Army Says 12 dead, 31 Injured at Fort Hood; Shooters Were US Soldiers

Lieberman calls Ft. Hood shooting ‘terrorist attack’

David Edwards
Raw Story
Monday, Nov 9th, 2009

Homeland Security Chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he wants the Department of Defense to launch an investigation into the shooting rampage at Ft. Hood. Lieberman said evidence indicates that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was probably a “self-radicalized, homegrown terrorist.”

The New York Times reports, however, that investigators have tentatively concluded it was not part of a terrorist plot.

“If the reports that we’re receiving of various statements he made, acts he took, are valid, he had turned to Islamist extremism, and, therefore, if that is true, the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11,” Lieberman said Sunday.

According to this morning’s New York Times, investigators have not ruled out the possibility Major Hassan “believed he was carrying out an extremist’s suicide mission,” but so far they have no evidence he was directed into violence or “ever traveled overseas to meet with extremist groups.”

Lieberman wants the Department of Defense to conduct a special investigation to see if the shootings could have been predicted. “While the Army and the FBI are conducting the criminal investigation about exactly what happened and what Dr. Hasan should be charged with, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense has a real obligation to convene an independent investigation to go back and look at whether warning signs were missed, both the stress he was under, but also the statements that he was making,” he said.

Homeland Security Chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he wants the Department of Defense to launch an investigation into the shooting rampage at Ft. Hood. Lieberman said evidence indicates that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was probably a “self-radicalized, homegrown terrorist.”

The New York Times reports, however, that investigators have tentatively concluded it was not part of a terrorist plot.

“If the reports that we’re receiving of various statements he made, acts he took, are valid, he had turned to Islamist extremism, and, therefore, if that is true, the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11,” Lieberman said Sunday.

According to this morning’s New York Times, investigators have not ruled out the possibility Major Hassan “believed he was carrying out an extremist’s suicide mission,” but so far they have no evidence he was directed into violence or “ever traveled overseas to meet with extremist groups.”

Lieberman wants the Department of Defense to conduct a special investigation to see if the shootings could have been predicted. “While the Army and the FBI are conducting the criminal investigation about exactly what happened and what Dr. Hasan should be charged with, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense has a real obligation to convene an independent investigation to go back and look at whether warning signs were missed, both the stress he was under, but also the statements that he was making,” he said.





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Fort Hood shooting suspect conscious, talking, hospital says

CNN
November 9, 2009

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in last week’s Fort Hood mass shooting, is conscious and talking, a spokesman for the Army hospital where he is being treated told CNN on Monday.

The development comes a day after Army investigators asked troops and civilians for help gathering clues about Thursday’s shooting, saying some who fled the gunfire might have evidence.

“The Fort Hood office of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is seeking any military or civilian personnel who may have left the scene … with gunshot damage such as damaged privately owned vehicles, personnel clothing, etc.,” investigators said in a written statement. “CID is also seeking any military or civilian personnel who may have inadvertently left the scene of this incident with material that could be used as firearms residue related evidence such as shell casings inside the boot, etc.”

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Fort Hood Vendetta

Kevin Hayden
Truth is Treason
November 9, 2009

By now, you’ve heard about the mass shooting at the Ft. Hood Army Base in Texas on the 5th of November.* Like you, when I first heard about it, my imagination went into overdrive.* Was it a terrorist event?* Could it have actually been a U.S. soldier that committed this crime?* Was the base security breached by outsiders intent on inflicting as much damage as possible?* These were my initial thoughts, but then my brain went into 2nd gear and I realized it was November the 5th.* This day holds a special meaning to several people, especially those who are involved with the ‘Liberty Movement’ and Tea Parties or fans of the movie ‘V for Vendetta’.

You might recall the 5th of November was when Guy Fawkes [and others] attempted to blow up Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.* Their goal was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I and the entire Protestant, and even most of the Catholic, aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirators saw this as a necessary reaction to the systematic discrimination against English Catholics.* The blockbuster hit ‘V for Vendetta’ used this bit of history to base their character, V, on.* He believed that the system had come to a point where the corruption was so rampant, the greed so intolerable, and the lies so outrageous that there was no easy way to fix it and return to a free and just society.* In an effort to destroy the dictatorship, he blows up political landmarks in spectacular fashion and is labeled a terrorist by the government.

Ultimately, he is able to awaken the masses which converge on Parliament the night of November 5th to protest, and even die if necessary, to re-establish a just society based on the rule of law and personal freedom.* To a large degree, this can be compared to the Tea Parties happening across the country.* A rather massive percentage of people from all political viewpoints and cultures are coming together on the steps of their capitals, protesting at Town Halls, and even pulling off a Million Man march on D.C.

Many government agencies, both State and Federal do not like this.* They have employed Stasi-like policies and ‘fusion centers’ to disseminate information on “potential domestic terrorists.”* Chief among these terrorist profile indicators are Libertarian political ideals, being outspoken against the Federal Reserve’s wasteful and secretive monetary policies, or even attending a Tea party rally in support of personal freedom and independence.

I’m reminded of Jeff Foxworthy’s jokes;

“You might be a domestic terrorist if you love your country and want to keep your freedom.”

