Representative Duncan Hunter (R), a candidate for the nomination of the Republican party, fanned the flames of war as he spoke with Judy Woodruff on the Lehrer News Hour this evening. His comments suggest the inevitability of a war with Iran and Woodruff asks him for a judgment as to whether or not a military confrontation with Iran is settled. It seemed to me that Hunter indicated that it was not yet time to say inevitable with the implication that such a decision is in the wings. Well, when it is decided, Judy Woodruff will be ready to talk about the inevitable, ie. go along with the war plans of the United States and become part of the imperialist war by informing all, with a straight face, that the bombardment of Iran is inevitable, coming down the pike.
What Judy Woodruff will not do is challenge the endless unsubstantiated allegations about how the Iranian nuclear program is a program to build nuclear weapons.
What Judy Woodruff will not do is dwell on the possibilities for peace which are many given the repeated diplomatic efforts of Iran to work out some sort of modus vivendi with Washington.
What Judy Woodruff will not do is detect any lie, any distortion, any act of public deception or mass manipulation. She will part of the "in-crowd", one of those favored creatures who finds
our what "has been decided" and then almost gleefully leads us to support that decision.
Above all Judy Woodruff will not question the decision to go to war with Iran and almost never question any other decision for that matter, unless of course it is the decision of a foreign leader, a polygamist leader or anyone else who does not make those decisions she so loyally transmits to the millions of her viewers, hungering for news, not political complicity with newsmakers or
powerful decision makers.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
APPEAL TO U.S. TROOPS: NO ONE WANTS YOU IN IRAQ
I spoke to a dude today, a fellow in his forties or fifties and he was with what appeared to be his son and wife. He caught my attention because of his fatigues and the bumper sticker that
said ARMY.
I asked him if he was going to Iraq. He said he hoped not. I said I hoped not either then I did the unthinkable. I asked him a question, "If the Iraqis don't want you in Iraq and the American people don't want you in Iraq, and its an illegal, unjust war, why is anyone going?"
He and his whole family looked a little shit-faced. No one said anything.
"Resist the war I said to him. It's an illegal imperialist war. Resist the war! Resist the war!"
"Resist the war and live. Stay home and live."
I made my speech and left the dude and his poor family to their thoughts.
I hope that dude doesn't go to Iraq. If he does go, it is at least in part his choice. I sharpened up the philosophical debate in his head and perhaps in his family. If they weren't already talking about what a bunch of crap the war is you can bet they are now.
He may not want to pay the price of resisting the war which could be high or could be quite low depending on how the ARMY looks at his resistance. Some are discharged, others get some time. He will not be killed. He will not return home a cabbage patch father and husband.
Some will say, some have said that I have gone over the edge. But it was just words, just a conversation, just an appeal to another human being who may or may not save his own life by resisting the war. It also is the right thing to do, to not be part or an imperialist invasion and occupation.
When he is in Iraq, if he makes that choice to go, he will either be at a base with no contact with Iraqis or if he does leave these protected sanctuaries he will be trying to survive the ongoing war against the occupation. Of course he is likely to have superior weapons and armor. I wonder how kind he will be to Iraqis? I suspect he will not be kind to the average Iraqi who just happens to surprise this dude-father-husband soldier. Face it, this harmless looking dad may be blowing away families in Iraq if it fits the oh so liberal "rules of engagement". That's the situation Bush-Cheney and Representative Dennis Moore want to put him. That's something else he won't have to do if he choses life, peace and resistance to the imperialist, unjust, illegal war in Iraq.
This sacred cow thing about the military is just used by imperialist leaders like the Bush-Cheney
criminal clique to suppress debate and open discussion of what these scoundrels, the imperialist leaders, are really all about. They want oil, Iran's oil, Iraq's oil an and everyone's oil. They want a permanent occupation of Iraq, Bush compared his dreamed of occupation as being like that in
Korea. The Korean occupation is already fifty years old with no end in sight.
The whole invasion of Iraq has only polarized the world against the United States. Our economy is in long term and now apparently acute decline. Yet one fact remains, whoever ends up running Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia will sell oil. We don't need to conquer other lands to buy oil.
It will be on the market.
The whole war is pointless in terms of achieving democracy or stability. It created al-qaeda in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden and Dick Cheney (as well as his loathesome sidekick G. W. and clueless congressional leaders like Representative Dennis Moore (D) of Kansas all agreed that the invasion of Afghanistan was a great idea, for Bin Laden. It was a classic case of drawing the enemy in deep so that a protracted war against the invader can begin.
Only it was quite an additional bonus to Al Qaeda to see the United States invade Iraq as well.
