Egyptian resistance surpasses Hugo

Excepting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

“When dictatorship is a fact

Revolution becomes a right.”

Victor-Marie Hugo

Friday February 11th was a momentous day for the people of Egypt. 


Friday was “the day when the 30-year reign of U.S.-backed President Hosni Mubarak [Muḥammad Hosnī Said Mubārak (Husni), b. May 4, 1928, in the Nile Valley, a militarist and dictator, Egypt’s president since October 1981] stepped down after a weeks-long popular uprising,” Uprising Radio announced with breaking news from Al Jazeera altering the start of yesterday’s broadcast.

“His resignation was announced by his Vice President [U.S.-backed intelligence officer, torturer] Omar Suleiman after a confusing day of events on Thursday when instead of resigning Mubarak gave a 17 minute long speech reasserting his rule.

“Friday’s announcement of Mubarak’s resignation by Suleiman was only 45 seconds long.

“Power has been effectively handed over to the Egyptian military. The streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities have been flooded with jubilant protesters, elated at their success.…

The Victor Hugo quote was Sonali Kolhatkar’s “Subversive Thought for the Day” — 

“‘When dictatorship is a fact, 
revolution becomes a right.’”

With the Revolution of 1848, Victor Hugo gained election in the Constituent Assembly, later in the Legislative Assembly as deputy for Paris. He supported the successful candidacy of Prince Louis-Napoléon for the presidency that year.

As the president moved toward an authoritarianism of the right, Hugo moved toward the assembly’s left. The December 1851 coup d'état took place, resulting in the Second Empire under Napoleon III. Hugo attempted to resist then fled to Brussels.

His exile later became a voluntary gesture and, after the 1859 amnesty, an act of pride. Hugo remained in Brussels for a year. Then, foreseeing expulsion from there, he took refuge on the island of Jersey (1852 to 1855) in the English Channel. Expelled from there, Hugo moved to the neighboring island of Guernsey. His exile lasted until the return of liberty and the reconstitution of the republic in 1870. In nearly 20 years’ exile, Hugo “produced the most extensive part of all his writings and the most original.”

Victor-Marie Hugo (b. Besançon, France, February 26, 1802- d. Paris, May 22, 1885) was France’s most important Romantic writer, a poet, novelist and dramatist. He is best known outside France for such novels as Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

Sources and notes

Victor Hugo. BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/victorhugo117987.html

Britannica biographical note

Hugo, Victor.  (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Deluxe Edition.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica

This week on Uprising: “A momentous day in Egypt as the revolution wins and President Mubarak steps down,” February 11, 2011, http://uprisingradio.org/home/

“The news of Mubarak’s resignation came minutes into Uprising’s daily program on Friday February 11th just as [the program was] about to discuss the events of the previous day.”

Uprising is a digest of independent news analysis, investigation, education, artistic expression, activism in the public interest. Sonali Kolhatkar hosts the program.

 “Who is Omar Suleiman? Professor Lisa Hajjar on His Connections to the United States and Torture,” January 24, 2011,

http://vodpod.com/watch/5554796-who-is-omar-suleiman-professor-lisa-hajjar-on-his-connections-to-the-united-states-and-torture

February 11, 2011 Democracy Now, “Who is Omar Suleiman? Professor Lisa Hajjar on His Connections to ...Jan 25, 2011 ... DemocracyNow.org -Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resigned, leaving many speculating the role of Vice President Omar Suleiman, vodpod.com/.../5554796-who-is-omar-suleiman-professor-lisa-hajjar-on-his-connections-to-the-united-states-and-torture

“Omar Suleiman, the CIA’s Man in Cairo and Egypt’s Torturer-in-Chief,” February 11, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/11/omar_suleiman_the_cias_man_in

Lisa Hajjar is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and co-editor of the online journal Jadaliyya

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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U.S. terrors in search of rethink

Leaving domestic or international policy solely to the discretion of politicians, their masters, comrades, and subordinates is a hazard  unaffordable by any citizen 
Excerpting, minor editing by Carolyn Bennett

Notes from Napoleoni’s Terrorism and the Economy: How the war on terror is bankrupting the world

“Master of credit society” destroys economies

“The seeds of the credit crunch were sown twenty years ago when the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of the politics of cheap and easy credit denoted by a steady fall in interest rates,” Loretta Napoleoni writes. “Alan Greenspan, at the helm of the Federal Reserve, became the master of the new credit society… [He] controlled the functioning of the world economy and orchestrated its seemingly unstoppable growth. Each time an economic crisis tested the new system—from the collapse of the ruble to the U.S. mini-recession of 2000—Greenspan lowered interest rates and postponed the crisis. …

“…The euphoria of the [Clinton and Bush I and II] decades distracted taxpayers from the erosion of one of the cornerstones of the social contract: the state must justify to its citizens how it spends their money. The state became less fiscally transparent. The public became less vigilant.”

After September 11, 2001, an aggressive policy of low interest rates, which eventually led to the credit crunch — became imperative to bankroll two wars. The deflationary policy that first financed the illusory growth of globalization subsequently funded the war on terror.

