Friday, March 31, 2006

FEEL LIKE A LAB RAT? WE ARE!



<---VEGAS BAR SCENE


















The U.S. military plans to detonate a 700 ton explosive charge in a test called “Divine Strake” that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said March 30.

THE FITZBUNNY MAY LEAVE SOME CHOCOLATE COVERED INDICTMENTS FOR ROVE AND HADLEY.

SPEAKING OF CHIEF OF STAFFS, DELAY'S FORMER C.O.S. PLEADS GUILTY

"Tehran, Iran, Mar. 29 – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will begin large-scale naval exercises in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman on Friday by firing a Shahab-2 missile “to show Iran’s desire for peace and friendship with neighbouring countries”, the IRGC naval chief said on Wednesday."
HEY THEY SOUND JUST LIKE US.
THIS FROM A POSSIBLE MEK SITE


PUTIN CHECKS THE BUSH REGIME AGAIN.

SCIENTIST ERRS ONCE TOO OFTEN.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

First a Drum Roll Please...

Yes a New Friendly! Left of Centrist is Robert Rouses's blog. A mid-wester that "Keeps an Eye on the Worlds of Politics and Pop Culture". What are you waiting for?.....oh hold on read this first....

Howard Kaloogian a Republican and one of the founding thugs of Move America Forward who is running to replace convicted Felon Rep. Cunningham put a pic of Downtown on his Campaign site. He claims he took it on a recent visit.

The text next to it said, "We took this photo of downtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism."

The only thing is the pic is of a street scene in Turkey.
I read about at Democratic Underground as the commenters there researched it. It was fun to see it go down and is well worth reading the comment thread and view of the pic.

After it was confirmed as a fake pic I alerted other bloggers to it and then I called Kaloogians Campaign. Oh what fun that was. The young man who answered will remember me for a while. I told him the pic was as fake as the reasons his Glorious Leader's reason for the War. He responded with all the watchwords of his Glorious Leader. Freedom. 911. Defending America and other crap. As I knew by his voice that he had the convictions of a Yellow Republican I asked him why did he not get his ass down to Camp Pendelton Enlist and help Protect my family. I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't hear the fear in his voice.
I also left a nice message on Kaloogians other campaign #.

This morning going for the positive I called the Democratic runner Francine Busby's campaign to alert her to this. At the main office I left a message. At the Encinitas office I spoke to a staffer who said she got 2 calls already, but wanted to know particulars. We talked for a while about things political and Californian('cause like fer sure I'm a reformed Valley Boy).

I also e-mailed Keith Olberman at MSNBC Countdown and told him the story and said Kaloogian was my vote for Worsest on his "Worse Worser Worsest List". Many others did the same. Well as I was writing Shell an e-mail that segment came on a guessie whatie? UHHUH!
Kaloogian made the list. Only as "Worse" though. "Worsest" was Rush Limbaugh. Well Duh!

Since the story has went out and about Kaloogian has replaced the pic. With another of "Downtown Baghdad". Reminds me of that homely girl in "League of Our Own" where the photographer keeps telling her to "go back".

As I wrote Shell, I luv this internet thingie.
Peace.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

I Really Do Wish That

"We" were greeted as Liberators. That The American - Iraq War was justified. That the Billions of our Treasure and the Precious Lives of our Military was spent on the Greater Good.

I wish it was one Big Happy. A Hands Across Mesopotamia. I wish I was wrong from the get go.

That Bush was the Freedom Spreader that he claims he is.

So many little dreams crushed(warning graphic). So much Goodwill squandered.

I also wish I grew up way earlier than I did. That my Mother and Brother was still alive.
So much youth lost. So much Love left to give and receive.

So much......Lost.

These wishes have less a chance of being realized than my Precious Lil Joe Graduating from Brown Suma Cum Laude this June.

With the following stories taken into context there is not a doubt that the situation in Iraq has declined to the point of no return.

Another Mai Lai? I'll withold judgement. Will Iraqis?

Who do you think they will believe?

Us or their own People?

What paid propaganda is going to counter this?

Iraqis ready to stand up?

Or have the Shias completed OPPLAN A and are ready to go full scale?

Don't worry. The people who Lied and Created this Pit of Horrors have a plan.

Peace. I Wish. I Hope.

I Pray.



