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  De-fund the CIA In an excerpt from her memoir ( Vanishing Act , Vogue, Sept. 2019), Amaryllis Fox describes the training she had to undergo to become a CIA field operative. According to Ms. Fox, CIA field operatives are trained to aid any adversaries they may have wounded. “Training in urban combat scenarios, peppered with dummies — some legitimate targets, most dressed as local men, women and children. Hit a civilian and we’re out. Even the actual targets have to be given first aid … It’s not clear if the point of that policy is compassion or to keep the adversary alive for interrogation …”. This is good news indeed for innocent civilians but perhaps not such good news for the adversaries who are kept alive to be interrogated. Whatever the present policies may be, the past has not been good to non-combatants, “Over 100,000 civilians have been killed or injured by the war in Afghanistan in the past decade, the United Nations said in a report rele...
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Where is America ten years after 9/11?

09/06/11 Where is America ten years after 9/11? What is the state of our nation? Our economy teeters on the edge of depression, our tax dollars have been squandered invading Iraq and Afghanistan, our civil liberties are continually being eroded by an imperial Presidency and a self-serving Congress, and our Supreme Court has decided that corporations have the same rights as citizens.   Here, in brief, is the state of America ten years after 9/11: more people are in prison (according to Wikipedia “The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world ” ); more children go to bed hungry at night, (Hunger in America 2010 reports “hunger is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States.”) and the USDA reports that the use of food stamps is 34% higher than two years ago (SF Chronicle, 9/4/11.)  In addition, more families are homeless, more people are jobless, the nation is deeper in debt and, oh yes, the rich pay less in taxes.   Whil...
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The Logic of Noam Chomsky

Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 To: Noam Chomsky Subject: Your remarks on 9/11 Conspiracy on KPFA Dear Mr. Chomsky, I was dismayed to hear you say that it “just wasn't logical” that, if Bush Administration officials were involved, they would chose Saudis as their co-conspirators. So, is it the case now that logic can replace an investigation of the facts and circumstances? Shall the defense attorney in a homicide investigation make his case by saying that it just isn't logical his client would commit murder? The 911 Commission investigation was a sham, run by a handpicked crony of Condoleezza Rice and it failed to account for the collapse of the towers. I would say that those were the obvious facts of the case. If you have no doubts about the veracity and thoroughness of the 911 Commission Report than I would ask you to take a look at the work of David Ray Griffin. If you do have any doubts you should join the call for a new, and independent investiga...
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Writings on 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

The 9/11 Chronicles – Writings on 9/11 and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Fax sent to all members of Congress - January 5, 2003 The single greatest threat to the security of the United States, and the security of the entire world, is President George W. Bush and the Bush Administration. His war on Iraq must be stopped. I call on all Senators and members of Congress to oppose the reckless and dangerous polices of the Bush Administration. Talk of war must stop and talk of peace begin. We are a nation of immigrants, and any war that is not in self-defense is a war that murders the future citizens of this country. A war that not only kills our own children, but also the brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents of our own more recently arrived citizens. Therefore, I call on all elected representatives to oppose the war mongering of the Bush Administration and the environmentally disastrous policies that endanger the health, safety and security of the American ...
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