Top U.S. Commander Warns of Iranian, Hizbullah Influence in Latin America

Iran's growing influence in Latin America and its ties with Hizbullah and Hamas are a "potential risk" to the region, the newly-appointed head of the U.S. Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser has warned.
Fraser, who on Thursday took charge of U.S. military operations in 31 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, expressed "real concern" about the Islamic Republic's links with what he called "extremist organizations" in the region.

"The real concern is not a nation-to-nation interaction, it is the connection that Iran has with extremist organizations like Hamas and Hizbullah and the potential risk that that could bring to this region," Fraser told journalists in Miami ahead of taking up the post.

Commenting on Iran's ties to alleged extremist groups in the region, Fraser said: "it is a concern, and it is an issue we will continue to monitor for any increasing activity."

Fraser, who was Deputy Commander at U.S. Pacific Command, said the illicit trade in arms drugs and people was worrying, and indicated it would be the focus of his work.

"The major concern is the illicit trafficking and the impact that is having in the security and the stability especially through the northern part of South America through Central America and the Caribbean and through Mexico and the United States."

Fraser is the first U.S. Air Force officer to take the helm of the Southern Command.

He replaces Admiral James Stavridis, who has been tapped to become the NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

Stavridis has also expressed concern about increasing Iranian and Hizbullah activities throughout Latin America, accusing the Shiite group of involvement in drug trafficking in Colombia.(AFP-Naharnet)

Americans beat,torture,call nigger

Check this link .......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQbeMjLF5lc

Obama Depopulation Policy Exposed! Red Alert!!!!!!

Check this link ......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho-0SHFEgGo

大馬評估機構同盟獎‧聯昌投資銀行奪7獎

（吉隆坡）聯昌投資銀行在2009年大馬評估機構同盟獎中，一舉奪下7項大獎，成為去年本地債券市場表現最傑出的銀行。

聯昌投資銀行在這項表揚本地債券市場表現的年度頒獎儀式上，獲得2008年卓越經理獎（成交數 量）、2008年卓越經理獎（發售總值）、2008年回教銀行卓越經理獎（成交數量）、2008年回教銀行卓越經理獎（發售總值）、2008年頂尖卓越經 理獎（回教債券）、2008年頂尖卓越經理獎（商業債券）以及1項傑出交易獎。

大馬評估機構同盟共在12個類別中，頒發了32個卓越經理獎給在債券市場表現傑出的金融機構。副首相丹斯里慕尤丁是頒獎嘉賓。

慕尤丁：開拓更多非傳統市場

慕尤丁在致詞時表示，在面對全球經濟放緩及不穩的情況下，債券市場業者應該開拓更多非傳統市場，包括配合大馬回教金融發展趨勢下，通過中東市場尋找資金。

他說，回教金融對於投資者，是目前投資環境中穩當的選擇，尤其在政府努力下，馬來西亞正崛起成為區域回教金融中心。

他指出，馬來西亞已經成為全球回教債券市場的先鋒，單是在今年首季，便創下64億令吉資金的紀錄。

“我希望更多債券業者投入回教金融及開拓更多新市場，而政府也將採取適當措施，以確保大馬市場保持吸引力及競爭力。”

豐田環保車訂單接不完 恢復休假日出勤

（中央社記者楊明珠東京27日專電）日本多家媒體報導，豐田汽車公司因為新型油電混合車「Prius」大熱賣，下個月開始生產該型車的日本國內3廠將恢復休假日出勤的措施，以期早日交車。

豐田的「Prius」5月開賣至今，已接獲20萬輛的訂單，下個月起，豐田的堤工廠（愛知縣豐田市）及其子公司「豐田車體」的富士松工廠（愛知縣刈谷市）、員并（三重縣員并市）工廠，將恢復週六休假日出勤。這是去年底以來，豐田首度恢復休假日出勤。

因為日本政府實施民眾購買環保車減稅新制，加上針對舊車換購新車可獲補助的制度，民眾購買「Prius」的情況熱絡，堤工廠目前已恢復加班制趕工，但消費者還是要等到明年2月中旬以後才拿得到車。

豐田的新社長豐田章男本月23日在股東大會上表示，會重新檢討生產體制，努力趕工以期早日交車。

汽車業界目前因各國政府都實施振興經濟政策，因此有些特定車種的產量預期會提升。豐田預估新型「Prius」本年度的國內生產輛將達50萬量。

另外，馬自達（Mazda）公司也為了因應來自歐洲方面的訂單，下個月18日起預定開始恢復休假日出勤的措施。這是該公司9個月以來首度恢復休假日出勤。

納吉派定心丸‧印尼僅暫時停供女傭

（吉隆坡）首相拿督斯里納吉相信印尼政府停止送國民來大馬當女傭，只是暫時性的方案，因為讓印尼女傭來馬工作，對印尼也有好處。

他指出，如果印尼持續停止供應女傭到大馬，將有很多人受影響，特別是丈夫和妻子都在工作的“雙薪家庭”。

正視女傭福利

他說，大馬政府必須向印尼發出清楚和強烈的訊息，讓印尼知道大馬非常認真看待和關懷印尼女傭的利益和福利問題。

他相信一旦印尼政府恢復信心，它將允許印尼國民繼續到大馬當女傭。

納吉今日（週六，6月27日）在吉隆坡聖約翰中學為大馬基督教會學校大會主持開幕後，在新聞發佈會上，針對印尼停止供應女傭到大馬的問題，如是指出。

他說，政府會確保虐待女傭事件發生後，有關當局能迅速採取行動，以保護女傭的安全和循法律途徑為女傭追討公道。

另一方面，詢及每當印尼選舉期間，都會出現很多攻擊大馬的報導，他說，這是因為印尼有很多新媒體，它們都選擇大馬作為攻擊的目標。

他說，最重要的是印尼領導人，特別是總統蘇西洛願意與大馬保持密切和友好的關係，若有任何問題，後者都到致電給他以直接討論。

移民局：持旅遊簽證來馬‧印尼女傭可自行申請准證

（雪蘭莪‧八打靈再也）移民局總監拿督阿都拉曼早前表示，儘管印尼政府已宣佈停止供應女傭到大馬，但有意當女傭的印尼籍人士可持旅遊簽證來馬，然後自行申請工作準證逗留大馬。

他說，個別的移民局可處理使用旅遊簽證進入大馬要辦理工作準證，包括申請女傭工作者。

他形容這並非罕見，只要對方持有效簽證，雇主可協助辦理工作準證，申請者不必在申請期間返回在籍國。

阿都拉曼強調，每個人都有自己的想法，政府不可禁止任何有意來馬的人士進入大馬。

“政府擔心印尼強制禁止外國人來馬工作後，這些人將以旅遊簽證進入大馬，最終淪為非法外勞。”

代理協會：自行申請工作准證‧抵觸馬印合作備忘錄

大馬外國女傭代理協會副主席符策鏑表示，移民局允許印尼婦女持旅遊簽證者來馬後，再自行申請工作準證措施，料抵觸馬印兩國3年前簽署的合作備忘錄。

他認為一切程序必須根據備忘錄內容行事，否則兩國關係將在這關鍵時刻料進一步惡化，對解決印尼女傭課題無補於事。

符策鏑週五（6月26日）受詢時，表示不贊同政府執行這項措施，這將導致雇主及女傭的權益無法獲得保障。

誰來保障雇主女傭權益

“女傭不必通過仲介公司來馬工作，誰來保障雇主及女傭權益？這樣只能衍生更多問題包括準證濫用等。”

