Sandra Finley

2011-09-25 Dick Cheney, War Criminal – WHO are the collaborators who invited him to Vancouver? PLUS serious development in integration of law enforcement.

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, George Bush war criminal  No Responses »
Sep 252011
 

There are on-going battles on many fronts over corporate takeover –“harmonization”, “de-regulation”, “Integration”,  etc.. 

ANOTHER VERY SERIOUS DEVELOPMENT:   U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told participants that the U.S. and Canada are set to launch a pilot project next year which will allow law enforcement officers to operate on both sides of the border.     (Click on  http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3354).     

 – – – – – – – – — 

I have not been able to keep up with reports from the U.S.  – – the protests over Wall Street, the failure to prosecute, determination to take back their country is growing.   AND the media is not reporting it.   Abuses of police power accompany the protests. 

The last thing we need is integration of the police and military.

 — – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – — –

DEFEND THE RULE OF LAW.   HOW?   (THIS IS NO TIME TO BE SHY.) 

 Converse with those who are the collaborators.   They must not remain anonymous.  Phone them, even if it is their cell-phone number.

 See the appended Wall of Shame,  the list of people responsible for bringing Dick Cheney to Vancouver through the Bon Mot Book Club and the Vancouver Club. 

 I spoke directly with 2 people on the list and left messages for the others (every phone had an answering machine). 

1. Leah Costello – offers as justification that they are only creating the forum for discussion.  She tells of all the other speakers they have entertained – for example on the topic of homelessness. 

2. Tamara demanded to know how I had obtained her personal cell phone number.   Did I look it up?  (No)   I told her that there are listservs and connections among people in Canada, the U.S. and internationally who are working to bring members of the Bush Administration to justice.   I have no idea who found her personal cell phone number.  It is just information that is circulated in these international networks. 

 (Normally I am timid about using a cell phone number in this way.  There is too much at risk for that to be.) 

The basic message I left on answering machines:  put yourself in the shoes of the people in Iraq, then imagine that it was Canada that the Bush Administration dropped the bombs on.  Imagine the amount of hatred we would have for Americans (although the culprits are not them but their leaders).   We, and I am sure the Vancouver Club/Bon Mot Book Club, are working to build a better world.  Our individual actions need to make a positive contribution.  They likely would not individually have made a decision to host Cheney; group decisions sometimes go awry.   I encouraged them to talk with other members of the Vancouver Club about the decision to host Cheney.   In some messages I made reference to American corporations that profiteered mightily from collaboration with the Nazis in WW2, etc..  This has elements of the same behavior.

And now I hear that Cheney is scheduled for Calgary on Tuesday!    http://www.calgarysun.com/2011/09/24/calgary-protesters-to-greet-cheney   Calgary protesters to greet Cheney 30

APPENDED     Subject: Wall Of Shame

 WALL OF SHAME
There are many people involved in bringing these heinous criminals to our fair city.
The top of the list is Leah Costello (founder, Bon Mot Book Club).
Please contact these immoral facilitators and let them know about your displeasure with their actions.

Bon Mot Book Club  604-922-5324

Leah Costello (Founder, Bon Mot Book Club) Cell phone 604-551-4344

Founding Hosts, Bon Mot Book Club

Elio & Rosanna Luongo Hm. 604-421=0437

Dave & Tamara Bustos Hm. 604-935-0374 Tamara’s cell. 778-994-8796

Ray Castelli Cell phone 778-998-4717

David Rowntree Hm. 604-913-7911

Ian Telfer & Nancy Burke Hm. 604-921-6049 604-921-6046

Michael & Lesley Bentley Hm. 604-298-0895

The Vancouver Club Board of Directors

Carolyn Coleclough – President 250-496-5277
cmc@webhudco.ca

Doug Christopher – Vice President, Planning Committee Chair 604-925-2994
dchristopher@telus.net

Russell Smith – Immediate Past President 604-844-5437
rsmith@odlumbrown.com

John Ellis – Finance Committee Chair
john.ellis@schenker.ca

Debbie Thomas – House Committee Chair 604-707-6304 cell# 604-313-0335
thomas_pement@telus.net

Doug Jevning – Membership Committee Chair
jdjevning@telus.net

Christopher Gaze – Ambassador’s Committtee Chair 604-732-8705
cgaze@telus.net

Cara Savege-Cocco – Signature Service Committee Chair 604-734-0970
cara@carasavege.com

Shirley Kepper
skepper@telus.net

Rachel Thomas
rachelelenorthomas@gmail.com

Trudy Van Dop 604-521-7887
trudy@art-bc.com

Barry Davidson 604-929-4918
barry@davidsonandsons.com

Andrew Hungerford 604736-8500
ahungerford@hungerfordproperties.com

2011-09-24 U.S.-Canada Perimeter Security and the Consolidation of North America

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, George Bush war criminal  1 Response »
Sep 252011
 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/U-S-Canada-Perimeter-Secu-by-Dana-Gabriel-110920-609.html

By Dana Gabriel (about the author)           September 24, 2011

The U.S. and Canada are very close to unveiling a North American perimeter security deal that would promote greater integration between both countries. This includes expanding collaboration in areas of law enforcement and intelligence sharing which could dramatically affect sovereignty and privacy rights. While there is a need for more public scrutiny, incrementalism has been used to advance North American integration. In many ways this has kept the agenda under the radar. Much like NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a U.S.-Canada perimeter security agreement would represent another step in the consolidation of North America.

During his speech at a recent meeting of northern border states, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told participants that the U.S. and Canada are set to launch a pilot project next year which will allow law enforcement officers to operate on both sides of the border. Holder explained that, “the creation of “NextGen’ teams of cross-designated officers would allow us to more effectively identify, assess, and interdict persons and organizations involved in transnational crime.” He went on to say, “In conjunction with the other provisions included in the Beyond the Border Initiative, such a move would enhance our cross-border efforts and advance our information-sharing abilities.” The declaration, Beyond the Border: Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness issued by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper last February, identified joint law enforcement operations and information sharing as a high priority. There are already examples of what we could expect from a security perimeter as some Canadians have been denied entry into the U.S. after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

While further details of the new joint law enforcement project are not yet available, Stuart Trew of the Council of Canadians pointed out that the plans are well advanced. This prompted him to question, “why is Harper consulting with Canadians on a done deal? We haven’t had a chance to yea or nay the perimeter agreement which is expected to be released as an “action plan’ within weeks. But a pilot project that legalizes and normalizes US policing activities in Canada is already set to begin next year.” He added that this confirms, “the Harper government will use its limited public consultations earlier this year to move ahead quickly with whatever new cross-border policing and information sharing commitments it wants, regardless of privacy and other concerns.” Last month, the Canadian government released two reports which summarized public input received concerning regulatory cooperation, as well as security and trade across the border. While improving the movement of goods and people was the priority for business groups, many individuals expressed concerns over the loss of sovereignty, along with the protection of personal information.

On top of announcing plans to create teams of cross-designated officers, Attorney General Eric Holder took time to praise bilateral relations between the two countries, but acknowledged, “there are areas in which the U.S. and Canada can enhance cooperation in criminal investigations and prosecutions. And I believe we must consider how extradition, and mutual legal assistance, processes could be streamlined.” He also stated, “As Canada’s national government considers various anti-crime policies and approaches, we will continue working to implement a comprehensive anti-crime framework.” Does this mean that as part of a security perimeter, Canada would have to change its legal system to better reflect U.S. laws? As the fall session of Parliament gets underway, the Harper government is set to table tough new criminal reform legislation.

In the report entitled Shared Vision or Myopia: The Politics of Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, former Foreign Service officer Gar Pardy warns that a perimeter security deal with the U.S. could sacrifice Canadians privacy while doing nothing to improve the flow of trade across the border. In his report, Pardy reveals that “The concessions the Americans want is the transfer of enormous amounts of information about Canadians and others about whom Canada collects information. It is evident that to meet such expectations Canadian privacy laws will need to be ignored, violated or weakened.” He also stated that, “The Shared Vision approach essentially promotes the idea that in order to restore the status quo ante implicit in the free trade agreements there have to be large political concessions by Canada that will satisfy American security concerns.” This could explain the Conservative government’s announcement that it will reintroduce anti-terrorism measures which have expired and are on par with sections of the liberty-stripping U.S. Patriot Act. The move is tied to plans for a security perimeter and is aimed more at satisfying U.S. fears.

In his report released by the Rideau Institute, Gar Pardy also warns that, “when Canada–United States privacy protection principles are under bilateral discussion, privacy protection will not be increased. A more likely result is that existing Canadian privacy laws, as flawed as they are, will erode to meet the demands of the United States.” As part of his report, he recommended measures that would better protect privacy rights and encourage transparency. This included all new agreements with the U.S. affecting the privacy rights of Canadians, be reviewed by the Privacy Commissioner. Pardy called for the creation of a single authority to oversee all federal police and security organizations participating in information transfers between both countries. He also recommended a separate treaty that would protect personal information transferred to the U.S. for national security purposes. With regards to a perimeter security deal, Pardy concluded that, “If Canadian concessions on security and privacy rules do result in the lessening of American border restrictions and controls then such results would always be hostage to future events over which Canada has no control.”

It is important to keep in mind that the move towards a North American security perimeter is being done without congressional or parliamentary approval. There is no reason to trust that our governments will strike any kind of balance between security and freedom. That is why it is imperative that we demand more transparency and input. With a joint action plan expected to be released soon, it is my hope that Canadians and Americans will reject any perimeter security deal that reduces privacy rights and further puts our sovereignty at risk.

Dana Gabriel is an activist and independent researcher. He writes about trade, globalization, sovereignty, security, as well as other issues.

Tag(s): Attorney General Eric Holder; Beyond The Border A Shared Vision For Perimeter Se; Border Security; Canada-us Integration; Council Of Canadians; Department Of Homeland Security; Globalization NAFTA; North American Integration; North American Security Perimeter; President Barack Obama; (more…) Privacy; Security And Prosperity Partnership; Security And Prosperity Partnership; Security Perimeter; Sovereignty; Stephen Harper; Trade; Us- Canada Relations, Add Tags  (less…)

Excellent article uses the Poisoning of Minamata (mercury) to explore complex web of poisons

 Green Party, Mercury poisoning, dental amalgams. See also Vaccinations., Sustainability, Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  No Responses »
Sep 242011
 

The Poisoning of Minamata

 

 

by Douglas Allchin

It started out quite simply, with the strangeness of cats “dancing” in the street–and sometimes collapsing and dying. Who would have known, in a modest Japanese fishing village in the 1950s, that when friends or family members occasionally shouted uncontrollably, slurred their speech, or dropped their chopsticks at dinner, that one was witnessing the subtle early symptoms of a debilitating nervous condition caused by ingesting mercury? Yet when such scattered, apparently unconnected, and mildly mysterious events began to haunt the town of Minamata, Japan, they were the first signs of one of the most dramatic and emotionally moving cases of industrial pollution in history.

The outcome was tragic: a whole town was both literally and figuratively poisoned. Yet for those of us, now, who can view it more distantly, this episode also offers a conceptually clear and affectively powerful example of the concentration of elements in food chains, the sometimes unexpected interconnectedness of humans and their environment, and the complex interactions of biology and culture. In short, it is a paradigm for teaching ecology and science-society issues.

The case of Minamata, Japan, and the mercury poisoning (originally called Minamata disease) that took place there, appeared briefly in news headlines in the 1970s and then receded from public attention–at least in the U.S. The episode was fully and richly documented, however, by former Life photographer, Eugene Smith, and his wife, Aileen, who lived in Minamata for several years. Much of what follows draws on their book (unfortunately, now out-of-print, but available in many libraries; see Smith and Smith 1972, 1975; Ishimure 1990).

The Episode

Minamata is located on the Western coast of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost island (see map). Its disturbing story begins, perhaps, in the 1930s, as the town was continuing to shed its heritage as a poor fishing and farming village. In 1932 the Chisso Corporation, an integral part of the local economy since 1907, began to manufacture acetaldehyde, used to produce plastics. As we know now, mercury from the production process began to spill into the bay. Though no one knew until decades later, the heavy metal became incorporated into methyl mercury chloride: an organic form that could enter the food chain. At the time, Minamata residents relied almost exclusively on fish and shellfish from the bay as a source of protein. For us, today, the threat of pollution is immediately evident. But one must not fail to appreciate the historical context in which neither scientific experience nor a pervasive environmental awareness could offer such an explicit warning.

Minamata is located on the coast of Japan’s westernmost island. The city and the adjacent Minamata Bay form a relatively closed ecosystem: the bay was a source of fish–and almost the city’s exclusive source of protein–until the mid-1950s. The effects of mercury pollution from the Chisso factory quickly double-backed onto the city’s residents.

 

After World War II (around 1952), the production of acetaldehyde boomed. So, too, did the local economy–and most residents welcomed their improved lifestyles. About the same time, fish began to float in Minamata Bay. Chisso, as it had since 1925, continued to pay indemnity to local fishermen for possible damage to their fishing waters. Also at that time, cats began to exhibit bizarre behavior that sometimes resulted in their falling into the sea and dying, in what residents referred to as “cat suicides.”

In the early 1950s, similar behavior began to appear–sporadically and without much notice–in humans. People would stumble while walking, not be able to write or button their buttons, have trouble hearing or swallowing, or tremble uncontrollably. In 1956 an apparent epidemic broke out and one can imagine the confusion–and fear–that was prevalent because no one knew the cause. Was it a viral inflammation of the brain? Was it syphilis? Was it hereditary ataxia, or alcoholism? Was it infectious? The popular names of “cat’s-dancing disease” and the “strange disease” convey some of both the mystery and its alienating quality.

