Help Repeal Unjust Racist Crack Cocaine Sentences
One of the most glaring injustices in US drug policy is the infamous crack/powder sentencing disparity, in which possession of a mere five grams of crack cocaine draws a five-year mandatory minimum sentence under federal law. It takes 100 times as much powder cocaine, 500 grams, to get the same sentence. The law has been applied in a racially disparate fashion since it was enacted 23 years ago, but reform efforts have mostly stalled.

 Until this year, that is. Last July the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives approved H.R. 3245, the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009. In October, a similar bill was introduced in the Senate, S. 1789.

 Please call your US Representative and your two US Senators to urge their strongest possible support for the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act. The number for the Capitol Switchboard and your legislators is (202) 224-3121, or click here to look them up online. Whether you call today or not, please use our online form at this web page to email your Rep. and Senators too.
-----------------------------------------=========-----------------------------------

Please all members,  to send an automated letter to your Congresspersons, please click the link below. When the page is loaded,
go to the top or down to the bottom of page and ENTER your Zip code, then click GO .

We need everyone to do so, please!<http://capwiz.com/drcnet/issues/alert/?alertid=14420161 >



The earthly  ENDTIME  of the Wicked - Not the RIGHTEOUS.

From: Peter Rogers <peterog@...>
Subject: Fw: Bad news for Barry's cover girl of the year.
To: "Marie Buchanan" <mariemartine1966@...>, "VIP Friends" <vipfriends@...>
Cc:
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 6:14 PM

Hi Marie,   Yes, Barry Obama's #1 co-commie partner in crime, one Nancy Pelosi !   Great man, great American, is Mr. Dennis Guthrie..   I hope that his spot-on letter to the Speaker, Ms. Pelosi- did indeed reach her eyes...  I don't think she has a humble bone in her body, so the meaning will go in one ear and out the other.. Not so, with many Americans who may have a chance to read Mr. Guthrie's words- and join the rising tide of aware Americans who are fed up with Commie Rat Obama, and his entire cabinet- not to exclude Madam Speaker herself....   With hopes for a real Victory for the American People over these Jackass politicians, who dare call themselves Americans !   Pete Rogers (San Clemente, Calif)   P.S. note to Obama:  "NO MORE  TROOPS  to the killing fields of Afghanistan"... Bring home all the Military troops who are illegally  deployed there and elsewhere in the world..  Bring them home to stay. NOW  !!! --- On Wed, 12/2/09, Marie M. Buchanan <mariemartine1966@...> wrote: From: Marie M. Buchanan <mariemartine1966@...> Subject: Fw: Bad news for Barry's cover girl of the year. To: "WELCOME_TO_THE_HOMELAND_OF_THE" <WELCOME_TO_THE_HOMELAND_OF_THE_JESUITS_DISORDER@yahoogroups.com> Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 5:36 PM Marie M. Buchanan, M.Ps. Have your work protected in 162 Nations of the Berne Convention, including US Web Hosting starting from $ 2.91/month ~ low cost web hosting For to me, Christ is my life and to die is gain. ( Ph. 1:21, Rev. 20:4) Researcher, Webmaster, Pastor-Assistant, Translator and Writer All Common Law Rights are reserved explicitly without prejudice UCC 1-103, 1-105, 1-308.  This  site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.  We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy,scientific, and social justice issues,etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.  In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.   NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. We in this country have no recourse or protection. Everything we type may be used against us to detain us in a secret prison, where we will be held without right of habeas corpus or right to trial by jury. --- On Wed, 12/2/09, midenise <midenise@...> wrote: From: midenise <midenise@...> Subject: Bad news for Barry's cover girl of the year. To: Undisclosed-Recipient@... Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 1:53 AM   I asked a few of you to put me in touch with San Francisco movers&shakers, with an eye toward keeping Nancy in California after 2010. I got a few answers which didn't much help. Now I send the same request to all of you. Please, either send me email addresses or forward this to honchos in S.F., who might be game to contact me. Milton. =========   ----- Original Message ----- From: Angela

 

----- Original Message -----

From: ~mary~

From: midenise <midenise@...>
Subject: Bad news for Barry's cover girl of the year.
To: Undisclosed-Recipient@...
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 1:53 AM

 

I asked a few of you to put me in touch with San Francisco movers&shakers, with an eye toward keeping Nancy in California after 2010. I got a few answers which didn't much help.

Now I send the same request to all of you. Please, either send me email addresses or forward this to honchos in S.F., who might be game to contact me.

Milton.

=========

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Angela

 

Is the CLIMATE-GATE cover-up about to go BUST!

 Are we the blind highly gullible public being fooled and dumb-downed on purpose by the rulers of darkness to hide the real reason for planet earth climate-change?
But Why?
The simple answer is hell yeah, and here is the real reason why!

CNN  Mr. Jack Cafferty chimes suggesting that Climate Change is NOT caused by CO2 emissions!
______________________________________________________________

Al Gore called global warming "An Inconvenient Truth"... but suddenly a lot of people are asking what the truth really is. It's been dubbed ClimateGate.<http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/02/has-scientific-community-has-been-honest-about-global-warming/ >  CNN: caffertyfile,  Has scientific community been honest about global warming?

ZetaTalk: When Lies Fail  [written Feb 17, 2006]

When the cover-ups on the alien presence and the approach of Planet X first started, back in the days of Roswell, this was to be primarily supression of information, along with some fear inducing disinformation to keep people from pursuing the matter. UFO's were routinely called swamp gas and weather balloons, and the CIA spread rumors of aliens in underground chambers eating human body parts floating in vats. This involved NASA air brushing UFO's out of photos, suppression of real UFO sightings in the news, project Blue Book, government sponsored skeptics prominent in the media, and faked eye witness reports. This is still the mode today, almost 60 years later, though the mechanisms have failed. They were overrun with genuine reports of contactee experiences, many using the Internet to spread the word, and mass sightings where thousands would view a UFO blitz, simultaneously, so the news seeped past the media suppression, forcing the media to address the issue to avoid the appearance of a controlled suppression. What is to be learned from the breakdown of the cover-up on the alien presence? Sheer volume of information, truth, overruns and counters a cover-up and disinformation.
How might this apply to the cover-up on Planet X? Unlike the alien presence, which was palpable at the time of Roswell, presenting itself with crashed ships and alien bodies and front page news coverage, Planet X was not expected to become an issue for decades. They had time. Thus, the cover-up has not yet broken down by the sheer volumn of information, or truth countering disinformation, but this process is evident. The plan was to claim and blame an erratic Sun for magnetic irregularities, asteroid swarms to explain the increase in fireballs, global warming to explain the melting glaciers and poles, and periodic climate change to cover weather irregularities. Since panic in the public could be assumed to be a national security threat, coercing the media and scientists and those in the know to cooperate with the cover-up was simply a matter of imposing a nation security oath on anyone needed to cooperate. But they did not know what to expect, nor could they imagine what to expect, and thus there are holes in the plan. Lies come with many faces.
More at: <http://www.zetatalk.com/index/zeta262.htm>


The earthly  ENDTIME  of the Wicked - Not the RIGHTEOUS.

From: Marie <mariemartine1966@...>
Subject: Fwd: Tea - **Wake Up White Boy**
To: mariemartine1966@...
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 4:30 PM

--- In call4investigation@yahoogroups.com, "Jade_Iconoclast" <Jade@...> wrote:

Re:Tea - **Wake Up White Boy**


That's right, the so called "hate laws" of ADL origin do NOT protect
whites against racial violence at all. ADL is a branch of B'nai B'rith,which is a comasonic org founded by Rothschild clan. So, it's NWO policy being exposed there.

