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BUSH and U.S. EXPOSED
Book by book by book
Mid-East
Realities - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 30 June 2004:
It's the big 4th of July weekend in the USA in a few days -- good
time to remind everyone about all those Bush exposing books out there
for the reading. But also a good time to remind everyone that it's
not just about the Bush Administration - hardly. In many ways the
Clinton Administration set the table for what has happened since
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld took over and for what the U.S. would do once
given the necessary excuse -- which of course came with 9/11. And in
many ways a Kerry Administration would pursue similar policies, even if
with more soothing less crusading rhetoric -- though sadly similarly
deceptive and disingenuous if carefully analyzed.
Meanwhile former Iraqi "Administrator" Ambassador Paul Bremer is
back in Washington quickly on the TV circuit proclaiming that everyone
is dying for a 'noble cause' in Iraq, a country he insists that is now
doing much better than before he and his troops took over, though the
facts and figures don't quite verify his repetitious slogans. The
current American President may even give Bremer some kind of award
during the 4th celebrations -- earlier this month in the White House no
less than neocon-godfather, and former editor of the American Jewish
Committee's Commentary, was
awarded the 'Medal of Freedom' thanks to all his neocon kids who now
run things throughout the corridors of official power in today's
Washington. And rumors persist in Washington that should Bush remain
President in November 'moderate' Colin Powell may be out and 'neocon'
Paul Bremer may be in.
This list of books exposing the Bush presidency for what it really
is all about is an essential corrective to all the propaganda and TV
clips constantly bombarding the American people. Of course there is Fahrenheit 9/11
destined to set 'documentary' records again this holiday weekend -- but
then Michael Moore's film is not really so much a real documentary as
it is a kind of visual Op Ed twisting and sometimes contorting images
into emotive reactions and revulsions. In many ways though some of
these books are more significant, however in a TV/Movie age even
collectively they will not have the same impact though they do help set
a climate for skepticism and anxiety. This particular list was
compiled a few months ago by USA Today
so it's hardly complete at this point. But it is a good starting place
for those wanting to choose a little holiday reading, however
depressive, sometimes shocking, surely politically and historically
depressing.
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Bush under attack by a barrage of books
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today
When White House spokesman Scott McClellan was asked about The Price of Loyalty,
the best seller about former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill's
disillusionment with the Bush administration, he replied, "I don't do
book reviews."
If he did, it would be a full-time job. The Price of Loyalty is part of a wave of books bashing Bush.
In the first half of 2004, major commercial
publishers will publish at least 25 books critical of Bush. Some may
add to the criticism about his decision to go to war in Iraq. Among the
titles:
•House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig
Unger, who promises to document how financial and personal ties between
the Bush family and the Saudi royal family affects U.S. foreign policy
(March).
•Against All Enemies: Inside the White House's War on Terror
by former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who joins O'Neill as
the second Bush insider to break ranks with his former boss (March).
•Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John Dean, President Nixon's counsel (April).
•Bush on the Couch by psychoanalyst Justin Frank, who diagnoses Bush as a rigid thinker with a simplistic worldview (May).
•Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror by "Anonymous," a member of U.S. intelligence community (May).
Also out this month: Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You by Paul Waldman and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America by Eric Alterman and Mark Green.
Former president Bill Clinton used to be fodder
for best-selling conservative authors. Now, the only two political
books on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list are critical of Bush: The Price of Loyalty (No. 24) and Kevin Phillips' American Dynasty (No. 40).
Nation Books' Neil Ortenberg, who published Jack Humberman's The Bush-Hater's Handbook last month, traces the trend to the popularity of paperbacks such as Vincent Bugliosi's Betrayal of America
that "hit on issues of the day — Bush's stolen election, America's
infatuation with military might — in a condensed and incendiary
fashion." When larger publishers saw their success, "the floodgates
opened."
But Adrian Zackheim, publisher of Sentinel, a
conservative imprint at Penguin, says it's timing rather than a shift
to the left by readers. With the Democratic primaries dominating
political news, "it's not the best time to publish a book supportive of
an incumbent president."
Out this week: John Podhoretz's Bush Country: How Dubya Became a Great President While Driving Liberals Insane and Sean Hannity's Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism.
In September, Sentinel publishes Ronald Kessler's A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush. It's touted as "contrarian" because it praises Bush.
WND Books plans an August book by David Bossie,
a former Republican congressional aide, promising "all the dirt on the
2004 Democratic nominee for president — whoever that may be."
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June 2004
About the new MiddleEast.Org
(June 30, 2004)
U.S. Ordered Brits to Attack Iran - Brits Balked
(June 30, 2004)
The order was given in secret by the U.S. commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, who was already scheduled to be replaced, quite likely because of his involvement in the horrendous Iraqi torture scandal. But anyone who thinks General Sanchez gave the order without checking first with his neocon bosses back at the Pentagon -- Wolfowitz and Feith, who then of course check with Rumsfeld who then tells the President, Condi, and Colin -- just doesn't understand even at this late date how the invasion/occupation of Iraq came about nor how the Pentagon planning has been progressing for Iran, Syria, North Korea, just as soon as the excuses can be managed.
