US WAR ON IRAQ

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Bush Plans Long Escalating Wars

January 2, 2005

As Robert Parry points out, Bush plans long wars, is purging any doubters like Colin Powell and installing sycophants who will support his every wish. So rather than have a more moderate second term, Bush plans on more wars. I think he will decide to use nuclear weapons and believe that nuclear weapons use has been built into the neocon middle-east plan. Otherwise why would he lower the nuclear barrier in his new preemptive war doctrines, make new nuclear weapons and plan to resume testing?

 
by Robert Parry
December 31, 2004

George W. Bush’s vision for America’s future is coming into clearer focus following Election 2004: For the next generation or more, it appears the American people will be asked to sacrifice their children, their tax dollars and possibly the remnants of their democracy to what a top U.S. commander now candidly calls the “Long War.”

       
         
 

Will Bush Empire Go Nuclear in 2005

January 1, 2005

The US will not accept defeat in Iraq, and is likely to militarily over extend itself there, and with their other neocon-planned conquests in the Middle East. That will place them in what I believe is a pre-planned position: of either accepting defeat, or using nuclear weapons "to avoid defeat of freedom and democracy". The mass media in the US has demonstrated that it can be relied on to back Bush - and deliver a propagandised US public, that will mainly support nuclear weapons use to avoid defeat in "the war on terrorism".

 

The Empire in the Year 2005

by James Petras
December 24, 2004

The Iraqi resistance has proven that the US Empire is not invincible. With over 1500 combat deaths, close to 25,000 disabled soldiers and over 35,000 suffering severe "mental illnesses", the US occupation army is incapable of bringing the colonial war to a victorious conclusion.
...The logic of Washington for 2005 is that the War must continue, victory must be secured – no matter what the cost in human lives, Iraqi or US. The treasury and the budget is hostage to the Logic of War: to defend the image of imperial invincibility, the empire will be brought to its knees.

       
         
 

New Israeli/US Offensives in Mid-East

Comment from Larry Ross
January 1 , 2005

Uri Avnery is one of the leading Israeli writers opposing Sharon's murderous actions, exposing his lies and real plans. The following is an excellent example of Avnery's work.
See: http://www.globalresearch.ca for more excellent articles by top journalists and writers.

 
by Uri Avnery
December 11, 2004

When the fruit sellers at the Tel Aviv market shout "the boss has gone crazy!" they mean that they are selling their merchandise at ridiculously low prices.
In the world’s capitals, a similar cry is now being heard: "The boss has gone crazy!" – but it is not about the price of tomatoes.
It refers to the new situation, after the reelection of George W. Bush for four more years.

       
         
 

Fallujah Bombed by US to Rubble

December 29, 2004

Under the slogan of "bringing liberation, Democracy and freedom to grateful Iraqis" the US is laying waste to the country. 60-70% of Fallujah destroyed by bombing is an example of how the US is making war on the people while purporting to be making war on terrorism. They are likely to use the same "bombing to rubble" tactic on other Iraq cities.

 
BBC
December 24, 2004

Scenes of widespread destruction have greeted residents allowed back into the Iraqi city of Falluja following the US assault in November. BBC News spoke to Dr Saleh Hussein Isawi, the acting director of the Falluja general hospital, who accompanied some of the refugees to the city.

       
         
 
by Peter Schrag
December 29, 2004

One of the blessings of having been around a long time is that in any dark moment of our national life you can usually think of another moment that, if you put your mind to it, seemed almost as dark or maybe darker: McCarthyism, Watergate, the disaster of Vietnam.
But never in the memory of the living generation have the errors, falsifications and unreason of policy come in such rapid and overwhelming succession that each buries its predecessor before it's even partially absorbed, much less understood.

