A to Zed on Burma Investors

What's behind the sudden surge in Western interest in ousting Burma/Myanmar's military regime? Could it be an attack on another source of oil for petro-hungry China? Here's some of the countries and companies invested in B/M

Last modified 29 Sep 07


In response to calls from Burma’s democracy movement, the Burma Campaign UK and other campaign groups around the world have been pressuring companies to sever business ties with Burma.

Please contact one or more of the companies on the Dirty List and ask them to cut their ties with Burma’s military government. If appropriate, tell them you will not purchase their products as long as they continue to support the regime in Burma.

Letters written in your own words are most effective. If you don’t have much time, don’t worry - just one or two paragraphs will do. Please be polite!

We would be grateful if you could send us a copy of any responses you receive.

Relevant Links:

[for full article links, please see source here - ape]

The Dirty List with company contact details


The Clean List


The Dirty List Briefing


'Dirty List' Press Releases


the dirty list


A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z








A To top

A World Away Travels - NEW
A World Away Travels is a US tour operator claiming to offer ‘adventure travel’s unique experience’. Included in this experience are four different tours to and around Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy.

Abercrombie & Kent
Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) is an American holiday company with 45 offices around the world, including offices in the UK. A&K make an unwelcome return to the Dirty List. In 2003 the UK branch of A&K informed the Burma Campaign UK that A&K would no longer include Burma in its brochures or promote tourism to Burma. However, the US branch of A&K still operates tours. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Adventures Abroad
Adventures Abroad is an American travel company which operates in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. It organises and promotes holidays to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Alcatel
Alcatel is a French multinational specialising in communication technology. Alcatel is working closely with the regime in Burma to help it develop telecommunications such as landlines and mobile networks. The regime is the only mobile service provider in Burma, and is keen to expand the service because of high revenues and its importance to companies investing and trading with Burma, in particular, gem miners and exporters.


Andaman Club - NEW
The Andaman Club is a luxury casino/hotel complex located on Thahtay Kyun Island in Southernmost Burma. It was launched by Vikrom Isiri in 1995, who leases the land from the Burmese junta. Isiri has since gone on to become a Thai senator and the complex has provided the seed money for numerous other ventures, including Phuket Airlines.

Andaman Teak Supplies Pty Ltd - NEW
Andaman is an Australian teak supplier to the marine sector, which only uses Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Andrew Brock Travel
Andrew Brock Travel is a tour operator that organises tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities. Owner Andrew Brock has said that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is ‘oppressing Burma’s people’.


Aquatic
Aquatic is a privately owned Scottish company that provides specialist services to the oil and gas industry. Aquatic has an office in Burma, through which they assist the oil and gas industry. Gas exports are the regime’s largest source of income.


Archaeological Tours - NEW
Archaeological Tours is a US tour operator specialising in archaeological and historical study tours led by distinguished scholars. Their 2006-2007 programme includes a ‘Burma In-Depth Tour’ as well as a ‘Khmer Kingdoms Tour’ which begins in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy.

Asean Explorer
Asean Explorer is a travel company that organises tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities. Asean Explorer have sent abusive emails to people asking them to end their involvement in Burma.


Asia Optical
Asia Optical is a Taiwanese company and is one of the biggest lens producers in the world. It invested $12m in Burma to build a lens factory, which opened in early 2004. Customers of Asia Optical include: Canon, Epson, Hitachi, Kodak, Konica, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, and Sharp.


Audley Travel
Audley Travel is a travel company that organises tours to Burma. It also promotes holidays to Burma in national newspapers, including the Sunday Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and The Observer.



B To top

Baker Hughes - NEW
Baker Hughes is a supplier of products and services to the oil and natural gas industry. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company operates in over 90 countries including Burma where it has offices in Yangon. Its subsidiaries- Hughes Christensen and Baker Petrolite have further offices in South East Asia designated to serve the industry in Burma. As well as supplying equipment to the oil and gas industry in Burma, Baker Hughes operate a rig count service within the country.

Bales Worldwide
Bales Worldwide is a travel company that organises tours to Burma. Although the company admits there are ‘conflicting views’ on whether tourists should visit Burma, it argues in favour of tourism.


Bamboo Travel - NEW
Bamboo Travel is a UK company which aims to deliver bespoke itineraries for tourists wishing to visit China and South East Asia. Burma is included as one of the company’s destinations. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy.

Ben Line Agencies/ EGT Holdings
Ben Line Agencies is a Scottish shipping line with offices in Burma. It operates a range of port services for companies exporting cargo from Burma. Ben Line is owned by EGT Holdings.


BJ Services
BJ Services is an American oil services company. It provides services to oil companies operating in Burma.

Britannic Garden Furniture Ltd - NEW
Britannic Garden Furniture is the West Country’s leading British manufacturer of “genuine” (Burmese) teak garden furniture. Their furniture can be found in such prestigious places as Hyde Park and the Tower of London. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Britannic Garden Furniture has said: "As for Aung San Suu Kyi, admitted her party had won the election on a very small turnout. We note that she seems to be very comfortable and well looked after in her bungalow and seems easily to communicate with the outside world. Burma's human rights, admitted, are not very good and probably fifty percent of the rest of the world are not either."










C To top

CHC Helicopter Corporation - NEW
CHC Helicopter Corporation, a Canadian company, is the world’s largest provider of helicopter services to the global offshore oil and gas industry. It has aircraft operating in more than thirty countries around the world including Burma where it has supported offshore operations of international oil companies operating in the country. CHC trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols FLY.A and FLY.B; and on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FLI.CHC.

Chevron
Since its 2005 takeover of Unocal, US oil giant Chevron has been one of the joint venture partners developing the Yadana offshore gas field in Burma, which earns the military regime millions of dollars. Chevron also owns Texaco.

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC)
CNOOC is China’s offshore and overseas oil company. It is involved in several gas fields in Burma. Most recently its involvement has been through its China Oilfield Services Ltd subsidiary. In 2006 it agreed a deal to provide drilling services at three onshore sites in Burma’s Arakan state, having previously secured a drilling contract from Daewoo to drill for gas offshore.



China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
CNPC is China’s largest oil and gas company. It has been involved in Burma’s oil and gas industry for more than a decade, increasing its investment in 2001 through its subsidiary – Chinnery Assets. In 2004 it entered into production sharing contracts with the Myanmar Ministry of Energy for offshore exploration of oil and gas through another of its subsidiaries- China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation.

CNPC’s largest subsidiary PetroChina signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Burmese junta in 2005 for the supply of natural gas from Burma to China.



China PetroChemical Corp (Sinopec)
Sinopec is China’s second largest oil company, and is listed in Hong Kong and New York. Its subsidiary – Dian-Quin-Gui Petroleum Exploration Bureau – signed a contract for oil and gas exploration with the regime in September 2004.


CNA Group Ltd - NEW
CNA is as Sesdaq listed company headquartered in Singapore. It was, in 2005, awarded a contract for the expansion of Yangon International Airport. Under the contract C.N.A. will design, supply, install and commission 24 engineering systems for the airport terminals. The project is to be completed by early 2007 but the CEO has commented “we will continue to expand our presence in the region (Myanmar).”
Crown Relocations
Crown Relocations is a Hong Kong based company with offices in the UK. It is employed by governments, corporations and non-government agencies to arrange relocation of staff when they need to work overseas. Crown has an office in Burma that facilitates the transfer of expat staff employed by foreign investors in Burma. Crown strongly defends foreign investment in Burma.









D To top

Danford Equities Corporation – NEW
Danford Equities Corporation is an Australian oil company. It signed a production sharing and exploration contract with state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise in November 2006. It covers the Yetagun East Block.


Daewoo International Corporation
Daewoo is a South Korean conglomerate with interests ranging from oil and gas, to grain, televisions and cars. It is a partner in the Bay of Bengal gas exploration project in Burma which could earn the regime hundreds of millions of dollars. Daewoo Motors also has a car assembly plant which is a joint venture with Myanmar Automobile and Diesel Industries (MADI). MADI is owned and controlled by the regime. In addition, Daewoo supplies IT services to the regime, and has timber manufacturing and clothing interests in Burma.

D.A. Watts & Sons - NEW
Based in Northamptonshire, England, D.A.Watts & Sons Ltd. is a family run business which has been established for 20 years. They have produced in excess of 3500 teak decks, and only use Burmese teak. They claim that they will continue to do so until, or unless, world politics shuts off the supply. Their decks are now installed as standard by many of Europe’s leading small craft manufacturers. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

DBS Group Holdings Ltd - NEW
DBS Group Holdings Ltd is the holding company of DBS bank and is one of the largest companies in terms of market capitalisation listed on the Singapore Exchange, with total assets amounting to over S$180 billion. Included in its international banking network is a representative office in Burma.

Diethelm Keller/STA Travel
Diethelm Keller Group is a private Swiss company with a wide range of investments, including Diethelm Travel, which operates holiday tours to Burma. Diethelm boasts that it pioneered tourism to Burma. Diethelm also owns STA travel. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.



Dragon Travel
Dragon Travel is a travel company based in Wales that organises tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement have asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.








E To top

EGAT - NEW
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) Public Limited Company is a subsidiary of Thailand’s state run power utility, EGAT, formed to increase private sector involvement in electricity supply. EGAT Plc signed a Memorandum of Understanding in late 2005, with the Burmese military junta for the construction of a series of five hydro electric dams along the Salween river. The project will not only secure electricity for Thailand, but also much needed income for the SPDC.

E.O. Burton
E.O. Burton is a timber importer based in Essex. According to the Timber Trade Federation, E.O. Burton sells Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Essar Group
Essar Group is an Indian conglomerate. In 2005 its Essar Oil subsidiary signed contracts with the regime to make onshore and offshore explorations for oil and gas.

Euro Teck - NEW
Euro Teck is a French company based in Nantes which is specifically concerned with the importation and distribution of Burmese teak to France and Europe. They have a subsidiary in Burma in charge of selecting, buying and manufacturing these teak products. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.





