63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want To Read, by Jesse Ventura: on Homeland Security
Donald Rumsfeld:
June'01: Secretary must authorize lethal force in hijackings
The Pentagon's "Stand Down Order" on 9/11:The question that's haunted me from day one is how come the world's biggest military superpower was somehow oblivious to rogue airliners in American air space for more than an hour, and our top brass seemed to
be befuddled in terms of dealing with hijackers apparently using these four planes is flying bombs. Why couldn't our fighter jets intercept at least ONE of them?!
Well, here's one possible explanation: Donald Rumsfeld, our Secretary of
Defense, never gave the go-ahead. Why? On June 1, 2001, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a new Instruction--superseding one from 1997--that required approval by the Secretary of Defense for any "potentially lethal support in the event of an
aircraft piracy (hijacking)."
I sure would like to know why the question of Rumsfeld doing this never came up with the 9/11 Commission. Doesn't it seem important to have asked why the critical policy got changed only four months beforehand?
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.216
Apr 4, 2011
Eric Holder:
Upheld Bush administration's "extraordinary rendition"
In September 2010, the Obama Justice Department cited the so-called "state secret doctrine" in successfully getting a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit on "extraordinary rendition" (a phrase that really means we send suspected terrorists to
other countries to get held and tortured). In fact, Attorney General Eric Holder was hell-bent on upholding the Bush administration's claim in two major cases involving illegal detention and torture.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p. 4
Apr 4, 2011
George W. Bush:
Post-9-11: authorized attacks on terrorists amid civilians
After 9/11, Bush's Justice Dept. wrote up a long memo with the subject line: "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the US." The whole concept basically shreds our Bill of Rights. In short, "constitutional rules
regulating law enforcement activity are not applicable." The military could even "attack civilian targets where suspected terrorists were thought to be." And later, "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need
to wage war successfully."Where does it say that, if you call something "terrorism," the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be made null and void? All they've got to do is say the word and they can put you under surveillance without a warrant.
To me, this smacks of an attack on the foundations of democracy that plays right into the HANDS of terrorists. It also sets a precedent for the kinds of tactics we went to see at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.250
Apr 4, 2011
George W. Bush:
Geneva convention does not apply to al Qaeda & Taliban
A few months after September 11, President Bush sent out a "mass memo" that lays out why the al Qaeda and Taliban detainees were "unlawful combatants" and so the Geneva Convention calling for humane treatment of POWs did not apply to them.
Well, if they're not covered by an international agreement, shouldn't they be covered by the laws of the United States and our Constitution and Bill of Rights? My point being, this situation has to fall under SOMEBODY'S law. Bush wrote:
Pursuant to my authority as Commander of Chief,- I accept the legal constitution that none of the provisions of Geneva apply to our conflict with al Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world because among other reasons, al
Qaeda is not a High Contracting Party to Geneva.
- I determine that he Taliban detainees are unlawful combatants and, therefore, do not qualify as prisoners of war.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.260-262
Apr 4, 2011
Jesse Ventura:
Assassinating foreign leadership is despicable
The CIA's Secret Assassination Manual: A 19-page CIA document was prepared as part of a coup against the Guatemalan government in 1954 and declassified in 1997. Maybe they should change the name to the CIA's "secret-first degree murder manual." How is
that we are allowed to kill other people if we're not in a declared war with them? To arbitrarily go out in the world and kill someone without their being charged with a crime!The thought of taking out another country's leadership is so despicable, it
makes me ashamed that I'm an American. During the Cold War, the CIA plotted against 8 foreign leaders, and 5 of them died violent deaths. The CIA was involved for years in planning to murder Fidel Castro.
