TAYLOR HICKS AT THE ROCKEFELLER CENTER~CHRISTMAS BASH

Alexander Litvinenko Tells ALL. ~PUTIN A MURDERER~PART 2 !

Report: Dead Former Spy Had Russian Oil Secrets
Sunday, November 26, 2006
LONDON — A dossier drawn up by Alexander Litvinenko on the Kremlin's takeover of the world’s richest energy giant will be given to Scotland Yard today as police investigate the former KGB spy's secret dealings with some of Russia's richest men.

It emerged yesterday that Litvinenko travelled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Putin dealt with his enemies running the Yukos oil company.

He passed this information to Leonid Nevzlin, the former second-in-command of Yukos, who fled to Tel Aviv in fear for his life after the Kremlin seized and then sold off the $40 billion company.

Nevzlin told The Times that it was his “duty” to pass on the file. “Alexander had information on crimes committed with the Russian Government’s direct participation,” he said.

“He only recently gave me and my attorneys documents that shed light on the most significant aspects of the Yukos affair.”

Investigators have told The Times that Litvinenko had apparently uncovered “startling” new material about the Yukos affair and what happened to those opposing the forced break-up of the company.

Several figures linked with Yukos are reported to have disappeared or died in mysterious circumstances while its head, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and others have been jailed.

Originally it was Litvinenko’s vocal opposition to President Putin’s rule that led to accusations of Russia’s secret service involvement in his death, but police are investigating whether he made enemies through his links with a number of oligarchs.

Detectives involved in what they admit is one of the most complicated inquiries Scotland Yard has faced say that they are working through Litvinenko’s formidable list of friends and foes, which includes some of the world’s wealthiest men.

One figure close to the investigation said: “At present we have a bewildering number of theories and names put to us, and we must establish some firm evidence.”

Friends of the former spy have claimed that on his deathbed Litvinenko named a number of men linked to the Kremlin who he claimed were targeting him.

They reportedly include a diplomat based at the Russian Embassy in London until last year who is now back in Moscow. Litvinenko reportedly complained that the man was harassing him after his home was firebombed a fortnight before he was poisoned.

Police are still piecing together how Litvinenko spent the last 72 hours before he fell ill and searching for any further traces of the radioactive isotope, polonium-210, that is thought to have poisoned him.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out today on the former KGB colonel, who acquired British citizenship last month.

Forensic scientists are hoping that polonium-210 found in the Itsu sushi bar in Piccadilly and the Millennium Hotel, both of which Litvinenko visited on November 1, may yield a fingerprint that could help investigators to track down where it came from.

Experts have begun decontaminating the sushi bar, but police were last night still examining guest rooms at the hotel in Grosvenor Square and Litvinenko’s North London home.

His wife, Marina, 44, and 12-year-old son, Anatole, have been examined and neither has been contaminated.

Boris Berezovsky, the exiled oligarch, who employed Litvinenko and who has accused the Kremlin of having a hand in his poisoning, is also reported to have been tested.

More than 300 people have contacted a helpline set up by the Health Protection Agency to be checked for contamination. So far nobody has proved positive.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, said that the Government was doing all it could to warn the public of possible health risks, but added that he had no plans to make a statement to MPs about Litvinenko’s death.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Affairs spokesman, will raise the matter in the Commons today. He said: “It is essential that other dissidents living in Britain are reassured about their safety and there are also questions about how polonium-210 came to be used in Britain.”

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said that the Government should have been “much tougher” on Mr Putin and relations would have to be carefully considered if Litvinenko’s death turned out to be the result of “state terrorism”.

Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, admitted in a BBC TV interview yesterday that relations with the Kremlin were now “very tricky”. He accused Putin of “huge attacks” on liberty and democracy. He told Sunday AM on BBC One that the President’s record had been “clouded” by events including the “extremely murky murder” of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have asked Yuri Fedotov, the Russian Ambassador, to have the authorities in Moscow make available any information that might assist in the investigation.

Energy Giant

— Yukos was formed by the Russian Government in April 1993 with the merging of hundreds of state-owned oil industry entities

— It became Russia’s first fully-privatized oil company in 1996

— It employs 100,000 people and is involved in every aspect of the oil industry from drilling to the filling station

