Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
22 Sep 2008 http://www.legitgov.org/ All items are here:

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news 'We have entered an era of
persistent conflict.' US generals planning for resource wars By Tom
Clonan 22 Sep 2008 Under the auspices of the US department of defence
and department of the army, the US military have just published a
document entitled 2008 Army Modernization Strategy which makes for
interesting reading against the current backdrop of deteriorating
international fiscal, environmental, energy resource and security
crises. The 2008 modernisation strategy, written by Lieut Gen Stephen
Speakes, deputy chief of staff of the US army, contains the first
explicit and official acknowledgement that the US military is
dangerously overstretched internationally. It states simply: "The
army is engaged in the third-longest war in our nation's history
and . . . the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has caused the army
to become out of balance with the demand for forces exceeding the
sustainable supply." Against this backdrop, the 90 page document
sets out the future of international conflict for the next 30 to
40 years - as the US military sees it - and outlines the manner in
which the military will sustain its current operations and prepare
and "transform" itself for future "persistent" warfare. In its
preamble, it predicts a post cold war future of "perpetual warfare".

Iraq, Royal Dutch Shell to ink gas deal 23 Sep 2008 Iraq and Royal
Dutch Shell PLC on Monday will formally launch plans to invest in
a joint venture to tap natural gas in southern Iraq, a government
spokesman said. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani will sign
the deal with executives from the Anglo-Dutch company at the Cabinets
offices in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, his spokesman
said.

'We are ready to establish a presence.' Shell Sets Up First Iraq
Office Since the 1970's 23 Sep 2008 Royal Dutch Shell, one of the
worlds biggest oil companies, completed a multibillion-dollar natural
gas deal with the Iraq government on Monday and quietly mentioned
that it had established an office in Baghdad -- the first foreign
petroleum giant to do so since this countrys oil industry was
nationalized three decades ago.

No cut in Iraq troop levels expected, general says 22 Sep 2008
Violence is falling in Iraq's Anbar province, one of the top U.S.
commanders in the country [Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin] said Monday, but
that will not mean a significant reduction in U.S. troops any time
soon.

Iraq: US soldier killed in Baghdad 22 Sep 2008 The U.S. military
says an American soldier has been killed in an attack on his patrol
in Baghdad. The military says in a statement that the attack happened
at about 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Iraq blast kills five children 22 Sep 2008 A bomb blast near the
main northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed five children and wounded
three as they were playing near their homes on Monday, police and
a doctor told AFP. The bombers struck at around 6:30 pm (1530 GMT)
in the town of Hammam al-Ali, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of
Mosul, police officer Mohammed Sadeeq said.

Court: US govt can't block detainee photos release 22 Sep 2008 The
United States cannot conceal pictures of abusive treatment of
prisoners by its soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by saying their
release might cause enemies to hurt someone, a federal appeals court
said Monday in ordering the release of 21 photographs. The 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a 2006 ruling by Judge Alvin
K. Hellerstein ordering the release of the pictures to the American
Civil Liberties Union.

Iraqi detainees languish in clogged justice system 22 Sep 2008 Just
five minutes. That's what Iraqi soldiers said they needed when they
took Ahmed-Hussein Juma in for questioning in February 2007. "And
now here we are, 1 1/2 years later," Juma said with a hopeless laugh
last month as he stood in a holding cage, metal handcuffs on his
wrists and a prison number stitched crookedly on his green jumpsuit.
Dozens of other men sat on benches at Baghdad's Rusafa detention
center, all waiting to visit a new U.S.-funded legal aid clinic
that American officials hope will help clear the backlog of prisoners
lost in Iraq's severely overloaded prison system.

Little-known Islamic group claims Pakistan attack 23 Sep 2008 A
little known Islamic group [CIA] claimed responsibility for Saturday's
suicide attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad which killed 53,
Al Arabiya television reported on Monday. The group calling itself
Fedayeen Islam (Partisans of Islam) demanded the closure of U.S.
and NATO military bases in the region and the U.S. embassy in
Pakistan, and an end to U.S. attacks against tribal areas in Pakistan
and Afghanistan.

