Free Iraq

All five episodes now available

rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio4/womanshour/womanshour_20061218.ra?start=42:20.3
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio4/womanshour/womanshour_20061219.ra?start=42:15.3
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio4/womanshour/womanshour_20061220.ra?start=42:43.8
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio4/womanshour/womanshour_20061221.ra?start=42:14.0
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio4/womanshour/womanshour_20061222.ra?start=41:30.0

Thanks for the links. Can these be downloaded and saved somehow at your site? I'm concerned the BBC will delete them.
 

Regarding above posted excellent article Media bias 'threat' to Iraq, I wish every single American and/or western 'journalist' and/or citizen would read it. Our ignorance - mostly by design - is overwhelming. Accurately informing the citizenry is not mainstream journalism's intent. Rather, they are salesmen, using all the tools of PR and deception at their disposal. Shamelessly lying and distorting to protect and advance particular national and corporate interests, there is no possibility their craft will be applied to serve the ends of peace, justice and world prosperity. It matters not a whit what happens to large swathes of humanity, so long as they faithfully serve their masters' mandate.

From another article a correspondent has pointed out that "Long ago, in programs such as Operation Mockingbird, the CIA covertly put major publishing, newspaper, and media outlets, as well as thousands of individual reporters under direct agency control, from where they have mostly remained."

Sorry, guys, but you've got something we want. We'll take it, unless you can stop us.
 

An article published 10/26/04 -
Iran: A Bridge too Far? The weapon that could defeat the US in the Gulf
 

Democrats: Nuclear Iran unacceptable


Israel's Bad Influence
 

The Urge to Surge: Neocon godfather Norman Podhoretz set out the plan for Middle East conquest several years ago in Commentary Magazine. It is a plan for Muslim genocide. In place of physical extermination of Muslims, Podhoretz advocates their cultural destruction by deracination. Islam is to be torn out by the roots and reduced to a purely formal shell devoid of any real beliefs.

Podhoretz disguises the neoconservative attack against diversity with contrived arguments, but its real purpose is to use the US military to subdue Arabs and to create space for Israel to expand.

Not enough Americans are aware that this is what the "war on terror" is all about.
 

Kurt Nimmo, Hoyer and Dems Set Stage for Iran Attack: Supporting Israel—or rather supporting continued war for Israel—has its perks, as this chart demonstrates.
 

Israel denies planning nuclear attack on Iran
 

Robert Parry, Bush's Rush to Armageddon: George W. Bush has purged senior military and intelligence officials who were obstacles to a wider war in the Middle East, broadening his options for both escalating the conflict inside Iraq and expanding the fighting to Iran and Syria with Israel’s help.
 

30 killed in cargo plane crash in Iraq


50 'militants' killed in Baghdad battle


Bush Works To Rally Support for Iraq 'Surge': Aides said Bush will formally unveil his new plans for Iraq in a nationally televised address from the White House tomorrow [10 January] night ...
 

Court Drops Charges Against Saddam: Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa said the court decided to stop all legal action against the former president, since "the death of defendant Saddam was confirmed."


Chris Floyd, Claiming the Prize: Bush Surge Aimed at Securing Iraqi Oil: At any time within the next few days, the Iraqi Council of Ministers is expected to approve a new "hydrocarbon law" essentially drawn up by the Bush Administration and its UK lackey, the Independent on Sunday reports. The new bill will "radically redraw the Iraqi oil industry and throw open the doors to the third-largest oil reserves in the world," say the paper, whose reporters have seen a draft of the new law. "It would allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil companies in the country since the industry was nationalized in 1972." If the government's parliamentary majority prevails, the law should take effect in March.

As the paper notes, the law will give Exxon, BP, Shell and other carbon cronies of the White House unprecedented sweetheart deals, allowing them to pump gargantuan profits from Iraq's nominally state-owned oilfields for decades to come. ...

The American "surge" will be blended into the new draconian effort announced over the weekend by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki: an all-out war by the government's Shiite militia-riddled "security forces" on Sunni enclaves in Baghdad, as the Washington Post reports. American troops will "support" the "pacification effort" with what Maliki says calls "house-to-house" sweeps of Sunni areas. There is of course another phrase for this kind of operation: "ethnic cleansing."

Put simply, the Bush Family and their allies and cronies represent the confluence of three long-established power factions in the American elite: oil, arms and investments. These groups equate their own interests, their own wealth and privilege, with the interests of the nation – indeed, the world – as a whole. ...

... No matter which party controls the [U.S.] government, the militarization of America is so far gone now it's impossible to imagine any major rollback in the gargantuan U.S. war machine – 725 bases in 132 countries, annual military budgets topping $500 billion, a planned $1 trillion in new weapons systems already moving through the pipeline. Indeed, the Democratic "opposition" has promised to expand the military.
 

