British Muslims 'Planned To Kill Thousands By Bringing Down SEVEN Transatlantic Airliners In One Go

A gang of British Muslims planned to blow up seven planes within hours in the biggest terrorist atrocity since 9/11, a court heard yesterday. Two thousand passengers would have died in the plot by eight fanatics working "in the name of Islam", the jury was told.It could have involved up to 18 suicide bombers. And they were almost ready to strike. The jets they targeted would all have been bound from Heathrow to cities in the U.S. and Canada, it was claimed.Once the first had exploded the authorities would have had to watch, powerless, as the six others were downed. Plastic soft-drink bottles were to be the murder weapon - filled with explosive and connected to a detonator.The alleged plot led to a ban on liquid containers bigger than 100ml which is still in force at UK airports.Had it been successful, the death toll would have far eclipsed the 52 killed on July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers detonated their rucksacks on the London transport system. And if the conspirators chose to blow themselves up over land, the number of casualties in the air and on the ground could have exceeded the Twin Towers attacks in which nearly 3,000 died.

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Washington Blocks Exports of Munitions Firm Suspected of Fraud

The State Department on Thursday suspended the international export activities of AEY Inc., a Miami Beach arms-dealing company led by a 22-year-old man whose munitions procurements for the Pentagon are under criminal investigation, according to American officials familiar with the decision.

The Army last week accused the firm’s president, Efraim E. Diveroli, of fraud, claiming he shipped Chinese cartridges to Afghanistan after certifying they were made in Hungary. The Army also suspended Mr. Diveroli and the company from future federal contracts.

The latest decision blocks other elements of AEY’s business.

Under federal rules, arms transfers across an international border in which the United States government is not the customer require a State Department license. A State Department official said that barring extraordinary circumstances, Mr. Diveroli’s applications for licenses would be refused.

“AEY is under a policy of denial for future export authorization requests,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. Two other officials confirmed the decision. “The department may make exceptions to this policy of denial but only if there are overriding national security or foreign policy reasons to do so.”

Mr. Diveroli’s lawyer, Hy Shapiro, declined to comment.

AEY had been the principal supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces since the Army awarded it a two-year contract in January 2007. The contract, now unraveling, was potentially worth $298 million.

The company has also provided munitions and equipment to other federal agencies and to the Iraqi government. In a telephone interview last year, Mr. Diveroli claimed to do $200 million in business each year.

His contract for Afghanistan has been beset by problems.

An examination by The Times found Mr. Diveroli shipped tens of millions of aging Chinese rifle and machine-gun cartridges from Albania, and provided munitions in crumbling and decomposing packaging. The contract and American law prohibit trading in Chinese arms.

Mr. Diveroli’s company has also worked with a shell company in Cyprus and middlemen on a federal watch list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking, and was secretly recorded by a subcontractor in a phone conversation that suggested corruption.

His problems have grown. In early March he was charged with driving while intoxicated in Miami Beach. Late in March, Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who leads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, scheduled a hearing to examine AEY’s business with the Department of Defense.

On Thursday, an investigator for the Congressional committee contacted the subcontractor in Albania who had recorded phone conversations with Mr. Diveroli. There were indications, however, that Congressional inquiries could proceed only so far while the criminal investigation continued.

Marc D. Seitles, the lawyer who represents David M. Packouz, the licensed massage therapist who is AEY’s former vice president, said he had sent a letter to Congress saying Mr. Packouz would speak publicly only if he was granted immunity from prosecution.

Mr. Packouz, 25, left AEY last spring and had no contact with the company since, Mr. Seitles said. Without immunity, he said, “I cannot allow my client to testify in this matter, and if he is subpoenaed he will invoke the Fifth Amendment.”

The status of Mr. Diveroli’s previously arranged shipments were also in question. A planned delivery of nearly two million cartridges has been idled in Slovakia, according to two Americans officials and the owner of another arms-dealing business, while the Slovak government reviews Mr. Diveroli’s request for export licenses.

And MFS 2000, a Hungarian cartridge manufacturer, has also threatened legal action. Internal Army documents show that AEY purchased millions of cartridges from the company last year. Executives at MFS 2000 have said the munitions were Hungarian and in good condition.

