Gingrich would "instruct" CIA to "hunt down" freed Palestinian prisoners

Gingrich would "instruct" CIA to "hunt down" freed Palestinian prisoners :: www.uruknet.info :: informazione dal medio oriente :: information from middle east :: [vs-1]

December 11, 2011 After declaring that Palestinians are an "invented people," US presidential hopeful and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, has said that he would instruct the CIA to hunt down Palestinian prisoners released last October in an exchange negotiated by Israel and Hamas, presumably to kill them. Gingrich made the comments in a conference call organized by the National Council Young Israel posted on YouTube by the website The Yeshiva World News, in response to a question about whether he had been in favor of the prisoner exchange: I refuse to second guess the people of Israel doing what they believe is necessary both on a humanitarian level and out of their love for one of their children. I would say flatly that we made no such deal. I’m told that at least thirty of the people released were involved in killing Americans, and I would instruct the CIA to hunt down those thirty. The comments can be heard at 19:51 in the YouTube recording of Gingrich’s interview. Gingrich provided no evidence for his claim about the Palestinians being involved in killing Americans. Since the 1990s, the CIA has worked closely and openly with the Palestinian Authority both under the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. But the CIA’s role has been to assist the Palestinian Authority to collaborate more effectively with Israel, rather than to carry out extrajudicial executions of Palestinians. It is unknown how Israel would view the United States carrying out assassinations within territory it controls. Support for settlements In the interview, Gingrich also stated that he had no problem with Israel building settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Source

Ex-naval officer, Pentagon 9/11 Survivor With Top Clearance Lies About His Injuries

Ex-naval officer gets prison time for 9-11 fraud - Yahoo! News

He had a top-secret security clearance and commanded nuclear submarines. He was working at the Pentagon when a plane hijacked by terrorists crashed into the building about 75 feet from his office.

By NEDRA PICKLER | AP – 5 hrs ago

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A retired naval officer honored for helping rescue fellow Pentagon workers in the 2001 terrorist attack was sentenced Monday to 3 ½ years in prison for defrauding the Sept. 11 victims' compensation fund.

Retired Cmdr. Charles Coughlin of Severna Park, Md., claimed he was injured when objects fell on him as a hijacked plane struck the building and again later when he went back inside to rescue others and hit his head. But prosecutors said Coughlin was not hurt and instead used an old injury to get $331,034 in compensation from the fund.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, the chief of the Washington federal court, told Coughlin that stealing that much money from the government deserves a serious sentence. He allowed Coughlin to remain free pending appeal.

Coughlin, a 52-year-old father of four and grandfather of two, did not react to the verdict. When Lamberth invited him to speak just before delivering the sentence, Coughlin only had one thing to say: "I take full responsibility for the errors and mistakes I made."

Coughlin is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard Business School who spent most of his 21-year naval career in the submarine service. He had a top-secret security clearance and commanded nuclear submarines. He was working at the Pentagon when a plane hijacked by terrorists crashed into the building about 75 feet from his office. He said he went back inside the burning building to help rescue others and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and Purple Heart for his actions and injuries that day.

Coughlin's claim to the victims' compensation fund said he was left with constant pain in his neck and headaches, as well as weakness in his left arm and numbness in his left hand and elbow. He said it changed his life physically — he used to work out daily, play basketball and lacrosse, run marathons and work on projects around the house.

But prosecutors say he was able to run another marathon in November 2001 and showed the jury a picture of him running on the lacrosse field gripping a stick, taken after the attacks. They also showed jurors copies of check carbons he gave to the fund, falsely claiming they were for services he could no longer perform around the house. For example, he claimed a check for his lacrosse league dues was actually for someone to lay mulch in his yard. Coughlin said they were not fraudulent but mistakes due to sloppy accounting by his wife.

