This interview with Sibel Edmonds is worth reading for a really interesting scary look into the deep corruption inside the FBI, and how FBI and other officials are trading national and international security for personal profits.
Now, as you know, one of Ashcroft's plans is to expand the PATRIOT act. One of the other things you know, is that just about everything can be branded as terrorism lately (all drug related charges and most financial charges most obviously). Well, one of the expansions John “Kill 'em All” Ashcroft wants added is to allow judges to add the death penalty to any crime related to “terrorism”, even if that crime does not by default allow such a punishment (more)… If that happens, America will be able to execute potheads legally for example. Oh, and he's also barring US scientists from participating in the World Health Organization without specific permission (more). As if that's a real threat.
Continuing along Ashcroft lines, the Justice Department says that it can't release any information on foreign lobbyist involvement with US politicians (ie. which US politicians have been bought off by which foreign government) because their “database will crash” due to an excess of record (more). Anyone that works in computers can tell you that even with an archaic system, it is not really possible to destroy a computer system by querying the database (barring total incompetence). It's just another piece of fraud on the administration's part. Want your evidence? When asked when the data would be accessible, they answered, “about a month after the 2004 Presidential election.”
Given the proximity to the 4th of July, I thought this survey (more) of Americans' political views rather disturbing. 30% of Americans think the problem with America is too much freedom (here's a hint dumbasses: you're either free or you're not — there's no in-between!). Hell, less than 20% of Americans even know these that the 1st Amendment includes freedom of religion or freedom of the press (more). Continuing on that theme, Google may be manipulating search results against Fahrennheit 9/11 (more), but if you want a far more interesting conspiracy, check out this article on why FOX is cutting Moore more slack than ABC and NBC and so on (more).
Back in Iraq, the guerrilla forces fighting the occupying army and its puppet government show no signs of letting up (more), and those hired by the new government and America are deserting at a rate as high as 80% (more). The GAO has said that Iraq is worse off than before the war (more), and as much as the Bush Cabal tries to stonewall (more), probes of people tortured to death under US custody continue to grow (more) and the UK has been forced to admit that they violated the Geneva Convention (more)… However, in a moment of irony, US troops raided an Iraqi prison in an attempt to stop prisoner abuse (more), also raising interesting jurisdictional questions.
Pending World War
It's no secret that most Western governments spent most of Saddam's rule supporting him, and profiting greatly from his regime… many of them must be terrified as to what's going to come out during the investigation. While Saddam had major support from the US and its oil companies, he was also being directly supported by France and Russia (yes, that's why they objected to the war in the first place), links that may come out during the trial (more). France also vehemently opposes NATO involvement in Iraq (more), and Russia continues to assist Iran in their nuclear program (more).
We actually nearly saw the war spread to Iran last week when a British boat accidentally crossed into Iranian waters and was briefly taken captive. While the British eventually talked their way out of it, the US ordered the UK to launch a full scale attack on Iran as retaliation (more). Maybe they're waiting for the new nukes they're looking at developing with the US in Nevada first (more)? But war seems to follow the US wherever it goes internationally; seven aircraft carriers are being moved to within striking distance of China (more). To put that into context, this is the first time in history that it has moved so many of its carrier strike groups to a single location.
Draft-esque?
Of course, to fight all these wars, the US will need soldiers, and a lot of them… and it doesn't currently have enough to handle the wars it's already in — and many that are there need to get out soon in order to stay sane (more). A few days ago they did another involuntary draft recall of about six thousand retired soldiers (more), and as many as one hundred thousand remain on that “might be drafted” list. They do expect to have to force many of them to face death (more, more), primarily to fuel Halliburton's profits and the profits of other friends of the administration (more).
Cancel that Election?
Official questions are starting to be asked about what should be done about the seemingly inevitable attacks that will occur before the next US elections (more). How long can Bush suspend elections for?
History does tend to repeat itself (more).
