Society

Military and defense — Comments Off
22
Jan 03

Call me cynical

U.S. Promises to Hold Iraqi Oil ‘In Trust’

“If we are the occupying power, it will be held for the benefit of the Iraqi people and it will be operated for the benefit of the Iraqi people,” he said.

“How will we operate it? How best to do that? We are studying different models. But the one thing I can assure you of is that it will be held in trust for the Iraqi people, to benefit the Iraqi people. That is a legal obligation that the occupying power will have,” he added.

Powell said the U.S. military would not want to run Iraq for long after a possible invasion but he declined to speculate how long U.S. troops would stay in the country.

“There is no desire for the United States armed forces to remain in charge or to run a country for any length of time beyond that which is necessary to make sure that there is an appropriate form of government to take over from the initial military occupation,” he said.

History — Comments Off
12
Jan 03

More recent history on Iraq

Good resource: Country Study & Country Guide for Iraq:

Concern about the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan prompted Iraq to reexamine seriously the nature of its relationship with the United States. This process led to a gradual warming of relations between the two countries. In 1981 Iraq and the United States engaged in lowlevel , official talks on matters of mutual interest such as trade and regional security. The following year the United States extended credits to Iraq for the purchase of American agricultural commodities, the first time this had been done since 1967. More significant, in 1983 the Baathist government hosted a United States special Middle East envoy, the highest-ranking American official to visit Baghdad in more than sixteen years. In 1984, when the United States inaugurated “Operation Staunch” to halt shipment of arms to Iran by third countries, no similar embargo was attempted against Iraq because Saddam Husayn’s government had expressed its desire to negotiate an end to the war. All of these initiatives prepared the ground for Iraq and the United States to reestablish diplomatic relations in November 1984.

In early 1988, Iraq’s relations with the United States were generally cordial. The relationship had been strained at the end of 1986 when it was revealed that the United States had secretly sold arms to Iran during 1985 and 1986, and a crisis occurred in May 1987 when an Iraqi pilot bombed an American naval ship in the Persian Gulf, a ship he mistakenly thought to be involved in Iran-related commerce. Nevertheless, the two countries had weathered these problems by mid-1987. Although lingering suspicions about the United States remained, Iraq welcomed greater, even if indirect, American diplomatic and military pressure in trying to end the war with Iran. For the most part, the government of Saddam Husayn believed the United States supported its position that the war was being prolonged only because of Iranian intransigence.

Data as of May 1988

History — Comments Off
12
Jan 03

Some perspective on Iraq

It’s always good to have some background information and context. Turns out the US policy of ‘regime change’ in Iraq is nothing new. We’ve been getting our hands bloodied on Iraqi soil for decades.

How the CIA put the Baath in power in Iraq:

The Baath first came to power in 1963, in a coup organised by the CIA They overthrew the regime run by Abd al-Karim Qassim, a nationalist army officer.
The coup, and the reasons why the CIA supported it, are described by journalists Andrew and Patrick Cockburn as follows:

In early 1963, Saddam had more important things to worry about
than his outstanding bill at the Andiana Cafe. On February 8, a mil-
itary coup in Baghdad, in which the Baath Party played a leading
role, overthrew Qassim. Support for the conspirators was limited. In
the first hours of fighting, they had only nine tanks under their con-
trol. The Baath Party had just 850 active members. But Qassim
ignored warnings about the impending coup. What tipped the bal-
ance against him was the involvement of the United States. He had
taken Iraq out of the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact. In 1961, he threat-
ened to occupy Kuwait and nationalized part of the Iraq Petroleum
Company (IPC), the foreign oil consortium that exploited Iraq’s oil.
In retrospect, it was the ClAs favorite coup. “We really had the ts
crossed on what was happening,” James Critchfield, then head of the
CIA in the Middle East, told us. “We regarded it as a great victory.”
Iraqi participants later confirmed American involvement. “We came to
power on a CIA train,” admitted Ali Saleh Sa’adi, the Baath Party sec-
retary general who was about to institute an unprecedented reign of
terror. CIA assistance reportedly included coordination of the coup
plotters from the agency’s station inside the U.S. embassy in Baghdad
as well as a clandestine radio station in Kuwait and solicitation of
advice from around the Middle East on who on the left should be
eliminated once the coup was successful. To the end, Qassim retained
his popularity in the streets of Baghdad. After his execution, his sup-
porters refused to believe he was dead until the coup leaders showed
pictures of his bullet-riddled body on TV and in the newspapers.

The above comes from “Out of the Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein”, by Andrew and Patrick Cockburn, published by Verso, 2000.

Politics — Comments Off
12
Jan 03

Kinda weird

I was reading the news (as I often do) and I noticed something that annoyed me a little especially since my mother has this habit of telling me ‘I don’t believe everything I read on the internet.’

AP: Fuzzy Strands Fill Skies Over Texas City:

A University of Wyoming microbiology professor attributed the webs in Santa Cruz to young spiders that launch themselves on their homemade parachutes after hatching to be blown to a new home.

In Wyoming, dozens of the webs can been seen floating across the prairie in the spring, the professor was quoted as saying in the AP story.

However, on the Internet, some conspiracy connoisseurs remain convinced the webs are man-made and could be part of an elaborate government plot.

I mean, is that really necessary as the last sentence in an AP story?

Military and defense — Comments Off
09
Jan 03

The New Holocaust

First they came for the Palestinians. The Israelis are clearly perpetrating a racist ethnic cleansing

Palestinians Under 35 Banned From Israel

On Tuesday, Israel further tightened restrictions, saying only Palestinian workers age 35 and over could enter Israel, the military said. Before the current conflict erupted in September 2000, more than 100,000 Palestinian workers crossed into Israel every day, providing a key source of income for the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel Plans to Close W. Bank Universities

Angered by the deadliest suicide attack in nearly a year, Israel vowed Monday to shut down three universities in the Palestinian territories and restrict the travel of Palestinian leaders in an effort to crack down on militants.

Military and defense — 1 Comment
09
Jan 03

Awesome. I love Helen Thomas

1/06/2003: 12:35 P.M. EST

MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon and happy New Year to everybody. The President began his day with an intelligence briefing, followed by an FBI briefing. Then he had a series of policy briefings. And this afternoon, the President will look forward to a Cabinet meeting where the President will discuss with members of his Cabinet his agenda for the year. The President is going to focus on economic growth, making America a more compassionate country, and providing for the security of our nation abroad and on the homefront.

And with that, I’m more than happy to take your questions. Helen.

Q At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.

MR. FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.

Q My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends —

Q They’re not attacking you.

MR. FLEISCHER: — from a country —

Q Have they laid the glove on you or on the United States, the Iraqis, in 11 years?

MR. FLEISCHER: I guess you have forgotten about the Americans who were killed in the first Gulf War as a result of Saddam Hussein’s aggression then.

Q Is this revenge, 11 years of revenge?

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, I think you know very well that the President’s position is that he wants to avert war, and that the President has asked the United Nations to go into Iraq to help with the purpose of averting war.

Q Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President wants to make certain that he can defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make certain that American lives are not lost.

Q And he thinks they are a threat to us?

MR. FLEISCHER: There is no question that the President thinks that Iraq is a threat to the United States.

Q The Iraqi people?

MR. FLEISCHER: The Iraqi people are represented by their government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi —

Q So they will be vulnerable?

MR. FLEISCHER: Actually, the President has made it very clear that he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That’s why the American policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the people of Iraq —

Q That’s a decision for them to make, isn’t it? It’s their country.

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don’t think that has been what history has shown.

Q I think many countries don’t have — people don’t have the decision — including us.

Military and defense — 10 Comments
07
Jan 03

Iraq Is No Afghanistan

It just occurred to me that if it had not been for the fall of the Soviet Union I doubt the whole Gulf War thing would have happened. At least during the Cold War there was some balance in the world, as fucked up as that was. Now I have to live in Babylon, in the belly of the Evil Empire praying for the day when normalcy and moderation and peace will emerge.

My heart goes out to all the American and Iraqi people and families that will lose their lives and loved ones in this corporate/military takeover of Iraq. It must be a good feeling to know you might die as part of some power struggle by global elites. If that’s patriotism then you can shove it up your ass. In fact, I hope our wayward military learns a lesson when and if this charade happens. We need to be taken down a notch.

Religion/philosophy — Comments Off
07
Jan 03

Our beloved congress

As it happens, only one of the hundreds of saber-rattlers in congress has a son in the military. I think these pigs at the trough ought to be the first to ship out in the event of war. I’m sure that idiot Lieberman or Lott can shoulder a modern-day musket. We’d probably be better off if they caught the wrong end of an Iraqi grenade or something. Lord knows they do nothing for us here but drive us to betray the very principles our constitution is supposed to uphold.

Military and defense — Comments Off
01
Jan 03

More American Torture

Indian detainee alleges US torture

Military and defense — Comments Off
31
Dec 02

The Whys: some tidbits from Stratfor.com

What next? Attention immediately focused on Iraq. There are three reasons to attack Iraq:

1. Saddam Hussein is unpredictable and potentially a powerful ally for al Qaeda. Whatever the relationship in the past, the threat of a relationship in the future requires the elimination of Iraq’s regime.

2. All wars have a psychological component. There is a real perception within the Islamic world today that the United States is incapable of fighting a war to a definitive conclusion. The United States must demonstrate both its will and ability. Iraq serves the purpose well.

3. Iraq is an extraordinarily strategic country. It touches Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. An occupied Iraq would give U.S. forces the ability to wage covert and overt war throughout the region, setting the stage for the direct engagement and liquidation of al Qaeda, with or without the cooperation of regional governments.

Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.