The prison sentence came at the end of a long and complicated prosecution against Coughlin that included three trials. The first jury acquitted him of three counts and deadlocked on four others against him and another against his wife, Sabrina, who supported his claim to the fund. Prosecutors elected to try again, but the second jury trial ended when in the midst of it the Supreme Court issued a ruling that changed the standard for retrying defendants after a hung jury. Coughlin was finally convicted of two mail fraud counts by a jury in August.

Coughin's attorney John Bourgeois asked Lamberth to spare Coughlin prison and sentence him to probation. Bourgeois argued Coughlin has already been severely punished by the loss of his post-military career, his personal savings to fund his defense and the civil rights that come from being a felon. That includes a prohibition against owning a firearm, voting and serving on a jury, which Bourgeois argued were no small measures for a man who defined his life by serving his country.

Lamberth said he recognized that Coughlin had damaged his life and career and was impressed that more than 100 people wrote letters of support attesting to Coughlin's character. "I don't see it very often," the judge said.

Prosecutor Susan Menzer asked for more than four years imprisonment to send Coughlin and his supporters a message because he never accepted responsibility for his crime. She said Coughlin defrauded the fund for one reason, "just to get money. And what's important here is he didn't need it. He was doing very well," she said.

14-year Old American Escapes Philippine Jungle

Police arrest OWS protesters at World Financial Center

Obama insists on indefinite detention of Americans

Obama insists on indefinite detention of Americans — RT

Think that President Obama will stand by his word and veto the legislation that will allow the government to detain American citizens without charge or trial? Think again.

The Obama administration has insisted that the president will veto the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, a bill that passed through the Senate last week. Under the legislation, the United States of America is deemed a battlefield and Americans suspected of committing a terrorism offense can be held without trial and tortured indefinitely. Despite the grave consequences for citizens and the direct assault on the US Constitution, the act managed to make it through both halves of Congress but President Obama says he won’t let it become a law.

According to Senator Carl Levin, however, Americans should be a bit more concerned about what the president’s actual intentions are. Levin, who sits on the Armed Services Committee as chairman, has revealed to Congress that the Obama administration influenced the wording of the act and shot down text that would have saved American citizens from the indefinite imprisonment and suspension of habeas corpus.

(Click image above for video of Senator Levin's speech)

Senator Levin told Congress recently that under the original wording of the National Defense Authorization Act, American citizens were excluded from the provision that allowed for detention. Once Obama’s officials saw the text though, says Levin, “the administration asked us to remove the language which says that US citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section.”

Specifically, the section that Obama asked to be reworded was Section 1031 of the NDAA FY2012, which says that"any person who has committed a belligerent act" could be held indefinitely.

“It was the administration that asked us to remove the very language which we had in the bill which passed the committee…we removed it at the request of the administration,” said Levin. “It was the administration which asked us to remove the very language the absence of which is now objected to.”

John Wood of Change.org writes that President Obama proposed a veto of Section 1032 of the NDAA, which does not pertain to the detention of American citizens. Rather, that section deals with the use of the US military in taking custody of suspected criminals. Section 1031, which actually deals with the indefinite imprisonment of Americans, remains not only unopposed by the Obama administration, but the president has made sure that the law specifically includes Americans, urging Congress to redraft the legislation with increasingly confusing wording that makes the legalization detrimental to America.

President Obama could sign off on the legislation as early as this December 13 if he chooses not to exercise his veto power. The bill, which includes budgetary provisions for the US military, comes at a price-tag several billion dollars cheaper than the president had asked for of Congress.

Occupy protesters shut down 2 Portland terminals

PressTV - Occupy protesters shut down 2 Portland terminals

Hundreds of Occupy Portland protesters have shut down two of the Port of Portland's busiest terminals.

Former Blackwater security firm changes name again, from Xe to Academi

Former Blackwater security firm changes name again, from Xe to Academi, focusing on future - The Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, December 12, 10:19 AM

ARLINGTON, Va. — The security firm once known as Blackwater is changing its name again — this time from Xe (ZEE) Services to Academi — a move it hopes will reflect the changes the company has undergone.

