Listen to the somber lessons of a retired CIA analyst and scholar who's written three books exposing the clandestine operations of the CIA since 1953. Chalmers Johnson is extremely credible and informative as he details several topics from his Book "Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Empire."
On a recent interview with Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow, she sounded uncharacteristically impassioned or engaged when talking to Chalmers. For the complete interview please go to the website. I've only heard Amy display emotions twice since watching DN a few years ago. Once was her only smile and laughter while interviewing Studz Turkle, the other was her interview today where she looked alarmed. Otherwise she always takes the neutral-ground and shows no emotion while reporting the news. Our Main Stream Media Actors could learn a lesson on how to behave.
Chalmers is not very optimistic about the future except to say that if we can break the grip of media censorship and control, there is a chance we can save the Republic before it turns into a dictatorship or empire. I'd listen and act if I were you.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Bushmen of the Intifada
Lets get one thing clear, Anyone who thinks there is any incompetency going on in the Bush Administration had better check their subscription to NYT at the door and get to a re-education program pronto. The APPEARANCE of incompetence is as deliberate as George W's accent and his propensity to do stupid things that get spotlighted in the press. You need only to step back and let the facts assemble to see the big picture—That GW may be making the joker of himself, but this jokers got the laughs on the US citizens....all the way to the bank!
Oil has gone from $27 a barrel to $60 on his watch. His family, bonesmen, their business cabal, and their closest friends in Saudi Arabia are doing cartwheels!!! Now of course the Bushmen never had oil on their minds, they were after Binladen, AlQaeda, Saddam, WMDs, Liberation. er to resist civil war, no actually to fight Iran. But a funny thing happened on the way to whatever reason they gave... the third largest oil reserves were put out of commission and by destabilizing the oil in the region, prices have surpassed even the gas crisis of the seventies! What a coincidence? The Bushmen decided Iran needed to be next- gee, the second largest oil reserves? (who is the largest?- you guessed it the Bush Family friend Prince Bandar's Saudi Arabia)
This week a confidential final draft of the new law governing oil management by Iraq was translated and leaked by Global Exchange's Iraqi Project Director, Raed Jarrar... Surprise, Big Oil has written themselves into a crucial governing board called the Federal Oil and Gas Council- that approves any and all contracts for Iraqi OIl! They guaranteed contracts had a minimum 35yr contract life and left the regions defined by ethnic divides (and coincidentally the same as the Baker Hamilton Report) to bid against each other for the Oil Company contracts.... that THEN are approved by the SAME oil companies! The BBC reported the draft was made law, and made no mention of the Oil Company Controls... gee.
No, the Bushmen are unbelievably sharp and confident - and moving in on their long-sought prize... a global economy controlled by the corporations they and their "Americans" own and influence. Yes nothing short of World Domination... And what is our role in this quest? Well we are the ones paying for it in blood, money, rights, and the most important thing we own— our vote.
The question no one seems to want to ask? Why the World Trade Centers? Why the symbolic attacks? For the answer would not point to our attacking Afghanistan the nation, or Iraq... In fact it would possibly make us reconsider the whole "attacking" notion. Why did they attack the Towers? The symbols of World Trade. The Pentagon and symbol of Military Aggression, and the white house seat of tyranny.... gee perhaps it was the betrayal and abuse by our secret CIA sponsorship of the Muhajadeen during the war with the Soviet Union and then our abandonment to chaos and terror once the battle was won? Could it have been aggrivated by our decades of terror, resource extraction, aggression, sanction and the systematic looting of other nations resources, lives and wealth?.... think maybe that could get some people mad enough to fly planes into towers?
But the crazy thing is Bushmen been plotting for this moment a long time.... they are bankrupting this nation while numbing down our citizens, til they can neuter our vote and have control of our opinion and consent.
They've let nothing stop them from achieving their goals- signaling not only competency, but a real threat to global stability. The Bushmen formed an alliance with Church and State, used all the Hot-Button Issues to polarize the public, looted every coffer of public trust-except SS and Medicaid (they are still trying). They've pimped to any corporate desire for funding and support, built the most amazing propaganda network with FOX and CNN leading the way and neutered the CPB by appointing corporate shills to drain it of objectivity and resources. They couldn't kill it though they've tried numerous times. They've allowed unbridled corruption to also infiltrate many governmental agencies FDA, FCC, & EPA giving shelter to corporations through the evisceration of regulation and accountability. They bought the 109th Congress in exchange for a do-nothing policy and no oversight, and have placed radical judges in lifetime positions all the way to the Supreme Court. They've given billions in tax breaks to the wealthy helping them finally regain their giant income gap, establishing a two-class system of imperial proportions. Even gotten the citizens to allow them to create a private army and intelligence agency with access to the most powerful arsenal on earth.
Using the money formerly earmarked for our children, we are paying private contractors to develop unilateral weapons of mass destruction for fighting urban warfare on a scale that could just as easily be on US soil as the middle east. Now with the in-field training of attacking a first-world economic development like Tehran, what's to stop the private contractors from engaging in NYC or Chicago? Not our access to civilian defense equipment, the "incompetent" Bushmen had all the strong military hardware consolidated to four bases in the US and the rest moved to outposts in sovereign nations round the world during Rumsfeld's BRAC realignment policy that was forced over strong objections from our Military leadership. In the event of an internal action on civilians, we would be no better equipped than the Iraqi militia whom Paul Bremmer dismissed without pay and sent home with their weapons! (gee was that an accident or did he create the first real-time live ammo action adventure game, internally arming for military training on urban conflict)
Newly enriched with billions, his followers give their undying allegiance to the Bushmen for their payback has been huge dividends. The NYSE soars but not for our petty 401ks, no its their wealth that outpaces our paltry fortunes. But what they give up in ignorant greed, will come to haunt them. The contracts worth billions provide artificial fuel to a hollow economy. We build Oshkosh Trucks, malls and buildings roads and coal plants... all providing wages and jobs and pacifying the working class. They love the ROI too... vote Red regardless of the truth. Meanwhile our education system falters, tuition skyrockets while loans and grants vanish or become smaller, but steeped in paperwork. Look to our factories, more and more are cutting hours, wages benefits... jobs are going overseas and down south where they can pay nothing because workers have no vote.
Poor immigrant families increasingly cross the borders in search of something better than the tainted lives our Corporations have made for them at home. But now our confused and misinformed citizens attack them and pay billions to Bushmen Corporations to build walls- using Mexican labor to do it!
We are so duped by fear and resentment we cling to our televisions for a steady diet of light news-katie couric style. We even argue for keeping the bad news away "nobody want to hear bad news" particularly if it points to our complacency as the problem.
Bush is the first President in history to have Imperial powers and the ability to control the US military at will. You thought Nixon's secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos were bad??? The Bushmen have gutted more rights and accountability in more offices, agencies and public trusts than anyone since Jackson and even he'd (jackson) have issues defending that honor...
Since the Bushmen took office (literally) in 2000, they have had their eyes trained on an agenda like a pack of wolves on a pony in a herd.
Connect the dots... Cheney put G up to the job-why? cuz GW's always been the cheerleader... he can play the fool better than anyone. Meanwhile Dick is pulling the strings, and the folks that own him pull his strings... lets explore.
Why did they win the 2000 election at any cost? Supreme Court Seats. Why did they win the 04 election at any costs? Supreme Court Seats... and... cuz they rigged the system to maintain control infinitely... they thought... Why else were no closely contested Dem victories recounted? Perhaps they worried that wide-spread voter fraud might be uncovered. Voter turnout was far higher than anyone had expected... even Rove. Best to shut up and take the agenda covert- like with Nixon.
Cheney has been working the scene since Nixon days... In fact if Ford hadn't have been so "forward" thinking about preventing disunity in the US by pardoning Nixon and halting the investigations into corruption at that time you think it would have stopped with the plumbers at Watergate???
Heck no, there was big-time war profiteering and scores to settle in the intelligence community shoring up the Cointelpro work on US "insurgents". In fact Bush41, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld were all brought up from the bullpens at that time. They became Ford's trusted advisers and forged their unholy allegiances with K street and the money-lenders at that time.
Cheney, Rummy and Wolfowitz went right to work manufacturing policy to bring about the "new world order" that Bush41 and Reagan spoke of frequently in the 80s. Remember the bright city on the hill???
Lets fast forward as I know you don't have time to review history here... Who hasn't by this time figured the Neo-Con strategy for control has its roots in Nazi counterintelligence and propaganda techniques? Doublespeak and intentional ownership of vocabulary terms that once meant the opposite- has been their silver bullet for eight years and seems to have a full head of steam even today! The same rhetoric that got us pimped into Afghanistan and Iraq is being used AS EFFECTIVELY on Iran!
Help me... are these the actions of a stupid person? Are these the statistics of people who seem unfocused and irresponsible? Hell no! This is the calculating perfection of a wolf pack stalking a pony. Listen to their words.... the certainty with which they speak.. for they give clues to workings behind the scenes... While America watches goofy characters play Poker on TV, their leaders are chumpin them for all they have and givin tells left and right!!!
But who's watchin?.... isn't there a special on Anna Nicole?.. or what about 24 ? isn't tonight when Jack tortures a suspect to get info from him?
Nascar's on... racing Army and National Guard cars... our taxpayer dollars hard at work changing young man's minds about joining - far better than the $16BILLION in $100 dollar bills we "lost" in Iraq. Eight Semis filled top to bottom with hundred dollar bills.... missing? And we wonder why we have no funding for healthcare or social security or why we are privatizing everything in our government???
Regardless of your position on 9/11 and the physical impossibilities of buildings falling, stacked on-top the unbelievable and numerous coincidences, there is no doubt the reaction plan was in place in the White House for it happened in hours... not so for New Orleans.... in Washington the response to 9/11 was so fast, the patriot act's 974 pages were still hot off the press... literally... as Congress was pressured to sign the bill.
That agenda is now only moments away from a terrible assault on another innocent civilization in Iran. The evidence is mounting and the pattern repeating. While our weak and fearful nation clings to "good news" and must-see tv, our leaders launch us into oblivion for their own greed and thirst for power. We will pay the price, but not nearly as much as our children and grandchildren will... they will just look back to this time in anger and point to us with shame and disgust for leveraging their world for personal pleasure and false security. Or maybe not.... what are willing to do? How far are you willing to explore and expose to prevent this from happening?
Now is the time and we are the ones. If not now—when? If not us—who?
Oil has gone from $27 a barrel to $60 on his watch. His family, bonesmen, their business cabal, and their closest friends in Saudi Arabia are doing cartwheels!!! Now of course the Bushmen never had oil on their minds, they were after Binladen, AlQaeda, Saddam, WMDs, Liberation. er to resist civil war, no actually to fight Iran. But a funny thing happened on the way to whatever reason they gave... the third largest oil reserves were put out of commission and by destabilizing the oil in the region, prices have surpassed even the gas crisis of the seventies! What a coincidence? The Bushmen decided Iran needed to be next- gee, the second largest oil reserves? (who is the largest?- you guessed it the Bush Family friend Prince Bandar's Saudi Arabia)
This week a confidential final draft of the new law governing oil management by Iraq was translated and leaked by Global Exchange's Iraqi Project Director, Raed Jarrar... Surprise, Big Oil has written themselves into a crucial governing board called the Federal Oil and Gas Council- that approves any and all contracts for Iraqi OIl! They guaranteed contracts had a minimum 35yr contract life and left the regions defined by ethnic divides (and coincidentally the same as the Baker Hamilton Report) to bid against each other for the Oil Company contracts.... that THEN are approved by the SAME oil companies! The BBC reported the draft was made law, and made no mention of the Oil Company Controls... gee.
