I want to thank those of you who have contributed to Boiling Frogs Post during our first week campaign. Thank You!

Next, I want to briefly respond to a common inquiry I’ve received from more than a few readers asking me for a little clarification on my ‘strong’ position against funding through foundations/organizations. It is hard to briefly explain my position, based on both personal experience and experiences of others whom I know, yet do it justice. So, here is one of my experiences that may give you a better understanding of where I come from when I say ‘I would rather cease operating this site than receive operational funding from agenda-driven foundations-organizations’:

In late 2004 I started National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC). Initially, when I set up the organization as a 501 (C ) ( 3 ), I thought I would do what all other NGOs (aka government watchdog organizations) do: go raise funds via foundations-organizations that are active and interested in this particular area, but do it selectively and make sure I was not going to sell my soul for $$$. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t think of it as impossible. I am sure many NGOs that start genuinely idealistic make the same self-pledge.

Anyway, I started forming a select group of interested-possible donors as I made my rounds and raised awareness in the foundations-organizations circuit. One nice foundation Lady (who considers herself a friend of mine; to date) was truly interested and pledged $50K support. About a week before the due date for this $50K, I added a new national security member to NSWBC. Every month I would investigate and interview whistleblower candidates, check out the veracity of their cases, accept him or her as a member, add them to the website and circulate the announcement. By this time I had around 45 or so whistleblower members.

Well, this new member, whose background and credibility had checked out just fine, had blown the whistle (or started blowing the whistle) during the Clinton administration, and his DEA –DOJ related case implicated the Clinton administration. Just a couple of days after I added and announced the addition of this new member I received a call from my Foundation Lady friend. This is how the conversation went after the initial niceties:

F.L. (Foundation Lady): I see you have added a new member. I received your announcement e-mail.

Me: Right. He is solid, credible, and had an amazing case that is still pending.

F.L.: But he blew the whistle on the Clinton-Gore administration…

Me: Right. So?

F.L.: Oh nothing, just…well, do you think it is wise to have a whistleblower who blew the whistle during the previous admin, Clinton?

Me: What do you mean? We are nonpartisan, so why should it matter?

F.L: Well, with so many cases of horrible wrongdoings by the Bush-Cheney administration, with so much to fight against the present administration…it seems futile and self-defeating to take attention away from Bush-Cheney and go after cases against the previous administration…

Me: I don’t think so. Not at all. He had a very important legitimate case, he did the right thing and blew the whistle, they covered it up, are still covering it up, and he was retaliated against, and is still being quashed…

F.L.: I know. I know. I am not saying he doesn’t have a legitimate case… It is just that we are now fighting against these awful Republicans and the Bush-Cheney cabal, and it takes away from your organization’s effectiveness and credibility to have a whistleblower member who went against the democrats and Clinton…

Me: Well, I happen to disagree. I don’t select whistleblower members and causes based on administration or party.

F.L.: I think you should take this guy out of the members’ list; at least for now. Having him on board would upset many potential supporters and your friends. You know, those of us who care about your cause, and you want this administration gone…

Me: Let’s talk straight. Are you telling me you and others who pledged support will withdraw their pledge if I have a Clinton-Democrat era whistleblower?

F.L.: I am not saying that, but I am asking you to be a bit more tactful and diplomatic. Why would you cut your funding channel for one guy? Getting him off the list won’t hurt anyone. It won’t damage your cause…

Me: I think it does. Contributing to NSWBC as foundation donors doesn’t come with management and decision-making entitlement. At least not as far as NSWBC is concerned,

F.L.: Then I think you won’t be getting funds from any foundations.

Me: I guess not. I’d rather shut down my organization than make it a tool for partisanship, agenda and interests…

To make this long story short, this was one of many similar experiences we, the NSWBC, went through. In the end we decided: screw this whole foundation-organization fundraising game; we don’t want even a penny from these people. We functioned as a grassroots entity, and we were glad we did.

Since then, after launching Boiling Frogs Post, I’ve had other similar interesting experiences; Entities tangling carrots with major ‘ifs & buts’ attached. As I said before, Boiling Frogs Post will be solely dependent on its readers (That’s You), with no ties to any institution, foundation, political party, organization or corporation. This is the only model I see fit to be called an independent news and views venue, untainted by external pressures, special interests or partisan flavoring.

Here is what James Bamford had to say about Boiling Frogs Post:

My congratulations to Sibel Edmonds on the launch of “Boiling Frogs”!  At a time when most mainstream news organizations are constantly following the beat of the same few drummers, there is a critical need for independent, alternative, and new media to expand the boundaries of thought.  For nearly a decade, Sibel has fought against excessive government secrecy, built up an organization of more than one hundred national security whistleblowers, and exposed government attempts to cover-up abuses.

Now with BOILINGFROGSPOST.COM, Sibel is taking the next step and establishing a beautifully designed website to give voice to these ideas, opinions, and viewpoints that are largely missing from the narrow stream of daily journalism. It is an appropriate metaphor.  Like frogs slowly boiling as the water temperature gradually increases, many Americans have slowly grown to accept as normal increasing governmental abuse, from torture to warrantless wiretapping to wars based on lies. 