The physiological effects, including successive loss of motor control, were devastating, and resulted in sometimes partly paralyzed and contorted bodies. Here, the photos of Eugene Smith speak more fully and sensitively than any words one can imagine. One resident, Tsuginori Hamamoto, described the plight of his father, a fisherman. Virtually overnight, Sohachi lost his ability to keep his balance, or to stay afloat in the water once he had fallen off the boat. He could not put on his sandals, walk properly, or understand what others were saying to him. Once hardy and strongly self-willed, his condition quickly degenerated, and he was hosptialized on the fourth day. There, even tied to his bed with bandages, he “craze-danced,” said words that were not words; he salivated; he convulsed. Later, he tore at his own skin with his fingernails until his body bled. “Mother would look at Dad,” Tsuginori recalled, “and just stand there–tears dropping from her eyes–looking dazed. Then we realized that the same symptoms were developing in Mother.” The father died within seven weeks, the mother nine years later.

By the end of 1956, epidemiological and medical researchers identified the disease as heavy-metal poisoning caused by eating the fish and shellfish of Minamata Bay. Direct evidence that mercury from the Chisso plant was responsible, however, did not emerge until 1959. Dr. Hajimé Hosokawa, in private tests on cats at the Chisso Company Hospital, showed that the plant’s acetaldehyde waste water caused the disease symptoms (though the results were not made public). Chisso installed a “cyclator” designed to control the emissions, offered `mimai’ (consolation payments) to the patients, and the matter seemed resolved. Nearly 100 patients had been identified, of whom over twenty had died.

More patients emerged, however. Children were also born with the “disease.” The geographical distriubtion of cases widened. In 1963, Public Health Service researchers traced the disease to mercury from Chisso. Controversy soon erupted over who was responsible for compensating the victims and supporting their families. It was not until 1970 that a district court ruled that Chisso make payments totalling $3.2 million to the original group of patients; others soon received payment by negotiating directly with Chisso.

Chisso still operates in Minamata and now produces chemicals, fertilizer and floppy discs. The city has diminished in size, now almost 70% of its peak population in the 1960s. Mercury permeates sediment of bay, where fishing has long been prohibited. One of the two dumping sites is being filled in and a memorial garden is planned. The incident is rarely discussed, but residents know that things have changed; a certain confidence or buoyancy is missing. In a sense, the way of life in Minamata itself has been poisoned.

The Science

Biologically the case of Minamata exemplifies (as many will recognize) the concentration of elements (described in most texts). Students may be guided in developing this concept on their own. One need only remind them of their knowledge of the loss of energy (and biomass) for each step in a food chain. From there, they may speculate what will happen to chemicals, such as DDT or heavy metals, that are not excreted or broken down, but stored in the tissue. Successively higher concentrations of the chemical (they should conclude) appear in each trophic level–a result dramatically illustrated in the Minamata food chain (see chart). The Minamata example may also be an occasion to introduce students to Rachel Carson, who identified the same phenomenon with pesticides in her influential Silent Spring in 1962.

Mercury Concentrations in Tissue Samples (ppm)*
Fish & Shellfish   Cats

   Humans

  
oyster 5.6 control 0.9-3.66 control less than 3.0
gray mullet 10.6 kidney 12.2-36.1 kidney 3.1-144.0
short-necked clam 20.0 liver 37-145.5 liver 0.3-70.5
china fish 24.1 brain 8-18 brain 0.1-24.8
crab 35.7 hair 21-70 hair 96-705

Minamata’s food chains dramatically illustrate the `concentration of elements’–in this case, of mercury–in successive trophic levels. Assays of tissue from fish and shellfish from the bay, and from cats and humans who died from the poisoning, show high concentrations of mercury. Kidney and liver concentrations indicate how the bodies tried–unsuccessfully–to excrete and detoxify the heavy metal._

 

The Minamata case is such a vivid example because the town and the bay where the mercury was dumped may be seen as a relatively closed system. The ecological consequences, which are often diffuse and indirect, may be seen as a closed loop: the effects of the effluent led gradually but nevertheless inevitably back to humans. That is, in this exceptional case, one can trace the mercury from its source in Chisso’s production process, through the waste water to the organisms inhabiting the bay, and then to the cats or humans consuming the fish and shellfish. As a microcosm, Minamata illustrates the sometimes fuzzy concept that humans and their environment are inextricably interconnected.

One may also address the physiological effects of mercury. Mercury concentrates itself specifically in neural tissue. Early effects thus include loss of peripheral sensation and restriction of the visual field. Patients in advanced stages of the condition show considerable atrophy of brain. The granular cells of the cerebellum are especially targeted, accounting for the ataxic gait, tremors, and sometimes violent convulsions of the patients.

In some classes, students may be well-prepared to understand why the disease affected growing children more severely than adults. In fact, five children, ages 5-11, who had collected shellfish from the shore while playing, were the first documented cases. Students may also be ready to predict how the mercury would concentrate in a developing fetus, leading to congenital cases, even where the mother showed no signs of the poisoning. In one dramatic incident, an umbilical cord (traditionally boxed and preserved in Japan) provided material evidence of the suspected mercury concentration, years after the fact.

The Social and Cultural Consequences

The case of Minamata is surely engaging because the relationship between the causal agent and the effect is so unambiguous (at least today). Yet a full account also includes the more “human” dimension–those elements which contributed to the figurative poisoning of the city, and that make the case both more striking and more valuable for reflection.

For example, because the disease was related to the unexplainable behavior of wildly-acting cats, the disease became stigmatized, often in the victim’s own eyes. In the Japanese view of medicine, the condition of the body reflects how the individual has maintained his or her balance with the external world–and sickness can be viewed as something “deserved.” The victims were thus often implicitly “blamed” for their own condition. Also, wary of contagion, residents ostracized disease patients. Neighbor turned against neighbor. One tatami mat-maker, Yahei Ikeda, for instance, disparaged those who had the disease–until one day he, too, ironically, showed the symptoms. Neighbors with whom he had earlier shared his isolationist sentiments regarding the victims now turned those same feelings against him.

Fishermen and their families were the earliest and most severely afflicted, having consumed the most contaminated fish. But it was also the fishermen, perhaps, who most embodied the traditional Japanese appreciation of nature, so evident in classical haiku poetry and watercolor painting. For the fishermen, the sea, viewed romantically perhaps, was life-giving. It was hard for the villagers to comprehend that the sea could also take life away. One fisherman expressed his love of the sea:

When I though I was dying
and my hands were numb
and wouldn’t work–
and my father was dying too–when
the villagers turned against us–
it was to the sea
I would go to cry.
. . .
No one can understand
why I love the sea so much.
The sea
has never abandoned me.
The sea
is the blood of my veins.

Indeed, it was the poison in the food from the sea that also flowed in his blood, generating the numbness in his hands and prompting his fears of dying. Here, not only his food was polluted, but also the fundamental view of nature in his culture.

The most disturbing social overtones in Minamata may have involved the employees of Chisso. In the 1950s and 60s, Chisso employed about 60% of the town’s workforce. Having essentially inherited the role of patriarchal lord from feudal Japan, Chisso was both provider and protector. The employees depended on Chisso for their livelihood and, in turn, honored this with their loyalty. So deep was this loyalty that Dr. Hosokawa, who had uncovered his company’s role in causing Minamata disease, felt he could not divulge the results of his research publicly (though he did so later on his deathbed). Even today, Chisso enjoys a favorable image among many residents. When fishermen began to demonstrate against Chisso for damages, therefore, there were counter-demonstrations by company employees. To have admitted Chisso’s “guilt” would have been to acknowledge that the corporation had abandoned its filial responsibility and that the relationship, now violated, could no longer be trusted. In the same way perhaps, residents of Rochester, New York felt betrayed when in 1988 “Mother Kodak” spilled 30,000 gallons of methylene chloride solvent in the local area (consider also a similar case involving Martin Marietta in Denver, 1987). Though members of Chisso’s Workers’ Union could sympathize with those in Minamata’s Fishermen’s Union, in this case there was no question where loyalty would lie. The whole town of Minamata was thus splintered. The mercury not only poisoned individuals’ bodies, but also the community’s social relations.

Causation and Responsibility

In a narrow, epidemiological sense, Chisso’s effluent was the source or the “cause” of the problems in Minamata. But the case here is also valuable in that it allows one to see the broader economic and cultural contexts that linked Chisso and its effluent with the community around it. Causes occur at many levels or in many contexts simultaneously: physiological, ecological, economic and political. The lessons that emerge here about the conditions that promote pollution (even if unwanted) are correspondingly clearer. They can help students move beyond the simple black-and-white view that pollution is blatantly “evil” and can be easily avoided.

There is no question, now, that Chisso withheld critical information in 1959 and continued to dump waste. They were held legally liable for their negligence in 1972. Yet this does not solve the deeper problems of responsibility. One must look at how the pollution first started, and later continued. Blaming victims is unwarranted. Yet there is a sense in which the entire episode resulted from communal values and social decisions. The town as a whole welcomed Chisso’s arrival and later growth, and the town as a whole prospered. And the town as a whole also suffered the unfortunate consequences. In this sense, the case of Minamata follows the classical form of tragedy (taught since Aristotle, and still today in high school English classes): there was a tragic choice, followed by unforseen tragic consequences. The difference is that, here, events occurred on a social rather than individual level. Who, ultimately, is responsible, especially when consequences may be unforseen or unintended?

One lesson may be that all the members of the society must accept the undesirable, even unanticipated consequences of their collective judgements. Even if we do not “choose” individually to endorse nuclear energy or manufacturing with toxic by-products, for instance, we cannot personally abdicate social responsibilty for the consequences of their waste. The problem is epitomized in current efforts to situate new landfills and hazardous waste sites. “Anywhere but in my neighborhood (or state),” is the common reply. The closure of events in Minamata, however, challenges whether attitudes, exemplified by the “not-in-my-back-yard” syndrome, can be effectively, or even ethically, maintained.

Political Action

Finally, Minamata can teach us about politics, particularly as they might apply to environmentalism. The patients of Minamata disease suffered not only from a physical handicap alone. Due to their economic status and the social dimensions of the disease, the victims were also politically handicapped. They–and the fishermen whose livelihoods (if not whose lives) had been destroyed–did not initially command the power or the resources to obtain proper compensation from Chisso. The story of their struggle, therefore, is equally informative.

In the late 1950s, the disease patients organized a “Mutual Help Society.” Through continued petitioning, recruiting of grass-roots support across Japan, months of sit-ins at Chisso headquarters, and an unsightly tent settlement on their front sidewalk in Tokyo, they focused unfavorable public attention on Chisso. Eventually Chisso management agreed to negotiate directly with the patients, rather than appeal to the government’s authority (which supported Chisso). Other patients brought suit, wherein Dr. Hosokawa’s testimony was made public and became instrumental in demonstrating Chisso’s particular negligence. The court ruled in favored of the patients and the demands of the negotiations group were met soon thereafter. The political campaign succeeded, but only through an investment of considerable effort and time. Here, bearing witness, patience and persistence proved effective.

Political lessons may seem inappropriate in a biology classroom. However, students today are increasingly exposed to acts of violence intended to “resolve” conflicts. An example where bearing witness, patience and persistence have proven their effectiveness can provide a significant alternative model for action. Even in environmentalism, we are easily reminded of the ethical issues involved in spiking trees and other forms of “monkey-wrenching” or ecological sabotage.

Epilogue

Disasters such as the massive release of methyl isocyanate gas from Union Carbide plant’s in Bhopal, India, certainly focus our attention on the adverse human effects and environmental risks of some industry. Yet such “incidents,” like those at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl or the Valdez oil spill can also be dismissed as “accidents” or exceptional single occurences–not as symptomatic of the status of human ecology. One can easily forget the often larger threats posed by low-level but more sustained release of chemicals–the “slow-motion Bhopals.” And one can easily overlook the more difficult, yet far more fundamental issues involving attitudes, lifestyles, and economic and social forces–issues that are so keenly profiled by the history of Minamata.

In hindsight, it is easy to prescribe what ought to have been done in Minamata–and to assign blame accordingly. But such an interpretation fails to appreciate what a sensitive historical perspective can teach us. Who could have guessed, for instance, when autos first started rolling off the assembly line and onto the streets, that decades later we would be concerned about carbon monoxide, smog, leaded gas, drunk drivers, and global warming? Minamata is a paradigm for informing an environmental ethos that treading lightly is advisable where consequences are unknown. Even so, no one can foretell the longer-term and sometimes undesirable consequences of an action, and we must cope with them as they emerge.

Chisso finally stopped production of acetaledyde in 1968–when an alternative technology for producing plastics was developed. Still, through the 1970s and 80s, new patients continued to surface. In some cases, the symptoms are partial–numbness or tingling in the extremities, for instance, or frequent headaches or the inability to concentrate–and it is hard to determine the exact extent of the mercury’s effects. Aware of the potential scope of the problem, the government is generally reluctant to verify patients. Even so, 1,760 victims have been verified; almost 3,000 more await verification–of whom 412 have already died. Over 8,000 have been denied status. No one can be sure of the extent of the damage, but one neuropsychiatrist at a local university estimates that 10,000 victims exist currently and that at least 3,000 have died. Over $611 million has been paid to victims in compensation. But it is hard to measure the real cost.

