Peter Thottam 9/11 Truth & Impeachment Activist on Questioning War- Organizing Resistance
Peter Thottam is a 9/11 Truth activist in Los Angeles, a former US State Assembly Candidate for the 53rd District, Green Party member and Attorney residing in Venice, California. He is the moving force behind the new Los Angeles Impeachment Center which opened July 4th 2007, and drew much media coverage, including a lead article on impeachment in the Los Angeles Times.
Peter received his undergraduate degree with honors from Yale University where he majored in both (1) Economics and (2) Ethics, Government & Philosophy. He has a law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Business.
A longtime activist, a former Democrat and an active member of the Green Party since 1998, Peter was so appalled at the deteriorating media coverage in the USA and so convinced that a tragic and mistaken war with Iraq was pending that he actually resigned from his job as a West LA Corporate Attorney in 2002 in order to focus exclusively on his antiwar work with various antiwar and progressive groups. Peter spent a full year completely dedicated to organizing marches, teach-ins and political lobbying efforts in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York and working actively with ANSWERLA, 9/11TruthLA with the Green Party, Progressive Democrats and with Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace.
Born in Africa and coming from an Indian background, Mr. Thottam is also fluent in Spanish. He believes it is critical to internationalize his district's local economy and global sister city outreach efforts as well to encourage cultural cross-communications and understanding for existing residents. He has traveled extensively in Mexico and throughout Africa, South Asia and East Asia.
Peter and other activists were succssful in passing two important resolutions at the recent U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, one on impeachment, the other on demanding a real investigation of 9/11.
Here are the texts of the resolutions:
- US Social Forum Resolution calling for the impeachment, conviction and removal from office of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.
WHEREAS, in accordance with the 2007 U.S. Social Forum's Charter of Principles we are united in our opposition to "...any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society..." and are united in the common purpose of social, economic and political justice; and
WHEREAS, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney have repeatedly and intentionally violated the Constitution of the United States causing the People to question the integrity of both the President and Vice President and to suspect that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed. These violations include but are not limited to:
- * Violating the People's Constitutional right to privacy in their persons and papers by engaging in a persistent, secret and unregulated pattern of domestic surveillance that bypasses the institution (FISA) established for that purpose.
* Conspiring to deprive United States citizens of Constitutional legal protections and access to Justice when charged with or suspected of crimes.
* Exceeding Constitutional Authority to wage war by invading a sovereign nation in direct defiance of the United Nations Security Council.
* Acting upon an interpretation of the Constitution (the "unitary executive") that ignores standard Separation of Powers and regards the Presidency as unlimited in ability to wage war, bypass civil liberties and remain above the law.
WHEREAS, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney repeatedly and intentionally misled the Congress, the International Community and the American People as to the risks posed by Iraq, as well as other groups or nations. These misrepresentations, and the actions they triggered, resulted in substantial loss of life to the People of the United States, loss of national treasure and the diminution of our nation's standing in the world. Such misrepresentations include:* Influencing, manipulating and distorting intelligence prepared by national agencies such as the CIA, NSA and FBI, so as to present a biased view of events that would support specific strategies favored by the Administration.
* Knowingly and publicly presenting untrue statements regarding Saddam Hussein's acquiring uranium resources from Africa as part of a reconstituted Nuclear Program, as well as additional untrue statements that Iraq had fully active Chemical and Biological Programs as well.
* Presenting doctored photographs and satellite images to the domestic and international community to support such lies and manipulations.
WHEREAS, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney have engaged in a pattern of behavior considered to be War Crimes per the Geneva Accords, United Nations Charter and other international treaties to which the United States is a signatory. This behavior includes use of torture, rendering persons to a third party where they will undergo torture and confinement without access to courts of law.WHEREAS, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney have abused their powers under the Constitution plus engaged in a pattern of lying and deceit to cover up such abuses. These abuses include:
- * Excessive and obstructive use of Presidential Signing Statements as a strategy to bypass the execution of duly passed legislation as required under the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine.
* Prohibiting, delaying and limiting cabinet members and staff members of the Administration from providing information to Congress in support of Congress' standard oversight role. .
* Revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent (Valerie Plame) engaged in Middle East intelligence work, presumably as a response to policy criticism by her spouse (Ambassador Wilson).
* Undermining the integrity, readiness and efficacy of governmental agencies such that the People are not reliably served and have reason to doubt the fair and equitable use of national resources. Examples include the Department of Justice, Veterans Administration, FE MA, National Guard, no-bid/no-oversight of government contracting and deployment of our nation's Armed Forces without providing for sufficient equipment, training and mission planning.
BE IT RESOLVED, that the 2007 United States Social Forum, the first United States Social Forum, supports the impeachment of George W. Bush, President of the United States and Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States for high crimes and misdemeanors and if found guilty be removed from office.BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be presented to every Member of Congress.
WAR, MILITARISM & THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
U.S. SOCIAL FORUM SUPPORTS CINDY SHEEHAN'S CALL FOR A NEW INDEPENDENT AND INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CAUSES AND CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
WHEREAS, in accordance with the 2007 U.S. Social Forum's Charter of Principles we are united in our opposition to "...any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society..." and are united in the common purpose of social, economic and political justice; and
WHEREAS, the attacks of September 11, 2001 have been consistently used by the U.S. government as the basis for preemptive illegal wars and empire building, commonly known as the "Bush Doctrine"; and
WHEREAS, the so-called "war on terrorism" has become an excuse for the unprecedented destruction of civil liberties, the erosion of constitutional rights, of domestic surveillance of U.S. citizens, and illegal detention of immigrants; and
WHEREAS, the vast economic, intellectual and psychological resources of the American people has been redirected away from needy communities and towards the pursuit of endless war and global hegemony in a marriage of corporatism and policy; and
WHEREAS, the 9/11 Commission and their resulting report were clearly compromised by conflicts of interest and ignored, distorted and omitted numerous crucial facts surrounding the attacks of September 11 2001 to fit the officially sanctioned story; and
WHEREAS, members of at least 80 countries died on September 11, 2001; and
WHEREAS, according to numerous national polls, as much as 84% of Americans state they have significant unanswered questions about the events of September 11, 2001;
WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE 2007 UNITED STATES SOCIAL FORUM, HEREBY RESOLVE:
To support and pursue the growing calls for a new, international and fully independent investigation into the causes and events surrounding the attacks on September 11, 2001.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be presented to every Member of Congress.
