[CTRL] U.S. Citizens Found in Serbia Grave

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

U.S. Citizens Found in Serbia Grave

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010713/aponline092000_000.htm

By Dragan Ilic
Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2001; 9:20 a.m. EDT

NIS, Yugoslavia -- Documents on the bodies of three males found in a mass
grave in eastern Serbia indicate they were U.S. citizens of ethnic Albanian
origin, an official said Friday.

However, a forensic examination will be required to verify their identity,
the official, a member of a forensics team investigating the grave in
Petrovo Selo, told The Associated Press.

The mass grave was discovered recently about 120 miles east of the capital,
Belgrade, and has been linked to Slobodan Milosevic's campaign to cover up
Kosovo atrocities.

The former Yugoslav president was indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal
for atrocities carried out against non-Serbs in Kosovo and was extradited
to the Netherlands-based court on June 28.

Papers found on the three men identify them as brothers - Agron, Mehmet and
Yli Bytyqi - born in Chicago in 1978, 1976 and 1974 respectively, the
source said on condition of anonymity.

The brothers lived in New York City and their mother and sister lived in
Prizren in western Kosovo, the source said.

The southern Yugoslav province has been run by NATO since June 1999, when
the alliance ended 78 days of airstrikes that punished Milosevic's regime
for its crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

The bodies of the three men were lying atop a heap containing remains of 13
other ethnic Albanians in a ditch located on the fringes of a special
police compound in Petrovo Selo, the source said. An adjacent collective
grave contained 59 more bodies, bringing the total at the site to 75.

The position of the three - the only ones who were blindfolded, their hands
tied with wire - points to the likelihood that they were killed nearby, the
source said. The men were dressed in civilian clothes and were shot at
close range.

A Serbian court document dated June 27, 1999, also was found on the
brothers, indicating they were sentenced to 15 days in jail for entering
the country illegally, the official told AP. The document ordered them sent
to a penitentiary in Prokuplje, just north of Kosovo province.

The Belgrade-based office of the U.N. tribunal, whose experts are allowed
to observe mass grave exhumations, said it could not confirm the identity
of the men to AP.

A spokeswoman in the U.S. State Department's European affairs office said
only that the United States encourages the Serbian authorities to fully
investigate the mass graves.

We also encourage the Serbian authorities to work closely with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in their
investigation and to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes,
the spokeswoman said.

A report about the three men first appeared Wednesday in the Reporter
weekly, which claimed they were arrested on the Kosovo-Serbian border.

The newspaper said the three Americans were fighting with pro-independence
ethnic Albanian rebels in the so-called Atlantic Brigade consisting of up
to 400 men before they were executed by Serbian security forces.

Pro-democracy officials who took over after Milosevic's ouster from power
last October have accused the ex-president of ordering his associates to
cover up evidence of war crimes in Kosovo.

They allege that Milosevic tried to hide the atrocities by ordering some
800 bodies to be buried in Serbia in locations far from the Kosovo province.

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[CTRL] Star Wars, Inc.

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Masters of War: Corporate Ties of Top Defense Appointees and Key Star Wars
Lobbyists Exposed!

Here in living color is a complete rundown of the Bush regime's defense
department and the key lobbyists for the Star Wars scheme. It reads like a
who's who of defense pork corporations. These men are the Masters of War
that Bob Dylan warned of in his chilling song (see
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/masters.html). They aren't here to protect
America - they are here to create their own order built on our money and --
if it profits them -- our childrens' blood. Yet Bush has intentionally
loosed these dogs of war on the world.

Star Wars, Inc.: The Men and the Money Behind Space Weaponryu
http://www.westchesterweekly.com/articles/starwars.html

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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
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always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
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[CTRL] House panel steamed at CIA's lack of cooperation

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

House panel steamed at CIA's lack of cooperation

By Tanya N. Ballard

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency declined to testify
before a joint committee hearing Wednesday that explored the agency's
lack of responsiveness to congressional inquiries from outside the House
and Senate intelligence committees.

Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., chairman of the Subcommittee on Government
Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations, held
Wednesday's joint hearing with the International Relations Committee in
response to what he termed a contemptuous act by the CIA.

The CIA refused to respond to a General Accounting Office survey of
computer security policies at all of the government's classified
computer systems. Horn's subcommittee commissioned the survey.
Every federal agency except the CIA responded to the survey, Horn
said.

The subcommittee agreed to allow the CIA to respond in a closed
executive session, but the agency reneged on its promise to show up just
days before the meeting was to take place, Horn said.
The CIA has pointed to a recent change in House rules as the basis for
not cooperating with congressional inquiries other than those received
from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Horn said.

The rule states that oversight of the CIA's sources and methods falls
exclusively to the House and Senate intelligence committees. Horn argued
that his subcommittee also has jurisdiction over the CIA because it is
charged with overseeing government-wide computer security efforts.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0701/071901t1.htm

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[CTRL] Agents allege corruption among senior FBI officials

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

USA: Agents allege corruption among senior FBI officials
(The Miami Herald, 19/07/01,
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/national/digdocs/099940.htm)

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
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[CTRL] Morgue set up for G8 summit

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Morgue set up for G8 summit

http://www.ottawacitizen.com:80/business/010715/5016752.html

Unprecedented violence anticipated

by Julian Coman and Robert Fox from
The Sunday Telegraph
Sunday 15 July 2001

ROME -- Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, has ordered security
forces to prepare for unprecedented levels of violence at this week's G8
summit in Genoa, authorizing the purchase of 200 body bags and the setting
up of a temporary morgue in a hospital.
In the most tense build-up to an international summit for decades, the
Italian government fears a violent backlash to events at last month's
European Union summit in Goteborg, where one protester was shot by police
during riots.
The United States has already laid plans to remove President George W. Bush
from his hotel to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the Gulf of Genoa
should serious rioting begin.
For the past month, anti-capitalist protest groups have said that
disturbances at Genoa will dwarf those seen previously at Seattle, Prague
and Goteborg.
More than 100,000 protesters are expected to converge on the city, many
intent on breaking through to the summit area.
Mr. Berlusconi has placed his authority on the line to ensure a peaceful
summit, supervising the most elaborate security measures ever seen for a G8
meeting.
A missile defence system has been installed at Genoa airport to deter
airborne terrorist attack. The land-based rockets have a range of 14
kilometres and were previously deployed along the Adriatic coast during the
NATO conflict with Yugoslavia.
Other than Mr. Bush, most G8 leaders will be accommodated on the liner
European Vision, moored in Genoa harbour, which will be guarded by the
military and Italian police.
The Brigata Folgore, the Italian equivalent of the SAS, has been placed on
stand-by.
We will do anything necessary to allow this summit to take place without
disturbance, said a spokesman for the Italian Interior Ministry.
There are fears however, that some protesters may already have penetrated
the Red Zone where the summit will take place. If that is the case, we'll
just have to get them out when the time comes, said a Genoa police official.
The summit begins on Friday, but from Wednesday the city will effectively
be under siege. Italian State Railways announced last Friday that both of
Genoa's main stations would close two days in advance, in an attempt to
keep protesters away from the harbour area where the summit is being held.
The heavy precautions have angered protest groups. Vittorio Agnoletto, the
spokesman for the Genoa Social Forum, which is co-ordinating more than
1,000 anti-summit groups and associations, said: If closing the stations
is supposed to be a challenge to us, then we can tell them right now that
we are going to get there whatever happens. Across the Internet,
organizations have threatened violence.
The German anarchist group, Autonomen, has promised disruption using
whatever means possible.
Luca Casarini, the leader of the Italian anarchist group, the White
Overalls, said the group had studied police tactics for the past month. We
know their strategy and how to defeat it, he said. We will be using some
highly unconventional methods and when we storm the city's off-limit zone,
we will be ready to defend ourselves. This is not going to be a small
conflict. This is a revolution.
As pre-summit tension rises, Italian ministers have fiercely criticized the
decision, taken by the previous premier, Giuliano Amato, to hold the summit
in Genoa. The choice of Genoa for an occasion such as this was an act of
complete irresponsibility, said Giuliano Urbani, the minister for
culture.  People will be at risk, and so will the cultural monuments.

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] National Security Agency names new CIO

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

National Security Agency names new CIO

By George Cahlink

The National Security Agency Tuesday tapped Richard Turner, former chief
information officer for the Federal Trade Commission, to oversee the
intelligence agency's information systems.

Turner, who has held key IT positions for NASA and the Army, replaces
Raymond Holter. Holter retired earlier this year after 34 years of
federal service.

The National Security Agency has much to gain by hiring from [outside
the agency] for skills that are not directly related to our mission of
[signals intelligence] and information assurance, said Air Force Lt.
Gen. Michael Hayden, director of NSA, in a press release.

We need to leverage the skills available from other sources that will
encourage us to focus on being world class in those skills that directly
define who we are.

Turner's top priority will be to oversee the outsourcing of hundreds of
agency IT support jobs under Project Groundbreaker. The outsourcing
deal, covering 10 years and valued at as much as $5 billion, calls for a
contractor to provide technology support for all of the agency's
technical needs that are not mission-critical. The winning contractor
will be named by July 31.

NSA also named Michael Lawrence as the agency's new chief of legislative
affairs on Tuesday. Lawrence, who has more than two decades of
legislative, intergovernmental and public affairs experience, will
report directly to Hayden.

Click here for related stories and links:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0701/071801g1.htm

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Study Says 2000 Election Missed Millions of Votes

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

July 17, 2001

Study Says 2000 Election Missed Millions of Votes

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
New York Times

A look at the controversial overseas absentee vote, and its possible impact
on the 2000 Election.

A new study of the 2000 presidential election has found that 4 million to 6
million votes of the 100 million cast last November were not counted. The
survey cited faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error and
problems at polling places, including long lines, short hours and
inconvenient locations.

The study, released yesterday by scientists from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, did not try
to determine whether the lost or ruined votes would have changed the
outcome of the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

The estimate of lost votes is at least twice as high as one released
earlier this month by House Democrats, who said that about two million
votes, or nearly 2 percent of the total, had not been counted.

More than eight months after Election Day, voting experts are still sorting
through the aftermath of one of the closest presidential races ever.
Yesterday's report is one of several expected in the next several weeks
that will examine what went wrong and make recommendations to guide
Congress and local governments as they seek to avoid the pitfalls of 2000.

While some analysts say time is running out to enact changes that could be
in place by the elections in 2002, the bipartisan sponsors of a bill
expected to be voted on in the House Science Committee this week are hoping
the M.I.T.-Caltech study will give their bill new urgency. The bill would
direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal
laboratory, and state and local election officials to set new technical
standards for voting equipment.

The academic study concluded that many of the mechanical and human problems
experienced last November could be solved if counties eliminated punch
cards and lever machines and bought optical-scan equipment, in which voters
use pencils to fill in circles, as on standardized tests.

The best such optical-scan equipment, the study said, counts ballots at the
precinct level and kicks them back to voters if they have been filled out
incorrectly. Other studies have reached the same conclusion.

The U.S. can lower the number of lost votes in 2004 by replacing punch
cards and lever machines with optical scanning, the report said.

It also said counties needed to upgrade their voter registration systems,
chiefly by consolidating their registration lists in single databases that
are available by computer at each precinct. And it endorsed provisional
ballots, which allow a voter to vote even if his registration is in
question and to have the ballot counted later. Nineteen states now use
provisional ballots.

Such changes in the nation's election system could cost about $400 million
a year. The report said the nation's 3,000 counties spent $1 billion on
election administration in 2000.

We view the price of these reforms. $4 per voter per year, as
  insurance:
insurance against problematic elections in the future, insurance that each
vote will be counted, the report said.

The report was the result of a six- month examination of the nation's
voting system by a team of computer scientists, mechanical engineers and
social scientists from the two universities, the nation's premier technical
institutes.

The goal of their continuing project, financed by the Carnegie Corporation
of New York, is to make recommendations about how computing technology can
best be harnessed to improve elections.

No system is fool-proof, the scientists said. Jehoshua Bruck, an electrical
engineer at Caltech, joked that the perfect system would read a voter's
mind while she imagined a picture of the White House.

Short of that, Stephen Ansolabehere, a political scientist at M.I.T.,
acknowledged that so far, the two institutes had determined that one of the
two best solutions was low-tech, the hand-counted paper ballot.

Just as reliable, the report said, are the optical-scan machines that count
ballots at the precinct level and give voters a second chance if they make
a mistake.

The scientists were skeptical of voting over the Internet. The Internet is
too vulnerable to large-scale fraud, they said.

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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us 

[CTRL] The Florida Election Was 'Fundamentally Corrupt'

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Fundamentally corrupt?

http://msnbc.com/news/600667.asp?cp1=1

Evidence mounts that GOP used every trick in the book

By Eric Alterman
MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR

July 15  -- Following an exhaustive, six-month investigation featuring 24
reporters interviewing more than 300 voters in 43 countries and examining
thousands of pages of documents, the New York Times has discovered mounds
of evidence of unequal treatment of overseas ballots in Florida on behalf
of the Republican candidate George Bush. Its report provides additional
evidence to demonstrate what almost all of us know but precious few are
willing to admit: the process that determined the outcome of the 2000
election was fundamentally corrupt.  Republicans dominated the public
relations battle, the behind-the-scenes political struggle, and ultimately
the fateful Supreme Court decision that handed them their tarnished victory.
ASKED TO COMMENT on the Times' revelations, Bush spokesperson Ari Fleischer
shot back, This election was decided by the voters of Florida a long time
ago. And the nation, the president and all but the most partisan Americans
have moved on. No wonder. The Times has uncovered yet another example of
the Bush team's efforts to undermine the integrity of the Florida count, as
they fought, successfully in many instances to include illegal military
ballots for their man on the one hand and to exclude fully legal Gore
ballots on the other, making precisely contradictory accusations in each case.
  BOURGEOIS RIOT
Sunday morning pundits like ABC's Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts have
already been quick to pooh-pooh the Times report, although both implied
that they had not even read it in its entirety. They invited the
conservative Republican partisan Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal  the
man who cheered on the Republicans bourgeois riot that successfully shut
down the count in Palm Beach county  to mock his competitor for devoting so
much attention to a report that, by itself, failed to prove that Gore would
have won the election with a proper vote count. (It is a measure of the
conservative bias of the punditocracy, by the way, that ABC paired off the
extremist Gigot with Claire Shipman, a down-the-line, straightforward
reporter for ABC news.)
But the fact that the Times failed to prove that overseas ballots alone
might not have tipped the balance is secondary when placed in the larger
context of the rest of what we know about the election. That Al Gore won
national vote by a considerable margin  more than either Kennedy in 1960 or
Nixon in 1968  is undisputable. That he won the votes of Floridians using
the voter's intent standard outlined in that state's election laws is
also indisputable. (Republican lawyers fought against the use of this
standard in most cases, except in those that would have disqualified
overseas military ballots in favor of their candidate, in which case they
fought just as vociferously to employ it.) Illegally excluded overvotes
also would likely have given Gore a substantial margin of victory.
Now throw in the fact that Katherine Harris chose to arbitrarily exclude
215 votes from Palm Beach County because they arrived two hours late. Add
to these factors the deliberate theft of many of his legitimate overseas
votes and the illegal inclusion of hundreds of Republican votes and, once
again, it becomes harder and harder to conclude that the right man is
sitting in the Oval Office, no matter what standard one chooses.
FOG OF RHETORIC
The great victory of the Republicans during this entire process was to mask
the fact that they were seeking to undermine it behind the scenes and to
convince a supine media to play along. Over and over we heard that the
votes had been counted and recounted and Bush had won every time. Few
reporters were interested or able to penetrate into this fog of misleading
rhetoric to determine just how this counting and recounting was taking place.
For instance, the Times discovered:
For all of her vows of alleged impartiality, Florida Secretary of State
Katherine Harris, who repeatedly attempted to certify the election for the
man whose campaign she co-chaired, actually allowed the Republican
operatives to set up a war room in her office! They drafted her
statements and directed her strategy while she played quietly along.
In Washington, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee helped the
campaign obtain private contact information for military voters, violating
the tradition of impartiality of the military and directly involving
Congress in a partisan hunt for pro-Bush votes.  The Supreme Court, in
ruling on the necessity of equal protection for all voters, deliberately
ignored the fact that this standard was wholly ignored by those canvassing
boards that the Republicans convinced to include illegal overseas ballots
in favor of Bush, while excluding many legally cast votes in favor of Gore.
The very basis of the decision that gave the election to 

[CTRL] COLOMBIA: Outsourcing War

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.public-i.org/story_03a_071201.htm

NOTE: This is just one part of a larger report recently released by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. To go their webpage
and look at the full report go to www.icij.org

Special Report
COLOMBIA
Outsourcing War

By The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists*

One of the striking characteristics of the U.S. operation in Colombia and
elsewhere in the Andes is hiring civilians for work traditionally carried
out by U.S. military and intelligence services.

The scope of these operations are coming to light with incidents such as
the April 20 shootdown of a small missionary plane by a Peruvian air force
pilot operating on intelligence provided by a CIA civilian contractor. That
attack killed an American missionary and her baby daughter. Two months
later, Colombian authorities subpoenaed three U.S. contract pilots to
testify about the 1998 bombing of civilians in the Colombian hamlet of
Santo Domingo. The pilots were working for Florida-based AirScan
International Inc., which at the time had a contract monitoring an oil
pipeline, partly owned by Occidental Petroleum. Colombian pilots under
investigation for the bombing have reportedly told a military court that
the AirScan pilots passed on coordinates for the attack.

Delegating to civilians jobs like spraying coca leaf, patrolling the skies
and providing intelligence services gives the U.S. government plausible
deniability'' and flexibility. U.S. troops may be legally bound from
entering combat in Latin America; civilians under U.S. contract may not
have exactly the same restrictions. Nor, in the case of deaths in the
field, do the dependents of contract employees require the same level of
accountability as relatives of U.S. troops.

Today, much of the U.S. government's support of Colombian military
operations in the drug war is being outsourced. In 1999, Virginia-based
Military Professional Resources Inc., a veritable Who's Who of retired
senior U.S. military officers, was given an 18-month, $4.3 million contract
by the Pentagon to work with the Colombian military. MPRI sent 10
employees, led by a retired Army general, to Colombia, reportedly to
evaluate issues such as budgeting procedures, leadership recruitment and
training policies. MPRI employees were based inside the Colombian Armed
Forces High Command in Bogotá, along with U.S. Defense Department
personnel. The team, which did not include a single Spanish speaker, spent
more than a year at the Colombian Defense Ministry, holding frequent
meetings with staff officers and producing a thick binder that MPRI
described as Colombia's keystone war fighting document.''

MPRI is a professional services company engaged in defense related
contracting in the U.S. and international markets, the company says on its
Web site. Its mission statement asserts that MPRI, incorporated in 1988,
can perform any task or accomplish any mission requiring defense related
expertise, military skills short of combat operations (or generalized
skills acquired through military service), law enforcement expertise, and
leadership development. MPRI's senior executives include a former U.S.
Army chief of staff, retired Gen. Carl Vuono, who led Army operations
during the invasion of Panama and the Gulf War; retired Gen. Crosbie Saint,
commander of the U.S. Army in Europe from 1988 to 1992; and former Defense
Intelligence Agency chief Ed Soyster. The company says it has more than 800
employees, and program offices in several U.S. states and foreign countries
in Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia. MPRI was bought by L-3
Communications in July 2000. L-3 Communications, which has nearly $2
billion in annual revenue but is a new name among defense contractors, was
formed in April 1997 with the purchase of business units that were part of
the Loral Corporation and Lockheed Martin merger in 1996.

MPRI's recommendations to Colombia reportedly did not impress the Colombian
Defense Ministry, and the contract was not renewed when it expired in March
2001. Colombian officers found meetings with the MPRI officials
excruciating and its recommendations irrelevant or inappropriate. MPRI's
advice, according to news reports, included such recommendations as, Apply
appropriate military capability prudently,'' Accurate and timely delivery
of mail enhances the quality of life for the men and women in the field,''
and Hit the enemy with a closed fist; do not poke at him with fingers of
an open hand.''

The scope of what MPRI was paid to do is unclear. Documents supplied by the
Pentagon in response to a Freedom of Information request, seeking
information on all MPRI contracts in Latin America, did not reveal the
Colombian contract. Neither did a search of the government's database of
federal contracts. Soyster, MPRI's vice president for international
relations, refused to release a copy of the contract, as did the U.S. State
and Defense 

[CTRL] Exporting Bloodshed

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
July 16, 2001

Exporting Bloodshed

THE face of war has changed. No longer is it a weathered man in a helmet,
piloting a jet fighter or driving a tank in an organized regiment. Now it
is just as likely the face of a child, toting an assault rifle through a
jungle or down a village street. Or a bandit leading a loosely organized
group, claiming to be fighting for high ideals but often in it for nothing
more than plunder. Many of the bloody conflicts in developing countries are
international equivalents of gang wars, waged by rival warlords armed like
U.S. Marines.

The phenomenon of the child soldier is an atrocity made possible by the
unchecked growth in the international trade of technologically advanced
small arms. Of the 49 major conflicts in the 1990s, 46 were waged
exclusively with so-called small arms, including pistols, automatic
weapons, grenade launchers, mortars and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft
missiles. Of the 4 million people killed in these wars, 3.6 million were
civilians; 80 percent of those were women and children. After such
small-arms conflicts are resolved, some 70 percent of civilians continue
to own their weapons, and many use them, waging wars without end in a
permanent culture of violent chaos. Since 1990, small-arms conflicts from
Sierra Leone to El Salvador to the Congo have killed 2 million children and
disabled 5 million more.

The United Nations is attempting to put together a plan to curb this
devastation. Key among the non-binding proposals it is weighing is
encouraging governments to seriously consider banning sales of military
weapons to civilians. As the world's leading exporter of these small arms,
the United States could have given the proposal real weight. Instead, on
the first day of the two-week meeting, the Bush administration
sledgehammered that idea with a statement of non-support, crippling
whatever slim chance the effort has of succeeding. Undersecretary of State
John Bolton said the U.S. opposes the U.N. draft because it might infringe
on Americans' right to bear arms and might hinder legitimate weapons trade.

A non-binding agreement to consider curbing privates sales of true
military weapons would not have any effect on American sportsmen and other
law-abiding gun owners. But the National Rifle Association and U.N.-haters
have woven a paranoid fantasy of a global gun confiscation conspiracy,
and found a friend in the White House.

The administration says it wants to attack the problem by focusing on the
illegal trade. But according to a survey presented at the meeting last
week, less than 1 percent of the 550 million known small arms in the world
are illegally in the hands of rebels. The administration's plan is not only
too little to solve the problem, it also is stripped of real teeth. Most
illegal weapons are first sold legally. The Bush administration has
reversed a position formerly held by the United States, and opposes a U.N.
proposal to mark and trace all small arms sales -- critical in discovering
the illegal sellers.

As it did in rejecting the Kyoto protocol on global warming, the
Antiballistic Missile Treaty and the formation of a permanent International
Criminal Court for war crimes at The Hague, the Bush administration again
has displayed arrogant apathy toward the rest of the world's problems and a
refusal to take a more productive role in resolving them.

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==
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] COPA Dallas Regional Meeting Nov 22-25

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001
From: copa [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: COPA Dallas Regional Meeting Nov 22-25

COPA ANNUAL REGIONAL MEETING, 2001
DALLAS, TX, NOVEMBER 22-25

Hotel Lawrence (formerly Paramount)
302 South Houston St. (off Dealey Plaza at
Commerce)
COPA discount rate $59 single/$69 double per
night
Hotel Reservations: 214-761-9090

Themes: Reopening the JFK Investigation
Releasing ALL the files on JFK and MLK

Speakers: Gary Aguilar, Bill Turner,
Ronnie Dugger, Walt Brown,
Bill Kelly, Dick Gregory, Phil Melanson, T
Carter, John Judge, and
others to be announced.

Schedule:
Thursday, November 22
12:30 pm Moment of Silence, Grassy Knoll,
Dealey Plaza
Evening Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Hilton
tower restaurant
overlooking the Plaza

Friday, November 23
6:00 pm Cocktail hour social and dinner at
the Adolphus Hotel lounge.
8:00 Possibly speakers at George Allen Courthouse Building

Saturday, November 24
Events will be at Hotel Lawrence and/or
Courthouse Building
9:00 am to Noon Speakers and discussion on
JFK issues
1:00 - 5:00 pm Continued discussion and
speakers
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Speakers and films

Sunday, November 25
9:00 am - Noon Speakers and discussion on MLK
issues
1:00 - 3:00 pm Discussion of Congress and
court strategies

The speakers and topics are open to change,
dates are not.

Conference registration fee: $15 per person
per day on Saturday and Sunday, cash at door.

Make your hotel reservations now! We need to
fill a minimum number of
rooms each night at the Lawrence, beginning
November 22. If you cannot
come on Thanksgiving, please attend on the
weekend.

RSVP and questions: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] 'Crazy Medicine' From Burma Worries Thai Officials

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

'Crazy Medicine' From Burma Worries Thai Officials

DOI KIU HUNG, Thailand - In the Golden Triangle, Southeast Asia's
poppy-growing heartland, drug warlords have begun producing large
quantities of a methamphetamine known as crazy medicine that is
rivaling the traditional trade in heroin and prompting the U.S.
military to train an anti-drug commando unit in Thailand.
http://tm0.com/IHT/sbct.cgi?s=80180978i=367124d=1561662

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
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[CTRL] The Wired Left Awakens

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

[See website for embedded links.]

July 12, 2001

The Wired Left Awakens

http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?request=607

AlterNet leads a resurgence of progressive news sites

By J.D. Lasica, OJR Senior Columnist

Will a handful of big corporations control virtually all the news published
on the Internet? On some days it certainly appears that way, especially in
light of the report last month that four companies control half of all the
traffic on the Web.
The prospects for independent content sites seem grim today, what with
Salon running low on cash and the zines Feed and Suck closing up shop.
But one voice of grassroots independent journalism has recently begun to
thrive. More surprising still, its point of view offers a decidedly
left-of-center tilt.
The secrets of AlterNet's success? It's not out to make money. And it's
riding a wave of public anger about the Bush administration's
less-than-compassionate policies on the environment, energy, civil rights
and other issues that tend to send progressives into a frothy lather.
While the right has long ruled the Net by dominating message boards, polls
and peer-to-peer sites like FreeRepublic (see my column last fall on
conservative news sites), the political left has been comparatively silent.
That may be changing.
Don Hazen, AlterNet's executive editor, says the site's traffic has soared
500 percent since President Bush took office, in much the same way that
conservative sites and publications flourished under Clinton. The site now
attracts about 200,000 unique visitors and gets 1.6 million page views a
month  numbers akin to Suck's and higher than Feed's  compared with 40,000
visitors nine months ago.
The conservative slant of Bush's administration has been a Godsend for us,
and for other left-leaning organizations, says Hazen, former publisher of
Mother Jones magazine.
The left wakes up and smells the coffee
Other left-leaning news sites have also begun to make Net denizens sit up
and take notice:
TomPaine.com, funded by the non-profit Florence Fund, publishes
commentaries and stories on subjects overlooked by the mainstream media.
The site runs ads on the op-ed page of the New York Times on topics like
the drug war and welfare reform.
Workingforchange.com, a slick, left-leaning news and links site, was
launched in spring 2000. It's run by a shoe-string staff and owned by the
do-gooder long-distance telephone company Working Assets.
The CommonDreams news service offers breaking news and views for the
progressive community.
This abbreviated list doesn't include online magazines that publish
original Web content like Mother Jones, The American Prospect and The
Nation, advocacy groups like CorpWatch, publications like Grist Magazine or
The Black World Today, and organizations like the ACLU, Greenpeace and
Rainforest Action Network.
AlterNet, which launched on the Web in 1998, is a branch of the Independent
Media Institute, a not-for-profit public interest media company in San
Francisco. Originally called the Institute for Alternative Journalism, IMI
was formed in 1983 by a group of alternative-newspaper editors as a
syndication service for weeklies, and it continues to do so today, with 160
papers using stories written for the service.
Recalls Hazen: Several years ago we realized we had all this great
content, and it just made sense to make it available to the public on the
Web.
The early versions of AlterNet had a funky design, but the site underwent a
major overhaul on May 29. The result? A more sophisticated look and
back-end functionality (discussion boards, searches, article purchases)
powered by RealImpact, a division of Seattle's RealNetworks that has
provided online technical services at cost to progressive organizations
since March 1998.
AlterNet relies on 300 different sources for its content offerings  some
from publications like Salon or The Nation, others written by staffers or
free-lancers.  Of its $600,000 annual budget, a third comes from
syndication income and much of the remainder from foundation grants.
The syndication arrangement is simple enough: Client newspapers select the
stories they want through an online selection process and pay a modest fee
(say, 10 cents a word). AlterNet shares half the revenue with the writer,
who retains all publication rights. The stories also appear on AlterNet's
Web site.
The site has an executive editor, creative director, managing editor, a
senior editor/staff writer, and two part-time writers. Last month AlterNet
reorganized its content and broadened its reach to concentrate on five
hot-button news categories: the drug war, globalization, health and the
environment, human rights in the United States and the concentration of
media ownership.
The death of content sites
While part of the site's success is driven by users seeking an alternative
to the conservative political headwinds, AlterNet also benefits from the
dwindling number of free-standing content 

[CTRL] The Media Is the Mess

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

The Media Is the Mess

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/071601a.html

By Robert Parry
July 17, 2001

The belated discovery that George W. Bush's campaign applied two disparate
standards for counting overseas ballots in Florida  liberal for Bush
strongholds and stringent for counties carried by Al Gore  underscores
again the huge advantage that the well-funded conservative news media gives
to the Republicans.
By having a powerful media of its own  from TV networks to nationwide talk
radio, from news magazines to daily newspapers  the conservative movement
can give its stamp to events during the crucial few days when the public is
paying attention. By the time, the truth comes out  if it does  it's often
too late to change the outcome.
Now, eight months after the razor-thin Florida vote  and nearly six months
into Bush's presidency  The New York Times reveals that a key moment of
Election 2000 came when the Bush campaign labeled Gore unpatriotic for
insisting that Florida's law be followed in counting overseas absentee
votes, including those from military personnel.
Immediately, the Gore-as-unpatriotic charge was picked up by the
conservative press and echoed on the TV talk shows. The mainstream press
joined the stampede.
Gore also faced accusations of hypocrisy for seeking hand recounts for
ballots kicked out by vote-counting machines while urging that legal
requirements be met for overseas ballots. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Gore's
running mate, was verbally bludgeoned on NBC's Meet the Press until he
agreed that the overseas military votes should be given the benefit of the
doubt.
The Bush strategy opened the door for Republicans to press for lax
standards on overseas votes in pro-Bush counties while enforcing narrow
rules for pro-Gore counties, a six-month New York Times investigation
found. The result was that about 680 questionable ballots were counted that
would have been rejected under the terms of Florida's election statute.
Those overseas ballots lacked required postmarks, were postmarked after
Election Day, were mailed inside the United States, were cast by voters who
had already voted, were missing signatures or contained other
irregularities. Meanwhile, hundreds of ballots with similar flaws in
pro-Gore counties were thrown away.
It could not be determined exactly how many votes Bush gained from the
disparate standards used to count flawed ballots. But the Times reported
that a statistical analysis of the 680 questionable ballots indicated that
Bush probably netted about 292 votes, meaning that his official victory
margin of 537 votes would have been trimmed to 245 votes if those ballots
had not been counted. [NYT, July 15, 2001]
Adding the Tallies
That finding  combined with newspaper analyses of Florida ballots that were
kicked out by voting machines but that indicated a presidential
choice  means that Gore most likely would have won the state and thus the
presidency if a statewide recount had been conducted and the flawed
overseas ballots had been excluded.
The Miami Herald and USA Today reported that Gore registered a net gain of
682 if so-called overvotes had been checked by hand. That number alone
would be more than enough to erase Bush's 537-vote margin, but the
newspapers made other adjustments to the tally as they incorporated
uncounted ballots that showed intent of the voters.
The newspapers concluded that Gore would have won by 242 if ballots with
multiple indentations, indicating a malfunctioning machine, were counted.
Gore's margin would have swelled to 332 if ballots with indentations only
for president were counted. If all indented ballots were thrown out,
however, Bush would have won by margins of 407 or 152, depending on whether
ballots with hanging chads or only fully punched through chads were
counted, the newspapers reported.
The New York Times' finding suggests that if the faulty overseas votes were
disqualified, trimming Bush's lead to 245 votes, Gore would have won under
three of the four standards for counting ballots.
Additionally, USA Today reported that Gore lost about 15,000 to 25,000
votes from ballot errors that resulted from confusing ballot designs in
some counties.
In another move that cut into Gore's tally, Gov. Jeb Bush's administration
improperly purged hundreds of voters  predominately African-American  after
falsely identifying them as felons. According to exit polls, Gore carried
the African-American vote by a 9-to-1 margin, so the phony felon purge
predictably hit him hardest.
Now, with The New York Times' findings, it is even clearer that Gore was
the choice of Florida voters as well as the U.S. electorate which favored
him by more than a half million ballots. Nevertheless, the American people
ended up with George W. Bush in the White House.
Media Edge
The will of the American voters was overturned in large part because the
Bush campaign and its  conservative media allies 

[CTRL] The state is more powerful than ever

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://pilger.carlton.com/print/67484

The state is more powerful than ever; the view that big business alone
shapes the new world order is wrong.

by John Pilger :09 Jul 2001

  There is a view fashionable in the media that the world is being taken over
by huge multinational corporations, accountable to no one. Governments are
reduced to playing the role of servile lackeys to big business, Noreena
Hertz, the dissident financier, wrote in these pages recently. Even the US
government has surrendered state power, she says, citing George W Bush's
shameful obsequiousness to big energy corporations.

For all the vivid examples of modern corporate power, such as the annual
income of Motorola being equal to the annual income of Nigeria's 118 million
people, it is folly to believe that big business on its own is shaping the
new world order. This allows the argument against globalisation to be
depoliticised, reducing it to single issues of ethical trading and codes
of conduct, and inviting its co-option. Above all, it misses the point that
state power in the west is accelerating.

Globalisation does not mean the impotence of the state, wrote the Russian
economist and activist Boris Kagarlitsky, but the rejection by the state of
its social functions in favour of repressive ones, irresponsibility on the
part of governments and the ending of democratic freedoms. The illusion of
a weakened state is enticing: indeed, it is the smokescreen thrown up by the
designers of modern, centralised power. Margaret Thatcher concentrated
executive power while claiming the opposite; Tony Blair has done the same.
The European project is all about extending the frontiers of the state.
Totalitarian China has embraced the free market while consolidating its
vast state apparatus. The autocracies in Singapore and Malaysia achieved the
same while growing stronger. (Not surprisingly, Blair is an admirer of
Singapore.)

It is the American state that surpasses them all, and it has never been more
powerful. The notion that George Bush is obsequious to big energy
corporations (and ought to be ashamed of himself) is naive. Big oil, like
big weapons manufacturing and big agribusiness, has always been as one with
the occupants of the White House and the US government; they are
interchangeable. That is the American way. Without government patronage,
some of the greatest corporations would fail. The Cargill Corporation, which
dominates the world trade in food grains, would not enjoy its monopoly, were
it not for years of big subsidies to American agribusiness, as well as US
government policies that used food aid to subvert the agriculture of
developing countries.

It was the triumphant American state that fashioned the present global
economy at Bretton Woods in 1944, so that its military and corporate arms
would have unlimited access to minerals, oil, markets and cheap labour. In
1948, the State Department's senior imperial planner, George Kennan, wrote:
We have 50 per cent of the world's wealth, but only 6.3 per cent of its
population. In this situation, our real job in the coming period is to
devise a pattern of relationships which permit us to maintain this position
of disparity. To do so, we have to dispense with all sentimentality . . . we
should cease thinking about human rights, the raising of living standards
and democratisation. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
were invented to implement this strategy. Their base is Washington, where
they are joined by an umbilical cord to the US Treasury, a few blocks away.
This is where the globalisation of poverty and the use of debt as a weapon
of control was conceived. When John Maynard Keynes, the British
representative at Bretton Woods, proposed a tax on creditor nations,
designed to prevent poor countries falling into perpetual debt, he was told
by the Americans that if he persisted, Britain would not get its desperately
needed war loans. More than half a century later, the gap between the
richest 20 per cent of humanity and the poorest 20 per cent has doubled; and
structural adjustment programmes have secured an indebted imperium greater
than the British empire at its height.

