Donald Rumsfeld covered Iraq briefing papers with Biblical texts 18 May 2009

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Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
18 May 2009
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Donald Rumsfeld covered Iraq briefing papers with Biblical texts 17 May 2009 Donald Rumsfeld, the former US defence secretary, provided George W Bush with top secret intelligence briefings on the Iraq war that featured cover pages adorned with Biblical quotes. According to a report in GQ magazine the religious texts were imposed over pictures of the US armed forces engaged in the war. 

And He Shall Be Judged By Robert Draper 17 May 2009 On the morning of Thursday, April 10, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon prepared a top-secret briefing for George W. Bush. This document, known as the Worldwide Intelligence Update, was a daily digest of critical military intelligence so classified that it circulated among only a handful of Pentagon leaders and the president; Rumsfeld himself often delivered it, by hand, to the White House... And above these images, and just below the headline secretary of defense, was a quote... It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death." This mixing of Crusades-like messaging with war imagery, which until now has not been revealed, had become routine.

US journo claims Bhutto was killed on Cheney's orders 18 May 2009 A special death squad assassinated Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on the orders of former US Vice-President [sic] Dick Cheney, an Arab TV channel has reported. "Cheney was the chief of the Joint Special Operation Command and he cleared the way for the US by exterminating opponents through the unit and the CIA. General Stanley was the in-charge of the unit," The Nation quoted US columnist Seymour Hersh, as saying. The US death unit killed Bhutto because she had told Al-Jazeera TV about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Hersh said. The US leadership did not want Osama to be declared dead. It would have raised questions about the US Army's presence in Afghanistan, he claimed.

Netanyahu stands firm against demands from Barack Obama 18 May 2009 Israel stood firm against demands from Barack Obama on Monday to cease the construction of Jewish settlements and embrace the "two-state solution" to achieving peace in the Middle East. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in his first meeting with the US president, made it clear that while he welcomed Mr Obama's commitment to the region, he was more concerned about dealing with the threat of Iran than peace talks. Mr Obama was unable to secure any commitments on ceasing the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank or embracing the "two-state solution" to achieving peace in the Middle East. 

Barack Obama attempts to ward off disastrous military air strike on 'nuclear' Tehran 18 May 2009 President Obama will seek today to persuade the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister that the White House’s recent overtures to Iran should be given time to work and that an Israeli military strike against Tehran could trigger disaster. 

Arabs see Israel - not Iran - as nuclear threat 17 May 2009 Israel's nuclear bombs arsenal poses "the real danger" in the Middle East and not Iran's civilian nuclear programme, Arab League chief Amr Musa said on Sunday. "The real danger as far as nuclear military programmes are concerned is posed by Israel and not Iran," Musa said during a panel discussion on the future of Middle East peacemaking at the World Economic Forum in Jordan. 

ICC to hear Israeli war crime case 18 May 2009 A Human Rights group has filed a lawsuit against Israeli leaders at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the war crimes they [allegedly] have committed in the Gaza Strip. The chairwoman of the International Alliance for Combating Impunity, Mai al-Khansa, along with a number of European lawyers, filed the lawsuit against the Israeli political and military leaders in The Hague, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday. 

Israel warns of Facebook 'spies' [<g>] 18 May 2009 Israel's internal intelligence service urged the public today to exercise caution when using Facebook, saying Arabs are trying to recruit spies on the popular social networking site. The Shin Bet security agency warned Israelis against answering unsolicited messages or sharing telephone numbers and other sensitive information over the Internet. It said there have been numerous incidents recently in which violent groups [?!?] tried to recruit Israelis through Facebook and other networking sites. 

Pakistan denies it is expanding nuclear arsenal 18 Mar 2009 Pakistan denied Monday it was expanding its nuclear arsenal, a week after the top U.S. military officer said there was evidence it was doing so. Pakistan is battling a growing insurgency by Islamist militants with links to al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] and the Taliban. Washington is considering giving it billions of dollars in military aid to help 'fight' the insurgents. 

Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says 18 May 2009 Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program. Congress has considered proposals to spend $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military for 'counterinsurgency' warfare.

