02/1/12

Fed Up Retired Cop Takes On Occupy DC

Hat Tip: BB

UKIP Nigel Farage WHERE IS THE VETO NOW MR CAMERON?

02/1/12

Holder May Soon be Held in Contempt of Congress for Fast and Furious Coverup

By: Jeffrey Klein
Examiner.com

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is leading the year-long investigation into the fatally flawed ATF “Operation Fast and Furious,” and has drawn a ‘line in the sand’ for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

In a letter Issa sent to Holder, he reiterated claims the Department of Justice has “misrepresented facts and misled Congress,” and believe that Holder’s “actions lead us to conclude that the department is actively engaged in a cover-up,” according to William La Jeunesse’s FOXNews article yesterday.

The Issa continued … “If the department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress.”

The letter cautioned Hold that he had until February 9, 2012 to comply, or immediately face Contempt of Congress charges.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Issa’s Senate counterpart in the inquiry, best described the “sticking point” between the committee and DOJ, by stating that the Congress has only received 6,000 of the 80,000 documents that Holder had long since supplied to his own Inspector General’s office at the Department of Justice.

Grassley continued, by stating that “Documents turned over late Friday night indicate [Criminal Division chief Lanny Breuer] was still discussing plans with Mexican officials, to let guns cross the border on the same day the department denied to me in writing that ATF would ever let guns walk.

He [Holder] stood mute as this administration fought tooth and nail to keep any of this information from coming out for a year. It will take a lot more than a knee-jerk defense from their political allies in Congress to restore public trust in the leadership of the Justice Department. The American people want to see those who failed to act be held accountable.”

Nothing coming from the Justice Department should be taken at face value, Grassley suggested, especially since Holder initially denied “gunwalking” had occurred–but has since admitted to the operation.

In an effort to blunt Issa’s assault on Holder, the Democrat minority members of the committee released their own “investigative report” on Operation Fast and Furious, via the ranking [minority] member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona,” as reported in Mike Levine’s FOXNews article yesterday.

Unfortunately, as much of the report is a historical overview of “gunwalking operations” dating back to 2006, based on the direction from Cummings to his staff … “to focus on the facts we have discovered, rather than the heated and sometimes inaccurate rhetoric,” it comes off as being another worn out “Bush did it” hack job.

As further indication, the report and members of Holder’s senior staff use some very interesting wording, which actually sounds more like pro forma perjury defenses for them to reference in future committee hearings and court trials.

First, in an attempt to lay [all of] the blame for Fast and Furious at the feet of [federal ATF] officials in Arizona, the report states that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have … “obtained no evidence” … implicating high-level political appointees [Holder and Co.] in Washington.

Then, Holder’s current chief of staff, Gary Grindler, who met with investigators in December 2011, told them that, contrary to some allegations, said he is “extraordinarily confident” the ATF officials who briefed him–did not tell him firearms were being allowed to go to Mexico–“That is just an absurd concept.”

Finally, in contradiction to the Democrat report stating no evidence having been obtained against top DOJ officials–Issa sent a letter to Holder back in October 2011, wherein he pointed out that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, and others, who approved wiretap applications that “contain rich detail of the reckless operations tactics being employed by your agents in Phoenix,” could have done more to stop “Fast and Furious.”

However, this Democrat report states that on January 10, 2011, Weinstein told congressional investigators … “I first heard of possible gunwalking in ‘Fast and Furious’ when the whistleblower allegations were made public in early 2011;” another potential commission of perjury.

Finally, DOJ Criminal Division Head Lanny Breuer, testified at a Senate hearing in November 2011, saying that he also first learned of the tactics “when the public disclosure was made” by ATF agents.

Nevertheless, on Feb. 2, 2011, while Breuer was meeting with Mexican officials, he “suggested allowing straw purchasers (to) cross into Mexico” so Mexican authorities can arrest and prosecute them, according to notes from the meeting released Friday night.

“Although [Criminal Division head Lanny] Breuer and his top deputies were informed of the operational details and tactics of ‘Fast and Furious,’ they did nothing to stop the program,” Issa wrote.

