Pentagon 9/11: Jesse Ventura's TV show "Conspiracy Theory"

http://www.twf.org/News/Y2010/0911-Pentagon.html

TAPI agreement a boost for Israeli oil and natural gas ventures in Turkmenistan

The Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (TAPI) pipeline project moved closer to implementation with the with the signing of an agreement on December 11.

The agreement was signed by the presidents of Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. India was represented by Energy Minister Murli Deora.

The agreement commits the four nations to providing government support, including security for the pipeline.

The proposed 1,680 kilometer TAPI gas pipeline is favored by the U.S. over the Iran, Pakistan, India natural-gas pipeline — the so-called "peace pipeline".

According to physicist James Gordon Prather — who served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla.:

Back in 2005 Secretary of State Condi Rice had whizzed down to New Delhi to prevent India's finalizing technical and commercial contracts for a $4.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India natural-gas pipeline that is to provide Iranian natural gas mostly to India.

In return for India canceling the "peace pipeline," Condi held out the possibility that we would (a) lift sanctions imposed by Congress on India (as a result of the nuclear weapons tests India conducted in 1998), (b) allow India to be supplied with NPT-proscribed nuclear materials and equipment — to be subjected to special IAEA Safeguards — we had previously blocked, and (c) get the Nuclear Suppliers Group to completely disregard guidelines on restrictions to be applied to NSG exports to India.

U.S. bases in Afghanistan are expected to play a role in securing the TAPI pipeline venture.

The rationale for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq has long since been debunked.

The TAPI pipeline is a boost for Israeli oil and natural gas ventures in Turkmenistan, and U.S. wars have been a boost for Israel's "security".

Jewish writers have claimed that "powerful zionists drove USA into mid-east war for sake of Israel".

The Taliban have no problem with the Afghan government

"The Taliban have no problem with the Afghan government. We have no problem with Karzai or the Afghans. The problem lies with the Americans," he said. . . .

"The Americans have one right only, and that is their right to be assured that Afghanistan will not be used against them and that is something the Taliban should give.

"Apart from that they have no rights, they have no right to tell us about democracy and human rights. That's an Afghan issue and it will be decided by the Afghans."

Geraldo Rivera, FOX News, does story on 9/11

Sen. Mike Gravel will introduce multi-state initiative to investigate 9/11

Muslims Didn't Do It — slide show / movie

Report: Jon Stewart's executive producer arrested for assaulting 9/11 activist

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's much anticipated "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" begins today at noon in Washington, DC.

Wikileaks: Iraq war lgs

Anwar al-Aulaki was invited to the Pentagon after 9/11

Anwar al-Aulaki, the "terrorist" the US is targeting in Yemen, was invited to the Pentagon after 9/11

Muslims Didn't Do It

"All the proffered evidence that America was attacked by Muslims on 9/11, when subjected to critical scrutiny, appears to have been fabricated." -- David Ray Griffin, Professor emeritus, philosopher, and author of couple of dozen books on philosophy and 9/11

Military and Intelligence Services Officials

"I'm astounded that the conspiracy theory advanced by the administration could in fact be true and the evidence does not seem to suggest that that's accurate." -- Col. Ronald D. Ray, U.S. Marine Corps (ret)

"Scholars and professionals . . . have established beyond any reasonable doubt that the official account of 9/11 is false and that, therefore, the official 'investigations' have really been cover-up operations." -- Lt. Col. Robert Bowman, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret)

"Your countrymen have been murdered and the more you delve into it the more it looks as though they were murdered by our government, who used it as an excuse to murder other people thousands of miles away." -- Lt. Col. Shelton F. Lankford, U.S. Marine Corps (ret)

"It is as a scientist that I have the most trouble with the official government conspiracy theory, mainly because it does not satisfy the rules of probability or physics." -- Lt. Col. Karen U. Kwiatkowski, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret)

"No aircraft hit the Pentagon. Totally impossible! You couldn't make the turns with a 757. You couldn't fly it in over the highway. You couldn't fly it over the light poles. You couldn't even get it that close to the ground because of turbulence." -- Major Douglas Rokke, PhD, U.S. Army (ret)

"The government story they handed us about 9/11 is total B.S. plain and simple." -- Capt. Russ Wittenberg, U.S. Air Force

"[W]hat we saw happen on that morning of September 11, 2001, was the result of a highly-compartmentalized covert operation to bring about a fascist coup in this country." -- Alan N. Sabrosky, PhD

Pilots and Aviation Professionals

"We analyzed the data and announced our conclusion on 3/26/07 that 'The information provided by the NTSB does not support the 9/11 Commission Report of American Airlines Flight 77 impact with the Pentagon.'" -- Rob Balsamo, Commercial airline pilot, Co-founder Pilots for 9/11 Truth

"I most certainly and honestly believe, that sometime in the near future, it will become common knowledge that the events of 9/11 were an 'inside job' designed, engineered and committed by a very large and 'in control' rogue element within our United States federal government". -- Glen Stanish, Commercial airline pilot

"No Boeing 757 ever crashed into the Pentagon. No Boeing 757 ever crashed at Shanksville. . . . And no Arab hijacker, ever in a million years, ever flew into the World Trade Center. And if you got 30 minutes I'll tell you exactly why he couldn't do it the first time." -- John Lear, Retired commercial airline pilot

". . . an airplane that weighs 100 tons all assembled is still going to have 100 tons of disassembled trash and parts after it hits a building. There was no wreckage from a 757 at the Pentagon." -- Capt. Russ Wittenberg, Retired commercial pilot

"I was also a Navy fighter pilot and Air Combat Instructor, U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School and have experience flying low altitude, high speed aircraft. I could not have done what these beginners did." -- Commander Ralph Kolstad, Retired commercial airline captain

"I know from my experience that it would have been highly improbable that even a seasoned American test pilot, a military test pilot, could have flown a T-category, aircraft like the 757, into the first floor of the Pentagon because of a thing called Ground Effect." -- Capt. Fred Fox, Retired commercial airline pilot

"The Pentagon was not hit by a Boeing 757. A Boeing 757 did not crash in Shanksville Pa." -- Gordon Price, Retired commercial airline captain

Engineers and Architects

"The 9/11 Commission Report is fatally flawed. The major conclusions of the 9/11 Commission Report - the official, conspiracy theory - are false." -- Enver Masud, Engineer and author "9/11 Unveiled"

"[A]ll three World Trade Center high-rise buildings, the Twin Towers and Building 7 were destroyed not by fire as our government has told us, but by controlled demolition with explosives." -- Richard Gage, Founding member of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth

"I have 'known' from day-one that the buildings were imploded and that they could not and would not have collapsed from the damage caused by the airplanes that ran into them." -- Daniel B. Barnum, B.Arch, FAIA

"[S]ymmetrical collapse is strong evidence of a controlled demolition. A building falling from asymmetrical structural failure would not collapse so neatly, nor so rapidly". -- David A. Johnson, B.Arch, MCP, PhD, F.AICP

"Obviously it [WTC 7] was the result of controlled demolition and scheduled to take place during the confusion surrounding the day's events." -- Jack Keller, BS CE, MS Irrigation Eng, PhD Agricultural and Irrigation Eng, PE, F.ASCE

"In my opinion the building WTC 7 was, with great probability, professionally demolished". -- Hugo Bachmann, PhD

"The [Twin Tower] building was designed to have a fully loaded 707 crash into it. That was the largest plane at the time. I believe that the building probably could sustain multiple impacts of jetliners because this structure is like the mosquito netting on your screen door." -- Frank A. DeMartini, Architect and WTC Construction Manager

"I looked at the drawings, the construction and it couldn't be done by fire. So, no, absolutely not." -- Danny Jowenko, Proprietor, Jowenko Explosieve Demolitie B.V.