       
         
 
by Robert Scheer
December 28 , 2004

It is time to invade Cuba and put an end to what has become another Devil's Island in the annals of government-sanctioned torture. The barbaric treatment of political prisoners on the island is made no more palatable by being conducted in the name of an ideology that claims to be liberating the world from its shackles.
...."Now there is no question that these guys have been tortured," said Brent Mickum, a Washington attorney for one of the roughly 10 percent of detainees at the camp who have finally secured legal representation. "Every allegation that I've heard has now come to pass and been confirmed by the government's own papers."
Even more troubling is that the FBI agents make it clear this is not the work of a few poorly supervised sadists. Their reports refer to what they described as a new--and very much secret--executive order on prisoner treatment by the President at the top of the camp's chain of command, which allowed for severe interrogation tactics, including "sleep deprivation and stress positions" combined with "loud music, interrogators yelling at subjects and prisoners with hoods on their heads."

       
         
 
by Sheila Samples
December 27, 2004

George W. Bush, their commander-in-chief, calls them "the troops." He says they're on a "noble 'n vital" mission in Iraq. When asked about them, Bush says his "thoughts 'n prayers" go out to them. When shrapnel shreds their limbs or they are blown to bits by bombs, he says he "grieves 'n mourns" for them. Because of the troops, Bush says "America and the world are a safer place (sic)."

       
         
 
December 24, 2004

Professor Boyle is a very informed and perceptive analyst of International Affairs who was educated as a neo-conservative and knows how they think. He shows why, with their twisted ideology, “today’s Neocons are committing war crimes abroad while building a police state at home.” It gives in-depth information which helps predict what, and how far, the Neocon Administration will go.
The following analysis is a result of my extensive research, much of which is on this web site under various headings. I’ve tried to be objective and base my analysis of Bush and his administration and its direction, on fact.

       
         
 

War Is Peace:

December 23, 2004

The Pax Americana Imperium Wishes You An Orwellian Christmas!
Americans have run the entire cycle of Christmas-deconstruction by spiritualizing, sentimentalizing, universalizing, and -- ultimately -- commercializing the holiday. Today, our version of Christmas bears almost no relationship to the nativity story in the synoptic Gospels.

       
         
 
by Ivan Eland
December 21, 2004

The most recent among many testing glitches of the Bush administration missile defense program should remind us that this exorbitant and heavily politicized effort should be scrapped. Until September 11, in the eyes of conservatives, the litmus test for patriotism was support for missile defense. Now they have moved on to view backing for the troubled Iraq War as the badge of armchair courage. Yet the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that the missile defense program did not address the most severe threats facing the United States.
The most serious threats to the U.S. homeland won’t arrive by missile. They’ll likely be attacks using either conventional means—as on 9/11—or nuclear, biological or chemical weapons smuggled into the country by ship or delivered by small aircraft. Terrorists are unlikely to have the technology to develop the long-range missiles that a missile defense system is designed to intercept using other missiles or lasers.

 

THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES   U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed

by Ivan Eland
Released October, 2004

  Most Americans don’t think of their government as an empire, but in fact the United States has been steadily expanding its control of overseas territories since the turn of the twentieth century. Now, through political intimidation and over 700 military bases worldwide, the U.S. holds sway over an area that dwarfs the great empires of world history.
In The Empire Has No Clothes, Ivan Eland, a leading expert on U.S. defense policy and national security, examines American military interventions around the world from the Spanish-American War to the invasion of Iraq.

       
         
 
by Robert Fisk
December 19, 2004

...Baha Mousa had been brutally beaten while hooded and tied up--none of the other prisoners suffering with him were ever charged with any crime--by soldiers who gave them the names of footballers. His father was a police colonel and had seen his son before his arrest at a local hotel. He even acquired a note from the arresting officer that Baha would be looked after. His name--typically--was meaningless: it was signed "Second Lieutenant Mike".

       
         
 
by JENNIFER BAYOT
December 18, 2004

...In his 1974 book, "The Permanent War Economy," he composed a long list of military trade-offs. The money spent on one Huey helicopter, he said, could buy 66 low-priced homes, while a recent $69 million reduction in child-nutrition programs represented the cost of two DE-1052 destroyer escorts. He added, "To eliminate hunger in America = $4-5 billion = C-5A aircraft program."
Ralph Nader on Seymour Melman:-
Before he passed away this month, Seymour Melman had completed a concise book manuscript titled, "Wars, Ltd.: The Rise and Fall of America's Permanent War Economy". He was having trouble finding a good publisher, when I spoke with him earlier this summer.
But he will leave a legacy of wisdom, insight, humanity, consistency, and diligence. In a society whose rulers and corporatists seal the people off from such magnificent minds and inundate them with trivia, distraction and the hot air artists daily bellowing their lucrative ignorance, sagacious Americans like Seymour Melman will not receive the attention the citizenry deserves unless we the people, who own the public airwaves, begin to control and use our own media rights
For more information, visit www.citizenworks.org