As described to me by one Japanese native, the story of Minamata looms over the country as an example of the dark side of Japan’s post-World War II industrialization. Given the cases of Love Canal and Times Beach in the U.S., however, he might easily not have referred to Japan alone.

Much like the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the nearby island of Honshu, the poisoning of Minamata has left an enduring legacy. The long-term biological effects in each case have placed a medical and social burden on society, measured both in terms of yen and our collective conscience. They also serve as poignant reminders of the consequences when man disregards the environmental effects of his actions.

The basin where Chisso dumped its posionous mercury waste has now been filled in and a memorial garden has been planted. The city of Minamata now takes pride in itself, having learned a hard lesson, and looks forward to a better, more environmentally informed future.

References

  • Ishimure, Michiko. 1990. Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow. English translation by Livet Monnet. Yamaguchi Publishing House (c/o Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd., Tokyo).
  • Smith, W. Eugene and Aileen M. Smith. 1972. Life, (June 2), 74-79.
  • ——. (1975). Minamata. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Questions for Discussion:

  • Uncertainty is a recurrent problem in environmental issues (alar; radon; EMF fields; CFCs and the ozone layer; global warming). In Minamata, the problem was certainly compounded by having no history of industrial pollution to provide models of interpretation, no clear understanding of heavy metals in the food chain and no previous knowledge of the effects of acetaldehyde wastewater. At what point
  • How does one assess responsibility in a case such as this? If Chisso installed a pollution control device in good faith, should they be held accountable for damges that follow?

 

 

The SHiPS Teachers’ Network helps teachers share experiences and resources for integrating history, philosophy and sociology of science in the the science classroom.

Heavy Metal Detox Website – good explanations regarding synergistic effects, etc.

 Fluoride, Mercury poisoning, dental amalgams. See also Vaccinations., Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  No Responses »
Sep 242011
 

Please save this site…it is good   / Grant

http://www.heavymetaldetox.net/Research%20Articles/Dr%20Dietrich%20Klinghardt/index.htm

A Comprehensive Review of Heavy Metal Detoxification and Clinical Pearls from 30 Years of Medical Practice
 
 by   Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD
A. Introduction:  Heavy Metals appear in the mammalian system because they have become part of our environment.
We are in a constant exchange with our environment which is goverened by the laws of osmosis.If mercury is in the fish we eat, over time we have mercury in our system. We cannot keep our system pristine and clean, because we are seperated from our toxic environment only by semi-permeable membranes: skin and mucosal surfaces. Maintaining relative cleanliness requires a number of inherent detox systems to work overtime against the osmotic pressure of the incoming toxins. As the toxixity of our environment increases so does the osmotic pressure, pushing the often man- made poisons into our body.

Toxins almost never come alone. They come in synergistically acting package-deals. Mercury alone is toxic. Together with zinc it is many times more toxic, add in a little copper and silver, as in dental amalgam fillings and  the detrimental effect to the body increases manyfold.  Together with mercaptan and thioether (dental toxins) the toxic amalgam effects grow exponentially.  Add in a little PCB and dioxin, as in fish, and the illness causing effect of the methyl mercury in fish increases manyfold. Toxicology is to a large degree the study of synergistic effects.  In synergy 1 plus 1 = 100. Heavy metals are primarily neurotoxins.  There is a synergistic effect between all neurotoxins which is responsible for the illness producing effect.

Making the neurotoxin elimination a major part of my practice has been an amazing experience.
Many illnesses considered intractable respond when the related issues are successfully resolved.

What are Neurotoxins?

Neurotoxins are substances attracted to the mammalian nervous system. They are absorbed by nerve endings and travel inside the neuron to the cell body. On their way they distrupt vital functions of the nerve cell, such as axonal transport of nutrients, mitochondrial respiration and proper DNA transcription. The body is constantly trying to eliminate neurotoxins via the available exit routes: the liver, kidney, skin and exhaled air. Detox mechanisms include acetylation, sulfation, glucuronidation, oxidation and others. The liver is most important in these processes. Here most elimination products are expelled with the bile into the small intestine and should leave the body via the digestive tract. However, because of the lipophilic/neurotropic nature of the neurotoxins, most are reabsorbed by the abundant nerve endings of the enteric nervous system (ENS) in the intestinal wall. The ENS has more neurons than the spinal chord. From the moment of mucosal uptake the toxins can potentially take 4 different paths:

1.       Neuronal uptake and via axonal transport to the spinal chord (sympathetic neurons) or brainstem (parasympathetics) – from here back to the brain.

2.       Venous uptake and via the portal vein back to the liver

3.       Lymphatic uptake and via the thoracic duct to the subclavian vein

4.       Uptake by bowel bacteria and tissues of the intestinal tract

i)     Heavy metals:

mercury, lead, cadmium, iron, manganese and aluminum (are the most common).
Common Sources: metallic mercury vapor escapes from dental amalgam fillings (they contain about 50% mercury, the rest is zinc, silver copper, tin and trace metals). Cadmium: car fumes, cigarette smoke , pigment in oil paint Lead: outasing from-paint, residues in earth and food chain from time when lead was used in gasoline, contaminated drinking water Aluminum: cookware, drinking water

ii)    Biotoxins:

such as tetanus toxin, botulinum toxin (botox), ascaridin (from intestinal parasites), unspecified toxins from streptococci, staphylococci, lyme disease, clamydia, tuberculosis, fungal toxins and toxins produced by viruses. Biotoxins are minute molecules (200-1000 kilodaltons) containing nitrogen and sulfur. They belong to a group of chemical messengers which microorganisms use to control the host´s immune system, host behaviour and the host´s eating habits.

iii)      Xenobiotics (man-made environmental toxins):

such as dioxin, formaldehyde, insecticides, wood preservatives, PCBs etc.

iv) Food Preservatives, excitotoxins and cosmetics:

aspartame (diet sweeteners), MSG, many spices, food colourings, fluoride,  methyl-and
propyl -paraben, etc.

Heavy Metal Toxicity

Metals can exist in the body with different kinds of chemical bonds and as different molecules. Mercury appears to be the king-pin in the cascade of events in which metals become pathogenic. Mercury can be present as metallic mercury (HgO), as mercury salt (e.g. mercury chloride – HG+), or as methyl mercury (HG++).  Methyl mercury is 50 times more toxic than metallic mercury.  Methyl-Hg is so firmly bound to the body that it has to be first reduced to HG+ before it can be removed from the cell.  This is achieved with reducing agents (“antioxidants”) e.g. intravenous vitamin C and reduced glutathione. To remove Hg-Salts or metallic Hg from the outside of the cell, other agents are useful Mercury belongs to a group of metals that oxidize in the presence of sulfur and form compounds with sulfur (sulfhydryl affinitive metals).  Methyl mercury is already oxidized to its maximum and bound firmly to sulfur in the different proteins of the body. The following metals belong to the sulfhydryl affinitive group and respond to similar detoxification methods:  Copper, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury. Aluminum and iron for example would not respond a sulfur compound. Some detox agents have multiple mechanisms by which they bind to metals. The algal organism chlorella has over 20 known such mechanisms.

Other metals oxidize with oxygen.  Iron turns to rust when oxidized.  Rust is nontoxic to the body, whereas iron is.  Iron overdose responds to a chemical called desferoximin (desferal).  Aluminum responds to the same detoxification agent. A recent Japanese study showed that Chinese parsley, cilantro, is a powerful elimination agent for aluminum stored in bone and the brain.

Other facts:

  • Some metals are extremely toxic, even in the most minute dose, whereas others have very low toxicity, even in high doses.  However, dependent on the dose, all metals can become toxic to the body.  Iron can cause severe oxidative damage, copper may compromise liver function and visual acuity, selenium and arsenic have been known to be used to murder people and so on.
  • Most metals serve a functional role in the body.  For example, selenium is needed in the enzyme that restores oxidized glutathione back to its functional form as reduced glutathione.  Another important function of selenium is its role as a powerful antioxidant in preventing cancer.
  • Some metals have a narrow physiological range.  That means the difference between a therapeutic dose and toxic overdose is very small.   Selenium is an example of this.  Magnesium on the other hand has a wide physiological range and thus is more difficult to overdose.
  • Some metals have no physiological function.  Mercury, lead, aluminum are in this group.  Even the smallest amounts have negative physiological-effects.
  • biochemical individuality: some people may react more or less than others to the presence of heavy metals in the tissues.  Some people may develop a severe chronic illness after exposure of a few molecules of mercury, whereas others may be more resistant to it. Genetic deficiencies in the enzymes responsible for the formation of the metallothioneins and glutathione production and reduction are examples.

Possible side-effects during heavy metal detox:

Every patient can be affected by metals in two ways:

1.  Through their non-specific toxic effects

2. Through the system´s allergic reactions to the neurotoxins

Often these two distinctive types of symptoms cannot be easily distinguished.  During a detox program, the patient may also temporarily become allergic to the various substances that help to carry out the toxins.  This is based on a physiological mechanism called ‘operant conditioning’.  Every time the detoxifying substance is given, mercury emerges from its hiding places into the more superficial tissues of the body, where mercury can now be detected by the immune system.  The immune system however is fooled into thinking that the detoxifying substance itself is the enemy.  The immune system now starts to react to the detoxifying substance as if it was the mercury itself.  This reaction typically resolves spontaneously after six weeks of not using the detox agent in question.  This type of conditioned reflex can also be easily treated with simple techniques e.g. NAET, PK (APN), or by giving the detox substance in a homeopathic dilution for a few days.  Often the basal membranes in the kidney will swell as a sign of the allergic reaction, causing low back pain, anuria or inability to concentrate urine. Neuraltherapy or microcurrent stimulation of the kidneys quickly resolves the issue. Muscle aches indicate the redistribution of toxins into the connective tissue and an insufficient program. Depression, headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, seizures, increased pain levels indicate redistribution of metals into the CNS and an inappropriate detox program. Eye problems and tinnitus that occurs during detox indicates redistribution of metals into these organs and requires selective mobilization from these locations before the program is continued. I use a specific type of microcurrent for this purpose

Some recently published findings related to the metal issue:

Iron/mangnese: A recent paper on Parkinsons disease (Neurology June 10, 2003;60:1761-1766)revealed that just by eating iron and manganese containing foods such as spinach or taking supplements containing Mn or Fe – the risk of developing PD increased almost 2 fold. This demonstrates that even dietary supplements or organically grown foods are amongst the possilbe culprits in metal toxixity.

Methylmercury:

There are two major sources:

1. mercury escaped from dental amalgam fillings is converted by oral and intestinal bacteria to methylmercury, which then is bound firmly to proteins and other molecules. Methyl mercury crosses the blodd brain barrier and the placental barrier leading to massive prenatal exposure. Earlier studies determined that over 90% of the common body burdon of Hg is from dental fillings. Recent studies show that eating fish is starting to compete with amalgam fillings for the leading position as a risk factor.

2.Seafood

A recent study (JAMA, April 2, 2003;289(13):1667-1674) revealed the following. It is estimated that nearly 60,000 children each year are born at risk for neurological problems due to methylmercury exposure in the womb. One in 12 U.S. women of childbearing age have potentially hazardous levels of mercury in their blood as a result of consuming fish, according to government scientists.  The U.S.FDA recommends that pregnant women and those who may become pregnant avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tile fish known to contain elevated levels of methylmercury, an organic form of mercury. Nearly all fish contain some amount of methylmercury. Mercury accumulates in the system, so larger, longer-lived fish like shark or swordfish contain the highest amounts of mercury and pose the largest threat if eaten regularly.

The National Center for Policy Research for Women & Families published in  May 2003, that the following fish are lowest in methyl mercury:

  • Catfish (farmed)
  • Blue Crab (mid-Atlantic)
  • Croaker
  • Fish Sticks
  • Flounder (summer)
  • Haddock
  • Trout (farmed)
  • Shrimp

The FDA also recommends these fish as safe to eat:

haddock, tilapia, wild alaskan salmon,and sole

Ethylmercury:

A recent quote from Boyd Haley, PhD: “our latest research clearly points to the ethylmercury exposure as being causal in autism.  The tremendous enhancement of thimerosal toxicity by testosterone  and the reduction of toxicity by estrogen explains the fact that 4 boys to 1 girl getting the disease and the fact that the bulk of severe autistics are boys.  Most importantly, this autistic situation clearly shows that exposure to levels of mercury that many “experts” considered safe was capable of causing an epidemic of a neurological disease”.

B. Symptoms

Other authors have tried to specify typical symptoms for each metal. Because of the synergistic effects and simultaneous occurence of several toxins at the same time. The best source of literature on the effects of specific metals on the system are the old homeopathic textbooks ‘materia medica’ (Kent, Boericke).

I prefer to look at a client in a systemic way, not focussing on single issues . A manganese typical symptom (ie violent behaviour) may be a lot more worrysome in a given patient then their particular mercury related symptom (ie insomnia). However, the practical focus of detox should be almost always on the mercury first. If mercury is adressed appropriately, the manganese often leaves the body as a side effect of mercury detox. The opposite is not true.

