Monday, 13 October 2008

assassinat meyssan:mossad sous-traitant du pentagone

.
entretien avec un dissident français contraint à l’exil

Thierry Meyssan : « Si j’avais plié, je n’aurais pas eu à partir »


La fermeture des bureaux français du Réseau Voltaire et l’exil de son président suscitent bien des interrogations. Certains commentateurs y ont vu la fin d’une aventure ; d’autres au contraire, observant que ces décisions n’ont pas diminué la combativité du Réseau, ont essayé de savoir ce qui les avait motivées. Thierry Meyssan s’en explique ici. Il décrit une France, placée sous le contrôle des services états-uniens, où une opinion publique anesthésiée n’a pas conscience du contrôle politique. À ses yeux, il y avait péril en la demeure et la menace qui l’a contraint à partir ne tardera pas à s’exercer sur d’autres.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

source: voltairenet.org

13 octobre 2008

Depuis
Beyrouth (Liban)

Vous avez quitté la France il y a un an, en septembre 2007. Vous n’êtes pas n’importe quel expatrié : vous êtes connu dans le monde entier comme l’initiateur du mouvement de contestation de la version gouvernementale des attentats du 11 septembre, le leader d’un mouvement anti-impérialiste, et dans certains pays vous êtes présenté comme le principal dissident occidental. Pourquoi avez-vous été contraint à l’exil ?

Thierry Meyssan : En décembre 2002, le secrétaire US à la Défense Donald Rumsfeld a signé la directive 3600.1 visant à discréditer ou à éliminer des personnalités françaises qui s’opposaient à la Guerre globale au terrorisme [1]. Cette liste comprenait en premier chef Jacques Chirac, puis de grands industriels, j’y figurais en plus à cause de mon travail sur le 11-Septembre.

On était trois mois avant l’invasion de l’Irak. C’était l’époque de l’hystérie anti-française à Washington. Les services secrets français ont été informés que des assassinats avaient été sous-traités par le Pentagone au Mossad et m’ont mis en garde. Mes amis et moi, nous avons cherché à prendre contact avec les autres cibles. Un des administrateurs du Réseau Voltaire, était un ancien ami de l’une de ces personnalités. Nous avons pris rendez-vous avec elle, début mars, mais elle est décédée quelques jours avant le rendez-vous, dans des circonstances qui ont été qualifiées de très suspectes par les enquêteurs.

L’État a alors réagi. Le président Chirac a joint par téléphone le Premier ministre israélien et l’a prévenu que toute action entreprise non seulement sur le territoire français, mais n’importe où dans l’Union européenne, serait considérée comme un acte hostile envers la France. À chacun de mes déplacements hors de l’Union européenne, les services français joignaient leur homologues locaux pour leur demander de veiller à ma protection.

Je savais qui est Nicolas Sarkozy [2] et je me doutais bien que les choses changeraient avec son élection. Lorsque je suis rentré de voyage pour voter, le 6 mai 2007, j’ai été arrêté devant les autres passagers à la sortie de l’avion à Orly. Après m’avoir fait poireauter avec des clandestins et des trafiquants de toutes sortes, un officier de la DST m’a laissé sortir en me disant : « Bienvenue au pays M. Meyssan, un pays qui va bientôt changer, beaucoup changer ». Le soir Sarkozy était élu. Quelques jours plus tard, il était à l’Élysée et commençait la purge.

Pendant l’été, Nicolas Sarkozy s’est rendu en famille aux États-Unis. Il était accompagné de nombreux collaborateurs qui suivaient son avion de ligne dans un avion officiel. Ils ont eu des entretiens avec l’Administration Bush sur toute une série de sujets, graves ou futiles. J’ai été informé que les États-Uniens avaient demandé que des mesures soient prises pour me neutraliser en application des Décrets présidentiels US 13438 et 13441 [3]. J’ai cru au début que ces décrets étaient fondés sur le Patriot Act et je ne voyais pas comment ils pouvaient trouver une application en droit français. Je me disais que les atlantistes finiraient bien par inventer un biais juridique et que je devais songer à prendre le large, mais je croyais avoir beaucoup de temps devant moi. Il s’est avéré que ces décrets se fondaient sur le Trading with the Enemy Act de 1917 et ses développements ultérieurs. En d’autres termes, j’étais
désormais considéré comme une menace pour la sécurité des États-Unis. Le Pentagone, qui fait jouer la clause 5 du Traité OTAN depuis les attentats de 2001, a demandé l’assistance automatique de ses alliés. Bref, tous les services secrets des États membres de l’Alliance atlantique pouvaient être sollicités pour me neutraliser. J’ai été informé que quelque chose se tramait contre moi. J’ai fait mes valises et j’ai quitté la France deux jours plus tard.

Au demeurant, le danger ne se limite pas aux pays de l’OTAN. Une opération a été organisée contre moi en décembre 2007 à Caracas, qui a été déjouée par la police vénézuélienne. En août 2008, j’ai dû annuler ma participation à une conférence internationale en Autriche après avoir été avisé par un État ami qu’une opération avait été préparée contre moi.

En outre, des pressions sont exercées contre mes compagnons de lutte au Proche-Orient, en Amérique latine et dans d’autres États européens. Je ne peux vous en faire la liste sans compliquer les problèmes. Jürgen Cain Kulbel a été brièvement incarcéré en Allemagne et pourrait l’être à nouveau. Techniquement, le seul fait retenu contre lui par le tribunal est le lien qu’il avait installé sur son site web pointant sur celui du Réseau Voltaire [4].

Avez-vous des preuves que vous êtes réellement en danger — comme vous le dites — en France et dans les pays de l’OTAN ?

Thierry Meyssan : Non, les listes US sont secrètes, sauf en ce qui concerne les avoirs financiers bloqués aux USA, mais je n’en ai pas. Mais j’ai des témoins de plusieurs contacts.

La France est une démocratie et est considérée comme la patrie des droits de l’homme. Ce n’est pas le Chili sous la dictature de Pinochet. Que vous ayez dû la quitter n’est-il pas tout simplement incompréhensible, en particulier pour les citoyens français ?

Thierry Meyssan : Ces situations ne sont pas comparables. Au Chili, les États-Unis avaient installé une dictature militaire. En France, ils disposent juste d’agents au sommet de l’État et à la tête des différents services de sécurité. Mes concitoyens devraient être plus attentifs à la répression actuelle qui frappe à la fois des hommes politiques de premier plan, de hauts fonctionnaires et des journalistes. L’équipe de Nicolas Sarkozy s’appuie sur quelques magistrats dévoyés pour paralyser ses adversaires politiques et abuse de son pouvoir et de son influence pour virer les journalistes qui refusent de se courber.

Regardez d’abord la prise de contrôle des médias. Sarkozy a placé les siens à la tête des médias privés et purge les médias publics. Il y a un an, les syndicats de journalistes ont appelé l’opinion publique au secours [5]. Ils affirmaient qu’il devenait impossible d’enquêter sur Nicolas Sarkozy et de relater les critiques populaires dont il fait l’objet. Ils s’inquiétaient de perdre la liberté de s’exprimer en étant pris en tenaille entre d’une part des juges qui violaient le secret des sources, et d’autre part, des patrons de presse directement liés à l’Élysée. Personne ne les a cru et maintenant, c’est trop tard. Tout est verrouillé.

Des exemples ? L’équipe du président s’est installée à TF1 et une de ses anciennes maîtresses y présente le JT [6]. Les médias étrangers se sont gaussés de cette affaire, mais les médias français qui l’ont évoquée ont été condamnés pour « atteinte à la vie privée ». C’est un invraisemblable détournement de la loi de 1881 sur la presse. Désormais, la corruption et le népotisme, lorsqu’ils concernent l’équipe Sarkozy, sont des sujets tabous. Les aborder, vous conduit directement en correctionnelle.

Sarkozy a corrompu publiquement une dizaine d’éditorialistes en leur offrant des prébendes [7]. Certains ont été engagés dans des cabinets ministériels, voire à l’Élysée, d’autres ont été nommés dans des commissions bidon, où, réduits à l’état de courtisans, ils bénéficient des fastes de la République. Louis XIV tenait la noblesse en l’occupant à Versailles, Sarkozy distrait les éditorialistes qui devraient analyser sa politique en les occupant à des mondanités et en leur faisant rédiger des rapports qu’il ne lit pas.

Pendant ce temps, les époux Kouchner-Ockrent licencient à RFI et France24 tous cenx qui résistent à l’influence US. Après Richard Labévière [8], un rédacteur en chef réputé qui avait le défaut de donner la parole aux anti-atlantistes, le dernier en date est Grégoire Deniau pour avoir organisé un débat sur le 11-Septembre en invitant en première partie Issa El-Ayoubi, vice-président du Réseau Voltaire, et en seconde partie Atmoh, porte-parole de ReOpen911.

Le problème, ce ne sont pas les journalistes. Il y en a de remarquables en France. Ce sont les médias. Ils sont déjà sous contrôle et la fonction de contre-pouvoir n’est plus assurée.

Par ailleurs, lorsque le grand public entend parler d’une affaire pénale qui touche une personnalité, il n’y voit qu’un cas particulier. Mais si l’on met en perspective tous ces cas particuliers, on voit bien qu’ils traduisent une stratégie.