       
         
 
by James Carroll
December 7 , 2004

WHY DON'T we Americans look directly at the war? We avert our gaze, knowing that the situation in Iraq grows more desperate by the day. Vaunted "coalition" efforts to "break the back" of the "insurgency" have only strengthened it. The violence among Iraqis would surely qualify as civil war -- except that only one side is fighting. The structures of relief and repair are gone. Whole cities are destroyed, populations displaced. The hope of Iraqi elections is mortally compromised. "Coalition" members are dropping out. The mission of American force is to secure the country, but it can't secure itself. The performance of US intelligence has been consistent: Its strategic failures caused the war, and its tactical ignorance of the enemy is losing the war. ICH    Review of the book "Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War."

       
         
 
Ex-CIA Man Now Interim Prime Minister
Comment by Larry Ross
December 7, 2004

The US selected Iyad Allawi, who served the interests of the USA for many years as a clandestine CIA agent staging explosions in Iraq, as their interim Prime Minister of Iraq.
The US empowered Allawi, who assassinated suspected "terrorists" in police custody, to rule Iraq and "authorise" the US destruction of Fallujah. Thus he is directly involved in the killing of thousands of his fellow countrymen, both ordinary men, women and children, and anyone thought to be resisting the US invader. Basically Allawi is the US mouthpiece, trying to give legitimacy to war crimes and the criminal US invasion, occupation and continuing murder of opponents. This man can in no way represent the Iraqi people.

 
by Joel Brinkley
June 8, 2004

Iyad Allawi, now the designated prime minister of Iraq, ran an exile organization intent on deposing Saddam Hussein that sent agents into Baghdad in the early 1990's to plant bombs and sabotage government facilities under the direction of the C.I.A., several former intelligence officials say.
Dr. Allawi's group, the Iraqi National Accord, used car bombs and other explosive devices... Ex-CIA officer Robert Baer, recalled that a bombing during that period "blew up a school bus; schoolchildren were killed."

       
         
 
December 5, 2004

These are very revealing quotes about the real reasons for the US war, and how the neocon administration
settled on the non-existant WMD to use as one of their justifications. After stealing the 2004 election, Bush claims a mandate to continue with more of the same. Is Iran next?

       
         
 

There Has Been A Fascist Coup in This Country With Media Complicity

by Seth Farber,
December 4, 2004

Noam Chomsky has lucidly explicated the imperial consensus adhered to by both parties since the US became No I after WW11. However he has also pointed out that the Bush National Security Strategy scared even the mainstream foreign policy elite. It bodes an escalation of the international arms race and all kinds of unprecedented threats to our survival.
I see major differences between what the Kerry Administration would have done and what the Bush agenda is. However considering the fecklessness of Kerry and the Democrats they of course are morally complicit in a fascist coup.
I say a fascist coup-one must realize that the neo-cons wielding the power in the Bush Administration had been out of power since Reagan. One must also remember that all indications are that neither the military nor the CIA wanted the war in Iraq. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had testified before Congress in the summer of 2002 that war on Iraq would be a bad idea. So did Scowcroft, Eagleburger, etc. The CIA reported at that time--front page of NY Times--that Saddam was contained. The Bush Junta prevailed because of its fanaticism and determination--just as Hitler did. (Clinton endorsed "regime change"--he was far too cautious to go ahead with this crazy war.)

       
         
 
December 3, 2004

Bush's various extreme actions and desire for more wars in the Middle East may be one reason why Bush is using such extraordinary cruel tactics. He is waging a war mainly on Iraqi civilians that will make people hate and resist the US . Then Bush again fools the US people by telling them that this proves the people are really terrorists and the US duty is to make war on them - any kind of foul war he chooses and forget international law.

