Free Iraq

Criminal, barbaric, disgusting, the shredding of "civilization". If divine justice existed, every time George, Dick, Paul, Donald et al passed by a mirror it would shatter in their eyes. At bare minimum.
 

The picture that proves ‘torture flights’ are STILL landing in the UK: ... Records show the plane is owned by Blackwater USA, a CIA contractor described as ‘the most secretive and powerful mercenary army on the planet’.

The American Federal Aviation Authority lists the plane as being operated by two companies, Aviation World Wide Services and a sister company, Presidential Airways.

The European Parliament report describes these as shell companies operating as subsidiaries of Blackwater USA, ‘an important contractor for the CIA and the US military’ which bases the planes in Malta.
 

WHICH MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES HELD CANDLELIGHT VIGILS FOR 9/11?
 

Bush slip of the tongue
 

Seven CIA Veterans Challenge 9/11 Commission Report
 

Video (1 min. 40 sec.), Why we are where we are now. Bush's answer says it all really: Bush dodges the question on Blackwater USA
 

20 Retired U.S. generals criticize war effort: "The ethos is: Give your advice to those in a position to make changes, not the media,” Eaton said. “But this administration is immune to good advice.”
 

Cheney seeks pretext for Iran war as US reestablishes elite Air Force wing
 

Iraqi PM Fears for Nation's Sovereignty (Hmmmmmm . . .)
 

Brzezinski: U.S. in danger of 'stampeding' to war with Iran
 

Cheney mulled luring Iran into war with Israel: report
 

A moment of truth (Excellent cartoon here)
 

Betrayal by Blackwater: Under what law does Blackwater USA function in Iraq?

. . . "There are a range of cross-cutting jurisdictional, legal and regulation-related issues that potentially apply to the case at hand. The investigation we are pursuing in cooperation with our Iraqi government partners is intended to provide a clear set of facts. Once those facts are determined, the jurisdictional and legal issues can be accurately addressed."
 

The plight and flight of Iraqis
 

What if a child picks it up? Does that mean he's/she's targeted too? :>(
 

No, JJ.

The "Brave" American soldiers are honorable.

The American snipers will come out saying Howdy, and take the piece of chord or bait and give them a chewing gum instead. To win their hearts and minds, you see
 

Iran's Ahmadinejad: No attack on Israel


THE PRESIDENT OF IRAN SPEAKS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE on CBS: COMMENTARY


US government won't take 'yes' for an answer: In the eyes of Washington, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can't do right. Indeed, the more olive branches he flourishes the more he is demonised.


Ducks in a Row: Congress, Media Clamber on Board the War Train to Persia


* * * * * * * * *

Those at the levers of power shaping U.S. foreign 'policy' are totally evil, corrupt, without conscience. They seem not even to know enlightened self-interest. For if they did, surely they would be forced to acknowledge the grave peril to which they are subjecting their own flesh and blood. But perhaps they have come to believe their own lies. Or perhaps they count themselves amongst those supremely mad, exquisitely selfish folk who long for Armageddon. G-d alone knows. I don't. Not one single cell of my being can comprehend the callousness which allows them to bring such hideous, unwarranted suffering to millions of people all over the world.

What, now, awaits the Iranians?

 

The Age of Irresponsibility: How Bush has created a moral vacuum in Iraq in which Americans can kill for free.
 

Iraq: A Bush Family Jihad? Ever since the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, there have been two parallell litanies from the invaders. They cannot leave until 'Iraq can stand on its own feet' and it's army and police can maintain order.The other is the mantra of 'thirty years of neglect' of Iraq's infrastructure and Iraqis inability to repair it themselves.

Here is something worth repeating, yet again. Before the invasion Iraq was an efficient, functioning society, whose state institutions and ministries operated with near bribe free and accountable efficiency.The army and the police were loyal to the state and not to factions.The factionality and militias now absorbed in to both, came in with the invasion (and many seemingly, are not even Iraqis or had abandoned their Iraqi nationality and taken the now increasingly worthless Dollar.)

