Sunday, November 20, 2005
Las iglesias evangélicas y el juego de Estados Unidos en el mundo árabe
Desde 1947, numerosos jefes militares y dirigentes políticos estadounidenses, entre ellos los Bush, pertenecen a un grupo evangélico secreto, llamado «La familia», cuya sede se encuentra cerca del Pentágono, en la propiedad de los cedros. Esa organización, luego de aliarse al Vaticano en América Latina en contra de la teología de la liberación, dirige hoy una doble ofensiva contra católicos y musulmanes. De ella provienen también los principales personajes de la dirección política de Estados Unidos y extiende su influencia por el mundo mediante sus misioneros. El politólogo Charles Saint-Prot, quien participará en el coloquio Axis for Peace, analiza, en el trabajo que hoy les presentamos, la estrategia de ese grupo evangélico en el mundo árabe.
Pinochet dedica su actuar a Dios.
CHILE - El ex dictador chileno Augusto Pinochet, ha decidido responsabilizar a Dios por todos las muertes que cometió y que ordenó cometer durante el gobierno militar entre 1973 y 1990.
En un interrogatorio judicial para determinar su responsabilidad sobre la Operación Colombo, mediante la cual se ocultó la muerte de 119 militantes de izquierda, declaro: “Lamento y sufro por esas pérdidas, pero es Dios quien hace las cosas, él me perdonará si me excedí en alguna, pero no creo que haya sucedido eso”.
Pinochet, que está próximo a cumplir los 90 años, también dijo que “Todo lo que hice, todo lo que actué, todos los problemas, se los dedico a Dios, se los dedico a Chile, porque de esa forma se permitió que el país no fuera comunista y surgiera como hasta hoy”
El ex dictador que se encuentra bajo arraigo domiciliario, también ha sido interrogado por las cuentas secretas que tenía en el Banco Riggs de los Estados Unidos así como en bancos de otras partes del mundo, fortuna que podría llegar a 27 millones de dólares.
Augusto Pinochet encabezó el golpe militar que derrocó al presidente constitucional Salvador Allende el 11 de septiembre de 1973. El militar mantuvo una cruenta dictadura durante 17 años en las que se cometieron diversas violaciones a los derechos humanos como torturas, desapariciones y asesinatos.
En un interrogatorio judicial para determinar su responsabilidad sobre la Operación Colombo, mediante la cual se ocultó la muerte de 119 militantes de izquierda, declaro: “Lamento y sufro por esas pérdidas, pero es Dios quien hace las cosas, él me perdonará si me excedí en alguna, pero no creo que haya sucedido eso”.
Pinochet, que está próximo a cumplir los 90 años, también dijo que “Todo lo que hice, todo lo que actué, todos los problemas, se los dedico a Dios, se los dedico a Chile, porque de esa forma se permitió que el país no fuera comunista y surgiera como hasta hoy”
El ex dictador que se encuentra bajo arraigo domiciliario, también ha sido interrogado por las cuentas secretas que tenía en el Banco Riggs de los Estados Unidos así como en bancos de otras partes del mundo, fortuna que podría llegar a 27 millones de dólares.
Augusto Pinochet encabezó el golpe militar que derrocó al presidente constitucional Salvador Allende el 11 de septiembre de 1973. El militar mantuvo una cruenta dictadura durante 17 años en las que se cometieron diversas violaciones a los derechos humanos como torturas, desapariciones y asesinatos.
"It is time to unite and to ensure peace" - Final Declaration by Axis for Peace
In Spanish
A military coalition has launched itself into an unbridled exploitation of the world's resources and energy reserves. Fuelled by neo-conservatives, it has increased its attacks, practicing all forms of interference, from forcing changes in regimes to colonial-style expansionism. This coalition continually violates the principles of international law as they were established by the conference of the Hague and laid out in the San Francisco Charter.
This group masks its ambitions by intoxicating the media and by deceiving international organizations. It practices a double standard by unjustly accusing those who stand in their way of not respecting the rules whilst violating them themselves. The coalition betrays democratic ideals when claiming to serve them through military occupation.
To justify their thirst for conquest, they form terrorist groups with the aim of manipulating them, create pretexts for military action, propagate theories of an international Muslim plot and fuel conflicts between civilizations. They seize power for themselves and contribute to pushing humanity toward ruin and disorder.
To stop this process, we appeal to the well-intentioned permanent members of the UN Security Council. We ask them to enforce the respect of the sovereignty of nations, which forms the basis of international law and constitutes a precondition for the development of democracy in its genuine form. We deplore that France, initially opposed to the invasion of Irak, has joined the ranks of those who proffer menaces against new targets.
We salute the mediation of Russia who stands by the application of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and the presumption of innocence in international relations. We call upon the UN General Assembly to support Russia’s efforts in favor of the re-establishment of a multilateral dialogue; to support its strong stance against financing terrorism, double standards in international politics and the interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
On our behalf, we engage ourselves, similarly to that which has been done in Latin America, to continue to mobilize public opinion in order to combat hatred and propaganda and to reject all projects of global domination and exploitation.
It is time to unite and to ensure peace.
A military coalition has launched itself into an unbridled exploitation of the world's resources and energy reserves. Fuelled by neo-conservatives, it has increased its attacks, practicing all forms of interference, from forcing changes in regimes to colonial-style expansionism. This coalition continually violates the principles of international law as they were established by the conference of the Hague and laid out in the San Francisco Charter.
This group masks its ambitions by intoxicating the media and by deceiving international organizations. It practices a double standard by unjustly accusing those who stand in their way of not respecting the rules whilst violating them themselves. The coalition betrays democratic ideals when claiming to serve them through military occupation.
To justify their thirst for conquest, they form terrorist groups with the aim of manipulating them, create pretexts for military action, propagate theories of an international Muslim plot and fuel conflicts between civilizations. They seize power for themselves and contribute to pushing humanity toward ruin and disorder.
To stop this process, we appeal to the well-intentioned permanent members of the UN Security Council. We ask them to enforce the respect of the sovereignty of nations, which forms the basis of international law and constitutes a precondition for the development of democracy in its genuine form. We deplore that France, initially opposed to the invasion of Irak, has joined the ranks of those who proffer menaces against new targets.
We salute the mediation of Russia who stands by the application of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and the presumption of innocence in international relations. We call upon the UN General Assembly to support Russia’s efforts in favor of the re-establishment of a multilateral dialogue; to support its strong stance against financing terrorism, double standards in international politics and the interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
On our behalf, we engage ourselves, similarly to that which has been done in Latin America, to continue to mobilize public opinion in order to combat hatred and propaganda and to reject all projects of global domination and exploitation.
It is time to unite and to ensure peace.
Wasting Fallujah
"Swarming…the specter in broad daylight accosts the passerby.
-- T.S. Eliot, "The Wasteland"
"We have now awakened to the barbarians...Retribution has been visited on the barbarians,
and more will follow."
-- Naval War College Review
"Waste the motherfuckers!" screamed across the screen in the outrageous and hateful film "Rules of Engagement" (2000), and into the streets and neighborhoods of Fallujah in November 2004. The film is a Samuel L. Jackson military vehicle that celebrates US war crimes from Vietnam to the Middle East, the US slaughter of Muslim civilians, young children included, and Arab bloodletting in general. It is, of course, one film, among many, that prepares US audiences for real manifestations of US aggression and war crimes: torture, slaughter of civilians, children included, and Iraqi bloodletting, as was the case in the "wasting" of Fallujah.The ease with which the US has, for more than 2 ½ years "wasted" Iraqis, the ease with which culturally we participate in acts of wanton cruelty, demonizing of Iraqis, savage acts of inhumanity and barbarism, brutish violations of international conventions and laws, and our willingness to look the other way in the face of monstrous US induced misery, suffering and death, is symbolized graphically in the haunting specter of the US "wasting" of Fallujah one year ago: "Operation Phantom Fury."
