Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
OsamaUSA * Lori * Peltier * MS-herb * Woody
19 August 2005
"Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world.
How do you cultivate it? It's very simple. In the first place by realizing
clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country
are members of one and the same family."
-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama1) CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away- - New Abuse Photos Could Spark Riots, US General Warns
- - Get Ready for World War III
- - Democrats embrace tough military stance
- - D.C. Peace March - September 24th
2) Lori Berenson update from Peru Prison
3) Note from Leonard Peltier, transferred to Lewisburg, PA
4) Montel Williams fighting MS supports medical marijuana
5) Robert Woodward's family seeks justice
Editor's Notes:Six years ago yesterday, Cassini was speeding toward and away from Earth at phenomenal speeds, 10 miles per second, with 72.3 pounds of highly radioactive Plutonium on board. You can imagine where Earth was headed at this time at the end of the 20th Century, a brave new world. The post Cassini flyby era doesn't promise to be long, unlike the Mayan 25,800-year calendar cycle where their fifth world age begins when their current calendar ends, December 21, 2012. By then we should have a pretty good idea if humanity will survive this 21st Century.
Item 1 gives hope for the integrity of US service personnel to uphold their sworn oath to defend principles of the US Constitution. Newsweek reported that "..in a forthcoming book, the CIA field commander for the agency's Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, says he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members. Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora—intelligence operatives had tracked him—and could have been caught.." Sub-items also tell the story of the Democratic Party merging into the Republican Party, with fear, manipulation, power, greed, as the driving forces. Could World War III be far behind? In this item, too, note link and information on Washington, D.C. and hometown march on September 24th for a new policy, perhaps one that is more attuned with the message in the above quote by the Dalai Lama.
Item 2 is a long overdue update on Lori Berenson, held up in Peru for much too long. Please send Lori this issue of Flyby News, let her know we are thinking of her; as her communication stated, our plights are connected. Item 3 updates on the whereabouts of Leonard Peltier, after almost 30 years he deserves to be home with family and friends. My friend, too,
Malik Abdullah Akili is seeking a voice beyond the bars of injustice. All communications helps these brothers and sisters immensely. This is the reason to download issues of Flyby News, since after reading you can pass on the information to others not on the Internet. Anyone going to D.C. and want hand-outs for Flyby News, please write and send your snail mail address to
info@flybynews.com.
Item 4 is on Montel Williams, TV Host - who has endorsed medical marijuana in his treatment of pain from multiple sclerosis. He also prescribes snow boarding or skiing to help focus on the bottoms of your feet, which greatly improves his mobility, and walking. Montel's book is called "Climbing Higher." Item 5 is long overdue, too. Justice is still waiting. It is simply a sad situation when parents must go to NYC to appeal for justice to be heard in a community where police gun down a young friend in a Church while seeking political asylum. Mainstream news is uncovering the police killing of an innocent man in the UK, who was thought to have been a terrorist. In Vermont USA, December 2001, while Howard Dean was Governor, they simply swept the story under a mat for years. But, hopefully, justice for Woody's family will be heard in a Court of Law. Please stay aware.., no matter how painful... Thanks to Keith Carlson for his blog on the appeal, and others for getting down to NYC for a friend in spirit forever with us.
Please note that David Ray Griffin will be speaking in Brattleboro, Manchester, VT on October 11; and Montpelier and Burlington on October 12th. Details will be posted at
FlybyNews.com . [Please note, too, on a music celebration to benefit FN at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA on October 14th.] For a recommended DVD film to present, share, raise consciousness, and for transcript of the April, 18, 2005 address by David Ray Griffin (first broadcast by C-span cable TV on April 30, 2005), see:
9/11 and the American Empire: How Should Religious People Respond?You cannot serve two masters at the same time.
1) CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away- - New Abuse Photos Could Spark Riots, US General Warns
- - Get Ready for World War III
- - Democrats embrace tough military stance
- - D.C. Peace March - September 24th
CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away
August 15, 2005 Issue, Newsweek
MSNBC.com
Exclusive: CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away
Newsweek
Aug. 15, 2005 issue - During the 2004 presidential campaign, George W. Bush and John Kerry battled about whether Osama bin Laden had escaped from Tora Bora in the final days of the war in Afghanistan. Bush, Kerry charged, "didn't choose to use American forces to hunt down and kill" the leader of Al Qaeda. The president called his opponent's allegation "the worst kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking." Bush asserted that U.S. commanders on the ground did not know if bin Laden was at the mountain hideaway along the Afghan border.
