Secret Assassination Squad?
Posted By: Mrs. Bridger on 2009-03-12
In Reply to:
Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney
![](http://www.rawstory.com/images/new/specialops.jpg") Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dik Cheney.
The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis" whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under Richard Nixon, continue to this day.
Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."
Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations: the Joint Special Operations Command. "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," he explained. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it."
"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on," Hersh stated. "Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."
Hersh told MinnPost.com blogger Eric Black in an email exchange after the event that the subject was "not something I wanted to dwell about in public." He is looking into it for a book, but he believes it may be a year or two before he has enough evidence "for even the most skeptical."
Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.
As Hersh noted in Minnesota, the New York Times on Monday described the Joint Special Operations Command as overseeing the secret commando units in Afghanistan whose missions were temporarily ordered halted last month because of growing concerns over excessive civilian deaths.
However, it appears that Hersh is now on the trail of some fresh revelation about these squads and their connection to Vice-President Cheney that goes well beyond anything that has previously been reported.
Eric Black's blog posting, which includes an hour-long audio recording of the full University of Minnesota colloquy, is available here.
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Secret Assassination Squad?
Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dik Cheney.
The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis" whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under Richard Nixon, continue to this day.
Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."
Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations: the Joint Special Operations Command. "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," he explained. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it."
"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on," Hersh stated. "Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."
Hersh told MinnPost.com blogger Eric Black in an email exchange after the event that the subject was "not something I wanted to dwell about in public." He is looking into it for a book, but he believes it may be a year or two before he has enough evidence "for even the most skeptical."
Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.
As Hersh noted in Minnesota, the New York Times on Monday described the Joint Special Operations Command as overseeing the secret commando units in Afghanistan whose missions were temporarily ordered halted last month because of growing concerns over excessive civilian deaths.
However, it appears that Hersh is now on the trail of some fresh revelation about these squads and their connection to Vice-President Cheney that goes well beyond anything that has previously been reported.
Eric Black's blog posting, which includes an hour-long audio recording of the full University of Minnesota colloquy, is available here.
Thought crimes, secret formulas, secret votes, motherload databases, "no lists?"
don't let the door hit you on the way out. The silence from the peanut gallery speaks volumes.
So, how many assassination plots against Palin
You motorcade attack shows perhaps 1/2 of a dozen protesters versus thousands upon thousands at Palin rallies being whipped up into a frenzy. Do you not distinguish between the actions of a few protestors and the actions of 2 candidates who are running for the highest office in the land? This is not Obama hate speech in this video. Can you grasp the difference? Also, Obama supporters did not start the negative campaigning...they responded in kind to an avalanche of pathetic attempts to swift boat Obama...a mistake dems did not intend to make twice.
Also, when an entire campaign declares war on the press/media during a national presidential campaign, they should have expected the response they got. McC put an unknown up there as VP candidate....it is only natural that she would be vetted in such a manner. Palin did not need any help from the media in making a complete fool of herself and it would have been irresponsible to treat her differently from any other candidate, especially just because she is a woman.
All of that is STILL beside the point. None of these so-called attacks on Palin have resulted in assassination conspiracies. NONE. You are behaving like a 5th grader and avoiding the issue. Assassination is FATAL....don't you get that?
What about the hate speech and assassination threats?
conservative who is willing to addess this directly?
There were assassination attempts on WHITE Presidents. Did the assassinators
think they might not really be white? or that they were too young to run a country?
*Death squad?*???
What have you and your professor friend been smoking?! Where do you think we learned the word jihad oh scholarly one? We learned it from the terrorists. Perhaps you and your professor friend should hold classes for THEM so that THEY understand what jihad really means. As far as stereotypes...you can talk until you are blue in the face. When Muslims stand up and start denouncing what is being done in the name of Islam and are instrumental in trying to stop it, I will be much more interested in what they have to say. And if 5 foot tall red headed Texans start flying planes into buildings and blowing people up in the name of the 5 foot red headed texas gods, you can darn well bet I will be suspicious of 5 foot red headed Texans! Sheesh. You are UNBELIEVABLE.
In comes the cheering squad...
rah, rah, Taiga! Get'er! :-)
Nobody in sam's squad weighing in on this?
x
Death squad on this board....
what *spurious ultra-left wing* crap, Teddy! The more appropriate way to use the term death squad is in reference to: the Achille Lauro squad, the Beirut Marine barracks squad, the first WTC squad, the African embassy bombings squad, the Cole squad, the 9-11 squad...THOSE are DEATH squads. How many THOUSAND lives were lost? Actually dead, Teddy, D-E-A-D. THAT is what a DEATH squad is. For you to like the American military to a *death squad* is tantamount to treason as far as I am concerned. You tell ME how you are going to *negotiate* with those people? *hawk extremist war?* Helloooo....we were ATTACKED and nearly 3000 people killed in just ONE of the attacks I listed above. ALL carried out by radical Muslims. Not a one carried out by anything OTHER than a radical Muslim. Maybe being attacked like that does not make the attacker an enemy in your books, but it certainly does in mine.