Professors

"We have found solid scientific grounds on which to question the interpretation put upon the events of September 11, 2001 by the Office of the President of the United States of America and subsequently propagated by the major media of western nations." -- A. K. Dewdney, PhD, Member Scientific Panel Investigating Nine-Eleven

"Despite the absence of any visible fire at the time of collapse, the government report alleges WTC Building 7 is the first and only steel-framed high-rise building in the history of mankind to collapse simply as the result of a fire." -- David L. Griscom, Research physicist, Member Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice

"Truth, Ethics and Professionalism are completely lacking in the official aftermath and investigations surrounding the 911 disasters. Unfortunately we went to war predicated on lies, sustained in lies, and perpetuated in lies." -- Hamid Mumin, Ph.D., P.Eng., P.Geo.

"In my opinion the building WTC 7 was, with great probability, professionally demolished". -- Jorg Schneider, Dr hc, Professor Emeritus, Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

"This is the first time, and this is the worst disaster, but this is the first time that families have been attempted to be silenced through a special fund, . . . I found that the airlines approached members of Congress and the Senate to get their bailout and their immunity and their protection starting on 9/11." -- Mary Schiavo, JD, Former Professor of Aviation

"On the basis of photographic and video evidence as well as related data and analyses, I provide thirteen reasons for rejecting the official hypothesis, according to which fire and impact damage caused the collapse of the Twin Towers and WTC 7, in favor of the controlled-demolition hypothesis." -- Steven Jones, PhD, Former Professor of Physics

DOWNLOAD single-page "Muslims Didn't Do It" handout

'No Islamic Community Center at Ground Zero'

Dear Jewish War Veterans of America

Here is my response to your statement opposing a mosque at Ground Zero:

I am from a Muslim family, and I humbly agree with these Jewish veterans. It would be inappropriate to have a Muslim centre near Ground Zero under the present circumstances.

Let there be an open inquiry, under the auspices of the General Assembly of the United Nations, to go into the official US government story about 9/11, with free and open examination of the claims of experts such as Prof David Ray Griffin, Prof Steven Jones, Christopher Bollyn, Richard Gage and others in the so-called 9/11 truth movement; and from the other side, any witnesses that the US government, the government of Israel or any of their friends and supporters would wish to put forward.

If the evidence clearly supports the US government claim, the world Muslim community should agree, as atonement, to knock down all mosques within one hundred miles of Ground Zero.

If, however, it turns out that 9/11 was clearly an inside job, under the leadership of Zionists and globalists, for the expansion of the American empire and for the destruction of Israel’s enemies, then it would be most appropriate, as Dr Kevin Barrett has proposed to President Obama, for a giant mosque to be constructed at Ground Zero itself.

Syed Zaidi
(retired professor of philosophy, University of Delhi, Delhi, India)

If Israel attacks Iran, 'the whole fabric of the Middle East will unravel'

If Israel attacks Iran, "the whole fabric of the Middle East will unravel. This juggernaut would be unstoppable. After Iran, Syria would fall. After Syria, Saudi Arabia. It will be the classic domino game: Iran rejoiced when Iraq fell. Saudis wish Iran to fall. Israel wants all of them to fall. This is inscribed in their Clean Break paper and its source, Oded Yinon's paper, which they follow religiously."

Doubts surface about WikiLeaks — Assange's position on 9/11 close to establishment's

Fear paralyzes U.S. Muslim 'leaders'

Anti-Muslim bigots and opportunists rally around opposition to an Islamic Center near Ground Zero in New York

-- The number of Americans who do not believe the official account of 9/11 is increasing

-- Paralyzed by fear, Muslim 'leaders' silent on 9/11

-- Ground Zero Islamic Center controversy -- a unique opportunity lost?

-- ADAMS Center officials say they 'cannot legally provide a platform' for discussion of 9/11

-- America's foreign policy establishment created the Islamic threat to advance its interests

-- The silence of Muslim 'leaders' is inexcusable, risks driving some to violence


by Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund

Cluster bomb ban comes into effect — US refuses to sign

The Convention on Cluster Munitions became binding international law on Sunday. The United States, the world's largest producer with the biggest stockpile of 800 million submunitions, has refused to sign the treaty so far, although it says it will ban the weapon from 2018.

9/11: Professional engineer demonstrates that steel subjected to fire does not produce the effects seen at Ground Zero

Jonathan H. Coles, P.E. demonstrates that steel subjected to fire for 24 hours does not produce the effects seen at Ground Zero.

Ground Zero Islamic Center an attempt to prevent the next 9/11?

Writing in the Washington Post, Imam Feisal Rauf says that the Islamic Center proposed near Ground Zero "is an attempt to prevent the next 9/11."

To "prevent the next 9/11", one has to find out who was responsible for the first 9/11 — to this day, bin Laden is NOT WANTED by the FBI for 9/11.

Read "9/11 Unveiled" — a free download at our website, examine the evidence on our 9/11 pages, and you'll see that the official account isn't worth the paper it's written on.

Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund

Afghanistan: Massive leak of secret files exposes the truth about the occupation

A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency. . . .

U.S. to resume ties with Indonesia's dreaded Kopassus

U.S. State Department army to control Iraq

Mahatma Gandhi rejected Zionism

Somalia: US intervention — from Black Hawk Down to 2010

The true language of counter-terrorism

Prof. Rychlak, I challenge you to debate me on the alleged terrorists behind 9/11, and their motivation.

Realpolitik = Power Politics = Terrorism (see http://www.twf.org/Library/Terrorism.html) — state sponsored terrorists have done more damage than non-state terrorists.

That's why the US opposes the definition proposed by the UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change "as any action intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organisation to do, or abstain from, any act."

Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund

Israel's nukes harm US national interests

Somali insurgents demand Uganda pullout

US invades Costa Rica — with permission of course

Carly Fiorina, please do your homework

Ms Fiorina

I just read your remarkable speech given 15 days after 9/11, and was impressed with the concluding paragraphs beginning with "I’ll end by telling a story."

You did a wonderful job of describing "a civilization that was the greatest in the world." You had certainly done your homework then.

Perhaps you should do your homework on "Protecting America". Start with "9/11 Unveiled".

Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund
www.twf.org

Wikileaks case echoes Pentagon papers, may shed light on 9/11

The unfolding secret story of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon is being told today when more than 500,000 intercepted pager messages, many from US officials, are published online in the order in which they were sent.

Press conference to release as-yet unseen HD footage from Gaza flotilla's Mavi Marmara

MEDIA ALERT:

PRESS CONFERENCE TO RELEASE AS-YET UNSEEN HD FOOTAGE FROM GAZA FLOTILLA'S MAVI MARMARA

PRESENTED BY FILMMAKER IARA LEE

WHO: Iara Lee, a filmmaker from Cultures of Resistance (www.culturesofresistance.org) who was one of a small number of Americans aboard the Marvi Marmara when it was attacked by Israeli forces. Despite having her equipment confiscated, she was able to smuggle back to the U.S. an hour of footage taken aboard the ship.

WHAT: Statement by Lee followed by the first screening of the raw footage in its entirety. The footage shows the mood and the activities on board the Mavi Marmara in the time leading up to the attack, including a walk through the entire ship, and the immediate reaction of the passengers during the attack. Lee will take quesitons from the press after the screening.

WHEN: Thursday, June 10, 4pm EST.

WHERE: United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Library. Visitors' entrance on 46th Street at First Avenue, New York City.

HOW: For UN Press Accreditation, please see: http://www.un.org/media/accreditation/form/myform.asp

CONTACT: Ina Howard-Parker, Represent Agency, ina@representinc.com

Reports: 9/11 a Mossad operation

Amnesty Int’l report claims U.S. used cluster bombs on Yemeni children

A US cruise missile carrying cluster bombs was behind a December attack in Yemen that killed 55 people, most of them civilians, Amnesty International (AI) said on Monday. The London-based rights group released photographs that it said showed the remains of a US-made Tomahawk missile and unexploded cluster bombs that were apparently used in the December 17, 2009 attack on the rural community of Al-Maajala in Yemen’s southern Abyan province.