Pakistan leaders in narrow escape 23 Sep 2008 Pakistan's top political
and military leadership, including the newly elected President and
Prime Minister, came close to being killed in the al-Qa'ida suicide
bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel. Interior Ministry boss
Rehman Malik said last night that President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army commander Ashfaq Kayani were
scheduled to be at a dinner in the hotel when the 600kg bomb went
off on Saturday night, killing at least 53 people. While Dr Rehman
did not say why the Marriott dinner was cancelled, it is believed
that intelligence services got wind of a possible terror strike and
advised that the venue should be changed. [Right, they got a warning
and changed their plans, just as the FBI advised John Ashcroft to
'stay off commercial aircraft' prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks--an
even bigger inside job.]

JI links Marriott blast to Delhi bombings 22 Sep 2008 Jamaat-e-Islami
has linked Saturday's suicide attack at the Marriott Hotel to the
terror bombings in New Delhi exactly a week ago, saying there may
be "one force" behind the attacks in both countries, reported Mid
Day, an Indian newspaper. "There can be one force behind blasts in
New Delhi and the blast in Islamabad,"

Jamaat-e-Islami deputy chief Liaqat Baloch told IANS, adding that
a foreign hand cannot be ruled out. The Marriott blast took place
in the high-security Red Zone of the federal capital and there must
have been a very well organized group behind it [such as the one
in Langley, Virginia], he maintained.

Lashkar-e-Taiba denies role in India blasts: A Pakistan-based
Islamist militant group said Sunday it was not involved in a series
of orchestrated bombings across India, angrily denying allegations
by investigators. [See:

What Was Mysterious Activity In Marriott Hotel Islamabad by U. S.
Marines? 21 Sep 2008.]

Pakistani Troops Fire on Intruding U.S. Choppers 22 Sep 2008 Pakistani
troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that intruded into invaded
Pakistani territory on Sunday night, forcing them to turn back to
Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani security official said on Monday.
The helicopters violated the border in the area of Lowara Mandi,
80 km west of Miranshah at around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, the official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the subject.

Pakistan troops 'to stop US raids' 17 Sep 2008 Pakistan's army said
its forces have orders to open fire if US troops launch another
raid across the Afghan border, raising the stakes in a dispute over
how to tackle militants hiding in Pakistan's wild border zone. "No
country in the world can allow ground troops -- enemy or otherwise
-- to come into its territory and carry out any unilateral action,"
said Ikram Sehgal, a Pakistani defence analyst. "The Americans have
to back down on this." [Nope. Instead of "backing down," they blew
up the Marriott to show Pakistan that the US is "needed" - which
is akin to "needing" dengue fever. --LRP]

Russian navy ships head to maneuvers in Venezuela 22 Sep 2008 A
Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela Monday, an official
said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western
Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War. The Kremlin recently
has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin
American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington
after last month's war between Russia and Georgia.

Bimbo meets war criminal: Sarah Palin to meet with 7 world leaders
at UN 22 Sep 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin
may have little experience in foreign policy, but she's about to
get a two-day crash course.

The first-term Alaska governor plans to meet seven world leaders
and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger [!] in New York City
this week, where the U.N. General Assembly is convening.

Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses 22 Sep 2008 Acknowledging
that 20 years and millions of dollars spent loudly and bitterly
attacking the liberal leanings of American campuses have failed to
make much of a dent in the way undergraduates are educated, some
conservatives have decided to try a new strategy. They are finding
like-minded tenured professors and helping them establish academic
beachheads for their 'ideas.' These initiatives... or a project at
the University of Colorado here in Colorado Springs, to publish a
book of classic texts, are mostly financed by conservative organizations
and donors, run by conservative professors.

Constitutional battle brewing after telecom immunity invoked By
Julian Sanchez 22 Sep 2008 The government has invoked the retroactive
immunity provision of the recently-passed FISA Amendments Act in a
motion to end the ongoing lawsuits against telecoms charged with
complicity in the National Security Agency's controversial program
of extrajudicial wiretapping. The Electronic Frontier Foundation,
which is spearheading the litigation, promises to fight the immunity
clause on constitutional grounds--and has given Ars Technica a sneak
preview of the argument it plans to make.

