Monday, March 31, 2003
The Euro and the War on Iraq
In November 2000, Iraq began selling its oil for euros, moving away from the post-World War II standard of the US dollar as the currency of international trade. Whilst seen by many at the time as a bizarre act of political defiance, it has proved beneficial for Iraq, with the euro gaining almost 25% against the dollar during 2001. It now costs around USD$1.05 to buy one Euro.
Iraq's move towards the euro is indicative of a growing trend. Iran has already converted the majority of its central bank reserve funds to the euro, and has hinted at adopting the euro for all oil sales. On December 7th, 2002, the third member of the axis of evil, North Korea, officially dropped the dollar and began using euros for trade. Venezuela, not a member of the axis of evil yet, but a large oil producer nonetheless, is also considering a switch to the euro. More importantly, at its April 14th, 2002 meeting in Spain, OPEC expressed an interest in leaving the dollar in favour of the euro.
If OPEC were to switch to the euro as the standard for oil transactions, it would have serious ramifications for the US economy. Oil-consuming economies would have to flush the dollars out of their central bank holdings and convert them to euros. Some economists estimate that with the market flooded, the US dollar could drop up to 40% in value. As the currency falls, there would be a monetary evacuation by foreign investors abandoning the US stock markets and dollar-denominated assets. Imported products would cost Americans a lot more, and the trade deficit would be magnified.
It is foreign demand for the US dollar that funds the US federal budget deficits. Foreign investors flush with dollars typically look to US treasury securities as a means of secure investment. With a large reduction in such investment, the country could potentially go into default. Things could turn very bad, very quickly. [...]
In November 2000, Iraq began selling its oil for euros, moving away from the post-World War II standard of the US dollar as the currency of international trade. Whilst seen by many at the time as a bizarre act of political defiance, it has proved beneficial for Iraq, with the euro gaining almost 25% against the dollar during 2001. It now costs around USD$1.05 to buy one Euro.
Iraq's move towards the euro is indicative of a growing trend. Iran has already converted the majority of its central bank reserve funds to the euro, and has hinted at adopting the euro for all oil sales. On December 7th, 2002, the third member of the axis of evil, North Korea, officially dropped the dollar and began using euros for trade. Venezuela, not a member of the axis of evil yet, but a large oil producer nonetheless, is also considering a switch to the euro. More importantly, at its April 14th, 2002 meeting in Spain, OPEC expressed an interest in leaving the dollar in favour of the euro.
If OPEC were to switch to the euro as the standard for oil transactions, it would have serious ramifications for the US economy. Oil-consuming economies would have to flush the dollars out of their central bank holdings and convert them to euros. Some economists estimate that with the market flooded, the US dollar could drop up to 40% in value. As the currency falls, there would be a monetary evacuation by foreign investors abandoning the US stock markets and dollar-denominated assets. Imported products would cost Americans a lot more, and the trade deficit would be magnified.
It is foreign demand for the US dollar that funds the US federal budget deficits. Foreign investors flush with dollars typically look to US treasury securities as a means of secure investment. With a large reduction in such investment, the country could potentially go into default. Things could turn very bad, very quickly. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 31, 2003
US arms trader to run Iraq
Ex-general who will lead reconstruction heads firm behind Patriot missiles
Jay Garner, the retired US general who will oversee humanitarian relief and reconstruction in postwar Iraq, is president of an arms company that provides crucial technical support to missile systems vital to the US invasion of the country.
Garner's business background is causing serious concerns at the United Nations and among aid agencies, who are already opposed to US administration of Iraq if it comes outside UN authority, and who say appointment of an American linked to the arms trade is the 'worst case scenario' for running the country after the war.
Garner is president of Virginia-based SY Coleman, a subsidiary of defence electronics group L-3 Communications, which provides technical services and advice on the Patriot missile system being used in Iraq. Patriot was made famous in the 1991 Gulf war when it was used to protect Israeli and Saudi targets from attack by Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles. Garner was involved in the system's deployment in Israel. [...]
Ex-general who will lead reconstruction heads firm behind Patriot missiles
Jay Garner, the retired US general who will oversee humanitarian relief and reconstruction in postwar Iraq, is president of an arms company that provides crucial technical support to missile systems vital to the US invasion of the country.
Garner's business background is causing serious concerns at the United Nations and among aid agencies, who are already opposed to US administration of Iraq if it comes outside UN authority, and who say appointment of an American linked to the arms trade is the 'worst case scenario' for running the country after the war.
Garner is president of Virginia-based SY Coleman, a subsidiary of defence electronics group L-3 Communications, which provides technical services and advice on the Patriot missile system being used in Iraq. Patriot was made famous in the 1991 Gulf war when it was used to protect Israeli and Saudi targets from attack by Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles. Garner was involved in the system's deployment in Israel. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 31, 2003
US forces' use of depleted uranium weapons is 'illegal'
BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
DU contaminates land, causes ill-health and cancers among the soldiers using the weapons, the armies they target and civilians, leading to birth defects in children.
Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project -- a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel who was tasked by the US department of defence with the post-first Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up -- said use of DU was a 'war crime'.
Rokke said: 'There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction -- yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves.' He added: 'Such double-standards are repellent.' [...]
BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
DU contaminates land, causes ill-health and cancers among the soldiers using the weapons, the armies they target and civilians, leading to birth defects in children.
Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project -- a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel who was tasked by the US department of defence with the post-first Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up -- said use of DU was a 'war crime'.
Rokke said: 'There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction -- yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves.' He added: 'Such double-standards are repellent.' [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 31, 2003
Explosion, Said to Be From Missile, Rocks Empty Mall in Kuwait
KUWAIT, Saturday, March 29 — An explosion rocked an empty shopping mall on the waterfront early today in Kuwait City, the capital, sending a huge plume of white smoke towering into the sky. Kuwaiti officials said a missile that had landed in the water nearby was responsible.
Witnesses who gathered shortly after the explosion at 1:45 a.m. local time could see a twisted piece of metal on the esplanade near the shoreline about the size of a wastebasket and bearing the number "5420" in red. The words "place" and "protractor" could also be made out on a shard. Emergency workers put fragments into bags that they took away for analysis.
Some Kuwaiti officials who examined the fragments said they believed an errant American cruise missile had been fired from the Persian Gulf toward Iraq. "It was an American cruise missile, we know from the markings and writing on it," said a Kuwaiti police colonel who did not give his name. "It doesn't go up, it comes in low from the sea, and that's why there was no alert." [...]
Kuwait becomes the fifth Gulf state to feel the effects of 'precision-guided liberation.'
KUWAIT, Saturday, March 29 — An explosion rocked an empty shopping mall on the waterfront early today in Kuwait City, the capital, sending a huge plume of white smoke towering into the sky. Kuwaiti officials said a missile that had landed in the water nearby was responsible.
Witnesses who gathered shortly after the explosion at 1:45 a.m. local time could see a twisted piece of metal on the esplanade near the shoreline about the size of a wastebasket and bearing the number "5420" in red. The words "place" and "protractor" could also be made out on a shard. Emergency workers put fragments into bags that they took away for analysis.
Some Kuwaiti officials who examined the fragments said they believed an errant American cruise missile had been fired from the Persian Gulf toward Iraq. "It was an American cruise missile, we know from the markings and writing on it," said a Kuwaiti police colonel who did not give his name. "It doesn't go up, it comes in low from the sea, and that's why there was no alert." [...]
Kuwait becomes the fifth Gulf state to feel the effects of 'precision-guided liberation.'
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 31, 2003
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Outrage Spreads in Arab World
Civilian Deaths in Baghdad Market Called a 'Massacre'
CAIRO, March 29 -- A shuddering sense of outrage at President Bush and the United States fell over the Arab world today as television networks and newspapers reported a U.S. air assault that Iraqi officials said killed 58 people at a vegetable market in Baghdad.
"Monstrous martyrdom in Baghdad," said a huge headline in al-Dustur, a newspaper in Amman, Jordan.
"Dreadful massacre in Baghdad," read a banner headline in Egypt's mass circulation Akhbar al-Yawm newspaper. Photos of two young victims of the blast covered half its front page.
"Yet another massacre by the coalition of invaders," read the main headline in Saudi Arabia's popular al-Riyadh daily.
The popular al-Jazeera satellite television network broadcast the funerals of those killed at the market. It repeatedly showed pictures of severed body parts and wounded toddlers bandaged and crying in hospital beds. [...]
Civilian Deaths in Baghdad Market Called a 'Massacre'
CAIRO, March 29 -- A shuddering sense of outrage at President Bush and the United States fell over the Arab world today as television networks and newspapers reported a U.S. air assault that Iraqi officials said killed 58 people at a vegetable market in Baghdad.
"Monstrous martyrdom in Baghdad," said a huge headline in al-Dustur, a newspaper in Amman, Jordan.
"Dreadful massacre in Baghdad," read a banner headline in Egypt's mass circulation Akhbar al-Yawm newspaper. Photos of two young victims of the blast covered half its front page.
"Yet another massacre by the coalition of invaders," read the main headline in Saudi Arabia's popular al-Riyadh daily.
The popular al-Jazeera satellite television network broadcast the funerals of those killed at the market. It repeatedly showed pictures of severed body parts and wounded toddlers bandaged and crying in hospital beds. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Would the real George Bush please stand down
It has long been suspected that Mr Bush employs a string of lookalikes for difficult or dangerous speaking engagements, some of whom may have had their ears specially enlarged for the task.
Most of those who regularly monitor Mr Bush's speech patterns believe that it was the genuine article who spoke at Central Command HQ in Florida yesterday, pointing to a characteristic tendency toward quasi-biblical phrasing - "There will be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime, and that day is drawing in near" - and an almost total absence of words of more than three syllables.
Other experts disagree, pointing out that these consistencies originate with speech writers rather then the president himself, and that Bush's main vocal technique - the bewildered pause - is only too easy to imitate. [...]
It has long been suspected that Mr Bush employs a string of lookalikes for difficult or dangerous speaking engagements, some of whom may have had their ears specially enlarged for the task.
Most of those who regularly monitor Mr Bush's speech patterns believe that it was the genuine article who spoke at Central Command HQ in Florida yesterday, pointing to a characteristic tendency toward quasi-biblical phrasing - "There will be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime, and that day is drawing in near" - and an almost total absence of words of more than three syllables.
Other experts disagree, pointing out that these consistencies originate with speech writers rather then the president himself, and that Bush's main vocal technique - the bewildered pause - is only too easy to imitate. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Blood on the Tracks
Bushist Party Feeds on Fear and War
Before the first cruise missile crushed the first skull of the first child killed in the first installment of George W. Bush's crusade for world dominion, the unelected plutocrats occupying the White House were already plying their corporate cronies with fat contracts to "repair" the murderous devastation they were about to unleash on Iraq. There was, of course, no open bidding allowed in the process; just a few "selected" companies--selected for their preponderance of campaign bribes to the Bushist Party, that is - "invited" to submit their wish lists to the War Profiteer-in-Chief.
It should come as no surprise that one of the leading beneficiaries of this hugger-mugger largess is our old friend, Halliburton Corporation, the military-energy servicing conglomerate. Halliburton, headed by Vice Profiteer Dick Cheney until the Bushist coup d'etat in 2000, is already reaping billions from the Bush wars--which Cheney himself tells us "might not end in our lifetime." [...]
Related:
Fanning the Flames: Cheney’s Halliburton ties come under increasing scrutiny
The stock market may be suffering, but Operation Iraqi Freedom has sure been good for business at Halliburton, the Houston oil-services company famous for its former CEO, Dick Cheney.
Bushist Party Feeds on Fear and War
Before the first cruise missile crushed the first skull of the first child killed in the first installment of George W. Bush's crusade for world dominion, the unelected plutocrats occupying the White House were already plying their corporate cronies with fat contracts to "repair" the murderous devastation they were about to unleash on Iraq. There was, of course, no open bidding allowed in the process; just a few "selected" companies--selected for their preponderance of campaign bribes to the Bushist Party, that is - "invited" to submit their wish lists to the War Profiteer-in-Chief.
It should come as no surprise that one of the leading beneficiaries of this hugger-mugger largess is our old friend, Halliburton Corporation, the military-energy servicing conglomerate. Halliburton, headed by Vice Profiteer Dick Cheney until the Bushist coup d'etat in 2000, is already reaping billions from the Bush wars--which Cheney himself tells us "might not end in our lifetime." [...]
Related:
Fanning the Flames: Cheney’s Halliburton ties come under increasing scrutiny
The stock market may be suffering, but Operation Iraqi Freedom has sure been good for business at Halliburton, the Houston oil-services company famous for its former CEO, Dick Cheney.
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
WHO LIED TO WHOM?
President Bush cited the [Nigerian] uranium deal, along with the aluminum tubes, in his State of the Union Message, on January 28th, while crediting Britain as the source of the information: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” He commented, “Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.”
Then the story fell apart. On March 7th, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, told the U.N. Security Council that the documents involving the Niger-Iraq uranium sale were fakes. “The I.A.E.A. has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents . . . are in fact not authentic,” ElBaradei said.
One senior I.A.E.A. official went further. He told me, “These documents are so bad that I cannot imagine that they came from a serious intelligence agency. It depresses me, given the low quality of the documents, that it was not stopped. At the level it reached, I would have expected more checking.”
The I.A.E.A. had first sought the documents last fall, shortly after the British government released its dossier. After months of pleading by the I.A.E.A., the United States turned them over to Jacques Baute, who is the director of the agency’s Iraq Nuclear Verification Office. [...]