Net neutrality: Our experience with Yahoo email blocking

More than two years trying to get off Yahoo spam list, and they're still blocking our email. Latest message to hundreds of our emails is:

xxxxx@btinternet.com: host mx2.bt.mail.yahoo.com[195.50.106.142] refused to talk to me: 421 4.7.1 [TS03] All messages from 216.194.248.199 will be permanently deferred; Retrying will NOT succeed. See http://postmaster.yahoo.com/errors/421-ts03.html

News blackout of Israeli attack? Not here

Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet

VIDEO: Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack

Financial Times: "With Monday’s brazen act of piracy, Israel dealt a blow to the legitimacy of its own struggle. . . . Outrageous as this behaviour was, the true outrage is the illegal blockade of Gaza that it enforced."

Xinhua: World condemns Israel for attacking Gaza aid flotilla

Outlook: "Some 700 pro-Palestinian activists were on board the flotilla, including 1976 Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor."

Voice of Russia: "Israeli troops have attacked vessels carrying aid to the Gaza Strip Monday, killing 19 people out of 700 on board. Among them was the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Northern Ireland) and deputies of the European Parliament."

Al Jazeerah: "At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday, Israeli radio reported.

"The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast. . . . "

Reuters: Israel flotilla action criticised by friends and foes

Financial Times: At least 10 dead after Israel raids convoy

Washington Post: Israel: At least 10 pro-Palestinian activists killed on Gaza flotilla carrying aid

New York Times: At Least 10 Are Killed as Israel Halts Flotilla With Gaza Aid

The coming Iran war

Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades.

Unilateral strike by U.S. on Pakistan an option

by Enver Masud

The U.S. is studying options for a unilateral strike on Pakistan. The Times Square bomber may have been a setup to get Pakistan to strike militants in its Northwest harder, and failing that to set the stage for bigger U.S. strikes.

Apparently, drone strikes by the United States on Pakistan, sanctioned by its government, deemed unlawful by U.S. legal scholars, are not enough.

Greg Miller reports today in the Washington Post, "a U.S. reprisal would be contemplated only under extreme circumstances, such as a catastrophic attack that leaves President Obama convinced that the ongoing campaign of CIA drone strikes is insufficient."

If a catastrophic attack on the U.S. does occur, recall the the threat of Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction, and the hard evidence that it wasn't the Taliban led by Bin Laden who gave us 9/11.

What does BP's failure modes and effects analysis reveal?

Did British Petroleum (BP) conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)? I did this routinely when working for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company.

We designed the bulk power supply system to withstand PROBABLE contingencies so that customers would not notice their effect.

We also designed for LESS PROBABLE contingencies so that the problem could be isolated, and the remainder of the bulk power supply system secured with some customers noticing lights dimming.

This sort of analysis is common to many industries — nuclear, aircraft, etc. It defines the tradeoffs that must be accepted before one determines the final design, and decides to proceed with construction.

It would be interesting to see the results of BP's failure modes and effects analysis.

Enver Masud

Those irrational, misled, conspiratorial Muslims

This game of Let's Mock Those Crazy, Conspiratorial Arabs and Muslims is as useful as it is common: recall how only the Paranoid "Arab Street" believed that the invasion of Iraq would lead to permanent American military bases in that country, only for this to be revealed, followed by this. There is a lot of propaganda, paranoia and myth in Pakistan, along with most places in the world. But the American media's fixation on pointing to it and deriding it has the principal effect (if not intent) of obscuring the role we play in enabling (and even justifying) those sentiments, along with at least our own equal share of such propaganda and our own media's central role in bolstering it.

Calls to murder

Sheldon Richman, at The Future of Freedom Foundation, writes: "Yesterday, in a statement placed in the New York Review of Books, headlined 'Crimes Are Crimes No Matter Who Does Them,' a group of prominent leftist intellectuals, activists, and actors said, 'Crimes under Bush are crimes under Obama and must be resisted by anyone who claims a shred of conscience.'"

The group specifically referred to Obama’s ordering the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and radical Muslim cleric living in Yemen, “because he is suspected of participating in plots by Al Qaeda.” The statement notes that “Al-Awlaki denies these charges. No matter. Without trial or other judicial proceeding, the administration has simply put him on the to-be-killed list.”

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) condemned Anwar Al-Awlaki's "destructive, sickening call to murder". MPAC made no mention of Obama's call to murder an American without trial or other judicial proceeding.

Which call to murder presents a greater threat to Americans?

Southern Baptist's ex-Muslim narratives in dispute: University to investigate seminary leader's claims

Blackwater infiltrates streets of Pakistan capital city, Islamabad

Who is funding the $100 million mosque going up at 'ground zero' in New York?

The Associated Press reports that the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative are the two organizations sponsoring the project. We were curious about the funding for this project.

The Cordoba Initiative (founded 2004) last filed an IRS Form 990 in 2008 showing revenues $0, expenses $2767, and net assets of $18,255.

The American Society for Muslim Advancement (founded 1998) has apparently never filed an IRS Form 990. Their website shows that the last event they held was in May 2007.

Small tax-exempt organizations whose annual gross receipts are normally $25,000 or less usually file IRS Form 990-N (e-Postcard) — a relatively recent requirement — which does not require the reporting of financial information.

An organization that "fails to file required e-Postcards (or information returns – Forms 990 or 990-EZ) for three consecutive years will automatically lose its tax-exempt status."

Report: IAEA to discuss Israel's nuclear activities for first time

Times Square, NY: Muslim 'leaders' never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity

Was it a false-flag operation?

To Chairman and CEO, AOL re email blocking

VIA PRIORITY MAIL #03093220000037794676

Tim Armstrong
Chairman and CEO
AOL Inc.
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003


Dear Mr. Armstrong:

AOL is blocking hundreds of emails from The Wisdom Fund — a Section 501(c)(3), nonprofit corporation, established in 1995.

We have used the same ISP since 1995 — Heller Information Services (HIS.com).

Our mailing list has been developed over 15 years: some subscribed, some were added when they contacted us, some were added from those CCd in mail to us.

We use Intellimerge software for bulk mailing, and every email we send has an unsubscribe link — unsubscribe requests are handled by Intellimerge.

The error message we receive is:
http://postmaster.aol.com/Postmaster.Errors.html#421rlynw
which takes us to an AOL page designed for ISPs — not ISP clients.

We do not have the resources to interpret AOL instructions written for ISPs, and we cannot spare countless hours to get our email unblocked, only to be blocked again.

AOL’s block is damaging communications with our subscribers. Please take measures to place us on a safe list so that our email is not blocked.

Thank you,


Enver Masud
Founder and CEO
The Wisdom Fund

Reporters Without Borders funded by US foreign policy organizations

After years of trying to hide it, Robert Menard, Paris-based Secretary-General of Reporters Sans Frontieres or RWB, confessed that the RWB budget was primarily funded by "US organizations strictly linked to US foreign policy." Those US organizations behind RWB include the Open Society Foundation of billionaire speculator, George Soros, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Congress' National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Copy machines, a security risk?

AOL blocking email from The Wisdom Fund

AOL is blocking our email. If you wish to receive email from The Wisdom Fund, tell AOL to stop blocking email from staff@twf.org.

Airline pilot cleared of role in 9/11 after 'nine years of hell'

The Guardian (UK) reported: Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian living in Britain who lost his career as an airline pilot, suffered wrongful imprisonment and damage to his health, will now be eligible for up to £2m compensation. . . .

Raissi's arrest, at his home in Colnbrook, Berkshire, 10 days after the 9/11 attacks, followed an extradition request from the FBI. In court, where he awaited extradition to the US on a holding charge, he was described by British lawyers representing the US as one of the lead instructors of the four hijackers.

9/11 witness April Gallop case dismissed

On April 16, 2010, it was reported that William Veale, the attorney representing April Gallop, wrote: "Judge Chin has just dismissed the Gallop case. He said that the allegations are frivolous and based on fantasy and delusion."

