-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Today's Lesson from Pan by Knut Hamsun We got into the boat, she sat beside me on the same thwart and touched me with her knee. I looked at her, and she looked at me for a moment in return. I felt better when she touched me with her knee. I began to feel recompensed for that bitter day and to regain my good spirits, when she suddenly changed her position, turned her back on me and began talking to the Doctor, who was sitting at the tiller. For a full quarter of an hour I simply did not exist for her. Then I did something I regret and have not yet forgotten. Her shoe slipped off; I seized it and hurled it far out over the water--whether from joy at her nearness or from some urge to assert myself and remind her of my existence, I do not know. It all happened so quickly; I did not think, I just acted on impulse. I was as if paralyzed by what I had done; but what good was that? It was done. ----- Waco Davidian Compound Ringed by FBI Cameras But, oops, we lost all the tape. The Branch Davidian compound was ringed with FBI closed-circuit cameras and secret government sensing devices during the entire 1993 standoff, and the cameras were used throughout April 19, the day federal agents launched a tank and tear-gas assault, government documents show. But despite written statements from FBI agents and technicians that recordings were made, no videotape from the surveillance cameras has ever been made public by the federal government. Critics of the government's actions in the standoff say their efforts to obtain such videos have been blocked for years by the FBI and the Department of Justice. Congressional investigators who recently began re-examining investigations of the standoff said Wednesday that they cannot say what Congress has been told about the use of closed-circuit cameras at the compound because the matter involves government secrets. "Until that information is declassified, we cannot discuss it," said Mark Corallo, spokesman for the House Government Reform Committee. An FBI spokesman said he would need to look into the matter further before commenting. A Justice Department spokesman did not return calls Wednesday night. Lawyers for surviving sect members who have filed a massive wrongful-death lawsuit against the federal government say they are outraged because they have been told repeatedly by government lawyers that the only FBI cameras in use on April 19 were infrared cameras deployed in airplanes high above the sect's compound. "We have asked for every possible form of recording known to man that could have been utilized at Mount Carmel," said the lead lawyer for the group, Michael Caddell of Houston. "We have been told that the only thing that exists are the [infrared] tapes and the surveillance tapes from FBI bugs inside the compound." Written statements But formal written statements, known as FBI 302s, obtained by The Dallas Morning News show that at least five FBI agents were sent to the compound near Waco to maintain closed-circuit cameras. "CCTV [closed-circuit TV] monitoring sites . . . were all around the compound," one FBI technical expert stated in a June 1993 interview detailed in a three-page FBI 302. "This enabled observers to see everything that was going on at the compound without showing themselves." One agent reported watching from the closed-circuit TV system as FBI tanks began gassing the compound on April 19, the documents state. A supervisor from the FBI's Quantico, Va., training academy said that the FBI's cameras were also running as the compound caught fire with sect leader David Koresh and more than 80 followers inside, according to a second FBI 302. The supervisor's June 1993 statement said that recordings were routinely made from the closed-circuit cameras that ringed the compound to help document FBI actions during the 51-day standoff. Mr. Caddell said he believes that FBI officials may have withheld information about the cameras because of the images that they captured on April 19. He noted that references to the closed-circuit television cameras were blacked out on the formal statements or FBI 302s that the Justice Department has so far disclosed in the civil wrongful-death lawsuit. Two retired Defense Department experts hired by Mr. Caddell's law firm and a third expert retained by congressional investigators have said that the FBI's infrared airborne video cameras recorded thermal flashes from the compound and from government positions on April 19 that could only have come from gunfire. FBI officials have insisted that FBI agents did not fire a single shot that day or at any other time during the 51-day siege. The compound fire erupted six hours into the FBI's tank and tear-gas assault, and government investigators ruled that it was deliberately set by the Branch Davidians. Act of nature? Government officials have said the repeated bursts of white flashes recorded on the infrared were caused by sunlight reflecting on mud puddles or shiny debris around the compound. "We remain confident that it was not gunfire," FBI spokesman John Collingwood said Wednesday. But outside experts, including a retired satellite imagery analyst who spent months studying the infrared tape from the standoff, said the rhythmic flashes could not have been caused by anything found in nature. Recently released copies of the FBI's infrared tapes show that many of the flashes emanating from the compound and all of the flashes that come toward the building from around government positions occurred