and the BuZh bloodless coup continues.

Past Florida 2000, past Ohio 2004, right here right now, right in CANADA.

And don't anyone say I didn't warn them.

I most certainly did.

Canada is the new Puerto Rico, the new Washington DC. No votes, pay your taxes, fight in the elitist wars for dominance and their brand of globalisation.

The frog is finally dieing from the increased heat of the water.

Hit my links - see for yourself. I've been saying this would happen since I came here to Canada.

REALIZE yourself what Executive 13303 actually meant - this is not a BuZh junior thing - this is George HW BuZh at work to strip Canada and create his New World Order and he RELIED on William Clinton to help him accomplish this. All it took was WILL, some bits of paper and ink, a few computers, a bit of a coverup and some EVIL intent to keep the vision of full spectrum dominance alive.

Welcome to the Brave New World and don't expect Big Brother to explain it to you all. He has other "fish to fry" now. Fearless Leader wants his hundred year war and he feeds now upon the sovereign Canadian indigenous nations to give him food, shelter, supplies to continue his attacks on the Entire World.

VEEGER

The Deployment of US Troops inside Canada by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, March 13, 2008

a

BREAKING: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED in the closed door session

Yes, it is so dramatic that members of the US CONgress sworn to secrecy are leaking what is about to take place. Here are links and leaked information. Pass this information on as quickly as you can!!

read more | digg story

The number for the Capital Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121.

Start CALLING!! (Even if your phone is tapped and you won't be able to sue for the consequences of that .. )

Last real MSM story on this is: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/14/worldupdates/
2008-03-14T025602Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-324733-1&sec=Worldupdates

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED in the Closed Door Session last night

Addenda: Capitol Hill switchboard number

202-224-3121

This either REAL or a cause for real paranoia and should be

reported either way.


Why is there no lamestream media reporting??

http://news.google.ca/news?q=closed+door+session&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org
.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wn

this link will take you to the last MSM

article written about the topic.

Did Pelosi keep her spine?

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/14/worldupdates
/2008-03-14T025602Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-324733-1&sec=Worldupdates

Here is the pdf on secret sessions:

http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-718.pdf

Some days, you just gotta wonder ...

and Hall Turner has proven right on occasion, as

a valuable "leak" ..

BREAKING!!!===What really happened in the Closed Door Session ...

This was only the fourth time in 176 years that Congress has closed its doors to the public. What was it that they were discussing that they do NOT want us ... www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message520602/pg1 - 3 hours ago - Similar pages

Special "closed Session" Of U.s. House - Page 2 - David Icke's ...

LAST NIGHTS SESSION WAS ONLY THE FOURTH TIME IN 176 YEARS THAT CONGRESS CLOSED ITS DOORS TO THE PUBLIC Word has begun leaking from last nights special, ... www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?p=303876 - 10 hours ago - Similar pages

Congress closed session

For only the fourth time in 176 years the public was shut out of congress so they could have a closed session with the announcement that it will discuss ... www.pocketfives.com/5CB78692-F97F-43EF-93BF-718D909F7A5F.aspx - 4 hours ago - Similar pages

SPECIAL "CLOSED SESSION" OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ...

Thursday, March 13, 2008 LAST NIGHTS SESSION WAS ONLY THE FOURTH TIME IN 176 YEARS THAT CONGRESS CLOSED ITS DOORS TO THE PUBLIC Word has begun leaking from ... www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/government/fraud/us_government/news.php?q=1205524843 - 23 hours ago - Similar pages

Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 4:20 PM
Subject: CLOSED Congress Session Last Night: Only 4th Time In 176 Years !

SPECIAL "CLOSED SESSION" OF U.S. HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSSED A LOT MORE THAN
THE PENDING SECURITY SURVEILLANCE PROVISIONS!

This was only the fourth time in 176 years that Congress
has closed its doors to the public. What was it that they
were discussing that they do NOT want us to know about?

Word has begun leaking from last nights special, closed-door
session of the United States House of Representatives.

Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as
was the publicly stated reason for the closed door session, they
also discussed:

1. the imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by
September 2008,

2. the imminent collapse of US federal government finances
by February 2009,

3. the possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of
the collapse,

4. advance round-ups of "insurgent U.S. citizens" likely to
move against the government,

5. the detention of those rounded-up at "REX 84" camps
constructed throughout the USA,

6. the possibility of retaliation against members of Congress
for the collapses,

7. the location of "safe facilities" for members of Congress
and their families to reside during expected massive civil
unrest,

8. the necessary and unavoidable merger of the United States
with Canada (for its natural resources) and with Mexico (for its
cheap labor pool),

9. the issuance of a new currency - THE AMERO - for all three
nations as the proposed solution to the coming economic
armageddon.

