Sistani Returns and March on Najaf Looms
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CRUCIAL MOMENTS IN HISTORY

THIS CRUCIAL MOMENT IN HISTORY

<>MER - Mid-East Realities - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 25 August 2004:
There are crucial moments, and persons, in history. Gandhi in India, Mandela in South Africa, Martin Luther King in the United States -- each had earned a power of personality, principles, and credibility that at the crucial moment in time came together to change the history of their country and of the world. In the more ancient history of the Middle East there were of course such figures as Saladin, Christ, Mohammed.

Not all such powerful historic figures succeed -- some are not truly deserving, others face overwhelming counter-power. Yasser Arafat has terribly mislead his own people -- not because he didn't conform to the demands of the United States, but rather because he squandered his historic moments along with such unprecedented amounts of international support and resources. Geranamo failed to appreciated the true dimensions of the White Man's advance and in the end found himself and his people in chains. For many American Blacks there is the more recent powerful figure of Malcolm X. There was Che in Latin America. And for many Muslims, however hard for Westerners to understand, there is today Osama.

Now on this very day in history there is another Ayatollah in and at the heart of the Middle East at a crucial moment in time. The very term 'Ayatollah' was hardly known in the West before the Iranian revolution just 25 years ago now. But in the immediate days ahead it now appears Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is to have his and maybe modern on-its-knees Iraq's 'rendevous with history'. And then what this is really all about now is the future rather than the past, especially with Iraqi 'elections' supposed to take place just 5 months from now. What will the American Empire with its arsenal of planes, tanks, and shock troops now do to deter, deflect, or stop him? What will the U.S.-installed and protected Allawi regime in Baghdad now do to attempt to co-opt or twist him?


Al-Sistani returns to Iraq

The country's top Shia cleric has urged people to march on Najaf

Iraq's most influential Shia cleric, Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, is in the southern city of Basra and will head to Najaf soon to try to resolve the crisis there, an aide says.

Al-Sistani's return comes as US and Iraqi forces tightened their siege of Najaf's Imam Ali mosque, where supporters of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr are holed up.

"He has entered Iraq through Basra. He will head to Najaf tomorrow," Hamid al-Khafaf, an al-Sistani aide based in London, said on Wednesday.

Al-Khafaf called on Iraqis "to be ready … to march on the city of Najaf under the leadership of al-Sistani to save the city."

Iraq's most senior Shia Muslim figure, Iranian-born al-Sistani has returned from Britain where he had been treated for a heart condition. Al-Khafaf told Aljazeera that the Ayat Allah had overidden doctors' recommendations not to travel.

Initiative welcomed

Aides of al-Sadr, whose al-Mahdi Army militiamen have resisted attempts by US-led forces to expel them from the revered Imam Ali mosque complex, told Aljazeera they welcomed al-Sistani's proposal to lead marchers to Najaf.

Al-Sadr 's supporters have been
besieged for three weeks

"People welcome the return of his eminence Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani and now men, women and children, in groups and individually, are heading to the city of Najaf to lift the siege imposed by the US occupation forces," said
Aws al-Khafaji, an al-Sadr's spokesman from the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya.

Asked about demands by al-Sistani's aides for Mahdi Army fighters to leave the shrine, al-Khafaji blamed besieging US-led forces for preventing a peaceful withdrawl.

"We repeatedly call on a peaceful solution but ... no one can leave the shrine as US snipers have taken up positions on the roofs of the neighboring buildings while the shells are falling here and there," said al-Khafaji.

"It is better that the fighting ceases so all those conducting their sit-in can leave safely".

'Silent' claim rejected

Al-Khafaf rejected charges that the Iranian-born al-Sistani, who has urged his compatriots not to take up arms against occupation forces, had been curiously silent over the situation in Najaf.

"It is absolutely incorrect. Despite his serious illness, his eminence and the team accompanying him were following the situation in Iraq.

"He has not spared any efforts to end the crisis peacefully. He has proceeded with contacts there that were not reported in the media."

Al-Sistani's propposed march is likely to put al-Sadr's movement under further pressure to withdraw from the mosque, whose occupation by al-Mahdi Army militiamen has directly challenged the authority of US-backed interim Prime Minister Iyyad Allawi.




