Novak revealed a source in 1998 -- Robert Hanssen!!
Posted Thursday, October 2, 2003 by symbolman

WASHINGTON -- Three and half-years ago, I reported that a veteran FBI agent resigned and retired after refusing a demand by Attorney General Janet Reno to give the Justice Department the names of top secret sources in China. My primary source was FBI agent Robert Hanssen.

Disclosing confidential sources is unthinkable for a reporter seeking to probe behind the scenes in official Washington, but the circumstances here are obviously extraordinary. The same traitor who delivered American spies into the Kremlin's hands was expressing concern about the fate of intelligence assets in China.

When my source was revealed as a spy, my first fear was that I had been the victim of disinformation by a truly evil man. I wrote my column of Nov. 24, 1997 only after other officials confirmed Hanssen's account. Nevertheless, I now wanted to make doubly sure and rechecked my report's validity. I did so, and several sources -- including one FBI agent who would not speak to me in 1997 -- totally confirmed what I had written. I am absolutely convinced that Hanssen told me the truth.

Then, why break a reporter's responsibility to keep his sources secret? I wrestled with this question for months and finally decided that my experience with Hanssen contributes to the portrait of this most contradictory of all spies. Furthermore, to be honest to my readers, I must reveal it.>> More

Hey Robert "NOFACTS" - YOU KNOW who did it, and that makes you a hack, a feckless Bush shill, and an accomplice. You've OUTED sources before. CNN - FIRE this TRAITOR or get Boycotted by us and other sites. OUR COUNTRY IS AT STAKE. HAVE you NO SHAME? CNN, you've already SOLD Bush's FAKE war and Killed our TROOPS for Ratings. FIRE NOVAK or know the public's WRATH - we will make a LIST of your SPONSORS and CUT YOU OFF from your MONEY. It's TIME for a LIE DETECTOR TEST. Let's start with NOVAK - then ROVE - then SCOOTER - and then CHENEY - let's go right on up the food chain.

California Women’s Groups Announce First
Posted Wednesday, October 1, 2003 by symbolman

California Women’s Groups Announce First Statewide Day of Protest to Stop Schwarzenegger - Simultaneous Demonstrations Called For Friday October 3 at 5 PM

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 30)? Just days before the California Recall election, women across the state will participate in the 'Women Can Stop Schwarzenegger Statewide Day of Protest' on Friday, October 3, at 5 PM. CodePink will be joined by California NOW, The Women's Coalition, the Los Angeles Greens and their supporters in over six California cities, including Santa Monica and Sacramento outside both of Schwarzenegger?s Volunteer Campaign Headquarters.

Demonstrations will also be held in San Francisco as well as in Santa, Cruz, San Rafael and Santa Rosa. More locations will be added to the growing list of participating cities. At several of the protest locations CodePink plans to unveil a map of California with "No Groper Zone" emblazoned on it.

To date CodePink has protested at a half dozen of the candidate's campaign stops. Polls have indicated that there is a 'Gender Gap' regarding women?s willingness to vote for a candidate often portrayed as boorish, crude and reportedly inappropriate in his actions towards women.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger's rude and disgraceful comments about women are just the tip of an iceberg for us," said Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink Women for Peace. "They expose his willingness to say and do anything to get what he wants. He lacks common decency and any real self-respect. He is power hungry and it shows."

Helen Grieco, executive director of CA NOW, said California "is in serious trouble and it is in need of an intelligence and maturity Arnold sorely lacks. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not pro-choice, he is not pro-woman and he is not qualified to be governor of California.

California NOW urges its members and supporters who care about women?s rights and freedom not to vote for him and to vote "No! on the recall on October 7.

Also Read THIS By Carol Norris:

I'm a psychotherapist. And, having never seen George in therapy, despite my open invitation, it would be unethical for me to make an official diagnosis of him. So, I won't. But, I can kick some thoughts around.