Commanders in Chief rupture foreign relations, Citizens shrug 

“From the fall of the Berlin Wall until 9/11,” Napoleoni continues, “indifference to the outside world characterized the U.S. establishment.…

“After 9/11, Washington had to confront the changes underway in the world but attempted to do so without fully reckoning with their magnitude. The world had evolved because of the demise of communism and the advent of globalization…

“Ultimately, a decade of diplomatic disinterest morphed into the bellicose foreign policy of the Bush administration [and] it was apparent as early as mid-2003 that this aggressively reactionary policy was backfiring. In Afghanistan and Iraq, civil wars were raging—not at all the expected blitz-war actions, these had turned into difficult and costly conflicts with no end in sight. Terrorist activities in the world proliferated. Public debt is the U.S. steadily increased. Far from being won, the war on terror continued to weigh heavily on the nation’s finances and bin Laden still roamed free.”

“…Washington changed its tune and presented a new scenario. The enemy ceased to be a handful of crazy religious fanatics… In the summer of 2003, the enemy became a sophisticated international network of banks, charitable organizations, Islamic fundamentalist organizations, and entrepreneurs. The administration had changed their propaganda tune and the media followed suit. Al-Qaeda became an active agent of ‘the clash of civilizations.’…The world wanted to believe that the American crusade was going to save [the world] from an imaginary enemy. … But Bush misread the situation.

“Islamic terrorism had nothing to do with the clash between two cultures. Rather, it resembled a collision of titanic proportions between two economic systems, one hegemonic and the other insurrectional.

War on terror worsens domestic, foreign affairs

“Bush’s legacy is an open-ended, asymmetrical war to manage a potentially unsolvable conflict that sucks money and lives from the state and the taxpayer without contributing anything to peace and to the economy,” Napoleoni writes.

“Far from having brought peace to the world, the war on terror hatched an asymmetric conflict.

“While $200 million has been more than enough to sustain the Iraqi insurgents, Washington’s war costs have run in the trillions. The monthly Pentagon budget for Iraq amounts to $8 billion, $12 billion if we add Afghanistan.

“In response to the rising costs of the war, Washington cut interest rates and sold off treasury bonds internationally. The credit crunch and the economic quagmire inherited by [the Obama administration] prove the folly of this strategy. The financing of the war now competes directly with the plans to rescue the [U.S.] economy.…

“In a recession as serious as the present one, the maintenance of [the war on terror] against enemies of our own creation diverts resources desperately needed to sustain America’s and the world’s economies.

“[U.S. President] Obama’s … rhetoric is insufficient to solve these problems. What is badly needed is a radical plan of action, both for foreign policy and for the economy, the two main components of the recession.

“… [T]he president represents only the tip of the iceberg, one that breaks off at least every two terms…” The Congress of the United States “holds the reins of the nation and designs the greater picture of domestic and foreign politics. Congress represents the people, a nation that still does not have a clear picture of what went wrong.”


Source and notes


Terrorism and the Economy: How the war on terror is bankrupting the world, Loretta Napoleoni (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2010), pp. 3-5, 39-40, 70-71


Loretta Napoleoni has been a London correspondent and columnist for La Stampa, La Repubblica, El Pais and Le Monde. In addition to Terrorism and the Economy, she is author of Rogue Economics: Capitalism’s new reality and Terror incorporated: Tracing the dollars behind the terror networks. Napoleoni is one of the world’s leading experts on money laundering and terror financing.

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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“MADE IN USA” — WAR on liberty

Mediterranean Sea to Indian Ocean — Africa to Asia: Southwest Central Asia/Middle East

Nigeria-Sudan, Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia-Somalia

Egypt-Palestine-Syria-Iraq/Saudi Arabia-Yemen

Palestine, Iraq-Iran, Afghanistan-Pakistan-India

Oil lands, waterway passages, geopolitics and domination

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

You would not think so from mass media reports but Egypt is in Africa.

It borders Sudan’s northern border and Sudan’s western border is one nation (Chad) away from Sub Saharan Nigeria’s eastern border.  Sudan’s eastern border is Ethiopia, then Somalia on Africa’s Horn.  Linking waterways from the Mediterranean down the eastern coasts of Egypt, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia are the Red Sea emptying into the Gulf of Aden, into the Indian Ocean.

Traveling a back in a tight circle north and east from the Indian Ocean are India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt. But of course that’s beside the point — or is it?

This is the current critical mass of U.S. foreign relations: Asia/Africa aggression — WAR made in the USA.

For more than sixty years, the United States and “the West” … installed and supported puppets, despots, and corrupt and totalitarian regimes as long as they did our bidding,” Professor Adil E. Shamoo writes in “On the Wrong Side of History in the Middle East,” published at the end of January in Foreign Policy in Focus.  “The West had no plans [of bringing] freedom and democracy to Middle Eastern countries. Granting sovereignty to Middle Eastern countries was furthest from the minds of Western leaders.”

Professor Shamoo is a native of Iraq. “As an Arab-American raised in Middle East,” he writes, “I was always baffled by America’s claim of being the beacon of freedom and democracy while consistently supporting regimes in the Middle East headed by kings and dictators who killed, imprisoned, starved, tortured and on occasion raped their people in order to stay in power.

