Crisis at Sea, Gaza Ship Attacked by Israel Commandos

Crisis at Sea, Gaza Ships attacked by Israeli Commandos
Who was arrested, or has been on board: see

NEW: Audio, Frank Barat, Russell Tribunal on Palestine, and Richard Falk, Professor of international law emeritus, Princeton University and Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestinian Territories for the United Nations Human Rights Council, discuss events in international waters off the coast of Gaza May 31, 2010.


TRT: 29:18
Produced by Dori Smith
Download at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

McClatchy obtains Israeli document "By Sheera Frenkel | McClatchy Newspapers, JERUSALEM — "..."In response to a lawsuit by Gisha, an Israeli human rights group, the Israeli government explained the blockade as an exercise of the right of economic warfare. --- "A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare,'" the government said".
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/09/95621/israeli-document-gaza-blockade.html#none#ixzz0qYUheaDP

UPDATE 6/11/10: The Israeli commando forces clearly engaged in fire very early on in their boarding of the Mavi Marmari. This new video is described as 'uncut' and comes from Brazilian filmmaker, Iara Lee. She was able to get her live footage out despite the fact that her camera and film were confiscated by Israelis when they took her and all of the other passengers into custody. She sent it to others working on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla project. Democracy Now featured portions of the video on their daily news hour here. According to one of the hosts, Juan Gonzales, there are dozens wounded.

Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara, May 31st 2010 // 15 min. from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo.

Nora Barrows Friedman writes "Four days have passed since the outrageously illegal and lethal Israeli raid on the humanitarian aid flotilla, as the blood dries, the facts are boiling to the surface. And they don’t look good for Israel". She posted a few paragraphs of a piece by Max Blumenthal from Tel Aviv:

"Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre revealed that the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected".

"On May 28, three days before the raid, top Israeli military officials revealed details of their strategy to Maariv, Israel’s most widely circulated paper. The caption of the Maariv article reflected the military command’s plan to use force: “On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way". See, The Flotilla Raid was Not Bungled, Max Blumenthal.

Bradley Burston at Haaretz has interesting Haaretz blog post: "On Sunday, when the army spokesman began speaking of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in terms of an attack on Israel, MK Nahman Shai, the IDF chief spokesman during the 1991 Gulf war, spoke publicly of his worst nightmare, an operation in which Israeli troops, raiding the flotilla, might open fire on peace activists, aid workers and Nobel laureates".

7:00 PM EST: Concerns mounting re disinformation campaign by Israel, difficult now to locate all press reporting from Israel, which is on lock down.

INTERVIEW: Reaction from Dr. Stephen Zunes, chair of the program in Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco. He is a senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies. And author of several books on the MidEast and international social movements on the region, including Tinderbox, and NonViolent Social Movements.



TRT: 29:29 download here at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

Freedom Flotilla Attacked by Israel, troops land shooting. as of 4:49 PM Eastern Time, an update here at Truthout.org. Also note that Mosaic, LinkTV, and Democracy Now will be covering this story intensively, check their sites for video updates.

"We expected that they might try to stop us, they might try to board us. We never expected that they would shoot. What they didn't understand is that when they came on board the Turkish ship we had live streaming video. So when they landed, and they came off the helicopter, you can see them come off the helicopter, turn around, look at each other and start to shoot. Now, this is at 4:30 in the morning this morning when everybody is asleep. There was no resistance, there was nobody there who was threatening them..." Greta Berlin, a founder of Free Gaza Flotilla.



Even Israel has backed down on earlier comments that there were weapons, according to Free Gaza's, Greta Berlin.

They repel down to Italian vessel, at least 16 and possibly as many as 20 dead, 50 to 80 people are said to be wounded.. we hear from Greta Berlin, founder of Free Gaza, as she give us breaking news on events on board the Turkish passenger ship, the Mavi Marmara, and a European vessel, both attacked, and towed by Israel. Some 700 people detained by Israel. They did not have weapons, states Berlin. And Israel has confirmed that this is the case. No weapons. Broadcast available here. This interview includes part of a longer interview with Prof. Stephen Zunes, (length: 29 min) upload asap on that.

TRT: 20:12
Download at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

Confirms, European Campaign Vessel also attacked, the Spendoni. No word on deaths/injuries there and still no word on NAMES OF casualties as of 9:00 AM EST US. Confirmation that Sheik Salah is in detention.

We are trying to get whatever information we can for a Talk Nation special on events in international waters off Gaza. As many as 15 people are said to have been killed, dozens wounded, after Israeli commandos stormed an Italian vessel with the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Democracy Now has an interview here.

Obama administration concerned about Gaza "incident".
Photo from AP, partial caption: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shakes hands with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, during their meeting in Jerusalem, Wednesday, May 26, 2010. President Barack Obama's chief of staff has invited the Israeli prime minister to the White House next week".

This is a photo from the web site of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The description reads: "During a search aboard the maritime vessel Mavi Marmara, IDF forces uncovered a cache of weapons--used to violently attack the soldiers".

A wrench, a come-along, and other items commonly found on ships, described by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "weapons". Originally, Israelis claimed there were "pistols" on board the Turkish ship but according to Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Flotilla movement, those claims were officially retracted. Years ago when the administration of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush were supporting the repressive regime created by Roberto d'Aubuisson, in El Salvador, 60 humanitarian aid workers were taken into custody. They were lay church workers from America working alongside El Salvador's peasants who used churches for safety from death squads. When they were snatched by government forces and taken into detention, roughed up, the El Salvadorans tortured, U.S. officials passed along the El Salvadoran Govt. claim that they had "weapons" in the basement, "sharp sticks" and "gasoline" and other items that could not be called humanitarian. The ridiculous assessment was provided to protesters of the arrests who had gone to the offices of U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd in Wethersfield. People were hiding in the basement to avoid being disappeared, a common practice at the time, one that the US might have ignored had it not been for courageous Americans who visited El Salvador to serve as witness to the atrocities.

During a Talk Nation Radio interview May 31, 2010, Stephen Zunes compared international efforts to help Latin Americans during the 1980s and 1990s to efforts underway today to help Palestinians.