Supporting Boiling Frogs is an important way to wake up the American public before the water gets too hot to climb out of the pot.

James Bamford

James Bamford is one of the country’s leading writers on intelligence and national security issues. His books include “The Puzzle Palace,” “Body of Secrets,” “A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies,” and most recently “ The Shadow Factory”. Mr. Bamford coproduced NOVA’s “The Spy Factory”, which was based on his latest book. He has written for many magazines, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. His 2005 Rolling Stone article “The Man Who Sold the War” won a National Magazine Award for reporting. He also spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for the ABC News program, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, as a distinguished visiting professor.

We are now at the second week of our annual fundraising campaign, and depend on you to continue this forum for the irate and vigilant minority. This site will continue and expand ONLY with YOUR direct support.

This project is solely dependent on your donations. Your contributions will allow us to:

• publish investigative stories and exposés
• Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
• Present independent editorials and analyses
• Showcase original editorial cartoons
• Facilitate lively discussions
• Maintain & Manage this Website

We need your support to make this project a reality. Please contribute what you can below and many thanks for all you do. 

In October 2009 I launched Boiling Frogs Post  with one purpose in mind: To establish a venue for investigative articles, editorials, analyses, discussions, and interviews on issues largely censored by the media. We are entering our second year, and we need your support to continue and expand this forum.

Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on its readers (That’s You), and has no ties to any institution, foundation, political party, organization or corporation. This is the only model I see fit to be called an independent news and views venue, untainted by external pressures, special interests or partisan flavoring.

The articles and analyses presented to you here are original and nonpartisan, not agenda scripts or special recipes to pump a particular propaganda, or to serve a particular interest. In the past year we have accomplished and delivered many of our objectives set prior to the launching of this site despite very limited resources.

Whether it is going after hypocrisy-ridden foreign policy practices, the ever revolving doors of foreign lobbies, or our stomped upon and continuously assaulted civil liberties, our  work transcends the webs put in place by partisanship and special interests and agendas. Here are a few examples of our work:
 

• Let it Cut Both Ways: US Foreign Aid & State Sponsored Terrorism
• Turkish Intel Chief Exposes CIA Operations via Islamic Group in Central Asia
• Central Asia Militants: A Rhetorical Question of Funding & Sponsors
• Our National Symptoms-Chasing Yoyo Syndrome
• The Not So Gradual Degradation of A Nation
• Decrypting The Shadow Behind Hamid Karzai- By Gould-Fitzgerald

 
Our weekly commercial-free Podcast Show hosts the voices of noteworthy guests on topics long-muffled and quashed by the mainstream media and their minions on lower levels posing as alternatives. The Boiling Frogs Show has been able to present you 38 distinguished experts, analysts and whistleblowers from the fields of journalism, intelligence, grassroots activism, and academia. Here is a list of select interviews:
 

• Nick Merrill on FBI National Security Letters & Gag Orders
• Corey Pein on Military Contracting, the Global Arms Trade and the Lobby
• Professor Tony Hall on the New World Order, US Corporate State & the Anti-Imperial Current
• Glenn Walp on Blowing the Whistle on Security Lapses at the Los Alamos National Lab
• Carlos Miller on State Wiretapping Laws & 1^st Amendment Violations against Photographers
• James Bamford on NSA & Illegal Domestic Wiretapping
• Pepe Escobar on the Current Energy Crisis & the Quest for Central Asia-Caspian Region
• Russ Baker on the Concept of Shadow Government and the Real Power Centers in the US
• Chris Hedges on the US Media & the Empire of Illusion

Our award-winning editorial cartoonist, Paul Jamiol, has regularly presented his brilliant illustrations on topics ranging from police state practices to our hypocrisy-ridden foreign policy. You can check out some of his latest work here, here, here, and here.

I believe during this last year we have established a solid track record with what we have accomplished, and a view of what can be accomplished given your support. This site will continue and expand only with your direct support. I am asking every one of you to consider yourself the one who can make this possible, that without your active support this real alternative site will not continue to exist, and that without your help those who consider truly independent channels like this ‘impossible to survive and flourish’ will be proven right, and with that we will all lose. So please do your share, and contribute whatever you can now.

Our countdown to receive your support and donations for Boiling Frogs Post Year Two begins today. No donation is either too small or too large. Please donate what you can to keep this home of the irate minority alive, and thank you for all you do.

Sibel Edmonds

Founder & Publisher, Boiling Frogs Post

Update – March 8: Many thanks to 420 of you who have donated; your support is greatly appreciated! Please help us reach our 1000 donations benchmark.

Update – March 3: We are one third of the way there; 700 more needed! We can do it – together.

In October 2009 I launched Boiling Frogs Post with one purpose in mind: To establish a venue for investigative articles, editorials, analyses, discussions, and interviews on issues largely censored and blacked out by the media. After four months of a successful trial phase this venue is now ready to enter its next stage, and for that it needs your support.

Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on its readers, and has no ties to any institution, foundation, organization or corporation. This is the only model I see fit to be called an independent news and views venue, untainted by external pressures, special interests or partisan flavoring.

Our authors and analysts present their work, not agenda scripts or special recipes handed to them for creation of a particular propaganda to serve a particular interest. And, our weekly commercial-free Podcast Show hosts the voices of noteworthy guests on topics long-muffled and quashed by the mainstream media and their minions on lower levels posing as alternatives.

I’m happy to report that in the four months since the launching of Boiling Frogs Post we have accomplished and delivered every single objective set prior to the launching this site. I am proud to have established a distinguished team of journalists, analysts, authors, and an editorial cartoonist whose work is based on truth and real issues.

Whether it is going after hypocrisy-ridden foreign policy practices, the ever revolving doors of foreign lobbies, or our stomped upon and continuously assaulted civil liberties, our work transcends the webs put in place by partisanship and special interests and agendas.

Here are a few examples of our work:

Sibel Edmonds- The Makings of a Police State Series

Dr. Nafeez Ahmed- Yemen, Energy Crisis & the Nigerian Crutch Bomber Series

Mizgin Yilmaz- Richard Armitage Series

Dr. William Weaver – The Impulse to Secrecy: The Glomar Response

Peter Lance: Fort Hood & the KSM Trial Series

Sibel Edmonds- Op-ed Series

In this short time span the Boiling Frogs Show has been able to present you with over 20 distinguished experts and whistleblowers from the fields of journalism, intelligence, grassroots activism, academia, and foreign policy. Here is a list of select interviews:

James Bamford on NSA & Illegal Domestic Wiretapping

Pepe Escobar on the Current Energy Crisis & the Quest for Central Asia-Caspian Region

Russ Baker on the Concept of Shadow Government and the Real Power Centers in the US

Daniel Ellsberg on Obama Presidency & Whistleblowers

Andy Worthington on America’s Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay

Chris Hedges on the US Media & the Empire of Illusion

Coleen Rowley on Accountability, Whistleblowers & Activism

I believe during this four-month trial phase Boiling Frogs Post has established a solid track record with what it has accomplished, and a view of what it can accomplish given your support and backing. We are now ready to begin our next phase, during which we will continue to provide what you have seen, read, and listened to thus far, and additionally, will present exclusive video clips and investigative stories.

This site will continue and expand only with your direct support. I am asking every one of you to consider yourself as the one who can make this possible, that without your active support this real alternative site will not continue or exist, and that without your help those who consider truly independent channels like this ‘impossible to survive and flourish’ will be proven right, and with that we will all lose. So please do your share, and contribute whatever you can now.

Our countdown to receive your support and donations begins today. No donation is either too small or too large. Please donate what you can to keep this home of the irate minority alive, and thank you for all you do.

Sibel Edmonds

Founder & Publisher, Boiling Frogs Post

Please Donate Now

Update – March 3: We are one third of the way there; 700 more needed! We can do it – together.

In October 2009 I launched Boiling Frogs Post with one purpose in mind: To establish a venue for investigative articles, editorials, analyses, discussions, and interviews on issues largely censored and blacked out by the media. After four months of a successful trial phase this venue is now ready to enter its next stage, and for that it needs your support.

Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on its readers, and has no ties to any institution, foundation, organization or corporation. This is the only model I see fit to be called an independent news and views venue, untainted by external pressures, special interests or partisan flavoring.

Our authors and analysts present their work, not agenda scripts or special recipes handed to them for creation of a particular propaganda to serve a particular interest. And, our weekly commercial-free Podcast Show hosts the voices of noteworthy guests on topics long-muffled and quashed by the mainstream media and their minions on lower levels posing as alternatives.

I’m happy to report that in the four months since the launching of Boiling Frogs Post we have accomplished and delivered every single objective set prior to the launching this site. I am proud to have established a distinguished team of journalists, analysts, authors, and an editorial cartoonist whose work is based on truth and real issues.

Whether it is going after hypocrisy-ridden foreign policy practices, the ever revolving doors of foreign lobbies, or our stomped upon and continuously assaulted civil liberties, our work transcends the webs put in place by partisanship and special interests and agendas.

Here are a few examples of our work:

Sibel Edmonds- The Makings of a Police State Series

Dr. Nafeez Ahmed- Yemen, Energy Crisis & the Nigerian Crutch Bomber Series

Mizgin Yilmaz- Richard Armitage Series

Dr. William Weaver – The Impulse to Secrecy: The Glomar Response

Peter Lance: Fort Hood & the KSM Trial Series

Sibel Edmonds- Op-ed Series

In this short time span the Boiling Frogs Show has been able to present you with over 20 distinguished experts and whistleblowers from the fields of journalism, intelligence, grassroots activism, academia, and foreign policy. Here is a list of select interviews:

James Bamford on NSA & Illegal Domestic Wiretapping

Pepe Escobar on the Current Energy Crisis & the Quest for Central Asia-Caspian Region

Russ Baker on the Concept of Shadow Government and the Real Power Centers in the US

Daniel Ellsberg on Obama Presidency & Whistleblowers

Andy Worthington on America’s Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay

Chris Hedges on the US Media & the Empire of Illusion

Coleen Rowley on Accountability, Whistleblowers & Activism

I believe during this four-month trial phase Boiling Frogs Post has established a solid track record with what it has accomplished, and a view of what it can accomplish given your support and backing. We are now ready to begin our next phase, during which we will continue to provide what you have seen, read, and listened to thus far, and additionally, will present exclusive video clips and investigative stories.

