Citizens for Legitimate Government--October 6 2011

White House death panel, fully operational: Secret panel can put Americans on 'kill list' 05 Oct 2011 American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials. There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, several current and former officials said. Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate. The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged 'al Qaeda' connections, to the target list. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month.

Ron Paul: US could target journalists for killing 05 Oct 2011 Republican presidential contender Ron Paul on Wednesday suggested that the United States could assassinate journalists the same way it targeted Americans with ties to 'al-Qaida.' The Texas congressman again criticized President Barack Obama for approving last week's drone strikes in Yemen against a U.S. citizen who was tracked and executed based on secret intelligence that linked him to two failed terrorist attacks against the U.S. An American-born propagandist also died in the bombing. Paul told a National Press Club luncheon that if citizens do not protest the deaths, the country will start adding reporters to its list of threats that must be taken out. "Can you imagine being put on a list because you're a threat? What's going to happen when they come to the media? What if the media becomes a threat? ... This is the way this works. It's incrementalism," Paul said. "It's slipping and sliding, let me tell you."

NY Judge Won't Find CIA in Contempt Over Tapes 06 Oct 2011 A federal judge [U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein] declined Wednesday to find the CIA in contempt for destroying videotapes of Sept. 11 detainee prisoner interrogations, saying to do so would serve no beneficial purpose and the CIA had put in place new procedures to prevent such destruction from happening again. The government has acknowledged destroying 92 videotapes, including those containing interrogations of a high-level 'al-Qaida' lieutenant who claimed he suffered physical and mental torture at the hands of the CIA. The tapes were destroyed in 2005.

3 U.S. soldiers indicted in death of Spanish journalist 05 Oct 2011 A Spanish judge has again indicted three U.S. soldiers in connection with the death of a Spanish TV cameraman in Iraq in 2003, according to a court order viewed by CNN Wednesday. The long-running case stems from the death of the cameraman, Jose Couso, in Baghdad in 2003. U.S. troops assaulted the Iraqi capital and directed tank fire against the Palestine Hotel, where journalists covering the war were staying. The three U.S. soldiers were first indicted by the judge in 2007.

US thinking post-2014 in Afghan bases talks 04 Oct 2011 Bagram Airfield is one of the giant military bases in Afghanistan at the centre of a fierce debate over the US presence after troops withdraw. A decade after the war started on October 7, 2001, Washington has vowed to pull all combat forces out by the end of 2014 but is locked in tricky negotiations with Kabul over a strategic partnership beyond this date. While the US insists it does not want permanent bases in Afghanistan, some Afghans are suspicious of its motives and believe it is putting down long-term roots at bases like Bagram, home to 30,000 troops and contractors.

Electrocution case against KBR can be tried in U.S. court, judge rules 04 Oct 2011 A civil lawsuit brought against KBR by the parents of a U.S. soldier electrocuted in Iraq can go forward in U.S. court, after a federal judge ruled the case should not be governed by Iraqi laws. Attorneys for the defense contractor had argued that Iraqi laws should apply to the case because Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth's death in 2008 occurred on a military base in Iraq. But, for the second time in four months, Judge Nora Barry Fischer sided with Maseth's family, saying U.S. law is applicable because the base was under American control, according to an Associated Press report.

Fraud in Corps of Engineers contracting charged 05 Oct 2011 Strip away the shell companies and complex wire transfers, and what federal prosecutors on Tuesday called "one of the most brazen corruption schemes in the history of federal contracting" was really quite simple... Until they were arrested Tuesday, authorities said, they had their sights on another contract, one worth $780 million. Four men -- two program managers at the corps, a son of one of them and the director of contracts at a Dulles technology firm [EyakTek] -- were indicted on corruption-related charges that were made public Tuesday. The arrests revealed what authorities described as one of the most audacious bribery scams they have investigated.

Four arrested in government bribery and contracting scam 04 Oct 2011 Four people were arrested Tuesday in a complex contracting scam involving the Army Corps of Engineers, authorities said. Charged in the District's federal court with conspiracy, bribery and unlawful kickback were two Army Corps contracting officers, Kerry F. Khan of Alexandria, and Michael A. Alexander of Woodbridge. Facing the same charges are Khan's son, Lee, of Fairfax County, and Harold F. Babb, of Sterling, director of contracts for EyakTek, an Alaska Native Corporation with an office in Dulles, Va. Federal law enforcement officials said the scam involved delivered and promised kickbacks of about $20 million on what they described as substantial contracts for critical technology services.

