Leak of Secret Trade Document Reveals Sovereignty-Destroying Courts

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Written by  William F. Jasper

Why has the Obama administration kept the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement text secret from Congress and the American people? 

A newly leaked TPP chapter reveals at least one huge reason: The TPP text proposes creating tribunals (courts) that could overrule the decisions of our state and federal courts, as well as our local, state and federal laws — and our state and national constitutions.

The tribunals would be presided over by arbitrators (judges) appointed by the Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an institution of the World Bank Group. The ICSID is housed at the World Bank’s headquarters complex in Washington, D.C. The ICSID receives its funding from the World Bank and the ICSID’s governing Council is chaired by the President of the World Bank. So the proposed TPP tribunals are, in essence, a means for transferring judicial authority over vast areas of domestic law to “arbitrators” picked by the World Bank — and the central bankers and the giant commercial/investment bankers that run the World Bank.

On March 25, the international organization WikiLeaks released the “Investment Chapter” of the still-classified Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that the Obama administration has been secretly negotiating for the past several years. Despite repeated calls from members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, as well as legal scholars and law professors for the administration to make good on its pledges of transparency, the TPP negotiations have remained a closed, secret  process — except for the representatives of major corporations and Wall Street banks, along with other privileged “stakeholders,” who are not only given access to the TPP documents, but even allowed to participate in negotiations.

The WikiLeaks release of the TPP’s Chapter 2 on investment should assist patriots who are trying to build opposition to this dangerous agreement that represents a giant step toward regional and global government. It also confirms what The New American has reported over the past several years: that TPP was following in the footsteps of NAFTA, the WTO and other “free trade” arrangements that are rapidly eroding U.S. national sovereignty and independence.

Among the significant articles included in Chapter 2 is “Article II.21: Selection of Arbitrators.” This section tells us, among other things: “The Secretary-General [of ICSID] shall serve as appointing authority for an arbitration under this Section.” It states further: “if a tribunal has not been constituted within 75 days from the date that a claim is submitted to arbitration under this Section, the Secretary-General, on the request of a disputing party, shall appoint, in his or her discretion, the arbitrators not yet appointed.”

As we have noted in previous articles, Secretary of State John Kerry has been a key operative in overseeing the TPP negotiations. While he was a U.S. Senator, Kerry supported and voted for NAFTA. Years later, when NAFTA tribunals began overruling U.S. law and U.S. court decisions, Kerry used the innocence-through-ignorance defense, claiming to have been completely blindsided by the Chapter 11 tribunals that were in the agreement he voted for. 

"When we debated NAFTA," Kerry told the New York Times, "not a single word was uttered in discussing Chapter 11. Why? Because we didn't know how this provision would play out. No one really knew just how high the stakes would get." But it is not true that “no one really knew” of the danger from the tribunals; this publication, along with others warned of this very danger. But Senator Kerry and other NAFTA supporters chose to ignore, or scoff at, those warnings. Moreover, it was his duty to know what was in the agreement before voting for it; the claim of ignorance is a self-incriminating excuse.

In its unauthorized release of the purported TPP text on March 25, Wikileaks provides this description:

This is an advanced January 2015 version of the confidential draft treaty chapter from the Investment groups of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks between the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei Darussalam. The treaty is being negotiated in secret by delegations from each of these 12 countries, who together account for 40% of global GDP. The chapter covers agreements on investments from one TPP nation to another, including empowering foreign firms to “sue” other states’ governments, as well as regulations around investor-state dispute settlements and tribunals. This document was prepared by TPP investment chapter negotiators in advance of the informal round of negotiations held in New York City 26th January to 1st February, 2015.