Sur plainte personnelle de Nicolas Sarkozy, des juges d’instruction ont interdit de voyager à l’ancien Premier ministre, Dominique de Villepin, et l’ont astreint à payer une caution démesurée et humiliante. Bien que ne disposant d’aucun élément concret à charge, le procureur vient de le renvoyer en correctionnelle. L’affaire Clearstream offre certes à Sarkozy un moyen d’éliminer un rival politique, mais il ne l’a pas pour autant organisée. C’est une machination montée de toutes pièces par son beau-père, l’ambassadeur Frank Wisner, via une de ses officines londoniennes, Hakluyt & Co [9]. Le but est d’envoyer Villepin en prison pour que nul n’ignore qu’on ne défie pas impunément le secrétaire d’État des États-Unis au Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU.

Des magistrats ont perquisitionné le domicile de l’ancien directeur des Renseignements généraux, Yves Bertrand, pour lui extorquer les secrets des chiraquiens. Et ces jours-ci, des documents saisis sont miraculeusement arrivés dans des rédactions parisiennes. Des hebdomadaires proches du pouvoir en ont publié des extraits. Il semble que l’on cherche à faire passer des documents de travail, énonçant des hypothèses, pour des rapports finaux, présentant des conclusions. Et que l’on cherche à faire croire que les RG persécutaient les seuls socialistes. C’est de la manipulation pure et simple. Chaque fois que l’on est dans l’opposition, on doit se protéger de cette police politique, et chaque fois que l’on est au pouvoir, on fait des pieds et des mains pour se procurer des copies de ses notes. Le pouvoir exerce une pression incroyable sur ce fonctionnaire pour le faire craquer. C’est bien hypocrite. Car dans le même temps, au
lieu de dissoudre enfin les RG, on les a réorganisés et on a augmenté leurs moyens en les fondant dans une administration plus opaque encore.

Jusqu’au capitaine Paul Barril qu’ils ont mis en prison pour lui arracher les secrets de Mitterrand. Ils l’ont accusé d’être un tueur à gage et l’ont si maltraité qu’il a dû être hospitalisé, avant d’être relâché sous caution. À ce propos, permettez moi une digression sur le génocide rwandais. Barril s’est défendu des attaques portées contre lui à ce sujet en mettant en cause le président Kagamé. Celui-ci a alors commandité un rapport sur l’implication française dans ce drame historique. À le lire, on comprend que les officiers supérieurs français, François Mitterrand et tout son cabinet, et le gouvernement de cohabitation dans son ensemble seraient tous responsables du génocide… sauf, bien sûr le ministre du Budget et porte-parole du gouvernement de l’époque, Saint Nicolas Sarkozy. C’est stupide. Il y a à l’évidence des responsabilités françaises, mais certainement pas de culpabilité collective.
Et au demeurant, il est impossible de comprendre et de juger ce crime, qui fit plus de 800 000 morts, sans le replacer dans son contexte et juger aussi les guerres des Grands Lacs qui firent au total plus de 6 millions de morts et dont les responsables ne sont pas à chercher à Paris, mais à Washington et Tel-Aviv.

Maintenant, les atlantistes montent une affaire contre Jacques Chirac qu’ils accusent d’avoir organisé, il y a dix ans, l’assassinat d’un journaliste qui aurait mis son nez dans ses comptes bancaires à l’étranger. Le pouvoir déploie des moyens extravagants pour construire cette nouvelle machination. Ainsi, un juge d’instruction a procédé à une perquisition au cabinet de l’avocat de Chirac dans des conditions plus que douteuses. Mais à Washington, on n’a pas pardonné à Chirac de s’être opposé à l’invasion de l’Irak et on inventera n’importe quoi pour le faire tomber.

Je ne dis pas que tous ces gens sont des anges, mais ce dont on les accuse est grotesque et ressort exclusivement de la persécution politique. Je ne dis pas non plus que la Justice est pourrie, mais que ces affaires ont été confiées à des juges et à des procureurs qui sont aux ordres.

Quand à ceux que les atlantistes ne peuvent impliquer dans de pseudo-affaires pénales, ils les espionnent. En juin-juillet-août 2007, le bureau du Réseau Voltaire à Paris a été placé sous surveillance. Toute personne entrante ou sortante a été photographiée, des filatures nécessitant un important personnel ont été conduites pour identifier les uns et les autres. Ce traitement est général. Même le domicile de Ségolène Royal a été « visité » plusieurs fois par les services secrets, c’est-à-dire illégalement perquisitionné.

Depuis le 1er juillet 2008, la nouvelle Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur met en place dans l’urgence le fichier EDVIGE, en violation des Traités internationaux, notamment du Pacte de l’ONU sur les droits civils et politiques. Elle fiche les origines raciales ou ethniques, les opinions politiques, philosophiques ou religieuses, l’appartenance syndicale, l’état de santé et les pratiques sexuelles de tous les Français. La DCRI n’en reste pas là, elle utilise les dernières techniques US d’étude des « réseaux sociaux » pour cartographier vos relations amicales, professionnelles et politiques. On ne vise plus simplement des individus, mais les milieux dans lesquels ils évoluent, les groupes auxquels ils participent. Un recours a été engagé en Conseil d’État par le SM, la LDH, le SAF, des associations gays et des syndicats, qui débouchera peut-être sur l’annulation du décret en décembre. Nicolas Sarkozy a endormi
l’opinion publique en déclarant lui-même qu’il fallait revoir le décret, mais il ne l’a pas abrogé.

En attendant, pendant ces six mois, on collecte et informatise des données. Une affaire survenue dans le Rhône a révélé que, malgré les déclarations lénifiantes du président, la police du Rhône fichait la religion des fonctionnaires territoriaux. C’est une maladresse qui révèle l’ampleur du travail de renseignement en cours. Il est improbable que ces données soient jamais détruites, même si le juge administratif le requiert. Elles seront simplement intégrées au fichier CRISTINA et classées Secret-Défense. En définitive, on aura utilisé les moyens des ex-Renseignements généraux pour constituer un fichier au profit de l’ex-DST, qui est sensée ne s’occuper que de contre-espionnage. Puis, dans le cadre de la prétendue coopération anti-terroriste, ces données politiques seront transmises aux services états-uniens, car CRISTINA est conçu pour être compatible avec les fichiers US.

Cela vous étonne ? Mais déjà bien des données individuelles sont transmises aux USA en violation des lois françaises et des conventions européennes. C’est vrai pour tout ce qui concerne vos virements bancaires internationaux [10] ou vos déplacements aériens [11].

La France a déjà basculé dans une forme de régime autoritaire sous tutelle US. On dit qu’une grenouille plongée dans de l’eau tiède que l’on porte lentement à ébullition ne régit pas au changement progressif de température, qu’elle s’engourdit et meurt. Les Français se comportent de la même manière. Ils tolèrent la destruction progressive de leurs libertés. Ils ont déjà largement dépassé le seuil du tolérable et ne réagissent pas, ne réagissent plus.

Sous l’égide des États-Unis, les dictatures d’Amérique latine avaient mis en place dans les années 70 un système de persécution des opposants politiques appelé Plan Condor. Vous avez écrit que ce système a été réactivé et étendu dans le monde à travers l’OTAN. La comparaison n’est-elle pas exagérée ?

Thierry Meyssan : Ce n’est pas une comparaison. C’est une constatation [12]. Elle a été confirmée par de des rapports officiels au Parlement européen et au Conseil de l’Europe [13]. Les États-Unis ont étendu à l’Europe occidentale les méthodes qu’ils avaient utilisé il y a quarante ans en Amérique latine [14]. Une internationale de la répression est déjà à l’œuvre [15]. Des centaines de personnes ont été enlevées sur le territoire de l’Union européenne, exfiltrées et torturées. Jacques Chirac a protégé notre pays de ces crimes, il n’en est plus de même aujourd’hui. Le premier cas identifié est celui de Mohammad As-Siddik, disparu en plein Paris le 13 mars dernier alors que la France devait le présenter à une juridiction de l’ONU [16], mais il doit y en avoir déjà beaucoup d’autres.

Plus de 80 000 personnes ont transité au cours des sept dernières années dans les prisons secrètes de la CIA et de la Navy. 26 000 sont actuellement séquestrées [17].

Les exemples sont nombreux de personnes sur lesquelles planait la menace d’un assassinat et qui ont été retrouvées mortes d’une autre manière : suicide, crise cardiaque, accident... Voulez-vous vous suicider ? Avez-vous des problèmes de santé ? Prenez-vous des risques dans vos déplacements ?

Thierry Meyssan : Je ne suis pas dépressif et n’ai aucune inclination suicidaire. J’ai fait faire des examens de santé et n’ai aucune maladie susceptible de provoquer une mort subite. Je fais attention dans mes transports et ne me déplace jamais seul.

Lorsque les menaces ont commencé à se concrétiser, avez-vous été soutenu en France ? Des organisations politiques vous ont-elles aidé ? Les autres journalistes vous ont-ils défendu ?

