http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/liebermansharon.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/12/politics/campaigns/12DEAN.html?ex=1063944000&en=b50bbca45d2baa85&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE|Israel Also Explosive Issue for American Politicians|Senator Lieberman with Prime Minister Sharon - Dec 2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArafatV.jpg||Kill Arafat ! |Yasser Arafat|The Israeli right-wingers - the descendants of Jabotinsky and Revisionist (quasi-fascist) Zionism - promised themselves there would never be a real Palestinian State in the area all the world knew as Palestine at the end of World War II and the Holocaust. And they also promised themselves that they would undo the 'Oslo Peace Plan' - itself not very favorable for the Palestinians but too much for the Revionists. And they have pulled it off. Kill Arafat! is now a public mantra...coming from the pages of the Jerusalem Post as well as the pulpits of Pat Robertson and Christian Fundamentalist Fundamentalists in the USA.

------------------------------------

Jerusalem Post Editorial: Kill Arafat
Thu Sep 11 2003 22:11:57 ET

The world will not help us; we must help ourselves. We must kill as many of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as possible, as quickly possible, while minimizing collateral damage, but not letting that damage stop us. And we must kill Yasser Arafat, because the world leaves us no alternative.

No one seriously argues with the fact that Arafat was preventing Mahmoud Abbas, the prime minister he appointed, from combating terrorism, to the extent that was willing to do so. Almost no one seriously disputes that Abbas on whom Israel, the US, and Europe had placed all their bets failed primarily because Arafat retained control of much of the security apparatus, and that Arafat wanted him to fail.

The new prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, clearly will fare no better, since he, if anything, has been trying to garner more power for Arafat, not less. Under these circumstances, the idea of exiling Arafat is gaining currency, but the standard objection is that he will be as much or more of a problem when free to travel the world than he is locked up in Ramallah.

If only three countries Britain, France, and Germany joined the US in a total boycott of Arafat this would not be the case. If these countries did not speak with Arafat, it would not matter much who did, and however much a local Palestinian leader would claim to consult with Arafat, his power would be gone.

But such a boycott will not happen. Only now, after more than 800 Israelis have died in three years of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks, has Europe finally decided that Hamas is a terrorist organization. How much longer will it take before it cuts off Arafat? Yet Israel cannot accept a situation in which Arafat blocks any Palestinian break with terrorism, whether from here or in exile. Therefore, we are at another point in our history at which the diplomatic risks of defending ourselves are exceeded by the risks of not doing so.

Such was the case in the Six Day War, when Israel was forced to launch a preemptive attack or accept destruction. And when Menachem Begin decided to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. And when Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield in Palestinian cities after the Passover Massacre of 2002. In each case, Israel tried every fashion of restraint, every plea to the international community to take action that would avoid the need for "extreme" measures, all to no avail. When the breaking point arrives, there is no point in taking half-measures. If we are going to be condemned in any case, we might as well do it right.

Arafat's death at Israel's hands would not radicalize Arab opposition to Israel; just the opposite. The current jihad against us is being fueled by the perception that Israel is blocked from taking decisive action to defend itself.

Arafat's survival and power are a test of the proposition that it is possible to pursue a cause through terror and not have that cause rejected by the international community. Killing Arafat, more than any other act, would demonstrate that the tool of terror is unacceptable, even against Israel, even in the name of a Palestinian state. Arafat does not just stand for terror, he stands for the refusal to make peace with Israel under any circumstances and within any borders.

In this respect, there is no distinction, beyond the tactical, between him and Hamas. Europe's refusal to utterly reject him condemns Palestinians, no less than Israelis, to endless war and dooms the possibility of the two-state solution the world claims to seek.

While the prospect of a Palestinian power vacuum is feared by some, the worst of all worlds is what exists now: Terrorists attack Israel at will under the umbrella of legitimacy provided by Arafat. Hamas would not be able to fill a post-Arafat vacuum; on the contrary, Hamas would lose the cover it has today.

A word must be said here about the most common claim made by those who would not isolate Arafat, let alone kill him: that he is the elected leader of the Palestinian people. Even if Arafat was chosen in a truly free election (when does his term end?), which we would dispute, this does not close the question of his legitimacy.

Whom the Palestinians choose to lead them is none of our business, provided it is a free choice, and provided they do not opt for leaders who choose terror and aggression. So long as the Palestinians choose such a leadership, it should be held no more immune to counterattack by Israel than the Taliban and Saddam Hussein were by the United States.

We complain that a double standard is applied to us, and it is. But we cannot complain when we apply that double standard to ourselves. Arafat's survival, under our watchful eyes, is living testimony to our tolerance of that double standard. If we want another standard to be applied, we must begin by applying it ourselves. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/stopbush.jpg|http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7268831%5E912,00.html|More Hiding the Truth in Iraq about WMD|STOP BUSH - London Demo 9/28/2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/kinggeorge.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53797-2003Sep23?language=printer|Rising to the challenge Dean Rips into 'King George'|George Bush holding his speech waiting to speak to the UN General Assembly - 23 Sept 2003|Boston Tea Party Indeed. Removing the embedded group of superrich corporate lobbyists, bought and paid-for politicians, and neo-con Zionist operatives from control of Washington is more important than ever before in modern-day American history. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/buffalosoldiers.jpg||'Breaking the Silence' - American Lies and the Iraq War|Buffalo Soldiers - "Steal All You Can Steal" - Movie Shakes American Patriots|Breaking the Silence by John Pilger
by Nadia / John Pilger Tuesday September 23, 2003 at 10:55 PM

In Cairo, on February 24 2001, Powell said: "He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours." This is the very opposite of what Bush and Blair said in public.

Breaking The Silence

By John Pilger

September 23, 2003: EXACTLY one year ago, Tony Blair told Parliament: "Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programme is active, detailed and growing.

"The policy of containment is not working. The weapons of mass destruction programme is not shut down. It is up and running now."

Not only was every word of this false, it was part of a big lie invented in Washington within hours of the attacks of September 11 2001 and used to hoodwink the American public and distract the media from the real reason for attacking Iraq. "It was 95 per cent charade," a former senior CIA analyst told me.

An investigation of files and archive film for my TV documentary Breaking The Silence, together with interviews with former intelligence officers and senior Bush officials have revealed that Bush and Blair knew all along that Saddam Hussein was effectively disarmed.

Both Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's closest adviser, made clear before September 11 2001 that Saddam Hussein was no threat - to America, Europe or the Middle East.

In Cairo, on February 24 2001, Powell said: "He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours."

This is the very opposite of what Bush and Blair said in public.

Powell even boasted that it was the US policy of "containment" that had effectively disarmed the Iraqi dictator - again the very opposite of what Blair said time and again. On May 15 2001, Powell went further and said that Saddam Hussein had not been able to "build his military back up or to develop weapons of mass destruction" for "the last 10 years".
America, he said, had been successful in keeping him "in a box".

Two months later, Condoleezza Rice also described a weak, divided and militarily defenceless Iraq. "Saddam does not control the northern part of the country," she said. "We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."

So here were two of Bush's most important officials putting the lie to their own propaganda, and the Blair government's propaganda that subsequently provided the justification for an unprovoked, illegal attack on Iraq. The result was the deaths of what reliable studies now put at 50,000 people, civilians and mostly conscript Iraqi soldiers, as well as British and American troops. There is no estimate of the countless thousands of wounded.

In a torrent of propaganda seeking to justify this violence before and during the invasion, there were occasional truths that never made headlines. In April last year, Condoleezza Rice described September 11 2001 as an "enormous opportunity" and said America "must move to take advantage of these new opportunities."

Taking over Iraq, the world's second biggest oil producer, was the first such opportunity.

At 2.40pm on September 11, according to confidential notes taken by his aides, Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, said he wanted to "hit" Iraq - even though not a shred of evidence existed that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the attacks on New York and Washington. "Go massive," the notes quote Rumsfeld as saying. "Sweep it all up. Things related and not." Iraq was given a brief reprieve when it was decided instead to attack Afghanistan. This was the "softest option" and easiest to explain to the American people - even though not a single September 11 hijacker came from Afghanistan. In the meantime, securing the "big prize", Iraq, became an obsession in both Washington and London.

An Office of Special Plans was hurriedly set up in the Pentagon for the sole purpose of converting "loose" or unsubstantiated intelligence into US policy. This was a source from which Downing Street received much of the "evidence" of weapons of mass destruction we now know to be phoney.

CONTRARY to Blair's denials at the time, the decision to attack Iraq was set in motion on September 17 2001, just six days after the attacks on New York and Washington.

On that day, Bush signed a top-secret directive, ordering the Pentagon to begin planning "military options" for an invasion of Iraq. In July 2002, Condoleezza Rice told another Bush official who had voiced doubts about invading Iraq: "A decision has been made. Don't waste your breath."

The ultimate cynicism of this cover-up was expressed by Rumsfeld himself only last week. When asked why he thought most Americans still believed Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks of September 11, he replied: "I've not seen any indication that would lead me to believe I could say that."

It is this that makes the Hutton inquiry in London virtually a sham. By setting up an inquiry solely into the death of the weapons expert David Kelly, Blair has ensured there will be no official public investigation into the real reasons he and Bush attacked Iraq and into when exactly they made that decision. He has ensured there will be no headlines about disclosures in email traffic between Downing Street and the White House, only secretive tittle-tattle from Whitehall and the smearing of the messenger of Blair's misdeeds.

The sheer scale of this cover-up makes almost laughable the forensic cross-examination of the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan about "anomalies" in the notes of his interview with David Kelly - when the story Gilligan told of government hypocrisy and deception was basically true.

Those pontificating about Gilligan failed to ask one vital question - why has Lord Hutton not recalled Tony Blair for cross-examination? Why is Blair not being asked why British sovereignty has been handed over to a gang in Washington whose extremism is no longer doubted by even the most conservative observers? No one knows the Bush extremists better than Ray McGovern, a former senior CIA officer and personal friend of George Bush senior, the President's father. In Breaking The Silence, he tells me: "They were referred to in the circles in which I moved when I was briefing at the top policy levels as 'the crazies'."

"Who referred to them as 'the crazies'?" I asked.

"All of us... in policy circles as well as intelligence circles... There is plenty of documented evidence that they have been planning these attacks for a long time and that 9/11 accelerated their plan. (The weapons of mass destruction issue) was all contrived, so was the connection of Iraq with al Qaeda. It was all PR... Josef Goebbels had this dictum: If you say something often enough, the people will believe it." He added: "I think we ought to be all worried about fascism (in the United States)."

The "crazies" include John Bolton, Under Secretary of State, who has made a personal mission of tearing up missile treaties with the Russians and threatening North Korea, and Douglas Feith, an Under Secretary of Defence, who ran a secret propaganda unit "reworking" intelligence about Iraq's weapons. I interviewed them both in Washington.

BOLTON boasted to me that the killing of as many as 10,000 Iraqi civilians in the invasion was "quite low if you look at the size of the military operation."

For raising the question of civilian casualties and asking which country America might attack next, I was told: "You must be a member of the Communist Party."

Over at the Pentagon, Feith, No 3 to Rumsfeld, spoke about the "precision" of American weapons and denied that many civilians had been killed. When I pressed him, an army colonel ordered my cameraman: "Stop the tape!" In Washington, the wholesale deaths of Iraqis is unmentionable. They are non-people; the more they resist the Anglo-American occupation, the more they are dismissed as "terrorists".

It is this slaughter in Iraq, a crime by any interpretation of an international law, that makes the Hutton inquiry absurd. While his lordship and the barristers play their semantic games, the spectre of thousands of dead human beings is never mentioned, and witnesses to this great crime are not called.

Jo Wilding, a young law graduate, is one such witness. She was one of a group of human rights observers in Baghdad during the bombing. She and the others lived with Iraqi families as the missiles and cluster bombs exploded around them. Where possible, they would follow the explosions to scenes of civilian casualties and trace the victims to hospitals and mortuaries, interviewing the eyewitnesses and doctors. She kept meticulous notes.

She saw children cut to pieces by shrapnel and screaming because there were no anaesthetics or painkillers. She saw Fatima, a mother stained with the blood of her eight children. She saw streets, mosques and farmhouses bombed by marauding aircraft. "Nothing could explain them,"
she told me, "other than that it was a deliberate attack on civilians."

As these atrocities were carried out in our name, why are we not hearing such crucial evidence? And why is Blair allowed to make yet more self-serving speeches, and none of them from the dock?

http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/384306.php http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/powelltenet.jpg|http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0342/schanberg.php|The Still Widening Crusade| U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, with CIA Director George Tenet sitting behind him, spoke to the U.N. Security Council about Iraq on 5 February 2003.|For those who still doubt what the Bush Administration, filled as it is with Christian Fundamentalists and Zionist neo-cons, is really up to....read this: http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/timetobombsaddam.gif|http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0342/schanberg.php|The Still Widening Crusade|Time To Bomb Saddam - The Musical|For those who still doubt what the Bush Administration, filled as it is with Christian Fundamentalists and Zionist neo-cons, is really up to....read this: http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jerusalemstreetprayers.jpg|http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16671|History in Reverse - Back to 'Binational State' in the once Holy Land|Palestinians pray on the street in front of Israeli soldiers outside of the Old City of Jerusalem during the weekly Friday prayers.(AFP/Atta Hussein) Sept 03| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonbush1.jpg|http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20031023a1.htm|'Israelization' of US Policies|U.S. President George W. Bush greets Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (L) in the Oval Office of the White House October 16, 2002. Sharon's seventh White House visit since taking office 18 months ago|Looks like this crucial subject is one you can talk about in Japan in polite, politically correct society; but not yet in the USA: http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushflags.jpg|http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/11/07/international1528EST0647.DTL|Powell thanks 'Yossi and Yasser'|President Bush Speaking about 'Democacy' as America's Top New Goal in the Middle East - 6 Nov 2003| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushflags.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17283-2003Nov8.html|Not Enough Troops for Veterans Day Parades |President Bush Speaking about 'Democacy' as America's Top New Goal in the Middle East - 6 Nov 2003|Another fine example of what the American imperialists have done to themselves in their crusade, coupled with the Israelis, to even more directly control the Arab and the Muslim worlds. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushrumsfeldpowell.jpg||100,000 Dead Americans al-Qaida Claims|Bush with Rumself and Powell in the Cabinet Room|Al Qaida commander 'anticipates' 100,000 Americans dead in attack

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Thursday, November 13, 2003

Al-Qal'a (The Fortress) an Islamist Internet forum, posted the first of a two-part interview with a person who introduced himself as Abu Salma Al-Hijazi, one of the Al Qaida commanders closest to Osama bin Laden.(1) The interview was conducted in Iraq, south of Faluja. The article notes that Al-Hijazi was surrounded by five masked men carrying missiles as well as personal weapons. The following are excerpts from the interview:

In regard to rumors about a large-scale attack against the U.S. during the month of Ramadan, Al-Hijazi said that "a huge and very courageous strike" will take place and that the number of infidels expected to be killed in this attack, according to primary estimates, exceeds 100,000. He added that he "anticipates, but will not swear, that the attack will happen during Ramadan."

He further stated that the attack will be carried out in a way that will "amaze the world and turn Al Qaida into [an organization that] horrifies the world until the law of Allah is implemented, actually implemented, and not just in words, on His land... You wait and see that the balance of power between Al Qaida and its rivals will change, all of a sudden, Allah willing."
Health insurance for the self-employed: Special offer
Regarding Al Qaida detainees, Al-Hijazi said: "We follow their situation closely... the collaborating governments will pay the price for capturing these heroes who want to revive the glory of their nation and shake off the dust of humiliation and disgrace."

Al-Hijazi added that the "collaborating and treacherous" governments should know that Al Qaida has a long reach and its members enjoy popularity that will not end just because apostate governments detain hundreds of Al Qaida's members. "As soon as the governments detain one of our people, ten like him join us... this is no secret."

Al-Hijazi said that Al Qaida instructed its members not to confront the governments of Islamic countries and clarified that Americans are the main target of the organization, wherever they may be, in order to cause their disintegration and collapse, even if it takes a long time. "We are patient," he added, "our patience will only end with the collapse of America and its agents."

Al-Hijazi also said: "There is no doubt that the demise of America and its collapse will lead to the collapse of these fragile regimes that depend on it... We will not stop until we establish the Islamic Caliphate and until Allah's law is implemented in His land."