The danger of the moderate view, which refuses to contemplate the sheer
rapacity of western state power, is that it can be co-opted. The World Bank
and the IMF, now under siege as never before, have devised their survival
tactics in relation to this. Overnight, the IMF, the greatest of the loan
sharks, has begun to sound like an institutional Mother Teresa, with a
mission to defeat poverty. Together with the World Bank, and the World
Trade Organisation, it now promotes dialogue with moderate
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) opposed to globalisation, anointing
them as serious opponents, in contrast to the hooligans on the streets.
Clare Short's Department for International Development employs this tactic,
co-opting leading NGOs for consultation, even commissioning them to
contribute to 

[CTRL] LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACHTUNG!

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACHTUNG!

http://www.e-venthorizon.net/antimatter/surveillance.html

by Brian Onley, antiMatter columnist

July 15, 2001

Take our cameras away and only twits will have cameras...
--National Covert Surveillance Association

For a long time now, surveillance imaging has been a multi-billion dollar
industry. Everyone from the Defense Department all the way down to the
convenience store on your local street corner has gobs of cameras in plain
sight. In most cases this surveillance gear has primarily been used for
protection from possible theft, robbery, or my personal favorite  other
criminal activity. Currently though, a disturbing trend towards the use of
surveillance equipment for outright spying on common people going about
normal daily activities in the public community has become equivalent to a
dictatorial police state  something akin to what Russia and Nazi Germany
experienced for so many years.
The increasing use of so-called speed-trap-cameras and facial recognition
systems recently in the news has a more insidious ring to it than anyone is
willing to talk much about.
Since this technology has been staring the general public in the face for
quite awhile, it appears some feel there is not a problem using it for what
borders on questionable issues of constitutionality. Further, at what point
do the machinations of duly elected officials' decisions to implement
public safety measures using such technology perform anything but
governmental safety measures and ultimately total control?
After all, paranoia in both government and the private sector has reared
its ugly head in other ways, each time chipping away the gray areas around
our fundamental rights and freedoms. These attempts at chipping are
coming dangerously close to the ultimate removal of any personal rights for
what they deem to be the greater good.
This in turn leads to the question  the greater good for whom and why?
  Legalese
The form of law under which the use of these cameras falls is Search 
Seizure, or SS. The cameras search for your car tags or face in a crowd
and then they seize your money or your freedom, or both. The pure essence
of SS can be summed up as clearly warrantless and as we have seen in the
past, does not legally fall under the U.S. Constitution in this particular
form:
Most searches occur without warrants being issued. Over the years, the
courts have defined a number of situations in which a search warrant is not
necessary, either because the search is per se reasonable under the
circumstances or because, due to a lack of a reasonable expectation of
privacy, the Fourth Amendment doesn't apply at all.1
It is the 'reasonable expectation of privacy' at issue here and what
exactly defines 'reasonable expectation.'
Seated within the confines of your privately owned vehicle, you are no
longer within the private domain. Since you are now in public, on a public
street in full view of the authorities at all times, you now have lost the
constitutional rights based solely on privacy.
Decisions to expand the SS process parameters were simple. What if someone
was in their car on their way to commit a crime, and had a firearm in clear
view on the front seat? Obviously if they were stopped by a police officer
in a routine manner, the sight of the gun on the seat would allow the
officer to conduct a further search of the driver and/or the vehicle
without first obtaining a warrant, based solely upon the officer's judgment
of the circumstances at the time.
This indefinable judgment is another tidy little piece of law referred to
as Probable Cause, which defines the grounds for SS:
The Fourth Amendment doesn't define probable cause. Its meaning remains
fuzzy. What is clear is that after 200 years of court interpretations, the
affidavits submitted by police officers to judges have to identify
objectively suspicious activities rather than simply recite the officer's
subjective beliefs. The affidavits also have to establish more than a
suspicion that criminal activity is afoot, but do not have to show proof
beyond a reasonable doubt. The information in the affidavit need not be in
a form that would make it
admissible at trial. However, the circumstances set forth in the affidavit
as a whole should demonstrate the reliability of the information.2
Of course, our patrol officers are only following guidelines passed down to
them by their superiors, the result of decisions ultimately made
elsewhere.  In essence, the officers are only doing their job.
Though both SS and probable cause have become formal policy and are
designed to aid the enforcement of law, the issue which comes dangerously
close to a state dictatorial power is the gradual inclusion of what
constitutes the basis for Probable Cause, and hence SS.
Public safety has always been the calling card for new and improved
restrictions on personal liberties. Let's face it; society has changed
somewhat in over 200 years. Advances in 'probable 

[CTRL] Italian police raid Revolutionary United Front chief arms supplier

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Sierra Leone: Italian police raid Revolutionary United Front chief arms
supplier

AFP2001071152 Freetown Concord Times (Internet Version-WWW) in English
9 Jul 01
[Unattributed article: Italian Police Nab RUF's Chief Arms
Supplier]

 Italian police have raided the modest two-room apartment home of
Leonid Efimovich Minin, an international arms dealer and business partner
and confidant of Charles Taylor, near Milan. The raid smashed an
international arms-smuggling ring involving Russian organised crime that
has been supplying weapons to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), reports
The Times of London.

 Times reports that the raid was the culmination of months of
painstaking detective work aimed at halting the trade.

 When the Squadra Mobile, or flying squad, pulled Leonid out of bed,
the Ukrainian-born, who operates under at least 30 nicknames, remained
silent and calm. He had 20 grams of cocaine on him.

 Leonid, now under Italian police custody has been charged with
international arms trafficking, a crime for which he faces a sentence of up
to 12 years if convicted.

 The police first started surveillance on Leonid when they were tipped
off about his arrival in Italy early last year. Arresting him last August
for drugs trafficking, they found him in the company of two prostitutes.
They confiscated £300,000 worth of diamonds and cocaine and photographs of
a variety of weapons. He was placed under house arrest and then released.

 Times newspaper quotes Walter Mapelli, the public prosecutor, as
saying that the investigation focuses on two shipments of arms from eastern
European countries to Africa
- 68 tons of light weapons in March 1999 and a consignment of 113 tons last
July which included assault rifles, Russian-made rocket-propelled grenades
and ammunition.

 The arms, believed to be of Ukrainian, Russian and Bulgarian origin
and including 10,500 Kalashnikov rifles, were falsely certified as destined
for African countries, including Burkina Faso, which were not subject to
the arms embargoes that the UN has slapped on Liberia and Sierra Leone.

 Leonid speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English, French, German and Italian,
and is believed to have made an annual profit of about £125m from his
rackets. When they seized his mobile telephone and other belongings,
however, the police found almost no trace of phone numbers. It seemed that
Minin had been punching out the numbers of his associates from memory. He
had no computer at his disposal, only three mobile phones and a fax machine.

[Description of Source: Freetown Concord Times (Internet Version-WWW) in
English -- independent daily newspaper; root URL as of filing date:
http://www.oe-pages.com/BIZ/Homebiz/tod]

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[CTRL] The Shocking Menace of Satellite Surveillance

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From Pravda,
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/07/14/10131.html

2001-07-14

by JOHN FLEMING

THE SHOCKING MENACE OF SATELLITE SURVEILLANCE

Unknown to most of the world, satellites can perform astonishing and often
menacing feats. This should come as no surprise when one reflects on the
massive effort poured into satellite technology since the Soviet satellite
Sputnik, launched in 1957, caused panic in the U.S. A spy satellite can
monitor a person's every movement, even when the target is indoors or deep
in the interior of a building or traveling rapidly down the highway in a
car, in any kind of weather (cloudy, rainy, stormy). There is no place to
hide on the face of the earth. It takes just three satellites to blanket the
world with detection capacity. Besides tracking a person's every action and
relaying the data to a computer screen on earth, amazing powers of
satellites include reading a person's mind, monitoring conversations,
manipulating electronic instruments and physically assaulting someone with a
laser beam. Remote reading of someone's mind through satellite technology is
quite bizarre, yet it is being done; it is a reality at present, not a
chimera from a futuristic dystopia! To those who might disbelieve my
description of satellite surveillance, I'd simply cite a tried-and-true
Roman proverb: Time reveals all things (tempus omnia revelat).

As extraordinary as clandestine satellite powers are, nevertheless prosaic
satellite technology is much evident in daily life. Satellite businesses
reportedly earned $26 billion in 1998. We can watch transcontinental
television broadcasts via satellite, make long-distance phone calls
relayed by satellite, be informed of cloud cover and weather conditions
through satellite images shown on television, and find our geographical
bearings with the aid of satellites in the GPS (Global Positioning System).
But behind the facade of useful satellite technology is a Pandora's box of
surreptitious technology. Spy satellites--as opposed to satellites for
broadcasting and exploration of space--have little or no civilian
use--except, perhaps, to subject one's enemy or favorite malefactor to
surveillance. With reference to detecting things from space, Ford Rowan,
author of Techno Spies, wrote some U.S. military satellites are equipped
with infra-red sensors that can pick up the heat generated on earth by
trucks, airplanes, missiles, and cars, so that even on cloudy days the
sensors can penetrate beneath the clouds and reproduce the patterns of heat
emission on a TV-type screen. During the Vietnam War sky high infra-red
sensors were tested which detect individual enemy soldiers walking around on
the ground. Using this reference, we can establish 1970 as the approximate
date of the beginning of satellite surveillance--and the end of the
possibility of privacy for several people.

The government agency most heavily involved in satellite surveillance
technology is the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an arm of the
Pentagon. NASA is concerned with civilian satellites, but there is no hard
and fast line between civilian and military satellites. NASA launches all
satellites, from either Cape Kennedy in Florida or Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California, whether they are military-operated, CIA-operated,
corporate-operated or NASA's own. Blasting satellites into orbit is a major
expense. It is also difficult to make a quick distinction between government
and private satellites; research by NASA is often applicable to all types of
satellites. Neither the ARPA nor NASA makes satellites; instead, they
underwrite the technology while various corporations produce the hardware.
Corporations involved in the satellite business include Lockheed, General
Dynamics, RCA, General Electric, Westinghouse, Comsat, Boeing, Hughes
Aircraft, Rockwell International, Grumman Corp., CAE Electronics, Trimble
Navigation and TRW.

The World Satellite Directory, 14th edition (1992), lists about a thousand
companies concerned with satellites in one way or another. Many are merely
in the broadcasting business, but there are also product headings like
remote sensing imagery, which includes Earth Observation Satellite Co. of
Lanham, Maryland, Downl Inc. of Denver, and Spot Image Corp. of Reston,
Virginia. There are five product categories referring to transponders. Other
product categories include earth stations (14 types), military products and
systems, microwave equipment, video processors, spectrum analyzers.
The category remote sensors lists eight companies, including ITM Systems
Inc., in Grants Pass, Oregon, Yool Engineering of Phoenix, and Satellite
Technology Management of Costa Mesa, California. Sixty-five satellite
associations are listed from all around the world, such as Aerospace
Industries Association, American Astronautical Society, Amsat and several
others in the U.S.

Spy satellites were already functioning and violating people's right to
privacy when President 

[CTRL] GUN CRIME 'ROSE AFTER HANDGUN BAN'

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

GUN CRIME 'ROSE AFTER HANDGUN BAN'

A pro-gun lobby group has attacked the government over laws that made
handgun ownership illegal, after a study it commissioned found that
the criminal use of handguns went up by 40% in the two years after
the weapons were banned. A study commissioned by the Countryside
Alliance's Campaign for Shooting found that the number of crimes that
involved a handgun increased from 2,648 in 1997-98 to 3,685 in
1999-00.

Full story - Guardian Unlimited
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,2763,522662,00.html)
Special report: Gun violence in Britain - Guardian Unlimited
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/0,2759,178412,00.html)
Key player - Campaign for Shooting
(http://www.foresight-cfs.org.uk/home/index.html)

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That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
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Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Summit city sealed off to foil terrorists

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Summit city sealed off to foil terrorists

Sunday, July 15, 2001
By Ahmed Rashid in Washington
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0107/15/world/world1.html

European and American intelligence agencies are carrying out a
manhunt for Algerian terrorists funded by Osama bin Laden amid fears
they are planning to attack the G8 summit in Genoa.

At least 17 Algerians, all members of the European-based Meliani
terrorist group, have been arrested in Britain, Germany, Spain and
Italy since last December.

But others are at large, including two couriers who travel between
the group in Europe and the wanted Saudi terrorist who is based in
Afghanistan.

A US counter-terrorism official said: The group remains a threat
even though we have arrested some of the ringleaders.

Mohammed Bensakhria, a 34-year-old Algerian, and an accomplice were
arrested on June 23 in Alicante. They were caught with a street map
of Strasbourg and Spanish officials said they were planning to bomb
the European Parliament and Strasbourg Cathedral.

Bensakhria, a leader of the Meliani group, had escaped from Berlin to
Spain in December after German police arrested four Algerian
terrorists.

Six Algerians were detained in Britain in February and Italian police
caught five in northern Italy in April. All allegedly belonged to the
Meliani group.

US officials said that Meliani was not an integral part of bin
Laden's Al-Qaeda organisation, which is seeking to create an Islamic
revolution and drive US forces from the Gulf region.

The counter-terrorism official said that Meliani was receiving
funding from bin Laden who was encouraging groups to carry out
terrorist acts which could not be directly linked to him.

Barriers were going up in Genoa yesterday as the Italian city
mobilised for this week's Group of Eight summit, where thousands of
anti-globalisation protesters are expected.

The only things missing are contingency plans in case of an atomic
bomb attack, Turin's La Stampa commented. Otherwise, everything has
been thought of.

Altogether 15,000 security forces, including 2,700 members of the
Italian armed forces, will patrol the city.

Genoa has been carved into two zones.

The Red Zone is a 4sqkm no-go area, which wraps tightly round the old
port, where a new 58,000-ton cruise liner, European Vision, will
accommodate most of the G8 delegations, apart from the Americans.

The Yellow Zone, a buffer area that surrounds the Red Zone, will be
barred to protesters without police permission to march.

The Sun-Herald

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[CTRL] Genoa defends forbidden city from global protest

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,522008,00.html

Genoa defends forbidden city from global protest

Jails have been emptied and hospitals are on alert. Rory Carroll watches
Italy prepare to welcome the G8 leaders and their enemies

Sunday July 15, 2001
The Observer

There are 242 entrances to the forbidden city, not counting the sewers, the
sea or the sky. The defenders will wait behind blocks of reinforced concrete
and steel fencing. Their helmets and shields are superior but they could be
outnumbered 10 to one. Just one breach and the torrent will be unstoppable.
Spies from both sides have infiltrated the enemy camp and will try to betray
strategies. But like a battle of old the time and location have been agreed
in advance.

Next weekend the port of Genoa, squeezed between the Alps and the
Mediterranean, France and Tuscany, will host a showdown between around
100,000 protesters and 15,000 Italian security forces guarding the G8
summit.

Citizens who care about the environment, the poor and the voiceless will
hammer on the door of unaccountable moguls who shape the planet's destiny.

Or thugs who crave mayhem will try to stop democratically elected world
leaders pondering the problems of the age. Or both.

Genoa will be a crucial test of strength for the anti-globalisation
movement. The warriors of Seattle bill this protest as their biggest yet.'We
are witnessing the first stirrings of a cultural backlash to globalisation
whose effects are likely to be significant and far-reaching,' said Jeremy
Rifkin, one of the movement's gurus. 'Local cultures are reawakening every
where in the world.' Dialogue between protesters and the Italian government
has failed to produce agreement. Leaders of the world's seven most
industrialised economies, plus Russia, will meet in the ducal palace. And
demonstrators will try to stop them.

'We are going to start a great battle,' said the website of Rete Contro G8,
one of the estimated 700 protest groups. A minority have pledged to use
violence.

It appears an uneven contest. One of Italy's biggest security operations
will mobilise at least 15,000 police and soldiers, including paratroopers
and specialists in nuclear, germ and chemical warfare.

Twelve helicopters and four reconnaissance aircraft will zip overhead,
warships and mini-submarines will prowl the bay where the 58,600-tonne
cruise ship, European Vision, will play host to most of the summit
participants.

A battery of Spada ground-to-air missiles will bristle at Christopher
Colombus Airport, lest the al-Qaida terrorist group headed by Osama bin
Laden tries an airborne spectacular.

For Italy's newly minted Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, Genoa is a
chance to strut the world stage. He has micro-managed the preparations, even
down to re-arranging the furniture in George Bush's suite.

Nudged by UN chief Kofi Annan and the Pope, the authorities have promised to
allow freedom of protest, even to respect and listen to it. 'It will be an
open city,' says the mayor. After all Genoa hosted the Crusaders on their
way to the holy land.

But the reality is that today's righteous warriors are not welcome. To
impede and deter protesters, Italy yesterday suspended the Schengen
agreement assuring free movement around the European Union.

Both of Genoa's railway stations will close from Tuesday. Those protesters
who make it to the city will be confronted by police with live ammunition,
rubber bullets, batons, dogs, horses and armoured personnel carriers.

Already the atmosphere in Genoa is tense. Hospitals have been put on alert,
prisons prepared and extra magistrates drafted.

Yesterday police cars lined piazzas and dogs sniffed railings stacked beside
fountains. Residents joined tourists heading for the airport, leaving a
queasy rearguard to swap rumours. 'A lawyer told me a mass grave has been
prepared in the mountains,' said one taxi driver grimly.

It will be a battle of colours. The authorities have declared the historic
centre and port area a 1.5 sq mile 'red zone', with the Ducal palace at its
heart. This is the forbidden city, off-limits to all except participants,
journalists, security forces and residents.

A buffer area known as the 'yellow zone' will allow entry to the uninvited,
but can be sealed off within minutes should the need arise.

The demonstrators will be a hotch-potch of environmentalists, anarchists,
socialists and those wanting debt relief for the Third World.

'Protests in the 1960s were sparked by one international event - Vietnam,'
said Keith Dowding, professor of political science at the London School of
Economics. 'Now they are also sparked by an international event -
globalisation.

'Another similarity with the Sixties is that today's protesters are middle
class. That must be worrying for governments who rely on their middle
classes to put them in power and keep their economies running.'

Italy's security services categorise them thus: red for moderates, yellow

[CTRL] U.S. Presses Belgrade to Explain Execution of 3 Americans

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

U.S. Presses Belgrade to Explain Execution of 3 Americans

PRISTINA, Kosovo - The Bytyqi brothers are the first Americans to
turn up in a Serbian mass grave. Believe me, this is going to be
a very important case for us, the U.S. chief of mission in
Yugoslavia, William Montgomery, said in a telephone interview.
http://tm0.com/IHT/sbct.cgi?s=80180978i=365516d=1554429

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Italian arsenal on hand for G-8 meeting

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1c=Articlecid=994948619415call_page=TS_Worldcall_pageid=968332188854call_pagepath=News/Worldcol=968350060724


Jul. 12,

Italian arsenal on hand for G-8 meeting

Thousands of troops, ships and missile system will comprise security
measures

ROME (AP) - Thousands of troops, including specialists in chemical, nuclear
and biological warfare, will be part of the security used to protect world
leaders at next week's Group of Eight summit in Genoa, the Defence Ministry
said Thursday.

Minesweepers and other ships are also headed to the port city, and a missile
defence system was installed earlier this week, the ministry said.

The government plans to use 2,700 army, navy and air force troops during the
summit, but none will be deployed against demonstrators, according to the
Defence Ministry. They will be used for air and sea patrols, and some
surveillance work.

Crowd control is being left to between 12,000 and 16,000 police officers,
who will be armed with tear gas, water cannon and batons.

Anti-globalization protesters are expected in the thousands at the July
20-22 summit in the Italian port city.

The G-8 will be attended by leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. Prime Minister Jean Chretien
will represent Canada.

Protests have evolved into a fixture of international meetings since riots
rocked the 1999 World Trade Organization conference in Seattle and the 2000
meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the Czech
Republic.

The anti-missile system set up as a precaution is a short-range,
anti-aircraft battery similar to those deployed at several of the country's
airports, Col. Paolo Bressan said.

Dubbed the SPADA, the land-based system consists of missiles capable with a
range of more than 14 kilometres and an altitude of 1,500 metres, Bressan
said.

Citing security reasons, Bressan refused to say how many missiles the system
contained.

With many leaders, aides and journalists being lodged on ships or in hotels
near the port, and with the conference sites also near the sea, water
security is considered crucial.

Navy personnel, including divers, will be involved in inspecting ship hulls
for mines as well as sea patrols. A torpedo destroyer and a minesweeper are
part of the fleet.

Air force planes will survey the city from the skies, and the army is
supplying paratroopers and bomb disposal experts.

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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Ashcroft Terrified by Terrorism

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Ashcroft Terrified by Terrorism

By Declan McCullagh
Wired.com
July 12, 2001

WASHINGTON -- It's been just one month since Timothy McVeigh was executed
for the Oklahoma City bombing, and U.S. officials are trying to prevent
similar disasters.

At a government summit on Wednesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft said
that thwarting terrorist attacks was his number-one priority and that the
Feds were stepping up efforts to guard against chemical, biological,
radiological and nuclear threats.

Ashcroft said the Justice Department was already planning for 2003 an
exercise called TOPOFF2 -- which stands for top officials -- involving
simulated attacks carried out with no notice against American cities. The
first TOPOFF took place in May 2000 with a mock biological attack on Denver
and a fake nuclear bomb near Washington, D.C.

The attorney general also predicted noose-tight security during the 2002
Winter Olympics, which will be held in Salt Lake City.

We are doing everything we can to ensure that people from all over the
world can come to the Games, bring their families, enjoy the excitement of
world-class athletic competition, and feel safe and secure, Ashcroft said.

During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, federal agents falsely accused
security guard Richard Jewell of being responsible for planting a small
bomb that killed two people.
Some participants at Wednesday's event, organized by the National Governors
Association and the National Emergency Management Association, said the
government must not neglect attacks carried out through the Internet.

After you engage someone, you are taught to step back and look for the
next threat, said Mark Noel, a researcher at Dartmouth College's Institute
for Security Technology Studies. In the case of terrorism, that could be
an attack on the Internet.

Most people who are deeply involved in this field recognize the force
multiplier effect the attack on communications infrastructure would have,
Noel said.

The only problem: Malicious hacker attacks on websites may just be pranks,
not terrorism. And the U.S. military, for instance, has been known to
exaggerate statistics of alleged intrusion attempts.

On Tuesday, the first day of the two-day summit, Secretary of Health and
Human Services Tommy Thompson went even further than Ashcroft.

Someday we're more than likely going to be hit by some sort of
bioterrorism in America, Thompson said. He also said that Scott
Lillibridge, the former director of bioterrorism preparedness and response
at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had been appointed to
coordinate national response plans.

All that sounds a trifle threatening to state officials who fret that newly
energized efforts by the Feds will trample on state turf.

All attacks start locally, and there is a great sensitivity among (local
officials) for an overbearing federal government presence, said Lt.
General James Clapper, vice chairman of a government-funded terrorism
commission.

Ashcroft stressed that he was a former governor of Missouri and pledged to
compromise: Justice Department counterterrorism efforts require close
coordination not only with other federal agencies but also with state and
local agencies.

And what better way to win their allegiance than with some federal dollars?
Ashcroft said that the Justice Department has committed funding to the
governors to establish a policy academy for state officials.

Earlier this week, the House Government Reform Committee held a hearing on
the biological weapons convention. In the Bush administration, Vice
President Cheney, who is responsible for coordinating antiterrorism
efforts, is preparing a report to be complete by October.

One place that's seen an attack firsthand is Oklahoma City, where a
nonprofit group says it's worried about the communications system.

If someone incapacitates the 911 system during a terrorism attack, the
results would be chaos, said Gen. Dennis Reimer, director of the Oklahoma
City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.

Andrew Osterman contributed to this report.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
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 A 

[CTRL] Bank Pres Drags Journalist into NY Court Over Drug Expose

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

For Immediate Release: July 12, 2001

Contact:

Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
+1 415 436-9333 x108

Will Doherty, EFF Media Relations, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
+1 415 436-9333 x111

Bank Pres Drags Journalist into NY Court Over Drug Expose

Electronic Frontier Foundation Urges U.S. Court to Respect
Mexican Rulings


New York City, NY - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
today urged a New York state court to respect Mexican court
rulings that have disallowed lawsuits against independent
journalist Al Giordano for publishing allegations of drug
trafficking by Banco Nacional de Mexico President Roberto
Hernandez Ramirez.

EFF seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of online,
independent journalists against the abusive shopping by
large, powerful corporations for favorable jurisdictions.
The Mexican bank brought the case against a Mexican-based
website, The Narco News Bulletin
( http://www.narconews.com ), produced solely by Giordano.

The EFF is concerned that the bank resorted to New York
courts to try to shut down this website because it could
not do so in Mexican courts, said Cindy Cohn, Legal
Director for the EFF.  This kind of forum shopping
threatens to shut down one of the greatest benefits of
the Internet -- giving a voice to independent,
Internet-based journalists.  Faced with having to defend
themselves in far-flung jurisdictions, many independent
journalists will simply choose not to publish on the
Internet.

The case arises from allegations published on the The Narco
News Bulletin website that the bank president was involved
in illegal activities in Mexico.  The EFF filed an amicus
brief urging the New York court to rule that it was
improper for the bank to force Mr. Giordano into New York
state court for the statements posted on the website. The
hearing on the case is set for July 20, 2001.

Since April 18, 2000, Al Giordano has produced The Narco
News Bulletin, an online newspaper devoted to spirited
investigative journalism on the US-Latin America drug
trade. Articles posted on The Narco News Bulletin website
have discussed allegations by others that Roberto
Hernandez Ramirez, the president of the Banco Nacional de
Mexico, is involved in drug trafficking.  Some of these
stories were reprinted articles from the Mexican
newspaper Por Esto!, published in Mexico by Mario Renato
Menendez.

After failing three times to sue Menendez in Mexico over
the allegations, Banco Nacional de Mexico now seeks to
force Menendez and Giordano to defend themselves in New
York state court against the same basic claims. The New
York case groups together the allegations against the
Mexican-based website, hosted in Maryland, with statements
made by Menendez and Giordano in New York City on a radio
broadcast and at a Columbia University Law School
conference.

The EFF amicus brief asked the Court to adopt one of two
courses of action.  First, in order to deter abusive forum
shopping, the EFF asked the court to dismiss the case
since Mexican law governs the dispute.

Alternatively, since Narconews.com mainly republished
investigative work done by others, the EFF asked the
New York court to apply a distinct legal standard for
libel claims related to republished statements. The
legal standard requires that a republisher had, or should
have had substantial reasons to question the accuracy
of the articles. EFF believes that this higher liability
standard for republishing on the Internet is necessary
to encourage the growth of Internet journalism.

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages
and challenges industry and government to support free
expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world:
http://www.eff.org/

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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Drug War on Trial Going to Trial Next Week

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Drug War on Trial Going to Trial Next Week
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/194.html#drugwarontrial

In one of the most important first amendment cases hitting the
courts in recent years, Al Giordano of the Narco News bulletin
(http://www.narconews.com) and Mexican newspaper Por Esto
publisher Mario Menendez Rodriguez are presenting oral arguments
for motions to dismiss the lawsuit brought against them by
Roberto Hernandez Ramirez and the Mexican bank Banamex, recently
acquired by Citibank.

Is this case, in which a web site published from Mexico is being
sued by a bank headquartered in Mexico, being heard in a Mexican
court?  No, it's in Manhattan -- that's one of the first
amendment issues.

Supporters in the area are encouraged to attend the hearing,
which is taking place next Friday, July 20th, at 9:30am at the
New York State Supreme Court, Justice Paula Omansky presiding, 71
Thomas Street, Manhattan (three blocks east of Foley Square and
main courthouse), room 205.

Narco News has gone into debt preparing its defense, and
donations are needed for the legal defense fund so that Giordano
can get back to publishing the bulletin!  Those interested in
donating to the Narco News legal defense fund can send checks
made payable to Drug War On Trial, to: Drug War On Trial, c/o
Attorney Thomas Lesser, Lesser, Newman, Souweine  Nasser, 39
Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060.

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==
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Police 'spotters' to target EU summit demonstrators

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Police 'spotters' to target EU summit demonstrators

Fri, 13 Jul 2001
:

British police hooligan spotters are to be used at future EU summits to
help single out known troublemakers at peaceful protests.

The tactic, already routine at soccer matches around the world, is being
applied for the first time to high-profile European political gatherings.

The move comes over growing concerns that organised gangs of rioters are
now targeting all major meetings of international leaders and was agreed at
unprecedented talks between EU ministers in Brussels.

Only one item was on the agenda - how to stop the kind of trouble which is
fast becoming the norm during protests at European and international
political events.

The most recent disturbances, which alarmed EU leaders, came during the EU
summit in Gothenburg last month, when Swedish police resorted to live
ammunition rounds to quell rioters, injuring three in the process.

The fact that the Swedish authorities do not permit tear gas and had no
water cannon available, glaringly highlighted different national approaches
to tackling street violence.

The ministers made no attempt to prescribe a single EU strategy for
policing riots but they did agree to pool experiences, step up cross-border
cooperation and information exchange, and anticipate the troublemakers by
bringing in the spotters.

The ministers agreed that legitimate peaceful demonstrators had the right
to be heard, but that violent demonstrations had to be stamped out.

Trained spotters from the fifteen member states will now be consulted in
advance about likely troublemakers and will in future become part of the
normal security arrangements wherever EU leaders meet.

See this story on the web at http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_351110.html

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Outing Torturers

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Outing Torturers
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/torture.html

Activists in Argentina and Chile are making sure former dictators and their
collaborators don't enjoy an anonymous retirement. by Casey Woods and
Jonathan Franklin

June 27, 2001

BUENOS AIRES -- Rows of riot police stand in front of a ritzy apartment
complex in Buenos Aires. Marching down the street towards them are their
opponents: hundreds of protesters, many of them dressed as jesters with faces
painted like the sun or moon, others with dreadlocks to their waists. A
juggler tosses machetes into the air in rhythm to an insistent drum beat. The
marchers project the giddy air of a carnival, but behind the costumes and
music, their purpose is serious: they have come to expose Leopoldi Galtieri,
a former dictator of Argentina who has been living here hidden from public
view since he left power in 1983. Galtieri is accused of helping coordinate a
multi-national hit squad that kidnapped, tortured and killed human rights
activists and guerrilla fighters throughout South America during his regime.
Police and protesters collide in the middle of the street, tear gas and clubs
flying. Television cameras capture the violence, but also spread the
protesters' message. Amidst the melee, spray painted signs reading A
Torturer Lives Here, Murderer, and Put Him on Trial denounce Galtieri;
flyers provide his home address and even his social security number. The
demonstration, which took place last year, was typical of those a group known
as HIJOS has organized around the country. The effects are typically felt the
following day, says HIJOS activist Diego Genoud. That's when the baker won't
sell him bread, the taxi won't pick him up, the newspaper won't come to his
house. It is like putting him in jail. Many HIJOS events end in violence.
The police come absolutely ready to strike at the most minimum provocation,
said Vilma Ripoll, the Buenos Aires city council member. They plant
infiltrators who then provoke the police so they can violently repress the
march. HIJOS -- Spanish for children and an acronym for Children for
Identity and Justice -- was born of the brutality of Argentina's former
military dictatorship. Its members are all children of former political
prisoners, exiles, or someone executed or 'disappeared' by the dictatorship.
As many as 30,000 civilians vanished during the Argentine military
dictatorship's brutal 1976-1983 rule. A favorite method of disposing of
political prisoners was to inject them with tranquilizers, manacle them
together and dump them from cargo planes into the open sea. Most of the
victims were non-violent social activists: union organizers, writers,
politicians, and labor leaders. Vilma Ripoll of the leftist party Movemiento
Socialista de Trajabadores has a list of the disappeared that fills an entire
wall in the party headquarters. Many of those who perpetrated the
dictatorship's human- rights abuses were successively pardoned by a series of
laws. This process culminated in the 1989 pardons signed by then-president
Carlos Menem which freed the 277 perpetrators who had been jailed. The
out-a-torturer movement began in 1999, when neighbors recognized a skinny,
bespectacled man jogging in a Buenos Aires park as Jorge Videla, former army
general. Videla -- who had been convicted, then pardoned -- is widely
considered one of the principal architects of the Argentine dictatorship.
Street activists began a daily ambush, tossing eggs and epithets like
assassin and kidnapper. Videla's morning jogs in the park were over --
and with them his anonymous retirement. He has since been re-arrested on
charges of stealing newborn babies from left-wing families, one of the few
crimes not covered by the amnesty. Since then, regional HIJOS groups have
sprung up throughout Argentina. For the past 4 years, nearly every month one
of the chapters has hit the streets to denounce the tranquil civilian life of
a former official. We want all the murderers to go to jail with the
political class that sponsored them, as well as the economic class that
fueled the genocide -- the same people who today run the country, says
Genoud, 25. Like many HIJOS activists, he didn't learn of his parents'
political involvement for years, his guardians having tried to protect him at
a time when information was dangerous. His father, a guerrilla resistance
fighter, was taken prisoner in 1974 and jailed for 8 years. His mother, a
human rights lawyer, was dragged from her house by a military squad in 1976
and disappeared. While GenoudÕs goals are unlikely to be met, the pressure
from HIJOS has helped keep alive the campaign to re-arrest top military
leaders accused of involvement in baby kidnappings during the dictatorship.
Dozens of military officials are now under investigation, and top armed
forces leaders have publicly apologized for their role in the crimes. Polls
show HIJOS has found sympathy among the public, but some say their 

[CTRL] Boycott everything

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

07-09-01

Boycott everything

By William Rivers Pitt
www.onlinejournal.com

The so-called consumer society and the politics of corporate capitalism
have created a second nature of man which ties him libidinally and
aggressively to the commodity form. The need for possessing, consuming,
handling and constantly renewing the gadgets, devices, instruments,
engines, offered to and imposed upon the people, for using these wares even
at the danger of one's own destruction, has become a 'biological' need. -
Herbert Marcuse

July 11, 2001-I am not Robert Kennedy. I was not born to a family of
American political royalty, guaranteeing that my voice be heard when I
choose to speak. I have to spend a good deal of my time working, or
sleeping in preparation for work, in order to keep the lights on and have
food. I have very little in the way of disposable income.

Robert Kennedy said that one person could make a difference. From his
Olympian height, he looked down upon all of us and saw individuals who
could cut a swath through the injustice in the world, if only we would
rouse ourselves. Down here on the ground, I stare up at Robert's marble
bust on that mountain and think, Easy for you to say, kid.

There is so very much I want to do, and I am mortally sure that this nation
is literally teeming with those who share my desire for action. But we
work. We raise kids. We take care of aging parents. Speaking bluntly, we
bust our asses all week long for that paycheck and for the few precious
weekend hours that more often than not are spent sleeping, drinking,
shopping or watching sports on the television.

It takes a massive amount of one's mental capacities to do the mundane
day-to-day activities that are required of the average American, if that
American wishes to eat, be clothed, and live inside of doors. It is
exhausting. There is that great line from the head of the Trade Services
Union about the 'boom' years of Clinton's administration: There have been
8 million new jobs created, and I've got three of them.

Where, then, do we find that space and time and energy needed to heal the
wounds we see gaping in the body and soul of our nation? They are right
there in front of us, red and bleeding, crying out for someone to do
something. Too many of us, sadly, shoulder our various burdens and turn
away with a prayer on our lips that somebody with the time will come along
and address things.

