Digg this story.

(This story originally appeared in the Spanish Publico on May 9, 2009. Predictably, the U.S. press ignored it. Below find an English translation, and note that the translation is cross-posted at the Daily Kos, and DemocraticUnderground.com. -rep.)

U.S. Lawyers point to Bush for the tortures

The lawyer of Martin Luther King’s family contributes a thorough report to the Spanish lawsuit to reinforce the charge -- The American Civil Liberties Union offers their colaboration

Pere Rusiñol in Madrid (Público)
Translation: Lynn Strother

A group of lawyers in the United States, led by William F. Pepper, the veteran human rights lawyer linked to Martin Luther King’s family, have joined the Spanish lawsuit about Guantanamo and the tortures of the Bush administration. Pepper has contributed a 121 page document to the prosecution, in which he defends Spain’s right to investigate, and suggests that the proceedings be widened to charge former president George W. Bush directly.

I put together some of the more problematic segments from the CNN "documentary", Eyewitness to Murder, which has been replaying on CNN, and contrasted the segments with contrary information, including some more footage from William Pepper's groundbreaking 1999 civil trial that has not seen the light of day until now...

(Previously: http://www.911blogger.com/node/16353 )

Tonight (7/19) and tomorrow, CNN will rebroadcast Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination, a "documentary" that reinforces the myth that James Earl Ray was the 'lone nut' behind the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ray was practically exonerated of the murder of King by Dr. William F. Pepper in a 1999 civil trial. (Pepper writes about the disinformation in the "documentary" here.)

For those who have read Pepper's book, "An Act of State", I urge you to watch the show, and note the distortions, but especially; note the sophistication of the presentation. This is big league disinfo.

I summarized the trial, and added links to video footage from the 1999 trial here.

Pepper supplied this email address for anyone who wants to sent a protest or critique;

vcm@cnn.com

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/politics/The_King_Assassination_and_CNN_Disinformation';

(To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., CNN broadcast the first episode in a series titled "Black in America". The initial program was a "documentary", but a documentary in the sense of the Warren Commission... cherry picked testimony, the exclusion and downplaying of virtually all contrary evidence, and the reinforcement of the "Official Conspiracy Theory". Here, William Pepper details some of the major problems with the broadcast. Keep an eye out for a re-run of "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination", and then compare that to the 1999 MLK Trial footage, and try not to vomit. -rep.)

By Dr. William F. Pepper

As a friend and colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during the last year of his life, James Earl Ray’s attorney, for the last ten years of his life and, finally, lead Counsel for Dr. King’s family in the 1999 civil trial which brought forward evidence from 70 witnesses over 30 days in Memphis, I am compelled to comment, for the record, on the most recent documentary on the assassination by CNN which is being aired on an ongoing basis. The fact that my participation in the program was used to give it some credibility makes this comment even more relevant.

It is one matter to distort the truth of how this great American prophet was taken from us, but quite another to have mainstream media perpetuate disinformation on matters of such public importance to the citizens of the Republic. An expert witness, at the King family civil trial, William Schapp, set out the historical use of government disinformation through mainstream media, dating back to the 1920’s.

The first half of the program was dedicated to James and his background and history. While the program notably failed to provide a motive as to why this escaped convict would even consider such an act, and racism had been excluded by the earlier Congressional investigation, it was hinted at by a reference of his refusal to go to a work farm attached to the Missouri prison because of the number of blacks in that facility. In fact, James was afraid of becoming tied into drug activity which was going on there and having his term extended. He would regularly roll dice with black co-workers when he worked in a shoe factory.

The program went on to allege that he and his brother robbed a bank in Alton, Illinois, on July 12, 1967. This, allegedly, was the source of his funds, so he did not need the handler he identified as Raoul, who we would eventually identify. I don’t know the former detective they brought on camera, but closer to the time, 1978, I spoke with the president of the bank and the Chief of Police, and both told me that the Ray brothers had never been suspects, and in fact they believed that they knew who did the robbery, but did not have enough proof to charge them. Further, they confirmed that despite mainstream published reports they had never been interviewed by the Congressional investigators, the FBI or the reporting media’s investigative reporter.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89372294

Just under 7 minutes of MLK Truth.

Tell Me More, April 4, 2008 · Joe Brown, of the syndicated television program, "Judge Joe Brown," discusses presiding over the final appeal of convicted King assassin James Earl Ray. Also joining the discussion is Ray's former attorney, William Pepper, author of An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King.

Putfile mirror: (audio)
Click here to hear 'William-Pepper-and-Joe-Brown-on-NPR-4-4-2008'

I updated my YouTube channel and created some playlists for Cynthia Mckinney's 2005 Congressional Briefing and William Pepper's MLK Trial. Please help spread the Truth about the assassination of MLK in advance of the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination on 4/4/2008.

(links below the fold)

(The Radio premiere of this material will be broadcast on Pacifica affiliates over the coming days and weeks that broadcast Maria Gilardin's "TUC Radio" program. You can D/L the audio here. You can purchase a CD of the program there as well.)

