VA Loans Guidelines

by Eileen Fleming

 

The Zionist control of America’s Media ended by way of Bob Simon allowing Ambassador Oren, to expose the way Zionists attempt to silence anybody who thinks critically and asks important questions regarding the state of Israel-see it here:

I had just returned home from nine days in my homeland-New York City: A Day in The Life at Strawberry Fields and IMAGINING a FREE Vanunu Mordechai

And I jumped for joy during the 60 MINUTES segment, Christians of the Holy Land, because they were covering the beat I have since 2005-but the difference being is I did it all on my dime and as a service to America at www.WeAreWideAwake.org

During a March 2006 trip to Bethlehem, I met again with a Palestinian Christian and Mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh, who said:

“When the occupation is ended there will be peace. If the world boycotted Israel for six months they would comply with the UN Resolutions, which is all we want! There is state terrorism and Israel must be forced to recognize our right to exist. For the past ten years Hamas has worked with and helped the poorest of people, they have built schools and orphanages. The PA took the money but Hamas was providing the social services!

“Israel is a state built on religious beliefs. The US and EU and all the free world are against theocracies. But Israel has the right to do anything! The world needs to WAKE UP! If there is no peace in the Holy Land there can be no peace anywhere. End the occupation and there will be peace the very next day. All the terrorism in the world can be traced back to the Palestinian situation. All the money spent on weapons and war could eliminate world poverty.”

I also met with four newly elected Hamas members but I still haven’t met any Palestinian terrorists.

Two had been elected to the Palestinian Parliament/PLC and two to the Municipality/local government. PLC Representative, Anwer M. Zboun, lives in the Abiet refugee camp and has a Masters Degree in Physics.

Zboun began with a smile and said, “We welcome you to our home and the Holy City of Bethlehem. We are suppose to be terrorists, are you afraid?

“We are a Palestinian resistance movement and we are not against any people. We are against the occupation. We want to rebuild what the occupation has destroyed. Hamas was born from the suffering of the Palestinian people and we belong to the global Muslim movement. It was on December 14, 1987 after an Israeli driver killed nine Palestinians that the first Intifada [uprising] began and the Islamic Resistance movement in Palestine was renamed Hamas.

“Hamas is a national liberation movement based on Sharia; Islamic Laws and Orders. Hamas is not against any religion. We are not a terrorist movement, but we resist the occupation. Christians voted for us for many reasons and they know we are faithful to this cause: that God knows better than we ourselves know what is for our benefit. We do not force anyone to believe as we do. The public and private schools both teach Islam and Christianity.

“In November 1988 Arafat issued a birth certificate for the Palestinian State and under religion he stated: ‘None.’ This is because we are a secular state. As Muslims and Christians we live together peacefully and our attitude is citizenship is for everyone. Everybody should have freedom of belief, traditions and a personal life. Hamas does not propose anything that contradicts Christianity.

“Our slogan is: Remove Suffering for everyone. The issue of Israel is about the occupation. We have no problems with religious beliefs; our problem is that Israel is illegally occupying our land. Since March 2005, we have honored a unilateral cease-fire. But Israel martyred 200 Palestinians, injured 1,200 and has detained 3,500. Many are under the age of sixteen. In the last two weeks Israel has killed twenty-five Palestinian and yet we have maintained the cease-fire. Israel does not recognize us and recognition takes both sides.

“Abbas has stated that we do recognize Israel, but there must be clear borders and Israel does not yet have them. The PA recognized Israel ten years ago but we Palestinians are detained in an open air prison. We resist the occupation, which is our right guaranteed under International Law. International Law demands Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders, release the prisoners, and stop the assassinations, illegal wall and home demolitions.

“Hamas defines terrorism as a violation of the rights of others and their property. Bush defined terrorism as evil. We are weak with resources and our voice is not heard in the West, only the voice of America and Israel gets press. America asked us to hold democratic elections and we did. We thank everyone who was involved in our transparent and democratic elections. We did what the USA asked and now they are punishing our people. Democracies are supposed to respect and not intervene in what others want.

“We had democratic and transparent elections and how are we rewarded? By the EU and the USA who have cut funds to the poorest of people who live under occupation. Hamas suggested that the International community monitor all the financial aid to assure that it went to the people and not to Hamas. We offered this suggestion to the world and we have been ignored.

