Pardon Me

The Washington Times Organ of Propaganda

By Robert Parry (A Special Report)
December 27, 2006

The American Right achieved its political dominance in Washington over the past quarter century with the help of more than $3 billion spent by Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon on a daily propaganda organ, the Washington Times, according to a 21-year veteran of the newspaper.

George Archibald, who describes himself “as the first reporter hired at the Washington Times outside the founding group” and author of a commemorative book on the Times’ first two decades, has now joined a long line of disillusioned conservative writers who departed and warned the public about extremism within the newspaper.

In an Internet essay on recent turmoil inside the Times, Archibald also confirmed claims by some former Moon insiders that the cult leader has continued to pour in $100 million a year or more to keep the newspaper afloat. Archibald put the price tag for the newspaper’s first 24 years at “more than $3 billion of cash.”

At the newspaper’s tenth anniversary, Moon announced that he had spent $1 billion on the Times – or $100 million a year – but newspaper officials and some Moon followers have since tried to low-ball Moon’s subsidies in public comments by claiming they had declined to about $35 million a year.

The figure from Archibald and other defectors from Moon’s operation is about three times higher than the $35 million annual figure.
...
Washington Times articles are routinely cited by C-SPAN, for instance, without explanations to viewers that the newspaper is financed by an ultra-right religious cult leader, a convicted tax fraud and a publicly identified money-launderer. Most American listeners just think they’re getting straightforward news.
...
Arguably one of the measures of the Washington Times’ success was how the major U.S. news organizations increasingly seemed to march to the same drummer, even when not under direct pressure to do so.

Over the past half dozen years, it has often been hard to distinguish between the fawning coverage of George W. Bush from the Washington Times and from the Washington Post. Both major Washington dailies bought into Bush’s false claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction with almost no skepticism.
...

link to original

This muckraking reveals an important betrayal of the journalistic medium. Journalism relies on principles of ethics to function properly. Here we have an example, S. M. Moon and the Washington Times, of a fundamental breakdown in the system of journalism.

Bill Moyers recently asked how America could so readily and rapidly fall into the senseless abyss of the extreme right wing agenda. Here, Robert Parry has prepared an essay to (at the least partially) answer that question.

Merry Christmas

Islands Disappearing

Go to Original

Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island
For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas.
Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports
Published: 24 December 2006

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.

As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.

Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.

It has been officially recorded in a six-year study of the Sunderbans by researchers at Calcutta's Jadavpur University. So remote is the island that the researchers first learned of its submergence, and that of an uninhabited neighbouring island, Suparibhanga, when they saw they had vanished from satellite pictures.

Two-thirds of nearby populated island Ghoramara has also been permanently inundated. Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university's School of Oceanographic Studies, says "it is only a matter of some years" before it is swallowed up too. Dr Hazra says there are now a dozen "vanishing islands" in India's part of the delta. The area's 400 tigers are also in danger.

Until now the Carteret Islands off Papua New Guinea were expected to be the first populated ones to disappear, in about eight years' time, but Lohachara has beaten them to the dubious distinction.

Human cost of global warming: Rising seas will soon make 70,000 people homeless

Refugees from the vanished Lohachara island and the disappearing Ghoramara island have fled to Sagar, but this island has already lost 7,500 acres of land to the sea. In all, a dozen islands, home to 70,000 people, are in danger of being submerged by the rising seas.

It makes sense to take immediate and necessary steps to reduce our impact on climate change. Especially those of us living in highly developed and wealthy societies, such as in the West, where such changes are imminently feasible.

Light

I may have posted this image before, but I want to put it up again. December is the darkest month of the year. I think I am feeling some SAD. This photo helps me to remember the light of summer. It helps rekindle the feeling of goodness that comes with light.

The photo was taken in Olympia Washington's Priest Point Park, June 2005.

I hope that you can derive some benefit from it. Healing light:

Attack on Iran: Inevitable?

Several articles have been published recently in regard to the potential for military action against Iran. I received a letter from my Senator Patty Murray, which was all but gung ho about attacking Iran (Murray receives significant support from AIPAC.) Let me know if you want me to forward you a copy of this letter.

Amy Goodman published a conversation between Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter about White House plans for regime change in Iran. Ritter concludes that an attack is inevitable, and that within mere days of an attack we will all feel it in our pocketbooks.

And in today's New York Times there appears an important article By FLYNT LEVERETT and HILLARY MANN that highlights White House schizophrenia regarding the publication of information about the potential invasion of Iran. White House behavior regarding the redaction of much of this article is provocative and disturbing.

The potential for a military assault on Iran is real. I worry that the prospect of invading Iran is made more appealing by the failure in Iraq, i.e. - Iran may provide an escape route, a reason to flee Iraq.

Driving in the Snow

When I woke up today I lounged around. I found some steel cut oats in the cupboard, so I didn't need to go straight into town - so I didn't go straight into town. I hanged(?) out. I read blogs and news articles. But I still needed to go to town. Later I told myself, later.

At about two o'clock it started snowing. Well, first it was ice pellets and freezing rain. But then it turned to big thick wet and fluffy flakes (there is such a thing). It was a perfect snow for building snowmen or throwing snowballs.

It was not a perfect snow for driving. Unless you like driving in that sort of thing. I was faced with the prospect of heading out in a thickening snow storm to procure some of the essentials (lettuce, eggs, doughnuts, whole wheat flour (for pancakes tomorrow morning)).

At about 3:30 I decided that it was then or never. I figured that the Island City Coop, which I intended to visit, might close earlier on. In fact they are open until 5 or 5:30 most days. With the rear-wheel-drive-only pickup waiting, I zipped up my jacket and headed out to the drive.

It was nice to drive through the clean white snow. I was in the first vehicle that made tracks through the new snow at first, on the side road.

After all was said and done, the pickup handled very well considering it is rear wheel drive, and the mission was accomplished. Now, I can go to bed without being hungry, and rest, while looking forward to pancakes and whatever tomorrow may bring.

Wealth Distribution

I was really shocked by these numbers. I knew that the ultra-wealthy were disproportionately wealthy, but I was unaware of the severity of the issue:

The Kansas City Star
By Rick Montgomery
...
While the rest of America rolls its eyeballs at such injustice, a spate of new studies and statistics throws a blinding spotlight on just how concentrated the world’s wealth has become. The richest of the rich are getting much richer, and ascending quicker, than are the rather wealthy.

And Average Joe? He appears stuck in the mud.

According to data recently prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the bottom 90 percent of U.S. households saw an increase in real household income of 2 percent between 1990 and 2004. That’s adjusted for inflation.

Two. Percent. In 14 years.

Now creep up the income ladder to the top 1 percent of households. There, says the center’s Aviva Aron-Dine, real income shot up 57 percent in the same period.

Climb higher. For the top 0.1 percent — where incomes average about $4.5 million a year — the jump was 85 percent. For the top .01 percent, 112 percent.

“The increasing gulf between the rich and super rich is a reflection of the greater chasm throughout society,” says Aron-Dine. “What’s going on is an increasingly skewed assessment of wage and income over the long term.”

Not since the 1920s — the era of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s rollicking Jay Gatsby — has such a small slice of America hoarded so much of the nation’s income, her findings show.

Globally, the richest 2 percent of adults now own more than half of the personal wealth, says a new study by U.N. researchers.
...

link to original

Here's another interesting source of infomration in re: wealth distribution:

Wealth, Income, and Power
by G. William Domhoff
September 2005 (updated December 2006)
...
In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 39.7%. Table 1 and Figure 1 present further details drawn from the careful work of economist Edward N. Wolff at New York University (2004).
...

click here to see Table 1 and Figure 1.

Finally, here is a story from the Washington Post describing how the tax burden has shifted since George Bush entered the White House and began his tax cut regime:

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 13, 2004; Page A04

Since 2001, President Bush's tax cuts have shifted federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget Office has found, a conclusion likely to roil the presidential election campaign.

