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Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released yesterday. The declassified version of the report, by acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble, also contains new details about the intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda figures had only limited contacts, and about its judgments that reports of deeper links were based on dubious or unconfirmed information. The report had been released in summary form in February. The...

Scandal: Last we heard of Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's national security adviser, he was being fined and placed on probation for stealing top-secret documents. Is there more to this tale of purloined papers? Rep. Tom Davis thinks there is. "I'm not convinced that he was acting alone," the Virginia Republican said on the Fox News special "Socks, Scissors, Paper: The Sandy Berger Caper" that aired Saturday night.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2007 — Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States to orchestrate a new attack on American soil. Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently testified that documents captured by coalition forces during a raid of a safe house believed to house Iraqi members of al Qaeda six months ago "revealed [AQI] was planning terrorist operations in the U.S." At the time, Maples offered little additional insight into the possible terror plot....

WASHINGTON -- While reviewing national security documents from the Clinton Administration in preparation for his appearance before the 9/11 Commission hearings, the Clinton administration's former national security adviser, Mr. Samuel R. Berger, was observed stuffing them in his socks by employees at the National Archives. Soon he was accused of taking these documents -- memos, draft documents, e-mails, that sort of thing -- from the Archives in breech of the law, and he was duly charged. All of this took place a couple of years ago, and those of us who had followed the Clinton high jinks with more diligence...

Did the 9/11 Commission receive all the documents it requested? Davis Releases Berger Report January 9, 2007 By David Marin (202)225-5074 Washington, D.C. – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA) released the following statement today on a committee report that sheds important new light on Sandy Berger’s theft of classified documents from the National Archives. The report makes it clear that the full extent of Mr. Berger’s document removal can never be known, and consequently the Department of Justice could not assure the 9/11 Commission that it received all responsive documents to which Mr. Berger had...

Investigation into pilfered documents reveals former president signed letter President Bill Clinton signed a letter authorizing former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger's access to classified documents that later came up missing, according to a newly released investigation report by the National Archives and Records Administration. The sensitive drafts of the National Security Council's "Millennium After Action Review" on the Clinton administration's handling of the al-Qaida terror threats in December 1999 suspiciously disappeared after Berger said he intended to "determine if Executive Privilege needed to be exerted prior to documents being provided to the 9/11 Commission." Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft testified...

Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday. The report was issued more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents. Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash. The report said that when Archives employees first suspected that Berger _ who had been President Clinton's national security adviser _...

A friend is attending the US bishops' meeting in Baltimore this week and sent along the following. (One must find ways to keep oneself amused... and awake.) These are all actual words used by the bishops from the last hour of the bishops’ meeting yesterday. Just combine any word from Column A with any word from Column B with any word from Column C. The system pretty much gives you an idea as to the content of most of the USCCB documents. Column A Column B Column C Thoughtful Scientific Collaboration Simultaneous Evolving Ministry Relevant Human Structure Universal Shifting Development...

A group of House Republicans called Wednesday for a congressional investigation into the improper handling of classified documents by President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger. Berger admitted last year that he deliberately took classified documents out of the National Archives in 2003 and destroyed some of them at his office. He pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material and was fined $50,000. Ten lawmakers led by House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., released a letter calling for the House Government Reform Committee to...

As part of our Guest Essay series, I asked Joseph Shahda to write for us on the topic of translating Sadaam Hussien's captured documents. Mr. Shahda, who goes by the screen name "jveritas" on FreeRepublic.com, has had a article written about him in the Boston Globe: ( http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/03/18/us_puts_iraqi_documents_on_the_web/ ) "Joseph Shahda earns his living as an engineer. But in his spare time, he's an intelligence agent, working to ferret out the truth about the regime of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. When the US government on Thursday began publishing captured Iraqi government documents on the Internet, Shahda eagerly began to...

