U.S. and the World
Did U.S. Military Secretly Aerial Spray St. Louis with Radioactive Chemicals?
African Americans living in St. Louis housing projects may have been subjected to radiation-laced spraying by the U.S. military during the Cold War. read more
Pentagon Declares Failed Afghanistan Surge a Success…by Redefining its Goal after the Fact
In July 2009, just a few months before the surge, insurgent attacks totaled about 2,000, while in July 2012 they attacked about 3,000 times, an increase of about 33%. (Because the precise number of attacks remains classified, precise statistical analysis is impossible.) The same is true for every month in 2009 compared to every month in 2012 for which data exists: The insurgency launched more attacks in 2012 than it did in 2009. read more
America’s Only “Specially Designated Terrorist” Wants His Life Back
After 55 days of interrogation, including sleep deprivation and torture, Salah pled guilty and signed a plea deal. Israel released him in 1997 and he returned home to the U.S., where the government charged him with terrorism and conspiracy. A Chicago jury found him not guilty in 2007, but the government has refused to lift the designation or the restrictions.
read more
World Trade Organization Slams U.S. Refusal to End Subsidies to Boeing
The support to Boeing consists of $2.6 billion in research and development (R&D) funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); $1.2 billion in R&D monies from the Department of Defense; $2.2 billion from foreign sales subsidies; $3.1 billion in tax breaks from Washington State, where Boeing is headquartered; and $476 million in subsidies granted by the city of Wichita, Kansas. read more
Other Nations Begin to Regulate Stock Market High-Speed Trading, but not U.S.
On May 6, 2010, U.S. markets were disrupted by a “flash crash” that sent the Dow Jones average plummeting more than 600 points in a matter of minutes, before coming back again almost as quickly. On August 1 of this year, The Knight Capital Group lost $440 million in 45 minutes as a result of a computer glitch and sent the trading firm to the brink of bankruptcy. read more
European Court Approves Extradition of 5 Terror Suspects to U.S.
Babar Ahmad and another suspect, Syed Talha Ahsan, allegedly ran a jihadist website in London that supported terrorism. The U.S. government claims the right to prosecute them because the website, although run in London, was hosted by a company in Connecticut. They are also accused of receiving U.S. Naval plans. Imprisoned in the U.K. since August 2004, Babar Ahmad is thought to the British citizen held the longest without trial in modern times. read more
FBI Accused of Hiring Underage Prostitutes to Trap Gun Traffickers
John Littrell, a public defender helping defendant Sergio Santiago Syjuco, wrote that an undercover FBI agent, using the alias Richard Han, spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on prostitutes in the Philippines.
Syjuco claims Littrell got the sex workers, many of whom were underage, “for himself and for defendants, and paid up to $1,600 for each group visit to a club called Area 51.
read more
Uruguayan Government Proposes Becoming First Country to Nationalize Production and Sale of Marijuana
Under a controversial plan proposed by President José Mujica, Uruguay would create a state monopoly over the production and sale of marijuana, making it the first government in the world to sell the drug directly to citizens.
Supporters say the radical move would reduce drug-related crime, decrease health risks among users and be more effective than the U.S.-touted war on drugs, which is wearing thin in countries other than the United States.
read more
Obama Administration Ends 26-Year Ban on New Zealand Warships Visiting U.S.
The Department of Defense has lifted a 26-year-old ban on New Zealand warships entering U.S. bases.
The prohibition came in response to a New Zealand law adopted in the 1986 that denied the docking of any American warship carrying nuclear weapons. New Zealand has sent troops to support the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and ten New Zealand soldiers have been killed there, including five last month.
read more
Italy’s Highest Court Upholds CIA Kidnapping Convictions
The Americans, 22 Central Intelligence Agency spies and one Air Force officer (Lt. Col. Joseph Romano), were convicted last year of helping abduct Abu Omar (Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr) from Milan in February 2003. The cleric was transferred to U.S. military bases in Italy and Germany and eventually shipped to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. read more
Actress from Anti-Muslim Film Tries to Sue YouTube for Removal of Video
By the time the film had been uploaded to YouTube, the title had been changed to The Innocence of Muslims and Garcia, playing the mother of a 12-year-old girl who is to marry the prophet, is seen uttering the lines: “Is your Muhammad a child molester? Our daughter is but a child, and he’s 55 years old.” Garcia says she never said the name Mohammed while shooting the video. read more
As U.S. Tightens Border with Mexico, Immigrants Risk the Ocean
The switch to ocean routes began after President George W. Bush signed the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which called for beefing up physical barriers in the Southwest near the border.
Federal agents say apprehensions along the Pacific Ocean have tripled since 2008, with boat captures occurring from San Diego to San Luis Obispo. A few immigrants have even tried to swim from Baja to the California coastline.
read more
Budget Cuts Set for January Include $129 Million a Year to Protect Embassies
The Obama administration warned last week that the government could lose funding to protect diplomats come January.
The money, $129 million a year, would be slashed from the State Department budget as a result of automatic reductions set to take effect next year if Republicans and Democrats in Congress don’t agree on a deficit reduction plan.
read more
Bush Administration Kidnapped Gaddafi Opponents and Returned them to Libya to be Tortured
“The report also sheds light on the failure of the George W. Bush administration, in the pursuit of suspects behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, to distinguish between Islamists who were in fact targeting the United States and those who may simply have been engaged in armed opposition against their own repressive regimes." read more
U.S. Turns over Notorious Prison to Afghans…But Not Completely
No understanding has been reached over what to do with 600 newly captured prisoners, who currently remain under American control.
The U.S. is also holding onto 30 previously captured detainees that Washington wants to remain behind bars indefinitely without trial. Afghan commanders apparently have not offered assurances that the prisoners would not be released.
read more
U.S. Army-Led NATO Command Shredded 4 Years of Records of Afghan Army Fuel Purchases
SIGAR asked U.S. and NATO officials about the documents and was told all records from October 2006 through February 2011 had been destroyed.
The branch in charge of the shredding was the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A), which is dominated by officers of the U.S. Army. Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV served as commander of CSTC-A from 2009 to 2011. He was preceded by Maj. Gen. Richard Formica.
read more