source: New York Daily News

Lawyers in line for half of $4B ‘toxic’ pot

by SUSAN EDELMAN

Lawyers in the legal battle over Ground Zero worker compensation could bag up to half of the billions available to pay 9/11 recovery workers for toxic injuries.

Defense firms hired by the city to fight some 10,000 claims have already raked in close to $200 million, and about $75 million has been spent on administrative expenses.

Lawyers for the workers — who have yet to be paid — stand to reap 30 percent to 40 percent of all settlements or judgments, based on their retainer agreements with World Trade Center responders.

How much money is up for grabs is the big question, now that the first trials for a dozen 9/11 workers are set to start May 16 in Manhattan federal court. The two sides are in secret, “intensive discussions” that Judge Alvin Hellerstein hopes will settle as many cases as possible.

At stake is a $1 billion taxpayer fund and as much as $3 billion in liability-insurance coverage, which includes the Port Authority’s $600 million and policies held by WTC contractors.

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source: World Socialist Website
via: 911truth.org
dateline: 3 February 2010

USDHS hearing reveals that US intelligence agencies made a deliberate decision to allow Abdulmutallab to board the commercial flight

by Alex Lantier

A January 27 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security established that US intelligence agencies stopped the State Department from revoking the US visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The Nigerian student, whom US officials suspected of being affiliated with the Yemeni terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, attempted to set off a bomb on Northwest Flight 253 into Detroit on Christmas Day. Revocation of Abdulmutallab’s visa would have prevented him from boarding the airplane.

The hearing was reported in a brief article posted January 27 on the web site of the Detroit News, headlined, “Terror Suspect Kept Visa to Avoid Tipping Off Larger Investigation.”

The revelation that US intelligence agencies made a deliberate decision to allow Abdulmutallab to board the commercial flight, without any special airport screening, has been buried in the media. As of this writing, nearly a week after the hearing, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have published no articles on the subject. Nor have the broadcast or cable media reported on it.

This is despite—or perhaps more accurately, because of—the fact that this information exposes the official government story of the near-disaster to be a lie. President Obama, who has joined with top US intelligence, FBI and Homeland Security officials to insist that Abdulmutallab was inadvertently allowed to board the plane carrying explosives because of a failure to “connect the dots,” has from the start been deceiving the American people.

The official line strained credulity from the outset, given reports of multiple advance warnings that the Nigerian student was linked to terrorists in Yemen who were planning attacks on the US.

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source: Raw Story
via: AlterNet

by John Byrne

In a striking admission from the Obama Administration’s top intelligence officer, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair announced Wednesday that the United States may target its own citizens abroad for death if it believes they are associated with terrorist groups.

“We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee. He said US counter-terrorism officials may try to kill American citizens embroiled in extremist groups overseas with “specific permission” from higher up.

If “we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that,” Blair said in response to questions from the panel’s top Republican, Representative Pete Hoekstra.
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source: New York Daily News

by Michael Mcauliff

WASHINGTON – The White House revealed Thursday night it boosted funding for ailing 9/11 responders – pumping more money into the treatment program than ever before.

Team Obama disclosed the cash only after outraging New York lawmakers with the news that the administration won’t back a permanent plan to help the dying Ground Zero responders.

The White House confirmed it will more than double the budget for treating ill responders to $150 million in 2011.

The abrupt revelation came after the Daily News reported New York lawmakers were shocked Wednesday when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the administration does not support mandatory funding for the $11 billion permanent treatment plan.

“I was stunned – and very disappointed,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

“To say the least, I was flabbergasted,” said Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon.

Family members also were infuriated by the lack of permanent support. “I thought that these people would be taken care of. I would have expected better from this administration,” said Lorie Van Auken.

The delegation hopes President Obama will reconsider and put victims of the terror strike on a footing close to wounded soldiers, perhaps even funding the 9/11 health bill with the military.

“We are focused on strengthening the World Trade Center health program and providing needed resources through the budget,” White House spokeswoman Moira Mack said.

New York legislators were thrilled to learn of the one-year funding boost.

“I am so pleased the administration heard the concerns of my colleagues and I,” said McMahon, praising the belated payout during a tough budget.

Lawmakers still believe a permanent fix needs to be made so responders don’t have to take hat in hand for every new budget and political cycle.

Sebelius “made it clear that the administration does not support any kind of funding mechanism that’s built into the bill,” said Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel. “They find money for everything else, they need to find money for this.”

mmcauliff@nydailynews.com

With Kenneth R. Bazinet

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I love this shot taken by my friend Mike.

via: Facebook

FEAL GOOD FOUNDATION RESPONSE TO NEWS THAT THE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES DOES NOT SUPPORT H.R. 847

Dear Fellow First Responder:

As you may already know, today we have learned that President Barack Obama no longer supports H.R. 847, the Congressional bill that would guarantee funding for health care and research. While this news is stunning, and a complete reversal of his position on this bill during his 2008 presidential campaign, please be assured that the Feal Good Foundation alongside its friends in labor and the N.Y. Congressional Delegation will continue to fight for this bill and to advocate for full Presidential support. Our fight is not over.