Chris Floyd, US Attacks Somalia, Taking Sides With Former Enemy Warlords: ... Evidently, the internal conflict in Somalia is yet another of the series of bloodlettings that Bush promised us back in 2002, when he proclaimed: "There's no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the Homeland."
 

Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily, IRAQ: Terrified Soldiers Terrifying People
 

Michel Chossudovsky, Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust?
 

Six million Jews were killed as a result of the Zionists
 

Saddam lawyer to sue Iraq for execution abuse as grisly new video emerges
 

Firas Al-Atraqchi, Saddam's Hanging; Why Arabs Are Angry
 

Curtis F.J. Doebbler, Obituary: Saddam Hussein: Every one of the dozens of obituaries I have seen from the western press focuses on the President's alleged brutality and the unproven cases of his violation of human rights. None—absolutely none—focused on the man who had held Iraqi together better than the US and its billions of dollars and Iraqis they could buy. None—absolutely none—focused on the man who against all odds had stood for the justice of the Arab and Muslim cause around the world, especially in Palestine, and even against the world's most expensive, most powerful, and most deadly army. And none—absolutely none—focused on the fact that the capture, the trial, and the execution of the Iraqi President were illegal and unfair, according to the almost unanimous opinion of the international community and international legal experts.
 

Kurt Nimmo, Bush “Surge” Speech Stitched of Neocon Whole Cloth: Get ready for more of the same as Bush ascends the podium. He will sacrifice more soldiers, and an untold number of Iraqis, as the United States does not do body counts, as retired Gen. Tommy Franks proudly stated before he went on to predict the demise of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
 

HOLO argument, CAUSTic reminder: The winner of the Holocaust cartoon contest
 

Wayne Madsen, January 10, 2007 -- WMR received a report that the strong natural gas odor permeated the area around Thomas Circle in Washington, DC the night before a similar odor wafted across Manhattan and New Jersey. Security at the Washington Plaza Hotel, located on Thomas Circle, was alerted to the odor.

George W. Bush was not in the area of Thomas Circle at the time of the incident.
 

Baghdad street becomes new Fallujah: US and Iraqi troops, backed by American F-15 jet fighters and Apache attack helicopters, fought suspected insurgents for at least 12 hours in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighbourhoods in what may be a preview of expanded US operations in Iraq.

The Association of Muslim Scholars called the assault "a bloody sectarian massacre."

... "The American president said in 2003, `Mission accomplished.' Now in 2007 he uses jetfighters a few meters from the Green Zone. This is defeat."
 

markfromireland, Death In A Garbage Dump: Every time I’ve been to Iraq since the Americans invaded I’ve seen something I never saw before - children scavenging in garbage dumps for food. There is now a thriving trade of children being kidnapped, sold, and exported to paedophile brothels. My last few trips I’ve seen something that I’ve never ever ever seen before in Iraq. Children with the tell-tale red rash around their mouths. That’s not even the worst of it.
 

Bush speech to detail retooled Iraq plan: The U.S. is changing its goals, switching from a focus on training Iraqi security forces to securing the battered population and decentralizing its reconstruction efforts and economic aid to the seats of the worst violence. Iraqis, meanwhile, will be expected to meet their responsibilities and take the lead in the fighting.

(Listen tonight for George to mention securing -
1. Iraqi oil;
2. U.S. permanent military presence in Iraq;
3. Corporate globalization;
4. Israeli interests;
5. A 'pacified' Iraqi populace, acquiescing - finally - to the 2003 invasion & occupation;
6. World Peace ! )
 

All you need to know -
Jim Lobe, The superhawk behind the surge: Crouch, whose substantive expertise is in arms control - or, more precisely, how the US can evade or undermine international efforts to promote arms control - has long been a favorite of Vice President Dick Cheney ...

Crouch first worked under Cheney at the Pentagon during the administration of president George H W Bush when, as a deputy assistant secretary for international security, he contributed to the controversial 1992 draft Defense Policy Guidance (DPG) that, among other things, called on Washington to pursue unquestioned military dominance in and around Eurasia.
 

Dahr Jamail, Negroponte and the escalation of death: As a result of the work done by Negroponte . . . daily life in Iraq . . . looks like what the death squads generated in Central America under their watchful eyes: "Hundreds of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday - blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their hands still bound."

Negroponte's appointment signals that Bush hopes to tap into his experiences from the medium-intensity war in Central America to do the same once again in Iraq. Coupled with the changes in the military and diplomatic team in Iraq, it is a clear signal that the US administration is ready, willing and able to head down the course of massive and indiscriminate escalation. It must be stopped.
 

Guantánamo's lost souls: The abuse of British residents Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna in US detention is an outrage of justice we must bring to an end.
 