No, the Bushmen are unbelievably sharp and confident - and moving in on their long-sought prize... a global economy controlled by the corporations they and their "Americans" own and influence. Yes nothing short of World Domination... And what is our role in this quest? Well we are the ones paying for it in blood, money, rights, and the most important thing we own— our vote.
The question no one seems to want to ask? Why the World Trade Centers? Why the symbolic attacks? For the answer would not point to our attacking Afghanistan the nation, or Iraq... In fact it would possibly make us reconsider the whole "attacking" notion. Why did they attack the Towers? The symbols of World Trade. The Pentagon and symbol of Military Aggression, and the white house seat of tyranny.... gee perhaps it was the betrayal and abuse by our secret CIA sponsorship of the Muhajadeen during the war with the Soviet Union and then our abandonment to chaos and terror once the battle was won? Could it have been aggrivated by our decades of terror, resource extraction, aggression, sanction and the systematic looting of other nations resources, lives and wealth?.... think maybe that could get some people mad enough to fly planes into towers?
But the crazy thing is Bushmen been plotting for this moment a long time.... they are bankrupting this nation while numbing down our citizens, til they can neuter our vote and have control of our opinion and consent.
They've let nothing stop them from achieving their goals- signaling not only competency, but a real threat to global stability. The Bushmen formed an alliance with Church and State, used all the Hot-Button Issues to polarize the public, looted every coffer of public trust-except SS and Medicaid (they are still trying). They've pimped to any corporate desire for funding and support, built the most amazing propaganda network with FOX and CNN leading the way and neutered the CPB by appointing corporate shills to drain it of objectivity and resources. They couldn't kill it though they've tried numerous times. They've allowed unbridled corruption to also infiltrate many governmental agencies FDA, FCC, & EPA giving shelter to corporations through the evisceration of regulation and accountability. They bought the 109th Congress in exchange for a do-nothing policy and no oversight, and have placed radical judges in lifetime positions all the way to the Supreme Court. They've given billions in tax breaks to the wealthy helping them finally regain their giant income gap, establishing a two-class system of imperial proportions. Even gotten the citizens to allow them to create a private army and intelligence agency with access to the most powerful arsenal on earth.
Using the money formerly earmarked for our children, we are paying private contractors to develop unilateral weapons of mass destruction for fighting urban warfare on a scale that could just as easily be on US soil as the middle east. Now with the in-field training of attacking a first-world economic development like Tehran, what's to stop the private contractors from engaging in NYC or Chicago? Not our access to civilian defense equipment, the "incompetent" Bushmen had all the strong military hardware consolidated to four bases in the US and the rest moved to outposts in sovereign nations round the world during Rumsfeld's BRAC realignment policy that was forced over strong objections from our Military leadership. In the event of an internal action on civilians, we would be no better equipped than the Iraqi militia whom Paul Bremmer dismissed without pay and sent home with their weapons! (gee was that an accident or did he create the first real-time live ammo action adventure game, internally arming for military training on urban conflict)
Newly enriched with billions, his followers give their undying allegiance to the Bushmen for their payback has been huge dividends. The NYSE soars but not for our petty 401ks, no its their wealth that outpaces our paltry fortunes. But what they give up in ignorant greed, will come to haunt them. The contracts worth billions provide artificial fuel to a hollow economy. We build Oshkosh Trucks, malls and buildings roads and coal plants... all providing wages and jobs and pacifying the working class. They love the ROI too... vote Red regardless of the truth. Meanwhile our education system falters, tuition skyrockets while loans and grants vanish or become smaller, but steeped in paperwork. Look to our factories, more and more are cutting hours, wages benefits... jobs are going overseas and down south where they can pay nothing because workers have no vote.
Poor immigrant families increasingly cross the borders in search of something better than the tainted lives our Corporations have made for them at home. But now our confused and misinformed citizens attack them and pay billions to Bushmen Corporations to build walls- using Mexican labor to do it!
We are so duped by fear and resentment we cling to our televisions for a steady diet of light news-katie couric style. We even argue for keeping the bad news away "nobody want to hear bad news" particularly if it points to our complacency as the problem.
Bush is the first President in history to have Imperial powers and the ability to control the US military at will. You thought Nixon's secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos were bad??? The Bushmen have gutted more rights and accountability in more offices, agencies and public trusts than anyone since Jackson and even he'd (jackson) have issues defending that honor...
Since the Bushmen took office (literally) in 2000, they have had their eyes trained on an agenda like a pack of wolves on a pony in a herd.
Connect the dots... Cheney put G up to the job-why? cuz GW's always been the cheerleader... he can play the fool better than anyone. Meanwhile Dick is pulling the strings, and the folks that own him pull his strings... lets explore.
Why did they win the 2000 election at any cost? Supreme Court Seats. Why did they win the 04 election at any costs? Supreme Court Seats... and... cuz they rigged the system to maintain control infinitely... they thought... Why else were no closely contested Dem victories recounted? Perhaps they worried that wide-spread voter fraud might be uncovered. Voter turnout was far higher than anyone had expected... even Rove. Best to shut up and take the agenda covert- like with Nixon.
Cheney has been working the scene since Nixon days... In fact if Ford hadn't have been so "forward" thinking about preventing disunity in the US by pardoning Nixon and halting the investigations into corruption at that time you think it would have stopped with the plumbers at Watergate???
Heck no, there was big-time war profiteering and scores to settle in the intelligence community shoring up the Cointelpro work on US "insurgents". In fact Bush41, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld were all brought up from the bullpens at that time. They became Ford's trusted advisers and forged their unholy allegiances with K street and the money-lenders at that time.
Cheney, Rummy and Wolfowitz went right to work manufacturing policy to bring about the "new world order" that Bush41 and Reagan spoke of frequently in the 80s. Remember the bright city on the hill???
Lets fast forward as I know you don't have time to review history here... Who hasn't by this time figured the Neo-Con strategy for control has its roots in Nazi counterintelligence and propaganda techniques? Doublespeak and intentional ownership of vocabulary terms that once meant the opposite- has been their silver bullet for eight years and seems to have a full head of steam even today! The same rhetoric that got us pimped into Afghanistan and Iraq is being used AS EFFECTIVELY on Iran!
Help me... are these the actions of a stupid person? Are these the statistics of people who seem unfocused and irresponsible? Hell no! This is the calculating perfection of a wolf pack stalking a pony. Listen to their words.... the certainty with which they speak.. for they give clues to workings behind the scenes... While America watches goofy characters play Poker on TV, their leaders are chumpin them for all they have and givin tells left and right!!!
But who's watchin?.... isn't there a special on Anna Nicole?.. or what about 24 ? isn't tonight when Jack tortures a suspect to get info from him?
Nascar's on... racing Army and National Guard cars... our taxpayer dollars hard at work changing young man's minds about joining - far better than the $16BILLION in $100 dollar bills we "lost" in Iraq. Eight Semis filled top to bottom with hundred dollar bills.... missing? And we wonder why we have no funding for healthcare or social security or why we are privatizing everything in our government???
Regardless of your position on 9/11 and the physical impossibilities of buildings falling, stacked on-top the unbelievable and numerous coincidences, there is no doubt the reaction plan was in place in the White House for it happened in hours... not so for New Orleans.... in Washington the response to 9/11 was so fast, the patriot act's 974 pages were still hot off the press... literally... as Congress was pressured to sign the bill.
That agenda is now only moments away from a terrible assault on another innocent civilization in Iran. The evidence is mounting and the pattern repeating. While our weak and fearful nation clings to "good news" and must-see tv, our leaders launch us into oblivion for their own greed and thirst for power. We will pay the price, but not nearly as much as our children and grandchildren will... they will just look back to this time in anger and point to us with shame and disgust for leveraging their world for personal pleasure and false security. Or maybe not.... what are willing to do? How far are you willing to explore and expose to prevent this from happening?
Now is the time and we are the ones. If not now—when? If not us—who?
Monday, February 26, 2007
Chomsky 2003
Noam Chomsky in 2003 gave a brutally honest assessment of the Bush Invasion of Iraq and its consequenses... Today, this assessment sounds like a broken record of scary proportions as we invade Iran. Has everyone been vindicated for 9/11 yet? Have we all forgotten BinLaden and the 17 individuals who struck the symbol of world trade (and opression)? Not in IRAN, Not in Iraq, no Not even from Afghanistan... they were from (our first family's close friends)Saudi Arabia but thats besides the point.
Listen to Noam talk about the REAL reasons for our Quest of the Middle East- ask yourself is this what the founders of our nation had in mind when they wrote We the People...
Listen to Noam talk about the REAL reasons for our Quest of the Middle East- ask yourself is this what the founders of our nation had in mind when they wrote We the People...
Friday, February 23, 2007
Iran to America
This is the full text of a letter sent to American Citizens from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad published at MSNBC November 2006. Read this and tell me Condi's acessment of him being a raving lunitic is hard to swallow. Unless there's a hidden agenda? —Make him a demon and gain the country's support to attack.— Sure seems to be working...
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
To the American People
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful O, Almighty God, bestow upon humanity the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers.
Noble Americans,
Were we not faced with the activities of the US administration in this part of the world and the negative ramifications of those activities on the daily lives of our peoples, coupled with the many wars and calamities caused by the US administration as well as the tragic consequences of US interference in other countries; Were the American people not God-fearing, truth-loving, and justice-seeking, while the US administration actively conceals the truth and impedes any objective portrayal of current realities; And if we did not share a common responsibility to promote and protect freedom and human dignity and integrity; Then, there would have been little urgency to have a dialogue with you.
While Divine providence has placed Iran and the United States geographically far apart, we should be cognizant that human values and our common human spirit, which proclaim the dignity and exalted worth of all human beings, have brought our two great nations of Iran and the United States closer together.
Both our nations are God-fearing, truth-loving and justice-seeking, and both seek dignity, respect and perfection. Both greatly value and readily embrace the promotion of human ideals such as compassion, empathy, respect for the rights of human beings, securing justice and equity, and defending the innocent and the weak against oppressors and bullies. We are all inclined towards the good, and towards extending a helping hand to one another, particularly to those in need. We all deplore injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings. We all detest darkness, deceit, lies and distortion, and seek and admire salvation, enlightenment, sincerity and honesty. The pure human essence of the two great nations of Iran and the United States testify to the veracity of these statements.
Noble Americans,
Our nation has always extended its hand of friendship to all other nations of the world. Hundreds of thousands of my Iranian compatriots are living amongst you in friendship and peace, and are contributing positively to your society. Our people have been in contact with you over the past many years and have maintained these contacts despite the unnecessary restrictions of US authorities. As mentioned, we have common concerns, face similar challenges, and are pained by the sufferings and afflictions in the world.
