Jesse Ventura on Homeland Security Former Independent MN Governor; possible Presidential Challenger

I'd rather face terrorists than lose any of my freedoms

Let's look at how the government has been intent on keeping us safe. First, did you know that the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) already had detention centers in place since it was established in March 2003 Second, the Army went on to establish a Civilian Inmate Labor Program back in 2005. "This regulation provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations."

Assassinating foreign leadership is despicable

The thought of taking out another country's leadership is so despicable, it makes me ashamed that I'm an American. During the Cold War, the CIA plotted against 8 foreign leaders, and 5 of them died violent deaths. The CIA was involved for years in planning to murder Fidel Castro.

One paragraph in particular gives me pause, when I think back to what happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963. "Public figures or guarded officials may be killed with great reliability and some safety if a firing point can be established prior to an official occasion," the manual instructed.

Bill of Rights still applies if you label them "terrorists"

Where does it say that, if you call something "terrorism," the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be made null and void? All they've got to do is say the word and they can put you under surveillance without a warrant. To me, this smacks of an attack on the foundations of democracy that plays right into the HANDS of terrorists. It also sets a precedent for the kinds of tactics we went to see at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere.

End the phony war on terror to end al Qaeda

Their findings apparently weren't too heartening to our policy-makers, if they bothered to read the study. The whole war on terror notion needs to be rethought, according to Rand, because in simple terms "countering al Qa'ida has focused far too much on the use of military forces."

If the government follows Rand on other matters, why not give them due consideration on this? Supposedly this is their job and they're the experts.

It's time to end these "phony wars on terror" and get down to the serious business of rebuilding our own democracy from the ground up.

Secret behavior control drug experiments on Gitmo detainees

To me, this shows the continuing influence of those "experts" we brought here from Germany after WWII. Here you have doctors stating that you need to know complete background of the patient before using this substance--and they're injecting these people with this drug as soon as they're checked in!

A document from 2002 shows that "standard inprocessing orders for detainees" included 1,250 mg of mefloquine, five times higher than the dose given to people as preventative. And it's being given not for its intended purpose, but to study its intended side effects! I'm speechless. What ever happened to the physician's oath to "do no harm"?

Evidence destroyed about torture of al Qaeda detainees

The CIA decided that these videos had to be wiped out--even though the many redactions made by the Agency make you wonder what else is being covered up. The first memo is from Oct. 2002, when the CIA began discussing the sensitivity of "interrogation sessions."

Clearly they could never allow the American people to see what they're doing to these detainees so you destroy the evidence. But what looms even larger is that there WAS evidence, and of such a nature that required it to be destroyed. That tells you how bad it must have been.

Federal surveillance is a waste of taxpayer dollars

Why were there no black boxes from any of the 9/11 planes?

After Pearl Harbor, General Martin Shore and some admirals were fired because of their alleged negligence. After 9/11, not a single employee at the FAA or NORAD got punished. In fact, all the major military men involved received promotions.

Vietnam War was all about somebody making money

When I, in turn, went into the service and learned a whole lot more about Vietnam, I had the good fortune to come home and tell my father that he was right. Especially growing up in the Midwest, you never even contemplate that your government might not be telling the truth. You don't realize until you get much older that government is nothing but people--and people lie, especially where money and power are concerned.

Lesson from JFK: Don't let feds investigate momentous events

I'm more afraid of the culture of fear than of al Qaeda

I've gone to some lengths to trace these developments since 9/11, because I'm a lot more afraid of this than an assault by al-Qaeda. What's going on inside our military also frightens me. More and more, we're seeing an army run by Christianist extremists and an accompanying cadre of what can only be described as neo-Nazis. Since the endless "war on terror" began, our armed services have been turning a blind eye to their own military statutes. A 2005 DoD report said: "Effectively, the military has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy pertaining to extremism." White supremacists are walking as enlisted men around our bases.

1999: Special Ops ID'ed several 9/11 hijackers, but ignored

But when the 9/11 Commission came up with reasons for leaving Able Danger out of its report, the media nodded off again. One 9/11 expert concluded that the commission and the Pentagon were "covering up dangerous information that suggested Atta was being protected. Combine this observation with the money reportedly sent to Atta--the Able Danger evidence provides additional reason to suspect that the 'hijackers' were really paid assets."

Starting war under false premises should be impeachable

Muhammad Ali sacrificed for his convictions on Vietnam

{After getting elected, we] set it up for us to go visit Muhammad on his farm. We spent a whole afternoon. It was a dream come true for me to be sitting on a couch with the Champ, creating a friendship. His wife told me that he'd barely slept the night before, he was so excited I was coming. Muhammad Ali, excited to see me?

Source: Don`t Start the Revolution, by Jesse Ventura, p. 60-63 , Apr 1, 2008

CIA should not operate within the US, but they do

I opened the conversation by saying: "According to your original charter from when the CIA was created in 1947, you're not supposed to be working directly within the US." Well, I got the hem-haw.