Remember Tom Hanks' movie, "Big," when the kid, by an accident of fate, finds himself turned into an adult, playing grown-up roles he is not developmentally ready for? This is George. I don't mean this maliciously or satirically; I really mean it. I think developmentally speaking George is a big kid. Lots of people are. The difference is they don't have the means to bomb human beings into "pink mist," obliterate the infrastructures of countries, and poison the world with coal and pesticides and carbon dioxide and depleted uranium and napalm, as they play grown up.>> Get the Schedule And READ the Article!

Go Ladies GO! Take the Swirly Man down - he's not so tough, he just hasn't met a REAL WOMAN yet - all Hollywood scripting between the ears! Give him Hell! UPDATE: Apparently an Actor is going to imitate Ahnold and "grope" woman as part of the show, should be fun! (these women are actually giving their consent, unlike the others he's grabbed.)Go to the CODEPINK Women for Peace site >> HERE

Bogged down in Baghdad
Posted Tuesday, September 30, 2003 by symbolman

"Our guys are not about to start taking any chances. We are planning to survive the tour, get home safe and get the hell out of the army," Kostens concluded, "And God help any Iraqis who get in the way of that plan."

BAGHDAD -- A little Iraqi girl -- no more than eight years old -- squatted beside the road with tears of humiliation streaming down her cheeks.

Six metres away, three American soldiers had their rifles aimed at her as she was forced to relieve herself in full view of a long line of parked cars. From inside their vehicles, the Iraqi onlookers screamed their rage at the U.S. troops.

Whenever one of the Iraqis ventured to step out of his vehicle, an American officer bellowed, "Get back in the car, a--hole!" and the .50-calibre machinegun mounted on the U.S. Hummer would swing menacingly towards the protester.

The terrified little girl was weeping uncontrollably by the time she dropped her skirt and ran back to her mother.

This incident took place on Sunday, Sept. 14, after a detachment of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division set up a roadblock on the Samara-Kirkuk highway. The purpose was to conduct a thorough weapons search of all traffic along this route. Without enough personnel to man the roadblock, cars and trucks were soon backed up for at least two kilometres in each direction.>> More

Makes you wonder what kind of people we're creating on both sides of the confrontation. BUSH LIES, SOLDIERS DIE - Support the Troops - Bring them Home - IMPEACH BUSH.

George Soros has called for an end to the Bush Regime
Posted Tuesday, September 30, 2003 by symbolman

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has called for an end to the Bush administration ahead of next year's presidential elections.

Mr Soros - whose Foundations Network has given $1bn around the world to various causes to help tackle poverty and disease - told BBC Radio 4's United Nations Or Not? programme that the US would only stop pursuing "extremist" policies if there was a change at the White House.

"It is only possible if you have a regime change in the United States - in other words if President Bush is voted out of power.

"I am very hopeful that people will wake up and realise that they have been led down the garden path, that actually 11 September has been hijacked by a bunch of extremists to put into effect policies that they were advocating before such as the invasion of Iraq."

Mr Soros added that there was a "false ideology" behind the policies of the Bush administration.>> More

Penalize Rush for Illegal Use of the Mouth - Phil Sheridan
Posted Tuesday, September 30, 2003 by symbolman

From the most matter-of-fact wire service report to the most outspoken talk-radio shouter, McNabb's race has not been an issue.

Until now. Until Rush Limbaugh and his mouth made it an issue. But why is anyone surprised? This is the same man who once told an African American caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back." The same man who once said, "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

With that record - kept by a group called Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or FAIR - ESPN gave this guy a job commenting on a league in which the majority of the players are black. ESPN, which is essentially a corporate partner of the NFL, gave this job to Limbaugh even as the league struggles with its own notorious paucity of minority coaches and general managers.>> More

I was on FOX TV informing O'Reilly regarding these racist comments and O'Reilly didn't seem to mind at all - it's about time someone brought this up - about time that Black players get up into ESPN's face and let them know they aren't going to take this kind of sick diatribe. Sports TV isn't full of closet dittoheads. Let's hope ESPN loses their asses over this. Speak up, sports fans!

