By Rep. Ron
PaulJanuary 6 & 13, 2003
January 20, 2003
January 27, 2003
A patriotic rebellion against the misnamed "Patriot" Act is gaining momentum throughout the nation.
Efforts to pass legislation negating the misnamed "Patriot" Act are underway in more than 60 cities, towns and localities around the country, according to a wide range of reports. This is in addition to the 13 that have already passed such measures.
Resistance to the terrorism law on constitutional grounds brought together unlikely political bedfellows from the American Civil Liberties Union to such "right-wingers" as former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.). They join together in this fight as enthusiastically as they oppose each other on such other fundamental issues as gun laws.
Despite glaring unconstitutional provisions, the Patriot Act passed 357-66 in the House and 98-1 in the Senate in the panicky days that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Federal snoops can now monitor your church, political and social activities, demand of a librarian the titles of books you check out, eavesdrop on privileged conversations between attorney and client—all without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, in the name of fighting terrorism.
A librarian or any keeper of public records can be prosecuted for telling you that federal agents are snooping on you. They can search for and seize your private papers without probable cause to suspect criminal activity in direct violation of the constitutional protections against "unreasonable search and seizure."
Hundreds of Americans and foreign visitors are being held in prison indefinitely, without being charged. They are denied access to counsel and a speedy trial.
The United States is also sending suspected "terrorists" to foreign countries like Egypt and Jordan which engage in torture in a brutal effort to glean information on and insight into so-called global terrorism.
Denver originally passed a civil liberties resolution in March but after the ACLU discovered that local police had been collecting secret files on protesters' activities, the city council passed an even stronger measure.
Denver's resolution is typical of that of other cities, towns and counties:
"Whereas many people throughout communities across the nation, including Denver, are concerned that certain provisions of the USA Patriot Act threaten civil rights and liberties guaranteed under the United States Constitution; . . . whereas the city and county of Denver has been, and remains, committed to the protection of civil rights and liberties for all people as expressed in the United States and the Colorado constitution. . . .
"Now, therefore, be it resolved . . . that the city and county of Denver affirms the following principles: every person has the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, arrests may not be made without establishing reasonable suspicion or probable cause that a crime has been committed, every person has the right to equal protection under the law and the right not to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, and every person has the right to free speech and freedom of association under the First Amendment."
The council instructed the clerk of the city and county to send copies of the resolution to President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Such resolutions typically direct local law enforcement officials to uphold constitutional rights to due process, counsel and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures "even if requested or authorized to infringe upon these rights by federal law enforcement under new powers granted by the USA Patriot Act or orders from the executive branch."
New Haven, Conn., aldermen passed a resolution that declared
"to the extent legally possible, no city employee or department
shall officially assist or voluntarily cooperate with investigations,
interrogations or arrest procedures, public or clandestine, that
are judged to be in violation of an individual's civil rights
or civil liberties." The movement is nonpartisan, broad-based
and growing.
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A protest organizer and former U.S. veteran explains why he believes peace activists acting as human shields in Iraq constitute the most effective way to oppose an impending aggressive war.
Day by day, the latest headlines tell us that we are moving ever closer to war with Iraq. So many people around the world are ashamed and outraged by this prospect and yet feel powerless to make their voices heard. Large rallies for peace have been held in cities around the globe.
But the bulletins quickly return to the war drums beating ever faster for what must be one of the most choreographed and longest-planned wars in history.
Those who suffer most will be the innocent men, women and children in Iraq. Their crime? Simply being the powerless citizens of an oil-rich nation with a leader who mo longer fulfills the needs of the western powers that supported the armed him in the past.
We need not be powerless.
What would happen if several thousand Western citizens migrated to Iraq to stand side by side with the Iraqi people?
Along with a few hundred people, I will be going to Iraq to act as a human shield in the interests of protecting human life. We will join our fellow citizens of the world in Iraq to bear witness for peace and justice.
We will run the risk of being maimed or killed - but it is simply the same risk that innocent Iraqis will themselves face. I would rather die in defense of justice and peace than "prosper" in complicity with mass murder and war.
This is not about supporting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, as our governments did in the past. It is about saving the lives of those in our human family. We will be expressing to the Iraqi people the reality that most people in the West do not support this criminal war.
We will bring home to the West the human cost of war because, unfortunately, the death and destruction faced daily by countless millions of our fellow human beings seems somehow an unfathomable abstraction unless Western lives are at stake.
For me, this is also an act of personal penance.
In 1989, at the age of 19, I committed the most ignorant act of my life: I joined the United States Marine Corps.
In 1991, I went beyond ignorance into criminal participation in a war against the Iraqi people, which ultimately included the use of depleted uranium against the civilian population.
My reward as an "American hero" was to be used by Bush Sr. as a human guinea pig along with several hundred thousand other heroes.
We have still not been told the full story about Gulf War Syndrome or how many of my fellow soldiers died as a result, but we do know the value our own leaders put on our lives.
When a nation's leaders do not even respect the lives of their own sons and daughters, the enemy will never enter into the realm of consideration.
