PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Water Wars
by Janet C. Phelan Saturday, Apr. 26, 2008 at 7:24 PM
janetcphelan@yahoo.com (email address validated) (310) 755-4469

The U.S. Patriot Act and other pieces of legislation authorize a "culling of the herds."

Water Wars-An Update"

By publishing “Water As A Weapon” in the July/August edition, The American’s Bulletin made journalistic history. There have been massive efforts to censor the information in that article, and its publication in hard copy is truly a victory for freedom of the press, during dark times for truth and personal liberty.

Back in 2004, while a columnist at the Santa Monica Daily Press, I had begun to research the water weapon. I had made an initial request for water records, tendered at City Hall in Santa Monica . Immediately, the machine moved into gear. Within six hours of that first request, I received a phone call from SMDP Editor Carolyn Sackariason. She informed me that she had received a call from the City Attorney’s office and told me, with some anxiety infusing her voice, that she had not authorized me to ask questions about water, and that I was “endangering” her position as Editor of the Daily Press. When it became clear that this was an unresolvable issue, I quit in protest.

To my amazement, I found that I had been blackballed in my field. I was not able to secure other journalistic employment; in fact, I was suddenly not able to secure steady employment at all. Homeless and nearly broke, I ended up working day labor through Labor Ready, and sleeping on beaches and in parks. Personal survival issues became critical , but I continued to work the water story as diligently as possible.

I was not the only party involved in the water story who lost employment. Fred d’Aguilar, who had been working on the City Desk of the Los Angeles Times for fifteen years, had been functioning as a sounding board for me as I continued on with this story, without the umbrella or sponsorship of a newspaper. It was Fred who had suggested the title of the original article, “Public Extermination Project.” We were engaging in a steady patter of gallows humor in our phone calls: “Need more PEP in your life? Try drinking L.A. water!” and so on. With Fred’s insistence, I sent him over the first draft of the PEP article. He brought it to the attention of his editors at the Times, and Fred was shortly thereafter “let go.” At last report, he was engaged in starting up his own business, which was not involved with media.

The fate of Dr. Geetha Angara also sheds light on the efforts to shut down information dissemination about water. Dr. Angara was a chemist who had been employed by the Passaic , NJ water department. Her job involved water quality testing. Shortly after the Department of Homeland Security had come around to the plant, holding seminars and meetings, the mother of three was murdered at work. On February 8, 2005 , after co-workers became concerned that she had been missing for several hours, her body was found dumped into a tank at the worksite. She had apparently been strangled then thrown into the tank. As is typical in cases of political murders, the police investigation has turned up no suspects.

The Critical Infrastructure Information Act, passed in November of 2002, also provides a legal framework for inhibiting reports concerning water systems. Under Section 214 (f), CIIA criminal penalties may be levied against government employees who release information concerning “protected” infrastructure. Section 214 (f) follows: “(f) PENALTIES.—Whoever, being an officer or employee of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, knowingly publishes, divulges, discloses, or makes known in any manner or to any extent not authorized by law, any critical infrastructure information protected from disclosure ……..shall be fined under title 18 of the U.S. Code, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, and shall be removed from office or employment.”

The CIIA also provides for FOIA exemption for critical infrastructure information. Section 214 (a) (1) reads “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, critical infrastructure information (including the identity of the submitting person or entity) that is voluntarily submitted to a covered Federal agency for use by that agency regarding the security of critical infrastructures and protected systems….(A) shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act)….”

The Act goes on to lock down other possible leaks of information on water and other infrastructure, by extending sanctions to state and other government employees.

A report to Congress, entitled “Homeland Security Act of 2002: Critical Infrastructure Information Act,” goes into some depth as to the problem posed by “Whistleblower Protection” laws. It is the conclusion of the author of this report, Gina Marie Stevens, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division, that the Whistleblower Protection Act would not protect a government employee from criminal sanctions, under the CIIA.

I have received a number of queries as to why no employees of government agencies have come forward to reveal the existence of the water weapon. In summation, it appears that such activity may result in criminal prosecution, loss of job and/or loss of life.

Through Presidential Proclamation, the U.S. Water Resources Council was granted certain Presidential powers. Executive Order 11747 reads as follows: “The Chairman of the Water Resources Council is designated and empowered to exercise, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, the approval function for standards and procedures, vested in the President by section 103 of the Water Resources Planning Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1962a-2).”

The U.S. Water Resources Council deserves some special attention. Folded into the Office of Management and Budget in 1981, its original composition included federal heavy-weights—the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of the Army; the Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Energy; the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; the Secretary of the Interior; the Secretary of Transportation; and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

While the functions of the U.S. Water Resources Council, as stated in 701.4, appear to be benign, a careful review of their activities reveals a more sinister aspect. Section 701.301 indicates that the U.S. Water Resources Council was collecting records on citizens of the United States of America . These records include “any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by the Council, including, but not limited to, his education, financial transactions, medical history and criminal or employment history, and that contains his name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a finger or voice print or a photograph.”

Medical records…. Financial transactions… Voice print… Photograph….? Whatever for???

I have consistently stated in prior reports that the water weapon is meant to target groups of citizens, pre-selected for removal (as in extermination). This could be viewed as an ethnic cleansing program, or simply a means to remove those from society who are “unfit.” The fact remains that the U.S. Water Resources Council was collecting demographics on the citizens of the U.S. , for purposes which could obviously facilitate a program of this nature.

The inclusion in the list of collected records of voice prints and photographs also buttresses this argument. It appears that Big Brother is not only watching, but he has us in his sights. And his finger is on the trigger.

http://www.miami.indymedia.org/news/2007/05/8296.php
"Water As A Weapon"