perlustration

I remain terrified of the capacity of the media...

2010-10-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

British Novelist John le Carré on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa and His New Novel, "Our Kind of Traitor"

I remain terrified of the capacity of the media, the capacity of spin doctors, here and abroad, particularly the United States media, to perpetuate false lies, perpetuate lies. Mussolini, I think, defined fascism as the moment when you couldn’t put a cigarette paper between political and corporate power. He assumed, when he offered that definition, that media power was already his. But I worry terribly that the absence of serious critical argument is going to produce a new kind of fanaticism, the new simplicities that are as dangerous as the ones which caused us to march against Iraq and as misunderstood.

Journalism

2010-10-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

These two articles appears on Yahoo's front page today:

French minister: Saudis warn of new terror and
American visits Iran blast site under freedom deal

It is interesting to note that the third paragraph of the article on Iran says:

It can easily score political points at home for the ruling clerics at a time when international sanctions are hurting Iran's economy.

But there is no mention in the article on Al Queda's French threat that this may be nothing more that the French government, facing crippling strikes (e.g story), trying to "score political points" by appealing to French fear and patriotism.

If you connect the dots in story about France then you are labeled as a "conspiracy theorist", but if you do that in story about Iran, you are journalist! Different strokes for different folks :)

Andrew Bacevich on Afghanistan War: "The President Lacks the Guts to Get Out"

2010-08-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

AMY GOODMAN: You wrote a piece called "The End of Military History?" comparing the United States, Israel and the failure of the Western way of war, paralleling the failures of Israel and US military involvement in the last two decades.

ANDREW BACEVICH: Well, the point of the piece, I think, is to argue that Western nations, democratic nations, generally, took from the whole experience of the twentieth century. They concluded that war really doesn’t work very well. War is something to be avoided if at all possible. Israel and the United States, I think, took a different conclusion from the twentieth century. And the conclusion that both Israel and the United States drew was that war can work, victory is feasible, and that victory achieved can translate into political advantage. And from, I think, our present perspective, both looking at the dilemmas that Israel faces and the dilemmas that we face, the evidence is pretty clear: victory is almost impossible to achieve in a really meaningful way. And even when you think you’ve achieved a great victory, somehow the political benefits turn out to be very ephemeral.

I mean, in many respects, the Six-Day War of 1967 is viewed as one of the great military triumphs of the contemporary era, when David defeated Goliath. But if we look at the problems that beset Israel today, in many respects I think they grow directly from that ostensibly great victory, because out of victory came the conviction that a greater Israel was a feasible project. Out of greater Israel—that out of that comes the settlement movement. Out of that becomes Israel having shackled itself to the Palestinian people, whose birth rate is so much higher than that of Israeli Jews. So, you know, what exactly did they get out of the 1967 war? What did we get out of a comparably great triumph—was perceived at the time—in Operation Desert Storm back in 1991? All we did was find ourselves more deeply embedded in the greater Middle East.

And on the leaked Pentagon documents....

ANDREW BACEVICH: Well, I mean, there are competing imperatives here. I mean, in many respects, I think I’m a First Amendment—I don’t know if "radical" is the correct term, but I mean, I—there are—the government lies to us. The government conceals. And anything that can help to reveal information to the public that is of relevance to our understanding of ongoing affairs, that information—people who release it, I think, in some senses, are serving the public interest.

The other issue, though, is we want to have—if we’re going to have a military, we need to have a military in which there is good order and discipline. And we want to have a military in which civilian authorities are the ones who make decisions. In that regard, having a PFC who’s leaking 90,000 classified documents, I do think—

AMY GOODMAN: If, in fact, Manning is the one who did it.

ANDREW BACEVICH: If he’s the one—I do think is a reprehensible action. But it’s also reprehensible when, in the summer of 2009, before President Obama had made his Afghanistan decision, that the McChrystal recommendation was leaked to the Washington Post, which effectively hijacked the debate over what the Obama administration should do about the Afghanistan war. And I don’t remember Admiral Mullen or Secretary Gates or these other people deciding that they were going to go find out who leaked the McChrystal recommendations, because I believe that that is as reprehensible as this leak of the 90,000 documents. That was a direct assault on civilian control of the military. So if you’re going to get upset about one, you ought to get upset about the other, too.

Sanctions

2010-04-21T15:32:00.001-07:00

Juan Cole had an interesting post on effectiveness of sanction against Iran. I find this comment interesting:

The man said it all: ’sanctions’ are purely cosmetic, designed to make it look as though US politicians had taken some dramatic and effective step. It is odd that the politicians in Washington, who are always loudly proclaiming their belief in the market, think its iron laws can be suspended by a simple vote on their parts.

“Diary of Bergen-Belsen, 1944-1945”: Amira Hass Discusses Her Mother’s Concentration Camp Diary

2010-01-08T12:46:00.001-08:00

Isreal "Ambiguity", Iran "secrecy"!

2009-10-09T09:25:00.001-07:00

An interesting example of hypocrocy in "Western" journalism.

In this article the author writes:

Israel maintains a doctrine of "nuclear ambiguity" and has never confirmed nor denied having its own nuclear weapons program. It considers Iran a serious threat not only because of Tehran's nuclear program but also because of Iran's arsenal of long-range missiles, which can be fitted with nuclear warheads and are capable of striking the Jewish state.

Then says:

Iran's missile program and its nuclear work — much of it carried out in secrecy — have long been a concern for the West, which fears Tehran is intent on developing an atomic weapons capability and the missiles to deploy such warheads.

Why do you have to use "Ambiguity" for Israel and "Secrecy" for Iranian programs? Then why should only West right to have had "a concern" about Iran and no mention of Iran's right to be concern about "Ambiguity" of Israel nuclear missiles? If the concern is to talk about the tension shouldn't one need to address the both side of it?

Can you believe the headline in this item?

2009-02-06T00:50:00.000-08:00

Israeli police sappers pour water to cool the remains of a rocket launched by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip that hit the southern city of Ashkelon on February 3. A rocket fired by Gaza militants hit southern Israel on Friday, despite ongoing efforts to reach a lasting truce, a military spokesman said, adding that it caused no casualties or damage.

Israel: Militants launch rocket, violating truce

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says Palestinian militants have launched a rocket from Gaza, violating an unwritten cease-fire that ended Israel's Gaza offensive.

The military says the rocket hit near an Israeli communal farm, causing no damage or injuries.

Friday's rocket fire followed an incident late Thursday on the Gaza-Israel border in which Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian who the military said was armed with a grenade.

Israel unilaterally halted its devastating Gaza operation on Jan. 18, and Hamas followed with an announcement that it would hold its fire.

Militants have sporadically fired rockets into Israel since, and killed one soldier in a border bombing attack. Israeli troops have killed three Palestinians who Gaza officials identified as farmers in border shootings.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Israeli forces shooting and killing a Palestinian is not violating the "un-written ceasefire", but Palestinian firing of a "rocket" that is put out by bottled water is!

Chiniese Lesson for Tow Truck drivers....

2008-12-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Chicken Teacher

2008-12-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

A hen pecks an eagle. Chinese farmers are trapping eagles and other birds of prey and throwing them trussed up into chicken pens to make them so scared of poultry that they never return

Source

The Promised Land?

2008-11-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

The Promised Land?

Obama, Emanuel and Israel

By JOHN V. WHITBECK

November 07, 2008 "Counterpunch" -- -- In the first major appointment of his administration, President-elect Barack Obama has named as his chief of staff Congressman Rahm Emanuel, an Israeli citizen and Israeli army veteran whose father, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was a member of Menachem Begin's Irgun forces during the Nakba and named his son after "a Lehi combatant who was killed" -- i.e., a member of Yitzhak Shamir's terrorist Stern Gang, responsible for, in addition to other atrocities against Palestinians, the more famous bombing of the King David Hotel and assassination of the UN peace envoy Count Folke Bernadotte.

Read the full article

Who is making money ...

2008-09-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

A congress man that said wait a minute...

And a congressman that is willing to sign the papers today, albeit with some modifications.

Lie for a cause....