 
November 29, 2004

November 9th, 2004 was Fallujah's 9/11 Tuesday. It marked the peak of three days of indiscriminate bombing of Fallujah by US forces.
Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Al-Shaalan promised that the day would be decisive. It wasn't. It was inhumane beyond belief, almost beyond comprehension.
The bomb blitz featured weapons of mass destruction: banned napalm-type munitions, chemical poison gas and super-bombs of up to 2,000-pounds. The ground assault was indiscriminate. The target was a city where at least 60,000 civilians outnumbered rebel fighters by over thirty to one.
The US Prevented Aid Entering the City for Weeks

       
         
 
by Charles Shaw,   Posted December 3, 2004

An exclusive, in-depth interview with journalist Dahr Jamail on what is really going on in Iraq
Newtopia:
The US Corporate media consistently characterizes the Iraqi resistance as "foreign terrorists and former Ba’athist insurgents". Is this accurate?
Dahr Jamail: This is propaganda of the worst kind. Most Iraqis refer to the Iraqi Resistance as "patriots." They are people who have had family members killed, detained, tortured and humiliated by the illegal occupiers of their shattered country. Calling them "foreign terrorists" and "Ba’athist insurgents" is simply a lie.

       
         
 
December 1, 2004

An international legal team has filed a criminal complaint against US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top US officials over the Abu Ghraib prisoner torture and abuse scandal in Iraq.
The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin's Republican Lawyers' Association have filed the complaint in Germany.

       
         
 
November 30, 2004

Known as the "city of mosques" for its more than 200 mosques, Fallujah is also known for refusing to add Saddam’s name to the call for prayers from its ancient minarets. It is located on the banks of river Euphrates, the largest river in Southwest Asia. The 1700 miles long Euphrates is linked with some of the most important events in olden history.
The city of Ur, found at its mouth, was the birthplace of Abraham. On its banks stood the city of Babylon. In the past, the army of Necho was defeated on its banks by Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus the Younger and Crassus perished after crossing it. Alexander traversed it and continued his journey eastward. Presently, George Bush’s forces are crossing and re-crossing it making its waters redder each time with the blood of Fallujah’s citizens.

       
         
 
Comment by Larry Ross
November 29, 2004

This chink in the neocon armour, is of fundamental importance and well worth a read. The neocons have been singularly successful in foisting a litany of lies about Iraq WMD, links to al-Qaeda, links to 9/11 attacks, links to terrorism and future attacks. They continue their buoyant attitudes as their killing, bombing and general mass destruction increases. Now they are claiming that the American people have given them, and their spokesman Bush, a mandate to continue, and impose the rest of their agenda on the world.

 
by Danny Postel
October 28, 2004

The Iraq war opened a fratricidal split among United States neo–conservatives. Danny Postel examines the bitter dispute between two leading neocons, Francis Fukuyama and Charles Krauthammer, and suggests that Fukuyama’s critique of the Iraq war and decision not to vote for George W Bush is a significant political as well as intellectual moment.

       
         
 
by Gordon Corera
November 24, 2004

There is intense speculation in the corridors of Washington over where foreign policy might head in the next four years.
But while Iraq and Iran may top the list, you hear almost no talk - at least at the moment - about Washington's "war on terror" against al-Qaeda.

       
         
 
by Dahr Jamail
November 24, 2004

"Doctors in Fallujah are reporting there are patients in the hospital there who were forced out by the Americans," says Mehdi Abdulla, a 33-year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad. "Some doctors there told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the doctors away and left the patient to die." He looks at the ground, then away to the distance.
More articles from antiwar.com

       
         
 
Comment by Larry Ross   November 22, 2004

This superlatively excellent Canadian lawyers call for a ban on Bush visits, and Bush's indictment for war crimes, deserves to be put on the agenda of every peace group everywhere.
They could do a peace action and send it to all their politicians, perhaps more than once, and lobby them as well.
Repeated emphasis is effective, as Bush continually demonstrates.
It could be applied in every country, widely publicised, and forwarded to others.
Surely this kind of effective action is better than letting Bush continue to create his new “truths” and self-serving pre-emptive nuclear war doctrines. Most people and most mass media remain silent while Bush and his neo-cons build their “1984 perpetual wars” type of world over the next 4 years, maybe longer. The Canadian lawyer's letter can be used to express a peace action which communicates that Bush and accomplices are increasingly perceived as war criminals.