Now the United States is losing two wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. The invasion of Iraq made possible the creation of Al Qaeda in Iraq and similar groups where they really didn't exist before the invasion. Who was the genius here? Not Discmaster Cheney, not Representive Dennis Moore of Kansas who has been a relentless supporter of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Who has benefited besides the military contractors and the Al Qaeda type groups?
So when you see a soldier, try to save his life. Tell him no one wants him in Iraq and that we want him to live here in the United States in peace. Your may be able to say it all better than me. I am confident of that. Such personal messages may save individual lives and stop an unjust war. Maybe you will save a soldier's life and lives in Iraq as well.
said ARMY.
I asked him if he was going to Iraq. He said he hoped not. I said I hoped not either then I did the unthinkable. I asked him a question, "If the Iraqis don't want you in Iraq and the American people don't want you in Iraq, and its an illegal, unjust war, why is anyone going?"
He and his whole family looked a little shit-faced. No one said anything.
"Resist the war I said to him. It's an illegal imperialist war. Resist the war! Resist the war!"
"Resist the war and live. Stay home and live."
I made my speech and left the dude and his poor family to their thoughts.
I hope that dude doesn't go to Iraq. If he does go, it is at least in part his choice. I sharpened up the philosophical debate in his head and perhaps in his family. If they weren't already talking about what a bunch of crap the war is you can bet they are now.
He may not want to pay the price of resisting the war which could be high or could be quite low depending on how the ARMY looks at his resistance. Some are discharged, others get some time. He will not be killed. He will not return home a cabbage patch father and husband.
Some will say, some have said that I have gone over the edge. But it was just words, just a conversation, just an appeal to another human being who may or may not save his own life by resisting the war. It also is the right thing to do, to not be part or an imperialist invasion and occupation.
When he is in Iraq, if he makes that choice to go, he will either be at a base with no contact with Iraqis or if he does leave these protected sanctuaries he will be trying to survive the ongoing war against the occupation. Of course he is likely to have superior weapons and armor. I wonder how kind he will be to Iraqis? I suspect he will not be kind to the average Iraqi who just happens to surprise this dude-father-husband soldier. Face it, this harmless looking dad may be blowing away families in Iraq if it fits the oh so liberal "rules of engagement". That's the situation Bush-Cheney and Representative Dennis Moore want to put him. That's something else he won't have to do if he choses life, peace and resistance to the imperialist, unjust, illegal war in Iraq.
This sacred cow thing about the military is just used by imperialist leaders like the Bush-Cheney
criminal clique to suppress debate and open discussion of what these scoundrels, the imperialist leaders, are really all about. They want oil, Iran's oil, Iraq's oil an and everyone's oil. They want a permanent occupation of Iraq, Bush compared his dreamed of occupation as being like that in
Korea. The Korean occupation is already fifty years old with no end in sight.
The whole invasion of Iraq has only polarized the world against the United States. Our economy is in long term and now apparently acute decline. Yet one fact remains, whoever ends up running Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia will sell oil. We don't need to conquer other lands to buy oil.
It will be on the market.
The whole war is pointless in terms of achieving democracy or stability. It created al-qaeda in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden and Dick Cheney (as well as his loathesome sidekick G. W. and clueless congressional leaders like Representative Dennis Moore (D) of Kansas all agreed that the invasion of Afghanistan was a great idea, for Bin Laden. It was a classic case of drawing the enemy in deep so that a protracted war against the invader can begin.
Only it was quite an additional bonus to Al Qaeda to see the United States invade Iraq as well.
Now the United States is losing two wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. The invasion of Iraq made possible the creation of Al Qaeda in Iraq and similar groups where they really didn't exist before the invasion. Who was the genius here? Not Discmaster Cheney, not Representive Dennis Moore of Kansas who has been a relentless supporter of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Who has benefited besides the military contractors and the Al Qaeda type groups?
So when you see a soldier, try to save his life. Tell him no one wants him in Iraq and that we want him to live here in the United States in peace. Your may be able to say it all better than me. I am confident of that. Such personal messages may save individual lives and stop an unjust war. Maybe you will save a soldier's life and lives in Iraq as well.
Monday, September 17, 2007
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS BLACKWATER ORDERED OUT OF IRAQ
One way the Bush-Cheney clique and their Congressional confidants have pursued their bloody war in Iraq is by hiring about as many mercenary forces as they have deployed troops of the empire.
Blackwater is the poster child of U.S. mercenary forces. After another one of their gratuitous acts of violence they have been ordered out of Iraq, something the Maliki government may have wanted to do for some time. Of course, I am only speculating. I don't even want these U.S. based mercenary forces back in the United States. Furthermore, this could be a message by Maliki that all U.S. forces had best go home and otherwise leave Iraq to the Iraqis, the one thing that Bush-Cheney seems to want to avoid at all costs.
