http://www.sierratimes.com/cgi-bin/warroom/topic.cgi?forum=1&topic=125
The Bush administration propaganda machine has become totally ludicrous and unbelievable. It ratcheted the alert to orange on the basis of the lies of an informant.
Reichführer-SS (the title means "Empire Leader") Heinrich Himmler would heartily approve John Ashcroft's latest version of the Patriot Act. Here are a few jewels from the proposed legislation.
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." -- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
--Henrietta
http://www.centrexnews.com/columnists/skousen/2003/0214.html
TERROR ALERT ORANGE: SCAREMONGERING ON THE RISE
by Joel Skousen
http://www.joelskousen.com
WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF
February 14, 2003
Copyright Joel M. Skousen
Partial Quotations with attribution permitted.
Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief
(http://www.joelskousen.com).
[Excerpt]
There is an ominous taint of grand deception in the air as the federal government ratchets up its warning on terrorism from yellow to orange. The only increased alarm that should register in America is in people’s suspicion of their government’s motives. I suspect that this sudden upsurge in alerts represents the beginning of a huge propaganda stunt to further justify the coming war with Iraq (as if the US were fighting terrorism by launching this campaign) as well as to pave the way for more dismantling of constitutional protections. Here’s a brief summary of what’s happening.
After subjecting Americans to more than a year of weekly yellow alert terror warnings, that never bore fruit, the new Department of Homeland Security has suddenly raised the specter of scaremongering to new heights. This week America had to absorb the following in relation to the orange “high risk” alert: 1) the purported threat of a new biological/chemical/dirty bomb terrorist attack—with no credible or verifiable evidence to back up US intelligence claims; 2) a heavily promoted call for token chemical/biological preparedness on the part of ordinary citizens, leading to near panic buying of gas masks, duct tape and plastic sheeting; 3) the closing of selective bridges, freeways and tunnels in “high risk” US cities like NY and Washington; 4) heightened “security” measures, including increased anti-aircraft missile deployments in the DC area, increased hassle searches at airports, a higher military presence at key installations, and SWAT teams guarding NY synagogues; 5) another suspicious tape recorded message by Osama bin Laden conveniently interpreted as proving the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda; and 6) the sudden leaking of the proposed transcript of a more “enhanced” version of the draconian USA PATRIOT Act.
First, I strongly question the reality of any independent terrorist threat in the US. Today, Brian Ross of ABC news reported that “A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York. The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York or Florida would be hit by a ‘dirty bomb’ sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination.” In other words, it was a fabrication. Strangely, the Department of Homeland Security is refusing to take the nation off the Orange alert status. Apparently, the Bush administration is anxious to use the now-falsified heightened alert to mold public opinion in favor of its continued political agenda.
Second, no one in government has responded convincingly to my tough question: why have there been no small or low profile terrorist attacks since 9/11? If there are hundreds of terror cells in the US, what is keeping them from carrying out the simplest forms of attack—car bombings or attacks on rural power infrastructure? There is almost no defense possible against these types of attack, no matter how many police are available. They happen all the time in Israel, Ireland, Britain and France. Why not here, if America is so hated and so vulnerable? The answer can only be that terrorists in America are controlled for political purposes—and those purposes are all geared towards enhancing government powers to curtail American civil rights through the trumped up threat of terror.
With all that said, the government has now raised the stakes in scaremongering to the point that they are going to have to deliver a terrorist attack somewhere in America or risk being fully discredited. If we have another high profile terror attack, rather than multiple smaller, random attacks, it will only confirm what I am saying—that the terrorism operating here in America is unlike all other forms of terrorism in the world. Be wary of an upcoming high profile attack, especially if you live in New York, Washington DC, LA, San Francisco or Seattle. All of these cities have police chiefs who have special relationships with the federal authorities and who have been given special experimental crowd control weapons that can be used to control large groups of protestors or mobs. If there is going to be a provocative terrorist attack and subsequent cover-up, these are prime cities to do it in.
