Friday, February 28, 2003
From NBC’s MEET THE PRESS - Feb. 23, 2003
Tim Russert: Our issues this Sunday: What are the risks, the costs, the consequences of a war with Iraq? Should we use military force to remove Saddam Hussein? Yes, says Richard Perle, the chairman of the Pentagon Defense Policy Board. No, says Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Perle and Kucinich square off.
[…]
Tim Russert: Do you believe the president of the United States would risk the lives of American men and women for oil?
Dennis Kucinich: I think that to answer that question would be to put a focus on a person, and I think the policy is what we have to talk about, that this policy to go against Iraq was promulgated even before 9/11, and the day after 9/11, the secretary of Defense in a meeting of the National Security Council said we could use this moment to go after Iraq, even though there was no connection. I think that when a president commits the young men and women of this country to battle, that it should only be when there is an imminent threat to this country, and that—I believe most sincerely that one of the motivating factors involved in this effort to strike against Iraq is the desire on the part of some to be able to control the oil interests in Iraq. I believe that.
Tim Russert: Mr. Perle, there’s been discussion about the role of Israel and the formulation of American foreign policy regarding Iraq. Let me show you an article from The Washington Times, written by Arnold DeBorograf: “The strategic objective is the antithesis of Middle Eastern stability. The destabilization of ‘despotic regimes’ comes next. In the Arab bowling alley, one ball aimed at Saddam is designed to achieve a 10-strike that would discombobulate authoritarian and/or despotic regimes in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Emirates and sheikhdoms. The ultimate phase would see Israel surrounded by democratic regimes that would provide 5 million Israelis—soon to be surrounded by 300 million Arabs—with peace and security for at least a generation. The roots of the overall strategy can be traced to a paper published in 1996 by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, an Israeli think tank. The document was titled ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Security the Realm.’ Israel, according to the 1996 paper, would ‘shape its strategic environment,’ beginning with the removal of Saddam Hussein. Prominent American opinion-makers who are now senior members of the Bush administration participated in the discussions and the drafting that led to this 1996 blueprint.” Can you assure American viewers across our country that we’re in this situation against Saddam Hussein and his removal for American security interests? And what would be the link in terms of Israel?
Richard Perle: Well, first of all, the answer is absolutely yes. Those of us who believe that we should take this action if Saddam doesn’t disarm—and I doubt that he’s going to—believe it’s in the best interests of the United States. I don’t see what would be wrong with surrounding Israel with democracies; indeed, if the whole world were democratic, we’d live in a much safer international security system because democracies do not wage aggressive wars. But please allow me to say: I find the accusation that this administration has embarked upon this policy for oil to be an outrageous, scurrilous charge for which, when you asked for the evidence, you will note there was none. There was simply the suggestion that, because there is oil in the ground and some administration officials have had connections with the oil industry in the past, therefore, it is the policy of the United States to take control of Iraqi oil. It is a lie, Congressman. It is an out and out lie. And I’m sorry to see you give credence to it.
[…]
Although Tim Russert's linkage of American foreign policy regarding Iraq to the Zionist policy recommendations of A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm is inspiring, his failure to mention the fact that Richard Perle was the author is disingenuous. The fact that the chairman of the Pentagon Defense Policy Board was the primary architect of a preemptive strategy to re-mold the Middle East along Israeli lines is interesting...if not important. U.S and Israeli national interests are not one in the same and disregarding Perle’s ‘conflict of interest’ undermines the national security of the United States.
Tim Russert: Our issues this Sunday: What are the risks, the costs, the consequences of a war with Iraq? Should we use military force to remove Saddam Hussein? Yes, says Richard Perle, the chairman of the Pentagon Defense Policy Board. No, says Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Perle and Kucinich square off.
[…]
Tim Russert: Do you believe the president of the United States would risk the lives of American men and women for oil?
Dennis Kucinich: I think that to answer that question would be to put a focus on a person, and I think the policy is what we have to talk about, that this policy to go against Iraq was promulgated even before 9/11, and the day after 9/11, the secretary of Defense in a meeting of the National Security Council said we could use this moment to go after Iraq, even though there was no connection. I think that when a president commits the young men and women of this country to battle, that it should only be when there is an imminent threat to this country, and that—I believe most sincerely that one of the motivating factors involved in this effort to strike against Iraq is the desire on the part of some to be able to control the oil interests in Iraq. I believe that.
Tim Russert: Mr. Perle, there’s been discussion about the role of Israel and the formulation of American foreign policy regarding Iraq. Let me show you an article from The Washington Times, written by Arnold DeBorograf: “The strategic objective is the antithesis of Middle Eastern stability. The destabilization of ‘despotic regimes’ comes next. In the Arab bowling alley, one ball aimed at Saddam is designed to achieve a 10-strike that would discombobulate authoritarian and/or despotic regimes in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Emirates and sheikhdoms. The ultimate phase would see Israel surrounded by democratic regimes that would provide 5 million Israelis—soon to be surrounded by 300 million Arabs—with peace and security for at least a generation. The roots of the overall strategy can be traced to a paper published in 1996 by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, an Israeli think tank. The document was titled ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Security the Realm.’ Israel, according to the 1996 paper, would ‘shape its strategic environment,’ beginning with the removal of Saddam Hussein. Prominent American opinion-makers who are now senior members of the Bush administration participated in the discussions and the drafting that led to this 1996 blueprint.” Can you assure American viewers across our country that we’re in this situation against Saddam Hussein and his removal for American security interests? And what would be the link in terms of Israel?
Richard Perle: Well, first of all, the answer is absolutely yes. Those of us who believe that we should take this action if Saddam doesn’t disarm—and I doubt that he’s going to—believe it’s in the best interests of the United States. I don’t see what would be wrong with surrounding Israel with democracies; indeed, if the whole world were democratic, we’d live in a much safer international security system because democracies do not wage aggressive wars. But please allow me to say: I find the accusation that this administration has embarked upon this policy for oil to be an outrageous, scurrilous charge for which, when you asked for the evidence, you will note there was none. There was simply the suggestion that, because there is oil in the ground and some administration officials have had connections with the oil industry in the past, therefore, it is the policy of the United States to take control of Iraqi oil. It is a lie, Congressman. It is an out and out lie. And I’m sorry to see you give credence to it.
[…]
Although Tim Russert's linkage of American foreign policy regarding Iraq to the Zionist policy recommendations of A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm is inspiring, his failure to mention the fact that Richard Perle was the author is disingenuous. The fact that the chairman of the Pentagon Defense Policy Board was the primary architect of a preemptive strategy to re-mold the Middle East along Israeli lines is interesting...if not important. U.S and Israeli national interests are not one in the same and disregarding Perle’s ‘conflict of interest’ undermines the national security of the United States.
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, February 28, 2003
Thursday, February 27, 2003
From the Ari Fleischer files,
'reminding all Americans that they need to watch what they say and watch what they do.'
White House Press Briefing - Feb. 25, 2003
Question: What has [Saddam] done in the last 12 years? And why do you keep subliminally linking up 9/11 with the Iraqi thing? Do you have an actual link? Can you really prove it?
Ari Fleischer: Well, the point the President makes about 9/11 is that prior to 9/11 it was much easier for the American people to sit back and think that terrorism was something that affected maybe our embassies abroad or people in other countries in faraway lands. After 9/11 it became very clear that there are people who have a clear desire, and they will do it again if they can, to attack the United States.
Question: Iraqis?
Ari Fleischer: They can be any number of people. And what we do worry about is them getting their weapons from the Iraqis, and then coming to the United States to commit more crimes.
Question: But could they get them from the Chinese, the Russians, the United States, Russia?
Ari Fleischer: They can get them from any number of places. I think it's far likely --
Question: So why the focus?
Ari Fleischer: Because I think, in the President's judgment, based on intelligence, it's far less likely that they will get them from, as you just said, Helen, the United States than it is Iraq.
[...]
Question: How do you get from the latest U.N. resolution, and, in effect, all the previous U.N. resolutions to a top-to-bottom regime change? That issue is not addressed in any of these resolutions.
Ari Fleischer: Well, the President has always, from September 12th forward, approached this on a two-pronged policy. One is to rally the international community in the cause of disarmament. And the President has called on, and the United Nations has called on Saddam Hussein to disarm. We continue to hope that he will do so peacefully. It remains also the policy of the United States for regime change. Clearly, if Saddam Hussein will not disarm, and if force is used, you would not think for even a second that if we use force we'll use force for the purpose of leaving Saddam Hussein in charge.
Question: Did we just unilaterally glom that on to the U.N. resolution, and say, okay, the U.N. approves this --
Ari Fleischer: Well, again, think it through logically. If force is used, can you conceive of a scenario where we would use force and say to Saddam Hussein, now that we've gone to war, please stay in power?
(A heavily medicated Ari Fleischer momentarily loses contact with his hard drive, denying him access to 'Operation Desert Storm' and the Gulf War files.)
[...]
Question: Ari, just to follow up on Mexico. Is it true that the administration is willing to give Mexico some sort of immigration agreements like amnesty or guest worker program, to assure the Mexican vote, as the French press is pointing out today and is quoting, actually, two different diplomats from the State Department?
Ari Fleischer: No, it's exactly as I indicated, that we have, on this issue, a matter of diplomacy and a matter of the merits. We ask each nation on the Security Council to weigh the merits and make a decision about war and peace. And if anybody thinks that there are nations like Mexico, whose vote could be bought on the basis of a trade issue or something else like that, I think you're giving -- doing grave injustice to the independence and the judgment of the leaders of other nations.
Question: -- the French press is quoting actually two different diplomats from the United States State Department that -- they're highlighting that the United States is giving some sort of agreements or benefits to Colombia -- and other non-members of the Security Council --
Ari Fleischer: I haven't seen the story. And you already have the answer, about what this will be decided on. But think about the implications of what you're saying. You're saying that the leaders of other nations are buyable. And that is not an acceptable proposition.
(Laughter...Ari Fleischer leaves)
'reminding all Americans that they need to watch what they say and watch what they do.'
White House Press Briefing - Feb. 25, 2003
Question: What has [Saddam] done in the last 12 years? And why do you keep subliminally linking up 9/11 with the Iraqi thing? Do you have an actual link? Can you really prove it?