The WikiLeaks release also highlights another audacious feature of the TPP that we have reported previously: not only are the negotiations being conducted in secrecy, and not only are the TPP text documents being withheld from the public and the public’s elected representatives, but even more outrageous is the effort by the TPP negotiators to keep the agreement (or at least certain portions of the agreement and the negotiating process) secret for four years after it goes into effect! At the beginning of the newly released Chapter 2 is this classification notice: Finish reading

US military officers resort to lying and deception at all levels, finds damning official report

• Shock 52-page report finds dishonesty at all levels in the U.S. Army 
• Warns officers have become 'ethically numb' and urges quick action 
• Says leaders 'espouse lofty values' but slog 'through mire of dishonesty' 
• Finds personnel expect requested information to be 'questionable' 
• But notes staff are 'happy to go along with the illusion all is well'  

By Flora Drury For Mailonline

Published: 08:55 EST, 20 February 2015

A damning official report claims dishonesty within the U.S. military is so endemic that everyone assumes they are being lied to at all times.

The shock report calls on officials to 'urgently confront the corrupting influence of dishonesty' within the army, warning officers have become 'ethically numb'.

The situation has become so bad, the executive summary concludes it has 'allowed leaders to espouse lofty professional values while slogging through the mire of dishonesty and deceit'. 

Dishonesty: The report claims dishonesty is endemic in the army on all levels, discovering personnel expect to not be told the truth at certain points, and accusing officers of becoming 'ethically numb' (Stock picture)

The report's executive summary also claims 'much of the deception and dishonesty... is actually encouraged and sanctioned by the military institution'.

Report authors Leonard Wong and Stephen J. Gerras say it is often justified one of three ways: 'mission accomplishment', 'supporting the troops' or that the task or reporting requirement is unreasonable or 'dumb'.

They go onto note lying and 'adjusting the truth' is so common, military personnel who order a report do not trust its content.

The report authors, who interviewed staff at all levels in the army in order to compile the 53-page document, state: 'It appears that a peculiar situation where those requesting the information, and those supplying it know that the information is questionable.'

However, they add, personnel are 'happy to go along with the illusion all is well'.  

Concerns: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sent a memo to military leaders before he stepped down from his post asking to deal with 'unethical or morally questionable behaviour'

The report, created for the Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press, say comes just a week after departing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's final words of advice to senior military staff were to sort out 'unethical behaviour'.

According to CNN, Hagel wrote: 'The vast majority of our senior leaders are men and women who have earned the special trust and confidence afforded them by the American people.

'However, when senior leaders forfeit this trust through unprofessional, unethical or morally questionable behavior, their actions have an enormously negative effect on the profession.' 

via dailymail

Washington's Al Qaeda Ally Now Leading ISIS in Libya

 Republican senators McCain & Graham heroes to some, traitors to most. While they will not be punished by congress which acts unlawfully itself, this pair must be removed by the voters of those respective states. 

Additionally, state governors for years have condoned the respective national guard regiments to be deployed in the undeclared overseas wars upon many nations - and lives. Those unlawful acts should be nullified by governors immediately.

March 9, 2015 (Eric Draitser - NEO) - The revelations that US ally Abdelhakim Belhadj is now leading ISIS in Libya should come as no surprise to those who have followed US policy in that country, and throughout the region. It illustrates for the umpteenth time that Washington has provided aid and comfort to precisely those forces it claims to be fighting around the world.

According to recent reports, Abdelhakim Belhadj has now firmly ensconced himself as the organizational commander of the ISIS presence inside Libya. The information comes from an unnamed US intelligence official who has confirmed that Belhadj is supporting and coordinating the efforts of the ISIS training centers in eastern Libya around the city of Derna, an area long known as a hotbed of jihadi militancy.

While it may not seem to be a major story – Al Qaeda terrorist turns ISIS commander – the reality is that since 2011 the US and its NATO allies have held up Belhadj as a “freedom fighter.” They portrayed him as a man who courageously led his fellow freedom-lovers against the “tyrannical despot” Gaddafi whose security forces at one time captured and imprisoned many members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), including Belhadj.

Belhadj served the US cause in Libya so well that he can be seen receiving accolades from Sen. John McCain who referred to Belhadj and his followers as heroes. He was initially rewarded after the fall of Gaddafi with the post of military commander of Tripoli, though he was forced to give way to a more politically palatable “transitional government” which has since evaporated in that chaotic, war-ravaged country.

