May 30, 2001
Students Touring D.C. Jail Forced to Strip
Brad Wright and Eileen O'Connor (CNN) report, "On May 17, 2001, 12 boys from Evans Middle School were taken on a tour of the D.C. jail. Some had been involved in an in-school suspension program and others volunteered. The boys allege they were told to strip so they could experience a strip search. When some refused, they allege D.C. jailers told them they could not leave until they complied, and then they stripped.
"One of the boys was held down by eight inmates while his shoes were stripped off," Wayne Cohen, an attorney for the victims' families, told a press conference announcing the lawsuit. "He was then told to take his boxers off. He had his hands covering his genitals. He was yelled at to remove his hands, to grab his ankles, to squat and to cough."
On May 18, 2001, the lawyers allege a group of girls from the same school was also forced to strip. They allege they were taken through the men's jail, while some inmates masturbated.
"One of the guards told one of the girls something to the effect of, 'He's doing that because he hasn't seen a girl in quite a while and he's very excited,'" Cohen said."
Families say students told to strip at D.C. jail
Brad Wright and Eileen O'Connor
CNN Washington Bureau
May 29, 2001
Posted: 6:50 PM EDT (2250 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lawyers for seven of more than two dozen middle school students recently toured the Washington city jail say they plan to sue the city, alleging the students were forced to strip and to witness prisoners engaging in masturbation and were intimidated and harassed.
Lawyers say they are suing on the grounds corrections and school officials violated the students' privacy and civil rights, committed assault and battery and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
The lawyers are asking for $1 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages per child.
The lawyers further allege students from a second school also were forced to strip while they toured the jail in April -- the first time allegations involving a second school have surfaced.
"We have to see the actual lawsuit and once we receive a copy we will handle it accordingly," said Daryl Madden, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections.
The office of Mayor Anthony Williams is referring all inquiries to the corporation counsel, which acts as the lawyer for the District of Columbia. Calls to that office were not immediately returned.
On May 17, 2001, 12 boys from Evans Middle School were taken on a tour of the D.C. jail. Some had been involved in an in-school suspension program and others volunteered. The boys allege they were told to strip so they could experience a strip search. When some refused, they allege D.C. jailers told them they could not leave until they complied, and then they stripped.
"One of the boys was held down by eight inmates while his shoes were stripped off," Wayne Cohen, an attorney for the victims' families, told a press conference announcing the lawsuit. "He was then told to take his boxers off. He had his hands covering his genitals. He was yelled at to remove his hands, to grab his ankles, to squat and to cough."
On May 18, 2001, the lawyers allege a group of girls from the same school was also forced to strip. They allege they were taken through the men's jail, while some inmates masturbated.
"One of the guards told one of the girls something to the effect of, 'He's doing that because he hasn't seen a girl in quite a while and he's very excited,'" Cohen said.
The mother of one of the girls involved told reporters none of the employees involved, from the school or the jail, should keep their jobs. Constance Redd said her daughter doesn't want to return to school.
"Children can be cruel sometimes and make fun of things that happened to her," Redd said. "I'd rather not get into what happened to her, but they're making a lot of fun of her and she doesn't want to go to school.
School board officials, the Department of Corrections and the FBI are all conducting investigations. The principal of the middle school where the children were from has been placed on leave, as have a teacher and an aide. Several employees at the jail are also on leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.
"I felt horrible, but right now my feelings are turning to anger because I believe the entire school system is being victimized because of this incident," D.C. school superintendent Paul Vance told a press conference last Thursday.
School board officials did not immediately return calls concerning the lawsuit.
The lawyers said they also are representing some students from a different school -- Ballou High School -- who went on a tour of the jail on April 12 and allege they were forced to strip. An employee answering the phone at Ballou refused to comment, referring calls to the principal, who was unavailable.
May 29, 2001
Who's Killing the Star Wars Scientists
Dr. Steven Mizrach writes, "With his death, Beckham's name was added to a growing list of British scientists who've died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances since 1982. Each was a skilled expert in computers, and each was working on a highly classified project for the American Star Wars program. None had any apparent motive for killing himself.
The British government contends that the deaths are all a matter of coincidence. The British press blames stress. Others allude to an ongoing fraud investigation involving the nation's leading defense contractor. Relatives left behind don't know what to think."
Did 22 SDI Researchers really ALL Commit Suicide
Fifty-year-old Alistair Beckham was a successful British aerospace-
projects engineer. His specialty was designing computer software
for sophisticated naval defense systems. Like hundreds of other
British scientists, he was working on a pilot program for America's
Strategic Defense Initiative--better known as Star Wars.
And like at least 21 of his colleagues, he died a bizarre, violent
death.
It was a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon in August 1988. After
driving his wife to work, Beckham walked through his garden
to a musty backyard toolshed and sat down on a box next to the
door. He wrapped bare wires around his chest, attached the to
an electrical outlet and put a handkerchief in his mouth. Then
he pulled the switch.
With his death, Beckham's name was added to a growing list of
British scientists who've died or disappeared under mysterious
circumstances since 1982. Each was a skilled expert in computers,
and each was working on a highly classified project for the
American Star Wars program. None had any apparent motive for
killing himself.