When asked about the recent bombing in Riyadh, Al-Hijazi referred to Saudi media reports — which claimed that in the attack Muslim women and children were killed — as "merely media deceit." He added: "This place was under surveillance for many months. Following a thorough investigation, it became perfectly clear to us that the people living there were at least 300 Americans and a large group of Lebanese Christians who had tortured Muslims there, in Lebanon, during the civil war. After consultation, we decided it was appropriate to attack this place and destroy it, including the people who lived there, because it housed Americans and a large majority of Christians holding Lebanese citizenship.

"Since the Saudi government is aware of the sensitivity of this place and that it is a declared target for Al Qaida, it surrounded it with very heavy security. However, we gave our people in Riyadh a green light to destroy it on top of those inside. Allah facilitated breaking into the place and bombing the part in which mostly Americans stayed. As a result, praise Allah, at least 40 Americans were killed, as well as 27 Christians from Lebanon, and a group of citizens who were Muslim; also, at least 70 Americans were injured, as well as more than 30 citizens of other countries, most of them Christians from Lebanon."

According to Al-Hijazi, a Saudi religious scholar who is wanted by Saudi authorities will claim responsibility in a televised communiqué for the bombing "and for other operations to come." He added that the wills of the attackers will be published, apparently, in the month of Shawwal — the month following Ramadan according to the Muslim calendar - when Al Qaida's main website, Al-Nida, is due to be reactivated. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/georgesoros.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/23/national/23FBI.html?ei=5062&en=67560367b7120964&ex=1070168400&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=|FBI 'Scrutinizing' Peace Groups and Activists|George Soros Blasted Pres Bush at Carnegie-Mellon Univesity on 27 February 2003: |There's a long history to this of course; with many abuses from the past only found out years too late. Now with the new post-/911 laws and attitudes one can be sure there is more than 'scrutinizing' going on.... Words such as 'infiltrating' and 'misleading' are probably appropriate. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gazauscar.jpg|http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/26/1069825839731.html?from=storyrhs|Another Unimportant US Wristslap Masks Realities of US/Israel Alliance|Three American Security Officials contracted by State Dept killed in Gaza today riding in this car - 15 October 2003. First msuch ajor attack on US officials ever by Palestinians| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/israel6.jpg|| 'We're Air Force Pilots, Not Mafia"|Israeli Air Force pilots are backdropped by technicians working on an F-16 fighter plane at a military airport in southern Israel in this 2003 file photo. Twenty-seven reserve Israeli air force pilots elicited wall-to-wall condemnation Thursday Sept. 25, 2003 for their refusal to carry out air strikes in Palestinian areas. The pilots' unprecedented protest also set off an emotional debate on the ethics of targeted killings, in which helicopters and occasionally warplanes, fire rockets and bombs at cars and homes of Palestinian militants, Israel's main tool in its war against them. The air force commander said the signatories would be punished, possibly jailed, and accused them of playing politics, rather than wrangling with genuine moral dilemmas.|MCGREAL: 'We're Air Force Pilots, Not Mafia"
Dec 06, 2003
Chris McGreal, The Guardian

For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities.

Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel.

Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians.

"I served more than seven years as a pilot," said Captain Alon R, who, like all the younger pilots, hopes to return to combat flying and so declines to use his full name in order to retain his security clearance. "In the beginning, we were pilots who believed our country would do all it could to achieve peace. We believed in the purity of our arms and that we did all we could to prevent unnecessary loss of life.

"Somewhere in the last few years it became harder and harder to believe that is the case."

The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children.

One captain described the bombing as deliberate killing, murder even. Another called it state terrorism, though some colleagues swiftly stomped on that interpretation. But they all agreed that the attack sowed the doubts that resulted a year later in the letter that sent shockwaves through the Israeli military.

"The Shehade incident was a red light for us, a final warning," said Capt Alon R. "With Shehade I began to re-evaluate my beliefs. We killed 14 innocent people, nine of them children. After my commander gave an interview in which he said he sleeps well at night and his men can do the same. Well, I can't. We refused to see it as an innocent mistake."

Capt Assaf L, who served as a pilot for 15 years until sacked for signing the letter, had similar doubts.

"You don't have to be a genius to know that the destruction from a one-tonne bomb is massive, so someone up there made a decision to drop it knowing it would destroy buildings," he said. "Someone took the decision to kill innocent people. This is us being terrorists. This is vengeance."

Lieutenant-Colonel Avner Raanan is among the most respected pilots to have signed the letter. He served for 27 years and was awarded one of Israel's highest military decorations in 1994. "If you look at the past three years, you see that, if we had a suicide bombing, the Israeli air force made a big operation in which civilians were killed, and that looks to innocent eyes like revenge," he said.

"You hear it in the streets of Israel; people want revenge. But we should not behave like that. We are not a mafia."

More than 30 pilots have now endorsed the letter refusing to fly bombing raids on Palestinian cities, although four retracted, one an El Al pilot threatened with dismissal, and another a reserve pilot who lost his civilian job.

At its core, the letter questions the legality of the "targeted assassinations" that have claimed the lives of more civilian bystanders than their Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade targets. In October, 14 civilians were killed when the air force fired missiles at a car in Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp.

"Is it legitimate to take F-15's and helicopters designed to destroy enemy tanks, and use them against cars and houses in one of the most heavily populated places in the world?" Capt Alon R asked.

"Because of the terrorism, we have become blinded by the blood on our own faces. We cannot see that on the other side, beside the terrorists, is a whole nation of innocent people. It's important that we recognise that, and that, as military people, we say that."

The pilots' stand shook Israeli society. There is no shortage of critics of the prime minister's militarist tactics but those of the peace camp are widely viewed as pacifists and marginal. Doubts raised by the army chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon, and four former heads of the Shin Bet intelligence service alarmed many Israelis, but the criticisms were focused solely on whether Mr Sharon's tactics were fuelling terrorism.

The pilots straddle both issues, raising moral and legal questions on the conduct of the war and challenging the government's claim its strategy is about defending Israel.

"Our government's policy is to maintain fear in the public," Capt Assaf L said. "We're not weak. It's not 1967 or 1973, with the Syrian army on the border waiting to attack us. This is maintaining a war to maintain the occupation.

"We've the strongest nation in the Middle East. The terrorists are bastards, but we must fight to not become terrorists ourselves."

Many who poured scorn on the pilots accused them of wading into politics for going beyond questions about the legality of their orders and challenging the occupation. "We cannot separate the two," Capt Jonathon S said. "We are not pacifists. We don't think we should sit back and let suicide bombers attack us. But all this is a direct result of our being in the [occupied] territories.

"Our fight to keep the settlements and suppress the Palestinian people is killing us. It is killing our right to live safely in the country of Israel. A very small group of radical Israelis is leading the sane majority to catastrophe."

Col Raanan scoffs at the accusation that the pilots have denigrated their uniforms by wading into political issues.

"The air force commander spoke in favour of the [Jewish] settlements while sitting in uniform next to Sharon at a Likud party convention," he said. "That is political. This country has a defence minister who, as army chief of staff, was the most political ever. It is hypocritical to say lower ranking officers cannot express an opinion. What they mean is, we can be political so long as we agree with the government. Well that's not democracy."

The pilots say they have received more than 500 letters of support, including one from a Holocaust survivor, and numerous calls from fellow pilots. Several leftwing former cabinet ministers praised the pilots' stand, saying it proved the armed forces were moral.

Concern in the air force prompted its commander, Major-General Dan Halutz, to meet groups of pilots to tell them that "targeted assassinations" were not a war crime.

"Halutz said we were traitors," Capt Assaf L said. "In our eyes, what we did is a very Zionist act. We did it to save Israel."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1102940,00.html|Israelis Training US Assassination Squads in Iraq|Sharon in Oval Office With Bush - October 2002|As we've said before, to an unprecedented degree the Bush Administration has allowed Israeli Mossad and military people into Iraq, as well as Israel and Jewish-Zionist businessmen who are reaping considerable windfall profits and opportunities... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush_with_star.jpg|http://rense.com/general44/sevenjewishamericans.htm|Seven Jewish Americans At Top of Media Control Empires|Israel: the 51st state?|Comment
From Donna Halperin
11-23-3

Hi Jeff - I am Jewish and I take exception to some of the articles you post on your site. However, this particular article is staggering in its implications. It is said there are less than 15 million Jews on the planet. Most of us...and I know a lot of people... are kind, normal and not megalomaniacal in our approach to life. When someone of ANY religious or political persuasion reads this story and then also factors in the dominance of Jews in finance and the economy, government, science, the medical profession, the legal profession - in fact all the professions - one has to come away pondering how such staggering influence has been acquired by such a microscopic percent of the world's 7 BILLION people. For ANY group to wield such power clearly and obviously injects profound bias and skewing into all areas of a nation so dominated. Is there a Zionist/Jewish bias in Western society and especially the US? Is grass green? It is often whispered that Baron Rothschild really owns and controls Great Britain. It is reported that 7 of the 8 oligarch/gangsters who control most of Russia are Jews ...probably hard core Zionists. (Maybe Putin is trying to prevent a total Zionist takeover of Russia with the Lukos oil magnate's arrest?) And then look at the Zionist Jewish near domination of the Bush administration (no coincidence, that) and the more than one trillion dollars the kindly American people have given to Israel in 'loan guarantees'...not a penny of which has ever...or will ever... be paid back. I could go on but it when a Jew starts to point out the facts and connect the dots, they are quickly smeared as 'self-hating' and so forth. Well, this Jew is an American first and I'm hoping you continue to post factual articles like this on your site. Thank you.

Shalom http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/georgebushfrenchdeck.jpg||Bush Goes to Baghdad...but Coffins come home unannounced|President of the United States George W. Bush as King of Diamonds is part of a card deck depicting 'the 52 most dangerous American officials', sold by the French group Reseau Voltaire (Voltaire Network) is seen in this hand out photo. Caption under photograph reads : 'Head of a baseball club and director of Salem bin Laden's oil company (brother of Osama). Designated President of the United States by friends of his father at the Supreme Court before the vote count showed that he lost the elections'. A little over 2, 500 decks have been sold on the internet in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Reseau Voltaire)|Robert Fisk: Attacked for telling some home truths

By Robert Fisk
26 November 2003
The Independent

Are we now to support atrocities against the 'scum of the earth' in our moral campaign against Evil?

In Iraq, they are just numbers, bloodstains on a road. But in the little town of Madison in Wisconsin last week, they were all too real on the front page of the local paper, the Capital Times. Sergeant Warren Hansen, Specialist Eugene Uhl and Second Lieutenant Jeremy Wolfe of the 101st Airborne Division were all on their way home for the last time.

Hansen's father had died in the military. Uhl would have been 22 at Thanksgiving but had written home to say he had a "bad feeling". His father had fought in Vietnam, his grandfather in the Second World War and Korea. Two of the three men were killed in the Black Hawk helicopter crash over Tikrit just over a week ago.

But of course President Bush, our hero in the "war on terror", won't be attending their funerals. The man who declined to serve his nation in Vietnam but has sent 146,000 young Americans into the biggest rat's nest in the Middle East doesn't do funerals.

Nor do journalists, of course. The American television networks have feebly accepted the new Pentagon ruling that they can't show the coffins of America's young men returning from Iraq. The dead may come home but they do so in virtual secrecy.

Things are changing. At a lecture I gave in Madison last week, there was a roar of applause from the more than 1,000-strong audience when I suggested that the Iraq war could yet doom George Bush's election chances next year. A young man in the audience stood up to say that his brother was in the military in Iraq, that he had written home to say that the war was a mess, that Americans shouldn't be dying in Iraq.

After the lecture, he showed me his brother's picture - a tall 82nd Airborne officer in shades and holding an M-16 - and passed on a message that the soldier wanted to meet me in Baghdad next month.

But I'd better make sure I don't reveal his name because those in America who want to keep the people in the dark are still at work.

Take the case of Drew Plummer from North Carolina who enlisted during his last year in high school, just three months before 11 September 2001. Home on leave, he joined his father, Lou, at a "bring our troops home" vigil. Lou Plummer is a former member of the US 2nd Armoured Division whose father, unlike Mr Bush, served his country in Vietnam. Asked for his opinion on Iraq by an Associated Press reporter, Drew Plummer replied that "I just don't agree with what we're doing right now. I don't think our guys should be dying in Iraq. But I'm not a pacifist. I'll do my part."

But free speech has a price for the military in America these days. The US Navy charged Drew Plummer with violating Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: Disloyal Statements. At his official hearing, he was asked if he "sympathises" with the enemy or was considering "acts of sabotage". He was convicted and demoted.

Yet still the US press turn their backs on this. How revealing, for example, to find that the number of seriously wounded soldiers brought home to America from Iraq is approaching 2,200, many of whom have lost limbs or suffered facial wounds. In all, there have been nearly 7,000 medical evacuations of soldiers from Iraq, many with psychological problems.

All this was disclosed by the Pentagon to a group of French diplomats in Washington. The French press carried the story. Not so the papers of small-town America, where anyone trying to tell the truth about Iraq will be attacked.

And while the Pentagon is now planning to have 100,000 GIs in Iraq until 2006, the journalistic heavyweights are stoking the fires of patriotism with a new and even more chilling propaganda line. One of the most vicious has just been published in The New York Times. Claiming that Saddam's torturers are attacking American troops - some of his intelligence men are now working for the occupying army, but that's another matter - David Brooks writes that "history shows that Americans are willing to make sacrifices. The real doubts come when we see ourselves inflicting them. What will happen to the national mood when the news programmes start broadcasting images of the brutal measures our own troops will have to adopt? Inevitably there will be atrocities that will cause many good-hearted people to defect from the cause ... somehow ... the Bush administration is going to have to remind us again and again that Iraq is the Battle of Midway in the war on terror ..."

What on earth is one to make of this vile nonsense? Why is The New York Times providing space for the advocacy of war crimes by US soldiers? I doubt the US channels will broadcast any images of "brutal measures" - they've already had the chance to do so and have declined. But atrocities? Are we now to support atrocities against the "scum of the earth" - Mr Brooks' word for the insurgents - in our moral campaign against Evil?

Amid such filth, we should perhaps remember the simple courage of Drew Plummer. And remember, too, the following names: Army Private First Class Rachel Bosveld, aged 19, Army Specialist Paul Sturino, aged 21, Army Reservist Dan Gabrielson, aged 40, Army Major Mathew Shram, aged 36, Marine Sergeant Kirk Strasekie, aged 23. They, too, came from Wisconsin. And they, too, died in Iraq.

http://www.bestofdesign.co.uk/antiwarblog/archives/000092.html http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/us-naziflag.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/national/20031217-115113-2173r.htm|Washington Paranoia....and suspicion....|Protestors Galore in London as George W. Bush makes first Ameican Presidential 'State Visit' to the UK - 11/18/03|Not much credibility in Washington these days, even among the insiders.... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wegothimcontroltower.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9821-2003Dec17?language=printer|White House Air Brushing History|The words of L. Paul Bremer, "We got him," are illuminated on the control tower at Basra's airport on Sunday. 14 Dec 2003|As usual these days, when the establishment media comes upon things of this kind, and reports them, we're only getting the tip of the iceberg. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/powellun.jpg|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/14/60II/main577975.shtml|POWELL LIED!|Secretary of State Powell and CIA Director Tenet before the Security Council - 5 Feb 2003| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushpeacemask.jpg|http://isp.netscape.com/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20040321%2F0414811052.htm&sc=1110&floc=isp-08&related=off|Major worldwide demonstrations on the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq|Worldwide Demonstrations on 20 March 2004 marked the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/lockbaghdad.jpg||U.S. Locks Down Iraqi Newspaper in Baghdad|U.S. Locks Down Iraqi Newspaper - 28 March 2004|Protests as U.S. closes Iraqi paper
Publishers accused of inciting violence


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN - 29 March) -- Several thousand Iraqis protested the closure of a newspaper Sunday, chanting anti-U.S. slogans and burning American flags outside the newspaper's office in Baghdad.

The U.S.-led civil administration in Iraq closed the Baghdad newspaper Al Hawsa for 60 days, accusing its publishers of inciting violence against coalition troops.