President Bush cited the [Nigerian] uranium deal, along with the aluminum tubes, in his State of the Union Message, on January 28th, while crediting Britain as the source of the information: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” He commented, “Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.”
Then the story fell apart. On March 7th, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, told the U.N. Security Council that the documents involving the Niger-Iraq uranium sale were fakes. “The I.A.E.A. has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents . . . are in fact not authentic,” ElBaradei said.
One senior I.A.E.A. official went further. He told me, “These documents are so bad that I cannot imagine that they came from a serious intelligence agency. It depresses me, given the low quality of the documents, that it was not stopped. At the level it reached, I would have expected more checking.”
The I.A.E.A. had first sought the documents last fall, shortly after the British government released its dossier. After months of pleading by the I.A.E.A., the United States turned them over to Jacques Baute, who is the director of the agency’s Iraq Nuclear Verification Office. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Hollywood and politics have been in bed for a long time
Post-Afghanistan, Bosnia and September 11 we have had some major examples of propaganda films: Spy Games, Behind Enemy Lines, Black Hawk Down and Collateral Damage. Even Minority Report, a science fiction film that proves Tom Cruise still won't be able to act in the future, was about the need to sacrifice civil liberties to enable the authorities to do their work - and meanwhile the US Government was legislating itself to greater powers. The Sum of All Fears, a movie soon to be released, is about the terrorist detonation of a nuclear device at an American sporting event. And there will be more.
The White House had a meeting with movers and shakers in Hollywood in November 2001 asking their co-operation in the message that needed to go out post-September 11.
Remember Laura from Little House on the Prairie? In real life she's Melissa Gilbert, the president of the American Screen Actors Guild, and according to E! Online she was at that meeting, with the chiefs at Paramount and Walt Disney among others. One attendee, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti, said the meeting was about "contributing Hollywood's creative imagination and their persuasive skills to help in this war effort". [...]
Related:
White House and studios join forces - BBC
Hollywood considers role in war effort - CNN
Hollywood, D.C - The Globe and Mail
Post-Afghanistan, Bosnia and September 11 we have had some major examples of propaganda films: Spy Games, Behind Enemy Lines, Black Hawk Down and Collateral Damage. Even Minority Report, a science fiction film that proves Tom Cruise still won't be able to act in the future, was about the need to sacrifice civil liberties to enable the authorities to do their work - and meanwhile the US Government was legislating itself to greater powers. The Sum of All Fears, a movie soon to be released, is about the terrorist detonation of a nuclear device at an American sporting event. And there will be more.
The White House had a meeting with movers and shakers in Hollywood in November 2001 asking their co-operation in the message that needed to go out post-September 11.
Remember Laura from Little House on the Prairie? In real life she's Melissa Gilbert, the president of the American Screen Actors Guild, and according to E! Online she was at that meeting, with the chiefs at Paramount and Walt Disney among others. One attendee, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti, said the meeting was about "contributing Hollywood's creative imagination and their persuasive skills to help in this war effort". [...]
Related:
White House and studios join forces - BBC
Hollywood considers role in war effort - CNN
Hollywood, D.C - The Globe and Mail
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Support the Warrior Not the War: Give Them Their Benefits!
The recent rally cry "Support Our Troops" seems to me little more than a perverted, propaganda ploy to "Support the War." But we can support our troops, without supporting the war, by rectifying some of the following conditions.
The House of Representatives have recently voted on the 2004 budget which will cut funding for veteran's health care and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. It narrowly passed by a vote of 215 to 212, and came just a day after Congress passed a resolution to "Support Our Troops." How exactly does this vote support our troops? Does leaving our current and future veterans veterans without access to health care and compensation qualify as supporting them?
The Veteran's Administration, plagued by recent budget cuts, has had to resort to charging new veterans entering into its system a yearly fee of $250 in order for them to receive treatment. It is a sad irony that the very people being sent to fight the war are going to have to pay to treat the effects of it. [...]
The recent rally cry "Support Our Troops" seems to me little more than a perverted, propaganda ploy to "Support the War." But we can support our troops, without supporting the war, by rectifying some of the following conditions.
The House of Representatives have recently voted on the 2004 budget which will cut funding for veteran's health care and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. It narrowly passed by a vote of 215 to 212, and came just a day after Congress passed a resolution to "Support Our Troops." How exactly does this vote support our troops? Does leaving our current and future veterans veterans without access to health care and compensation qualify as supporting them?
The Veteran's Administration, plagued by recent budget cuts, has had to resort to charging new veterans entering into its system a yearly fee of $250 in order for them to receive treatment. It is a sad irony that the very people being sent to fight the war are going to have to pay to treat the effects of it. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Film of PoWs within Geneva rules
Media organisations which show pictures of prisoners of war are not breaching the Geneva convention, international law experts confirmed yesterday. Article 13 of the third Geneva convention says PoWs must be humanely treated and "protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity". But the article does not prevent all photographs of prisoners, and newspapers and TV companies are not bound by the convention, which applies only to states or "detaining powers". [...]
Media organisations which show pictures of prisoners of war are not breaching the Geneva convention, international law experts confirmed yesterday. Article 13 of the third Geneva convention says PoWs must be humanely treated and "protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity". But the article does not prevent all photographs of prisoners, and newspapers and TV companies are not bound by the convention, which applies only to states or "detaining powers". [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Third stray coalition missile lands in Iran
TEHRAN: Iran government source said here on Wednesday further stray missile from the war in neighbouring Iraq has hit Iran, although it caused no casualties or damage.
U.S. missile falls in southeastern Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) The United States stopped firing missiles at Iraq through Turkish airspace Friday after a missile in flight fell in southeastern Turkey, a Turkish official said.
Stray US missiles hit Saudi Arabia
The Americans have had to rethink cruise missile routes in an embarrassing shift after up to five ship-fired Tomahawks aimed at Iraq landed in Saudi Arabia.
There is no comparison. The weapons that are being used today have a degree of precision that no one ever dreamt of in a prior conflict — they didn't exist. And it's not a handful of weapons; it's the overwhelming majority of weapons that have that precision.
- Donald Rumsfeld
TEHRAN: Iran government source said here on Wednesday further stray missile from the war in neighbouring Iraq has hit Iran, although it caused no casualties or damage.
U.S. missile falls in southeastern Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) The United States stopped firing missiles at Iraq through Turkish airspace Friday after a missile in flight fell in southeastern Turkey, a Turkish official said.
Stray US missiles hit Saudi Arabia
The Americans have had to rethink cruise missile routes in an embarrassing shift after up to five ship-fired Tomahawks aimed at Iraq landed in Saudi Arabia.
There is no comparison. The weapons that are being used today have a degree of precision that no one ever dreamt of in a prior conflict — they didn't exist. And it's not a handful of weapons; it's the overwhelming majority of weapons that have that precision.
- Donald Rumsfeld
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
BBC boss admits 'daily' mistakes in Iraq
A senior BBC News executive today admitted that the reporting of allied military claims in Iraq that later prove false, such as heralding the fall of Umm Qasr at least nine times, had "left the public feeling less well-informed than it should be".
Mark Damazer, the deputy director of BBC News, also admitted the BBC had been making mistakes "on a daily basis" during the first week of the Iraq conflict, but denied there was any deliberate bias towards either the pro or anti-war camps.
"I don't deny for a moment that the accumulation of things that have happened in the first week, such as the false claims about the fall of Umm Qasr and the surrender of the Iraqi 51st division, have left the public feeling they are not as well informed as they should be," Mr Damazer said. [...]
I'm not sure what a television news report with a deliberate bias towards the anti-war camp would sound like.
A senior BBC News executive today admitted that the reporting of allied military claims in Iraq that later prove false, such as heralding the fall of Umm Qasr at least nine times, had "left the public feeling less well-informed than it should be".
Mark Damazer, the deputy director of BBC News, also admitted the BBC had been making mistakes "on a daily basis" during the first week of the Iraq conflict, but denied there was any deliberate bias towards either the pro or anti-war camps.
"I don't deny for a moment that the accumulation of things that have happened in the first week, such as the false claims about the fall of Umm Qasr and the surrender of the Iraqi 51st division, have left the public feeling they are not as well informed as they should be," Mr Damazer said. [...]
I'm not sure what a television news report with a deliberate bias towards the anti-war camp would sound like.
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Americans are on Their Own Now, Lone Rangers, Riding Toward the Sunset
PARIS -- Last Friday the most prominent of Washington's neoconservative policy groups, the American Enterprise Institute, held what one witness, a Financial Times correspondent, described as a "victory celebration."
Richard Perle, corporate consultant and member of the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board, told the audience that the Iraq war was going well - that "there are more anti-war demonstrators in San Francisco than Iraqis willing to defend Saddam Hussein." He said that the pro-American coalition was growing, and Saddam Hussein's fall would be "an inspiration" to Iranians.
The members of the group, which is described as "the Bush administration ideological vanguard," discussed what to do about Iran, considered by them as even more dangerous than Iraq, in terms of its nuclear weapons program.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel has already told visiting U.S. congressmen that Iran, Libya and Syria must be stripped of nuclear weapons, and Undersecretary of State John Bolton replied to him that it would be necessary to deal not only with Syria and Iran but also with North Korea. Israel's defense minister has already asked American friends of Israel to press for action against Iran. [...]
Ariel Sharon cited Israel's highly successful campaign of stripping the Palestinians of their nuclear weapons.
PARIS -- Last Friday the most prominent of Washington's neoconservative policy groups, the American Enterprise Institute, held what one witness, a Financial Times correspondent, described as a "victory celebration."
Richard Perle, corporate consultant and member of the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board, told the audience that the Iraq war was going well - that "there are more anti-war demonstrators in San Francisco than Iraqis willing to defend Saddam Hussein." He said that the pro-American coalition was growing, and Saddam Hussein's fall would be "an inspiration" to Iranians.
The members of the group, which is described as "the Bush administration ideological vanguard," discussed what to do about Iran, considered by them as even more dangerous than Iraq, in terms of its nuclear weapons program.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel has already told visiting U.S. congressmen that Iran, Libya and Syria must be stripped of nuclear weapons, and Undersecretary of State John Bolton replied to him that it would be necessary to deal not only with Syria and Iran but also with North Korea. Israel's defense minister has already asked American friends of Israel to press for action against Iran. [...]
Ariel Sharon cited Israel's highly successful campaign of stripping the Palestinians of their nuclear weapons.
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
In Australia, Ehud Barak suggests all Iraqi WMD stored in Baghdad
Former prime minister Ehud Barak spoke to journalists in Melbourne recently about the war in Iraq, The Australian reports. Barak praised Australia's contribution to the war as "very important to Bush and Blair symbolically, but it is also important operationally since you supply something which is in very short supply, namely special forces."
Barak told the reporters he believes the war could take another 5-9 weeks: another week or two to completely surround Baghdad, and a further month or two to depose Hussein. He noted that every serious intelligence service has hard evidence that Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. "But it's hard intelligence evidence," he said, "not hard evidence you could use in a court." [...]
Former prime minister Ehud Barak spoke to journalists in Melbourne recently about the war in Iraq, The Australian reports. Barak praised Australia's contribution to the war as "very important to Bush and Blair symbolically, but it is also important operationally since you supply something which is in very short supply, namely special forces."
Barak told the reporters he believes the war could take another 5-9 weeks: another week or two to completely surround Baghdad, and a further month or two to depose Hussein. He noted that every serious intelligence service has hard evidence that Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. "But it's hard intelligence evidence," he said, "not hard evidence you could use in a court." [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
US turns sights on Syria and Iran
THE war in Iraq threatened to spill over into neighbouring countries yesterday when Washington warned Syria and Iran to stay out of the fight. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, accused Syria of arming President Saddam Hussein. He said the shipments, including nightvision goggles, were a direct threat to US and British forces and he added that Washington would hold Damascus accountable for “hostile acts” if the traffic continued.
Mr Rumsfeld said the movement of military supplies, equipment and people across the Syrian border “vastly complicates our situation”. Asked if he was threatening Damascus with military action, he replied: “I’m saying exactly what I’m saying. It was carefully phrased.”
Mr Rumsfeld also said that hundreds of revolutionaries of the Badr Corps, who are trained, equipped and directed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard, were operating inside Iraq. He said American forces would be forced to treat them as enemy “combatants” and the Iranian Government would be held responsible for their actions. [...]
THE war in Iraq threatened to spill over into neighbouring countries yesterday when Washington warned Syria and Iran to stay out of the fight. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, accused Syria of arming President Saddam Hussein. He said the shipments, including nightvision goggles, were a direct threat to US and British forces and he added that Washington would hold Damascus accountable for “hostile acts” if the traffic continued.
Mr Rumsfeld said the movement of military supplies, equipment and people across the Syrian border “vastly complicates our situation”. Asked if he was threatening Damascus with military action, he replied: “I’m saying exactly what I’m saying. It was carefully phrased.”
Mr Rumsfeld also said that hundreds of revolutionaries of the Badr Corps, who are trained, equipped and directed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard, were operating inside Iraq. He said American forces would be forced to treat them as enemy “combatants” and the Iranian Government would be held responsible for their actions. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Oscar winner targets Bush and bin Laden
Fresh from his Oscar ceremony tirade against a 'fictitious President' fighting a 'fictitious war', documentary-maker Michael Moore has said he is setting his sights on the alleged links between former President George Bush senior and the Saudi family of Osama bin Laden.