2008-09-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

The real McCain

2008-09-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

small town values...

2008-09-10T10:53:00.001-07:00

Acceptance speech

2008-09-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

GDP

2008-09-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

2008-09-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested by the Minneapolis Police Department. Charged with conspiracy to riot. Footage from Rick Rowley and Brandon Jourdan.

2008-08-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

The Georgian state flag flies at half mast behind the statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in his hometown of Gori, now under control of Russian troops, August 20, 2008.
(David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)

Rather strange... town is suppose to be "under control of Russian troops" yet it flies the Georgian flag. Georgia is suppose to be the most democratic country in x-communist states, yet it maintains the statue of the Stalin!

Gucci Protest!

2008-08-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Russain soldiers stand guard as a Georgian protester shouts near the town of Igoeti, 50 kms from Tbilisi,Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008. Georgian activists got into a tense argument with Russian soldiers over the military conflict with Georgia as they held a rally in the town outside the strategic city of Gori. ( AP Photo /Sergei Grits)

McCain, not so smart, but has taste!

2008-08-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

Is McCain another George W. Bush?

No, the man has better taste...

Do you support Bush more than you did 4 years ago?

2008-08-16T11:27:00.001-07:00

Ron Paul talks about Russia Georgian conflict in 2002!

2008-08-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

American Hypocrisy Institute (aka AEI)

2008-08-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Frederick W. Kagan of American Enterprise Institute has the following to say about Russian response to the conflict that Georgia started on opening night of Olympics:

The Russians have also established several principles and precedents:

* That Russia has the right to respond to conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia by strategic attack against Georgia

* That Russia has the right to use its military force to bomb and invade the undisputed sovereign territory of a neighbor for the purpose of defending the “dignity and lives of Russian citizens,” which was the basis that Medvedev has repeatedly advanced for the operation

There is nothing new about this "principles and precedents". In 1983 Ronald Reagan "invade the undisputed sovereign territory of" Granada for the purpose of protecting the lives of American Medical Students (whoes lives were not even threatened!) See: Remembering Reagan’s Invasion of Grenada

* That Russian Federation law extends to cover all Russian citizens, wherever they might be located.

* That Russian Federation law can be used to bring charges against non-Russian citizens who are not resident in Russia for crimes not committed on Russian territory, if their actions are “against the interests of the Russian Federation.”

How is that different than war on terror, Guantanamo bay.... There is 8 years of Bush administration precedence on these issues, all of which was supported or initiated by AEI. Why are they complaining now?

* That Russian military forces can take pre-emptive action, including ground occupation, to protect themselves from the possibility of danger posed by foreign forces on foreign soil.

Interestingly, a few years ago, while promoting The Project for New American Century, Bill Kristol and Mr Kagan say:

"We seem to have forgotten the essential elements of the Reagan administration's success: a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the U.S. global responsibilities."

It seems that, thanks to Neocons, the Russian have remembered the essential elements of Regan administration's successes!

Saakashvili the new Saddam?

2008-08-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia reminds me of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. They both are very brave when it comes time to send their military to attack others but when it comes to themselves they are the chicken hawks:

The Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, was pushed to the ground by bodyguards when a jet flew overhead during his tour of the Georgian city of Gori....

2008-08-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Home made arms?

2008-05-01T02:03:00.000-07:00

New York Times's "Iraq Team to Discuss Militias With Iran" article includes the following pictures:

With this caption: "Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji, an Iraqi commander in Basra, with a seized arms cache on Tuesday. "

The "arms cache" depicted in the picture looks about as home made arms as there can be. Yet the article still talks about it as if they have been made in Iran!

AS a side note: The author of the article is Michael Gordon, yes the same Michael Gordon that co-authored the Judith Miller lies on Iraq.

Juxtaposing General Patreaus comment and Bush Administration's Propaganda

2008-04-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

In his April, 9 2008 testimony at House Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq General Petraeus said:

Sons of Iraq have also have contributed to the discovery of improvised explosive devices and weapons and explosive caches. As this next chart shows, in fact we have already found more caches in 2008 than we found in all of 2006.

In the 2003 as the US forces were rushing toward Baghdad there were so few soldiers that they had to ignore the Saddam's weapons caches. As the Iraqi army fled, locals helped themselves to the inventory of weapons that Saddam had amassed for 30 years. General Peataeus seems to imply that now with help of the "Sons of Iraq" they are finding them.

This is interesting when you juxtapose this comment with the almost daily claim of Bush administration that Iran is supplying Iranian made weapons to Iraq. Or may be General didn't realize his claim of success would negate the other key porpaganda theme of Bush administration.

In 2007 Bush administration told the world that Iran is supplying weapons to Iraq. Now, 2008 General is telling us he has been finding large caches of weapons. Therefore in 2007 there were lot of Iraqi weapons available to the Iraqi insurgency. If there were such huge caches of weapons in Iraq, would it make sense for Iranian to actually ship any weapons to Iraq?

It just doesn't make sense.

What is common between China-Tibet, Israel-Palestine, and India-Pakistan conflicts?

2008-04-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

Israeli-Palestinian,
China-Tibet, India-Pakistan.

Answer: All three are legacies of the British Colonialism.

Show of Force!

2008-04-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Government forces cover their face, fire in the air to as "show of force" (desperation?)

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari shouts instructions to Iraqi Army soldiers to secure a street in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra some 550 kilometers (about 340 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008. An Iraqi commander led a convoy of troops firing into the air Wednesday in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra.
(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani

Iraqi soldier secures a street in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra some 550 kilometers (about 340 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008. An Iraqi commander led a convoy of troops firing into the air Wednesday in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra.
(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Meanwhile the citizens are showing their view:

Iraqi children stand on top of a destroyed Iraqi Army's vehicle in Basra some 550 kilometers (about 340 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008. The Basra joint operations center announced that a gun battle broke out during the raid and an Iraqi army vehicle was set on fire. An Iraqi commander led a convoy of troops firing into the air Wednesday in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra.
(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

The Turks haven't learned the British way of denying past atrocities

2008-01-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

The Turks haven't learned the British way of denying past atrocities

McCain vs McCain

2008-01-07T00:44:00.001-08:00

Light the sky!

2007-12-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

How media tries to soften and spin the Iranian Intelligence report....

2007-12-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

In article "Rice disputes openness of Iran democracy" There is an interesting double standard. Notice:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, working to defend U.S. strategy on Iran, questioned the openness of the Iranian government on Wednesday after its president said a new U.S. intelligence review concluding his country has stopped developing nuclear weapons amounts to "a final shot" against Tehran's critics.

and

Earlier Wednesday, Ahmadinejad said the conclusions of the report, which said that Iran's nuclear weapons development program has been halted because of international pressure, amounted to "a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue."

In both paragraph the author adds his own interpretation of the report (i.e. "intelligence review concluding his country has stopped developing nuclear weapons") to Ahmadinejad's comment.

Ahamdinejad comment most likely is referring to the fact the intelligence agencies are saying Iran is NOT working on nuclear weapons. As such all US propaganda to the contrary is null and void. Hence "final shot", "victory" comment.

At the same time the author may like to juxtapose his reading of the document with that of the Iranian president. But then he doesn't do similar juxtaposing in US administration official. Check this paragraph:

"I am not going to comment on that comment except to say that what the National Intelligence Estimate shows, and the transparency with which the administration released it, is what it means to live in a democracy and I hope one day that the people of Iran will live in a democracy too," she [Dr Rice] said.

Even though, Dr Rice doesn't want to "comment on the comment" the author puts her comment in with no editorial! There is no juxtaposition of the facts of the report with her statement. It could say something like:

Dr Rice said that the conclusion of the report, which said Bush administration has been knowingly misleading the world in its propaganda against Iran, as sign of "transparency". She went on further to say that she wishes Iranian would live under same deception!

Ever wonder....

2007-12-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

Who voted For Sarkzoy?

2007-11-19T22:27:00.000-08:00

In The Shock Doctrine and Baghdad Year Zero Naomi Klein argues that the economic policies behind US foreign policy is the root cause of its problems in Iraq and elsewhere. She further argues that these policies are based on Milton Friedman and Chicago School economic models. Interestingly, Milton Friedman is said to be the "Economist who gave voice to the monetary theories which propelled the governments of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher".

