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- In recent days
there is mounting evidence of the advance of totalitarianism
in the political and media mainstream. The entire Western
world, led by the United States, has embraced a Georgian
regime, which invaded South Ossetia totally demolishing its
capital city of 50,000 residents, assassinated 1500 men,
women and children and dozens of Russian peace keepers. The
US has mobilized a naval and air armada off the Iranian
coast, prepared to annihilate a country of 70 million
people. The New York Times published an essay by a prominent
Israeli historian, which advocates the nuclear incineration
of Iran. All the major mass media have mounted a systematic
propaganda campaign against China, supporting each and every
terrorist and separatist group, and whipping up public
opinion in favor of launching a New Cold War. There is
little doubt that this new wave of imperial aggression and
bellicose rhetoric is meant to deflect domestic discontent
and distract public opinion from the deepening economic
crises.
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- The Financial Times
(FT), once the liberal, enlightened voice of the financial
elite (in contrast to the aggressively neo-conservative Wall
Street Journal) has yielded to the totalitarian-militarist
temptation. The feature article of the weekend supplement of
August 16/17, 2008 - "The Face of 9/11" - embraces the
forced confession of a 9/11 suspect elicited through 5 years
of hideous torture in the confines of secret prisons. To
make their case, the FT published a half-page blow-up photo
first circulated by former CIA director George Tenet, which
presents a bound, disheveled, dazed, hairy ape-like
prisoner. The text of the writer, one Demetri Sevastopulo,
admits as much: The FT owns up to being a propaganda vehicle
for a CIA program to discredit the suspect while he stands
trial based on confessions obtained through torture.
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- - From beginning to
end, the article categorically states that the principle
defendant, Khalet Sheikh Mohammed, is the "self-confessed
mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US." The first
half of the article is full of trivia, designed to provide a
human-interest feel to the courtroom and the proceedings - a
bizarre mixture discussing Khaled's nose to the size of the
courtroom.
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- The central point
of departure for the FT's conviction of the suspect is
Khaled's confession, his 'desire for martyrdom', his
assumption of his own defense and his reciting the Koran.
The crucial piece of the Government's case is Khaled's
confession. All the other 'evidence' was circumstantial,
hearsay and based on inferences derived from Khaled's
attendance at overseas meetings.
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- The FT's principle
source of information, an anonymous informant "familiar with
the CIA interrogation program" states categorically two
crucial facts: (1) How little the CIA had known about him
before his arrest (my emphasis) and (2) that Khaled held out
longer than the others.
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- In other words, the
CIA's only real evidence was extracted by torture (the CIA
admitted to 'water boarding' - an infamous torture technique
inducing near death from drowning). The fact that Khaled
repeatedly denied the accusations and that he only confessed
after 5 years of torture in secret prisons renders the
entire prosecution a case study in totalitarian
jurisprudence. Having been subjected to unspeakable torture
by US judicial investigators, facing accusations based on a
confession extracted through torture, it is no wonder that
Khaled refused a court appointed military lawyer - a lawyer
who is part of a system of secret prisons, torture and 'show
trials'. Rather than portray Khaled as a fanatic seeking
martyrdom for rejecting a lawyer, we must recognize that he
is completely in his right mind to at least preserve the
limited space and time allocated to him to state his beliefs
and to relate his willingness to die for those beliefs.
Confessions extracted from torture, have no validity in any
court, especially after 5 years of solitary confinement.
What the FT calls "the super terrorist" based on his stated
"desire for martyrdom" is the admission of an individual who
has suffered beyond human endurance and looks to death to
end his horrible sub-human existence.
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- The FT's embrace of
the CIA and military's coerced evidence and therefore their
use of torture, puts them squarely in the camp of the
totalitarian state. The right-turn of the FT mirrors the
European turn toward US military confrontation with Russia,
and the military build-up in Poland, the Czech Republic,
Kosova, Iraq and Georgia. The FT by legitimizing torture has
opened the door to making totalitarian judicial practices,
arbitrary arrests, secret prisons, prolonged solitary
confinement, torture, show trials and cover-up feature
stories part of normal Western political life. Genteel
British criminality is no less ugly than its blustery US
version.
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- Read:
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http://www.gnosticliberationfront.com/seasonable_sayings_of_calvin_coolidge.htm
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http://www.gnosticliberationfront.com/draft_the_corporations__Harding.htm
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- jpetras@binghamton.edu
http://www.rense.com/general83/finn.htm
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