Belhadj’s history of terrorist activity includes such “achievements” as collaboration with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, and of course his convenient servitude to the US-NATO sponsored rampage across Libya that, among other things, caused mass killings of black Libyans and anyone suspected of being part of the Green Resistance (those loyal to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya led by Gaddafi). Although the corporate media tried to make a martyr of Belhadj for his alleged torture via the CIA rendition program, the inescapable fact is that wherever he goes he leaves a violent and bloody wake.

While much of this information is known, what is of paramount importance is placing this news in a proper political context, one that illustrates clearly the fact that the US has been, and continues to be, the major patron of extremist militants from Libya to Syria and beyond, and that all talk of “moderate rebels” is merely rhetoric designed to fool an unthinking public.

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend…Until He Isn’t

There is ample documented evidence of Belhadj’s association with Al Qaeda and his terrorist exploits the world over. Variousreports have highlighted his experiences fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and he himself has boasted of killing US troops in Iraq. However, it was in Libya in 2011 where Belhadj became the face of the “rebels” seeking to topple Gaddafi and the legal government of Libya.

As the New York Times reported:

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was formed in 1995 with the goal of ousting Colonel Qaddafi. Driven into the mountains or exile by Libyan security forces, the group’s members were among the first to join the fight against Qaddafi security forces… Officially the fighting group does not exist any longer, but the former members are fighting largely under the leadership of Abu Abdullah Sadik [aka Abdelhakim Belhadj].

So, not only was Belhadj a participant in the US-NATO war on Libya, he was one of its most powerful leaders, heading a battle-hardened jihadist faction that constituted the leading edge of the war against Gaddafi. Nowhere was this more clearly demonstrated than when the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) took the lead in the attack on Gaddafi’s compound at Bab al-Aziziya. In this regard, LIFG was provided intelligence, and likely also tactical support, from US intelligence and the US military.

This new information about Belhadj’s association with the suddenly globally relevant ISIS certainly bolsters the argument that this writer, among many others, has made since 2011 – that the US-NATO war on Libya was waged by terrorist groups overtly and tacitly supported by US intelligence and the US military. Moreover, it dovetails with other information that has surfaced in recent years, information that shines a light on how the US exploited for its own geopolitical purposes one of the most active terrorist hotbeds anywhere in the world.

According to the recent reports, Belhadj is directly involved with supporting the ISIS training centers in Derna. Of course Derna should be well known to anyone who has followed Libya since 2011, because that city, along with Tobruk and Benghazi, were the centers of anti-Gaddafi terrorist recruitment in the early days of the “uprising” all through the fateful year of 2011. But Derna was known long before that as a locus of militant extremism. FINISH READING

A Lone Wolf President & His Executive Orders

Can the president rewrite federal laws? Can he alter their meaning? Can he change their effect? These are legitimate questions in an era in which we have an unpopular progressive Democratic president who has boasted that he can govern without Congress by using his phone and his pen, and a mostly newly elected largely conservative Republican Congress with its own ideas about big government.

These are not hypothetical questions. In 2012, President Obama signed executive orders that essentially said to about 1.7 million unlawfully present immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before their 16th birthdays and who are not yet 31 years of age that if they complied with certain conditions that he made up out of thin air they will not be deported.

In 2014, the president signed additional executive orders that essentially made the same offer to about 4.7 million unlawfully present immigrants, without the age limits that he had made up out of thin air. A federal court enjoined enforcement of the 2014 orders last month.

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission — the bureaucrats appointed by the president who regulate broadcast radio and television — decreed that it has the authority to regulate the Internet, even though federal courts have twice ruled that it does not.

Also last week, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, whose director is appointed by the president, proposed regulations that would outlaw the only mass-produced bullets that can be fired from an AR-15 rifle. This rifle has been the target of the left for many years because it looks like a military weapon; yet it is a lawful and safe civilian rifle commonly owned by many Americans.

This week, the president’s press secretary told reporters that the president is seriously thinking of signing executive orders intended to raise taxes on corporations by directing the IRS to redefine tax terminology so as to increase corporate tax burdens. He must have forgotten that those additional taxes would be paid by either the shareholders or the customers of those corporations, and those shareholders and customers elected a Congress they had every right to expect would be writing the tax laws. He has eviscerated that right.

