07 Other Atrocities – Page 457 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/06/15

FROM LIBYA – NATO Bombs Al Fateh University

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence

Video

Al Fateh University (Arabic: جامعة الفاتح) is the largest and most important institute of higher education in Libya, providing undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels of study. It is located in the capital Tripoli. The university was founded as an independent university in 1973 as the University of Tripoli when the University of Libya was divided up. It is home to more than 45,000 students with a faculty of more than 2,500. TUITION IS FREE.

On June 14, NATO bombed this civilian university, damaging the library and disrupting the end term preparations for final exams. Several buildings suffered serious structural damage, and much of the library's stock was ruined. Students and university staff pitched in to do a major cleanup of black dust and smoke damage. If it weren't for a last-minute scheduling change, two of the damaged buildings would have been packed with students, and hundreds, if not thousands, would have been killed. Fortunately, no one was killed.

For description of the bombing itself, see http://www.facebook.com/notes/cynthia-mckinney/from-cynthia-mckinney-more-nato-humanitarian-intervention-the-bombing-of-al-fate/10150200734711139

ALSO – just so you understand (for those outside the US, or those inside living in protected environments), this is an example of how the US authorities act on our streets, from Miami, 30 May 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-r7pz3UXrs&feature=channel_video_title

2011/06/132011/06/13

US Billions in Cash Stolen in Early Days of Iraq II

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Budgets & Funding, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence

US: $6.6bn in Iraq aid ‘may have been stolen'

By David Usborne, US Editor

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Years after American auditors said they had lost track of vast sums of reconstruction cash for Iraq in the wake of the ousting of Saddam Hussein they are now admitting for the first time that much of it was almost certainly stolen.

In a revelation that is stirring anger both on Capitol Hill and among Iraqi officials in Baghdad, the office that was created by the Bush administration to monitor efforts to get Iraq on its feet after the 2003 invasion is saying that $6.6bn (£4bn), all delivered in cash, cannot be accounted for.

Just how much of the missing money was pocketed either by US contractors or Iraqis is not clear, nor is it likely that a full picture of what happened will ever be painted. Even so, Stuart Bowen, who runs the monitoring office, says that the errant billions may represent the “largest theft of funds in national history”.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: This is old news and it was much more. By one account, Paul Bremer was unable to account for over $10 billion in shipped cash (12 airplanes, $2 billion each, rough estimate $24 billion. That is completely apart from the fact that we paid tens of millions to US contractors when local engineers who built the originals were asking for hundreds of thousands.

2011/06/13

DOT&E Documents and Tony Capaccio Story

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Standards, Technologies

WinslowWheeler Cropped — Winslow Wheeler

There are a set of documents at the DOT&E website which offer DOT&E insights into the reason for why about 40 programs have experienced delays — and costs. These documents relate to a Tony Capaccio story in today's Bloomberg News (below).

The document titled “Updated DOT&E Input on Program Delays” (at the DOT&E link shown above) identifies various specific reasons for the problems programs experience — different from most of the explanations from contractors and other system advocates in and out of the Pentagon. (Eg. for the F-35: Fly rates per month lowered to more realistic projections (from 12 max for all variants and venues to 10 max for CTOL/CV flight sciences, 9 max for STOVL flight sciences, 8 max for all mission systems); increased planning factors for re-fly and regression (up 15% for flight science, 10% for mission systems); more time required for software development and incremental builds.”)

Beyond the F-35, the various systems described in the analysis are typically more obscure programs (eg. AIM-9X 8.212 Software Upgrade) but there are also a few better known ones, such as LCS, which is described in “fly before buy,” Congress and the Navy want to rush ahead of testing to buy 4 LCS in the 2012 HASC DOD Authorization bill for $1.8 billion in production costs.

Availability of complete mission packages will be delayed until at least 2015.