Siddharth Varadarajan, Bringing to book the guilty men of Baghdad: The legal arguments used to convict Saddam Hussein apply even more forcefully to George W. Bush & Tony Blair
 

Chris Floyd, Mondo Apocalypto: Somalis Sacrificed for Bush's Speech: As the U.S. bombing of Somalia enters its third day (see earlier post here), Tom Raum of AP offers a telling insight as to why at least 27 Somali citizens have been killed: to give some extra oomph to Bush's "New Way Forward" snake oil pitch tonight. Bush and his allies will use the "attack on al-Qaeda targets in Somalia" as a way to morph the unprovoked war against Iraq -- which had no ties to al Qaeda or any terrorist group that threatened the United States -- into the "broader War on Terror." ...
 

Justin Raimondo, They Never Learn; Somalia is Iraq writ small: The absurdity and criminality of our policy in the Horn of Africa is underscored by the ascension of Hussein Mohamed Aideed, the son of the hated warlord – and America's nemesis – Mohamed Farah Aideed, the villain of the "Black Hawk Down" narrative. When daddy died, sonny boy inherited the old warlord's mantle, which was suddenly transmuted into the white robes of a heroic pro-American ally. The only difference between father and son being that Aideed the Younger emigrated to America, grew up in southern California, and joined the Marines before he returned to become Interior Minister in the "transitional government" now being installed into semi-permanence by the U.S. and Ethiopia. He's our warlord, a reality that recalls Roosevelt's infamous remark about Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza.
 

Ron Jacobs, Coalition of the Lunatics vs. Iran, Iraq and Everyone Else; Trying to Create a Next World War: According to the January 7, 2007 edition of London's Sunday Times, two Israeli Air Force squadrons are training for a nuclear attack on Iran. ...
 

Kurt Nimmo, Different Set of Rules for Neolibs, Israel Firsters: “A major loophole in the Democrats’ recently unveiled ethics package will allow non-profit arms of controversial lobbying organizations to fund travel excursions for members of Congress,” reports Raw Story.

And who benefits from this “ethics exemption”?

AIPAC, of course.

“All-expense-paid tours to Israel are among the most common overseas trips made by members of Congress and their aides,” writes the Jewish Daily Forward. “Watchdog groups, using data from congressional filings, have reported that Israel is the leading destination for privately sponsored congressional trips.”

I have referred to these “trips” as “walking tours” that produce stepfordized pro-Israelites, returning to America and Congress in prime shape to vote for whatever outrage the political establishment in Israel have in mind, from pushing for an attack against Iran to continued brutality against the Palestinians.

Incidentally, the other organization exempt from the ethics bill is the Aspen Institute, a pet project of the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Ford Foundation, a ruling elite cabal dedicated to “fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues,” that is to say pushing the Neolib World Order agenda outside of ethical boundaries that apply to the rest of us, mere commoners.
 

Video (1 hr. 46 min.), Orwell Rolls in His Grave: "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?..."

This chilling documentary film examines the relationship between the media, corporate America, and government. In a country where the "top 1% control 90% of the wealth", the film argues that the media system is nothing but a "subsidiary of corporate America."
 

PalestineFreeVoice, Saddam Hussein: The Moment of US Final Defeat In Iraq Fast Approaching !
 

Steve Watson, The Real Agenda Of The Global Elite In Somalia: "... Somalia’s resources have been eyed by Western powers since the days of the British Empire.”

(Above article includes the enlargeable Mapping America's War on Terrorism: An Aggressive New Strategy. Interesting to contemplate the delineated 'Boundary of the Non-Integrating Gap'.)
 

Bush adding 21,500 troops to Iraq force: The latest increase calls for sending 17,500 U.S. combat troops to Baghdad. The first of five brigades will arrive by next Monday. The next would arrive by Feb. 15 and the reminder would come in 30-day increments.

Bush also committed 4,000 more Marines to Anbar Province, a base of the Sunni insurgency and foreign al-Qaida fighters.


Iraq PM tells Shiite militias to give up: Iraq's prime minister has told Shiite militiamen to surrender their arms or face an all-out assault by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces ...
 

U.S. Set to Control Iraq's Oil for the Next 30 Years!
 

Paul Craig Roberts, Distracting Congress from the Real War Plan: Is the surge an orchestrated distraction from the real war plan? A good case can be made that it is. The US Congress and media are focused on President Bush's proposal for an increase of 20,000 US troops in Iraq, while Israel and its American neoconservative allies prepare an assault on Iran.

Commentators have expressed puzzlement over President Bush's appointment of a US Navy admiral as commander in charge of the ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The appointment makes sense only if the administration's attention has shifted from the insurgencies to an attack on Iran.

The Bush administration has recently doubled its aircraft carrier forces and air power in the Persian Gulf. According to credible news reports, the Israeli air force has been making practice runs in preparation for an attack on Iran.
 

Text of President Bush’s address to the nation on new strategy for Iraq war

(More troops have been deployed; together with Iraqi forces, they will kill as many as necessary to 'stabilize' the region, thereby furthering American/Israeli/corporate interests.)