Until the crippling thirteen year embargo (implemented, under George Bush Snr., 6th August 1990) Iraq had undergone thirty years of extraordinary progress and emerged 'a near first world country', according to the U.N., whose US/UK driven embargo, created a quiet holocaust and denied essential parts and replacements for every vital service and industry. Even X-ray and dialysis machines lay idle, for want of imported parts; blood banks no longer functioned due to sporadic electricity denying laboratory tests and refrigeration.

In 1992, the U.N., cited a report by Beth Osborn Daponte which concluded: ' ... life expectency has been reduced from (an average of) sixty eight years (pre 1991) to forty seven years by late 1991'. A chilling, shameing and astonishing achievement in under two years in the name of ' We the people ...'
[ . . . ]

From the destruction of the water system in 1991, to the ongoing slaughters which came in with the invasion, to troops random killings of Iraqis in their tens and hundreds and now a choldera epidemic, with not a hand lifted by the occupying forces, with all their infinite resources, I am again reminded of a chance conversation in a cafe in Jordan, days before the invasion. What was I doing in Jordan? I had just come back from Iraq, I said. Without preamble he said: 'America will never get their hands on Iraq and Iraq's oil, unless they kill every last one of them'. It seems they are trying to do just that, by any means possible, in the Bush's family's personal Jihad. Thomas Nagy is a Member of the Association of Genocide Scholars, who concluded that the deliberate destruction of Iraq's water system in 1991 was genocide. It seems they have a lot more work ahead. Oh, and the invasion of Iraq was sold to the American public, by their Administration linking Saddam Hussein to 11th September 2001 and Osama bin Laden. It was not Saddam, but the Bush family who were in business with the Bin Ladens.What wickedness.
 

Neocons Insult Ahmadinejad at Columbia: ... “The speakers, most of them politicians and officials from Jewish organizations, proclaimed their support for Israel and criticized the Iranian leader for his remarks questioning the Holocaust.”

In other words, thousands of people are outraged by something Ahmadinejad never said, a lie fabricated by MEMRI, a Mossad front designated to provide propaganda to convince Americans they are obliged to squander their hard-earned money and precious lives for the sake of Israel’s territorial ambitions, although of course this is rarely mentioned. ...

If you sincerely believe you are free, attempt to question the Holocaust and see how far you get. For that matter, attempt to discuss the plight of the Palestinians, as Ahmadinejad did, and see how far you get. Simply insisting the Palestinians are human and are grossly and habitually victimized by the Israeli state is a dangerous pursuit, on occasion leading to not only ad hominem attacks but threats of violence, lost careers, as the American political scientist Norman Finkelstein recently discovered, and even prison time, as questioners in Europe and Canada have learned.

“Asked why he had asked to visit the World Trade Center site—a request denied by New York authorities—Ahmadinejad said he wanted to express sympathy for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks,” the Associated Press continues. “Then he appeared to question whether al-Qaida was responsible, saying more research was needed.”

Indeed, more research is needed, but we will not get it, as the neocons will not be challenged on their preposterous claim that a gaggle of cave dwelling Arabs were responsible and a hand-picked whitewash commission, leaving out enough contrary evidence to fill a large hole at the Fresh Kills landfill site on Staten Island, have put aside all question, at least all questions the corporate media and our Congress critters refuse to ask, preferring instead the absurd claim Arabs defied physical science and magically, as if through a voodoo trance, made Norad stand down on September 11, 2001.

Obviously, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad walked into a trap at Columbia University, as he should realize far too many Americans have surrendered to the brutal vision of the neocons and their Jabotinskyite mentors, preferring to insult and harangue foreign visitors and, provided with the appropriate contrived pretext, bomb their nations into Neolithic condition, as the neocons will do soon enough to Iran.

If Ahmadinejad had his wits about him, he would stay as far away from America as possible and prepare the inevitable—cruise missiles and bunker busters with his name attached, a prospect disgusting as children signing artillery shells last summer at Kiryat Shmona, Israel.
 

