Dion ditches candidate over remarks about Jews and 9-11
| 2008-09-26 |
Lesley Hughes — who’s running for the party in a Winnipeg riding — had faced criticism for an old blog posting in which she suggested Israeli intelligence warned the United States in advance of the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center and “Israeli businesses” vacated the premises before the attack.
Hughes later described herself as a “lifelong friend and supporter of the Jewish community in Winnipeg” and apologized for the “perception” that she is anti-Semitic.
But the apology wasn’t enough for her party leader.
“The Liberal party’s commitment to tolerance and multiculturalism is paramount,” Dion said in a statement.
“I have reviewed the past comments of Lesley Hughes and it is clear they do not meet this standard. While I appreciate her apology, I cannot condone those sentiments in any way.
“I have therefore asked Ms. Hughes to step down as the Liberal party candidate in Kildonan-St. Paul.”
Dion had earlier fended off questions about Hughes, saying the Canadian Jewish Congress was investigating to determine whether in fact the blog post should be construed as anti-Semitic.
He had been asked about his reasons for not firing Hughes on the spot, while he also demanded the immediate firing of Tory candidate Lee Richardson, who publicly suggested that some Canadian immigrants are prone to crime.
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Dion sacks city-area candidate
Conspiracy theory on 9/11 sinks Hughes
The release of the Grit action plan for Manitoba at an noon-hour event was completely overshadowed by the Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's sacking of Kildonan--St. Paul candidate Lesley Hughes.
A portrait of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion sits in Lesley Hughes’ campaign office. (Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press )
"Israeli businesses, which had offices in the Towers, vacated the premises a week before the attacks, breaking their lease to do it," Hughes wrote.
When Hughes' column surfaced in the midst of the campaign, the Tories were quick to make political hay and not even an apology she released could save her.
"You can say I am devastated and still disbelieving,'' said Hughes, a former CBC journalist.
"It is an utterly unjust decision which serves no constructive purpose. I am considering many options but am undecided as to what to do. I feel very badly for all the people who have supported me with so much energy -- I fear their reputations will suffer also, by association.
"I'm especially disturbed that the young people on my campaign will be turned off politics, having witnessed what's happened to me... There's so much more to say but I'm not up to saying it yet.''
Sen. Sharon Carstairs, who's heading up the party's campaign in Manitoba, said Dion had no other choice.
"The reality is she wrote an article in which she supported 9/11 conspiracy theorists," Carstairs said. "It was necessary for her to go."
Hughes' column has been on the Internet for years, but was only brought to light by a local blogger after Hughes and other Liberal candidates appeared with Dion Wednesday courting the Jewish vote at the Asper Jewish Community Campus.
Carstairs said the Canadian Jewish Congress approached the party for an apology on Thursday.
Hughes issued this statement later in the day: "I find any interpretation of my journalism as anti-Semitic personally offensive and I heartily apologize for that perception."
The Canadian Jewish Congress made clear that Hughes' apology was not enough. "So the leader made a decision," Carstairs said.
Hughes' Liberal-sponsored website disappeared by midday Friday. Her Henderson Highway campaign office was also to close.
However, Hughes' name will stay on the ballot for the Oct. 14 election as nominations have already closed.
CJC chief executive officer Bernie Farber said Hughes' apology read more like she was sorry people read her column wrong, not that she was sorry for offending people.
"I needed a few people to help translate it," he said. "I couldn't figure it out."
Farber said the words in the column are a "bizarre and odious anti-Jewish theory" which the congress is continually fighting as 9/11 conspiracy theorists continue to push it on the Internet.
He said he believes Hughes to be a honourable person but she still needs to do the right thing. "She still has the responsibility to set the record straight and she hasn't done that yet," he said.
In May 2007 Hughes appeared at a media roundtable at the Gas Station Theatre to discuss the media's role in failing to report what 9/11 conspiracists believe is "biggest news story of all time."
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
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Stéphane Dion was right to jettison Lesley Hughes, the Liberal candidate in the Winnipeg riding of Kildonan-St. Paul. Her poisonous views have no place in a major Canadian party.
Ms. Hughes, a former CBC radio host who until recently edited the socialist magazine Canadian Dimension, is sympathetic to the so-called 9/11 Truth Movement. “Truthers,” as they are known, believe the downing of New York’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 was the result of a vast plot by the Israeli secret service, or the CIA, or both.
In a 2002 column, Ms. Hughes wrote that the shock and sorrow portrayed by “corporate media, privately owned newspapers, television and radio chains” following the 9/11 attacks “was hard to swallow, coming from the same media that … couldn’t wait to send young Canadians into a war on terrorism.” Without citing specific examples, she insisted the CIA (which she claimed gets its “strategies and directions” from Wall Street, which itself is “heavily dependent on laundered drug money”) had “foreknowledge” of the al-Qaeda attacks. She also insisted the attacks were possible only through “the complicity of highly placed officials in the U.S. government.”