此外，協會秘書符永輝受詢時不諱言這是解決女傭課題的其中一項折衷方案，但據他瞭解，內政部未有這樣的政策。

他說，這項政策意味女傭不必通過代理自行來馬工作，或多或少對業者造成影響。

符永輝也指出，協會週四（6月25日）針對女傭課題與內政部展開對話，包括業者及雇主面對的問題及從其他管道引入外國女傭等。

他認為對話會的結論應交由內政部對外公佈，因此拒絕透露進一步詳情。

美州長情婦Google搜尋數 勝過傑克森與法拉

（中央社阿根廷布宜諾斯艾利斯26日美聯電）麥可傑克森（Michael Jackson）與法拉佛西（Farrah Fawcett）去世之後的當天早晨，在Google搜尋美國南卡羅來納州長桑福德（Mark Sanford）情婦名字的次數，比他們兩位都還要多。

但是她是否真的是桑福德的神秘愛人？

沒有證據可以證明她與桑福德有關係，但是無論如何，這位婦女已經在美國及阿根廷成為媒體追逐的焦點。

阿根廷「評論報」（Diario Critica）標題寫著：「南卡羅來納州長愛人的真實身分曝光。」「國家報」（La　Nacion）標題寫著：「抓住『他』的阿根廷愛人身分曝光。」

似乎知道這位婦女真實身分的報紙表示，去年12月就取得兩人煽情的電子郵件，所以知道她在布宜諾斯艾利斯的住址，但是刊登這些信件的時候，隱去有關身分的資料，也沒有刊登她的照片，僅說她的名字叫馬利亞（Maria）。

這棟豪華的14層樓公寓至少住了5位馬利亞，讓記者得詢問每位進出大樓的人。門房表示，大家都在找的馬利亞，在桑福德醜聞爆發前就已經離開。

門房也說，Facebook上有張婦女與阿根廷國旗合影的照片，那個人也不是馬利亞。（譯者：中央社何世煌）

英國‧美國前第一夫人戀上壞小子‧傑奎琳被爆勾引白蘭度

（英國‧倫敦）美國前“第一夫人”傑奎琳以她不俗的時尚品位和高貴典雅的氣質，不但贏得了前總統肯尼迪的心，還得到了全球男人的青睞，其中就包括了傑奎琳的小叔子和好萊塢之王馬龍‧白蘭度

英國《每日電訊報》報導，作家海曼在7月出版的新書《一場情事》（Bobby and Jackie:A Love Story）中爆料，傑奎琳在丈夫遇刺身亡翌年的守寡期間，與小叔眉來眼去，還曾主動情挑素有“好萊塢壞小子”之稱的奧斯卡影帝馬龍‧白蘭度。

書中指出，1964年，傑奎琳和小叔羅拔特在棕櫚灘共度聖誕節，之後不久又一起前往安提瓜島度假，當時羅伯特的妻子沒有同行。

白蘭度承認親密關係

海曼還披露，白蘭度曾在1994年的回憶錄《媽媽教我的歌》裡，承認他與傑奎琳1964年發生過2夜“充滿激情的性關係”。

海曼在書中引用白蘭度對起與傑奎琳共渡春宵的回憶，聲稱“我想像肯尼迪夫人更屬於偷窺狂而非行動派……她一直等我引她上床。見我沒有動靜後，她主動問我。”

在和白蘭度有過2次關係後，傑奎琳結束這段短暫的情事，並於1968年下嫁希臘船王。

英國‧二戰解密文件揭露‧曾想以化武攻日

（英國‧倫敦）英國國家檔案館週五（6月26日）解密的文件揭露，英政府二戰時曾計劃向日本東京進行化學氣體攻擊，以及向納粹德軍發動毒針攻擊。

這份保密了65年的文件重見天日，揭示英國二戰時已制訂在1944年對日本平民發動化武攻擊的完整計劃，芥氣、光氣和燃燒彈都在武器之列。

文件指，因東京的建築物非常密集，狹窄街道會阻礙毒氣傳播，故施放毒氣前，應先以燃燒彈轟炸，大規模地焚燒東京的建築物。

文件又建議在夏季進行攻擊，因冬季的寒冷天氣將減弱芥氣的作用。

後來因為美國向日本投下原子彈，這項計劃才未付諸執行。

新加坡‧中國漢追8樓殺妻‧死者攜子南來避家暴‧避走獅城7年難逃毒手

（新加坡）為避家暴，帶著兒子從中國逃來獅城，打拚成為美容院女老闆，卻慘遭亂刀砍死！

週五（6月26日）報導，女皇弄第23B座組屋9樓週五早上發生駭人命案。一名41歲女子遭人活活砍死，橫屍客廳血泊中，死者的45歲前夫過後被警方逮捕。

據悉，死者魏紅來自中國江西南昌，在牛車水珍珠大廈經營美容院。她不幸被殺害後，留下16歲的獨生子。

魏紅的一名同鄉好友週五晚上爆料，原來魏紅很年輕就結婚，可是丈夫非常暴力，經常對她拳腳相向，她因受不了這樣的婚姻生活，毅然提出離婚，並在7年前以陪讀媽媽的身份，帶著兒子來新加坡，希望能過新生活。

好友說，魏紅在新加坡很努力工作，好不容易熬出頭來創業，與人合資開設美容院。

前夫上門糾纏討錢

沒想到前夫卻在2個月前也追到獅城，還查出他們母子的住所，不斷的上門糾纏，甚至向她討錢。

她說，魏紅為了讓前夫早日離開新加坡回國，而答應付錢給他。豈料，前夫卻又反悔。週五早上再次找上門，與魏紅發生激烈爭吵，可憐魏紅過後慘死刀下。

“她之前甚至考慮在兒子考完‘O’水準考試後搬到美國去，可惜這個願望永遠也無法實現了。”

母被殺父控謀殺
獨生子悲痛萬分

母親被殺，父親被控謀殺罪，留下16歲獨生子，悲痛萬分。

魏紅的16歲兒子，今日（週六，6月27日）早上在另外5名友人的陪同下到殮屍房辦理認屍手續，面對記者的詢問時，魏紅的兒子表示，他目前暫住在朋友的家，但由於悲傷過度，他不願意多談。

銬腳鐐一拐一拐上庭
前夫控謀殺罪

美容院老闆娘慘遭砍死，45歲前夫週六被押上庭，被控謀殺罪。

被告是45歲的余強國（譯音），他一旦謀殺罪名成立，將被判處死刑。

據瞭解，被告是在2個月前剛來新加坡工作，在一家建築業公司當助理主管，不過他並不是在工地工作，而是負責辦公室內的業務。

被告在上午9時40分面控，他面對一項謀殺控狀，指他在週五（6月26日）上午10時至11時09分，在女皇弄第23B座9樓的一個單位內，謀殺41歲的魏紅，導致她死亡。

被告週六早上被帶進犯人欄時，走起路來一拐一拐的。

據瞭解，他是因為被銬上腳鐐，走起路來才會受影響。

控方要求法官將被告還押在中央警署一週，以便警方做進一步調查。法官批准，將案展至7月3日過堂。

新加坡‧部落格似乎已落伍‧微網誌Twitter及Plurk火熱

去年，部落格當道，現在，在網民間火熱的，是微型網誌Twitter及Plurk。

用戶可以經由SMS、即時通、電郵、Twitter網站或Twitter用戶端軟體（如Twitterrific）輸入最多140字的文字更新，讓友人即時知道自己最新的生活狀況，以及包括從美食到觀光的最新資訊。