“You just might be a terrorist if you voice your opinion in opposition of the mass media.”

“You might be a right-wing extremist if you believe in property rights, sound monetary policies, and the 2nd amendment!”

I could go on and on, but you get the point.* When I heard about the shootings at Ft. Hood, I couldn’t help but wonder; will this be turned into a media story about right wing extremists?* Was this a ‘domestic terrorist’?* Could it have been a false flag event in order to trump up the falling support for the war in Afghanistan?* Would it be blamed on Muslims to achieve the same?* **I’ve noticed over the last few years that the fear of Muslims has dramatically waned in our society (thankfully).* Once upon a time, anyone who was tan, brown, or had an Islamic name was automatically deemed a suicide bomber. *I feel as though that has begun to ease, so it wouldn’t surprise me if “the powers that be” used a crisis such as this to drum up hatred and fear of Muslims again.**And if you don’t think they would sink so low, many in the establishment have said time and time again, “We can’t let a good crisis go to waste!”

It also*serves as a bit of evidence that our actions (as an American military force) have created a much more violent, fanatical base of*Islamics in the Middle East, including within our own military!

Another avenue of thought occurred when more details were released about the situation and those involved.* It was discovered that most of the shootings had occurred in a processing unit where soldiers awaiting deployment receive medical screenings, briefings, etc.* Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan was named as the chief suspect, along with two other unnamed soldiers.* Major Malik Hasan is an Army psychiatrist and was recently promoted to the rank of Major.* Clearly, Malik Hasan is of Middle Eastern decent and is said to have been “very upset” with his recent deployment orders to Iraq.* Radio interviews claim that he had often argued with other soldiers about the role of the U.S. military in the Middle East and that he did not believe American forces had any right to occupy Afghanistan, Iraq, potentially Iran, and now Pakistan.

Now, I could understand someone new or even a lower ranking soldier to potentially snap and go a bit crazy.* But to be able to wound or kill over 40 fellow soldiers?* To me, that shows one of two things; an amazing motivation and determination to complete the ‘mission’ no matter the cost OR a severe psychological problem.* If it is the first, I’m deeply saddened by the loss of life but at the same time, I must respect such dedication to a personal belief – no matter how tragic or insane some might label it.

No matter how much a particular American feels as though we are the good guys and doing what’s right in the world, there is someone out there that feels the exact opposite on the other side.* There is that person out there that feels as though their guerilla insurgency represents defense… that they are protecting their land, culture, and lifestyle just as much as any American would defend his property against a Chinese Red Army invasion.* We don’t have to agree with ‘them’, whoever they may be.* We needn’t have to understand what drives them to that point.* All we must do is realize that if a foreign country invaded the United States because of the actions of a handful of citizens, we would all willfully defend our shorelines with the same passion and fervor as some in the Middle East.

Now, if his actions were because of the second reason, a severe psychological problem, then that represents a whole slew of other problems that we must dissect.* First, being a psychiatrist, he has access to any prescription medication.* Secondly, we must discover if he was on any medication at the time of the shooting.* I am not trying to justify his actions by blaming it on a medication or that he shouldn’t be held responsible for it, but ultimately, this serves as another potential example of how prescription medication such as Wellbutrin, Risperdal, Ritalin, Zoloft and other anti-depressants (SSRI’s – Seratonin Re-uptake Inhibitors) can cause violent reactions and thoughts.

Overall, there could be a million reasons why this tragedy occurred.* Hell, he might have been a brainwashed Manchurian-like killer set loose on the base to further someone’s political agenda.* He might have just had a bad day and decided to lock and load Full Metal Jacket style.

We’ll never know the true motivation of Major Malik Hasan or why the 5th of November ended with so many souls bleeding camoflauge… but one thing is for sure; the mass media will spin it to fit someone’s agenda.* That’s their job.



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Lieberman Suggests Army Shooter Was ?Home-Grown Terrorist?

BRODY MULLINS
The Wall Street Journal
November 9, 2009

A senior U.S. senator on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood could have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who heads the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, was a “self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist” who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress.

Mr. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had opened fire Thursday at a soldier processing center at Fort Hood, Tex., killing 13 and wounding 29 in the worst mass shooting on a military facility in the U.S.

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Officials: U.S. Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact al Qaeda

RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE and BRIAN ROSS
ABC News
November 9, 2009

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

One senior lawmaker said the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan’s efforts.

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Strip Club Visits Contradict Contrived Stereotype Of Fort Hood Shooter

Just like the 9/11 patsy hijackers, Hasan had a non-Islamic fundamentalist taste for lap dancers and alcohol



Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, November 9, 2009

Despite a desperate attempt on behalf of the establishment media to reinforce clichéd stereotypes to prop up the war on terror, by depicting the Fort Hood shooter as a devout Muslim fundamentalist, it turns out that just like the 9/11 pasty hijackers, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had a taste for the very much westernized sins of alcohol and strip clubs.

Ever since last week’s tragedy at Fort Hood, the establishment has been straining at the leash to portray Hasan as a radical jihadist who harbored a hatred for America, a disdain for western culture, and a common ideology with Al-Qaeda, even going so far as to claim that Hasan attempted to contact Al-Qaeda, which wouldn’t be a surprise bearing in mind that Al-Qaeda is little more than the CIA’s Arab legion.