         
       
  Why The USA Must Reject Bush's Evil "Marquis de Sade" Nominee For Attorney General: Alberto Gonzales Wrote "Torture Memo" That Laid Groundwork For Abu Ghraib
by Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D.   November 22, 2004

There was a bipartisan consensus on last Sunday's televised political talk-shows that the US Senate will confirm, with relative ease, Mr. Bush's appointment of Alberto R. Gonzales as the next Attorney General ("AG").  However, if our Senators retain any respect for universal human rights and the rule of constitutional and international law, they will vigorously oppose Mr. Gonzales' appointment as our new AG. [1] [2]  Furthermore, it's imperative that our Senators, both left and right, defeat this unwise appointment for the following five reasons. 

       
         
 
by Joe Hendren   
November 21, 2004

.......Shooting a wounded unarmed solider is a clear breach of the Geneva Conventions. Article 3 holds that "persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat (out of combat) by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely".

       
         
   
peaceinspace.org/   November 19, 2004

Dear Mr. Martin:
It was with absolute dismay that we learned of the planned visit of President Bush to Canada on November 30th 2004.   Surely you are aware of the many grave crimes against humanity and war crimes for which President Bush stands properly accused by the world, starting with the Nuremberg Tribunal´s ‘supreme international crime´ of waging an aggressive war against Iraq in defiance of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and including systematic and massive violations of the Geneva Conventions Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, as well as the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

 
Petition from peaceinspace.org/   November 20, 2004

Dear Mr. Martin:
Canada is at a crossroads – and under heavy pressure from the United States – with respect to the U.S.’s “missile defence” program. This program should be seen clearly – and assertively and publicly acknowledged by Canada – for what it is, nothing less than a pre-emptive action by the United States to dictate how space is to be used and controlled to benefit and advance American interests.
As the Iraq war and its aftermath have borne out, pre-emptive action by one player in the arena of international affairs is not only immoral, it has wholly unpredictable and tragic consequences.              URGENT

         
       
 
by Sam Hamod, ICH
November 19, 2004

We condemn the unjust, immoral and brutal killing of Mrs. Margaret Hassan in Iraq. This woman was an angel of mercy, a shining light to those who needed help for decades in Iraq. She stood up to Saddam Hussein and to the U.S.military, she wanted only to help the people of her adopted country.
We also do not believe any Muslims did this. There is an dictum in the Qur'an which forbids the killing of women; also, the killing of hostages. Also, Muslims and Iraqis had nothing to gain by killing this innocent, God-like, saint of a woman.

       
         
  WAR CRIMES -
A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq to the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal
by Ramsey Clark and Others
Posted  
November 18, 2004

"It has never happened in history that a nation that has won a war has been held accountable for atrocities committed in preparing for and waging that war. We intend to make this one different. What took place was the use of technological material to destroy a defenseless country. From 125,000 to 300,000 people were killed... We recognize our role in history is to bring the transgressors to justice." Ramsey Clark

       
         
 
by Michael Moore  
Posted - November 18, 2004

Why are the thousands of disgruntled GIs, their families and Veterans who question Bush's wisdom and veracity in e-mails and letters sent to Michael Moore rarely, if at all, represented in the mainstream media?
That is because the White House pretty much controls what comes through the mainstream media pipeline, particularly on television. Television news portrays the Karl Rove image of Bush surrounded by adoring, supportive troops in carefully choreographed photo-ops. The most notorious of these was the presidential crotch-stuffing appearance of Bush during his "Mission Accomplished" aircraft carrier stunt.       Buzzflash

       
         
  Comment by Larry Ross on The Power of Nightmares
November 15, 2004

The worst nightmare scenario has come true. The neo-conservatives claim they have just had a mandate to continue creating a new American version of reality. Kerry won the US Presidential election, but like Gore in 2000, was cheated out of his victory by the machinations of the neo-conservatives and their Republican allies and others in the voting machine industry.
(see: http://www.nuclearfreenz.org.nz/ohio.htm )

       
         
  The Power of Nightmares
Posted November 15, 2004

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world.Now they promise to protect us from nightmares.
The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network.But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.