This site will continue and expand only with your direct support. I am asking every one of you to consider yourself as the one who can make this possible, that without your active support this real alternative site will not continue or exist, and that without your help those who consider truly independent channels like this ‘impossible to survive and flourish’ will be proven right, and with that we will all lose. So please do your share, and contribute whatever you can now.

Our countdown to receive your support and donations begins today. No donation is either too small or too large. Please donate what you can to keep this home of the irate minority alive, and thank you for all you do.

Sibel Edmonds

Founder & Publisher, Boiling Frogs Post

Please Donate Now

In October 2009 I launched Boiling Frogs Post  with one purpose in mind: To establish a venue for investigative articles, editorials, analyses, discussions, and interviews on issues largely censored and blacked out by the media. After four months of a successful trial phase this venue is now ready to enter its next stage, and for that it needs your support.

Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on its readers, and has no ties to any institution, foundation, organization or corporation. This is the only model I see fit to be called an independent news and views venue, untainted by external pressures, special interests or partisan flavoring.

Our authors and analysts present their work, not agenda scripts or special recipes handed to them for creation of a particular propaganda to serve a particular interest. And, our weekly commercial-free Podcast Show hosts the voices of noteworthy guests on topics long-muffled and quashed by the mainstream media and their minions on lower levels posing as alternatives.

I’m happy to report that in the four months since the launching of Boiling Frogs Post we have accomplished and delivered every single objective set prior to the launching this site. I am proud to have established a distinguished team of journalists, analysts, authors, and an editorial cartoonist whose work is based on truth and real issues.

Whether it is going after hypocrisy-ridden foreign policy practices, the ever revolving doors of foreign lobbies, or our stomped upon and continuously assaulted civil liberties, our  work transcends the webs put in place by partisanship and special interests and agendas. Here are a few examples of our work:
 

• Sibel Edmonds- The Makings of a Police State Series
• Dr. Nafeez Ahmed- Yemen, Energy Crisis & the Nigerian Crutch Bomber Series
• Mizgin Yilmaz- Richard Armitage Series
• Dr. William Weaver – The Impulse to Secrecy: The Glomar Response
• Peter Lance: Fort Hood & the KSM Trial Series
• Sibel Edmonds- Op-ed Series

 
In this short time span the Boiling Frogs Show has been able to present you with over 20 distinguished experts and whistleblowers from the fields of journalism, intelligence, grassroots activism, academia, and foreign policy. Here is a list of select interviews:
 

• James Bamford on NSA & Illegal Domestic Wiretapping
• Pepe Escobar on the Current Energy Crisis & the Quest for Central Asia-Caspian Region
• Russ Baker on the Concept of Shadow Government and the Real Power Centers in the US
• Daniel Ellsberg on Obama Presidency & Whistleblowers
• Andy Worthington on America’s Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay
• Chris Hedges on the US Media & the Empire of Illusion
• Coleen Rowley on Accountability, Whistleblowers & Activism

 
I believe during this four-month trial phase Boiling Frogs Post has established a solid track record with what it has accomplished, and a view of what it can accomplish given your support and backing. We are now ready to begin our next phase, during which we will continue to provide what you have seen, read, and listened to thus far, and additionally, will present exclusive video clips and investigative stories.

This site will continue and expand only with your direct support. I am asking every one of you to consider yourself as the one who can make this possible, that without your active support this real alternative site will not continue or exist, and that without your help those who consider truly independent channels like this ‘impossible to survive and flourish’ will be proven right, and with that we will all lose. So please do your share, and contribute whatever you can now.

Our countdown to receive your support and donations begins today. No donation is either too small or too large. Please donate what you can to keep this home of the irate minority alive, and thank you for all you do.

Sibel Edmonds

Founder & Publisher, Boiling Frogs Post

If we human frogs are to escape boiling–or baking, frying, glowing and other fates our leaders are warming us up to–we need to heed the voices summoned by Sibel Edmonds on Boiling Frogs Post warning us to help each other jump out of the pot and off the stove.

Boiling Frogs brings to you crucial voices, viewpoints and stories that are blacked out elsewhere. In these times when truth seems to be harder to come by, and maintaining hope keeps getting harder to do, here is an oasis in the desert of spin, half-truths, and fabrications that sadly passes for the “free press” guaranteed by our Constitution. What you read here, what you hear here, and what you will soon see here is un-filtered by government or corporate interests and not driven by ideology – a breath of fresh air.

I want to congratulate Sibel on launching this much needed venue free of partisanship focused on issues that truly matter. I wholeheartedly endorse and support this site and the distinguished team of truth-reporters, and I invite all of you to do the same: join this movement, spread the word, and contribute what you can.