Top Cleric Looks to Broker Deal in Najaf
By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI

NAJAF, Iraq (AP - 25 August) - Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric returned to the country from Britain on Wednesday and his aides called for a nationwide march to Najaf to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite militants in this holy city.

The announcement came as heavy fighting persisted in Najaf's Old City. U.S. warplanes fired on the neighborhood, helicopters flew overhead and heavy gunfire was heard in the streets, witnesses said.

Iraqi police sealed the area, preventing cars from entering, and Najaf's police chief, Maj. Gen. Ghalib al-Jazaari, said radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia was on its last legs.

``The Mahdi Army is finished,'' he said. ``Its hours are numbered.''

Militants were still fighting in the streets of the Old City, witnesses said, though the relentless American attacks in Najaf appeared to be weakening them.

Police on Wednesday arrested several al-Sadr aides with valuables in their possession from the sacred Imam Ali Shrine, which they control, al-Jazaari said. One of al-Sadr's top lieutenants, Sheik Ali Smeisim, was among those arrested, police officials said on condition of anonymity.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, 73, the nation's top Shiite cleric, crossed into southern Iraq from Kuwait about midday in a caravan of sport utility vehicles accompanied by Iraqi police and national guardsmen, according to an Associated Press reporter with the convoy. The convoy stopped in the southern city of Basra.

Al-Sistani had been in London for medical treatment since Aug. 6, one day after clashes erupted in Najaf. The cleric wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis and his return could play a crucial role in stabilizing the crisis.

Al-Sistani would head to Najaf on Thursday ``to stop the bloodshed,'' said Al-Sayyid Murtadha Al-Kashmiri, an al-Sistani representative in London. ``Those believers who wish to join him, let them join.''

The police chief cautioned Iraqis not to come to Najaf, saying they should await instructions from al-Sistani, ``because their enemies could cause them a disaster and they could put their lives in danger.''

In separate violence west of Baghdad, U.S. warplanes and tanks bombed the volatile city of Fallujah for more than two hours, killing at least four people and wounding four others, hospital officials and residents said.

Sunni insurgents based in the city are believed to be responsible for months of kidnappings, bombings and shooting attacks against coalition troops, Iraqi forces and civilians.

Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas V. Johnson said Wednesday that several insurgent ``firing positions ... have been struck this morning with tank-fire and yes, aircraft were also used against the targets.''

Hours later, witnesses heard sporadic fighting in northern and eastern Fallujah.

In recent days, U.S. and Iraqi forces in Najaf tightened a cordon around the Old City and the neighboring Imam Ali Shrine, the holiest Shia site in Iraq. U.S. forces shelled militants loyal to al-Sadr in the Old City on Wednesday and smoke rose into the sky after U.S. warplanes pummeled the area overnight.

Iraqi forces, accompanying U.S. troops into the Old City Tuesday for the first time in recent days, moved to within 200 yards of the Imam Ali Shrine. Both the Iraqi government and the U.S. military say no military moves are being made without the approval of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The militant force, which once waged fierce battles with U.S. troops throughout the Old City and Najaf's vast cemetery, seemed considerably diminished in number and less aggressive Tuesday after days of U.S. airstrikes and heavy artillery pounding.

Hundreds of insurgents have been spotted leaving Najaf in recent days, witnesses said. Those that remained appeared to have pulled back to the area around the shrine, where the fighting Tuesday was concentrated, U.S. troops said.

Police say al-Sadr, who has not been seen in public for days, has fled the city.

His aides, however, vigorously denied that, saying al-Sadr was in a secret hideout here. Regardless, the fiery, charismatic cleric's absence from the battlefield may have withered his followers' morale.

Hamed al-Khafaf, an al-Sistani aide, told the Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya that al-Sistani ``will lead thousands of followers on a march to holy Najaf.''

``We call upon all devout Iraqis who follow him'' from all over the country to be ``on alert to head to holy Najaf under his leadership,'' al-Khafaf told the station. He said an announcement on the next steps will be made later.

Abdel Hadi al-Daraji, an al-Sadr spokesman in Baghdad, also called all Muslims to march on Najaf.

``I call on all my Sunni brothers and also our brothers in all of Iraq's provinces to immediately head to Najaf and to protect the shrine,'' he told Al-Arabiya television.

