HOUSE BILL PROPOSES LIFTING BAN ON ASSASSINATIONS

BUSH ADMINISTRATION WASTING NO TIME IN MOVING TOWARD WAR FOOTING

Armitage The Executioner

FTW 1/24/01 - HR 19, Introduced by Republican Georgia Congressman Bob Barr
on January 3, 2001, the first day of the new 107th Congress, would
legislatively repeal sections of three Executive Orders specifically
prohibiting assassinations by the United States Government.

Entitled the "Terrorist Elimination Act of 2001", the bill, submitted to the
House International Relations Committee, would specifically nullify sections
of three previous Executive Orders including one initiated by Ronald Reagan
in 1981. It is interesting to note that acts of Congress are not required to
nullify previous Executive Orders (EOs) which are, by definition, orders
issued by the President and Commander in Chief to all federal employees
(including military) under his authority. All that is necessary to reverse
one EO is another EO. This is exactly what President George W. Bush did with
respect to EOs issued by President Clinton on the environment in the last
days of his administration.

Section 3 of HR 19 specifically states:

"The following provisions of Executive orders shall have no further force or
effect:

(1) Section 5(g) of Executive Order 11905.
(2) Section 2-305 of Executive Order 12306.
(3) Section 2.11 of Executive Order 12333." [By Ronald Reagan]

Section 5 (g) of Executive Order 11905, signed by Gerald Ford on 2/18/76
specifically prohibited "political" assassination. Section 2-305 of
Executive Order 12036, signed 1/24/78 by Jimmy Carter renewed the ban.
Section 2.11 of Executive Order 12333, signed by Ronald Reagan on 12/4/81
renewed the ban on assassinations, or conspiracy to commit assassinations,
as part of a broader package which gave virtually complete control of the
American National Security apparatus to then Vice President George H.W.
Bush.

The full text of HR 19 may be viewed at http://thomas.loc.gov . Enter a
search in the 107th Congress for 19 and it will take you straight to the
bill

The bold move, unreported and ignored by any major media, offers a chance
for an early referendum on the new administration's full-speed run at a more
violent and brutish foreign policy.

The current bill, introduced by staunch Bush supporter and Clinton
impeachment leader Barr, indicates that the Bush administration is seeking
to add legitimacy to the move by implying that Congress and the American
people support the action. This can only mean that there is quite likely a
list of people the Bush Administration wants to start killing fairly
quickly. The appointment of career covert operative and Annapolis graduate
Richard Armitage as Deputy Secretary of State under Colin Powell only
underscores the clear message that the Bush Administration is sending to the
world.

Armitage, who was denied a 1989 appointment as Assistant Secretary of State
because of links to Iran-Contra and other scandals, served as Assistant
Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan years.
U.S. Government stipulations in the Oliver North trial specifically named
Armitage as one of the DoD officials responsible for illegal transfers of
weapons to Iran and the Contras. But Armitage's dirty past goes much deeper.

A Vietnam veteran and graduate of Annapolis, Armitage's roots have been
thoroughly intertwined with the likes of CIA veteran Ted Shackley, Richard
Secord, Heine Aderholt, Elliot Abrams, Dewey Clarridge, Edwin Wilson and Tom
Clines. All of these men have been directly linked to CIA covert operations,
the drug trade, the abandonment of U.S. prisoners of War after Vietnam
and/or Iran-Contra. Armitage has also been routinely discussed in FTW as a
Bush-era covert functionary who has been linked to covert operations, drug
smuggling and the expansion of organized crime operations in Russia, Central
Asia and the Far East.

In 1986 a private dispute between POW activist Ross Perot and Armitage went
public as photos of Armitage with a topless Vietnamese nightclub owner
Nguyen O'Rourke brought allegations of gambling and prostitution very close
to Armitage's doorstep. The stories went public when TIME and "The Boston
Globe" wrote lengthy stories on the feud in 1986 and 1987. That scandal
arose as a result of 1984 investigations by President Reagan's Commission on
Organized Crime in which the photo and documentation of gambling charges and
prostitution led directly to Armitage's close association with O'Rourke.
Then LAPD Assistant Chief Jesse Brewer, a former Commanding Officer of this
writer, served on the Reagan Commission.

The 1992 best-seller "Kiss The Boys Goodbye" by former "60 MINUTES" producer
Monika Jensen-Stevenson details Armitage's role as Reagan point man on
Vietnam POW-MIA issues and describes why Armitage has earned the enmity of
many POW activists. However, in a 1995 interview with "The Washington Post",
Colin Powell referred to Armitage as his "white son." This, notwithstanding
the fact that the 6 foot, balding, power-lifter, now 56, can still bench
press 300 or more pounds and reportedly "enjoys killing."

William Tyree, Special Forces Veteran who has provided much reliable
information and documentation to FTW in the past said, "Armitage used to
'sit ambush' on the trails in Laos and Cambodia. He liked it. Now when
Powell, 'the dove,' sits down at a table with Armitage 'the killer' beside
him the message will be that Armitage can reach across the table and deal
with the other party on the spot." That message will not go unheard.

[For more on Armitage we recommend using the search engine at
www.copvcia.com  and also at The Progressive Review, www.prorev.com .]

There is reason to believe that a repeal of the assassination ban would lead
to an immediate series of deaths. Remember, the Iran-Contra team is coming
back to power with a vengeance.

The completion of a February 11, 1982 memorandum between Reagan Attorney
General William French Smith and CIA Director Bill Casey removed any
requirement for CIA to report drug trafficking by its agents, contractors
and proprietary employees. Immediately thereafter cocaine consumption into
the United States multiplied as imports rose from approximately 80 tons in
1982 to 600 tons by 1989.

[A copy of that memorandum, published by the CIA in 1998, is available in
FTW's Extracts and Commentary on Volume II of the CIA Inspector General's
Report" originally published on 10/8/98.]

There are no choices and this is no longer a convenient exercise of
protected liberty. This is now a true struggle against tyranny. Call your
Congressman. Call your local media. Call your neighbor. A loud enough uproar
can stop this criminal move in its tracks. Silence can only invite
bloodshed.

Special thanks to Mike Whybark and Jim Galasyn of Independent Media Centers
for bringing this travesty to my attention. Please visit their site at
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19541 .


Michael C. Ruppert
Publisher/Editor
"From The Wilderness"
http://www.copvcia.com

(c) Copyright 2001, From The Wilderness Publications and Michael C. Ruppert.
P.O. Box 60-350, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. This message may be copied and
reproduced in any "not-for-profit" mode so long as proper sourcing appears."


More on the new Bush Administration will appear in the January issue of
"From The Wilderness" for paid subscribers only.

Michael C. Ruppert