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Flatau Dick & Co
Flatau Dick & Co is a timber merchant based in Surrey and Liverpool. Flatau Dick & Co sells Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Focus Energy
Focus Energy is a small British oil company – registered in the Virgin Islands. Focus Energy operates and develops onshore oil fields in Burma. It began operations in 1997, and in late 2004 announced a new investment of 4 million dollars to drill new wells.

Fodor's/Random House
Fodor’s is an American publishing company that specialises in travel guides. Their South East Asia guide includes a section on Burma which helps facilitate tourism to the country. Fodor's is part of the Random House publishing group. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.











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Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL)
GAIL is an Indian gas company. It is a partner is the massive Shwe gas field consortium off the coast of Burma. It has a 10% stake.
Gecko’s Adventures
Gecko’s describes itself as a travel company for ‘grassroots adventures’. It is a sister company of Peregrine Adventures, which has offices in Australia and the UK. Gecko’s organises tours to Burma.


Geopetrol - NEW
Geopetrol is a private oil and gas exploration, and production, company. Through GoldPetrol, the company’s joint venture with Interra Resources, this French based firm has a participating interest in two major oil producing fields in the sub-Salin basin of Burma. It plans to undertake further development drilling to significantly increase its production.

Ginnacle Import-Export Pte Ltd - NEW
Ginnacle is a company located in Singapore involved in the sales and marketing of Burmese teak lumber, decking and furniture. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Golden Aaron Pte. Ltd - NEW
Golden Aaron Pte. Ltd. is a Singaporean oil corporation. The company is part of a consortium which in 2005 signed three production sharing contracts with state run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, to explore for oil and gas in Burma, both on and offshore. It is a project which will undoubtedly provide the Burmese junta with a large and valuable source of income. The same consortium signed similar deals in 2004.












H To top


Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd is a German container shipping line and holiday cruise operator. Its container division has an office in Burma as part of its operation to export Burmese products. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises includes Burma on their cruises in Asia. Hapag-Lloyd is active in the UK container shipping market.


Hawke House Ltd - NEW
Hawke House is a family run supplier to the marine industry. Located in Gosport, England, the equipment it stocks and retails includes Burmese teak decking. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Helicopters New Zealand
Helicopters New Zealand (NZ) are a New Zealand helicopter hire company that specialises in helicopter hire for difficult environments, including the oil and gas industry. Helicopters NZ have been hired by Daewoo to work on the Shwe gas field.

Hunter Publishing/Nelles Guides
Hunter Publishing is an American publishing company that produces a guide to Burma under its Nelles Guide imprint. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Hutchison Whampoa/3 Mobile/Superdrug
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd is a Hong Kong based company with a wide range of investments around the world. In Burma it operates Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT), a major port in Burma. It describes these port terminals as “strategically positioned to facilitate and service Myanmar’s international trade.” In the UK, Hutchison owns 3 Mobile, Superdrug, three major ports – Felixstowe, Harwich International and Thamesport, and has major stakes in luxury property developments such as Royal Gate in Kensington, Belgravia Place near Sloane Square and Albion Wharf in Chelsea.


H2O Yachts - NEW
H2O Yachts are a French boatbuilding, restoration and fitting company who describe themselves as craftsmen in teak. All of their teak is sourced from Burma. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.










I To top

Impact Publications
Impact Publications is an American publishing company that publishes a guide to Burma. The guide is available in several countries. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities. Impact Publications have sent abusive emails to people writing to express their concern about Impact promoting tourism to Burma.
Insight Guides
Insight Guides is an independent publishing company that produces holiday guides, including a guide to Burma that promotes tourism to the country. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Interra Resources – NEW
Singapore listed Interra Resource’s principal activities are the exploration and operation of oil fields for the production of crude petroleum. It operates in Indonesia and Burma. In Burma its subsidiary Goldwater Oil was the first foreign oil company to extract oil in Burma. It is currently engaged in oil and gas exploration and production through its jointly controlled venture with Geopetrol called Goldpetrol.

Itera Group – NEW
Itera Group is a Russian oil and gas company. In September 2006 it signed a production sharing contract for oil and gas exploration with the regime.

Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company with very close links to the regime in Burma. As the largest foreign mining investor in Burma it operates the Monywa Copper mine in a joint venture with the regime. Rail and power infrastructure in the area of the mine was built using forced labour. The mine could be earning the regime over $40 million a year.











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James Latham
James Latham is a timber importer based in Hemel Hempstead, and with depots across the UK. James Latham sells approximately £50,000 of Burmese teak each year. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Jet Gold Corp
Jet Gold Corp is a Canadian mining company. Its major focus is searching for gold in Shan state in Burma.












K To top


Kajima
Kajima is a Japanese construction company with contracts all over the world. Kajima has an office in Burma and has undertaken several construction contracts for the regime. In the UK, Kajima has won several PFI projects, including building schools in Camden and Ealing.


Keppel Corporation - NEW
Singapore’s Keppel Corporation is a multinational corporation with interests in three key business areas: Offshore and Marine, Property and Infrastructure. Its property wing- Keppel Land has a presence in eight Asian countries including Burma where it owns the Sedona Hotels in Yangon and Mandalay.


Kerry Logistics Group/Kuok Group
Kerry Logistics is a goods transport logistics company with branches in 12 countries, including the UK. Kerry Logistics also operates in Burma, facilitating the export of Burmese goods. Kerry Logistics is part of the Singaporean conglomerate, Kuok Group.

Kircodan Furniture
Kircodan is a Danish furniture manufacturer that sources timber from Burma. Kircodan’s furniture is sold in the UK. Timber exports are an important source of income for Burma’s dictatorship.


KOGAS
KOGAS – The Korea Gas Corporation – is a South Korean gas company. KOGAS is a partner is the massive Shwe gas field consortium off the coast of Burma. It has a 10% stake.










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Leeward Capital Corp
Leeward Capital Corp are a Canadian mining company. They are in a joint venture with the regime to mine and export amber.



Let’s Go/Pan MacMillan
Let’s Go is an American publisher of travel guides. Pan Macmillan distributes the Let’s Go series in the UK. The Let’s Go South East Asia guide includes a section on Burma that helps to facilitate tourism to the country. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.



Lister/Sun Wood Industries
Lister is a garden furniture manufacturer based in Sussex. Its parent company is Sun Wood Industries in Thailand. It sources teak from Burma. Timber exports are an important source of income for the regime.
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is an Australian multinational publishing company specialising in travel guides. Lonely Planet publishes a guide to Burma which encourages tourists to visit the country. Lonely Planet also vigorously defends tourism to Burma, attempting to undermine calls by Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s democracy movement for tourists to stay away.









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Maersk
A.P.Møller Maersk is a Danish multinational company that specialises in shipping, but also has interests in oil & gas exploration, air transport, and supermarkets. In Burma Maersk act as a shipping agent through a company set up to act as their local representative. The agent – Win Trade Ltd – arranges exports from Burma using the regime owned Myanmar Five Star Line. Maersk are joint owners of Dansk Supermarked, Denmark’s second largest supermarket chain, which includes Netto supermarkets.


Marubeni
Marubeni is a Japanese company with interests ranging from oil and gas to clothing and timber. In Burma they helped finance the Monywa Copper mine developed by Ivanhoe. In the UK Marubeni develops oil and gas reserves in the North Sea.


Mekong Travel
Mekong Travel is a travel company based in Buckinghamshire which specialises in holidays to Indochina, including Burma. On their website they describe how decades of isolation as a result of military dictatorship “have preserved here many of the traditional features, physical and cultural, which have been lost in other Asian countries.”


Mel Flooring
Mel Flooring is a flooring company that sells Burmese Teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Mitsui
Mitsui is a Japanese conglomerate with interests ranging from metals and mining to electronic goods, insurance, clothes and chemicals. Mitsui is in a joint venture with the Burmese regime in the Mingaladon Industrial Park, which was set up to attract foreign investors to Burma.


Mitsui OSK Lines
M.O.L is a global business concerned with marine shipping and logistics in what it calls a ‘truly borderless transportation network that brings goods to market all over the world’. Yangon is one of the company’s major calling ports.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance is one of Japan’s largest non-life insurers with a workforce of over 13,000 and a net income in 2006 of over 124,000 million yen. Included in its large overseas network is a representative office in Yangon.

Morgan Timber
Morgan Timber is a timber importer based in Kent. In 2004 the Timber Trade Federation listed Morgan Timber as selling Burmese teak. Morgan Timber have not replied to correspondence from the Burma Campaign UK regarding its sales of Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Moss & Co
Moss Timber is a timber importer based in London. According to the Timber Trade Federation, Moss Timber sells Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Mountain Travel Sobek
Mountain Travel Sobek is an adventure travel company with offices in the US and UK. They operate tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.










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New Horizons Travels and Tours Ltd
New Horizons Travels and Tours is a London based company that organises holidays to Burma. They promote them through their website burmaexpeditions.com.


NHG Timber Ltd
NHG Timber is a timber importer based in London. According to the Timber Trade Federation, NHG Timber sells Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Nikko Hotels International/Japan Airlines
Nikko Hotels International, a subsidiary of Japan Airlines, owns hotels all over the world. In Burma Nikko operate the Hotel Nikko Royal Lake Yangon. In the UK they own the Montcalm-Hotel Nikko London.


Nippon Oil
Japanese oil firm Nippon Oil are one of the joint venture partners developing the Yadana offshore gas field in Burma, which earns the military regime millions of dollars.


Noble Caledonia
Noble Caledonia is a British holiday cruise company offering cruises all over the world. Their brochure includes cruises on the Irrawaddy River in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


NYK Shipping
NYK is the world’s largest shipping company. It transports garment exports from Burma. Since being placed on the Dirty List in 2004 NYK has taken some welcome steps to reduce its involvement in Burma. It has stopped carrying timber exports from Burma and its American subsidiary Crystal Cruises has stopped visiting Burma. NYK has significant operations in the UK, operating out of ports across the country.












