Wednesday, December 14, 2005

NBC obtains secret Pentagon database of Americans under surveillanceBig Brass Blog

Big Brass Blog

Interesting Article form Orion Mag. (11/12 - 2005)
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Icy Conditions


Icy Conditions
Originally uploaded by New Ten Speed Bike.

sillyLittleSnowmen


sillyLittleSnowmen
Originally uploaded by small ape.

Narco News: Tracking the Bloody Footprints in the House of Death: Part I

Narco News: Tracking the Bloody Footprints in the House of Death: Part I

Later on, they conspired, as they peed by the old snowtire


Global Spook Monolith Revealed

Another Day in the Empire


Global Spook Monolith Revealed
Tuesday December 13th 2005, 8:29 pm
Dick Marty, a Swiss senator investigating Bush’s rape and torture gulag and macabre sadism flying circus, reveals what many of us have long suspected: the CIA had more than a little help from “national secret services” in Europe, thus making a case for the obvious—the CIA is but one of several components of a larger and more sinister global covert “intelligence” organization. However, key players and prime motivators in this sprawling murder, black op, and torture infrastructure consist of elements in the CIA, MI6, and Mossad (and Mossad should be considered European, not Middle Eastern, since Israel was created after the Polish rabbi Zevi Hirsch Kalischer proposed Baron Edmond de Rothschild create Erez Israel and British colonialism set the stage less than a hundred years later, paving the way for Ashkenazi Jews—that is to say, European Jews—to steal Arab land and create the outlaw state of Israel, now a full partner in the New World Order plot to turn the planet into a hellish plantation).
“I think it would have been difficult for these actions to have taken place without a degree of collaboration,” Marty told the Guardian. “But it is possible that secret services did not inform their governments,” in other words they didn’t inform the elected representatives of the people, as spook agencies invariably believe they are above the law (and are, thanks to black budgets and lack of accountability laws and regulations) and have nothing but contempt for the rule of law, as do their corporate and plutocratic taskmasters.
Citizens of nation-states (or rather corporate-states) exist primarily to be harvested by the global elite—for money or their lives, or both (as the actions of the intelligence monolith ultimately and by design lead to war, a profitable scam for the corporate plutocrats, especially in “defense” and related industries, a growth business requiring the lives of the young and easily manipulated—after sufficient televised and culture-based propaganda and twelve or so years of public education brainwashing, inculcating the masses with the appropriate “patriotic” icons and myths and drumming into them the self-destructive idea that it is noble to “die for one’s country,” in other words die with nary a bleat for the plutocratic elite, who of course never donate their kids to the “noble cause” of “defending democracy,” never mind this country was originally set up as a constitutionally limited republic predicated on a serious distrust of democracy, or mob rule, and government, ever the malleable device of tyranny and authoritarianism).
It is telling that Mr. Marty’s revelations implicate Poland and Romania, two former communist nations well-versed in police state tactics and undoubtedly populated with a sufficient number of knuckle-dragging thugs tutored in the in-and-outs of torture, rape, and humiliation. Moreover, the governments and left-over communist police state apparatus are more than likely eager to please the Bushcons, lest they secure their place in the New World Order constellation envisioned and engineered by neolib bankers and the perfidious neocons with their Straussian-Machiavellian orientation of total war and necrophilia dreams of mass murder and conquest. Of course, the people of these two wanna-be countries, still suffering under the strain of the post-communist transformation (i.e., their treasure—or what was left of it after the pillage conducted over the span of decades by the communists—was hijacked and they were submerged for years in grinding poverty and misery), will be required to ante-up their remaining natural resources and labor to the blood-stained altar of the neolib-neocon vampires, sustenance-sucking ghouls traipsing around the globe under the rubric of “free trade” and “globalism,” rendering vast swaths of the planet into not only a slave plantation but a toxic graveyard poisoned with depleted uranium and other death-enhancing substances.
As for the “intelligence” super-monolith emerging—with its globe-trotting sadism and portable dungeons and torture chambers able to be transported from one authoritarian backwater to another on short notice—it is of course required since the global corporate elite understand well people naturally resist and torture fends off resistance, at least in the short term. It is said Bush—and by Bush I mean the people around him, since the man is a certified cretin—is “into” torture and there are allegedly S/M perverted soirees where the graphic material gleaned in small portion at Abu Ghraib is voraciously consumed with decadent relish. One look at the likes of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove—psychological mutations, even world-class sociopaths—and one may very well believe this, however the larger vision is far more pragmatic and utilitarian: to create a heretofore unknown terror state, a state mechanism to be feared and obeyed, lest one fall victim to rape and slow death by way of Black and Decker drill (as the Brits in Iraq tutored their students in proper usage).
It is a state not far removed from the one Orwell’s Winston Smith faced in Room 101 when O’Brien threatened the wayward protagonist with starving rats, for all of us—or those of us who speak and act out—must experience Smith’s “premonitory tremor” when faced with “something unendurable—something that cannot be contemplated,” as O’Brien instructed. For most of us—sane, compassionate, moral—cannot contemplate the depth and severity of Bush’s depraved rape and torture gulag, again as evinced by the horror show glimmer of Abu Ghraib, allowed and encouraged to enter the public consciousness (by design) and that of more gruesome coloration viewed by select government bureaucrats, the whore-representatives of the oligarchy, and only eluded to in suggestive and lurid news reports (thus allowing the popular imagination to kick into hyperdrive, fed by the stomach-churning glint of Abu Ghraib imagery).
Soon enough, the streets and alleyways of Iraq—teeming with black ops and death squads—will arrive in America. It is inevitable. Because the service of many faceless O’Briens—laboring patiently for the global corporate and plutocratic elite—will be required here in America. In fact, as the news reveals daily, the police expressly groom paramilitary thugs (straight back from Iraq and Afghanistan) and unleash them on the citizenry. It is no exaggeration to declare we are one terrorist event away from realizing the neolib-neocon police state here in America. And such events are increasingly the specialty of the global “intelligence” monolith hinted at by the revelations of Dick Marty. In fact, it is a monolith specifically designed by Nazi master builders (led by Reinhard Gehlen) for the very purpose of global terror.