The US State Dept. is working on a statement now, after receiving messages in "bits and pieces" out of Tel Aviv, according to spokesperson Fred Lash. He said he was not in a position to confirm that Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador from Israel. We will have an update asap.

See: ANKARA, Turkey — "Turkey's deputy prime minister says Turkey is withdrawing its ambassador to Israel, canceling three joint military drills and calling on the U.N. Security Council to convene in an emergency session about Israel".

Quotes: PRIOR to the shootings

"This is nothing more than media provocation and has nothing to do with actually providing aid to residents of the Gaza Strip," said military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch. "They have everything they need."

Speaking at a Monday news conference in Tel Aviv, Ehud Barak called the aid flotilla a "political provocation" by anti-Israel forces. He said the sponsors of the flotilla are violent.



Al Jazeera video, Live Coverage here: their reporter on board Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship says Israeli commandos still shooting. White Flag Raised. As many as 16 people may be dead. 1:59pm: The Israeli army has released its first official version of today's events, including an aerial video of the first commandos landing on the Mavi Marmara. The IDF statement says the commandos "first employed riot dispersal means, followed by live fire."

Haaretz updates: Muslim leader Raed Salah may be among the dead. see Maan New Agency here too that he was shot on the head. Earlier reports listed him as wounded, Israeli officials saying he lived injuries sustained when Israelis opened fire.

Live image from the flotilla shows that Israeli soldiers from the helicopter and a number of speedboats boarded one of the ships at night. Activists wearing life vests were treating what appeared to be injuries for unknown reasons.-- Israeli navy on Sunday night sighted the pro-Palestinian “Freedom Flotilla” bound for the Gaza Strip and ordered the convoy to dock at an Israeli harbor. -- The flotilla, originally made up of nine ships from Turkey, Britain, Ireland, Greece, Kuwait and Algeria, were carrying around 10,000 tons of aid including cement, water purification systems and wheelchairs. One of the ships had not arrived and two others had been damaged.

Jim Naureckas, FAIR, Media Coverage of Richard Blumenthal's Misspeak Evidence of Double Standard for Democrats?

Talk Nation Radio for May 27, 2010

Jim Naureckas cites double standards for Democrats versus Republicans on military service, slips of the tongue, or worse.
He cites a case involving what Ronald Reagan said about visiting Hitler’s death camps in Europe during WWII as one example. He didn't! Yet the press gave this story a pass. The press also tended to 'correct' glaring mistakes by former V.P. Dan Quayle, among many others not to mention George W. Bush.


Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:00
Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here if a member or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Jim Naureckas of the media watch group FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, joins us for a look at questions of fairness and double standards in media coverage about the military service records of Democrats versus Republicans. We discuss media coverage of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who is running for U.S. Senate. He has been under scrutiny for remarks he made about serving in Vietnam, he didn’t.

But in this, and other stories involving Republicans it has been a case of double standards, according to Jim Naureckas. The media seems happy to critique the military service records of Democrats during campaigns, yet tend to pass on stories about the service of Republicans. Jim Naureckas compares coverage when Democrats versus Republicans torture words and or the truth.

First a review of the Richard Blumenthal story. Throughout his career, the Connecticut Democrat has made it clear to voters and veterans that he didn’t serve in Vietnam, but served stateside. Was he trying to intentionally misrepresent his record? Even Rob Simmons, who has just withdrawn from the race against Blumenthal, didn’t think so. Simmons said he never thought Blumenthal was actually trying to get away with a lie. But the press quoted him on many occasions attacking Blumenthal for his “in Vietnam” comments.

Conventional political wisdom here had it that Simmons would benefit from Blumenthal’s misspeak on Vietnam, Simmons is after all someone who served in Vietnam. But it was Linda McMahon who garnered points for the Blumenthal story. The media became fixated on the story through the coverage of primary races and conventions. All other issues fell by the wayside, especially the matter of Richard Blumenthal’s long successful record, and Linda McMahon’s lack of one.

Democrats are now trying to bring the conversation back to Blumenthal’s record as an Attorney General, since 1990. He is well liked, and has not been shy at taking on big corporations on behalf of state voters: Big tobacco, utility companies, health care, Lyme Disease treatment, charity fraud, the list is long and it includes work on behalf of veterans.

FOX 61, now part of a state conglomerate with The Hartford Courant, nevertheless gave Republicans, Simmons and McMahon, endless opportunities to express outrage about a comment from Blumenthal shown on the New York Times web site alongside a damning story: “We have learned something very important since the days that I served in Vietnam. And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call Afghanistan or Iraq, we owe our military men and women unconditional support. And we owe it to them not only while they are away but when they come home. And that is why your effort is not only important for the physical comfort that you bring to those men and women who come home, whatever their condition, severely wounded or over in the battlefields now, but as a message to others”. The question of resources for wounded veterans fell by the wayside.

Using a family fortune earned through running the World Wrestling Federation, Linda McMahon bought daily spots on Fox 61 and other channels like NBC’s channel 30 here. Her name recognition as a media personality has gone a long way toward preparing voters to hear what she has to say. A chill fell over the story after this additional segment of the damning Norwich video was posted on both McMahon’s web site and the New York Times web site: “But I really want to add my words of thanks as someone who served in the military during the Vietnam era, in the Marine Corps”.

While press coverage is dying down a bit, this issue is sure to come up again during the election. McMahon has been seen in negative terms given that she was the one who gave the tape to the New York Times, and seemed to withhold the first part where Blumenthal said he didn’t serve in Vietnam, but during. She did pull ahead of other challengers just after the tape incident, pushing Rob Simmons out of the race, but she has not been able to dominate Blumenthal in the polls. He is up by 25% as of the latest Quinnipiac University Poll. The AG has enjoyed a 78% or higher approval rating.

This story may yet have a few new twists to be revealed. McMahon and her husband Vince McMahon who took over the World Wrestling Federation when she stepped down as CEO, have a history of federal investigations over violations of steroid laws. And Vince McMahon is more than colorful. An interview by Oakland sports reporter Joel Drucker, was peppered with Vince McMahon quotes where he used the F word liberally and seemed to disdain authority. As a teen, Vince McMahon was the first student ever courts martialed from his former military school, after he used threatening language to an official there. He went on to attend East Carolina University, during the 1960s, possibly on a student deferment of some kind.