Members of Congress were FORBIDDEN to reveal what was discussed.
Several are so furious and concerned about the future of the country, they
have begun leaking info. More details coming later today and over the
weekend. SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Torturegate: Centre for American Progress, Tortured LOGIC

Think Again: Catch-22 Revisited: The Bush Administration and the Public’s “Right to Know”

By Eric Alterman, George Zornick

March 13, 2008

While most of the media remains (understandably) obsessed with the hard-fought primary campaigns and a gubernatorial sex scandal torn from the pages of “Payton Place,” the Bush administration’s defense of torture—reminiscent of the dizzying Joseph Heller masterpiece,

Catch-22

—is not getting the attention it deserves.

President Bush has vetoed a bill that would have essentially prevented the CIA from engaging in torture, and the move was just upheld by Republicans in Congress. The legislative avenue for reversing the administration’s torture policy has been closed, for now, and all that’s left is the judiciary.

The Supreme Court, of course, has long since agreed with the Bush administration’s Catch-22 argument about its alleged right to torture. To sue the administration, you need to come to us with knowledge. But hey, you can’t have the knowledge because the government is not required to reveal interrogation methods due to national security concerns.

“That’s some catch, there, that Catch-22,”

observes the novel’s anti-hero, Yossarian.

“The best there is,”

comes the reply. Works every time…

Withholding information on the CIA’s interrogation methods is a stunning assertion of executive secrecy seen time after time with the current federal government. The Bush administration has used secrecy to inoculate itself against accountability for a series of potentially unconstitutional or even criminal actions. Until the dark veil of secrecy is pulled back, we can’t possibly ensure that the government is acting in accordance with the Constitution.

In the case of Khaled al-Masri, who claims he was abducted in Afghanistan and tortured by the United States, the U.S. government sought dismissal of his case under the “state secrets privilege,” contending that if they revealed any details about al-Masri’s treatment, it would compromise national security. Circuit courts agreed and tossed the case, and the Supreme Court refused al-Masri’s appeals.

Of course, al-Masri’s lawyers, along with the ACLU, argue that the use of state secrets privilege in this case twists its original meaning—the privilege is meant to shield specific evidence in an ongoing trial, not to throw an entire case out the window before it even starts.

The Supreme Court established the state secrets privilege in 1953 in a case brought by the families of three civilians who died in a military plane crash. The families wanted the accident report entered into evidence, but the government refused because the plane was part of a secret mission and had secret equipment on board. The accident report was kept hidden, but the case proceeded. Now, with al-Masri’s case dismissed on state secrets grounds alone, the law is being twisted so as to essentially immunize the federal government in any matter where national security secrets are involved, according to the ACLU.

The protection given to national security secrets has been frequently invoked by the current administration in cases where they wish to remain free from legal challenges. A number of National Security Agency employees told the Wall Street Journal that they are concerned the agency may be “overstepping its authority by veering into domestic surveillance,” but the administration has never been satisfactorily above board about who the agency is monitoring and how, which makes a fair assessment of the program impossible.

The administration dragged its feet on telling Congress anything about the NSA’s spying activities, earning an angry rebuke from Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) last year when they were debating legislative action on domestic surveillance. The senators’ letter stated, “You have rebuffed all requests for documents and your answers to our questions have been wholly inadequate and, at times, misleading.”

When Bush officials were faced with legislation that would hold telecommunication companies accountable for breaking the law on behalf of the administration, they kept the details of the program secret even while promoting its necessity.

“The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives,”

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told the press on February 12. This odd logical knot—they were “alleged” to have helped, but “did so” because they are patriotic—gets at the heart of the administration’s secrecy: it refuses to recognize official recognition of any program whose existence might lead to legal challenges.

As in the al-Masri case, if there is no official knowledge of a program, it cannot be challenged in court. That’s why the administration won’t acknowledge the existence of certain programs or methods even when it implies that they are necessary. The administration actually heralds the idea of warrantless wiretapping, but almost always adds that, by the way, we may not actually be doing any. It heralds the necessity of keeping all options open when it comes to interrogation, but also, we don’t torture. This secretive subterfuge prevents any actual legal or legislative examination of what the government is actually doing.

The Bush administration’s secrecy isn’t just wielded via claims of national security secrets. In more straightforward ways, the administration is trying to keep prying eyes away from its conduct. For example, several White House staffers are refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the U.S. Attorney firings, despite subpoenas demanding their presence.

Most glaringly, as we wrote about here in January, the Bush administration attempted to essentially de-fund the Office of Government Information Services, which handles Freedom of Information Act requests. These routine requests, which allow journalists and the public access to many records and information on the doings of the federal government, were under attack as soon as President Bush took office.