Suburban Guerrilla � The Death of Democracy in Ohio

Suburban Guerrilla � The Death of Democracy in Ohio

Fountainhead: AMERICA'S SECRET WAR : INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AT ITS BEST

Fountainhead: AMERICA'S SECRET WAR : INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AT ITS BEST

Repost: OPINION: UQ Wire: Kevin Ryan - A Personal Decision :: 9/11 CitizensWatch :: We are concerned citizens challenging the official story of 9/11

OPINION: UQ Wire: Kevin Ryan - A Personal Decision :: 9/11 CitizensWatch :: We are concerned citizens challenging the official story of 9/11Anyone who honestly looks at the evidence has difficulty finding anything in the official story of 9/11 that is believable.

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mparent7777: Syria � Cui Bono?

mparent7777: Syria � Cui Bono?

Axis for Peace: The founding of an international movement against world domination [Voltaire]

Axis for Peace: The founding of an international movement against world domination [Voltaire]



Axis for Peace: The founding of an international movement against world domination
Leaders who oppose world domination by the Coalition met in Brussels on November 17 – 18, 2005. They were invited by Voltaire Network to attend the first Axis for Peace International Conference. Political leaders, diplomats, military officers and opinion makers spoke out based on their own experiences and facts, and not based on the issues represented by the Bush administration in the media. From this method and this freedom of speech, a new and original discourse has come up. The Axis for Peace 2005 conference is presented as the founding of a movement to redefine international relations and whose challenge is compared to that of Bandung in 1955.
24 November 2005Tools Print SendAll the versions of this article: français русский Español العربيةCountries BelgiumThemes Axis for Peace

