Free Iraq

America is Running Out of Time: "Bush used deceit and hysteria to lead America into a war that is bleeding the US economically, militarily, and diplomatically. The war is being fought with hundreds of billions of dollars borrowed from foreigners. The war is bleeding the military of troops and commitments. The war has ended the US claim to moral leadership and exposed the US as a reckless and aggressive power."

For a change of pace, This Drink's on Us, George; Bush in a Bottle: "I think it would be helpful, as well as a fitting political statement, for all concerned Americans who can afford the cost to send a gift bottle of Bourbon to the White House. Who knows, it might just speed things along?"

The First Distortion of History; The Media and the Antiwar Movement: "So, with the autumn of 2005 underway, what are the elites debating in Washington? With rare exceptions, they're debating how to continue the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

"High-profile Democrats and even some Republicans like to bemoan 'mistakes' and bad planning and the absence of an 'exit strategy.' The prevailing version of Washington's debate over Iraq still amounts to disputes over how to proceed with the U.S. war effort in Iraq. Top officials and politicians in Washington won't change that. The journalists echoing them won't change that. The antiwar movement must."
 

Bush plea for cash to rebuild Iraq raises $600

Oil pipeline bombed in Kirkuk

Masked gunmen murder 5 teachers in South Baghdad

Shia in Baghdad join attack on US: Meanwhile, "In Basra, senior Shia public figures stated that they would not lift their ban on co-operation with British forces which followed last week's disturbances. They also declared that a warrant issued for the arrest of two special forces soldiers, who were held by Iraqi police before being freed by a British force, would not be rescinded."
 

Ghali Hassan, Enduring Torture: "The most enduring torture is the ongoing Occupation of Iraq and the silence of the world community to demand the immediate and full withdrawal of the U.S. and British 'murderous maniacs' from Iraq. As specified in the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996, it is criminal offensive to commit war crimes – by U.S. military personnel and U.S. nationals. Not only should those who committed the crimes be indicted with war crimes, but also their accomplices who advocate the ongoing occupation and its crimes."
 

Tal Afar Residents Return to Ghost City, Razed Homes: "After walking more than 10 kilometers, we failed to find our home because the entire neighborhood was brought to rubble."
 

Medics fleeing Iraq's violence in their thousands
 

More Dissent, More Censorship Citing Stelios Kouloglou, a journalist with Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation in Greece: Being a journalist for 25 years and having covered the war in Yugoslavia as well as having worked in Moscow during Perestroika, he said this type of overt political pressure to be a first for him.
“I’ve never experienced political pressure like this, not even in Russia when I was being critical of Gorbachev, nor in Yugoslavia when I was being extremely critical of Milosevic,” he added.
 

Bill Would Give Bush $50B More for Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan

Anti-war campaigner Sheehan, hundreds more arrested outside White House: "But the White House shrugged off the demonstrations, saying opponents were free to speak out but would not change the president's views."

"Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan, when asked what effect Saturday's crowds had on Bush, replied: 'I don't know of any it had on him ... We continued with our schedule.'"
 

White House Warns Iran About UN Security Council Referral: "On Saturday, a majority on the 35-nation board of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency approved a resolution that cited Iran for 'a long history of concealment and deception' in a nuclear program Tehran insists is only for the peaceful production of nuclear power. The International Atomic Energy Agency resolution found Tehran at odds with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that Iran signed."

Haroon Aswat – the man British Police believe was behind the London bombings – was working for MI6: “Bush and Blair are just puppets. Their strings are tugged by money, corruption, ego, by the Intel services. You don’t even want to know the truth.”

GlobalResearch: Top Secret Pentagon Operation "Granite Shadow" revealed. Today in DC: Commandos in the Streets? "Granite Power" allows for emergency military operations in the US without civilian supervision or control.
 

Wayne Madsen Report, September 26, 2005 -- Must read, An Alliance Against Babylon, by John K. Cooley, (University of Michigan Press). Longtime ABC News Middle East correspondent John Cooley, who is unmatched in his understanding of the historical, political, and religious currents of the Middle East and the Muslim world, has written an important expose of what really lies behind the Bush administration's disastrous invasion of Iraq. Cooley's previous two books, Payback: America's Long War in the Middle East and Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism broke though the din of disinformation that permeates America's publishing world. In fact, during the 1990s, the CIA, under its two proto-neocon directors, James Woolsey and John Deutch, unsuccessfully tried to prevent publication of Unholy Wars because of its exposure of the CIA's role in nurturing Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda during the Mujaheddin war against the Soviet Union.

Cooley has had a unique view of the Middle East during his long and distinguished career. That comes from the personal relationships he had with the Middle East's most notable leaders: Ben Gurion, Anwar Sadat, King Hussein, Hafez Al Assad, Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani,

Cooley presents the current American and British occupation of Iraq in a historical context -- and a very old one at that. He explains Israel's long affinity for the land once known as Babylon. Jews had lived for 70 years in Babylon during the Biblical era "Babylonian Captivity." A number of Jews decided not to return to Palestine following the captivity, choosing to live in Mesopotamia as a minority community, which flourished during the Abbasid Caliphate. Jews in Mesopotamia were even permitted to establish an autonomous government under a government called the exilarch. The exilarch was said to be headed by a hereditary direct descendant of the Israeli King David, who reigned 1000 years before Christ.

Before World War I, Cooley writes that Mesopotamia attracted the interest of European Zionists, including the General Jewish Colonization Association that interceded with the Turks to permit the mass migration of Jews from Europe to Ottoman-ruled Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, and Eastern Anatolia. Cooley describes the British ambassador in Istanbul reporting to London that the Zionist group wanted to establish "an autonomous Jewish state in Mesopotamia." Cooley's in depth research into the roots of modern Zionism helps explain why their ideological descendants in the George W. Bush and Tony Blair governments were keen to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein and create a "new Iraq" (the proposed flag for which, since scrapped, strongly resembled the flag of Israel).

Cooley also points out the chief post-World War II instigators of the bad blood that developed between Iraq's Hashemite monarchy and the newly-independent Jewish state in Palestine were Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri as Said and Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. Iraq's thriving Jewish community were uprooted to Israel as a result of Mossad's first two major external operations, code named Ezra and Nehemiah. Another secret plan, Operation Babylon, extracted additional Jews from Iraq to pre-independence Palestine. The Hashemite kingdom only permitted Iraq's Jews to leave after they turned over all their cash and assets. When Iraq's Jews arrived in Israel, they were penniless wards of the fledgling state.

Cooley also recounts the experiences of an Iraqi-born Jew and ex Mossad agent in Iraq named Naiem Giladi. Upset at the treatment Jewish immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries received from European settlers, Giladi later described that terrorism and violence directed against Jews in Iraq in 1950 and 1951 was fomented by Mossad agents in order to speed up the emigration of Jews to Israel. Giladi reported that Iraqi Jewish synagogues and other property in Baghdad and other cities were bombed by Mossad agents but blamed on the Iraqi government. Ben Gurion covered up the entire operation.

Cooley points out that the disinformation used against Iraq by the Ben Gurion government in the 1950s would later creep into the neoconservative doctrine that Iraq represented a major military threat to Israel (and later, to the United States and Britain). In 1973, Israeli Air Force General Ezer Weizman (a later President of Israel) said that his wish was that "Israel had bases on the Euphrates." The whole Iraqi WMD contrivance and the use of the neo-con operative Ahmad Chalabi and his truckload of false intelligence used to justify an attack on Iraq was a continuation of the years of false propaganda about Iraq.

As early as 1993, the neo-con apparatus in Washington, DC was fueling the notion that Saddam Hussein was behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Proto-neo-cons in the Clinton administration, like Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, did nothing to counter the disinformation about Iraq. By the time the arch neo-cons took power in 2001, the stage was set for a fateful confrontation with Iraq and a resulting bloody quagmire for the United States in the heart of the Middle East. The Knesset's Defense and Intelligence Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz held hearings on the faulty intelligence about Iraq. Although the final report is secret, Cooley recounts that one committee member told him that the report contained damning proof of the systematic exchange of false intelligence about Iraq between the Israeli and U.S. intelligence communities.

Israel continued to be active in Iraq's internal affairs throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The Mossad, in cooperation with the Shah of Iran's intelligence service SAVAK, helped establish a Kurdish intelligence service called PARASTIN. The support network for the Kurds continued up until 1975 when during a March 6 meeting between Saddam Hussein and the Shah met at an OPEC conference in Algiers. Cooley recounts what one senior Kurdish leader told him about Saddam and the Shah, "they dumped the Kurds into shit."