“Unfortunately, this policy remains the same today” but because of scant and biased reporting, “The American people are ill informed about the Middle East…. Mainstream media portray U.S. policy as balancing stability and support of corrupt regimes with instituting some reforms … [But] U.S. policies toward the Middle East are shaped by strategic needs, oil, and support for our friendly countries – primarily Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia …”

After September 11, 2001, U.S. officials’ “rhetoric and actions became even more abhorrent, as we labeled any Arab not in agreement with our policies in the Middle East as terrorists, in order to mute free-flowing discussions regarding our policies in the region. [U.S.] policy since 9/11 has added the requirement of collaboration with us against the ‘terrorists’ as a litmus test to the strength of our relationship. Thus, regimes that are helping us weed out the terrorists receive strong support from us to help stabilize and remain in power by covert and overt means. Our policy is contradictory.

“The mere support of these corrupt regimes creates terrorists against the United States. … [T]he unconditional U.S. support of Israel towards the Palestinians adds another complicating and negative dimension.…

“The time for mere reforms in the Middle East has past. The choice is between lack of freedom and democracy, police state, torture and rape on one side; and respect for human values that encompass freedom, democracy and sovereignty on the other. …”

Middle East: IRAQ

In 2008, Marc Steiner for the Center for Emerging Media talked with Adil Shamoo about U.S.-invaded and occupied Iraq.  

“First,” Dr. Shamoo said, “we broke Iraq, we destroyed Iraq, and there are 5 million refugees, half internal and half external. A half million children are practically homeless, the healthcare infrastructure destroyed. Most of Iraq is now ethnically cleansed, especially Baghdad. … There are areas of pure Shiite and pure Sunnis, now.…  Iraq had been an intermixed city, very cosmopolitan.… When you ‘ethnically cleanse’ and you have an extra 20-30 thousand troops, violence goes down, especially when you do not count how many Iraqi have died.…

“We went to Iraq for three primary reasons: most important, strategic, to shape the world the way we want; second, oil, not only Iraqi oil but the whole area, which contains 70 percent of the world’s oil; third, the safety and security of allies such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel.”

Looking to a just solution in the Middle East, Shamoo said: “We still have the talent, the business, the management, the education, the technology to help the Iraqis reconstruct their country … They would become more pro-America that way rather than having 20-year-old foot soldiers who don’t know what they are sometimes doing. They do not know how to do reconstruction. They do not know how to run a country. They are taught only to conquer an enemy. Iraq is not that enemy.”

But U.S. officials are unconcerned with history or reason — WAR against liberty “Made in the USA”

AFRICA: EGYPT

Al Jazeera reports that Egypt is second only to Israel in receiving aid from the United States. Egypt receives close to $2 billion in economic and military aid every year and, of that amount, according to the Congressional Research Service, $1.3 billion is in “military assistance.”

Reports from the ground of current protests in Egypt have noted that tear gas canisters fired at protesters are stamped with the U.S. brand — “Made in USA.”

AFRICA: SUDAN— Khartoum

Sudan like Egypt is “deep in economic crisis after a bloated import bill has eaten up foreign currency and forced an effective currency devaluation and rising inflation. [In January], the government cut subsidies on petroleum products and sugar, a key commodity in Sudan.” The result was “protests throughout the north.”

A student died on Monday of wounds inflicted by security forces during anti-government demonstrations in Sudan’s capital. Witnesses reported that hundreds of heavily armed police surrounded at least six universities in Khartoum and environs.  The armed police beat back university students in three towns in the north who had tried to escape to conduct peaceful protests.

AFRICA: Central NIGERIA — Jos

Scores of people have died in increased regional violence in recent years. Last Sunday the military sent in force aided by helicopters for ‘aggressive patrols.’

Thirty-five people died last week in clashes between Christians and Muslims in Tafawa Balewa in central Nigeria. Four people died last week and arson attacks destroyed 5 mosques and 50 houses. In neighboring town of Jos, the capital of Plateau state, more than a dozen people died after clashes sparked by Muslim villagers’ stabbing of university students on Friday. Over last weekend, churches, mosques, filling stations, houses and food kiosks were set fire.

ASIA: Afghanistan (Kabul) and Pakistan (Mohmand, Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi)

If fighting intensifies on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said, “up to 90,000 people or 10,000 families could be displaced by the end of February.”

Fighting that began on January 27 — involving aerial bombing, artillery and ground troops — has caused more than 20,000 villagers to flee “military operations against armed fighters in Pakistan’s tribal region of Mohmand near the Afghan border.”  United States officials have been reportedly “pushing Pakistan to take action against Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts in the northwest of the country.”

The army prohibits reporting independently in Mohmand and other border areas but in the past few days “the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered about 25,000 people displaced as a result of fresh military operations against insurgents in the country’s northwest.”

Peshawar, Pakistan

Ten people died and 19 suffered wounds Wednesday when a car bomb exploded near a police station in a commercial area of Pakistan’s northwestern city, Peshawar. Three infants and two women were among the dead. Women and children were also among the injured.

Five people died Monday on the outskirts of Peshawar, among them a senior police officer, when two bombs exploded.  Reports said “a teenage boy carrying between six and seven kilos of explosives” carried out these bombings. Since the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan (2001), Pakistan’s northwest and tribal areas have suffered “violence, mostly targeting security officials.”

Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan

Ten people died and more than 50 suffered wounds Wednesday (January 26) when a suicide bomb exploded near a Shia Muslim procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Among the critically wounded were women and children. Believed to have been among the dead were three police officials and a woman. This bomber also was believed to have been a teenager. Four people died and several suffered wounds Tuesday (January 25) in the southern city of Karachi when a motorcycle bomb exploded.