  Part I: Baby It's Cold Outside
Broadcast BBC 2, October 20, 2004
 

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. Go to http://207.44.245.159/video1037.htm and look for Transcript

       
  Part II: The Phantom Victory
 

The Power of Nightmares continues its assessment of whether the threat from a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. Part two, the Phantom Victory looks at how two groups, radical Islamists and neo-conservatives with seemingly opposing ideologies came together to defeat a common enemy. Go to http://207.44.245.159/video1038.htm and look for Transcript

       
  Part III: The Shadows in the Cave
 

The Power of Nightmares assesses whether the threat from a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. In the concluding part of the series, the programme explains how the illusion was created and who benefits from it.
Go to http://207.44.245.159/video1040.htm and look for Transcript

       
         
  Winning "Hearts & Minds" in New Zealand
November 12, 2004

Some NZ newspapers, owned by overseas media moguls, are subtly pushing the Bush/Neocon political and war agenda. They write editorials and select articles which favour the US Iraq war and justifications for war. They severely limit, or do not publish letters and articles with facts which expose a biased editorial, or the truth about biased coverage of a situation involving the US. At the same time they like to present themselves as a "free press printing the truth and all the news that's fit to print". That's good business as people don't like to think that they are buying, reading and believing a load of lies.

       
         
  Falluja's Defiance of a New Empire
by Sami Ramadani
November 10, 2004

It is Bush and Blair, not the Iraqi resistance, who fear free elections
George Bush and Tony Blair have apparently concluded that they can crush the Iraqi people's will to resist occupation and legitimise a puppet regime next January by occupying Falluja. Maybe they imagine they can emulate the British forces that terrorised Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1920s by obliterating recalcitrant villages.     "The Guardian"

       
         
  Fallujah — from the other side
November 10, 2004

As the bloody assault on Fallujah continues, the mainstream media has become a propaganda arm of the beseiging US army and its puppet Iraqi forces. We are fed “news” from “embedded journalists” in the beseiging armies. Green Left Weekly seeks to bring you the stories the ruling elite don't want you to hear. Below are some links to alternative news sources which are operating independently of these armies. If you want to suggest other links please send them here. We are also collating details of Australian protests against the attack on Fallujah.

       
         
  “The message the siege of Falluja sends is brutally simple: resist us and we will destroy you”
All the makings of a war crime - with Australia silently onside
by Tony Kevin
November 9, 2004

A US-led attack on the Iraqi Sunni-stronghold will breach the Geneva conventions, writes Tony Kevin.
We need to be clear on what is about to happen in the Iraqi city of Falluja, about 64 kilometres west of Baghdad and a key centre of Sunni population in Iraq. This city has for many months held out as a centre of Sunni-based political-military resistance, refusing to accept the authority either of the former US-led occupying authority nor, since July, of the interim Iraqi administration led by the Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.

       
         
  'Watching tragedy engulf my city'
from Fadhil Badrani in Falluja
November 9, 2004

.....A medical dispensary in the city centre was bombed earlier.
I don't know what has happened to the doctors and patients who were there.
It was last place you could get medical attention because the big hospital on the outskirts of Falluja was captured by the Americans on Monday. ......

       
         
  Arma-geddon Sick of You
by Daniel Patrick Welch
November 7, 2004

World to US as Americans prepare to level Fallujah
Bush's Sword of Damocles is poised above the people and city of Fallujah , ready to wreak the pent-up wrath his addled brain thinks his tainted election victory permits. This is the bizarre world-in-a-bubble in which most Americans reside. With a chorus of Onward, Christian Soldiers and a vapid, cheerleading press, the crusade continues unabated, as the world's revulsion continues to grow.

       
         
  MoD –Caught In Lie over DU weapons
November 5, 2004

MoD still publicly claims DU weapons are safe. However the UK army has issued a card to soldiers saying it can cause ill-health.
“A UN subcommission has ruled that the use of DU breaches the Geneva Convention and the Genocide Convention. DU has also been blamed for the effect of Gulf War syndrome among some 200,000 US troops.” About 29,000 UK troops could also be contaminated.

