Tiptoeing past conspiracy disclosures

The UK Iraq war inquiry got off to a hot start as leaked documents implied conspiracy between Blair and Bush to bring about war hell or high water.

One special forces general was quoted as saying he had been preparing for an Iraq war since 2002, well ahead of the timetable given in official history.

One internet reporter, Dave Lindorff, noted that most of the U.S. media ignored these disclosures, though the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an AP story and the New York Times ran a story that, he said, cruised past the conspiracy angle.

True, it's the holiday season, and many journalists assume Americans are uninterested in "foreign" news. But there is also the fact that controlled reporters and editors are fearful of being labeled as "conspiracists" for exposing conspiracies.

And clearly, the control freaks fear too much awareness of high-level conspiracy because where there's one conspiracy, there may be another -- such as to cover up the facts about 9/11.

9/11 fair trial problems

It has been reported that at least one 9/11 defendant, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, plans to plead guilty, thus sparing the government of the need to prove his guilt. However, KSM was extensively tortured. The FBI's way out is to say that he confessed to being the 9/11 ringleader before the torture by the CIA. Mmmhmm.

There are times when a judge can refuse to accept a defendant's guilty plea and force the government to prove its case. One would think that the extensive use of torture is grounds for such a decision.

However, there's a bit of a hang-up. Anyone who goes to trial should be entitled to bring in evidence concerning torture, but the special prosecutor assigned to investigate the CIA's torture of captives appears to be far from ready to prosecute anyone or issue a report. Still, the political pressure to try these people is so strong that it is unlikely defense lawyers will have access to the special prosecutor's material prior to trial.

Well, we all know these are intended as show trials meant to obtain "closure" concerning 9/11. There is no effort to bring the real 9/11 masterminds to trial.