As the first journalists to enter Kabul in 1981 for CBS News following the expulsion of the Western media the previous year, we continue to be amazed at how the American disinformation campaign between Hollywood, Washington and Wall Street built around the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan lives on. We’ve seen this pattern from the media again and again. It was particularly disturbing to read Ken Herman’s December 18 interview, Charlie Wilson pessimistic about future of Afghanistan, in the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN filled with CIA disinformation. The secret campaign was activated before the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to sell the American people on financing the coming Muslim holy war against the Soviet Union

Let’s separate the child-like fantasy that has been resurrected over and over again from the true nature of Charlie Wilson and his war effort. From the interview:

“…the former East Texas congressman — immortalized in a book and a movie about his exploits that helped the Afghans drive out the Soviet Union.”

FACT: Covert funding for the mujahideen began long before the Soviet invasion, not after. This covert aid was intended to lure the Soviets into the Afghan trap and hold them there, not drive them out, as claimed by Charlie Wilson. Both Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Zbigniew Brzezinski – President Carter’s national security adviser, have admitted in print (Gates, in his 1997 book, From the Shadows; Brzezinski, 1998 interview in Le Nouvel Observateur, that the U.S. had been secretly undermining its own diplomatic efforts in order to give the Soviets their own Vietnam in Afghanistan.

The American press failed to report these revelations from high-ranking government officials as news, back then. More recently, Brzezinski’s remarks were addressed in an interview  with Samira Goetschel for her film, Our Own Private Bin Laden.  She asked:

“In your 1998 interview with the French Magazine Le Nouvel Observateur you said that you knowingly increased the probability of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.”

Brzezinski responded:

“The point very simply was this. We knew the Soviets were already conducting operations in Afghanistan. We knew there was opposition in Afghanistan to the progressive effort which had been made by the Soviets to take over. And we felt therefore it made a lot of sense to support those that were resisting. And we decided to do that. Of course this probably convinced the Soviets even more to do what they were planning to do…”

FACT: As we document in our book, “Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story,” the record contradicts Brzezinski’s assumption that the Soviets would have invaded had it not been for his intentional provocation to lure the Soviet’s into the “Afghan trap.”

FACT: It is well documented that Charlie Wilson’s war prolonged Afghanistan’s agony for another six years, provided a secure multibillion-dollar technological training base for Islamic terrorism, and set the stage for a privatized heroin industry of historic proportions. It’s bad enough that a Hollywood film continues to project the propaganda campaign that kept Americans in the dark about America’s role in helping terrorism grow in Afghanistan. At this late date, it is unconscionable for any media to perpetuate the fantasy that Charlie Wilson or the Congress wanted the Soviets out of Afghanistan.  Read more ?

Not much in terms of site updates on this week’s Boiling Frogs Round Up. If you haven’t listened to our interview with Pepe Escobar, please do; click here.

Last week I failed to bring to your attention an interesting and noteworthy interview:

Peter B Collins interviewed David Krikorian, challenger to GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio, on Schmidt’s efforts to squelch Krikorian’s First Amendment rights and the infamous Turkish Lobby’s covert and overt influence of Schmidt’s campaign. Krikorian ran against Mean Jean in 2008 and got 17% of the vote as an independent. After he announced he would challenge her again in 2010 as a Democrat, Schmidt filed legal actions over Krikorian’s sharp criticism of her support from Turkish interests. Schmidt’s lawyer is Bruce Fein, an erstwhile friend of the PBC show for his support of impeachment for Bush and Cheney; Fein is counsel to the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund and an apologist for Turkey’s denial of the Armenian genocide.

This is a very interesting, and informative interview. You can listen to it here at Peter B Collins’ website. I’m looking forward to your feedback on this; many of you know why.

Rep. Ron Paul on the Escalation in Afghanistan

Congressman Ron Paul has written an excellent editorial piece on our war in Afghanistan and President Obama’s escalation plans now in full action. As always he makes his points clearly and sincerely: No beating around the bush, no gobbledygook stuff, and no special interests or agenda to serve.