Senate to vote on Iraq division plan: The US Senate is expected to vote as early as Tuesday on a Bosnia-style plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife.
 

Namely Oil
 

American forces kill 18 armed insurgents in mop-up operations ... including six foreigners ... (They got all their IDs)
 

Bomber kills 26 including police chief in Baquba
 

Iraq ministry finishes draft law on contractors
 

Freedom as Theft; Honoring American Liberators: The Iraqi looting began almost as soon as American troops entering Baghdad in April 2003 -- and those occupying troops, without orders to lift a finger, did just about nothing (except, tellingly, guard the Oil Ministry) as Baghdad burned. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld signaled just what kind of an era of liberation was indeed dawning. At a press briefing, with the verbal equivalent of a wink and a nod, he responded to a question about the looting of the Iraqi capital by saying, "Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here." And he offered his infamous tag line for the ongoing disaster, "Stuff happens."
 

The Still-Unreported Story Of 'Top Gun' George Bush
 

Missteps In The Bunker - DAMAGE CONTROL? I challenge anyone who, after reading this documentation, can state that the missing nuclear weapons were accidentally mounted under the wings of a B-52.

Without question the order to mount these weapons UNDER the wings of a B-52 came down FROM THE VERY TOP of the military. And he lives in a white house.
 

Podhoretz: the Little Demon on Bush’s Shoulder: ... Podhoretz “has argued that ‘if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will… we’ll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we’ve experienced so far look like a lovefest.’ By enlisting Podhoretz’s advice, President Bush is demonstrating that there isn’t any idea too radical for him to consider.”

Podhoretz welcomes this “anti-Americanism” as well. It is part and parcel of the neocon philosophy to isolate the United States—even invite retaliatory terrorism—and thus inculcate the American public with more strident and irrational anti-Arab and Muslim sentiment that will be translated into sustained—the neocons tell us the GWOT will last a hundred years or more—violence against targeted nations and peoples. As the Brothers Grimm story of cave dwelling terrorists who attack because they “hate our freedom” demonstrates, it is relatively easy to brainwash the American public.*
-------------------------------
* As evidenced by the frightening display of mob brainlessness yesterday at Columbia 'University'.
 

Israel seeks exemption from atomic rules (Sweet of them to ask)
 

Government Moles in 'Terror' Bomb Plot Provided Bomb, Set up Training Camp: The Crown claims that at one point the alleged Islamic terrorists were plotting to cut off Prime Minister Stephen Harper's head – but changed their minds because they weren't sure where ... (... it was?)
 

Pioneers of terrorism: Facts about the founding fathers of Israel - Below are some rarely-mentioned facts about the relationship between Zionism and modern-day terrorism:

1. The first aircraft hijacking was carried out by Israel in 1954 against a Syrian civilian airliner.

2. Grenades in cafes first used by Zionists against Palestinians in Jerusalem on 17 March 1937.

3. Delayed-action, electrically timed mines in crowded marketplaces: first used by Zionists against Palestinians in Haifa on 6 July 1938.

4. Blowing up a ship with its civilian passengers still on board: first carried out by Zionists in Haifa on 25 November 1940. The Zionists did not hesitate to blow up their own people in protest at the British policy of restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine. The ship, Patria, was carrying 1,700 Jewish immigrants.

5. Assassination of government officials: first carried out by the Zionists against the British in Cairo, when on 6 November 1944 Lord Moyne was assassinated by the Stern Gang. Yitzhak Shamir, a member of the Irgun and later leader of the Stern Gang and Israeli prime minister, was behind the plan.

6. Use of hostages as a means of putting pressure on a government: first used by the Zionists against the British in Tel Aviv on 18 June 1946.

7. Blowing up of government offices with their civilian employees and visitors: first carried out by the Zionists against the British in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946. The toll was 91 Britons killed and 46 wounded in the King David Hotel. Menachim Begin, who masterminded and carried out the attack and later became Israeli prime minister, admitted that the massacre was coordinated with and carried out under the instruction of the Haganah Zionist gang.