The British government contends that the deaths are all a
matter of coincidence. The British press blames stress. Others
allude to an ongoing fraud investigation involving the nation's
leading defense contractor. Relatives left behind don't know
what to think.
"There weren't any women involved. There weren't any men involved.
We had a very good relationship," says Mary Beckham,
Alistair's widow. "We don't know why he did it...if he did it.
And I don't believe that he did do it. He wouldn't go out to
the shed. There had to be something...."
The string of unexplained deaths can be traced back to March
1982, when Essex University computer scientist Dr. Keith Bowden
died in a car wreck on his ay home from a London social function.
Authorities claim Bowden was drunk. His wife and friends say
otherwise.
Bowden, 45, was a whiz with super-computers and computer-
controlled aircraft. He was cofounder of the Department of Computer
Sciences at Essex and had worked for one of the major Star Wars
contractors in England.
One night Bowden's immaculately maintained Rover careened
across a four-lane highway and plunged off a bridge, down an
embankment, into an abandoned rail yard. Bowden was found
dead at the scene.
During the inquest, police testified that Bowden's blood
alcohol level had exceeded the legal limit and that he had been
driving too fast. His death was ruled accidental.
Wife Hillary Bowden and her lawyer suspected a cover-up. Friends
he'd supposedly spent the evening with denied that Bowden had
been drinking. Then there was the condition of Bowden's car.
"My solicitor instructed an accident specialist to examine
the automobile," Mrs. Bowden explains. "Somebody had taken the
wheels off and put others on that were old and worn. At the inquest
this was not allowed to be brought up. Someone asked if the car
was in a sound condition, and the answer was yes."
Hillary, in a state of shock, never protested the published
verdict. Yet, she remains convinced that someone tampered with
her husband's car. "It certainly looked like foul play,"
Hillary maintains.
Four years later the British press finally added Bowden's
case to its growing dossier. First, there appeared to be two
interconnected deaths, then six, then 12--suddenly there were 22.
Take 37-year-old David Sands, a senior scientist at Easams
working on a highly sensitive computer-controlled satellite-
radar system. In March 1987 Sands made a U-turn on his way to work
and rammed his car into the brick wall of a vacant restaurant.
His trunk was loaded with full gasoline cans. The car exploded
on impact.
Given the incongruities of the accident and the lack of a suicide
motive, the coroner refused to rule out the possibility of foul
play. Meanwhile, information leaked to the press suggested
that Sands had been under a tremendous emotional strain.
Margaret Worth, Sand's mother-in-law, claims these stories
are totally inaccurate. "When David died, it was a great mystery
to us," she admits. "He was very successful. He was very confident.
He had just pulled off a great coup for his company, and he was
about to be greatly rewarded. He had a very bright future
ahead of him. He was perfectly happy the week before this
happened."
Like many of the bereaved, Worth is still at a loss for
answers. "One week we think he must have been got at. The next
week we think it couldn't be anything like that," she says.
This wave of suspicious fatalities in the ultrasecret world
of sophisticated weaponry has not gone unnoticed by the United
States government. Late last fall, the American embassy in London
publicly requested a full investigation by the British Ministry
of Defense (MoD).
Members of British Parliament, such a Labour MP Doug
Hoyle, copresident of the Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union,
had been making similar requests for more than two years.
The Thatcher government had refused to launch any sort of inquiry.
"How many more deaths before we get the government to give
the answers" Hoyle asks. "From a security point of view, surely
both ourselves and the Americans ought to be looking into it."
The Pentagon refuses comment on the deaths. However, according
to Reagan Administration sources, "We cannot ignore it anymore."
Actually, British and American intelligence agencies are on
the situation. When THE SUNDAY TIMES in London published the
details of 12 mysterious deaths last September, sources at the
American embassy admitted being aware of at least ten additional
victims whose names had already been sent to Washington. The
sources added that the embassy had been monitoring reports
of "the mysterious deaths" for two years.
English intelligence has suffered several damaging spy scandals
in the 20 century. The CIA may suspect the deaths are an indication
of security leaks, that Star Wars secrets are being sold to the
Russians. Perhaps these scientists had been blackmailed into
supplying classified data to Moscow and could no longer live with
themselves. One or more may have stumbled onto an espionage ring
and been silenced.
As NBC News London correspondent Henry Champ puts it,
"In the world of espionage, there is a saying: Twice is coincidence,
but three times is enemy action."
Where SDI is concerned, a tremendous amount is at stake.
In return for the Thatcher government's early support
of the Star Wars program, the Reagan Administration promised
a number of extremely lucrative SDI contracts to the British
defense industry--hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars the struggling
British economy can little afford to lose.
Britain traditionally has one of the finest defense industries
in the world. Their annual overseas weapons sales amount to almost
$250 billion. The publicity from a Star Wars spy scandal could
seriously cut into the profits.
It would appear that only initial promises made to Prime Minister
Thatcher hold the U.S. from cutting its losses and pulling out.
A high-ranking American source was quoted in the SUNDAY TIMES
saying, "If this had happened in Greece, Brazil, Spain,
or Argentina, we'd be all over them like a glove!"
The Thatcher government's PR problem is that the scandal centers
around Marconi Company Ltd., Britain's largest electronics-defense
contractor. Seven Marconi scientists are among the dead.
