[cia-drugs] Fwd: After Botching Virtual Fence on Border, Boeing Awarded a Do-Over Contract
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 8:27 pm Subject: After Botching Virtual Fence on Border, Boeing Awarded a Do-Over Contract Virtual fence on Mexican border to be replaced Apr. 22, 2008 03:38 PM Associated Press http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/22/20080422virtual-fence0422-ON.html TUCSON - The government will replace its highly touted virtual fence on the Arizona-Mexico border with new towers, radars, cameras and computer software, scrapping the brand-new $20 million system because it doesn't work sufficiently, officials said. The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially accepted the completed fence from The Boeing Co. With the decision, Customs and Border Protection officials are acknowledging that the so-called Project 28 pilot program to detect illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border doesn't work well enough to keep or to continue tweaking. Chertoff accepted the program on Feb. 22 after Boeing apparently resolved software glitches. But less than a week later, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future developments.? The project consists of nine towers along a 28-mile section of border straddling the border crossing at Sasabe, southwest of Tucson. DHS will put in about 17 new towers, some holding just communications gear, others featuring new cameras or new radars, at an undetermined cost. The department also is spending at least $45 million to have a customized computer program written so the collected data is more quickly and efficiently fed to Border Patrol agents. Although the system is operating today, it hasn't come close to meeting the Border Patrol's goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington. Probably not to the level that Border Patrol agents on the ground thought that they were going to get. So it didn't meet their expectations. The Border Patrol had minimum input in designing the prototype but will have more say in the final version, officials said. Agents began using the virtual fence last December, and the towers have resulted in more than 3,000 apprehensions since, said Greg Giddens, executive director of the SBI program office in Washington. But that's just a fraction of the several hundred illegal immigrants believed to cross through the Sasabe corridor daily. The towers, equipped with radars, optical and thermal imaging cameras and other sensors, are supposed to show nearby Border Patrol agents a complete picture of the border on the laptop computers in their patrol trucks. But the system's less-than-optimal results have been heavily criticized by politicians and others. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano's office hasn't been told of the plans, her press secretary said Tuesday. It would have been nice of them to say anything to us, spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer said. If there have been new plans made regarding the virtual fence, they have not shared that. We certainly hope they will, and we've made inquiries to that effect to find out what's going on. The virtual fence is part of a national plan to use physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities to secure the Mexican border - and ultimately the Canadian boundary too. The new software Boeing is creating to provide agents a complete and rapid picture is considered the core of any new operating system. The contractor will use another $19 million for later upgrades. That's a fraction of some $860 million the company has been awarded for technology, physical fences and vehicle barriers. Boeing used off-the-shelf software and other equipment initially to get the system up and running quickly. Project 28 was not intended to be the final, state-of-the-art system for catching illegal immigrants, Giddens said. I think some people understood that and some didn't. We didn't communicate that well. The problems with the system involved not just the computer software but the radar and satellite links used to send the information. All will be replaced with different types. Groundbreaking for the permanent towers is expected in July, and locations will be moved for at least five of the current tower sites, Good said. Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said it's encouraging that Boeing will do laboratory tests before the new equipment is deployed, given the fact that Boeing has already botched it once. Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.