Ultimately, McMahon will also likely face more questions about accusations that she tried to buy votes. The scandal was written off to her inexperience, but McMahon launched then withdrew a voter registration effort where University of Connecticut Republicans were offered $5 bonuses for registering new Republicans during an on-campus voter drive.

McMahon‘s fellow Republican candidate Peter Schiff called her tactic “ACORN-ish” this a reference to the non profit group that helps voters register, largely poor voters under served by their own voting systems. ACORN was ironically also accused by Republicans, but was cleared accusations of fraud and one set up involving a man posing as a pimp who tried to implicate them on tape. A court has completely cleared the organization, but the damage to them was severe. They are trying to regroup.

Jim Naureckas of Fair, says the coverage of Republican candidates has been highly different in general, and particularly in terms of war records. In Extra, the magazine published by Fair, he says the media tends to overlook the gross errors, even lies, of Republicans, like for example former President Ronald Reagan, who spoke emotionally about having visited Hitler’s death camps during WWII, but he didn’t.

Jim Naureckas writes: “It is commendable to hold misleading politicians to account. Our question is how universal this concern is at the New York Times”. We discuss the media’s campaign coverage of the two leading parties, in general.

HISTORICAL, Dori Smith: 'How well I remember two things in my own experience at looking into media stories, and following the lead of your group FAIR, in fact, at a workshop on the media at the Hartford Public Library, April 1st, 1989. We were following the Latin America tour of the inimitable Vice President Dan Quayle, and I’ve got the story here, the New York Times headline February 4th was: 'Quayle in San Salvador, Discusses Human Rights'. The author of the piece, Lindsey Gruson, quoted Quayle, saying of the El Salvadorean Government: 'We expect them to work toward the elimination of human rights, the elimination of human rights in accordance with the pursuit of justice'. He left out the word, violations, twice.

The Hartford Courant reported February 4, p A7 that, 'Quayle said that the United States expects the Salvadoran military to work toward the elimination of human rights violations'.

We challenged the paper, they responded by in effect saying, 'so what'? and claiming we were making a big deal out of nothing.

General Strike, U of Puerto Rico, H.P. Albarelli, the CIA's Corporate and Political Impact

Talk Nation Radio for May 20, 2010

Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29.00 music fades
Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here if a member, or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

'There are countless CIA people in Afghanistan who are on the front lines, who are actually fighting'. Author H.P. Albarelli, Jr.

There have been messages in solidarity from students all over the world so I think the message is out there and its powerful and I think the government will have to listen now because now they are looking bad'. General Strike May 18, 2010.

UPDATE from May 20th, 'A couple of incidents today. A demonstration at a private hotel, where the the governor was at a fundrasing, police beating the protestors and 5 people arrested'. May 21st: 'Student media has continued to be a source for information on the general strike. An online newspaper, UPR, links to Radio Huelga, a radio station created by the students and transmitting directly from the strike. there are also videos. Now they are transmitting a demo with music'!

University of Puerto Rico Administrators RESIGNS: The Chancellor of Arecibo, one of the campuses, was asked by the president of the university to resign. As a result the deans of all schools resigned in solidarity!!!


More from H.P. Albarelli on the CIA. Then reports from the University of Puerto Rico on a General Strike that has caught the imagination of students all over the world. The students are camped out at The University of Puerto Rico after an unsuccessful attempt to get the administration and governor to drop plans for a tuition hike that would likely end the educational dreams of some 60% of the student body, this, the mostly poor people in college in Puerto Rico.

H.P. Albarelli Jr., is author of the book, A Terrible Mistake, The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments. He describes what key people at the CIA have created. They were fervent anti communists, and had wealth and privilege, and saw themselves as modern day Knights Templar, above known laws. (See clip of film we used by that name here.)

On page 42 of 'A Terrible Mistake' H.P. Albarelli Jr., writes about the start up of a biological warfare project at then new Fort Detrick, (Detrick Field) in early 1942. The Roosevelt Administration ordered the DOD to 'take whatever measures were necessary to bring the United States up to speed with Axis and Allied powers'.

'In response, the War Department created the War Research Service (WRS), and installed George Wilhelm Merck as its director. Merck was a natural for the job, as he was already a high ranking consultant to the War Department on biological warfare. He was also head of Merck & Co., one of the oldest and largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The firm had its beginnings in the late-1600's in Darmstadt, Germany as the E. Merck chemical factory. In 1891, George Merck, George Wilhalm's father, left Germany to establish Merck & Co., in New York City. His son, George Wilhelm Merck, born in West Orange, New Jersey and a Harvard graduate, had assumed control of the company in 1925. The younger Merck dynamically guided the company to become the largest full-line producer and distributor of pharmaceuticals in the world. Merck & Co. has since been responsible for countless innovations in the drug industry, including many in the controversial areas of enthnogenic products and shamanic inebriants'.

'In 1914, Merck's German operation was the first company worldwide to synthesize and patent methylene dioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA. As readers shall see, MDMA, a semi-synthetic psychoactive drug popularly known today as Ecstasy, was tested in the early-1950's under the codename EA-1475 at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal'.

TRT: 29:04
Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT


Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.


Part 1: H.P. Albarelli Jr. on his book, A Terrible Mistake, the Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Cold War Experiments

Previous portions of this interview are here part 2 and here part 3

… ‘So he seeks to stop us, to claim our treasure for himself. Pure madness. Let him try, every angel can fall…. Why do you not join us brother’. The Hollywood version of, The Knights Templar, a film – at that particular moment in the film, a Knight has been stabbed in the back. Frank Olson was likewise stabbed in the back, killed in fact, after being dosed with LSD without his knowledge. He was pushed out a window, according to this groundbreaking new book by H.P. Albarelli, Jr.

The creators of the CIA had a fascination with the crusades and other Knights Templar stories involving the Middle East, with stories of the Ark of the Covenant, Soloman’s Temple, and the visions of Ezekiel, important to Jewish mystics.
In Hank Albarelli’s book, A Terrible Mistake, we find that the men who created the CIA had a by any means necessary attitude about their version of national security, but they were also after corporate and political power. There was Allen Dulles, an oil industry executive, Dr. Sidney Gottleib, head of the TSS Technical Services Division that researched all means of controlling human beings, John Mulholland, an expert at sleight of hand and deception, and the former OSS officers, William Colby, Frank Wisner, and others, who saw themselves as modern day saints, saving Western civilization from the dark forces of communism.