“So now we look to the Arab and Muslim world to strengthen our local infrastructure and economy and hope to bring back investors. We know there are people in Europe and America who will not allow us to go hungry. We believe aid and support are in Gods hands and not governments.”

On 15 March 2006, I was in Nazareth and learned from Fuad Farah, Board member of Sabeel and the Chairman of the Orthodox National Council in Israel, that “90% of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, never even meet any Palestinian Christians!

“No Christians can live here anymore. They fled in ‘48 and their homes were destroyed in the ‘50’s for the settlers. Christians once were 20% of the total population of the Holy land, today we are less than 2% and maybe in thirty years there will be no Christians here if things do not change soon. There are more Christians in India and Syria than there are in the Holy Land!

“The reasons are many and include our low birth rate, migration due to lack of economic opportunities especially for the most highly educated, Muslim and Jewish fundamentalism, land confiscation and now Nazareth has become a retirement community because our young people all leave!”

I imagine if I were a young Palestinian with an opportunity to leave that troubled land; I would too and Palestinians all tell me that is exactly what the Israeli government hopes for!

Both Bob Simon and I interviewed Claire Anasatas and Rev. Mitri Raheb, his report can be viewed on the Youtube above and mine follows below:

In July 2007, I met with Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, the Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas church in Bethlehem since 1988. Mitri was also born in that little town in Occupied Territory and he spoke with passion:

“We are not spectators, we have a role to play…we are nonviolent but I have problems with nonviolence; people from abroad come here and give us sermons on nonviolence and I appreciate it, but why don’t they preach nonviolence to Israel and America?

“It’s a miracle that the Palestinians are so nonviolent in spite of the abuse we live with on a daily basis. If you lived here every day you would get fed up too. The world assumes it is the Palestinians who are the violent ones, but nonviolence is who we are. If you operate in a system of violence you will also be violent when you go home.

“Palestinians who throw stones; and many think that is ok, but I say why do that? One day you will throw stones at Palestinians too and that is exactly what happened in Gaza, but the reason is the occupation! Where do you think Hamas learned to torture? In Israeli prisons from their captors!


”There is no way to end the violence without first ending the occupation!

“Our Palestinian government was boycotted for a year and a half by America and the EU: this is violence! As long as the violence is exercised against us that is OK with the world. When the Presbyterians talked divestment the Zionist rose up and said ‘you can’t do that!’ 


“I started interfaith dialogue in 1985 because Christians should not be islands and you don’t dialogue just with yourself, you must dialogue with the other and the biggest temptation for the church is to stay within their walls and only be dedicated to their own members; which leads to a dead church.

“We are called to go out, and we do not just preach with words, people here are fed up with words; they hear one thing and see another with their eyes.

“They hear peace, peace, peace and for 85 years the politicians have been working for peace and the situation gets worse. Blair, and all the politicians are into PR for themselves; they do nothing for our situation. Blair got himself a good job marketing himself and he will come and go and Israel will continue building the wall, settlements and carving the West Bank into Swiss cheese; Israel gets the cheese and we Palestinians fall into the holes!

“Fifty million American dollars went to build the checkpoints to ‘make our lives easier’ we were told, but these checkpoints and terminals are not for people, they are for cattle!


”We have too much religion and it suffocates us! If God would speak today he would say, ‘I am fed up with your religion!’ The more religion there is; the less spirituality.
 


“During the Israeli invasion in 2002 when the Church of Nativity was occupied by the IDF and Palestinians were sheltered within, as an eyewitness I wrote 18 short stories that will keep you awake at night, in my book “Bethlehem Beseiged: Stories of Hope in Times of Trouble.” [1]

In February 2003, Claire and her family of fourteen -whose three story home and first floor business, adjacent to Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem- were informed by the Palestinian Authority that The Wall would soon be coming to their neighborhood.

The family had moved into their comfortable dwelling in 1967, and would spend hours in their back yard garden with a view of open green space and watch pilgrims and tourists visit Rachel’s Tomb and welcome them into their gift shop. The family is now encircled on three sides by 25-30 feet high slabs of concrete which have imprisoned them from the rest of the Little Town of Bethlehem: which is Occupied Territory.

For months the family helplessly observed the preparation work all around them, and then one week before Christmas 2003, Claire’s children went to school and came home to discover that every view from every window was of the concrete monster.

