From Juan Cole's weblog:
.....Now-Ruz, the New Year celebrated by the Kurds (rooted in ancient Iranian Zoroastrianism, this holiday commemorates the spring solstice --usually March 21-- as the beginning of a new year). The Kurds tie their celebration to the legends of the Shahnameh, which tells the story of how in ancient times an evil ruler emerged, Dahhak or Zohak, who overthrew the glorious king Jamshid. Dahhak was a wizard who grew serpents on each of his shoulders, which needed to eat human brain every day. So Dahhak had young men rounded up from the subject populations, and two were sacrificed each day. Dahhak was finally overthrown by a young knight, Faridun, aided by the blacksmith Kaveh, who freed the captured young men on Now-Ruz. The Kurds have a legend that they are descended from those freed prisoners, and they celebrate their manumission on March 21. The story of Jamshid, Dahhak and Faridun is a variation on a widespread Indo-European myth cycle. In the ancient Indian sources the three are the king of the underworld, Yama; the world-serpent, Vrta, and Indra, who slays Vrta. The story is also echoed in the Nordic myth of Thor and the Midgaard serpent (Thor is a composite of Faridun the prince and Kaveh the blacksmith). At some point in Iran, the snake figure was historicized as an evil foreign king who brought drought and had serpents growing from his body, and he was also racialized. Dahhak or Zohak is a clearly Semitic word, whereas Jamshid and Faridun are Indo-Europeans. This development reflects the fights that took place when the Iranian peoples from Anatolia immigrated into Elamite and Assyrian territory in the 800s BC. Assyrians and Babylonians spoke Semitic languages related to Arabic and Hebrew. (Some US newspapers last year reported the struggle of Kaveh with Zohak as a historical event of the 7th century BC!)
The casting of the serpent monster as a Semitic ruler made it easy for Kurds to identify Dahhak with Saddam, and perhaps with the virulent strain of Arab nationalism he represented.
http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/government-to-be-formed-by-sunday.html
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Interesting Q/A
Presenter: Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey
Wednesday, March 23, 2005 10:03 a.m. EST
Defense Department Special Briefing on Iraq and Afghanistan
STAFF: Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Q Good morning.
STAFF: Today we have an opportunity to let you interact with the
secretary of your Army, Dr. Francis Harvey, who has recently returned
from a trip into theater, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As this is his first time with you, I would ask that when we get to
questions and answers, that you identify yourself and your news
organization so he can get to know you better.
Mr. Secretary, please.
........
Q Good morning, sir. My name is Tom Squitieri with USA Today.
Following up on the issue of recruiting, two surveys conducted for DOD
and the Army recently as well as independent polling by our paper and
other media organizations show that one of the biggest challenges for
recruiters are parents of the younger people who are being convinced
by their parents not to sign up, for the reason they don't want to see
their child possibly killed or hurt in the conflict. With all the
ideas that you're brainstorming, about bonuses and all these other
things and the things you don't want to tell us this morning, how do
you deal with the fact that your biggest obstacle are parents?
SEC. HARVEY: Good question. And as you say, we do take
surveys along those lines.
One thing we're going to be doing, without getting into
the details, is we're going to be being very proactive to pointing out
to recruits and their parents the value of serving the country. This
is a theme the chief and I started in our testimony to Congress, that
it is a noble calling to serve the country. I personally feel that
way. I'm standing here before you because I wanted to serve the
country. And that's what I wanted to do. This is actually my third
career. And my motivation is, during a time of war I want to serve the
country that has been so good to me. I want to return to the
government, return specifically to DOD, that was very influential in
my business success, and what I learned here at the department. So
we're going to appeal to patriotism. We're going to appeal to the
value of service. And we're going to do that in a very proactive way.
So I think those particular results are subject to change
and they can be turned around.
....
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050323-2325.html
Wednesday, March 23, 2005 10:03 a.m. EST
Defense Department Special Briefing on Iraq and Afghanistan
STAFF: Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Q Good morning.
STAFF: Today we have an opportunity to let you interact with the
secretary of your Army, Dr. Francis Harvey, who has recently returned
from a trip into theater, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As this is his first time with you, I would ask that when we get to
questions and answers, that you identify yourself and your news
organization so he can get to know you better.
Mr. Secretary, please.
........
Q Good morning, sir. My name is Tom Squitieri with USA Today.