— In the past five years it has increased its overseas operations, acquiring significant stakes in Slovakian and Lithuanian oil pipeline operators. It is also involved in a proposed Russia-China pipeline
~~~~~~~~

British Minister Criticizes Putin in Probe of Soviet Ex-Spy's Death
Sunday, November 26, 2006


LONDON — A British Cabinet minister accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "attacks on individual liberty and on democracy" and said Sunday that relations with Moscow were strained after a former KGB agent was poisoned to death in London.

Peter Hain, the government's Northern Ireland Secretary, said Putin's tenure had been clouded by incidents "including an extremely murky murder of the senior Russian journalist" Anna Politkovskaya.

They were the strongest comments leveled at Moscow since Alexander Litvinenko died Thursday from poisoning by the radioactive element polonium-210. In a dramatic statement dictated from his hospital bed and read outside the hospital after his death, the Kremlin critic accused the "barbaric and ruthless" Putin of ordering his poisoning.

"His success in binding what is a disintegrating nation together with an economy that was collapsing into Mafioso style chaos, his success in that must be balanced against the fact there have been huge attacks on individual liberty and on democracy," Hain said of Putin. "And it's important that he retakes the democratic road in my view," he told British Broadcasting Corp. He agreed when asked if relations with Moscow were at a "tricky stage."

British officials have so far avoided blaming Moscow for Litvinenko's death and Hain did not comment directly on the case.

But opposition leaders demanded Sunday that the government explain what it knows about the poisoning and, in particular, how the deadly nuclear material used to poison the 43-year-old Litvinenko found its way into Britain.

Litvinenko told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October slaying of Politkovskaya, another critic of Putin's government. The ex-spy was moved to intensive care last week after his hair fell out, his throat became swollen, and his immune and nervous systems suffered severe damage.

London's Metropolitan Police said they were investigating a "suspicious death," rather than a murder. They have not ruled out the possibility that Litvinenko may have poisoned himself.

Litvinenko's friends and allies in London's Russian emigre community blamed Putin, who has denied any involvement and called the death a tragedy.

Russian officials could not be reached for comment Sunday on Hain's remarks.

Home Secretary John Reid, Britain's top law-and-order official, refused to speculate about who might have killed Litvinenko. "I don't think it's for me as a politician to be making judgments that a policeman should make," he told Scotland's Radio Clyde.

The main opposition Conservative Party demanded the government make a statement in the House of Commons on Monday outlining what it knew about the case and how polonium-210 — a rare radioactive element usually produced in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator — got into Britain.

"It is essential that other dissidents living in Britain are reassured about their safety and there are also questions about how polonium-210 came to be used in Britain," said David Davis, the Conservative law-and-order spokesman.

Relations between Russia and Britain have remained cool since the end of the Cold War. London has infuriated Moscow by offering refuge to self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, a Kremlin critic wanted in Russia on money-laundering charges, and Akhmed Zakayev, a representative of late Chechen rebel chief Aslan Maskhadov.

In January, Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, accused four British diplomats of spying, showing on state-run television sophisticated communications equipment concealed in a fake rock, which it said the Britons hid in a Moscow park to use to contact Russian agents.

The ex-spy's death sparked a huge public health alert, with authorities preparing to test scores of people who may have come into contact with Litvinenko for traces of radiation.

"There is a lot of radioactivity involved," the Health Protection Agency's director of radiation, chemicals and environmental hazards, Roger Cox, told Sky News television.

But the agency insisted the risk to others was low because polonium-210 can only contaminate if it is ingested, inhaled or taken in through a wound.

Litvinenko's contaminated body was released to a coroner late Saturday, and government pathologists were awaiting advice on whether it was safe to perform an autopsy.

On Sunday, Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy who is a member of the Russian parliament, said Putin's government played no part in the death.

"I completely rule out the possibility of that being done on official orders from anyone in the authorities," Lebedev told Sky News.

The Sunday Times reported that as he lay dying, Litvinenko named an alleged Russian agent he feared had been sent to hunt him down. Litvinenko claimed the Russian agent was not directly involved in his poisoning but had been sent to monitor his activities, the newspaper said.

Police said they could not immediately confirm whether officers would seek to interview the alleged Russian agent. The Foreign Office said it has asked Moscow for help with the investigation.

Litvinenko worked for the KGB and its successor, the FSB. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Berezovsky and spent nine months in jail from 1999 on charges of abuse of office. He was later acquitted and in 2000 sought asylum in Britain.

Alexander Litvinenko dies of poison~Did Putan call for the hit ? PART 1

update.......
Traces of Radioactive Material Found in Sushi Restaurant, Home of Dead Spy
LONDON — Traces of the same rare, highly radioactive material that killed a former KGB agent were found Friday in the sushi restaurant and hotel he had visited, and in his home, setting off a frantic investigation to see if anyone else may have been contaminated by the "tiny nuclear bomb."

The rare radioactive element Polonium-210 was detected in Alexander Litvinenko's urine after he died Thursday in a London hospital. The Itsu sushi restaurant in London's Piccadilly and parts of the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square were closed as investigators scoured for evidence in a death that rocked the government leaders in London and Moscow.

Litvinenko, in a statement written before his death and read Friday, claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his murder, a charge Putin denied.

Britain's Health Protection Agency, meanwhile, said the finding of polonium-210 in the dead former spy's body was "an unprecedented event" and Britain's government convened a crisis committee in response.

In Moscow, pro-Kremlin lawmakers pointed the finger at exiled Russian dissidents, claiming the death was part of a plot to discredit the Kremlin.

Russian exile Leonid Nevzelin said in Israel that Litvinenko's death could be linked to investigations into charges laid against ex-shareholders and former owners of the Yukos oil company.

Chemical experts, meanwhile, told the Times of London that a fatal dose of polonium-210 could only be produced artificially, by a particle accelerator or nuclear reactor.

"This is not some random killing. This is not a tool chosen by a group of amateurs. These people had some serious resources behind them," Dr Andrea Sella, a chemistry professor at University College London, said.

"Only a very, very small amount of polonium would need to be ingested to be fatal, but that depends on how pure the polonium is," said Dr. Mike Keir, a radiation protection adviser at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Keir said polonium poisoning was extremely difficult to detect because the type of particles it emits — alpha particles — do not penetrate outer layers of the body. It would also not set off airport radiation detectors, experts said.

Scientists claimed small amounts of polonium-210 — but not enough to kill someone — were used legitimately in Britain for industrial purposes and easily available.

To be used to kill, however, "much larger amounts are required and this would have to be manmade ... from a particle accelerator or a nuclear reactor," said Medical Research Council expert Dudley Goodhead.

Investigators theorized Friday night how the radioactive substance could have been ingested by Litvinenko, with Health Protection Agency officials offering a theory that it could have been sprayed on him and inhaled.

Litvinenko, meanwhile, literally spoke from the grave as a friend, Alex Goldfarb, read a statement the former Moscow agent wrote just before his death, in which he accuses Putin of poisoning him.

"You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women," Goldfarb read.

• Click here to read Litvinkenko's full statement.

Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical stuff struggled to determine what had made the 43-year-old critically ill.

"You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life," Litvinenko said in his statement.

Goldfarb said Litvinenko had dictated the statement before he lost consciousness on Tuesday, and signed it in the presence of his wife Marina.

Putin brushed off accusations Friday that he was responsible, saying that the Litvinenko's death was a tragedy but that he didn't see proof that it was a "violent death."

"It's extremely regrettable that such a tragic event as death is being used for political provocations," he said. "I think our British colleagues realize the measure of their responsibility for security of citizens living on their territory, including Russian citizens, no matter what their political views are. I hope that they won't help fanning political scandals which have no grounds."

Litvinenko's father, Walter, who had flown to London from Russia to be with his dying son, accused Putin of waging a polished public relations campaign, telling reporters that his son was killed on the orders of the Russian government "by a little, tiny nuclear bomb, so small that you couldn't see it". He went on to warn that the "people who killed him build big nuclear bombs and missiles and ... should not be trusted," the Guardian newspaper reported.

British health officials, meanwhile, scoured the neighborhood where Litvinenko is believed to have ingested the radioactive poison.

Health Protection Agency chief executive, Pat Troop, said that the high level found in the dead spy's urine indicated "he would either have to eaten it, inhaled it or taken it in through a wound."