獅城Twitter網民激增6倍

根據市場研究機構Hitwise透露，從去年1月至5月，瀏覽及使用Twitter網站的新加坡人，足足躍升了602%。

Plurk是一個比Twitter還要新，還要受歡迎的微型網誌；單單是5月的用戶就比Twitter多了184%。

調查顯示，之前使用部落格的網民已經紛紛轉移到Twitter或Plurk。

今年20歲的大學生傑瑞克，之前每週都有好幾天會更新部落格，現在他坦承一個月只更新部落格2次。如今他表示，他“瘋狂似的瀏覽及登入Twitter及Plurks”。

回應比部落格更多更快他說：“部落格越來越麻煩了。雖然我構思了部落格內容很久，也寫了很長一篇，但是張貼後僅僅收到3個回應而已。”

22歲的布雷南表示，他每次發佈一則訊息後可在瞬間獲得10個以上的回應。

“這會讓人上癮。這也意味著我的朋友即時就知道關於我的狀況，並即刻回應。”

他表示通過微型網誌可讓他與親人隨時保持聯繫；他在服兵役時，他的母親透過Plurk閱讀他更新的內容。（亞洲新聞網‧新加坡《海峽時報》）

Subprime Banking Mess

Check this link see how mess it is? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC31Oudc5Bg&feature=player_embedded

Obama- Preventive and Indefinite Detention - SAY WHAT???? Constitution rEVOLlution coming your way.

Check this link from You Tube ...... http://tinyurl.com/m2mv4l

BOB&TOM TV: "Obama Man" by Greg Morton

Check this link from You Tube ..... http://tinyurl.com/d2gb5k

Guess Who's Selling Wall Street's Bull?

Hint: He was a Bush aide who cooked up a phony pitch for the Iraq War.

The strategic communications specialist advising a financial industry effort to enhance Wall Street's image has plenty of experience in spinning the American public: In the Bush White House, he was one of the aides in charge of the administration's fact-bending campaign to sell the Iraq War.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Jim Wilkinson, a one-time senior aide to former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is part of a campaign, spearheaded by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), to quell the upsurge of "populist" anger directed at the financial sector. But the story leaves out an important part of his résumé: He's a GOP PR operative with a history of disseminating misleading information and once served as the deputy communications director in the Bush White House.

In the run-up to the Iraq War, Wilkinson was a member of the White House Iraq Group, which devised the administration's information offensive making the case for deposing Saddam Hussein. He played a key role in drafting "A Decade of Deception and Defiance," a white paper circulated in September 2002. The report outlined the myriad ways in which Saddam's regime had flouted international sanctions, along with its alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and supposed links to terrorism. The paper, riddled with information that has since been debunked, relied in part on the claims of an Iraqi defector, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al Haideri, who had previously been deemed unreliable by intelligence officials. Nevertheless, the document was released to back up Bush's speech to the UN General Assembly on September 12, in which the president laid out a host of allegations against the Iraqi dictator. Among other things, Bush claimed, "Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year."

By November 2002 Wilkinson had been installed as Central Command's (CENTCOM) director of strategic communications, where he coordinated the administration's information campaigns on Afghanistan and Iraq. As the military's "Shock and Awe" campaign commenced in March, Wilkinson presided over press conferences at the military's forward base in Doha, Qatar, where reporters were fed a daily dose of spin and misinformation.

In an updated version of The First Casualty, a comprehensive account of journalism during wartime, Phillip Knightley writes that in Doha:

stories were floated, picked up, exaggerated, confirmed and then turned out to be wrong. Basra was secured—it fell seventeen days later. Um Quasa fell daily. Saddam Hussein had been killed; Tariq Assiz had defected—both stories were wrong. There was an uprising in Basra that never happened even though Central Command announced at a briefing that it had. Was this deliberate strategic disinformation?

At one point, Wilkinson claimed that Saddam's forces were seeking uniforms "identical down to the last detail" as those worn by US and British troops. He said Saddam's Fedayeen intended to "wear them when conducting reprisals against the Iraqi people so that they could pass the atrocities off as the work of the United States and the United Kingdom." His claim was never corroborated. Wilkinson was also in charge of CENTCOM briefings when the phony story about Private Jessica Lynch's dramatic capture and rescue was floated, though, when this incident was later probed [PDF] by a congressional panel, he claimed he was unaware of the source of the false information provided to the press.

Wilkinson (who's also credited with promoting the 2000 campaign meme that Al Gore said he created the Internet) later moved on to the Treasury Department. There he served as Paulson's senior strategist and adviser, counseling the treasury secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO on crisis management and other matters. At the close of the Bush administration, he joined the powerhouse international PR and communications firm of Brunswick Group. In March, Michele Davis, who'd served as Paulson's public affairs director, signed on with the firm as well.

Along with Davis, Wilkinson is now fighting a new information war, on behalf of embattled finance firms yearning for the days when million-dollar bonuses and luxury retreats were none of the public's business. The pair are part of a Brunswick team that's devising SIFMA's PR campaign, which earns the company a retainer of $70,000 a month. The strategy, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg, calls for a "city-by-city, grass roots" effort targeting such international hubs as New York, London, Washington, and Brussels. The goal: to convince the public that Wall Street is open to reform, and is part of the solution, not the problem. But what does it say about Wall Street's commitment to change that it turned to a man notorious for misleading PR campaigns to sell the US public on its transformation?

—By Daniel Schulman

Who's A Low Level Terrorist? Are You?

Recently, an American Civil Liberties Union report pointed out, "Anti-terrorism training materials currently being used by the Department of Defense (DoD) teach its personnel that free expression in the form of public protests should be regarded as 'low level terrorism�." [1]

Despite that DoD officials removed the offensive section from their educational resources at the urging of ACLU members, the DoD stance is still troubling since a longstanding practice to designate peaceful, law abiding activists as dangerous and treasonable still exists in many government departments and agencies. Indeed the participants of the first antiwar protest against the Vietnam incursion, put together in the mid-1960's by peaceable Quakers and FOR members after having discussed Gandhi's Salt March as a model for a nonviolent demonstration, faced government operatives filming them face by face from rooftops as they moved en masse down Broadway to the UN Plaza. (My mother, a pacifist married to a World War II Conscientious Objector, and I, a child at the time of the march, both were in attendance. When the film crew focused on us, she stood tall, faced the agents with their telephoto lens, glared in disdainful defiance and, simultaneously, throw the corner of her coat over my face. Afterwards, she muttered, "How dare they try to intimidate us!")

This sort of happening in mind, the treatment of Nobel Peace Award winner Aung San Sui Kyi in Myanmar is not necessarily all that different than the response that she'd receive in the USA and, while it's commendable that American spokespersons publicly object to her most recent arrest, they, certainly, might seem to be a bunch of hypocrites. This is due to the fact that a number of Nobel Peace Award recipients, such as American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), have had difficulties of their own on American soil.