The hundreds of thousands killed by sanctions against Iraq are seen as a price worth paying. The human costs of another war in Iraq barely seem to register with our political leaders.
But, as I understand it, we, the "citizens," are responsible for the actions of our governments.
It is we who are privileged to live in so-called democracies and so we are collectively guilty for that we allow to be done in our name, to both the civilian population of Iraq and to others around the world.
Ignorance is no defense.
The existence of other tyrants - worse or not - is no defense.
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The practice known as dowsing is not new. but the work of two scientists may bring the mysterious method of using simple wire or wood tools to find water and other underground resources and structures into the mainstream.
Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported on efforts to locate tunnels being dug by North Koreans underneath the demilitarized Zone by employing a dowser using simple wire rods. The tone indicated that the reporter wasn't convinced it was useful.
As reported in Christopher Bird's book, The Divining Hand, this art was demonstrated in 1913 when Armand Vire conducted a test in connection with the second congress on experimental Psychology.
Vire had special knowledge of a vast network of quarries under Paris and a unique map of them safely locked up. In testing a number of dowsers, he found that several of them were able to find underground structures that only he knew about. One of the individuals actually found a previously unknown structure.
Vire published the results in an official report to the French Academy of Sciences in La Nature.
He stated: "Convictions as firmly rooted as mine are not given up without excruciation. but the facts stared me in the face and I was forced to proclaim, urbi et orgi that the dowsing ability was real and there was just cause to take dowsing seriously."
Vire's opinions were shared by some of France's most eminent scientists including Berthelot, d'Srsenval and Deslandres, developer of the spectroheliograph, who became president of the French Academy of Sciences commission to study dowsers.
At the same time Charles Richet, a Nobel laureate, declared: "We must accept dowsing as fact. it is useless to work up experiments merely to prove it exists. It exists. What is needed is its development."
More recently on May 12, 1968, at Camp Lejuene, N.C., six professional dowsers, led by Louis Matacia, demonstrated to Marine officers at the counter Guerrilla Warfare Command that a simple wire hanger could be used to make a device capable of locating tunnels, hidden caches of weapons and supplies and also hidden personnel and trip wires.
A Marine colonel started out be saying that dowsing was no better than witchcraft and the demonstration would be a waste of time.
Matacia met the challenge by determining the direction in which a howitzer on the marine base was pointing and how far away it was. After this he had the group's rapt attention. At the end of the day all of participants were able to get a dowsing reaction even though statistics indicated that only one-thirdof all people can dowse.
Knowledge of a previous Matacia demonstration for the Marines had spread to vietnam. The Observer, published by U.S. Forces in Saigon, reported on March 13, 1967, that "Matacis's rudders" (dowsing rods) were used by Marines during the final three days of Operation Independence, three miles west of An Hoa.
Hanson Baldwin of the New York Times reported that the C.O. of the 13th Marine Battalion, 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendelton had demonstrated dowsing techniques to a group of officers. The officer himself said he had tried the coat hanger rods and found a tunnel whose location had been unknown to him.
He said that, despite thae fact that Matacia's rudders had been demonstrated at both Quantico and Pendelton, they had yet to be officially adopted by the Marine Corps but their use was spreading.
Marine engineers at Pendelton swore by them even though they know no more about how or why they worked than did academics or intelligence experts.
One of Matacia's attempts to generate interest resulted in a letter from the Office of the Chief of Research and Development, Department of the Army.
It had run its own investigation of Matacia's technique and found it unacceptable because "there is a low probability of making useable interpretations of the rods in an unfamiliar situation." and because "confirming criteria cannot be established to inform the operator that the method or the rods themselves are functioning properly or accurately."
Ultimately the commanding general, Marine Corps Development and Educational command, decided, in essence, that since the scientific basis of dowsing could not be determined it was impractical to formulate doctrine, organizations and techniques in the form of military publications.
Therefore, the corps would have no interest until it could be conclusively proven that the average Marine could employ the technique with reliable results.
Most scientists have great difficulty believing that dowsers can find underground sources of water, oil other minerals and tunnels because there is no accepted theoretical basis for the art.
However, Dr. Zaboj V. Harvalik and Dr. Elizabeth Jurka have provided pieces of the puzzle which may, ultimately, make it acceptable to the scientific community.
Harvalik, a former member of the von Braun team, a physicist and former advisor to the U.S. Army's advanced Materials Concepts Agency, has concluded, after extensive investigation, that human beings are living magnetometers with incredible sensitivity, able to react to a magnetic gradient change of millimicrogauss. He characterizes dowsers as biophysical "magnetomer-gradiometers."
He has also found by experiment that the kidney area and the area of the pituitary gland are important to the dowsing function. If they are shielded from magnetic fields, dowsers cannot dowse.
Jurka, a psychiatrist who has studied the brain waves of a wide variety of people, found that dowsers are unusual in that, when operating, all four levels of brain waves were active. In simple terms their brains were functioning as if the dowsers were awake and asleep at the same time.
Harvalik believes that most people can learn to dowse but they have to learn how and then practice - lot.