But in a forthcoming book, the CIA field commander for the agency's Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, says he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members. Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora—intelligence operatives had tracked him—and could have been caught. "He was there," Berntsen tells NEWSWEEK. Asked to comment on Berntsen's remarks, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones passed on 2004 statements from former CENTCOM commander Gen. Tommy Franks. "We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001," Franks wrote in an Oct. 19 New York Times op-ed. "Bin Laden was never within our grasp." Berntsen says Franks is "a great American. But he was not on the ground out there. I was."
In his book—titled "Jawbreaker"—the decorated career CIA officer criticizes Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Department for not providing enough support to the CIA and the Pentagon's own Special Forces teams in the final hours of Tora Bora, says Berntsen's lawyer, Roy Krieger. (Berntsen would not divulge the book's specifics, saying he's awaiting CIA clearance.) That backs up other recent accounts, including that of military author Sean Naylor, who calls Tora Bora a "strategic disaster" because the Pentagon refused to deploy a cordon of conventional forces to cut off escaping Qaeda and Taliban members. Maj. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman, says the problem at Tora Bora "was not necessarily just the number of troops."
Berntsen's book gives, by contrast, a heroic portrayal of CIA activities at Tora Bora and in the war on terror. Ironically, he has sued the agency over what he calls unacceptable delays in approving his book—a standard process for ex-agency employees describing classified matters. "They're just holding the book," which is scheduled for October release, he says. "CIA officers, Special Forces and U.S. air power drove the Taliban out in 70 days. The CIA has taken roughly 80 days to clear my book." Jennifer Millerwise, a CIA spokeswoman, says Berntsen's "timeline is not accurate," adding that he submitted his book as an ex-employee only in mid-June. "We take seriously our goal of responding quickly."
—Michael Hirsh
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8853000/site/newsweek/= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - New Abuse Photos Could Spark Riots, US General WarnsBy William Fisher
08/16/05 'IPS"-- -- NEW YORK, Civil libertarians and the Pentagon appear headed for yet another trainwreck in the ongoing dispute over the so-called second batch of photos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
In response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and a number of medical and veterans groups demanding release of 87 new videos and photographs depicting detainee abuse at the now infamous prison, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, said the release would result in "riots, violence and attacks by insurgents."
For the complete article, see:
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29916= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Get Ready for World War IIIBush can ignore the American public, because the Democrats, have completely collapsed as an opposition party.
By Paul Craig Roberts
Israel's Likud government is Bush's last remaining ally in his war against "Islamic terrorism." Israel, which is loaded with nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the nuclear pacts, is the accuser against Iran, asserting that Iran's nuclear energy program is just a veil behind which to produce weapons.
For a posting of the complete article, see:
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9824.htmor
www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=6936- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Roberts < paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com > is John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.
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- - Democrats embrace tough military stanceSharpen message on foreign policy
By Rick Klein,
Globe Staff
Published by the Boston; August 14, 2005
[EXCERPTS]
WASHINGTON -- After months of internal debate and closed-door discussions, Democrats have begun to develop a more aggressive foreign policy that focuses heavily on threats they say are being neglected by the Bush administration, while avoiding taking a contentious stance on Iraq.
Even Democrats who have been associated with liberal positions on international affairs are calling for more troops in uniform, proposing that threats of force be used to stop nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, and pressing for potential military intervention to ease famine and oppression around the world.
''Having the strongest military in the world is the first step, but we also have to have a strong commitment to using our military in smart ways that further peace, stability, and security around the world," Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, said at the Democratic Leadership Council in Columbus, Ohio, last month.
For the complete Boston Globe article, see:
www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/14/democrats_embrace_tough_military_stance/For the article posted, and discussion, see:
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2008393= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - D.C. Peace March - September 24thJoin the
March on Washington
September 24
Washington DC
END THE WAR ON IRAQ
TROOPS OUT NOW!
{Gather 11:00AM at the Washington Monument}
For more information, see:
www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=91
2) Lori Berenson update from Peru PrisonMessage by Rhoda and Mark Berenson
July 15, 2005
Lori [sent] the following letter to update you on what is going on in Peru and neighboring countries. She refers to corruption in Peru that has been front-page news for several weeks. To put her comments in context, it must be mentioned that the Peruvian Congress had passed a law, now rescinded, enabling those awaiting trials or sentencing for other than terrorism-related charges to serve their time under house arrest instead of spending that time under harsh prison conditions. In addition, despite Peru joining the US in the global war on terrorism and on narco-trafficking and despite Peru recently being authorized to receive over $100 million dollars from the US Congress to fight drugs, President Toledo recently decided to commute the six-year eight-month sentence of a young woman after she had served only one year following her conviction for drug trafficking - trying to leave Peru with 10 pounds of cocaine. President Toledo then gave this young woman a humanitarian release. She happens to be the daughter of an ambassador from a country allied with Peru.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
July 1, 2005
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your continued interest in my situation here in Peru.