The federal government has a very nasty habit of shutting down core transportation elements all over the nation whenever a localized, but high profile, terror incident occurs. In the aftermath of 9/11, there was no excuse for shutting down the entire air traffic control system for two weeks. All the aircraft diverted to Canada could have simply screened all passengers and sent them on their way by late afternoon. But now a draconian precedent has been set, and shutting down core transportation corridors all over the country is now the standard government plan for handling any Red Alert (indicating “imminent threat” of a terror attack). There is no justification for these kinds of broad restrictions. They do nothing to deter specific terror incidents and only penalize normal citizens, keeping them from getting back to normalcy. No other country experiencing real terrorism employs such draconian measures. I can only suspect that the major purpose of these overreactions is to accustom Americans to the regular use of martial law tactics.
Why the sudden government promotion of preparedness?
The government’s feigned interest in helping Americans be prepared is also suspicious. The government has refused multiple requests by civilian preparedness experts over the years to encourage civilian preparations for large scale natural disasters and WMD attacks. Everyone in the industry knows that FEMA cannot possibly cope with any large disaster unless the populace does most of the preparations, and yet the agency has consistently refused to promote shelters. They also know that people are totally reliant on the establishment medical facilities, which have done little in the way of protecting medical personnel to ensure they won’t be as sick as the affected population in a WMD attack.
Yet suddenly, after years of stonewalling on self-help preparedness (“We don’t want people to feel threatened or to panic”), the government has started pushing personal preparedness, albeit very modestly. Even the media has jumped on the bandwagon with lots of TV specials demonstrating how to seal up a token safe room. Certainly, a taped up safe room will give you a modicum of protection from biological or chemical attack, but the threat of widespread attack is miniscule. Terrorists have no ability to disperse these agents except in small concentrated doses affecting few people.
As one of the nation’s foremost experts in preparedness, I’m certainly not opposed to the government’s belated promotion of preparedness—I’m only suspicious of their motives. Again, I can’t help but feel that pushing Americans into a mode of fear is all too helpful in inducing assent for the Bush administration’s phony war on terrorism. If the government were really serious about protecting America, they would control our borders, build a real ABM system targeting Russia and China, and strongly encourage Americans to build more substantial below ground safe rooms that also serve as fallout shelters. The latter would provide long term protection from nuclear radiation—the only threat that will seriously affect millions of Americans simultaneously in the future. Obviously, the government knows that a Russian/Chinese pre-emptive nuclear strike is a real threat. Why else would they be spending billions on huge underground shelters for top government officials and selected corporate heads? Yet, in an interview this week, the head of disaster preparedness at the Red Cross scoffed at the interviewer’s suggestion that Americans begin to again think about “bomb shelters.” To the proud and comfortable establishment “experts” in disaster preparedness, duct tape and a little food and water is good enough for the common people. Would that Americans had the willingness to remove such blind leaders as the disasters finally unfold, proving the gross insufficiencies of their recommendations. Sadly, Americans not only don’t demand their removal, but they continue to believe in these leaders’ professed innocence and ignorance.
Another convenient bin Laden tape
The sudden appearance of another Osama bin Laden tape is very suspicious—especially in its timing. As I have pointed out before, the very fact that Osama bin Laden, with all his millions in support and his access to encrypted satellite telephones, has to rely on a low tech tape recorder to broadcast a message to all Islam is very suspect. Here is another tough question the media avoids: Why is it that Osama bin Laden doesn’t use a simple video camera so there is no question as to the authenticity of the voice, the message and the timing? A tape recording is simply too easy to falsify. Indeed, Arab speakers familiar with bin Laden have expressed some doubts that this is bin Laden’s voice. At least one has said the speaker pronounces several words differently than bin Laden.
Then there is the problem of timing. The transcript mentions bin Laden as saying, “I had referred to that in a previous statement during the Tora Bora battle last year.” But the US attack on the Tora Bora caves took place in December 2001. This means that the tape, if authentic, had to be made last year. If so, why the two month delay in delivering it to Al Jazeera television? Also, why is Al Jazeera always the recipient of the bin Laden tapes? Anything that comes through Al Jazeera is suspect because of its roots in the BBC, with its respective links to British intelligence. Al Jazeera was created when the entire Arab section of the BBC left Britain’s employ and started up this Arab version of CNN television. Just as CNN experienced a sudden rise to fame during the Gulf War, thanks to its unlimited access in Baghdad, Al Jazeera has had similar good fortune. Such developments have led many to the conclusion that CNN and Al Jazeera have “too good to be true” insider connections and funding not available to other news outlets.