It wasn't long after the meeting when I found out something else. I was stunned to learn that there are CIA operatives inside some state governments. I'm left to wonder why our Constitution is being violated.

Bush administration knew 9/11 was coming

• July 26: Attorney General Ashcroft stopped flying commercial airlines because of a threat assessment.
• Aug. 6: Pres. Bush received a briefing titled: "Bin Laden Plans to Attack Inside U.S.", which made clear a plan was imminent that might include the hijacking of commercial planes. The briefing made specific mention of the World Trade Center.
• Aug. 27: A supervisor at the FBI stated just before the attacks that he was trying to keep a hijacker from "flying a plane into the WTC"--by seeking a warrant to search the computer of Zacharias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker." He was taken to task by the FBI for notifying the CIA. This was pre-9/11!
• Sep. 10: A number of the top brass from the Pentagon suddenly canceled their travel plans for the next morning because of security concerns.

Official story of 9/11 WTC collapse just doesn't add up

Two witnesses [described] explosions inside and heard the popping sound of what they believed was demolition--but their statements to the 9/11 Commission seem to have been stricken from the official record.

Strangely enough, they supposedly never could find the black boxes from the aircraft--which are generally thought to be indestructible. Some reports later from firemen said actually they were found.

So is this another whitewash like the Warren Commission? The 9/11 Commission politely informs us that "conspiracy theorists [who] propagate outrageous notions that Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA, or some shadowy secret society of the rich and powerful." Outrageous notions? I find it outrageous that these commissions allow themselves to become part of the cover-up.

Wartime draft would stop Iraq War and prevent future wars

It hadn't dawned on me until then. As long as we have a professional military, it's not going to touch that many Americans whose attitude is, "Well, they all volunteered, they're there because they want to be." The fact is, a professional military is now the strong arm of our president and corporate America. It creates an atmosphere where the majority of the fighting men are poor people. The rich kids, even a great majority of the middle class kids, are not serving.

I'm okay with a professional military during peacetime, but the moment a vote to go to war occurs, the draft should automatically be reinstated. We need to make war as difficult as we can to declare. You've got to bring war home.

Require Congressional family members to go to war

War isn’t civilized; don’t expect warriors to be

I don’t like what happened in the navy’s Tailhook scandal; I think what those officers did was wrong. But I understand why it happened. When you get a force of that many hundreds of warriors together, there’s bound to be trouble. We’re responsible for making them what they are. You just can’t bring them back into civilization and expect that everything that was drilled into them is going to go away.

When you’re dealing with death face-to-face, there are no rules. It’s all about survival. After that, bad behavior doesn’t affect you all that much.

War isn’t civilized. War is failure. It’s the ultimate result of a breakdown in public policy, and soldiers are the machines that handle that breakdown. In warfare, you’re taught to do whatever you have to, to stay alive. Can you imagine bringing that mind-set into a party?

Military is stronger if all-volunteer

I loved the braless thing. I’m very heterosexual. I’d see women out burning their bras, and I’d go over with a lighter, “Can I help?” I did participate seriously, though, in the anti-draft movement. To this day, I’m against the draft. I believe the military is much stronger if it’s an all-volunteer organization.

Against the draft; for including women except in combat

If we’re going to draft at all, then we should draft women too, as long as we don’t send them into combat. The problem is men, [not women’s effectiveness in combat]. There’s something protective in men that makes us want to protect women. And that would be disastrous in battle.

Deal with terrorism as a joint federal-state responsibility.

• Handling Information Needs.
  Many of the operational, programmatic, and funding activities associated with terrorism consequence management preparedness are classified because of national security. Thus, the sharing of critical information is hampered. State governments must be viewed as strong partners in the US’ national security efforts, particularly as related to terrorism.
• Managing Consequences.
  Managing the short- and long-term consequences of terrorism is among the responsibilities of state and local government supplemented by the resources of the federal government, coordinated by FEMA.
• Supporting Public-Private Cooperation.
  Terrorism preparedness efforts should be inclusive of key private sector entities such as defining the appropriate roles and responsibilities for public and private health and medical communities.
• Clarifying the Role of the National Guard.
  The role of the National Guard in terrorism response activities is to support federal, state, and local response agencies with equipment, facilities, and personnel. Any assignment of responsibility should enhance the nation’s terrorism consequence management capability and provide for the contingency of the National Guard being called to assist active and reserve components in dealing with a major military conflict.
• Federal Responsibility
  Governors recognize the need to coordinate programs among federal agencies to address domestic terrorism and appreciate the efforts of the National Domestic Preparedness Office. However, they encourage greater clarification of the currently fragmented structure of federal responsibilities and support increased cooperation among federal agencies to better enable states to plan for domestic terrorism responses. Governors urge appropriate funding, maximum coordination of program components, and coordinated service delivery within states and localities.

Include states in anti-terrorism planning.

The Issue

NGA’s Position