8. Booby-trapped suitcases: first used by the Zionists against the British Embassy in Rome on 13 October 1946.

9. Booby-trapped cars in civilian areas: first used by the Zionists against the British in Sarafand (east of Jaffa) on 5 December 1946.

10. Beating of hostages: first used by the Zionists against the British in Tel Aviv, Netanya and Rishon on 29 December 1946.

11. Letter bombs sent to politicians: first used by the Zionists against Britain when 20 letter bombs were sent from Italy to London between 4 and 6 June 1947.

12. Murder of hostages as a reprisal for government actions: first used by the Zionists against the British in the Netanya area on 29 July 1947.

13. Postal parcel bombs: first used by the Zionists against the British in London on 3 September 1947.

14. The massacre of Qibya, northwest of Jerusalem, was carried out by Unit 101, under the command of Ariel Sharon on Wednesday 14 October 1953. The attack was the bloodiest and most brutal Zionist crimes since the infamous Deir Yassin massacre. Forty-two houses as well as a school and a mosque were dynamited over their inhabitants. Seventy-five women, men and children were killed.
 

Video (8 min.), Israel discussed by Scheuer and Garofalo Realtime 9/21/07
 

Dare To Compare - Israel: I do not compare Israel with Nazi Germany. Israel is a Zionist settlers’ colony founded on land theft and terror against the Palestinian people; Nazi Germany was not. However, I do – like most people – compare Israeli policies in Palestine with those of the Nazis. If you deny what happened in Palestine in 1948 (Nakba) when thousands of Palestinians were murdered, and an estimated 800,000 Palestinians were terrorised and ethnically cleansed from their homeland in a deliberate and systematic policy of mass expulsion by Jewish terrorist organisations, you deny “the holocaust” ever took place.

Despite the criminal nature of Israel’s policies, few people dare criticise Israel for fear of being labelled “anti-Semitists”. Israel uses the cliché of “anti-Semitism” and the holocaust to silence its critics. People who are falsely accused of “anti-Semitism” pay dearly, losing their jobs and livelihoods for daring to legitimately criticise Israel. Indeed, anyone who criticises Israel's terror or rationally argues that the pro-Israel Jewish Lobby in the U.S. has a significant influence over U.S. policy is automatically labelled “anti-Semitic”. The holocaust has been turned from a human tragedy into a political tool and a multi-business industry. In addition, Zionist Jews have succeeded in making the holocaust unique and exclusive, belittling countless other genocide[s]. Zionist Jews have mastered the art of ‘religion manipulation’ to justify violence and perpetuate a slow genocide in Palestine.

It should be acknowledged that there is a widespread anti-Semitism campaign directed not against Jews, but against Arabs and Muslims. Pro-Israel Christian Zionists, including the Christian Right and pro-Israel lobbies in the U.S. and Europe, have declared war not only on the Palestinians and Arabs in the Middle East, but also on all Arabs and Muslims around the world. With the bulk of Western media inherently pro-Israel and anti-Muslim, Israel is portrayed as a “victim” defending itself from the Palestinians who are often depicted as “militants” and “terrorists”. In reality, the opposite is true.
 

Transcript of Ahmadinejad's U.N. Speech
 

AHMADINEJAD TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT IN ISRAEL
 

Sept. 25, 2007 -- Bush "hooked on phonics" UN speech: USA Today is reporting that the White House is hopping mad because the UN posted a marked-up draft copy of President Bush's speech on its website this morning. Included in the draft were phonetic spellings of foreign names and locations, as well as phone numbers of Bush's speech writers. When asked if Bush had problems pronouncing some foreign names, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino replied, "I think that's a offensive question. I'm going to just decline to comment on it."

