In the past 11 years, the US has transferred to Taiwan about 400 M60A3 tanks, 150 F-16 A/B warplanes, 8 destroyers, 6 frigates, 50 AH-1 attack helicopters/OH-58 attack/search helicopters, 52 assault amphibious full-tracked landing vehicles, 28 M109A5 self-propelled howitzers, CNA said in a dispatch from Geneva. There was no exact account of the missiles the US has sold to Taiwan, but the most important include 120 AIM-120 AMRAAM, 500 Sparrows and an unspecified number of Standards.

The US has also provided Taiwan with Harpoon and Maverick missiles as well as three HARMs, which are used to destroy anti-missile systems. CNA said that in recent years, Taiwan has deployed advanced US radar, command, communication and electronics’ warfare systems, but these were not required to be reported to UNCAR, and the US has not mentioned the Patriot anti-missile system it has sold to Taipei. (more…)

Hold a photo-op… Where you stand on the American flag like a doormat… And disgrace 9/11 victims all at the same time… Priceless.
These photographs have not been altered. They were snapped last night by Jason Reed, working for Reuters News Agency. The captions are from Reuters, too. And the symbolism is plain enough to shout for itself, with no further comment from us.

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Surveying the smoking ruin that is ABC’s reputation after the “The Path to 9/11″ debacle, it’s hard to know whether you’re looking at the consequence of unadulterated folly or of a calculated strategy that turned out to be too clever by half. (more…)

Plans Fund Defense In Anti-Terror Cases

CIA counterterrorism officers have signed up in growing numbers for a government-reimbursed, private insurance plan that would pay their civil judgments and legal expenses if they are sued or charged with criminal wrongdoing, according to current and former intelligence officials and others with knowledge of the program. (more…)

PARIS - The nations of the world joined Monday in solemn remembrance of Sept. 11 — but for many, resentment of the United States flowed as readily as tears. (more…)

• The 9/11 WTC Fires: Where’s the Inferno?
• Woman Waving From WTC 1 Impact Area
• The 9/11 Reichstag Fire
• The Secret Service at Booker Elementary: The Dog That Did Not Bark
• 9/11 Video Downloads: The Controlled Collapse of WTC 7
• Odigo Workers Received Warning of 9/11 Attacks
• FEMA was in New York
• 9/11 Security Courtesy of Marvin Bush
• Who Told Giuliani the WTC was Going to Collapse on 9/11?
• The OEM Issued a WTC Collapse Warning
• Thermite and the WTC Collapses
• Suppressed details of criminal insider trading lead directly into the CIA’s highest ranks
• The 9/11 Anthrax Frame-Up
• The Pod People And The Plane That Crashed Into the Pentagon
• Bush Caught in a Lie About the 9/11 WTC Attacks
• The Five Dancing Israelis Arrested On 9-11
• Governor Jeb Bush of Florida declared “MARTIAL LAW” four days BEFORE 9-11

“The Secret Service has an arrangement with the FAA. They had open lines after the World Trade Center was…” - Vice President Dick Cheney (more…)

A video blogger has uploaded an unedited 30 minute video of the WTC attacks to Revver. It was filmed from their home 500 yards from the north tower. This is the first time this video has been publicly released.

After the second attack they exclaim, “It was a military plane!” (more…)

Something really disturbing is going on at the moment. Apparently the Bush adminstration is planning to abolish parts of the War Crimes Act that could make it accountable for previous crimes against humanity it has commited.

The US War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a felony to commit grave violations of the Geneva Conventions. The Washington Post recently reported that the Bush administration is quietly circulating draft legislation to eliminate crucial parts of the War Crimes Act. Observers on The Hill say the Administration plans to slip it through Congress this fall while there still is a guaranteed Republican majority–perhaps as part of the military appropriations bill, the proposals for Guantánamo tribunals or a new catch-all “anti-terrorism” package. (more…)

Vladimir Putin on Monday announced his final decision to send a battalion of Russian engineers and explosives experts to Lebanon. Their main aim is to help repair the damage caused by Israel’s campaign to uproot Hezbollah guerrillas.

Memo from Putin to Israel: any violations of the cease-fire hitting Russian nationals will not be well received by the Russian government.
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Many adults in the United States are not willing to allow government agencies to regularly monitor their telephone calls and e-mails, according to a poll by CBS News. 59 per cent of respondents reject the idea. (more…)

The government dramatically increased its monitoring of U.S. citizens after Sept. 11, in ways that even some Bush allies now question.

WASHINGTON - As Americans consider whether they are more safe or less five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, one thing is certain: They are being monitored by their own government in ways unforeseen before 19 terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (more…)

The headmaster of Porth County Comprehensive School in South Wales has defended fingerprinting all 1,400 of his pupils days after their parents were told about the scheme last Wednesday. (more…)

Tim Russert hammered Vice President Dick Cheney today on “Meet The Press,” hooked on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 but in reality a solid hour of grilling on Iraq, Afghanistan, and WMDs. It was an incredibly dense show, and more than anything shows how carefully Cheney parses words — no question gets a simple yes or no answer and even while acknowledging that, fine, Iraq was not linked to 9/11 he hammers home the meme of Iraq as a sponsor of terrorism and incipient WMD threat. He also claims not to have read the just-declassified Senate Intelligence Committee report that revealed that intelligence linking Iraq to 9/11 was in fact highly disputed before the invasion. A neat sidestep, that. (more…)

The world has an abundant supply of oil, and high petrol prices are just the reality of a globally traded commodity, ExxonMobil Australia chairman Mark Nolan said today.

And you’re paying $3/gallon. The oil shortages are purposefully created through the systematic shutdown of oil refineries by the oil companies to help perpetuate this myth.

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