Whistleblower on Los Alamos Assaulted

[Roland99]

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/06/wihistleblower_.html

There are mushrooming problems at the Los Alamos Nuclear Labs. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) was having a press conference today to denounce the assault this past weekend on Tommy Hook, a whistleblower on financial irregularities in the procurements division of the Labs, which are run by the University of California under a contract it's had with the federal government since 1943; the facility operates under the Department of Energy (DOE). Hook was scheduled to testify to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the Los Alamos frauds later this month, A team of three staffers from the committee has been sent to Los Alamos, where whistleblower Hook is still in the hospital, and is set to arrive there tomorrow, along with a POGO investigator.

Hook and his fellow whistleblower Chuck Montano have already appeared on CBS Evening News to discuss their revelations (you can see a video of their CBS appearance by clicking here.) Here's POGO's account of the beating of whistleblower Hook:

"Mr. Hook had planned at the end of last week to meet an individual who claimed to have corroborating information about fraud at Los Alamos. That individual never attended the meeting. Late Saturday evening, someone who might have been posing as that individual called Mr. Hook and asked to meet with him at a bar in Santa Fe. He went to the bar and waited but that person never showed up. When Mr. Hook got into his car to leave, attackers pulled him out of the car and brutally assaulted him. The assailants threatened Mr. Hook to keep silent. A bouncer at the bar intervened and broke up the attack. Mr. Hook was hospitalized in an Emergency Room with severe trauma to his face and head, including a fractured jaw, and a herniated disk. He is heavily medicated today and unable to speak to the media."

Audit reports conducted by Hook and Montano in 2002-2004 found a disturbing pattern of financial irregularities in the Los Alamos Lab’s procurement division. In compliance with DOE requirements, Hook and Montano produced a report assessing the Lab’s contracting operations. Lab supervisors refused to allow the report to be submitted to DOE, instead submitting a report that glossed over the problems identified by the whistleblowers The duo filed a whistleblower retaliation suit against the University of California and supervisors at the Lab in March, 2005. (You can read the whistleblower's complaint by clicking here.)

[Zerex71]

1. Probably the work of Rethugs.

After all, they fear sex but luvvvv them some violence.

[proud patriot]

2. Alright where was G. Gordon Liddy at the time of assult ?

x(

[Roland99]

6. He's busy formulating a plan for Sibel Edmonds.

[TankLV]

31. You mean Mr. Liddy, the upstanding CHRISTIAN?

The "political analyst" who is equal in stature to you and me (except that small fact that he is a convicted criminal). THAT Mr. Liddy?!

[TahitiNut]

3. The DOE labs at Los Alamos, Sandia, Hanford, and Brookhaven...

... are infested with pseudo-science and corruption. It's "science for sale" in many cases -- too many.

[Dover]

4. Sounds like the horse is already out of the barn, so why the belated

attempts to silence them? The report is already out there.

[daleo]

5. It puts the fear into others.

Just like shooting the Italian journalist in Iraq.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. Color me cynical...

But could it be that this guy went out to a titty bar and got the crap beaten out of him -- and then concocted the story as a cover?

I agree. This doesn't make sense. If they wanted him quiet, he'd be dead right now.

[LeftHander]

14. If you were going to blow a whislte

you would think twice after seeing that photo of the guy's beaten puffy face.

Pro thugs and can beat people close to death....they are trained professionals...probably MI.

[emc]

23. kinda weird place to have a meeting

this whole story is fishy---there are a lot better places to have a meeting with someone---and if you were afraid of what might happen to you in the first place, why go to a tittie bar--------

this guy probably hit on someone and they didnt care for it----

[sam the dawg]

25. If they wanted him quiet, he would be dead.

If the bouncer had not intervened, he would be dead.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

27. No, he and the bouncer would both be dead...

Black Ops is very efficient that way.

[0007]

30. The report has been front centered many times by many different

people.

It is clear that organized crime is truly running this country.

[Monkie]

7. Los Alamos Lab Whistleblower Beaten Up

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20050607/ap_on_re_us/whistleblower_beaten



"SANTA FE, N.M. - A Los Alamos lab whistleblower scheduled to testify before Congress was lured to a bar and then badly beaten in an attack his wife and lawyer believe was designed to keep him quiet.

"They left him in the parking lot for dead," Hook's lawyer, Robert Rothstein, said Monday at a news conference where pictures of Hook's bruised, bloodied and swollen face were passed around.