I believe I remember him being asked about what he thought about American threats to leave because Iraq wasn't meeting American imposed benchmarks. He didn't beg the Americans to stay. He said something to the effect that they might leave if they wished.
It wasn't a "get the hell out", but that's what the whole war has been about, getting the United States out of Iraq. Only the Americans have gotten it backwards.
I really don't know much about the Iraqi Maliki government. I do know he has good relations with both Iran and Syria. He is not the puppet that Bush-Cheney and the imperial policy elite had hoped for. Like the Diem brothers who ran South Vietnam way back when the United States was so desperate to help the Vietnamese. Mr. Maliki may be killed by Bush-Cheney, the liberators of Iraq.
The Diem brothers were negotiating with those other "bad" Vietnamese for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, ie. the made up conflict between North and South Vietnam. I think they were gunned down in a truck in a plan executed by the usual suspects and their tools, in this case the next puppet. Was that Nguyen Cao Ky? I don't remember.
Yes, I am skeptical about the idea that most Iraqis want the United States to stay in Iraq. I think reasonably reliable polls suggest otherwise. Still, I think you see Iraqis saying things about how they want the U. S. to stay in Iraq in the U.S. pro-war,
pro-imperialist media. That's what they want us to believe, that the Iraqis like us being in Iraq.
What will be the impact of mercenaries being kicked out of Iraq? It seems to me that it will knock a big piece of the U. S. military machine out, even if it is more of a security thing, or at least portrayed as such.
Will the United States try to force Iraq to accept Blackwater? Will they call it Whitewater or something else and try to keep the mercenaries there under a different name, as employees of some other "private contractor", mercenary company?
Or could this be a clever way to deploy Blackwater mercenaries to the United States to participate in a coup against the United States Government and Constitution, ie. the Bush-Cheney criminal clique will declare a state of emergency during a crisis of their own creation and with their mercenary forces seek to abolish the fragile remnants of democracy in this nation and shut down the 2008 elections? Is Bush more of a Hitler than a Napoleon? There was a lot of laughing about Hitler until he cut the throats of even the most talented comedian.
BBC NEWS
'Fair probe' vow on Iraq gunfight
Iraq and the US have pledged a "fair and transparent" investigation into a gunfight involving a private security firm that left eight civilians dead.
Iraq has banned North Carolina-based Blackwater USA from the country after the shoot-out in Baghdad on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has telephoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki about the incident.
The two have agreed to investigate and hold any wrongdoers accountable, according to Mr Maliki's spokesman.
All Blackwater personnel have been told to leave Iraq immediately, with the exception of the men involved in the incident.
The United States does everything it can to avoid such loss of life in contrast to the enemies of the Iraqi people who deliberately target civilians
State Department spokesman
They will have to remain in the country and stand trial, the Iraqi interior ministry said.
The convoy carrying officials from the US State Department came under attack at about 1230 local time on Sunday as it passed through Nisoor Square in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour.
The Blackwater security guards "opened fire randomly at citizens" after mortars landed near their vehicles, killing eight people and wounding 13 others, interior ministry officials said.
Most of the dead and wounded were bystanders, the officials added. One of those killed was a policeman.
BLACKWATER USA FACTS
Founded in 1997 by three former US Navy SEALs
Headquarters in North Carolina
One of at least 28 Private Security Companies in Iraq
Employs 744 US citizens, 231 third-country nationals, and 12 Iraqis to protect US state department in Iraq (May 2007)
Provided protection for former CPA head Paul Bremer
Four employees killed by mob in Falluja in March 2004
Personnel have no combat immunity under international law if they engage in hostilities
A spokesman for the US State Department told the AFP news agency that during her phone call to Mr Maliki, Ms Rice had "reiterated that the United States does everything it can to avoid such loss of life in contrast to the enemies of the Iraqi people who deliberately target civilians".
A Blackwater official was quoted as telling Time magazine's online edition that "the convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job, they fired back to defend human life".
Thousands of private security guards are employed in Iraq.
They are often heavily armed, but critics say some lack proper training and are accountable only to their employers.
Blackwater is reported to have a contract worth $300m (£150m) with the state department to protect its diplomatic staff and equipment in Iraq.
The firm's personnel have no combat immunity under international law if they engage in hostilities.
Sunday's violence followed the publication of a survey of Iraqis by a UK-based polling agency that suggested up to 1.2m people might have died because of the conflict in Iraq.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7000018.stm
Published: 2007/09/17 23:25:19 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Blackwater is the poster child of U.S. mercenary forces. After another one of their gratuitous acts of violence they have been ordered out of Iraq, something the Maliki government may have wanted to do for some time. Of course, I am only speculating. I don't even want these U.S. based mercenary forces back in the United States. Furthermore, this could be a message by Maliki that all U.S. forces had best go home and otherwise leave Iraq to the Iraqis, the one thing that Bush-Cheney seems to want to avoid at all costs.