The CBO study, due to be released today, found that the wealthiest 20 percent, whose incomes averaged $182,700 in 2001, saw their share of federal taxes drop from 64.4 percent of total tax payments in 2001 to 63.5 percent this year. The top 1 percent, earning $1.1 million, saw their share fall to 20.1 percent of the total, from 22.2 percent.
...

link

Fornax the Troll

When once a young lad

       Whose name was Thad,

Went for a walk in the country



There came a great shout

       And a tremulous cry

For he stumbled upon a monster.



Old Fornax the brute

       A foul-tempered troll

Who was given to travelers's travails



Came upon he with a great

       Wooden stump - a former tree

He did a thump thump thump.



He did proceed to wander

       Into the village proper.

Where he found to his surprise



The central square alight

       With adornment gay, and song and tune -

Chorus and Instrument combined.



Astonished was he,

       though brutish and vile,

He smiled and laid down and cried.

Oly October Sky

A Message from the Ghost of Christmas's Future?

Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men? Rebecca Solnit presents a prophetic view of what the Christmas's of the future might bring:

...
You can see it in the countless local-economy projects -- wind-power stations, farmer's markets, local enviro organizations, food coops -- that were already proliferating, hardly noticed, by the time the Saudi Oil Wars swept the whole Middle East, damaging major oil fields, and bringing on the Great Gasoline Crisis of 2009. That was the one that didn't just send prices skyrocketing, but actually becalmed the globe-roaming container ships with their great steel-box-loads of bottled water, sweatshop garments, and other gratuitous commodities.
...

read more

Violence in Occupied Iraq Reaches All-Time High since Invasion

I'm looking at this information and thinking about the plan to send in more troops. I have heard that new plans are to increase the number of American soldiers by 50,000. What will this do? One thing it will do is give the insurgency more anger and fuel their attacks.

The answer to the problematic violence in Iraq is to begin a systematic and total withdrawal of US forces. It's the presence of a foreign force of occupation that triggers the violence. The US must relinquish its aspirations to control the oil wealth of Iraq:

NYT
By DAVID S. CLOUD and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: December 19, 2006

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 — A Pentagon assessment of security conditions in Iraq concluded Monday that attacks against American and Iraqi targets had surged this summer and autumn to their highest level, and called violence by Shiite militants the most significant threat in Baghdad.

The report, which covers the period from early August to early November, found an average of almost 960 attacks against Americans and Iraqis every week, the highest level recorded since the Pentagon began issuing the quarterly reports in 2005, with the biggest surge in attacks against American-led forces. That was an increase of 22 percent from the level for early May to early August, the report said. [Full Text: The Report (pdf)]

While most attacks were directed at American forces, most deaths and injuries were suffered by the Iraqi military and civilians.
...
link

This is an unacceptable use of the US military. The American People clearly do not support wars of aggression, wars of imperial conquest. If the Bush Administration wants the oil of Iraq so badly, I charge him to create his own military infrastructure, and to use his own wherewithal to achieve his ends. I reject this Bush Administration military venture into Iraq.

Finally, we must hold the Bush Administration officials accountable for this crime; against the Peoples of Iraq and the USA, against humanity, against widely accepted codes of international conduct.

A Principled and Patriotic Call for Withdrawal from Iraq

A soldier's statement relating to his signing of An Appeal for Redress (a petition for withdrawal from Iraq):

"Sgt. Gary"--21 years old. US Army. Deployed with 20th Infantry Regiment, near Mosul, Iraq:

I joined up in 2001, still a junior in high school. I felt very patriotic at the end of my US History class. My idea of the Army was that you signed up, they gave you a rifle and you ran off into battle like in some 1950s war movie. The whole idea of boot camp never really entered my head.

I supported the war in the beginning. I bought everything Bush said about how Saddam had WMDs, how he was working with Al Qaeda, how he was a threat to America. Of course, this all turned out to be false.

This is my second tour, and as of a few days ago it's half-over. Before I deployed with my unit for the second time I already had feelings of not wanting to go. When in late September a buddy in my platoon died from a bullet in the head, I really took a long hard look at this war, this Administration, and the reasons why.

After months of research on the Internet, I came to the conclusion that this war was based on lies and deception. I started to break free of all the propaganda that the Bush Administration and the Army puts out on a daily basis.

So far in three years we have succeeded in toppling a dictator and replacing him with puppets. Outlawing the old government and its standing army and replacing them with an unreliable and poorly trained crew of paycheck collectors. The well is so poisoned by what we have done here that nothing can fix it.

Sgt. Gary: Thank you for your principled stand. You do honor to your profession, your country, and most importantly - yourself.

Saudi/UK Corruption in BAE Arms Deal

Tony Blair Implicated in Iraq War Fraud

Damning information:

Diplomat's Suppressed Document Lays Bare the Lies Behind Iraq War
By Colin Brown and Andy McSmith
The Independent UK

Friday 15 December 2006

The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

A devastating attack on Mr Blair's justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain's key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act.

...

Here's a link.

Active Duty Military Personnel Appeal for Withdrawal from Iraq

After that horrifying and vulgar cartoon yesterday, I thought it would be good to post something encouraging. I would have posted something sooner, had I not been without power thanks to a mighty windstorm that left large areas of the Puget Sound region without electricity. I also spent a large portion of the day traveling to my native land of 10,000 lakes. Without further ado, here is an inspiring story about individual acts of courage that will have a forceful collective impact.

Marc Cooper of The Nation reports that nearly 1,000 active duty military personnel, both enlistees and officers, have signed An Appeal for Redress:

The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short and simple. It is patriotic and respectful in tone.

As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq . Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.

If you agree with this message, click here.

Marc Cooper included a few statements from personnel in his article. Here's one:

"Lisa"--20 years old, E-4, USAF, Stationed at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii:

I joined up two weeks after I turned 17 because I wanted to save American lives. I wanted to be a hero like any American child.

I supported the war when I joined because I thought it was justified. Only after my own research and the truth coming out did I learn how wrong I was, how--for lack of a better word--how brainwashed I was.

Now I know the war is illegal, unjustified and that our troops have no reason for being there.

When I saw an article about the Appeal in the Air Force Times I went online right away and signed it and have encouraged others to do the same.

There is momentum building to oppose this war. A new year approaches. Will it bring more of the same tired boondoggery and belligerence, a continued reliance on the threat of force to impose territorial and economic visions of hegemonic proportion? Or will the new year find an awakening to a new attitude of cooperation, altruism and egalitarianism?

My best bet says somewhere in between, though how far in either direction depends on you, and on me.

Terrible Tempest of Imperialism

I foresee this imperial effort culminating in:
© Martin Rowson 2008

Redress for Grievances: Public Funds Used for Illegal Aggressive Invasion and Occupation

This "robert11" guy has something to say:

Iraq report normalizes the concept of US colonialism. I do not support a policy of global hegemony. As a tax payer, I demand redress for grievances relating to the expenditure of public funds for an aggressive invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation. The report makes it clear that Iraq is valuable because of its oil. But it is not acceptable to invade a country in order to procure its resources for our own uses. Simply unacceptable. President Bush is a criminal. He needs to be apprehended and held in confinement until evidence relating to his alleged crimes can be gathered and he can be brought to trial. This is the strategy for a new America and a process of stabilization in Iraq.

By robert11 | Dec 11, 2006 3:20:18 AM

comments on a Washington Post article regarding the cover art of the Iraq Report.

OMJP Banner

The Permanent War and United States' Imperialism Blues

Here are some excerpts from a recent Tomgram (tomdispatch.com). Basically, Schwartz and Englehardt argue that those policy making decision makers in Washington D.C. have missed the point. The point is that the answer to the disintegration of society in Iraq is for the United States to withdraw its forces of military occupation. The military presence, essentially, is working against the creation of a secure and stable Iraq. Most importantly in this will be the relinquishment of aspirations - to privatize the oil sector, and to enable western multinational oil firms - to profit from the extraction of the Iraqi oil resource:

...This [ISG report] is not, however, good news for those of us who want the U.S. to end its war of conquest in Iraq. Quite the contrary: The ISG report is not an "exit strategy;" it is a new plan for achieving the Bush administration's imperial goals in the Middle East.
...
Why was the Iraq Study Group so reluctant to advocate the withdrawal of American troops and the abandonment of the Bush administration's goal of pacifying Iraq? The likely explanation is: Its all-establishment membership (and the teams of experts that gave it advice) understood that withdrawing from Iraq would be an imperially momentous decision. It would, in fact, mean the abandonment of over two decades of American foreign policy in the Middle East. To grasp this, it's helpful to compare the way most Americans look at the war in Iraq to the way those in power view it.