At least 31 people died and 280 suffered wounds in early September in Lahore, a city of eight million people near the border with India. In three and a half years, bombing campaigns across Pakistan have reportedly “killed more than 4,000 people.”

Kabul, Afghanistan

At least nine people died and six suffered wounds Friday [January 28] when a suicide bomb exploded at a supermarket in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Reported among the dead were “foreign women” and a child.

“Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst level since the ‘overthrow’ of the Taliban by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001. There have been reported “record casualties on all sides of the conflict and a raging uprising that has shown little sign of abating.” Friday’s incident was “the first major attack on civilians in Kabul since two suicide bombers detonated explosives near the city’s biggest shopping center and a hotel last February [2010], killing at least 14 people.”

SAUDI ARABIA’s SOUTHERN TIP: YEMEN — Sanaa, Aden

Thousands of anti-government protesters planned and Thursday on the streets of Yemen carried out a ‘day of rage.’ Up to 20,000 people gathered in the Yemini capital demanding an end to President Al Abdullah Saleh’s 30-year rule of this impoverished nation.  In the incident, pro-government and anti-government demonstrators clashed.

In Aden, a southern port city of Yemen, officers faced a separate group of protesters and “reportedly fired tear gas and live ammunition to break up the demonstrators.”

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD?

Casualty sites reporting January 24, 2011

(accurate totals unknown)

• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003

[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20,

2009: 208]

Wounded  32,973 -100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides estimated: 18 a day

Latest update on this site: January 26, 2011

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

• Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths from violence) figures:

‘We don’t do body counts’— General Tommy Franks

Documented civilian deaths from violence

99,393 – 108,514

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

• ICasualties figures:

IRAQ: 4,436 U.S.; 4,754 Coalition

AFGHANISTAN: 1,472 U.S.; 2,317 Coalition

http://icasualties.org/oif

“The U.S. must change its policy for our sake and the sake of the Middle East.” More importantly, Professor Shamoo said, the United States “must be on the right side of history. The revolution may not succeed. It may get co-opted. It may fail today but surely it will succeed tomorrow.”

Sources and notes

“On the Wrong Side of History in the Middle East” (Adil E. Shamoo), January 31, 2011, Foreign Policy in focus, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies,

http://www.fpif.org/blog/on_the_wrong_side_of_history_in_middle_east#

“Iraqi American Viewpoint—an Interview with Adil Shamoo,” March 17, 2008, Center for

Emerging Media (Marc Steiner, transcript by Judith Lloyd), http://www.steinershow.org/files/Adil_Shamoo_TRANSCRIPT.pdf

Adil E Shamoo Ph.D., is  a professor and former chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and holds a secondary appointment to the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. He serves as a member of the Defense Health Board (DHB), chairing the Medical Ethics Subcommittee as well as a being a member of its Executive Committee. Dr. Shamoo is a senior analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus, of the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Accountability in Research and is on the editorial board of the Drug Information Journal. Dr. Shamoo has authored, co-authored, or edited fifteen books, including his textbook , Responsible Conduct of Research (with David Resnick, 2003, 2009); Ethics of the Use of Human Subjects in Research (with Felix Gyi, 2002). He has published over 270 papers.  Dr. Shamoo has held full-time faculty appointments at East Carolina University, the National Institutes of Health, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysics, Frankfort, West Germany, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York, and University of Louisville.

“U.S. to reconsider aid to Egypt — White House officials are evaluating the annual package given to the embattled Egyptian government” (Laila Al-Arian), January 30, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112915194130323.html#

“Sudan student ‘dies in clashes’ — Protesters say he was beaten by police amid anti-government demonstrations in Khartoum and died of his wounds,” January 31, 2011,

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011131153313865676.html#

“Violence grips Nigeria — Deadly clashes between Christians and Muslim in Nigeria continue ahead of April elections,” January 30, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011130212130757290.html#

“Scores flee Pakistan army operation  — Fresh military offensive against armed fighters forces thousands of people to flee their villages for safety,” February 4, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/02/201124111710431641.html#

“Deaths in Pakistan blast — Three infants and two women were among at least ten killed in a car bomb near a police station in the city of Peshawar,” February 2, 2011,  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/02/2011226312386438.html#

“Blasts hit northern Pakistan — Senior police officer among several people killed in two separate attacks near the city of Peshawar, officials say,” January 31, 2011,  

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/201113185918374946.html#

“Deadly suicide blast rocks Lahore — At least 10 people killed near Shia Muslim procession in Pakistan city, while four others die in attack in Karachi,” January 26, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/2011125142912899674.html#

“Kabul blast targets foreigners — Taliban claim responsibility for attack, which has killed nine people, including one child, and wounded six others,” January 28, 2011 14:06 GMT  

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/2011128131933750123.html

“Opposing protesters rally in Yemen — Anti-government demonstrators reiterate calls for president to stand down while his supporters stage a counter rally, February 3, 2011,  

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201123105140512715.html#

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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In the course of human events

It becomes necessary to dissolve political bands…
Re-reporting and editing by Carolyn Bennett

“… For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws … For suspending our own Legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.…

He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

“He has … ravaged our Coasts … destroyed the lives of our people.  … He has constrained our fellow Citizens … He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us

“He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy [treachery] scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation…” [Edited excerpts from “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,” in Congress July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence]

PETITION 2010 to a U.S. president
“We the undersigned share with nearly two-thirds of our fellow Americans the conviction that our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq should be ended and that overall military spending should be dramatically reduced.  This has been our position for years and will continue to be, and we take it seriously.  We vow not to support President Barack Obama for re-nomination for another term in office, and to actively seek to impede his war policies unless and until he reverses them.