The paper is published by followers of prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

"If the Coalition forces are going to keep on presenting us with such messages... they can just dream about any sort of end to terrorism," a statement from the newspaper said. "And they can also dream that we will stay quiet and step down from what we believe."

The Coalition Provisional Authority accused the paper's editors of printing articles that incited violence against U.S. and other coalition troops -- a violation of coalition regulations.

The building was sealed, and anyone caught attempting to publish the paper could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Sadr is the son of Shiite imam Muhammad Baqr al-Sadr, a prominent leader assassinated in 1999. A vocal critic of the American occupation of Iraq, he has a substantial following in the Shiite district of Baghdad that now bears his father's name.

In July, Iraqi police closed a newspaper they accused of running a "clearly inciteful" article calling on Iraqis to kill "all spies and those who cooperate with the U.S."

Baghdad blast wounds 4
Four Iraqi civilians were wounded Sunday, two seriously, in an explosion in the Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Karkh, said Brig. Ali Khazaal, an Iraqi police spokesman.

The blast appeared to have been the result of a buried improvised bomb, he said.

"There were four people injured in this attack, and they were rushed over to the hospital," he Khazaal said. "Two people were lightly injured and two people were severely injured. All of them are being treated."

The names of those injured were not known.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul Sunday, two civilians -- one British, one Canadian -- were killed in an attack.

The foreign ministries of each country confirmed the deaths, but said no details had been released.

A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq could only confirm "an incident that is being investigated by coalition forces and Iraqi police."

A military spokesman in Iraq could only confirm "an incident that is being investigated by coalition forces and Iraqi police" in Mosul.

A convoy carrying an Iraqi cabinet minister came under attack Sunday in northern Iraq, a coalition spokeswoman and a Kurdish official told CNN.

Nisreen Berwari, Iraq's minister of municipalities and public works, survived unscathed, but her driver and a bodyguard were killed, said coalition spokeswoman Kristi Clemens. Two others were wounded, Clemens said.

Qubad Talibani, a Kurdish official and son of an Iraqi Governing Council member, said the attack was an assassination attempt, but Clemens said it was not known whether Berwari was specifically targeted.


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/condifeithwolfowitzpowell.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=507514|Biggest Condi White House Lie of All so far|Condi Rice with Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and Colin Powell - White House, March 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/baghdad-4-04-04.jpg|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4667742/|Bremer Declares Shiite Cleric 'An Outlaw'!|Scene in Baghdad - More than 50 Iraqis were shot dead, many hundreds injured, the weekend of 3 April 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sadrandfather.jpg|http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june04/senators_4-5.html|Top U.S. Senators Predict Iraq Chaos call for delay of 30 June date|Muktada Sadr with a picture of his famous father for whom Sadr City in Baghdad is named.|These are the two top Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee. And in the past few days they have obviously decided to 'go public' not only over their doubts about Iraq policy but over their frustrations in dealing with the Bush White House and the neocons. Just read this transcript. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sadrsupporterfire.jpg|http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=274380&lang=e&dir=news|"Today we will free Karbala from the Jews" crowd chants at death of Sadr aide.|This photo on the day the Americans declare religious leader Sadr 'an outlaw'| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/fallujahaidconvoy.jpg|http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-04/08/article04.shtml|U.S. Fires on Civilian Aid Convoy to Fallujah|Aid convoys came under fire from U.S. forces on the way to Fallujah on 8 April 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1081116611085|FBI Edmonds speaks - this time to Toronto Star|World Trade Centre|She's had quite a hard time with the American media - print and TV. But The Independent in London, and now the Toronto Star in Canada, have given her a chance to speak up and out. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon.jpg|http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-04/05/article05.shtml|U.S. and Israel working together to 'internationalize' Sharon Plans|Sharon in Oval Office With Bush - October 2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ciakilledfalluja.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/64583899-BD41-4851-9C9C-A2BA1FDC9F1C.htm|CIA Killed in Falluja|Body of man said to be CIA man killed in Falljua - 11 April 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqarafatyassin.jpg||Killing of Yassin led to Falluja - even the NYTimes dares link the dots|Iraqi Fighters Supporting the Palestinian Intifada with Pictures of Yasser Arafat and Ahmed Yassin - 10 April 2004|On March 22, in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas and a hero to Palestinians. Outraged Arabs hit the streets in Baghdad and other Middle Eastern capitals. Many Americans in Iraq braced for reprisals. A few days after Sheik Yassin was killed, American authorities shut down the Hawza newspaper of Moktada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shiite cleric, accusing him of printing lies that encouraged violence against the Americans. But closing the newspaper only played into Mr. Sadr's hand, fueling huge protests by his followers. Then the Americans arrested one of Sadr's top aides. And then the brutal killing of four American 'contractors' in Falluja happened. The group that took responsibility said it was avenging Sheik Yassin. Then the sheik's ghost returned to Iraq once again on April 2 when Mr. Sadr announced that he was opening the Iraqi chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas, pro-Palestinian groups responsible for attacks on Israel.
-----------------------------------

New York Times News of the Week in Review
April 11, 2004

ROADBLOCK
War's Full Fury Is Suddenly Everywhere
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Just the other day, on the outskirts of town, clouds of black smoke boiled up from the highway. A fuel truck was on fire, engulfed in flames.

Another day in Baghdad. Another hit on a military convoy.

But when a photographer and I stepped out of our car to take pictures, it was clear we were stepping into another Iraq.

Insurgents flooded onto the roadway, masks over their faces, machine guns in their hands. They began to fire at approaching Humvees. The neighborhood around us scattered into a mosaic of panic. Women slammed gates behind them. Cars shot gravel from their tires as they raced away. And we were just 20 minutes outside the city center in a place that up until the last few days was as safe as any.

In Kufa, a palm-lined town on the Euphrates, bearded Shiite militiamen who swear their allegiance to a rebel cleric are driving around in police cars. American officials had just bought those police cars. American soldiers had just trained the policemen who had been riding in them.

In the Khadamiya neighborhood, one of the prettiest spots in Baghdad, men passed out grenades where just days ago children sat under umbrellas, licking ice cream. It was stunning how natural it looked, how quickly armed men seemed the norm, how nobody seemed to bat an eye, even though the heart of Baghdad now looked like the heart of Kabul.

The atmosphere in Iraq has completely changed. In just a week, a fading guerrilla war has exploded into a popular uprising. "Six months of work is completely gone,'' said a State Department official working in southern Iraq. "There is nothing to show for it.''

It was as if the clock had been set back to the early days of occupation. Again tanks are blasting apart targets in Baghdad neighborhoods. Cities like Falluja and Ramadi are under siege or, more accurately, re-siege.

But there is a difference. Back then, last April, when I was a reporter embedded with the United States Army, Iraq seemed as if it was slowly coming under control. Now, after three months on my current stint here, that nascent sense of order is collapsing into chaos.

This past week, a photographer (yes, the same one) and I headed to Ramadi, 50 miles west of Baghdad and the scene of a fierce battle that claimed the lives of 12 marines. The trip was supposed to take two hours. We had to take back roads.

The fields glowed green with rice, the palm trees swayed, and children splashed in rivers. We saw women in the doorways of mud huts squinting at us. We saw a slice of life in Iraq that was quiet and simple.

But just as I was admiring the scenery, a minivan zoomed in front of our car and blocked the road. A dozen gunmen with scarves tied over their faces jumped out. Some had heavy machine guns. Some had rocket-propelled grenades. We were surrounded. "Out! Out!" ' the men shouted. We were in a bulletproof car. Or allegedly bulletproof. Who really knew? The insurgents banged on the inch-thick glass with the tips of their Kalashnikovs. I didn't want to open my door.

But with the fatigue of one who is thoroughly defeated, I got out. I stood in the dust and watched the men level their guns at my chest. I thought about my mother. I was hoping it wouldn't hurt.

The translator and driver, usually so cool, even joking, under fire, looked terrified. One insurgent swung the safety off his gun, making a very deliberate metallic sound I hope never to hear again, and unloaded half a clip into the sky.

"Move!" he shouted.

We stepped over the hot brass bullet casings that had just been spat into the dirt and got into the minivan. We had no options. We had driven into the heart of the Sunni resistance, into a little town between Baghdad and Ramadi completely overrun by mujahedeen fighters, right now one of the most anti-American places on the planet. We later learned that we had arrived just at the time of an attack.

Our captors were not sure if we were journalists or spies. Eventually, they satisfied themselves that they could trust us. The critical moment came when a man with aviator sunglasses brought us a bowl of water.

"Drink," he said.

My mouth was so parched from fear that no sip ever tasted so wet.

"Now," he said, "you are our friends."

Later someone told me that if you are offered water - or tea, or anything in such a situation - take it. The gesture means you are a guest. And hospitality in the Arab world can spell the difference between making it out of a sticky situation or not. The man with the aviator sunglasses wasn't just giving me water. He was giving me life.

Eventually, we were allowed to drive away from the village. As we left, the insurgents launched an attack on the marines. Rockets flashed. The insurgents cheered. The last we saw of them their fists were in the air.

And I was left with the question: Why now?

Why did the Shiites, who had been patient for a year, suddenly pour into the streets to kill Americans? Why are at least some Shiite and Sunni groups, who used to be rivals, now cooperating? How did the slaughter and mutilation of four American civilians in Falluja set off a chain reaction that reverberated beyond the Sunni Triangle and jolted the entire country?

I punched out an e-mail message to Kenneth W. Stein, a Middle East historian at Emory University, who suggested in response that the killing of four American contract workers in Falluja on March 31, and the macabre celebration afterward made extreme violence possible and even invigorating.

"These examples whip up emotions, show to the public just how successful the struggle is against the foreigner, the occupier, the alien,'' Mr. Stein wrote. "Pack mentality can overcome reason and propriety.''

But before Falluja two things happened - clear in retrospect - that helped unravel what little hope was here.

The first was hundreds of miles away. On March 22, in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas and a hero to Palestinians. Outraged Arabs hit the streets in Baghdad and other Middle Eastern capitals. Many Americans in Iraq braced for reprisals.

A few days after Sheik Yassin was killed, American authorities shut down the Hawza newspaper, the mouthpiece of Moktada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric. The paper had been accused of printing lies. But closing it only played into Mr. Sadr's hand, fueling huge protests by his followers.

Then Falluja happened. The group that took responsibility said it was avenging Sheik Yassin.

The sheik's ghost returned to Iraq once more, on April 2, when Mr. Sadr announced that he was opening the Iraqi chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas, pro-Palestinian groups responsible for attacks on Israel.

The next day American authorities announced arrest warrants for several of Mr. Sadr's followers. His was soon to follow. Last Sunday, Iraq erupted. Mr. Sadr ordered his followers to take over government offices in Shiite areas across the country. In just days, the fighting pulled in thousands of people who weren't fighters before, and who took on a new identity. Until then, the insurgency had been a mysterious force behind a red and white checkered scarf. It had no uniform, no ideology, no face.

But Mr. Sadr provided that. Posters of him are everywhere now, even in Sunni strongholds like Falluja, something unthinkable before this crisis.

Mr. Sadr is only 31 years old. In the world of holy men, he is considered a religious lightweight. Compared with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the more moderate Shiite cleric whose decrees carry the force of law, Mr. Sadr's voice is just a suggestion.

But Mr. Sadr seemed to tap into a Shiite backlash percolating for some time.

Many Shiites have suffered the same humiliations as the Sunnis. They complain about soldiers bursting into their homes and harassing them at checkpoints, and all the other grievances experienced by those living under an occupation by foreigners from thousands of miles away. And as the anniversary of Baghdad's fall approached, the Shiites, who greeted American tanks with roses one year ago, had little to celebrate.

"When I wake up, I know this day is going to be a little worse than the last one,'' said Haider al-Kabi, a 29-year-old laborer from Najaf who said he was joining the resistance. "I got sick of it.''
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ciakilledfalluja.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/64583899-BD41-4851-9C9C-A2BA1FDC9F1C.htm|CIA Killed in Falluja|Body of man said to be CIA agent killed in Falluja, Iraq - 11 April 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon3.gif||Bush letter to Sharon - 14 April 2004|President Bush and Ariel Sharon at the White House - 14 April 2004|April 14, 2004
His Excellency
Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister of Israel

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

Thank you for your letter setting out your disengagement plan.

The United States remains hopeful and determined to find a way forward
toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. I remain committed
to my June 24, 2002 vision of two states living side by side in peace and
security as the key to peace, and to the roadmap as the route to get there.

We welcome the disengagement plan you have prepared, under which Israel
would withdraw certain military installations and all settlements from Gaza,
and withdraw certain military installations and settlements in the West
Bank. These steps described in the plan will mark real progress toward
realizing my June 24, 2002 vision, and make a real contribution towards
peace. We also understand that, in this context, Israel believes it is
important to bring new opportunities to the Negev and the Galilee. We are
hopeful that steps pursuant to this plan, consistent with my vision, will
remind all states and parties of their own obligations under the roadmap.

The United States appreciates the risks such an undertaking represents. I
therefore want to reassure you on several points.
First, the United States remains committed to my vision and to its
implementation as described in the roadmap. The United States will do its
utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan. Under the
roadmap, Palestinians must undertake an immediate cessation of armed
activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere, and all
official Palestinian institutions must end incitement against Israel. The
Palestinian leadership must act decisively against terror, including
sustained, targeted, and effective operations to stop terrorism and
dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. Palestinians must
undertake a comprehensive and fundamental political reform that includes a
strong parliamentary democracy and an empowered prime minister.

Second, there will be no security for Israelis or Palestinians until they
and all states, in the region and beyond, join together to fight terrorism
and dismantle terrorist organizations. The United States reiterates its
steadfast commitment to Israel's security, including secure, defensible
borders, and to preserve and strengthen Israel's capability to deter and
defend itself, by itself, against any threat or possible combination of
threats.

Third, Israel will retain its right to defend itself against terrorism,
including to take actions against terrorist organizations. The United States
will lead efforts, working together with Jordan, Egypt, and others in the
international community, to build the capacity and will of Palestinian
institutions to fight terrorism, dismantle terrorist organizations, and
prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat that
would have to be addressed by any other means. The United States understands
that after Israel withdraws from Gaza and/or parts of the West Bank, and
pending agreements on other arrangements, existing arrangements regarding
control of airspace, territorial waters, and land passages of the West Bank
and Gaza will continue. The United States is strongly committed to Israel's
security and well-being as a Jewish state. It seems clear that an agreed,
just, fair, and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian
refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will need to be found
through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of
Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.

As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized
borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in
accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on
the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it
is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will
be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all
previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same
conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will
only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these
realities.

I know that, as you state in your letter, you are aware that certain
responsibilities face the State of Israel. Among these, your government has
stated that the barrier being erected by Israel should be a security rather
than political barrier, should be temporary rather than permanent, and
therefore not prejudice any final status issues including final borders, and
its route should take into account, consistent with security needs, its
impact on Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activities.
As you know, the United States supports the establishment of a Palestinian
state that is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent, so that the
Palestinian people can build their own future in accordance with my vision
set forth in June 2002 and with the path set forth in the roadmap. The
United States will join with others in the international community to foster
the development of democratic political institutions and new leadership
committed to those institutions, the reconstruction of civic institutions,
the growth of a free and prosperous economy, and the building of capable
security institutions dedicated to maintaining law and order and dismantling
terrorist organizations.

A peace settlement negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians would be a
great boon not only to those peoples but to the peoples of the entire
region. Accordingly, the United States believes that all states in the
region have special responsibilities: to support the building of the
institutions of a Palestinian state; to fight terrorism, and cut off all
forms of assistance to individuals and groups engaged in terrorism; and to
begin now to move toward more normal relations with the State of Israel.
These actions would be true contributions to building peace in the region.

Mr. Prime Minister, you have described a bold and historic initiative that
can make an important contribution to peace. I commend your efforts and your
courageous decision which I support. As a close friend and ally, the United
States intends to work closely with you to help make it a success.

