Free Iraq

“How to effectively discourage U.S. military recruitment”? Read Kevin Phillips

Can Wafa Sultan read the article below? Or, is her comprehension level akin to that of George W. Bush?

Kevin Phillips, Washington Post Sunday, April 2, 2006;

How the GOP Became God's Own Party

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history...

...Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews.

The United States has organized much of its military posture since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks around the protection of oil fields, pipelines and sea lanes. But U.S. preoccupation with the Middle East has another dimension. In addition to its concerns with oil and terrorism, the White House is courting end-times theologians and electorates for whom the Holy Lands are a battleground of Christian destiny. Both pursuits -- oil and biblical expectations -- require a dissimulation in Washington that undercuts the U.S. tradition of commitment to the role of an informed electorate...

...Over a quarter-century of Bush presidencies and vice presidencies, the Republican Party has slowly become the vehicle of all three interests -- a fusion of petroleum-defined national security; a crusading, simplistic Christianity; and a reckless credit-feeding financial complex. The three are increasingly allied in commitment to Republican politics. On the most important front, I am beginning to think that the Southern-dominated, biblically driven Washington GOP represents a rogue coalition, like the
Southern, proslavery politics that controlled Washington until Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860.

I have a personal concern over what has become of the Republican coalition. Forty years ago, I began a book, "The Emerging Republican Majority," which I finished in 1967 and took to the 1968 Republican presidential campaign, for which I became the chief political and voting-patterns analyst. Published in 1969, while I was still in the fledgling Nixon administration, the volume was identified by Newsweek as the "political bible of the Nixon Era."

In that book I coined the term "Sun Belt" to describe the oil, military, aerospace and retirement country stretching from Florida to California, but debate concentrated on the argument -- since fulfilled and then some -- that the South was on its way into the national Republican Party. Four decades later, this framework has produced the alliance of oil, fundamentalism and debt...

...Because the United States is beginning to run out of its own oil sources, a military solution to an energy crisis is hardly lunacy. Neither Caesar nor Napoleon would have flinched. What Caesar and Napoleon did not face, but less able American presidents do, is that bungled overseas military embroilments could also boomerang economically. The United States, some $4 trillion in hock internationally, has become the world's leading debtor, increasingly nagged by worry that some nations will sell dollars in their reserves and switch their holdings to rival currencies. Washington prints bonds and dollar-green IOUs, which European and Asian bankers accumulate until for some reason they lose patience. This is the debt Achilles' heel, which stands alongside the oil Achilles' heel.

Unfortunately, more danger lurks in the responsiveness of the new GOP coalition to Christian evangelicals, fundamentalists and Pentecostals, who muster some 40 percent of the party electorate. Many millions believe that the Armageddon described in the Bible is coming soon.Chaos in the explosive Middle East, far from being a threat, actually heralds the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oil price spikes, murderous hurricanes, deadly tsunamis and melting polar ice caps lend further credence...

...Besides providing critical support for invading Iraq -- widely anathematized by preachers as a second Babylon -- the Republican coalition has also seeded half a dozen controversies in the realm of science…These developments have warped the Republican Party and its electoral coalition, muted Democratic voices and become a gathering threat to America's future. No leading world power in modern memory has become a captive of the sort of biblical inerrancy that dismisses modern knowledge and science. The last parallel was in the early 17th century, when the papacy, with the agreement of inquisitional Spain, disciplined the astronomer Galileo for saying that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of our solar system.

Conservative true believers will scoff at such concerns. The United States is a unique and chosen nation, they say; what did or did not happen to Rome, imperial Spain, the Dutch Republic and Britain is irrelevant. The catch here, alas, is that these nations also thought they were unique and that God was on their side. The revelation that He apparently was not added a further debilitating note to the late stages of each national decline.........

Kevin Phillips is the author of "American Theocracy: The Perils and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century" (Viking).
 

U.S. tries new approach to keep Iraqis away from convoys: Next week, Iraqis around Camp Anaconda are expected to start receiving 3,000 white bags with a message intended to cut down on civilians killed by getting too close to U.S. convoys, ...

One side of the bag has a message written in red Arabic lettering warning the “kind citizens of Iraq” to stay 200 meters behind U.S. and coalition convoys.

“If this safe distance is not maintained, these forces may use sound audible warnings, flash vehicle lights, shoot flares, fire warning shots or use deadly force if necessary,” the message says.

On the other side of the bag is another message in Arabic: “The Iraqi people and the coalition force working together to let Iraqis run Iraq.”
 