Then there is the problem of the tape’s actual content. The Bush administration was all too quick to declare that the tape proves there are direct ties between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Apparently they didn’t wait for the full transcript to emerge, or they used only selective portions, trusting that the public wouldn’t have access to the whole story. Yes, the alleged bin Laden message does express solidarity with the Iraqi people, and declares that the US is an enemy. However, the tape also declares that “It is not important if Saddam and his government disappear…This is a war against you, the Muslims, and you must take arms to defend yourselves.” The message also declares that Saddam is an “apostate” to Muslim fundamentalism.
PATRIOT ACT II: ASHCROFT NOT THROUGH TRASHING CIVIL LIBERTIES
The only threat on the summary list of happenings this week that was real and verifiable was threat from our own government against our remaining civil liberties. A concerned federal employee in the Justice Department this week leaked the entire draft copy of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 to a liberal think tank, The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) [see http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=502&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0&Task=Print]. The Center said that the January 9, 2003 draft was prepared by Attorney General John Ashcroft's staff and has not been officially released by the DOJ. Elected officials were kept in the dark about Ashcroft's initiative. According to the CPI: “Senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee minority staff have inquired about Patriot II for months and have been told as recently as this week that there is no such legislation being planned.” Obviously, Ashcroft is lying to Congress, hoping to pass this legislation quickly and silently in the aftermath of the next provoked terrorist crisis.
This act is a devious and comprehensive enhancement of the original Patriot Act, which was rubber stamped by Congress without proper scrutiny and passed in the wake of the events of 9/11. The new enhanced act will give the Department of Justice broad powers to increase domestic surveillance and law enforcement powers of detention and extradition, and will simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to crucial information. The draft text was clearly marked confidential and was never intended to reach the public. The first part detailed the government’s problems with weaknesses in the hastily drafted USA PATRIOT Act, and what the Domestic Security Enhancement act proposed to do to remedy each weakness.
Alex Jones of http://www.infowars.com was one of the first to do a summary of the dangers of the new act. Unfortunately, his analysis was at times inaccurate and/or exaggerated, qualities which tend to weaken a critic’s credibility. Here is my analysis of the bill’s dangerous proposals; quoted statements are from the original Justice Department analysis unless otherwise noted.
SECTION 101: “This provision would expand FISA's [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] definition of ‘foreign power’ to include all persons [meaning even an individual], regardless of whether they are affiliated with an international terrorist group, who engage in international terrorism.” (Official definition: “An act of domestic terrorism are activities that ... (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, (B) appear to be intended [how’s that for loose wording?]... (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. [18 U.S.C. §2331])
SECTION 102: “Any person who engages in clandestine intelligence gathering activities for a foreign power would qualify as an ‘agent of a foreign power,’ regardless of whether those activities are federal crimes.” Any private intelligence or analysis services (such as mine) could be viewed as “intimidating to government” and thus their providers could be found guilty of terrorism or of “support of terrorism”. Scary.
SECTION 103: Current law only allows the exercise of wartime martial law powers domestically and internationally in conjunction with a Congressional declaration of war. This provision would expand FISA's wartime surveillance provisions and martial law provisions to be valid during non-declared wars, or during a declared national emergency following an attack on the US.
SECTION 106: “This provision would clarify that the ‘good faith reliance’ defense is available [to agents guilty of invasions of privacy without a warrant], not just when agents are acting pursuant to a FISA Court order, but also when they are acting pursuant to a lawful [currently unlimited in power and scope] authorization from the President or the Attorney General.” This section gives de facto immunity to warrantless searches, effectively nullifying the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.
SECTION 107: Loosens the use of FISA pen registers, which are devices that record numbers dialed on a telephone. In the proposed new act, pen registers “would be available in investigations of both US persons and non-US persons whenever they could be used ‘to obtain foreign intelligence information.’” In other words, unlimited access.