Al-Sistani underwent an angioplasty, a procedure to unblock a coronary artery, Aug. 13 in London. Al-Kashmiri told the AP the senior cleric ``is in good health and left the hospital three or four days ago.''

Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan, addressing Iraqi National Guard troops in Najaf, said Tuesday that Iraqi forces would head toward the shrine ``tonight'' to await the signal for a raid or the capitulation of the militants, but by Wednesday, there was no indication Iraqi forces had advanced on the religious site.

Shaalan made a similar threat a week ago, saying the government could raid the shrine to free it of ``its vile occupation.'' The government later backed down and said it would work for a peaceful solution.

Any raid on the shrine, the holiest Shiite site in the country, risked igniting a massive Shiite rebellion throughout Iraq against the fledgling interim government, already battling a persistent and bloody Sunni insurgency.

In the southern city of Amarah, clashes between British forces and al-Sadr militants killed 12 people and injured 22 others, said Dr. Sa'ad Mahmoud from al-Zahrawi of Zahrawi General Hospital.

The fighting started when militants attacked a British foot patrol with small arms and fired mortar rounds at a building housing British troops, residents said.

Lebanese Foreign Ministry officials also said Wednesday that Lebanese hostage Mohammed Raad, who was kidnapped on Aug. 2, had been freed by his Iraqi captors and was in the Lebanese Embassy in Baghdad.

Masked militants had promised to release him in a video aired Tuesday on the al-Arabiya satellite channel, saying they were responding to an appeal by The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni Muslim group in Iraq that's believed to have links to insurgents.

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August 2004


Magazine



MER Exclusive - Listen to Douglas Feith about Israel and the Middle East
(August 30, 2004)
MER EXCLUSIVE - Listen to Douglas Feith while Bill Clinton was still President and a year before 9/11 even happened. For some time in Washington Feith himself has been a prominent member of the extended Israeli-Jewish lobby speaking at times as harshly and unrelentingly as any Israeli propagandist. Persons in the media should contact MER for more extensive information and additional audio and video comments by Feith - 202 362-5266 and press@MiddleEast.Org

Pointing the fingers at Douglas Feith
(August 29, 2004)
Feith has been mentioned in most of the major media stories this weekend in Washington -- but not nearly with the emphasis he should have been. For Feith has played a central role in just about every scandal that has beset the Bush Administration -- from the faulty 'intelligence', to the mistaken 'assumptions', to the prison torture scandals, and now the latest Israeli/Jewish lobby spy scandal right in his own office.

Sharon's Wars, Israel's Future
(August 28, 2004)
This major New York Times feature about Ariel Sharon could have, and should have, been far more harsh. But Ariel Sharon is at the top of his game now. And though the future he may have molded more than any other may be bleak and potentially catastrophic, now is his time and few in the Jewish world -- and in an oblique way that includes not only the New York Times but much of the contemporary American media -- dare to take him on directly.

Israeli Spy Scandal Erupting in Washington
(August 28, 2004)
Many, most no doubt, of these kinds of things relating to Israel never get out into the public domain; they are buried and sucked up into official Washington where so many have so many reasons for always wanting to hush such things up. But there should be no doubt that the Israelis have infiltrated at many levels and greatly influenced in many ways U.S. policies in the Middle East, especially of late the decision to invade and occupy Iraq. The following quick list of past Israeli spy scandals all of which were covered up or sucked in one way or another include: * Israeli Attack on U.S.S. Liberty - 1967 * Steve Bryent Israeli Spying Scandal - 1982 * Jonathan Pollard Arrested outside Israeli Embassy - 1985 * AIPAC infiltration scandal, President forced to resign - 1991 * Mossad bugging of Clinton and Monica - 1997 * Martin Indyk's Security Clearances 'temporarily' suspended - 2000

America's 'Iraqi Police' and the now impending Iraqi Elections
(August 27, 2004)
And it's clear that if it's a competiton between Negroponte and Allawi, against al-Sistani and al-Sadr, the Americans and their regime are in big trouble. Just how the U.S. occupation is going to attempt to either further delay the election or not-too-blantantly manipulate and control it now looms ahead -- just as soon as the American election is behind us all.