Rothstein said the assailants didn't take Hook's wallet, other personal belongings or his car. In the absence of any other motive, it appears the beating was related to his whistleblowing, Rothstein contended.""

saw this at http://americablog.blogspot.com/
more background @
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001590.html
http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/

[Supersedeas]

8. the political dirty tricks squad is getting physical...the Busholini

Brownshirts will be eating this up in FREEPLAND

[neweurope]

9. Apart from the fact that in the Land of the Free and the Home of the

Brave it seems to be a lot easier to be beaten up, planecrashed, fed Anthrax, jailed or disappeared than in the rest of the (at least) Western world: If pictures of me were shown around in Germany (beaten up or no) I could - and certainly would - sue. That's exploitation.

-----------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[madrchsod]

10. oops the boys fucked up

guess they didn`t watch "casino". some bodies may turn up in the desert someday

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Anyone surprised by the Brownshirt tactics?

[Supersedeas]

17. Busholini Brownshirts and another non-Anthrax related mystery crime

[Chicago1]

13. KKKarl Rove cooked this up with Bushie

This one has the Bushevics written ALL OVER IT. This is something that they would do. Hopefully the prosecutors are looking into this angle.


Waiting for the IMPEACHMENT WHILE THE SCANDALS KEEP UNFOLDING
America's Work Stories
http://usaworkstories.blogspot.com
[e-mail]

[panzerfaust]

15. Another Link ..

First found the story on BuzzFlash - but the link on their page is down.

Here is one to an actual Newspaper: UK Guardian.

"A Los Alamos lab whistleblower scheduled to testify before Congress was lured to a bar and then badly beaten in an attack his wife and lawyer believe was designed to keep him quiet. Tommy Hook was … (told) … during the attack … that `if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut…"

Thought the cat may have been out the bag, certainly it was not official until he had testified. I am surprised that he was able to do so. Even had he already testified, such an assault might stifle someone else’s desire to speak the truth. It certainly would mine.

Of course, I do have to admit that JeffInMilwaukee might have a point about Tommy’s story. Like, why would anyone in their right mind go to such a place to meet an unknown person?

However we need to remember the values of the Republithugs: “…(you) cannot cripple an opponent by outwitting him in a political debate. You can only do it by following Lenin’s injunction: ‘In political conflicts, the goal is not to refute your opponent’s argument, but to wipe him from the face of the earth.’” ~ David Horowitz

Disquieting how often these Great Patriots quote Lenin and Stalin.

[anotherdrew]

16. Los Alamos lab contract is going to a texas university already

I think UC has already lost the bid to keep the national lab or is widely expected to loose it.

[Piperay]

18. This is what it has come to

in this country and this the future for anyone who speaks up.

[NorthernSpy]

19. maybe people like us should start using our 2nd Amendment rights

I mean, if this is the way things are going to be from now on...

:think:

[snot]

20. Could someone enlighten me . . .

I thought the Repubs. wanted to shut down Los Alamos, and it would seem this particular whistleblower would likely help them do that. So why would they have him beaten up?

Only makes sense if they hoped to have it blamed on the other side. This seems a bit tenuous to me--that they'd expect us to believe that lefty intellectuals were behind the beating?

Seems more like the mode of operation of a contractor afraid of conviction.

Tell me if I'm missing something here.

[AlphaCentauri]

21. two days ago there was another mistery case.....

Ex-envoy, U.S. critic dies in car crash


CUERNAVACA, MEXICO -- Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Mexico's former ambassador to the United Nations who was forced out of his job after saying the United States treats Mexico like a "back yard," died Sunday in a car crash, police said. He was 55.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506060171jun06,1,343734.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

[geckosfeet]

22. The SS has been re-incarnated.

[sam the dawg]

24. whistle blower

The "system" has no means to deal with the truth. Truth tellers must become whistleblowers "outcasts". Marked men.

[WillyT]

26. Right Now The Shirts Are Colored Brown...

But they are working on the Black ones as we speak...



"Through all the centuries,
force and power are the determining factors.
Only force rules. Force is the first law."

Adolf Hitler 11/22/1936

[bobthedrummer]

28. These criminals at Los Alamos have names, so do the thugs that tried

to silence him.

[gulfcoastliberal]

29. Good god. The brownshirts are already active.

I feel so bad for this brave man. I know what it's like to take a beating, but a herniated disk and broken jaw is just unreal. He must know some very sensitive information.