Category Archives: Politics: Tinfoil

Two Sets of Leaks from the NSA

Speaking of the NSA, here are links to two stories about the NSA.

There's stuff in the Wayne Masden article that seems all too plausible. And, as is so often the case, there's also some seriously tinfoily stuff in Madsen's report, notably the allegation that,

NSA has recorded tactical communications intelligence—overheard on a speaker system in the NSOC—that demonstrates that United Flight 93 was shot down by U.S. fighter planes over Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, and the Bush administration concocted a phony “patriotic” cover story about the passengers and crew deliberately crashing the plane into the ground.

I am very dubious. I just don't think they could keep something that big under wraps so long. Consider how quickly the tissue of lies about the 'friendly fire' killing of Pat Tilman began to unravel. I suppose you could argue that if it took a year for the whole story to come out on a minor thing like that, a really major cover up would last longer. But surely someone would have talked?

Posted in National Security, Politics: Tinfoil | 13 Comments

Iraq Billions Secretly Invested in US Stock Market?

Under the very appropriate headline Could This Possibly Be True?, David Farber forwards this story that seems like pure tin-foil. And yet.

Of the $18.4 billion that Congess appropriated 16 months ago for postwar reconstruction in Iraq, only $3.6 billion has been spent to date. There has been much head-scratching over this uncharacteristic failure of the Pentagon to spend money promptly.

A recently unearthed portion of a Defense Department memo sheds some light on the issue, suggesting that more than $14 billion earmarked for reconstruction was actually invested on Wall Street. The memo's author and date are unknown. This portion of the apparently classified document — marked “page 3” — was mistakenly sent to Mid-America Seed Savers, a nonprofit organization in Lawrence, Kansas whose members had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Army's alleged distribution of genetically engineered wheat seed to farmers in Iraq. The memo fragment is reproduced here in full:

[page heading] Reconstruction fund enhancement – p. 3

[…] that among these, the scenario with greatest potential was investment in a medium-risk portfolio of U.S.-based securities. To accomplish this without incurring excessive and unwarranted scrutiny, the Secretary issued a classified order creating the Office of Special Brokerage Services (OSBS), to which management of the reconstruction funds was assigned. The OSBS, quietly through third parties, purchased approximately $5 billion in stock in February, 2004. Another $9.2 billion was invested the following month. As of December 31, 2004, the fund had shown a net growth of approximately -1.7%.

The negative growth observed to date should not be cause for gloom. This is a long-term investment of behalf of the Iraqi people. According to OSBS projections, the fund's assets will achieve a value of $38.9 billion by a decade from now, assuming vigorous growth in the US economy.

It is important to compare that figure with the almost-certain undesirable outcome of spending the money directly on infrastructure enhancement. The past two years' experience shows that new public works run a significant risk of damage or even instantaneous 100% depreciation due to hostile and friendly combat activities. And, as the CJCS [Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers] has noted, insurgencies typically last 7 to 12 years. If invested on the ground in Iraq today, the reconstruction funds might well be worth precisely zero to the Iraqi people a decade from now.

Prudent investment, on the other hand, can help Iraq rebuild while becoming an ownership society. The OSBS has assigned portions of the fund's assets to individual citizens, based on voting rolls from the January election. Although he or she is not yet aware of it, each and every Iraqi voter now owns a Personal Reconstruction Account (PRA) that will continue to grow in value, safely, until violence in Iraq subsides and normal economic activity can resume. At that point, Iraqi citizens will be able to draw on their PRAs as needed, putting that money to work in their economy and stimulating private-sector solutions to the problem of reconstruction.

PRAs will provide Iraqis with what they desire most: freedom of choice. Under this plan, money will go directly into the pockets of the Iraqi people, for whose benefit Congress intended it. Furthermore, the use of voting records to allocate PRAs will ensure that impetus for rebuilding the country will come from those who have demonstrated a commitment to the democratic process — not from Muslim extremists or Baathist dead-enders.

The question of whether to inform American or Iraqi citizens of OSBS activities and plans is a difficult one. Taking into consideration current political realities, it is probably best not [… end of page]

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | 3 Comments

Were the Votes Counted In MD?

I tend to believe that any big scandal will out fairly fast; people talk.[1] So pending some confirmation, I'm filing as 'tinfoil' this allegation that there were massive systemic failures across Maryland involving Diebold AccuVote-TS machines last November — problems with “lost votes, multiple machine failures and even unreadable data cartridges”. But if true it would be very troubling indeed.


[1.] I used to also believe that big scandals cause pressure for reform, but that belief has been badly dented by the multiple scandals of the current administration which have failed to excite popular interest (or even media interest). It's enough to make Marcuse start looking good.

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | 5 Comments

Did NYT Spike a Story about GBW’s Debate Cheating?

Fairness and Accuracy in Media, not one of my favorite groups but people worth at least listening to, claims that the NYT spiked a story about Bush carrying in mechanical aids into the debates: The Emperor's New Hump

On Thursday, just three days after that first exposé, the paper was set to run a second, perhaps more explosive piece, exposing how George W. Bush had worn an electronic cueing device in his ear and probably cheated during the presidential debates.

… But on October 28, the article was not in the paper. After learning from the reporters working on the story that their article had been killed the night before by senior editors, Nelson eventually sent his photographic evidence of presidential cheating to Salon magazine, which ran the photos as the magazine’s lead item on October 29.

Cowards. (spotted via Orcinus)

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil, The Media | 6 Comments

Are There No Terrorists Under the Bed?

Robert Scheer writes in the LA Times, Is Al Qaeda Just a Bush Boogeyman?

Is it conceivable that Al Qaeda, as defined by President Bush as the center of a vast and well-organized international terrorist conspiracy, does not exist?

To even raise the question amid all the officially inspired hysteria is heretical, especially in the context of the U.S. media's supine acceptance of administration claims relating to national security. Yet a brilliant new BBC film produced by one of Britain's leading documentary filmmakers systematically challenges this and many other accepted articles of faith in the so-called war on terror.

“The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear,” a three-hour historical film by Adam Curtis recently aired by the British Broadcasting Corp., argues coherently that much of what we have been told about the threat of international terrorism “is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians.

Wouldn't that be something?

Continue reading

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | 3 Comments

Bush Health Story Won’t Quite Die

To believe this story, PHOTOS Show George W. Bush Seriously Ill Physically : Houston Indymedia, you'd have to believe that Bush's military doctor was lying when he said that Bush “remains in superb physical condition.” I tend to find that unlikely, although there are of course the FDR and JFK precedents.

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | 2 Comments