I know a way for all of us to climb up on that Olympian perch with fallen
Robert. I know a way we can make that difference. It requires sacrifice
from each of us, and thus is worthy of being called a Movement. It can be
something you do every moment of the day if you do it right. If enough of
us do this thing, and do it well, and do it faithfully, and turn others
towards it, we will bring about such a massive change as has not been seen
in this nation since the shot heard 'round the world.

Like so many great ideas and Movements, this one is simplicity itself.

Just boycott everything.

Take public transportation to work, or walk to the corner store, or figure
out a way to leave your car in the garage for the weekend. If you own an
SUV, sell it. If you are in the market for a car, look into the
gas/electric hybrids that are available. Thus, you boycott the petroleum
companies that rape our planet and soil our air.

Make your own coffee, or buy your morning cup of brew from the mom 'n pop
joint you always walk by on your way to Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts. Sure,
it's crummy brew. But you are boycotting corporate hegemony.

Turn off the God damned television. While it is on you are a vapid
receptacle for all of the invasive nonsense that is our sad and deranged
estate. By simply boycotting television, you are saying 'NO' to all the
advertisers and corporate hucksters who have sold us all down the river. If
you are a news junkie, satisfy yourself with a couple of newspapers or the
Internet. CNN hasn't told you anything that you need to know for a long,
long time.

Go out this weekend without makeup, and do not purchase any. The cosmetics
industry has perpetuated a massive crime against women, by selling to them
a destructive myth of beauty that is utterly unattainable for 99% of human
females. The vicious cycle of self-hatred begins at a very young age for
women, brought on by images proffered by the cosmetics industry in the
pages of glossy magazines. Do not allow one of your hard-earned dollars to
line the pockets of those who profit by telling you that you are not
beautiful enough.

Be aware of your purchases in the grocery store. Buy locally grown foods
whenever possible. Using the remarkable research tools of the internet,
find out which agribusinesses are selling what, and where. If you do not
like what those massive corporations are doing, do not buy their products.

Turn off the lights. Live without air conditioning whenever you can. Make a
project out of trimming your electricity bill as much as you can.

You are 

[CTRL] Secret Genetic Testing Done On Workers?

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From WEWS via Yahoo!,
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wews/20010710/lo/852857_1.html

Tuesday July 10

Secret Genetic Testing Done On Workers?

CLEVELAND, July 9, 2001 -- What does your boss really
know about you? It may be more much more than you think.

In Monday's Special Assignment, NewsChannel5's Ron Regan reports that your
boss may secretly be gathering medical information that's being used to deny
you a promotion -- or even your job.

A huge corporation secretly collects blood from its workers, quietly looking
for genetic flaws. Although it sounds like the latest Michael Crichton book,
it's not.

It's real -- it's not science fiction. They are doing it, genetic-testing
target Gary Avary said.

For 27 years, Avary has worked for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
But what happened to him in his small Midwestern town is sending shock waves
all the way to Washington.

It began when he had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. Soon, Burlington
Northern sent him and 34 others who had the surgery a letter asking for a
mysterious follow-up exam.

They were looking much deeper than carpal tunnel, Avary said. This was
just their way into our blood.

The lab took a lot of blood -- seven vials of it. Avary's wife, Janice, said
that she was suspicious before he even went for the exam.

Seven vials of blood for routine laboratory work? she said.

Janice investigated and found out that the railroad was doing genetic tests
on the workers -- and no one knew.

They never asked for any permission, Gary said.

The Avarys, along with a growing number of privacy and consumer advocates,
fear that companies could use genetic test results to cancel insurance
benefits or determine who gets a promotion.

Because if they have that information that I potentially will get cancer or
Reyes disease or ASL, they're going to use it against me, Gary said.

Burlington Northern insisted that the test was appropriate because their
workers' contracts state that the company can determine when medical
examinations are necessary. The company claims that it was looking for a
genetic predisposition to carpal tunnel syndrome. But there is no carpal
tunnel gene, WEWS reports.

When it comes to the most private of medical information, your genetic
makeup and what diseases you may be predisposed to, no one has a right to
that information except your doctor, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news -
bio - voting record) said.

Kucinich said that Americans have very little protection for medical
privacy, and he's co-sponsoring a bill to change that. Medical ethicist Dr.
George Agich of the Cleveland Clinic said that in some instances, such
testing can be appropriate.

Employers certainly have some reason to engage in medical examinations, to
require employees to undergo medical examinations for safety reasons for
themselves and others, but they're not allowed to engage in fishing
expeditions, he said.

No one knows how many more companies might be doing covert testing. For the
Avarys, once was enough.

It's happening right now, Gary said.

Burlington Northern agreed to stop genetic testing after being sued by the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (Read more about lawsuit here)

Right now, 32 states have laws on the books protecting employees from
genetic testing -- Ohio does not.

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Missiles to protect summit leaders

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Missiles to protect summit leaders

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,519925,00.html

Rory Carroll in Rome
Wednesday July 11, 2001
The Guardian

Italy has installed a missile defence system at Genoa's airport to deter
airborne attacks during next week's G8 summit, fuelling hysteria about
looming violence.
A land-based battery of rockets with a range of nine miles and an altitude
of 5,000 feet has been positioned in the latest security measure against
perceived threats from terrorists and protesters.

Unidentified planes, helicopters and balloons risk being shot down should
they drift too close to the heads of state from the group of seven leading
industrialised nations and Russia.

Colonel Alberto Battaglini, of the ministry of defence, said the precaution
was not exces sive. The measure, which was planned by the previous
government, may seem open to criticism, but in reality it is merely to act
as a deterrent against any aerial incursion during the summit.

They are little missiles ... which only have a deterrent function to
discourage any aerial-led attack and they do not present any danger to the
residents of the city, he said.

The missile system, dubbed Spada, was erected along Italy's Adriatic coast
during Nato's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.

More than 100,000 anti-globalisation demonstrators are expected to converge
on the northern port city during the July 20-22 summit.

Keen to avoid the chaos of Gothenburg, Prague and Seattle, the Italians will
strive for maximum control by deploying thousands of riot police, snipers
and bomb disposal teams.

Yesterday Otto Schilly, Germany's interior minister, said Italy would
resurrect internal European Union border controls to block protesters from
entering the country. I presume Italy will abandon the Schengen accord
during the G8 summit to prevent the arrival of troublemakers.

Authorities have reportedly ordered 200 body bags, established a temporary
morgue at a hospital and arranged counselling for potentially traumatised
police officers.

The airport, port and access roads will be sealed off and some leaders will
be hosted on ships in case street battles threaten their safety.

Most of the groups of activists - whose causes include environment and debt
forgiveness for poor countries - have pledged peaceful tactics but the
authorities are nervous. Fringe groups have pledged violence and street
clashes appear inevitable.

Unsourced stories of terrorist weapon hoards and sachets of HIV-infected
blood have appeared in the Italian media, stoking an atmosphere of doom.

The millionaire terrorist, Osama bin Laden, has been linked to an alleged
plot to assassinate the US president, George Bush.

Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has inspected Genoa twice and
declared himself satisfied with the security.

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Future Soldiers May Eat Different Kind of Chips

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From AppleLink,
http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2001/07/20010705231004.shtml
-
Comments: Future Soldiers May Eat Different Kind of Chips

Thursday, July 5, 2001
By Senior Editor John H. Farr

An Associated Press article at SiliconValley.com discusses futuristic
projects some think the U.S. Army should be working on, and we just wondered
if there was anything there to be concerned about, seeing as how military
technology frequently finds its way into civilian markets after a while. How
about this: so-called biomarkers ingested in food that allow soldiers to
be tracked by satellite?

The article describes the biomarkers as compounds, but to us they sound
like miniature electronic devices. [Perhaps one of you can enlighten us. --
Ed.] It hardly matters what they are, as the thought of long-distance
tracking of people made possible by what they eat scares us to death -- so
watch out for what gets served at Microsoft picnics! At any rate, such
niceties are but one of the goodies planned for the devilment --pardon us,
the benefit -- of future G.I.s. Just take a gander at this:

Trudging through a thick, muggy jungle, the soldier remains cool, her body
temperature precisely controlled by her uniform.Incapable of seeing more
than 10 feet ahead, she is guided through an earpiece in her helmet by
someone at base camp who can trace her because a biomarker was in a
nutrition bar she ate earlier.
Breaking the jungle silence, an alarm in her wristwatch goes off, detecting
the presence of a toxic chemical agent. The visor on her helmet drops down,
and the uniform that monitors her vital signs administers the drugs
necessary to keep her safe and enable her to complete her mission.

All we can think of is that human doctors make plenty of mistakes on their
own. Imagine a smart uniform that shoots a soldier full of drugs based on
what the sensors tell its tiny computer brain, computers being flawless, as
we all know, and probably running on software by -- NO! We won't even go
there... These things do not make us feel better. And knowing the military,
we think enable her to complete her mission is much more important than
the keep her safe part.

The Army is apparently also funding areas of biotechnology not yet
considered profitable and so not pursued by corporations on their own, such
as genetically altered foods that don't spoil and provide added nutrition.
Um, guys...

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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] New York's Subway Gunman runs for mayor

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

July 9, 2001, 1:44PM

New York's Subway Gunman runs for mayor

By ELLEN WULFHORST
Reuters

NEW YORK -- He's got name recognition any politician would envy, his views
need little publicity, and plenty of New Yorkers do a double take when they
see him in the street.

All that could be immensely helpful in a campaign to be mayor of New York,
except that this candidate is Bernhard Goetz.

The so-called Subway Gunman -- who shot four teen-agers on a grimy train in
an incident so controversial it still sparks heated debate 17 years later
-- is running for mayor.

Goetz, seen by some as a frightened New Yorker fending off assailants and
by others as a vengeful vigilante, has a petition drive to get on the
ballot, a detailed position platform and a bernieformayor.com website.

But he said in an interview that being mayor really isn't his goal, perhaps
a reasonable sentiment given his chances.

I don't want to be mayor. You have to put up with a lot of stupidity, he
said.

The plan, he said, would be to appoint Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is
barred by law from a third term, to keep running New York City. He said
Giuliani, under whose watch the city's murder rate has dropped to levels
not seen since the early 1960s, is the city's best mayor in decades.

Goetz rose to fame, or sunk to notoriety as he puts it, when, three days
before Christmas 1984, he shot four youths he said were trying to rob him
on a downtown Manhattan subway.

The youths, all of whom had arrest records and three of whom were carrying
screwdrivers, said they were panhandling.

In the huge public debate that ensued, supporters said he was the crime
victim who finally fought back. Critics said he was a racist who took
justice into his own hands.

Goetz is white, the youths black.

Goetz was acquitted of attempted murder but served eight months in jail for
illegal gun possession.

On the city's streets, people still turn and stare as they recognize the
tall, thin Goetz from countless newspaper photographs, his eyes like those
of a skittish deer in car headlights.

He lives alone in the same building as he did then, speaks softly with an
edgy, nervous energy and still works as a self-employed electronics technician.

I have all kinds of people in the street stopping me, telling me I should
have killed all four of those guys, he said. And I've had people on the
street screaming I'm a fascist.

In a city as large as New York, you're guaranteed to have lots and lots of
people who have stupid opinions, he said. I think a lot of people in New
York have their heads up their rear, he said in the interview in a New
York diner.

Goetz said he's gotten some responses to his web-based solicitation for
campaign volunteers and crank letters from only one person.

He's also attracted the attention of morning radio talk show host Howard
Stern, who recently aired what he proposed as good campaign jingles for the
subway shooter.

He's the best candidate we've got, went one of the jingles. Let's give
Bernie another shot.

It may not be a popular sentiment.

His day has come and gone, declared former Mayor Ed Koch, who was mayor
in 1984 and condemned the incident as vigilantism.

Ron Kuby, attorney for Darrell Cabey, the youth left permanently wounded by
the shooting, joked that Goetz would be the perfect successor to Giuliani.

If there's one man who can carry on the legacy of racism and intolerance
and just plain explosiveness, it's Bernie Goetz, said Kuby, who misses few
opportunities to criticize the mayor on the radio talk show he co-hosts
with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

Cabey won a $43 million civil settlement against Goetz in 1997. Kuby said
the Cabey family has been unable to collect any of the money; Goetz claims
they haven't tried.

Goetz faces a battle against the six major candidates -- Public Advocate
Mark Green, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone,
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, all Democrats, and Republicans
financial mogul Michael Bloomberg and former Congressman Herman Badillo.

And he faces a battle against his past. But he voices no remorse and calls
his critics stupid people.

The victim does not have the choice of picking the color of his
assailant, he said. I shot them. They were not shot because they were
black. They were shot because they were in the process of doing a robbery.

But though the topic makes his voice take on a slightly steely tone, Goetz
can make light of the incident that has guaranteed him a lifetime of notoriety.

Sitting in a diner near a noisy milkshake blender that kept interrupting
his interview responses, Goetz raised a finger and pointed an imaginary gun
at the diner counterman.

If I had a gun, I'd shoot him, he said softly, with a slight twinkle in
his eye.

This article is: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/politics/963705

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[CTRL] Looking Back at Election 2000

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Looking Back at Election 2000

Two Attorneys/Authors Review Supreme Court's Role in Presidential
Election 2000

NEW YORK, July 9 — The Supreme Court's decision in Bush vs.
Gore confounded some critics in the field of law. Two of them, Alan
Dershowitz, author of Supreme Injustice and Vincent Bugliosi, author
of The Betrayal of America, tell ABCNEWS' Charlie Gibson what they
think about the Court's handling of the historic case.

The following is an uncorrected, unedited transcipt of Charles
Gibson's interview with Alan Dershowitz and Vincent Bugliosi on
ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.

ABCNEWS' CHARLES GIBSON: As everyone knows, the Supreme Court's term
recently ended, and it is a term that will always be remembered for
one case, and really one case only, Bush vs. Gore, the case that
decided the American presidency. Two new books compare that decision,
in their words, to a hijacking and a betrayal. Alan Dershowitz,
author of Supreme Injustice is joining us here in New York this
morning. And Vincent Bugliosi, author of The Betrayal of America.
And they both do join us now. I'm trying to think as I looked at
these books of a punch you guys pulled. I don't think there was one
anywhere. You say the court cheated the country, stole the election.
You compare them to white collar criminals. You call them the
felonious five, The majority in this case and you say some acted for
personal gain. That's strong stuff, so back it up.

ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ, AUTHOR SUPREME INJUSTICE: First of all, it is an
obligation of lawyers to tell the truth. And many lawyers around the
country are saying what Vince and I are saying. We just published it.
We've had the guts to put it down and prove it. On this show, the
morning after the election, I promised your viewers, that I would not
let go of this because to me this was most outrageous and
disappointing decision and in Supreme Injustice I went through 500
opinions of these justices and I proved conclusively that if the shoe
had been on the other foot, if Gore had been ahead by a few hundred
votes and Bush needed the recount, these five justices would have
ruled the other way. That's the most serious accusation you can make
against justices. It violates their oath of office to administer
justice with regard to person. And I prove it by documentary evidence
in this Supreme Injustice.

GIBSON: You say either way they were going to give this to Bush.
Whether Gore had been ahead or whether Bush had been ahead.

DERSHOWITZ: The constant was Bush wins. The variable was the law. And
that's what I prove in Supreme Injustice.

VINCENT BUGLIOSI, AUTHOR THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA: Well Charlie, a
preferatory remark. I will stake my prosecutorial reputation on the
fact that within the pages of this book, The Betrayal of America,
which is out in trade paperback now. And incidentally, next Sunday
night number four on the New York--on the New York Times best seller
list.

GIBSON: OK, we mentioned the book.

BUGLIOSI: I prove beyond all reasonable doubt that these five
justices deliberately set out to hand the election to George Bush. In
the process they committed one of the biggest and most serious crimes
in American history. And because of what they did in a fair and just
world, they belong behind bars as much as any white collar criminal
who ever lived. I'll just give you some of the evidence. How do you
defend these people when they themselves in so many words confessed
to the crime? Molly Ivans and Gerry Spence were powerful forwards to
the book. Spence is considered to be the leading defense attorney in
the country. How would Spence defend these people when they
themselves, by necessary implication, confessed to the crime? If you
give me 30 seconds, I'll explain how. They confessed to the crime by
saying that their ruling, that different standards to count votes in
Florida violated equal protection clause only applied, they said, to
Bush v. Gore, not to other cases. But if their ruling set forth a
valid legal principle good enough for Bush v. Gore, why wouldn't it
be good enough for other cases? This is the first time, let me finish
…

GIBSON: Right. Yeah.

BUGLIOSI: …this is the first time in the two hundred and ten year
history of the court that the court limited its ruling to the case
before it saying that it did not constitute legal precedent for any
other case. And this fact alone clearly and unequivocally shows that
these five justices were up to no good. That they knew their ruling
was bogus and fraudulent, because let me tell you Charlie, if their
ruling was based on the law there is no reason under the moon why
they would have said that it did not apply to other cases.

GIBSON: But someone--someone had to bring this to an end. We were on
the cusp of Constitutional crises in this country.

DERSHOWITZ: I don't believe that. I don't believe that.

GIBSON: Pragmatism demanded that someone say enough, and someone had
to validate it that way we're going. Otherwise we could 

[CTRL] The Declining Terrorist Threat

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

July 10, 2001
The Declining Terrorist Threat
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/10/opinion/10JOHN.html

By LARRY C. JOHNSON

WASHINGTON -- Judging from news reports and the portrayal of villains in our
popular entertainment, Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism.
They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United
States and that it is becoming more widespread and lethal. They are likely
to think that the United States is the most popular target of terrorists.
And they almost certainly have the impression that extremist Islamic groups
cause most terrorism.

None of these beliefs are based in fact. While many crimes are committed
against Americans abroad (as at home), politically inspired terrorism, as
opposed to more ordinary criminality motivated by simple greed, is not as
common as most people may think.

At first glance, things do seem to be getting worse. International terrorist
incidents, as reported by the State Department, increased to 423 in 2000
from 392 in 1999. Recently, Americans were shaken by Filipino rebels'
kidnapping of Americans and the possible beheading of one hostage. But the
overall terrorist trend is down. According to the Central Intelligence
Agency, deaths from international terrorism fell to 2,527 in the decade of
the 1990's, from 4,833 in the 80's.

Nor are the United States and its policies the primary target. Terrorist
activity in 2000 was heavily concentrated in just two countries - Colombia,
which had 186 incidents, and India, with 63. The cause was these countries'
own political conflicts.

While 82 percent of the attacks in Colombia were on oil pipelines managed by
American and British companies, these attacks were less about terrorism than
about guerrillas' goal of disrupting oil production to undermine the
Colombian economy. Generally, the guerrillas shy away from causing
casualties in these attacks. No American oil workers in Colombia were killed
or injured last year.

Other terrorism against American interests is rare. There were three attacks
on American diplomatic buildings in 2000, compared with 42 in 1988. No
Americans were killed in these incidents, nor have there been any deaths in
this sort of attack this year.

Of the 423 international terrorist incidents documented in the State
Department's report Patterns of Global Terrorism 2000, released in April,
only 153 were judged by the department and the C.I.A. to be significant.
And only 17 of these involved American citizens or businesses.

Eleven incidents involved kidnappings of one or more American citizens, all
of whom were eventually released. Seven of those kidnapped worked for
American companies in the energy business or providing services to it -
Halliburton, Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Noble Drilling and Erickson Air-Crane.

Five bombings were on the list. The best known killed 17 American sailors on
the destroyer Cole, as it was anchored in a Yemeni port, and wounded 39. A
bomb at a McDonald's in France killed a local citizen there. The other
explosions - outside the United States embassy in the Philippines, at a
Citibank office in Greece, and in the offices of Newmont Mining in
Indonesia - caused mostly property damage and no loss of life. In the 17th
incident, vandals trashed a McDonald's in South Africa.

The greatest risk is clear: if you are drilling for oil in Colombia - or in
nations like Ecuador, Nigeria or Indonesia - you should take appropriate
precautions; otherwise Americans have little to fear.

Although high-profile incidents have fostered the perception that terrorism
is becoming more lethal, the numbers say otherwise, and early signs suggest
that the decade beginning in 2000 will continue the downward trend. A major
reason for the decline is the current reluctance of countries like Iraq,
Syria and Libya, which once eagerly backed terrorist groups, to provide safe
havens, funding and training.

The most violent and least reported source of international terrorism is the
undeclared war between Islamists and Hindus over the disputed Kashmir region
of India, bordering Pakistan. Although India came in second in terms of the
number of terrorist incidents in 2000, with 63, it accounted for almost 50
percent of all resulting deaths, with 187 killed, and injuries, with 337
hurt. Most of the blame lies with radical groups trained in Afghanistan and
operating from Pakistan.

I am not soft on terrorism; I believe strongly in remaining prepared to
confront it. However, when the threat of terrorism is used to justify
everything from building a missile defense to violating constitutional
rights (as in the case of some Arab-Americans imprisoned without charge), it
is time to take a deep breath and reflect on why we are so fearful.

Part of the blame can be assigned to 24-hour broadcast news operations too
eager to find a dramatic story line in the events of the day and to pundits
who repeat myths while ignoring clear empirical data. Politicians of both
parties 

[CTRL] Conspiracist Jim Marrs Revealed

[radman]

Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 
From: Eileen Sutton [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Conspiracist Jim Marrs Revealed
:

...WBAI producer Bill Weinberg offers this excellent analysis of
right-wing conspiracist, Jim Marrs, whose book was recently offered by
Marjorie Moore as a premium in WBAI's last fund drive. The use of
the Marrs material to fund the station is seen by many as strong evidence
of the ideological shifts taken place at WBAI, despite protests from
management that changes in program content are illusory. Weinberg also
discusses Leid's history with the City Sun, and DeRienzo's recent attacks
on the IMC and George Soros.

--efs


RULE BY IDIOCY: WBAI FALLS FOR RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY THEORY

by Bill Weinberg

Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral
Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids. The title itself
reads like a self-parody. The fact that it is not is a sad comment on our
times. The fact that HarperCollins chose to publish this amateurish
potboiler is even sadder. But saddest of all is that it was offered as a
premium in the last fund-raising marathon by New York City's
progressive WBAI Radio.

WBAI, whose leadership was purged in a notorious Christmas
Coup last year, once offered premiums by the likes of Noam Chomsky.
But it was the voice of Jim Marrs that issued from the station's
transmitter in relentless interviews during the May marathon. Marrs was
chosen as the latest political guru by morning show host Marjorie Moore
and approved by WBAI's Interim General Manager Utrice Leid. Both
repeatedly praised his research over the air. That WBAI is
now promoting Marrs, a peddler of the most vulgar anti-Semitic conspiracy
theory, loans credence to those who argue that the station has assumed a
rightward trajectory since the coup.

In Rule by Secrecy, Marrs of course goes out of his way to disavow
anti-Semitism-but in terms that are clearly anti-Semitic! While it
may be true that secret organizations in the past were built along both
racial and religious grounds and [a]lthough many
international financiers are of Jewish descent, it is unfair
to accuse the Hebrew race of an international conspiracy.
Note the slippery use of Hebrew race in place of the more
common and accurate term Jews. He complains that the
broad brush of anti-Semitism frequently has been used to besmirch anyone
offering a conspiratorial view of history.

After this requisite disavowal, Marrs goes on to portray the
gigantic and secretive Rothschilds banking empire as the
covert and indirect power behind nearly every government on
Earth (ultimately tracing their grand design for world domination to the
Illuminati and Masonic conspiracies dating to ancient Egypt). His
sources are the usual ones, all too familiar to followers of
the far right and fascism.

Topping the list, of course, is the Protocols of the Learned Elders of
Zion, the purported Jewish conspiracy masterplan which served as
propaganda for the Czarist pogroms and then the Nazi Holocaust. While
Marrs does concede that the Protocols are a hoax, he nonetheless
vests much legitimacy in them: It is the possibility of 'historical
truth' which has kept the Protocols in circulation since its
inception. Today, modern conspiracy writers see it as a real program
predating Nazism or Communism... The Protocols may indeed reflect
a deeper conspiracy beyond its intended use to encourage anti-Semitism,
one hidden within the secret upper ranks of the Iluminati and
Freemasonry.

The kneejerk anti-Communism which always characterizes this genre is
there as well. Marrs writes that Marx's program points in The
Communist Manifesto bear a striking resemblance to the
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, suggesting some common
origin. Much, of course, is made of Marx's Jewish ethnicity.
Concludes Marrs: The goals of the Russian communists and Karl Marx
were largely the same goals of the Illuminati and continental
Freemasonry.

Again and again, Marrs attempts to legitimize the anti-Semitism of Henry
Ford, the Krupps and even Hitler, portraying them as mere over-reaction
to the arrogant power of international Jewish bankers. Marrs
argues that the Jews themselves were behind Hitler, another line familiar
to those who follow this unsavory milieu. All of the American, British
and Dutch industrialists who aided Hitler's rise to power are portrayed
(on no evidence) as stand-ins for the great Rothschild
empire. Marrs goes one better by claiming that Hitler was a
Rothschild-that his grandmother was not impregnated by her husband Johann
Georg Hiedler, but by one Baron Rothschild, in whose Vienna
home she was working as a servant. Marrs cites a (conveniently)
suppressed OSS report for this allegation, but provides no
details on its name or where it is to be found.

The actual report, by psychologist Walter C. Langer, was published in
1972 as The Mind of Adolf Hitler, but Marrs doesn't tell us that,
since its findings on the theory of Hitler's 

[CTRL] Colombia War Highlights Arms Trade

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sunday, 8 July 2001

 Colombia War Highlights Arms Trade
 --

 By Nick Rosen

BOGOTA -- The smuggling operation showed how fueling a war in Colombia can
be nearly as easy as stepping into a Miami gun shop.

Colombian arms dealers in the United States on tourist visas purchased
assault rifles in Miami shops, packed them in bubble wrap and sent them
home on cargo flights, listed as machinery parts.

Their destination: guerrillas trying to overthrow the South American
country's elected government.

The smuggling operation, which Colombian and U.S. officials say was
operating during 1997 and 1998, illustrates just one of the myriad ways
that black market weapons elude national and international controls to
fuel the violence of Colombia's 37-year civil war, rampant drug
trafficking and sky-high common crime.

The smuggling network from Miami to the Caribbean city of Barranquilla was
also one tiny link in a global small arms trafficking problem that will be
the focus of unprecedented attention with the start of a U.N. conference
in New York on Monday.

The 11-day conference, presided over by a Colombian diplomat, aims to
combat an illicit trade believed to be worth billions of dollars a year
and contribute to hundreds of thousands of deaths in conflict zones from
Africa to Latin America.

The impact is severe in Colombia, with more than 3,000 people killed in
the civil conflict annually and one of the world's highest per capita
homicide rates.

Many of the guns flowing into Colombia are left over from civil wars
fought during the 1980s in Central America or come from stockpiles in the
former Soviet bloc. In recent years, authorities have seized handguns and
assault rifles from the United States, Brazil, China, North Korea,
Bulgaria and Romania.

Some recent high-profile cases:

On Sunday, Colombian police said they seized 31 assault rifles including
27 AK-47s three rockets and a rocket launcher sent from Nicaragua and
destined for the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The shipment and three men were captured on San Andres Island, 372 miles
off Colombia's northern coast, said National Police chief Gen. Ernesto
Gilibert.

A fugitive Brazilian trafficker was caught in the Colombian jungles in
April, accused of trading guns for cocaine with the FARC.

Peruvian authorities are investigating allegations that disgraced former
spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos arranged for at least 10,000 AK-47 assault
rifles Peru purchased from Jordan to be diverted to the FARC in an airdrop
last year.

Colombia's top rightist paramilitary leader claimed last year that he had
arranged to purchase a large cache of Chinese-made arms from traffickers
in Suriname, but that the FARC outbid him for the shipment once it arrived
via Brazil.

The U.S. government has provided Colombia army counterdrug battalions with
grenade launchers, mortars and M-60 machine guns as part of a $1.3 billion
aid plan. There have been no reported cases of selloffs of U.S.-provided
weapons by corrupt soldiers.

With coasts along two oceans, long chains of Andean mountains and rivers,
and 3,700 miles of sparsely populated borders with five different
countries, Colombia is particularly vulnerable to smuggling.

The number of illegal firearms confiscated here grew from about 23,000 in
1994 to 42,000 last year, according to police. Ten times that amount are
believed to be entering the country undetected.

Colonel Alberto Ruiz, director of the DIJIN, Colombia's judicial police
force, says intelligence-sharing by Colombia's neighbors has helped stem
arms trafficking, but that more far-reaching measures are needed.

''We really need wider accords with countries that manufacture the guns,
to try to get more control over the legal sale of weapons,'' says Ruiz,
''Because most illegal arms begin as legal arms.''

The assault rifles being shipped from Miami to Barranquilla were headed
for the National Liberation Army, Colombia's second largest rebel band,
according to Detective Edgar Gonzalez of the DAS state security agency.

Colombian intelligence officials intercepted a phone conversation in
February 1997 revealing a sale about to occur. Agents pounced on a house
outside the city and captured dozens of Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The smugglers got away, but Colombian officials with the help of the U.S.
Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced the weapons' serial
numbers back to sales made a several Miami gun shops, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said authorities have traced more than a hundred assault rifles
seized here from rebels and criminal gangs back to the Miami purchases.
ATF officials said they believe the group purchased at least 600 assault
rifles in the United States.

The five Colombians involved in the smuggling operation are now behind
bars three here and two in the United States. But authorities acknowledge
they may barely 

[CTRL] The 10 worst countries in the world

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

The 10 worst countries in the world

NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL

July 9 issue * Benighted nations that plumb the depths of state oppression,
poverty and all-round misery.

  1. NORTH KOREA
A vast gulag where citizens are forced to worship their 'Great
Leader,' who lets them die like flies
 2. AFGHANISTAN
As if an endless civil war and psychotic regime were not enough, a
punishing drought is starving millions
 3. SIERRA LEONE
Africa's most brutal war has taken life and limb, literally, from
thousands of children
 4. SUDAN
Ethnic and religious enmities have so riven the country that it
hardly qualifies as a nation at all
 5. ANGOLA
A quarter century of civil war*and the rich, feeding off oil
profits, are still getting richer
 6. TAJIKISTAN
The poorest of the former Soviet republics is torn between a
two-bit dictator and disgruntled warlords
 7. DEM. REP. OF CONGO
Plagued by every ill of our times: greed, ethnic tension, civil
war, foreign aggression, AIDS, poverty
 8. ALBANIA
Smuggling is the biggest foreign-exchange earner, and criminal
gangs hold more sway than the state
 9. HAITI
Misrule and international donor fatigue continue to make a
potential Caribbean paradise a hell on earth
 10. IRAQ
The worst of both worlds*sanctions have ravaged the economy and
Saddam's boot is as heavy as ever

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] SOMALIA: Amid war, famine, selling guns 'guarantees my family will be fed'

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/news_b394a405f34431dc005c.html

Page 1/A Section
July 9, 2001

SOMALIA: Amid war, famine, selling guns 'guarantees my family will be fed'

SPECIAL REPORT: SMALL ARMS, MASS DESTRUCTION
Margaret Coker - Staff
Monday, July 9, 2001

Mogadishu, Somalia --- Like most small business owners, Ali Shalia counts
and cleans his inventory before opening his shop each morning. Standing
under a corrugated tin roof that provides shade for his wooden kiosk, he
grabs a rag and a can of oil and rubs down the nozzles and carbines of a
dozen or so assault rifles. Next, he builds displays of ammunition in neat
stacks by caliber.

I'm a businessman. I sell whatever I can move, and guns are something
that's always in demand, said Shalia, a lanky 31-year-old father of three
who runs one of many stalls that sell used weapons in Mogadishu's Bakhar
market. This is one of the few businesses that guarantees my family will
be fed.

The Somali capital, located on Africa's northeast coast on the Indian
Ocean, is a post-apocalyptic landscape straight out of Road Warrior.
Toyota pickups careen through rutted dirt streets lined with bullet-riddled
homes and bombed-out buildings. The rusty vehicles brim with teenage gunmen
whose main accessories are braids of ammunition draped around their necks
and a stem of the local narcotic, a leafy plant called qat that resembles
green basil, hanging from their mouths.

War has rocked this country for nearly half of Shalia's life. The
intervention of a U.N. peacekeeping force in 1992 to protect relief
supplies and a disastrous U.S. attempt to eliminate the country's top
warlord that left 18 U.S. Rangers dead 10 months later weren't enough to
restore order.

Today, the country is still controlled by warlords and their private
militias, armed mostly with Russian-made weapons. Most of these arms have
been circulating in Somalia since the Soviet era, but aid officials say new
Kalashnikovs are arriving, despite international sanctions, in private
shipments from neighboring countries like Ethiopia.

Many of these guns end up at the Bakhar market or another of Somalia's many
open-air bazaars where weapons can be found alongside consumer goods and
car parts.

Listening to Shalia list the goods he has sold the last couple of months is
like hearing a roster of attractions at an international weapons show:
AK-47s from Russia, North Korea and Yugoslavia, hand-held rocket launchers,
24 mm anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank mines and hundreds of rounds of
ammunition.

Although the country is constantly beset by famine in one region or
another, Shalia, who prefers to dress in baggy jeans and button-down
shirts, says he can't remember a time when guns or bullets were ever in
short supply.

The warlords used to get their weapons from us, here at the market, but
now they have international contacts to buy from. When they sell off their
old guns, they still come to us, he said.

The average cost for a Russian-made Kalashnikov at the Bakhar market is
$200, while a Russian-made collapsible AK-47 goes for $250. (In legal
markets elsewhere, such weapons sell for as much as 10 times that much.)
North Korean versions are slightly cheaper at $230. A used, American-made
M-16 sells for $100.

There aren't as many American guns here, Shalia said. We don't think
they are as good as the Russian weapons.

Most days, Shalia says he makes a sale. A typical buyer, he said, isn't
interested in just one Kalashnikov. People routinely purchase 15 or 20
assault rifles at a time.

The United Nations estimates that 90 percent of Somalia's population owns a
gun, a statistic that reflects the traditional value placed on weapons as
well as the vital need for self-protection.

Our business is an essential part of life in Mogadishu. I'd gladly sell
something else if there was peace, but for now, I'm providing a service my
people need, Shalia said.

  ON THE WEB: Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies: www.cast.ru

BLACK MARKET ARMS SALES: WHAT WEAPONS AND WHERE?
The black market for weapons is estimated at $8 billion per year -- a
quarter of the amount of legal arms sales. The most deadly weapons sold are
assault rifles. Below are the most common makes, information about them and
countries that manufacture them.
FN-FAL RIFLE
Weight: 9.5 pounds.
Caliber: 7.62 mm.
Rate of fire: 600-700 rounds per minute.
5-7 million made
MAIN MANUFACTURER: BELGIUM
Other manufacturers: 11 countries, including Argentina and Brazil.
AK-47 RIFLE
Weight: 9.5 pounds.
Caliber: 7.62 mm
Rate of fire: 600 rounds per minute.
40-50 million made
MAIN MANUFACTURER: RUSSIA
Other manufacturers: More than15 countries have the license, including
China, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Egypt.
HECKLER  KOCH G3 RIFLE
Weight: 9.7 pounds.
Caliber: 7.62 mm.
Rate of fire: 500-600 rounds per minute.
7 million made
MAIN MANUFACTURER: GERMANY
Other manufacturers: 12 countries including Britain and Turkey.
COLT M-16 

[CTRL] International Bookburning in Progress

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

((___)) cDc communications
[ x x ]  HACKTIVISMO
\ / A Special Message of Hope
(' ') July 4th, 2001
(U)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INTERNATIONAL BOOKBURNING IN PROGRESS

[July 4, 2001 - LUBBOCK, TX.] Free speech is under siege at
the margins of the Internet. Quite a few countries are
censoring access to the Web through DNS [Domain Name
Service] filtering. This is a process whereby politically
incorrect information is blocked by domain address -- the
name that appears before the dot com suffix. Others employ
filtering which denies politically or socially challenging
subject matter based on its content.