SECTION 109: “This section remedies this omission [concerning enforcement of FISA Court orders] by providing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has the same authority as a United States district court to enforce its orders, including the authority to impose contempt sanctions in case of disobedience.” Of course FISA operations are secret, so there is no appeal to another court if its sanctions are illegal. What this section does is nullify the Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions that might be viewed as incriminating.
SECTION 121: Adds to “criminal activities” the phrase, “together with related preparatory, material support,” Now, anything construed as preparatory for a criminal activity or as providing material support is a crime. This change was prompted by court troubles government prosecutors ran into trying to link the Portland Five (arrested last year) with Al Qaeda. Nothing the Portland Five did was a crime; they were simply guilty of being supportive of the Taliban.
SECTION 123: This section deals with the ability of government to delay “notification concerning the accessing of a person's stored electronic communications [emails] where specified ‘adverse results’ would result from the notification [that means always!]. As amended, the provision would include endangerment of the national security as a specified adverse result that permits delaying notification [indefinitely].” This section also extends authorized surveillance periods from 30 to 90 days and up to 120 days for wire taps and pen registers.
SECTION 126: “This provision would enable the government to obtain credit reports [and all other financial transaction records] on virtually the same terms that private entities may.” In essence, this will authorize unlimited tracking of private records by government.
SECTION 127: “This provision would create federal authority, in the Attorney General, to conduct autopsies when necessary or appropriate in the conduct of federal criminal investigations.” One of the biggest problems for dark side government operations is covering up for murders and getting them ruled as suicides or accidents. Hundreds of coroners and medical examiners have been coerced to falsify autopsies to meet government demands (e.g., JFK, dozens of Clinton era suicides and mysterious deaths). This provision allows corrupt government coroners to take over the autopsy when needed.
SECTION 128: This section “prohibits a subpoena recipient from disclosing to any other person (except to a lawyer in order to obtain legal advice) the fact that he has received a subpoena.” This keeps innocent people from marshalling public support for their innocence or using standard legal procedures to quash a federal subpoena before they go before a secret government court.
SECTION 129: “Subsection (a) of this section provides appropriate penalties for violations of the nondisclosure provisions of the national security letter provisions.… The national security letter provisions make compliance with [a government] request for information mandatory.” This means that an administrative subpoena for records issued by the DOJ for records of the financial institution or insurance company cannot be relayed to the target person. This section also disallows any would-be federal whistleblower from sharing anything with another person in another agency; a whistleblower can only report illegal activities within his own agency [thus, nullifying the complaint]. The document continues, “Subsection (c) of this section amends the national security letter provisions relating to electronic communication transactional records, consumer credit information, and financial institution records, so that they apply in investigations of all types of terrorist activities.” Everything would now be subject to government surveillance.
SECTION 201: “This provision thus establishes a specific authority under Exemption 3 of the FOIA to clarify… [that] the government need not disclose information about individuals detained in investigations of terrorism until disclosure occurs routinely upon the initiation of criminal charges.” Catch-22. The government can detain an “enemy combatant” indefinitely without ever charging them with a crime, which means that law enforcement need never release the names of persons so detained.
SECTION 206: “This section amends Rule 6(e)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to make witnesses and persons to whom subpoenas are directed subject to grand jury secrecy rules in cases where serious adverse consequences may otherwise result, including danger to the national security … The provision would permit witnesses and recipients of grand jury subpoenas to consult with counsel regarding the subpoena and any testimony, but would impose the same secrecy obligations on counsel.” National security can and is falsely invoked specifically to prohibit any public disclosure of illegal proceedings.
SECTIONS 302 and 303: These sections are concerned with the collection and compilation of DNA identification samples. “Section 302 would allow the Attorney General or Secretary of Defense to collect, analyze, and maintain DNA samples and other identification information from ‘suspected terrorists’ [potentially anyone].” Section 303 “would allow the Attorney General to establish databases of DNA records pertaining to the terrorists or suspected terrorists from whom DNA samples or other identification information have been collected. All federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and probation offices, would be required to give the Attorney General, for inclusion in the databases, any DNA records, fingerprints, or other identification information that can be collected under this Subtitle.”