Bush and U.S. Exposed - book by book by book
(June 30, 2004)
This list of books exposing the Bush presidency for what it really is all about is an essential corrective to all the propaganda and TV clips constantly bombarding the American people... In many ways though some of these books are more significant, however in a TV/Movie age even collectively they will not have the same impact though they do help set a climate for skepticism and anxiety. This particular list was compiled a few months ago by USA Today so it's hardly complete at this point. But it is a good starting place for those wanting to choose a little holiday reading, however depressive, sometimes shocking, surely politically and historically depressing.
America's Baghdad - Corruption, Barricades, Boozing, Fear and Incompetence
(June 29, 2004)
Baghdad is awash with stories of the corruption, cronyism and incompetence of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which was dissolved this week.
Brits Departed Palestine Leaving Civil War - MER FlashBack
(June 29, 2004)
"Contrary to contemporary assertions, the British and the Americans have done far more to prevent democracy in the Middle East, and to inhibit independent economic development as well, then they will ever admit."
Bremer Slinks Away; CIA Slinks Forward
(June 28, 2004)
Thus now Bremer hastily and rather shamefully
slinks away without much fanfare, a few days
early so they say, even as Iraq continues to
seeth in hatred and a slow-simmer civil war.
Baghdad Shuffle
(June 28, 2004)
It's historic alright. A huge historic bungle that is quite literally exploding in their faces as they try to appear to go but actually stay with their carefully chosen Iraqi faces now out front. Over the weekend on ABC News one of the neocon political commentators made a little mistake and clearly called the American-appointed 'interim Iraqi Prime Minister' a "CIA agent" -- it was a rare moment of candor in public in today's confused, uptight, and secretive Washington.
Kurds on 'the return' - Palestinians into ghettos
(June 27, 2004)
Substitute "Palestinians" for Kurds, and "Israelis" for Arabs, and there is a whole different twist to 'the return' of the Kurds featured in this front-page New York Times article last Sunday. Another great irony of our times is that even as the Americans and the Israelis help facilitate what the Kurds are doing in Iraq they demand the Palestinians give up their 'right of return' even though it is enshrined in many U.N. Security Council resolutions going back to 1947...
Worst Crisis Since WWII?
(June 26, 2004)
"the most foolhardy civilian leadership in the
modern history of the United States." (Newsweek) "A vacuum has opened up at the heart of world politics where US leadership ought to be found." (Financial Times) "The unpalatable truth is that the Bush administration has failed in almost everything it has touched."
The Historical Moment - MER Flashback Four Years
(June 25, 2004)
MER FLASHBACK to 25 June 2001: Months before what is now known as "9/11" MER published these articles indicating that a major strike by Osama
Bin-Laden against the U.S. was imminent and that the Israelis were more determined than ever to subjugate the Palestinians. We wrote at the time: "In these conditions any spark can ignite the blaze; and sometimes such giant fires consume more than was originally anticipated, sometimes even those who start them."
BBC Hired by British Government to Broadcast TV to Middle East
(June 24, 2004)
More Readers' Comments from Around the World
(June 24, 2004)
Just some of the many Readers's Comments continually pouring in to MER from around the world.
Thank you for previewing the new MiddleEast.Org
(June 23, 2004)
Cheney and Rumseld "linked to murder" of CIA scientist in cold war years
(June 23, 2004)
Secret documents have revealed US Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld are "linked to the murder" of a senior CIA scientist.
It's Now the Second Half of 1948
(June 23, 2004)
As always Professor Tanya Reinhart from Tel Aviv University writes with extraordinary insight.
"...the Israeli military and political leadership are aiming, eventually, at a total destruction of the Palestinian authority, and, with it, the process of Oslo, which is now dominantly considered by them a 'historical mistake'."
Information Warfare - Israel Wins Big
(June 22, 2004)
For 10 years Tim Llewellyn was the BBC's Middle East correspondent. In this passionately argued polemic he accuses British broadcasters, including his former employer, of systematic bias in covering the Arab-Israeli conflict, giving undue prominence to the views of the Israelis while all but disregarding the roots of the crisis and what is being done to the Palestinians.
Gearing Up for IRAN and North Korea
(June 21, 2004)
"...waiting to confront Iraq would have allowed the
United States to confront more immediate dangers....
Because our military is stretched so thin in Iraq, we cannot threaten military action in Iran or North Korea." Martin Peretz and The New Republic
REVOLT in WASHINGTON
(June 20, 2004)
Nader Speaks to Buchanon
(June 15, 2004)
He's going after the real conservative vote, so he says.
Crusade II - Reagan first brought the neocons to power
(June 09, 2004)
Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Abrams, Bush...and the list goes on. Those who have recently led the crusade to invade Iraq, subjugate the Palestinians, and fight Islam, were brought to power in Washington for the first time some 23 years ago when Ronald Reagan of the once far-right was victorious over Jimmy Carter of the once mid-left in American politics. And some now forget that the man who greatly helped bring Ronald Reagan to power was none other than George Herbert Walker Bush, former head of the CIA, who now became Vice-President for the next eight years and then himself succeeded Reagan as President in 1989.
Realities of the "Reagan Plan" for the Middle East
(June 06, 2004)
The seeds for the Intifada and for Israel's increasingly aggressive escalating occupation of and dispossession of the Palestinian people were sown in the years of the Reagan Presidency. Indeed it was Ronald Reagan who first brought what we today call the "neocons" to power in Washington, and the right-wing Republicans who forged such a close alliance with the Israeli Likud of Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, and Ariel Sharon which had come to power in Israel in 1977 for the first time.
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