Hank Albarelli is an investigative journalist who studied law, and worked in the Carter White House before turning to the study of financial institutions, unions, and biological and chemical warfare operations. His web site is www.albarelli.net

Rene Vargas, a law student on the negotiating committee at the University of Puerto Rico. He explained that they are worried about dramatic budget cuts and what would amount to an end to education for thousands of students.

More than 60% of the student body could lose the ability to attend college altogether. Rene Vargas is on the negotiating team, and he explained May 18, 2010) that initially, the school board refused their requests for meetings. Ultimately he was able to present the student's concerns and demands to administrators, but he said little came of it. And as the students learned more about what the school administrators planned to do, they became deeply concerned about the future of the 11 campuses at UPR. They sought further information on plans to sell or privatize portions of the school but were shut out of the process. They have accused the school board and government of a lack of transparency.

The widespread support for the students in Puerto Rico stems from the way they have been treated. First, the seriousness of their requests has been downplayed. and finally, the Governor delivered a state of the union address in which he chastised students, telling them their educations were inexpensive anyway.
The General Strike involved many different levels of students, and also some government workers. The Unions have negotiated a separate agreement with medical students as they work with patients.

www.talknationradio.org
write to us at talknationradio@gmail.com

Was it a smear? Connecticut Attorney General Clearly Said he did not Serve in Vietnam when he was in Norwich

Update on Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's comments in Norwich about Vietnam. It is looking more and more like this was a sophisticated political smear.

When you view the whole tape it is very clear that Richard Blumenthal stated that he DID NOT serve in Vietnam. During his opening remarks to the same group of people he said, "I really want to add my words of thanks as someone who served in the Military during the Vietnam era, in the Marine Corps". Why did the New York Times make it seem that Blumenthal was intentionally trying to mischaracterize his service, and imply he served in the Vietnam War zone? Could it be that the additional information provided by others involved convinced them that Blumenthal has done this repeatedly, and with intent? We are looking into this.

Here is the long version embedded in a story by The Day's Ted Mann, Published 05/19/2010 In the video,

In Mann's story he explains that, "Blumenthal also appears to differentiate himself from combat veterans near the end of his remarks, a section not included in the video excerpt cited by his opponents, including Republicans Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon".

Commentary from Dori Smith
May 18, 2010

Rob Simmons is running against Richard Blumenthal for U.S. Senate in CT. He has been criticizing Blumenthal for his unfortunate comment about Vietnam. (NYT) Yet Simmons has been brazen in his deceptions about what he did in Vietnam.

Rob Simmons has told the media often that he carried a copy of the Geneva Conventions in his pocket while serving "in the Army". In fact, Simmons was an adviser to a Province Interrogation Center that came under the CIA's notorious Phoenix Program in Vietnam. He admitted during taped interviews with author Douglas Valentine that he did the interrogations himself while running an interrogation center in Vietnam. (Douglas Valentine,"The Phoenix Program"). This background was highly relevant during the very time Simmons was being interviewed by the media about his Yes vote on the Military Commissions Act. His was a lie of omission as he failed to mention that he had conducted interrogations himself, and was in a top position of authority at an interrogation center in Vietnam under the CIA. We aired portions of Valentine's taped interviews on Talk Nation Radio back in 2006. (Below, see my story with David Morse in CTNewsJunkie here. Download audio programs here.

On the tape, Rob Simmons clearly said: "Occasionally I would do the interrogation myself". Even so, in 2004, he told USA Today's Andrea Stone that he merely observed interrogations while serving in the Army: “That’s the way he characterized it,” Andrea Stone told us. Listen to the tape here and here.

Below is an audio clip of Rob Simmons, recorded by Douglas Valentine for his book, The Phoenix Program. Simmons clearly says he did interrogations, and that he was the man in charge at the centers.



Full Interview for Talk Nation Radio, and Pacifica's Sprouts: October 25, 2006

In 2006 Rob Simmons gave a similar version of events to other members of the media. He has left out the relevant fact that he did interrogations, ran an interrogation center, even when he was being interviewed about his views on U.S. interrogation policies instituted by Bush/Cheney. (He wholeheartedly supported the practices at Guantanamo, claiming conditions were better there than in US prisons.)

This is how he describes his Vietnam War record on his campaign web site for 2010:
"Rob’s public service career began when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965 as a Private, and spent 19 months in Vietnam where he earned two Bronze Star Medals. Rob continued his military service in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Military Intelligence Officer, retiring as a Colonel in 2003 with over 37 years of active and reserve service".

It seems very clear that Rob Simmons does not want to admit that he participated in a project that came under scrutiny during Congressional hearings conducted by the Church Committee in Washington D.C. about his CIA program, Phoenix. And the Phoenix Program was notorious for assassination and torture. Testimony given about what went on in the interrogation centers was horrifying.

Finally, Simmons' reticence about his CIA work is not about national security. He has said quite a bit about his CIA work. For instance, he gave a 15 minute plus introduction to former President George H. W. Bush, when Bush came to CT to campaign for him during his unsuccessful bid for reelection to Congress in 2006.

The long introduction Rob Simmons gave to George H. W. Bush, includes Simmons' screaming, and Bush saying "down"... to him to get him to calm down. Montage for show, without music.



And in May of 2002 he told an audience in Norwich, CT, (Three Rivers Community College) about his work for the CIA in Vietnam, making it clear that it likely helped him to review documents he said proved that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Simmons held some papers in his hand, apparently for effect, as he never shared them with the audience. He played a crucial role in helping George W. Bush sell his Iraq invasion plan back in September of 2002 when he claimed that Saddam Hussein's WMD were "a threat to the Continental United States and Israel". That of course turned out to have been a lie. So it rings kind of hollow when Rob Simmons points a finger at Richard Blumenthal's unfortunate comment about Vietnam.

