9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable




"This was not something that had to happen."

"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed."

Former N.J. Governor Thomas Keane
_________

Do you think Condoleeza Rice is on the list of "The People That Would Not Still be in Their Position" if it was up to Governor Keane?


"I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile."

REALLY, Dr. Rice?
The historical facts illustrate differently:

* In 1993, a $150,000 study was commissioned by the Pentagon to investigate the possibility of an airplane being used to bomb national landmarks. A draft document of this was circulated throughout the Pentagon, the Justice Department and to FEMA.

* In 1994 a disgruntled FEDEX employee invaded the cockpit of a DC- 10 with plans to crash it into a company building in Memphis.

* In 1994, a lone pilot crashed a small plane into a tree on the White House grounds.

*In 1994, an Air France flight was hijacked by members of the Armed Islamic Group with the intent to crash the plane into the Eiffel Tower.

* In January 1995, Philippine authorities investigating Abdul Murad, an Islamic terrorist, unearthed “Project Bojinka.” Project Bojinka’s primary objective was to blow up 11 airliners over the Pacific, and in the alternative, several planes were to be hijacked and flown into civilian targets in the US. Among the targets mentioned were CIA headquarters, The World Trade Center, the Sears Tower, and the White House. Murad told US intelligence officials that he would board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an ordinary passenger. And he would then hijack the aircraft, control its cockpit and dive it at the CIA. headquarters.

* In 1997, this plot re-surfaced during the trial of Ramsi Yousef—the mastermind behind the 1993 bombings of The World Trade Center. During the trial, FBI agents testified that “the plan targeted not only the CIA but other US government buildings in Washington, including the Pentagon.”

* In September 1999, a report, The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism, was prepared for U.S. intelligence by the Federal Research Division, an arm of the Library of Congress. It stated, “Suicide bombers belonging to Al Qaeda’s Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives(c-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the CIA, or the White House.”

This laundry list of historical indicators—in no way exhaustive--illustrates that long before September 11th the American intelligence community had a significant amount of information about specific terrorist threats to commercial airline travel in America, including the possibility that a plane would be used as a weapon.

__________

"If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband [live on televison] that we wouldn't have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it."



Kristen Breitweiser, 9-11 widow of Ronald Breitweiser

Please take a few moments to read Kristen's testimony to Congress/Joint Intelligence Committee

Ralph Nader-Please See the Green Forest for the Trees


CNN: Nader eyeing another White House run


"Vote for me and I'll give you....."

".....some Democrats blamed Nader, 69, for siphoning off votes that might have gone to Democratic candidate Al Gore, especially in the hard-fought state of Florida, where Nader took 97,000 votes.

"Gore beat Gore," Nader says to those charges..."

Ralph is a good man and I don't begrudge any Green who decided to support him in 2000.

But, let's not detach ourselves from reality here.

Ralph Nader, by his determination to further the interests of the Green Party, caused the scales to reach the tipping
point in Florida in 2000, which was the proving ground..ground zero... for the injustice that resulted in the end.

Nader's means were honorable, but the end result was a disaster for anyone with Green beliefs.
They got the last President they'd ever have wanted, even in their worst nightmares.

If the belief that "Gore beat Gore" helps Ralph get to sleep at night, he should count off that silly mantra to himself as he counts his sheep.

But let's not be intellectually dishonest. We see that this nation is nearly split down the middle in the ideology department.

If Nader decides to rock the boat this time and insist on a vanity run in 2004, he may still get voters who detach themselves from the reality that a vote for him will be nothing more than a vote for Bush.
I just hope this time he (and his supporters) can admit what he may cause the end result to be.

To everything there is a season.

In the most pragmatic sense, this is simply not a season for extreme left ideology.


See DAILY KOS' opinion of a possible Nader run.