NYPD spied on city's Muslim anti-terror partners 06 Oct 2011 Reda Shata considered himself a partner in New York's fight against terrorism. He cooperated with the police and FBI, invited officers to his mosque for breakfast, even dined with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Despite the handshakes and photo ops, however, the New York Police Department was all the while watching the Egyptian sheik. Even as Shata's story was splashed across the front page of The New York Times in a Pulitzer Prize-winning series about Muslims in America, an undercover officer and an informant were assigned to monitor him, and two others kept tabs on his mosque that same year.

Judge: Terrorist can sue over prison restrictions 05 Oct 2011 A man convicted of a 1998 terrorist strike on the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania has won the right to sue the federal government over tight restrictions on his visitors and letter-writing at the federal Supermax prison in southern Colorado. Khalfan Khamis Mohammed, serving a life sentence at the high-security prison, says the restrictions violate his civil rights. In a handwritten filing in 2008 in Denver District Court, Mohammed said the special administrative measures that allow restrictions on federal prisoners were "in violation of the First Amendment rights, equal protection rights, cruel and unusual punishment."

TSA Launches Program for Fast-Track Airport Screenings --If 'TSA PreCheck' initiative works well at four trial airports, TSA plans to expand program 04 Oct 2011 Some frequent fliers can now move through airport security without having to take off their shoes or remove their computers, liquids and gels from carryon bags. It's part of a pilot program that the Transportation Security Administration launched today at airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Miami. The initial trial is being rolled out to some U.S. citizens enrolled in Delta and American Airlines frequent flier programs, as well as some government "Trusted Traveler" programs, including Global Entry, SENTRI and NEXUS.

Nuclear contamination found beyond Japan no-go zone 05 Oct 2011 High levels of radioactive contamination have been found in soil in the capital of Japan's Fukushima prefecture, a study showed Wednesday, prompting calls to make the area a voluntary evacuation zone. Some 307,000 becquerels of caesium per kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of soil was detected in an independent survey conducted on September 14 by a radiological engineering expert and citizens' groups. The contamination is believed to have been caused by radiation that has leaked from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Leaking pipe identified at Ga. nuclear plant 04 Oct 2011 Workers have identified an underground pipe leaking radioactive water beneath a nuclear power plant in Georgia. Southern Co. spokeswoman Amoi Geter said Monday that workers were in the process of determining whether that pipe below Plant Hatch in Baxley is the sole cause of a leak of radioactive tritium that was first discovered Wednesday. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen that is created inside nuclear reactors.

Container ship on New Zealand reef leaking oil 06 Oct 2011 New Zealand maritime authorities have confirmed that a container ship stuck on a reef off the coast near Tauranga Harbour is leaking oil. The leak appears to be intermittent, suggesting the oil is leaking from damaged pipes rather than the fuel tanks themselves, according to Maritime New Zealand. The extensive damage to the vessel, however, has made it difficult for officials to make a proper assessment of the situation and the agency says it will apply Corexit 9500, an oil dispersant [and destroyer of the environment], around the vessel on Friday if the situation remains unchanged.

Bachmann agrees with 'impeach' Obama wish 04 Oct 2011 Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota on Wednesday agreed with a man who expressed a desire to get Obama "out of the way." After visiting a coffee shop in this small Iowa town, Bachmann was asked by a man in the crowd, "When will we impeach him and get him out of the way? We should be" The candidate replied, "Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I agree, I agree. Some people are really upset." Then she moved on to the next well-wisher.

US Republican Palin decides not to run in 2012 --Says no to third-party bid 05 Oct 2011 Sarah Palin said on Wednesday that she will not seek the Republican U.S. presidential nomination in 2012, ending months of speculation and leaving the Republican field largely settled. Palin had left the door open to a run but gave little sign of joining the race to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama. She made it official in a letter to supporters and in an interview with conservative talk radio host Mark Levin.

Opting Out of Race, Christie Says, 'Now Is Not My Time' 05 Oct 2011 Saying "Now is not my time," Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey announced on Tuesday that he would not seek the Republican nomination for the presidency. Mr. Christie said he had taken to heart the appeals of influential Republicans and ordinary Americans to reconsider an eleventh-hour campaign. But after only 20 months on the job as governor, he said he had "a commitment to New Jersey that I simply will not abandon."

Apple: Co-founder Steve Jobs dead at 56 06 Oct 2011 Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former CEO who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, has died. He was 56. Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause. Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems.
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