The American society of Dowsers sponsors both beginners and
advanced classes. For information write P.O. Box 24, Danville,
Vt. 05828 or visit the web site at www.dowsers.org.
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There is a growing threat of terrorist attacks on the high seas as the United states prepares for war, experts warn.
Experts at a Washington seminar warned Dec. 30 that terrorists, spurred on by U.S. civilian war hawks' plans for waging an aggressive war on Iraq, are likely to attack on the high seas.
They endorsed as likely a scenario put forward by United Press International:
"Three supertankers, each holding about 2 million barrels of crude oil, are rammed by several small speedboats armed with explosives while traveling through these major ‘choke points': the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance of the Persian Gulf; the Bab el-Mandab - the strait linking the Red sea and the Gulf of Aden; and the Strait of Malacca - the gateway to Asia and the Pacific."
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda would claim responsibility, they said, and the fallout from such massive strikes would be obvious: oil exports destined for the United states, Europe and Japan would come to a virtual halt, generating increased transportation costs, stockholders' loss of confidence and huge increases in insurance fees.
Many of the experts predicted more massive attacks of 9-11 proportions but others expected an interim of low-level attacks.
"My sense is that all Qaeda will refrain from ‘big ticket' attacks for a while," said Col. Gary Anderson (USMC ret.), director of the National Center for Unconventional Thought. "However, I'd predict some second-string suicide efforts against U.S. targets on a low level."
"I am concerned about attacks on U.S. power or chemical industries," said David Siegrist of Countering Biological Terrorism. "Either could be mounted by a disrupted terrorist infrastructure and still be dramatic."
"One concern that I have is the continued vulnerability of U.S. citizens, facilities and assets overseas," said Dr. Stephen Prior, director of the National Security Health Policy Center.
Panelists included Michael Swetnam, chairman of the Potomac
Institute for Policy Studies; Ambassador Philip Wilcox, Foundation
for Middle East Peace; Ambassador Richard Kauzlarich, United States
Institute for Peace; Steven Hildreth, Congressional Research Service
and Ambassador Paul Bremer, Marsh Crisis Consulting.
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As American Free Press goes to press, nearly 26 localities have either passed or are in the process of enacting measures opposing the USA Patriot Act which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the president last year.
Resolutions have already passed in Berkeley, Calif, Santa Cruz, Calif., Sebastopol, Calif., Oakland, Calif., Flagstaff, Ariz., Denver, Colo., Boulder, Colo., four cities in Massachusetts, Ann Arbor, Mich., Santa Fe, N.M., Eugene, Ore., Burlington, Vt., and Madison, Wis.
Efforts are currently under way to rally support for such resolutions in dozens of other cities, including Detroit, New York, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Carrboro, N.C. Alachua County and Portland, Ore., according to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a Florence Mass.-based organization that supports "repeal of parts of the USA Patriot Act and Executive Orders that infringe on Constitutional rights."
Votes on similar resolutions scheduled for Hanuary and February in Davis and Fairfax, Calif., and New Paltz, N.Y.
Write P.O. Box 60591, Florence, MA 01062, phone (423) 582-0110
or visit the web site at www.bordc.org
.
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There have been some fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights enacted by the Bush administration following passage of the USA Patriot Act.
* Freedom of Association - The federal government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist so-called "terror" investigation.
* Freedom of Information - The federal government has limited access to public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests for information.
* Freedom of Speech - The federal government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.
* Right to Legal Representation - The federal government can monitor federal prison conversations between attorneys and their clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of involvement in terrorist activities.
* Freedom from Unreasonable Searches - The federal government can violate Americans' fourth Amendment rights by searching and seizing papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
* Right to a Speedy and Public Trial - The federal government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
* Right to Liberty - Americans may be jailed on secret charges
charged and denied access to evidence or to witnesses who testify
against them.
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Despite Bush officials' claims, the U.S. military lacks the manpower and materiel to tackle war on two fronts.
While Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush are assuring America that the military is capable of fighting both Iraq and North Korea at the same time, experts are becoming increasingly worried.
A retired Air Force intelligence officer, who was assigned for years to the top secret National Security Agency, told American Free Press that Rumsfeld is badly in need of "doing his homework."
"When President Bill Clinton was in the White House, the U.S. military was vastly downsized," the retired officer warned. "These are not the days of the Ronald Reagan presidency, when America was at the height of its strength.
"Many military analysts are worried about America needing to take on Iraq and North Korea at the same time," he said. "Sure, we can nuke them both into oblivion. but does America want to start a global nuclear war?"
The retired officer, who spent considerable time with U.S. forces in south Korea, said that, short of using nuclear weapons, it would not be easy to stop a North Korean invasion of South Korea.
"The North Koreans are so massed along the 38th Parallel, which separates the two countries, that U.S. and South Korean forces combined will have difficulty halting an invasion from the North," he said.
Another problem that Rumsfeld and company are not discussing is the possibility of a third war erupting at the same time.
"If the Bush administration is not taking seriously Red Chinese plans to attack Taiwan, they are not facing the realities of our time," he said.