NOTE TO GO TO HOMEPAGE GO HERE OR JUST CLICK ON THE TOP BANNER "CARBON PAPER".
FOR THOSE THAT ARE COMING HERE ON A "DANDELION" SEARCH THE PIC IS UNDER "I WISH".

Thursday, March 23, 2006

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FASCISTS OF ALL TIME CONTINUED......

OUR NATIONAL TREASURE ROBBED OF 50 BILLION

"BEHIND EVERY GOOD MAN.... "

"FROM WHERE ALL BLESSINGS FLOW..."

"Family Values", "Responsibility" "Christian". All empty phrases and words?
No, they are very lucrative.

Just ask Uncle Bucky.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Shocker: Senate Republicans Screw Veterans Again

Bob Geiger on the vote the MSM forgot to tell you about.

Veteran WMV 7.74MB PICS & SONG from TOMSONGS

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

A NEW ORG LINK

As Bill Putman pointed out in the comments in the "Dear Mr. President" post, Veterans have been shortchanged all to often. While many Vets receive their just due and care, many do not. Bill's case of improper assignment of Disability factor is one I have heard and read about many times. In 2004 the House passed a "Support The Troops Resolution." The next order of business was cutting funding for Vets.

For Vets to receive their just do, they have to be their own best advocates. While researching funding issues for Vets a few months back I found a premeir site for Veteran Advocacy.
So if you are a Vet or are interested in Vet issues please visit VA WATCHDOG. The link is also next to the "GI RIGHTS HOTLINE" link on the sidebar.

Most everybody knows that the Government does not allow pictures of the caskets when they land at Dover in the middle of the night. That the Families of the Fallen are not allowed on base to be there when their Loved One returns. Yes, the people who started the American Iraq War don't want the reality of the true cost known. They would rather you just forgot about Andy Aviles, Brandon J. Rowe and Kristen K. Figueroa.

An ingrained memory - My Father's last duty station was at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania(now civvy). My Mom was always the one to take me in. Which was often. Well on this particular day my Father took me to the Doc. He had never took me took me in to see the Doc before and never did again.

While driving in I saw dozens of Hueys fly in. All had the big red cross on them. I asked where all these choppers were coming from. He said that they were carrying in wounded coming back after being POWS of the "Cong". He added "some are in very bad shape". This was in late '72 or '73 and POWS started coming home. I had never seen so many choppers before.(remember I was just a kid then). He parked at the other end at the building from where my Mom usually parked to enter the Pediatric Ward. As a MP there he knew his way around the Base. I asked why are we going in this way and he said he needed to see someone.

As we walked along the corridor I realized that we were in an "grown up" ward. Instead of the animated atmosphere of the Pediatric Ward this place was eerily silent. As kids are wont to do I peeked in each door way as we passed. Every view revealed a man with horrible injuries. Missing limbs, full body traction, bodies wrapped up like mummies including sometimes their eyes. One man did not seem injured. He was just staring straight ahead. Vacant like.

I did not ask any of my usual incessant questions. I knew my Father had 2 tours in Vietnam. I knew on base he was often called to take somebody into custody that "went crazy". Not a word was said between us as we walked along.

Later on while as I was being poked and prodded in the Pediatrc Ward I realized my Father had not stopped to "see someone" along the walk in.

For all those who answered the Call with a "WILL DO"! and an "ALL THE WAY"!, I'll never forget.
Ever.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Andy who?


Family outraged over missing memorial.

Tampa, Florida – Noisy traffic may whiz by, but at this Tampa intersection near MacDill Air Force Base ,the Aviles family still found their peace. This is where Norma and Oscar would come to visit "their Andy." Rest of the story.

Media Matters - Keith Olberman on Network Politics.

Retired Supreme Court Justice warns of Rightwing Dictatorship. Then why did the Lady quit?

Iraqi Government confirms Iraqi Government Death Squad actions. This after the Chief Mortician in Baghdad was run off for giving saying there were hundreds of bodies dead by execution in the Morgue. Also the Interior Ministry has ordered the Health Ministry not to release any more Iraqi body counts.

Keep along folks. No Civil War here.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Dear Mr. President



As a young man I was honored to serve our nation as a commissioned officer and helicopter pilot in the
U. S. Navy. Before me in WWII, my father defended the country spending two years in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-14). We were patriots sworn “to protect and defend”. Today I conclude that you have dishonored our service and the Constitution and principles of our oath. My dad was buried with full military honors so I cannot act for him. But for myself, I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator’s wings.