Attorney General John Ashcroft lowered the government’s burden for denying FOIA requests, and the Justice Department began charging exorbitant “administrative” fees for releasing documents under FOIA. There is no conclusion other than that the current government would prefer citizens have as little information about its doings as possible.

While there hasn’t been much in the way of discussion or debate about these tactics in the mainstream media of late, efforts to shine a light on them are more than welcome. Next week, the American Society of Newspaper Editors is holding Sunshine Week, a national initiative aimed at elevating discussion of issues of transparency and the public’s right to know what its government is doing in its name.

To be honest, I haven’t read Catch-22 in some decades, but I remember this: it ends badly.

Eric Alterman is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College, and a professor of journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. His blog, "Altercation," appears at

http://www.mediamatters.org/altercation.

His seventh book, Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America, has just been released by Viking.

George Zornick is a New York based writer.

OUTRAGE!! Israel's New Policy of Terrorism in the US

Remember the DEA report last year about hundreds of Israeli spies posing as art students and stalking federal agents that were deported by the U.S. government.

A while back I got interested in a conspiracy "theory" that suggest that Monica Lewinsky was actually a MOSSAD agent. It was alleged that she had set up William Clinton in order to get state secrets. This little investigation of Monica lead me to the information that you see quoted above. I was most curious as to how Mossad agents enter the country - and amazingly I found the report in a file that listed things that had been tracked by US Treasury Department as the money was located when they deposited the money in the bank. An amazing feat for the GWOT actually to uncover some real terrorists. But this terrorism (and they were stalking and threatening DEA agents, it was terror) went UNREPORTED, I had to dig it out.

Monica's indescretion with her older sugar daddy who just "happened" to have a TOPPEST HIGH SECURITY clearance made me wonder - how many other government agents have been targetted by MOSSAD? This question of mine made sense since having blow jobs by a foreign agent can certainly pose a national security threat. The grim inferences one can make when looking at some of our presidential misdeeds in the light of the seriousness of the consequences can be, to put it mildy, mind boggling.

America has seen many good GOP members go down in the past seven years due to sex scandals - and if you are new, only recently Larry Craig went "down" in the Senate Ethics Committee and censured. But although the hypocracy of Craig as well as Senator Vitter has been haunted by the shrill cresendo of "For Shame! They're hypocritics", the underlying critical issue of where that could have lead gets begged. Hey, under Protect America they swoop me up and let me languish in prison and no one know where I am for the rest of my days - the Senate and the President sure get a free ride, don't they and they are the ones with SECRETS.

Ole Bushikins has been free in the sexual scandal department, but some of those in the know are more than a little suspicious when it comes to America having its secrets exposed to foreign governments - or let me be a bit more explicit, it is concerning when some high level officials hold dual nationalities (in which Israel trumps the US in the loyalty department) and have TOP LEVEL SECURITY CLEARANCES. The Treasury's been looted, the Attorney General say "Whoops! Not gonna follow international law, can't make me!" and someone with dual nationality decrees that America is now as something grotesquely named The Homeland. All without so much as a vote.

WHAT IS BUZH THINKING!!

and what is CONgress doing letting this happen?

Now with that background I present YOU with the scariest item I have seen in a very very long time. The US appears to be allowing a foreign government to perform assassination on whomever it wishes, whenever it wishes, and wherever it wishes. I'm not saying that MOSSAD was not capable of all this before - they most certainly were, but you aren't going to hear much about that in the Zionist State of Israel's supporting mainstream newspapers. What is most frightening is the assumption that now OFFICIALLY Israeli's have been declared above the law by the US State Department and the United States Attorney General - I do not hear anyone in Congress {{{{{{screaming}}}}}}}}}} about this piece of "news"

If you think the so-called Global has not wrecked insanity and mayhem on the United States, then take the red pill. Is there ANY Rule of law left?

Why does this reporter state that terrorism is acceptable in "third world countries"? It most emphatically is not. Murder is murder.

I cannot believe I read this. I've read it over a dozen times and I just cannot believe I read what I read ..

Look at the histronics suggested as a solution below. Anyone EVER hear of the rule of law? This might be a right wing plant job - but who knows? It is not surprising that I would find this item highly highly troubling.

V

ISRAEL'S NEW POLICY OF TERRORISM
ON AMERICAN SOIL

By: Joe Sansone

A recent UPI report outlined Israel’s new policy of assassinating suspected terrorists on American soil. In other words, Israel is now going to officially carryout terrorism on U.S. soil.

Isn’t that what murder is? As an American citizen you cannot murder, why should agents of a foreign government have any such right in your country?