Karzai brother 'survives attack' 18 May 2009 Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, says he has survived an ambush on his convoy in the east. Mr Karzai, leader of the provincial council in Kandahar, said one of his bodyguards was killed by the attackers, who used rockets and machine-guns. His convoy was ambushed when it was travelling to the capital, Kabul. It is not known who the attackers were. [Xe or Paravant - always a safe bet.]

Taliban Influx Threatens 'Hot Months' in Western Afghanistan 19 May 2009 As U.S. troops deploy in southern Afghanistan for a new anti-insurgency push, Afghan General Salendar Shah Behnam says his intelligence is picking up another movement: of 250 Taliban into the western province of Farah. A planned U.S. offensive this summer threatens to push 'insurgents' into the west, roiling previously calm areas that border Iran, Afghan and Italian commanders say. 

MoD loses soldiers' rights appeal 18 May 2009 The Government's challenge to a court ruling that British soldiers can be covered by human rights laws while on the battlefield was rejected today by the Court of Appeal. The Defence Secretary was given leave to appeal against the decision in the House of Lords on the condition that the Government pays the cost of the case whether it wins or loses. 

Supreme Court: Bush-era officials untouchable 18 May 2009 The US Supreme Court drops a case against FBI Chief and former Attorney General for their alleged 9/11 abuse, saying no Bush-era official could be subject to such cases. The Supreme Court on Monday overturned a New York federal appeals court decision stating former Federal Bureau of Investigation director Robert Mueller and former attorney general John Ashcroft could be held responsible for their alleged mistreatment of the Pakistani terror suspect Javaid Iqbal. 

Supreme Court Rules Former Detainee Abuse Lawsuit Cannot Proceed --Court Sends Mueller, Ashcroft Lawsuit Back 18 May 2009 The Supreme Court ruled today that former attorney general John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller may not be sued by Arab Muslims who were seized in this country after the 2001 terrorist attacks and allege harsh treatment because of their religion and ethnicity. The court ruled 5 to 4 that the top officials are not liable for the actions of their subordinates absent evidence that they ordered the allegedly discriminatory activity. Javaid Iqbal was held in solitary confinement in a section of a Brooklyn prison known as Admax-Shu, for "administrative maximum special housing unit," where he said he was subjected to numerous beatings and strip searches.

Obama Can't Turn the Page on Bush By Frank Rich 17 May 2009 To paraphrase Al Pacino in "Godfather III," just when we thought we were out, the Bush mob keeps pulling us back in. And will keep doing so. No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can’t. Until there is true transparency and true accountability, revelations of that unresolved eight-year nightmare will keep raining down drip by drip, disrupting the new administration’s high ambitions. 

Responders Stage Terror Drill at Ground Zero New York --More than 800 first responders participated in Sunday's mock terrorist attack, which simulated an explosion on a New Jersey-bound PATH commuter train in a tunnel. 17 May 2009 It was an emergency drill, yet the scene of hundreds of firefighters, police officers and other first responders hustling around the World Trade Center site Sunday evoked the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Firefighters carried oxygen tanks, hoses and heavy axes into an underground train station, while police and other emergency personnel helped those playing injured -- all part of a large disaster response exercise at ground zero. 

US health officials troubled by new flu pattern 18 May 2009 The new [Fort Detrick] influenza strain circulating around most of the United States is putting a worrying number of young adults and children into the hospital and hitting more schools than usual, U.S. health officials said on Monday. The H1N1 swine flu virus killed a vice principal at a New York City school over the weekend and has spread to 48 states.

'This particular virus seems to have this unique ability to pick up other genes.' Expert Warns of Swine Flu-Bird Flu Mix Virus --Mutation Could Be Highly Contagious And Lethal 08 May 2009 Bird flu kills more than 60 percent of its human victims, but doesn't easily pass from person to person. Swine flu can be spread with a sneeze or handshake, but kills only a small fraction of the people it infects. So what happens if they mix? This is the scenario that has some scientists worried: The two viruses meet [in a USAMRIID lab] and combine into a new bug that is both highly contagious and lethal, and can spread around the world.

W.H.O. May Raise Alert Level as Swine Flu Cases Leap in Japan 18 May 2009 The number of swine flu cases in Japan soared over the weekend, raising the likelihood that the World Health Organization will soon have to raise its pandemic alert level to 6, the highest level. On Sunday, the assistant principal of a school in Queens died after being hospitalized with swine flu. It was the sixth flu-related death in the United States and the first in New York State.

