‘Unnamed sources’ and ‘senior U.S. intelligence officials’ are now saying Osama bin Laden is dead. Does this matter? Why are they saying this now? What’s important is what our own tax-paid terrorists want you to think. Speculating whether or not bin Laden is dead only serves craven propaganda purposes. For one, declaring bin Laden must be dead because basically ‘we haven’t seen him’ diminishes his power to those that support him and his goal of disrupting US hegemony and global domination through sabotage. It also serves as a goad to provoke bin Laden or Al Quaeda to make a statement or to appear to dispel the rumors of his demise. The fact is, the US government doesn’t know shit. They like to appear as if they do, but as long as the money keeps rolling in and they can continue with their charades it doesn’t really matter to them. Hell, even if they knew for a fact that he was dead I’m pretty sure they would keep that information to themselves as long as it serves their purposes. As long as Americans can personify the ‘enemy’ and ‘evil’ they can be more easily manipulated. The same thing happened in the Gulf War with Hussein. Who was Saddam to 99% of Americans before 1991? Nothing. It wasn’t until we needed a strawman that we built him up into the big bad wolf, the Arab Hitler with his big, bushy moustache. Of course, no one thinks its significant that he was a big bud of the CIA and the US for decades. I’m just tired of the bullshit. People have such short memories.
July, 2002
New World Order
- US Fomenting Coup Against Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah? US must keep their vassals in line by hook or crook.
- U.S. Prepares to Expand Cuban Prison No habeas corpus. Extra-constitutional. No due process. Torture?
- Spain welcomes proposal to turn British base into NATO facility Someone tell me what the purpose of NATO is?
- Building puppet proxy army for the new American colony Afghanistan
Post-war murder syndrome?
In Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, there have been 2 murders and 2 murder/suicides by soldiers of the US Special Forces within the past six weeks. Each case involved the murder of a military wife at the hands of her husband. Can this be what happens when you spend years molding men into cold-blooded killing machines, human weapons? Once you pass the point of justifying the taking of human life for purposes of war doesn’t that make it easier to justify it further? The Army wants to make sure we understand that this is an anomaly. Any bloodthirst is, of course, channeled cleanly toward enemies of the United States.
US Torture
In the previous entry I linked to a story regarding the US’s opposition to UN rules on torture. Today there was a story in the Christian Science Monitor about how the US ships ‘terror’ suspects to countries like Egypt, Syria, and Jordan who have no problem getting their hands a little dirty. Forget about due process, forget about habeas corpus. These guys will attach car batteries to your nipples and get the information they’re looking for. It’s shameful that our government would sanction this type of behavior.
Since 9/11, according to diplomats, US officials, and press reports, several suspects have quietly been detained and sent to the Middle East:
• Abu Zubaydah, a top Al Qaeda commander, was arrested in Pakistan in March, and moved to an “undisclosed location” by the US, possibly the Middle East.
• Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni, a Pakistani arrested in Indonesia in January, was bundled aboard a CIA Gulfstream and flown from Jakarta to Egypt.
• Mahmoud bin Ahmad Assegaf, a Kuwaiti citizen and an alleged Al Qaeda financier, was arrested by the Indonesians, and then deported – also at the request of the CIA. The Kuwaiti embassy in Indonesia says it knows nothing about the case, and that it wasn’t informed that a Kuwaiti citizen had been detained.
• Mohammad Haydar Zammar, a Syrian-born German believed to have connections to the 9/11 hijackers, was detained in Morocco in June, and reportedly, the CIA arranged for him to be sent to Syria.
• In October, a Yemeni student, Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, wanted in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole was turned over to the US by Pakistan and was flown to Jordan on a US-registered Gulfstream jet.
• Jabarah Mohamed Mansur, allegedly involved in an attempt to bomb the US and Israeli Embassies in Singapore, is currently being held and interrogated in Oman.
Egypt, like the US, won’t officially comment on the detainees. Perhaps because these deportations are not done through official channels or according to extradition treaties. But privately US officials confirm the practice. And Ahmed Moussa, an internal security correspondent for the state-supported Al-Ahram newspaper group in Cairo, also confirms the detentions.
We’re talking about regimes that use torture! Torture! That’s fucked up.
Nuts
United States loses fight to block U.N. vote on torture convention. Of course, the US has been sending ‘terror’ suspects to third countries to be tortured for information so it’s not surprising they would try to block this.
Unsent Letters
I really enjoyed Veronica’s site, Unsent Letters, again today. Curiously, our sites have similar names and we’re both Texans. That’s pretty strange.