"Governmental agencies caused Martin Luther King to be assassinated... They caused this whole thing to happen. And they then proceeded with the powerful means at their disposal to cover this case up. This is a conspiracy... and that's a nasty word. People insult people in this country who use the word "conspiracy." Nowhere else in the world, as Bill Schaap told you, is it viewed that way. In Italy and France conspiracy is taken for granted because they have lived with it so much longer...

What we're asking you to do at this point in time is send a message. We're asking you to send a message, not just right a wrong. That's important, that you right a wrong and that you allow justice to prevail once and for all. Let it prevail. Let justice and truth prevail, else the heavens fall. No matter what, let it prevail. Let it come forward. We're asking you to let that happen. But in addition to that, we're asking you to send a message, send a message to all of those in power, all of those who manipulate justice in this country that you cannot get away with this. Or if you can get away with it, you can only get away with it for so long."

- Dr. William F. Pepper, closing argument, King Family v. Loyd Jowers and Other Unknown Co-conspirators, December 8, 1999.

For the first time since 1999, Americans and people around the world get to see what happened at the end of a trial that spanned three weeks, and produced many witnesses, some of which had never even been interviewed before. This 10-part series consists of the closing argument presented to the Jury, and summarizes the case against the true murderers of Dr. King.

Transcript: http://www.thekingcenter.org/news/trial.html#Transcript

There are many similarities between 4/4 (King was assassinated on April 4, 1968) and 9/11...

(Please feel free to post the YouTube links far and wide. -rep.)

This is highly recommended viewing for those people trying to understand how it is that the truth of certain events, like 9/11, can be so successfully spun into something completely different by the people who want to make it so.

Playlist URL:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BA69081DC9C0AE84

Transcript: (scroll down to approx. 3/4 down page)
http://www.thekingcenter.org/news/trial/Volume9.html

In this 8-part series Dr. William F. Pepper leads the co-publisher of Covert Action Quarterly, William Schaap, through a history of US Government Approved disinformation, beginning with examples in WWI and then WWII, when things really began to take off. The techniques of disinformation that the government employed during war-time were carried over into peace-time under the aegis of the Cold War. Schaap sites specific examples of CIA and FBI disinformation, concluding with Hoover's FBI attacks on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In answer to the question did Loyd Jowers participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King, your answer is yes. Do you also find that others, including governmental agencies, were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant? Your answer to that one is also yes".

Honorable James E. Swearengen, Judge presiding.
The Circuit Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, 30th Judicial District at Memphis, December 8th, 1999

This is the verdict that the jury arrived at, after a trial that started on November 16, 1999. The King family praised the verdict in a press conference the next day;

"There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. And the civil court's unanimous verdict has validated our belief. I wholeheartedly applaud the verdict of the jury and I feel that justice has been well served in their deliberations. This verdict is not only a great victory for my family, but also a great victory for America. It is a great victory for truth itself. It is important to know that this was a SWIFT verdict, delivered after about an hour of jury deliberation. The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame. I want to make it clear that my family has no interest in retribution. Instead, our sole concern has been that the full truth of the assassination has been revealed and adjudicated in a court of law. As we pursued this case, some wondered why we would spend the time and energy addressing such a painful part of the past. For both our family and the nation, the short answer is that we had to get involved because the system did not work. Those who are responsible for the assassination were not held to account for their involvement. This verdict, therefore, is a great victory for justice and truth. It has been a difficult and painful experience to revisit this tragedy, but we felt we had an obligation to do everything in our power to seek the truth. Not only for the peace of mind of our family but to also bring closure and healing to the nation. We have done what we can to reveal the truth, and we now urge you as members of the media, and we call upon elected officials, and other persons of influence to do what they can to share the revelation of this case to the widest possible audience. I know that this has been a difficult case for everyone involved. I thank the jury and Judge Swearengen for their commitment to reach a just verdict, I want to also thank our attorneys, Dr. William Pepper and his associates for their hard work and tireless dedication in bringing this case to justice. Dr. Pepper has put many years of his life, as well as his financial resources, into this case. He has made significant personal sacrifices to pursue the search for the truth about my husband's assassination..."

Over the past few weeks I have had the privilege to review footage of this trial, which is a groundbreaking trial, and should be a famous trial due to the implications of the verdict. With Dr. Pepper's permission, I will be loading three key segments from the trial onto the web, for people to see how Dr. Pepper goes about his business. The first segment, (already loaded), is the opening statement, which sets the tone for the plaintiff's case.

This week, Visibility 9-11 visits the topic of COINTELPRO in the 3rd part of a new series on issues facing the 9-11 Truth Movement. "Left gatekeepers", dis-information specialists, agent provocateurs, and internet "trolls" all work to distract and/or discredit the fine work of literally thousands of good and caring Americans involved in 9-11 Truth. It is important to recognize the history of things our government has done which has violated every tenet of a free society.