There is an interesting interview with Milton Friedman billed as "his last interview the November before he died at his apartment in San Francisco overlooking the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge". In it he says:

NPQ | Even in the free market US, President Bush, at the height of his power, couldn't convince the American public to move toward privatizing Social Security.

Friedman | There is no doubt this aging issue will test the argument over the efficiency of the market versus political demands for government to step in.

On the question of whether inequality of the market might lead the less-well-off democratic majority to push for state control, I'm not so sure. The important issue is not how much inequality there is but how much opportunity there is for individuals to get out of the bottom classes and into the top. If there is enough movement upward, people will accept the efficiency of the markets. If you have [an illusion of] opportunity, there is a great tolerance for inequality. That has been the saving grace of the American system.

The Friedman's policy fails because it is hard to paint illusion of opportunity in societies where community is more important than the individual. When individuals talks to one another in coffee shops, tea houses, or chat rooms they quickly realize in world, dominated by multinationals and Wall Marts (aka Free Market) there is no opportunity.

Redacted Movie by Brian De Palma

2007-11-15T12:18:00.000-08:00

Charlie Rose Interview with Ahmadinejad

2007-09-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

Dilbert got it right....

2007-09-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

Dilbert is feeling smelling rats in current Propaganda:
A Feeling I'm Being Had

General Petraeus exposes Bush administration hypocrocy! Iraqi insurgents "were already well enough armed "

2007-09-13T09:07:00.001-07:00

Check out this exchange on General Petraeus hearings on 9/11/07:

SEN. ROBERT BYRD: ....You’ve touted success in Anbar province. Just a few months ago, the tribes in Anbar province were shooting and killing Americans. Recently they decided they dislike the terrorists there more than they dislike Americans, so they are cooperating with us for the time being, while we give them money and arms. This recalls to my mind our policy in the 1980s in Afghanistan of arming the Taliban to fight the Soviet Union. We all know how that short-term policy hurt our long-term interest. What guarantee can you give us that the tribes in Anbar are not going to turn around and use the guns that we gave them against our troops once they feel we no longer serve their interest? Isn't that a short-sited policy?

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: Senator, first of all, we are not arming the tribes. We have not provided weapons to them. What we did initially is basically give a thumbs up when they asked if it would be OK if they pointed the weapons they did have -- they were already well enough armed -- at al-Qaeda, because they had come to reject the Taliban-like ideology and barbarity of al-Qaeda in the Euphrates River Valley.

General is saying the Sunnis (which are the smallest minority in Iraq -- about 20%) "were already well enough armed" and didn't need US to arm them. The same general then wants to tell us that other Iraqi groups (representing majority of Shiites) get their arms from outside (Iran and Syria are the current propaganda targets).

It is interesting that at the begining of the war the US policy was to go against Syria to stop the flow of arms to Sunni groups, but now the general admits that these groups were well armed all along!

It is also interesting to note that general recognizes that al-Queda's strategy of surge in violence policy in Iraq was the reason why the Iraqi tribes -- that were originally allied with Al Queda against US -- decided to "pointed the weapons" toward Al Queda. Yet he fails to see that his proposed surge against the Shiites have also caused the Shiite groups -- that were allied with US against Saddam Hussein -- to also turn their gun against US forces.

easy credit became the American substitute for decent wages

2007-08-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

An interesting statement:
The sad truth is that people earning Wal-Mart-level wages tend to favor the fashions available at the Salvation Army. Nor do they have much use for Wal-Mart's other departments, such as Electronics, Lawn and Garden, and Pharmacy.

It gets worse though. While with one hand the high-rollers, H. Lee Scott among them, squeezed the American worker's wages, the other hand was reaching out with the tempting offer of credit. In fact, easy credit became the American substitute for decent wages. Once you worked for your money, but now you were supposed to pay for it. Once you could count on earning enough to save for a home. Now you'll never earn that much, but, as the lenders were saying -- heh, heh -- do we have a mortgage for you!

Source

Bush will and won't say

2007-08-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

According to Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pullout

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush will say.

"Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president will say.

But he wont say:

...Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Iraq is that the price of America's occupation paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like: Shock-and-awe, Abu Gharib, Mission Accomplished, Torture, Neocons, Fallujah, Samarra, ...

Deja vu

2007-08-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist conversation with Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Hermann Goering proclaimed that although "the people don't want war," they "can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders."

What is the secret? A must listen speech.

2007-08-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite stories about the Cold War concerns a group of Russian journalists who were touring the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by the host for their impressions. "I have to tell you," said the spokesman, "that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV day after day that all the opinions on all the vital issues are the same. To get that result in our country we send journalists to the gulag. We even tear out their fingernails. Here you don't have to do any of that. What is the secret?"

What is the secret? It is a question seldom asked in newsrooms, in media colleges, in journalism journals, and yet the answer to that question is critical to the lives of millions of people. On August 24 last year the New York Times declared this in an editorial: "If we had known then what we know now the invasion if Iraq would have been stopped by a popular outcry." This amazing admission was saying, in effect, that journalists had betrayed the public by not doing their job and by accepting and amplifying and echoing the lies of Bush and his gang, instead of challenging them and exposing them. What the Times didn't say was that had that paper and the rest of the media exposed the lies, up to a million people might be alive today

Listen to the speech:

Freedom Next Time: Filmmaker & Journalist John Pilger on Propaganda, the Press, Censorship and Resisting the American Empire

Inside the Surge, and Just in time Bin Ladin Videos

2007-07-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

Video: Inside the surge

Bin Laden Uncovers Secret Formula to Halt Ageing Process

Trying to make sense of it....

2007-07-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

In the article Warplanes keep watch on Iraqi insurgents you have:

Controlling the air is what F-16 pilot Maj. Paul Miller does for a living. He's now learning how to fight a ground war.

Four years into the war in Iraq, the challenges of fighting insurgents are changing the way U.S. fighter pilots approach their missions. The training has shifted from traditional tactics of air dominance to emphasize more specialized roles as eyes in the sky — such as locating buried bombs or honing in on small, highly mobile targets.

"This is a lot more on the go," Miller said from this base on Japan's northern frontier. "It's a pickup game."

.....

"We may not be able to read a license plate, but we can tell you if the guy behind the bush is smoking, and whether he's smoking with his right or left hand," Miller said. "It's that exact."
.....

I am then wondering how come there has never been irrefutable evidence that Iran or Syria, or indeed any foreign country has been supplying weapons to Iraq or Afghanistan?

An interesting read

2007-07-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

More on the current round of propaganda:

Consider the Source: 'NYT' Reporter Targets Iran

Spotting Propaganda!

2007-07-03T00:08:00.001-07:00

In today's world it is next to impossible to know the truth. But it is possible to spot inconsistencies that are inevitable in propaganda.

Take for example the pre-Iraq war statement by Prime Minister Tony Blair in which he claimed that Iraq was capable of lunching missile toward London, armed with WMD, in 45 minutes. To be able to lunch a missile from Iraq to London, you would think then Iraqis must have figure out basics of warfare. But after the war, the same British Prime Minister is in capable of understanding that Iraqis are capable of assembling a road side bomb (which is hell of lot less high tech than a missile would have been).

The other interesting example is 9/11. The official story says that some folks in caves of Afghanistan were able to plan, and organize hijacking of 4 US airlines AND fly them toward World Trade Center and Pentagon with deadly accuracy. You would think if the official story is accurate, the people who have organized such a huge event would be capable of organizing any thing.

But today, in press conferences from Iraq we have:

Dakdouk [A "senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative", that was captured and no doubt "well treated" since March 20] told U.S. interrogators that the Karbala attackers "could not have conducted this complex operation without the support and direction of the Quds force," Bergner said. Source

Some thing must give here.... Operation against the Krabala base must have been a hell of lot simpler to pull off compared to the 9/11. There has even been similar incidents in the past where Iraqis have entered a US base, or penetrated many layers of security in Green Zone with explosives. Even since this incident 3 of US troops were captured by Al Queda.