The film will look at the alleged 'murky relationship' between Bush senior, controversial defence investment firm the Carlyle Group, and the bin Laden family. According to Moore, the former President had a business relationship with bin Laden's father, Mohammed, who left $300 million to his son. Although the bin Laden family has severed its ties with Osama, 'the senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after 11 September,' Moore claimed. [...]
must reads:
Friendly Fire: U.S. Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba
NEW YORK (ABC News) — In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. [...]
Fresh from his Oscar ceremony tirade against a 'fictitious President' fighting a 'fictitious war', documentary-maker Michael Moore has said he is setting his sights on the alleged links between former President George Bush senior and the Saudi family of Osama bin Laden.
The film will look at the alleged 'murky relationship' between Bush senior, controversial defence investment firm the Carlyle Group, and the bin Laden family. According to Moore, the former President had a business relationship with bin Laden's father, Mohammed, who left $300 million to his son. Although the bin Laden family has severed its ties with Osama, 'the senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after 11 September,' Moore claimed. [...]
must reads:
Friendly Fire: U.S. Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba
NEW YORK (ABC News) — In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 30, 2003
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Follow up to 'Operation Inflate the Coalition':
US 'mistakes' Slovenia for partner in war
The United States has mistakenly named Slovenia as a partner in its war against Iraq. Slovenian Prime Minister Anton Rop says the US even offered his country a share of the money budgeted for the conflict. He says when asked for an explanation the US State Department admitted Slovenia was named in a document by mistake. Slovenia now will not get the $7.5 million it was mistakenly offered in the US war budget.
It's been a tough week for the 'coalition of the willing.' The recent loss of Slovenia comes on the heels of mixed signals from Angola - and has raised concerns about the commitment of other key members such as Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and the Solomon Islands. To make matters worse - when asked if Iceland would be supplying troops, Ambassador Helgi Agustsson gave a hearty Scandinavian guffaw - "Of course not -- we have no military."
The only positive for the coalition was Morocco's offer of 2,000 monkeys to help detonate land mines.
US 'mistakes' Slovenia for partner in war
The United States has mistakenly named Slovenia as a partner in its war against Iraq. Slovenian Prime Minister Anton Rop says the US even offered his country a share of the money budgeted for the conflict. He says when asked for an explanation the US State Department admitted Slovenia was named in a document by mistake. Slovenia now will not get the $7.5 million it was mistakenly offered in the US war budget.
It's been a tough week for the 'coalition of the willing.' The recent loss of Slovenia comes on the heels of mixed signals from Angola - and has raised concerns about the commitment of other key members such as Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and the Solomon Islands. To make matters worse - when asked if Iceland would be supplying troops, Ambassador Helgi Agustsson gave a hearty Scandinavian guffaw - "Of course not -- we have no military."
The only positive for the coalition was Morocco's offer of 2,000 monkeys to help detonate land mines.
themassesareasses© on blogger Saturday, March 29, 2003
US Pilots 'Bask in Glory' of Bombing Baghdad
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (Reuters) - American pilots who bombed Baghdad on Friday spoke of the thrill of a successful attack in the teeth of fierce anti-aircraft fire. "It was exhilarating," Commander Jeff Penfield said after landing his F/A-18E Super Hornet back on the Abraham Lincoln, which is supporting the U.S.-led invasion force from the Gulf.
"It was all nice and calm in the city," he said. "Once those bombs hit all hell broke loose. I bet we saw 15 SAMs (surface-to-air missiles), about three or four up our way so we had to defend a couple of times. [...]
And this is how the U.S. defends itself:
'Many dead' in Baghdad blast
At least 50 civilians are believed to have been killed during an air raid on a Baghdad market, Iraqi authorities say. Graphic television pictures showed people scrabbling through rubble to reach the dead and injured amid the wreckage in the Shula residential area of the city.
Reports of the blast came as coalition forces renewed night-time bombing across the Iraqi capital. Dr Osama Sakhari from al-Noor Hospital near the market told Reuters news agency he had counted 55 people killed and more than 47 wounded from Friday's attack. He said one baby had died in his arms. [...]
The United States continues to violate the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons. Make no mistake - this massacre of innocent civilians is a war crime.
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (Reuters) - American pilots who bombed Baghdad on Friday spoke of the thrill of a successful attack in the teeth of fierce anti-aircraft fire. "It was exhilarating," Commander Jeff Penfield said after landing his F/A-18E Super Hornet back on the Abraham Lincoln, which is supporting the U.S.-led invasion force from the Gulf.
"It was all nice and calm in the city," he said. "Once those bombs hit all hell broke loose. I bet we saw 15 SAMs (surface-to-air missiles), about three or four up our way so we had to defend a couple of times. [...]
And this is how the U.S. defends itself:
'Many dead' in Baghdad blast
At least 50 civilians are believed to have been killed during an air raid on a Baghdad market, Iraqi authorities say. Graphic television pictures showed people scrabbling through rubble to reach the dead and injured amid the wreckage in the Shula residential area of the city.
Reports of the blast came as coalition forces renewed night-time bombing across the Iraqi capital. Dr Osama Sakhari from al-Noor Hospital near the market told Reuters news agency he had counted 55 people killed and more than 47 wounded from Friday's attack. He said one baby had died in his arms. [...]
The United States continues to violate the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons. Make no mistake - this massacre of innocent civilians is a war crime.
themassesareasses© on blogger Saturday, March 29, 2003
UN accuses Israel of illegal land grab
Against a background of fresh violence in the West Bank and a call for the United States to publish its "road map" for peace in the Middle East, the United Nations has questioned the legality of Israel's security wall.
A UN investigator said the wall Israel says is to protect its citizens from Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers was an illegal "creeping annexation" of Palestinian territory. "The wall is being used as a way of expanding Israel's territory," the special rapporteur, John Dugard, said on Thursday before presenting a report to the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights. "It amounts to illegal territorial gain."
Israel's Defence Ministry this week proposed extending the fence, which roughly follows the frontier with the West Bank, deeper into the West Bank to protect the Jewish settlements of Ariel, Emmanuel and Keddumim. [...]
Against a background of fresh violence in the West Bank and a call for the United States to publish its "road map" for peace in the Middle East, the United Nations has questioned the legality of Israel's security wall.
A UN investigator said the wall Israel says is to protect its citizens from Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers was an illegal "creeping annexation" of Palestinian territory. "The wall is being used as a way of expanding Israel's territory," the special rapporteur, John Dugard, said on Thursday before presenting a report to the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights. "It amounts to illegal territorial gain."
Israel's Defence Ministry this week proposed extending the fence, which roughly follows the frontier with the West Bank, deeper into the West Bank to protect the Jewish settlements of Ariel, Emmanuel and Keddumim. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Saturday, March 29, 2003
Friday, March 28, 2003
Israeli Fence May Cut Deeper Into West Bank
JERUSALEM (NY Times) — Israel's Defense Ministry wants to push a security fence deeper into the West Bank, where it would bring another 40,000 Jewish settlers and around 3,000 Palestinians to the Israeli side, officials said today. Palestinians sharply criticized the plan, saying it would undermine a United States-backed proposal that is intended to restart peace talks and lead to a Palestinian state. "This is part of the ongoing Israeli effort to deepen its occupation," said Nabil Shaath, a Palestinian cabinet minister.
Israel began erecting the barrier last year, saying that the aim was to stymie Palestinian suicide bombers, and that it is not a border. The initial stage of the fence roughly follows the frontier of the West Bank, though it dips into the West Bank in several places. The new proposal cuts deep into the West Bank to protect several Jewish settlements, including two large ones, Ariel and Immanuel, not far from the Palestinian city of Nablus.
Mr. Sharon took Cabinet members on a field trip last week to see the work on the fence, which includes ditches, patrol roads and electronic detection systems and is about 50 yards wide. His government has agreed in principle to fence off the entire West Bank, a distance of about 225 miles. The prime minister also called last week for a north-south fence in the Jordan Valley, which would run parallel to the border with Jordan, with Jewish settlers inside the protected corridor. [...]
JERUSALEM (NY Times) — Israel's Defense Ministry wants to push a security fence deeper into the West Bank, where it would bring another 40,000 Jewish settlers and around 3,000 Palestinians to the Israeli side, officials said today. Palestinians sharply criticized the plan, saying it would undermine a United States-backed proposal that is intended to restart peace talks and lead to a Palestinian state. "This is part of the ongoing Israeli effort to deepen its occupation," said Nabil Shaath, a Palestinian cabinet minister.
Israel began erecting the barrier last year, saying that the aim was to stymie Palestinian suicide bombers, and that it is not a border. The initial stage of the fence roughly follows the frontier of the West Bank, though it dips into the West Bank in several places. The new proposal cuts deep into the West Bank to protect several Jewish settlements, including two large ones, Ariel and Immanuel, not far from the Palestinian city of Nablus.
Mr. Sharon took Cabinet members on a field trip last week to see the work on the fence, which includes ditches, patrol roads and electronic detection systems and is about 50 yards wide. His government has agreed in principle to fence off the entire West Bank, a distance of about 225 miles. The prime minister also called last week for a north-south fence in the Jordan Valley, which would run parallel to the border with Jordan, with Jewish settlers inside the protected corridor. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, March 28, 2003
Fighting for Their Independence
LONDON, 28 March 2003 — The Anglo-American war now being fought in the Middle East is without question the most flagrant act of aggression carried out by a British government in modern times. The assault on Iraq which began a week ago, in the teeth of global and national opinion, was launched without even the flimsiest Iraqi provocation or threat to Britain or the US, in breach of the UN Charter and international law, and in defiance of the majority of states represented on the UN Security Council.
It is necessary to descend deep into the mire of the colonial era to find some sort of precedent or parallel for this piratical onslaught. However wrong or unnecessary, every previous British war for the past 80 years or more has been fought in response to some invasion, rebellion, civil war or emergency. Even in the most crudely rapacious case of Suez, there was at least a challenge in the form of the nationalization of the canal. Not so with Iraq, where the regime was actually destroying missiles with which it might have hoped to defend itself only a couple of days before the start of the US-led attack. [...]
LONDON, 28 March 2003 — The Anglo-American war now being fought in the Middle East is without question the most flagrant act of aggression carried out by a British government in modern times. The assault on Iraq which began a week ago, in the teeth of global and national opinion, was launched without even the flimsiest Iraqi provocation or threat to Britain or the US, in breach of the UN Charter and international law, and in defiance of the majority of states represented on the UN Security Council.
It is necessary to descend deep into the mire of the colonial era to find some sort of precedent or parallel for this piratical onslaught. However wrong or unnecessary, every previous British war for the past 80 years or more has been fought in response to some invasion, rebellion, civil war or emergency. Even in the most crudely rapacious case of Suez, there was at least a challenge in the form of the nationalization of the canal. Not so with Iraq, where the regime was actually destroying missiles with which it might have hoped to defend itself only a couple of days before the start of the US-led attack. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, March 28, 2003
Fog of Coverage Paved the Way for War
Over the past few days, the mainstream print media have devoted acres of verbiage to how TV is coping with the incoming information bombardment. Not very well, it seems. The U.K.'s Guardian, just to cite one paper, turned out a devastating analysis yesterday, examining all the flip-flops TV made on the Basra uprising, or not, and the taking, or not, of Umm Qasr.
Yesterday, the trade publication Editor & Publisher, in an indictment of the media, used recent poll data to prove just how badly news organizations have failed the public. "Thousands of American soldiers have marched into Iraq, bombs are falling, and oil fields are ablaze," writes Ari Berman. "But when the war dies down, editors and media analysts should catch their breath and ask themselves: How much did press coverage (or lack of coverage) contribute to the public backing for a pre-emptive invasion without the support of the United Nations?"
Which leads to one of the most irritating aspects of the war coverage: the heavy reliance on tech talk and generals discussing strategy with pointers in map pits, all of which is supposed to pass for context and analysis. As filmmaker Michael Moore told CNN's Brown late Tuesday night, "Thanks for letting me be the first non-general on here in the last few days." [...]
Over the past few days, the mainstream print media have devoted acres of verbiage to how TV is coping with the incoming information bombardment. Not very well, it seems. The U.K.'s Guardian, just to cite one paper, turned out a devastating analysis yesterday, examining all the flip-flops TV made on the Basra uprising, or not, and the taking, or not, of Umm Qasr.
Yesterday, the trade publication Editor & Publisher, in an indictment of the media, used recent poll data to prove just how badly news organizations have failed the public. "Thousands of American soldiers have marched into Iraq, bombs are falling, and oil fields are ablaze," writes Ari Berman. "But when the war dies down, editors and media analysts should catch their breath and ask themselves: How much did press coverage (or lack of coverage) contribute to the public backing for a pre-emptive invasion without the support of the United Nations?"
Which leads to one of the most irritating aspects of the war coverage: the heavy reliance on tech talk and generals discussing strategy with pointers in map pits, all of which is supposed to pass for context and analysis. As filmmaker Michael Moore told CNN's Brown late Tuesday night, "Thanks for letting me be the first non-general on here in the last few days." [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, March 28, 2003
(via Global Underground)
There are increasing signs that the U.S. political and economic elites are laying the groundwork to make the Bush administration, specifically Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Perle and Wolfowitz, sacrificial scapegoats for a failed policy in time to consolidate post 9-11 gains, regroup and move forward. These indications include: written press attacks on the Bush administration by select journalists long known for their loyalty and obedience to financial interests and the CIA; a growing revolt from within the intelligence communities of the U.S. and the U.K. including damaging leaks undermining the credibility of the administration; serious economic consequences closing in on the financial markets; growing signs of pending oil shortages; and indications that the use of forged documents by the Bush and Blair regimes may become the Watergate burglary of the 21st century.