The names that were phonetically spelled out for Bush were:

Kyrgyzstan [KEYR-geez-stan]
Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a]
Harare [hah-RAR-ray]
Mugabe [moo-GAH-bee]
Sarkozy [sar-KO-zee]
Caracas [kah-RAH-kus]

Hypocritically, Bush, in his speech before the UN General Assembly, hailed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that his administration has consistently violated with its policies on rendition of prisoners, suspension of habeas corpus, torture, warrantless eavesdropping, widespread surveillance of political opponents, secret databases containing personal information, pre-emptive warfare, jailing of political protesters, and curtailment of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

This editor, speaking today on Iran's satellite TV news network, PRESS TV, cited Bush's lack of imagination and narrow view of issues in participating in internatonal gatherings such as the UN General Assembly meeting. For example, Bush missed opportunities to participate in a UN Conference on global climate change and failed to take the opportunity to meet with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in order to ease tensions in the Middle East.

The aims of Bush and his neocon advisers are to decimate the United Nations system just as the fascists destroyed the League of Nations. This editor cited the neocon plan to replace the UN with an "alliance of democracies" under America's complete control.
 

Wayne Madsen Report (Likewise, above)
Sept. 25, 2007 -- State Dept. puts national security caveat on communications with House Oversight Committee - The following press announcement was received today from Rep. Henry Waxman's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

"Today Chairman Waxman wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about three extraordinary communications the Committee has received from the State Department regarding corruption within the Iraqi government, the operations of Blackwater USA, and the status of political reconciliation in Iraq.

The State Department has instructed its officials that they cannot communicate with the Committee about corruption in the Maliki government unless the Committee agrees to treat all information, including 'broad statements/assessments,' as national security secrets. Other points of growing contention between the Committee and the State Department include Blackwater’s assertion that the State Department has instructed the company to withhold information from the Committee and the refusal of Secretary Rice to testify."
 

"Given this historical event [the Holocaust], if it is a reality, we need to still question whether the Palestinian people should be paying for it or not. After all, it happened in Europe. The Palestinian people had no role to play in it. So why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price of an event they had nothing to do with?

"The Palestinian people didn't commit any crime. They had no role to play in World War II. They were living with the Jewish communities and the Christian communities in peace at the time. They didn't have any problems.

"And today, too, Jews, Christians, and Muslims live in brotherhood all over the world in many parts of the world. They don't have any serious problems.

"But why is it that the Palestinians should pay a price, innocent Palestinians, for 5 million people to remain displaced or refugees abroad for 60 years. Is this not a crime? Is asking about these crimes a crime by itself?"
 

Cui Bono? -- and Bush's Monstrous, Deadly Dare
 

Iran Iran Iran
 

Booga! Booga! Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York has shown just how fucking batshit insane U.S. political culture currently is. The hysteria preceding his arrival was amplified to a fever pitch by the time Ahmadinejad appeared at Columbia University. Lee Bollinger, Columbia's president, foamed at the mouth when engaging Ahmadinejad, anxious to prove to all watching that he just hates -- no, really hates -- everything that Iran's president stands for:

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator. If it were up to me, I'd chain your arms to the back of my car and drag you through the worst streets of Morningside Heights, then I'd beat you senseless with an aluminum bat, then I'd strip off your pants and fuck you in the ass in the middle of the street, come on your face, beat you some more with the aluminum bat, cram a dreidel down your throat, then dump your wretched body in the Hudson River.

"But, unlike you, I'm a civilized man who lives in a civilized country. So bite me."

Or words to that effect.
 

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Being “Guarded” by Israel: What all of this means is that the government of Israel will actually have control over the security of America’s nuclear weapons.
 

Blackwater Inquiry Blocked by State Dept., Official Says: “Blackwater has informed the committee that a State Department official directed Blackwater not to provide documents relevant to the committee’s investigation into the company’s activities in Iraq without the prior written approval of the State Department,” Mr. Waxman’s letter stated. The letter was made available to the news media on Tuesday.
 

