Gareth Porter - Are Crackpot Liars Being Used to Tie Iran to 9/11?

By Gareth Porter, TruthOut.org

Printed on December 30, 2011

http://www.alternet.org/story/153602/are_crackpot_liars_being_used_to_tie_iran_to_9_11

Behind a mysterious December 22 Associated Press story about "finding of fact" by a District judge in Manhattan Friday that Iran assisted al Qaeda in the planning of the 9/11 attacks is a tapestry of recycled fabrications and distortions of fact from a bizarre cast of characters.

The AP story offers no indication of the nature of the evidence in the case except that former members of the 9/11 Commission and three Iranian defectors provided testimony. What it didn't say was that at least two of the Iranian defectors have long been dismissed by US intelligence as "fabricators" and that the two "expert witnesses" who were supposed to determine the credibility of those defectors' claims are both avowed advocates of crackpot conspiracy theories about Muslims and Shariah law who believe the United States is at war with Islam.

The ostensible purpose of the case brought by families of 9/11 terror attack victims was to win damages from those responsible for 9/11. Dozens of such cases involving different terrorist attacks have been brought to US courts over the years, in which "default judgments" have been made against Iran over various attacks in which Iran was allegedly involved, but there is no chance of getting any money for the families.

The only real effect of the case is to promote right-wing political myths about Iran. One of the peculiarities of such cases is that the witnesses are not subject to cross examination in court. The witnesses have every incentive, therefore to indulge in false testimony, knowing that there will be no one to challenge them.

"A Fabricator of Monumental Proportions"

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Washington's Blog - Joe Biden Drafted the Core of the Patriot Act in 1995 … Before the Oklahoma City Bombing

By Washington's Blog

Global Research, December 11, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28148

The Core of the Patriot Act Was Drafted in 1995 … By Joe Biden Everyone knows that the Patriot Act was drafted before 9/11. But few know that it was Joe Biden who drafted the core provisions which were included in that bill … in 1995. CNET reported in 2008: Months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced another bill called theOmnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of “terrorism” that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detention of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review.* The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode “constitutional and statutory due process protections” and would “authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations.”

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Joanne Mariner - An Endless War on Terror?

WEEKEND EDITION DECEMBER 9-11, 2011

HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2011/12/09/AN-ENDLESS-WAR-ON-TERROR/

by JOANNE MARINER

It might seem an odd moment for the War on Terror to expand.  The 9/11 terrorist attacks are now ten years in the past; Osama bin Laden is sleeping with the fishes; and all of the alleged 9/11 perpetrators who are not dead are in custody awaiting trial.

President Obama—the man who ran for president promising to end the Bush Administration’s signature methods of fighting terrorism—is still in office.

Ten years after America’s entry into World War II, to make an imperfect but still telling analogy, the country had moved on to other global conflicts.  The Japanese and Japanese-Americans who were held in internment camps had been released, albeit without an apology, and Germany was an ally, not an enemy.

But the War on Terror has not only stayed with us, it’s growing.  Bills currently in Congress go well beyond the already broad bounds of the Bush Administration’s War on Terror policies.

Yes, the timing is odd, but only if one cares about evidence, logic, cause-and-effect relationships, and other possibly outmoded concepts.  Seen through the lens of politics, fear-mongering, and the election cycle, the timing of these bills is understandable.  Call it election fever.

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Glenn Greenwald - The real definition of Terrorism

SALON.COM   SATURDAY, DEC 10, 2011 6:30 AM EST

VIDEO

BY GLENN GREENWALD

The FBI yesterday announced it has secured an indictment against Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa, a 38-year-old citizen of Iraq currently in Canada, from which the U.S. is seeking his extradition. The headline on the FBI’s Press Release tells the basic story: “Alleged Terrorist Indicted in New York for the Murder of Five American Soldiers.” The criminal complaint previously filed under seal provides the details: ‘Isa is charged with “providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy” because he allegedly supported a 2008 attack on a U.S. military base in Mosul that killed 5 American soldiers. In other words, if the U.S. invades and occupies your country, and you respond by fighting back against the invading army — the ultimate definition of a “military, not civilian target” — then you are a . . . Terrorist.

Here is how the complaint, in the first paragraph, summarizes the Terrorism charge against ‘Isa:

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Stephen Lendman - America Lurches Toward Full-Blown Tyranny

By Stephen Lendman - 12-3-11

Join Stephen Lendman Thursdays at 11:30am (ET) and Saturdays & Sundays @ 1pm (ET) for his show The Progressive Radio News Hour - only on Progressive Radio Network

Post-9/11, America's moved steadily toward eroding democracy entirely. Justification given is war on terror hokum. Incrementally, international, constitutional and statute laws have been trashed. Equity, justice and other democratic values long ago were abandoned to advance America's imperium. On May 26, the House voted to abolish freedom entirely - HR 1540, 322 - 96. On December 1, the Senate did likewise - S. 1867, 93 to 7. Both versions assure no one anywhere is now safe, including law-abiding US citizens. Click to read more ... Gary Null | Post a Comment | Share Article in 9/11, Features, Government, World Politics | Permalink | Print Article Monday Nov282011 Peter Dale Scott - The Doomsday Project and Deep Events: JFK, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11 November 28, 2011 By Prof. Peter Dale Scott Global Research, November 22, 2011 Asia Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 47, No 2, - 2011-11-21 http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27806  "I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency [the National Security Agency] and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."        -- Senator Frank Church (1975) I would like to discuss four major and badly understood events C the John F. Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11. I will analyze these deep events as part of a deeper political process linking them, a process that has helped build up repressive power in America at the expense of democracy. Click to read more ... Gary Null | Post a Comment | Share Article in 9/11, Congress, Government | Permalink | Print Article Contact Us   About Us ©2010, Progressive Radio Network. All rights reserved.

Peter Dale Scott - The Doomsday Project and Deep Events: JFK, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11

By Prof. Peter Dale Scott

Global Research, November 22, 2011

Asia Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 47, No 2, - 2011-11-21

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27806 

"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency [the National Security Agency] and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

       -- Senator Frank Church (1975)

I would like to discuss four major and badly understood events C the John F. Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11. I will analyze these deep events as part of a deeper political process linking them, a process that has helped build up repressive power in America at the expense of democracy.

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