"April Gallop's . . . desk was roughly 40 feet from the point where the plane [Flight 77] allegedly hit the outside wall. As she sat down to work there was an explosion, then another; walls collapsed and the ceiling fell in. Hit in the head, she was able to grab the baby and make her way towards the daylight showing through a blasted opening in the outside wall. There was no airplane wreckage and no burning airplane fuel anywhere; only rubble and dust."

Fantasy and delusion, Judge Chin? Did you examine the evidence?

On April 16, the Los Angeles Times reported that President Obama "has nominated U.S. District Judge Denny Chin for the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

'Muslims Today: A Radical Reform'

Dear Prof Esposito:

I just watched the video "Muslims Today: A Radical Reform" with Tariq Ramadan and you, and I can't recall anything there that I disagree with.

The problem, ultimately, is education -- educating Muslims in less developed countries. And we can't do that if we (the U.S.) keep making war on them. In effect we are making sure that the reform we want won't occur.

We also have Muslim scholars, "leaders", etc being sought by media to speak on issues that they have not studied or examined in depth. The biggest of these is 9/11.

Best wishes,
Enver Masud

The Wisdom Fund

Israeli false flag attack to blame Iran

Gordon Duff, Veterans Today, writes, "Rumors of an upcoming terror attack to be blamed on Iran are moving around the world, “backchannel chatter.” The primary suspect is Israel who is said to have a number of small “suitcase” type nuclear weapons".

Labels have power that can rebound on user

Afghanistan: Sabotaging Hamid Karzai's reconciliation strategy

Announcement: The War on Islam, 5th edition, now available

THE WAR ON ISLAM
by Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund

364 page, 5th edition
Available April 17

What you weren't told
about America's wars
1990 to 2010

Listen live to
author interviews:

American Freedom Radio
Kevin Barrett's
Truth Jihad Radio
Saturday, April 17
7:00 PM EST

Pacifica Radio
Brother Hodari's
Freedom Sounds
Wednesday, April 21
7:00 AM EST

Election 2012: Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41%

Obama hyping terrorist nuclear risk

The conservative Washington Times wrote, "The Obama administration is warning that the danger of a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons is increasing, but U.S. officials say the claim is not based on new intelligence and questioned whether the threat is being overstated."

It is the U.S. that is violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Assistant Secretary Posner challenged to answer 9/11 skeptics

Yesterday, at the AMA Foundation's Forum on National Security & American Muslims, Michael H. Posner — Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State — was challenged to answer 9/11 skeptics.

"9/11 is central to national security, terrorism and human rights," said Mr. Enver Masud, Founder of The Wisdom Fund. He added that Osama bin Laden is not wanted for 9/11 by the FBI. BBC News has reported several hijackers are alive. A recent Angus Reid poll concludes that 26% of Americans do not believe The 9/11 Commission Report.

Mr. Masud then handed Mr. Posner his book "9/11 Unveiled" together with a letter to President Obama, and a copy of a quarter-page, newspaper advertisement that contains highlights from his book.

Mr. Posner's response was that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had admitted to planning 9/11.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted his role in 9/11 after being waterboarded 183 times. Skeptics of the official report do not believe that KSM is the "mastermind" of 9/11.

Nihad Awad, Executive Director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Sahar Aziz of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee also spoke at the forum.

Among those attending the forum was Mr. Darron Paul Monteiro, Associate Director White House Office of Public Engagement. He was scheduled to speak at the event, but was not permitted to do so by the White House.

The forum was moderated by Dr. Agha Saeed, Founder and Chairman of American Muslim Alliance Foundation, and sponsored by Muhammad Salim Akhtar, National Director of the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections.

Mr. Masud is also the author of "The War on Islam." An expanded, 5th edition is to be released on April 17, 2010 — the 15th anniversary of The Wisdom Fund.

Israel called on to honour the 'Arab Schindler'

He has been called the "Arab Schindler", and hailed as a man who risked his own life to save Jews during the Holocaust. Now Khaled Abdul-Wahab, a wealthy Tunisian landowner, is the object of a campaign to bestow on him the title of "righteous among the nations", the recognition by Israel for gentiles who helped to rescue Jews from the Nazis.

9/11 Memorial Museum

Jenny Pachucki
9/11 Memorial Museum

To truly honor the victims of that tragic September 11, 2001, one must not whitewash what happened. "The 9/11 Commission Report" is fiction.

According to an Angus Reid survey released last month, one in four Americans believe 9/11 was a fabrication and pretext for war.

For example, the FBI admits they have no hard evidence that Osama bin Laden was responsible. Colin Powell has yet to present the evidence against bin Laden that he promised at the National Security Council. BBC News reported several of the alleged hijackers alive.

During a 3-week, 9/11 lecture tour of South Africa, where I appeared on satellite TV and live before hundreds daily, virtually no one disagreed with me. The US embassy declined to rebut me on SAfm.

I have put together the case against "The 9/11 Commission Report" in a brief monograph you may download free from our website.


Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund
TWF.org

US reaps bitter harvest from 'Tulip' revolution

George W. Bush 'knew Guantanamo prisoners were innocent'

According to The Times (UK): George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantanamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, . . .

General Powell, who left the Bush Administration in 2005, angry about the misinformation that he unwittingly gave the world when he made the case for the invasion of Iraq at the UN, is understood to have backed Colonel Wilkerson's declaration.

'Israel did 9/11'

Iran's Green Revolution: Was Neda's death staged?

President deceiving us on Iran's nuclear program

In an interview to "The Early Show" Friday, Obama said "all the evidence indicates" that Tehran is trying to get the "capacity to develop nuclear weapons." So what?

According to Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the IAEA, "as many as 30 countries could soon have technology that would let them produce atomic weapons."

Why not go after them?

The bottom line is that Iran has not shown to be violating its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. The US is violating them.

Americans 'furious that Karzai is . . . seeking friendship with China and Iran'

Mr Obama's visit to Afghanistan came against a backdrop of tension between Mr Karzai and the Americans. . . .

It seems Karzai had barely got back to Kabul from Tehran when the US Air Force One carrying Obama landed in Bagram air base north of the Afghan capital. Obama has since asked Karzai to go over to Washington on May 12.

. . . the Americans are furious that Karzai is steadily disengaging from the US's grip and seeking friendship with China and Iran. Pretences of cordiality are withering away even as Washington realizes that the ground beneath its feet is shifting.

MORE at bottom of page — see "Karzai's China-Iran dalliance riles Obama"

Obama appoints Islam A Siddiqui as Chief Agricultural Negotiator

Steps to undermine Muslim extremism

Jason Murphy
The Heritage Foundation

Re "Steps to Undermine Muslim Extremism: The Saudi Angle" — James Phillips' comments on 9/11

Mr Phillips attribute's 9/11 to Saudi hijackers several of whom are alive according to the BBC, and the evidence shows that 19 Muslims could not have carried out the attacks of 9/11 without the help of elements within US.

I would be pleased to debate Mr Phillips on this issue.

As for Islamic extremism, how about beginning with US extremism, and setting an example for others?


Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund

Wall Street reform missing vital ingredient

Pam Martens writes in CounterPunch: "Last Fall, it was all about the wall: financial bigwigs like former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, former Citigroup co-CEO John Reed, Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, all espoused reestablishing the legal barrier between the derivatives casino that masquerades today as Wall Street and commercial banks holding insured deposits. . . .

"But the wall has now gone missing in the current financial reform bill".

DOJ list of 'terrorism' convictions

Click on "National Security Division Statistics on Unsealed International Terrorism and Terrorism-Related Convictions 9/11/01 - 3/18/10" at bottom of page.

Israel risks provoking third intifada

Iraq election: CIA connected Iyad Allawi wins narrowly

A secular coalition led by Iyad Allawi narrowly won the most seats in this month’s Iraq parliamentary elections.

Dr. Allawi was nominated to be Iraq's interim prime minister by Iraq's U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council on May 28, 2004.

In 1996, he worked with the CIA to plot a coup that was to involve Iraqi army generals toppling Hussein.

Comparing military spending

US offers nuclear deal to Pakistan

The "US, according to analysts who spoke to Asia Times Online, wants Pakistan to walk away from the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project." In exchange, Pakistan — not a signatory to the NPT — would get US nuclear technology.