U.S. sniper 'bait and kill' tactics may be a war crime ('May' be a war crime: in a foreign adventure that itself has been a war crime, from inception through each and every moment of execution)
 

Why single out Iran? What about Israel?
 

Video (6 min.), LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR
 

U.S. Air Force Sets Up Cyber Command for Cyber War
 

A Warning to Israel: The continued acceptance of Israel within the community of nations is no longer possible, as this country is a grave threat not only to Palestinians, but to all countries and all nations on earth due to its criminal energy.

I appeal to the international community to take steps to expel Israel from all international organizations, to break off diplomatic, cultural, scientific, military and commercial relations with Israel. No sound reason exists for any country, for any people on earth, to maintain relations with a nation whose only defining characteristic is not Judaism, but crime in all its forms.

A Warning to the Palestinian Authority
Do NOT attend the summit organized by President Bush in the USA.
 

Gaza - Jesus Weeps Again
 

Daniel Ellsberg: 'A Coup Has Occurred'
 

Iranian University Chancellors Ask Bollinger 10 Questions (How dare they ask such relevant questions. Terrible precedent.)
 

My Wife Faces Homeland Security
 

70 killed in surge of violence in Iraq
 

Bush threatened nations that did not back Iraq war: report (Old news, but worth repeating)
 

US Military Official: Blackwater "May Be Worse Than Abu Ghraib": "This is a debacle so severe and humiliating, only the Bush administration could pull it off."
 

Bush Bombs at the United Nations: Except for tepid applause when Bush was introduced and when he left the podium, no one clapped. Not even our allies.
 

Texas governor announces establishment of Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce
 

Iran’s Impending Destruction: Is Ahmadinejad Clueless? Either way — if Ahmadinejad is sincerely clueless or an agent working for British-U.S.-Israeli intelligence—it is truly astounding the president of Iran glossed over what should be considered, with a heaping dose of trepidation, the brutal and criminal shock and awe reduction of his country to a “failed” Neolithic condition, a fate front and center and gobbling up more newspaper column inches and bytes on the web than ever before.
 

Wayne Madsen Report -
Sept. 26, 2007 -- SPECIAL REPORT -- Plane that crashed in Yucatan with 3.2 tons of cocaine was CIA rendition aircraft: WMR has learned from knowledgeable European sources that a Gulfstream II that crash landed 1.3 miles from Tikokob in Yucatan, Mexico after being chased by Mexican military helicopters for flying illegally into Mexican airspace was one of the planes chartered to the CIA for the renditioning of kidnapped prisoners. The crash landing took place on September 24. The tail number of the Gulfstream is N987SA.

Mexican soldiers found no bodies at the crash site but did discover 132 bags containing 3.3 metric tons of cocaine. The origination of the Gulfstream's flight is unknown but it was destined for Cancun when it crash landed. Police later said they had arrested one passenger who was on board the plane.

The operator of the Gulfstream is Donna Blue Aircraft, Inc. of Coconut Creek, Florida. Its address, according to the Florida Division of Corporations, is 4811 Lyons Technology, Coconut Creek, Florida 33073.

On June 10, 2006, WMR reported that the N987SA Grumman G-1159, Gulfstream II, was operated by S/A Holdings LLC and had been involved in the renditioning of prisoners to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [ . . . ]
 

Surge in Basra killings may force British back to city
 

WHO reports 2,100 cholera cases in Iraq
 

Skin disease rampant in Iraqi prisons: The infectious skin disease scabies has afflicted 15,000 Iraqis languishing in prisons administered by the Interior Ministry, a Health Ministry source said.
 

IRAQ: Polluted Shat al-Arab threatens life, could spread diseases
 

Gunmen kill Iraqi journalist in Baghdad: The 40-year-old victim was the third journalist killed in September in Iraq after two Iraqi journalists were gunned down in the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad.

Some 236 Iraqi newsmen have been killed in Iraq, including 26 in Mosul alone, since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003*, according to the count by Baghdad-based Iraqi Journalists' Union.
-----------------------------
* Which translates to one dead Iraqi newsperson each and every week since the invasion. Who's next?
 