“Since he became president, Obama has had three opportunities to work with Congress to reduce military spending, but instead has championed increases in that spending each time, despite the fact that this spending represents a clear threat to the economic future of our country.  He has continued as well to try to hide the true costs of the wars by funding them with off-the-books supplemental spending bills, despite the fact that he campaigned against this very practice.”

TRANSPORTING LARGE ARMIES OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES TO COMPLETE THE WORKS OF DEATH, DESOLATION AND TYRANNY ALREADY BEGUN WITH CIRCUMSTANCES OF CRUELTY AND TREACHERY
“The President has escalated a war on Afghanistan in which rising civilian deaths and atrocities have become routine.

“He has given the CIA even greater freedom of action to launch lethal drone strikes against civilian houses in Pakistan on mere assumption[s] of some connection with Taliban or other organizations —

Despite the warning from the U.S. Ambassador in late 2009 (revealed in WikiLeaks cable releases) that such attacks could ‘destabilize’ the Pakistani government
Despite many reports that civilians, including children, are disproportionately [the] victims, and
Despite United Nations and many U.S. allies’ contention that this practice is illegal

“Obama has approved an increase in covert operations by CIA-controlled Afghan troops into Pakistan, and his administration has remained silent while the U.S. command in Afghanistan leaked to the New York Times plans for new Special Operations Forces raids into Pakistan aimed at Afghan Taliban targets.

“The President has expanded the use of Special Operations Forces (SOF), operating in virtually total secrecy and without any accountability to [the] Congress [of the United States], in one country after another.  SOF troops are presently in some 75 nations — 15 more than when Obama took office.


“President Obama has, on a later schedule than he campaigned on, finally reduced U.S. troop presence in Iraq.  But he has not fully withdrawn U.S. combat forces from Iraq or ended U.S. combat there, his claims to have done so notwithstanding.  His vice president has suggested, without correction by the President, the possibility of a U.S. military presence in the country even after the deadline for withdrawal under the U.S.-Iraq withdrawal agreement, if only through the use of military contractors.


“The Obama administration has announced plans to form an army of mercenary troops from private military contractors in Iraq which is to have its own air force and its own fleet of mine-resistant military vehicles.  The plan includes continued contracts with the company formerly called Blackwater, despite the knowledge that it was guilty of atrocities against civilians in that country, and despite the openly declared opposition of the Iraqi government to such a continued role.


“Obama has overseen increased weapons sales to foreign nations, and assisting in those sales has been a major function of his State Department.  He has approved increased funding for work on nuclear weapons, even while supporting an arms control treaty.  He has established a policy of potential nuclear first strike against Iran or North Korea.


“President Obama has argued for the justness of war-making in widely watched speeches from the Oval Office and in Oslo, Norway, where he was accepting a Nobel Peace Prize.  He has, in his Oval Office speech last August [2010], defended false statements that took our nation into the current wars and false statements that have prolonged them.


“The President has supported sanctions against Iran and Syria that punish the people, especially children, and not the leadership, of those countries.  He has sent ships and missiles to Iran’s border.  He has risked hostilities with North Korea through the ongoing construction of new military bases in South Korea and provocative war games exercises.  His administration has helped a military coup succeed in Honduras.


“President Obama has sought to allow more Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.  He has protected Israel’s killing of activists on a humanitarian aid ship, not even protesting at the murder of an unarmed American youth.  He issued a presidential memorandum on October 25, 2010, giving U.S. approval for the use of child soldiers by Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen.  He has backed Indonesian armed forces that assassinated civilian activists in late 2009.  He has expanded the U.S. military presence in Colombia, Costa Rica, Haiti, Guam, Italy, and Diego Garcia, as well as overseeing an enormous military base construction project in Afghanistan.

BREACH OF LAW, ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS (breach of trust, secrecy)

“President Obama has not closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay and continues to maintain a network of detention facilities in Afghanistan through which prisoners, according to the most recent information available, are still being subjected to harsh treatment. 

“He has claimed the right to imprison people, including American citizens, indefinitely without charge or trial, thus further cementing in place the elimination of the rights of prisoners of war and the elimination of the right of habeas corpus for anyone, as well as the rights found in the Fourth through Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. 

“The President has claimed the power of rendition.  His CIA Director Leon Panetta and his senior advisor David Axelrod have asserted, without correction by the President, that the President maintains the power to torture.  In the recent case of Gulet Mohamed, the Obama administration, for a time, claimed the power to forbid an American to reenter the country, absent any conviction or even any charge of a crime, and apparently collaborated with Kuwait to torture that American. 

“The President has also openly claimed the power to order the assassination of Americans abroad.  In Iraq, the U.S. military has continued to work with and protect from accountability an Iraqi military that is known to regularly use torture.