- Michael C. Ruppert
There are increasing signs that the U.S. political and economic elites are laying the groundwork to make the Bush administration, specifically Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Perle and Wolfowitz, sacrificial scapegoats for a failed policy in time to consolidate post 9-11 gains, regroup and move forward. These indications include: written press attacks on the Bush administration by select journalists long known for their loyalty and obedience to financial interests and the CIA; a growing revolt from within the intelligence communities of the U.S. and the U.K. including damaging leaks undermining the credibility of the administration; serious economic consequences closing in on the financial markets; growing signs of pending oil shortages; and indications that the use of forged documents by the Bush and Blair regimes may become the Watergate burglary of the 21st century.
- Michael C. Ruppert
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, March 28, 2003
Why Some Neo-Cons Are Wrong About U.S. Foreign Policy
One of the more egregious misreadings of history is that of some neoconservatives, who complain that Clinton has not gone far enough in the promotion of American ideals worldwide. They want the United States to exercise nothing less than a “benevolent global hegemony.” They claim that only by crusading on behalf of universal democratic principles can the United States remain true to its birthright. And they insist that such a crusade would amount to a neo-Reaganite policy. They have every right to preach their crusade, they may even be right to preach their crusade. But in my judgment they are grossly wrong to drape their crusade in the mantle of Ronald Reagan.
William Kristol and Robert Kagan first sounded this trumpet in Foreign Affairs (“Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy," July-August 1996). They began by noting that conservatives today are adrift— no argument there— because even though conservatives disdain the soft multilateralism of Bill Clinton and the neoisolationism of Patrick Buchanan, they have found no alternative apart from “some version of the conservative 'realism' of Henry Kissinger and his disciples.” Hence the need for someone to outline a genuinely “conservative view of the world and America’s proper role in it.” The authors then move on to compare our situation today to that of the mid-1970s, when Richard Nixon and Kissinger practiced realpolitik and allegedly lost sight of American values. Reagan challenged the “tepid consensus" that “accepted the inevitability of America’s declining power.” In the 1976 campaign he called for “an end to complacency in the face of the Soviet threat,” insisted on "moral clarity and purpose in U.S. foreign policy,” and "championed American exceptionalism when it was deeply unfashionable.” He lost out that year because, the authors relate, Democrats and even most Republicans were still reeling from the Vietnam War and were “appalled by Reagan’s zealotry.” But he did transform the Republican Party and, after his win in 1980, transformed the world as well. [...]
Walter McDougall dissects the neo-conservative ideological coup — in December of 1997.
One of the more egregious misreadings of history is that of some neoconservatives, who complain that Clinton has not gone far enough in the promotion of American ideals worldwide. They want the United States to exercise nothing less than a “benevolent global hegemony.” They claim that only by crusading on behalf of universal democratic principles can the United States remain true to its birthright. And they insist that such a crusade would amount to a neo-Reaganite policy. They have every right to preach their crusade, they may even be right to preach their crusade. But in my judgment they are grossly wrong to drape their crusade in the mantle of Ronald Reagan.
William Kristol and Robert Kagan first sounded this trumpet in Foreign Affairs (“Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy," July-August 1996). They began by noting that conservatives today are adrift— no argument there— because even though conservatives disdain the soft multilateralism of Bill Clinton and the neoisolationism of Patrick Buchanan, they have found no alternative apart from “some version of the conservative 'realism' of Henry Kissinger and his disciples.” Hence the need for someone to outline a genuinely “conservative view of the world and America’s proper role in it.” The authors then move on to compare our situation today to that of the mid-1970s, when Richard Nixon and Kissinger practiced realpolitik and allegedly lost sight of American values. Reagan challenged the “tepid consensus" that “accepted the inevitability of America’s declining power.” In the 1976 campaign he called for “an end to complacency in the face of the Soviet threat,” insisted on "moral clarity and purpose in U.S. foreign policy,” and "championed American exceptionalism when it was deeply unfashionable.” He lost out that year because, the authors relate, Democrats and even most Republicans were still reeling from the Vietnam War and were “appalled by Reagan’s zealotry.” But he did transform the Republican Party and, after his win in 1980, transformed the world as well. [...]
Walter McDougall dissects the neo-conservative ideological coup — in December of 1997.
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, March 28, 2003
Unpatriotic Conservatives
A war against America.
From the very beginning of the War on Terror, there has been dissent, and as the war has proceeded to Iraq, the dissent has grown more radical and more vociferous. Perhaps that was to be expected. But here is what never could have been: Some of the leading figures in this antiwar movement call themselves "conservatives."
These conservatives are relatively few in number, but their ambitions are large. They aspire to reinvent conservative ideology: to junk the 50-year-old conservative commitment to defend American interests and values throughout the world — the commitment that inspired the founding of this magazine — in favor of a fearful policy of ignoring threats and appeasing enemies.
And they are exerting influence. When Richard Perle appeared on Meet the Press on February 23 of this year, Tim Russert asked him, "Can you assure American viewers . . . 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?" Perle rebutted the allegation. But what a grand victory for the antiwar conservatives that Russert felt he had to air it.
You may know the names of these antiwar conservatives. Some are famous: Patrick Buchanan and Robert Novak. Others are not: Llewellyn Rockwell, Samuel Francis, Thomas Fleming, Scott McConnell, Justin Raimondo, Joe Sobran, Charley Reese, Jude Wanniski, Eric Margolis, and Taki Theodoracopulos. [...]
The Nazi speechwriter's continuing effort to reinvent the political spectrum.
Related:
Robert Novak defends himself
A war against America.
From the very beginning of the War on Terror, there has been dissent, and as the war has proceeded to Iraq, the dissent has grown more radical and more vociferous. Perhaps that was to be expected. But here is what never could have been: Some of the leading figures in this antiwar movement call themselves "conservatives."
These conservatives are relatively few in number, but their ambitions are large. They aspire to reinvent conservative ideology: to junk the 50-year-old conservative commitment to defend American interests and values throughout the world — the commitment that inspired the founding of this magazine — in favor of a fearful policy of ignoring threats and appeasing enemies.
And they are exerting influence. When Richard Perle appeared on Meet the Press on February 23 of this year, Tim Russert asked him, "Can you assure American viewers . . . 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?" Perle rebutted the allegation. But what a grand victory for the antiwar conservatives that Russert felt he had to air it.
You may know the names of these antiwar conservatives. Some are famous: Patrick Buchanan and Robert Novak. Others are not: Llewellyn Rockwell, Samuel Francis, Thomas Fleming, Scott McConnell, Justin Raimondo, Joe Sobran, Charley Reese, Jude Wanniski, Eric Margolis, and Taki Theodoracopulos. [...]
The Nazi speechwriter's continuing effort to reinvent the political spectrum.
Related:
Robert Novak defends himself
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, March 28, 2003
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Richard Perle Resigns
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Former U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Perle has resigned from the chairmanship of the Defense Policy Board, according to an NBC News report Thursday. The board is a group that advises U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on a range of policy and strategic defense matters.
Perle has been the focus of criticism in recent days following disclosure that he sought defense-related consulting business while serving as the head of the board. Perle is also an adviser to Global Grossing, the telecommunications company seeking to overcome Pentagon objections to its proposed sale to Asian investors.
In a brief written statement, Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service and made no mention of why Perle resigned, The Associated Press reported. He said he had asked Perle to remain as a member of the board. Perle was an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration. He took the advisory board chairman's post early in Rumsfeld's tenure.
It is believed that the Prince of Darkness resigned in order to devote himself fully to passing classified information to the Israelis - and fighting 'terrorists like Sy Hersh'.
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Former U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Perle has resigned from the chairmanship of the Defense Policy Board, according to an NBC News report Thursday. The board is a group that advises U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on a range of policy and strategic defense matters.
Perle has been the focus of criticism in recent days following disclosure that he sought defense-related consulting business while serving as the head of the board. Perle is also an adviser to Global Grossing, the telecommunications company seeking to overcome Pentagon objections to its proposed sale to Asian investors.
In a brief written statement, Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service and made no mention of why Perle resigned, The Associated Press reported. He said he had asked Perle to remain as a member of the board. Perle was an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration. He took the advisory board chairman's post early in Rumsfeld's tenure.
It is believed that the Prince of Darkness resigned in order to devote himself fully to passing classified information to the Israelis - and fighting 'terrorists like Sy Hersh'.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Rumsfeld Rejects Any Cease-Fire in Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite possible calls in the United Nations for a cease-fire, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday there would be no halt in the Iraq war until President Saddam Hussein was removed from power in Baghdad.
"I have no idea what some country might propose, but there isn't going to be a cease-fire," the American defense chief told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.
The secretary spoke at a hearing on congressional approval of President Bush's request for supplementary funding of $74.7 billion for war-related spending. [...]
cha-ching
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite possible calls in the United Nations for a cease-fire, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday there would be no halt in the Iraq war until President Saddam Hussein was removed from power in Baghdad.
"I have no idea what some country might propose, but there isn't going to be a cease-fire," the American defense chief told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.
The secretary spoke at a hearing on congressional approval of President Bush's request for supplementary funding of $74.7 billion for war-related spending. [...]
cha-ching
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
'Dead bodies are everywhere'
The destruction of Safwan Hill was a priority because it had sophisticated surveillance equipment near the main highway that runs from Kuwait up to Basra and then Baghdad. The attacking forces could not attempt to cross the border unless it was destroyed.
Marine Cobra helicopter gunships firing Hellfire missiles swept in low from the south. Then the marine howitzers, with a range of 30 kilometres, opened a sustained barrage over the next eight hours. They were supported by US Navy aircraft which dropped 40,000 pounds of explosives and napalm, a US officer told the Herald. But a navy spokesman in Washington, Lieutenant Commander Danny Hernandez, denied that napalm - which was banned by a United Nations convention in 1980 - was used.
"We don't even have that in our arsenal," he said.
The navy admitted to using napalm as late as 1993 in training exercises on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, but the last cannister of a vast US naval stockpile was reportedly destroyed in a public ceremony in April 2001. [...]
The destruction of Safwan Hill was a priority because it had sophisticated surveillance equipment near the main highway that runs from Kuwait up to Basra and then Baghdad. The attacking forces could not attempt to cross the border unless it was destroyed.
Marine Cobra helicopter gunships firing Hellfire missiles swept in low from the south. Then the marine howitzers, with a range of 30 kilometres, opened a sustained barrage over the next eight hours. They were supported by US Navy aircraft which dropped 40,000 pounds of explosives and napalm, a US officer told the Herald. But a navy spokesman in Washington, Lieutenant Commander Danny Hernandez, denied that napalm - which was banned by a United Nations convention in 1980 - was used.
"We don't even have that in our arsenal," he said.
The navy admitted to using napalm as late as 1993 in training exercises on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, but the last cannister of a vast US naval stockpile was reportedly destroyed in a public ceremony in April 2001. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Gov't Defends Extentions of Detentions
WASHINGTON - The extended war on terrorism in Afghanistan justifies the detention of an American-born Taliban fighter without most legal rights, the Bush administration told an appeals court.
The administration urged the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stand by its January ruling that the government may detain U.S. citizens captured overseas as enemy combatants without filing charges or allowing them to see attorneys. [...]
They wouldn't want to compromise 'national security' by having the 9/11 'evidence' get into the wrong hands.
WASHINGTON - The extended war on terrorism in Afghanistan justifies the detention of an American-born Taliban fighter without most legal rights, the Bush administration told an appeals court.
The administration urged the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stand by its January ruling that the government may detain U.S. citizens captured overseas as enemy combatants without filing charges or allowing them to see attorneys. [...]
They wouldn't want to compromise 'national security' by having the 9/11 'evidence' get into the wrong hands.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
US admits '8,000 Iraqis captured' claim was false
The US military has been forced to admit the 8,000 Iraqi soldiers they claimed to have captured last week are now battling British forces. Iraq's 51st Infantry Division, which has about 200 tanks, is now engaged in the southern city of Basra.
The Pentagon is claiming the confusion is the work of the Fedayeen Saddam - Saddam Hussein's most trusted paramilitary unit. The US is accusing it of organising the tactic of posing as civilians and faking surrenders.
Defence Department officials reported on Friday that they had won the surrender of the entire 51st Division, a regular Iraqi army unit deployed in southern Iraq to defend Basra, the nation's second largest city.
On Saturday, officials backtracked, saying they had only taken a couple of commanders and the rest of the men had "melted away" - a term used for those who laid down their arms and returned home.
On Monday there were reports that one of the "commanders" turned out to be a junior official who misrepresented his rank in hopes of getting better treatment. [...]
The US military has been forced to admit the 8,000 Iraqi soldiers they claimed to have captured last week are now battling British forces. Iraq's 51st Infantry Division, which has about 200 tanks, is now engaged in the southern city of Basra.
The Pentagon is claiming the confusion is the work of the Fedayeen Saddam - Saddam Hussein's most trusted paramilitary unit. The US is accusing it of organising the tactic of posing as civilians and faking surrenders.
Defence Department officials reported on Friday that they had won the surrender of the entire 51st Division, a regular Iraqi army unit deployed in southern Iraq to defend Basra, the nation's second largest city.
On Saturday, officials backtracked, saying they had only taken a couple of commanders and the rest of the men had "melted away" - a term used for those who laid down their arms and returned home.
