Middle East Monitor
November 19, 2009
The Al Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities began excavation works at Al Sharaf alley, tens of meters west of the Al Aqsa Mosque, in preparation for the construction of two tunnels and two electric elevators to connect between the alley, which was confiscated by the Israeli authorities in 1967, and the Al Buraq area and Al Maghariba Gate of the mosque.
The Foundation said that the aim of digging these tunnels and building the elevators is to "deliver a greater number of Jewish settlers to the Western Wall and the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially the Al Maghariba Gate, through which foreign tourists and Jewish groups can storm into the Al Aqsa Mosque."
The Foundation considered this to be "a judaization project through which Israel seeks to Judaize the Al Aqsa Mosque."
It added that, during a tour it conducted Tuesday, November 17, it found works of deep excavations, by the so-called Israeli Antiquities Authority, in the Al Sharaf alley tens of meters west of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. During these excavation works, historical and archaeological monuments, dating back to Ottoman and Mumluke eras, were being destroyed and obliterated.
The Al Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage had revealed in a media report on March 3, 2009 the intention of the occupation authorities and its executive arms to dig two new tunnels, one of them 56 meters long and the other 22 meters, in order to link the Palestinian Al Sharaf Alley, in the Old City, to Jerusalem.
It also revealed the Israeli authorities' intention to install an electric elevator in the vertical tunnel and electric corridor in the horizontal tunnel. The location of these two tunnels is to be the meeting point of several archaeological sites, through which Israel "is trying to develop an illusionary Hebrew history."
It explained that this Judaizational project would cost 10 million shekels (about U.S. $ 2.5 million), and will be implemented in collaboration between the occupation's municipality of Jerusalem, the so-called the Jewish Quarter Preservation and Development Company, the Monuments Authority, and the National Insurance Institute. The project will be funded through donations from Baruch Klein.
Al Sharaf Alley is an Islamic area located inside the boundaries of the Old City with an area of more than 133 square meters. It was occupied by Israel in 1967. It is the closest neighborhood to the Moroccan (Al Maghariba) district, which was destroyed by the Occupation authorities on 11/6/1967, after the fall of Al Sharaf Alley. Thousands of Palestinians were expelled from it, their houses, lands, and real estate properties were confiscated; then, private Israeli companies were immediately established. These companies seized the homes, real estate properties and lands of the area and housed the Jewish settlers and built new homes. They changed its name into the Jewish Quarter - and only a handful of Palestinians were left in it, in addition to two mosques - one of them is closed and the other is open only for Dhur (noon) and Asr (mid-afternoon) prayers, with the Azan (call to prayer) being banned.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Islamabad under pressure over Blackwater presence
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:11:30 GMT
Islamabad is under pressure to meet a deadline to explain the alleged sanctioning of the presence of a notorious US security contractor, formerly known as Blackwater, on the Pakistani soil.
At the request of the Lahore High Court (LHC), the government is supposed to file an explanation by Friday, November 20, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The court started to press the authorities on the matter, acting on a petition filed by Pakistan's Wattan Party, the Pakistani daily The News International had reported earlier in the month.
Urging the across-the-board disarmament of the Pakistan-based US officials and military personnel as well as prosecution of alleged subversive elements, the party's Punjab President, Hashim Shaukat Khan said the Interior Ministry let 200 Blackwater staffers enter Pakistan without clearing the customs "under American pressure," the newspaper added.
Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LLC, attracted international condemnation for killing 17 civilians in Iraq in 2007. The State Department, however, has refused to waive the company's permission to carry arms there.
It also continues to be extensively involved in Afghanistan where nearly 70,000 US-commissioned contractors almost doubly outnumber the US troops.
Washington has been exceedingly deputizing the companies, which are infamous for misusing their State Department-issued gun licenses. The move has been denounced as an effort at putting a non-military face on the US pursuits overseas.
Islamabad is under pressure to meet a deadline to explain the alleged sanctioning of the presence of a notorious US security contractor, formerly known as Blackwater, on the Pakistani soil.
At the request of the Lahore High Court (LHC), the government is supposed to file an explanation by Friday, November 20, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The court started to press the authorities on the matter, acting on a petition filed by Pakistan's Wattan Party, the Pakistani daily The News International had reported earlier in the month.
Urging the across-the-board disarmament of the Pakistan-based US officials and military personnel as well as prosecution of alleged subversive elements, the party's Punjab President, Hashim Shaukat Khan said the Interior Ministry let 200 Blackwater staffers enter Pakistan without clearing the customs "under American pressure," the newspaper added.
Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LLC, attracted international condemnation for killing 17 civilians in Iraq in 2007. The State Department, however, has refused to waive the company's permission to carry arms there.
It also continues to be extensively involved in Afghanistan where nearly 70,000 US-commissioned contractors almost doubly outnumber the US troops.
Washington has been exceedingly deputizing the companies, which are infamous for misusing their State Department-issued gun licenses. The move has been denounced as an effort at putting a non-military face on the US pursuits overseas.
Hamas vows to win Palestinian rights by resistance
Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:38:46 GMT
Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal vows of planning a new political initiative that would discard vain negotiations and instead adopt resistance to redress Palestinian rights.
"Not much hope could be upheld for a future Palestinian state as long as the Zionist occupation persists; Israel pushes ahead with plans to build more homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem Al-Quds as well as the West Bank; and Palestinians are shorn of the right to free decision-making," Meshaal told al-Jazeera TV network on Wednesday.
The Hamas also noted that it was no surprise to hear that the so-called peace process with Israel has completely failed due to the 'Zionist obstinate refusal' to withhold commitments, the unswerving US support for Israel, and the bitter rifts among Palestinian factions and Arab weaknesses .
"The only way out of the current ordeal is the unanimous Palestinian factions' adoption of the resistance option," Meshaal said, describing the declaration of a Palestinian state as deceptive since there could be no independent state until the occupied lands are entirely liberated.
Speaking at a televised speech in the West Bank City of Ramallah on November 5, the 74-year-old acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the collapse of the political process, saying that the Palestinian Authority has carried out all its commitments and obligations while Israel continues to steal Palestinian land and build Jewish settlements.
This is while Israel gave approval on Tuesday for the construction of hundreds of new housing units in illegally annexed East Jerusalem Al-Quds, drawing international criticism as it drove another stake into troubled Middle East 'peace' efforts.
Calling the plan for construction of 900 new units in Gilo settlement as 'illegal', UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Israel to respect its commitments to cease all settlement activity under the Road Map.
Under the 2002 Roadmap for a 'Peace plan' brokered by the united States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activities.'
It is estimated that there are almost 200,000 illegal Jewish settlers in the twelve or so Israeli settlements in Jerusalem Al-Quds. There are also about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers living in settlements across the occupied Palestinian territory of West Bank.
MP/MB
Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal vows of planning a new political initiative that would discard vain negotiations and instead adopt resistance to redress Palestinian rights.
"Not much hope could be upheld for a future Palestinian state as long as the Zionist occupation persists; Israel pushes ahead with plans to build more homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem Al-Quds as well as the West Bank; and Palestinians are shorn of the right to free decision-making," Meshaal told al-Jazeera TV network on Wednesday.
The Hamas also noted that it was no surprise to hear that the so-called peace process with Israel has completely failed due to the 'Zionist obstinate refusal' to withhold commitments, the unswerving US support for Israel, and the bitter rifts among Palestinian factions and Arab weaknesses .
"The only way out of the current ordeal is the unanimous Palestinian factions' adoption of the resistance option," Meshaal said, describing the declaration of a Palestinian state as deceptive since there could be no independent state until the occupied lands are entirely liberated.
Speaking at a televised speech in the West Bank City of Ramallah on November 5, the 74-year-old acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the collapse of the political process, saying that the Palestinian Authority has carried out all its commitments and obligations while Israel continues to steal Palestinian land and build Jewish settlements.
This is while Israel gave approval on Tuesday for the construction of hundreds of new housing units in illegally annexed East Jerusalem Al-Quds, drawing international criticism as it drove another stake into troubled Middle East 'peace' efforts.
Calling the plan for construction of 900 new units in Gilo settlement as 'illegal', UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Israel to respect its commitments to cease all settlement activity under the Road Map.
Under the 2002 Roadmap for a 'Peace plan' brokered by the united States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activities.'
It is estimated that there are almost 200,000 illegal Jewish settlers in the twelve or so Israeli settlements in Jerusalem Al-Quds. There are also about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers living in settlements across the occupied Palestinian territory of West Bank.
MP/MB
Friday, November 20, 2009
Jordanians demonstrate against Israeli measures in Jerusalem
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:34:12 GMT
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Amman - About 3,000 Jordanians demonstrated in Amman on Friday to protest what they called an Israeli conspiracy against al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, which the Jewish state seized from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war. The rally, organized by the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm the Islamic Action Front (IAF), was held under the slogan "al-Aqsa in Danger".
Participants condemned Arab and Muslim governments for their failure to challenge Israeli attempts to "Judaize" East Jerusalem.
The protesters also claimed that Israel would attempt eventually to demolish al-Aqsa Mosque to rebuild the biblical Solomon's temple in its place.
Speakers during the rally called on the Jordanian government to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and urged Arab countries to back "resistance" against Israeli occupation.
The Jordanian government concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, but the Islamic-led opposition parties and the country's 14 trade unions are still against the pace pact and the normalization of ties with Israel.
Under the provisions of the pact, Israel acknowledged Amman's right to look after all Islamic and Christian holy shrines in East Jerusalem.
A series of raids into al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli troops over the past months prompted the Jordanian government to accuse Israel of failing to honour its commitments under international law as an occupation power.
Print this article email this article Comment on this article
Amman - About 3,000 Jordanians demonstrated in Amman on Friday to protest what they called an Israeli conspiracy against al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, which the Jewish state seized from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war. The rally, organized by the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm the Islamic Action Front (IAF), was held under the slogan "al-Aqsa in Danger".
Participants condemned Arab and Muslim governments for their failure to challenge Israeli attempts to "Judaize" East Jerusalem.
The protesters also claimed that Israel would attempt eventually to demolish al-Aqsa Mosque to rebuild the biblical Solomon's temple in its place.
Speakers during the rally called on the Jordanian government to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and urged Arab countries to back "resistance" against Israeli occupation.
The Jordanian government concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, but the Islamic-led opposition parties and the country's 14 trade unions are still against the pace pact and the normalization of ties with Israel.
Under the provisions of the pact, Israel acknowledged Amman's right to look after all Islamic and Christian holy shrines in East Jerusalem.
A series of raids into al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli troops over the past months prompted the Jordanian government to accuse Israel of failing to honour its commitments under international law as an occupation power.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Dark Chocolate Definitely Eases Emotional Stress
posted by Melissa Breyer Nov 14, 2009 5:01 pm
OK, honestly? It doesn’t take a scientist to tell me that chocolate makes me feel better. But they’re saying it anyway–new evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress was just published in “Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects.” I don’t know how my gut microbiota feel about it, but it’s doing wonders for my mood.
The study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed.The daily dose also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. And that’s not all…Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Although studies in the past have suggested that chocolate may ease emotional stress, there was little evidence until now from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects.
In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say. Sign me up…
For more about the importance of Fair Trade Certified chocolate, see Easy Greening: Chocolate.
OK, honestly? It doesn’t take a scientist to tell me that chocolate makes me feel better. But they’re saying it anyway–new evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress was just published in “Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects.” I don’t know how my gut microbiota feel about it, but it’s doing wonders for my mood.
The study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed.The daily dose also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. And that’s not all…Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Although studies in the past have suggested that chocolate may ease emotional stress, there was little evidence until now from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects.
In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say. Sign me up…
For more about the importance of Fair Trade Certified chocolate, see Easy Greening: Chocolate.
Cook with Garlic to Fight the Flu
posted by Michelle Schoffro Cook Nov 12, 2009 1:01 pm
It’s flu season again. Every year those nasty little viruses take hold of our bodies (probably to get a bit of warmth) and rule just about everything we say, do, feel, or think–at least for a few days. This year’s swine flu has people particularly nervous. If you’re trying to survive flu season unscathed or to beat the flu you already have, make sure you eat plenty of garlic. Your friends won’t like you, but neither will the flu bugs and other viruses you want to keep at bay.
Not only does garlic beat off flu viruses, that small clove helps lower high blood pressure, prevents hardening of the arteries and lessens cholesterol buildup in the heart. Thanks to many studies on garlic’s medicinal properties, we also know it is antibacterial and antifungal. Research even implicates garlic in the prevention of stomach cancer and in giving the immune system an overall boost. Just what the doctor ordered at this time of year.
While garlic contains potassium and germanium, two minerals that are critical to health, it is best known for its sulfur compounds, particularly allicin. These are the main phytochemicals (natural plant chemicals) you’ll want in your diet.
Unfortunately, many manufacturers of garlic supplements haven’t captured enough of the active ingredient to make the pills worth popping. However, some of the aged garlic extracts are effective. Forget garlic powder you can purchase in most grocery stores. It is the lazy person’s garlic and doesn’t offer many rewards in exchange for the saved time. Pill or powder, neither compares to the real thing.
So, heat up your oven and start chopping. It’s time to throw some fresh garlic into your favorite soup, stew, chili, stir-fry, meat, or veggie dish. For those of you scared to offend the significant other in your life, try roasting garlic by cutting off the stem, exposing the top of each clove and drizzling a bit of olive oil over it. Wrap it in foil or place in a garlic roaster and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. This greatly minimizes its powerful aroma but creates a spread that tastes fabulous and has the consistency of butter. For even more potent health benefits, add raw garlic to your meal after it has been cooked. Or, top your favorite toasted bread with minced garlic, some sea salt, chopped tomatoes and a dash of olive oil for a fast and delicious bruschetta.
There are three main types of garlic: Creole, Italian or Mexican, and Tahitian. Most of the garlic on our grocery store shelves comes from California and is likely of the Creole variety. Italian or Mexican garlic is a bit smaller than its Creole counterpart and has a slightly purplish-coloured skin. Tahitian garlic is also known as elephant garlic largely because of its size. It is several times larger than its Creole, Italian or Mexican sisters. But, don’t let the size fool you. When it comes to garlic, good things come in small packages; the Italian or Mexican variety is the most potent.
Look for garlic that is firm and free of black mildew on the skin. Store it at room temperature in a well-ventilated spot such as a garlic keeper. Most experts suggest trying to get at least one clove a day to reap the maximum health benefits. But, if your taste buds shout for more, let them have it.
So, if your flu hasn’t already abandoned ship at all this talk of garlic, whip up a garlic-laden dinner and it will be running scared.
So will your friends, you say? Find some friendship among fellow garlic eaters. And consider that Roman centurions marched side-by-side into battle and across the European countryside sporting their finest military garb and cloves of garlic between their toes (to ward off fungal infections).
How’s that for friendship among the ranks?
Michelle Schoffro Cook, RNCP, ROHP, DAc, DNM, is a best-selling and six-time book author and doctor of natural medicine, whose works include: The Life Force Diet, The Ultimate pH Solution, and The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan. Learn more at: www.TheLifeForceDiet.com.
More on Cold and Flu (27 articles available)
More from Michelle Schoffro Cook (43 articles available)
It’s flu season again. Every year those nasty little viruses take hold of our bodies (probably to get a bit of warmth) and rule just about everything we say, do, feel, or think–at least for a few days. This year’s swine flu has people particularly nervous. If you’re trying to survive flu season unscathed or to beat the flu you already have, make sure you eat plenty of garlic. Your friends won’t like you, but neither will the flu bugs and other viruses you want to keep at bay.
Not only does garlic beat off flu viruses, that small clove helps lower high blood pressure, prevents hardening of the arteries and lessens cholesterol buildup in the heart. Thanks to many studies on garlic’s medicinal properties, we also know it is antibacterial and antifungal. Research even implicates garlic in the prevention of stomach cancer and in giving the immune system an overall boost. Just what the doctor ordered at this time of year.
While garlic contains potassium and germanium, two minerals that are critical to health, it is best known for its sulfur compounds, particularly allicin. These are the main phytochemicals (natural plant chemicals) you’ll want in your diet.
Unfortunately, many manufacturers of garlic supplements haven’t captured enough of the active ingredient to make the pills worth popping. However, some of the aged garlic extracts are effective. Forget garlic powder you can purchase in most grocery stores. It is the lazy person’s garlic and doesn’t offer many rewards in exchange for the saved time. Pill or powder, neither compares to the real thing.
So, heat up your oven and start chopping. It’s time to throw some fresh garlic into your favorite soup, stew, chili, stir-fry, meat, or veggie dish. For those of you scared to offend the significant other in your life, try roasting garlic by cutting off the stem, exposing the top of each clove and drizzling a bit of olive oil over it. Wrap it in foil or place in a garlic roaster and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. This greatly minimizes its powerful aroma but creates a spread that tastes fabulous and has the consistency of butter. For even more potent health benefits, add raw garlic to your meal after it has been cooked. Or, top your favorite toasted bread with minced garlic, some sea salt, chopped tomatoes and a dash of olive oil for a fast and delicious bruschetta.
There are three main types of garlic: Creole, Italian or Mexican, and Tahitian. Most of the garlic on our grocery store shelves comes from California and is likely of the Creole variety. Italian or Mexican garlic is a bit smaller than its Creole counterpart and has a slightly purplish-coloured skin. Tahitian garlic is also known as elephant garlic largely because of its size. It is several times larger than its Creole, Italian or Mexican sisters. But, don’t let the size fool you. When it comes to garlic, good things come in small packages; the Italian or Mexican variety is the most potent.
Look for garlic that is firm and free of black mildew on the skin. Store it at room temperature in a well-ventilated spot such as a garlic keeper. Most experts suggest trying to get at least one clove a day to reap the maximum health benefits. But, if your taste buds shout for more, let them have it.
So, if your flu hasn’t already abandoned ship at all this talk of garlic, whip up a garlic-laden dinner and it will be running scared.