Ari Fleischer: Well, the point the President makes about 9/11 is that prior to 9/11 it was much easier for the American people to sit back and think that terrorism was something that affected maybe our embassies abroad or people in other countries in faraway lands. After 9/11 it became very clear that there are people who have a clear desire, and they will do it again if they can, to attack the United States.
Question: Iraqis?
Ari Fleischer: They can be any number of people. And what we do worry about is them getting their weapons from the Iraqis, and then coming to the United States to commit more crimes.
Question: But could they get them from the Chinese, the Russians, the United States, Russia?
Ari Fleischer: They can get them from any number of places. I think it's far likely --
Question: So why the focus?
Ari Fleischer: Because I think, in the President's judgment, based on intelligence, it's far less likely that they will get them from, as you just said, Helen, the United States than it is Iraq.
[...]
Question: How do you get from the latest U.N. resolution, and, in effect, all the previous U.N. resolutions to a top-to-bottom regime change? That issue is not addressed in any of these resolutions.
Ari Fleischer: Well, the President has always, from September 12th forward, approached this on a two-pronged policy. One is to rally the international community in the cause of disarmament. And the President has called on, and the United Nations has called on Saddam Hussein to disarm. We continue to hope that he will do so peacefully. It remains also the policy of the United States for regime change. Clearly, if Saddam Hussein will not disarm, and if force is used, you would not think for even a second that if we use force we'll use force for the purpose of leaving Saddam Hussein in charge.
Question: Did we just unilaterally glom that on to the U.N. resolution, and say, okay, the U.N. approves this --
Ari Fleischer: Well, again, think it through logically. If force is used, can you conceive of a scenario where we would use force and say to Saddam Hussein, now that we've gone to war, please stay in power?
(A heavily medicated Ari Fleischer momentarily loses contact with his hard drive, denying him access to 'Operation Desert Storm' and the Gulf War files.)
[...]
Question: Ari, just to follow up on Mexico. Is it true that the administration is willing to give Mexico some sort of immigration agreements like amnesty or guest worker program, to assure the Mexican vote, as the French press is pointing out today and is quoting, actually, two different diplomats from the State Department?
Ari Fleischer: No, it's exactly as I indicated, that we have, on this issue, a matter of diplomacy and a matter of the merits. We ask each nation on the Security Council to weigh the merits and make a decision about war and peace. And if anybody thinks that there are nations like Mexico, whose vote could be bought on the basis of a trade issue or something else like that, I think you're giving -- doing grave injustice to the independence and the judgment of the leaders of other nations.
Question: -- the French press is quoting actually two different diplomats from the United States State Department that -- they're highlighting that the United States is giving some sort of agreements or benefits to Colombia -- and other non-members of the Security Council --
Ari Fleischer: I haven't seen the story. And you already have the answer, about what this will be decided on. But think about the implications of what you're saying. You're saying that the leaders of other nations are buyable. And that is not an acceptable proposition.
(Laughter...Ari Fleischer leaves)
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, February 27, 2003
When will we buy oil in euros?
When it comes to the global oil trade, the dollar reigns supreme.
But it has a challenger, writes Faisal Islam.
Whether the price of oil is surging to new highs, as it is today, or slumping, as is predicted after a war in Iraq, there is one enduring constant: the dollar sign.
Oil trading, whether from Norway to the Netherlands, Britain to Bermuda, or Bahrain to Bangladesh, operates through the US greenback.
The oil-dollar nexus is one of the foundations of the world economy that inevitably filters through to geopolitics. Recycling so-called petrodollars, the proceeds of these high oil prices, has helped the United States run its colossal trade deficits. But the past year has seen the quiet emergence of the 'petroeuro'.
Effectively, the normal standards of economics have not applied to the US, because of the international role of the dollar. Some $3 trillion (£1,880 billion) are in circulation around the world helping the US to run virtually permanent trade deficits. Two-thirds of world trade is dollar-denominated. Two-thirds of central banks' official foreign exchange reserves are also dollar-denominated.
Dollarisation of the oil markets is one of the key drivers for this, alongside, in recent years, the performance of the US economy. The majority of countries that require oil imports require dollars to pay for their fuel. Oil exporters similarly hold, as their currency reserve, billions in the currency in which they are paid. Investing these petrodollars straight back into the US economy is possible at zero currency risk.
So the US can carry on printing money - effectively IOUs - to fund tax cuts, increased military spending, and consumer spending on imports without fear of inflation or that these loans will be called in. As keeper of the global currency there is always the last-ditch resort to devaluation, which forces other countries' exporters to pay for US economic distress. It's probably the nearest thing to a 'free lunch' in global economics.
And for a long time, everything has worked smoothly. The oil industry was born in Texas, and so developed in dollars. The complex web of supply chains, distribution, and futures markets, all run off the central rock that is the US dollar.
But now there is the euro. At the time of its launch, various overblown claims were made to its role as 'co-hegemon', sharing the spoils of reserve currency status. The rapid fall in the euro after its launch put paid to such suggestions. But the single currency has since rescued itself, reigniting talk of euro-ised oil. In fact, it's happening already.
Iraqi oil, two-thirds of which is being snapped up by US companies, can only be paid for in euros.
'It was a political move on the part of the Iraqi government to show that the euro could be a substitute for the dollar in denominating the oil price,' says Fadhil Chalabi of the Centre for Global Energy Studies.
That move was made in the same week that the euro reached its historic low of $0.82 in October 2000. The subsequent 30 per cent rise in the euro has greatly helped the United Nations' oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
Soon afterwards, Jordan launched its own bilateral trade scheme with Iraq, carried out entirely in euros.
Last year, in a little noticed Opec speech to a Spanish Finance Ministry conference, Javad Yarjani, a senior Iranian oil diplomat, said: 'It is quite possible that as bilateral trade increases between the Middle East and the European Union, it could be feasible to price oil in euros. This would foster further ties between these trading blocs by increasing commercial exchange, and by helping attract much-needed European investment in the Middle East.'
Yarjani said the 'critical question is the overall value and stability of the euro, and whether other countries within the union adopt the single currency'.
The first point is beginning to be answered. The second refers to Britain and Norway. If either joins the single currency, the key Brent benchmark could be redenominated in euros, offering an impetus to movers within Opec.
The rising value of the euro makes redenomination in the immediate financial interest of European oil majors such as TotalFinaElf and Shell. Over the past year both companies have seen profits gobbled up by the dollar slump, as their profits are calculated in euros. Opec member countries too would have a strong interest in moving to euros. The eurozone is the biggest importer of oil in the world and 45 per cent of Middle East imports are from Europe. Even US oil majors would benefit from selling their oil in a currency that is increasing in value, say US energy consultants.
The Iranian and Russian parliaments have recently discussed adopting the euro for oil sales.
Last year Russia entered into negotiations with Germany over the establishment of an exchange to sell oil futures denominated in euros. Russia, which on some measures is the world's Number 1 oil producer at the moment, is awash with petrodollars, but trades mainly with Europe. Russia's foreign exchange holdings recently reached an all-time high of $50bn.
At the moment, European consumers are benefiting from the link between oil and the dollar. The euro's surge has, in effect, paid for much of the increase in the price of oil. This, however, is just the flipside of the very high prices in France and Germany in Autumn 2000, which were a combination of a very weak euro and high oil price. US consumers have no such additional worries, as there is no currency risk.
So there is a huge list of potential winners from a move to price oil in euros, but movement remains slow.
'At various points in time since the early 1970s, oil producers have discussed this, especially in periods when the dollar has been weak. Opinions have tended to be wide-ranging, depending on the strategic and trade alliances certain members have with particular trade blocs,' said Yarjani.
That was an elliptical reference to the overwhelming influence of Saudi Arabia, whose government is the staunchest ally of the US within Opec.
'The Saudis are holding the line on oil prices in Opec and should they, for example, go along with the rest of the Opec people in demanding that oil be priced in euros, that would deal a very heavy blow to the American economy,' Youssef Ibrahim, of the influential US Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN.
Last year the former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia told a committee of the US Congress: 'One of the major things the Saudis have historically done, in part out of friendship with the United States, is to insist that oil continues to be priced in dollars. Therefore, the US Treasury can print money and buy oil, which is an advantage no other country has. With the emergence of other currencies and with strains in the relationship, I wonder whether there will not again be, as there have been in the past, people in Saudi Arabia who raise the question of why they should be so kind to the United States.'
Historically, empires have been exporters of capital, rather than importers like the US. The dollar has been vital to this revolution. At the euro's launch Martin Feldstein, a Harvard economist, pointed to the possibility that the single currency could weaken the status of the dollar to the extent that it 'could complicate international military relationships'. Feldstein is an outside contender to replace Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve.
Oil pricing is just the background to a wider issue. The Bank of China and the Russian Central Bank are both rumoured to be waiting for the best moment to increase the holdings of euros. Only 5 per cent of Chinese reserves are held in euros, but more than 20 per cent of its trade is with Europe. Middle Eastern states hold $700bn of US assets, but comparatively little in Europe.
So is the euro the missing link between the 'axis of evil' and the 'axis of weasel'? It is greatly appreciated in the former and was invented in the latter. Research by State Street shows that the euro has gained 'safe haven' status since last August as the dollar has lost it. It's likely this shift is a temporary phenomenon. Petroeuros may just change that.
When it comes to the global oil trade, the dollar reigns supreme.
But it has a challenger, writes Faisal Islam.
Whether the price of oil is surging to new highs, as it is today, or slumping, as is predicted after a war in Iraq, there is one enduring constant: the dollar sign.
Oil trading, whether from Norway to the Netherlands, Britain to Bermuda, or Bahrain to Bangladesh, operates through the US greenback.
The oil-dollar nexus is one of the foundations of the world economy that inevitably filters through to geopolitics. Recycling so-called petrodollars, the proceeds of these high oil prices, has helped the United States run its colossal trade deficits. But the past year has seen the quiet emergence of the 'petroeuro'.
Effectively, the normal standards of economics have not applied to the US, because of the international role of the dollar. Some $3 trillion (£1,880 billion) are in circulation around the world helping the US to run virtually permanent trade deficits. Two-thirds of world trade is dollar-denominated. Two-thirds of central banks' official foreign exchange reserves are also dollar-denominated.