Dr. Paul hits some of the most important key words and phrases: Perpetual War, seeking out monsters to destroy abroad, Military Industrial Complex, the War Lobby, bypassing the Constitution, nebulous & never-ending conflicts, domestic liberties, nation-building, war-racketeers…Here are a couple of excerpts:

If anyone still doubted that this administration’s foreign policy would bring any kind of change, this week’s debate on Afghanistan should remove all doubt. The president’s stated justifications for sending more troops to Afghanistan and escalating the war amount to little more than recycling all the false reasons we began the conflict. It is so discouraging to see this coming from our new leadership, when the people were hoping for peace. New polls show that 49 percent of the people favor minding our own business on the world stage, up from 30 percent in 2002. Perpetual war is not solving anything. Indeed continually seeking out monsters to destroy abroad only threatens our security here at home as international resentment against us builds. The people understand this and are becoming increasingly frustrated at not being heard by the decision-makers. The leaders say some things the people want to hear, but change never comes.

We now find ourselves in another foreign policy quagmire with little hope of victory, and not even a definition of victory. Eisenhower said that only an alert and informed electorate could keep these war racketeering pressures at bay. He was right, and the key is for the people to ensure that their elected leaders follow the Constitution. The Constitution requires a declaration of war by Congress in order to legitimately go to war. Bypassing this critical step makes it far too easy to waste resources on nebulous and never-ending conflicts. Without clear goals, the conflicts last forever and drain the country of blood and treasure. The drafters of the Constitution gave Congress the power to declare war precisely because they feared allowing the executive unfettered discretion in military affairs. They understood that making it easy for leaders to wage foreign wars would threaten domestic liberties.

I don’t know about you but I for one always seem to find myself agreeing with Dr. Paul’s view on our foreign policy and the destructiveness of the long-in-power war party. You can read the brief but effective piece here. What do you think?
 

President Obama: Staunch Supporter of our Domestic Enemies?

It certainly appears that way. He’s been vehemently supporting the Patriot Act and its architects & defenders; he’s been relentlessly protecting the previous administrations’ wrongdoers and culprits involved in rendition and torture…And now this: White House wants suit against Yoo dismissed

The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former Bush administration attorney John Yoo of authorizing the torture of a terrorism suspect, saying federal law does not allow damage claims against lawyers who advise the president on national security issues.
…

Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor, worked for the Justice Department from 2001 to 2003. He was the author of a 2002 memo that said rough treatment of captives amounts to torture only if it causes the same level of pain as “organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death.” The memo also said the president may have the power to authorize torture of enemy combatants.

We’ve been writing and talking about many cases, issues, and points where Obama has been supporting, defending, and continuing the Bush administration’s practices and abuses. Now can we think of any cases, examples, or issues where he, Obama, has actually been opposing or challenging the previous administration’s decisions, policies, or practices? In the Human Rights area? Our civil liberties? War(s)? I didn’t think so either… Read more ?

This week we interviewed Mark Klein, the AT&T whistleblower; the interview should be posted in 3 or 4 weeks. I know you’re going to find it interesting and enlightening. Speaking of AT&T, check out our contributor Ishmael’s informative interview with Jeff Farias here.

I have a few noteworthy tidbits below. Don’t pay attention to their publication dates, since the issues, these cases and reports, are ‘timeless’ in nature.

Another Police State Government Villains & an Irate Minority Fighter Story

This week the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a privacy watchdog organization, released a comprehensive and eye-opening report on a bogus subpoena issued by a US attorney in Indiana to force Indymedia.us , an independent alternative news site to hand over all the data containing about their users who visited the site on a particular day. Not only that, consistent with other National Security Letters practices, the Justice Department issued gag order to prevent the site from speaking about the subpoena:

The report describes how, earlier this year, U.S. attorneys issued a federal grand jury subpoena to Indymedia.us administrator Kristina Clair demanding “all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us” for a particular date, potentially identifying every person who visited any news story on the Indymedia site. As the report explains, this overbroad demand for internet records not only violated federal privacy law but also violated Clair’s First Amendment rights, by ordering her not to disclose the existence of the subpoena without a U.S. attorney’s permission.

Because Indymedia follows EFF’s Best Practices for Online Service Providers and does not keep historical IP logs, there was no information for Indymedia to hand over, and the government withdrew the subpoena. However, as the report describes, that wasn’t the end of the tale: Ms. Clair wanted EFF to be able to tell the story of the subpoena and shine a light on the government’s illegal demand, yet the subpoena ordered silence. Under pressure from EFF, the government admitted that the subpoena’s gag order had no legal basis, and ultimately chose not to go to court to try to force Ms. Clair’s silence despite earlier threats to do so.