After 9/11 we were led to beleive Bin Ladin and company pulled off the 9/11, now why would the general says that "they could not have conducted this complex operation without" outside help?

It just doesn't add up!

The "legal obstacle"!

2007-06-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

June 29, 2007
DoD Media Roundtable With Secretary Gates and Gen. Pace in the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Va.

Q Mr. Secretary, can I ask you about Guantanamo? You have said publicly that you would like to see it closed. There have been reports that there are efforts underway to look at that a bit more seriously.

Can you tell us how seriously you're looking at closing Guantanamo, and whether you've reached any conclusion about whether that's feasible or if you're close to reaching a conclusion?

SEC. GATES: I think that, as I said when the chairman and I appeared before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I think that the biggest challenge is finding a statutory basis for holding prisoners who should never be released and who may or may not be able to be put on trial. And I think that this is the challenged that faces both the administration and the Congress. The president said he wants to close Guantanamo. Obviously a lot of people on the Hill want to close it. We want to close it as a detainee facility.

But getting past this obstacle, this legal obstacle and finding some way in statute to permit this, whether it's a variety of administrative and appeals processes or whatever that are ultimately satisfactory to the members of the Congress, I would hope that we can work together to try and find that kind of a solution.

Q Do you feel you've made any progress since you came into office and expressed an interest in moving forward in that regard?

SEC. GATES: I think people are working harder on the problem.

Q Follow-up? Okay, same subject, if I may. You said it may not be possible to try some of these people. Why wouldn't it be, if they've done these things that you say they have?

SEC. GATES; It may depend on the nature of the information that is against them, if it involves sensitive intelligence sources or something like that.

Q I wanted to ask you about the relationship with Congress right now. You have said, in terms of confirmation hearings, that you wanted to limit the discussion about -- I think what you referred to as past mistakes. But since you have said that now, we have seen significant Republican defections on Capitol Hill, most notably Senator Lugar, from the president's Iraq war strategy.

.....

Source

It is interesting that the US defense secretery can make such outragreous statement and the next reporter goes on about "relationship with Congress right now"! Sign of times!

hypocrisy-ism

2007-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

A year ago Palestinians captured an Israeli soldier in Gaza. We have:

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has accused Cpl Shalit's captors of committing a war crime.

"International humanitarian law absolutely prohibits taking and holding a person by force in order to compel the enemy to meet certain demands, while threatening to harm or kill the person if the demands are not met," the group said.

"Furthermore, hostage-taking is considered a war crime."

Hamas airs 'first Shalit message'

Same day we have Israel announces mass prisoner release that quotes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert:

"As a gesture of good will towards the Palestinians, I will bring before the Israeli Cabinet a proposal to free 250 Fatah prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, after they sign a commitment not to return to violence," Olmert told the gathering.

What is a person that is not guilty (i.e. "who do not have blood on their hands") yet have been arrested from their own homes, imprisoned for many years and wont be released until the Israeli "demands are not met" (i.e. "after they sign a commitment")?

A Hostage? And the holder of the hostages a "war criminals" at least 250 times over?

To Andy Warhol

2007-05-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

Faith based foreign policy

2007-05-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Interview on the Charlie Rose Show

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
May 7, 2007

...
QUESTION: And that history will say that we had to go to Iraq; otherwise --

SECRETARY RICE: History, I think, will say that in giving, in -- ridding the world of Saddam Hussein, first of all, who was a threat in his own right, but then in giving the Iraqi people an opportunity to build an Iraq based on legitimate democratic values and legitimate democratic institutions, that we hope to lay the foundation for a very different kind of Middle East and we hope to reverse a trend that has been developing in the Middle East now for decades. And that trend is that with the absence of freedom, healthy political forces were not coming into being and unhealthy ones, extremist forces were getting stronger and stronger. And yes, I think we will succeed. I know it's hard.

QUESTION: And you know people think that we're less close to that goal than we were.

SECRETARY RICE: I know, but you know, Charlie, I know too that the argument that because terror -- we're fighting the terrorists, that they've now gotten stronger doesn't make sense to me. [With 650,000+ Iraqis killed, wouldn't some folks at least be out for revenge?]. Because the question is, if we weren't fighting them, would they be getting weaker? I don't think that was the message of September 11th. They were getting stronger. The question was, when we were really going to start confronting them. And we've really now started confronting them.

But I also know as a student of history that there have been a lot of times in history when it seemed that we weren't going to succeed, when it seemed impossible that we were going to overcome, whether it was the Soviet Union, a country with 30,000 nuclear weapons, 5 million men under arms covering 12 different time zones with its power throughout the globe. No one ever thought that we would overcome that or certainly that it would collapse peacefully. I know there have been other times when people doubted our will and doubted our capability. [Thankfully George W and Miss Rice were not in charge back then! Her response remind me of when Dan Quayle was comparing himself to Jack Kennedy.]

QUESTION: Or doubted our judgment.

SECRETARY RICE: And doubted our judgment, frankly. And you know, things that seemed impossible at the time seemed inevitable in looking back at them in retrospect and I think we'll see that again [Faith based foreign policy?].....

Where do Iraqis get their ammunitions?

2007-05-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

In today's CNN the article 9 U.S. soldiers, journalist killed; torture chamber found Says:

U.S. and Iraqi forces chasing a suspected terrorist with ties to Iran early Sunday discovered a bloodstained torture chamber and a massive amount of artillery stored in a building in Baghdad's Sadr City, the U.S. military said.

"Had that thing gone off -- when you start talking about 150 artillery shells -- the extensive damage that it could have done in killing innocent civilians in Sadr City would have been horrific," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a news conference Sunday.

Not exactly sure what the "a bloodstained torture chamber" means, it sounds as a metaphor for whole Iraq. The "150 artillery shells", on the other hand, is an interesting tidbit of information here.

Bush administration has been touting Iran and Syria as source of explosives in Iraq. It is interesting that the General doesn't mention the type and origin of the shells. But logically we can infer the source.

Iraqi resistance doesn't have artillery batteries to require artillery shells. It would be absurd to say Iran and Syria have been shipping artillery shells to the "insurgents" when they don't have means to fire them. The discovery seem to be another confirmation that the source of the Iraqi ammunitions were the massive amounts of hardware that were sold to Saddam. An infrequently failure of Bush Administration war has been the failure to secure Saddam's arsenal. It allowed the "insurgency" capture and harvest the explosives in the shell for use against the US and British forces. Ironically, the shells may have been US or European made!

Soviet Style Journalism lives on.

2007-04-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

New York times had this story on the front page:

In one of the new joint American-Iraqi security stations in the capital this month, in the volatile Ghazaliya neighborhood, Capt. Darren Fowler was heaping praise on his Iraqi counterparts for helping capture three insurgent suspects who had provided information he believed would save American lives.

“The detainee gave us names from the highest to the lowest,” Captain Fowler told the Iraqi soldiers. “He showed us their safe houses, where they store weapons and I.E.D.’s and where they keep kidnap victims, how they get weapons, where weapons come from, how they place I.E.D.’s, attack us and go away. Because you detained this guy this is the first intelligence linking everything together. Good job. Very good job.”

The Iraqi officers beamed. What the Americans did not know and what the Iraqis had not told them was that before handing over the detainees to the Americans, the Iraqi soldiers had beaten one of them in front of the other two, the Iraqis said. The stripes on the detainee’s back, which appeared to be the product of a whipping with electrical cables, were later shown briefly to a photographer, who was not allowed to take a picture.

To the Iraqi soldiers, the treatment was normal and necessary. They were proud of their technique and proud to have helped the Americans.

“I prepared him for the Americans and let them take his confession,” Capt. Bassim Hassan said through an interpreter. “We know how to make them talk. We know their back streets. We beat them. I don’t beat them that much, but enough so he feels the pain and it makes him desperate.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/world/middleeast/22detain.html

Doesn't the "they were proud of their technique and proud to have helped the Americans" remind you of the Soviet Union Journalism where every one was proud to help to bring glory to the mother land and the USSR!