Ms. Hughes then went on to repeat a variation of the Internet canard that legions of Jews avoided death in the Twin Towers because the Mossad knew the attacks were coming and warned them: “Israeli businesses, which had offices in the Towers, vacated the premises a week before the attacks, breaking their lease to do it.”
As recently as last year, Ms. Hughes was still peddling her preposterous views, appearing on a panel in Winnipeg with notorious 9/11 denier Barry Zwicker and others. Good riddance to this woman. Her consolation: Now that she has been bounced from the Liberal campaign, she will have plenty of time to find the “real killers” behind 9/11.
There are some who claim Tory Calgary Centre MP Lee Richardson should also be bounced, for saying to a Calgary weekly newspaper that immigrants are behind most of that city’s crime. “Look who’s committing the crimes,” he said. “They’re not the kid who grew up next door.”
Well, in many cases, they are the kids from next door. That, in part, is what Mr. Richardson’s own party’s youth-crime strategy is all about -- putting a little deterrent into the criminal justice system so ordinary kids don’t go astray in such numbers.
But Mr. Richardson was referring specifically to the recent rash of fatal shootings and stabbings in Calgary, most of which, according to Calgary police, are related to gangs with such names as FOB and FOB Killers. (FOB stands for Fresh Off the Boat -- a derogatory reference to immigrants that, like other taboo words, has been appropriated by those it purports to describe.) In August, Calgary police conducted 25 raids on FOB hangouts, netting 14 suspects who face more than 100 charges for drug and gun possession, car theft, robbery and a variety of other crimes.
Which is to say, there was a grain of truth behind Mr. Richardson’s ill-chosen remarks. As such, they were hardly in the same league as Ms. Hughes’ rantings. His indiscretion wasn’t severe enough to merit expulsion.
The same can’t be said, however, for Bev Collins, who is now running as the NDP candidate in Cariboo-Prince George. Here’s what Ms. Collins has said about the possibility of another major terrorist attack in the United States: “Bush is losing his support base faster than he can say al-Qaida. Now officials are warning their fellow Americans and the world that Cheney and friends are planning to launch a 9/11-style attack on American soil within the coming months to bring about martial law and keep their hold on power.”
Even more damning was Collins’ participation in a creepy 2007 9/11 “truth” conference in Vancouver, at which various experts presented evidence to show that the World Trade Center was blown up from within.
Yet unlike Stéphane Dion, NDP leader Jack Layton has so far refused to cleanse his candidate ranks of a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Why? Is it because, unlike Ms. Hughes, Ms. Collins has aimed her ludicrous theories only at the United States, and not at Israel? Or does the NDP simply regard such theories as Ms. Collins’ to be acceptable?
Either way, Canadians should be offended. If Mr. Layton wants to convince Canadians that the NDP is a truly mainstream party, he must strike Bev Collins from his candidate list.
National Post
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Liberal candidate Leslie Hughes: 9/11 Truther?
Remember Jack Layton talking about his pal, Barry Zwicker? Zwicker is the "leader" of the Canadian 9/11 "Truth" group. And remember who broke that story? (No, it wasn't the Western Standard, although we have been digging into stories like this for a while). It was Liberal blogger Jason Cherniak.Cherniak made a really big deal about Jack Layton's ties to the Truth groups. And now it turns out that Kildonian-St. Paul Liberal candidate Leslie Hughes is a super-duper-truther.
From Dawg's Blawg:
Here's Lesley Hughes, running for the Liberals in Kildonan-St.Paul, on the 9/11 attacks:And here's Jay Currie, who often appears on the Al & Mike Show, part of the Western Standard radio network:
"German Intelligence (BND) claims to have warned the U.S. last June, the Israeli Mossad and Russian Intelligence in August. Israeli businesses, which had offices in the Towers, vacated the premises a week before the attacks, breaking their lease to do it. About 3000 Americans working there were not so lucky."
I await Cherniak's denunciation of the Liberal Party for running one of those Troofer anti-Semites he's been going on about.
"(I have been trying to reach Ms. Hughes campaign office for confirmation…line’s busy.)Here, meanwhile, is The Black Rod:
Update: Reached the Campaign Office and spoke to the very pleasant campaign manager, Selina Bieber. They are aware of the story…the Globe and Mail had called. they are trying to verify it. I left my number and said I’d be happy to talk to the candidate.)
Update II Smoking Gun! At the lovely “Canada Wants the Truth Blog” from 2007 “Barrie Zwicker and Lesley Hughes to speak Thursday September 6th, Winnipeg MB Canada
Thursday on the 3rd floor of Mondragon (91 Albert street.) for 7:30 PM, featuring Author, Media Critic Barrie Zwicker & Fromer CBC jounalist, Editor of Canadian Dimension (www.canadiandimension.com) Leslie Hughes will be discussing 9/11.”
Hey, isn’t Barry Zwicker Smilin Jack’s Troother pal??
Update III And here is a report of Ms. Hughes as a panelist at a Troother event."