On Monday there were reports that one of the "commanders" turned out to be a junior official who misrepresented his rank in hopes of getting better treatment. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Vital Info On Iraqi Chemical Weapons Provided By U.S. Company That Made Them
BALTIMORE—The Pentagon has obtained vital information on Iraqi chemical weapons from Alcolac International, the Baltimore-based company that sold them to the Mideast nation in the '80s. "It's terrifying what Iraq has," Pentagon spokesman James Reese said Monday. "Saddam possesses massive stockpiles of everything from ethylene to thiodiglycol, according to sales records provided by Alcolac." The Pentagon has also been collecting key intelligence on Iraqi nuclear weapons and guidance systems from Honeywell, Unisys, and other former U.S. suppliers to Iraq.
Related:
U.S. Forms Own UN
Dead Iraqi Would Have Loved Democracy
Media Coverage Of The War
BALTIMORE—The Pentagon has obtained vital information on Iraqi chemical weapons from Alcolac International, the Baltimore-based company that sold them to the Mideast nation in the '80s. "It's terrifying what Iraq has," Pentagon spokesman James Reese said Monday. "Saddam possesses massive stockpiles of everything from ethylene to thiodiglycol, according to sales records provided by Alcolac." The Pentagon has also been collecting key intelligence on Iraqi nuclear weapons and guidance systems from Honeywell, Unisys, and other former U.S. suppliers to Iraq.
Related:
U.S. Forms Own UN
Dead Iraqi Would Have Loved Democracy
Media Coverage Of The War
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Ambassador's comments fuel political storm
OTTAWA - The storm over the comments made by the U.S. ambassador, rebuking the Liberal government for not supporting the United States in its war with Iraq, is far from over. On Wednesday, Liberal MPs held a fractious meeting behind closed doors, debating whether to censure, maybe even expel, Ambassador Paul Cellucci.
Cellucci told a business audience in Toronto Tuesday that Americans are disappointed and hurt by Canada's decision. And he bluntly warned that there will be short-term consequences. This isn't the first time Cellucci has criticized Canadian policy. In the past he has complained that the Chrétien government doesn't spend enough money on defence.
Thirty-six Liberals lined up to speak in caucus, after an Ontario MP argued Canada should lodge a formal protest. One camp argued the ambassador crossed the line, behaving more like a partisan politician than a diplomat. Some even argued he should be recalled.
In the other camp were MPs who think he was only responding to the anti-American comments by Liberals: cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal calling President George W. Bush a failed statesman and MP Carolyn Parrish calling all Americans "bastards." [...]
I'll admit it's gratuitous - but it doesn't get much funnier than that.
OTTAWA - The storm over the comments made by the U.S. ambassador, rebuking the Liberal government for not supporting the United States in its war with Iraq, is far from over. On Wednesday, Liberal MPs held a fractious meeting behind closed doors, debating whether to censure, maybe even expel, Ambassador Paul Cellucci.
Cellucci told a business audience in Toronto Tuesday that Americans are disappointed and hurt by Canada's decision. And he bluntly warned that there will be short-term consequences. This isn't the first time Cellucci has criticized Canadian policy. In the past he has complained that the Chrétien government doesn't spend enough money on defence.
Thirty-six Liberals lined up to speak in caucus, after an Ontario MP argued Canada should lodge a formal protest. One camp argued the ambassador crossed the line, behaving more like a partisan politician than a diplomat. Some even argued he should be recalled.
In the other camp were MPs who think he was only responding to the anti-American comments by Liberals: cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal calling President George W. Bush a failed statesman and MP Carolyn Parrish calling all Americans "bastards." [...]
I'll admit it's gratuitous - but it doesn't get much funnier than that.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
We are in a Nation Ruled by Madmen Who Will Bury the U.N.
(via Global Underground)
Before announcing a state of war Bush pumps his fist and boasts, "Feels good."
Donald Rumsfeld walks around quoting Al Capone.
Richard Perle calls an internationally respected journalist a terrorist for disclosing how Perle would profit from an Iraq war.
And then Richard Perle celebrates the death of the U.N.
Like it's Guernica-bombing campaign, touted as "Shock and Awe," the brazen, thuggish extremism of the Bush administration is meant to numb the American public into submission.
And, for the most part, the strategy has succeeded.
After all, the Bush Cartel hasn't spent two years ripping up international treaties left and right for the fun of it. Just like it wants "show" democracies in the Middle East that are really puppet U.S. governments, the Bush Cartel wants a U.N. that is really a rubber stamp for whatever the White House tells it to do. Otherwise, the Bush Cartel has about as much need for the U.N. as they had for a vote recount in Florida.
Remember, Bush may be a bit light in the loafers, walking around thinking he's a reincarnation of Jesus, but Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are sharp cookies. They had this one figured out from the beginning as a "win-win" situation.
If the Security Council votes with us, we've got them by the balls -- and we get the international legitimacy for our conquering of the Middle East (and seizure of the second largest oil fields as booty). If the Security Council doesn't vote with us, it's "Sayonara" Kofi Annan. Pack your bags, take your delegates and have fun in France setting up your little play school for diplomats in Gay Paris, because we need your U.N. building in New York for our new U.S. Department of War. So get lost, Now! [...]
(via Global Underground)
Before announcing a state of war Bush pumps his fist and boasts, "Feels good."
Donald Rumsfeld walks around quoting Al Capone.
Richard Perle calls an internationally respected journalist a terrorist for disclosing how Perle would profit from an Iraq war.
And then Richard Perle celebrates the death of the U.N.
Like it's Guernica-bombing campaign, touted as "Shock and Awe," the brazen, thuggish extremism of the Bush administration is meant to numb the American public into submission.
And, for the most part, the strategy has succeeded.
After all, the Bush Cartel hasn't spent two years ripping up international treaties left and right for the fun of it. Just like it wants "show" democracies in the Middle East that are really puppet U.S. governments, the Bush Cartel wants a U.N. that is really a rubber stamp for whatever the White House tells it to do. Otherwise, the Bush Cartel has about as much need for the U.N. as they had for a vote recount in Florida.
Remember, Bush may be a bit light in the loafers, walking around thinking he's a reincarnation of Jesus, but Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are sharp cookies. They had this one figured out from the beginning as a "win-win" situation.
If the Security Council votes with us, we've got them by the balls -- and we get the international legitimacy for our conquering of the Middle East (and seizure of the second largest oil fields as booty). If the Security Council doesn't vote with us, it's "Sayonara" Kofi Annan. Pack your bags, take your delegates and have fun in France setting up your little play school for diplomats in Gay Paris, because we need your U.N. building in New York for our new U.S. Department of War. So get lost, Now! [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
BOYCOTT BRAND AMERICA
In the face of intense opposition at home and abroad, the US government is determined to fight a war that will be felt around the world. It's a slap in the face to democracy, a cold shoulder to liberty - and it's time to make a visible statement against American power gone wrong.
Here is the one and only rule for the Brand America Boycott: this action belongs to you. You decide what brands and products stand as symbols of America's new empire-building project, and you decide how you'll make your statement. Above all else, this is a culture jam - personal, spontaneous, unpredictable. [...]
In the face of intense opposition at home and abroad, the US government is determined to fight a war that will be felt around the world. It's a slap in the face to democracy, a cold shoulder to liberty - and it's time to make a visible statement against American power gone wrong.
Here is the one and only rule for the Brand America Boycott: this action belongs to you. You decide what brands and products stand as symbols of America's new empire-building project, and you decide how you'll make your statement. Above all else, this is a culture jam - personal, spontaneous, unpredictable. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Connections and Then Some
The Carlyle Group has developed a reputation as the CIA of the business world -- omnipresent, powerful, a little sinister. Media outlets from the Village Voice to BusinessWeek have depicted Carlyle as manipulating the levers of government from shadowy back rooms. "The Iron Triangle," a book about the company due out next month, promises to take readers into "a world that few of us can even imagine, full of clandestine meetings [and] quid pro quo deals."
Last year, then-congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) even suggested that Carlyle's and Bush's ties to the Middle East made them somehow complicitous in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. While her comments were widely dismissed as irresponsible, the publicity highlighted Carlyle's increasingly notorious reputation. Internet sites with headlines such as "The Axis of Corporate Evil" purport to link Carlyle to everything from Enron to al Qaeda.
"We've actually replaced the Trilateral Commission" as the darling of conspiracy theorists, says Rubenstein -- who, truth be told, happens to be a member of the Trilateral Commission.
It didn't help that as the World Trade Center burned on Sept. 11, 2001, the news interrupted a Carlyle business conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here attended by a brother of Osama bin Laden. Former president Bush, a fellow investor, had been with him at the conference the previous day. [...]
And that's from The Washington Post.
The Carlyle Group has developed a reputation as the CIA of the business world -- omnipresent, powerful, a little sinister. Media outlets from the Village Voice to BusinessWeek have depicted Carlyle as manipulating the levers of government from shadowy back rooms. "The Iron Triangle," a book about the company due out next month, promises to take readers into "a world that few of us can even imagine, full of clandestine meetings [and] quid pro quo deals."
Last year, then-congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) even suggested that Carlyle's and Bush's ties to the Middle East made them somehow complicitous in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. While her comments were widely dismissed as irresponsible, the publicity highlighted Carlyle's increasingly notorious reputation. Internet sites with headlines such as "The Axis of Corporate Evil" purport to link Carlyle to everything from Enron to al Qaeda.
"We've actually replaced the Trilateral Commission" as the darling of conspiracy theorists, says Rubenstein -- who, truth be told, happens to be a member of the Trilateral Commission.
It didn't help that as the World Trade Center burned on Sept. 11, 2001, the news interrupted a Carlyle business conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here attended by a brother of Osama bin Laden. Former president Bush, a fellow investor, had been with him at the conference the previous day. [...]
And that's from The Washington Post.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
As eyes of the world focus on Iraq, the rest of the world's hot spots get hotter
Israel
A Israeli army undercover squad shot dead a 10-year-old girl in Bethlehem on Tuesday night in what the military described as a "tragic accident". Such deaths have become almost routine, though Israel has not so far taken advantage of the cover of the war in Iraq to escalate its campaign against the Palestinians.
Before the invasion began, the White House made two appeals to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon - stay out of the war and do not do anything in the Palestinian territories to draw attention.
So far, Mr Sharon has respected Washington's wishes. Israeli forces have killed 85 Palestinians this month - including at least 11 children. That is the highest monthly death toll since the tanks rolled back into West Bank cities a year ago, but only marginally up on last month. Altogether, 2,204 Palestinians have been killed since the intifada began in September 2000. [...]
Israel
A Israeli army undercover squad shot dead a 10-year-old girl in Bethlehem on Tuesday night in what the military described as a "tragic accident". Such deaths have become almost routine, though Israel has not so far taken advantage of the cover of the war in Iraq to escalate its campaign against the Palestinians.
Before the invasion began, the White House made two appeals to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon - stay out of the war and do not do anything in the Palestinian territories to draw attention.
So far, Mr Sharon has respected Washington's wishes. Israeli forces have killed 85 Palestinians this month - including at least 11 children. That is the highest monthly death toll since the tanks rolled back into West Bank cities a year ago, but only marginally up on last month. Altogether, 2,204 Palestinians have been killed since the intifada began in September 2000. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Fujimori put on most wanted list
Interpol put the disgraced former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori on its most wanted list yesterday, issuing a "red notice" calling for his arrest and extradition to answer murder and kidnapping charges in Peru.
The international police agency's decision does not carry the force of an arrest warrant, but it could put further pressure on Japan, where Mr Fujimori fled to in November 2000 after a corruption scandal toppled his regime. Tokyo is resisting requests to extradite him, since he has Japanese citizenship.
He is accused of murder for allegedly authorising death squads which massacred suspected rebel sympathisers in the 1990s.
In addition, he is charged with making an illegal $15m severance payment to his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos and bribing opposition congressmen to join his party. [...]
The former 'puppet' government of Peru is just one of many examples of how the United States really feels about freedom and democracy.
Interpol put the disgraced former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori on its most wanted list yesterday, issuing a "red notice" calling for his arrest and extradition to answer murder and kidnapping charges in Peru.
The international police agency's decision does not carry the force of an arrest warrant, but it could put further pressure on Japan, where Mr Fujimori fled to in November 2000 after a corruption scandal toppled his regime. Tokyo is resisting requests to extradite him, since he has Japanese citizenship.
He is accused of murder for allegedly authorising death squads which massacred suspected rebel sympathisers in the 1990s.
In addition, he is charged with making an illegal $15m severance payment to his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos and bribing opposition congressmen to join his party. [...]
The former 'puppet' government of Peru is just one of many examples of how the United States really feels about freedom and democracy.
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
'It was an outrage, an obscenity'
It was an outrage, an obscenity. The severed hand on the metal door, the swamp of blood and mud across the road, the human brains inside a garage, the incinerated, skeletal remains of an Iraqi mother and her three small children in their still-smouldering car.
Two missiles from an American jet killed them all – by my estimate, more than 20 Iraqi civilians, torn to pieces before they could be 'liberated' by the nation that destroyed their lives. Who dares, I ask myself, to call this 'collateral damage'? Abu Taleb Street was packed with pedestrians and motorists when the American pilot approached through the dense sandstorm that covered northern Baghdad in a cloak of red and yellow dust and rain yesterday morning.
How should one record so terrible an event? Perhaps a medical report would be more appropriate. But the final death toll is expected to be near to 30 and Iraqis are now witnessing these awful things each day; so there is no reason why the truth, all the truth, of what they see should not be told.
