Stephen Lendman

The Deepwater Horizon site is a crime scene. But instead of demanding prosecutions for culpable industry and Interior Department officials, Obama announced a commission to assuage public concern and anger, suppress vital truths, and obstruct justice, America's customary response to major government and corporate crimes - to wit, the notorious Warren, 9/11, and Space Shuttle Challenger Commissions. More about them below.

Crime Scene in the Gulf

On May 19, a National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Media Center release headlined, "BP Can't Be Left in Charge of Gulf Coast Crime Scene," saying:

On May 19, its President and CEO, Larry Schweiger, told the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee that "The federal government should immediately take over all environmental monitoring, testing, and public safety protection from BP. Too much information is now in the hands of BP's many lawyers and too little is being disclosed to the public....The Gulf of Mexico is a crime scene and the perpetrator cannot be left in charge of assessing the damage."

He also urged lawmakers hold oil companies and other corporations accountable and "to create a path that takes us truly beyond petroleum." Along with local agencies and residents, NWF is monitoring the damage and cleanup efforts in partnership with Louisiana's Wildlife Federation, its state affiliate and Coastal Louisiana office.

William N. Grigg

Irish Mobster Kevin Weeks

"Kill Them All, Let God Sort Them Out!"

Kevin Weeks was a career criminal employed as a Mob hitman, but even he possessed sufficient good judgment and self-restraint to avoid risking the life of a seven-year-old girl.

In Brutal, his aptly titled memoir of the years he spent working for Boston Mob boss – and protected FBI asset – James "Whitey" Bulger, Weeks describes how he was given an order to assassinate Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr, who relentlessly tormented Bulger in print. Weeks set up a sniper nest near Carr's home. He had the target set up for the kill, but didn't pull the trigger because Carr's daughter, "a little girl, like seven-years-old or so," was walking hand-in-hand with her father.

"I couldn't take a chance of the bullet fragmenting and ricocheting or hitting her or just killing her father in front of her," recounts Weeks.

David Walsh

The New York Times reported May 15 that the US military was continuing “to rely on a secret network” of spies and paramilitary assassins in Afghanistan and Pakistan, two months after the newspaper first brought the unit to public attention.

At the time, in March 2010, the network, under the supervision of Michael Furlong, a longtime Pentagon dirty tricks operator, was routinely described by the media and military US officials as “off-the-books” or “unauthorized.” Much ado was made about a Defense Department criminal investigation into Furlong’s activities and the millions of dollars spent on the program he allegedly directed.

The Washington Post asserted March 19 that the operation was shut down “late last year” and an investigation begun, and cited the comments of a US military official who primly claimed that Furlong “had stepped outside the boundaries of his contract and ‘didn’t want to operate within the constraints of how we do business.’”

This was simply so much dust thrown in the public’s eyes. In the first place, every indication suggests that Furlong’s intelligence and murder outfit was authorized at the highest levels of the Defense Department.