Filming the Iraq insurgency: The Insurgency will be broadcast on BBC Two on Sunday, 2 April at 2100 BST
 

Rice, Straw Make Unannounced Visit to Iraq: "We've wanted to be out there at times that we thought we could help move the process forward," Rice said. "And of course it's important to have fresh messages from time to time from Washington and from London about the concern that a government be formed."


US and UK forces establish at least six 'enduring bases' in Iraq, one operated by Brits


Pentagon's "Information Operations Roadmap"; waging war on the Internet
 

London Review of Books editor hits back over Israel row: [The editor] believes, too, that the most angry denunciations of anti-Semitism - while designed to serve the purpose of censorship by those attempting to forestall criticism of Israel - may actually encourage anti-Semitism in the long run.

'It serves a purpose. No one wants to be thought of as anti-Semitic because it is thought of as worse than anything else, although it is not worse being anti-Semitic than being anti-black or Islamophobic.

'Really, one of the most upsetting things is the way it can contribute to anti-Semitism in the long run just by making so many constant appeals and preventing useful criticism of Israel. No one can say Israel's posture does not contribute to anti-Semitism, yet charges of anti-Semitism are used to justify that policy.'
 

Photos: Condi's 99%-support-base "Welcome to the UK"
 

Rice Says She Looks Forward To Closing Of Guantanamo Bay Prison
 

Sleuths look for the tiniest smoking gun that could lead to war on Iran


Kurt Nimmo, Gasp! If Attacked Iran Would Actually Defend Itself: "... The Bush administration is spending $75 million to step up pressure on the Iranian government, including funding non-governmental organizations and alternative media broadcasts. ..."

... If Iran covertly intervened in America’s so-called election process, spied on American politicians, buzzed over military bases and nuclear labs with drones, and otherwise spent billions to undermine the United States and collect intelligence in advance of an invasion or massive shock and awe campaign, the American people would be calling for the government to defend itself by all means necessary, probably even nuking Iran and turning it into a glass parking lot.
 

Mosaic Video Stream, March 31, 2006 - Segments include:
--- PRC leader killed in car blast in Gaza
--- Israeli warplanes raid Gaza strip, bombing a bridge
--- Hamas government condemns assassination of PRC leader in Gaza
--- Interview with Netanyahu Bureau Chief, Yecheil Lieter
--- Final result of Israeli election, Kadima still in lead
--- Hariri meets with Egyptian president
--- Rice in France to discuss Lebanese issues with Chirac
--- Wanted Fatah Chief in Lebanon Surrendered
--- Pentagon report: Russia provided Saddam regime with classified information
--- 70 people killed in earthquake in Western Iran
--- Iranian army launched large scale war game in Persian Gulf
--- Iranian Foreign Minister: Tehran will not use oil as a weapon
--- US Ex-President criticizes Bush's nuclear policies
--- Morocco king proposes autonomy plan for W.Sahara
 

Riverbend, Nomination...: After an internet absence of a few days, I returned to find my inbox flooded with dozens of emails with the subject “Congratulations!!!”. In mid March, “Baghdad Burning” won Best Middle East and Africa blog and received a Bloggie so I thought the sudden surge of congratulatory emails was for that esteemed blog award (we would like to thank the academy…). [ . . . ]


Riverbend, April Fool's Day...
Or 'kithbet neesan', as it is known in Arabic: If the current Iraqi government should choose ANY day for their day- what better day than April 1? It’s appropriately named ‘Fool’s Day’, after all.

They have been foolishly trying to get a government together since they first announced the election results. And we’ve been patiently waiting. It’s like being under the threat of punishment for weeks and weeks at a time and finally just wanting to have the punishment over with.

I don’t think anyone believes they’re going to make any improvements or major changes, we’re just tired of waiting for the final formation. People need to know who’ll be in power because they want to know who to pay bribes to or get a ‘tazkiya’ from when they need something done. We need to know which religious party to go to when the Interior Ministry goons take away a relative.

They’ve been bickering over the Prime Minister’s position for so long now, I’m almost wishing Bremer were here to once again implement his whole “Puppet per month” arrangement as in 2003.

In any case, should you want to play an April Fool’s Day joke on an Iraqi (albeit a late one- or maybe even next year), I suggest the following:

1. “Guess what?! There’s going to be electricity this summer!!!” (For better effect, it is suggested a candle be broken in half and thrown high into the air with a whoop.)

2. “Guess what?! The Americans have declared they will be gone by 2010 and they won’t leave permanent bases behind!!!” (This should be said with a straight face.)