Black rapper JZ has been advertizing his masonic affiliation lately
via hand signs and symbolisms in tv ads. His current video is
disturbing, showing blacks with bandanas covering thier faces, and
weapons in hand, and one demonstrates how to make and throw a molotov
coctail. It's obviously a no whites allowed party of wickedness. It
made me want an assault rifle handy at all times.

That's the masonic goal... divide along racial lines, encouraging a
violent attitude, to distract from the real enemies in the secret
societies which have hijacked govs via organized infiltration, and it
aids the depopulation agenda.

Those of african genes are better off than they would be if they'd
not been brought to the USA, but there's a collective hatred from blacks I've been encountering more and more in recent years. Those who've been to jail n the big city know that the blacks in jail are seriously hostile to whites, bullying whites.

It's like La Raza,with their plan to reclaim the SW of the USA for
Mexico, and divide the USA into racial sections, which is the same
agenda of the masonic run white supremecist groups to make the NW a
whites only zone.

The masonic plan is to literally divide up the sabotaged ruined USA,
and absorb it into the dying world disorder NWO. Serious times now, as their orchestrated treasons have serious effects.
††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††

Amendment 10 negates unconstitutional fed powers, like the 1947
National Security Act, UNpatriot Acts, international "agreements", &
federal police agencies like DHS/FBI/BATF/DEA. Federal referendums =
power to the people, once elections are unrigged.
Rev 19:11/19, Isaiah 24:21-22, Matt.13:49-50, Psalm 110:1-6 KJV (109
other versions), Ephesians 6:12, 2 Kings 10:19-30 KJV (4 Kings oher
versions)... then consider the VIPs doing Baalist rituals at Bohemian
Grove!

----- Original Message -----

From: Flyingputer
To: teaparty@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 5:18 PM
Subject: Re: Tea - Fw: **Wake Up White Boy**


      I agree. More so for the ones instilling the hatred for whites in blacks.

      This is part of a divide and conquer strategy. When you look at how these people are raised because of government programs that release them from the normal activities that force self training of discipline, self restraint and logic you see why these people can act this way. It is not race based because of genetic or other organic factors but because they see and are given by government an easier path than the schooling or apprenticeship most white parents demand their children undertake and succeed at. Parents on welfare create children full of hate for those that have and are going through the normal course of growing up as moral adults, in other words whites. It is those behind the scenes that are our real enemies.

What is really causing CLIMATE-CHANGE: CO2, The Sun, or PX?

Global atmospheric temperatures are not rising, as the media is portraying, instead they are falling. Thus, why are a few governmental forlorn scientists alone with the likes of Mr. Al Gore still vehemently clamoring like a crying 3-year-old baby that falling temperatures is not the case? However today, their misguided though profitable thesis is slowly screeching to an ignominious halt, and rightly so.
Is next all of a sudden, a fiery misbehaving Sun to be blamed in some contorted way for all the commotion? And lastly, if neither the supposed greenhouse gas CO2, nor the sun pan out to be the real cause for all the present earth change anomalies, then what in the heavens will be next?
Maybe in the message below, there is a better more reasonable explanation, albeit from beings who are from elsewhere or from above, we may find the real answer to this mystery – “What is really causing so-call CLIMATE CHANGE?
Their short answer is and always has been since 1995… the present earth changes are being caused by one rogue planet named Nibiru - aka Planet X!

From ZetaTalk: (11-28-09)   <http://zetatalk.com/index/zeta548.htm> 

[Questioner]  Big scandal this week called "Climategate". Thousands of scientist e-mails, showing the numbers for "global warming" were rigged, have been leaked. They said either hacker or inside job. What's the story and why are the mainstream media and White House ignoring it?
-
[Zeta Response]   Global Warming, as we have long stated, is not the cause of the current Earth changes, but is rather a cover chosen to explain many of the anticipated Earth changes. All was well as long as the media and the supposed scientific consensus made the statement that Global Warming was evident and undeniable. Since most people in power in the establishment are aware that there is a presence in our inner solar system likely to pass at some point, and since the establishment has the opinion that panic in the masses is the thing to fear, they pressed all those under their control to go along with this cover-up story. It is no secret that under Bush, scientists were told what to say, ordered to toe the line. The media is controlled. Al Gore went forward like a sacrificial goat to tout the line, knowing that eventually he would be shamed for this. Now that a leak has been accomplished, those in charge of the cover-up are stunned and not sure how to proceed. Their first approach is to see what the fallout might be, if excuses can suffice.
*
_________________________________________________
Here are a few more links which substantiates most of the above:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwkR3uuZMIM>  Al Gore confronted on Climategate in Chicago
-
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydo2Mwnwpac&feature=related> Climate Bombshell: Hacker leaks thousands of emails showing conspiracy to “HIDE” the real data on so-call manmade climate change!

-
<http://tadcronn.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/global-warming-consensus-31000-scientists-disagree/> Global warming ‘consensus’: 31,486 scientists disagree that global warning is real or caused by CO2 gas emissions!
 -
<http://www.petitionproject.org>  31,486 scientists signed a petition verifying that global warming is nothing but a hoax!




The earthly  ENDTIME  of the Wicked - Not the RIGHTEOUS.

UFOs or Hoaxes? [11-30-09]

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZXNI15zPYM&feature=player_embedded>
Nov. 19, 2009-White Pine Nevada UFO News Video Report

*
*

Monster Fireballs
(Bible: There will be signs in the sky even though the US Media is NOT reporting them!)
-
<http://www.bashewa.com/meteor-showers-21-Nov-2009.php?PHPSESSID=8371d77ff490470dfbca6a68f6a3defa>  
  11-21-09:   Monster Fireball explodes over Johannesburg South Africa
-
<http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8714738>   Monster terawatt meteor
11-18-09:  Meteor lights up early morning sky, alarms Utah
-
<http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/2009/11/western_fireball_may_have_been.html>
11-18-09: Brilliant meteor startled residents across parts of Idaho and northern Utah
-
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQBzTkJNhs&videos=jkRJgbXY-90> 
 10-08-09 : Indonesia fireballs
-
<http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/index_en.html>  Fireball video
____________________________________________________________________________________

ZetaTalk Comment 11/21/2009: When the debris from the tail of Planet X first started arriving in ernest, in 2004, the establishment chose to call this space junk. When the public became alarmed at the amount of space junk falling to Earth they tried to enhance the story by claiming that two satellites had crashed into each other, but this just made a bad story worse. Since fireballs have not gone away, but continued apace and if anything gotten worse, a new term has been used - asteroids. This is debris in the tail of Planet X, which is increasingly turning toward the Earth, hosed out from the N Pole of Planet X. This is why the wobble has gotten more violent, why electromagnetic disruption of dams and airplanes has occurred, and why blackouts will become more frequent. There will also be displays in the sky, some of which has already been noticed, from the electomagnetic tides assaulting the Earth's atmosphere. Stay tuned, more to come!
<http://zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue161.htm> Asteroid Blitz  from Zetatalk.com

*

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You Are The Judge!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


The earthly  ENDTIME  of the Wicked - Not the RIGHTEOUS.

From: Jade Iconoclast <jade_iconoclast@...>
Subject: Re: Please let me know your preference....
To: "Marie M. Buchanan" <mariemartine1966@...>
Date: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 10:46 PM

  Marie; I read that interesting post, suggesting an anti-secret society
forming to counter the NWO societies. I'm not sure if that's a good idea
or not.