Regulators review huge NYMEX oil price surge 22 Sep 2008 The U.S.
regulator of futures markets said it was reviewing the historic
jump in crude oil prices on Monday to assure the trading was valid.
The U.S. crude oil expiring contract for October soared by $16.37
to settle at $120.92 a barrel. At one point, the contract was up
by $25.45 a barrel, or 24 percent.

Oil scores biggest daily dollar price leap in history --October
crude hits daily price-move limit, spurring brief halt to trading
22 Sep 2008 Crude-oil futures leaped more than $16 a barrel Monday
to score their biggest one-day gain in dollar terms since 1984 --
when crude began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude
futures rallied Monday to a high of $130 a barrel -- their highest
intraday level in two months -- buoyed by a steep drop in the U.S.
dollar and speculation that the Bush administration's proposal to
stabilize the financial sector might help revive economic growth.

Dow plunges on bailout plan fears 23 Sep 2008 A new sell-off in
financial stocks sent the US stock market plunging last night, as
traders fretted about the progress of the government's $700bn
(#377bn) bailout plan, and badly damaged credit markets showed only
a modest improvement. With numerous questions remaining over the
details of the federal plan to buy troubled assets, and with continued
chaotic trading among hedge funds affecting markets of all kinds,
the Dow Jones plunged 3.3 per cent, erasing the gains from Friday's
rally.

Big Financiers Start Lobbying for Wider Aid 22 Sep 2008 Even as
policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the
financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit
from it. Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled
investments covered, not just those related to mortgages. At the
same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets
that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions,
a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year
in fees.

U.S. Treasury to Bail Out Foreign Banks 21 Sep 2008 In a change
from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks
with big U.S.

operations could qualify for the Treasury Departments mortgage
bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement
Saturday night. The theory, according to a participant in the
negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis,
it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the
United States. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed the change
on ABC's "This Week," stating that coverage of foreign-based banks
is "a distinction without a difference to the American people."

Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman's New York staff 22 Sep 2008 Up to
10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank
Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is
worth $2.5bn (#1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business,
confirmed last night. The revelation sparked fury among the workers'
former colleagues, Lehman's 5,000 staff based in London, who currently
have no idea how long they will go on receiving even their basic
salaries, let alone any bonus payments.

Goldman, Morgan to Become Bank Holding Companies 21 Sep 2008 In one
of the biggest changes to Wall Street in decades, Goldman Sachs and
Morgan Stanley, the last two independent investment banks, will
become bank holding companies, the Federal Reserve said Sunday
night. The move fundamentally changes one of the mainstays of modern
Wall Street.

Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses Obama-Biden 22 Sep 2008
Im proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors--which
is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans--has voted unanimously
to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is
the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who
care about the humane treatment of animals, no matter what their
party affiliation, to vote for them. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has
been a solid supporter of animal protection at both the state and
federal levels... In his response to the HSLF questionnaire, he
pledged support for nearly every animal protection bill currently
pending in Congress, and said he will work with executive agencies
such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of
the Interior to make their policies more humane.

The Presidential Files: Barack Obama and the Dog-acity of Hope 31
Dec 2008 Democratic Senator Barack Obama's 2006 book, "The Audacity
of Hope," is a story about his dogged optimism in the future. But
it's his other work of writing--this one in response to a Humane
Society Legislative Fund questionnaire--that has given dogs and
other animals hope in this country.

Palin's policies in Alaska weighted toward development --As the ice
melts, fewer polar bears are able to survive at sea. 22 Sep 2008
Since Sarah Palin became governor in 2006, Alaska has sought to
ramp up a program that encourages the shooting of wolves from
aircraft in areas where they compete with human hunters for moose,
caribou and deer. Federal law prohibits aerial hunting of wolves
-- planes chasing wounded and terrified animals until they can't
run anymore. But a loophole allows Alaska to impose "airborne
predator management" across 60,000 square miles. Palin sought last
year to significantly raise the number of wolves killed under the
program by putting a $150 bounty on dead wolves, until a judge
blocked the payments. [Will the wolves put a bounty on Sarah Palin?
They could raise more than the $700 billion Bush seeks to bail out
Wall Street.]