Dan Ellsberg

Dan Ellsberg graduated from Harvard in economics in 1952, served in the US Marine Corps from 1954-57, and obtained a PhD in economics from Harvard while working for the Rand Corporation in 1962. In 1964 he joined the Defense Department to work principally on decision-making in the Vietnam War. Mr. Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a Top-Secret Pentagon study of US government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to the New York Times and other publications. He was indicted facing 115 years in prison; charges were eventually dismissed on grounds of government misconduct, White House crimes against him which figured in President’s Nixon resignation facing impeachment. Ellsberg has ever since campaigned for peace, encouraging others to reveal truths that are wrongfully withheld by those in power.

This project is solely dependent on your donations. Your contributions will allow us to:

• Purchase and publish investigative news stories and exposés
• Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
• Present independent editorials and analyses
• Showcase original editorial cartoons
• Facilitate lively discussions
• Maintain & Manage this Website

We need your support to make this project a reality. Please contribute what you can, and many thanks for all you do.

I generally let my drawings do my talking and this toon pretty much says what I want to say.
However, I would like to add a little more. Like Diogenes looking for that honest man, in this day and age we are all still looking for the same, and with Boiling Frogs Post we have found an honest woman in Sibel Edmonds.

I want to congratulate Sibel on her new site and her effort to bring us what is so lacking in today’s mainstream media and even in some of the new internet media. In today’s media, there is an incredible amount of kissing up to politicians, carrying water for corporations and racing to put out the latest fluff stories that clearly insult our collective intelligence. And then there is the hate….

You won’t see that happening on Sibel’s site. I invite you to join her in her endeavor to bring out some honest journalism with bold, independent investigative reports, in-depth commercial-free Podcast interviews, independent editorials and analysis, original editorial cartoons and lively discussions.

Her project relies solely on your donations. Please contribute what you can, and help this site move forward. We really need the honesty. A big thank you to all of you that donate.

Please don’t forget to invite your friends to visit, register, comment, and join the Irate Minority Club at Boiling Frogs Post.

Paul Jamiol

Paul Jamiol has been cartooning and illustrating for the past 40 plus years. He has been recognized for his work locally, nationally and internationally. His cartoons and illustrations have been featured in numerous magazines, newspapers and on the internet. He has won multiple awards from state, regional and national press associations. On the international level, his cartoons have been exhibited and published in the Netherlands, Japan, Belgium, Brazil and France.

This project is solely dependent on your donations. Your contributions will allow us to:

• Purchase and publish investigative news stories and exposés
• Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
• Present independent editorials and analyses
• Showcase original editorial cartoons
• Facilitate lively discussions
• Maintain & Manage this Website

We need your support to make this project a reality. Please contribute what you can, and many thanks for all you do.

Kristina Borjesson relates her experiences and provides analysis of the current state of investigative and enterprise journalism in the US. She discusses the drastic decline in true investigative journalism, the role of the internet and the globalization of reporting, and the clashing of the two cultures: traditional media & independent reporters. Ms. Borjesson presents shocking real life examples illustrating behind the scene realities and pressures involved in Network TV, including HDNet and Dan Rather, and others. She talks about government and ownership pressures, and how these pressures successfully shape presented news, the two significant missing ingredients in news reporting today, and more!

Internationally acclaimed for her work, Kristina Borjesson has produced for major American and European television networks and published two groundbreaking books on the problems of the U.S. press: Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press & Feet to the Fire: the Media After 9/11, Top Journalists Speak out. Her awards include an Emmy and Murrow Award in TV, and the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse award for Media Criticism and two Independent Publishers Awards for her books.

Here is our guest Kristina Borjesson unplugged!

This site depends exclusively on readers’ support. Please help us continue by contributing directly and or purchasing Boiling Frogs showcased products.

I want to revisit a topic which happens to be extremely important to me, both personally and politically, and even more important to our civil liberties.

Some of you have already read my brief piece on Richard Horn & the CIA dishing out $3 million to buy silence in this narco scandal. Those of you who have not read it click here and read it – because this story also goes to the heart of a very significant and ongoing issue: The State Secrets Privilege.

My recent heads-up piece on Horn focused mainly on the CIA’s attempt to hush another narco scandal where the agency was directly and actively involved. Although I introduced Horn as ‘another recipient of the government’s State Secrets Privilege invocation’, I didn’t delve into the significance of this case on this repeatedly used and abused draconian privilege. This was partly due to wrongly assuming that the media, at least the alternative media, would have gotten all over it since lately the SSP has been a quite fashionable and talked about topic among the wanna-be progressive community. Well, I was wrong. Despite the scandalous nature of the case, and despite the massive implications to SSP, those who’ve been publicizing themselves and cashing in using SSP did not touch or mention the case.

The last time I wrote about the State Secrets Privilege and how it was being misrepresented and twisted by puppets in the media my blood was very close to reaching the boiling point. This time, with this recent Horn case and its direct SSP implications, my blood actually did reach the boiling point. In fact it is boiling now!