Hunt for bin Laden goes online
Cyber-pigs and cyber-feds are upturning online stones looking for bin Laden. Forgive me if I’m a little skeptical but I really don’t see bin Laden inserting steganographic secrets in porno as this article suggests. Can’t they at least show us some actual examples or evidence of this? I’m tired of hearing all these stories and news bites from nameless ‘counterterrorism experts’ and ‘unnamed government sources’. The fact is, if the government actually knew anything they would do something and parade this guy on TV for propaganda purposes.
Link snacking
Some good/bad things today, a few funny things.
- ‘The Chosen’ Author Potok Dead at 73 Read that book in high school. Sorry to hear this.
- Indians begin worshipping dead British soldier as ‘god’ Common prayers often involve solicitations for help getting laid. Offerings to the White God include cigarettes and liquor.
- Anti-war liberal named as next leader of Anglican church. Good news. Religious institutions should be more consistent.
- Anti-Islam Message Left During Search, Family Says: Feds left “Islam is Evil, Christ is King,” message.
- Rabin’s Daughter Resigns from Israeli Government over occupation
Take the Pepsi Challenge
You’ve heard the brouhaha. Now, put up or shut up. Look at the following set of lyrics and tell me which you like best. One is Steve Earle, from The Ballad of “John Walker’s Blues” and the second is Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)”. Which is the better song and be honest?
-
Just an American boy
Raised on MTV
And I’ve seen all them kids in the soda pop ads
None of them look like me.
So I started looking around
For a light out of the dim.
And the first thing I heard
That made sense was the word
Muhammad peace be upon him.
Chorus: Ash hadu alla Ilaaha illallah, there is no God but God.
If my daddy could see me now
Chains around my feet
He don’t understand sometimes a man
Has got to fight for what he believes.
And I believe God is great
All praise to him
And if I should die
I’ll rise up in the sky
Just like Jesus peace be upon him.
Chorus: Ash-hadu alla ilaaha illallah, there is no God but God.
We came to fight the jihad
Our hearts were pure and strong.
And when death filled the air
We all offered up prayers
Prepared for our martyrdom.
But Allah has some other plan
Some secret not revealed
Now they’re dragging me back
With my head in a sack
To the land of the infidels.
Chorus: Ash-hadu alla ilaaha illallah, there is no God but God.
Here’s a touch of Toby Keith:
-
Now this nation that I love
Is falling under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flying in
From somewhere in the back
As soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man we lit up your world
Like the Fourth of July
Chorus:
Hey, Uncle Sam put your name
At the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And it’s going to be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it will feel like the whole wide world
Is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy
Of the Red, White and Blue
Oh, justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
You’ll be sorry that you messed
With the U.S. of A.
Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass
That’s the American way
CHORUS
Of the Red, White and Blue
Of my Red, White and Blue
Patriotism makes for shitty music. Just think about it. Lee Greenwood? Vomit.
The unorthodox orthodox
From The Guardian, flag-burning, peacenik orthodox jews. Awesome.:
The group is part of Neturei Karta, an anti-Zionist sect of the Orthodox Jewish community which is passionately opposed to the state of Israel and its government’s treatment of the Palestinian population. Since they are forbidden to use transport on the Sabbath, a few of its younger, fitter members have made the two-hour journey from Stamford Hill on foot in their Saturday dress of prayer shawls and fur-rimmed hats. Despite their prominent position in full view of the thousands below, they seem perfectly composed, holding a Palestinian flag and a placard bearing the slogan ‘End the occupation’. They don’t want to speak, so one of the organisers reads a statement on their behalf. It condemns, in no uncertain terms, the ‘atrocities committed by the Zionist regime’, lamenting ‘the plight of the Palestinian people’. …
It is the largest event that 35-year-old Alter Hochhauser, one of the four, has ever attended. He breaks into a smile when he recalls afterwards, in slightly halting English, what making such a public statement meant to him. ‘I was feeling very good. I always thought the Arab people have nothing against the Jews, only Zionism. The Zionist propaganda is so strong, that the Arabs would kill the Jewish people, but I knew it was not true. Now I saw it with my own eyes, how happy they were with us.’ His friend Elhanan Beck is also heartened by the impact of their presence. ‘I think many people changed their mind about Jewish people when they saw us,’ he says. …
And the power of peace-making and love.
And for Hochhauser, recalling his big day out at the demo, it’s worth it. ‘Somebody came to me; he said for 39 years he had hated the Jews. And now, when he saw us, he felt he had to come and shake hands with us. There were tears in his eyes.’