Dollarisation of the oil markets is one of the key drivers for this, alongside, in recent years, the performance of the US economy. The majority of countries that require oil imports require dollars to pay for their fuel. Oil exporters similarly hold, as their currency reserve, billions in the currency in which they are paid. Investing these petrodollars straight back into the US economy is possible at zero currency risk.
So the US can carry on printing money - effectively IOUs - to fund tax cuts, increased military spending, and consumer spending on imports without fear of inflation or that these loans will be called in. As keeper of the global currency there is always the last-ditch resort to devaluation, which forces other countries' exporters to pay for US economic distress. It's probably the nearest thing to a 'free lunch' in global economics.
And for a long time, everything has worked smoothly. The oil industry was born in Texas, and so developed in dollars. The complex web of supply chains, distribution, and futures markets, all run off the central rock that is the US dollar.
But now there is the euro. At the time of its launch, various overblown claims were made to its role as 'co-hegemon', sharing the spoils of reserve currency status. The rapid fall in the euro after its launch put paid to such suggestions. But the single currency has since rescued itself, reigniting talk of euro-ised oil. In fact, it's happening already.
Iraqi oil, two-thirds of which is being snapped up by US companies, can only be paid for in euros.
'It was a political move on the part of the Iraqi government to show that the euro could be a substitute for the dollar in denominating the oil price,' says Fadhil Chalabi of the Centre for Global Energy Studies.
That move was made in the same week that the euro reached its historic low of $0.82 in October 2000. The subsequent 30 per cent rise in the euro has greatly helped the United Nations' oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
Soon afterwards, Jordan launched its own bilateral trade scheme with Iraq, carried out entirely in euros.
Last year, in a little noticed Opec speech to a Spanish Finance Ministry conference, Javad Yarjani, a senior Iranian oil diplomat, said: 'It is quite possible that as bilateral trade increases between the Middle East and the European Union, it could be feasible to price oil in euros. This would foster further ties between these trading blocs by increasing commercial exchange, and by helping attract much-needed European investment in the Middle East.'
Yarjani said the 'critical question is the overall value and stability of the euro, and whether other countries within the union adopt the single currency'.
The first point is beginning to be answered. The second refers to Britain and Norway. If either joins the single currency, the key Brent benchmark could be redenominated in euros, offering an impetus to movers within Opec.
The rising value of the euro makes redenomination in the immediate financial interest of European oil majors such as TotalFinaElf and Shell. Over the past year both companies have seen profits gobbled up by the dollar slump, as their profits are calculated in euros. Opec member countries too would have a strong interest in moving to euros. The eurozone is the biggest importer of oil in the world and 45 per cent of Middle East imports are from Europe. Even US oil majors would benefit from selling their oil in a currency that is increasing in value, say US energy consultants.
The Iranian and Russian parliaments have recently discussed adopting the euro for oil sales.
Last year Russia entered into negotiations with Germany over the establishment of an exchange to sell oil futures denominated in euros. Russia, which on some measures is the world's Number 1 oil producer at the moment, is awash with petrodollars, but trades mainly with Europe. Russia's foreign exchange holdings recently reached an all-time high of $50bn.
At the moment, European consumers are benefiting from the link between oil and the dollar. The euro's surge has, in effect, paid for much of the increase in the price of oil. This, however, is just the flipside of the very high prices in France and Germany in Autumn 2000, which were a combination of a very weak euro and high oil price. US consumers have no such additional worries, as there is no currency risk.
So there is a huge list of potential winners from a move to price oil in euros, but movement remains slow.
'At various points in time since the early 1970s, oil producers have discussed this, especially in periods when the dollar has been weak. Opinions have tended to be wide-ranging, depending on the strategic and trade alliances certain members have with particular trade blocs,' said Yarjani.
That was an elliptical reference to the overwhelming influence of Saudi Arabia, whose government is the staunchest ally of the US within Opec.
'The Saudis are holding the line on oil prices in Opec and should they, for example, go along with the rest of the Opec people in demanding that oil be priced in euros, that would deal a very heavy blow to the American economy,' Youssef Ibrahim, of the influential US Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN.
Last year the former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia told a committee of the US Congress: 'One of the major things the Saudis have historically done, in part out of friendship with the United States, is to insist that oil continues to be priced in dollars. Therefore, the US Treasury can print money and buy oil, which is an advantage no other country has. With the emergence of other currencies and with strains in the relationship, I wonder whether there will not again be, as there have been in the past, people in Saudi Arabia who raise the question of why they should be so kind to the United States.'
Historically, empires have been exporters of capital, rather than importers like the US. The dollar has been vital to this revolution. At the euro's launch Martin Feldstein, a Harvard economist, pointed to the possibility that the single currency could weaken the status of the dollar to the extent that it 'could complicate international military relationships'. Feldstein is an outside contender to replace Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve.
Oil pricing is just the background to a wider issue. The Bank of China and the Russian Central Bank are both rumoured to be waiting for the best moment to increase the holdings of euros. Only 5 per cent of Chinese reserves are held in euros, but more than 20 per cent of its trade is with Europe. Middle Eastern states hold $700bn of US assets, but comparatively little in Europe.
So is the euro the missing link between the 'axis of evil' and the 'axis of weasel'? It is greatly appreciated in the former and was invented in the latter. Research by State Street shows that the euro has gained 'safe haven' status since last August as the dollar has lost it. It's likely this shift is a temporary phenomenon. Petroeuros may just change that.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, February 27, 2003
additional reading
Coalition of the willing? Make that war criminals
A pre-emptive strike on Iraq would constitute a crime against humanity, write 43 experts on international law and human rights. The initiation of a war against Iraq by the self-styled "coalition of the willing" would be a fundamental violation of international law. International law recognizes two bases for the use of force. The first, enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, allows force to be used in self-defense. The attack must be actual or imminent. The second basis is when the UN Security Council authorizes the use of force as a collective response to the use or threat of force. However, the Security Council is bound by the terms of the UN Charter and can authorize the use of force only if there is evidence that there is an actual threat to the peace (in this case, by Iraq) and that this threat cannot be averted by any means short of force (such as negotiation and further weapons inspections).
U.S. Officials Say U.N. Future At Stake in Vote
As it launches an all-out lobbying campaign to gain United Nations approval, the Bush administration has begun to characterize the decision facing the Security Council not as whether there will be war against Iraq, but whether council members are willing to irrevocably destroy the world body's legitimacy by failing to follow the U.S. lead, senior U.S. and diplomatic sources said. In meetings yesterday with senior officials in Moscow, Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton told the Russian government that "we're going ahead," whether the council agrees or not, a senior administration official said. "The council's unity is at stake here."
MP apologizes for calling Americans 'bastards'
MP Carolyn Parrish was speaking to reporters about Canada's diplomatic initiative on Iraq. At the end of her comments Parrish said, "Damn Americans ... I hate those bastards." In a written statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Parrish says she made the comments in the heat of the moment in a private conversation. She says they do not reflect her opinion of the American people. Late last year, the prime minister's communications director, Francoise Ducros, resigned after calling U.S. President George W. Bush "a moron" during a conversation with a reporter in Prague.
Opposition Leader Stephen Harper called Parrish's remark "unhelpful" while Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the comment should be directed at the Republican government. Although Prime Minister Jean Chretien has yet to give the 'official sound-bite,' it's becoming quite apparent that 'having the balls' to speak the truth is a gender-specific sport in Canada.
Western jets attack Iraqi military communications
A day after attacking five Iraqi missile systems in a key strategy shift, warplanes taking part in U.S.-British patrols on Wednesday struck at two air defense cable communications sites, the U.S. military said. U.S. Central command, which is responsible for U.S. military action in the Gulf region, said the attacks were launched after the Iraqi Air Force violated the southern 'no-fly zone'. But it gave no details. An Iraqi military spokesman confirmed the raids over the past two days, but said the Western planes had targeted civilian installations.
Have a look at how frequently the U.S. bombs Iraqi 'military installations.'
Losing battle to prepare the babies for war
United Nations agencies in Iraq have embarked on a desperate drive to "beef up" hundreds of thousands of malnourished toddlers, hoping to enable them to survive a war. An aid official yesterday said: "The worst-case scenario is that we have only 10 days to finish what is an enormous task." The mercy dash, before what many UN staff believe will be their imminent evacuation from the country, follows the leaking of UN assessments that warn of a "humanitarian emergency of exceptional scale and magnitude". The "strictly confidential" UN documents, posted on the website of the Campaign Against Sanctions in Iraq, warn that 30 per cent of Iraqi children under age five would be at risk of death from malnutrition because of likely war damage to the country's electricity grid and transport systems.
Rumsfeld pushes big lie on "human shields” in Iraq
Faced by protests against their war plans involving millions of people worldwide, the Bush administration and the US media are increasingly employing one of the 'big lie' techniques notoriously employed by the likes of Hitler and Stalin: accusing their enemy of the crimes they are about to commit. International humanitarian agencies are warning that the coming US assault on Iraq could cause half a million civilian casualties and create two million refugees. But the White House and Pentagon, joined by a complicit media, are seeking to shift the blame for the impending slaughter to the Iraqi government. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ramped up the propaganda effort at a February 19 Pentagon press briefing where, without offering the slightest evidence, he accused Saddam Hussein of preparing to use civilians as 'human shields' against US attacks.
Arafat: Those responsible for Rabin murder now in government
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said Tuesday that those responsible for the murder of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin were now participating in the government of the state. The Israeli government had attempted "to break our will and determination and our adherence to the peace of the brave which I signed with my partner the late Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by radical elements now participating in the government of Israel," Arafat said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government has said in the past that Arafat is welcome to travel to wherever he desired, but that it would be on a one-way ticket. Arafat stated, "the Israeli government is the first in line to push for this war in order to exploit the situation while the world is busy with Iraq."
