Who let bin Ladens leave U.S.?
The Bush administration has refused to answer repeated requests from the Sept. 11 commission about who authorized flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Laden’s family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of 2001.

Plane's wreckage puzzles investigators
...Those facts led National Transportation Safety Board accident investigator Butch Wilson to conclude the Preziose's Cessna 208B Caravan "collided in-flight with an unknown object." That statement, part of an interim report released last month, has heightened speculation among local pilots, aviation buffs and conspiracy theorists about the demise of Night Ship 282, the call sign for the Preziose's flight. Theories abound. Some believe Night Ship 282 collided with a drug runner's plane, the loss of which might go unreported. Some wonder if Night Ship 282 was pelted by a meteor or space junk. Others think it collided with a military drone run amok, or perhaps was hit by a missile.

Attorney arrested over Madrid bombing released
Brandon Mayfield's release came soon after Spanish officials said fingerprints found on a bag near the bombing site were that of an Algerian. U.S. authorities had previously said the prints were Mayfield's.

Senator Hollings Is Right: It's all about Israel -Justin Raimondo
Isn't it funny how politicians have to wait until just before going into retirement to say what they really think about Israel and its influence over Washington policymakers? Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-Illinois), formerly the senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, waited until after announcing his departure from Congress to attend a symposium on the Middle East where he noted that his congressional colleagues are "not even-handed" when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "for political reasons." Rep. Hamilton went on to say: "Israeli leaders understand our system very, very well [and] because they understand our system they can exploit it."
"Now everyone knows what was not the cause. Even President Bush acknowledges that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. Listing the 45 countries where al-Qaida was operating on September 11 (70 cells in the U.S.), the State Department did not list Iraq. Richard Clarke, in Against All Enemies, tells how the United States had not received any threat of terrorism for 10 years from Saddam at the time of our invasion. … Of course there were no weapons of mass destruction. Israel's intelligence, Mossad, knows what's going on in Iraq. They are the best. They have to know. Israel's survival depends on knowing. Israel long since would have taken us to the weapons of mass destruction if there were any or if they had been removed. With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush's policy to secure Israel."

Evangelicals and Israel: Theological Roots of a Political Alliance
Reagan himself was a committed Christian Zionist. His support for Israel derived from both strategic political concerns and a vague dispensationalist perspective. He told Tom Dine, AIPAC's executive director; "I turn back to your ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if we re the generation that is going to see that come about." The remark was published by the Jerusalem Post and widely distributed by the Associated Press.

Contract interrogators hired to avoid supervision
Several high-ranking military legal officers believe the Pentagon used private contractors to interrogate prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in a deliberate attempt to obscure aggressive practices from congressional or military oversight, according to a civilian lawyer who has spoken with them.

Lunch With The Chairman: Why was Richard Perle meeting with Adnan Khashoggi?
Khashoggi is still brokering. In January of this year, he arranged a private lunch, in France, to bring together Harb Saleh al-Zuhair, a Saudi industrialist whose family fortune includes extensive holdings in construction, electronics, and engineering companies throughout the Middle East, and Richard N. Perle, the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, who is one of the most outspoken and influential American advocates of war with Iraq.

10 die as Israelis fire on children's march
Israeli forces fired shells and a missile at Palestinian demonstrators yesterday, killing 10 people and wounding at least 50, many of them children.

U.S. Panel Aims to Quash Vaccine-Autism Link
Another issue is the fact that, until 1999, thimerosal was used in more than 30 vaccines licensed and marketed in the United States. That year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined that small children receiving the standard vaccination schedule might be exposed to cumulative doses of ethylmercury that exceeded some safety guidelines. Measures were quickly taken to remove thimerosal from these vaccines.

Perle Libel Watch