Any illness can be caused by, or contributed to, or exagerated by neurotoxins. Here is a short list:

  • Neurological problems: Fatigue, depression, insomnia, memory loss, blunting of the senses, chronic intractable pain (migraine, sciatica, CTS etc.), burning pain, paresthesia, strange intracranial sensations and sounds, numbness. Autism. Seizure disorder. Hyperactivity syndromes. Premature ejaculation and inorgasmia
  • Emotional problems: inappropriate fits of anger and rage, timidness, passivity, bipolar disorder, frequent infatuation, addictions, depression, dark mood, obsession, psychotic behaviour, deviant behaviour, psychic attacks, inability to connect with god, etc.
  • Mental problems: memory loss, thinking disorder, messy syndrome (cluttering), loss of intelligence, AD, premature aging
  • GI problems: candida, food allergy, leaky gut syndrome, parasites, inflammatory bowel disease
  • Orthopedic problems: joint arthritis, persisiting musculo-skeletal pain, fibromyalgia, TMD,
    recurrent osteopathic lesions
  • Immunological disorders (autoimmune diseases, hypothyroid disorders, MS, ALS, Sjogen´s Syndrome, CFIDS, MCS etc.)
  • Cardiovascular disorders ( vascular disease, arrythmias, angina, increased heartbeat)
  • Cancer –mercury, arsenic, copper etc. can be a trigger
  • ENT disorders: chronic sinusitis, tinnitus, glandular swelling,
  • Eye problems: macular degeneration (dry and wet), optic neuritis, iritis, deteriorating eye sight, etc.)
  • Internal medicine problems: kidney disease, hypertension, hypercholesterinemia, syndrome X
  • OB/gyn: difficulties of pregnancy, impotence, uterine fibroids, infertility, etc.

C. Diagnosis:

  • History of Exposure: (Did you ever have any amalgam fillings? How much fish do you eat and what kind? A tick bite? etc)
  • Symptoms: (How is your short term memory? Do you have areas of numbness, strange sensations,etc)
    – A complete neurotoxin questionaire is available from AANT@425 462 1777
  • Laboratory Testing: direct tests for metals: hair, stool, serum, whole blood, urine analysis,
    breath analysis
  • Xenobiotics: fatty tissue biopsy, urine, breath analysis
  • Indirect tests: cholesterol (increased while body is dealing with Hg), increased insulin sensitivity, creatinine clearance, serum mineral levels (distorted, while Hg is an unresolved issue), Apolipoprotein E 2/4, urine dip stick test: low specific gravity (reflects inability of kidneys to concentrate urine), persistently low urine ph (metals only go into solution in acidic environments – which supports detoxing), urine porphyrins
  • Autonomic Response Testing: (Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt M.D., Ph.D.)
  • BioEnergetic Testing (EAV, kinesiology etc.)
  • Response to Therapeutic Trial
  • Functional Acuity Contrast Test (measure of Retinal Blood Flow)
  • Non-specific neurological tests: upper motor neuron signs (clonus, Babinski, hyperreflexia), abnormal nerve conduction studies, EMG etc . non-specific MRI/CT findings: brain atrophy as in AD, demyelination
  • Several ‘challenge tests’ are used today. They generally involve measuring the urine metal content,
    then administering an oral or iv. mobilizing agent and re-mesuring the metal content in the urine after a few hours. Most well known is the DMPS challenge test:  However, there is agreement amongst most researchers, that the urine Hg content does not reflect total body burdon – only the currently mobilizable portion of Hg in the endothelium and kidneys. If nothing comes out, there can still be detrimental but non-responsive amounts of Hg in the CNS, connective tissue and elsewhere.
  • I have developed a simple approach that works well. I use autonomic response testing (muscle biofeedback) to determine what metal is stored where and what detox agents would be most suitable for this individual. I obtain a hair sample and have it analyzed. It may or may not show any toxic metals. Metals reach the root of the hair via the blood stream. Hair only can show those metals, that have been in the blood in the last 6 weeks. That means, hair only reflects acute toxicity or recently mobilized metals but not the true body burdon. Then we embark on the detox and mobilizing program. In 6 weeks another hair samle is send to the lab and analyzed. If for example manganese is now high, mercury starting to rise (mostly it is methyl Hg, that is reflected in hair), aluminum is at the same value as before, it means, that this program is starting to mobilize Mn ad Hg, but not Al. Through minor adjustments and following the client closely, we observe as the levels in the hair may rise for months or years before returning to low or absent levels. That is the end point. At that time biochemical challenges with Ca EDTA, DMPS or DMSA can be valuabe to see if there are still hidden pockets of metals somewhere in the system that have been ovrlooked with the other methods. In general, the hair-mineral analysis is often overinterpreted. Hair minerals are a reflection of the toxic-metal induced distortion in mineral metabolism.

D. Treatment:

Why would we want to treat anyone at all? Is it really needed? Can the body not eliminate these toxins naturally on its own?

First we need to consider a multitude of risk factors, which influence later decisions:

Here is a short list of  independent risk factors which can either cause accumulation of metals in an otherwise healthy body – or slow down, or inhibit the bodys own elimination processes.

  • Genetics – Several genes are involved in coding for the production of inherent detox mechanisms. Example: ApoE being the major repair protein in neuronal damage and responsible for removing mercury from the intracellular environment. There are 4 different subtypes, one of them making the individual prone to accumulating Hg:  (Danik, M. and Poirier, J. Apolipoprotein E and lipid mobilizatin in neuronal membrane remodeling and its relevance to Alzheimer’s disease. In: Brain Lipids
    and Disorders in Biological Psychiatry, edited by Skinner, E.R.Amsterdam:Elsevier Science, 2002,
    p.53-66).     Also well known and studied are the individual genetic differences in glutathione availability. Several companies in the Integrative Medicine Field are offering genetic testing today. So far my clinical results were not impressive when I based my detox program on genetic testing only.
  • prior illnesses (i.e. kidney infections, hepatitis, tonsillitis etc.)
  • surgical operations (scars often restrict the detoxifying abilities of whole body sections, such as the tonsillectomy scar with it´s effect on the superior cervical ganglion – restricting lymph drainage and blood flow from the entire cranium)
  • medication or ´recreational´ drug use (overwhelming the innate detox mechanisms)
  • emotional trauma, especially in early childhood. This issue is huge and almost never appropriately adressed
  • social status (poor people may still drink contaminated water)
  • high carbohydrate intake combined with protein malnutrition (especially in vegetarians)
  • use of homeopathic mercury (may redistribute Hg into deeper tissues)
  • food allergies (may block the kidneys, colon etc.)
  • the patients electromagnetic environment (mobile phone use, home close to power lines etc.  Omura showed that heavy metals in the brain act as micro antennae concentrating damaging electro smog in the brain)
  • constipation
  • compromise of head/neck lymphatic drainage (sinusitis, tonsil ectomy scars, poor dental occusion)
  • number of dental amalgam fillings over the patients life-time, number of the patients mothers amalgam fillings

Detox Methods

There are many considerations in choosing detox agents.  After choosing the appropriate agent for the individual client and particular metal and exact chemical form of it, we have to consider the body compartment where the metal is stored.  For example, the algae chlorella is ideal for removing virtually all toxic metals from the gut but has too little effect on mercury stored in the brain.  Intravenous glutathione may reach the intracellular environment, even in the brain, but is fairly ineffective in removing mercury from the gut.  Each agent has a primary place of action, which determines when, how much and for how long it is used.  Agents that have multiple effects on compounds of different metals in the various body compartments are the basis for our detox program.  Most specific agents are used for special situations only.

High protein, mineral, fatty acid and fluid intake

Rationale:

  • proteins provide the important precursors to the endogenous metal detox and shuttle agents, such as coeruloplasmin, metallothioneine, glutathione and others. The branched-chain amino acids in cow and goat whey have valuable independent detox effects. Amino acid supplements, especially with a concentrate of brached chain amino acids are valuable.
  • Metals attach themselves only in places that are programmed for attachment of metal ions. Mineral deficiency provides the opportunity for toxic metals to attach themselves to vacant binding sites.
    A healthy mineral base is a prerequisite for all metal detox attempts (selenium, zinc, manganese, germanium, molybdenum etc.). Substituting minerals can detoxify the body by itself. Just as important are electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium), which help to transport toxic waste across the extracellular space towards the lymphatic and venous vessels.
  • Lipids (made from fatty acids) make up 60-80 % of the central nervous system and need to be constantly replenished. Deficiency makes the nervous system vulnerabe to the fat soluble metals, such as metallic mercury constantly escaping as odorless and invisible vapour from the dental amalgam fillings.
  • Without enough fluid intake the kidneys may become contaminated with metals. The basal membranes swell up and the kidneys can no longer efficiently filtrate toxins. Adding a balanced electrolyte solution in small amounts to water helps to restore intra-and extracellular fluid balance

Pharmaceuticals

  • DMSA . Developed in China in the late 50s. Action via sulfhydryl group. Needs to be given every
    4 hours around the clock to prevent redistribution of Hg and lead into the CNS. Approved for use in lead toxixcity. Causes major brain fog, memory problems during detox, depression and in children sometimes seizure disorders due to redistribution of metals. Indiscriminate use in the US. Common dose: 50-100 mg q4h – 3 days on, 11 days off for 3-12 months
  • DMPS: developed in Russia as further development of BAL. Available both injectable and oral. The oral form is the most effective oral chelator commercially available. 1 tabl TID. Common dosage: 3 days on, 11 days off. The injectable form can be used to mobilize Hg and lead from hard to reach places, such as the autonomic ganglia, joints and trigger points. The iv injection works primarily on the endothelium (several hundred square meters) and the kidneys. Common dosage: 3 mg/kg body weight once/month. The iv form should never be used unless the patient is „covered“ with intestinal binding agents such as chlorella, cholestyramine, apple pectin or chitosan.
  • Desferal: good subcutaneous detox agent for aluminum and iron. More severe possible anaphylactic reactions then with other common detox agents. Research by Canadian-German researcher Kruck showed good results with AD patients. Dosage: 1 vial/week s.c – 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off
  • Ca EDTA: most information available at www.gordonresearch.com. Given as 1 minute push 5-10 ml once/week. Originally developped to remove s calcium deposits, recently found to also be effective for mercury and other metals including aluminum. Side effects are so far underreported and can be serious
    – mostly due to redistribution. The more conventional use of sodium EDTA over a 2 hr period was used to increase nitric oxide in the arteries causing vasodilation and increased perfusion of diseased
    heart muscle.
  • Intravenous Vitamin C. Recent book by Tom Levy, MD. Detoxes mercury, lead and aluminum mostly over the colon which is desirable. I use 37.5 gms with 500 ml distilled water and 10 ml ca gluconate over 1 hr. Can be used daily. Once a week is common, especially during amalgam removal. Irritating to veins. Causes hypoglycemia. No serious side effects. Safe to use for most dentists.Oral vitamin C works less effectively. Must be given to bowel tolerance.

Natural Oral Agents

Cilantro (chinese parsley)

This kitchen herb is capable of mobilizing mercury, cadmium, lead and aluminum in both bones and the central nervous system. It is probably the only effective agent in mobilizing mercury stored in the inracellular space (attached to mitochondria, tubulin, liposomes etc) and in the nucleus of the cell (reversing DNA damage of mercury). Because cilantro mobilizes more toxins then it can carry out of the body, it may flood the connective tissue (where the nerves reside) with metals, that were previously stored in safer hiding places. This process is called re-toxification. It can easily be avoided by simultaneously giving an intestinal toxin-absorbing agent.A recent animal study demonstrated rapid removal of aluminum and lead from the brain and skeleton superior to any known other detox agent. Even while the animal was continuously poisoned with aluminum, the bone content of aluminum continued to drop during the observation
period significantly.

Dosage and application of cilantro tincture: give 2 drops 2 times /day in hot water in the beginning, taken just before a meal or 30 minutes after taking chlorella (cilantro causes the gallbadder to dump bile
– containing the excreted neurotoxins – into the small intestine. The bile-release occurs naturally as we are eating and is much enhanced by cilantro. If no chlorella is taken, most neurotoxins are reabsorbed on the way down the small intestine by the abundant nerve endings of the enteric nervous system). Gradually increase dose to 10 drops 3 times/day for full benefit. During the initial phase of the detox cilantro should be given 1 week on, 2 –3 weeks off. Fresh organic Cilantro works best (as much as person can compress in one hand), when given in hot Miso soup. Miso contains synergistically acting amino acids.

Other ways of taking cilantro: rub 5 drops twice/day into ankles for mobilization of metals in all organs, joints and structures below the diaphragm, and into the wrists for organs, joints and structures above the diaphragm. The wrists have dense autonomic innervation (axonal uptake of cilantro) and are crossed by the main lymphatic channels (lymphatic uptake).

Cilantro tea: use 10 to 20 drops in cup of hot water. Sip slowly. Clears the brain quickly of many neurotoxins. Good for headaches and other acute syptoms (joint pains, angina, headache): rub 10 –15 drops into painful area. Often achieves almost instant pain relief.