Sept 11 Suspect Moussaoui Wants to Torture Ashcroft
Accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said he wants to torture U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, court documents showed on Wednesday. "Ashcroft must be sent to Alexandria jail so I can torture him. After all torture is now part of the American way of life," wrote Moussaoui, who is being held in Alexandria, Virginia. After hundreds of such filings, District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered all of the filings to be put under seal until they are vetted for inflammatory language or possible hidden messages. The document that included the comments about Ashcroft had two censored portions. He was arrested in Minnesota on immigration charges in August 2001 but officials suspect he was meant to have been the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11. Moussaoui has fired his court-appointed lawyers and he is trying to represent himself in the trial, which has just been indefinitely postponed.
First they 'protect us' from the threat of hidden messages, and then they use 'national security' to postpone the trial indefinitely. By the way, Moussaoui is the guy the mainstream media reported as 'wanting to learn to fly, but not needing to know how to land.'
Sept. 11 Research Limits Draw Fire
MIT’s president, a Harvard dean and a former military leader jointly criticized government restrictions on academic research tightened in the wake of Sept. 11 at a panel called “The State v. The Academy” held at the ARCO Forum Friday evening. MIT has not only begun to feel the brunt of governmental efforts to monitor certain projects. It has also worked extensively over the past year to manage visa delays and new, more stringent registration requirements that foreign students across the nation have faced. In addition to requiring universities to register their samples of certain biological agents, the government has made increasing efforts to study the backgrounds of researchers working on certain projects, sometimes barring certain individuals from participation.
Shoot-Down: The Pentagon trashes Bush's Missile Defense plans
The Pentagon's Office of Operational Test and Evaluation released its annual report that concludes the system Bush wants to begin fielding next year "has yet to demonstrate significant operational capability." The test program to date "has suffered from the lack of production-representative test articles and test infrastructure limitations." (Translation: The mock-warheads that the MD's interceptors have been shooting down do not resemble the warheads that a real enemy would fire our way.) Even after the system is fielded and tests continue, the report notes, "it will be very difficult to estimate operational … performance in real engagement conditions."
These 'golden toilet seats' will cost $9.1 billion next year, on top of $70 billion 'spent' over the past two decades.
'Horrendous': Nobel economist criticizes Bush's economic stimulus package
"Ten Nobel Laureates Say the Bush Tax Cuts are the Wrong Approach" proclaimed a full-page advertisement in the Tuesday, February 11, edition of the New York Times. Paid for by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, the ad went on to say that "there is wide agreement that [the Bush plan's] purpose is a permanent change in the tax structure and not the creation of jobs and growth in the near-term…Passing these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook, adding to the nation's projected chronic deficits."
"The Bush plan's purpose is a permanent change in the tax structure." That's scary.
Argentine court halts IMF-demanded utility hikes
An Argentine court on Tuesday suspended utility rate increases that President Eduardo Duhalde decreed only last month to meet an International Monetary Fund condition for aid. January's decree had allowed for a 9 percent increase in electricity rates and a 7 percent rise in natural gas rates, and was aimed at helping mostly foreign-owned utilities hit by a massive currency devaluation last year. Argentina agreed in a deal with the IMF in January to delay around $6.8 billion in debt due through August for three to five years, buying valuable breathing space to end the country's worst ever economic crisis. The peso has since shed 70 percent of its value against the dollar, while inflation last year was around 40 percent, forcing many companies with dollar-denominated debts into default. The utility companies had hoped for increases of at least 30 percent, which consumer groups fiercely oppose. Major foreign firms operating in the Argentine telephone and power utility sectors include Spain's Telefonica, Telecom Italia, France Telecom, Electricite de France and Britain's BG Group Plc.
Coalition of the willing? Make that war criminals
A pre-emptive strike on Iraq would constitute a crime against humanity, write 43 experts on international law and human rights. The initiation of a war against Iraq by the self-styled "coalition of the willing" would be a fundamental violation of international law. International law recognizes two bases for the use of force. The first, enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, allows force to be used in self-defense. The attack must be actual or imminent. The second basis is when the UN Security Council authorizes the use of force as a collective response to the use or threat of force. However, the Security Council is bound by the terms of the UN Charter and can authorize the use of force only if there is evidence that there is an actual threat to the peace (in this case, by Iraq) and that this threat cannot be averted by any means short of force (such as negotiation and further weapons inspections).
U.S. Officials Say U.N. Future At Stake in Vote
As it launches an all-out lobbying campaign to gain United Nations approval, the Bush administration has begun to characterize the decision facing the Security Council not as whether there will be war against Iraq, but whether council members are willing to irrevocably destroy the world body's legitimacy by failing to follow the U.S. lead, senior U.S. and diplomatic sources said. In meetings yesterday with senior officials in Moscow, Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton told the Russian government that "we're going ahead," whether the council agrees or not, a senior administration official said. "The council's unity is at stake here."
MP apologizes for calling Americans 'bastards'
MP Carolyn Parrish was speaking to reporters about Canada's diplomatic initiative on Iraq. At the end of her comments Parrish said, "Damn Americans ... I hate those bastards." In a written statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Parrish says she made the comments in the heat of the moment in a private conversation. She says they do not reflect her opinion of the American people. Late last year, the prime minister's communications director, Francoise Ducros, resigned after calling U.S. President George W. Bush "a moron" during a conversation with a reporter in Prague.
Opposition Leader Stephen Harper called Parrish's remark "unhelpful" while Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the comment should be directed at the Republican government. Although Prime Minister Jean Chretien has yet to give the 'official sound-bite,' it's becoming quite apparent that 'having the balls' to speak the truth is a gender-specific sport in Canada.
Western jets attack Iraqi military communications
A day after attacking five Iraqi missile systems in a key strategy shift, warplanes taking part in U.S.-British patrols on Wednesday struck at two air defense cable communications sites, the U.S. military said. U.S. Central command, which is responsible for U.S. military action in the Gulf region, said the attacks were launched after the Iraqi Air Force violated the southern 'no-fly zone'. But it gave no details. An Iraqi military spokesman confirmed the raids over the past two days, but said the Western planes had targeted civilian installations.
Have a look at how frequently the U.S. bombs Iraqi 'military installations.'
Losing battle to prepare the babies for war
United Nations agencies in Iraq have embarked on a desperate drive to "beef up" hundreds of thousands of malnourished toddlers, hoping to enable them to survive a war. An aid official yesterday said: "The worst-case scenario is that we have only 10 days to finish what is an enormous task." The mercy dash, before what many UN staff believe will be their imminent evacuation from the country, follows the leaking of UN assessments that warn of a "humanitarian emergency of exceptional scale and magnitude". The "strictly confidential" UN documents, posted on the website of the Campaign Against Sanctions in Iraq, warn that 30 per cent of Iraqi children under age five would be at risk of death from malnutrition because of likely war damage to the country's electricity grid and transport systems.
Rumsfeld pushes big lie on "human shields” in Iraq
Faced by protests against their war plans involving millions of people worldwide, the Bush administration and the US media are increasingly employing one of the 'big lie' techniques notoriously employed by the likes of Hitler and Stalin: accusing their enemy of the crimes they are about to commit. International humanitarian agencies are warning that the coming US assault on Iraq could cause half a million civilian casualties and create two million refugees. But the White House and Pentagon, joined by a complicit media, are seeking to shift the blame for the impending slaughter to the Iraqi government. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ramped up the propaganda effort at a February 19 Pentagon press briefing where, without offering the slightest evidence, he accused Saddam Hussein of preparing to use civilians as 'human shields' against US attacks.
Arafat: Those responsible for Rabin murder now in government
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said Tuesday that those responsible for the murder of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin were now participating in the government of the state. The Israeli government had attempted "to break our will and determination and our adherence to the peace of the brave which I signed with my partner the late Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by radical elements now participating in the government of Israel," Arafat said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government has said in the past that Arafat is welcome to travel to wherever he desired, but that it would be on a one-way ticket. Arafat stated, "the Israeli government is the first in line to push for this war in order to exploit the situation while the world is busy with Iraq."
Sept 11 Suspect Moussaoui Wants to Torture Ashcroft
Accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said he wants to torture U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, court documents showed on Wednesday. "Ashcroft must be sent to Alexandria jail so I can torture him. After all torture is now part of the American way of life," wrote Moussaoui, who is being held in Alexandria, Virginia. After hundreds of such filings, District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered all of the filings to be put under seal until they are vetted for inflammatory language or possible hidden messages. The document that included the comments about Ashcroft had two censored portions. He was arrested in Minnesota on immigration charges in August 2001 but officials suspect he was meant to have been the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11. Moussaoui has fired his court-appointed lawyers and he is trying to represent himself in the trial, which has just been indefinitely postponed.
First they 'protect us' from the threat of hidden messages, and then they use 'national security' to postpone the trial indefinitely. By the way, Moussaoui is the guy the mainstream media reported as 'wanting to learn to fly, but not needing to know how to land.'
Sept. 11 Research Limits Draw Fire
MIT’s president, a Harvard dean and a former military leader jointly criticized government restrictions on academic research tightened in the wake of Sept. 11 at a panel called “The State v. The Academy” held at the ARCO Forum Friday evening. MIT has not only begun to feel the brunt of governmental efforts to monitor certain projects. It has also worked extensively over the past year to manage visa delays and new, more stringent registration requirements that foreign students across the nation have faced. In addition to requiring universities to register their samples of certain biological agents, the government has made increasing efforts to study the backgrounds of researchers working on certain projects, sometimes barring certain individuals from participation.
Shoot-Down: The Pentagon trashes Bush's Missile Defense plans
The Pentagon's Office of Operational Test and Evaluation released its annual report that concludes the system Bush wants to begin fielding next year "has yet to demonstrate significant operational capability." The test program to date "has suffered from the lack of production-representative test articles and test infrastructure limitations." (Translation: The mock-warheads that the MD's interceptors have been shooting down do not resemble the warheads that a real enemy would fire our way.) Even after the system is fielded and tests continue, the report notes, "it will be very difficult to estimate operational … performance in real engagement conditions."
These 'golden toilet seats' will cost $9.1 billion next year, on top of $70 billion 'spent' over the past two decades.
'Horrendous': Nobel economist criticizes Bush's economic stimulus package
"Ten Nobel Laureates Say the Bush Tax Cuts are the Wrong Approach" proclaimed a full-page advertisement in the Tuesday, February 11, edition of the New York Times. Paid for by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, the ad went on to say that "there is wide agreement that [the Bush plan's] purpose is a permanent change in the tax structure and not the creation of jobs and growth in the near-term…Passing these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook, adding to the nation's projected chronic deficits."