The company has changed significantly in the last year. A new investor group, USTC Holdings, bought the company in December 2010. The former chief executive, Erik Prince, who aggressively defended Blackwater from accusations that its employees were trigger happy, has left the company. And earlier this year, it relocated its headquarters from North Carolina to northern Virginia, where a large number of security contractors are based.

Irony Alert: U.S. Calls on Russia to Respect Peaceful Protests

Irony Alert: U.S. Calls on Russia to Respect Peaceful Protests - David Icke Website

Sunday, 11 December 2011 10:11

You mean just like these cops did in dealing with this peaceful protest at occupy Oakland?

'The United States called Friday on both Russian authorities and protesters to remain peaceful as opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prepared major weekend demonstrations against his rule.

Putin has angrily accused the United States of inciting the protests after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised concerns about the fairness of parliamentary elections that Putin’s party won but with a reduced majority.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the United States supported the right to peaceful protest in Russia as it does “anywhere in the world.”'

Read more: Irony Alert: U.S. Calls on Russia to Respect Peaceful Protests

Russian Protesters Encounter Surveillance UAV Drone

Prison Planet.com » Russian Protesters Encounter Surveillance UAV Drone

Thank goodness this sort of thing doesn’t happen in the land of the free… oh wait

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
December 12, 2011

Video has emerged of Russian pro Democracy protesters being watched by hovering surveillance drones overhead.

25,000 people gathered in Bolotnaya Square in Moscow Saturday, were stunned to witness the strange hovering object directly above them. Some climbed trees to take pictures and get a closer look at the “UFO”.

The craft is clearly some kind of small quadricopter drone similar to the one pictured below:

These drones can be controlled via a touch screen interface and the video can be transmitted in real time via wireless modem or Wi-Fi to 3 km by iPhone, iPad connected to the network, laptop or a similar device.

They also have automatic tracking and some can even electrify and incapacitate protesters or “suspects”, “insurgents”, whatever you want to call people expressing their rights.

Brutal Stabbing Can't Stop Wal Mart From Making Money

By Travinyle1
You would think when a woman is brutally stabbed to death with blood everywhere inside of a store the store might think about closing. Not anymore, not in this America. This is another in the thousands of examples of how desensitized to reality that we all have become in this country. It seems America is now headed towards the level of apathy China has accomplished when recently a 2 year old girl was run over by a truck as dozens of people walked by for minutes without helping.

It is being reported no one helped the lady who was punched then stabbed to death inside a Wal-Mart as people looked on. Then to make matters worse they simply roped off the murder area and allowed the holiday consumerism to continue. This is another disgusting example of Wal Mart and the citizens who will refuse to boycott or make their voice heard about this.

Im sure closing would have cost Wal-Mart quite a bit of money. Well all know that is more important than doing the responsible moral thing.

Story below

Shopping Continues After Woman Is Killed In Walmart

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. -- After a woman was stabbed to death in a Walmart over the weekend, the store has experienced criticism from some for staying open following the fatal attack.

Deputies said they were called to the Walmart on White Horse Road in Berea at 1:21 p.m. about a physical altercation at the store.

Images: Walmart Stabbing

Witnesses told deputies a man and a woman got into a fight and that the man stabbed the woman and fled.

The woman, now identified as 38-year-old Lilia Blandin, was found with injuries and taken to the hospital where she died, according to the coroner.

The coroner said Blandin was an employee of Woodforest Bank inside the Walmart store, and was working at the time of the incident.

On Sunday, Master Deputy Jennings Autrey said the victim's husband, Avery Blandin, was under guard at Greenville Memorial Hospital and was charged with murder.

Autrey said Blandin drove away from the scene but wrecked his car at the corner of Agnew Road and Marion Road before being arrested Saturday afternoon.

Several customers were appalled that Walmart stayed open for business through the stabbing and the aftermath.

"I saw there was blood everywhere, on the ground, on the table, on the wall," said Brittany King, a shopper who arrived shortly after the stabbing. "It's disrespectful to the family that it happened to. Especially the people and the employees who saw it happen."