The Department of Transportation, acting through a Security and Prosperity Partnership "working group," is preparing in 2007 to issue North American biometric border passes to Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. "trusted travelers" according to documents released to WND columnist and author Jerome R. Corsi under a Freedom of Information Act request. "The FOIA documents show the organizational chart and the composition of a 'shadow Department of Transportation' which includes formal membership from Mexico and Canada's Departments of Transportation," asserts Corsi. "SPP has in effect created a fully-functioning trilateral Department of Transportation which will dictate policy to Mary Peters as soon as...

WASHINGTON The cooling-off period ends today on documents temporarily sealed by President Bush in the bribery case of Congressman William Jefferson. The Louisiana Democrat has been the focus of prosecutors and investigators who suspect him of taking 400-thousand dollars in bribes from a business executive. Bush placed materials seized from Jefferson's Capitol Hill office off limits for 45 days, but that time is up. A court will decide if the F-B-I's searches in May were an unconstitutional intrusion. Until a judge rules, prosecutors won't examine the materials agents seized.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 – A new policy directive and field manual released today establish crystal-clear guidelines on U.S. military detention and interrogation policies and further the Defense Department’s longstanding policy of humane treatment for all detainees, defense officials told Pentagon reporters today. DoD released two new documents today: DoD Directive 2310.01E, which provides overarching guidance on DoD’s detainee operations worldwide, and Army Field Manual 2-22.3, which lays out specific guidelines for those directly involved in detention and interrogation efforts. The new DoD directive, “The Department of Defense Detainee Program,” describes core policies critical to ensuring detainees are treated humanely...

Microsoft plans this week to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2 downloads. Consumers who download the 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 will be charged US$1.50 per download, beginning Wednesday at 6 p.m. PDT, a Microsoft representative said.

College students accustomed to hearing news on the Iraq War from professors and protesters who have never actually been there might find the documents retrieved by the U.S. forces there to be of interest. Thomas Joscelyn, a terrorism researcher, told the audience that “It shouldn’t really be a surprise to us,” about Saddam’s relationship with Islamic terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Michael Tanji the former Chief of the Document and Media Exploitation Division at the Defense Intelligence Agency said that “the sheer size of this problem is something people really don’t appreciate.” When it comes to...

Justice seeks end to delays in review of documents seized in raid WASHINGTON The Justice Department today opposed further delays in the bribery investigation of Representative William Jefferson, saying the agency should be allowed to review documents seized in a search of the congressman's office. On Monday, Chief U-S District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejected requests from Jefferson and fellow lawmakers seeking the return of the material from the May raid on Capitol Hill. Jefferson is now seeking to delay the judge's ruling while he appeals. Hogan dismissed arguments by Jefferson and a bipartisan group of House leaders that the...

ARTICLE ON IRAQI DOCUMENTS. WHERE DID IT GO?

Mexican authorities have arrested the leader of a wide-reaching organization that allegedly made and distributed forged immigration and identification documents in numerous U.S. cities, U.S. officials said Monday. Pedro Castorena, 42, was arrested Saturday in the western city of Guadalajara while carrying two counterfeit Mexican identification documents that bore his photograph but an assumed name, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said in a statement. Castorena's arrest "deals a serious blow to one of the largest fraudulent document organizations in the United States," said Julie Myers, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A blueprint for trying to start a war between the United States and Iran was among a "huge treasure" of documents found in the hideout of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The document, purporting to reflect al-Qaida policy and its cooperation with groups loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein, also appear to show that the insurgency in Iraq was weakening. The al-Qaida in Iraq document was translated and released by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie. There was no way to independently confirm the authenticity of the information attributed to al-Qaida. Although the...

GREENBELT, Md. - Nigeria's vice president sought up to $500,000 and a stake in a technology venture in his country, according to statements Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) made to an FBI informant that were detailed in court documents filed in a bribery probe of the congressman. Jefferson allegedly told the FBI informant that he had delivered "African art," which authorities believe was code for cash, to the Potomac, Md., home of the wife of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar at midnight last July 31. Details of the alleged deal were included in an affidavit filed in U.S....