It is not easy to understand why Blumenthal said at one point that he served in Vietnam, after saying in many other settings that he did not serve in Vietnam. Hopefully, we will get more clarity as the campaign continues. But let's keep some perspective here, keeping in mind that this is going to be a heated political season.

Rob Simmons should stop pointing fingers and come clean on his role for the CIA in Vietnam. Also the state and national press should ask him about what he did there, and clarify what he has and has not said about it.

As to Republican candidate for US Senate Linda McMahon, it was difficult for us to locate any video taped history of her comments about Vietnam or Iraq. We did find a video from her World Wrestling Federation days, footage of her faking a frightened look, then being slammed upside down against the impressive physique of a man in a shining red suit... He flipped her upside down so that her hair hung between his legs and then slammed her to the floor beneath him. Linda McMahon pretended to be unconscious, they pretended to phone an ambulance.

Her campaign was unable to provide us with a comment earlier in the day about the video tape they provided to the New York Times.

Seriously, it would be good to fully document what all of these candidates have said, and what they plan to do for the State of CT.

Talk Nation Radio, Interview with Douglas Valentine, Rob Simmons, interrogations while working for CIA in Vietnam under Phoenix


Another Version: Douglas Valentine on Rob Simmons, on Pacifica Weekly show, Sprouts: October 2006 (download full show or clips here)



Talk Nation Radio, The Church Committee:

Connecticut, 2006: Rob Simmons, George H. W. Bush, Two former CIA men reminisce about the past. Christopher H. Pyle, worked for Senator Church. (more here.



From 2006, CT News Junkie, Part 1 of 3: A Report on the CIA Interrogator turned Congressman
by Dori Smith and David Morse, Nov 3, 2006

For all the splash of national spotlight on the Connecticut Congressional campaign, surprisingly little has been written about Congressman Rob Simmons’ experience as a CIA interrogator. Simmons, an incumbent Republican, is fighting for his political life in one of those hotly contested seats that could tip the House majority from Republican to Democrat on November 7.

He denigrates his Democratic challenger Joe Courtney for having “no war experience.” Yet the shadowy circumstances of Simmons’ own war experience of running an interrogation center during the Vietnam war has gone unexamined by the mainstream press, even as a feckless Congress rolls back the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war.

During four campaigns Simmons, a lanky “aw shucks” kind of guy, has touted his experience as a “soldier and spy” to gain political traction in Connecticut’s sprawling blue-collar Second District, which includes Electric Boat, the Groton Submarine Base, and assorted military subcontractors that have sustained the region’s economy for two and three generations. He has struggled for union support while his opponent has become the choice of most union locals in the Second District.

Courtney has overtaken Simmons by as little as one percentage point in recent polls and the race is sure to be a nail bitter right down to the finish.

Simmons’ close ties with the President and Vice President have been a problem in the 2006 race, and when the President visited the state to fundraise the candidate stayed away from the event. Simmons’ web site also promoted a visit by Prescott Bush, Jr., however, the controversial uncle to the President kept a low profile. He has been something of a business czar to China, helping negotiate U.S.–China deals and run Chinese defense companies like Norinco, sanctioned by the U.S. in 2004 over the sale of missile parts to Iran.

Thanks to poor media scrutiny, Simmons has been able to hold onto support from conservatives and a core group of veterans that have been behind him since the 2000 election. For some of them, Simmons’ figurative waving of his dog tags has brought welcome relief from their own painful baggage about the Vietnam War. This in itself is not a bad thing. But Simmons’ Disneyfied rewriting of Vietnam War history omits the carpet bombing, the defoliation, the napalm. And, of course, it leaves out the torture that shocked members of U.S. Congress during hearings in the 1970s.

Simmons has been feeding the media a murky picture of his Vietnam story for years, but he has walked a fine line between truth and lies during interviews about torture, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and the recently approved Military Commissions Act of 2006.In 2004, USA Today’s Andrea Stone spent the day with him on the campaign trail. Her focus was the impact of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal on the GOP’s chances for reelection.

Political analysts had described Simmons as “one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress,” but he didn’t come across as vulnerable. He came across as a defender of anti-torture laws. Stone’s May 28, 2004 story began, “Everywhere Rep. Rob Simmons goes these days he lugs a 2-inch-thick binder. Inside are a summary of an investigation into the Iraq prisoner-abuse scandal and the Army’s field manual on interrogation.” She described Simmons as, “a former Army intelligence officer who observed prisoner interrogations in Vietnam,” leaving out the facts about Simmons work for the CIA. “That’s the way he characterized it,” she explained carefully during a phone conversation. “He observed or was in the room when interrogations were conducted, I wouldn’t have put that in otherwise.” Had Simmons been intentionally unclear? Probably, and there was an uncanny similarity between the opening lines of Stone’s piece and the opening lines of a more recent one by Hartford Courant Washington Bureau Chief, David Lightman.

His September 28, 2006 article began: “When U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons was a Central Intelligence Agency case officer during the Vietnam War, he kept a card in his wallet summarizing key provisions of the Geneva Conventions, the rules that dictate how wartime prisoners should be treated.” Lightman said he spent about a half an hour interviewing Rob Simmons about his “yes” vote for the House version of the Military Commissions Act, and he wrote that Simmons found conditions at Guantanamo “favorable to anything I saw in Vietnam.” It was the perfect opportunity to ask Simmons what he had seen in Vietnam, but the reporter didn’t take it.

It was one of many examples that the state and national press has ignored the relevance of Simmons’ work for the CIA, in general, and as an interrogator in particular. That aspect of Simmons’ role in Vietnam was well documented. Simmons was one of many CIA agents interviewed by Douglas Valentine for a book released in 1990, entitled, “The Phoenix Program.”

In taped interviews he told Valentine he had been the Commander at the Phu-Yen Province Interrogation Center, or PIC. He said, “I was the special police advisor overall. In a way I outranked the guy at the PIC and when the guy at the PIC left he wasn’t replaced and I assumed responsibility for that.” Simmons also admitted, “Occasionally I would do the interrogation myself.—For somebody that seemed to be reluctant to work with the South Vietnamese or with any Vietnamese because you know if an American comes in and he’s alone and he speaks a little bit of the language maybe they’ll warm up to him.“As he shared the contents of his tapes Valentine pointed out that Simmons was careful not to say things that would incriminate him, although he did “let his hair down” when discussing the Phoenix Program and various aspects of how the Phu Yen interrogation center had been set up.