Palestinians can be imprisoned on the Palestinian or Israeli side of the wall. The once economically thriving and vibrant main street in Bethlehem is now a ghost town for stores and restaurants have been abandoned.

Rachel’s tomb and Claire’s tomb are divided by the concrete barrier which is topped by guard towers and patrolled by soldiers in battle gear.

Claire’s home is less than 500 yards inside Bethlehem, and it had been the closest shop to Rachel’s Tomb. Not long ago, multitudes of pilgrims and tourists would shop there, but today only the curious venture down the concrete walled pathway.

According to the Israeli government The Wall which has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in The Hague is for the security of Jewish worshipers at the shrine they revere as the Tomb of Rachel. Rachel was the wife of the biblical patriarch Jacob, who was the first to be named “Israel” for having wrestled and struggled with The Divine being.

On May 14, 1948 The Declaration of the establishment of Israel affirmed:

“One the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations.”

On February 21, 2003, Raanan Gissin, Spokesmen for Ariel Sharon was interviewed regarding The Wall, which imprisoned Claire and her family, and he claimed, “The main purpose here is not to annex that land, but to provide security [and to ensure] freedom of access and freedom of religion.”

The Wall does not follow the Green Line so even the claims of security are nullified, for The Wall that imprisons Claire and her family divides Palestinians from Palestinians as it eviscerates their economy. Only Jews have freedom of access and religion, for Palestinian civilians are denied access to their holy sites.

The concrete wall and electronic fence has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Palestinians on the Israeli side, effectively undermining one of the stated purposes which is the policy of Hafrada, which is Hebrew for separation of Israelis and Palestinians and that equates to apartheid.

Dr. Jad Issac, the director general of the Applied Research Institute examined a satellite photograph of the area and stated, “Bethlehem is the Bethlehem ghetto now…rather than seeking to ensure freedom of religion, Israel was pushing Bethlehem’s Christian Palestinians to pack up and leave. About 360 Palestinians would be left on the Israeli side and once they get rid of the Christians, then they will label the rest as terrorists.”

Dr. Shmuel Berkovitz, an expert on Jerusalem and Jewish holy places, said The Wall effectively annexed Rachel’s Tomb to Jerusalem from Bethlehem “as a matter of technical separation, without an official declaration. Right now, you can’t see any romantic place there; you can see it only as a military position.”

Rachel’s Tomb is a small stone building with a dome, which was built during the Ottoman rule, but is now completely enclosed by the fortifications, built in 1996 and 1997.

During my first of three visits to Claire, she told me, “Six years ago when the Israeli army blocked the main street in Bethlehem we hoped it would be temporary. We could not imagine anyone could block another human being and isolate them like they have done to us. A week before last Christmas my children went to school and when they returned they were faced with the concrete wall in front of them. They cried and cried and wanted to know how could such a thing be done to them? We are living in a tomb, we are buried alive. My children suffer and their mother and father can do nothing.

“In another ten years there will be no more Christians in Bethlehem if things do not change soon. Everyone is leaving, we need work, and we need to feed our children. Jesus was born here but we are dying. My children suffer, they are angry and shout because nobody comes to visit us anymore and the children must stay inside after school.

“We use to enjoy being out in our garden watching the people, the trees, the cars that would pass by, but now we only see concrete walls. Our lives have been stolen!

“Do Americans understand what happens to children when they are buried alive?

“We need a solution fast so that our children can live like American children! We want human rights!

“When Hillary Clinton visited Jerusalem and said the wall was not against the Palestinian people, she killed us too! Christians who do not care kill us too!

“My family use to go to Haifa on the weekends, we use to live a peaceful and comfortable life. But now our business is bankrupt and we are in prison for being Palestinians.”

During my last trip to visit Claire, in June 2009, I purchased one of the olive wood nativity sets that she and her family created to symbolize the reality of Bethlehem today. Claire explained, “It has a removable wall; we opened a door where Jesus Christ lays to light our future with hope.” [IBID]

[visit CLAIRE@ www.anastas-bethlehem.com ]

TO THANK Bob Simon and 60 Minutes, for a hoped for continuing series in this election year regarding The Palestinian Christian EXODUS from Israeli controlled territory, please sign The Jewish Voice for PEACE action @ thankyou60minutes.org

 

I am Eileen Fleming for US HOUSE and I approve of all of my messages.