    The thing about freedom of speech and press and religion in the USA
is it requires tolerance of views we don't totally agree with. Deletions
are censorship, which you have the yahoo given right to do, but ethicly
may not always be the right thing to do, while preaching
constitutionality over tyranny.

    Not every post made to your groups reflects on you. I'm sure I could
post on subjects you'd consider censoring, rather than being identified
with. That author seems to be against the masonic world disorder, with
respect for freedoms.

    "Now the Lord is that spirit; and where the spirit of the Lord is,
there is LIBERTY"- 2 Corinthians 3:17.

    Thanks for asking my opinion, anyhow. Think how that guy will view
not being allowed, and may attack you as a censor later on other groups.
You can always reply to any post you don't agree with.

    I never heard of that author before now, and cannot judge based on
that one post.
††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††

 

--- In WELCOME_TO_THE_HOMELAND_OF_THE_JESUITS_DISORDER@yahoogroups.com, David Irons <jazforyou@...> wrote:

From: David Irons <jazforyou@...> Date: Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:04 pm Subject: Re: [WELCOME_TO_THE_HOMELAND_OF_THE_JESUITS_DISORDER] RESEARCH ABOUT TOMMY WATTS, THE SELF-APPOINTED EDUCATOR OF THE MASSES

jazforyou Offline Send Message Edit Membership

Masons founded this country.  After we are enslaved by the new world disorder, it may well me masons who start the second revolution.  We need our own secret societies to fight the secret societies that are now bent on controlling us.  Instead of villianizing the masons we should seek to place freedom minded individuals in positions of power.  Some bad masons have done much harm however; the same has also done much good.    Lets wise up.  The new world order divides us and gets us to expend our efforts in fighting among our selves.    We need to use the same techniques against them that they use against us: Secret societies, people in positions of power who help other freedom minded individuals attain positions of power and sometimes deceit; pretending to be in favor of an opposite view until we are able to effect change.    We must work toward the cause of free markets and natural rights.  We have the advantage because freedom is the natural tendency of human beings.  They have to reinforce disinformation again and again to gain the trust of the masses.   We only need to wake people up once and they will be changed forever.    When freedom of speech is made illegal, as it will soon be, secret societies may be one of paths left to get the message of freedom out.  For the record I am not a mason.Â

From: David Irons <jazforyou@...> Date: Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:04 pm Subject: Re: [WELCOME_TO_THE_HOMELAND_OF_THE_JESUITS_DISORDER] RESEARCH ABOUT TOMMY WATTS, THE SELF-APPOINTED EDUCATOR OF THE MASSES

jazforyou Offline Send Message Edit Membership

Masons founded this country.  After we are enslaved by the new world disorder,
it may well me masons who start the second revolution.  We need our own secret
societies to fight the secret societies that are now bent on controlling us. 
Instead of villianizing the masons we should seek to place freedom minded
individuals in positions of power.  Some bad masons have done much harm
however; the same has also done much good. 
 
Lets wise up.  The new world order divides us and gets us to expend our efforts
in fighting among our selves. 
 
We need to use the same techniques against them that they use against us: Secret
societies, people in positions of power who help other freedom minded
individuals attain positions of power and sometimes deceit; pretending to be in
favor of an opposite view until we are able to effect change. 
 
We must work toward the cause of free markets and natural rights.  We have the
advantage because freedom is the natural tendency of human beings.  They have
to reinforce disinformation again and again to gain the trust of the masses.  
We only need to wake people up once and they will be changed forever. 
 
When freedom of speech is made illegal, as it will soon be, secret societies may
be one of paths left to get the message of freedom out. 
For the record I am not a mason. 

What about the items looted or facilated their looting by the American army. Will they shown too? Or is this an invitation for the next looting session?

Google to show Iraqi museum images

The internet giant Google has announced it's going to be making available online much of the Iraqi national museum's collection.

The search engine's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, made the announcement during a visit to the museum, where he said 14,000 images would be carried on Google, documenting the development of civilisation in Iraq from prehistoric to Islamic times.

People Sick from Flameproof Mattresses

Eric North, Washington DC  20011
My partner and I have been stumped trying to figure out why we are having chronic skin rashes since sleeping on our mattress purchased in August 07. Most outbreaks occurring on the side on which we normally sleep

Diane Sandstrum, Broomfield CO 80023
I am currently battling many symptoms after sleeping on a 'flameproof' bed. I have experienced hives, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, dizziness, anxiety, panic, vision problems, and other symptoms.

Jan Young, Muskego WI 53150
We have gone thru 3 mattresses in the last 2 months. They all made us sick with flame retardants. We can't find a mattress without these chemicals. Help!

Patrick Mallo
I had difficulty breathing at night after 1 week in the bed. I forced the return of the bed and got 85% of my money back.

Carey Ann Holcomb, Ojai CA 93023
I have become sick from 2 mattresses that had heavy odor from flame retardant. My youngest son who often comes to sleep in my bed also has become sick from the mattresses.

Mary Ludwig
My son was poisoned using an expensive brand name crib mattress. ... Alex used to bounce in his crib and cry for hours. ...Alex's antimony levels were so high it almost killed him on his heavy metals tests.

Dorothy Doelger, Stillwater OK 74075
My daughter became very ill from her new mattress (vomiting, shaking, headache, sweating) and it took three months to get the toxins out of her system.

Joyce Skwor, Greenville MS  38701
I got a rash on my skin and now my eyes are red . And the only thing new in my life was the new mattress set by Serta .

Requested Confidential (Mattress factory employees)
I work at a large bedding manufacturing plant that distributes mattresses to the east cost with approx. 300 stores. The employees at the plant are complaining of sore throats, skin irritations and in some cases running noses and nose bleeds.

Requested Confidential (Different mattress company and state than above)
I work at a Simmons mattress factory. The employees here are having difficulty's health wise. Mostly respiratory. About 20 people called OSHA and complained which only angered our CEO and upper management. They held a meeting a few days ago saying "A handful of people are having problems" which they continued to repeat through out the meeting. Well 20 people may be a handful if we are talking about a huge population of people but only about 90 people work in our plant per shift and only a handful (about 20) people handle the FR material. Anyways they told us "If anyone complains about any reaction to the FR material they will be required to use the extra safety equipment ( Air tight goggles, respirators, full body smocks etc.) for the eternity of their employment".

Requested Confidential (Female mattress factory employee)
I watch the effects of this to our workforce daily. I work at Simmons Mattress in Janesville WI. We are concerned that the chemicals are harmful. All we hear is FR is government mandated. What is wrong with our government?

Rick Cassidy, (Mattress Manufacturer Employee) Baton Rouge LA 70802
This topic of toxic FR Materials is being held a secret by importers from China. My former employer knowingly withheld this information from the largest retail customer in the California market. Antimony Trioxide is commonly used as a fire retardant chemical additive and is a known carcinogen as I understand from a US testing facility. I was told to keep this quiet by my employer or I would lose my position as product designer and marketing executive. That's what happened. I agree that the unaware consumer is at severe long term risk with this US government mandated FR compliance.

Lisa Werenskjold, Glasgow KY 42141
I recently purchased a Stearns and Foster mattress. My eyes began to burn after sleeping on this mattress and I couldn't even be in the room with it.