Thierry Meyssan : Aucune organisation ne m’a aidé. La plupart de mes « confrères » journalistes ont fuit la difficulté. Reniant la tradition voltairienne de la presse, ils ont prétexté ne pas vouloir se prononcer sur les polémiques entretenues contre moi pour ne pas voir ce qui était en train de se passer. C’est l’excuse classique des lâches chaque fois que la liberté est en question. Certains cependant m’ont aidé et je ne vais pas les dénoncer. Pareil parmi les politiques et les militaires.

Non seulement, ceux qui auraient dû me défendre ne l’ont pas fait, mais des gens ordinaires qui n’ont rien à voir avec tout cela ont prêté leur concours à une surveillance illégale. La banque qu’utilisait le Réseau Voltaire (en l’occurrence l’agence Gare de l’Est du Crédit coopératif) nous a convoqué pour nous demander de révéler le nom de nos principaux donateurs, ce qu’évidemment nous avons refusé de faire. Nous avons alors clôturé notre compte et ouvert une autre structure hors de la zone OTAN. Mais cette procédure illégale a été étendue à mes proches et à mes compagnons de lutte. Lorsque l’un d’entre eux encaisse sur son compte un versement ou un virement de plus de 500 euros , il est joint par son banquier qui lui demande d’en justifier la provenance. Pour n’importe qui, c’est étouffant, pour un commerçant ou un travailleur indépendant, c’est du harcèlement.

Vous avez quitté la France alors qu’elle évolue - dites-vous - vers un régime répressif. Avez-vous abandonné votre pays ? Avez-vous abandonné le combat politique ?

Thierry Meyssan : Certainement pas. C’est l’inverse. J’ai quitté la France pour poursuivre mon combat. Les États-Unis ont tenté différentes approches contre moi : d’abord me discréditer, puis me ruiner, puis me corrompre, enfin m’éliminer. Si j’avais plié, je n’aurais pas eu à partir. C’est parce que j’aime la France et l’idéal qu’elle porte que je suis parti.

Ma situation semble exceptionnelle. C’est faux. Je suis simplement le premier à qui cela arrive. Il y en aura d’autres.

Votre pays vous manque-t-il ? Voulez-vous y retourner ?

Thierry Meyssan : Des amis m’entourent ici, mais la France est ma patrie. J’y ai laissé les miens. Comment voulez-vous qu’elle ne me manque pas ?

Entretien réalisé à Beyrouth. Notes ajoutées à la relecture.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[1] « Rumsfeld cible la France et l’Allemagne », Réseau Voltaire, 2 janvier 2003.

[2] « Opération Sarkozy : comment la CIA a placé un de ses agents à la présidence de la République française », Réseau Voltaire, 19 juillet 2008.

[3] Presidential Executive Order 13438 : Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq, signé par George W. Bush le 17 juillet 2007, et Presidential Executive Order 13441 : Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions, signé le 1er août 2007.

[4] « Un collaborateur du Réseau Voltaire incarcéré à Berlin », Réseau Voltaire, 10 juin 2008.

[5] « Nicolas Sarkozy étouffe les journalistes français », Réseau Voltaire, 24 septembre 2007.

[6] « La sarkozysation de l’audiovisuel français », Réseau Voltaire, 10 juin 2008.

[7] « Nicolas Sarkozy corrompt publiquement de grands éditorialistes », Réseau Voltaire, 4 octobre 2007.

[8] « Pourquoi les époux Kouchner veulent-ils la tête de Richard Labévière ? », Réseau Voltaire, 29 août 2008

[9] « Opération Sarkozy : comment la CIA a placé un de ses agents à la présidence de la République française », Ibid.

[10] « Les transactions financières internationales sous contrôle états-unien », par Jean-Claude Paye, Réseau Voltaire, 28 avril 2008.

[11] « L’espace aérien sous contrôle impérial », par Jean-Claude Paye, Réseau Voltaire, 13 octobre 2007.

[12] « L’OTAN : du Gladio aux vols secrets de la CIA », par Ossama Lotfy, Réseau Voltaire, 24 avril 2007.

[13] Allégations de détentions secrètes et de transferts illégaux de détenus concernant des États membres du Conseil de l’Europe ? Rapport de Dick Marty au Conseil de l’Europe, 12 juin 2006.

[14] « Faut-il combattre la tyrannie avec les instruments des tyrans ? », par Dick Marty, Réseau Voltaire, 22 mars 2007.

[15] « Les lois anti-terroristes. Un Acte constitutif de l’Empire » et « Les populations sous surveillance », entretiens de Jean-Claude Paye avec Silvia Cattori, Réseau Voltaire, 12 septembre 2007 et 15 février 2008.

[16] « Kouchner a « perdu » le témoin-clé de l’enquête Hariri », par Jürgen Cain Külbel, Réseau Voltaire, 21 avril 2008.

[17] « 17 prisons secrètes ont déjà remplacé Guantanamo », Réseau Voltaire, 3 juin 2008.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meyssan : Inquietanti rivelazioni di un dissidente

La chiusura degli uffici francesi del Réseau Voltaire (“Rete Voltaire”, NdT) e l’esilio del suo presidente sollevano molti interrogativi. Alcuni commentatori vi hanno visto la fine di un’ avventura, altri, al contrario, nell’osservare che queste decisioni non hanno ridotto la combattività del Réseau, hanno cercato di scoprire quali fossero le motivazioni.
Thierry Meyssan lo spiega qui. Meyssan descrive una Francia sottoposta al controllo dei servizi statunitensi, con un’opinione pubblica anestetizzata che non ha consapevolezza del controllo politico. Ai suoi occhi, c’era un pericolo immediato e la minaccia che lo ha costretto ad andarsene non tarderà a ricadere su altri.

17 ottobre 2008

Depuis
Beyrouth (Liban)