Most Americans initially believed that the U.S. went into Iraq to shut down Saddam Hussein's WMD programs and/or simply to topple a dangerous dictator (or even a dictator somehow connected to the 9/11 attacks). Of course, had that really been the case, the Bush administration should have withdrawn almost immediately. Even today, it could, at least theoretically, withdraw and declare victory the day after Saddam Hussein is executed, since the WMDs and the 9/11 connection were evanescent. In this scenario, the dismal post-invasion military failure would represent nothing but the defeat of Bush's personal crusade -- articulated only after the Hussein regime was toppled -- to bring American-style democracy to a benighted land.
...
The invasion of 2003 reflected the Bush administration's ambition to establish Iraq as the hub of American imperial dominance in the oil heartlands of the planet. Unsurprisingly, then, the U.S. military entered Iraq with plans already in hand to construct and settle into at least four massive military bases that would become nerve centers for our military presence in the "arc of instability" extending from Central Asia all the way into Africa -- an "arc" that just happened to contain the bulk of the world's exportable oil.

The original plan included wresting control of Iraqi oil from Saddam's hostile Baathist government and delivering it into the hands of the large oil companies through the privatization of new oil fields and various other special agreements. [emphasis added] It was hoped that privatized Iraqi oil might then break OPEC's hold on the global oil spigot. In the Iraq of the Bush administration's dreams, the U.S. would be the key player in determining both the amount of oil pumped and the favored destinations for it. (This ambition was implicitly seconded by the Baker Commission when it recommended that the U.S. "should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise")
...
Most striking is the report's twenty-first (of seventy-nine) recommendations, aimed at describing what the United States should do if the Iraqis fail to satisfactorily fulfill the many tasks that the ISG has set for them.

"If the Iraqi government does not make substantial progress toward the achievement of milestones on national reconciliation, security, and governance, the United States should reduce its political, military, or economic support for the Iraqi government."

This could be interpreted as a threat that the United States will withdraw -- and the mainstream media has chosen to interpret it just that way. But why then did Baker and his colleagues not word this statement differently? ("… the United States should reduce, and ultimately withdraw, its forces from Iraq.") The phrase "reduce its political, military, or economic support for the Iraqi government" is probably better interpreted literally: that if that government fails to satisfy ISG demands, the U.S. should transfer its "political, military, or economic support" to a new leadership within Iraq that it feels would be more capable of making "substantial progress toward" the milestones it has set. In other words, this passage is more likely a threat of a coup d'état than a withdrawal strategy -- a threat that the façade of democracy would be stripped away and a "strong man" (or a government of "national salvation") installed, one that the Bush administration or the ISG believes could bring the Sunni rebellion to heel.

Link here. The articles are worth reading in their entirety.

It's a lot to swallow, but it portrays, accurately, the imperial interests of the Bush Administration and the Administration's Masters.

Bush Administration Attitude: Above the Law

Just because he inhabits the Executive Mansion, doesn't mean that the laws of the United States, as well as legally binding international codes, don't apply to Mr. George Bush and Mr. Richard Cheney. These two men have created an aura of untouchability about themselves. But, they are only free from review in so much as Congress grants them a pass. The Supreme Court could even step in, if it was so inclined. Bush Administration malfeasance and abrogation of the system of codes which bind the citizens of this nation warrant serious investigation. The Congress of the USA must act to hold the Executive accountable for its actions.

Impunity and Immunity
The Bush Administration Enters the Confessional
By Karen Greenberg
...
"In the exercise of his plenary power to use military force, the President's decisions are for him alone and are unreviewable."

This notion of unreviewable behavior, then still buried in the land of footnotes, has characterized the administration's general stance on its war on terror policies.
...

link: http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=146171

Poverty: Root Cause of Terrorism

Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Muhammad Yunus:

...
We must address the root cause of terrorism to end terrorism for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the poor is a better strategy than spending it on guns.

Peace should be understood in a human way, in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights.

Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace, we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives. The creation of opportunities for the majority of the people -- the poor -- is at the heart of the work that we have dedicated ourselves during the past 30 years.
...

linked: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/13/1451222

We Must Face Our Discomfort

Having the courage for own up to feelings of discomfort in the presence of injustice and wrong-doing, and not to back away, or escape the uncomfortable sensation is crucial to the development of a healthier and better society:

by Robert Jensen
...
For people with privilege in an unjust world -- whether it’s men in relation to women, the setter-colonizer in relation to indigenous peoples, white people in relation to people of color, the rich in relation to working and poor people, or U.S. citizens in relation to the country’s domination of the rest of the world -- it’s imperative that we invite into our worlds those on the other side of that privilege, not to make us feel good but precisely to challenge us to have the courage to feel uncomfortable.

If we can’t do that, there is little hope for the world -- and no hope for our own souls.

Here's a link: http://dissidentvoice.org/Dec06/Jensen12.htm

Total Disaster in Iraq

This is from email correspondence between Dahr Jamail and a contact of his in Iraq. It demonstrates the level to which the situation has been reduced. $4 for a gallon of gas - and in a country that has the second largest proven petroleum reserve on the planet. The condition of Iraq, caused by the illegal and unjustified invasion and occupation, is intolerable and worthy of ridicule. America will regret this deplorable set of crimes against humanity for a long time:

"It is worse than ever. The problem is that our U.S. government and the Iraqi ‘Government' tell the world that things are improving here when they are not. All of the rebuilding bull crap is nothing but a scam that is worse than the oil-for-food program [of the post-Gulf War I years]. We have ONE hour of electricity a day now. I have power to turn on some lights and my computer by way of a little generator that I hooked up to my office today. A gallon of gas costs over $4 now, when the salary of an engineer is less than $200 a MONTH."

...

"I hope I can show you how the dogs have started eating the dead bodies which lie in the streets of Baghdad now. I filmed one of the dead bodies while there was a dog eating on it. The U.S. troops and Iraqi police leave the dead bodies in the streets for one or two days… I think they intend to do this because they want everyone, including the children, to see this. Three days ago my young son saw some of the Shia militia as they killed an innocent Iraqi in front of his eyes just near his school.

link: http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=146966

Representative Cynthia McKinney's Bill to Impeach President George Bush

Here are some excerpts from Representative McKinney's on-floor introduction to her impeachment bill. This was introduced in Congress last Friday:

By Cynthia McKinney, December 8, 2006
Mr. Speaker:
I come before this body today as a proud American and as a servant of the American people, sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
...
No American is above the law, and if we allow a President to violate, at the most basic and fundamental level, the trust of the people and then continue to govern, without a process for holding him accountable—what does that say about our commitment to the truth? To the Constitution? To our democracy?
...
From mushroom clouds to African yellow cake to aluminum tubes, the American people and this Congress were not presented the facts, but rather were presented a string of untruths, to justify the invasion of Iraq.
...
This has grave consequences for the health of our democracy, for our standing with our allies, and most of all, for the lives of our men and women in the military and their families—who have been asked to make sacrifices—including the ultimate sacrifice—to keep us safe.

Just as we expect our leaders to be truthful, we expect them to abide by the law and respect our courts and judges. Here again, the President failed the American people.
...
President George W. Bush has failed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States; he has failed to ensure that senior members of his administration do the same; and he has betrayed the trust of the American people.

