Three NATO Protestors Are The First To Be Charged Under Illinois' Post-9/11 Terrorism Law

Business Insider
Abbey Rogers

Cook County prosecutors invoked Illinois' never-before-used anti-terrorism statute to charge three NATO protestors with planning an assault on Obama campaign headquarters.

Brian Church, Jared Chase, and Brent Vincent Betterly were arrested on terrorism charges after protesting the NATO summit recently held in Chicago, the Associated Press reported Wednesday morning.

Lawyers for the men are criticizing the state's anti-terrorism statute, saying it's too all-encompassing and ill-defined, according to the AP.

Even the charges against the men themselves were shrouded in secrecy, as prosecutors initially refused to disclose the indictment to the defense attorneys, the AP reported.

Defense attorneys, who were able to get a copy of the indictment from the Cook County Circuit Court clerk's office, claimed state's attorneys said they'd only release the indictment at a July 2 arraignment.
The three men plan to plead not guilty at their arraignment, according to the AP.

Obama hails police state methods in Chicago

World Socialist Website
Patrick Martin

President Barack Obama on Monday praised the performance of Chicago city officials and the Chicago Police Department after a week of violence, repression and frame-ups directed against antiwar demonstrators in the city.

Footage of Police Van Running Over Demonstrators



Speaking at the conclusion of the NATO summit, Obama paid tribute to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, his political crony and former White House chief of staff, and added, referring to the thousands of police mobilized against protesters, “Chicago’s finest did a great job under significant pressure and a lot of scrutiny.”

What was this “great job?”

• Downtown Chicago was effectively shut down for four days, Friday through Monday, not by the protesters, never more than 5,000 people, but by a huge mobilization of police and paramilitary forces who frequently outnumbered the demonstrators. The entire area around McCormick Place, site of the summit, was under lockdown.

• Police arrested well over 100 demonstrators in the course of the week, including more than 60 Sunday, a day of tense confrontations in which police continually vented their hostility towards the demonstrators, who were opposing the US-NATO war in Afghanistan and other imperialist military interventions.

• The violent dispersal of the protesters late Sunday afternoon was entirely one-sided, as described by the Chicago Sun-Times—a staunchly pro-police tabloid—which headlined its account, “Riot Gear Cops Rain Down Blows on Protesters.” The beatings were so widespread and indiscriminate that one of the newspaper’s own reporters was among those bloodied. At least 25 demonstrators were injured, with a dozen requiring hospital treatment.

• Most ominously, five protesters were arrested in police raids targeting individuals supposedly preparing “terrorist” attacks on the NATO summit. The same two informants fingered all five men, after the undercover cops had circulated widely among the protesters looking for anyone they could instigate or entrap.

Afghan parliament committees reject partnership pact with US

PressTV

A member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan says the recent strategic partnership agreement signed between the US and Afghanistan has so far been rejected by two parliamentary committees.

Qorban-Ali Erfani said Tuesday that the agreement is being considered by various committees of the assembly and has already been rejected by two of them including the judicial committee for being against the national interests of Afghanistan.

US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement in Kabul on May 1, which extends the US presence in Afghanistan to another decade beyond 2014.

The agreement is yet to be approved by the 249-member Afghan Parliament.

Meanwhile, an informed source says that the Afghan government and US Embassy in Kabul are lobbying Afghan lawmakers to encourage them to support the agreement, including by promising financial assistance and US Green Cards to Afghan parliamentarians.

Referring to the recent NATO summit meeting in Chicago on May 20-21, Erfani said the meeting was completely useless.

He stated that although participants talked about the withdrawal of their forces from Afghanistan, ceding responsibility for security affairs to Afghan forces and training them, “such remarks will only be useful when they are followed in practice, which does not seem to be the case.”

The lawmaker said the United States has paid no attention to rebuilding the Afghan army in the past 11 years and has so far avoided providing it with advanced weaponry, including modern planes and helicopters.

All these propaganda, he said, is aimed at influencing the public opinion, but the United States does not aim to make the Afghan army completely self-sufficient. 