Following up on the issue of recruiting, two surveys conducted for DOD
and the Army recently as well as independent polling by our paper and
other media organizations show that one of the biggest challenges for
recruiters are parents of the younger people who are being convinced
by their parents not to sign up, for the reason they don't want to see
their child possibly killed or hurt in the conflict. With all the
ideas that you're brainstorming, about bonuses and all these other
things and the things you don't want to tell us this morning, how do
you deal with the fact that your biggest obstacle are parents?
SEC. HARVEY: Good question. And as you say, we do take
surveys along those lines.
One thing we're going to be doing, without getting into
the details, is we're going to be being very proactive to pointing out
to recruits and their parents the value of serving the country. This
is a theme the chief and I started in our testimony to Congress, that
it is a noble calling to serve the country. I personally feel that
way. I'm standing here before you because I wanted to serve the
country. And that's what I wanted to do. This is actually my third
career. And my motivation is, during a time of war I want to serve the
country that has been so good to me. I want to return to the
government, return specifically to DOD, that was very influential in
my business success, and what I learned here at the department. So
we're going to appeal to patriotism. We're going to appeal to the
value of service. And we're going to do that in a very proactive way.
So I think those particular results are subject to change
and they can be turned around.
....
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050323-2325.html
A Nation Rocked to sleep
*CARLY'S POEM*
A Nation Rocked to sleep
by Carly Sheehan
Brother Casey KIA 04/04/04
Sadr City Baghdad
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done
They call him a hero, you should be glad that he's one, but
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
He must be brave because his boy died for another man's lies
The only grief he allows himself are long, deep sighs
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say that he died so that the flag will continue to wave
But I believe he died because they had oil to save
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep
But if we the people let them continue another mother will weep
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?
http://www.gsfp.org/
A Nation Rocked to sleep
by Carly Sheehan
Brother Casey KIA 04/04/04
Sadr City Baghdad
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done
They call him a hero, you should be glad that he's one, but
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
He must be brave because his boy died for another man's lies
The only grief he allows himself are long, deep sighs
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say that he died so that the flag will continue to wave
But I believe he died because they had oil to save
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep
But if we the people let them continue another mother will weep
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?
http://www.gsfp.org/
Sunday, January 30, 2005
History according to NPR.
U.S. Changes Tack on Iraq Military Training
All Things Considered, January 24, 2005 · After this weekend's
elections in Iraq, the U.S. plans to revise its strategy on training
Iraq's fledgling security forces, based on lessons learned in
Afghanistan. American advisers "embed" with units for up to two years,
creating closer partnerships with the forces being trained.
Eric Westervelt: …. Additionally the advisor model raises concern
among human rights groups. They recall the specter of the Central
American forces that used their new US trained combat skills to commit
egregious human right abuses, particularly in El Salvador and
Guatemala. General Grange says it is a REAL concern, especially given
the vicious nature of the insurgency and history of brutality under
Saddam Hussein.
Retired US Brigadier General David Grange: "It is hard to teach a
military that came from a country with three decades of lack of
respect for human rights to others, to change over night. And there
will be incidents, no doubt in my mind this would happen, and the US
advisors would have to report that. Which presents another, you know,
issue camaraderie between the advisor and advise."
Full Report
All Things Considered, January 24, 2005 · After this weekend's
elections in Iraq, the U.S. plans to revise its strategy on training
Iraq's fledgling security forces, based on lessons learned in
Afghanistan. American advisers "embed" with units for up to two years,
creating closer partnerships with the forces being trained.
Eric Westervelt: …. Additionally the advisor model raises concern
among human rights groups. They recall the specter of the Central
American forces that used their new US trained combat skills to commit
egregious human right abuses, particularly in El Salvador and
Guatemala. General Grange says it is a REAL concern, especially given
the vicious nature of the insurgency and history of brutality under
Saddam Hussein.
Retired US Brigadier General David Grange: "It is hard to teach a
military that came from a country with three decades of lack of
respect for human rights to others, to change over night. And there
will be incidents, no doubt in my mind this would happen, and the US
advisors would have to report that. Which presents another, you know,
issue camaraderie between the advisor and advise."
Full Report
"War has always diminished our freedom. When our freedom has expanded, it
has not come as a result of war or of anything the government has done but
as a result of what citizens have done." -- "Civil disobedience is not our
problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of
people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their
government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of
this obedience. . . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the
world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and
cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of
petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing
the country. That's our problem."