Cooley reminds us of how a young Saddam Hussein received support from the CIA in his attempt in October 1959 to assassinate Iraqi President Adel Karim Kassem. After Saddam was given exile in Cairo by President Nasser, Saddam was a frequent visitor to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo where he was protected by the CIA's top Middle East covert operator, James Critchfield. The CIA wanted Kassem out because he was a populist who wanted to use Iraq's oil revenues to build public housing for the poor. Kassem's main allies were the Iraqi Communists. Nasser, who despised the Communists because they were rivals of Nasser's own brand of pan-Arab nationalism, eagerly supported the 1963 Baathist Socialist coup against Kassem. During the coup, a secret CIA transmitter in Kuwait broadcast the names of Iraqi Communists. the success of the coup, the Communists were rounded up, tortured, and executed. The CIA-engineered Baathist coup helped propel Saddam into power -- he became President in 1979 and was considered the best person to lead Iraq for U.S., British, and French oil companies: a leader nurtured by the CIA who was now in charge and in a position to reward his old friends with lucrative contracts.
 

VIDEO clip:
Really...Nothing Occurred Today in D.C....
And now VIDEO to Prove it! (Of course these people "had no effect" on Bush. Killing is so much more satisfying.)

Another Abu Ghraib?
 

Rushed constitution points Iraq to civil war: "Instead of healing the growing divisions between Iraq's three principal communities -- Shiites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs -- a rushed constitutional process has deepened rifts and hardened feelings," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report.

Iraq "appears to be heading toward de facto partition and full-scale civil war" said the report, unless Washington makes "a determined effort to broker a true compromise between Shiites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs."
 

Kurt Nimmo, From a Cave in Afghanistan; It's the al-Zarqawi Show "Sarcasm aside, the idea al-Qaeda and the so-called 'Global Islamic Media Front' would produce internet-based videos is nothing short of preposterous, mostly because the people they are supposedly attempting to reach—impoverished Muslims—do not have access to the internet. It would make more sense to distribute audio tapes, as Ayatollah Khomeini did in Iran, or VHS tapes. But then, of course, the 'target audience' is not impoverished Muslims but gullible Americans who need to be reminded every few weeks that al-Qaeda is still out there and it’s going to get them if they don’t listen to Bush and his neocon masters of forever war.

"All of this makes perfect sense when the facts are considered: al-Qaeda 'was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally ‘the database’, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians,' as the late Robin Cook, former leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, has noted. Bush and the neocons are reverse engineering the idea—as put forth by Eisenhower and Nixon—that in order to end war all one need do is eliminate fear from the national psyche. Bush and crew are shoving as much fear down the throats of Americans as possible in order to unleash World War IV, as the neocons fondly call it.

"And that’s what the al-Zarqawi Show is all about—instilling fear and loathing in the hearts and minds of all Americans, or rather Americans gullible enough to take the bait. It’s part of the process to get us to surrender our rights and allow the state to militarize all facets of our society. Of course, the internet is the perfect medium for this Freddy Kruger horror show with a strange Islamic twist, since most Americans do not really understand the internet and have been conditioned to mistrust it—with all its spam, porno, and lurking pedophiles—and so they are easily persuaded the United States needs to 'stay the course' in the war on terrorism, long as it may last, maybe a decade or a generation or however long it takes to subdue the Muslim Middle East."
 

Two Undercover Agents Rescued by British May Have Been Israelis
 

Families flee Samara ahead of planned offensive
 

Why are American Religious Leaders Silent? Torture and Cowardice
 

Torture is US Policy, Not Aberration; The Legal Responsibility Goes to the Top
 

"Zarqawi" aide killed in Iraq
 

Israeli missiles pound Gaza Strip : "After air strikes destroyed two bridges and two buildings Israel said were used by fighters, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said armed groups would 'be hit again and again until they understand there are new rules to the game'.

"He did not rule out an incursion back into Gaza or artillery fire and said Israel could assassinate political leaders of the biggest group Hamas just as it killed Shaikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004.

"'Quiet means quiet.'"

Blair: No retreat from Iraq: "I never doubted after September 11 that our place was alongside America and I don't doubt it now. And for a very simple reason: Terrorism struck most dramatically in New York but it was aimed then and is aimed now, at us all, at our way of life.

"This is a global struggle. Today it is at its fiercest in Iraq. It has allied itself there with every reactionary element in the Middle East. Their aim: To wreck this December's first ever direct election for the government of Iraq."
 

German court declares Iraq war violated international law: "Just a few weeks ago, a highly significant judicial decision was handed down by the German Federal Administrative Court but barely mentioned in the German media. With careful reasoning, the judges ruled that the assault launched by the United States and its allies against Iraq was a clear war of aggression that violated international law.

"Further, they meticulously demonstrated that the German government, in contrast to its public protestations, had assisted in the aggression against Iraq without having any legal right to do so. Although the decision was made three months ago, the judgement and its legal arguments have only just been made available in written form, comprising more than 130 pages.

"The decision was made in relation to legal proceedings initiated by a German army officer who had refused to obey an order following the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition of forces because he feared that he would in effect be supporting the war. As a result, he was demoted from major to captain and the army filed a criminal complaint against him for insubordination. In its latest judgement, the Federal Administrative Court reversed the demotion and said the charges against the officer contravened Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the German Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of conscience.

[ . . . ]

"At first glance, it is amazing that this judgement did not make larger waves, as the German government has effectively been accused of violating both the German constitution and international law. The government’s claim that it did everything in its power to prevent war in Iraq was proven to be false by one of the highest courts in the land. Not only did the government have the legal possibility, but it also had the responsibility to bar use of German airspace and bases on German soil from use for the Iraq war."
 

Baghdad in the dark as power cuts continue to blight the city: "'I don't believe sabotage is the main reason for the electricity blackout, I think officials just steal the money meant for new power stations,' was the student's verdict on yet another power cut.
"Few failures in Iraq 30 months after the fall of Saddam Hussein infuriate Iraqis more than the continuing shortage of electricity.

"Baghdad's power now works in maddening shifts - two hours on, four hours off, then two hours on again. The throb of small generators, enough for a television and a few feeble lights, provides a background buzz in every house. [ . . . ]

"[Iraqi's] repeatedly point out that after the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein took only six months to patch up the power stations and the national grid, though both had been severely damaged by missiles and bombs."
 

Tony Blair has dismissed opposition to his Iraq policy as the province of "urban intellectuals": "But it would be wrong to think that Blair is alone. He has been served ardently by his cabinet, only one member of which, the late Robin Cook, resigned over Iraq. Given the scale of popular opposition to the invasion, not to mention the starkness of the moral and political choice, Cook's isolation was remarkable certainly without precedent in the history of Labour governments. But then the vast majority of Labour MPs have put aside their initial disquiet over the invasion and now share Blair's eagerness to see the political agenda 'move on'."
 

John Pilger, Sinister Events In A Cynical War: "Here are questions that are not being asked about the latest twist of a cynical war. Were explosives and a remote-control detonator found in the car of the two SAS special forces men 'rescued' from prison in Basra on 19 September? If true, what were they planning to do with them? Why did the British military authorities in Iraq put out an unbelievable version of the circumstances that led up to armoured vehicles smashing down the wall of a prison?

"According to the head of Basra's Governing Council, which has co-operated with the British, five civilians were killed by British soldiers. A judge says nine. How much is an Iraqi life worth? Is there to be no honest accounting in Britain for this sinister event, or do we simply accept Defence Secretary John Reid's customary arrogance? 'Iraqi law is very clear,' he said. 'British personnel are immune from Iraqi legal process.' He omitted to say that this fake immunity was invented by Iraq's occupiers."
 

The Galloway phenomenon: "George Galloway presented an impassioned, factually-focused critique of the war and the confluence of American, British, and Israeli political interests that underlay it. His words stormed through the church not as irrational rage, but as principled, sincere anger. What a contrast – both as to style and substance – this man’s presentations are to the wimpy babble of American politicians who function as if on Valium overdoses. It is pathetic that the fiery rhetoric that used to attend political debates in America must now be imported from abroad! Galloway’s initial remarks informed us that he was not moving to America to run for public office, a statement that confirmed his awareness of just how distant he is from the anesthetized, emotionally languid mindset of most Americans and their politicians.