Staging Bin Laden’s 'death'

It appears that we are being primed for the "death" of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Attorney General Eric Holder told a House panel this month that bin Laden "will never appear in an American courtroom."

Others who have examined “Bin Laden’s tapes” have concluded that Bin Laden is dead.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted that the US has had no reliable information on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden in years.

But the US needs a neat ending to its war on Afghanistan.

Staging Bin Laden’s death will be seen as a fitting end to this genocidal war for the control of energy resources. Of course it will have to be done so that visual identification is not possible.

We suspect that when Bin Laden is “killed,” we’ll just have to trust the folks that lied us into war to confirm they got him.

Deformed babies: Victims of uranium munitions

There are reports of deformed babies being born in Afghanistan and Gaza — victims of uranium munitions used by the US and Israeli forces.

One in four Americans believe 9/11 was a fabrication and pretext for war

The following are the results of an Angus Reid poll:

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? – “The Sept. 11 incident was a big fabrication as a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan.”

Result: 26% agree; 12% not sure; 62% disagree.

The commission that investigated the events of Sept. 11, 2001 concluded that an attack was carried out by 19 hijackers who were members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, led by Osama bin Laden. Do you believe this is what actually happened on 9/11?

Result: 12% said no; 21% not sure; 67% said yes.

For those who do not agree with the first statement, or said yes to the second, we invite them to visit our website.

Gordon Duff: Sabrosky interview ties Israel to 9/11

Dr. Alan Sabrosky, former director of studies at the US Army War College, says that the military brass now know that Israel and those traitors within our nation committed the 911 attack.

More on 9/11.

400 medical professionals join 9/11 truth movement

How the West poisoned Bangladesh

The Independent (UK) reports: "Up to 20 million people in Bangladesh are at risk of suffering early deaths because of arsenic poisoning — the legacy of a well-intentioned but ill-planned water project that created a devastating public health catastrophe."

Former cabinet minister on Britain's National Health Service

Tony Benn, former cabinet minister and the longest-serving MP in the history of the British Labour Party, on Britain's National Health Service:

It was set up in Britain in 1948, sixty-one years ago. And I have with me the statement made by the government at the time. “Your new National Health Service begins on the 5th of July. […] How do you get it?

“It will provide you with all medical, dental, and nursing care. Everyone—rich or poor, man, woman or child—can use it or any part of it. There are no charges, except for a few special items. There are no insurance qualifications. But it is not a ‘charity’. You are all paying for it, […] as taxpayers, and it will relieve your money worries in time of illness.”

What is terrorism?

Enver Masud, founder The Wisdom Fund, posted following at U.S. News & World Report:

In 2005, then UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recognized this need, and called for a "universally accepted definition of terrorism, he endorsed the wording contained in the recent report from the UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, . . . The panel defined terrorism as any action intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organisation to do, or abstain from, any act."

Five years later, there's still no generally accepted definition of terrorism — presumably because it would include acts that major powers now commit with impunity.

The simple definition in Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, defines terrorism as the "use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate, and subjugate, esp. such use as a political weapon or policy".

Given this definition of terrorism, together with the definition of "power politics" and "realpolitik", leads to the conclusion that frequently realpolitik equals, power politics, equals terrorism.

Comments by David Ray Griffin at the Architects and Engineers press conference

A recently discovered paper on “Conspiracy Theories” by Obama appointee Cass Sunstein has rightly been receiving a lot of negative attention.

But this paper also makes an important contribution, pointing out that an idea cannot be rejected simply because it is a conspiracy theory, because there are true as well as false conspiracy theories.

We can decide between true and false theories, of course, only by seeing which ones are supported by the relevant evidence.

Sunstein says that the government’s 9/11 conspiracy theory – according to which there was a conspiracy between Osama bin Laden and 19 members of his al-Qaeda organization – is true, while that of the 9/11 Truth Movement is false. But he provides no evidence to support either claim.

The 9/11 Truth Movement, however, has presented an enormous amount of evidence to support its claims.

For example, in my 2009 book, The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7, I have shown that the report on this collapse put out by NIST – the National Institute of Standards and Technology – is unscientific and false.

It is unscientific because it can make its major negative claim – that the building was not brought down by explosives – only:

• by ignoring multiple testimonies about explosions going off in the building;

• by ignoring a piece of steel from the building that looked like a piece of Swiss cheese, even though fire could not have gotten anywhere close to the temperature needed to melt steel;

• by ignoring particles of metals in the dust that could have been produced only by extremely high temperatures;

• and by ignoring the existence of nanothermite, a high explosive.

The NIST report is also unscientific because it can make its major positive claim – that the building was brought down by fire – only by telling rather obvious lies:

• that a huge fire was burning on the 12th floor at 5:00 PM, even though its 2004 Interim Report had a photograph showing this fire to be completely burned out by 4:45;

• and that the building collapsed because its girders were not connected to the floor slabs with shear studs, even though that same 2004 report reported that the girders were connected with shear studs.

The NIST report is unscientific, finally, because it affirms a miracle, in the sense of a violation of basic principles of physics. Only months before NIST put out its final report, its lead investigator, Shyam Sunder, correctly stated that free fall would be physically impossible in a fire-produced collapse. But after high-school physics teacher David Chandler demonstrated in a YouTube presentation that the building came down in absolute free fall for over two seconds, NIST affirmed this empirical fact, while still maintaining its fire theory of the collapse. It thereby affirmed what it had previously acknowledged to be impossible. (All of these facts are contained in my latest book, The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report about 9/11 Is Unscientific and False.)

The government’s theory about the collapse of WTC 7 has, therefore, been disproved as thoroughly as a theory can be disproved. This is one of the reasons why 1,000 licensed architects and engineers are calling for a new investigation.

The story of Palestine nationhood

Geithner and Bernanke's possibly criminal roles in Lehman Brothers scandal

David Ray Griffin's 9/11 tour dates, places

Letter to Vice Chair, The 9/11 Commission: '9/11 Unveiled' shows that much of what we’ve been told about 9/11 is false

Mr. Lee Hamilton
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004-3027

Dear Mr. Hamilton:

"9/11 Unveiled" shows that much of what we’ve been told about that tragic day, September 11, 2001, is false.

You may download "9/11 Unveiled" free from http://www.twf.org/Library/911Unveiled.html, and read it in an hour — skip the first two sections to save time.

My varied work experience has taught me how to sift through complex, conflicting facts and opinions to arrive at defensible conclusions. I challenge the 9/11 Commission to defend theirs.

I managed the U.S. National Power Grid Study (directed a couple of dozen, multidisciplinary teams — a total of 150 persons), and the National Electric Reliability Study for the U.S. Department of Energy. I also set up and directed the Operations Review Division at the Iowa Commerce Commission. I’ve consulted for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the World Bank — in Albania, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tanzania.

I was recently on a three week lecture tour of South Africa speaking before hundreds every day, interviews on radio, and on television (broadcast to 20+ countries). Virtually all who listened came away sharing my conclusions. The U.S. embassy declined an invitation from SAfm to rebut me.

I live by the Pentagon, and would be pleased to give you a personal briefing.

Sincerely,

Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund

9/11 workers to be paid one million dollars for cancer, two million dollars for death

Huffington Post publishes, removes Jesse Ventura's 9/11 article

But the original is still available — for now.

A leading Japanese politician espouses a 9/11 fantasy

Re Editorial, "A leading Japanese politician espouses a 9/11 fantasy," Washington Post, March 8, 2010

If you believe it's a fantasy, why does the government refuse to answer the questions raised by more than 1000 architects and engineers, dozens of pilots, military and intelligence personnel, etc.?

During my 3-week, 9/11 lecture tour of South Africa — http://www.twf.org/911.html — I spoke to hundreds daily, was on national radio, and was interviewed on a television show broadcast to more than 20 countries. Virtually no one disagreed with me that The 9/11 Commission Report was fatally flawed.