"The Red Chinese are building their forces to a point where they will one day soon be a serious threat to the U.S. military under the best of circumstances," he continued. "With U.S. forces tied down in the Middle East with Iraq and with North Korea in Asia, just where are we going to get the naval battle groups, particularly carriers, to halt a Red Chinese invasion of Taiwan across the Formosa Straits?"
"We simply don't have that kind of military numbers," he said.
"Our Navy is not large enough," he said. "It has been reduced by about a half from the Reagan years by Clinton.
‘The Air Force is flying old, overtaxed aircraft and the
Army has also been reduced by abut half and now heavily dependent
upon Special Operations type of troops to fight small wars,"
he said.
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There is compelling evidence that U.S. authorities had specific advance warning about 9-11 and other forthcoming terrorist attacks on American soil—but failed to act.
Federal officials are trying to intimidate an individual who—six months prior to the 9-11 tragedy—had provided, through multiple venues, early warning, based on inside information, that terrorists reputedly connected to al Qaeda were planning massive attacks on American soil.
On Jan. 8, high-ranking FBI official Ted Gunderson (ret.) visited American Free Press headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington and provided detailed documentary material that unveils a remarkable series of events.
Gunderson has compiled evidence demonstrating beyond any question that the FBI is now engaged in a clear-cut effort to cover up its foreknowledge of specific allegations about then-impending terrorist attacks of the type that happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
Gunderson's charges are particularly powerful precisely because of who he (Gunderson) happens to be: a 27-year FBI veteran who capped his career in the bur eau as senior special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office of the FBI.
In Los Angeles, Gunderson had over 700 people under his command and operated a $22 million budget.
Previously he served as special agent-in-charge of FBI offices in such major cities as Memphis and Dallas.
Following his retirement, Gunderson served as security coordinator for the Pan American Games, appointed by the U.S. attorney general, Griffin Bell, to the post, and later was a consultant to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Committee and the California Narcotics Authority.
Today, Gunderson operates an international security consulting agency based in Los Angeles. He is also a correspondent for AFP.
Gunderson has his own "inside" knowledge of the al Qaeda network going back to the days when purported al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was still officially allied with the United States.
As AFP reported on Jan. 7, 2002, Gunderson met bin Laden in the spring of 1986 when bin Laden—traveling under the name "Tim Osman"—visited the United States under State Department and CIA sponsorship for the purpose of securing arms and aid for Afghan rebels fighting against the Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan.
Thus having forged contacts with persons connected to bin Laden's al Qaeda network, Gunderson was well positioned to learn—in the wake of the 9-11 attacks—stunning information pointing toward negligence by U.S. authorities, including the FBI, in failing to respond to early warnings about possible terrorist attacks.
Here's the remarkable story that Gunderson provided to AFP, based on information he has gleaned from several sources, including, most specifically, the source that AFP has chosen to dub "Paul Revere":
As early as February of 2001—seven months before 9-11—"Paul Revere" (hereinafter "Revere") provided information outlining his contact with sources inside an Islamic group called "the Base" (al Qaeda) and indicated that he, "Revere," had learned that this group was planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
In his letters, copies of which are in the hands of AFP, "Revere" said he could provide the specific name of a certain individual in the "Base" who:
• Was coordinating forthcoming terrorist attacks on the United States;
• Had information on the movement of Soviet-made shoulder-fired missiles into the United States;
• Was coordinating forthcoming skyjackings;
• Was coordinating bombings and espionage; and
• Knew the identities of "sleepers" (i.e. deep cover, long-term foreign agents) operating in the United States and overseas.
In his letters, "Revere" stated that he would not divulge specific details unless the U.S. government granted immunity from prosecution to his sources.
"Revere" indicated that his sources could also furnish information concerning the handling of false identifications and passports for the group.
Next, "Revere" sent a certified letter to a member of Congress in an effort to expedite the reporting of this information to the appropriate authorities. AFP has a copy of this letter.
Six days later, one of the attorneys who had received the letter from "Revere" sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, with a copy to Attorney General John Ashcroft, advising that he had received information concerning an imminent terrorist attack on the United States.
The attorney specifically requested that an agency other than the FBI obtain the details from "Revere." AFP also has a copy of this letter.
One day later, "Revere" made contact with a number of individuals—the two aforementioned attorneys and two additional attorneys, all of whose names are also known to AFP—as well as John O'Neill, the FBI terrorism expert who was known for being keen on the capture of bin Laden.
Subsequent to the contact from "Revere," O'Neill re tired from the FBI and assumed the post as chief of security for the World Trade Center just one day before the Sept. 11, 2001, mass murders. Tragically, O'Neill died in the World Trade Center attack.
Following 9-11, numerous sources in the mainstream media indicated that O'Neill had been disillusioned with the FBI's failure to pursue bin Laden.
REVERE'S WARNINGS
In his conversations with O'Neill and others, "Revere" advised that he had learned that a shipment of 37 Soviet-made Strela-3 and Igla-9 missiles had been shipped from Bulgaria to Colombia and thence to Canada, destined for Thabet Aviation in Quebec City.