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OCBC Bank - NEW
OCBC Bank is Singapore’s longest established bank, and is today one of Asia’s leading financial services groups with gross assets of S$136 billion. The group has a global network of more than 310 branches and representative offices in 15 countries including Burma.

Old Burma Tour and Trading Co - NEW
This Florida based company, with offices in Yangon, is a provider of custom made tours of Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Further, forced labour has been used to develop certain tourist facilities.

NGC Videsh
ONGC Videsh is one of the largest companies in India. It is a partner in the massive Shwe gas field consortium off the coast of Burma. It has a 20% stake.

Orient Express
Orient Express has its registered office in Bermuda, is managed from London, and is listed on the New York stock exchange. The company specialises mainly in hotels, but also offers holidays to Burma including ‘Road to Mandalay’ cruises on the Irrawaddy River. It has recently expanded its interests in Burma by taking a stake in the Pansea hotel chain – now rebranded as ‘Pansea Orient Express’ - which has a hotel in Rangoon. Pansea Orient Express is also building a new hotel in Bagan, Burma.









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Parker Kislingbury
Parker Kislingbury is a timber importer based in Buckinghamshire. According to the Timber Trade Federation, Parker Kislingbury sells Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Peregrine Adventures
Peregrine Adventures is an Australian travel company with an office in London. Peregrine offers 12 day tours of Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Petronas
Petronas is a Malaysian state owned oil and gas company. It has several contracts with the regime in Burma to extract and explore for oil and gas in the country.


Pettitts
Pettitts is a travel company based in Kent. They offer a 9 day tour of Burma. They are one of the few travel companies to mention that there are ethical problems with visiting Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


PTTEP
PTTEP – The PTT Exploration and Production Company, is a Thai company that is largely state owned. PTTEP owns a 25.5 % stake in the Yadana gas field in Burma, and a 19.3% stake in the Yetagun field. PTTEP is also planning to expand its operations in Burma.

Purple Dragon – NEW
Purple Dragon is a sister company of Thailand based Utopia Tours. It specialises in holidays for gays and lesbians. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.












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Road to Mandalay
Road to Mandalay is a travel and export company based in Burma and the UK. In Burma it operates under the name Golden Pagoda Travel. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Robbins Timber
Robbins Timber is a timber company based in Bristol. They boast that they are one of the largest UK stockists of Burmese teak. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.


Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce is a British company that makes and services engines for civil and military aircraft, and the marine and energy sectors. (Rolls-Royce cars are made by a separate company which have a license from Rolls-Royce to use the brand for cars.) Through its Singaporean subsidiary, Rolls-Royce has a contract to supply and service aircraft engines for at least one Burmese airline. All airlines in Burma are owned by the regime or their cronies.










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SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd - NEW
SapuraCrest is a leading oil and gas services provider in the Southeast Asia region, with further projects in Australia, the Middle East, and India. The company has been involved in offshore oil and gas drilling in Burma, and its operations in the country have continued through 2006.

Scansia Sdn Bhd
Scansia Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian company. Scansia Myanmar manufactures garden furniture in a plant in Rangoon. All its timber is purchased from the regime owned company Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE). The furniture is exported to the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Japan. Scansia also give 20 percent of the profits from their Burmese operations to the regime.


Schenker
Schenker is a German logistics company with an office in Rangoon, through which it facilitates the export of Burmese goods. Schenker also has offices in several UK ports.

Schlumberger
Schlumberger is a technology company which operates all over the world. Schlumberger Oilfield Services operates offshore gas rigs in Burma. It also operates oil rigs in UK waters in the North Sea.


Shangri-La Hotels
Shangri-La Hotels is a Singaporean hotel company. It operates the Traders hotel in Rangoon. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities. In the UK, Shangri-La plans to operate an opulent 5 star hotel in the proposed ‘shard of glass’ tower block at London Bridge.

Siemens
Siemens are a German engineering and technology company operating all over the world. Siemens are supplying gas turbines to Total for a new platform in the Yadana gas field.

Silverbird Travel
Silverbird Travel is a London based travel company that operates tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


SBM Offshore - NEW
SBM Offshore is a Dutch company formerly known as IHC Caland. It is a management holding company of a group of international companies working as suppliers to the offshore oil and gas industry on a global basis. It owns and operates a Floating Storage and Offloading System in Burma under a long term lease contract with Petronas.

SGS Group - NEW
SGS Group, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is a global leader in the inspection, verification, testing and certification industry. It has over 34,000 employees and a presence in well over 120 countries. This includes Burma where it has a subsidiary – SGS (Myanmar) Ltd which plays a key role in the facilitation of Burma’s international trading.

Sompo Japan
Sompo Japan is a Japanese insurance company that provides insurance and reinsurance services to companies operating in Burma. Sompo Japan has offices across the world, including in the UK.

Sri Asia Tourism
Sri Asia Tourism service is a Burmese travel company offering holidays to Burma through offices in the UK and Australia.


Steppes Travel/Steppes East
Steppes East is a UK travel company offering holidays to Burma. They continue to operate tours to the country despite Nicholas A G Laing of Steppes East admitting to the Burma Campaign UK that: “Myanmar is a highly controversial subject which I have yet to fathom.” Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.



Sumitomo Corporation
Sumitomo Corporation is a Japanese conglomerate with extensive financial interests in the UK. Sumitomo is in a joint venture with Myanmar General and Maintenance Industries (MGMI) producing steel. MGMI is owned and controlled by the military regime.


Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
SMFG was established in 2002 as a holding company for the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). SMBC came into existence the preceding year through the merger of the Sakura Bank and the Sumitomo Bank. SMBC operates a representative office in Yangon and, through the services it provides, serves to facilitate trade and financial transactions in Burma.

Sutech Engineering Co Ltd - NEW
Bangkok-based Sutech Engineering Company is primarily involved in the construction and running of processing mills. In Burma it is engaged in the production and processing of sugar in conjunction with the state run Myanmar Sugarcane Enterprise and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC). In late 2006 it agreed a further joint venture with the MEC for the construction of what will be Burma’s largest sugar mill.

Suzuki
Suzuki’s main business is the manufacture of cars and motorbikes. In 1998 Suzuki invested $6.9 million to set up a joint venture with Myanmar Automobile & Diesel Engine Industries (MADI). MADI is controlled by the military regime. Suzuki owns 60% of the business, MADI 30% with the remaining 10% split between two Burmese companies with close government links.


Swift
Swift is a financial services co-operative company owned and controlled by many of the world’s largest banks, including Citibank, HSBC and ABN Amro. Swift hosts an electronic network that banks use to make transfers to each other. Following the imposition of financial sanctions by the United States government in August 2003 the regime faced a crisis, unable to use dollars in financial transactions. Swift came to their aid, making four Burmese banks part of its network. The regime is now able to avoid US financial sanctions by making financial transfers in Euros using Swift’s network.













T To top


Taiga Consultant Ltd
Taiga Consultant Ltd is a Canadian geological consulting firm. Taiga has an office in Burma and works closely with the regime exploring for base and precious metals.


Taisei - NEW
The Taisei Corporation is a Tokyo headquartered transnational construction and civil engineering corporation. With employees numbering nearly 10,000 and a history of involvement in over 50 countries worldwide, the corporation maintains a branch in Yangon. Their involvement there has included a leading role in the upgrade of Yangon International Airport alongside the Myanmar Construction Ministry, as well as office renovations for leading banks.

Teak Marine - NEW
Teak Marine manufactures and ships teak decks and cabin soles for luxury yachts on the North American coastline. They only use Burmese Teak. As the Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma, teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Tennyson Travel
Tennyson Travel is a UK travel company that trades under the name Visit Vietnam. As well as tours to Vietnam it also operates tours to Burma, which it advertises in national newspapers.


Total Oil
Total is in a joint venture with the military regime developing an offshore gas field in the Andaman sea. The gas is exported to Thailand through a pipeline that travels 65 kilometres through Burma. Total is one of the biggest foreign investors in Burma. Total has been taken to court by six Burmese people who were used as forced labour in the preparation of Total’s pipeline in Burma.


Trailblazer Guides
Trailblazer Guides publishes a guide to South East Asia that includes a section on Burma. This section facilitates tourism to the country. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Trans Indus Ltd
Trans Indus is a British holiday company that operates tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.


Travel World Media
Travel World Media owns Elephantguide.com. Elephantguide.com is an online travel guide which includes a section facilitating tourism to Burma.









U To top

The Ultimate Travel Company/Worldwide Journeys & Expeditions
Worldwide Journeys is part of The Ultimate Travel Company. It offers tours to Burma saying there has never been a better time to visit. No mention is made of the military dictatorship.


United Overseas Bank Group - NEW
The United Overseas Bank was founded in 1935 and is today a leading bank in Singapore and a dominant player in Asia-Pacific. As of 31 December 2005, the UOB Group had total assets of S$145.1 billion and shareholders' equity of S$14.9 billion. UOB has a global network of branches, offices and subsidiaries, one such office being in Burma. UOB also has diversified interests and through its subsidiary United Overseas Land the group operates the Park Royal Yangon hotel.

Utopia Tours
Utopia Tours is a travel company based in Thailand which specialises in holidays for gays and lesbians. It advertises tours to Burma in Gay and Lesbian media in the UK. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.




V To top


Voyages to Asia
Voyages to Asia is a travel company organising tours to Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities.









W To top

William Garvey Furniture
William Garvey is a furniture design and manufacturing company. It uses Burmese teak. Teak exports are an important source of revenue for the regime.
Willis Group Holdings
Willis Group Holdings is a global insurance broker. The Federation of Trade Unions – Burma reports that through its Singapore office Willis provides insurance cover for companies investing in Burma.


Worldwood
Worldwood is a Dutch timber company which also operate in the UK. Worldwood sources teak from Burma. Teak exports are a key source of revenue for the regime.








Z
To top
Zarubezhneft - NEW
JSC Zarubezhneft is a Russian oil and gas company. In September 2006 it signed a production sharing contract for oil and gas exploration with the regime.