We, like you, are aggrieved by the ever-worsening pain and misery of the Palestinian people. Persistent aggressions by the Zionists are making life more and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of Palestine. In broad day-light, in front of cameras and before the eyes of the world, they are bombarding innocent defenseless civilians, bulldozing houses, firing machine guns at students in the streets and alleys, and subjecting their families to endless grief. No day goes by without a new crime.
Palestinian mothers, just like Iranian and American mothers, love their children, and are painfully bereaved by the imprisonment, wounding and murder of their children. What mother wouldn't? For 60 years, the Zionist regime has driven millions of the inhabitants of Palestine out of their homes. Many of these refugees have died in the Diaspora and in refugee camps. Their children have spent their youth in these camps and are aging while still in the hope of returning to homeland.
You know well that the US administration has persistently provided blind and blanket support to the Zionist regime, has emboldened it to continue its crimes, and has prevented the UN Security Council from condemning it. Who can deny such broken promises and grave injustices towards humanity by the US administration?
Governments are there to serve their own people. No people wants to side with or support any oppressors. But regrettably, the US administration disregards even its own public opinion and remains in the forefront of supporting the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people.
Let's take a look at Iraq. Since the commencement of the US military presence in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, maimed or displaced. Terrorism in Iraq has grown exponentially. With the presence of the US military in Iraq, nothing has been done to rebuild the ruins, to restore the infrastructure or to alleviate poverty. The US Government used the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but later it became clear that that was just a lie and a deception.
Although Saddam was overthrown and people are happy about his departure, the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people has persisted and has even been aggravated. In Iraq, about one hundred and fifty thousand American soldiers, separated from their families and loved ones, are operating under the command of the current US administration. A substantial number of them have been killed or wounded and their presence in Iraq has tarnished the image of the American people and government. Their mothers and relatives have, on numerous occasions, displayed their discontent with the presence of their sons and daughters in a land thousands of miles away from US shores. American soldiers often wonder why they have been sent to Iraq.
I consider it extremely unlikely that you, the American people, consent to the billions of dollars of annual expenditure from your treasury for this military misadventure.
Noble Americans,
You have heard that the US administration is kidnapping its presumed opponents from across the globe and arbitrarily holding them without trial or any international supervision in horrendous prisons that it has established in various parts of the world. God knows who these detainees actually are, and what terrible fate awaits them.
You have certainly heard the sad stories of the Guantanamo and Abu-Ghraib prisons. The US administration attempts to justify them through its proclaimed "war on terror." But every one knows that such behavior, in fact, offends global public opinion, exacerbates resentment and thereby spreads terrorism, and tarnishes the US image and its credibility among nations.
The US administration's illegal and immoral behavior is not even confined to outside its borders. You are witnessing daily that under the pretext of "the war on terror," civil liberties in the United States are being increasingly curtailed. Even the privacy of individuals is fast losing its meaning. Judicial due process and fundamental rights are trampled upon. Private phones are tapped, suspects are arbitrarily arrested, sometimes beaten in the streets, or even shot to death.
I have no doubt that the American people do not approve of this behavior and indeed deplore it.
The US administration does not accept accountability before any organization, institution or council. The US administration has undermined the credibility of international organizations, particularly the United Nations and its Security Council. But, I do not intend to address all the challenges and calamities in this message.
The legitimacy, power and influence of a government do not emanate from its arsenals of tanks, fighter aircrafts, missiles or nuclear weapons. Legitimacy and influence reside in sound logic, quest for justice and compassion and empathy for all humanity. The global position of the United States is in all probability weakened because the administration has continued to resort to force, to conceal the truth, and to mislead the American people about its policies and practices.
Undoubtedly, the American people are not satisfied with this behavior and they showed their discontent in the recent elections. I hope that in the wake of the mid-term elections, the administration of President Bush will have heard and will heed the message of the American people.
My questions are the following:
Is there not a better approach to governance?
Is it not possible to put wealth and power in the service of peace, stability, prosperity and the happiness of all peoples through a commitment to justice and respect for the rights of all nations, instead of aggression and war?
We all condemn terrorism, because its victims are the innocent. But, can terrorism be contained and eradicated through war, destruction and the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocents?
If that were possible, then why has the problem not been resolved?
The sad experience of invading Iraq is before us all.
What has blind support for the Zionists by the US administration brought for the American people? It is regrettable that for the US administration, the interests of these occupiers supersedes the interests of the American people and of the other nations of the world. What have the Zionists done for the American people that the US administration considers itself obliged to blindly support these infamous aggressors?
Is it not because they have imposed themselves on a substantial portion of the banking, financial, cultural and media sectors?
I recommend that in a demonstration of respect for the American people and for humanity, the right of Palestinians to live in their own homeland should be recognized so that millions of Palestinian refugees can return to their homes and the future of all of Palestine and its form of government be determined in a referendum. This will benefit everyone.
Now that Iraq has a Constitution and an independent Assembly and Government, would it not be more beneficial to bring the US officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical US military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people? As you know very well, many victims of Katrina continue to suffer, and countless Americans continue to live in poverty and homelessness.
I'd also like to say a word to the winners of the recent elections in the US: The United States has had many administrations; some who have left a positive legacy, and others that are neither remembered fondly by the American people nor by other nations. Now that you control an important branch of the US Government, you will also be held to account by the people and by history.
If the US Government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and Justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America. But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners, although the recent elections, rather than reflecting a victory, in reality point to the failure of the current administration's policies. These issues had been extensively dealt with in my letter to President Bush earlier this year.
To sum up:
It is possible to govern based on an approach that is distinctly different from one of coercion, force and injustice.
It is possible to sincerely serve and promote common human values, and honesty and compassion.
It is possible to provide welfare and prosperity without tension, threats, imposition or war.
It is possible to lead the world towards the aspired perfection by adhering to unity, monotheism, morality and spirituality and drawing upon the teachings of the Divine Prophets.
Then, the American people, who are God-fearing and followers of Divine religions, will overcome every difficulty.
What I stated represents some of my anxieties and concerns.
I am confident that you, the American people, will play an instrumental role in the establishment of justice and spirituality throughout the world. The promises of the Almighty and His prophets will certainly be realized, Justice and Truth will prevail and all nations will live a true life in a climate replete with love, compassion and fraternity.
The US governing establishment, the authorities and the powerful should not choose irreversible paths. As all prophets have taught us, injustice and transgression will eventually bring about decline and demise. Today, the path of return to faith and spirituality is open and unimpeded.
We should all heed the Divine Word of the Holy Qur'an:
"But those who repent, have faith and do good may receive Salvation. Your Lord, alone, creates and chooses as He will, and others have no part in His choice; Glorified is God and Exalted above any partners they ascribe to Him." (28:67-68)
I pray to the Almighty to bless the Iranian and American nations and indeed all nations of the world with dignity and success.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
29 November 2006
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
To the American People
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful O, Almighty God, bestow upon humanity the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers.
Noble Americans,
Were we not faced with the activities of the US administration in this part of the world and the negative ramifications of those activities on the daily lives of our peoples, coupled with the many wars and calamities caused by the US administration as well as the tragic consequences of US interference in other countries; Were the American people not God-fearing, truth-loving, and justice-seeking, while the US administration actively conceals the truth and impedes any objective portrayal of current realities; And if we did not share a common responsibility to promote and protect freedom and human dignity and integrity; Then, there would have been little urgency to have a dialogue with you.
While Divine providence has placed Iran and the United States geographically far apart, we should be cognizant that human values and our common human spirit, which proclaim the dignity and exalted worth of all human beings, have brought our two great nations of Iran and the United States closer together.
Both our nations are God-fearing, truth-loving and justice-seeking, and both seek dignity, respect and perfection. Both greatly value and readily embrace the promotion of human ideals such as compassion, empathy, respect for the rights of human beings, securing justice and equity, and defending the innocent and the weak against oppressors and bullies. We are all inclined towards the good, and towards extending a helping hand to one another, particularly to those in need. We all deplore injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings. We all detest darkness, deceit, lies and distortion, and seek and admire salvation, enlightenment, sincerity and honesty. The pure human essence of the two great nations of Iran and the United States testify to the veracity of these statements.
Noble Americans,
Our nation has always extended its hand of friendship to all other nations of the world. Hundreds of thousands of my Iranian compatriots are living amongst you in friendship and peace, and are contributing positively to your society. Our people have been in contact with you over the past many years and have maintained these contacts despite the unnecessary restrictions of US authorities. As mentioned, we have common concerns, face similar challenges, and are pained by the sufferings and afflictions in the world.
We, like you, are aggrieved by the ever-worsening pain and misery of the Palestinian people. Persistent aggressions by the Zionists are making life more and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of Palestine. In broad day-light, in front of cameras and before the eyes of the world, they are bombarding innocent defenseless civilians, bulldozing houses, firing machine guns at students in the streets and alleys, and subjecting their families to endless grief. No day goes by without a new crime.
Palestinian mothers, just like Iranian and American mothers, love their children, and are painfully bereaved by the imprisonment, wounding and murder of their children. What mother wouldn't? For 60 years, the Zionist regime has driven millions of the inhabitants of Palestine out of their homes. Many of these refugees have died in the Diaspora and in refugee camps. Their children have spent their youth in these camps and are aging while still in the hope of returning to homeland.
You know well that the US administration has persistently provided blind and blanket support to the Zionist regime, has emboldened it to continue its crimes, and has prevented the UN Security Council from condemning it. Who can deny such broken promises and grave injustices towards humanity by the US administration?
Governments are there to serve their own people. No people wants to side with or support any oppressors. But regrettably, the US administration disregards even its own public opinion and remains in the forefront of supporting the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people.
Let's take a look at Iraq. Since the commencement of the US military presence in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, maimed or displaced. Terrorism in Iraq has grown exponentially. With the presence of the US military in Iraq, nothing has been done to rebuild the ruins, to restore the infrastructure or to alleviate poverty. The US Government used the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but later it became clear that that was just a lie and a deception.
Although Saddam was overthrown and people are happy about his departure, the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people has persisted and has even been aggravated. In Iraq, about one hundred and fifty thousand American soldiers, separated from their families and loved ones, are operating under the command of the current US administration. A substantial number of them have been killed or wounded and their presence in Iraq has tarnished the image of the American people and government. Their mothers and relatives have, on numerous occasions, displayed their discontent with the presence of their sons and daughters in a land thousands of miles away from US shores. American soldiers often wonder why they have been sent to Iraq.
I consider it extremely unlikely that you, the American people, consent to the billions of dollars of annual expenditure from your treasury for this military misadventure.
Noble Americans,
You have heard that the US administration is kidnapping its presumed opponents from across the globe and arbitrarily holding them without trial or any international supervision in horrendous prisons that it has established in various parts of the world. God knows who these detainees actually are, and what terrible fate awaits them.
You have certainly heard the sad stories of the Guantanamo and Abu-Ghraib prisons. The US administration attempts to justify them through its proclaimed "war on terror." But every one knows that such behavior, in fact, offends global public opinion, exacerbates resentment and thereby spreads terrorism, and tarnishes the US image and its credibility among nations.
The US administration's illegal and immoral behavior is not even confined to outside its borders. You are witnessing daily that under the pretext of "the war on terror," civil liberties in the United States are being increasingly curtailed. Even the privacy of individuals is fast losing its meaning. Judicial due process and fundamental rights are trampled upon. Private phones are tapped, suspects are arbitrarily arrested, sometimes beaten in the streets, or even shot to death.