This is another story of our government villains determined to butcher the Constitution and speed up our descent towards a police state. This is another example illustrating how government abuses are thriving and expanding in secrecy. In this case, it took an irate, a determined, and a believer in Constitutional Rights, to get up and challenge the attempted despotism. In this particular case, the despotic villains backed down. But as EFF appropriately questions:

How often does the government attempt such illegal fishing expeditions through internet data? How many online service providers have received similarly bogus demands, and handed over how much data, violating how many internet users’ privacy? How many of those subpoena recipients have been intimidated into silence by unconstitutional gag orders?

Let’s hope the number of those who choose to speak up and fight back keeps increasing. But meanwhile, in addition to sitting and wishing and hoping, let us each be one of the irate minority who keeps on fighting until we become the majority, and the villains are restrained and ruled by we the people.

The Deceitful Media Pimping Tyranny

Freedom daily had a well-presented piece by James Bovard on the US media. I get tons of links and references everyday, and usually all I can do is a quick glance. With this one I was hooked after the first paragraph, and I’m sure those of you who’ve been visiting my site for a while would know why:

Why do politicians so easily get away with telling lies? In large part, because the news media are more interested in bonding with politicians than in exposing them. Americans are encouraged to believe that the media will serve as a check and a balance on the government. Instead, the press too often volunteer as unpaid pimps, helping politicians deceive the public. Read more ?

The MIC-Foreign Lobby at Work

Luke Rosiak of Sunlight Foundation has published the second installment of his series on the Turkish Lobby. I strongly urge you to read it. Here are a few excerpts:

The Defense Department’s request last week for congressional approval of the sale of $8 billion worth of PAC-3 missiles to Turkey was the latest victory for a disparate group of interests including defense contractors, finance and energy corporations, trade groups, the Turkish government and a well-financed network of domestic advocacy groups. Intersecting interests have led them to join forces and lobby on a number of issues, including the characterization of distant historical events.

Turkey and the domestic advocacy groups that promote the interests of Turkish-Americans did so to protect the Turkey’s image, while U.S. companies sought to bolster their own bottom lines. The efforts appear to have been successful for all the parties.

…

Here is a very ‘interesting’ player named by Rosiak: Hittite Microwave

Turkey’s efforts have now been augmented by a domestic effort launched by a Turkish-American entrepreneur. Yalcin Ayasli founded Hittite Microwave in 1985 as a one-man company with a grant from the U.S. Air Force, and built the electronics company into a firm worth $1.2 billion, with half of its products sold overseas, according to a company presentation. The company had $180 million in revenue in 2008, according to SEC filings.

Since 2004, Hittite Microwave has received roughly $30 million in contracts directly from the government—mostly to sponsor research and development—and has also done business with Lockheed Martin and other prime contractors, many of whom use Hittite electronics in their jets and other equipment, sold to both the U.S. military and Turkey.

In 2007, Ayasli transferred $30 million in stock to fund a new endeavor, the nonprofit Turkish Coalition of America. The organization is headquartered in a Washington suite that has also been listed as the address for the Turkish Coalition USA PAC, the lobbying firm of Lydia Borland (who has represented the Turkish government), and the law firm of Bruce Fein and Associates (Fein comprises half of the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund).

…

Visit the site and read the entire piece here, and pay a lot of attention to ‘Hittite Microwave.’ In what context? Those of you who have followed my case and past interviews are very familiar with my using the label ‘Shady Turkish Front Companies.’

For now, let’s forget about the ‘classified’ and ‘buried’ aspects, and take a look at the following public information available on ‘Hittite Microwave’:

The Department of Commerce charged the multi-billion dollar company, Hittite Microwave, with 7 violations which occurred in 2000-2001:

6 Violations of Exporting Items without the Required Licenses, and

1 Violation of False Statement on Shipper’s Export Declaration Concerning Authority to Export

Hittite Microwave accepted all charges and agreed to pay the imposed fine.