And speaking of unreported stories---what about that coverup of the 911 bombings of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.And from that "Get the Truth" article:
Now that's an unreported story -- according to a well-known Liberal candidate.
Lesley Hughes, step right up. Yes. Former CBC radio host Lesley Hughes. Now running against Conservative Joy Smith in Kildonan-St.Paul.
She's a 9-11 Truther.
She was upfront about her views in a 2002 column headlined Get The Truth. You know, the one where she wrote how the Jews with offices in the World Trade Towers got advance warning of the terrorists attacks. Yeah, that one.
Truth may have been the casualty of war in former ages, but this war is different. While major media busy themselves waving flags, a global network of independent journalists, who have no interests to protect, no secrets to hide, are tracking and documenting its development on a daily basis.Bottom line: That's the story of this election. It isn't any actual political issue like, say, free speech and expression, or whether or not we should legalize marijuana, but this--the candidates embarrassed and sometimes forced to resign for what look like past "indiscretions."
Among the best: the Web site The Emperor's New Clothes (www.tenc.net) and Mike Ruppert, editor and publisher of From the Wilderness newsletter out of California (www.copvcia.com) .
Using and sharing only published and sourced news stories from world media, and official documents of various governments either leaked or available under freedom of information acts, these journalists have assembled a disturbing picture, which suggests CIA foreknowledge and complicity of highly placed officials in the U.S. government around the attacks on the World Trade Center Sept. 11.
Google is the enemy. If you want a political career, don't blog or say or do anything that can be accessed somehow via a Google search.
Posted by P.M. Jaworski on September 25, 2008 in Canadian Politics | Permalink
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HARPER LEADERSHIP 2008:
26 septembre 2008
Stéphane Dion doit expliquer les divagations anti-Israël de l’extrémiste Lesley Hughes
Le Parti conservateur a réclamé aujourd'hui la démission de la candidate extrémiste de Stéphane Dion Lesley Hughes, qui a écrit un essai dans lequel elle accuse Israël et l’Amérique de complicité dans les attaques terroristes du 11 septembre 2001.
« Les Canadiens relèguent légitimement les conspirations théoriciennes sur les attentats du 11 septembre aux extrêmes idéologiques de notre société, a dit la candidate conservatrice Rochelle Wilner. Ils sont aussi dégoûtés par ceux qui ciblent la nation juive avec suspicion et dédain. Ce genre de divagations extrémistes n’a pas sa place au sein d’un parti politique qui se respecte, et si M. Dion était un vrai leader, il congédierait Lesley Hughes sans délai. »
À la suite des attaques terroristes du 11 septembre, la pseudo-journaliste Lesley Hughes a écrit un article incendiaire accusant les gouvernements des États-Unis et d’Israël d’avoir été prévenus, ou d’être complices, des attaques qui ont tué 3 000 innocents.
« Les entreprises israéliennes qui avaient des bureaux dans les Tours ont quitté les lieux une semaine avant les attaques, résiliant leur bail. Quelque 3 000 Américains n’ont pas eu cette chance », écrit Mme Hughes dans son essai. (http://members.shaw.ca/mclachla/page3.htm)
« Une image choquante, qui laisse croire que des personnes haut placées au gouvernement américain et à la CIA avaient été prévenues des attaques perpétrées contre le World Trade Center le 11 septembre. De nombreuses sources officielles disent avoir informé le Renseignement américain, qui dépense 30 milliards de dollars par année pour recueillir de l’information, des attaques des tours jumelles le jour même. Le Service de Renseignement allemand (BND) dit avoir prévenu les États-Unis en juin dernier, et le Mossad et les Russes en août », peut-on lire dans une autre partie de l’essai. (http://members.shaw.ca/mclachla/page3.htm)
L’essai de Mme Hughes n’est pas sa première liaison avec les extrémistes du soi-disant mouvement sur la « vérité sur le 11 septembre ». En fait, elle a déjà collaboré avec le théoricien bien connu Barry Zwicker. (http://canadawantsthetruth911.blogspot.com/2007/09/barrie-zwicker-and-lesley-hughes-to.html)
« Le Canada est un pays libre et Mme Hughes a certainement le droit à ses opinions, qu’elles soient illogiques, haineuses ou extrêmes, a conclu Mme Wilner. Les questions les plus graves se rapportent au jugement de M. Dion. Il doit immédiatement renvoyer Mme Hughes. Sinon, les Canadiens seront en droit de conclure que le fanatisme bizarre et incohérent du mouvement sur le 11 septembre a sa place au sein du Parti libéral du Canada. »
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HARPER LEADERSHIP 2008:
26 septembre 2008
Les adeptes des théories de complot extrémistes sur les événements du 11 septembre 2001 n'ont pas leur place dans la vie publique
En refusant de s'excuser pour ses lubies de conspiration extrémistes et anti-israélites sur les événements du 11 septembre 2001, la candidate libérale Lesley Hughes a montré qu'elle est inapte à occuper une charge publique et Stéphane Dion doit la destituer immédiatement, a déclaré aujourd’hui le candidat conservateur dans la circonscription de Thornhill, Peter Kent.
