Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
22 Jan 2011
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Former Indicted Spy With Agenda Operates a Private C.I.A. --'Eclipse Group' was funded by US military until May, then funded by private donors to pay agents to continue spying 23 Jan 2011 Duane R. Clarridge parted company with the Central Intelligence Agency more than two decades ago, but from poolside at his home near San Diego, he still runs a network of spies. Over the past two years, he has fielded operatives in the mountains of Pakistan and the desert badlands of Afghanistan. Mr. Clarridge was indicted on charges of lying to Congress in the Iran-contra scandal and later pardoned. His dispatches have been sent to military officials who, until last spring at least, found some credible enough to be used in planning strikes against militants in Afghanistan. They are also fed to conservative commentators.
Downing Street ordered 'cover up' over Straw's bid to talk Blair out of Iraq invasion, explosive new evidence reveals 21 Jan 2011 Downing Street ordered a cover-up after Jack Straw made an 11th-hour attempt to stop Tony Blair going to war in Iraq, it was claimed last night. Explosive anonymous evidence given to the Chilcot Inquiry said Mr Blair responded to his Foreign Secretary by insisting that he wanted to go to war. Officials at Number 10 then allegedly ordered that no record was kept of the confrontation.
Iraq War Inquiry website deletes memo 21 Jan 2011 In yet another blow to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's credibility, the Chilcot Inquiry into the war on Iraq has released several declassified documents which open the door to quite serious evidence about the build-up to the US-led invasion of the country. The Iraq War Inquiry has learned that the private secretary at No 10 routinely deleted any mention of Blair's correspondence with the US President [sic] Bush from the government minutes at the time.

Iraq legal advice was 'provisional' - Tony Blair 21 Jan 2011 Tony Blair has said he disregarded Lord Goldsmith's warning that attacking Iraq would be illegal without further UN backing because it was "provisional". The ex-PM said he believed his top legal officer would change his position on whether a second UN resolution was needed when he knew the full details. His revelation came in a written statement to the Iraq inquiry.

Tony Blair had way out of Iraq invasion, Chilcot inquiry told --As former PM is recalled to give further evidence, notes reveal Jack Straw argued there was 'one last chance to avoid war' 20 Jan 2011 Tony Blair was offered a way out of attacking Iraq at a secret meeting with his foreign secretary Jack Straw eight days ahead of the invasion, according to documents lodged with the Chilcot inquiry, which tomorrow will question the former prime minister for a second time. An anonymous official told the inquiry: "I recall a meeting with the prime minister where the foreign secretary [Jack Straw] made the argument... for the UK military not being involved."

Wrong men convicted of Daniel Pearl murder: probe 20 Jan 2011 The wrong men were convicted of killing US reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan in 2002, and US officials have stood in the way of the real murderer being brought to justice, according to a new report. Pearl was murdered by the alleged brains behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed US terrorists, not by British-Pakistani Omar Sheikh and three other men also convicted for the killing, said the Pearl Project report, released on Thursday.