Until your administration, I believed it was inconceivable that the United States would ever initiate an aggressive and preemptive war against a country that posed no threat to us. Until your administration, I thought it was impossible for our nation to take hundreds of persons into custody without provable charges of any kind, and to “disappear” them into holes like Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram. Until your administration, in my wildest legal fantasy I could not imagine a U.S. Attorney General seeking to justify torture or a President first stating his intent to veto an anti-torture law, and then adding a “signing statement” that he intends to ignore such law as he sees fit. I do not want these things done in my name.

As a citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law teacher I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think of myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see the face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for life without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition. But my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district drawn by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my concerns because his time is filled with lobbyists’ largess. Protests are limited to your “free speech zones”, out of sight of the parade. Even speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist or anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is out of the question.

Nevertheless, to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support your actions. I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars. They were hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I earned them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you have caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me cry for my beloved country.

Signed, Joseph W. DuRocher

Joseph DuRocher was for 20 years the elected Public Defender of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, covering Orange and Osceola counties. Since retirement, he’s been writing and teaching law at the University of Central Florida and the Barry University School of Law. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s, serving as a Naval Aviator in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. On Monday, Mr. DuRocher returned his Lieutenant’s shoulder bars and Navy wings to President Bush, and enclosed the above letter.

Original - http://www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/Contributors/JD030806.htm#1

I found the story via - Today In Iraq

Human says - As I was posting this article, CNN announced that Tom Fox one of the American Christian Peace Makers taken hostage last November has been murdered. He had worked for Peace for All.

May his family be comforted with knowledge that he walked the Trail the Lord had shined his Grace on, the Love he gave still gives and his good works will never be forgotten.

May the Lord welcome him with open arms, just as Tom Fox would any one of us.

"Why are we here?" We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that exists within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls." Tom Fox



Thursday, March 09, 2006

Another New Friendly

With trumpets blowing and drums a rolling "Today in Iraq" is introduced. This is Dancewater's other blog. It gives a better picture of the daily violence that "Operation Iraqi Freeedom" has brought. So when the Bush Regime supporters say "they're better off without Saddam" or "things are going well" you can always referance 'Today in Iraq" and shove the Truth in their face.

One of the things to watch for is the spread of violence to places where till recently were kind of calm. Like Kirkuk. Which is a Kurd dominated area.

Another valuable resource of "Today in Iraq" is the referance Maps.

With "An Independent look at Iraq" and "Today in Iraq" now just a click away, you can be just that better informed.
Peace.

Monday, March 06, 2006

A FIRST

3 Topics One Post-
1st - There is a time and place for everything(req. caveat for ignorants- there are exceptions).
Like when, where and how to publicly demonstrate. As a supporter of the effort to prevent and then stop the American Iraq War I have participated in 5 demonstrations. Not one was at a funeral, or hospital.

One of my favorite groups Code Pink was demonstrating against the War at Walter Reed (a mil hosp). I wrote them and gave them my opinion on the matter. The Creepies took over their spot recently. The choice of place for action by both groups is abhorrent to me. Maybe I am wrong?
I don't think so.

Now we have a group protesting at funerals. Funerals where all the grief, sorrow, relief, forgiveness, reflection, introspection, Comfort, Love and empathy of the family and friends is expressed.
In steps this CRAP! (human angry).

2) With the Bush Regime's very poor popularity further sinking into an abyss, the misadministration has decided on a New approach. PSYCE! You did not believe that did you?
No. They continue their Psyops and News Management.

The Bush Regime has threatened to prosecute Journalists who disseminate Classified Info. You know. It is the media's fault we were not welcomed as Liberators. That we have a record deficit.
That Nuclear Proliferation is the Name of the Game. That there is a Globe warming. Ours.

So if somebody in the Administration intends to leak the truth on the Lying, Thieving Murderers of the Bush Regime, the evil media can't say they weren't warned.

And since an overwhelming majority of the Troops say we should pull out of Iraq in 10 months, the Bush Regime has decided that it needs to furhter inform the Troops. PSYCE! Don't tell me you fell for it again? A unconfirmed report from Wonkette says certain sites are prevented from being viewed by the Marines.