With a heavy heart and in the deepest spirit of patriotism, I exercise my duty and responsibility to speak truthfully about what is before us. To shy away from this responsibility would be easier. But I have not been one to travel the easy road. I believe in this country, and in the power of our democracy. I feel the steely conviction of one who will not let the country I love descend into shame; for the fabric of our democracy is at stake.
...
Mr. Speaker:

Under the standards set by the United States Constitution, President Bush—along with Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of State Rice—should be subject to the process of impeachment, and I have filed H. Res. _ in the House of Representatives.

To my fellow Americans, as I leave this Congress, it is in your hands—to hold your representatives accountable, and to show those with the courage to stand for what is right, that they do not stand alone.

Thank you.

A full text can be found here: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/16230.

The message is clear. It is the Peoples' responsibility and duty to enforce accountability!

True Security Through Respectful Actions

"No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over others."
- Mr. Kofi Annan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6169669.stm

George Bush's reckless and offensive conquest of Iraq - his Administration's policy of advancing the Global Hegemony of Western Multinationals endanger America. Using the military power of the USA to advance his personal agenda of oil exploitation is anathema to the foundations of international citizenship. Instead of the good neighbor, America is rapidly advancing its ugly imperial onslaught. It is time for this to stop. We the People of the USA are ultimately responsible for exercising the powers of accountability over our government.

The onus is on us.

President of Iraq Rejects ISG Report

U.S. Report Rejected By Iraqi President

By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 11, 2006; Page A15

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday strongly rejected a bipartisan U.S. panel's report on U.S. war strategy in Iraq, calling some of its recommendations "dangerous" and a threat to his country's sovereignty.

"The report does not respect the will of the Iraqis in dealing with their problems," he said in a statement released by his office.
...

link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/ 2006/12/10/AR2006121000200.html

Seminar II Building with Fresh Snowfall

This photo is from a couple of weeks ago.

Watada: American Hero

Ehren Watada is scheduled to be court martialled in February. Watada is worthy of support, as Professor Boyle makes clear:

August 23, 2006
An Archetypal American Hero
Statement on Behalf of Lt. Ehren Watada

By FRANCIS A. BOYLE

One generation ago the peoples of the world asked themselves: Where were the "good" Germans? Well, there were some good Germans. The Lutheran theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was the foremost exemplar of someone who led a life of principled opposition to the Nazi-terror state even unto death.

Today the peoples of the world are likewise asking themselves: Where are the "good" Americans? Well, there are some good Americans. They are getting prosecuted for protesting against illegal U.S. military interventions and war crimes around the world. First Lieutenant Ehren Watada is America's equivalent to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Vaclav Havel, Andrei Sakharov, Wei Jingsheng, Aung San Suu Kyi, and others. He is the archetypal American Hero whom we should be bringing into our schools and teaching our children to emulate, not those wholesale purveyors of gratuitous violence and bloodshed adulated by the U.S. government, America's power elite, the mainstream corporate news media, and its interlocked entertainment industry.

In international legal terms, the Bush Jr. administration itself should now be viewed as constituting an ongoing criminal conspiracy under international criminal law in violation of the Nuremberg Charter, the Nuremberg Judgment, and the Nuremberg Principles, because of its formulation and undertaking of wars of aggression, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes that are legally akin to those perpetrated by the former Nazi regime in Germany.

As a consequence, American citizens and soldiers such as Lieutenant Watada possess the basic right under international law and the United States domestic law, including the U.S. Constitution, to engage in acts of civil resistance in order to prevent, impede, thwart, or terminate ongoing criminal activities perpetrated by U.S. government officials in their conduct of foreign affairs policies and military operations purported to relate to defense and counter-terrorism.

If not so restrained, the Bush Jr. administration could very well precipitate a Third World War.

Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Illinois, is author of Foundations of World Order, Duke University Press, The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence, and Palestine, Palestinians and International Law, by Clarity Press. He can be reached at: FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU

link: http://www.counterpunch.org/boyle08232006.html

Support Lieutenant Watada's principled opposition to the Iraq war. For more information, please visit thankyoult.org

Antonia Juhasz: Oil in Iraq

It's still about oil in Iraq
A centerpiece of the Iraq Study Group's report is its advocacy for securing foreign companies' long-term access to Iraqi oil fields.
By Antonia Juhasz, ANTONIA JUHASZ is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time."
December 8, 2006

WHILE THE Bush administration, the media and nearly all the Democrats still refuse to explain the war in Iraq in terms of oil, the ever-pragmatic members of the Iraq Study Group share no such reticence.

Page 1, Chapter 1 of the Iraq Study Group report lays out Iraq's importance to its region, the U.S. and the world with this reminder: "It has the world's second-largest known oil reserves." The group then proceeds to give very specific and radical recommendations as to what the United States should do to secure those reserves. If the proposals are followed, Iraq's national oil industry will be commercialized and opened to foreign firms.
...
All told, the Iraq Study Group has simply made the case for extending the war until foreign oil companies — presumably American ones — have guaranteed legal access to all of Iraq's oil fields and until they are assured the best legal and financial terms possible.

We can thank the Iraq Study Group for making its case publicly. It is now our turn to decide if we wish to spill more blood for oil.

This article is well worth your while to read in its entirety. It can be found at a link here: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-juhasz8dec08,0,4717508.story

This highlights exactly what the problem is in Iraq. Namely, foreign powers seeking to exploit resources that don't belong to them. I point you, kind reader, to the Aldo Leopold quote at the top of this page. There you will find my true feelings on this matter. George Bush: I say no to your imperialism and your killing. Too many lives have been lost for your oil war. How can you bear the weight of your burden? Do you lack a human conscience?

Future Thinking

What kind of future society do you want? Pretty much the same? Or are there some changes you would like to see. Maybe I will write some posts about some of the changes that I would like to see.

Here's a link to a post from my blog at OlyBlog.net: http://olyblog.net/blog/robert-whitlock/future-olympia

It's about a future Olympia.

More later.

American Arabs Subject to Persecution

Here's yet another example of how America is headed in the wrong direction:

Democrats Won, But Arabs in America Still Suffer from Bush's War on Terror

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted December 6, 2006.

Victimized by outrageous attempts in U.S. courts to tie him to terrorists groups, Sami Al-Arian, a tenured Palestinian professor who was fired from the University of South Florida, has spent many months in prison even after a jury failed to convict him.
...
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced Dr. Al-Arian to the maximum 57 months. In referring to Al-Arian's contention that he had only raised money for Palestinian Islamic Jihad's charity for widows and orphans, the judge said acidly to the professor that "your only connection to orphans and widows is that you create them." "The cards were stacked against us," said the defendant's daughter, Laila Al-Arian. "The prosecutors showed gruesome videos of suicide bombings in Israel and tried to tie my father to them. He had nothing to do with these attacks. He has always condemned the killing of Israeli and Palestinian civilians. The trial was Orwellian. The government prosecutors would take events and statements that had nothing to do with my father and attempt to connect them to him. This was all about silencing a Palestinian activist, not combating terrorism."
...

link here: http://www.alternet.org/rights/45100/

How can people stand by idly while our government commits wrongs like this? I'll tell you, it's because we're duped and drugged. We are duped into thinking that everything is okay by a failed media system and drugged, often by that same media system - primarily television. We are also drugged by the culture of consumption, which has created an American populous afflicted, all too often, with tunnel-vision and a startling lack of concern for anything other than basic desires. Americans are saying, "give me food and TV and don't make me think! Don't challenge me to think outside the box. Life is great."

I'm truly saddened by this lack of concern on the part of mainstream Americans for the grievous injustices that are being committed in our names. Our actions, or lack thereof, will inevitably be taken into account.

Iraq Soldier's Death Rate Quickens

We are on pace to reach the 3,000th death of an American service person in Iraq before the new year. Only 6 days into the month of December, 29 occupation soldiers have been killed.

The Heart of Whirlpool Galaxy M51

Heart of the Whirlpool...