MUSIC--BEST OF
2003-
A Collection of The Lists

Aleksander Lazaveric's Desperado Politika List

1. VIRGIL SHAW - Still falling (Munich)
2. P.W. LONG - Remembered (Touch & go)
3. HOWE GELB - The Listener (Thrill jockey)
4. THE DIRTBOMBS - Dangerous Magical Noise (In the red)
5. THE LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS - Cockadoodledon't (Bloodshot)
6. CENTRO-MATIC - Love you just the same (Munich)
7. SONGS:OHIA - Magnolia electric co. (Secretly Canadian)
8. THE BE GOOD TANYAS - Chinatown (Network)
9. CALIFONE - Quicksand/Cradlesnakes (Perishable)
10. TIMESBOLD - same (Glitterhouse)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NASHVILLE SKYLINE: Some Orphaned CDs of 2003

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Altercation: Best of 2003

2003’s Best, (reserve the right to modify):

Cds:

1) Warren Zevon, The Wind

2) Joe Strummer, Streetcore, (tied for first)

3) Rosanne Cash, Rules of Travel

4) Lucinda Williams, World Without Tears

5) Stan Getz, Captain Marvel

6) Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers

7) The Allman Brothers, Live at the Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970

8) Disc 3 of The Essential Bruce Springsteen

9) June Carter Cash, Wildwood Flower

10) Television, Live at the Old Waldorf

11) Emmylou Harris, Stumble into Grace

12) Thelonious Monk—Underground

13) Jim Lauderdale and Donna the Buffalo, Wait ‘Till Spring

14) Al Green, I Can’t Stop

DVDs:

1) Concert for George (available on cd)

2) The Complete Honeymooners

3) The Old Way Whistle Test

4) Led Zeppelin,

5) Grateful Dead—The Closing of Winterland (available on cd)

6) Lennon, Legend

Box Sets:

1) The Count Basie Box

2) Miles Davis, the Live at the Blackhawk Box

3) The Nat King Cole Box

4) The Modern Jazz Quartet Box

5) The Talking Heads Box

6) The Rhino Punk box

(I don’t have the Johnny Cash box yet.)

Cultural Signifiers:

1) “Caroline or Change” by Tony Kushner at the Public Theater, NYC

2) “Angels in America” on HBO, by Tony Kushner

3) “Curb Your Enthusiasm” by Larry David on HBO

4) “Bruce, Elvis, et al singing “London Calling” at the Grammys

Biggest Disappointments:

1) Let it Be… Naked

2) Liz Phair

3) That crappy version of “Highway 61”

4) Martin Scorcese for the past decade and a half

5) The war.

6) Phil Spector (fill in the blank)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my friend Sean's list (I think he has exquisite taste!)

clem snide_soft spot ... apparently 2003 was the yr to grow up ... blink 182 and bnl did it ... maybe its bc of the fact that i despise both of those bands that i consider clem snide to be the only one able to pull it off ... lots and lots and lots of sweet and thoughtful love songs ... aside from a few bouncy moments in Action, overall mellow and in the vein of yer favorite musics slow stuff

copeland_beneath medicine tree ... is it emo? is it richard marx minus the keyboards? i dunno - but its got lyrics that remind of when counting crows were good and melodies that are as fresh in my head as the first day i heard em

fruit bats_mouthfuls ... my gut is to say that they are the shins gone bluegrass ... isnt there a song like that on shutes too narrow? well this is that, and its damned good ... fave lyric: when you love somebody and bite yer tongue - all you get is a mouthful of blood

holopaw_holopaw ... so that guy from modest mouse did an album under the name ugly casanova and then one of the guys that was in u.c. w him did this and this is just about my favorite album in yrs ... i cant descibe it bc id never come close and i think i still owe andy a copy of this - so ill send it to him along with some fruit roll ups to make up for the delay

the jealous sound_kill them with kindness ... lyrically its pretty sad stuff - not sad being awful lame what is he thinking - but sad as in someone hand me my shotgun ... vocals are somewhere between loud david bazan and quiet dave grohl

the postal service_give up ... ben from dcfc along w jenny from rilo kiley ... i dont care if he's playing spoons while she sings the phonebook, its a winner

long winters_when i pretend to fall ... comparisons to rem/michael stipe-esque vocals are lost on me ... personally john roderick(vocalist-guitarist) reminds me more of robert pollard at times ... lyrics are somewhere between goofy clem snide and cracker ... poppy as hell - tons of hooks and im about to get a cavity from the sweet vocal harmonies courtesy of sean nelson (formerly of harvey danger R.I.P)

the stills_logic will break yer heart ... to my ears there are elements of Ours, 80s music from john hughes films, and bits of stuff from a certain oxford band that used to actually write and perform "songs"

matthew ryan_regret over the wires ... a perfect record - more along the lines of east autumn grin ... not as all out rocking as mayday ... not nearly crawling along like a snail slow as concussion ... oh. and hes using all those bleeps and blips that mark eitzel had leftover from "the Invisible Man"

the fire theft_the fire theft ... not so sunny day real estate, as just 3 guys who used to be in sdre and are now playing church music ... maybe its the chinese food i had the first night i heard it, but ill be damned if it aint pretty pretty stuff