What’s going on here?

What’s going on is the exercise of authoritarian impulses by a desperate president terrified of powerlessness and irrelevance, the Constitution be damned. I say “damned” because when the president writes laws, whether under the guise of administrative regulations or executive orders, he is effectively damning the Constitution by usurping the powers of Congress.

The Constitution could not be clearer.

Article I, section 1 begins, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” Obama actually asked Congress to write the laws he is now purporting to write, and Congress declined, and so he does so at his peril.

In 1952, President Truman seized America’s closed steel mills because steel workers went on strike and the military needed hardware to fight the Korean War. He initially asked Congress for authorization to do this, and Congress declined to give it to him; so he seized the mills anyway. His seizure was challenged by Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., then a huge operator of steel mills. In a famous Supreme Court decision, the court enjoined the president from operating the mills.

Youngstown is not a novel or arcane case. The concurring opinion by Justice Robert Jackson articulating the truism that when the president acts in defiance of Congress he operates at his lowest ebb of constitutional power and can be enjoined by the courts unless he is in an area uniquely immune from congressional authority is among the most highly regarded and frequently cited concurring opinions in modern court history. It reminds the president and the lawyers who advise him that the Constitution imposes limits on executive power.

The president’s oath of office underscores those limits. It requires that he enforce the laws faithfully. The reason James Madison insisted on using the word “faithfully” in the presidential oath and putting the oath itself into the Constitution was to instill in presidents the realization that they may need to enforce laws with which they disagree — even laws they hate.

But Obama rejects the Youngstown decision and the Madisonian logic. Here is a president who claims he can kill Americans without due process, spy on Americans without individualized probable cause, start wars on his own, borrow money on his own, regulate the Internet, ban lawful guns, tell illegal immigrants how to avoid the consequences of federal law, and now raise taxes on his own.

One of the safeguards built into the Constitution is the separation of powers: Congress writes the laws, the president enforces the laws, and the courts interpret them. The purpose of this separation is to prevent the accumulation of too much power in the hands of too few — a valid fear when the Constitution was written and a valid fear today.

When the president effectively writes the laws, Congress is effectively neutered. 

Yet, the reason we have the separation of powers is not to protect Congress, but to protect all individuals from the loss of personal liberty. Under Obama, that loss has been vast. Will Congress and the courts do anything about it?

COPYRIGHT 2015 ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO

source 10thACtr

General Petraeus Accused of Founding ISIS/ISIL

1st posted by CV 11.16.14

Could Petraeus be carrying out orders from above? We think so. 

Is your "support" for our troops with the belief they're acting in America's national defense? Really? Or, are they and former foreign friends being sent to die for an enemy embedded within our gates. Something you may want to ponder. While doing so, your thrust for their safety - and our own -  demand they return home.

 

Thursday, November 6th, 2014 | Posted by Veterans Today

Western special services might be behind ISIS terrorists – Intel veteran

From Russia Today

The leaders of Islamic terrorists could be under the direct influence of NATO and Western powers using their movements to threaten Russia’s territorial integrity, says a former general of Russian military intelligence service.

“There are some grounds to suspect that American and British special services could support the Islamic extremists in order to target the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation,” Lieutenant-General Nikolai Pushkaryov, formerly of the Central Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff said in an interview with the RIA-Novosti news agency. “The top of these movements can be under the influence of NATO agents,” he added.

The general also commented on the statement by the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who promised to destroy any Islamic terrorist who voiced threats against Russia.

Kadyrov also told reporters that Chechen special services intended to hunt down and kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the head of the Islamic State group (also known as ISIL and ISIS), adding that this man had been recruited to work for the US by General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, and former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Back then, Kadyrov claimed the Islamic State “was acting on orders from the West and Europe.”

Pushkaryov said in his interview that he took Kadyrov’s words very seriously and believed that the head of the Chechen Republic could bring his plans to fruition. “I have a great respect towards Ramzan Kadyrov. If he and his men want to find this man, they would be capable of doing it,” he stated.

The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Aleksandr Bortnikov named the Islamic State as a primary threat at the meeting of the heads of special services of the CIS states on Wednesday.