“Funding the War Is Killing the Troops”
Interrupting the Empire 30 Seconds at a Time

by Mike Ferner / September 29th, 2007

The massive US Capitol Building is situated to dominate Washington, DC from every angle. Its brightly lit facade dominates the night skyline even more.

Inside, a first time visitor is at least impressed if not overwhelmed, waiting to enter the House or Senate gallery. A mural entirely dominating one stairwell titled, “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,” depicts heroic, windswept pioneer families cresting a mountain pass. Dark, formal portraits of the icons of American history look down from within ornate, gold frames. The illuminated words of founding fathers inscribed on marble walls fairly shout hosannas to liberty, freedom and democracy. By the time a visitor approaches the final security checkpoint immediately outside the gallery itself, mere mortals about to view the workings of the gods are properly awed; particularly if they’ve read the back of their gallery pass which states:

Rules of the Gallery

Nothing may be taken into the Galleries other than articles of clothing and handbags.

Guests must remain seated and refrain from reading, writing, smoking, eating, drinking, applauding or picture taking.

Front railing must be kept clear of all objects and guests must not lean on railings.

Appropriate hats may be worn by gentlemen for religious purposes only.

Any disturbance or infraction of these rules is justification for expulsion from the Galleries.

The Sergeant at Arms

Such was the setting on September 20, 2007, when Linda Wiener, Leah Bolger and I walked into the gallery overlooking a session of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In large letters our banner read, “FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING OUR TROOPS” and it had a fine pedigree — only hours before it was a tablecloth at the trendy Washington Chop House where a sympathetic busboy donated it to the cause. Neatly folded and tucked into my pants, it made it past every security check except the last, electronic one which beeped at the cell phone I’d forgotten in my pocket. It seemed fitting that a banner with such a prestigious past should hang momentarily from the balcony of the House gallery, but such was not to be.

We were seated in a coveted first row, immediately behind the balcony railing, prepared to send our message at least verbally. Below us, the Acting Speaker of the House was conducting a vote described on a small, electronic scoreboard only as “On the previous question.” Voting consisted of a surprisingly raucous, undisciplined period when members walked around and talked loudly with their colleagues. To the untrained eye it appeared entirely chaotic. We waited for two such votes on equally mysterious questions and decided to do our presentation over the noise and bustle below.

I put on my blue garrison cap with white letters spelling “Veterans For Peace,” and stood up with Linda. In unison, we said loudly and clearly, “Congress! Congress! Funding the war is killing our troops. Please stop.” About half the members on the floor of the US House of Representatives stopped talking and turned to look. We were able to repeat our message a couple more times before the Acting Speaker pounded a gavel and said the magic words to the Sergeant-at-Arms and Capitol Hill Police: “Restore order!” Within seconds I felt a strong hand on my arm and heard a voice say, “Sir, come with me!” We accepted his invitation but continued delivering our message on the way out and in the hallway where we were quickly handcuffed and propelled towards the elevator.

After a 30-hour twilight of custody by the Capitol Police, DC Metropolitan Police, and finally US Marshals, I appeared before the judge in DC Superior Court for less than five minutes. My attorney, a third-year law student from the Georgetown Law Clinic successfully rebuffed the prosecutor’s request that I be given a “stay away” order preventing me from stepping foot in the several Congressional Office Buildings, the Capitol, and sundry bits of property adjacent to them all. I was told to return for a “status hearing” on October 30th, and released on my own recognizance.

That jail experience, although relatively short, was degrading as all jail experiences are intended to be. Going back to Washington DC for a status hearing and again for a trial is costly and inconvenient. But let’s face it. Many, many people in social justice movements before us have paid much more dearly than we’re asked to. For the most part, peace protesters these days aren’t being clubbed mercilessly, or disappeared into a gulag of prisons, or tortured when we’re arrested. We’re not yet under martial law, subject to being swept off the streets at a whim, nor are we being gunned down for protesting. That’s why it is so very important that we step forward now, before things get that bad, and demand an end to this war and justice for Iraqis and our returning troops.

Officer Wilson of the Capitol Police, whom I’ve gotten to know after a couple trips through his booking facility, asked, “Is it worth it? You know you’re not going to stop the war.” I have to admit that just that morning on my way to the Capitol I considered saying “the hell with it” and going home. I had just been arrested September 15th with 200 others on the grounds of the Capitol. I knew this next arrest would entail an overnight stay in the D.C. Metro Police lockup and more trips to Washington for court appearances. One more arrest wasn’t going to end the war. But I thought of the absolute hell experienced by the people of Iraq and the relative hell experienced by our soldiers occupying them; of the physical and mental anguishes they suffer and will continue to suffer for years to come; of the culpability I share in this criminal war. The logic seemed simple and clear to me: this was something I could do, therefore I must do it. In trying to end this war using nonviolence, such actions are among the most significant a person can take. So I answered Officer Wilson, “Yes, it’s worth it,” and tried unsuccessfully to explain my position to someone with a very different view of the world.

Later, I learned that on the day Linda spoke out and were arrested, 36 activists were arrested elsewhere in the Capitol Building, doing a die-in and reading the names of people killed in the war as a tour group of students watched.

From that one day’s experience, imagine what would happen if we decided to educate Congress with a variety of short speeches four times a day, for four days a week, for two weeks. That would take just 32 people; 64 people could keep it going for a month. Then, the next time 100,000 people come to DC for a demonstration and 5,000 of them do a die-in, what would happen if they were prepared to stay there indefinitely — and got on their phones to tell their friends to join them — and within days we had several times that number filling the streets, filling the jails? Now that actually begins to stop business as usual in Washington.

We can do it; therefore we must!

Mike Ferner is a member of Veterans For Peace and a writer from Toledo, Ohio. He can be reached at: mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net. Read other articles by Mike.

Bent Spear: Nukes on the Loose?

B-52 Nukes Headed for Iran, Not For Decommissioning: Airforce Refused

Air Force refused to fly weapons to Middle East theater
By Wayne Madsen
Sept. 24, 2007


WMR has learned from U.S. and foreign intelligence sources that the B-52 transporting six stealth AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles, each armed with a W-80-1 nuclear warhead, on August 30, were destined for the Middle East via Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

However, elements of the Air Force, supported by U.S. intelligence agency personnel, successfully revealed the ultimate destination of the nuclear weapons and the mission was aborted due to internal opposition within the Air Force and U.S. Intelligence Community.

Yesterday, the Washington Post attempted to explain away the fact that America's nuclear command and control system broke down in an unprecedented manner by reporting that it was the result of "security failures at multiple levels." It is now apparent that the command and control breakdown, reported as a BENT SPEAR incident to the Secretary of Defense and White House, was not the result of a command and control chain-of-command "failures" but the result of a revolt and push back by various echelons within the Air Force and intelligence agencies against a planned U.S. attack on Iran using nuclear and conventional weapons.

The Washington Post story on BENT SPEAR may have actually been an effort in damage control by the Bush administration. WMR has been informed by a knowledgeable source that one of the six nuclear-armed cruise missiles was, and may still be, unaccounted for. In that case, the nuclear reporting incident would have gone far beyond BENT SPEAR to a National Command Authority alert known as EMPTY QUIVER, with the special classification of PINNACLE.

Just as this report was being prepared, Newsweek reported that Vice President Dick Cheney's recently-departed Middle East adviser, David Wurmser, told a small group of advisers some months ago that Cheney had considered asking Israel to launch a missile attack on the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz. Cheney reasoned that after an Iranian retaliatory strike, the United States would have ample reasons to launch its own massive attack on Iran. However, plans for Israel to attack Iran directly were altered to an Israeli attack on a supposed Syrian-Iranian-North Korean nuclear installation in northern Syria.

WMR has learned that a U.S. attack on Iran using nuclear and conventional weapons was scheduled to coincide with Israel's September 6 air attack on a reputed Syrian nuclear facility in Dayr az-Zwar, near the village of Tal Abyad, in northern Syria, near the Turkish border. Israel's attack, code named OPERATION ORCHARD, was to provide a reason for the U.S. to strike Iran. The neo-conservative propaganda onslaught was to cite the cooperation of the George Bush's three remaining "Axis of Evil" states -- Syria, Iran, and North Korea -- to justify a sustained Israeli attack on Syria and a massive U.S. military attack on Iran.

WMR has learned from military sources on both sides of the Atlantic that there was a definite connection between Israel's OPERATION ORCHARD and BENT SPEAR involving the B-52 that flew the six nuclear-armed cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale. There is also a connection between these two events as the Pentagon's highly-classified PROJECT CHECKMATE, a compartmented U.S. Air Force program that has been working on an attack plan for Iran since June 2007, around the same time that Cheney was working on the joint Israeli-U.S. attack scenario on Iran.

PROJECT CHECKMATE was leaked in an article by military analyst Eric Margolis in the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, the /Times of London/, is a program that involves over two dozen Air Force officers and is headed by Brig. Gen. Lawrence Stutzriem and his chief civilian adviser, Dr. Lani Kass, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who, astoundingly, is now involved in planning a joint U.S.-Israeli massive military attack on Iran that involves a "decapitating" blow on Iran by hitting between three to four thousand targets in the country. Stutzriem and Kass report directly to the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Michael Moseley, who has also been charged with preparing a report on the B-52/nuclear weapons incident.

Kass' area of speciality is cyber-warfare, which includes ensuring "information blockades," such as that imposed by the Israeli government on the Israeli media regarding the Syrian air attack on the alleged Syrian "nuclear installation." British intelligence sources have reported that the Israeli attack on Syria was a "true flag" attack originally designed to foreshadow a U.S. attack on Iran. After the U.S. Air Force push back against transporting the six cruise nuclear-armed AGM-129s to the Middle East, Israel went ahead with its attack on Syria in order to help ratchet up tensions between Washington on one side and Damascus, Tehran, and Pyongyang on the other.