3) And(drum roll please) INTRODUCING A NEW FRIENDLY! I had this site bkmkd. On my computer. The one that does not work. Well Bill Putman(real name) contacted me and a valuable insight and resource is once again available. He is a Photo Jounalist in Iraq. He has served in Uniform and has a brother who was wounded (returned to duty). His pics and writings(there are radio Diary links also) provide a honest view. I strongly urge you to read his archives. It is not that many posts overall. And in a short time you will arrive at his present posts. If nothing else read Nov - Dec. '05 to present. From the optimism of the Iraqi elections to a "cliff crumbling"(I think the quote is right). He is due to come back to the World in May. He welcomes commenters of all persuasions. He does not expouse his own views much.
It is more a look at the ground level.
So be sure to visit -
AN INDEPENDENT LOOK AT IRAQ.

Peace.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

MURTHA SPEAKS

Thursday, March 02, 2006

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FASCISTS OF ALL TIME CONTINUED

March 1, 2006 -- Dubai -- the emirate has the smoking gun evidence tying the Bush criminal cartel to arms trafficking, Viktor Bout, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda.

Internal documents from the UAE Central Bank in Dubai detail huge money laundering operations in the UAE according to financial industry insiders. Moreover, the Sharjah branch of HSBC Holdings PLC was tied to international arms trafficker Victor Bout, indicted in Belgium for money laundering and named in various UN reports as a chief embargo buster in Africa and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

American citizen Iqbal Hakim, a native of India, was the chief examiner for the UAE Central Bank. Hakim, yet another whistleblower who has been ignored and mistreated by the Bush administration and threatened by Bush's Persian Gulf potentate friends, discovered a suspicious $343 million per year money flow through an HSBC personal account in Dubai. The transactions were investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement but no prosecutions resulted.

There are deep-seated ties between the Bush-Cheney criminal cartel, key GOP operatives, and the UAE. Significant questions about the oil industry’s ties to the U.S. military-intelligence complex were raised when Michael Trumpower, the owner of Prescott, Arizona-based company Matco, Inc. filed for bankruptcy shortly after George W. Bush's inauguration. In questionable financial moves similar to those of Enron, Matco traded on a lucrative oil concession it was granted for all offshore exploration off the Emirate of Fujairah for unsecured loans for equipment and services. Fujairah, one of the poorest of the emirates, is led by Sheik Hamad bin Mohammed al Sharqi, one of the more fundamentalist Wahhabi Muslims in the UAE leadership. Al Sharqi patronizes the Fujairah Islamic Call and Guidance Center, which has recruited a number of foreign adherents of Wahhabi Islam. These include Filipinos, British, Americans, Russians, and Sri Lankans. Moreover, all their native countries are targets of Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda. In addition, a number of Pakistani nationals who worked at the National Bank of Fujairah were known by international law enforcement to be sympathetic to the Taliban.

Trumpower’s close ties to Sheikh Hamad are only rivaled by his close ties to the CIA. Although he became strapped for cash after his company tanked, Trumpower, like Enron's Kenneth Lay, was a major contributor to the Bush campaign and those of other Republican candidates, including that of powerful House Rules Committee member, Representative Thomas Reynolds of New York. Reynolds was in a prime position to derail any House investigation of the GOP-CIA-oil industry ties.

In the mid-1980s, Trumpower was an associate of Iran-contra figure Oliver North. North claims Trumpower was instrumental in helping to free U.S. hostages in Lebanon. That affair was the heart of the Iran-contra scandal in which several current and former Bush administration officials took part. These include National Security Council Middle East adviser Elliot Abrams, former Defense Department Information Awareness Office chief Admiral (retired) John Poindexter, and Assistant Secretaries of State for Latin American Affairs Otto Reich and Roger Noriega. The old Iran-contra fraternity remains largely intact. In 2000, North and Trumpower jointly appeared at a Republican fundraising dinner in Arizona.

Trumpower was also close to the reigning Emir of Sharjah, who granted the shadowy ex-CIA agent of influence rights to drill in a strip of ocean bordering Fujairah. Sharjah was a major base of operations for Al Qaeda and the Taliban, which used the emirate to smuggle weapons and drugs using Ariana Afghan Airlines security credentials. Sharjah was a base of operations for Viktor Bout’s Air Cess operations, which was accused of running weapons to the Taliban and gun running activities in Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo.