Chlorella:

Both C.pyreneidosa (better absorption of toxins, but harder to digest) and C.vulgaris (higher CGF content
– see below, easier to digest, less metal absorbing capability) are available. Chlorella has multiple health inducing effects:

  • Antiviral (especially effective against the cytomegaly virus from the herpes family)
  • Toxin binding (mucopolysaccharide membrane) all known toxic metals, environmental toxins such as dioxin and others
  • Repairs and activates the bodys detoxification functions:
  • Dramatically increases reduced glutathion,
  • Sporopollein is as effective as cholestyramin in binding neurotoxins and more effective in binding toxic metals then any other natural substance found.
  • Various peptides restore coeruloplasmin and metallothioneine,
  • Lipids (12.4 %) alpha-and gamma-linoleic acid help to balance the increased intake of fish oil during our detox program and are necessary for a multitude of functions, including formation of ther peroxisomes.
  • Methyl-coblolamine is food for the nervous system, restores damaged neurons and has ist own detoxifying efect.
  • Chlorella growth factor helps the body detoxify itself in a yet not understood profound way. It appears that over millions of years chlorella has developed specific detoxifying proteins and peptides for every existing toxic metal.
  • The porphyrins in chlorophyl have their own strong metal binding effect. Chlorophyll also activates the PPAR-receptor on the nucleus of the cell which is responsible for the transcription of Dna and coding the formation of the peroxisomes (see fish oil), opening of the cell wall (unknown mechanism) which is necessary for all detox procedures, normalizes insulin resistance and much more. Medical drugs that activate the PPAR receptor (such as pioglitazone) have been effective in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer.
  • Super nutrient: 50-60% aminoacid content, ideal nutrient for vegetarians, methylcobolamin – the most easily absorbed and utilized form of B12, B6, minerals, chlorophyll, beta carotene etc.
  • Immune system strengthening
  • Restores bowel flora
  • Digestive aid (bulking agent)
  • Alkalinizing agent (important for patients with malignancies)

Dosage: start with 1 gram (=4 tabl) 3-4 times/day. This is the standard maintainance dosage for grown ups for the 6-24 months of active detox. During the more active phase of the detox (every 2-4 weeks for 1 week), whenever cilantro is given, the dose can be increased to 3 grams 3-4 times per day (1 week on, 2-4 weeks back down to the maintainance dosage). Take 30 minutes before the main meals and at bedtime. This way chlorella is exactly in that portion of the small intestine where the bile squirts into the gut at the beginning of the meal, carrying with it toxic metals and other toxic waste. These are  bound by the chlorella cell wall and carried out via the digestive tract. When amalgam fillings are removed, the higher dose should be given for 2 days before and 2-5 days after the procedure (the more fillings are removed, the longer the higher dose should be given). No cilantro should be given around the time of dental work. During this time we do not want to moblize deeply stored metals in addition to the expected new exposure. If you take Vitamin C during your detox program, take it as far away from Chlorella as possible (best after meals).

Side effects: most side effects reflect the toxic effect of the mobilized metals which are shuttled through the organism. This problem is instantly avoided by significantly increasing the chlorella dosage, not by reducing it, which would worsen the problem (small chlorella doses mobilize more metals then are bound in the gut, large chlorella doses bind more toxins then are mobilized). Some people have problems digesting the cell membrane of chlorella. The enzyme cellulase resolves this problem. Cellulase is available in many health food stores in digestive enzyme products. Taking chlorella together with food also helps in some cases, even though it is less effective that way. C.vulgaris has a thinner cell wall and is better toerated by people with digestive problems.

Chlorella growth factor

This is a heat extract from chlorella that concentrates certain peptides, proteins and other ingredients. The research on CGF shows that children develop no tooth decay and their dentition (maxillary-facial development) is near perfect. There are less illnesses and children grow earlier to a larger size with higher I.Q and are socially more skilled. There are case reports of patients with dramatic tumor remissions after taking CGF in higher amounts. In our experience, CGF makes the detox experience for the patient much easier, shorter and more effective.

Recommended dosage: 1 cap. CGF for each 20 tabl.chlorell

NDF and PCA

Both are extracts from Chlorella and Cilantro and very effective in detoxing. They are well tolerated, but very expensive.

Garlic (allium sativum) and wild garlic (allium ursinum)

Garlic has been shown to protect the white and red blood cells from oxidative damage, caused by metals in the blood stream – on their way out – and also has ist own valid detoxification functions. Garlic contains numerous sulphur components, including the most valuable sulph-hydryl groups which oxidize mercury, cadmium and lead and make these metals water soluble. This makes it easy for the organism to excrete these subastances. Garlic also contains alliin whis is enzymatically transformed into allicin, natures most potent antimicrobial agent. Metal toxic patients almost always suffer from secondary infections, which are often responsible for part of the symptoms. Garlic also contains the most important mineral which protects from mercury toxicity, bio active selenium. Most selemium products are poorly absorbable and do not reach those body compartments in need for it. Garlic selenium is the most beneficial natural bioavailable source.
Garlic is also protectice for against heart disease and cancer.

The half life of allicin (after crushing garlic) is less then 14 days. Most commercial garlic products have no allicin releasing potential left. This distinguishes freeze dried garlic from all other products. Bear garlic tincture is excellent for use in detox, but less effective as antimicrobial agent.

Dosage: 1-3 capsules freeze dried garlic after each meal. Start with 1 capsule after the main meal per day, slowly increase to the higher dosage. Initially the patient may experience die-off reactions (from killing pathogenic fungal or bacterial organisms). Use 5-10 drops bear-garlic on food at least 3 times per day.

Fish oil:

It is clear that the high consumption of fish oil protects the client from the damage caused by the amalgam fillings. The same is true for the high intake of selenium.

The fatty acid complexes EPA and DHA in fish oil make the red and white blood cells more flexible thus improving the microcirculation of the brain, heart and other tissues. All detoxification functions depend on optimal oxygen delivery and blood flow. EPA and DHA protect the brain from viral infections and are needed for the development of intelligence and eye-sight. They also induce the formation of peroxisomes and helps protect them. The most vital cell organelle for detoxification is the peroxisome. These small structures are also responsible for the specific job each cell has: in the pineal gland the melatonin is produced in the peroxisome, in the neurons dopamine and norepinephrine, etc. It is here, where mercury and other toxic metal attach and disable the cell from doing its work. Other researchers have focussed on the mitochondria and other cellorganelles, which in our experience are damaged much later. The cell is constantly trying to make new peroxisomes to replace the damaged ones– for that task it needs an abundance of fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA. Until recently it was believed, that the body can manufacture ist own EPA/DHA from other Omega 3 fatty acids such as fish oil. Today we know, that this process is slow and cannot keep up with the enormous demand for EPA/DHA our systems have in todays toxic environment. Fish oil is now considered an essential nutrient, even for vegetarians. Recent research also revealed, that the transformation humans underwent when apes became intelligent and turned into humans happened only in coastal regions, where the apes started to consume large amounts of fish.

The fatty acids in fish oil are very sensitive to exposure to electromagnetic fields, temperature, light and various aspects of handling and processing. Trans fatty acids, long chain fatty acids, renegade fats and other oxydation products and contaminants are frequently found in most commercial products. Ideally, fish oil should be kept in an uninterrupted cooling chain until it ends up in the patients fridge. The fish-source should be mercury and contaminant free, which is becoming harder and harder. Fish oil should tast slightly fishy but not too much. If there is no fish taste, too much processing and manipulation has destroyed the vitality of the oil. If it tastes too fishy, oxydation products are present. There are 5 commercially available grades of fish oil. Grade I is the best.

Dosage: 1 capsule Omega 3 taken 4 times/day during the active phase of treatment, 1 caps. twice/day for maintainance.

Best if taken together with chlorella.

Recently a fatty acid receptor has been discovered on the tongue, joining the other more known taste receptors. If the capsules are chewed or a liquid oil is taken, the stomach and pancreas start to prepare the digestive tract in exactly the right way to prepare for maximum absorption. To treat bipolar depression, post partum depression and other forms of mental disease, 2000 mg of EPA are needed/day (David Horrobin). For the modulation of malignancies, 120 mg of EPA 4 times/day are needed. The calculations can easily be done with the information given on the label.

Balanced electolyte solution (Selectrolyte)

The autonomic nervous system in most toxic patients is dysfunctional. Electric messages in the organism are not received, are misunderstood or misinterpreted. Toxins cannot be shuttled through the extracellular space. Increased intake of natural ocean salt (celtic sea salt) – and avoidance of regular table salt – has been found to be very effective in resolving some of these problems. Most effective is a solution pioneered by the American chemist Ketkovsky. He created the formula for the most effective electrolyte replacement, which was further improved by Morin Labs, and is now called ‘selectrolyte’.

Dosage: 1 tsp in a cup of good water 1-3 times/day During times of greater stress the dosage can be temporarily increased to 1 tbsp 3 times/day

Adjuvant therapies:

Lymphatic drainage

Mobilized metals and toxins tend to get stuck in the connective tissue and lymph channels. They can no longer be reached by biochemical agents. A mechanical approach is needed. Dr.Vodder´s MLD approach is very good. We are using a superb group of microcurrent instruments developed by a Japanese researcher. The results are often astounding. The device can also be applied transcranially to mobilize metals from the brain with ease and with no side effects, when the patient is simultaneously on a good detox program. I call this process electromobilization.

Photomobilization: I found that the release of metals from the CNS can be rapidly achieved with the use of narrow band polarized lightstimulation of the eyes. Each metal can be defined by it´s spectral emissions when it is heated up (Fraunhofer lines). When light of the exact same frequency is beamed into the eye (using a special instrument) the release of this exact metal from the intracellular environment into the blood stream is triggered.

Sauna therapy

Peer reviewed literature shows that sweatting during sauna therapy eliminates high levels of toxic metals, organic compounds, dioxin, and other toxins.  Sauna therapy is ideal to mobilize toxins from its hiding places.  However, during a sauna, toxic metals can also be displaced from one body compartment into another.  This means mercury can be shifted from the connective tissue into the brain.  This untoward effect is completely prevented when the patient is on chlorella, cilantro and garlic.  The addition of ozone can be used to deliver an effective anti-microorganism hit while in the sauna.  The moment mercury and other metals are removed from the body, microorganisms start to grow.  We use a ozone steam cabinet which allows us to combine the effects of hyperthermia and ozone therapy in a very safe and comfortable way.

Colon hydrotherapy:

Colon hydrotherapy removes not only fecal matter from the bowel but also sludge and debris that has attached itself to the wall of the colon.  It has been shown that these residues can be years even decades old and often leaked out toxic doses of many different chemicals during those years of residue collection. During a metal detoxification program, many toxins appear on the bowel surface and shifted from bowel surface into the fecal matter. However, since many of the toxins are neurotoxins, and the colon is lined with nerve endings, many of the mobilized toxins are reabsorbed into the body on the way down. To intercept these toxins while in the colon, colon hydrotherapy is the ideal method.

Recommended use:  1-2 colonics per week during active phase of detox.

Acupuncture and Neural therapy:

Both are closely related techniques that balance the autonomic nervous system (ANS).  Compartmentalized metals are often trapped because of specific dysfunctions of the ANS.  Both can be resolved with
either technique.

Exercise:

To facilitate in the detoxification process, exercise is absolutely needed.  Many patients with chronic disease are unable to engage in vigorous exercise e.g. jogging.  We help our clients to find the right level of exercise appropriate to their level of illness.  Without exercise, mobilized toxins accumulate in the connective tissue, kidneys, lungs and skin and can cause a new set of symptoms and perpetuate the patient’s illness.

A good exercise program should include 3 components:  a)  muscle strength training b) aerobic training�
c)  stretching.

Recommendations:  20 minutes twice a day is the minimum requirement during the active detox phase

Kidney protection:

When metals are mobilized a certain portion travels through the kidneys.  The kidneys may react with swelling of the basal membranes and decrease in filtration rate.  To prevent damage to the kidneys the patient has to drink increasing amounts of water (with selectrolyte solution). The kidny has a filtrating surface equal to a ping-pong table, the gut that of a soccer field. The nephrons – like brain cells – live long and cannot be replaced once damaged. The gut membranes are renewed every 3 days. It is foolsih to push toxic metals through the kidneys and wise, to push them out through the gut. Chlorella pulls toxic metals through the mucosal surface of the intestines from the blood and protects the kidneys.

Additional recommended supplement:  Renelix 15 drops three times a day

Bowel flora:

When metals are moved out of the body through the feces, the bowel flora is damaged.  During the active phase of the detox, chlorella works as an excellent pre-probiotic:  It selectively feeds the good bowel flora.  In addition, we recommend taking HLC (Acidophilus/Bifidus) two capsules with each meal.

Psychological issues:

There is a strange but largely overlooked association of metal toxicity and psychological issues.

I found that often when the client has a breakthrough in psychotherapy her/his symptoms become temporarily worse. This is often falsely believed to be a healing crisis (immune system acivation). In this situation the client´s urine will often show high levels of toxic metals with out a provocative agent being used. The psychological intervention has led to a release of deeply stored toxins. I developed a targeted rapid approach to resolve related psychological issues called “applied psychoneurobiology or APN”, which is a form of muscle biofeedback assisted counseling.

The Klinghardt Axiom and the Triad of Detoxification:

By experience I found the following to be true:  each unresolved psycho-emotional conflict or each unresolved past trauma causes the body to lose the ability to successfully recognize and excrete toxic substances. Also each entanglement or limiting connection with another family member, unhealed relationships and unhealthy, non-life affirmative attitudes limit the organisms ability to detoxify itself. In fact, the type of retained metal or other toxin and the body compartment, where it is stored, can be predicted with a high degree of certainty by knowing what type of unresolved psycho- emotional conflict is present in a client and at what age the associated event occurred.

For each unresolved psychological issue there is an equal amount of toxins stored in the body.

