Corruption – Page 599 – Public Intelligence Blog

Working Hypothesis – AQ and the Muslim Brotherhood

Ayman al-Zawahiri, current head of AQ, was an instrumental figure of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), the armed wing of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Zawahiri was imprisoned following the assassination of Anwar Sadat. He came to power within AQ following the death of Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (for which he has been occasionally implicated). With the death of bin Laden, he assumed the role of leader of AQ.

My hypothesis is that Zawahiri was instrumental in developing AQ toward its global stature, although bin Laden had always said that America was his primary focus. Bin Laden, however, was targeting America's economic stature more than anything else, with the current economic status of the US, it would seem he may have succeeded. The hypothesis continues that Zawahiri wanted to hijack the movement and use it as a tool to re-establish the Caliphate. The attached document, prepared prior to the turn of the century, suggests that the Arab Spring and all other efforts have been closely orchestrated to bring down those governments that have failed in their Islamic duties……..

Still working this line, however, nobody believes it. I have passed the attached around folks within the IC, nobody has seen it….their take, propaganda more than anything else. I found the document while downloading the current version of AQ's English language magazine from the IntelCenter….so I would think that it should be taken at face value. Further, it was published on IntelCenter's website in 2008, so if it is propaganda it still mirrors current activities….another reason most in the IC rejected it, it is Open Source and therefore suspect. Of course nobody can tell me why something obtained through second parties (clandestine activities) makes it more reliable…..

2013-03-11 HIST 1997 Seven_Stages_Towards_The_Khilafah_In_The_Year_2020

Continue reading “Cheery Waves: Seven Stages to the Khilafah in 2020”

2013/03/112013/03/26

Paul Craig Roberts: Government Lies on Unemployment — New Book, The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Knowledge, Law Enforcement

Phi Beta Iota: In one sentence: unemployment is 23% (40% among recent college graduates and those well past mid-career); inflation is 9.1%.

Staring Armageddon In The Face But Hiding It With Official Lies

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy created 236,000 new jobs in February. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I’ll let you have at a good price.

Where are these alleged jobs? The BLS says 48,000 were created in construction. That is possible, considering that revenue-starved real estate developers are misreading the housing situation. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/08/us-housing-is-the-recovery-real/print

Then there are 23,700 new jobs in retail trade, which is hard to believe considering the absence of consumer income growth and the empty parking lots at shopping malls.

This very readable book by a distinguished economist, Wall Street Journal editor, and Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury is a major challenge both to economic theory and to media explanations of the ongoing 21st century economic crisis. The one percent have pulled off an economic and political revolution. By offshoring manufacturing and professional service jobs, US corporations destroyed the growth of consumer income, the basis of the US economy, leaving the bulk of the population mired in debt. Deregulation was used to concentrate income and wealth in fewer hands and financial firms in corporations “too big to fail,” removing financial corporations from market discipline and forcing taxpayers in the US and Europe to cover bankster losses. Environmental destruction has accelerated as economists refuse to count the exhaustion of nature’s resources as a cost and as corporations impose the cost of their activities on the environment and on third parties who do not share in the profits. This is the book to read for those who want to understand the mistakes that are bringing the West to its knees. Click for Amazon Page. — By offshoring manufacturing and professional service jobs, US corporations destroyed the growth of consumer income, the basis of the US economy, leaving the bulk of the population mired in debt. Deregulation was used to concentrate income and wealth in fewer hands and financial firms in corporations “too big to fail,” removing financial corporations from market discipline and forcing taxpayers in the US and Europe to cover bankster losses. Click for Amazon Page.

The real puzzle is 20,800 jobs in motion picture and sound recording industries. This is the first time in the years that I have been following the jobs reports that there has been enough employment for me to even notice this category.

The BLS lists 10,900 jobs in accounting and bookkeeping, which, as it is approaching income tax time, is probably correct; 21,000 jobs in temporary help and business support services; 39,000 jobs in health care and social assistance; and 18,800 jobs in the old standby–waitresses and bartenders.

That leaves about 50,000 jobs sprinkled around the various categories, but not in numbers large enough to notice.

The presstitute media attributed the drop in the headline unemployment rate (U3) to 7.7% from 7.9% to the happy jobs report. But Rex Nutting at Market Watch says that the unemployment rate fell because 130,000 unemployed people who have been unable to find a job and became discouraged were dropped out of the U3 measure of unemployment. The official U6 measure which counts some discouraged workers shows an unemployment rate of 14.3%. Statistician John Williams’ measure, which counts all discourage workers (people who have ceased looking for a job), is 23%.

In other words, the real rate of unemployment is 2 to 3 times the reported rate.

Nutting believes that the U3 unemployment rate has become too politicized to have any meaning. He suggests using instead the work force participation rate. This rate is falling substantially, reflecting the discouragement that occurs from inability to find jobs.

John Williams (shadowstats.com) says that distortions in seasonal factor adjustments overstate monthly payroll employment by about 100,000 jobs. The jobs data that is not seasonally adjusted shows about 1.5 million fewer jobs in the economy.

In a recent communication, statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) reports that the rigged official annual rate of consumer inflation (CPI) of 1.6% is in fact, as measured by the official US government methodology of 1990, 9.2%. In other words, the rate of inflation is 5.75 times greater than the reported rate. If Williams is correct, the interest rate on bonds is extremely negative.

Read full article.

2013/03/112013/03/26

Penguin: Examination of Lockheed Lobbying and the C-130 Hercules

Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government, Military

The stories are getting simple enough and ridiculous enough for the average American to start getting it.