Axis for Peace conference, November 17th, 2005 plenary session
From left to right : Andreas von Bülow (former German secretary of State and minister), Salim Al-Hoss (former Prime minister of Lebanon), Thierry Meyssan (president of Voltaire Network), John D. Anthony (president of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations), Enrique Román Hernández (vice-president of the Cuban Institute for friendship between the peoples) and Subhi Toma (former political prisonner in Iraq, member of the direction of the National Arab Congress).
The Axis for Peace 2005 international conference, the first one of its kind, was held in Brussels between November 17 – 18, 2005. One hundred and fifty personalities from 37 countries responded to the invitation announced by Voltaire Network in order to elaborate an effective speech to defend peace.
Like a “rebellious Davos”, Axis for Peace is similar to Davos meetings because of the audience, which is made of political leaders, diplomats, military officers and opinion leaders. It is also similar to the World Social Forum because of the rebellious speech against the world order that has been established. For two days, the participants met under the chairmanship of Thierry Meyssan in panel and plenary sessions to assess the forms of interference and oppression in the world. They tried to distinguish the techniques used and think of common strategies to combat them.
On November 18, they signed a Final Declaration to denounce the coalition headed by the United States and the danger it poses to world peace. “A military coalition has plunged into a violent exploitation of energy resources and raw materials, participants stated. Encouraged by neoconservatives, it has increased its depredation and resumed all forms of interference, from the change of regimes to colonial expansionism. It is always violating the principles of international law drafted by the conferences of The Hague and stated in the San Francisco Charter”

Salim El-Hoss
“When the sovereignty of a state is violated, we are in the face of a terrorist act”
In the opening speech, former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Al-Hoss recalled that peace could not be achieved by means of injustice and oppression. “Colonized countries see how their populations become hostages”. Then we cannot speak of peace” In order to clarify a debate undermined by the neoconservative rhetoric, Salim Al-Hoss stated: “Any person who takes up arms to defend the freedom of his people is considered a “terrorist”. In turn, we must clearly state that when the sovereignty of a State is violated, it is then a terrorist act”.

General René Vargas Pazzos
By refusing to label as “terrorists” the people and groups who resist the U.S. superpower, the former Ecuadorian army chief of staff, General René Vargas Pazzos, also stated: “If it is said that they are “terrorists”, we have to say that all wars are “terrorism”. Organizer of the conference to support the Iraqi resistance, the Iraqi Subhi Toma paid a vibrant tribute to his people that is currently resisting the oppression. When the conference was over, the peoples’ right to self-determination was reaffirmed. The Final Declaration of the Conference Axis for Peace solemnly urged the members of the UN Security Council “to see that the sovereignty of states be respected, based upon international law and indispensable condition for the development of a true democracy”.
The Coalition “creates and manipulates terrorist groups”

Webster Tarpley and Philip Berg
International Islamic terrorism was the topic of a round table discussion in which participants agreed on its fictitious nature and how it was being used as propaganda by the Coalition. Former German Minister Andreas von Bülow detailed the staging of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He explained how they took place in the very United States in order to legitimize the current military operations. U.S. journalist Webster Tarpley indicated that “it is impossible to understand the current U.S. policy if the real scope of September 11 is underestimated. The attacks perpetrated at that moment were a coup d’état. The war on terror is based on a myth and has become a compulsory state religion since such developments took place. The only way to fight against neoconservatives is by destroying this myth.” The former deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania, Philip Berg, explained that a great number of citizens in the United States did not believe in the official story of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Berg represents the families of the victims who “did not accept hush money” and denounced the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House for their responsibilities in the terrorist actions.

David Shayler
The implication of the Anglo-Saxon secret services in the creation and use of Islamic terrorism was presented by the former agent David Shayler. “I resigned from the British secret services when the MI6 decided to finance Osama bin Laden’s associates”, he said in an outstanding speech. “I tried to warn them but it was me who went to prison”, regretted Shayler, who explained that “this terrorism is coordinated by the MI6 and CIA”. The Final Declaration signed by the participants denounced how the Coalition is handling Islamic terrorism: “In order to justify its conquests, it creates and manipulates terrorist groups, fabricates excuses and propaganda about the theory of the world Islamic plot, and fosters a clash of civilizations”. The Coalition “hides its ambitions intoxicating the media and deceiving international institutions”, they stressed.
“The media is involved in intimidation”

Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala
The lectures tackled the issue of the various forms of interference, not only military but also political as well as cultural. General Leonid Ivashov, former chief of staff of the Russian armies, denounced the corruption of the political elite: “Everywhere, government and opinion leaders are bought. As to the media, it is involved in the intimidation of personalities who might emerge. Russia is also facing corruption within its institutions and we will do our best to isolate those who are corrupted out of our government” The media intimidation was the object of several debates. Across the globe, intellectuals, journalists or artists are ordered not to address certain issues, especially the Israeli policy, because they might be labeled as “anti-Semitists” and be excluded. The French comedian Dieudonné Mbala Mbala expressed his concern about the expansion of racism: “Today there is a generalized racism, a racist discourse that goes beyond what the extreme right wing would dare to go some years ago. The colonialism affecting the Palestinian people has ended up in the Zionist media as a racist discourse with no complex in today’s communitarianist treatment.” The chief-editor of Brecha, the major weekly newspaper of the Uruguayan left wing, Yvonne Trías, expressed her indignation about the accusations of anti-Semitism against intellectuals who oppose Israeli policy. “They put me on the black list of people who are considered as “anti-Semitists” by a Jewish intellectual”, she regretted. “My newspaper has been accused of anti-Semitism because it has criticized the Israeli policy. It has been the object of a major humiliating campaign. We have been treated as “anti-Semites” and even as “negationists”. When the campaign started, we received pressures from everywhere. There was an avalanche of e-mails. There were readers who said they would cancel their subscription. Left wing people came to suggest that we should give up our criticisms”. The meeting of personalities from the different continents allowed to see that the methods of media intimidation prevail in different parts of the world.
“There is still time to unite for peace”

Meeting between Syrian and US personalities beside the conference hall
During the round table on Syria, participants compared the accusations made against this country regarding the assassination of Rafik Hariri to the “evidences” of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction presented by Colin Powell to the UN Security Council. In the Final Declaration, participants denounced that “France, which had opposed the invasion on Iraq, had backed the threats against new preys” and welcomed Russia’s mediation which defends the implementation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and presumption of innocence in international relations”.
“On our part, they continued, we commit to mobilize public opinion, based upon the example of what Latin Americans are already doing, to derail the propaganda and hatred, and to reject the global project of domination and exploitation”.

At the end of the debates, participants were invited to sign the Final Declaration
When the conference Axis for Peace was over, the representatives from the United States and Syria spontaneously decided to arrange a common meeting. “How to prevent a war between our two countries?”, they asked. During this working meeting that lasted until late in the evening, participants analyzed how this issue is perceived in their respective countries, from the political leader’s point of view as well as that of the public opinion. The personalities from the United States and Syria worked together to find the means to bridge the gap between their countries.
“There is still time to unite for Peace” endorsed the Final Declaration of Axis for Peace signed some hours ago.

Links:
The official site of Axis for Peace: www.axisforpeace.net The final declaration: www.axisforpeace.net/article681.html Photos of the conference with high resolution: www.axisforpeace.net/rubrique13.html Follow-up on the conference in Voltaire Network site: www.voltairenet.org/rubrique30009.html


[Axis For Peace] Webster G. Tarpley

[Axis For Peace] Webster G. Tarpley

David Shayler on MI6 Gaddafi Assassination Plot

David Shayler on MI6 Gaddafi Assassination Plot

"In particular, we need to know how around £100,000 of taxpayers' money was used to fund the sort of Islamic Extremists who have connections to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. Did ministers give MI6 permission for this? By the time MI6 paid the group in late 1995 or early 1996, US investigators had already established that Bin Laden was implicated in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre. Given the timing and the close connections between Libyan and Egyptian Islamic Extremists, it may even have been used to fund the murder of British citizens in Luxor, Egypt in 1996."

Evening Mass


Evening Mass
Originally uploaded by jackieb163.
Have you ever just wished the sun wouldn't set so you could just drink in the scene for just a while longer?

Link for Traffic: Truth about 9/11

Bush in the Bubble - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com

American Politics Journal -- Never Bound by the Truth

American Politics Journal -- Never Bound by the Truth

American Politics Journal -- A Death in the Congressman's Office

American Politics Journal -- A Death in the Congressman's Office: "'FORT WALTON BEACH, FL. - Lori Klausutis, a 28-year-old office worker for Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fl), was found dead in the congressman's district office. Police said preliminary findings from the medical examiner's office showed no foul play or any outward indication of suicide.'"