So will your friends, you say? Find some friendship among fellow garlic eaters. And consider that Roman centurions marched side-by-side into battle and across the European countryside sporting their finest military garb and cloves of garlic between their toes (to ward off fungal infections).
How’s that for friendship among the ranks?
Michelle Schoffro Cook, RNCP, ROHP, DAc, DNM, is a best-selling and six-time book author and doctor of natural medicine, whose works include: The Life Force Diet, The Ultimate pH Solution, and The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan. Learn more at: www.TheLifeForceDiet.com.
More on Cold and Flu (27 articles available)
More from Michelle Schoffro Cook (43 articles available)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Vaccines and Pregnancy Do Not Mix
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by: Paul Fassa, citizen journalist
(NaturalNews) From an internet forum: "I got both vaccines [seasonal and swine flu] on Thursday. I was 9 weeks pregnant. I miscarried on Sunday. I was told by several doctors to get these vaccines. Now I wish I followed my gut feeling and not get them at ALL!" This is not an isolated case.
Here's another report: "I feel like I had a healthy baby and I caused this by getting the H1N1 vaccine. My doctors pushed it. I researched online and there have been many miscarriages after the H1N1 vaccine but they haven't been reported since it is hard to say what caused the miscarriages."
She researched online, the only source reporting vaccination tragedies throughout the world.
Lies Under the Light of Truth
First of all, the Swine Flu is less harmful than a normal seasonal flu. Research with ferrets, real statistics released by independent researchers, as well as reports from uncorrupted medical authorities have confirmed this. The CDC and mainstream media bury that information. Instead, they circulate alarming false swine flu statistics.
But one mainstream media outlet, CBS Washington Unplugged, did inadvertently reveal true swine flu statistics. They had tried to get information from the CDC about swine flu episodes actually confirmed. The CDC skirted the issue and stonewalled them.
So they surveyed all 50 USA state medical laboratories themselves. The results were that most states had confirmed five percent or less of reported cases as swine flu. Most labs reported half or more cases were not any kind of flu! So much for hysteria.
Dr. Michael Bronze of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, stated on WebMD that the actual risk of pregnant women getting hospitalized for swine flu infections is one in 300 thousand.
The Australian/New Zealand's flu season was surveyed by American epidemiological statisticians. The data from around the middle of that flu season indicated that pregnant women are 99.97 percent sure of avoiding hospital care for any flu.
Of those few admitted and held in ICU 7.7 percent died. Not a high figure. And even those few had other health complications prior to being infected with the swine flu.
Vaccinations Are The Real Danger.
According to Dr. Russel Blaylock, retired neurosurgeon and author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, various studies have proven that artificially stimulating the immune system causes a cytokine immune reaction that damages the forming brain of a fetus.
Throw in thimerosal mercury additives as well as formaldehyde and other toxic materials delivered in the vaccines. These circulate through the fetus if a pregnant woman is vaccinated. The child can become prone to seizures, autism, schizophrenia, and a host of other neurological problems.
There is the case of Desiree Jennings, the young Washington Redskins cheerleader who was diagnosed with dystonia by doctors at John Hopkins and Fairfax Inova. They determined her dystonia, which caused chronic severe spasms and partial paralysis, was a reaction to her seasonal flu shot.
Right, she wasn't pregnant. She was also active and healthy. But her story links the miscarriage stories to Dr. Blaylock's conclusion, "The bottom line is vaccinating a pregnant women is vary hazardous to the mother's health as well as the baby."
As for miscarriages, there has been a history of sterilization agents planted surreptitiously in vaccines intended for women in developing countries. Some vaccines were examined and recovered before further damage could be done. More at - http://www.naturalnews.com/026907_f...
And now special flu jab centers are being set up for pregnant women here?
Sources for this article include:
Organic Health: Shocking H1N1 Vaccination Miscarriage Stories
http://organichealthadviser.com/arc...
Swine Flu -- One of the Most Massive Cover-ups in American History
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...
Dr. Blaylock: Vaccine Dangers to Pregnant Women and Small Children http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/headli...
(NaturalNews) From an internet forum: "I got both vaccines [seasonal and swine flu] on Thursday. I was 9 weeks pregnant. I miscarried on Sunday. I was told by several doctors to get these vaccines. Now I wish I followed my gut feeling and not get them at ALL!" This is not an isolated case.
Here's another report: "I feel like I had a healthy baby and I caused this by getting the H1N1 vaccine. My doctors pushed it. I researched online and there have been many miscarriages after the H1N1 vaccine but they haven't been reported since it is hard to say what caused the miscarriages."
She researched online, the only source reporting vaccination tragedies throughout the world.
Lies Under the Light of Truth
First of all, the Swine Flu is less harmful than a normal seasonal flu. Research with ferrets, real statistics released by independent researchers, as well as reports from uncorrupted medical authorities have confirmed this. The CDC and mainstream media bury that information. Instead, they circulate alarming false swine flu statistics.
But one mainstream media outlet, CBS Washington Unplugged, did inadvertently reveal true swine flu statistics. They had tried to get information from the CDC about swine flu episodes actually confirmed. The CDC skirted the issue and stonewalled them.
So they surveyed all 50 USA state medical laboratories themselves. The results were that most states had confirmed five percent or less of reported cases as swine flu. Most labs reported half or more cases were not any kind of flu! So much for hysteria.
Dr. Michael Bronze of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, stated on WebMD that the actual risk of pregnant women getting hospitalized for swine flu infections is one in 300 thousand.
The Australian/New Zealand's flu season was surveyed by American epidemiological statisticians. The data from around the middle of that flu season indicated that pregnant women are 99.97 percent sure of avoiding hospital care for any flu.
Of those few admitted and held in ICU 7.7 percent died. Not a high figure. And even those few had other health complications prior to being infected with the swine flu.
Vaccinations Are The Real Danger.
According to Dr. Russel Blaylock, retired neurosurgeon and author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, various studies have proven that artificially stimulating the immune system causes a cytokine immune reaction that damages the forming brain of a fetus.
Throw in thimerosal mercury additives as well as formaldehyde and other toxic materials delivered in the vaccines. These circulate through the fetus if a pregnant woman is vaccinated. The child can become prone to seizures, autism, schizophrenia, and a host of other neurological problems.
There is the case of Desiree Jennings, the young Washington Redskins cheerleader who was diagnosed with dystonia by doctors at John Hopkins and Fairfax Inova. They determined her dystonia, which caused chronic severe spasms and partial paralysis, was a reaction to her seasonal flu shot.
Right, she wasn't pregnant. She was also active and healthy. But her story links the miscarriage stories to Dr. Blaylock's conclusion, "The bottom line is vaccinating a pregnant women is vary hazardous to the mother's health as well as the baby."
As for miscarriages, there has been a history of sterilization agents planted surreptitiously in vaccines intended for women in developing countries. Some vaccines were examined and recovered before further damage could be done. More at - http://www.naturalnews.com/026907_f...
And now special flu jab centers are being set up for pregnant women here?
Sources for this article include:
Organic Health: Shocking H1N1 Vaccination Miscarriage Stories
http://organichealthadviser.com/arc...
Swine Flu -- One of the Most Massive Cover-ups in American History
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...
Dr. Blaylock: Vaccine Dangers to Pregnant Women and Small Children http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/headli...
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Israeli army rabbi urges 'no mercy' in war
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:00:53 GMT
The Israeli Army's chief rabbi has called on military students to 'show no mercy' when they fight a war or they will be "damned."
"In times of war, whoever doesn't fight with all his heart and soul is damned, if he keeps his sword from bloodshed, if he shows mercy toward his enemy when no mercy should be shown," The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki as saying at the Hesder yeshiva in the occupied West Bank.
"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord with a slack hand, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood," added the rabbi.
Regarding the Israeli three week war on the Gaza Strip last December, the army rabbi hailed the military's performance which led to the death of at least 1,350 people including women and children.
"Everyone fought with all their heart and soul, and that includes bravery of course, but also fighting with all the resources one has, to fight as if to truly determine the mission," he reiterated.
Rontzki, who had also sanctioned the killing of Palestinian civilians during the Gaza war, drew harsh criticism form human rights groups.
During the war, some other leading rabbis also issued rulings that gave free hands to Israeli commanders to attack the civilian population in Gaza.
The Israeli Army's chief rabbi has called on military students to 'show no mercy' when they fight a war or they will be "damned."
"In times of war, whoever doesn't fight with all his heart and soul is damned, if he keeps his sword from bloodshed, if he shows mercy toward his enemy when no mercy should be shown," The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki as saying at the Hesder yeshiva in the occupied West Bank.
"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord with a slack hand, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood," added the rabbi.
Regarding the Israeli three week war on the Gaza Strip last December, the army rabbi hailed the military's performance which led to the death of at least 1,350 people including women and children.
"Everyone fought with all their heart and soul, and that includes bravery of course, but also fighting with all the resources one has, to fight as if to truly determine the mission," he reiterated.
Rontzki, who had also sanctioned the killing of Palestinian civilians during the Gaza war, drew harsh criticism form human rights groups.
During the war, some other leading rabbis also issued rulings that gave free hands to Israeli commanders to attack the civilian population in Gaza.
Hamas says Israel lobbying against Gaza
14:19, November 15, 2009
Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday accused Israel of lobbying against the Gaza Strip to launch a military operation in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
"There are escalating Israeli intentions toward aggressive act against Gaza," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, in a written statement sent to the press.
His remarks were made after an Israeli newspaper on Friday reported that Hamas has test-fired another long-range missile that could fly for 75 kilometers, putting farther Israeli communities at risk.
"These reports come as part of the incitement against Gaza and the searching for pretexts to commit new crimes here and cover the crimes Israel had committed in the past," Barhoum added.
Barhoum called on the Arab and Muslim states "to sever all their ties with Israel in response to its threats against Gaza."
Members of the military wing of Hamas' movement fired the rocket to the sea from northern Gaza Strip Friday afternoon and the test has succeeded, Maariv daily reported on its website.
The rocket is the second one to be tested this month. Earlier, Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin revealed that Hamas had fired what it seemed to be an Iranian-made rocket.
Source: Xinhua
Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday accused Israel of lobbying against the Gaza Strip to launch a military operation in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
"There are escalating Israeli intentions toward aggressive act against Gaza," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, in a written statement sent to the press.
His remarks were made after an Israeli newspaper on Friday reported that Hamas has test-fired another long-range missile that could fly for 75 kilometers, putting farther Israeli communities at risk.
"These reports come as part of the incitement against Gaza and the searching for pretexts to commit new crimes here and cover the crimes Israel had committed in the past," Barhoum added.
Barhoum called on the Arab and Muslim states "to sever all their ties with Israel in response to its threats against Gaza."
Members of the military wing of Hamas' movement fired the rocket to the sea from northern Gaza Strip Friday afternoon and the test has succeeded, Maariv daily reported on its website.
The rocket is the second one to be tested this month. Earlier, Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin revealed that Hamas had fired what it seemed to be an Iranian-made rocket.
Source: Xinhua
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Vaccination: Federal Health Agencies Continue to Deceive Americans
Congressional Report on a Vaccine Mercury-Autism Link Ignored for Six Years
by Richard Gale and Dr Gary Null
I have no doubt whatever that vaccination is an unscientific abomination and should be made a criminal practice. G. Bernard Shaw
Under normal circumstances, when a public health measure is advocated or mandated, and it is accepted without question by all Federal health agencies, state and local health departments, and promoted by the mainstream media with unquestioning support from the orthodox medical community, then it is assumed that such measures at the very least meet basic scientifically proven criteria. Foremost should be public health safety and that the proven efficacy of a health program be implemented according to rigorous scientific gold standards. When this standard is ignored and denied, as is now being done by our health officials, then the wellbeing of the nation is placed at risk. Consequently, we see the concerns regarding the swine flu vaccine focusing upon supply rather than health. For our government health officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), vaccines have been baptized safe and, therefore, there is no reason for further debate. In fact, so certain are those in charge of the nation’s vaccination programs, even democratic discourse about vaccination controversies has been marginalized and smothered. There is no dissenting opinion published in any major industrial medical journal or magazine, nor found on any of government health websites.
When put to the test, a meticulous review of the scientific literature finds that virtually all of the Federal health agencies assumptions are held in error. Furthermore, we are shocked that the CDC, FDA and HHS, with all of their resources, refuse to take into consideration the large body of clinical evidence that contradicts their biased vaccine policies. Our review of the scientific literature is at two levels. First, there is a direct relationship between vaccination and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This evidence, as we shall see, was taken under oath during a three year Congressional investigation, which clearly shows that Federal health officials were complicit in covering up the associations between vaccines and neurological damage.
The second level shows irrefutable evidence, from peered reviewed journals in immunology, neurology, toxicology, etc., that the very same mercury used at high toxic levels in the flu vaccines, as well as in trace amounts in other vaccines, is toxic in all circumstances. The pronouncements by the CDC and HHS, promulgated by tabloid medical writers at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, are deceptions based upon medical denialism. We believe it is a crime to inject mercury into the bodies of any pregnant woman and child, while knowing that thimerosal is extremely toxic.
During a televised interview to prepare the American public for a massive campaign to inoculate the population for the H1N1 flu virus, President Obama’s HHS Secretary, Dr. Kathleen Sebelius, told the nation, “study after study, scientist after scientist, has determined that there really is no safety risk with thimerosal.”[1] Glancing at the foot-high stack of published clinical studies on the desk, years of independent research identifying certain neurological impairments, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and cellular organ damage resulting from vaccines containing the toxic ethylmercury preservative commonly known as thimerosal, it is incomprehensible to fathom the depth of scientific denial in Sebelius’ statement. Was the Secretary blatantly lying to Americans, especially parents of small children six months and older and pregnant mothers, to convince us to line up for flu shots? If we unpack Sebelius’ misleading propaganda and properly rephrase her pronouncement, we can uncover a semblance of truth in her words. Instead it would have been proper for her to inform the nation that “study after study of spurious and flawed research that would likely never pass a graduate school examination, scientist after scientist affiliated or with financial ties to the vaccine industry now dominating our academies and health agencies, have determined that there really is no safety risk with thimerosal.”
This should have been the Secretary’s response if she were honest in addressing many people’s concerns about vaccine safety. Yet, this is not just our interpretive spin about the lack of scientific integrity within the CDC’s and FDA’s pharmaceutical-friendly stance regarding the vaccine-autism controversy; rather it accurately reflects the conclusions from a three year investigation conducted by the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness in the House’s Committee on Government Reform, spearheaded by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana). Published in May 2003, the Committee’s 80-page report, “Mercury in Medicine: Taking Unnecessary Risks,” is a clear indictment charging the CDC, FDA and HHS with scientific bias, prejudiced financial interests with vaccine makers, and administrative incompetence and indecision that puts Americans’ health at risk.[2]
It is a sorry state of affairs when a Congressional committee is forced to undertake a more thorough, concise review of the scientific literature related to a national health crisis, i.e., thimerosal as a causative factor behind the epidemic scourge of neurological and developmental disorders in America’s children, because our Federal health agencies prefer to not upset their clients (or masters) in the pharmaceutical industrial complex. But what is even more disturbing is that after six years since the Committee’s report, nothing has fundamentally changed. Instead, the CDC, FDA and HHS continue their rogue campaigns to spread unfounded medical propaganda and have done next to nothing, aside from issuing promises and marginalizing opposing medical views, to fund and launch the independent research necessary to determine once and for all vaccine safety in young children, developing fetuses and pregnant mothers. And as we wait for medical sanity to descend upon our government agencies, more and more children are injured from the increasing number of scheduled vaccinations, while the burden of health costs continue to mount on the shoulders of parents with neurologically and physically damaged children.
Therefore reviewing some of the Committee’s major findings is warranted to bring them up to date with recent information showing the thimerosal-autism link and to provide evidence for the CDC’s, FDA’s and HHS’s ongoing medical denialism about vaccine safety and their laxity in preserving and addressing public health.
Committee Finding 1: “Mercury is hazardous to humans. Its use in medicinal products is undesirable, unnecessary and should be minimized or eliminated entirely.”
Mercury, in its two most common forms that threaten human health--methylmercury and ethylmercury (thimerosal used in vaccines)--is the second most toxic substance perhaps after uranium. It is over one hundred times more toxic than lead. Therefore ask yourself the question, would you submit your child, or even yourself, to having lead injected directly into his or her bloodstream, permitting it to pass through your child’s neurological system? If you answer in the negative, then know that the mercury in that flu shot being offered at Costco is far more toxic than the lead you just refused.
Although more research has been conducted showing methylmercury’s severe health risks, the Committee, basing its decision on sound scientific evidence, concluded that thimerosal’s toxicity is the same as methylmercury. Among the more serious adverse effects are multiple organ system disorders over the course of a lifetime, neurological and behavioral defects, renal damage, cardiovascular effects even at very low dosages, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and injury to the immune system, and adverse effects on the reproductive system. Contrary to Sebelius’denialism, a pregnant mother’s exposure to thimerosal due to vaccination runs the risk of mercury crossing the placenta and affecting the developing fetus. The CDC’s current stance that it makes no difference whether vaccines with thimerosal are given to pregnant mothers flies in the face of biomolecular reason and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own warnings. Medical evidence for methylmercury disturbing the neuro-development of an infant in utero has been conclusive for many years.[3] The EPA’s website states that for women in reproductive ages, there is the risk of 300,000 newborns each year incurring learning disabilities due to in utero exposure to mercury. Even the FDA acknowledged mercury’s toxic risks to infants back in 1994. According to a National Institutes of Health document, “For fetuses, infants and children, the primary health effects of mercury are on neurological development. Even low levels of mercury exposure, such as result from a mother’s consumption of methylmercury in dietary sources, can adversely affect the brain and nervous system. Impact on memory, attention, language and other skills have been found in children exposed to moderate levels in the womb.” Do any of these symptoms sound like ASD? And if eating a can of tuna fish poses a potential risk, how much greater are the potential neurological injuries when vaccine mercury is injected intramuscularly?