Bortnikov said that IS terrorists receive combat training and experience in Iraq and Syria and then return to their home countries, including the CIS nations, as instructors, recruiters and experts in the terrorist underground. 

He added that the Taliban and other radical groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan were ready to adopt these methods and this carried additional threats to the CIS countries.

Russia has acknowledged the threat that comes from the Islamic State and promised to support countries and groups fighting against the organization. In September US Secretary of State John Kerry said that in his view Russia must join the international fight against the IS terrorists.

 The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats, Ilya Rogachev, said that the country “did not expect any invitations and was not going to buy entry tickets,” into the US-led anti-IS coalition.

See our General Petraeus files:

Charleston Voice: Petraeus Affair: Shirtless FBI Pic Appears to Be ...

Nov 21, 2012 ... Petraeus Affair: Shirtless FBI Pic Appears to Be Playful - ABC News.

Charleston Voice: General Petraeus may have been officially ...

Sep 9, 2013 ... Another special forces veteran, retired Colonel James Coffman, worked with Steele and reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had ...

Charleston Voice: Cover-up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Nov 11, 2012 ... “What I do know is that an integral part of that firewall involved having information on Petraeus that would potentially damage his career, legacy ...

Charleston Voice: CIA-Sponsored Trolls Monitor Internet & Interact ...

Nov 29, 2012 ... Petraeus is seeking to better the CIA's ability to create online identities for undercover spies. Currently, each internet user has a digital footprint ...

Traitors Within the Gates: CFR's Military Membership Roster

Oct 6, 2014 ... GEN David Petraeus - Director CIA (Aug. 2011) Resigned 11/9/12 Admitted Adulterer present Commander of U.S. and Coalition forces in ...

Charleston Voice: Could Theft of $500M Fuel in Afghanistan be ...

Sep 11, 2012 ... Could Theft of $500M Fuel in Afghanistan be another Thread to be Unraveled on Petraeus' Watch? Posted by Charleston Voice ...

Charleston Voice: Mossad Chief Secretly Met With Top U.S. Officials ...

Feb 1, 2012 ... Feinstein then indicated that she had met Mossad chief Pardo earlier in the week in Washington, with Petraeus adding that he too met Pardo ...

Charleston Voice: U.S. Escalates Drone War in Yemen

Mar 31, 2012 ... About two weeks after the strike, U.S. General David Petraeus, now the director of the CIA, met with Yemen's then-dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Charleston Voice: Enemies Within Our Gates: Jane Harman and ...

Aug 1, 2013 ... It is astounding to find that one of the handful of prospects being floated to become CIA director following the fall of General David Petraeus is a ...

CIA 1960s Black Ops Plot to Terrorize US Cities & Blame Cuba

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Operation Northwoods memorandum (13 March 1962)^[1]

Operation Northwoods was a series of false-flag proposals that originated in 1962 within the United States government, and which the Kennedy administration rejected. ^[2] The proposals called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or other operatives, to commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and elsewhere.

Israeli Flag Flies in Texas

How can an elected US representative sworn by oath to support and defend our Constitution still purvey allegiance to another? She's what they're calling a "conservative Republican" these days. Many would regard her as a traitor and counterfeit Christian. You decide.

February 23, 2015   AFP  

By Trevor LaBonte —

AUSTIN, Texas—“Blessed are you, Lord God, Creator of the Universe. You have supplied us all that we need for life and productivity. I pray that you will bless Israel, especially in oil productivity. Father, I ask that you will lead the engineers to find the riches of the world hidden deep beneath the surface of the Earth. May all those involved have ears to hear your voice as you lead them to the vast oil fields in Israel. 

In Jesus name I pray, amen.” So go the words of Texas state representative and “Christian Zionist” Molly Suzanne White, on the Zion Oil and Gas Facebook page in 2014.

Why did Representative White feel the need to ask God to bless an Israeli company? According to financial disclosure reports, she is also an investor in the Israeli company. This is the same Texas state representative who was recently caught up in considerable controversy when she decided to place an Israeli flag on the reception desk in the entrance of her state office.

