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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (145302)	9/10/2004 12:20:57 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Whistleblowers Call For Disclosure of Government's Iraq Deceit _________________________________ Ellsberg, Former CIA, FBI Officials Say Americans Need Full Disclosure of Lies, Cover-ups, and War’s Projected Costs in Lives & Dollars WASHINGTON - September 9 - Daniel Ellsberg, joined today by ten former employees of the FBI, CIA, State and Defense Departments, issued a call to current government officials to disclose classified information that is being wrongly withheld, about plans for and estimated costs of the war in Iraq, and other documents that contradict government lies. The “call”, in the form of an open memo to current government employees, says “It is time for unauthorized truth-telling.” Drawing the clear parallel to Vietnam, the group urges that ongoing silence about government deceptions and cover-ups and reluctance to publicize information about the war’s costs and projected casualties carries with it a significant price in human life and national security. The group released a list of existing documents wrongly withheld within the government as examples of the kind that the public has a right to see. These include background on Army Staff estimates before the war that the Iraq effort would require several hundred thousand troops. Similarly, current estimates of potential casualty rates as the insurgency in Iraq continues to grow as well as the likely cost of waging war over the next few years almost surely exist, and should be disclosed now. To current government officials, Ellsberg says: “If you have documentary evidence that our country has been lied into an unnecessary, wrongful, endless war—as I had during Vietnam—I urge you to consider doing right now what I wish I had done years earlier than I did: give the truth to Congress and the press, with copies of those documents. The personal costs you risk are great, but you may save many Americans from being lied to death.” Ray McGovern adds: “Truth. Never in the past 50 years has it been in such short supply in theUS defense/intelligence community. Yet it is the truth--once known--that will keep us free. Truth-tellers, arise!” Ellsberg, best known for releasing the Pentagon Papers to Congress and the press in 1971, was joined at a Washington press conference by Ray McGovern, formerly an analyst for 27 years at the CIA, who provided several presidential staffs with their daily morning security briefings; Sibel Edmonds, former FBI translator who was fired for revealing security lapses at the FBI; and Coleen Rowley, one of Time magazine’s Persons of the Year as a Whistleblower, currently a Special Agent in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office. The Call and press conference are part of Ellsberg’s ongoing work with the Truth Telling Project. The conference is also sponsored by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, which has given its annual Award to Colleen Rowley and Katharine Gun (who will also be present at the conference) and, last night at American University, to Sibel Edmonds. Gun, a former translator with the British equivalent of the NSA, was fired after leaking sensitive information to the British press about efforts to “surge” intercept capability against members of the UN Security Council. Gun was acquitted of charges of violating England’s Official Secrets Act. Another participant is Major Frank Grevil, of the Danish Intelligence Service, who faces trial for releasing his estimates that revealed lack of evidence of WMDs in Iraq, contradicting his country’s involvement in efforts to distort intelligence in order to support the war. Other signers of the Call—including Mary Ann Wright, who resigned as Deputy Chief of Mission in Mongolia over the war-- will also be present, along with Ann Beeson of the ACLU and Beth Daly of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). #### commondreams.org

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (145302)	9/10/2004 1:10:11 PM
From: one_less	Respond to of 281500

Ed... "So I think it may not be time well spent in trying to discuss the reality of what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan with someone who has, alternatively, Pollyanna and doomsday radical perspectives. Ed " There is no argument here. If you are not willing to look at what the leaders of the Insurgent groups said about themselves (which I have fairly presented) then you are choosing to make up your own fairy land definition of what is happening in Iraq. Al-Sadr: He told his followers that the real reason the USA invaded Iraq is because we knew Al-Mahdi was preparing to reveal himself on earth and we want to murder him when he does. The Army he created is the Army of Al-Mahdi not the army of Al-Sadr. So, even though he directed them to desist for the moment he also told them that he could not, nor could any government ever disband them because they belong to Al-Mahdi. Al-Zaraquawi: He declared his mission in support of the Al-Quaida. The Al-Quaida considers the Shi-ites their most hated enemy because they consider the worst sin on earth to be corrupting Gods word...which they accuse the Shi'ites of doing. You can easily do a web search on Al-Mahdi and on the Wahabi mission to learn for yourself. Accusing me of having radical doomsday perspectives is pattently false and in denial of who and what we are dealing with. Please educate your self a tiny bit before speaking for people and cultures you know nothing about.