I have no doubt that the American people do not approve of this behavior and indeed deplore it.
The US administration does not accept accountability before any organization, institution or council. The US administration has undermined the credibility of international organizations, particularly the United Nations and its Security Council. But, I do not intend to address all the challenges and calamities in this message.
The legitimacy, power and influence of a government do not emanate from its arsenals of tanks, fighter aircrafts, missiles or nuclear weapons. Legitimacy and influence reside in sound logic, quest for justice and compassion and empathy for all humanity. The global position of the United States is in all probability weakened because the administration has continued to resort to force, to conceal the truth, and to mislead the American people about its policies and practices.
Undoubtedly, the American people are not satisfied with this behavior and they showed their discontent in the recent elections. I hope that in the wake of the mid-term elections, the administration of President Bush will have heard and will heed the message of the American people.
My questions are the following:
Is there not a better approach to governance?
Is it not possible to put wealth and power in the service of peace, stability, prosperity and the happiness of all peoples through a commitment to justice and respect for the rights of all nations, instead of aggression and war?
We all condemn terrorism, because its victims are the innocent. But, can terrorism be contained and eradicated through war, destruction and the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocents?
If that were possible, then why has the problem not been resolved?
The sad experience of invading Iraq is before us all.
What has blind support for the Zionists by the US administration brought for the American people? It is regrettable that for the US administration, the interests of these occupiers supersedes the interests of the American people and of the other nations of the world. What have the Zionists done for the American people that the US administration considers itself obliged to blindly support these infamous aggressors?
Is it not because they have imposed themselves on a substantial portion of the banking, financial, cultural and media sectors?
I recommend that in a demonstration of respect for the American people and for humanity, the right of Palestinians to live in their own homeland should be recognized so that millions of Palestinian refugees can return to their homes and the future of all of Palestine and its form of government be determined in a referendum. This will benefit everyone.
Now that Iraq has a Constitution and an independent Assembly and Government, would it not be more beneficial to bring the US officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical US military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people? As you know very well, many victims of Katrina continue to suffer, and countless Americans continue to live in poverty and homelessness.
I'd also like to say a word to the winners of the recent elections in the US: The United States has had many administrations; some who have left a positive legacy, and others that are neither remembered fondly by the American people nor by other nations. Now that you control an important branch of the US Government, you will also be held to account by the people and by history.
If the US Government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and Justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America. But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners, although the recent elections, rather than reflecting a victory, in reality point to the failure of the current administration's policies. These issues had been extensively dealt with in my letter to President Bush earlier this year.
To sum up:
It is possible to govern based on an approach that is distinctly different from one of coercion, force and injustice.
It is possible to sincerely serve and promote common human values, and honesty and compassion.
It is possible to provide welfare and prosperity without tension, threats, imposition or war.
It is possible to lead the world towards the aspired perfection by adhering to unity, monotheism, morality and spirituality and drawing upon the teachings of the Divine Prophets.
Then, the American people, who are God-fearing and followers of Divine religions, will overcome every difficulty.
What I stated represents some of my anxieties and concerns.
I am confident that you, the American people, will play an instrumental role in the establishment of justice and spirituality throughout the world. The promises of the Almighty and His prophets will certainly be realized, Justice and Truth will prevail and all nations will live a true life in a climate replete with love, compassion and fraternity.
The US governing establishment, the authorities and the powerful should not choose irreversible paths. As all prophets have taught us, injustice and transgression will eventually bring about decline and demise. Today, the path of return to faith and spirituality is open and unimpeded.
We should all heed the Divine Word of the Holy Qur'an:
"But those who repent, have faith and do good may receive Salvation. Your Lord, alone, creates and chooses as He will, and others have no part in His choice; Glorified is God and Exalted above any partners they ascribe to Him." (28:67-68)
I pray to the Almighty to bless the Iranian and American nations and indeed all nations of the world with dignity and success.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
29 November 2006
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Iraq's Smoking Gun
In a newly translated and nearly secret draft of the -soon to be proposed- law concerning control and profit from Iraq's Oil, It is clear the Bush Administration's real intentions were in-fact.... OIL! The 32 page contract reads like a mafia extortion contract where the Iraqis get the privielge of giving their wealth, power and control to a board of supervisors consisting of the executives of several major Oil corporations.
The three main points of contention are 1)long-term contracts for leasing and production levels. As long as 35 year contracts will lock in Big Oil to the Iraqi Resources. 2) Iraq will serve a board of financial advisors Federal Oil and Gas Council who will have ultimate say-so on any contracts or deals... and the Fedral Council is made up of Executivesfrom BigOil! Yep they get to rule on the contracts Iraq is giving to their own Companies!!! no conflict of interest here! 3) A regionalized form of contract bidding that will surely cause an uproar. The net effect of this condition will be the creation of three separate region-state that will act independent of eachother- actually trying to outbid one-another! There will be infighting and clashes but even more troublesome, it could break Iraq into three new warring nations.
Quite a nice job at Democracy George....
The three main points of contention are 1)long-term contracts for leasing and production levels. As long as 35 year contracts will lock in Big Oil to the Iraqi Resources. 2) Iraq will serve a board of financial advisors Federal Oil and Gas Council who will have ultimate say-so on any contracts or deals... and the Fedral Council is made up of Executivesfrom BigOil! Yep they get to rule on the contracts Iraq is giving to their own Companies!!! no conflict of interest here! 3) A regionalized form of contract bidding that will surely cause an uproar. The net effect of this condition will be the creation of three separate region-state that will act independent of eachother- actually trying to outbid one-another! There will be infighting and clashes but even more troublesome, it could break Iraq into three new warring nations.
Quite a nice job at Democracy George....
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Wolf in Henhouse
Followup to Vulture
February 16/2007 OdiousDebt.com
Wolfowitz takes actions to gear up World Bank for Iraq by The Government Accountability Project (GAP)
Washington, D.C.: The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned from inside sources that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is currently negotiating a contract with a new resident Iraq Country Director. This step strongly suggests that Wolfowitz intends to expand Bank-funded projects there dramatically in the near future, despite the deteriorating security situation and recent disclosures of massive corruption in "reconstruction" efforts.
This development bears out the fears expressed by senior career staff and Board members when Wolfowitz was appointed by the Bush administration in June 2005. Only three months after Wolfowitz' arrival, the Bank's Board tried to restrain his management of World Bank operations in Iraq explicitly, issuing an unprecedented directive to his office to "[K]eep the Board regularly updated on developments in the country (Iraq) and implementation of the ISN" (Interim Strategy Note, September 2005, see GAP Web site). One year later, 30-year veteran Christiaan Poortman, vice-president for the Middle East, resigned from the World Bank rather than comply with Wolfowitz's directives to prepare to increase lending and add staff in Iraq.
The unilateral appointment of a resident Iraq country director can only aggravate an already tense standoff between Wolfowitz and the Bank Board. Members of the Board have already expressed concerns about misuse of other donorsí funds in the country and emphasized to the US-appointed President ". . . the need for compliance with the Bank's fiduciary and safeguard requirements," also according to the ISN 2005.
"Wolfowitz's apparent determination to use the World Bank to further questionable American military goals in the Middle East is a fundamental distortion of the Bank's mission, a violation of its founding Articles of Agreement, and a reckless waste of donor resources," said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards.
Appointing a resident Country Director for Iraq now puts Wolfowitz in opposition to Board members who have expressed increasing concern about the countryís deepening conflict and creditworthiness. Although the Board did approve a limited loan program for Iraq of U.S. $500 million in September 2005, funds were not approved for disbursal, as of December 31, 2006. Disbursement was contingent on "critical progress in several areas important to IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) creditworthiness, including security and external debt-relief," according to an internal memo from December 2006 (See GAP's Web site). The required progress has not occurred. Currently, regular staff travel to Iraq is prohibited, meaning that lending operations cannot be properly monitored.
To date, the Bank has relied on Iraqi staff based in the country, meetings with Iraqis outside the country, videoconferencing facilities in Baghdad, and long-distance supervision from the Interim Office for Iraq in Amman, Jordan. The current director for Iraq, Joseph Saba, is not a resident in the country ñ due to World Bank stipulations detailing terms for re-entry into a post-conflict situation. Instead, Saba manages five countries from Washington D.C.
Unlike the current director, the soon-to-be-named country director will exclusively manage Iraq for the Bank and will be stationed in Baghdad, according to inside sources. Wolfowitz first floated the idea of a resident Country Director and staff in Iraq in May 2006, when optimists in his office predicted greater stability as 2006 advanced. But the past year has seen an increase in violence, and the Bank's lending and staffing plan remains unchanged.
"In fact, the Bank is prohibited from operating in a conflict like this," added Edwards. "In the simplest financial terms, there is no functioning banking system, the government does not control its territory and it cannot guarantee loan repayment. Any emergency or social funding in Iraq should come from donorsí grants, not loans."
To engage in Iraq, the World Bank must justify reconstruction spending on economic grounds. If the conflict is ongoing, and the government is unstable, this cannot be done. Even assuming that the conflict ends soon, which no one is predicting, Bank Procedure 2.30 ("Development Cooperation and Conflict") stipulates that, to operate in a country emerging from a conflict, the Bank must prepare a "watching brief," develop a transitional support strategy, begin transitional reconstruction, then begin post-conflict reconstruction, and finally return to normal lending.
World Bank management under Wolfowitz has not taken these steps. Naming a resident country director and sending Bank staff to Baghdad, although no solution to the conflict appears likely, signifies increasing disagreement between Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board. The Board representative for Germany has long opposed any increase in Bank activity in Baghdad. His government is worried about staff safety. In addition, poorly monitored "reconstruction" projects will constitute a lucrative new source of income for corrupt officials who are party to the ongoing conflict.
The Government Accountability Project is a U.S. whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP's mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA.
February 16/2007 OdiousDebt.com
Wolfowitz takes actions to gear up World Bank for Iraq by The Government Accountability Project (GAP)
Washington, D.C.: The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned from inside sources that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is currently negotiating a contract with a new resident Iraq Country Director. This step strongly suggests that Wolfowitz intends to expand Bank-funded projects there dramatically in the near future, despite the deteriorating security situation and recent disclosures of massive corruption in "reconstruction" efforts.
This development bears out the fears expressed by senior career staff and Board members when Wolfowitz was appointed by the Bush administration in June 2005. Only three months after Wolfowitz' arrival, the Bank's Board tried to restrain his management of World Bank operations in Iraq explicitly, issuing an unprecedented directive to his office to "[K]eep the Board regularly updated on developments in the country (Iraq) and implementation of the ISN" (Interim Strategy Note, September 2005, see GAP Web site). One year later, 30-year veteran Christiaan Poortman, vice-president for the Middle East, resigned from the World Bank rather than comply with Wolfowitz's directives to prepare to increase lending and add staff in Iraq.
The unilateral appointment of a resident Iraq country director can only aggravate an already tense standoff between Wolfowitz and the Bank Board. Members of the Board have already expressed concerns about misuse of other donorsí funds in the country and emphasized to the US-appointed President ". . . the need for compliance with the Bank's fiduciary and safeguard requirements," also according to the ISN 2005.
