Philadelphia Cases in Priest Scandal, Phillips slams family for ignoring incest

also: ‘Illegal Psyop’ Neither Illegal Nor Psyop, General’s Lawyer Ruled

In Philadelphia, New Cases Loom in Priest Scandal
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE March 4, 2011
PHILADELPHIA — Three weeks after a scathing grand jury report said the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had provided safe haven to as many as 37 priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior toward minors, most of those priests remain active in the ministry. The possibility that even one predatory priest, not to mention three dozen, might still be serving in parishes — “on duty in the archdiocese today, with open access to new young prey,” as the grand jury put it — has unnerved many Roman Catholics here and sent the church reeling in the latest and one of the most damning episodes in the American church since it became engulfed in the sexual abuse scandal nearly a decade ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/us/05church.html

REPORT OF THE GRAND JURY – R. SETH WILLIAMS – District Attorney of Philadelphia http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/PDFs/clergyAbuse2-finalReport.pdf

Phillips slams family for ignoring incest Feb. 22: Actress Mackenzie Phillips tells TODAY’s Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb that … knew of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, but chose to ignore it to protect the image of the band. http://video.app.msn.com/watch/video/phillips-slams-family-for-ignoring-incest/6vcbk4f

‘Illegal Psyop’ Neither Illegal Nor Psyop, General’s Lawyer Ruled
By Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman February 27, 2011 The accusation was explosive and unambiguous: A top general in Afghanistan used illegal “information operations” to influence visiting U.S. Senators. But military documents obtained by Danger Room show that at least one Army lawyer deemed the work legal. What’s more, the alleged information operator’s bosses repeatedly told him that he was just another communications staffer, not some bender of minds. At the very least, this new information complicates the charges, first leveled by Lt. Col. Michael Holmes in Rolling Stone magazine. At most, it could neuter Holmes’ allegations, just as an investigation by the office of Afghan war commander Gen. David Petraeus gets underway….

According to Holmes, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell — the general in charge of training Afghanistan security forces — had him “playing with people’s heads.” And not just any people; Holmes was allegedly ordered to use his information operations, or IO, skills on senators and congressmen visiting Afghanistan. So in March, Holmes contacted a military lawyer in the United States who told him “IO doesn’t do that.” American law forbids the government from targeting propaganda at American citizens.

A second legal review came to the opposite conclusion, however. On March 30, 2010, a lawyer within Caldwell’s chain of command, Maj. Tami Miller, wrote that Holmes had been given “a lawful order,” according to a copy of her assessment acquired by Danger Room. After all, Holmes was simply told “to collect, analyze and share ‘publicly available’ information” about the VIPs. No brainwashing was requested….Over the last decade, the once-bright lines between the military disciplines of strategic communications and information operations have dimmed. Calling out an enemy’s atrocities could be considered IO — if the audience is foreign. But the same information could be used to inform Americans, too. And that’s strategic communications.
But Sylvia says the training command had strict prohibitions against IO, which they viewed as “an offensive operation” — not kosher for a training unit. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/lawyer-told-general-his-spin-wasnt-illegal-psyop/

Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators

By Michael Hastings February 23, 2011 The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators….

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops – the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war. Over a four-month period last year, a military cell devoted to what is known as “information operations” at Camp Eggers in Kabul was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell. When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.

“My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,” says Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, the leader of the IO unit, who received an official reprimand after bucking orders. “I’m prohibited from doing that to our own people. When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you’re crossing a line.”

The list of targeted visitors was long, according to interviews with members of the IO team and internal documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Those singled out in the campaign included senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts….

In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesman for Caldwell “categorically denies the assertion that the command used an Information Operations Cell to influence Distinguished Visitors.”

….As for the operation targeting U.S. senators, there is no way to tell what, if any, influence it had on American policy. What is clear is that in January 2011, Caldwell’s command asked the Obama administration for another $2 billion to train an additional 70,000 Afghan troops – an initiative that will already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $11 billion this year. Among the biggest boosters in Washington to give Caldwell the additional money? Sen. Carl Levin, one of the senators whom Holmes had been ordered to target.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223