For another question occurred to me as I walked through this place of massacre yesterday. If this is what we are seeing in Baghdad, what is happening in Basra and Nasiriyah and Kerbala? How many civilians are dying there too, anonymously, indeed unrecorded, because there are no reporters to be witness to their suffering? [...]
It was an outrage, an obscenity. The severed hand on the metal door, the swamp of blood and mud across the road, the human brains inside a garage, the incinerated, skeletal remains of an Iraqi mother and her three small children in their still-smouldering car.
Two missiles from an American jet killed them all – by my estimate, more than 20 Iraqi civilians, torn to pieces before they could be 'liberated' by the nation that destroyed their lives. Who dares, I ask myself, to call this 'collateral damage'? Abu Taleb Street was packed with pedestrians and motorists when the American pilot approached through the dense sandstorm that covered northern Baghdad in a cloak of red and yellow dust and rain yesterday morning.
How should one record so terrible an event? Perhaps a medical report would be more appropriate. But the final death toll is expected to be near to 30 and Iraqis are now witnessing these awful things each day; so there is no reason why the truth, all the truth, of what they see should not be told.
For another question occurred to me as I walked through this place of massacre yesterday. If this is what we are seeing in Baghdad, what is happening in Basra and Nasiriyah and Kerbala? How many civilians are dying there too, anonymously, indeed unrecorded, because there are no reporters to be witness to their suffering? [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Wayward bombs bring marketplace carnage
At least 14 Iraqis were killed and dozens injured yesterday morning when two American bombs fell out of the sky, and on to a crowded marketplace. If this was the result of precision bombing, as US and British military commanders said last night, then it wasn't precise enough. [...]
At least 14 Iraqis were killed and dozens injured yesterday morning when two American bombs fell out of the sky, and on to a crowded marketplace. If this was the result of precision bombing, as US and British military commanders said last night, then it wasn't precise enough. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Thursday, March 27, 2003
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
French medical supplies cross border with Jordan on long journey to Baghdad
The medical aid agency Médecins sans Frontières sent two trucks full of emergency medical supplies to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, yesterday, achieving what has caused American and British troops so much difficulty – getting humanitarian aid into Iraq.
The trucks, which contained 10 tons of medical supplies – enough for 300 surgical operations – set off from Amman on the 17-hour journey to Baghdad.
There has been international concern over the humanitarian position elsewhere in Iraq, especially in Basra where the clean water supply to the city was cut off after cables supplying electricity to the main water plant were damaged.
The Allied forces finally delivered food supplies to the captured port of Umm Qasr yesterday, but they say they cannot bring in ships full of humanitarian supplies until the port is demined. [...]
Unlike the invading U.S. forces, a small independent charity was able to get desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the victims of 'liberation.'
The medical aid agency Médecins sans Frontières sent two trucks full of emergency medical supplies to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, yesterday, achieving what has caused American and British troops so much difficulty – getting humanitarian aid into Iraq.
The trucks, which contained 10 tons of medical supplies – enough for 300 surgical operations – set off from Amman on the 17-hour journey to Baghdad.
There has been international concern over the humanitarian position elsewhere in Iraq, especially in Basra where the clean water supply to the city was cut off after cables supplying electricity to the main water plant were damaged.
The Allied forces finally delivered food supplies to the captured port of Umm Qasr yesterday, but they say they cannot bring in ships full of humanitarian supplies until the port is demined. [...]
Unlike the invading U.S. forces, a small independent charity was able to get desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the victims of 'liberation.'
themassesareasses© on blogger Wednesday, March 26, 2003
'Ex-presidents club' gets fat on conflict
High-flying venture capital firm Carlyle Group cashes in when the tanks roll
It is the sort of thing they really could have done without. For 15 years one of America's most powerful venture capital groups has tried to play down suggestions that its multi-billion dollar funds get fat on the back of global conflict. But now, with the invasion of Iraq under way, a new book chronicling the relatively short history of The Carlyle Group threatens to draw attention to the company's close links with the Pentagon.
Sometimes called the Ex-Presidents Club, Carlyle has a glittering array of ex-politicians and big league bankers on its board. Former secretary of state James Baker is managing director while ex-secretary of defence Frank Carlucci is chairman. George Bush senior is an adviser. John Major heads up its European operations. To give the conspiracy theorists plenty of ammunition, US newspapers have also highlighted the fact that current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was a wrestling partner of Carlucci's at Princeton and the two have remained close friends ever since.
Carlyle's most famous acquisition was United Defense in 1997. The company had developed a huge 40-tonne howitzer, the Crusader, which, despite widespread opposition from the army, was commissioned by the Pentagon. The $665m contract was signed just two weeks after the attacks on the twin towers and less than a month later Carlyle decided to take the company public in a move that was to earn the group nearly $240m. Months later the Crusader programme was scrapped while United Defense was handed a new contract to build a lighter gun.
At the same time it emerged that the bin Laden family - estranged from their terrorist son - was an investor in the Carlyle fund that owned United Defense. The backlash was ferocious. Carlyle hired a PR firm but the group was under siege. In an astonishing move Democrat Representative Cynthia McKinney cited the Carlyle Group as an example of an organisation 'close to this administration poised to make huge profits off America's new war'. The bin Laden family sold their stakes in the fund. [...]
Two questions:
1) Has anyone noticed that we've gone from a quick 'shock and awe' conflict to the president stating "It’s gonna take a while to achieve our objective...this is just the beginning of a tough fight?"
2) How can a name as prominent as bin Laden warrant so little in the way of discussion?
High-flying venture capital firm Carlyle Group cashes in when the tanks roll
It is the sort of thing they really could have done without. For 15 years one of America's most powerful venture capital groups has tried to play down suggestions that its multi-billion dollar funds get fat on the back of global conflict. But now, with the invasion of Iraq under way, a new book chronicling the relatively short history of The Carlyle Group threatens to draw attention to the company's close links with the Pentagon.
Sometimes called the Ex-Presidents Club, Carlyle has a glittering array of ex-politicians and big league bankers on its board. Former secretary of state James Baker is managing director while ex-secretary of defence Frank Carlucci is chairman. George Bush senior is an adviser. John Major heads up its European operations. To give the conspiracy theorists plenty of ammunition, US newspapers have also highlighted the fact that current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was a wrestling partner of Carlucci's at Princeton and the two have remained close friends ever since.
Carlyle's most famous acquisition was United Defense in 1997. The company had developed a huge 40-tonne howitzer, the Crusader, which, despite widespread opposition from the army, was commissioned by the Pentagon. The $665m contract was signed just two weeks after the attacks on the twin towers and less than a month later Carlyle decided to take the company public in a move that was to earn the group nearly $240m. Months later the Crusader programme was scrapped while United Defense was handed a new contract to build a lighter gun.
At the same time it emerged that the bin Laden family - estranged from their terrorist son - was an investor in the Carlyle fund that owned United Defense. The backlash was ferocious. Carlyle hired a PR firm but the group was under siege. In an astonishing move Democrat Representative Cynthia McKinney cited the Carlyle Group as an example of an organisation 'close to this administration poised to make huge profits off America's new war'. The bin Laden family sold their stakes in the fund. [...]
Two questions:
1) Has anyone noticed that we've gone from a quick 'shock and awe' conflict to the president stating "It’s gonna take a while to achieve our objective...this is just the beginning of a tough fight?"
2) How can a name as prominent as bin Laden warrant so little in the way of discussion?
themassesareasses© on blogger Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Russia and British company deny selling arms to Iraq
A diplomatic row over the alleged Russian violation of UN sanctions on Iraq deepened last night as the United States accused Russian technicians of helping to train Iraqis to jam satellite signals that guide bombs and warplanes.
President George Bush telephoned the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to protest against the alleged sale to Iraq of night-vision goggles and anti-tank missiles by Russian companies.
The move came after British troops found Russian-made cruise missiles as well as British-made rocket-propelled grenades in bunkers outside the city of Basra. The British firm whose name was on the weapons' boxes, Wallop Industries, of Middle Wallop in Hampshire, strongly denied that it had sold items to Iraq, which has been under sanctions since 1990. The British company said the "weapons" – which it described as fuses for detonators – were probably smoke grenades stolen by Iraq in 1990 when they invaded Kuwait. [...]
Following his telephone call from President Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that "the Russian arms were probably stolen by Iraq in 1990 when they invaded Kuwait too."
A diplomatic row over the alleged Russian violation of UN sanctions on Iraq deepened last night as the United States accused Russian technicians of helping to train Iraqis to jam satellite signals that guide bombs and warplanes.
President George Bush telephoned the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to protest against the alleged sale to Iraq of night-vision goggles and anti-tank missiles by Russian companies.
The move came after British troops found Russian-made cruise missiles as well as British-made rocket-propelled grenades in bunkers outside the city of Basra. The British firm whose name was on the weapons' boxes, Wallop Industries, of Middle Wallop in Hampshire, strongly denied that it had sold items to Iraq, which has been under sanctions since 1990. The British company said the "weapons" – which it described as fuses for detonators – were probably smoke grenades stolen by Iraq in 1990 when they invaded Kuwait. [...]
Following his telephone call from President Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that "the Russian arms were probably stolen by Iraq in 1990 when they invaded Kuwait too."
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Frozen Iraqi assets
Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, is to transfer frozen Iraqi-held assets in the United States to US authorities. The bank said it would honour a request for the funds, blocked since 1990 under United Nations sanctions, to be handed over. UBS did not specify the exact amount of money involved.
Last week, the US authorities ordered 17 banks in the US to release a total of about $1.7 billion to the Treasury Department. The money comes from transactions between US oil firms and the Iraqi state oil company.
'Sophisticated' pillaging by Washington's bloodthirsty cabal.
Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, is to transfer frozen Iraqi-held assets in the United States to US authorities. The bank said it would honour a request for the funds, blocked since 1990 under United Nations sanctions, to be handed over. UBS did not specify the exact amount of money involved.
Last week, the US authorities ordered 17 banks in the US to release a total of about $1.7 billion to the Treasury Department. The money comes from transactions between US oil firms and the Iraqi state oil company.
'Sophisticated' pillaging by Washington's bloodthirsty cabal.
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Bush seeks $74.7-billion for war, security
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for $74.70-billion (U.S.) in extra spending this year to cover the costs of the Iraq war, humanitarian aid and homeland security, Senator Robert Byrd said.
Mr. Bush is to announce the plan at the Pentagon tomorrow. The request includes $62.6-billion for the Defense Department and $8-billion for foreign aid, Mr. Byrd said. Mr. Bush will also ask Congress for an extra $3.5-billion this fiscal year to protect the U.S. from terrorist threats at home, according to a White House fact sheet. [...]
'Sophisticated' pillaging by Washington's bloodthirsty cabal.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for $74.70-billion (U.S.) in extra spending this year to cover the costs of the Iraq war, humanitarian aid and homeland security, Senator Robert Byrd said.
Mr. Bush is to announce the plan at the Pentagon tomorrow. The request includes $62.6-billion for the Defense Department and $8-billion for foreign aid, Mr. Byrd said. Mr. Bush will also ask Congress for an extra $3.5-billion this fiscal year to protect the U.S. from terrorist threats at home, according to a White House fact sheet. [...]
'Sophisticated' pillaging by Washington's bloodthirsty cabal.
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
A 'Tough Fight' Indeed
WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush acknowledged reality on a day when the drive to Baghdad suddenly no longer looked like a walk in the desert park. "It is evident that it's going to take awhile to achieve our objective," the president said on his return to the White House Sunday from a weekend at Camp David. And then he added that he could assure the American people "that this is just the beginning of a tough fight."
Yet the war on Iraq was not sold to the American people as a tough fight. It was sold to them as a combination of a walk in the park, an essential operation to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and, most of all, as a crusade to free the Iraqi people from the tyranny of President Saddam Hussein.
The curious thing is, almost none of them appear to be want to be saved. [...]
As I post this 'must-read' UPI article - CNN reports that civilians in Basra have turned on the Iraqi troops and 'are now being killed'. Basra, a city of more than a million people, has recently been left without water after 'coalition' forces violated the Geneva Conventions by attacking a densely populated civilian center - and the treatment facilities they rely on. The 'coalition' forces now 'urge' us to believe that dead civilians may be the result of the Iraqi soldiers defending them.
WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush acknowledged reality on a day when the drive to Baghdad suddenly no longer looked like a walk in the desert park. "It is evident that it's going to take awhile to achieve our objective," the president said on his return to the White House Sunday from a weekend at Camp David. And then he added that he could assure the American people "that this is just the beginning of a tough fight."
Yet the war on Iraq was not sold to the American people as a tough fight. It was sold to them as a combination of a walk in the park, an essential operation to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and, most of all, as a crusade to free the Iraqi people from the tyranny of President Saddam Hussein.
The curious thing is, almost none of them appear to be want to be saved. [...]
As I post this 'must-read' UPI article - CNN reports that civilians in Basra have turned on the Iraqi troops and 'are now being killed'. Basra, a city of more than a million people, has recently been left without water after 'coalition' forces violated the Geneva Conventions by attacking a densely populated civilian center - and the treatment facilities they rely on. The 'coalition' forces now 'urge' us to believe that dead civilians may be the result of the Iraqi soldiers defending them.
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Search at Najaf yields no sign of chemical weapons
(NY Times) Department of Defense officials said on Monday that no evidence of chemical weapons production had been found at a facility close to the southern Iraqi town of Najaf occupied by US forces on Sunday.