The US embassy declined to provide someone to rebut me, despite the fact that the radio station, SABC, waited over a week for them.

I managed a multidisciplinary team of 150 persons at the US Dept of Energy, have consulted for USAID and the World Bank, and do not put my reputation on the line lightly.

The official version of events is the fantasy.

Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund
TWF.org

The problem with Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri's anti-terror fatwa

How does Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri's anti-terror fatwa define terrorism?

Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former Pakistani lawmaker, has issued a 600-page fatwa that bans suicide bombing "without any excuses, any pretexts, or exceptions."

In the past, we've raised a number of issues regarding suicide bombing, and commented on a previous fatwa on terrorism. The first issue is how does one define terrorism?

We did not find a definition in Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri's summary in English.

New York Times story Iran worked on nuclear warhead 'is, quite simply, false'

Peter Casey, a Massachusetts lawyer, writes in Antiwar.com: "You do not need a degree in nuclear physics or chemical engineering to see that the New York Times story is, quite simply, false. . . .

"First, the story's lead attributes to the report statements of fact that the IAEA does not make — and has never made. Instead of stating that 'Iran Worked on Warhead,' the IAEA says that it is concerned about the possible existence of past or current activities related to the development of a nuclear payload. . . .

"Second, the report does not state or claim that the IAEA has any new information about the possibility of a nuclear weapons program. The report contains no relevant new or different facts, evidence, conclusions, or 'declarations.' On the contrary, the IAEA (at paragraph 40) is emphatic that it is summarizing information about potential military application previously reported in detail."

9/11: A crack in the Maginot Line

The road to Armageddon

Sibel Edmonds: The traitors among us

SIBEL EDMONDS, a former FBI translator, claims that the following government officials have committed what amount to acts of treason. They are lawmakers Dennis Hastert, Bob Livingston, Dan Burton, Roy Blunt, Stephen Solarz and Tom Lantos, as well as at least three members of George W. Bush’s inner circle: Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and Marc Grossman. But is Sibel Edmonds credible?

“Absolutely, she’s credible,” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told CBS’s 60 Minutes . . .

Engaging religious communities abroad

Dr. Rachel Bronson
Vice President, Programs and Studies
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

I attended the presentation "Engaging Religious Communities Abroad: A New Imperative for U.S. Foreign Policy" at Georgetown University on Tuesday, and found an important element missing.

The missing element is how the other perceives the U.S. Of course USAID will find plenty of takers for their largesse, but unless one acknowledges the views of the other, and deals with them, it's likely to be a one way conversation.

I can cite many examples from history — from Indonesia, to the Philippines, and more recently Afghanistan and Iraq, but allow me to focus on one: 9/11.

The report takes the official version of 9/11 as a given. However, more than 1000 architects and engineers, and hundreds of pilots, military, intelligence, and scientific personnel disagree with the official version of September 11, 2001.

During my 3-week, 9/11 lecture tour of South Africa — where I spoke to hundreds daily, and appeared on radio and television — I found little support for the official version of 9/11.

The disagreement is captured in a quarter-page advertisement that we placed in the Washington Times in the Obama inaugural issue, and in my letter to President Obama.

I would be pleased to discuss this further, and challenge anyone in the Obama administration to debate the issue.

Enver Masud
Chairman and CEO
The Wisdom Fund

9/11: Thank you Jennifer Harper, Washington Times

Ms Harper and The Washington Times, thank you for the "Explosive News."

For more on this story, see the quarter-page advertisement we placed in The Washington Times — Obama inaugural issue, our website, and in 9/11 Unveiled.

1,000 architects and engineers call for grand jury into 9/11!

1,000 architects and engineers call for grand jury into 9/11!

The folks who lied us into war on Iraq, now trying to lie us into war on Iran

Are the folks who lied us into war on Iraq, to strip it of weapons it did not have, now trying to lie us into war on Iran, to strip it of weapons it does not have?

The evidence indicates they are.

What the Muslim world can teach us about nonviolence

"Gandhi's great colleague in the struggle for the freedom of Indian peoples from British colonial rule was Abdul-Ghaffar Khan, who developed his nonviolent understanding independently of Gandhi, through reading the Qur'an in jail. Abdul-Ghaffar Khan raised an army of 100,000 unarmed soldiers, the Khudai Khidmatgar, from the same villages that today yield many fewer young men up to the Taliban."

The danger of a single story

Open letter to Islamophobe Dutch MP Geert Wilders

NEW, 5th edition of 'The War on Islam' announced

In this fifth edition of The War on Islam, Enver Masud — recipient of the Human Rights Foundation, 2002 Gold Award — provides valuable insights on the conflict between Islam and the West, beginning with the Gulf War of 1991 to America’s recent financial debacle stemming (in part) from America’s unnecessary wars.

Impact International (England), in its review of The War on Islam, wrote, "Enver Masud gives example after example of disinformation and lies, cover-ups and double standards.” The All India Conference of Intellectuals wrote, "the contents of the book are an eye opener.” The U.S. based Muslim Observer wrote, "he brings balanced analysis of world affairs amidst the chaos of doctored evidence and complacent media.” Mumia Abu Jamal, “perhaps the best known death-row prisoner in the world", wrote, "his thoughts may prove valuable to thinking people in America”.

For those who seldom venture beyond mainstream news media, The War on Islam serves as a concise introduction to America's wars for resources and markets which are likely to escalate in the future. Since its first release in 2000, 10,000 copies of The War on Islam have been sold, and 190,000 downloaded. More on the book at The Wisdom Fund (TWF.org) — a nonprofit corporation founded by the author in 1995.

Swiss antagonist of minarets embraces Islam

Professor to launch 'Nuremberg' war crimes prosecution against Blair

Indonesians want to tear down statue of Obama

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui testifies at her trial

El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation, Maryland, reports from the courtroom in New York:

Aafia Siddiqui – a daughter, a sister, a mother of three, committed Muslim, social scientist, hafiz of Qur’an – needed to be heard. For years she had suffered in virtual silence…aching to be heard, to be understood, to have certain malicious untruths corrected and exposed for the lies they were.

That day finally came on Thursday, January 28, 2010!

The high drama of that day’s proceedings revolved around the question of whether or not U.S. District Judge Richard Berman would grant Aafia’s repeated demand to take the stand in her own defense.

Aafia’s lawyers appeared to be animate in their opposition to her taking the stand, while the prosecution appeared (on the surface) to be in favor of Aafia being entitled to her Fifth Amendment right. Her brother (Muhammad) was apprehensive about her taking the stand, leaning more in favor of her following the advice of her lawyers. Even Pakistani Ambassador Hussain Haqqani became involved. During a short visit he was allowed with the defendant, he reportedly advised Aafia to follow the advice of her lawyers. Aafia’s response to this collective concern was that she would make istiqara (a supplication to ALLAH Almighty for guidance on the matter); and in the end Aafia Siddiqui would be heard.

While I understood the reservations of those who were concerned about Aafia taking the stand (given all that she had already been through), I fully supported our sister’s right to be heard, and was guardedly optimistic about the potential outcome. More than anything, however, I knew that Aafia – like two young Muslim men in an Atlanta courtroom, and several young Muslim men in a New Jersey courtroom (who were eager, but manipulated into not taking the stand in their own defense not long ago) - needed to be heard! Aafia needed to have her day in court!

The process began with a preliminary (test) examination, with Aafia taking the witness stand in the absence of the jury – a kind of hearing within a hearing – to see how she would respond to that type of intensive and focused examination. After the judge determined that she was capable enough to enjoy her constitutional “right” to take the stand in her own defense, the jury was brought back into the courtroom, and it was on. (And what truly spectacular courtroom drama it turned out to be!)

The following summary is based on my notes from January 28th Open court proceedings began late in the morning, due to a number of procedural issues that needed to be addressed behind closed doors. Once proceedings began, it did so with the judge explaining Aafia’s right, and the possible risks, of her taking the stand. There was extensive discussion about the course and extent of cross examination should Aafia decide to testify. The government’s support of Aafia taking the stand was full of irony, given the fact that the government had repeatedly argued (during pre-trial and trial proceedings) that Aafia should not even be allowed to remain in the courtroom, because of her periodic outbursts and “uncontrollable” nature (in their view).