"Wolfowitz's apparent determination to use the World Bank to further questionable American military goals in the Middle East is a fundamental distortion of the Bank's mission, a violation of its founding Articles of Agreement, and a reckless waste of donor resources," said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards.
Appointing a resident Country Director for Iraq now puts Wolfowitz in opposition to Board members who have expressed increasing concern about the countryís deepening conflict and creditworthiness. Although the Board did approve a limited loan program for Iraq of U.S. $500 million in September 2005, funds were not approved for disbursal, as of December 31, 2006. Disbursement was contingent on "critical progress in several areas important to IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) creditworthiness, including security and external debt-relief," according to an internal memo from December 2006 (See GAP's Web site). The required progress has not occurred. Currently, regular staff travel to Iraq is prohibited, meaning that lending operations cannot be properly monitored.
To date, the Bank has relied on Iraqi staff based in the country, meetings with Iraqis outside the country, videoconferencing facilities in Baghdad, and long-distance supervision from the Interim Office for Iraq in Amman, Jordan. The current director for Iraq, Joseph Saba, is not a resident in the country ñ due to World Bank stipulations detailing terms for re-entry into a post-conflict situation. Instead, Saba manages five countries from Washington D.C.
Unlike the current director, the soon-to-be-named country director will exclusively manage Iraq for the Bank and will be stationed in Baghdad, according to inside sources. Wolfowitz first floated the idea of a resident Country Director and staff in Iraq in May 2006, when optimists in his office predicted greater stability as 2006 advanced. But the past year has seen an increase in violence, and the Bank's lending and staffing plan remains unchanged.
"In fact, the Bank is prohibited from operating in a conflict like this," added Edwards. "In the simplest financial terms, there is no functioning banking system, the government does not control its territory and it cannot guarantee loan repayment. Any emergency or social funding in Iraq should come from donorsí grants, not loans."
To engage in Iraq, the World Bank must justify reconstruction spending on economic grounds. If the conflict is ongoing, and the government is unstable, this cannot be done. Even assuming that the conflict ends soon, which no one is predicting, Bank Procedure 2.30 ("Development Cooperation and Conflict") stipulates that, to operate in a country emerging from a conflict, the Bank must prepare a "watching brief," develop a transitional support strategy, begin transitional reconstruction, then begin post-conflict reconstruction, and finally return to normal lending.
World Bank management under Wolfowitz has not taken these steps. Naming a resident country director and sending Bank staff to Baghdad, although no solution to the conflict appears likely, signifies increasing disagreement between Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board. The Board representative for Germany has long opposed any increase in Bank activity in Baghdad. His government is worried about staff safety. In addition, poorly monitored "reconstruction" projects will constitute a lucrative new source of income for corrupt officials who are party to the ongoing conflict.
The Government Accountability Project is a U.S. whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP's mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Bush's Vulture Doners
pResident Bush, The Great Deceiver
George Bush looked solemn in his State of the Union Address as he asked take on the" challenges of hunger and poverty and disease", he asked America to forgive Billions dollars in debt relief to help third world nations by paying off their debt at a fraction of the original price. But who'd have known, behind his face of "honesty" was another of the cruelest Deceptions of all time!
"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger and poverty and disease -- and that is precisely what America is doing. I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty. When America serves others in this way, we show the strength and generosity of our country. These deeds reflect the character of our people. The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness, courage, and self-sacrifice of the American people."
Greg Palast, investigative journalist from the BBC and Guardian on DemocracyNow! broke this story and today John Conyers announced he'll take it up in Congress. Lets see if it hits the mainstream media and how they will portray this atrocious act of deception by the resident in the whitehouse. What will America think of the level of deception this administration stoops to?
In a followup, as expected Zambia lost case in UK must pay Vultures off to the US to see the ole Decider, George Bush!
For years many of us have been wondering what NeoCon Architect, Paul Wolfowitz would do at the World Bank? Not to disappoint, the wolf in charge of the world's bank has been assisting his friends to get rich bleeding the third world of their debt payments and fleecing gullible American citizens of their generosity.
pResident Bush begged Congress to "do the right thing" and forgive debt with taxpayer money but his REAL PLAN was to have his debt finance friends, like Paul Singer and Michael Sheehan, intercept the funds earmarked go to the struggling nations by buying the debts, and turning round and suing those very nations for penalty and interest worth hundreds of times more than the original debt!
But they can only collect this blood money in the Bush-Run US Court system. The Irony is that only the pResident has the power, with a simple signature to stop this practice. But he refuses as he is making his friends rich while bleeding America dry. The Great Deceiver again shows his disrespect for American citizens, when are we going to wake up?
George Bush looked solemn in his State of the Union Address as he asked take on the" challenges of hunger and poverty and disease", he asked America to forgive Billions dollars in debt relief to help third world nations by paying off their debt at a fraction of the original price. But who'd have known, behind his face of "honesty" was another of the cruelest Deceptions of all time!
"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger and poverty and disease -- and that is precisely what America is doing. I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty. When America serves others in this way, we show the strength and generosity of our country. These deeds reflect the character of our people. The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness, courage, and self-sacrifice of the American people."
Greg Palast, investigative journalist from the BBC and Guardian on DemocracyNow! broke this story and today John Conyers announced he'll take it up in Congress. Lets see if it hits the mainstream media and how they will portray this atrocious act of deception by the resident in the whitehouse. What will America think of the level of deception this administration stoops to?
In a followup, as expected Zambia lost case in UK must pay Vultures off to the US to see the ole Decider, George Bush!
For years many of us have been wondering what NeoCon Architect, Paul Wolfowitz would do at the World Bank? Not to disappoint, the wolf in charge of the world's bank has been assisting his friends to get rich bleeding the third world of their debt payments and fleecing gullible American citizens of their generosity.
pResident Bush begged Congress to "do the right thing" and forgive debt with taxpayer money but his REAL PLAN was to have his debt finance friends, like Paul Singer and Michael Sheehan, intercept the funds earmarked go to the struggling nations by buying the debts, and turning round and suing those very nations for penalty and interest worth hundreds of times more than the original debt!
But they can only collect this blood money in the Bush-Run US Court system. The Irony is that only the pResident has the power, with a simple signature to stop this practice. But he refuses as he is making his friends rich while bleeding America dry. The Great Deceiver again shows his disrespect for American citizens, when are we going to wake up?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Peoples History-CliffNotes
Long before we conquered this land we call the United States of America, and drew lines on a map to say what was ours, the indigenous peoples of central and south America migrated with the seasons as the birds, animals and insects do, to where the land was rich and bountiful, moving back down as the temperatures did. Now rather than staying on our side of the line as I'm guessing you would have it, some of our mercantile forefathers decided long ago (about 150yrs) that they were losing their ability to abuse the labor force here in the US because workers began to unionize and they had this pesky weapon-the vote. With that and their organized strength in numbers, these captains of industry could no longer demand men, women and children work in dangerous factories for 80hrs+ per week for little pay that sometimes they just withheld at will. Because these people could elect representatives who actually cared to defend that silly thing called a Constitution.
So rather than continue employing the Pinkerton Security Forces (predecessor of Blackwater and Bechtel) to savagely beat down the resistance (Haymarket Riot ), they discovered that on the other side of that line on the map, the people had no vote! So if these industrialists just gave into the union demands— 40 hr workweek, child labor laws, minimum wage etc— they could befriend this new middle class, get their vote, and still keep a class distance both socially and economically from this riffraff by exploiting the peoples and resources of lesser nations to the south who had no means to defend themselves from corporate colonialism .
Fast forward a bit as I'm not trying bore to you, as the profits grew, corporate interests and their thirst for resource extraction grew too, (like a turbocharger). Meanwhile the plight of the indigenous peoples grew darker. The Corporate Industrialists began gaining power and influence in our Government and found they could externalize many non-profitable facets of their operations in the south by having our Government do the work for them... Gee that made stockholders happy and the middle class never made the connection. So began our military and economic oppression of these poor indigenous peoples who tried to organize and demand human rights—as we did in 150yrs ago, but they didn't have a vote .
So the Corporations savagely brutalized them and recklessly exploited their lands and resources (after all, they have no pesky EPA or laws our Corporations couldn't fix). These Corporate Colonialists continued to squish anyone who began to organize and found it useful to supplant the governments of the peoples, with puppets of their own choosing. So with the might of our military and the use of all branches of intelligence, economic and financing, they toppled and imposed brutal regimes at will...training death squads at the "School of the Americas" and gee it worked so well, these Corporate Colonialists took the concept on a road-show to every continent on Earth... By advancing loans (debt) for "infrastructure improvements" like highways and electricity, public health and education, agencies like the IMF and World Bank , Corporate Colonialists were able to privatize the lesser nation's Commons ...but I digress, meanwhile the peoples of these oppressed nations, driven from their lands, stripped of their dignity and forced into poverty, began taking to the migratory traditions of their forefathers in increasing numbers. Noticable increases of labor crossing our line on a map and doing the jobs our snobby, spoiled kids won't do, was okay at first, til these Corporate Colonialists began exercising their Imperialist intentions through globalization of their Brands . That means they break the middle class by shipping our jobs overseas.
See the Imperialists just had to find a way to make our votes become useless, then they could treat us like they did before the unions. So now with our jobs leaving and our wages and buying power shrinking, we look to those increasing numbers of people doing what they've done forever, and we begin to hate them. Hate them for our own blindness to what we are losing. And now the Corporate Imperialists are within our Government, step up to build a great wall of isolation to keep the migrants out... they hire their own corporations (who farm the labor out to migrants like New Orleans) to build and defend these walls (for a healthy profit) and they continue to manufacture consent through their Corporate-Owned Media outlets.
As news stations continue to tell us they are fair and balanced, the programming swings more and more towards graphic violence and materialism. Desensitizing the middle class and fooling them into a false patriotism to continue to sap them of their children, wealth, and bounty to battle the wars that benefit Corporate Imperialists. Now with new Corporate appointments to lock up the Supreme Court and judicial branch, and ownership of the executive branch, (they stumbled in November on the legislative branch but it is within reach) they are on the precipice of doing to us what they've done to our neighbors to the south and in the middle east and sub-saharan africa and everywhere else including us 150yrs ago.
So rather than continue employing the Pinkerton Security Forces (predecessor of Blackwater and Bechtel) to savagely beat down the resistance (Haymarket Riot ), they discovered that on the other side of that line on the map, the people had no vote! So if these industrialists just gave into the union demands— 40 hr workweek, child labor laws, minimum wage etc— they could befriend this new middle class, get their vote, and still keep a class distance both socially and economically from this riffraff by exploiting the peoples and resources of lesser nations to the south who had no means to defend themselves from corporate colonialism .
Fast forward a bit as I'm not trying bore to you, as the profits grew, corporate interests and their thirst for resource extraction grew too, (like a turbocharger). Meanwhile the plight of the indigenous peoples grew darker. The Corporate Industrialists began gaining power and influence in our Government and found they could externalize many non-profitable facets of their operations in the south by having our Government do the work for them... Gee that made stockholders happy and the middle class never made the connection. So began our military and economic oppression of these poor indigenous peoples who tried to organize and demand human rights—as we did in 150yrs ago, but they didn't have a vote .