For example, "AFSC�s work, always open and resolutely nonviolent, has been under government surveillance for decades. The Service Committee secured nearly 1,700 pages of files from the FBI under a Freedom of Information request in 1976. These files show that the FBI kept files on AFSC that dated back to 1921. Ten other federal agencies kept files on AFSC, including the CIA, Air Force, Navy, Internal Revenue Service, Secret Service, and the State Department. The CIA has intercepted overseas mail and cables in the 1950s, and some AFSC offices (and even its staff's homes) have been infiltrated and burglarized in the late 1960s into the 1970s." [2]

In relation, AFSC associate general secretary for justice and human rights, Joyce Miller, asked, "How can we speak of spreading democracy in Iraq while dismantling it here at home?" She further remarked, "Political dissent is fundamental to a free and democratic society. It should not be equated with crime."

Add to the AFSC problems, those pertaining to Nobel Peace Award recipient Nelson Mandela, who only a year ago had the designation "terrorist" removed from his name, under protest by the State Department, so that he no longer suffered travel restrictions from the US government. Yet his travel curtailment was not nearly as awful as was Ramzy Baroud's blockage. He, the editor of Palestine Chronicle, had his US passport seized by a consular officer at an overseas American Embassy [3]. Similarly, Senator Edward Kennedy was, also, flagged by the U.S. no-fly list.

Then again, Ted Kennedy received much less harassment than did Nobel Peace Award winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire after her flight from Guatemala had been directed to Ireland through Houston:

"She was probably tired and ready to get back to Belfast, where her attempts to bring about an end to The Troubles in 1976 made her at 32 the youngest Nobel Peace Prize-winner ever. Since then, she's been given the Pacem in Terris Award by Pope John Paul II, and the United Nations selected her (along with the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Jordan's Queen Noor and a dozen or so other fellow Nobel Laureates) as an honorary board member of the International Coalition for the Decade.
"Unfortunately for Maguire, her flight back home to Northern Ireland was routed through Houston, where none of that meant diddly. Federal Customs officials were far less interested in any of that than they were in a box on the back of the transit form she filled out on her flight.

"'They questioned me about my nonviolent protests in USA against the Afghanistan invasion and Iraqi war,' Maguire said later in a statement. 'They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration form admitting to criminal activities.'

"Maguire was detained for two hours -- grilled once, fingerprinted, photographed, and grilled again. She missed her flight home. She was only released after an organization she helped found -- the Nobel Women's Initiative -- started kicking up a fuss." [4]

On can add to her troubles countless other ones wherein human rights and environmental supporters have been repeatedly hassled for no other reason than that they're holding views that don't jive with positions at any number of U.S. government institutions. One needn't return in time to the McCarthy Era to find many individuals who have been investigated and persecuted for holding vilified opinions. For example, Stephen Lendman, a peace advocate and writer in his seventies with a permanent knee injury that delimits travel, has been repeatedly investigated by the FBI.

At the same time, he is joined by myriad others such as assorted activists in Maryland whose names were put on federal terrorist lists by state police who infiltrated their groups. [5] As such, their perfectly legal activities, freedom of speech and right to unhindered assembly have been criminalized.

Simultaneously, there's a certain inescapable irony and disingenuous quality presented by the Western government heads who are harshly critical of the Iran crackdown on dissenting citizens while they, themselves, condone similar ironfisted policies in their own lands. Their two-faced position is barely hidden beneath the surface of their mock concern for the well-being of Iranian protesters as they urge their own and allied troops into battle, show little (if any) sincere remorse over the slaughter of masses of civilians that happen in the process and make sure that demonstrators at home are disregarded, denigrated or preemptively rounded up as happened at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Then again, one might find himself in pretty good company if he were singled out as unpatriotic and treacherous for holding viewpoints or undertaking actions that go contrary to the perspectives that a certain hawkish and totalitarian segment of society holds. All the same, every method conceivable might be used to hunt down the offenders and, when taken to the extreme, render their seemingly provocative positions ineffectual by any means possible, including imprisonment and murder.

Anyone who doubts this to be the case needs only to remember about what happened to people like Howard Fast; the slain Freedom Riders Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner; the thirteen shot students at Kent State University at which Ohio National Guardsman fired sixty-seven rounds over a thirteen second period, and scores of others who have stood against mainstream policies.

Meanwhile, stigmatizing dissidents is a fairly common practice. As such, "There are 1.1 million people on the [U.S.] Terrorist Watch List and there is a 35 per cent error rate, minimum, for that list," according to ACLU's Michael German. [6] Furthermore, the overzealous and aggressive surveillance tactics used by the National Security Agency (NSA) to check the public's e-mails, telephone calls and other communications are the same ones as were in use during George W. Bush's administration. Likewise, the amount of spying on personal exchanges is as high as it ever was.

In relation to recent claims by Justice Department and national security officials that the overcollection was unintentional, House representative, Rush Holt, a Democrat from New Jersey and Chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, commented "Some actions are so flagrant that they can't be accidental." Additionally, the act of tracking e-mailed transmissions and other interactions has seemed in violation of federal law according to lawyers at the Justice Department. Regardless, the practice continues.

At the same time, the decision to designate social activists as troublemakers, while singling them out for intimidation, threats and investigations, carries serious legal and political implications in democratic societies.The further measure of subjecting them to the sorts of difficulties that Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Ramzy Baroud, AFSC members and innumerable others have endured is clearly based in xenophobic, paranoid and despotic thinking. It embodies the kind of authoritarian mentality and oppressive activities that one finds in the worst types of tyrannical regimes.

As Harry S. Truman suggested, "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." Due to this fear, are we, then, to all conform with lock-step in perverse obedience to the State's dictates, outlooks and agendas in an increasingly Orwellian milieu? If not, then we must constantly remind ourselves and each other of US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's vision: "Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."

References

[1] Pentagon Rebrands Protest as "Low-Level Terrorism" (http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/06/pentagon-rebrands-protest-as-low-level-terrorism/).

[2] American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) (http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0201-03.htm).

[3] "Punishing activists or pursuing terrorists?" by Maggie Mitchell Salem in Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy. (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GL10Aa01.html).

[4] Nobel Prize Winner Gets Hassled At Bush Intercontinental ... (http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/29-8).

[5] Police Spied on Activists In Md. - washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071701287.html) and Md. Police Put Activists' Names On Terror Lists - ... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100703245.html).

[6] One third of FBI Terror Watch List are innocent people | Top ... (http://www.russiatoday.ru/Top_News/2009-06-17/One_third_of_FBI_Terror_Watch_List_are_innocent_people.html).

Emily Spence is an author living in Massachusetts. She has spent many years involved in human rights, environmental and social services efforts.

High-tech Barbarism:: Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's a Raytheon Spy Blimp!

As the American republic's long death-spiral continues apace, newer and ever more insidious technologies usher us towards an age of high-tech barbarism.

"At first glance" Newsweek reveals, "there was nothing special about the blimp floating high above the cars and crowd at this year's Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend."

"Nothing special" that is, until you took a closer look. What you then discovered was another quintessentially American innovation, all the more chilling for its bland ubiquity. A silent, hovering sentinel linking commerce and repression; a perfect trope for our ersatz democracy. "Like most airships" Newsweek continued, "it acted as an advertising vehicle."

But the real promo should have been for the blimp's creator, Raytheon, the security company best known for its weapons systems. Hidden inside the 55-foot-long white balloon was a powerful surveillance camera adapted from the technology Raytheon provides the U.S. military.