“Today is Texas Muslim Capital day [sic] in Austin,” White explained in a statement on the Internet. “The House is in recess until Monday. Most members including myself are back in district. I did leave an Israeli flag on the reception desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws. We will see how long they stay in my office.”

Whatever one may think about Islam, White’s ridiculous demonstration shows she understands little of what is going on in the Mideast.

White wants everyone to accept United States law, so why not place a Texas flag on her desk? Or simply Old Glory?

Her obvious political and financial ties with the illegitimate, border-less, constitution-less, usurping Zionist entity more than call into question her own commitment to America and Texas.

Her explanation was that she wants Muslims to apologize for terrorism, even though considerable evidence proves that Israel, not Muslims, was behind the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Osama bin Laden was never charged with the attack officially because the Federal Bureau of Investigation could not produce evidence that he had anything to do with it.

In addition, this newspaper has been reporting that other Islamic terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, Jahbat al Nusra and Islamic State have been armed, funded and trained by the Israelis and their proxies. Their mission has been to terrorize and weaken the region to make way for the “Greater Israel” project, which allows Israel to completely absorb Palestine and spread beyond its current borders into Egypt and Jordan.

Representative White is clearly playing along with the Jewish state’s propaganda, but she faced an intense firestorm of criticism by outraged Americans who are aware of Israel’s many deceptions.

And while White would like to blame all terrorism on Muslims, she neglects to mention the long history of bloody terrorist acts carried out by Israel over the last century, including Israel’s long history of treacherous false-flag operations blamed on Muslims. These include the King David Hotel Bombing, the “Lavon Affair,” the June 8, 1967 USS Liberty attack and, of course, 9-11.

This reporter reached out Representative White’s office as well Texas Governor Greg Abbott for a statement. After repeated attempts to contact them, neither could be bothered to respond.

Trevor LaBonte is a writer and musician who lives in Austin, Texas. 

Posted in: National News

America’s Retreat From Victory: General George C. Marshall's Betrayal of His Country by Sen. Joseph McCarthy

This could easily be one of the best short books you could read to get a snapshot of how we got into the mess we're in today. If you're a veteran, you too, will be infuriated. Certainly for older home-schoolers. [Link for online reading at end of post]

Also:  The Real McCarthy Record 

AUDIO CLIP 3min.	Marshall mission to China, 1951
Speaker	McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957
Description	Senator McCarthy describes the alleged role played by General George C. Marshall in the fall of Nationalist China to Communist forces. McCarthy discusses the secret instructions that guided the General's mission to China at the end of World War II. On June 14, 1951 McCarthy had delivered a long speech against Marshall on the floor of the Senate, and this excerpt provides a sample of how he treated Marshall in subsequent addresses. These particular remarks were made at the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club in Huntington, West Virginia.

---

Allen West, Another Republican Neo-Con

 Kelleigh Nelson February 16, 2015

Allen West, Another Neo-Con 

Our 'neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell. -Edward Abbey, American author

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 22:30-31

Allen West's Military Service

Allen Bernard West was born in Georgia, graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and then joined the United States Army in 1983. He was deployed to Kuwait in 1991, and Iraq in 2003. In 2003, West was charged in an incident that involved the beating and simulated execution of an Iraqi police officer. He was fined $5,000, accepted a Non-judicial punishment and after 20 years of service, was allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel after an Article 32 hearing.

West made an agonizing moral decision to save his men from a likely ambush. To do so, he shot off a pistol next to the head of a suspect, forcing him to confess vital lifesaving intelligence. Col. West didn't do that to punish the man, but to save lives, and it worked. However, the military considered his actions to be harsh interrogation tactics.

West reported his actions to his superiors, and he had to know it would cost him his career. He very well could have ended up in prison as well as having the instance cost him personal agonies. Yet, he made the right decision and it saved his men.

In 2004, Col. West returned to Afghanistan as an adviser to the Afghan army, an assignment he finished in November 2007. During his Army career, he was honored many times, earning a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with Valor), and a Valorous Unit Award. He received his valor award as a Captain in Desert Shield/Storm, was the US Army ROTC Instructor of the Year in 1993, and was a Distinguished Honor Graduate III Corps Assault School.

