Thread: Excellent letter: Judicial Watch:make SPP meeting public

I usually don't post these letters from Judicial Watch, but I thought that this one was really good.


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August 24, 2007




From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:
SPP Update: Bush Denies Rumors of North American Union



President Bush was on the defensive this week, denying rumors that he and the leaders of Canada and Mexico are planning to create a "regional super-government" much like the European Union. The President was in Montebello, Quebec for two days of meetings related to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). (The SPP is an international agreement between the U.S. , Canada and Mexico that some fear will sacrifice U.S. sovereignty.)



This is the President's response to critics of the SPP (according to The Washington Times):



"'I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and by what some are trying to say takes place,' said Mr. Bush, responding to concerns raised by conservative and liberal groups and some U.S. lawmakers. 'It's quite comical actually, to realize the difference between reality and what some people on TV are talking about.'"



This response, of course, begs the question: If the president is concerned about the difference between the reality of what takes place in the meetings and public perception, why not make all SPP meetings open to the public? Why not make all documents related to the deliberations available to the American people? Why give ammunition to opponents of the SPP by conducting any business in secret?



You will recall from last week's installment of the Weekly Update that Judicial Watch attempted to gain entrance to the meetings as part of its ongoing investigation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership and all of its subgroups. Specifically we sought access to the North American Competitiveness Council, the business advisory group that is part of the SPP process.



We were forced to file a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce to ensure that the North American Competitiveness Council, as an advisory group to the federal government, is subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and is therefore opened to the public. We asked the court to grant a temporary restraining order that would have provided Judicial Watch access to the Quebec meetings. Our request, unfortunately, was denied. (The part of the lawsuit seeking documents, however, is still active).



The issue is not, despite what President Bush says, what so-called conspiracy theorists think about the SPP. Officials at the highest levels of all three governments are meeting to craft policies impacting the lives of all American citizens. From the documents uncovered by Judicial Watch thus far, some of these policies raise serious red flags. One document uncovered by Judicial Watch speculated that in order to overcome public opposition to North American integration, policies should be developed in secret, what the document called "evolution by stealth." Other documents talk of sending tax dollars to Mexico to build its infrastructure as part of the SPP, and still other documents talk of carbon taxes.



There is nothing comical about this. President Bush is out of touch with the concerns of many Americans about the facts of the SPP.



Judicial Watch, of course, will continue to monitor the Security and Prosperity Partnership and make all documents obtained available on its Internet site, www.judicialwatch.org.



New Report Details Clinton Administration's Failure to Act Against bin Laden



The CIA Inspector General released a report this week detailing the intelligence failures leading up to the September 11 terrorist attacks, reserving its harshest criticisms for former CIA Director George Tenet, who, according to the report lacked a "documented, comprehensive" approach to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.



Tenet should certainly be held accountable for whatever role he played in the lack of U.S. preparedness with respect to terrorism. However, as New York Times editorial page correctly noted, warnings were issued, and ignored, by Tenet's first boss, President Bill Clinton:



"The C.I.A. inspector general's report on the agency's failures before Sept. 11 was devastating — but not because it showed that America's spies missed the rise of Al Qaeda. George Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, rang the Qaeda alarm. He sent a memo to the entire intelligence community saying that he wanted no effort spared in the 'war' with Osama bin Laden. He took on the president's closest advisers to agitate for a strike on a Qaeda base in Afghanistan . The disturbing thing was that this all happened under President Bill Clinton."



This certainly squares with a Judicial Watch investigation into the September 11 attacks. Update readers may recall that in 2005, Judicial Watch obtained a declassified document, dated August 19, 1996, that very clearly articulated the threat bin Laden posed to the United States.



According to the report, provocatively entitled, "Usama bin Ladin: Who's Chasing Whom?" at the time, bin Laden's many passports and his private plane allowed him considerable freedom to travel "with little fear of being intercepted or tracked." The report also warns that bin Laden's prolonged stay in Afghanistan "could prove more dangerous to U.S. interests in the long run than his three-year liaison with Khartoum."



It goes on... "[Bin Laden's] informal and transnational network of businesses and associates remains resilient…[He] can retain the capability to support individuals and groups who have the motive and wherewithal to attack U.S. interests almost worldwide."