(August 26, 2004)


U.S. and Regime Bombing and Killing throughout Iraq
(August 26, 2004)
Chaos, confusion, death, and destruction -- that's the description of American occupied Iraq as the country virtually rebels and explodes. Even as Ayatollah al-Sistani heads back to Najaf protected by British occupation troops American occupation troops are ferociously attacking Najaf, Fallujah, Sadr City as never before and American armed and paid Iraqi mercenary troops are massacreing their own.

Daily Articles Summary - 25 August 2004
(August 25, 2004)
Daily Articles Summary - 25 August 2004 MER Articles Iran Iraq Israel

Sistani Returns and March on Najaf Looms
(August 25, 2004)
Now on this very day in history there is another Ayatollah in and at the heart of the Middle East at a crucial moment in time. The very term 'Ayatollah' was hardly known in the West before the Iranian revolution just 25 years ago now. But in the immediate days ahead it now appears Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is to have his and maybe modern on-its-knees Iraq's 'rendevous with history'. And then what this is really all about now is the future rather than the past, especially with Iraqi 'elections' supposed to take place just 5 months from now. What will the American Empire with its arsenal of planes, tanks, and shock troops now do to deter, deflect, or stop him? What will the U.S.-installed and protected Allawi regime in Baghdad now do to attempt to co-opt or twist him?

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Returns to 'Save the Burning Holy City'
(August 25, 2004)
The Mahdi Army defeated the British Empire in Sudan in 1885. Now a Mahdi Army battles the American Empire in Iraq in 2004. Today the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani returns to Najaf to "Save the Burning Holy City".

IRAQ, IRAN and ISRAEL Stories -- 24 August 2004
(August 24, 2004)


Crusades II - Iraqi Cities Bombed and Tanked
(August 24, 2004)
Bush's views and ongoing rhetoric -- and then came top Pentagon General Boykin telling the world that 'my god is bigger than their god' -- may come to define this period in 'modern' history.

Imperial America
(August 23, 2004)
Provocative thinking and writing from one of Great Britain's most prolific, most outspoken, most humanistic, and most insightful 'activist' journalists writing this cover article in the current issue of the New Statesman. It's too hard and probably wrong in fact to agree that 'Bush may be the lesser evil'. But it is very important to understand how and why John Pilger is speaking out in this way.

Palestinian Struggle Fully Justified
(August 22, 2004)
Because of the huge propaganda war in which the U.S. and Israel also have overwhelming firepower at their disposal, what leading Professors like Charles Black and now Ted Honderich have to say is in fact of critical importance.

Weekend Reading: Iran, the U.S., and Israel
(August 21, 2004)
These four articles from the past few days, especially the first commentary by UPI Senior Analyst Martin Sieff, help put things in perspective and set the stage for what is now to come. Unpleasant and frightening weekend reading, we know...but necessary.

What the Americans have Really Done in and to Iraq
(August 20, 2004)
This is a brief but very important outline of what the Americans have really done in recent years in and to Iraq. All this has little to do with 'freedom' and 'democracy' -- those are the simplistic and deceptive front-words. What's really involved is an increasingly desperate and ruthless master plan to turn Iraq -- a country at the center of both the Arab and the Muslim worlds -- into an appendage of the American military, political, and economic machine trying to more totally control the Middle East region and continue to drain it of its wealth, resources, and heritage. It's the imperialism of old considerably reconstituted for the brave new world of worldwide television, the internet, and high-tech 'Star Wars' weaponry.

Iran Warns of Preemptive Strike Against U.S. and Israel
(August 19, 2004)
"We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our strength. Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it is an evil entity, and it will not be able to launch any military operation without an American green light. You cannot separate the two." Iranian Defense Minister

The World on Fire
(August 19, 2004)
Now in 2004 as a result of what the Bush/Cheney/Israeli regime insisted on doing the world is dangerously on fire -- passions, hatreds, and fears all now enraged and engaged in an escalating "clash of civilizations" full of crusading rhetoric essentially pitting the U.S., U.K., and Israel against Arab and Muslim countries and peoples everywhere.

U.S. Allawi Regime Should Go
(August 18, 2004)
here's a bottom line here and at a time of such major historic developments it should be said clearly. The American-installed, financed, armed, and protected Allawi regime has already totally disgraced and discredited itself. It cannot succeed in authoritatively and democratically governing Iraq. It should be ended immediately before it does even more historic harm to Iraq, to the Middle East, to the Arab and Muslims worlds, and to the whole fabric of international justice and order.

