Pentagon Unable to Account for Missing Iraqi Millions
The Pentagon doesn’t know what happened to more than $100 million in cash held at Saddam Hussein’s palace in Baghdad during the Iraq war, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
What’s more, the Pentagon can’t find documents to explain what it spent as much as $1.7 billion on from funds held on behalf of the Iraqi government by the New York Federal Reserve, the report says.
The missing records raise new questions about how the US government handled billions of dollars in Iraqi funds during the war.
The new report, the latest in a multi-year investigation by the inspector general into missing money in Iraq, paints a picture of Pentagon officials digging through boxes of hard copy records looking for missing paper copies of Excel spreadsheets, monthly reports and other paper documents that should have been kept detailing what the money was spent on and why those expenditures were necessary. Apparently, there are no electronic records to back up the spending.
The Inspector General’s report concludes that the problem is simply one of “records management.” But the report explains the missing records make it impossible to conduct a complete accounting of what happened to the funds.
The missing money came from the Development Fund for Iraq, a cache of billions of dollars in frozen Saddam Hussein regime assets that was held at the New York Federal Reserve on behalf of the Iraqi people.
In Victory for the West, W.T.O. Orders China to Stop Export Taxes on Minerals
HONG KONG — The appeals panel of the World Trade Organization ruled on Monday that China must dismantle its system of export taxes and quotas for nine widely used industrial materials.
The legal setback for Beijing could set a precedent for the West to challenge China’s export restrictions on other natural resources, including rare earth metals that are crucial to many modern technologies, trade experts said.
In the closely watched case, the trade organization’s Appellate Body, its highest tribunal, ruled that China distorted international trade through dozens of export policies it maintains for bauxite, zinc, yellow phosphorus and six other industrial minerals.
The Appellate Body, reviewing an earlier decision by a W.T.O. dispute settlement panel, said the panel had gone too far in defining why more than three dozen Chinese policies violated free trade rules. But the appeals group said on Monday that the overall effect of China’s export restrictions was harming international trade and the policies would have to be scrapped.
The case was filed in 2009 against China by the United States, the European Union and Mexico.
“This is a major win for the United States,” said James Bacchus, a former chairman and longtime member of the Appellate Body, who now helps lead the global trade practice in the Washington office of the law firm Greenberg Traurig.
Rights groups slam new US vote restrictions
US civil rights groups have been criticising new laws, backed by Republicans, that could deny millions of people their right to vote in dozens of states in the country.
A wave of restrictive laws passed in Republican-held state legislatures will mean that a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly and the young will find voting difficult and in many cases impossible.
Among the legislations is a requisite that aspiring voters present a state-issued photo identification card to cast their ballot. That could affect around 21 millions who do not have the necessary ID.
The apparent reason for the ID requisite is to prevent voter fraud, yet an extensive analysis by the US Justice Department.found that incidents of vote fraud are exceedingly rare and that the new laws would not solve the registration issues.
Some analysts say the restrictions would have a severe impact on the country’s presidential vote set for November in the favor of Republicans.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynold traveled to the state of Wisconsin, where he spoke to one American woman whose right to vote may have been stripped by the new restrictions.
Occupy London assault: Bailiff plows car through protesters
January 30, 2012 by Kristen
Filed under Police State
Police in London have been accused of excessive force in their efforts to clear out Occupy demonstrators. Protesters stood together last night as officers broke down the doors to their camps. RT’s Laura Smith has more on the London based battle between occupiers and officers.
Megaupload users face data deletion US prosecutors warn
US prosecutors have said that data belonging to Megaupload users and stored by third parties could be deleted as soon as Thursday.
Users have been unable to access data since the file-sharing service was raided.
The warning was made in a letter filed by the US Attorney’s Office, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Megaupload’s lawyer Ira Rothken told the agency that at least 50 million users had data which could be deleted.
Mr Rothken said that freezing of Megaupload’s funds meant it was unable to pay those who were storing its data.
Whitewashing Omar Khadr
In a revealing new book, The Enemy Within, the Sun’s Ezra Levant brings Omar Khadr’s story back into the public eye. Having completed his U.S. sentence in October 2011, Omar Khadr could return to Canada at any time. He may well be released, thanks to a lenient system that will likely credit him for the time he has served awaiting trial in Guantanamo Bay. With Parliament back in session, Levant brings his razor-sharp perspective to bear on a story that is vital to our notions of citizenship and justice, and to our national security.
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So, what can we expect to happen with Omar Khadr when he inevitably returns to Canada?
Unfortunately, it’s not hard to guess. When Maher Arar came back to Canada after he was released from a prison in Syria, he was hailed as a hero and celebrity. Every anti-war, anti-Western activist with an axe to grind–which includes a large swath of Canada’s mainstream media–turned his homecoming into a triumph. If only they treated our wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan so warmly.
If Maher Arar became a minor celebrity after his wrangle with the Syrian security system, with a secondary role played by Washington and Ottawa, it’s a virtual lock that Omar Khadr–the leading man in a supposed morality play pitting the Bush administration, perennial bugbear of the left, and its Guantanamo “gulag” against a purportedly naive and pitiable “child soldier” from Canada–is set to become nothing less than a superstar.
Unlike Arar, who enjoyed only a fraction of the sympathy and media coverage, Khadr will be coming home to the built-in fan club that he’s amassed since his capture. Arlette Zinck, the professor at Edmonton’s King’s University College who struck up a tender pen pal relationship with Khadr — “Whenever you are lonesome, remember you have many friends who keep you in their prayers. Each morning at 9 o’clock, I include you in mine,” she wrote to him in Guantanamo, referring to Khadr as “my dear student”–has led the charge in turning her campus into a factory for Khadr groupies.
‘I’m going to destroy America and dig up Marilyn Monroe’: British pair arrested in U.S. on terror charges over Twitter jokes
January 30, 2012 by Kristen
Filed under Police State
Two British tourists were barred from entering America after joking on Twitter that they were going to ‘destroy America’ and ‘dig up Marilyn Monroe’.
Leigh Van Bryan, 26, was handcuffed and kept under armed guard in a cell with Mexican drug dealers for 12 hours after landing in Los Angeles with pal Emily Bunting.
The Department of Homeland Security flagged him as a potential threat when he posted an excited tweet to his pals about his forthcoming trip to Hollywood which read: ‘Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America’.
Austin Police Brutality Protest News Coverage At APD Headquarters
January 29, 2012 by Kristen
Filed under Police State
CNN: Possible “Flying Saucer” Found On Ocean Floor
Internet Censorship: The Past, Present & Future
TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=3827
In recent weeks the general public has mobilized to face US legislative threats to Internet freedoms. Far from a conclusive victory, however, the death of SOPA and PIPA only highlight the latest in a series of measures that are seeking to create a legal framework for government-administered Internet censorship.