"From what I can see, they never really gave (the employees) that opportunity to recuperate," said Bob Quarles, who said he walked into the store just as the attack happened.

Master Deputy Jennings Autrey said the decision to stay open was up to the management at the store.

"The shoppers are not affecting the crime scene," Autrey said. "I just want to be clear on that, that it has been roped off and deputies are there protecting the integrity of the crime scene."

Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee told News 4," We did, as requested, close our grocery checkout area to allow the police to do their work and provide some level of privacy, given the circumstances."

"This was a senseless act of violence, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family during this difficult time," Gee said.

Gee said Walmart was assisting investigators with the investigation and that it turned over surveillance video from the store.


Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/29968862/detail.html#ixzz1gLKVwIrF

9/11 EyeWitnesses To WTC Lobby Explosion - NIST FOIA

The Swiss Government Is Getting Ready For The Collapse Of The Euro

The Swiss Government Is Getting Ready For The Collapse Of The Euro

The Swiss government is preparing for a collapse of the euro, according to Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf.

She told parliament that a work group was studying the imposition of capital controls and negative interest rates to protect Switzerland from the capital flight that a euro collapse would engender (Handelsblatt).

A tidal wave of euros would drive up the Swiss franc, devastate Switzerland’s export economy, and devalue its vast wealth invested in other countries.

Already in August, the Swiss National Bank instituted a currency peg and swore to defend it by acquiring “unlimited” amounts of euros, a risky strategy if the euro were to collapse (for the debacle leading up to the peg, read... Swiss Franc Wreaks Havoc In Switzerland).

Meanwhile, 27 heads of state convened in Brussels for another European Union summit to find that elusive solution to the debt crisis. It began with dinner at around 8 pm and will continue on Friday. Goal: changes in the EU treaty that would impose Germany’s new religion of budgetary discipline on all 27 member states. Violators would be hit with automatic sanctions.

The European Court of Justice would have final control over national budgets. (Ironically, Germany was one of the first EU members to violate the existing 3% deficit limit and was the primary reason existing sanctions have never been applied). Short-term measures to keep contagion at bay are also on the agenda.

Read more: http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2011/12/8/sarkozy-the-risk-that-europe-will-explode.html#ixzz1gL9hNz5I

Pakistan says U.S. drones in its air space will be shot down

December 11, 2011

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan will shoot down any U.S. drone that intrudes its air space per new directives, a senior Pakistani official told NBC News on Saturday.

According to the new Pakistani defense policy, "Any object entering into our air space, including U.S. drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down," a senior Pakistani military official told NBC News.

The policy change comes just weeks after a deadly NATO attack on Pakistani military checkpoints accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Pakistani officials to order all U.S. personnel out of a remote airfield in Pakistan.

Pakistan told the U.S. to vacate Shamsi Air Base by December 11.

A senior military official from Quetta, Pakistan, confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that the evacuation of the base, used for staging classified drone flights directed against militants, "will be completed tomorrow," according to NBC’s Fakhar ur Rehman.

Pakistan's Frontier Corps security forces took control of the base Saturday evening after most U.S. military personnel left, Xinhua news agency reported. Civil aviation officials also moved in Saturday, Xinhua said.

Pakistani Military Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani had issued multiple directives since the Nov. 26 NATO attack, which included orders to shoot down U.S. drones, senior military officials confirmed to NBC News on Saturday.

It was unclear Saturday whether orders to fire upon incoming U.S. drones was part of the initial orders.

The Pakistani airbase had been used by U.S. forces, including the CIA, to stage elements of a clandestine U.S. counter-terrorism operation to attack militants linked to al-Qaida, the Taliban and Pakistan's home-grown Haqqani network, using unmanned drone aircraft armed with missiles.

President Barack Obama stepped up the drone campaign after he took office. U.S. officials say it has produced major successes in decimating the central leadership of al-Qaida and putting associated militant groups on the defensive.