UNDERNEWS: COURT: GOVERNOR CAN'T HIDE POLICE COST OF CHENEY JUNKET

UNDERNEWS: COURT: GOVERNOR CAN'T HIDE POLICE COST OF CHENEY JUNKET

Past Peak: Death Penalty III

Past Peak: Death Penalty III

News Hounds: 77 Year Old Iraqi Woman In America - Appreciate President Bush Or Go To Hell (Or, Fair and Balanced The Fox Way)

News Hounds: 77 Year Old Iraqi Woman In America - Appreciate President Bush Or Go To Hell (Or, Fair and Balanced The Fox Way)

Repost: Link to Video about WTC expose by PHD from Utah


TV News Report about WTC

Tags: Steven Jones 9/11 911 Video BYU Explosive

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Rice: countries "boycotting" Saddam trial

My Way News: "Many European states declined to cooperate because they oppose the use of the death penalty at the trial"

Ikea Christmas baubles


Ikea Christmas baubles
Originally uploaded by Beezy..
New additions to my xmas tree ornaments this year!

I would like to think IKEA made these colorful baubles just for me! HA HA HA!

Blair Knew (about 9/11)

Marketplace for September 11, 2001: "Blair: 'It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life...and we the democracies of this world are going to have to come together and eradicate this evil completely from our world.'"

Team8Plus- a specialized 9/11 research team: Forums / Public forums / Flight 93 last minute passengers and crew

Team8Plus- a specialized 9/11 research team: Forums / Public forums / Flight 93 last minute passengers and crew

Pilot Guides.com: Ian Wright Live - Your Travel Tales

Pilot Guides.com: Ian Wright Live - Your Travel Tales: "9/11 Close Encounter

'It was September 10th, 2001 and I was standing in line at the Rio de Janeiro airport, waiting to check in for my flight. I had been delayed in getting to the airport because a fire in the subway line had collapses some of the freeway pilings and the traffic was horrendous. When I did get there, I ran in and hoped I wasn't too late for my flight. The woman at the United Airlines counter issued boarding passes for me, one to New York, and the other from Newark to San Francisco, on Flight 93. But as soon as she pushed the boarding passes across the table, she pulled them back. 'Wait,' you are too late for the flight. You will have to go via Miami instead.'
She refused to listen to me explain that I needed to get on that flight, and I was forced to fly to
Miami. Cursing, I went to the lounge and boarded the flight. The next morning we arrived in Miami. It was September 11, 2001. I had a few hours to kill in the airport, and when I boarded the 767, we took off at 7.45 am. The plane was empty as we lifted off over the skyscrapers of Miami, and settled into watching a program about earthquakes in New York, where an expert came on and said that the Twin Towers would stand, despite a large earthquake.
Just then, a voice came over the intercom: 'Cabin crew, Emergency!' The crew began running to the cockpit, and the passengers around me pulled off their earphones. 'Did you head that?' asked the guy behind me. I shook my head and was about to answer when the plane began dropping faster and faster, and it was clear we were in some trouble. The crew came back and
began shouting to us to prepare for an emergency landing. As we pushed out seats up, the plane kept dropping like a rock, and as the nose angled down sharper and sharper, we were literally rocketing to the earth! People screamed and shouted as the crew stowed drink carts and other things, and more than a few of us thought we were crashing.

Three minutes later, we were on final approach to Oklahoma City. The TV screens then switched off and the cabin lights dimmed. People weren't screaming now, but there was just dead silence. As we turned, I could see a shadow racing across the ground. It was our plane. But I noticed a small shadow off to the right: it was a fighter jet and it was following us!

Before I had time to think what it was, we were on the ground. A heavy bumpy landing, and the plane's passengers were told to stay in their seats, and then run off to the terminal when we parked. This we did, and when we go there, several hundred people were rooted to where they were standing, statue like and calm. When we saw the TV screens the twin tower and Pentagon events had already taken place, and there were reportedly several planes missing.

When the shock sunk in, we were evacuated to the nearest hotel, and later that day I heard about flight number 93 and I remembered the boarding pass I had got the night before. Chills ran down my spine. For the next three days, there was nothing we could do but wait. We had no luggage, there were no trains or buses that we could have taken. We played cards, got drunk, some people got high and some even got laid. The hotel looked like a mini United Nations, with people from 20 countries wandering around, wondering how the hell they got stuck in Oklahoma.

When we finally took off, the atmosphere was tense, The pilots and crew were cheered, and they did their safety demo with defiance. No one was going to stop them from doing their job! When we landed in San Francisco, we were the first commercial flight to land. The airport was dark, and there were no planes at all moving around the runways. When we pulled into the gate area, there were ground staff cheering and waving at us, and when we got into the terminal, staff were cheering more and clapping as we went to get our luggage. It was the most surreal way to end one of the most surreal experiences of my life."