MUST SEE FLASH BY leonardodicaprio.org
Posted Monday, September 29, 2003 by symbolman

The very same Thomas Hartmann, writer, radio personality - working in conjuction with Leonardo DiCaprio, brings you a wonderful flash film.

See the new Leonardo DiCaprio web movie, based on "The Last Hours Of Ancient Sunlight" by i.e. America host Thom Hartmann.>> Here

I personally create flash movies and know how much work it is, and I'm very impressed by both the production and message of this web movie. I'm insanely jealous to be honest. Mr DiCaprio better not get near a bathtub or I'll have Gilbert drownded him for this. MUST SEE WORK.

Don't forget to visit IEAMERICA Radio and have a listen to Thomas's show >> HERE!

Will the 2004 Election be Stolen With Electronic Voting Machines?
Posted Monday, September 29, 2003 by symbolman

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW - An Interview with Bev Harris, Who Has Done the Groundbreaking Work on This Issue.

-- The audit trail is being taken away: An audit is simply the act of comparing two independent data sets that are supposed to match. Probably the most important understory to the voting issue right now is this: The voting industry is spending literally millions of dollars, and going through amazing feats of contorted logic that can best be described as marketing gymnastics, to convince us that we should discontinue proper auditing. They want us to eliminate the ballot which you verify, and trust the secret system instead. Even with the optical scan machines, which retain a paper ballot, some states have passed laws to prevent us from looking at the paper ballot to use it for a proper audit.

-- Incorrect programming: One thing we've never had until we got electronic vote-counting (which includes touch screens and optical scan machines), is bad software programming. A lever machine can be tampered with, but you don't have any software programming errors with it. Incorrect software programming has now been identified in over 100 elections, often flipping the race to the wrong candidate, even when the election was not close.

No one knows how many elections have actually been misprogrammed, and as we eliminate paper ballots, no one will ever know. We do know that errors as high as 25 percent are not uncommon, and software programming errors have been documented as high as 100 percent, and in one small Iowa county, a single machine miscounted by 3 million votes.>> More

Bev is making history - nothing is more precious than YOUR votes - if DIEBOLD gives out billions of receipts from their ATM machines world wide, they why can't they give you a RECEIPT for YOUR VOTE?! Also, be sure to see the VOTEREVOLUTION flash movie >> HERE

"Why Are These Men Laughing?" Ron Suskind - Esquire - January 2003
Posted Monday, September 29, 2003 by symbolman

Maybe it’s because the midterm elections went so very well. Maybe it’s because at the White House, politics is the best policy. Maybe it’s because it’s the reign of Karl Rove. An inside look at how the most powerful presidential adviser in a century does what does so well.

Sources close to the former president [George H.W. Bush] say Rove was fired from the 1992 Bush presidential campaign after he planted a negative story with columnist Robert Novak about dissatisfaction with campaign fundraising chief and Bush loyalist Robert Mosbacher Jr. It was smoked out, and he was summarily ousted.

-----

For instance, there was Karl’s desire to have John cozy up to the conservative evangelicals, with whom DiIulio was having problems. DiIulio recalls Karl telling him to bury the hatchet "and start fighting the guys who are against us." DiIulio says he responded: "I’m not taking any shit off of Jerry Falwell. The souls
of my dead Italian grandparents are crying out to me, ‘That guy’s not on the side of the angels.’ " Rove backed off, DiIulio recalls, and said, "Look, those guys don’t really matter to this president."

"Sure, Karl," DiIulio responded. "They don’t matter, but they’re in here all the time.">> More

It's interesting that Rove seems to do things in pairs - but the second time he almost always screws them up - almost like he's playing Sim City and has no exit plan other than winning.

Talking Points Memo - byJoshua Micah Marshall
Posted Monday, September 29, 2003 by symbolman

The Washington Post continues to own Wilsongate, though Monday's article by Mike Allen has smaller morsels rather than another one of Sunday's bombshells. Let me try to quickly note the ones that jumped out at me.

1. The descriptions of sources is now vaguer. Top White House officials have become White House officials. Senior administration officials are now administration officials. There are several possible explanations for the change.