Hasan’s description as a “devout Muslim, and one who had difficulty finding a wife who would wear a head scarf and would pray five times a day,” is contradicted by the revelation that Hasan was a frequent visitor at his local strip club, where he would drink alcohol and pay women to lap dance for him.

“Hasan sat at a table in the back corner of the club, to the left of the stage on which strippers dance around a pole, employees said,” reports Fox News.

“I remembered his face because it was the first lap dance I [gave] to a customer while working here,” said 31-year-old Jennifer Jenner. “When I saw his face [Friday] on TV, I jumped out of bed, I knew it was him.”

“Jenner said Hasan was dressed casually both nights he came to the club – in jeans and a T-shirt the first night and then wearing a baseball cap the next. She recalled that he arrived at about 6:30 p.m. and stayed until 2 a.m,” according to the report.

Hasan has been characterized as an “Islamic extremist” by all corners of the media since it emerged that he was upset about being deployed to Iraq. He is stereotyped in reports of being “a Muslim first and an American second,” and yet his behavior suggests the opposite.

Hasan’s penchant for strip clubs, which would be seen as complete abomination by fundamentalist Muslims, mirrors exactly the behavior of the 9/11 hijackers in the months before 9/11.

Many of the 9/11 hijackers not only frequented strip clubs and got regularly drunk, but they also purchased pornography, sex toys, gambled, and had sex with prostitutes. This type of behavior is consistent with these men being westernized Arabs who were being paid a lot of money to pose as fundamentalists, when in reality they spent their spare time indulging in activities that real fundamentalists would consider to be sins beyond repentance.

As soon as it became known that the Fort Hood shooter had an “Arab-sounding name,” Hasan’s entire motivation for carrying out the massacre was dutifully “explained” by the media in double-quick time. His characterization as a devout fundamentalist Muslim exacting his own personal jihad was relentlessly pushed by the network news shows.

However, as was also the case with the 7/7 bombing patsies who led westernized lives completely at odds with their portrayal by the media, Hasan’s strip club visits contradict the contrived notion that he was an Islamic fundamentalist seeking to inflict revenge upon the infidels at Fort Hood, since by the nature of his own behavior, Hasan was one of those very infidels.



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Army general warns of anti-Muslim ?backlash?

AFP
November 9, 2009

US army chief of staff George Casey has warned deadly shootings at Fort Hood could prompt a backlash against Muslim soldiers, undermining diversity needed to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Casey, speaking on CNN television, warned against guessing at the motives of Nidal Malik Hasan, who is alleged to have killed 13 people and wounded dozens more on a murderous rampage at the Texas military base on Thursday.

Mr Casey, a former commander in Iraq, said he was “concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers”.

It has been suggested that US-born Hasan carried out the shootings as revenge for persecution about his Islamic faith at the hands of his comrades.

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Press TV talks to Alex Jones on Fort Hood shooting

Press TV
November 9, 2009

Press TV’s Arash Zahedi talks to Alex Jones on Fort Hood shooting





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Government Determined to Connect Hasan and al-Qaeda

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
November 9, 2009

The Nidal Malik Hasan as al-Qaeda pasty story grows larger and more absurd with each passing hour. Now it is said Hasan reached out to the phantom terrorist group and the U.S. Army knew about this but didn’t tell anybody.

Can you say déjà vu? The story is beginning to look like a supplemental chapter in the 9/11 fairy tale.



Surprise, surprise. Bill O’Reilly is out front on characterizing Hasan as an al-Qaeda miscreant. O’Reilly offers the standard caveat about protecting the civil liberties of Muslims.

“Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he requested the CIA and other intelligence agencies brief the committee on what was known, if anything, about Hasan by the U.S. intelligence community, only to be refused,” reports ABC News.

“In response, Hoekstra issued a document preservation request to four intelligence agencies. The letter, dated November 7th, was sent to directors Dennis Blair (DNI), Robert Mueller (FBI), Lt. Gen Keith Alexander (NSA) and Leon Panetta (CIA).”

Hoekstra is in a tizzy because “the house intel committee has been refused an intelligence briefing by the DNI or CIA on Hasan’s attempt to reach out to al Qaeda.”

Mr. Hoekstra should of course realize the CIA does not answer to Congress or the American people.

In order to build another fantastic prop for the GWOT — designed to last for decades, if not indefinitely — the government needs on occasion to cobble together fantastic yarns about demonic Muslims who hate us because of our freedoms (sic).

If the imam Anwar al-Awlaki is not a CIA stooge, he may be auditioning for the position. ABC reports:

Obviously, Mr. al-Awlaki is a psychopath who marvels over the prospect of dead infidels. He is either a CIA plant or a mental case. The two are usually mutually inclusive.

In order to cast a lurid pall over the shootings, ABC and the Mockingbird corporate media are now characterizing the gun Hasan supposedly used as a “cop killer” weapon (a leading term as if there ever was one — almost any gun can kill a cop or anybody else for that matter).