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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=202777

 

… by  Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

 

I served as a Marine infantryman in Vietnam.  None of us openly supported our unjust war and, as statistics will show, our casualty ratio was ten times that of what Marines suffer in Afghanistan. 

Our pay was also a tenth as much, our food less than a tenth, and our waistlines less also.

Few of us lived very long, agent orange, malnutrition and poor medical care.  We fought outnumbered, no air support, few helicopters, defective weapons, ate decades old food, when we could get it, wore rags, had no body armour and lost more Marines in Vietnam than in World War II.  You remember what we returned home to.

One of our biggest problems, back when there was a Tea Party, was fighting against them and for our military and veterans.  You see, it was Tea-Bagger policy that all veterans were “fakers,” pretending they had only one leg, or making up that Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from that imaginary RPG.

Their support organizations such as the American Enterprise Institute and Dr. Sally Satel have fought for cuts in veterans benefits, medical care and have fought against funding treatment for combat wounded for years.

Recruiting Marines to support such beliefs under the guise of the imaginary “birther” issue is simply a con.  Our “Tea-Bagger” Marine is one of two kinds of “fish or fowl,” a conman or a total idiot.  He may be both.

In one documented case, a Marine veteran discharged after serving in Iraq applied for disability compensation.  He was rated at 10%.  He was missing 25% of his brain from a head wound and had one other problem.  His right arm had been blown off also. 

The doctor at the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to note that.  Why?  They were under that much political pressure to find all vets as having “pre-existing conditions” or worse.

We compare that with the Court of Miracles from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where street beggars would suddenly reveal what had seemed to be missing limbs and eyes.

We didn’t want this war, what few of us are left, and the best of us fought against it and Bush and Wall Street and war-mongering for profit.

This is what we consider the duty of any real Marine, how we tell those who “walk the walk” from those who “talk the talk.”  We support dissent, and would have fought for the right if ever fighting for real American freedom were to come up.

Of late, we don’t fight wars for freedom, not unless you call heroin or oil “freedom.”  What we hate is propaganda and there has been no worse propaganda than that we used to hear from the Tea Party.  I saw through them in a second.

I admit, the medical care issue is still at hand but none of us went on PTSD disability after service, not for decades, minimally 25 years.

I respect dissent, I advocate it but I don’t consider the Tea Party, a political organization funded and organized by foreign cash, legitimate dissent.

In fact, the Tea Party supports, not just the war, but torture, Koran burning, the murder of innocent citizens, and is, in itself, a threat to the good discipline of our troops as much as it was a threat to the security of the United States.  Note that I say “was.”

The real “Tea Party” began as an organization demanding a new investigation of 9/11 because they didn’t believe the government.

They were backed by science, by physics, by witnesses and by fact.  They were “dissent,” not a pack of nut cases paid for by Wall Street.

 

RUMSFELD VIDEO SHOWS “TEABAG THINKING”….FROM THE SAME FOLKS WHO ARE NOW “BIRTHERS”

YouTube – Veterans Today -

Ask Rumsfeld, if he is still alive, if one such bunker were found, much less dozens?  Have him explain this to the mothers of the dead, thousands of our own, hundreds of thousands of the “collateral” dead, who died over these caves and a “WMD program” that never existed in Iraq either. 

It isn’t just the dead, we now have a “new” 500,000 disabled veterans.  We don’t care about them, only paying for them.  When it came to buying trillions of dollars for bombs, nobody said a word.  Ask the “Tea Bag Marine” if he has seen one of Rumsfeld’s “magic bunkers?”

That’s why we are so happy it is gone, the phony “tea-baggers,” discarded to the trash heap of history like other politically extreme racist and fanatical groups.

This one was financed by Wall Street, controlled by the Israel lobby and dedicated to a totalitarian America with no freedoms at all.

There was nothing more unAmerican than the Wall Street shills, the sign carrying morons traveling across America with Glenn Beck.

When I see the ACLU, defender of Rush Limbaugh and the old Communist Party, defending the “Teabag Marine,” I am seeing what I expect, the ACLU should, perhaps, go back to supporting Nazi rallies on our streets.

I always loved that, the staged confrontations between Nazi groups and pro-Israel protesters, both sides financed by the same people.  You didn’t know it was an act, just a stage play, paid phony Nazis?

How do you think the Anti Defamation League raised money?