He had gotten names from Phoenix, and the interrogation program was part of Phoenix. While others in Valentine’s book mentioned the torture that went on at the centers, Simmons put a more positive spin on things. But as it turns out there was a darker side to his story too.The tapes reveal a Simmons entirely different from the squeaky-clean public persona.

This Simmons used the “F”-word and at times seemed boastful, speaking of his peers as “boomers” - those who pulled the trigger - and “knuckle draggers,” or sadists. He referred easily to the “Special Branch” police he worked with and they were notorious for their use of “the old french methods,” according to another CIA source Valentine interviewed named John Patrick Muldoon.

He was the director of the CIA’s first interrogation center in Vietnam. Simmons was also interviewed by Mark Moyar, conservative author of, Birds of Prey, published in 1997. He told him his success rate during interrogations was raised by 50 percent when prisoners were wounded. That, he explained, was because he would withhold their medical care to get them to talk.

Moyar took a revisionist’s view that the U.S. actually won the war in Vietnam. Even so, Simmons’ disclosures to him remain important. On page 105 in his chapter on “Prisoners: Interrogation, Torture, and Execution,” Simmons told Moyar, “I knew some American doctors who helped me out from time to time. I’d bring in an American doctor with a big bag full of pills and devices and everything, and he’d put his gear on and listen to a heartbeat and go through a fairly elaborate routine, which seemed quite sophisticated to a peasant. Then the doctor would look at the wound and say, “Oh that looks very bad. It could get infected. You could lose that limb.”

Simmons would then send the doctor away. “I’d usually let the doctor go and then tell the prisoner, “We’d like to help, but it’s hard to get the medicine—I can’t do anything to help you without getting some sort of help in return.”“That delay ran contrary to the mandate of the Geneva Conventions, which were originally written to deal with problems that would arise when prisoners at war would be brought in from the war zone with wounds.

According to Wells Dixon, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, “The denial of medical care to someone in the custody of the United States certainly would be illegal and unconscionable and it would violate the Geneva Conventions. No question about it.”

Valentine explored the possible violation in his November 4, 2000, story in Counterpunch. He wrote, “The specific charge against Simmons is that he routinely violated the Geneva Conventions while interrogating civilian prisoners during his 20 months of service with the CIA in Vietnam.” He referred to a 1994 profile of Simmons published in Connecticut’s, New London Day, and “in that profile,” he explained, “Simmons said he would threaten to withhold medicine from injured prisoners, in order to obtain information, but that he would never actually make good on the threat. According to Simmons, such coercive tactics are perfectly legitimate and do not reach the threshold of a war crime.“During an interview on Connecticut’s WHUS Radio in October, Valentine pointed out the physical and psychological impact of withholding medical care from a wounded detainee during the Vietnam War. “Let’s assume that the person has a bullet wound,” he said. “That’s pretty painful. These people aren’t being brought in with paper cuts.—We’re usually talking about wounds that occurred while the person was being arrested, because people did not go to these interrogation centers voluntarily, counter-terror teams went out to snatch them from their homes at midnight. Or they were snatched up in Special Branch, FBI, or Police round ups.”

Simmons had become defensive in 1994 when students got wind of the story and argued that he shouldn’t run against incumbent Democrat Sam Gejdenson. According to separate reports in The New London Day, in 1994 and 2001, the students called Simmons a “war criminal,” a charge he claimed was politically motivated. Writing for The Day, January 14, 2001, Stan DeCoster said, “He considered it a smear, pure and simple. He was particularly offended, he said, because for nearly three decades he has tried to redirect any negative energy from the war years into a productive life.”

According to DeCoster, Simmons got angry and said, “It’s crap like this—that takes us right back to where we were. And that’s not good for me personally, and it’s not good for America.” Clearly, the charges had hit home with Simmons. But his anger should have raised serious questions. Why didn’t he simply respond to questions he must have known would be asked?

To make matters worse a connection was found between the Gejdenson campaign and one of the protesters raising the question of Simmons’ alleged “war crimes.” In the ensuing chaos Gejdenson disowned his supporter and apologized for the “war crimes” charge. At that point Connecticut reporters began to think of the charges as the “smear” Simmons said they were.By 2001, Connecticut’s media had been purchased by multinational corporations. The Hartford Courant, for example, is now run by the Tribune out of Chicago. Political candidates were stymied when trying to communicate complex ideas to voters. In that climate of low press scrutiny Rob Simmons caught the wave of post 9/11 neo-conservatism that empowered George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Unchecked by the national media in Washington, he has found it easy to lobby for even controversial legislation such as the Military Commissions Act, which relaxes restrictions on some of the same interrogation tactics Congress said were illegal when the CIA and Military used them in Vietnam. In 1984, U.S. Navy Seal and Vietnam veteran Elton Manzione told Valentine, “the story [of Phoenix] needs to be told. Because the whole aura of the Vietnam War was influenced by what went on in the ‘hunter-killer’ teams of Phoenix, Delta, etc. That was the point at which many of us realized we were no longer the good guys in the white hats defending freedom—that we were assassins, pure and simple. That disillusionment carried over to all other aspects of the war and was eventually responsible for it becoming America’s most unpopular war.“Now, the Iraq War rivals Vietnam for unpopularity and grim statistics on death, torture, and the heavy civilian cost.


Dori Smith is an independent radio producer and host of “Talk Nation Radio” airing weekly at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut. She can be reached at her web site at talknationradio@gmail.com.

David Morse is an independent journalist and political analyst and author of the historical novel, “The Iron Bridge”, [Harcourt Brace, 1998.] His articles have appeared in Progressive Populist, Salon, the New York Times Magazine, Dissent, the Nation, Friends Journal, and Esquire. His most recent article, “War of the Future, Oil Drives the Genocide in Darfur,” appeared in TomDispatch. He can be reached at his website at dmorse@david-morse.com

Farewell To Heroes, Pt. 2

Ronnie James Dio passed away this weekend. He was a man short in staure, but with the voice and heart of a giant. He fronted band such as Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his self-titled band Dio.