  MoD ‘Lied’ Over Depleted Uranium
by Neil Mackay and Amy Wilson
February 29, 2004

CLAIMS by the Ministry of Defence that depleted uranium (DU) is not a risk to life have been undermined by a Sunday Herald investigation that found the British army is telling soldiers in Iraq that it can cause ill-health.
The revelation has outraged the military, scientists and politicians. Studies have shown DU leads to cancers, birth defects, memory loss, damage to the immune system and neuro-psychotic disorders. But the MoD has claimed since the first Gulf war that “DU does not pose a risk to health or the environment”.
However, military sources have passed an MoD card to the Sunday Herald which is being handed to troops on active service in Iraq. It reads: “You have been deployed to a theatre where depleted uranium (DU) munitions have been used. DU is a weakly radioactive heavy metal which has the potential to cause ill-health. You may have been exposed to dust containing DU during your deployment.

       
         
  Insidious Weapon Threatens Humanity - Comment
November 5, 2004

This DU-PLICITY article shows how the US and UK have lied about the long-lingering killing properties, about 4.5 billion years, of the radioactive Depleted Uranium weapons. Both countries have used them Iraq and in 5 previous conflicts.

GOVERNMENT DU-PLICITY
by Susan Riordon & Davey Garland
February 28, 2004

.......The Conference called for the abolition of all uranium weapons and confirmed acceptance of the United Nations Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights finding, that Depleted Uranium weapons are illegal. Accordingly, the Hamburg officially called for the abolition of the use of and halt to the proliferation of these weapons.
The Hamburg Conference concluded: “The evidence from scientists, medical professionals and legal experts at this conference is clear: DU is causing significant health effects worldwide... is illegal under existing International Law and Conventions” The Conference also called for the cessation of the manufacture testing, or use of these weapons. This was the final and unanimous agreement of Conference.

       
         
  The war on Iraq has made moral cowards of us all
by Scott Ritter
November 1, 2004

More than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed - and where is our shame and rage?
The full scale of the human cost already paid for the war o­n Iraq is o­nly now becoming clear. Last week's estimate by investigators, using credible methodology, that more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians - most of them women and children - have died since the US-led invasion is a profound moral indictment of our countries. The US and British governments quickly moved to cast doubt o­n the Lancet medical journal findings, citing other studies. These mainly media-based reports put the number of Iraqi civilian deaths at about 15,000 - although the basis for such an endorsement is unclear, since neither the US nor the UK admits to collecting data o­n Iraqi civilian casualties.

       
         
  D.U. WEAPONS PLAGUE IRAQIS
by Thomas D. Williams
November 1, 2004

Weapons Dust Worries Iraqis
Despite assurances from the U.S. military that depleted uranium from exploded munitions does not pose a significant health threat, Iraq's provisional government is asking the United Nations for help cleaning up the low-level radioactive, metal dust spread across local battlefields by U.S. and British forces during the Persian Gulf wars.
The request comes as the United States continues to defend depleted uranium weaponry - prized for its tank-piercing and bunker- or cave-smashing ability - against strong opposition by other countries, scientists and veterans organizations.
Great Britain, a major partner in the coalition now fighting in Iraq, has provided the U.N. with the coordinates where its forces used depleted uranium, also known as DU, in southern Iraq, but the United States has not. Britain and Germany are supplying money to train Iraqis in environmental science. The United Nations plans to survey for DU hot spots from both wars in Iraq and says it needs the coordinates for an effective survey.

       
         
  George W. Bush and the 'politics of fear'
by Patrick Seale
November 1, 2004

President George W Bush's response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been a world-wide campaign to kill or capture the Muslim enemies of America - his so-called "global war on terror." It is an ambitious but, in my view, a profoundly misguided affair which has left the United States more hated, more isolated, and certainly no safer than before. Everything that could go wrong with Bush's "war" has gone wrong.
The biggest blunder was, of course, to switch the focus of America's military effort from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein - from Al-Qaeda to Iraq - although there was no connection between the two and no credible evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction or posed any sort of immediate threat to anyone. The result was the catastrophic war in Iraq which has drained America's resources, destroyed its reputation and brought untold miseries to the Iraqis. There is, as yet, no clear outcome in sight.