"We know he had a major dose," she said.

"I've been in radiation sciences for 30-odd years and I'm not aware of any such incident," said Roger Cox, director of the agency's center for radiation, chemicals and environmental hazards.

Britain's home secretary John Reid, the country's top law-and-order official, said Litvinenkco's death was linked to a radioactive substance in his body.

He said experts had been called in to search for "residual radioactive material" at a number of locations as police investigate the cause of Litvinenko's death, and it was "linked to the presence of a radioactive substance in his body."

"As part of this investigation, the police have called in expert assistance to search for any residual radioactive material at a number of locations," Reid said.




Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian spy, before (left) and after poisoning.
'THE BASTARDS GOT ME, THEY WON'T GET US ALL'...

Poisoned Ex-Russian Spy Dies
Fierce Critic Of Russian Government Suffered Rapid Deterioration In Health
(AP) LONDON A former Russian spy who said he had been poisoned died Thursday night at a London hospital, following a mysterious and rapid decline that left doctors unable to pinpoint the cause of death, officials said.

Alexander Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical stuff struggled to determine what had made the 43-year-old critically ill.

"The matter is being investigated as an unexplained death," London's Metropolitan police said in a statement.

Litvinenko had accused his Kremlin bosses of corruption, and fled Russia six years ago - but hardly stayed silent, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth. After last month's murder of muckraking journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Litvinenko pointed a very public finger at a fellow former spy: Vladmir Putin.

The former spy said he believed he had been poisoned on Nov. 1, while investigating the slaying of another Kremlin detractor -- investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged, he said.

Just hours before he lost consciousness, Litvinenko said in an interview with The Times newspaper of London that he had been silenced.

"I want to survive, just to show them," he said in the interview was published in Friday's edition of the paper, copies of which were available late Thursday. They "got me, but they won't get everybody."

Doctors at London's University College Hospital said tests had virtually ruled out poisoning by thallium and radiation -- toxins once considered possible culprits behind the poisoning.

"The medical team at the hospital did everything possible to save his life," hospital spokesman Jim Down said, confirming the Russian's death Thursday night.

"Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of his condition, and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives," he said.

Dr. Geoff Bellingan, the hospital's director of critical care, said extensive tests had failed to uncover what had caused Litvinenko to fall ill.

Earlier in the day, hospital officials said Litvinenko was deteriorating rapidly and family members and friends rushed to his bedside.

Family friend, Alex Goldfarb, joined Litvinenko's wife Marina, his son Anatoli and the former agent's father at the hospital.

"He went into a cardiac failure overnight and the hospital put him on artificial heart support," Goldfarb said. "He's on the ventilator, he's getting artificial resuscitation."

It's pure fantasy, says the Kremlin, to think Moscow was involved in Litvinenko's poisoning. But in what novelist John le Carre once called the ambiguity that was part of the Cold War, that sort of speculation is not just based on fiction, Roth reports.

Thirty years ago, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was murdered on a London bridge -- stabbed with an umbrella tipped with the poison ricin. And two years ago, Kremlin critic Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned -- and disfigured -- while campaigning for the presidency of the Ukraine.

Anti-terrorist police were investigating the poisoning, which friends and dissidents allege was carried out at the behest of the Russian government. Litvinenko sought asylum in Britain in 2000, and has been a relentless critic of the Kremlin and the Russian security services ever since.

On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, issued its strongest denial yet that it was involved in any assassination attempt. "Litvinenko is not the kind of person for whose sake we would spoil bilateral relations," SVR spokesman Sergei Ivanov said, according to the Interfax news agency. "It is absolutely not in our interests to be engaged in such activity."

Litvinenko worked both for the KGB and for a successor, the Federal Security Service. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky -- now exiled in Britain -- and a year later spent nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office, for which he was later acquitted, and which prompted his move to London.

On the day he first felt ill, Litvinenko said he had two meetings. In the morning, he met with an unidentified Russian and with Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar at a London hotel. Later, he dined with Italian security expert Mario Scaramella to discuss the October murder of Politkovskaya.

Scaramella told reporters in Rome on Tuesday that he had traveled to meet Litvinenko to discuss an e-mail he received from a source naming the killers of Politkovskaya, who was gunned down Oct. 7 at her Moscow apartment building, and outlining that he and Litvinenko were on a hit list.

Goldfarb said that he had a photocopy of the four-page e-mail and confirmed that it did read like the hit list described by Scaramella.

"What's in there confirms what Scaramella said. It lists several targets for assassination, among them are Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Scaramella, Berezovsky and others," he said. But he refused to say who compiled the document, saying that it could jeopardize the police investigation into the poisoning.

After visiting the hospital on Thursday, Berezovsky told the AP that British police have yet to speak to him, but hoped they would be in contact over the next two days. The police declined to comment about whether they had the e-mail.

Goldfarb said Wednesday that there was nothing out of the ordinary in Litvinenko's meeting with Lugovoy, who also worked as bodyguard to Berezovsky, the most high profile Russian exile in London.

Litvinenko refused to implicate any of the people he met on the day he said he believed he was poisoned.
Alex Goldfarb (right) and Andrei Nekvasov, close friends of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, are interviewed by the media outside the University College Hospital, in central London, Nov. 22, 2006.



Litvinenko with Anna Politkovskaya

Vladimir Putin


Poisoned Russian Spy Dies
Updated: 00:43, Friday November 24, 2006

Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital after being poisoned.

A spokesman for University College Hospital said the ex-KGB agent has died after his condition had been deteriorating throughout the day.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating his death as "an unexplained death".

Mr Litvinenko's supporters have accused the Russian government of poisoning the 43-year-old, who had been given asylum and citizenship in Britain after fleeing Russia.

They said he was killed because he was investigating the murder last month of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead near her Moscow apartment.

The Kremlin has said the accusation is "sheer nonsense".


Litvinenko with Anna Politkovskaya Mr Litvinenko fell ill after meeting a contact, an Italian journalist, in a sushi restaurant in central London.

Dramatic photographs released this week showed him lying in intensive care. His hair had fallen out and his complexion was jaundiced.

Last night he suffered a heart attack and doctors said his condition had worsened. Friends and relatives were said to be rushing to his bedside fearing the worst.

Doctors still do not know what caused his illness, although they have said he was poisoned.

Initial reports suggested he had been poisoned with thallium, or with a radioactive material, but doctors have now said this was not the case.


Vladimir Putin His friend Oleg Gordievsky, a former high-ranking KGB agent who defected to Britain, said Mr Litvinenko had been killed by two Russian secret agents who poisoned his tea during a meeting at a London hotel.

Mr Gordievsky told Sky News: "He was fighting against the evil forces in Russia, against the authorities which are depressing democracy and liberal freedoms in Russia."

Professor Mario Scaramella, the Italian who met Mr Litvinenko for lunch before he fell ill, said he had shown him documents suggesting that both men were on a hit-list.

Mr Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was probing the murder of Ms Politkovskaya, who had become famous for exposing Russian atrocities in Chechnya.

Thirteen journalists have been murdered in Russia since Mr Putin came to power in 2000. None of the cases has been solved.

Two years ago the Russian government denied any part in the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western presidential candidate in neighbouring Ukraine. He won the presidency after his pro-Russian rival was accused of trying to rig the elections.

Statement From Hospital
Updated: 23:44, Thursday November 23, 2006
Here is the statement released by University College Hospital, where Alexander Litvinenko was being treated up until his death.

"We are sorry to announce that Alexander Litvinenko died at University College Hospital at 9.21pm on 23.11.06.

"He was seriously ill when he was admitted to UCH on Friday November 17, and the medical team at the hospital did everything possible to save his life.


"On Sunday evening he was transferred to the intensive care unit where he could be closely monitored and receive any critical support he needed.

"Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of his condition and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives from New Scotland Yard.

"Because of this we will not be commenting any further on this matter. Our thoughts are with Mr Litvinenko's family."

I Met The Poisoned Ex-Spy
Updated: 23:54, Thursday November 23, 2006

As the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko was still fighting for his life in a London hospital, Sky News' Mark Stone recalled their recent meeting:

Exactly a month ago I was sitting at this computer replying to an email from Alexander Litvinenko.

Now, as I write, the former KGB agent is lying in an intensive care unit at a London hospital - the victim, it seems, of a deliberate poison attempt.

I had met Mr Litvinenko at a lecture discussing the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya at London's Frontline Club on October 19 - days before he was poisoned.

It would have been hard to miss him: "You ask me 'Who killed her?'" he abruptly told the audience.

"I can answer you directly. It is Mr Putin, the president of the Russian Federation that has killed her. Putin killed her."

There was no doubt in his voice. It was some accusation. A former employee of the FSB (Russian Secret Service) had just directly accused his president of murder.


He didn't seem concerned either: "Because I am here, I feel I should speak up and tell you what I know. I don't want to hide anything and I am happy for the media to cover this. As soon as the regime in Russia changes, we'll know the facts," he continued.

Did it almost cost him his life?

Mr Litvinenko had been friends with Anna Politkovskaya for several years. They had met several times in London before she was shot dead in a lift at her Moscow apartment block on October 7 this year.

At their meetings, Ms Politkovskaya expressed concern over her safety to Mr Litvinenko. She was, after all, a vehement critic of Putin.

At the Frontline lecture, Mr Litvinenko recalled one meeting: "She asked me about the methods of the FSB. She said that she had received threats from the Kremlin. One of our last meetings she asked me - 'can they kill me'?"


Sky News' Mark Stone Her death was not big news in Russia. Elsewhere though, it was making the headlines. Mr Litvinenko began to investigate the murder. He said he knew that Putin's agents were responsible - what he needed though was the evidence.

His last meeting before he became ill was at a Piccadilly Sushi bar on November 1. His contact was an Italian named Mario Scaramella who was investigating KGB penetration of Italian politics.

Mr Scaramella claimed to have information on Ms Politkovskaya's murder.

The police investigation now focuses on Mr Litvinenko's movements before his lunch at the sushi bar. Who did he meet and did they know about his meeting with the Italian?

Mr Litvinenko concluded his explosive comments at the Frontline Club by saying: "I am not trying to hide anything. You can directly quote me. I used to work on other murders and got evidence from them. The Kremlin arrested me, searched my flat and destroyed the evidence."

This time, it seems, arrests and house searches were swapped for poison. The question now is - by whom?

The Kremlin's response: "Claims originating in London (about Kremlin involvement in Mr Litvinenko's poisoning) are bordering on raving madness and are not worthy of the Kremlin's official reaction."

Before leaving the Frontline Club, I took Mr Litvinenko's contact details. We said we would speak soon. I hope we can.

Sky News' Mark Stone

Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



Exiled Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital after being poisoned.

He fell ill after dining at a central London restaurant, although supporters say he was poisoned before going there.

Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



The former colonel in the FSB - the Soviet KGB's successor - had been a critic of Russian President Vladmir Putin and was granted political asylum in the UK in 2001.

Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



Before he fell ill, he was investigating the murder of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya (centre).
Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



But Mr Litvineko is not the first to have been allegedly spiked with toxins.
Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



Ukranian President Viktor Yushchenko fell ill while dining with security agents as he ran for election.

He had been poisoned with dioxin.
Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



After the illness, his face became pale, heavily disfigured, bloated and pockmarked.

He believed it was the work of the Russian-backed government later accused of rigging elections.

Medical experts said Yushchenko's disfiguring appeared to be 'chloracne', commonly associated with dioxin poisoning.

Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was said to have been stabbed with a poisoned-tipped umbrella on London's Waterloo Bridge in 1978.

It allegedly shot a ricin-laced pellet into his leg.

He died three days later.

Poison Plots
Updated: 23:32, Thu Nov 23



The funeral of Russian banker Ivan Kivelidi in Moscow.

The 46-year-old had far-reaching influence in both political and business circles but died in 1995 after what appeared to be a poisoning.

Spy Turned Campaigner
Updated: 00:07, Friday November 24, 2006

As a former secret agent, political dissident and author, Alexander Litvinenko was a man with a life straight from a spy novel.

As a former lieutenant colonel in the Russian secret service, he had been aware he could be in danger ever since defecting to Britain.

He knew that as an outspoken and high-profile critic of President Vladimir Putin, his life and those of his family - a wife and teenage son - were at risk.

But the 43-year-old took measures to protect himself, keeping his suburban address secret.

He also changed his phone number regularly and met contacts at busy, public locations.

But he still ended up apparently being poisoned - by an as yet unidentified substance - and later dying.

Shortly before his illness, Mr Litvinenko was investigating the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another opponent of the Kremlin.

He fell ill after meeting a contact at a London restaurant, who handed him documents about the Politkovskaya case - and showed him documents suggesting both of them were on a hit-list.


Anna Politkovskaya

Mr Litvinenko eventually died in London's University College Hospital after fighting for his life for more than two weeks.

The road that led him from Cold War secret serviceman to his death from suspected poisoning began more than 20 years ago.

He first became a security agent under the Soviet-era KGB, in the late 1980s, after transferring from the Russian military.

It is now known as the FSB, the Federal Security Service, specialising in organised crime and counter terrorism.

A decade later he made a life-changing decision to voice concerns about deep-rooted corruption in the FSB.

He publicly exposed an alleged plot to assassinate the then powerful tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who also lives in exile in London.

It was around this time he fell out with Mr Putin, another former KGB officer who was then head of the FSB, and was sacked, arrested and charged with corruption.

Eventually he was acquitted and fled to the UK where he successfully claimed asylum.


Devastation in Chechnya

From his new position of relative safety, he became a relentless critic of Mr Putin's regime, co-authoring several books.

One, Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within, accused Russian agents of co-ordinating a series of apartment block bombings in 1999 that left more than 300 dead.

Moscow blamed the attacks on Chechen rebels. They are believed to have helped swing public opinion behind Russia's renewed war in the breakaway state. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya's articles about Russian atrocities in Chechnya made her a target for hardliners.

Possibly financially supported by billionaire Mr Berezovsky, Mr Litvinenko also appeared in public alongside other opponents of Mr Putin.

He denounced the war in Chechnya as a crime, called for Russian troops to be withdrawn and said compensation should be paid to Chechens.

Despite this, he remained a patriot.

In an interview four years ago, he said: "I believe Russia will rise again and that I will manage to return again to the motherland and Moscow."

After his death, former high-ranking KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky, who defected to Britain, said his friend Mr Litvinenko was "proud" to have achieved British citizenship - just weeks before his death.

Mr Gordievsky told Sky News: "He was a hero for Britain and for Russia."

'My Meal With Poison Spy'
Updated: 23:52, Thursday November 23, 2006

The mystery Italian contact of poisoned former spy Alexander Litvinenko came out of hiding to give his version of events at the London sushi bar.

Speaking before Mr Litvinenko's death, Professor Mario Scaramella, 38, who describes himself as a defence consultant, gave a news conference in Rome to discuss his friend's illness. The Italian was surrounded by four bodyguards as he arrived.

Journalists had been summoned by SMS texts.

Prof Scaramella revealed how he had not eaten at the sushi bar and how Mr Litvinenko helped himself to fish from a buffet and was brought soup by a waiter - while he had only water to drink.

He stressed he had nothing to do with the poisoning and blamed the Russian secret services.

Professor Scaramella said the original arrangements for the meeting had been by email and it was arranged that they would meet on November 1 in central London.

"I was in London to meet Mr Litvinenko because I wanted to discuss with him some alarming news. The information I had received was very disturbing and contained details of plots against Russians both in Italy and Great Britain.

"I called him and we arranged to meet as we always do in Piccadilly Circus. I have met him several times. He is a very good source of mine and has contacts in Russia.

"I was with him for maybe 30-45 minutes. We were downstairs and there were no other people there.

"I had already had lunch so I had nothing to eat - and had a glass of water.

"Mr Litvinenko had some fish from a buffet and some soup was brought to us. He personally took his food from the buffet. I paid for the bill, as I recall it was about £17."

Professor Scaramella added: "I told him that I had received some very worrying and disturbing information. I had been given a list of names and lots of facts from a contact.

"The information was a list of people - it was a hit list and on that list was his name, my name and Paolo Guzzanti (head of the Italian commission investigating KGB activities in Italy).

"It was unbelievable and there were also names of people in Britain on it. I asked him to make a call to his people in Russia to evaluate it.

