Digging In

If the U.S. government doesn’t plan to occupy Iraq for any longer than necessary, why is it spending billions of dollars to build “enduring” bases?

Read story at NewsCloud

Bush Must Go

Only Impeachment Can Stop Him

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

When are the American people and their representatives in Congress and the military going to wake up and realize that the US has an insane war criminal in the White House who is destroying all chances for peace in the world and establishing a police state in the US?  

Americans don’t have much time to realize this and to act before it is too late.  Bush’s “surge” speech last Wednesday night makes it completely clear that his real purpose is to start wars with Iran and Syria before failure in Iraq brings an end to the neoconservative/Israeli plan to establish hegemony over the Middle East.

The “surge” gives Congress, the media, and the foreign policy establishment something to debate and oppose, while Bush sets his plans in motion to orchestrate a war with Iran. Suddenly, we are hearing Bush regime propaganda that there are Iranian networks operating within Iraq that are working with the Iraqi insurgency and killing US troops.

This assertion is a lie and preposterous on its face.  Iranian Shi’ites are not going to arm Iraqi Sunnis, who are more focused on killing Iraqi Shi’ites allied with Iran than on killing US troops. If the Iranians wanted to cause the US trouble in Iraq, they would encourage Iraqi Shi’ites to join the insurgency against US forces. An insurgency drawn from 80 per cent of the Iraqi population would overwhelm the US forces.

CBS reports that the news organization has been told by US officials “that American forces have begun an aggressive and mostly secret ground campaign against networks of Iranians that had been operating with virtual impunity inside Iraq.”  To manufacture evidence in behalf of this lie to feed to the gullible American public, US forces invaded an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq and kidnapped five consulate officials, claiming the Iranians were part of plans “to kill Americans.”  In typical Orwellian fashion, Secretary of State Condi Rice described Bush’s aggression against Iran as designed to confront Tehran’s aggression.

Iraqi government officials in the Kurdish province and the Iraqi foreign minister have refused to go along with Bush’s propaganda ploy. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that the Iranian officials were no threat and were working in a liaison office that had Iraqi government approval and was in the process of being elevated into a consulate.  

The Iraqi foreign minister said that US troops tried to seize more innocent people at the Irbil airport but were prevented by Kurdish troops.

The Kurds, of course, have been allies of the US forces, but Bush is willing to alienate the Kurds in the interest of provoking a war with Iran.

If Bush is unable to orchestrate war with Iran directly, he will orchestrate war indirectly by having US troops attack Iraqi Shi’ite militias. Bush has already given orders for US troops to attack the Iraqi Shi’ite militias, who oppose the Sunnis and have not been part of the insurgency.  Obviously, once Bush can get US troops in open warfare with Iraqi Shi’ites, the situation for US troops in Iraq will quickly go down hill.  Bush will be able to blame Iranian Shi’ites for arming Iraqi Shi’ites that he can say are killing US troops. 

Bush has also ordered the Persian Gulf to be congested with TWO US aircraft carrier attack groups.  There is no military or diplomatic reason for even one attack group to be in the Persian Gulf.  If Bush fails to orchestrate a war with Iran by kidnapping its officials or by attacking Shi’ite militias, he can orchestrate an event like the Tonkin Gulf incident or have the Israelis pull another USS Liberty incident and blame the Iranians.

The Tonkin Gulf incident was used by the Johnson administration to deceive Congress and to involve the US in the Vietnam war. Johnson alleged a North Vietnamese attack on US warships.

In 1967 Israel attacked and destroyed the US intelligence ship Liberty, because Liberty’s crew had picked up proof that Israel had initiated the war with Egypt and intended to attack Syria the next day. Some have speculated that Israelis hoped their attack on the Liberty could be blamed on Egypt and used to draw the US into the war against Egypt.

In 2003 the Moorer Commission, headed by Admiral Tom Moorer, former Chief of Naval Operations and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, concluded:

   “That in attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States.” 

   “That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty.”

   “The Captain and surviving crew members were later threatened with court-martial, imprisonment or worse if they exposed the truth; and were abandoned by their own government.”

   “That due to the influence of Israel’s powerful supporters in the United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack from the American people.”

   “That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any foreign nation, and specifically are unwilling to challenge Israel’s interests when they conflict with American interests.”

On the 30th anniversary of Israel’s destruction of the liberty, Admiral Moorer said that Israel attacked the Liberty because Israel knew that the intelligence ship could intercept Israel’s plans to seize the Golan Heights from Syria, an act of Israeli aggression to which the US government was opposed.  Admiral Moorer said, “I believe Moshe Dayan concluded that he could prevent Washington from becoming aware of what Israel was up to by destroying the primary source of acquiring that information–the US Liberty.  Moorer reports that after a 25 minute air attack “that pounded the Liberty with bombs, rockets, napalm and machine gun fire . . . three Israeli torpedo boats closed in for the kill . . . the torpedo boats’ machine guns also were turned on life rafts that were deployed into the Mediterranean as well as those few on deck that had escaped damage.”