2. The White House has no intention of taking any action to deal with this unless and until they are compelled to by a criminal investigation. The key quotes: "But the aides said Bush has no plans to ask his staff members whether they played a role in revealing the name of an undercover officer ... Asked about the possibility of an internal White House investigation, McClellan said, "I'm not aware of any information that has come to our attention beyond the anonymous media sources to suggest there's anything to White House involvement."

In other words, their public line is that they have no reason to believe anybody at the White House was involved -- evidence to the contrary turned up by the CIA apparently notwithstanding. They want to see if they can brazen it out.>> More

VERY INSIGHTFUL writing at Talking Points Memo - a must read site. Bookmark it.

No wonder America has so many enemies
Posted Monday, September 29, 2003 by symbolman

I was no Clinton fan, but give me his iffy morals any day over Bush's Mussolini-like strutting. Sen. Edward Kennedy is absolutely correct when he calls Bush's Iraq war a "fraud" concocted to win the next elections.

America's most precious and proudest asset, its moral reputation, has been gravely damaged by the Bush White House. The only positive note: rising anti-Americanism is largely associated in the eyes of non-Americans with the persona of George Bush, a man who projects almost all the negative stereotypes foreigners hold of Americans.

The White House's mouthpiece media, led by Fox News, have simply blanked out world opinion and endlessly chorused administration war propaganda.

A fascinating March study of network TV news by New York's Fairness and Accuracy in Media shows how Americans were misled into war by outrageously biased programming on Iraq.

In short, the major networks, under White House prompting, beat the war drums and blatantly excluded commentators with contrary views, giving Americans a badly warped view of world events.

Citizens of the old Soviet Union suffered the same information isolation. Like Americans since 9/11, they were force-fed agitprop and patriotic pap disguised as news, and deprived of all knowledge of the real world around them.>> More

It's all right here folks. This man tells it like it is, a lot of it we might not want to hear, but our media is literally aiding and abetting the killing of our own people for money and ratings - they are in bed with treasonous, chronic corporate liars from the top down.

George W. Kowalski? Bush’s Macho Facade Goes Limp
Posted Thursday, September 25, 2003 by symbolman

A Buzzflash Commentary by Maureen Farrell

In February, 2002, President Bush and his national security team posed for celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, for the cover of Vanity Fair. The accompanying article, "War and Destiny," depicted George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Andrew Card, George Tenet and Colin Powell as capable and courageous leaders who would navigate the tumultuous waters of terrorism and deliver us from evil.

Never mind, of course, that promises to catch Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" had already proven hollow, there was still an aura of certainty about these folks, and an insecure nation hungered to believe. "When people feel uncertain, they'd rather have someone who is strong and wrong, than someone who is weak and right," Bill Clinton once said.

The clarity with which most Americans saw George W. Bush before Sept. 11, 2001 perished in the rubble and suddenly, intelligent men and women mistook arrogance for masculinity and hubris for assured sexuality. Before long, it was like attending a wedding where you knew the groom was a boisterous galoot, while, much to your bewilderment, everyone else found his swagger reassuring.

While Bush’s machismo might have initially made a wobbly nation feel safer, beyond the illusion, America became little more than a frightened former beauty queen, enduring the outbursts of a deceitful, ill-mannered and intellectually-challenged caricature. Despite Newsweek’s Howard Fineman’s depiction of Bush as the reluctant sheriff in High Noon, the rest of the world, wary of Bush’s bullying, found him to be more Stanley Kowalski than Gary Cooper.>> More

GREAT Commentary! BUZZFLASH knows how to pick 'em. Good subject too. Go to BUZZFLASH to read more. My pet bird has more guts than Bush and he's small enough that if he was a turkey, you'd only need One Crouton to make the dressing.

Did Colin Powell Lie to the U.S. AND the U.N.?
Posted Thursday, September 25, 2003 by symbolman

A BUZZFLASH ANALYSIS: Colin Powell on February 24, 2001:

"...the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose.