Everyone does it, it was just them playing the suckers for cash, a great American tradition.

A few facts:

There is no proof any member of Al Qaeda was ever in Afghanistan, none have been found, none have been killed nor is there any legitimate proof such an organization has ever existed in the first place.

Let’s get to the basis of some of the issues.

The Marine Corps has demoted and is discharging what was once a 9 year E-5, over making statements questioning the presidents birth certificate?  Is this true? No.

What he did was refuse to stop trying to organize Marines to stop taking orders from their chain of command.  We call that “insurrection.”  The “birther” issue, nutty as can be anyway, had little to do with it.  What he did would have gotten any Marine in history a dishonorable discharge anytime, anywhere.

You see, the President is the Commander in Chief and refusing “lawful orders” is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, part of what you sign up for, yes, a quite flawed system, that allows the military to fire you if you refuse orders.

Oh wait, you  mean like in any civilian job?  If you fail to do what your superiors tell you, you are fired too, just the same.

What we have here is a “mama’s boy Marine” who is running to the papers, running to members of a congress with an 8% approval rating, to avoid serving.

First of all, I think he should be able to belong to the Tea Party but, as with all members of the military and all government employees, he is restricted by law, the endless millions of them, from being publicly involved in politics.  Any government employee knows that.

Then there is the other problem.  Indoctrination in “Tea Party” politics, central to those are beliefs is torture, disrespect for Islam and open racism, have always been a threat to the military.  How do you think we got into two losing and illegal wars in the first place?

I don’t want “Tea Party” anything in our military, not commanding, not serving, not involved in government at all.  I see them as a totalitarian threat to American values, I see them as the real enemy, not phony “Al Qaeda.”

I would gladly fight the Tea Party if it came down to it, but we don’t have to.  The American people, in a rare expression of wisdom, threw it away, recognized the idiocy and racism for what it is, saw through their Wall Street money.

Add in their custom painted buses, their friends in the controlled press, and let them and Ms. Bachmann and a few other crazies quietly disappear in a sea of tears.

Not our tears certainly.

It was right wing fanatics under Bush and Cheney, now hiding out from prosecution as war criminals, that put us where we are and why our Marine isn’t in a civilian job which he wouldn’t be able to get because they don’t exist.

A Marine sergeant, someone who does very little actual work, those of us who have been there know that very well, makes more money than the manager of a Walmart store or bank or an automobile worker.

Then there is that other problem.  Members of our military who have followed these “right wing” political beliefs have, of late, been responsible for a series of war crimes which have seriously harmed the United States and endangered the lives of Americans everywhere.

No American traveling outside the US is now safe because right wing extremists in the military, rogues, have murdered children, urinated on bodies, careful to upload their stupidity to YouTube and been responsible for hundreds of other crimes we work day and night to cover up.

Funny thing, 97.5% of the world heroin supply is coming from Afghanistan and our Tea Party Marine, soon to be “former,” hasn’t seen any of that?  We also have endless uploaded photos showing Marines guarding poppy fields, something Americans are extremely concerned about.

That heroin, much of it, is flooding America’s streets, the profits buying the Tea Party congressmen, whose campaigns are paid for by money laundered through corporations according to one of the sickest Supreme Court decisions yet, a 5/4 “Clarence Thomas” decision, we have come to call them.

With so much to talk about, a phony war against non-existent enemies, that isn’t noticed.  Afghanistan is much like Vietnam.  Our enemies were poor working people who knew nothing of Communism but rather wanted freedom from foreign invasion and the illegal government we put over them.

This is what Afghanistan is and what a protest should be about, illegal war, no such thing as Al Qaeda, being on the wrong side in a conflict, again, mind you, and peddling heroin, which anyone can do more honestly on a street corner than doing so in uniform.

There is much for an honest person to protest about and, were our “Tea Bag Marine” to get into trouble for something honest and not for deciding he is going to stop obeying lawful orders because of something he read in an email he got from some nutcase working for the GOP and Israel, he might get our support here.

Instead, we advocate civilian life for him.  After all, “Joe the plumber” is running for congress with the same beliefs. He can do the same and there are places he can get elected, whether or not he can read or write. This is the freedom of America.  He will get no shortage of financial backing during an election year no matter how many laws he has violated.