One of the attorneys passed this specific information on to the office of the FBI and to the U.S. attorney in a major Midwestern city, the location of which is known to AFP.
During the next six weeks—the end of March 2001—a special agent from an FBI office visited "Revere." The FBI office and the name of the agent are known to AFP.
At that time "Revere":
• Provided the agent the name of the specific aforementioned individual (located in the previously referenced state on the Eastern seaboard) who was planning the attacks on the United States;
• Provided the agent information on a false identification ring operating in Montreal and in the state located on the Eastern seaboard;
• Indicated to the agent that he could furnish the exact false identification of terrorists who had been chosen for future actions inside the United States;
• Advised the agent that the 37 Soviet-made missiles were being handled through Thabet Aviation in Quebec City and that this firm also brokered old but serviceable aircraft (Swearingens, DC-9s, 747s and high performance military) to be used in drug-running and future terrorist attacks in a so-called "40-minute war" scenario by using aircraft as flying missiles; and
• Informed the agent that terrorists were taking flight training in various types of aircraft brokered by Thabet, and that, if given immunity for himself and his contacts, he would provide specific information where said training was taking place and the identities of the students involved.
Between the date of the March interview and Sept. 11, 2001, "Revere" heard nothing further from the FBI or any other federal agency.
However, just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, "Revere" was again visited by the FBI agent and another unidentified agent.
At that time they accused "Revere" of being "anti-government" and threatened him with prosecution.
The agents also made additional threats of possible retaliation against "Revere," the specifics of which are known to AFP but cannot be revealed in order to protect the identity of "Revere."
In the months that followed, "Revere" secured the assistance of a United States senator, whose name is known to AFP, in seeking to secure from federal records the specific date in March of 2001 on which he ("Revere") had first been interviewed by the FBI agent.
AFP is in possession of a copy of the FBI's official response which specifically acknowledges the date of the second interview, but which does not acknowledge the earlier interview in question.
The FBI letter admits that "Revere" had met with the FBI on a number of occasions but does not acknowledge the first meeting described by "Revere."
It was after this that the FBI:
• Seized the computers and other items without a warrant from per sons who were in contact with "Revere"—none of whom, quite notably, is knowledgeable in any way about "terrorism" or the 9-11 attacks;
• Demanded all letters, documents, correspondence, books, etc. and inquired about any alleged "Arab" contacts of "Revere"; and
• Advised these individuals that "Revere" had been making irresponsible statements about the is sue of terrorism and that if these individuals provided "Revere" any assistance that they might suffer criminal legal consequences.
Asked Gunderson: "Is the purpose of these raids and the FBI's reluctance to confirm the March 2001 meeting with ‘Revere'—six months prior to 9-11—part of a campaign to eliminate any trace or proof that the FBI had official knowledge of the impending attacks?"
Gunderson's statements are reinforced by President George W.
Bush's decision to go ahead with an official inquiry into the
failings of U.S. intelligence that allowed 9-11 to occur.
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As we ring in the New Year, dark clouds are gathering over our already dangerously fragile Social Security system.
By Rep. Ron
PaulIn December, the press reported on a looming deal between the administration and the government of Mexico, which would make hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens eligible for U.S. Social security benefits.
The centerpiece of the agreement would be a so-called "totalization," which would mean that even if a Mexican citizen did not work in the United States long enough to qualify for Social Security, the number of years worked in Mexico would be added to bring up the total and thus make the Mexican worker eligible for cash transfers from the United states.
Worse still, thousands of foreigners who would qualify for U.S. Social Security benefits actually came to the United States and worked here illegally.
Under "totalization," a foreigner who came to the United States illegally could work fewer years than the required number of years, return to Mexico for the rest of his working yeas , and collect full U.S. Social Security benefits while living in Mexico.
That is an insult to the millions of Americans who pay their entire working lives into the system and now face the possibility that there may be nothing left when it is their turn to retire.
The proposed agreement is nothing more than a financial reward to those who have willingly and knowingly violated our own immigration laws. Talk about an incentive for illegal immigration.
How many more would break the law to come to this country if promised U.S. government paychecks for life? Is creating a global welfare state on the back of the American taxpayer a good idea?
Estimates of what this deal with the Mexican government would cost top $1 billion per year.
As the system braces for a steep increase in those who will be drawing from the Social Security trust fund, it makes no sense to expand it into a global welfare system.
Social Security was designed to provide support for the retired American citizens who worked in the United states. We should be shoring up the system for those Americans who have paid in for decades, not expanding it to cover foreigners who have not.
Supporters of the Social Security to Mexico deal may attempt to downplay the effect the agreement would have on the system, but actions speak louder than words: According to several press reports, the State Department and the Social Security Administration are already negotiating to build a new building in Mexico City to handle the expected rush of applicants for this new program.
It is uncertain whether the administration will seek congressional approval for this agreement. Let's hope that such a substantive move - with such serious financial and legal implications - will not be made by executive order.