Rumsfeld Sued by Film-Maker for Abu Ghraib Captivity

Video: Iranian-American filmmaker sues Rumsfeld

David Edwards
Published: Friday November 17, 2006

In this video clip, CNN interviews Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American filmmaker, who is suing U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for wrongful imprisonment and the violation of his Constitutional rights.

In Iraq to film a historical documentary, Kar was charged with being a terrorist and placed in the notorious prison at Abu Ghraib. He was held for 55 days, most of them in solitary confinement. After 49 days, he was finally given a hearing and eventually freed.

Rumsfeld has filed motions to have the suit dismissed. A hearing in January will determine if Kar's lawsuit can go forward.

A full transcript follows the video...

Here's a link: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/ Video_IranianAmerican_filmmaker_sues_Donald_Rumsfeld_1117.html

The water is rising, Rumsfeld. The storm rages and rides high on the horizon.

Bush the Destroyer

Bush's Meeting With A Murderer
Robert Dreyfuss
December 04, 2006

Robert Dreyfuss is an Alexandria, Va.-based writer specializing in politics and national security issues. He is the author of Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam (Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books, 2005), a contributing editor at The Nation and a writer for Mother Jones, The American Prospect and Rolling Stone. He can be reached through his website, www.robertdreyfuss.com.

President George W. Bush meets today with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the turbaned leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Shiite fundamentalist party that is strongly tied to Iran. In so doing, the president is meeting with someone who, perhaps more than anyone else in Iraq, is responsible for trying to destroy Iraqi national unity, prevent national reconciliation among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian mix, and push Iraq into civil war. Al-Hakim, who was virtually Fed-Ex’d into Iraq by the Pentagon in March 2003, was a mainstay of the Iraqi National Congress, led by neoconservative darling Ahmed Chalabi throughout the 1990s. And today al-Hakim controls the SCIRI militia, the Badr Brigade, the Iraqi interior ministry and many of Iraq’s feared death squads. Not to put too fine a point on it, Hakim is a mass murderer.

What’s stunning about Bush’s encounter with al-Hakim is that it occurs precisely at the moment when critically important bridges are being built across Iraq’s Sunni-Shiite divide—bridges that al-Hakim is trying to blow up.
...

oh won't you read more at tompaine.com?

Bolton "Resigns"

reuters ©

It's a relief to see John Bolton step down from his position as ambassador to the UN. Bolton's belligerent attitude was an obstacle to the proper function of the UN as a regulatory oversight body. Bolton, in my understanding, sought to derail many UN functions rather than enable the proper function of the international organization. Goodbye, John Bolton.

[edit: Watch this video from the NYT about Bolton's resignation and work within the UN.]

Annan: Iraq Situation Worse than Civil War

BBC News Service:

...
Asked by the BBC's Lyse Doucet whether the situation in Iraq could now be classified as a civil war, Mr Annan pointed to the level of "killing and bitterness" and the way forces in Iraq are now ranged against each other.

"A few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse.

"We have a very worrisome situation in the broader Middle East," Mr Annan said, linking the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and tensions over Iran.

Tough situation

He admitted that the failure to prevent the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a major blow to the UN, one from which the organisation is only beginning to recover.
...

A real tragedy. And to think it was preventable. Had only the American people demanded truth and accountability from the fraudster Bush Administration. We will inherit the dues spawned by this disaster in Iraq for many years to come... And not just Americans and Britons and Iraqis and those of the greater Middle East - the whole of humanity will bear the brunt of this cruel and insidious Bush Administration plot to do wrong.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6204980.stm

Howard Beale's Mad as Hell

Check out this clip from the film Network:

Bush in Denial - Robert Fisk Reports

In this article, Fisk compares Bush to the likes of Hitler. He discusses some of the basis for understanding what is a failed mission in Iraq, and he ponders Bush's fantastic denial of the brutal, terrible and horrific truth on the ground. Iraq is in chaos and Bush can only say that he will not pull US military forces out before he instills a pro-western government (that cannot have the support of the Iraqi people). Essentially, his goal is all but totally lost. But he plunges on, oblivious. He is lost in denial; in a deep stinking delusion.

Robert Fisk: Like Hitler and Brezhnev, Bush is in denial
Published: 01 December 2006

More than half a million deaths, an army trapped in the largest military debacle since Vietnam, a Middle East policy already buried in the sands of Mesopotamia - and still George W Bush is in denial. How does he do it? How does he persuade himself - as he apparently did in Amman yesterday - that the United States will stay in Iraq "until the job is complete"? The "job" - Washington's project to reshape the Middle East in its own and Israel's image - is long dead, its very neoconservative originators disavowing their hopeless political aims and blaming Bush, along with the Iraqis of course, for their disaster.

History's "deniers" are many - and all subject to the same folly: faced with overwhelming evidence of catastrophe, they take refuge in fantasy, dismissing evidence of collapse as a symptom of some short-term setback, clinging to the idea that as long as their generals promise victory - or because they have themselves so often promised victory - that fate will be kind. George W Bush - or Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara for that matter - need not feel alone. The Middle East has produced these fantasists by the bucketful over past decades.
...

Link: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2029238.ece

Record Setting Afghanistan Opium Crop

Here's another failure to add to the Bush Administration's growing list:

Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record
U.S.-Backed Efforts At Eradication Fail

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 2, 2006; Page A01

Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday.

In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year -- for a total of 5,644 metric tons -- the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent.
...

link to original: http://www.washingtonpost[...]

Now, George Bush and his crusaders of debauchery have managed to enable a dependency on opium production for the stability of Afghanistan's economy. What's next?

Hopefully a quick removal from office.

Corruption in Iraqi Reconstruction Industry

Think Cheney, Halliburton etc...:

Corruption: the 'second insurgency' costing $4bn a year

One third of rebuilding contracts under criminal investigation

Julian Borger in Washington, David Pallister
Saturday December 2, 2006
The Guardian

The Iraqi government is in danger of being brought down by the wholesale smuggling of the nation's oil and other forms of corruption that together represent a "second insurgency", according to a senior US official. Stuart Bowen, who has been in charge of auditing Iraq's faltering reconstruction since 2004, said corruption had reached such levels that it threatened the survival of the state.
...
the insurgents and militias have also been abetted by US incompetence. A recent audit by his inspectors found that more than 14,000 guns paid for out of US reconstruction funds for Iraqi government use could not be accounted for. Many could be in the hands of insurgents or sectarian death squads, but it will be almost impossible to prove because when the US military handed out the guns it noted the serial numbers of only about 10,000 out of a total of 370,000 US-funded weapons, contrary to defence department regulations.
...
A culture of waste, incompetence and fraud may be one legacy the occupiers have passed on to Iraq's new rulers more or less intact. Mr Bowen's office found that nearly $9bn in Iraqi oil revenues could not be accounted for. The cash was flown into the country in shrink-wrapped bundles on military transport planes and handed over by the ton to Iraqi ministries by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) run by Paul Bremer, a veteran diplomat. The money was meant to demonstrate the invaders' good intentions and boost the Iraqi economy, which Mr Bremer later insisted had been "dead in the water". But it also fuelled a cycle of corruption left over from Saddam Hussein's rule.
...
A potentially far more serious problem has been the way the US government decided to give out reconstruction contracts. It split the economy into sectors and shared them out among nine big US corporations. In most cases the contracts were distributed without competition and on a cost-plus basis. In other words the contractors were guaranteed a profit margin calculated as a percentage of their costs, so the higher the costs, the higher the profits. In the rush to get work started the contracts were signed early in 2004. In many cases work did not get under way until the year was nearly over. In the months between, the contractors racked up huge bills on wages, hotel bills and restaurants.