How to negotiate with the occupier? Baath Party thinker Salah Al-Mukhtar, criticizes the Iraqi resistance groups who are arguing about who should rule Iraq after the Americans withdrawal.

Extracted from his new article called negotiating with America : How to use it as a mine?”, he gives instructions for the Iraqi resistance factions about how to negotiate with the occupiers.
 

Scoop for Spanish Daily: Transcript of Private 2003 Bush Talk Promising Iraq Invasion - AZNAR [to Bush]: The only thing which worries me about you is your optimism.
 

The Iraq oil grab that went awry: Here is a prosecutor's brief for the position that "the Iraq war is largely about oil".

The primary evidence indicating that the administration of US President George W Bush coveted Iraqi oil from the start comes from two diverse but impeccably reliable sources: Paul O'Neill, the treasury secretary (2001-03) under President Bush; and Falah al-Jibury, a well-connected Iraqi-American oil consultant, who had acted as president Ronald Reagan's "back channel" to Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran War of 1980-88. The secondary evidence is from material that can be found in such publications as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

According to high-flying oil insider Falah al-Jibury, the US administration began making plans for Iraq's oil industry "within weeks" of Bush taking office in January 2001. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp's Newsnight program, which aired on March 17, 2005, he referred to his participation in secret meetings in California, Washington and the Middle East, where, among other things, he interviewed possible successors to Saddam.

By January 2003, a plan for Iraqi oil crafted by the State Department and oil majors emerged under the guidance of Amy Myers Jaffe of the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston. It recommended maintaining the state-owned Iraq National Oil Co, whose origins dated to 1961 - but open it up to foreign investment after an initial period in which US-approved Iraqi managers would supervise the rehabilitation of the war-damaged oil infrastructure. The existence of this group would come to light in a report by the Wall Street Journal on March 3, 2003.

Unknown to the architects of this scheme, according to the same BBC Newsnight report, the Pentagon's planners, apparently influenced by powerful neo-conservatives in and out of the administration, had devised their own super-secret plan. It involved the sale of all Iraqi oilfields to private companies with a view to increasing output well above the quota set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for Iraq to weaken, and then destroy, OPEC.
 

Kyl-Lieberman Amendment Passes: Senator Webb stood up once again to oppose the bill, noting that if the administration proceeds as recommended in the resolution, it would be the first time that the US has designated an entire military as a terrorist organization and this could be taken as a defacto authorization for use of force. Mr. Webb again noted that there has not been one hearing on this matter and that the amendment should be withdrawn and considered in the appropriate committees.
 

Israel kills 8 in Gaza, warns of big sweep
 

Zionist Thaw, etc.
TO ANY DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hereby dare nny of you to engage in a real and formal debate on the occupation of Palestine with Professor Norman Finkelstein. Obviously, I am not talking about the crap that passes for televised debate now (serial phrase-mongering hosted by the softball-pitching media).

And now I'll tell you why none of them will accept this challenge.

When the facts are presented and not shouted down, and when "information" is not solicited with sly premises that already contain smuggled conclusions, Finkelstein is right, and he is so clearly and overwhelmingly right that the Democratic Party (AIPAC) line will not survive the critical rigor of a formal debate.
 

Jon Stewart tells Bolivian president America's elections are 'rigged': Bolivian president Evo Morales and his translator joined Jon Stewart to discuss the leader's rise from poor farmer to Bolivia's "first indigenous president."

(Included above, an 8 minute video. Highly recommended if you're feeling like getting reacquainted with the best of humanity. At a time of great disillusionment, not a thing to be undervalued.)
 