Instead of withholding production of untested systems with clear and obvious development problems, Congress and the Pentagon are intent on business as usual. The LCS is a good example: instead of “fly before buy,” Congress and the Navy want to rush ahead of testing to buy 4 LCS in the 2012 HASC DOD Authorization bill for $1.8 billion in production costs.

Some will think the DOT&E analysis and documents to be obscure and too “in the weeds” to pay much attention to. Instead, they offer a major part of the explanation for why hardware costs and delays are so out of control, and they offer a stunning view into how little is being done about that.

BloombergNews.com, June 13, 2011

Weapons Testers Found Not to Blame for Procurement Delay

2011/06/132011/06/13

Whistle-Blowers of 1777 & Congressional Intent

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Autonomous Internet, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Officers Call

The Whistle-Blowers of 1777

Stephen M. Kohn

New York Times, 12 June 2011

The tension between protecting true national security secrets and ensuring the public’s “right to know” about abuses of authority is not new. Indeed, the nation’s founders faced this very issue.

. . . . . . .

Later that month, without any recorded dissent, Congress enacted America’s first whistle-blower-protection law: “That it is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States, as well as all other inhabitants thereof, to give the earliest information to Congress or any other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds or misdemeanors committed by any officers or persons in the service of these states, which may come to their knowledge.”

. . . . . . .

Nearly two centuries later, the Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas, praising the founders’ commitment to freedom of speech, wrote: “The dominant purpose of the First Amendment was to prohibit the widespread practice of government suppression of embarrassing information.”

Read full article…..

Phi Beta Iota: This is not about Barack Obama–he sold out, get over it. This is about a two-party tyranny that hides its prostitution to Wall Street behind secrecy–chasing down whistle-blowers benefits both these parties all those they have shaken down for kick-backs. This is about a system that is inherently corrupt, in which 63 of 65 parties–and all Independents–are shut out, disenfranchised, and cheated.

2011/06/122011/06/12

Long-Term Implications of Netanyahu Over Obama

02 Diplomacy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Recommends...

Attached herewith is an important essay on the long term implications of Netanyahu – Obama spectacle of late May. The Author, William R. Polk, has kindly given granted me permission to distribute it.

Read preliminary comment and full text of William Polk's

Obama and Palestine

What will make Obama willing to move on the issue?

Also by William Polk:

Journal: William Polk AF Trip Report August 2010

Journal: William Polk on Afghanistan Non-Strategy Plus Consolidated Journal, Review, and Reference Links for Afghanistan

2011/06/122011/06/12

Gold Paper About to Crash–Plus Gold Fraud RECAP

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Waste (materials, food, etc)

Phi Beta Iota: Below is circulating among the Gold Warriors in Asia. We anticipate the nationalization not only of mines, but of land, followed by a rejection of most foreign debt, foreign seed, and foreign vaccines and medications. We continue to believe 2012 will be a year of awakening and bring a major correction to how power is exercised in the public interest. Public intelligence will play a huge rule, and will have a marketable value based on transparency, truth, and trust. We reassert our commitment to non-violent truth & reconciliation. There is money to be made in healing humanity and Earth, unleashing the power of the three billion brains now largely idle for lack of connectivity and back-office exploitation.

This is the email that is going around:

Continue reading “Gold Paper About to Crash–Plus Gold Fraud RECAP”

2011/06/12

Cynthia McKinney: From Libya with Love and Dismay

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Media, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Officers Call, Policies, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

Phi Beta Iota: Cynthia McKinney has integrity, and is committed to transparency and truth. Most of what the public is viewing and reading about Libya is a manufactured lie. What NATO is doing in attacking Tripoli is illegal, immoral, and a war crime by any standard. As we have previously shown, this is about oil, water, and gold (the paper gold market is about to crash, Libya has a great deal of real gold that has not been tainted with titanium by the New York banks).

Below the line is a lengthy post from Cynthia McKinney in Tripoli, with many links and some photographs.

Continue reading “Cynthia McKinney: From Libya with Love and Dismay”