Kucinich: "NATO Talks a Sham: War in Afghanistan is Not Ending"

OpEdNews

Washington D.C. (May 21, 2012) -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement as world leaders meet in Chicago for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. 

"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not a benevolent organization. NATO is not about the North Atlantic and it's not about our collective defense.

"NATO is a cost-sharing organization that finances aggressive military action. By hiding behind the claim that the organization provides for "common defense,' NATO allows us to wage wars of choice under the guise of international peacekeeping. The most recent example was the unconstitutional war in Libya where NATO, operating under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, instead backed one side in a civil war and pursued a policy of regime change.

"Today, NATO leaders are meeting in Chicago to discuss the future of Afghanistan. The talks are being billed as discussions of plans to end the war. The war in Afghanistan is not ending. These talks are simply about financing the next phase of the war.

"The Strategic Partnership Agreement between the U.S. and Afghanistan commits us to the country for at least another decade, despite public support for the war being at an all time low. The United States will pay for half of the estimated $4.1 billion per year cost of supporting 352,000 Afghan army and police officers. Afghanistan's contribution will be $500,000. The rest will be financed by our "NATO partners.' It is not surprising that support for the war among NATO members is waning, with France threatening to pull out its troops by the end of this year.

"Our participation in NATO comes at a great financial cost to the U.S. We contribute the majority of funds for NATO's common budget, including 25% of the military budget.  Between fiscal years 2010 and 2012 alone, we contributed more than $1.3 billion to NATO's military budget.  We also incur significant costs through the deployment of our forces in support of NATO missions.  According to The Atlantic, the war in Libya cost the United States $1.1 billion.

"NATO was originally founded to provide a strategic counterbalance to the Soviet Union. Its founding purpose no longer exists, but NATO continues to circumvent the authority of the United Nations and to provoke other nations. NATO is an anachronism. Instead of trying to bolster the organization, we should begin serious discussions to dismantle it."

Did Chicago police mastermind alleged NATO terror plots?

Russia Today

After a weekend of violent altercations in Chicago, Illinois between police officers and demonstrators protesting the NATO Summit, many questions remain unanswered over a string of alleged terrorist plots foiled by law enforcement.

At least 11 men were arrested in three separate incidents in the days before this weekend’s conference of world leaders in the Windy City. As events wind down on Monday, however, half of those originally detained have been released with no charges pressed and little explanation from investigators. Of those that remain behind bars, all have been linked to two alleged police informants, “Mo” and “Gloves,” that are believed to have worked undercover with law enforcement to infiltrate the Chicago activism community.

The attorney representing three men arrested on terrorist-related charges on Wednesday says that the alleged crimes in question were perpetrated by Chicago police officers and reeks of entrapment. Those close to individuals apprehended this week on separate but similar charges also say that the alleged crimes in those cases are full of holes and seem equally suspicious.

Three of the men arrested Wednesday night remain in custody on Monday for allegedly conspiring to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possessing of an explosive incendiary device. The trio was swept up in a raid in the Chicago neighborhood of Bridgeport at around 11:30 that evening that ended with nine suspects behind bars. After two days of unanswered questions, however, six of the men were quietly released without charges.

One of those men, who gave his name to the Chicago Tribune as Robert Lamorte, says he had only been in town for an hour when he was arrested by a swarm of police clad in riot gear with weapons drawn.

"I'm leaving here first chance I get," Lamorte tells the paper. "I don't want to deal with any more problems."

Cameron tells Greece: buy into austerity or get out of the eurozone

Prime Minister insists that world cannot afford to wait for answers on future of single currency

The Independent
David Osborne
Andy McSmith

David Cameron has issued his bluntest warning yet to Greece that voters need to "meet their commitments" as a member of the eurozone in elections next month or leave the currency union.

Speaking at the Nato summit in Chicago, and three days before a crucial EU meeting, the Prime Minister said the leaders of the eurozone must now prepare for either outcome and be ready for the repercussions of the Greek vote, set for 17 June. The poll was called after Greek parties failed to form a new government earlier this month.