Al-Sadr and Allawi - The Struggle for the Middle East
(August 18, 2004)
Here then are two such voices speaking out, crying out, at this critical time. The first an American who was Director of The Islamic Center in Washington, the very venue in fact President Bush choose to visit soon after 9/11. The second is a Canadian who is President of the Canadian Islamic Congress. -MER

Sharon the 'Bulldozer', Sharon the 'Butcher'
(August 17, 2004)
These BBC and Guardian articles today look at how the Israelis are even now continuing to expand settlements in the occupied territories, as well as at the current situation in and around Gaza -- realities 'on the ground' that Ariel Sharon is more responsible for than any other single individual on any side of the barricades. MiddleEast.org

"They are cheating us, laughing at us" - MER FlashBack 7 Years
(August 17, 2004)
"In the end, so long as the U.S. continues to back Israeli occupation with ever greater amounts of money, guns, and political protection, little will change and the "peace process" will remain a grand deception breeding resistance, hatred, and yes, more terrorism."

U.S. Iraqi Troops Fire on Reporters
(August 16, 2004)
History is being made in these bitter bleeding days, in these very hours, and the world will have to live with the aftermath for some time to come. This report just published by the Daily Telegraph in the U.K. is the best so far to outline how the Americans are attempting to blind the world and mute the protests by threatening the few courageous journalists still in and able to report from Najaf. As for pictures of what is happening, cameras are now illegal and being confiscated by the Americans and their agents.

Iraq Exploding! The historic confrontation at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf
(August 16, 2004)
Unless the Americans can find some way to get Muqtada Sadr and his forces out of the historic Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf without a firefight and without a massacre they themselves could become the victims of their own killing machine if the extraordinary rage and hatred in Iraq, Iran, and the Arab and Muslim worlds overall should erupt still further against them.

Americans Order Journalists, Cameras From Najaf
(August 15, 2004)
This is what police-states do; this is what dictators do; this is what the Israelis sometimes do; and now this is what the American 'democracy' does in the extraordinarily duplicitous name of 'freedom and democracy for Iraq.

Israel 'On The Eve of Destruction'?
(August 15, 2004)
His father long headed the National Religious Party. He himself has been the head of the world Zionist movement as well as the Speaker of the Knesset. And yet -- even as the Israelis appear to be victorious with the Palestinians everywhere surrounded, subjugated, dispossessed and controlled -- Avraham Burg dares to speak out loudly about how perverted Zionism has become and that all the militarism, racism, and arrogance could in reality have put Israel 'on the eve of destruction'.

Please tell friends and family about MER
(August 14, 2004)
Mid-East Realties (MER) commentary and analysis is exclusive, hard-hitting, and always directly to the point. The consistent incisiveness, expertise, and depth of coverage is not to be found anywhere else -- as these comments from readers around the world attest. Below is a summary with quick links to recent exclusive MER articles and FlashBacks. Please forward this summary complete to your friends and relatives encouraging them to also get MER just as you do. It's never been easier to subscribe to MER; and it's never been more timely and important to do so.

Occupied Iraq - Threats, resignations, killings, chaos all escalating
(August 13, 2004)
Reports from Iraq this morning indicate that Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr may have been injured today while meeting with supporters, and what's to happen next has everyone on edge as rarely before. Other reports from Iraq are of a wave of protest resignations against the American occupation and puppet government, with increased threats against the U.S. and its regime now coming in public even from other Iraqi officials approved by the Americans.

Nader vs. Israel
(August 12, 2004)
"The days when the chief Israeli puppeteer comes to the United States and meets with the puppet in the White House and then proceeds to Capitol Hill, where he meets with hundreds of other puppets, should be replaced."

Najaf 2004
(August 12, 2004)
"From Iran's perspective, there is little question what happens in Najaf is its business. Any damage there cannot leave a single Iranian ruler the option of remaining neutral, regardless of whether they are among moderates or hard-liners. The Shiite religious heritage is a shared one between Iraq and Iran."

Hidden History of the "Peace Process"
(August 11, 2004)
"It's not inordinate Chinese money and influence in American politics the Congress should be investigating, it's how Israel manipulates American politics with the help of some key Americans (most of them Jewish), who are in fact, however distasteful it is to say it, 'dually loyal'."