“The President has expanded the use of warrantless spying. Under his leadership, the FBI has infiltrated peace groups and raided the homes of peace activists. It has set up and entrapped in terrorism charges people whose training and motivation came largely or even entirely from the FBI. He has supported the re-authorization of the PATRIOT Act, which strips away Americans’ civil liberties.

“President Obama, in direct violation of the Nuremberg Charter, a U.S. treaty commitment, has publicly instructed his Attorney General not to prosecute individuals responsible for crimes, including torture. 

“His administration has worked hard to provide retroactive immunity to corporations engaged in warrantless spying and individuals engaged in sanctioning torture.  He has kept secret a vast trove of documents, photos, and videos pertaining to prisoner abuse.  He has advanced unprecedented claims of secrecy powers in defending the crimes of his predecessor. President Obama’s White House has put great pressure on European states not to investigate or prosecute U.S. war crimes.

“This president has restricted the release of the names of White House visitors and has pursued the prosecution and punishment of government whistleblowers more aggressively than any previous president. 

“His administration is responsible for the cruel and unusual lengthy confinement in a 6’ by 12’ cell, prior to any trial, of alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning.  His vice president, Joe Biden, has publicly labeled an Australian journalist, Julian Assange, a ‘terrorist.’  President Obama has used a private propaganda firm that had been exposed planting lies in Iraqi media, to screen potential embedded reporters for coverage of the U.S. military. He has used the military to restrict reporting by American journalists on an oil spill in American waters.”

SUSPENSION OF LEGISLATURE, DECLARING EXECUTIVE INVESTED WITH POWER TO LEGISLATE
“Perhaps most perilously, President Obama has claimed the right to engage in many of these activities without the authorization of Congress.  He has even claimed the power first developed by his predecessor to rewrite new laws through the extra-Constitutional use of presidential signing statements.  Expanded powers that are not opposed now will be far more difficult to oppose later with another president able to claim past precedent.

“The President’s own deficit commission recommended cuts of $100 billion to the military budget.  The United States spends about $1 trillion each year on the military, through a variety of departments, and has spent over $1 trillion already on the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.  Over half of every U.S. dollar of income tax is going to war making.  The Department of Defense budget alone is larger than the military expenditures of the next largest 16 militaries in the world combined.”

ABDICATION OF constitutional GOVERNANCE, DECLARING US OUT OF HIS PROTECTION, WAGING WAR AGAINST US
“That budget could be cut by 85 percent and still be the largest in the world.  In addition to the lessening of hostility toward our country that would result from a significant decrease in U.S. military presence around the world, by shifting our financial resources we could create jobs, green energy, top quality free education, public transportation and infrastructure.  We could also end all talk of reducing our Social Security or health coverage.”

In the course of human events
“IT BECOMES NECESSARY TO DISSOLVE POLITICAL BANDS…”

“We intend to support public servants who put our money where it serves the public.

“We are not concerned with whether President Obama is acting enthusiastically or reluctantly in pursuing a militaristic policy abroad and more repression of dissent at home. It matters little whether he is submitting to powerful forces or freely following his preferred course. We do not elect his soldiers or spies, his advisors, his campaign funders, or the owners of our major media outlets. We elect the president.

“We will not support his nomination for another term and we believe that a large proportion of Americans who voted for him in 2008 will not do so again unless he reverses the most egregious policies to which we have referred — especially by taking decisive steps to end the war on Afghanistan and to make deep cuts in the military and war budgets.


Sources and notes
ADD YOUR NAME: “We will oppose Obama as long as he supports war” (petition) http://warisacrime.org/primaryAlso note: “Why Black MisLeadership Won’t Sign the Anti-War Petition” (Glen Ford), January 25, 2011, http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/why-black-misleadership-won%E2%80%99t-sign-anti-war-petition

“… When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
[Edited excerpts from “The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,” in Congress July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence] 

ADDITIONALLY petitioned


Hundreds of academics are calling for a radical change in U.S. Middle East foreign policy — Academics and political analysts, mainly from the U.S., have signed a statement calling on President Obama to uphold democratic values and change U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.


Excerpt from open letter to President Barack Obama


“As political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we … believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support the democratic movement sweeping over Egypt. As [U.S.] citizens, we expect our president to uphold those values.…


“For thirty years, our [U.S.] government has spent billions of dollars to help build and sustain the system the Egyptian people are now trying to dismantle. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Egypt and around the world have spoken. …


“In order for the United States to stand with the Egyptian people it must approach Egypt through a framework of shared values and hopes, not the geostrategic prism.

“We urge your administration to seize this chance. Turn away from the policies that brought us here and embark on a new course toward peace, democracy and prosperity for the people of the Middle East. We call on you to undertake a comprehensive review of U.S. foreign policy on the major grievances voiced by the democratic opposition in Egypt and all other societies of the region.”