Hacktivismo and the CULT OF THE DEAD COW have decided that
enough is too much. We are hackers and free speech
advocates, and we are developing technologies to challenge
state-sponsored censorship of the Internet.

Most countries use intimidation and filtering of one kind or
another including the Peoples Republic of China, Cuba, and
many Islamic countries. Most claim to be blocking
pornographic content. But the real reason is to prevent
challenging content from spreading through repressive
regimes. This includes information ranging from political
opinion, foreign news, women's issues, academic and
scholarly works, religious information, information
regarding ethnic groups in disfavor, news of human rights
abuses, documents which present drugs in a positive light,
and gay and lesbian content, among others.

The capriciousness of state-sanctioned censorship is
wide-ranging. [1]

* In Zambia, the government has attempted to censor
information revealing their plans for constitutional
referendums.

* In Mauritania -- as in most countries --, owners of
cybercafes are required to supply government intelligence
agents with copies of e-mail sent or received at their
establishments.

* Even less draconian governments, like Malaysia, have
threatened web-publishers for violating their publishing
licenses by publishing frequent updates: _timely, relevant_
information is seen as a threat.

* South Korean's national security law forbids South Koreans
from having any contact -- including contact over the
Internet -- with their North Korean neighbors.

* Sri Lanka threatened news sites with possible revocation
of their licenses if coverage of a presidential election
campaign was not partial to the party of the outgoing
president.

The risks of accessing or disseminating information are
often great.

* In Ukraine, a decapitated body found near the village of
Tarachtcha is believed to be that of Georgiy Gongadze,
founder and editor of an on-line newspaper critical of the
authorities.

* In August, 1998, eighteen year old Turk Emre Ersoz was
found guilty of insulting the national police in an
Internet forum after participating in a demonstration that
was violently suppressed by the police. His ISP provided the
authorities with his address.

* Journalist Miroslav Filipovic has the dubious distinction
of having been the first Journalist accused of spying
because of articles published on the Internet -- in this
case detailing the abuses of certain Yugoslav army units in
Kosovo.

We are sickened by these egregious violations of information
and human rights. The liberal democracies have talked a far
better game than they've played on access to information.
But hackers are not willing to watch the custodians of the
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turn them into a
mockery. We are willing to put our money where our mouth is.

Hacktivismo and the CULT OF THE DEAD COW are issuing the
HACKTIVISMO DECLARATION as a declaration of outrage and a
statement of intent. It is our Magna Carta for information
rights. People have a right to reasonable access of
otherwise lawfully published information. If our leaders
aren't prepared to defend the Internet, we are.

-

[1] some information cited in this press release was either
paraphrased, or quoted directly, from the Enemies of the
Internet report published by Reporters Without Frontiers,
and may be found at http://www.rsf.fr



THE HACKTIVISMO DECLARATION

assertions of liberty in support of an uncensored internet

DEEPLY ALARMED that state-sponsored censorship of the
Internet is rapidly spreading with the assistance of
transnational corporations,

TAKING AS A BASIS the principles and purposes enshrined in
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) that states, Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers, and Article 19 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that says,

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without
interference.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of 

[CTRL] Friends Don't Care

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

https://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=2181

July 4, 2001

Friends Don't Care
by Michael Z. Williamson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

I can be your best friend.

Not because I care, but because I don't.

I don't care what church, if any, you go to. I don't care if you are Church
of God, Church of Christ, Church of God in Christ, Church of Christ
reformed, Church of Christ Scientist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, Byzantine Catholic, Roman Catholic, Jewish Congregationalist, Hindu,
Shinto, Islamic, Buddhist, Greek Orthodox, Native American, Irish
Druidic,Scandinavian Druidhe, Pagan, Wiccan. Hell, I don't care if you
worship the Great Pumpkin. Or no deity at all. How you spend your Sundays,
Saturdays, Fridays, Tuesday evenings, full Moons, or eclipses is up to you.

I don't care if you have sex with men, women, both, or neither. If it's in
private, and they are freely consenting adults, it's your business. I may
not like it myself, but I don't care about you.

I don't care what brand of beer you drink or not, if you drink wine or not,
liquor or not. I don't care if you brew your own, grow your own or roll your
own. I don't care if you smoke dope, rope, or nightshade. It's your body,
poison it any way you wish. Just keep the residue in your own home, okay?

Vegetarian? Okay. Vegan? Great. Rare steak only, or raw rattlesnake? Cool.
Squid with the tentacles still wiggling? Suits me just fine.

Are you skinny? Fat? Ugly? Overdressed? Underdressed? Naked? Hey, it's your
life, do what you wish. If I don't like it, I won't watch.

I am a politician's worst nightmare. I can't be made to hate, I can't be
panicked by the strange, and I'll react ungraciously to attempts to inspire
me so. I vote on issues, not on smokescreens, and no Orwellian pigs in suits
need apply.

I'm not part of a vast conspiracy to put Candidate X into office--Candidate
X is an idiot, and so is Candidate Y. I voted for the Manchurian Candidate
myself, because I don't care. I don't belong to the Hate Group of the Month
Club on the Evening news, because I don't care. How can you possibly think I
have anything in common with them?

Oh, right. I own guns. So do they. I'll bet a bunch of them read Doctor
Seuss growing up, too, as did I. I don't see how that's relevant, either.

So that's it. Power scares you. And by not being a pawn, by being able to
think, and by daring to think differently from you, I scare you. Well,
relax, because I don't care.

Read the papers of the country, or for that matter, the world. You'll find
me right there defending the unpopular in letters to the editor, in marches,
in protests and sit-ins. I don't care so damned much that I'll go far out of
my way to prove it. When your oppressors refuse to believe I don't care, I'm
willing to reinforce the point, WITH FORCE.

The only actions of yours I care about are those that actually affect me.
Try to rape my wife, and you die. Try to assault me, and you die. Touch my
children. Well, then you'll die slowly, as a lesson to others.

Try to take my guns away, or send someone else to do so. Well, then I care.
Keep in mind--they protect you, too. The people who DO care about silly
details of your life DO have guns, whether you call them extremists,
fanatics, cults, militias, or Federal Agents. It's easy to hate a name,
isn't it? I'd hate the names, too, if it would make any difference, but it
doesn't. Hateful people hide everywhere, and I don't care. Only when they
ACT on that hate do I become aroused. By acting on hate, they interfere with
my ability not to care. And that just ruins my whole day. Sometimes it takes
the threat of force to prove I don't care. That's why I have the guns.

Why would you want to take my guns away, knowing I don't care? I'm no
threat. I'm your best friend. I don't even care if THEY have guns. I don't
even care if YOU have a gun. I care even less if you don't like ME having a
gun.

So do me a favor and don't come to my door asking me to turn over my tools
of reason.

Because I don't care who interferes with my right to not care.

And neither do my guns.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
 A 

[CTRL] Cops want to know more about Condit's ties to Hells Angels

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Cops want to know more about Condit's ties to Hells Angels

Saturday, July 07, 2001
By Timothy J. Burger and Helen Kennedy
New York Daily News
http://chblue.com/Article.asp?ID=1935

Investigators searching for missing intern Chandra Levy are probing Rep.
Gary Condit's ties to the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.

Condit, who rides a Harley when he is home in his northern California
district, has close ties to members of the gang, said sources close to the
Levy family investigation.

These are bad guys to be involved with, said one investigator.

Condit's former longtime aide, Vince Flammini, taught the congressman to
ride and introduced him to Hells Angels' leaders, investigators said.

Flammini, 62, has told reporters Condit could be emotionally harsh but he
would never hurt a fly.

Anne Marie Smith, 39, a flight attendant who says she had a 10-month affair
with Condit that ended in May, said she remembers the congressman once
telling her he was going to attend an upcoming Hells Angels party.

He told me he had to keep it secret from his brother because it was a
birthday party for a cop killer, Smith told the Daily News.

Condit's brother, Burl, is a sergeant with the Modesto police.

Meanwhile, The Daily News has learned that on April 29, Levy left a message
on her aunt's machine saying, I have big news.

She didn't sound downtrodden. She sounded like she had something exciting
to tell, said a source close to the family.

Investigators working for the Levy family believe it's a major clue and are
looking at the possibility she could have been killed to silence her about
something she had learned.

The big news might be what got her killed. Maybe she found out something,
said the source close to the Levy family.

Investigators are also considering the possibility that Levy, 24, could
have been pregnant, though no testing kit was found in her apartment.

Condit, 53, told police he last spoke to Levy April 29. She vanished May 1.

In other developments:

The Levy family private investigators have located a security tape showing
Levy buying juice and chatting cheerily with a clerk at a 7-Eleven in
Arlington, Va., on April 29. Investigators are interested because Levy, who
does not have a car, was far from home.

Condit's wife, Carolyn, was interviewed by the FBI in Northern Virginia.
She was accompanied by her husband's lawyer, Abbe Lowell.

Police had been trying to schedule an interview with Carolyn Condit for
more than a week to ask about her visit to Washington in late April. She
was with her husband when Levy was calling him repeatedly as she prepared
to leave town. Cops wanted to know if she had any contact with Levy and if
she could verify her husband's whereabouts.

It was unclear why the interview took place in Washington and not in
California.

Condit's lawyer released a statement explaining Condit couldn't make his
hometown Fourth of July parade because he was flying to Washington with his
wife for the interview.

He also blasted press efforts to dissect and mischaracterize his and his
family's private lives and said Condit would maintain his media silence.

Unlike some, Congressman Condit remains singularly focused on what is and
remains the central mission at this timelocating Chandra Levy, the
statement said. The media risks losing its focus with what has been a
recent and seemingly unbounded effort to expose highly personal and private
Condit family matters.

Washington Police Chief Charles Ramsey told reporters Thursday that suicide
is close to being discounted.

As time goes on, the possibility of suicide becomes more and more remote,
because you would find the remains, Ramsey said. You can't kill yourself
and then bury yourself.

Ramsey repeatedly stressed that Condit is not a suspect and only one of a
hundred people interviewed.

He became irritated when reporters asked if allegations that Condit urged
his flight attendant mistress to lie to the FBI would give cops probable
cause to search his apartment.

That's a heckuva leap. I'm not trying to find a flight attendant. I'm
trying to find Chandra Levy, he said.
We're not the sex police.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
 A 

[CTRL] Research creates army of the future

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

from the Seattle Post-intelligencer

Research creates army of the future

Biotechnology used for super foods and 'smart' uniforms

Friday, July 6, 2001
By REX W. HUPPKE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Trudging through a thick, muggy jungle, the soldier
remains cool, her body temperature precisely controlled by her uniform.
Incapable of seeing more than 10 feet ahead, she is guided through an
earpiece in her helmet by someone at base camp who can trace her because a
biomarker was in a nutrition bar she ate earlier.
An alarm in her wristwatch goes off, detecting the presence of a toxic
chemical agent. The visor on her helmet drops down, and the uniform that
monitors her vital signs administers the drugs necessary to keep her safe
and enable her to complete her mission.
It's science fiction so far. But a study performed for the Army says
advancements in biotechnology may soon turn such fiction into fact.
The study was conducted by 16 leading academic and industry scientists from
across the country. It attempts to predict how biotechnology will develop
over the next 25 years and highlights areas that might benefit the Army.
The ideas in the study range from genetically engineered foods that don't
spoil and provide added nutrition, to uniforms that can detect and treat
wounds.
James Valdes, a scientific adviser at the Army Soldier and Biological
Chemical Command in Maryland, said over the past five years the Army has
started forming more partnerships with industry and academic labs to keep
abreast of developments in biotechnology.
Big companies don't want to make the kind of stuff we need because the
profit margins aren't there, Valdes said. So we have to sort of very
selectively go after the research areas that are uniquely applicable to the
Department of Defense.
Such areas include: creating lightweight materials to reduce the load of the
current soldier's roughly 90-pound rucksack; coating helmets with substances
that absorb solar energy to power in-field computers; and developing systems
that make fuel using plants or even food wrappers and used cloth.
Rashid Bashir, a Purdue University researcher not involved in the study, is
developing 1-centimeter-square sensor chips that could someday help soldiers
detect chemical hazards on the battlefield.
The sensors, which could fit in a wristwatch, are basically
micro-laboratories that analyze particles in the air.
I think most of these things are in the five- to 10-year time frame,
Bashir said. Many are in the idea stages, but others have already proven
their feasibility.

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] UN investigates to see if gun enthusiasts' protest is security threat

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Associated Press - July 5, 2001

U.N. investigates to see if gun enthusiasts' protest is security threat

The United Nations is investigating whether e-mails and letters it has
received from irate American gun enthusiasts protesting an upcoming
conference on the illicit trade in small arms constitutes a threat to
security.

The world body has received about 100 complaints from Americans who
erroneously believe the conference seeks to infringe on their right to bear
arms, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Disarmament Jayantha Dhanapala said
Thursday.

The gun-rights enthusiasts did not threaten physical harm to any U.N.
official, but their protests were strongly worded and were turned over to
U.N. security experts, Dhanapala said.

What concerned me was that there was a widespread campaign, he said. It's
essentially a U.S.-based phenomenon.

The letters and e-mails started arriving in recent weeks, some signed and
some anonymous, alleging that the U.N. is attempting to take away guns from
people, in conflict with the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens,
Dhanapala told a news conference.

I did not get the impression that they have been orchestrated. They are
differently worded, but clearly they all labor under the same
misapprehension about the conference, he said.

Dhanapala's office released a pamphlet called Setting the Record Straight
to address the misconceptions they contained and explain what the conference
hopes to achieve.

The focus of the conference is on illicit trade in small arms, not the
legal trade, manufacture or ownership of weapons, the pamphlet stressed.
The U.N. conference will have no effect on the rights of civilians to
legally own and bear arms.

Delegates are expected to adopt a program of action, which is not legally
binding, to curb and ultimately eliminate illegal trafficking in assault
rifles and other small arms that have become the weapons of choice in many
internal conflicts around the world.

Asked about the fears of some Americans that the United Nations is trying to
take away their guns, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed that the main
goal of the conference is to try to control the illicit arms trade to
ensure that guns do not get into the wrong hands.

When you look at the history of the last 20 years or so, most of the
killing in the world, apart from the AIDS epidemic, is being done by small
arms, he said.

About a dozen gun-rights groups, including the U.S. National Rifle
Association, are among the 177 non-governmental organizations accredited to
attend the two-week conference which begins Monday.

Dhanapala said these groups will be able to attend all public meetings and
will choose several representatives to make statements at one official
conference session.

U.N. conventional arms expert Joao Honwana, a top conference official, said
it wasn't up to the U.N. Department for Disarmament Affairs to judge whether
the e-mails and letters constituted a threat.

The objective of turning these e-mail and communications to the U.N.
security was precisely to allow them to assess them from a perspective of
threat to the organization of the conference and take whatever necessary
measures they found appropriate, which is what they are doing, he said.

They analyze those communications, and I'm sure that they will contact with
the appropriate institutions in this country and elsewhere to make sure that
whatever is said in those e-mails does not represent a major threat to the
organization of this conference, Honwana said.

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Growing surveillance sparks concerns about freedom

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Growing surveillance sparks concerns about freedom
--
Across the U.S., authorities are increasingly photographing
and tracking people in public places, ostensibly in order
to deter crime and monitor conduct. Advocates of privacy
and liberty are worried, with even some police saying
surveillance has gone too far. (07/06/01)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,28855,00.html

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Stench Warfare And Stink Bombs-U.S. Secret Weapon?

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Stench Warfare And Stink Bombs-U.S. Secret Weapon?

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010705/od/arms_usa_stench_dc_1.html
Thursday July 5 2:32 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is developing a stink
bomb to drive away enemy troops or hostile crowds, the magazine New
Scientist said on Wednesday.

Stench warfare could form a key part of the U.S. non-lethal weapons program
and provide police with an extra means of dealing with the kind of rioting
that has disrupted recent summits of world leaders.

``It would give us an offensive capability against large and unruly groups
of people, if they are unwilling to move or are openly hostile,'' New
Scientist quoted a Pentagon spokesman as saying.

``And it would minimize the risk to our people and to the antagonists.''

Researchers said there was a close link between nasty smells and fear, as a
bad smell can activate tissue deep within the brain.

The ``perfect'' stink for defense purposes would be one that triggered an
emotional response in humans.

The problem is that odors can provoke varying reactions in different people
because of social and cultural conditioning.

Pam Dalton, a cognitive psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in
Philadelphia who is leading the search for a better stink bomb, has tested
smells on volunteers of different ethnic origins to try to find a universal
formula.

She has found two odors that appear to transcend culture, and a mixture of
the two could form the basis of a weapon.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Military role grows on home front

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Military role grows on home front

http://www.msnbc.com/news/546844.asp?cp1=1

'Mission creep' becomes a domestic issue

By Robert Windrem

PHILADELPHIA   As Republicans gathered here last August to nominate George
W. Bush for president, a drama played out in secret locations across the
city as thousands of American soldiers stood poised for a catastrophic
event. Along with a host of civilian emergency specialists, these
specialized troops braced for a biological, chemical or nuclear terror
attack on the GOP and its nominees  the kind of attack that might force a
declaration of martial law.
NO SPECIFIC or credible threat ever surfaced in Philadelphia or in any of
the dozen other U.S. cities hosting similarly high-profile events in the
past five years. But the Philadelphia plan sheds light on a new domestic
role for the military.
Some argue that the role makes sense in light of the threat posed by modern
terrorist groups. But a diverse coalition of civilian law enforcement
agencies, civil rights advocates and libertarian groups worry about
allowing the military to play so prominent a role on U.S. soil.
There used to be a bright line separating the military from involvement in
civilian affairs, says Steve Aftergood, who directs the Project on
Government Secrecy at the American Federation of Scientists. The
pernicious aspect of terrorism is that it threatens to erode what is a
clear distinction. We are seeing them on all these 'fronts.'
The bright line Aftergood refers to is called the Posse Comitatus Act of
1878, enacted to prevent the military from engaging in police activities in
the United States without the consent of Congress or the president. In the
mid-1990s, after the bombings of the World Trade Center and the federal
building in Oklahoma City  as well as a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo
subway system  the law was amended to allow the attorney general to send
armed troops into American cities in cases of catastrophic attacks.
This new role for the military prompted Rep. William Thornberry, a Texas
Republican on the Armed Services Committee, to introduce a bill last month
that would create an office called the National Homeland Security Agency to
help civilian federal agencies do a job that the military is being drawn
into by default. Thornberry, who is a rancher and fierce critic of
government intrusion into the lives of its citizens, believes the country
should be careful not to put the military in the position of acting as
police in the United States. Thornberry may be facing a tough battle.
  NEW MISSIONS
As the world's borders have become more porous, the definition of national
security has expanded into many new areas: counter-terrorism, tracking drug
traffickers and disaster preparedness. Secretary of State Colin Powell said
recently he will add immigration to that list as well.
The military's move into domestic law enforcement territory began with drug
interdiction along the U.S. border
during the Reagan administration, and expanded  significantly during the
Clinton years.
Officials at several key civilian agencies  from the FBI to the Public
Health Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency  say the
military's growing role in preparing for a domestic terrorist attack is
disconcerting.
We used to be the main people involved in this, said a domestic
preparedness official with the Public Health Service who spoke only on
condition of anonymity. Now, there are fewer of us and more of them.
  REAL BREAKDOWN
Despite the Posse Comitatus Act and concerns about domestic mission creep,
a doctrine known as Garden Plot exists in the Department of Defense that
would allow the armed forces to step in to take control of civilian affairs
following a  catastrophic event if the president requested it. As with the
military's posture abroad - the Defense Condition or DEFCON  there is a
step-by-step system for military involvement at home as well. It's known as
Civilian Disorder Condition, or CIDCON.
This scenario is the last resort following the collapse of order at home.
In this most dire of circumstances - possibly anarchy in the wake of a
large-scale terrorist incident, for instance  the Garden Plot doctrine
gives the president the power to invoke martial law under The Insurrection Act.
Here's how it would have worked last August in Philadelphia:
Two military Joint Task Force units were available for quick deployment.
One, called Joint Task Force-Civil
Support, is based at Fort Monroe in Virginia. It is trained to coordinate
countermeasures for terrorist attacks and would generally be deployed
without weapons.
The other unit, code-named Task Force 250, is meant to go in fully
equipped for battle. This unit, according to documents obtained by NBC
News, is meant to restore civil order after major terrorist events. Task
Force 250 is more commonly known as the Army's 82nd Airborne Division
based at Fort Bragg, N.C.
  

[CTRL] Military Units On Hand Or On Call For The 2000 Gop Convention

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Ready For Anything?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/546844.asp?cp1=1

Military Units On Hand Or On Call For The 2000 Gop Convention

On Location:

-Eighty bomb disposal teams and 35 explosive detection dogs assigned to the
Secret Service.
-Seven Army biological advisory and assessment teams assigned to the Secret
Service.
-Four military biological sampling vehicles assigned to the Secret Service.
-Technical escort team from the Department of Defense assigned to approach
and disarm biological or chemical weapons.
-Department of Energy's Nuclear Emergency Search Team assigned to approach
and disarm nuclear weapons or radiological bombs, which are designed to
spread radioactive material.
-Two medical support teams from the Uniform Services University of Health
Sciences at Bethesda Naval Hospital assigned to the Public Health Service.
An additional team assigned to the FBI.
-A regional operations center set up near the First Union Center in
Philadelphia.
-An alternate regional operations center at Willow Grove Naval Air Station.
-A mobilization center for staging or moving federal resources.  One Naval
support location in Philadelphia reserved for use as a detainee processing
center by the U.S. Marshall Service.

On Call:

-Ten military bases called potential base support installations.
-A military urban search-and-rescue team.  The Marines Corps' Chemical
Biological Incident Response Force, a 200-person team from Camp Lejeune,
N.C.  The Army's Chemical Biological Rapid Response Team from Fort
Aberdeen, Md.
-Joint Task Force for Civil Support from Norfolk, Va.  Joint Task Force
250, composed of the U.S. 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg, N.C., for
reimposing order in a devastated city.
-Response Task Force East, from Fort Gillam, Ga, to coordinate military
assets in support of civil authorities during a weapon of mass destruction
incident.
-Response Task Force West
-Military aircraft on call to deliver emergency antidotes for biological or
chemical casualties.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Govs Use Your Net Service to Spy on You

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Govs Use Your Net Service to Spy on You

http://cryptome.org/DIRT-bags.htm
Cryptome  4-Jul-01

THE DIRT ON BIG BROTHER
HE CAN USE YOUR NET SERVICE TO SPY ON YOU
http://cryptome.org/DIRT-bags.htm

Spies can bust into your computer without leaving their office.

By Alex Roslin

NOW | JUN 8 - JUL 4, 2001 | VOL. 20 NO. 43

Is your computer watching you? The spectre of Big Brother just got a giant
step closer thanks to a controversial piece of software called DIRT.

Sold only to police, military and intelligence agencies, DIRT is causing a
small furor in civil liberties circles. It offers government operatives a
powerful tool to break into your home through the Internet and read
everything on your computer, without ever leaving their offices.

The brainchild of former NYPD cop Frank Jones, DIRT stands for Data
Interception by Remote Transmission. Depending on the model, it reportedly
costs anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $200,000.

Even a well-secured computer is vulnerable. The software is said to be
powerful enough to penetrate many common security tools, including
firewalls. No anti-virus program on the market can detect it.

Reached at his company, New York-based Codex Data Systems, Jones was
tight-lipped about the software's capabilities and which governments he's
sold it to, calling that proprietary information.

An ad for DIRT says even the technically challenged can use it to break into
a computer halfway around the globe. Imagine being able to remotely monitor
any PC in the world any time you want, says the ad, posted earlier this
month on the intelligence Web site cryptome.org. Suppose you could read
every keystroke. access and retrieve any file from the hard drive... No more
secrets...

No police or intelligence agency in Canada or the U.S. has acknowledged that
it hacks. In fact, computer hacking by governments is one of the most
sensitive and highly classified government secrets anywhere in the world.

It goes by innocent-sounding terms like computer network exploitation and
information operations.

But even military and intelligence officials acknowledge hacking is highly
dubious in the eyes of both domestic and international law.

If you get caught mapping out the critical infrastructure of a power grid,
people might view it as an act of war, said one U.S. intelligence expert
who advises the Pentagon on information operations.

A renowned U.S. computer scientist who has testified before Congress and
advised the U.S. government on computer security tells NOW that hacking by
western military and intelligence services is an explosive issue.

There are a lot of folks here who don't want to admit this is going on, he
says, adding a warning: You're on the tip of the iceberg here. You want to
be a little bit careful.

Canadian and U.S. police, for their part, are also interested in hacking to
get evidence for criminal cases. But here too, the legalities are extremely
questionable.

There is no case law on it at all, says RCMP Inspector Peter McAughley,
head of the force's high-tech crime forensics unit. Yet he says that with a
little tweaking, existing legislation in Canada does allow cops to hack
for evidence. If it's an investigative avenue and it can be done legally,
it's something else we can throw in the tool box.

Already, Australia and New Zealand have adopted legislation to allow
security agencies to hack into citizens' computers and alter data to hide
traces of intrusions.

All this has civil libertarians aghast. These are the worst kinds of
searches, says Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil
Liberties Union. We do not think intelligence agencies or law enforcement
should be engaging in these black bag operations, especially without close
supervision from courts.

Canadian interest in hacking technology was revealed during a New York trial
in which DIRT vendor Frank Jones was charged with possession and
distribution of illegal wiretap equipment. Jones was convicted of a single
count of possessing illegal bugs, and sentenced in 1999 to 300 hours of
community service and five years of probation.

The court file includes letters from Jones's attorney, seeking permission
for Jones to travel to Canada three times during the trial to meet RCMP,
local and regional police, Interpol, Canadian government and military
officials to discuss software he had developed.

Michael Richardson, a former Canadian intelligence officer who was the
Canadian distributor for DIRT at the time, tells NOW the meetings were
arranged to discuss DIRT.

Richardson says he quit Codex after he learned of Jones's criminal
conviction and that Jones had secretly been selling DIRT to governments like
Peru and South Africa that have lax laws covering the use of evidence in
court.

It's a very dangerous product. It can take control of a machine and
download what's on it, says Richardson.

Eric Schneider, the computer programmer who wrote DIRT, also doesn't have
much nice to say 

[CTRL] Cyber terror in the Air

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.securityfocus.com

Cyber terror in the Air

Ancestral voices are prophesizing infowar again, and netizens may be falling
for it.

By Kevin Poulsen June 30, 2001 11:00 PM PT

According to a study released last week, seventy-five percent of Internet
users around the world now believe in cyber terrorism-the theory that
terrorists will soon inflict massive casualties on innocent lives by
attacking corporate and governmental computer networks. Now, if only we
could get the terrorists to buy it.

The survey, conducted in 19 major cities around the world by Euro RSCG
Worldwide, an advertising agency network, found that 45% of respondents
agreed completely that computer terrorism (against corporations and
governments) will be a growing problem. And another 35% agreed somewhat.

I have to admit, I have some doubts about the survey. The vague phrase will
be a growing problem leaves a lot of wiggle room -- the problem certainly
can't shrink much, hovering as it is at zero cyber terrorist incidents per
year. And the study also found that netizens' greatest technology-related
fear is the fusion of humans and computers, with one-in-four worried that
computers will grow too powerful for people to control. If you do your
polling at a Terminator film festival you'll come up with all sorts of
screwy answers.

But statistics aside, there's no doubt that cyber terror, and its
nation-state equivalent, infowar, is in the zeitgeist. Witness the feverish,
panting diatribes on the subject that have muscled into mainstream forums in
the last two months.

The influential journal Foreign Affairs lent space to a silly rant by
iDefense's James Adams about hackers blacking out cities and killing
emergency 911 systems with a couple of keystrokes. His point, after a few
mischaracterizations of recent events and liberal use of apocalyptic
imagery, is that the U.S. Defense Department needs to be placed in charge of
protecting all U.S. networks from cyber attack. Cooler heads might wonder if
the Pentagon shouldn't get the hang of securing its own computers first.

Meanwhile, no less an authority than The New Yorker assured us in May that
sophisticated terrorists... now have the ability to crash satellite
systems, to wage economic warfare by unplugging the Federal Reserve system
from Wall Street, even to disrupt the movements of ships at sea.

Finally, the cyber terror hype reached breakfast tables around America with
Andrea Stone's June 19th article in USA Today, titled 'Cyberspace: The next
battlefield'.

[A]n adversary could use ... viruses to launch a digital blitzkrieg against
the United States. It might send a worm to shut down the electric grid in
Chicago and air-traffic-control operations in Atlanta, a logic bomb to open
the floodgates of the Hoover Dam and a sniffer to gain access to the
funds-transfer networks of the Federal Reserve, writes Stone.

There is a virus at work here, but it's not the troublesome
W32-ShutDownAllPowerInChicago.worm. It's a misinformation virus, and
credulous publishers are playing the role of Microsoft Outlook.

Part of the problem is that no one has a vested interest in debunking the
myth of the information apocalypse. A little doom-saying doesn't hurt the
computer security industry, the Defense Department could always use a little
extra cash from Congress, hackers enjoy their image as dangerous terrorists
whose very fingertips are deadly weapons, and journalists like writing
things like digital blitzkrieg and information apocalypse.

Adding to the mess, some defense planners actually believe this stuff.
Hidden behind language like asymmetric warfare is a textbook demonstration
of fallacy from a Logic 101 course:

1. Computers can be disrupted by viruses.

2. The power grid is controlled by computers.

3. Therefore, terrorists and foreign governments can cause massive blackouts
with viruses.

National security planners see deadly logic bombs raining down on Chicago --
it works that way with real bombs, after all. This is high-level thinking.
Really high, where the air is thin and the real nature of cyber attacks
isn't visible.

A more down to earth 'Electric Power Risk Assessment' conducted by the
Clinton White House's National Security Telecommunications Advisory
Committee in 1997 found that the power grid was indeed vulnerable to
computer intruders. However, Despite the growing concern about cyberspace
attacks, the physical destruction of utility infrastructure elements is
still the predominant threat to electric utilities, reads the report.

To cause even a brief, regional blackout cyber terrorists would have to find
a path to control networks that are usually isolated from the Internet. They
would spend time conducting critical node analyses, learn to communicate
with remote telemetry systems using proprietary, undocumented protocols, and
all the while avoid detection for weeks, or even months, while building and
maintaining their access.

We'd live in a more peaceful 

[CTRL] Stamping Out the Bad Guys

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Stamping Out the Bad Guys
eWEEK (06/18/01) Vol. 18, No. 24, P. 53; Moad, Jeff

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) implemented the first phase of
its Compliance Monitoring and Anti-Money Laundering System in
June 2000, which has cost the organization about $5 million
and three years to develop. The system collects data on
suspicious or large money order transactions, which are then
cross-referenced with accounts monitored by financial
institutions. According to the U.S. Department of the
Treasury, about $170 million is laundered through post offices
across the nation each year via a layering system, which
criminals use to break up illegal funds into smaller amounts,
convert into money orders, and then deposit into bank accounts
without arousing suspicion. The new system took an inordinate
amount of time to develop due to changes in regulations, which
are expected to change again in 2001, and the establishment of
employee training programs. (www.eweek.com)

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Hitachi weaves chip into paper money

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From ZDNet,
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,s2090580,00.html

Hitachi weaves chip into paper money

3rd July 2001
by Matthew Broersma

A tiny identity chip could have massive implications for security - and also
for your privacy

Hitachi has developed a chip that could be woven into paper money to help
identify counterfeits, and which could also have wide ramifications for
identification and surveillance technologies.

The chip, called Mew, measures just 0.4mm on a side, and stores information
such as identification and security code. It includes 128 bits of read-only
memory (ROM) and RF wireless circuitry that allows it to transmit over a
distance of about 30cm. If inserted in money, a reader unit would be able to
instantly detect authentic bills.

Most identity chips are currently several millimetres on a side.

While the chip currently requires a reader unit to work, its size carries
big implications for the future of identity technology. For example, future
chips could be implanted into all paper money and be connected wirelessly to
the Internet, so that authorities would be able to monitor the movement of
all cash.

Such chips could also be embedded in other consumer products to track them
in the event of theft.

Hitachi says it is considering adding rewritable memory to the device, but
for the moment is using ROM to prevent data falsification.

The chip will begin sampling this autumn and Hitachi will begin marketing it
next spring. Mew Solutions, the venture formed by Hitachi to promote the
chip, expects sales of $145m (about £98m) by 2005.

See Chips Central for the latest on processors and the semiconductor
industry.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Pentagon Role in Africa May End

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Pentagon Role in Africa May End

Training Program Put Under Review

  By Douglas Farah
  Washington Post Foreign Service
  Tuesday, July 3, 2001; Page A16

  BUNDASE TRAINING CAMP, Ghana -- U.S. Special Forces
  trainers strode up and down the firing line here one
  recent morning, barking instructions and encouragement
  as Ghanaian troops struggled to get a feel for the new
  American-supplied M-60 machine guns they will take
  with them to nearby Sierra Leone on a U.N.
  peacekeeping mission.

  Earlier in the morning, some of the 100 Americans from
  the 3rd Special Forces Group trained the Ghanaians on
  M-16 rifles. During the 10-week training program, the
  troops also will learn to use mortars and
  sophisticated communications equipment.

  We are trying to make sure these people will operate
  under live fire, Lt. Col. Jay Glover said as he sat
  in the camp's U.S.-style mess tent built for the
  training. If they can't, people will get killed when
  they turn around and go into combat.

  Glover and his team are part of Operation Focus
  Relief, the most visible and costly of the myriad
  programs the Pentagon has been conducting in 22
  countries of sub-Saharan Africa. They include training
  elite battalions like this one for peacekeeping
  duties, readying other soldiers for disaster relief,
  AIDS prevention, and other smaller programs.

  But many of the programs, which together cost $130
  million a year, may be short-lived. Most were
  initiated by former president Bill Clinton as a
  compromise between sending U.S. troops into war-torn
  African countries and doing nothing. They are now
  under review by the Bush administration, which is
  divided over what military commitments to make on this
  continent.

  The White House must assess whether the programs are
  misguided, inadequately resourced or simply need more
  time to bear fruition, according to a working paper
  published last month co-written by Jendayi E. Frazer,
  director of African affairs at the National Security
  Council. Despite the programs, the paper said, there
  was no noticeable change in any of Africa's wars.

  During a visit to Africa last month, Secretary of
  State Colin L. Powell acknowledged that he disagrees
  with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over funding
  military missions here.

  The United States, Powell said, should remain
  committed to equipping and training African
  peacekeepers, but Rumsfeld is always looking for
  opportunities to back off on some of the overseas
  commitments we have. It is just trying to find the
  right balance between getting too committed and not
  getting committed enough.

  So far, two 800-man Nigerian battalions have been
  trained, equipped and deployed to Sierra Leone under
  the $90 million Focus Relief program. The Ghanaian
  battalion, along with one from Senegal and three from
  Nigeria, are to be deployed by the end of the year.

  The program was rushed into existence last year after
  the rebel Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone
  took 500 U.N. peacekeepers hostage. With the U.N.
  operation in disarray and Britain, the former colonial
  power there, rushing in troops, Clinton was under
  pressure to do something to help fight a rebel force
  renowned for hacking off the arms and legs of women
  and children.

  He was unwilling to commit troops and opted instead to
  provide training and equipment for seven West African
  battalions to step into the breach. Certainly the
  motivation was to get troops on the ground that were
  not U.S. troops, said a senior Pentagon official.

  According to U.N. sources and observers in Sierra
  Leone, the two Nigerian battalions are a marked
  improvement over other African forces deployed there,
  but have not yet faced any serious challenges in
  combat.

  A broader U.S. program is the $20 million-a-year
  African Crisis Response Initiative, started in 1996 to
  create a pan-African force for peacekeeping and
  disaster relief. U.S. Special Forces provide training,
  uniforms and communications equipment but no weapons.

  With State Department funding, the ACRI program has
  trained 8,000 troops since 1997, and plans to train a
  total of 12,000, U.S. officials said.