How it works...

2007-04-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

In the 80s President Reagan started the budget cuts on social services including mental health services to pay for the his Star Wars and for "re-arming America" project. Now President Bush's Radio Address says:

We can never fully understand what would cause a student to take the lives of 32 innocent people. What we do know is that this was a deeply troubled young man -- and there were many warning signs. Our society continues to wrestle with the question of how to handle individuals whose mental health problems can make them a danger to themselves and to others.

Colleges and state and local officials are now confronting these issues, and the Federal government will help. I've asked top officials at the Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services to provide the Virginia Tech community with whatever assistance we can, and to participate in a review of the broader questions raised by this tragedy.

I have directed these officials to travel to communities across our Nation, to meet with educators, mental health experts, and state and local officials. I have asked the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, to summarize what they learn and report back to me with recommendations about how we can help to avoid such tragedies.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070420-2.html

...."report back to me with recommendations about how we can help to avoid such tragedies", Right! Just don't hold your breath to see any thing meaningful to come out of the report.

Karl Rove and the new justification for Iraq!

2007-04-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

In "2007 Lincoln Day Dinner program" Karl Rove makes yet another connection to Bin Ladin and need to stay in Iraq.

Essentially he says that if US leaves Iraq, it would be a victory for Bin Ladin which soon would translate into a Khalifat system, headed by Bin Ladin, that would rule people all over Arab world and North Africa.

Paranoia aside this is interesting in that

Karl Rove see US as guardian of others, as if they are minors. You would think if the people in the Arab world and North Africa want to live under Bin Ladin's Khalifat then US wont be able to stop them anyways, and if they are not interested in Khalifat system, then they would resist Bin Ladin just as they are resisting US occupation. Either way it is none of Karl Rove's business.

If after Bin Ladin is so dangerous and powerful how come Bush administration hasn't been able to capture or kill him? Doesn't that speak volume about the incompetence of the Bush administration?

You can watch the program in 2007 Lincoln Day Dinner program

Liberal media or Lier media?

2007-04-11T01:07:00.002-07:00

Washington Post Liars Caught!

Liberal media or Lier media?

2007-04-11T01:07:00.001-07:00

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2007/04/10/washington-post-liars-caught/

End Political Violance

2007-03-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

"... there is no moral difference between stealth bomber and a suicide bomber... both kill innocent people for political reasons"

Tony Benn, President Stop the war Coalition.

JOHN BOLTON GETTING NAILED ON BBC

Which lie do you want to believe in?

2007-02-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

The problem of Bush Administration is that the more it talks the more it reveal its incompetence. This has never been more evident than when it is trying to accuse Iran of aiding and arming the Iraqi resistance.

After all, Bush administration claimed Iraq's WMD was a threat in 2003, surely they were not talking about the WMD that they bought from US in the 80s. To call Iraq a threat then, Bush and Blair must have considered Iraq has an arms industry capable of producing WMD that could threaten the US or Europe. Tony Blair even went as far as saying Iraq's missiles were within 45 minutes of being fired on to London. Essentially they claimed that with all UN sanctions on Iraq, the Iraqis had developed the expertise to threaten far beyond their borders.

Now it wants to claim that Iraqis are incapable of developing bombs that would destroy even a Humvee and it needs Iranian "technology" to build an IED!

The question is which lie do you want to believe in?
a)Iraqis can't even produce a IED, or
b)that they were capable of producing WMD that would threaten United States (half way around the globe)!

RIP

2007-01-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

Floyd Standifer, Seattle jazz leader for six decades, dead at 78

Quote of the Year!

2007-01-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

An Exchange between Senator Specter and Alberto Gonzales in Senate Judiciary Committe:

Specter: Now wait a minute, wait a minute. The Constitution says you can't take it away except in the case of invasion or rebellion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus?

Gonzales: I meant by that comment that the Constitution doesn't say that every individual in the United States or every citizen has or is assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says that the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended.

Source

Like President, like Attorney General?

A courages solution on Israel-Palestinian conflict. One State!

2006-12-18T00:58:00.000-08:00

A must watch interview on Israel-Palestinian conflict.

rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/arc_btv/arc_btv121606_4.rm?mode=compact

Differences or Commonalities

2006-12-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

It is now in vogue to do articles like Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?.

It is interesting that no one would write articles on "Can you tell the commonalities between Sunni, Shiites, Christians, Jews, Buddhist...?"

The article is an indication of the author's goal. If you are looking for conflict you need to find and magnify the differences, if you are looking for peace and harmony you would be interested in the commonalities. Win/Win can be achieved only through understanding and magnifying the common grounds. Any thing else ultimately would lead to lose/lose for all of us.

Britian's National Id Program

2006-12-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

"startling" new material from a dead man!

2006-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Australian newspaper article Dead spy linked to Yukos break-up says:

....
It emerged yesterday that Mr Litvinenko travelled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Vladimir Putin dealt with his enemies running the Yukos oil company.

He passed this information to Leonid Nevzlin, the former second-in-command of Yukos, who fled to Tel Aviv in fear for his life after the Kremlin seized and then sold off the $US40 billion ($51 billion) company.

Mr Nevzlin said it was his duty to pass on the file. "Alexander had information on crimes committed with the Russian Government's direct participation," he said. "He only recently gave me and my attorneys documents that shed light on the most significant aspects of the Yukos affair."

Investigators said Mr Litvinenko had apparently uncovered "startling" new material about the Yukos affair and what happened to those opposing the forced break-up of the company.
....

Interesting! Now Leonid Nevzlin can make up any document with "startling" new material and claim it to be genuine and "his duty to pass on" the information. Dead man can never say no that is fake!

Shocking

2006-11-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

"...advanced forms of biological warfare that can target specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool."

Lebanon assasination, who done it?

2006-11-23T13:08:00.000-08:00

Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, has an interesting article on the latest asasination of "anti Syrian" politician in Lebanon.

The article, Round up the usual suspects says:

However pure political and diplomatic logic makes it difficult to see Damascus behind the assassination. The day he was killed, Syria chalked up one of its most significant diplomatic achievements since its defeat in Lebanon in April 2005: the renewal of full diplomatic relations with Iraq.

Syria is also on its way to achieving a semi-official stamp of approval from Washington as an entity capable of calming tensions in Iraq. Syria could have been on the verge of an important political success in Lebanon - the possible fall of Fuad Siniora's government, which would mean Syria could increase the power of its supporters in the government by means of the Hezbollah ultimatum. If that came about, the international tribunal on the murder of Rafik Hariri would be delayed, or at least be of a sort convenient for the Syrians. With three such achievements, the last thing Damascus needed was a new accusation of a political murder in Lebanon.

It goes on to make the conclusion

One of the Syrian intelligence organizations might have been behind the act, as revenge on those it deems responsible for the bashing it will take at an international tribunal. If that is true, it puts Syrian president Bashar Assad in an embarrassing position, with elements of his regime working behind his back.

The assumption and statement of the facts that this assasination doesn't serve Syria seems logical. The conclusion, however, is rather strange. It assumes that there is no one else other than Syria in the middle east.

You have Israel with completely opposite interest to Syria. Furthermore, they have demonstrated in their bombing of Lebanon that their intention is to create civil confict in Lebanon to create an alternative front for the Shiites and Hizbollah. As such, it seems to me the probabilty of Israel to be behind the assassination is much higher that that of a rogue element in Syrian intelligence service, or for that matter anyone esle. Essentially, if you are "anti Syrian" politician in Lebanon, your greatest worry is if Israel decided your blood is needed for its purposes.

Like Father/Like Son, Like Saddam/Like Senator

2006-11-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

"I believe that the Mahdi Army continues to pose a threat," ..... "I believe al-Sadr has to be taken out."

Sen. John McCain

Al-Sadr, 33, comes from one of Iraq's most prominent religious families. He's the fourth son of Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, one of the country's top religious leaders. The senior al-Sadr was gunned down along with two of his sons in 1999, allegedly by Saddam Hussein's henchmen.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-12-al-sadr-cover_x.htm

Where does Hizbollah get its weapons?