Essentially an unmanned drone, the blimp transmitted detailed images to the race's security officers and to Indiana police. "The airship is great because it doesn't have that Big Brother feel, or create feelings of invasiveness," says Lee Silvestre, vice president of mission innovation in Raytheon's Integrated Defense division. "But it's still a really powerful security tool." (Kurt Soller, "Are You Being Watched? The blimp flying above your head may be watching your every move," Newsweek, June 11, 2009)

"It doesn't have that Big Brother feel" and yet here, as elsewhere, the "feelings of invasiveness" are implicit, unseen, invisible, the securitized DNA giving form and structure to the Empire's "new normal."

Imported from America's aggressive wars of conquest in Iraq and Afghanistan and now deployed in the heimat, sprawling intelligence and security bureaucracies have teamed-up with corporate scofflaws to fill a market niche, inflating the bottom-line at the expense of a cherished freedom: the right to be left alone.

But as Antifascist Calling has noted many times, "what happens in Vegas" certainly doesn't stay there, a point driven home by Raytheon.

"Anticipating requirements for innovative and affordable ways to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)," according to a company press release, "Raytheon is using aerostats--modern blimps or balloons--carrying high-tech sensors to detect threats on the ground and in the air at distances that enable appropriate countermeasures."

Known as RAID (Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment) the system is kitted-out with "electro-optic infrared, radar, flash and acoustic detectors." According to the firm, some 300 have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same military version, as Newsweek reported and Raytheon confirmed, "demonstrated to officials concerned with security and spectator safety its value by providing situational awareness in what is billed as one of the largest sporting events of the year."

Indeed Charles Burns, the director of Corporate Security for the Indy Racing League said in the company's press release: "Conducting this demo with Raytheon gives us the opportunity to evaluate new and innovative technology that keeps our venues safe and optimizes the racing experience for our fans."

Along with a suite of sensors and high resolution video cameras, RAID's digitized mapping tools are similar to those developed for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). In tandem with a preprogrammed mapping grid of the target location, the system can scan a wide area and relay video clips to a centralized command center.

Captured data known as GEOINT, or geospatial intelligence, is "tailored for customer-specific solutions" according to NGA. That agency along with its "sister" organization, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the super-secret agency that develops and flies America's fleet of spy satellites are also among the most heavily-outsourced departments in the so-called Intelligence Community.

As investigative journalist Tim Shorrock points out in his essential book, Spies For Hire, giant defense firms such as Raytheon and Northrop Grumman "with assistance from Republican lawmakers from the House Intelligence Committee," helped launch a lobby shop for the industry in 2004, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF).

Self-described as a "not-for-profit educational foundation," USGIF "is the only organization dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and building a stronger community of interest across industry, academia, government, professional organizations and individual stakeholders." Since its formation, USGIF has expanded to some 154 companies and state agencies and has an annual budget that exceeds $1 million.

"Strategic partners" include the usual suspects, corporate heavy-hitters such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Science Applications International Corporation, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, IBM, Google, AT&T, Microsoft, The MITRE Corporation, and L3 Communications. Additionally, niche companies such as Analytical Graphics, Inc., DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Intergraph, PCI Geomatics, TechniGraphics, Inc., flesh-out USGIF's roster.

In this context, the public roll-out of RAID is all the more pressing for securocrats and the companies they serve since Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano "plans to kill a program begun by the Bush administration that would use U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law enforcement," the Associated Press reported June 22.

That program, the National Applications Office (NAO) was first announced by the Bush regime in 2007 and was mired in controversy from the get-go. As Antifascist Calling reported last year, NAO would coordinate how domestic law enforcement and "disaster relief" agencies such as FEMA utilize GEOINT and imagery intelligence (IMINT) generated by U.S. spy satellites. But as with other heimat security schemes there was little in the way of oversight and zero concern for the rights of the American people.

The intrusiveness of the program was so severe that even Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the author of the despicable "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" (H.R. 1955) vowed to pull the plug. Chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee's Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment subcommittee, Harman introduced legislation earlier this month that would have shut down NAO immediately while prohibiting the agency from spending money on NAO or similar programs.

When the bill was introduced, Harman told Federal Computer Week: "Imagine, for a moment, what it would be like if one of these satellites were directed on your neighborhood or home, a school or place of worship--and without an adequate legal framework or operating procedures in place for regulating their use. I daresay the reaction might be that Big Brother has finally arrived and the black helicopters can't be far behind. Yet this is precisely what the Department of Homeland Security has done in standing up the benign-sounding National Applications Office, or NAO."

According to the Los Angeles Times, Napolitano reached a decision to cut NAO off at the knees "after consulting with state and local law enforcement officials and learning that they had far more pressing priorities than using satellites to collect information and eavesdrop on people."

Perhaps those "pressing priorities" could be better served by a low-key approach, say the deployment of a system such as RAID? After all, what's so threatening about a blimp?

It comes as no surprise then, that the next target for Raytheon marketeers are precisely local police departments and sports facilities "that want to keep an eye on crowds that might easily morph into an unruly mob," as Newsweek delicately put it.

Nathan Kennedy, Raytheon's project manager for the spy blimp told the publication, "large municipalities could find many uses for this [technology] once we figure out how to get it in their hands."

While the company refuses to divulge what this intrusive system might actually cost cash-strapped localities drastically cutting social services for their citizens as America morphs into a failed state, municipalities "without a Pentagon-size police budget" could look at the airship's "potential to display ads [that] may assist with financing."

Raytheon claims that local authorities fearful of succumbing to what I'd call a dreaded "surveillance airship gap," could install "a built-in LED screen to attract sponsors, generate revenue and defer operating costs."

How convenient!

However, Raytheon's slimmed-down surveillance airship is a spin-off from a larger Pentagon project.

Among other high-tech, privacy-killing tools currently under development is the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) Integrated Sensor Is Structure (ISIS) program. As conceived by the agency, ISIS will be a high-altitude autonomous airship built for the U.S. Air Force that can operate at 70,000 feet and stay aloft for a decade.

Washington Technology reported April 29, that Lockheed Martin won a $400 million deal to design the system. "Under the contract" the publication revealed, "Lockheed Martin will provide systems integration services, and Raytheon Co. will furnish a high-energy, low-power density radar, Lockheed Martin officials said."

Operating six miles above the earth's surface, well out of range of surface-to-air missiles, the airship will be some 450 feet long, powered by hydrogen fuel cells and packed with electronic surveillance gear and radar currently being field-tested by Raytheon.

Projects such as ISIS reflect a shift in Pentagon planning and spending priorities. Under Bush regime holdover, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the military plans to leverage America's technological advantage to improve intelligence and surveillance capabilities at the expense of over-inflated big ticket items such as the F-22 Raptor or new Navy destroyers.

Gates and others in the Pentagon believe a shift towards "robust ISR platforms" will better facilitate the Pentagon's new paradigm: waging multiple, counterinsurgency wars of conquest to secure natural resources and strategic advantage vis-�-vis imperialism's geopolitical rivals.

But military might and technological preeminence, however formidable, represented by the Pentagon's quixotic quest for total "situational awareness" promised by platforms such as ISIS and RAID, will no more ameliorate the Empire's extreme political weakness than putting a band-aid over a gangrenous lesion changes the outcome for a dying patient.