Look, there is plenty of bi-partisan blame to go around for the federal government's pre-9/11 failure to protect the American people from the threat of terrorism, in general, and Osama bin Laden, in particular. However, the first and most obvious mistakes were made by Bill Clinton and his national security team. Had they acted aggressively, September 11 may never have happened. And no amount of revisionist history can change that fact.



Abortion Pill Lobby Continues to Mislead Public



Time magazine published an article last week heralding a new study first published in the New England Journal of Medicine "proving" the abortion pill is safe, a claim repeated in publications across the country. However, as Michelle Gress points out in a column she penned for the National Review this week, "These headlines take deception in journalism to a whole new level."



Gress ought to know what she's talking about. She served as counsel to the House Subcommittee on Drug Policy that investigated the approval of the abortion pill -- also know as RU-486. After reviewing thousands of documents, the subcommittee ultimately published a report entitled, "FDA and RU-486: Lowering the Standard for Women's Health."



The conclusions of this report are consistent with a six-year Judicial Watch investigation into the abortion pill. Since 2000, we have battled in court to force the release of government documents that reveal the dangerous and deadly nature of the abortion pill. (The documents Judicial Watch uncovered included clinical trials that revealed serious health complications resulting from the use of the drug, including internal bleeding and the passing of large blood clots.) This evidence uncovered by Judicial Watch led to nationwide calls for the FDA to ban the drug.



Judicial Watch also began to probe the Clinton Presidential Library documents pertaining to the hasty approval of RU-486 by the Clinton FDA. And, in April 2006, Judicial Watch published a report based on documents we uncovered, entitled, "The Clinton RU-486 Files: The Clinton Administration's Radical Drive to Force an Abortion Drug on America." Though I suggest you read the report in its entirety, here are a few of our conclusions:



• President Clinton ordered HHS and FDA to coordinate and promote the marketing of RU-486 as his first official act in office.



• Within one month, the FDA Commissioner had met with the RU-486 manufacturer and their parent company.



• Official U.S. government political, economic and diplomatic pressure was brought to bear to strong-arm the companies into changing their policies in order to make the drug available in the United States.



• The FDA was compromised in its role as objective reviewers of the safety and efficacy of the drug.



• The five standard requirements for certifying a drug "safe and effective" were circumvented to rush RU-486 to market.



• Radical, pro-abortion extremists dominated the Clinton administration's "women's health care" agenda and their reckless drive to bring RU-486 to America ultimately cost at least six women their lives and the lives of over 560,000 unborn children.



The bottom line here: The abortion pill is dangerous to the women who take it. And it was fraudulently approved by Bill and Hillary Clinton's FDA. Of course, you won't read that in Time magazine.



Until next week…





Tom Fitton
President

Judicial Watch is a non-partisan, educational foundation organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. Judicial Watch is dedicated to fighting government and judicial corruption and promoting a return to ethics and morality in our nation's public life. To make a tax-deductible contribution in support of our efforts, click here.

The issue is not, despite what President Bush says, what so-called conspiracy theorists think about the SPP. Officials at the highest levels of all three governments are meeting to craft policies impacting the lives of all American citizens. From the documents uncovered by Judicial Watch thus far, some of these policies raise serious red flags. One document uncovered by Judicial Watch speculated that in order to overcome public opposition to North American integration, policies should be developed in secret, what the document called "evolution by stealth." Other documents talk of sending tax dollars to Mexico to build its infrastructure as part of the SPP, and still other documents talk of carbon taxes.

This should be reason enough to inact IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS.... No one has a right to effect the soverenty of the United States... not even an incompetant leader like Presedente Boosh.

This person has bent and twisted our laws that far smarter people have inacted to protect us from people like him.

Republicans... get off your A_ _ ........ IMPEACH Bush... Chaney isnt much better but he is too weak to enact any of the issues that are effecting our sovernty as a nation

We cannot wait... it is far to hard to undue once it is done

It is ironic that our constitution is not any better than the Iraq constitution. Neither one means crap under the Bush Administration.
It would seem that maybe Iraq figures it can also run a crooked government.