"The Bush plan's purpose is a permanent change in the tax structure." That's scary.
Argentine court halts IMF-demanded utility hikes
An Argentine court on Tuesday suspended utility rate increases that President Eduardo Duhalde decreed only last month to meet an International Monetary Fund condition for aid. January's decree had allowed for a 9 percent increase in electricity rates and a 7 percent rise in natural gas rates, and was aimed at helping mostly foreign-owned utilities hit by a massive currency devaluation last year. Argentina agreed in a deal with the IMF in January to delay around $6.8 billion in debt due through August for three to five years, buying valuable breathing space to end the country's worst ever economic crisis. The peso has since shed 70 percent of its value against the dollar, while inflation last year was around 40 percent, forcing many companies with dollar-denominated debts into default. The utility companies had hoped for increases of at least 30 percent, which consumer groups fiercely oppose. Major foreign firms operating in the Argentine telephone and power utility sectors include Spain's Telefonica, Telecom Italia, France Telecom, Electricite de France and Britain's BG Group Plc.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, February 27, 2003
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Bolivia may legalize coca, threatening successful U.S. drug effort
''Our policy is very clear and it remains clear,'' said an official at the U.S. embassy who spoke only on condition his name not be used. ''Any proposal that would legitimize or legalize any coca in the Chapare—which is illegal—would be a violation of Bolivian law and a violation of international treaties to which Bolivia is a signatory.'' U.S. officials have said the proposal could trigger a halt in aid from the United States and international lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund to South America's poorest nation.
US considers intervention in Colombia
The United States is considering direct military intervention in Colombia for the first time following the murder of an American and the kidnapping of three others, all suspected CIA agents...Washington has refused to release any information about the men, entrenching the belief that they were CIA agents on a surveillance mission.
Threatening Colombians with an expansion of the successful U.S. drug effort.
''Our policy is very clear and it remains clear,'' said an official at the U.S. embassy who spoke only on condition his name not be used. ''Any proposal that would legitimize or legalize any coca in the Chapare—which is illegal—would be a violation of Bolivian law and a violation of international treaties to which Bolivia is a signatory.'' U.S. officials have said the proposal could trigger a halt in aid from the United States and international lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund to South America's poorest nation.
US considers intervention in Colombia
The United States is considering direct military intervention in Colombia for the first time following the murder of an American and the kidnapping of three others, all suspected CIA agents...Washington has refused to release any information about the men, entrenching the belief that they were CIA agents on a surveillance mission.
Threatening Colombians with an expansion of the successful U.S. drug effort.
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, February 25, 2003
additional reading
Media Refuses to Report that Attacking Iraq Violates U.S. and International Law
A preemptive attack on Iraq violates the United Nations Charter, which is a treaty and part of the supreme law of the United States under Article 6, clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Not only would this be a violation of international law, but being a signatory member of the UN makes the U.S. obligated to uphold the law according to their own Constitution.
Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities
Iraq could be planning a chemical or biological attack on American cities through the use of remote-controlled "drone" planes equipped with GPS tracking maps, according to U.S. intelligence. Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a picture of a small drone plane during his presentation to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month.
Not quite as ridiculous as spending over $40 billion per year to come up with duct tape as a terrorism remedy..."You may want to have a safe shelter for four or six hours," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told PBS's Jim Lehrer, "until . . . the chemical plume moves on."
War in Iraq could create two million refugees: officials
"We're planning on two million internal refugees," said Andrew Natsios, administrator of the US Agency for International Development. However Elliott Abrams, special assistant to President George W. Bush and director for Near East and North Africa at the National Security Council, cautioned that the figure reflected a 'catastrophic' scenario and that the actual number could be much lower.
Afghanistan: Living in poverty & fear of abandonment, the barely functioning state
People remember Tony Blair's pronouncement that the world "will not walk away from Afghanistan, as it has done so many times before". Afghans have also listened with astonishment as Americans portray their country's experience since the overthrow of the Taliban as a "success". Few in Kabul seem convinced by the repeated assurances – from the US government and its military, from the UN and Britain – that they will not be forgotten or allowed to lapse back into the bloodshed that prevailed after the occupying Soviet forces were driven out by the CIA-funded and CIA-armed mujahedin in 1989.
Afghan pipeline project to continue despite tragedy
Afghanistan will press on with a proposed multi-billion dollar cross-country pipeline to bring gas from Turkmenistan to South Asia despite the death of the minister spearheading the project, cabinet colleagues said on Tuesday. Afghanistan's minister for petroleum and mines, Juma Mohammad Mohammadi, one of a handful of trained technocrats in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's fragile U.S.-backed transitional administration, had been pushing hard for the project, which officials estimate could bring the war-shattered nation $300 million each year in royalties and create thousands of jobs.
Saddam has 'final chance' to disarm or face war - Blair
Saddam Hussein has one "further final chance" to disarm voluntarily or face war, the Prime Minister warned today. "Passive rather than active cooperation will not do. Cooperation on process not substance will not do." In a passionate defence of his stance on military action, Mr Blair said: "I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand."
Blix: Iraq showing substantive cooperation
Iraq has shown new signs of substantive cooperation in recent days by providing information about its weapons programmes, the chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said today. Asked if there was any indication by the Iraqis of "substantive progress or proactive cooperation", Mr Blix replied, "Yes."
U.S. Jets Bomb Iraqi Missile Systems
American warplanes bombed surface-to-surface missile systems in northern and southern Iraq on Tuesday and also attacked surface-to-air missiles in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said. The latest airstrike came at about 9:45 a.m. EST, when American planes bombed a mobile surface-to-surface missile system near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, a U.S. Central Command statement said. About three hours earlier, American planes bombed a mobile surface-to-air missile launcher near Basra, Central Command said.
Turkey drives hard bargain over access for US forces
Few would have guessed that the price of war against Iraq would boil down to a bizarre Ottoman-style carpet shop haggle. But ahead of a crucial vote by the Turkish parliament today on whether to allow thousands of US combat troops to be based here, negotiators representing George Bush have been engaged in just that. To sweeten the deal, the US has even thrown shoes and leather goods into the mix, offering Turkey preferential trading status as part of a complex multibillion dollar compensation package.
Right-wing Israeli coalition wrecks hopes for peace plan
The prospect of a revival of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians looked bleak yesterday, with the country heading towards the formation of a right-wing coalition under Ariel Sharon. The government will include a party opposed to any form of Palestinian state in the occupied territories. Six Palestinians were killed in the town on Sunday by Israeli soldiers who encountered heavy resistance when they tried to demolish the houses of alleged militants. The death toll in Gaza for last week stands at 32 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier. With the new government, many Palestinians will fear this is the shape of things to come.
A Regime That Hates Democracy Can't Wage War for Democracy
George W. Bush says he wants to attack Iraq to install democracy. But as he explained on December 18, 2002: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Though the trappings of free speech remain on the surface of American society, the Homeland Security Act, Patriot I, Patriot II and other massively repressive legislation, plus Republican control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, plus GOP dominance of the mass media, have laid the legal and political framework for a totalitarian infrastructure which, when combined with the capabilities of modern computer technology, may be unsurpassed. The Administration has used the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, as pretext for this centralization of power.
Bush sure of tax cuts passage
President Bush yesterday expressed confidence that Congress will pass the bulk of his $695bn (£438bn) tax cut plan designed to revive the faltering US economy and prevent voters from turning their backs on the Republicans. President Bush highlighted a private sector forecast predicting that the US economy would grow by 3.3% this year if the plan is passed. But that bullish view is rare. Earlier this month, 400 economists took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times condemning the plans as folly.
Editor: Bush Cited Report That Doesn't Exist
There was only one problem with President George W. Bush's claim Thursday that the nation's top economists forecast substantial economic growth if Congress passed the president's tax cut: The forecast with that conclusion doesn't exist. Bush and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer went out of their way Thursday to cite a new survey by "Blue-Chip economists" that the economy would grow 3.3 percent this year if the president's tax cut proposal becomes law. That was news to the editor who assembles the economic forecast. "I don't know what he was citing," said Randell E. Moore, editor of the monthly Blue Chip Economic Forecast, a newsletter that surveys 53 of the nation's top economists each month.
Prosecutors See Limits to Doubt in Capital Cases
Judge Laura Denvir Stith seemed not to believe what she was hearing. A prosecutor was trying to block a death row inmate from having his conviction reopened on the basis of new evidence, and Judge Stith, of the Missouri Supreme Court, was getting exasperated. "Are you suggesting," she asked the prosecutor, that "even if we find Mr. Amrine is actually innocent, he should be executed?" Frank A. Jung, an assistant state attorney general, replied, "That's correct, your honor."
Media Refuses to Report that Attacking Iraq Violates U.S. and International Law
A preemptive attack on Iraq violates the United Nations Charter, which is a treaty and part of the supreme law of the United States under Article 6, clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Not only would this be a violation of international law, but being a signatory member of the UN makes the U.S. obligated to uphold the law according to their own Constitution.
Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities
Iraq could be planning a chemical or biological attack on American cities through the use of remote-controlled "drone" planes equipped with GPS tracking maps, according to U.S. intelligence. Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a picture of a small drone plane during his presentation to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month.
Not quite as ridiculous as spending over $40 billion per year to come up with duct tape as a terrorism remedy..."You may want to have a safe shelter for four or six hours," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told PBS's Jim Lehrer, "until . . . the chemical plume moves on."
War in Iraq could create two million refugees: officials
"We're planning on two million internal refugees," said Andrew Natsios, administrator of the US Agency for International Development. However Elliott Abrams, special assistant to President George W. Bush and director for Near East and North Africa at the National Security Council, cautioned that the figure reflected a 'catastrophic' scenario and that the actual number could be much lower.
Afghanistan: Living in poverty & fear of abandonment, the barely functioning state
People remember Tony Blair's pronouncement that the world "will not walk away from Afghanistan, as it has done so many times before". Afghans have also listened with astonishment as Americans portray their country's experience since the overthrow of the Taliban as a "success". Few in Kabul seem convinced by the repeated assurances – from the US government and its military, from the UN and Britain – that they will not be forgotten or allowed to lapse back into the bloodshed that prevailed after the occupying Soviet forces were driven out by the CIA-funded and CIA-armed mujahedin in 1989.