Mr. Diveroli later certified that other munitions, made decades ago in China, had been manufactured by MFS 2000 as well, according to Army investigators. The Hungarian company suggested that Mr. Diveroli had blemished its reputation.

“MFS 2000 Inc. is absolutely guiltless in this matter,” its director general, Gyorgy Karoly, wrote in an email message.

The Army has also begun to look past its relationship with AEY. A federal notice posted last Saturday sought new suppliers for millions of pieces of ammunition Mr. Diveroli had not yet delivered to Afghanistan, including cartridges, rockets and mortar and artillery rounds.

The notice showed that the Army was tightening contract standards. The contract with AEY had allowed for ammunition of any age, and did not specify that it must be packed in materials that could sustain the rigors of field conditions.

Documents from Albania showed that AEY bought more than 100 million Chinese cartridges that had been stored for decades in former cold war stockpiles. The cartridges had been manufactured as long ago as 1960.

Mr. Diveroli then arranged to have them repacked in cardboard boxes, many of which split or decomposed after shipment to the war. Different lots or types of ammunition were mixed. In some cases the ammunition was dirty, corroded or covered with a film.

The Army’s new request specified the ammunition must be less than 20 years old, in durable packaging and in proper condition. “Each package will contain the same type of ammo,” the Army wrote. “Materiel shall be free of dirt and other contaminants which would contribute to the deterioration of the item or which would require cleaning by customer prior to use.”

Another lawyer involved in the case expressed amazement that Mr. Diveroli, who began receiving federal contracts at the age of 19, managed to continue in business so long.

AEY’s office, he said, was raided by federal agents last year and its computers and records seized. But Army contracting authorities continued to work with him. “It was as if one hand of the government didn’t know what the other hand was doing,” the lawyer said.

U.S. Attorney General: When You Download, You Download With Osama

One downside of being the in the current administration? You have to talk about terrorism. A lot.According to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, DVD piracy and illegal downloading are funding terrorist networks around the globe. Which ones? He won't say.

Five sentences into a speech on Friday at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Attorney General Michael Mukasey was already waxing eloquent about how technology could help an "international terrorist looking to advance a murderous plot." Moments later, he was outlining the ways in which "criminal syndicates, and in some cases even terrorist groups, view IP crime as a lucrative business, and see it as a low-risk way to fund other activities."

Who are these terrorists that fund operations by selling DVDs from the side of the road? Mukasey, who presumably knows, isn't saying, so you'll have to take his word for it. The examples that he did give were about criminals who wanted to make a boatload of cash, not finance the death of innocents in crowded squares, but we'll cut Mukasey some slack here for one simple reason: he managed to make it through an entire speech on crime and intellectual property without suggesting that noncommercial P2P file-swappers are somehow equivalent to criminal gangs running huge Asian stamping operations.

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[Source: War On You

King County, Washington Voters Will Probably Vote on Non-Partisan County Elections in August

On April 1, an initiative was submitted to transform King County, Washington county elections into non-partisan elections. The initiative needs 52,817 signatures, and 80,000 were submitted, so it is very likely to qualify. If it does qualify, it will be on the August 19 primary ballot.Currently, King County (the county that contains Seattle) [...]

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Six Uncomfortable Truths About Race In America

The truth is better for everybody -- it might even save this country.

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Obama in the tank with Planned Parenthood

Second Dr. Paul radio interview on KDKA

Dr. Paul will be interviewed tomorrow morning from 8:10-8:20 am on the KDKA Morning News with Larry Richert, Shelley Duffy, and John Shumway.Listen live on NewsRadio 1020 AM KDKA’s website.

A Glimpse of Secret Military Programs Through Patches

The classified budget of the Defense Department, concealed from the public in all but outline, has nearly doubled in the Bush years, to $32 billion. One tantalizing glimpse into this world of secret military programs comes from the real but often unofficial patches they use. Trevor Paglen has gathered 75 of them, revealing a bizarre mix of high and low culture where Latin and Greek mottos frame images of demons, dragons dropping bombs and skunks firing laser beams.

A Second Shooter in the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy?

Many allege that the killing of RFK was a conspiracy rather than the actions of a lone disturbed individual. Having analyzed audio recordings of the assassination, The authors of a new book say that at least 13 shots were fired. The convicted Sirhan Sirhan's gun could hold only eight bullets, and the angle at which he stood in relation to RFK makes it unlikely that Sirhan fired the fatal shot.