Dio's voice was amazing. He could sing like an angel one moment, then, on the turn of a dime, change his voice to an evil growl. A friend of mine in college (who was into New Wave,mostly) said Dio's voice scared him. "He sounds like the Devil."

Dio's lyrics were often filled with metaphors and symbols. His songs were about Good and Evil, faraway realms and the innermost feelings of one's heart, fantasy and grim reality, and about dreams, and making them come true. His work was a grand mix of Light and Darkness.

Dio was also the first to use the famous hand sign known as 'The Horns'. Some PMRC-types swear it was a salute to Satan, but Dio actually got it from his little old Italian grandmother. The 'Maloche' was used both to protect one from the Evil Eye and to inflict it on others. I wonder what Grandma Dio would think about a sea of metalheads using her signature move at a concert.

Dio, though accused of being evil (like most Metal practitioners during their careers), did good works, including the recording Stars, sort of a Metal response to We Are The World. As mentioned above, for every song Dio wrote about darkness and evil, he had one with a positive message...Wishing Well and Hungry For Heaven come to mind.

Dio's music was a big part of my childhood, and adulthood, actually. I can renember hearing Rainbow's Man on the Silver Mountain on the radio when I was a young beast, and I also recall being very pleased with his work in Black Sabbath when he replaced Ozzy Osborne (I'm one of the few who actually like the Dio years better than the Ozzy years of Sabbath , so let the hate mail begin). I have fond memories of playing pool in my basement, listening to Sabbath's Mob Rules, and, of course, Heaven and Hell, a masterpiece of Metal, in my not-too-humble opinion. I, of course, ran out to get his solo stuff when he left Sabbath...I'm still not tired, 20 years later, of Rainbow In The Dark ( though my favorite cut off that album is Straight Through The Heart). When I took voice lessons in college, I used a music book of Rainbow's Rising during class to sing songs from. I followed him through the years as he rejoined Sabbath, left for solo-land again, and rejoined Sabbath yet again. I felt bad when I heard he had stomach cancer, and was relieved when news got out that he was doing better...then, last Sunday when news got out that he died, it was like a shadow passing overhead. Like Frank Frazetta's passing, it felt like something that has always been around in my life has left...but, I guess, their work, their pictures and songs, will still be with me, and others whom they've touched. The world is diminished, but there's a new skald singing songs in valhalla, and there's a new artist to paint wondrous works on the walls of the mead halls in Asgard. Hail Frazetta; Hail Dio.

Farewell to Heroes Pt. 1

This has been a bad week for me concerning celebrity deaths. These things don't usually bother me much, but two that have passed on this week were heroes of mine since I was a kid.

The first was Frank Frazetta. Frazetta, for those who don't know, was the Heroic Fantasy artist, period. He'es probably best known for his covers for the Conan books of the 70s. His work also appeared on album covers , most famously Molly Hatchet's. The painting to the left, The Barbarian, is my favorite, and a print hangs in my living room. Besides setting the classic scene of victorious warrior with his 'spoils', take a moment to really look at this work. The mound of corpses and the woman are a bit hazy, but as the eye travels upward, the central figure is in sharp focus, commanding attention. also, the hazy sky behind reveals dark images, perhaps of his future, or his past. It is a work of art that fairly hums with power and vitality.

Another favorite of mine is The Death Dealer. Instead of the typical Grim Reaper, we have an armored avatar of Death. His axe is scythe-like, and the carrion birds in the sky behind him tell his role. Like The Barbarian, even though the main figure of the piece is still (for now), there is a feeling of power and dynamism to it, as if at a moment's notice he could spring to destructive action, hewing down all in his way.

As a kid, I was mesmerized by Frazetta's work. I'd stare for what seemed like hours at his works, wishing I was in those worlds. His dangerous warriors, his fearsome beasts, his curvy, sensual women, they all fairly burned with life and power, a feat many other fantasy painters with their stiff, posed paintings could never, ever match. Frazetta's work, much like that of author Robert E. Howard ( who's tales were illustrated by frazetta's paintings, more often than not), was something I came to appreciate more as I grew older. I could better appreciate his masterworks as I began to understand them better. Frazetta suffered a series of strokes in his 70s, and lost use of his right hand. What did he do? He taught himself to paint with his left hand. Left-handed, he could still out-paint , well, damn near anyone.

If anyone is interested, check out the documentary Painting With Fire. Shot a few years ago, it's a great picture of a great artist.

Frank, you'll be missed.

The Outer Limit of CIA Crime, LSD and Murder, H.P. Albarelli Jr on Talk Nation Radio

The Outer Limit of CIA Crime, LSD and Murder, H.P. Albarelli Jr on Talk Nation Radio

H.P. Albarelli, Jr., 'A Terrible Mistake, The Murder of Frank Olson, and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments', 2009, Trine Day.

TRT: 29:04
Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT


Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.

We continue our discussion with H.P. Albarelli Jr., author of the ground breaking book, ‘A Terrible Mistake, the Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments’. We are discussing top-secret operations involving mind control and the use of LSD and other chemicals. There was MKULTRA, Artichoke, Bluebird, and MKNAOMI: They were criminal, and they left a trail of victims in US mental hospitals, prisons, and military bases.

Frank Olson was a top-level researcher for the Army involved in chemical warfare projects and aerosol delivery systems. On November 28, 1953, the cold war scientist went flying out of a window and fell 170 feet to his death. He had been unwittingly dosed with LSD and for decades people thought he had been affected by the hallucinogen and committed suicide. H.P. “Hank” Albarelli proved that Olson was murdered. He identifies the killers and calls for accountability.

THE OUTER LIMITS: (clips: O.B.I.T., a team of paranoid military leaders has deployed OBIT throughout America, and ultimately, a security breach leads to murder. O.B.I.T. is a first computer) We take a look back at a 1963 episode of the TV show, The Outer Limits, and how producers of the show examined the moral questions involved in government and military mind control experiments with “O.B.I.T.” a device introduced to US officials by an alien. It lets them to watch people, read their minds, and even kill them. What would it do to the project, and to the researchers themselves? Much like the real life CIA and Army experiments we discuss with Hank Albarelli, in the TV version, people left spouses, became alcoholics, and committed suicide.