Jewish Washington Neocons Responsible for War
(August 11, 2004)
As the Iraq war escalates and creates still more disgust and hatred around the world, it is also threatening to expand. And a month or two from now if the Bush/Cheney/neocon regime is lagging in the polls no telling what kinds of political or military 'surprises' might come from Washington sooner rather than later.

Stumbling, Bumbling 'Arabist' Ambassadors Play to the Cameras
(August 10, 2004)
After all these now wasted years, and after all this now-squandered money -- and even with all that has happened including 9/11, the Iraqi war, and the Palestinian Intifada -- the 'Arabist' Ambassadors in Washington are weaker and more incestuous, less influential and less credible, then when they started. Yet oh how they continue to pretend otherwise so tragically continuing to mislead so many well-meaning naive people who simply don't know better the real details of what has been and what is now the real situation in today's Washington.

Neocons All
(August 9, 2004)
He sure didn't write this way when he worked for the old gray Zionist lady the New York Times. With language like 'neo-con vampires' he sounds a bit this time like MER in its regular tell-it-like-it-really-is mode... Maybe for his next installment Mr. Ibrahim will have more to say ...about his old colleagues at the New York Times starting with Tom Friedman, et. al.

Both Israel and Saudis working to elect Bush/Cheney
(August 8, 2004)
Now of course neither is going to admit it in front of the cameras, and of course it's also politically confusing for many, but both the Israelis and the Saudis are working hard now to help the election of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and the right-wing neocons.

U.S. and puppet regime boot Aljazeera from Iraq
(August 7, 2004)
Oh yes, the headline..."U.S. boots Aljazeera..." Let's not get confused by all the technical details and propaganda tricks. The regime in Baghdad was selected by the Americans and empowered by the Americans. It is financed by the Americans and the American military and CIA keep it in power. What it does is what the Americans want it to do. And the responsibility for what it does is American as well.

Target Pakistan
(August 7, 2004)
As tensions and fighting in Iraq and Palestine continue, and with new sanctions and attacks on Syria, Iran, and Lebanon quite publicly threatened, the situation in the greater Middle East could become far more tense and the 'crucial countries' of both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia could indeed 'fall' from the American grip setting off even more dangerous and unpredictable political and military explosions.

Target IRAN con't
(August 6, 2004)
"Exploiting the November US presidential elections and the European concerns, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could order a strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, similar to the ones Israelis executed in 1981 against Iraq's nuclear weapons program", the diplomats were quoted by the London-based newspaper Al Hayat on Wednesday, August 4.

'Revolution' in Iraq; No U.N. or Muslim Troops To Help Americans
(August 5, 2004)
Indeed, the Americans and the Israrelis have now created their own joint vicious geopolitical stew in the Middle East; and they are very much in danger of gradually boiling away in it regardless of all the tough talk and military onslaughts.

Kerry, Israel, Jews, and the Middle East
(August 4, 2004)
John Kerry's Middle East policies have already been heavily mortgaged, if not downright sold, to those who have the greatest interest and power in controlling what the U.S. does in the crucial Middle East region and in determining where American arms, monies, and covert actions flow in the future -- powerful American Jews closely associated with Israel.

10 YEARS and 1 MILLION+ DEAD and COUNTING - MER FlashBack
(August 3, 2004)
"Here we are in the middle of the millennium year and we are responsible for genocide in Iraq. All of us that live in the silent democracies are responsible for sustained genocide in Iraq." Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Denis Haliday

'SECURITY' POLITICS - Para-military troops dressed to kill become props in political war
(August 3, 2004)
A large numbers of 'security forces' dressed to kill in paramilitary uniforms with big guns took to the streets in New York and Washington and are there to stay, say those in charge, 'as long as it takes'. Bush and his are in fact using all this fear, and all these images, as props in their own campaign to retain power.

America Vs America
(August 1, 2004)
"The Bush Administration cannot be trusted... George W. Bush and his administration have taken normal mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience... They traffic in big lies, indulge in any number of symptomatic small lies, and ultimately, have come to embody dishonesty itself. They are a lie. And people, finally, have started catching on." Ron Reagan


(August 1, 2004)





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