Sarah Palin: Alaska's Dead Wolf Pups Demand Justice! 22 Sep 2008
This summer, Alaska wildlife agency personnel staked out a known
wolf denning site a practice that is illegal under Alaska law and,
using helicopters, gunned down 14 adult wolves from the air. When
they landed, they found 14 helpless pups in the nearby dens infant
wolves just weeks old and methodically shot each one in the head.
28 wolves gunned down in all. This killing of 14 wolf pups disturbs
even longtime hunters in Alaska. During her two years as governor,
Sarah Palin proposed a $150 bounty for the severed foreleg of each
killed wolf and introduced legislation to make it even easier to
use aircraft to hunt wolves and bears. But it's time that Governor
Palin call for a thorough investigation into the killing of these
14 wolf pups, and bring any Alaska employees who acted illegally
to justice. [Sign petition!]

Hazel Blears attacks the 'horrendous' Sarah Palin 20 Sep 2008 Hazel
Blears said that Sarah Palin's success in the US was due to the
fact that she was seen as an "anti-politics" candidate. "Her politics
are horrendous, but she's struck a chord with people - 'I'm a
maverick, I'm not part of those powerful people' - and people
identified with that." Gordon Brown irritated the John McCain
campaign recently with the publication of an article that was
interpreted as an endorsement of Barack Obama.

Dems seize on McCain's 13 cars 21 Sep 2008 Democrats eager to portray
John McCain as out of touch with average Americans and as a
flip-flopper seized on a report Sunday the Arizona senator and his
wife, Cindy, own more than a dozen cars, including several foreign-made
automobiles. A Newsweek article published on the magazine's Web
Site Sunday said registration records show the McCains currently
own 13 cars -- two of which are foreign-made: a Honda and a Volkswagen.
That appears to contradict the Republican presidential nominee's
past statements he only buys cars made in America.

Bill lets out-of-county bus firms pick up riders in Allegheny 22
Sep 2008 (PA) Port Authority of Allegheny County would run mass
transit more efficiently if it faced competition from other public
or private bus companies in neighboring counties, contend two
Republican legislators from suburban Allegheny County.

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Previous lead stories: Bush administration seeks 'dictatorial power
unreviewable by the third branch of government, the courts' 20 Sep
2008 The Bush administration asked Congress for unchecked power to
buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from U.S. financial
companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion
into the markets. The bill would bar courts from reviewing actions
taken under its authority. "It sounds like [Treasury Secretary
Henry] Paulson is asking to be a financial dictator, for a limited
period of time,'' said historian John Steele Gordon, author... The
Bush administration seeks "dictatorial power unreviewable by the
third branch of government, the courts, to try to resolve the
crisis,'' said Frank Razzano, a former assistant chief trial attorney
at the Securities and Exchange Commission now at Pepper Hamilton
LLP in Washington. [See: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 for
deployment during 'civil unrest,' 'horrific scenarios' 08 Sep 2008.]

U.S. Treasury to Bail Out Foreign Banks 21 Sep 2008 In a change
from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks
with big U.S.

operations could qualify for the Treasury Departments mortgage
bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement
Saturday night. The theory, according to a participant in the
negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis,
it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the
United States. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed the change
on ABC's "This Week," stating that coverage of foreign-based banks
is "a distinction without a difference to the American people."

Changes coming on nuclear training, inspection --Inspectors found
several deficiencies in the nuclear security provided at the 5th
Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., during a Nuclear Surety
Inspection the base failed last year. 20 Sep 2008 Air Force leaders
announced changes to the organization, training practices and
inspection process of its nuclear enterprise following the services
Nuclear Summit held on Sept. 18 at Bolling Air Force Base in
Washington, D.C. Officials reviewed the recommendations made by the
Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management on Sept. 12 in a report
that ripped the Air Forces current nuclear structure proposing the
service realign all of its nuclear missions under Air Force Space
Command and rename it Air Force Strategic Command.

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CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, Manager. Copyright ) 2008,
Citizens For Legitimate Government . All rights reserved. CLG Founder
and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.