Admiral Moorer says, “What is so chilling and cold-blooded, of course, is that they [Israel] could kill as many Americans as they did in confidence that Washington would cooperate in quelling any public outcry.” The US invasion of Iraq and the looming US attack on Iran are proof that Israel has even more power over the White House today.  

Bush has many ways to widen his war in the Middle East.  His brutal aggression against Somalia has largely escaped criticism for the war crime that it is. On January 11 the US National Intelligence Director told Congress that Hezbollah in Lebanon may be the next US threat. Just as he lied to the entire world about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, Bush is lying about Iran.  Bush and the neoconservatives are frantic for war with Iran to get underway before the US Congress forces a US withdrawal from the failed adventure in Iraq.

Bush’s entire “war on terror” is based on lies. The Bush Regime, desperate to keep its lies covered up, is now trying to prevent American law firms from defending the Guantanamo detainees. The Bush Regime is fearful that Americans will learn that the detainees are not terrorists but props in the regime’s orchestrated “terror war.” 

On January 13 a New York Times (editorial) said that “Cully Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, tried to rally American corporations to stop doing business with law firms that represent inmates of the Guantanamo internment camp.” Stimson alleged that it was “shocking” that American law firms were “representing detainees down there.”  He suggested that when corporate America got word of if, “those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms.  We want to watch that play out.”

The only reason for the Bush Regime’s policy of indefinite detention without charges is that it has no charges to bring.  The detainees are not terrorists. They are the Bush Regime’s props in a fake war that serves as cover for the Regime’s hegemonic policy in the Middle East. 

The only action that can stop Bush is for both the Democratic and Republican leadership of the House and Senate to call on the White House, tell Bush they know what he is up to and that they will not fall for it a second time. The congressional leadership must tell Bush that if he does not immediately desist, he will be impeached and convicted before the week is out. Can a congressional leadership that lives in fear of the Israel Lobby perform this task?

All the rest is penny-ante.  Revoking the Iraqi War Resolution as Rep. Sam Farr has proposed or requiring Bush to obtain congressional authorization prior to any US attack on Iran simply lets Bush and his Federalist Society apologists for executive dictatorship claim he has commander-in-chief powers and proceed with his planned aggression.  Cutting off funding is not itself enough as Bush can raid other budgets. Non-binding resolutions of disapproval are meaningless to a president who doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

Nothing can stop the criminal Bush from instituting wider war in the Middle East that could become a catastrophic world war except an unequivocal statement from Congress that he will be impeached.

Bush has made the US into a colony of Israel. The US is incurring massive debt and loss of both life and reputation in order to silence Muslim opposition to Israel’s theft of Palestine and the Golan Heights.  That is what the “war on terror” is about.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

Hooked on Drug Money

Dean Baker writes: “It’s payback time, as the lobbyists say in Washington. One of the key planks in the Democrats’ election platform was changing the Medicare drug benefit by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices with the pharmaceutical industry.

Read story at NewsCloud

Robert Fisk | A Dictator Created Then Destroyed by America

Saddam to the gallows. It was an easy equation. Who could be more deserving of that last walk to the scaffold - that crack of the neck at the end of a rope - than the Beast of Baghdad, the Hitler of the Tigris, the man who murdered untold hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis while spraying chemical weapons over his enem

Read story at NewsCloud

I’m Goin’ Blind

I’m losing some of my eyesight. I’m typing….right now….using cheap glasses. I think I need need some professional input.

I find this a very depressing turn of events

everything is blurry

no joke

Hussein Urges Iraqis Not to Hate U.S.-Led Forces

Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace ”brotherly coexistence” and not to hate U.S.-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Web site Wednesday, a day after Iraq’s highest court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged within 30 days.

Read story at NewsCloud

FBI to release last of its John Lennon files

The FBI agreed Tuesday to make public the final 10 documents about the surveillance of John Lennon that it had withheld for 25 years from a UC Irvine historian on the grounds that releasing them could cause “military retaliation against the United States.”

Read story at NewsCloud

Find out more here 

Diamonds are fucking shiny rocks!

Ten
Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond Ring from Anyone, Under
Any Circumstances, Even If They Really Want to Give You One
(2/14/02)
By Liz Stanton, CPE Staff Economist

1. You’ve Been Psychologically Conditioned To Want a Diamond
The diamond engagement ring is a 63-year-old invention of N.W.Ayer
advertising agency. The De Beers diamond cartel contracted N.W.Ayer to
create a demand for what are, essentially, useless hunks of rock.

2. Diamonds are Priced Well Above Their Value
The De Beers cartel has systematically held diamond prices at levels
far greater than their abundance would generate under anything even
remotely resembling perfect competition. All diamonds not already under
its control are bought by the cartel, and then the De Beers cartel
carefully managed world diamond supply in order to keep prices steadily
high.