The EPA, unlike the FDA, has conducted research into mercury’s toxicity and health risks. While the EPA sets a limit exposure of mercury at 0.1 micrograms/kg, the FDA in its favoritism towards mercury’s use in vaccines raises the stakes to 0.4 micrograms. The FDA’s figure has no valid supporting scientific data and is arbitrary in order to continue sanctioning the use of in vaccines. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets the limit higher; this may account for the WHO’s aggressive campaigns to inoculate the world’s poorer populations with heavily laced-mercury and stockpiled vaccines from the drug makers. The Committee, however, found the EPA evaluation to be “scientifically validated.” Consequently, a person receiving a single flu shot, with 25 mcg/kg of thimerosal would need to weigh approximately 550 pounds for it to be considered a safe quantity. Therefore it is no surprise that the series of four thimerosal-laced flu shots, or 100 mcg/kg, can lead to long-term cumulative damage for any age group, including the later onset of dementia conditions such as Alzheimer’s.[4]
Dr. David Baskin, Professor of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine, told the Committee that brain tissue absorbs mercury five times more than other body tissues. And infants and small children are furthermore five times more sensitive to mercury’s toxicological effects compared to adults. Dr. Baskin reported on his own studies at Baylor:
“We have the opportunity to actually grow human frontal cortex cells in cell culture. So these are cells from the front part of the brain... We incubate these cells with thimerosal at various doses... [then] detect cell death and cell damage... [showing a slide] These are the cells committing the suicide program and breaking themselves into tiny little pieces with a very low dose of mercury... Don’t forget, we did this in adult brain cells. Remember that infant brain cells are much more sensitive, so there’s a real cause for concern.”
Similar studies conducted at Columbia University have confirmed the Baylor findings.
So why can’t the CDC and other government agencies reproduce these clinical studies to confirm whether or not there is a clear thimerosal-autism link? Well, the CDC, and other research agencies such as the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID), simply don’t perform gold standard clinical science. Instead, the CDC relies upon statistical analyses and mathematical algorithms to arrive at their conclusions about vaccines’ and thimerosal’s safety. Preferring to cower in the back of Plato’s cave, concise scientific protocol and biomolecular studies in a laboratory is almost anathema to them. In addition, the kind of studies the vaccine orthodoxy hail as proof to deny a correlation between thimerosal and autism rely upon dreadful research design and ridiculously low numbers of participants. For example, a University of Rochester study comparing children injected with mercury-vaccines versus vaccines without mercury only enrolled 40 subjects; yet, this single study remains in the pro-vaccine orthodoxy’s arsenal against vaccine skeptics. If autism at the time of the study affected 1 in 150 children, then enrolling 40 children is baseless for achieving any valid data. For this reason, another finding by the Committee states:
Committee Finding 2: “To date, studies conducted or funded by the CDC that purportedly dispute any correlation between autism and vaccine injury have been of poor design, under-powered, and fatally flawed. The CDC’s rush to support and promote such research is reflective of a philosophical conflict in looking fairly at emerging theories and clinical data related to adverse reactions from vaccinations.”
The Committee also reports, “Upon thorough review of the scientific literature and internal documents from government and industry, the Committee did in fact find evidence that thimerosal posed a risk. The possible risk for harm from either low dose chronic or one time high level (bolus dose) exposure to thimerosal is not ‘theoretical,’ but very real and documented in the medical literature.”
Furthermore, the report continues,
“Of additional concern has been the CDC’s bias against theories regarding vaccine-induced autism. Rather than aggressively working to replicate clinical findings with laboratory data that showed a relationship between vaccines and autism... the CDC funded researchers who also worked for vaccine manufacturers to conduct population-based epidemiological studies to look at the possible correlation between vaccine injury and a subset of the population that might be injured. The CDC to date has relied too heavily on epidemiological findings. While epidemiological studies are important, they are not a substitute for focused, clinical research.”
And independent clinical research exists. There is lots of it from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of California at Irvine, Baylor Medical School, Prof. Boyd Haley at the University of Kentucky, and the dozens of studies by Dr. Mark Geier at the Institute of Chronic Illnesses, all providing evidence for thimerosal’s adverse effects in adults and in the developing brain of a child.
Committee Finding 3: “Manufacturers of vaccines and thimerosal have never conducted adequate testing on the safety of thimerosal. The FDA has never required manufacturers to conduct adequate safety testing on thimerosal and ethylmercury compounds.”
For many decades, the FDA has known about the neurotoxic effects of thimersosal. A review of internal documents from Eli Lilly, the original inventor of ethylmercury in the 1920s, reveals that only one study has ever been performed to investigate thimerosal’s safety in humans and it was “woefully inadequate.” During the actual Committee hearings, Rep. Burton remarked, “You mean to tell me since 1929 we’ve been using thimerosal and the only test you know of is the one that was done in 1929, and every one of those people got meningitis and died?”[5]
In the 1940’s, thimerosal was used in teething powders for infants and resulted in fatal outbreaks of Pink’s Disease (severe mercury poisoning) before being removed in the 50’s. Since many children today receive vaccines with trace amounts of thimerosal, in addition to vaccines containing adjuvant aluminum compounds, an important 1972 study published in the British Medical Journal noted that mercury increases aluminum’s oxidation and produces abnormal heat. In recent years, there is growing evidence of mitochondrial oxidation and cellular damage that may be due to this interaction between mercury and aluminum in vaccines. With a child now receiving 31 and more vaccinations during its first 18 months of life, it would seem that this barbaric practice would have been fully investigated by our health officials to account for the epidemic rise in neurological and behavioral disorders, adult diabetes and asthmatic conditions in American children. Instead, our health officials continue to pump out junk science, for example the recent, seriously flawed NIAID study on H1N1 vaccine safety in pregnant women reported over the major media, to deceive Americans and enroll them in their national vaccination campaigns. The protocol in that study listed any pregnant woman who had a history of alcohol or drug abuse during a 6 year period, diabetes, compromised immune systems, asthmatic and allergic conditions, history of cancer-treatment drugs for 3 years, prescription to psychiatric drugs, and many other conditions as unqualified for the study. These conditions alone would disqualify the large majority of the nation’s pregnant women. Furthermore, any pregnant woman who enrolled in the trial, who spiked a temperature of 100 degrees or greater during the first 72 hours following vaccination, were excluded from the trial. Nevertheless, the CDC and its cronies in the media, particularly the pharmaceutical shills at The New York Times, touted this deranged trial as conclusive evidence that the swine flu vaccine was safe for all pregnant women. These are the kinds of medical distortions we have come to expect from the Federal health agencies.
The Committee’s report states,
“It appears that our Federal regulatory framework (the FDA and its predecessor organizations) failed to require manufacturers to prove thimerosal was safe. They failed to require industry to conduct adequate testing to determine how thimerosal is metabolized. The FDA failed to require that industry conduct studies to determine the maximum safe exposure level of thimerosal. These basic issues should have been proven prior to the introduction of thimerosal into the marketplace, but more than 70 years after its introduction, these issues have still not been adequately addressed... It is clear that the guiding principal for FDA policymakers has been to avoid shaking the public’s confidence in the safety of vaccines. For this reason, many FDA officials have stubbornly denied that thimerosal may cause adverse reactions... given the serious concerns about the safety of thimerosal, the FDA should have acted years earlier to remove this preservative from vaccines and other medications.”
Nevertheless, even during this so-called flu season, the Federal agencies continue to remain entranced in a stupor of scientific denial, perhaps acting in a criminally negligent manner, as thimerosal remains at highly toxic levels in the flu vaccines, and remains in trace amounts in the DTaP, some Hib, and Hepatitis B vaccines.
Although the FDA has repeatedly agreed that mercury is unsafe for over-the-counter medications, one would think that the government could arrive at the simple deduction of an elementary school pupil in agreeing that intramuscular injection of thimerosal would be far more dangerous. During the Committee’s proceedings, Dr. Bernard Schwetz, former Director of the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, has stated, “... the fact that we know that ethylmercury is a skin sensitizer when its put on the skin, and now we’re injecting this IM (intramuscularly) at a time when the immune system is just developing, the functionality of the immune system is just being set at this age [infancy]... What is the effect on the functional development of the immune system when you give a chemical of that kind repeatedly IM?”
Committee Finding 4: “At the same time that the incidence of autism was growing, the number of childhood vaccines containing thimerosal was growing, increasing the amount of ethylmercury to which infants were exposed threefold... The FDA and CDC failed in their duty to be vigilant as new vaccines containing thimerosal were approved and added to the immunization schedule.”
The Commission report states, “There was tremendous reluctance on the part of some officials that a mistake had been made in allowing ethylmercury to be used in vaccines.” The FDA damns itself in a 1999 email by a former FDA official, Dr. Peter Patriarca, then Director of the FDA’s Division of Viral Products, who opines that hastening the removal of thimerosal from vaccines would “raise questions about the FDA being ‘asleep at the switch’ for decades by allowing a potentially hazardous compound to remain in many childhood vaccines, and not forcing manufacturers to exclude it from new products.”
While the Federal health agencies and the professional medical organizations serving the vaccine industrial complex, such as the American Pediatric Association, repeatedly tell us there is no causal relationship between ASD and vaccine mercury, there is a growing body of prestigious scientists, researchers and physicians who feel otherwise. Last October 2009, a Harvard survey reported in the journal Pediatrics the US’s ASD rate needs to be upgraded to 1 in 91, a greater than 30% increase from the previous 1 in 150 ratio several years back.[6] Consequently, the thimerasol-autism debate is far from over and should be pursued with aggressive due diligence and urgency. Moreover, the past history of CDC negligence and its reliance upon poorly designed and flawed science indicates there is no reason why any rational citizen should believe any statistical declaration or medical claim about vaccine safety from government health officials. These are people with severe allergic reactions to real science.
The Autism Society of America (ASA), the world’s largest autism organization and heavily funded by private industry and CDC support, continues to rely on archaic treatments not too dissimilar to BF Skinner’s behavioral work with pigeons. The ASA and the National Alliance for Autism, another advocacy organization supporting research to discredit vaccine-autism links, have been accused of conflict of interests and biased studies. In early 2009, Alison Singer, the senior executive of ASA and an advocate of the fanatical vaccine multi-millionaire and former advisor to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, Dr. Paul Offit—who believes in a fantasy vaccine heaven where children can survive 10,000 vaccinations unscathed—resigned in protest over her organization’s recent leanings to reconsider a vaccination-autism connection. Each organization’s platform fundamentally ignores a possible vaccine-caused autism and instead favors genetic etiology that has yet to be conclusively discovered—instead, blame the parents’ DNA, not the drug makers and their government collaborators. Yet while the search for a mysterious autism gene persists, more and more children are being neurologically and developmentally damaged. Furthermore, even if such a gene is found, it would be many years before anything medically practical could be done with it.
Committee Finding 5: “A growing number of scientists and researchers believe that a relationship between the increase in neurodevelopmental disorders of autism... and the increased use of thimerosal in vaccines is plausible and deserves more scrutiny.”
In fact, the CDC in June 2000 discovered “a statistically significant positive correlation between the cumulative exposure” of thimerosal and ASD symptoms. The CDC’s analysis of approximately 110,000 records of children with adverse reactions to vaccines, flying in the face of federal health officials’ previous claims about vaccine safety, led to a secretive meeting between top government health officials and vaccine industry representatives at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center near Atlanta. The transcripts of that meeting were later obtained by Robert Kennedy Jr through a Freedom of Information Act. During the meeting, the CDC study’s chief scientist, Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, stated, “This analysis suggests that in our study population, the risks of tics, ADD, language and speech delays, and developmental delays in general may be increased by exposures to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines during the first six months of life.” The Congressional review of the Simpsonwood conversations concluded that “It appears that many who participated in the thimerosal debates allowed their standards to be dictated by their desire to disprove an unpleasant theory.” Indeed, this is what eventually occurred after the meeting.
The clandestine Simpsonwood gathering decided to withhold its findings from the public and, instead, proceeded with a new investigation to doctor the same data by employing confounders (subjective, unscientific criteria used to bias a study to prove a desired result). Consequently the CDC’s subsequent study released several years later denied any relationship between thimerosal and ASD. At the end of 2009, this remains the policy position and mindset of the CDC, FDA and HHS while a large body of independent research, with no conflict of interests with government or the vaccine industry, continues to mount against our policy makers reliance upon tabloid science and futile efforts to find causes unrelated to vaccines. And Dr. Thomas Verstaeten? Last heard he joined the vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline and continued to deny the truth of the CDC’s original Simpsonwood findings.
Since then, Dr. Mark Geier at the Institutes of Chronic Illnesses, through a Freedom of Information Act, obtained all the CDC’s vaccine injury data in its database. After conducting an independent epidemiological study, based on tens of millions of vaccine doses administered in the US, he confirmed the Simpsonwood findings and significant other data to show thimerosal and the DTaP vaccine as contributing causes behind the country’s autism epidemic.[7]
Today, our tax dollars are being spent by our health agencies to sidestep the entire question of vaccine safety and efficacy, and are trying to project autism’s causes on genetic factors. This was the case in 2003, as it is now, when the Committee raised concerns over the NIH’s $27 billion budget, investing only $56 million into autism research, and the majority of that towards genetic causes. Compare that with the $2.2 billion spent on HIV/AIDS research that affects only a tiny percent of the population compared to the hundreds of thousands of children across the nation suffering autism spectrum disorder and neurological damage that they will live with for the remainder of their lives.
In 1975, the FDA undertook a five year review of mercury’s dangers in over-the-counter drugs and topical medicines and ointments. The advisory panel’s report to the FDA concluded that not only “mercury compounds as a class are of dubious value for anti-microbial use” but also “thimerosal was 35-times more toxic to the heart tissue it was meant to protect than the bacteria it was meant to kill.” So why is thimerosal still used in vaccines? Rather than manufacturing single dose vials, which would not require mercury, vaccine makers have found it more cost effective to manufacture multi-dose vials and simply add mercury as a preservative for longer shelf-life. A story in the Columbus Dispatch unveiled that Ohio’s decision to purchase larger quantities of thimerosal-laced flu vaccine rather than the alternative thimerosal-free version was purely based on a financial decision.[8]
Committee Finding 6: “The CDC’s failure to state a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines in 2000 and again 2001 was an abdication of their responsibility.”
After reviewing the CDC’s long-standing habit for promoting illness and staging a war on health, there is a case of one vaccine manufacturer offering to remove thimerosal from its vaccine but being denied permission to do so from the CDC. This incident led the Committee to state, “The CDC’s decision not to endorse thimerosal-free vaccines in 2001 is particularly troubling... Just as disappointing, and even more difficult to understand, is the fact that the CDC, on two separate occasions, refused to publicly state a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines.”
Testimony by Federal health officials before the Committee included a litany of excuses based on financial rationales for not concerning itself with the health of American children. The statements by Dr. Roger Bernier from the CDC exemplifies the dangerous level of denial and Federal officials’ refusal to accept preventative health measures, a dire negligence that continues to plague government health agencies in general, and the unproven and potentially unsafe H1N1 vaccine in particular:
“It [removing thimerosal from vaccines] could entail financial losses of inventory if current vaccine inventory is wasted. It could harm one or more manufacturers and may then decrease the number of suppliers”
“The evidence justifying this kind of abrupt policy change [immediate removal of mercury from all vaccines] does not appear to exist, and it could entail financial losses for all existing stocks of vaccines that contain thimerosal.”
The Committee’s interpretation of the CDC’s vaccine policy includes, “The financial health of the industry should never have been a factor in this decision [thimerosal removal]. The financial health of vaccine manufacturers certainly should never have been more important to the Federal health officials than the health and well being of the nation’s children. The CDC has a responsibility to protect the health of the American public. If there were any doubts about the neurological effects of ethylmercury in vaccines on children—and there were substantial doubts—the prevailing consideration should have been how best to protect children from potential harm. However, it appears that protecting the industry’s profits took precedent over protecting children from mercury damage.”
Committee Finding 7: “Thimerosal should be removed from these vaccines. No amount of mercury is appropriate in any childhood vaccine.”
Although thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines, mercury remains in trace amounts in some vaccines, as noted above, and remains at high toxic levels in the flu shots. Studies show that in the presence of aluminum compounds mercury’s toxicity increases dramatically. Vaccines that contain aluminum compounds include the DTaP, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, pneumococcal, anthrax, and the HPV vaccine. Unfortunately, no studies have been funded by government agencies nor have the vaccine makers undertaken efforts to determine adverse neurological effects when multiple vaccines are given together, as is so often the case when small children visit their pediatricians.