       
         
  New Zealand's Nuclear Free Policy  Letter to Helen Clark
November 1, 2004

If Bush gets a second term, he may launch more and wider wars (Iran, Syria etc), provoke retaliation and 'terrorism' and probable use of nuclear weapons and a potential general disaster from which the world as we know it, may never recover.

       
         
  Comment - Helen Thomas Scores a Bullseye
November 1, 2004

Be sure to read this great article from the former dean of the White House Press corps, Helen Thomas.
"It turns out ...that even Arabs will fight for their own land.
They are what we call the insurgents, or terrorists, or even the enemy."

       
Helen Thomas Addresses Al-Hewar Center
  September 8, 2004

"Press Failed to Hold White House Accountable"
........I believe that if he is reelected, we have doomed ourselves to perpetual war in the 21st century. We will have a repetition of the 20th Century. Two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and every thing that happened at the turn of the century before. Of course he will re-institute the draft. He has to, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel now for ready reserves. He will dismantle the Social Security system little by little with privatizing. He will continue to erode labor rights. He has already practically wiped out overtime. If he makes you a vice president or a supervisor, you won’t get any overtime. Or he’ll give you comp time, even if you don’t want comp time – even if you want to support and feed your kids… He will continue to move jobs to the Third World where multi-millionaires can fatten their pocketbooks from sweatshops and child labor. And, of course, the richest people in the country will continue to get the biggest tax cuts.
So through Bush policies, we have lost most of our friends and allies in the world. At the least, we have lost their respect. And domestically, the poor, the sick, and the maimed will be forgotten. I believe, like Abraham Lincoln, that government should do for people what people cannot do for themselves. I will conclude my rant by quoting John F. Kennedy after the Cuban Crisis. In 1962 he went to American University and made a speech where he said “America would never start a war. We want a world where the weak are secure and the strong are just.”
The other quote that I like so much is “The only way for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.”
Finally, from early in our Colonial era, was the observation by Alexis De Tocqueville, who said “America is great because it is good. When it ceases to be good, it will no longer be great.”
We can change all that if we give peace a chance.

       
         
  More Genocide Coming In Iraq
October 31, 2004

Any Iraqi resistance to US slaughter is called "terrorism" and used by the US to justify even more violence.
The US is prepared to use "shock and awe" tactics in their efforts to annihilate any resistance in Fallujah.

       
         
  A Question Of Conscience: How Many More?
October 31, 2004

British Study Concludes That 100,000 Civilian Deaths Have Been Caused By Iraq War's Violence 
"...it is clear that whatever planning did take place was grievously in error.  The invasion of Iraq, the displacement of a cruel dictator, and the attempt to impose a liberal democracy by force have, by themselves, been insufficient to bring peace and security to the civilian population. ... [I]mperialism has resulted in more deaths, not fewer.  This political failure continues to cause scores of casualties among non-combatants. ... The lives of Iraqis are currently being shaped by the policies of the occupying forces and the military insurgents.  For the occupiers, winning the peace now demands a thorough reappraisal of strategy and tactics to prevent further unnecessary casualties.  -Dr. Richard Horton's commentary, "The War In Iraq: Civilian Casualties, Political Responsibilities," in The Lancet, Vol. 364, No. 9445. [1]

       
         
  Pentagon granted authority to pay, equip foreign forces
By GREG MILLER
October 31, 2004

"Los Angeles Times" -- WASHINGTON - Moving into an area of clandestine activity that traditionally has been the domain of the CIA, the Pentagon has secured new authority that allows U.S. special operations forces to dole out millions of dollars in cash, equipment and weapons to international warlords and foreign fighters.

       
         
 
Sydney Morning Herald
October 31, 2004

US diplomats in Qatar were given a copy of a videotape of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before it aired on Al-Jazeera television and unsuccessfully sought to prevent the Arabic-language network from broadcasting it, a senior State Department official said on Friday.
"They seem to have aired only excerpts," said the official, a fluent Arabic speaker who watched the complete broadcast on Al-Jazeera.