  It began when the Clinton administration feared
  Burundi would implode on the heels of the 1994 Rwanda
  genocide crisis. A U.S. official familiar with the
  program said it was initially ill thought-out and
  rushed through the policy-approval process.

  None of Africa's major armies took part, either
  because they declined or could not qualify because of
  rules that limited participation to countries with
  democratic governments. Nigeria was initially
  ineligible and later chose, along with South Africa,
  not to participate. Uganda, Ethiopia and Ivory Coast
  all joined but were suspended because of military
  coups, political unrest or involvement in wars. Only
  smaller countries such as Benin, Malawi, Mali 

[CTRL] Spy base invaded again

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

MENWITH HILL PROTESTS CONTINUE FOR SECOND DAY
Protests against the US's proposed stars war system continued for the
second day today, as six further Greenpeace activists infiltrated the
high-security Menwith Hill spy base. Around 20 broke in this morning
but most were captured and ejected. Those who evaded the police
climbed up high masts, some up to 60ft high, and joined a lone
survivor from yesterday's demonstration. The Ministry of Defence has
refused to comment on the ease with which large numbers of Greenpeace
activists entered the base.

Full story - Guardian Unlimited
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,516776,00.html)
Interactive guide: National missile defence - Guardian Unlimited
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/flash/0,7365,434805,00.html)
Campaign: Close Menwith Hill - CND Yorkshire
(http://www.gn.apc.org/cndyorks/mhs/)

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Straw condemns riot at Cyprus base

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

RIOT AT BRITISH ARMY BASE ON CYPRUS
An attack on a British military base in Cyprus was today condemned as
completely unacceptable by the British foreign secretary, Jack
Straw. British soldiers and military police clashed with angry
protesters who had stormed the Akrotiri base last night, setting fire
to vehicles and destroying equipment. Over 40 police officers and 29
Cypriot nationals are reported to have been injured in the incident.
The trouble was sparked by a demonstration against the construction
of new communication antennae in an environmentally sensitive area.

Full story - Guardian Unlimited
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,516651,00.html)
The issue explained: Cyprus - Guardian Unlimited
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,516724,00.html)

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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

Frederick Douglass, 5 July 1852

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to
speak here to-day?  What have I, or those I represent, to do with
your national independence?  Are the great principles of political
freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of
Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to
bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the
benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting
from your independence to us?

...I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary!
Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between
us.  The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed
in common.  The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and
independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by
me.  The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought
stripes and death to me.  This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.
You may rejoice, I must mourn.  To drag a man in fetters into the
grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in
joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.  Do you
mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?  If so,
there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is
dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up
to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying
that nation in irrecoverable ruin!  I can to-day take up the
plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultous joy, I hear the
mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous
yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee
shouts that reach them.  If I do forget, if I do not faithfully
remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, may my right
hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to
chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and
shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.  My
subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY.  I shall see,
this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave's point of
view.  Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making
his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that
the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me
than on this 4th of July!  Whether we turn to the declarations of the
past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation
seems equally hideous and revolting.  America is false to the past,
false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the
future.  Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this
occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the
name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution
and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call
in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command,
everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame
of America!  I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use
the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall
escape me that any man, whose judgement is not blinded by prejudice,
or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be fight
and just

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?  I answer: a day
that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross
injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim.  To him,
your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license;
your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing
are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted
impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your
prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your
religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes
which would disgrace a nation of savages.  There is not a nation on
the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the
people of these United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the
monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South
America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last,
lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation,
and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless
hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

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[CTRL] England turning into a surveillance state

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

England turning into a surveillance state

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/business/top/031893.htm

BY DAN GILLMOR
Mercury News Technology Columnist

LONDON -- It's always a bit weird to celebrate Independence Day in the
nation from which my country rebelled. The British who note it take the
occasion in good humor.

But I wonder how many think at all about the degree to which they are giving
up fundamental rights, some of which they adopted from their former
colonies. At the dawn of the Information Age, the nation that gave us the
Magna Carta -- one of the seminal documents of liberty -- seems poised to
become a surveillance state.

I'm a fan of the British people and their culture, but today I'm especially
glad to be an American.

The Magna Carta's basic principle, that not even the king was above the law,
hasn't been repealed. But law in the United Kingdom has become a blunt
instrument, a sledgehammer against liberty.

 From pervasive video cameras in public places to Draconian laws giving
authorities almost unlimited ability to spy on citizens, the British
government flouts basic notions of individual privacy. Yet there's
surprisingly little outcry as encroachments on liberty grow more pronounced.

It doesn't seem to matter which political party is in power. Labor and
Conservative governments alike have enacted laws that would send American
liberty watchers into apoplectic diatribes.

Walk down a street here and cameras follow your moves. At last count, more
than 300,000 video cameras were keeping tabs on public places, including
streets, housing developments, shopping districts and parking lots. It's all
in the name of curbing crime.

I was here a year ago, when Parliament was debating the notorious Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act, or RIP, proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair's
Labor government. It passed, to the dismay of an array of civil
libertarians.

RIP gives the government unprecedented power to tap people's communications.
Among its worst features, the law threatens the security of encrypted
information, with jail time for anyone who refuses to turn over an
encryption ``key'' when authorities demand it.

Most recently, the Blair government has been leading the charge for a
European Union proposal that would allow individual governments to order
telecommunications providers to store seven years worth of customer voice
and data communications -- and give police access to those records. Again,
it's all to reduce crime, say apologists for this over-the-top idea.

Fighting crime also is behind the government's plan for a massive expansion
of a national database of DNA samples. It would include not only DNA from
criminals, but also DNA from people who volunteer to give genetic
information during police investigations. One legislator has suggested
taking DNA samples from all newborn babies.

As the Independent newspaper reported in May, however, half of the police
asked to give samples -- to distinguish their DNA from other people's DNA
found at crime scenes -- refused on privacy grounds.

There's some other dissent, largely from editorial writers and civil
liberties groups, but it doesn't seem to have made much of a dent. The
British people seem to have accepted the idea that they will be pervasively
spied upon. Sadly, they seem to have happily traded liberty for temporary
safety.

None of this is to suggest that the United States is a consistent paragon of
respect for individual rights. The recently departed Clinton administration
was the most hostile to civil liberties since Richard Nixon and his thugs
ran the government, and the Bush administration isn't looking appreciably
better in most respects.

Yet the U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision that will reverberate for years,
said last month that police were not entitled to use new technology --
heat-sensing devices in this case -- to effectively spy inside people's
homes without court order. Those of us who'd almost given up on the court --
strongly pro-government on almost every other key ``law and order'' issue
recently -- found new hope that the justices had begun to recognize how far
out of balance things had gotten.

In coming years, we will need to confront new threats to liberty.

Corporations are gaining power over our lives in unprecedented ways, and the
traditional remedy -- voting with one's wallet -- has limited value when
monopolists and oligopolists rule a cartel economy, sometimes in concert
with corrupt governments. Politicians who either fail to recognize this, or
who tacitly (or overtly) support such vast corporate authority, are enemies
of our rights, too.

Defending liberty is not a sometime job. We have to keep at it, because the
forces that threaten our rights are well-organized, well-funded and
committed.

Tonight, I'll join a group of American journalists -- we're here to speak at
a conference on new media -- at the Savoy Hotel's American Bar. I plan to
raise a glass to liberty. Wherever you are 

[CTRL] Palast: Why the Lights Went Out All Over California

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 Published on Sunday, July 1, 2001 in the Observer of London

 Why the Lights Went Out All Over California

 by Gregory Palast

 Napoleon called England a nation of shopkeepers, but the Little
 Corporal never tried to purchase dietary staples (organic milk,
 Red Bull) from a Tesco Express. I tackled the manager as to why
 they were out of stock AGAIN. 'It's Friday,' he said, as if that
 were an unforeseen occurrence, like a rogue tidal wave that had
 engulfed Upper Street and prevented deliveries. I began to explain
 that 'Friday' is what accountants call a 'recurring event' and
 HAVEN'T YOU BRITONS EVER HEARD OF COMPUTERS YOU KNOW THOSE THINGS
 THAT LOOK LIKE TELEVISIONS WITH TYPEWRITERS ATTACHED... but, by
 then, everyone was looking around at that despised figure, the
 Complaining American.

 So I hustled back to the land of plenty in time to hear the
 Governor of California declare an end to the New World Order. Keep
 in mind that George Bush's entire excuse for his polluters'
 wet-dream of an energy plan - kick out the Kyoto treaty, drill the
 Arctic for oil, bring nuclear power back from the crypt - hinged
 on the premise that California had run out of energy.

 Or had it? It's true that in December, lights went out all over
 California. Power plants there run on natural gas and the price of
 the stuff had mysteriously risen by 1,000 per cent in a single
 week. This is odd given that over the state border at a pipeline
 switching center called the Henry Hub, there was natural gas
 aplenty at a fragment of the price.

 The Golden State's Democratic Governor, Gray Davis, has an
 explanation in the form of an internal document from the files of
 the El Paso Pipeline company. It seems that when California
 'deregulated' the gas pipeline market, an El Paso executive
 speculated that if the company sold the pipeline capacity to its
 own subsidiary, it could squeeze California by the light bulbs
 anytime it reduced throughput. One corporate buyer calculates the
 scheme cost California $3.7 billion.

 Last week, three power plant engineers accused their employer,
 Duke Energy, of virtually sabotaging one of their own plants by
 'running it up and down like a yo-yo', shutting the plant on and
 off. A state government consultant, Eugene Coyle, explained: 'It
 wrecks the plants; it shortens their life enormously.'

 Why would a company do that? The answer, say their accusers, is
 that if it suddenly withholds power from the market, prices soar.
 And if the plant breaks down, it's Christmas for the power
 merchants, who can charge virtually any price for electricity from
 their remaining plants.

 Wholesale power prices have averaged $400 per MW hour, up from
 less than $40 per MW hour in 1998, before California
 'deregulated'.

 A report by economist Dr Anjali Schreffin for the California grid
 operator calculated that power merchants, through what are
 politely called 'strategic bidding' methods, including 'physical
 and economic withholding' of power supplies, have extracted $8.9bn
 from California consumers in 'monopoly rents'. Now Governor Gray
 wants them to pay it all back.

 But listen to the gas and power sellers' side: El Paso Gas says it
 opened and closed the pipe at times and prices set by the market.
 Duke Power says the grid operator, its accuser, ordered them to
 'yo-yo' their plants - because that's just how the bidding went.
 So the core problem is not monopoly abuse of markets, but markets
 themselves.

 And Gray gets it. Besides demanding the $8.9bn, his regulators
 have let one giant power company go bankrupt. Gray is
 deprivatizing power lines across the state. And he is demanding
 that Bush's watchdogs end their love affair with markets and
 reregulate, telling gas and electricity merchants when, where and
 at what price they sell.

 For a decade the US has been selling the wonder of free markets to
 the rest of the world. But it always exempted itself: 78 per cent
 of the US is served by government water systems. Electricity
 generation, even if in private hands, is strictly regulated.

 In California, power companies and traders thought they could
 bring home to the US the free-market methods they used to huge
 profit in Brazil, Pakistan, Britain and other backwaters. If Gray
 succeeds (he may be our next President) he will have pushed the
 neo-liberal New World Order back into the sea.

[CTRL] Non-Lethal Weapons: Calmatives and Malodorants

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001
From: The Sunshine Project [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Sunshine:  Non-Lethal Weapons: Calmatives and Malodorants

The Sunshine Project
Publication Announcement
2 July 2001
http://www.sunshine-project.org

-
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US:
Calmatives and Malodorants

Backgrounder Series #8
July 2001
-

Online at:  http://www.sunshine-project.org

 From the report:

This paper is the first in a series of three reports on United States
government research on chemical and biological non-lethal weapons.
Shaken by experiences such as its disastrous mission in Somalia, the US
has concluded that it lacks appropriate weapons for peacekeeping and
other military operations other than war.  To address this problem,
the US has embarked on a program to develop new non-lethal weapons to
control both armed enemies and civilians.  Militaries and domestic law
enforcement agencies in the United States and elsewhere are closely
following this research and, in some instances, participating. The
non-lethal weapons research detailed here raises questions about
protection of civil liberties, particularly freedoms of thought and
expression, and US compliance with arms control agreements including the
Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
The second and third reports in this series will be published over the
course of 2001 and will address genetically modified anti-materiel
agents and new riot control technologies, respectively.

Introduction

This paper details research on two types of non-lethal weapons in the
United States that threaten and could undermine important international
arms control agreements and basic personal freedoms of thought and
expression.  Calmative and malodorant agents and their delivery systems
are designed for use against armed enemies, riots, and potentially
hostile civilians.

Calmative agents include an array of psychoactive substances whose
effects range from inducing sleep to overpowering hallucinations.  In
the past, use of calmatives has been understood to violate the Chemical
Weapons Convention; but new and dangerous interpretations of this
agreement by US military strategists threaten to open the way for use of
calmatives by armed forces or even police, especially in non-traditional
conflicts such as peacekeeping.  The United States Marine Corps and Army
are researching delivery technology for calmatives and using computer
models of calmative agents' effects in offensive wargames.

Malodorant agents (stink bombs) have existed since the Second World
War.  Attempts were made as late as 1966 to develop malodorants that
target particular ethnic groups.  Disastrous military experiences such
as that in Somalia and renewed interest from law enforcement has sparked
a renaissance of interest in malodorants for use in riot control and,
possibly, war.  Use of malodorant agents, particularly by militaries,
could promote use of chemical weapons in conflict and destabilize
controls on both chemical and biological weapons.

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DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
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[CTRL] The health impact of crowd-control agents

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Public Health: The health impact of crowd-control agents

Canadian Medical Association Journal, date unknown
http://www.cma.ca/cmaj/vol-164/issue-13/1889.asp

Some observers say that the civil disobedience demonstrated in Quebec City
this April and in Seattle 2 years ago represents merely the first wave of a
grassroots movement that is emerging to support the casualties of capitalism
and globalization. If such demonstrations erupt locally, physicians should
be prepared to deal with the clinical effects of crowd-control agents such
as tear gas; more than 5000 of these canisters were used against
demonstrators in Quebec City during the Summit of the Americas.  (April
2001)

Epidemiology: Data on injury patterns during social protests are scarce,
since the fervour of protest can escalate rapidly and unexpectedly, making
premeditated, systematic data collection difficult. Some insights can be
gleaned from data collated by the National Poison Information Service in
England. In 1997 it received 597 enquiries from physicians seeking advice
about the management of patients who had been exposed to crowd-control
agents.1

Most enquiries concerned ocular (irritation, lacrimation, corneal
abrasions), dermal (rash, erythematous dermatitis, blisters, bullae, czema,
edema), respiratory (coughing, dyspnea), neurologic (headache, drowsiness),
cardiac (tachypnea, hypotension, chest pain) and gastrointestinal (buccal
irritation, vomiting) symptoms.

Fifty-four people with dermal symptoms who presented within 6 hours after
exposure had erythema and irritation, whereas 203 people with these symptoms
who sought treatment 6 hours or more after exposure had blisters, bullae,
eczema and edema. This difference suggests that there may be delayed adverse
dermal effects to tear-gas exposure.

The agents most commonly used in tear gas are o-chlorobenzylidene
malononitrile (CS), W-chloroacetophenone (CN) and dibenzoxazepine (CR).2
At normal daily temperatures and pressure these agents form solid white
crystals; when used for riot control they are dispersed as microparticulate
clouds by pyrotechnic devices. To deploy them as sprays, the use of
propellants and nonaqueous solvents, such as the industrial degreaser methyl
isobutyl ketone, is required. Exposure to such solvents can by itself cause
dermal scaling, peeling and blistering as well as irritation of the eyes and
respiratory tract.3

Clinical management: CS, CN and CR gases irritate the skin, eyes and upper
respiratory tact. They have been described as chemical barbs4 that cling to
moist mucous membranes. They cause lacrimation, excruciating pain,
blepharospasm and conjunctival erythema upon eye exposure. Rhinorrhea and
nasal discomfort are common, as is a stinging sensation in the mouth,
accompanied by nausea and vomiting. These symptoms may by accompanied by a
sore throat, sneezing, coughing, chest tightness and increased salivation.2

Symptom onset occurs within 20 to 30 seconds after exposure and usually
stops in 10 to 30 minutes if the exposed individual stays outside, ideally
facing the wind, and removes all contaminated clothing.4   The ocular
irritation typically lasts only 15 minutes but may persist up to 3 days. If
the charge of tear gas is fired at close range, powder infiltration of the
conjuctiva, corneas and sclera may occur. Reported complications include
symblepharon, infective keratitis, hyphema and vitreous hemorrhage.5
Delayed dermal effects have also been reported. CS gas can cause
erythematous dermatitis and contact dermatitis with blisters, vesicles and
crusts. This is often accompanied by marked edema; onset takes place between
12 hours and 3 days after exposure. Skin that is exposed to CR gas may
become extremely painful upon contact with water for up to 48 hours. CN gas
may sensitize the skin and can produce allergic contact dermatitis within 72
hours after exposure.2

If a person has been exposed to tear gas, contaminated clothing should be
removed and sealed in a plastic bag to prevent secondary contamination;
medical staff should wear gloves and goggles when providing treatment.
Washing with soap and water is not recommended unless symptoms persist,
because the chemical agents can dissolve in water and exacerbate symptoms or
contaminate other surfaces. Hot water may cause any residual particles to
vaporize and give rise to secondary contamination.6

Recommendations for treating eyes contaminated with CS vary. Some suggest
blowing dry air with a fan over the eyes to vaporize the CS particles; the
area downwind of the fan should be vacant to avoid secondary contamination.
Others recommend irrigation with normal saline. Persistent ocular irritation
is usually the result of a particle of CS embedded in the surface, so a
thorough slit-lamp examination should be conducted.

Prevention: Current evidence suggests that tear-gas exposure is not
dangerous to most people.4   Exposure may trigger laryngospasm or
bronchospasm in people with 

[CTRL] A New Declaration of Independence

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

A New Declaration of Independence

by Emma Goldman

[Published in Mother Earth, Vol. IV, no. 5, July 1909.]

When, in the course of human development, existing institutions prove
inadequate to the needs of man, when they serve merely to enslave, rob, and
oppress mankind, the people have the eternal right to rebel against, and
overthrow, these institutions.

The mere fact that these forces--inimical to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness--are legalized by statute laws, sanctified by divine rights,
and enforced by political power, in no way justifies their continued
existence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all human beings,
irrespective of race, color, or sex, are born with the equal right to share
at the table of life; that to secure this right, there must be established
among men economic, social, and political freedom; we hold further that
government exists but to
maintain special privilege and property rights; that it coerces man into
submission and therefore robs him of dignity, self-respect, and life.

The history of the American kings of capital and authority is the history
of repeated crimes, injustice, oppression, outrage, and abuse, all aiming
at the suppression of individual liberties and the exploitation of the
people. A vast country, rich enough to supply all her children with all
possible comforts, and insure well-being to all, is in the hands of a few,
while the nameless millions are at the mercy of ruthless wealth gatherers,
unscrupulous lawmakers, and corrupt politicians. Sturdy sons of America are
forced to tramp the country in a fruitless search for bread, and many of
her daughters are driven into the street, while thousands of tender
children are daily sacrificed on the altar of Mammon. The reign of these
kings is holding mankind in slavery, perpetuating poverty and disease,
maintaining crime and corruption; it is fettering the spirit of liberty,
throttling the voice of justice, and degrading and
oppressing humanity. It is engaged in continual war and slaughter,
devastating the country and destroying the best and finest qualities of
man; it nurtures superstition and ignorance, sows prejudice and strife, and
turns the human family into a camp of Ishmaelites.

We, therefore, the liberty-loving men and women, realizing the great
injustice and brutality of this state of affairs, earnestly and boldly do
hereby declare, That each and every individual is and ought to be free to
own himself and to enjoy the full fruit of his labor; that man is absolved
from all allegiance to
the kings of authority and capital; that he has, by the very fact of his
being, free access to the land and all means of production, and entire
liberty of disposing of the fruits of his efforts; that each and every
individual has the unquestionable and unabridgeable right of free and
voluntary association
with other equally sovereign individuals for economic, political, social,
and all other purposes, and that to achieve this end man must emancipate
himself from the sacredness of property, the respect for man-made law, the
fear of the Church, the cowardice of public opinion, the stupid arrogance
of national, racial, religious, and sex superiority, and from the narrow
puritanical conception of human life. And for the support of this
Declaration, and with a firm reliance on the harmonious blending of man's
social and individual tendencies, the lovers of liberty joyfully consecrate
their uncompromising devotion, their energy and intelligence, their
solidarity and their lives.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
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[CTRL] Timothy McVeigh's Teachers

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

TIMOTHY MCVEIGH'S TEACHERS

http://www.tompaine.com/history/2001/06/13/index.html

Oklahoma City Bomber Took a Lesson from U.S. 'Foreign Policy'

by Howard Zinn; historian and author of A People's History of the United
States.

Now that Timothy McVeigh has been put to death, and some people's need for
revenge or punishment may be satisfied, we can begin to think calmly of how
he learned his twisted sense of right and wrong from the government that
executed him.
No one with an ounce of moral understanding can justify the bombing of a
building which resulted in the deaths of 168 people. But McVeigh didn't
have to look far to find that the United States government had done just
that, but on a larger scale.
In the war against Iraq, of which McVeigh was a decorated veteran, on
February 15, 1991, the U.S. Air Force dropped a bomb on an air raid shelter
in Baghdad, killing over 600 people, many of them women and children. There
had been many bombings, of buses, trains, highways, hospitals,
neighborhoods, in which civilians were killed, and where the government
described them as accidents. Of course, they were not quite accidents,
because if you drop huge numbers of bombs on a city, it is inevitable that
innocent people will die.
However, in the case of the air raid shelter, the United States conceded
that the bombing was deliberate. and justified this by the claim that the
air raid shelter was a communications site. Reporters going into the
rubble immediately after the bombing found not the slightest evidence of
that. And even if it were, would that justify a massacre (there's no other
name for it) of hundreds of men, women and children? If McVeigh had not
been in the infantry but in the Air Force, and had dropped that bomb,
killing more than twice the number he killed in Oklahoma, he would be alive
and perhaps have another medal pinned to his chest.
In defending his bombing of the federal building, with all those dead and
wounded, McVeigh used the term collateral damage, exactly the words used
by our government to describe the deaths of civilians in our bombing of
various countries, whether Iraq or Panama or Yugoslavia. My Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary defines collateral as accompanying or related, but
secondary or subordinate. Both McVeigh and the leaders of the United
States government considered the toll of human life secondary to whatever
else was destroyed, and therefore acceptable.
McVeigh is no longer able to let his demented notion of morality lead to
any more deaths. The United States government, on the other hand, is very
much alive, and capable of more and more bombings, like the ones taking
place almost every day in Iraq, and the civilian deaths will be justified
once more as collateral damage.
The day after Timothy McVeigh's execution, the Boston Herald ran a banner
headline on its front page: IT'S OVER! But it is not over. Terrorism is
the killing of innocent people in order to send a message (those are
McVeigh's words and also the words of government spokesmen when our planes
have bombed some foreign city). So long as our government engages in
terrorism, claiming always that it is done for democracy or freedom or
to send a message to some other government, there will be more Timothy
McVeighs, following the example.
No, it is not over. Individual acts of terrorism will continue, and that
will be called rightly, fanaticism. Government terrorism, on a much larger
scale, will continue, and will be called foreign policy. That is the
perverted sense of morality which now rules and will go on ruling, until
Americans decide that all terrorism is wrong and will not be tolerated.

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[CTRL] ICI Pulls Out of Cocaine War

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

ICI Pulls Out of Cocaine War
:

THE OBSERVER
International News
Sunday, 1 July 2001
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,515255,00.html
Antony Barnett and Solomon Hughes

ICI has pulled out of the controversial US project to spray vast areas of
Colombia with herbicides in an attempt to eradicate its cocaine and heroin
trade.

The British chemicals company's decision, which came after an Observer
investigation revealed its involvement, will be a major embarrassment to
the US government and will dent the credibility of the plan.

ICI does not want its name dragged into such a programme, particularly as
there have been reports of children in Colombia who have inhaled the
chemicals falling ill.

The $1 billion programme, instigated by former President Bill Clinton, will
also be hit by revelations that an individual working for the US company
fumigating the coca and opium plants has been suspected of smuggling heroin
back into the US.

According to an official document from the US Drug Enforcement
Administration obtained by The Observer, on 12 May last year Colombian
police intercepted a parcel sent from Dyncorp's Colombia offices to its
base in Florida. The police found two small bottles of a thick liquid
which, when tested, was found to be laced with heroin worth more than
$100,000.

A Dyncorp spokeswoman said the company had investigated the issue and found
no evidence of wrongdoing.

ICI's decision to refuse to allow its products to be used is likely to
worry the US government. Hospitals in sprayed areas have reported increases
in skin rashes, diarrhoea, stomach aches and respiratory problems. Food
crops have also been destroyed and livestock poisoned.

In January, the US State Department claimed the only chemical used in the
aerial eradication is glyphosate. This pesticide, commonly known as 'Round
Up', is made by the biotech corporation Monsanto.

However, the department was forced to admit it was mixing the glyphosate in
an untested brew with another chemical called Cosmo Flux, a sticky
soap-like substance which helps the pesticides stick to the leaves of
plants. One of its key ingredients is made by ICI.

ICI was forced to admit its products were being used when presented with
documents from The Observer obtained by Colombian scientist Dr Elsa Nivía
of the Pesticides Action Network.

Ed Hammond of the US campaigning group Sunshine Project said: 'Massive
spraying in Colombia has been a hostile act against the environment and
people that live there. The decision by ICI not to have anything to do with
this programme is sensible and will be a wake-up call to Washington.'

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[CTRL] Anti-Globalization Protesters Rally

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.newsday.com/ap/international/ap592.htm
Anti-Globalization Protesters Rally
by MARSHA HILL
Associated Press Writer

SALZBURG, Austria (AP) -- With helicopters circling overhead, riot police
clad in black, full-body armor faced off against masked protesters Sunday as
European political and business leaders opened an economic summit.

Gathering at the local communist party headquarters, hundreds of protesters
marched to Salzburg's main train station where they held a peaceful
demonstration that coincided with Sunday's opening of the European Economic
Summit.

They then advanced on the conference center, but were turned back at a
police barricade under a rail bridge. Carrying communist hammer-and-sickle
flags, they chanted, ''Our world is not for sale, put the bankers into
jail!''

Police had earlier sealed off the convention hall with rings of barriers
that turned this ancient alpine tourist destination into a fortified maze of
checkpoints.

''As long as they can keep their people in check, we will not take any
action,'' said Salzburg police chief Karl Schweiger. Police spokeswoman
Sonja Fiegel said three people were detained briefly and released Sunday
afternoon.

The extra precautions come after street fighting left 70 people injured last
month at the European Union summit in Goteborg, Sweden, and similar riots
injured 32 people at an anti-World Bank rally last weekend in Barcelona,
Spain.

Local press reports estimated nearly 5,000 police were on duty to make sure
mayhem doesn't erupt in Salzburg, the hometown of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The event, held by the World Economic Forum and chaired by billionaire
financier George Soros, runs through Tuesday.

Salzburg Mayor Heinz Schaden, speaking to Austrian television ORF, defended
the bulked-up security saying his city's tourist industry could not afford
to be scarred by scenes of looting, street fighting and stone throwing.

Kelli Smith, a 24-year-old tourist from San Diego, Calif., and a travel
companion were scared off even before the protests began.

''We came down from Munich 24 hours ago and we're getting out of here,''
Smith said. ''I've never seen so many police.''

Protest organizers complained Saturday that authorities were exaggerating
the threat of violence, and the streets were quiet overnight. By midday
Sunday, police had made no arrests, police spokeswoman Sonja Fiegel said.

The European Economic Summit brings together the region's political and
business leaders to discuss such topics as EU enlargement and Russia's
relationship with the rest of Europe.

More than 600 participants from 44 countries were to take part in the
meeting, including 15 heads of state or prime ministers.

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
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[CTRL] Tampa Installs High-Tech Security Cameras

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Tampa Installs High-Tech Security Cameras to Scan Crowds for People Wanted
for Arrest
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAXR31BNOC.html

The Associated Press
Published: Jul 1, 2001

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tampa is using high-tech security cameras to scan the
city's streets for people wanted for crimes, a law enforcement tactic that
some liken to Big Brother.

A computer software program linked to 36 cameras began scanning crowds
Friday in Tampa's nightlife district, Ybor City, matching results against a
database of mug shots of people with outstanding arrest warrants.

European cities and U.S government offices, casinos and banks are already
using the so-called face-printing system, but Tampa is the first American
city to install a permanent system along public streets, The Tampa Tribune
reported Sunday.

A similar system was used at Super Bowl XXXV, which was held in Tampa last
January.

Tampa is really leading the pack here, said Frances Zelazny, a spokeswoman
for Visionics Corp., which produces the FaceIt software.

The software has raised concerns over privacy, ethics and government
intrusion.

This is Big Brother actually implemented, said Jack Walters of the Tampa
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. I think this just opens the
door to it being everywhere.

But Tampa Detective Bill Todd says FaceIt is no different than having a
police officer standing on a street holding a mug shot.

At the Super Bowl, a Visionics competitor, Graphco Technologies, wired
cameras around Raymond James Stadium and in Ybor City.

The computer spotted 19 people at the crowded stadium with outstanding
warrants, all for minor offenses. But no arrests were made.

During the Super Bowl, we got overwhelmed, Todd said. That's the other
thing: When you get a match, how quickly can you get to these people?

Business owners have mixed emotions about the new technology.

I don't know if I like it, said Vicki Doble, who owns The Brew Pub. It
may be a bit too much.

Don Barco, owner of King Corona Cigars Bar  Cafe, approves of the cameras
but says they may not be as effective as the city hopes.

Sometimes these high-tech toys, they tend to give a little too much
credence to what they do, he said.

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
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[CTRL] Smart beds, shirts and cars spark privacy concerns

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

From:

GILC Alert
Volume 5, Issue 4
June 26, 2001
Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter.

Smart beds, shirts and cars spark privacy concerns

Various new products may allow you to be monitored wherever you go-whether
you are walking on the street, in your car, or even while you sleep.

VivoMetric's Lifeshirt, for example, contains embedded sensors that
continuously monitor 40 physiological signs of sickness and health while it
is worn.  This data is recorded, sent over the Internet, and logged at the
VivoMetrics Data Center. Other new products on the market raising privacy
concerns include a wrist camera that can take pictures and record up to 100
phone numbers, as well as a GPS Pathfinder watch that can pinpoint your
exact latitude, longitude, altitude, and speed using orbiting satellites. In
addition, a new computerized multimedia bed turns its computer screen
ceiling off when it senses when you've fallen asleep.  It can also detect if
you've stopped breathing and will set off a series of alarms.

Meanwhile, rental car companies have begun to track their customers and, in
at least one case, have started to give out private speeding tickets. In the
US, Acme Rent-a-Car installed a GPS device on one of its cars and monitored
how quickly one of its customers was driving. Acme charged that customer,
James Turner, an extra US $450 for driving at what it deemed an excessively
high speed, and even pointed out the exact location where he had done so.
Turner responded by suing in small claims court, as well as filing a
complaint with his state Department of Consumer Protection.

However, it is not precisely clear if current laws can protect consumers
when any of the aforementioned devices are used for detrimental purposes.
David Sobel from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC-a GILC
member) pointed out that the challenge right now is to ensure, before these
services and capabilities are widely deployed, that rules are in place.

For more on the Turner rental car tracking case, read Robert Lemos, Car spy
pushes privacy limit, ZDNet News, June 20, 2001 at
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2778752,00.html

For more on LifeShirt and other similar devices, read Larry Hardesty,
Innovation: Clothed in Health, Technology Review, July/August 2001 issue,
at
http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/jul01/innovation8.asp

For the manufacturer's explanation of how LifeShirt works, click
http://www.vivometrics.com/Products/index.html

For more on smart watches, read Anthony Zurcher, Fast Forward: Wearing the
Net on Your Wrist, Washington Post, May 11, 2001, page E1 at
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12678-2001May10.html

For more on smart beds, see Sleep With Your Computer? ABC Good Morning
America, Apr. 10, 2001 at
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/GMA010409_MITbed.html

Further details on Telematics Net tracking of cars are available from Eric
Young, Car 540819, Where Are You? The Industry Standard, Apr. 23, 2001 at
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23635,00.html

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Top Censored Stories of 2000

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

  TOP 25 CENSORED STORIES OF 2000:
http://projectcensored.org/cyearbook.htm


INTRODUCTION: PROJECT CENSORED 25TH ANNIVERSARY
By Noam Chomsky
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/intro.html


1: World Bank and Multinational Corporations Seek
to Privatize Water
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/1.html

2: OSHA Fails to Protect U.S. Workers
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/2.html

3: U.S. Army's Psychological Operations Personnel
Worked at CNN
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/3.html

4: Did the U.S. Deliberately Bomb the Chinese
Embassy in Belgrade?
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/4.html

5: U.S. Taxpayers Underwrite Global Nuclear Power
Plant Sales
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/5.html

6: International Report Blames U.S. and Others
for Genocide in Rwanda
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/6.html

7: Independent Study Points to Dangers of
Genetically Altered Foods
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/7.html

8: Drug Companies Influence Doctors and Health
Organizations to Push Meds
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/8.html

9: EPA Plans to Disburse Toxic/Radioactive Wastes
into Denver's Sewage System
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/9.html

10: Silicon Valley Uses Immigrant Engineers to
Keep Salaries Low
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/10.html

11: United Nations Corporate Partnerships - A
Human Rights Peril
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/11.html

12: Cuba Leads the World in Organic Farming
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/12.html

13: The World Trade Organization is an Illegal
Institution
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/13.html

14: Europe Holds Companies Environmentally
Responsible, Despite U.S. Opposition
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/14.html

15: Gerber Uses the WTO to Suppress Laws that
Promote Breastfeeding
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/15.html

16: Human Genome Project Opens the Door to
Ethnically Specific
Bioweapens
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/16.html

17: IMF and World Bank Staff Tightly Connected to
New Yugoslav Government
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/17.html

18: Indigenous People Challenge Private Ownership
and Patenting of Life
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/18.html

19: U.S. Using Dangerous Fungus to Eradicate Coca
Plants in Colombia
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/19.html

20: Disabled Most Likely to be Victims of Serious
Crime
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/20.html

21: U.S Military Bombing Range Destroys Korean
Village Life
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/21.html

22: U.S. Government Repressed Marijuana-Tumor
Research
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/22.html

23: Very Small Levels of Chemical Exposures Can
be Dangerous
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/23.html

24: Pentagon Seeks Mega-Mergers Between
International Arms Corporations
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/24.html

25: Community Activists Outsit McDonalds
http://projectcensored.org/c2001stories/25.html

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
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[CTRL] The Measure of Power

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

The Measure of Power
By Alan Leo June 28, 2001

   Non-intrusive load monitoring gives detailed views of where power is
going, with payoffs for utilities, customers and maybe Big Brother.

California's winter of rolling blackouts left its citizens outraged, its
utilities in crisis and its politicians pointing fingers. Enter Steven Leeb
and Les Norford, two MIT professors with a plan to help electricity
suppliers and consumers figure out where power is going and how to conserve
it.

Leeb, a professor of electrical engineering, and Norford, a professor of
architecture, are working together to test a system called non-intrusive
load monitoring, or NILM (rhymes with film), which uses a wallet-sized
blue box, a PC and some very advanced software to measure fluctuations in
voltage and current hundreds of times each second.

Using complex algorithms, the system's software analyzes these minute
fluctuations to identify a building's electrical load—the individual
machines drawing power off the line, be they light bulbs, air conditioners
or a washing machine. The system is non-intrusive, explains Leeb, because
it attaches to the outside of a power cable running into a building.

Truly Smart Sensing

While smart meters—devices that gather detailed data about electricity in
a home or business—have been around for years, researchers call NILM a major
leap over existing technology.