"The theme that ran through his presentation was the presence of the 'double standard' by which Western and Middle Eastern interests are measured. The attacks of 9/11 emerged 'not out of a clear blue sky,' but from a 'deep swamp of anger and hatred' generated by decades of American, British, and Israeli atrocities committed against Arab and Muslim people. He emphasized that the core of the 'terrorist' problem can be traced not to religious differences, but to over fifty years of 'injustices imposed upon the Palestinian people' by American and Israeli politics. The 1982 slaughter – with the sanction of Ariel Sharon – of helpless men, women, and children in Beirut refugee camps, also came in for discussion.

"Galloway went on to remind people that the families of those who died on 9/11 did not suffer any greater pain than did the relatives of Iraqis and Afghans who died from American and British bombings. Each suffered unjustifiable deaths delivered from the sky.

"While Bush and Blair are able to bamboozle their own citizenry with claims that their current purpose in being in Iraq is to promote 'democracy' and 'freedom,' the Muslim world can see what these abstractions mean in practice, and wants no part of it. The Muslim world is ruled, Galloway went on, by 'puppet kings, presidents, and other dictators' propped up by Western governments. If true 'democracy' was ever to emerge in any of these countries, he added, the first thing the ensuing Muslim governments would do would be to evict the United States from their lands."
 

FBI murders Puerto Rican independence figure: "Ojeda Rios was alone with his wife in their home in the rural southwestern Puerto Rican municipality of Hormigueros, near the city of Mayagüez, when scores of FBI agents stormed his property, unleashing a rain of bullets. According to reports, at least 100 armed agents were involved, backed by helicopters and a squad of military sharpshooters brought to the island from Virginia.

"The nationalist leader was struck by a single bullet from a sharpshooter’s high-powered rifle. While he suffered no wound to any vital organ, he was left to bleed to death on the floor of his home as FBI agents refused to allow Puerto Rican authorities and emergency medical teams anywhere near the house, maintaining a militarized perimeter for 24 hours.

"The assassination of Ojeda is a case of Washington deploying a death squad on what it claims as its own territory. This brutal killing serves as a warning of the methods the US government is prepared to use to suppress political opposition within the US itself."
 

The Right to Armed Struggle
 

"I Don't Know What We're Fighting For Over There. It's Not A Good Cause": "'Going into that country, immediately they were welcoming, wanting us there. And over the course of three months we basically caused so much trouble in the area we were in. We didn't have interpreters. We were not helping them re-build their country. We were just driving around with our vehicles with guns, not communicating with them in any way, just basically occupying their space, their country. And they kept on coming to us asking us to help them re-build and -- based on my personal experience -- we weren't doing anything to help them.'

"[She] enlisted in the Colorado national guard as a medic, but in 2003, that changed.

"'I was command-directed to go over to Iraq as an MP. So I was basically unqualified at what I was doing. I was a gunner, and I sat in a little turret and patrolled around Iraqi cities - causing problems, basically. Running children over.'

"She paused, blinking.

"'It was terrible.'"
 

Kurt Nimmo, Shooting Palestinians Like Fish in a Barrel: "Now that it is considered a 'hate crime' to criticize the Israeli government, the media will report even less about the murder of Palestinians. Of course, this is exactly what the Likudites in Israel want—to intimidate, harass, exile, and murder the Palestinians under a cover of darkness and secrecy, thus moving ever closer to their racist dream of a state swept clean of Arabs, as their Old Testament God of retribution (and genocide) saw fit.

"It is now a crime to condemn the shooting of Palestinians as if they were fish in a barrel."
 

Military action against Iran 'inconceivable', says Straw: "The truth is, as Condoleezza Rice has said, military action in respect of the Iran dossier is not on anybody's agenda.'

"Mr Straw said Islamist terrorism preceded the Iraq war, and countries that opposed the US-led military action were not immune from it. 'Even if there had not been international action in Iraq, we would still be facing this kind of terrorism,' he said.

"'My own belief is that this phenomenon would have been there in any event. Nothing justifies this terrorism. I think we have to examine the responsibility of the terrorists for it ... there is this kind of moral relativism which suggests that we who represent the victims are somehow responsible for this phenomenon.'

"The foreign secretary also defended controversial new laws to crack down on terrorists. Plans to allow police to hold terror suspects without charge for three months have been condemned by civil liberties groups, but Mr Straw said other European countries had been able to take far tougher action than Britain.

"Next month, the government will publish a report on anti-terror measures taken by other countries, and Mr Straw admitted there were difficulties over the new offence of glorifying terrorism. However, he said there was a case for such a move."
 

Well the US pro-War chorus is active today again with their often repeated arguments.

Heidi says that in her school she saw (and probably did) worse things happen than what happened in Abu Grahib. Some school Heidi.

This frequent whining about how cruel Saddam and his sons were is completely irrelevant. Saddam is gone from power and now the new American rulers mess around Iraq. What is essential is what now is happening under US occupation and what will happen in future. The present situation is a real mess and the future probably even worse.

The Americans destroy whole cities to “liberate” the citizens of those cities. USA has created ethnic armies to be used against other ethnic groups. US forces detain people in tens of thousands and hold them without trial (no matter that the Iraqi Justice Minister complains of that). Torture and humiliating is widely proven and documented. What is the American response to these claims? We torture and kill less than Saddam did. Well, that is really a "convincing" argument.

By the way what is bad with Arab Nationalists who you blame more and more frequently? A US or GB patriot (=nationalist) is considered to be good, why can Arabs not be nationalistic. Yes I understand - Arab nationalists do not want to privatize oil, sell it cheaply and want to make their countries stronger. That is really dangerous for Arabs – better to support despotic Shah’s, Kings and Sheiks, those democratic and human rights respecting US friends. There has been a huge gap between US democracy rhetoric and in deeds in Middle East for decades.
 

Iraq woman bomber kills army recruits in Tal Afar

Blair lambasts 'fringe fanatics': "The way to stop innocent people dying was not to pull out troops but to stand up for democracy in Iraq, [Blair] told delegates in Brighton.

"He also said Britain should stick with America in the face of terrorism.

"'Strip away their fake claims of grievance and see them for what they are: terrorists who use 21st century technology to fight a pre-medieval religious war that is utterly alien to the future of mankind.'"

(Tony Blair at his finest)
 

'We torture and kill less than Saddam did????'
Not bloody likely.
 

Bomber Is Caught Inside Baghdad's Fortified Green Zone: "The U.S. military's Baghdad press office offered no details on the incident, and it was not immediately clear how the bomber was able to enter the most secured compound in Iraq, which houses the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government."

(Has anyone ever wondered why it is called the 'Green Zone'?)


And, on the lighter side . . . Exclusive Photo Of Jeff Gannon At Pro-War Rally


Muqtada Al Sadr spokesman rejects US apology: An official in the Al Sadr trend described the apology of the American forces for what has taken place in Al Sadr city, on Saturday night, as "neither sufficient nor satisfactory". He undervalued such an apology "as these forces are still murdering people." He said that the apology "is a deceiving and cunning attempt, which is not sufficient to compensate for the offense committed on behalf of the American forces against Al Sadr city and Iraq."
 

Anwaar Hussain, Powwow With God: "The current President of United States finds himself in God’s company more often than any other modern American President.

"One has been hearing about George Bush's close encounters with God for years now. We have all heard about how God talks to the President, giving him instructions on how to conduct foreign policy (particularly: which countries to invade). Quite evidently, President George W. Bush did a good job at following orders because he got reelected to a second term.

"President Bush has never disputed the story, recounted in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that he himself told the Palestinian leadership, "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam". Then we have a similar account, courtesy of The Globe and Mail, of the President telling the Canadian Prime Minister he was carrying out divine commands.

"As recently as Wednesday 21st September 2005, while speaking at a luncheon for the Republican Jewish Coalition 20th Anniversary, Mr. Bush said he had been 'thinking a lot' and came to the conclusion that, 'they [the terrorists] are the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it.' As there is no way of knowing what other people have in their minds, it can be safely assumed that it is once again God talking to President Bush.

"There are a few objections the scribe has to these God-Bush Summit meetings." [ . . . ]

"But seriously, this President does say he talks to God on a regular basis, prays frequently and trusts the guidance that God gives him. This, apparently, would make him God's choice. So if President George Bush does really talk with God, and he really believes that he is on God's mission, then we are witnessing history being unfolded by the almighty interpreter of Almighty God.