2006-11-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Lebanese Ali Mohammed inspects unexploded ordnance dropped by Israeli warplanes during the 34-day long Hezbollah-Israel war, in the southern village of Kfar Sir, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 13, 2006, after they were gathered for detonation. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

The shells seems to have a "return to the sender" label on them!

Where did all the money go?

2006-10-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, right, talks with a soldier of the Afghan National Army on a base in the eastern province of Paktika, Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006. Eikenberry was on hand to congratulate the soldiers for a battle with Taliban militants last week in which 22 insurgents were killed after ambushing a U.S. patrol. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Notice the helmet, it is WWII vintage helmet. With all the fan fare, even on the occasion of the "Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry" visit, the afghan soldiers that are suppose to fight with the Taliban are entitle to a helmet that NATO soldiers would have!

And how much money has the Bush administration has spend on forming the Afghan National Army?

Throw away your tv....

2006-10-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Ten Top Must Watch Documentaries

Dreaming of a tresspass from size 6 harem!

2006-10-14T00:34:00.000-07:00

The trailer for the Campaign for Real Beauty reminded me of the the last paragraph in the book Scheherazade Goes West by Fatima Mernissi, the Moroccan Feminist. While travelling in Europe and America, promoting her book "Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood" she reaches the following conclusion:

"I thank you, Allah, for sparing me the tyranny of the 'size 6 harem'" I repeatedly said to myself while seated on the Paris-Casablanca flight, on my way back home at last. "I am so happy that the conservative male elite does not know about it. Imagine fundamentalists switching from the veil to forcing women to fit size 6."

How can you stage a credible political demonstration and shout in the streets that your human rights have been violated when you cannot find the right skirt?

I highly recommend her books, it is very informative and good read.

"we support the desire of the people to have a government responsive to their needs and a government that is free, truly free."

2006-10-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

April 18, 2006

President Bush Welcomes Prime Minister Siniora of Lebanon to the White House
The South Lawn

President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon address the press on the South Lawn Tuesday, April 18, 2006. White House photo by Paul Morse

11:51 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome the Prime Minister of Lebanon to the Oval Office. Prime Minister, thanks for coming.

PRIME MINISTER SINIORA: Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we just had a really interesting discussion. I told the Prime Minister that the United States strongly supports a free and independent and sovereign Lebanon. We took great joy in seeing the Cedar Revolution. We understand that the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the street to express their desire to be free required courage, and we support the desire of the people to have a government responsive to their needs and a government that is free, truly free.

President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon address the press on the South Lawn Tuesday, April 18, 2006. White House photo by Paul Morse We talked about the need to make sure that there is a full investigation on the death of former Prime Minister Hariri, and we'll work with the international community to see that justice is done. We talked about the great tradition of Lebanon to serve as a model of entrepreneurship and prosperity. Beirut is one of the great international cities, and I'm convinced that if Lebanon is truly free and independent and democratic, that Beirut will once again regain her place as a center of financial and culture and the arts.

There's no question in my mind that Lebanon can serve as a great example for what is possible in the broader Middle East; that out of the tough times the country has been through will rise a state that shows that it's possible for people of religious difference to live side-by-side in peace; to show that it's possible for people to put aside past histories to live together in a way that the people want, which is, therefore, to be peace and hope and opportunity.

And so, Mr. Prime Minister, we're really glad you're here. I want to thank you for the wonderful visit we've had, and welcome you here to the White House.

Lebanon PM hails exit of 'disappointed' Israeli troops

Mon Oct 2, 12:39 PM ET

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has welcomed the departure of "disappointed" Israeli troops from southern Lebanon but warned much remained to end the Jewish state's "occupation".
ADVERTISEMENT

"The occupier has left disappointed," Siniora told a cabinet meeting Monday the day after Israeli troops all-but completely withdrew from Lebanon after their July-August war with Hezbollah.

"But we still have tasks to complete: recover the Shebaa Farms, free Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails and the enemy still refuses to hand over maps of the landmines they left behind" after leaving in 2000, he said.

.....

How you can tell it is Oct in Election year....

2006-10-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Headlines:

Anthrax Dispute Suggests Bioshield Woes

Iraq says it's closing in on terror head

FBI worries about an Osama-mobsters link

Last but not least..... From the video archives:

Video shows laughing 9/11 hijackers in Afghan hideout

Sex sells, Bin Ladin videos elect!

2006-09-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

A Documentary that you wont see in NPR

2006-09-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Must Watch: Documentary on failed, CIA-backed 2002 coup against Chavez government in Venezuela

Are we "fed propaganda and conspiracy theories that blame others"?

2006-09-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

September 19, 2006

President Bush Addresses United Nations General Assembly
United Nations
New York, New York

Imagine what it's like to be a young person living in a country that is not moving toward reform. You're 21 years old, and while your peers in other parts of the world are casting their ballots for the first time, you are powerless to change the course of your government. While your peers in other parts of the world have received educations that prepare them for the opportunities of a global economy, you have been fed propaganda and conspiracy theories that blame others for your country's shortcomings. And everywhere you turn, you hear extremists who tell you that you can escape your misery and regain your dignity through violence and terror and martyrdom. For many across the broader Middle East, this is the dismal choice presented every day.

Full Text

Sept 20, using American Supplied Weapons:

A Palestinian girl sits on the rubble of her family home after it was flattened in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. A Palestinian was killed by Israeli army fire in the northern Gaza Strip, security officials said.(AFP/Said Khatib)

"fundamental difference between Christianity" and Islam?

2006-09-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

One should not judge a religion or philosophy just by actions of its practitioners. It would be ludicrous, opportunistic to use actions of self proclaimed leader of Islam Bin Ladin, or born again George W Bush as representative of Islam or Christianity, religions that are practices by millions of people. But the words of its scholars on the other hand opens a window into the current interpretation and mind set of the religions.

In a homecoming speech to his native homeland, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI quotes Byzantine empire....

"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'" Benedict added "I quote" twice to make it clear these were someone else's words.

What is next "I quote" twice from Adolf Hitler statements on Jews and Gypsies?

"Jihad" has a simple meaning, it means struggle. Nancy Reagan called for "War on Drugs" in Arabic that would be called Jihad against drugs. There has been war on illiteracy, that would be Jihad against illiteracy. Right now people of New Orleans, and Lebanon have a struggle to rebuild their communities, that would be Reconstruction Jihad. And yes, there are some in the Islamic world that feel their countries are being occupied, the resources being taken away against their will, they have called for Jihad against the invaders.

He also says:

...fundamental difference between Christianity's view that God is intrinsically linked to reason (the Greek concept of logos) and Islam´s view that "God is absolutely transcendent." Benedict said that Islam teaches that God's "will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." The risk he sees implicit in this concept of the divine is that the irrationality of violence can potentially be justified if someone believes it is God's will. "As far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice of religion is concerned, we find ourselves faced with a dilemma which nowadays challenges us directly. Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?"

I am not sure on what logos his Holiness makes a claim that there is any historical "logos" in Christianity. Wasn't it the Chaotic church that was prosecuting the Galilee for reasoning that earth is round? Evne today, isn't it the Catholic church that is against the basic common sense issues as contraceptive and aids prevention?

May the victims of the Christian atrocities, the South American Indian culture that was devastated by the invading Catholics, the victims of the Spanish inquisitions, the victims of the crusaders, the witch hunts, the world wars....... one day will find comfort in that there is "logos" behind the christian atrocities.

It is far more interesting to compare the comments of the Pope Benedict with that of a Islamic scholar, former Iranian president Seyed Mohammad Khatami, in a speech he delivered at the Washington National Cathedral, he said:

"Jesus is the prophet of kindness and peace. Muhammad is the prophet of ethics, morality and
grace. Moses is the prophet of dialogue and exchange," he said. "It's good at the present time,
where war, violence and repression is so prevalent across the world, for all of us who are
followers of God's religion to pursue all efforts for the establishment of peace and security."