Most smart meters in use today must be connected to the power line, which
makes installation expensive. And such systems take only a few measurements
per minute—or per hour. By taking hundreds of samples each second, the new
monitoring technique can present a far more detailed, high-resolution
picture of electricity use.

It's like a microscope, says Mary Ann Piette, a staff scientist at
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, CA, where researchers are
testing the system. You're looking at very minute info from the signal
data.

A NILM prototype currently monitors washing machines in an MIT dorm, display
ing the results on the Internet. See that? exclaimed Leeb during a recent
demonstration. Someone just turned on a drier!

cont'd at
http://www.techreview.com/web/leo/leo062801.asp

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
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[CTRL] EU Ratifies Internet Surveillance

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,44890,00.html

EU Ratifies Long Data Retention
By Steve Kettmann

11:20 a.m. June 28, 2001 PDT
BERLIN -- Privacy advocates are decrying a move this week by the
Council of the European Union to give European police broader access
to information about the e-mails and Internet-use patterns of the
continent's citizens.

   It's one more direction toward a police state, said Ilka Schroeder,
a Green Party member of the European Parliament who drafted an
opinion for the Industry Committee opposing the expansion of
surveillance.

   They restrict peoples' rights to demonstrate against fortress
Europe, as we saw in Gotenborg when street police shot at people, she
said. Now they are also trying to limit any kind of e-protest. By this
surveillance they also of course go against political opponents.

   The agreement reached Wednesday in Luxembourg by the
Telecommunications Council -- representing all 15 EU nations --
could, among other things, mandate that Internet service providers
store logs for up to seven years, which police agencies could obtain
without too much trouble.

   Under current EU law, ISPs are directed to store network data only so
long as necessary for billing. The new directive concerning the
processing of personal data and protection of privacy would free
member nations to pass their own laws to direct network and ISPs to
save the data.

   All that information will be available without a court order, said
Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy
Research in Great Britain.

   Police may be able to get that data simply by authorizing
themselves, he said. Once the authorities have this data, they
potentially have a map of both your private and business
relationships and associations. There is really no restriction on how
this data may be used or how long it may be kept.

   Schroeder agreed.

   Their aim is to be able to survey any communication, especially any
electronic communication, and then to pick up on anyone who to them
is a suspect, she said. That basically makes everyone a suspect.

   This is the final aim. What they are trying to do is limit the data
protection laws that are there in the EU and the member states. To
force Internet service providers to be collaborators with the police,
it opens one door for a general surveillance of communication.

   But no clear policy will emerge until the European Parliament takes
up the matter in September. Opposition is high in Parliament to
expanding the reach of police access to such information.

   It is quite clear that as things stand at the moment, Parliament has
not given anything like an agreement to the document which was agreed
by council yesterday, said a senior European Parliament staffer who
spoke on condition of anonymity.

   There are two issues with which Parliament has a particular problem,
and one of those is the proposal regarding data retention. Parliament
will vote a certain number of amendments and negotiate with the
Belgian presidency to try to reach some sort of agreement.

   Earlier this month, the European Union's advisory body on data
protection and privacy issues -- the Article 29 Data Protection
Working Party -- came out strongly against expanding police access to
such data in a letter to the president of the Council of the European
Union.

   It is not acceptable that the scope of initial data processing is
widened in order to increase the amount of data available for law
enforcement objectives, read the letter, signed by the chairman of
the group, Stefano Rodota.

   Any such changes in these essential provisions that are directly
related to fundamental human rights would turn the exception into a
new rule. Systematic and preventive storage of EU citizens'
communications and related traffic data would undermine the
fundamental rights to privacy, data protection, freedom of
expression, liberty and presumption of innocence. Could the
Information Society still claim to be a democratic society under such
circumstances?

   The move this week was inspired in part by lobbying from Great
Britain, which contends that police agencies need wide access to
private data if they are to combat such pressing problems as child
pornography, money laundering and racist hate-mongering.

   The Green Party's Schroeder said she's not at all sure how the
European Parliament debate on the topic will go.

   I hope we can manage in plenary to make a strong stand to fight for
data protection, and to make a strong stand against this council
proposal for more surveillance, she said. I'm not sure whether
there will be a majority to defend this general infringement and
undermining of the EU data protection rules.

   She said it's fitting that the vote is expected to be held in
September at the same time as the vote on the final report of the
European Parliament's temporary committee on the U.S. surveillance
system known as Echelon.

   I see a direct link to 

[CTRL] Group says it will move human cloning work offshore

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Group says it will move human cloning work offshore

June 29, 2001
By Miriam Falco
CNN Medical Producer

(CNN) -- A group trying to clone a human being said Friday it will move
part of its cloning operations outside the United States after it was told
by the federal government to stop its work.

The chief scientist for the group -- called the Raelians -- said Food and
Drug Administration representatives visited her lab in the spring and told
her stop cloning experiments.

The FDA would not comment.

Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, chief scientist for Clonaid -- the research
company founded by the Raelians -- said the company's lab is in the United
States, but she would not reveal where. The Raelians are a religious group
that say extraterrestrials used genetic engineering to create life on earth.

Boisselier said the FDA told her I should stop, and that they have
jurisdiction over her lab.

Boisselier said she was confident she would win if she were to challenge
the FDA's order, but said she was not interested in battling the agency.
Her interests lie in proving that it is safe to clone a human, she said.

Boisselier said in March that Clonaid could have a cloned embryo ready to
be carried by a surrogate mother by April. In June, she told CNN she would
not confirm a pregnancy until a healthy baby is born.

Boisselier, a chemistry professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York,
said her goal is to create a healthy, belated twin of a 10-month-old boy
who died. Fifty members of this movement, including her 24-year-old
daughter, have volunteered to carry the clone, she said.

U.S. News and World Report will report in next week's issue that a federal
grand jury in Syracuse, New York, has subpoenaed Boisselier's phone records
and other documents. Boisselier told CNN she has not been served with any
subpoenas.

Another researcher, former University of Kentucky professor Panayiotis
Zavos, said he plans to clone a human within the year.

A federal moratorium bans the use of federal funds for research on cloning
humans, and many scientists abroad are abiding by a self-imposed moratorium
on cloning humans. Several countries forbid cloning by law.

But among U.S. states, only California, Michigan, Louisiana and Rhode
Island expressly ban any type of cloning research.

But if there are few legal hurdles, the scientific and ethical problems
involved are daunting: Scientists who have cloned other mammals are urging
more work be done before attempts at cloning humans are undertaken.

It is not responsible at this state to even consider the cloning of
humans, said Rudolf Jaenisch, a biologist at MIT's Whitehead Institute for
Biomedical Research, who has cloned mice.

Dolly's difficult legacy

In 1997, Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to be cloned from an
adult. At the time, the possibility of cloning a human seemed to have moved
from science fiction into the realm of possibility.

Since then, scientists have cloned cows, goats, pigs and mice -- but their
success rate is as low as one live birth in 100 attempts.

In order to clone a human, scientists would remove the nucleus of an egg
and extract its genetic material, leaving just its shell. Then the nucleus
of a cell taken from the body of the person to be cloned would be inserted
into the egg.

With the only genetic material from the person to be cloned inside the egg,
the cell would then jolted with electricity to activate cell division. The
embryo would then be implanted into a surrogate, who -- if the experiment
were to succeed -- would carry the fetus to term.

Putting theory into practice is not easy: Cloning the sheep Dolly required
277 attempts. And cloning cattle has proven equally difficult.

At least half, probably about three-quarters of pregnancies that are
generated will be lost, predicted Dr. Jonathan Hill, assistant professor
of animal reproduction at Cornell University.

Mark Westhusin, associate professor of veterinary science at Texas AM,
said between 85 percent and 95 percent of cloned embryos die during the
first trimester, he said.

And when large mammals like cattle are cloned, Hill said, the animals are
often sick.

Their livers, their lungs, their heart, the blood vessels, their placental
vessels, and the placenta are often abnormal at birth, he said. And cloned
animals are often huge. Hill said water retention is a result of poor
placental development, resulting in larger-than-normal calves.

Boisselier said that any pregnancy would be monitored and, should it go
awry, we will anticipate to do an abortion.

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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum 

[CTRL] HE'S BAAACK: Elliot Abrams

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

HE'S BAAACK:

Elliot Abrams, a key figure in the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal, was
named yesterday to a senior position on the National Security Council.
Abrams's notorious history will be familiar to many Nation readers. Not
only did he plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of lying to Congress
about the Reagan Administration's Contra program, he was also one of the
fiercest ideological pugilists of the 1980s, proudly billing himself as a
gladiator for the Reagan Doctrine in Central America--which entailed
assisting murderous right-wing regimes and dismissing and whitewashing
their myriad human rights violations. Conveniently, Abrams was able to
avoid discussion of his infamous past by virtue of the fact that his new
position does not require Senate approval.

Read David Corn's recent examination of Abrams currently at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010702s=corn

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
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major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Noam Chomsky: Behind the Headlines on Colombia

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.media-alliance.org/mediafile/20-3/chomsky.html

  Volume 20 # 3
May / June 2001
  Noam Chomsky: Behind the Headlines on Colombia
an interview by David Barsamian

  DB: Talk about evolving U.S. policy in Colombia. The Interhemispheric
Resource Center in Albuquerque has issued a statement: U.S. Policy in
Colombia: Towards a Vietnam Quagmire. Do you think that's an appropriate
analogy? The New York Times writes in an editorial titled Dangerous Plans
for Colombia that the aid to Colombia risks dragging the United States
into a costly counterinsurgency war.
NC: I don't like the phrase Vietnam quagmire for Vietnam or Colombia. Were
the Russians caught in a quagmire in Afghanistan? They shouldn't have
invaded. The problem with the Afghan war is not that the Russians got caught
in a quagmire. It's that they shouldn't have invaded the country. The same
is true of the U.S. and Vietnam. The fact that it became costly to the U.S.,
which is what a quagmire means, is irrelevant. The U.S. invaded South
Vietnam and destroyed it, along with much of the rest of Indochina. So I
think we ought to keep away from the phrase.

DB: Interestingly, the IRC is an alternative organization.

NC: They do wonderful work, but the problem in Colombia is not whether the
U.S. will get dragged into a war. That's a minor issue. The major issue is
what this is all about. Take a look at today's New York Times and Boston
Globe. Both papers happen to have articles about this issue, although I'm
not sure they entirely realize the connection. The Times has an article on
Bolivia, where farmers are staging big protests. One background reason is
that there are farmers who have been compelled to grow coca because there
are no other options. The U.S. has come in with crop destruction programs
and counterinsurgency operations which have destroyed their coca crops, and
now they're starving. So they're among those who are protesting, though the
immediate causes are different.

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries of the world. So first they are
driven to coca production by the Washington consensus and IMF/World Bank
programs which say, You've got to open your country up to agriculture and
other imports and you have to be a rational peasant producing for the
agro-export market trying to maximize profit. You put those conditions
together and it spells c-o-c-a. A rational peasant producing for the
agro-export market when the country is being flooded by subsidized Western
agricultural production is going to be producing coca. Then the West comes
in and violently wipes it out, and they end up with peasants protesting in
the streets. That's what is going on in Bolivia.
  The Boston Globe has a good article on Colombia by a reporter in one of the
areas that's targeted for the new program where the United States is
planning to come in to destroy the crops. That's actually a cover for
eliminating the guerrillas. These are areas that are under guerrilla control
and have been for a long time.
DB: This is the FARC, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas.

NC: There's another guerrilla organization, the ELN, Ejército de Liberación
Nacional, but it's mainly FARC. Those are the areas that are targeted by the
new program. The paramilitaries are up to their neck, as the military is, in
narco-trafficking, but they're not targeted by the program. So the military
program happens to be concentrated in the areas of guerrilla control and not
the areas of military and paramilitary control, although it's well known
that they're deep into narco-trafficking in pretty much the same way the
guerrillas are, namely the paramilitaries tax production, just like the
guerrillas. In fact, the involvement of the guerrillas in coca production is
just that they tax everything.

What does the Boston Globe article on Colombia say? Colombia peasants are
terrified because there are rumors going around that the U.S.-Colombian
program is going to start fumigating. If they fumigate, it's going to be
like Bolivia. That will destroy their crops. In fact, they'll destroy not
only the coca crops but maybe other crops.

The chemical and biological warfare that the U.S. carries out, and that's
what it is, may say it's going after coca, but it has unknown consequences
for the rest of the ecology. It's an experiment, after all, and these are
third world people. You just carry out experiments. You don't know what's
going to happen. If it destroys the forests, too bad, we'll change the mix
next time. So Colombians are terrified that the programs are going to wipe
out their livelihoods. They probably don't know about Bolivia, but then
they'll be like Bolivian peasants whose protests are described in the New
York Times.

These are two New York Times-owned newspapers, incidentally, so we're
talking about two branches of the New York Times discussing different
aspects of the policy as it affects the poor people, the peasants.

Here we're getting to the issues, not the 

[CTRL] Pentagon investing in lasers, gizmos

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Pentagon investing in lasers, gizmos

http://www.news24.co.za/News24/Technology/Science_Nature/0,1113,2-13-46_1044142,00.html


by Jim Wolf


Washington - The American defense department said on Tuesday it was pouring
billions of research dollars into high-energy lasers, microwave systems and
a host of other advanced gizmos designed to win 21st-century wars more
quickly and decisively than ever.

Development of such wizardry - along with unmanned systems for land, air,
space, sea and underwater uses - was to counter the spread of ``asymmetric''
threats to US forces over the past decade, Pentagon officials told Congress.

Among perceived unconventional threats, they cited ballistic missiles,
possibly tipped with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons;
keyboard-launched ``information operations,'' for instance against US
military satellites and ``terrorism.''

``We must be conscious of these threats as we foster technology
breakthroughs ... to cope with that environment,'' Edward Aldridge, the
Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, told the House Armed Services Research and
Development Subcommittee.

He did not spell out precisely how many billions would go to defense
research and development in President Bush's 2002 budget blueprint, but
under a provisional budget plan, the sum was to have risen 8.1 percent to
$48.6 billion.

The Defense Department employs 28 500 scientists and engineers in its 84
laboratories and research and development centers - down 42 percent from
43,800 at the end of 1990, said Aldridge, the department's under secretary
for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Fruits of research

The subcommittee hearing featured presentations by the armed services and
defense agencies of the fruits of their research. They included a
top-hat-sized, sensor-equipped hovering vehicle designed to replace human
scouts searching for enemy troops. Dubbed ``Private Jones,'' the army green
``organic air vehicle'' was developed by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency.

Aldridge divided US defense needs into three categories: ''hard problems,''
or significant technical challenges that, if solved, would check a
significant threat; ``revolutionary war-fighting concepts,'' and militarily
significant research areas.

``Hard problems'' include developing a remote capability to detect and
identify potentially toxic chemical and biological agents and to forecast
their dispersion through a battlefield.

Another challenge is coming up with munitions capable of knocking out deeply
buried targets.

For ``revolutionary war-fighting concepts,'' new technologies are being
worked on for ``fuller dominance of space.'' Key areas include affordable
space transportation including advanced propulsion and long-lasting power
systems; sensing technologies for space surveillance and protection of US
assets in space.

Also needed are network systems that communicate among themselves and
operationally responsive and reliable networks and tools for boiling down
vast amounts of information.

In militarily significant research, a priority is the ''generation, storage,
use and projection of electrical and other forms of power throughout the
battle-space,'' he said.

Aldridge said the administration was gearing up for technology to intercept
ballistic missiles in all stages of their flight. This implies a layered
anti-missile defense, possibly including space-based, sea-based and
air-based interceptors in addition to the ground-based system envisaged
under former President Bill Clinton.

``Direct-energy'' weapons like lasers also had the potential to shoot down
ballistic missiles as they were lifting off as well as to defeat high-speed
anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, Aldridge told the panel.

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
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Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Pentagon trains tech for war

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Pentagon trains tech for war
:

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2780115,00.html

Reuters
June 26, 2001 8:09 AM PT

WASHINGTON--The Defense Department said on Tuesday it was pouring
research dollars into high-energy lasers, microwave systems and a host
of other advanced gizmos designed to win 21st-century wars more
quickly and decisively than ever.

Development of such things as unmanned systems for land, air, space,
sea and underwater was to counter the spread of asymmetric threats
to U.S. forces in the past decade, Pentagon officials told Congress.

Among these they cited ballistic missiles, possibly tipped with
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons; keyboard-launched
information operations, for instance against U.S. military
satellites, and terrorism.

Future adversaries will increasingly rely on unconventional
strategies and tactics to offset the superiority of U.S. forces,
Edward Aldridge, the Pentagon's new chief weapons buyer, said in
testimony prepared for the House Armed Services Research and
Development Subcommittee. We must be conscious of these threats as we
foster technology breakthroughs ... to cope with that environment.

Aldridge did not spell out precisely how much was being spent in his
joint statement with Delores Etter, deputy director of defense
research and engineering. But they said basic defense science and
technology research accounts for about 40 percent of federal support
for all engineering research in universities.

Revolutionary war-fighting concepts

All told, the Defense Department employs 28,500 scientists and
engineers in its 84 labs and research and development centers, down 42
percent from 43,800 at the end of 1990, they said.

Aldridge divided U.S. needs into three categories: hard problems, or
significant technical challenges that, if solved, would check a
significant threat; revolutionary war-fighting concepts, and
militarily significant research areas.

Hard problems include developing a remote capability to detect and
identify potentially toxic chemical and biological agents and to
forecast their dispersion through a battlefield. Another such
challenge is coming up with munitions capable of knocking out deeply
buried targets.

For revolutionary war-fighting concepts, new technologies are being
worked on for fuller dominance of space. Key areas include
affordable space transportation including advanced propulsion and
long-lasting power systems; sensing technologies for enhanced space
surveillance, and protection of U.S. assets in space.

Also needed are network systems that communicate seamlessly among
themselves, operationally responsive and reliable networks and tools
for boiling down vast amounts of information and helping decision
makers, the officials said.

In militarily significant research, the third category, a priority is
the generation, storage, use and projection of electrical and other
forms of power throughout the battle-space, Aldridge and Etter said.

He said directed-energy weapons--lasers and high-powered microwave
systems--had the potential to shoot down ballistic missiles as they
were lifting off, to defeat high-speed anti-ship and anti-aircraft
missiles and to zero in on targets in urban centers without harming
civilians.

Breakthroughs were needed in advanced power, including new battery
systems and fuel cells, to enhance the U.S. capability to focus power
and energy in a way that could be supported logistically, added
Aldridge, the department's third-ranking civilian as under secretary
for acquisition, technology and logistics.

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==
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Intelligence Needs for Homeland Defense

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

DoD Secrets: Homeland Spying, Precision Targets
Cryptome  17:05 27-Jun-01
http://cryptome.org/dsb062701.txt

Source: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html

[Federal Register: June 27, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 124)]
[Notices]
[Page 34177]
 From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27jn01-56]
[[Page 34177]]
---
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Defense Science Board
AGENCY: Department of Defense.
ACTION: Notice of advisory committee meeting date changes.
---

SUMMARY: On Monday, March 12, 2001 (66 FR 14359) the Department of
Defense announced closed meetings of the Defense Science Board (DSB)
Task Force on Intelligence Needs for Homeland Defense. These meetings
have been rescheduled from June 25-26, 2001, to June 26-27, 2001; and
from July 23-24, 2001, to July 24-25, 2001.
 Both meetings will be held at Strategic Analysis Inc., 3601 Wilson
Boulevard, Suite 600, Arlington, VA.

 Dated: June 21, 2001.
L. M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 01-16030 Filed 6-26-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-08-M

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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
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That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
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[CTRL] How the NSA is monitoring you

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Thursday June 28
How the NSA is monitoring you
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20010628/tc/how_the_nsa_is_monitoring_you_1.html


By Robert Vamosi, AnchorDesk

Security expert Robert Vamosi says you may not be aware of it, but the
government is monitoring your e-mail, looking for information about
potential terrorist attacks.

COMMENTARY--Echelon, if you don't already know, is the National Security
Agency's (NSA) electronic surveillance system, designed to monitor telephone
calls, faxes, and e-mails worldwide. The system looks for words or phrases
that could be used by terrorist organizations to plot their next attack. The
trouble is, most world-class criminals and terrorists aren't sending
incriminating plain-text e-mails. They're using other methods to
communicate, such as steganography (hiding files within a file).

The idea that the United States government is eavesdropping on our lives
should be distressing to everyone, but few Americans even know about it or
are as riled up about it as our European neighbors. Recently, ministers in
the European community argued for the use of strong 128-bit encryption for
even basic e-mail. Unfortunately, the use of strong encryption can cause
problems for systemwide antivirus products. For more information on Echelon,
the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), along with several
other free speech organizations, has created an informative Web site,
Echelonwatch.org.

Instead of rooting through my e-mails, I think the NSA should be researching
how to detect messages hidden within other messages. Steganography is one
popular method, where a message (either text or image) can be hidden within
other files containing text, images, or even sound, without a perceptible
change in the original file's quality.

The concept predates modern computing. Greek soldiers tattooed maps on their
heads, and then grew their hair out; after arriving behind enemy lines, they
delivered the message by shaving their heads. Romans obscured messages by
applying layers of wax onto the tablets on which they were written, then
melted the wax to read the message. Microdots, used during World War II, is
yet another example. During the recent U.S. Embassy bombing case, several
documents came to light that suggest Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and
his associates have been using steganography to hide terrorist plans inside
pornography and MP3 files that are freely distributed over the Internet.

Unfortunately, identifying whether or not a file contains hidden data
requires no less than a careful comparison of the compromised file to the
original--which is not always possible. The human eye can't always detect
photographic loss because most steganography programs use subtle algorithmic
transformations of the color palette table (that's why black and white
photos work the best). And, even if you did suspect that a secret message
may be hidden inside one of your files, often you need to know which
software program was used, and then figure out the password to unlock the
file (if encrypted, which it probably is).

At last summer's Black Hat Security Briefings, I spoke with some computer
forensic experts who admitted that steganography is all but impossible to
detect. One expert I spoke with had been in law enforcement before switching
to computer forensics and still uses the tried-and-true interrogation
methods gleaned from his years in law enforcement. Often, he said, after
building a sound case against an individual, that person will crack during
interrogation and share secrets and even passwords. That's how the
government learned of bin Laden's antics.

Recently, someone on BugTraq suggested that defaced Web sites might contain
hidden stegnographic messages. Indeed, even corporate logos on HTML-enriched
e-mail could be rife with secret information. But until someone figures out
a way to parse the code of every GIF, BMP, JPG, or MP3 file, we're left with
idle speculation. In the meantime, I wish the NSA would find something
better to do than read all of our e-mail.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
 A HREF=http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html;Archives of
[EMAIL 

[CTRL] San Angelo, Texas: Home of Spies

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

San Angelo, Texas: Home of Spies
:

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,44578,00.html

By Bill Lamb
2:00 a.m. June 25, 2001 PDT

SAN ANGELO, Texas -- As president of the chamber of commerce, it is
Michael Dalby's job to be this city's biggest civic booster, always
available to talk glowingly about the tax base, jobs, home prices and
good corporate citizenship.

But his repertoire of good news and optimism contains a little
something extra: We understand the security business.

No doubt.

Thanks to neighboring Goodfellow Air Force Base, this isolated West
Texas city of 87,000 may harbor more spies, ex-spies and future spies
per capita than any place in America, save Washington, D.C.

Since the late 1950s, the relatively obscure base, 90 miles of
two-lane highway south of Abilene, has trained thousands of men and
women in the increasingly high-tech art of signals intelligence, known
in military jargon as SIGINT.

The stock and trade of the super-secret National Security Agency,
SIGINT is one of the most closely held, least discussed aspects of
U.S. intelligence efforts.

In San Angelo, however, it's a secret that really isn't, although it
may be spoken of in euphemisms or simply referred to in vague terms.
Publicly, the base's new armed forces firefighter training program
grabs most of the spotlight simply because it is a mission that can be
talked about.

From what (a new resident) reads, he thinks all they do at Goodfellow
is train firefighters, said retired Air Force Col. Charles E. Powell,
Goodfellow's commanding officer from 1980-1984. As you well know,
that's far from the truth.

Smoke rising from Goodfellow's firefighter training grounds may
attract the public's attention, but the work inside windowless brick
buildings keeps the NSA's worldwide front lines manned and takes place
without acknowledgment. Even passersby -- civilian and military alike
-- who photograph nearby flight exhibits are warned not to shoot
buildings in the background.

But these simple rules belie the level of security that surrounds
Goodfellow's mission. In many respects, the public's perception of how
secret something can be is wholly inadequate for describing how
carefully the details and technologies of SIGINT operations are
guarded.

With an average base contingent of 3,000, and military retirees living
in the area numbering in the hundreds, San Angelo residents can never
know if a new acquaintance is or was one of America's high-tech spies.

Glenn Miller would be one of those unassuming strangers with stories
to tell, but don't count on hearing any.

He joined the Air Force in the early 1970s with plans to become an air
traffic controller. Those plans changed when he scored well on
language aptitude tests and was made an offer he didn't want to
refuse. After 37 weeks of Russian language training, he arrived for
his first tour at Goodfellow, as a student, in 1972.

San Angelo was one of those places (the students) either liked or
hated. And I think the people who hated it were the single guys,
Miller said. They used to roll the streets up at 9 o'clock around
here.

Twenty-three years of active duty led him to additional language
studies, multiple tours in Europe -- including a two-year stint at the
U.S. Embassy in Moscow, a tour at NSA headquarters in Maryland and two
additional tours at Goodfellow as both an instructor and supervisor.

Following his second tour at Goodfellow, the Pennsylvania native
decided San Angelo was a good place to call home. He and his wife
Janet retired to the city in 1994, and he is now a county veterans
service officer.

It was friendly. Low cost of living. And totally different from
Pennsylvania. And we didn't want to go back there, he said. We liked
it. We just liked it.

It's not an uncommon story, according to Dalby, who cited two of the
more well known Goodfellow retirees: a former base commander who
served as mayor and another veteran who established a highly
successful chain of convenience stores in the area.

(Retirees) are serving on different boards and committees here in the
community, and that makes for maybe a better understanding of the
base's mission than perhaps other communities would have, said Dalby.

While a growing number of European governments question and fear the
scope of American SIGINT missions, and privacy advocates protest the
presence of American intelligence personnel at overseas collection
sites, Goodfellow Air Force Base remains mostly unknown to the public
and largely ignored. But the scope and importance of worldwide events
aren't ignored in West Texas.

As a community, we tend to take a little more interest in those kinds
of stories, said Dalby.

The only serious threats to Goodfellow have been home grown: A series
of proposed base closings during the past two decades left civic
leaders scrambling to save the facility. In 1992, thousands of San
Angelo residents lined the streets to greet members of a base closure
committee in town for a 

[CTRL] U.S. supplies abusive regimes

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

U.S. supplies abusive regimes

http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.journal24jun23.column?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

Merchant: The United States, which leads the world in arms sales, provides
weapons used against civilians, a nonproliferation group says.

By Jay Hancock
Originally published Jun 23, 2001

The $20 billion or so worth of guns, ammunition, jet fighters, tanks,
missiles and other weapons that the United States sells to the world each
year is roughly the same in value as U.S. automobile exports. The
difference is that auto shipments are declining.

Arms sales brokered by the Pentagon rose to $11.8 billion in 1999 (the
latest figures available) from $10.3 billion in 1998 and $7.7 billion in
1997. That does not include billions more in weapons sold directly by U.S.
makers to overseas buyers. Defense hardware licensed for export in 1999 was
valued at $18.5 billion, but the Federation of American Scientists
estimates that less than half the licensed amount is actually sold in a
given year.

In 1999 the State Department also licensed $28.4 billion in deals involving
the export of U.S. expertise in arms manufacturing or operations. As with
weapons exports, not all the licenses for technical assistance are used.

The United States is the world's biggest weapons purveyor. Its $11.8
million in Pentagon-brokered sales for 1999 accounted for more than a third
of the $30.3 billion of comparable global sales for that year, according to
the Congressional Research Service, and a move by the Bush administration
to reduce weapons-export paperwork may set the stage for a new spurt in sales.

Arms analysts express concern about all international weapons sales, but
are especially critical of U.S. munitions deals with nations that have
serious human rights problems.

Governments with some of the worst human rights records have received
American weapons and training, and are undoubtedly committing abuses using
U.S.-supplied arms, says a new report by the Council for a Livable World,
an antiproliferation group in Washington.

U.S. government records reinforce that claim. The following list names the
top 15 U.S. arms customers among nations deemed by the State Department to
have human rights records that are poor, poor in some areas or
generally poor, and identifies those countries' worst abuses.

Collectively the countries committed thousands of summary executions,
beatings and tortures.

The sales figures, which include both completed Pentagon shipments and
commercial licenses that may not have resulted in a purchase, are from 1999.

Arms manufacturers and U.S. officials acknowledge that many buyers of
American weapons have poor human rights records. But they argue that its
role as weapons procurer gives Washington leverage to keep oppressive
regimes from behaving in even worse ways and that the regimes could easily
buy arms elsewhere.


Saudi Arabia. Value of U.S. arms purchased: $1.55 billion. U.S. equipment:
F-15 jet fighters; machine guns, ammunition; armored cars; guided bombs;
Hawk, Maverick, Patriot and TOW missiles. Types of abuses: torture,
beatings by religious and civil police; lack of freedom of religion.

Algeria. Value: $288 million. Equipment: electronics components; aircraft
spare parts; explosives. Abuses: extrajudicial killings; police beatings
and torture; arbitrary arrest; denial of fair trial.

Venezuela. Value: $142 million. Equipment: F-16 fighter spare parts;
explosives; rifle cartridges; chemical agents and herbicides; armored
personnel carriers. Abuses: extrajudicial killings; police torture and
beatings; impunity for human rights offenders; arbitrary arrest .

Colombia. Value: $29 million. Equipment: aircraft parts; pistols; grenade
launchers; night vision goggles; riot control chemicals; rifles; machine
guns; missile parts. Abuses: extrajudicial killings; disappearances;
arbitrary arrest.

Rwanda. Value: $18 million. Equipment: radar components, parts. Abuses:
extrajudicial killings; deaths from harsh prison conditions;
disappearances; beatings; torture; arbitrary arrest.

Ecuador. Value: $14 million. Equipment: ammunition; aircraft parts;
pistols, revolvers and rifles; submachine guns; radio equipment; chemical
agents. Abuses: extrajudicial killings, torture and abuse by police;
impunity for human rights violators; arbitrary detention.

Peru. Value: $11 million. pistols, rifles, revolvers. Equipment:
ammunition; gyroscopes; riot control chemicals; A-37 training aircraft
parts; machine guns; electronics parts. Abuses: extrajudicial killings;
torture and beatings by police and military; arbitrary arrest.

Bosnia. Value: $7 million. Equipment: chemical agents and herbicides;
oxygen masks; electronics parts; communications equipment. Abuses: torture
and beatings; arbitrary arrest.

Dominican Republic. Value: $8 million. Equipment: herbicides; rifle
cartridges; helicopters; pistols, revolvers and rifles. Abuses:
extrajudicial killings, torture and beatings by 

[CTRL] Chomsky's proof

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Online Journal - http://www.onlinejournal.com

06-25-01: Chomsky's proof

By William Rivers Pitt

The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the
rigidity of the system of ideological control-'indoctrination,' we might
say-exercised through the mass media. -Noam Chomsky
-

June 25, 2001-In the early morning hours of Thursday, June 22, 2001, a man
named Jared T. Bozydaj took to the streets of New Paltz, New York, with an
Intrac Arms 7.62 semi-automatic assault rifle. He fired pointedly at
police officers, wounding one officer named Jeffery Quiepo in the arm. The
shooting went on for several hours before Bozydaj was disarmed and
arrested.

Bozydaj was described as being highly upset by the execution of Timothy
McVeigh. He apparently had decided to take revenge in McVeigh's name on
the police, whom Bozydaj referred to as control mechanisms for the
government. Weapons and literature in his apartment indicated that
Bozydaj had been planning this attack for some time.

New Paltz is a small community near the Hudson River about an hour north
of New York City. The downtown district is filled with small stores, as
well as a number of bars that cater to the students of the State
University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz, the campus of which is only a few
blocks away from where this shooting occurred. The best word to describe
the place is 'quaint.'

My girlfriend was born and raised near this town. I have spent many
drunken hours with her in the bars that now bear the bullet holes from
Bozydaj's rampage. My girlfriend's parents report that much of downtown
New Paltz is roped off with yellow police tape today. One can see quite
clearly the damage done by Bozydaj's assault rifle, and the police believe
it is a miracle that no one was killed. One SUNY student reported that
eight bullets passed through her bedroom wall, and said that she would
have been shot in the head if her radiator had not deflected the rounds.

I discovered this story on the forums of DemocraticUnderground.com, where
someone had posted it as a topic for discussion about McVeigh-oriented
violence. I forwarded the link, a story from the Zwire news service, to my
girlfriend, for obvious reasons. She called her parents and got the story
from the ground. The local New Paltz paper, the Times-Herald Record,
covered the shooting in detail, and she sent me the link to their story.

The next day, my girlfriend called me.

I haven't seen this story in any of the newspapers, she said. It wasn't
on CNN or Peter Jennings last night. Why do you think they aren't
reporting this? Some guy shot up my town, and shot a cop. That's news,
isn't it?

I am a news junkie, and had myself noticed that this interesting and
disturbing story had not appeared anywhere in the national news media.
Using the words New Paltz and Bozydaj, I searched The New York Times,
an obvious place for this story to appear, and came up empty. I did the
same at CNN.com, The Washington Post, ABCNews.com and several other news
outlets, and found nothing.

A man, motivated by the execution of Timothy McVeigh, had gone on an
hours-long shooting rampage directed exclusively at cops in a small New
York town with a sophisticated assault rifle. He blew a hole in a cop, and
shot hell out of every storefront in the vicinity. He nearly put a bullet
through the head of a sleeping college student. Somehow, this was not
deemed newsworthy by virtually every major news outlet in America,
including the Times of New York, the state where this shooting took place.

Why?

An immediate explanation is that the editors of these news sources were
acting out of a sense of responsibility. For most Americans, the name
Timothy McVeigh is synonymous with pure evil. It is likely that a decision
was reached among the purveyors of our information that nothing should be
published or broadcast that will give ear to those who consider McVeigh a
martyred hero. The fear, I suppose, is that if enough of these kinds of
stories get out, some of our militia-oriented citizenry will think the
Revolution is finally at hand, and take to the streets of their own small
burgs with rifles at the ready.

This kind of quiet censorship, however, raises some disturbing questions.
If unreported McVeigh-motivated shootings like this are happening in New
Paltz, where I am lucky enough to have eyes on the ground, where else are
they happening, and going unreported? I have no friends in Akron, Butte,
Silver Springs, Kissimmee, El Paso, or Needles. Where else in America is
violence like this breaking loose?

Why are we not being told of it?

What else is being withheld?

Noted linguist Noam Chomsky has observed many times that the national
media is not the information-disbursing entity created by our love for the
First Amendment of the Constitution. Rather, the national media is the
propaganda wing of the status quo. The national media tells us things in a
certain way to keep our eyes on the ground, and to 

[CTRL] U.S. hypocrisy on state terrorism

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

U.S. hypocrisy on state terrorism

22 June 2001
Gregory D. Johnsen
http://metimes.com/2K1/issue2001-25/opin/us_hypocrisy_on.htm

It took a little over one month for the United States to make a
mockery of its own report on global terrorism.

The State Department's 2000 Report on Global Terrorism singles out
countries that are ostensibly state sponsors of terrorism. Now, with
the ink barely dry on the document, America is engaging in the same
activities it says the states of concern are participating in -
aiding rebel groups.

In the report, the U.S. government once again selected the 'gang of
seven' as state sponsors of terrorism. Ranked number one was Iran,
followed closely by Iraq, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea, Libya and Syria,
a list that has remained unchanged since 1993.

