EXTREME PREJUDICE: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq

by Susan Lindauer

  As proof, my meetings with Burton started in October, and got interrupted mid-December, when she suffered a series of seizures that forced her to cancel meetings for the next two months until late February.

  Well, I was deliriously happy. I hated those meetings. I was delighted that she had to cancel them for so long. I regarded it as two full months of freedom, sans fascist efforts to control my thinking and lifestyle choices.

  And what happened to my life without her “guidance” and “instruction?” How did I “cope” with my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder without her presence for two whole months?

  Immediately my quality of life improved.

  My moods on Saturday afternoons picked up dramatically, carrying over throughout the week. I was much happier. I stopped raging at my friends, who were exhausted by my stress, by this time. Flashbacks to my suffering at Carswell—and my fury—decreased a hundred fold. Immediately I was more productive in my life, and the quality of my thinking and confidence started to rebound. My natural resilience kicked in.

  Without her presence, I refinanced my house, paid off my credit card debts, and redesigned my kitchen. Without psychology pulling me down, I stopped feeling like an infantilized victim of my circumstances. I became empowered and functioned as a fulfilled woman again. I started taking control of my life, and acting as a goal oriented individual.

  Getting away from her was the best thing for my state of mind—and my Saturday afternoons!

  By the end of February— regrettably— Burton got her seizure disorder under control, and started her practice again. Immediately, I crashed back into unhappiness. I was forced to suffer through Carswell all over again. Our conversations became a tape replaying all of my anger for how the corruption of psychology had robbed my reputation for my life’s work. How psychology was so selfish as to interfere with my Constitutional rights to prove my innocence in a court of law. How psychology was terrified of reality, which beat them every time.

  Every conversation fed my rage. Every weekend that Burton cancelled a meeting, my happiness skyrocketed throughout the following week. When I would go back to her office, it would pull me down like the undertow of a tidal wave.

  On that basis I would seriously question why anybody should attend counseling meetings at all. Certainly when it comes to Post Traumatic Stress, fixating on the harsh experience that caused the trauma intensifies spiritual pain, instead of healing it. That’s probably the worst thing you could do.

  Having said that, PTSD is a real condition. It’s not linked to some imaginary imbalance in brain chemicals. It’s caused by real traumatic events, and it shows itself through rage and anxiety, which grows worse by reliving the moments of original distress.

  Based on my own experiences, anybody who suffers PTSD would be helped by practicing how to refocus their thoughts onto something entirely different than the original stress. PTSD builds fast like an ocean tide. First it laps at your feet, then it crashes at your waist. Psychology might be valuable if it helped kick your mind to a different zone. You’ve got to invest energy into new experience, so the intensity of the new activity pulls your concentration away from the problem zone. The energy must be all consuming, so that you’re totally focused on the new moment— not wallowing in the past.

  Physical exercise provides more relief than psychology meetings alone, even if you’ve got a tread mill tucked in a corner of your office. Outward Bound for returning soldiers would be a healthy investment by the military. Therapy in a physical setting would make a huge difference, with blocks of time on a stair master or treadmill, punctuated with counseling. That’s how to beat PTSD. Some kind of community service, in a totally different area than the stress source, makes a difference. In my own life, I turned to animal rescue work. Playing soccer or basketball makes a difference. Taking up musical instruments—the guitar, the saxophone, the piano. Biking or hiking on the weekends.

  Any of those activities make a greater impact on PTSD than attending psychology meetings alone. Build that activity into your schedule, and you will get better. Essentially, your mind will create a fresh, positive area to focus its energies on, and your body will burn off excess tension through physical exercise. That’s how you move past PTSD. Any traumatic experience stays part of your life. The critical thing is to learn not to focus energy on it.

  Unfortunately, that’s not what psychology allowed me to do.

  If that wasn’t bad enough, the Prosecutor, O’Callaghan, was not happy with the non-political findings of Burton’s “diagnosis” of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by the effects of Carswell. It failed to impugn my competence, especially because her evaluation freely acknowledged that there was no reason for prescribing drugs to “cure” me of anything.