The UPI report read, “Israel is embarking upon a more aggressive approach to the war on terror that will include staging targeted killings in the United States and other friendly countries, former Israeli intelligence officials told United Press International.” UPI claims to have verified this information with a dozen informants. The report goes on to say that Israel will go forward with this policy,

“even if it risks complications to Israel's bilateral relations."

Such a policy by Israel that has no regard for the national sovereignty of the United States requires a reevaluation of an existing allied relationship. It is a callous disregard for not only the laws of the United States, but also the security, safety, and rights of its citizens.

What Israel terms as targeted assassinations is really the commencement of a low-grade war against its enemies. By carrying out acts of war on American soil, Israel will be committing acts of war against the United States.

Bringing its war to America, Israel is endangering the lives of Americans, including American Jews. Surely, as Israel’s campaign of terror is carried out against its enemies, there will be retaliatory action in the United States by Islamic militants. Are synagogues and Jewish schools immune from such horror? They will likely be the first targets. While less than three percent of Americans are Jews, and respectively three percent are Muslims, do we want them battling it out in our streets?

By proclaiming its license to kill on American soil, Israel places itself on the list of rogue nations diametrically opposed to the United States. Terrorism may be acceptable in the third world. It is not acceptable in the United States. This policy by definition is state sponsored terrorism. Maybe there should be weapons inspectors taking a look at Israel’s nuclear program next?

How exactly do we determine the innocence of the murdered victims? Since Israel now has no regard for the nation where it murders perceived terrorists, it is safe to say that they would also have no regard for the nationality of the alleged terrorist. What if some of them are American citizens? Are we going to allow a foreign nation to murder U.S. citizens too?

The UPI report also says,

“Israeli hit teams, which consist of units or squadrons of the Kidon, a sub-unit for Mossad's highly secret Metsada department, would stage the operations”.

If Israeli hit teams are in place in the United States, what will prevent them from targeting U.S. officials that aren’t willing to send billions of dollars in foreign aid to Israel? Far fetched, not really when we’re talking about a nation that is openly planning terrorism in the United States.

Yes, openly, because a story this sensitive would have never leaked unless it was meant to be leaked.

If Israel is going to have a policy of terrorism on U.S. soil then it is not only plausible that it will kill American citizens that it considers to be enemies, but it is also likely that they will attack American targets and try to blame it on the enemies of Israel.

It’s bad enough that according to a PBS Transcript Senator Graham of the Select Committee On Intelligence said that classified evidence reveals that foreign governments were involved in the September 11th attacks. Now another nation is threatening to expand its terrorism to America.

No ally of the United States can commit act on war on its soil. Theoretically Israeli hit teams could already be here. Remember the DEA report last year about hundreds of Israeli spies posing as art students and stalking federal agents that were deported by the U.S. government. If Islamic terrorist cells may already be here it is entirely possible that Israeli hit squads are in place.

The U.S. should immediately pull all foreign aid, both monetary and military assistance from Israel. Immigration should be halted across the board, but especially from Middle Eastern countries, including Israel. Israeli citizens must be deported immediately.

If the United States does not have the political will to protect and defend its sovereign territory, then it does not have a right to exist, and probably won’t.

Either UPI fabricated the report and manufactured the Israeli government informants quoted in it or Israel is an enemy of the United States.

The Bush administration should send a clear signal that if Israel carries out acts of terrorism in the United States then war will follow.

Mail this article to a friend(s) in two clicks!

Joe Sansone is the founder and president of USA Daily as well as a weekly columnist. Mr. Sansone is the co-founder and former vice-chairman of the American Reformation Project Joe has previously hosted a Central Jersey Talk Radio Show and is the former chairman of the Reform Party of New Jersey as well as the former chairman of Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign in New Jersey. He is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.

Published in the January 21, 2003 issue of Ether Zone.
Copyright � 1997 - 2003 Ether Zone.

GEAB N°22 is available! Global systemic crisis / September 2008 - Phase of collapse of US real economy

- Public announcement GEAB N°22 (February 16, 2008) -

According to LEAP/E2020, the end of the third quarter of 2008 will be marked by a new tipping point in the unfolding of the global systemic crisis. At that time indeed, the cumulated impact of the various sequences of the crisis (see table below) will reach its maximum strength and affect decisively the very heart of the systems concerned, on the frontline of which the United States, epicentre of the current crisis. In the United States, this new tipping point will translate into a collapse of the real economy, final socio-economic stage of the serial bursting of the housing and financial bubbles (1) and of the pursuance of the US dollar fall. The collapse of US real economy means the virtual freeze of the American economic machinery: private and public bankruptcies in large numbers, companies and public services closing down massively (2),...