"Mr Litvinenko told me not to worry about it. The arrangement was that I would call him later that night or the following morning.


"When I called him back the next morning his wife said that he was very sick but she laughed it off saying half of London was ill."

Professor Scaramella also described how Mr Litvinkeno had mentioned he had been at a meeting beforehand.

The Italian explained: "He said to me that he was in London to see some people in the morning and that he would be free to see me in the afternoon.

"When he arrived he did not mention who he met but I understand the authorities are investigating the possibility he was poisoned at this meeting.

"The information I received was in two emails and I passed that information the British authorities to the intelligence services and the police through diplomatic channels.

"The information was disturbingly serious and these people are very dangerous. I was warned to be very careful as these people are well organised.

"The information regarded plots to do something both in Italy and Great Britain. There were several Russian people in Britain on that list as well as Litvinenko, Mr Guzzanti and myself."

He refused to elaborate on where the list had come from other than to say it came "from someone who lives out of Russia".

When asked if he was scared and what steps he had taken to increase his own personal security Professor Scaramella said: "I don't want to answer that question. These people are very dangerous. We are talking about people involved in the murder of (Russian journalist) Anna Politkovskaya."

He also described how there was a strong connection between the Russian Mafia and the former KGB as well as their replacement intelligence service the FSB and SVR.

Professor Scaramella also revealed how Mr Litvinenko had provided information which led to the arrest of six Ukranians who were smuggling arms between Russia and Italy for an attempted hit.

He added: "About a year ago Litvinenko contacted me to say he had details about arms being smuggled to Italy.

"With that information I contacted the Italian intelligence services and he also spoke to them. It led to the arrest of six Ukranians near Teramo who were found with arms.

"They had hidden powerful grenades - strong enough to take out a tank or an armoured car - inside two hollowed out Bibles.

"The information was that these grenades were intended for a hitman from the former Eastern bloc who was living in the Naples area."

When asked directly what he thought of the attempt on Mr Litvinenko's life Professor Scaramella said: "It was a political assassination."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Spy Accuses Putin From the GraveIn statement prepared before his death, former Russian spy says President Vladimir Putin was behind his death

Dead Former Russian Spy Charges Vladimir Putin of Poisoning Him
Friday, November 24, 2006

LONDON — In a charge from the grave, a former Russian spy who died Thursday night at a London hospital accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of poisoning him in a statement prepared before his death and read Friday.

"You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women," Alexander Litvinenko said in the statement read aloud by his friends.

"You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women," read is friend Alex Goldfarb.

"You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life."

Goldfarb said Litvinenko had dictated the statement before he lost consciousness on Tuesday, and signed it in the presence of his wife Marina.

Putin's government and the Russian security services denied involvement.

"A person's death is always a tragedy," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Helsinki, Finland, where Putin is attending a summit with European Union leaders.

"It's now up to the law enforcement agencies of Britain, the country where Litvinenko lived, to investigate the death," Peskov said. He declined to say whether Russia would help with the investigation.

Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical stuff struggled to determine what had made the 43-year-old critically ill.

"The matter is being investigated as an unexplained death," London's Metropolitan police said in a statement.

The former spy said he believed he had been poisoned on Nov. 1, while investigating the slaying of another Kremlin detractor — investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged, he said.

Just hours before he lost consciousness, Litvinenko said in an interview with The Times newspaper of London that he had been silenced.

"I want to survive, just to show them," he said in the interview was published in Friday's edition of the paper, copies of which were available late Thursday. They "got me, but they won't get everybody."

Doctors at London's University College Hospital said tests had virtually ruled out poisoning by thallium and radiation — toxins once considered possible culprits behind the poisoning.

"The medical team at the hospital did everything possible to save his life," hospital spokesman Jim Down said, confirming the Russian's death Thursday night.

"Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of his condition, and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives," he said.

Dr. Geoff Bellingan, the hospital's director of critical care, said extensive tests had failed to uncover what had caused Litvinenko to fall ill.

Earlier in the day, hospital officials said Litvinenko was deteriorating rapidly and family members and friends rushed to his bedside.

Family friend, Alex Goldfarb, joined Litvinenko's wife Marina, his son Anatoli and the former agent's father at the hospital.

"He went into a cardiac failure overnight and the hospital put him on artificial heart support," Goldfarb said. "He's on the ventilator, he's getting artificial resuscitation."

Anti-terrorist police were investigating the poisoning, which friends and dissidents allege was carried out at the behest of the Russian government. Litvinenko sought asylum in Britain in 2000, and has been a relentless critic of the Kremlin and the Russian security services ever since.

On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, issued its strongest denial yet that it was involved in any assassination attempt. "Litvinenko is not the kind of person for whose sake we would spoil bilateral relations," SVR spokesman Sergei Ivanov said, according to the Interfax news agency. "It is absolutely not in our interests to be engaged in such activity."

Litvinenko worked both for the KGB and for a successor, the Federal Security Service. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky — now exiled in Britain — and a year later spent nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office, for which he was later acquitted, and which prompted his move to London.

On the day he first felt ill, Litvinenko said he had two meetings. In the morning, he met with an unidentified Russian and with Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar at a London hotel. Later, he dined with Italian security expert Mario Scaramella to discuss the October murder of Politkovskaya.

Scaramella told reporters in Rome on Tuesday that he had traveled to meet Litvinenko to discuss an e-mail he received from a source naming the killers of Politkovskaya, who was gunned down Oct. 7 at her Moscow apartment building, and outlining that he and Litvinenko were on a hit list.

Goldfarb said that he had a photocopy of the four-page e-mail and confirmed that it did read like the hit list described by Scaramella.

"What's in there confirms what Scaramella said. It lists several targets for assassination, among them are Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Scaramella, Berezovsky and others," he said. But he refused to say who compiled the document, saying that it could jeopardize the police investigation into the poisoning.

After visiting the hospital on Thursday, Berezovsky told the AP that British police have yet to speak to him, but hoped they would be in contact over the next two days. The police declined to comment about whether they had the e-mail.

Goldfarb said Wednesday that there was nothing out of the ordinary in Litvinenko's meeting with Lugovoy, who also worked as bodyguard to Berezovsky, the most high profile Russian exile in London.

Litvinenko refused to implicate any of the people he met on the day he said he believed he was poisoned.

WISHING YOU AND YOURS A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING !

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING DAY !!
Click on the arrow in the middle of the screen below.





Thursday, November 23, 2006
"WE GATHER TOGETHER": The Most Authentic Thanksgiving Tradition
Posted by: Michael Medved at 3:51 PM


Most of the traditions surrounding Thanksgiving involve food, but none of the nourishment normally associated with the holiday – Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, pecan pie – played any role in the Pilgrims’ “First Thanksgiving” in 1621. Yes, they ate with the Indians (who turned up more or less uninvited, with 90 hungry warriors) but the main course was venison, freshly hunted from the woods. As Godfrey Hodgson makes clear in his fine, informative new book “A GREAT AND GODLY ADVENTURE: THE PILGRIMS AND THE MYTH OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING” (I’ll be speaking with him about it on my radio show on Friday, at 4 PM Eastern Standard Time) there were no Turkeys in Massachusetts at that time, and cranberries were inedible without sugar (which didn’t arrive until fifty years later).

Among the foods frequently consumed today, the one Thanksgiving staple that most authentically connects with the Pilgrims (and their Puritan counterparts of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) is beer. They loved the stuff and brewed it themselves – as did many of their descendants, including “Sons of Liberty” leader Sam Adams –whose beer-making efforts (largely unprofitable for him, alas) helped inspire a contemporary (and much more successful) brewery to honor his name. In any event, as a fish-a-tarian (I eat vegetables, dairy products and kosher fish, but not meat or fowl) I will enjoy the consolation of some fine, expertly prepared craft beers this afternoon while the rest of my family (and more than 20 close friends) feasts on the turkey and gravy and stuffing.

Meanwhile, beyond the food focus of the holiday, what other Thanksgiving traditions can conscientious Americans honor in 2006?