Afghan pipeline project to continue despite tragedy
Afghanistan will press on with a proposed multi-billion dollar cross-country pipeline to bring gas from Turkmenistan to South Asia despite the death of the minister spearheading the project, cabinet colleagues said on Tuesday. Afghanistan's minister for petroleum and mines, Juma Mohammad Mohammadi, one of a handful of trained technocrats in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's fragile U.S.-backed transitional administration, had been pushing hard for the project, which officials estimate could bring the war-shattered nation $300 million each year in royalties and create thousands of jobs.
Saddam has 'final chance' to disarm or face war - Blair
Saddam Hussein has one "further final chance" to disarm voluntarily or face war, the Prime Minister warned today. "Passive rather than active cooperation will not do. Cooperation on process not substance will not do." In a passionate defence of his stance on military action, Mr Blair said: "I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand."
Blix: Iraq showing substantive cooperation
Iraq has shown new signs of substantive cooperation in recent days by providing information about its weapons programmes, the chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said today. Asked if there was any indication by the Iraqis of "substantive progress or proactive cooperation", Mr Blix replied, "Yes."
U.S. Jets Bomb Iraqi Missile Systems
American warplanes bombed surface-to-surface missile systems in northern and southern Iraq on Tuesday and also attacked surface-to-air missiles in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said. The latest airstrike came at about 9:45 a.m. EST, when American planes bombed a mobile surface-to-surface missile system near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, a U.S. Central Command statement said. About three hours earlier, American planes bombed a mobile surface-to-air missile launcher near Basra, Central Command said.
Turkey drives hard bargain over access for US forces
Few would have guessed that the price of war against Iraq would boil down to a bizarre Ottoman-style carpet shop haggle. But ahead of a crucial vote by the Turkish parliament today on whether to allow thousands of US combat troops to be based here, negotiators representing George Bush have been engaged in just that. To sweeten the deal, the US has even thrown shoes and leather goods into the mix, offering Turkey preferential trading status as part of a complex multibillion dollar compensation package.
Right-wing Israeli coalition wrecks hopes for peace plan
The prospect of a revival of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians looked bleak yesterday, with the country heading towards the formation of a right-wing coalition under Ariel Sharon. The government will include a party opposed to any form of Palestinian state in the occupied territories. Six Palestinians were killed in the town on Sunday by Israeli soldiers who encountered heavy resistance when they tried to demolish the houses of alleged militants. The death toll in Gaza for last week stands at 32 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier. With the new government, many Palestinians will fear this is the shape of things to come.
A Regime That Hates Democracy Can't Wage War for Democracy
George W. Bush says he wants to attack Iraq to install democracy. But as he explained on December 18, 2002: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Though the trappings of free speech remain on the surface of American society, the Homeland Security Act, Patriot I, Patriot II and other massively repressive legislation, plus Republican control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, plus GOP dominance of the mass media, have laid the legal and political framework for a totalitarian infrastructure which, when combined with the capabilities of modern computer technology, may be unsurpassed. The Administration has used the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, as pretext for this centralization of power.
Bush sure of tax cuts passage
President Bush yesterday expressed confidence that Congress will pass the bulk of his $695bn (£438bn) tax cut plan designed to revive the faltering US economy and prevent voters from turning their backs on the Republicans. President Bush highlighted a private sector forecast predicting that the US economy would grow by 3.3% this year if the plan is passed. But that bullish view is rare. Earlier this month, 400 economists took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times condemning the plans as folly.
Editor: Bush Cited Report That Doesn't Exist
There was only one problem with President George W. Bush's claim Thursday that the nation's top economists forecast substantial economic growth if Congress passed the president's tax cut: The forecast with that conclusion doesn't exist. Bush and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer went out of their way Thursday to cite a new survey by "Blue-Chip economists" that the economy would grow 3.3 percent this year if the president's tax cut proposal becomes law. That was news to the editor who assembles the economic forecast. "I don't know what he was citing," said Randell E. Moore, editor of the monthly Blue Chip Economic Forecast, a newsletter that surveys 53 of the nation's top economists each month.
Prosecutors See Limits to Doubt in Capital Cases
Judge Laura Denvir Stith seemed not to believe what she was hearing. A prosecutor was trying to block a death row inmate from having his conviction reopened on the basis of new evidence, and Judge Stith, of the Missouri Supreme Court, was getting exasperated. "Are you suggesting," she asked the prosecutor, that "even if we find Mr. Amrine is actually innocent, he should be executed?" Frank A. Jung, an assistant state attorney general, replied, "That's correct, your honor."
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Monday, February 24, 2003
Exclusive: The Defector’s Secrets
Hussein Kamel, the highest-ranking Iraqi official ever to defect from Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, told CIA and British intelligence officers and U.N. inspectors in the summer of 1995 that after the gulf war, Iraq destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the missiles to deliver them.
Kamel’s revelations about the destruction of Iraq’s WMD stocks were hushed up by the U.N. inspectors, sources say, for two reasons. Saddam did not know how much Kamel had revealed, and the inspectors hoped to bluff Saddam into disclosing still more. And Iraq has never shown the documentation to support Kamel’s story. Still, the defector’s tale raises questions about whether the WMD stockpiles attributed to Iraq still exist.
The U.S. Government is incapable of telling the truth.
Hussein Kamel, the highest-ranking Iraqi official ever to defect from Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, told CIA and British intelligence officers and U.N. inspectors in the summer of 1995 that after the gulf war, Iraq destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the missiles to deliver them.
Kamel’s revelations about the destruction of Iraq’s WMD stocks were hushed up by the U.N. inspectors, sources say, for two reasons. Saddam did not know how much Kamel had revealed, and the inspectors hoped to bluff Saddam into disclosing still more. And Iraq has never shown the documentation to support Kamel’s story. Still, the defector’s tale raises questions about whether the WMD stockpiles attributed to Iraq still exist.
The U.S. Government is incapable of telling the truth.
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, February 24, 2003
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:
We Have Contained Saddam
Ken Pollack is a gifted analyst. But in his lengthy February 21 New York Times op-ed, he assembles a house of cards to prove that (1) Saddam Hussein may soon get a nuclear bomb, and (2) if he does, we cannot deter him from using it. For Pollack to be correct, all of Saddam's efforts to build a bomb must work perfectly and all of our efforts to thwart him short of war must fail miserably. Here are six of his key errors:
1) Pollack charges that in 1995 defectors from Iraq reported, contrary to the IAEA assessment at the time, that "outside pressure had not only failed to eradicate the nuclear program, it was bigger and more cleverly spread out and concealed than anyone had imagined it to be."
Some may read this to say that in 1995 there was still an extensive nuclear program. This is not true. The IAEA had completely dismantled all the manufacturing and production elements of the program, including the removal of all the uranium fuel (beginning in November 1991) and destruction of all uranium enrichment capabilities...
2) Pollack charges that another batch of defectors told western intelligence services that after the inspectors left Iraq in 1998, Saddam had "started a crash program to build a nuclear weapon."
...Some may feel that defector tales are evidence enough. But even those who repeatedly cite defectors must acknowledge that defectors sometimes tell tall tales. For example, defectors have told intelligence officials that Iraq actually conducted a secret nuclear test in 1989. Others said in 2001 that Iraq has two fully operational nuclear bombs and continues to make more. (Nuclear Control Institute, "Overview of IAEA Nuclear Inspections in Iraq, June 2001.) There is no evidence to support these claims and few believe them. So Pollack and others pick and choose the defector tales that fit their argument. This is not solid methodology. Defector information must be verified, as was the case with the 1995 defectors, before any conclusions can be drawn.
3) Pollack says, "the American, British and Israeli intelligence services believe that unless he is stopped, Saddam Hussein is likely to acquire a nuclear weapon in the second half of this decade."
Putting aside the embarrassing problem of the basis for the British intelligence dossier, Pollack's presentation of their conclusions is misleading. What the CIA actually says is that "In the absence of inspections, most analysts assess that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear program-unraveling the IAEA's hard-earned accomplishments." (CIA, Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs, October 2002). But now inspectors are back in the country able to detect and stop any new activity...
4) Pollack says, "Nor do we know to what extent the inspectors' presence is slowing the Iraqi program."
Not true. We know that we have inspectors on the ground who can go anywhere and inspect any thing. We have just begun flying U-2 reconnaissance planes and soon will have drones circling suspicious sites. Making nuclear weapons requires a highly visible infrastructure. It is impossible to hide this activity from determined inspectors equipped with high-tech gear and the full and active support of leading intelligence agencies. All the intelligence sources Pollack cites can now be used in support of actually stopping the activities they detect or suspect. They no longer have to be limited to writing speculative reports or warnings; the intelligence can be linked directly to action teams sent to investigate and dismantle any suspicious activity.
This is a key point. In order to strengthen their argument for war, war hawks must deride and dismiss the inspection process. Then, it would be true that the only recourse to stopping Saddam would be war. But the inspections are working now to prevent any large- scale production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or missile systems. With increased resources and authority, they can work to find and destroy hidden weapons caches.
5) Pollack spends the second half of his article arguing that Saddam cannot be deterred. He cites Saddam's invasion of Kuwait and subsequent attempts to assassinate the emir of Kuwait and former President Bush as examples of his reckless behavior in the face of American warnings.
But Pollack, himself, presents a clear example of the American ability to deter Saddam without the use of force. In demonstrating Iraq's propensity to aggress, Pollack cites Saddam's alleged intention in 2000 to move his military through Syria and into the Golan Heights. Pollack concludes that "only American and Saudi diplomatic intervention with Syria, combined with the Iraqi military's logistical problems, quashed the adventure." Evidently, diplomatic intervention successfully deterred Saddam.
6) Pollack says that not only would Saddam be undeterred, but, equipped with a nuclear weapon, he would consider the United States sufficiently deterred from responding to his future acts of aggression. Pollack says Iraq is uniquely aggressive in its posture. He argues, "America has never encountered a country that saw nuclear weapons as a tool for aggression. During the Cold War we feared that the Russians thought this way, but we eventually learned that they were far more conservative."