So the Corporations savagely brutalized them and recklessly exploited their lands and resources (after all, they have no pesky EPA or laws our Corporations couldn't fix). These Corporate Colonialists continued to squish anyone who began to organize and found it useful to supplant the governments of the peoples, with puppets of their own choosing. So with the might of our military and the use of all branches of intelligence, economic and financing, they toppled and imposed brutal regimes at will...training death squads at the "School of the Americas" and gee it worked so well, these Corporate Colonialists took the concept on a road-show to every continent on Earth... By advancing loans (debt) for "infrastructure improvements" like highways and electricity, public health and education, agencies like the IMF and World Bank , Corporate Colonialists were able to privatize the lesser nation's Commons ...but I digress, meanwhile the peoples of these oppressed nations, driven from their lands, stripped of their dignity and forced into poverty, began taking to the migratory traditions of their forefathers in increasing numbers. Noticable increases of labor crossing our line on a map and doing the jobs our snobby, spoiled kids won't do, was okay at first, til these Corporate Colonialists began exercising their Imperialist intentions through globalization of their Brands . That means they break the middle class by shipping our jobs overseas.
See the Imperialists just had to find a way to make our votes become useless, then they could treat us like they did before the unions. So now with our jobs leaving and our wages and buying power shrinking, we look to those increasing numbers of people doing what they've done forever, and we begin to hate them. Hate them for our own blindness to what we are losing. And now the Corporate Imperialists are within our Government, step up to build a great wall of isolation to keep the migrants out... they hire their own corporations (who farm the labor out to migrants like New Orleans) to build and defend these walls (for a healthy profit) and they continue to manufacture consent through their Corporate-Owned Media outlets.
As news stations continue to tell us they are fair and balanced, the programming swings more and more towards graphic violence and materialism. Desensitizing the middle class and fooling them into a false patriotism to continue to sap them of their children, wealth, and bounty to battle the wars that benefit Corporate Imperialists. Now with new Corporate appointments to lock up the Supreme Court and judicial branch, and ownership of the executive branch, (they stumbled in November on the legislative branch but it is within reach) they are on the precipice of doing to us what they've done to our neighbors to the south and in the middle east and sub-saharan africa and everywhere else including us 150yrs ago.
Be My Valentine!
Be My Valentine else I'll rip out your heart!
Seriously, isn't it ironic that the day most ingrained in our culture as being rooted in love, caring and friendship hides some of the most ruthless corporate neocolonial business practices on earth.
While it is customary to give flowers, chocolate or diamonds on this day, how come gifts that bring so much happiness, cause so much suffering.
Flowers- more precisely Roses, 60% of the roses sold in the US come from Dole-owned labor camps in Columbia and Ecquador. In fact a full 30% of Ecquadors entire rose production is bred to harvest for Valentines day. Big Deal? Well these workers are subjected to abuse, low wages and exposure to widespread use of chemicals and pesticides. Dole's largest production center is at the center of another struggle as peasant workers try to organize a union and are being brutally beaten down by Dole.
The US enjoys $13 Billion in Chocolate each year. More than 40% of the Cocoa comes from South Africa where more than 100,000 children are forced into working the cocoa farms. They too are beaten, abused and mutilated to the amusement of their owners.They are poisoned by pesticides and forced to work in unsafe conditions. ADM, the Cargil Corp and Nestles created these communities decades ago when they helped made the farm plantations. These corporations are woven into the economies and welfare of the region. But to avoid legal "headaches" they choose to take a hands-off approach supporting the peoples and infrastructure grating a meger $5M over the past five years while reaping a whopping $65 Billion in sweet profits.
If you're really in love, maybe you'll get a sparkling diamond for your valentine. While its said to signify undying love, there might be more dying than you are willing to hear. Blood diamonds have fueled the most brutal civil wars in sierra leone the past two decades. but through global campaigning and grassroot efforts, awareness has forced the giants in the business like DeBeers to be more concerned about their diamonds origin.
So take a moment from this day to think of a way that you can send a valentine to those who struggle and die for the gifts we give. Rather than ripping their hearts to give to another, why not find a way to spead the awareness and bring these corporate monsters a conscience. Happy Valentines Day!
Buy these chocolates they are conflict-free:
Equal Exchange Chocolate
Divine Chocolate
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Hillary's True Colors
Hillary Clinton spoke at an AIPAC conference yesterday. AIPAC is the gargantuan sinister Israeli special interest group the has deep connections throughout Congress, the Pentagon, the FBI and the neo-cnservatives in the Bush Administration. Clinton revealed beneath her Blue eyes is a heart red as Dick Cheney.
She has repeatedly dodged any questions about her pro-war stance on the war. Here she laid it out for her biggest fans. With AIPEC support, power and influence is unlimited, oppose them and suffer public character assassination... ask Jimmy Carter.
She has repeatedly dodged any questions about her pro-war stance on the war. Here she laid it out for her biggest fans. With AIPEC support, power and influence is unlimited, oppose them and suffer public character assassination... ask Jimmy Carter.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Don't Get Fooled Again?
Even Bush couldn't get the quote right—are we as foolish too? "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" is the correct quote, but I'm beginning to wonder if the citizens are going to get fooled again? Doesn't anyone remember the exact same fuzzy logic that got us into Iraq? Colin Powell at the UN, holding the vile of Anthrax? Rumsfeld on Meet the Press showing photographic proof of WMDs? Wolfowitz with cartoon drawings of railroad car anthrax labs and BinLadens gigantic bunkers in Tora Bora. The "credible evidence of Iraq's purchasing "Yellow Cake" uranium? Tenent's "Slam Dunk." The fabricated reports from the CIA that VP Dick Cheney, violating protocol, personally went to Langley to have junior analysts write up to support his policy? They have all proved false... zero true, none. nada.
These are facts not fictions, they are admitted truths by both sides. It was this absolute and impending threat of annihilation that prompted unilateral support by the US public and both sides of the aisles. Now many right-leaners like to point out that Dems supported the war and now are flip flops... but then, as now, the people fabricating the intel are the same... and if our politicians are told that the pentagon and the CIA are non-partisan, then they must believe that intel and make a position based on it.
Except we learned later that the pentagon and CIA did fabricate the facts to favor war... just as they are doing now? Defense contractors have made hundreds of Billions of dollars and Iraq never "Greeted us as Liberators" The script is the same... connections to arms deals, a failure to come to the table and talk, desire to create WMDs...
How dumb are we??? Condi Rice just lied to Congress last week about receiving negotiations from Iran via the Swiss consulate... but she wasn't under oath so her words are non-binding (haven't we heard that recently) -how convenient. Again, the weapons are ours, the intel is wrong, the methodology is the same what-if scenario that was dead-wrong in Iraq... so in the immortal words of the great decider, "Fool me....ya fool me, ya can't get fooled again?"
The only fools are the US public who will sorely regret their inability to remember the lead-up to the Iraq War... The war that bankrupt our nation while creating more corrupt millionaires than ever in history. We are sealing our imperialistic future by opening the door to a real conflict that will completely enrich Halliburton, CACI, DynaCorps, GE, Blackwater, KBR and Bechtel. Our troops will die, our worst fears will materialize and our nation will suffer for generations to come.... remembering the fools got fooled again.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Tell the Truth Nigga!
Check out this amazing flash presentation featuring the Immortal Technique/Green Lantern/Eminem song with fast moving words and graphics.... read it carefully. Sorry for the profanity- you'll understand when you see it.Tell the Truth!
Friday, February 09, 2007
Israel's Lapdog?
Seems the Presidential hopefuls started their campaign trails a bit far from home..... or perhaps not. Several Presidential candidates went to Israel the other week to speak at a security summit meeting where several high ranking Bush advisors like Richard Perle were there to rally the people behind the apparently imminent strike against Iran. Yes you heard me, Iran.
While the media directs our attention to the troop escalation in Iraq - more specifically the debate over the use of the word "surge" vs "escalation"- Bush and his advisors have moved in for a check-mate with Iran. More than 90 ships are conducting exercises in a highly trafficked waterway no wider than Lake Michigan is to Grand Rapids. Two aircraft carrier groups, several cruise missile ships, submarines and mine-sweepers are "practicing" in the Straits of Hormuz- an essential waterway that traffics most of the middle east oil tankers, the real surge is going on here and has no "embedded journalists" to make the news.
Bush appointed a naval admiral to head up Cent-Com for the first time in history, a naval commander is in charge of ground forces in the middle east... a position that even he claimed little qualifications for during his Senate approval hearings. The question is whether Bush is unable to find any qualified military commanders to replace all the ground commanders who keep disagreeing with his policy, or does he really have another reason for boldly ignoring the will of the public since the overwhelming defeat to his agenda in November? I think the concentration of overwhelming force just off the shores of Iran is saying alot more than Bush and the media about the intentions of this administration in the middle east.
Vice President Cheney has gone on the Sunday talks show circuit to clearly emphasize that he not only thinks everything is still going well in vietnam...er Iraq, but that he is not going to be dissuaded by public opinion in his plan to "liberate the middle east from terror." So who's terror is Iran? People don't seem to remember that over 1,000,000 Iranians rallied in the streets of Tehran in September 2001 —not to say death to America— rather in solidarity with us and people across the globe against violence and injustice! Iran sells the US and our allies its crude oil and has technology sectors with thousands of citizens working with US corporations. It has cities with amenities just like any first world nation. So why the problem? Perhaps we need look no further than where our Presidential candidates decided to do their first campaigning... Israel—our 51st State or the real Washington DC.
Despite the talk, no one has been able to prove there are any weapons-grade nuclear actions or intentions in Iran... NONE. So just like the run-up to Iraq with WMDs, Chemical Factories and underground bunkers loaded with weapons got us into the mess we're in in Iraq... we are doing it again with Iran. Why? When they have said numerous times that they are willing to open negotiations (a fact Condi just lied about to Congress earlier this week). They have said the reactors they are building were solely for power generation as the price of oil continues to rise beyond their citizen's ability to afford. Why do we persist in calling them evil and demonizing them along with Syria, Lebanon, Palestine , Turkey and sometimes Egypt? Because they ARE real threats to Israel... But wait? Isn't Israel a sovereign nation not affiliated with the US? Why are we about to wage what could become a global war on nations that really don't pose a thereat to US foreign policy in the name of Israel?
Exxon posted the biggest quarterly profit on earth, the past three quarters... US and EU companies have been selling into Iran and using their labor forces for years without problems... so why all of a sudden this urgent need to wage war on another democracy? I'm guessing its because Israel told us we should.
My problem is not that we should defend the Nation of Israel when it needs help, just as we defend any other nation in its recognized moment of need, but, when there is no distinction between our needs and urgencies and those of Israel, how is it that our nation simply unites the needs, hope an fears of anothers' without even a debate or question to our citizens? These citizens are the ones shelling out Billions of dollars and our very children and family members to fight and die for this "interest" that gives nothing to our bottom line. How is it that Israel can dictate the policy and rational of our Nation like no other? We aren't sending our troops to France to eliminate the threat to their democracy from the radical Algerian insurgents? We aren't going to Somalia to stop their civil war? So why defend Israel by bankrupting our nation's resources and goodwill? Anyone?
While the media directs our attention to the troop escalation in Iraq - more specifically the debate over the use of the word "surge" vs "escalation"- Bush and his advisors have moved in for a check-mate with Iran. More than 90 ships are conducting exercises in a highly trafficked waterway no wider than Lake Michigan is to Grand Rapids. Two aircraft carrier groups, several cruise missile ships, submarines and mine-sweepers are "practicing" in the Straits of Hormuz- an essential waterway that traffics most of the middle east oil tankers, the real surge is going on here and has no "embedded journalists" to make the news.
Bush appointed a naval admiral to head up Cent-Com for the first time in history, a naval commander is in charge of ground forces in the middle east... a position that even he claimed little qualifications for during his Senate approval hearings. The question is whether Bush is unable to find any qualified military commanders to replace all the ground commanders who keep disagreeing with his policy, or does he really have another reason for boldly ignoring the will of the public since the overwhelming defeat to his agenda in November? I think the concentration of overwhelming force just off the shores of Iran is saying alot more than Bush and the media about the intentions of this administration in the middle east.
Vice President Cheney has gone on the Sunday talks show circuit to clearly emphasize that he not only thinks everything is still going well in vietnam...er Iraq, but that he is not going to be dissuaded by public opinion in his plan to "liberate the middle east from terror." So who's terror is Iran? People don't seem to remember that over 1,000,000 Iranians rallied in the streets of Tehran in September 2001 —not to say death to America— rather in solidarity with us and people across the globe against violence and injustice! Iran sells the US and our allies its crude oil and has technology sectors with thousands of citizens working with US corporations. It has cities with amenities just like any first world nation. So why the problem? Perhaps we need look no further than where our Presidential candidates decided to do their first campaigning... Israel—our 51st State or the real Washington DC.
Despite the talk, no one has been able to prove there are any weapons-grade nuclear actions or intentions in Iran... NONE. So just like the run-up to Iraq with WMDs, Chemical Factories and underground bunkers loaded with weapons got us into the mess we're in in Iraq... we are doing it again with Iran. Why? When they have said numerous times that they are willing to open negotiations (a fact Condi just lied about to Congress earlier this week). They have said the reactors they are building were solely for power generation as the price of oil continues to rise beyond their citizen's ability to afford. Why do we persist in calling them evil and demonizing them along with Syria, Lebanon, Palestine , Turkey and sometimes Egypt? Because they ARE real threats to Israel... But wait? Isn't Israel a sovereign nation not affiliated with the US? Why are we about to wage what could become a global war on nations that really don't pose a thereat to US foreign policy in the name of Israel?
Exxon posted the biggest quarterly profit on earth, the past three quarters... US and EU companies have been selling into Iran and using their labor forces for years without problems... so why all of a sudden this urgent need to wage war on another democracy? I'm guessing its because Israel told us we should.
My problem is not that we should defend the Nation of Israel when it needs help, just as we defend any other nation in its recognized moment of need, but, when there is no distinction between our needs and urgencies and those of Israel, how is it that our nation simply unites the needs, hope an fears of anothers' without even a debate or question to our citizens? These citizens are the ones shelling out Billions of dollars and our very children and family members to fight and die for this "interest" that gives nothing to our bottom line. How is it that Israel can dictate the policy and rational of our Nation like no other? We aren't sending our troops to France to eliminate the threat to their democracy from the radical Algerian insurgents? We aren't going to Somalia to stop their civil war? So why defend Israel by bankrupting our nation's resources and goodwill? Anyone?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
BRAC FLACK!
What does anyone think of today's Senate Filibuster attempt led by Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson? A few Senators are trying to tie up the hill about the new Senate dropping the 3.1 Billion Dollar earmark funding Don Rumsfeld's BRAC military base realignment plan, in the omnibus appropriations bill. While most of us were enjoying the holidays last year, several high-ranking military officers testified against Rumsfeld's plan saying it weakened our internal defense posture. Of course none of the politicians or public figures were tuned into c-span during their recess, nor were most of us... But I happened to catch a broadcast one nite and I was intrigued by these highly decorated commanders being very vocal in opposition to this strategy.
Why is it that Donald Rumsfeld and this administration can consistently be wrong about policy, strategy, the opposition's capability, intent and determination, yet some Senators continue to press for this policy?
BRAC is a dangerous policy of concentrating and aggregating our forces and assets into forward bases and only a few giant bases within the States. The Vice President, Rumsfeld and several other top Bush administration advisors belong to the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) thinktank who's global strategy outlined by them in 1998 essentially stated the global-conquest of the planet, securing their United States as the supreme superpower and ruler of the planet... thereby meaning that some US corporations would have global domination of the market backed by supreme military force. Even the most conservative citizens (both R&D) do not share this radical departure from our country's Constitution and basic principles.
The Generals agreed that moving all our military hardware from cities (like milwaukee) and locations round the country will seriously impede their effectiveness as a defense shield against both environmental as well as terror threats. Unless our intention is to aggregate the assets into an offensive posture, this policy made no sense.
Never-mind too, that all the bases chosen to be closed and realigned would cause serious hardships on the families and communities that grew to support these bases and that these communities would no doubt get angry at their local leadership for letting this happen, but coincidentally, all the bases chosen to close, were in blue states near population centers, and all the bases that were to get the no-bid Halliburton base construction contracts worth millions, happened to be in red states where those congressmen would surely gain great public support by the economic prosperity their action would shower on their voters.
The scariest thing that Rumsfeld's BRAC policy would unleash, beyond the United States confirming a global posture of aggression rather than defense, is that it leaves our nation without an infrastructure of defense or support. We no longer would have national guard troops with substantial machinery to secure an area after a calamity like New Orleans. And God forbid, there should ever come a time when we needed to stand up against a rogue takeover of our own government, whether militarily or economically. If the leadership went against our will, this policy effectively takes all our weapons away and leaves us just like the iraqis were, with only small caliber rifles and handguns.
It is also very interesting to watch the way the media has given so much airtime to the actions of these few Senators who beg for fair play from the new Democratic leadership after there was so little media coverage of the last six years of the GOP led lock-down of Congress the past six years. In reality, the petty claims of exclusion and fair-play that garner headlines today, pale in comparison to the exclusionary actions of the Republican majority that never got mass public coverage. The headlines today deplore actions that compared to the behavior of Bill Frist and Tom Delay are like like equating the actions bank robbers to a schoolboy stealing a candy bar. Both are wrong but there's a mighty big difference between the scale of crimes and oddly, the size of the headlines.
But what's the real reason these Senators fight for Rumsfeld's BRAC policy making America into a world aggressor? Is it their genuine belief that it best serves their nation and its people, or their true constituents the corporate citizens? Hutchinson and the Kansas and Georgia Senators that were so vocal today, all stand to have millions of dollars spent in their States from this $3.1 Billion dollar earmark... has the money trumped the reality that Rumsfeld's policy has dubious underpinnings? Has the will of the people been dismissed by these GOP lapdogs who seem to have forgotten the results of the November Election? I guess only time will tell.
Why is it that Donald Rumsfeld and this administration can consistently be wrong about policy, strategy, the opposition's capability, intent and determination, yet some Senators continue to press for this policy?
BRAC is a dangerous policy of concentrating and aggregating our forces and assets into forward bases and only a few giant bases within the States. The Vice President, Rumsfeld and several other top Bush administration advisors belong to the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) thinktank who's global strategy outlined by them in 1998 essentially stated the global-conquest of the planet, securing their United States as the supreme superpower and ruler of the planet... thereby meaning that some US corporations would have global domination of the market backed by supreme military force. Even the most conservative citizens (both R&D) do not share this radical departure from our country's Constitution and basic principles.
The Generals agreed that moving all our military hardware from cities (like milwaukee) and locations round the country will seriously impede their effectiveness as a defense shield against both environmental as well as terror threats. Unless our intention is to aggregate the assets into an offensive posture, this policy made no sense.
Never-mind too, that all the bases chosen to be closed and realigned would cause serious hardships on the families and communities that grew to support these bases and that these communities would no doubt get angry at their local leadership for letting this happen, but coincidentally, all the bases chosen to close, were in blue states near population centers, and all the bases that were to get the no-bid Halliburton base construction contracts worth millions, happened to be in red states where those congressmen would surely gain great public support by the economic prosperity their action would shower on their voters.
The scariest thing that Rumsfeld's BRAC policy would unleash, beyond the United States confirming a global posture of aggression rather than defense, is that it leaves our nation without an infrastructure of defense or support. We no longer would have national guard troops with substantial machinery to secure an area after a calamity like New Orleans. And God forbid, there should ever come a time when we needed to stand up against a rogue takeover of our own government, whether militarily or economically. If the leadership went against our will, this policy effectively takes all our weapons away and leaves us just like the iraqis were, with only small caliber rifles and handguns.
It is also very interesting to watch the way the media has given so much airtime to the actions of these few Senators who beg for fair play from the new Democratic leadership after there was so little media coverage of the last six years of the GOP led lock-down of Congress the past six years. In reality, the petty claims of exclusion and fair-play that garner headlines today, pale in comparison to the exclusionary actions of the Republican majority that never got mass public coverage. The headlines today deplore actions that compared to the behavior of Bill Frist and Tom Delay are like like equating the actions bank robbers to a schoolboy stealing a candy bar. Both are wrong but there's a mighty big difference between the scale of crimes and oddly, the size of the headlines.
But what's the real reason these Senators fight for Rumsfeld's BRAC policy making America into a world aggressor? Is it their genuine belief that it best serves their nation and its people, or their true constituents the corporate citizens? Hutchinson and the Kansas and Georgia Senators that were so vocal today, all stand to have millions of dollars spent in their States from this $3.1 Billion dollar earmark... has the money trumped the reality that Rumsfeld's policy has dubious underpinnings? Has the will of the people been dismissed by these GOP lapdogs who seem to have forgotten the results of the November Election? I guess only time will tell.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Wikipedia Bush
George Bush
_________________________
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"duhbya" redirects here. For other uses, see boy-king (disambiguation).
George W, Bush (help·info) (July 6, 1946 — April 30 , 1945 ) was President of the United States from 2000 to 2007, and Commander-and-Chief (Leader) of AmeriCo ® from 2008 until his death. He was chosen of the Grand Old (republican) Party (Großartige Alte Republikanische Partei or GOP), the K Street Party
Bush gained power in the USA facing crisis after 9/11. Using propaganda and clumsy oratory, he appealed to the economic needs of the lower and middle classes, while sounding resonant chords of nationalism, anti-Terrorism and anti-Muslimism. With the establishment of a restructured economy, a rearmed military, and the corrupt 109th Congress and GOP regime, Bush pursued an aggressive foreign policy with the intention of expanding USDemocracy ("living space"), which triggered World War III when US annexed Afghanistan, then Iraq, and invaded Iran, much of which was also annexed to form the "Model of Democracy" (Großdeutsches Reich).
At their zenith, Neo-Con Extremists and the Coalition of the Coerced occupied most of the Middle East, but were eventually defeated by the rest of the World. By the end of the war, Bush's racial policies had culminated in the killing of approximately 11 million people, including the genocide of some 1 million Muslims, in what is now known as War on Terror. In total, the war in the Middle East cost approximately 20 million people their lives.
In the final days of the war, Bush, along with his new wife, Ann Coulter, committed suicide in Crawford Ranch in Texas, as the world was being overrun by the Coalition of the Civil Nations.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Troop Purge!