---------------------
Please allow a closing sonnet from G. Last:
AH, FREEDOM COMES TO IRAQ
Ah, the freedom to be fucked in the ass,
Ah, the freedom to be tied to a leash,
Ah, the freedom to be hooded and chained,
To shit in your pants, and rip out your hair,
To shiver and sweat, squirm naked in piss,
To know the agony will never pass;
The freedom to scream, the freedom to screech...
To know the torturers will not be rained
In by law, reason, or moral despair
Provides one the hateful freedom to kiss
Goodbye the life vomited on the floor
Amidst broken teeth and bloodied bile
Leaking from your holes. Freedom is the whore
And death the pimp with the "'merican" smile.
g.last - '05
Where to Look for Answers on Corrupted Intelligence by Ray McGovern
Sunday 20 November 2005
While it is altogether appropriate for Congress's attention to be riveted on the future and, specifically, on how to end the disaster in Iraq, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) continue to be asked about the past and how the George W. Bush administration was able to create/corrupt intelligence to convey a false picture of the need for war on Iraq in the first place.
Renewed, if short-lived, interest in this issue can be traced to Senator Harry Reid's demand on November 1 that Pat Roberts, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, make good on his promise to complete his investigation into this issue (the so-called "Phase 2" study that Democratic senator Jay Rockefeller acquiesced in postponing until after last year's election).
Don't hold your breath. Roberts is still diddling Rockefeller, who, as ranking Democrat on Roberts's committee, has a painful propensity for letting himself be outmaneuvered. The two are still far from agreement on how to proceed, and Roberts seems likely to use another pending study to delay still further the completion of "Phase 2."
Congressional sources disclosed Thursday that the Department of Defense Inspector General has agreed to review the pre-war intelligence activities of former defense undersecretary Douglas Feith, a main architect of the war on Iraq. The IG investigation could take at least six months, say defense officials. Indeed, the study is not yet under way, since the IG is "still discussing it with the Roberts committee staff," according to Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman.
For the gullible, here's a new promise from Pat Roberts: "We're going to try to expedite it [the IG study on Feith] as much as possible ... The IG knows we are very eager to get this done but he wants to get it done right."
Right.
Not that it really matters. Attempting to get an apolitical study out of Roberts's committee would be a fool's errand, even if Rockefeller had more backbone. Pat Roberts, you may recall, rejected as "inappropriate" Rockefeller's suggestion last year that the committee ask the FBI to look into who manufactured the (in)famous forgery about Iraq seeking uranium in Niger.
Don't despair. We in VIPS have been hard at work on this issue since well before the war. Indeed, it was/is our raison d'être.
Where to look for the answers? Try the just published "Neo-CONNED Again!" a collection of essays and interviews by and with VIPS and other professionals. My colleague Col. W. Patrick Lang, USA (ret) and I have authored chapters devoted specifically to how intelligence was corrupted to "justify" an unjustifiable war - or, in the words of the Downing Street Minutes, how "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
Pat's article, "Drinking the Kool-Aid: Making the Case for War with Compromised Integrity and Intelligence," was originally published in the summer 2004 Middle East Policy Journal. Mine is titled "Sham Dunk: Cooking Intelligence for the President." The text is posted here.
But for a fuller picture on the Iraq misadventure, you may wish to obtain the book itself. For it also contains a wealth of insight from the likes of Robert Fisk, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Karen Kwiatkowski, Jeffrey Record, Tom Engelhardt, Sam Gardiner, Michael Ratner and many others.
The experience of the past few years has shown that, although Pat Roberts prides himself on being a US Marine, waiting for him to deliver on his promises is like waiting for Godot. (See "Semper Fraud, Senator Roberts.") There, fellow Marine (and VIPS member) Scott Ritter offers unique insight into Pat Roberts, including his foot-dragging on the "Phase 2" investigation.
While it is altogether appropriate for Congress's attention to be riveted on the future and, specifically, on how to end the disaster in Iraq, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) continue to be asked about the past and how the George W. Bush administration was able to create/corrupt intelligence to convey a false picture of the need for war on Iraq in the first place.
Renewed, if short-lived, interest in this issue can be traced to Senator Harry Reid's demand on November 1 that Pat Roberts, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, make good on his promise to complete his investigation into this issue (the so-called "Phase 2" study that Democratic senator Jay Rockefeller acquiesced in postponing until after last year's election).
Don't hold your breath. Roberts is still diddling Rockefeller, who, as ranking Democrat on Roberts's committee, has a painful propensity for letting himself be outmaneuvered. The two are still far from agreement on how to proceed, and Roberts seems likely to use another pending study to delay still further the completion of "Phase 2."
Congressional sources disclosed Thursday that the Department of Defense Inspector General has agreed to review the pre-war intelligence activities of former defense undersecretary Douglas Feith, a main architect of the war on Iraq. The IG investigation could take at least six months, say defense officials. Indeed, the study is not yet under way, since the IG is "still discussing it with the Roberts committee staff," according to Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman.
For the gullible, here's a new promise from Pat Roberts: "We're going to try to expedite it [the IG study on Feith] as much as possible ... The IG knows we are very eager to get this done but he wants to get it done right."
Right.
Not that it really matters. Attempting to get an apolitical study out of Roberts's committee would be a fool's errand, even if Rockefeller had more backbone. Pat Roberts, you may recall, rejected as "inappropriate" Rockefeller's suggestion last year that the committee ask the FBI to look into who manufactured the (in)famous forgery about Iraq seeking uranium in Niger.
Don't despair. We in VIPS have been hard at work on this issue since well before the war. Indeed, it was/is our raison d'être.
Where to look for the answers? Try the just published "Neo-CONNED Again!" a collection of essays and interviews by and with VIPS and other professionals. My colleague Col. W. Patrick Lang, USA (ret) and I have authored chapters devoted specifically to how intelligence was corrupted to "justify" an unjustifiable war - or, in the words of the Downing Street Minutes, how "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
Pat's article, "Drinking the Kool-Aid: Making the Case for War with Compromised Integrity and Intelligence," was originally published in the summer 2004 Middle East Policy Journal. Mine is titled "Sham Dunk: Cooking Intelligence for the President." The text is posted here.
But for a fuller picture on the Iraq misadventure, you may wish to obtain the book itself. For it also contains a wealth of insight from the likes of Robert Fisk, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Karen Kwiatkowski, Jeffrey Record, Tom Engelhardt, Sam Gardiner, Michael Ratner and many others.
The experience of the past few years has shown that, although Pat Roberts prides himself on being a US Marine, waiting for him to deliver on his promises is like waiting for Godot. (See "Semper Fraud, Senator Roberts.") There, fellow Marine (and VIPS member) Scott Ritter offers unique insight into Pat Roberts, including his foot-dragging on the "Phase 2" investigation.
Protesters Call Again for Closing of TORTURE SCHOOL (School of the Americas) IN GEORGIA
Carlos Mauricio, a torture survivor from El Salvador, will be among the thousands who gather at Fort Benning's main gate this weekend to call for the closing of a military school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America.
"I was blindfolded. I was badly, badly beaten," he said. "I was tortured for nine days. I was forced to listen to the screaming of all the people being given electroshock and women being raped."
Mauricio, a high school science teacher, traveled by minivan from his home in San Francisco to join the annual protest organized by School of the Americas Watch, a group that has waged a 15-year campaign to close Fort Benning's School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
The demonstrations are held each November to mark the Nov. 16, 1989, slayings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter in El Salvador. A congressional task force found that some of the soldiers responsible for the massacre had been trained at the School of Americas, which moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984.
Roy Bourgeois, a Catholic priest, founded the group in 1990 in an attempt to come to grips with the violence he had witnessed as a Naval officer in Vietnam and especially as a priest working with the poor in Bolivia in the 1980s.
"What I and others hope to accomplish is that our efforts will somehow help relieve the suffering of other people," Bourgeois said. "We're here trying to love and support people of other countries who are victims of the training at this school we're trying to shut down and our country's foreign policy."
"I was blindfolded. I was badly, badly beaten," he said. "I was tortured for nine days. I was forced to listen to the screaming of all the people being given electroshock and women being raped."
Mauricio, a high school science teacher, traveled by minivan from his home in San Francisco to join the annual protest organized by School of the Americas Watch, a group that has waged a 15-year campaign to close Fort Benning's School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
The demonstrations are held each November to mark the Nov. 16, 1989, slayings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter in El Salvador. A congressional task force found that some of the soldiers responsible for the massacre had been trained at the School of Americas, which moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984.
Roy Bourgeois, a Catholic priest, founded the group in 1990 in an attempt to come to grips with the violence he had witnessed as a Naval officer in Vietnam and especially as a priest working with the poor in Bolivia in the 1980s.
"What I and others hope to accomplish is that our efforts will somehow help relieve the suffering of other people," Bourgeois said. "We're here trying to love and support people of other countries who are victims of the training at this school we're trying to shut down and our country's foreign policy."
British-trained police in Iraq 'killed prisoners with drills'
British-trained police operating in Basra have tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.
Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station. Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs and skulls.
The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces, according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard" by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police, ministers admit.
John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.
Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station. Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs and skulls.
The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces, according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard" by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police, ministers admit.
Come on, Democratic Party, "Stand With The People" by Ralph Nader
With the Bush regime reeling from its own derelictions and falling in the national polls, the question most frequently put to the leading Democrats is, "What do the Democrats stand for?"
This is the question that Tim Russert asked Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on Meet the Press recently. Mr. Dean responded that the Democrats do not control the House, the Senate or the White House and that, "right now it's not our job to give out specifics..it's our job to stop this corrupt and incompetent administration from doing more damage to America." He added that the Democrats had "plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections".
This is Mr. Dean strapped to the mast by his superiors in the Congress, where fear of the Republicans supersedes the Democrats' loathing of them. When their most senior member on the House military appropriations committee, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), a double-decorated Vietnam veteran and their most untouchable member by the Republican smear machine, came out last week for "immediate withdrawal" (meaning over six months) of U.S. soldiers from Iraq, the Democratic Party caucus did not come out in support of his position. This is the case even though most Democrats privately agree with Rep. Murtha, as does a growing majority of the American people.
The Republicans continue to taunt the cowardly Democrats by making them vote on a resolution for immediate termination without explaining what it means. The Democrats watch the Republican implode, but by not advancing their own agenda for America they find themselves also low in the polls.
This is the question that Tim Russert asked Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on Meet the Press recently. Mr. Dean responded that the Democrats do not control the House, the Senate or the White House and that, "right now it's not our job to give out specifics..it's our job to stop this corrupt and incompetent administration from doing more damage to America." He added that the Democrats had "plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections".
This is Mr. Dean strapped to the mast by his superiors in the Congress, where fear of the Republicans supersedes the Democrats' loathing of them. When their most senior member on the House military appropriations committee, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), a double-decorated Vietnam veteran and their most untouchable member by the Republican smear machine, came out last week for "immediate withdrawal" (meaning over six months) of U.S. soldiers from Iraq, the Democratic Party caucus did not come out in support of his position. This is the case even though most Democrats privately agree with Rep. Murtha, as does a growing majority of the American people.
The Republicans continue to taunt the cowardly Democrats by making them vote on a resolution for immediate termination without explaining what it means. The Democrats watch the Republican implode, but by not advancing their own agenda for America they find themselves also low in the polls.
The Betrayed Mothers Of America - Vietnam comes to mind. They talk of their patriotism, though patriotism is not enough
I sit in one of the dives on 44th Street, uncertain how to approach Sue Niederer and Celeste Zappala, afraid that their stories can be too easily turned into tears, their message lost after the Veterans’ Day march. They were put at the back of the New York parade, humiliated, with their little crowd of anti-war veterans and their memories of boys who left young wives for Iraq and came back in coffins.
Later I sit between the two women and remember the blood splashed across the road at Khan Dari and the 82nd Airborne washing away the brains from the highway in central Fallujah and the body lying beneath a tarp in north Baghdad. I’ve seen the American corpses. Now here are the American mothers.
Sue lost her son Seth on 3 February last year. He was looking for "improvised explosive devices" near Iskanderiya, south of Baghdad - the infamous IEDs, roadside bombs which have taken hundreds of American lives - when a booby trap blew up next to him.
Later I sit between the two women and remember the blood splashed across the road at Khan Dari and the 82nd Airborne washing away the brains from the highway in central Fallujah and the body lying beneath a tarp in north Baghdad. I’ve seen the American corpses. Now here are the American mothers.
Sue lost her son Seth on 3 February last year. He was looking for "improvised explosive devices" near Iskanderiya, south of Baghdad - the infamous IEDs, roadside bombs which have taken hundreds of American lives - when a booby trap blew up next to him.
PLAYS ON WORDS
Today's column is about a few words and how they can be more powerful than those of usual words and can speak volumes.
"The defiant Saddam Hussein" we read regularly in the press. In the English language, defiant can take on negative meanings, such as antagonistic, obstinate or disobedient. These are the more popular interpretations of the word. However, it can also depict bravery. When the press speaks of a "defiant" Saddam, the inference is of the negative nature. But, many people would translate defiant to mean bravery in Saddam’s case. That is the context in which I use the word.
I don't speak or read Arabic, but I have numerous friends who are from the Middle East and Arabic is their first language. Despite my lack of knowledge of Arabic, I do know one word: manuke.
A few years ago, I was in a business owned by an Iraqi-American who was speaking to a customer of the same background. The name of a local representative of Ahmed Chalabi came up and the customer said, "He's a manuke." The owner laughed and I asked him what manuke meant. Roughly translated it means a male who was the recipient in an act of sodomy. I cracked up and was proud that I knew one vile word in which I could convey a message to Arabic speakers when discussing traitors such as Chalabi.
The word manuke is not intended so much as a literal homophobic remark, but one that indicates the person is a disgusting individual who has no integrity.
Last week, I and about a dozen comrades met at an Iraqi restaurant owned by Shi'ite Muslims. The large-screen TV was on in the background displaying an Iranian satellite channel broadcast in Arabic. The same person who introduced the word manuke to me was watching and a news item about the stooge prime minister of Iraq appeared. My Iraqi-American friend then saw him and said, "Jafari ... manuke." There was that word again. For some reason, it just sounds profound and I am always impressed by one word that is so powerful that its implications can be depicted by many sentences. I have asked many Arabic-speaking friends about the word and they all say it is only used to show contempt and is not to be used in polite conversation.
Now, let's combine Saddam Hussein’s "defiance" and the word manuke.
An article published in the British newspaper The Guardian of November 17, 2005 reported a bizarre incident that occurred in an Iraqi courtroom in which Saddam was being questioned by a judge. According to the article, titled "Saddam Claims Assault by Court Clerks:"
Court clerks at Saddam Hussein’s trial lunged at the former dictator and punched him for insulting Shia saints, it emerged yesterday.
According to an Iraqi television station, the attack occurred when Saddam was being questioned about the suppression of the 1991 Shia uprising in Karbala.
A judge then asked him whether Iraqi forces had attacked the shrines of Imams Hussein and Abbas, two of the most revered figures in Shia Islam.
At first, Saddam pretended not to know who the holy men were. But then he is reported to have said, "Who do you mean? Those manayich (buggers)?"
His remarks angered two court employees, who had been taking notes, and a fight broke out.
Let's get back to words again. The word "manayich" is the plural of the word manuke. At least Saddam was grammatically correct.
The word "buggers" that was included in parentheses was an accurate translation. In Britain, it means the same as manayich, so "bugger" would be an accurate translation of manuke.
Sadly, in the U.S., the word "bugger" has been watered down over time and it is used as a term instead to depict a "jerk" or "moron" or "idiot." Therefore, a U.S. citizen reading the account of Saddam's statement in The Guardian would not understand its strength.
Saddam Hussein is on trial for his life. Most people in his circumstance would be begging to be spared, but Saddam has not followed this route. He believes that he and his country have been unfairly wronged and his integrity would not allow him to cower. Those who opposed him are now calling the shots in his trial, but, even though surrounded by them, he will not acquiesce to their demands. Similarly, he has never said "I give up" to the U.S.
Nobody knows Saddam's ultimate fate. Chances are that he won’t be around too long, but he will not sell out his country. Love him or hate him, you must admit he has "cojones grandes." If you don’t know that those words mean, look them up in a Spanish-English dictionary.
"The defiant Saddam Hussein" we read regularly in the press. In the English language, defiant can take on negative meanings, such as antagonistic, obstinate or disobedient. These are the more popular interpretations of the word. However, it can also depict bravery. When the press speaks of a "defiant" Saddam, the inference is of the negative nature. But, many people would translate defiant to mean bravery in Saddam’s case. That is the context in which I use the word.
I don't speak or read Arabic, but I have numerous friends who are from the Middle East and Arabic is their first language. Despite my lack of knowledge of Arabic, I do know one word: manuke.
A few years ago, I was in a business owned by an Iraqi-American who was speaking to a customer of the same background. The name of a local representative of Ahmed Chalabi came up and the customer said, "He's a manuke." The owner laughed and I asked him what manuke meant. Roughly translated it means a male who was the recipient in an act of sodomy. I cracked up and was proud that I knew one vile word in which I could convey a message to Arabic speakers when discussing traitors such as Chalabi.
The word manuke is not intended so much as a literal homophobic remark, but one that indicates the person is a disgusting individual who has no integrity.
Last week, I and about a dozen comrades met at an Iraqi restaurant owned by Shi'ite Muslims. The large-screen TV was on in the background displaying an Iranian satellite channel broadcast in Arabic. The same person who introduced the word manuke to me was watching and a news item about the stooge prime minister of Iraq appeared. My Iraqi-American friend then saw him and said, "Jafari ... manuke." There was that word again. For some reason, it just sounds profound and I am always impressed by one word that is so powerful that its implications can be depicted by many sentences. I have asked many Arabic-speaking friends about the word and they all say it is only used to show contempt and is not to be used in polite conversation.
Now, let's combine Saddam Hussein’s "defiance" and the word manuke.
An article published in the British newspaper The Guardian of November 17, 2005 reported a bizarre incident that occurred in an Iraqi courtroom in which Saddam was being questioned by a judge. According to the article, titled "Saddam Claims Assault by Court Clerks:"
Court clerks at Saddam Hussein’s trial lunged at the former dictator and punched him for insulting Shia saints, it emerged yesterday.
According to an Iraqi television station, the attack occurred when Saddam was being questioned about the suppression of the 1991 Shia uprising in Karbala.
A judge then asked him whether Iraqi forces had attacked the shrines of Imams Hussein and Abbas, two of the most revered figures in Shia Islam.
At first, Saddam pretended not to know who the holy men were. But then he is reported to have said, "Who do you mean? Those manayich (buggers)?"
His remarks angered two court employees, who had been taking notes, and a fight broke out.
Let's get back to words again. The word "manayich" is the plural of the word manuke. At least Saddam was grammatically correct.
The word "buggers" that was included in parentheses was an accurate translation. In Britain, it means the same as manayich, so "bugger" would be an accurate translation of manuke.
Sadly, in the U.S., the word "bugger" has been watered down over time and it is used as a term instead to depict a "jerk" or "moron" or "idiot." Therefore, a U.S. citizen reading the account of Saddam's statement in The Guardian would not understand its strength.
Saddam Hussein is on trial for his life. Most people in his circumstance would be begging to be spared, but Saddam has not followed this route. He believes that he and his country have been unfairly wronged and his integrity would not allow him to cower. Those who opposed him are now calling the shots in his trial, but, even though surrounded by them, he will not acquiesce to their demands. Similarly, he has never said "I give up" to the U.S.
Nobody knows Saddam's ultimate fate. Chances are that he won’t be around too long, but he will not sell out his country. Love him or hate him, you must admit he has "cojones grandes." If you don’t know that those words mean, look them up in a Spanish-English dictionary.
PLAYS ON WORDS
Today's column is about a few words and how they can be more powerful than those of usual words and can speak volumes.
"The defiant Saddam Hussein" we read regularly in the press. In the English language, defiant can take on negative meanings, such as antagonistic, obstinate or disobedient. These are the more popular interpretations of the word. However, it can also depict bravery. When the press speaks of a "defiant" Saddam, the inference is of the negative nature. But, many people would translate defiant to mean bravery in Saddam’s case. That is the context in which I use the word.
I don't speak or read Arabic, but I have numerous friends who are from the Middle East and Arabic is their first language. Despite my lack of knowledge of Arabic, I do know one word: manuke.
A few years ago, I was in a business owned by an Iraqi-American who was speaking to a customer of the same background. The name of a local representative of Ahmed Chalabi came up and the customer said, "He's a manuke." The owner laughed and I asked him what manuke meant. Roughly translated it means a male who was the recipient in an act of sodomy. I cracked up and was proud that I knew one vile word in which I could convey a message to Arabic speakers when discussing traitors such as Chalabi.
The word manuke is not intended so much as a literal homophobic remark, but one that indicates the person is a disgusting individual who has no integrity.
Last week, I and about a dozen comrades met at an Iraqi restaurant owned by Shi'ite Muslims. The large-screen TV was on in the background displaying an Iranian satellite channel broadcast in Arabic. The same person who introduced the word manuke to me was watching and a news item about the stooge prime minister of Iraq appeared. My Iraqi-American friend then saw him and said, "Jafari ... manuke." There was that word again. For some reason, it just sounds profound and I am always impressed by one word that is so powerful that its implications can be depicted by many sentences. I have asked many Arabic-speaking friends about the word and they all say it is only used to show contempt and is not to be used in polite conversation.
Now, let's combine Saddam Hussein’s "defiance" and the word manuke.
An article published in the British newspaper The Guardian of November 17, 2005 reported a bizarre incident that occurred in an Iraqi courtroom in which Saddam was being questioned by a judge. According to the article, titled "Saddam Claims Assault by Court Clerks:"
Court clerks at Saddam Hussein’s trial lunged at the former dictator and punched him for insulting Shia saints, it emerged yesterday.
According to an Iraqi television station, the attack occurred when Saddam was being questioned about the suppression of the 1991 Shia uprising in Karbala.
A judge then asked him whether Iraqi forces had attacked the shrines of Imams Hussein and Abbas, two of the most revered figures in Shia Islam.
At first, Saddam pretended not to know who the holy men were. But then he is reported to have said, "Who do you mean? Those manayich (buggers)?"
His remarks angered two court employees, who had been taking notes, and a fight broke out.
Let's get back to words again. The word "manayich" is the plural of the word manuke. At least Saddam was grammatically correct.
The word "buggers" that was included in parentheses was an accurate translation. In Britain, it means the same as manayich, so "bugger" would be an accurate translation of manuke.
Sadly, in the U.S., the word "bugger" has been watered down over time and it is used as a term instead to depict a "jerk" or "moron" or "idiot." Therefore, a U.S. citizen reading the account of Saddam's statement in The Guardian would not understand its strength.
Saddam Hussein is on trial for his life. Most people in his circumstance would be begging to be spared, but Saddam has not followed this route. He believes that he and his country have been unfairly wronged and his integrity would not allow him to cower. Those who opposed him are now calling the shots in his trial, but, even though surrounded by them, he will not acquiesce to their demands. Similarly, he has never said "I give up" to the U.S.
Nobody knows Saddam's ultimate fate. Chances are that he won’t be around too long, but he will not sell out his country. Love him or hate him, you must admit he has "cojones grandes." If you don’t know that those words mean, look them up in a Spanish-English dictionary.
"The defiant Saddam Hussein" we read regularly in the press. In the English language, defiant can take on negative meanings, such as antagonistic, obstinate or disobedient. These are the more popular interpretations of the word. However, it can also depict bravery. When the press speaks of a "defiant" Saddam, the inference is of the negative nature. But, many people would translate defiant to mean bravery in Saddam’s case. That is the context in which I use the word.
I don't speak or read Arabic, but I have numerous friends who are from the Middle East and Arabic is their first language. Despite my lack of knowledge of Arabic, I do know one word: manuke.
A few years ago, I was in a business owned by an Iraqi-American who was speaking to a customer of the same background. The name of a local representative of Ahmed Chalabi came up and the customer said, "He's a manuke." The owner laughed and I asked him what manuke meant. Roughly translated it means a male who was the recipient in an act of sodomy. I cracked up and was proud that I knew one vile word in which I could convey a message to Arabic speakers when discussing traitors such as Chalabi.
The word manuke is not intended so much as a literal homophobic remark, but one that indicates the person is a disgusting individual who has no integrity.
Last week, I and about a dozen comrades met at an Iraqi restaurant owned by Shi'ite Muslims. The large-screen TV was on in the background displaying an Iranian satellite channel broadcast in Arabic. The same person who introduced the word manuke to me was watching and a news item about the stooge prime minister of Iraq appeared. My Iraqi-American friend then saw him and said, "Jafari ... manuke." There was that word again. For some reason, it just sounds profound and I am always impressed by one word that is so powerful that its implications can be depicted by many sentences. I have asked many Arabic-speaking friends about the word and they all say it is only used to show contempt and is not to be used in polite conversation.
Now, let's combine Saddam Hussein’s "defiance" and the word manuke.
An article published in the British newspaper The Guardian of November 17, 2005 reported a bizarre incident that occurred in an Iraqi courtroom in which Saddam was being questioned by a judge. According to the article, titled "Saddam Claims Assault by Court Clerks:"
Court clerks at Saddam Hussein’s trial lunged at the former dictator and punched him for insulting Shia saints, it emerged yesterday.
According to an Iraqi television station, the attack occurred when Saddam was being questioned about the suppression of the 1991 Shia uprising in Karbala.
A judge then asked him whether Iraqi forces had attacked the shrines of Imams Hussein and Abbas, two of the most revered figures in Shia Islam.
At first, Saddam pretended not to know who the holy men were. But then he is reported to have said, "Who do you mean? Those manayich (buggers)?"
His remarks angered two court employees, who had been taking notes, and a fight broke out.
Let's get back to words again. The word "manayich" is the plural of the word manuke. At least Saddam was grammatically correct.
The word "buggers" that was included in parentheses was an accurate translation. In Britain, it means the same as manayich, so "bugger" would be an accurate translation of manuke.
Sadly, in the U.S., the word "bugger" has been watered down over time and it is used as a term instead to depict a "jerk" or "moron" or "idiot." Therefore, a U.S. citizen reading the account of Saddam's statement in The Guardian would not understand its strength.
Saddam Hussein is on trial for his life. Most people in his circumstance would be begging to be spared, but Saddam has not followed this route. He believes that he and his country have been unfairly wronged and his integrity would not allow him to cower. Those who opposed him are now calling the shots in his trial, but, even though surrounded by them, he will not acquiesce to their demands. Similarly, he has never said "I give up" to the U.S.
Nobody knows Saddam's ultimate fate. Chances are that he won’t be around too long, but he will not sell out his country. Love him or hate him, you must admit he has "cojones grandes." If you don’t know that those words mean, look them up in a Spanish-English dictionary.
Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home ("depleted uranium.")
Across the plains of Kansas, destroyed, radioactive Abrams tanks, perched on railroad flatcars, rolled towards an uncertain future. Only one thing was certain. They would be radioactive forever. This would be their everlasting death mask. The Pentagon deceptively calls it "depleted uranium."
The Abrams tanks are constructed with a layer of radioactive uranium metal plates. The big tanks fire a giant uranium dart at 2,100 mph, much faster than an F-16 fighter aircraft, mach III to airplane pilots and very, very fast to the rest of us.
American taxpayers paid to ship the tanks to Iraq and to return them for disposal or re-building in the United States. The tanks are 12 feet wide and weigh a stout 70 tons, or 140,000 pounds.
The enduring vigorous stupidity of the U.S. military pretends that radiation is one of those things that if you can't see it, it can't hurt you. They are thoroughly delusional, of course. A National Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is no safe level of radiation. Any radiation is bad.
From America to Iraq and back, these giant radioactive hulks can only sicken and kill Americans. On top of the sheer, unrelenting stupidity of playing with radiation with unsuspecting soldiers, now the neo-con government is involving everyday Americans in their radiation madness.
The Pentagon can't even follow simple radiation hazard mitigation instructions. Their own rules and regulations have the force of law throughout the world. Yet they are ignored in the United States.
The Abrams tanks are constructed with a layer of radioactive uranium metal plates. The big tanks fire a giant uranium dart at 2,100 mph, much faster than an F-16 fighter aircraft, mach III to airplane pilots and very, very fast to the rest of us.
American taxpayers paid to ship the tanks to Iraq and to return them for disposal or re-building in the United States. The tanks are 12 feet wide and weigh a stout 70 tons, or 140,000 pounds.
The enduring vigorous stupidity of the U.S. military pretends that radiation is one of those things that if you can't see it, it can't hurt you. They are thoroughly delusional, of course. A National Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is no safe level of radiation. Any radiation is bad.
From America to Iraq and back, these giant radioactive hulks can only sicken and kill Americans. On top of the sheer, unrelenting stupidity of playing with radiation with unsuspecting soldiers, now the neo-con government is involving everyday Americans in their radiation madness.
The Pentagon can't even follow simple radiation hazard mitigation instructions. Their own rules and regulations have the force of law throughout the world. Yet they are ignored in the United States.
Che's Second Coming?
The Bolivian Congress is an ornate building in the Spanish Colonial style. It is also a study in cognitive dissonance. Located on the Plaza Murillo, one of the central squares of Bolivia's main city, La Paz, it is flanked by the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral and the mausoleum of Bolivia's second president, Andrés Santa Cruz, who fought alongside Simón Bolívar. Around these decorous buildings, soldiers in red pseudo-19th-century uniforms stand at attention or march ceremoniously from point to point. Were it not for the fact that most of these young recruits have the broad Indian faces of the Andean altiplano, or high plains, and that those gawking at them in the square are also themselves mostly indigenous, it would be easy to become confused and believe you were in some remote corner of Europe, albeit the Europe of a century ago.
Inside the Congress, this effect is, if anything, even stronger: marble floors, waiters wearing white shirts and black bow ties, photos on the walls in the office wing of the building, many now yellowing with age, that show previous generations of congressmen among whom there is barely an Indian face to be seen. The burden of this faux-Europeanness seems overwhelming, until, that is, you walk down one of the main corridors and, at its end, find yourself confronted with an enormous, colorized, Madonna-like image of Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Fidel Castro's comrade in arms, the archrevolutionary who died 38 years ago in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes trying to bring a Marxist revolution to Bolivia, then as now the poorest and most racially polarized country in South America.
Inside the Congress, this effect is, if anything, even stronger: marble floors, waiters wearing white shirts and black bow ties, photos on the walls in the office wing of the building, many now yellowing with age, that show previous generations of congressmen among whom there is barely an Indian face to be seen. The burden of this faux-Europeanness seems overwhelming, until, that is, you walk down one of the main corridors and, at its end, find yourself confronted with an enormous, colorized, Madonna-like image of Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Fidel Castro's comrade in arms, the archrevolutionary who died 38 years ago in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes trying to bring a Marxist revolution to Bolivia, then as now the poorest and most racially polarized country in South America.
Security adviser named as source in CIA scandal
THE mysterious source who gave America's foremost journalist, Bob Woodward, a tip-off about the CIA agent at the centre of one of Washington's biggest political storms was Stephen Hadley, the White House national security adviser, according to lawyers close to the investigation.
Woodward, the Washington Post reporter who broke the Watergate scandal that forced President Richard Nixon out of office, has refused publicly to divulge the name of his informant without permission, which has thus far been withheld.
The naming of CIA agent Valerie Plame as the wife of Joseph Wilson, the former US ambassador sent to Niger to investigate disputed claims that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium yellowcake for the manufacture of nuclear weapons, led to the indictment last month of Vice-President Dick Cheney’s top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for lying to a grand jury.
Woodward, the Washington Post reporter who broke the Watergate scandal that forced President Richard Nixon out of office, has refused publicly to divulge the name of his informant without permission, which has thus far been withheld.
The naming of CIA agent Valerie Plame as the wife of Joseph Wilson, the former US ambassador sent to Niger to investigate disputed claims that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium yellowcake for the manufacture of nuclear weapons, led to the indictment last month of Vice-President Dick Cheney’s top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for lying to a grand jury.
Brent Scowcroft Talks Turkey - Sibel Edmonds Fights Fascism
The Sibel Edmonds v. Department of Justice saga continues as the year 2005 draws to a close. The only breaking news to come from the ongoing drama is the implication, published in Vanity Fair, that Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of US Representatives, was the recipient of campaign contributions and assorted bribes from the Turkish-American community. That another US politician is on the take comes as no surprise. But more on that later. Sibel's story may have quietly died from the suffocating oppression of the US government had it not been for very recent revelations that the US sanctions and operates interrogation/torture facilities in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's and Vice President Dick Cheney's New Europe (Poland, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.). While the buzz is all around the Plame-Wilson-Libby-Woodward-Rove-Hadley affair, and the lies that got the US into Iraq again, the real news is that military and non-military torture chambers stretching from Mexico to Asia have become standard operating procedure for the US. Further, the response of official Washington to the torture expose was not disgust, but a call to prosecute the whistleblower that leaked the awful news.
Within the remarkable public revelation from the Washington Post and Human Rights Watch, is the imprimatur of Rumsfeld and Cheney—the two crusty Nixon Administration buddies--and perhaps the most ruthless and dangerous Americans ever to hold office in the corporate/government world. They and their disciples share the view that "conduct unbecoming" does not exist. No law, no boundary, no moral code, no amount of lives or an outdated parchments like the US Constitution and Bill of Rights will be a barrier as they push forward their foreign and domestic agenda for some of the US population, Turkey and Israel. They hide behind the veil of "the national security of the United States of America" and label Top Secret/Special Compartmentalized Information the data that would implicate them, not save a US soldier in a Humvee, or they slap a State's Secret order on the likes of Sibel Edmonds mainly to protect balance sheets and business deals.
Within the remarkable public revelation from the Washington Post and Human Rights Watch, is the imprimatur of Rumsfeld and Cheney—the two crusty Nixon Administration buddies--and perhaps the most ruthless and dangerous Americans ever to hold office in the corporate/government world. They and their disciples share the view that "conduct unbecoming" does not exist. No law, no boundary, no moral code, no amount of lives or an outdated parchments like the US Constitution and Bill of Rights will be a barrier as they push forward their foreign and domestic agenda for some of the US population, Turkey and Israel. They hide behind the veil of "the national security of the United States of America" and label Top Secret/Special Compartmentalized Information the data that would implicate them, not save a US soldier in a Humvee, or they slap a State's Secret order on the likes of Sibel Edmonds mainly to protect balance sheets and business deals.
More on U.S. VX nerve gas shipments to Iraq in 1988 and 89
November 20, 2005 -- More on U.S. VX nerve gas shipments to Iraq in 1988 and 89. Former members of a military intelligence team deployed to Iraq at the outset of the Iraq invasion referred to their job as a "janitorial operation for the first President Bush and Carlyle." They were referring to the war profiteering firm, on whose international board George H. W. Bush sits and which was headed by Frank Carlucci, the Defense Secretary (and Princeton roommate of Donald Rumsfeld, who was Reagan's special envoy to Saddam Hussein in 1984) who served as the head of the Pentagon when the shipments to Iraq of VX nerve gas, other weapons of mass destruction, and conventional weapons were first authorized by the Reagan administration in 1988. The military intelligence personnel claimed that at the time, Carlyle was among the largest exporters of such weapons by the United States and that bills of lading and other documents presented to them at the Al Qaa Qaa (or Al Caca) weapons depot in Iraq point to pass through companies affiliated with Carlyle being involved in the shipments to Iraq. The evidence is contained in digital photographs taken of canisters and documents by the U.S. military team and which are now in the secured possession of the 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion in San Francisco.
Ed. Note: Carlyle is making some intimidating legal noise about printing a retraction or correction of this item. Fat chance! Discovery is a wonderful legal process!
The Bush 2 administration's main priority at Al Qaa Qaa was to have the incriminating evidence of binary VX nerve gas from the United States removed. A British hazardous material team removed the canisters with U.S. serial numbers. Although the Bush 2 administration highlighted documents presented by the Saddam Hussein government to the United Nations showing the sale of weapons and other embargoed equipment by French, Soviet (and Russian), German, and Yugoslavian firms to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and after, it quickly classified the documents pointing to the sale of U.S. and British weapons (including WMDs) to the Saddam Hussein regime.
The providers of the weapons of mass destruction to Saddam revealed by smoking gun documents found at Al Qaa Qaa weapons depot (left to right): Rumsfeld college roomie, SecDef, and Carlyle head Carlucci; Poppy Bush; and Donald Rumsfeld, special envoy to Saddam
U.S. intelligence sources report that George H. W. Bush, while Vice President under Reagan, lobbied strenuously to get WMDs to Saddam Hussein.
The CIA, according to U.S. military intelligence agents, never considered the U.S.-supplied VX nerve gas to be a WMD after Desert Storm. Their reasoning was that because of its binary nature it had a shelf life and oxidization rendered it harmless after the outbreak of Desert Storm. In reality, the U.S. military sources said the CIA's admission that Iraq possessed harmless VX was a way for it to protect itself and its former deputy director Carlucci while admitting to the fact that the Bush administration had, in fact, supplied the deadly agent to Saddam Hussein. The CIA's main mission in the 1990s was regime change and Saddam's alleged possession of WMDs was merely a causa sina qua non for continued hostilities, overt and covert.
U.S. military intelligence personnel also report that some of the incriminating evidence of U.S. WMD weapons transfers to Saddam Hussein may be lying at the bottom of Lake Tharthar, an artificial lake that is the site of Saddam's most opulent palace -- the Green Palace -- some 35 miles north of the Al Qaa Qaa depot.
The Green Palace and Lake Tharthar: evidence of U.S. collusion in providing WMDs to Iraq lies at its botto
Ed. Note: Carlyle is making some intimidating legal noise about printing a retraction or correction of this item. Fat chance! Discovery is a wonderful legal process!
The Bush 2 administration's main priority at Al Qaa Qaa was to have the incriminating evidence of binary VX nerve gas from the United States removed. A British hazardous material team removed the canisters with U.S. serial numbers. Although the Bush 2 administration highlighted documents presented by the Saddam Hussein government to the United Nations showing the sale of weapons and other embargoed equipment by French, Soviet (and Russian), German, and Yugoslavian firms to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and after, it quickly classified the documents pointing to the sale of U.S. and British weapons (including WMDs) to the Saddam Hussein regime.
The providers of the weapons of mass destruction to Saddam revealed by smoking gun documents found at Al Qaa Qaa weapons depot (left to right): Rumsfeld college roomie, SecDef, and Carlyle head Carlucci; Poppy Bush; and Donald Rumsfeld, special envoy to Saddam
U.S. intelligence sources report that George H. W. Bush, while Vice President under Reagan, lobbied strenuously to get WMDs to Saddam Hussein.
The CIA, according to U.S. military intelligence agents, never considered the U.S.-supplied VX nerve gas to be a WMD after Desert Storm. Their reasoning was that because of its binary nature it had a shelf life and oxidization rendered it harmless after the outbreak of Desert Storm. In reality, the U.S. military sources said the CIA's admission that Iraq possessed harmless VX was a way for it to protect itself and its former deputy director Carlucci while admitting to the fact that the Bush administration had, in fact, supplied the deadly agent to Saddam Hussein. The CIA's main mission in the 1990s was regime change and Saddam's alleged possession of WMDs was merely a causa sina qua non for continued hostilities, overt and covert.
U.S. military intelligence personnel also report that some of the incriminating evidence of U.S. WMD weapons transfers to Saddam Hussein may be lying at the bottom of Lake Tharthar, an artificial lake that is the site of Saddam's most opulent palace -- the Green Palace -- some 35 miles north of the Al Qaa Qaa depot.
The Green Palace and Lake Tharthar: evidence of U.S. collusion in providing WMDs to Iraq lies at its botto
Was Rafik Hariri a threat to the Bin Laden monopoly?
November 19, 2005 -- Was Rafik Hariri a threat to the Bin Laden monopoly? A classified but undated French intelligence report points to the fact that the assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was considered a potential monopoly-busting building construction competitor by the Bin Laden cartel, which is described as having a "monopoly" on construction contracts involving Islamic Holy sites in Saudi Arabia.
The United States, using the United Nations as a proxy, is pressuring Syria over the assassination of Rafik Hariri. With evidence that Hariri was viewed as a potential threat to the Bin Laden monopoly, which is tied closely to the Saudi Royal Family, the Saudis may be as culpable in the assassination as is the Likud government of Israel and the Bush administration.
Rafik Hariri described in French intelligence report as both a competitor of and sub-contractor to Bin Laden construction monopoly. Crimes like this assassination call for investigating the motive. Clearly, Syria had no motive but others did.
The operative paragraph from the French report states:
The Bin Laden family monopoly wields itself on work on the Islamic Holy Places (it is required that all the important companies such as Oger, Dar Al-Handasa, Mabani, or CCI must sub-contract with the monopoly) and the links which bind the family to the the Saudi dynasty over numerous years has resulted in a considerable financial cache, it is difficult to quantify but is twenty times than that amassed by Rafik Hariri.Note: Oger, or Saudi Oger, is the company formed by Hariri in 1971, which became a major Saudi contractor under King Fahd.
The United States, using the United Nations as a proxy, is pressuring Syria over the assassination of Rafik Hariri. With evidence that Hariri was viewed as a potential threat to the Bin Laden monopoly, which is tied closely to the Saudi Royal Family, the Saudis may be as culpable in the assassination as is the Likud government of Israel and the Bush administration.
Rafik Hariri described in French intelligence report as both a competitor of and sub-contractor to Bin Laden construction monopoly. Crimes like this assassination call for investigating the motive. Clearly, Syria had no motive but others did.
CIA torture flights remain in operation
November 20, 2005 -- CIA torture flights remain in operation. On November 18, a CIA aircraft, a CASA CN-235-300 turboprop, tail number N196D, operated by front company Devon Holding and Leasing, Inc. of Lexington, North Carolina, was recorded as traveling from Iceland to St. John's, Newfoundland, to Manchester, New Hampshire and finally to Johnson County Airport in Smithfield, North Carolina.
N196D stopped in Malta, on May 17, 2004 -- its itinerary was Halifax-St.John's-Keflavik-Edinburgh-Frankfurt-Malta-Amman-Afghanistan. Paper work filed indicated two owners: Devon Holding and Leasing and Stevens Express Leasing Company of Tennessee, another front company being investigated by the Spanish Interior Ministry for fronting for torture flights through Mallorca, Ibiza, and Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
CIA Torture Flight N196D
A similar Devon-owned aircraft, tail number N168D, flew a route from St. John's to Keflavik, Iceland and on to Prague on April 6, 2005. It was also reported to have landed in Malta on August 12, 2005; Palma de Mallorca on January 16, 2005; and Ponta Delgada in the Azores on January 11, 2005 for a stop while en route from St. John's to Cagliari, Sardinia.
A former Piedmont Airlines Boeing 737, now CIA torture plane, tail number N313P (re-registered as N4476S), was spotted on the runway at Palma de Mallorca on January 23, 2004. CIA front owners have been variably listed as Premier Executive Transport Services and Keeler and Tate Management, both linked to Jeppesen Dataplan of California. The Boeing 737 was also spotted in Tulsa; Geneva; Oporto, Portugal; and Frankfurt.
Another CIA front company is called Prescott Support. Its C-130, the L-100-30 Hercules, (the same aircraft type reported to be involved with flying around "crated" prisoners) has been spotted at Frankfurt, Singapore (Changi), Kuala Lumpur's Subang Airport (parked in an isolated position away from other aircraft just a few weeks following the Indian Ocean tsunami), Malta, Ponta Delgada (Azores), Kuwait, Oporto (Portugal), Helsinki (Vantaa), and Kenya. Another Prescott Support plane, a DeHavilland Twin Otter/VistaLiner, was identified on a long flight in October 2004 from North Las Vegas to Prescott, Arizona to Starkville, Mississippi to Florence, South Carolina to Wilmington, North Carolina to Goose Bay, Labrador to Reykjavik's city airport in Iceland to Stansted, London, England to Cairo to Kenya.
N196D stopped in Malta, on May 17, 2004 -- its itinerary was Halifax-St.John's-Keflavik-Edinburgh-Frankfurt-Malta-Amman-Afghanistan. Paper work filed indicated two owners: Devon Holding and Leasing and Stevens Express Leasing Company of Tennessee, another front company being investigated by the Spanish Interior Ministry for fronting for torture flights through Mallorca, Ibiza, and Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
CIA Torture Flight N196D
A similar Devon-owned aircraft, tail number N168D, flew a route from St. John's to Keflavik, Iceland and on to Prague on April 6, 2005. It was also reported to have landed in Malta on August 12, 2005; Palma de Mallorca on January 16, 2005; and Ponta Delgada in the Azores on January 11, 2005 for a stop while en route from St. John's to Cagliari, Sardinia.
A former Piedmont Airlines Boeing 737, now CIA torture plane, tail number N313P (re-registered as N4476S), was spotted on the runway at Palma de Mallorca on January 23, 2004. CIA front owners have been variably listed as Premier Executive Transport Services and Keeler and Tate Management, both linked to Jeppesen Dataplan of California. The Boeing 737 was also spotted in Tulsa; Geneva; Oporto, Portugal; and Frankfurt.
Another CIA front company is called Prescott Support. Its C-130, the L-100-30 Hercules, (the same aircraft type reported to be involved with flying around "crated" prisoners) has been spotted at Frankfurt, Singapore (Changi), Kuala Lumpur's Subang Airport (parked in an isolated position away from other aircraft just a few weeks following the Indian Ocean tsunami), Malta, Ponta Delgada (Azores), Kuwait, Oporto (Portugal), Helsinki (Vantaa), and Kenya. Another Prescott Support plane, a DeHavilland Twin Otter/VistaLiner, was identified on a long flight in October 2004 from North Las Vegas to Prescott, Arizona to Starkville, Mississippi to Florence, South Carolina to Wilmington, North Carolina to Goose Bay, Labrador to Reykjavik's city airport in Iceland to Stansted, London, England to Cairo to Kenya.
A Constitutional Referendum that Wasn't
Did anyone else find it interesting that the results of the vote on Iraq's constitution passing (which occurred ten days earlier) were released on the same day of the announcement of the 2,000th US soldier having been killed in Iraq?
On October 25, the first news of the day about Iraq across most corporate media outlets in the US was that Iraq was celebrating the approval of a new constitution. Just hours after this news, Mr. Bush made a pre-emptive propaganda move in an attempt to blunt the blow of the incoming news of the 2,000 milestone, by telling a group of military wives at an air force base in Washington "This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve."
Then, less than three hours after this speech, the news of the 2,000th US soldier dying was poured across the headlines; conveniently timed in that the Department of Defense usually has several deaths awaiting confirmation for days before they may be announced publicly.
But that's old news now. With troop levels soon to be over 161,000 in Iraq (remember when it was 138,000?) and the death toll over 2,030 and increasing daily, more milestones loom as a failed political process is pushed forward. We just passed another, in fact; with at least ninety-three troops killed in October, which made it the bloodiest month since January.
On October 25, the first news of the day about Iraq across most corporate media outlets in the US was that Iraq was celebrating the approval of a new constitution. Just hours after this news, Mr. Bush made a pre-emptive propaganda move in an attempt to blunt the blow of the incoming news of the 2,000 milestone, by telling a group of military wives at an air force base in Washington "This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve."
Then, less than three hours after this speech, the news of the 2,000th US soldier dying was poured across the headlines; conveniently timed in that the Department of Defense usually has several deaths awaiting confirmation for days before they may be announced publicly.
But that's old news now. With troop levels soon to be over 161,000 in Iraq (remember when it was 138,000?) and the death toll over 2,030 and increasing daily, more milestones loom as a failed political process is pushed forward. We just passed another, in fact; with at least ninety-three troops killed in October, which made it the bloodiest month since January.
CHICKENHAWK Chaney's 5 Vietnam War Deferments
You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried:"On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born."This quote comes from a Saturday NYTimes article -- "Cheney's Five Draft Deferments During the Vietnam Era Emerge as a Campaign Issue" -- discussing the lengths VP Dick Cheney went to in order to avoid serving during the Viet Nam war.
It is apparent from the piece that Richard Cheney did everything humanly possible -- short of fleeing to Canada -- to avoid military conscription: He applied for and recieved 5 student deferments, a number described as "incredible" by professor David Curry of the University of Missouri in St. Louis. Curry has written extensively about the draft, including a 1985 book, "Sunshine Patriots: Punishment and the Vietnam Offender." The Times quotes Mr. Curry as observing: "That's a lot of times for the draft board to say O.K."
• Three weeks and a day after the Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed (giving President Johnson unlimited military force in Vietnam), Cheney married Lynn Cheney.
• Within a day or so of the end of deferment for "Married w/o children," Mr. and Mrs. Cheney conceived their first child.
Here's the rest of Cheney's well timed actions:
In February 1962, when Mr. Cheney was classified as 1-A available for service he was doing poorly at Yale. But the military was taking only older men at that point, and like others who were in college at the time, Mr. Cheney seemed to have little concern about being drafted.
In June, he left Yale. After returning home to Casper, a small city in east-central Wyoming, he worked as a lineman for a power company.
At that point, the Vietnam War was still just a glimmer on the horizon. In 1962, only 82,060 men were inducted into the service, the fewest since 1949. Mr. Cheney was eligible for the draft but, as he said during his confirmation hearings in 1989, he was not called up because the Selective Service System was taking only older men.
But by 1963, ferment in Vietnam was rising. Mr. Cheney enrolled in Casper Community College in January 1963 he turned 22 that month and sought his first student deferment on March 20, according to records from the Selective Service System. After transferring to the University of Wyoming at Laramie, he sought his second student deferment on July 23, 1963.
On Aug. 7, 1964, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which allowed President Lyndon B. Johnson to use unlimited military force in Vietnam. The war escalated rapidly from there.
Just 22 days later, Mr. Cheney married his high school sweetheart, Lynne. He sought his third student deferment on Oct. 14, 1964.
In May 1965, Mr. Cheney graduated from college and his draft status changed to 1-A. But he was married, which offered him some protection.
In July, President Johnson announced that he was doubling the number of men drafted. The number of inductions soared, to 382,010 in 1966 from 230,991 in 1965 and 112,386 in 1964.
Mr. Cheney obtained his fourth deferment when he started graduate school at the University of Wyoming on Nov. 1, 1965.
On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born. On Jan. 19, 1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant, Mr. Cheney applied for 3-A status, the "hardship" exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. It was granted.
In January 1967, Mr. Cheney turned 26 and was no longer eligible for the draft.
Quite frankly, I would have done the same thing as Cheney (if I wasn't 9 at the time). The difference between the Veep and me is that I wouldn't have the temerity to criticize someone who not only served in Viet Nam, but was wounded three times and won several honors for courage and bravery.
That would simply be hypocritical.
Cheney apparently has no such restraints. Of the American involvement in Vietnam, Dick Cheney was asked: "Was it a noble cause?
His answer: "Yes, indeed, I think it was."
Just not for him . . .
Source:
Cheney's Five Draft Deferments During the Vietnam Era Emerge as a Campaign Issue
Katharine Q. Seelye
NYTimes, May 1, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/politics/campaign/01CHEN.html
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