There are actually two songs that have become part of the holiday for millions of people. “Over the River and Through the Woods, to Grandmother’s House we Go” captures the wintry, festive atmosphere of the day, and invokes childish delight in a a get –together with family and friends, but never touches on the underlying themes of the celebration—the Harvest Festival notions of gratitude and dedication.

Fortunately, the other enduring Thanksgiving song expresses those themes memorably. The hymn known as “We Gather Together” combines a simple, gorgeous, heart-felt melody with words that reflect relief and appreciation at our undying (and undeserved) deliverance by God from the oppressions and oppressors of this world:


We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing

He chastens and hastens his will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing

Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.


Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining

Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning

Thou, Lord, was at our side; all glory be thine!


We all do extol thee thou leader triumphant,

And pray that thou still our defender will be.

Let they congregation escape tribulation;

Thy name be ever praised! O lord, make us free!



The song became popular in the early twentieth century as “The Thanksgiving Hymn” in part because its words fit so well with the story of the Pilgrims and their escape from religious persecution. The hymn is also old enough to have been known by them --- in its original form it was a Dutch folk song called “Wilder dan wilt,” beginning with the words, “Wilder than wild, who will tame me.” In less than twenty years the melody had been adapted by Dutch Protestants fighting against Spanish-Catholic oppression. The new first line, “Wilt heden nu treden” – loosely translated as “We gather together”—described and exalted a revolutionary act, since the nationalist dissenters were forbidden from joining together in worship.

In a fascinating piece for the Wall Street Journal in 2005, Melanie Kirkpatrick traced the roundabout journey of the great song. Since the Pilgrims spent time in Holland before their dangerous (and ultimately deadly) journey to the New World, they might have heard it, learned it and loved it --- but they wouldn’t have used it in church. The Pilgrims sang only Psalms in their services, restricting their hymns to settings of Biblical text. Despite its fervent religiosity, the recently composed words of “We Gather Together,” in either Dutch or English versions, wouldn’t have qualified.

Nevertheless, the song survived after its first appearance in print in a 1626 collection of Dutch patriotic songs and became instantly popular as in the English speaking world after its musical presentation in an arrangement by a Viennese choirmaster (published in Leipzig in 1877) and its subsequent translation by American scholar studying in Leipzig, Theodore Baker, in 1894. He published his English version (the same words we use today) as a choral “Prayer of Thanksgiving” in 1894. By 1903, the song began to make regular appearances in American hymnals.

There’s something profoundly American, of course, in the route taken by “We Gather Together” – from its Dutch (some curmudgeons say Danish) origins as a folk song, to its appropriation by Calvinist rebels as a hymn of faith and defiance, to its musical transmission in Germany, to an American scholar in Europe who provided English words and then sent the song across the sea.

In any event, the themes and the substance of “We Gather Together,” along with more than 100 years of American tradition (an eternity in terms of our young nation) make this hymn one of the most authentic and meaningful aspects of the holiday. The rousing conclusion (“Let thy congregation escape tribulation/Thy name be ever praised! O Lord make us free!) resonates forever among our people who have so often faced threats from the “wicked” who seek to oppress and distress us. Obviously, we face those threats again today, but we can remain thankful and confident that the God of the Pilgrims “still our defender will be.”


In short, whatever you serve at your Thanksgiving table, “We Gather Together” will provide even more nourishment. On this great national festival, let us put aside differences (even those painful divisions between believers and skeptics) and join in hoping that whatever powers (or Power) may rule our destiny may indeed, “make us free!”

Micheal Flatley and Micheal Jackson are living together now

RUMOR HAS IT THAT MICHEAL JACKSON AND HIS CHILDREN HAVE MOVED INTO THE MANSION OF MICHEAL FLATLEY. THEY ARE SAID TO BE WORKING ON A NEW PERFORMANCE TOGETHER. THIS COULD BE A NEW START FOR MICHEAL JACKSON'S CAREER. WHO KNOWS. MORE TO COME.....

Jesus our Savior!

John 3:16 - Jesus our Savior!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

WOULD YOU TAKE THE PLACE OF THIS MAN ??

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus Christ - This Man


King James Version (KJV) John - Chapter 3

Jhn 3:1 ¶ There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:


Jhn 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.


Jhn 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.


Jhn 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?


Jhn 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.


Jhn 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.


Jhn 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.


Jhn 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.


Jhn 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?


Jhn 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?


Jhn 3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.


Jhn 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you [of] heavenly things?


Jhn 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.


Jhn 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:


Jhn 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.


Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


Jhn 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.


Jhn 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.


Jhn 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.


Jhn 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.


Jhn 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.


Jhn 3:22 ¶ After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.


Jhn 3:23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.


Jhn 3:24 For John was not yet cast into prison.


Jhn 3:25 Then there arose a question between [some] of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.


Jhn 3:26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all [men] come to him.


Jhn 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.


Jhn 3:28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.


Jhn 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.


Jhn 3:30 He must increase, but I [must] decrease.


Jhn 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.


Jhn 3:32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.


Jhn 3:33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.


Jhn 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure [unto him].


Jhn 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.


Jhn 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT ELECTED THE DEMOCRATS

Talk about a bunch of whacko's, well folks, check this out.

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT ELECTED THE DEMOCRATS AND WANT TO RUN THIS COUNTRY AND TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO. WAY TO GO DEMOCRATS. GOOD JOB !!

NANCY SPEAKS TO AMERICA

YEP, AMERICAN HAS GONE TO HELL FOR SURE !

What is wrong with democrats ?

Now this says it all.LMAO...NOW WE KNOW. I HAVE WONDERED THIS FOR A WHILE. THE TRUTH IS IN.

VETERANS DAY 2006~REMEMBER OUR SOLDIERS~

Commander in chief honors veterans

President George Bush lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers during a Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11 at the Arlington National Cemetary in Arlington, Va. The Air Force Honor Guard formed a flight in attendance, along with each of the other four services, and carried the Air Force flag during the ceremony

Activist Cindy Sheehan, Two Others, Arrested on Wednesday, 11-9-2006

Activist Cindy Sheehan, Two Others, Arrested for Interfering With a Government Function at White House

WASHINGTON — Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Wednesday as she led about 50 protesters to a White House gate Wednesday to deliver anti-war petitions she said were signed by 80,000 Americans.

The Berkeley, Calif., woman, whose son was killed in Iraq more than two years ago, was arrested along with three other women on the sidewalk outside the White House gate, said Lt. Scott Fear, a U.S. Park Police spokesman. They were charged with interfering with a government function, he said.

Before she was arrested, she joined the protesters in hailing the outcome of Tuesday's elections and chanting "Stop the War" outside the gate.

"It was taking too long for them to decide whether to accept them or not, so we just delivered them," said Sheehan, who waited about 15 minutes with other protesters before tossing the petitions over the fence.

The petitions opposed use of military force to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

Sheehan, 49, and other grieving families met with Bush about two months after her son died, before reports of faulty prewar intelligence surfaced and caused her to speak out. She has tried repeatedly to speak with the president again, including a 26-day vigil last year outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Wednesday's protest came as Republicans lost control of the House and the White House announced the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"He's being offered as a sacrificial lamb," Sheehan said.

Very Low Voter turnout for US ELECTION on November 7, 2006

Even though the democratic party won on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006, and they now control the house and the senate, it does not mean that the people of this country have spoken. Only the very few that voted ! With a population of over 300,000,000 million people, I would hardly say the people have spoken. I voted, I am only one. What do all the other 220, 000,000 million people think ? Hmm, good question. Between now and the election in 2008 I do believe we should be on the hunt for the truth. The people of this country need to be more envolved in how our country is run. 79,000,000 million people should not be the voices for all of America. Here's hoping that that will change in 2008 and the "REAL" voice of the American people will be known.