"Disaster" Dave Lowe, Saigon, Vietnam

Media Matters - Horowitz falsely claimed that Senate report "exonerated" Bush on African uranium claim

Media Matters - Horowitz falsely claimed that Senate report "exonerated" Bush on African uranium claim

Video: David Ray Griffin in Madison, WI


David Ray Griffin in Madison, WI
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www.GovExec.com - Report: FBI mishandled counterterrorism case (12/12/05)

www.GovExec.com - Report: FBI mishandled counterterrorism case (12/12/05)

Report: FBI mishandled counterterrorism case

By Chris Strohm
cstrohm@govexec.com
The Justice Department's inspector general has found that FBI agents mishandled a counterterrorism case in 2002, falsified records to cover up their mistakes and retaliated against a whistleblower for exposing the problems.

The IG's draft report on the case -- obtained by Government Executive -- also sheds rare light on problems with how the FBI internally handled allegations from the whistleblower, then-special agent Michael German.

But in another twist, German remains critical of the IG despite the report. He contends IG officials distorted some facts and failed to fully investigate whether the bureau missed an opportunity to infiltrate a terrorist conspiracy. He has asked the IG to do a more complete investigation before issuing a final report.

Congressional aides now are reviewing the situation to determine what action they should take, not only in relation to the counterterrorism case and subsequent cover-up, but also with regard to how the FBI and inspector general responded to German's allegations. Options under consideration include writing letters to the FBI and to the inspector general, and calling officials to Capitol Hill for briefings.

The incident could have far-reaching implications for the FBI, which made counterterrorism its top priority after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and publicly pledged to protect whistleblowers.

The FBI and the Justice IG declined to comment for this story.

The Tampa Case

In January 2002 - just four months after 9/11 - the FBI began investigating the possibility that a U.S. right-wing extremist group and an overseas Islamic terrorist organization were joining forces to launder money and funnel it to terrorists abroad.

A meeting that month between an FBI informant and a person with suspected links to terrorism in Orlando, Fla., indicated that such a conspiracy was in the works, prompting the bureau's Tampa Division to launch a formal counterterrorism investigation, the IG report stated.

In March 2002, the Tampa Division asked German, a seasoned special agent, to go undercover in the investigation. During the next few months, however, German found widespread problems with how the investigation was being managed.

He also discovered that the informant had violated FBI policy during the January meeting by leaving a recording device unattended. The informant did not have permission to do that, and the violation meant that parts of the meeting could not be used in the investigation.

German formally filed his whistleblower complaint in a letter to his supervisors in September 2002.

IG On the Case

The inspector general concluded in a draft 40-page report that the Tampa Division mismanaged the investigation.

The draft report, completed in mid-November, stated that the case agent in charge of the probe failed to prepare reports and document investigative activities in a timely manner. The IG also found that the case agent acted improperly by backdating FBI reports. The agent began adding false dates to reports after German wrote his September 2002 letter, the inspectors found.

The IG found that supervisors in the Tampa Division were aware of problems with the investigation but did not take prompt corrective action. And the IG found that dates on at least three documents were falsified using correction fluid. The IG said, however, it could not conclude who falsified those forms.

The IG concluded that FBI agent Jorge Martinez, who served as chief of the bureau's Undercover and Sensitive Operations Unit from 2001 until 2004, had retaliated against German for raising the allegations by excluding him from training programs.

Internal Confusion

The IG report also highlights a complicated and, at times, messy process inside the bureau in response to German's allegations, including a lack of coordination between offices responsible for investigating and resolving complaints.

The Tampa Division and the FBI's Inspection Division both conducted internal reviews into German's charges. The Inspection Division is responsible for ensuring the bureau follows its own rules and conducts investigations properly.

German also met with representatives from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, which is responsible for investigating and adjudicating allegations of criminal conduct and serious misconduct by FBI employees. OPR, however, declined to investigate German's allegations, according to the IG report.

The Tampa Division and the Inspection Division both concluded that the agent in charge of the counterterrorism case failed to prepare reports and document investigative activities in a timely manner.