As I said to Lurker and I will say to you, that as long as there are, in your words, *other people fighting and dying for you,* to protect your right to come on any board, stand on any street corner, and shout your *spurious ultra left wing canned rhetoric,* hopefully you will never have to know what it is not to HAVE that right. Because whether you want to pull head out of your liberal alternate reality and into the real world or not, THAT is why you have that right. Because men and women over hundreds of years have fought and died to get that right and preserve it. And as long as Americans like us, the so-called *hawk extremists* ARE willing to fight to retain that, not just for ourselves but for you too, you will retain that freedom you so covet to blast us with.
You're welcome.
Isn't that hilarious! The execution squad makes a complaint.
Too ridiculous. Liberals were hounded off the old board 50 to 1 - if there ever even was 1 Con banned, which I sorely doubt. And it was YOU engineering the hatchet jobs. It must really eat at your insides that you lost your ability to lynch mob the rest of us. So, you try to make the same accusation against us? - with no conception obviously of how hollow and stupid it sounds coming out of your mouth. People aren't getting banned anymore, face it - and that's a good thing - for us anyway:) So stop the incoherent whining. You lost. Get over it. Find an issue to discuss and try to keep your sociopathology better disguised.
my dog ate my secret
memo - what is the "IST" word we are throwing at the democrats today? Yesterday was "elitist" -- we need to keep switching them around to keep fresh. "Socialist" and "communist" were used recently. How bout "polygamist" - we haven't used that one in a while.
Should be the Secret Service! nm
In Iraq, what you do is best kept secret...sm
This is rather lengthy, but paints a picture of Iraq from an Iraqi point of view. This just goes to show there are two sides to every story. Listening to the government and Fox News reporters you would think the good guy was in control in Iraq. According to this article, it would appear the insurgents hold a greater power over the people :(
World News
In Iraq, what you do is best kept secret
Sunnis pose as Shiites, rich people pose as poor, and no one says where they work. Telling the truth could bring a death sentence.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
By Megan K. Stack, Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- You don't want to draw attention, so you keep a battered car even if you can afford a fancier model. You don't wash it; better to let dust smear the windows. Night falls, curfew clamps down, and all those dirty old cars wend their way back to the homes of the capital. The eyes of neighbors slide after them.
Where are the drivers coming from? Some work for the government. Some fight with insurgents or death squads. Some are employed by Americans. No one asks, and no one tells; nobody knows who's who.
Bloodshed has turned Iraq into a country defined by disguise and bluff. Violence in the streets has begun to defy logic, and this is part of the fallout: A lively city where people used to butt gleefully into one another's business has degenerated into a labyrinth of disguises, a place where neighbors brush silently past one another like dancers in a macabre costume ball.
Everything is hidden among Iraqis; people are very suspicious of one another, said 66-year-old Hayawi Mahdi Abaasi, a successful lawyer who says he won't repair his tumble-down house or replace his 1982 Toyota for fear the wrong people would notice.
Why should I call the attention of terrorists to me? I try to be very common like everyone else, he said.
Rich people hide their jewelry and dig frayed clothes from the back of their closets to evade ransom-seeking kidnappers. Muslims claim to be Sunni or Shiite, depending on circumstance. Christians pose as Muslims. Lying about employment is de rigueur. Street police wrap their faces in masks so nobody will recognize them.
Everybody, it seems, is pretending to be somebody else, adopting a fake identity in the terrified hope of staying safe. Baghdad residents reason that no matter who you are, you're probably on somebody's hit list.
It's not a matter of lying or not lying, said Ali Abdullah. It's a matter of life or death.
Mr. Abdullah is a 31-year-old Sunni with dark skin, a strapping build and a bushy strip of mustache. Like most people in Baghdad, he is a man of secrets.
He was trained as an engineer in Saddam Hussein's Iraq but now works for an American nonprofit organization. His life has been threatened and his wife begs him to quit, but he says he can't -- the money is too good, and they have a 3-year-old son to think about.
Abdullah takes a taxi to work so his car won't be recognized. He uses different streets each time and changes his telephone number every few months.
He splurged on a $100 Swatch watch in neighboring Jordan, but now he's afraid to wear it in public. When people ask about his job, he lies and says he owns a computer shop.