ONLY...79 Million People Voted on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (Nov. 8)

-

Almost 79 million people voted in Tuesday's election, with Democrats drawing more support than Republicans for the first time in a midterm election since 1990, according to a private analysis.The overall turnout rate, reflecting a percentage of voting age population, was 40.4 percent, compared with 39.7 percent in 2002, the director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate said.A preliminary analysis showed that turnout was down in some states and higher in others - notably up in Virginia, where it appeared more people voted than in any midterm in the state before, researcher Curtis Gans said.The highest recent midterm turnout was 42.1 percent in 1982.The total popular vote nationwide was 78,707,495.In Virginia, where Democratic challenger James Webb's lead over Republican incumbent George Allen was razor thin, an estimated 43.7 percent of eligible voters went to the polls, compared with 29.2 percent in 2002, the last nonpresidential election year.Ohioans also came out in substantially greater numbers. Unofficial figures showed 44.6 percent of eligible voters cast ballots compared with 38.4 percent in 2002.Turnout was substantially higher in Michigan, Missouri, Connecticut and Montana; it was somewhat higher in Delaware and Kentucky.

THANK YOU DONALD RUMSFELD~YOU R A TRUE PATRIOT !

Rumsfeld Resigns




Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down as defense secretary and former CIA Director Robert Gates will be nominated to take his place.

Rumsfeld, President Bush's sole defense secretary in six years of leadership, is the first administration casualty after a midterm congressional election that sent at House Republicans packing and Senate as well.

President Bush called Rumsfeld a trusted friend and patriot who had served his country well. Read more.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's what Fans are saying:

"I personally would like to thank Rumsfeld for his leadership these past five years. He understood the war on terror back in 1984 when he first spoke on it, although the press had no perception of it until 9/11, and they have forgotten the lesson again. I am sorry to see this patriot go." — Laura

"Our loss of Mr. Rumsfeld is an example of the old adage, 'No good dead will go unpunished.' Mr. Rumsfeld is the finest and most productive Secretary of Defense ever. This nation has to stop maltreating our servants, or no one will be willing to serve. Mr. Rumsfeld worked tirelessly accomplishing great things for our nation and is worthy of our highest praise and gratitude." — Lee (North Palm Beach, FL)

"Sadly, all good things must come to an end less we forget to appreciate them. Rummy is a fine example to which all Americans should aspire. I wish him and his family only the very best life has to offer. I just wish he had done this sooner, so we could have saved both the House and the Senate this time around." — Lisa

"I'm thankful for Rumsfeld's service to this nation. I'm also thankful that most of the current American voters weren't around during World War II. If they had been, we'd all have been saluting a Nazi flag within a year. What has happened to fortitude in this country? We, as a nation, have forgotten the lessons of the past." — Richard (Houston, TX)

"It is too little too late for this Republican. If he had resigned earlier this year, the Republicans might have saved some of the seats they lost in both the House and the Senate. The whole election was a referendum on the Iraq war and now everyone will be paying for it for several years to come. With a change earlier in the year, we might have saved some seats because it would have been seen as a change in direction!" — Denise

"I think this is a tragic loss of a great man. Apparently, the American people are going the way of the French. I am very disturbed to see the election results, but at the same time I hope this change of government will be a wake-up call to the nation as a whole. The Democrats will make a huge mess of Iraq and the whole country and then they will blame it on the Republicans." — Luke (Minneapolis, MN)

"Rumsfeld's place in history is now secure. The Democrats place is as well. I hope to live long enough to read historian accounts of these times. Given the Democrat 'plan' to abruptly evacuate Iraq, I pray you do too. Rumsfeld's resignation is a national shame. At least Bush is still there to temper the Democrat rush to cut and run." — Paul (Georgetown, TX)

"I think this is a tragedy. The DOD and its civilian and military workforce have needed change for years and he was trying to implement that. There is still so much waste and lethargy in the Government, and that needs to go. We can only pray that those who understand what we are really fighting for assume leadership roles and lead this country out of disunity." — Sheila (Bloomfield, IN)

"Three times I've been ashamed of my country: when I completed my tour in Vietnam and we were called the bad guys, when a draft dodger was elected president (twice), and today, when Rumsfeld was sacrificed. The Secretary is an honorable man and has done a good job considering we can't get tough with some of the most ruthless thugs I've ever seen. They kill babies and blow up schools. Today may well be the beginning of the end for America. I've never said that before today, but I think it might be true." — Mike (Dallas, TX)

"We are losing one of the most impeccable leaders of the Bush administration. He is so articulate even during the most intense crossfire in Senate committees. We thank him for his service and wish the best for him and his family; he will be missed. I hope that his successor has the same tenacity that Rumsfeld did." — Richard (Huntsville, AL)

"I am very sad to hear of Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation. He has served his country honorably and should be treated with respect. And I for one would like to thank him." — Patti (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

"The American people did not appreciate Donald Rumsfeld and the job he was doing. I felt safe, or as safe as you can in these times, but I will no longer feel good when I go to sleep at night. Donald Rumsfeld was an accomplished man who knew what was expected of him to win the war on terror. He was a non-nonsense man and spoke his mind, which shows strength and character. These attributes in a person are not admired in a person today the way they should be. Our society today ignores flaws in character today and rewards them by giving them responsible seats in political office. I feel we are doomed!" — Patricia

"It saddens me to see Rumsfeld step down. I think he is a political casualty of the Democrats taking over. It seems to me that war is a team effort, yet Rumsfeld seems to be taking the hit for a lot of other people. Thanks Rummy for the dedicated service you gave to our country." — Gary (Price, UT)

"Thank God for men like Rumsfield who are willing to devote years of their lives serving their country. The sad thing about his six years as Defense Secretary is that he was never fully supported by Washington politicians in his efforts to conduct his important duties. He deserves heartfelt thanks for his devoted service under less than favorable conditions." — Ralph (St. Charles, MO)

"I think the resignation of Secretary Rumsfeld signals that President Bush recognizes that a new course of action needs to be implemented in Iraq. As a soldier currently serving in Iraq, I find this news far from demoralizing." — Eugene

"It's a real shame that Rumsfeld got thrown under the bus. He was one of only a few administration officials who could actually handle the press and put them in their place — which is reporting the news, not trying to make the news." — Angela (Decatur, AL)

"I am very saddened to see Secretary Rumsfeld resign. I think he is a hero and was working to make the DOD stronger and better for the benefit of America. As a former Marine, I felt the Secretary Rumsfeld was willing to take the heat to ensure this country was safe. I think that this country will be less safe without a person as committed to its safety. Secretary Rumsfeld, I salute you and wish I had served under you. I wish you and your family the best of luck and may God bless you for all your work. Semper Fi." — Larry

"I'm so disappointed that Rummy is stepping down, and I'm sure this will be demoralizing for the troops who love him so much. I'm sure he knew he wouldn't be able to compromise with the Democrats on Iraq." — Angela

"Rumsfeld listened to our troops. I hope his replacement will do the same." — C.M. (Texas)

"I think its a shame he's leaving. He's served his country magnificently under unfathomable circumstances that no previous Defense Secretary has had to deal with. God bless him!" — Howard (Birmingham, AL)

"I believe that Rumsfeld knew that he would not be able to work with the likes of Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats. It was best for everyone involved, but it's a lousy way to go out, and a tough day for many. I had the opportunity to meet Rumsfeld while I was in the military, and he was good to the troops; he truly cared. Best wishes to him and his family." — D.B. (Summerville, SC)

DONALD RUMSFIELD~THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THIS COUNTRY !

A LONG CAREER FOR A WONDERFUL PERSON AND A TRUE HERO. YOU WILL BE MISSED GREATLY ! THANKS RUMMY FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THIS COUNTRY. !!


Oct. 9, 1968: Republican Reps. Gerald Ford, left, of Michigan, and Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois, confer during a House squabble over a bill to facilitate a televised presidential debate.

Feb. 2, 1973: U.N. Ambassador to NATO Donald Rumsfeld takes oath of office from Chief Justice Warren E. Burger at the White House.

April 26, 1971: Pope Paul VI greets Donald Rumsfeld, head of the Office of Economic Opportunity and his wife Joyce at the Vatican.

April 21, 1969: President Richard M. Nixon announces the appointment of Rep. Donald Rumsfeld, R-Ill., a director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and as a presidential assistant with Cabinet rank.
Jan. 28, 1976: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, right, chats with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. George Brown prior to their testifying before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C.