Forces from the US 3rd Infantry Division occupied the 100-acre site. According to military officials, the site is surrounded by an electric fence and the buildings within it are camouflaged, raising suspicion that it was still in use. However, a Pentagon official said on Monday that the site had probably been abandoned some time ago.
Two military sites described in a CIA assessment last year as part of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme are now in territory occupied by US and UK forces. Neither site - one at Nasiriya and the other at al-Khamisiya, both in the southern part of the country - has so far provided evidence of WMD production.
Responding to the first report of the Najaf site's alleged purpose, which appeared in the Jerusalem Post, a senior western intelligence officer said on Monday: "It's been in the interests of the Israelis to play up a whole range of issues. A degree of healthy scepticism is very necessary." [...]
(NY Times) Department of Defense officials said on Monday that no evidence of chemical weapons production had been found at a facility close to the southern Iraqi town of Najaf occupied by US forces on Sunday.
Forces from the US 3rd Infantry Division occupied the 100-acre site. According to military officials, the site is surrounded by an electric fence and the buildings within it are camouflaged, raising suspicion that it was still in use. However, a Pentagon official said on Monday that the site had probably been abandoned some time ago.
Two military sites described in a CIA assessment last year as part of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme are now in territory occupied by US and UK forces. Neither site - one at Nasiriya and the other at al-Khamisiya, both in the southern part of the country - has so far provided evidence of WMD production.
Responding to the first report of the Najaf site's alleged purpose, which appeared in the Jerusalem Post, a senior western intelligence officer said on Monday: "It's been in the interests of the Israelis to play up a whole range of issues. A degree of healthy scepticism is very necessary." [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Bush's Groom and Gloom
As reported in the Washington Post, the White House is quite peeved that video of Bush getting groomed and acting jolly was broadcast prior to his "we're bombing Iraq" announcement:
The White House is vowing a strong retaliatory response after the BBC aired live video of President Bush getting his hair coiffed in the Oval Office as he squirmed in his chair and practiced on the teleprompter minutes before Wednesday night's speech announcing the launch of military operations against Saddam Hussein.
As reported by Knight Ridder Newspapers, 'Minutes before the speech, an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. "Feels good," he said.' Although BuzzFlash could not accurately point to that moment, something else about the broadcast bothered us.
When you watch the videos, think about the fact that Bush is about to tell the world that he's sending our soldiers to possibly die, but definitely to kill innocent people in Iraq as our military bombs and shoots its way to Saddam. Think about that and contrast that with Bush's jovial, playful attitude, seen unfiltered in the Dutch broadcast:
Bush getting his hair combed prior to giving the order to kill - 10 second video
Bush's method acting exercises before giving the order to kill - 67 second video
And then the show really begins and Bush puts on his face of concern and tempered anxiety. What a farce. What a shameful, despicable farce. Every moment fabricated.
And now, back to the war coverage.
As reported in the Washington Post, the White House is quite peeved that video of Bush getting groomed and acting jolly was broadcast prior to his "we're bombing Iraq" announcement:
The White House is vowing a strong retaliatory response after the BBC aired live video of President Bush getting his hair coiffed in the Oval Office as he squirmed in his chair and practiced on the teleprompter minutes before Wednesday night's speech announcing the launch of military operations against Saddam Hussein.
As reported by Knight Ridder Newspapers, 'Minutes before the speech, an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. "Feels good," he said.' Although BuzzFlash could not accurately point to that moment, something else about the broadcast bothered us.
When you watch the videos, think about the fact that Bush is about to tell the world that he's sending our soldiers to possibly die, but definitely to kill innocent people in Iraq as our military bombs and shoots its way to Saddam. Think about that and contrast that with Bush's jovial, playful attitude, seen unfiltered in the Dutch broadcast:
Bush getting his hair combed prior to giving the order to kill - 10 second video
Bush's method acting exercises before giving the order to kill - 67 second video
And then the show really begins and Bush puts on his face of concern and tempered anxiety. What a farce. What a shameful, despicable farce. Every moment fabricated.
And now, back to the war coverage.
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Operation Inflate the Coalition
President Bush's critics are constantly slamming his "unilateral war against Iraq," as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democratic presidential candidate, constantly puts it. So it must have been a shock to hear the president say Wednesday night that "more than 35 countries are giving crucial support -- from the use of naval and air bases, to help with intelligence and logistics, to the deployment of combat units." The White House calls this group the "coalition of the willing," and on Thursday its numbers increased to 43.
Since that admission, the White House has gone on an offensive to prove how multilateral this coalition is. It's No. 1 in the administration's talking points. But they may have gone too far. On Thursday, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that the coalition behind Operation Iraqi Freedom is even bigger than the one behind Operation Desert Storm, even some military leaders and veterans of Republican administrations disagreed and were dismayed at the disingenuousness. Meanwhile, some countries the U.S. counts as among the "willing" are continuing to criticize the U.S. military moves against Iraq, raising questions about how willing they really are.
"I think it's a little disingenuous to compare the number of countries willing to send soldiers into battle in 1991 with the number of countries who are willing to put their names on a list in 2003," a retired senior military officer who served in Operation Desert Storm told Salon, declining to be named. Some 32 countries provided troops in 1991, compared with three this time around. [...]
Four coalition partners represented here with us, and as many of you would know, we have at our home in Tampa, Florida, the home of Central Command, 52 nations represented.
- General Tommy Franks
President Bush's critics are constantly slamming his "unilateral war against Iraq," as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democratic presidential candidate, constantly puts it. So it must have been a shock to hear the president say Wednesday night that "more than 35 countries are giving crucial support -- from the use of naval and air bases, to help with intelligence and logistics, to the deployment of combat units." The White House calls this group the "coalition of the willing," and on Thursday its numbers increased to 43.
Since that admission, the White House has gone on an offensive to prove how multilateral this coalition is. It's No. 1 in the administration's talking points. But they may have gone too far. On Thursday, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that the coalition behind Operation Iraqi Freedom is even bigger than the one behind Operation Desert Storm, even some military leaders and veterans of Republican administrations disagreed and were dismayed at the disingenuousness. Meanwhile, some countries the U.S. counts as among the "willing" are continuing to criticize the U.S. military moves against Iraq, raising questions about how willing they really are.
"I think it's a little disingenuous to compare the number of countries willing to send soldiers into battle in 1991 with the number of countries who are willing to put their names on a list in 2003," a retired senior military officer who served in Operation Desert Storm told Salon, declining to be named. Some 32 countries provided troops in 1991, compared with three this time around. [...]
Four coalition partners represented here with us, and as many of you would know, we have at our home in Tampa, Florida, the home of Central Command, 52 nations represented.
- General Tommy Franks
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The Great One wades into discussion of U.S.-Iraq war, praises Bush
(via Global Underground)
"All I can say is the president of the United States is a great leader, I happen to think he's a wonderful man and if he believes what he's doing is right I back him 100 per cent," said Gretzky, in Calgary for a news conference for Ronald McDonald Children's Charities. "If the president decides to go to war he must know more than we know, or we hear about. He must have good reason to go and we have to back that."
"A lot of people in the world don't have the answers but we've got to believe in the president of the United States and as I said, I happen to think he's a great leader. God bless him and I hope that everybody gets home safe."
Gretzky, now part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, said he felt uncomfortable discussing the subject. "I guess we get it more in the United States because actors and singers - they all think they know politics. I'm tired of watching people who are not in politics give their opinions. Quite frankly that's what we have governments for and that's why we elect governments." [...]
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
(via Global Underground)
"All I can say is the president of the United States is a great leader, I happen to think he's a wonderful man and if he believes what he's doing is right I back him 100 per cent," said Gretzky, in Calgary for a news conference for Ronald McDonald Children's Charities. "If the president decides to go to war he must know more than we know, or we hear about. He must have good reason to go and we have to back that."
"A lot of people in the world don't have the answers but we've got to believe in the president of the United States and as I said, I happen to think he's a great leader. God bless him and I hope that everybody gets home safe."
Gretzky, now part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, said he felt uncomfortable discussing the subject. "I guess we get it more in the United States because actors and singers - they all think they know politics. I'm tired of watching people who are not in politics give their opinions. Quite frankly that's what we have governments for and that's why we elect governments." [...]
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
themassesareasses© on blogger Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Monday, March 24, 2003
American ingenuity - the mother of selectively applied convention
If there is somebody captured...I expect those people to be treated humanely...If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals.
- President George W. Bush
What I'm saying is that it's a violation of the Geneva Convention for the Iraqis to be showing prisoners of war in a humiliating manner.
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Parading people in that way is contrary to the Geneva Convention, contrary to all the proper rules of conflict.
- Prime Minister Tony Blair
Having already demonstrated their utter contempt for the United Nations and international law, the 'coalition of the willing' now expect us to believe that the Iraqi filming of captured U.S. troops is a violation of the Geneva Convention - even though a U.S. controlled press corps provides daily images of Iraqi troops being led away at gunpoint. This hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have for months denounced the Bush administration’s treatment of captured fighters from the 'war on terrorism' and demanded that all combatants taken prisoner in the war be treated as prisoners of war.
Article 84 of the Geneva Convention stipulates:
In no circumstances whatever shall a prisoner of war be tried by a court of any kind which does not offer the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality as generally recognized - and in particular - the procedure of which does not afford the accused the rights and means of defense provided for in Article 105. (right to choose counsel, call witnesses)
The Geneva Convention stipulates that all combatants captured in the course of a war must be accorded POW status unless and until it is proven, by means of a competent tribunal, that they are guilty of criminal actions. The detaining power does not have the right to unilaterally classify an entire class of captured fighters as “unlawful combatants” or “terrorists,” and on this basis deny them their rights under the Conventions.
The U.S. government clearly indicated what it thought of the Geneva Conventions when it denied prisoners of the 'war on terrorism' their legal protections. President Bush stated, "We are not going to call them prisoners of war in either case, and the reason why is al Qaeda is not a known military. These are killers, these are terrorists." With the President's eloquence duly noted, the government's denial of prisoner rights under the Conventions combined with the failure to provide any evidence of the direct responsibility of Osama bin Laden, let alone the Taliban regime, indicates that there may be more 'at play' here — more than simply flouting international law.
Related:
Considering the recent performance of sophisticated U.S. military technology...
- errant U.S. missiles hit Iran
- U.S. missiles misfire and land in Turkey
- stray US missile hits bus full of fleeing civilians
- British jet shot down by U.S. missile
- repeated helicopter accidents raise non-combat death toll
...how could the 'humiliation' of coalition POWs ever be a clearer violation of the Geneva Conventions than the 'precision-guided' bombing of Iraq's densely populated civilian centers?
If there is somebody captured...I expect those people to be treated humanely...If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals.
- President George W. Bush
What I'm saying is that it's a violation of the Geneva Convention for the Iraqis to be showing prisoners of war in a humiliating manner.
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Parading people in that way is contrary to the Geneva Convention, contrary to all the proper rules of conflict.
- Prime Minister Tony Blair
Having already demonstrated their utter contempt for the United Nations and international law, the 'coalition of the willing' now expect us to believe that the Iraqi filming of captured U.S. troops is a violation of the Geneva Convention - even though a U.S. controlled press corps provides daily images of Iraqi troops being led away at gunpoint. This hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have for months denounced the Bush administration’s treatment of captured fighters from the 'war on terrorism' and demanded that all combatants taken prisoner in the war be treated as prisoners of war.
Article 84 of the Geneva Convention stipulates:
In no circumstances whatever shall a prisoner of war be tried by a court of any kind which does not offer the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality as generally recognized - and in particular - the procedure of which does not afford the accused the rights and means of defense provided for in Article 105. (right to choose counsel, call witnesses)
The Geneva Convention stipulates that all combatants captured in the course of a war must be accorded POW status unless and until it is proven, by means of a competent tribunal, that they are guilty of criminal actions. The detaining power does not have the right to unilaterally classify an entire class of captured fighters as “unlawful combatants” or “terrorists,” and on this basis deny them their rights under the Conventions.
The U.S. government clearly indicated what it thought of the Geneva Conventions when it denied prisoners of the 'war on terrorism' their legal protections. President Bush stated, "We are not going to call them prisoners of war in either case, and the reason why is al Qaeda is not a known military. These are killers, these are terrorists." With the President's eloquence duly noted, the government's denial of prisoner rights under the Conventions combined with the failure to provide any evidence of the direct responsibility of Osama bin Laden, let alone the Taliban regime, indicates that there may be more 'at play' here — more than simply flouting international law.
Related:
Considering the recent performance of sophisticated U.S. military technology...
- errant U.S. missiles hit Iran
- U.S. missiles misfire and land in Turkey
- stray US missile hits bus full of fleeing civilians
- British jet shot down by U.S. missile
- repeated helicopter accidents raise non-combat death toll
...how could the 'humiliation' of coalition POWs ever be a clearer violation of the Geneva Conventions than the 'precision-guided' bombing of Iraq's densely populated civilian centers?
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 24, 2003
Ominous signs for coalition in battle for Umm Qasr
US and British marines, backed by tanks and air strikes, fought for the third day on Sunday to secure full control of the Iraqi frontier town of Umm Qasr, in a small but politically significant battle that has become an embarrassment for the invasion force.
Umm Qasr, the port at the head of the Gulf through which the coalition has announced it will bring urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq, is home to just 4,000 people and lies within sight of the Kuwaiti border.