A comparison of the FDA, CDC and HHS claims on thimerosal and multiple vaccination safety with documents from the Department of Defense (DoD) leaves one with the feeling that our national health service is a madhouse, a leper colony of welfare scientists and indecisive medical bureaucrats torn between their allegiance to pharmaceutical firms and the health of the nation. Medical journalist David Kirby has reported on DoD documents he received showing the military raising legitimate concerns about vaccines (thimerosal and the DTaP vaccine) as causative factors for the critical epidemic of ASD among military children.[9] In her article “Autism in the Military, “ Angela Warren calculates the military autism rate at 1 in 67, substantially higher than the recent Harvard study for the civilian population.[10] In addition to thimerosal’s dangers, the military claims its ongoing studies suggest that “a relationship between adverse events and multiple vaccinations exist.” The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology also acknowledges that “exposure to mercury in utero and children may cause mild to severe mental retardation and mild to severe motor coordination impairment.”[11]
Why would the military health officials take a completely different stand on thimerosal and vaccine safety from that of the CDC and HHS? During a recent conversation with a retired Colonel and former Command Surgeon of the US Army Special Operations Command in Africa, Dr. Frank Anders explained why the military health policies and recognition of scientific facts are more accurate and medically humane than that of our Federal health officials. According to Col. Anders, the “power and money these pharmaceutical companies wield [on the FDA and CDC] is awesome.” When he was asked whether or not there is any conformity or agreement between the Department of Defense’s health divisions and the Federal health agencies, including President Obama’s appointments, he stated there was nothing that could affect preventative and therapeutic health policy. There are far more financial incentives, including funds from Congress at the behest of pharmaceutical lobbyists, for FDA and CDC personnel to forge relationships with the drug and vaccine makers. On the other hand, since military health personnel are solely employees of the DoD removed from the vaccine industry and Big Pharma lobbyists, there is less bias and greater scientific integrity towards medical facts and sound science.[12]
Curiously, David Kirby reports that the military health clinics are adopting alternative treatments for ASD--methyl B12, chelation and glutathione--which are not actively promoted by the FDA in their preference for pharmaceutical and psychiatric drugs and behavioral modality treatment. When we asked Col. Anders why this was the case, he responded that it is simply because these alternative treatments work. For example, independent studies show convincingly that thimerosal depletes glutathione in vaccinated children with autism. Glutathione provides cells with the primary defense against heavy metal oxidation, a condition that has been observed extensively in children with ASD. Without glutathione, heavy metal oxidation inflicts severe neurological damage. Alternative treatment for autism includes glutathione replacement; however, this form of treatment is not recognized by the CDC and the orthodox autism organizations in bed with the pharmaceutical industrial complex.[13]
Committee Recommendations: There were two important recommendations made by Rep. Dan Burton’s Committee that Americans should demand from our government and Federal health agencies. First is the recommendation that “studies be conducted that pool the results of independent research that has been done thus far, and a comprehensive approach should be developed to rid humans, animals and the environment from this dangerous toxin [ethyl- and methylmercury].”
The second urgent recommendation is that Congress “enact legislation that prohibits federal funds from being used to provide products or pharmaceuticals that contain mercury, methylmercury or ethylmercury unless no reasonable alternative is available.”
Today, neither of these recommendations have been acted upon. Instead the Obama administration has continued the previous Bush act to provide sanctuary to vaccine makers from lawsuits due to vaccine injury. Our health officials have sunk themselves deeper into dangerously reductive and determinist views about infectious diseases, such as the swine flu, and have strengthened their denial that their entire vaccination program might be leading America’s health to further ruin.
It is unusual for our government and Congress to get anything correct these days and to make sincere, thoughtful decisions that truly benefit American citizens. However, there are those rare occasions when a spark of wisdom actually flares briefly somewhere in Washington. The Rep. Burton’s Committee report’s final statement is as relevant today as it was in mid 2003. Perhaps even more so as we witness the CDC’s public relations campaign threatening citizens with misleading statistics, distorted science (‘science’ being a term that can barely be applied to the kind of tabloid research that Federal officials rely upon today), and unproven fears to shepherd us towards the H1N1 and seasonal flu lines.
“Thimserosal used as a preservative in vaccines is likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding the lack of safety data regarding injected thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure to his known neurotoxin. Our public health agencies’ failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry.”
As we have witnessed during the recent CDC’s public relations campaign behind the H1N1 vaccine, and the uproar of dissent that questions the safety and national need for mass inoculation, medical discourse has been shut down. This raises the serious concern whether America’s health sciences and democracy can co-exist any longer in the United States. The words of H.H. the Dalai Lama are apropos for understanding the fish tank Federal officials and their sponsored cohorts settled into, “To deny authority of empirical evidence is to disqualify oneself as someone worthy of critical engagement in a dialogue.” Nothing has changed within the US government’s vaccine policy programs, six years after Congress indicted our health leaders with medical denialism.
Richard Gale is the Executive Producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a former Senior Research Analyst in the genomic industry.
Dr. Gary Null is the host of the nation’s longest running public radio program on nutrition and natural health and a multi-award-winning director of progressive documentary films, including Vaccine Nation (2008) and Autism: Made in the USA (2009)
Notes
[1] Kathleen Sebelius interviewed by Katie Couric on CBS, July 30, 2009.
[2] All statements in quotations, unless noted, are from the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness report, “Mercury in Medicine: Taking Unnecessary Risks,” published May 2003.
[3] Magos L, Brown AW, Sparrow S, Bailey E, Snowden RT, Skipp WR. “The comparative toxicology of ethyl- and methylmercury.” Archives of Toxicology. (1985) 57: 260-267.
[4] Haley, Boyd (Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky). “The relationship of the toxic effects of mercury to exacerbation of the medical condition classified as Alzheimer’s disease.” Presented at Autism One Conference. May 26-29, 2005.
[5] Kirby, David. Evidence of Harm. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2005.
[6] Kogan MD, Blumberg J, Schieve LA, Boyle CA, Perrin JM, Ghandour RM, Singh GK, Strickland BB, Trevathan E, van Dyck PC. “Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US, 2007” Pediatrics. Published online October 5, 2009.
[7] Geier M, Geier D. “Neurodevelopmental disorders after thimerosal-containing vaccines: A brief communication.” Experimental Biology and Medicine. (2003) Vol. 228, n 6, 660-664.
[8] McCoy, Roger. “Some See Threat in Ohio’s Flu Shot.” The Columbus Dispatch. February 17, 2004.
[9] Kirby, David. “The Pentagon: A Voice of Reason on Vaccines and Autism?” Wellsphere.com December 4, 2008.
[10] Warner, Angela. “Autism in the Military” Age of Autism. July 8, 2008.
[11] Kirby. Op cit.
[12] Private conversation with Col. Frank Anders, November 2009.
[13] James SJ, Slikker W, Melnyk S, New E, Jernigan S. “Thimerosal neurotoxicity is associated with glutathione depletion: protection with glutathione precursors.” Neurotoxicity. (2005) Vol. 26, 1-8.
Global Research Articles by Richard Gale
Global Research Articles by Gary Null
by Richard Gale and Dr Gary Null
I have no doubt whatever that vaccination is an unscientific abomination and should be made a criminal practice. G. Bernard Shaw
Under normal circumstances, when a public health measure is advocated or mandated, and it is accepted without question by all Federal health agencies, state and local health departments, and promoted by the mainstream media with unquestioning support from the orthodox medical community, then it is assumed that such measures at the very least meet basic scientifically proven criteria. Foremost should be public health safety and that the proven efficacy of a health program be implemented according to rigorous scientific gold standards. When this standard is ignored and denied, as is now being done by our health officials, then the wellbeing of the nation is placed at risk. Consequently, we see the concerns regarding the swine flu vaccine focusing upon supply rather than health. For our government health officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), vaccines have been baptized safe and, therefore, there is no reason for further debate. In fact, so certain are those in charge of the nation’s vaccination programs, even democratic discourse about vaccination controversies has been marginalized and smothered. There is no dissenting opinion published in any major industrial medical journal or magazine, nor found on any of government health websites.
When put to the test, a meticulous review of the scientific literature finds that virtually all of the Federal health agencies assumptions are held in error. Furthermore, we are shocked that the CDC, FDA and HHS, with all of their resources, refuse to take into consideration the large body of clinical evidence that contradicts their biased vaccine policies. Our review of the scientific literature is at two levels. First, there is a direct relationship between vaccination and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This evidence, as we shall see, was taken under oath during a three year Congressional investigation, which clearly shows that Federal health officials were complicit in covering up the associations between vaccines and neurological damage.
The second level shows irrefutable evidence, from peered reviewed journals in immunology, neurology, toxicology, etc., that the very same mercury used at high toxic levels in the flu vaccines, as well as in trace amounts in other vaccines, is toxic in all circumstances. The pronouncements by the CDC and HHS, promulgated by tabloid medical writers at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, are deceptions based upon medical denialism. We believe it is a crime to inject mercury into the bodies of any pregnant woman and child, while knowing that thimerosal is extremely toxic.
During a televised interview to prepare the American public for a massive campaign to inoculate the population for the H1N1 flu virus, President Obama’s HHS Secretary, Dr. Kathleen Sebelius, told the nation, “study after study, scientist after scientist, has determined that there really is no safety risk with thimerosal.”[1] Glancing at the foot-high stack of published clinical studies on the desk, years of independent research identifying certain neurological impairments, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and cellular organ damage resulting from vaccines containing the toxic ethylmercury preservative commonly known as thimerosal, it is incomprehensible to fathom the depth of scientific denial in Sebelius’ statement. Was the Secretary blatantly lying to Americans, especially parents of small children six months and older and pregnant mothers, to convince us to line up for flu shots? If we unpack Sebelius’ misleading propaganda and properly rephrase her pronouncement, we can uncover a semblance of truth in her words. Instead it would have been proper for her to inform the nation that “study after study of spurious and flawed research that would likely never pass a graduate school examination, scientist after scientist affiliated or with financial ties to the vaccine industry now dominating our academies and health agencies, have determined that there really is no safety risk with thimerosal.”
This should have been the Secretary’s response if she were honest in addressing many people’s concerns about vaccine safety. Yet, this is not just our interpretive spin about the lack of scientific integrity within the CDC’s and FDA’s pharmaceutical-friendly stance regarding the vaccine-autism controversy; rather it accurately reflects the conclusions from a three year investigation conducted by the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness in the House’s Committee on Government Reform, spearheaded by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana). Published in May 2003, the Committee’s 80-page report, “Mercury in Medicine: Taking Unnecessary Risks,” is a clear indictment charging the CDC, FDA and HHS with scientific bias, prejudiced financial interests with vaccine makers, and administrative incompetence and indecision that puts Americans’ health at risk.[2]
It is a sorry state of affairs when a Congressional committee is forced to undertake a more thorough, concise review of the scientific literature related to a national health crisis, i.e., thimerosal as a causative factor behind the epidemic scourge of neurological and developmental disorders in America’s children, because our Federal health agencies prefer to not upset their clients (or masters) in the pharmaceutical industrial complex. But what is even more disturbing is that after six years since the Committee’s report, nothing has fundamentally changed. Instead, the CDC, FDA and HHS continue their rogue campaigns to spread unfounded medical propaganda and have done next to nothing, aside from issuing promises and marginalizing opposing medical views, to fund and launch the independent research necessary to determine once and for all vaccine safety in young children, developing fetuses and pregnant mothers. And as we wait for medical sanity to descend upon our government agencies, more and more children are injured from the increasing number of scheduled vaccinations, while the burden of health costs continue to mount on the shoulders of parents with neurologically and physically damaged children.
Therefore reviewing some of the Committee’s major findings is warranted to bring them up to date with recent information showing the thimerosal-autism link and to provide evidence for the CDC’s, FDA’s and HHS’s ongoing medical denialism about vaccine safety and their laxity in preserving and addressing public health.
Committee Finding 1: “Mercury is hazardous to humans. Its use in medicinal products is undesirable, unnecessary and should be minimized or eliminated entirely.”
Mercury, in its two most common forms that threaten human health--methylmercury and ethylmercury (thimerosal used in vaccines)--is the second most toxic substance perhaps after uranium. It is over one hundred times more toxic than lead. Therefore ask yourself the question, would you submit your child, or even yourself, to having lead injected directly into his or her bloodstream, permitting it to pass through your child’s neurological system? If you answer in the negative, then know that the mercury in that flu shot being offered at Costco is far more toxic than the lead you just refused.
Although more research has been conducted showing methylmercury’s severe health risks, the Committee, basing its decision on sound scientific evidence, concluded that thimerosal’s toxicity is the same as methylmercury. Among the more serious adverse effects are multiple organ system disorders over the course of a lifetime, neurological and behavioral defects, renal damage, cardiovascular effects even at very low dosages, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and injury to the immune system, and adverse effects on the reproductive system. Contrary to Sebelius’denialism, a pregnant mother’s exposure to thimerosal due to vaccination runs the risk of mercury crossing the placenta and affecting the developing fetus. The CDC’s current stance that it makes no difference whether vaccines with thimerosal are given to pregnant mothers flies in the face of biomolecular reason and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own warnings. Medical evidence for methylmercury disturbing the neuro-development of an infant in utero has been conclusive for many years.[3] The EPA’s website states that for women in reproductive ages, there is the risk of 300,000 newborns each year incurring learning disabilities due to in utero exposure to mercury. Even the FDA acknowledged mercury’s toxic risks to infants back in 1994. According to a National Institutes of Health document, “For fetuses, infants and children, the primary health effects of mercury are on neurological development. Even low levels of mercury exposure, such as result from a mother’s consumption of methylmercury in dietary sources, can adversely affect the brain and nervous system. Impact on memory, attention, language and other skills have been found in children exposed to moderate levels in the womb.” Do any of these symptoms sound like ASD? And if eating a can of tuna fish poses a potential risk, how much greater are the potential neurological injuries when vaccine mercury is injected intramuscularly?
The EPA, unlike the FDA, has conducted research into mercury’s toxicity and health risks. While the EPA sets a limit exposure of mercury at 0.1 micrograms/kg, the FDA in its favoritism towards mercury’s use in vaccines raises the stakes to 0.4 micrograms. The FDA’s figure has no valid supporting scientific data and is arbitrary in order to continue sanctioning the use of in vaccines. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets the limit higher; this may account for the WHO’s aggressive campaigns to inoculate the world’s poorer populations with heavily laced-mercury and stockpiled vaccines from the drug makers. The Committee, however, found the EPA evaluation to be “scientifically validated.” Consequently, a person receiving a single flu shot, with 25 mcg/kg of thimerosal would need to weigh approximately 550 pounds for it to be considered a safe quantity. Therefore it is no surprise that the series of four thimerosal-laced flu shots, or 100 mcg/kg, can lead to long-term cumulative damage for any age group, including the later onset of dementia conditions such as Alzheimer’s.[4]
Dr. David Baskin, Professor of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine, told the Committee that brain tissue absorbs mercury five times more than other body tissues. And infants and small children are furthermore five times more sensitive to mercury’s toxicological effects compared to adults. Dr. Baskin reported on his own studies at Baylor:
“We have the opportunity to actually grow human frontal cortex cells in cell culture. So these are cells from the front part of the brain... We incubate these cells with thimerosal at various doses... [then] detect cell death and cell damage... [showing a slide] These are the cells committing the suicide program and breaking themselves into tiny little pieces with a very low dose of mercury... Don’t forget, we did this in adult brain cells. Remember that infant brain cells are much more sensitive, so there’s a real cause for concern.”
Similar studies conducted at Columbia University have confirmed the Baylor findings.
So why can’t the CDC and other government agencies reproduce these clinical studies to confirm whether or not there is a clear thimerosal-autism link? Well, the CDC, and other research agencies such as the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID), simply don’t perform gold standard clinical science. Instead, the CDC relies upon statistical analyses and mathematical algorithms to arrive at their conclusions about vaccines’ and thimerosal’s safety. Preferring to cower in the back of Plato’s cave, concise scientific protocol and biomolecular studies in a laboratory is almost anathema to them. In addition, the kind of studies the vaccine orthodoxy hail as proof to deny a correlation between thimerosal and autism rely upon dreadful research design and ridiculously low numbers of participants. For example, a University of Rochester study comparing children injected with mercury-vaccines versus vaccines without mercury only enrolled 40 subjects; yet, this single study remains in the pro-vaccine orthodoxy’s arsenal against vaccine skeptics. If autism at the time of the study affected 1 in 150 children, then enrolling 40 children is baseless for achieving any valid data. For this reason, another finding by the Committee states:
Committee Finding 2: “To date, studies conducted or funded by the CDC that purportedly dispute any correlation between autism and vaccine injury have been of poor design, under-powered, and fatally flawed. The CDC’s rush to support and promote such research is reflective of a philosophical conflict in looking fairly at emerging theories and clinical data related to adverse reactions from vaccinations.”
The Committee also reports, “Upon thorough review of the scientific literature and internal documents from government and industry, the Committee did in fact find evidence that thimerosal posed a risk. The possible risk for harm from either low dose chronic or one time high level (bolus dose) exposure to thimerosal is not ‘theoretical,’ but very real and documented in the medical literature.”
Furthermore, the report continues,
“Of additional concern has been the CDC’s bias against theories regarding vaccine-induced autism. Rather than aggressively working to replicate clinical findings with laboratory data that showed a relationship between vaccines and autism... the CDC funded researchers who also worked for vaccine manufacturers to conduct population-based epidemiological studies to look at the possible correlation between vaccine injury and a subset of the population that might be injured. The CDC to date has relied too heavily on epidemiological findings. While epidemiological studies are important, they are not a substitute for focused, clinical research.”
And independent clinical research exists. There is lots of it from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of California at Irvine, Baylor Medical School, Prof. Boyd Haley at the University of Kentucky, and the dozens of studies by Dr. Mark Geier at the Institute of Chronic Illnesses, all providing evidence for thimerosal’s adverse effects in adults and in the developing brain of a child.
Committee Finding 3: “Manufacturers of vaccines and thimerosal have never conducted adequate testing on the safety of thimerosal. The FDA has never required manufacturers to conduct adequate safety testing on thimerosal and ethylmercury compounds.”
For many decades, the FDA has known about the neurotoxic effects of thimersosal. A review of internal documents from Eli Lilly, the original inventor of ethylmercury in the 1920s, reveals that only one study has ever been performed to investigate thimerosal’s safety in humans and it was “woefully inadequate.” During the actual Committee hearings, Rep. Burton remarked, “You mean to tell me since 1929 we’ve been using thimerosal and the only test you know of is the one that was done in 1929, and every one of those people got meningitis and died?”[5]
In the 1940’s, thimerosal was used in teething powders for infants and resulted in fatal outbreaks of Pink’s Disease (severe mercury poisoning) before being removed in the 50’s. Since many children today receive vaccines with trace amounts of thimerosal, in addition to vaccines containing adjuvant aluminum compounds, an important 1972 study published in the British Medical Journal noted that mercury increases aluminum’s oxidation and produces abnormal heat. In recent years, there is growing evidence of mitochondrial oxidation and cellular damage that may be due to this interaction between mercury and aluminum in vaccines. With a child now receiving 31 and more vaccinations during its first 18 months of life, it would seem that this barbaric practice would have been fully investigated by our health officials to account for the epidemic rise in neurological and behavioral disorders, adult diabetes and asthmatic conditions in American children. Instead, our health officials continue to pump out junk science, for example the recent, seriously flawed NIAID study on H1N1 vaccine safety in pregnant women reported over the major media, to deceive Americans and enroll them in their national vaccination campaigns. The protocol in that study listed any pregnant woman who had a history of alcohol or drug abuse during a 6 year period, diabetes, compromised immune systems, asthmatic and allergic conditions, history of cancer-treatment drugs for 3 years, prescription to psychiatric drugs, and many other conditions as unqualified for the study. These conditions alone would disqualify the large majority of the nation’s pregnant women. Furthermore, any pregnant woman who enrolled in the trial, who spiked a temperature of 100 degrees or greater during the first 72 hours following vaccination, were excluded from the trial. Nevertheless, the CDC and its cronies in the media, particularly the pharmaceutical shills at The New York Times, touted this deranged trial as conclusive evidence that the swine flu vaccine was safe for all pregnant women. These are the kinds of medical distortions we have come to expect from the Federal health agencies.