« Hier soir, Lesley Hughes a eu le culot de dire qu’elle était “personnellement insultée” du fait que les gens décrivent ses anciennes tentatives visant à diaboliser le seul État juif de la planète en le qualifiant de complice des attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001 », a déclaré M. Kent. « Les personnes qui devraient en fait être choquées, ce sont les membres de la communauté juive canadienne et tous ceux qui ont perdu des êtres chers lors de ces attentats terroristes, qui sont tous visés par le discours haineux d’une marginale idéologique discréditée. »
Après que les essais rédigés par Mme Hughes dans lesquels elle accuse le gouvernement d’Israël et les États-Unis de « connaissance anticipée et de complicité » relativement aux attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001 ont fait surface, cette dernière a eu la chance de présenter ses excuses en bonne et due forme pour ses opinions choquantes.
Toutefois, Mme Hughes a plutôt préféré s’en prendre à ses détracteurs et déclarer qu’elle était à la fois « bouleversée » et qu'elle était « personnellement insultée » que des essais qu'elle a rédigés par le passé soient exposés au grand jour. Outre n’avoir présenté que des excuses peu convaincantes sur la « perception » faite de ses propos, Mme Hugues a refusé de s’excuser pour les liens de longue date qu’elle entretient avec les partisans de la théorie du complot du soi-disant mouvement sur la « vérité sur le 11 septembre », qui sont reconnus pour entretenir des vues antisémites.
Lors d'une conférence de presse tenue aujourd’hui, Stéphane Dion a éludé les questions sur les commentaires passés de Mme Hugues, mais a refusé de la destituer alors que, bizarrement, il a demandé que des candidats d'autres partis le soient. Pendant la conférence de presse, des partisans libéraux ont tenté de huer les questions des médias sur les opinions « antisémites » qu'a exprimées Mme Hugues par le passé.
« Les Canadiens de la communauté juive, de même que tous les autres, ne permettront pas à Lesley Hughes de cacher les liens qu'elle a entretenus par le passé avec un des mouvements marginaux les plus haineux du Canada », a conclu M. Kent. « Stéphane Dion doit destituer Lesley Hughes une bonne fois pour toute. »
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Stéphane Dion did the right thing: Now it’s your turn, Mr Layton
National Post Article
Barbara Kay
Posted: September 26, 2008, 1:02 PM by Jonathan Kay
Barbara Kay
Good for Stéphane Dion for stepping up to the plate and demanding the resignation of Lesley Hughes, Liberal candidate for Kildonan-St Paul. Hughes failed to renounce the anti-Semitic implications of her 9/11 conspiracy theories in suggesting that Israeli companies had vacated the World Trade Center before the attacks. The B’nai B’rith has issued a congratulatory statement: “Stéphane Dion has done the right thing by refusing to let Lesley Hughes, a candidate with a record of antisemitism, stand for the Liberal Party of Canada,” said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada.
I now eagerly await Jack Layton’s forthright renunciation of a similarly problematic NDP candidate, Samira Laouni, in the Montreal riding of Bourassa. Ms Laouni is a person of influence in the leadership of the Canadian Islamic Congress, Quebec region. She was a principal organizer for a CIC fundraising dinner in September, 2007, whose guest speaker, Yvonne Ridley is an impassioned anti-Zionist, but more importantly a terrorist apologist and proud friend of the Taliban and Hezbollah, an organization officially classified as terrorist by the federal government.
Present at that evening to bring NDP greetings, but not during Ridley’s speech, which finished shortly before their arrival, were Thomas Mulcair, MP for Outrement and former NDP leader Alexa McDonough. I spoke to Thomas Mulcair the following day and asked him how the NDP could associate itself with anyone representing such despicable, anti-Canadian views. Mr Mulcair swore up and down that he had no idea of who Yvonne Ridley was or what she was talking about, and that he was merely bringing greetings to a community group, the same as he would for any other. I told him in no uncertain terms who Yvonne Ridley was. So the NDP cannot claim to be ignorant of the CIC’s open admiration for her, and Ms Laouni’s role in bringing her to Canada. Mr Layton, take a leaf from Mr Dion’s book, and do the right thing.
WOW!!! What an attack piece on D R. Laouni!!! Wasn’t she the NDP candidate who was on the air with Marie-Claude Montpetit on CISM 89.3 FM with Benoit Perron? Hmmmm…… coincidence?
Do you think mtl911truth got their attention?
27/09/2008
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Get the Truth -by Lesley Hughes
Last week Canada revealed itself once again as a truly unique nation. In a world where dead warriors are commonplace and taken for granted, this country stopped, paid attention, lowered the flags and gave full military honours to four soldiers, who died inexplicably and tragically at the hands of our allies.
We all felt the shock and the sorrow. The corporate media, privately owned newspapers, television and radio chains lingered especially on the pain and dignity of their survivors.