Sources and notes
Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) interview with Joshua Stacher, February 3, 2011, http://www.freespeechradionews.org/


Joshua Stacher is an assistant professor of political science at Kent State University specializing in “authoritarian adaptation of Arab republican regimes as well as social movements. He has published on governance in Egypt and Syria as well as authoritarian elections, human rights and the Egyptian Society of Muslim Brothers.” He is one of the signatories to the open letter to President Barack Obama, http://middleeastdesk.org/article.php?id=2310


“An Open Letter to President Obama from Well-Reputed American Academics” (bargad), January 31, 2011, http://bargad.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/letter-to-president-obama-from-american-academics/

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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One writer all writers at risk

U.S. ally tortures —
Turkey's Government arrested, tortured, annulled acquittal, now sets February 9 retrial of researcher, writer Pinar Selek
Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

Pinar Selek was writing about why the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has opted for violence.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle news, Pinar Selek said, “‘I was watching TV and I saw a photo of me. They said that there had been an explosion, a fire in the spice bazaar. […] They said it was a terrorist attack and a young boy said he’d laid the bomb with Pinar Selek. I was watching it and it was total rubbish.’” [The main witness for the prosecution later admitted that his testimony had been obtained under torture.]

In 1998, Writers in Exile reports, Turkish officials arrested Pinar Selek for alleged propaganda for PKK— after a month in custody, Selek realized she was being charged with having committed a terrorist bomb attack on the Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul on behalf of the PKK. She spent two and a half years in prison where she was severely tortured.

“‘They arrested me and took all my documents,” Selek told Deutsche Welle. “‘They started asking me questions about the people I’d been speaking to. I never wrote their names down,’ she said. She knew her reputation as a researcher would be ruined if she did.”

She described in some detail the brutality of police. “‘They hung me on the wall in a Palestinian sling … They passed electroshocks through my brain. They dislocated my shoulder — lots of things. I just told myself, just resist for two minutes, two minutes, two more minutes. That’s how it happened, two minutes at a time.’”

In 2006, after an eight-year trial, Pinar was acquitted. By then, numerous experts had confirmed that the explosion on the Bazaar had been caused not by a bomb, but by a faulty liquid gas bottle. The main witness for the prosecution admitted that his testimony was obtained under torture.

In 2009, Turkey’s Supreme Court annulled the [acquittal] judgment and in February 2010 ordered the Criminal Court to retry the case and impose life imprisonment on Selek, claiming she was a leading member of the outlawed PKK. The senior public prosecutor had concluded that there was no bomb involved in the Bazaar explosion — a person could not have planted it; however, the Court of Appeals in Ankara did not accept the appeal of the senior public prosecutor and is demanding life imprisonment under stiffened conditions for Pinar Selek. The reopening of the lawsuit at Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12, which had given the decision of acquittal in 2008, will take place February 9, 2011.

During the past ten years, Pinar Selek has become an icon of the democracy movement in Turkey. It is obvious, Writers-in-Prison Vice-President Christa Schuenke (following the trial as official observer) writes, “that antidemocratic forces within the Turkish penal jurisdiction are trying to use their influence in order to gag a courageous writer.”

The Turkish writer and sociologist is a scholar in the Writers-in-Exile program of German P.E.N. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of different kinds of minorities such as socially disadvantaged children. She also defends the civil rights of ethnic minorities like Kurds and Armenians.

A recent psychological assessment of Selek reveals she is suffering from post-traumatic stress. She told Deutsche Welle that, with the trial coming up, “the anxiety she felt during the torture comes back to her like an echo.”

Sources and notes

Pinar Selek needs public support — to demand immediate dismissal of the trial — not only in her own country but also all over the world. christaschuenke 'at' mac.com.

“Appeal for Pinar Selek,” (Christa Schuenke Vice President of P.E.N. Germany in charge of Writers-in-Exile), http://www.pen-deutschland.de/htm/aktuelles/pinar-selek,aufruf-english.php 

On April, 20, 2010, Yasemin Öz, board member of the Feminist Cooperative Amargi in Istanbul, wrote to P.E.N. Germany, “‘Pinar Selek is a prominent writer and feminist, peace activist in Turkey. Pinar Selek is one of the frontier members of our organization. For years, members of our organization are trying to support Pinar and making campaigns in and abroad to avoid this unjust trial against Pinar. During all these years, we received support from many people and organizations in and abroad. With this support, we hope the justice will come in the end.’” http://www.pen-deutschland.de/htm/aktuelles/pinar-selek,aufruf-english.php

“Turkish human rights activist Pinar Selek faces third trial — Pinar Selek, a writer living in Berlin, faces her third trial in Turkey. She is accused of planting a bomb and killing seven people. Observers, however, say the trial is politically motivated; Pinar Selek's third trial is slated to begin on February 9, after over a decade of legal proceedings” (Author: Natalia Dannenberg, Editor: Kate Bowen) February 2, 2011, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14809844,00.html

Writers in Exile Network

Writers from other countries enrich and invigorate the cultures that take them in.

A project of International P.E.N., the Writers in Exile Network formed in response to the growing number of writers fleeing persecution. The Network works on behalf of writers who have been forced into exile and provides personal and professional information and guidance to help writers integrate into a safe country. The Network’s goals are to help writers to establish themselves in their new environment and to resume their careers. [International P.E.N. Writers in Exile Network Statement of Intent, Adopted at the International P.E.N. Congress, Moscow, May 2000], http://www.pen-deutschland.de/htm/en/e_wie_network.php

P.E.N. (originally Poets, Essayists and Novelists) is an international NGO based in London, England, and founded in that country in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers worldwide. International P.E.N. today includes a variety of writers including journalists and historians.
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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Evidence doubts “Official 9/11”

Questioned by Truth

“We ourselves must embody
societal changes we wish to see”
— 9/11 Truth —

International relations scholar Richard Falk is among Truth movement’s persistent questioners. His article [excerpted] appeared in mid January in Foreign Policy Journal. A related interview aired January 26 on KPFA’s “Guns and Butter” program.
Excerpting, minor editing by Carolyn Bennett


“…We should know that governments [abuse] their authority to treat awkward knowledge as a matter of state secrets and criminalize those brave enough to believe the citizenry needs to know the crimes their government is committing with their trust and their tax dollars.”