Marconi, which employs 50,000 workers worldwide, is a subsidiary
of Britain's General Electric Company (GEC). GEC managing
director Lord Wienstock recently launched his own internal
investigation.
Yet, the GEC and the Ministry of Defense still contend that
the 22 deaths are coincidental. A Ministry of Defense
spokesman claims to have found "no evidence of any sinister
links between them."
However, an article in the British publication THE INDEPENDENT
claims the incidence of suicide among Marconi scientists is
twice the national average of mentally healthy individuals. Either
Marconi is hiring abnormally unstable scientists or something
is very wrong.
Two deaths brought the issue to light in the fall of 1986.
Within weeks of each other, two London-based Marconi scientists
were found dead 100 miles away, in Bristol. Both were involved
in creating the software for a huge, computerized Star Wars simulator,
the hub of Marconi's SDI program. Both had been working on the
simulator just hours before their death. Like the others, neither
had any apparent reason to kill himself.
Vimal Dajibhai was a 24-year-old electronics graduate who
worked at Marconi Underwater Systems in Croxley Green. In August
1986 his crumpled body was found lying on the pavement 240 feet
below the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.
An inquest was unable to determine whether Dajibhai had been
pushed off the bridge or whether he had jumped. There had
been no witnesses. The verdict was left open. Yet, authorities
did their best to pin his death on suicide.
Police testified that Dajibhai had been suffering from depression,
something his family and friends flatly denied. Dajibhai had
absolutely no history of personal or emotional problems.
Police also claimed that the deceased had been drinking with
a friend, Heyat Shah, shortly before his death, and that
a bottle of wine and two used paper cups had been found in his
car. Yet, forensic tests were never done on the auto, and those
who knew Vimal, including Shah, say that he had never taken
a drink of alcohol in his life.
Investigating journalists found discrepancies in other evidence.
"A police report noted a puncture mark on Dijabhai's left buttock
after his fall from the bridge," explains Tony Collins, who
covered the story for Britain's COMPUTER NEWS magazine.
"Apparently, this was the reason his funeral was halted seconds
before the cremation was to take place.
"Members of the Family were told that the body was to be taken
away for a second postmortem, to be done by a top home-
office pathologist. That's not normal. Then, a few months later,
police held a press conference and announced that it hadn't
been a puncture mark after all, that it was a wound caused by a
bone fragment.
"I find it very difficult to reconcile the initial coroner's
report with what the police were saying a few months later," Collins
contends.
Officials didn't fare any better with the second Bristol fatality.
Police virtually tripped over themselves to come up with a
motive for the apparent--and unusually violent--suicide of Ashaad
Sharif.
Sharif was a 26-year-old computer analyst who worked at the
Marconi Defense Systems headquarters in Stanmore, Middlesex.
On October 28, 1986, he allegedly drove to a public park not
far from where Dajibhai had died. He tied one end of a nylon
cord around a tree and tied the other end around his neck. Then
he got back into his Audi 80 automatic, stepped on the gas and sped
off, decapitating himself.
Marconi initially claimed Sharif was only a junior employee,
and that he had nothing to do with Star Wars. Co-workers stated
otherwise. At the time of his death, Sharif was apparently about
to be promoted. Also, Ashaad reportedly worked for a time
in Vimal Dajibhai's section.
The inquest determined that Sharif's death was a suicide.
Investigating officers maintained that the man had killed
himself because he'd been jilted by an alleged lover. Ashaad
hadn't seen the woman in three years.
"Sharif was said to have been depressed over a broken romance,"
Tony Collins explains. "But the woman police unofficially say
was his lover contends that she was only his landlady when he was
working for British Aerospace in Bristol. She's married,
has three children, and she's deeply religious. The possibility
of the two having an affair seems highly unlikely--especially
since Sharif had a fiancee in Pakistan. His family told me that
he was genuinely in love with her."
Police suddenly switched stories. They began to say that Sharif
had been deeply in love with the woman he was engaged to, and that
he'd decapitated himself because another woman was pressuring
him to call off the marriage.
Authorities claimed to have found a taped message in Sharif's
car "tantamount" to a suicide note. On it, officers said,
he'd admitted to having had an affair, thus bringing shame on his
family. Family members who've heard the tape say that it
actually gave no indication of why Sharif might want to kill himself.
Sharif's family was told by the coroner that it was "not in
their best interest" to attend the inquest.
"It's been almost impossible to get to information about
deaths that should be in the public domain," Tony Collins laments.
"I've been given false names or incorrect spellings, or I've not
been told where inquests have taken place. It's made it very
difficult for me to try to track down the details of these cases."
In the Sharif case, two facts stand out: Ashaad had no history
of depression, and there was absolutely no reason for him to be
in Bristol.
A widely help theory among the establishment press is that
the mysterious deaths are stress-related accidents or suicides.
Such theories may not be far off the mark.
According to a high-ranking British government official,
for the past year and a half the Ministry of Defense has been
secretly investigating Marconi on allegations of defense-
contract fraud--overcharging the government, bribing officials.
The extensive probe has required most of the MoD's investiga-
tive resources, conceivably reaching as far as Marconi's sub-
contractors and into MoD research facilities such as the Royal
Military College of Science and the Royal Air Force Research Center.
Almost all of the dead scientists were associated with one
or more of these establishments.