The other part of CHECKMATE's brief is to ensure that a media "perception management" is waged against Syria, Iran, and North Korea. This involves articles such as that which appeared with Joby Warrick's and Walter Pincus' bylines in yesterdays /Washington Post/. The article, titled "The Saga of a Bent Spear," quotes a number of seasoned Air Force nuclear weapons experts as saying that such an incident is unprecedented in the history of the Air Force. For example, Retired Air Force General Eugene Habiger, the former chief of the U.S. Strategic Command, said he has been in the "nuclear business" since 1966 and has never been aware of an incident "more disturbing."

Command and control breakdowns involving U.S. nuclear weapons are unprecedented, except for that fact that the U.S. military is now waging an internal war against neo-cons who are embedded in the U.S. government and military chain of command who are intent on using nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive war with Iran.

CHECKMATE and OPERATION ORCHARD would have provided the cover for a pre-emptive U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran had it not been for BENT SPEAR involving the B-52. In on the plan to launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran involving nuclear weapons were, according to our sources, Cheney, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley; members of the CHECKMATE team at the Pentagon, who have close connections to Israeli intelligence and pro-Israeli think tanks in Washington, including the Hudson Institute; British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, a political adviser to Tony Blair prior to becoming a Member of Parliament; Israeli political leaders like Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu; and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who did his part last week to ratchet up tensions with Iran by suggesting that war with Iran was a probability. Kouchner retracted his statement after the U.S. plans for Iran were delayed.

Although the Air Force tried to keep the B-52 nuclear incident from the media, anonymous Air Force personnel leaked the story to /Military Times/ on September 5, the day before the Israelis attacked the alleged nuclear installation in Syria and the day planned for the simultaneous U.S. attack on Iran. The leaking of classified information on U.S. nuclear weapons disposition or movement to the media, is, itself, unprecedented. Air Force regulations require the sending of classified BEELINE reports to higher Air Force authorities on the disclosure of classified Air Force information to the media.

In another highly unusual move, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked an outside inquiry board to look into BENT SPEAR, even before the Air Force has completed its own investigation, a virtual vote of no confidence in the official investigation being conducted by Major General Douglas Raaberg, chief of air and space operations at the Air Combat Command.

Gates asked former Air Force Chief of Staff, retired General Larry Welch, to lead a Defense Science Board task force that will also look into the BENT SPEAR incident. The official Air Force investigation has reportedly been delayed for unknown reasons. Welch is President and CEO of the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), a federally-funded research contractor that operates three research centers, including one for Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and another for the National Security Agency. One of the board members of IDA is Dr. Suzanne H. Woolsey of the Paladin Capital Group and wife of former CIA director and arch-neocon James Woolsey.

WMR has learned that neither the upper echelons of the State Department nor the British Foreign Office were privy to OPERATION ORCHARD, although Hadley briefed President Bush on Israeli spy satellite intelligence that showed the Syrian installation was a joint nuclear facility built with North Korean and Iranian assistance. However, it is puzzling why Hadley would rely on Israeli imagery intelligence (IMINT) from its OFEK (Horizon) 7 satellite when considering that U.S. IMINT satellites have greater capabilities.

The Air Force's "information warfare" campaign against media reports on CHECKMATE and OPERATION ORCHARD also affected international reporting of the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution asking Israel to place its nuclear weapons program under IAEA controls, similar to those that the United States wants imposed on Iran and North Korea. The resolution also called for a nuclear-free zone throughout the Middle East. The IAEA's resolution, titled "Application of IAEA Safeguards in the Middle East," was passed by the 144-member IAEA General Meeting on September 20 by a vote of 53 to 2, with 47 abstentions. The only two countries to vote against were Israel and the United States. However, the story carried from the IAEA meeting in Vienna by Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France Press, was that it was Arab and Islamic nations that voted for the resolution.

This was yet more perception management carried out by CHECKMATE, the White House, and their allies in Europe and Israel with the connivance of the media. In fact, among the 53 nations that voted for the resolution were China, Russia, India, Ireland, and Japan. The 47 abstentions were described as votes "against" the resolution even though an abstention is neither a vote for nor against a measure. America's close allies, including Britain, France, Australia, Canada, and Georgia, all abstained.

Suspiciously, the IAEA carried only a brief item on the resolution concerning Israel's nuclear program and a roll call vote was not available either at the IAEA's web site -- www.iaea.org -- or in the media.

The perception management campaign by the neocon operational cells in the Bush administration, Israel and Europe was designed to keep a focus on Iran's nuclear program, not on Israel's. Any international examination of Israel's nuclear weapons program would likely bring up Israeli nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu, a covert from Judaism to Christianity, who was kidnapped in Rome by a Mossad "honey trap" named Cheryl Bentov (aka, Cindy) and a Mossad team in 1986 and held against his will in Israel ever since.

Vanunu's knowledge of the Israeli nuclear weapons program would focus on the country's own role in nuclear proliferation, including its program to share nuclear weapons technology with apartheid South Africa and Taiwan in the late 1970s and 1980s. The role of Ronald Reagan's Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Ken Adelman in Israeli's nuclear proliferation during the time frame 1983-1987 would also come under scrutiny. Adelman, a member of the Reagan-Bush transition State Department team from November 1980 to January 1981, voiced his understanding for the nuclear weapons programs of Israel, South Africa, and Taiwan in a June 28, 1981 /New York Times/ article titled, "3 Nations Widening Nuclear Contacts." The journalist who wrote the article was Judith Miller. Adelman felt that the three countries wanted nuclear weapons because of their ostracism from the West, the third world, and the hostility from the Communist countries. Of course, today, the same argument can be used by Iran, North Korea, and other "Axis of Evil" nations so designated by the neocons in the Bush administration and other governments.

There are also news reports that suggest an intelligence relationship between Israel and North Korea. On July 21, 2004, New Zealand's /Dominion Post/ reported that three Mossad agents were involved in espionage in New Zealand. Two of the Mossad agents, Uriel Kelman and Elisha Cara (aka Kra), were arrested and imprisoned by New Zealand police (an Israeli diplomat in Canberra, Amir Lati, was expelled by Australia and New Zealand intelligence identified a fourth Mossad agent involved in the New Zealand espionage operation in Singapore). The third Mossad agent in New Zealand, Zev William Barkan (aka Lev Bruckenstein), fled New Zealand -- for North Korea.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff revealed that Barkan, a former Israeli Navy diver, had previously worked at the Israeli embassy in Vienna, which is also the headquarters of the IAEA. He was cited by the /Sydney Morning Herald/ as trafficking in passports stolen from foreign tourists in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. New Zealand's One News reported that Barkan was in North Korea to help the nation build a wall to keep its citizens from leaving.

The nuclear brinkmanship involving the United States and Israel and the breakdown in America's command and control systems have every major capital around the world wondering about the Bush administration's true intentions.

NOTE: WMR understands the risks to informed individuals in reporting the events of August 29/30, to the present time, that concern the discord within the U.S. Air Force, U.S. intelligence agencies, and other military services. Any source with relevant information and who wishes to contact us anonymously may drop off sealed correspondence at or send mail via the Postal Service to: Wayne Madsen, c/o The Front Desk, National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th St., NW, Washington, DC, 20045.

Veterans D. C. Protest

Iraq Veterans Against The War Lead

March and Civil Disobedience in Washington DC

"We Are the Troops! Bring Us Home!"

On September 15th, tens of thousands of people rallied at Lafayette Park in Washington DC, in the United States, and then marched from the White House to the US Capitol to demand an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq. The march and rally were organized by the ANSWER Coalition, Iraq Veterans Against the War and many other organizations with the theme that: "Protesting is not enough. Come for the rally, stay for a week of direct action."

The protest culminated with hundreds of people participating in a "die-in" surrounding the Capitol. More than 193 protestors were individually arrested after crossing a short barrier surrounding the Capitol. Many members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War contingent were arrested, including family members of veterans and active duty soldiers, as well as veterans of the Vietnam War.

The civil disobedience was large enough that the Capitol police tried to stop arresting people and someone in charge yelled that the protestors had made their point. The police at the wall began to push back anyone trying to get arrested, and sprayed chemicals from a small red cannister on two people who tried, and finally succeeded, to get arrested. Capitol Police told the New York Times that arrestees will be charged with "illegally crossing a police line." The rights of protestors were trampled on throughout the day, especially at 67 K Street where the arrestees were being held.

Earlier, a single line on Pennsylvania Avenue of "Gathering of Eagles" and Young Republicans, a majority of whom never served in Iraq, yelled "traitor" at the Iraq Veterans Against the War contingent heading the antiwar march. The Iraq War veterans chanted, "We Are the Troops! Bring us Home!," while marching with flags printed with the names of big war contractors including Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Blackwater and CACI.

source

Hundreds Sick in Peru Following "Meteorite" Impact

600 sick in Peru after 'meteorite' crashes
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 | 1:13 AM ET
CBC News
Hundreds of people flocked to get medical treatment after an apparent meteorite crashed in a remote part of southern Peru over the weekend, health officials said.

The fiery ball that witnesses say fell from the sky Saturday morning smashed into the Andean plain near the Bolivian border, leaving a crater 30 metres wide and six metres deep.

Scientists are on their way to the site to collect samples in order to verify the whether the crater was, fact, caused by a meteorite.

About 600 people sought medical treatment after visiting the site, authorities say.

Jorge Lopez, the health director in Puno, say most complained of headaches, vomiting and nausea that they believe was caused by noxious fumes from the crater.

A local resident told the BBC that the object is buried in the ground. "That is why we are asking for an analysis, because we are worried for our people. They are afraid. A bull is dead and some other animals are already sick," said Heber Mamani.

Experts have said a meteorite can react with elements in the earth when it strikes the surface, producing gases that later dissipate.

Three geologists from Peru's Geophysics Institute are expected to present a report on the incident Thursday.

But meteor expert Ursula Marvin questioned the theory, saying the health problems were not likely from a meteorite itself but the dust it raised.

A meteorite "wouldn't get much gas out of the Earth," said Marvin, who has studied the objects since 1961 at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts. "It's a very superficial thing."