This was hard to swallow, coming from the same media that, in a fit of Me-Too-ism, couldn't wait to send young Canadians into a war on terrorism, which they hardly bothered to investigate; the same media that show every willingness to sacrifice more lives and families without pausing to confront the most basic question Canadians want answered about Afghanistan. What, exactly, are we doing there?
Truth may have been the casualty of war in former ages, but this war is different. While major media busy themselves waving flags, a global network of independent journalists, who have no interests to protect, no secrets to hide, are tracking and documenting its development on a daily basis.
Among the best: the Web site The Emperor's New Clothes (www.tenc.net) and Mike Ruppert, editor and publisher of From the Wilderness newsletter out of California (www.copvcia.com) .
Using and sharing only published and sourced news stories from world media, and official documents of various governments either leaked or available under freedom of information acts, these journalists have assembled a disturbing picture, which suggests CIA foreknowledge and complicity of highly placed officials in the U.S. government around the attacks on the World Trade Center Sept. 11.
Many official sources are claiming to have warned the American intelligence community, which spends $30 billion a year gathering information, about the attacks on the twin towers on that heartbreaking day.
German Intelligence (BND) claims to have warned the U.S. last June, the Israeli Mossad and Russian Intelligence in August. Israeli businesses, which had offices in the Towers, vacated the premises a week before the attacks, breaking their lease to do it. About 3000 Americans working there were not so lucky.
Ironically, the stock market was also warning anyone who cared to notice that something peculiar was afoot: in the week prior to Sept. 11, unknown speculator(s) were suddenly betting that the stocks of United Airlines and American Airlines were going to fall in value; the trades were placed through Deutschebank/AB Brown, a firm formerly managed by Buzzy-Krongard, now executive director of the CIA.
So far, no one has been bold enough to claim $2.5 million in profits. No serious search for the speculator is under way.
More important to Canadians, the facts uncovered by Internet journalism suggest that the war in Afghanistan has little to do with the attacks of Sept.11; that it's the result of lengthy failed negotiations between American businessmen and the Taliban over access to drugs and oil.
Mike Ruppert, a former LAPD narcotics officer turned journalist, maintains that Wall Street, (from whom the CIA gets its strategists and directions) is heavily dependent on laundered drug money, which helps keep the Fortune 500 and the stock market afloat. The IMF recently estimated that about $1.5 trillion goes through the world's banks every year, at least $500 billion of it from drugs.
His documents show that in January, 2001, the Taliban destroyed their opium crops, which normally supply 70 per cent of the world's heroin. In May, the U.S. gave the Taliban $43 Million in mysterious aid. Sept. 11 was a turning point.
The U.S. bombed, invaded, captured the Taliban, and opium farms are now back in business. The Financial Times has reported that the next harvest will be a record breaking 4,500 tonnes, much of it headed to the U.S.A.
Ruppert and others have tracked the progress of an urgent pipeline, which American oilmen have been trying to build through Afghanistan since 1991. They stated publicly that they could not do it without a sympathetic Afghan government in place. Newly installed prime minister Hamid Karzai is a former employee of Unocal Oil.
Negotiations on the Central Asian pipeline resumed in October and an agreement to proceed with it was announced in February.
Ruppert also notes that Osama Bin Laden was treated for his chronic kidney disease at the American Hospital in Dubai last summer. Although wanted for the bombing of two U.S. embassies and eligible for execution by American agents, he flew away undisturbed. The sole coverage of these events in Canada has come from Barrie Zwicker, media critic at Vision TV.
If the work of Internet journalists is correct, then the war is neither a holy war, not a grand clash of civilizations between East and West, and our soldiers were lost to us and to their families to keep drugs and oil profits flowing in the U.S.
Until we know the truth, we should refuse to add one more Canadian body to the pile of dead in Afghanistan. Not one. Canada should get the truth or get out.
Lesley Hughes is a freelance writer and broadcaster in Winnipeg. Reprinted with permission. Since Lesley’s column on May 1, the mainstream media have at last also "discovered" elements of this deeper, more sinister, story.
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Lay off Lesley Hughes! Jerks!
Posted By Patrick (mtl911truth.org)
If former Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes is an antisemite, then George Bush is Mahatma Gandhi, Stephen Harper is Mother Theresa and Stephane Dion is capable of leading Canada.Of course, none of the above is true. In dumping Hughes, a well respected Winnipeg journalist and social activist, Dion has buckled under the pressure of the pro-Israel lobby and proven himself incapable of developing independent foreign policy for Canada. How else are we to judge a man who accepts the nonsense that any criticism of Israel, no matter how minor, is antisemitic?
The article that cut short Hughes brief career as a Liberal candidate, Get the Truth, raises a series of questions about the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The sad irony is that the article did not even criticize Israel. Here is what she had to say:
Many official sources are claiming to have warned the American intelligence community, which spends $30 billion a year gathering information, about the attacks on the twin towers on that heartbreaking day.If anything, Hughes credits Israeli inteligence with attempting to warn the Americans of an impending attack on the Twin Towers, one which they obviously ignored.
