10
Oct 02

Right on

A message from WhatReallyHappened.com:


    10/10/02 House OKs Iraq resolution. That proves it. The US Government no longer represents the will of the people. We live in a dictatorship. What will you do about it? Will you stand silent as the Germans of 1933 while your nation is stolen from you and your children marched off to die in a World War? History will judge the American people by whether we allow this war of conquest for oil to proceed or not. This is the wake-up cal to America. The rule of law is dead. The President and the US Congress have gone rogue and threaten the peace and safety of the entire world. Despite 100 to 1 opposition to the war by their Constituents, the Congress has rubber-stamped Bush’s war, the worst of all kids of war, a war for profit and greed.

    Please forward the roll call vote for publication for this coming November’s elections. UNLESS WE VOTE THESE SCUM OUT OF OFFICE, THEY WILL FEEL THEY CAN DO AS THEY WILL WITH YOUR MONEY AND YOUR CHILDREN. Those who voted for war will get a permanent place at this website for voters to study. until the election.


10
Oct 02

The Racist Hubris of American ‘Psy-ops’

Propaganda professionals at the employ of the military. It would be naive to assume they don’t practice similar propaganda here. I’m amazed at how open they are about lying and intentionally manipulating a populace to fulfill their war aims.

Village Voice: Forked-Tongue Warriors:


    Headquartered at the 4th Psychological Operations Group in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the psy-op artists typically rely on cartoon animations to get their messages across. But it’s psy-op history itself that belongs in a comic strip: Its collection of harebrained schemes is sometimes almost too colorful to believe, though all of the following tales have been reported on from time to time. One such plan initially investigated by the air force before Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait entailed the projection of a holographic image of Allah floating over Baghdad and instructing Iraqi civilians to overthrow Saddam. The idea was promptly dropped after scientists informed the Pentagon that it would require a mirror that was a square mile in area, not to mention the added problem that no one knows what Allah looks like. Furthermore, since divine portrayals of any kind are strictly forbidden in Islam, the hologram would surely have gotten a reaction, but probably not exactly the one intended.

Psy-ops against civilian populations is unacceptable. The intentional use of propaganda is a slippery slope. It just it makes it easier to deceive in all circumstances.


09
Oct 02

British ‘intelligence’ dealings with al Quaeda and weapons sales to Iraq

From The Propaganda Matrix, which has archived versions of the removed stories due to the British press gag order:


British Press Gagged on Reporting MI6’s £100,000 bin Laden Payoff
Tony Blair has last night ordered a D-Notice on British media reporting government officials signing court gag orders. This regards the case of former MI5 officer David Shayler, who has evidence to prove MI6 gave £100,000 to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, arms to Iraq and had prior knowledge of several terrorist attacks on London in the 1990’s. Newspapers like the Guardian, the London Evening Standard and the Scotsman have either completely removed or amended these articles. This evidence is damning – the British government is trying to bury the story before it buries them

Quite damaging to the war effort. This means that the Western powers were dealing with al Quaeda as late as 1996 and sold Iraq the very weapons it now cites as its justification for invasion. Know well that Britain has been doing the bidding of the US at least since WWII. They are two halves of the same coin.


09
Oct 02

Timely Clausewitz quotations

A soldier and scholar, Clausewitz has had an enormous effect on the minds of modern politicians. It is instructive to see how these people think so you will know the threat.

Carl (Karl) von Clausewitz:

  • “The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.”
  • “War is the continuation of politics by other means.”
  • “War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.”
  • “What is the object of defense? Preservation. It is easier to hold ground than take it. . . defense is the stronger form of waging war.”
  • “The concept of war does not originate with the attack, because the ultimate object of attack is not fighting: rather, it is possession. The idea of war originates with the defense . . . ”
  • “War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means. To secure peace is to prepare for war.”
  • “War is nothing but a duel on a larger scale.”

  • 09
    Oct 02

    Just in case

    Just in case you still harbor illusions that our tyrants are not dead set on invading Iraq think again. What’s taking so long is building the justification and twisting the arms of those reluctant to carry out this dirty deed.

    There has been a large buildup of forces in the gulf region, the Armed Forces have been engaging in ‘war-games’ in Kuwait where they have been attacked by hostile NiMBy’s (Not in my backyard). The Department of Defense has ordered 273,000 bottles of sunscreen. This would lead me to believe that they intend a force of 200,000 – 250,000 to assault Iraq.

    In addition, I learned that a relative of mine in the Army is reportedly leaving for Afghanistan very soon. Since he’s part of an armored tank division I’m guessing his ultimate destination is actually Iraq.


    09
    Oct 02

    More bad news for the bloodthirsty

    The Mormons are really making the other American Christian sects look bad. They’ve done what Jesus would’ve done and have made their opposition to war pretty clear. Where are the other so-called Christians on this?