Hernando Tavera, a geophysicist at the institute, said similar cases were reported in 2002 and 2004 elsewhere in southern Peru but never confirmed as meteorites.

Iraq Demands Blackwater be Removed Now

US vows Blackwater killings probe

Blackwater is responsible for US embassy security and protects diplomats and officials [AFP]

The US has vowed to investigate a deadly Iraqi civilian shooting after the Iraqi government ordered Blackwater USA, the main American security firm in the country, to get out over the killings.


Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, telephoned Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, to express regret at the loss of life and promised that the results of an internal investigation into Sunday's incident would be shared with Baghdad.


"She has expressed her personal apologies and the apologies of the government of the United States. She confirmed that the United Sates will take immediate actions to prevent such actions from happening again," al-Maliki's office said.

In video
Kimberley Halkett takes
an in-depth look at Blackwater's operations

Tom Casey, the deputy state department spokesman, said: "She told the prime minister that we were investigating this incident and wanted to gain a full understanding of what happened."

Rice and al-Maliki "agreed on the importance of working closely together in the time ahead on a transparent investigation," Casey added.

Yassin Majid, an adviser to the prime minister, said the two also agreed to hold any wrongdoers accountable.

Al-Maliki had condemned Sunday's shooting and vowed to punish the perpetrators and their employers.


Tens of thousands of private security
contractors operate in Iraq [AFP]
"We will work to punish and halt the work of the security company which conducted this criminal act," state television quoted him as saying.

The 15-minute call came after Iraq's interior ministry said it had revoked Blackwater's licence.

The firm is responsible for US embassy security and the expulsion may severely curtail US operations in Iraq by stripping diplomats and other officials of protection.

The two other private security firms employed by the US state department to protect its personnel in Iraq are Dyncorp and Triple Canopy.

Blackwater said it had not been formally notified of any expulsion. The US state department also said Washington had not been informed of the licence cancellation.

Conflicting accounts were reported of the incident in which, according to the US embassy in Baghdad, a diplomatic convoy was attacked, and security guards opened fire in response.

'Profitable patriotism'


Estimated 30,000 private security "contractors" in Iraq often referred to as shadow armies and mercenaries



US figures say in the first gulf war, ratio of private contractors to troops one to 60; now about one to three

Little known about who security firms are accountable to


Accused of being overly aggressive and above the law

Blackwater has secured more than $500m in federal contracts since 2000 - two thirds of those contracts known as "no bids"


Landed first big contract in Iraq in 2003, protecting Paul Bremer, the-then US top administrator in Iraq, for 11 months for $21m



Employs 1,500 security personnel in Iraq, specialising in transporting so-called high-value targets


US military destroyed Falluja in 2004, weeks after four Blackwater employees were killed there


Has also stirred up controversy in Potrero, a small US town along the California-Mexico border where it wants to build a huge training camp

Iraq's interior ministry said eight civilians were killed and 13 wounded when Blackwater contractors opened fire on civilians in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour in western Baghdad after mortar rounds landed near their convoy.

General Abdul Kareem Khaleh, an interior ministry spokesman, said Blackwater guards "opened fire randomly at citizens".

"We have withdrawn its licence" and will "deliver those who committed this act to the court", he added.

Anne Tyrrell, a company spokeswoman, said late on Monday: "Blackwater's independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack in Baghdad on Sunday."

The state department could not say which Iraqi laws Blackwater or its employees might be subject to, the chain of command its employees answer to.

The US embassy said it was seeking clarification on the legal status of security contractors and whether Blackwater employees could be prosecuted in Iraq.

Khaleh said the security guards "do not have immunity, as immunity is granted only to the multi-national forces … [They] are subject to the obligations of the Iraqi penal law".

The moves by the Bush administration appear unlikely to forestall a congressional inquiry into not just Sunday's events but the government's increasing reliance on the use of contractors in Iraq.

"The controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors," Henry Waxman, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said.

He said his committee would hold hearings to determine "what has happened and the extent of the damage to US security interests".

Hanford Nuclear Accident

Subject: hanford nuclear accident
see the report of DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD

Hanford accident is a wake-up call

By HELEN WHEATLEY

The Hanford nuclear waste site had its worst accident in years on July 27. A pipe burst and sprayed the air and ground with some of the
hottest material to be found on the site.

The accident happened at an old single-shell tank that dates back to the early 1950s. It holds highly radioactive sludge left over from producing the nation's first nuclear weapons. A contractor, CH2M Hill, was transferring the waste from the failing old tank to a new one.

Put your finger on the end of a straw and suck the other end. What happens to the straw? That appears to be what happened out on the Hanford tank farm http://www.dnfsb.gov/pub_docs/hanford/wr_20070727_hd.pdf


Besides cesium, strontium, americium, plutonium and a toxic soup of non-radiological hazardous chemicals, the peanut butter-thick sludge is chunked up with salt cake and other glop. Engineers try to stir this up, and thin it with a bit of water. They have designed all kinds of redundancies to prevent disasters in the line carrying the sludge from one tank to another. Less thought went into the pipe carrying in clean water. After all, the water should flow into the tank, not out.

Unless the pump clogs up. And somebody reverses the pump to clear it. And it doesn't work, so they do it again. Do you see that straw collapsing? Or maybe the suction finally works, and a hundred gallons of deadly brew pours out into the vacuum, escaping its half-century prison, bursting from the weakened line, and spilling onto the ground and into the air.

Did CH2M Hill know that it had a problem on its hands? It seems an increase in radiation levels registered right after the pump was run at about 2 a.m. A team was not sent to investigate until about eight hours later. What the team found was deemed serious enough to order Hanford
workers to take cover.

That event raises many red flags. Why did the engineering mistakes occur? Was it a case of too much pressure to produce results, without enough planning and oversight? Were the investigators properly protected? Could an earlier investigation have stopped workers from
coming onto the site in the first place, instead of giving them a belated order to take cover? Why did it take so long to make an official discovery of the accident?

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, for one, has asked the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to become involved. There are 149 old single-shell tanks at Hanford, and Wyden calls the commitment to getting the waste out "tenuous."

The federal government has poured billions into building a plant to treat the waste. But the plant is additional billions over budget, years behind schedule and technologically novel and uncertain. There aren't enough double shell tanks to receive the old waste; July's pipe accident is not the first problem encountered trying to pump material from one tank to another.

This is a good time to ask questions because the U.S. Department of Energy is putting together a new contract for managing the high-level radiation waste tanks at Hanford. For CH2M Hill, it is not such a good time for accidents to happen. That's why Wyden called for a truly independent investigation, "not just of the most recent release and its underlying causes, but to also examine the operational assumptions, plans, schedule and engineering approach used in the tank waste
transfer program."

Right now, Wyden stands alone. Who in Washington will join his call to get to the bottom of what happened at Tank S-102? Let's seek some fresh, disinterested opinions, before we see more inadvertent experiments in elementary physics.


Helen Wheatley is Heart of America Northwest's board president.

The Spinmeister's Return: Whatever Happened to Ari?

Pro-Bush Group Airs New War Ads
By JIM KUHNHENN

[for complete article links, please see original here. - ape]
The Petraeus Report Myth - The Petraeus Report's Real Benefactor: Big Oil

WASHINGTON (AP) - A political group supporting President Bush's Iraq war strategy with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign is airing a new TV ad denouncing a liberal group's sharp criticism of Gen. David Petraeus.

The campaign is the second rollout of ads by the group, Freedom's Watch, and capitalizes on Democratic Party unease over a newspaper ad run this week by MoveOn.org, one of the leading anti-war voices among liberal activists.

The MoveOn ad appeared Monday in The New York Times on the morning of Petraeus' first appearance before Congress to testify about conditions in Iraq. The ad accused Petraeus of "cooking the books" for the White House. "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" it asked, playing off his name.

The ad has become a rallying point for Republicans, who have demanded that Democrats disavow it.

Some Democrats have voiced concern. On Monday, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called the ad "over the top."

The Freedom's Watch ad states: "Name calling, charges of betrayal it's despicable. It's what MoveOn shamefully does - and it's wrong. America and the forces of freedom are winning. MoveOn is losing. Call your Congressman and Senator. Tell them to condemn MoveOn."

"It's not surprising that a White House front group like Freedom's Watch would come after us," said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action. Pariser defended the MoveOn ad, saying, "when you have the Bush administration spinning the facts about what is happening in Iraq, that's a betrayal of trust."

Bradley A. Blakeman, president of Freedom's Watch, said MoveOn was employing "outrageous tactics."

"To question the character and patriotism of brave men and women who combat terrorism everyday is too much, it's in poor taste and it will not go unchallenged," he said.

Freedom's Watch also plans to respond to MoveOn with a print ad in The New York Times, and has demanded the same $65,000 rate that the liberal group paid for its full-page ad. Freedom's Watch spokesman Matt David said his organization paid "significantly more" for another full-page ad Tuesday on the 9/11 anniversary.

That ad, however, was a more expensive full-page color ad, compared to MoveOn's, which was black and white. The rate also would have been higher if Freedom's Watch asked for a specific date and placement of the ad. David said The New York Times did not offer Freedom's Watch the $65,000 rate.

Catherine Mathis, vice president of corporate communication at the Times, said she could not discuss specific advertisers, but said the rate for a special advocacy, full-page, black and white, standby ad is $64,575. At that rate, an advertiser can request that an ad run on a specific date, but cannot be guaranteed such placement.

"The rates are certainly things that have many different variables in them," she said.

Freedom's Watch launched a $15 million advertising blitz last month to pressure lawmakers, including Republicans, whose backing of the war was seen as wavering.

The group is financed by former White House aides and Republican fundraisers and was organized as a nonprofit organization under IRS rules. It is not required to identify its donors or the amounts they give.

Among those who have been publicly identified with the effort are billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a fundraiser for Bush and chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), and conservative philanthropist John M. Templeton Jr. of Bryn Mawr, Pa. Both men have been major contributors to conservative causes.