If Marconi employees were being forced by management to perform
or to cover up illegal activities, it may be that the stress
did indeed get to them.
"In America, there are considerable incentives for people
to blow the whistle if they're being asked to perform illegal
acts like ripping off the government," a confidential source
in Parliament explains. "However, in this country there have
been perhaps 20 people who've blown the whistle, and none
of them have ever worked again. They didn't receive any compensation.
Here, you don't get any recognition. You get threatened with
prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. They can fire you.
Then they can take away your home and get you blacklisted.
"It's an impossible position to be placed in," the source
adds. "It's quite conceivable that these people could
have killed themselves because they felt terribly ashamed
of what they'd done. For that matter, some of the accidents
or suicides could have been men who'd taken bribes but who couldn't
face the embarrassment of public disclosure."
If Marconi was systematically defrauding the government
for millions of pounds each year, perhaps an employee stumbled
upon incriminating evidence and had to be done away with. It would
be easy enough to make it look like an accident.
Consider the peculiar death of Peter Peapell, found dead
beneath his car in the garage of his Oxfordshire home. Peapell,
46, worked for the Royal Military College of Science, a world
authority on communications technology, electronics surveillance
and target detection. Peapell was an expert at using computers
to process signals emitted by metals. His work reportedly included
testing titanium for its resistance to explosives.
On the night of February 22, 1987, Peapell spent an enjoyable
evening out with his wife, Maureen, and their friends. When they
returned home, Maureen went straight to bed, leaving Peter to put
the car away.
When Maureen woke up the next morning, she discovered that Peter
had not come to bed. She went looking for him. When she reached
the garage, she noticed that the door was closed. Yet she could
hear the car's engine running.
She found her husband lying on his back beneath the car,
his mouth directly below the tail pipe. She pulled him into the
open air, but he was already dead.
Initially, Maureen thought her husband's death an accident.
She presumed he'd gotten under the car to investigate a knocking
he'd heard driving home the night before, and that he'd gotten
stuck. But the light fixture in the garage was broken,
and Peter hadn't been carrying a flashlight.
Police had their own suspicions. A constable the same
height and wieght as Peter Peapell found it impossible to crawl
under the car when the garage door was closed. He also found
it impossible to close the door once he was under the car.
Carbon deposits from the inside of the garage door showed that
the engine had been running only a short time. Yet, Mrs. Peapell
had found the body almost seven hours after she'd gone to bed.
The coroner's inquest could not determine whether the death
was a homicide, a suicide or an accident. According to Maureen
Peapell, Peter had no reason to kill himself. They had no marital
or financial problems. Peter loved his job. He'd just received
a sizable raise, and according to colleagues, he'd exhibited
"absolutely no signs of stress."
We may never know what is killing these scientists. Everyone
has a theory.
The National Forum Foundation, a conservative Washington
D.C., think tank, believes the deaths are the work of European-
based, left-wing terrorists, such as those who took credit for
gunning down a West German bureaucrat who'd negotiated Star Wars
contracts. The group also claims the July 1986 bombing death
of a researcher director from the Siemens Company--a high-tech,
West German electronics firm. They have yet to take credit
for any of the scientists.
A more outrageous theory suggests that the Russians have developed
an electromagnetic "death ray," with which they're driving the
British scientists to suicide. A supermarket tabloid contends
the ultrathin waves emitted by the device interfere with a person's
brain waves, causing violent mood shifts, including suicidal depres-
sion.
The genius of such a weapon is that the victim does all
the dirty work and takes all the blame. Yet, if the Soviets
have actually developed such a weapon, why waste it on 22
British defense workers
Are the scientists victims of a corrupt defense industry
Have they been espionage pawns Are the deaths nothing more
than an extraordinary coincidence Guess.
DOSSIER OF DEATH
-
AUTO ACCIDENT--Professor Keith Bowden, 45, computer
scientist,
Essex University. In March 1982 Bowden's car plunged off a bridge,
into am abandoned rail yard. His death was listed as an accident. -
MISSING PERSON--Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Godley,
49, defense
expert, head of work-study unit at the Royal Military College
of Science. Godley disappeared in April 1983. His father
bequeathes him more than $60,000, with the proviso that he claim
it be 1987. He never showed up and is presumed dead.
-
SHOTGUN BLAST--Roger Hill, 49, radar designer and
draftsman,
Marconi. In March 1985 Hill allegedly killed himself with a shotgun
at the family home. -
DEATH LEAP--Jonathan Walsh, 29,
digital-communications expert
assigned to British Telecom's secret Martlesham Health
research facility (and to GEC, Marconi's parent firm). In November
1985 Walsh allegedly fell from his hotel room while working
on a British Telecom project in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Africa).