German Intelligence (BND) claims to have warned the U.S. last June, the Israeli Mossad and Russian Intelligence in August. Israeli businesses, which had offices in the Towers, vacated the premises a week before the attacks, breaking their lease to do it. About 3000 Americans working there were not so lucky.
Dion’s spinelessness is not unique, unfortunately. It is difficult to find any political leader who is willing to be critical of Israeli policies. In this instance, though, his gutlessness was stupendous, because Hughes did not “blame the Jews” for anything. The point of her article was to raise questions about the genesis of 9-11 and the invasion of Afghanistan. As she put it:
If the work of Internet journalists is correct, then the war is neither a holy war, not a grand clash of civilizations between East and West, and our soldiers were lost to us and to their families to keep drugs and oil profits flowing in the U.S.Hughes has been unfairly maligned. Fortunately, many Canadians, especially those who are familiar with her and her work refuse to join the witchhunt that has been mounted by right wing media, zionist apologists and barely literate bloggers.
Until we know the truth, we should refuse to add one more Canadian body to the pile of dead in Afghanistan. Not one. Canada should get the truth or get out.
In an online readers poll today, the Winnipeg Free Press asked: “Do you think Liberal leader Stephane Dion was right to turf Lesley Hughes over 9/11 conspiracy writings?” Of the 2,469 readers who have responded to date, 73 percent have said “No.”
Stephane Dione has not done his party any favours in Winnipeg. However, he may have done Lesley Hughes a big favour. Had she succeeded in her election bid, I doubt she would have been happy for long.
Full Blog Posting here/
Posted By Patrick
29/08/2008
Posted By Patrick
Insults victim’s families!?!?!?!?!?! You guy are nuts! I want to yell at you, you are dispicable pathetic human beings. Shame on the Liberals! Spineless fascists you all are! I sincerely hope that little old Jack will show us that he has some courage, integrity and decency and stand up for his candidates and also take a stand for the truth. Take on the 9/11 issue Jack! We’ll be with you and helping you every step of the way. Come on Jack, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2008
NDP RUNNING CONSPIRACY THEORIST
Bev Collins Views Insulting to Victims of 9-11
Jack Layton must be held to account for approving the candidacy of Bev Collins, a high profile conspiracy theorist and former Canadian Action Party (CAP) President and NDP candidate in Cariboo-Prince George.
Sadly, it appears that the NDP didn’t do any research when they recruited this controversial candidate, who even speaks at “9/11truth conferences.” When confronted with the possibility by the Vancouver Sun yesterday, NDP campaign manager Gerry Scott was quoted as saying “I’m sure she doesn’t believe that” (Vancouver Sun, 24 September 2008)
Here are the facts:
There are countless hours of video and audio that show exactly what Bev Collins really believes. (Links and transcripts attached) The local print media has also reported extensively on what Bev Collins believes. For example:
“With Rumsfeld, Rove, and now Gonzales out of the way, Bush is losing his support base faster than he can say Al-Qaida. Now officials are warning their fellow Americans and the world that Cheney and friends are planning to launch a 9/11-style attack on American soil within the coming months to bring about martial law and keep their hold on power. This could be ignored as a conspiracy, except for the high-calibre people who signed on to this public written warning including a former colonel and congresswoman.”
-Running for cover from all the conspiracy theories,” Prince George Citizen (31 August 2007)
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“The CAP [Canadian Action Party, of which Collins was president] is launching an independent internal investigation,” she said. There’s so much complicity and questions surrounding that day. And now we’re being stripped of our rights and freedoms with anti-terrorism laws, rules and regulations
“Collins’ party happy with turnout North American union, potential war hot topics,” Cariboo Press (21 October 2007)
QUESTIONS:
Was Jack Layton aware of Ms. Collins’ views prior to her becoming an NDP candidate?
If not, now that Jack Layton has this information, will he repudiate or endorse the extreme views of this candidate?
http://www.teambc.ca/2008/09/25/ndp-running-conspiracy-theorist/
29/09/2008
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CBC: 9/11 Truth in the Elections
Prof. Anthony Hall - Hate Speech as Political Rhetoric: Stephen Harper and 911 in the Canadian Election of 2008
By Anthony J. Hall
Founding Coordinator and Professor of Globalization Studies
University of Lethbridge
Stephen Harper’s campaign has been so unrelenting in its undifferentiated smearing of the entire international movement seeking 911 Truth that it has extended the frontiers of hate speech as political rhetoric. So ruthless has the Harper Team been on this theme that it can henceforth be identified as one of the world’s foremost agencies in the ongoing 911 Cover Up.
Harper’s campaign applied a variation of the tactics employed during the Cold War by Joseph McCarthy’s infamous Congressional Committee on Un-American Activities. In late September the Harper Team’s news releases went ballistic in its McCarthyesque push to characterize as un-Canadian each and every citizen who calls attention to the simple fact that the Bush-led War on Terror rests on nothing but an unproven conspiracy theory.That untenable official conspiracy theory begins with the premise that 19 Saudi high jackers armed with nothing but box cutters, a smattering of flight training and jihadist zeal succeeded in executing the most devastating attack on the continental United States since the War of 1812.