"We are coming to a decision point where Greece is going to vote. It has to be absolutely clear there is a choice: they can vote to stay in the eurozone and meet their commitments, or they can vote to give up on their commitments and effectively give up on the eurozone," Mr Cameron said. No one could tell Greece's parties what to do, but he can have left them in no doubt of how he feels. "The choice Greece faces is maintaining its commitments and maintaining its place in the eurozone or deciding that's not the path it wants to take.

"What is required is decisiveness, strong actions by government – whether action to deal with deficits, to deal with the banks, to calm markets," he said.

"The eurozone has to put in place the most robust contingency plans for both eventualities because the world is suffering from continued uncertainty in the eurozone. So this is a decision point."

Mr Cameron also defended the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose insistence on austerity has been blamed for preventing the G8 summit from making progress.

"Obviously she wants to make sure that countries in the eurozone that signed up to all sorts of commitments meet those commitments. She did show some flexibility in terms of what more can be done on the growth agenda."

Mr Clarke, a lifelong Euro-enthusiast, said staying in the euro is still an option for Greece.
"But if they get a lot of cranky extremists elected, they will default on their debt and everybody says they will leave the euro. For the Greeks, that will be disastrous. They will encounter real poverty," he warned.

Police beat corralled protesters at State and Washington NATO

Defense Attorney Says Undercover Cops Brought The Molotov Cocktails NOT The Defendants

Chicago cops start preemptive arrests on the eve of NATO Summit

Russia Today

 
Authorities in Chicago are gearing up for a weekend of anti-NATO activity in the Windy City, but it's already being reported that law enforcement there might be a little too eager to begin arrests. The home of known activists was raided Wednesday.

The National Lawyers Guild confirms that law enforcement agents broke down the door of a 6-unit apartment building in the Chicago, Illinois neighborhood of Bridgeport at around 11:30 pm on Wednesday. Once inside, they entered the apartment of known activists with guns drawn and then cuffed the residents.

For two hours, tenants were shackled and questioned by officers with the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police Department. The Chicago Tribune writes that police reports detailing the incident have been obtained by the newspaper and confirm that nine people were arrested in the raid for allegedly making or possessing Molotov cocktail explosives. Police sources add to the paper early Friday, however, that none of the suspects had been charged.

Attorneys for the accused attest to the innocence of their clients. The reason they cannot prove that they were making Molotov cocktails, they say, is because they weren’t — instead, police saw and seized equipment used for home brewing beer.

“As far as we know, there was no liquid in the bottles,” Kris Hermes, a spokesman for the lawyer’s guild, tells the Tribune on Friday in speaking of the alleged paraphernalia pilfered by law enforcement. Another source with ties to the police tells a Chicago ABC News affiliate that Molotov cocktails were discovered in the raid, but those claims have yet to be verified.

Fighter Jets In Skies Over Chicago On Friday Morning Before NATO Summit

CHICAGO (CBS) – U.S. fighter jets will be actively flying over Chicago on Friday as part of a security drill in the days before the NATO Summit.

The U.S. North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command Region fighters–including Air Force KC-135 tankers, Air Force F-16s, and a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopters–will be visible on Friday morning, beginning around 9 a.m..

Residents in the Chicago area can expect flights to continue for approximately two hours.

“Providing the air defense for special security events like this year’s NATO Summit is a part of our day-to-day mission,” said Lt. Gen. Sid Clarke, Continental U.S. NORAD Region commander said in a statement. “Our interagency partnerships are a key component to the air defense shield for events like this.”

During the NATO Summit, Air Force fighter jets will be on alert to enforce the Federal Aviation Administration’s Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) zone during the summit. Military jets have been authorized to shoot down any aircraft that violates secure airspace over Chicago.

Also on Thursday, the Pentagon commented about a You Tube video posted earlier this week that purportedly showed a surveillance drone flying over an athletic field in Elgin–about 40 miles from McCormick Place, where NATO leaders will meet on Sunday and Monday.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet reported the issue came up at a Pentagon press briefing.
Defense Department spokesman George Little said he couldn’t comment on the specific incident but added that “the U.S. military is providing a support role .. to support security for the summit. That’s in accordance with American law.”

It is unclear whether the video is authentic. Military sources contacted by CBS 2 said they did not recognize the markings on the unidentified object.