Here are a few excerpts from my previous piece on the State Secrets Privilege, starting with the intro:

During the past few months I have been actively following the latest activity on the state secrets privilege (SSP). First, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this issue of extreme importance to our civil liberties and constitutional rights was finally getting long-over-due and deserved attention from the media. After all, the memories of fighting SSP in the federal courts all the way up to the Supreme Court, holding press conferences together with the ACLU to bring needed media attention to this draconian abuse, making the rounds in Congress to have them address this ‘privilege’ through legislation to restrict its misuse and abuse, are still fresh and vivid for me.

Then I started detecting some troubling common trends showing up in media reports and subsequently in discussions and statements within Congress. The most suspicious of these came in the form of sanitizing major SSP abuse cases from reports put forth by both the mainstream media and some in alternative publications. The first invocation of the SSP by the Bush Administration was in my case. Back then, if you had done a Google search on ‘state secrets privilege’ you would have come up with only ‘7’ results; three of them repeats. After successfully getting away with SSP invocation in my case, the administration opened the flood gates for others. Now I invite you to search all the archived news reports on SSP in the last year or so. As you will see, in every single report in which the abuses of SSP and its history are cited, you will not find this first case; my case. Further, if you were to look for other major abuses of SSP, such as the Barlow Case, you will find none. The valid cases cited are mainly limited to:

I then went on citing the cases covered by the MSM and pseudo-alternative alike: Khalid Al-Masri, Maher Arar, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, and Binyam Mohamed.

Finally, I decided to dig further and explore the reasons behind these significant omissions and the accompanying information spin that seems to be packaged with the intention of fulfilling Washington’s objective – seeing the related campaign and activities fail…

I found one of the puppet masters to be: The United States Congress, Bipartisan

A well seasoned congressional staff member connected to a well-known ‘Centrist’ office active in the current SSP debate, who ‘insisted’ on being granted anonymity, had the following to say:

“Contrary to what they may claim in order to pacify the recent ‘Anti State Secrets Privilege’ movement, the Congress does not want to deal with this issue. And this applies to members of both parties…of course we will hold a couple of hearings and show we have investigated and reviewed cases…”

He then went on to list several enlightening points regarding the ‘real’ factors driving the current position on SSP:

• We are being told that the President [Obama] will veto any proposed legislation dealing with State Secrets Privilege…that and that no one in Congress really wants to touch this area. Having the press limit the information to ‘War on Terror Suspects’ [Emphasis added] helps both: the President and the reluctant Congress.
• The cases before us are ‘selectively’ [Emphasis added] related to the War on Terror. A few Arab guys with their claims will not bring sympathy from the majority in this country. Not in Iowa, not in Utah…you catch my drift?
• …I am talking about cases where there are no questions of ‘Criminality’ being involved or covered up. We won’t touch those cases. No one will go for that. The reasons…obvious… Being unfair or making the wrong call to determine if someone is a terrorist does not constitute ‘criminal.’ [Emphasis Added]. As for the NSA related case, well, the new legislation took care of that…
• By the way, we don’t expect to see any cases of abuses of SSP by the Clinton Administration cited anywhere. Holder’s office in the background and the majority leaders up on the front lines are ensuring this through the media and the NGOs.

Let me recap what is being said, the reality ‘on the ground’ here:

Like any other president before him, and probably those who’ll come after him, President Obama is not going to limit his presidential powers when it comes to this draconian absolute executive power. He has made it clear to his now the majority party members and they are set to follow his guideline on this. It is a slam dunk position with a guaranteed ‘win’ since the minority in Congress also encourages and backs this position.

Somehow the Executive Branch and the Congress have managed to accomplish their objectives on SSP through the U.S. media. They want the reporting massaged and messaged in such a way that the publicity on SSP is limited to only ‘select’ cases where ‘executive criminality’ and or ‘covering up executive criminality’ will not be an issue. Those SSP cases where the executive branch used this level of secrecy to cover up criminal deeds would make the need for Congressional action on SSP far greater. After all, we even have an Executive Order that currently prohibits secrecy and classification from being used by the Executive Branch in order to conceal violations of law. Of course with the case(s) involving NSA warrantless wiretapping, as quoted by the congressional source above, they no longer have to worry, since they took care of it through retroactive legislation.

With cases involving wrongful detention and abuse of those ‘wrongfully accused’ in the government’s war on terror, it has been set up so that these cases can be written off as ‘egregious labeling, handling and treatment’ committed immediately following the September Eleven Attacks. Excuses such as ‘extraordinary’ circumstances, ‘bureaucratic bungling,’ and the previous administration’s ‘excess’ have been all lined up to be used if or when SSP makes it’s way into Congress. Further, the government also counts on bigotry to insure that there will be no major public pressure, since the involved victims are not (at least most) Americans, have Arabic names, and are of Muslim background. They believe that the majority of Americans will not be sympathetic to these plaintiffs, so there will be no problem killing any chance of restraining the long-abused SSP through meaningful legislation.