The First Witness

It was noted by the government that over a 12 day period, while Aafia was at the Craig Field Hospital at Bagram for critical care medical treatment, following her near fatal re-arrest in July 2008, two FBI agents had continuous access to the injured prisoner (a male and female who did not identify themselves to Aafia as FBI personnel).

FBI Special Agent Angela Sercer was the first to testify. She spoke about how she interrogated Aafia on a daily basis for the purpose of gathering “ intelligence.” She described how she sat with Aafia for an average of eight hours each day, and of how they discussed the shooting incident and other related matters (discussions she said Aafia would always initiate). Agent Sercer prepared written reports, and disclosed during testimony that Aafia was never Mirandized (i.e. informed of her rights to remain silent and consult with an attorney before questioning), nor did she have access to a Pakistani consular official.

According to Sercer, Aafia mostly enjoyed her discussions with this special agent. Sercer maintained that she treated Aafia with respect and did her best to respond to Aafia’s needs – i.e. when she requested food, water, bathroom access, or when she requested a Qur’an and a scarf, or when she would complain that the “soft restraints” were too tight and needed to be loosened, etc. Between 7/19/-8/4/08, FBI agents were posted inside and outside Aafia’s room 24 hours a day, ostensibly to insure that Aafia could not escape and to provide security for hospital personnel – despite the “soft restraints” which secured her hands and legs to the bed (in what Aafia later described as very uncomfortable positions) during her stay at this field hospital in Bagram.

The Second Witness

The second agent to testify was FBI Special Agent Bruce Kamerman, who had reportedly been assigned on 7/21/08. He claimed that Aafia made numerous statements, that she seemed lucid and to not be in much pain. He also insisted that there was never any coercion. He testified that Aafia had no visitors, and that no Afghan staff attended to her. He also claimed that there were occasions when Aafia would declare that her children were dead, and other times when she stated they might be living with her sister.

Following the testimony of the second agent, a hearing within the trial was held so that Aafia could give testimony (in the absence of the jury). Aafia testified that when she first realized she was in a hospital she had tubes everywhere. She was in a narcotic state resulting from the administration of powerful drugs (one or two she could remember by name, others she couldn’t). She recalled how her hands and feet were secured uncomfortably apart. She said the agents never identified themselves as FBI, except for “ Mr. Hurley.”

Aafia accused Agent Bruce Kamerman of subjecting her to “psychological torture.” She accused him of being immodest whenever he was present and medical personnel needed to examine her, and complained of how he would stand right outside the bathroom door whenever she needed to use it. She testified that Kamerman would sometimes come in the middle of the night (when he wasn’ t supposed to be there), and encourage the person assigned to take a break. Aafia said she remained in a sleep deprived state as a result of his frequent presence.

During this period she never had any contact with family, nor with any Pakistani authorities. She thought that [FBI Agent] “Angela was just a nice person.”

During the cross examination Aafia spoke about being “tortured in the secret prison,” and of how she kept asking about her children. She insisted that she never opined that they might be with her sister.

(I should note here that Aafia’s testimony was consistent with information contained on an audio CD that we’ve produced on the case. On the CD, former Bagram and Guantanamo prisoner Moazam Beg recounts how the un-identified female prisoner at Bagram, known only as Prisoner 650, was identified as a Pakistani national who appeared to be in her 30s, and as someone who had been torn away from her children and who didn’t know where they were.) Aafia also testified that she had multiple gunshot wounds; and that in addition to the gunshot wounds she had a debilitating back condition (resulting from being thrown on the floor after she was shot), persistent headaches, and an intubation tube. She also emphasized that she was in and out of consciousness; and, at times, mentally incoherent.

The video testimony of an Afghan security chief (by the name of Qadeer) was received by the court. While I had to briefly leave the court, and missed this testimony, it is my understanding that what Qadeer had to say about events at the Afghan National Police station in Ghazni – leading up to the shooting of Aafia - contradicted the testimony of a number of the government’ s main witnesses.

Later in the afternoon, when Aafia testified in front of the jury, the overflow courtroom (where I was seated) was full of observers. The majority appeared to be non-Muslims in professional attire - a probable mix of court and Justice Department personnel (including interns), law students, and a few journalists. I would estimate that roughly a quarter of the observers in this overflow courtroom were made up of solid Aafia supporters – and yet the reaction to the testimony at times was both interesting and edifying.

When I returned to the courtroom (about 10 minutes into Aafia’s testimony), she was describing her academic work leading up to the achievement of her PhD at Brandeis University. She testified that after completing her doctorate studies she taught in a school, and that her interest was in cultivating the capabilities of dyslexic and other special needs children. During this line of questioning, the monstrous image that the government had carefully crafted (with considerable support from mainstream media) of this petite young woman, had begun to be deconstructed. The real Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - the committed muslimah, the humanity-loving nurturer and educator, the gentle yet resolute mujahid for truth and justice - began to emerge with full force.

Testimony then proceeded to the events of July 17-18, 2008. Aafia testified that she remembered being concerned about the whereabouts of her missing children. She also remembered a press conference in an Afghan compound. She testified about being tied down to a bed until she vigorously protested, and was later untied and left behind a curtain. She later heard American and Afghan voices on the other side of the curtain, and concluded that they [Americans] wanted to return her to a “secret prison” again. She testified about how she had pleaded with the Afghans not to let the Americans take her away.

She testified about peaking through the curtain into the part of the room where Afghans and Americans were talking, and how when a startled American soldier noticed her, he jumped up and yelled that the prisoner had gotten loose, and shot her in the stomach. She described how she was also shot in the side by a second person. She also described how after falling back onto the bed in the room, she was violently thrown to the floor and lost consciousness.

She testified that she was in and out of consciousness, and vaguely recalled being placed on a stretcher, a helicopter, and receiving a blood transfusion – which she protested, drawing laughter in the courtroom when she recounted how she had “threatened to sue” her medical attendants if they gave her a blood transfusion. During this testimony, Aafia animatedly rejected the allegation that she picked up a [M-4] rifle and fired it (or that she even attempted to do so).

The Cross Examination

This is the time when every eye and every ear was riveted on the proceedings. It was the moment that Aafia’s defense attorneys, her brother, and a host of Muslim and non-Muslim supporters (seated within both courtrooms) dreaded. It was also the point in the proceedings that had the prosecution salivating for what opportunities would come there way – or so they thought! Cross examination began with Aafia revisiting the degrees that she received at MIT and Brandeis universities. She acknowledged that she took a required course in molecular biology; but emphasized that her work was in cognitive neuroscience. When questioned on whether she had ever done any work with chemicals, her response was, “only when required.”

(This opening line of questioning was significant for its prejudice producing potential in the minds of jurors. While Aafia is not being charged with any terrorism conspiracy counts, the threat of terrorism has been the pink elephant in the room throughout this troubling case!) The prosecutor attempted to draw a sinister correlation between Aafia and her [then] husband being questioned by the FBI in 2002, and leaving the U.S. a week later. Aafia noted that there wasn’t anything sinister about the timing; they had already planned to make that trip home before the FBI visit. To underscore this point, she noted how she later returned to the U.S. to attempt to find work in her field.

One of the most heart-wrenching moments in the cross-examination was when Aafia described how she was briefly re-united with a young boy in Ghazni (July 2008) who could have been her oldest son. She spoke of how she was mentally in a daze at that time, and had not seen any of her children in five years. As a result she could not definitively (than or now) determine if that was indeed her son, Ahmed.

When asked whether she had incriminating documents in her possession on the day she was arrested, Aafia testified that the bag in her possession on the day that she was re-detained was given to her. She didn’t know what was in the bag, nor could she definitively determine if the handwriting on some of the documents was hers or not. She also mentioned on a number of occasions (to the chagrin of the prosecutor) how she was repeatedly tortured by her captors at Bagram.