***right up there with the others***-----------------------------------------

11. deathcab for cutie-transatlanticism...-somewhere after the title track i lose interest... tiny vessels makes me feel better about my ex-gf ... weird

12. eels-shootenanny!-rock rock rock - lots of rockin and a fun song about girls that curse like sailors

13. the hidden cameras_the smell of our own-just like beautiful south, i can only listen in small doses ... but what fun when i do

14. okkervil river_down the river of golden dreams-im probably missing out - but nothings gonna top don't fall in love ...

15. grandaddy_sumday-probly one of the best break up records released this yr

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SF Gate: Derk's Dozen
Favorite antipop CDs of 2003

Includes Richard Thompson, Chris Smither, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, Tim Sparks, Masada Guitars (Tzadik), Lou Harrison,
Roswell Rudd, Vasen, The Be Good Tanyas, Carla Bozulich, Danny Barnes, Tord Gustavsen, David Ware, Josh Abrams,
Bettye LaVette, The Magic Band, Noe Venable, and more....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Oregonian: Top 10 CDs of 2003

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Star Telegram: Best & Worst 2003 Music

~~~~~~~~~~~~

NY TIMES: Best Classical CDs of 2003


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edmondton (Canada) Journal: 2003: The Year in Music

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well...after all the times we've been misled, it does make you wonder...
doesn't it?

"...."Once again [Rep. Jim] McDermott has embarrassed this state with his irresponsible ranting," GOP state Chairman Chris Vance said in a news release. "Calling on him to apologize is useless, but I call on other Democrats to let the public know if they agree with McDermott -- and Howard Dean, who recently said he thought it was possible that President Bush had advance knowledge about 9/11. The voters deserve to know if the entire Democratic Party believes in these sorts of bitter, paranoid conspiracy theories."

*One must ask why this perceived paranoia has become the norm when it comes to the Bush Administration. There is a direct connection between material mistrust and what is perceived as public paranoia.
Lord Acton said: 'I cannot accept, your canon that we are to judge pope and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power...Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
When I consider the Bush Administration, I realize I have not, in my lifetime, ever seen such deliberate attempt to usurp the People's power and slip that stolen power into the reserve of the Executive.
I count the many times we've been misled.
This is not anything close to clinical paranoia.

The Bush Administration will be infamously remembered for the cloak of darkness under which they operated.
See an extensive article from U.S. News and World Report about the history and timeline of the Bush Administration's active efforts to operate in secrecy.
It begins with the quote:
"Democracies die behind closed doors."
--U.S. APPEALS COURT JUDGE DAMON J. KEITH"

Executive Intelligence Review: Cheney Faction Lashes Out
Against LaRouche Exposés
_____________________

To What Extent Was Cheney Behind the Rockefeller Office Memo Theft/Leak or the Attempted Shutdown of the Senate Intelligence Commitee's probe into the Pentagon Office of Special Plans?

Ol' LaRouche must really be getting to the friends of King NeoCon, Dweller of the Cave.

"...with the publication, on Nov. 24, of a scurrilous attack on LaRouche by neo-con scribbler Kenneth R. Timmerman, in the Moonie-owned Insight magazine, it is clear that Cheney and company have launched a dirty tricks effort against the Democratic Presidential candidate..."

"....The stench of Watergate is in the air, and this time, the prime target is not the President, but Vice President Dick Cheney."

"....The leaking of the Feith annex to the neo-con media occurred simultaneously with the theft of Democratic Party staff memos from the Senate intelligence panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sources say that both the thefts and the leaking of the pilfered staff memos to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, and right-wing radio gadfly Sean Hannity, were all aimed at bullying Democrats into a defensive posture—allowing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to shut down the work of the Senate Intelligence Committee altogether, on the grounds that the Democrats were playing "partisan politics" with the national security of the United States in the midst of the "war on terror."
Several Senate sources have confirmed that Frist's unprecedented Nov. 14 shutdown of the SSCI's probe came under direct orders from the Vice President.
However, the whole scheme backfired, as Rockefeller refused to be cowed, and, instead, forced a criminal probe into the leaks and the thefts."


This companion story has been kept under the wire.

~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, in this fiasco, we see Frank Gaffney's direct involvement.
He's been actively witch-hunting Grover Norquist....and now Lyndon LaRouche.
What a litle witch-hunter Frank's been lately.
What is he trying to cover up? I mean, give me a break..and stop insulting me by thinking I'm a conspiracy theorist...
you have to wonder...

"....The Nov. 24 Insight piece, accompanied by a photograph of Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith and Pentagon Office of Special Plans (OSP) head William Luti, accused Lyndon LaRouche of being the architect of a campaign to expose the OSP as a "rogue intelligence cabal," behind the unjustified and unwarranted Iraq war. Timmerman, whose attack on LaRouche is also being promoted by neo-con propagandist Frank Gaffney, through his Center for Security Policy website, lamented, "All this silliness could become deadly serious if Senate Democrats get their way, led by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)."