Here Pollack slips into the convenient historical revisionism now in fashion in conservative circles. This view looks back fondly on the "good old" days of the Cold War, when the US confronted a knowable, deterrable foe. But that was not at all how it was seen at the time. The entire basis, for example, of the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), launched twenty years ago, was that the Soviets would not be deterred and that we should and could build a missile defense shield to destroy the first attack of 5,000 Soviet warheads...
We Have Contained Saddam
Ken Pollack is a gifted analyst. But in his lengthy February 21 New York Times op-ed, he assembles a house of cards to prove that (1) Saddam Hussein may soon get a nuclear bomb, and (2) if he does, we cannot deter him from using it. For Pollack to be correct, all of Saddam's efforts to build a bomb must work perfectly and all of our efforts to thwart him short of war must fail miserably. Here are six of his key errors:
1) Pollack charges that in 1995 defectors from Iraq reported, contrary to the IAEA assessment at the time, that "outside pressure had not only failed to eradicate the nuclear program, it was bigger and more cleverly spread out and concealed than anyone had imagined it to be."
Some may read this to say that in 1995 there was still an extensive nuclear program. This is not true. The IAEA had completely dismantled all the manufacturing and production elements of the program, including the removal of all the uranium fuel (beginning in November 1991) and destruction of all uranium enrichment capabilities...
2) Pollack charges that another batch of defectors told western intelligence services that after the inspectors left Iraq in 1998, Saddam had "started a crash program to build a nuclear weapon."
...Some may feel that defector tales are evidence enough. But even those who repeatedly cite defectors must acknowledge that defectors sometimes tell tall tales. For example, defectors have told intelligence officials that Iraq actually conducted a secret nuclear test in 1989. Others said in 2001 that Iraq has two fully operational nuclear bombs and continues to make more. (Nuclear Control Institute, "Overview of IAEA Nuclear Inspections in Iraq, June 2001.) There is no evidence to support these claims and few believe them. So Pollack and others pick and choose the defector tales that fit their argument. This is not solid methodology. Defector information must be verified, as was the case with the 1995 defectors, before any conclusions can be drawn.
3) Pollack says, "the American, British and Israeli intelligence services believe that unless he is stopped, Saddam Hussein is likely to acquire a nuclear weapon in the second half of this decade."
Putting aside the embarrassing problem of the basis for the British intelligence dossier, Pollack's presentation of their conclusions is misleading. What the CIA actually says is that "In the absence of inspections, most analysts assess that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear program-unraveling the IAEA's hard-earned accomplishments." (CIA, Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs, October 2002). But now inspectors are back in the country able to detect and stop any new activity...
4) Pollack says, "Nor do we know to what extent the inspectors' presence is slowing the Iraqi program."
Not true. We know that we have inspectors on the ground who can go anywhere and inspect any thing. We have just begun flying U-2 reconnaissance planes and soon will have drones circling suspicious sites. Making nuclear weapons requires a highly visible infrastructure. It is impossible to hide this activity from determined inspectors equipped with high-tech gear and the full and active support of leading intelligence agencies. All the intelligence sources Pollack cites can now be used in support of actually stopping the activities they detect or suspect. They no longer have to be limited to writing speculative reports or warnings; the intelligence can be linked directly to action teams sent to investigate and dismantle any suspicious activity.
This is a key point. In order to strengthen their argument for war, war hawks must deride and dismiss the inspection process. Then, it would be true that the only recourse to stopping Saddam would be war. But the inspections are working now to prevent any large- scale production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or missile systems. With increased resources and authority, they can work to find and destroy hidden weapons caches.
5) Pollack spends the second half of his article arguing that Saddam cannot be deterred. He cites Saddam's invasion of Kuwait and subsequent attempts to assassinate the emir of Kuwait and former President Bush as examples of his reckless behavior in the face of American warnings.
But Pollack, himself, presents a clear example of the American ability to deter Saddam without the use of force. In demonstrating Iraq's propensity to aggress, Pollack cites Saddam's alleged intention in 2000 to move his military through Syria and into the Golan Heights. Pollack concludes that "only American and Saudi diplomatic intervention with Syria, combined with the Iraqi military's logistical problems, quashed the adventure." Evidently, diplomatic intervention successfully deterred Saddam.
6) Pollack says that not only would Saddam be undeterred, but, equipped with a nuclear weapon, he would consider the United States sufficiently deterred from responding to his future acts of aggression. Pollack says Iraq is uniquely aggressive in its posture. He argues, "America has never encountered a country that saw nuclear weapons as a tool for aggression. During the Cold War we feared that the Russians thought this way, but we eventually learned that they were far more conservative."
Here Pollack slips into the convenient historical revisionism now in fashion in conservative circles. This view looks back fondly on the "good old" days of the Cold War, when the US confronted a knowable, deterrable foe. But that was not at all how it was seen at the time. The entire basis, for example, of the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), launched twenty years ago, was that the Soviets would not be deterred and that we should and could build a missile defense shield to destroy the first attack of 5,000 Soviet warheads...
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, February 24, 2003
additional reading:
The Will of the World
February 15, 2003, the day 10 million or so people in hundreds of cities on every continent demonstrated against war in Iraq, will go down in history as the first time that the people of the world expressed their clear and concerted will in regard to a pressing global issue. Never before--not during the Vietnam War, not during the antinuclear demonstrations of the early 1980s--had they made known their will so forcefully by all the means at their disposal. On that day, history may one day record, global democracy was born.
Condaleezza Rice, A Nice Girl
I just think that it would be worthwhile to step back -- it's fine to protest -- but to step back and to remember the true nature of the Iraqi regime, to remember how they rape and torture, to remember how they kill women in front of their families to make a point, to remember that he's acquiring and has acquired weapons of mass destruction, that he's used chemical weapons on his own population and on his neighbors, and to ask yourself, "Do you really want this regime to go unchallenged for the next 12 years, as we've done for the last 12 years?" - Rice to FoxNewsSunday
I thought that Prime Minister Blair was really quite eloquent the other day, on Saturday, when he talked about the long-suffering Iraqi people. These are people who are tortured, who are beaten, whose tongues are cut out for saying anything against the government. - Rice to Meet the Press
Devising bad intelligence to promote bad policy
Even as it prepares for war against Iraq, the Pentagon is already engaged on a second front: its war against the Central Intelligence Agency. The Pentagon is bringing relentless pressure to bear on the agency to produce intelligence reports more supportive of war with Iraq, according to former CIA officials. Key officials of the Department of Defense are also producing their own unverified intelligence reports to justify war. Much of the questionable information comes from Iraqi exiles long regarded with suspicion by CIA professionals. A parallel, ad hoc intelligence operation, in the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith, collects the information from the exiles and scours other raw intelligence for useful tidbits to make the case for preemptive war.
Is Sami Al-Arian guilty of terrorist plots?
Based on years of wiretaps, John Ashcroft says the embattled South Florida professor was a terror-cell mastermind. Al-Arian calls it "politics." Attorney General John Ashcroft's Justice Department handed down a sweeping 50-count indictment against Al-Arian and seven other men, charging them with conspiracy to commit murder, giving material support to an outlawed group, extortion, perjury, and other offenses.
Alleged Terrorist Sami Al-Arian Met With Bush Adviser
A former university professor indicted this week as a terrorist leader attended a 2001 group meeting in the White House complex with President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, administration officials said yesterday.
Syria Snubs U.S. Call to Back New Iraq Resolution
"Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara confirmed to Mr. Powell at the end of the telephone conversation that Syria does not see any justification to issue a second Security Council resolution," said the Syrian Foreign Ministry. "Such a resolution, regardless of how balanced it is...will be exploited by those calling for war, both inside and outside the United States, as a pretext to strike Iraq."
Israel divides Bethlehem with a wall of concrete, fear and suspicion
The inhabitants here, predominantly from Bethlehem's fast-dwindling Palestinian Christian community, will be cut off from their city by a concrete wall guarded by Israeli army patrols. They will be allowed to cross into Bethlehem only through an Israeli army checkpoint, with permits the army can issue or withhold as it sees fit. They will not be allowed into Jerusalem, on the other side of the pocket of land they will be walled off in.
Palestinians expect Israeli takeover once Iraq war starts
Standing on a muddy street flanked by the ruins of small workshops recently blown up or knocked down by Israeli forces, Zaki Fora voiced the common view in Gaza City. "Ninety per cent of Palestinians believe that in the case of a [U.S.-led] war with Iraq, Israel will occupy all of the Gaza Strip," he said. "Israel will take the opportunity while the rest of the world is looking the other way."
Iran fears U.S. aims to reshape Mideast
"Basically we do not agree with the plan of America that the Middle East has to be reshaped. This is the job of the mature people of the Middle East, not powers from outside," said Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's Foreign Minister . Kharrazi said the United States had let the Palestinian problem fester by extending support to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and said Washington was operating double standards by allowing Israel to maintain its weapons of mass destruction.
Austria blocks U.S. troop transport
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday accused Austria of blocking the movement of U.S. troops from Germany by rail through that neutral country to Italy, apparently part of a buildup of American forces preparing for possible war against Iraq..."Right now, for example, we’re trying to move some forces from Germany down to Italy, and Austria is causing a difficulty with respect to moving the forces through Austria by rail," Rumsfeld said.
Military convoys face Italian anti-war blockade
Anti-war protesters are vowing to block all movement of US arms by rail between American bases in Italy, dubbing the convoys "trains of death". Demonstrators have squatted on railway tracks and organisers are planning a full-scale assault on similar convoys this week. Italy's Defence Ministry has given the US clearance to use military bases and ports in line with NATO commitments. Local polls show 70 per cent of Italians oppose war even if sanctioned by the United Nations.
U.S. War Planes Banned From Swiss Skies
Switzerland banned U.S. military planes Friday from using its airspace unless they are on humanitarian missions or providing support for U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq.
The Will of the World
February 15, 2003, the day 10 million or so people in hundreds of cities on every continent demonstrated against war in Iraq, will go down in history as the first time that the people of the world expressed their clear and concerted will in regard to a pressing global issue. Never before--not during the Vietnam War, not during the antinuclear demonstrations of the early 1980s--had they made known their will so forcefully by all the means at their disposal. On that day, history may one day record, global democracy was born.