I really don’t expect Marines to keep their mouths shut politically.  They are free to stop taking those paychecks, leave the service, march the streets on money they earn from honest work and say anything they want. 

I protested the Vietnam War because it was what I believed.  Our “Tea Bag Marine” wants war to continue and is protesting what I consider poor attempts to stop it.

I am dissatisfied with Obama’s attempts to deal with Afghanistan honestly but I am certainly for throwing out of the Marine Corps someone who can’t be controlled.

Are all women and children murdered by Tea Party members?  I don’t know, nobody has asked but it is reasonable to assume that an organization that is, by nature Islamophobic and extremist, would and has influenced illegal behavior.  My guess is “extremely probably.”

Thus, bring him home and put this young man in congress with others of his ilk. Do it quickly.

Editing:  Jim W. Dean

 

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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=198580

 

        … by  Jim W. Dean, VT Editor

American remains on it’s knees to our 911 investigation fraudsters, and the mortgage, banking and Wall Street derivatives pirates. A sad legacy to a once great country.

In contrast to the cowardice and Congressional corruption evident here, little Iceland is leading the way in going after our contemporary Viking looters…a wonderful irony in itself.

Several weeks ago I published the Sicily Pitchfork revolt on a similar irony theme. A broad coalition of grassroots groups there shut the whole island of five million down for almost two weeks in protest of fuel tax hikes of 40%.

Among their list of demands were the arrests of all corrupt officials, huge cuts in political office pay, perks and benefits, and a complete turnover of all long serving public employees. Imagine that!

I pushed the piece because mass media had a black out on what was a great story. Here you had Sicily, the land of historical corruption,  and the good folks rising up against their political and business mobsters…but not here in the land of the free…not yet anyway.

The article did surprisingly well on VT. Who knew that a Sicily Revolt would catch on. But my gut feel was right. The uniqueness of the mixed age and makeup of the Pitchfork movement, versus the younger crowd of Occupy…and the media blocking out the story hit a nerve.

The readers picked up on it right away, with a lot of comments wondering when the rest of us would wake up and start working together more to fight our elitist aliens.

As often happens with VT hit pieces, the hundreds of international bloggers and websites who follow up picked my article up and when I Googled the title with Jim W. Dean, I found it posted all over the place…something we don’t mind really as the name of the game here is to get the word out. So yes, I am trying to double dip on this Iceland story.

I had heard that the public at large was protesting the ‘Greek Fire’ IMF solution…a generation or more of servitude to pay bankers and regulators for something that they caused, or allowed to happen through greed, corruption and blissful incompetence.

Whereas most, like here, would have focused on debt reduction and forgiveness, not Iceland. Those folks want some bankster scalps. Their special prosecutor has not only been raiding their offices, but their homes, also. I may have missed it, but I don’t think that happened here.

Some of these investigations are several years old, but the prosecution net of those being targeted continues to grow. It looks to me like they mean to hunt down every last one and give them the full Monty, to borrow the Brit phrase.

From Businessweek:

A new coalition, led by Social Democrat Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, was voted into office in early 2009. The authorities are now investigating most of the main protagonists of the banking meltdown.

Iceland’s special prosecutor has said it may indict as many as 90 people, while more than 200, including the former chief executives at the three biggest banks, face criminal charges.

Larus Welding, the former CEO of Glitnir Bank hf, once Iceland’s second biggest, was indicted in December for granting illegal loans and is now waiting to stand trial. The former CEO of Landsbanki Islands hf, Sigurjon Arnason, has endured stints of solitary confinement as his criminal investigation continues.

Can you believe that, solitary confinement DURING an investigation. Seems like these Icelandic post Vikings consider the financial rape and pillaging of the country…well…a serious offense, and not just an regulation flaw or and accounting irregularity.

The Iceland Review report on February 6th that even the banks accounting firms are getting drawn in now:

Three employees of the auditing firm KPMG were questioned on behalf of the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Thursday and documents concerning the investment company Milestone and related companies were confiscated at KPMG’s headquarters.

From the Financial Times on February, 23rd, by Michael Stothard in Stockholm we have this incredible admission from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office that they have bungled  their investigation.

So how does little Iceland, with much less resources, manage to get it right? Might it be that their is no political corruption protecting the guilty?