According to a Sigir review published in October, Kellogg, Brown and Root (a subsidiary of Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company) was awarded an oil industry repair contract in February 2004 but "direct project activity" did not begin until November 19. In that time KBR's overhead costs were nearly $53m. In fact more than half the company's $300m project costs from 2004-06 went on overheads, the audit found.
...

link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1962245,00.html

Uncle Sam - Unrecognizable to Himself

Mr. Fish; veritable as always. America is behaving in an atavistic manner. But we, the American people, are better than that. It's time that we stand up to our government and demand change. This trampling - of the environment, of the poor and otherwise powerless amongst us, of future generations - is simply not the way to operate, it's not a good way to live. Let's stand up for our common humanity. Uncle Sam needs some serious help. There is a moral obligation to oppose the government's wrongdoing. Just look at him:


link: http://www.harpers.org/CartoonsUncleSam-2006-12-01.html

Right Wing Anti-Muslim Assaults

By M.J. Rosenberg:

It didn't take long for the bigots to come after Rep.-Elect Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota). Ellison is an African-American and the first Muslim to be elected to Congress. Yesterday, Dennis Prager, the far-right Jewish talk-show host, attacked Ellison because the young Muslim wants to take his oath of office on a Quran and not on the Christian Bible. Prager went ballistic, sayng “he should not be allowed to do so.” Prager said that "the Bible is America's holiest book. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress.”

Why would a Jew want a Muslim to take an oath on a Christian bible? Wouldn't the Torah be preferable?

This attack on Ellison is not good, whether the attacker is Christian, Jew, secular - whatever. Prager owes Ellison a sincere on-air apology. And a prompt one at that. Prager is not a good Jew (according to my understanding). No person of religious faith, especially the Jewish faith, in which principles of social justice and equality are highly esteemed (according to my lay knowledge of the faith), would stoop to an attack of this level. Is Prager an imposter? Maybe. He reeks of nationalism, that much is for sure.

[edit:Really, it doesn't matter what his professed religion of choice is, this type of bigotry is really destructive and harmful to society.]

link to tpm café article:anti_muslim_assault_on_democratic_congressman

Liberty in the Middle East

From the Guardian:

He [Bush] rejected any notion of a "graceful exit" as unrealistic: "It's in our interests to help liberty prevail in the Middle East, starting with Iraq. And that's why this business about graceful exit simply has no realism to it at all."

When Bush speaks of the prevalence of liberty in the Middle East, all I can think of is liberty for him and his oil industry cronies to further exploit the oil wealth of the region for their own interests.

I say no to you, Bush. Am I totally off my rocker, or what?

Here's a link to the article from The Guardian, which describes Bush's continued support for Nouri al-Maliki, and occupation: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1961618,00.html

A Strategy to Deceive Congress and the American People

This is from Elizabeth de la Vega's indictment of Bush et al., Conspiracy to Defraud the United States:

the defendants and WHIG executed a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive Congress and the American people by making hundreds of false and fraudulent representations that were only half-true, or literally true but misleading; by concealing material facts; and by making statements without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, regarding, among other things:

(a) their true intent to invade Iraq;
(b) the extent of military buildup and force used against Iraq without notice to or approval by Congress;
(c) their true purpose in seeking a Congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force against Iraq;
(d) their true intent to use their involvement in seeking a UN resolution requiring Iraq to cooperate with weapons inspectors as a sham; and
(e) their claimed justifications for invading Iraq, including but not limited to:
* The alleged connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of September 11, 2001;
* The alleged connection between Iraq and al Qaeda;
* The alleged connection between Saddam Hussein and any terrorists whose primary animus was directed towards the United States;
* Saddam Hussein's alleged intent to attack the United States in any way;
• Saddam Hussein's possession of nuclear weapons and the status of any alleged ongoing nuclear weapons programs;
* The lack of any reasonable basis for asserting with certainty that Saddam Hussein was actively manufacturing chemical and biological weapons; and
*The alleged urgency of any threat posed to the United States by Saddam Hussein.

read more: Bush Administration Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.

Mayfield to be Compensated $2M

This is a pretty amazing case of FBI wrong doing. The Spanish authorities told the FBI repeatedly that Mayfield's prints did not match. FBI computer analysis confirmed this. But they arrested him anyway. And now they claim that it wasn't because Mayfield had recently converted to Islam:

U.S. Settles Suit Filed by Ore. Lawyer
$2 Million Will Be Paid For Wrongful Arrest After Madrid Attack

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 30, 2006; Page A03

The U.S. government agreed yesterday to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by an Oregon lawyer who was arrested and jailed for two weeks in 2004 after the FBI bungled a fingerprint match and mistakenly linked him to a terrorist attack in Spain.

Under the terms of the settlement filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Portland, the government also issued an unusual apology to Brandon Mayfield for the "suffering" caused by his wrongful arrest and imprisonment. It acknowledged that the ordeal was "deeply upsetting" to Mayfield and his family.

Mayfield will be able to continue pursuing his legal challenge to the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law, which was used to obtain his personal records while he was under investigation.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901179.html

Mist and Smoke

Democracy in Iraq

Click on images for links to full resolution versions.

Tree and Blue Sky

view toward library and red square:


Tree and Blue Sky

Letter to the "Prez"

"Prez" in quotes because his official election status is dubious.

I just sent this email off to the #1 and #2. I don't think they'll like it very much. But I don't like what they are doing to the USA, to the people, to the world, to humanity in general.

Without further ado:

Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney,

It is obvious that the situation in Iraq is dire and that it is only getting worse. The vast majority of Iraqis want the US military to withdraw. The Iraqis further believe that sectarian violence and tensions will actually be reduced if the USA leaves Iraq alone. It seems that, at the very least, setting an timetable for withdrawal deserves to be on the table for discussion.

Your invasion and occupation of Iraq has the appearance of a project in venture capitalism gone drastically awry. But, as obvious as the failure is to the rest of the world, you are still wedded to your notions of success. Your belief in success is delusional. What will it take to bring disillusion to the White House?

Only the introduction of an international consortium, founded in genuine altruistic intentions, can restore true stability and security to Iraq.

In order to achieve true and lasting security in Iraq and the region, the USA (and other Western Interests with an eye for exploitation) must rescind all economic ties to the oil wealth of Iraq. That is, American and other Western business interests must not be allowed to profit any further from the disaster in Iraq, or from the eventual development of the petroleum extraction industry there.

The conduct of your administration regarding the invasion and occupation of Iraq brings shame to the USA. Shame on you. Americans know that justification for the invasion was based on lies and deliberate falsehoods. You are under investigation by the American people for prewar intelligence fraud.

It's time to think, and then think again.

Sincerely,

Robert Whitlock

Bush Administration to Receive Indictment for Prewar Planning Fraud

How timely for this book to be published now, as a newly elected congress is preparing inhabit the Capitol building in D.C. And just in time for the holiday season.

What would really be appropriate during this bleak time in the USA would be to make this indictment real. Let's follow through with a real hearing in a Court of Law with Subpoena Power. Let the accused stand trial. No?

Have a good week:

[from tomdispatch.com]

...De la Vega has drawn up that indictment -- a "hypothetical" one, she hastens to add -- convened that grand jury, and held seven days of testimony. Yes, it's a grand jury directly out of her fertile brain and the federal agents who testify are fictional, but all the facts are true. She understands the case against the Bush administration down to the last detail; and she's produced, to my mind, the book of the post-election, investigative season: United States v. George W. Bush et al.

It's a Tomdispatch.com book project, produced in conjunction with Seven Stories Press, a superb independent publisher, and officially published on December 1st. I think it's simply sensational. It makes a "slam dunk" case for the way we were defrauded into war; despite the grim subject matter, it's a beautifully designed little book, a pleasure to hold in your hand; and, because de la Vega is a natural as a writer, it's also thoroughly enjoyable reading...
...
Today, United States v. George W. Bush et al remains in the realm of fiction, but tomorrow, if you lend a hand… who knows? Tom

A Fraud Worse than Enron
By Elizabeth de la Vega

Elizabeth de la Vega, appearing on behalf of the United States. That is a phrase I've uttered hundreds of times in twenty years as a federal prosecutor. I retired two years ago. So, obviously, I do not now speak for any U.S. Attorney's Office, nor do I represent the federal government. This should be apparent from the fact that I am proposing a hypothetical indictment of the President and his senior advisers -- not a smart move for any federal employee who wishes to remain employed. Lest anyone miss the import of this paragraph, let me emphasize that it is a DISCLAIMER: I am writing as a private citizen.