However, “We tend to process information against the background of our general worldview and understanding. We do this all the time as an efficient way of coping with the complexity of the world combined with our lack of time or inclination to reach conclusions by independent investigation. The problem arises when we confuse this means of interpreting our experience with an effort to provide an explanation of a contested public event….”


Veil raises doubt


“What fuels suspicions of conspiracy is the reluctance to address awkward gaps and contradictions in the official explanations …”


More distressing perhaps than “the apparent cover up is the eerie silence of the mainstream media — unwilling to acknowledge well-evidenced doubts about the official version of the events: an al Qaeda operation with no foreknowledge by government officials.


“Is this silence a manifestation of fear or cooption, or part of an equally disturbing filter of self-censorship? Whatever it is, the result is the withering away of a participatory citizenry and the erosion of legitimate constitutional government. The forms persist, but the content is missing.…


Progressing forward
WE LEARN

“If we want to be responsible in our assessments, we must restrain our political predispositions, and get the evidence.


“Let us remember that what seems most disturbing about the 9/11 controversy is the widespread aversion by government and media to the evidence that suggests, at the very least, the need for an independent investigation that proceeds with no holds barred.


“Such an investigation would contrast with the official ‘9/11 Commission’ that proceeded with most holds barred. …


“What must we learn from all of this?

Don’t connect dots without evidence.
Don’t turn away as soon as the words ‘conspiracy theory’ are uttered, especially if the evidence does point away from what the power-wielders want us to believe.
Don’t link individual wrongdoing, however horrific, to wider religious and ethnic identities.

We will perish as a species if we do not learn soon to live together better on our beautiful, globalizing, and imperiled planet.

Sources and notes
“Interrogating the Arizona Killings from a Safe Distance” ( Richard Falk), January 13, 2011,
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/01/13/interrogating-the-arizona-killings-from-a-safe-distance/?wpmp_switcher=mobile&wpmp_tp=1

Richard Falk is an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years. Since 2002, Falk has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies. Since 2005, he has chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Also: ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ Guns and Butter program [producer/host Bonnie Faulkner] with Tod Fletcher January 26, 2011, focused on David Ray Griffin’s newest book Cognitive Infiltration (a deconstruction and debunking of Obama appointee, Cass Sunstein's, paper ‘Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures’. Sunstein proposes a new government COINTELPRO type infiltration of groups that research and promote ideas and explanations that run contrary to U.S. government narratives, most specifically about the events of September 11 [9/11/2001), http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/67100


911Truth.org:

Educating about 9/11
“As the leading portal of the September 11 [2001] research community and truth movement, 911Truth.org and its staff members have accumulated vast practical experience in investigation and in campaigns for education, visibility, media, lobbying, street action and litigation.

Leading Political Transformation
We understand that September 11 was an international disaster that sparked a negative global transformation, and that control of its interpretation partly determines how one views the world.

911Truth.org looks not to create a new conspiracy industry, but to achieve full disclosure of hidden realities that affect all of our lives, that we may finally be sovereign as a democratic people. We work to win the hearts and minds of the people.

Commitment to more civil, effective collaboration in the 9/11 Truth Movement

Because we still lack subpoena and discovery powers, members of the 9/11 truth movement and American citizens as a whole will not be able to fully connect the ‘dots’ of 9/11 events until key classified documents and videos are leaked or released.

In the meantime, many of us will develop theories about those events and what really occurred. Given the incompleteness of the facts at hand, our theories will invariably differ. They therefore can and should be sincerely discussed and analyzed, but this debate must not obscure the reality that the investigative tasks we face still remain extremely challenging.

We believe our campaign to expose the truth of 9/11 offers the world more essential insights into current political and economic reality than any other modern movement and therefore can empower the most profound social transformation of our age.

This work is far too important to debilitate with egotism, zealotry or self-inflicted wounds, and we must make every effort to sustain the unprecedented progress we have made.

Because the 9/11 truth movement presents grave moral, legal and political threats to those in power, we would be naive to not anticipate covert governmental intervention in our activities and attempts to divide, disrupt and discredit us by promoting hateful or repellant theories and sowing internal discord. Indeed, the greatest risk these forces pose to our work is not espionage or disinformation; it is the provocation of destructive mistrust between authentic activists.

We … therefore commit ourselves to work together towards our greater goals with the least possible rancor and internal strife. We agree to reject ad hominem denunciations and attacks upon others’ motives, and focus our critical attention upon the logic, factual evidence and probability supporting certain hypotheses instead.

“Our ultimate goal must be the full disclosure of 9/11 truth, which is disserved by factional warfare on behalf of partial points of view.

“We will strive to fill in the gaps of the evidentiary record, so that facts dictate our conclusions rather than conjecture or emotional charges and appeals.

“Finally, since we ourselves must embody the societal changes we wish to see, we vow to continue our work with fierce devotion, but also with mutual respect, selflessness and above all, honesty. http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20061014120445472



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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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