Iceland’s Kaupthing probe leads to charges

Kaupthing Bank in Prosecutor’s Cross hairs

The Icelandic probe into the collapse of Kaupthing Bank in 2008 made a big leap forward this week just as the UK’s Serious Fraud Office was admitting it had mishandled its investigation in the same affair.

The Icelandic special prosecutor charged Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, the former chief executive of the failed lender, and Sigurdur Einarsson, the former chairman, with fraud and market manipulation. They are due to appear in court next month.

The move was the culmination of a three-year investigation by the special prosecutor, which was set up following the country’s 2008 banking crisis to look into “suspected criminal conduct before, during and following the events that led to the so-called ‘collapse’ in Iceland”.

“This is a good moment for the people of Iceland, many of whom are still very angry about the events of 2008,” said Thorolfur Matthiasson, professor of economics at the University of Iceland.

The indictments will come as a relief to Olafur Hauksson, the special prosecutor leading the case, who has in the past faced criticism for lack of progress. His fortunes are today in stark contrast to those of Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, which has been investigating Kaupthing’s UK ties.

The British agency was forced on Wednesday to admit “very regrettable errors” in the way it handled part of its Kaupthing inquiry involving Vincent Tchenguiz, the property tycoon, who was a major borrower from the bank.”’

The SFO joined the investigation into possible criminal activity at Kaupthing in 2009 because of the sizeable operations it had in the UK and also because several UK-based figures were among its biggest shareholders and borrowers, including Mr Tchenguiz and his brother Robert.

Over the next three years, the SFO and Icelandic special prosecutor co-operated on numerous operations, launching a raid on offices in Luxembourg, which was an important offshore base for Kaupthing…..

 

 

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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=189452

 

by Stuart Littlewood

 

Are we expected to believe that Israel’s leaders, given their lawless and belligerent track record, are saner than Iran’s Ahmadjinadad?

 

You can read about it on a British government website.

“The UK and many other countries have serious concerns about the Iranian Government’s policies,” says the Foreign Office, “its failure to address serious international concerns about its nuclear programme; its support for terrorism and promotion of instability in its region; and its continued denial of human rights…”

I really thought they were talking about Israel and had got the names muddled up. But no… “On Iran’s nuclear programme, we are actively seeking a solution through diplomatic engagement and sanctions to encourage compliance by Iran with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and six UN Security Council resolutions.”

Wow, does this means that Israel, which Iran is supposed to be threatening, is an innocent victim of Iranian aggression, is a menace to no-one, is suddenly co-operating with  the IAEA and is now in full compliance with all those UN resolutions?

This is hot news!

The Foreign Office goes further: “Iran’s backing of Hizbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and other Palestinian Rejectionist Groups…”

Just a minute. What exactly is a “rejectionist group”? I had to look it up in the Oxford dictionary. A rejectionist, it says, is a person who rejects a proposed policy, especially an Arab who refuses to accept a negotiated peace with Israel.

Ah. So what are we supposed to call an Israeli who rejects a perfectly reasonable Arab peace deal… like “get off our land and there’ll be no trouble”? What do we call an Israeli who defies international law and denies the human rights of others? An Israeli who treats UN resolutions with contempt?

 

“Rejectionist” Israel

 

Rejectionism is an Israeli thing; it’s what they do, they specialise in it. Israel,  let’s face it, is king of the rejectionist business.

All this sabre-rattling and talk of pre-emptive strikes against Iran is getting on everyone’s nerves. Iran, after all, is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Israel is not. What does that tell us?

The Treaty dates back to 1970 so Israel has had more than enough time to show good faith and come on board with the other 189 State parties. The NPT has more signatories than any other treaty of its kind. The only refuseniks – OK, let’s stay with the Foreign Office’s new buzzword – the only rejectionists are India, Israel and Pakistan.

The British government says the international community must be prepared to “respond robustly” when a country withdraws from the NPT… “The NPT is not like any other treaty and the risks associated with its abuse are uniquely dangerous. We recommend immediate discussions at the UN Security Council if a country announces its intention to withdraw. The IAEA should be required to report immediately on the nuclear activities of that country.”

It’s common sense really. So what about countries, like Israel, that have stacks of nukes and refused to sign up to the NPT in the first place? What about the “uniquely dangerous risks” in Israel’s case?  Where’s the robust response? Is the UNSC addressing Israel’s rejectionism? Has the IAEA reported on Israel’s nuclear activities?