on the back side of the compound. That rear area was not visible to commercial network television cameras that captured images of the tear-gas assault from media observation posts about a mile and a half away. "Clearly, whatever those cameras recorded may very well reveal the presence of government gunmen on April 19," Mr. Caddell said. "Consider the alternative. If this evidence showed conclusively that there was no government gunfire on April 19, don't you think the government would've trotted this out front and center six years ago? "This is clearly a deliberate, intentional coverup by people high within the FBI hierarchy," he said. "This type of closed-circuit TV system and recording system would've required approval from FBI higher-ups, and they've known for the last six years that this information was withheld." FBI logs, reports and other documents state that the bureau's agents began setting up closed-circuit cameras within hours after arriving in Waco on Feb. 28, 1993. The standoff began that day when gunfire broke out as agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to arrest sect leader David Koresh and search the compound for illegal weapons. Four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians died, and the FBI's hostage rescue team was called in to try to resolve the standoff. One hand-written log from the FBI's forward command post in Waco stated that approval for the first camera was granted at 10:57 p.m. by a deputy assistant FBI director in Washington. The next morning, officials at the FBI's crisis command post in Washington called to request notification "when the CCTV hookup is completed and the scene is visible in the HRT CP [command post]." Use of robots Seven days later, FBI agents asked the Defense Department to send prototype robots equipped with video and audio recording devices to the scene, according to Defense Department documents provided by the National Security News Service, a nonprofit, Washington-based research group. The Defense Department documents, obtained by the news service under the federal Freedom of Information Act, state that three of the robots were shipped the next day. The robots, designed for battlefield reconnaissance and surveillance, "possess day and night cameras, forward-looking infrared imaging sensors, acoustics sensors, video recorder and two-way voice communication," according to a March 1993 Defense Department memo provided by the news service. Federal officials now re-examining the government's actions during the Branch Davidian standoff say the federal government has classified all information about the robots' performance. The devices were not effective, officials stated, because the lenses of their cameras fogged in heavy Texas spring rains and their fiber-optic cables were repeatedly severed by the treads of tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles used by the FBI. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco, who is overseeing the Branch Davidians' ongoing wrongful-death lawsuit, issued an order in August demanding that all government documents related to the incident be turned over to his court. A general from the U.S. Army's Special Forces briefed the judge Friday on the government's system of classifying and handling sensitive documents. Recent government filings state that the Defense Department has more than 6,000 pages of classified documents on the siege. The FBI, ATF and CIA have reported an unspecified number of classified documents, and even the U.S. Commerce Department has reported nine classified documents on the standoff. In a similar memo written last month, the Treasury Department reported "three documents that we have referred to the office of counsel to the president in order to assess a possible claim of executive privilege." Already declassified military documents state that U.S. Special Forces went to Waco to help operate classified military equipment. A May 1995 memo states that those soldiers were ordered not to videotape anything that happened on April 19. No information given Tim Evans, a Fort Worth lawyer who represented one of the surviving Branch Davidians prosecuted in a 1994 federal trial, said no information about the cameras or resulting videotapes was ever given to the sect's defense team. He said that violates a federal rule requiring government disclosure of anything that might be helpful to defendants. "Sadly, I'm not surprised," said Mr. Evans, whose client was among three Davidians acquitted. "Once again, crucial evidence has been hidden not only from the public but the jury who convicted and the judge who sentenced the survivors of this holocaust to an average of 30 years without parole." Mr. Caddell said the information about the cameras strengthens his argument that the government's account of the siege is not credible. "For six years, they said no pyrotechnics were ever used on April 19. For six years, they said there was no recording of FBI radio traffic. For six years, no video recordings. For six years, the only infrared recordings still in existence from April 19 started at 10:42 a.m. For six years, they said we didn't know what David Koresh was planning inside Mount Carmel," Mr. Caddell said. "Now we know that all of these were lies. The real question is, is there anything that they told us about Mount Carmel that was true?" Dallas Morning News, October 14, 1999 Nukes of Hazard Calm After Coup We bomb India tomorrow. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan was calm Wednesday as the army chief, one day after his swift seizure of power, held meetings with the president, top generals and various politicians on the nation's political course. The army chief of staff, General Pervez Musharraf, met late Wednesday afternoon with President Mohammed Rafiq Tarar for about an hour at the presidency in Islamabad, officials said. Army sources, meanwhile, said that a key policy statement, promised by the general in a broadcast after the army dismissed the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was expected Thursday. Earlier, there had been indications the statement might be issued on Wednesday. A military source said that consultations were under way on how to run the nation and on ''what is in the best interest of the country.'' Sources said that General Musharraf met much of Wednesday with a variety of people, including former politicians and constitutional experts, fueling speculation that he may try to cobble together an administration of former politicians and technocrats to rule for a protracted period of time. President Tarar, known as a friend of the Sharif family, has only a figurehead role in the country's affairs but can become important in the event of a constitutional crisis. Political sources said that General Musharraf might be trying to seek a presidential nod for the military's plans, but they said it was doubtful the president would give any support to the military because of his close ties with the Sharif family. On Tuesday, General Musharraf was dismissed without warning by Mr. Sharif, but within hours the general turned the tables as his troops took control of strategic points throughout the country. The general's move was apparently sparked by lingering resentment that the civilian government had backed down in the conflict with India over the disputed border region of Kashmir earlier this year. Sources in both Pakistan and India say they believe that it was General Musharraf who orchestrated the incursion last spring by Islamic militants into the Indian part of Kashmir. That incursion led to months of fighting. Unlike in the previous interventions by the military, in 1958, 1969 and 1977, General Musharraf did not declare martial law, which would have dissolved Parliament and abrogated or suspended the country's constitution. The Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said after being sworn in for a new term Wednesday that India remained committed to developing friendly ties with its neighbor but called for Islamabad to create the right environment. ''We are concerned about the developments in Pakistan,'' he said. ''We are monitoring the situation and keeping ourselves fully informed. India's policy toward Pakistan is consistent and principled.'' He added, ''We wish the people of Pakistan well.'' Similarly, the Indian foreign minister, Jaswant Singh, said there was ''neither any cause for anxiety or alarm'' after the military takeover. Speaking after a special meeting of the cabinet committee on security, he note d that for peace talks between India and Pakistan to resume, Islamabad would have to take concrete steps. Mr. Singh said the Indian armed forces were not on high alert, as had been reported. ''Troops have not been increased, nor is there a necessity,'' he said. India and Pakistan stood on the brink of a fourth war earlier this year after armed intruders occupied strategic heights on the Indian side of the control line in Kashmir. Mr. Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab province, were being held in ''protective custody'' at the prime minister's residence in Islamabad. Also in custody was the intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Khawaja Zia Uddin, who had been named by Mr. Sharif to succeed General Musharraf, as were other government officials. Mr. Sharif's government had been in power since February 1997. Streets in Pakistan's major cities were reported to be calm Wednesday, and the army scaled back its presence in key installations, including state television and Islamabad airport, where international and domestic flights resumed after being halted overnight. Troops, meanwhile, raided various places in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, as elsewhere in Pakistan to arrest key figures of the Sharif government. On Tuesday night, as troops took up positions around the centers of power, many Pakistanis danced in the streets and waved flags, celebrating the ouster of a prime minister who had become increasingly unpopular because of a deteriorating economy and his power struggle with political opponents and the military. There was a bank holiday Wednesday, and the Karachi stock market did not open. With the country left without a formal government, bureaucrats sat in their offices in most government departments in Islamabad but without their ministers, some of whom were under detention. Some ministries, including planning and finance, were shut on Wednesday under army orders, government sources said. ''No one knows what the situation is, who is in charge,'' a government worker said. It was not yet clear what would become of the Parliament and four provincial assemblies, or of the pro-Sharif provincial governments. Mr. Sharif has been accused of trying to consolidate his power by weakening institutions such as the judiciary and provincial governments. He also has been accused of using heavy-handed tactics to quell opposition protests. In Mr. Sharif's hometown of Lahore, people swayed to the rhythm of drums, waving their hands and congratulating the