We will be discussing our local impeachment efforts, media coverage of the impeachment issues, mobilizing greater support for impeachment.The weekly radio show- Questioning War- Organizing Resistance is hosted by Carol Brouillet, a longtime activist who organized three conferences on Strategies to Transform the Global Economy and (the first) marches on her Senators and Congresswoman in January 2002 to Demand a Congressional Investigation of 9-11. She publishes the Deception Dollars, and Co-Founded the 9-11 Truth Alliance, and the Northern California 9-11 Truth Alliance . She organized premieres of films, educational events, marches, rallies for 9-11 Truth, the San Francisco International Inquiry into 9-11, and produced the film Behind Every Terrorist- There is a Bush. She is also a mother of three boys and has held a weekly Listening Project in downtown Palo Alto since October 2001, and monthly impeachment rallies since February 2007. She ran for Congress in 2006 on the Green Party ticket on a 9-11 Truth, Peace, Impeachment platform.
Trento's Column: Bobby and J. Edgar - A New Secret History Print
Written by Joe Trento
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
My colleague Burton Hersh has a new book out that is well worth reading to understand the context of contemporary history. I recommend Bobby and J. Edgar: The Bitter Face-Off Between The Kennedys and Hoover (Carrol & Graf, $27.95). Hersh understands the Kennedys better then any other living historian. He also has something rare for a historian – Hersh understands the intelligence community and how its leadership targets and manipulates Presidents through the men around them. The lessons in this book about the 1950s and 60s apply very well to how easy it is to manipulate the politically ambitious.Image
There is truly astonishing information in this book. You will learn that Hoover was frantic to bury the John Kennedy and Oswald cases because he was trying to cover up the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald has been a paid FBI informant. Hersh has no document to support the Oswald informant story, but he skillfully interviewed a top FBI counterintelligence official who read files confirming that Oswald was on the Bureau payroll when he was in New Orleans. This is a vital lead that reporters should follow-up.
I can independently confirm that Hoover had tried to spy on the activities of the Warren Commission investigating JFK’s death. My late friend and co-author, Lt. Col. William R. Corson, who worked for the commission used to complain about how Hoover had tried to spy on the commission. Thanks to Hersh we now know why. This means that rather than look into the possibility that the Soviets may have been behind Kennedy’s murder, the Director of the FBI had to cover up the Bureau’s relationship with Oswald.
Hoover destroyed the career of a wonderful FBI official named Elbert “Bert” Turner who was removed from FBI headquarters and blamed for the missing Oswald files. Turner was sent down to the Washington Field Office (WFO) as part of the cover-up effort. What is not in Hersh’s book is that Turner’s demotion and Hoover’s cover allowed the KGB to send a series of false defectors all with one mission – convince the American government the Russians had nothing to do with recruiting Oswald to kill Kennedy. Because the FBI’s WFO worked Soviet operations, Turner should have been privy to operations involving these defectors. But Hoover kept him out of it, and for political reasons any possible role the KGB played in Kennedy’s death remained unexplored.
This book focuses in on how J. Edgar Hoover had a long and largely unreported relationship with Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. that had a profound effect on American politics, policy and the Kennedy sons. Hersh has demonstrated terrific reporting and historical skills with his 1993 groundbreaking group biography The Old Boys about the early days of the CIA. But in this book about the Kennedys and Hoover, Hersh gets to the heart of a secret history that has been wildly misinterpreted and misreported by others. Patriarch Joe Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover got along as they both used mob contacts to trade information. The conflict between Hoover and Bobby Kennedy, Hersh details, is out of Shakespeare. Kennedy, a young man who saw everything in black and white gets a top Senate investigating job under a politically ambitious southern senator who was going to hunt down the mafia. The problem was that it was the same mafia his father had been in business with for decades. Hoover had relationships with those same mobsters. Hoover had used mob informants since the days he orchestrated the Palmer raids in the early 1920s. The book paints a vivid Joe Kennedy who was not the crude black and white anti-Semite other biographers have portrayed. Kennedy’s control and use of Hoover to protect his spoiled sons and manipulate Lyndon Johnson onto the ticket with JFK is engrossing reading.
Where Hersh overreaches is in some of his implications. It is true Hoover never willingly investigated the mob, and the Kennedy’s interest in exposing it after their father’s stroke was something that angered Hoover. But that does not mean Hoover was involved with the mob in killing Kennedy. It does mean Hoover prevented a proper investigation of who assassinated the President.
You will also learn from this book why sex and politics is vitally important. The culmination of this story is a series of sad events that really begin after a stroke had made Joe Kennedy ineffective in protecting the Kennedy sons from Hoover. Careless love affairs and political help from the mob would be used to pressure the president and attorney general by Hoover. But instead of caving into Hoover, and now without the protection from their father, they fought back on civil rights, going after the mob and all the other issues JFK believed in. Hersh insists that the forces the Kennedy brothers took on ultimately caused Bobby Kennedy to conclude that his actions resulted in the death of the president.
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