Since 2004, U.S. drones have carried out more than 300 attacks inside Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities started threatening U.S. personnel with eviction from the Shamsi base in the wake of the raid last May in which U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden at his hide-out near Islamabad without notifying Pakistani officials in advance.

NBC News' Fakhar ur Rehman, msnbc.com's Sevil Omer and Reuters contributed to this report.


Source 

Latvia's largest bank fights off depositor run after rumours of imminent collapse

Latvia's largest bank fights off depositor run after rumours of imminent collapse - Yahoo! News

RIGA, Latvia - Latvia's largest bank scrambled Monday to head off a run among depositors who were gripped by rumours of the bank's imminent ruin.

Weekend rumours that Swedbank was facing legal and liquidity problems in Estonia and Sweden sent thousands of Latvians to bank machines on Sunday, with some lines reaching as many as 50 people.

Latvians are particularly sensitive to speculation about banks' health. Latvijas Krajbanka, the country's 10th largest bank, was nationalized last month after regulators discovered evidence of massive fraud allegedly carried out by the bank's former owner, Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov. Depositors were deprived of access to their funds for days.

And three years ago the country's second largest bank, Parex Bank, entered technical default and had to be taken over by the government, which in turn forced Latvia to appeal to international creditors and the European Union for a €7.5 billion ($10.5 billion) bailout.

Prime Minister Vladis Dombrovskis told journalists that the rumours were spread maliciously with the intent to harm Latvia's banking system, the Baltic News Service reported. Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said that police have opened a criminal investigation.

9/11 FAA Bans Salman Rushdie From All US Airline Flights Due To 'Securit...

Uploaded by IranContraScumDid911 on Dec 12, 2011

Very rare CBC Sept 11 6:08 AM (3 hours before). Shortly after 9/11, the London Times reported that author Salman Rushdie believed US authorities had known of the imminent attack when they banned him from taking flights in Canada and the US just a week before. The Times reported: On September 3 the Federal Aviation Authority made an emergency ruling to prevent Mr Rushdie from flying unless airlines complied with strict and costly security measures. Mr Rushdie told The Times that the airlines would not upgrade their security.

According to the Times, the FAA had told Rushdie's publisher that US intel had given a warning of "something out there", but did not give any further details. The FAA then confirmed that it had increased security measures regarding Rushdie, but refused to provide a reason.

Salman Rushdie authored The Satanic Verses; a fictional work that was deemed sacrilegious to the Muslim community. The controversial novel earned him a "death sentence" placed by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. In the book, Rushdie names the members of a brothel after the Prophet Muhammed's wives, renounces the Koran as the true word of God, and makes obscure jokes about the Islamic religion.

The Daily Mail will later report, "US aviation authorities were warned of a terrorist attack by an Islamic group only days before the September 11 atrocities. The CIA issued a confidential warning that Muslim fundamentalists were preparing a spectacular attack imminently, but it was unable to specify the target." Around this time, author Salman Rushdie is traveling in North America to promote a new book. [Daily Mail, 10/7/2001] In 1989, Iranian clerics issued a fatwa (death threat) against Rushdie for perceived insults to Islam, but the fatwa was lifted in 1998 and Rushdie had recently emerged from hiding. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/23/2001] According to the Daily Mail, aviation regulators conclude Rushdie is the likely target of this CIA warning, and the FAA imposes new restrictions on him on September 6, 2001 (see September 6, 2001). At least two airlines prevent Rushdie from flying with them at all. [Daily Mail, 10/7/2001] Apparently the FAA takes no other action and gives no other warning except for extra security measures involving Rushdie. The 9/11 Commission will later briefly mention the pre-9/11 restrictions on Rushdie but will not explain what the intelligence was exactly that led to the restrictions. [9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 56 ]