One of the major reasons Iran topped the list was its support for the
Hizbullah in Lebanon. Washington has invested a great deal of
diplomatic time trying to break up this alliance.

Following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon one year ago, the United
States was able to convince Turkey to stop allowing Iran to cross its
airspace to supply the Hizbullah. Iran had been forced to fly through
Turkey because of the no-fly zones in Iraq's airspace.

But less than one month after Washington explained its reasoning to
the world, it allocated $3 million to Sudanese rebels fighting the
government in Khartoum. One of the reasons spokesman Eric Hotmire
gave for the aid was that the government in Khartoum regularly
targets schools and hospitals in southern Sudan.

While it is undoubtedly true that the government in Khartoum has hit
civilian targets in southern Sudan, what gives Washington the right
to grant money to these rebels while condemning Iran for doing the
same thing?

Israel occupied a swath of Lebanese territory under the guise of a
self-proclaimed security zone. This occupation was criticized by
everyone from the United Nations to average Israelis.

Yet at no time during Israel's occupation of Lebanon did America
accuse Israel of being a state sponsor of terrorism: not when Israel
bombed power stations in Beirut, far from the action of the Hizbullah
in southern Lebanon and not even when evidence of the
Israel-sponsored South Lebanese Army Khiam Jail came to light.

The jail held suspected Hizbullah terrorists and subjected them to
the latest in torture technology.

Instead, year after year, the United States continues to label Iran a
state sponsor of terrorism. If Iran is guilty of being a sponsor of
terrorism, then, using the same criteria, the United States has no
choice but to label itself a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Hizbullah were fighting to remove Israel from Lebanon, just as
now the southerners in Sudan are fighting to free themselves from the
Islamic government in Khartoum. Both movements have opposed
governments that terrorized them.

If the United States can act as a sovereign nation and designate aid
for a group that is being victimized, then isn't it Iran's right as a
sovereign nation to pursue the same path without being punished for
it?

It is ironic that America, which adheres to the western tradition
that derives from ancient Greece, seems in this case very much like
the men who debated justice with Socrates. Their argument boiled down
to: It is just because I say it is just. Socrates demonstrated that
this arbitrary sense of justice had no place in rational societies.

It has been over 2,400 years since Socrates held his debates, yet the
United States continues to insist on regurgitating the same tired
arguments that Socrates faced.

America is guilty of excitedly pointing out the splinter in Iran's
eye, while completely ignoring the sizable timber in its own. The
degree of hypocrisy in the U.S. report would be laughable if the
parties weren't so in need of an honest broker.
-
Gregory D. Johnsen is a freelance writer living in the United States.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
 A HREF=http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html;Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]/A

http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
 A HREF=http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/;ctrl/A

[CTRL] National Security Agency: Enemy of the state?

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=23342

WorldNetDaily Exclusive

SUNDAY JUNE 24 2001

SUNDAY QA
National Security Agency: Enemy of the state?
Geoff Metcalf interviews author James Bamford about super-secret spy group

By Geoff Metcalf

Editor's note: Most people are familiar to varying degrees with the FBI,
CIA, ATF, IRS and other assorted federal police agencies. However, unless
they have seen the movie with Will Smith and Gene Hackman, Enemy of the
State, they may not even be aware that the National Security Agency exists.

A few have heard of NSA programs like Tempest and Echelon and wondered
what new mischief the U.S. government was involved in. But, until now,
almost nobody knew that the NSA is the largest, most secretive and most
powerful intelligence agency in the world. With a staff of 38,000 people, it
dwarfs the CIA in budget, manpower and influence.

Today, WorldNetDaily staff writer and talk-show host Geoff Metcalf talks
with author James Bamford about his new book, Body of Secrets, a profound
and unique look into the inner workings of the NSA.

Question: It's been 20 years since you first wrote The Puzzle Palace. Why
revisit the same turf ­ and why now?

Answer: You have to understand that the NSA is the largest intelligence
agency in the world. It's twice the size of the CIA and, in its 50-year
history, it has only had one book written about it ­ which was my earlier
book, The Puzzle Palace ­ and I thought it would be a useful effort to
take another look at the NSA. There were a lot of things I missed when I was
writing The Puzzle Palace and there are a lot of things that have
happened.

Q: Well technology has certainly exploded. Listen, when you wrote your first
book, you were pretty much treated like a hooker in church when you started
asking questions. Did you get the same kind of cold reception this time
around?

A: Initially I did ­ when I first approached NSA back in 1998, when I was
first starting work on the book, they gave me the same approach ­ we're not
going to help, we're not going to give you any documents, interviews or
whatever. Then the attitude changed about a year later as I was still
working on the book.

Q: Why?

A: A new director came on, General Michael Hayden, and I think he understood
the need for at least some public understanding of what the agency did. One
of the reasons was because the movie Enemy of the State portrayed NSA as a
very frightening agency. I think General Hayden thought it might be useful
to have a book that was not fictional, was accurate, and that gives …

Q: Were they hoping you would do a puff piece as a counter public relations
tool?

A: I think they wanted to have some say in the book, basically ­ although I
made no deals with them, just like I made no deals with them in the first
book. They never had any opportunity to look at the book. They didn't see it
until the public saw the book. They had no editorial control ­ absolutely no
quid pro quo. But they ended up giving me a number of tours through the
Agency ­ interviews with the director and a number of other senior
officials. And through the Freedom Of Information Act, I got a great many
documents. I think I was able to paint a pretty accurate picture of the way
the NSA is today and some of the problems facing us.

Q: Three years ago, I wrote a piece for WorldNetDaily on Echelon and, kind
of by accident, I hit a chord. I got over 500 e-mails in one night from
people wanting more information. On page 110 in your book, you make
reference to Tempest radiation coming from some Soviet crypto equipment.
As I understand it, Tempest is a code word for radiation emitted by
electronic equipment. Right?

A: That's right. Tempest is applied to things that contain classified
information. In other words, a crypto machine, a receiver and a
transmitter ­ whatever contains classified information. But it's the same
principle as, for example, if you are working on your computer in your
office and you are typing out an e-mail or whatever, somebody could be
outside directing an antenna ­ like a parabolic antenna ­ at your computer
and basically be reading the same screen you are reading, picking up the
signals as they are being transmitted from the computer. That's what Tempest
is and NSA is very worried about Tempest emissions because somebody could be
on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway with a very sensitive receiver in the
back of a van and pick up sensitive signals from NSA. So it goes to a great
many efforts to try to prevent those signals from leaving NSA.

Q: Conversely, if or when voting is all done on video screens ­ and that's
being proposed ­ pollsters would be able to read exact voting totals off the
screens from the street?

A: That's right. If the communications are not protected, and the screens
are not 

[CTRL] With out a pie, Kim disses Kissinger--to his face!

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Subject: Without a pie, Kim disses Kissinger--to his face!
From: Viviane Lerner [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001
:

  From: Kim Scipes [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]

Folks--

I don't normally engage in individualistic-type actions, and generally
don't promote them, by I'm going to make an exception to the rule.
Although I got some publicity out of this--see below--that was not my
point:  Henry Kissinger was in town, everyone was kissing his ass, and I
just wanted to personally let him know that this one person despises him
and everything he stands for.  (Obviously, I'm in a very long line on this
one, but I didn't claim to represent anyone but myself.)  I've decided to
resend a message I sent the other night (June 18, 2001) to a friend:  if
you think the story deserves retelling, please feel free to pass it on!

Kim

Dear :

Henry Kissinger was in Chicago tonight at the Fairmont Hotel, and believe
it or not, in the Imperial(ist) Room, speaking for the Chicago Council on
Foreign Relations.  Well, your's truly scored a ticket.  :)  (You can, I
trust, see where this is going!)

Unfortunately, I had to listen to his inane talk, but I was cool cause I
didn't want to piss the audience totally off at me.  Then they had QA, but
all questions had to be submitted on cards.  Anyway, the last question was
(and this was ALL kissy-face shit) that someone had stated that they had
slept well while Kissinger had been in power, and the questioner was
wondering how K slept with Donald Rumsfeld in power?  Well, I stood up and
asked his Royalty how he slept at night since he was probably the biggest
war criminal in the world alive today?  I pointed out to the audience that
he had killed hundreds of thousands (I started off conservatively) if not
millions in Viet Nam, Cambodia, Chile, Angola, Bangladesh and elsewhere
[note:  I certainly meant to include East Timor on the list, but can't
honestly say I remembered to do it].  I said I thought he should be charged
and taken to the World Court in The Hague, tried and if convicted, hung by
the neck until dead.  (That Kim, a fucking liberal)  And then I
politely sat down.  (There was at least one person who clapped.)

I actually got about a 90 section rap out, because I sat in a section
sounded by people, so the security folks couldn't get me quickly--I was all
alone.

Anyway, three security types came up to me, and asked me to leave.  Instead
of leaving quickly, I drew it out, blah, blah, and one finally said that
one of them was a Chicago cop.  I asked to see his badge, and he showed it
to me, and said I could see his ID outside.  Well, after disrupting things
quite a bit, I agreed to go (I was not wanting to be locked up).  Anyway,
out in the lobby, I asked to see the cop's ID, which he showed me, but I
again made a big deal out of it.  People were leaving around us, and
definitely got to hear more.  By that time, a reporter from the Sun-Times
came over, asked if we could talk, and of course, I said, Sure.  (Mr.
Modesty.)

So, I lead the S-T reporter and another man over by the escalator, which
the cops wanted me to exit by, and instead of leaving, I held my
interview there, so everyone leaving by the escalator got to hear me
again!  She asked me all these good questions, asked me to repeat my
statement, asked me if I'd read Hitchens' articles in Harper's, etc.  I
told her I had, but while I wasn't sure about all he said, I told her about
my research about Chile and then I went off on my boy.  I explained the
Yamashita principle:  Yamashita was a Japanese general in the Phils that
first ordered his men to kill prisoners, and then rescinded them, but was
forced by the US to bear the responsibility for his initial order, and was
hanged.  I don't know if it'll make the S-T, or if it does, whether it'll
be cut to shreads, but I did freak some people out.  I did not get arrested.

And most importantly, I got to look Kissinger in the eye, and tell him I
thought he was the biggest war criminal living in the world today.  While
we were probably 50 feet apart, he heard me.  His face went blank.
_

I don't know what impact this had on anyone in the audience:  I was so
focused on K that I don't even know what the people next to me said or how
they responded.  I did hear at least one person clap in support of my
statement, and I heard one person shout, Throw him out!  But I know at
least some people heard me.

Anyway, in today's (June 19) Sun-Times, (p. 6), there was an article on
Kissinger's talk.  The editors had cut it down to almost nothing--I thought
the speech was pretty inane, but they only focused on his comments re a
possible Middle East deal, when that was a very small part of the talk.
Then at the end of the article was three short paragraphs (contrast this
with my full account above):

Kissinger's speech was briefly interrupted when a man stood up, called
Kissinger the 'greatest living war criminal' and asked how he could sleep
at night.

[CTRL] Majority of web users are FBI agents posing as teenage girls

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

HUMOR!

SURVEY: MAJORITY OF WEB USERS ARE
FBI AGENTS POSING AS TEENAGE GIRLS
Washington, D.C. — The Internet reached a demographic milestone this week
as a new study revealed that for the first time, the majority of U.S.
Internet users are FBI agents posing as teenage girls.
http://www.satirewire.com/news/0008/satire-fbiteens.shtml

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Students criticize Nyack High safety rules

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

  Students criticize Nyack High safety rules
 
  By RANDI WEINER THE JOURNAL NEWS
  (Original publication: June 21, 2001)
 
  Students at Nyack High School could be barred from walking
  to their cars to retrieve forgotten books during school
  hours and would have to wear identification tags around
  their necks under security measures being debated by the
  Board of Education.
 
  Neither of the measures, which were mentioned in two
  proposed documents presented to the school board during its
  meeting this week, was more than a suggestion, school
  officials said. They were proposed simply to begin a
  discussion, but could become school policy July 10 if they
  face no serious objections.
 
  Students who had heard of the proposed rules have made a
  formal protest to the school board, saying the proposals
  would cause student unrest and rebellion. Adults who
  supported both measures said they were concerned about
  student safety.
 
  My issue is always going to be safety, board member Pierre
  Davis said. Things have changed more than anyone wants to
  own up or confess to. It's not business as usual anymore.
 
  The Nyack school board, along with all school boards across
  the state, must create or review districtwide safety plans
  and codes of conduct under a mandate from the state
  Legislature. Last year, the Legislature passed Project SAVE,
  which was designed to improve school safety, and insisted
  all school districts have plans to address situations
  ranging from weather-related emergencies to gang-inspired
  uprisings.
 
  Boards of education have until early July to adopt their
  codes and plans.
 
  On Tuesday, the Nyack board was presented with a 46-page
  draft of a district safety plan and a 43-page draft code of
  conduct. Among the biggest changes was to have students wear
  badges around their neck identifying them as belonging in
  the school, and to forbid younger high school students from
  leaving the building once school starts, even for lunch.
 
  This is a plan under consideration, said Bryan Burrell,
  school board president. If students are going to be
  concerned about the proposed changes, the best time to make
  objections is before they are implemented.
 
  Right now, Nyack High School has an open campus. Freshmen
  and sophomores are permitted to leave school grounds at
  lunchtime, juniors may walk off campus for lunch and periods
  when they have no class, and seniors are permitted to leave
  when they have no classes and to drive off campus during
  lunchtime.
 
  Under the proposed rules, freshmen, sophomores and juniors
  would be permitted to leave the building only to go to a
  patio in back of the school, and only seniors who meet
  academic eligibility would be permitted to leave campus at
  lunchtime.
 
  If viewed strictly, the rules would prohibit younger
  students from walking to the parking lot to get something
  from their cars after the first school bell rang, said
  Assistant Superintendent Mary Anne Evangelist. They would
  not be allowed onto the nearby track or lower field where
  many eat lunch now or play with Frisbees.
 
  I think you may encounter a lot of resistance to that,
  said Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, junior class president.
 
  The back patio is a very small area, with barely any
  sitting room, said Zoe Elfenbein, president of the Student
  Council. Some students use lunchtime to work off excess
  energy. At least the upper field, that security could see
  from the patio, should be open to students.
 
  Having everyone in school wear identification around their
  necks also came in for student criticism.
 
  Demeaning, Elfenbein said.
 
  I think you will lose the students if you do it,
  Reichlin-Melnick said. We've come out to argue this. Most
  of the students won't bother, they'll take a cynical
  attitude. They don't see the administration as being caring
  about them but as stomping on them. A prison is very safe,
  but I don't think the inmates are very happy there.
 
  Ian Mandel, junior class vice president, said the district
  will find it very difficult to enforce.
 
  If we are forced to wear name tags, there would be outrage
  _ and what will you do when 700 students refuse to wear them
  out of protest? Mandel said.
 
  School board members said they hoped the students would
  respect whatever school rules became district policy.
 
  The proposed rules also would prohibit students from wearing
  hats in the school, which is now permitted. The concern was
  that someone could hide a weapon within a hat,
  administrators said.
 
  Jonathan Brown, a senior and the student representative on
  the school board, said he particularly thought the hat rule
  should not be part of the student dress code. He wears a hat
  in many of his classes and in the school halls.
 
  We do have to make a change. Ignoring (safety issues) would
  be foolish, Brown said. But certain things are a bit too
  stringent.
 
  

[CTRL] Professor's warning on warfare

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From This is Bradford,
http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/bradford/news/BRAD_NEWS6.html


Professor's warning on warfare
by Kanchan Dutt

A leading warfare expert will tomorrow tell a major conference that genetic
research is opening up the door for a new range of biological weapons.

The University of Bradford's Professor Malcolm Dando will spell out the need
for governments to ensure research into biotechnology and genetics does not
lead to the birth of a new generation of weapons.

Prof Dando will address the inaugural Global Forum for Law Enforcement and
National Security in Edinburgh, looking at issues of national safety which
will play a role over the next 20 years.

The high-powered three-day meeting started today and is chaired by Lord
Ashdown with judge William Webster, a former director of the CIA and FBI,
taking part in a live satellite link.

Prof Dando said the current `gentleman's agreement' binding major states to
use genetic advances to battle illnesses and not each other was no longer
strong enough to guarantee international peace.

His role as professor of international security, part of the university's
peace studies department, has led his team to receive regular Nato funding
for research into the field and led to a personal invitation to the
conference.

He said: The British discovered during the Second World War the best way of
attacking humans is by spreading poisons in the air, and it is clear that
the use of toxins on the battlefield will have rapid effects.

But until we had genetic engineering it was not possible to produce these
toxins in large quantities.

Work by governments and academic institutions - including the University of
Bradford - into genetics to tackle human illnesses has inadvertently opened
the door for terrorist groups and unscrupulous dictators such as the Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein to use the research for weapons.

We know at the end of the Cold War the former USSR had biological weapons
with genetically engineered enhanced resistance, said Prof Dando.

The conclusion is that if you don't prevent the misuse of this knowledge
you could produce tailor-made pathogens.

You could actually set out to design a pathogen that no one would be able
to deal with.

He singled out foot and mouth as an example of how a natural virus can wreak
havoc upon a nation's livestock and its economy, adding: Imagine the
destruction possible if someone decided to use the virus to attack another
country - it would be horrendous.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Biotechnology promises major advances for U.S. Army

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From Eurekalert!,
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/pu-bpm062001.html

Contact: Emil Venere
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
765-494-4709
Purdue University

Biotechnology promises major advances for U.S. Army

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A report being released today (Wednesday, 6/20)
recommends that the U.S. Army take advantage of dramatic advancements in
biotechnology that promise to help soldiers survive and perform better in
the 21st century.

The report, from the National Research Council's Board on Army Science and
Technology, was prepared by a 16-member committee chaired by Michael
Ladisch, a distinguished professor of biomedical engineering and
agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University. The council is
the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the
National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.

By the year 2025, biotechnology will likely bring advances such as rugged
computer memories made from genetically engineered proteins, camouflage
materials and lightweight armor inspired by living organisms, portable
solar-power systems, biological markers that help to distinguish friendly
soldiers from the enemy, wristwatch-size sensors and devices that detect
biological and chemical warfare agents. Research also promises to make
possible the creation of new vaccines, drugs and wound-healing technologies,
and medical applications that provide broad benefits to world health, states
the report.

These are but a few of a myriad of possibilities, some of which may never
be developed for lack of commercial incentive, thus challenging the Army to
devise ways of influencing their development, according to the report,
Opportunities in Biotechnology for Future Army Applications.

Recommendations in the report stress the importance of developing defensive
technologies aimed at improving the survivability and effectiveness of U.S.
soldiers. The report specifically does not address the use of biotechnology
for offensive applications.

To illustrate the dramatic significance of emerging technologies, the report
includes hypothetical, but realistic, battlefield scenarios in the year
2025.

Although soldiers in 2025 may look much the same as their present-day
counterparts, they will be drawn from a society that has been armed by
biotechnology with increased strength and endurance and superior resistance
to disease and aging, the report states. By then, biosensors may be able
to detect chemical, biological and environmental threats of all kinds,
bio-electronics components could enable combat systems to survive in
high-radiation environments, biologically inspired materials could provide
light protective armor for soldiers, and therapies for shock trauma from
excessive bleeding could be developed.

Biotechnology uses organisms, tissues, cells or the molecular components
derived from living things to make products or to perform functions. It's a
technology used to produce drugs and antibiotics like penicillin, and to
make new materials and devices. Biotechnology also sometimes involves
altering the workings of cells or components inside cells, including their
genetic material.

Ladisch said the committee, made up of experts from industry, academia and
government, was formed in late 1999 to create the report, which also was
reviewed by an independent group of researchers before it was approved.

Some of these ideas may really seem far out because we are looking toward
the year 2025, Ladisch said.

The report includes insights about likely advances resulting from research
into the genetic structure and function of humans and other organisms,
including possible biological warfare agents.

If soldiers on the battlefield are exposed to a biowarfare agent, advances
in genomics could make it possible to quickly identify this agent and
produce a vaccine, Ladisch said.

The report has two overall conclusions:

* To keep pace with the unprecedented rate of discovery and the anticipated
increase in biotechnology developments, the Army will have to establish new,
effective partnerships with the emerging biotechnology industry, participate
in research and develop the capabilities to act on opportunities as they
arise.

* Because commercial markets for medical applications will drive many
advances in biotechnology, Army scientists and engineers must expand their
understanding of biology's role in research leading to military
applications.

The report recommends that the Army adopt new approaches to work with the
private sector, encouraging relationships between government and industry.
The report also urges the Army to invest in education, assembling a cadre
of science and technology professionals capable of translating advances in
the biosciences into engineering practice. Also, to help speed the
development of certain technologies, the report suggests that the Army focus
its research in several high-priority areas, including:

* New types of rugged, high-capacity computer 

[CTRL] The New Terrorist International

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

radman pull quote:

So far the Anarchist groups that plague the regular multi-national
Governmental meetings in Europe and the USA have remained nothing more than
a major irritant, but in a sinister move, terrorists are now known to be
trying to infiltrate these groups and the prospect of professional hitmen,
snipers and bombers operating under the cover of anarchist riots is
exercising the minds of the Police and Security forces throughout the world.

==

The New Terrorist International

AFI - Armed Forces Intelligence
The International Research and News Agency
Specialist Information for the NewsMedia
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (UK)
Tel/Fax:  +44(0)1626 33 50 40
Book mark  www.defense-i.com
www.milnet.com/milnet/afi/
www.freelancedirectory.org
www.questico.co.uk/INSIGHT

AFI Research, The Ground Floor, 27 The Avenue, Newton Abbot TQ12 2BZ, UK.
_

Real IRA and ETA forge more international links

Evidence is mounting of the efforts being made by Irish Terrorists and
their Spanish counterparts, ETA, to greatly strengthen their network of
deadly partners throughout Europe and the Middle East.

ETA and the BRA or Breton Revolutionary army are known to have staged armed
attacks to acquire weapons, including eight tonnes of Titadine explosives
stolen from a factory at Plevin in Brittany in September 1999 and
explosives and more than 20,000 detonators obtained through a raid in
Grenoble this year. Though French security forces recovered some of the
Titadine from the BRA, some 5 tonnes were retained by ETA, some of which
has been reportedly passed on to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

Israeli security sources have made it plain that while they are aware of
the raised level of co-operation between terrorist groups,they are
surprised at Hamas importing explosives when so much is being made
available by the Syrians and Iraqis. While the Islamic militant group,
Hezbollah not only produces explosives in the Bekaa valley in the Lebanon,
but has received huge quantities of modern military explosives from Iran
and to a lesser extent, Syria.

However, Israeli sources have expressed alarm that Hamas, in particular,
has received training from some of the Real IRA's leading 'engineers'
following the killing of a number of the Palestinian groups leading
bomb-makers by Israeli undercover units.
In return the Real IRA have received certain specialized and advanced
pieces of military equipment of Russian origin which their 'friends' in
Croatia and the Baltic states had been unable to supply.

ETA's reported attempt to bomb a Plymouth bound ferry may have more to do
with its close relationship with the Real IRA than their own needs and
provides an alarming preview of the future of terrorist operations where
IRA targets in mainland Britain may well be 'bombed' by terrorists from
another country, making it doubly difficult for MI-5 and the specialist
police branch's to identify and track them.

Spanish Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, expressed little surprise at the
idea of an international terrorist network, On numerous occasions we have
had clear proof of the relationship between terrorist groups he said.

Co-operation between terrorist organizations is set to greatly increase, it
is of great value to such groups and provides a security nightmare for
Western Europe.  So far the Anarchist groups that plague the regular
multi-national Governmental meetings in Europe and the USA have remained
nothing more than a major irritant, but in a sinister move, terrorists are
now known to be trying to infiltrate these groups and the prospect of
professional hitmen, snipers and bombers operating under the cover of
anarchist riots is exercising the minds of the Police and Security forces
throughout the world.

For more information on this and many other news stories contact AFI

___

Associates:  Richard M Bennett (AFI-UK), Robert Zeidner
(AFI-USA-Consultant), Michael Crawford(Milnet-USA),
Dr James Hawker (AFI-Australia), Maj. Frank Hayes (AFI-USA), Alan Marshall
(AFI-Canada)  Ms Kate Bennett (AFI-UK)

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

Archives Available at:
http

[CTRL] [radtimes] # 205

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

[radtimes] # 205

An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.

We're living in rad times!
---
Send $$ to RadTimes!!  --  (See ** at end.)
---
Contents:

--Eighteen months for 'White Hat' Hacker
--Brave new babies
--14 Illegal Immigrants Die in Desert
--Human trafficking on the rise
--White House site crippled by DoS attack
--Sensitive E-mails 'Being Read By Spy Network'
--Those Seattle WTO riots? It's just a game now, folks
--China Clones Scores of Plants, Pigs, Sheep, Rabbits, Cows
--Spies hang on our every word
--U.S. 'Impediment' to Human Rights, Report Declares
--You are being watched

===

Eighteen months for 'White Hat' Hacker

http://www.securityfocus.com/news/207

By Kevin Poulsen
May 21, 2001 7:00 PM PT

San Jose, Calf.--Computer security researcher and former FBI informant
Max Butler was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for launching
an Internet worm that crawled through hundreds of military and defense
contractor computers over a few days in 1998.

In handing down the sentence, federal judge James Ware rejected
defense attorney Jennifer Granick's argument that the Air Force, and
other victims of the worm, improperly calculated their financial
losses from the hack. The judge also declined to give Butler credit
for his brief stint as an undercover FBI informant, during which he
infiltrated a gang of hackers that had penetrated 3Com's corporate
phone network.

But the judge refused prosecutor Ross Nadel's request that Butler be
immediately taken into custody in the courtroom, and allowed the
hacker to remain free on bail until June 25th, when he's scheduled to
report to prison. With credit for good behavior, Butler will be
eligible for assignment to a community halfway house as early as April
of next year, and will be released in mid-October 2002. He'll then
serve three years of supervised release during which, under a special
order, Butler will be barred from accessing the Internet without
permission of his probation officer. Ware also ordered Butler to pay
$60,000 in restitution.

A consultant who specializes in performing penetration tests on
corporate networks, the 28-year-old remained well regarded in computer
security circles even after his March, 2000 indictment. Butler is
known for his expertise in intrusion detection: the science of
automatically analyzing Internet traffic for signatures indicative
of an attack, and he created arachnids, a popular open source catalog
of attack signatures that forms part of an overall public resource at
WhiteHats.com

Butler, known as Max Vision to friends and associates, crossed the
line in June of 1998, at a time when much of the Internet was still
vulnerable to a hole that had been discovered months earlier in a
ubiquitous piece of software called the BIND named domain server.
The hacker group ADM published a computer program capable of spreading
through vulnerable systems automatically. Butler launched a special
strain of the worm that penetrated systems, but also automatically
closed the BIND hole as it spread, forestalling attacks from other
hackers.

Tall and soft-spoken, wearing a blazer and rumpled cargo pants, the
hacker apologetically told Judge Ware that he got caught up in the
need to close a serious security hole.

I got swept up, said Butler. It's hard to explain the feelings of
someone who's gotten caught up in the computer security field... I
felt at the time that I was in a race. That if I went in and closed
the holes quickly, I could do it before people with more malicious
intentions could use them.

Butler did not address why he left malevolent features from the ADM
worm in his own program, including one that created a secret back door
on every system it penetrated.

What I did was reprehensible, Butler told the court. I've hurt my
reputation in the computer security field. I've hurt my family and
friends.

Judge Ware emphasized the need to deter other hackers. There's a need
for those who would follow your footsteps to know that this can result
in incarceration, said Ware.

===

Brave new babies

http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns229228

An automated IVF chip could lead to production-line embryos

by Anil Ananthaswamy
  From New Scientist magazine, 26 May 2001.

THE children of the future may be conceived and spend their first few days
of development on a computer-controlled chip.

In a move recalling Aldous Huxley's famous production lines for making
babies in Brave New World, researchers in the US are building a chip that
can automatically carry out all the steps involved in IVF, from fertilising
eggs to preparing embryos for implantation. 

[CTRL] EU Gov'ts Call For Strict Measures Against Anti-Global Protestors

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

EU Gov'ts Call For Strict Measures Against Anti-Global Protestors

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com London Bureau Chief

June 18, 2001

London (CNSNews.com) - European governments are considering urgent steps to
ensure better security at forthcoming international summits, after a
European Union gathering in the Swedish port of Gothenburg was overshadowed
by the worst rioting the country has ever seen.

European governments are so concerned about the deteriorating situation
they are thinking about exchanging intelligence on leading troublemakers
among the anti-capitalist/anti-globalization/anarchist elements, to stop
them from leaving their home countries ahead of important meetings of world
leaders.

Such steps are already in place in Europe to prevent thugs (football
hooligans) from attending international soccer matches in other countries.

It was clearly shown at Gothenburg that violent criminal gangs are
systematically trying to disrupt political summits, German interior
minister Otto Schily said Sunday.

These groups of delinquents must be tackled in a severe and consistent way.

Protests in Gothenburg began with the visit by President Bush last Thursday
but only turned violent during the subsequent EU leaders' summit, after
Bush had left.

Despite efforts by Sweden's center-left government to hold a dialogue
with protestors earlier in the week, things got badly out of hand on
Gothenburg's streets, and rioting resulted in millions of dollars in damage.

Police at one point opened fire, wounding three protestors - the first time
Swedish police have fired on citizens since 1931. Almost 600 people were
arrested.

Sweden said anarchists from Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark were among
the prime instigators.

In recent years gatherings of various political and economic bodies have
attracted a range of actions launched by summit-hopping protestors. Some
have been peaceful but others - notably in Seattle (WTO, Nov. 1999), Prague
(IMF/World Bank, Sept. 2000) and Nice (EU, Dec. 2000) - turned violent as
protestors actively attempted to disrupt the meetings.

The next major gathering is a summit of the leading of the world's key
industrial powers (G8) summit in Genoa, Italy, next month.

It's reported Monday that Italian authorities in an emergency meeting
Sunday pondered ways of avoiding trouble there, after speculation that
protest groups would seek a particularly spectacular confrontation to
avenge the shooting in Gothenburg.

Among options discussed was one calling for the city to be sealed off
completely from the outside world, with airports, stations and highways
shut to visitors.

Italy could also restore border controls, temporarily withdrawing from an
accord that usually allows for free movement across borders between EU
member states.

The G8 leaders could alternatively find themselves meeting on an Italian
navy ship or a cruise liner out at sea, for their own protection.

Other meetings planned for this year already being targeted for protests
include an International Monetary Fund/World Bank AGM in Washington DC from
Sept. 28-Oct. 4, and the next EU summit, in Belgium in December.

The World Economic Forum meets in Salzburg, Austria from June 30-July 4,
the European Economic Summit, also in Salzburg, runs from July 1-3, and the
WTO meets in Qatar from Nov. 5-9.

Protest groups' Internet websites outline why such meetings are considered
targets.

The G8, says one site, are the most powerful countries of the planet.

The policies they apply and export worldwide are subordinate to the free
market dictatorship, which is creating huge economic gaps between the
countries and the classes that are rich and getting richer and others that
are poor and getting poorer.

On the Washington meeting in the fall, a coalition called the 50 Years Is
Enough Network is calling on global activists to visit the capital to
protest and expose the illegitimacy of the institutions and officials who
continue to claim the right to determine the course of the world economy.

Exploiting the Internet, groups give activists travel directions, suggest
where they can stay and who to contact locally, and share tactics and tips
(bicycle helmets ... offer better protection than builder's helmets ...
dustbin lids are really good [as shields] if you can find them ...
[protective] arm pieces can be made from bubble wrap, cushion foam and
cardboard).

GBGJ15 (Gothenburg, June 15) was the codename for the Gothenburg protests;
others have used similar nicknames, N30 for Nov 30 in Seattle, S26 for
Sept. 26 in Prague and so on.

For next month's G8 summit in Genoa, one site says that protesters using
civil disobedience, aim to attempt an invasion in order to set the city
free and disrupt the summit. Public training sessions are already taking
place in order to organize the land and sea siege to the G8 ...

On July 20, direct and non-violent actions, mass civil disobedience [and
a] siege of the G8 summit is being planned, 

[CTRL] Surveillance company moving hub to Denver

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Surveillance company moving hub to Denver

http://denver.bcentral.com/denver/stories/2001/06/18/story8.html

Amy Bryer
Business Journal Staff Reporter

NICE Systems, a global recording and surveillance company based in Israel,
is consolidating most of its North American offices into one on 17th Street
in the Manville Plaza.

NICE engineers, manufactures and markets recording devices used in call
centers, banks, air traffic control towers and government buildings. It has
the government contract for all Federal Aviation Administration towers and
its equipment is used in air traffic towers in all countries except four,
said George McDonough, NICE director of sales in Denver.

It also creates the recording devices for 50 percent of the call centers in
the country that let callers know their conversation may be recorded for
accuracy or security reasons.

In May, NICE was chosen by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons to provide
video surveillance and recording for nine prisons.

The company's roots are in the Israeli Defense Force. The engineers for the
Israeli Army developed recording devices that were more compact than their
predecessors and could be used to monitor radio frequencies while riding in
the back of Humvees. When the engineers left the Army in the early 1980s,
they decided the technology could be sold commercially and they founded NICE
in 1986.

Ten years later, NICE went public on the Nasdaq under the symbol NICE.

Last year, NICE purchased two Denver companies, CenterPoint Solutions and
Stevens Communications, and plans to close three offices -- Vancouver,
British Columbia; Sunnyvale, Calif.; and Atlanta. It will be moving customer
care, research and development and professional services into the
30,000-square-foot Denver office, leaving one other research and development
office in San Diego.

Denver will be one of two key hubs for the company in North America -- the
other being the U.S. headquarters in Secaucus, N.J. NICE has about 35
workers in Denver and will add about 50 to 60 more.

We'll be rebuilding our team in Denver which is a high-tech arena,
McDonough said. There have been a lots of layoffs and we hope to capitalize
on it.

In a recent report by Goldman Sachs and Co. Investment Research, NICE was
downgraded and investors told to remain cautious. Weaker spending was
expected to negatively affect NICE results in the coming quarters, according
to the report. NICE decreased its revenue projections for the year from $153
million to between $125 million and $135 million, but Goldman Sachs predicts
revenue will be closer to $123 million.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Robots raise issue of what 'alive' is

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

 From The News Observer,
http://www.news-observer.com/monday/business/Story/508038p-505358c.html
-
Published: Monday, June 18, 2001 3:43 a.m. EDT

Paul Gilster

Robots raise issue of what 'alive' is

If you're a science-fiction buff, you've heard of Isaac Asimov's Three Laws
of Robotics. They state: 1) A robot may not injure a human being, or,
through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey
the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law; and 3) A robot must protect its own existence, except
where such protection would conflict with the First or Second Law.

That's pretty clever stuff, and as a boy growing up on novels such as
Asimov's The Caves of Steel and Jack Williamson's The Humanoids, I
always assumed that by 2000 or so, such laws would be needed. It seemed
obvious that technology would produce mechanical devices that could do the
heavy lifting, while we organic beings led a life of leisure. No more
drudgery for 21st-century man!

It never occurred to me that the first home robot would be a battery-powered
lawn mower. Robomower was designed by an Israeli company called Friendly
Robotics (http://www.friendlyrobotics.com) To use it, you lay a navigation
wire around the plot to be mowed and let the robot's sensors navigate as it
cuts and mulches your grass.

Yet though Friendly Robotics has an energizing motto (Mission: To Be the
Leader in Home Robotics), it's clear that the $795 Robomower is a long way
from human-style awareness, much less independent action.

Much the same can be said about the industrial robots that spray parts, weld
joints and insert chips in manufacturing settings around the world. They can
do one thing only, and they have little flexibility in adapting to changing
circumstances.

But interesting things are happening on the robotics front. Consider a
company called Cybermotion (http://www.cybermotion.com) A glance at its Web
site reveals CyberGuard, a robotic security system that patrols warehouses,
factories or other industrial areas, up to 15 miles per night. CyberGuard's
sensors can identify smoke, industrial spills and the presence of intruders.