Rule No. 1, he says: Never, under any circumstance, intimate to the neighbors on his predominantly Sunni street that he's sold out to the foreigners.
This is a killer, if my neighbors find out where I work, he said. This is the first thing that must be maintained, that my neighbors can't know what I do.
For Mr. Abdullah and his family, that has meant isolation. He shrinks from possible conversations, taking care not to linger in his doorway, make eye contact or trade small talk. When he caught sight of an old college friend across a crowded restaurant recently, he turned on his heels and rushed away to avoid conversation.
When they talk about the loss of intimacy, many Iraqis are mournful. Like members of most Middle Eastern societies, Iraqis have traditionally prized warmth and valued social interchange over what Westerners might regard as personal privacy. In the old Iraq, it was better to err on the side of nosiness than to appear cold or distant. It was perfectly normal to grill strangers on their marital status and the price of their possessions.
Little by little, that warmth has been bled away by war. Tension pulls on the city now. The atmosphere is thick with intrigue; it feels film noir, cloak-and-dagger. Except it is real -- and deadly.
Behavior has changed from rational behavior into instinctive, animalistic behavior, said Ehsan Mohammed Hassan, one of Iraq's leading sociologists and a professor at Baghdad University. The individual is not safe from the others. He has to hide. He doesn't want people to see him because he thinks the people are evil.
Amid the fear and loathing, a long-standing tribal tradition has disappeared. Etiquette used to require men to ask one another about their jobs; it was a way of showing concern for a friend's livelihood and to demonstrate willingness to help a man if he had fallen on hard times.
These days, though, to ask about jobs is impolite -- perhaps even dangerous. Instead, men find themselves throwing out other questions: How are you? What are you doing here?
A lot of people are killed for no reason. So what do you think they'll do if you work for the Americans? Mr. Abdullah asked. That's it. You're a traitor.
Working for the Iraqi government is no better -- everybody from university professors to national athletes to traffic police has been slaughtered by insurgents determined to bludgeon civic and social life to a standstill.
Iraq may be the only country in the world where militia members and anti-government insurgents walk the streets with bare faces while government workers, soldiers and cops cower behind masks.
I wear a mask because I don't want people to know I'm working for the police, a 34-year-old officer named Ahmed Ali said on a recent afternoon. It was lunch hour, and he and some of his colleagues had driven across Baghdad through the 110-degree heat to gobble down lamb kebabs in a neighborhood where they knew fewer people.
The men are stationed in the volatile Dora area, south of downtown and one of Baghdad's bloodiest sectarian battlefields. Clad in matching blue button-downs and navy trousers, their pistols holstered on their waists, they admitted they didn't dare bring their badges or uniforms home, not even to launder them.
They described slipping from the house in civilian clothes, creeping into the station and changing hurriedly into their uniforms.
Amid the fear, some profit. The document forger, for one.
Assad Kheldoun, a 29-year-old who operates out of the religiously mixed neighborhood of Shaab, grinds out fake identity cards for about $30 apiece. Exactly like the original, he boasts. But with one difference: A false name.
He's not selling to hustlers or mischief makers. Most of his clients are bus drivers, highway workers or car repairmen -- people forced to make their livings in Iraq's mean streets.
Last names are sectarian giveaways in Iraq, often deriving from tribes commonly known to be either Sunni or Shiite. Jaabour or Dulaimi, for instance, mean Sunni to Iraqis; so does the first name Omar.
People are getting killed because of their names, Kheldoun said. In the past few months, everybody is asking for a false identity card. It's a phenomenon now. The people are scared.
CIA, Secret Service, etc.
Fact: Obama wouldn't pass a background check for either of these organizations based on his associations alone (Wright, Ayers, Dohrn, etc.), yet somehow it's different to be President?
Don't waste your time arguing the point. Look it up for yourselves and start paying attention to plain facts.
As a side item, none of us would qualify based on associations like these.
According to the secret service
those statements weren't made at her meeting or whatever.
Personally I think it could have been some Obama supporters there doing it just to start things. It may have not been endorsed by the Obama campaign but it could happen. In the same sense, she could have not heard it being up on stage if her supporters were saying it. I was talking to my husband about this (he's been in a couple of bands) and you know how sometime the band members will talk with the audience? Well they have done that before and he said he could never figure out what the crowd was yelling back when they all got going and after awhile you just tune it out. Could have been the same deal. Now if she was up there saying "we need to kill the terrorist" I would have to question her...
The mud is being slung from both sides ya'll, gotta dig deep to find the truth. Stop believing what's on the surface.