Lei ha lasciato la Francia un anno fa, nel settembre 2007. Non è un espatriato qualsiasi: è famoso in tutto il mondo come l’iniziatore del movimento che contesta la versione governativa degli attentati dell’11 settembre, il leader di un movimento anti-imperialista, e in alcuni paesi si è presentato come il principale dissidente occidentale. Perché è stato costretto all’esilio?
Thierry Meyssan : Nel dicembre 2002, il Segretario della Difesa USA Donald Rumsfeld ha firmato la direttiva 3.600.1, volta a screditare o eliminare le personalità francesi che si opponevano alla guerra globale al terrorismo [1]. L’elenco includeva in primo luogo Jacques Chirac, poi dei grandi esponenti industriali, e in più vi figuravo io a causa del mio lavoro sull’11/9.
Erano tre mesi prima della invasione dell’Iraq. Era l’epoca dell’isteria antifrancese a Washington. I servizi segreti francesi sono stati informati del fatto che gli omicidi erano stati subappaltati dal Pentagono al Mossad e mi misero in guardia. I miei amici ed io abbiamo cercato di metterci in contatto con gli altri bersagli. Uno degli amministratori del Réseau Voltaire era un vecchio amico di una di queste personalità. Abbiamo preso un appuntamento con questo personaggio ai primi di marzo, ma morì pochi giorni prima dell’incontro, in circostanze che sono state descritte come altamente sospette da parte degli investigatori.
Lo Stato ha quindi reagito. Il presidente Chirac ha contattato per telefono il primo ministro israeliano e lo ha ammonito sul fatto che qualsiasi azione intrapresa non solo sul territorio francese, ma in tutta l’Unione europea, sarebbe stata considerata un atto ostile contro la Francia. In ognuno dei miei viaggi fuori dall’Unione europea, i servizi francesi contattavano i loro omologhi locali chiedendo loro di garantire la mia protezione.
Sapevo chi è Nicolas Sarkozy [2] e sospettavo che le cose sarebbero cambiate con la sua elezione. Quando sono tornato da un viaggio per votare, il 6 maggio 2007, sono stato arrestato davanti agli altri passeggeri all’uscita dall’aereo a Orly. Dopo avermi fatto attendere a lungo in compagnia di immigrati clandestini e di trafficanti di ogni genere, un funzionario della DST (l’ex servizio segreto interno, NdT) mi ha fatto uscire dicendo: «Benvenuto in patria, signor Meyssan, un paese che presto cambierà, moltissimo». Quella sera Sarkozy fu eletto. Pochi giorni dopo era all’Eliseo e iniziava la purga.
Durante l’estate, Nicolas Sarkozy ha visitato la famiglia negli Stati Uniti. Era accompagnato da molti collaboratori che hanno seguito il suo aereo di linea da un aereo ufficiale. Hanno discusso con l’amministrazione Bush su una serie di temi, importanti o frivoli. Mi è stato comunicato che gli statunitensi avevano chiesto che venissero prese delle misure per neutralizzarmi in base ai decreti presidenziali US 13438 e 13441 Stati Uniti [3]. Ho pensato all’inizio che questi decreti si fondassero sul Patriot Act e non vedevo come avrebbero potuto essere attuati nel quadro del diritto francese. Mi dicevo che gli atlantisti avrebbero finito per inventare uno strumento giuridico e che dovevo meditare di prendere il largo, ma credevo di avere molto tempo davanti a me. Si è scoperto che questi decreti si fondavano sul Trading with the Enemy Act del 1917 e successivi sviluppi. In altre parole, ero ormai considerato una minaccia per la sicurezza degli Stati Uniti. Il Pentagono, che chiama in causa la clausola 5 del trattato NATO a partire dagli attentati del 2001, ha chiesto l’assistenza automatica dei suoi alleati. In breve, a tutti i servizi segreti degli Stati membri dell’Alleanza atlantica poteva essere chiesto di neutralizzarmi. Mi fu comunicato che si tramava qualcosa contro di me. Ho fatto le mie valigie e ho lasciato la Francia due giorni dopo.
Per di più, il pericolo non è limitato ai paesi della NATO. Un’operazione fu organizzata contro di me nel dicembre 2007 a Caracas, sventata dalla polizia venezuelana. Nel mese di agosto 2008 ho dovuto annullare la mia partecipazione a una conferenza internazionale in Austria, dopo essere stato informato da uno Stato amico che era stata preparata un’operazione contro di me.
Oltre a ciò, delle pressioni sono esercitate contro i miei compagni di lotta nel Medio Oriente, America Latina e in altri Stati europei. Non posso fare l’elenco senza complicare i problemi. Jürgen Cain Kulbel è stato brevemente arrestato in Germania e potrebbe esserlo di nuovo. Tecnicamente, il solo fatto usato contro di lui da parte del tribunale è il link che aveva installato sul suo sito web che rimandava a quello del Réseau Voltaire [4].
Ha qualche prova del fatto che lei sia davvero in pericolo - come lei dice - in Francia e nei paesi della NATO?
Thierry Meyssan : No, le liste USA sono segrete, tranne le attività finanziarie bloccate negli Stati Uniti, ma non ne ho. Ma ho delle testimonianze da parte di diversi contatti.
La Francia è una democrazia ed è considerata la patria dei diritti umani. Questo non è il Cile sotto la dittatura di Pinochet. Che abbia dovuto lasciare il paese non è semplicemente incomprensibile, soprattutto per i cittadini francesi?
Thierry Meyssan : Queste situazioni non sono comparabili. In Cile gli Stati Uniti avevano instaurato una dittatura militare. In Francia dispongono solo di agenti al vertice dello Stato e alla testa dei vari servizi di sicurezza. I miei concittadini dovrebbero essere più attenti alla repressione attuale che colpisce sia politici di primo piano, sia alti funzionari che giornalisti. La squadra di Nicolas Sarkozy si basa su alcuni magistrati deviati per paralizzare i suoi avversari politici e abusa del suo potere e la sua influenza per sbarazzarsi dei giornalisti che rifiutano di piegarsi.
Guardate innanzitutto la presa di controllo dei media. Sarkozy ha messo i suoi fedelissimi alla testa dei media privati mentre purga i media di proprietà pubblica. Un anno fa, i sindacati dei giornalisti hanno fatto appello all’intervento dell’opinione pubblica [5]. Dicevano che era diventato impossibile indagare su Nicolas Sarkozy e raccontare le critiche popolari di cui è oggetto. Si preoccupavano di perdere la libertà di esprimersi nell’essere nella tenaglia tra i giudici che violavano il segreto istruttorio e, dall’altro lato, i padroni della stampa direttamente legati all’Eliseo. Nessuno gli ha creduto e ora è troppo tardi. Tutto è bloccato. Qualche esempio? La squadra del Presidente si è istallata a TF1 e una delle sue ex amanti vi presenta il Tg [6]. I mass media stranieri si fanno beffe di questa vicenda, ma i media francesi che l’hanno evocata sono stati condannati per “violazione della privacy”. Si tratta di un incredibile abuso della legge del 1881 sulla stampa. Ora, la corruzione e il nepotismo, che riguardano la squadra di Sarkozy, sono argomenti tabù. Il solo accostarvi ad essi, vi porta direttamente al rinvio a giudizio.
Sarkozy ha corrotto pubblicamente una decina di editorialisti offrendo loro delle prebende [7]. Alcuni sono stati arruolati in comitati ministeriali, ossia all’Eliseo, altri sono stati nominati in commissioni bidone, dove, ridotti al rango di cortigiani, godono dei fasti della Repubblica. Luigi XIV teneva occupata la nobiltà a Versailles, Sarkozy distrae le grandi firme editoriali che dovrebbero scrutinare la sua politica occupandole con delle attività mondane e facendo scrivere loro delle relazioni che lui non legge.
Nel frattempo, i coniugi Kouchner-Ockrent licenziano su RFI e France24 tutti coloro che resistono all’influenza degli Stati Uniti. Dopo Richard Labévière [8], un redattore capo stimato che aveva il difetto di dare la parola agli anti-atlantisti, l’ultimo in ordine di tempo è Gregoire Deniau per aver organizzato un dibattito sull’11 settembre cui aveva invitato in primo luogo Issa El-Ayoubi, vice presidente di Réseau Voltaire, e in secondo luogo Atmoh, portavoce di ReOpen911. Il problema non sono i giornalisti. Ce n’è di notevoli, in Francia. Sono i media. Sono già sotto controllo e la funzione di contropotere non è più garantita.
Inoltre, quando il pubblico sente di un procedimento penale che coinvolge una personalità, non vi vede altro che un caso particolare. Ma se uno mette in prospettiva tutti questi casi, è chiaro che si traducono in una strategia.
Su denuncia personale di Nicolas Sarkozy, alcuni giudici istruttori hanno proibito di viaggiare all’ex primo ministro Dominique de Villepin, e l’hanno costretto a pagare una cauzione smisurata e umiliante. Pur non avendo prove concrete a suo carico, il pubblico ministero lo ha rinviato a giudizio. Il caso Clearstream offre certamente a Sarkozy un modo per eliminare un rivale politico, ma non lo ha organizzato lui. Si tratta di un complotto orchestrato dal suo patrigno, l’ambasciatore Frank Wisner, attraverso uno dei suoi covi londinesi, la Hakluyt & Co [9]. L’obiettivo è quello di mandare in prigione Villepin in modo che tutti sappiano che non si può sfidare impunemente il Segretario di Stato USA al Consiglio di Sicurezza dell’ONU.
Alcuni magistrati hanno perquisito la casa dell’ex direttore dei servizi d’informazione generali (“Renseignements généraux, RG”, NdT), Yves Bertrand, per estorcergli i segreti degli uomini di Chirac. E in questi giorni, i documenti sequestrati sono miracolosamente arrivati alle redazioni parigine. I settimanali vicini al potere ne hanno pubblicato alcuni stralci. Sembra che si cerchi di far passare delle bozze, dove si enunciavano delle ipotesi, per relazioni finali che presentano conclusioni definitive. E che si cerchi di far credere che i servizi perseguitino i soli socialisti. C’è della pura e semplice manipolazione. Ogni volta che si è all’opposizione, tocca proteggersi da questa polizia politica, e ogni volta che si è al potere, si fa di tutto per procacciarsi qualche copia delle sue note. Il potere sta esercitando una pressione incredibile su questo ufficiale per farlo crollare. È davvero una cosa ipocrita. Perché allo stesso tempo, invece di essere sciolti, i servizi d’informazione generali (RG) sono stati riorganizzati e sono stati aumentati i loro mezzi basandoli su una gestione ancora più opaca.
Fino al capitano Paul Barril, che hanno messo in prigione per i segreti di Mitterrand. Lo hanno accusato di essere un sicario e lo hanno maltrattato così tanto da dover essere ricoverato in ospedale, prima di essere rilasciato su cauzione. A questo proposito, permettetemi di divagare sul genocidio ruandese. Barril si è difeso dagli attacchi contro di lui su questo tema mettendo in causa il Presidente Kagame. Questi ha quindi commissionato una relazione sulla partecipazione francese in questo dramma storico. Al leggerlo, si capisce che gli alti funzionari francesi, François Mitterrand e tutto il suo gabinetto nonché il governo di coabitazione nel suo complesso sarebbero responsabili del genocidio ... tranne, ovviamente, l’allora ministro del bilancio e portavoce del Governo, San Nicolas Sarkozy. Ciò è stupido. Ci sono state chiare responsabilità francesi, ma certamente non colpe collettive. E del resto, è impossibile capire e giudicare questo crimine, che ha fatto più di 800mila morti, senza metterlo nel suo contesto e giudicare anche le guerre nella regione dei Grandi Laghi che hanno causati in totale di più di 6 milioni di morti, e i cui responsabili non sono da cercare a Parigi, ma a Washington e Tel Aviv.
Nel frattempo, gli atlantisti montano un caso contro Jacques Chirac, che accusano di aver organizzato, dieci anni fa, l’assassinio di un giornalista che avrebbe messo il naso nei suoi conti bancari all’estero. Il potere ha schierato mezzi stravaganti per costruire questa nuova macchinazione. Così, un magistrato ha proceduto a una perquisizione dello studio dell’avvocato di Chirac in condizioni più che discutibili. Ma a Washington, non si è perdonato a Chirac d’essersi opposto all’invasione dell’Iraq e s’inventerà di tutto per buttarlo giù.
Io non dico che tutte queste persone siano degli angeli, ma ciò di cui sono accusate è grottesco e ricorre esclusivamente alla persecuzione politica. Non sto dicendo affatto che la Giustizia sia marcia, ma che questi casi sono stati assegnati a giudici e pubblici ministeri che prendono ordini.
Ma coloro che gli atlantisti non possono coinvolgere in pseudo cause penali, vengono spiati. Nel giugno-luglio-agosto 2007, la sede del Réseau Voltaire a Parigi è stata posta sotto sorveglianza. Qualsiasi persona in entrata o in uscita è stata fotografata, e sono state condotte schedature che richiedono molto personale per identificare sia le une che le altre. Questo trattamento è generalizzato. Anche la casa di Ségolène Royal è stata “visitata” a più riprese dai servizi segreti, cioè illegalmente perquisita.
Dal 1° luglio 2008, la nuova Direzione Centrale dei servizi d’informazione interni (DCRI) mette in campo in emergenza il file classificatorio EDVIGE, in violazione dei trattati internazionali, tra cui la Convenzione delle Nazioni Unite sui diritti civili e politici. Esso scheda l’origine razziale o etnica, le opinioni politiche, religiose o filosofiche, l’appartenenza sindacale, la salute e le pratiche sessuali di tutti i francesi. Il DCRI non se ne sta con le mani in mano, utilizza le più recenti tecniche USA sullo studio delle “reti sociali” per mappare le vostre relazioni amichevoli, professionali e politiche.
Non si tratta più semplicemente di singoli individui, ma dell’ambiente in cui vivono, i gruppi cui partecipano. Un ricorso è stato presentato al Consiglio di Stato da parte di SM, LDH, SAF, associazioni gay e sindacati, che possono portare forse alla cancellazione del decreto nel mese di dicembre. Nicolas Sarkozy ha sopito l’opinione pubblica dichiarando egli stesso la necessità di rivedere il decreto, ma non lo ha abrogato.
Intanto, nel corso di questi sei mesi, si raccolgono e informatizzano dei dati. Un caso avvenuto nella regione del Rodano ha rivelato che, nonostante le dichiarazioni lenitive del Presidente, la polizia del Rodano schedava la religione dei funzionari territoriali. È un errore che rivela la portata del lavoro di intelligence in corso. È improbabile che questi dati verranno mai distrutti, anche se il giudice amministrativo lo richiedesse. Saranno semplicemente integrati nello schedario CRISTINA e classificati ‘Segreto della Difesa’. In ultima analisi, saranno utilizzati i mezzi degli ex Renseignements généraux per costruire uno schedario a vantaggio della ex DST, che è ragionevole non si occupi che di controspionaggio. Poi, nel quadro della cosiddetta cooperazione anti-terrorismo, questi dati politici saranno trasmessi ai servizi statunitensi, perché CRISTINA è stato progettato per essere compatibile con gli schedari USA. Ciò vi sorprende? Ma già molti dati individuali sono trasmessi agli Stati Uniti, in violazione del diritto francese e delle convenzioni europee. Ciò vale per tutto ciò che riguarda i vostri trasferimenti bancari internazionali [10] o i vostri spostamenti in aereo [11]. La Francia è già precipitata in una forma di Stato autoritario sotto tutela statunitense. Si dice che una rana immersa in acqua tiepida portata lentamente a bollire, non reagisce al graduale cambiamento della temperatura, così che si stordisce e muore. I francesi si stanno comportando allo stesso modo. Tollerano la progressiva distruzione delle loro libertà. Hanno già superato di gran lunga la soglia del tollerabile e non reagiscono, non reagiscono più.
Sotto l’egida degli Stati Uniti, le dittature in America Latina avevano messo in campo negli anni settanta un sistema di persecuzione degli oppositori politici denominato Plan Condor. Lei ha scritto che il sistema è stato riattivato ed esteso in tutto il mondo attraverso la NATO. Il raffronto non è esagerato?
Thierry Meyssan : Questo non è un raffronto. È una constatazione [12]. È stato confermato da relazioni ufficiali al Parlamento e al Consiglio d’Europa [13]. Gli Stati Uniti hanno esteso verso l’Europa occidentale i metodi che avevano usato quaranta anni fa in America Latina [14]. Un’internazionale della repressione è già all’opera [15]. Centinaia di persone sono state rapite nel territorio dell’Unione europea, portate altrove e torturate. Jacques Chirac ha protetto il nostro paese da questi crimini, oggi non è più così. Il primo caso è stato identificato come quello di Mohammad As-Siddik, scomparso nel centro di Parigi il 13 marzo scorso quando la Francia doveva presentarlo a un tribunale delle Nazioni Unite [16], ma devono essercene già molti altri.
Più di 80mila persone sono transitate nel corso degli ultimi sette anni nelle prigioni segrete della CIA e della US Navy. 26mila sono attualmente i sequestrati [17].
Ci sono molti esempi di persone su cui incombeva la minaccia di un omicidio e che sono state trovate morte in un altro modo: suicidio, crisi cardiaca, incidente... Ha intenzione di suicidarsi? Ha problemi di salute? Rischia nei suoi spostamenti?
Thierry Meyssan : Non sono depresso e non ho alcuna inclinazione suicida. Ho fatto degli esami medici e non ho alcuna malattia che possa causare una morte improvvisa. Faccio attenzione nei miei spostamenti e non mi muovo mai da solo.
Quando le minacce hanno cominciato a diventare concrete, ha avuto sostegno in Francia? Ci sono organizzazioni politiche che l’hanno aiutata? Gli altri giornalisti l’hanno difesa?
Thierry Meyssan : Nessuna organizzazione mi ha aiutato. La maggior parte dei miei “confratelli” giornalisti sono fuggiti davanti alle difficoltà. Negando la tradizione volterriana della stampa, con la scusa di non volersi pronunciare sulle polemiche a mio carico per non vedere cosa stava accadendo. È la classica scusa dei vigliacchi ogni qual volta sia in questione la libertà. Alcuni, tuttavia, mi hanno aiutato e non vado a svelarne i nomi. Parecchi tra i politici e i militari.
Non solo coloro che avrebbero dovuto difendermi non l’hanno fatto, ma certe persone qualunque che non hanno nulla a che fare con tutto ciò hanno collaborato a una sorveglianza illegale. La banca utilizzata dal Réseau Voltaire (nella fattispecie l’agenzia Gare de l’Est del Crédit coopératif) ci convocò per chiederci di rivelare il nome dei nostri principali donatori, cosa che ovviamente abbiamo rifiutato di fare. Abbiamo chiuso il nostro conto e aperto un’altra struttura al di fuori della zona NATO. Ma questa procedura illegale è stata estesa alla mia famiglia e ai miei compagni di lotta. Quando uno di loro incassa sul suo conto un pagamento in contanti o un trasferimento di più di 500 euro, è raggiunto dal suo banchiere, che gli chiede di giustificarne la provenienza. Per qualcuno è soffocante, per un commerciante o un lavoratore autonomo è una molestia.
Ha lasciato la Francia mentre si evolve - lei afferma – verso un regime repressivo. Ha abbandonato il suo paese? Ha abbandonato la lotta politica?
Thierry Meyssan : Certamente no. Al contrario. Ho lasciato la Francia per continuare la mia lotta. Gli Stati Uniti hanno tentato diversi approcci nei miei confronti: prima screditarmi e distruggermi, poi corrompermi, infine eliminarmi. Se mi fossi piegato, non sarei dovuto partire via. È perché amo la Francia e l’ideale che porta che sono partito.
La mia situazione sembra eccezionale. Sbagliato. Sono semplicemente il primo cui questo accade. Ce ne saranno altri.
Il suo paese le manca? Vuole tornarci?
Thierry Meyssan : Qui sono circondato da amici, ma la Francia è la mia patria. Vi ho lasciato le mie cose. Come volete che non mi manchi?