Since the years are most certainly passing by, the certain monotony of prison life is not really that fundamental an issue, albeit everything you can see in jails and the judicial system (abuses, injustices) is a mere reflection of how the society is doing in general.
These have been times of turmoil - massive protests in neighboring Latin-American countries Ecuador and Bolivia. The ruling classes of each of these countries found a way to temporarily calm the situations through the calling of new elections, putting in transitional governments.
However, the real social demands, which had more to do with social and economic policies, weren't touched at all; thus the time-bomb keeps ticking away.
In Peru, although there have continued to be a lot of protests by certain sectors (including important mobilizations against foreign-owned mining companies), there has been no national movement to oust the present government, perhaps since no one thinks its replacement would do anything differently. However, things are not going well. The economic and political crisis is quite serious; the percentage of Peruvians that don't have stable, formal employment is well over 50% of the economically active population. Corruption scandals of this and former governments continue to come to light. Polls show that people have little or no faith in the political class.
As I said earlier, jails mirror society. Constructed and constricted with a limited budget, they've been converted into warehouses that house humans. The judicial system does not treat equally.
There's a huge backlog and the courts are overwhelmed with cases. That is reflected in jails which are filled with people who are "unsentenced." The laws that govern the processes are established by political conveniences; thus there are those who are practically denied prison benefits while new laws are equalizing house arrest with time served in jail, which only benefit the corrupt. There are apparently special considerations given in the reducing of sentences through presidential "humanitarian" decrees. However, I doubt they are truly humanitarian, they appear to be mere and pure politics. Where was "humanity" when the government doesn't pardon the terminally ill? Or when it refuses to look at completely disproportionate sentences? It's not "humanity," it's political interests.
This is reality here and in many places. I much doubt it will change for the better if society doesn't change in a big way, but these are all part of social processes that move on their own time lines.
I am again grateful for your continued interest in this situation over the years. It's a big help for me and my family.
Sincerely,
Lori Berenson
Huacariz Prison
Cajamarca, Peru
Rhoda and Mark Berenson
English Website:
FreeLori.org Spanish Website:
LoriLibre.org
3) Note from Leonard Peltier, transferred to Lewisburg, PALEONARD HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO USP LEWISBURG
from the LPDC Blog, posted August 16, 2005
Aho My Relations,
On August 15, 2005 I was transferred to USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania. Life has been extra difficult for me since I was transferred from Leavenworth. This system is designed to make one feel very powerless, and what they are doing with me now is definitely aimed to erode my body and spirit even more. My loved ones, and all of you, my friends and allies who continue to support me, keep me sane and hopeful..
For the complete post, see:
http://lpdcinc.blogspot.com* * *
Leonard Peltier # 89637-132
USP LEWISBURG
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 1000
LEWISBURG, PA 17837
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee web site:
LeonardPeltier.orgFor more from Flyby News, see:
Free Leonard Peltier
4) Montel Williams fighting MS supports medical marijuanaTranscript: Montel Williams' Battle With M.S.
Hannity & Colmes
Source: FoxNews.com
[EXCERPTS]
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Television veteran -- .. -- Montel Williams -- ..since 1999 he's also been fighting constant pain and depression from multiple sclerosis. In his new book, "Climbing Higher," he talks how he almost took his own life and why his love for his children gave him the strength to go on living.
[EXCERPT]
HANNITY: All right. We continue now with Montel Williams. His new book is called "Climbing Higher." This is the phrase you use at the beginning of every speech, because you give speeches over the years.
WILLIAMS: My speech used to start with "Mountain, get out of my way." And my first book was called, "Mountain Get Out of My Way." And I decided to think about this. Climbing higher is really what it's all about. That's what I'm doing now, because I've really have got to try to climb above what I have to deal with every single day.
HANNITY: Explain -- I actually said this the other day on my radio show. I don't understand depression because I have never been there, but my friends have gone through it and I've watched it. It's a hard thing to understand. But when you wake up, what is the pain? Explain it.
WILLIAMS: Several things. Depression is a psychological thing that takes place within -- some of it is chemically induced by the drugs we take..
COLMES: You're taking medical marijuana.