A revealing harbinger: from March 2008 onward, the US government will cease to publish its economic indicators due to budget restrictions (3). Those who read the GEAB N°2 (02/2006) and included Alert certainly keep in mind our anticipation which connected the upcoming fall of the US dollar with the US Fed's decision to cease publishing the M3 indicator. This new decision is another clear sign that US leaders are now anticipating a very bleak economic outlook for their country.

Time perspective of the seven sequences of the impact phase of the global systemic crisis as anticipated since mid-2007 - Source LEAP/E2020, GEAB N°18 (10/2007)

In this 22nd issue of the GEAB, LEAP/E2020's experts try in particular to anticipate very specifically what will come out of the collapse of the US real economy for the United States themselves and for the other regions of the world. Meanwhile our team presents five sets of strategic and operational recommendations helping to protect oneself from the upcoming deterioration of the global systemic crisis.

On the occasion of the second anniversary of the publication of our famous “Global systemic crisis Alert” which toured the world in February 2006 (4), LEAP/E2020 wishes to remind that we are now resolutely stepping into an era with no historical precedent. Our researchers insisted on that many times in the last two years: any comparison with the previous crises of our modern economy would be fallacious. It is neither a “remake” of the 1929 crisis nor a repetition of the 1970s oil crises or 1987 stock market crisis. It is truly a global systemic crisis, that is to say a crisis affecting the entire planet and questioning the very foundations of the international system upon which the world was organised in the last decades.

According to LEAP/E2020, it is also instructive to observe that, two years after the release of this « Alert » which at the time generated both the interest of millions of readers worldwide and the condescending irony of most « experts » and « managers » of the economic and financial spheres, everyone is now convinced that a crisis is truly happening, that it is really global, and for most people already that it could indeed be systemic. However, it is always a repeated astonishment for our team to see the degree of incapacity of these same experts and managers in understanding the specific nature of the phenomenon currently unfolding. According to them, this crisis would only be a usual crisis but bigger. As a matter of fact that's how the financial media reflect the dominant interpretations of the ongoing crisis. According to our team, this approach is not only intellectually lazy (5), it is also morally guilty, because it has for a main consequence to prevent their readers (whether they are simple citizens, private investors or public or private organisation managers) from preparing for the upcoming shocks (6).

For this reason, in opposition to all what can be read in the mainstream media always eager to conceal the truth and serve the interests of those who rule them, LEAP/E2020 wishes to remind that it is first and foremost in the United States that the systemic crisis is taking an unprecedented shape (the « Very Great US Depression » as our team decided to call it in January 2007 (7)) because it is around this country, and this country alone, that the world got progressively organised after the second World War. The various issues of the GEAB extensively described this situation. In short, it appears to be useful to make clear that neither Europe nor Asia have a negative saving rate, a full-scale housing crisis throwing millions of citizens out of their homes, a free-falling currency, abysmal public and trade deficits, an economic recession and, on top of all this, a number of costly wars to finance.

Neither Asia nor Europe (or more precisely ‘nor the Eurozone') will suffer the roughest, the most sustainable and the most negative impact of the ongoing crisis; but the United States will, as well as all the countries/economies strongly linked to the US (what our experts have decided to call “the American risk”) (8). A “decoupling” is indeed taking place between the US economy and the other large regions of the world. But “decoupling” does not mean “independence” and it is clear that, as anticipated by LEAP/E2020 for many months, Asia and Europe will be affected by the crisis. But « decoupling » entails that the evolution of the US economy and of the other large regions of the world are no longer synchronised, that Asia and Europe are now moving along courses no longer determined by the US economy.

The global systemic crisis is in fact the beginning of an economic « decoupling » between the US and the rest of the world, knowing that the non « decoupled » economies will be dragged down the US negative spiral.

US Self-Employment in a Steep Downturn - Source Bureau of Labor Statistics / Merril Lynch (shaded region represents period of US recession)

The cases of the housing (2006) and financial (2007) bubble-bursting are eloquent. Indeed, the large majority of operators (non-specialised in the concerned sector) discovered that « the party was over » a long time after the trend had reversed. During the entire reversal period (which usually lasts between 6 to 12 months at most), dominant stances kept repeating them that nothing was changing and that emerging worries had no reason to be; and later, that the problems would remain confined to the sector concerned and to the US only. All those who, in the US and elsewhere, listened to these arguments are bitterly regretful now that they are stuck with unmarketable houses (or about to be foreclosed) or now that they see the value of their assets crumble day after day (9).