Selling the NATO Summit False Flag: Chicago News Reports Dirty Bomb Attack Drills

To Joliet Jail for NATO offenders?

Sun Times

Fran Speilman

Joliet and State Police and state
maintance men leave the Joliet Correctional
Center on May 14, 2010

Mothballed for a decade, the Joliet Correctional Center could be temporarily reopened to serve as a detention facility for those arrested for serious offenses during the May 20-21 NATO summit.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says his first choice was to use Division 3 at Cook County Jail before the once-empty division had to be filled with detainees over the last two months. 

A less desirable alternative was to put up tents in the yard at Cook County Jail.

But, Dart said the solution that makes the most sense is Joliet, the hulk of a prison facility mothballed in 2002.

“They shut down Joliet prison. It’s sitting there empty. Could I turn the key and open it up? Does the water still work? Does the electricity work? If that’s a question, I might just look at the yard and whether to put up tents with some cots and utilize that setting at Joliet,” Dart said. 

“It’s empty and it will be empty. There are no issues with that. If it’s functional, it wouldn’t take a lot of manpower to monitor. Transportation would be a straight shot down I-55. Across the street is Stateville [Correctional Center] We’re going there anyway.”

City of Chicago and the Secret Service Tell Milwaukee Red Cross to Prepare To Evacuate Chicago During NATO Summit

IntelHub
Alex Thomas

Andy Thayer, center, joins other activists outside the
City of Chicago Central Hearing Facility
Tuesday, March 27, 2012, in Chicago, as they appeal
a city denial of their request to hold a march during the
upcoming NATO Summit. Delegations for dozens
of world leaders visiting Chicago for the NATO Summit
will test city resources, a city transportation official testified
during the hearing. Organizers had promised to file
a lawsuit if the city ruled against them.

An email leaked to CBS2 News details a possible plan by the city of Chicago and the Secret Service to evacuate residents of Chicago during the upcoming NATO Summit.

The email, sent to Milwaukee Red Cross volunteers, noted that the NATO Summit could create unrest or another national security incident.

The Red Cross chapter spokesman went on to claim that the City of Chicago and the Secret Service were the ones that issued the directive.

CBS 2 News has obtained a copy of a Red Cross e-mail sent to volunteers in the Milwaukee area.

It said the NATO summit “may create unrest or another national security incident. The American Red Cross in southeastern Wisconsin has been asked to place a number of shelters on standby in the event of evacuation of Chicago.”

According to a chapter spokesperson, the evacuation plan is not theirs alone.
“Our direction has come from the City of Chicago and the Secret Service,” she said.

The report went on to quote various leaders who moved to significantly downplay these revelations when the reality is that various police agencies are planning for full scale riots and a mini martial law type scenario.

An article by Steve Watson on the the leaked email pointed towards various other contingency plans that have taken place in the lead up to this years NATO Summit.

Two weeks ago residents were startled by urban warfare drills conducted in downtown Chicago on the authority of the OMEC. Huge black hawk helicopters were seen flying low and in between buildings for hours. It now appears that these exercises may be linked to the secret preparations.

In addition, earlier this week a number of Chicago area residents revealed that they have been asked to leave their homes in preparation for major rioting.

The residents received letters from management that read:

“We are STRONGLY recommending that all residents find places to stay during the conference from May 18 through May 21.”

“In the event of a riot or the potential of one near the building, all access doors will be locked including the garage door,” the letter continues. “For everyone’s safety, we will be instructing anyone in the building to stay in his or her unit.”

The fact that, “The American Red Cross in southeastern Wisconsin has been asked to place a number of shelters on standby in the event of evacuation of Chicago,” dovetails with reports earlier this year that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) put out a request for contractors to construct temporary emergency camps inside the United States which can be ready for occupancy within a 72 hour time period and used to house emergency responders as well as “displaced citizens.”

Clearly there has been a significant number of suspicious and alarming drills, operational plans, and orders leading up to this meeting of globalist would be world controllers.

The major question that remains is are the police planning to implement agent provocateurs to turn what has been planned to be peaceful into full scale hell?

You can watch a video report on the leaked email from CBS2 News below: