PROJECT CENSORED: Nominations for April 2008

[Echo In Light]

Nominations for April 2008

#019 Iraq Vets Testify
Researched by Kat Pat Crespan and Erica Elkington

Iraq Veterans Against the War brought together more than 300 war veterans on March 13-16, 2008 to discuss soldiers’ actions and the impact of the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. At the “Winter Soldier” event, dozens veterans publicly testified about crimes they committed during the course of battle — many of which were prompted by the orders or policies set down by superior officers. Some international law experts say the soldiers’ statements show the need for investigations into potential violations of international law by high-ranking officials in the Bush administration and the Pentagon.
--------------------------------

#188 InfraGard
Researched by Chris Armanino and Sarah Maddox

More than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to collect information on individuals. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public, and at times before elected officials. In return they provide information to the government. The ACLU warns, “There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations—some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers—into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI.” Aside from information sharing, members are expected to assist the government when martial law is declared. “They’re very much looped into our readiness capability,” says DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. According to more than one interviewed member they have permission to shoot to kill in the event of martial law without fear of prosecution. As of late January 2008, InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website, www.infragard.net, which adds that, “350 of our nation’s Fortune 500 have representatives in InfraGard.”
-------------------------------

#104 Chertoff Waives All Laws for Border Construction
Researched by Josh Argyle

Outrage is mounting as construction of the US-Mexico border wall moves forward, destroying all homes, schools, businesses, ecosystems as well as family, social and business connections in its path. In response to protest and legal actions, Chief of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff is using the power granted him in the Real ID Act of 2005 to waive all laws that might slow barrier construction. According to the Congressional Research Service, this grant of phenomenal power is unprecedented: It gives an unelected, political appointee —Chertoff—sole discretion to ignore all federal laws.
---------------------------------

#168 Japan Debates War on Terror and 9-11
Researched by Alan Scher and Bill Gibbons

Testimony in the Japanese Parliament, broadcast live nationwide on Japanese TV in January 2008, challenged the premise and validity of the Global War on Terror. Parliament members insisted upon an investigation into the War’s origin: the events of 9/11. Parliament Member Yukihisa Fujita pointed out that 24 Japanese citizens were killed on 9/11, yet the mandate of a Japanese Government criminal investigation never followed. “So far the only thing the government has said is that we think it was caused by Al Qaeda because President Bush told us so. We have not seen any real proof that it was Al Qaeda.” Fujita went on to extensively ask “about the suspicious information being uncovered and the doubts people world-wide are having about the events of 9/11.” Fujita received support for concluding that the reason for participating in the US War on Terror needs to be investigated and analyzed. After the testimony, Fujita says that many of his fellow Parliament members thanked him for the bravery it took to publicly address 9/11. He also received a death threat.
-------------------------------------

#073 CARE Rejects US Food Subsidies
Researched by Cedric Therene

One of the world’s largest international aid organizations turned the food aid industry on its head recently by declaring they will not accept $46 million in food subsidies from the U.S. government. The report “White Paper on Food Aid Policy” explains US-based CARE International’s opposition to “monetization” —the food aid policy in which the US government buys crops from subsidized US farms and ships them around the world through aid organizations.
------------------------------------------------

#100 Tracking Billions Lost in Iraq
Researched by Bill Gibbons

One month after the Invasion of Iraq the United States Federal Reserve began shipping $12 Billion in U.S. currency (United Nations impounded funds dating back from the first Gulf war which belonged to the Iraqi People) to Iraq where it was to be dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority for reconstruction. Incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for because of mismanagement and lack of oversight. In a little over a year, the Fed shipped $12 Billion, in bricks weighing a total of 363 tons. There was no auditing arm established by the Pentagon to track the money. The Coalition Provisional Authority was literally a rogue agency within the US, with no formal documents establishing it. Run out of a home in La Jolla, California, it was a shell corporation with no certified public accountants on staff, its address of record a post-office box in the Bahamas where it is legally incorporated. That post-office box has been associated with shadowy offshore activities.
-----------------------------------------------