What is evident is that in the eye of an Islamic scholar, there is no putting down the Christianity or Judaism. For the pope it appears as if Islam is a nuisance that he just needs to deal with. Where as for A Muslim scholar he accepts Christianity and Judaism and feels that his interpretation is closer to reality. It appears that at least as far as the scholars are concern, the Catholic church is stuck in Byzantine times, while Islam has moved on with sensibilites that are required in the Global Village.

Full text of Khatami Speech is available at: National Cathedral Web Site

After 5 years of War on Terror....

2006-09-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, took the floor after Reid's comments and denounced them.

[After five years of fighting the "war on terror"...]"The very people that planned the attacks are the people who are in Iraq -- al Qaeda in Iraq -- causing that sectarian violence," he said. "Should we ignore that, I ask the senator from Nevada?"

Source

"We are in much better shape"

2006-09-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

Interview on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
September 10, 2006

QUESTION: So looking back with hindsight -- obviously all of us are smarter with hindsight -- no weapons of mass destruction, absolutely no connection to the 9/11 plot from Saddam Hussein; is that right?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, it depends on how you think about 9/11. I think we've all said Saddam Hussein, as far as we know, had no knowledge of, no role in, the 9/11 plot itself. But if you think that 9/11 was just about al-Qaida and the hijackers, then there is no connection to Iraq. But if you believe, as the President does and as I believe, that the problem is this ideology of hatred that has taken root, extremist ideology that has taken root in the Middle East, and that you have to go to the source and do something about the politics of that region, it is unimaginable that you could do something about the Middle East with Saddam Hussein sitting in the center of it threatening his neighbors, threatening our allies, tying down American forces in Saudi Arabia. We are in much better shape to build a different kind of Middle East with Saddam Hussein gone.

Source

Except, Saddam in jail has been "tying down" more American forces than when he was in the palace. How is that in "much better" shape?

"capacity for violence" and double talk

2006-09-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

September 10, 2006

Interview of the Vice President by Tim Russert, NBC News, Meet the Press
NBC Studios
Washington, D.C.

....But it is absolutely the right thing to do, Tim, because if we weren't there, if Saddam Hussein were still in power, the situation would be far worse than it is today.

You'd have a man who had a demonstrated capacity for violence, who'd started two wars, who had, in fact, been involved with weapons of mass destruction, who had every intention of going back to it when the sanctions were lifted. And by this point, especially with Ahmadinejad, living next door in Iran, pursuing nuclear weapons, there is no doubt in my mind that if Saddam Hussein was still in power, he would have a very robust program underway to try to do exactly the same thing. The world is better off because Saddam Hussein is in jail instead of in power in Baghdad. It was the right thing to do, and if we had to do it over again we would do exactly the same thing.

Q Exactly the same thing?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes, sir.
Source

Couple of Interesting points:

President Geroge W Bush and Vice President Cheney "demonstrated capacity for violence" by starting two wars after being in office for only 3 years. It took Saddam over 20 years to start two wars.

Furthermore, just as Saddam would hypothetically pursued a nuclear program against Iran, Bush administration have repeatedly threaten Iran with nuclear weapons, even though, there is no evidence that Iran is working on nuclear weapons.

It is interesting that Vice President is candid in that he says they would do exactly the same thing essentially with or without WMD. We know that Bush administration didn't have any evidence of Iraq WMD programs and fabricated the WMD stories. In a sense, Bush administration would have done exactly the same thing, as it did, since at the time it knew there were no WMD in Iraq.

So the real question is would he fabricate the WMD story again or would he use a different excuse.

Classic Israeli double talk

2006-09-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that:

"If it is decided that the area is Lebanese, not Syrian as the U.N. secretary general said in the past, and if Lebanon implements resolutions 1559 and 1701 fully, including disarming Hizbollah, we'll agree to discuss it,"

Source

There are decades old resolutions that calls for Israel to leave occupied territories. Now if every one else implements everything Israel wants, then it would agree to "discuss" its obligation.

Furthermore, we know how Israel deal with people once they are disarmed:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1372026.ece

Who does this joker think he is fooling with this nonsense?

Lebannon you can destroy building, but not spirits

2006-09-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

Trucks carrying rubble they collected from buildings that were destroyed following Israeli airstrike attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut, queue along the coast of the southern suburb of Ouzai, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Hundreds of trucks lined up on the main coastal highway south of Beirut, to unload the rubble they collected in the southern suburb that was heavily attacked during the 34-day long Hezbollah-Israel war, in the Mediterranean Sea off Ouzai. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis)

Hilter Du Jour

2006-09-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

From Democracy Now Radio....

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Yeah, the ADL came out with a statement that Amnesty International is borderline anti-Semitic, and that's pretty conventional from the ADL, that these organizations are anti-Semitic or then, you know, in other cases, they accuse individuals or organizations of being Holocaust deniers. None of this -- first of all, as I said, it's pretty commonplace in these organizations. The Simon Wiesenthal Center recently issued a statement condemning the United Church of Christ for being not borderline anti-Semitic, but functionally anti-Semitic, because they oppose the wall that Israel is building in the Occupied Territories.

Anyone who's a critic of Israel becomes an anti-Semite. And the truth of the matter is, the real anti-Semites, they don't really care about -- or the real Holocaust deniers, which is their other favorite epithet to hurl at people or expectorate at people who are critical of Israel --

So you take the case, you know, now there's a lot of discussion about the Iranian president's statements denying the Nazi Holocaust. Whether he actually did or not literally, I’m not going to get into now. It's not so important. For argument's sake, let's say he did do it. He denied the Nazi Holocaust. Now, you heard Mr. Weiner. He's very fond of Abbas. He says Abbas has nothing to do with the PLO. Now, you take Abbas. Abbas is an authentic Holocaust denier. He wrote his doctoral dissertation denying the Nazi Holocaust. He published it as a book in 1982. He said less than a million Jews were killed during World War II. He denied the Nazi gas chambers. Now there you have a real Holocaust denier. You don't have to really probe the meaning of his words. It's pretty straightforward. Well, he's the American favorite now. Everybody loves Mr. Abbas, because he does the American bidding. So they don't care that he's a Holocaust denier.

Let me just give another pretty indicative example. Take the case of Ronald Reagan. Nowadays many people are fond of Reagan. You listen to rightwing radio, which I listen to all the time, and you listen -- everyone loves Reagan. Everybody forgets Reagan was the one who went to Bitburg, gave the speech saying that the Nazi soldiers, including the Nazi -- the Waffen-SS, were victims, just like the Jews in the concentration camps. That was his famous statement at Bitburg. The ADL, which claims to be so vigilant about Holocaust denial, the ADL gave him their Torch of Liberty Award.

Then, just this past -- two years ago, Berlusconi, the president of Italy --

AMY GOODMAN: Former.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Former president of Italy, gave this speech praising Mussolini and saying all the charges against Mussolini were false, he was basically a good guy. Three weeks -- three weeks after he gave his speech -- and remember, Mussolini passed the Anti-Semitic Laws, at the end of his regime, sent Jews to their death. Three weeks after he gave his speech, the ADL, Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, who is now accusing Amnesty of borderline anti-Semitism, they gave him the distinguished Statesman of the Year Award, had a big gala for him, and even fairly conservative economists like Robert Solow, Paul Samuelson, Modigliani -- okay, they're not conservative by conventional standards -- mainstream economists. They wrote a very irate letter to the New York Times: Why is the ADL giving this guy an award? Well, the answer was simple. Because at that point, he was the only European leader who was very pro -- he was very pro-Israel. They don't care about Holocaust denial. They have no interest in it.

Let me give you one example, just --

AMY GOODMAN: Ten seconds.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Yeah, one example, just from what you were airing a moment ago. You heard the speech by Rumsfeld, where he says that Iraq is like the Nazis in the 1930s. Now, remember, the tenet of the Holocaust industry is, never compare the Holocaust to anything else. Never compare, and if you compare, they say you’re a Holocaust denier. But that side is always comparing. The Mufti of Jerusalem was Hitler. Nasser was Hitler. Saddam Hussein was Hitler. Hezbollah is now Hitler. Iran is Hitler. Hamas is Hitler. Iraq is Hitler. They're the worst Holocaust deniers in the world, by their own definition. They're always comparing.