US judge upholds verdict against Guantanamo detainee 22 Jan 2011 The US judge [Lewis Kaplan] who presided over the first civilian trial of a Guantanamo prisoner has rejected a defence request to toss out the single-count guilty verdict against Ahmed Ghailani, news reports said Friday. A jury last year found Ghailani guilty of only one count and exonerated him of 284 others sought by US prosecutors.
U.S. Prepares to Lift Ban on Guantánamo Cases 20 Jan 2011 The Obama administration is preparing to increase the use of military tribunals to prosecute Guantánamo detainees, an acknowledgment that the prison in Cuba remains open for business after Congress imposed steep new impediments to closing the facility. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is expected to soon lift an order blocking the initiation of new cases against detainees prisoners, which he imposed on the day of President Obama’s inauguration. That would clear the way for tribunal officials, for the first time under the Obama administration, to initiate new charges against detainees.
WikiLeaks cited in French Guantanamo trial 20 Jan 2011 Lawyers for ex-inmates of the Guantanamo prison camp used documents released by WikiLeaks to argue for their acquittal in a French terrorism trial Thursday. Five Frenchmen held at the prison were acquitted by a French appeals court of terrorism charges in 2009, in a high-profile disavowal of the camp. But then a new trial was ordered. As that trial opened Thursday, defense lawyers presented at least three U.S. diplomatic cables citing French anti-terrorist investigators.
Lawyer for Bradley Manning alleges prison mistreatment --United Nations special rapporteur on torture said submitted to State Department formal inquiry about Manning's treatment 21 Jan 2011 The lawyer for alleged government secrets leaker Bradley Manning is accusing military authorities of using punitive measures against Manning at the Marine Corps jail in Quantico, Va. Manning, a 23-year-old Army private suspected of passing thousands of classified documents to the online site WikiLeaks, was placed on suicide watch for two days this week - against the recommendation of the jail's forensic psychiatrist, attorney David E. Coombs said. The circumstances of Manning's confinement have drawn public attention.
Holder: 'Nothing's Off the Table' for KSM 20 Jan 2011 Attorney General Eric Holder parried questions about the fate of five men alleged to be central architects of September 11 during a question-and-answer session in Brooklyn this morning. The Obama administration originally meant to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accomplices in Manhattan, but backed down [as usual] in the face of unified resistance from public officials and business leaders. When pressed, Holder acknowledged that "nothing's off the table yet," including the possibility of trying the men in a military tribunal.
'Prince of Mercenaries' who wreaked havoc in Iraq turns up in Somalia --Blackwater founder sets up new force to tackle piracy 22 Jan 2011 Erik Prince, the U.S. founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to set up a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia. The project, which emerged yesterday when an intelligence report was leaked to the US media, requires Mr Prince to help train a private army of 2,000 Somali troops who will be broadly loyal to the country's UN-backed government.
Blackwater Founder Secretly Backing African Mercenaries via Apartheid-Era South African Security Firm --Saracen International is a private security company based in South Africa. It appears to be run by Lafras Luitingh, a former officer in South Africa’s Civil Cooperation Bureau, an apartheid-era internal security force notorious for killings of opponents of the government. 21 Jan 2011 Erik Prince, the founder of the international security giant [terrorist group] Blackwater Worldwide, is secretly backing an effort by a controversial South African mercenary firm to insert itself into Somalia’s bloody civil war by protecting government leaders, training Somali militias, and battling pirates and Islamic militants there, according to Western and African officials.
Three US-led troops killed in Afghan war 22 Jan 2011 The Taliban have killed at least three foreign soldiers as militants intensify their violent campaign against the US-led forces in the war-ravaged country. Taliban militants claim to have killed three French soldiers in the country's east. A Taliban spokesman said the killings took place in an Afghan-French military base in Kabul Province on Friday afternoon. He claimed that a militant, recruited among Afghan forces [ the US 'trains' ] months ago, conducted the operation.
Fort Hood, Army suicides hit record mark 20 Jan 2011 At least 22 GIs from Fort Hood committed suicide in 2010. The Fort Hood mark is a new record for the post and contributed to the Army’s worst year for suicides. Fort Hood’s 22 confirmed suicides doubled its 2009 mark and was eight more than Fort Bragg, N.C., which had the second-largest tally.
The Boondoggle That Wouldn't Die? New 'Cost-Cutting' Congress May Spend Billions More on Jet Engine Pentagon Doesn't Want 21 Jan 2011 Despite vocal cries for austerity and belt-tightening on Capitol Hill, Congress and the White House, budget officials have quietly continued to pay for the development of a multi-billion-dollar military jet engine the Pentagon says it doesn't need and the defense secretary himself called a wasteful boondoggle . The green light to continue spending on the engine's development came from the Office of Management and Budget last month at the urging of congressional leaders. The decision arrived on the heels of a $9 million lobbying push and an equally aggressive advertising campaign by General Electric, the corporate giant that has argued that the nation benefits by having two different versions of the engine that will power the Joint Strike Fighter . And it comes as President Obama named General Electric's CEO chairman of his new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
U.S. places dead man on terrorist blacklist 21 Jan 2011 The U.S. on Friday said it had put a leading member of the Pakistani Taliban, Qari Hussain, on a terrorist blacklist. The only problem is Qari Hussain is dead. Widespread reports of his death circulated on October 7 2010. As of Friday the Wikipedia page devoted to Qari Hussain confirms his death in October last year.
D.C. wants access to thousands more surveillance cameras --DHS already has access to more than 4,500 cameras owned by D.C. transportation and school systems 20 Jan 2011 D.C.'s homeland security department is pressing for access to more security cameras, including ones owned by private businesses and Metro. The D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency submitted a plan to tap into private cameras, such as those found at banks or outside office buildings, as well as those at public housing developments, the Washington Examiner reports . If approved, the plan would grant the homeland security department access to thousands of more cameras.
Congresswoman Giffords on road to rehab in Texas 22 Jan 2011 Representative Gabrielle Giffords has begun what will likely be a months-long recovery at a Houston rehabilitation center two weeks after being shot in the head by an Arizona gunman, medical staff said on Saturday. The day after Giffords flew in a private plane to Houston's massive Texas Medical Center from Tucson, she is in the early stages of therapy in the intensive care unit of Memorial Hermann hospital.
Official: Two officers killed while serving federal warrant 20 Jan 2011 Two Miami police officers working for a federal task force were shot and killed while executing an arrest warrant in Miami Thursday morning, a federal law enforcement official said. At least one person suspected of shooting the officers was also killed by police, the official said. A third officer was wounded and was in stable condition in a hospital, the official said.
Another reason to avoid pharma-terrorists' mercury-laden, squalene-filled vaccines: FDA Warns of Possible Infant Seizure Risk From Sanofi Flu Vaccine --'During a febrile seizure, a child often has spasms or jerking movements and may lose consciousness.' 21 Jan 2011 A new alert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests that some infants may be at risk of febrile seizures following administration of Sanofi Pasteur's Fluzone vaccine, which has been recommended for use in children ages 6 to 23 months. As of Dec. 13, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System had noted 42 cases of febrile seizure following Fluzone vaccination.
2010 was 'second warmest year' since records began in 1850 21 Jan 2011 Last year was the second warmest on record, figures from the Met Office and the University of East Anglia showed today. According to the data, global temperatures in 2010 averaged 14.5C, making it the second hottest year since records began in 1850 and leaving 1998 in the top spot. But the two other leading sets of global temperature data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. both found that 2010 was the hottest or joint hottest year on record , with 2005 coming in second.
Workshop addresses polar bears' plight amid global warming 22 Jan 2011 The female polar bear swam 370 nautical miles for nine days through the open water in the Beaufort Sea. After that, she alternately swam and walked on sea ice for another 970 miles. By the time the bear returned to the coast near Kaktovik, she had lost her cub and about 22 percent of her weight. Her travails were recorded by scientists who captured the bear after her August-October 2008 journey and published their findings in a peer-reviewed journal in December. The journey to find food in the Arctic will only get worse for Alaska's polar bears if global temperatures continue rising - as the world's leading climate scientists predict they will.
End the Use of Compound 1080 and Other Poisons 21 Jan 2011 After traveling more than 1,000 miles from her Montana home, a female wolf from the Mill Creek pack (known as 314F), met a horrific fate in Colorado -- illegally poisoned by the deadly Compound 1080. Plagued with convulsions, dizziness and unbearable pain, her journey ended in a terrible death on a lonely Colorado road. But sadly, she is not alone. Compound 1080 -- one of the most lethal toxins known to humankind -- and sodium cyanide collectively kill thousands of coyotes every year... EPA is deciding whether to allow the continued use of these deadly chemicals to kill wildlife. Take action now! Urge the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to prevent the poisoning of wildlife struggling to survive.