英國‧滿意愛情身材‧女人30最自信

（英國‧倫敦）英國一項研究發現，女人臨近30歲時感覺最自信，對自己的愛情和身材感到滿意，也最能享受到最佳性生活。

一家國際知名染髮用品公司通過調查4000名女性後得出這項研究結果。

英國《每日電訊報》引述這項研究結果報導，30歲對女人來說是個分水嶺，她們從此之後開始擔心變老、出現皺紋和灰白頭髮。

染髮用品公司發言人說：“人生會在某一點達到頂峰……女人在28歲時達到頂峰點，那時她們頭髮、身材看起來最好，擁有的自信空前高漲。”

研究結果表明，女性在29歲時對自己的事業最滿意，在30歲時對自己的愛情生活最滿意。然而，女人並不是跨過30歲之後就一無所有。她們在32歲和33歲時分別對家庭生活和經濟狀況感到滿意。

研究結果還顯示，三分之二的女性覺得自己比男性衰老得更快，56%擔心伴隨年齡增大容顏變老。

中國‧被封“中國名字最牛的人”‧“操高潮”網上爆紅

（中國‧北京）“不怕生壞命，只怕改錯名”，這句俗話對於中國湖北省浠水縣的國稅局局長來說，感受一定很深刻！

這名局長最近在中國互聯網上爆紅，他不是因為被人揭發用公款去桑拿、不是因為口出狂言而被網民人肉搜索，源於他被形容為“中國名字最牛的人”――操高潮。

用華語讀“操高潮”3個字，的確讓人有點兒尷尬。

據悉，有網民前年開始在百度百科上為他創建資料，沒有引起關注，但從5月起，他的名字突然在網上爆紅，百度百科一度有逾12萬人次點擊率。

資料顯示，操高潮現年47歲，湖北省蘄春縣人，大學本科學歷，1985年加入稅務部門工作，從辦事員一直擢升至浠水縣國稅局局長。

雖然操高潮的名字有點特別，但當局對他的評價十分正面。

當局認為他“稅收業務熟悉，愛崗敬業，廉潔奉公，組織領導協調能力強”，深受稅務部門領導好評，而他亦曾在多個稅務會議上發言，也曾上電台節目，與民眾進行交流。

9/11 FEMA videographer at Ground Zero goes public

As official videographer for the U.S. government, Kurt Sonnenfeld was detailed to Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, where he spent one month filming 29 tapes: "What I saw at certain moments and in certain places ... is very disturbing!" He never handed them over to the authorities and has been persecuted ever since. Kurt Sonnenfeld lives in exile in Argentina, where he wrote "El Perseguido" (the persecuted). His recently-published book tells the story of his unending nightmare and drives another nail into the coffin of the government’s account of the 9/11 events. Below is an exclusive interview by The Voltaire Network.

Kurt Sonnenfeld and unidentified search and rescue specialist in subterranean void beneath Ground Zero.

Introduction

Kurt Sonnenfeld graduated from the University of Colorado (USA) with studies in International Affairs and Economics, as well as in Literature and Philosophy. He worked for the United States government as official videographer and served as Director of Broadcast Operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s National Emergency Response Team. Additionally, Kurt Sonnenfeld was contracted by several other governmental agencies and programs for classified and “sensitive” operations at military and scientific installations throughout the United States.

On September 11, 2001, the area known as “Ground Zero” was sealed from the public eye. Sonnenfeld, however, was given unrestricted access enabling him to document for the investigation (that never took place) and provide some “sanitized” pool video to virtually every news network in the world. The tapes that reveal some of the anomalies which he discovered at Ground Zero are still in his possession.

Accused of a crime that did not occur in a manifest frame-up scenario, especially in light of ensuing events [1], Kurt Sonnenfeld has been persecuted across continents. After several years of fear, injustice and isolation, he has decided to take a public stand against the Government’s official story and is prepared to submit his material to the close scrutiny of reliable experts.

Kurt Sonnenfeld

Kurt Sonnenfeld and unidentified search and rescue specialist in subterranean void beneath Ground Zero.

Introduction

Kurt Sonnenfeld graduated from the University of Colorado (USA) with studies in International Affairs and Economics, as well as in Literature and Philosophy. He worked for the United States government as official videographer and served as Director of Broadcast Operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s National Emergency Response Team. Additionally, Kurt Sonnenfeld was contracted by several other governmental agencies and programs for classified and “sensitive” operations at military and scientific installations throughout the United States.

On September 11, 2001, the area known as “Ground Zero” was sealed from the public eye. Sonnenfeld, however, was given unrestricted access enabling him to document for the investigation (that never took place) and provide some “sanitized” pool video to virtually every news network in the world. The tapes that reveal some of the anomalies which he discovered at Ground Zero are still in his possession.

Accused of a crime that did not occur in a manifest frame-up scenario, especially in light of ensuing events [1], Kurt Sonnenfeld has been persecuted across continents. After several years of fear, injustice and isolation, he has decided to take a public stand against the Government’s official story and is prepared to submit his material to the close scrutiny of reliable experts.

Kurt Sonnenfeld

Interview

Voltaire Network: Your autobiographical book titled "El Perseguido" (the persecuted) was recently published in Argentina where you live in exile since 2003. Tell us who is persecuting you.

Kurt Sonnenfeld: Although it is autobiographical, it is not my life story. Rather it is a history of the extraordinary events that have happened to me and my family at the hands of U.S. authorities over the course of more than seven years, spanning two hemispheres, after my tour of duty at Ground Zero and becoming an inconvenient witness.

Voltaire Network: You explained that your request for refugee status within the terms of the Geneva 1951 Convention is still being considered by the Argentinean Senate, while in 2005 you were granted political asylum, albeit, on a provisional basis. That probably makes you the first U.S. citizen in that situation! And no doubt the first U.S. Government official with direct exposure to the events surrounding September 11, 2001 who has “blown the whistle”. Is this what drove you into exile?

With wife Paula, testifying before Senate

Kurt Sonnenfeld: A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave (or stay away from) his or her country for reasons of persecution. It’s undeniable that many people have been persecuted unfairly as a result of the quasi-fascist laws and policies brought about by the shock of September 11, 2001, and they deserve refugee status. But the fact is, requesting refugee status is a risky and dangerous step to take. America is the world’s only remaining “superpower”, and dissent has been effectively repressed. Any person who requests refugee status on political grounds is by nature making an extreme statement of dissent. And if your request is denied, what do you do? Once you make the request, there can be no going back.

Personally, I wasn’t forced to leave the United States, and I certainly did not “flee”. At the time I was still fairly oblivious to what was actually brewing against me. I hadn’t connected the dots yet; so that when I left in early 2003 I had every intention of returning. I came to Argentina for a short respite; to try to recuperate after all that had happened to me. I travelled here freely, with my own passport, using my own credit cards. But because of an incredible series of events, I have since been forced into exile, and I haven’t been back.

Voltaire Network: What type of events are you referring to?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: I’ve suffered false accusations for “crimes” that demonstrably did not happen, abusive imprisonment and torture as a result of those accusations, as well as outrageous calumnies against my reputation, death threats, kidnap attempts and several other violations of civil and human rights as denounced by numerous international accords. My return to the United States would not only be a continuation of those violations, but would be aggregated by the separation - perhaps permanent - from my wife and three-year old twin daughters, the only thing remaining that I have to live for. And then, after the impossibility of receiving a fair trial for a crime that did not happen, I could be subject to the death penalty.

Voltaire Network: In 2005, the U.S. Government lodged a request to have you extradited, which was turned down by a Federal Judge. Then, in 2007, the Argentinean Supreme Court – in a show of integrity and independence - turned down the U.S. appeal, but your Government persisted. Can you shed some light on the situation ?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: In 2008, the US government appealed again, this time with absolutely no legal foundation, to the Supreme Court, which will surely uphold the two already unassailable rulings made by the Federal Judge.