"All this killing, all this bloodshed, all this rape, loot, plunder must be what God wants. God also, it appears, does not like the Iraqi people. First He sent Saddam upon them to kill them in thousands. Not satisfied, He next sent in George Bush to kill them in hundreds of thousands. Is this why they say, 'Strange are God’s ways'?

"By all accounts, a huge 40 % of Americans still believe this cock and bull story of President George Bush’s godly powwows. Are those Americans really so gullible? Do they not know that human history is replete with unhinged dictators with a God-complex, conceited leaders with a talent in exploitation, self-righteous and egotistical political elites and bigoted religious leaders who would go to any length to perpetuate their rule?"
 

UN rights expert: Pullout diverted attention from W. Bank expansion: "This focus of attention on Gaza has allowed Israel to continue with the construction of the wall in Palestinian territory, the expansion of settlements and the de-Palestinization of Jerusalem with virtually no criticism."
 

Gitmo Judge Rejects Claim He's Interfering: "A federal judge Monday rejected a government argument that he was interfering with the president's constitutional authority to wage war by insisting that Guantanamo Bay detainees be asked if they want their names to be made public."
 

Dar Al-Hayat, 'While Waiting to be Hit Iran is Required to be Disciplined': "Just as the decision was already taken in the George Bush administration when it came to Saddam, there is no doubt that the decision concerning Iran is taken."
 

EXTRACT
Asia Times, 'The high price of hounding Iran': "The Middle East powder keg is now one step closer to explosion as a result of the impending showdown at the United Nations and beyond between Iran and its nuclear detractors, given the latest resolution of the UN atomic agency finding Iran in breach of its obligations and non-compliance. But the real question is, can this lead to anything but a lose-lose situation?

"The European Three (EU-3 - France, Germany and Britain) have by all indications prioritized their transatlantic ties with the US over their relations with Iran, trying to outdo each other in appeasing the US in its unilateral march toward anti-Iran sanctions at the UN.

"Already, Iran-Britain ties have suffered a big blow, with London leading the march against Iran within the IAEA, and there is anti-British turmoil in Basra, with Iranian accusations of British complicity in disturbances in southern Iran. Can Prime Minister Tony Blair, his country already a target of terrorist attacks in London and his party losing votes due to his unpopular common cause with the White House, really afford to take on Iran simultaneously, risking lucrative Iranian trade and having his paratroops in southern Iraq battling pro-Iranian groups? Clearly not.

"Nor are President George W Bush's options any better, in the light of natural disasters forcing domestic priorities. Bush seemingly could not muster enough troops to collect the dead in New Orleans; how in the world is he going to tackle a major crisis with a nation of 70 million? Isn't it better for both Iran and the US to engage in direct dialogue and to try resolving their differences in a more civil and non-coercive way?

"The answer is, not as long as the US government and its army of analysts stubbornly cling to the much-refuted notion of an Islamic regime in Iran on the verge of collapse (See The Persian puzzle, or the CIA's?, Asia Times Online, December 3, 2004.)"
 

Rep Conyers On The Arrest Of Antiwar Protesters
 

"Bush is keeping track of Hurricane Rita as it hits his home state of Texas. That's Bush's worst nightmare: an electric chair with no power."
--Jay Leno
 

The Arab nationalists time is passing quickly. We now control Iraq's oil and soon, Iran's oil. We also have a heavy hand in Saudi oil.

The UAE will be next on the list plus Kuwait

Hand it over, its slipping from you already.
 

How John Roberts Got to the Top; The Spectre of White Affirmative Action
 

Imperialism in Fine Fettle: "We now control Iraq's oil and soon, Iran's oil. We also have a heavy hand in Saudi oil. The UAE will be next on the list plus Kuwait."
 

To the "accountant":
Your point four, in principle, is supportable. Agreed: Israel should not get one cent in foreign aid. But describing Israel as a "genuine friend" is a bit of a stretch.
 

A Controlled Press and a Multitude in Mental Darkness; Bush's Security Barrier: "Let the cameras scan the poverty that Katrina exposed, let the talking heads face the questions we shove out of sight, the rampant neglect of our own, the latent racism that rises like the waters over the levees, to reveal a nation that has not cared and does not care for those who have no voice, no money to feed their political war chests, and no political power that can be used to feather the politicians nest. And let those same cameras focus attention on our brothers and sisters who are being strangled in Palestine where actual walls are being built to hide the devastation our money causes on yet another people as poor and deprived as our former slaves. Their plight exists because we let it happen as surely as our silent forefathers let slavery exist. We cannot let Bush rest secure behind a wall of silence. We must not be the multitude that walks in mental darkness oblivious to the suffering and the pain that is caused in our name."
 

Not One Victim Was Called to Testify; The Invention of Porno Torture: "Lynndie England, the Army private photographed holding a naked Iraqi by a dog leash, has been convicted leaving behind a nagging question: how far up does the responsibility go? By no means is Lynddie England alone. She is the scapegoat of a larger US Torture Establishment. A related question that demands scrutiny is the widespread use of porno torture. Photos and stories emanating from Abu Gharib and Guantanamo, the military prisons that would live in infamy, reveal that American soldiers, CIA interrogators, and military contractors, all have engaged in porno torture against Muslim detainees. Unofficial stories circulating on the internet are beyond belief. But even official acknowledgement, though exposing only tip of the iceberg, furnishes credible clues that porno torture has been, and probably still is, a favorite tool to degrade and torment Muslim detainees."
 

The Silent Coup: "While the media’s been dazzling us with wag-the-dog wars in Iraq and Jennifer, J-Lo and Jacko non-news here at home, a far more important battle has been taking place right under our collective national nose.

"In what amounts to a silent coup, an unholy alliance of corporate power brokers and conservative Republicans have spent the last five years attempting to hi-jack democracy and move the seat of governance from Pennsylvania Avenue to K Street.

"But you won’t read about this coup, you won’t see it played out on the evening news, and you won’t hear about it on talk radio. Why? Because the mainstream media are major combatants.

"At the center of this takeover is the K Street Project – an attempt to purge industry’s lobbyists of any and all Democrats, and to make sure that '...even the secretaries...' are 'conservative Republican activists.'

"They’ve just about succeeded.

"Over the past five years the relationship between government and industry has been transformed. Now, an assortment of K street Corporate shills write legislation, develop tax proposals, and formulate foreign policy, sometimes in their industry’s self-interest, sometimes at the behest of a few right wing ideologues in Congress or the Administration.

"This complicated dance between corporate and political power gets played out daily along K street, and a variety of devil’s deals that would’ve made our forefathers weep has become routine business.

"The grease that lubricates this new model of government is greed; the fuel that feeds it is money. Lots of it. And overwhelmingly, the hard-line, right-wing conservative branch of the Republican Party are both its architect, and its beneficiary.

"Thus, those that crow the loudest about patriotism, the flag, and moral values, do the most to subvert the political foundations and ethical precepts that shaped this nation."
 

Straw sees 'more dark moments' ahead in Iraq: "Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has warned of 'more dark moments' in Iraq, but insisted that Britain would remain so long as it has the consent of the Iraqi people."

(What a lovely bit of humour.)
 

British Shoot-to-kill: Followup
Menezes' family call for justice: "The electrician's mother called for Sir Ian Blair's resignation saying that 'he failed to do his duty'.

"Mrs Menezes said her son had been 'killed like a mad dog', adding 'no human being should be treated in that way'."
 

The coup that wasn't: Scott Ritter was the former US marine captain tasked with finding Saddam Hussein's weapons. Now, in this first detailed account, he reveals how the CIA plotted to use a UN weapons inspection to overthrow the Iraqi regime - and how fiasco turned to tragedy when it failed.

"Steve Richter, the head of the CIA's Near East Division, had decided that the CIA would extend a helping hand - as long as they could exploit Unscom's work to further its plans for a coup against Saddam Hussein. This newfound enthusiasm for Unscom was only confirmed when the CIA saw how weapons inspectors were increasingly gaining access to some of the most sensitive sites in Iraq, including bases belonging to the Special Republican Guard - Saddam's personal bodyguard.

"The CIA coup plan went like this: if Unscom inspections could somehow be used to trigger a crisis, that would create a pretext for a US military attack against the Special Republican Guard, then Saddam's personal security force could be decapitated. This would clear the way for the plotters, led by Mohammad Abdullah al-Shawani, a former commander of Iraqi Special Forces who had defected to Amman in Jordan and been recruited by the CIA, to make their move.

"But I had no idea of the CIA's ulterior motives for offering assistance when, on February 4 1996, I greeted the British eavesdropping team as they arrived at Washington's Dulles Airport to receive training and equipment from the CIA. The five intercept operators, led by Gary, a short, fit man in his early 30s, would become known as the 'Special Collection Element' (SCE). The Brits proved to be fast learners, and I was back in northern Virginia by mid-February, checking up on the preparation of the SCE team before escorting them to Bahrain and on to Baghdad.

"The Iraqis, meanwhile, were well aware of the potential intelligence value of the access gained by the weapons inspectors. The Iraqi secret service, the Mukhabarat, already maintained a unit dedicated to Unscom. The Mukhabarat's priority was to get sanctions lifted - Iraq's number one national security priority. Its director had been told by Saddam Hussein himself that Iraq had disarmed, and no longer had any interest in developing any WMD capability. But sanctions could not be lifted until Unscom inspectors reached that conclusion for themselves.

"So the Mukhabarat's objective was not to obstruct our work; quite the reverse, they had an interest in getting the Iraqi experts who were our counterparts to cooperate." [ . . . ]
 

Iraq Sunnis Urge Charter Block, Mull Civil Disobedience: "Up to 200 Iraqi Sunni politicians and scholars have pressed for voting down the draft constitution in the October referendum and threatened to declare civil disobedience if the US-led onslaughts on Sunni towns continue.

"Wrapping up a two-day meeting in the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday, September 24, Sunni leaders from Al-Anbar province sought the formation of a committee to collect five million signatures to block the charter, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Sunday, September 25.

"'We are mobilizing Sunnis to vote down the draft if our demands were ignored,' by the Shiite and Kurdish blocs, Ali Al-Sadoun, a Sunni politician and member of the Iraqi Council for National Dialogue (CND), told the mass-circulation daily."
 

Iran warns atomic opponents trade ties may suffer: "Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week's board meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog."
 

Letter from Gaza; What Israeli Disengagement Sounds Like: "In the last days, Gaza was awakened from its dreams with horrible explosions which have shattered our skies, shaken our buildings, broken our windows, and installed feelings of panic.

"We suddenly felt helpless, under the control of the Israelis and at their mercy. The new method of exploding sound bombs in our skies is now available to the Israeli army who would not use it before the disengagement because they were careful not to alarm or hurt the Israeli settlers who were in Gaza. This new method was used by the Israeli army since Friday day and night. Usually between 2-4 in the morning, between 6:30 and 8 in the morning school going time, and in the afternoon or early evening. The explosions are heard and felt all over the Gaza Strip with the same intensity. These explosions were used alongside the usual routine of bombing and killing which the Israelis forces are familiar with.

[ . . . ]

"We believe the whole area and perhaps the world is being attacked and manipulated by a small group of fanatics on all sides. These violent fanatics, some ideologue, some political and some business, are supporting each other, feeding each other, and needing each other. The ultimate victim is the ordinary human being, security, peace, and humanity itself.

"We believe firmly that forces of evil should and can be stopped. Only when people of wisdom, people of commitment to peace and equality in humanity, to justice and to love, only when people stand together that good will prevail and this is why we formed the FFIPPI to struggle in solidarity for justice and for peace, to end the military occupation, and to stop all forms of violence.

"We are committed to these ideals. And we want you to be with us."
 

"Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas -- reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to."
(Kenneth Derr, Haliburton Director & retired Chevron CEO, November 5, 1998)
 

Marketing America, take two: "A popular train of thought in Washington concedes the United States has an image problem in the Arab and Muslim worlds."

(Yes, we have an "image" problem! Do the people in Washington actually get "paid" for such insights?)
 

'Image' Problem: more
Calls Mount for Prisoner Abuse Commission "What is so disheartening about these latest revelations is that they demonstrate the seared moral conscience of our government and its supporters."

"Our government reacted to this disclosure with hardly a yawn. . . .Rather than moving to see to it that such atrocities are halted immediately, the president is instead moving to ensure that the prospects for repeating these acts remain open to future generations by promising to veto legislation targeted at prevention."

"And from the 'champions of virtue' on the Christian Right we hear nothing but silence, as they continue to lend their support to the administration's policy of torture."
 

Can the US Military Presence Avert Civil War? (I find the question just a bit ludicrous, but the article is worth a glance.)
 

St. Patrick’s Four Found Not Guilty on Major Charges: ""The real crime, as we've always stated, is that our government conspired against the American people and lied us into an illegal and immoral war."
 

Wayne Madsen Report, September 28, 2005 (final para. of 1st item, 28th Sept.): "The provision of tainted propaganda to the CIA by lobbyist- and ethnic pressure group-influenced members of Congress and ordering it to be 'laundered' as intelligence is the same template by which the neo-cons filtered false and forged documents on Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction program from groups like Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress through the Pentagon and the intelligence community. A war based on lies and false pretenses resulted. Goss's 'restructuring' of the CIA now means that nothing the CIA reports now or in the future can be trusted -- by legislators or by the CIA's counterparts around the world."
 

Wayne Madsen Report, September 28, 2005 - -"WMR has received an intelligence report from Turkey that another suspected U.S. 'extraordinary rendition' aircraft -- one that ferries suspected terrorists to far flung regions of the world for interrogation and incarceration -- has been spotted around Istanbul recently. The tail number of the Cessna Citation Excel aircraft is N666MX. The title for the aircraft is registered to Aircraft Guaranty Title LLC which is located at 515 N. Sam Houston Parkway East, Houston, Texas. Turkish intelligence sources report the company provides untraceable registration numbers to its customers, which reportedly include U.S. intelligence agencies. N666MX has also been spotted at curious locations throughout Europe, including Amsterdam's Schipol Airport in June 2004. Schipol movement records indicate the plane's operator was 'Flying Service.' That same month the aircraft touched down at Brussels under the operator name Flying Partners. On December 14, 2004, the aircraft landed at Zurich under the operator name ComJet BV. It has also been spotted in Paris (Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget), Oporto, Lisbon, Munich, Girona (Spain), London (Luton), Milan (Linate), RAF Base Northolt (UK), Birmingham (UK), Edinburgh (UK), Frankfurt, Dresden, Athens, Marseille, Funchal (Madeira), Rotterdam, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Maastricht-Aachen Airport, Antwerp, and Geneva. The aircraft, according to FAA records, is actually owned by the Henry Crown Company, an 8 percent stock owner of General Dynamics. Before his death, Henry Crown, a wealthy Chicago financier, owned 20 percent of General Dynamics.

"The Crown family are also long time supporters of Israel and Israeli-connected projects, including the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, which endows the chair of Professor Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi-American neo-con scholar who insists that the Dome of the Rock (Al Aqsa Mosque) in Jerusalem represents the fulfillment of the rebuilding of the Third Jewish Temple, a tenet of two of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism and Christianity."
 

White House aide: “It’s like working in an insane asylum”: “People walk around like they’re in a trance. We’re the dance band on the Titanic, playing out our last songs to people who know the ship is sinking and none of us are going to make it.”

“Aides who never betrayed self-doubt now talk in private of failures selling the American people on the Iraq war, the president's Social Security plan and his response to Hurricane Katrina.”
 

Martial Law: The Pretext Is Now Set: "The Neo-con element of the Elite power structure have decided that now is the time to instigate the takeover. The massive power trip they have received after 9/11 has tipped them over the edge. The loonies are in complete control of the asylum now. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and wherever else they choose next are side issues to them now. Target number one is the occupation of the USA."
 

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side': "The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

"The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: 'Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world.'

“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

(What a slap in the face, calling us a "developing" democracy!)
 

The Gods Must be Angry: "There is a reason that the President’s misfortunes multiply faster than the germs and mosquitoes breeding in the quagmire that infects New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The Gods must be angry, as well they should be.

"The Gods favor the poor above all others. Bush, on the other hand, has favored the rich above all others. President Bush obviously does not understand the words of John F Kennedy who said:

'If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.'

"Above all the Gods are angry because the last remaining superpower has chosen to wage an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq. Bush has not noticed that the anguished faces of the poor in New Orleans are replicated every day in Baghdad. The Gods have noticed. Their anger brings to mind the old Negro spiritual:

'God gave Noah a rainbow for a sign
No more water,
The fire next time.'"
 