Condaleezza Rice, A Nice Girl
I just think that it would be worthwhile to step back -- it's fine to protest -- but to step back and to remember the true nature of the Iraqi regime, to remember how they rape and torture, to remember how they kill women in front of their families to make a point, to remember that he's acquiring and has acquired weapons of mass destruction, that he's used chemical weapons on his own population and on his neighbors, and to ask yourself, "Do you really want this regime to go unchallenged for the next 12 years, as we've done for the last 12 years?" - Rice to FoxNewsSunday
I thought that Prime Minister Blair was really quite eloquent the other day, on Saturday, when he talked about the long-suffering Iraqi people. These are people who are tortured, who are beaten, whose tongues are cut out for saying anything against the government. - Rice to Meet the Press
Devising bad intelligence to promote bad policy
Even as it prepares for war against Iraq, the Pentagon is already engaged on a second front: its war against the Central Intelligence Agency. The Pentagon is bringing relentless pressure to bear on the agency to produce intelligence reports more supportive of war with Iraq, according to former CIA officials. Key officials of the Department of Defense are also producing their own unverified intelligence reports to justify war. Much of the questionable information comes from Iraqi exiles long regarded with suspicion by CIA professionals. A parallel, ad hoc intelligence operation, in the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith, collects the information from the exiles and scours other raw intelligence for useful tidbits to make the case for preemptive war.
Is Sami Al-Arian guilty of terrorist plots?
Based on years of wiretaps, John Ashcroft says the embattled South Florida professor was a terror-cell mastermind. Al-Arian calls it "politics." Attorney General John Ashcroft's Justice Department handed down a sweeping 50-count indictment against Al-Arian and seven other men, charging them with conspiracy to commit murder, giving material support to an outlawed group, extortion, perjury, and other offenses.
Alleged Terrorist Sami Al-Arian Met With Bush Adviser
A former university professor indicted this week as a terrorist leader attended a 2001 group meeting in the White House complex with President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, administration officials said yesterday.
Syria Snubs U.S. Call to Back New Iraq Resolution
"Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara confirmed to Mr. Powell at the end of the telephone conversation that Syria does not see any justification to issue a second Security Council resolution," said the Syrian Foreign Ministry. "Such a resolution, regardless of how balanced it is...will be exploited by those calling for war, both inside and outside the United States, as a pretext to strike Iraq."
Israel divides Bethlehem with a wall of concrete, fear and suspicion
The inhabitants here, predominantly from Bethlehem's fast-dwindling Palestinian Christian community, will be cut off from their city by a concrete wall guarded by Israeli army patrols. They will be allowed to cross into Bethlehem only through an Israeli army checkpoint, with permits the army can issue or withhold as it sees fit. They will not be allowed into Jerusalem, on the other side of the pocket of land they will be walled off in.
Palestinians expect Israeli takeover once Iraq war starts
Standing on a muddy street flanked by the ruins of small workshops recently blown up or knocked down by Israeli forces, Zaki Fora voiced the common view in Gaza City. "Ninety per cent of Palestinians believe that in the case of a [U.S.-led] war with Iraq, Israel will occupy all of the Gaza Strip," he said. "Israel will take the opportunity while the rest of the world is looking the other way."
Iran fears U.S. aims to reshape Mideast
"Basically we do not agree with the plan of America that the Middle East has to be reshaped. This is the job of the mature people of the Middle East, not powers from outside," said Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's Foreign Minister . Kharrazi said the United States had let the Palestinian problem fester by extending support to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and said Washington was operating double standards by allowing Israel to maintain its weapons of mass destruction.
Austria blocks U.S. troop transport
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday accused Austria of blocking the movement of U.S. troops from Germany by rail through that neutral country to Italy, apparently part of a buildup of American forces preparing for possible war against Iraq..."Right now, for example, we’re trying to move some forces from Germany down to Italy, and Austria is causing a difficulty with respect to moving the forces through Austria by rail," Rumsfeld said.
Military convoys face Italian anti-war blockade
Anti-war protesters are vowing to block all movement of US arms by rail between American bases in Italy, dubbing the convoys "trains of death". Demonstrators have squatted on railway tracks and organisers are planning a full-scale assault on similar convoys this week. Italy's Defence Ministry has given the US clearance to use military bases and ports in line with NATO commitments. Local polls show 70 per cent of Italians oppose war even if sanctioned by the United Nations.
U.S. War Planes Banned From Swiss Skies
Switzerland banned U.S. military planes Friday from using its airspace unless they are on humanitarian missions or providing support for U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq.
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, February 24, 2003
Do 59% of Americans approve of Israeli war crimes?
In one of its many responses to a recent militant attack, the Israeli military used large tank formations backed by helicopter gunships to kill at least 11 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing Israeli offensive aimed at 'terrorist infrastructure' has resulted in 33 Palestinian deaths since militants blew up an Israeli tank in Gaza Saturday.
No word on civilian casualties.
(the poll demonstrating Israel's highly favorable rating was conducted prior to this week's obstruction of justice, call for a wider Middle Eastern war, and shooting of a little old lady)
In one of its many responses to a recent militant attack, the Israeli military used large tank formations backed by helicopter gunships to kill at least 11 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing Israeli offensive aimed at 'terrorist infrastructure' has resulted in 33 Palestinian deaths since militants blew up an Israeli tank in Gaza Saturday.
No word on civilian casualties.
(the poll demonstrating Israel's highly favorable rating was conducted prior to this week's obstruction of justice, call for a wider Middle Eastern war, and shooting of a little old lady)
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, February 24, 2003
Saturday, February 22, 2003
additional reading:
Inspectors Call U.S. Tips 'Garbage'
While diplomatic maneuvering continues over Turkish bases and a new United Nations resolution, inside Iraq, U.N. arms inspectors are privately complaining about the quality of U.S. intelligence and accusing the United States of sending them on wild-goose chases.
U.N. Nuclear Chief Says 'No Reason' to Halt Weapons Inspections
El Baradei told the U.N. Security Council that inspectors had found no evidence that Iraq had resumed its nuclear weapons program. He also said they could do their job without Iraq's full cooperation.
Canada says will not join solo U.S. attack on Iraq
"If they (the Americans) want to go there all alone, they can go there all alone but we say they must go with the authorization of the United Nations," said Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
U.S. Government Seeks to Dismiss Anti-War Lawsuit
The federal court should not get involved in this "delicate international political scenario,'' the government's attorneys argued in court papers. "Such an intrusion could embolden Iraq and thus reduce the chances of a peaceful resolution.''
Blair Warns Iraq Ties with Al Qaeda Are Growing
"If you leave Saddam Hussein with his chemical, biological and potentially nuclear weapons, the link between that and international terrorism is so obvious that it hardly needs to be stated," Blair stated.
Agencies Warn of Lone Terrorists
A classified F.B.I. intelligence bulletin, issued on Wednesday to state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the country, warned the authorities to be on the alert for lone terrorists who are not directed by organizations like Al Qaeda.
U.S. Federal Debt Near Legal Limit
The new era of red ink that the government faces even before President Bush's latest proposals for more than $1 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years...The White House now projects a deficit of more than $300 billion this year and next, as well as deficits for at least the next decade.
Pentagon: $28B Spent on Fighting Terror
The costs of a war with Iraq would be on top of the $28 billion the U.S. military has already spent battling terrorists in Afghanistan and around the world since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pentagon officials said Friday.
Israeli delegation returns from Washington empty-handed
The Israeli delegation to Washington DC will return to Israel empty-handed after failing to secure the $12 billion package, including loan guarantees...Israeli sources said that they expect to eventually receive a positive response to the request.
As the world focuses on Iraq, the bodies pile up in Gaza
In the past week, while the world's press focused on the UN Security Council and Baghdad, the violence has suddenly surged. In six days, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli operations, chiefly in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Nablus.
Inspectors Call U.S. Tips 'Garbage'
While diplomatic maneuvering continues over Turkish bases and a new United Nations resolution, inside Iraq, U.N. arms inspectors are privately complaining about the quality of U.S. intelligence and accusing the United States of sending them on wild-goose chases.
U.N. Nuclear Chief Says 'No Reason' to Halt Weapons Inspections
El Baradei told the U.N. Security Council that inspectors had found no evidence that Iraq had resumed its nuclear weapons program. He also said they could do their job without Iraq's full cooperation.
Canada says will not join solo U.S. attack on Iraq
"If they (the Americans) want to go there all alone, they can go there all alone but we say they must go with the authorization of the United Nations," said Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
U.S. Government Seeks to Dismiss Anti-War Lawsuit
The federal court should not get involved in this "delicate international political scenario,'' the government's attorneys argued in court papers. "Such an intrusion could embolden Iraq and thus reduce the chances of a peaceful resolution.''
Blair Warns Iraq Ties with Al Qaeda Are Growing
"If you leave Saddam Hussein with his chemical, biological and potentially nuclear weapons, the link between that and international terrorism is so obvious that it hardly needs to be stated," Blair stated.
Agencies Warn of Lone Terrorists
A classified F.B.I. intelligence bulletin, issued on Wednesday to state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the country, warned the authorities to be on the alert for lone terrorists who are not directed by organizations like Al Qaeda.
U.S. Federal Debt Near Legal Limit
The new era of red ink that the government faces even before President Bush's latest proposals for more than $1 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years...The White House now projects a deficit of more than $300 billion this year and next, as well as deficits for at least the next decade.
Pentagon: $28B Spent on Fighting Terror
The costs of a war with Iraq would be on top of the $28 billion the U.S. military has already spent battling terrorists in Afghanistan and around the world since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pentagon officials said Friday.
Israeli delegation returns from Washington empty-handed
The Israeli delegation to Washington DC will return to Israel empty-handed after failing to secure the $12 billion package, including loan guarantees...Israeli sources said that they expect to eventually receive a positive response to the request.
As the world focuses on Iraq, the bodies pile up in Gaza
In the past week, while the world's press focused on the UN Security Council and Baghdad, the violence has suddenly surged. In six days, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli operations, chiefly in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Nablus.
themassesareasses© on blogger Saturday, February 22, 2003