[cia-drugs] Fwd: VA Concealed --and Lied About-- Suicide Epidemic among Veterans
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 8:42 pm Subject: VA Concealed --and Lied About-- Suicide Epidemic among Veterans Apr 21, 2008 11:29 pm US/Eastern http://wbztv.com/national/VA.suicide.risk.2.705269.html VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show NEW YORK (CBS News) ― The Department of Veterans Affairs came under fire again Monday, this time in California federal court where its facing a national lawsuit by veterans rights groups accusing the agency of not doing enough to stem a looming mental health crisis among veterans. As part of the lawsuit, internal e-mails raise questions as to whether top officials deliberately deceived the American public about the number of veterans attempting and committing suicide. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports. In San Francisco federal court Monday, attorneys for veterans' rights groups accused the VA of nothing less than a cover-up -- deliberately concealing the real risk of suicide among veterans. The system is in crisis and unfortunately the VA is in denial, said Veterans Rights Attorney Gordon Erspamer. The charges were backed by internal emails written by Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's head of Mental Health. In the past, Katz has repeatedly insisted while the risk of suicide among veterans is serious, it's not outside the norm. There is no epidemic in suicide in VA, Katz told Keteyian in November. But in this e-mail to his top media advisor, written two months ago, Katz appears to be saying something very different, stating: Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our metical facilities. Katz's email was written shortly after the VA provided CBS News data showing there were only 790 attempted suicides in all 2007 - a fraction of Katz's estimate. This 12,000 attempted suicides per year shows clearly, without a doubt, that there is an epidemic of suicide among veterans, said Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense. And it appears that Katz went out of his way to conceal these numbers. First, he titled his e-mail: Not for the CBS News Interview Request. He opened it with Shh! - as in keep it quiet - before ending with Is this something we should (carefully) address … before someone stumbles on it? Today we showed the e-mail to Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., who chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. This is disgraceful. This is a crime against our nation, our nation's veterans, Filner told CBS News. They do not want to come to grips with the reality, with the truth. And that's not all. Last November when CBS Newsexposed an epidemic of more than 6,200 suicides in 2005 among those who had served in the military, Katz attacked our report. Their number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate, he said last November. But it turns out they were, as Katz admitted in this e-mail, just three days later. He wrote: there are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans. That works out to about 6,570 per year, which Katz admits in the same e-mail, is supported by the CBS numbers. In an e-mail late Monday to CBS News, Katz wrote that the reason the numbers were not released was due to questions about the consistency and reliability of the findings - and that there was no public cover-up involved. Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.
[cia-drugs] Fwd: Army 'MUST continue 'stop-loss' until late 2009 -- or 2011 -- or 2025 ...
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 8:38 pm Subject: Army 'MUST continue 'stop-loss' until late 2009 -- or 2011 -- or 2025 ... Beating the Drums of War. US Troop Build-up: Army Marines Authorize “Involuntary Conscription” http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticlecode=20060823articleId=3042 It is now being openly stated that the U.S. Marines have started recalling or legally summoning thousands of ‘inactive servicemen’ to serve in Iraq and the Middle East, where the number of U.S. troops and contracted security personal are dropping towards haphazard levels[…]. The U.S. Army, undermined by shortfalls in manpower, has ordered over a reported 14,000 ‘inactive servicemen’ back to fight in what is cited as the ‘War on Terror,’ as opposed to ‘fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.’ Already thousands of servicemen have disserted, even applying for refugee status in Canada, and thousands more are AWOL. […] This seems to be nothing but a [euphemistic] ‘military draft,’ only the continuation of a systematic forced conscription of military troops in a stealthy and cautious manner. Army needs 'stop-loss' until [--at least--] late 2009 By PAULINE JELINEK | Associated Press Writer 2:35 PM CDT, April 21, 2008 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-army-tours,1,7040369.story WASHINGTON - It will be more than a year before the Army can end the unpopular practice of forcing soldiers to stay in the service beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates, a top official said Monday. Lt. Gen. James D. Thurman, deputy chief of staff for operations, said he hoped that wartime demand for troops will decline enough by around the fall of next year to end stop-loss. He said there are more than 12,000 currently serving under the practice -- an action that critics have called a backdoor draft. Thurman also said that as officials continue to increase the size of the Army, it could be possible by the fall of 2011 for troops to be home two years for every year they are deployed. The two issues of stop loss and long tours of duty have been among the Pentagon's most disliked practices among troops. Thousands have been forced to stay in the service beyond their contracts since the start of the global war on terrorism. And tours of duty were increased to 15 months from 12 months a year ago so the Army could come up with the extra forces President Bush ordered for the troop buildup in Iraq. Now that most of the extra troops are being drawn down by the end of July, Bush early this month ordered the tours cut back to 12 months, a move Thurman said would help the Army begin to restore its balance. We want to reduce the strain and stress on our soldiers and our families, he told a Pentagon news conference. There are currently 17 Army combat brigade teams deployed -- 15 in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Two are scheduled to come out of Iraq in the drawdown. Though that allows officials to shorten tour lengths, it will be a while before they also can end stop-loss, he said. As the demand (for troops) comes down, we should be able to get us weaned off of stop-loss ... it's our intent to do that, Thurman said. But demand exceeds supply right now, he told a Pentagon news conference. He said he hoped, but couldn't promise, that if demand stabilized at around 15 brigades, the use of stop-loss could be ended by the end of budget year 2009, or beginning of budget year 2010. Those currently being held even though their service is supposed to be finished include more than 6,800 active-duty Army, about 3,800 in the Army National Guard and close to 1,500 in the Reserves, he said. The high tempo of operations in recent years has not only strained troops and increased separations and stress on their families, but prevented troops from training for the full range of possible operations. They have focused training on counterinsurgency operations and neglected other skills because counterinsurgency is what's needed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though the Pentagon is expected to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan sometime next year, Thurman said he had not been asked for such troops. Could that happen? Yes, he said. The United States now has about 31,000 troops there -- the most since the war began in October 2001 -- and also has been pressing the allies to contribute more. More troops forced to stay in armed forces Despite '07 decision, tours extended more than 6 months on average Tom Vanden Brook USA Today, Apr. 22, 2008 12:00 AM http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/22/20080422stop-loss0422.html WASHINGTON - The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty
[cia-drugs] Fwd: [ctrl] 30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened?
