Letter Never Sent

And so it goes. Why don’t the Russians just leave Chechnya?

Daily Texan: SG adopts resolution opposing war

“This makes the statement that the student body of the nation’s largest university and in Bush’s hometown feels that an unprovoked war is wrong,” said SG two-year at-large Representative Jordan Buckley, author of the resolution and a key mediator in the evening’s debate.

The anti-war resolution, thought by most representatives to stand little chance of passing, condemns Saddam Hussein but opposes any pre-emptive attack against Iraq.

The bitter debate fought not only the resolution, but the assembly’s right to vote on a resolution at all.

“For those of you who feel it is inappropriate to debate foreign policy within the Student Government institution, please realize that it is more inappropriate that people die at the hands of the United States,” said Amber Novak, a journalism graduate student.

“War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it?
Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped – the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed.

But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.”

The First and Last Freedom, p.182

“An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and the she had another aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said, ‘That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.’ Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.”

The First and Last Freedom, p.182

“If you loved your children with your heart, not with your shoddy little minds, do you think there would be a war tomorrow?”

Unknown source

Images of the bodies of the Chechen terrorists. One sure fire way to end this Chechen terrorism is to end the war against them.

With orders to assassinate the command structure of the rebel group. Interesting timing. February 2003. Is the US trying to secure more oil resources in the event of a failed attempt against Hussein or for the ensuing chaos during the interregnum? Colombia has substantial quantities of oil and the Farc have been siphoning off gasoline to fund their operations in addition to blowing up portions of the pipeline.

Marines Ordered into Colombia

Two battalions of US Marine Jungle Expeditionary Forces have recently received deployment orders for insertion into Colombia this coming February, 2003.

According to reliable sources, the battalions, which with support will total roughly 1,100 men, will rotate in and out of southern Colombia, with orders to eliminate all high officers of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), scattering those who escape to the remote corners of the Amazon. The FARC hierarchy has been the subject of intensive US intelligence scrutiny for several years. The offensive will mean that the US is fighting wars on three fronts simultaneously: Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia.

I’d hate to see anyone die and I’m sure the Special Forces are a nice sort of violent mercenary group, but I hope the Special Forces get their asses handed to them. This sort of intervention is wrong and a violation of everything that is right.

From Common Dreams: Oppose Iraq War Like Gandhi, Says Indian Author Roy:

ROME – Indian novelist Arundhati Roy urged anti-war campaigners Wednesday to use civil disobedience to oppose military action against Iraq, just as Mahatma Gandhi used it to fight for India’s independence from British rule.

Roy, whose 1997 novel “The God of Small Things” won the Booker Prize in Britain and has sold six million copies in 40 languages, has become a prominent activist for human rights and environmental causes.

Speaking about actively opposing globalization, Roy told a news conference in Rome “The struggle has hit a dead-end. We need to re-imagine nonviolent resistance. It’s not simply about demonstrations on the streets and wearing masks.

“The answer lies in civil disobedience,” she said, detailing some of the boycotts and nonviolent protests Gandhi used to weaken Britain’s grip on the Indian subcontinent, which gained independence in 1947.

Asked whether she would advocate civil disobedience against a possible U.S. attack on Iraq, Roy said: “Absolutely, of course. That is where it is most urgently needed.”

“Those activists who in the past have gone into Palestine, or gone into Iraq and said ‘Bomb us, we’re here, we’re white people and we’re here’ — those are fantastic people,” she told Reuters.

Roy, 41, was in Italy to speak at a festival featuring films on a campaign of opposition to a hydro-electric dam project in India that has displaced millions of people.

“The idea that America or any other country has the right to organize a pre-emptive strike against Iraq on the suspicion that it might be developing nuclear weapons…it justifies anybody going to war against anybody,” she said.

“It justifies India going to war against Pakistan or Pakistan going to war against India based on any suspicion that they have. It’s the most outrageous thing you can possibly imagine.”

From NY Times: Pentagon Sets Up Intelligence Unit:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his senior advisers have assigned a small intelligence unit to search for information on Iraq’s hostile intentions or links to terrorists that the nation’s spy agencies may have overlooked, Pentagon officials said today.

Curious. So, Rumsfeld wants to set up a team who won’t fail to fabricate ‘evidence’ against Hussein.

Some officials say the creation of the team reflects frustration on the part of Mr. Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and other senior officials that they are not receiving undiluted information on the capacities of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and his suspected ties to terrorist organizations.



But officials who disagree say the top civilian policy makers are intent on politicizing intelligence to fit their hawkish views on Iraq.

In particular, many in the intelligence agencies disagree that Mr. Hussein can be directly linked to Osama bin Laden and his network, Al Qaeda, or that the two are likely to make common cause against the United States. In addition, the view among even some senior intelligence analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency is that Mr. Hussein is contained and is unlikely to unleash weapons of mass destruction unless he is attacked.

Some sort of turf war between the Defense Department and the CIA.

From Stratfor.com:

The fact that the event is taking place in Moscow underscores Russia’s vulnerability to militant attacks.

Washington previously confirmed links between al Qaeda and the Chechen independence movement, and Stratfor sources within the Russian foreign ministry say the latest development already is shaping Moscow’s diplomatic strategy. They say Moscow will pressure Washington to refocus its efforts on al Qaeda and drop plans to attack Iraq. Few outside the Bush administration believe Iraq has substantial links to al Qaeda. Russia wants to emphasize that, in the aftermath of the Bali bombing and now the Moscow hostage situation, al Qaeda poses a clear and present danger to all countries.