He had expressed a fear for his life. Verdict: Still in question. -
DEATH LEAP--Vimal Dajibhai, 24, computer-software
engineer (worked
on guidance system for Tigerfish torpedo), Marconi Underwater
Systems. In August 1986 Dajibhai's crumpled remains were found
240 feet below the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. The death
has not been listed as a suicide. -
DECAPITATION--Ashaad Sharif, 26, computer analyst,
Marconi Defense
Systems. In October 1986, in Bristol, Sharif allegedly tied
one end of a rope around a tree and the other end around his neck,
then drove off in his car at high speed. Verdict: Suicide. -
SUFFOCATION--Richard Pugh, computer consultant for
the Ministry
of Defense. In January 1987 Pugh was found dead, wrapped head-to-
toe in rope that was tied four times around his neck. The coroner
listed his death as an accident due to a sexual experiment
gone awry. -
ASPHYXIATION--John Brittan, Ministry of Defense
tank batteries
expert, Royal Military College of Science. In January 1987
Brittan was found dead in a parked car in his garage. The engine
was still running. Verdict: Accidental death. -
DRUG OVERDOSE--Victor Moore, 46, design engineer,
Marconi Space
Systems. In February 1987 Moore was found dead of a drug overdose.
His death is listed as a suicide. -
ASPHYXIATION--Peter Peapell, 46, scientist, Royal
Military College
of Science. In February 1987 Peapell was found dead beneath
his car, his face near the tail pipe, in the garage of his Oxfordshire
home. Death was due to carbon-monoxide poisoning, although
test showed that the engine had been running only a short time.
Foul play has not been ruled out. -
ASPHYXIATION--Edwin Skeels, 43, engineer, Marconi.
In February
1987 Skeels was found dead in his car, a victim of carbon-monoxide
poisoning. A hose led from the exhaust pipe. His death is listed
as a suicide.
-
AUTO ACCIDENT--David Sands, satellite projects
manager, Eassams
(a Marconi sister company). Although up for a promotion, in March
1987 Sands drove a car filled with gasoline cans into the brick
wall of an abandoned cafe. He was killed instantly. Foul play
has not been ruled out. -
AUTO ACCIDENT--Stuart Gooding, 23, postgraduate
research
student, Royal Military College of Science. In April 1987
Gooding died in a mysterious car wreck in Cyprus while the College
was holding military exercises on the island. Verdict:
Accidental death. -
AUTO ACCIDENT--George Kountis, experienced systems
analyst
at British Polytechnic. In April 1987 Kountis drowned after his
BMW plunged into the Mersey River in Liverpool. His death is listed
as a misadventure. -
SUFFOCATION--Mark Wisner, 24, software engineer at
Ministry
of Defense experimental station for combat aircraft. In April
1987 Wisner was found dead in his home with a plastic bag over
his head. At the inqust, his death was rules an accident due
to a sexual experiment gone awry.
-
AUTO ACCIDENT--Michael Baker, 22,
digital-communications
expert, Plessey Defense Systems. In May 1987 Baker's BMW
crashed through a road barrier, killing the driver. Verdict:
Misadventure. -
HEART ATTACK--Frank Jennings, 60,
electronic-weapons engineer
for Plessey. In June 1987 Jennings allegedly dropped dead of a
heart attack. No inquest was held. -
DEATH LEAP--Russel Smith, 23, lab technician at the
Atomic Energy
Research Establishment. In January 1988 Smith's mangled body
was found halfway down a cliff in Cornwall. Verdict: Suicide. -
ASPHYXIATION--Trevor Knight, 52, computer engineer,
Marconi Space
and Defense Systems. In March 1988 Knight was found dead in
his car, asphyxiated by fume from a hose attached to the tail
pipe. The death was ruled a suicide. -
ELECTROCUTION--John Ferry, 60, assistant marketing
director for
Marconi. In August 1988 Ferry was found dead in a company-owned
apartment, the stripped leads of an electrical cord in his
mouth. Foul play has not been ruled out. -
ELECTROCUTION--Alistair Beckham, 50, software
engineer, Plessey.
In August 1988 Beckham's lifeless body was found in the garden
shed behind his house. Bare wires, which ran to a live main,
were wrapped around his chest. Now suicide note was found,
and police habe not ruled out foul play. -
ASPHYXIATION--Andrew Hall, 33, engineering manager,
British Aero-
space. In September 1988 Hall was found dead in his car, asphyxiated
by fumes from a hose that was attached to the tail pipe. Friends
said he was well liked, had everything to live for. Verdict:
Suicide.
May 28, 2001
IMF's Four Steps to Damnation
Gregory Palast (UK Observer) writes, "The IMF riots (and by riots I mean peaceful demonstrations dispersed by bullets, tanks and tear gas) cause new flights of capital and government bankruptcies. This economic arson has its bright side - for foreigners, who can then pick off remaining assets at fire sale prices. A pattern emerges. There are lots of losers but the clear winners seem to be the western banks and US Treasury. "
How crises, failures, and suffering finally drove a Presidential adviser to the wrong side of the barricades
Gregory Palast
Observer
Sunday April 29, 2001
It was like a scene out of Le Carré: the brilliant agent comes in from the cold and, in hours of debriefing, empties his memory of horrors committed in the name of an ideology gone rotten.
But this was a far bigger catch than some used-up Cold War spy. The former apparatchik was Joseph Stiglitz, ex-chief economist of the World Bank. The new world economic order was his theory come to life.
He was in Washington for the big confab of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. But instead of chairing meetings of ministers and central bankers, he was outside the police cordons. The World Bank fired Stiglitz two years ago. He was not allowed a quiet retirement: he was excommunicated purely for expressing mild dissent from globalisation World Bank-style.
Here in Washington we conducted exclusive interviews with Stiglitz, for The Observer and Newsnight, about the inside workings of the IMF, the World Bank, and the bank's 51% owner, the US Treasury.