The Buck Stops with Lynndie: "Lynndie England is convicted. Donald Rumsfeld cackles."
 

Bush's Leadership: Running on Empty: "How about parking Air Force One for awhile, Mr. President?

"Now, belatedly, the president asks for sacrifice from the average citizen. That concept, like many, is foreign to Bush. Because of his administration's policies, sacrifice is foreign to us, too. And that is a problem for the president."
 

A Latin American voice to counter corporate media: "Congressional leaders are all atwitter over Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' new satellite television station, Telesur, which has begun broadcasting four hours a day, financed by its host country and also Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba.

"Telesur hopes to be accepted regionally, and promises news through Latino eyes, produced by professional journalists from the region.

"Telesur is likened to Al Jazeera, the Arabic satellite news channel headquartered in Qatar and extremely popular throughout the Middle East. Al Jazeera saw two Iraq wars through Arab eyes, and the Pentagon and other U.S. leaders didn't like what Arabs saw.

"South American leaders have long been concerned about accuracy in U.S. media reports on the region. Now Congress is worried about Telesur's accuracy. Accuracy is often in the eye of the viewer, and if Telesur stomps on a few sacred American toes, then Congress would find itself in the same position as Latino politicians have been in many times. That might not be all bad.

"It is simply wrong to believe that only Americans can practice honest journalism and that only corporate-owned media can serve the people. If Telesur turns out to be only a propaganda organ it will fail to penetrate beyond Venezuela, but if it proves to be more than that, it will give the region a new, Latin voice."
 

(An incisive, interesting list, these 25) The Mysteries of New Orleans; Twenty-five Questions about the Murder of the Big Easy

A question, selected not quite at random:
22. We found a massive Red Cross presence in Baton Rouge but none in some of the smaller Louisiana towns that have mounted the most impressive relief efforts. The poor Cajun community of Ville Platte, for instance, has at one time or another fed and housed more than 5,000 evacuees; but the Red Cross, along with FEMA, has refused almost daily appeals by local volunteers to send professional personnel and aid. Why then give money to the Red Cross?
 

Absurdities & Atrocities: "Absurdities and atrocities have come to largely define America in the new millennium. Who would have thought that the United States of America would embrace the practice of torture as a matter of policy? Torture, with all its grim, sadistic, soul destroying, screaming implications. The President endorses torture. The Attorney General made it possible. President Karimov of Uzbekistan boils enemies alive. ‘Blowtorch Bob’ D’Aubisson of El Salvador loved to burn people. Ronnie Reagan had nuns raped. It was called ‘fighting for freedom’. George is a freedom fighter right up there with the best of them. The shah was a freedom fighter. General Noriega, to a point. Pinochet. Enemies of the US hate it for its ‘freedom’. Damn right. Freedom from the rule of law. America recently advanced ‘freedom’ by sodomizing young boys at Abu Grahaib, where they torture children to manipulate their parents. Did you hear that? Americans torture innocent children in front of their parents to intimidate them. Is that possible? Now certain ‘leaders’ are hoping that the tape of that advancement doesn’t get out. Too much freedom can be a bad thing after all. [ . . . ]

One of the most astonishing aspects of the Bush-Chaney putsch (and that’s exactly what it was) is that it gave the lie to so much that Americans believed about themselves. Free. Proud. Strong. Live free or die. So much talk about freedom and democracy and goodness and the American Way. All nonsense. All swept away like so much dust. And all it took was a befuddled, deluded ex-drunk christian cowboy wannabe and a few evil handlers."
 

Reuters says U.S. troops obstruct reporting of Iraq: "The conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public, Reuters said on Wednesday.

"In a letter to Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reuters said U.S. forces were limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate. The letter from Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger called on Warner to raise widespread media concerns about the conduct of U.S. troops with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is due to testify to the committee on Thursday.

"Schlesinger referred to 'a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by U.S. forces in Iraq.'

"At least 66 journalists and media workers, most of them Iraqis, have been killed in the Iraq conflict since March 2003.

"Schlesinger said the U.S. military had refused to conduct independent and transparent investigations into the deaths of the Reuters journalists, relying instead on inquiries by officers from the units responsible, who had exonerated their soldiers.

"The U.S. military had failed even to implement recommendations by its own inquiry into one of the deaths, that of award-winning Palestinian cameraman Mazen Dana who was shot dead while filming outside Abu Ghraib prison in August 2003. Schlesinger said Reuters and other reputable international news organisations were concerned by the 'sizeable and rapidly increasing number of journalists detained by U.S. forces'."
 

(A long, detailed article on an insane pipe dream shot into smoke.)
Missteps Hamper Iraqi Oil Recovery
 

And this, from the 'developing' democracy! Woman Ticketed for Sitting on a Playground Bench with No Kids
 

"Red Meat"
 

God Save the Queen, Basra’s Sovereign!: "In case you did not think that the audacity of the occupying powers could be topped by the audacity of the occupying forces, well … think again, and again, and again … until you go black and blue in the face, torso and the abdomen, just like those who are taken as visitors to the theme park known as Abu Ghuraib.

"Here is the news item, headlined, Britain will scrap and replace police force in Basra, in Christian Science Monitor (September 26, 2005). As reported: 'British Defense Minister John Reid says he is planning to scrap the 25,000-member police force in southern Iraq and ‘replace it with a new military-style unit capable of maintaining law and order.’

"And why would this be? Because the current police force dared to show independent initiative in that by-now-infamous case of the two British agents provocateurs shooting at a local police, who was about to arrest them. In other words, because the local police, trained and certified by the British, attempted successfully to maintain law and order when faced with suspicious-looking-and-behaving agents!!"
 

"I wonder if two persons dressed in traditional Arab clothes and carrying explosives and weapons would be found on the London Metro, lately??

"Look what happened to this Brazilian who had no weapons , no rucksack and no Arab clothes and was not even on reconnaissance-mission!!"
 

Jewish Groups Press for Iran Sanctions
 

Now, who would wish to live in such a country?
Why can't we be more like Finland?: "Finland is a leading example of the northern European view that a successful, competitive society should provide basic social services to all its citizens at affordable prices or at no cost.

"This isn't controversial in Finland; it's taken for granted. For a patriotic American like me, the Finns present a difficult challenge: If we Americans are so rich and so smart, why can't we treat our citizens as well as the Finns treat theirs?

"Finns have one of the world's most-generous systems of state-funded educational, medical and welfare services. They pay nothing for education at any level, including medical school or law school. Their medical care, which contributes to an infant-mortality rate that is half of what ours is and a life-expectancy greater than ours, costs relatively little. (Finns devote 7 percent of gross domestic product to health care; we spend 15 percent.) Finnish senior citizens are well cared for. Unemployment benefits are good and last, in one form or another, indefinitely.

"But the United States could not simply turn itself into another Finland. Too much of Finnish reality depends on uniquely Finnish circumstances. Finland is as big as two Missouris, but with just 5.2 million residents. It's ethnically and religiously homogeneous. A strong Lutheran work ethic, combined with a powerful sense of probity, dominates the society.

"Homogeneity has led to consensus: Every significant Finnish political party supports the welfare state and, broadly speaking, the high taxation that makes it possible. And Finns have extraordinary confidence in their political class and public officials. Corruption is extremely rare.

"Finns are enormously proud of their egalitarian tradition. Theirs is the only country in Europe that has never had a king or a homegrown aristocracy. Finland has no private schools or universities, no snooty clubs, no gated communities or compounds where the rich can cut themselves off from everyday life.

"In the end I concluded that Finnish society could not serve as a blueprint for the United States. National differences matter. Ours is a society driven by money, blessed by huge private philanthropy, cursed by endemic corruption and saddled with deep mistrust of government and other public institutions. Finns have none of those attributes.

"The complicated Finnish language includes the word talkoot, which means, roughly, 'doing work together.' It's a powerful Finnish tradition, and reflects a national sense that 'we're all in the same boat,' as numerous Finns said to me. This idea has always appealed to Americans, but in this country it has nearly always been an abstraction. Finns seem to make it real."
 

The Arab nationalists time is passing quickly. We now control Iraq's oil and soon, Iran's oil. We also have a heavy hand in Saudi oil.

The UAE will be next on the list plus Kuwait

Hand it over, its slipping from you already.
# posted by British Rhubarb

Well nice that at last one pro-war activist reveals his inner thoughts. I really thought Rhubrab that you invaded Iraq because Daddy Saddam and his boys were so bad.