She was also questioned on whether she had taken a pistol course at a firing range while a student in Boston. Her initial reaction was that she did not have any recollection of taking such a course, and when pressed further, answered “No.” When the prosecutor continued to press the issue (infusing sinister motivations in the process), Aafia admonished the prosecutor in the strong, clear voice that was heard throughout her testimony: “You can’ t build a case on hate; you should build it on fact!” Aafia testified that all she was thinking about at the time of her re-arrest in Ghazni, was “getting out of that room and not being sent back to the secret prison.” While discussions were going on between the Afghans and Americans, Aafia was searching for a way out. She repeated her assertion that she startled one of the soldiers who hollered, “She’s free! - before shooting her.

Aafia also elicited an approving reaction in the courtroom when she opined, in reaction to the government’s narration of events, she could not believe a soldier would be so irresponsible as to leave his M4 rifle on the floor unsecured.

In response to government questioning she again took the opportunity to strongly rebuke Agent Kamerman, while rejecting most of his testimony revisited by the prosecutor.

Aafia spoke highly of a number of nurses (and a doctor) who took care of her at Bagram. There was one nurse in particular that Aafia promised to mention favorably if she ever wrote a book. She then produced laughter in the courtroom again when she stated, “Since I don’t think I’m going to write a book, I’m mentioning her now.”

One of the most powerful and revealing moments in the testimony was when she spoke about the people who systematically abused her in the “secret prison” – denouncing them as “fake Americans, not real Americans.” (Because of the way their actions both violated and damaged America’s image!) She spoke again, under cross examination, about the strong pain medication she was on, and some of the effects this medication had on her. Aafia also mentioned how she was instructed to translate and copy something from a book while she was secretly imprisoned. During the course of this testimony which repeatedly drew the ire of an increasingly frustrated prosecutor, Aafia noted how she can now understand how people can be framed (for crimes they are not guilty of).

At this point in the proceedings, the judge ordered a brief recess. Clearly the government had thought that they would be able to control and manipulate Aafia in manner that would work in their favor; this ended up being a MAJOR MISCALCULATION. The purpose of this break in the proceedings, in my humble opinion, was to allow the prosecutor to regain her composure, and consult with fellow prosecutors for a more effective line of attack. When testimony resumed, Aafia spoke of how she was often forced-fed information from one group of persons at the secret prison, and then made to regurgitate the same information before a different group of inquisitors. While it was presented to her as a type of “game,” she spoke of how she would be “punished” if she got something wrong.

On defense cross, Aafia was shown pictures and asked to identify herself in them. She reluctantly did so, but with a little levity, citing how unattractive and immodest the photos were. I could not see the photos from the overflow courtroom where I was sitting, but I assume that these were the photos of an un-covered, emaciated and emotionally disfigured Aafia Siddiqui - after her horrific ordeal at the hands of American terrorists.

A final note: I sincerely believe that Aafia Siddiqui’s time spent on the witness stand on January 28th was a cathartic experience for her – but one that the prosecution, in retrospect, now deeply regrets. For any truly objective and fair-minded person who witnessed that day’s proceedings, the U.S Government’s case against Aafia Siddiqui was exposed for what it always was… a horrific and profoundly tragic miscarriage of justice!

The struggle continues…

Democracy in America is a useful fiction

Chris Hedges writes: "Corporate forces, long before the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, carried out a coup d'etat in slow motion. The coup is over. We lost. The ruling is one more judicial effort to streamline mechanisms for corporate control. It exposes the myth of a functioning democracy and the triumph of corporate power. . . .

"Corporations have 35,000 lobbyists in Washington and thousands more in state capitals that dole out corporate money to shape and write legislation. . . .

"Our transformation into an empire, as happened in ancient Athens and Rome, has seen the tyranny we practice abroad become the tyranny we practice at home."

Detroit imam shot 21 times — while handcuffed

Next generation iPod Touch?

Add built-in speakers, microphone, and a SIM card tray to the iPod Touch. With AT&T's $15 a month plan, I would buy it today.

Holocaust remembrance is a boon for Israeli propaganda

Gideon Levy of Haaretz (Israel) writes: Wednesday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and an Israeli public relations drive like this hasn't been seen for ages. The timing of the unusual effort - never have so many ministers deployed across the globe — is not coincidental: When the world is talking Goldstone, we talk Holocaust, as if out to blur the impression. When the world talks occupation, we'll talk Iran as if we wanted them to forget.

The kidnapping of Haiti

Oil was found in Haiti's waters decades ago and the US has kept it in reserve until the Middle East begins to run dry. More urgently, an occupied Haiti has a strategic importance in Washington's "rollback" plans for Latin America. The goal is the overthrow of the popular democracies in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, control of Venezuela's abundant petroleum reserves, and sabotage of the growing regional co-operation long denied by US-sponsored regimes.

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Aafia Siddiqi trial a 'travesty': foreign media denied full access

Mauri Saalakhan, of the Peace & Justice Foundation, reports: What I witnessed in yesterday's proceeding was a TRAVESTY! Midway into the morning's proceedings, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was removed from the courtroom due to her inability to remain quiet while being assaulted from the witness stand by what she asserts are a battery of "lies."

Yesterday's real travesty, however, centered around the physical manipulation of the courtroom itself, and the shameful treatment accorded certain media representatives (esp. foreign media) who were denied the usual protocol normally afforded media personnel; simply because they failed to secure a special media pass during the pretrial hearings — a requirement they had no knowledge of.

Another appalling manipulation at yesterday's proceeding revolved around TWO OVERFLOW COURTROOMS PACKED WITH AAFIA SUPPORTERS and non-favored media reps (esp. Pakistani journalists), while EMPTY SEATS REMAINED IN THE MAIN COURTROOM! I was in one of the overflow courtrooms in the morning, and in the main courtroom in the afternoon. I noted that in the main courtroom the whole left side of the room had rows of empty seats marked "reserved," while folks outside the door were still being directed to one of the overflow courtrooms with the stated lie "There's no room left!"

What is Haiti owed?

Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters, its food shortages, poverty, deforestation and lack of infrastructure, are not accidental. To say that it is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere is to miss the point; Haiti was made poor — by France, the United States, Great Britain, other Western powers and by the IMF and the World Bank.

Straw's leaked letter to Blair on Iraq

"A legal justification is a necessary but far from sufficient pre-condition for military action. We have also to answer the big question – what will this action achieve? There seems to be a larger hole in this than on anything. Most of the assessments from the US have assumed regime change as a means of eliminating Iraq's WMD threat. But none has satisfactorily answered how that regime change is to be secured, and how there can be any certainty that the replacement regime will be better."

Ft Hood: How did shooter get 'ammunition available ONLY to our special operations troops'

. . . when Dr. Hasan went on his terror campaign at Ft. Hood using an FN Herstal 5.7mm 20 round assault pistol with classified ammunition available ONLY to our special operations troops, ammo specially designed for penetrating body armor, newspapers, TV, everyone was silent.

Images provide intimate look at Guantánamo captives

'US-Israeli complicity in terror plots exposed"

Evidence is mounting of U.S. and Israeli complicity in this latest plot. The father Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab of the young terrorist, is an accomplished Nigerian banker and ran the national arms industry (DICON) in patnership with Israel, Nigeria has extensive intelligence links to Israel.

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Viva Palestina aid convoy arrives in Gaza, 'situation desperate'

170,000 Muslims were fingerprinted and interviewed — not one produced a terrorism conviction

Gary Younge of the Guardian (UK) writes: In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the US government undertook the "preventative detention" of about 5,000 men on the basis of their birthplace and later sought a further 19,000 "voluntary interviews". Over the next year, more than 170,000 men from 24 predominantly Muslim countries and North Korea were fingerprinted and interviewed in a programme of "special registration". None of these produced a single terrorism conviction.

Patriots erect billboard on I-40 questioning 9/11

Nigerian bomber a patsy?

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