The Committee’s report states,
“It appears that our Federal regulatory framework (the FDA and its predecessor organizations) failed to require manufacturers to prove thimerosal was safe. They failed to require industry to conduct adequate testing to determine how thimerosal is metabolized. The FDA failed to require that industry conduct studies to determine the maximum safe exposure level of thimerosal. These basic issues should have been proven prior to the introduction of thimerosal into the marketplace, but more than 70 years after its introduction, these issues have still not been adequately addressed... It is clear that the guiding principal for FDA policymakers has been to avoid shaking the public’s confidence in the safety of vaccines. For this reason, many FDA officials have stubbornly denied that thimerosal may cause adverse reactions... given the serious concerns about the safety of thimerosal, the FDA should have acted years earlier to remove this preservative from vaccines and other medications.”
Nevertheless, even during this so-called flu season, the Federal agencies continue to remain entranced in a stupor of scientific denial, perhaps acting in a criminally negligent manner, as thimerosal remains at highly toxic levels in the flu vaccines, and remains in trace amounts in the DTaP, some Hib, and Hepatitis B vaccines.
Although the FDA has repeatedly agreed that mercury is unsafe for over-the-counter medications, one would think that the government could arrive at the simple deduction of an elementary school pupil in agreeing that intramuscular injection of thimerosal would be far more dangerous. During the Committee’s proceedings, Dr. Bernard Schwetz, former Director of the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, has stated, “... the fact that we know that ethylmercury is a skin sensitizer when its put on the skin, and now we’re injecting this IM (intramuscularly) at a time when the immune system is just developing, the functionality of the immune system is just being set at this age [infancy]... What is the effect on the functional development of the immune system when you give a chemical of that kind repeatedly IM?”
Committee Finding 4: “At the same time that the incidence of autism was growing, the number of childhood vaccines containing thimerosal was growing, increasing the amount of ethylmercury to which infants were exposed threefold... The FDA and CDC failed in their duty to be vigilant as new vaccines containing thimerosal were approved and added to the immunization schedule.”
The Commission report states, “There was tremendous reluctance on the part of some officials that a mistake had been made in allowing ethylmercury to be used in vaccines.” The FDA damns itself in a 1999 email by a former FDA official, Dr. Peter Patriarca, then Director of the FDA’s Division of Viral Products, who opines that hastening the removal of thimerosal from vaccines would “raise questions about the FDA being ‘asleep at the switch’ for decades by allowing a potentially hazardous compound to remain in many childhood vaccines, and not forcing manufacturers to exclude it from new products.”
While the Federal health agencies and the professional medical organizations serving the vaccine industrial complex, such as the American Pediatric Association, repeatedly tell us there is no causal relationship between ASD and vaccine mercury, there is a growing body of prestigious scientists, researchers and physicians who feel otherwise. Last October 2009, a Harvard survey reported in the journal Pediatrics the US’s ASD rate needs to be upgraded to 1 in 91, a greater than 30% increase from the previous 1 in 150 ratio several years back.[6] Consequently, the thimerasol-autism debate is far from over and should be pursued with aggressive due diligence and urgency. Moreover, the past history of CDC negligence and its reliance upon poorly designed and flawed science indicates there is no reason why any rational citizen should believe any statistical declaration or medical claim about vaccine safety from government health officials. These are people with severe allergic reactions to real science.
The Autism Society of America (ASA), the world’s largest autism organization and heavily funded by private industry and CDC support, continues to rely on archaic treatments not too dissimilar to BF Skinner’s behavioral work with pigeons. The ASA and the National Alliance for Autism, another advocacy organization supporting research to discredit vaccine-autism links, have been accused of conflict of interests and biased studies. In early 2009, Alison Singer, the senior executive of ASA and an advocate of the fanatical vaccine multi-millionaire and former advisor to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, Dr. Paul Offit—who believes in a fantasy vaccine heaven where children can survive 10,000 vaccinations unscathed—resigned in protest over her organization’s recent leanings to reconsider a vaccination-autism connection. Each organization’s platform fundamentally ignores a possible vaccine-caused autism and instead favors genetic etiology that has yet to be conclusively discovered—instead, blame the parents’ DNA, not the drug makers and their government collaborators. Yet while the search for a mysterious autism gene persists, more and more children are being neurologically and developmentally damaged. Furthermore, even if such a gene is found, it would be many years before anything medically practical could be done with it.
Committee Finding 5: “A growing number of scientists and researchers believe that a relationship between the increase in neurodevelopmental disorders of autism... and the increased use of thimerosal in vaccines is plausible and deserves more scrutiny.”
In fact, the CDC in June 2000 discovered “a statistically significant positive correlation between the cumulative exposure” of thimerosal and ASD symptoms. The CDC’s analysis of approximately 110,000 records of children with adverse reactions to vaccines, flying in the face of federal health officials’ previous claims about vaccine safety, led to a secretive meeting between top government health officials and vaccine industry representatives at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center near Atlanta. The transcripts of that meeting were later obtained by Robert Kennedy Jr through a Freedom of Information Act. During the meeting, the CDC study’s chief scientist, Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, stated, “This analysis suggests that in our study population, the risks of tics, ADD, language and speech delays, and developmental delays in general may be increased by exposures to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines during the first six months of life.” The Congressional review of the Simpsonwood conversations concluded that “It appears that many who participated in the thimerosal debates allowed their standards to be dictated by their desire to disprove an unpleasant theory.” Indeed, this is what eventually occurred after the meeting.
The clandestine Simpsonwood gathering decided to withhold its findings from the public and, instead, proceeded with a new investigation to doctor the same data by employing confounders (subjective, unscientific criteria used to bias a study to prove a desired result). Consequently the CDC’s subsequent study released several years later denied any relationship between thimerosal and ASD. At the end of 2009, this remains the policy position and mindset of the CDC, FDA and HHS while a large body of independent research, with no conflict of interests with government or the vaccine industry, continues to mount against our policy makers reliance upon tabloid science and futile efforts to find causes unrelated to vaccines. And Dr. Thomas Verstaeten? Last heard he joined the vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline and continued to deny the truth of the CDC’s original Simpsonwood findings.
Since then, Dr. Mark Geier at the Institutes of Chronic Illnesses, through a Freedom of Information Act, obtained all the CDC’s vaccine injury data in its database. After conducting an independent epidemiological study, based on tens of millions of vaccine doses administered in the US, he confirmed the Simpsonwood findings and significant other data to show thimerosal and the DTaP vaccine as contributing causes behind the country’s autism epidemic.[7]
Today, our tax dollars are being spent by our health agencies to sidestep the entire question of vaccine safety and efficacy, and are trying to project autism’s causes on genetic factors. This was the case in 2003, as it is now, when the Committee raised concerns over the NIH’s $27 billion budget, investing only $56 million into autism research, and the majority of that towards genetic causes. Compare that with the $2.2 billion spent on HIV/AIDS research that affects only a tiny percent of the population compared to the hundreds of thousands of children across the nation suffering autism spectrum disorder and neurological damage that they will live with for the remainder of their lives.
In 1975, the FDA undertook a five year review of mercury’s dangers in over-the-counter drugs and topical medicines and ointments. The advisory panel’s report to the FDA concluded that not only “mercury compounds as a class are of dubious value for anti-microbial use” but also “thimerosal was 35-times more toxic to the heart tissue it was meant to protect than the bacteria it was meant to kill.” So why is thimerosal still used in vaccines? Rather than manufacturing single dose vials, which would not require mercury, vaccine makers have found it more cost effective to manufacture multi-dose vials and simply add mercury as a preservative for longer shelf-life. A story in the Columbus Dispatch unveiled that Ohio’s decision to purchase larger quantities of thimerosal-laced flu vaccine rather than the alternative thimerosal-free version was purely based on a financial decision.[8]
Committee Finding 6: “The CDC’s failure to state a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines in 2000 and again 2001 was an abdication of their responsibility.”
After reviewing the CDC’s long-standing habit for promoting illness and staging a war on health, there is a case of one vaccine manufacturer offering to remove thimerosal from its vaccine but being denied permission to do so from the CDC. This incident led the Committee to state, “The CDC’s decision not to endorse thimerosal-free vaccines in 2001 is particularly troubling... Just as disappointing, and even more difficult to understand, is the fact that the CDC, on two separate occasions, refused to publicly state a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines.”
Testimony by Federal health officials before the Committee included a litany of excuses based on financial rationales for not concerning itself with the health of American children. The statements by Dr. Roger Bernier from the CDC exemplifies the dangerous level of denial and Federal officials’ refusal to accept preventative health measures, a dire negligence that continues to plague government health agencies in general, and the unproven and potentially unsafe H1N1 vaccine in particular:
“It [removing thimerosal from vaccines] could entail financial losses of inventory if current vaccine inventory is wasted. It could harm one or more manufacturers and may then decrease the number of suppliers”
“The evidence justifying this kind of abrupt policy change [immediate removal of mercury from all vaccines] does not appear to exist, and it could entail financial losses for all existing stocks of vaccines that contain thimerosal.”
The Committee’s interpretation of the CDC’s vaccine policy includes, “The financial health of the industry should never have been a factor in this decision [thimerosal removal]. The financial health of vaccine manufacturers certainly should never have been more important to the Federal health officials than the health and well being of the nation’s children. The CDC has a responsibility to protect the health of the American public. If there were any doubts about the neurological effects of ethylmercury in vaccines on children—and there were substantial doubts—the prevailing consideration should have been how best to protect children from potential harm. However, it appears that protecting the industry’s profits took precedent over protecting children from mercury damage.”
Committee Finding 7: “Thimerosal should be removed from these vaccines. No amount of mercury is appropriate in any childhood vaccine.”
Although thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines, mercury remains in trace amounts in some vaccines, as noted above, and remains at high toxic levels in the flu shots. Studies show that in the presence of aluminum compounds mercury’s toxicity increases dramatically. Vaccines that contain aluminum compounds include the DTaP, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, pneumococcal, anthrax, and the HPV vaccine. Unfortunately, no studies have been funded by government agencies nor have the vaccine makers undertaken efforts to determine adverse neurological effects when multiple vaccines are given together, as is so often the case when small children visit their pediatricians.
A comparison of the FDA, CDC and HHS claims on thimerosal and multiple vaccination safety with documents from the Department of Defense (DoD) leaves one with the feeling that our national health service is a madhouse, a leper colony of welfare scientists and indecisive medical bureaucrats torn between their allegiance to pharmaceutical firms and the health of the nation. Medical journalist David Kirby has reported on DoD documents he received showing the military raising legitimate concerns about vaccines (thimerosal and the DTaP vaccine) as causative factors for the critical epidemic of ASD among military children.[9] In her article “Autism in the Military, “ Angela Warren calculates the military autism rate at 1 in 67, substantially higher than the recent Harvard study for the civilian population.[10] In addition to thimerosal’s dangers, the military claims its ongoing studies suggest that “a relationship between adverse events and multiple vaccinations exist.” The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology also acknowledges that “exposure to mercury in utero and children may cause mild to severe mental retardation and mild to severe motor coordination impairment.”[11]
Why would the military health officials take a completely different stand on thimerosal and vaccine safety from that of the CDC and HHS? During a recent conversation with a retired Colonel and former Command Surgeon of the US Army Special Operations Command in Africa, Dr. Frank Anders explained why the military health policies and recognition of scientific facts are more accurate and medically humane than that of our Federal health officials. According to Col. Anders, the “power and money these pharmaceutical companies wield [on the FDA and CDC] is awesome.” When he was asked whether or not there is any conformity or agreement between the Department of Defense’s health divisions and the Federal health agencies, including President Obama’s appointments, he stated there was nothing that could affect preventative and therapeutic health policy. There are far more financial incentives, including funds from Congress at the behest of pharmaceutical lobbyists, for FDA and CDC personnel to forge relationships with the drug and vaccine makers. On the other hand, since military health personnel are solely employees of the DoD removed from the vaccine industry and Big Pharma lobbyists, there is less bias and greater scientific integrity towards medical facts and sound science.[12]
Curiously, David Kirby reports that the military health clinics are adopting alternative treatments for ASD--methyl B12, chelation and glutathione--which are not actively promoted by the FDA in their preference for pharmaceutical and psychiatric drugs and behavioral modality treatment. When we asked Col. Anders why this was the case, he responded that it is simply because these alternative treatments work. For example, independent studies show convincingly that thimerosal depletes glutathione in vaccinated children with autism. Glutathione provides cells with the primary defense against heavy metal oxidation, a condition that has been observed extensively in children with ASD. Without glutathione, heavy metal oxidation inflicts severe neurological damage. Alternative treatment for autism includes glutathione replacement; however, this form of treatment is not recognized by the CDC and the orthodox autism organizations in bed with the pharmaceutical industrial complex.[13]
Committee Recommendations: There were two important recommendations made by Rep. Dan Burton’s Committee that Americans should demand from our government and Federal health agencies. First is the recommendation that “studies be conducted that pool the results of independent research that has been done thus far, and a comprehensive approach should be developed to rid humans, animals and the environment from this dangerous toxin [ethyl- and methylmercury].”
The second urgent recommendation is that Congress “enact legislation that prohibits federal funds from being used to provide products or pharmaceuticals that contain mercury, methylmercury or ethylmercury unless no reasonable alternative is available.”
Today, neither of these recommendations have been acted upon. Instead the Obama administration has continued the previous Bush act to provide sanctuary to vaccine makers from lawsuits due to vaccine injury. Our health officials have sunk themselves deeper into dangerously reductive and determinist views about infectious diseases, such as the swine flu, and have strengthened their denial that their entire vaccination program might be leading America’s health to further ruin.
It is unusual for our government and Congress to get anything correct these days and to make sincere, thoughtful decisions that truly benefit American citizens. However, there are those rare occasions when a spark of wisdom actually flares briefly somewhere in Washington. The Rep. Burton’s Committee report’s final statement is as relevant today as it was in mid 2003. Perhaps even more so as we witness the CDC’s public relations campaign threatening citizens with misleading statistics, distorted science (‘science’ being a term that can barely be applied to the kind of tabloid research that Federal officials rely upon today), and unproven fears to shepherd us towards the H1N1 and seasonal flu lines.
“Thimserosal used as a preservative in vaccines is likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding the lack of safety data regarding injected thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure to his known neurotoxin. Our public health agencies’ failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry.”
As we have witnessed during the recent CDC’s public relations campaign behind the H1N1 vaccine, and the uproar of dissent that questions the safety and national need for mass inoculation, medical discourse has been shut down. This raises the serious concern whether America’s health sciences and democracy can co-exist any longer in the United States. The words of H.H. the Dalai Lama are apropos for understanding the fish tank Federal officials and their sponsored cohorts settled into, “To deny authority of empirical evidence is to disqualify oneself as someone worthy of critical engagement in a dialogue.” Nothing has changed within the US government’s vaccine policy programs, six years after Congress indicted our health leaders with medical denialism.
Richard Gale is the Executive Producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a former Senior Research Analyst in the genomic industry.
Dr. Gary Null is the host of the nation’s longest running public radio program on nutrition and natural health and a multi-award-winning director of progressive documentary films, including Vaccine Nation (2008) and Autism: Made in the USA (2009)
Notes
[1] Kathleen Sebelius interviewed by Katie Couric on CBS, July 30, 2009.
[2] All statements in quotations, unless noted, are from the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness report, “Mercury in Medicine: Taking Unnecessary Risks,” published May 2003.
[3] Magos L, Brown AW, Sparrow S, Bailey E, Snowden RT, Skipp WR. “The comparative toxicology of ethyl- and methylmercury.” Archives of Toxicology. (1985) 57: 260-267.
[4] Haley, Boyd (Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky). “The relationship of the toxic effects of mercury to exacerbation of the medical condition classified as Alzheimer’s disease.” Presented at Autism One Conference. May 26-29, 2005.
[5] Kirby, David. Evidence of Harm. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2005.
[6] Kogan MD, Blumberg J, Schieve LA, Boyle CA, Perrin JM, Ghandour RM, Singh GK, Strickland BB, Trevathan E, van Dyck PC. “Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US, 2007” Pediatrics. Published online October 5, 2009.
[7] Geier M, Geier D. “Neurodevelopmental disorders after thimerosal-containing vaccines: A brief communication.” Experimental Biology and Medicine. (2003) Vol. 228, n 6, 660-664.
[8] McCoy, Roger. “Some See Threat in Ohio’s Flu Shot.” The Columbus Dispatch. February 17, 2004.
[9] Kirby, David. “The Pentagon: A Voice of Reason on Vaccines and Autism?” Wellsphere.com December 4, 2008.
[10] Warner, Angela. “Autism in the Military” Age of Autism. July 8, 2008.
[11] Kirby. Op cit.
[12] Private conversation with Col. Frank Anders, November 2009.
[13] James SJ, Slikker W, Melnyk S, New E, Jernigan S. “Thimerosal neurotoxicity is associated with glutathione depletion: protection with glutathione precursors.” Neurotoxicity. (2005) Vol. 26, 1-8.