And here, from sources unnamable (not Stiglitz), we obtained a cache of documents marked, 'confidential' and 'restricted'.
Stiglitz helped translate one, a 'country assistance strategy'. There's an assistance strategy for every poorer nation, designed, says the World Bank, after careful in-country investigation.
But according to insider Stiglitz, the Bank's 'investigation' involves little more than close inspection of five-star hotels. It concludes with a meeting with a begging finance minister, who is handed a 'restructuring agreement' pre-drafted for 'voluntary' signature.
Each nation's economy is analysed, says Stiglitz, then the Bank hands every minister the same four-step programme.
Step One is privatisation. Stiglitz said that rather than objecting to the sell-offs of state industries, some politicians - using the World Bank's demands to silence local critics - happily flogged their electricity and water companies. 'You could see their eyes widen' at the possibility of commissions for shaving a few billion off the sale price.
And the US government knew it, charges Stiglitz, at least in the case of the biggest privatisation of all, the 1995 Russian sell-off. 'The US Treasury view was: "This was great, as we wanted Yeltsin re-elected. We DON'T CARE if it's a corrupt election." '
Stiglitz cannot simply be dismissed as a conspiracy nutter. The man was inside the game - a member of Bill Clinton's cabinet, chairman of the President's council of economic advisers.
Most sick-making for Stiglitz is that the US-backed oligarchs stripped Russia's industrial assets, with the effect that national output was cut nearly in half.
After privatisation, Step Two is capital market liberalisation. In theory this allows investment capital to flow in and out. Unfortunately, as in Indonesia and Brazil, the money often simply flows out.
Stiglitz calls this the 'hot money' cycle. Cash comes in for speculation in real estate and currency, then flees at the first whiff of trouble. A nation's reserves can drain in days.
And when that happens, to seduce speculators into returning a nation's own capital funds, the IMF demands these nations raise interest rates to 30%, 50% and 80%.
'The result was predictable,' said Stiglitz. Higher interest rates demolish property values, savage industrial production and drain national treasuries.
At this point, according to Stiglitz, the IMF drags the gasping nation to Step Three: market-based pricing - a fancy term for raising prices on food, water and cooking gas. This leads, predictably, to Step-Three-and-a-Half: what Stiglitz calls 'the IMF riot'.
The IMF riot is painfully predictable. When a nation is, 'down and out, [the IMF] squeezes the last drop of blood out of them. They turn up the heat until, finally, the whole cauldron blows up,' - as when the IMF eliminated food and fuel subsidies for the poor in Indonesia in 1998. Indonesia exploded into riots.
There are other examples - the Bolivian riots over water prices last year and, this February, the riots in Ecuador over the rise in cooking gas prices imposed by the World Bank. You'd almost believe the riot was expected.
And it is. What Stiglitz did not know is that Newsnight obtained several documents from inside the World Bank. In one, last year's Interim Country Assistance Strategy for Ecuador, the Bank several times suggests - with cold accuracy - that the plans could be expected to spark 'social unrest'.
That's not surprising. The secret report notes that the plan to make the US dollar Ecuador's currency has pushed 51% of the population below the poverty line.
The IMF riots (and by riots I mean peaceful demonstrations dispersed by bullets, tanks and tear gas) cause new flights of capital and government bankruptcies This economic arson has its bright side - for foreigners, who can then pick off remaining assets at fire sale prices.
A pattern emerges. There are lots of losers but the clear winners seem to be the western banks and US Treasury.
Now we arrive at Step Four: free trade. This is free trade by the rules of the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank, which Stiglitz likens to the Opium Wars. 'That too was about "opening markets",' he said. As in the nineteenth century, Europeans and Americans today are kicking down barriers to sales in Asia, Latin American and Africa while barricading our own markets against the Third World 's agriculture.
In the Opium Wars, the West used military blockades. Today, the World Bank can order a financial blockade, which is just as effective and sometimes just as deadly.
Stiglitz has two concerns about the IMF/World Bank plans. First, he says, because the plans are devised in secrecy and driven by an absolutist ideology, never open for discourse or dissent, they 'undermine democracy'. Second, they don't work. Under the guiding hand of IMF structural 'assistance' Africa's income dropped by 23%.
Did any nation avoid this fate Yes, said Stiglitz, Botswana. Their trick 'They told the IMF to go packing.'
Stiglitz proposes radical land reform: an attack on the 50% crop rents charged by the propertied oligarchies worldwide.
Why didn't the World Bank and IMF follow his advice
'If you challenge [land ownership], that would be a change in the power of the elites. That's not high on their agenda.'
Ultimately, what drove him to put his job on the line was the failure of the banks and US Treasury to change course when confronted with the crises, failures, and suffering perpetrated by their four-step monetarist mambo.
'It's a little like the Middle Ages,' says the economist, 'When the patient died they would say well, we stopped the bloodletting too soon, he still had a little blood in him.'
Maybe it's time to remove the bloodsuckers.
May 26, 2001
Laughlin Air Force Base Radar Crushed By Thunderstorm Winds
Weather Matrix reports:
The NEXRAD radar KDFX, located at Laughlin AFB in Texas was literally crushed by a thunderstorm microburst on May 26, 2001. The radar estimated winds at 64 knots (74 mph -- hurricane force) at its last scan before it stopped reporting. Needless to say, this radar will be out of service for some time :) Click for a larger image; temporarily stored online at www.airweaassn.org. As of early June, the radar was expected to be restored "between July and September" according to the NWS.