-- (Historian Howard Zinn, author of 'A People's History of the
United States')
has not come as a result of war or of anything the government has done but
as a result of what citizens have done." -- "Civil disobedience is not our
problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of
people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their
government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of
this obedience. . . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the
world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and
cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of
petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing
the country. That's our problem."
-- (Historian Howard Zinn, author of 'A People's History of the
United States')
Thursday, January 27, 2005
The OTHER product of rational, intelligent minds - modern, Western minds.
The turn-off is just past a BP petrol station, close to a Leclerc
supermarket. You leave a roundabout and cross a concrete flyover. You
could be on the edge of any town in early 21st-century Europe.
Ahead, through the swirling snow, looms a single railway line,
disappearing through a tower in a long, red-brick building - the
terminus of a short branch line to Auschwitz-Birkenau built in the
spring of 1944. Beyond are three long railway sidings, tall
barbed-wire enclosures, wooden watch-towers, and dark huts in neat
lines. Some huts are ruined. Others stand pristine in freshly fallen
snow, as if enchanted by a curse and frozen for all time.
All is symmetrical and orderly, the product of rational, intelligent
minds - modern, Western minds.
......
Source
Saturday, January 22, 2005
What if?
"If we had been wrong the other way and if the threat had really been imminent and we had been hit with an anthrax attack here that was tied to Iraq and the president had done nothing about it, what would people then say?" he retorted when asked to comment about unfound weapons of mass destruction.
"I mean, it would make the criticism of failure to prevent 9/11 just look like child's play."
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in an interview with PBS television's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050120/1/3pz6t.html
Who else can use this defense? General Pinochet? Stalin? Hitler?
"I mean, it would make the criticism of failure to prevent 9/11 just look like child's play."
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in an interview with PBS television's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050120/1/3pz6t.html
Who else can use this defense? General Pinochet? Stalin? Hitler?
Monday, January 17, 2005
The Sound Bite .....
NPR's All Things Considered had program on Civil Right
movement with guest Andrew Hacker, author of the 1992 book Two
Nations; Claybourne Carson, director of the Martin Luther King Papers
Project at Stanford University; and NPR's Jennifer Ludden. This is
what they said:
Jennifer Ludden: ... Would you concede.... that the general situation
for black Americans has improved?
Andrew Hacker: We have One Million young Black men in prison! That
is a whole chunk of black men, we have more black men in prison that
we have in college... Many more! And nobody is saying there is a
whole generation... that is almost close to genocide in the sense
that they are gonna be felons for the rest of their lives.
Jennifer Ludden: I am wondering Claybourne Carson, how important is
leadership, and is part of the issue there is no modern day Martin
Luther King?
Claybourne Carson: There is no... obviously no Martin Luther King, he
would be 76 years old now, and I think he would be still talking
about the issues that Mr Hacker just described. But my own feeling is
that Dr King would not be welcomed at most Martin King celebrations.
He would be too unsettling in terms of his own message that we still
have a lot of work to do. So I think to some degree what has happened
with Martin Luther King he has been turned into a sound bite, you
know that wonderful speech, I was at the march on Washington, and I
admired the speech, but the way in which it has been turned into a
sound bite to comfort America rather than unsettle America. To make it
seem as if these issues are all in the past. At least once struggled
with that, but now we have overcome it. And that is the way we want
to remember Martin Luther King.
Jennifer Ludden: Andrew Hacker
Andrew Hacker: We live in a very self centered time...
You can listen to the full program at:
All Things Considered
movement with guest Andrew Hacker, author of the 1992 book Two
Nations; Claybourne Carson, director of the Martin Luther King Papers
Project at Stanford University; and NPR's Jennifer Ludden. This is
what they said:
Jennifer Ludden: ... Would you concede.... that the general situation
for black Americans has improved?
Andrew Hacker: We have One Million young Black men in prison! That
is a whole chunk of black men, we have more black men in prison that
we have in college... Many more! And nobody is saying there is a
whole generation... that is almost close to genocide in the sense
that they are gonna be felons for the rest of their lives.
Jennifer Ludden: I am wondering Claybourne Carson, how important is
leadership, and is part of the issue there is no modern day Martin
Luther King?
Claybourne Carson: There is no... obviously no Martin Luther King, he
would be 76 years old now, and I think he would be still talking
about the issues that Mr Hacker just described. But my own feeling is
that Dr King would not be welcomed at most Martin King celebrations.