Global Research Articles by Richard Gale
Global Research Articles by Gary Null
Dr Rauni Kilde on Swine Flu Conspiracy
Sunday, November 8, 2009
This article is basically an addendum to my previous article “No Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations!” There are a couple of reports that have come out recently, that are of special interest. One is a report by CBS News, and the other is a video by Finnish doctor, Rauni Kilde.
Before getting to those reports, I’d like to briefly discuss the Nuremberg Code, and a few other matters.
After WWII various Nazis were put on trial for war crimes—crimes against humanity. Among the Nazis put on trial were doctors who had performed horrific medical experiments on death camp inmates.
These doctors tried to excuse their atrocities by claiming that there were no laws that differentiated between what were legal, and illegal, experiments on humans. The Nuremberg Code was drawn up in response to that feeble excuse.
The Nuremberg Code has ten rules, or points. The first, and one assumes most important point, reads in part:
1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him/her to make an understanding and enlightened decision.
Although the ten points of The Nuremberg Code were not officially incorporated into U.S. federal law, they were influential in framing the U.S. Department of HHS (Health and Human Services) Title 46, part 45, “Protection of Human Subjects.” The Nuremberg Code has also been inserted into the laws of several individual states.
That forced vaccinations are even being discussed, should make your blood run cold.
The cause of the current “pandemic” has been called variously, the “swine flu,” “novel H1N1,” and most recently, “2009 H1N1.”
Whatever you call it, 2009 H1N1 is almost certainly a “designer flu” cooked up in a laboratory. It contains elements of swine, avian, and human flus.
If you doubt that people are interested in “designer flus,” or that they exist, then I would suggest reading Jamie Shreeve’s New York Times article “Why Revive a Dead Flu Virus?”
It’s quite an interesting story, that includes a U.S. military pathology lab, the CDC, and an old Swedish Ph. D. exhuming long-dead Eskimo bodies in Alaska. God forbid that the killer Spanish Flu should vanish from the face of the earth.
Aside from the “pandemic” created by 2009 H1N1, there are the more troubling questions surrounding the vaccines purportedly designed to fight it. Why the fake pandemic, and the mad rush to get the whole world inoculated?”
Misanthropic attitudes of the Global elitists and Green Fascists
If you are familiar with the Progressive’s historic affinity for population control, then some deeply disturbing answers arise. Add to the mix, the misanthropic attitudes of the Global elitists and Green Fascists, and you come up with a chilling scenario.
That’s not hyperbole or alarmist cant. These people are quite open about their dismissive attitudes toward the value of human life, and their desire to substantially reduce the world’s population. It’s no secret—you merely need to research it.
The Global elitists also no longer see any need to hide their designs for a one world government, controlled by a Global Elite, and run under the auspices of the U.N.
Listen to former CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) chairman David Rockefeller. “Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
It is not a “conspiracy theory”—it is a fact—and it is no secret.
I would suggest that the United States of America extricate itself from the U.N., and its insidious Agenda 21, post haste, and give the land that the U.N. building sits on, back to the Rockefellers.
But I digress.
Markedly lower number of cases of swine flu, than was being reported by the CDC
The first of the two reports that I want to pass onto you is a simple, short, video by Dr. Kilde of Finland. It speaks for itself. (Note: a “milliard” means a million in Finnish).
The second report that I’d like to share with you comes from CBS News. This report, along with ABC News journalist Jake Tapper’s defense of Fox News, gives you reason to hope that the news media are recovering some of their journalistic integrity.
At any rate, CBS News spent three months investigating the spread of the swine flu (2009 H1N1), and found that there was a markedly lower number of cases of swine flu, than was being reported by the CDC (not to mention the U.N.‘s WHO).
CBS was repeatedly stonewalled by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). According to CBS, the CDC “did not respond to questions from CBS News for this report.” Too busy coming up with statistics, I guess.
Also of interest, is a report by Dr. Mercola, on the CBS investigation.
Dr. Mercola advises that we:
* [Take vitamin D]. Vitamin D has been well documented to increase the production of over 200 anti-microbial peptides that fight infection.
* Eliminate sugar from your diet as that will impair your immune response
* Get plenty of rest
* Exercise appropriately
In conclusion, I strongly advise against getting inoculated with any 2009 H1N1 vaccine. Because of the present “emergency,” these vaccines have bypassed the FDA’s normal testing procedures, and there is, by law, no way to sue the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the vaccines. If you get negative physical blow-back from the vaccine (maybe quickly, maybe years down the road), that’s just too bad.
Source Laus Deo.
This article is basically an addendum to my previous article “No Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations!” There are a couple of reports that have come out recently, that are of special interest. One is a report by CBS News, and the other is a video by Finnish doctor, Rauni Kilde.
Before getting to those reports, I’d like to briefly discuss the Nuremberg Code, and a few other matters.
After WWII various Nazis were put on trial for war crimes—crimes against humanity. Among the Nazis put on trial were doctors who had performed horrific medical experiments on death camp inmates.
These doctors tried to excuse their atrocities by claiming that there were no laws that differentiated between what were legal, and illegal, experiments on humans. The Nuremberg Code was drawn up in response to that feeble excuse.
The Nuremberg Code has ten rules, or points. The first, and one assumes most important point, reads in part:
1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him/her to make an understanding and enlightened decision.
Although the ten points of The Nuremberg Code were not officially incorporated into U.S. federal law, they were influential in framing the U.S. Department of HHS (Health and Human Services) Title 46, part 45, “Protection of Human Subjects.” The Nuremberg Code has also been inserted into the laws of several individual states.
That forced vaccinations are even being discussed, should make your blood run cold.
The cause of the current “pandemic” has been called variously, the “swine flu,” “novel H1N1,” and most recently, “2009 H1N1.”
Whatever you call it, 2009 H1N1 is almost certainly a “designer flu” cooked up in a laboratory. It contains elements of swine, avian, and human flus.
If you doubt that people are interested in “designer flus,” or that they exist, then I would suggest reading Jamie Shreeve’s New York Times article “Why Revive a Dead Flu Virus?”
It’s quite an interesting story, that includes a U.S. military pathology lab, the CDC, and an old Swedish Ph. D. exhuming long-dead Eskimo bodies in Alaska. God forbid that the killer Spanish Flu should vanish from the face of the earth.
Aside from the “pandemic” created by 2009 H1N1, there are the more troubling questions surrounding the vaccines purportedly designed to fight it. Why the fake pandemic, and the mad rush to get the whole world inoculated?”
Misanthropic attitudes of the Global elitists and Green Fascists
If you are familiar with the Progressive’s historic affinity for population control, then some deeply disturbing answers arise. Add to the mix, the misanthropic attitudes of the Global elitists and Green Fascists, and you come up with a chilling scenario.
That’s not hyperbole or alarmist cant. These people are quite open about their dismissive attitudes toward the value of human life, and their desire to substantially reduce the world’s population. It’s no secret—you merely need to research it.
The Global elitists also no longer see any need to hide their designs for a one world government, controlled by a Global Elite, and run under the auspices of the U.N.
Listen to former CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) chairman David Rockefeller. “Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
It is not a “conspiracy theory”—it is a fact—and it is no secret.
I would suggest that the United States of America extricate itself from the U.N., and its insidious Agenda 21, post haste, and give the land that the U.N. building sits on, back to the Rockefellers.
But I digress.
Markedly lower number of cases of swine flu, than was being reported by the CDC
The first of the two reports that I want to pass onto you is a simple, short, video by Dr. Kilde of Finland. It speaks for itself. (Note: a “milliard” means a million in Finnish).
The second report that I’d like to share with you comes from CBS News. This report, along with ABC News journalist Jake Tapper’s defense of Fox News, gives you reason to hope that the news media are recovering some of their journalistic integrity.
At any rate, CBS News spent three months investigating the spread of the swine flu (2009 H1N1), and found that there was a markedly lower number of cases of swine flu, than was being reported by the CDC (not to mention the U.N.‘s WHO).
CBS was repeatedly stonewalled by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). According to CBS, the CDC “did not respond to questions from CBS News for this report.” Too busy coming up with statistics, I guess.
Also of interest, is a report by Dr. Mercola, on the CBS investigation.
Dr. Mercola advises that we:
* [Take vitamin D]. Vitamin D has been well documented to increase the production of over 200 anti-microbial peptides that fight infection.
* Eliminate sugar from your diet as that will impair your immune response
* Get plenty of rest
* Exercise appropriately
In conclusion, I strongly advise against getting inoculated with any 2009 H1N1 vaccine. Because of the present “emergency,” these vaccines have bypassed the FDA’s normal testing procedures, and there is, by law, no way to sue the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the vaccines. If you get negative physical blow-back from the vaccine (maybe quickly, maybe years down the road), that’s just too bad.
Source Laus Deo.
Friday, November 13, 2009
A Morally Bankrupt Military: When Soldiers and Their Families Become Expendable
Global Research, November 12, 2009
Truthout - 2009-11-11
The military operates through indoctrination. Soldiers are programmed to develop a mindset that resists any acknowledgment of injury and sickness, be it physical or psychological. As a consequence, tens of thousands of soldiers continue to serve, even being deployed to combat zones like Iraq and/or Afghanistan, despite persistent injuries. According to military records, over 43,000 troops classified as "nondeployable for medical reasons" have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan nevertheless.
The recent atrocity at Fort Hood is an example of this. Maj. Nidal Hasan had worked as a counselor at Walter Reed, hearing countless stories of bloodshed, horror and death from dismembered veterans from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. While he had not yet served in Iraq or Afghanistan, the major was overloaded with secondary trauma, coupled with ongoing harassment about his being a Muslim. This, along with other factors, contributed towards Hasan falling into a desperation so deep he was willing to slaughter fellow soldiers, and is indicative of fissures running deep into the crumbling edifice upon which the US military stands.
The case of Pvt. Timothy Rich also demonstrates the disastrous implications of the apathetic attitude of the military toward its own. Not dissimilar from Major Hasan, who clearly would have benefited from treatment for the secondary trauma he was experiencing from his work with psychologically wounded veterans, one of the main factors that forced Private Rich to go absent without leave (AWOL) was the failure of the military to treat his mental issues.
Rich told Truthout, "In my unit, to go to sick call for mental health was looked down upon. Our acting 1st Sergeant believed that we shouldn't have mental issues because we were too 'high speed.' So I was afraid to go because I didn't want to be labeled as a weak soldier."
What followed was more harrowing.
"The other problems arose when I brought my girlfriend down to marry her. My unit believed her to be a problem starter so I was ordered not to marry her, taken to a small finance company by an NCO and forced to draw a loan in order to buy her a plane ticket to return home. They escorted her to the airport and through security to ensure that she left. Once the NCO left she turned around and hitchhiked back to Fort Bragg. Before the unit could discover us, we went to the courthouse and got married. We were then summoned by my Commander, Captain Jones, to his office and reprimanded. He called me a dumb ass soldier and a shit bag for marrying her and told my wife that she was a fool to marry someone as stupid as me. Members of my unit started referring to me as Pvt. Bitch instead of Pvt. Rich. The entire episode caused a lot of strain in our relationship. Unable to cope with all this, I bought two plane tickets and went AWOL with my wife."
Rich was later apprehended when a federal warrant was issued against him. After 11 days in a country jail, he was transported back to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. On August 17, 2008, he was wrongly assigned to Echo Platoon that was part of the 82nd Airborne, whereas his unit was part of the 18th Airborne.
Rich recollects, "I was confused when they assigned me to the 82nd. I was dismissed as a liar when I brought this up with my NCO Sgt Joseph Fulgence and my commander, Captain Thaxton. I ended up spending a year at Echo before being informed that I was never supposed to have been in the 82nd."
At Fort Bragg, he was permitted to seek mental health treatment and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, insomnia and a mood disorder. This, however, did not stop his commander from harassing him. His permanent profile from the doctor restricted him from being on duty before 0800 (8 AM) hours, but his commander, Sergeant Fulgence, dismissed the profile as merely a guideline and not a mandatory directive. The soldier was accused of using mental health as a pretext to avoid duty. So, Rich was up every morning for first formation at 0545 (5:45 AM). It wasn't until he refused to take his medication because it made him groggy in the morning that his doctor called his commander and settled the matter. By then, Rich had already been forced to violate his profile for six months.
During this period, his mental health deteriorated rapidly. The combined effect of heavy medication and restrictions on his home visits resulted in his experiencing blackouts that led him to take destructive actions in the barracks. When he was discovered talking about killing the chain of command, he was put on a 24-hour suicide watch that seemed to have served little purpose, because on August 17 he was able to elude his guards and make his way to the roof of his barracks.
"I climbed onto the roof of the building and sat up there thinking about my family and my situation and decided to go ahead and end my suffering by taking a nose dive off the building," Rich explained to Truthout.
His body plummeted through the air, bounced off a tree, and he landed on his back with a cracked spine. The military gave him a back brace, psychotropic drugs and a renewed 24-hour suicide watch, measures as effective in alleviating his pain as his failed suicide attempt.
When Truthout contacted him just days after his failed suicide attempt, a fatigued Rich detailed his hellish year-long plight of awaiting a discharge that never came. "I want to leave here very bad. For four months they have been telling me that I'll get out next week. It got to the point that the NCOs would tell me just to calm me down that I'd be going home the next day. They went as far as to call my wife and requesting her to lie that she was coming to get me the next day. I eventually stopped believing them. I didn't see an end to it, so I figured I'd try and end it myself."
The noncommissioned officers in his barracks thought it was hilarious that Rich had jumped, and he was offered money for an encore that could be videotaped.
At the time he was in a "holdover" unit, comprised mostly of AWOL soldiers who had turned themselves in or had been arrested. Others in his unit had untreated mental health problems like him or were suffering from severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from deployments in Iraq and or Afghanistan.
According to Rich, every soldier in his platoon was subjected to abusive treatment of some kind or the other. "It even got to the point when our 1st Sergeant Cisneros told us that if it were up to him we all would all be taken out back and shot, and that we needed to pray to our gods because we were going to pay (for our actions)."
Tim's wife Megan had to bear his never-ending ordeal in equal measure. She witnessed the military's callousness up close. She informed Truthout, "Since February of this year, Tim's unit had been telling him he would be out in two weeks. After two weeks when he asked, they would repeat the same thing. At times he would get excited and start packing his belongings and I would try to figure out how to get him home to Ohio. He would call me crying in relief because he thought we were going to be together again real soon. The military forced me to lie to him too. When he realized they did not mean to release him he grew very destructive during his black out spells. Eventually he simply gave up on coming home."
Megan first realized there was a problem with the way the military was treating her husband when she noticed him doing and saying things that were out of character for him, like apologizing for not being a good husband and father and being openly suicidal. He had also begun to self-medicate with alcohol, an increasing trend among soldiers not receiving adequate mental-health treatment from the military.
She revealed to Truthout, "He had quit for the girls and me but it seems like he could not handle the stress and needed an escape. This caused a huge problem between us and we began to argue about it. He became severely depressed, pulled away from me, and started to do things he normally doesn't do, such as giving away his money and belongings, and telling the recipients that he wouldn't need those things in hell."
She sensed that her husband would be in trouble if he were to stand up for himself, so she began to advocate on his behalf. Her attempts to do so met with fresh abuse from his commanders. The chain of command banned her from the company barracks and had her escorted off post. The couple was commandeered into Sergeant Fulgence's office where they were chastised. The sergeant referred to Megan as "a bad mother" and "a bitch." When Megan attempted to leave the office in protest, the sergeant ordered her to stay and listen to what he had to say.
This was followed by an encounter with the commander of the platoon, Commander Thaxton. The commander in this case ordered Tim to shut up, and threatened him with confinement. He demanded that Megan explain what kind of mother would bring her child to a new location without a place to live. She tried telling him that the AER loan was for her to come to Fort Bragg since they had lost their house after Tim's arrest and loss of job. Although the paperwork for the loan clearly stated that it was for her travel, food and lodging at Fort Bragg, the commander insisted it was for an apartment. When Tim intervened to say that the $785 would not be sufficient to pay rent and bills, especially since he wasn't being paid his wages and his wife couldn't work because of the baby, and according to Tim, both Sergeant Fulgence and Captain Thaxton "had a nice laugh over that" and dismissed the duo, referring to them as "juvenile dumb-asses."
After Tim returned from being AWOL and was brought up on charges, he went through 706 (a psychology board) that declared him mentally incompetent at the time of his being AWOL. It took a painfully long amount of time for the charges to be dismissed without prejudice. The soldier believes that his superiors deliberately refused to do the requisite paperwork for his clearance and subsequent resumption of his pay.
He told Truthout, "Every time I came on base I got arrested even though I was on active duty again. Then my wife and I got an AER loan for her to come down to Fort Bragg. When she got there and my pay continued to be withheld, the AER money ran out and my wife and child had to sleep in the van we owned. When my unit found out they called the Military Police and ordered me to give custody of my daughter to my father."
When Tim refused to do that, they punished him by confining him to the barracks and barring his wife from entering the base. To add insult, the chain of command took away his van keys and said that neither he nor Megan was allowed use it.
The nightmare ended when the military finally released Pvt. Timothy Rich, and by default, Megan. He was discharged and "allowed" to enter the ranks of US citizens searching for jobs and health care. Their traumatic journey to that starting point is what distinguishes them from their civilian counterparts.
Rich's advice to anyone thinking of joining the military today: "Don't join. Everything they advertise and tell you about how it's a family friendly army is a lie."
Sgt. Heath Carter suffered a similar fate at the hands of an indifferent military command. Upon return from the invasion of Iraq, he discovered that his daughter Sierra was living in an unsafe environment in Arkansas under the care of his first wife, who had full custody of the child. Heath and his new wife, Teresa, started consulting attorneys in order to secure custody of Sierra, who also suffered from a life-threatening medical condition. Precisely during this time, the military chose to keep changing Carter's duty station from Fort Polk, Louisiana, to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, then to Fort Stewart, Georgia. Not only did these constant transfers make it difficult for Carter to see his daughter, they also reduced his chances of gaining custody of Sierra. Convinced that this was a matter of life and death for his daughter, he requested compassionate reassignment to Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, about two hours from his first wife's home in Arkansas.