New pesticides are 'killing honeybee population worldwide' 20 Jan 2011 A new generation of pesticides could be to blame for Britain's vanishing honeybees, a study has shown. The chemicals, which are routinely used on farms and garden centres, attack the central systems of insects and make bee colonies more vulnerable to disease and pests, researchers say. The claims, which appear in an unpublished study carried out at the US Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory, add to the evidence that pesticides are partly responsible for the mysterious decline of one of the world's best loved insects.

Mega barf alert! Obama picks GE chief as new economic advisory body chief 22 Jan 2011 U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive officer of General Electric (GE), to chair a new economic advisory agency named Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, his latest move to throw an olive branch to the U.S. business executives and to bolster the nation's job creation efforts. The new council would take place of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, an advisory panel composed of economists, corporate executives and among others, chaired by former U.S. Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker.

SEC Taps Goldman Sachs Executive as Division Head 18 Jan 2011 The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Eileen Rominger to head its division overseeing asset managers and hedge funds. Rominger will come to the SEC after nearly 30 years in the investment management business, according to an SEC press release Tuesday.

Obama Buys Into Business's Regulation Myth By Margaret Carlson 19 Jan 2011 President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would require federal agencies to review regulations on their books and remove those that "stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive" made me wonder. Which ones would those be? The piddling bit of regulation of the oil industry, the paucity of which led to the BP Plc oil spill? ...Obama is adopting the mindset of Republicans who believe that if business is regulated at all, it is regulated too much. He pledged to rid the country of "excessive, inconsistent and redundant regulation," and to bring in businessmen and experts to help him do it.