As a matter of fact the IAEA is quite bothered about Israel. The BBC reported yesterday http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11709428 … “On 18 September 2009, the IAEA called on Israel to join the NPT and open its nuclear facilities to inspection. The resolution said that the IAEA ‘expresses concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities, and calls upon Israel to accede to the NPT and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards’…

“Israel refuses to join the NPT or allow inspections. It is reckoned to have up to 400 warheads but refuses to confirm or deny this.”

I’ve seen the 400 “deliverable” nukes figure before – it’s nearly twice Britain’s arsenal – also that European cities were targeted.

Israel is the third or fourth largest nuclear force in the world and the only one in the Middle East. A 2006/7 report by the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission says: “Most unofficial estimates claim that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal numbering in the hundreds, possibly larger than the British stockpile. Israel is widely believed to possess both fission and fusion bombs. It has an unsafeguarded plutonium production reactor and reprocessing capability and possibly some uranium enrichment capability, along with various other uranium-processing facilities.”

It is the only state in the region that is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has signed but not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. As regards biological and chemical weapons, Israel has not signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention.

So why is the focus on Iran and not rejectionist Israel? Israel’s incessant foaming at the mouth over Iran has nothing to do with the alleged remark by Mr Ahmadjinadad to “wipe Israel off the map” – a remark he never made anyway. Long before that, back in 2002 and 2004 Israel was urging the international community to target Iran as soon as it had finished in Iraq and to strip Iran of WMD.

Are we expected to believe that Israel’s leaders, given their lawless and belligerent track record, are saner than Iran’s Ahmadjinadad? Washington and London may believe such tosh but I doubt if anyone in the Middle East would. Or anyone else in Europe for that matter. A European Commission survey finds that the public believe Israel to be the biggest threat to world peace, greater than North Korea, Afghanistan or Iran.

Eighty per cent of Conservative MPs preach that Israel’s enemies are our enemies but who is listening?

 

War-war not jaw-jaw

 

Perhaps the looniest thing I have heard lately is the passage through Congress of the ‘‘Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011’’.  Hidden away where it wouldn’t be noticed, under “General Provisions – Denial of Visas for Certain Persons of the Government of Iran” (Section 601), is this gem…

(c) RESTRICTION ON CONTACT. — No person employed with the United States Government may contact in an official or unofficial capacity any person that — (1) is an agent, instrumentality, or official of, is affiliated with, or is serving as a representative of the Government of Iran; and (2) presents a threat to the United States or is affiliated with terrorist organizations. (d) WAIVER. — The President may waive the requirements of subsection (c) if the President determines and so reports to the appropriate congressional committees 15 days prior to the exercise of waiver authority that failure to exercise such waiver authority would pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the vital national security interests of the United States.

It effectively bans diplomacy with Iran.  Neither the President himself nor the Secretary of State nor any US diplomat or emissary is allowed to engage in negotiations or diplomacy with Iran unless the President can convince the “appropriate Congressional committees” (e.g. the House Foreign Affairs Committee whose strings are pulled by AIPAC) that not doing so would present “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the vital national security interests of the United States”.

War-war is preferred to jaw-jaw. And it’s no surprise to discover that this nonsense was cooked up by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Howard Berman (D-CA), who both lead the Foreign Affairs Committee.

How clever is it to abandon all the channels of normal diplomacy? Those who support the measure must be desperate for more bloodshed – as long as they personally don’t have to act as cannon-fodder. Who can forget the chicken-hawks who casually ordered troops into Iraq and Afghanistan but would never dream of donning uniform and picking up a rifle themselves?

 

The preamble to this junk piece of legislation states:

 

In the 2006 State of the Union Address, President Bush stated that ‘‘The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions, and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons. America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats…” In February 2009, President Obama committed the Administration to ‘‘developing a strategy to use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon… Iran is a major threat to United States national security interests.”

Is it really?

Circulating in the background for years have been rumours speculating on the whereabouts of nuclear warheads dumped by a US B-52 which crashed in 1991. Did freelancers salvage them? Was the nuke exploded by North Korea in 2006 one of these? Does Iran have some? Is this what the panic’s about?

Many people are quite sure that if the increasingly unhinged Israeli leadership, with finger on the nuke button, believed their unlawful ambitions in the Middle East were permanently thwarted, they would think nothing of taking the rest of the world to hell with them.

 

 

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