Below is the Local Storm Report issued by the National Weather Service. Also available are links to actual radar images from the KDFX Radar that night:
NWS 04:40Z | 06:00Z | 06:12Z (Final) | Accu Loop 5:43Z-6:12Z | VELOCITY LOOP
NWUS54 KEWX 260901
LSRSAT
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO, TX
400 AM CDT SAT MAY 26 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0112 AM BRACKETVILLE TX WIND DAMAGE
05/26/01 KINNEY WINDS IN EXCESS OF
64 KNOTS CAUSED
MAJOR DAMAGE TO RADAR.
ESTIMATES FROM LAST RADAR
May 23, 2001
The Least Successful Executions
Stephen Pile writes in The Book of Heroic Failures, "History has furnished us with two executioners worthy of attention. The first performed in Sydney in Australia. In 1803 three attempts were made to hang a Mr. Joseph Samuels. On the first two of these the rope snapped, while on the third Mr. Samuels just hung there peacefully until he and everyone else got bored. Since he had proved unsusceptible to capital punishment, he was reprieved.
The most important British executioner was Mr. James Berry who tried three times in 1885 to hang Mr. John Lee at Exeter Jail, but on each occasion failed to get the trap door open.
In recognition of this achievement, the Home Secretary commuted Lee's sentence to "life" imprisonment. He was released in 1917, emigrated to America and lived until 1933."
May 16, 2001
Student Kills Self After Holding Class Hostage
Jennifer Emily and Herb Booth (The Dallas [Texas] Morning News) report, "A student at Ennis High School shot and killed himself today after holding an advanced sophomore English class hostage for a short time, police and school district officials said."
Ennis student kills self after holding class hostage
By Jennifer Emily and Herb Booth
The Dallas Morning News
05/15/2001
ENNIS [Texas] – A student at Ennis High School shot and killed himself today after holding an advanced sophomore English class hostage for a short time, police and school district officials said.
Police said they received a call at 12:08 p.m. that a student was holding a class hostage.
Whitney Hardy, a sophomore who was in the class, said the student, who was not immediately identified, pulled out a gun in Andrea Webb's class.
"We were in the class and he pulled out his gun and he told us to get against the wall," she said. "He said he didn't want to hurt us. Ms. Webb asked what was going on. He said a lot of things were going on"
Whitney said Ms. Webb persuaded him to let everyone in the class leave except for one female student and the teacher.
"I was praying, I didn't know what was happening," Whitney said.
Police said that the student left behind did not see the suicide. The boy fired two shots, one at a camera or a television, and the fatal shot.
Students said the victim was a member of the football team and a good student.
Several students said as the hostage situation was unfolding, school officials came over intercom and said there was a "Code red," the term for an emergency.
Estrella Gonzalez, 16, who was in another class, said, "We turned off the lights, locked the doors and lay on the floor. We thought it was a practice, but when we took longer, we knew it was for real."
Parents who heard about the incident pulled up along the highway near the school, climbing on roofs of houses under construction to try to get a glimpse of what was happening.
Students were sent to a cafeteria and an athletic field after the shooting, and no other injuries were reported at the school, which has nearly 1,300 students.
May 13, 2001
13-Year-Old Suspended For Hacking Commits Suicide
Karen Ayres (New Jersey Times) reports, "Principal Steven Mayer met with Jayanta Majumder around noon on [May 4th] to inform him that his son [Shinjan Majumder] was being suspended for 10 days for hacking into the school district's computer system, Jayanta said. [..] After the meeting, Jayanta took his son home before returning to his job as an engineer in the nearby Carnegie Center. Jayanta spoke with his son on the telephone about a half-hour later, but several other calls went unanswered. Jayanta quickly drove home to find his son had hung himself."
Parents blame suspension
By KAREN AYRES
Staff Writer
05/13/01
WEST WINDSOR [NJ] -- Shinjan Majumder honed his computer programming skills at an age when most children have not learned to type.
He earned a black belt in tae kwon do with less than four years of training.
As a swimmer, he excelled in the breast stroke.
In the school orchestra, he played the violin.
Shinjan's parents hoped those accomplishments were only the beginning for the young man who aspired to take his martial arts skills to the Olympics and study computers in college like his older brother, Rangan.
But on May 4 those dreams faded when Shinjan took his own life at the young age of 13.
"My life is meaningless now," said Jayanta Majumder, Shinjan's father. "I worked so hard to bring up good children in a good school district."
Shinjan's suicide has left his family, friends and staff at the regional school district wondering how someone so young could make such a drastic decision.
His parents believe his death was caused by his suspension from Grover Middle School. He hung himself in the family home only hours later.
According to his parents, Shinjan -- a youngster known for his infectious smile and outgoing personality -- was not depressed and only the night before had discussed plans to improve his swimming times.
"I really don't have any idea what was going on in his mind," said Rita Majumder, Shinjan's mother. "But they surely are to blame."
But district Superintendent John Fitzsimons said school officials followed disciplinary policies in this case, and although teachers and administrators are grieving the loss, they aren't responsible.