  So a few weeks later, O’Callaghan demanded that I submit to a second psych evaluation in Maryland, on the grounds that Burton was a psychologist—like Shadduck at Carswell, not a certified psychiatrist. Burton was astonished by the prosecutor’s request. Pre-Trial Services, which had to pay for it, protested that it was a waste of their budget. And you could be damn sure I wasn’t paying for this. All of this was taxpayer financed.

  Hearing my story, the second evaluator, a psychiatrist, demonstrated a modicum of wisdom. His report assured the court in New York that Dr. Burton was reliable and trustworthy in the state of Maryland, and he would not second guess her findings.568 Pre-Trial Services denied Shaughnessy’s request for a copy of that report, but Burton told me what it said.

  Post Traumatic Stress was consistent with what the Maryland psychiatrist saw. And so the second court evaluation in Maryland successfully sidestepped the whole business. He didn’t want any part of this.

  That’s not what O’Callaghan wanted to hear a second time, either. At the rate I was racking up non-political psych evaluations in Maryland, there would be nothing left of the bogus finding of incompetence.

  So, once again, a few weeks later, O’Callaghan demanded that I submit to a Third Psychiatric Evaluation after Carswell— this time with the original psychiatrist, Dr. Kleinman, who declared me incompetent for the Justice Department. O’Callaghan argued that the Maryland psych community didn’t understand my history. It would take too much time to educate them.—Ergo, they weren’t sufficiently corruptible.

  Amazingly, Judge Loretta Preska (who took over from Judge Mukasey) granted O’Callaghan’s request. That’s how it came to pass that six months after Carswell, I was forced to undergo no fewer than three additional evaluations.569

  The Prosecutor was shopping for what he wanted to hear. And he couldn’t get it outside of politicized psychiatry. Only now, through hard experience, I’d learned a few things about how to protect myself from corrupt psychiatric practices. Too many “doctors” had laughed in my face when I said my story was truthful, and voiced my desire to prove myself in court.

  After Carswell, I found a way to protect myself. I strongly urge any individual who’s forced to undergo a court ordered evaluation for any reason, even a custody dispute, to follow this method for self protection. I could have saved myself so much pain—and a year in prison—if I’d done it sooner.

  Other Americans can learn from my ordeal. It’s simple.

  Bring a tape recorder.

  Get a recording. Save the record. You will protect yourself from serious threats of psychiatric fraud if you can prove what you said, versus what they want to pretend that you said.

  You must not presume that because you have engaged in a rational conversation that these people are likewise rational. Quite the opposite. Their role is to twist everything you say into a convoluted schematic that showcases themselves. There’s nothing medical or rational about psychiatry. You must protect yourself.

  Which explains why I showed up for my third psych evaluation post-Carswell with a tape recorder.570 And from that moment, I started kicking some ass!571

  And let me show you why. This is part of the transcript from that meeting with Dr. Kleinman on June 8, 2007.572 It’s
nothing like what you’d expect.

  LINDAUER: “This is Susan Lindauer in the office of Sam Talkin. I am formally requesting that he attend this meeting. I have been summoned here at the request of the court. It is with Mr. Kleinman who is guilty of perjury in my case. The FBI has already verified my story. Mr. Kleinman is on record lying to a federal judge. This tape is being taken for legal purposes in a potential lawsuit against Mr. Kleinman.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Good morning. Uh I must say that first of all, I am Dr. Kleinman. And I have been retained by the United States Attorneys Office to do a psychiatric examination on your mental state. Particularly as it relates to the charges that are pending against you and your understanding and appreciation of them.”

  LINDAUER: “Yes. I have already declared that I am innocent of those charges, and I have asked for trial. The Prosecutor who’s so convinced that he’s got a strong case has, for three years, refused to give me a trial.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “OK. We’ll talk about that all for a moment. First, do you know who this person is to my right and your left.”