Intervista rilasciata a Beirut. Note aggiunte in rilettura.
Traduzione a cura di Pino Cabras (Como Don Chisciotte)

[1] «Rumsfeld cible la France et l’Allemagne», Réseau Voltaire, 2 gennaio 2003.
[2] «Operazione Sarkozy : come la CIA ha piazzato uno dei suoi agenti alla presidenza della Repubblica francese», Réseau Voltaire, 21 agosto 2008.
[3] Presidential Executive Order 13438: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq, firmato da George W. Bush il 17 luglio 2007, e Presidential Executive Order 13441: Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions, firmato il 1° agosto 2007.
[4] «Un collaborateur du Réseau Voltaire incarcéré à Berlin», Réseau Voltaire, 10 giugno 2008.
[5] «Nicolas Sarkozy étouffe les journalistes français», Réseau Voltaire, 24 settembre 2007.
[6] «La sarkozysation de l’audiovisuel français», Réseau Voltaire, 10 giugno 2008.
[7] «Nicolas Sarkozy corrompt publiquement de grands éditorialistes», Réseau Voltaire, 4 ottobre 2007.
[8] «Pourquoi les époux Kouchner veulent-ils la tête de Richard Labévière?», Réseau Voltaire, 29 agosto 2008
[9] «Operazione Sarkozy : come la CIA ha piazzato uno dei suoi agenti alla presidenza della Repubblica francese», Ibid.
[10] «Les transactions financières internationales sous contrôle états-unien», di Jean-Claude Paye, Réseau Voltaire, 28 aprile 2008.
[11] «L’espace aérien sous contrôle impérial», di Jean-Claude Paye, Réseau Voltaire, 13 ottobre 2007.
[12] «L’OTAN: du Gladio aux vols secrets de la CIA», di Ossama Lotfy, Réseau Voltaire, 24 aprile 2007.
[13] Allégations de détentions secrètes et de transferts illégaux de détenus concernant des États membres du Conseil de l’Europe, Rapporto di Dick Marty al Consiglio d’Europa, 12 giugno 2006.
[14] «Faut-il combattre la tyrannie avec les instruments des tyrans?», di Dick Marty, Réseau Voltaire, 22 marzo 2007.
[15] «Le leggi antiterrorismo. Un Atto constitutivo dell’Impero» e «Sorveglianza di regime», interviste di Jean-Claude Paye con Silvia Cattori, Réseau Voltaire, 12 settembre 2007 e 15 febbraio 2008.
[16] «Kouchner a “perdu” le témoin-clé de l’enquête Hariri», di Jürgen Cain Külbel, Réseau Voltaire, 21 aprile 2008.
[17] «17 prisons secrètes ont déjà remplacé Guantanamo», Réseau Voltaire, 3 giugno 2008.