His appeals to the military command, the legal department, chaplain and even to his congressman failed, and the military insisted that he remain at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Having run out of all available avenues, in May 2007 he went AWOL from Fort Stewart and headed home to Arkansas where he fought for and won custody of Sierra, and was able to literally save her life by obtaining needed medical care for her.
However, on January 25 of this year, Carter was arrested at his home by the military police, who flew him back to Fort Stewart where he has been awaiting charges for the past eight months. Being a sergeant, he is in a regular unit and not in a holdover, but that does not help his cause. Initially, his commander told him it would take a month and a half for him to be sent home. Several months later, it was decided he would receive a court-martial.
Carter feels frustrated, "Now I have to wait for the court martial. It's taken this long for them to decide. If we had known it would take this long, my family could have moved down here. Every time I ask when I'll have a trial, they say it is only going to be another two weeks. I get the feeling they are lying. They have messed with my pay. They're trying to push me to do something wrong."
His ordeal has forced Carter to reflect on the wars. He admits that, although his original reason for going AWOL was personal and he had otherwise been proud of his missions, he sees things in Iraq differently today. "I don't think there is any reason for us to be there except for oil."
Yet, both Private Rich and Sergeant Carter were offered deployments to Afghanistan amid their struggles. It is soldiers like these that the military will use to fill the ranks of the next "surge" of troops into Afghanistan, which at the time of this writing, appears to be as many as 34,000 troops.
The stage is set for more tragic incidents like the recent massacre at Fort Hood.
Sarah Lazare contributed to this report.
Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist, is the author of "The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan," (Haymarket Books, 2009), and "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq," (Haymarket Books, 2007). Jamail reported from occupied Iraq for nine months as well as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last five years.
Dahr Jamail is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Dahr Jamail
Truthout - 2009-11-11
The military operates through indoctrination. Soldiers are programmed to develop a mindset that resists any acknowledgment of injury and sickness, be it physical or psychological. As a consequence, tens of thousands of soldiers continue to serve, even being deployed to combat zones like Iraq and/or Afghanistan, despite persistent injuries. According to military records, over 43,000 troops classified as "nondeployable for medical reasons" have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan nevertheless.
The recent atrocity at Fort Hood is an example of this. Maj. Nidal Hasan had worked as a counselor at Walter Reed, hearing countless stories of bloodshed, horror and death from dismembered veterans from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. While he had not yet served in Iraq or Afghanistan, the major was overloaded with secondary trauma, coupled with ongoing harassment about his being a Muslim. This, along with other factors, contributed towards Hasan falling into a desperation so deep he was willing to slaughter fellow soldiers, and is indicative of fissures running deep into the crumbling edifice upon which the US military stands.
The case of Pvt. Timothy Rich also demonstrates the disastrous implications of the apathetic attitude of the military toward its own. Not dissimilar from Major Hasan, who clearly would have benefited from treatment for the secondary trauma he was experiencing from his work with psychologically wounded veterans, one of the main factors that forced Private Rich to go absent without leave (AWOL) was the failure of the military to treat his mental issues.
Rich told Truthout, "In my unit, to go to sick call for mental health was looked down upon. Our acting 1st Sergeant believed that we shouldn't have mental issues because we were too 'high speed.' So I was afraid to go because I didn't want to be labeled as a weak soldier."
What followed was more harrowing.
"The other problems arose when I brought my girlfriend down to marry her. My unit believed her to be a problem starter so I was ordered not to marry her, taken to a small finance company by an NCO and forced to draw a loan in order to buy her a plane ticket to return home. They escorted her to the airport and through security to ensure that she left. Once the NCO left she turned around and hitchhiked back to Fort Bragg. Before the unit could discover us, we went to the courthouse and got married. We were then summoned by my Commander, Captain Jones, to his office and reprimanded. He called me a dumb ass soldier and a shit bag for marrying her and told my wife that she was a fool to marry someone as stupid as me. Members of my unit started referring to me as Pvt. Bitch instead of Pvt. Rich. The entire episode caused a lot of strain in our relationship. Unable to cope with all this, I bought two plane tickets and went AWOL with my wife."
Rich was later apprehended when a federal warrant was issued against him. After 11 days in a country jail, he was transported back to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. On August 17, 2008, he was wrongly assigned to Echo Platoon that was part of the 82nd Airborne, whereas his unit was part of the 18th Airborne.
Rich recollects, "I was confused when they assigned me to the 82nd. I was dismissed as a liar when I brought this up with my NCO Sgt Joseph Fulgence and my commander, Captain Thaxton. I ended up spending a year at Echo before being informed that I was never supposed to have been in the 82nd."
At Fort Bragg, he was permitted to seek mental health treatment and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, insomnia and a mood disorder. This, however, did not stop his commander from harassing him. His permanent profile from the doctor restricted him from being on duty before 0800 (8 AM) hours, but his commander, Sergeant Fulgence, dismissed the profile as merely a guideline and not a mandatory directive. The soldier was accused of using mental health as a pretext to avoid duty. So, Rich was up every morning for first formation at 0545 (5:45 AM). It wasn't until he refused to take his medication because it made him groggy in the morning that his doctor called his commander and settled the matter. By then, Rich had already been forced to violate his profile for six months.
During this period, his mental health deteriorated rapidly. The combined effect of heavy medication and restrictions on his home visits resulted in his experiencing blackouts that led him to take destructive actions in the barracks. When he was discovered talking about killing the chain of command, he was put on a 24-hour suicide watch that seemed to have served little purpose, because on August 17 he was able to elude his guards and make his way to the roof of his barracks.
"I climbed onto the roof of the building and sat up there thinking about my family and my situation and decided to go ahead and end my suffering by taking a nose dive off the building," Rich explained to Truthout.
His body plummeted through the air, bounced off a tree, and he landed on his back with a cracked spine. The military gave him a back brace, psychotropic drugs and a renewed 24-hour suicide watch, measures as effective in alleviating his pain as his failed suicide attempt.
When Truthout contacted him just days after his failed suicide attempt, a fatigued Rich detailed his hellish year-long plight of awaiting a discharge that never came. "I want to leave here very bad. For four months they have been telling me that I'll get out next week. It got to the point that the NCOs would tell me just to calm me down that I'd be going home the next day. They went as far as to call my wife and requesting her to lie that she was coming to get me the next day. I eventually stopped believing them. I didn't see an end to it, so I figured I'd try and end it myself."
The noncommissioned officers in his barracks thought it was hilarious that Rich had jumped, and he was offered money for an encore that could be videotaped.
At the time he was in a "holdover" unit, comprised mostly of AWOL soldiers who had turned themselves in or had been arrested. Others in his unit had untreated mental health problems like him or were suffering from severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from deployments in Iraq and or Afghanistan.
According to Rich, every soldier in his platoon was subjected to abusive treatment of some kind or the other. "It even got to the point when our 1st Sergeant Cisneros told us that if it were up to him we all would all be taken out back and shot, and that we needed to pray to our gods because we were going to pay (for our actions)."
Tim's wife Megan had to bear his never-ending ordeal in equal measure. She witnessed the military's callousness up close. She informed Truthout, "Since February of this year, Tim's unit had been telling him he would be out in two weeks. After two weeks when he asked, they would repeat the same thing. At times he would get excited and start packing his belongings and I would try to figure out how to get him home to Ohio. He would call me crying in relief because he thought we were going to be together again real soon. The military forced me to lie to him too. When he realized they did not mean to release him he grew very destructive during his black out spells. Eventually he simply gave up on coming home."
Megan first realized there was a problem with the way the military was treating her husband when she noticed him doing and saying things that were out of character for him, like apologizing for not being a good husband and father and being openly suicidal. He had also begun to self-medicate with alcohol, an increasing trend among soldiers not receiving adequate mental-health treatment from the military.
She revealed to Truthout, "He had quit for the girls and me but it seems like he could not handle the stress and needed an escape. This caused a huge problem between us and we began to argue about it. He became severely depressed, pulled away from me, and started to do things he normally doesn't do, such as giving away his money and belongings, and telling the recipients that he wouldn't need those things in hell."
She sensed that her husband would be in trouble if he were to stand up for himself, so she began to advocate on his behalf. Her attempts to do so met with fresh abuse from his commanders. The chain of command banned her from the company barracks and had her escorted off post. The couple was commandeered into Sergeant Fulgence's office where they were chastised. The sergeant referred to Megan as "a bad mother" and "a bitch." When Megan attempted to leave the office in protest, the sergeant ordered her to stay and listen to what he had to say.
This was followed by an encounter with the commander of the platoon, Commander Thaxton. The commander in this case ordered Tim to shut up, and threatened him with confinement. He demanded that Megan explain what kind of mother would bring her child to a new location without a place to live. She tried telling him that the AER loan was for her to come to Fort Bragg since they had lost their house after Tim's arrest and loss of job. Although the paperwork for the loan clearly stated that it was for her travel, food and lodging at Fort Bragg, the commander insisted it was for an apartment. When Tim intervened to say that the $785 would not be sufficient to pay rent and bills, especially since he wasn't being paid his wages and his wife couldn't work because of the baby, and according to Tim, both Sergeant Fulgence and Captain Thaxton "had a nice laugh over that" and dismissed the duo, referring to them as "juvenile dumb-asses."
After Tim returned from being AWOL and was brought up on charges, he went through 706 (a psychology board) that declared him mentally incompetent at the time of his being AWOL. It took a painfully long amount of time for the charges to be dismissed without prejudice. The soldier believes that his superiors deliberately refused to do the requisite paperwork for his clearance and subsequent resumption of his pay.
He told Truthout, "Every time I came on base I got arrested even though I was on active duty again. Then my wife and I got an AER loan for her to come down to Fort Bragg. When she got there and my pay continued to be withheld, the AER money ran out and my wife and child had to sleep in the van we owned. When my unit found out they called the Military Police and ordered me to give custody of my daughter to my father."
When Tim refused to do that, they punished him by confining him to the barracks and barring his wife from entering the base. To add insult, the chain of command took away his van keys and said that neither he nor Megan was allowed use it.
The nightmare ended when the military finally released Pvt. Timothy Rich, and by default, Megan. He was discharged and "allowed" to enter the ranks of US citizens searching for jobs and health care. Their traumatic journey to that starting point is what distinguishes them from their civilian counterparts.
Rich's advice to anyone thinking of joining the military today: "Don't join. Everything they advertise and tell you about how it's a family friendly army is a lie."
Sgt. Heath Carter suffered a similar fate at the hands of an indifferent military command. Upon return from the invasion of Iraq, he discovered that his daughter Sierra was living in an unsafe environment in Arkansas under the care of his first wife, who had full custody of the child. Heath and his new wife, Teresa, started consulting attorneys in order to secure custody of Sierra, who also suffered from a life-threatening medical condition. Precisely during this time, the military chose to keep changing Carter's duty station from Fort Polk, Louisiana, to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, then to Fort Stewart, Georgia. Not only did these constant transfers make it difficult for Carter to see his daughter, they also reduced his chances of gaining custody of Sierra. Convinced that this was a matter of life and death for his daughter, he requested compassionate reassignment to Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, about two hours from his first wife's home in Arkansas.
His appeals to the military command, the legal department, chaplain and even to his congressman failed, and the military insisted that he remain at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Having run out of all available avenues, in May 2007 he went AWOL from Fort Stewart and headed home to Arkansas where he fought for and won custody of Sierra, and was able to literally save her life by obtaining needed medical care for her.
However, on January 25 of this year, Carter was arrested at his home by the military police, who flew him back to Fort Stewart where he has been awaiting charges for the past eight months. Being a sergeant, he is in a regular unit and not in a holdover, but that does not help his cause. Initially, his commander told him it would take a month and a half for him to be sent home. Several months later, it was decided he would receive a court-martial.
Carter feels frustrated, "Now I have to wait for the court martial. It's taken this long for them to decide. If we had known it would take this long, my family could have moved down here. Every time I ask when I'll have a trial, they say it is only going to be another two weeks. I get the feeling they are lying. They have messed with my pay. They're trying to push me to do something wrong."
His ordeal has forced Carter to reflect on the wars. He admits that, although his original reason for going AWOL was personal and he had otherwise been proud of his missions, he sees things in Iraq differently today. "I don't think there is any reason for us to be there except for oil."
Yet, both Private Rich and Sergeant Carter were offered deployments to Afghanistan amid their struggles. It is soldiers like these that the military will use to fill the ranks of the next "surge" of troops into Afghanistan, which at the time of this writing, appears to be as many as 34,000 troops.
The stage is set for more tragic incidents like the recent massacre at Fort Hood.
Sarah Lazare contributed to this report.
Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist, is the author of "The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan," (Haymarket Books, 2009), and "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq," (Haymarket Books, 2007). Jamail reported from occupied Iraq for nine months as well as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last five years.
Dahr Jamail is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Dahr Jamail
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Out in the cold
Saleh Al-Naami
Left homeless after the brutal invasion last December and enduring the continuing seige by Israel, Palestinian refugees in Gaza face a harsh winter
Saleh Al-Naami details the harsh conditions that Gaza residents will endure this winter
November 6, 2009
Awatef Al-Assar filled bags of sand to hold down the sides of the tent in a failed attempt to stabilise it. Her children still remember how hard she tried to hold on to the pole of the tent that was sheltering her and her family last winter as the winds blew hard to uproot it. Meanwhile, trying to help, her husband was shaking with cold and fear from the thunder outside. Rainwater swamped the tent as their efforts failed and the tent collapsed on the heads of the children. The entire family was forced to seek refuge at a nearby house.
Like thousands of others, Al-Assar's home was destroyed during Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. Even now she fears a repeat of the same punishing experience of last winter. Her neighbour, Hajja Fatma Hamdan, who is at the same refuge camp with her family, remembers how she was surprised by the amount of rain filling up the tent while her family slept. They awoke startled, and all they could do was abandon all their possessions and seek shelter elsewhere.
The residents of the refuge camp, which lies close to Beit Lahia, said that uprooted and torn tents resulted in many health problems for the homeless, especially children. The young suffer from vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps. Nehaya, who was widowed when her husband was killed during the war, said that for a long time she was continuously taking her children to a clinic in Beit Lahia for severe cases of colds.
As winter approaches, the occupants of this camp -- like those in other camps -- complain that there are not enough warm blankets. Suleiman Al-Masri, whose home in Beit Hanoun in northeastern Gaza was destroyed, said his family of 15 only received seven blankets from a charity organisation. Nine months after the end of the war, many homeless families still return to their destroyed homes in search of more blankets and warm covers under tons of rubble. Most of these attempts end in failure, either because everything inside is scorched or is buried too deep in the debris.
These families have no refuge except the camps set up by the Hamas government, UNRWA or charities working in Gaza. Camps for those who lost their homes have become widespread in Gaza. In fact, camps were constructed in every area destroyed during the war.
While those whose homes were completely demolished during the war suffer the winter cold, those whose homes were not completely obliterated during the assault also suffer. Windowpanes need to be replaced in many homes to block the bitter cold of winter, but because of the siege the supply of glass is limited and only available via smuggling. This has raised the price of glass unreasonably. The windows of Ghassan Abu Samha's family home, located in Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in the centre of Gaza, were destroyed by the Israeli onslaught. The eight members of his family will be exposed to the winter chill as the cold season approaches and no repairs have been possible.
Abu Samha told Al-Ahram Weekly that he could not afford to repair the windows with the available glass, which is of poor quality anyway. "It costs 2,500 shekels [$700] to repair, which is a huge sum for me," he continued. "I have no other choice but to cover the windows with plastic which doesn't cost more than 100 shekels." Abu Samha's 10- year-old son Ahmed remembered how he could hardly sleep last winter because of the plastic on his bedroom window. Nonetheless, using plastic to cover broken windowpanes has become the common remedy for many families in Gaza.
Meanwhile, hundreds who live on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and whose homes are intact, have decided to leave out of fear of being bombed by Israel. They feel especially vulnerable because their homes are located opposite Israeli army bases on the demarcation line.
Zaidan Sarar, who lives in Om Al-Gamal on the border, is one of those who chose to leave their home and move to a rented apartment out of fear of the Israeli army. Sarar moved to an apartment block in Deir Al-Balah and abandoned his home, telling the Weekly he preferred spending all his income on rent rather than risk his safety. "When I recalled the corpses of children who were killed in the last war, I decided to do anything so my children don't suffer the same fate," he said. "This is why I sought to rent an apartment and leave my home which I spent all my life's savings to build."
Other families are grappling with overcrowding after opening their doors to homeless families. Gamal Al-Masri, 29, waits until night before returning to his home in Al-Nosayrat Refugee Camp in the centre of Gaza. Al-Masri's home currently accommodates his parents and younger siblings who sought him out after their home in Al-Maghazi Camp, east of Al-Nosayrat, was obliterated in the last war in Gaza. Al-Masri, who is married with five children, told the Weekly that he tries to spend as much time outside the house as possible because his three-bedroom home now houses 17 people. As winter approaches, his ability to stay out with co-workers or neighbours is diminishing, but he is still unable to live in the overcrowded house. Al-Masri's biggest problem is a shortage in warm covers to shield everyone from the harsh winter cold.
Al-Masri is not the only one who was obliged to take in his family after the Israeli army destroyed their homes during the war. In fact, he could be considered luckier than most who have had to house many more family members because of the war. Adel Sala, 43, had no choice but to take in two of his brothers' families after the Israeli army destroyed their homes in two separate air attacks. With 25 people now living in his four-bedroom house in Al-Qarara village, each room houses one family while the three men sleep in the fourth room. Sala admits that the living conditions are very difficult, complicated and awkward. For example, going to the bathroom requires prior scheduling, while he and his brothers go to the mosque for ablutions to avoid any embarrassment.