When the patient starts to effectively detoxify on the physical level, repressed emotional material moves from the unconscious to the more superficial subconscious part of the brain.  Instead of feeling better from the lessened toxin burden, the patient will often start to experience unpleasant inner states of being,
e.g. tension, anxiety, sadness or anger.  This is commonly mistaken as a side-effect of the medications used for detoxification or as an unspecified “detox reaction”.  When this emotional material is not dealt with, the body stops releasing further toxins –  the tension or discrepancy between the unresolved psycho-emotional material and the already released physical toxins is too large. Both are out of balance – the toxin container is less full then the container with the unresolved emotions.  Unless appropriate psychological intervention is chosen as the next step in treatment, detoxification cannot progress.

Things are further complicated by the increased activity of microorganisms such as fungi and molds, bacteria, viruses, prions and different species of mycoplasma during a detox program. Insecticides, herbicides, wood preservatives, mercury, and other toxins are used by us with a single purpose – to stop the growth of microorganisms and other unwanted pests in the outside world (farm fields, materials and furniture made from wood, to preserve food, etc.).   When these toxic agents have entered our inner environment
(via the food chain, air, water, skin contact or amalgam fillings) they have the same effect in us.  They stop the growth of microorganisms – at a price: they also harm the cells of our body.  As the patient is detoxifying from these agents, microorganisms may grow out of control, since the growth of the microbes is no longer inhibited by the poison. Paradoxically, it is the toxin induced impairment of our immune system that enables the microorganisms to enter our system in the first place. Once established, they are hard to conquer and removing the causative toxin is no longer enough. The organism needs help with the elimination of the infectious agents.

The flare-up of previously hidden infections occurs regularly during mercury detoxification. Historically, this fact is well known:  mercury was used quite effectively for treatment of the bacterial spirochete causing syphilis. Some people died from side effects of the treatment, but many people lived after eradication of the infection. The reverse happens, when we withdraw mercury from the body:  spirochetes, streptococci and other microorganisms present in many hiding places (such as the red blood cells, the jaw bone, inside the lateral canals of a root filled tooth, inside the calculus of a bone spur, in the soft tissues of a whip-lash injured neck, in the gray matter of the brain etc.) may start to grow and extend their hold on us. Microorganisms use their respective neurotoxins to gradually achieve control over our immune system, our behavior, our thinking, and every aspect of our biochemistry. It is the microbial neurotoxins that are responsible for many, if not most poison related symptoms, not the poisons themselves.

For each equivalent of stored toxins there is an equal amount of pathogenic microorganisms in the body (Milieu theory of Bechamp)

Patients who are infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete which causes Lyme disease, often are unaware of their illness. They may have some joint pains or fatigue, but nothing that alarms them. However, frequently they start to become more symptomatic during or after a successful mercury detoxification program: they may experience MS-like symptoms such as muscle weakness, increased levels of pain, numbness, fatigue or mental decline.  The same is true for infections with mycoplasma, streptococci, tuberculosis and others.  Therefore, it is important to anticipate the temporarily enhanced growth of microorganisms during a successful detox program.  There is a latent period in which the microorganisms are already recovered, but the host’s immune system is not.  During this time the practitioner has to prescribe appropriate antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, and antimycoplasma medications. I prefer natural solutions which are often sufficient – or even better in the long run then medical drugs – such as freeze dried garlic, bee propolis, colloidal gold and microbial inhibition microcurrent frequencies.

The immune system in a client with unresolved psychoemotional material and compartmentalized toxins is unable to recognize and eliminate the microorganisms present in the toxic areas of the body. Those areas serve as hiding and breeding places for these organisms. Unfortunately they have been termed “stealth organisms”, implying that they behave in secret unpredictable ways, that they have learned to evade a perfectly evolved and functional immune sytem. There is a fear, that  they are slowly gaining control over us and that there is really nothing we can do about it. We can, if we understand the triad of detoxification.

The Detoxification Axiom:

For each unresolved psycho-emotional conflict or trauma there is an equivalent of stored toxins and an equivalent of pathogenic microorganisms.  To successfully detoxify the body the three issues have to be addressed simultaneously.

The triad of detoxification:

  • Detoxification of the physical body
  • Treatment of latent microorganisms and parasites
  • Treatment of unresolved psycho-emotional issues

E. Conclusion:

Detoxing the patient from heavy metals can be an elegant smooth experience or rollercoaster ride.  The problems that occur can always be resolved with the use of autonomic response testing (ART).
�
Without the use of ART and addressing the psychological issues (with APN), embarking on a heavy metal detox program can be unsatisfying, incomplete, sometimes dangerous and may not lead to resolution of the underlying medical condition.  We recommend that each patient undergoing a metal detox program stays under the supervision of an experienced and qualified practitioner. There are many more ways to approach metal detox. However, many roads I have witnessed also did not lead to complete resolution of the underlying problem and are shortsighted. The  practitioner should avoid short term interventions for long term issues and should not underestimate the depth and magnitude of the underlying problem.

 Taken from (Link no longer valid:  www.sustainablehealth.org.uk )

2011-09-23 VIDEO, exciting: Press Conf, Vancouver, to bar Cheney’s entrance into Canada on Mon, Sept 26th. Congratulations Gail, Blake, Don, Derrick and others!

 George Bush war criminal  No Responses »
Sep 232011
 

This is what we are all about!

You make my heart pump proud.   

Job well done – many thanks to Gail, Blake, Don, Derrick, Darren (and all those helping behind the scenes) on behalf of many people in many countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

 Click on the video at the top of the page:  http://www.creativetechnology.org/  

Now, let’s help!   spread the word, help get people out.  Make the great work of Gail et al pay off:

Dick Cheney’s scheduled appearance, Vancouver, Mon Sept 26, 5:30pm, Book Club, 915 W Hastings at Hornby  

From: Blake MacLeod
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 9:47 AM

Subject: URGENT – Press Conference Today!

Here is the announcement for the press conference, and the letter to Government & RCMP et al from Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against the War:

Friday, September 23, 2011

Civil society responds to Dick Cheney’s scheduled Vancouver appearance

‘Laws against war crimes must be enforced’

What: Press conference by civil society and local politicians regarding Dick Cheney’s upcoming visit to Vancouver.

(Click on http://www.creativetechnology.org/  )

 Who: Statements will be made by Vancouver-Kingsway Member of Parliament Don Davies, Immigration Critic for the Official Opposition, Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against War, and Derrick O’Keefe of the StopWar Coalition and the Canadian Peace Alliance, as well as other spokespeople for civil society groups.

 Why: Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney has chosen Vancouver as the first stop outside of the United States for his ongoing book tour. Local anti-war and human rights activists, and other civil society groups, have organized to demand that the Canadian government, in accordance with both Canadian and international law, arrest Cheney for war crimes including authorizing torture. 

 “Canada has very clear laws against war crimes, and is a signatory to myriad international treaties and conventions pertaining to the laws of war, and this is why we are demanding that the Canadian government take action to arrest Dick Cheney when he enters Canada next Monday, September 26 in Vancouver,” said Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against War. “Cheney is responsible for helping launch an illegal war on Iraq and for authorizing torture – Canada’s laws against war crimes must be enforced in this case,” said Davidson.

Cheney is to be hosted by ‘Le Bon Mot’ book club, which has an event scheduled for the evening of Sept. 26 at the Vancouver Club. The StopWar Coalition has called for a protest outside the event (915 W. Hastings, at Hornby), beginning at 5:30p.m. on the 26th.

— 30 —

 Media Contacts

Derrick O’Keefe: 604.803.6927

Gail Davidson: 604-738-0338

Please note too that Sandra Finley is very much involved in this. 

Best regards,

 Blake MacLeod

Vancouver

Cell: 1 604 328 7331

Board Member – World Federalist Movement – Canada, Vancouver Branch

and a bunch of other stuff…

 = = = = = = = = = =

 http://www.straight.com/article-469436/vancouver/dick-cheney-must-be-barred-entry-canada-vancouver-mp-don-davies-says

By Carlito Pablo, September 23, 2011

Finally, an elected Canadian politician has the balls to take on Dick.

In a calm and measured voice, Vancouver Kingsway MP Don Davies today (September 23) declared that former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney should be barred from entering Canada.

Davies was speaking at a news conference held at the W2 Media Café in downtown Vancouver, which saw peace activist Derrick O’Keefe, lawyer Gail Davidson, and global peace advocate Blake MacLeod deliver statements about Cheney’s Monday (September 26) speaking engagement at the Vancouver Club.

The federal NDP’s immigration critic outlined the case why Cheney should not be allowed to waltz into town based on the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Davies cited Section 35 of this law, which states in part that a foreign national is inadmissible for entry into Canada if the person is “a prescribed senior official in the service of a government that, in the opinion of the Minister, engages or has engaged in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide, a war crime or a crime against humanity within the meaning of subsections 6(3) to (5) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act”.

A lawyer, Davies also cited Section 36 of IRPA that provides in part that a person is also inadmissible if the individual was responsible for “an act outside Canada that is an offence in the place where it was committed and that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offence under an Act of Parliament punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years”.

Davies said that he wrote Conservative Immigration Minister Jason Kenney today to remind the federal government that it has the responsibility to “uphold the law”.

According to Davies, the former American vice president has openly and unapologetically admitted that he did not stop acts of torture perpetrated against perceived enemies of the U.S.

Davies said that he considers practices like waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and sleep deprivation as acts of torture.

“Torture is a serious crime. It is a war crime. It is a crime against humanity,” said Davies, who was enthusiastically applauded after delivering his statement.

2011-09-23 Will Dick Cheney be arrested in Vancouver?, Vancouver Observer

 George Bush war criminal  No Responses »
Sep 232011
 
Will Dick Cheney be arrested in Vancouver?

Linda Solomon  Posted: Sep 23rd, 2011

  • First Sarah Palin, now Dick Cheney. Vancouver’s Bon Mot Club’s Monday speaker is considered a criminal by many.

Torture, Haliburton, the War on Terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

What kind of welcome does Cheney deserve? Appaluse, or arrest?

The former Vice President under the Bush Administration brings his book tour to the exclusive group’s Vancouver Club event and activist groups are organizing protests, while an SFU professor has even written the mayor, demanding he direct the police chief to arrest Cheney when he arrives in the city.

Cheney is on tour to  promote his book In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir at the Bon Mot Club. 

Sponsored by the Globe and Mail, Sauder School of Business, the Bon Mot Club is hosted by Leah Costello, the Fraser Institute’s savvy, leggy blonde spokesperson for the controversial Fraser Institute school report card.      

“Think of it as a TED conference or IdeaCity but just down the street with your own friends, colleagues, and clients,” Costello writes on the Bon Mot Club’s website.  “We’ll send you the featured book in advance—and whether you read it or not, everyone is encouraged to partcipate in a lively discussion with the author and the guests.”

Last time I wrote about the Bon Mot Club, Sarah Palin was the featured speaker. So here comes Dick Cheney.

Jodie Evans cofounder of the U.S. anti-war group CodePink, explained on Fox News’s America  Live why she attempted to do a “citizen’s arrest” of  Cheney last September 7th at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda California. 

Evans  sat politely through Cheney’s book reading and then, when it was nearly over disrupted the event.  Evans stood up brandishing an arrest warrant,  called out that she was making a citizens arrest.  Codepink reported:

Referring to Cheney as an international war criminal, Evans explained how he had undermined the U.S. economy and it’s standing in the international community, made it’s citizens less safe, and left a million people dead in his wake.

“You brag about caring about soldiers,” Evans responded to Cheney’s speech, “but there are hundreds of thousands of casualties.”

“You are guilty of conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, for false information leading to the War in Iraq. You are guilty of treason, sedition, and subversive activities including, but not limited to submitting and fomenting false information leading to the War in Iraq, illegal detainment and torture of prisoners in Guantanamo and elsewhere, and other fraudulent acts leading to the deaths of more than 4,000 U.S. military personnel as well as approximately 300,000 Iraqi civilians. And you are guilty of felony murder… You have the right to remain silent.”

Cheney said nothing until Evans and CODEPINK member Sharon Tipton were being dragged out by security. Proving his allergy to the truth, Cheney referred to the facts as “play-time.”

Dick Cheney has openly advocated torture, including describing himself as a “big supporter” of waterboarding. He was inside the Nixon Library peddling his book “In My Time”.

Both Evans and Tipton called out Cheney on the lies and criminal acts that have killed so many Iraqis, Afghans and Americans.

Cheney said nothing until Evans and a fellow activist were dragged out by security. Later, Evans said she wished all Americans should call for Cheney’s arrest.

Vancouverites respond to Dick Cheney’s visit

That was California and this is Vancouver. What will happen here?

A number of local anti-war groups are calling Cheney a war criminal and asking the Canadian government to stop Cheney from entering Canada.

SFU professor Donald Grayston sent this letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson.

Mr Mayor: I am disappointed that you will not emulate the mayor of London in regard to his warning to war criminal George W. Bush. A worse war criminal, Dick Cheney, will be in Vancouver on Monday. I urge you to relocate your spine and ask Chief Chu to arrest him for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The election is coming, and many of us will remember your response.
Sincerely
Don Grayston

Voting resident of Vancouver

Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson has called for Cheney’s arrest.  The Georgia Straight reports that:

The cofounder of the international group Lawyers Against the War wants the government of Canada either to bar the former U.S. vice president from entering the country or, if he’s allowed in, to arrest and prosecute him for torture, war offences, and crimes against humanity. And if Canada isn’t keen on punishing the ex–vice president to former president George W. Bush, Davidson argues, then it should extradite Cheney to a country that is willing and able to prosecute him.