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ECUADOR: Expert asks Ecuador court to fine Chevron $7-$16 bln

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QUITO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - An independent environmental expert told a court in Ecuador that oil company Chevron Corp should pay $7 billion to $16 billion in compensation for environmental damage in the country.

In a report to the court, geologist Richard Cabrera said the low end of the range represented the cost to remediate soils and pay for health care costs, a water system and infrastructure improvements.

The high end of the range was based on an "unjust enrichment" penalty.

The lawsuit, which peasants and Indians in Ecuador brought in the early 1990s, contends that Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001, polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping 18 billion gallons (68 billion liters) of contaminated water from 1972 to 1992.

The plaintiffs said in December that a ruling in the case was expected sometime in 2008.

Chevron has argued that it was released from any liability because it paid $40 million for an environmental cleanup in the 1990s, and blames state oil company Petroecuador for much of the pollution.

Chevron General Counsel Charles James disputed the findings of the report, saying the case had become a political issue in Ecuador.

"This is no longer a private lawsuit; it is a working partnership between the government and plaintiffs," he told Reuters. "This is more extortion that a real lawsuit. We will protest this report."

He did not rule out reaching an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiffs, but said the company would not be "blackmailed."

Smokestack Injustice? Toxic Texas Smelter May Reopen

The big smokestack's red lights that flash through the night send the unmistakable message that the mothballed smelter is not dead yet. The old American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) copper smelter in El Paso, Texas, may have temporarily stopped spewing toxins, but it still unsettles the Paso del Norte borderlands.

Government agencies and environmental groups have blamed the 111-year- old smelter for severe air, soil and groundwater contamination. Nonetheless, on February 13, 2008 the plant was given a new lease on life when the three members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) voted unanimously to grant Asarco a five-year air quality permit. The vote was a stinging rebuke to hundreds of border residents who had traveled to the state capital of Austin to convince TCEQ to finally shut it down.

The air permit battle is just the latest chapter in the long, controversial history of the Asarco smelter, which is currently owned by a Mexican company. Operating under a series of previous owners the plant processed lead, zinc, silver and copper between 1887 and 1999.

Built close to the banks of the Rio Grande, the smelter sits directly across from working-class neighborhoods and schools in Ciudad Juarez and less than two miles from the low-income, Latino community of Sunland Park, New Mexico. Asarco is also downhill from the University of Texas at El Paso and surrounding middle-class neighborhoods.

The dispute centers around the common, if oversimplified, battle of jobs versus environment. About 100 supporters of reopening the plant turned out for the February 13 meeting wearing blue “Let's Get to Work” T-shirts. Many were former Asarco workers.

Opponents of the smelter included activists from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Sierra Club, Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group and Ciudad Juarez's Citizens Organized for Integral Community Development. After the TCEQ's decision was announced, protesters rallied outside the agency's Austin offices.

“I knew that they'd rule against us,” said Bill Addington, a member of the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club. A long-time opponent of the reopening, he predicted a protracted struggle. “It took us eight years to stop Sierra Blanca,” he said, referring to a proposed nuclear dump.

Nonetheless, public pressure had some effect. The agency wound up granting Asarco a permit for five years instead of the normal 10-year span, and ordered the installation of four air pollution monitors near the plant..

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[Source: CorpWatch - Posted by

Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More

More fighting in Iraq. Somalia in chaos. People in this country can't afford their mortgages and in some places now they can't even afford rice.None of this nor the rest of the grimness on the front page today will matter a bit, though, if two men pursuing a lawsuit in federal court in Hawaii turn out to be right. They think a giant particle accelerator that will begin smashing protons together outside Geneva this summer might produce a black hole that will spell the end of the Earth - and maybe the universe.Scientists say that is very unlikely - though they have done some checking just to make sure.The world's physicists have spent 14 years and $8 billion building the Large Hadron Collider, in which the colliding protons will recreate energies and conditions last seen a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Researchers will sift the debris from these primordial recreations for clues to the nature of mass and new forces and symmetries of nature.

Hillary Clinton's New Video Game: 3AM Call of Duty

Great sketch from Real Time With Bill Maher this week, "Sinbad's Down! Sinbad's DOWN!"In case you're wondering what the mock video game is referring to, Hillary Clinton last week was caught in the act of exaggerating (lying) about her experience in a 1996 trip to Bosnia as First Lady by CBS News.