Nearly eight and one half years ago we, the First Responder Community, demonstrated our strength, resilience and determination of spirit following September 11th. We must do so again. While the President’s current stance on H.R. 847 represents an obstacle, we have surmounted such obstacles before and will continue to overcome them now. “Never Forget” is more than a campaign slogan or bumper sticker to the men and women who bravely immersed themselves into the toxic Ground Zero air to save the lives of strangers and rebuild New York City and this country. We will “Never Forget” and today I tell all those opposed to H.R. 847 “We Will Never Give Up.”

H.R. 847 is about guaranteed health care treatment, monitoring and research; nothing more, nothing less. We have witnessed First Responder after First Responder fall victim to 9/11 illnesses over the past several years. Just this week another firefighter and friend perished as a result of his heroic actions. While the White House and detractors of H.R. 847 are quick to point out that treatment for First Responders currently exists at the Centers of Excellence, such arguments are missing the central mandate of the bill – guarantees! The reluctance of the White House to support this bill merely 8 ½ years after the worst terrorist attack on United States soil merely solidifies the need for guaranteed care now. Shall we rely on “discretionary budgetary spending” twenty years from now when the World Trade Center attack is a distant memory to new administrations? Are we to trust that presidents in the years to come will allocate sufficient funding for treatment and research when we are already being told that current administrations “don’t have the money to make us healthy? We cannot and will not give up hope that this government will recognize its moral imperative to care for the World Trade Center First Responders.

The Feal Good Foundation will not give up its efforts on behalf of the First Responders. It is our sincere hope that you will continue to join us in our quest for justice.

Sincerely,

John Feal

source: New York Daily News

by Michael McAuliff

source: Agence France-Presse
via: Raw Story

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and vowed further strikes on American targets, according an audio message broadcast on Sunday.

The brief statement carried by Al-Jazeera satellite television warned Washington that the attack was meant as a similar message to that of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US by 19 Al-Qaeda militants who hijacked airliners and crashed them into buildings.

Bin Laden praised as a “hero” Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who allegedly tried to detonate explosives on a Northwest Airlines plane approaching Detroit on December 25 but was foiled by passengers.

“The message that was conveyed through the (attacked) plane of the hero Umar Farouk is to stress earlier messages delivered to you by the heroes of the 11″ September attack, he said.

“That (message) is, that America should not dream of security until we enjoy it as a reality in Palestine,” he added.

The authenticity of the statement could not immediately be verified, but Al-Jazeera said the voice was bin Laden’s.

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source: New York Daily News

by Brian Kates

The FBI faked terrorism emergencies to illegally obtain more than 2,000 U.S. telephone records between 2002
and 2006, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni told the Washington Post that the FBI technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act when agents invoked nonexistent emergencies to collect records.

A Justice Department inspector general’s report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed.

The maneuver was based on a system used in the FBI’s New York office in the aftermath of Sept. 11 attacks, officials said.

It involved use of an “exigent circumstances letter,” a document that allowed a supervisor to declare an emergency and get the records and then – after the fact – issue a national security letter detailing the terrorism risk.

The required national security letters were sometimes concocted and covered by broadbrush generic phrases like “threats against transportation facilities,” “threats against individuals” and “threats against special events,” internal e-mails show.

Later FBI officials shifted to crafting “blanket” national security letters to authorize all past searches that had not been covered by open cases, the Post reported.

Caproni said called the process a “good-hearted but not well-thought-out” method to speed up collecting data. “We should have stopped those requests from being made that way,” she said, calling the abuse, “a self-inflicted wound.”

FBI officials told The Post that they found that about half of the 4,400 records collected in emergency situations or with after-the-fact approvals were done in technical violation of the law.

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source: Raw Story

by Sahil Kapur

WASHINGTON — The FBI says it uses “cutting-edge” technologies to develop age-processed photos of suspected terrorists. As it turns out, the technique they used to come up with Osama bin Laden’s modern portrait was essentially to digitally alter a Spanish lawmaker’s mug shot and paste a beard and turban onto it.

The image was published on the State Department’s “Rewards for Justice Program” Web site last week, offering a reward of $25 million to whoever captures the Al-Qaeda chief.

The FBI has admitted to its transgression and US Ambassador to Spain, Alan Solomont, personally apologized to Gaspar Llamazares of the nation’s United Left party. But the lawmaker isn’t having any of it.

“Apologies are not enough,” he told reporters, and has suggested he might take legal action against the US government as he now feels unsafe traveling to the country.

“I want a thorough investigation into this disgraceful case, which not only causes concern but also worry and indignation over the behavior of the FBI,” he said, adding he wants assurances the image is no longer being used by intelligence or airport officials.

The original image of Llamazares was taken from his 2004 election campaign posters, The Associated Press reports. The State Department has since removed it from its Web site.

“Most likely an unknown citizen on stepping into an airport would have received a good fright, if not something worse,” Llamazares said. “If this is how security against terrorism is guaranteed, whose hands are we in?”

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