Both the mainstream media and pseudo-alternatives gone mainstream were consistent in serving the objectives cited above and the Congress determined NOT to tackle this draconian and unconstitutional privilege. In doing so, they made sure that any recent SSP cases that did not involve Arabic or Muslim names were left out of their popularized articles, analysis, and TV appearances. Here are a few of these cases omitted, blacked out, and censored:

Richard Barlow, an intelligence analyst and a former senior member of the Counter-Proliferation unit at the CIA lost his job when he objected internally to the George H.W. Bush Administration’s misleading Congress over Pakistan’s nuclear program. For more detailed background and related official documents on Barlow see here.

My case: The legal outline of SSP abuse by the Bush Administration invoked to cover up ‘criminal’ activities and subsequent cover up of these criminal activities can be found on the ACLU site.

And of course, the case of Richard Horn, where CIA got caught with its pants down, lying & cheating in court procedures:

“If Lamberth’s judicial opinions in the Horn case are allowed to remain in the court record — to be recalled and cited going forward by other lawyers, judges and academics — then untold damage could be done to the reputation of the CIA and its leadership. Those judicial opinions memorializing the CIA’s fraud on the court also would serve as a permanent reminder of the occasionally dubious credibility of the Agency’s pronouncements invoking national security and the state-secrets privilege.”

Scholars and activists have been trying to expose the main reason, in fact the only reason, for invocation of this draconian executive privilege as an attempt (so far a very successful one) to cover up illegal and criminal acts committed by the executive branch. In the Richard Barlow case, it was to cover up blatantly lying to Congress to cover up for Pakistan and AQ Khan. In my case, it was to cover up treasonous and espionage activities of US officials. And here, in Richard Horn’s case, it was to cover up the CIA’s involvement and covert activities in thwarting DEA’s anti-narcotics mission in Burma in the early 1990s. However, thanks to a judge with some degree of independence and principle, in Horn’s case the real reason for invocation of States Secrets Privilege seems to be officially, formally, and on the record, exposed and proven.

Now, I am going to ask you, my truly progressive and independent readers, to go and check out ‘Google News’ or any other news search engines you tend to rely upon, and see if you can find any mention of this case, or its implications for the State Secrets Privilege. You ain’t gonna find any. Why?

In my previous piece I reported on the congressional agenda and the media puppets serving this agenda to prevent any chances of getting the State Secrets Privilege issue before the Congress. Are there any other puppet masters involved? Probably, since Congress is usually in the position of puppet rather than puppet master. Is it the Justice Department? Is it the CIA? The Pentagon? Maybe a combination of all three? And the White House, the White House of any administration?

I would say all those possibilities seem logical and foreseeable. Now let’s talk about the puppets in the media:

As far as the MSM is concerned, who’s surprised?! As Senator Grassley puts it: ‘just the usual!’ But let’s talk about the puppet(s) in the pseudo-alternative-gone-mainstream media, since they’ve been doing the most damage by misguiding the ‘REAL PROGRESSIVES’ who believe in them and follow their propaganda.

I’m not going to throw out names and make this a pissing contest between personalities. Just go and check: who’s been making names for themselves on the State Secrets Privilege topic after it became safe to discuss (around 2007)? Who’s been cashing in on writing and speaking on SSP? Who’s been getting invited over and over on MSM run channels and publications to offer ‘misguidance’ on SSP? As we all know, the MSM ain’t in the business of inviting true progressives on real civil liberties related issues and cases.

Once you go and check, and believe me it won’t take you long to have a short list, take a little time and read their polished BS (the ingredients remain BS no matter how polished), and see whether you find Horn, Barlow, Edmonds, or any American sounding names cited in their list of SSP cases. Now you have your culprits. Next, go and actually ask them, send them a note, question them:

Why is the first and most egregious invocation of SSP, Edmonds V DOJ, missing in every single case analysis and article you’ve written?

Why is Richard Barlow’s SSP case, involving AQ Khan and the CIA-Pentagon’s misleading of Congress, absent from every single piece, article, and speech?

Why in the world is this recent explosive revelation in the Richard Horn case, where the CIA abused the SSP but was caught doing it, not showing up in your work?

Come on people, do me a favor and go after these phony puppets and grill them. This is very important because the damage caused by these lowlifes impacts all of us, all our civil liberties, greatly. Not only that, these puppets are fueling racism and hatred by singling out Arab & Muslim based names in their citation of State Secrets Privilege cases, and singling them out as the only recipients of the SSP, and as cases related to our perpetual ‘war on terror’ excuse.

These pseudo progressive puppets have successfully taken the SSP topic off the table in Congress, relieving Congress from having to do, or pretending to do, something about a very dangerous Executive Power never written into the Constitution. They have made many believe that SSP is selectively and rarely used in only ‘terror suspect’ cases with Arabic names, thus, preventing a more wide-spread expression of public outrage. They have undone much great work by civil liberties organizations such as the ACLU & EFF, by actually blending with them to garner more credibility. They have churned, twisted, and spun the facts on SSP, and unfortunately even many progressives have bought into it. So let’s expose them for who they are, and let’s help the public get the facts straight on the State Secrets Privilege.