The Disturbing History of One of the Pentagon's Most Expensive Flying Turkeys

Meet the C-130 Hercules.

EXTRACT

The C-130 Hercules, or Herk for short, isn't a sexy plane. It hasn't inspired hit Hollywood films, though it has prompted a few photo books, a beer, and a “Robby the C-130” trilogy for children whose military parents are deployed. It has a fat sausage fuselage, that snub nose, overhead wings with two propellers each, and a big back gate that comes down to load and unload up to 21 tons of cargo.

The Herk can land on short runways, even ones made of dirt or grass; it can airdrop parachutists or cargo; it can carry four drones under its wings; it can refuel aircraft; it can fight forest fires; it can morph into a frightening gunship. It's big and strong and can do at least 12 types of labor — hence, Hercules.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Here's where the story starts to get interesting. After 25 years, the Pentagon decided that it was well stocked with C-130s, so President Jimmy Carter’s administration stopped asking Congress for more of them.

Lockheed was in trouble. A few years earlier, the Air Force had started looking into replacing the Hercules with a new medium-sized transport plane that could handle really short runways, and Lockheed wasn't selected as one of the finalists. Facing bankruptcy due to cost overruns and cancellations of programs, the company squeezed Uncle Sam for a bailout of around $1 billion in loan guarantees and other relief (which was unusual back then, as William Hartung points out his magisterial Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex).

Then a scandal exploded when it was revealed that Lockheed had proceeded to spend some $22 million of those funds in bribes to foreign officials to persuade them to buy its aircraft. This helped prompt Congress to pass the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

So what did Lockheed do about the fate of the C-130? It bypassed the Pentagon and went straight to Congress. Using a procedure known as a congressional “add-on” — that is, an earmark — Lockheed was able to sell the military another fleet of C-130s that it didn’t want.

To be fair, the Air Force did request some C-130s. Thanks to Senator John McCain, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) did a study of how many more C-130s the Air Force requested between 1978 and 1998. The answer: Five.

How many did Congress add on? Two hundred and fifty-six.

As Hartung commented, this must “surely [be] a record in pork-barrel politics.”

Read full article.

Continue reading “Penguin: Examination of Lockheed Lobbying and the C-130 Hercules”

2013/03/102013/03/26

Berto Jongman: Media Weapons of Mass Deception

Corruption, Media

WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception

March 9, 2013

Deception. Dissection. A New Perception.

By Sara Faith Alterman via New England Film

It seems practical, even reasonable, to rely on news organizations to broadcast accurately. Such informational institutions exist to dig up the facts, right? Maybe not. In the aftermath of President Bush’s crusade to eliminate the seemingly omnipotent threat of ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ it has become pretty obvious that what initially appeared to be a deed of heroism and liberation was actually a vicious act of messy retribution. The burning question is, how much did the embedded American media uncover while reporting from the Middle East? Were American audiences actually getting the facts as they unfolded, or were we shielded from the truth?

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Media Weapons of Mass Deception”

2013/03/102013/03/26

Berto Jongman: Col James Steele, USA — Death Squads & Torture from El Salvador to Iraq — One of the “Boys” with Back Door Access to Rumsfeld

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, Military

James Steele: America's mystery man in Iraq – video (51:08)

The Guardian, Wednesday 6 March 2013

A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic reveals how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centres in Iraq. Another special forces veteran, Colonel James Coffman, worked with Steele and reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had been sent into Iraq to organise the Iraqi security services

• Watch a five-minute edited version of this film narrated by Dearbhla Molloy

• Watch the full video (“he lacks human feeling” — “the ugliest sorts of torutre (in secret prisons)”

• Revealed: Pentagon's link to Iraqi torture centres

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Col James Steele, USA — Death Squads & Torture from El Salvador to Iraq — One of the “Boys” with Back Door Access to Rumsfeld”

2013/03/092013/03/26

Berto Jongman: Elizabeth Warren Seven Minute Skewering of Corrupt Federal Officials Who Refuse to Impose Serious Sanctions on Money-Laundering Banks

Corruption, Government

Senator Elizabeth Warren's Q&A at the March 7, 2013 Banking Committee hearing entitled “Patterns of Abuse: Assessing Bank Secrecy Act Compliance and Enforcement.” Witnesses were: David Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, United States Department of the Treasury; Thomas Curry, Comptroller, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; and Jerome H. Powell, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Phi Beta Iota: David S. Cohen is representative of the total corruption of the Department of the Treasury. Jerome H. Powell joins him. The complicity of the US Government — and most particularly the ostensible experts at Treasury and the ostensible representatives of the public interest — is quite clear. There is no one at Treasury or Justice actually concerned with the public interest, only with protecting the special interests.

2013/03/082013/03/26

John Maguire: Cornel West: NDAA, MLKII, Fascism, and Culture of Fear

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military, Officers Call, YouTube

Via Youtube: “Dr. West gives a passionate speech about government love of power and the fact of government oppression. MLK could have been jailed without due process under the NDAA or killed without due process under the present administration.”

Dr. West hits the nail on the head in many respects. But the question remains: Why is no one discussing the fact the U.S. Government was indicted in MLK's murder over 13 years ago?

Phi Beta Iota: Below the embedded YouTube we provide some additional links. We as a collective hold Dr. Cornell West in high regard. This six minute articulation is passionate, informed, and a call to Jesus for the American public.

See Also:

Douglass, James W. (2010). JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. Touchstone.

Pepper, William F. (2008). An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King. Verso.

West, Cornel (2005). Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism. Penguin Books.