Going Down Under the Devil’s Spell

My friends and those of you who have read my book know a bit about my fondness for New Zealand. I have been there more than once and not in the distant past. I have referred to several exemplary characteristics of its government more than a few times in my articles and podcasts. Thus, it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that the following news article was more than enough to fill me with disappointment and a great sense of loss:

Agreement with US sees NZ as ‘de facto’ Ally

A leading academic says New Zealand has become a “de facto ally” of the United States after signing a sweeping agreement on military cooperation in Washington early today. The Washington Declaration was signed by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman at the Pentagon today.

Coleman said the declaration foreshadowed greater cooperation in key areas including maritime security, counter terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the region and promoted peace keeping and peace support initiatives.

…

You can read the entire news article here.

New Zealand is going to join this country in its counterterrorism initiatives and operations. And what is this so-called US counterterrorism model? Implementing fondling and groping exercises by known pedophiles and rapists in the airports? Because that’s exactly what we’ve been doing for years under our counterterrorism guidelines and initiatives.

You see, New Zealand airport procedures made me cry-literally cry. I was shedding tears of joy when I went from one airport to another with my dignity intact. They didn’t grope me. They didn’t make me bend over and remove my shoes. They didn’t pass me through porno-ray machines. Travelling in New Zealand didn’t boil down to making a choice between convenience and maintaining dignity. Read more È

Former FBI-CIA Agent Nada Prouty joins us in an exclusive interview to discuss her journey from Lebanon to the United States, her sham marriage to obtain US citizenship, what motivated her to join the FBI counterterrorism unit, and why she left the FBI to join the CIA. She provides us with details of being investigated and eventually prosecuted by the Justice Department, and the reasons she pled guilty to two felonies and a misdemeanor to the sham marriage and unauthorized use of a FBI computer. Ms. Prouty shares with us her assessment of the FBI and the CIA, the differences between the two agencies in approaching counter-terror related operations, her take on the Agency’s scandals, from lying on Iraq WMD to documented cases of assassination-rendition- torture, and more!

Nada Prouty is a former CIA case officer of Lebanese origin who was recruited in 2003 into the CIA from the FBI. In 2005 she was investigated for passing information to Hezbollah because her brother-in-law was suspected of having ties to Hezbollah. U.S. officials said that there was no evidence that Prouty had passed secrets to Hezbollah or to other groups the United States considers terrorist. However, the investigation uncovered that Prouty had committed immigration fraud in 1989 by paying a man to marry her so she could obtain United States citizenship. In 2007 she pled guilty to two felonies related to the sham marriage and to one misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a FBI computer. Ms. Prouty pled guilty to the computer charge to end the case due to the costs of a legal defense, and was given no jail time in exchange for her plea. Her memoire Uncompromised: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab American Patriot in the CIA is scheduled to be released this November. For more information on Ms. Prouty and her book you can visit her website.

Here is our guest Nada Prouty unplugged!

Interview with Nada Prouty [ 57:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-Terrorism Richard Clarke suggests that former CIA Director George Tenet blocked the sharing of information within the government on two members of al Qaeda in the United States, information that Clarke believes could have prevented 911. The CIA admits it knew about the two future hijackers but claims the Director was not informed.

“In early 2000, a number of more junior personnel (including FBI agents on detail to CIA) did see travel information on individuals who later became hijackers but the significance of the data was not adequately recognized at the time.“

Clark claims to have been very close to Tenet and to find this impossible to believe. Clarke maintains that the Director must have been informed and must have made the decision not to share the information with Clarke and others. Clarke speculates that the presence of these two al Qaeda members was kept secret because the CIA had tried to recruit, or “flip,” those al Qaeda members and failed. Yet he has no evidence of such attempts. Read more È