Nov. 3, 1983: President Ronald Reagan, with his newly named Middle East envoy Donald Rumsfeld defends the use of U.S. troops in Grenada during a press confeence at the White House.

Nov. 14, 2001: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, left, tours ground zero of the World Trade Center disaster with New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in New York.

Dec. 16, 2001: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld throws up his arms up as he concludes his town hall meeting with troops at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

Aug. 20, 2002: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, left, gestures as he jokes with Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace during a Pentagon briefing.

Aug. 27, 2002: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gives an American flag that flew over the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, to Marines at at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Oct. 16, 2002: President Bush, left, flanked by Secretary of State Colin Powell, center, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, pauses before signing a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq in the White House.

Nov. 21, 2002: President Bush listens to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice look on during a NATO summit in Prague.

April 14, 2003: Washington Wizards' Michael Jordan receives a U.S. flag from U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during the opening ceremonies of Jordan's last home game at the MCI Center in Washington.

Sept. 11, 2004: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld greets NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, left, before the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 race at the Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va.

May 7, 2004: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gestures as he answers a question asked by a House Armed Services Committee member during the committee hearing on on prisoner abuse in Iraq

Nov. 8, 2006: President Bush, center, flanked by outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, and his Defense Secretary-nominee Robert Gates, announces Rumsfeld's resignation in the Oval Office.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld waves to well-wishers as he departs the White House after President George W. Bush announced Rumsfeld's replacement in Washington November 8, 2006. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Donald Rumsfeld Resigning as Defense Secretary
Wednesday, November 08, 2006

WASHINGTON — Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down as defense secretary and former CIA Director Robert Gates will be nominated to take his place.

President Bush made a formal announcement Wednesday after holding a press conference to offer his take on the midterm election.

"Bob is one of our nation's most accomplished public servants," Bush said in the Oval Office, where he was flanked by both men. "Bob understands the challenges facing our nation in Iraq. ... He has traveled to Iraq and met with the country's leaders and our military commanders on the ground. He'll provide the department with a fresh perspective and new ideas on how America can achieve our goals in Iraq.

"He has my confidence and my trust, and he will be an outstanding secretary of defense," Bush said.

Gates, who is currently the president of Texas A&M University, met with Bush on Sunday at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Noting that his time at the university was the best in his life, he said he had not expected to come back to Washington to serve under a seventh president but the challenges facing the United States were too much to ignore.

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'Do Your Duty' "The United States is at war, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're fighting against terrorism worldwide. And we face other serious challenges to peace and our security. I believe the outcome of these conflicts will shape our world for decades to come," he said.

"Because our long-term strategic interests and our national and homeland security are at risk, because so many of America's sons and daughters in our armed forces are in harm's way, I did not hesitate when the president asked me to return to duty," Gates added.

Bush also offered hearty praise to his outgoing secretary, patting Rumsfeld on the back after he spoke.

"Few will forget the image of Don Rumsfeld as he helped rescue workers carry the victims from the rubble of the Pentagon on September the 11th, 2001," Bush said. "In the weeks that followed, he directed the effect to plan our nation's military response to an unprecedented attack on our soil. Under his leadership, U.S. and coalition forces launched one of the most innovative military campaigns in the history of modern warfare."

Rumsfeld said many people have not given Bush the credit he's due for leading the charge into Iraq.

"The great respect that I have for your leadership, Mr. President, in this little-understood, unfamiliar war, the first war of the 21st century -- it is not well-known, it was not well-understood; it is complex for people to comprehend. And I know with certainty that, over time, the contributions you've made will be recorded by history," he said.

While always great for a quote, Rumsfeld has had a tempestuous relationship with the media as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill and even some military officials in Washington. He seemed more subdued than usual, but demonstrated his irascible nature by paraphrasing the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof," he said.

Rumsfeld, Bush's sole defense secretary in six years of leadership, is the first administration casualty after a midterm congressional election that sent at least 28 House Republicans packing and left the future of the Senate in limbo.

Earlier in the day, Bush called Rumsfeld a trusted friend and patriot who had served his country well.

"Now after a series of thoughtful conversations, Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that the time had come for new leadership at the Pentagon," Bush said in an East Room press conference scheduled Tuesday night after election returns showed an incoming Democratic House majority.

"Don Rumsfeld has been a superb leader during a time of change. Yet he also appreciates the value of bringing in a fresh perspective during a critical period in this war," he said.

Rumsfeld's departure was a surprise to many after his office gave no indication earlier in the day that the congressional outcome would impact his decision. Just last week, Bush said he had full faith in Rumsfeld. Then again, he acknowledged Wednesday that he thought Republicans would retain the House.

Bush was also questioned about whether he was caught in a fib when he told The Associated Press last week that he planned for Rumsfeld to stay on as defense secretary through the end of his term.

Bush said he misled the reporter because he "didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you onto another question was to give you that answer."

But the president said he wasn't being misleading in praising Gates' long history of organization and national security credentials.

"He's served six presidents, from both political parties, and rose from an entry-level employee in the CIA to become the director of central intelligence," Bush said. Gates would have to be confirmed by the Senate, whose majority will be determined by the race in Virginia, the sole remaining contested election.

The president noted that Gates is a member of the Iraq Study Group, a congressionally commissioned panel co-chaired by former Secretary of States James Baker and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton.

The ISG is soon to deliver a set of recommendations about the direction that needs to be taken in Iraq. Bush said he is meeting with the panel chairmen next week, and expected Gates to play a strong role in the recommendations to come from the panel.

Gates "is a steady, solid leader who can help make the necessary adjustments in our approach to meet our current challenges," Bush said.

The president said despite the changes expected at the Pentagon, he did not think Tuesday's election victories were a mandate to leave Iraq without succeeding there.

"I'd like our troops to come home too, but I want them to come home with victory," Bush said. "I mean, I can understand Americans saying, 'Come home.' But I don't know if they said: 'Come home and leave behind an Iraq that could end up being a safe haven for Al Qaeda. I don't believe they said that,'" he said.

Bush told Iraqis not to be fearful by the changes in the United States or its own halting steps to democracy. He also warned terrorists not to start celebrating as a result of Rumsfeld's departure.

"Do not be joyful. Do not confuse the workings of our democracy with a lack of will. Our nation is committed to bringing you to justice. Liberty and democracy are the source of our strength," Bush said.

"To our men and women in uniform: don't be doubtful. America will always support you. Our nation is blessed to have men and women who volunteer to serve and are willing to risk their own lives for the safety of our fellow citizens," he said.

Rumsfeld, a former Navy pilot and congressman who also served as secretary of defense under President Gerald Ford, led the Defense Department response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On that day, 184 people died when hijackers crashed American Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

Shortly afterward, the United States invaded Afghanistan, liberating 25 million people. Coalition forces entered Iraq in March 2003, which resulted in the downfall of Saddam Hussein but caused internecine fighting that critics say has led to a civil war with American soldiers in the middle of it.

Rumsfeld is responsible for a major overhaul at the Defense Department. The restructuring called for a significant reorganization of the worldwide defense command structure and an expansion of U.S. special operations forces that are more closely integrated into contingency planning.

He has also initiated a global restructuring of U.S. forces to reflect the shift in military challenges globally. He also oversaw recommendations for the largest round of base readjustments in U.S. history.

Rumsfeld plans to deliver a long-scheduled speech on the global War on Terror at Kansas State University on Thursday. A Pentagon spokesman said he did not know whether Rumsfeld would address the midterm election results in that speech.