The experiments Hank Albarelli writes about seemed like science fiction to early CIA and Army researchers. Ultimately though, their efforts would form the foundation for later technical developments.

This program is part of our series on accountability for the US and Israel, policies involving assassination, war, and misuse of the public trust. We’ll be looking at the origins of CIA projects that most Americans know nothing about, projects that helped shape the way the US Government conducts security policy and war, and deals with the worlds biggest corporations on matters involving billions, trillions, in profits and untold fortunes in US tax dollars.

In his ground breaking book published in 2009 by Trine Day, H.P. or Hank Albarelli’s provides shocking new detail about a top level researcher who was part of a CIA and Army chemical warfare project involving among other things, LSD. How he was secretly dosed with LSD just prior to falling 170 to his death. For decades people thought he committed suicide, Hank Albarelli proves that he was murdered, identifies the killers, and calls for accountability.

On November 28th 1953, Frank Olson, a top level researcher involved in US chemical warfare projects including those with LSD, was secretly given the hallucinogen. While it was in his system he fell 170 feet to his death. For years people thought he committed suicide. H.p., Hank, Albarelli’s book documented the case as a murder. His book takes us through the history of America's premier intelligence agency, as cold warriors used their experiences garnered during WWII to conduct experiments rivaling what the Nazis did. Their argument was that this was for national security purposes. Yet, small children were secretly and repeatedly dosed with LSD. They were orphans, and they were sequestered at Harvard University for extensive research.

US soldiers, patients in mental hospitals, thousands of individuals had their lives ruined or even taken by these experiments. The US also conducted experiments in France using aerosol spray delivered LSD and poisons. It was part of a psychotic warfare effort where there were no holds barred, but it has continued.

We show the link between the lack of accountability for crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the fact that the CIA, Army and other branches, have continued to develop horrific poisons, toxins, hallucinogens, and other 'weapons' that are in use for both warfare and interrogation of prisoners detained in the so-called, "war on terror".

Pakistani Journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai on Faisal Shahzad and breaking news and events in Pakistan, North Waziristan, and the USA

Pakistani Journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai on Faisal Shahzad and breaking news and events in Pakistan, North Waziristan, and the USA

Talk Nation Radio for May 5, 2010

Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
Total Running Time: 28:52
Download at Pacifica's Audioport, Archive.org and at Radio4all.net


The Week's Sprouts, Pacifica
Produced by: Dori Smith of Talk Nation Radio
Reedited from this week's Talk Nation interview, contains news feature
Interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, in Peshawar, Pakistan
Left KU Channel
Thursday, May 6, 2010, 3PM EST
TRT: 29:00
Download here
http://audioport.org and either use search work "Sprouts" - or go to Weekly Shows and choose sound file: "Sprouts: Times Square Bomber Faisal Shahzad
download here

We speak with journalist RahimullahYusufzai, resident editor of The News in Peshawar. He joined us May 5th, as news reports were just coming in about the Pakistani family of would be Time Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad. Rahimullah Yusufzai talks about reaction from Faisal Shahzad's family in the Peshawar region.

Faisal Shahzad is charged with making the homemade explosive device found in the Nissan Pathfinder left running, and on fire, in Time Square. He has been charged with some five terrorism related counts.

Some residents of Peshawar expressed suspicion that a deeper intrigue may be going on. In Pakistan, Rahimullah Yusufzai offers us a portrait of a man from a liberal secular family. They are expressing confusion as they try to absorb the shock of what has happened.

Details about Faisal Shahzad have been unfolding here in Connecticut where the 30 year old naturalized citizen attended college, and worked for several companies including Affinion Group in Norwalk, a finance and marketing company that also does work on identity theft and data breach resolutions for clients. Network affiliate TV stations here have said authorities investigating the case dropped their original thought of a politicially motivating right wing attack, focusing instead now on the international travels of Faisal Shahzad who acknowledged to authorities that he had visited Waziristan.

There have also been some people arrested in Pakistan in connection with the attempted bombing including Sheikh Mohammed Rehan, who has been said to have ties with a group called, Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Faisal Shahzad's parents attended his graduation in 2001 from Southeastern University in Washington DC, after which he tranferred to the University of Bridgeport to study computer science and engineering.

Bio: Based in Peshawar, Rahimullah Yusufzai is the world’s leading authority on the politics of the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. As the world’s attention has increasingly shifted upon the region, amid all the hyperbole Yusufzai’s voice has once again emerged as an indispensable corrective to the ignorance and propaganda that confuses debate. His reputation for fairness and accuracy is such that voices on all sides of the political spectrum defer to his authority. Yusufzai is the the Executive Editor of the Pakistani daily The News‘s Peshawar bureau. For all serious journalists and scholars seeking informed opinion on developments in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theatre, Yusufzai’s Peshawar office is usually the first stop.

Texas Frightmare Weekend Pt. 2

Texas Frightmare Weekend was a great time. In addition to the celebrities inside, outside was a hearse and shock rod show. I got to talk to some of the hearse owners, and they were all cool guys. One gave me a frisbee and a bunch of pens with his tattoo shop logo on them (gotta love swag..and check out Ink Pushers Tattoo Emporium if you're ever in the area).

Pictured here is the vehicle for a haunted house attraction in Arlington, Zombie Manor.

The back of the Manor wagon.

Care to go for a ride?

The hotel restaraunt had a special menu made up for the event...I, of course, had to have the Frankenstein Burger.

Besides the celebs, hearses, and food, there were dealers selling t-shirts, books, DVDs, jewelry, clothes, CDs, and there was even a tattoo artist present. Among the treasures I took home : a mini-poster of Dawn of the Dead, signed by George Romero, a DVD of Tromeo and Juliet signed by Debbie Rochon, and a t-shirt from the Rue Morgue magazine booth (the best magazine about horror in culture, in my not-so-humble opionion). There were also showings of various films, but since I was only there for the day, I passed on the viewings this time around. Maybe next year!

TFW was fun, and money and time willing, I may just go for the whole weekend next year. I'll definately be back in some way or another. If you're into horror, check oit out next year...so says the Beast.