2011-09-21 Arrest Bush. Amnesty International submission to Canadian authorities. No one is above the law.

 George Bush war criminal  No Responses »
Sep 212011
 

http://www.amnesty.ca/iwriteforjustice/take_action.php?actionid=772&type=Internal 

EXCERPT:

. . .   US authorities prefer to “leave the past where it is.” No one in a leadership role has ever been held accountable, let alone investigated.

On September 21, 2011, Amnesty International submitted a 30-page memorandum accompanied by nearly 5,000 pages of supporting material to Canadian authorities. It outlined a substantial case for former US President George W Bush’s legal responsibility for a series of human rights violations – including torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading-treatment and enforced disappearances  — connected to the CIA’s secret detention program between 2002 and 2009 and US military custody in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

While President, George W. Bush authorized the use of a number of “enhanced interrogation techniques” against detainees held in the secret CIA program. He publicly admitted authorizing the use of “waterboarding” against specific individuals – a practice which was later confirmed.

Former US President George W. Bush is scheduled to speak at a public event in Surrey, BC on October 20, 2011.

Canada has been a leader in efforts to strengthen the international justice system. It’s time to demonstrate that when it comes to accountability for human rights violations, no one and no country is above international law.   . . .

2011-09-20 Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You are Under Arrest.

 George Bush war criminal  No Responses »
Sep 202011
 

 

 

— On Tue, 9/20/11, Susan Lindauer <slindauer2008@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Susan Lindauer <slindauer2008@yahoo.com>
Subject: Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You are Under Arrest.
To: “fplamb@gmail.com” <fplamb@gmail.com>
Received: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 5:24 PM

Extremely Important article— I ask all friends to post this everywhere & distribute as widely as possible.

Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You Are Under Arrest

Posted on September 20, 2011 by coto2admin| 1 Comment

By Ralph Lopez
Daily KOS

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been stripped of legal immunity for acts of torture against US citizens authorized while he was in office.

The 7th Circuit made the ruling in the case of two American contractors who were tortured by the US military in Iraq after uncovering a smuggling ring within an Iraqi security company.  The company was under contract to the Department of Defense.   The company was assisting Iraqi insurgent groups in the “mass acquisition” of American weapons.  The ruling comes as Rumsfeld begins his book tour with a visit to Boston on Monday, September 26, and as new, uncensored photos of Abu Ghraib spark fresh outrage across Internet.  Awareness is growing that Bush-era crimes went far beyond mere waterboarding.

Torture Room, Abu Ghraib

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters in 2004 of photos withheld by the Defense Department from Abu Ghraib, “The American public needs to understand, we’re talking about rape and murder here… We’re not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience. We’re talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges.”  And journalist Seymour Hersh says: “boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has.”

Rumsfeld resigned days before a criminal complaint was filed in Germany in which the American general who commanded the military police battalion at Abu Ghraib had promised to testify.  General Janis Karpinski in an interview with Salon.com was asked: “Do you feel like Rumsfeld is at the heart of all of this and should be held completely accountable for what happened [at Abu Ghraib]?”

Karpinski answered: “Yes, absolutely.”  In the criminal complaint filed in Germany against Rumsfeld, Karpinski submitted 17 pages of testimony and offered to appear before the German prosecutor as a witness.  Congressman Kendrick Meek of Florida, who participated in the hearings on Abu Ghraib, said of Rumsfeld: “There was no way Rumsfeld didn’t know what was going on. He’s a guy who wants to know everything.”

And Major General Antonio Taguba, who led the official Army investigation into Abu Ghraib, said in his report:

“there is no longer any doubt as to whether the [Bush] administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

Abu Ghraib Prisoner Smeared with Feces

Amazingly, the two American contractors in the 7th Circuit decision were known by the military to be working undercover for the FBI, to whom they had reported witnessing the sale of U.S government munitions to Iraqi rebel groups.  The FBI in Iraq had vouched for Vance and Ertel numerous times before they nevertheless disappeared into military custody.  They were held at Camp Cropper in Iraq where the two were tortured, one for 97 days, and the other for six weeks.

In a puzzling and incriminating move, Camp Cropper base commander General John Gardner ordered Nathan Ertel released on May 17, 2006, while keeping Donald Vance in detention for another two months of torture.  By ordering the release of one man but not the other, Gardner revealed awareness of the situation but prolonged it at the same time.

It is unlikely that Gardner could act alone in a situation as sensitive as the illegal detention and torture of two Americans confirmed by the FBI to be working undercover in the national interest, to prevent American weapons and munitions from reaching the hands of insurgents, for the sole purpose of using them to kill American troops.  Vance and Ertel suggest he was acting on orders from the highest political level.

The forms of torture employed against the Americans included “techniques” which crop up frequently in descriptions of Iraqi and Afghan prisoner abuse at Bagram, Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib.  They included “walling,” where the head is slammed repeatedly into a concrete wall, sleep deprivation to the point of psychosis by use of round-the-clock bright lights and harsh music at ear-splitting volume, in total isolation, for days, weeks or months at a time, and intolerable cold.

The 7th Circuit ruling is the latest in a growing number of legal actions involving hundreds of former prisoners and torture victims filed in courts around the world.  Criminal complaints have been filed against Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials in Germany, France, and Spain.  Former President Bush recently curbed travel to Switzerland due to fear of arrest following criminal complaints lodged in Geneva.  “He’s avoiding the handcuffs,” Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.

And the Mayor of London threatened Bush with arrest for war crimes earlier this year should he ever set foot in his city, saying that were he to land in London to “flog his memoirs,” that “the real trouble — from the Bush point of view — is that he might never see Texas again.”

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief-of-Staff Col. Lawrence Wilkerson surmised on MSNBC earlier this year that soon, Saudi Arabia and Israel will be “the only two countries Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest will travel to.”

Abu Ghraib: Dog Bites

What would seem to make Rumsfeld’s situation more precarious is the number of credible former officials and military officers who seem to be eager to testify against him, such as Col. Wilkerson and General Janis Karpinsky.

In a signed declaration in support of torture plaintiffs in a civil suit naming Rumsfeld in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Col. Wilkerson, one of Rumsfeld’s most vociferous critics,  stated: “I am willing to testify in person regarding the  content of this declaration, should that be necessary.”  That declaration, among other things, affirmed that a documentary on the chilling murder of a 22-year-old Afghan farmer and taxi driver in Afghanistan was “accurate.”  Wilkerson said earlier this year that in that case, and in the case of another murder at Bagram at about the same time, “authorization for the abuse went to the very top of the United States government.”

Dilawar

The young farmer’s name was Dilawar.  The New York Times reported on May 20, 2005:

“Four days before [his death,] on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Id al-Fitr, Mr. Dilawar set out from his tiny village of Yakubi in a prized new possession, a used Toyota sedan that his family bought for him a few weeks earlier to drive as a taxi.On the day that he disappeared, Mr. Dilawar’s mother had asked him to gather his three sisters from their nearby villages and bring them home for the holiday. However, he needed gas money and decided instead to drive to the provincial capital, Khost, about 45 minutes away, to look for fares.”

Dilawar’s misfortune was to drive past the gate of an American base which had been hit by a rocket attack that morning.  Dilawar and his fares were arrested at a checkpoint by a warlord, who was later suspected of mounting the rocket attack himself, and then turning over randam captures like Dilawar in order to win trust.

The UK Guardian reports:

“Guards at Bagram routinely kneed prisoners in their thighs — a blow called a ‘peroneal strike’… Whenever a guard did this to Dilawar, he would cry out, ‘Allah! Allah!’ Some guards apparently found this amusing, and would strike him repeatedly to show off the behavior to buddies. One military policeman told investigators, ‘Everybody heard him cry out and thought it was funny. … It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes.’”

Dilawar was shackled from the ceiling much of the time, with his feet barely able to touch the ground.  On the last day of his life, after 4 days at Bagram, an interpreter who was present said his legs were bouncing uncontrollably as he sat in a plastic chair. He had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.

The New York Times reported that on the last day of his life, four days after he was arrested:

“Mr. Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua R. Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Mr. Dilawar’s face. “Come on, drink!” the interpreter said Specialist Claus had shouted, as the prisoner gagged on the spray. “Drink!”

At the interrogators’ behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.

“‘Leave him up,’ one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.”

The next time the prison medic saw Dilawar a few hours later, he was dead, his head lolled to one side and his body beginning to stiffen.  A coroner would testify that his legs “had basically been pulpified.” The Army coroner, Maj. Elizabeth Rouse, said: “I’ve seen similar injuries in an individual run over by a bus.” She testified that had he lived, Dilawar’s legs would have had to be amputated.

Despite the military’s false statement that Dilawar’s death was the result of “natural causes,” Maj. Rouse marked the death certificate as a “homicide” and arranged for the certificate to be delivered to the family.  The military was forced to retract the statement when a reporter for the New York Times, Carlotta Gall, tracked down Dilawar’s family in Afghanistan and was given a folded piece of paper by Dilawar’s brother.  It was the death certificate, which he couldn’t read, because it was in English.

The practice of forcing prisoners to stand for long periods of time, links Dilawar’s treatment to a memo which bears Rumsfeld’s own handwriting on that particular subject.  Obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request, the memo may show how fairly benign-sounding authorizations for clear circumventions of the Geneva Conventions may have translated into gruesome practice on the battlefield.

The memo, which addresses keeping prisoners “standing” for up to four hours, is annotated with a note initialed by Rumfeld reading: “I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?”  Not mentioned in writing anywhere is anything about accomplishing this by chaining prisoners to the ceiling.  There is evidence that, unable to support his weight on tiptoe for the days on end he was chained to the ceiling, Dilawars arms dislocated, and they flapped around uselessly when he was taken down for interrogation.  The National Catholic Reporter writes, “They flapped like a bird’s broken wings.”

Contradicting, on the record, a February 2003 statement by Rumfeld’s top commander in Afghnanistan at the time, General Daniel McNeill, that “we are not chaining people to the ceilings,” is Spc. Willie Brand, the only soldier disciplined in the death of Dilawar, with a reduction in rank.  Told of McNeill’s statement, Brand told Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes: “Well, he’s lying.”  Brand said of his punishment: “I didn’t understand how they could do this after they had trained you to do this stuff and they turn around and say you’ve been bad.”

Exhibit: A sketch by Sgt. Thomas V. Curtis, a former Reserve M.P. sergeant, showing how Dilawar was chained to the ceiling of his cell

Exhibit: Dilawar Death Certificate marked “homicide”

Exhibit: Rumsfeld Memo: “I stand 8-10 hours a day.  Why only 4 hours?”

Dilawar’s daughter and her grandfather

Binyam, Genital-Slicing

Binyam Mohamed was seized by the Pakistani Forces in April 2002 and turned over to the Americans for a $5,000 bounty.  He was held for more than five years without charge or trial in Bagram Air Force Base, Guantánamo Bay, and third country “black” sites.

In his diary he describes being flown by a US government plane to a prison in Morocco. He writes:

“They cut off my clothes with some kind of doctor’s scalpel. I was naked. I tried to put on a brave face. But maybe I was going to be raped. Maybe they’d electrocute me. Maybe castrate me…One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. He did it once, and they stood still for maybe a minute, watching my reaction. I was in agony. They must have done this 20 to 30 times, in maybe two hours. There was blood all over. ‘I told you I was going to teach you who’s the man,’ [one] eventually said.

“They cut all over my private parts. One of them said it would be better just to cut it off, as I would only breed terrorists. I asked for a doctor.

“I was in Morocco for 18 months. Once they began this, they would do it to me about once a month. One time I asked a guard: ‘What’s the point of this? I’ve got nothing I can say to them. I’ve told them everything I possibly could.’

“‘As far as I know, it’s just to degrade you. So when you leave here, you’ll have these scars and you’ll never forget. So you’ll always fear doing anything but what the US wants.’

“Later, when a US airplane picked me up the following January, a female MP took pictures. She was one of the few Americans who ever showed me any sympathy. When she saw the injuries I had she gasped. They treated me and took more photos when I was in Kabul. Someone told me this was ‘to show Washington it’s healing.’”

The obvious question for any prosecutor in Binyam’s case is: Who does “Washington” refer to?  Rumfeld?  Cheney?  Is it not in the national interest to uncover these most depraved of sadists at the highest level?  US Judge Gladys Kessler, in her findings on Binyam made in relation to a Guantanamo prisoner’s petition, found Binyam exceedingly credible.  She wrote:

“His genitals were mutilated. He was deprived of sleep and food. He was summarily transported from one foreign prison to another. Captors held him in stress positions for days at a time. He was forced to listen to piercingly loud music and the screams of other prisoners while locked in a pitch-black cell. All the while, he was forced to inculpate himself and others in plots to imperil Americans. The government does not dispute this evidence.”

Obama: Torturers’ Last Defense

The prospect of Rumsfeld in a courtroom cannot possibly be relished by the Obama administration, which has now cast itself as the last and staunchest defender of the embattled former officials, including John Yoo, Alberto Gonzalez, Judge Jay Bybee, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and others.  The administration employed an unprecedented twisting of arms in order to keep evidence in a lawsuit which Binyam had filed in the UK suppressed, threatening an end of cooperation between the British MI5 and the CIA.  This even though the British judges whose hand was forced puzzled that the evidence contained “no disclosure of sensitive intelligence matters.”  The judges suggested another reason for the secrecy requested by the Obama administration, that it might be “politically embarrassing.”