"When one seeks answers when none exist, it's understandable to extend blame," Fitzsimons said. "But in my judgment, due process was exercised and the actions of the administration were justified."
Principal Steven Mayer met with Jayanta Majumder around noon on the day of Shinjan's death to inform him that his son was being suspended for 10 days for hacking into the school district's computer system, Jayanta said.
Fitzsimons confirmed Shinjan was suspended, but he would not specify why or for how long. He also would not discuss exactly what Shinjan did to the computer system or what files he accessed. Shinjan's parents don't know to this day the extent of their son's infractions.
"I am not going to discuss the specifics of the disciplinary actions," Fitzsimons said. "But this young man did violate school rules and regulations and he understood the severity of the rules he broke. When he returned to school, there was going to be support given to him as far as where he could channel his energies in a more positive direction. It was handled extremely well and was quite sensitive."
Shinjan apparently knew several programming languages from reading books on the subject in hopes of following in the footsteps of 20-year-old Rangan.
Jayanta alleges Mayer told Shinjan during their meeting that he could go to jail for his offenses, but Fitzsimons said that never happened.
"He said if (Shinjan) was an adult, hacking into the computer system could be a crime," said Fitzsimons, who spoke on behalf of Mayer. "The boy left, and in any sense of the word, he was not visibly upset. He left the school with his father."
After the meeting, Jayanta took his son home before returning to his job as an engineer in the nearby Carnegie Center.
Jayanta spoke with his son on the telephone about a half-hour later, but several other calls went unanswered. Jayanta quickly drove home to find his son had hung himself.
"If I had any idea, this would never have happened," Jayanta said.
Police rushed Shinjan to The Medical Center at Princeton but were unable to revive him. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death was asphyxiation by self-hanging, and police officials say they have closed their investigation.
According to Rita, Shinjan left a note saying he would rather die than go to jail. In his note, he also expressed his love for his parents.
A week after Shinjan's death, his parents can only sit and stare at the fireplace in their home, which is filled with flowers and cards, many of them sent by people the Majumder family doesn't even know.
Rita eagerly displays a pile of medals, ribbons and trophies showcasing their son's many talents.
Pictures of the youngster, a bit small for his age, fill the house, which is still laden with toys, compact discs and school supplies, as if Shinjan has only left for a short time. His room remains untouched.
Jayanta and Rita both believe their son would still be alive if he had not been suspended, but they also know he did something wrong. They believe Shinjan had committed other minor offenses involving computers, but that they were never told.
"He did something really bad, but why didn't they let us know beforehand" Rita said.
Fitzsimons declined to say whether Shinjan had committed previous offenses.
The Majumders believe suspension was an excessive punishment for a nonviolent crime.
"Suspension is shucking off the responsibility," Jayanta said. "It's not like he had a gun or was doing drugs. My purpose is not to take vengeance on the district, but they must sit down and find a way to do something constructive."
Fitzsimons said Shinjan wasn't the first student suspended for breaking into the school district's computer system. The district's disciplinary policy considers the severity of the infraction and is not one of the district's "zero-tolerance" policies, he said.
The school district formed a crisis team immediately after Shinjan's death. Counselors met with students and teachers during most of last week.
"We don't know why (he committed suicide) and we feel terrible about it," Fitzsimons said. "I can't imagine for the life of me what these parents are going through. We'll do what we can to support the family throughout this period of time of grieving."
In 1998, some 30,575 Americans committed suicide, according to the most recent statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 1980 to 1997, the rate of suicide among children ages 10-14 increased by 109 percent.
The Majumders, who immigrated from India 25 years ago, acknowledge that one of the few complaints they had about their son was that he spent too much time on the computer.
But they will never understand why a high-achieving youngster like Shinjan reacted to the suspension by taking his own life.
They'll always wish they had the time to discuss the suspension with their son.
And they realize blaming anything or anyone for their son's death will not bring him back.
But they grieve.
The Hindu religion dictates they will grieve for 13 days, and Rita puts together an offering of water, candles and incense every night.
A piece of chocolate -- Shinjan's favorite food -- is placed next to the offering.
May 10, 2001
The Deaf Collector
The mafia was looking for a new man to make weekly collections from all the private businesses that they were 'protecting'. Feeling the heat from the police force, they decided to use a deaf person for this job--if he were to get caught, he wouldn't be able to communicate to the police what he was doing.
Well, on his first week, the deaf collector picks up over $50,000. He gets greedy, decides to keep the money and stashes it in a safe place. The mafia soon realizes that their collection is late, and sends some of their hoods after the deaf collector. The hoods find the deaf collector and ask him where the money is. The deaf collector can't communicate with them, so the mafia drags the guy to an interpreter. The mafia hood says to the interpreter, "Ask him where da money is." The interpreter signs, "Where's the money" The deaf replies, "I don't know what you're talking about." The interpreter tells the hood, "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about." The hood pulls out a .38 pistol and places it in the ear of the deaf collector. "NOW ask him where da money is." The interpreter signs, "Where is the money" The deaf man signs, "The $50,000 is in Central Park, hidden in the third tree stump on the left from the West 78th Street gate ."
The interpreter says to the hood, "He says he still doesn't know what you're talking about and doesn't think you have the guts to pull the trigger."