  LINDAUER: “My attorney.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “What is his name?”

  LINDAUER: “I just announced it on the tape. His name is Sam Talkin. We are in his offices at 40 Exchange Place close to the Wall Street metro in downtown Manhattan.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Do I have your permission to speak with you?”

  LINDAUER: “I am here at the order of the court.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “If at any point you decide that you don’t want to speak with me, please communicate it.”

  LINDAUER: “I am here at the order of the Court. So I expect you to ask your questions. I left my house this morning at 6:40 in the morning, and I have arrived in New York at a prompt hour. I expect this meeting will ask questions rapidly, so this can be concluded. And I refuse to answer questions about legal strategy. Except to say that I will not be using a headfucker defense at my trial. I will be using a government defense.”

  “And I know very well that the Prosecution has no right to dictate that defense. I shall be calling witnesses, some of whom have already been interviewed by the FBI, who will easily confirm that they have already verified the authenticity of my work, which has been questioned by Mr. Kleinman here, who pretended it was delusional. That was the word you used.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “How do you think anybody listening to you right now would respond to how you—”

  LINDAUER: “I don’t care.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “What’s your opinion?”

  LINDAUER: “I don’t care.”

  And shortly after that exchange:

  LINDAUER: “I will be delighted to provide a copy of this tape to you. That’s not a problem.

  DR. KLEINMAN: Well, I’m going to ask actually is when you’re done, you’ll give the tape to Mr. Talkin.”

  LINDAUER: “No, no, no, no.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Let me finish. And that Mr. Talkin make a copy for the following reasons.

  LINDAUER: “No. No. I have an attorney in Washington [Mr. Brian Shaughnessy] who is preparing a lawsuit against you. You are guilty of perjury in a courtroom. I spent a year in prison because you lied to a federal judge, mister. You want to say you’re a doctor? Well, real doctors have malpractice insurance. You have wrongly pretended that I am incompetent. You have wrongly pretended that I am delusional. You have actually advocated forcibly drugging me to cure me of the history of my life, which is true. I think you are Despicable.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Well, here are the conditions. I’m going to ask that the original of the tape be given by you to Mr. Talkin before you leave today.”

  LINDAUER: “No.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “That’s OK.”

  LINDAUER: “I will not do it. I will, however, guarantee that you have a copy of the tape. I have no trouble doing that.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “That’s fine, but since I want to make sure that there is only one version of the tape.”

  LINDAUER: “I don’t trust Mr. Talkin. Mr. Talkin has repeatedly refused to interview witnesses. Mr. Talkin has repeatedly refused to get subpoenas that I asked for. Unfortunately, Mr. Talkin has proven that he is not reliable.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “You don’t trust him.”

  LINDAUER: “Absolutely not.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “What do you think he would do with the tape?”

  LINDAUER: “Lose it.”

  An arrangement was made to copy the tape at Talkin’s law offices that afternoon. I took the original tapes home with me, and Kleinman got his copy. It would have been simpler to buy a second tape recorder for $20 at WalMart or Target. They’re not expensive. No defendant can afford not to have a recording device at this sort of meeting. My case provides ample evidence why.

  My decision to hold onto those tapes proved vital to my next court battle. One year later, Shaughnessy forced the Court to grant my statutory right to a competency hearing—after producing a Third Favorable evaluation from a non-political psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Rattner of Washington, DC. At the hearing, Dr. Kleinman based his entire testimony on this meeting.573, 574

  Apparently Dr. Kleinman did not realize I kept those tapes, instead of handing them over to Talkin, as instructed. (I’m such a naughty female!) Or else he imagined that I lost them. Whatever his thinking, when Dr. Kleinman falsely described our conversation to Judge Preska, Shaughnessy surprised everyone with a Motion for Reconsideration that shattered several major inaccuracies in Dr. Kleinman’s testimony.575 And Shaughnessy submitted transcripts of the interview as proof.