SECTION 304: This section “would define ‘suspected terrorist,’ which describes the class of individuals from whom the Attorney General may acquire DNA samples and other identification information, and whose information may be included in DNA databases.… The term ‘suspected terrorist’ means any person as to whom the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense, as appropriate, has determined that there is reason to believe (A) has engaged in terrorism as defined in title 18 U.S.C, or has committed an offense described in section 2332b(g)(5)(B) of such title, or who has conspired or attempted to do so [very broad language]; (B) is an enemy combatant, a prisoner of war, or other battlefield detainee; (C) is a member of a terrorist organization designated as such pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
SECTION 306: Requires all terrorist suspects or parolees to participate in DNA sampling as a condition of release, whether or not they have been charged with a crime. “This section would require such individuals to cooperate in the collection of a DNA sample as a condition of supervision or conditional release.”
SECTION 311: Federalizes your local police department in the area of information sharing. “This section of the bill would provide further authority for sharing of consumer credit information, visa-related information, and educational records information with state and local law enforcement.”
SECTION 312: Dismantles consent decrees against illegal spying activities by local police forces and gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations. “This proposal would discontinue most consent decrees that could impede terrorism investigations conducted by federal, state or local law enforcement agencies. It would immediately terminate most decrees that were enacted before September 11, 2001 (including New York City's [where police were found guilty of violating innocent people’s rights]).”
SECTION 313: Provides liability protection for businesses, especially big businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security, in violation of their privacy agreements. “This provision provides protection against civil liability for businesses and their personnel who voluntarily provide information to federal law enforcement agencies to assist in the investigation and prevention of terrorist activities. The purpose of the provision is to encourage voluntary cooperation and assistance in counterterrorism efforts by private entities and individuals.”
SECTION 321: “This provision would modify federal law to clarify that the United States may seek search warrants [even without a treaty—a current requirement], pen/trap orders, and ECPA orders, in response to the requests of foreign governments. Doing so will enhance our ability to assist foreign law enforcement investigations, as well as promote better cooperation from foreign allies when we seek evidence from within their borders.”
SECTION 322: This section allows the Sec. of State and Attorney General or their deputies to extradite individuals with or without existing treaties. Such extraditions would NOT be subject to judicial review.
SECTION 402: Expands terrorist activities to include “material support to terrorism.” This includes “instruction or teaching designed to impart a specific skill.”
SECTION 404: Makes it a crime for a terrorist or other criminal to use encryption in the commission of a crime. When making remarks critical of government becomes synonymous with terrorism, encrypting such criticism will be a punishable offense.
SECTION 405: Makes it easier to engage in pre-trial detention of terror suspects. “In addition to adding terrorism offenses to those creating a presumption in favor of detention, this section makes conforming changes in a provision describing offenses for which pretrial detention may be considered.”
SECTION 408: Creates lifetime parole for non violent crimes like computer cyber attacks. A mistaken transmittal of a virus could be construed as a cyber crime.
SECTION 410: Removes any statute of limitations related to the prosecution of anyone who engages in terrorist actions or supports terrorists.
SECTIONS 427: This section adds “a parallel provision pertaining to the assets of any person planning or perpetrating an act of terrorism against a foreign state or international organization while acting within the jurisdiction of the United States.” This adds to the asset forfeiture provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.
SECTION 501: Expatriation of Terrorists. This section expands the Bush administration’s enemy combatant definition to include all American citizens who “may have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act.” Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, namely any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law. The Justice Department claims, incredibly, that Section 802 of the First Patriot Act in not broad enough. “Specifically, this proposal would make service in a hostile army or terrorist group [domestic or international] prima facie evidence of an intent to renounce citizenship.” Gotcha both ways. If they can’t designate you an enemy combatant, they can simply rule your activities (critical of government) as supportive of terrorism and therefore you are no longer a citizen—and have no rights! This is outrageous.
-----
Help Henrietta keep working for Liberty! Visit Henrietta's Rendezvous.
http://www.fourthbranch.org/rendezvous
Total Posts: 552 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 11:49 am on Feb. 17, 2003 | IP
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