army for its takeover. Outside the Sharif family home in a posh Lahore neighborhood, scores of armed soldiers stood guard while small groups of people cursed the former prime minister as corrupt. Mr. Sharif had given no reason for firing General Musharraf, who had been on his way back from Sri Lanka, but there had been tension between Mr. Sharif and the military since the prime minister bowed to U.S. pressure and called for withdrawal of guerrillas from the Indian side of disputed Kashmir in July. General Musharraf, addressing the Pakistani people on national television in the early hours of Wednesday, said he had taken power to save the country from ruin. ''I wish to inform you that the armed forces have moved in as a last resort, to prevent further destabilization,'' he said. The general issued a sharp warning aimed at India, saying that ''no outside forces'' should try to take advantage of the ''prevailing situation in Pakistan.'' On Wednesday night, the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, urged the military leadership ''to take early measures to restore civilian rule and the constitutional process.'' Meanwhile, a senior member of Mr. Sharif's party, Mushahidullah, said that the deposed prime minister's life was in danger. He said Mr. Sharif was ''being pressured to submit his resignation. His life is in danger. He is still the prime minister of Pakistan.'' Key anti-Sharif politicians pressed Wednesday for the formation of an interim government to hold new elections. International Herald Tribune, October 14, 1999 Japanese Finance Bank of Japan Changes Policy? Maybe not. The Bank of Japan will start conducting outright purchases of short-term government securities in a new attempt to deliver more funds into the banking sector. The central bank yesterday denied that this move represented any significant change in its policy stance, which aims to provide the markets with enough liquidity to drive overnight interest rates towards zero. However, the Bank was now seeking "flexible" measures to push liquidity into the economy more effectively, its policy board said. The change was interpreted by some traders as a hint that the policy board was trying to respond to recent political criticism that the Bank was not doing enough to weaken the yen and push down long-term interest rates. The Japanese currency fell by ¥1 against the dollar after the announcement, to trade at around ¥107.7 in late Tokyo trading. The currency later pushed lower, to ¥108, but then moved sharply higher in US trading, erasing the day's earlier losses, reflecting scepticism that the change represented a significant shift of policy. "The Bank of Japan has opened up new options for monetary policy but there is no guarantee they are going to use them," said Robert Sinche, currency strategist for Citibank in New York. "We are not convinced that they have committed themselves to any change." Matthew Poggi, an economist at Lehman Brothers, said: "I think the pressure is still on the Bank and I suppose somewhere down the track they may be in a position to ease if the yen continues to strengthen or the economy falters." Yesterday's decision, which followed an unusually long - eight-hour - meeting of the policy board, is made at a particularly sensitive moment for the Bank. In recent weeks some politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic party have called on the Bank to attempt to weaken the yen by pumping more funds into the markets or buying long-term government bonds. Last month's G7 meeting of finance ministers in Washington appeared to raise the pressure on the Bank to act. However, the Bank has refused to do this, arguing that policy was already so loose that the money that the Bank is already supplying to the markets is no longer feeding into the economy. Yesterday's decision suggests that bank officials still have no intention of caving into political pressure. But they also want to counter criticism that they are failing to help the economy. Consequently, the new measures aim to make the existing policies work more effectively, rather than change the overall direction of policy in a significant way. "The aim of the decision is to ensure that the effects of the zero interest rate policy permeate the markets and Japan's economy," Masaru Hayami, the Bank's governor said. Under these new measures, the Bank will widen the list of banks and brokers permitted to receive funds from the Bank in normal monetary operations. It also plans to start conducting repurchase agreements using two-year government securities, in addition to the four, six and ten-year operations used at present. The Bank will also start outright purchases of three-month and six-month finance and treasury bills, a form of government securities. This could help push down interest rates in the three and six-month money markets, although the Bank said details would be decided at the next monetary policy meeting. As an additional measure, the Bank promised to supply ample liquidity to the markets over the year-end to calm any concern about so called Y2K computer problems. Mr Sinche said that the size of the immediate reaction in the currency markets was mainly caused by the fact that many short-term speculators had sold dollars for yen ahead of the announcement. The news then caused those investors to buy back dollars rapidly, causing the yen to fall, he said. The London Telegraph, October 14, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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