Also backing Freedom's Watch are top Republican donors Anthony Gioia, Mel Sembler and Howard Leach, all former ambassadors in the Bush administration. Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is a founding member.

more on Ari

Siegelman's Detractors: A Stink from Down South

The Remarkable ‘Recusal’ of Leura Canary
Harpers.org
DEPARTMENT No Comment

BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED September 14, 2007

[for complete article links, please see original here. - ape]


Alabama media continue to report uncritically on almost every statement that emanates from the office of Leura Canary, the U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, who is currently in the crosshairs of the Siegelman investigation. One of the most often repeated, and still unexamined, contentions to emanate from her office is the claim that Leura Canary recused herself from the prosecution of Governor Don Siegelman, and that the case was handled from that point forward by the head of her criminal department, Louis V. Franklin. As we will shortly see in an examination of that question forthcoming in a major legal periodical, Franklin’s claim that he ran the case collapses completely under close inspection. He did handle the trial, which is important, but the key aspects of tactical and case management decision-making were retained by political appointees in Washington—to an extent that was quite extraordinary. Yet it seems that no reporter in Alabama ever worked up the gumption to ask any questions or do any research about it; they all just reported what Louis Franklin said, and they didn’t put any follow-up questions to him, either.

One of the oddest claims has consistently been the simple suggestion that Leura Canary ‘recused’ herself from the case. When I first heard this, I put down on my check list: collect Canary recusal papers from court docket. My researcher went off looking for them, and reported back: there are no Canary recusal papers.

How could that be? I sent him back again, for the same result. I started asking counsel and clerks at the court. It seems no one else had ever seen the recusal papers. So did Leura Canary actually recuse herself? I’m skeptical. It’s an extremely important matter, as Mrs. Canary went to great lengths to create a public appearance that she had withdrawn. But there’s a lot to suggest that in fact she never relinquished complete control over the case. Let’s take a deeper look, shall we?

In mid-2001, Leura Canary commenced an investigation into “certain state employees” on corruption allegations. It soon became apparent that the principal target of this investigation was Governor Siegelman. The investigation had been initiated at the request of William Pryor, then Attorney General of Alabama. Various representatives of Mrs. Canary’s office have given conflicting false explanations of the source of the complaint that initiated the investigation. Usually they attribute it to a newspaper reporter from Mobile, in an effort to obscure the actual and highly partisan political source. This is important because William Pryor and Leura Canary share a common partner. And his name is William Canary.

In March 2002, David Cromwell Johnson, an attorney for Siegelman, filed paperwork with the Justice Department for her recusal. Johnson argued that Mrs. Canary was conflicted under ethical guidelines binding on U.S. Attorneys for two reasons: first, her husband, William Canary, was then working as a paid political consultant for Attorney General Pryor, the man whose complaints were driving the case, and second, her husband was the paid political consultant for Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, who had declared his intention to oppose Siegelman for the governorship.

I was amazed in reviewing this document to see how little Johnson knew about Canary and his role in Alabama Republican politics. Or perhaps he was simply being too polite to give it detail. But I think for readers to understand the depth of the conflict point, it really is essential to get a closer look at Leura Canary’s impressive husband, Bill.


Leura Canary
Karl RoveMr. Canary served as chief of staff for the Republican National Committee, as chief of staff to the 2000 G.O.P. Convention chairman and former Bush chief of staff, Andy Card, and as National Field Director for the Bush-Quayle campaign in 1992. I am told by senior Republican figures that Canary secured these various roles largely on the strength of his close personal friendship with Karl Rove and with Rove’s express endorsement. In 1994, Mr. Canary and his friend and mentor Karl Rove put together a grand strategy to turn around the court system in Alabama, putting the G.O.P.’s handpicked candidates in control of key Alabama appellate court races. This process was chronicled by Joshua Green in a major article on Rove’s remaking of the judicial politics of Alabama published in The Atlantic. In a 1995 article, Time Magazine’s Michael Kramer called Bill Canary a “legend in Republican circles” and in the same article, former RNC Chairman Rich Bond described Bill Canary as an “expert political paratrooper” and “someone you dropped into a state where something needed fixing and it got fixed.” Mr. Canary was the architect of a special relationship between the Alabama G.O.P. and the Business Council of Alabama that proved the finance lifeline for many Alabama G.O.P. election campaigns. He was widely described as the G.O.P.’s Alabama “kingpin.”

William Pryor, who was notoriously eager to get a position on the federal bench and whose nomination proved the most controversial single judicial appointment ever made by George W. Bush, had another key political advisor to whom he turned for support: Karl Rove. In his political campaigns, Pryor spoke ceaselessly about the “corruption” of the Democratic administration in Alabama, and made no bones about his desire to maneuver prosecutorial resources to accomplish a political mission. And working at his side on this project, as an assistant, was Leura Canary–until President Bush picked her to be the U.S. Attorney in Montgomery. And William Pryor’s other main political advisor throughout this period was Leura’s husband, Bill Canary.

Steve Windom ultimately lost in the Republican primary to Bill Riley, but during his campaign he continuously drew on the Leura Canary investigation for political grist to support his “corruption” accusations against Siegelman. The posturing, campaign rhetoric, and advertising were arranged by William Canary. The criminal investigations that fueled it were managed by his wife.

Shortly after Johnson filed his papers, the Justice Department responded saying it had them and would study the matter. The next development came on May 16, 2002—roughly a year into the case—when Leura Canary issued a press statement:

As to any matters pertaining to any current investigation of [Governor Siegelman] which may be underway, the Department of Justice has advised me that no actual conflicts of interest exist. However, out of an abundance of caution, I have requested that I be recused to avoid any question about my impartiality.

I question the honesty of Leura Canary’s statement. First, it makes the claim–continuously repeated–that Mrs. Canary took this step on her own initiative. In fact she took it because of the request that attorney Johnson filed with the Justice Department, which launched an independent look at the matter.

Second, Mrs. Canary says that the Justice Department told her that she was okay from a conflicts perspective. I put the question to two prominent legal ethicists: would the facts I presented require Mrs. Canary’s recusal from the investigation of Governor Siegelman? Answer: “this is not a borderline or close case. Under the facts you outline, Mrs. Canary violated the canons of ethics by undertaking and handling the investigation of Governor Siegelman for the period up to her recusal.” Do you believe that a Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility officer would have advised Mrs. Canary that there was “no actual conflict.” Answer: “The standard that applies is whether there would be an ‘appearance of impartiality,’ not ‘actual conflict,’ so the Canary statement misstates the rule. Nonetheless, here the situation passes far beyond ‘appearance of impartiality’ and reaches an actual conflict. The advice she suggests could not have been competently rendered. It would be very interesting to know who at Justice gave such advice.” And third, the press statement says she recused herself. But did she?

The question then became follow-through. Career senior Justice Department officials tell me that when a U.S. Attorney recuses him- or herself, there is a standard procedure followed: a conflict of interest certification is prepared and submitted in the matter; a certificate of divestiture is prepared and submitted; “502 determinations” are prepared; there is also other ordinary documentation such as a formal appointment of an acting U.S. attorney to handle the matter, transmittal documentation and the like. The normal process, as I am told, is that a neighboring U.S. Attorney is appointed to handle the matter, usually with support of career professionals who would otherwise report to the recused U.S. Attorney.

I can find no evidence that any of these standard procedures were followed. Instead, according to public statements, a member of Mrs. Canary’s staff was appointed to handle the matter. In fact the person she designated was her principal prosecutor; that is, someone whose career and advancement was dependent directly upon her evaluations, not those of an intermediate staffer. When I reviewed this with a career senior Justice Department official I was told: “That’s very odd, and it violates the basic recusal rules. If the recused U.S. Attorney has appointed one of her staffers, without the supervision of another U.S. Attorney, then she has not really recused herself at all. The staffer operates in her office, under her apparent supervision, subject to her performance evaluations, and receiving her paychecks. The idea that the U.S. Attorney is recused and that the staffer is running the show would be a difficult sale to anyone with eyes and possessed of a brain.” Precisely. The ploy only works when the local media report it and don’t ask any questions or use their analytical faculties.

But the path of Leura’s ‘recusal’ gets still stranger as things unfold. First, no sooner did Leura announce her recusal, than Bill became involved in another campaign—Bob Riley’s effort to unseat Governor Siegelman. This was a high-stakes effort of immense importance to the G.O.P.: retaking the statehouse in Montgomery. Again, the “corruption” allegations relating to Leura’s investigations became the main staple in the Riley campaign arsenal against Siegelman. That is to say, few people benefited more than Bill Canary from the fact that the investigation was pending, and the related rumor-mongering that flooded the Alabama media in this period. It was a huge boon to the Riley campaign. And at the same time there was something else fishy going on. Investigations in Washington, D.C., into the Abramoff scandal made clear that Riley’s former press secretary, Michael Scanlon, was right in the middle of the affair, as were a whole platoon of Riley aides. Suddenly, millions in cash from Indian gaming interests advised by Abramoff began to gush into the Riley campaign. But the U.S. Attorney’s office in Montgomery, far from ever examining these matters, began to act as Riley’s guardian angel–deflecting inquiries and dead-ending investigations.

When charges were announced against Siegelman at a press conference convened in Montgomery, Noel Hillman traveled down to Montgomery to deliver the message (stating, ironically as it turns out, “Public Integrity does not do politics”), and there with him stood Leura Canary. Similarly, as the case proceeded, Leura Canary did not keep any distance from it. She gave interviews to the Los Angeles Times and to the Montgomery Advertiser about the case. Not the conduct of a ‘recused’ U.S. Attorney.

What exactly did her ‘recusal’ entail? Attorney John Aaron wanted to know the answer to that question. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Justice on February 6, 2006. He asked for all the conventional papers usually prepared in connection with a recusal.

On June 21, 2006, he received a response. It stated that no documents would be provided. It cited as the main grounds for withholding them Leura Canary’s desire for confidentiality. Generally a person is entitled to confidentiality concerning health issues and personally identifying information (a social security number, a birth date, bank account numbers and the like). The fact that information would be embarrassing to a public official is not a reason to withhold the information.

