Two Enormously Important 9/11 Reports

Some of the darker secrets of 9/11 are coming to light. It seems the Saudis -- including George W's pal Prince Bandar "Bush" -- had their fingers deeper in the pie than the 9/11 Commission wanted to admit.

Read them both. Think about them. And tell others to do the same.

Raw Story: FBI documents contradict 9/11 Commission report (be sure to read page 2)

Daniel Hopsicker: John McCain's Sweet Ride: Lobbyist's Plane Flew Saudi Royals After 9/11

Connect the dots.

Suppression of Dissent: The White House Manual

I've been stuffed into several "designated protest zones" in the past few years.

Now you, too, can read the effin manual for stifling dissent at presiduncial appearances. Go ahead. Download the heavily-redacted PDF.

Here are some interesting tidbits:

The formation of "rally squads" is a common way to prepare for demonstrators by countering their message. . . .

The squads should be instructed always to look for demonstrators. The rally squad's task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drown out teh protestors (USA!, USA!, USA!). As a last resort security should remove the demonstrators from the event site. The rally squads can include, but are not limited to, college/young republican organizations, local athletic teams, and fraternities/sororities.

Hmmm... roaming bands of jocks looking for sly, undercover protesters? How do they recognize them? Unruly hair? Wrinkled clothing? Hairy legs? Gaydar? A mad twinkle in the eye? Maybe an obvious disgust at the sight of people cheering for the criminal leader of an atavistic, blood-drenched death cult?

And so it begins. . . .

And so it begins. . . .

Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity - and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.

Bush's stay-the-course "surge" speech last night reinforced my belief that he will not leave office without engaging the U.S. in a war with Iran. It has been the plan, and they will get their new war no matter what it takes.

Here is how I believe the casus belli will be manufactured.

There will be a major incident resulting in a substantial loss of life to U.S. troops. This will coincide with a push by the U.S./U.K./Israeli bloc in the U.N. for substantial sanctions against Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear (excuse me: nucular) activities. There may even be another Powell-esque Powerpoint show, complete with satellite photos, secretive sources, and repeated use of the phrase "mushroom cloud."

Then it will happen -- the worst loss of U.S. troops yet. It will be bloody, horrific, and substantial -- probably an attack on troops in the Green Zone, killing women as well as men, and the footage of the carnage will be all over YouTube within hours. Bush will promise a "major" prime-time speech.

The smoking gun will be "indisputable" evidence of Iranian planning, material aid, and execution of the attack. I wouldn't be surprised if they discover a remarkably intact Iranian passport in the bloody, smoking rubble.

The mainstream media will do a full-court press for their masters, and the beaten-down, shocked-into-numbness populace will do what it always does best -- nothing.

I pray I am wrong.

But this morning I woke up to this:

US soldiers raided Iranian government offices in the Iraqi city of Irbil today, hours after George Bush pledged to "seek out and destroy" Iran's networks in Iraq.

The troops stormed the building at around 3am, arresting five Iranians and confiscating computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said.

Irbil, 220 miles from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, is in the Kurdish controlled north of the country.

A resident living near the scene said soldiers used stun bombs in the raid, bringing down an Iranian flag on the roof of the two-storey building. As the operation went on, two helicopters flew overhead, the resident said.

The most important line -- bringing down an Iranian flag. That's the symbolic fuck you, ready-or-not-here-we-come they want to send, loud and clear, to Ahmadinejad.

Anti-Rove lawyer suicided?

It doesn't get any fishier than this:

Lawyer falls to death at hotel
Seaside: Police suspect Paul Sanford committed suicide
By JULIA REYNOLDS
Herald Staff Writer

In what police describe as a "probable" suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, officers found the body of Aptos attorney Paul Sanford in the west end of the hotel lobby, where he had landed on a large ventilation grate.

Police Capt. Steve Cercone said horrified guests were eating breakfast in the atrium at the time, and a number of witnesses saw Sanford fall from somewhere between the 9th and 12th floors.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Sanford's friend and business associate, Monterey attorney Shawn Mills. "Paul really had his fingers in a lot of different pies. He was from the East Coast, and I used to call him our 'West Coast Kennedy.'"

In addition to running his criminal defense practice in Capitola, Sanford was active in community organizations and hosted several independent radio shows in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

For several years, he was programs supervisor at the Volunteer Center in Santa Cruz and a teacher at the Monterey College of Law, where Mills said Sanford was an alumnus who mentored many students.

Sanford recently purchased his mother's home in Pebble Beach, and Mills said his friend planned to retire there one day.

Sanford was also active in the national arena. He appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 beside Elk Grove resident Michael Newdow when he argued unsuccessfully that the words "under God" should be stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance.

A passionate believer in "a dynamic Constitution," Sanford always carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his pocket, Mills said.

"He was a champion of the downtrodden, he represented homeless people in Santa Cruz, and fought for free speech," Mills said. "He did a run across America. You name it he's done it. This is a real shock and a loss to the community."

Mills said Sanford decided in recent years to add journalism to his many occupations.