According to the Secret Service...
who yelled "kill him" when Barack Obama's name was mentioned during a Sarah Palin rally?
After investigating the claim, the Secret Service concluded that no one actually heard the comment that was widely reported in the media
There's a 100% guaranteed secret to
A simple exercise:
1. Place both hands on the edge of the table.
2. Lift both feet.
3. Push chair away from table.
4. Get up and leave.
McCain's secret plan
He keeps saying he knows how to find BinLaden and will do that after he is elected. Why isn't he sharing his secret fool-proof plan to capture him with the current administration? He is dangling that promise over our heads. If he actually does have a fantastic plan, he is allowing the whole country to be vulnerable UNTIL he gets what he wants - the presidency. Thumbs down on you, grandpa.
I am sure the Secret Service all love
piling into that Ford Focus everyday....lol Methinks he probably has a limo or two, just not in his name...
Shhhh! That's supposed to be a secret.
Do you know how much it costs, in today's economy, to snooker one billion people?
Their messiah hasn't spent all those millions and millions of dollars on advertising for nothing.
If they know he's a blowhard fluke with a goose egg for experience, how will he win the election?
It's best just to keep them in the dark. Like cattle lining up to have a bolt shoved through their brains.
Secret meetings, bribes of
high power positions, media cartels, dead rabbits . . . kin I play the lead in your mind-movie?
One thing the secret ballot does
is keep employees from being fired because they vote for unionization.
The Secret Service is idiotic?
Yup, I do remember. The secret weapons sales ....sm
to Iran are especially given what we are going through with Iran now.
Battle over UBS secret accounts to take months
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UBS_SECRETS?SITE=VACUL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
What the heck? U.S. releases secret list
GOD!! LET'S JUST HAND OVER OUR COUNTRY NOW AND GET IT OVER WITH.
U.S. Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites by Accident
Document that gives detailed information about civilian nuclear sites and programs, marked "highly confidential," was accidentally made public by the federal government.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The government accidentally posted on the Internet a list of government and civilian nuclear facilities and their activities in the United States, but a U.S. official said Wednesday the posting included no information that compromised national security.
The 266-page document was published on May 6 as a transmission from President Barack Obama to Congress. According to the document, the list was required by law and will be provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Some of the pages are marked "highly confidential safeguards sensitive."
Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the document had been reviewed by a number of U.S. agencies and that disclosure of the information did not jeopardize national security. He said the document is part of an agreement on nuclear material inspection under the IAEA's nuclear nonproliferation effort.
"While we would have preferred it not be released, the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Commerce and the NRC all thoroughly reviewed it to ensure that no information of direct national security significance would be compromised," LaVera said in a statement.
An Energy Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly, said none of the sites on the list are directly part of the government's nuclear weapons infrastructure.
Included in the report, however, are details on a storage facility for highly enriched uranium at the Y-12 complex at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and some sites at the Energy Department's Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, this official acknowledged.
The publication of the list was first reported in an online secrecy newsletter Monday. The document had been posted on the Government Printing Office Web site, but has since been removed from that site.
The document includes both government and civilian nuclear facilities, all of which have various levels of security, including details and location of nation's 103 commercial nuclear power reactors, information readily available from various sources.
The document details the location of the nuclear sites and what is being done there.
For instance, there are nuclear reactors at the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, Pa. This facility is currently working on research into what happens when there are accidents with the nuclear reactors. The project started in 2006 and is expected to end in 2012, according to the document.
There are "zero" national security implications to the publication of this document, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Government's Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood found the document on the GPO Web site and highlighted it in his online bulletin.
"I regret that some people are painting it as a roadmap for terrorists because that's not what it is," Aftergood said.
"This is not a disclosure of sensitive nuclear technologies or of facility security procedures. It is simply a listing of the numerous nuclear research sites and the programs that are under way," Aftergood said. "And so it poses no security threat whatsoever."
Secret service has said "yes" they do have these weapons...
I agree, the U.S. should nEVER stick their nose in any country's business as far as I am concerned; however, with Obama, it is no secret he has never stayed silent with the asian countries but has bowed his way through the muslim countries.... O lovers can think what they want but O is Muslim, will always be Muslim, and that's that....don't really care what anyone else thinks...his silence speaks volumes. O says he wants to "reach out" to the muslim world... well folks, this is his chance to just say something. He doesn't have to interfere and shouldn't.
Don't worry about your precious Obama..... he has no power whatsoever. He is nothing more than a little puppet being pulled by very elite people.... how else do you think he was elected? Sure as heck not because he's qualified!!!