Surprisingly, none of these known facts were included in the new Democrat report.

As for senior DOJ staff, who should have known, or realized, what was going on, they deserve the same treatment as Joe Paterno, who coached the championship Penn State football team for nearly 60 years, but didn’t do enough to “out” a long time colleague, who was accused of perform sexual acts on a number of former students–immediate termination…even at age 84.

The one glaring difference in Paterno’s case?

No one was murdered.

And, as for Holder, whose incompetence and mealy-mouthed deflections of blame are a scandal, should be delivered the same fate as Captain Francesco Schettino, who recklessly ran the 950 foot Costa Concordia cruise ship aground, while operating too close to Giglio Island, Italy–who is now under arrest, facing 17 counts of manslaughter.

The Captain is expected to go down with his ship–as was the case on board the Titanic.

02/1/12

Rademaker: New Iran Report Urges U.S. to Prepare Military Response

In an exclusive interview with LIGNET.com, former Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker previews an important new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center on Iran, “Meeting the Challenge: Stopping the Clock” which calls for the United Staes to prepare more convincing military options to deal with the threat from the Iranian nuclear program. Rademaker, a member of rhe center’s Iran Task Force, noted that Iran is making steady progress toward producing a nuclear weapon through its uranium enrichment program and that there is bipartisan agreement on the need to significantly increase sanctions against Iran, especially against the Iranian central bank.

Former U.S. Senators Call for Military Action on Iran

02/1/12

The Mullahs’ History of Assassination

By: John Thompson, Executive Director of the Mackenzie Institute for the Study of Terrorism, Revolution and Propaganda-Canada
— And —
Sara Akrami, Founder and President of the Human Rights Activists Association at York University-Canada

The deaths of the Iranian defence scientists have allowed the regime in Tehran to weep copious tears and sputter outrage about the inequity of assassination as a political tool. One might think the more natural reaction there might be envy. Assassination has been one of the outreach tools of the ayatollahs and their regime in Iran since the early days of the Revolution. When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, it had two strategies to eliminate its opponents. At home, it killed its internal opponents – killing 7,900 of them in its first five years alone using techniques many totalitarian regimes have employed, such as, mass executions, tortures, disappearances, and “accidents”. Abroad, it used its embassies and cultural offices to host killers and sent them out after prominent critics. Many of these critics living overseas were Iranian intellectuals and activists who had escaped from Iran after the establishment of the regime. In addition to employing terror against its own citizens and émigrés, the Iranian government has also claimed victims from other nationalities. The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the world’s most significant sponsors of terrorism. During its 33 years of existence, it has continually instigated violence elsewhere and pursued indirect war through the use of terrorism throughout the Middle East, Africa, and both North and South America.

Although the Islamic Republic of Iran officials claim that terrorism is strange to them, an immense weight of evidence shows that orchestrated terrorism outside Iran is a major factor in practice of the regime. The first victims of the Iranian government terrorism were Shahriar Shafigh, the Shah of Iran’s nephew who was assassinated in 1979 in Paris and Ali Akbar Tabatabai, the former press attaché of the Iranian embassy in the United States under the Shah of Iran who was assassinated in 1980 in Washington. The assassination of Ali Akbar Tabatabai was committed by David Belfield or Dawud Salahuddin, an African-American who converted to Islam and after the assassination fled to Iran. In 2001, Dawud Salahuddin acted as the major character of the movie Kandahar, directed by one of the Iranian regime’s filmmakers Mohsen Makhmalbaf. After the first assassinations, many other Iranian dissidents were killed in different parts of the world.

Among the dead are, Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar (the last Prime Minister of the Shah of Iran), Dr. Abdol Rahman Ghassemlou (the Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran), General Gholam Ali Oveisi (Tehran military governor), Fereydoun Farrokhzad (the famous Iranian showman, singer, and poet), and many other. One of the more notorious attacks by the agents of the Iranian government against its dissidents occurred in Mykonos restaurant in Berlin, Germany in 1992 that caused the murder of Sadegh Sharafkandi (the Secretary General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran) and his representatives and translator, Fattah Abdoli, Homayoun Ardalan, and Nouri Dehkordi. In April 10, 1997, the Berlin court announced that this assassination was plotted by Ali Khamenei (Iran Supreme Leader), Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Iran former President), and Ali Fallahian (Iran former Minister of Intelligence). Two of the terrorists were Kazem Darabi, an Iranian who lived in Berlin and Abbas Rhayel, a Lebanese terrorist and a member of the Hezballah organization. Other Iranian and Lebanese terrorists were able to escape to Iran and Lebanon.