That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep in place, but we are always willing to review them to make sure that they are being carried out in a way that does not affect the Iraqi people but does affect the Iraqi regime's ambitions and the ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and we had a good conversation on this issue.">> More

If you want the GOODS - you'd best get over to BUZZFLASH for up to the minute Analysis, Interviews and News!

SAVAGE ATTACKS: Still Simmering
Posted Thursday, September 25, 2003 by symbolman

By Brian Willoughby | Senior Writer/Editor, Tolerance.org - Michael Savage might have crashed and burned this summer in the national TV spotlight, but the hate-radio jockey still poisons the airwaves with his racist, anti-immigrant, anti-gay vitriol.

Protests continue, and tactics remain the same: Informing and sometimes boycotting the advertisers who support Savage's radio programs.

"It's just voting with the dollar," said Julie Sigwart. "I'm not going to give my money to sponsors who support hate radio."

"I call it economic Gandhism," Stinson said. "It's real simple. I'm not paying them money to help someone else insult and degrade people. You advertise on Michael Savage, I won't buy your product."

Sigwart and Micheal Stinson, co-founders of Take Back the Media,are having to give their money to attorneys, however, as they battle what they see as a frivolous and chilling lawsuit filed against their website by the Savage camp.

His brief reign on MSNBC was cut short when he called a self-identified gay caller a "sodomite" and told him, "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig." He went on to call the man a "piece of garbage" and told him to "go eat a sausage and choke on it."

Why such remarks are a surprise to MSNBC is unclear, considering Savage's track record prior to that was no better:

**He calls young black men "ghetto slime."

**He says "the gay and lesbian mafia wants our children."

**He refers to the Third World as the "turd world," and says immigrants are "defecating on (our) country and breeding out of control."

**He says the United States "is being taken over by the freaks, the cripples, the perverts and the mental defectives."

The list is long, offensive and well-catalogued.

Said Stinson, "Sadly, it appears hate sells — especially to a polarized society." >> More

Many Thanks to Brian Willoughby and his great work at a fine site - Tolerance is what the world Needs a WHOLE lot MORE of. But we will NOT Tolerate HATE.

White House functioning like a hollowed-out company.
Posted Thursday, September 25, 2003 by symbolman

In fact, I'm pretty sure the last two presidents who won second terms (Reagan in 1983 and Clinton in 1995) were doing worse a year out.

But the key here is that the president's numbers seem to be in something close to free-fall. His approval ratings have fallen roughly 20 percentage points in four months. And both Reagan and Clinton were on the rebound at the time.

---

The problem is more fundamental. For quite some time this White House has functioned like a heavily leveraged business, an overextended investor that suddenly gets a margin call. To extend the business metaphor, the White House has been surviving not on profits but expectations of future profits or, in other words, credibility. The White House has been able to get the public to sit tight with a lot of objectively poor news (a poor economy, big deficits, bad news from abroad) on the basis of trust.

---

As we've seen recently, a hollowed-out company can push along for some time so long as no one takes a good look at the books or calls in their loans. But when it happens the fall can be dramatic.>> More

Do you REALLY want this guy as Gov of California?
Posted Thursday, September 25, 2003 by symbolman

Bush Claims Unchecked Authority to Arrest and Detain U.S. Citizens Forever
Posted Thursday, September 25, 2003 by symbolman

President Bush is a revolutionary. He does not believe in our Constitution or the protections it provides. He claims to believe in our Constitutional democracy, but he really, fundamentally, doesn't buy into the system.

Astoundingly, and with little attention from the press – the Bush administration is directly attacking our way of life. As a result, this man, and his administration, are among the gravest threats to our country ever.

Our country's Founders intended to ensure that we were not again treated to despotic rule. But Bush Administration policy strikes at the very core of the Founder's ideas: Bush asserts the right to unilaterally detain citizens indefinitely. Let's be clear about this: Bush claims to have the power to have citizens arrested and detained forever without any check on that power. Scared yet?>> More

A New website run by an insightful Legal mind called The Orwellian Times - Bookmark it!