WILLIAMS: Yes. I have a prescription, and ...
COLMES: And this is a bit controversial. People have not really recognized how this can be a valuable commodity.
WILLIAMS: It is a huge controversy in this country, and I think it's been so for a long time for the wrong reason. And we have to start telling the truth. That's what that book is about to me. It's about the truth.
One truth is that marijuana has been made illegal and not by any test that has ever, ever validated that it should be.
COLMES: They stopped you in Detroit in the airport. They found residue?
WILLIAMS: They didn't. They found a brand-new, clean pipe. Clean.
COLMES: Yes.
WILLIAMS: No residue at all. The police stopped me, because they have a paraphernalia law in the state of Michigan.
COLMES: Michigan.
WILLIAMS: And so they stopped me. And I got a $100 ticket and moved on.
But the truth of the matter is, I take it for -- I could right now ask any doctor that I see to write me a prescription for medicine morphine, for medicinal -- there's a drug called talon, Oxycontin , you name it. I could be addicted to anything on the planet and none of those drugs work for me.
Now, I can eat and consume another thing that grows out of the ground and it makes -- it does me good.
HANNITY: It's called "Climbing Higher." All right. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Thanks so much for being with us.
For a posting of the complete article, transcript, see:
www.cannabisworld.org/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?s=0f53da7d68b82992bf0b416e96242116&threadid=58075Source: FoxNews.com (US)
Show: Hannity & Colmes
Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Copyright: 2004 FOX News Network, LLC
Website:
foxnews.comContact: comments@foxnews.com
Related Web Site:
Montel Williams
www.montelshow.com/For a letter from Montel Williams to MS community, see:
www.spotlighthealth.com/common/SG/topics.asp?m=2&sb=12www.montelms.org
5) Robert Woodward's family seeks justiceFamily of man in Vermont church shooting wants case before jury
Published by Newsday.com on August 4, 2005
NEW YORK -- The family of a Vermont man who brandished a knife before a church congregation and was fatally shot by police asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to overrule a lower judge and let a jury decide whether the shooting was justified.
The lower judge ruled last year that it was reasonable for police to believe their lives or the lives of others were in danger when they confronted Robert Woodward at the church on a December Sunday in 2001.
But Joel Faxon, a lawyer for the family, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that critical facts about the shooting were unsettled and a jury should be allowed to hear the case.
"There's substantial evidence in the record suggesting no threat, no charge, no advance" on the officers by Woodward, Faxon told the judges. He said the lower judge disregarded some accounts by witnesses.
Article truncated, for complete Newday.com posting, see:
www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--churchshooting0804aug04,0,4719953.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - From
JusticeForWoody.orgOn December 2, 2001, Woody suffered a terrible injustice. .
‘..Within less than a minute of the police entering, two of the three policemen shot seven rounds into Woody. A fusillade of shots followed the first two shots, so rapid that to some witnesses it sounded like a single shot. One detailed account describes the police firing the fusillade of rounds into Woody as he was lying on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, and holding the knife to his face. The police had made no attempt to use negotiation or nonlethal restraint such as their pepper spray to subdue Woody.
While Woody lay on the floor bleeding heavily and with a shattered elbow, the police proceeded to handcuff his wrists behind his back, forcing him to his stomach. The police refused repeated requests from a physician present that the handcuffs be removed so she could access his wounds to stop the bleeding.
43 minutes elapsed between the time of the shooting and the time Woody arrived in the emergency room of the local hospital 3 miles away. It took over three and one half hours to move Woody to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock hospital which had the facilities needed to treat his heart trauma. He died shortly after arriving there around 2 PM.
Every one of the witnesses who has been willing to talk publicly has maintained that Woody never threatened anyone but himself.."
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From blog of friend of Woody and FN editor, Jonathan Mark
Posted by Keith Carlson @ 8/05/2005 07:16:00 PM
Well, we're back from New York City and the long-anticipated hearing at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The building itself is an imposing structure, supported in front by massive columns (Ionic style, I believe), looking out on a large open area dominated by a large fountain, one block from City Hall Park and several blocks from the site of the World Trade Center---or "Ground Zero" as it is popularly known For us, the church where Woody was killed is our "ground zero", and this hearing was yet another event in the course of this long battle for some semblance of justice and recognition that he was wrongfully killed while begging for asylum. Anyway, on with the story.
For the complete blog, article, visit:
http://digitaldoorway.blogspot.com/2005/08/trials-and-tribulations.htmlFor more from FN, see:
personal accounts on a friend shot dead by police
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