In the 107th Congress, I introduced the Social security Preservation Act (H.R. 219), Which would ensure that all money in the Social Security trust fund is spent solely on Social security.
As Congress continues to demonstrate an inability to control spending that threatens the Social security trust fund, the need for this legislation has never been greater. That is why I intend to reintroduce this legislation in the 108th Congress, which opened on Jan.7.
Social security should be limited to United States citizens and nationals who have paid into the system. It should not be a global giveaway.
Ron Paul, M.D., represents the 14th district of Texas in
the U.S. House.
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Americans have been kept ignorant of the cruelty of Israeli troops occupying Palestinian lands by the controlled media - but the violence is so overwhelming that Jews in Israel are denouncing the Country's atrocities, and the U.S. mainstream media is finally being forced to take notice.
For half a century, Israeli troops have been committing unspeakable atrocities in the occupied territories, killing and torturing civilians - men, women and children - Christian and Muslim - for their sadistic pleasure - while Americans have been kept ignorant to avoid jeopardizing the United States policy of blind support and blank-check aid.
Information about these horrors has been either ignored or buried by the mainstream media in this country, but it has become so gruesome that the Israeli people and press are themselves expressing outrage.
More than 300 professors at Israeli universities have signed a letter denouncing these atrocities. More than 500 military reservists - including ranking officers - signed a letter stating they would no longer serve in the occupation forces because of the cruelty inflicted. Dozens of these soldiers are behind bars.
Israeli soldiers told of observing comrades physically beating Palestinians for the fun of it, posing with upraised rifle and one foot on the body of a slain Palestinian much as a hunter celebrates killing game, of smiling soldiers holding out candy to a small boy and shooting him as he approaches - the anecdotes are endless.
The latest game, as described in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharanoth, is to write a specific punishment on several pieces of paper ("broken leg," "smashed hand," or "smashed head") and make the victim choose by random drawing. This game is "the lottery."
One "lottery" victim was a cab driver traveling with his family in their private car. They were stopped by border police and told they had a choice: being beaten themselves or having their car destroyed. They begged for their lives and when their slip of paper was drawn they were "lucky" that it called for car destruction. Police smashed the windows, windshield and lights.
"Beatings by border police are not new," said Abdel Salem Abu Khalaf of Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, 20 miles south of Jerusalem. "All the time since my childhood we looked at them as if they enjoyed beating us. But it's been going on all the time in the last one and one-half months."
"We make complaints - we lie to ourselves and do it for the record - because the truth is there's absolutely no punishment for the soldiers," said Rashed Rajabi, 30, a construction worker. He filed a complaint after a friend was beaten to death just after finishing nightly prayers at a mosque. He expects no results because "the judge and defendant are the same."
Soldiers use Palestinians as human shields, standing behind the as they fire on other Palestinians, according to the Jewish Israeli himan rights group B'Tselem.
Physicians for Human Rights reported that Israeli soldiers took over a clinic in the East Bank city of Nablus and used the building as a snipers' nest while holding patients inside.
"It's clear to us that entering a building in which there is a medical facility and shooting from the place jeopardizes the building and makes it a target for fire - and it's against the Geneva Convention," said Miri Weingarten of the physicians' group.
While extensive exposure in the Arab, European and now Israeli press has forced the mainstream media in this country to offer a smattering of inside-page coverage, the issue is largely ignored, and most Americans would be shocked to know the truth. For years, the blackout was total.
But this is changing. The Washington Post, as well as the rest of the controlled media, has for half a century been covering up Israeli atrocities by ignoring or under reporting them.
But on Jan.1, the Post carried a detailed story of Israeli atrocities - on page 10. Had the story been about Palestinian cruelties, it would have been front page.
But on Jan.3, the Post's lead editorial denounced, in detail, those atrocities: "almost every day, Palestinian civilians, including many children, are being killed by the Israeli army and police...an 11-year old boy...a nine-year old girl..." Many anecdotes were cited.
This is a breakthrough, considering past policies. For example:
Twenty years ago, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, independent journalist covered a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. The huge hearing room was overflowing. All the major broadcast and print media were there.
A Canadian physician who had been held prisoner for four days gave an eyewitness account of the killing and torturing of Lebanese civilians. He told of four Arab surgeons being tied by their thumbs to a tree and tortured to death.
Except for independent, populist newspapers not a word of this
was reported to Americans.
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While the major U.S. news media opines freely on Iraq's 12,000-page weapons report, it should be remembered that the U.S. government seized the original Iraqi report on arrival in New York and censored at least 75 percent of the information it contained.
The non-permanent members of the UN Security Council recently received a severely truncated version of the original 12,000-page weapons dossier on Iraq. All data concerning foreign suppliers of Iraq was deleted, according to an independent German media.
Andreas Zumach, a Geneva-based correspondent for the Berlin-based newspaper, Die Tageszeitung (TAZ), reported in December that all information provided by Iraq related to assistance from foreign companies, research labs, and governments from the mid-1970s on was deleted from the edited version, which was reduced to 3,000 pages.
