Another good anti-war site from the right-libertarian side: Americans Against World Empire
General
05
Apr 02
A Pop Quiz
A Pop Quiz on the Middle East by Charley Reese of the Orlando Sentinel
Question: Which country alone in the Middle East has nuclear weapons?
Answer: Israel.
Q: Which country in the Middle East refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty and bars international inspections?
A: Israel.
04
Apr 02
A Good Article on the Kurds
This article from the Atlantic Monthly in 1987 was so good I wanted to reprint it here in case it ever went away. Props to Ethel the Blog for pointing me to it.
Sons of Devils by Robert D. Kaplan
IN THE WINTER of 401 B.C. a tired and defeated army of Greek mercenaries was slowly making its way home from Mesopotamia, after failing to topple the Persian king Artaxerxes II. Crossing the Taurus Mountains, in what is today southeastern Turkey, the mercenaries were set upon by bands of Carduchi, a fierce race of bowmen, who caused more harm to the Greeks in seven days of hit-and-run raids than had the Persians during the entire Mesopotamian campaign. An account of the harrowing retreat was provided by Xenophon, one of the Greek commanding officers. Xenophon wrote that the Carduchi lived in the mountains and were nor subject to outside authority: “Indeed, a royal army of a hundred and twenty thousand had once invaded their country, and not a man of them had got back….”
Not all that much has changed in 2,400 years. The Carduchi may well have been what we now call Kurds, an Indo-European people, speaking a language akin to Persian, who first occupied the Zagros and Taurus ranges in the second millennium B.C. The Kurds are among history’s greatest warriors: Saladin, the Muslim general who repossessed Jerusalem and much of the Holy Land from the Crusaders, was a Kurd. Their bows and slings have long since been replaced by Soviet-made AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Perched on isolated slopes, amid oak and mountain ash, Kurdish guerrillas known as pesh mergas (“those who are prepared to die”) have in recent years wiped out whole units of Turkish and Iraqi soldiers and Iranian revolutionary guards. True to their past, the Kurds are a law unto themselves.
04
Apr 02
US Bribes Turkey With Iraqi Oilfields
Desperate for ‘allies’ and toadies to support its planned invasion of Iraq the United States has apparently sweetened the deal by offering Iraq’s northern oilfields to Turkey.
The US twists arms in the Middle East
Dan Plesch reveals that, in return for supporting a new Gulf war, Turkey could get Iraqi oilfields
Many countries have spoken out against the Bush administration’s plans to overthrow Saddam Hussein, but it would be a mistake to suppose that they will in fact cause trouble if the bombs start to fall. Washington has a long record of bringing its allies into line.
Take Turkey. Its prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, continues to oppose publicly the idea of attacking Iraq. But there is every reason to believe that the US has already offered control of Iraq’s northern oilfields to Turkey in return for its support in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is what informed sources in Washington tell me; and it is confirmed by press reports of what Richard Perle, an influential adviser in the Bush administration, said while he was in Ankara with the vice-president, Dick Cheney.
The oil-rich Mosul area has been disputed since the collapse of the Ottoman empire at the end of the First World War. The British drew the maps and invented the states that exist today. Turkey disputed the British decision to give the Mosul province to the new Kingdom of Iraq, but finally accepted it in a treaty signed in 1926.
04
Apr 02
Israeli Soldiers Execute Palestinian Militant?
The Palestinians say Mohammed Salah was executed. The Israelis say he was a would-be suicide bomber. Who knows where the truth lies, but the photos are fucked up.
04
Apr 02
Time is short for Karzai
A coup attempt against the American puppet, Hamid Karzai, has apparently been foiled. I would be very scared if I were this guy. One of his ministers has already been assassinated and his government has a tenuous grip on power in Afghanistan. In reality, the US has secured only Kabul for the interim government. A tiny little chunk out of a large country. Thousands of American and British troops are required for his government to even hold on to this tiny perch. Karzai like all the other traitors (inlcuding Khalizad) to his country was once on the payroll of oil giant Unocal. He is also a wholly owned creature of the CIA. The Afghans seem to be a very independent people. I would not assume they would put up with an American stooge for too long.
03
Apr 02
Nazi-style US Stamp
From Al Martin RAW:
Imperial State Power in America
Now even US postage stamps will project the supremacy of American Imperial 
Power into the world. The new 57-cent stamp shows an eagle, which is an exact copy of the symbol of the Waffen SS, which in turn was taken from the Imperial Praetorian eagle of Ancient Rome. This is one of the first in a new series of postage stamps being released by the US Post Office to commemorate the New Age of State Power.
According to the Moh’s color chart, the color of the stamp used to be called Nordic or Aryan Blue — before the war. After the war, when those words became politically incorrect, the name of the blue was changed to the more neutral-sounding Icelandic Blue.
The stamp portrays an eagle resting on triple-perched pediments. It’s a beautifully executed design, if one wants to portray State Power. This eagle is man’s most ancient and recognizable symbol of State Power. The seven pediments on the eagle’s chevron shaped breastplate represent the seven hills of Rome. The three Ionic columned perch represents Order, Discipline and Obedience, which was the pledge undertaken by the Obsidian Order.
Any philatelist would recognize this eagle and any numismatist, who collects Third Reich or Caesarian coins, would also know it. This iconography is not original with the Third Reich, of course, since they borrowed it from the ancient Romans.
03
Apr 02
This Summer: Assassination
According to this article the Bush Administration is planning on attacking Iraq this summer between July and September. No doubt near September to capitalize on the emotionalism tied up with the destruction of the World Trade Center. Imagine every red-blooded Joe Six-Pack getting tears in their eyes as we drop bombs onto hospitals and power plants. “That’s for 9-11, you ragheads! The giant has awoken!”
The real goal is to assassinate Saddam Hussein despite the talk of this being another offensive in the ‘war against terror’.
The U.S. attack, the diplomats and sources said, envisions a lightning offensive against Baghdad and the capture of key Iraqi military installations. They said the move would seek to kill Saddam or drive him out of Baghdad to eliminate the prospect of bloody resistance in the Iraqi capital.
If this doesn’t work, the diplomats and sources said, the United States would launch stage two of the military campaign. This would involve heavy air attacks on Iraqi military installations. Stage three calls for a ground attack.
Why does Saddam Hussein need to be assassinated? Why can’t he be arrested and brought to trial? In a great column by former CIA insider Al Martin he explains the reasons for this:
Regarding the Gulf War, the Bush Sr. Administration said that the reasons the US didn’t go in and get Saddam is because the American people were beginning to complain about the number of casualties we were inflicting on the Iraqis. It was a cover story pure and simple.
The truth is that the United States wanted Saddam to remain in power because there was only one shot to take Saddam out. He had to be liquidated. He couldn’t be captured even though he was under indictment in the United States for a variety of charges and also under indictment in the World Court. But the United States couldn’t afford to have Saddam a prisoner and thus be able to talk about his relationship with the Reagan-Bush Regime.
Lying is a way of life for these people. Everything they say is suspect. If Saddam Hussein somehow aided ‘terrorists’ and Bush/Reagan aided Hussein, doesn’t that make them terrorists too? If Osama bin Laden is a terrorist and Reagan-Bush aided bin Laden doesnt that make them terrorists? This might be a good time to check out the Bush family timeline.
03
Apr 02
Military Visitor of the Day
Another .mil visitor today: 03 Apr, Wed, 07:01:35 msproxy.transcom.mil Netscape 4 Windows 2000 This time they came through a proxy via a google search on that information I posted on the Templar pardon. Strange.