Cheryl Anderson,
My first night I couldn't sleep and got a fever and headache, one night I was sick to my stomach. We flew out the next day for a week in Portland slept fine. Came back to our new mattress and for four days straight I couldn't sleep and same thing happened, fever, face flushed sick to stomach and migraine. ... So I am writing to you in case you are thinking about buying a new mattress, beware of the toxins.

Mike Kelly, 78759
Researching the cause of my rashes, which I think are from my bed.

Jennifer Benton, San Francisco CA 94109
I slept on a flame retardant mattress for about 3 months, and developed a horrible skin rash on my face and swollen lips. ... Before the purchase of the flame retardant bed, I had none of these issues. My skin was perfect. If I had known that the bed had been treated with toxic chemicals I never would have purchased it. These resulting health issues have now cost me more than $5000 and quite a bit of pain and suffering.

Frank Moshman, Maybrook NJ  12543
I recently bought a new mattress. The smell is awful and I already developed a huge skin rash which I read could be an effect of the boric acid.

Richard Pitts, Brighton CO 80601
My wife and I are now chemical sensitive from our bed.

Mike
I started developing a rash that first appeared on my lower back but has since appeared on my arms, the sides of my torso and hips and upper back primarily. It seems to be happening on pressure points where my body meets the bed.

Robert Archer, Sedona AZ 86340
I am sick from a new mattresses I recently purchased.

Lynn Trudel, Finchburg MA  01420
Am on my second mattress - first Simmons then Sealy. Both have odors and am allergic to both with no chance for a refund.

Howard Nussdor, Huntington NY  11743
I am suffering ill affects by a recently purchased mattress.

Dr Lawrence A. Plumlee,  MD
Chemical Sensitivity Disorders Association
Dallas, TX 75220-3757

The benefits do not outweigh the risks. I know many chemically sensitive people who do not tolerate treated mattresses. And how many are intolerant who don't know why they can't sleep or feel bad?

Phil Fleming, Seattle WA  98166
The new Serta I bought at Costco this spring is giving me huge headaches and joint pain. I went back to a 8 yr old bed and immediately felt better.

Kirsten Surratt, BS, Peoria IL  61615, Friend had similar problem
"Bought a chemical treated mattress, broke out in a rash/itchy skin, have sore throat and increased frequency of my migraines and sinus problems."

Robert L Chavoya, BA, Lockhart TX  78644
My wife and I purchased a Serta mattress (Pillow top)a month ago. The first was soiled and was exchanged. The second and our current third mattress has a caustic odor that permeates the house and causes our eyes to water and throats to itch. The Serta folks advised us to air it out. I've sealed off the bedroom and had a heavy duty fan blowing directly on the mattress (the second mattress for 7 days) the third mattress for 3 days. The odor is not going away. Our master bedroom is completely sealed off from the rest of house with windows open.

"We are both in our senior years; we've had a few mattresses in our life times. But this is the first that is fire retardant and the first that has caused us extreme physical discomfort with allergic/cold type symptoms. I'm currently in contact with Serta management, but I believe that this treated mattress will not be part of our household much longer. They insist that the mattress itself is not treated with any chemicals, but that the different materials that are used to patch the mattress together have fire-retardant features. "

[Serta has previously admitted they use Boric Acid to the Washington Post and others. Kevlar is used in the yellow thread you see on the perimeter of the mattress to hold it together, but this is not the flameproofing system. The CPSC report table 1 proves the cotton batting flameproofing system contains 7.5% Boric Acid and 2.4% Antimony. With no labeling requirements, it is typical for mattress makers to deny using chemicals!]

Dr. Donald Stone, Ph.D., Oakland CA  94618
I have fairly regular tolerance to a variety of toxic chemicals but demonstrated chemical sensitivity to formaldehyde. For instance when rugs used greater concentrations in the backing glues I would last about 2 minutes in a carpet store before I got faint. I now can last a half an hour. "A recently purchased mattress has given me the familiar symptoms of formaldehyde poisoning. When I did a little research into the new requirements for flame retardants, I was appalled at what is going into mattresses, and without any adequate labeling.  People buying flame retardant mattresses should be paid for participating in an experimental trial of an inadequately tested product. Not required by law to get a Dr's prescription to have the privilege of paying huge sums to purchase expensive mattresses without flame retardants. "

Ann Natale, BS, Rockford IL  61107
"I am currently suffering severe allergic reactions to my new Sealy mattress. The store, Slumberland and its rep deny any problems from the Boric acid. I am excited to find this site that will help ban boric acid."

Thank you for your work.

Linda Merrill, Columbia TN  38401
My good friend acquired asthma after prolonged exposure to boric acid.  (carpet treatment)   Subsequently, she died from an asthma attack.   This happened over a period of two years!!! 

I DO NOT WANT MICROPARTICLES OF BORIC ACID FLOATING OUT FROM MY MATTRESS EVERY TIME I LAY DOWN OR MOVE AND THE MATTRESS COMPRESSES!!

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Some people are called Canaries because they are more sensitive than others. The real risk is long term.

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Vickie Symons, Cincinnati OH 45245
"Last month my husband and I bought two new flame-proof mattress sets for our 4 yr old twins. I was immediately nauseated and extremely fatigued after placing the mattresses in their room. We let their room air out as much as we could before they slept on them, but I was/am still incredibly concerned about the potential effects the mattresses may have on them. I did not realize how chemical-laden these mattresses were and definitely would have purchased mattresses without the flame-proofing had I been aware. Please stop this new law for the health of all."

Dr. Susan Toron, D.C., Paramus NJ  07652
"I was forced to purchase an organic bed for my son after learning he was being poisoned by the chemicals in his mattress.  In testing, he had 3x the level of antimony in his system, which was causing significant health and behavior problems (he was 4 at the time). Within 6 months of getting him out of the chemical bed and into the organic one, his antimony levels went back to normal, and his health and behavior problems stopped.  Bottom line is that we do not deserve to be poisoned by chemicals we are unaware of, especially when it comes to our mattresses. How many of us have health problems we are dealing with that are from the chemicals we are being exposed to from our mattresses.  As someone who lived through the horror of watching her son deal with chronic health and behavior problems at 4 years old, only to find out it was from his mattress, I feel these chemicals definately do not belong in our homes.  We should have a choice, don't you think.  Unfortunately, most of us do not have the knowledge to make the choice, because this information is not readily available.  Let's fight for change."

Doreen Mack, Lofty Expressions, Carson City NV  89703
I have clients who are highly allergic to any chemicals; as a matter of fact one of my clients was in the hospital with severe asthma because of a chemical in her chair that we had just purchased.  I find this absolutely absurd!  I would not want to sleep on a mattress treated in chemicals, especially Boric Acid.

Guenter Frivert, Pomp Home, Culver City CA  90232
I am very aware of these chemicals. I do have problems sleeping on a regular mattress because of these chemicals in them...unfortunately. I'm strictly against these chemicals. America the land of chemicals!

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Beware of the laws that “protect” us!

Sandra Dorsey, Fallbrook, CA 92028

Today I was able to go out and work in the garden with my husband. Hallelujah!aH What a beautiful spring day in Fallbrook, CA. Two weeks ago I could barely lift my head off the pillow; I was waking up everyday nauseated, dizzy, weak and in a fog. I have a lot of allergies and sensitivities but I had reached the point of not being able to function.