Saturday, 11 October 2008

obama'$

.
http://www.rense.com/general83/was.htm

Was Barack Obama Planted?

From J. Hansen

10-9-8

This is long, but very important and worth the time to read it.

This election has me very worried. So many things to consider.

I watch all the news channels, jumping from one to another. I must say this drives my husband crazy. But, I feel if you view MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, you might get some middle ground to work with. About six months ago, I started thinking--- "where did the money come from for Obama". I have four daughters who went to College, and we were middle class, and money was tight. We (including my girls) worked hard and there were lots of student loans.

I started looking into Obama's life.

Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California. He is very open about his two years at Occidental; he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies.

"Barry" (that was the name he used all his life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan.

During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a "round the world" trip. Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi, Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate's family, then off to Africa to visit his father's family.

My question - Where did he get the money for this trip? Nether I, nor any one of my children would have had money for a trip like this when they where in college. When he came back he started school at Columbia University in New York. It is at this time he wants everyone to call him Barack - not Barry.

Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia? It's not cheap! to say the least. Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe. After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000. a year. Why Chicago? Why not New York? He was already living in New York.

By "chance" he met Antoin "Tony" Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria, and a real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been convicted of fraud and bribery this year. Rezko, was named "Entrepreneur of the Decade" by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association".

About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School. Do you have any idea what tuition is for Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money for Law School? More student loans? After Law school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko offered him a job, which he turned down. But, he did take a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what? They represented "Rezar" which is Rezko's firm. Rezko was one of Obama's first major financial contributors when he ran for office in Chicago. In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with "seed money" for his U.S. Senate race.

In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student Loans - Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day Rezko's wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama's new home was purchased. Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko.

Now, we have Obama running for President. Valerie Jarrett, was Michele Obama's boss. She is now Obama's chief advisor and he does not make any major decisions without talking to her first. Where was Jarrett born? Ready for this? Shiraz, Iran. Do we see a pattern here? Or, am I going crazy?

On May 10, 2008 The Times reported, Robert Malley advisor to Obama was "sacked" after the press found out he was having regular contacts with "Hamas ", which controls Gaza and is connected with Iran. This past week, buried in the back part of the papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during Obama's visit to Iraq, he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until after he is elected, and he will "Take care of things".

Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that where born in Pakistan? They are in charge of all those "small" Internet campaign contributions for Obama. Where is that money coming from? The poor and middle class in this country? Or could it be from the Middle East?

And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on "This Week" with George Stephanapoulos. Obama on talking about his religion said, "My Muslim faith". When questioned, "he made a mistake". Some mistake!

All of the above information I got on line. If you would like to check it - Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett: Daily Times - Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times - September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008.

Now the BIG question - If I found out all this information on my own, why haven't all of our "intelligent" members of the press been reporting this?

A phrase that keeps ringing in my ear - "Beware of the enemy from within."

us crisis: martial law in the pipe

.
waynemadsenreport.com

October 8-10, 2008

FEMA sources confirm coming martial law

WMR has learned from knowledgeable Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sources that the Bush administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would see martial law declared in the United States with various scenarios anticipated as triggers. The triggers include a continuing economic collapse with massive social unrest, bank closures resulting in violence against financial institutions, and another fraudulent presidential election that would result in rioting in major cities and campuses around the country.

In addition, Army Corps of Engineer sources report that the assignment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) to the Northern Command's U.S. Army North is to augment FEMA and federal law enforcement in the imposition of traffic controls, crowd control, curfews, enhanced border and port security, and neighborhood patrols in the event a national emergency being declared. The BCT was assigned to duties in Iraq before being assigned to the Northern Command.

On April 3, 2008, WMR reported on a highly-classified document regarding the martial law scenario: WMR has learned from knowledgeable sources within the US financial community that an alarming confidential and limited distribution document is circulating among senior members of Congress and their senior staff members that is warning of a bleak future for the United States if it does not quickly get its financial house in order. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have reportedly read the document. The document is being called the "C & R" document because it reportedly states that if the United States defaults on loans and debt underwriting from China, Japan, and Russia, all of which are propping up the United States government financially, and the United States unilaterally cancels the debts, America can expect a war that will have disastrous results for the United States and the world. "Conflict" is the "C word" in the document. The other
scenario is that the federal government will be forced to drastically raise taxes in order to pay off debts to foreign countries to the point that the American people will react with a popular revolution against the government. "Revolution" is the document's "R word.

Friday, 10 October 2008

l'onu perd le nord au profit de l'otan

.
voltairenet.org/fr

Ban Ki Moon aurait placé les forces de l’ONU au service de l’OTAN

Le secrétaire général de l’ONU, Ban Ki Moon, et celui de l’OTAN, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, ont signé un mémorandum secret entre leurs deux organisations, le 25 septembre 2008 à New York.

En violation de la Charte de San Francisco, fondatrice de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, ce document n’a pas été soumis au Conseil de sécurité, ni préalablement à sa signature, ni postérieurement.

Son existence a été rendue publique avec une froide colère par le représentant de la Russie auprès de l’OTAN et confirmée par le porte-parole du ministère russe des Affaires étrangères.

Sous couvert d’assistance technique, le mémorandum rendrait possible un engagement commun des forces de l’ONU et de celles de l’OTAN non seulement en application de résolutions de l’ONU, mais aussi de directives de l’OTAN.

are gangs stockpiling heroin worldwide?

Map of the week: The mystery of the missing opium

Mark Easton

11:27 AM, Wednesday, 8 October 2008

It's a mystery that has got British law enforcement officials and others across the planet scratching their heads. Put bluntly, enough heroin to supply the world's demand for years has simply disappeared.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) describes the situation as "a time bomb for public health and global security".

This week's Map of the Week comes courtesy of the UNODC. It shows their latest estimate of opium production in Afghanistan - another bumper year.Opium Production

A crop of 7,700 tonnes will produce around 1,100 tonnes of heroin - it basically works on a 7:1 ratio.The mystery is that the global demand for heroin is less than half that. In other words, Afghanistan only needs to produce 3,500 tonnes to satisfy every known heroin user on the planet.

Look at the graph, though.Opium Production

For the past three years, production has been running at almost twice the level of global demand.The numbers just don't add up.

There are two credible theories.

Theory 1: A large and undocumented market has opened up in countries which don't want to admit the problem. Russia has long been in denial over the scale of its heroin problem and the same may be true in emerging drug markets like Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

The Iranians are certainly increasingly anxious about the opium fields on their doorstep. Border guards and police have been involved in deadly shoot-outs with smugglers with experts suggesting that there are now a million heroin users in Iran.

But the over-supply is so great that it is hard to conceive of it all disappearing in to the blood-streams of new addicts in Tehran and Ashgabat.

Theory 2: Vast quantities of heroin and morphine are being stockpiled. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UNODC is convinced that is the only explanation. In a recent bulletin he issues an urgent order: 'Find the missing opium.' "As a priority, intelligence services need to examine who holds this surplus, where it may go, and for what purpose" he says. "We know little about these stockpiles of drugs, besides that they are not in the hands of farmers."

Further credibility is given to the stockpiling theory in that 'farm-gate' prices for opium remain pretty stable at about $70 per kilo.

So where are the thousands of tonnes of drugs that the UNODC describe as a "time bomb"?

Well a clue, perhaps, comes from a senior law enforcement official who told me that British undercover teams in Afghanistan are reporting seizures of "enormous quantities of precursors".

Precursors are the chemicals required to turn base opium into heroin.The intelligence suggests that, rather than export opium to established drug laboratories in, for example, eastern Turkey, smugglers are processing the crop in Afghanistan.

The likelihood is that vast quantities of heroin are being warehoused somewhere close to the fields where the opium grows.

But there is another mystery surrounding the heroin market at the moment. If the international drug cartels are so awash with product that they are prepared to risk hiding billions of dollars worth, why are there shortages on some British streets?

That is the peculiar state of affairs revealed in Drugscope's recent trends survey.

"Some areas are experiencing outright shortages or shortages of good quality heroin. The quality of street heroin had dropped in 12 of the 20 town and cities surveyed, with five areas - Penzance, Cardiff, north London, Luton and Birmingham - noticing a shortage of the drug on the streets" the report says.