Mousavi is like choosing between bad and evil.... either way, those folks are screwed!! BTW, we should NEVER be involved with the UN. We don't need other countries to decide for us what we should and should not do....
And when you're paying through your nose in Obama's taxes for your wonderful government controlled life, see how much you love him then! And, yes, he will screw you over too!
No, she'll deliver another baby after a secret pregnancy. nm
x
Secret Service to investigate hate speech
Now that campaign is a real class act.
Secret Service Shows Up At Texas Mom's Door...
|
Quote: |
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up. |
Quote: |
Last week, here in America, they came for Jessica Hughes, and I will not be silent. I will not turn away, hoping, in the end, they will not come for me.
Jessica Hughes of Lufkin, Texas, former Marine, mother of three, answered her cell phone in the car, coming home from the emergency room. Her 9-year-old had suffered a mild concussion, but was OK.
The caller was a female Obama volunteer who asked if Jessica would support Obama for president.
Jessica replied, "No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time." Then Jessica hung up.
The next day, a man and a woman in suits showed up at the door of her home, identifying themselves as members of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service agents stated that the Obama campaign had complained of a death threat. They had quoted Jessica as saying, "I will never support Obama, and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."
Jessica's husband had heard Jessica's side of the original phone call and verified the actual quote. To which the female agent replied, "Oh? Well why would she (the Obama volunteer) make that up?"
Jessica replied that the Obama volunteer was probably unhappy about what Jessica had said about her candidate. The female agent then said "That's right, you were rude!"
The male agent then displayed a file with Jessica's full name prominently printed on it and asked her how she felt about Obama. At this point, the former Marine told the agent "in no uncertain terms" (as she later recounted) that this was America and that the last time she checked, she was allowed to think whatever she wanted without being questioned by the Secret Service. And was being "rude" a federal crime now too?
The agents then admitted they had no tape of the conversation, just the quote from the Obama campaign.
Responding to Jessica's questions, the agents would not identify themselves by name, nor reveal the name of the Obama volunteer who had made the complaint. The agents did indicate that Jessica was not in a court of law yet, and that they were trying to not embarrass her "by going to all her family and neighbors."
To these implied threats, Jessica invited the agents to speak to whomever they wanted, and stated she would happily go to court since she had done nothing wrong.
Jessica asked the agents, "Look, someone calls me unsolicited on my cell phone to ask me to support their candidate, and I can't tell them why I don't?"
The Secret Service left Jessica that day, but she could not get the "visit" out of her mind. |
Source:http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77825 |
Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over
Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.
The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.
So how many threats on Palin's life is the Secret Service
THAT'S what!
An John McCain supported the secret sale of weapons...sm
to Iran during Iran/Contra to raise money to support the contras in Nicaragua (sp)when Congress refused to fund them. Talk about criminal activity. IRAN I am telling you, Iran! McCain thinks it is OK to keep you and I in the dark and take us from a democracy to a fascist nation for our "own good". Several republican presidents in my lifetime have been guilty of this. We do need fixing. I do not envy anyone who gets elected. I think I would run the other way. It is not going to be easy, but I have hope with Obama and do not trust John McCain.
AWWW....you weren't supposed to tell anyone!! Can't keep a secret worth a dang!!
Bush first ex-prez to face limit on Secret Service protection
By Maria Recio McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush's "after-life," as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense.
However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection.
"He'll be the first one to receive it for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal protection for only 10 years.
The Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home — not paid for by taxpayers — on Jan. 20, and there Bush will be close to his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University.
"We're working on a conceptual design for the building," said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation. The president will help develop the $300 million structure, which will include a library, museum and policy institute.
Fundraising is just beginning, Langdale said. Once the project is finished in 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration will take over the operation of the library and museum, at federal expense. Construction will be paid for with private funds, and Bush is expected to be involved in organizing the fundraising drive.
"He is enthusiastic about spending a lot of his time and effort working on the programs of the institute," Langdale said.
Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life.
Bush's pension, which is tied to the base pay of the most senior government executives and increases with federal cost-of-living adjustments, will be about half the $400,000 annual presidential salary. He and Vice President Dick Cheney will receive transition expenses as well for seven months — one month before the inauguration and six months afterward — "to facilitate their transition to private life," according to the Congressional Research Service.
The GSA also covers travel expenses for any official activities attended by a former president, as well as two staff members. Former President Bill Clinton was allocated $50,000 for travel in fiscal year 2008 and former President George H.W. Bush, $56,000.
Former presidents and their families are entitled to health care in military hospitals, although they have to pay a reimbursement rate set by the Office of Management and Budget.
Bush will receive a state funeral upon his death, with full military honors for the former commander in chief.
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