The scenes of hardship this winter are endless, not least of the children whose homes were demolished and had to move far away from their areas of residence. Now they must commute for long distances to reach their schools and also lack sufficient winter clothing to protect them against the bitter winter cold.
:: Article nr. 59801 sent on 06-nov-2009 21:27 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=59801
Link: weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/971/re5.htm
Left homeless after the brutal invasion last December and enduring the continuing seige by Israel, Palestinian refugees in Gaza face a harsh winter
Saleh Al-Naami details the harsh conditions that Gaza residents will endure this winter
November 6, 2009
Awatef Al-Assar filled bags of sand to hold down the sides of the tent in a failed attempt to stabilise it. Her children still remember how hard she tried to hold on to the pole of the tent that was sheltering her and her family last winter as the winds blew hard to uproot it. Meanwhile, trying to help, her husband was shaking with cold and fear from the thunder outside. Rainwater swamped the tent as their efforts failed and the tent collapsed on the heads of the children. The entire family was forced to seek refuge at a nearby house.
Like thousands of others, Al-Assar's home was destroyed during Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. Even now she fears a repeat of the same punishing experience of last winter. Her neighbour, Hajja Fatma Hamdan, who is at the same refuge camp with her family, remembers how she was surprised by the amount of rain filling up the tent while her family slept. They awoke startled, and all they could do was abandon all their possessions and seek shelter elsewhere.
The residents of the refuge camp, which lies close to Beit Lahia, said that uprooted and torn tents resulted in many health problems for the homeless, especially children. The young suffer from vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps. Nehaya, who was widowed when her husband was killed during the war, said that for a long time she was continuously taking her children to a clinic in Beit Lahia for severe cases of colds.
As winter approaches, the occupants of this camp -- like those in other camps -- complain that there are not enough warm blankets. Suleiman Al-Masri, whose home in Beit Hanoun in northeastern Gaza was destroyed, said his family of 15 only received seven blankets from a charity organisation. Nine months after the end of the war, many homeless families still return to their destroyed homes in search of more blankets and warm covers under tons of rubble. Most of these attempts end in failure, either because everything inside is scorched or is buried too deep in the debris.
These families have no refuge except the camps set up by the Hamas government, UNRWA or charities working in Gaza. Camps for those who lost their homes have become widespread in Gaza. In fact, camps were constructed in every area destroyed during the war.
While those whose homes were completely demolished during the war suffer the winter cold, those whose homes were not completely obliterated during the assault also suffer. Windowpanes need to be replaced in many homes to block the bitter cold of winter, but because of the siege the supply of glass is limited and only available via smuggling. This has raised the price of glass unreasonably. The windows of Ghassan Abu Samha's family home, located in Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in the centre of Gaza, were destroyed by the Israeli onslaught. The eight members of his family will be exposed to the winter chill as the cold season approaches and no repairs have been possible.
Abu Samha told Al-Ahram Weekly that he could not afford to repair the windows with the available glass, which is of poor quality anyway. "It costs 2,500 shekels [$700] to repair, which is a huge sum for me," he continued. "I have no other choice but to cover the windows with plastic which doesn't cost more than 100 shekels." Abu Samha's 10- year-old son Ahmed remembered how he could hardly sleep last winter because of the plastic on his bedroom window. Nonetheless, using plastic to cover broken windowpanes has become the common remedy for many families in Gaza.
Meanwhile, hundreds who live on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and whose homes are intact, have decided to leave out of fear of being bombed by Israel. They feel especially vulnerable because their homes are located opposite Israeli army bases on the demarcation line.
Zaidan Sarar, who lives in Om Al-Gamal on the border, is one of those who chose to leave their home and move to a rented apartment out of fear of the Israeli army. Sarar moved to an apartment block in Deir Al-Balah and abandoned his home, telling the Weekly he preferred spending all his income on rent rather than risk his safety. "When I recalled the corpses of children who were killed in the last war, I decided to do anything so my children don't suffer the same fate," he said. "This is why I sought to rent an apartment and leave my home which I spent all my life's savings to build."
Other families are grappling with overcrowding after opening their doors to homeless families. Gamal Al-Masri, 29, waits until night before returning to his home in Al-Nosayrat Refugee Camp in the centre of Gaza. Al-Masri's home currently accommodates his parents and younger siblings who sought him out after their home in Al-Maghazi Camp, east of Al-Nosayrat, was obliterated in the last war in Gaza. Al-Masri, who is married with five children, told the Weekly that he tries to spend as much time outside the house as possible because his three-bedroom home now houses 17 people. As winter approaches, his ability to stay out with co-workers or neighbours is diminishing, but he is still unable to live in the overcrowded house. Al-Masri's biggest problem is a shortage in warm covers to shield everyone from the harsh winter cold.
Al-Masri is not the only one who was obliged to take in his family after the Israeli army destroyed their homes during the war. In fact, he could be considered luckier than most who have had to house many more family members because of the war. Adel Sala, 43, had no choice but to take in two of his brothers' families after the Israeli army destroyed their homes in two separate air attacks. With 25 people now living in his four-bedroom house in Al-Qarara village, each room houses one family while the three men sleep in the fourth room. Sala admits that the living conditions are very difficult, complicated and awkward. For example, going to the bathroom requires prior scheduling, while he and his brothers go to the mosque for ablutions to avoid any embarrassment.
The scenes of hardship this winter are endless, not least of the children whose homes were demolished and had to move far away from their areas of residence. Now they must commute for long distances to reach their schools and also lack sufficient winter clothing to protect them against the bitter winter cold.
:: Article nr. 59801 sent on 06-nov-2009 21:27 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=59801
Link: weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/971/re5.htm
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Afghan Resistance Statement Why the UN is so disturbed at the Murder of the Western Nationals?
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
November 5, 2009
A few days ago, a strong reaction came from the United Nations Security Council following the killings of Western nationals whom the United Nations calls its staff members but Mujahideen say, they were organizers of the runoff election. The UN Secretary General said that he would join efforts with other members of the Security Council to find those behind this incident and give them punishment. On the other hand, we have hundreds of examples in which we find the United Nations behaving with the Islamic Ummah unfairly, improperly and pitilessly as far as global and regional issues are concerned.
When it comes to the protection of the rights of the Ummah, this World Body, particularly, the Security Council becomes silent at once. They have chosen the way of suppressing and oppressing the Ummah and supporting the arrogant, the invaders and the brutals.
If we have a glimpse at events in Palestine, Iraq and other issues and the bloodbath now going on at the level of the Ummah, we will readily know that how callously and brutally the invading colonialists kill common Muslims collectively and invade Islamic lands flagrantly. If we look at the horrendous events in our country , Afghanistan during the past eight years, we will see clearly that the Security Council with its full strength is siding with America and the coalition forces. They have their share in the mass murders of the Afghan people and are the cause of the tragedies and sufferings of the Afghans. During the past eight years, never a day has passed without the Americans and Western brutal forces not committing crimes, murder, or torture against our people or not encroaching on our national and religious values. The blind bombardment on civilian targets, night raids on people houses, murders, tortures, bombardments on funeral and wedding ceremonies are some of the crimes, the invaders have perpetrated during the past eight years. But the United Nations has turned a blind eye to these crimes and not acted as per its responsibilities and caliber as a universal body. Throughout this period, they only ratified and approved resolutions allowing prolongation of occupation of Afghanistan and reinforcement there.
Ironically, they have called for more brutality under the leadership of USA. We have not seen any resolution by the Security Council, which speaks of grace, tolerance and altruism. Contrarily, when American and Western targets are attacked, or their interests are targeted or Western nationals are assassinated and similarly, when the interests of the Christian world come under danger, then the Security Council holds emergency meetings and issues serious response and reaction.
The strong reaction shown by the Security Council following the murder of a few Western staff members, portray that this organization has taken upon itself as its only duty to exclusively protect Western nationals and their interests. If hundreds of people other than the Western nationals are killed in the world in a single day, they do not take any notice because in their eyes they are less than human beings and the United Nations does not feel to be morally bound to protect their rights.
:: Article nr. 59757 sent on 05-nov-2009 13:56 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=59757
Link: www.alemarah.info/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=438:why-t
he-un-is-so-disturbed-at-the-murder-of-the-western-nationals&cati
d=1:afghanistan&Itemid=2
November 5, 2009
A few days ago, a strong reaction came from the United Nations Security Council following the killings of Western nationals whom the United Nations calls its staff members but Mujahideen say, they were organizers of the runoff election. The UN Secretary General said that he would join efforts with other members of the Security Council to find those behind this incident and give them punishment. On the other hand, we have hundreds of examples in which we find the United Nations behaving with the Islamic Ummah unfairly, improperly and pitilessly as far as global and regional issues are concerned.
When it comes to the protection of the rights of the Ummah, this World Body, particularly, the Security Council becomes silent at once. They have chosen the way of suppressing and oppressing the Ummah and supporting the arrogant, the invaders and the brutals.
If we have a glimpse at events in Palestine, Iraq and other issues and the bloodbath now going on at the level of the Ummah, we will readily know that how callously and brutally the invading colonialists kill common Muslims collectively and invade Islamic lands flagrantly. If we look at the horrendous events in our country , Afghanistan during the past eight years, we will see clearly that the Security Council with its full strength is siding with America and the coalition forces. They have their share in the mass murders of the Afghan people and are the cause of the tragedies and sufferings of the Afghans. During the past eight years, never a day has passed without the Americans and Western brutal forces not committing crimes, murder, or torture against our people or not encroaching on our national and religious values. The blind bombardment on civilian targets, night raids on people houses, murders, tortures, bombardments on funeral and wedding ceremonies are some of the crimes, the invaders have perpetrated during the past eight years. But the United Nations has turned a blind eye to these crimes and not acted as per its responsibilities and caliber as a universal body. Throughout this period, they only ratified and approved resolutions allowing prolongation of occupation of Afghanistan and reinforcement there.
Ironically, they have called for more brutality under the leadership of USA. We have not seen any resolution by the Security Council, which speaks of grace, tolerance and altruism. Contrarily, when American and Western targets are attacked, or their interests are targeted or Western nationals are assassinated and similarly, when the interests of the Christian world come under danger, then the Security Council holds emergency meetings and issues serious response and reaction.
The strong reaction shown by the Security Council following the murder of a few Western staff members, portray that this organization has taken upon itself as its only duty to exclusively protect Western nationals and their interests. If hundreds of people other than the Western nationals are killed in the world in a single day, they do not take any notice because in their eyes they are less than human beings and the United Nations does not feel to be morally bound to protect their rights.
:: Article nr. 59757 sent on 05-nov-2009 13:56 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=59757
Link: www.alemarah.info/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=438:why-t
he-un-is-so-disturbed-at-the-murder-of-the-western-nationals&cati
d=1:afghanistan&Itemid=2
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Kucinich Addresses UN Goldstone Gaza Resolution
November 3, 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich addresses H.RES. 867 on the House Floor. H.RES. 867 condemns the UN Goldstone Gaza Fact Finding Mission Report.
Congressman Kucinich stated:
"Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the "Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution."
"Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution."
"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?"
"How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?".
"We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."
Congressman Kucinich stated:
"Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the "Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution."
"Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution."
"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?"
"How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?".
"We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."
ANALYSIS / Israel preparing public for a new war in Gaza
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel
Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced Tuesday that Hamas launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea, apparently as an experiment. Such a rocket, if fired from the northernmost point of the Gaza Strip, could strike the southern cities of the Gush Dan area - including Rishon Letzion, Holon and Bat Yam - and possibly reach as far as Tel Aviv itself.
Although Yadlin didn't specify the type of the weapon used, it appears to be a standard, foreign-made rocket smuggled into Gaza. Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas has accumulated an arsenal of rockets slightly larger than the arsenal it possessed before last winter's Operation Cast Lead.
The experiment hardly caught Israeli intelligence by surprise, as it had assumed Hamas had acquired a similar type of rocket several months ago. However, the importance of Yadlin's report should not be underestimated as this is the first tangible piece of evidence that Hamas holds a weapon capable of striking Gush Dan. It would seem Hamas has used the lull in fighting with Israel to not only restore, but improve its capabilities. Still, and similar to Hezbollah, restoring the arsenal hardly testifies to restoring motivation to confront Israel militarily.
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The rocket was fired in rough weather, apparently in an attempt to hide the experiment from Israeli eyes. But Israel's radar installations registered the launch, even if the exact spot where the missile hit the sea is unknown. Israel believes Hamas considers the new rocket a strategic asset, a "doomsday weapon" of sorts, and therefore avoided publicizing the experimental launch, in the hope of using the weapon as a surprise during some later confrontation.
If the rocket has in fact been smuggled through a tunnel, a test launch may have been aimed to see whether the weapon survived the journey - by sea from Iran to Egypt, and then to Gaza.
Since Cast Lead, a huge international effort - involving Israeli, American, European and Egyptian cooperation - has been underway to prevent smuggling into Gaza. International media has reported that the Israel Air Force bombed weapon convoys in Sudan. Be that as it may, the Gaza siege is not airtight. The smuggling market there employs over 15,000 people working in over 600 tunnels.
Smuggling longer-range rockets into the Strip does somewhat alter the balance of deterrence. Hamas is also busy improving its own production capabilities, as well as equipping itself with new anti-tank missiles and older anti-aircraft missiles.
Preparing the public
Yadlin's announcement should be seen as part of an attempt by the military to prepare the public for a new attack against the Strip. The General Staff is not remotely eager for another round, especially with the Goldstone report conclusions still haunting commanders of the previous operation when they travel abroad.
Hamas, for it's part, is in no hurry for a confrontation either. Gaza has not yet recovered from the devastation of Cast Lead, and the organization knows it would pay in heavy casualties if the conflict reignites.
What Israel should be doing in the meantime is improving its anti-missile defense systems. Iron Dome, the Israeli answer to the Katyusha and Qassam rockets, is moving along satisfactorily, and the first battery of its interceptor missiles should be deployed in the second half of 2010.
The official response from Hamas has been somewhat confused. At first, a spokesman for the organization's military wing, Abu Obeida, refused to confirm Yadlin's statement on the missile launch. Obeida remarked that "the occupation can say whatever it likes, and whatever it says is dubious." While this statement might improve Hamas deterrence against Israel, such an opaque statement carries a political price for Hamas: A perceived threat can only improve Israel's position ahead of the UN General Assembly discussion of the Goldstone report.
A few hours later, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum issued a new statement saying the Israeli announcement was aimed to influence world public opinion ahead of the UN debate. Barhum said the diplomatic crisis triggered by the report "has led the Zionist enemy to make up excuses in an attempt to instigate public opinion against Hamas."
Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced Tuesday that Hamas launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea, apparently as an experiment. Such a rocket, if fired from the northernmost point of the Gaza Strip, could strike the southern cities of the Gush Dan area - including Rishon Letzion, Holon and Bat Yam - and possibly reach as far as Tel Aviv itself.
Although Yadlin didn't specify the type of the weapon used, it appears to be a standard, foreign-made rocket smuggled into Gaza. Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas has accumulated an arsenal of rockets slightly larger than the arsenal it possessed before last winter's Operation Cast Lead.
The experiment hardly caught Israeli intelligence by surprise, as it had assumed Hamas had acquired a similar type of rocket several months ago. However, the importance of Yadlin's report should not be underestimated as this is the first tangible piece of evidence that Hamas holds a weapon capable of striking Gush Dan. It would seem Hamas has used the lull in fighting with Israel to not only restore, but improve its capabilities. Still, and similar to Hezbollah, restoring the arsenal hardly testifies to restoring motivation to confront Israel militarily.
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The rocket was fired in rough weather, apparently in an attempt to hide the experiment from Israeli eyes. But Israel's radar installations registered the launch, even if the exact spot where the missile hit the sea is unknown. Israel believes Hamas considers the new rocket a strategic asset, a "doomsday weapon" of sorts, and therefore avoided publicizing the experimental launch, in the hope of using the weapon as a surprise during some later confrontation.
If the rocket has in fact been smuggled through a tunnel, a test launch may have been aimed to see whether the weapon survived the journey - by sea from Iran to Egypt, and then to Gaza.
Since Cast Lead, a huge international effort - involving Israeli, American, European and Egyptian cooperation - has been underway to prevent smuggling into Gaza. International media has reported that the Israel Air Force bombed weapon convoys in Sudan. Be that as it may, the Gaza siege is not airtight. The smuggling market there employs over 15,000 people working in over 600 tunnels.
Smuggling longer-range rockets into the Strip does somewhat alter the balance of deterrence. Hamas is also busy improving its own production capabilities, as well as equipping itself with new anti-tank missiles and older anti-aircraft missiles.
Preparing the public
Yadlin's announcement should be seen as part of an attempt by the military to prepare the public for a new attack against the Strip. The General Staff is not remotely eager for another round, especially with the Goldstone report conclusions still haunting commanders of the previous operation when they travel abroad.
Hamas, for it's part, is in no hurry for a confrontation either. Gaza has not yet recovered from the devastation of Cast Lead, and the organization knows it would pay in heavy casualties if the conflict reignites.
What Israel should be doing in the meantime is improving its anti-missile defense systems. Iron Dome, the Israeli answer to the Katyusha and Qassam rockets, is moving along satisfactorily, and the first battery of its interceptor missiles should be deployed in the second half of 2010.
The official response from Hamas has been somewhat confused. At first, a spokesman for the organization's military wing, Abu Obeida, refused to confirm Yadlin's statement on the missile launch. Obeida remarked that "the occupation can say whatever it likes, and whatever it says is dubious." While this statement might improve Hamas deterrence against Israel, such an opaque statement carries a political price for Hamas: A perceived threat can only improve Israel's position ahead of the UN General Assembly discussion of the Goldstone report.
A few hours later, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum issued a new statement saying the Israeli announcement was aimed to influence world public opinion ahead of the UN debate. Barhum said the diplomatic crisis triggered by the report "has led the Zionist enemy to make up excuses in an attempt to instigate public opinion against Hamas."
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