Almost immediately, he caused a stir after he joined the White House Press Corps in 2005, making waves as the first reporter to ask then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan whether the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name might be considered an act of treason.

"There has been a lot of speculation concerning the meaning of the underlying statute and the grand jury investigation concerning Mr. Rove," Sanford asked. "The question is, have the legal counsel to the White House or White House staff reviewed the statute in sufficient specificity to determine whether a violation of that statute would, in effect, constitute treason?"

McClellan was apparently flustered by the question and replied that "those are matters for those overseeing the investigation to decide."

The White House incident sparked controversy after Beltway bloggers incorrectly described Sanford as a reporter for the Air America radio network. At the time, he was associated with Watsonville radio station KOMY, an Air America affiliate, and Sanford told reporters he never claimed to work for Air America.

Sanford eventually filed suit against station owner Michael Zwerling after Zwerling was reported as saying Sanford had not been authorized to represent the station as a reporter, a statement Sanford refuted.

Mills represented Sanford in that suit, which was scheduled to begin in Santa Cruz County Superior Court in February. Mills said he did not know if the case will continue after Sanford's sudden death.

Although the dispute with Zwerling caused Sanford a great deal of stress at the time, Mills said his friend was feeling fine about it and believed he would soon be vindicated in court.

Sanford and Mills also have hosted the "Paul and Shawn Show" on Saturdays at Seaside radio station KRXA, where they covered last fall's election and interviewed former Salinas mayor and now Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, Pacific Grove Mayor Dan Cort and others.

In 2002, Sanford inadvertently found himself at the center of a controversy in Santa Cruz County when his independent election fundraising was characterized in the Santa Cruz Sentinel as last-minute "developer" contributions on behalf of supervisor candidate Mark Primack. Primack lost to incumbent Mardi Wormhoudt by fewer than 600 votes.

Friends and associates expressed disbelief at the news of Sanford's death and that it was ruled a suicide, saying Sanford seemed happy and had made many plans for this week and in coming months. Mills said he and Sanford recently decided to open a shared law office to serve Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, something Sanford was looking forward to doing.

He and Sanford spoke on the phone "around four or five times a day," Mills said, and the two had just spoken on Thursday, "tweaking a marketing plan" for their new law practice before Mills went out of town for the Christmas holiday.

"I just don't know what happened since Thursday. There was nothing on the horizon there to know this was going to happen," Mills said. "We were going to get together this week."

Mills said he had spoken to Sanford's wife, Paula, and that she also was in shock. He said Sanford, a father of two, was a devoted family man.

"This is a horrible thing for his family. He would never have intentionally put his family through that trauma. Something's not right, it doesn't make sense."

Police said that before Sanford fell, hotel housekeepers saw him pacing the hallway of an upper floor. Cercone said Sanford's car was parked next to the hotel, and he was not checked in as a guest.

Police declined to state exactly why they ruled the case a suicide.

Mills said he and Sanford often met at Chili's restaurant next to Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay because the KRXA studio was nearby.

Mills said Sanford should be remembered for his volunteer work in the local community. "People don't like to work for free, and Paul worked for ideology. He didn't like the attention a lot. The attention he's going to get now would upset him."

(Thanks to Jingofever and Greencrow of the Rigorous Intuition Forum for finding this story.)

They Knew

UPDATES: More evidence of prior warnings via Le Monde (thanks to HamdenRice at DU for this translation).

Forget all the recursive, masturbatory arguments about thermite charges, the temperature of molten steel, and whether or not a plane really hit the Pentagon. Regardless of your opinions of what was really behind 9/11 -- a PNAC-led cabal, a "let it happen on purpose" operation, or simple neglect and incompetence -- it's time to focus on the available evidence in order to prosecute those who are responsible.

Today, another piece of damning evidence emerged -- evidence that Bush administration officials were warned, in stark terms, of an impending attack on the U.S., that they ignored those warnings, and that they have repeatedly perjured themselves and covered up their incompetence.

Below, a rogue's gallery of the criminals:



The full story from the San Jose Mercury News is here. But this is the smoking gun (smoking tower?) summary:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The State Department's disclosure Monday that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember the warning.

One official who helped to prepare the briefing, which included a PowerPoint presentation, described it as a "10 on a scale of 1 to 10" that "connected the dots" in earlier intelligence reports to present a stark warning that al-Qaida, which had already killed Americans in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and East Africa, was poised to strike again.

Former CIA Director George Tenet gave the independent Sept. 11, 2001, commission the same briefing on Jan. 28, 2004, but the commission made no mention of the warning in its 428-page final report. According to three former senior intelligence officials, Tenet testified to commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste and to Philip Zelikow, the panel's executive director and the principal author of its report, who's now Rice's top adviser.

It doesn't get any clearer than that.

So my advice to the "9/11 Truth" movement is this:

We have the beginnings of the truth, laid out clearly.

So stop thinking about truth -- let's start thinking about consequences.

Prosecute these criminals and the rest of the flimsy house of cards will fall, as quickly as the Twin Towers fell into dust.