Only the Inspection Division recommended disciplinary action against the case agent. The FBI did not act on this recommendation until February 2004, when the bureau placed the agent under a "developmental plan," the IG stated. The Inspection Division also concluded that Tampa managers failed to take necessary corrective action, but did not recommend any punishment.

Neither review reached conclusions on whether the case agent had falsified dates on reports. The IG noted confusion between the Inspection Division and OPR on the matter. Members of the Inspection Division team said they thought OPR already had investigated whether the case agent was falsifying dates. But OPR officials said they thought the Inspection Division team would investigate that issue and report any findings to them.

Managers in the Tampa Division also told FBI headquarters that the January 2002 meeting between the informant and the person with suspected terrorism links was not recorded, the IG found. But German had a partial transcript from the recording of the meeting, which he showed to OPR.

On the same day that German showed the transcript, the Tampa Division issued a clarification saying the meeting was indeed recorded and that FBI policy had been violated by the informant, the IG stated. German said he suspects that somebody within OPR tipped off the Tampa Division that he had a transcript.

The IG concluded that OPR should have investigated German's allegations, as well as the circumstances surrounding the clarification on the recording.

Whistleblower's Critique

In a 26-page response to the draft IG report, German noted the significance of some of the findings.

"These are important findings that demonstrate a dangerous lack of internal controls within the FBI that calls the integrity of every FBI investigation into question," he wrote. "The administration, Congress and the American public should be gravely concerned about these findings under the current national security threat situation."

But German, who resigned from the bureau in 2004, also was highly critical of some of the inspector general's work. He contended that parts of the investigation weren't thorough. The IG also took too long to do its investigation, he argued.

"The failure of the OIG to properly address this matter and to protect me from retaliation compelled me to resign from the FBI in order to bring this case to the attention of members of Congress and the American public, and only that public pressure compelled the OIG to act," German wrote.

He also maintained that he was retaliated against in more ways than the IG found. He asked the IG to re-evaluate its conclusion with regard to retaliation.

One congressional aide noted that German has meticulously documented his allegations, and is not seeking any compensation or reinstatement. "Frankly, he's one of the most credible whistleblowers I've ever seen," the aide said.

Terrorism Nexus?

One of the biggest areas of dispute between the FBI, IG and German is whether the Tampa case actually involved a terrorist plot.

The Tampa Division claimed in late 2002 that it could not find a "viable" terrorism connection. The IG and Inspection Division also said they did not find evidence of links to terrorism in the case.

German, however, said there was an "extraordinary amount of evidence" in FBI records to show a terrorism connection. He said it was only after he raised his allegations that Tampa managers argued that there was no link to terrorism.

German criticized the IG for failing to conduct an independent evaluation to determine if there was a terrorism connection. He asked the IG to either conduct such an investigation of case files before the report is final, or acknowledge in the report that it did not investigate whether there was a terrorism connection.

"The refusal to undertake an independent review . . . seriously undermines the integrity of this OIG report," German wrote. "More importantly, however, the OIG refusal to look at the evidence directly affects the national security of the United States and our allies."

A Public Plea

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller issued a memo in support of whistleblowers.

"The freedom to expose any impropriety within the bureau, without suffering reprisal, is fundamental to our ability to maintain high standards of organizational performance and conduct and to expeditiously root out inefficiency and malfeasance," Mueller wrote. "This critical freedom cannot be impaired by fear or reprisal or intimidation."

More than four years since Mueller issued the memo, German said the FBI still does not have adequate protection for whistleblowers and runs the risk of losing valuable, experienced agents, such as himself.

"There's nobody that wants the FBI to reform more than the agents out there doing the work, but unfortunately the way the system's set up they can't do anything about it," he said. "What I hope happens with all of this is that the public realizes there are still enormous problems with the way the FBI handles counterterrorism and compels Congress to reform the FBI, because it won't reform itself. Period."

The Blog | Jane Hamsher: Dan Froomkin, Jim VandeHei, Bob Woodward and the Bimbo Journalism of the Washington Post | The Huffington Post

The Blog | Jane Hamsher: Dan Froomkin, Jim VandeHei, Bob Woodward and the Bimbo Journalism of the Washington Post | The Huffington Post

lies.com � Hadley Fails to Answer the Question

lies.com � Hadley Fails to Answer the Question