Yesterday, the Intelligence_Community finally concurred with hundreds of nonaligned agencies, scholastic studies, scientific surveys, and human right advocacy groups that the sectarian violence in Iraq has escalated to that of Civil War... that makes it the whole world vs Dick and George, the Neo-Conservatives , their puppet government in Iraq and the War Profiteers. Oh and whatever increasingly smaller number of citizens who choose to listen to the propaganda or their investment portfolios rather than face the facts. Caught in the middle, our Brave Fighting Men and Women, Our Troops!
Surge is such a nice word, it sounds refreshing doesn't it? Sure beats escalation in the psychologic observation polls... lets use Surge! But the reality in Iraq doesn't afford the luxury of polling for a kinder, gentler way to describe life. Iraq has become one of the cruelest places on earth and only because of US Occupation. Yes Saddam was an evil dictator, but the US led "liberation" if manifested as a sole leader, would make Saddam look like a schoolyard punk. I like many, refuse to tolerate bully tactics in the schoolyard. But unlike MPS who has banned students from attending Bay View and Bradley Tech games, the means that this administration has used to bring order to the schoolyard is tantamount to destroying the school, and the nation the school belonged to, and the civilization that created the educational system! Perhaps a bit harsh, don't you think?
Like it or not, since we invaded Iraq the lifestyle of the average Iraqi citizen has become completely destitute. As tuff as Saddam was, they had relative security and basic human needs met in ways they've not seen since our invasion. More than half a million citizens have died, there is no water and little electricity or heat, the domestic infrastructure is gone, you risk life and limb to collect wood or seek food. The average age of iraqi citizens is under 15 yrs old. Adult males and females are routinely executed in horrific way, with drill-holes into their heads or simple shot in the face. Their bodies dumped in the streets where they lived to set an example. Even the gated safety of a family's home is threatened by the new directives for the new troops, to bust down every door to clear out every neighborhood.
Whatever your position, in favor or opposed, to whichever excuse Bush has floated out for justification of his conquest of Iraq, if you look at the reality of his escalation plan, it brings no justice and no peace to the region. So tell me, what are we fighting for? We are not going to bring democracy to that region no matter how forceful we decide to be.
Remember, Iraq was once called Mesopotamia and it's capitol, Babylon, dates back to the 23rd Century BC... Our little American Experiment is beginning its 231st year... Who are we kidding? They were experts Astronomy, Mathematics, Language, Art and Literature 1500 years before the Greeks! The land they occupy is known as the cradle of civilization. It has evolved over many millennia to be home for many religions. This alone is why scholars, historians, theologians, and sociologists have said- often to deaf Bush Administration ears- that a democratic society is impossible where religious differences supersede any nationalism. The United States of America was formed because people held the concept of a Nation, free and just, above their own spiritual beliefs and socioeconomic status.
This is never going to be the case in Mesopotamia and the Bush Administration knew it in 2001 just as most of the world knew it. But the reason we are there is because this Administration (more correctly, the Neo-conservatives within this administration) manufactured the "intelligence" to defend their objectives. It is public record and accepted truth in most of the world, that the run-up to conquest was based on false information, whether the Yellow Cake lies involving Joe Wilson, or the Colin Powell UN address with detailed graphics showing underground bunkers, railroad car weapons labs, aerial images of chemical and munitions plants, and the elusive WMDs. Even Bush admitted there were never any ties between Iraq and AlQaeda.
Once again this is not about connections, or facts, or nationalism, or pride, it is about an administration driven by an extremist agenda willing to stop at nothing to force that agenda. The Neo-Cons wrote their extremist agenda in 1998 and it clearly spells out a radical departure from the founding principles of our nation, violating our Constitution in so many ways it would need to be rewritten. (and gee, isn't that what they've been doing the past few years?) Their mission is Global Imperialism starting with the energy resource-rich middle east. They are employing the strategy to leverage 9/11 to get into Afghanistan, Afghanistan to get into Iraq and now Iraq to get into Iran... and we're eating it up hook, line and sinker!
Are we going to listen to a small extremist faction of the Republican party who is bent on the destruction of foreign nations and peoples to enforce their ideology? Listen to the propaganda of the Bush Administration, they confuse with the very definitions to engage and enrage us as could be used against them by any other nation. Look in the mirror America! We are the terrorists we seek to destroy and we are following the words of a few extremists.
Bring the Troops Home Now! Purge the Surge!
Surge is such a nice word, it sounds refreshing doesn't it? Sure beats escalation in the psychologic observation polls... lets use Surge! But the reality in Iraq doesn't afford the luxury of polling for a kinder, gentler way to describe life. Iraq has become one of the cruelest places on earth and only because of US Occupation. Yes Saddam was an evil dictator, but the US led "liberation" if manifested as a sole leader, would make Saddam look like a schoolyard punk. I like many, refuse to tolerate bully tactics in the schoolyard. But unlike MPS who has banned students from attending Bay View and Bradley Tech games, the means that this administration has used to bring order to the schoolyard is tantamount to destroying the school, and the nation the school belonged to, and the civilization that created the educational system! Perhaps a bit harsh, don't you think?
Like it or not, since we invaded Iraq the lifestyle of the average Iraqi citizen has become completely destitute. As tuff as Saddam was, they had relative security and basic human needs met in ways they've not seen since our invasion. More than half a million citizens have died, there is no water and little electricity or heat, the domestic infrastructure is gone, you risk life and limb to collect wood or seek food. The average age of iraqi citizens is under 15 yrs old. Adult males and females are routinely executed in horrific way, with drill-holes into their heads or simple shot in the face. Their bodies dumped in the streets where they lived to set an example. Even the gated safety of a family's home is threatened by the new directives for the new troops, to bust down every door to clear out every neighborhood.
Whatever your position, in favor or opposed, to whichever excuse Bush has floated out for justification of his conquest of Iraq, if you look at the reality of his escalation plan, it brings no justice and no peace to the region. So tell me, what are we fighting for? We are not going to bring democracy to that region no matter how forceful we decide to be.
Remember, Iraq was once called Mesopotamia and it's capitol, Babylon, dates back to the 23rd Century BC... Our little American Experiment is beginning its 231st year... Who are we kidding? They were experts Astronomy, Mathematics, Language, Art and Literature 1500 years before the Greeks! The land they occupy is known as the cradle of civilization. It has evolved over many millennia to be home for many religions. This alone is why scholars, historians, theologians, and sociologists have said- often to deaf Bush Administration ears- that a democratic society is impossible where religious differences supersede any nationalism. The United States of America was formed because people held the concept of a Nation, free and just, above their own spiritual beliefs and socioeconomic status.
This is never going to be the case in Mesopotamia and the Bush Administration knew it in 2001 just as most of the world knew it. But the reason we are there is because this Administration (more correctly, the Neo-conservatives within this administration) manufactured the "intelligence" to defend their objectives. It is public record and accepted truth in most of the world, that the run-up to conquest was based on false information, whether the Yellow Cake lies involving Joe Wilson, or the Colin Powell UN address with detailed graphics showing underground bunkers, railroad car weapons labs, aerial images of chemical and munitions plants, and the elusive WMDs. Even Bush admitted there were never any ties between Iraq and AlQaeda.
Once again this is not about connections, or facts, or nationalism, or pride, it is about an administration driven by an extremist agenda willing to stop at nothing to force that agenda. The Neo-Cons wrote their extremist agenda in 1998 and it clearly spells out a radical departure from the founding principles of our nation, violating our Constitution in so many ways it would need to be rewritten. (and gee, isn't that what they've been doing the past few years?) Their mission is Global Imperialism starting with the energy resource-rich middle east. They are employing the strategy to leverage 9/11 to get into Afghanistan, Afghanistan to get into Iraq and now Iraq to get into Iran... and we're eating it up hook, line and sinker!
Are we going to listen to a small extremist faction of the Republican party who is bent on the destruction of foreign nations and peoples to enforce their ideology? Listen to the propaganda of the Bush Administration, they confuse with the very definitions to engage and enrage us as could be used against them by any other nation. Look in the mirror America! We are the terrorists we seek to destroy and we are following the words of a few extremists.
Bring the Troops Home Now! Purge the Surge!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Coverup in Najaf?
What if the heroic battle in Najaf that occurred earlier this week turns out to be no different than Steve Tillman's infamous death? Tillman left the NFL to serve in Iraq and died "in battle", only later it turned out to be a military cover-up for him being shot in the back by friendly fire. Earlier this week there was a story of a big battle in Najaf where 300 heavily armed religious terrorists "Soldiers of Heaven" were killed by US and coalition forces. The US suffered 11 soldier deaths and lost a Blackhawk helicopter. The area was restricted to journalists and civilian tensions are high.
Well independent european journalist Patrick Cockburn released another version of the now famed battle against "soldiers of heaven" covered in a DemocracyNow broadcast. With thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims converging on Najaf to celebrate Ashoura, one of the holiest Shi'ite holidays, there could have been an ideal opportunity for a sectarian attack. But what if it was a horrible miscommunication elevated to epic proportions because of the increased tension of all the converging pilgrims?
What is unfolding through interviews with doctors, the wounded, the morgue and interviewing the hundreds of witnesses, is that there most likely was a thwarted attack, but there possibly were a large number of innocent pilgrims caught in the crossfire and unjustly attacked in a confused frenzy of language and battle chaos. The US used heavy gunfire from Blackhawk helicopters and dropped 500lb bombs from F-18s doing high speed flyovers. The reports to the US say the terrorists were heavily armed and fought for several hours. The other account speaks of a tribe of pilgrims wearing arms because they traveled through the night to Najaf, being mistakenly attacked by security forces, resulting in retaliatory response from the remaining pilgrims. Then US Forces were brought in with only partial information. What resulted was a massacre.... and now another coverup?
If it comes to be true, isn't it an indication of what can happen when there are language barriers between our soldiers and the people we're supposed to be protecting? How many soldiers are fluent in several dialects of arabic? Now our troops are hitting the ground with less than three weeks training... and no language skills. No wonder the military wants to cover this up.
Well independent european journalist Patrick Cockburn released another version of the now famed battle against "soldiers of heaven" covered in a DemocracyNow broadcast. With thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims converging on Najaf to celebrate Ashoura, one of the holiest Shi'ite holidays, there could have been an ideal opportunity for a sectarian attack. But what if it was a horrible miscommunication elevated to epic proportions because of the increased tension of all the converging pilgrims?
What is unfolding through interviews with doctors, the wounded, the morgue and interviewing the hundreds of witnesses, is that there most likely was a thwarted attack, but there possibly were a large number of innocent pilgrims caught in the crossfire and unjustly attacked in a confused frenzy of language and battle chaos. The US used heavy gunfire from Blackhawk helicopters and dropped 500lb bombs from F-18s doing high speed flyovers. The reports to the US say the terrorists were heavily armed and fought for several hours. The other account speaks of a tribe of pilgrims wearing arms because they traveled through the night to Najaf, being mistakenly attacked by security forces, resulting in retaliatory response from the remaining pilgrims. Then US Forces were brought in with only partial information. What resulted was a massacre.... and now another coverup?
If it comes to be true, isn't it an indication of what can happen when there are language barriers between our soldiers and the people we're supposed to be protecting? How many soldiers are fluent in several dialects of arabic? Now our troops are hitting the ground with less than three weeks training... and no language skills. No wonder the military wants to cover this up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