AMY GOODMAN: Norman Finkelstein, I want to thank you for being with us, professor of political science at DePaul University in Chicago. His new book is called Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History.

Source

Hizbollah's damage to the civilian areas!

2006-08-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

sraeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visits a school in Kiryat Shmona, hit by a rocket fired by Hezbollah guerrillas from south Lebanon. Israel's top government watchdog has launched an investigation into the war in Lebanon as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected mounting public calls for a sweeping probe into the 34-day offensive.(AFP/Pool/Ariel Schalit)

Nomadic Computing

2006-08-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

From the Nomadic tribes in Iran....

http://www.iranian.com/Arts/2006/August/Ghaffari/9.html

Embargo?

2006-08-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

Remarks to the United Nations Security Council

To further strengthen Lebanon’s democracy, the international community will also impose a binding embargo on all weapons heading into this country -- into that country without the government’s consent. And today, we call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of international community.

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Explanation of Vote on UNSC Resolution on Israel-Lebanon
New York, New York
August 11, 2006

I wonder how the embargo affects the massive amount of weapons "heading into" Lenanon from Israel.

Propaganda Myths!

2006-08-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

There are two articles on Hezbollah one in Time magazine that depicts the Hezbollah fighters as:

Looking pretty well armed, bearded and ferocious! With interesting contrast to the Add on top... "What would happen to your family if you died"!!!

Same day BBC has another article. The Israeli are saying that they have capture the guerrillas that were responsible for the Israeli soldier captures. They say the person that was captured was a well trained, doctor-nated with training in Iran which of course he went through Syria (he might have seen some North Koreans too :) ). Here is where it gets excising, they say this brave, ideologically trained fighter confessed in less than 24 hours after their capture. They have already been paraded on TV! The nonsense doesn't end there. Look at the image of the fighters in Israeli capture video:

Do these fighters look anything like the Time magazine depiction of them?

On information coming out of Israel you can always be sure of one thing, it never adds up!

A Questioner for the Israeli politicians:

2006-08-07T01:10:00.000-07:00

Step 1

May be if they get the right treatment we all can live in peace.

V

2006-08-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

PROTEST: Hundreds gathered in downtown Beirut today to demonstrate against the visit of US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch.
(Robert Gauthier / LAT)

third of Lebanese casualties are children under 12

2006-08-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the war had killed 900 people in Lebanon and wounded 3,000, with a third of the casualties children under 12. He said a million Lebanese, a quarter of the population, had been displaced and infrastructure devastated. The Reuters tally of Lebanon deaths is at least 686.

Source

A protester hangs a pacifier with a black ribbon to the gate of the United Nations House in Ankara August 2, 2006, during a demostration against the killing of children as a result of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

"The obscene score-card"

2006-08-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

The obscene score-card for death in this latest war now stands as follows: 508 Lebanese civilians, 46 Hizbollah guerrillas, 26 Lebanese soldiers, 36 Israeli soldiers and 19 Israeli civilians.

In other words, Hizbollah is killing more Israeli soldiers than civilians and the Israelis are killing far more Lebanese civilians than they are guerrillas. The Lebanese Red Cross has found 40 more civilian dead in the south of the country in the past two days, many of them with wounds suggesting they might have survived had medical help been available.

Source: Robert Fisk: Entire Lebanese family killed in Israeli attack on hospital

Joke of the day!

2006-08-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

This CNN article has video of an empty hospital building that Israel claims to be "Hezbollah headquarters".

The IDF and the air force demonstrated their long arm, their ability to reach everywhere that Hezbollah sees fit to situate itself, even if it chooses a hospital as its headquarters," said Israeli Brig. Gen. Yohanan Loker.

To me the video demonstrates the "IDF and the air force" and the "Gen. Yohanan Loker" are dellusional. What kind of a fool would show a video of an empty building as Headquarter of its opponent?

It gets funnier, check out the expert analysis of the video in this CBS video:

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_215020544.html

2006-08-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

No End in Israeli Attrocities

2006-08-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

A general view shows Ramlet el-Baida public beach (White Beach) polluted with heavy fuel oil in Beirut. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) called for immediate action after thousands of tonnes of fuel from a bombed Lebanese power plant spread to the Syrian coastline, threatening to unleash an environmental catastrophe.(AFP/Patrick Baz)

Facts and Myths

2006-08-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

The Israel military and pundit keep saying that that Hezbollah is targeting civilians. The data seems to refutate both assertions:

July 22: he Israel Defense Forces said 15 civilians and 19 soldiers in Israel have been killed, and more than 300 people have been wounded.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/22/mideast/index.html

Aug 2nd: Israel's military Wednesday reported 55 deaths -- including 19 civilians -- and 580 injuries during the conflict.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/02/mideast.main/index.html

Majority of the casualties on Israeli side has been soldiers. Can Israel say the same about Lebannonies casualties?

Dark Vision!

2006-08-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Yesha Rabbinical Council: During time of war, enemy has no innocents

The Yesha Rabbinical Council announced in response to an IDF attack in Kfar Qanna that "according to Jewish law, during a time of battle and war, there is no such term as 'innocents' of the enemy."

All of the discussions on Christian morality are weakening the spirit of the army and the nation and are costing us in the blood of our soldiers and civilians," the statement said. (Efrat Weiss)

Source

And there is no Red Cross:

Where do Palestinans get their ammunition?

2006-07-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

I have always wondered where Palestinians get their ammunition. Israel has them completely surrounded from Sea and land, there is no air link to them. How do they get the explosives?

I think I found my answer in CNN today. This picture was on their web site:

An unexploded Israeli missile lies in a street in the southern Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil.

The unexploded shells are like gold mine of explosives to send back to the Israelis.

What comes around, goes around, and it wont be a pretty site.

2006-07-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

This image taken from video made by Lebanese Red Cross workers Sunday, July 23, 2006 in Qana, south Lebanon, and made available to AP Television, shows the roof of a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance destroyed in what they say was an Israeli airstrike. The Red Cross workers who provided AP Television News with the video said that nine ambulance workers were wounded in the explosion as they tried to ferry injured people from the town of Qana, 20 kilometers (about 12 and a half miles) from Tyre, to hospital. AP Television cannot independently verify whether the Red Cross workers were hit by an Israeli airstrike. (AP Photo)

A hole caused by an Israeli warplane missile can be seen atop the roof of a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance, one of the ambulances that were hit by Iraeli warplane missiles Sunday, in the southern coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, Thursday July 27, 2006. Two ambulances with six workers, transporting a wounded man, a woman and an 11-year-old, were struck on Sunday but they all survived. Israel pounded suspected Hezbollah positions across Lebanon Thursday, extending its air campaign a day after suffering its highest one-day casualty toll since its military offensive began. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Israel is NOT a terrorist state....

2006-07-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Israel is not a terrorist state because:

SPIEGEL: Does that justify the growing number of civilians that have been killed?

Livni: As the government of the state of Israel we are faced with a dilemma: do we expose our citizens to this threat or do we attack? Incidentally, we are doing something that no other country would do -- we warn the people using Lebanese television, radio and flyers that we spread over the affected areas. We ask the people to leave their homes and get themselves to safety.

SPIEGEL interview, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni

Bombing the King David hotel is Not Terrorism Because:

A warning message was delivered to the telephone operator of the King David Hotel before the attack and also delivered to the French consulate and the Palestine Post newspaper. According to Irgun sources, the message read "I am speaking on behalf of the Hebrew underground. We have placed an explosive device in the hotel. Evacuate it at once - you have been warned."

Irgun representatives have always claimed that the warning was given well in advance so that adequate time was available to evacuate the hotel. Menachem Begin writes (p. 221, The Revolt, <1951> ed.) that the telephone message was delivered 25 - 27 minutes before the explosion. The British authorities denied for many years that there had been a warning at all, but the leaking of the internal police report on the bombing during the 1970s proved that a warning had indeed been received. However, the report claimed that the warning was only just being delivered to the officer in charge as the bomb went off.

King David Hotel bombing

Conclusion: If warn your victim, commit violent act, your are no longer a terrorist.