  The moral of the story is for each individual to hold onto your own tapes. Get them transcribed immediately. And always save the tapes. That’s critical. Psychiatry has the ability to twist and pervert even the most innocuous conversation. That’s their “contribution” to the court proceedings. They will not hesitate to make mischief.

  Here’s another example:576

  DR. KLEINMAN: “So let me go back. You said when we met previously, the purpose was to cover up Iraqi Pre-War Intelligence. Do you believe that I have any role in that?”

  LINDAUER: “Yes.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “And did I knowingly have that role?”

  LINDAUER: “Yes.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “OK. So tell me what role I had in knowingly covering it up?”

  LINDAUER: “You deliberately lied to a federal judge. I told you in very clear terms that I was an Asset working in Iraqi Pre-War Intelligence. You lied and pretended that I was delusional for thinking that I had done this work. Which I did for NINE YEARS.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Okay.”

  LINDAUER: “You got me declared incompetent, which is a joke. I mean, it’s so the politicians don’t have to take responsibility for what they did. And their decision-making in Baghdad. They can blame the Assets and pretend that we failed to bring them good quality intelligence. And by the way, the Senate already has investigated the January, 2003 intelligence.” [The date cited in my indictment for my approach to Andy Card and Colin Powell.] “And they found it ‘chilling and prophetic.’ That’s what they called it.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “So? Let’s go back. See my understanding is that I was asked by the government to evaluate you regarding your competency to stand trial. That’s my understanding.”

  LINDAUER: “That’s right. But in the course of doing that, I very clearly and carefully explained to you that I was an Asset. That I had been doing this for years. And you went to the Court, and you said, Oh, your honor. Nobody can verify her story.”

  “Nobody except everybody who’s talked to the FBI, my friend.”

  LINDAUER: “This is easy to prove. Very easy to prove.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Very easy to prove. Have you given that information to your attorney?”

  LINDAUER: “Absolutely. And my attorney did nothing to interview these people. So my Uncle Thayer Lindauer, who is an attorney with 40 or more years of experience, he interviewed these witnesses. He located them.”

  DR.
KLEINMAN: “So this is your uncle who interviewed them?”

  LINDAUER: “My uncle, who is an attorney, has interviewed them. They responded to his phone calls immediately.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “So have you provided this information to Mr. Talkin?”

  LINDAUER: “Of course.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “You have?”

  LINDAUER: “Of course. Of course.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “So then he has—”

  LINDAUER: “The whole thing has been bullshit.”

  And later on:

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Let me speak about trial for a moment. Let’s take a step back. What are the charges pending against you? What are they?”

  LINDAUER: “You already know the charges. I’ve been accused of acting as an Iraqi Agent in conspiracy with the Iraqi Intelligence Service. Which is just the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I want to hear this Prosecutor tell the people of New York that working on an anti-terrorism investigation is against the law.”

  “And by the way, I’m one of the people who warned about 9/11. I do not appreciate what you did in the slightest!”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “How did you know about 9/11?”

  LINDAUER: “We had been watching for an attack for months.”

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Who’s we?”

  LINDAUER: “Richard Fuisz had been instructing me for several months. From after the Lockerbie Trial. OK, the Lockerbie Trial ends in January. In approximately March and April, Richard Fuisz is beginning to aggressively ask me, over and over again, if there is any intelligence that I’m hearing about any attack. Specifically I am to pump my sources for information on airplane hijackings and airplane bombings. I am to tell Iraq and Libya – Iraq PARTICULARLY—that if anybody bombs the United States, and we find out that they knew about it, we will blow them fucking back to the stone age.”

  [Note: The correct months were April and May.]

  DR. KLEINMAN: “Did you tell Iraq and Libya that?”

  LINDAUER: “Yes. And by God, Richard Fuisz did his job. Richard Fuisz did exactly what he is supposed to do. He is proactive. He is strong. He is thinking. He is working to protect this country. And he has nothing to be ashamed of. And I don’t either. This is how we do it.”