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Gary Hart Confronted on New World Order Vision -

Former Senator Gary Hart was confronted by several 9/11 truth groups during an appearance in Colorado, including WeAreChangeColorado.org, TruthAlliance.net and Colorado 9/11 Visibility.

Hart was touting his proposal for a Global Democracy Security Organization, another handy catch phrase for superceding the bounds of national sovereignty and consolidating power into a global body.

The former Senator was probed about his September 12, 2001 statements before the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) where he suggested that George W. Bush might "use [the 9/11] disaster" to carry out the New World Order.

Hart denied ever using the phrase 'New World Order' while ironically utilizing the same phrasing he used in his 2001 quote-- that the first President Bush 'used it once in 1991 and never again.'

The Lessons of Basra

At the start of the military offensive launched last week into Basra by US-trained Iraqi army forces, President Bush called the action by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "a bold decision." He added: "I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq."

That's true--but not in the way the President meant it. As the smoke clears over new rubble in Iraq's second city, at the heart of Iraq's oil region, it's apparent that the big winner of the Six-Day War in Basra are the forces of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army faced down the Iraqi armed forces not only in Basra, but in Baghdad, as well as in Kut, Amarah, Nasiriyah, and Diwaniya, capitals of four key southern provinces. That leaves Sadr, an anti-American rabble rouser and nationalist who demands an end to the US occupation of Iraq, and who has grown increasingly close to Iran of late, in a far stronger position that he was a week ago. In Basra, he's the boss. An Iraqi reporter for the New York Times, who managed to get into Basra during the fighting, concluded that the thousands of Mahdi Army militiamen that control most of the city remained in charge. "There was nowhere the Mahdi either did not control or could not strike at will," he wrote. .
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U.S. soldiers hobbies: Puppy Killing

Katrina victims may have to repay money

NEW ORLEANS - Imagine that your home was reduced to mold-covered wood framing by Hurricane Katrina. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government provided-trailer that gives off formaldehyde fumes you finally win a federal grant.

Then a collector announces that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.

For thousands of Katrina victims, this may be a reality.

A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.

The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle "approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort."

The bid invitation said: "The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000."

The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF's highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases — overpaid by an average of $35,000 — proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.
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U.S. Poised to Invade Iran

MOSCOW, March 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran, and will be ready to strike in early April, a security official said.

The source said the U.S. had already compiled a list of possible targets on Iranian territory and practiced the operation during recent exercises in the Persian Gulf.

"Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory," the source said.

American commanders will be ready to carry out the attack in early April, but it will be up to the country's political leadership to decide if and when to attack, the source said.

Official data says America's military presence in the region has reached the level of March 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.

The U.S. has not excluded the military option in negotiations on Iran over its refusal to abandon its nuclear program. The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran Saturday toughening economic sanctions against the country and accepting the possibility of a military solution to the crisis.

The source said the Pentagon could decide to conduct ground operations as well after assessing the damage done to the Iranian forces by its possible missile strikes and analyzing the political situation in the country following the attacks.

A senior Russian security official cited military intelligence earlier as saying U.S. Armed Forces had recently intensified training for air and ground operations against Iran.

"The Pentagon has drafted a highly effective plan that will allow the Americans to bring Iran to its knees at minimal cost," the official said.

Russian Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week the Pentagon was planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.

"I have no doubt there will be an operation, or rather an aggressive action against Iran," Ivashov said, commenting on media reports about U.S. planned operation against Iran, codenamed Operation Bite.

A new U.S. carrier battle group has been dispatched to the Gulf. The USS John C. Stennis, with a crew of 3,200 and around 80 fixed-wing aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, eight support ships and four nuclear submarines are heading for the Gulf, where a similar group led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has been deployed since December 2006. The U.S. is also sending Patriot anti-missile systems to the region.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, was rather optimistic about the situation and said he ruled out a military resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem.

"We are constantly working on how to resolve the situation around the Iranian nuclear program and other conflicts peacefully," Lavrov said. "This policy is unchanged and we will pursue it in the future."

Russia and the U.S. are two of the six negotiators on Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is aimed at generating energy.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20070330/62861432.html