From his base in Sharjah in the Gulf, Bout was servicing Ariana Afghan Airline flights to Kandahar, Afghanistan. These flights were believed to be ferrying weapons and Al Qaeda and Taliban volunteers to Afghanistan and the Clinton National Security Council strongly believed Bout was aiding terrorism. Belgium issued an INTERPOL international arrest warrant for Bout for money laundering and diamond smuggling. Clinton White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke wanted an arrest warrant issued for Bout. Gayle Smith, Clinton’s National Security Council Africa bureau chief, along with CIA and British MI-6 agents, kept a wary eye on Bout’s activities in Africa’s conflicts.

After Bush was inaugurated in 2001, Sharjah police sent a special police unit to Sharjah airport to capture Bout and hand him over to U.S. authorities, but the White House declined. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told U.S. intelligence that when it came to Bout, "look but don’t touch.” After 911, Rice inexplicably called off all operations aimed at Bout. Law enforcement and intelligence agents considered such a move amazing, considering Bout’s direct links to smuggling arms to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, as well as to other areas of the world that were rife with Islamist terrorist groups.

Next door to Sharjah is Dubai, the center of CIA spying in the region, according to U.S. intelligence sources. Dubai’s Dolphin Energy Ltd. was a quarter-owned by Enron before the firm’s collapse. Dolphin’s CEO was UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahayan. Bout was reported by the UN to be using Flying Dolphin Airlines, which operated scheduled flights between Dubai and Kandahar between October 2000 and January 2001, to ship arms to the Taliban. Flying Dolphin was owned by Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Saqr al Nahayan, a former UAE ambassador to the U.S. and a relative of the President of the UAE, who is also the ruler of Abu Dhabi. Flying Dolphin was registered in Bout’s favorite home base of Liberia although its main office was in Dubai.

In addition, Bout’s Texas-based Air Bas had rights to refuel at U.S. bases in Iraq. One of Bout’s airfreight companies, Airbus, was subcontracted through another firm called Falcon Express of Dubai, by Kellogg, Brown and Root, the subsidiary of Halliburton. Air Bas also had links to Falcon Express.

In July 2001, Osama bin Laden was reported to have received kidney treatment at the American Hospital in Dubai with the blessing of the Dubai and UAE governments. At the time of his hospitalization, Osama Bin Laden was reported by the French newspaper Le Figaro and Radio France International to have been visited on July 12, 2001, by Larry Mitchell, the CIA chief in Dubai who was said to have had close contacts with all the Gulf royal families. Mitchell was reportedly called back to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia on July 15, 2001. The Carlyle Group, with George H. W. Bush, James Baker III, and the Bin Laden family as major principals, bought a 42 percent stake (from a previous 4.9 percent stake) in Le Figaro after the paper on October 31, 2001, reported on the Bin Laden meeting with the CIA station chief in Dubai.

One of Neil Bush’s best friends and advocates in the Middle East is the Emir of Dubai, Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, an individual who often crossed paths with the Taliban and Al Qaeda on his frequent hunting and falconing trips to eastern Afghanistan. In the wake of 911, Rashid, who was the Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates and then Dubai Crown Prince, said the following, “The United States must not to act in haste, it must give diplomacy and legal means every opportunity before launching a military strike on Afghanistan, it must not rush to accuse people without hard evidence.” The UAE was only one of three countries to recognize the Taliban, which acquiesced to the financing of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. In October 2001, while visiting Dubai just weeks after 911, Neil Bush praised the Shaikh Rashid as a man with “foresight and vision.” In the same speech, Neil Bush said something that should chill the bones of every American--he said the following about his learning-disabled son Pierce, “My father was the 41st president and my brother is 43rd. I think that if Pierce finishes high school, he’ll be the 50th president of the United States." Rashid also just so happened to be in charge of a project to put computers in UAE schools and Neil Bush was hawking the services of his Ignite! Inc., an e-learning educational software company.

Carlyle has its fingerprints on the Dubai Ports world deal to assume control of six major U.S. ports from Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). After Treasury Secretary John Snow left CSX Corporation as its chairman, CSX Lines was sold to Carlyle, which renamed it Horizon Lines. David Sanborn, who was a CSX executive under Snow, became director of European and Latin American operations for Dubai Ports World and arranged to sell the Dubai state-owned firm CSX port operations in South America and Asia. Sanborn was then appointed Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Maritime Administration (MARAD), the oversight agency for U.S. shipping and ports. The Dubai Ports World deal to take over U.S. port operations was signed off by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), chaired by Sanborn's old CSX boss Snow. Perhaps not coincidental to the lucrative port deals, the Dubai Investment Corporation recently invested $100 million in The Carlyle Group. And Dubai Ports World's deal involves taking over operations at more than just six U.S. ports -- New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia/Camden, Baltimore, Miami, and New Orleans.