In one of those rulings, it was also noted that there were too many “sombras”, or shadows, surrounding my case. There were many, many obvious fabrications in the extradition order sent here by US authorities, and, thankfully, we were able prove that. The fact that there were so many fabrications has actually served to support my request for asylum. We were also able to show that we had been subject to a prolonged campaign of harassment and intimidation from US intelligence services. As a result, since my family has been assigned round-the-clock police protection. As one senator has noted about my case: “It is their behavior that belies their true motivations”.

Sonnenfeld and his family are frequently harassed, followed, and photographed, as shown in this photo.

Voltaire Network: They want you pretty badly for a “crime that did not happen”! How do you account for such doggedness? As a FEMA official, you must have been trusted by your government. At what point did the situation capsize?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: In hindsight, I realize now that the situation had capsized some time before I actually became aware that it had capsized. Initially, the false accusation against me was completely irrational, and I was totally destroyed by it. It is incredibly difficult to have suffered the loss of someone you love to suicide, but to then be accused of it is too much to bear. The case was dismissed based on a mountain of evidence that overwhelmingly absolved me (Nancy, my wife, had left behind a suicide note and a journal of suicidal writings ; she had a family history of suicide ; etc.). The prosecution was 100% sure of my innocence before requesting the dismissal of charge.

But the sustained incarceration even AFTER it was indicated that I was to be freed was what proved to me that something was happening under the surface. I was held in jail for FOUR MONTHS after my lawyers were informed that the case was to be dismissed and was finally released in June 2002. During that time, an amazing series of strange events began to occur. While still being held, I had a telephone conversation with FEMA officials in an effort to resolve the issue, but I realized that I was considered “compromised”. I was told it had been agreed that “the agency had to be protected”, especially in light of the upheaval that was threatening with the implementation of the “Patriot Act” and the expected usurpation that would come with the new Department of Homeland Security. After all the dangers I had risked, all hardship and difficulties I had endured for them for almost 10 years, I felt betrayed. It left a void in my soul.

Because of their abandonment, I told them I didn’t have the tapes, that I gave them to “some bureaucrat” in New York, and that they would have to wait until I was released to retrieve any other documents in my possession. Soon after that conversation, my house was “seized”, the locks were changed, and men were observed by neighbors entering my house, though there is no record in the court of their entry, as would be required. When I was finally released, I discovered that my office had been ransacked, my computer was missing, and that my tape library in my basement had been dug through and several were missing. Men were constantly parked on the street near my house, my security system was “hacked” more than once, outdoor security lights were unscrewed, etc., to the point that I went to stay with some friends at their condo in the mountains, which was then ALSO broken into.

Anyone who looks for the truth recognizes that there has been an amazing series of irregularities in this case and that an appalling injustice is being carried out on me and my loved ones. This intense campaign to return me to American soil is a false pretext for other darker motives.

Voltaire Network: You have suggested that you observed things at Ground Zero that did not tally with the official account. Did you do or say anything to arouse suspicion in this respect?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: In that same telephone call I said that I would “go public”, not only with my suspicions about the events surrounding September 11, 2001, but about several contracts I had worked on in the past.

Sonnenfeld at Ground Zero, investigating a “void” beneath fallen steel beams.

Voltaire Network: What are your suspicions based on?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: There were many things, in hindsight, that were disturbing at Ground Zero. It was odd to me that I was dispatched to go to New York even before the second plane hit the South Tower, while the media was still reporting only that a “small plane” had collided with the North Tower — far too small of a catastrophe at that point to involve FEMA . FEMA was mobilized within minutes, whereas it took ten days for it to deploy to New Orleans to respond to Hurricane Katrina, even with abundant advance warning! It was odd to me that all cameras were so fiercely prohibited within the secured perimeter of Ground Zero, that the entire area was declared a crime scene and yet the “evidence” within that crime scene was so rapidly removed and destroyed. And then it was very odd to me when I learned that FEMA and several other federal agencies had already moved into position at their command center at Pier 92 on September 10th, one day before the attacks!

Rubber landing-gear tyres visible in evidence container marked “FBI Plane Parts Only.”

We are asked to believe that all four of the “indestructible” black boxes of the two jets that struck the twin towers were never found because they were completely vaporized, yet I have footage of the rubber wheels of the landing gear nearly undamaged, as well as the seats, parts of the fuselage and a jet turbine that were absolutely not vaporized. This being said, I do find it rather odd that such objects could have survived fairly intact the type of destruction that turned most of the Twin Towers into thin dust. And I definitely harbor some doubts about the authenticity of the “jet” turbine, far too small to have come from one of the Boeings!

“Boeing” jet turbine at Fresh Kills island landfill.

What happened with Building 7 is incredibly suspicious. I have video that shows how curiously small the rubble pile was, and how the buildings to either side were untouched by Building Seven when it collapsed. It had not been hit by an airplane; it had suffered only minor injuries when the Twin Towers collapsed, and there were only small fires on a couple of floors. There’s no way that building could have imploded the way it did without controlled demolition. Yet the collapse of Building 7 was hardly mentioned by the mainstream media and suspiciously ignored by the 911 Commission.

Voltaire Network: Reportedly, the underground levels of WTC7 contained sensitive and undoubtedly compromising archival material. Did you come across any of it?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: The Secret Service, the Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Emergency Management’s “Crisis Center” occupied huge amounts of space there, spanning several floors of the building. Other federal agencies had offices there as well. After September 11, it was discovered that concealed within Building Seven was the largest clandestine domestic station of the Central Intelligence Agency outside of Washington DC, a base of operations from which to spy on diplomats of the United Nations and to conduct counterterrorism and counterintelligence missions.

There was no underground parking level at Seven World Trade Center. And there was no underground vault. Instead, the federal agencies at Building Seven stored their vehicles, documents and evidence in the building of their associates across the street. Beneath the plaza level of US Customs House (Building 6) was a large underground garage, separated off from the rest of the complex’s underground area and guarded under tight security. This was where the various government services parked their bomb-proofed cars and armored limousines, counterfeit taxi cabs and telephone company trucks used for undercover surveillance and covert operations, specialized vans and other vehicles. Also within that secured parking area was access to the sub-level vault of Building 6.

Approaching the entrance to the sub-level areas of Building 6

When the North Tower fell, the US Customs House (Building 6) was crushed and totally incinerated. Much of the underground levels beneath it were also destroyed. But there were voids. And it was into one of those voids, recently uncovered, that I descended with a special Task Force to investigate. It was there we found the security antechamber to the vault, badly damaged. At the far end of the security office was the wide steel door to the vault, a combination code keypad in the cinderblock wall beside it. But the wall was cracked and partially crumbled, and the door was sprung partially open. So we checked inside with our flashlights. Except for several rows of empty shelves, there was nothing in the vault but dust and debris. It had been emptied. Why was it empty? And when could it have been emptied?

Voltaire Network: Is this what set alarm bells ringing for you?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: Yes, but not immediately. With so much chaos, it was difficult to think. It was only after digesting everything that the “alarm bells” went off.