Now, let’s keep this thought, and go back and read a brief but very informative piece written by Philip Giraldi, the Retired CIA Officer who used to be stationed in Turkey. It’s a short piece, and here is the relevant paragraph for our purposes on this post:

Investigators are also looking at Israel’s particular expertise in the illegal sale of US military technology to countries like China and India. Fraudulent end-user certificates produced by Defense Ministries in Israel and Turkey are all that is needed to divert military technology to other, less benign, consumers.

I took the liberty of highlighting the ‘key phrase’: Fraudulent End-User Certificates.

Now, I want to present you with a related article on the Nuclear Black Market. It’s a lengthy article, so I will point out the relevant info:

Karni then contacted Zeki Bilmen, head of Giza Technologies of Secaucus, N.J. On Aug. 6, Giza ordered 200 of the switches from PerkinElmer for $89,400, submitting certificates saying they would be used in a Soweto, South Africa, hospital.
…

Traffickers frequently ship restricted U.S. items to Dubai, Malta and other unrestricted trade zones worldwide and then re-export them to third countries to hide the origin or destination and avoid laws aimed at curbing nuclear proliferation, authorities say.
…

Giza, which had certified to PerkinElmer that the switches were for hospital use, sent them to Karni’s Cape Town office by declaring them “electrical splices and couplings for switchings,” which don’t require an export license, Brigham’s affidavit says. Providing such false or misleading information is a violation of federal law, he noted.
…

In court records, authorities said Karni often sent air freight to Pakistan and that he either completed or discussed other suspicious deals. In one, Karni bought for Khan a type of sophisticated oscilloscope often used in nuclear weapons and military programs, also through Giza.
…

Bilmen, of Giza Technologies, has not been charged. His lawyer, Robert C. Herbst, said Giza employees “were a victim of Asher Karni as much as anyone else was.”

…

Zeki Bilmen of Giza Technology was a Turkish Businessman. This important piece of information was omitted by LA Times, although they were well aware of it. Giza Technologies’ CEO Zeki Bilmen happened to be a much higher-level operator in this highly distorted LA Times story than even Karni. Citing this fact, mentioning the Turkish connection, and going after Giza Technologies, would have cost a lot when it came to our MIC, oil companies, certain elected and appointed officials, and the Turkish operatives and lobbyists in US.

Now, back to our multi-billion-dollar and highly connected Hittite Microwave. In those Department of Commerce violations case, Ayasli’s company was playing in the same game as Karni and Giza Technologies. Of course they got away with a slap on the wrist. Their protectors, our MIC + the State Department and Congressional guardian angels + the ‘lobby, made sure Hittite got off the hook and flourished even further under their protective umbrella.

Did the FBI notify the Department Commerce of it’s own files on Giza & Hittite? One wonders. How many people know about the relationship and business partnership between Hittite Microwave & Giza Technologies in the late 90s and early 2000? One wonders. Will we get to read further investigative reports on how the American Turkish Council (ATA) and ATAA facilitate these nuclear and illegal weapons market related operations via False End-User Certificates? I certainly hope so.

Again, I want to thank Sunlight Foundation for this excellent investigative piece. Let’s hope no one from the ‘establishment’ gets to them. I’ve seen it happen in the past. Please visit their site and show your support.

Please stay tuned for BREAKING NEWS tomorrow. I will need your support in having it disseminated. Please visit this site tomorrow for the latest.

The Joint Turkish-Israeli Lobby Forces

On September 10 Luke Rosiak of Sunlight Foundation wrote a thorough investigative piece on the Turkish lobby as it relates to the recent developments in the Schmidt v Krikorian case. Here is the best part of this expose:

“Lobbyists for the government of Turkey, including former congressmen Bob Livingston, made more than 2,260 contacts with officials in an unparalleled push to quash a resolution in Congress that would deem the events genocide.”

A simple click on the highlighted data will take you to the ‘overt’ working of our nation’s foreign lobbying machine. But allow me to walk you through this clicking:

The highlighted ‘contact’ will give you a little glimpse of ‘for sale ex-congressmen’ cashing in. Who do we have here specifically?

Ex Congressman, Former Speaker of the House, Bob Livingston serving his foreign masters with his lobby firm ‘Livingston Group.’ A bit of background here and here.

