NY News Conference: Andy Martin launches anti-Obama “Osama cover-up” movement with FOIA demand

Investigative author and military/intelligence expert Andy Martin will launch Thursday a new anti-Obama, “Osama cover-up” movement at a news conference in New York. Martin created the “Birther” movement that has undermined President Obama for years. Martin is a Middle East, Southwest Asia expert on terrorism and Islam who was in Afghanistan when the founders of Al-Qaeda were fighting the Soviet Union. Martin filed a Freedom of Information Act demand with the Obama administration. Martin is a Republican candidate for president.

ANDY MARTIN /2012

“The Right Republican” for

President of the United States

Join the New Ronald Reagan Revolution

www.AndyMartinforPresident.com

E-mail: Andy@AndyMartinforPresident.com

Campaign mail:

P. O. Box 1851, New York, NY 10150-1851

Tel. (866) 706-2639 Fax (866) 707-2639

Blogs:

www.AndyforPresident.blogspot.com

www.AndyforPresident.wordpress.com

May 3, 2010

President Barack Obama

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

via fax (202) 456-2461

with copy to:

Secretary Robert Gates

Department of Defense

ATTENTION: OSD/JS FOIA Requester Service center

Office of Freedom of Information

1155 Defense Pentagon

Washington, DC 20301-1155

via fax (703) 696-4506

Chief of Naval Operations

(DNS-36)

2000 nNvy Pentagon

Washington, DC 2-0350-2000

POC: FOIA Requester Service Center

via fax (202) 685-6580

FOIA Request/Osama Bin Laden & family, etc.

Dear President Obama

and Secretary Gates:

First, congratulations on a mission well run which led to the capture and death of Osama Bin Laden and his family and supporters. Every American should be proud at the way our forces functioned. No amount of potential blowback can compensate for the relief at knowing Bin Laden has been confronted and killed. I will be doing a column on the overall implications of this strategic victory.

I was in New York City on September 11, 2001 and experienced the horror from a distance. Later that day I saw it close up. I was actually en route to the World Trade Center when I learned of the attacks. (I was one of the original tenants of Two World Trade Center when the building opened.)

I was actually in Afghanistan, working alone with local assistance, when the original mujahideen were on our side (before “Charlie Wilson’s War”). I saw the situation deteriorate over the decades and closely monitored the operation in 2001 that removed the Taliban from power. As someone who has spent virtually all of his adult life studying Asia (southeast and southwest) as well as the Middle East I am familiar with the difficulty of gaining information and planning operations in those regions.

However, as soon as the death of Bin Laden was reported I began to receive a steady stream of emails questioning the validity of the claims concerning the mission that resulted in his death.

This letter is a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request. President Obama has urged that FOIA be interpreted liberally to expand and expedite document release. The Bin Laden matter is a test of that policy of FOIA openness.

I do not know who made the decision to bury Bin Laden at sea, and I understand that no land-based memorial was wanted. But the corollary of burying Bin Laden at sea was that the normal questions about the operation are magnified by his permanent disappearance. Only time will tell if the decision to bury Bin Laden at sea was the right one.

Because of the at-sea burial it is essential that the Bin Laden documentary evidence and records be made freely available to the public immediately to counteract conspiracy theories.

In addition, as a presidential candidate I would like immediate access to the Bin Laden materials so I can respond intelligently to questions in candidate debates and appearances about the manner in which Bin Laden was captured and disposed of. We know that there was some sort of live video feed, so presumably that has been archived and is subject to FOIA release.

Likewise, I am sure the Navy maintained a very meticulous photographic record of what took place after Bin Laden’s remains were moved to the carrier.

Therefore, there appears to be a substantial archive of evidence to sustain the claims that Bin Laden was in fact killed during efforts to effect his capture. This archival material must see the light of day today, now, immediately. As between “Muslim sensitivities” and the rights of the American people, we come first and foremost, always.

We have learned from the original and continuing firestorm over the missing Obama birth certificate that secrecy leads to public skepticism. Skepticism inevitably leads to corrosion of confidence in government. You ought not to let that same process replicate itself in the case of the termination of Bin Laden.

I urge you to authorize release of the Bin Laden capture/kill archive and to waive any FOIA processing delays. Delay aids Al-Qaeda. The longer you delay releasing the evidence the more time Al-Qaeda has to deny that anything happened or to fabricate an alibi. So time is of the essence.

Respectfully submitted,

ANDY MARTIN

AM:sp