    AP: Mormon Church Takes Anti-War Stance:


      “As a church, we must renounce war and proclaim peace,” said Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which acts under the direction of church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

      Nelson never directly referred to Iraq or current moves toward war, but he mentioned the conflict in the Middle East and said “resolution of present political problems will require much patience and negotiation.”

      The Golden Rule’s prohibition of one interfering with the rights of others was equally binding on nations and associations and left no room for retaliatory reactions, Nelson said at the meeting Saturday.

      Descendants of Abraham — Christians, Jews and Muslims — “are in a pivotal position to emerge as peacemakers,” he said.


    09
    Oct 02

    Carving up Iraq’s oil

    But, hey this Iraq war has nothing at all to do with oil. We’re just trying to bring peace and freedom. *wink wink*
    Reuters: Iraq opposition to discuss oil at U.S. meeting:


      WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department will host a group of Iraqi opposition members later this month to discuss expanding Iraq’s oil and natural gas sector after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a department official said on Tuesday.

      Iraq has the world’s second biggest crude oil reserves, and the money brought in from more oil exports could restore the country’s economy if the United States attacks Iraq and removes Saddam from power.

      “Oil and gas are the natural engine for rebuilding Iraq,” the State Department official told Reuters. …

      Between 12 and 30 Iraqi opposition members will take part in the State Department meeting, which should last about two days. In addition to oil and natural gas, there will be working group discussions on Iraqi education, defense, refugees, economy and infrastructure.

      U.S. officials will take part in the discussions, but there will be no commercial or trade group representatives.

      Nonetheless, the United States is interested in making sure American oil firms don’t miss out on investment opportunities in a post-Saddam government to develop Iraq’s oil field and upgrade its energy facilities.

      “Naturally, U.S. policy generally across the board is to maximize U.S. economic and commercial influence,” the official said.

      Iraq has oil reserves of 112 billion barrels and the country also contains 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

      “Iraq’s true resource potential may be far greater than this, however, as the country is relatively unexplored due to years of war and sanctions,” the EIA said in its latest country brief on Iraq.


    08
    Oct 02

    Just in time for baby Jesus!

    Okay, I don’t know when the US will try to drop the hammer on Iraq, but we all know it’s going to happen unless some new situation develops. Such is the sad state of democracy these days. Our representatives no longer even try to pretend they represent us. Most Americans do not want this war, but congress has become the president’s rubber stamp. That’s some 400-500 people minus a few here and there with an actual spine.

    Jerusalem Post: Ben-Eliezer: US will attack Iraq in November:


      Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said last night that he expects an American attack on Iraq by late November. “It’s possible it will begin toward the end of November,” Ben-Eliezer told Labor Party ministers in Tel Aviv.

      Ben-Eliezer stressed that Israel is ready for any eventuality.
      He spoke after military sources told Israel Radio they now do not expect Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to launch Scud missiles carrying non-conventional warheads at Israel because this would prove to the world that the Americans are right in claiming he has such weapons.

    Or, how about something more likely: that Iraq does not possess nor intend to use these weapons. So basically, Hussein is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. If he doesn’t use chemical weapons war-mongers will say it was because he was sufficiently cowed by their aggressive rhetoric not because he doesn’t have any.


    08
    Oct 02

    Networks forgo bullshit Bush war pitch

    Bush Jr. gets no respect. To be honest, his speech wasn’t worth watching anyway. Although, I do have to give Bush credit for getting his speech delivery skills down. He’s just like one of those animatronic robots now. You could put anything in front of him and, by golly, I bet he could sound sincere as hell. I wonder how long he had to practice for it.

    Sometimes I do actually feel sorry for Bush. He seems to be in way over his head. He doesn’t seem to possess the same sort of calculated evilness and ruthlessness as his father. He never appears to me to be particularly crafty or intentionally deceitful. I honestly think he believes the ridiculous things he says while I’m certain that the same is not true of the more machiavellian members of the Bush administration, namely Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, et al.

    3 Networks Skip Bush’s Talk, Citing Absence of Request:


      Other White House officials said privately that if they had asked for coverage, that would have unduly heightened expectations for a speech that had no particularly new or dramatic details. Still, some White House officials indicated that they had hoped the networks would cover the address anyway.

      Some network executives said the White House’s decision to leave the choice to the networks put the onus on them — and left them possibly facing negative publicity for choosing not to take a prime-time presidential speech in the face of possible action against Iraq. One executive said the White House approach was “passive aggressive.”

      Still, executives at the major networks said they were comfortable with their choices, especially because they had established that the president was planning to generally restate his case against Iraq and was not expected to provide any staggering disclosures. Complicating matters, executives at all of the networks said, was the fact that the president was not speaking from the Oval Office, but from a lectern before a large audience likely to applaud — sure to give his speech the feel of a political event.

    I did find it strange that Bush chose to give such a speech at a Republican rally. Did they calculate for the effect of a cheering crowd during the Bush war pitch? Maybe they expected viewers at home to be compelled by cheering from Bush supporters.