I believe I remember him being asked about what he thought about American threats to leave because Iraq wasn't meeting American imposed benchmarks. He didn't beg the Americans to stay. He said something to the effect that they might leave if they wished.
It wasn't a "get the hell out", but that's what the whole war has been about, getting the United States out of Iraq. Only the Americans have gotten it backwards.
I really don't know much about the Iraqi Maliki government. I do know he has good relations with both Iran and Syria. He is not the puppet that Bush-Cheney and the imperial policy elite had hoped for. Like the Diem brothers who ran South Vietnam way back when the United States was so desperate to help the Vietnamese. Mr. Maliki may be killed by Bush-Cheney, the liberators of Iraq.
The Diem brothers were negotiating with those other "bad" Vietnamese for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, ie. the made up conflict between North and South Vietnam. I think they were gunned down in a truck in a plan executed by the usual suspects and their tools, in this case the next puppet. Was that Nguyen Cao Ky? I don't remember.
Yes, I am skeptical about the idea that most Iraqis want the United States to stay in Iraq. I think reasonably reliable polls suggest otherwise. Still, I think you see Iraqis saying things about how they want the U. S. to stay in Iraq in the U.S. pro-war,
pro-imperialist media. That's what they want us to believe, that the Iraqis like us being in Iraq.
What will be the impact of mercenaries being kicked out of Iraq? It seems to me that it will knock a big piece of the U. S. military machine out, even if it is more of a security thing, or at least portrayed as such.
Will the United States try to force Iraq to accept Blackwater? Will they call it Whitewater or something else and try to keep the mercenaries there under a different name, as employees of some other "private contractor", mercenary company?
Or could this be a clever way to deploy Blackwater mercenaries to the United States to participate in a coup against the United States Government and Constitution, ie. the Bush-Cheney criminal clique will declare a state of emergency during a crisis of their own creation and with their mercenary forces seek to abolish the fragile remnants of democracy in this nation and shut down the 2008 elections? Is Bush more of a Hitler than a Napoleon? There was a lot of laughing about Hitler until he cut the throats of even the most talented comedian.
BBC NEWS
'Fair probe' vow on Iraq gunfight
Iraq and the US have pledged a "fair and transparent" investigation into a gunfight involving a private security firm that left eight civilians dead.
Iraq has banned North Carolina-based Blackwater USA from the country after the shoot-out in Baghdad on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has telephoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki about the incident.
The two have agreed to investigate and hold any wrongdoers accountable, according to Mr Maliki's spokesman.
All Blackwater personnel have been told to leave Iraq immediately, with the exception of the men involved in the incident.
The United States does everything it can to avoid such loss of life in contrast to the enemies of the Iraqi people who deliberately target civilians
State Department spokesman
They will have to remain in the country and stand trial, the Iraqi interior ministry said.
The convoy carrying officials from the US State Department came under attack at about 1230 local time on Sunday as it passed through Nisoor Square in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour.
The Blackwater security guards "opened fire randomly at citizens" after mortars landed near their vehicles, killing eight people and wounding 13 others, interior ministry officials said.
Most of the dead and wounded were bystanders, the officials added. One of those killed was a policeman.
BLACKWATER USA FACTS
Founded in 1997 by three former US Navy SEALs
Headquarters in North Carolina
One of at least 28 Private Security Companies in Iraq
Employs 744 US citizens, 231 third-country nationals, and 12 Iraqis to protect US state department in Iraq (May 2007)
Provided protection for former CPA head Paul Bremer
Four employees killed by mob in Falluja in March 2004
Personnel have no combat immunity under international law if they engage in hostilities
A spokesman for the US State Department told the AFP news agency that during her phone call to Mr Maliki, Ms Rice had "reiterated that the United States does everything it can to avoid such loss of life in contrast to the enemies of the Iraqi people who deliberately target civilians".
A Blackwater official was quoted as telling Time magazine's online edition that "the convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job, they fired back to defend human life".
Thousands of private security guards are employed in Iraq.
They are often heavily armed, but critics say some lack proper training and are accountable only to their employers.
Blackwater is reported to have a contract worth $300m (£150m) with the state department to protect its diplomatic staff and equipment in Iraq.
The firm's personnel have no combat immunity under international law if they engage in hostilities.
Sunday's violence followed the publication of a survey of Iraqis by a UK-based polling agency that suggested up to 1.2m people might have died because of the conflict in Iraq.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7000018.stm
Published: 2007/09/17 23:25:19 GMT
© BBC MMVII
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