The five permanent UN Security Council member states, the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain approved of the censorship, according to TAZ.
From information gathered from UN diplomats and from two of the permanent members on the Security Council, TAZ reported that the U.S. government had pressured the other nations to accept its drastic censorship of the original report.
The U.S. appears to have been the nation that provided Iraq with the most support, in terms of supplies and services, to produce weapons of mass destruction, Zumach wrote.
Only one of the companies named in the report, Leybold Vacuum Systems, which is now based in Germany, responded to questions posed by American Free Press.
However, none of the companies contacted by AFP was willing to discuss its involvement with Iraq.
The Iraqi report provided a complete overview of the suppliers for the first time, TAZ wrote.
The original 12,000-page report named 24 U.S. companies, and numerous foreign firms that sold weapons-related technology to Iraq. It even says when and to whom in Iraq the supplies were delivered. Today, some of these companies are no longer American-owned firms.
The unedited Iraqi report shows that the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush strongly supported the arming of Iraq, from 1980 until the Gulf War of 1990.
Substantial construction units for the Iraqi nuclear and rocket programs were supplied with permission of the U.S. government.
For example, Iraq's anthrax weapons program and the development of biological weapons came from U.S. laboratories. Iraqi military and armament experts were also trained in the United States.
According to Susan Wright, a U.S. arms-control expert from the University of Michigan, publication of this information would be "especially embarrassing for the U.S.A."
It would "remind people in the United States of a very dark chapter, which the Bush administration would prefer to forget about."
Whether the United States edited this information from the
copies for the other four permanent council members is unclear,
Zumach wrote.
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New details are coming out about the origins of the alleged terrorist mastermind of 9-11. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone where the trail leads.
Further details have emerged on the cozy relationship that existed between the U.S. government and Osama ben Laden, the shadowy leader of the al Qaeda terrorist network.
In the Jan. 20 issue American Free Press carried an exclusive report that federal officials were aware of the terrorist attacks six months in advance, facts unearthed by retired high-ranking FBI official Ted L. Gunderson.
That story detailed the part played by bin Laden in America's support of Afghan freedom fighters, who in the 1980s were resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1986, U.S. officials claimed that aiding bin Laden's network would translate in a drop in terrorist activity.
In an exclusive interview, Gunderson told how a high-level official in the administration of President Ronald Reagan approached him in 1986 to see if he could arrange, outside of government channels, a means to provide help to the Afghanis fighting the Soviet invaders.
Details of the arrangements established by Gunderson were first reported in the Jan. 7 and Feb. 11, 2002 issues of American Free Press.
Gunderson contacted scientist Michael Riconosciuto, who at the time kept close ties to key Middle East money men and Red Chinese and other weapons for the U.S. through his work with the CIA.
Subsequently, Gunderson arranged a meeting in the spring of 1986 at the Hilton Hotel on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, Calif., between himself, Riconosciuto, Ralph Olberg, who covertly represented the State department at the meeting and served on its Middle East desk, and a man identified as "Tim Osman."
As Gunderson would discover only last year, "Osman" was bin Laden, dressed in ordinary casual Western attire and traveling on a Turkish passport.
Gunderson was asked to set up the meeting because of his knowledge of international terrorism, having retired from the FBI in the late 1970s. At the time he as senior special agent in charge, a post equivalent to assistant director, of the 700-plus-man Los Angeles bureau.
He immediately approached Riconosciuto, with whom he had previously worked on several classified projects, including the development of a devastating hew fuel-air explosive device.
AIDING THE REBELLION
Gunderson says the only part he played in the deal was to put the key players in touch with Sir Dennis Kendall, who lived in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Kendall had been known by Gunderson for years and maintained the "right contacts" to help set up an operation to aid the rebels in Afghanistan.
According to Gunderson, Kendall, a former member of the British parliament, was a double agent during World War II. He worked for both the Germans and the British.
Among other things, Gunderson said, Kendall was able to garner top-secret German intelligence for British MI-6 intelligence agency through a relationship with a secretary of the German ambassador in Madrid, Spain.
Kendall made arrangements to aid the Afghan rebels through a Saudi Arabian front organization know as Madtab-al-Khidmat, which provided the funding for aiding the rebels.
After leaving Gunderson in California, Riconosciuto, bin Laden, Olberg and Kendall traveled to Boston, where they met with Abdulah Assam, a leader of the Egyptian Islamic Brotherhood, and details of the aid plan were further formulated.
Kendall had contacts with the international police organization, Interpol, which he had probably gained due to its close ties with Berman intelligence during World War II, Gunderson said.
Interpol provided secure communications and kept the operation from being compromised or discovered, he said.
Gunderson said he understands that the operation involved travel by Riconosciuto and others to England, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The operation was formalized in boston with a number of unnamed congressmen.
The project ultimately provided the Afghani resistance with 600 stinger surface-to-air, shoulder-fired missiles, which had been modified so they could not be used against American aircraft if captured.
The project also provided thousands of Red Chinese 107-millimeter rockets with aerial proximity fuses.