One of the most significant examples of the terrorist activities of the Iranian government against non-Iranians was the truck bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994. The Iranian government directed this terrorist activity through the terrorist group Hezballah. This was one of the deadliest bombings to have ever occurred in Argentina, killing 85 people and injuring 300. A major motive behind this atrocity seems to have been the suspension of a nuclear technology transfer agreement between Iran and Argentina. According to Argentine judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, the terrorists who were involved in this act were six Iranians (including Ahmad Reza Asghari, the third Secretary of the Islamic Republic of Iran Embassy in Buenos Aires, who used to work for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard before being posted to Argentina) and one Lebanese man. Evidence suggests that the terrorist attack was planned in 1993, when Ahmad Reza Asghari attended a meeting with the former President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his deputies.

In addition, the Iranian government has attempted to assassinate other political figures and intellectuals. One of the significant examples was the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Khomeini’s order (Fatwa) to kill Salman Rushdie, the writer of the Satanic Verses on February 14, 1989. Another example is the recent assassination plot of the Saudi Arabian ambassador in the United States. The United States officials have explicitly announced that the agents of the Iranian government especially, some of the commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (Qods Force, a component of the Corps which the United States describes as a terrorist organization) were behind this plot. The plan was to messily assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in a restaurant in Washington. In the hope this would result in the death of enormous number of American citizens. Recently, the Iranian government attempted to assassinate the Israeli ambassador and some Jewish teachers in Baku, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has friendly relations with Israel and about 9000 Jewish people live there.

Iran, has promoted terrorist groups like the Taliban, Hezballah, al Sadr’s militia goons in Iraq, Hamas, insurgents in Yemen, and has been substantially linked to al Qaeda. However, since doing their level best to further destabilize Afghanistan and Iraq since 2003, Iran has found that unknown parties have been passing high quality arms and training to unsettled elements among its many angry minorities. Between its application of harsh Sharia law, and its reactions to restless minorities and internal criticism, the internal human rights record of Iran is appalling. However, after 33 years, the regime is shaky. The aging revolutionaries have lost the loyalty of the people, failed in their hopes for reorganizing the region, and are finding that their governing coalition is growing corrupt, even more inefficient, and is fragmenting. Like many failing dictatorships, they hope to refocus attention on other projects and pursue the development of nuclear weapons and promoting ever more desperate adventures abroad, relying on increasingly unreliable allies like the Assad government in Syria.

Finally, for 33 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has used terror to subdue its own citizens, intimidate the Iranians, and as a tool of statecraft against the people of many other nations. Now, they complain about the assassination of their nuclear scientists before they complete the ultimate terror weapon, and about attacks on the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the instrument of their own internal terror. Iran now portrays itself as a victim of terror and seeks sympathy from other nations. For a display of sheer cynicism, it is hard to beat the tears of the crocodile.

02/1/12

Michael Coren: Why Honor Killings shouldn’t be treated like domestic violence

Hat Tip: BB

[Sicily, Italy] Martino Morsello: ‘Invisible enemy calls for Pitchfork Movement!’

Sicily Pitchfork Movement in Revolt – Western Media Blackout

On January 16th, middle class Sicilians began a popular uprising appropriately called the ‘Pitchfork Movement’…’Movimento Dei Forconi’.

There are shades of the Occupy movement within it, but the core is not dissatisfied unemployed youth with no property or businesses to lose.

They are middle aged and older. They know that what they have left has been targeted by their own elites to bear the economic pain.

From North to South, the number of Italians dissatisfied with the reforms and tax hikes introduced by the government, led by Prime Minister Monti, keeps growing.