Get ready for control freak Democrats to start calling for this particular gun and extended round magazines to be banned. In fact, they will call for all handguns to be banned and the hype surrounding the Fort Hood murders will certainly pump more hysteria into the gun-grabber movement.



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Congressional Requests for Information From CIA On Hasan Refused

cryptogon.com
Tuesday, Nov 10th, 2009


U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

According to the officials, the Army was informed of Hasan’s contact, but it is unclear what, if anything, the Army did in response.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he requested the CIA and other intelligence agencies brief the committee on what was known, if anything, about Hasan by the U.S. intelligence community, only to be refused.

In response, Hoekstra issued a document preservation request to four intelligence agencies. The letter, dated November 7th, was sent to directors Dennis Blair (DNI), Robert Mueller (FBI), Lt. Gen Keith Alexander (NSA) and Leon Panetta (CIA).

Hoekstra said he is “absolutely furious” that the house intel committee has been refused an intelligence briefing by the DNI or CIA on Hasan’s attempt to reach out to al Qaeda, as first reported by ABC News.

“This is a law enforcement investigation, in which other agencies—not the CIA—have the lead,” CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said in a response to ABC News. ” Any suggestion that the CIA refused to brief Congress is incorrect.”

Investigators want to know if Hasan maintained contact with a radical mosque leader from Virginia, Anwar al Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen and runs a web site that promotes jihad around the world against the U.S.

In a blog posting early Monday titled “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing,” Awlaki calls Hasan a “hero” and a “man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”

According to his site, Awlaki served as an imam in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia.




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UPI Editor Equates 9/11 Truth Activists With Fort Hood Killer



Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

A career Neo-Con hack with intimate ties to the CIA has shamefully exploited the tragic massacre at Fort Hood last week to smear anyone who questions the official 9/11 story as a gun-toting terrorist intent on mass murder on a par with crazed killer Nidal Malik Hasan.

In an opinion piece, UPI editor at large Arnaud De Borchgrave disgracefully claims that, “There are tens of thousands of Hasans all over the Western world — from Brussels to Berlin and from Burgos, Spain, to Birmingham, U.K.,” before making the case that anyone who dares doubt the government’s version of events on 9/11 is an extremist hell-bent on metering out “jihadi violence” like Hasan did when he gunned down scores of his colleagues.

“For them, Sept. 11, 2001, was a conspiracy cooked up by the CIA and Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence service,” writes Borchgrave.

Borchgrave’s bellicose hit piece harks back to the November 2007 hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee’s “Terrorism and the Internet,” which was broadcast on C-Span and chaired by California democrat Jane Harman, sponsor of the infamous HR 1955, “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.” During the hearing, a powerpoint demonstration from Mark Weitzman of the Simon Weisenthal Center ludicrously equated Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, an organization consisting of professionals who are investigating the collapse of WTC 7 and the twin towers, with violent Islamic terrorists.

Borchgrave outlines his argument with the usual turd-load of ad hominem drivel and half-baked strawman claims. At no point whatsoever does he present any evidence that Hasan embraced 9/11 conspiracies, which would totally contradict seperate reports that Hasan is linked with members of Al-Qaeda.

“Even though al-Qaida’s Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 Ajman Al-Zawahiri have both taken credit for Sept. 11, countless millions are convinced they had nothing to do with the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon,” he writes.

If Borchgrave had bothered to do one iota of research before spewing his vitriol, he would have discovered that on numerous occasions immediately after the attacks, Bin Laden explicitly denied responsibility for 9/11.

In a statement released to the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera and reported on by CNN on September 17, 2001, Bin Laden said, “I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons. I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following its leaders’ rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations.”

Asked if he carried out 9/11 by the Pakistani newspaper Ummat on September 28, 2001, Bin Laden responded, “I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle.”

The only person to “take credit” for the attacks was a dubiously fat Bin Laden lookalike who appeared on a videotape that was broadcast on December 13, 2001. Freedom Of Information Act requests attempting to validate the tape’s authenticity filed with the FBI, CIA, Department of Defense, and CENTCOM were met with a refusal to release any records. The FBI’s Most Wanted page still fails to list 9/11 on Bin Laden’s rap sheet because “the FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11,” according to FBI agent Rex Tomb.

The tape was allegedly found in a house in Jalalabad after anti-Taliban forces moved in. It featured a fat Osama laughing and joking about how he’d carried out 9/11. The video was also mistranslated in order to manipulate viewer opinion and featured “Bin Laden” praising two of the hijackers, only he got their names wrong.

This Osama also uses the wrong hand to write with and wears gold rings, a practice considered abhorrent to the Muslim faith.

A German TV Channel One investigation found that the White House’s translation of the video was inaccurate and “manipulative”. One of the experts employed by the program to study the video concluded that the translation was “Very problematic – at the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of Bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic.”

“Prof. Gernot Rotter, professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at the Asia-Africa Institute at the University of Hamburg sums it up: “The American translators who listened to the tapes and transcribed them apparently wrote a lot of things in that they wanted to hear but that cannot be heard on the tape no matter how many times you listen to it.”