This site depends exclusively on readers’ support. Please help us continue by contributing directly and or purchasing Boiling Frogs showcased products.

The crisis in journalism was brought on mostly by industry consolidation and by media owners in denial about wasting billions on consultants, who recommended firing reporters and displacing serious news with puzzles and celebrity-worship, even of business and political leaders. The public must depend on the press for protection against abuses of power by those leaders, not to be distracted from them.

Beneath news of political campaigns, bills in Congress and the latest wars is a deep politics that is going largely uncovered: first, because its participants try to keep it secret and second, because Resources for in-depth reporting have been sharply cut back.    

Amateurish blogs, though raising issues the established media doesn’t, can’t be a substitute for serious journalism. This site is an attempt to fill the gaps in in-depth coverage. I appeal to readers to generously support it.

Joe Lauria

Joe Lauria is an author, foreign affairs correspondent and investigative reporter. He has covered the United Nations for 19 years for numerous newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the London Daily Telegraph, the Montreal Gazette and the Johannesburg Star. Joe is a member of the Sunday Times of London’s investigative unit. He is co-author of A Political Odyssey, a look at America’s defense industry and the false threats it thrives on.

This project is solely dependent on your donations. Your contributions will allow us to:

• Purchase and publish investigative news stories and exposés
• Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
• Present independent editorials and analyses
• Showcase original editorial cartoons
• Facilitate lively discussions
• Maintain & Manage this Website

We need your support to make this project a reality. Please contribute what you can, and many thanks for all you do.

In the last thirty-five years since I’ve worked as an investigative reporter, the “main stream media” (the MSM) has become increasingly narrow in its focus.  While liberal-bashing critics like Bernard Goldberg and Ann Coulter insist that the press is manipulated and controlled by the left, most of the MSM assignment editors use the uber-right, Obama-hating Drudge Report as their home page.

So, just as on Capitol Hill, we’re left with coverage on the extremes or a bland kind of surface gloss of the headlines. The news magazines of what used to be the three major networks: 48 Hours, Dateline and my alma mater 20/20 are filled with safe “true crime” stories vs. the kind of rip-the-lid-off the scandal-of-the-week brand of journalism practiced in the late 1980’s when I was at ABC News.

The province of the investigative reporter is “what lies beneath;” that region below the surface; beyond the major headlines and talking heads. It’s our stock and trade to cover that part of reality that often causes “we the people,” the most harm. Remember, it was the 7/8ths of the iceberg below the surface that sunk The Titanic.

That’s the area where I live and work and I’m happy and honored to say that, from time to time I’ll be reporting my findings here. But to keep Sibel Edmond’s incredibly valuable site up and running, it takes contributions. So please support boilingfrogspost.com

Peter Lance

Peter Lance is a five-time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and former correspondent for ABC News. He has covered hundreds of stories worldwide for 20/20, Nightline, and World News Tonight. Peter is the author of 1000 Years for Revenge, Cover Up, and the novel First Degree Burn. For more details visit Peter’s website.

This project is solely dependent on your donations. Your contributions will allow us to:

• Purchase and publish investigative news stories and exposés
• Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
• Present independent editorials and analyses
• Showcase original editorial cartoons
• Facilitate lively discussions
• Maintain & Manage this Website

 
We need your support to make this project a reality. Please contribute what you can, and many thanks for all you do.

My congratulations to Sibel Edmonds on the launch of “Boiling Frogs”!  At a time when most mainstream news organizations are constantly following the beat of the same few drummers, there is a critical need for independent, alternative, and new media to expand the boundaries of thought.  For nearly a decade, Sibel has fought against excessive government secrecy, built up an organization of more than one hundred national security whistleblowers, and exposed government attempts to cover-up abuses.

Now with BOILINGFROGSPOST.COM, Sibel is taking the next step and establishing a beautifully designed website to give voice to these ideas, opinions, and viewpoints that are largely missing from the narrow stream of daily journalism. It is an appropriate metaphor.  Like frogs slowly boiling as the water temperature gradually increases, many Americans have slowly grown to accept as normal increasing governmental abuse, from torture to warrantless wiretapping to wars based on lies. 

Supporting Boiling Frogs is an important way to wake up the American public before the water gets too hot to climb out of the pot.

James Bamford

James Bamford is one of the country’s leading writers on intelligence and national security issues. His books include “The Puzzle Palace,” “Body of Secrets,” “A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies,” and most recently “ The Shadow Factory”. Mr. Bamford coproduced NOVA’s “The Spy Factory”, which was based on his latest book. He has written for many magazines, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. His 2005 Rolling Stone article “The Man Who Sold the War” won a National Magazine Award for reporting. He also spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for the ABC News program, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, as a distinguished visiting professor.

This project is solely dependent on your donations. Your contributions will allow us to:

Purchase and publish investigative news stories and exposés
Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
Present independent editorials and analyses
Showcase original editorial cartoons
Facilitate lively discussions
Maintain & Manage this Website

 
We need your support to make this project a reality. Please contribute what you can, and many thanks for all you do.