BUSH: "Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over" - The ONION
Posted Saturday, September 20, 2003 by symbolman

WASHINGTON, DC—Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

President-elect Bush vows that "together, we can put the triumphs of the recent past behind us."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?">> More

We hope you've figured out that this is SATIRE, even tho it's damned close to being the most straightforward call on the Bush World Crime League we've seen from the Past. Look at the date!

9/11/01: Where Was George?
Posted Saturday, September 20, 2003 by symbolman

STOP THE PRESSES by Eric Alterman

The various accounts offered by the White House are almost all inconsistent with one another. On December 4, 2001, Bush was asked, "How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?" Bush replied, "I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower--the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there. I didn't have much time to think about it."

Bush repeated the same story on January 5, 2002, stating, "First of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error, and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake...."

This is false. Nobody saw the jetliner crash into the first tower on television until a videotape surfaced a day later. What's more, Bush's memory not only contradicts every media report of that morning, it also contradicts what he said on the day of the attack. In his speech to the nation that evening, Bush said, "Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans."

Again, this statement has never been satisfactorily explained. No one besides Bush has ever spoken of these "emergency plans," and the mere idea of their implementation is contradicted by Bush's claim that at the time, he believed the crash to have been a case of pilot error.>> More

A lot of THIS is what they glossed over in their MADE FOR TV movie starring Bush as John Wayne on SHOWTIME - it was a laugh a minute to be honest. They made that day a boring right wing wet dream with no bearing on reality at all. Imagine RUMSFELD giving CPR outside of the Pentagon - and THEN Running alongside an EMT team HOLDING THE SALINE BAG! Like Rummy would do that. Like RUMMY had TIME TO DO THAT. Is this WHY so many died? Were these idiots just screwing around that day? Yep. They were. Ask the widows. Ask anyone but them.

Don't forget to watch my flash movie "Bush Knew - An American Requiem" >> HERE. I get the feeling maybe Eric Alterman did. Thanks for this Eric, this needs to be asked over and over.

FBI closes investigation on 9/11 put options
Posted Friday, September 19, 2003 by symbolman

Spokesman Ed Cogswell said the FBI has closed its investigation of stock and option trading that took place days before the attacks.

He said the investigation turned up "absolutely no evidence'' of anyone with inside knowledge of what would happen.

After the attacks, in which terrorists commandeered planes owned by the two biggest airlines, United and American, traders in the Chicago options market noticed suspicious pre-Sept. 11 spikes in volume. Put options for stocks in the airlines' parent companies, UAL Corp. and AMR Corp., registered huge trading increases in the week before the attacks.

Investors can use puts, which confer the right to sell a stock at a pre-determined price, to make money when the underlying share price falls, similar to shorting a stock. The terrorist attacks and their effect on the travel industry caused shares of UAL and AMR to fall dramatically when the markets reopened Sept. 17.

Cogswell said most of the options trading was carried out by hedge funds with bearish outlooks. He did not name any of the funds, which pursue risky investment strategies on behalf of wealthy clients.

Market regulators in other countries opened similar investigations after the attacks, but Cogswell said he believes all have been concluded with no evidence that allies of Osama bin Laden were involved.

On Sept. 10, 2001, put options on AMR were 17 times their average volume of 269 contracts. On Sept. 6, 2001, UAL put options were traded at more than four times their average volume of 711 contracts.>> More

Think set theory. Read between the lines - and look at these two paragraphs !!

**** * **** ***
"Cogswell said most of the options trading was carried out by hedge funds with bearish outlooks. He did not name any of the funds, which pursue risky investment strategies on behalf of wealthy clients.

Market regulators in other countries opened similar investigations after the attacks, but Cogswell said he believes all have been concluded with no evidence that allies of Osama bin Laden were involved."
**** * **** ***

(well, they wouldn't "appear" to be allies of OBL, now would they?)

"did not name" means they do know the names of the funds...

...so if the names of the funds are known just who are the wealthy clients of those funds?