Concerning stock markets, our team has anticipated since October 2007 that international stocks would plummet by 20 to 60 percent according to the region in the course of the year 2008. Today, we must re-evaluate our anticipations as we estimate that losses will be even greater than that. Indeed, on the one hand, stock markets have already lost between 10 and 20 percent since the beginning of the year (10), and, on the other hand, the collapse of the real economy in the US by the end of Summer 2008 will drag down all stock markets. According to LEAP/E2020, international stock markets will probably drop by 50 percent in average compared to 2007 (including in the emerging countries) (11).

This sort of re-evaluation is typical of the work of anticipation carried by LEAP/E2020. Month after month we try to distinguish which trends are growing and which are relenting in order to improve the accuracy of our evaluations. We do not strive to “be right” (12), not to “sell” or “promote” anything. We seek simply and without prejudice to describe in advance the consequences of the heavy trends at play in this 21st-century world, and to share with our readers what we think are the proper means to protect oneself from the most negative effects.

In this 22nd issue of the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin, with the alert we sound about a collapse of US real economy from September 2008 onward, we are trying again to warn those concerned that this major event will generate many very severe socio-political troubles in the United States (13) whose economy is truly on a tumbling course (14), a situation extremely likely to entail very heavy consequences for the financial and monetary markets, and for the world's economy. We have not yet reached the heart of the crisis. According to LEAP/E2020, we will be there in the second semester of 2008.

----------
Notes:

(1) A very instructive film was recently nominated at the Sundance Film Festival: I.O.U.S.A., directed by Patrick Creadon. As it follows the journey of David Walker, US Comptroller General (and therefore responsible for controlling federal public spending), during a series of conferences on the state of public expenditures throughout the country, this film shows the very direct impact of the current crisis on American citizens and the United States. The release of this film illustrates the fact that, in just a few months time, this crisis left the mere circles of experts and boardrooms of financial institutions to enter into the daily life of the US citizens.

(2) In the past few days, the complete collapse of Municipal bonds (or « Munis ») illustrates the fact that the crisis is spreading to all the sectors of the US society. This collapse will freeze all public investment projects scheduled by local authorities in the US. It is one of the first big victims of the implosion of « bonds insurers » announced by LEAP/E2020 in the GEAB N°19. It also demonstrates the fact that large banks are now incapable of playing their role of financers of the country's economic activity. Sources: Financial Times, 02/13/2008 & Bloomberg, 02/14/2008

(3) Source: EconomicIndicators.Gov, Economics & Statistics Administration, US Department of Commerce

(4) See GEAB N°2, 02/15/2006

(5) The first reason that may prevent those « experts » to conceive the « unconceivable », is not a matter of intelligence but a « commercial » problem. Indeed it would compel them to review most of their intellectual principles (their work hypotheses) and their business base (their « clients » would not appreciate to learn that they were on the wrong track all these years).

(6) On this subject, it is worth noticing the very straightforward speech made by the head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who recently warned his fellow citizens that the current crisis would downgrade significantly their living standards. Unfortunately, no US leader, including among the Democrats, is able to produce such a speech, knowing that their fellow citizens are hit even harder than the British. Source: The Telegraph, 02/14/2008.

(7) See GEAB N°11, 01/15/2007.

(8) In this 22nd issue of the GEAB, the LEAP/E2020 team gives a set of recommendations helping investors to assess themselves the « American risk » of a country, sector or investment.

(9) The same goes for all those who chose to listen to similar arguments telling them, along the years 2006 and 2007, that it was impossible for the EURUSD exchange rate to go above 1.30, then 1.40, and now 1.50… while waiting 1.70 at the end of the year 2008.

(10) Only « dream merchants » can still imagine that stock markets could improve by the end of the year, while the crisis is speeding up.

(11) It is worth reminding that in January 2008, in just a month, global stock markets saw USD 5,200 billion-worth go up in smoke. Source: China Daily News, 02/10/2008

(12) Even if our anticipations undeniably proved to be right in the past two years concerning the global systemic crisis.

(13) See ‘Sequence 6 : 2nd quarter 2007 – 4th quarter 2009 : « Very Great Depression » in the US, social unrest and growing influence of the army on public management, GEAB N°18, 10/15/2007

(14) Predictions about the failure of dozens of US banks in the coming two years illustrate the scope of upcoming difficulties. Source: Reuters, 02/01/2008

Samedi 16 Février 2008

In the same category:

Global economy in stagflation: Recessflation in the US, soft growth in Europe, recession (3rd quarter 2007 – 2nd quarter 2009) - 05/02/2008

Value of international academic degrees: How to choose today an international degree that will still be worth something in ten to twenty years? - 28/01/2008