Rice told Blackwater to cover up
 

Senate Vote to Partition Iraq
 

America’s Police Brutality Pandemic
 

Bush Makes Mockery of UN Declaration of Human Rights in NY Speech
 

A Culture of Violence: What do you call a country that glorifies wars and violence in the name of peace. (The United States of America)
 

Iraq MPs oppose US division plan: Two Iraqi parliamentary blocs have enunciated opposition to a US plan aiming to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, notably Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. The US Senate was expected to vote as early as Tuesday* on a Bosnia-style plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife.
-----------------------------
* See above, 4:19 PM
 

Qatar: Iraq conflict too big for US
 

Webb: Lieberman And Kyl’s Hawkish Iran Amendment Is ‘Cheney’s Fondest Pipe Dream’
 

March 26 / 7, 2005 -
Columbia "Unbecoming": ... It remains extremely difficult to justify dispossession and injustice in the inter-connected world we live in nowadays. What is especially troubling for pro-Israeli supporters is that not only Arab or Middle Eastern students, few at Columbia and specially absent from the Law School, but also European students and increasingly American students have started to complain against Israeli violations on campus. Pro-Israeli students have been caught off-guard or have been left without arguments. And they have resorted to powerful outside groups and lobbies to come to the rescue. Calling the current atmosphere at Columbia as a "bias" against Israel and favoring the Palestinians is just a self-delusional ploy, aimed at shifting responsibility to the others, justifying the unjustifiable.
 

January 7, 2007 -
Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran
 

اتهام عناصر في الجيش الأمريكي بـاقتناص عراقيين

http://www.sotaliraq.com/
iraq-news.php?id=65463
 

وكانت وزارة الدفاع العراقية قالت، في بيان أصدرته بوقت سابق من اليوم، إن المشتبه بهم الذين تم إلقاء القبض عليهم في الكلية العسكرية بالرستمية " انتحلوا صفة رجال الأمن للقيام بعمليات قتل واختطاف وتجهيز العبوات الناسفة، وكذلك الهجوم باستعمال العبوات الناسفة المحرقة... وقاموا بتجهيز العناصر الإرهابية بالمعدات والأسلحة."

http://www.sotaliraq.com/
iraq-news.php?id=65591
 

Blackwater Tops All Firms in Iraq in Shooting Rate [And, as we know] . . . American officials specifically exempted all United States personnel from Iraqi law under an order signed in 2004 by L.Paul Bremer III ... .
 

Iraq should refuse to license mercenaries: According to Ron Liddle, writing in the Times, they “comprise macho retired US grunts, former Pinochet guardsmen, pensioned-off members of the Israeli Defense Forces” and “white South African” former soldiers." Which country would allow such a disreputable army to operate within its borders with impunity? It’s not surprising an Iraqi government official has said its presence threatens the country’s sovereignty.
 

US soldiers charged with murder over baiting of Iraqis: Defence lawyers and the soldiers' families say the men were simply following orders.
 

Testimony in Court-Martial Describes a Sniper Squad Pressed to Raise Body Count: An Army sniper is taught to kill people “calmly and deliberately,” even when they pose no immediate danger to him. “A sniper,” Army Field Manual 23-10 goes on to state, “must not be susceptible to emotions such as anxiety or remorse.”
 

US Army sniper not guilty of murder: A military panel Friday acquitted U.S. Army Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval on charges he killed two unarmed Iraqis, but it convicted him of planting evidence on one of the men in attempt to cover up the shooting.

Lawyers for Sandoval, who will be sentenced Saturday, said he should face no more than six months in prison for misplacement of public property ... .
 

Krugman: 'Useless and dangerous' mercenaries run amok in Iraq: "Mercenaries, whom Machiavelli described as 'useless and dangerous' more than four centuries ago," have a larger role in occupying Iraq than during any other US military campaign, the New York Times columnist writes Friday.

Mercenaries "are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies," Machiavelli writes in his treatise, The Prince. "They have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy."
 

Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis reject US partition idea (I do hope that the MSM tells us - eventually - that Iraqis aren't so hot on Sen. Biden's 2008 election headline grabbing idea.)
 

5 Witnesses Insist Iraqis Didn't Fire On Guards
 

Columbia's Long History Of Dictator-Loving