Building Six was evacuated within twelve minutes after the first airplane struck the North Tower. The streets were immediately clogged with fire trucks, police cars and blocked traffic, and the vault was large enough, 15 meters by 15 meters by my estimate, to necessitate at least a big truck to carry out its contents. And after the towers fell and destroyed most of the parking level, a mission to recover the contents of the vault would have been impossible. The vault had to have been emptied before the attack.

I’ve described all of this extensively in my book, and it’s apparent that things of importance were taken out of harm’s way before the attacks. For example, the CIA didn’t seem too concerned about their losses. After the existence of their clandestine office in Building Seven was discovered, an agency spokesman told the newspapers that a special team had been dispatched to scour the rubble in search of secret documents and intelligence reports, though there were millions, if not billions of pages floating in the streets. Nevertheless, the spokesman was confident. “There shouldn’t be too much paper around,” he said.

The bizarre hollowed-out vestiges of The US Customs House (Building Six)

And Customs at first claimed that everything was destroyed. That the heat was so intense that everything in the evidence safe had been baked to ash. But some months later, they announced that they had broken up a huge Colombian narco-trafficking and money-laundering ring after miraculously recovering crucial evidence from the safe, including surveillance photos and heat-sensitive cassette tapes of monitored calls. And when they moved in to their new building at 1 Penn Plaza in Manhattan, they proudly hung on the lobby wall their Commissioner’s Citation Plaque and their big round US Customs Service ensign, also miraculously recovered, in pristine condition, from their crushed and cremated former office building at the World Trade Center.

Voltaire Network: You weren’t alone on the Ground Zero assignment. Did the others notice the same anomalies? Do you know whether they have they also been harassed?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: Actually there were a few people on two different excursions that I know about. Some of us even discussed it afterwards. They know who they are and I hope that they will come forward, but I’m sure they have strong apprehensions as to what will happen to them if they do. I will leave it to them to decide, but there is strength in numbers.

Voltaire Network: With the publication of your book, you have become a "whistleblower" – yet another step on which there is no going back! There must be many people with inside knowledge about what really happened or did not happen on that fateful day. Yet, hardly any have stepped up to the plate and certainly no one who was directly involved in an official capacity. This is what makes your case so compelling. Judging from your ordeal, it is not difficult to imagine what is holding such people back.

Kurt Sonnenfeld: Actually, there are several other very smart and credible people blowing whistles, too. And they are being discredited and ignored. Some are being harassed and persecuted, as I am.

People are gripped by fear. Everybody knows that if you question US authority you will have problems in some way or another. At minimum you will be discredited and dehumanized. Most likely you’ll find yourself indicted for something completely unrelated, like tax evasion — or something even worse, as in my case. Look at what happened to Secret Service whistle-blower Abraham Bolden, for example, or to chess master Bobby Fischer after he showed his disdain for the US. There are countless other examples. In the past I asked friends and associates to speak out for me to counter all the lies being planted in the media, and all of them were terrified as to the ramifications to themselves and their families.

Voltaire Network: To what degree would your discoveries at Ground Zero expose the government’s involvement in those events? Are you familiar with the investigations that have been carried out by numerous scientists and qualified professionals which not only corroborate your own findings but, in some instances, far exceed them? Do you regard such people as "conspiracy nuts"?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: At the highest levels in Washington, DC, someone knew what was going to happen. They wanted a war so badly that they at least let it happen and most likely even helped it happen.

Sometimes it seems to me that the “nuts” are those who hold to what they’ve been told with an almost religious fervor despite all of the evidence to the contrary — the ones who won’t even consider that there was a conspiracy. There are so many anomalies to the “official” investigation that you can’t blame it on oversight or incompetence. I am familiar with the scientists and qualified professionals to whom you refer, and their findings are convincing, credible, and presented according to scientific protocol — in stark contrast to the findings of the “official” investigation. In addition, numerous intelligence agents and government officials have now come forward with their very informed opinions that the 911 Commission was a farce at best or a cover-up at worst. My experience at Ground Zero is but one more piece of the puzzle.

Voltaire Network: Those events are nearly 8 years behind us. Do you consider that uncovering the truth about 9/11 continues to be an important objective? Why?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: It is of absolute importance. And it will be equally as important in 10 years, or even 50 years if the truth still has not been exposed. It is an important objective because, at this point in history, many people are too credulous to whatever “authority” tells them and too willing to follow. People in a state of shock seek guidance. People who are afraid are manipulable. And being able to manipulate the masses results in unimaginable benefits to a lot of very rich and very powerful people. War is incredibly expensive, but the money has to go somewhere. War is very profitable for the very few. And somehow their sons always end up in Washington DC, making the decisions and writing the budgets, while the sons of the poor and the poorly-connected always end up on the enemy lines, taking their orders and fighting their battles. The enormous black-budget of the US Department of Defense represents an unlimited money machine for the military-industrial complex, figuring in the multi-trillions of dollars, and it will continue to be so until the masses wake up, recuperate their skepticism and demand accountability. Wars (and false pretexts for war) will not cease until the people realize the true motive of war and stop believing “official” explanations.

Voltaire Network: What is referred to as the 9/11 Truth Movement, has been asking for a new, independent investigation into those events. Do you think that the Obama Administration holds out some hope in this respect?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: I really hope so, but I’m skeptical. Why would the leadership of any established government willingly undertake any action that would result in a serious compromise to their authority? They will prefer to maintain the status quo and leave the things the way they are. The conductor of the train has been changed, but has the train changed its course? I doubt it. The push has to come from the public, not only domestically, but internationally, like your group is doing.

Voltaire Network: A number of human rights and activist groups are supporting your plight, not least Peace Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. How have the Argentinean people in general responded to your situation?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: With an incredible outpouring of support. The military dictatorship is still fresh in the collective memory of most of the people here, along with the knowledge that the dictatorship (along with the other South American dictatorships at the time) was backed by the CIA, directed at the time by George Bush Senior. They remember well the torture centers, the secret prisons, the thousands of people “disappeared” for their opinions, the living in daily fear. They know that the United States today will do the same thing if they consider it beneficial, that they will invade a country to achieve their political and economic interests and then manipulate the media with fabricated “causus belli” to justify their conquests.

Kurt Sonnenfeld with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize 1980

My family and I are honored to have Adolfo Pérez Esquiveland his advisors at Servicio de Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ) among our dearest friends. We have worked together on many causes, including the rights of refugees, the rights of women, for children without families and children with HIV/AIDS. We are also honored to have the support of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo; Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Línea Fundadora; Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS); Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos (APDH); Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos por Razones Políticas; Asociación de Mujeres, Migrantes y Refugiados Argentina (AMUMRA); Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la Honorable Cámara de Diputados de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Secretaría de Derechos Humanos de la Nación; and the Programa Nacional Anti-Impunidad. On an international level, Amicus Curiae have been presented in our favor by REPRIEVE of Great Britain, along with the collaboration of NIZKOR of Spain and Belgium. In addition, my wife, Paula, and I have been received in the Congress by La Comisión de Derechos Humanos y Garantías de la Honorable Cámara de Diputados de La Nación.

Voltaire Network: As we said, deciding to write this book and to go public was a huge step. What pushed you to do it?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: To save my family. And to let the world know that things are not what they seem.

Voltaire Network: Last but not least: what will you do with your tapes?

Kurt Sonnenfeld: I am convinced that my tapes reveal many more anomalies than I am capable of recognizing given my limited qualifications. I will therefore cooperate in any way that I can with serious and reliable experts in a common endeavour to expose the truth.

Voltaire Network: Thank you very much !