Harper’s Team leaped to the head of the 911 Cover Up Movement when it attempted to exploit for political gain a factually incorrect point included in a paper written in 2002 by the former Liberal candidate in Winnipeg, Lesley Hughes. While Hughes was wrong in her details, she is far from alone in her more general position that many intelligence services had prior knowledge that something very drastic was about to happen in the days and weeks leading up to 911. One of those intelligence services was indeed that of Israel. The Israeli government’s understanding of the situation was almost certainly connected to the activities of an Israeli spy ring posing as art students especially in the Hollywood Florida region. If I’m inaccurate on the issues of Israeli spies inside the United States prior to 911, then so are the reports I have been reading about it in many mainstream media venues including those of Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, CounterPunch, Intelligence.online, BBC, Fox News, the Sunday Herald in Scotland and the Sunday Telegraph in Great Britain to mention only a few. Will the Harperites and their operates in the right-wing blogosphere insist I am un-Canadian and a bigot for reporting what I have seen in these mainstream media vehicles? Are the sources I have read to be scorched from the record in a book burning campaign of information cleansing?
The Harper team crossed the line into lunatic hate talk in its effort to stamp out a citizens’ campaign aimed at securing commitment from politicians that, if elected, they will push for a Canadian investigation into the Canadian angle on the events of 911, including the death of two dozen of our citizens in the Twin Towers. Rather than deal with the nuances and complexities of the 911 issues on their merit, the Harper Team went into high witch hunt mode. It acted more like the thuggish storm troopers of Crown thought police rather than the brain trust of a mainstream Canadian political party.
In the initial Conservative press release on 911 the Harper Team quoted Conservative candidate Peter Kent. Kent collectively slandered all those many individuals seeking 911 Truth as “one of Canada’s most notorious hate mongering fringe movements.” What a self-incriminating slur to fall from the lips of the Scud Stud’s news reading brother. The subsequent Conservative press releases continued to follow this hysterical line labeling all those seeking 911 truth as “fanatics,” “incoherent,” “hateful,” “discredited” “offensive” and “repugnant.” According to the would-be thought police of the 911 Cover Up Party, the movement composed of those seeking 911 truth “is notorious for holding anti-Semitic views.”
Excuse me! Who here is carrying the most heavy burden of the legacy of anti-Jewish barbarity? It needs to be remembered that the terrible genocide of the Holocaust was initiated on the political right, not the social democratic middle; that George Bush’s grandfather was far from alone among US and British investment bankers in siding with Hitler rather than Roosevelt. It need to be remembered that Harper’s right-wing heartland of Alberta was until fairly recently the home of some of the notorious anti-Semites in Canadian history.
Harper’s disinformation and smear campaign lies well outside the sphere of legitimate political debate at this election time. This hate-inspired, hate-generating language is directed not at an individual. Like a carpet bomb, rather, it is calculated to maim indiscriminately a whole group made up of many people of varying ages, backgrounds, abilities and ideologies. We 911 truthers disagree on many things except one. Almost all us who have decided to think independently rather than to accept at face value the public mythology of 911 agree on one thing. In all our diversity, with all our warts and halos, we basically agree on the necessity of a credible investigation conducted by a distinguished panel of disinterested jurists informed by the ideals of genuine third-party adjudication. Only in this way can we overcome the impediments to 911 Truth put in place by the likes of political appointee Philip Zelikow, the Executive Director and primary author of the discredited 9/11 Commission’s report. But don’t take my word for it. Break free from the information monopoly of the media conglomerates . Google the subject and explore the facts, arguments and opinions for yourself.
The Conservative Party hate speech was directed in the first instance at the Liberal Party, who gave in to the shameful rhetorical blackmail. Then the witch hunters turned their attention to the NDP. Although Jack Layton has yet to explain where he agrees or disagrees with his friend Barrie Zwicker, the NDP leader chose not to go along with the Inquisition by pulling the plug on Bev Collins.
While the Harper Team’s first target was the political parties, I believe the larger agenda is to prevent the Canadian public from listening to the growing chorus calling attention to the growing litany of lies and crimes embedded at the origins of George Bush’s phony War on Terror. The hate speech of the Harper Conservatives is constructed by design to harm the quality of relations between 911 truthers and their communities, associates and loved ones. The hate speech is so extreme that it effectively attacks the very life support systems of those who proudly proclaim the need for 911 truth. Isn’t the Prime Minister attempting to isolate and stigmatize the 911 truthers in the conduct of our relations with all kinds of authorities, from police officers, to teachers, to employers, to social service agencies. In this way the brutal hate language of the Conservative campaign resembles racist campaigns of other places and times. But instead of targeting the members of a race, Harper’s hate speech operatives target a vast array of ideas and information as if it is all unified by some racist content and inspiration. That is outrageous! The silence has been deafening as the chilling effect has set in.