The sound of machine gun exchanges and bombing raids by Royal Air Force Harriers was clearly audible on Sunday from Kuwaiti territory, in spite of repeated official assurances in recent days that control of the port had been or was about to be secured. [...]
More than 58,000 young Americans were sacrificed in Vietnam. Make no mistake — the American Government and US Central Command are incapable of telling the truth.
US and British marines, backed by tanks and air strikes, fought for the third day on Sunday to secure full control of the Iraqi frontier town of Umm Qasr, in a small but politically significant battle that has become an embarrassment for the invasion force.
Umm Qasr, the port at the head of the Gulf through which the coalition has announced it will bring urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq, is home to just 4,000 people and lies within sight of the Kuwaiti border.
The sound of machine gun exchanges and bombing raids by Royal Air Force Harriers was clearly audible on Sunday from Kuwaiti territory, in spite of repeated official assurances in recent days that control of the port had been or was about to be secured. [...]
More than 58,000 young Americans were sacrificed in Vietnam. Make no mistake — the American Government and US Central Command are incapable of telling the truth.
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 24, 2003
Iraq accuses Israel of taking part in war
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri yesterday accused Israel of taking part in the war on Iraq, after an Israeli missile part was found in Baghdad.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the government that the missile was apparently from a batch a weapons sold to the U.S. in the 1990s.
"You know that Israel is taking part in this aggression against Iraq," said Sabri. "It's sending missiles. We found a missile, an Israeli missile, in Baghdad," he told reporters in Cairo, where he is due to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers today. But he did not offer any proof to back up the allegation.
Sabri said Arab governments should condemn the war and call for the withdrawal of U.S. and British forces. He called on Arab governments to condemn Kuwait, from which U.S. and British forces launched their attack last week. [...]
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri yesterday accused Israel of taking part in the war on Iraq, after an Israeli missile part was found in Baghdad.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the government that the missile was apparently from a batch a weapons sold to the U.S. in the 1990s.
"You know that Israel is taking part in this aggression against Iraq," said Sabri. "It's sending missiles. We found a missile, an Israeli missile, in Baghdad," he told reporters in Cairo, where he is due to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers today. But he did not offer any proof to back up the allegation.
Sabri said Arab governments should condemn the war and call for the withdrawal of U.S. and British forces. He called on Arab governments to condemn Kuwait, from which U.S. and British forces launched their attack last week. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 24, 2003
Huge Iraqi Chemical Arms Factory Found
WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. forces on Sunday found what they believe to be a "huge" chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of Najaf, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Baghdad, U.S. networks and the Jerusalem Post reported.
Fox News and the Jerusalem Post, which had a reporter traveling with the U.S. forces, cited unidentified Pentagon officials as saying the facility was seized by the First Brigade of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division as they advanced north toward Baghdad.
About 30 Iraqi troops, including their commanding general, surrendered to U.S. forces as they overtook the installation, apparently used to produce chemical weapons, the Jerusalem Post reported. [...]
Although U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that "media reports are premature", a senior American official indicated that the Jerusalem Post investigation was nearing completion.
WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. forces on Sunday found what they believe to be a "huge" chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of Najaf, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Baghdad, U.S. networks and the Jerusalem Post reported.
Fox News and the Jerusalem Post, which had a reporter traveling with the U.S. forces, cited unidentified Pentagon officials as saying the facility was seized by the First Brigade of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division as they advanced north toward Baghdad.
About 30 Iraqi troops, including their commanding general, surrendered to U.S. forces as they overtook the installation, apparently used to produce chemical weapons, the Jerusalem Post reported. [...]
Although U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that "media reports are premature", a senior American official indicated that the Jerusalem Post investigation was nearing completion.
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 24, 2003
Michael Moore criticizes U.S. war in Iraq in Oscar speech
A standing ovation and a handful of jeers from Hollywood's elite greeted filmmaker Michael Moore when he criticized President Bush and the U.S.-led war in Iraq during his acceptance speech Sunday after winning the documentary feature Oscar for "Bowling for Columbine."
"We live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts," Moore said.
Applause gave way to some boos, as the orchestra began to play the filmmaker off the stage.
"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you," Moore shouted, surrounded onstage by his fellow nominees in a show of solidarity. [...]
A standing ovation and a handful of jeers from Hollywood's elite greeted filmmaker Michael Moore when he criticized President Bush and the U.S.-led war in Iraq during his acceptance speech Sunday after winning the documentary feature Oscar for "Bowling for Columbine."
"We live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts," Moore said.
Applause gave way to some boos, as the orchestra began to play the filmmaker off the stage.
"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you," Moore shouted, surrounded onstage by his fellow nominees in a show of solidarity. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 24, 2003
Shame on us!
Written by an American Citizen from Minnesota
The only wars worth fighting are those against poverty and ignorance.
Do we know we destroyed clean water supplies in Iraq? Do we know that our government supplied Iraq with the materials for making WMD and that we encouraged them to use them? If we don’t change our regime at home they will lead us into World War III and we will deserve the chaos that it will bring. 1.5 million are dead now as a result of the sanctions in Iraq. Will this new war in Iraq justify the genocide or complete the job?
Capitalism + democracy + time = government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. The figures reported in the media don’t make sense to me – 70% approval rating for Bush II? If this is true then the American model has failed and many of us find ourselves in this predicament which, quite embarrassingly, adversely affects our good neighbors around the world. The desire to apologize is constant and overwhelming and the fact that this desire is labeled as cowardly and treasonous is supremely frustrating for many Americans now.
Koffi Annan said once “…free to speak your mind, raise your children and pursue your dreams…” Suddenly in America, we are losing the freedom to speak our minds. We are looking to raise our children elsewhere, and if we dream we dream of leaving.
If you visit Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan, you will walk away ashamed to be a human being. You experience nuclear war there and you lose your nationality. As a justification for atrocities, patriotism is exposed. A few hours later you get your anger back and you rejoin your factions – but you never forget the shame. [...]
Written by an American Citizen from Minnesota
The only wars worth fighting are those against poverty and ignorance.
Do we know we destroyed clean water supplies in Iraq? Do we know that our government supplied Iraq with the materials for making WMD and that we encouraged them to use them? If we don’t change our regime at home they will lead us into World War III and we will deserve the chaos that it will bring. 1.5 million are dead now as a result of the sanctions in Iraq. Will this new war in Iraq justify the genocide or complete the job?
Capitalism + democracy + time = government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. The figures reported in the media don’t make sense to me – 70% approval rating for Bush II? If this is true then the American model has failed and many of us find ourselves in this predicament which, quite embarrassingly, adversely affects our good neighbors around the world. The desire to apologize is constant and overwhelming and the fact that this desire is labeled as cowardly and treasonous is supremely frustrating for many Americans now.
Koffi Annan said once “…free to speak your mind, raise your children and pursue your dreams…” Suddenly in America, we are losing the freedom to speak our minds. We are looking to raise our children elsewhere, and if we dream we dream of leaving.
If you visit Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan, you will walk away ashamed to be a human being. You experience nuclear war there and you lose your nationality. As a justification for atrocities, patriotism is exposed. A few hours later you get your anger back and you rejoin your factions – but you never forget the shame. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Monday, March 24, 2003
Sunday, March 23, 2003
America's $400bn war bill
War costs, but it is unclear who will pick up the tab. George Bush is not financing this campaign through taxation. Instead the president is cutting taxes - sending a welfare cheque to the wealthy - and raising military spending. The slowdown in the American economy has seen many states, who have to balance their budgets, cut back on social spending. The White House made it clear that there would be no federal bail out for these programmes. The president is reheating Reaganomics - cutting back on welfare, overcompensating with defence spending and offering big tax cuts to the rich at the expense of the poor.
Mr Bush's strategy is risky, if not reckless. A $1.5 trillion dollar tax cut over a decade is by anyone's estimation a large sum even before the cost of a war against Iraq and its aftermath are added onto it. Thoughtful Republicans like John McCain have asked for the cuts to be delayed until "the administration has a better understanding of the costs of war and peace."
In the last century, the cold war ended when the wall came down. In the new millennium, a hot one has begun. But the Soviet Union was a giant adversary. Iraq is a bomb-blasted state crippled by sanctions. Its military budget barely tops $1bn. America's, by contrast, is $400bn. As the Bush administration makes clear Saddam is just the start: Iran, North Korea are next and others will follow. [...]
In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
- Benjamin Franklin
War costs, but it is unclear who will pick up the tab. George Bush is not financing this campaign through taxation. Instead the president is cutting taxes - sending a welfare cheque to the wealthy - and raising military spending. The slowdown in the American economy has seen many states, who have to balance their budgets, cut back on social spending. The White House made it clear that there would be no federal bail out for these programmes. The president is reheating Reaganomics - cutting back on welfare, overcompensating with defence spending and offering big tax cuts to the rich at the expense of the poor.
Mr Bush's strategy is risky, if not reckless. A $1.5 trillion dollar tax cut over a decade is by anyone's estimation a large sum even before the cost of a war against Iraq and its aftermath are added onto it. Thoughtful Republicans like John McCain have asked for the cuts to be delayed until "the administration has a better understanding of the costs of war and peace."
In the last century, the cold war ended when the wall came down. In the new millennium, a hot one has begun. But the Soviet Union was a giant adversary. Iraq is a bomb-blasted state crippled by sanctions. Its military budget barely tops $1bn. America's, by contrast, is $400bn. As the Bush administration makes clear Saddam is just the start: Iran, North Korea are next and others will follow. [...]
In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
- Benjamin Franklin
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 23, 2003
Weapons of Mass Destruction Not in Iraq, but Anniston, Alabama
It has been that way for 40 years. But as the United States prepares to attack Iraq, partly over Saddam Hussein's failure to rid his nation of chemical weapons, Anniston is a vivid reminder that the weapons of mass destruction from the 20th century were a lot easier to make than they are to destroy.
Though the United States is required by international treaty to be rid of chemical weapons by 2007, nearly 75 percent of the nation's now-banned arms still exist. It amounts to a nationwide stockpile of 23,415 tons of liquid sarin nerve agent, blister-causing mustard agent, a deadly nerve liquid called VX and variants.
That's 46,830,000 pounds of chemicals. A teaspoon of any of them is enough to kill or maim. [...]
It has been that way for 40 years. But as the United States prepares to attack Iraq, partly over Saddam Hussein's failure to rid his nation of chemical weapons, Anniston is a vivid reminder that the weapons of mass destruction from the 20th century were a lot easier to make than they are to destroy.
Though the United States is required by international treaty to be rid of chemical weapons by 2007, nearly 75 percent of the nation's now-banned arms still exist. It amounts to a nationwide stockpile of 23,415 tons of liquid sarin nerve agent, blister-causing mustard agent, a deadly nerve liquid called VX and variants.
That's 46,830,000 pounds of chemicals. A teaspoon of any of them is enough to kill or maim. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 23, 2003
Former UN head calls Iraq war 'illegal'
WINNIPEG - The man who ran the United Nations following the last Gulf War isn't hopeful the attack that began Wednesday night will leave Iraq a better place.
Even before the strike against Baghdad, Boutros Boutros-Ghali said any U.S.-led invasion of Iraq without specific UN authorization would violate international law. "This intervention is illegal," he told an audience in Winnipeg on Tuesday.
He believes it also sets a dangerous example. "Other countries may use this argument in the future to intervene on the basis of this precedent." [...]
WINNIPEG - The man who ran the United Nations following the last Gulf War isn't hopeful the attack that began Wednesday night will leave Iraq a better place.
Even before the strike against Baghdad, Boutros Boutros-Ghali said any U.S.-led invasion of Iraq without specific UN authorization would violate international law. "This intervention is illegal," he told an audience in Winnipeg on Tuesday.
He believes it also sets a dangerous example. "Other countries may use this argument in the future to intervene on the basis of this precedent." [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 23, 2003
US and Japan to Protect Markets
A deal was struck last week in the US between a former Japanese finance minister and the head of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve's Alan Greenspan. "There was an agreement between Japan and the US to take action co-operatively in foreign exchange, stocks and other markets if the markets face a crisis," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
The move came as Japan's key Nikkei 225 index dropped to another 20-year low, falling about 1.5% to hit 7,824.82, before rebounding. The looming war comes as Japan's economy continues to struggle with weak domestic demand, record unemployment and a third year of deflation. [...]
This is not about the war - this is about looming insolvency.
A deal was struck last week in the US between a former Japanese finance minister and the head of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve's Alan Greenspan. "There was an agreement between Japan and the US to take action co-operatively in foreign exchange, stocks and other markets if the markets face a crisis," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
The move came as Japan's key Nikkei 225 index dropped to another 20-year low, falling about 1.5% to hit 7,824.82, before rebounding. The looming war comes as Japan's economy continues to struggle with weak domestic demand, record unemployment and a third year of deflation. [...]
This is not about the war - this is about looming insolvency.
themassesareasses© on blogger Sunday, March 23, 2003
ITN believes war reporter killed in crossfire by US
Veteran ITN war reporter Terry Lloyd is dead, his employers believed last night. The 51-year-old newsman, who's family is originally from Swansea, is thought to have been hit by "friendly fire" on Saturday as he and three colleagues were driving towards Basra to cover the battle for the city. [...]
Another example of coalition forces making every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm.
Veteran ITN war reporter Terry Lloyd is dead, his employers believed last night. The 51-year-old newsman, who's family is originally from Swansea, is thought to have been hit by "friendly fire" on Saturday as he and three colleagues were driving towards Basra to cover the battle for the city. [...]
Another example of coalition forces making every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm.