Monday 30 September 2002

War Against War!

WARNING THESE LINKS ARE EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED

With a war seemingly imminent it seems an appropriate time to remind everybody of just what war is all about; it's about death and destruction. But don't forget it's also about the people who get rich while others die, the ones who encourage it all in the first place and sell both sides the weapons.

Food for thought...


In 1924, the German anarchist and pacifist Ernst Friedrich published one of the great anti-war classics, War Against War!. Outraged by the slaughter of the Great War (now known as World War I), Friedrich gathered pictures of battlefield butchery and mutilated soldiers. Juxtaposed with propagandistic pictures of military "glory" and labeled with ironic, sarcastic captions, these photographs showed, and continue to show, the reality of war in all its sickening horror.

What's really amazing is the fact that this book was published around 80 years ago. These images are enough to shake even us jaded moderns, so imagine what it was like for people in the 1920s, decades before slasher flicks, Faces of Death videos, realistic war movies, and Websites like Rotten. The public had never seen photos like these. The emotional effect must've been overwhelming.

To Human Beings in all lands!
I, who am falsely called "German" instead of just simply "man". I call out to the icy regions of the North, I call out to Africa and to America, to Asia and to Europe.

To all regions that have ears to hear I call out but two words and these are

Man and Love

And even as the Australian weeps when he encounters pain, and laughs and makes merry when joy and happiness are granted him, even so dost thou weep, my brother Eskimo, and so, O African and O Chinese, weepest thou too and so weep I.

And as we all, all human beings, equally feel joy and pain, let us fight unitedly against the common monstrous enemy, War.

We shall unite in protesting against, in weeping over the accursed mass murders for which we all bear equal guilt. But let us also raise our eyes cheerfully to the red dawn of freedom and peace.

Note: These images are extremely graphic
"Papa" before and after war (2-page spread)
Young men before and after war (2-page spread)
After war: The Crown Prince and the injured soldier (2-page spread)
Dead soldier
Injured soldier (1)
Injured soldier (2)
Injured soldier (3)
Injured soldier (4)

Excerpts From "War Against War!"

Analysis of WTC's fall may be sealed

A collection of expert analysis and data that could help explain how and why the World Trade Center collapsed has been compiled as part of an insurance lawsuit in Manhattan, but the public may never see the information.

The experts who amassed the information are forbidden by confidential agreements from discussing their findings. The material could be withheld if the lawsuit is settled before trial, prompting concern among engineers and victims' families that the confidential material may be sealed or even destroyed.

"We're obviously in favor of releasing the information, but we can't until we're told what to do," said Matthys Levy, an engineer and consultant in the case.

The material contains documentary evidence, including maps of the debris piles, as well as three-dimensional computerized images of the fallen towers, The New York Times reported Monday. Rare photos and videos have also been collected.

Full story...

Tonygate

Phony Tony and the Cronies show us yet again that they are a bunch of quasi-Cardassian totalitarians trying to wear flowery shirts and pretend that they are loved-up DJs rather than WHORES of that malignant cancerous tumour known as The Establishment. Now their agenda becomes clear, if they will attack people in their own party who don't agree with them then do you really think they'll think twice before manipulating the electorate (which them and Murdoch are doing!) We need political reform in this country and we need it now! Not just stoopid little changes, we need fundamental reforms like PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

My one big question on this Monday morning; why is there no trace of this story anywhere other than the Hindu Newspaper website?!?


Labour running a 'dirty tricks' department

Britain's ruling Labour Party has been accused of running a "dirty tricks department" whose victims are said to have included not only leading Opposition figures, but some of the Government's own prominent members, including the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

The existence of the "Attack Unit", set up when Labour was in Opposition, is admitted by the party but claims that it is used only to rebut Tory propaganda. A report in The Sunday Times, however, listed specific instances of "muck-raking" prompting the Tory shadow deputy prime minister, David Davis, to demand an inquiry.

"The alleged activities of the Labour Party's so-called Attack Unit are a matter of serious public concern," he said. His party colleague and shadow home secretary, Michael Howard, who is alleged to have been one of its victims wanted to know whether the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was aware of what was going on.

Mr. Howard, who had a torrid time denying an alleged love affair with a constituent when he was Home Secretary in the Tory Government, said: "I was aware that a smear was circulated about me but I had no idea it came from the Labour Party."

Shocking full story...

Children "bear brunt" of Mid-East conflict

Proof that both sides are just as bad as eachother!

The human rights organisation Amnesty International has accused both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of targeting children.

"Children are increasingly bearing the brunt of this conflict," the London-based organisation says in a report published on Monday.

"Both the Israeli Defence Force and Palestinian armed groups show an utter disregard for the lives of children and other civilians," it adds.

The report says more than 250 Palestinians under 18 years of age, and over 70 young Israelis have been killed during the two-year Palestinian uprising.

In the latest incident on Monday, a teenage Palestinian boy was killed by machine-gun fire in the West Bank city of Nablus as Israeli tanks moved into a refugee camp, according to Palestinian sources.

Full story...

Africa's "bad luck" is us!

Isn't it so nice to know that while our so-called leaders are banging the war drums, millions of people around the world aren't getting enough food. George Bush, Tony Blair and all of those rich arrogant war-mongering plutocrats who control them make me feel sick to my stomach. They get richer at everyone else's expense, can I just say from the bottom of my heart that they do not represent me, in fact if I could I would have them all arrested and charged with crimes against humanity. The evidence is certainly there after 50 odd years of American and British neo-imperialist corporate expansionism. Tony Blair might be the Prime Minister and his speeches are full of wonderful words but at the end of the day it's a load of meaningless crap. If Tony told me it was sunny outside, I'd have to check just to make sure he wasn't LYING to me again.

Are we all insane? What has our society come to?


Theme Song for 21st Century Famines: "We Own the World, We Ignore the Children"

by Zeynep Toufe


“The situation in Zimbabwe hit you guys hard, I suppose” said my neighbor to the young woman who had just sauntered out of the customs area at the airport. She was from Malawi, he was trying to make small talk about the famine ravaging her country. She was resignedly nodding till he mentioned Zimbabwe.

With a puzzled look, she squinted in his direction: “What?”

As usual, we hear a lot about the side issue and almost nothing about the fundamental questions: hence the puzzling remark.

She probably didn’t know that a good chunk of the media coverage in the United States regarding the famine that threatens six Southern African states and 12 million people concentrated on the fact that Zimbabwe’s government is trying to oust couple thousand white farmers from the most of the productive lands, most of which they control as a legacy of the white supremacist colonial rule. The truth is that this is but a side issue; the evictions haven’t helped the harvest; however, the hard reality is that rainfalls are down 75 percent in Zimbabwe. And Zimbabwe is but one country threatened by the famine.

While it is true that this famine, as with most famines, is the result of a combination of bad weather and bad policies, the real tragic story is that both the bad policy and the bad weather were severely exacerbated by the rich world.

That would be us.

It often seems that God perennially deals a bad hand to Africa. Remember Ethiopia in the eighties? The massive famine that came at the end of an almost ten year drought, the images of starving, wide-eyed, swollen-bellied children with the accompanying tune of “We are the World, We Are the Children”?

The song should be remade: “We Own the World, We Ignore the Children.”

It’s turning out that the Africa’s ‘bad luck’ is us.

Full story...

Proof that the Palestinians have Weapons of Mass Destruction

Why America Will Fail

by Arundhati Roy

Recently, those who have criticised the actions of the US government (myself included) have been called "anti-American". Anti-Americanism is in the process of being consecrated into an ideology. The term is usually used by the American establishment to discredit and, not falsely - but shall we say inaccurately - define its critics. Once someone is branded anti-American, the chances are that he or she will be judged before they're heard and the argument will be lost in the welter of bruised national pride.

What does the term mean? That you're anti-jazz? Or that you're opposed to free speech? That you don't delight in Toni Morrison or John Updike? That you have a quarrel with giant sequoias? Does it mean you don't admire the hundreds of thousands of American citizens who marched against nuclear weapons, or the thousands of war resisters who forced their government to withdraw from Vietnam? Does it mean that you hate all Americans?

This sly conflation of America's music, literature, the breathtaking physical beauty of the land, the ordinary pleasures of ordinary people with criticism of the US government's foreign policy is a deliberate and extremely effective strategy. It's like a retreating army taking cover in a heavily populated city, hoping that the prospect of hitting civilian targets will deter enemy fire.

There are many Americans who would be mortified to be associated with their government's policies. The most scholarly, scathing, incisive, hilarious critiques of the hypocrisy and the contradictions in US government policy come from American citizens. (Similarly, in India, not hundreds, but millions of us would be ashamed and offended, if we were in any way implicated with the present Indian government's fascist policies.)

To call someone anti-American, indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination. An inability to see the world in terms other than those that the establishment has set out for you: If you don't love us, you hate us. If you're not good, you're evil. If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists.

Full story...

Ariel Sharon's Secret Plan To Remove Palestinians From Israel

When are the Israeli people going to wake up and realise that Sharon is an Unlimited Liability!

by Gordon Thomas

Be Afraid... Israel’s hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered his defence forces to prepare to drive “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians on the West Bank over the border into Jordan.

Jordanian intelligence chiefs say the operation will commence on the day the forthcoming United States conflict starts against Iraq.

Sharon believes that will give him “a just excuse” to remove the Palestinians – as they would then pose what he has called “a totally unacceptable threat to the safety of Israel”.

Details of his plan have been leaked by Jordanian intelligence to Western intelligence services, including MI6.

The revelation will almost certainly deepen the split within the Cabinet of Tony Blair about Britain’s continued support for military action against Saddam Hussein.

King Abdullah II of Jordan revealed his own fear about Israeli intentions on his recent visit to London.

Full story...

UK Anti-War Protest

What a brilliant day, half a million people gathered in common cause. Everyone very concerned about the Iraq situation and were letting their feelings be know. Don't forget to fax your MP (see below)!

click here for more protest photos FAX YOUR MP TODAY!

Canadians
Australian Senators
Australian Members
US Senators by state
US Representatives by state

1-202-456-1111 White House switchboard
1-800-648-3516 US Capitol

Sunday 29 September 2002

The Big Guys Work For The Carlyle Group

So not only does the man have the worst taste in women of any man on the planet, he also works for one of the biggest war-profteering financiers in corporate creation. Thanks John!

What exactly does it do? To find out, we peeked down the rabbit hole.

Are you the sort of person who believes in conspiracies--the Trilateral Commission secretly runs the world, that sort of thing? Well, then, here's a company for you. The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C., buyout firm, is one of the nation's largest defense contractors. It has billions of dollars at its disposal and employs a few important people. Maybe you've heard of them: former Secretary of State Jim Baker, former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, and former White House budget director Dick Darman. Wait, we're just getting warmed up. William Kennard, who recently headed the FCC, and Arthur Levitt, who just left the SEC, also work for Carlyle. As do former British Prime Minister John Major and former Philippines President Fidel Ramos. Let's see, are we forgetting anyone? Oh, right, former President George Herbert Walker Bush is on the payroll too.

The firm also has about a dozen investors from Saudi Arabia, including, until recently, the bin Laden family. Yes, those bin Ladens. Is it any wonder that Internet sites with names like paranoiamagazine.com are rife with stories about Carlyle's shadowy, corrupt global network? And it's not just wackos. "Be careful," a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley wrote in an e-mail when he learned I was doing a story on Carlyle. "The rabbit hole runs really deep on this one.''

Leaving aside the conspiracies for a moment, what exactly does the Carlyle Group do? Start with the basics: It's one of the world's largest and most powerful private-equity investment firms, meaning it buys and sells privately held companies and divisions of large public companies for big profits. Founded in 1987 (and named after the favorite New York hotel of the firm's first investors, the Mellon family), Carlyle has raised a total of $14 billion from investors in just the past five years--more than any other private-equity firm has attracted in the same period, except the Blackstone Group and CSFB Private Equity. Profits, too, have been pretty terrific. Not counting the standard 20% cut that goes to Carlyle's partners and managing directors, the firm's average annual rate of return has been 36%.

It's quite a success story, and to understand how Carlyle pulled it off, FORTUNE spent a month and a half peeking down that rabbit hole. One conclusion seems clear: While most of the conspiracy theories are amusingly overblown, this is a firm that's been built on the backs of Bush and other big shots who have lent Carlyle their names, their golden networks of friends in high places, and their insights into how government works. It wasn't until Carlucci joined, for instance, that Carlyle really took off. Founded by David Rubenstein, a lawyer who worked as an aide in the Carter White House, Bill Conway, a former CFO at MCI, and Dan D'Aniello, a former finance executive for Marriott, Carlyle early on invested in a motley assortment of deals--buying an airline-catering business, a health-food chain, and a biotech firm, for example. In 1990, Carlucci got the trio interested in the $150-billion-a-year U.S. defense industry, making introductions to companies that would turn into some of Carlyle's most lucrative investments. Rubenstein quickly realized the wisdom of recruiting a former Secretary of Defense and followed it up with a former Secretary of State, then a former White House budget director, and on and on.

Full story...

War won't boost US economy, says Stiglitz

I've added some more economic news at the bottom of this post... click here

A strike against Iraq will only heighten anxieties over global economic health, warns Nobel Prize-winning economist

Joe Stiglitz is author of "Globalisation and it's discontents" a superb non-technical book in which he puts forward some very convincing arguments against globalisation. He's a former member of the US Council of Economic advisors and a Nobel Prize winning Economist to boot; someone that we should listen to! I've read his book and it's a must read if you're interested in globalisation.

Waging war is no longer good for a country's economy and a U.S.-led strike against Iraq would only compound uncertainty about the health of the world's largest economy, Nobel-winning economist Joe Stiglitz said on Wednesday.

"War is widely believed to be good for the economy. This war (on Iraq) is likely to be bad and possibly very bad," Stiglitz told the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Hong Kong.

An armed conflict with Iraq would not lead to a huge injection of money into the economy by the U.S. government as was the case in World War II, which was a total mobilization and pulled the country out of the Great Depression, the Columbia University professor said.

"We are now trying to fight wars on a cheap. We spend $40 billion, $50 billion, not a large amounts of money, so the direct effect is going to be very limited," he said.

"On the other hand, there are some very negative effects -- the anxiety that the business community is feeling today, the possible increases in the price of oil and more generally, an increase in risk premiums."

Stiglitz, a former World Bank chief economist, said investor confidence was already weak and few people were likely to invest as long as fear of a war with Iraq persists.
Full story...

MORE NEWS:
IMF Advances 'Sovereign Bankruptcy' Concept
Bankruptcy filing — ruse or reality?

March for Peace

by John Pilger

A great many people believe that democracy has been lost in this country. Today, true democracy will demonstrate its resilience on the streets of London.

In the week that Parliament was manipulated by the Government and denied a proper vote on whether Britain should join the Bush gang in its assault on Iraq, many thousands of people will converge on London in what is expected to be the greatest demonstration against war for a generation.

Not since the days when American presidents were prepared to use nuclear weapons in Europe will there be such a demonstration of the popular will opposing violence as a means of resolving disputes between nations. A sea of people will cover much of central London and Hyde Park; and they will demand that a great crime is not committed in their name. As the opinion polls make clear, they represent the majority of the people of Britain.

What is at stake is not only an illegal and unwarranted attack on another sovereign state that offers us no threat, but the credibility of the British parliamentary system. If Tony Blair uses the royal prerogative, "the absolute power of kings", to join Bush's attack on Iraq, he acts in a manner no different, in principle and deed, from Germany's unprovoked attacks that ignited the Second World War.

Read Hitler's speech in September 1938, on the eve of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. "I know quite well," he ranted at the great Nuremberg rally, "that through forbearance one will never reconcile so irreconcilable an enemy as are the Czechs ... Herr Benes (the Czech leader) plays his tactical game; he makes speeches, he wishes to negotiate... But in the long run that is not good enough!"

Full story...

Blair attacks UK 'lack of confidence'

Fetch Tony Fetch.... Good boy.... Can I just say for the record that I don't have a "lack of confidence" in the United Kingdom or it's people, I have a severe lack of confidence in any public official who says that we should become more of a cold ruthless corporatist society. I also resent his implication, the government here doesn't mean one single thing it says and I think it's time for some more fundamental reforms; like proportional representation. In my opinion Mr Blair is mearly the figure-head for the masonic oligarchy which actually governs this country and has been doing so since the days of the Whig Party.

Tony Blair condemned opponents of change in Britain's public services and vowed that he would not compromise as he sent out a defiant message yesterday ahead of this week's crucial Labour Party conference.

In a hard-hitting interview with The Observer , the Prime Minister said the British disease of pessimism was undermining progress towards better services and a strong economy.

His attack - a deliberate echo of his controversial 'Forces of Conservatism' speech in 1999 - is likely to upset opponents of Government policy, whom he dismissed as pessimists who argued on the basis of prejudice rather than fact.

Full story...

You are either with us or you are fired!

If you haven't already read Mike's book, "Stupid White Men" then I strongly recommend it, it's superb!

Sign the pledge to never again vote for any Democrat who authorizes Bush's war on Iraq. Get the word out about the pledge---email the website address to your friends, post a link to it on your website, get other websites to link to it. Print it up and collect signatures and send them back to us. And after you've signed the pledge, contact both parties in Congress and tell your elected representatives to vote NO on this war. Inundate them with phone calls and emails. If our elected representatives ignore the voice of the people, they will pay the price.

Sign the Pledge Now!

Sharon May Be Contemplating Crimes Against Humanity

Palestinians Called 'Cancerous Manifestation

Rumor Mill News Reading Room Forum
Posted Friday, September 27, 2002

We, members of Israeli academe, are horrified by US build-up of aggression towards Iraq and by the Israeli political leadership's enthusiastic support for it.

We are deeply worried by indications that the "fog of war" could be exploited by the Israeli government to commit further crimes against the Palestinian people, up to FULL-FLEDGED ETHNIC CLEANSING.

The Israeli ruling coalition includes parties that promote "transfer" of the Palestinian population as a solution to what they call "the demographic problem". Politicians are regularly quoted in the media as suggesting forcible expulsion, most recently MKs Michael Kleiner and Benny Elon, as reported on Yediot Ahronot website on September 19, 2002.

In a recent interview in Ha'aretz, Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon described the Palestinians as a "cancerous manifestation" and equated the military actions in the Occupied Territories with "chemotherapy", suggesting that more radical "treatment" may be necessary. Prime Minister Sharon has backed this "assessment of reality".

Escalating racist demagoguery concerning the Palestinian citizens of Israel may indicate the scope of the crimes that are possibly being contemplated.

Full story...

Was 911 A Mossad 'False Flag' Operation?

Note - As with all commentaries on this site, the views of Mr. Eastman are his own and do not necessarily represent those of this site or its sponsors. -ed

Be Afraid... I am convinced the Paul Wolfowitz is a key man in the 911 frame-up. I certainly agree with the first writer below, and worry about how reasonable may be the worries of the second. But remember this, your Jewsih Doctor is not one of the Wall Street or City of London investment banker who put Bush and Wolfowitz. Some of the best minds working against Sharon and the 911 conspiracy frame-up are Jewish men and women in the U.S. and Israel (and, I have not doubt, in the U.K. too.) In fact Senator Lieberman has just called for a full-scale Senate investigation of 911 (along with McCain, Torricelli and other Senators, Republican and Democrat.) In this espionage false-flag business, you never know how your real friends or enemies are -- you are some times disappointed -- and much better -- you are sometimes pleasantly surprised.
Full story...

MORE NEWS:
Professor Describes Israel As 'Mirror Image Of Nazism'

Friday 27 September 2002

The Baghdad Chainsaw Massacre

click for more... An absolute gem of a quote attached to the story.

Bush says Saddam "tried to kill my dad"
Okay, since this is now admitted to be about personal vengeance, let's take Dubya and Saddam and lock them in a closet with chainsaws, and whoever comes out with the most body parts still attached wins. That way, our children and the Iraqi children don't get torn up just so Dubya can "get even" with Saddam.

I think the chainsaw approach has a lot of merit, maybe we could get other fascists involved and we could have Saw-mania 2002! The ratings would be sky-high!

The only source of news you will ever need

The Bilderberg Group

Be Afraid... In case some of you haven't come across the name "Bilderberg" yet then let me point you in the direction of Tony Gosling's excellent repository of information where you'll find all the information you could possibly want about this rich and influential bunch of plutocrats.

First convened in 1954 by Prince Bernhardt (former SS Nazi and bosom-buddy of Prince Phillip) it takes it's name from the Bilderberg Hotel near Arnhem in The Netherlands, the group meets once a year in conditions of the utmost secrecy and are usually funded by local taxpayers! The trick to understanding the power of the Bilderbergers is not to pay attention to what happens during the meetings but to note those events that take place after the group has met each year. Of course we can't tell you much because no codshitter has -or indeed will- ever been invited to one.


Bilderberg Membership and Organisational Structure (2002)

Expose the Deep Black Lies of Bilderberg, CLICK HERE The following is taken from a Portuguese website, the information is from 1999 but the group has been meeting every year and it's modus operandi hasn't changed so the articles below will give you a good idea of just how secretive and sinister this group is.

Bilderberg, reputedly the most secretive & high powered organization in the world met in Portugal at the beginning of June 1999. On 1st May 1999, The News was the first newspaper in the world to reveal the location of the 1999 meeting. Over a period of six our articles covered the run up to the meeting, the official guest list, the official (and unofficial) agendas and much more.

Related Links:
A Cartography of Contemporary Control Systems
John Simpson's BBC Hacking Claims
Magic mountains for the mind
International power brokers meet to discuss global future
A wall of silence?
Bilderberg reports nearly crash The News Internet site
Media blackout continues
International interest gathers momentum over revelations in The News
The summit opens in Sintra under massive security
All over bar the whispering

Say NO to Fascist Brutality

Click the image for full campaign details Do you know that in the USA there is a Law that makes it ILLEGAL to boycott Israeli products...

Land of the Free indeed!

Fortunately in the UK we don't have that problem so use you Consumer Power and send Ariel Sharon and his thugs a message!!



Water war looms as Israel tells Lebanon to halt river works

by Robert Fisk

It's not much of a river. It's low enough to walk across, warm from a stone bed that attracts the autumn heat, full of tadpoles and small fish, frothing merrily in a creek below the scruffy village of Ghajar. But take a closer look and you'll see an Israeli soldier standing above the creek, on the opposite side of a maze of barbed wire, watching this little river through his binoculars. For say the word Wazzani right now, and you're talking water war. Even Colin Powell, the American Secretary of State, has become involved.

There's no war yet, just a mass of piping that the Lebanese are laying along the Lebanese side of the Israeli frontier wire to carry the warm waters of the river to another bunch of dirt-poor Shia Muslim villages. The trouble is that the Wazzani flows right out of Lebanon and into Israel, where it feeds the fish-farm lakes of four Jewish kibbutzes.

Lebanon's action is "a violation of every agreement we have signed in the past", says Binyamin Ben Eliezer, Israel's Defence Minister. "Israel cannot tolerate the diversion of the waters of the Wazzani." Israel could solve the problem, said Dan Zazlavsky, the former head of Israel's water commission, with "a few tank shells".

Full story...

Resistence is NOT futile!

This is a great story from a great website. If the fascists are in fact held at the gates then sites like whatreallyhappened.com will have been responsible for it.

Be Afraid... "My grandmother lives in Palestine, and told me an incredible story. The other day a bride and groom were on their way from Ramallah to their wedding reception in al Quds (another town), when they came across an Israeli checkpoint. The soldiers would not let them pass, the bride was begging the soldiers to let them through to meet their guests in al Quds, but the soldiers refused to budge. She began to break down and cry, seeing this, the hundreds of Palestinians waiting to get through [the] checkpoint, got out of their cars. The Palestinians, most of whom were complete strangers, gave her a make shift reception complete with music playing from their car stereos. For two hours, they danced, sang and wished the couple good luck on their new marriage, while Israeli soldiers stood by amazed at what had transpired. This is a 100% true story, and even aired on Al Jazeera. This proves that no matter how many weapons and how powerful the! Israeli army is, they cannot break the Palestinians' will."

- Sent in to whatreallyhappened.com by a reader

Thursday 26 September 2002

Are your ready for WW IV?

Be Afraid... There must be something in the water, these neo-Con NUTTERS are coming out of the wood-work!

Neoconservatives are preparing the groundwork for far-reaching and interminable U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Neoconservative leader Norman Podhoretz makes the case in the current issue of Commentary, the influential magazine of the American Jewish Committee, that it is not enough for the United States to attack only Afghanistan and Iraq. Podhoretz argues that "changes of regime are the sine qua non throughout the region."

The challenge that President Bush faces, says Podhoretz, is "to fight World War IV -- the war against militant Islam." He identifies the enemies: "The regimes that richly deserve to be overthrown and replaced are not confined to the three singled-out members of the axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran, North Korea). At a minimum, the axis should extend to Syria and Lebanon and Libya, as well as 'friends' of America like the Saudi royal family and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, along with the Palestinian Authority."

Full story...

Mandela lights the gloom

It is a very long way from Robben Island to the leafy streets of Belgravia in central London.

But that is where the artwork of Nelson Mandela is hanging, inspired by his time in South Africa's most notorious prison.

The face of the man regarded by millions as the world's greatest living statesman - the secular world's equivalent of the Pope - looks out from the tiny Belgravia Gallery over a row of immaculate and extremely expensive Georgian houses.

It is an irony Mandela would no doubt appreciate...

Each of the sketches - executed by Mandela earlier this year to raise money for children and HIV victims through his trust - has a run of 500 signed lithographs, and for many people the signature alone will persuade them to part with thousands.

But the lithograph prints will not fulfil expectations.

Those anticipating dark reminiscences of a dark place will be surprised to see that Mandela's vision of the place where he spent much of his 27 years imprisonment is brilliant and luminous.

Mandela's sketches are the exact opposite of what one would expect of somebody incarcerated, far from friends and at the mercy of cruel warders.

Full story...

The dishonesty of this so-called dossier

by Robert Fisk

Tony Blair's "dossier" on Iraq is a shocking document. Reading it can only fill a decent human being with shame and outrage. Its pages are final proof – if the contents are true – that a massive crime against humanity has been committed in Iraq. For if the details of Saddam's building of weapons of mass destruction are correct – and I will come to the "ifs" and "buts" and "coulds" later – it means that our massive, obstructive, brutal policy of UN sanctions has totally failed. In other words, half a million Iraqi children were killed by us – for nothing.

Let's go back to 12 May 1996. Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, had told us that sanctions worked and prevented Saddam from rebuilding weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Our Tory government agreed, and Tony Blair faithfully toed the line. But on 12 May, Mrs Albright appeared on CBS television. Leslie Stahl, the interviewer, asked: "We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that's more than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" To the world's astonishment, Mrs Albright replied: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it."

Now we know – if Mr Blair is telling us the truth – that the price was not worth it. The price was paid in the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. But it wasn't worth a dime. The Blair "dossier" tells us that, despite sanctions, Saddam was able to go on building weapons of mass destruction. All that nonsense about dual-use technology, the ban on children's pencils – because lead could have a military use – and our refusal to allow Iraq to import equipment to restore the water-treatment plants that we bombed in the Gulf War, was a sham.

Full story...

The Codshit Report

Email from a codshitter, an interesting point to be sure.

"I was in the Fez club the other day and I bumped into an MP from USAF Lakenheath. I put on my Codshit undercover hack hat and proceeded to interrogate him. I learned that during the search for Holly and Jessica no police set foot in Lakenheath or Millennial [sic] - all that happened was the putting up of posters. Interestingly he informed me that the MOD has absolute jurisdiction over any US base in the UK - a fact that took me quite by surprise..."

Now that is suprising, I thought that the base was US soil (same as an embassy) if it isn't then it begs the question why no-one was even questioned as to what they may or may not have seen.... Perimeter guards on duty, watch-tower people.... I'm not saying they were involved but they may have seen something relevant to the investigation....

This stinks of a cover-up.... What do you think...?

If anyone out there wants to contribute information, sightings, theories, evidence or anything else that relates to stuff covered on codshit.com then email me (ewar@codshit.com).


More Information about the Murder:
Who Really Murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman?
"T" Stands For "Torture" In The Brave New Gulag Archipelago

The Murder Of Arafat

Be Afraid... Your Last Chance To Stand Up And Shout: No!
by Uri Avnery, founder of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Movement

Yasser Arafat is still alive. But his life is hanging on a thread.

When we visited him the last time in his bombed-out Mukata'ah compound in Ramallah, I warned him that Sharon is determined to kill him.

Everybody acquainted with Sharon knows that he never lets go. When he does not achieve his aim the first time, he tries again, and again, and again, and again. Never, ever, does he give up.

Already in besieged Beirut, at the height of the Lebanon war, Sharon was trying to put his hands on Arafat. Dozens of agents, mostly Phalanges members, were combing the western quarters in order to catch him. He evaded them, as he has evaded dozens of assassination attempts before and since, by Abu-Nidal (who was at least partly a Mossad hireling) and others.

Now Sharon believes he can achieve his aim. He needs only Bush's approval. Not necessarily a formal confirmation. A subtle hint will
suffice. Half a word. A wink.

It will be easy to implement the decision. An incident can be put in motion: soldiers enter the office in order to capture "wanted" people, somebody opens fire, Arafat will be shot "by accident".

Arafat may draw his pistol, soldiers will "have no alternative" but to return fire.

A shell may hit the office "by mistake", Arafat will be buried under the rubble. After all, in war accidents happen. A lot of accidents.

Sharon never wanted to "deport" Arafat to Gaza or any other place in this world. He wants to deport him to the next. Now this is possible.

Therefore, it is necessary to speak out bluntly and unequivocally:
The murder of Arafat, historical leader and elected president of the Palestinian people, is Morally Reprehensible. Like the murder of Rabin.

Legally, the murder of Arafat is a war crime.

PEACE-UP! // the UP! 130 // sept 25 2002

911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11

Be Afraid... The biggest tragedy for Jersey City heroes came in its fire department that day, not for the rescue one guys who went in for search and rescue, but for a civilian who worked out of a dispatch center. Joseph Lovero was a trained EMT who volunteered to ride into New York with the Battalion 3 chief while the towers were still standing.

Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've just had another explosion.
Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've had additional explosion.
Dispatcher: Received battalion command. Additional explosion.

A handful of Jersey City firemen, with a civilian dispatcher, managed to survive, grouping near the still-standing north tower.

Official: Deputy one from Battalion 3, that's affirmative. I have all JCFD personnel on location.
Dispatcher: Received.
Dispatcher: Battalion 5, be advised we're trying to contact Battalion 3 at this moment to report north tower just collapsed.
Dispatcher: Dispatch. Battalion 3.
Official: Battalion 3. I am, I am Greg. North tower has collapsed.
Dispatcher: Battalion 3, all members accounted for?

All, but for Joseph Lovero, his body was found near that of his chief.

Full article...

The Most Dangerous Person On Earth

by Jack M. Balkin

Be Afraid... When George W. Bush was governor of Texas, his basic strategy was to stake out a position and refuse to budge, hoping to bully others into acquiescing. Only when met with strong opposition did he back down and compromise. We are seeing the same strategy in his policy over Iraq. In the past weeks, the president has attempted to bully the United Nations and now Congress into allowing him to attack Iraq and depose its leader. He is likely to get his wish. But the larger problem is not what will happen if no one stands up to Saddam Hussein. It is what will happen if no one stands up to the president and his vision of moral clarity.

Our Constitution left the power to declare war to Congress because of the fear that if the president could act unilaterally, he might seek to aggrandize himself by taking the country into one war after another. Although the president could always defend the nation if attacked, he could not initiate hostilities without Congress' approval. In the 20th century, Congress' role has receded of necessity, so the president's power to make war has been hemmed in largely by domestic politics, the threat of nuclear reprisal and international law.

Full story...

The US belly dance won't fascinate the UN Security Council

God told me to do it! The UN Security Council is waiting for a draft resolution that will persuade Iraq to cooperate with UNMOVIC inspectors. Last week, Iraq declared it was ready to welcome international inspectors, which is a very wise step by the way. The UNO immediately picked up Iraq’s suggestion and is currently making much much of it. Of course, if it manages to prevent a war in the Persian Gulf, its previous faults won’t be counted (success is never blamed).

It’s quite another matter that the USA sticks to the same opinion, and it is perfectly clear that it will ignore the negative attitudes of its allies and other countries that are against the new war. The overthrowing of Saddam’s regime is the stated objective. Weapons of mass destruction, if some are indeed found in Iraq, will strengthen the US position and become tbe reason to take radical measures against Iraq.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell says, “Let’s wait and see. We should see response of Iraq to the pressure of the world community. And we should keep on pressing until the UNO sees that Iraq has got rid of the weapons. The USA still believes that overthrowing the regime is the best way to disarm Iraq.”

Washington is rushing things: Iraq’s pacific gesture has cut the ground from under the Americans’ feet. Diplomats are actively discussing the recent decision by Iraq to allow international inspectors back into the country without any preconditions. What is to be done if Saddam plays a trick once again? The UN Security Council should be immediately pressed upon, otherwise everything is lost. A meeting of UN Commission for Iraq inspections chairman Hans Blix with Iraqi authorities is scheduled in Vienna for Monday, September 30.

Let’s get back to the UN Security Council resolution: some sources say it is still in the process, and others inform that Britain’s representatives in the UNO have already said they are ready to introduce amendments to the documents. And even if the draft resolution is presented within the nearest 24 hours, it is unlikely to be adopted by Monday. Russia and China strictly object to the introduction of any amendments to the resolution, although the USA and Great Britain insist they should be introduced. France is waiting for an official evidence of weapons of mass destruction being developed in Iraq.

Full story...

Why I oppose an attack on Iraq

I don't necessarily agree with all of what he says but it's always good to hear what the other side is thinking...

by Former shadow foreign secretary Gerald Kaufman

Join the War Party Today It was Cato the Elder who uttered the anathema, ‘Delenda est Carthago’ — Carthage must be destroyed...

When I was shadow foreign secretary I supported first the Security Council-authorised sanctions, and then the air and ground war against Saddam that brought about the liberation of Kuwait. I led (most of) the parliamentary Labour party into the Commons division lobby in support of these actions. In the 1997–2001 Parliament, as a government backbencher, I supported this country’s participation in the air war against Iraq following Saddam’s expulsion of United Nations weapons inspectors. I think it would be a blessing for the world if Saddam were removed from office and replaced by a regime that rejoined the world community. I have over a dozen years rejected the arguments — if they can be dignified by such an epithet — of those such as Tam Dalyell who have opposed military action against Iraq (as well as military action to liberate the Falkland Islands, military action in Kosovo and military action to remove the Taleban and root out al-Qa’eda in Afghanistan).

So, presumably, to be consistent, I should be at the forefront of those urging President Bush to attack Iraq as soon as possible, and should be pressing Tony Blair, of whom I am an ardent supporter, to line up with Bush in any military action he may take. I am afraid it is not as simple as that.

Full story...

Wednesday 25 September 2002

World affairs today can sure be confusing!

Fetch Tony Fetch.... Good boy....

How Saddam Happened

America helped make a monster. What to do with him—and what happens after he’s gone—has haunted us for a quarter century

The once and future defense secretary, at the time a private citizen, had been sent by President Ronald Reagan to Baghdad as a special envoy. Saddam Hussein, armed with a pistol on his hip, seemed “vigorous and confident,” according to a now declassified State Department cable obtained by NEWSWEEK. Rumsfeld “conveyed the President’s greetings and expressed his pleasure at being in Baghdad,” wrote the notetaker. Then the two men got down to business, talking about the need to improve relations between their two countries.

Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that Saddam was a murderous thug who supported terrorists and was trying to build a nuclear weapon. (The Israelis had already bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak.) But at the time, America’s big worry was Iran, not Iraq. The Reagan administration feared that the Iranian revolutionaries who had overthrown the shah (and taken hostage American diplomats for 444 days in 1979-81) would overrun the Middle East and its vital oilfields. On the—theory that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the Reaganites were seeking to support Iraq in a long and bloody war against Iran. The meeting between Rumsfeld and Saddam was consequential: for the next five years, until Iran finally capitulated, the United States backed Saddam’s armies with military intelligence, economic aid and covert supplies of munitions.

Full story...

Blair's Dossier Damns Him

Tony Blair was greeted with near-silence from his own MPs yesterday as he set out his case for a possible war with Iraq - but got a glowing tribute from President Bush.

His statement to a recalled House of Commons followed the publication of a 50-page dossier on Saddam Hussein's weapons programme.

Mr Blair told MPs: "We know that diplomacy, not backed by the threat of force, has never worked with dictators and never will.

"The threat of Saddam and weapons of mass destruction is not American or British propaganda. The history and the present threat are real."

Full story...

OTHER RELATED NEWS:
Israel cheers Blair on
Fifty-three Labour MPs rebel despite Blair's assurance
Blair's Dossier Against Saddam Will Cost 37,000 British Soldiers Their Lives
Iraqis arrange tour of factories named in report
Yamani: oil may hit $100 a barrel
America's Weapons of Mass Destruction
Another Oil War by Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Major GOP Donor Receives Federal Oil Contract

Merchants of Hatred

For over twenty years the powerful New York based Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai Brith (ADL), an organisation that is responsible to nobody but itself, has policed the media in North America (and much of the rest of the world), monitoring even the smallest provincial newspapers for advertisements or reader's letters and for evidence of activities by individuals whom they will list on their database as their enemies.

The ADL has then used its best efforts to destroy these people--not openly, and by fair means, but using their own network of influences and contacts, with ugly tentacles which often extended deep into the regular forces of law and order (the ADL were found in April 1992 to have bribed corrupt officials in San Francisco to secure secret police files.)

Full story...

This is not the country we want to be.

Written by an American but I believe the sentiment is equally true of the people of the United Kingdom (and indeed most of the world). The ONLY people who wars are the ones who will stand to make millions of blood-stained dollars out of the enterprise (THE CARLYLE GROUP!). I dont believe that the ordinary people want to fight, afterall war is what the dinosaurs do. As our various regimes continue to speak for us -without one care that we do not share those words- they continue to order us to pay taxes to fund the military and police forces which they need to protect them from us. There is a very fine line between where we are right now, and outright totalitarianism.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein

AUSTIN -- No. This is not acceptable. This is not the country we want to be. This is not the world we want to make.

The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood.

I rarely use the word "we" because it's so arrogant for one citizen to presume to speak for all of us -- and besides, Americans famously can't agree on the time of day. But on this one, I know we want to find a way so that killing is the last resort, not the first. We would rather put our time, energy, money and even blood into making peace than making war.

"The National Security Strategy of the United States -- 2002" is repellent, unnecessary and, above all, impractical. Americans are famous for pragmatism, and we need a good dose of common sense right now. This Will Not Work.

All the experts tell us anti-Americanism thrives on the perception that we are arrogant, that we care nothing for what the rest of the world thinks. Even our innocent mistakes are often blamed on obnoxious triumphalism. The announced plan of this administration for world domination reinforces every paranoid, anti-American prejudice on this earth. This plan is guaranteed to produce more terrorists. Even if this country were to become some insane, 21st century version of Sparta -- armed to teeth, guards on every foot of our borders -- we would still not be safe. Have the Israelis been able to stop terrorism with their tactics?

Not only would we not be safe, we would not have a nickel left for schools or health care or roads or parks or zoos or gardens or universities or mass transit or senior centers or the arts or anything resembling civilization. This is nuts.

Full article - well worth a read...

Also read this SUPERB letter to the US Congress

Fifty-three Labour MPs rebel despite Blair's assurance

At least they're not all clueless sycophants! This war is a seriously bad idea, all wars are a seriously bad idea but this one is the Heir to the Throne of the Kingdom of Bad Ideas.

Let's not fanny around here dear codshitters, this "Iraq Crisis" is not about human rights or how evil Saddam is or WMD or any of those worthwhile things, IT'S ABOUT WHO CONTROLS THE OIL UNDERNEATH IRAQI SOIL.


'Our purpose is No one wants military conflict'

Tony Blair suffered a substantial protest vote from his own backbenchers last night over a possible war with Iraq, despite trying to reassure MPs that his goal was to remove Saddam Hussein's weapons and not to topple him.

Fifty-three Labour MPs voted against the Government at the end of an emergency one-day debate in the second biggest backbench rebellion since Labour came to power. The revolt on a technical motion was a disappointment for Mr Blair who had sought to unite his party by stressing his commitment to a United Nations solution to the Iraq crisis and distancing himself from President George Bush's demands for "regime change". The scale of the rebellion suggests he has not yet convinced his party on his support for Mr Bush's hardline stance.
Full story...

OTHER RELATED NEWS:
Blair's Dossier Against Saddam Will Cost 37,000 British Soldiers Their Lives
Iraqis arrange tour of factories named in report
Yamani: oil may hit $100 a barrel
America's Weapons of Mass Destruction
Another Oil War by Rep. Cynthia McKinney

UK 'sells' bomb material to Iran

British officials have approved the export of key components needed to make nuclear weapons to Iran and other countries known to be developing such weapons.

An investigation by BBC Radio 4 programme File on Four will disclose that the Department of Trade and Industry allowed a quantity of the metal, Beryllium, to be sold to Iran last year.

That metal is needed to make nuclear bombs.

Britain has had an arms embargo to Iran since 1993 and has signed up to an international protocol which bans the sale of Beryllium to named countries, including Iran.

Full story...

Ariel Sharon: Profile of an Unrepentant War Criminal

by Jeffrey Steinberg

Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, is currently facing possible war crime prosecutions for two massacres that occurred 20 years apart: the September 1982 massacre of Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon, and the April 2002 Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) mass killings in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Sharon is, without doubt, guilty of these crimes against humanity, and others. He is also unrepentant. For him, these mass killings are merely necessary steps on the path toward his objective of a "Final Solution" to the "Palestinian problem," through the mass expulsion and/or extermination of the more than 3 million Palestinians and Arabs now living in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. Under various labels, Sharon and a rogues gallery of collaborators inside Israel, Britain, and the United States, are now moving toward the final phase of their "mass transfer" plans for the Palestinians and Arabs.

EIR has "written the book" on Sharon's blood-soaked career for over 30 years. (See 1994 Profile.) As a service to the current worldwide debate on his government's fascist actions, we provide this summary dossier on the Israeli mass murderer. This summary is linked to a compendium of earlier exposés of Sharon and his partners in crime.

Read the dossier...

Tuesday 24 September 2002

Another one for Israel to Ignore

It's not like the Israelis have to listen to anyone, there'll be no regime change in Tel Aviv because someone's in violation of sanctions!

Security Council Demands Immediate Halt To Israeli Measures In Ramallah, ‘Expeditious’ Israeli Withdrawal To Pre-September 2000 Positions

Council Adopts Resolution 1435 (2002) By 14-0-1 Vote, With United States Abstaining

Early Tuesday morning, the Security Council demanded that Israel immediately cease measures in and around Ramallah, “including the destruction of Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure”, following all-day sessions on Monday which heard 45 speakers on the situation in the Middle East in light of the recent upsurge of violence.

In adopting resolution 1435 (2002) by a vote of 14 in favour to none against, with one abstention (United States), the Council also demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces towards positions held prior to September 2000. It called on the Palestinian Authority to meet its expressed commitment to bring to justice those responsible for terrorist acts.

By other terms of the resolution, the Council reiterated its demand for the complete cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction. It also expressed its full support for the efforts of the Middle East Quartet and called upon all States in the region to cooperate with its efforts.

As the meeting began yesterday morning, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the parties in the Middle East to resist a downward spiral into anarchy. Noting the recent elaboration of a vision for peace by the Middle East Quartet, the Secretary-General said the events of the past few days represented a tragic step in the opposite direction. In the space of three days, a bomb had exploded in a Palestinian school and two suicide attacks had killed Israeli civilians. Such acts were morally repugnant and set back the prospect of a just and lasting settlement.

Full text...

It's The Oil, Stupid

Just a reminder what this war is really all about, British oil companies will benefit as much as American ones. Do you want to send yours and other peoples kids off to die in a hot dusty desert simply so you can pollute the environment with your car even more... Now there's a fair trade-off!

France and Russia have oil companies and interests in Iraq. They should be told that if they are of assistance in moving Iraq towards decent government, we'll do the best we can to ensure that the new government and American companies will work with them. If they throw their lot with Saddam, it will be difficult to the point of impossible to persuade the new Iraq government to work with them. Former CIA director James Woolsey, quoted in The Washington Post, September 15, 2002. So there you have it. The Bush administration may be telling the world that the reason the UN Security Council has to approve an allied attack on Iraq is because of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability, but the real reason France and Russia are being told to get on board the US military bandwagon is Iraq's oil reserves.

According to The Washington Post, all five permanent members of the Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - have international oil companies with major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad. The Washington Post is one of the major media vehicles through which members of the American establishment talk to each other.

It is clear the real issue here is who controls Iraqi oil.

Full story...

The Saddest Lie Of All

"Let's Roll!" On United Flight 93, The Saddest Lie Of All
by Joe Vialls

In March of this year I published a long report which used scientific proof to destroy the evolving American media myth that “phone calls” were made by Barbara Olson from American Airlines Flight 77, the Boeing 757 flown by remote control into the Pentagon with devastating effect on 11 September 2001. The blatant media lies about Olson were so outrageous, I was moved to write:

“This is a story about a little white lie that bred dozens of other little white lies, then hundreds of bigger white lies and so on, to the point where the first little white lie must be credited as the ‘Mother of All Lies’ about events on 11 September 2001. For this was the little white lie that first activated the American psyche, generated mass loathing, and enabled media manipulation of the global population. Without this little white lie there would have been no Arab Hijackers, no Osama Bin Laden directing operations from afar, and no ‘War on Terror’ in Afghanistan and occupied Palestine…”

“This unsubstantiated claim, reported by CNN remarkably quickly at 2.06 am EDT [0606 GMT] on 12 September, was the solitary foundation on which the spurious ‘Hijacker’ stories were built.Without the ‘eminent’ Barbara Olson and her alleged emotional telephone calls, there would never be any anecdotal ‘proof’ that humans played a role in the hijack and destruction of the four aircraft that day. Lookalike claims surfaced several days later on 16 September about passenger Todd Beamer and others, but it is critically important to remember that the Barbara Olson story was the only one on 12 September. It was beyond doubt the artificial ‘seed’ that started the giant media snowball rolling down the hill.”

When I wrote the report about Flight 77 in March, there was also ample scientific proof available for me to destroy the media myth about the crash of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, but I deliberately pulled my punches and maintained a discreet silence. Americans were in deep shock and in dire need of some home-grown heroes, with most seemingly unable or unwilling to comprehend that 9/11 was a calculated high-tech surgical strike against the Zionist banking heart of New York City, rather than an attack on Americans in general. “Let it go” I reasoned to myself, “In the final analysis, does it really matter if shell-shocked Americans console themselves with heroic illusions about Todd Beamer and the others on Flight 93?”

Six months later in September I can no longer afford the luxury of omission, and Americans can no longer afford to live in denial. Over the few past weeks the American President, Vice-President and Secretary of Defense have inched visibly closer to complete insanity, with barely-veiled threats to nuke the world in general if denied the “right” to attack Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Every day, as if on some sort of satanic media schedule, we are all reminded this action is necessary at least in part because of those “Arab” or “Muslim” Hijackers who violated American national security on 9/11. Beyond any doubt this is to be a Zionist-led Christian crusade against the Muslims, for the sole benefit of the Jewish State. The harsh reality that thousands of Christian American soldiers will die for the sake of this phony war, is demonstrably of no interest whatever to the US Administration.
Full article...

Also Read:
Cleveland Smoking Gun Proves “Arab Hijacker” Calls From United Airlines Flight 93 Were Faked

Debunking Myths

Given the unashamed and blatant Panorama propaganda on BBC1 last night and also the release of the UK government report earlier today, I thought it would be worth illustrating why we cannot trust anything that the "Establishment" ever tells us. I've emailed the Panorama programme (panorama@bbc.co.uk) to inform them that their documentary was less than entirely accurate. I don't expect a reaction but at least the truth is where it needs to be.

This interview will explain how it was NOT Saddam who gassed the Kurds of Halabja; it was the Iranian military and the Kurds were caught in cross-fire NOT deliberately targetted. The interview also covers other relevant issues related to the Middle East. The information comes from someone who has investigated it properly and talked to people involved. I have also made best efforts myself to coroborate the relevant parts of the interview and so far it's easily verifiable on the Internet. The "Halabja Incident" forms the basis for an awful lot of the Western anti-Iraq propaganda, by throwing its veracity into doubt, it casts a shadow over the whole excremental mess.

"Trust me, I have secret intelligence that says Saddam has nukes. I can't tell you where I got that intelligence and I can't let you see it, but trust me, it's really great stuff!" - Mike Rivero


Myths About Israel, Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Debunked by Veteran Journalist

American-born Nita Renfrew went to Israel as an idealistic young liberal who wanted to experience life in a country she believed was a model for the world. What she discovered was not what she expected. It gave her new insights into what the Arab-Israeli conflict was really all about.

In subsequent years, after leaving Israel, Renfrew traveled widely, including a stint as the Spanish correspondent for LeMonde Diplomatique, the well-known French foreign affairs journal. She has been a radio commentator and is the author of Saddam Hussein, an authoritative and objective (but very hard to find) biography of the Iraqi leader.

[In the interview she says:]

There was a battle in Halabja between the Iranian army and the Iraqi army. The mayor of Halabja, who is related to a man I know here in the United States, said that it was the Iranians who dropped the chemical weapons on the village—not the Iraqis—and the Kurds got caught in the cross-fire. It was not done deliberately. One of the indications, he said, is that when the Kurds fled the village, they didn’t flee across the border to Iran, but back into Iraq since the planes were coming from Iran.

Interestingly enough, there is a U.S. Army War College report, by Stephen Pelletier, who headed up the analysis team on the Iran-Iraq war for the United States. He and his co-author based their report on the information that was being continuously gathered by the CIA and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency during the Iran-Iraq war.

The report said that the Kurds in Halabja had died from cyanigin blood agents. The Iraqis were not known to have any cyanigin blood agents but the Iranians were. So the U.S. Army War College report concluded that the Kurds died from Iranian chemical weapons — not Iraqi chemical weapons. Mr. Pelletier still stands by his report and was recently quoted as saying so in The Village Voice.


Read this interview....

Other Important Stories:
Doubts over recent arms programme
U.S. Hails Blair's Case Against Iraq
Blair's Iraq dossier has no "smoking gun"
Critics not swayed by No. 10's Iraq dossier
Political reaction to Iraq dossier
British Government Dossier
Britain risks rift with US over regime change
Top Iraqi defector warns against US invasion
Unveiled: the thugs Bush wants in place of Saddam
The People Behind George Bush - No Wonder!

Israel to pursue Arafat siege despite UN resolution

A good time to point out that the country that has violated the most UN resolutions is; Israel. Iraq violates a couple and suddenly Saddam has the US Military crawling up his bum! Unless we call immediately for a "regime change" in Tel Aviv then this is rank hypocrisy!

Where's the condemnation from Blair? Where's the "intelligence dossier" on Israel? This is just more evidence that our government is morally bankrupt.


JERUSALEM: The Israeli army will maintain its siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah despite a UN resolution demanding its "immediate" halt, a senior Israeli official said.

"The United Nations can do what it wants, but Israel will continue the operation until its aims are achieved," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Either Arafat leaves his headquarters or the terrorists holed up there hand themselves over," the official said.

Following a first Israeli-Palestinian meeting on Monday that was aimed at ending the siege Israel imposed on Thursday in retaliation for two suicide bombings, Arafat rejected Israel's demand for the names of all the people holed up with him in his battered headquarters.

With the United States abstaining, the UN Security Council voted 14-0 on Tuesday morning for a resolution demanding that Israel lift its siege of Arafat's battered headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Full story...

Other Relevant News:
The People Behind George Bush - No Wonder!

Israel surprised and disappointed with US for failing to veto UN resolution
9 Palestinians die in Israeli attacks in Gaza
U.N. Demands End To Arafat Siege

Speaking of 'failed tactics'

There are some other SUPERB cartoons associated with this piece, well worth a look.

by Jim Kirwan
YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States)

The ink had barely time to dry on Iraq's acceptance of the Bush administration's demand for unconditional access to suspected weapons sites inside Iraq before the administration issued a tersely worded denunciation: "A tactic that will fail." Bush also said: "We can't take Saddam's word, he's proven that he breaks his promises."

People like Bush who live in glass houses should watch what they say. Bush has broken almost every campaign promise he made to the American people, beginning with: 'The people in my administration will not only be above reproach, they will be beyond even the hint of any conflict-of-interest."

U.S. officials said, "the Iraqi offer echoed Baghdad's earlier maneuvers to stall and divide the council and dealt only with weapons inspections, and not with a host of other U.N. resolutions." Who is the Bush administration to demand the total compliance of Iraq, or any other country, with all issues that country may have with the United Nations?

Full story...

Aussies with Courage

Finally someone trying to put the "Honourable" back into "Right Honourable". Unlike certain other Australian politicians, I've been talking to Aussie mates and none of them want this poxy war to happen either. The politicians are revealing their true colours all over the world, they are in the pockets of the Industrial Oligarchists and have sold themselves (and us) down the river for 50 pieces of silver.

OZ MP Risks Expulsion Over Opposition To Bush's War

Opposition backbencher Harry Quick has said he would risk expulsion from his party and cross the floor if Labor agreed to support a strike against Iraq. Mr Quick, a Labor MP from Tasmania, said he had received widespread support from the community for his stand.

"I've had dozens and dozens of emails and phone calls from parents saying we don't want to send our kids, keep up the good work," he said.

Asked if he was prepared to be expelled over the issue, Mr Quick said: "If we support a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, yes I am." Mr Quick was also against a United Nations-endorsed attack on Iraq.

"I'm totally against the war, it's a US-manufactured war and I don't support it in any shape or form," he said.

Mr Quick said dozens of his parliamentary colleagues supported his position.

HEAR HEAR

Full story...

Christians Should Reassess Support for Israel

Zionism, Anti Semitism and American Democracy
By Henry Makow, PhD

Christians who believe Israel represents an outpost of Western Civilization might benefit from a book entitled "Jewish History, Jewish Religion" (1994) by Israel Shahak, a Professor Emeritus at Hebrew University.

Shahak escaped from a Nazi concentration camp and later served in the Israeli army. He is an organic chemist who combines a research scientist's objectivity with a humanist's commitment to universal ideals.

It appears that Judaism made a mistake when it rejected Christ's gospel of Love. As a consequence, Judaism may have become a primitive and possibly dangerous anachronism in the 21st Century. According to Shahak, Judaism is a xenophobic totalitarian belief system that has morphed into a fanatical Zionist ideology that now threatens the whole world. I must admit that, even as an assimilated Jew, reading this book was like taking cod liver oil, not pleasant.

Full story...