~~~~~~~~~



Since we're talking about Frank Gaffney, go look at Gaffney comparing the pulling of Saddam from
a rat-hole by the matted smelly fuzz on his flea-bitten head to the BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG!

~~~~~~~~~

THIS INFURIATES ME.
I AM AN AMERICAN.


Sun Myung sticks in his thumb and pulls out anti-American dung.

Take a look at the anti-liberty/anti-American garbage INSIGHT Magazine is spewing. They are insinuating that even a two-party system is becoming "dangerous". BEWARE! By categorizing Democrats' attempts to loyally oppose a suffocating majority as "all-out assault to destroy a wartime president by manipulating rules of the Senate Intelligence Committee", they insult (and assault) the heart our very American system of checks and balances.
They are throwing out threats that you and your Representatives may be called "traitor" should you or they speak out against perceived corruption within our own free nation.
I notice many recent examples being pulled from the Civil War when comparing Bush to Lincoln and 2003 Iraq to 1860 American soil.
The War in Iraq is not the American Civil War...yet, it seems to be causing American civil fracture.
We need not call one another traitors.
We need to reflect upon why there is a threatening civil division within our own nation because of the actions of the Bush administration.
Insight Magazine just can't spin away the fact that 50% of the people in this nation are skeptical about the status of our nation in respect to the war in Iraq and what it's done to our domestic and international standing.
They cannot call us traitors and expect it to be either believed or tolerated.

Howard Dean Is On A Roll!

NY Times' Adam Nagourney "outs" a cheap and
sneaky Kerry-campaign attack
on Howard Dean

______

"If someone wants to go off the record, call me up, and I'll be glad to negotiate. But you cannot do it preemptively. I will not let someone attack someone else anonymously, which is what the Kerry campaign is trying to do."

Adam Nagourney
_____

I'm not sure who the Kerry campaign thinks they're fooling,
but now they're playing around with one of this nations'
most highly respected political journalists. Sheesh.

"...Cutter, who sent Nagourney angry e-mail messages, says her staff is trying to provide a "truth squad" about Dean. "This campaign has no problem going on the record about the facts in this race," Cutter said. "We've never had a problem with ground rules before." Meanwhile, the Kerry camp has sent another "background" e-mail titled "An Illustrated Guide to Howard Dean's Foreign Policy."
Nagourney didn't get one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attempts to smear Howard Dean grow uglier

"It is hard to overstate the enthusiasm and renewed sense of possibility that Mr Dean's campaign has provoked in a deeply demoralised Democratic Party..."

".. Even Terry McAuliffe, the DNC chairman who is officially backing nobody at this stage, found it hard to contain his enthusiasm as he talked about the party's new electronic databases listing supporters, swing voters, the issues each of them cares about, their phone numbers and email addresses.
Despite speculation about the DNC's reluctance to embrace Mr Dean's unorthodox, decentralised, internet-driven campaign, it sounded very much as though Mr McAuliffe had already factored it into his calculations."

~~~~~~~~

Recent Ad Attack on Dean, which was uglier than Republicans could have imagined creating,
was facilitated, in part, by these ugly "Democratic" folks, who have gravely misled Union contributors:

"... Americans for Jobs, Health Care & Progressive Values, was formed a month ago by veteran Democratic campaign staffers who refuse to identify their financial backers until Jan. 31. That's the deadline for the group to file federal tax forms. The group's treasurer is a longtime fundraiser for Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, one of Dean's rivals in the Democratic presidential race, and its spokesman recently quit as press secretary for Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign
Both Gephardt and Kerry have denied any involvement with the group..."