The geopolitical chess game for Middle East’s oil resources is far from over. Anglo-Americans seem to think that the other players sit still in their corner when USUK is pondering its next move. Well attacking Iran – if USA does it they must be insane. Saudi Arabia is not a very stable country. What happened in Iran on 16.1.1979 can happen again.

Tell me Rhubrab why Cheney’s Energy Task Force had already long before 911 its eye on Iraq oil (March 2001) and planning invasion started. Some interesting links:

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/8.html
http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.c_.shtml
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/irqindx.htm
 

Well Evelyn that was an interesting American view of Finland. A little cutting corners and painting a very rosy picture. Most facts are basically true.

We did not have a “home grown” aristocracy, we were given them by the Swedes. Finland was that time until 1809 a part of Sweden. From 1809 .- 1917 a part of Russia. When Sweden fought its wars rewarded the King his loyal supporter by giving them land in Finland and titles. The aristocracy was though never a huge problem in this country.

The political elite in Finland is growing apart of the people. We also have those politicians who see privatization as an answer to run the society. The people are not so happy about the little steps the government is taking in privatization of health care and other services. Well no political party has the guts to change the system dramatically.

But Finland is not in any way the “best”, in many aspects Norway, Sweden and Denmark are even better if we consider the level of social services and social security.
 

SimoHurtta,
Perhaps Finland is not the "best", but from where I sit, it looks extraordinarily inviting. In life, all things are relative. Best of luck in fighting off privatization. In the abstract, especially when those with much to gain are selling it merits, privatization sounds quite beguiling. In the end, however, most people lose. Iraqis know this probably better than most.
 

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing.

He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the president exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands.

Finally, the president looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"
 

Isn't that some multiple of a gazillion?
 

Kurt Nimmo, The Death of a Constitutional Republic: "Bush and his neocon cronies have marshaled in the beginning stages of a neo-feudal future long planned for us by the global elite and the corporatist plutocracy. In order to realize this tyranny, they must first completely emasculate and finally destroy the Constitution and convince the masses—most sufficiently dumbed-down through sub-standard education and anesthetized by an amoral consumerist culture—to accept military occupation and slavery. In a nation no longer anchored to a bedrock of set constitutional principles, it is a relatively small task to convince millions of people the government will protect them from evil terrorists and natural disasters (the former created in large part by the government and the latter at least scientifically possible for the government to unleash*). As the horror show of military occupation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (and to a lesser extent, Hurricane Rita) demonstrates, Bush and his global elite masters have decided now is the time to pull out all the stops."
-------------------------
* Here I'm reminded of this interesting article. What do you think?
 

Voting Shenanigans Cloud Key Province: "If the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution next month is conducted fairly, it now appears very likely that the document will be defeated by a two-thirds majority in the three Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Salahadeen and Nineveh, plunging Iraq into a new political crisis.

"However, one way such a defeat could be averted is by massive vote fraud in the key province of Nineveh. According to an account provided by the U.S. liaison with the local election commission, supported by physical evidence collected by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), Kurdish officials in Nineveh province tried to carry out just such a ballot-stuffing scheme in last January's election.

"The Sunni Arab majority of about 1.7 million in Nineveh -- including Sunni insurgent organisations -- appears to be united behind a 'no' vote on the constitution. Kurds number only about 200,000 and non-Kurdish, non-Arab minorities another 500-600,000.

"The non-Arab, non-Kurdish minorities -- Assyrian Christians, Shabaks, Yezidis and Turkmen -- which hold the balance in the province, are overwhelmingly opposed to the constitution.

"Heavy-handed control by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of non-Kurdish towns, exercised through Kurdish militia and intelligence presence in non-Kurdish areas, has alienated all four groups. They fear the draft constitution would legitimise Kurdish plans to absorb into Kurdistan the areas of Nineveh where they are the majority, eliminating the limited recognition of status and rights as minorities they now have.

"In the January election, the Kurds dealt with the problem of being a relatively small minority in the province by stuffing the ballot boxes, as recounted by Maj. Anthony Cruz, an Army reserve civil affairs officer assigned to work with the province electoral commission. [ . . . ]

"In the constitutional referendum, the Shiite government will share the Kurdish interest in doing whatever is necessary to avert the defeat of the constitution in Nineveh. Meanwhile, the U.S. military remains heavily dependent on Kurds in Nineveh. The KDP may well believe that a more sophisticated Kurdish ballot-stuffing scheme will work on October 15."
 

George Bush in Hell: "It is thus too bad, as we emerge from the nightmare of the last quarter-century, that so many of us lefties are atheists, agnostics or otherwise debauched secular humanists. Not only have we had to suffer the reign of Bad King George here on Earth, we can't even have the satisfaction of knowing that he'll be spending the rest of eternity rotting in Hell.

"The good news, though, is that he's already there, and the flames are only beginning to warm him up. . . ."

(Cheer yourself up and give this article a skim, even if you feel its prediction can't possibly come to pass soon enough.)
 

Robert Parry, Consortiumnews.com 'Frog-Marching' Bush to the Hague
(No summary would do justice to this excellent article outlining precisely why it is Bush should be "frog-marched" off to wherever.)
 

Wayne Madsen Report,September 29, 2005 -- Criminals stick together: "Even though Tom DeLay has been indicted for criminal conspiracy by a Texas Grand Jury, the Bush regime continues to stick by their man. DeLay stepped down as Majority Leader and Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri was elected by House Republicans to take over his spot but real power will be exercised by Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier of California and Eric Cantor of Virginia. Dreier, Cantor, and Blunt represent the right-wing bloc in the House Republican leadership. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan continued to refer to the indicted DeLay as an 'ally and friend' of President Bush."
 

Turkish women challenge US envoy on Iraq war (Clearly, this group of Turkish women wasn't properly selected. They told Karen Hughes what they really thought. Cheers!)
 

Fears over climate as Arctic ice melts at record level: "Global warming in the Arctic could be soaring out of control, scientists warned yesterday as new figures revealed that melting of sea ice in the region has accelerated to record levels."
 

Unravelling the spin on a toy plane: Pakistan army captures Al Qaeda spy plane. Reporter finds identical plane for $55 at toy store.
 

Former Marine in media glare as he joins Al-Jazeera (You'll remember him from the documentary 'Control Room'.)
 

Resolution for Cambridge City Council to Bring the Troops Home: "[The following resolution was passed by the Cambridge (MA) City Council on September 21, 2005, by a vote of 9-0.]"

A number of 'WHEREAS' clauses, concluding with:

"RESOLVED that the Cambridge City Council, recognizing the grievous impact of the loss of lives in the Iraq war on families and communities on both sides of the conflict and the destructive social and economic effects of the costs of the war, urges the United States government to begin a rapid and orderly withdrawal of US military personnel from Iraq and to provide the people of Iraq with all necessary non-military aid to provide for their security and rebuilding of their country, and

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council directs the Clerk/Treasurer to provide copies of this resolution to President Bush, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and to the Massachusetts Congressional delegation."
 

Ramzy Baroud, Rhetoric and Reality of War: "Take as an example the bloody clashes in the southern Iraqi city of Basra between angry Iraqi protesters, police and British forces on September 19, where several Iraqis, including a police officer were killed. Two awesome, although entirely contradicting narratives emerged from the ashes of the Basra battle." [ . . . ]

"Language has once again deconstructed what visuals originally portrayed. The desperate attempt of Iraqis to assert a level of sovereignty in their own country becomes a mega conspiracy, where the aggressor and the victim swap roles in a twisted sort of way."
 

The Politics of Anti-Semitism, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, confronts how the slur of "anti-semite" has been used to intimidate critics of Israel's abuse of Palestinians. It includes essays by Uri Avnery, Edward Said, Michael Neumann and Bill and Kathy Christison. Recommended book. (Order at link.)
 

Heckler returns to hero's welcome: "The veteran Labour delegate who was yesterday ejected from the conference hall for heckling received a hero's welcome when he returned this morning, and won an apology from the platform by John Reid.

"Walter Wolfgang came back to a warm reception from rank and file at the Brighton conference, and warned the party 'you can't stifle debate by hiring heavies'.

"Tony Blair this morning apologised to the 82-year-old, a Jewish refugee from the Nazis, who was physically ejected from the conference hall yesterday and refused readmission under the prevention of terrorism act.