-Original Message- From: Alamaine [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: CTRL [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:10 am Subject: [ctrl] 30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened? April 21, 2008 30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened? The U.S. Role in Haiti's Food Riots http://counterpunch.com/ By BILL QUIGLEY Riots in Haiti over explosive rises in food costs have claimed the lives of six people. There have also been food riots world-wide in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivorie, Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. The Economist, which calls the current crisis the silent tsunami, reports that last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%, but since January rice prices have risen 141%. The reasons include rising fuel costs, weather problems, increased demand in China and India, as well as the push to create biofuels from cereal crops. Hermite Joseph, a mother working in the markets of Port au Prince, told journalist Nick Whalen that her two kids are “like toothpicks” they’ re not getting enough nourishment. Before, if you had a dollar twenty-five cents, you could buy vegetables, some rice, 10 cents of charcoal and a little cooking oil. Right now, a little can of rice alone costs 65 cents, and is not good rice at all. Oil is 25 cents. Charcoal is 25 cents. With a dollar twenty-five, you can’t even make a plate of rice for one child.” The St. Claire’s Church Food program, in the Tiplas Kazo neighborhood of Port au Prince, serves 1000 free meals a day, almost all to hungry children -- five times a week in partnership with the What If Foundation. Children from Cite Soleil have been known to walk the five miles to the church for a meal. The cost of rice, beans, vegetables, a little meat, spices, cooking oil, propane for the stoves, have gone up dramatically. Because of the rise in the cost of food, the portions are now smaller. But hunger is on the rise and more and more children come for the free meal. Hungry adults used to be allowed to eat the leftovers once all the children were fed, but now there are few leftovers. The New York Times lectured Haiti on April 18 that “Haiti, its agriculture industry in shambles, needs to better feed itself.” Unfortunately, the article did not talk at all about one of the main causes of the shortages -- the fact that the U.S. and other international financial bodies destroyed Haitian rice farmers to create a major market for the heavily subsidized rice from U.S. farmers. This is not the only cause of hunger in Haiti and other poor countries, but it is a major force. Thirty years ago, Haiti raised nearly all the rice it needed. What happened? In 1986, after the expulsion of Haitian dictator Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loaned Haiti $24.6 million in desperately needed funds (Baby Doc had raided the treasury on the way out). But, in order to get the IMF loan, Haiti was required to reduce tariff protections for their Haitian rice and other agricultural products and some industries to open up the country’s markets to competition from outside countries. The U.S. has by far the largest voice in decisions of the IMF. Doctor Paul Farmer was in Haiti then and saw what happened. “Within less than two years, it became impossible for Haitian farmers to compete with what they called ‘Miami rice.’ The whole local rice market in Haiti fell apart as cheap, U.S. subsidized rice, some of it in the form of ‘food aid,’ flooded the market. There was violence, ‘rice wars,’ and lives were lost.” “American rice invaded the country,” recalled Charles Suffrard, a leading rice grower in Haiti in an interview with the Washington Post in 2000. By 1987 and 1988, there was so much rice coming into the country that many stopped working the land. Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, a Haitian priest who has been the pastor at St. Claire and an outspoken human rights advocate, agrees. “In the 1980s, imported rice poured into Haiti, below the cost of what our farmers could produce it. Farmers lost their businesses. People from the countryside started losing their jobs and moving to the cities. After a few years of cheap imported rice, local production went way down.” Still the international business community was not satisfied. In 1994, as a condition for U.S. assistance in returning to Haiti to resume his elected Presidency, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced by the U.S., the IMF, and the World Bank to open up the markets in Haiti even more. But, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, what reason could the U.S. have in destroying the rice market of this tiny country?