A group of ex congressmen, including Dick Gephardt and our many-times exposed scandalous ex Congressman, Former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, with their lobby firm ‘DLA Piper.’ For a bit of background on this see here and here.

Not much surprise there, right? After all we’ve been paying attention to and covering a bit our Red Light District-turned-Congress. So let’s go to the part that never gets any coverage. You know, the area unanimously blacked out by our media.

The activated link for 2,260 will take you to the long-withheld ‘overt’ and ‘covert’ partnership and joint operations and lobbying between Turkish players and the Israeli-Jewish lobby. Please click and scan the list of Israeli lobbyists, their chapters, subchapters, distant chapters, hidden chapters…involved with Turkish lobby operations. Impressive list I reckon! Who do we have here:

AIPAC, JINSA, ADL, B’nai B’rith, JCPA, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, Jewish Council Public Affairs, Agudath Israel, Hadassah, Ohio Jewish Foundation, Seattle Jewish Leader, United Jewish Communities,… even Jewish Institute for National Security! I knew about the extremely active ominous Israel-Jewish lobby in the US, but I had no idea how many of these organizations, sister organizations, subchapters, hidden chapters… have been set up in the US!

Next, as I’ve said repeatedly, in many interviews, both overt and covert Turkish lobby and operations in the US were set up by AIPAC/JINSA by the Richard Perle-Douglas Feith duo. Here is their starting point: International Advisors Inc. After they were exposed, they shut it down and started ATC and ATAA, with all the other sister organizations, subchapters, hidden chapters…such as ATA-DC, ATA-Chicago, TACA, TABA…just like their Sister Israeli Lobby.

You may want to check out a couple of my interviews a few years back on this topic. There is one available on YouTube. An earlier one was during an interview with Scott Horton, which should be available in their archives.

I am thankful to Sunlight Foundation for making this data available to us – the citizens. For years I’ve been talking about the joint Turkey-Israel operations in the US targeted by FBI investigations but protected at the highest levels. The media, as they’ve very consistently done with any issue touching Israel-Turkey, never reported on these ties and operations. Also, since there was and is so very little information available on Turkey and related operations in the US (thanks to the Israel-driven media and publication industry), many people find it hard to understand or even believe. I understand there will be more coming from SF on this topic, so stay tuned and if you can, drop by their site and thank them for this service.

And here is the latest on the relevant Turkey & US Military Industrial Complex front:

U.S. eyes $7.8 billion missile sale to Turkey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration has notified Congress of a possible $7.8 billion sale of Patriot PAC-3 antimissile batteries and related gear to Turkey, the only NATO ally bordering Iran.

The sale would include 13 Patriot “fire units,” 72 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles and a range of associated hardware for ground-based air defense, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice made public Friday.

It estimated the cost at $7.8 billion, which would be one of the biggest U.S. government-to-government arms sales in years and would mark a return of Turkey as a major U.S. arms buyer.

….

The primary contractors for the Turkish sale would be Raytheon Co and Lockheed Martin Corp. The notice of a potential sale is required by law. It does not mean a sale has been concluded.

In the case of a NATO member such as Turkey, Congress has 15 days to block a proposed arms deal by passing a joint resolution of disapproval, though it never has stopped a sale once formally notified.

The proposed supply of the equipment to Turkey, along with U.S. logistical support, would not alter the basic military balance in the region, the notice to Congress said.

You can read the rest of this article by Reuters here.

This means until Congress approves the sale the ‘establishment’ is going to be ultra sensitive about anything that in any way touches Turkey related topics. That includes the pending Schmidt v Krikorian case, any visible article or editorial written on my testimony, any report issued by organizations like Sunlight Foundation…you get the point, right? You are looking at mega MIC corporations that have ‘a lot’ to lose if this deal is disturbed in any way. You have the fat lobby industry with tons at stake. You’ve got shady Turkish generals who will receive a big chunk of commissions once the deal is concrete. And of course we have the usual criminal and shady but semi invisible operatives involved who’ve been keeping the lid on the truth.

Meaning, that much more reason to follow and support the upcoming reports and investigative pieces by the Sunlight Foundation; monitor and disseminate developments in the Krikorian case (the MSM ain’t doing it; and we know very well why). And of course, keep visiting this site regularly since I’ll be posting significant developments and relevant information.