3. “Guess what?! They didn’t actually find three corpses in the strip of trees two streets away!!!” [ . . . ]

10. "Guess what?! They caught Zarqawi!!!" (This will only work on Iraqis who actually think he exists.)
 

Rice, Straw to Iraqis: Form Gov't Quickly: Rice said the troubles in Iraq called for a strong leader who could help unify the people of this war-ravaged land.

But, she added, "It's not our job to say who that person ought to be."

Rice said the quick formation of a new government "is something that the international community has a right to expect."

"You have to have the state with a monopoly of power," Rice said. "We have sent very strong messages" that there must be "a reining in of militias."

Rice and Straw said they set no deadlines, ...

Rice stayed overnight in the fortified Green Zone, the first time she has done so. The move was intended to signal confidence in Iraqi security measures and counter the impression among Iraqis that high U.S. officials swoop in to give orders and then quickly depart.

U.S. officials have allowed it to become an open secret that Washington wants al-Jaafari gone, ...
 

Meanwhile . . .
- Car Bombs, Drive-Bys Kill Eight in Iraq


- Three U.S. Marines, Sailor Killed in Iraq
 

Will U.S. air power remain in Iraq?: Balad's two runways, among the world's busiest, launch 27,500 aircraft a month, hundreds of them bomb-laden jets ...
 

US bases in Iraq: a costly legacy: [S]hould the US decide to leave Iraq - perhaps because a full-fledged civil war puts American armed forces in a too-perilous position - the personnel and their equipment could be flown out quickly. "They could come home in a month," calculates John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.com, a website specializing in military affairs.

[I]t seems clear that the Pentagon would prefer to keep its bases in Iraq. It has already spent $1 billion or more on them, outfitting some with underground bunkers and other characteristics of long-term bases. The $67.6 billion emergency bill to cover Iraq and Afghanistan military costs includes $348 million for further base construction.

Camp Anaconda, near Balad (north of Baghdad), occupies 15 square miles, boasts two swimming pools, a gym, a miniature-golf course, and a first-run movie theater. ... Of the airbase's 20,000 occupants, fewer than 1,000 ever leave it and thereby take extra risk of attack.
 

Insurgents blow up small Shiite mosque; 40 found dead


IRAQ: More than 40,000 displaced, ministry estimates


U.S. Plan to Build Iraq Clinics Falters: Coming with little public warning, the 86 percent shortfall of completions dismayed the World Health Organization's representative for Iraq.


INTERVIEW-US trains Iraq jailers, no date for prison transfer


IRAQ FOR SALE: FIRST COME / FIRST SERVED -
Wolfowitz looks at opening World Bank Iraq office
 

xymphora, Iraq: the real motives
 

(An article that speaks volumes about the Rule of Law)
Malcom Lagauche, A TALE OF TWO ASSASSINATION COUPS
 

Robert Parry, Condi, War Crimes & the Press: There has been virtually no commentary in the mainstream [U.S.] press about the extraordinary assertion by a Secretary of State that the United States has the right to invade other countries as a means to eradicate something as vague as “an ideology of hate.”

Far more press attention is paid to Rice’s stylish clothing and her future job prospects, from her professed interest in becoming National Football League commissioner to speculation that she will be part of the next Republican presidential ticket.

... [I]mplicit in the U.S. news media’s non-coverage of Rice’s new rationale for war is that there is nothing objectionable or alarming about the Bush administration turning its back on principles of civilized behavior promulgated by U.S. statesmen at the Nuremberg Tribunal six decades ago.
 

Kurt Nimmo, The Disheartening Fall of Doug Thompson [Capitol Hill Blue]: It seems Thompson is a garden variety “liberal” or “progressive,” unable to accept the fact government is maleficent. One wonders. Like Noam Chomsky . . . it appears Thompson is unable to admit that the very essence of government is engineered violence, coercion, thievery, and murder.

I consider September 11, 2001, the defining moment of government. Not only is the government—not the clerical workers and petty bureaucrats, but the upper, controlling echelon, those working directly for the plutocrats, the ruling elite—capable of such treachery and immorality, but they plot such things continually, if incrementally and usually less flamboyantly. Operation Northwoods, Vietnam, Waco, these are but the most recent manifestations of government malevolence and murderous perniciousness.

I’d hate to think Doug Thompson, who has in the past written so brilliantly about the prevarication and ruthlessness of government, has become a dunce.

(To which I add, having on occasion posted Thompson's work: "Ditto" - Evelyn)
 

British consider consequences of attack on Iran: Blair government, military will examine possible role, if any, in 'inevitable' US-led attack.