The FAA places severe flight restrictions on author Salman Rushdie, who is in the US to promote a new book. The restrictions are so strict and costly that at least two airlines refuse to fly him at all. The FAA tells Rushdie's publisher that US intelligence has given warning of "something out there" but fails to give any further details. One newspaper will later state, "The FAA confirmed that it stepped up security measures concerning Mr. Rushdie but refused to give a reason." [London Times, 9/27/2001; Daily Mail, 10/7/2001] The Daily Mail will later report that the CIA secretly gave the FAA a "confidential warning that Muslim fundamentalists were preparing a spectacular attack imminently, but it was unable to specify the target." But the only action the FAA takes is to require more security for Rushdie's flights (see Shortly Before September 6, 2001). Rushdie had been the subject of an Iranian fatwa (death threat) until it was lifted in 1998. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/23/2001]

On the morning of September 11, 2001, just hours before the 9/11 attacks begin, the Globe and Mail, Canada's largest newspaper, reports a front page story entitled "Air-Travel Ban Keeps Rushdie Out of Canada." The story notes that author Salman Rushdie was not allowed on an Air Canada flight into Canada on September 7, 2001, and he canceled a planned Canadian trip as a result. The article correctly notes that on September 6, the FAA "issued an emergency directive banning Mr. Rushdie from all flights in and out of the United States, reflecting a heightened state of alert" (see September 6, 2001). Rushdie is also having trouble flying inside the US because of the restrictions and one US flight he had recently scheduled had been canceled. The article says the FAA will not explain why the directive about Rushdie had been issued. [Globe and Mail, 9/11/2001] But the Daily Mail will later report that the CIA gave the FAA warning of a spectacular and imminent Muslim fundamentalist attack and the FAA incorrectly guessed this had to do with Rushdie traveling on a book tour (see Shortly Before September 6, 2001). Rushdie had been the subject of an Iranian fatwa (death threat) until it was lifted in 1998. He was in Houston, Texas, for a book reading as part of a North American book tour and planned to fly to Minneapolis on 9/11. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/23/2001]

Drones Officially Take Flight For Domestic Law Enforcement, Heralding a New Level of the Police State

Activist Post: Drones Officially Take Flight For Domestic Law Enforcement, Heralding a New Level of the Police State

Michael Edwards
Activist Post

It is a sign of just how fast the police state is advancing that drones in American skies have gone from conspiracy theory to admitted fact in about a year.

In a precedent-setting event, local law enforcement in North Dakota nabbed three suspected armed men with the help of a Predator B unmanned drone. It was only after the drone confirmed that the men were unarmed that police moved in to make the arrest.

It has now become clear that, as we have written and warned about for the past year, the drones that were supposedly commissioned strictly as tools for border control will now patrol inland for suspected criminals on American soil, heralding a new level of police state oppression.

In April I wrote about the future expansion of unmanned drones over America based on the admissions made by two-star General, John Priddy, from the U.S. National Air Security Operations Center, evidenced in the video below, that the continued expansion of predator drone surveillancewas a stated goal for the coming years.

Obamacare Showers Millions of Dollars on School Health Clinics

Obamacare Showers Millions of Dollars on School Health Clinics | CNSnews.com

By Susan Jones

December 8, 2011

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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Nov. 14, 2011 that $1 billion in health care grants were a way of 'sparking' the U.S. economy. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) - Under Obamacare, more than $14 million in taxpayer money is going to health clinics at 45 schools, many of them in poor parts of the country.

"Today's infusion of new money will enable them to expand their capacity and modernize their facilities," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced on Thursday.

The clinics -- in 29 states -- are now providing health care to 112,000 children, and Sebelius expects the number of children served to increase by an estimated 53,000 as the school clinics are expanded and upgraded.

“Children are the foundation upon which this country will grow,” Sebelius said. “The Affordable Care Act will help ensure our children get the high-quality health care they need and deserve.”

Sebelius also said the money will help create jobs: "Funds will support job opportunities as more Americans will be needed to meet the clinics’ pressing capital needs - including construction, renovation and new equipment."