In his hit piece, Borchgrave recycles a number of strawman issues that aren’t even embraced by the majority of the 9/11 truth movement in a pathetic effort to equate questioning 9/11 with Holocaust denial, which routinely serves as the last refuge of those who are losing the argument and have to resort to intimidation in an attempt to demonize the target of their attack.

Borchgrave’s motivation for smearing people who question the official version of 9/11 as crazed killers would be something of a mystery if not for the fact that, as a result of his dutiful lifelong propaganda in service of the U.S. military-industrial complex, he was tapped for recruitment by the CIA on two separate occasions and has remained in close contact with the Agency throughout his career as a journalist.

Borchgrave considered his “key, best sources of information” in the world the heads of “intelligence services in Washington, London, Tel Aviv, and Pretoria, each of which I stay in close contact with.”

Borchgrave was also affiliated with CAUSA, an “educational organization” created in New York City in 1980 by members of the Unification Church at the suggestion of Rev. Sun Myung Moon (owner of Borchgrave’s primary employers, UPI and the Washington Times), that sought to propagandize in favor of the Contra leadership during the time when they were being armed and funded by the CIA during the Iran-Contra scandal.

Borchgrave dispensed with any of the tenets of a true journalist more than 30 years ago by acting as an apologist for government deception and disinformation. In 1978, he told the Covert Action Information Bulletin that it was acceptable for authorities to oversee “management of the news” in order to “put the best face possible face” on what they were doing.

Borchgrave infamously peddled a hoax story in a crude attempt to generate support for the war in Iraq in 2003. According to SourceWatch, “Borchgrave was instrumental in laundering a story about a recanting peace-activist who “saw the light” in Iraq before the war. Although Joseph went to Iraq to protest against the impending war in 2003, while in Baghdad, he changed his mind, and now favored the war. It transpires that this was a hoax, there was no “Kenneth Joseph”, and the details can be read here.”

Borchgrave’s TV appearances are handled by Benador Associates, a public relations firm that provided enthusiastic Neo-Con cheerleaders for the war on Iraq during the now exposed Bush-Pentagon military propaganda program.

In May 2006, Benador were disgraced when it emerged that they had planted a fake story that later appeared in the National Post of Canada claiming that “Iran’s government had passed a law requiring Jewish residents to wear a yellow insignia — reminiscent of the policies of Germany’s Nazi regime.” The story was planted with the aid of Iranian exile Amir Taheri, who was later brought to the White House to consult with George W. Bush as an “expert” on the situation in Iraq.

According to the PR group’s founder Eleana Benador, planting fake stories in the media is a noble pursuit. “As much as being accurate is important, in the end it’s important to side with what’s right. What’s wrong is siding with the terrorists,” she told the Nation, who exposed the PR firm in an article entitled “Bunkum From Benador”.

As a result of his doting fealty to the U.S. war machine, some commentators have accused Borchgrave of being an outright disinformation agent, peddling his own brand of bunkum on a regular basis.

Again from SourceWatch, “William Preston and Ellen Ray wrote a history of disinformation in the U.S., and observed: “The greatest assistance in disinformation – especially during the current Administration – is always forthcoming from the Reader’s Digest. In 1977 the Times exposed Digest editor John Barron as having worked hand in glove with the CIA on a book about the KGB. Other fraudulent journalists like Robert Moss, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Daniel James, Claire Sterling, and Michael Ledeen, among others, seem to pick up disinformation themes almost automatically. In fact, coordination between the development of propaganda and disinformation themes by the covert media assets, the overt propaganda machine, and the bevy of puppet journalists is quite calculated. A theme which is floated on one level – a feature item on VOA about Cuba for example – will appear within record time as a lead article in Reader’s Digest, or a feature in a Heritage Foundation report, or a series of “exposes” by Moss and de Borchgrave or Daniel James in some reactionary tabloid like Human Events or the Washington Times or Inquirer. Then they will be called to testify by Senator Denton’s Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, repeating one another’s allegations as “expert witnesses”.

“After that they are given credibility by the “respectable” Cold War publications like the National Review, Commentary, and the New Republic. And finally, since they have repeated the theme so many times it must be true, they are given the opportunity to write Op Ed pieces for the New York Times or the Washington Post.”

The fact that the truth movement is being attacked and equated with terrorists for suggesting high-level government involvement in 9/11 by a man who has more spook connections than James Bond and less journalistic integrity than the average National Inquirer hack should serve as a badge of honor.

Borchgrave’s inane rantings have provided us with the perfect opportunity to expose him and his ilk for exactly what they are – intellectual prostitutes for the establishment with no credibility, no facts, and an agenda completely focused around lies, deception and bias.



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Reaction to Fort Hood: Stupidity Beyond Belief

Richard C. Cook
November 10, 2009

Note: I wrote this article Monday night and feel it was a normal response to a horrendous event. Already, however, anomalies with the official story are coming out. How many shooters were there? How could a lone gunman have such a free hand in attacking a huge facility full of combat veterans? Was Hasan “set-up” to take the blame? We may never know. But something strange is surely going on. IS IT A FRAME-UP?

America, you have brought it on yourself, and there is more to come, much worse, as far as the eye can see.The United States military is engaged in the conquest of the world. This is not a secret. The strategy has been spelled out repeatedly by official Defense Department policy statements (”full-spectrum dominance”), think-tank studies (PNAC), and official government action by the president and Congress (the biggest war budget in human history).

It’s what led to the Reagan Doctrine which was the practice of picking off one small nation at a time. It’s what led George H.W. Bush to invade Panama and Iraq and the Clinton administration to destroy Yugoslavia. 9/11, whoever did it, followed by the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war, was a convenient springboard for the current phase involving Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Next up: Obama’s impending assault on Iran, whether done with U.S. forces or Israeli proxies. The showdown with Russia and China is clearly on the agenda, subject to intense planning by thousands of uniformed and civilian analysts who earn a lot of taxpayer money.

Ft. Hood, Texas, is a place where men and women in uniform get ready to deploy in order to carry out all these plots and schemes. Some of those deployed are killed and never return. Some come back alive, then kill other people or themselves. Who can blame them for serving? They too need to earn enough for themselves and their families to eat. And jobs now are sparse. It’s what’s assuring the military meets its recruitment quotas.

Last week a psychiatrist who had been ordered to Afghanistan went berserk and shot up the place. So happens he was a Muslim, a loner, deeply conflicted, subject to abuse from other soldiers who had been taught by our politicians and media that “Allah” is a dirty word.

The stupidity beyond belief is that anyone is surprised at this, that it should be viewed by anyone as a brand of “terrorism,” or that hundreds or even thousands of people on the government payroll are now “investigating” or even “asking why.” The hand wringing by the media is particularly odious. Reports indicate that if the shooter is convicted and sentenced to death President Obama himself will sign the death warrant.

America, you have brought it on yourself, and there is more to come, much worse, as far as the eye can see.

“Live by the sword; die by the sword.” The Master said it long ago.



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On a New Form of Indentured Servitude

The Confluence
November 10, 2009


UPI Editor Equates 9/11 Truth Activists With Fort Hood Killer </h1> There’s so much going on in the USA that warrants attention these days that it’s hard to know where to start.* But, since I’m an economist I’m going to start here.

The really sad thing about this blurb is that I got it from the Media & Advertising section of the NY Times. It did not come from the op-ed page, it did not come from the business section nor the politics section.* It’s there because Walmart is having to work on its product mix to reflect hunger in those families living below the poverty living in one of the richest countries in the world –The United States–and I am deeply ashamed as a citizen of that country to read this anywhere STILL after all these years.

There’s been an academic discussion about the disconnect between what some of our nation’s statistics tell us is going on and the reality on the ground.* There was a conference this weekend to talk about re-working the way the nation calculates its GDP.* This is extremely important.* Because of globalization, we are most likely over stating our performance in way that is throwing off our policy targets.* We are losing per capita income from the lowest to middle quintiles and we are hemorrhaging well-paying jobs for our most vulnerable citizens.* They are not able to get enough to live on and they are not wealthy enough to buy health care insurance or to pay premium taxes to feed an already over-bloated, costly, and inefficient industry.


The most interesting thing about this is that the argument is that our workers supposedly have become increasingly more productive over the last decade or so. What we might be measuring are impacts from trade instead.* This goes a long way in explaining why the returns on labor (MRP or marginal revenue product) and the returns on capital are becoming so disparate.

Just as more and more working class families fall into the cracks, we also have the latest sham of health care where families now struggling to make ends meet with face a tax if they don’t buy health insurance from overpriced insurance industry plans.* Let me point you back to a piece in Politico for this beauty.

I have to ask what it is wrong with this country?* It seems to pushing its poor to the brink of destruction during a time of when its also funding (through direct funds and also extremely low interest rates) arbitrage profits for the already rich at places like Goldman Sachs.** We might as well just call them all Princes and call ourselves the new corporate serfs because we’re going to be paying for our indentured status for some time under what’s going on right now. We’re tithing for the benefit of huge financial institutions be they investment bankers, insurance, or mortgage brokers. * They’ve become the residents of the neoGothic cathedrals of the 21st century dark ages of America.* We’re back to ‘Still Hungry in America’ and this is ever so wrong.

Oh, meanwhile, via CNN breaking news:


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FBI Concludes Hasan Not Involved in Terrorist Activities or Planning

UPI
November 10, 2009

The FBI said Monday the man accused of the Fort Hood, Texas, massacre came to its attention in December 2008 but was not suspected of “terrorist activities.”

In a statement, the FBI said it took notice of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as part of an unrelated investigation being carried out by a Joint Terrorism Task Force — an FBI-led team made up of FBI agents and investigators from other federal, state and local law enforement agencies.

“Investigators on the JTTF reviewed certain communications between Major Hasan and the subject of that investigation and assessed that the content of those communications was consistent with research being conducted by Major Hasan in his position as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Medical Center,” the statement said. “Because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else derogatory was found, the JTTF concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning.”

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Chicago?s Daley Blames Second Amendment for Fort Hood Shooting

Andrew Marcus
Big Government
November 10, 2009

On Monday, Chicago Mayor Daley blamed the Ft. Hood Jihad Massacre on America’s love of guns!

“Unfortunately, America loves Guns. We love guns to a point where that uh we see devastation on a daily basis. You don’t blame a group.”

The Mayor is using a straw-man argument that conveniently provides him with an opportunity to politicize the terrorist attack as part and parcel with America’s love of guns.

Mayor Daley, and other politicians, like to blame gun violence on the guns themselves because that is so much easier than admitting any inconvenient (politically incorrect) truths which might be revealed if they were to place blame where it belongs.

Kids murdering each other in the inner city? That’s because of guns, not the War On Drugs which turns poor children into black market drug distributing gang members.

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?Devout Muslim? Hasan Frequented Local Strip Club

Jana Winter
Fox News
November 10, 2009

Editor’s note: For some reason suspected al-Qaeda patsies — Mohamed Atta, Majed Moqed, and Marwan Alshehhi come to mind — and who are supposedly devout Muslims like topless clubs and porn shops.

KILLEEN, Texas — The Army psychiatrist authorities say killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at the Fort Hood Army Base Thursday was a recent and frequent customer at a local strip club, employees of the club told FoxNews.com exclusively.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came into the Starz strip club not far from the base at least three times in the past month, the club’s general manager, Matthew Jones, told FoxNews.com. Army investigators building their case against Hasan plan to interview Jones soon.

“The last time he was here, I remember checking his military ID at the door, and he paid his $15 cover and stayed for six or seven hours,” Jones, 37, said.

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Jehadi Déjà Vu: Hasan, 9/11 Muslims, and Strip Clubs

Corruption American Style
November 11, 2009

Major Hasan, the alleged sole gunman in the Fort Hood Massacre, is now being revealed as a frequant customer of a local Texas stripclub, where he somehow found time to visit in between work and his multiple visits to his local Mosque. This, after reports that Major Hasan worshipped at the same Virginia Mosque as some of the 9-11 terrorists, and was allegedly trying to contact Al Quida according to hearsay unnamed sources who are*allegedly connected to the*FBI. And despite how foolish it now looks, all the DHS and the Army seemed concerned with is diversity in wake of the shootings. Now,*Hasan is alleged to have taken another page from the same playbook as the so-called*9-11 terrorists. *Fox News reported the following:

“The Army psychiatrist authorities say killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at the Fort Hood Army Base Thursday was a recent and frequent customer at a local strip club, employees of the club told FoxNews.com exclusively.”*Note-this would normally be a non-story, because what someone does in their private time should be their own business.* But this is not the first time a so-called devout, religious Muslim that has been accused of mass murder by the mainstream media. Why Fox news would think that an employee reporting that Hasan preferred blondes is somehow newsworthy is beyond me, but this appears to be as much as an attempt to show hypocrisy or connect Hasan to the 9-11 terrorists by inference as it is a news story.

Where have we heard this all before? No, not Jimmy Swaggart (but close). The 9-11 highjackers, all supposed devout Muslims, were reported as visiting several strip clubs from California to Florida, and several places in between. The most infamous visit of all was the alleged Pink Pony Stripclub*event by Mohammed Atta and others who are alleged to have been drunk and bragging about what they were about to do. And, of course, at least one account had them leaving a Koran behind in the club. But this was hardly the only case of Muslims terrorists being connected to strip clubs and pornography.

Remember, some of the hallmarks of disinformation is that it smears by mere association and conflicts to cause uncertainty and confusion. Disinformation is best when it is allegedly “leaked” on a day by day basis for that “drip, drip, drip” effect. By the time its over its all you can do to lift your hands over your head and give up, having been washed over by waves and waves of things that conflict yet eventually merge together.* Who knows if this story is factual or created, but the drip, drip, drip effect with all of this information is undeniable.

The History Commons website reported that 9-11 Hijacker Jarrah stayed in Jacksonville, Florida for unknown reasons several times, and frequented a local stripclub there:

“After returning to the US for the fifth time, 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah flies immediately to Jacksonville, Florida, where he stays at the Ramada Inn for a week. He had previously visited Jacksonville (see January 22-26, 2001), as had Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi (see (October 2000)). While in Jacksonville, he frequents Wacko’s strip club. A worker there will later say that the FBI comes to the club after 9/11 to ask questions and show pictures “of the 9/11 terrorists,” and a dancer recognizes Jarrah from a photo line-up.”

History Commons also reproduced an FBI spreadsheet listing many of these activities, including a report that* on July 4th to the 27th, certain highjackers spent hundreds of dollars on pono movies and sex toys, and in the days leading up to the attacks on 9-11, that certain hijackers paid for sex with prostitutes,* In fact, the entire timeline and spreadsheet are replete with examples of alleged contact between 9-11 terrorists and strip clubs or strippers. View the entire timeline by clicking here.

In fact, investigative journalist Daniel Hopsickler did a detailed investigation of the activities of Atta and the other terrorists and they stays in Florida, and even produced a video and book on the subject.

The Muslim terrorist meets stripper theme is one that is hardly new, the thing that many Hollywood subplots and even a novel titled, “The Unknown Terrorist” by Tasmanian born Richard Flanagan, and a novel based on a terrorist conducting research in a stripclub called “The Garden of the Last Days” by Andre Dubus, III. Regardless, one thing is for sure, the story on Hasan and the Fort Hood massacre is cut from the same cloth as the story behind the 9-11 Muslim terrorists that was fed to the public following 9-11. Whether this is the result of the same flawed, hypocritical Jihadi activities, or the byproduct of a clandestine intelligence operation gone amuk, only time will tell. Having*close connections to those*that were in crypto-*intelligence or Marine special forces, I know that life is rarely black and white,*and*is sometimes shades of gray.*And sometimes an operation is so in-your-face that they will leave an obvious calling card for those who wish to connect the dots between different events. It’s too soon to tell, but things still do not add up.

And this 9-11 inference is so obvious that even some of the hard core conservative forums and blogs have put 2 and 2 together, however, it never occurs to these people that this could be simply the same card being played again by whoever wants to exploit this event and fear of muslim terrorists. At least they see what we all are seeing.

Now it appears that one arm of the federal government is not shaking hands with the other. Which creates even more confusion. Stay tuned. The more they try and paint this as lone gunman tragedy, the more it looks more and more clandestine.



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Brady Campaign Exploits Fort Hood Tragedy

Gun Owners of America
November 11, 2009

The anti-gun zealots at the Brady Campaign will not let one tragedy go by without exploiting the victims to further their gun control aims, and the recent shooting at Fort Hood is no exception.

Sen. Richard Burr.When Brady head Paul Helmke heard of the tragedy at Fort Hood, he says, “we were in the midst of planning a response to the latest dangerous legislative proposal from the gun lobby in the United States Senate–language to automatically restore access to guns to veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice Department as ‘mentally incapacitated’ or ‘mentally incompetent.’”

Actually, the legislation in question, S. 669, would only safeguard two of the most fundamental of American’s Constitutional rights: due process of law and the right to keep and bear arms

Since 1999, over 100,000 U.S. military veterans have been stripped of their Second Amendment rights on the basis of psychiatrists’ opinions for issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).*

(Incidentally, the alleged Ft. Hood shooter was an Army psychiatrist, one of the very people in a position to deem others too troubled to possess a firearm.)*

S. 669, sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), simply requires that a veteran cannot lose his or her gun rights “without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such person is a danger to himself or herself or others.”*

In other words, the bill would put an end to the practice of psychiatrists subjecting veterans to a lifetime gun ban.* Helmke and the Brady Bunch apparently have as much respect for the Fifth Amendment (No person shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”) as they do for the Second.

Helmke continues: “America has seen an epidemic of horrific gun violence at churches and synagogues, workplaces, health clubs, high schools, universities, police stations and now Army bases.* This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified army base, ought to convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places.* Enough is enough.”

There have, indeed, been a number of violent acts at places of worship and other locations.* But guess what?* Many of these places are gun free zones.* There is a federal “gun free schools zones” law; many states prohibit firearms in churches; law-abiding adults can carry concealed firearms in 48 states, but are prohibited from carrying a gun for self-defense in most state universities.

While it may have come as a surprise to many, the military creates its own disarmament zones.* After the Ft. Hood tragedy, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone reminded reporters, “[W]e don’t carry weapons here, this is our home.”* Military bases are for the most part gun free zones, where only military police and other security personnel are allowed to carry firearms.*

The government cannot legislate where a criminal attack will occur.* It could be a school, a hospital, church, or even an Army base.* Various levels of government have only succeeded in producing a morass of mandatory victim zones.

Helmke got one thing right; “Enough is enough.”* Criminal safety zone laws should be repealed immediately, starting with the dangerous anti-gun policies on military installations.*



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Bill O’Reilly: We can’t kill all the Muslims

Raw Story
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

In an interview with Lt. Col Ralph Peterson Tuesday following the memorial for Ft. Hood shooting victims, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly declared, “we can’t kill all the Muslims.”

“It’s clear that the problem is Islam,” Peterson quipped. “Where are the Southern Baptist suicide bombers? Where are the Methodist marketplace massacre types?”

“It was an act of terror,” O’Reilly remarked. “Let me play devil’s advocate here. Barack Obama wants to win hearts and minds in the Middle East, in the Muslim world, which is a good thing. And you know that. As a soldier, we can’t kill all the Muslims.

He added, “So we want to win the hearts and minds of as many good, moderate Muslims as we can.”

This video is from Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, broadcast Nov. 10, 2009.





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Fort Hood Fear-Mongering, Enabled By Media, Breeds Strange Bedfellows

Jason Linkins
Huffington Post
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Yesterday afternoon, Newsbusters plugged this story about ABC News’s report via Brian Ross “that suspected Fort Hood shooter Nidal Halik Hasan tried to contact people connected to the terrorist group al Qaeda” with some intriguing language: “ABC reports story that many in media wish wasn’t true.” That raised a rather obvious question: Who out there, in the media or otherwise, was wishing that it was true? Doesn’t it seem reasonable to wish that the Hasan shootings had nothing to do with al Qaeda at all?

Well, of course, there were people who were hoping against hope that Hasan was an al Qaeda-endorsed terrorist agent, and in a well-put essay on Gawker, John Cook identifies them: “terrorists and wingnuts.”