Main characteristics and consequences of this US economic recession - 08/01/2008

Special offer! Each new subscriber gets Special Edition 'GEAB/SUBPRIME CRISIS: Causes, development, consequences and strategic advice'... because an in-depth understanding is required to secure oneself - 12/08/2007

GEAB Archives Offer (1) - Six archive issues of your choice for 50 euros - 22/01/2007

Dollar crisis / Euro above 1.30 USD: A message from Franck Biancheri, Director of research at LEAP/E2020 - 27/11/2006

French prospectivist, Pierre Gonod, analyses LEAP's work of anticipation - 30/08/2006

9/11: The "Perfect Opportunity" for North American Integration By Andrew G. Marshall

URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8082

Global Research, February 14, 2008

On February 12, 2008, the Canadian newspaper, the Financial Post, published an opinion piece by Michael Hart, of Carleton University, entitled, “Canada Blew It,” in which he blamed the “slow” approach to North American integration on Canada’s policies following 9/11. The article begins by stating: “The Canadian and U.S. economies have become intertwined in response to demands by Canadians and Americans for each other's products, services, capital, and ideas. Yet the border as presently constituted protects Canadians and Americans from each other, not from global security threats. It also presents a risk to the wealth-creating flow of people, goods, services and capital between the two countries.”1 Hart states that in order to “address global security concerns”, Canada and the US need to, “develop co-operative solutions to common problems.” He stated to do this, Canada and the US should implement an, “agenda aimed at removing the border to the largest extent possible as an obstacle to Canada-U.S. interaction and integration.” He continues in outlining the steps to be taken in this agenda, the first of which is to, “re-imagine the border.” Hart explains that much of the problems with the border are a result of “regulatory compliance”, as in having a border, to which he proposes a solution in which, “Canada and the United States need to aggressively pursue regulatory convergence,” or in other words, harmonization. He continues, “It is in Canada's interests to align as many of its regulatory requirements as possible with those of the United States.” In discussing the security of “North America’s” economic infrastructure, Hart states, “Similar to our interdependence in ensuring the security of the North American continent, neither country can ensure the security of its economic infrastructure without the full co-operation of the other,” to which he elaborates that, “we need to build the necessary institutions and networks of co-operation that ensure that American and Canadian officials are working together toward common objectives and doing so on the basis of constructive political oversight.”2 Amazingly, Hart stated that it is “not a trade agenda”, but is, in fact, “an integration agenda that requires the full participation of departments and agencies on both sides of the border responsible for border administration, economic regulation, and infrastructure integrity.” Hart continued in his critique of the slow process of integration, stating that, “The crisis of Sept. 11, 2001, provided a perfect opportunity to seize the moment to re-imagine the border, but Canada blew it [emphasis added].” This is a clear example of how important it is for those who oppose the processes of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), and the North American Union which it seeks to create, must also examine the relationship between integration and terror; between the North American Union and 9/11. These are not separate elements of one another, these events are themselves deeply integrated, in both purpose and strategy. It is integral for those that oppose the NAU to review the attacks of September 11, 2001, to see the linkages between them and understand them as something beyond random associations and reactions to one another. As to explaining why “Canada blew it,” Hart states that, “Rather than work with the United States to address real security and related concerns, and to build a much-better functioning, more open, and more integrated North America, Canadian authorities reacted defensively and anxiously to American security concerns.” But this is a gross misrepresentation, as shortly after 9/11, in December of 2001, “Governor Tom Ridge and Deputy Prime Minister John Manley Signed the Smart Border Declaration and Associated 30-Point Action Plan to Enhance the Security of Our Shared Border While Facilitating the Legitimate Flow of People and Goods,”3 according to the White House’s December hu2002 press release on the subject. Part of the 30-Point Action plan included “Biometric Identifiers”, stating, “In the interest of having cards that could be used across different modes of travel, we have agreed to use cards that are capable of storing multiple biometrics.” Another of the 30 points was “Permanent Residence Cards”, or in other words, ID Cards. Further, the plans also stated that, “The United States and Canada have agreed to share Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Records (API/PNR) on high-risk travelers destined to either country.” This is hardly stepping away from integration between the two countries, as Michael Hart seems to imagine. Hart further explains that, “In the absence of another crisis, only inspired leadership can overcome the narrow-minded response of special and entrenched interests and bureaucratic self-preservation.”4 Then, in revealing the true intent of the SPP, Hart states, “Each group [Canada and the US] is adept at exploiting the default position of incrementalism, exemplified by such initiatives as the Security and Prosperity Partnership. Progress will be made under the SPP banner, but at a snail's pace and without the impact needed to make a perceptible difference.” This is a public