***A Thank You Thread For DUer Larisa Alexandrovna For All She Has Done***

Hissyspit

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Mon Feb-16-09 05:36 PM
Original message

...to pull back the curtains on the misdeeds and crimes of the neo-con admistration and to fight totalitarianism.

I would ask that DUers please join in with me, at this recent most pivotal point of change in our nation's story, a needed and overdue post in honor of the work done by one of our own, DUer LaLa_RawRaw aka investigative reporter Larisa Alexandrovna.

Most of you here know that she has been one of the stronger and more effective media voices of in the wilderness that was the Bush error, despite unfounded attacks on her from detractors, trolls and rabid Michelle Malkin zombie-minions, and despite her own health problems, and it is hoped that she will continue her great journalistic work, as well as her activity here and her hobby of "bashing my head into a brick wall" (I think we all took that one up at the beginning of this decade).

She broke stories on Plamegate, extraordinary rendition, and the Rove/DOJ scandal, aspects of the incidents and conspiracies ignored by MSM. Below, from Wikipedia, is more detail on what she has accomplished for journalism and for truth in this sorry American age that was the past eight years. In addition to the below, she has distinguished herself with her extensive series, done with Muriel Kane, "Permanent Republican Majority," documenting the Rove and DOJ corruption in the South, including the political persecution of Gov. Don Siegelman and Paul Minor.

Her research was cited on the floor of the House of Representatives by Congressman Kucinich in his listing of charges for the impeachment of Bush/Cheney.

If you feel the same as I, please join in this thread. Happy Valentine's, LaLa.

:toast:

:patriot:

Here is her latest Huffington Post from today: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/we-need-the-names-of-thes_b_167247.html

And I believe she is working on something interesting and unusual for her for her latest at Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com

Her blog is here: http://www.atlargely.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larisa_Alexandrovna

She first became recognized for her reporting after she wrote an investigative piece about election fraud in Ohio, which was later cited in 'What Went Wrong in Ohio,' a report published by Congressman John Conyers(D-MI) and later cited in several prominent articles, including in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial Rolling Stone article.

Later articles on election fraud and domestic politics, included covering the Real ID Act, did not gain much attention domestically. But it was a series of articles on the pre-war intelligence on Iraq and alleged illegal activities of the US Department of Defense and reporting on the CIA leak case and Iran that gained international readers and gained Alexandrovna respect as an investigative journalist.

Plamegate

On March 16, 2007, Valerie Plame Wilson told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform "But I do know the Agency did a damage assessment. They did not share it with me, but I know that certainly puts the people and the contacts I had all in jeopardy, even if they were completely innocent in nature."

Alexandrovna broke the story wide open that Plame was working on Iran, damage was done by her outing, and a damage report had been done. Citing "three intelligence officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity," Alexandrovna reports that

"While Director of Central Intelligence Porter Goss has not submitted a formal damage assessment to Congressional oversight committees, the CIA's Directorate of Operations did conduct a serious and aggressive investigation."

According to her sources,

the damage assessment . . . called a "counter intelligence assessment to agency operations" was conducted on the orders of the CIA's then-Deputy Director of the Directorate of Operations, James Pavitt. . . . "significant damage to operational equities."

Alexandrovna also reports that while Plame was undercover she was involved in an operation identifying and tracking weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran, suggesting that her outing "significantly hampered the CIA's ability to monitor nuclear proliferation." Her sources also stated that the outing of Plame compromised the identity of other covert operatives who had been working, like Plame, under non-official cover status. These anonymous officials said that in their judgement, the CIA's work on WMDs has been set back "ten years" as a result of the compromise.

The mainstream media initially ignored this story, but on May 1, 2006, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster reported on the political news show Hardball that MSNBC had learned "new information" about the potential consequences of the leaks:

Intelligence sources say Valerie Wilson was part of an operation three years ago tracking the proliferation of nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson's cover was blown, the Administration's ability to track Iran's nuclear ambitions was damaged as well. The White House considers Iran to be one of America's biggest threats.

On September 6, 2006, David Corn published an article for The Nation entitled "What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA" in which Corn reports that Plame was placed in charge of the operations group within the Joint Task Force on Iraq in the spring of 2001 and that, "when the Novak column ran," in July 2003:

Valerie Wilson was in the process of changing her clandestine status from NOC to official cover, as she prepared for a new job in personnel management. Her aim, she told colleagues, was to put in time as an administrator � to rise up a notch or two � and then return to secret operations. But with her cover blown, she could never be undercover again.

CBS news would later confirm Plame was "was involved in operations to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons."

Polish Black Sites

In 2005 The Washington Post exposed the use of foreign black sites by the CIA in a program of extraordinary rendition, under which terrorism suspects were taken to undisclosed sites for detainment and interrogation.

Critics of the Washington Post report believe that the publication caved under pressure from the White House by not exposing the locations of these sites. ... according to FAIR, "the possibility that illegal, unpopular government actions might be disrupted is not a consequence to be feared, however � it's the whole point of the U.S. First Amendment." Furthermore, by not disclosing these locations it would make it impossible to have them closed and thereby the Post is enabling the rendition, secret detention, and torture of prisoners at these locations to continue. Another consequence might be that U.S. soldiers and civilians are put at risk.

MORE AT LINK

From her Huffington Post of today:

We need the names of these "medical personnel"

Scott Horton has a fantastic read up at Harper's about a Gitmo guard who has now come forward to blow the whistle. Army Private Brandon Neely speaks of the unspeakable at the hands of "medical personnel."

Neely describes the arrival of detainees in full sensory-deprivation garb, he details their sexual abuse by medical personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally ill detainees, an isolation regime that was put in place for child-detainees, and his conversations with prisoners David Hicks and Rhuhel Ahmed. It makes for fascinating reading.

Child detainees? Yes. But we knew this of course, even though our government has denied it for years. We knew, did we not?

Now for something far more sinister. The medical staff engaged in this, including doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, all violated their oath and should have their medical licenses revoked. I want names. Why? Well let me ask you. Do you want to take your child to a doctor who has spent the last several years engaged in the torture of other children? Would you take your elderly mother to see a doctor who was involved in torturing people to death, as we now know? I don't want these people in our community and in a position to abuse the most weak among us: the sick, the elderly, and children. Unless you think that someone can walk away from this type of evil and not become a monster? I don't. I do not believe people can engage in this type of brutality, that goes entirely against everything their profession stands for (or should), and walk away mentally and ethically in tact. I don't want these people practicing medicine on our citizens.

Here is another snip from Horton's piece. I suggest you read the whole thing, including Neely's account. I also suggest that you have a stiff drink before you do:

MORE AT LINK