New York Reports Its First Swine Flu Death 18 May 2009 An assistant principal at a New York City public school died of complications from swine flu in an intensive care unit of a Queens hospital on Sunday night, the first death in New York State of the flu strain that has swept across much of the world since it was first identified in April. Hours before the death of the assistant principal, Mitchell Wiener, city officials announced that five more Queens schools had closed. 

Malaysian air crew quarantined over swine flu --AirAsia crew members, 101 passengers on flight to be put under quarantine 17 May 2009 AirAsia said Sunday it has quarantined five crew members from a domestic flight that carried Malaysia's second confirmed swine flu victim. The crew of flight AK5358, which flew from Kuala Lumpur to the northern city of Penang on Wednesday, was taken off duty Saturday, AirAsia spokesman Hamdan Mohamad said. 

Pregnancy-Bias Law Limited by Court in AT&T Victory 18 May 2009 The U.S. Supreme Court limited the scope of a federal pregnancy-discrimination law, saying an AT&T Inc. unit doesn’t have to increase the retirement benefits of women who took maternity leave in the 1970s. The justices, voting 7-2, rejected arguments by four workers who said companies must treat maternity leave taken before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act’s 1979 effective date the same as disability leave. 

Geithner: No plans to cap executive pay 18 May 2009 Financial sector executives should not fear government imposed caps by the Obama administration. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Monday that government should place "broad constraints" on the incentives that huge pay packages create for executives to take short-term risks. But he drew the line at government determining levels of pay.

Report says fossil fuels threat to US security 19 May 2009 Veteran US army chiefs warn of a looming 'threat' to national security unless the issues surrounding the aging power grid and energy sources are addressed. Former military commanders have, in a Monday report, cautioned the US government to 'aggressively' pursue fresh energy use models or risk major problems arising from the ongoing dependency on fossil fuels including oil and natural gas.

Obama Administration to Announce New Vehicle Emissions Standards 18 May 2009 The Obama administration is set to announce tough standards for tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide from new automobiles, establishing the first ever nationwide regulation for greenhouse gases. It will also establish high fuel efficiency targets for new vehicles that would set a 35.5 mile per gallon average for new passenger vehicles and light trucks by 2016, four years earlier than required under the 2007 energy bill, sources close to the administration said.

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Previous lead stories: Rumsfeld's renegade unit blamed for Afghan deaths --Special Forces group implicated in three incidents that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians/MarSOC was set up by former defence secretary despite opposition from within the Marine Corps 16 May 2009 A single American Special Forces group was behind at least three of Afghanistan's worst civilian casualty incidents, The Independent has learnt, raising fundamental questions about their ongoing role in the conflict. Troops from the US Marines Corps' Special Operations Command, or MarSOC, were responsible for calling in air strikes in Bala Boluk, in Farah, last week – believed to have killed more than 140 men, women and children – as well as two other incidents in 2007 and 2008. MarSOC was created three years ago on the express orders of Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary at the time, despite opposition from within the Marine Corps and the wider Special Forces community. 

'You can't authorise murder': Hersh 12 May 2009 Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently said that former US vice-president [sic] Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing that targeted America's enemies abroad. SEYMOUR HERSH: In Cheney's view this isn't murder, but carrying out the "war on terror". And in the view of me and my friends, including people in government, this is crazy. The vice president is committing a crime. You can't authorise the murder of people. And it's not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's in a lot of other countries, in the Middle East and in South Asia and North Africa and even central America.

Xe Mercenaries Fired at Kabul Car --US mercenaries were trainers hired by Paravant LLC, a subsidiary of Xe 16 May 2009 Four U.S. mercenaries affiliated with the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide fired on an approaching civilian vehicle in Kabul this month, wounding at least two Afghan civilians, according to the company and the U.S. military. The off-duty mercenaries were involved in a car accident around 9 p.m. on May 5 and then fired on the approaching vehicle, according to the U.S. military. At least some of the men, who were former military personnel, had been allegedly drinking alcohol that evening, according to a person familiar with the incident. 

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CLG Managing Editor: Lori Price. Copyright © 2009, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.
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