admission of the SPP being an incremental approach to “deep integration”, of which then ultimate goal is to form a North American Union. Hart explains that a key source of leadership is, “a business sector prepared to speak out forcefully and convincingly about the costs and lost opportunities flowing from misdirected and overzealous border administration.” So who is Michael Hart? He is the Simon Reisman Chair in Trade Policy at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.5 He is the first person to hold this position, which is named after Simon Reisman, “Canada's Chief Negotiator during the free trade talks with the United States, he also participated in a series of important international trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.”6 Reisman was recently quoted by CTV regarding the 1988 Canada US Free Trade Agreement, saying, “We got it, we didn't get it all. We left a little for posterity.”7 Further, Michael Hart “was a senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade specializing in trade policy and trade negotiations.”8 He was also the author of a document entitled, “Free Trade in Free Fall? Assessing the Impact of Nontariff Barriers on Canada-U.S. Trade,” published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.9 From 2004 to 2005, Hart was a visiting scholar at the Center for North American Studies at American University,10 of which the Director is Robert Pastor.11 Robert Pastor is infamously referred to as the “father” of the North American Union, and arguably its chief public spokesperson and champion, and was the Co-Chair of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America, a joint task force between the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the United States and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) in Canada, as well as the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, which produced the document “Building a North American Community.”12 This document is the blueprint for the Security and Prosperity Agreement of North America, which outlines the overall objectives of the agreement in its goals of “integrating” North America. Robert Pastor is also on the Board of Directors of the North American Forum on Integration, or NAFI, alongside the Chairman, Stephen Black, who is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.13 NAFI, “aims to address the issues raised by North American integration as well as identify new ideas and strategies to reinforce the North American region,”14 which every year, since 2005, holds what it calls a “Triumvirate”, which their website describes as, “an annual North American mock parliament,” which, “allows a hundred Canadian, American and Mexican university students to better understand the North American dynamic as well as the challenges faced by NAFTA partners.”15 Among the participating Universities in NAFI, is the American University, (of course), Simon Fraser University, of which an economics professor emeritus recently wrote an article for the Financial Post in which he mentioned the amero currency as a goal in North America [See: North American Monetary Integration: Here Comes the Amero, Global Research16], and another notable university is Carleton University.17 It just so happens that the author of Canada Blew It, Michael Hart, works at Carleton. The process towards a North American Union is embedded in our societal institutions, from the corporate world, to media, government and education. These are individuals connected through joint membership in think tanks and interest groups of those who share ideological beliefs in internationalism and globalization. So, too, must those who oppose the SPP and the NAU be embedded in all the institutions of our societies, working not for personal gain and profit, but for country and freedom, preserving our rights, liberties and identity, and exposing those who seek to challenge our inherent human rights. Notes 1 Michael Hart, Canada Blew It. The Financial Post: February 12, 2008: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=302151 2 Ibid. 3 Office of the Press Secretary, U.S. - Canada Smart Border/30 Point Action Plan Update. The White House: December 6, 2002: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20021206-1.html 4 Michael Hart, Ibid. 5 About NPSIA, Simon Reisman Chair in Trade Policy. Carleton University: http://www.carleton.ca/npsia/school/simon_reisman.html 6 Ibid. 7 CTV.ca news staff, Poll says most North Americans support free trade. CTV News: September 30, 2007: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070930/free_trade_070930/20070930?hub=Canada 8 About NPSIA, Simon Reisman Chair in Trade Policy. Carleton University: http://www.carleton.ca/npsia/school/simon_reisman.html 9 Events at the Center, Free Trade in Free Fall? Assessing the Impact of Nontariff Barriers on Canada-U.S. Trade. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars: February 8, 2008: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event&event_id=372221 10 Past Senior Fellows, Michael Hart. Center for North American Studies at American University: http://www.american.edu/ia/cnas/ed/fellows/hart.cfm 11 Center for North American Studies, Robert A. Pastor. Center for North American Studies at American University: http://www.american.edu/ia/cnas/staff/rpastor.cfm 12 CFR.org, Building a North American Community. Council on Foreign Relations Press: May 2005: http://www.cfr.org/publication/8102/ 13 NAFI, Our Board of Directors. NAFINA: http://www.fina-nafi.org/eng/fina/conseil.asp?langue=eng&menu=fina 14 NAFI, The North American Forum on Integration. http://www.fina-nafi.org/eng/finapresentation.asp?langue=eng&menu=fina 15 Ibid. 16 Andrew G. Marshall, North American Monetary Integration: Here Comes the Amero. Global Research: January 20, 2008: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7854 17 NAFI, Triumvirate 2006. http://www.fina-nafi.org/eng/triumvirat06/default.asplangue=eng&menu=triumvirat06