Obviously, as a private citizen, I cannot simply draft and file an indictment. Nor can I convene a grand jury. Instead, in the following pages I intend to present a hypothetical indictment to a hypothetical grand jury. The defendants are President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war--in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States. And all of you are invited to join the grand jury.
...

link to original: http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=142875

Mark Danner: Fantasies, Delusions and Faulty Imaginations of Success in Iraq

Here is a short excerpt from an article by Mark Danner. It can be found in several locations on the Internet, but I will link to a copy posted by Tom Englehardt at Tomdispatch.com.

The machinations of the war industry have led America down a cruel and disparaging road. The war machine has decimated Iraq. Where once there was stability and civil discourse, now there is chaos and violence. Where once families felt secure in their neighborhoods and livelihoods, now thousands of Iraqis flee their homeland daily. They flee Iraq because the US occupation of Iraq has brought, instead of liberation, intolerable chaos, violence, and an environment where destitution and criminality prevail:

Anyone seeking to understand what has become the central conundrum of the Iraq war -- how it is that so many highly accomplished, experienced, and intelligent officials came together to make such monumental, consequential, and, above all, obvious mistakes, mistakes that much of the government knew very well at the time were mistakes -- must see beyond what seems to be a simple rhetoric of self-justification and follow it where it leads: toward the War of Imagination that senior officials decided to fight in the spring and summer of 2002 and to whose image they clung long after reality had taken a sharply separate turn.
...
Since the first thrilling night of shock and awe, reported with breathless enthusiasm by the American television networks, the Iraq war has had at least two histories, that of the war itself and that of the American perception of it. As the months passed and the number of attacks in Iraq grew, the gap between those two histories opened wider and wider. And finally, for most Americans, the War of Imagination -- built of nationalistic excitement and ideological hubris and administration pronouncements about "spreading democracy" and "greetings with sweets and flowers," and then about "dead-enders" and "turning points," and finally about "staying the course" and refusing "to cut and run" -- began, under the pressure of nearly three thousand American dead and perhaps a hundred thousand or more dead Iraqis, to give way to grim reality.

The election of November 7, 2006, marks the moment when the War of Imagination decisively gave way to the war on the ground and when officials throughout the American government, not least the President himself, were forced to recognize and acknowledge a reality that much of the American public had discerned months or years before. The ideological canopy now has lifted. The study groups are at their work. Americans have come to know what they do not know. If confronted with that simple question the smiling President Ahmadinejad of Iran put to Mike Wallace last August -- "I ask you, sir, what is the American Army doing inside Iraq?" -- how many Americans could offer a clear and convincing answer?
...

http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=142383

Rumsfeld in Trouble

Reuters photo©: "torturer in chief?"

Rumsfeld okayed abuses says former U.S. general
Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:45 AM ET

MADRID (Reuters) - Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison's former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain's El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

"The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: "Make sure this is accomplished"," she told Saturday's El Pais.

"The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably ... Rumsfeld authorized these specific techniques."

The Geneva Convention says prisoners of war should suffer "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion" to secure information.

read the whole thing

"Pottery Barn Rule" in Iraq is Moot

Rosa Brooks argues against Colin Powell's assertion that, as far as Iraq goes, if you break it, you buy it. And I tend to agree with her. Though I do think in general the USA is not doing enough to reach out to the world community to ask for help in solving the Iraq crisis:

Rosa Brooks: Iraq is broke beyond repair

The Pottery Barn rule won't cut it any more -- we have to get out before more damage is done.

Rosa Brooks

November 24, 2006

IN 1789, GEORGE Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation. After giving "sincere and humble thanks" for the many blessings our young country had enjoyed, he urged Americans to "unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions."

If Washington were alive to express those sentiments today, he'd be pilloried by Bill O'Reilly as a member of the "Blame America First Club." National transgressions? Who, us?

But, yes, even the U.S.A. screws up sometimes. The invasion of Iraq, for instance, will go down in history as a national transgression of epic proportions — and our original screw-up (an unjustified invasion based on cooked intelligence books) was compounded many times over by our failure to plan for the reconstruction of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

I visited Iraq in August 2003, back when it was still possible to believe that some good would come out of the U.S. invasion. True, we hadn't found any weapons of mass destruction — but Hussein was out, and ordinary Iraqis were eager to embark on a freer and more prosperous future. On the pedestal that had once supported the famous statue of Hussein (toppled in April 2003 by jubilant Iraqis, with a little help from U.S. troops), an Iraqi graffiti artist left the Americans a pointed message, written in blood-red paint: "ALL DONNE GO HOME."

We should have done just that.

...

But at this point, our presence is manifestly making things worse. Ask the Iraqis, who ought to know. In a poll released this week, 78% of Iraqis told researchers that the U.S. military presence is "provoking more conflict than it is preventing"; 71% said they want U.S. troops out within a year; 58% said they think inter-ethnic violence will diminish if the U.S. withdraws; and 61% think that a U.S. withdrawal will improve day-to-day security for average Iraqis. We should listen to them, this time.

And no, adding another 20,000 or 30,000 troops won't magically turn the tide. It's too little, too late. Adding another 200,000 to 300,000 troops might make a difference, but troops don't grow on trees. They grow in families, and this war has already damaged thousands of those.

We can withdraw quickly or slowly, all at once or in stages, but we should withdraw. If it makes anyone feel better, we can call it "strategic redeployment," and we can and should look for ongoing ways to use our financial resources and our technical expertise to help ordinary Iraqis and any legitimate, nonaggressive Iraqi government.

Before the war, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell told President Bush of the so-called Pottery Barn rule: "You break it, you own it." But Iraq is not a decorative dinner plate. We broke it, but we can't fix it, and we can never own it. All we can do now is leave and apologize for the terrible damage we've done.

It's hard to imagine our current president asking anyone's forgiveness for our "national transgressions," but this Thanksgiving season would be a pretty good time for him to start.
link http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/latimes578.html

Major Hostilities Rage in Iraq

It seems that a full blown sectarian conflict has broken out between the Sunni and the Shi'a in Iraq. Here's a story from McClatchy. We need to put more pressure on D.C. to end this occupation. We need to bring in a consortium of credible parties to restore stability to Iraq. The onus is on our government:

Al-Sadr loyalists take over Iraqi television station By Hannah Allam and Mohamed al Dulaimy McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Followers of the militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took over state-run television Saturday to denounce the Iraqi government, label Sunnis "terrorists" and issue what appeared to many viewers as a call to arms.

The two-hour broadcast from a community gathering in the heart of the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City included three members of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, who took questions from outraged residents demanding revenge for a series of car bombings that killed some 200 people Thursday.

With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki relegated to the sidelines, brazen Sunni-Shiite attacks continue unchecked despite a 24-hour curfew over Baghdad. Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia now controls wide swaths of the capital, his politicians are the backbone of the Cabinet, and his followers deeply entrenched in the Iraqi security forces. Sectarian violence has spun so rapidly out of control since the Sadr City blasts, however, that it's not clear whether even al-Sadr has the authority - or the will - to stop the cycle of bloodshed.

...

read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16092045.htm

Harnessing the Power of the Stars

A new multinational project is being developed in order to explore the possibility of developing an Earth bound source of thermo-nuclear fusion energy. The ITER project will culminate in the construction and testing of the ITER machine, which will be built in France.

The goal is to produce thermonuclear fusion plasma in about 10 years time. The research from ITER will then be used to guide the development of full-scale, serviceable fusion energy plants. Contributions to the project will be made by a seven member consortium.

I don't know of the possibility for detriment from this type of technology. It seems like an awful lot of heat, for one thing. But burning coal as well as other fossil fuels, and present day nuclear fission, are currently producing great amounts of heat, which are affecting ecosystems.

As with anything, common sense dictates that there will be positive and negative aspects. But this technology of fusion power does seem promising, and if it is ever made functional, it has the potential to provide energy on a much more sustainable basis than any type of production currently in practice.