P&O's web site states the Dubai Ports World deal involves stevedore operations at 21 U.S. ports: Portland, ME; Boston, Davisville, RI; New York; Newark; Philadelphia; Camden, NJ; Wilmington, DE; Baltimore; Newport News, VA; Norfolk, VA; Portsmouth, VA; Miami; Lake Charles, LA, New Orleans; Beaumont, TX; Port Arthur, TX; Galveston, TX; Houston; Corpus Christi; and Freeport, TX.

The magazine In These Times reported yet another former CIA officer who had ties to the Gulf and who was heavily involved with the oil industry. He is Stephen “Satch” Baumgart of Reston, Virginia. He reportedly helped funnel arms to Sadaam Hussein in the 1980s with the approval of the CIA, which had, at the time, tilted to Baghdad in its war with Iran. Baumgart was linked to another Republican contributor and oil mogul, Pierre Falcone of Scottsdale, Arizona. Falcone was implicated in a complex guns-for-oil scandal involving Angola and Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, a major player with the Luanda regime. Another player in that scandal was Russian-Israeli mobster Arkady Gaydamak, who is tied into an international network of smugglers connected to Marc Rich, Scooter Libby's one-time client. Falcone was also closely linked to Arizona Republican State Senator Scott Bundgaard, who ran for the House of Representatives’ Second District in Arizona.

There is also a connection between the scandal-plagued firm Custer Battles, which has been under investigation for fraud in Iraq security contracts, and Dubai. Custer Battles was formed in 2003 by Mike Battles, aged 33, a former U.S. Army and CIA officer and Scott Custer, also a former U.S. Army Ranger and employee of SAIC. Custer was Battles’s campaign assistant in a failed 2002 congressional race against Rhode Island Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy. Custer Battles initial financing is sketchy but it is known that the company received $15 million in seed money from a Dubai venture capital firm. The venture capital firm hoped to raise an additional $100 million for Custer Battles ventures in Iraq. Battles refused to disclose the name of the Dubai firm.

A mercenary firm that supplies ex-South African counter-insurgency Koevoet commandos has links to Dubai. The firm, Erinys International, which established an Erinys Iraq branch, has its headquarters in London with offices in Johannesburg and Dubai.

Vice President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, has some interesting partners in its work in occupied Iraq. On Dec. 11, WMR reported on links between Halliburton/Kellogg, Brown & Root and a Viktor Bout-owned airline based in Moldova, Aerocom/Air Mero. Bout's airlines have also reportedly been involved in flying low wage earners from East Asia to Dubai and on to Iraq where they work for paltry salaries in sub-standard living conditions. Halliburton/KBR has sub-contracted to a shadowy Dubai-based firm, Prime Projects International Trading LLC (PPI), which "trades" mainly in workers from Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and other poor Asian nations.

In 2004, after a Filipino PPI worker was killed in a mortar attack on Camp Anaconda in Iraq, the Philippines government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered PPI, which is based at P.O. Box 42252, Dubai, UAE, to send overseas Filipino workers OFWs) home from Iraq and Kuwait and banned it from further recruiting in the Philippines. Some of PPI's recruiting included running ads on the Internet. In addition to the other south Asian employees, the Philippine workers were employed by PPI under a Pentagon sweetheart umbrella contract let to KBR under the LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) III program.

Although little is known about PPI, it reportedly has been linked to Halliburton/KBR for a number of years and has been associated with Halliburton contracts in the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Balkans during the time when Dick Cheney headed the firm. PPI has also been involved in operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Filipino workers were involved in building the prison housing suspected "Al Qaeda" prisoners.

Inside sources report that PPI has some high level financial partners, including the al Nahayan royal family of the United Arab Emirates and Vice President Cheney.

Original Article - http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Human says - Its like the biggest self-licking icecream cone. Except you pay for it. With your hard earned money and your precious children. And if you think its just a Republican racket, let me disabuse you of that fallacy. President Clinton received over $400,000.00 from the Emir of Dubai.

Who is the enemy? Who is the real threat to you, I and our children?

PEACE