"Returning to the scene today, Mr Wolfgang received a round of applause from both the conference floor and from party members standing outside. However, the two cabinet ministers on stage at the time, Lord Falconer and David Miliband, refused to join in.

"Later, in his closing speech to conference, the defence secretary, John Reid, apologised to Mr Wolfgang with the prime minister applauding from the stage.

"Speaking alongside fellow evictee Steve Forrest as he arrived, Mr Wolfgang appeared overwhelmed by the press attention, and called the affair 'a small issue' compared with the invasion of Iraq and the forthcoming decision on renewing Trident."
 

A note on newly minted Chief 'Justice' Roberts: His wife is big in satellite systems; her company is targeting Iraq; "We offer one-stop service to clients pursuing projects in Iraq, from solicitation and RFP counseling to working with key government and multilateral agencies, and from initially penetrating the Iraqi marketplace to final project implementation."
 

WHY DO THEY HATE US?
Chris Floyd, On Captain Fishback's Revelations: "Quietly, firmly, relentlessly, the good captain laid out the list of atrocities committed at the order of the enemies of freedom: 'Death threats, beatings, broken bones, murder, exposure to elements, extreme forced physical exertion, hostage-taking, stripping, sleep deprivation and degrading treatment.' A catalogue of depravity, all of it designed -- with diabolical sophistry -- by self-exalted men cloaking their violent perversions with sham piety and righteous sputum. This was terrorism on a grand scale, chewing up the innocent and guilty alike.

"Fishback saw the fruits of this vile labor in the vast Bushist holding pens in Iraq, where thousands upon thousands of Iraqis were herded, beaten and tortured -- even though 70 to 90 percent of them were innocent of any crime, the International Red Cross reported in 2004. The incidents he and the other soldiers detailed took place before, during -- and after -- the photographic revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib. The mayhem 'happened every day,' said the soldiers, and it was committed 'under orders from military intelligence personnel to soften up detainees.'

"'They wanted intel,' said a sergeant, one of the ordinary, untrained grunts pressed into duty as interrogation muscle. 'As long as no [captives] came up dead, it happened. We kept it to broken arms and legs' -- sometimes with baseball bats, and occasionally augmented by scalding naked prisoners with burning chemicals. The soldiers learned their 'stress techniques' from CIA interrogators, dropping into Iraq from their 'unleashed' torture centers in Afghanistan, Diego Garcia and points unknown.

"But of course they didn't always 'keep it' to broken arms and legs. Fishback, who had been trying desperately to get his superiors to act on the atrocities he'd witnessed himself, discovered that a captive had been 'interrogated' to death. From that point on, while still urging official action, he also began gathering evidence and testimony from fellow officers about the nightmarish regimen, the Los Angeles Times reports. When at long last he began to realize 'that the Army is deliberately misleading the American people about detainee treatment within our custody,' he stepped out of the system -- and into the storm.

"What will come of the good captain's moral courage? Nothing much. A Pentagon investigation has been belatedly launched; no doubt a few more bad eggs will be fried, just as the hapless Lynndie England, poster girl for Abu Ghraib, was convicted this week for 'aberrations' that, as Fishback confirms, were countenanced and encouraged throughout Iraq."
 

(Relevant photos)
Army cancels probe of "war dead for porn" scandal: "The Army Criminal Investigation Command in Iraq conducted the preliminary inquiry within the past week but closed it after concluding no felony crime had been committed and failing to determine whether U.S. soldiers were responsible for the photos and whether they showed actual war dead, Army officials said. Col. Joe Curtin, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said there currently was no formal investigation into the matter."
 

Houston: “We have a problem” - What to do with Space Cadet Bush?: "It’s the elite Bush should be worried about – the seedy crony-capitalists who own the US of A. The Iraq imbroglio is bad enough, but after the hurricane debacle the greedheads who once put faith in this idiot-child to gull the masses will now regard him as a failure, a dud, a loser, a space cadet; a man who hasn’t measured up to the challenges; a president who isn’t fooling anybody any more.

"It doesn’t take much insight to see that, for the US elites, assassination would be a quick, clean option, compared with impeachment, and has the added advantage that it could be conveniently blamed on al-Qaeda. But the problem is: who would step into Bush’s shoes? The vice-president, Dick Chaney, isn’t a complete idiot, but he’s a sick man and, even worse, he’s tarnished by his involvement in the crony-capitalism of Halliburton and has none of the personal charisma needed to rally Americans behind conscription and a ten-year colonial war. Whatever happens, it ain’t gonna be pretty."
 

The U.S. Has Plans to Invade Iran Before Bush's Term Ends: "Bill Gertz is a right-wing national security reporter for the Rev. Sun Yung Moon's neo-fascist newspaper, The Washington Times. He's also a spigot from which flows much classified information illegally leaked by like-minded 'patriots' seeking to advance their hawkish agenda in the military-industrial-congressional complex. And, frankly speaking, that's the only reason I pay any attention to him.

"So I was hardly surprised when, on September 16, 2005, Gertz reported on the Bush administration's 'computer slide presentation' which was aimed at persuading whoever would listen that Iran is working feverishly to build nuclear weapons.

"According to Gertz, the report claims: 'Iran's nuclear program is well-scaled for a weapons capability, as a comparison to [Pakistan's] nuclear weapons infrastructure shows…When one also considers Iran's concealment and deception activities, it's difficult to escape the conclusion that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.'"
 

U.S. Forces Raid Homes of Sunni Officials: "We can expect they'll do everything in their power to try to stop the march of freedom," Bush said, "And our troops are ready for it."
 

Venezuela accuses US of 'double standard' on terrorism: "Venezuelan officials yesterday accused the US government of being "hypocritical" after a Texas judge blocked the extradition of terror suspect Luis Posada Carriles. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the decision by the judge to block Mr. Posada Carriles's extradiction showed the 'double standard' of the US government's position on terrorism. Posada Carriles is accused of planning the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger jet that killed 73 people."
 

At Least 60 Dead in Iraq Car Bombings

US trying to understand Iraq insurgency: Negroponte
(I've included this headline out of simple perversity.)
 

U.S. envoy Karen Hughes said Tuesday that Washington was concerned about hate literature in American mosques and had asked the Saudi government for help in getting rid of it.: "It was unclear which Saudi officials the U.S. held talks with. Hughes did not discuss the matter, or other human rights issues, in a meeting later with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

"'We are concerned that literature has been found in American mosques that has a message that is not tolerant, and we hope the people of Saudi Arabia will work with us as we try to deal with this issue,' she said at the lunch with Saudi media.

"U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter said Hughes was the first top Bush administration official to talk publicly in the kingdom about the anti-Christian, anti-Semitic material, which some human rights groups say has been sanctioned by the Saudi government."

('Bad' guys: nailed again)


U.S. general says number of capable Iraqi battalions drops to one: "Casey, the most senior commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said the result of the upcoming Iraqi referendum on a new constitution on Oct. 15 and December elections will affect whether conditions on the ground will be appropriate for withdrawing U.S. troops."
 

What do you really think of George? The 'random' image is quite satisfying! But, do with him as you will. (It's probably not covered by the Patriot Act - - yet.)


Newsweek, The 'Second' Man: The slain Abu Azzam may not have been Zarqawi’s top deputy after all. Will his death have any effect on the Iraq insurgency? Bush, having ordered the murder of tens of thousands, the maiming and dispossession of countless more, intones: “This guy was a brutal killer.”

Now, with Zarqawi having been dead for a year and a half, you judge the meaning of the death of his "second in command".
 

Wayne Madsen Report, September 29, 2005 -- "As a result of a surprise plea agreement, former Pentagon and Defense Intelligence Agency official Larry Franklin has decided to plead guilty to passing classified Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and other secret intelligence to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and at least one official of the Israeli government. The agreement is a coup for prosecutor Paul McNulty who can now rely on the testimony of Franklin, a longtime intelligence contact for Israel, to pursue other, as yet unidentified, co-conspirators -- both officials and consultants -- in the Bush administration. In addition, McNulty will use Franklin to focus on two indicted former officials of AIPAC-- Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman."
 

Manipulating the Public Mind: "No one is more effectively enslaved by the power brokers in government than those who wear the chains of servitude but think they are free. Unfortunately, the average American has no conception of how effectively their perceptions are shaped and manipulated by the media propaganda they unwittingly feed into their unsuspecting minds."
 

Permanent link to Chris Floyd article posted September 29, 2005 2:20 PM