In August, I spoke with a senior Justice Department FOIA official about the case. He noted that a response had improperly been sent indicating that there were “no responsive documents,” when in fact there were more than 500 responsive documents. He said that the handling of the request had been irregular in a number of ways and that the request was the “subject of some very strange apprehension” on the part of political appointees at the Justice Department. He didn’t know what was in the files, but he thought a lot of political pressure had been exerted to “keep them secret.” He also noted that professional staff had objected to the false statements issued in response and had insisted that the false statements be corrected. “It was pulling teeth to get them to tell the truth.”

By that point, of course, Judiciary Chair Conyers and his committee were on the trail of the Siegelman case and making the same demands. Now, you’d think that a Congressional Committee with oversight powers over Justice would get these documents. You’d be wrong. The Committee’s request affected three different U.S. Attorneys. The U.S. Attorney in Wisconsin turned over his internal notes and volunteered a briefing; the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh likewise offered extensive responses. And what was the response of Leura Canary? That’s easy. It was “drop dead.” She produced nothing, not even the routine, mundane papers governing her own recusal. So what’s the dark, mysterious secret lurking in Leura Canary’s ‘recusal’? It might just be that she never recused herself at all.

Birmingham News: The Yellow Press and Don Siegelman's Crucifiction

The ‘B’ham News’ Revs Up the Slime Machine
Harpers.org

DEPARTMENT: No Comment

BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED September 15, 2007

A No Comment reader who works at the Birmingham News tells us that a certain editor and writer at the illustrious Pravda of the South are royally pissed off at Representative Artur Davis. It seems that Davis’s questions and press releases on the Siegelman case are making a decisive difference in pushing the matter forward. And the reputation of the News, which has played a key role in the anti-Siegelman campaign by giving press cover to the cabal and by disseminating and lending unwarranted credibility to claims of the prosecutors who front for it, is on the line. So what’s the answer? According to my source, the word went out: Slime Artur Davis. If you can’t hit him personally, at least slime some senior aide who works for him. Do it quickly.

I am told that the News will use one its marquee writers for this, probably one who has been deep in the anti-Siegelman vendetta. Also, the News has been busily pouring over the list of Davis’s staffers, family and other associates to find someone it can land a blow against, hopefully in time for the Sunday edition.

The message that the News wants to deliver is simple: Davis, you’ll shut up if you know what’s good for you. The right adjective for this conduct: thuggery. By a newspaper, moreover. Note: they won’t lift a finger to look into any of the Simpson allegations—all they do is shovel lies attempting to discredit Simspon. And, it seems, anyone else who raises questions about the matter.

It brought back some old memories. Back in the late Soviet period, I worked for Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Elena Bonner, helping out whenever I could, and mostly keeping anxious track of their welfare in a harsh and threatening environment. I remember that when the authorities were angry at Sakharov, they had a number of tools they could use for a sort of graduated response. And one of their favorite tools was to have the media launch an attack—sometimes on Sakharov directly. But there was a problem with that. After all, Sakharov was a sacrosanct figure, a hero. They didn’t want to publicize the fact that he was critical of them. So it was much easier to take target at someone close to Sakharov. And the favorite target was his wife, Elena Bonner—perhaps the bravest and most determined human rights advocate I ever had the privilege to work with.

One of the most striking incidents related to the Efim Davidovich, a Holocaust survivor and then Red Army colonel who sought and was denied permission to emigrate to Israel, and thus became a refusenik. Davidovich played a key role in documenting and publicizing events of shocking anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union, including one particular incident—the murder of a 14-year-old boy by a group of teenagers whipped into an anti-Semitic rage. But in the view of the justice authorities, there was no anti-Semitism, and the shocking circumstances of the case were therefore officially suppressed.

Davidovich returned his medals as an act of protest over the failure to examine and prosecute this case. And Sakharov and Bonner met with Col. Davidovich to discuss how to advance his case.

In response, and as a caution to get Sakharov to shut up, Pravda published an attack on Elena Bonner, decrying her “anti-Soviet behavior.” She was complaining about the fairness of Soviet justice; she was suggesting that there was anti-Semitism; therefore she was disloyal to the state and deserved to be scapegoated. Sakharov describes this episode in pages 443-45 of his Memoirs.

History, alas, so often repeats itself. In essence what Bonner and Sakharov had done was expose a gross injustice and demand that it be fixed. And that is exactly what Artur Davis has done. But for those who cower in the shadows and who thrive off of this injustice, that was a threatening act. It warranted a reply blow. And tomorrow let us scrutinize the News closely and see if we don’t find the echo of Pravda that I fully anticipate will appear in its pages.

source

9/11 Truth?

9/11 - the big cover-up?
Even the chair of the 9/11 Commission now admits that the official evidence they were given was 'far from the truth'.
Peter Tatchell
The Guardian


Six years after 9/11, the American public have still not been provided with a full and truthful account of the single greatest terror attack in US history.

What they got was a turkey. The 9/11 Commission was hamstrung by official obstruction. It never managed to ascertain the whole truth of what happened on September 11 2001.

The chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission, respectively Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, assert in their book, Without Precedent, that they were "set up to fail" and were starved of funds to do a proper investigation. They also confirm that they were denied access to the truth and misled by senior officials in the Pentagon and the federal aviation authority;
and that this obstruction and deception led them to contemplate slapping officials with criminal charges.

Despite the many public statements by 9/11 commissioners and staff members acknowledging they were repeatedly lied to, not a single person has ever been charged, tried, or even reprimanded, for lying to the 9/11 Commission.

From the outset, the commission seemed to be hobbled. It did not start work until over a year after the attacks. Even then, its terms of reference were suspiciously narrow, its powers of investigation curiously limited and its time-frame for producing a report unhelpfully short - barely a year to sift through millions of pages of evidence and to interview hundreds of key witnesses.

The final report did not examine key evidence, and neglected serious anomalies in the various accounts of what happened. The commissioners admit their report was incomplete and flawed, and that many questions about the terror attacks remain unanswered. Nevertheless, the 9/11 Commission was swiftly closed down on August 21 2004.

I do not believe in conspiracy theories. I prefer rigorous, evidence-based analysis that sifts through the known facts and utilises expert opinion to draw conclusions that stand up to critical scrutiny. In other words, I believe in everything the 9/11 Commission was not.

The failings of the official investigation have fuelled too many half-baked conspiracy theories. Some of the 9/11 "truth" groups promote speculative hypotheses, ignore innocent explanations, cite non-expert sources and jump to conclusions that are not proven by the known facts. They convert mere coincidence and circumstantial evidence into cast-iron proof. This is no way to debunk the obfuscations and evasions of the 9/11 report.

But even amid the hype, some of these 9/11 groups raise valid and important questions that were never even considered, let alone answered, by the official investigation. The American public has not been told the complete truth about the events of that fateful autumn morning six years ago.

What happened on 9/11 is fundamentally important in its own right. But equally important is the way the 9/11 cover-up signifies an absence of democratic, transparent and accountable government. Establishing the truth is, in part, about restoring honesty, trust and confidence in American politics.

There are dozens of 9/11 "truth" websites and campaign groups. I cannot vouch for the veracity or credibility of any of them. But what I can say is that as well as making plenty of seemingly outrageous claims; a few of them raise legitimate questions that demand answers.

Four of these well known "tell the truth" 9/11 websites are:

1) Scholars for 9/11 Truth, which includes academics and intellectuals from many disciplines.

2) 250+ 9/11 'Smoking Guns' a website that cites over 250 pieces of evidence that allegedly contradict, or were omitted from, the 9/11 Commission report.

3) The 911 Truth Campaign that, as well as offering its own evidence and theories, includes links to more than 20 similar websites.

4) Patriots Question 9/11, perhaps the most plausible array of distinguished US citizens who question the official account of 9/11, including General Wesley Clark, former Nato commander in Europe, and seven members and staffers of the official 9/11 Commission, including the chair and vice chair. In all, this website documents the doubts of 110+ senior military, intelligence service, law enforcement and government officials; 200+ engineers and architects; 50+ pilots and aviation professionals; 150+ professors; 90+ entertainment and media people; and 190+ 9/11 survivors and family members. Although this is an impressive roll call, it doesn't necessarily mean that these expert professionals are right. Nevertheless, their scepticism of the official version of events is reason to pause and reflect.

More and more US citizens are critical of the official account. The respected Zogby polling organisation last week found that 51% of Americans want Congress to probe President Bush and Vice-President Cheney regarding the truth about the 9/11 attacks; 67% are also critical of the 9/11 Commission for not investigating the bizarre, unexplained collapse of the 47-storey World Trade Centre building 7 (WTC7). This building was not hit by any planes. Unlike WTC3, which was badly damaged by falling debris from the Twin Towers but which remained standing, WTC7 suffered minor damage but suddenly collapsed in a neat pile, as happens in a controlled demolition.

In a 2006 interview with anchorman Evan Soloman of CBC's Sunday programme, the vice chair of the 9/11 Commission, Lee Hamilton, was reminded that the commission report failed to even mention the collapse of WTC7 or the suspicious hurried removal of the building debris from the site - before there could be a proper forensic investigation of what was a crime scene. Hamilton could only offer the lame excuse that the commissioners did not have "unlimited time" and could not be expected to answer "every question" the public asks.

There are many, many more strange unexplained facts concerning the events of 9/11. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to be puzzled and want an explanation, or to be sceptical concerning the official version of events.

Six years on from those terrible events, the survivors, and the friends and families of those who died, deserve to know the truth. Is honesty and transparency concerning 9/11 too much to ask of the president and Congress?

What is needed is a new and truly independent commission of inquiry to sort coincidence and conjecture from fact, and to provide answers to the unsolved anomalies in the evidence available concerning the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Unlike the often-stymied first investigation, this new commission should be granted wide-ranging subpoena powers and unfettered access to government files and officials. George Bush should be called to testify, without his minders at hand to brief and prompt him. America - and the world - has a right to know the truth.


source