He would be too unsettling in terms of his own message that we still
have a lot of work to do. So I think to some degree what has happened
with Martin Luther King he has been turned into a sound bite, you
know that wonderful speech, I was at the march on Washington, and I
admired the speech, but the way in which it has been turned into a
sound bite to comfort America rather than unsettle America. To make it
seem as if these issues are all in the past. At least once struggled
with that, but now we have overcome it. And that is the way we want
to remember Martin Luther King.
Jennifer Ludden: Andrew Hacker
Andrew Hacker: We live in a very self centered time...
You can listen to the full program at:
All Things Considered
A MUST Watch Documentary
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now
they promise to protect us from nightmares.
The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror
network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these
nightmares.
This is a must watch documentary - Broadcast BBC 2 10/20/04 - Written
and Produced by Adam Curtis
Watch Video:
Part One: The Power of Nightmares
Part Two: Baby It's Cold Outside
Part Three: The Shadows In The Cave Better Alternative
they promise to protect us from nightmares.
The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror
network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these
nightmares.
This is a must watch documentary - Broadcast BBC 2 10/20/04 - Written
and Produced by Adam Curtis
Watch Video:
Part One: The Power of Nightmares
Part Two: Baby It's Cold Outside
Part Three: The Shadows In The Cave Better Alternative
The neocons... What they say and what they belive in.
What they say....
LEDEEN : We were aiming for an expansion of the zone of freedom in the world. And in part that had to do with fighting Communism, and in part that had to do with fighting other kinds of tyrannies. But that’s what we were about, and that’s what we’re still about.
INTERVIEWER (off-camera): When you say you were democratic revolutionaries, what do you mean?
LEDEEN : It meant that we wanted to support the people who wanted to carry out revolutions against tyrannical régimes in the name of democracy, in order to install a democratic system.
INTERVIEWER : As simple as that.
LEDEEN : Yeah. It’s not nuclear physics, you know. I mean, freedom is a fairly simple thing to get.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1037.htm
What they belive in...
WILLIAM KRISTOL , Chief of Staff to the Vice President, 1988-92: For Strauss, liberalism produced a decent way of life, and one that he thought was worth defending, but a dead end where nothing could be said to be true; one had no guidance on how to live, everything was relative. Strauss suggests that maybe we didn’t just have to sit there and accept that that was our fate. Politics could help shape the way people live, that politics could help shape the way that people live, teach them some good lessons about living decent and noble human lives. And can we think about what cultures, and what politics, what social orders produce more admirable human beings? I mean, that whole question was put back on the table by Strauss, I think.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1038.htm
LEDEEN : We were aiming for an expansion of the zone of freedom in the world. And in part that had to do with fighting Communism, and in part that had to do with fighting other kinds of tyrannies. But that’s what we were about, and that’s what we’re still about.
INTERVIEWER (off-camera): When you say you were democratic revolutionaries, what do you mean?
LEDEEN : It meant that we wanted to support the people who wanted to carry out revolutions against tyrannical régimes in the name of democracy, in order to install a democratic system.
INTERVIEWER : As simple as that.
LEDEEN : Yeah. It’s not nuclear physics, you know. I mean, freedom is a fairly simple thing to get.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1037.htm
What they belive in...
WILLIAM KRISTOL , Chief of Staff to the Vice President, 1988-92: For Strauss, liberalism produced a decent way of life, and one that he thought was worth defending, but a dead end where nothing could be said to be true; one had no guidance on how to live, everything was relative. Strauss suggests that maybe we didn’t just have to sit there and accept that that was our fate. Politics could help shape the way people live, that politics could help shape the way that people live, teach them some good lessons about living decent and noble human lives. And can we think about what cultures, and what politics, what social orders produce more admirable human beings? I mean, that whole question was put back on the table by Strauss, I think.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1038.htm
Sunday, January 09, 2005
"as they should"
''This is the only practical way to 'win' in Iraq, cut the size of US commitments, and establish a government the Iraqis see as legitimate,"
''What is not clear is whether all the necessary resources are really being provided, and whether a comprehensive and realistic plan exists to ensure that Iraqi military, security, and police forces develop as they should."
Anthony Cordesman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/01/08/report_paints_bleak_picture_of_iraqi_forces?pg=2
You got to love these "fellows"... They get so full of themselves that they think their "as they should" can be forced upon others -- Good luck!