"...Robert Gleason, treasurer for the International Longshoremen's Assn., said his union also donated about $50,000 for what it thought would be general issue ads on jobs and health care, as in the group's name. When the first anti-Dean ads were aired, the union decided not to send more money..."

"...."I tell you, these ads are despicable," said Rick Sloan, communications director for the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which donated $50,000 to the effort.
"If I have my way, we'll ask for a refund."

"....[David] Jones declined to discuss how the group operates. He also declined to comment on union accusations that the group had misrepresented its campaign..."

NY Times story here

SEE THE ADVERTISEMENT BY GOING HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

NY Times Editorial: The Face of Scare Politics
December 17, 2003

"....The Osama ad was concocted with labor figures and politicians who have supported Senator John Kerry of
Massachusetts and Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Dr. Dean's primary rivals, who disown any
connection. It's always risky to ask how dumb the ad makers think voters are. But Grand Guignol attack ads underwritten
by generic-sounding committees unconnected to any particular candidate are bad politics at any season."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOPE-NOT FEAR-
See Dean Campaign Mgr. Joe Trippi's Open Letter to All Democrats' Presidential Campaigns

"..We Democrats should be committing ourselves to bringing more people into the process instead of resorting to tactics that cause more people to lose faith in politics altogether..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baltimore mayor MARTIN O'MALLEY endorses HOWARD DEAN!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dean Surges To New Lead In Latest Poll-
Primary Win By Dean Seen As Inevitable By Most

~~~~~~~~~~~

Congressman Elijah Cummings endorses Howard Dean!

~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce Babbit Endorses Howard Dean

"...Yesterday, he picked up the endorsement of former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, who served as Interior secretary during the Clinton administration. Babbitt hailed Dean as the candidate who is talking "common sense" and "facts."

~~~~~~~~~~

N.J. Governor McGreevey is planning to endorse Howard Dean and tells N.J. Democrats to start campaigning

~~~~~~~~~~

Wisconsin State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager endorses Dean and will serve as state chairwoman
for his presidential campaign

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dean Gaining Support Among Latino Leaders

~~~~~~~~~~~
Boston Globe: Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect, thinks
A Dean-Clark ticket would help..would combine Dean's excitement and nerve with the military credibility of Wesley Clark.

"...maybe Dean isn't another McGovern. Dean generates excitement not just because he empowered volunteers or because he was a consistent critic of the Iraq war but because he is tough. Consider: Recent losing Democratic nominees were all over the map ideologically. They ranged from center-right (Carter '80) to moderate liberal (Gore '00) to liberal (Mondale '84; Dukakis '88) to left-liberal (McGovern '72.)
But all these losers had one thing in common: gentleness. Despite intermittently brave rhetoric, not one of them came across as a fighter. Dean, of course, does, as Harry Truman and John Kennedy did. Much of this year's Democratic field comes across as wimpy in their cautious criticisms of Republican radicalism.
There are two huge reasons why the Democratic nominee in 2004 needs to be tough. First, George Bush is a tough guy, and the nominee needs to be tough against Bush. Second, the world is a tougher place since Sept. 11, and the president of the United States had better be tough enough to protect us."


**Bush's new re-election "campaign manager" Joe Lieberman never struck me as being
as tough as he is droopy. Most non-creatively, with the capture of Saddam Hussein, it seems he's trying to
re-reinvent the politics of the Democratic primary already reinvented by Howard Dean.
In reality, Joe's way late and many dollars short.**

~~~~~~~~

Howard Kurtz 12-17: Dean On the Griddle

( Howie exposes the folly of 'Democratic Wafflism' at its most hypocritical: )

"....along comes the capture of the mother of all Iraqi dictators and Gephardt and Kerry are in the if-we'd-listened-to-Howard-Dean-we'd-be-nowhere mode. Suddenly, they seem to feel, having been for the war is again the cool position."

~~~~~~~~

See the pathetic Dean hate-machine gearing up over at World Net Daily and NY Post. Weasels on parade.

Look at what Rush Limbaugh is saying about the Dean attack-ad:
"...This is said to be a "Republican-like" ad, even though it's been made, run and paid for by a bunch of Democrats. Folks, they are so discombobulated, they are on the run, they are just out of their minds. What could be worse than accusing someone of "Republican-like" tactics? It's just going to destroy these Democrats to be called "Republican-like" by the New York Times."