Last year we bought a new mattress. California now has a law that all mattresses must be fire-retardant. At the time of the purchase, the salesman informed me of this requirement which immediately put me on alert. I questioned the salesman at length and he reassured me that in this name-brand mattress the fire-retardant is not just sprayed on but incorporated into the fabric of the mattress. Just to be sure, I immediately put a zippered anti-allergic cover on the mattress when it was delivered. Soon after the purchase, I noticed a lot of stomach acid and reflux which I wrote off as “must have been the dinner I had tonight.” Then I gradually developed a churning stomach waking me up about 4 AM. Then diarrhea. I had a bladder infection, sinus headaches continuously, and earaches. Well maybe with so many Santa Ana winds this year I thought, there must be more allergens. Aches, pains, muscle pulls followed. In January 2006 a sensitive bladder, then multiple bladder infections that kept returning. After spending two weeks on vacation in Mexico, I felt a little better. Lots of the pains subsided. Within a week of returning home it was all back again. I woke up one morning and told my husband not to go play golf; I would have to go to the emergency room. But after getting out of bed I felt better. Well finally I put two and two together. Maybe something is wrong with this bed! I decided to sleep in the guest room on an older mattress which was manufactured before the fire-retardant requirement. Next morning I could open my eyes, and open them widely. WOW. We switched the beds, moving the older mattress into our master bedroom and our suspicious new mattress into the guest room. I have been sleeping on the old mattress for 2 weeks now and what a relief. I can go to sleep in 15 minutes as opposed to an hour. I didn’t even hear it raining during the night this week. And I can sleep until 7 AM instead 4:30 to 5 AM. When I look in the mirror I see a much more relaxed face without the furrowed brow. I can walk and smile and laugh with my husband.

Conversations with the store where I bought the mattress and the company representative have been nonproductive. I have had the mattress over a year and they cannot guarantee it or give me a prorated refund. In fact when speaking to the company representative, I mentioned driving to Arizona to purchase a mattress without the fire-retardant and he said this new requirement will soon be nation wide and the company is making all their mattresses with fire-retardant now.

I have my life back now but how many other people will suffer from this unnecessary exposure to added chemicals. Some mattress companies will be using other more lethal chemicals or even spraying on the retardant. I feel sorry for the infants who are placed on these infected mattresses. This will surely cause more “imaginary” diseases, attention deficient, and autism. Problems with sensitivities are hard to pinpoint and many doctors are not sympathetic. If you buy a new mattress and begin to feel ill. Document your symptoms and complain to the maker immediately. Don’t make excuses like I did. These laws that are made to “protect” us do everything but. What we need to be healthier are natural fibers and fewer chemicals not more.



Sandra Dorsey

Fallbrook, CA 92028

Source:

http://www.strobel.com/people_sick.htm

Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan' from The Nation

Mrs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutto was murdered by her husband / CIA three weeks after she unevield to the world that Bin Ladin was executed in 2002 by a CIA agent she named.  Now there are good reasons to know what is the role of Bhutto husband, who is running the country now. Every Pakistani in the world will tell you many evidences how the current ruler of Pakistan is just a CIA thug.

I hope also that China pays attention to what is happening in Pakistan.. China was having a big role in Pakistan. Now it is not paying attention to this. Being a merchant no 1 , needs political and power existence. China must not allow American presence in Pakistan.. It is a threat to China. I hope Chinese will realize this before it is too late to handle. S1000+

Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan' from The Nation

From: Sumerian.. <sumerian100@...>
Subject: USA's Secret existance - Now near China
To: sumerian100@googlegroups.com
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 11:49 AM

Mrs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutto was murdered by her husband / CIA three weeks after she unevield to the world that Bin Ladin was executed in 2002 by a CIA agent she named.  Now there are good reasons to know what is the role of Bhutto husband, who is running the country now. Every Pakistani in the world will tell you many evidences how the current ruler of Pakistan is just a CIA thug. I hope also that China pays attention to what is happening in Pakistan.. China was having a big role in Pakistan. Now it is not paying attention to this. Being a merchant no 1 , needs political and power existence. China must not allow American presence in Pakistan.. It is a threat to China. I hope Chinese will realize this before it is too late to handle. S1000+ ======= S1000+ ======= --- On Wed, 11/25/09, Sumerian.. <sumerian100@...> wrote: From: Sumerian.. <sumerian100@...> Subject: Blackwater's Secret existance in Pakistan To: "sumerian" <sumerian100@...> Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 11:47 AM Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan' from The Nation Wednesday, November 25, 2009 11:10 AM From: "Neil van der Linden" <nvdl@...> If you like this article, please consider subscribing to The Nation at special discounted rates. You can order online at https://ssl.thenation.com/sumo/EMAILARTLINK or call our toll-free number at 1-800-333-8536. The Nation   Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan   by Jeremy Scahill At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus. The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence. The White House did not return calls or email messages seeking comment for this story. Capt. John Kirby, the spokesperson for Adm. Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Nation, "We do not discuss current operations one way or the other, regardless of their nature." A defense official, on background, specifically denied that Blackwater performs work on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan. "We don't have any contracts to do that work for us. We don't contract that kind of work out, period," the official said. "There has not been, and is not now, contracts between JSOC and that organization for these types of services." The previously unreported program, the military intelligence source said, is distinct from the CIA assassination program that the agency's director, Leon Panetta, announced he had canceled in June 2009. "This is a parallel operation to the CIA," said the source. "They are two separate beasts." The program puts Blackwater at the epicenter of a US military operation within the borders of a nation against which the United States has not declared war--knowledge that could further strain the already tense relations between the United States and Pakistan. In 2006, the United States and Pakistan struck a deal that authorized JSOC to enter Pakistan to hunt Osama bin Laden with the understanding that Pakistan would deny it had given permission. Officially, the United States is not supposed to have any active military operations in the country. Blackwater, which recently changed its name to Xe Services and US Training Center, denies the company is operating in Pakistan. "Xe Services has only one employee in Pakistan performing construction oversight for the U.S. Government," Blackwater spokesperson Mark Corallo said in a statement to The Nation, adding that the company has "no other operations of any kind in Pakistan." A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counterterrorism and covert operations force within the military. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in counter-terrorism operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan. This arrangement, the former executive said, allows the Pakistani government to utilize former US Special Operations forces who now work for Blackwater while denying an official US military presence in the country. He also confirmed that Blackwater has a facility in Karachi and has personnel deployed elsewhere in Pakistan. The former executive spoke on condition of anonymity. His account and that of the military intelligence source were borne out by a US military source who has knowledge of Special Forces actions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. When asked about Blackwater's covert work for JSOC in Pakistan, this source, who also asked for anonymity, told The Nation, "From my information that I have, that is absolutely correct," adding, "There's no question that's occurring." "It wouldn't surprise me because we've outsourced nearly everything," said Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, when told of Blackwater's role in Pakistan. Wilkerson said that during his time in the Bush administration, he saw the beginnings of Blackwater's involvement with the sensitive operations of the military and CIA. "Part of this, of course, is an attempt to get around the constraints the Congress has placed on DoD. If you don't have sufficient soldiers to do it, you hire civilians to do it. I mean, it's that simple. It would not surprise me." The Counterterrorism Tag Team in Karachi The covert JSOC program with Blackwater in Pakistan dates back to at least 2007, according to the military intelligence source. The current head of JSOC is Vice Adm. William McRaven, who took over the post from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC from 2003 to 2008 before being named the top US commander in Afghanistan.  Blackwater's presence in Pakistan is "not really visible, and that's why nobody has cracked down on it," said the source. Blackwater's operations in Pakistan, he said, are not done through State Department contracts or publicly identified Defense contracts. "It's Blackwater via JSOC, and it's a classified no-bid [contract] approved on a rolling basis." The main JSOC/Blackwater facility in Karachi, according to the source, is nondescript: three trailers with various generators, satellite phones and computer systems are used as a makeshift operations center. "It's a very rudimentary operation," says the source. "I would compare it to [CIA] outposts in Kurdistan or any of the Special Forces outposts. It's very bare bones, and that's the point." Blackwater's work for JSOC in Karachi is coordinated out of a Task Force based at Bagram Air Base in neighboring Afghanistan, according to the military intelligence source. While JSOC technically runs the operations in Karachi, he said, it is largely staffed by former US special operations soldiers working for a division of Blackwater, once known as Blackwater SELECT, and intelligence analysts working for a Blackwater affiliate, Total Intelligence Solutions (TIS), which is owned by Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince. The military source said that the name Blackwater SELECT may have been changed recently. Total Intelligence, which is run out of an office on the ninth floor of a building in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia, is staffed by former analysts and operatives from the CIA, DIA, FBI and other agencies. It is modeled after the CIA's counterterrorism center. In Karachi, TIS runs a "media-scouring/open-source network," according to the source. Until recently, Total Intelligence was run by two former top CIA officials, Cofer Black and Robert Richer, both of whom have left the company. In Pakistan, Blackwater is not using either its original name or its new moniker, Xe Services, according to the former Blackwater executive. "They are running most of their work through TIS because the other two [names] have such a stain on them," he said. Corallo, the Blackwater spokesperson, denied that TIS or any other division or affiliate of Blackwater has any personnel in Pakistan. The US military intelligence source said that Blackwater's classified contracts keep getting renewed at the request of JSOC. Blackwater, he said, is already so deeply entrenched that it has become a staple of the US military operations in Pakistan. According to the former Blackwater executive, "The politics that go with the brand of BW is somewhat set aside because what you're doing is really one military guy to another." Blackwater's first known contract with the CIA for operations in Afghanistan was awarded in 2002 and was for work along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified "black" operations. "With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above 'secret'--even though you have no business doing so," said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that "do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust," he added. "Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That's exactly what it is: a circle of love." Blackwater, therefore, has access to "all source" reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. "That's how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors," said the source. "We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don't unless they ask." According to the source, Blackwater has effectively marketed itself as a company whose operatives have "conducted lethal direct action missions and now, for a price, you can have your own planning cell. JSOC just ate that up," he said, adding, "They have a sizable force in Pakistan--not for any nefarious purpose if you really want to look at it that way--but to support a legitimate contract that's classified for JSOC." Blackwater's Pakistan JSOC contracts are secret and are therefore shielded from public oversight, he said. The source is not sure when the arrangement with JSOC began, but he says that a spin-off of Blackwater SELECT "was issued a no-bid contract for support to shooters for a JSOC Task Force and they kept extending it." Some of the Blackwater personnel, he said, work undercover as aid workers. "Nobody even gives them a second thought." The military intelligence source said that the Blackwater/JSOC Karachi operation is referred to as "Qatar cubed," in reference to the US forward operating base in Qatar that served as the hub for the planning and implementation of the US invasion of Iraq. "This is supposed to be the brave new world," he says. "This is the Jamestown of the new millennium and it's meant to be a lily pad. You can jump off to Uzbekistan, you can jump back over the border, you can jump sideways, you can jump northwest. It's strategically located so that they can get their people wherever they have to without having to wrangle with the military chain of command in Afghanistan, which is convoluted. They don't have to deal with that because they're operating under a classified mandate." In addition to planning drone strikes and operations against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan for both JSOC and the CIA, the Blackwater team in Karachi also helps plan missions for JSOC inside Uzbekistan against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to the military intelligence source. Blackwater does not actually carry out the operations, he said, which are executed on the ground by JSOC forces. "That piqued my curiosity and really worries me because I don't know if you noticed but I was never told we are at war with Uzbekistan," he said. "So, did I miss something, did Rumsfeld come back into power?" Pakistan's Military Contracting Maze Blackwater, according to the military intelligence source, is not doing the actual killing as part of its work in Pakistan. "The SELECT personnel are not going into places with private aircraft and going after targets," he said. "It's not like Blackwater SELECT people are running around assassinating people." Instead, US Special Forces teams carry out the plans developed in part by Blackwater. The military intelligence source drew a distinction between the Blackwater operatives who work for the State Department, which he calls "Blackwater Vanilla," and the seasoned Special Forces veterans who work on the JSOC program. "Good or bad, there's a small number of people who know how to pull off an operation like that. That's probably a good thing," said the source. "It's the Blackwater SELECT people that have and continue to plan these types of operations because they're the only people that know how and they went where the money was. It's not trigger-happy fucks, like some of the PSD [Personal Security Detail] guys. These are not people that believe that Barack Obama is a socialist, these are not people that kill innocent civilians. They're very good at what they do." The former Blackwater executive, when asked for confirmation that Blackwater forces were not actively killing people in Pakistan, said, "that's not entirely accurate." While he concurred with the military intelligence source's description of the JSOC and CIA programs, he pointed to another role Blackwater is allegedly playing in Pakistan, not for the US government but for Islamabad. According to the executive, Blackwater works on a subcontract for Kestral Logistics, a powerful Pakistani firm, which specializes in military logistical support, private security and intelligence consulting. It is staffed with former high-ranking Pakistani army and government officials. While Kestral's main offices are in Pakistan, it also has branches in several other countries. A spokesperson for the US State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), which is responsible for issuing licenses to US corporations to provide defense-related services to foreign governments or entities, would neither confirm nor deny for The Nation that Blackwater has a license to work in Pakistan or to work with Kestral. "We cannot help you," said department spokesperson David McKeeby after checking with the relevant DDTC officials. "You'll have to contact the companies directly." Blackwater's Corallo said the company has "no operations of any kind" in Pakistan other than the one employee working for the DoD. Kestral did not respond to inquiries from The Nation. According to federal lobbying records, Kestral recently hired former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who served in that post from 2003 to 2005, to lobby the US government, including the State Department, USAID and Congress, on foreign affairs issues "regarding [Kestral's] capabilities to carry out activities of interest to the United States." Noriega was hired through his firm, Vision Americas, which he runs with Christina Rocca, a former CIA operations official who served as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 2001 to 2006 and was deeply involved in shaping US policy toward Pakistan. In October 2009, Kestral paid Vision Americas $15,000 and paid a Vision Americas-affiliated firm, Firecreek Ltd., an equal amount to lobby on defense and foreign policy issues. For years, Kestral has done a robust business in defense logistics with the Pakistani government and other nations, as well as top US defense companies. Blackwater owner Erik Prince is close with Kestral CEO Liaquat Ali Baig, according to the former Blackwater executive. "Ali and Erik have a pretty close relationship," he said. "They've met many times and struck a deal, and they [offer] mutual support for one another." Working with Kestral, he said, Blackwater has provided convoy security for Defense Department shipments destined for Afghanistan that would arrive in the port at Karachi. Blackwater, according to the former executive, would guard the supplies as they were transported overland from Karachi to Peshawar and then west through the Torkham border crossing, the most important supply route for the US military in Afghanistan. According to the former executive, Blackwater operatives also integrate with Kestral's forces in sensitive counterterrorism operations in the North-West Frontier Province, where they work in conjunction with the Pakistani Interior Ministry's paramilitary force, known as the Frontier Corps (alternately referred to as "frontier scouts"). The Blackwater personnel are technically advisers, but the former executive said that the line often gets blurred in the field. Blackwater "is providing the actual guidance on how to do [counterterrorism operations] and Kestral's folks are carrying a lot of them out, but they're having the guidance and the overwatch from some BW guys that will actually go out with the teams when they're executing the job," he said. "You can see how that can lead to other things in the border areas." He said that when Blackwater personnel are out with the Pakistani teams, sometimes its men engage in operations against suspected terrorists. "You've got BW guys that are assisting... and they're all going to want to go on the jobs--so they're going to go with them," he said. "So, the things that you're seeing in the news about how this Pakistani military group came in and raided this house or did this or did that--in some of those cases, you're going to have Western folks that are right there at the house, if not in the house." Blackwater, he said, is paid by the Pakistani government through Kestral for consulting services. "That gives the Pakistani government the cover to say, 'Hey, no, we don't have any Westerners doing this. It's all local and our people are doing it.' But it gets them the expertise that Westerners provide for [counterterrorism]-related work." The military intelligence source confirmed Blackwater works with the Frontier Corps, saying, "There's no real oversight. It's not really on people's radar screen." In October, in response to Pakistani news reports that a Kestral warehouse in Islamabad was being used to store heavy weapons for Blackwater, the US Embassy in Pakistan released a statement denying the weapons were being used by "a private American security contractor." The statement said, "Kestral Logistics is a private logistics company that handles the importation of equipment and supplies provided by the United States to the Government of Pakistan. All of the equipment and supplies were imported at the request of the Government of Pakistan, which also certified the shipments." Who is Behind the Drone Attacks? Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the United States has expanded drone bombing raids in Pakistan. Obama first ordered a drone strike against targets in North and South Waziristan on January 23, and the strikes have been conducted consistently ever since. The Obama administration has now surpassed the number of Bush-era strikes in Pakistan and has faced fierce criticism from Pakistan and some US lawmakers over civilian deaths. A drone attack in June killed as many as sixty people attending a Taliban funeral. In August, the New York Times reported that Blackwater works for the CIA at "hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company's contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft." In February, The Times of London obtained a satellite image of a secret CIA airbase in Shamsi, in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, showing three drone aircraft. The New York Times also reported that the agency uses a secret base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to strike in Pakistan. The military intelligence source says that the drone strike that reportedly killed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, his wife and his bodyguards in Waziristan in August was a CIA strike, but that many others attributed in media reports to the CIA are actually JSOC strikes. "Some of these strikes are attributed to OGA [Other Government Agency, intelligence parlance for the CIA], but in reality it's JSOC and their parallel program of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] because they also have access to UAVs. So when you see some of these hits, especially the ones with high civilian casualties, those are almost always JSOC strikes." The Pentagon has stated bluntly, "There are no US military strike operations being conducted in Pakistan." The military intelligence source also confirmed that Blackwater continues to work for the CIA on its drone bombing program in Pakistan, as previously reported in the New York Times, but added that Blackwater is working on JSOC's drone bombings as well. "It's Blackwater running the program for both CIA and JSOC," said the source. When civilians are killed, "people go, 'Oh, it's the CIA doing crazy shit again unchecked.' Well, at least 50 percent of the time, that's JSOC [hitting] somebody they've identified through HUMINT [human intelligence] or they've culled the intelligence themselves or it's been shared with them and they take that person out and that's how it works." The military intelligence source says that the CIA operations are subject to Congressional oversight, unlike the parallel JSOC bombings. "Targeted killings are not the most popular thing in town right now and the CIA knows that," he says. "Contractors and especially JSOC personnel working under a classified mandate are not [overseen by Congress], so they just don't care. If there's one person they're going after and there's thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That's the mentality." He added, "They're not accountable to anybody and they know that. It's an open secret, but what are you going to do, shut down JSOC?" In addition to working on covert action planning and drone strikes, Blackwater SELECT also provides private guards to perform the sensitive task of security for secret US drone bases, JSOC camps and Defense Intelligence Agency camps inside Pakistan, according to the military intelligence source. Mosharraf Zaidi, a well-known Pakistani journalist who has served as a consultant for the UN and European Union in Pakistan and Afghanistan, says that the Blackwater/JSOC program raises serious questions about the norms of international relations. "The immediate question is, How do you define the active pursuit of military objectives in a country with which not only have you not declared war but that is supposedly a front-line non-NATO ally in the US struggle to contain extremist violence coming out of Afghanistan and the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan?" asks Zaidi, who is currently a columnist for The News, the biggest English-language daily in Pakistan. "Let's forget Blackwater for a second. What this is confirming is that there are US military operations in Pakistan that aren't about logistics or getting food to Bagram; that are actually about the exercise of physical violence, physical force inside of Pakistani territory." JSOC: Rumsfeld and Cheney's Extra Special Force Colonel Wilkerson said that he is concerned that with General McChrystal's elevation as the military commander of the Afghan war--which is increasingly seeping into Pakistan--there is a concomitant rise in JSOC's power and influence within the military structure. "I don't see how you can escape that; it's just a matter of the way the authority flows and the power flows, and it's inevitable, I think," Wilkerson told The Nation. He added, "I'm alarmed when I see execute orders and combat orders that go out saying that the supporting force is Central Command and the supported force is Special Operations Command," under which JSOC operates. "That's backward. But that's essentially what we have today." From 2003 to 2008 McChrystal headed JSOC, which is headquartered at Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where Blackwater's 7,000-acre operating base is also situated. JSOC controls the Army's Delta Force, the Navy's SEAL Team 6, as well as the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and the Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron. JSOC performs strike operations, reconnaissance in denied areas and special intelligence missions. Blackwater, which was founded by former Navy SEALs, employs scores of veteran Special Forces operators--which several former military officials pointed to as the basis for Blackwater's alleged contracts with JSOC. Since 9/11, many top-level Special Forces veterans have taken up employment with private firms, where they can make more money doing the highly specialized work they did in uniform. "The Blackwater individuals have the experience. A lot of these individuals are retired military, and they've been around twenty to thirty years and have experience that the younger Green Beret guys don't," said retired Army Lieut. Col. Jeffrey