The field-work, conducted in July and August, finds shortages had typically been in place for two months - a longer stretch than is usual in a market well known for its peaks and troughs.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) believes the heroin shortage in some parts of the country could have been sparked by a rise in the price of UK wholesale heroin. "Current intelligence suggests that some criminal groups are having difficulty getting hold of what they perceive to be good quality heroin."

One theory is that smugglers are using new routes, increasingly distributing heroin through East Africa.The switch in tactics may have led to a temporary pause in supply which is being felt in the UK.

But very few would claim the shortages are the result of police activity. The Drugscope survey concludes that "street level drug enforcement had little long-term impact on illegal drug markets." At best, operations only disrupt the flow of drugs for a few days or weeks and merely displace drug use and drug dealing for a short time.

One serious anxiety is that the economic downturn will herald a new wave of drug misuse.The recession in the 80s coincided with the British heroin epidemic. In the US it was crack cocaine.

It is not just that people turn to drugs to blot out the misery of a downturn. If the crisis pushes up unemployment, it is likely that, deprived of a legitimate way to make a living, some may turn to an illegitimate source.

Perhaps a global downturn is what the drug cartels, with their huge stockpiles of heroin, have been waiting for.

Update: 16:10

Since posting this article the Serious Organised Crime Agency has been in touch.

SOCA has a number of undercover operatives in southern Afghanistan. They tell me this: "Whilst the cultivation and production of opium in Afghanistan is in decline, intelligence suggests there is considerable stockpiling of narcotics by Afghan criminal networks in order to control prices in the growing markets in Russia, China and within the local region."

I also understand that Nato's top operations commander is calling for more aggressive tactics against the opium trade in Afghanistan. US General John Craddock will tell Defence Ministers gathering in Budapest that troops should focus on "high-end" targets like drug dealers and laboratories.

Some Nato ministers, however, are concerned that any crackdown would prompt a violent backlash against allied troops.

Friday, 3 October 2008

mc cain's squeletons

.
waynemadsenreport

September 30, 2008

More on blackmail of John McCain

GOP presidential candidate John McCain may have more skeletons transferred from his closet into the files of the neocons than originally thought. On January 16, 2006, WMR reported on the access by the neocons to McCain's Navy files held within the Pentagon. WMR reported: "Why is John McCain so supportive of Bush and Cheney after being so viciously attacked by them in the 2000 campaign? The answer to this question may partially rest in Navy records detailing the events that took place on the USS Forrestal in 'Yankee Station' in the Gulf of Tonkin at the end of July 1967. The neo-cons, who have had five years to examine every file within the Department of Defense, have likely accessed documents that could prove embarrassing to McCain, who was on board the USS Forrestal on July 29, 1967, and whose A-4 Skyhawk was struck by an air-to-ground Zuni missile that had misfired from an F-4 Phantom."

On November 20, 2007, WMR followed up with the following report: "WMR has been informed that crewmen aboard the Forrestal have provided additional information about the Forrestal incident. It is believed by many crewmen and those who have investigated the case that McCain deliberately 'wet-started' his A-4E to shake up the guy in the plane behind his A-4. 'Wet-starts', done either deliberately or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft. In McCain's case, the 'wet-start' apparently 'cooked off' and launched the Zuni rocket from the rear F-4 that touched off the explosions and massive fire. The F-4 pilot was reportedly killed in the conflagration. 'Wet starting' was apparently a common practice among young 'hot-dog' pilots. McCain was quickly transferred to the USS Oriskany (the only Forrestal crewman to be immediately transferred)."

McCain's Pentagon files, including the official and still-largely classified Court of Inquiry report on the Forrestal fire, were available to Pentagon neocons like Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith who were able, along with Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff, to ensure McCain's full support for all neocon policies, including the war in Iraq and opposition to Russia.

On September 19, 2008, WMR reported on another neocon cell still operating within the Pentagon, one with defined links to Israel. WMR reported on the husband of Air Force Cyber-Warfare guru and Iran Project CHECKMATE war planner Dr. Lani (Ilana) Kass, Norman D. Kass, the former Deputy Director of Licensing for the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA) and now Executive Secretary for the US/Russia Joint Commission on POWs/MIAs.

WMR reported: "Kass was an Army tactical intelligence officer in South Vietnam and fluent in Russian and Hebrew. Kass served in the DTSA position until 1992. He eventually became Executive Secretary of the U.S./Russia Joint Commission on POWs/MIAs, set up in 1992, in part, to investigate the fate of missing U.S. military personnel from World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the Cold War. At one point, Kass' work on POW/MIA issues earned him the wrath of conservative Republican New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith, who charged that there was never any provision for an Executive Secretariat at the U.S./Russia Joint Commission. On January 27, 1999, Smith, who served as Chairman of the Vietnam Working Groups of the US/Russian Joint Commission, wrote: "Nowhere in this plan is there reference to the requirement for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs to ensure that his office provides an Executive Secretariat for the U.S. Members
of the U.S./Russian Joint Commission on POWs and MIAs." Smith always believed that there was a cover-up of by the Pentagon of the POW/MIA issue, particularly those from the Vietnam conflict.

Specifically, Smith charged that McCain was heavily involved in the cover-up of U.S. POWs in Vietnam. A September 19, 2008 article in the Moscow Post may shed some light on what the neocons have anew on McCain and why McCain was so interested in covering up the POW issue. The Russian paper reported that McCain not only received special treatment as a POW but spent much of his five and a half years as a POW being "broken" by KGB interrogators in Russia.

The Russian article states that McCain's KGB code name was "Jack Mouse" and quotes Chan Chong Duet, the commander of McCain's POW prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by its prisoners, as stating that McCain was transferred to a solitary ward in the prison, interviewed by Soviet officers, and treated by Soviet doctors. Fernando Barral, a Cuban psychologist who interviewed McCain on January 24, 1970 in Hanoi, said McCain was "boastful" and "without remorse" over his bombing of civilians in Hanoi.

However, according to the Russian article, McCain may have been play acting his macho feelings. A former KGB agent claims that McCain arrived at the KGB training base at Voronezh in 1968. The agent said McCain was called "Mickey Mouse" by KGB officers in a play on his official code name "Jack Mouse." The agent claims that McCain was transferred back to North Vietnam in 1972.

McCain has always been arrogant and hostile in dealing with Vietnam-era POW/MIA family members. In his position as Executive Director of the US/Russia Joint Commission on POWs/MIAs, Norman Kass certainly has the access to Soviet and Russian files on POWs held by the Russians. If there is any evidence that McCain spent time being debriefed and possibly "broken" in Voronezh, that information would not only be known to the neocons but also to the Israelis. It would explain McCain's total subservience to the neocon plank, including his hawkish policies toward Russia.

However, McCain also maintains a link to the Kremlin via his business ties to Russian mining billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who, according to former KGB officer Dmitry Gvozdev in an interview with the Moscow Post, may be serving as a Kremlin conduit to McCain. The Russians may be sending signals to McCain that they still have proof of the senator's collaboration with the Soviets during his POW status and that he may want to think twice about cutting deals with Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili, pushing for NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, and adopting other anti-Russia stances.

As far as McCain's POW status is concerned, it has always been the subject of skepticism by the POW/MIA families who have seen McCain all too willing to defend the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) against the families. Indeed, based on the families' concerns and the new Russian revelations, there may be some truth to the joke that Gary Glitter spent more time in a Vietnamese prison than did John McCain.

Monday, 29 September 2008

beekiller pesticide


Soil Association
urges ban on pesticides to halt bee deaths


Alison Benjamin

The Guardian

Monday September 29 2008

The Soil Association has urged the government to ban pesticides linked to honeybee deaths around the world.

The chemicals are widely used in UK agriculture but have been banned as a precaution in four other European countries. Last week the Italian government issued an immediate suspension after it accepted that the pesticides were implicated in killing honeybees, joining France, Germany and Slovenia.

Peter Melchett, the Soil Association's policy director, said: "It is typical of the lax approach to pesticide regulation in the UK that we look like being one of the last of the major farming countries in the EU to wake up to the threat to our honeybees."

The pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, are approved to kill insects on a range of crops in the UK including oilseed rape, barley and sugar beet. Their use on oilseed rape is of particular concern to beekeepers as the crop's yellow flower is very attractive to honeybees.

Germany suspended sales of the pesticides in May after 700 beekeepers along the Rhine reported that two-thirds of their bees had died following the application of clothianidin. In France, imidacloprid has been banned on sunflowers since 1999 and as a sweetcorn treatment since 2003, after a third of honeybees were wiped out. The Soil Association is calling on the environment secretary, Hilary Benn, to ban the pesticides in a letter sent today.

Imidacloprid and clothianidin are produced by a division of the chemical manufacturer Bayer. Imidacloprid is its bestselling pesticide and is used in 120 countries. Bayer has always maintained that neonicotinoids are safe for bees if correctly applied. "Extensive internal and international scientific studies have confirmed that neonicotinoids do not present a hazard to bees," Utz Klages, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience, said recently.

The National Farmers' Union said it was opposed to any ban on pesticides. Paul Chambers, NFU plant health adviser, said: "Banning pesticides using the precautionary principle is not based on good science. Pests and disease are the problems facing honeybees in the UK. The government needs to put more money into researching honeybee health."

