He can make some of his legal fees by suing the blood out of my rock for
the ...modification... of his article title. I still think he's the
Geraldo Rivera of the left...
Palast Charged with Journalism in the First Degree
September 11, 2006
by Greg Palast
It's true. It's weird. It's nuts. The Department of Homeland Security,
after a five-year hunt for Osama, has finally brought charges against �
Greg Palast. I kid you not. Send your cakes with files to the Air
America wing at Guantanamo.
Though not just yet. Fatherland Security has informed me that
television producer Matt Pascarella and I have been charged with
unauthorized filming of a "critical national security structure" in
Louisiana.
On August 22, for LinkTV and Democracy Now! we videotaped the thousands
of Katrina evacuees still held behind a barbed wire in a trailer park
encampment a hundred miles from New Orleans. It's been a year since the
hurricane and 73,000 POW's (Prisoners of W) are still in this aluminum
ghetto in the middle of nowhere. One resident, Pamela Lewis said, �It
is a prison set-up" -- except there are no home furloughs for these
inmates because they no longer have homes.
To give a sense of the full flavor and smell of the place, we wanted to
show that this human parking lot, with kids and elderly, is nearly
adjacent to the Exxon Oil refinery, the nation's second largest, a
chemical-belching behemoth.
So we filmed it. Without Big Brother's authorization. Uh, oh.
Apparently, the broadcast of these stinking smokestacks tipped off Osama
that, if his assassins pose as poor Black folk, they can get a cramped
Airstream right next to a "critical infrastructure" asset.
So now Matt and I have a "criminal complaint" lodged against us with the
feds.
The positive side for me as a journalist is that I get to see our
terror-busters in action. I should note that it took the Maxwell Smarts
at Homeland Security a full two weeks to hunt us down.
Frankly, we were a bit scared that, given the charges, we wouldn't be
allowed on a plane into New York last night. But what scared us more is
that we were allowed on the plane.
Once I was traced, I had a bit of an other-worldly conversation with my
would-be captors. Detective Frank Pananepinto of Homeland Security told
us, "This is a 'Critical Infrastructure' � and they get nervous about
unauthorized filming of their property.
Well, me too, Detective. In fact, I'm very nervous that this potential
chemical blast-site can be mapped in extreme detail at this Google Map
location
What also makes me nervous is that the Bush Terror Terriers have kindly
indicated on the Internet that this unprotected critical infrastructure
can be targeted -- I mean located -- at 30� 29' 11" N Latitude and 91�
11' 39" W Longitude.
After I assured Detective Pananepinto, "I can swear to you that I'm not
part of Al Qaeda," he confirmed that, "Louisiana is still part of the
United States," subject to the first amendment and he was therefore
required to divulge my accuser.
Not surprisingly, it was Exxon Corporation, one of a handful of
companies not in love with my investigations. [See "A Well-Designed
Disaster: the Untold Story of the Exxon Valdez."]
So I rang America's top petroleum pusher-men and asked their media
relations honcho in Houston, Marc Boudreaux, a simple question. "Do you
want us to go to jail or not? Is it Exxon's position that reporters
should go to jail?" Because, all my dumb-ass jokes aside, that is what's
at stake. And Exxon knew we were journalists because we showed our
press credential to the Exxon guards at the refinery entrance.
The Exxon man was coy: "Well, we'll see what we can find out�.
Obviously it's important to national security that we have supplies from
that refinery in the event of an emergency."
Really? According to the documents our team uncovered from the offices
of Exxon's lawyer, Mr. James Baker, the oil industry is more than happy
to see a limit on worldwide crude production. Indeed, the current
squeeze has jacked the price of oil from $24 a barrel to $64 and refined
products have jumped yet higher -- resulting in a record-busting profit
for Exxon of nearly $1 billion per week.
So this silly "criminal complaint" has nothing to do with stopping Al
Qaeda or keeping the oil flowing. It has everything to do with
obstructing news reports in a way that no one would have dared attempt
before the September 11 attack.
Dectective Pananepinto, in justifying our impending bust, said, "If you
remember, a lot of people were killed on 9/11."
Yes, Detective, I remember that very well: my office was in the World
Trade Center. Lucky for me, I was out of town that day. It was not a
lucky day for 3,000 others.
Yes, I remember "a lot" of people were killed. So I have this
suggestion, Detective -- and you can pass it on to Mr. Bush: Go and
find the people who killed them.
It's been five years and the Bush regime has not done that. Instead,
the War on Terror is reduced to taking off our shoes in airports, hoping
we can bomb Muslims into loving America and chasing journalists around
the bayou. Meanwhile, King Abdullah, the Gambino of oil, whose
princelings funded the murderers, gets a free ride in the President's
golf cart at the Crawford ranch.
I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, Matt and I look pretty good in
orange.
--30--