#077 Hillary’s Faith Based Politics
Research by Sarah Maddox

Through all of her years in Washington, Hillary Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship. The Fellowship’s long-term goal is “a leadership led by God—leaders of all levels of society who direct projects as they are led by the spirit.” The Fellowship’s “God-led” leaders have also included General Suharto of Indonesia; Honduran general and death squad organizer Gustavo Alvarez Martinez; and dictator Siad Barre of Somalia. Clinton’s religious talk is more deeply rooted than either fans or foes would have it. It reveals not just a determination to “out-Jesus” the GOP, but also a powerful religious influence behind her politics.
-------------------------------------------------

#002 World Bank Responsible for Theft of Congo Forests
Researched by Pat Stengle and Katie Ernest

The World Bank financed and encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world’s second largest forest, destroying the environment of up to 600,000 Congolese Pygmies, according to an independent inspection panel report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report accuses the bank of drastically misleading the Congo government about the value of its forests, of deceptive and unethical business practice, and of breaking its own rules regarding protection of environments and alleviation of poverty. The report on the bank’s activities in Democratic Republic of Congo since 2002 follows complaints made by an alliance of 12 Pygmy groups. The groups claim that the legally-questionable World Bank system of awarding vast logging concessions to companies to exploit the forests causes “irreversible harm” to rainforests that nearly 40 million people depend on medicines, shelter, timber and food.
-----------------------------------------------

#053 CIA and FBI Edit Wikipedia
Researched by Pat Stengle and Elizabeth Allen

People using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program. The changes violate Wikipedia’s conflict of interest guidelines. The tracing program, WikiScanner, was developed by Cal Tech graduate, Virgil Griffith, who traced numerous violations to FBI and CIA computers. According to spokesperson Sandy Ordonez of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia’s neutrality guidelines prohibit persons with close ties to an issue from contributing to or editing that entry.

http://www.projectcensored.org/articles/story/nominations-for-april-2008/
{Many links provided}

[WilliamPitt]

1. Choking. . . on . . . own . . . rage . . .

:banghead:

[SpiralHawk]

2. It's just stunning how the US corporate media plays dumb, and fails the

citizens of the USA by refusing to report these stories.

Latest example this week: CBS and other corporate networks paying zero attention to the Senate report which set out the FACT that Bush & his republicon chickenhawk cronies deliberately lied us into the Iraq invasion and occupation.

k & r

[90-percent]

3. I agree Mr. Hawk

That report unto itself should have been the torches and pitchfork moment for this country.

There should have been 20 million enraged citizens overtaking the White House to set up a gallows on the White House lawn to mete out justice for the mass murderers that have ever been a part of GWB's administration!

-90% jimmy

[cloudythescribbler]

4. How about the LACK of coverage given over the last 6 months to Jim Hansen ...

arguably the LEADING US Climatologist, who has made it clear in no uncertain terms that the goals now accepted by supposed progressives on the issue of global warming (from Gore & Pelosi to the one-sky platform used by the Energy Action Coalition) of reducing emissions by 80%+ of greenhouse gases (GHG's) by 2050 is CATASTROPHICALLY INSUFFICIENT; Hansen has noted that we need to reduce/eliminate not merely NET GHG EMISSIONS (to zero, as Norway and several other countries, fudging the standards, but that's another issue, plan by 2030) but actually reducing the atmospheric GHG LEVELS, from the present ~387 (and rapidly rising) parts per million CO2 to UNDER 350 ppm, AND SOON. This complete change in where we need to have the goalposts means that the Gores and the OneSky coalitions are as far off-base as we thought the denialists were (and they of course are at least TWICE as full of it as we had thought!)

The Guardian, in the UK, had this as a FULL SIZE FRONT PAGE story in London, but in the NY Times, my repeated attempts to get an LTTE published on the issue, when Greenhouse stuff is raised in the paper to address, remain in vain, and the rest of the MSM seems quite silent on the issue as well.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. Archive of censored stories from 1976 - 2008

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/publications/

[otherlander]

6. Wow, I only knew four of those.

Last year I knew seven of the top ten. My news-junkie-quotient is slipping.

[bbgrunt]

7. the only thing they cover anymore is

politics and press releases from B*co--basically because everyone can bloviate to their hearts content. No research, no reporters, no information.

Thank goodness there is somewhere to turn to find some of the real stories.