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also attributed the decline in honeybee populations to a variety of factors. A Defra spokesman said: "There are no plans to ban pesticides."

Beekeepers worldwide have reported catastrophic losses of from 30% to 90% of their honeybee colonies during the last two years. Two-thirds of all major crops rely on pollination, mainly by honeybees.

Thursday, 25 September 2008

time spaced out by chinese ;-)

guardian.co.uk

China space mission article hits Web before launch

Thursday September 25 2008

BEIJING (AP) - A news story describing a successful launch of China's long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.

The country's official news agency Xinhua posted the article on its Web site Thursday, and remained there for much of the day before it was taken down.

A staffer from the Xinhuanet.com Web site who answered the phone Thursday said the posting of the article was a ``technical error'' by a technician. The staffer refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials.

The Shenzhou 7 mission, which will feature China's first-ever spacewalk, is set to launch Thursday from Jiuquan in northwestern China between 9:07 a.m. EDT and 10:27 p.m. EDT.

The arcticle, dated two days from now on Sept. 27, vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

Excerpts are below:

``After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes ...

'One minute to go!'

'Changjiang No.1 found the target!'...

``The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'

``Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean.''

birds in danger worldwide

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/catastrophic-fall-in-numbers-reveals-bird-populations-in-crisis-throughout-the-world-937573.html

Catastrophic fall in numbers reveals bird populations in crisis throughout the world

By Michael McCarthy

Monday, 22 September 2008

The birds of the world are in serious trouble, and common species are in now decline all over the globe, a comprehensive new review suggests today.

From the turtle doves of Europe to the vultures of India, from the bobwhite quails of the US to the yellow cardinals of Argentina, from the eagles of Africa to the albatrosses of the Southern Ocean, the numbers of once-familiar birds are tumbling everywhere, according to the study from the conservation partnership BirdLife International.

Their falling populations are compelling evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth – including human life, BirdLife says in its report, State of The World's Birds.

The report,released today with an accompanying website at the BirdLife World Conservation Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, identifies many key global threats, including the intensification of industrial-scale agriculture and fishing, the spread of invasive species, logging, and the replacement of natural forest with monocultural plantations.

It goes on to suggest that in the long term, human-induced climate change may be the most serious stress.

Based in Cambridge, BirdLife International is a global alliance of conservation organisations working in more than 100 countries and territories which is now the leading authority on the status of birds, their habitats and the issues and problems affecting them.

When brought together, as in its new report, the regional pictures of bird declines combine to present a startling picture of a whole class of living things on a steep downward slope.

A remarkable 45 per cent of common European birds are declining, with the familiar European turtle dove, for example, having lost 62 per cent of its population in the last 25 years, while on the other side of the globe, resident Australian wading birds have seen population losses of 81 per cent in the same period.

Twenty common North American birds have more than halved in number in the last four decades, while in Asia, the millions of white-rumped vultures which once filled the skies have crashed by 99.9 per cent and the species is now critically endangered.

"Many of these birds have been a familiar part of our everyday lives, and people who would not necessarily have noticed other environmental indicators have seen their numbers slipping away, and are wondering why," said Dr Mike Rands, BirdLife's chief executive.

All the world's governments have committed themselves to slowing or halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010, but reluctance to commit what are often trivial sums in terms of national budgets means that this target is almost certain to be missed, according to the report.

"Birds provide an accurate and easy-to-read environmental barometer, allowing us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are putting on the world's biodiversity," Dr Rands said.

"Because these creatures are found almost everywhere on earth, they can act as our eyes and ears, and what they are telling us is that the deterioration in biodiversity and the environment is accelerating, not slowing.

"Effective biodiversity conservation is easily affordable, requiring relatively trivial sums at the scale of the global economy. For example, to maintain the protected area network which would safeguard 90 percent of Africa's biodiversity would cost less than $1bn a year. Yet in a typical year, the global community provides about $300m.

"The world is failing in its 2010 pledge. The challenge is to harness international biodiversity commitments and ensure that concrete actions are taken now."

The State of the World's Birds report can be found at www.birdlife.org/sowb

Wednesday, 24 September 2008

paulson wants unchallenged authority

.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html


Dirty Secret Of The Bailout: Thirty-Two Words That None Dare Utter

September 22, 2008

02:06 PM

A critical - and radical - component of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 (which ironically reminds one of the popular name of the portion of the 1937 Housing Act that paved the way for subsidized affordable housing ) of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words, but it represents a significant consolidation of power and an abdication of oversight authority that's so flat-out astounding that it ought to set one's hair on fire. It reads, in its entirety:


Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.


In short, the so-called "mother of all bailouts," which will transfer $700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase the distressed assets of several failed financial institutions, will be conducted in a manner unchallengeable by courts and ungovernable by the People's duly sworn representatives. All decision-making power will be consolidated into the Executive Branch - who, we remind you, will have the incentive to act upon this privilege as quickly as possible, before they leave office. The measure will run up the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recouping the outlay, and no fundamental means of holding those who fail to do so accountable.

Is this starting to sound familiar? Robert Kuttner cuts through much of the gloss in an article in today's American Prospect:

The deal proposed by Paulson is nothing short of outrageous. It includes no oversight of his own closed-door operations. It merely gives congressional blessing and funding to what he has already been doing, ad hoc. He plans to retain Wall Street firms as advisors to decide just how to cut deals to value and mop up Wall Street's dubious paper. There are to be no limits on executive compensation for the firms that get relief, and no equity share for the government in exchange for this massive infusion of capital. Both Obama and McCain have opposed the provision denying any judicial review of decisions made by Paulson -- a provision that evokes the Bush administration's suspension of normal constitutional safeguards in its conduct of foreign policy and national security. [...]

The differences between this proposed bailout and the three closest historical equivalents are immense. When the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of the 1930s pumped a total of $35 billion into U.S. corporations and financial institutions, there was close government supervision and quid pro quos at every step of the way. Much of the time, the RFC became a preferred shareholder, and often appointed board members. The Home Owners Loan Corporation, which eventually refinanced one in five mortgage loans, did not operate to bail out banks but to save homeowners. And the Resolution Trust Corporation of the 1980s, created to mop up the damage of the first speculative mortgage meltdown, the S&L collapse, did not pump in money to rescue bad investments; it sorted out good assets from bad after the fact, and made sure to purge bad executives as well as bad loans. And all three of these historic cases of public recapitalization were done without suspending
judicial review.


Kuttner's opposition here is perhaps the strongest language I've seen used, pushing back on this piece of legislation, in any publication of repute, and even here, Section 8 is not cited by name or by content. McClatchy Newspapers also alludes to Section 8 with concern, citing the "unfettered authority" that Paulson would be granted, and noting that the "law also would preclude court review of steps Paulson might take, something Joshua Rosner, managing director of economic researcher Graham Fisher & Co. in New York, said could be used to mask previous illegal activity." Jack Balkin also gives the matter the sort of attention it deserves on his blog, Balkinization.

But elsewhere, the conversation is muted. The debate over whether Congress is going to pass the Paulson bailout package, or pass the Paulson bailout package really hard seems to have boiled down to a discussion of time and concessions. The White House has made it clear that they want this package passed yesterday. Congressional Democrats seem to be of different minds on the matter, with some pushing back hard, and others content to demand a small dollop of turd polish to make the package seem more aesthetically pleasing, at which point, they'll likely roll over and pass the bill. Neither candidate, John McCain or Barack Obama, seem all that amenable toward the bailout, but neither have either demonstrated that they are willing to risk their candidacies to do much more than exploit the issue for electoral purposes.

Sunday morning came and went, with Paulson traipsing dutifully from studio to studio, facing nary a question on Section 8. Front page articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal detail the wranglings, but make no mention of this section of the legislation. On TV, cable news networks are stuck in the fog of the ongoing presidential campaign.

Throughout the coverage, one catches a whiff of what seems like substantive pushback on this power grab, but it largely amounts to a facsimile of journalistic diligence. Most note, in general terms, that the bailout represents a set of "broad powers" that will be granted to the Department of the Treasury. Yet the coverage offsets these concerns through the constant hyping of the White House's overall message of "urgency."

But one cannot overstate this: Section 8 is a singularly transformative sentence of economic policy. It transfers a significant amount of power to the Executive Branch, while walling off any avenue for oversight, and offering no guarantees in return. And if the Democrats end up content with winning a few slight concessions, they risk not putting a stop-payment on the real "blank check" - the one in which they allow the erosion of their own powers.

Over in the Senate, Christopher Dodd has proposed a bailout legislation of his own, which critically calls for "an oversight board that not only includes the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the SEC, but congressionally appointed, non-governmental officials" and would require the President to appoint an "independent inspector general to investigate the Treasury asset program." In Dodd's legislation, Section 8 is effectively stripped from the bill.

Nevertheless, the fact that Section 8 of the Paulson plan seems to strike few as a de facto dealbreaker can and should astound. The failure of Congress to hold the line on this point would be truly embarrassing. But if we make it through this week with nobody in the press specifically informing the public about the implications of this single sentence - in the middle of a complicated bill, in the middle of a complicated time - then right there, you have the single largest media failure of this year.