''What is not clear is whether all the necessary resources are really being provided, and whether a comprehensive and realistic plan exists to ensure that Iraqi military, security, and police forces develop as they should."
Anthony Cordesman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/01/08/report_paints_bleak_picture_of_iraqi_forces?pg=2
You got to love these "fellows"... They get so full of themselves that they think their "as they should" can be forced upon others -- Good luck!
The 4 "areas"
''There's areas where the Iraqi security forces have performed well," Metz said. ''There's areas where they've performed sub-optimally. There's areas where they've been overwhelmed by their opposition and have had to step back and live to fight another day. And there's areas where they've just plain not participated in the fight."
Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, the senior ground commander in Iraq
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/01/08/report_paints_bleak_picture_of_iraqi_forces/
The good news is that 2 years in to the occupation the "areas" have been identified.
Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, the senior ground commander in Iraq
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/01/08/report_paints_bleak_picture_of_iraqi_forces/
The good news is that 2 years in to the occupation the "areas" have been identified.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Bin Ladin Option
"The Sunni population is paying no price for the support it is giving to the terrorists," ...."From their point of view, it is cost-free. We have to change that equation."
A Military source in the Pentagon
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek/
ronically, Bin Ladin's motivation to attack New York was to make sure American policies in the middle east is not "cost-free" for its civilian population. The chance for this new Pentagon tactic to work on Iraqis is exactly the same as the chance of finding New Yorkers after 9/11 abandoning their goverment in favor of the Taliban.
A Military source in the Pentagon
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek/
ronically, Bin Ladin's motivation to attack New York was to make sure American policies in the middle east is not "cost-free" for its civilian population. The chance for this new Pentagon tactic to work on Iraqis is exactly the same as the chance of finding New Yorkers after 9/11 abandoning their goverment in favor of the Taliban.
Friday, January 07, 2005
SPECTER: Starting with the Patriot Act, I already commented that we had this wall which precluded law enforcement from using evidence of crime which had been obtained through search and seizure warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And now that evidence may be used in a criminal prosecution.
To what extent has that provision and the other provisions of the Patriot Act been of real importance in our fight against terrorism?
GONZALES: Well, of course, Mr. Chairman, I have not been at the department, so I may not know all of the details of specific successes that the United States and the Department of Justice have enjoyed as a result of the tools given to us by the Patriot Act.
But I am told that they have been very significant, and that for our career prosecutors, for the U.S. attorneys out in the field, they have been very, very beneficial in allowing our law enforcement personnel to defend this country.
I believe that in part because of the Patriot Act there has not been a domestic attack on United States soil since9 /11.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53883-2005Jan6.html
If the Patriot Act intends to make it easy to prosecute the terrorist, one has to wonder then why there hasn't been even a single criminal conviction of on terrorism charge since 9/11.
To what extent has that provision and the other provisions of the Patriot Act been of real importance in our fight against terrorism?
GONZALES: Well, of course, Mr. Chairman, I have not been at the department, so I may not know all of the details of specific successes that the United States and the Department of Justice have enjoyed as a result of the tools given to us by the Patriot Act.
But I am told that they have been very significant, and that for our career prosecutors, for the U.S. attorneys out in the field, they have been very, very beneficial in allowing our law enforcement personnel to defend this country.
I believe that in part because of the Patriot Act there has not been a domestic attack on United States soil since9 /11.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53883-2005Jan6.html
If the Patriot Act intends to make it easy to prosecute the terrorist, one has to wonder then why there hasn't been even a single criminal conviction of on terrorism charge since 9/11.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
"Now, I hate to ruin a good story by the president's political opponents, who are attacking him through this nominee, but let me just say there's one important point that needs to be made: Judge Gonzales is absolutely right.
You don't have to take my word for it.
First of all, Al Qaida never signed the Geneva Conventions, but moreover the Red Cross' own guidelines state that, "To be entitled to Geneva protection as a prisoner of war, combatants must satisfy four conditions: being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; secondly, having a fixed, distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; number three, carrying arms openly; and, number four, conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war."
Does anyone on this committee, or anywhere else for that matter, seriously argue that Al Qaida terrorists comply with the law of war? "
U.S. SENATOR JOHN CORNYN (R-TX)
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez to be U.S. Attorney General.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53883-2005Jan6.html
*) Al Queda and Taliban seem to satisfy all four of the condition set out by the Senator. They have a leader (Bin Ladin), the wear distinct clothes, they openly carry their Klashnikov, and they use their weapon as has been the "custom of war".