The ITER experiment seeks to generate
usable power from thermonuclear fusion

by about 2016.

Please navigate to the ITER website for more information.

Don't Be Afraid to Die on the Battlefield

link to full resolution original

Death Toll in Iraq Increasing Rapidly

I blogged a story about this already, but I think it deserves more attention, given the recent spike in violent deaths in Iraq. We need to remember that the United States of America (the government of the Bush Administration at least) is responsible for the situation in Iraq. Had not the Bush Administration pushed for a flagrantly illegal invasion (by means of fraud), the people of Iraq, as well as the US uniformed service men and women (and their families), would not be suffering as they are currently.

Really, we are all suffering because of this war. We all reap the emotional consequences of the violence of war. And these fruits are made all the more rotten and distasteful, all the more putrid and vile, because of the illegal, immoral, unjustified nature of the US military action in Iraq. Read more about the recent rise in violence from Mohammed A. Salih:

ARBIL, Nov 23 (IPS) - More than 150 people died in the Shia Sadr area of Baghdad in a spate of car bombings and mortar attacks Thursday morning.

The toll has been rising dramatically already. A United Nations report indicates that violence hit a new high during October. November looks certain to be worse, with preliminary figures indicating a higher toll in November even before the Thursday bombings.

In its report released Nov. 22, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said that during September and October of this year 7,054 civilians were killed. Of this, 3,709 deaths came in October, marking the highest monthly death toll since the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In July and August, 6,599 Iraqis were killed. Relative to that the violence in September and October showed significant increase.

"Iraq's security situation is critically dangerous," Bassam Ali, a political analyst from Arbil told IPS. "There is a full-scale sectarian war in the country that the media has not been able to fully project to the world."
...

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35590

Voting Irregularities / Happy Thanksgiving

When the Democrats take over congress, I think one of the most important first steps to take is a thorough investigation of the various sundry voting irregularities that have been exposed in all of the elections since the 2000 presidential election.

It's pretty bad. When American's don't trust the voting system, when the voting system is shown to have flaws, the fundamental basic right of the American citizen has been rendered obsolete. American Citizens have become disenfranchised from the political process.

Democrats need to address this issue first and foremost, even before investigations into the Bush Administration's malfeasance.

On another note, Happy Thanksgiving. It's raining here, and very dark for 10:30 in the morning, but - the show must go on. Good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight.

Media Poisoning of American Minds

How are we going to stop Bill O'Reilly, FOXnews, Rush Limbaugh et al. from poisoning the minds of so many American people? These manipulators are having a truly harmful effect on life in America (and the world.)

Deadliest Month Yet For Iraqis

There is news that October was the deadliest month since the United States' pre-emptive attack and invasion. And according to this, November's total is likely to pose an even larger number:

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 101 Iraqis died in the country's unending sectarian slaughter Wednesday, and the U.N. reported that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll of the war and one that is sure to be eclipsed when November's dead are counted.
...
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq]

Here is another interesting story for juxtaposition. American soldiers allegedly opened tank cannon fire on a group of homes in Ramadhi, killing 35 people:

Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily

RAMADI, Nov 17 (IPS) - U.S. military tank fire killed scores of civilians in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night, according to witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident at the hospitals and during the funerals in the following days.

Iraqi doctors and witnesses at the scene of the attack said U.S. tanks killed 35 civilians when they shelled several homes in the Al-Dhubat area of the city.
... [http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35515]

So, Iraq is in a state of living hell, and America is neck deep in it. This is truly a terrible situation that we are in. The US government must be forced to do what it can to repair the nation of Iraq. How can we make it up to the Iraqi people? Maybe it's not possible. But the government, under the Bush administration, must be forced to reckon for its wrongs and address these issues in a direct and meaningful manner.

Bush Administration War on America

The Bush Administration War on America rages on, checked only by a recent gain by democrats in the mid-term election. But the real substance of the Democratic gains are yet to be proven. And the "majority" in the Senate isn't real, because it counts on psuedoDemocrats like Lieberman (CT).

The War on America, that is being waged by the Bush Administration is multi-faceted. They are systematically weakening the domestic economy, decreasing safety and security in the face of threats from terrorism (in a number of ways, not the least of which is by inciting - by provoking terrorists into action...), they are weakening the nets of social protection like access to health care, they are making access to education more difficult, as well as access to gainful opportunities for employment.

The Bush Administration War on America has many accomplices. Most notably Congress. But the judiciary is on track to become a major player in this assault as well.

The recent election is comforting. The American people are not totally asleep. But there is so much more to be done. The road to political and governmental sanity in America appears to be steep and long. But the task can be reduced to a simple operation. Many hands make light work. What needs to happen? Citizen involvement needs to happen. Somehow, the people must be encouraged to raise their voices and call for the better world that they can imagine. I can imagine a better world, and a better America within that world. Can you?

Unconstitutional - The War on Civil Liberties

Kissinger Rejects Iraq War!

Developing story: many prominent Republicans and Neo-conservatives are speaking out in regard to their estimation of a failed mission in Iraq. Of course, the mission was destined to fail from the outset. The war planners thought that the ends might justify the means and decided it was worth committing various acts of fraud in order to promote the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Now, after hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on the debacle, we learn that Iraq is only worse off, we in America are no safer from terrorism (indeed we are less safe than we were pre-invasion.)

Unfortunately, it looks as if there are still some in the administration who see Iran as a way out of the failure in Iraq. Hopefully, whoever takes over at the Pentagon from Rumsfeld will have the intellectual sanity and courage to realize the disaster that would come from a unilateral preemptive assault on Iran.

Read more about Kissinger and Iraq:

Kissinger Says Victory in Iraq Is Not Possible

By BRIAN KNOWLTON
NYT
Published: November 19, 2006

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 — Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, who regularly advises President Bush on Iraq, said today that a full military victory was no longer possible there. He thus joined a growing number of leading conservatives openly challenging the administration’s conduct of the war and positive forecasts for it.

“If you mean, by ‘military victory,’ an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don’t believe that is possible,” Mr. Kissinger told BBC News.

In Washington, a leading Republican supporter of the war, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said American troops in Iraq were “fighting and dying for a failed policy.”
...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19cnd-policy.html

This still isn't great news, because, for some reason, the policy makers don't see this as an opportunity to make a wholesale exit from Iraq.

What needs to happen is an unconditional and total American withdrawl (economic as well as military). Of course, leaving a "security vacuum" (any more than the one that currently exists) would be unacceptable. The USA must call on the neighbors of Iraq, from Iran, to Russian, to Saudi Arabia, etc. and call upon the UN; first for forgiveness, and secondly to provide the types of resources and credibility necessary to establish stability in Iraq.

Election Abnormalities

Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked
By Rob Kall
OpEd News

Friday 17 November 2006

Results skewed nationwide in favor of Republicans by 4 percent, 3 million votes.

A major undercount of Democratic votes and an overcount of Republican votes in US House and Senate races across the country is indicated by an analysis of national exit polling data, by the Election Defense Alliance (EDA), a national election integrity organization.

These findings have led EDA to issue an urgent call for further investigation into the 2006 election results and a moratorium on deployment of all electronic election equipment.

"We see evidence of pervasive fraud, but apparently calibrated to political conditions existing before recent developments shifted the political landscape," said attorney Jonathan Simon, co-founder of Election Defense Alliance, "so 'the fix' turned out not to be sufficient for the actual circumstances." Explained Simon, "When you set out to rig an election, you want to do just enough to win. The greater the shift from expectations, (from exit polling, pre-election polling, demographics) the greater the risk of exposure--of provoking investigation. What was plenty to win on October 1 fell short on November 7.

read more: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111806B.shtml

This is deeply troubling information. Although the Democrats took a majority of congress, there were many close races. How many more seats would the opposition party picked up had voter fraud been absent? According to this information, the Democrats stood to take much larger gains than, in fact, they did.

This problem is urgent: It needs to be addressed.