Message from the Bush Administration: “Oops. Just kidding. By regime change we didn’t just mean Iraq. We meant ALL of the current Iraqi government.” Is it 2004 yet? Can’t we impeach this guy or something? Anyone have any pretzels? Let’s get these leeches off.
General
16
Oct 02
The Sniper Problem
The Sniper Problem…An illustration that law-enforcement is not all powerful. This is very bad for the government. They can’t have ordinary Americans being shown day after day that the government is impotent to stop a determined murderer. Another potential problem is the possibility that this sniper could have been someone trained in the US Military. That would be a huge embarrassment to the Bush administration and to the military junta that runs this country.
The threat of continuing embarrassment and the attention of this series of shootings has prompted the Pentagon to approve the deployment of military surveillance to help find the sniper. Maybe also so if it is a member of the military they can take him out on their own? Something is fishy about this. Also, not to mention that this violates the spirit of the Posse Commitatus Act despite assertions to the contrary:
Authorities had considered using a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle but decided to have military pilots fly reconnaissance, a defense official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. A main objective is to improve communication among investigators.
The help will be provided in a way meant to comply with the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that bans the military from domestic law enforcement. That means the military will relay data to law enforcement officials and will not decide on its own what targets to watch, the official said.
The Pentagon’s participation also could involve a system of sensors that could detect flashes of gunfire on the ground, the official said.
Related:
15
Oct 02
What’s afoot? A turf war or something else?
This has to be more than coincidence. Regardless of what this ‘anonymous’ source says.
Latest Sniper Victim Worked for FBI:
An FBI agent is the latest victim of the Washington-area sniper, and investigators said Tuesday they were confident that detailed witness accounts from the scene will lead them to the person who has now killed nine people.
15
Oct 02
FEMA and the NSC
Ever wonder why people worry about FEMA related conspiracies?
From FEMA as Big Brother:
The leading theoreticians behind the creation of FEMA were Samuel Huntington, a National Security Council consultant under Carter, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as Carter’s national security advisor. Before that, Brzezinski was executive director at the Trilateral Commission, a “New Ager” who envisioned a “technetronic society” in the United States. Nominally a Democrat, Brzezinski nevertheless became a leading adviser on strategic policy to George Bush’s 1988 campaign, and continues to serve as an informal consultant to the Bush administration. Huntington is currently a member of the FEMA Advisory Board. Both Huntington and Brzezinski belong to the CFR.
FEMA was established in March 1979 by presidential Review Memorandum 32, with the mandate to maintain “the continuity of government” (COG) during a national security emergency. PRM 32 bypassed the U.S. Constitution, and awarded power to the unelected officials at the National Security Council to direct U.S. government operations by emergency decree. By placing FEMA under the NSC’s control, Huntington, Brzezinski, et al., turning the NSC into a shadow technocratic dictatorship, waiting for a real or manufactured crisis to seize control of the country.
Related:
Bush & Executive Orders
12
Oct 02
Some scary information the ADL (The Anti-Defamation League)
The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (ADL) gave an award Nov. 18, 1998 to the city of Coeur d’Alene. City Fathers assume this is something to be proud of and have unthinkingly rolled out the red carpet for the ADL.
They think that an imprimatur from the ADL, a prominent Jewish group with a multi-million dollar budget and substantial media clout, is a kind of certification of our area’s goodness. But in point of fact, hosting the ADL and its regional Seattle director at the Coeur d’Alene Resort is a shameful blot on the region.
The ADL is a branch of the masonic B’nai B’rith (Sons of the Covenant), which was established Oct. 13, 1843.
Up until recently, for decades the chief “fact-finder” (head spy) for the ADL was the late Irwin Suall. From 1957 through 1962, Mr. Suall was national secretary of the Socialist Party. (1)
The ADL keeps extensive espionage files on those who are critical of Israeli policies. Last year the ADL attempted to blackmail Benjamin Chavis, leader of the NAACP, with some of those files. (2)
The ADL spies on American dissidents on behalf of the Israeli government. Automobile license plate numbers of people attending a meeting of the Committee on the Middle East were recorded by ADL agent Roy Bullock, channeled through San Francisco police officer Tom Gerard, also an ADL operative, and furnished to the Israeli government. (3) …
Related:
12
Oct 02
At least the business press is honest
..when it comes to making money.
Forbes: Post-Saddam Iraq could sell more oil -White House:
The White House said Friday that a new Iraqi government that abided by international norms would be in a position to sell more oil as well as other products around the world.
“If you take a look at the exports that are coming out of Iraq today, not only in the matter of oil, but in all products, the outlaw Iraqi regime is under United Nations sanctions,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.