*) The torture cases that have been publicized so far are about Abu Gharib and Iraqis. So far the practices in the Afghanistan and Gunatanamo has been for the most part secret.
*) Wonder what the Senator thinks are the protection afforded to the US para-military/mercenaries forces that operate in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
... I think separation of church and state was to keep the state out
of church, not church out of state, originally. So I think it is
very important to encourage more and more people of faith to pray, on
daily basis. And I think if we can be able to help change the
culture of prayer in America, that would manifest itself in the vision
of unity that we talked about earlier. I think we can do wonders for
our country.
John Lind
CEO of The Presidential Prayer Team (PPT)
Interview with Terry Gross
Interview with Terry Gross
of church, not church out of state, originally. So I think it is
very important to encourage more and more people of faith to pray, on
daily basis. And I think if we can be able to help change the
culture of prayer in America, that would manifest itself in the vision
of unity that we talked about earlier. I think we can do wonders for
our country.
John Lind
CEO of The Presidential Prayer Team (PPT)
Interview with Terry Gross
Interview with Terry Gross
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
...and we are still scared.
"We spend, now, for the past several years, over 300 billion dollars each year. About 350 billion dollars a year, for the greatest...largest...most powerful array of things that go BOOM, in the history of civilization. And we are still scared! We give ourselves now permission to attack another country not for what they have done, but what we think they are going to do."
Phil Donahue
http://www.preventivewarriors.com/
Phil Donahue
http://www.preventivewarriors.com/
Monday, October 11, 2004
Saddam is gone, and the world is far worse...
If Saddam were in power today, it would only have been because the US and Britain had altered course and joined the global community in recognising the pre-eminence of international law, and the necessity of all nations to operate in accordance with that law. The irony is that had the US and Britain taken this path, and an unrepentant Saddam chosen to defy the international community by acting on the intent he is alleged to have harboured, then he would have been removed from power by a true international coalition united in its legitimate defence of international law. But this is not the case. Saddam is gone, and the world is far worse for it - not because his regime posed no threat, perceived or otherwise, but because the threat to international peace and security resulting from the decisions made by Bush and Blair to invade Iraq in violation of international law make any threat emanating from an Iraq ruled by Saddam pale in comparison.
Scott Ritter is a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-1998) and the author of 'Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America', published by Context Books
Scott Ritter is a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-1998) and the author of 'Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America', published by Context Books
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Take them out, dude
Let me share some thoughts with you about what I have learned and what I hope the country has learned. First of all, we're dealing with a -- with an enemy that has no conscience. Today, if you noticed, there was a car bomb near a school. These people are brutal. They -- they're the exact opposite of Americans. We value life and human dignity; they don't care about life and human dignity. We believe in freedom; they have an ideology of hate. And they're tough, but not as tough as America. (Applause.) It's really important for people to understand you cannot negotiate with these people, you cannot hope for the best. We must -- we must chase them down all around the world, so we do not have to face them here at home. That's lesson number one, be relentless and determined, never yield. (Applause.)
Secondly, that this is a different kind of war that requires a different kind of strategy. And it's really important for you to realize that these people -- their ambition is beyond just a single attack. Their ambition is to take over countries from which they can spread their ideology of hate. That's why they were in Afghanistan. They're like a parasite, hopefully being able to overcome a weak host. And they were in the process of doing that.
President's Remarks at an Ask President Bush Event in Clive, Iowa Source
Take them out, dude: pilots toast hit on Iraqi 'civilians'
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
06 October 2004
The Pentagon said yesterday it was investigating cockpit video footage that shows American pilots attacking and killing a group of apparently unarmed Iraqi civilians.
The 30-second clip shows the pilot targeting the group of people in a street in the city of Fallujah and asking his mission controllers whether he should "take them out". He is told to do so and, shortly afterwards, the footage shows a huge explosion where the people were. A second voice can be heard on the clip saying: "Oh, dude."
The existence of the video, taken last April inside the cockpit of a US F-16 fighter has been known for some time, though last night's broadcast by Channel 4 News is believed to be the first time a mainstream broadcaster has shown the footage.
At no point during the exchange between the pilot and controllers does anyone ask whether the Iraqis are armed or posing a threat. Critics say it proves war crimes are being committed.
Source
Watch the Video.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