Rather than ethnic cleansing, the Harper Conservatives have engaged in a concerted attempt of intellectual cleansing aimed at stopping the fast unraveling of the 911 Cover Up. A shared interest in maintaining the 911 Cover Up has long united Bush and Harper. If these like-minded lobbyists for the oil industry had nothing to hide, wouldn’t they be happy to encourage those of us seeking a real investigation into the many documented features of the 911 saga that do not conform with the interpretations we were given just as the Great Shock was beginning to sink in during September of 2001?
The editors of the annual publication listing the top censored stories of 2009 have just included in their most current list the failure of the North American media to report on the inroads of the 911 Truth Movement into the parliamentary proceedings of the Japanese government. Are the decisions of those editors and the viewpoints of Japanese 911 truthers like House of Councillors representative, Yukihisa Fujita, to be explained away by the likes of Stephen Harper as the demented hate mongering of crazed anti-Semites?
11:18 PM
Bernie Farber: The wilful blindness of Lesley Hughes and her beliefs
No one is laughing anymore. Here’s a recent hitpiece that I read in the National Post today. If you haven’t read the NP today, you should probably do so. Perhaps avoid paying for a copy, which does mean steal it. I meant go to the library or something. (Comment by Patrick)
Bernie M. Farber is CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress
“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, the1903 antisemitic Czarist Russian forgery, is the cornerstone of the modern twist on the centuries-old calumny alleging a global Jewish power conspiracy. Through its wider distribution in the United States by Henry Ford and its resonance with the Nazi régime in Germany it became, in the words of historian Norman Cohn, a “warrant for genocide”. The Holocaust should have laid this longstanding canard to rest. But in fact, the message of the Protocols has endured through its regular exposure as historical truth in Arab media, and even through their wide availability for sale at the UN-sponsored World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in early September 2001.
Barely a week after the Conference ended, radical Islamists attacked the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon on September 11th. Out of this tragedy emerged the twenty-first century incarnation of the Protocols and the Jewish/Zionist world conspiracy: Jews and Israelis were not only warned in advance and stayed home that day but were behind the attacks in the first place.
Aside from the obvious whitewashing of the actual perpetrators of 9/11, such accusations are the latest addition to the shameful continuum of antisemitic allegations of global dominance, rapacious control of the media and international financial institutions, and secret cabals manipulating world events for profit and monopoly. One supposes that fantasies will always be with us, but this one is distinct from, say, the alien abduction of Elvis, for one very important reason: it evokes the poisonous notion that Jews/Israelis/Zionists (usually interchangeable in this calculus) callously engineered the slaughter of thousands of innocent people, including two dozen Canadian victims, as part of a malevolent plan to rule the world.
It is for this reason that Canadian Jewish Congress so vigorously opposes the purveyors of such obscene allegations and challenges the veracity of the misinformation, innuendo and outright lies that purportedly underpins their “search for the truth,” It is why CJC sought, and still seeks, an apology from erstwhile Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes. Last week Hughes’ attempted apology was nothing more than a confused, defensive ramble, blaming readers of her post for concluding that her offensive, batty blog was, well, offensive and batty. No facts have ever been presented to verify the chilling accusations that Israel had foreknowledge of the September 11th terror attacks, and that an Israeli tenant vacated one of the Twin Towers a week before, “breaking their lease to do it.” Indeed, a simple Google search would have shown that no leases were ever “broken” by Israeli firms housed at the WTC. And the only former Israeli tenant, ZIM lines, had announced it would leave the WTC a full 6 months before the tragic attack by Al Qaeda terrorists. That is why we welcomed her dismissal, even if it meant the voters of Kildonan-St. Paul would have no Liberal candidate as an option.
Let’s be clear: CJC has never accused Ms. Hughes of being an antisemite. Nor is she the object of a witch hunt or the victim of thought police. She was damned by her own hand because of her unapologetic association with 9/11 Jewish conspiracy theories. If Ms. Hughes was, as she has suggested, simply “reporting” alternate theories to the generally “accepted” version of the events of September 11, she would have done well to clarify that those theories were antisemitic in nature because they represented a collective assault on the Jewish people and the essence of the community’s nature.
The reality is that people sometimes make unfortunate choices to support unsubstantiated theories. When these allegations create harm like this one does, though, those people must be held accountable. In a press conference held on Oct. 2, Ms. Hughes maintained her stubborn and seemingly purposeful wilful blindness on her wrong-headed embrace of this terrible slander. No one who subscribes to these hateful fantasies, and then refuses to recant when challenged, is fit to serve in the national legislature of a proudly pluralistic nation that counts respect for diversity among its core values.
The 9/11 Jewish conspiracy theories have no place in Canada. Repeated often enough they become the warrant for genocide for our time.
Full Article and comments here
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article de Haaretz, quotidien israélien important:Odigo says workers were warned of attack
Odigo fait partie de la famille Comverse, tout comme Verint !
À ne pas manquer:
2009: Mossad Link Found to One of Key 9-11 Hijackers