One paragraph in particular gives me pause,
when I think back to what happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963. "Public figures or guarded officials may be killed with great reliability and some safety if a firing point can be established prior to an official occasion," the manual instructed.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p. 16
Apr 4, 2011
Jesse Ventura:
I'd rather face terrorists than lose any of my freedoms
Are we ready for martial law? I think we are, because everybody's sitting back and watching our freedoms being taken away. Guess what? The terrorists are winning because our country has changed in the last decade, and not for the good. We're a country
that's now living in the last decade, and not for the good. We're a country that's now living in fear and so are willing to trade our freedoms for safety--which I stand against and will go to my grave stating: "I'd rather face the terrorists on a daily
basis than lose any of my freedoms."Let's look at how the government has been intent on keeping us safe. First, did you know that the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) already had detention centers in place since it was established in March 2003
Second, the Army went on to establish a Civilian Inmate Labor Program back in 2005. "This regulation provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations."
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.128-129
Apr 4, 2011
Jesse Ventura:
Bill of Rights still applies if you label them "terrorists"
After 9/11, Bush's Justice Dept. wrote up a long memo with the subject line: "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the US." The whole concept basically shreds our Bill of Rights. In short, "constitutional rules
regulating law enforcement activity are not applicable." The military could even "attack civilian targets where suspected terrorists were thought to be." And later, "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need
to wage war successfully."Where does it say that, if you call something "terrorism," the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be made null and void? All they've got to do is say the word and they can put you under surveillance without a warrant.
To me, this smacks of an attack on the foundations of democracy that plays right into the HANDS of terrorists. It also sets a precedent for the kinds of tactics we went to see at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.250
Apr 4, 2011
Jesse Ventura:
Secret behavior control drug experiments on Gitmo detainees
It's recently come out that the Pentagon forced all the detainees at Guantanamo prison to take high doses of a drug called mefloquine. Supposedly it's used to combat malaria, but that didn't seem to make any difference. Our military brass knew that
mefloquine had severe side effects, like suicidal thoughts, hallucinations, and anxiety.To me, this shows the continuing influence of those "experts" we brought here from Germany after WWII. Here you have doctors stating that you need to know complete
background of the patient before using this substance--and they're injecting these people with this drug as soon as they're checked in!
A document from 2002 shows that "standard inprocessing orders for detainees" included 1,250 mg of mefloquine,
five times higher than the dose given to people as preventative. And it's being given not for its intended purpose, but to study its intended side effects! I'm speechless. What ever happened to the physician's oath to "do no harm"?
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.273
Apr 4, 2011
Jesse Ventura:
Evidence destroyed about torture of al Qaeda detainees
In April 2010, a FOIA lawsuit filed by the ACLU managed to pry out of the CIA a series of documents related to the destruction of 92 videos of "enhanced interrogation" of al Qaeda detainees, in particular Abu Zabaydah, who'd been transferred to a "black
prison" in Thailand in 2002. He ended up being waterboarded 83 times in a month, deprived of sleep for days, subjected to extreme cold while being held naked, and forced to listen to near-deafening levels of music.The CIA decided that these videos had
to be wiped out--even though the many redactions made by the Agency make you wonder what else is being covered up. The first memo is from Oct. 2002, when the CIA began discussing the sensitivity of "interrogation sessions."
Clearly they could never
allow the American people to see what they're doing to these detainees so you destroy the evidence. But what looms even larger is that there WAS evidence, and of such a nature that required it to be destroyed. That tells you how bad it must have been.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.280-281
Apr 4, 2011
Jesse Ventura:
End the phony war on terror to end al Qaeda
In 2008, The Rand Corporation came out with a major study titled "How Terrorist Groups End," looking at data on all such between 1968 and 2006.Their findings apparently weren't too heartening to our policy-makers, if they bothered to read the study.
The whole war on terror notion needs to be rethought, according to Rand, because in simple terms "countering al Qa'ida has focused far too much on the use of military forces."
If the government follows Rand on other matters, why not give them due consideration on this? Supposedly this is their job and they're the experts.
It's time to end these "phony wars on terror" and get down to the serious business of rebuilding our own democracy from the ground up.
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p.295-296
Apr 4, 2011
John F. Kennedy:
Danger that security needs will expand to censorship
John F. Kennedy said, "There is little value in insuring the survival or our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need
for increased security will be seized upon but those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship in concealment."
Source: 63 Documents, by Gov. Jesse Ventura, p. 2
Apr 4, 2011
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