Down inside CyberGuard is a computer that uses dead reckoning and what the
company describes as uncertainty modeling and fuzzy logic to help it
learn and adapt. Approximately 100 instructions direct the robot and control
its subsystems, connecting to a base station that monitors its progress.
CyberGuard can be sent on pre-designed pathways or it can be set to operate
without human intervention, navigating around obstacles with ease.

CyberGuard is out there doing its stuff as we speak. In fact, a U.S. Army
performance assessment report in 1999 gave the security robot its highest
rating for quality and service. The Army has bought a number of them to keep
an eye on warehouses, and so have major pharmaceutical companies such as
GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and Novartis.

Only in the most general sense can CyberGuard be described as humanoid; in
fact, it looks sort of like an overhead projector on wheels.

But ongoing work at MIT by the Humanoid Robotics Group is delving deeply
into the question of how to create a humanoid robot that not only operates
independently but also manages to have a social life of sorts with people.

One project is called Kismet, an experiment with facial expression and body
posture that would allow man/machine interactions to be more intuitive.
Kismet is basically a robotic head that uses vocalizations and facial
expressions driven by 21 motors to convey information. Kismet's face is
remarkably expressive, with eyes that swivel and lips that convey a wide
range of feelings.

Another MIT project, called Cog, is an attempt to build a humanoid robot
that approximates the dynamics of the human body. Already given adaptive,
lifelike arms, Cog's hands are being developed now (no legs as yet, though
MIT has another group working on the specifics of leg articulation).
Ultimately, COG is about the blend of hardware with artificial intelligence,
to create a robot that learns not by instruction but by trial and error.

Run with a certain puckish humor by computer science professor Rodney A.
Brooks, the Cog project has its own answer to Asimov's laws.

As Brooks says on the project Web site: The truth is that our lab focuses
on building robots that are as human as possible. Even if we were successful
in all of our goals (which is, in technical terms, 'not likely'), the robot
would have no 'super-human' abilities. It would be no more likely to take
over the world than, say, Pulitzer-Prize winning film critic Roger Ebert.

But in a more serious vein, Brooks puts his work in this light: My burning
question is what is it that lets matter transcend itself to become living.
And though that has always been a philosophical question, it's now one that
enters the world of engineering in this fascinating work. You can read more
about MIT's 

[CTRL] Failing the Perception Test

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Failing the Perception Test

http://www.MediaTransparency.org/stories/bos.htm

PBS routinely ignores its own rules in allowing conservative/Republican
propagandists surreptitious, unacknowledged access to its network This
article reprinted with the permission of Current, where it first appeared
in June, 2001.

by Jerry M. Landay

WASHINGTON, DC, JUNE, 2001-- THERE'S A SYSTEM FAILURE AT PBS.
The network routinely ignores its own underwriting guidelines, distributing
programs marked by singularly close ties among conservative funders,
producers, interview participants and political content. In the deal,
conservative foundations gain access to the public air to showcase their
own beneficiaries, push narrow
ideological agendas, influence public opinion and move public policy to the
right. They get help from CPB and PBS, which have co-funded partisan
conservative offerings. Corporately funded fare is welcome, but bids for
public-affairs airtime by independent producers and advocates perceived as
too liberal are not. The NPR political commentary roster also has
reflected substantial editorial influence by the organized right.
A commotion in 1999 provides an illustrative comparison. Newspapers
reported a lapse by Bill Moyers in his PBS documentary on campaign reform,
Free Speech for Sale. Three interview participants had links with
public-interest groups that received grants from the Florence and John
Schumann Foundation, which has Moyers as president. Usually scrupulous
about separating his grantmaking from his journalism, he confessed to the
oversight. It hadn't crossed my mind, Moyers admitted. It should have
occurred to me to identify [this]. Next time, I'll be sure to do so.
More evidence, the Wall Street Journal intoned, of the need for PBS to
feature a warning label about bias.
That would be a grand idea, if bias labels were imposed and administered
evenhandedly. The conservative movement barraged Moyers over his mistake.
Under the headline Journalism or Favoritism, FreeRepublic.com, a
self-described Conservative News Forum, complained that Moyers uses his
control over money and media to influence public policy. Prof. David L.
Schaefer, a political scientist at College of the Holy Cross who has
written on the matter for the Claremont Institute for the Study of
Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, also questioned the links between
the Schumann Foundation and TomPaine.com, the web site of news and opinion
edited by Moyers' son John. The ethical conflict-of-interest tangle
grows, Schaefer wrote.  Let's compare this tangle with the conservative
movement's orchestrated campaign of meshing money with organizations,
agendas and personalities that influence public opinion and policy.  The
Claremont Institute, as it happens, is just one cog in this integrated
constellation of activist groups amply funded by three major foundations
(with assists from a handful of less-known benefactors)--the Lynde and
Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee, the John M. Olin Foundation of New
York, and the Scaife family foundations of Pittsburgh. I'll call them BOS
for short.
The treasuries of BOS essentially have underwritten the rise of movement
conservatism since the early  '80sin part by providing millions in
coordinated grants to shape media content. BOS-funded programs on PBS
regularly showcase conservative panelists, hosts and interviewees who are
also beneficiaries of BOS funding. The connections are unacknowledged.
Unlike Moyers' single slip, the conflict of interest by conservative
funders and producers is ongoing. Does PBS follow the money? I don't
know, senior programmer John Wilson told me. I don't really track it that
way. The perception test is the cornerstone of PBS's underwriting
guidelines: public television must reinforce the accurate perception that
it is a free and independent institution. To protect its journalistic
integrity, the system is supposed to screen public-affairs funders by
asking: Has the underwriter exercised editorial control?  Might the public
perceive that the underwriter has exercised editorial control?
As a routine matter, BOS-funded productions fail to meet the perception
test. An informal scan through PBS public-affairs offerings from 1992 to
the present turns up at least 17 instances in which a single program or
continuing series underwritten or co-funded by BOS served as a platform for
the views of BOS grantees and their organizations. There were no warning
labels about bias. CPB used taxpayers' money to co-fund 10 of them with
PBS. On public radio, meanwhile, NPR frequently airs contributions from
political commentators with close ideological ties to BOS. Their
organizational links to BOS-funded objectives are similarly unacknowledged.
Conservative involvement in media is widespread, relentlessly focused and
intense. It is dedicated to the tenet that ideas have consequences. Under
BOS patronage, these consequences have powered the gradual shift of
American power 

[CTRL] Cyber War Declared on World Bank

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Published on Wednesday, June 20, 2001 in the Guardian of London

  Cyber War Declared on World Bank
  by John Vidal and Charlotte Denny

  Protesters threatened last night to use cyber sit-ins
to derail a high-profile development
  conference organized by the World Bank, after the
Washington-based body announced it
  would hold the conference online to avoid demonstrations.

  The bank is the latest casualty of the increasingly
violent climate surrounding international
  summits since protesters disrupted global trade talks in
Seattle at the end of 1999. It
  decided to hold its annual conference on development
economics on the internet after
  thousands of protesters threatened to descend next week
on Barcelona, the original venue.

  But the emerging anti-globalization protest movement
warned that a virtual conference was
  just a vulnerable as a live gathering.

  One skilled IT protester could easily crash the whole
event. It may be seen as a challenge
  to scupper the conference, said one protester/hacker who
specializes in IT protests.

  Cyber-protest is a well-developed tool of protest groups
who use computers to exchange
  information, organize demonstrations and bombard
political leaders with demands.
  Greenpeace has more than 100,000 supporters prepared to
use their computers as a
  protest weapon and claims numerous successes persuading
corporations to change
  policies after subjecting them to a barrage of email.

  If the bank wants contributions to this conference from
around the world then they could
  regret this, said Roger Higman of Friends of the Earth.
Earlier this year the pressure group
  brought down the White House website several times with
more than 100,000 people
  protesting against President Bush's stance on climate
change.

  The bank admitted that the internet conference could also
be besieged by groups opposed
  to its economic prescriptions for third world economies.
The sessions will be interactive,
  allowing participants to email questions to the speakers,
but also providing an opportunity
  for protesters to attack.

  We've taken reasonable precautions but if there is a
major effort to close us down, I can't
  promise that the computers will hold up, said a bank
spokesman.

  If the protesters succeed in disrupting the conference,
that will reflect badly on them and
  their attitude towards free speech and freedom of
discussion, he added. The topic of the
  conference is Globalization, Poverty and Wealth.

  Globalize Resistance, a socialist group which intends to
take thousands of people to Genoa
  for next month's G8 meeting, said: We can still party in
Barcelona and have more fun than
  if we were in front of computer screens. They can run,
but they cannot hide.

  The bank's annual meeting in Prague last September was
surrounded by thousands of
  protesters who battled with the police.

  Explaining the decision to abandon the Barcelona event, a
World Bank spokeswoman,
  Caroline Anstey, said: A conference on poverty reduction
should take place in a peaceful
  atmosphere free from heckling, violence and intimidation.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] The Day That Anarchy Came To Lithia Springs

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001
From: M.A. Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED]

The Day That Anarchy Came To Lithia Springs

by Rob Moody

Government is at best but an expedient; but
most governments are usually, and all
governments are sometimes, inexpedient.
The objections which have been brought against
a standing army, and they are many and weighty,
and deserve to prevail, may also at last be
brought against a standing government.
  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Something remarkable happened last week in Lithia Springs,
a town of 2,072 just west of Atlanta: The city council
held its last meeting before dissolving the city
government. In March, residents voted overwhelmingly to
dissolve the town. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
The referendum that ended the town was part of the settlement
in a lawsuit brought by city residents charging the city
should be dissolved because it didn't deliver enough services
to justify its existence under state law. [If you live in a
small town in Georgia and have some time on your hands,
this sounds like a tremendous opportunity to strike a blow
for liberty. And for those of you working in police anti-gang
units, note how Lithia Springs got rid of its gang.]
Incorporated in 1882, Lithia Springs was dissolved the
first time in 1933. Since reincorporating in 1994, it has
had five mayors and one scandal: Former Mayor Rosa Mary
Johnson in 1998 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge
for using city money to buy personal items. No surprise
there, as criminals are attracted to gangs.

What is a surprise (at least for most people) is that
although anarchy now reigns in Lithia Springs, chaos does
not. My dictionary defines anarchy as Absence of any form
of political authority, while chaos is defined as A state
or place of total confusion or disorder. I can't count
the number of times I've heard some Republican law-and-order
type reject a proposal to expand the sphere of liberty by
saying, But then we'd have anarchy, when what they mean
to say is, But then we'd have chaos. The word anarchy
has gotten a bad rap, not only by being substituted for
chaos, but by its use by left-wing anarchists, who I
believe actually want the opposite of anarchy. What do most
people think of when they hear the word anarchy? I think of
some guy throwing a bomb, or chaos in the streets. As
libertarians, we need to reclaim and rehabilitate that
word before it becomes unusable.

Even in its death throes, the Lithia Springs City Council
tried to squander the taxpayers' money. As one of their last
official acts, council members tried to give $26,000 to a youth
baseball organization and $28,000 to the local fire station,
but the city attorney told them that such donations were
illegal. And rather than return the money that it had
confiscated from residents, the council turned over the
city government's assets ($326,000 in cash, a Ford Explorer
and office furniture) to the Douglas County government,
its partner in crime.

According to the AJC, Councilman Joe Meekes expressed
disappointment, saying that the town council could have
improved life there had it a few more years. If only they had
more time, if only they had more money, if only they had the
right people, if only they could crack a few more skulls.
Meekes said, It's all over now but the crying. I'm not
going to cry but I feel sorry for the community. Hey Joe,
do us all a big favor and crawl back under the statist rock
you crawled out from.

As we hurtle downhill on this toboggan ride to tyranny,
it's heartening to hear about a victory for liberty,
however small it may be. One down, ten thousand more to go.

A HREF=http://www.ctrl.org/;www.ctrl.org/A
DECLARATION  DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion  informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please!  These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.

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[CTRL] Mercenaries; Messiahs of Terror

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Mercenaries; Messiahs of Terror

Expo Times (Freetown)
June 8, 2001
Posted to the web June 8, 2001
http://allafrica.com/stories/200106080012.html

Issa A. Mansaray
Vienna, Austria

The 'Mercs' as they are known for short, prefer to be called
'military consultants,' or 'military advisors' as in the case of the
South African and United Kingdom 'Executive Outcomes' (EO). Even with
all the colourful names they give to themselves, they are still
considered as 'hired soldiers' or 'contract soldiers' that kill for
gain in countries of conflicts out of their boundaries. The misgiving
about mercenaries is that they sometimes help to fuel conflicts and
can easily switch sides to the highest bidder in any war zone.

Reading magazines, newspapers, and watching TV news on conflicts, the
word mercenary invokes terror and death. According to the 'Soldier of
Fortune magazine', the mercenary profession is the second oldest job
in the world. Mercenaries are considered as foreign soldiers helping
to liberate countries in conflict. However, Mercenaries do not
consider themselves as bloodthirsty soldiers. Many political
observers describe them as 'Soldiers of fortune,' 'Messiahs of
terror' and 'dogs of war'.

Mercenaries' operations in Africa started in the 1960s, with soldiers
like Gilbert Bourgeaud, known as Colonel Bob Denard, 'Mad' Mike
Hoare, 'Black' Jacques Schramme. These 'professional private
soldiers' are known across Africa for their involvement in almost all
the major battlefronts on the continent, from Angola to Democratic
Republic of Congo (former Zaire) to Sierra Leone or Mozambique.

Today's mercenaries want to be respected and called names like
'Contract soldiers,' 'military advisors', or 'military experts'. In
1977, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) adopted the OAU
Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa. This measure
was taken in response to the increasing rate at which mercenaries
were deployed to destabilise the emerging African states at the time.

TERROR

The only thing that seems to be continuous in the 20th and part of
the 21st century has been war, mostly in developing countries. While
the world powers tend to pay more attention to major conflicts such
as in Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia, and others places around the world,
there are plenty of low-key wars in Africa - Sierra Leone, Angola,
Rwanda, Casamance, DRC, Somalia etc, and military freelancing is now
widespread.

For the past years, mercenaries have been involved in almost all the
conflicts and wars in Africa; the continent is still undermined and
locked in Guerrilla warfare. The horrific images of 'soldiers of
fortune' in conflicts and the aftermath of wars, followed by the
countless number of refugees, does not encourage civilians to support
them. It brings cold feelings to the hearts of many people. Many
argue that their love for money and mining concessions, easily make
them switch sides and unaccountable to any government.

The case of EO's involvement in Angola comes to mind. EO, a spill
over of the South Africa Defense Force (SADF) fought on the side of
rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in Angola, because according to them, they
were told then that communism was evil, but after the cold war, they
realised the truth and fought on the side of the Angola army. They
advised on how to recapture the diamond fields from Savimbi.

Mercenaries in Africa see themselves as messiahs of the people from
colonialism, dictators and rebel factions. Their argument, according
to Col. Rudolf Van Heerden, EO's Operations Commander in Sierra Leone
in 1995, is that: Africa should not depend on the United Nations to
solve its security problems. Africans must solve their own problems
themselves. Africa is being destabilised by rebel wars and external
influences. Executive Outcomes was formed to neutralize their rebel
wars and counter the influence of negative external forces.

Nevertheless, for the people in the eastern town of Kono in Sierra
Leone, the point is not convincing. When one of its members, Robert
Mackenzie was killed and others injured, EO countered by shooting on
sight any one within their areas of operations (AO) in the diamond
and rutile mining fields. Civilians where mistaken as rebels or
'rebel sympathizers'. The war became more confused. During the war in
Uganda, the government hired a couple of troops and flight pilots
from South Africa to flush the rebels in the north. They left three
months after not been paid, and Joseph Koni's Lord Resistance Army
(LRA) kidnapped 100s of children.

THE MERCENARY BUSINESS

Today, mercenaries in Africa consider themselves businesspersons
first. They make deals through well-established firms around the
world. They undertake specialised services such as intelligence
gathering, military training, personal protection and guarding mining
fields. They are also willing to 'eliminate' enemies of states. In
recent years, they operate as arms purchasing agents for third word
countries. The 

[CTRL] Americans Blamed in Colombia Attack

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Published on Friday, June 15, 2001 in the San Francisco Chronicle

Americans Blamed in Colombia Attack

by Karl Penhaul, Chronicle Foreign Service
San Francisco Chronicle

  BOGOTA -- Three American civilian airmen providing airborne security for a
U.S. oil company coordinated an anti-guerrilla raid in Colombia in 1998,
marking targets and directing helicopter gunships that mistakenly killed 18
civilians, Colombian military pilots have alleged in a official inquiry.

The air attack on the village of Santo Domingo in oil-rich northeast Arauca
province took place on Dec. 13 of that year amid efforts to hunt down a 200-
strong column of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Survivors said the aircraft attacked them as they ran out of their homes to
a nearby road with their hands in the air to show they were noncombatants.

Here is an example of how U.S. aid is involved in human rights abuses.

Robin Kirk
Human Rights Watch

The raid caused some of the worst collateral damage inflicted on civilians
by the armed forces in the recent history of Colombia's 37-year conflict.
Shortly after the incident, President Andres Pastrana criticized the
military's actions, saying that security forces cannot respond to barbarism
with barbarism.

The alleged role of the U.S. airmen -- emerging only now -- has raised fresh
questions about American involvement in a war that is increasingly being
outsourced to private companies not accountable to the U.S. Congress.

According to the State Department, about 300 U.S. civilians are in Colombia,
most of whom work on contracts ostensibly linked to anti-drug efforts, which
Washington has funded with more than $1 billion as part of the Pastrana
government's Plan Colombia. Some have even piloted helicopters in raids on
drug plantations and installations in southern Colombia.

The pilots in the Santo Domingo incident were providing security for Los
Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., which operates the nearby Cano
Limon oil field, Colombia's second largest.

Investigators at the Colombian prosecutor general's office have asked the U.
S. Embassy in Bogota to help obtain information from the American airmen
involved in the attack, who worked for a private Rockledge, Fla.-based air
surveillance contractor called AirScan International Inc.

Embassy officials issued a terse statement Wednesday saying that the airmen
were not contract employees of the U.S. government and that the embassy did
not help oil companies solve their security issues.

Although it occurred 2 1/2 years ago, the Santo Domingo attack is becoming a
cause celebre for human rights organizations protesting creeping U.S.
involvement in Colombia's guerrilla war.

They say the fact that U.S.-donated helicopters dropped cluster bombs and
rockets on Santo Domingo is a disturbing demonstration of how the Colombian
military has sometimes used U.S. aid that in theory is earmarked only for
anti- narcotics operations.

Here is an example of how U.S. aid is involved in human rights abuses,
said Robin Kirk, senior researcher for the New York-based group Human Rights
Watch.

This is really the first test case of how the U.S. government is going to
abide by its own human rights laws, Kirk said, referring to the so-called
Leahy Law that restricts U.S. aid from being spent on counterinsurgency
operations.

Colombian Air Force pilot Cesar Romero told military judge Capt. Luz Monica
Ostos in testimony last month about the Santo Domingo attack: The
coordination was done directly with the armored helicopters that were
supporting us and with the (Cessna 337) Skymaster plane flown by U.S.
pilots. The Skymaster and gunship crews talked directly to the ground
troops.

While Romero conceded that the U.S.-donated Vietnam-era Huey UH-1H
helicopter he piloted bombed a target marked by the Cessna, he said he had
no intention of causing civilian casualties.

If Romero and Jimenez are eventually accused of criminal action in the
deaths of innocent civilians, they could face up to 30 years in jail. It is
unlikely that the U.S. airmen will face any charges, analysts say.

The raid came a day after army intelligence sources and the Skymaster plane
detected rebel movements in the area.

Air force helicopters strafed Santo Domingo with machine-gun fire, air-to-
surface rockets and cluster bombs. Eighteen civilians were killed, including
nine children, but no guerrillas.

At the time, the Colombian armed forces and U.S. officials conceded that the
aircraft and almost all weaponry involved in the attack had been supplied
under a 1989 U.S. aid package that was exempt from current congressional
restrictions.

An inquiry was launched immediately after the incident, but final results
have been delayed by military and civilian courts arguing over jurisdiction.

In testimony to the military tribunal late last month, helicopter co-pilot
Lt. Johan Jimenez backed Romero's accounts of the role of the AirScan
spotter plane.

The 

[CTRL] EU Summit Braced for More Violence

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

EU Summit Braced for More Violence

By Ian Geoghegan

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) - Swedish police were braced for fresh protests
on Saturday after rioting raged through a European Union (news - web sites)
summit, leaving three anarchist protesters shot and wounded and 12 policemen
injured.

The center of the picturesque port of Gothenburg looked like a war-zone with
wrecked shops and streets strewn with rocks and smoldering barricades after
the latest bout of anti-capitalist violence to hit a major international
meeting.

After nearly 12 hours of non-stop violence in which masked anarchists
smashed shop windows and torched piles of tables and chairs, protests had
died down by the early hours of Saturday and the city appeared calm.

But authorities were clearly anxious at the prospect of further violence on
Saturday when EU leaders resume meeting.

``I am very worried about what might happen in the hours ahead. There are
more demonstrations planned for tomorrow,'' Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom
told a late Friday briefing.

In the worst violence, three protesters were shot and wounded and were being
treated later in a Gothenburg hospital, a spokesman told Reuters.

The protesters were believed to have been shot when trapped and outnumbered
police fired in self-defense.

``Of the three, one is seriously hurt with wounds to the abdomen and is
being operated on. The other two, including one with a gunshot wound to the
thigh, were not seriously wounded,'' Pider Avall, spokesman for Sahlgrenska
University Hospital, said.

Overshadowed by the mayhem outside, EU leaders continued their business
agreeing that Ireland's shock rejection of the Nice Treaty on EU reform must
not derail plans to admit up to 12 ex-communist and Mediterranean states
over the next few years.

``There is a consensus...to send a signal to the applicant countries that we
want to go ahead with the enlargement process,'' said Swedish Prime Minister
Goran Persson.

``Despite the Irish vote, there will be a signal that the enlargement
process is irreversible,'' German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told
reporters.

CLEAR TIMETABLE

Diplomats said most of the 15 members wanted to set a more precise timetable
for admitting the first eastern candidates but Germany and France were
holding out against fixing dates.

Persson said he hoped leaders would agree on a formula that would satisfy
leaders of the dozen candidate countries when they meet for lunch on
Saturday.

Reflecting the majority view, Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok said: ``We should
declare our will to close the negotiations with the most advanced candidates
in 2002 and thereby encourage them to hasten reforms.''

But diplomats quoted Schroeder as saying that fixing dates would send the
wrong signal.

A senior EU diplomat said the Germans argued that setting an early target
date could make it harder for Poland to qualify in the first entry wave -- a
key German goal -- and leave insufficient time to reform agricultural
policy.

Photos

Reuters Photo


Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the leaders agreed that those
applicants who had not completed ratification by 2004 could still take part
in European Parliament elections that year. Their MEPs would take their
seats upon accession.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told leaders his country needed an
``extended period of reflection'' after last week's stunning 54-46 percent
defeat of the treaty negotiated in December to reform EU institutions to
cope with new members.

He stressed that Ireland's ``no'' should not be seen as a vote against
enlargement.

SHOTS FIRED

The rioting, much of it carried out by protesters masked and hooded to avoid
identification, devastated the center of Sweden's second largest city and
overwhelmed authorities. Some EU leaders were forced to flee their hotels.

Bodstrom said some 600 people were detained. He said 12 police were injured
but he denied they lost control during the rioting, the biggest challenge
the country's security forces had faced.

A hospital spokesman said over 50 people were treated for injuries.

A planned gala dinner for the heads of government had to be abandoned after
police said they could not guarantee their safety. Leaders ate instead
inside the heavily guarded summit conference complex.

Schroeder told reporters: ``At every international summit, you get
desperados who are just out for violence without any political background.''

Danish Premier Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said it was a ``paradox'' to see young
people rioting against a meeting ``where we are working toward a better
world, better environment and better future for coming generations.''

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) said the rioters were
''misguided'' and argued that world trade was good for jobs and living
standards.

Several leaders, including Schroeder, acknowledged that their citizens were
among the rioters.

POLICE DEFENDED

Bodstrom rejected criticism that police lost 

[CTRL] Gunfire As Riots Shake EU Enlargement Summit

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Gunfire As Riots Shake EU Enlargement Summit

http://www.iwon.com/home/news/news_article/0,11746,79306|top|06-15-2001::18:07|reuters,00.html


June 15, 2001
By Paul Taylor

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) - Anarchist riots raged around a European
Union summit on Friday, overwhelming Swedish police and forcing EU leaders
to abandon their hotels and drop a planned gala dinner.
At least two people were shot and wounded and more than 50 people were
treated for injuries, hospital spokesman said.
Police said an officer had opened fire in self-defense, injuring one
demonstrator. Casualty reports were confused.
As fighting continued late into the night, police broadcast appeals to
local residents in Sweden's second city to stay home.
At a late-night news conference, Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom denied
police had lost control but said the violence by hundreds of anarchists was
the most difficult challenge Sweden's security forces had ever faced.
Many of the rioters came from other countries with the intention of
disrupting the summit, he said.
Barricaded in a heavily guarded conference center, the 15 EU leaders
condemned the anti-capitalist riots, which have dogged international
gatherings since the 1999 World Trade Organization conference in Seattle.
They agreed that the process of enlarging the EU into eastern Europe must
go ahead despite Ireland's shock rejection of the Nice Treaty on EU reform
last week.
Police said they made several hundred arrests, including 110 suspected
militants who docked on a ferry from Denmark and were immediately detained.
Plumes of smoke rose over the fashionable Kungsports Avenyn as masked
anarchists methodically vandalized shop windows, piled tables and chairs
from sidewalk cafes into makeshift barricades and set them ablaze. Some
stores were looted.
Protesters hurled paving-stones and firecrackers at police, who responded
with baton charges. Mounted police were dragged from their horses and at
least nine policemen were injured.
FIGHTING ESCALATED
The fighting was far worse than clashes on Thursday in which 455 people
were detained while President Bush was meeting the EU leaders. Bush flew to
Poland on Friday morning.
The violence forced the Swedish hosts to switch Friday's summit dinner on
security grounds from Gothenburg's botanical gardens to the fortress-like
congress center, ringed by a six-foot high double steel fence and freight
containers.
Five summit delegations were forced to move out of a central hotel because
police said they could not guarantee their safety.
The mayhem overshadowed the day's EU business, which centered on the bloc's
ambitious plans to admit up to 12 ex-communist and Mediterranean countries
over the next few years.
There is a consensus...to send a signal to the applicant countries that we
want to go ahead with the enlargement process, Swedish Prime Minister
Goran Persson said after chairing the first day of the summit.
Despite the Irish vote, there will be a signal that the enlargement
process is irreversible, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told the leaders his country needed an
extended period of reflection after last week's stunning 54-46 percent
defeat of the treaty negotiated in December to reform EU institutions to
cope with new members.
He stressed that Ireland's no should not be seen as a vote against
enlargement. Diplomats said they expected the Irish to vote again, probably
next year after a cooling-off period, and some EU statement respecting
Ireland's neutrality in the common European foreign and security policy.
TIMETABLE FOR ENLARGEMENT?
Diplomats said most of the 15 EU states wanted to set a more precise
timetable for admitting the first eastern candidates but Germany and France
were holding out against fixing dates.
Persson said he hoped the leaders would agree on a formula that would
satisfy leaders of 12 candidate countries when they meet for lunch on
Saturday.
Reflecting the majority view, Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok said: We should
declare our will to close the negotiations with the most advanced
candidates in 2002 and thereby encourage them to hasten reforms.
But diplomats quoted Schroeder as saying that fixing dates would send the
wrong signal.
A senior EU diplomat said the Germans argued that setting an early target
date could make it harder for Poland to qualify in the first group, a key
German goal, and leave insufficient time to reform agricultural policy.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the leaders agreed that those
applicants who had not completed ratification by 2004 could still take part
in European Parliament elections that year. Their MEPs would take their
seats upon accession.
In a rare mood of contrition, some leaders said they regretted that the
bloc's Ecofin council had censured Ireland's budget as inflationary earlier
this year. Others argued it had been premature to launch a fresh debate on
the future of Europe before the treaty 

[CTRL] Top firms retreat into bunker to ward off anarchists

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

radman pull quote:

You have to understand. Future wars will be
fought by capitalists and anti-capitalists as society polarises. When that
happens, control of information will be as important as control of
territory used to be in conventional conflicts. If you can stop your enemy
from destroying your information, then you have a good chance of winning
the war.



http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/update/story.jsp?story=77374

13 June 2001

  Top firms retreat into bunker to ward off anarchists

  By Steve Boggan

  11 June 2001

  Some of Britain's biggest companies are running their internet operations
on systems installed in a 300ft-deep nuclear blast-proof bunker to protect
customers from violent anti-capitalist campaigners.

  They are renting space in hermetically sealed rooms capable of
withstanding a one Kiloton explosion, electro-magnetic pulse bombs,
electronic eavesdropping and chemical and biological warfare.

  Hundreds of companies have already installed systems in The Bunker -
formerly known as RAF Ash, outside Sandwich in Kent - and dozens more are
understood to be queuing up for space. They have been driven underground
by the IRA bombings of Canary Wharf and Bishopsgate in London and,
increasingly, by concerns over the operations of anarchists behind
sophisticated protests such as the May Day anti-capitalist rallies.

  At stake is billions of pounds worth of business conducted over the
internet. Companies are concerned that while electronic security - using
increasingly sophisticated encryption codes - is gradually making
customers feel more confident about conducting credit-card transactions
over the internet, the physical side of e-business is still vulnerable.
The fear is that servers, the small electronic boxes through which
customer traffic and business transactions on the web are channelled,
could be physically vulnerable to theft, damage or sabotage.

  For companies conducting business solely over the internet, the loss of a
server could be catastrophic; while offline there can be no sales and no
income, and customers will go elsewhere. Records, too, are vulnerable to
attack, hacking or simple damage, resulting in shut-downs that could cost
even traditional companies millions of pounds.

  Now organisations such as Scottish Widows, BTCellnet, Richer Sounds and
the Bank Automated Clearance System - which deals with inter-bank
transactions - have acted, putting their e-business and confidential
dealings out of harm's way behind guards, barbed wire, dogs, electronic
detection systems, millions of tons of earth, 4m of concrete, pressurised
air locks and rows of steel doors up to 18in thick.

  This isn't paranoia or fantasy, this is the future, said Dr Ian Angell,
professor of information systems at the London School of Economics and
author of The New Barbarian Manifesto. There are sophisticated
anti-capitalists out there who feel a great deal of resentment against the
business world. These are the new Luddites and, given half a chance, they
would smash the machine to pieces.

  Behind The Bunker is a company called AL Digital Communications,
established by the brothers Adam and Ben Laurie and Dominic Hawken. Ben
Laurie is already revered in the computing world as the man who co-wrote
Apache-SSL, perhaps the best-known encryption technology available over
the internet - a tool used by some anti-capitalists when arranging
demonstrations.

  Three years ago, AL Digital heard that an RAF facility with state-of-the
art electronics and communications systems was to be auctioned off. RAF
Ash was one of four underground command and control centres at the heart
of Britain's national air defence system. As part of a cost-cutting
exercise, it was to be mothballed only seven years after undergoing a
complete overhaul and upgrade.

  The AL Digital team made a sealed bid - still secret, according to the
Ministry of Defence - and the 60,000sq ft bunker with 18 acres of land was
theirs. The facility was designed to withstand a nuclear attack without
disrupting RAF computer systems, Dominic Hawken said. Their computers
were about radar, but there is little difference between that and hosting
a website. Some people have argued that our defences are a little over the
top, but they're here now ? what can we do, shave a little off the walls?

  To enter, visitors must pass through security checks before being allowed
through layer after layer of restricted access; of the 49 employees on
site, only a handful are allowed into the bowels of the structure. Here,
one finds doors that take two people to open and concrete grottoes called
Faraday cages that act as electric buffers between the hostile outside and
the environmentally pure, air-filtered inside.

  There are three back-up power systems big enough to fire up a small town
- when busy, the National Grid buys energy from The Bunker's four
turbines. There are dedicated telecommunications lines installed for the
RAF

[CTRL] Postal Service Has Its Eye on You

[radman]

-Caveat Lector-

Postal Service Has Its Eye on You

http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200107033.shtml

By John Berlau [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Since 1997, the U.S. Postal Service has been conducting a
customer-surveillance program, 'Under the Eagle's Eye,' and reporting
innocent activity to federal law enforcement.

Remember Know Your Customer? Two years ago the federal government tried to
require banks to profile every customer's normal and expected transactions
and report the slightest deviation to the feds as a suspicious activity.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. withdrew the requirement in March 1999
after receiving 300,000 opposing comments and massive bipartisan opposition.
But while your bank teller may not have been snooping and snitching
on your every financial move, your local post office has been (and is)
watching you closely, Insight has learned. That is, if you have bought money
orders, made wire transfers or sought cash cards from a postal clerk. Since
1997, in fact, the window clerk may very well have reported you to the
government as a suspicious customer. It doesn't matter that you are not a
drug dealer, terrorist or other type of criminal or that the the transaction
itself was perfectly legal. The guiding principle of the new postal program
to combat money laundering, according to a U.S. Postal Service training
video obtained by Insight, is: It's better to report 10 legal transactions
than to let one illegal transaction get by.
Many privacy advocates see similarities in the post office's
customer-surveillance program, called Under the Eagle's Eye, to the Know
Your Customer rules. In fact, in a postal-service training manual also
obtained by Insight, postal clerks are admonished to know your customers.
Both the manual and the training video give a broad definition of
suspicious in instructing clerks when to fill out a suspicious activity
report after a customer has made a purchase. The rule of thumb is if it
seems suspicious to you, then it is suspicious, says the manual. As we
said before, and will say again, it is better to report many legitimate
transactions that seem suspicious than let one illegal one slip through.
It is statements such as these that raise the ire of leading privacy
advocates on both the left and right, most of whom didn't know about the
program until asked by Insight to comment. For example, Rep. Ron Paul,
R-Texas, who led the charge on Capitol Hill against the Know Your Customer
rules, expressed both surprise and concern about Under the Eagle's Eye. He
says the video's instructions to report transactions as suspicious are the
reverse of what the theory used to be: We were supposed to let guilty people
go by if we were doing harm to innocent people when the methods of trying
to apprehend criminals violated the rights of ordinary citizens. Paul says
he may introduce legislation to stop Under the Eagle's Eye.
The same sort of response came from another prominent critic of Know
Your Customer, this time on the left, who was appalled by details of the
training video. The postal service is training its employees to invade
their customers' privacy, Greg Nojeim, associate director of the American
Civil Liberties Union Washington National Office, tells Insight. This
training will result in the reporting to the government of tens of thousands
of innocent transactions that are none of the government's business. I had
thought the postal-service's eagle stood for freedom. Now I know it stands
for, 'We're watching you!'
But postal officials who run Under the Eagle's Eye say that
flagging customers who do not follow normal patterns is essential if law
enforcement is to catch criminals laundering money from illegal
transactions. The postal service has a responsibility to know what their
legitimate customers are doing with their instruments, Al Gillum, a former
postal inspector who now is acting program manager, tells Insight. If
people are buying instruments outside of a norm that the entity itself has
to establish, then that's where you start with suspicious analysis,
suspicious reporting. It literally is based on knowing what our legitimate
customers do, what activities they're involved in.
Gillum's boss, Henry Gibson, the postal-service's Bank Secrecy Act
compliance officer, says the anti-money-laundering program started in 1997
already has helped catch some criminals. We've received acknowledgment from
our chief postal inspector that information from our system was very helpful
in the actual catching of some potential bad guys, Gibson says.
Gillum and Gibson are proud that the postal service received a letter
of commendation from then-attorney general Janet Reno in 2000 for this
program. The database system the postal service developed with Information
Builders, an information-technology consulting firm, received an award from
Government Computer News in 2000 and was a finalist in the
government/nonprofit category