“An Iraqi regime that comes into agreement with international norms and becomes a part of the (welcome) world community because it has a new government would clearly be in a position to trade more both in terms of oil and in terms of products around the world,” the spokesman added.
11
Oct 02
This occupation plan
I’ve been thinking about why anonymous administration officials would mention this obviously crazy plan at length. Is this some message to Iraq to somehow give the impression that the US is tougher than it really is? I mean, this plan is just arrogant to the extreme. It would drive the mideast into a roiling pit of craziness. The whole region would be destabilized by American occupation. Not to mention the domestic effect. I can’t believe that this is a serious plan. It has to have some propaganda purposes which are not expressed outright. Is it to diminish the effect of what the US might really do if they overthrow Hussein? Is it to scare Iraqi generals? Is it to give the impression of greater strength? Is it to galvanize players in the Mideast? Is it some sort of signal of the impending war? Is it an attempt to isolate the rest of the world especially Japan and Germany? Or, could it be something else…maybe an attempt by government officials opposed to the invasion to somehow plant this story to stir up opposition to the pro-invasion cabal? There is something else to this. It is too huge to be otherwise. I can’t believe they would naively admit to something like this without some other purpose.
11
Oct 02
The Age of American Empire
When I first read this my jaw dropped. I just could not believe it. The hubris and arrogance involved is staggering. It is ridiculous. These people must be stopped. I wonder how the Japanese will feel about this. It’s just sick.
NY Times: US Plan for Iraq Based on Occupation of Japan:
The White House is developing a detailed plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Iraq if the United States topples Saddam Hussein, senior administration officials said today.
The plan also calls for war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders and a transition to an elected civilian government that could take months or years.
Why am I not surprised? Months or years while we have a nice protected stream of oil right to the US. Bush’s pay masters must be slavering.
In the initial phase, Iraq would be governed by an American military commander — perhaps Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of United States forces in the Persian Gulf, or one of his subordinates — who would assume the role that Gen. Douglas MacArthur served in Japan after its surrender in 1945. …
Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could be a lengthy occupation by coalition forces, led by the United States.
Officials say they want to avoid the chaos and in-fighting that have plagued Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taliban. Mr. Bush’s aides say they also want full control over Iraq while American-led forces carry out their principal mission: finding and destroying weapons of mass destruction.
There are weapons all over the world. This is a lie.
The description of the emerging American plan and the possibility of war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders could be part of an administration effort to warn Iraq’s generals of an unpleasant future if they continue to support Mr. Hussein.
They seem to be overly concerned with Iraq’s abilities. Fighting in Iraq will be very different then fighting in the desert near Kuwait.
Asked what would happen if American pressure prompted a coup against Mr. Hussein, a senior official said, “That would be nice.” But the official suggested that the American military might enter and secure the country anyway, not only to eliminate weapons of mass destruction but also to ensure against anarchy. …
Anarchy or just lack of US control?
The revelation of the occupation plan marks the first time the administration has described in detail how it would administer Iraq in the days and weeks after an invasion, and how it would keep the country unified while searching for weapons.
It would put an American officer in charge of Iraq for a year or more while the United States and its allies searched for weapons and maintained Iraq’s oil fields.
For as long as the coalition partners administered Iraq, they would essentially control the second largest proven reserves of oil in the world, nearly 11 percent of the total. A senior administration official said the United Nations oil-for-food program would be expanded to help finance stabilization and reconstruction.
Administration officials said they were moving away from the model used in Afghanistan: establishing a provisional government right away that would be run by Iraqis. Some top Pentagon officials support this approach, but the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and, ultimately, the White House, were cool to it.
“We’re just not sure what influence groups on the outside would have on the inside,” an administration official said. “There would also be differences among Iraqis, and we don’t want chaos and anarchy in the early process.” …
“Our intent is not conquest and occupation of Iraq,” Mr. Khalilzad said. “But we do what needs to be done to achieve the disarmament mission and to get Iraq ready for a democratic transition and then through democracy over time.”
Conquest and occupation is exactly what its about.
Iraqis, perhaps through a consultative council, would assist an American-led military and, later, a civilian administration, a senior official said today. Only after this transition would the American-led government hand power to Iraqis. …
Some experts warned during Senate hearings last month that a prolonged American military occupation of Iraq could inflame tensions in the Mideast and the Muslim world.
“I am viscerally opposed to a prolonged occupation of a Muslim country at the heart of the Muslim world by Western nations who proclaim the right to re-educate that country,” said the former secetary of state, Henry A. Kissinger, who as a young man served as a district administrator in the military government of occupied Germany.
This country is being controlled by lunatics. I have no doubt of it now.