West Runs for Congressman

In 2008, when Col. West ran for representative in Florida's 22nd Congressional District, he lost to Democrat Ron Klein.

West was one of 32 black Republican candidates for Congress in 2010. He said he supported the Tea Party movement and rejected the notion that the movement was motivated by racism, saying the accusation was a creation of liberal critics and the news media. West was described as a "tea party star." His stance on Islamic terrorists convinced many patriotic and conservative Americans to support him for Congress. He has even spoken out about Islamists infiltrating the military. He raised $5.4 million and stated that 97% of his donations came from individuals, and I was happy to be one of those individuals. I thought West was truly a Constitutional conservative, but once again, I was wrong.

Congressman West became a member of the congressional Tea Party Caucus in February 2011. 

However, the TP Caucus died a quick death and was all but defunct by 2012.

On February 1, 2012, West announced that he would run for reelection from the new 18th Congressional District, which consists of a majority of the previous 16th Congressional District. He had been redistricted. He received a primary challenge from Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder, but won the primary. Crowder later endorsed Democrat Patrick Murphy, a political newcomer and a Republican until 2011. Unfortunately, West lost his re-election bid to Murphy, and it was not only because of being redistricted, but because he had lost his grassroots Tea Party support. Here is why he lost that support:

Allen West voted for the Pigford II farm payouts to non-existent black farmers against his constituents' wishes, and the TP people were quite angry about it. Allen apologized and admitted he didn't do his homework.

Allen West supported Speaker John Boehner's plan for cutting spending and raising the debt ceiling, even though his fellow Tea Party supporters were very skeptical. (Link) Cut Cap and Balance raised the debt limit against his constituents' wishes. (Link)

When Congressman West was interviewed on the Laura Ingraham show after the debt vote, Ingraham asked him how he felt about his Tea Party supporters being very angry at him for his vote. He actually answered her by calling his Tea Party supporters, "Schizos." (Video recording)

Allen West voted against cutting 100 Million from Obama care, against his constituents' wishes. (Link)

Allen West voted for the horrid NDAA and insists there is nothing in the bill that would allow military arrest and detention of American citizens. I've read the bill and hundreds of others have too. (Link) Allen West was on the NDAA committee. (Link) And why was there a provision that would allow the president to order the death of an American citizen without a trial? (Link) Again, this was against the wishes of his constituents.

Col. Allen West has capitulated on his anti-Islam stance. (Link) He wrote a letter to members of the Interfaith Alliance which was in contrast to his previous speeches stating his stance on Islamic terrorists.

These various votes cost West his Tea Party backing. Here's a link to West's Congressional voting record.

West's New CEO Position

On Tuesday, February 12, 2015, the Tea Parties in northern Texas hosted an event to welcome former Congressman Allen West to Texas. He has been named the CEO of the formerly conservative National Center for Policy Analysis, (NCPA) a national policy think tank based in Dallas. Since the libertarian Koch brothers gave the organization $570,000, the NCPA is singing a different tune. (The Koch brothers are planning to spend $1 billion on the election in 2016, partly for a Rand Paul presidency. (Link) David Koch is on the board of Trustees of Rockefeller University. He is also on the board of Earthwatch Institute, an environmental, sustainability, Agenda 21 group. See this map of Koch's many connections. David Koch also supports gay marriage and stem-cell research. He is also on the board of the globalist new age Aspen Institute formerly headed by new age environmentalist, and UN Agenda 21 author, Maurice Strong.) 

Under the "About" category in the NCPA website, you'll find dozens of their experts, and the first person listed is Bob McTeer, who is best known for his 36-year career with the Federal Reserve System, including 14 years as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). 

Another expert is Estelle James, PhD, who is a consultant to the World Bank, USAID and other international organizations. Previously she was Lead Economist at the World Bank and Director of the Bank's flagship course on pension reform. She has also served on the Governing Board of the new pension fund in Kosovo and the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security in the U.S. 

NCPA (Allen West) Invites Traitor to Lecture in Dallas

Finish reading article

Also:

Allen West Wrong on Nullification and Supremacy Clause