The Obama Justice Department’s active involvement in seeking the dismissal of the cases is by choice, as the statutory obligation of the US Attorney General to defend cases against public officials ends the day they leave office.  Indeed, the real significance of recent court decisions, the one by the 7th Circuit and yet another against Rumsfeld in a DC federal court, may be the clarification the common misconception that high officials are forever immune for crimes committed while in office, in the name of the state.  The misconception persists despite just a moment of thought telling one that if this were true, Hermann Goering, Augusto Pinochet, and Charles Taylor would never have been arrested, for they were all in office at the time they ordered atrocities, and they all invoked national security.

Judge Kessler’s findings point to yet another even more alarming aspect of the Bush-era crimes for which Rumsfeld is now being pursued for his part.  And that is the emerging evidence that the tortures perpetrated were not designed to protect national security at all, but to obtain false confessions in order to score propaganda points for the War on terror.


Andy Worthington writes that:

“As it happens, one of the confessions that was tortured out of Binyam is so ludicrous that it was soon dropped…The US authorities insisted that Padilla and Binyam had dinner with various high-up members of al-Qaeda the night before Padilla was to fly off to America. According to their theory the dinner party had to have been on the evening of 3 April in Karachi … Binyam was  meant to have dined with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Sheikh al-Libi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Jose Padilla. What made the scenario ‘absurd,’ as [Binyam’s lawyer] pointed out, was that ‘two of the conspirators were already in U.S. custody at the time — Abu Zubaydah was seized six days before, on 28 March 2002, and al-Libi had been held since November 2001.’”

The charges against Binyam were dropped, after the prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Darrel Vandeveld, resigned. He told the BBC later that he had concerns at the repeated suppression of evidence that could prove prisoners’ innocence.

The litany of tortures alleged against Rumsfeld in the military prisons he ran could go on for some time.  The new photographic images from Abu Ghraib make it hard to conceive of how the methods of torture and dehumanization could have possibly served a national purpose.

The approved use of attack dogs, sexual humiliation, forced masturbation, and treatments which plumb the depths of human depravity are either documented in Rumsfeld’s own memos, or credibly reported on.


The UK Guardian writes:

“The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of ill-treatment and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know what they are doing, according to British military sources. The techniques devised in the system, called R2I – resistance to interrogation – match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.

“One former British special forces officer who returned last week from Iraq, said: ‘It was clear from discussions with US private contractors in Iraq that the prison guards were using R2I techniques, but they didn’t know what they were doing.’”

Torture Now Aimed at Americans, Programs Designed to Obtain False Confessions, Not Intelligence

The worst of the worst is that Rumsfeld’s logic strikes directly at the foundations of our democracy and the legitimacy of the War on Terror.  The torture methods studied and adopted by the Bush administration were not new, but adopted from the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape program (SERE) which is taught to elite military units.  The program was developed during the Cold War, in response to North Korean, Chinese, and Soviet Bloc torture methods.  But the aim of those methods was never to obtain intelligence, but to elicit false confessions.  The Bush administration asked the military to “reverse engineer” the methods, i.e. figure out how to break down resistance to false confessions.

In the 2008 Senate Armed Services Committee report which indicted high-level Bush administration officials, including Rumsfeld, as bearing major responsibility for the torture at Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, and Bagram, the Committee said:

“SERE instructors explained “Biderman’s Principles” – which were based on coercive methods used by the Chinese Communist dictatorship to elicit false confessions from U.S. POWs during the Korean War – and left with GTMO personnel a chart of those coercive techniques.”

The Biderman Principles were based on the work of Air Force Psychiatrist Albert Biderman, who wrote the landmark “Communist Attempts to Elecit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War,” on which SERE resistance was based.  Biderman wrote:

“The experiences of American Air Force prisoners of war in Korea who were pressured for false confessions, enabled us to compile an outline of methods of eliciting compliance, not much different, it turned out, from those reported by persons held by Communists of other nations.  I have prepared a chart showing a condensed version of this outline.”

The chart is a how-to for communist torturers interested only in false confessions for propaganda purposes, not intelligence.  It was the manual for, in Biderman’s words, “brainwashing.”  In the reference for Principle Number 7, “Degradation,” the chart explains:

“Makes Costs of Resistance Appear More Damaging to Self-Esteem than Capitulation; Reduces Prisoner to “Animal Level…Personal Hygiene Prevented; Filthy, Infested Surroundings; Demeaning Punishments; Insults and Taunts; Denial of Privacy”

Appallingly, this could explain that even photos such as those of feces-smeared prisoners at Abu Ghraib might not, as we would hope, be only the individual work of particularly demented guards, but part of systematic degradation authorized at the highest levels.

Exhibit: Abu Ghraib, Female POW

This could go far toward explaining why the Bush administration seemed so tone-deaf to intelligence professionals, including legendary CIA Director William Colby, who essentially told them they were doing it all wrong.  A startling level of consensus existed within the intelligence community that the way to produce good intelligence was to gain the trust of prisoners and to prove everything they had been told by their recruiters, about the cruelty and degeneracy of America, to be wrong.

But why would the administration care about what worked to produce intelligence, if the goal was never intelligence in the first place?  What the Ponzi scheme of either innocent men or low-level operatives incriminating each other  DID accomplish, was produce a framework of rapid successes and trophies in the new War on Terror.

And now, American contractors Vance and Ertel show, unless there are prosecutions, the law has effectively changed and they can do it to Americans. Jane Mayer in the New Yorker describes a new regime for prisoners which has become coldly methodical, quoting a report issued by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, titled “Secret Detentions and Illegal Transfers of Detainees.”  In the report on the CIA paramilitary Special Activities Division detainees were “taken to their cells by strong people who wore black outfits, masks that covered their whole faces, and dark visors over their eyes.”

Mayer writes that a former member of a C.I.A. transport team has described the “takeout” of prisoners as:

“a carefully choreographed twenty-minute routine, during which a suspect was hog-tied, stripped naked, photographed, hooded, sedated with anal suppositories, placed in diapers, and transported by plane to a secret location.”

A person involved in the Council of Europe inquiry, referring to cavity searches and the frequent use of suppositories, likened the treatment to “sodomy.” He said, “It was used to absolutely strip the detainee of any dignity. It breaks down someone’s sense of impenetrability.”

Of course we have seen these images before, in the trial balloon treatment of Jose Padilla, the first American citizen arrested and declared “enemy combatant” in the first undeclared war without end.  The designation placed Padilla outside of his Bill of Rights as an American citizen even though he was arrested on American soil.  Padilla was kept in isolation and tortured for nearly 4 years before being released to a civilian trial, at which point according to his lawyer he was useless in his own defense, and exhibited fear and mistrust of everyone, complete docility, and a range of nervous facial tics.

Jose Padilla in Military Custody

He was convicted by a Miami jury and sentenced to 17 more years.  As of this writing, and meriting it’s own outrage, on Sept. 19, an appeals court threw out Padilla’s sentence as “too lenient” and has sent it back for review.

Rumsfeld’s avuncular “golly-gee, gee-whiz” performances in public are legendary.  Randall M. Schmidt, the Air Force Lieutenant General appointed by the Army to investigate abuses at Guantanamo, and who recommended holding Rumsfeld protege and close associate General Geoffrey Miller “accountable” as the commander of Guantanamo, watched Rumfeld’s performance before a House Committee with some interest. “He was going, ‘My God! Did I authorize putting a bra and underwear on this guy’s head and telling him all his buddies knew he was a homosexual?’”

But General Taguba said of Rumsfeld: “Rummy did what we called ‘case law’ policy — verbal and not in writing. What he’s really saying is that if this decision comes back to haunt me I’ll deny it.”


Taguba went on: “Rumsfeld is very perceptive and has a mind like a steel trap. There’s no way he’s suffering from C.R.S.—Can’t Remember Shit.”

Miller was the general deployed by Rumfeld to “Gitmo-ize” Abu Ghraib in 2003 after Rumfeld had determined they were being too “soft” on prisoners.  He said famously in one memo “you have to treat them like dogs.”  General Karpinski questioned the fall of Charles Graner and Lyndie England as the main focus of low-level “bad apple” abuse in the Abu Ghraib investigations.  “Did Lyndie England deploy with a dog leash?” she asks.

Exhibit: Dog deployed at Abu Ghraib, mentally-ill prisoner

Abu Ghraib prisoner in “restraint” chair, screaming “Allah!!”

Rumfeld’s worry now is the doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction, as well as ordinary common law.  The veil of immunity stripped in civil cases would seem to free the hand of any prosecutor who determines there is sufficient evidence that a crime has been committed based on available evidence.  A grand jury’s bar for opening a prosecution is minimal.  It has been said “a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich.”  Rumsfeld, and the evidence against him, would certainly seem to pass this test.

The name Dilawar translates to English roughly as “Braveheart.”  Let us pray he had one to endure the manner of his death.  But the more spiritual may believe that somehow it had a purpose, to shock the world and begin the toppling of unimaginable evil among us.  Dilawar represented the poorest of the poor and most powerless, wanting only to pick up his three sisters, as his mother had told him to, for the holiday.  The question now is whether Americans will finally draw a line, as the case against Rumsfeld falls into place and becomes legally bulletproof.  Andy Worthington noted that the case for prosecutors became rock solid when Susan Crawford, senior Pentagon official overseeing the Military Commissions at Guantánamo — told Bob Woodward that the Bush administration had “met the legal definition of torture.”

As Rumsfeld continues his book tour and people like Dilawar are remembered, it is not beyond the pale that an ambitious prosecutor, whether local, state, or federal, might sense the advantage.  It is perhaps unlikely, but not inconceivable, that upon landing at Logan International Airport on Wed., Sept. 21st, or similarly anywhere he travels thereafter, Rumsfeld could be greeted with the words such as:

“Welcome to Boston, Mr. Secretary.  You are under arrest.”

Massachusetts District Attorneys Who Can Indict Rumsfeld, Please Email them this post and call them.SAMPLE INDICTMENT TEXT, BASED ON GERMAN CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley:
email:  ago@state.ma.us

One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108 -1518
Phone: (617) 727-2200

Here is the contact info for members of the Boston City Council, which could pass a resolution directing the Police Commissioner to arrest Rumsfeld on sight (google Brattleboro Resolution, George W. Bush):
http://www.cityofboston.gov/…

And Gov. Duval Patrick has an obligation to order the state police to do the same: CONTACT FORM

Local District Attorneys
Berkshire County: District Attorney David F. Capeless
Elected November 2006
OFFICE ADDRESS:     P.O. Box 973
888 Purchase Street
New Bedford, MA 02741
PHONE:     (508) 997-0711
FAX:     (508) 997-0396
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.bristolda.com

Bristol County     District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter
Appointed March 2004
Elected November 2004
OFFICE ADDRESS:     7 North Street
P.O. Box 1969
Pittsfield, MA 01202-1969
PHONE:     (413) 443-5951
FAX:     (413) 499-6349
Internet Address:     http://www.mass.gov/…

Cape & Islands     District Attorney Michael O’Keefe
Elected November 2002
OFFICE ADDRESS:     P.O.Box 455
3231 Main Street
Barnstable, MA 02630
PHONE:     (508) 362-8113
FAX:     (508) 362-8221
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.mass.gov/…

Essex County: District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett
Elected November 2002
OFFICE ADDRESS:     Ten Federal Street
Salem, MA 01970
PHONE:     (978) 745-6610
FAX:     (978) 741-4971
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.mass.gov/…

Hampden     District Attorney Mark Mastroianni
Elected 2010
OFFICE ADDRESS:     Hall of Justice
50 State Street
Springfield, MA 01103
PHONE:     (413) 747-1000
FAX:     (413) 781-4745

Middlesex County: District Attorney Gerard T. Leone, Jr.
Elected November 2006
OFFICE ADDRESS:     15 Commonwealth Avenue
Woburn, MA 01801
PHONE:     (781) 897-8300
FAX:     ((781) 897-8301
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.middlesexda.com

Norfolk     District Attorney Michael Morrissey

Elected 2010
OFFICE ADDRESS:     45 Shawmut Ave.
Canton, MA 02021
PHONE:     (781) 830-4800
FAX:     (781) 830-4801
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.mass.gov/…

Northwestern     District Attorney David Sullivan
Elected 2010
HAMPSHIRE OFFICE ADDRESS:     One Gleason Plaza
Northampton, MA 01060
PHONE:     (413) 586-9225
FAX:     (413) 584-3635

FRANKLIN OFFICE ADDRESS:     13 Conway Street
Greenfield, MA 01301
PHONE:     (413) 774-3186
FAX:     (413) 773-3278
WEBSITE:
Northwestern     http://www.mass.gov/…

Plymouth     District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz
Appointed November 2001
Elected November 2002
OFFICE ADDRESS:     32 Belmont Street
Brockton, MA 02303
PHONE:     (508) 584-8120
FAX:     (508) 586-3578
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.mass.gov/…

Suffolk County:     District Attorney Daniel F. Conley
Appointed January 2002
Elected November 2002
OFFICE ADDRESS:     One Bulfinch Place
Boston, MA 02114
PHONE:     (617) 619-4000
FAX:     (617) 619-4009
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.mass.gov/…

Worcester     District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr.
Elected November 2006
OFFICE ADDRESS:     Courthouse – Room 220
2 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01608
PHONE:     (508) 755-8601
FAX:     (508) 831-9899
INTERNET ADDRESS:     http://www.worcesterda.com
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