Addicott, a well-connected military lawyer who served as senior legal counsel for US Army Special Forces. "They're known entities. Everybody knows who they are, what their capabilities are, and they've got the experience. They're very valuable." "They make much more money being the smarts of these operations, planning hits in various countries and basing it off their experience in Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Ethiopia," said the military intelligence source. "They were there for all of these things, they know what the hell they're talking about. And JSOC has unfortunately lost the institutional capability to plan within, so they hire back people that used to work for them and had already planned and executed these [types of] operations. They hired back people that jumped over to Blackwater SELECT and then pay them exorbitant amounts of money to plan future operations. It's a ridiculous revolving door." While JSOC has long played a central role in US counterterrorism and covert operations, military and civilian officials who worked at the Defense and State Departments during the Bush administration described in interviews with The Nation an extremely cozy relationship that developed between the executive branch (primarily through Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) and JSOC. During the Bush era, Special Forces turned into a virtual stand-alone operation that acted outside the military chain of command and in direct coordination with the White House. Throughout the Bush years, it was largely General McChrystal who ran JSOC. "What I was seeing was the development of what I would later see in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Special Operations forces would operate in both theaters without the conventional commander even knowing what they were doing," said Colonel Wilkerson. "That's dangerous, that's very dangerous. You have all kinds of mess when you don't tell the theater commander what you're doing." Wilkerson said that almost immediately after assuming his role at the State Department under Colin Powell, he saw JSOC being politicized and developing a close relationship with the executive branch. He saw this begin, he said, after his first Delta Force briefing at Fort Bragg. "I think Cheney and Rumsfeld went directly into JSOC. I think they went into JSOC at times, perhaps most frequently, without the SOCOM [Special Operations] commander at the time even knowing it. The receptivity in JSOC was quite good," says Wilkerson. "I think Cheney was actually giving McChrystal instructions, and McChrystal was asking him for instructions." He said the relationship between JSOC and Cheney and Rumsfeld "built up initially because Rumsfeld didn't get the responsiveness. He didn't get the can-do kind of attitude out of the SOCOM commander, and so as Rumsfeld was wont to do, he cut him out and went straight to the horse's mouth. At that point you had JSOC operating as an extension of the [administration] doing things the executive branch--read: Cheney and Rumsfeld--wanted it to do. This would be more or less carte blanche. You need to do it, do it. It was very alarming for me as a conventional soldier." Wilkerson said the JSOC teams caused diplomatic problems for the United States across the globe. "When these teams started hitting capital cities and other places all around the world, [Rumsfeld] didn't tell the State Department either. The only way we found out about it is our ambassadors started to call us and say, 'Who the hell are these six-foot-four white males with eighteen-inch biceps walking around our capital cities?' So we discovered this, we discovered one in South America, for example, because he actually murdered a taxi driver, and we had to get him out of there real quick. We rendered him--we rendered him home." As part of their strategy, Rumsfeld and Cheney also created the Strategic Support Branch (SSB), which pulled intelligence resources from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA for use in sensitive JSOC operations. The SSB was created using "reprogrammed" funds "without explicit congressional authority or appropriation," according to the Washington Post. The SSB operated outside the military chain of command and circumvented the CIA's authority on clandestine operations. Rumsfeld created it as part of his war to end "near total dependence on CIA." Under US law, the Defense Department is required to report all deployment orders to Congress. But guidelines issued in January 2005 by former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone stated that Special Operations forces may "conduct clandestine HUMINT operations...before publication" of a deployment order. This effectively gave Rumsfeld unilateral control over clandestine operations. The military intelligence source said that when Rumsfeld was defense secretary, JSOC was deployed to commit some of the "darkest acts" in part to keep them concealed from Congress. "Everything can be justified as a military operation versus a clandestine intelligence performed by the CIA, which has to be informed to Congress," said the source. "They were aware of that and they knew that, and they would exploit it at every turn and they took full advantage of it. They knew they could act extra-legally and nothing would happen because A, it was sanctioned by DoD at the highest levels, and B, who was going to stop them? They were preparing the battlefield, which was on all of the PowerPoints: 'Preparing the Battlefield.'" The significance of the flexibility of JSOC's operations inside Pakistan versus the CIA's is best summed up by Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "Every single intelligence operation and covert action must be briefed to the Congress," she said. "If they are not, that is a violation of the law." Blackwater: Company Non Grata in Pakistan For months, the Pakistani media has been flooded with stories about Blackwater's alleged growing presence in the country. For the most part, these stories have been ignored by the US press and denounced as lies or propaganda by US officials in Pakistan. But the reality is that, although many of the stories appear to be wildly exaggerated, Pakistanis have good reason to be concerned about Blackwater's operations in their country. It is no secret in Washington or Islamabad that Blackwater has been a central part of the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that the company has been involved--almost from the beginning of the "war on terror"--with clandestine US operations. Indeed, Blackwater is accepting applications for contractors fluent in Urdu and Punjabi. The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has denied Blackwater's presence in the country, stating bluntly in September, "Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan." In her trip to Pakistan in October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dodged questions from the Pakistani press about Blackwater's rumored Pakistani operations. Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, said on November 21 he will resign if Blackwater is found operating anywhere in Pakistan. The Christian Science Monitor recently reported that Blackwater "provides security for a US-backed aid project" in Peshawar, suggesting the company may be based out of the Pearl Continental, a luxury hotel the United States reportedly is considering purchasing to use as a consulate in the city. "We have no contracts in Pakistan," Blackwater spokesperson Stacey DeLuke said recently. "We've been blamed for all that has gone wrong in Peshawar, none of which is true, since we have absolutely no presence there." Reports of Blackwater's alleged presence in Karachi and elsewhere in the country have been floating around the Pakistani press for months. Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani journalist who rose to fame after his 1997 interview with Osama bin Laden, claimed in a recent interview that Blackwater is in Karachi. "The US [intelligence] agencies think that a number of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are hiding in Karachi and Peshawar," he said. "That is why [Blackwater] agents are operating in these two cities." Ambassador Patterson has said that the claims of Mir and other Pakistani journalists are "wildly incorrect," saying they had compromised the security of US personnel in Pakistan. On November 20 the Washington Times, citing three current and former US intelligence officials, reported that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has "found refuge from potential U.S. attacks" in Karachi "with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service." In September, the Pakistani press covered a report on Blackwater allegedly submitted by Pakistan's intelligence agencies to the federal interior ministry. In the report, the intelligence agencies reportedly allege that Blackwater was provided houses by a federal minister who is also helping them clear shipments of weapons and vehicles through Karachi's Port Qasim on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The military intelligence source did not confirm this but did say, "The port jives because they have a lot of [former] SEALs and they would revert to what they know: the ocean, instead of flying stuff in." The Nation cannot independently confirm these allegations and has not seen the Pakistani intelligence report. But according to Pakistani press coverage, the intelligence report also said Blackwater has acquired "bungalows" in the Defense Housing Authority in the city. According to the DHA website, it is a large residential estate originally established "for the welfare of the serving and retired officers of the Armed Forces of Pakistan." Its motto is: "Home for Defenders." The report alleges Blackwater is receiving help from local government officials in Karachi and is using vehicles with license plates traditionally assigned to members of the national and provincial assemblies, meaning local law enforcement will not stop them. The use of private companies like Blackwater for sensitive operations such as drone strikes or other covert work undoubtedly comes with the benefit of plausible deniability that places an additional barrier in an already deeply flawed system of accountability. When things go wrong, it's the contractors' fault, not the government's. But the widespread use of contractors also raises serious legal questions, particularly when they are a part of lethal, covert actions. "We are using contractors for things that in the past might have been considered to be a violation of the Geneva Convention," said Lt. Col. Addicott, who now runs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. "In my opinion, we have pressed the envelope to the breaking limit, and it's almost a fiction that these guys are not in offensive military operations." Addicott added, "If we were subjected to the International Criminal Court, some of these guys could easily be picked up, charged with war crimes and put on trial. That's one of the reasons we're not members of the International Criminal Court." If there is one quality that has defined Blackwater over the past decade, it is the ability to survive against the odds while simultaneously reinventing and rebranding itself. That is most evident in Afghanistan, where the company continues to work for the US military, the CIA and the State Department despite intense criticism and almost weekly scandals. Blackwater's alleged Pakistan operations, said the military intelligence source, are indicative of its new frontier. "Having learned its lessons after the private security contracting fiasco in Iraq, Blackwater has shifted its operational focus to two venues: protecting things that are in danger and anticipating other places we're going to go as a nation that are dangerous," he said. "It's as simple as that." This article can be found on the web at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill Visit The Nation http://www.thenation.com/ Subscribe to The Nation: https://ssl.thenation.com/ ======= S1000+ =======

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