'This is about Obama getting Olbermann fired.' -- Did Lyin Joe Lieberman Use His White House Connections to Get Keith Olbermann Fired? By Scott Creighton 21 Jan 2011 The liberal blog-o-sphere is a buzz this morning and it appears the spin is to blame it all on the Comcast merger. No one is talking about what Keith O said about Lyin Joe less than 24 hours before he got sacked . "Don’t let the delusional liar door hit you in the delusional liar butt on the way out." "Goodbye, Joe Lieberman, and good riddance." He accused Lieberman of "lying even on the way out the door." ...If anyone tries to tell you this was done by Comcast, don't buy it... This is all about Lyin Joe Lieberman throwing a hissy-fit and GE's CEO taking a new job at the White House. This came on so suddenly, a promo for Olbermann’s show ran at the halfway point of Rachel Maddow’s show which comes on after Keith's. Had this been Comcast, they would have seen it coming. No, this is about Lyin Joe calling a marker with the Obama White House, so really, this is about Obama getting Olbermann fired.

MSNBC Ends Contract With Keith Olbermann 21 Jan 2011 Cable host Keith Olbermann and news channel MSNBC abruptly parted ways on Friday night, as the network announced that his contract had ended and the last installment of Mr. Olbermann's program would air that evening. "MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," the network said in an emailed statement just before the end of Mr. Olbermann's program.

Olbermann signs off msnbc --'Countdown' over as commentator, cable news channel end contract 21 Jan 2011 Commentator Keith Olbermann signed off his msnbc cable television show Friday night after nearly eight years. "Msnbc and Keith Olbermann have ended our contract," Phil Griffin, president of msnbc, said Friday. Msnbc spokesman Jeremy Gaines would say only that the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision.

Clarence Thomas failed to report wife's income, watchdog says 22 Jan 2011 Supreme Court 'Justice' Clarence Thomas failed to report his wife's income from a conservative think tank on financial disclosure forms for at least five years, the watchdog group Common Cause said Friday. Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation's IRS records.

AP: Hawaii won't release Obama birth info 21 Jan 2011 Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie will end his quest to prove President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii because it's against state law to release private documents, his office said Friday. State Attorney General David Louie told the governor he can't disclose an individual's birth documentation without a person's consent, Abercrombie spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said.

Tea Party Activist Takes Over New Hampshire G.O.P. 23 Jan 2011 A rancorous fight to lead the New Hampshire Republican Party through next year’s presidential race ended Saturday with an upset victory by a conservative activist [Jack Kimball] backed by members of the Tea Party and other grassroots groups. The race was closely watched as a sign of how much influence Tea Party groups will exert here in the lead-up to New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 14, 2012.

Sarah Palin jibe no joke to Fox News as Joan Rivers interview is cancelled --Joan Rivers told TMZ Palin was 'stupid and a threat' and blamed her for Arizona shootings 20 Jan 2011 Fox News has cancelled an interview with the comedian Joan Rivers after she described Sarah Palin as "stupid and a threat" and blamed her for the recent attack on an Arizona congresswoman that left six people dead. The move will reinforce the growing perception that Fox News sees its role as not only to promote Palin but shield her from criticism after the politician – who is also a Fox presenter – was accused of contributing to the extreme political rhetoric that provided the backdrop to the shootings in Tucson.

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Previous lead stories: Whitehall chief blocks release of Blair's notes to Bush on Iraq --Sir Gus O'Donnell stops publication of documents Chilcot inquiry says are crucial to understanding how invasion happened 18 Jan 2011 Britain's top civil servant, Sir Gus O'Donnell, is preventing the official inquiry into the Iraq invasion from publishing notes sent by Tony Blair to George W Bush - evidence described by the inquiry as of "central importance" in establishing the circumstances that led to war. O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, consulted Blair before suppressing the documents, it emerged tonight.

Rights groups, citing own evidence, call for Lithuania to reopen CIA prison investigation 19 Jan 2011 Human rights groups have called on Lithuanian prosecutors to reopen a criminal probe into a secret CIA detention centre set up in the country, and a top national security lawmaker said Wednesday that investigators had failed to weigh all the evidence. Prosecutors closed the case last week, citing a lack of evidence, but human rights groups Amnesty International and Reprieve slammed the decision, claiming they have evidence that the site was used to interrogate and torture terrorism suspects.

Supreme Court declines appeal for Guantánamo detainee once ordered free 18 Jan 2011 A longtime detainee at the US terror prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has lost his bid to reinstate a federal judge’s order that he be freed. The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal on behalf of Mohammed al-Adahi, a Yemeni national who has been held without charge at Guantánamo since 2002. The high court’s action allows an appeals-court ruling to stand, authorizing the continued, open-ended detention of Mr. Adahi.

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CLG Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2011, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.

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