3. Diamonds Have No Resale or Investment Value
Any diamond that you buy or receive will indeed be yours forever: De
Beers’ advertising deliberately brain-washed women not to sell; the
steady price is a tool to prevent speculation in diamonds; and no
dealer will buy a diamond from you. You can only sell it at a diamond
purchasing center or a pawn shop where you will receive a tiny fraction
of its original “value.”

4. Diamond Miners are Disproportionately Exposed to HIV/AIDS
Many diamond mining camps enforce all-male, no-family rules. Men
contract HIV/AIDS from camp sex-workers, while women married to miners
have no access to employment, no income outside of their husbands and
no bargaining power for negotiating safe sex, and thus are at extremely
high risk of contracting HIV.

5. Open-Pit Diamond Mines Pose Environmental Threats
Diamond mines are open pits where salts, heavy minerals, organisms,
oil, and chemicals from mining equipment freely leach into
ground-water, endangering people in nearby mining camps and villages,
as well as downstream plants and animals.

6. Diamond Mine-Owners Violate Indigenous People’s Rights
Diamond mines in Australia, Canada, India and many countries in Africa
are situated on lands traditionally associated with indigenous peoples.
Many of these communities have been displaced, while others remain,
often at great cost to their health, livelihoods and traditional
cultures.

7. Slave Laborers Cut and Polish Diamonds
More than one-half of the world’s diamonds are processed in India where
many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers. Bonded
children work to pay off the debts of their relatives, often
unsuccessfully. When they reach adulthood their debt is passed on to
their younger siblings or to their own children.

8. Conflict Diamonds Fund Civil Wars in Africa
There is no reliable way to insure that your diamond was not mined or
stolen by government or rebel military forces in order to finance civil
conflict. Conflict diamonds are traded either for guns or for cash to
pay and feed soldiers.

9. Diamond Wars are Fought Using Child Warriors
Many diamond producing governments and rebel forces use children as
soldiers, laborers in military camps, and sex slaves. Child soldiers
are given drugs to overcome their fear and reluctance to participate in
atrocities.

10. Small Arms Trade is Intimately Related to Diamond Smuggling
Illicit diamonds inflame the clandestine trade of small arms. There are
500 million small arms in the world today which are used to kill
500,000 people annually, the vast majority of whom are non-combatants.

References:

Collier, Paul, “Economic Causes of Civil Conflict and Their Implications for Policy,”
World Bank, June 15, 2000.

Epstein, Edward Jay, “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?”, The Atlantic
Monthly, February 1982. www.theatlantic.com/issues/82feb/8202diamond1.htm 

Global Witness, “Conflict Diamonds: Possibilities for the
Identification, Certification and Control of Diamonds,” A Briefing
Document, June 2000,  www.globalwitness.org/text/campaigns/diamonds/reports.html 

Human Rights Watch/Asia, “The Small Hands of Slavery: Bonded Child
Labor In India,” Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Project, www.hrw.org/reports/1996/India3.htm
.

Human Rights Watch, “Children’s Rights: Stop the Use of Child Soldiers;” www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm
.

Kerlin, Katherine “Diamonds Aren’t Forever: Environmental Degradation and Civil War in the Gem Trade,”
The Environment Magazine, www.emagazine.com/september-october_2001/0901gl_consumer.html
.

Le Billon, Philippe, “Angola’s Political Economy of War: The Role of Oil and Diamonds, 1975-2000,”
African Affairs, (2001), 100, p.55-80.

Mines and Communities, “The Mining Curse: The roles of mining in
‘underdeveloped’ economies,” Minewatch Asia Pacific/Nostromo Briefing
Paper, February 1999, www.minesandcommunities.org/Country/curse.htm
.

Other Facets, Number 1, April 2001; Number 2, June 2001; Number 3, October 2001,
www.partnershipafricacanada.org/hsdp/of.html
.

© 2002 Center for Popular Economics

Lil’ Bush

Frank Rich on Your Liberal Media

http://www.talkleft.com

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media

Posted on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 05:07:04 PM EST

Good for Rich:

ELECTIONS may come and go, but
Washington remains incorrigible. Not even voters delivering a clear
message can topple the town’s conventional wisdom once it has been
set in the stone of punditry.

Right now the capital is entranced
by a fictional story line about the Democrats. As this narrative goes, the
party’s sweep of Congress was more or less an accident. . . . [N]ow
the party is deeply divided as its old liberals and new conservatives
converge on Capitol Hill to slug it out. The only problem with this
version of events is that it’s not true. The overwhelming majority
of the Democratic winners, including Jon Tester of Montana, are to the
left of most Republicans, whether on economic policy or
abortion.

As Rich notes, this narrative distracts
from Iraq: [D]isengagement from Iraq is the patriotic thing to
do. Diverting as “divided Democrats” has been, it’s
escapist entertainment. The Washington story that will matter most going
forward is the fate of the divided Republicans. Only if they heroically
come together can the country be saved from a president who, for all his
professed pipe dreams about democracy in the Middle East, refuses to
surrender to democracy’s verdict at home.