Secret Govt. Bioterror Agency to have no accountability or liability

November 6, 2005

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government06 November 2005http://www.legitgov.org/

All links to articles as summarized below are available here:

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

Frist urges germ spies --Bill would cloak war on bioterror 05 Nov 2005 A bill moving rapidly through the Senate would create a secretive national research center to respond to bioterrorism threats and natural [and manmade] disease outbreaks. The bill, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), would shift the main responsibility for developing bioterrorism countermeasures out of the Department of Homeland Security and into a new Biological Advanced Research and Development Agency in the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency, commonly referred to as BARDA, would be given a first-year budget of $1 billion and some unusually strong powers. It would have authority to shield drug manufacturers from liability lawsuits in the event

a drug used to counteract a bioterrorism event or disease outbreak caused death or injury. It also would be granted a blanket exemption from the federal Freedom of Information Act. http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

Bird Flu Scam to Cost Us Plenty By John Hanchette 25 Oct 2005 "...[P]roposed legislation will strip Americans of the right to a trial by jury if they are harmed by either an experimental or licensed drug or vaccine they are forced by the government to take whenever federal health officials declare a public health emergency... ...Fisher [barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center] points out, the government, under this bill, "could force all citizens to use these drugs and vaccines while absolving everyone connected from any responsibility for injuries and deaths which occur" in their wake.

CLG Action!! List of Senators pushing for Senate Bill 1873 --Write and Call now! Please take action and forward this action to other listserves. http://www.legitgov.org/action_biodefense_pandemic_vaccine_act_201005.html

The FBI's Secret Scrutiny --In Hunt for Terrorists, Bureau Examines Records of Ordinary Americans 06 Nov 2005 A Connecticut case affords a rare glimpse of an exponentially growing practice of domestic surveillance under the USA Patriot Act, which marked its fourth anniversary on Oct. 26. "National security letters," created in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, originated as narrow exceptions in consumer privacy law, enabling the FBI to review in secret the customer records of suspected foreign agents. The Patriot Act, and Bush administration guidelines for its use, transformed those letters by permitting clandestine scrutiny of U.S. residents and visitors who are not alleged to be terrorists or spies.

Former Powell aide links Cheney's office to abuse directives 03 Nov 2005 Vice pResident Dick Cheney's office was responsible for directives that led to U.S. soldiers' abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a former top State Department official said Thursday. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, then the secretary of state, told National Public Radio he had traced a trail of memos and directives authorizing questionable detention practices up through Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's office directly to Cheney's staff.

Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Triggered by Cheney 04 Nov 2005 Vice pResident Dick Cheney's office triggered abuse of Iraqi prisoners with word that filtered down to soldiers in the field that interrogations were not providing needed intelligence, a former senior State Department official has alleged. Lawrence Wilkerson, who was Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff during pResident Bush's first term, said Thursday, ''It was clear to me there that there was a visible audit trail from the vice president's office through the secretary of defense down to the commanders in the field.''

Cheney Seeks CIA Exemption to Torture Ban 05 Nov 2005 Vice pResident Dick Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to Republican senators this week to allow CIA exemptions to a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects in U.S. custody, according to participants in a closed-door session.

UN demands access to Guantanamo detainees --UN human rights experts will not travel to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba next month unless they are allowed to talk freely with prisoners and guards. The UN's special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, says after a year and a half, the US Government finally agreed to the visit. However, the Government has restricted it to one day and has yet to authorise meetings with prisoners.

Suspicion over Thai 'black ops' site 05 Nov 2005 Thailand's official denial that it is housing a secret interrogation centre where 'al-Qaeda' and other 'terrorist' suspects are being held incommunicado has been met with open disbelief. Suspicion has fallen on a remote Voice of America relay station near the north-eastern Thai city of Udon Thani, and rumours - all so far unconfirmed - abound that it has been used as a front for "black" or "secret" operations.

Europe puts heat on US over camps 05 Nov 2005 Pressure is growing on the US and its new allies in eastern Europe amid allegations that the CIA has been interrogating [torturing] 'al-Qaeda' suspects at former Soviet camps in Poland and Romania.

Iraq war has exposed us to terror at home, says Meyer 05 Nov 2005 Britain's former ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, delivers a damaging critique of Tony Blair's approach to the war in Iraq in an interview in the Guardian today.

US launches new offensive in Iraq --'Operation Steel Curtain' 05 Nov 2005 Several thousand US and Iraqi troops have begun a new operation on Iraq's Syrian border against resistance fighters from the 'al-Qaeda in Iraq' [?!?] group. [Where is 'Operation Arm the Left?']

US$85m '7-star' hotel set for Baghdad's Green Zone 05 Nov 2005 No, no, says Thair Feely, chairman of the Iraqi Commission for Investment, emphatically denying rumors that a five-star hotel is about to be built in the center of Baghdad. Then, drawing out the words for effect, he adds: "We are building a 7-star hotel!" The government [u.S. taxpayers] is donating the land but providing no funds. The US$85 million (HK$663 million) hotel is being financed by an Iraqi businessman whose identity is being kept secret for security reasons.

US should repay Iraq for Halliburton work: audit 05 Nov 2005 The United States should reimburse Iraq for $208 million in apparent overcharges paid to a Halliburton Co. subsidiary [Kellogg, Brown and Root], an U.N. watchdog agency said on Saturday.

U.N.: Shoddy work, overcharges merit $208M refund 06 Nov 2005 A U.N. auditing board has recommended that the United States reimburse Iraq up to $208 million for contracting work carried out by the U.S.-based Kellogg, Brown & Root, in the past two years.

Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Suspicions 06 Nov 2005 A high Qaeda [CIAduh] official in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush regime began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained 'Al Qaeda' members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newly declassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document. The document, an intelligence report from February 2002, said it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, "was intentionally misleading the debriefers" in making claims about Iraqi support for Al Qaeda's work with illicit weapons.

Source of Forged Niger-Iraq Uranium Documents Identified 04 Nov 2005 Italy's spymaster identified an Italian occasional spy named Rocco Martino on Thursday as the disseminator of forged documents that described efforts by Iraq to buy uranium ore from Niger for a nuclear weapons program, three lawmakers said Thursday. ...Senator Massimo Brutti, a member of a parliamentary committee that oversees secret services, told reporters that Italian intelligence had warned Washington in early 2003 that the Niger-Iraq documents were false.

Iran offers shares to the poor 05 Nov 2005 The Iranian government has approved plans to offer share options to low-income families, the country's official news agency IRNA has reported. Under the plan, millions of Iranian families could have the chance to buy shares in state-owned companies.

Unrest Reaches Paris; 28 Cars Torched 06 Nov 2005 Ten nights of urban unrest that brought thousands of arson attacks on cars, nursery schools [?!?] and other targets from the Mediterranean to the German border reached Paris where at least 28 cars were burned overnight in the French capital, government officials said Sunday.

Schools burn as Paris riots enter 10th night 06 Nov 2005 Two schools have been burned down in Paris and hundreds of cars set on fire in cities across France in a 10th night of rioting in poor suburban areas. About 68 people have been arrested after the renewed violence.

Suspects may have plotted to blow up White House, US landmarks: magazine 05 Nov 2005 US and British authorities are investigating whether three suspects recently arrested in London were plotting to blow up the White House and other landmarks in the United States capital, a US magazine reported.

Some Debate Whether Rove Should Retain Top-Secret Clearance [some debate whether Rove should be shot by firing squad or hanged - for treason.] 05 Oct 2005 An intelligence analyst temporarily lost his top-secret security clearance because he faxed his resume using a commercial machine... But in the White House, where top advisor Karl Rove is under federal investigation for his role in the exposure of a covert CIA officer, the longtime advisor to Dictator Bush continues to enjoy full access to government secrets.

Bush Orders White House Staff to Take Ethics Refresher [?!?] Class [*Puke*] 05 Nov 2005 Dictator George W. Bush ordered the White House staff to take refresher classes on ethics rules in response to the indictment of Vice pResident Dick Cheney's top aide on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. [Nah, let's just get the treason trials going - with all possible penalties for treason on the plate.]

Bush feels hand of God as poll ratings slump 05 Nov 2005 America's faith in George Bush and in his decision to go to war in Iraq has plummeted in the wake of a White House intelligence scandal that went to court this week, according to a new poll. As the pResident encountered violent protests in Argentina at the start of his Latin America tour yesterday, a survey published by the Washington Post and ABC News showed that public confidence was eroding rapidly back home.

GOP admits it erred in challenging some voters' registration 05 Nov 2005 (WA) Republicans admitted Friday they made numerous mistakes in challenging the registrations of 1,944 King County voters last week.

Gore did win and it does matter--as Kerry also won, and they will steal the next one too Post on salon.com by a CLG member 05 Nov 2005 "The lessons of 2000 and 2004, years in which presidential elections were stolen by the Republican party for their candidate (Bush), are not for Democrats to learn in order to be better at theft prevention. Rather, they are lessons for all of us as citizens to learn, in order to get prepared for seizing state power if power is first stolen from us by the right wing. We must be ready to seize the power of the state when the next election is stolen, if not before. To this end, the left must get over its taboo about weapons and must begin to arm itself. Liberals will do nothing except wave peace flags till Kingdom Come. But until the liberals become leftists, leftists without phobias about force, they will be useless in the real struggle for power. Power must be

taken from those who would and are destroying the world. Such power is not possible to take by parliamentary means, as these means are now being abolished. The process of elections has been completely co-opted by corporate rightists, and they will not yield it without being forced to. The time to act indeed is now. But the act we must prepare for is revolution, not some pansy liberal b.s."

Court Nominee Has Paper Trail Businesses Like 05 Nov 2005 Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. has reliably favored big-business litigants as he has pushed the federal appeals court in Philadelphia in a conservative direction. His extensive paper trail of 15 years of opinions reveals a jurist deeply skeptical of claims against large corporations.

Spending Inquiry for Top Official on Broadcasting 05 Nov 2005 Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, is the subject of an inquiry into accusations of misuse of federal money and the use of phantom or unqualified employees, officials involved in that examination said on Friday.

The Case of Behe vs. Darwin 05 Nov 2005 As he took the witness stand in a packed courtroom, ready to dissect Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, biochemist [Reichwing fraud] Michael J. Behe looked confident and relaxed... Isn't it true, an attorney asked, that Behe's critique of Darwin and support for intelligent design, a rival belief about the origins of life, have little scientific support? Yes, Behe conceded. Isn't it also true, the attorney pressed, that faculty members in Behe's department at Lehigh University have rejected his writings as unscientific? Behe grudgingly answered yes. [Ok, then why does this f*cking *charlatan* have a job *teaching* on the university level?]

EPA Creates "Intelligence" Unit In New Reorganization — Office of Children's Health Protection Axed (PEER Press Release) 03 Nov 2005 "In its first restructuring under Administrator Stephen Johnson, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is creating a new 'national security and intelligence' operation, according to an agency email released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA would eliminate the Office of Children’s Health Protection and bury its function inside an environmental education bureau."

Sentries in U.S. Seek Early Signs of the Avian Flu 06 Nov 2005 With the country waiting nervously for avian flu to arrive, catching wild birds is no hobby. Hundreds of ornithologists, veterinarians, amateur bird-watchers, park rangers and others being recruited by the National Wildlife Health Center to join a surveillance effort along the major American migratory flyways... http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

FluWrap: Three new Asian outbreaks 04 Nov 2005 Avian influenza affected three Asian countries Friday, with confirmed outbreaks in China and Vietnam and indications of an outbreak in Japan.

[05 Nov lead stories:] US launches offensive near Syria 05 Nov 2005 US and Iraqi forces have launched an offensive along the border with Syria called Operation Steel Curtain [?!?] involving some 3500 troops, the US military said today.

U.S. Should Repay Millions to Iraq For K.B.R. Contract Work: Audit 05 Nov 2005 An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations recommended yesterday that the United States repay as much as $208 million to the Iraqi government for contracting work in 2003 and 2004 assigned to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary. The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board said it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly.

Iraq war 'fuelled terrorism': ex-British ambassador 04 Nov 2005 Britain's involvement in the Iraq war has "partly radicalised and fuelled" the rise of home-grown terrorism, London's former ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, says.

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