Gunderson said that these weapons turned the tide of battle in Afghanistan against the Soviets, whose aircraft, and particularly attack helicopters, fell victim to the missiles.
The rebels were also supplied armor-piercing ammunition, demolition
charges, remote detonators and intelligence information on the
Soviets, which probably, Gunderson said, was funneled from the
CIA, particularly through satellite imagery.
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The behind-the-scenes clique that runs the Justice department is joyously claiming the scalp of yet another outspoken political figure who dared to challenge the power elite in America today.
Just as in the
case of former Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) - sent to prison by
the Justice department on trumped-up charges - another maverick
politician, former state Rep. David Duke of Louisiana, has been
"bagged" by federal prosecutors.
However one feels about Duke and his views or his background, there is no question that the Justice department assault on Duke was concocted by agenda driven prosecutors with one thing in mind: to silence outspoken public figures, as a warning to others that: "This could happen to you."
Leading the charge against Duke - as against Traficant - was the number two man in the Justice Department, and head of its criminal division, Michael Chertoff.
And despite what even many Duke supporters might think, Duke's stand on matters such as affirmative action and racial quotas was not an issue with his Justice department tormentors, many of who actually share Duke's views on that issue.
In fact, may veterans of the American "racialist"
movement recall that when the Justice Department was running its
COINTELPRO infiltrations of the 1960s - deploying FBI informants
inside the Ku Klux Klan - the FBI told the informants that it
was "ok" to attack blacks and discuss race in order
to keep up their cover.
Although the initial inquiry into Duke began during the Clinton era, the inquiry was lagging. It was only after pro-Israel Attorney General John Ashcroft and Chertoff came into office that the campaign began picking up steam.
Chertoff played the primary role in helping cover up the fact that a host of Israeli operatives was tuned in to the activities of the reputed Islamic terrorists allegedly responsible for the 9–11 tragedy.
It is no coincidence that, in the year following the 9-11 affair
when Duke was among the most internationally-recognized and 
publicized proponents of the charge
that "Israel knew," Chertoff began moving against Duke.
It was after Duke went on a speaking tour in the Middle east - appearing on the al Jazeera broadcast network, discussing Israel's role in 9-11 - that Chertoff intensified the Justice department campaign.
Duke recently returned from Europe - where he has spent the last several years, largely in Russia, writing, lecturing and teaching - to face a Justice department campaign that was escalating.
There was never any question that Duke would be indicted on some charge, no matter how trivial. It was just a matter of "when." Not because Duke was guilty of anything. It was simply because - it was clear - that the Justice department and the FBI were gunning for Duke.
Following Duke's election to the Louisiana legislature in 1989, and then, after his popular bids for the U.S. Senate and the governorship of Louisiana - in both of which Duke won a majority of the white vote - there were at least seven different legal maneuvers, involving different state and federal agencies, to prosecute or otherwise harass Duke. None of those went anywhere.
However, after Duke successfully helped Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster win election in 1999 - thereby proving Duke's continued influence in statewide politics - there was a reenergized effort to "get" Duke.
Using the pretext of investigating Duke's legal sale of a list of potential campaign supporters to Foster, federal authorities expanded their effort to follow every possible lead to find Duke in violation of some law somewhere.
Duke and his attorneys - and even all independent observers, including Duke's critics - knew full well the old saying that: "A U.S. attorney can indict a ham sandwich if he wants to."Duke came back to the United States prepared to reach a plea bargain with the Justice Department.
He agreed to plead guilty to two specified counts - tax evasion and mail fraud - in order to avoid going to trial on a raft of charges stemming from related allegations.
Had Duke gone to trial on the multiple charges and been convicted, he could have faced as much as 30 years in jail. However, as a result of his plea bargain, Duke is, now likely to spend perhaps 16 months in jail.
Anyone given that choice - particularly under Duke's circumstances – would have been likely to make the same decision, especially since Duke - widely touted by the media as an "ex-KKK leader" - would not have fared well before what would almost certainly have been a largely black jury in New Orleans, a black majority city.
While in the Traficant case, the Justice Department and the FBI went to elaborate lengths to actually "frame" Traficant, using falsified testimony by an assortment of witnesses who were facing prosecution and trying to save their own necks, the technique used in the Duke case was far more subtle.
The Justice Department took a simple and relatively well-know fact - that Duke liked to gamble - and literally "made a federal case out of it."
The Justice department contrived a fantastic criminal case stemming from the fact that Duke's personal life and income are virtually indistinguishable from his involvement in public affairs. Such a scenario could be made against virtually any outspoken dissident in America today whose primary source of income stems from his political activity.
Ironically, considering Louisiana's history of producing figures known for womanizing, hard drinking etc, ranging from Huey P. Long and his brother Earl to recently imprisoned former Gov. Edwin Edwards, it appears the Justice department has established a new standard of conduct for politicians in the state: gambling is now a "no-no."
Edwards once said that - despite his many flaws - he could get re-elected in Louisiana as long as he wasn't cought "in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."
David Duke is guilty of neather act, but he still faces a term
in federal prison.
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