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

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/