Sincerely,
George W. Bush http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bodiesflags.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13124-2004Apr14?language=printer|Bush and Sharon 'Changing History' Together|American war dead are brought back to Dover Air Force Base late at night with the press not allowed to be present in an attempt to minimize the public opinion fallout. |The night before the American President made a rather crusading like appearance in the East Room - first to give a speech, then to take a few questions in a staged press conference. He made it clear the U.S. was in charge of the world and he was determined to 'change history' through the power and values of the United States. The next morning Bush meet for two hours with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and indeed did just what he said, tried to 'change history' again this time by aligning the U.S. clearly and publicly with the extremist policies of Ariel Sharon and the Revionist Zionist policies of the current Jewish State of Israel. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/maskedpalestiniandrinking.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1193553,00.html|EU to Hold Emergency Talks About US/Israeli Plans|The look of the new generation of Palestinians who have known nothing other than occupation and death| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/condifeithwolfowitzpowell.jpg||Business Week Takes on the Neocons and the War|Condi Rice with Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and Colin Powell - White House, March 2004|"The truly damning part about Against All Enemies, however, is what Clarke reveals about the Administration's mindset on Iraq. What George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz really have to answer for is the insidious way in which they used the Twin Tower horror to coax the country into supporting an attack on Iraq...

"...we went to war, sacrificed thousands of human lives, racked up billions in bills, and flouted the rules of international law for three basic reasons: Israel, oil, and the vengeance of a son whose father didn't finish off Saddam and then was targeted for assassination by the Iraqi Horror Show in 1993? "
----------------------------

APRIL 15, 2004

A NOT-SO-NEUTRAL CORNER
By Ciro Scotti
Senior Editor, Business Week


Blame Bush for What Came After 9/11
The real issue isn't why the U.S wasn't ready for the attack, but why the Administration used the tragedy to invade Iraq
A funny thing happened on my late-night cab ride uptown a couple of weeks ago in New York City. I had been reading Against All Enemies, the controversial new book by former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, with its riveting account of the Bush Administration's extraordinary performance in the hours after the September 11 attacks. I had watched a somber Clarke on 60 Minutes and saw him grimly but eloquently stand his ground on Meet the Press.

So as the taxi whizzed past the new Time Warner Center, it was somewhat surreal about to spot Clarke standing on the corner with another man, laughing heartily. It's good that Richard Clarke can laugh once in a while because he has taken on the most serious of tasks: Calling to account a Presidency that failed in its vigilance but more important -- used the death of innocents to lead the country into a war it had been longing to wage.

TEAR DOWN THE CRITICS. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the Clarke superior whom his book buries with faint praise, tried to make a cogent case before the September 11 commission on Apr. 8 that the newly arrived Bush Administration had done a reasonable job of pulling guard duty for the republic. All she really needed to say in her public testimony was: "We were new. We were inexperienced. We didn't have our eye on the ball. We're sorry." But she never did that, and what she did say was largely irrelevant and already forgotten.

As irrelevant and discardable, in fact, are the scurrilous attacks on Clarke by Administration dobermans such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), whose reputation as a classy politician/physician lies shattered on the Capitol floor. On Mar. 26, Frist said he found the Clarke book to be "an appalling act of profiteering, trading on his insider access to highly classified information and capitalizing on the tragedy that befell this nation on September 11, 2001."

The main aim of the Bush disinformation machine seems to be this: Tear down critics of America's preparedness before the attacks, and, above all, keep the discussions focused on September 11. Because no matter how much or how little you believe in the gospel according to Clarke, most reasonable Americans aren't going to blame the Bushies for failing to foresee and prevent the slaughter of civilians by a band of suicidal zealots.

NUMBINGLY CLEAR. Even the Aug. 6, 2001, report to the President entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S." will leave many Americans unconvinced that the Bushies were derelict in their duty. Unlucky, maybe. But not derelict. Because September 11, 2001, might just as easily have happened on September 11, 2000, when a different President had been in office for eight years -- not eight months.

The truly damning part about Against All Enemies, however, is what Clarke reveals about the Administration's mindset on Iraq. What George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz really have to answer for is the insidious way in which they used the Twin Tower horror to coax the country into supporting an attack on Iraq.

Put Clarke's book together with The Price of Loyalty by former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and The Path to War, a brilliant piece of reporting in the current issue of Vanity Fair by Brian Burrough, Evgenia Peretz, David Rose, and David Wise, and the picture that emerges is numbingly clear: Bush's neoconservative advisers had Iraq in their sights well before his inauguration.

WHY WAR? Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, former Defense Policy Board Chairman Richard Perle, and a whole procession of acolytes who worship at the altar of Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis had all urged regime change in Iraq in 1998. Some even earlier. But why?

Why was this Administration so hell-bent on taking out Saddam Hussein that it would turn its back on a world offering sympathy and support after September 11? Why was it so adamant in its adventurism that it would gild the threat that Iraq posed to the U.S. -- and then put our troops in harm's way -- when no clear or present danger existed? Those questions demand answers.

Clarke cites five rationales for the invasion: Finishing the job Bush I started, pulling U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia (where they were a counterweight to Iraq but unwelcome), creating a model Arab democracy, opening a new and friendly oil supply line, and safeguarding Israel by eliminating a military threat.

"THE REAL THREAT"? Philip Zelikow, now the executive director of the September 11 commission, served on the National Security Council, was on the Bush transition team, and was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2001 to 2003. According to the Inter Press Service, he said during a war-on-terror forum at the University of Virginia Law School on Sept. 10, 2002: "I'll tell you what the real threat [is] and actually has been since 1990 -- it's the threat against Israel. And this is the threat that dares not speak its name because...the American government doesn't want to lean too hard on it rhetorically because it's not a popular sell."

So to boil all this down, we went to war, sacrificed thousands of human lives, racked up billions in bills, and flouted the rules of international law for three basic reasons: Israel, oil, and the vengeance of a son whose father didn't finish off Saddam and then was targeted for assassination by the Iraqi Horror Show in 1993? When you think that Bill Clinton was impeached and almost tossed out of office for fooling around with a willing intern and then lying about it, his sins seem like very small potatoes. Very small potatoes indeed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scotti, senior editor for government and sports business, offers his views in A Not-So-Neutral Corner, only for BusinessWeek Online
Edited by Douglas Harbrecht



Copyright 2000-2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arkroyal.jpg|http://isp.netscape.com/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1401&idq=/ff/story/0001200406241059220564.htm&sc=1401&floc=isp-21&related=off&from=ent|BBC to be paid by Foreign Office to 'compete' with Arabic news sources from the region|Ark Royal from Great Britain joins the latest Anglo-American Middle East War|More and more the British Broadcasting Corporation, the once-famed BBC, is allowing itself to be dumbed down and twisted into contortions. The dumbing down aspects are more and more evident on the feeds the BBC provides to PBS in the network -- with considerable corporate sponsorship along with monies and 'guidance' from the Americans. When it comes to matters Middle East the BBC for America has clearly succumbed to intense pressures to extensively interview Middle East analysis in the pay of the Israeli/Jewish lobby in combination with the Council on Foreign Relations. Now this latest British Foreign Office gambit to use the BBC to 'compete' with Al Jazeera and other Arab media, something the American State Department and Congress have also done by creating new Arabic media to broadcast to the people in the Middle East from the U.S. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/timetheamericansoldier.jpg|http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/24/iraq.main/index.html|Huge Coordinated Wave of Attacks Rocks Iraq Thursday|TIME Magazine's 'Man of the Year' - more propaganda from the American establishment to propel the 'War Against Terrorism'| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/neocons.gif|http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2004-02-16-bush-books_x.htm|Book Barrage Challenges Bush Administration from left, right, and center|A list of the top 50 neocons associated with the Bush Administration| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/palestinians22.jpg|http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=279435&lang=e&dir=news|Palestinian factions slam ''security role'' of Jordan, Egypt in territories|Palestinians line up to show Israeli soldiers their ID documents to be permitted to cross the Kalandia checkpoint, that separates the outskirts of Jerusalem from the West Bank town of Ramallah Friday Sept. 26, 2003. Israel clamped a tight closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites), keeping about 3 million Palestinians out of Israel and preventing residents in most of the West Bank from leaving their communities as Israel celebrates the two-day Jewish New Year's holiday . (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonbush2.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6669-2004Jun25?language=printer|Top CIA Analyst Points the Finger - ISRAEL|President Bush reaches out to shake the hand of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during their meeting in the Oval Office, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002 in Washington| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/timetheamericansoldier.jpg|http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?oldflok=FF-APO-1107&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20040628%2F0612417742.htm&sc=1107&flok=NW_5-L2|Americans pretend to 'transfer sovereignty' ahead of schedule|TIME Magazine's 'Man of the Year' - more propaganda from the American establishment to propel the 'War Against Terrorism'|U.S. Transfers Sovereignty to Iraqi Govt.
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP - 28 June) - The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government Monday, speeding the move by two days in an apparent bid to surprise insurgents and prevent them from trying to sabotage the step toward self rule.

Militants had conducted a campaign of car bombings, kidnappings and other violence that killed hundreds of Iraqis in recent weeks and was designed to disrupt the transfer, announced by the Bush administration late last year. Intially, the Americans were thought to have planned for about one more year of occupation.

Legal documents transferring sovereignty were handed over by U.S. governor L. Paul Bremer to chief justice Mahdi al-Mahmood in a small ceremony attended by about a half dozen Iraqi and coalition officials in the heavily guarded Green Zone. Bremer took charge in Iraq about a year ago.

``This is a historical day,'' Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said during the ceremony. ``We feel we are capable of controlling the security situation.''

Bremer left Iraq on a U.S. Air Force C-130 about 12:30 p.m., said Robert Tappan, an official of the former coalition occupation authority. He was accompanied by coalition spokesman Dan Senor and close members of his staff.

President Bush marked the transfer with a whispered comment and a handshake with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, gathered with world leaders around a table at a NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

Stealing a glance at his watch to make sure the transfer had occurred, Bush put his hand over his mouth to guard his remarks, leaned toward Blair and then reached out to shake hands. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a row behind the president, beamed.

Bush was briefed Sunday that the Allawi government was ready to take power early. The transfer took place as Bush met with Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other world leaders.

Allawi ``believed that it would improve his hand on facing the security threat, and the security threat is obviously increasing up to the day of June 30th. Is it going to prevent every act of terror? No, and I don't think anybody has tried to claim that,'' a senior administration official said.

The early transfer had been under discussion between Allawi and U.S. officials for at least a week, a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Bremer's last moments in Iraq were spent in a meeting with Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top American commander in the country. An aide to Bremer, also speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to say precisely where Bremer was headed, saying only that ``he was going home.''

Although the interim government will have full sovereignty, it will operate under major restrictions - some of them imposed at the urging of the influential Shiite clergy which sought to limit the powers of an unelected administration.

For example, the interim government will only hold power seven months until, as directed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, there must be elections ``in no case later than'' Jan. 31. The Americans will still hold responsibility for security. And the interim government will not be able to amend the Transitional Administrative Law, or the interim constitution. That document outlines many civil liberties guarantees that would make problematic a declaration of emergency.

As Iraq's highest authority, Bremer had issued more than 100 orders and regulations, many of them Western-style laws governing everything from bankruptcy and traffic, to restrictions on child labor and copying movies.

Some are likely to be ignored. One law requires at least a month in jail for people caught driving without a license - something many Iraqis do not have. Another demands that drivers stay in a single lane, a rule widely ignored in Iraq's chaotic streets.

Others are more controversial. On Saturday, Bremer signed an edict that gave U.S. and other Western civilian contractors immunity from Iraqi law while performing their jobs in Iraq. The idea outrages many Iraqis who said the law allows foreigners to act with impunity even after the occupation.

A Bremer elections law restricts certain candidates from running for office, banning parties with links to militias, for instance.

The Coalition Provisional Authority's laws remain in effect after the occupation ends unless rescinded or revised by the interim government, a task that another Bremer-signed law allows, but only after a difficult process.

The new government's major tasks will be to prepare for elections, handle the day-to-day running of the country and work along with the U.S.-led multinational force, which is responsible for security. The Iraqis can in principle ask the foreign troops to leave - although it is unlikely this will happen.

However, the United States and its partners hoped that the transfer of sovereignty would serve as a psychological boost for Iraqis, who have been increasingly frustrated by and hostile to foreign military occupation. U.S. officials hope that Iraqis will believe that they are now in control of their country and that will take the steam out of the insurgency.

All ministers in the new government were to be sworn in during another ceremony expected later Monday, a senior coalition official said.

Asked why the new government decided to hold the transfer earlier, he said Allawi had indicated his ministries were already fully staffed.

``Allawi said we are ready to take this all over ... it is part of our security strategy ... to have Iraqi officials be held accountable by Iraqis,'' the official said.

The ceremony took place in a formal room with Louis XIV furniture in an office in the building formerly used by the Iraqi Governing Council. Officials were seated in gilded chairs around a table, in the center of which was a bowl of flowers with a small Iraqi flag in it.

Just before the handover occurred, everyone stood up, and documents were passed to the chief justice at 10:26 a.m. local time - at that point, legal sovereignty was passed.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, was the only U.S. military official present.

Bremer sat on the couch with President Ghazi al-Yawer.

``We'd like to express our thanks to the coalition,'' al-Yawer said. ``There is no way to turn back now.''

Bremer, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie with small white dots, read the transfer document, which was inside a blue folder. With a laugh, he referred to himself as the ``ex-administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority.''

Allawi stood on his right and al-Yawer on his left.

``The Iraqi government is determined to hold elections at the scheduled date, which is January next year.'' Allawi said in Arabic. He had told CBS television network that the election might be delayed if the security situation did not approve.

There was little initial public reaction to the near-secret transfer ceremony, which was broadcast on Iraqi and Arabic satellite television stations. There was no celebratory gunfire - which rattles through Baghdad when Iraq's national soccer team defeats foreign clubs.

Workers were cleaning the area on Firdous Square where the statue of Saddam Hussein was hauled down on April 9, 2003 at the fall of the city. More police were seen in the streets.

Coalition officials said Bush had already sent a letter to al-Yawer formally requesting diplomatic relations.

``You have said, and we agreed, that you are ready for sovereignty,'' Bremer said in the ceremony. ``I will leave Iraq confident in its future.''

Allawi said he requested that the sovereignty be transferred earlier, reflecting a preference to have Iraqis control their own destiny as soon as possible. Last Thursday, the coalition transferred the final 11 of the 26 government ministries to full Iraqi control, meaning Iraqis were already handling the day-to-day operations of the interim administration.

Bremer went on a series of farewell visits to areas throughout the country over the past few days.

With the transfer, the Iraqis now face the daunting task of securing law and order with the help of about 135,000 U.S. troops and about 20,000 more from other coalition countries.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqmilitaryforces.gif|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1247867,00.html|The Multibillion Robbery the U.S. Calls Reconstruction|Foreign Occupation Forces in Iraq as of 24 April 2004. Other than the U.S. and U.K. the small contingents from other countries do little fighting and are often confined to barracks.|Published of course away from American shores...even though its the American people who really need this kind of remedial education and much more serious and sophisticated journalism than they usually get. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bremerallawi.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=987&month=6&year=2004.html|Baghdad Shuffle - "CIA Agent" now the Iraqi Face in Baghdad|Bremer, right, hands the 'transfer of sovereignty' document to Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat Al-Mahmodi, left, as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi looks on - 28 June 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.
Of course this is not the language the Americans are using, but the reality is that U.S. proconsul Paul Brememer is running from Iraq a few days ahead of schedule in near-total failure, and the country itself is teetering between chaos and civil war.
As for that new Iraqi flag Bremer tried to foist on the Iraqis just a few months ago now -- the one that had two blue strips as does the Israeli flag -- it too has been disgarded, another symbol of how just about everything the Bremer-led Americans touched in Iraq has ended in failure and disgrace. And since Bremer is himself one of the infamous Washington neocons, what happened today 'ahead of schedule' is a kind of acknowledgement that Iraq has become a quagmire for the neocons and they are now attempting to publicly run from it while at the same time still controlling it. For the Israeli-centric neocons have even grander schemes and exploits in mind beyong Iraq should they retain power after November. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bremerallawi.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=987&month=6&year=2004&function=text&standalone=0|Baghdad Shuffle - "CIA Agent" Now Iraqi Public Face of Occupation|Bremer, right, hands the 'transfer of sovereignty' document to Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat Al-Mahmodi, left, as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi looks on - 28 June 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.
Of course this is not the language the Americans are using, but the reality is that U.S. proconsul Paul Brememer is running from Iraq a few days ahead of schedule in near-total failure, and the country itself is teetering between chaos and civil war.
As for that new Iraqi flag Bremer tried to foist on the Iraqis just a few months ago now -- the one that had two blue strips as does the Israeli flag -- it too has been disgarded, another symbol of how just about everything the Bremer-led Americans touched in Iraq has ended in failure and disgrace. And since Bremer is himself one of the infamous Washington neocons, what happened today 'ahead of schedule' is a kind of acknowledgement that Iraq has become a quagmire for the neocons and they are now attempting to publicly run from it while at the same time still controlling it. For the Israeli-centric neocons have even grander schemes and exploits in mind beyong Iraq should they retain power after November.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bremerallawi.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=987&month=6&year=2004&function=text&standalone=0|Baghdad Shuffle - "CIA Agent" Now Iraqi Public Face of Occupation|Bremer, right, hands the 'transfer of sovereignty' document to Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat Al-Mahmodi, left, as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi looks on - 28 June 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.
Of course this is not the language the Americans are using, but the reality is that U.S. proconsul Paul Brememer is running from Iraq a few days ahead of schedule in near-total failure, and the country itself is teetering between chaos and civil war.
As for that new Iraqi flag Bremer tried to foist on the Iraqis just a few months ago now -- the one that had two blue strips as does the Israeli flag -- it too has been disgarded, another symbol of how just about everything the Bremer-led Americans touched in Iraq has ended in failure and disgrace. And since Bremer is himself one of the infamous Washington neocons, what happened today 'ahead of schedule' is a kind of acknowledgement that Iraq has become a quagmire for the neocons and they are now attempting to publicly run from it while at the same time still controlling it. For the Israeli-centric neocons have even grander schemes and exploits in mind beyong Iraq should they retain power after November.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/saddam1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/6/988.htm|Bremer Slinks Away, CIA Slinks Ahead|Iraqi man and Saddam's picture|Paul Bremer looked today like a man very glad to be getting out alive and heading away from it all as fast as he possibly could. Indeed Bremer was ahead of schedule lest the 'insurgents' target him and others in the few days left before 30 June. It was a date headlined throughout most of the year by none other than the President Commander-in-Chief himself. But in the end the whole thing was but a whimper for those unable to even stage a serious ceremony inside their fortified havens for fear of attacks, beheadings, or worse. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/chalabikhatami.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/6/992.htm|U.S. Secretly Orders Brits to Attack Iran; Brits Balk|Iran's President Mohammad Khatami, left, greets Ahmad Chalabi in Tehran in December 2003.|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.
The Americans worked to weaken Iraq for a decade, all the while trying to foment a coup or assassination, then seizing upon the 9/11 excuse when all else had failed. They are following the same pattern with regard to Iran, including considerable media manipulation and black ops.
Remember as well, the top neocons now in charge in Washington tried hard in 1996 to get the Israelis, then with their main man Bibi Netanyahu at the helm as Prime Minister, to come up with some excuse for attacking Iraq and igniting a war which the Americans would not then have been able to resist. Clinton was hesitant as then was Netanyahu...but only to wait for a better day. Then the same 'almost war' played itself out again in 1998 when the then out-of-power neocons and their powerful Israeli-Jewish lobby again tried hard to ignite war with and 'regime change' in Iraq. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bremerallawi.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/994.htm|How Bremer Slinked Away from Baghdad|Bremer, right, hands the 'transfer of sovereignty' document to Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat Al-Mahmodi, left, as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi looks on - 28 June 2004|Read this inside the paper analysis story about what actually happened in Baghdad on Monday -- not about the tag lines and rhetorical hyperbole the Americans love to sucker the media with. And after doing so it's even harder than ever to imagine this is all going to have a happy ending.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqflagdc.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/995.htm|Bremer and his 'Israeli Flag' now gone from Iraa|Iraq's New Old Flag at Dupont Circle on 30 June 2004|If these guys have been making policies and decisions about the future of Iraq and the Middle East in the same way they did about a new Iraqi flag....well then the chaos, incompetence, corruption, and miserable failures all need be underscored even more that we had previously realized. And that is saying a lot!
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqflagdc.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/995.htm|Bremer and his 'Israeli Flag' now gone from Iraq|Iraq's New Old Flag at Dupont Circle on 30 June 2004|If these guys have been making policies and decisions about the future of Iraq and the Middle East in the same way they did about a new Iraqi flag....well then the chaos, incompetence, corruption, and miserable failures all need be underscored even more that we had previously realized. And that is saying a lot!
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/saddamstatue.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/la-na-statue3jul03,1,7327035.story?coll=la-home-headlines|US Marines Stage-Managed Saddam Statue Downfall|Saddam's Statue Actually Came Down Thanks to U.S. Marines and 'psychological warfare' unit|Gradually we learn things about torture, about propaganda, about historical treachery. And what we learn is just a bit of what they actually did, lied about, covered up, twisted for their own political gain. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/badnewsfromisrael.jpg|http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/412893|American General Now Fingers 'Israeli Interrogators' in Iraq|Bad News From Israel - Published 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/saddamstatue.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/la-na-statue3jul03,1,2511031,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines|US Marines Stage-Managed Saddam Statue Downfall|Saddam's Statue Actually Came Down Thanks to U.S. Marines and 'psychological warfare' unit|Gradually we learn things about torture, about propaganda, about historical treachery. And what we learn is just a bit of what they actually did, lied about, covered up, twisted for their own political gain. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/saddamstatue.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/la-na-statue3jul03,1,2511031,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines|US Marines Stage-Managed Saddam Statue Downfall|Saddam's Statue Actually Came Down Thanks to U.S. Marines and 'psychological warfare' unit|Gradually we learn things about torture, about propaganda, about historical treachery. And what we learn is just a bit of what they actually did, lied about, covered up, twisted for their own political gain.

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-statue3jul03,1,7327035.story?coll=la-home-headlines"> http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/saddamstatue.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/la-na-statue3jul03,1,2511031,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines|Marines Stage-Managed Giant Saddam Statue Fall and Imagery|Saddam's Statue Actually Came Down Thanks to U.S. Marines and 'psychological warfare' unit|Army Stage-Managed Fall of Hussein Statue

LATIMES - Saturday - July 3, 2004

The Army's internal study of the war in Iraq criticizes some efforts by its own psychological operations units, but one spur-of-the-moment effort last year produced the most memorable image of the invasion.

As the Iraqi regime was collapsing on April 9, 2003, Marines converged on Firdos Square in central Baghdad, site of an enormous statue of Saddam Hussein. It was a Marine colonel — not joyous Iraqi civilians, as was widely assumed from the TV images — who decided to topple the statue, the Army report said. And it was a quick-thinking Army psychological operations team that made it appear to be a spontaneous Iraqi undertaking.

After the colonel — who was not named in the report — selected the statue as a "target of opportunity," the psychological team used loudspeakers to encourage Iraqi civilians to assist, according to an account by a unit member.

But Marines had draped an American flag over the statue's face.

"God bless them, but we were thinking … that this was just bad news," the member of the psychological unit said. "We didn't want to look like an occupation force, and some of the Iraqis were saying, 'No, we want an Iraqi flag!' "

Someone produced an Iraqi flag, and a sergeant in the psychological operations unit quickly replaced the American flag.

Ultimately, a Marine recovery vehicle toppled the statue with a chain, but the effort appeared to be Iraqi-inspired because the psychological team had managed to pack the vehicle with cheering Iraqi children.

— David Zucchino http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/badnewsfromisrael.jpg|http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/412893|American General Now Fingers 'Israeli Interrogators' in Iraq|Bad News From Israel - Published 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/kerrygephartnypost.jpg|http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/26839.htm|NYPost Gets it Wrong - Kerry Gephart|NYPost Gets It Wrong Again - 6 July 2004|This is hardly the first time the NYPost has gotten things wrong; but it may be the most blatant and embarrassing. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushkillsArabsDeadTeddyBear.jpg|http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/07/05/translator_in_eye_of_storm_on_retroactive_classification?mode=PF|Silencing the FBI Witness about 9/11|The FBI is investigated who ordered this and gave it as a 'prank' - 6-22-04| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/congressevacuating.jpg|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5411741/site/newsweek/|Thinking the Unthinkable in American politics|The American Congress now continually prepared for evacuation.|It wasn't that long ago that the idea the Supreme Court would decide the American Presidency in a highly divisive and totally unprecedented 5-4 decision, with out-front Democrats and Republicans screaming at each other held apart by police lines; that would have been 'unthinkable' not that long ago. The idea that Ronald Reagan would be addressing the Democratic National Convention (Jr. that is) would have been 'unthinkable' just a few weeks ago. And now...the truly 'unthinkable' -- from his hidding place Osama Bin Laden has U.S. officials, and now the American people, actually thinking about 'postponing' The American election! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/congressevacuating.jpg|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5411741/site/newsweek/|Thinking the Unthinkable in American politics|The American Congress now continually prepared for evacuation.|It wasn't that long ago that the idea the Supreme Court would decide the American Presidency in a highly divisive and totally unprecedented 5-4 decision, with out-front Democrats and Republicans screaming at each other held apart by police lines; that would have been 'unthinkable' not that long ago. The idea that Ronald Reagan would be addressing the Democratic National Convention (Jr. that is) would have been 'unthinkable' just a few weeks ago. And now...the truly 'unthinkable' -- from his hidding place Osama Bin Laden has U.S. officials, and now the American people, actually thinking about 'postponing' The American election! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/statuelibertyfireworks.jpg|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5412184/site/newsweek/|Nonsense from Newsweek|Fireworks at 'Ground Zero' on the 4th of July 2004, the day of laying the cornerstone for 'Freedom Tower'|One has to wonder about just about everyone and everything in the American establishment when it comes to the Middle East. Publications seek advertisers and subscribers and that explains this kind of thing of course. But its actually much worse than that. This is another case where the author, and the publication, know who can help them, and who can hurt them. And that, much more than the realities of Ariel Sharon and what he and his country have done to the Palestinians, explains this misguided and miserably covering-up article. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arafat2.jpg|http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/07090000aaa03854.upi&Sys=siteia&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News|Kerry and Israel...but of course|Palestinians hold portraits of leader Yasser Arafat at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah Thursday Sept. 25, 2003. Several hundred supporters packed into Arafat's compound to show support. |The Democratic Party has long been associated with Israel's Labor Party; the Republicans with the Likud and dancing with everyone else Israeli. With the demise of Labor and the coming to power of Sharon himself, the Likud Godfather, the two American parties now compete with each other for who can be more pro-Israeli than the other. All this regardless of the occasional theatrical wrist-slap. Just look at all the money, guns, and political support flowing to the Jewish State from Washington - more by the year in fact. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqflagdc.jpg|http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040712/D83P6VTO0.html|Al-Yawar Claims 'Occupation is over now' even as more American troops and CIA arrive|Iraq's New Old Flag at Dupont Circle on 30 June 2004|Of course the transparency of all this is pretty evident. The Americans reconstituted the 'Iraqi Government Council' as an 'interim government', exchanged Bremer for Negroponte, and even as more American troops and CIA flood the country the American-installed 'President of Iraq' is declaring 'the occupation over' even while planning to use the American military to attack the resistance more than ever. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/3-22-04-1.jpg .jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1019.htm|Hitler Name Resurfaces in Washington|'Heil Bush' - Outside the White House on 3-22-2003 held by Washington attorney| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawi.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1020.htm|NewsFlash! 'Interim Iraqi PM' personally executed six last month|The long-time CIA man Ayad Allawi calls out "bring me an ax"|He's a long-time CIA operative and if this explosive news story just breaking proves to be true it is likely to be the end of the US-chosen and protected 'interim Iraqi Prime Minister' Iyad Allawi -- and maybe of the U.S.-imposed regime as well. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/saddamstatue.jpg|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040716/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_sunni_040716142611|Senior Cleric Calls for War Against American Occupation|Saddam's Statue Actually Came Down Thanks to U.S. Marines and 'psychological warfare' unit| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/freedomtowercornerstone.jpg|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040716/pl_nm/campaign_kerry_dc&e=1|Kerry Will Double Again U.S. Spies Worldwide|America's New 'Freedom Tower' Will Arise Where the World Trade Towers Once Stood - cornerstone laying on 4 July 2004| You've got to wonder more and more about the Democrats in their desperation to win. No talk of causes, no talk about how much was brought on by U.S. and Israeli policies, no talk of reaching out and understanding and dialog. Rather, even though the Pentagon and CIA budgets have already been increased tremendously in recent years now the Democrats are pledging to double again U.S. spies around the world. And whether legitimate businesmen or journalists or tourists, we've now reached a point in history where people abroad are going to consider Americans of whatever stripe likely CIA agents and informers. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawi1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1023.htm| Allawi shot inmates in cold blood, say witnesses|Iyad Allawi - 'Interim Iraqi Prime Minister' chosen and protected by the Americans| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/camkerry.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1024.htm|Kerry Pledges More for CIA, Pentagon, Israel|Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom shakes hands with Cam Kerry, brother of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, during a meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, July 15, 2004. Cam Kerry, who is a convert to Judaism and also John Kerry's political adviser, is on a visit in Israel to promote his brother's candidacy for the U.S presidency.|Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom shakes hands with Cam Kerry, brother of Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry, during a meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday, July 15, 2004.
Cam Kerry, who is a convert to Judaism and also John Kerry's political adviser, was on a visit in Israel to promote his brother's candidacy for the U.S presidency.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/likud2-2004.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1025.htm|Israel's Weapons of Mass Destruction|Sharon's Cabinet Votes to Stay in power during Knesset 'no confidence' vote - Olmert, Sharon, Silvan, Netanyahu|True to character in contemporary Washington, not one word about how it is Israel's possession of a vast arsenal of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, including submarines to deliver these weapons by missile throughout the greater Middle Eastern and south Asian regions, that has greatly fueled the race for such weapons in past decades.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/knesset1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1026.htm|U.S. Presbyterian Church Acts to Divest from Israel|Israel's Parliament the 'Knesset'|Finally, one of the Christian denominations in the United States has acted in a principled and courageous way. Will this "most censorious decision ever embraced by any Christian denomination in the United States against Israel" just taken by the American Presbyterian Church now open the door for others to follow? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawipowell.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1271597,00.html|US presses Saudis to pay and arm forces for Iraq|The American Secretary of State, with the American chosen 'interim Prime Minister' of Iraq, announcing on 28 July 2004 'Muslim' forces to come to Iraq with Saudi help and money.|Of course our headline is a bit different than what Allawi and Powell told the press, and of course far different from what the Saudis are saying. But the reality is the Americans are stretched too thin, paying too much, and worried. So they're making the Saudis now pay -- both financailly and politically -- hoping to save the Allawi regime at least long enough to get George W reelected...oops...we mean elected (you know what we mean!). http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushwalkoff.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1036.htm|Bush on Drugs for Depression and Paranoia?|A clearly-rattled President Bush walked out of a media briefing on 9 July 2004, refusing to answer questions about his close relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth Lay|Bush drinking and now Bush drugs have been buzzed about in Washington at times by people in the know. Remember that day Bush almost choked we were told on 'a pretzel', explaining how it happened that he fell over visibly banging his head. Word in Washington at the time was the American President was all alone drinking beer, eating pretzels, and watching football on TV a little tipsy in the White House residence that day...and the 'choking pretzel' story was the best they could come up with.

In the interim since this early Bush episode with the bottle we've now learned, 30 some years after the fact, that President Nixon was so drunk in the White House one night at the time of the 1973 Middle East war that he couldn't even take an urgent phone call from the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

As for this new 'drugs' story, is it true? We can only make professional judgements what is being talked about, what to report, what we judge to be credible and important. When the President sulked away from the Press on 8 July we did indeed find that very usual and reported it then. Now this.

And why haven't we heard it from the corporate media big newspapers and TV programs? Well, there are lots of other things we haven't heard from those traditional news sources, lots of other things these sources misreport or play down, lots of other things we end up hearing about months or even years after the fact.

Of late for instance the corporate media reported in tandem that CIA Director George Tenet was resigning for 'personal reasons' because he simply wanted to 'spend more time with his family'. Right!

The important recent story about the United Nations General Assembly voting to endorse the International Court of Justice decision calling on Israel to tear down the illegal wall -- the first time the entire European Community voted in unison against Israel -- was reported only in a small story on page 15 of the Washington Post.

Another recent important story -- that the 9/11 Commission had uncovered the 'motive' for the 9/11 attacks to be in large part hatred for U.S. support of Israeli policies -- was tremendously downplayed by the corporate media and could only be found with a high-power journalistic magnifying glass.

And what about the major story published and broadcast abroad earlier this month -- and which MER focused on at the time -- about the U.S. strongman in Baghdad, Iyad Allawi, reportedly personally gunning down six hand-cuffed prisoners to show how tough he is.

We could easily compile a much longer list. Indeed, just read back through MER articles in recent years and this kind of thing happens far more often than any of us usually stop to realize in our busy days.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ltkerry.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/7/1024.htm|Kerry Pledges More for CIA, Pentagon, Israel|Lieutenant John Kerry Now Prides Himself for his Vietnam exploits|Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom shakes hands with Cam Kerry, brother of Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry, during a meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday, July 15, 2004.
Cam Kerry, who is a convert to Judaism and also John Kerry's political adviser, was on a visit in Israel to promote his brother's candidacy for the U.S presidency.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/stopbushmirror.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1039.htm|The Case Against George W. Bush |'There is a lunatic with weapons of mass destruction 'ramping up' for a war that will imperil the whole world. Stop Bush! '|Ron Reagan: "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." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushpowellcheney.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1040.htm|Fear and 'Security' Props as U.S. Election War Heats Up|Bush and all the senior figures in the Rose Garden on 2 August 2004 - 'We Are At War'|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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushpowellridge.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1040.htm|Fear and 'Security' Props as U.S. Election War Heats Up|Bush and all the senior figures in the Rose Garden on 2 August 2004 - 'We Are At War'|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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/capitolhillfortress.jpg||'Virtual Fence' in Washington as Israelis Training U.S. Forces Against 'Terrorism'|Washington is becoming more of a fortress city as government declares additional 'security alerts' - 3 August 2004|Just as the Israelis worked hard to suck the U.S. in to their 'War on Terrorism' against the 'Islamists'....they are now hard at work and substantially benefiting from pushing the Americans to make their major cities look even more like fortresses than is the case in Israel itself. And now comes the Washington 'Virtual Fence', also with Israeli compliments.
-------------------------------


U.S. Capitol Police Focused on Terror
Recent Moves Part of Broader Strategy

By Sari Horwitz

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 4, 2004; Page B01


U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer has taken several aggressive steps in recent months to heighten security around the Capitol, including retraining officers to shoot a suspected suicide bomber in the head if other efforts to stop an attack fail.

Gainer's decision Monday to close a major thoroughfare and impose 14 vehicle checkpoints on Capitol Hill was one piece of a much larger security strategy, which has included intensive training with Israeli counterterrorism experts and bomb technicians.

In addition, Gainer said he is urging congressional officials to create a "virtual fence" that would allow his officers to search any person who steps onto the Capitol grounds, a significant expansion of current policies on searching visitors.

The decision to restrict traffic drew criticism from city officials who said it would cause gridlock and send the wrong message to tourists and residents. That debate may foreshadow an even tenser exchange over how much to curtail public movement in the name of security.

"We are trying to present ourselves as the capital of the free world . . . and lead by example," said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.). "To have the right to search anyone whenever they step on the Capitol grounds, when they don't even try to enter a building, is overreaching."

Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which oversees the District, agreed that new restrictions would be a nuisance. "I can't overstate the inconvenience this is going to be to people who want to do business at the Capitol," he said.

But Davis defended the measures, including the expanded searches, as necessary. "We had two police officers killed," Davis said, referring to the slaying of two Capitol Police officers in 1998. "We've got a number of threats going on. People who don't want to be searched don't need to come on Capitol grounds."

For some time, Gainer said, he had contemplated closing part of First Street NE, which runs between two Senate office buildings. When Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Sunday raised the threat level in Washington to orange, Gainer and several congressional leaders seized the opportunity to close the road. Gainer said he knew the plan would spark heated debate.

"Given the recent specific threat information, the bombings in Madrid and the warning about election threats, now is the moment to try to prevent a catastrophic event," Gainer said. "We need to be proactive."

Several federal law enforcement officials who work in counterterrorism, along with many others who work on Capitol Hill, said they believe that the Capitol was a target of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings and is still a prime target for terrorists. That belief, along with anthrax and ricin attacks on Senate offices, has frayed the nerves of many who work and live on Capitol Hill.

Since he became chief of the Capitol Police in 2002, Gainer, who is responsible for the security of the 535 members of Congress, has focused on what additional security measures could be instituted, he said.

In December 2002, he and several of his top commanders traveled to Israel with D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, other police chiefs and FBI officials to receive training on how to prevent and respond to suicide bombings. The trip was arranged by the Police Executive Research Forum, a training and research group.

Gainer sent other members of the Capitol Police force to Israel for instruction and began retraining officers here using Israeli counterterrorism techniques. Last month, the head of the Israeli bomb squad traveled to Washington for a second time to meet with Gainer and Capitol Police officers.

In the past six months, Gainer issued a "general order" instructing officers on steps to take when confronted with a possible suicide bomber. If the suspect appears to be carrying explosives and refuses to stop and be searched or to cooperate otherwise, officers are instructed to shoot the suspect in the head.

Under standard law enforcement training, officers are told to take "center mass body shots" if they have to use their guns. But Gainer said that police have to change tactics if faced with a terrorist.

"The use of deadly force under any circumstances is the last resort," Gainer said. "But if a suicide bomber is loaded with explosives, a gunshot wound to center mass wouldn't be prudent. You need to take a head shot."

In the spring, Gainer faced resistance when he advocated erecting a fence around the Capitol, an idea that had been proposed five times since 1985. He argued that the Capitol, a preeminent symbol of American democracy, should be protected in the same manner as the White House. The White House has a wrought-iron fence ringing the grounds, and the street in front of it is closed to traffic.

The idea drew conflicting reactions from the leaders of the House and Senate, and no action was taken.

Gainer's proposal of a virtual fence of security around the Capitol would permit searches of packages and people anywhere on the Capitol grounds. Currently, visitors to the Capitol go through metal detectors and can be searched if they enter any of the buildings.

Capitol officials said yesterday that even before Sunday's announcement, they had planned to shut First Street between the Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings this month.

"We were going to do that anyway," said Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William H. Pickle. "It was just a coincidence they raised it about the same time."

Several streets near House office buildings have been closed for years. Gainer said he has been increasingly worried about First Street in light of "blast studies" of the damage that could be caused by a car or truck bomb in such a tight space.

"A car with a 2,000-pound bomb concealed in the trunk would do substantial damage structurally, as well as cause thousands of deaths," he said. "Most of the post-9/11 discussion was, 'Why weren't you guys in law enforcement doing something on 7/11 or 8/11?' We're at the vortex here. We think this is a thinking man's way to approach this."

Staff writers Helen Dewar and Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37872-2004Aug3.html
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonperes.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1042.htm|Kerry, Israel, Jews, and the Middle East|Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres Team Up Together Again|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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1044.htm|Target IRAN con't|Sharon in Oval Office With Bush - October 2002|MER readers will remember last month's long article titled 'TARGET IRAN', as well as a number of other warning articles this year and last. The situation in the region, already now so inflamed primarily because of U.S. and Israeli policies, is approaching the conflagration point. Depending on complex political and military considerations an Israeli attack, which at this point in history would have to have U.S. help and approval no matter what Washington says in public, could come at any time.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawibremer.jpg||U.S. Troops Hesitating Before 'Final Assault'|Iyad Allawi put in power in Iraq by U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer|U.S. Marines Say Readying for Final Assault in Najaf

Aug 11, 1:29 PM (ET)

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. marines said on Wednesday they were preparing a final assault on Iraqi Shi'ite militia in the holy city of Najaf, after a radical cleric ordered his men to keep fighting even if he was killed.

The New York Times said that after preparing for a major attack on militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf on Wednesday, U.S. forces called it off as it was about to begin.

But it said officers described the move as a postponement and said the attack could go ahead any time. U.S. officers with knowledge of the plans could not be reached for comment.

As a bloody showdown loomed between U.S. troops and Sadr's Mehdi militia in Najaf, thousands of his supporters vented their anger against interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the streets of Nassiriya and several other cities.

In Nassiriya, one of seven cities where a radical Shi'ite uprising has taken hold in the past week, demonstrators torched Allawi's political party office and called for his downfall.

Meanwhile, leading politician Ahmad Chalabi, once tipped to lead postwar Iraq, returned to Baghdad to face an arrest warrant that has rocked the country's powerbrokers.

"Dr. Ahmad is in Baghdad," an aide said.

SACRED SITES

The U.S. warning in Najaf came as sporadic clashes between American troops and the Mehdi militia echoed from the heart of the southern city, where hundreds have been killed or wounded around some of Iraq's holiest Shi'ite Muslim sites.

"Iraqi and U.S. forces are making final preparations as we get ready to finish this fight that the Moqtada militia started," Colonel Anthony Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Najaf, said in a statement.

Haslam gave few details, but his threats and Sadr's defiance have raised the stakes in a battle that is the toughest test yet for Allawi's six-week-old government.

Most of Sadr's men and the young cleric himself are holed up around Najaf's ancient Shi'ite cemetery or the adjoining Imam Ali Shrine. Storming such holy symbols could touch off a firestorm among Iraq's majority Shi'ite community.

The Shi'ite unrest has disrupted Iraq's vital oil exports and triggered a spike in world prices.

Crews have finished repairing Iraq's main southern oil export pipeline and are awaiting orders to start pumping after sabotage stopped operations for three days, an official said.

Oil prices held strong near record highs. U.S. light crude was at $44.42 a barrel at 1700 GMT, below Tuesday's $45.04.

WARRANTS

An Iraqi judge issued an arrest warrant against Chalabi on money counterfeiting charges last week. The judge also issued a warrant for murder against his nephew Salem Chalabi, a lawyer supervising Saddam Hussein's trial.

Both men have denied the charges and were out of Iraq when the warrants were issued. Salem Chalabi has not returned.

In fresh violence elsewhere in Iraq, at least six Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded when a bomb exploded in a market just north of Baghdad, hospital sources said.

Despite the tightening military noose, Sadr has refused to surrender. The latest fighting has shattered a two-month truce between U.S. forces and their most vocal critic in Iraq.

"Keep fighting even if you see me a prisoner or a martyr. God willing you will be victorious," Sadr said in a statement.

A spokesman described the U.S. threat as a propaganda ploy.

In Nassiriya, thousands of demonstrators enraged by the U.S. military action in Najaf carried posters of Sadr and screamed "down, down Allawi" and "Allawi you coward, you American agent."

Workers at an oil pumping station in Nassiriya said they had stopped operations to protest at Allawi's backing of the U.S. offensive in Najaf. The station had cut supplies of refined products and liquefied petroleum gas to Baghdad, the workers said.

CRACKS OVER NAJAF

The crisis in Najaf also appears to have created cracks in Allawi's administration after deputy president Ibrahim Jaafari urged U.S. troops to leave the city to end the fighting.

"I call for multinational forces to leave Najaf and for only Iraqi forces to remain there," Jaafari said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Wednesday.

U.S. forces say they have killed 360 Sadr loyalists so far in Najaf, home to 600,000 people some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad. Sadr's spokesmen say far fewer have died during the second rebellion by the militia in four months.

In the past 24 hours, nearly 40 Iraqis have been killed and 230 wounded in five cities including Baghdad, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The figure did not include Najaf.

The latest fighting raises questions about what role Sadr wants to play in postwar Iraq. Allawi's attempts to bring Sadr into the political fold appear to have failed, for now.

Aged about 30 and a prominent figure in a revered clerical dynasty, he does not speak for all Iraq's Shi'ites but his tough anti-U.S. rhetoric has won him many admirers.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Nadim Ladki, Waleed Ibrahim, Matthew Green and Michael Georgy in Baghdad, Miral Fahmy in Dubai) http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf1.jpg||U.S. Troops Hesitating Before 'Final Assault'|An Iraqi militiaman, loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr, carries a rocket propelled grenade launcher past a closed tourist stall in the southern city of Najaf, August 11, 2004. U.S. marines said they were preparing a final assault on Iraqi Shi'ite militia in the holy city of Najaf, after a radical cleric ordered his men to keep fighting even if he was killed.|U.S. Marines Say Readying for Final Assault in Najaf

Aug 11, 1:29 PM (ET)

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. marines said on Wednesday they were preparing a final assault on Iraqi Shi'ite militia in the holy city of Najaf, after a radical cleric ordered his men to keep fighting even if he was killed.

The New York Times said that after preparing for a major attack on militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf on Wednesday, U.S. forces called it off as it was about to begin.

But it said officers described the move as a postponement and said the attack could go ahead any time. U.S. officers with knowledge of the plans could not be reached for comment.

As a bloody showdown loomed between U.S. troops and Sadr's Mehdi militia in Najaf, thousands of his supporters vented their anger against interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the streets of Nassiriya and several other cities.

In Nassiriya, one of seven cities where a radical Shi'ite uprising has taken hold in the past week, demonstrators torched Allawi's political party office and called for his downfall.

Meanwhile, leading politician Ahmad Chalabi, once tipped to lead postwar Iraq, returned to Baghdad to face an arrest warrant that has rocked the country's powerbrokers.

"Dr. Ahmad is in Baghdad," an aide said.

SACRED SITES

The U.S. warning in Najaf came as sporadic clashes between American troops and the Mehdi militia echoed from the heart of the southern city, where hundreds have been killed or wounded around some of Iraq's holiest Shi'ite Muslim sites.

"Iraqi and U.S. forces are making final preparations as we get ready to finish this fight that the Moqtada militia started," Colonel Anthony Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Najaf, said in a statement.

Haslam gave few details, but his threats and Sadr's defiance have raised the stakes in a battle that is the toughest test yet for Allawi's six-week-old government.

Most of Sadr's men and the young cleric himself are holed up around Najaf's ancient Shi'ite cemetery or the adjoining Imam Ali Shrine. Storming such holy symbols could touch off a firestorm among Iraq's majority Shi'ite community.

The Shi'ite unrest has disrupted Iraq's vital oil exports and triggered a spike in world prices.

Crews have finished repairing Iraq's main southern oil export pipeline and are awaiting orders to start pumping after sabotage stopped operations for three days, an official said.

Oil prices held strong near record highs. U.S. light crude was at $44.42 a barrel at 1700 GMT, below Tuesday's $45.04.

WARRANTS

An Iraqi judge issued an arrest warrant against Chalabi on money counterfeiting charges last week. The judge also issued a warrant for murder against his nephew Salem Chalabi, a lawyer supervising Saddam Hussein's trial.

Both men have denied the charges and were out of Iraq when the warrants were issued. Salem Chalabi has not returned.

In fresh violence elsewhere in Iraq, at least six Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded when a bomb exploded in a market just north of Baghdad, hospital sources said.

Despite the tightening military noose, Sadr has refused to surrender. The latest fighting has shattered a two-month truce between U.S. forces and their most vocal critic in Iraq.

"Keep fighting even if you see me a prisoner or a martyr. God willing you will be victorious," Sadr said in a statement.

A spokesman described the U.S. threat as a propaganda ploy.

In Nassiriya, thousands of demonstrators enraged by the U.S. military action in Najaf carried posters of Sadr and screamed "down, down Allawi" and "Allawi you coward, you American agent."

Workers at an oil pumping station in Nassiriya said they had stopped operations to protest at Allawi's backing of the U.S. offensive in Najaf. The station had cut supplies of refined products and liquefied petroleum gas to Baghdad, the workers said.

CRACKS OVER NAJAF

The crisis in Najaf also appears to have created cracks in Allawi's administration after deputy president Ibrahim Jaafari urged U.S. troops to leave the city to end the fighting.

"I call for multinational forces to leave Najaf and for only Iraqi forces to remain there," Jaafari said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Wednesday.

U.S. forces say they have killed 360 Sadr loyalists so far in Najaf, home to 600,000 people some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad. Sadr's spokesmen say far fewer have died during the second rebellion by the militia in four months.

In the past 24 hours, nearly 40 Iraqis have been killed and 230 wounded in five cities including Baghdad, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The figure did not include Najaf.

The latest fighting raises questions about what role Sadr wants to play in postwar Iraq. Allawi's attempts to bring Sadr into the political fold appear to have failed, for now.

Aged about 30 and a prominent figure in a revered clerical dynasty, he does not speak for all Iraq's Shi'ites but his tough anti-U.S. rhetoric has won him many admirers.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Nadim Ladki, Waleed Ibrahim, Matthew Green and Michael Georgy in Baghdad, Miral Fahmy in Dubai) http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1057.htm|Najaf 2004|An Iraqi militiaman, loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr, carries a rocket propelled grenade launcher past a closed tourist stall in the southern city of Najaf, August 11, 2004. U.S. marines said they were preparing a final assault on Iraqi Shi'ite militia in the holy city of Najaf, after a radical cleric ordered his men to keep fighting even if he was killed.|"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."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ralphnader.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1058.htm|Nader Vs. Israel...a little|Ralph Nader's last hurrah in the Presidential sweepstakes of 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... There is far more freedom in the media, in town squares
and among citizens, soldiers, elected representatives and academicians in Israel to debate and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than there is in the United States."
Ralph Nader http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqmap.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1059.htm|Occupied Iraq Exploding|Iraq is centrally located at the heart of the Arab and Muslim worlds.|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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ralphnader1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1058.htm|Nader Vs. Israel...a little|Ralph Nader Finally Began Speaking Up About Israeli Power in Washington in August 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... There is far more freedom in the media, in town squares
and among citizens, soldiers, elected representatives and academicians in Israel to debate and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than there is in the United States."
Ralph Nader http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/settlements2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1061.htm|Israel 'On The Eve of Destruction'?|Israel has continually expanded settlements throughout the Occupied Territories Since 1967|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'. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf15.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6A9C138C-A809-4B04-AB2D-E2FB092237F4.htm|Even Iraqi 'Moderates' Now See U.S. as the Enemy| Mahdi Army soldiers and supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who have set up camp at the ancient Imam Ali mosque, the holiest Shiite shrine in Najaf, rest after the U.S. military suspended operations against Sadr's fighters. 14 August 2004 |Iraqi Moderates Now
Regard US As Enemy


(Reuters 8-13-04) -- When the United States wanted a Shia cleric to strengthen the credibility of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), it turned to Muhammad Bahr al-Uloum, whose family had lost many members for opposing Saddam Hussein.

Watching his hometown of Najaf come under US bombardment to crush Muqtada al-Sadr and his supporters, Bahr al-Uloum has lost faith in US intentions toward Iraq, and says millions of moderates like him, who welcomed last year's invasion, now regard Washington as an enemy.

"The Americans have turned the holy city into a ghost town. They are now seen as full of hatred against Najaf and the Shia. Nothing I know of will change this," the former president of the now defunct council said on Friday.

"I do not understand why America craves crisis. A peaceful solution to the confrontation with Muqtada could have been reached. We were hoping that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi would lead the way, but he sided with oppression."

Bahr al-Uloum has been one of the most outspoken critics of violence fuelled by Sadr and his supporters, who have challenged the authority of elder clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Bahr al-Uloum himself.

The established clerical class has come under mounting criticism from ordinary Shia for remaining silent over the US offensive, especially al-Sistani, who expressed sorrow at the events in Najaf but did not condemn the US offensive.

Iranian cleric

Al-Sistani travelled to London as US forces launched their offensive on Najaf last week to seek treatment for a heart condition. His aides say the problem is not life threatening.

Al-Sadr's supporters see Iranian-born and Iranian passport holder al-Sistani as a foreign cleric who staffed the Najaf seminaries with his followers at the expense of Iraqi nationalist clerics.

Traditional objection

Al-Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, challenged al-Sistani's authority as well as that of Saddam. He was killed in 1999. Iranians and Iraqis exchanged accusations blaming each other for killing al-Sadr.

Bahr al-Uloum, who acknowledges al-Sistani as the supreme living Shia religious figure, suggested that al-Sistani would have condemned the US offensive if he had full knowledge of it.

"Sayyed (Shia title) al-Sistani is ill. I do not think he has knowledge of the destruction being wreaked in Najaf. He might have a vague idea of clashes, but not killings and oppression," he said.

It remains to be seen whether the US offensive on Najaf will undermine al-Sistani in the long term, and how much influence he will retain among Iraq's Shia.

Plight of the poor

Like his father, al-Sadr made the theme of dispossession a basis for his political platform and raised the plight of the poor, saying living conditions have not improved since the United States toppled Saddam.

Although the young Sadr lacked political maturity, dealing with him through force only bolstered his support, especially among the poor and unemployed, Bahr al-Uloum said.

"The government has lost the support of the Middle Euphrates region and the south, even if it manages to calm down these areas temporarily using brute force," he said, referring to clashes in central and southern Iraq.

He said Sadr should have been given a political voice in government to avert violent confrontation. "There is no wisdom to what the Americans and Allawi are doing," he said.

"The consequences are unthinkable."Ý

© 2003 Aljazeera.NetÝ http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6A
9C138C-A809-4B04-AB2D-E2FB092237F4.htm http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawiprotected.jpg|| Allawi 'A Traitor To Islam, Iraq And The Arab World' |Iyad Allawi was appointed by and is protected by the U.S.|Allawi 'A Traitor To Islam,
Iraq And The Arab World'

He Must Be Tried For War Crimes

By Dr. Sam Hamod

Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC (retired)
8-15-4


The American puppet, the Vichy/Nazi style pseudo prime minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, is a traitor to Islam, to the Shi,a, to Iraq and to the Arab and Muslim worlds.

There is no doubt that Mr. Allawi is a known criminal who is known to have shot innocent prisoners recently in Iraq; this was seen by many witnesses. His Nazi like behavior and his calling for an assault on the Holy Site of Najaf, even on the Shrine of Ali, shows the man is an animal, a non-Muslim, a munafik (a hypocrite who claims to be a Muslim), and he is man who must be put on trial for war crimes and for the deaths that occurred on the assault on Najaf.

As the former Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC, the official voice of Muslims in America, and under the hand of the Muslim Ambassadors assigned to Washington, DC, I call upon all Muslims to denounce him and to ask for punishment of Mr. Allawi and those who support him. If Mr. Negroponte, the present U.S. Ambassador in Iraq is part of this scheme, then he too should be tried for war crimes and punished. Perhaps Mr. Negroponte is already being punished because he is trapped in his embassy in the Green Zone and shivers with thoughts of even going out of this "safe area.

The Shrine of Ali in the Holy City of Najaf to the Shi,a is analogous to the Vatican for the Catholics, the Wailing Wall to the Jews and Mecca to Muslims in general. This American assault, under the call of Allawi, is a sin of the first order and must be punished for its brazen assault on Islam. For Allawi and his allies to even consider this to be something that should be allowed, with his justification that his own puppet appointed governor of Najaf and mayor of Najaf allegedly calling for attacks on Najaf and the Shrine of Ali"the lies and evil of Mr. Allawi and his allies is clear for the Muslim and for even the Western World to see.

It is time for all the leaders in the Arab and the Muslim world to put an end to Allawi and his puppet government in Iraq, even if it means sending armies in to dethrone him.

America must also be made to understand that all Arab and Muslim countries will not tolerate this offensive for another day. Bush must be awakened, as well as Kerry. If not, then Muslim and Arab countries must break their alliances with America and let it be known that America cannot insult and attack Muslims and their Holy Sites in the world.

Yes, I am an American citizen, but I am also a human being who wants justice in the world. This type of American barbarism, aiding and abetting a devil like Allawi and his minions, must stop. If not, then this sinfulness will be on the head of America and those puppets like Allawi in this world and the next.

_____
Dr. Sam Hamod writes on world affairs, especially the Middle East and Islam; he is a former advisor to the State Department; editor of 3rd World News; Director of The Islamic Center; he may be reached at shamod@cox.net

http://www.todaysalternativenews.com/index.php?e
vent=link,150&values[0]=&values[1]=1802 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawiprotected.jpg|| Allawi 'A Traitor To Islam, Iraq And The Arab World' |Iyad Allawi was appointed by and is protected by the U.S.|Allawi 'A Traitor To Islam,
Iraq And The Arab World'

He Must Be Tried For War Crimes

By Dr. Sam Hamod

Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC (retired)
8-15-4


The American puppet, the Vichy/Nazi style pseudo prime minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, is a traitor to Islam, to the Shi,a, to Iraq and to the Arab and Muslim worlds.

There is no doubt that Mr. Allawi is a known criminal who is known to have shot innocent prisoners recently in Iraq; this was seen by many witnesses. His Nazi like behavior and his calling for an assault on the Holy Site of Najaf, even on the Shrine of Ali, shows the man is an animal, a non-Muslim, a munafik (a hypocrite who claims to be a Muslim), and he is man who must be put on trial for war crimes and for the deaths that occurred on the assault on Najaf.

As the former Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC, the official voice of Muslims in America, and under the hand of the Muslim Ambassadors assigned to Washington, DC, I call upon all Muslims to denounce him and to ask for punishment of Mr. Allawi and those who support him. If Mr. Negroponte, the present U.S. Ambassador in Iraq is part of this scheme, then he too should be tried for war crimes and punished. Perhaps Mr. Negroponte is already being punished because he is trapped in his embassy in the Green Zone and shivers with thoughts of even going out of this "safe area.

The Shrine of Ali in the Holy City of Najaf to the Shi,a is analogous to the Vatican for the Catholics, the Wailing Wall to the Jews and Mecca to Muslims in general. This American assault, under the call of Allawi, is a sin of the first order and must be punished for its brazen assault on Islam. For Allawi and his allies to even consider this to be something that should be allowed, with his justification that his own puppet appointed governor of Najaf and mayor of Najaf allegedly calling for attacks on Najaf and the Shrine of Ali"the lies and evil of Mr. Allawi and his allies is clear for the Muslim and for even the Western World to see.

It is time for all the leaders in the Arab and the Muslim world to put an end to Allawi and his puppet government in Iraq, even if it means sending armies in to dethrone him.

America must also be made to understand that all Arab and Muslim countries will not tolerate this offensive for another day. Bush must be awakened, as well as Kerry. If not, then Muslim and Arab countries must break their alliances with America and let it be known that America cannot insult and attack Muslims and their Holy Sites in the world.

Yes, I am an American citizen, but I am also a human being who wants justice in the world. This type of American barbarism, aiding and abetting a devil like Allawi and his minions, must stop. If not, then this sinfulness will be on the head of America and those puppets like Allawi in this world and the next.

_____
Dr. Sam Hamod writes on world affairs, especially the Middle East and Islam; he is a former advisor to the State Department; editor of 3rd World News; Director of The Islamic Center; he may be reached at shamod@cox.net

http://www.todaysalternativenews.com/index.php?e
vent=link,150&values[0]=&values[1]=1802 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iranmissile.jpg|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=5&u=/nm/20040815/wl_nm/iran_israel_missiles_dc|Iran Warns Israel New Missiles Can Strike Everywhere|Iran's Defense Ministry carried out a field test of the latest version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile on August 11, 2004 state television reported. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said last week Iran was working on improvements to the range and accuracy of Shahab-3, which defense experts say Tehran could use to strike arch-foe Israel or U.S. military bases in the Gulf. A truck carrying the medium range missile is seen during a military parade south of Tehran September 22.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf24oldman.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1063.htm|Historic Imam Ali Mosque Confrontation|Muslim Fighters Defending the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf - 15 August 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf23.jpg|

http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1064.htm|U.S. Iraqi Troops Fire on Reporters|Iraqis loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hoist pictures of al-Sadr as they rally in the Imam Ali mosque complex as clashes take place between US and Iraqi soldiers with Sadr's militia in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, Monday Aug. 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.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf23.jpg|
http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1064.htm|U.S. Iraqi Troops Fire on Reporters|Iraqis loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hoist pictures of al-Sadr as they rally in the Imam Ali mosque complex as clashes take place between US and Iraqi soldiers with Sadr's militia in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, Monday Aug. 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.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf23.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1064.htm|Reporters Fired on by U.S. Iraqi Troops in Najaf|Iraqis loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hoist pictures of al-Sadr as they rally in the Imam Ali mosque complex as clashes take place between US and Iraqi soldiers with Sadr's militia in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, Monday Aug. 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.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf15.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1068.htm|Al-Sadr and Allawi - The Struggle for the Middle East| Mahdi Army soldiers and supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who have set up camp at the ancient Imam Ali mosque, the holiest Shiite shrine in Najaf, rest after the U.S. military suspended operations against Sadr's fighters. 14 August 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 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iranmissile3.jpg|http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040818/1/3mio0.html|Iran Warns of Pre-Emptive Strike!|BIG FLOAT: Iran's Shahab-3 missile is shown at a Tehran military parade in 2000. Iran tested an upgraded Shahab-3 Aug. 11, two weeks after Israel tested its Arrow II antimissile.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bell512.jpg||NYC To Greet Republicans With Protests and Insults|Bush and Saddam|NYC to GOP: Drop Dead
by Ted Rall

18 August 2004:
Tourists are pleasantly surprised when New Yorkers act as friendly and polite as the people back home in Maybury. However, delegates to this month's Republican National Convention shouldn't expect to be treated to our standard out-of-towner treatment. The Republican delegates here to coronate George W. Bush are unwelcome members of a hostile invading army. Like the hapless saps whose blood they sent to be spilled into Middle Eastern sands, they will be given intentionally incorrect directions to nonexistent places. Objects will be thrown in their direction. Children will call them obscene names. They will not be greeted as liberators.

Well aware that it is barren soil for their party's anti-urban, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist, overtly racist ideology, Republican leaders have wisely avoided New York City as a convention site for the past 150 years. Even as the rest of America turns red, we New Yorkers remain as liberal as the people's republic of San Francisco: fewer than 18 percent of the citizens of New York's five boroughs (which include relatively conservative places like Staten Island) cast ballots for Bush/Cheney in 2000. But White House strategist Karl Rove sees the continued exploitation of 9/11 for partisan political gain as Bush's key to victory in November. That means bringing the big bash three miles north of the hole where the Twin Towers used to stand, where most of the victims of 9/11 were burned, suffocated, impaled and pulverized.

Making hay of the dead is also the point of this confab's timing. The 2004 Necropublican National Convention is being held a full month later than normal, from August 30 to September 2. The original plan was to have Bush shuttle between Madison Square Garden and Ground Zero for photo ops to coincide with the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Bush's visits to the Trade Center site were quietly canceled a few months back after 9/11 survivors expressed revulsion at the idea. But it was too late to change the date.

Anti-Republican sentiment is rising to a fever pitch here as the dog days tick down to the dreaded affair. A poll cited by the local ABC affiliate shows 83 percent of New Yorkers don't want their city to host the RNC. And many of them are planning to do something about it.

Rejecting ex-mayor Ed Koch's call to "make nice" with the party that used the deaths of 2,801 New Yorkers--most of them Democrats--for everything from tax cuts for the rich to building concentration camps at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib to invading Iraq to enrich Dick Cheney and his fellow Halliburton execs, some groups are encouraging liberal-minded New Yorkers to volunteer for the city's squad of official greeters. Creatively altered maps of streets and subways will be handed out to button-clad stupid white men. Other saboteurs wearing fake RNC T-shirts will direct them to parts of town where Bush's policies have hit hardest. Rumor has it that prostitutes suffering from sexually transmitted diseases will discourage the use of condoms with Republican customers.

Anywhere between 250,000 and 1,000,000 anti-Bush demonstrators are expected to hit the streets of Manhattan, but the city and protest organizers can't agree on where to put them. Activists say they'll direct marchers to Central Park, their preferred site; city officials are threatening mass arrests if they do. Adding to the already combustible Chicago '68 vibe is a possible wildcat strike by city cops and firefighters. And now, as if everyone concerned wasn't already tweaky, FBI agents are traveling around the United States, to harass members of leftist groups planning to protest the New York RNC.

Strikebreaking policemen and private security personnel may be able to keep the protesters away from the convention hall. But Republicans who venture outside the Garden deserve the abuse ordinary New Yorkers will likely inflict upon them.

True, the Administration eventually coughed up the $20 billion aid package Bush promised the city after 9/11. But that sum--equal to the cost of occupying Iraq for four months--barely made up for such disaster-related expenses as police overtime, debris removal and rebuilding damaged subway stations and tunnels. New York's economy hasn't even begun to recover. As the nation's official unemployment rate hovers at six percent, the city's runs around eight. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, opposes virtually every Bush Administration decision concerning New York City.

Even viler than Bush's urban neglect is his failure to avenge the World Trade Center victims as he pledged to do on 9/14, dusty firefighter helpfully posing under his arm on The Pile. After 9/11, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were in Pakistan. They and the Taliban received funding from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The 19 hijackers, organized by Egyptian Islamic Jihad, were Egyptian and Saudi. But Bush didn't attack Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Egypt. He went after Afghanistan and Iraq instead, nations that had nothing to do with 9/11 but offered business opportunities for GOP-connected oil concerns. Incredibly, he siphoned more money and arms to the Egyptians, Saudis and Pakistanis.

Not only did Bush let the terrorists get away, he raised their allowance.

If today's GOP retained a shred of the dignity and patriotism that it once possessed as the Party of Lincoln, it would have dumped Bush in favor of a candidate more interested in defending America than his wealthy contributors. Republicans are neofascists now, and that's why New Yorkers good and true will be yelling at them to go back home.

* Ted Rall, America's hardest-hitting editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate, is an award-winning commentator who also works as an illustrator, columnist, and radio commentator. This site is updated every few days with Ted's latest cartoons, opinion columns and news about his latest projects and tours.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0818-11.htm http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iranmissile3.jpg|http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040818/1/3mio0.html|Iran Warns of Pre-Emptive Strike!|BIG FLOAT: Iran's Shahab-3 missile is shown at a Tehran military parade in 2000. Iran tested an upgraded Shahab-3 Aug. 11, two weeks after Israel tested its Arrow II antimissile.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iranmissile.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1071.htm|Iran Warns of Preemptive Strike Against U.S. and Israel|Iran's Defense Ministry carried out a field test of the latest version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile on August 11, 2004 state television reported. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said last week Iran was working on improvements to the range and accuracy of Shahab-3, which defense experts say Tehran could use to strike arch-foe Israel or U.S. military bases in the Gulf. A truck carrying the medium range missile is seen during a military parade south of Tehran September 22.|"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 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wewillnukeyou.gif|http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-arkinmar10.story|U.S. Prepares Nukes For Use|'We'll Nuke You!' - New York Post, 11 Dec 2002|Just a few months after 9/11 the government secretly told the Pentagon prepare to use nuclear weapons against a list of countries and in a number of ways. Even as the U.S. policy is now to prevent other countries other than its allies and Israel from developing any kind of nuclear or other substantial strategic weapons, the U.S. is moving ahead with a whole new generation of nuclear explosives and preparing to use them:
-------------------------------


Secret Plan Outlines the Unthinkable
A secret policy review of the nation’s nuclear policy puts forth chilling new contingencies for nuclear war.
By WILLIAM M. ARKIN


March 10, 2002

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, in a secret policy review completed early this year, has ordered the Pentagon to draft contingency plans for the use of nuclear weapons against at least seven countries, naming not only Russia and the "axis of evil"--Iraq, Iran, and North Korea--but also China, Libya and Syria.

In addition, the U.S. Defense Department has been told to prepare for the possibility that nuclear weapons may be required in some future Arab-Israeli crisis. And, it is to develop plans for using nuclear weapons to retaliate against chemical or biological attacks, as well as "surprising military developments" of an unspecified nature.

These and a host of other directives, including calls for developing bunker-busting mini-nukes and nuclear weapons that reduce collateral damage, are contained in a still-classified document called the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was delivered to Congress on Jan. 8.

Like all such documents since the dawning of the Atomic Age more than a half-century ago, this NPR offers a chilling glimpse into the world of nuclear-war planners: With a Strangelovian genius, they cover every conceivable circumstance in which a president might wish to use nuclear weapons--planning in great detail for a war they hope never to wage.

In this top-secret domain, there has always been an inconsistency between America's diplomatic objectives of reducing nuclear arsenals and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, on the one hand, and the military imperative to prepare for the unthinkable, on the other.

Nevertheless, the Bush administration plan reverses an almost two-decade-long trend of relegating nuclear weapons to the category of weapons of last resort. It also redefines nuclear requirements in hurried post-Sept. 11 terms.

In these and other ways, the still-secret document offers insights into the evolving views of nuclear strategists in Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's Defense Department.

While downgrading the threat from Russia and publicly emphasizing their commitment to reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons, Defense Department strategists promote tactical and so-called "adaptive" nuclear capabilities to deal with contingencies where large nuclear arsenals are not demanded.

They seek a host of new weapons and support systems, including conventional military and cyber warfare capabilities integrated with nuclear warfare. The end product is a now-familiar post-Afghanistan model--with nuclear capability added. It combines precision weapons, long-range strikes, and special and covert operations.

But the NPR's call for development of new nuclear weapons that reduce "collateral damage" myopically ignores the political, moral and military implications--short-term and long--of crossing the nuclear threshold.

Under what circumstances might nuclear weapons be used under the new posture? The NPR says they "could be employed against targets able to withstand nonnuclear attack," or in retaliation for the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, or "in the event of surprising military developments."

Planning nuclear-strike capabilities, it says, involves the recognition of "immediate, potential or unexpected" contingencies. North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya are named as "countries that could be involved" in all three kinds of threat. "All have long-standing hostility towards the United States and its security partners. All sponsor or harbor terrorists, and have active WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and missile programs."

China, because of its nuclear forces and "developing strategic objectives," is listed as "a country that could be involved in an immediate or potential contingency." Specifically, the NPR lists a military confrontation over the status of Taiwan as one of the scenarios that could lead Washington to use nuclear weapons.

Other listed scenarios for nuclear conflict are a North Korean attack on South Korea and an Iraqi assault on Israel or its neighbors.

The second important insight the NPR offers into Pentagon thinking about nuclear policy is the extent to which the Bush administration's strategic planners were shaken by last September's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Though Congress directed the new administration "to conduct a comprehensive review of U.S. nuclear forces" before the events of Sept. 11, the final study is striking for its single-minded reaction to those tragedies.

Heretofore, nuclear strategy tended to exist as something apart from the ordinary challenges of foreign policy and military affairs. Nuclear weapons were not just the option of last resort, they were the option reserved for times when national survival hung in the balance--a doomsday confrontation with the Soviet Union, for instance.

Now, nuclear strategy seems to be viewed through the prism of Sept. 11. For one thing, the Bush administration's faith in old-fashioned deterrence is gone. It no longer takes a superpower to pose a dire threat to Americans.

"The terrorists who struck us on Sept. 11th were clearly not deterred by doing so from the massive U.S. nuclear arsenal," Rumsfeld told an audience at the National Defense University in late January.

Similarly, U.S. Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton said in a recent interview, "We would do whatever is necessary to defend America's innocent civilian population .... The idea that fine theories of deterrence work against everybody ... has just been disproven by Sept. 11."

Moreover, while insisting they would go nuclear only if other options seemed inadequate, officials are looking for nuclear weapons that could play a role in the kinds of challenges the United States faces with Al Qaeda.

Accordingly, the NPR calls for new emphasis on developing such things as nuclear bunker-busters and surgical "warheads that reduce collateral damage," as well as weapons that could be used against smaller, more circumscribed targets--"possible modifications to existing weapons to provide additional yield flexibility," in the jargon-rich language of the review.

It also proposes to train U.S. Special Forces operators to play the same intelligence gathering and targeting roles for nuclear weapons that they now play for conventional weapons strikes in Afghanistan. And cyber-warfare and other nonnuclear military capabilities would be integrated into nuclear-strike forces to make them more all-encompassing.

As for Russia, once the primary reason for having a U.S. nuclear strategy, the review says that while Moscow's nuclear programs remain cause for concern, "ideological sources of conflict" have been eliminated, rendering a nuclear contingency involving Russia "plausible" but "not expected."

"In the event that U.S. relations with Russia significantly worsen in the future," the review says, "the U.S. may need to revise its nuclear force levels and posture."

When completion of the NPR was publicly announced in January, Pentagon briefers deflected questions about most of the specifics, saying the information was classified. Officials did stress that, consistent with a Bush campaign pledge, the plan called for reducing the current 6,000 long-range nuclear weapons to one-third that number over the next decade. Rumsfeld, who approved the review late last year, said the administration was seeking "a new approach to strategic deterrence," to include missile defenses and improvements in nonnuclear capabilities.

Also, Russia would no longer be officially defined as "an enemy."

Beyond that, almost no details were revealed.

The classified text, however, is shot through with a worldview transformed by Sept. 11. The NPR coins the phrase "New Triad," which it describes as comprising the "offensive strike leg," (our nuclear and conventional forces) plus "active and passive defenses,"(our anti-missile systems and other defenses) and "a responsive defense infrastructure" (our ability to develop and produce nuclear weapons and resume nuclear testing). Previously, the nuclear "triad" was the bombers, long-range land-based missiles and submarine-launched missiles that formed the three legs of America's strategic arsenal.

The review emphasizes the integration of "new nonnuclear strategic capabilities" into nuclear-war plans. "New capabilities must be developed to defeat emerging threats such as hard and deeply-buried targets (HDBT), to find and attack mobile and re-locatable targets, to defeat chemical and biological agents, and to improve accuracy and limit collateral damage," the review says.

It calls for "a new strike system" using four converted Trident submarines, an unmanned combat air vehicle and a new air-launched cruise missile as potential new weapons.

Beyond new nuclear weapons, the review proposes establishing what it calls an "agent defeat" program, which defense officials say includes a "boutique" approach to finding new ways of destroying deadly chemical or biological warfare agents, as well as penetrating enemy facilities that are otherwise difficult to attack. This includes, according to the document, "thermal, chemical or radiological neutralization of chemical/biological materials in production or storage facilities."

Bush administration officials stress that the development and integration of nonnuclear capabilities into the nuclear force is what permits reductions in traditional long-range weaponry. But the blueprint laid down in the review would expand the breadth and flexibility of U.S. nuclear capabilities.

In addition to the new weapons systems, the review calls for incorporation of "nuclear capability" into many of the conventional systems now under development. An extended-range conventional cruise missile in the works for the U.S. Air Force "would have to be modified to carry nuclear warheads if necessary." Similarly, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter should be modified to carry nuclear weapons "at an affordable price."

The review calls for research to begin next month on fitting an existing nuclear warhead into a new 5,000-pound "earth penetrating" munition.

Given the advances in electronics and information technologies in the past decade, it is not surprising that the NPR also stresses improved satellites and intelligence, communications, and more robust high-bandwidth decision-making systems.

Particularly noticeable is the directive to improve U.S. capabilities in the field of "information operations," or cyber-warfare. The intelligence community "lacks adequate data on most adversary computer local area networks and other command and control systems," the review observes. It calls for improvements in the ability to "exploit" enemy computer networks, and the integration of cyber-warfare into the overall nuclear war database "to enable more effective targeting, weaponeering, and combat assessment essential to the New Triad."

In recent months, when Bush administration officials talked about the implications of Sept. 11 for long-term military policy, they have often focused on "homeland defense" and the need for an anti-missile shield. In truth, what has evolved since last year's terror attacks is an integrated, significantly expanded planning doctrine for nuclear wars.
_ _ _


William M. Arkin is a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington and an adjunct professor at the U.S. Air Force School of Advanced Airpower Studies. He is also a consultant to a number of nongovernmental organizations and a regular contributor to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/neocons.gif|http://www.MiddleEast.Org/neocons.htm|Israeli/Jewish Lobby and Neocon Bases in Washington|A list of the top 50 neocons associated with the Bush Administration| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf44.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6D629FC1-D279-46C3-B539-74F98CCFB299.htm|Confusion, Chaos, and Fighting in Najaf|Najaf's historic centre is bombarded overnight as US and Iraqi forces move closer to the Imam Ali shrine on 19 August 2004|Everyone is preparing, everyone is blinking, everyone is threatening. The outcome of this historic and exceedingly symbolic struggle is yet to be decided. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/hezbollah2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1074.htm|Palestinian Struggle Fully Justified|Crowds in Nabatiye gathered in Nov 2002 for Hezbollah's Jerusalem Day parade.|There should not even be a need to point out that in view of what has been done to the Palestinians for many generations their struggle is fully legitimate and morally justified, no matter how badly led. Indeed, it is this history of brutal and colonial policies that the Western powers -- and in recent times primarily the U.S., the U.K., and Israel -- have perpetrated on the peoples of the Middle East, and especially the people of Palestine, that has substantially fueled today's hatreds and warfares throughout the region. But 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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/turkeydemo9-27-03.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1075.htm|Imperial Supremacist America|Turkish Islamist protesters set fire to U.S. and Israeli flags during a demonstration in Istanbul September 27, 2003. Nearly five thousands protesters, including Islamists and leftists, gathered to rally in Istanbul and Ankara on Saturday to protest against government's possible decision to send troops to Iraq (news - web sites) and to support Palestine against Israel. |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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Najaf40.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1078.htm|Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Returns to 'Save the Burning Holy City'| Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hoist an image, right, showing Imam Ali, left, and Imam Hussein, right, with Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, front, father of Muqtada al-Sadr, as other followers hold pictures of Muqtada al-Sadr, at the Imam Ali shrine as clashes between the al-Mahdi army and U.S. and Iraqi forces take place near the shrine in the besieged city of Najaf, Iraq - Aug. 19, 2004.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ussniper.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5DDCEF52-60B8-4FC6-ACFF-F794BBF8E6D7.htm|U.S. Iraqis Seize Dozens of Journalists in Najaf|A U.S. Army sniper takes position Tuesday near the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq. 24 August 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf34.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1081.htm|U.S. and Regime Bombing and Killing throughout Iraq| A U.S. special operations sniper locks on a target near the cemetery in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NoGuerra.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/063DF9D4-0B2A-4D83-8BB6-248EC5F8C802.htm|The Huge Cost of the Bush/neocon/Israeli War|Demonstrators Dressed as Suicide Bombers at Anti-War Demo in Madrid - 9/28/2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf67.jpg|http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1107&idq=/ff/story/0001/20040827/0735352424.htm&sc=1107|The Najaf Deal - How It Played Out|U.S. Forces in Najaf, Irag on 26 August 2004 with the Shrine of Imam Ali down the main street.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/condifeithwolfowitzpowell.jpg|http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/27/fbi.spy/index.html|Pollard II - Israeli Spy High in the Pentagon|Condi Rice with Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and Colin Powell - White House, March 2004|Those who have been reading what we have been saying for a long time about the Israeli-Jewish lobby in Washington, and its ties to the top neocons including Wolfowitz and Feith, won't be so surprised. But of course they are working furiously now to cover this up; and in all likelihood they will succeed in doing so especially as neither of the political parties will dare risk offending 'the lobby' during this crucial pre-election season. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces.jpg|http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/27/fbi.spy/index.html|Pollard II - Israeli Spy High in the Pentagon|Key Washington Jewish Neocons all associated with Ariel Sharon and Israel|Those who have been reading what we have been saying for a long time about the Israeli-Jewish lobby in Washington, and its ties to the top neocons including Wolfowitz and Feith, won't be so surprised. But of course they are working furiously now to cover this up; and in all likelihood they will succeed in doing so especially as neither of the political parties will dare risk offending 'the lobby' during this crucial pre-election season. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/pentagon-israel-spy.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1086.htm|Another Israeli Spy Scandal Erupts in Washington|Another Israeli Spy Scandal Erupted in Washington in late August 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

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/powellkillergohome.jpg|http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/P/POWELL_PROTEST?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME|Powell Forced to Cancel Athens Olympic Visit|Secretary of State Colin Powell was forced at the last moment to cancel his visit to Athens to attend the closing ceremonies at the 2004 Olympics.|Powell says the massive protests against his scheduled visit to Athens and the Olympics had nothing to do with his land minute cancellation. Earlier this summer the CIA Director told the world his resignation was for 'personal, family reasons' and had nothing to do with all the calls for him to go. Can't believe or trust these guys anymore anytime on anything. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/feith-franklin.jpg|http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040828-120756-8368r.htm|Feith Directly Fingered in latest Israeli Sky Scandal|Douglas Feith, Senior Official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, with alleged Israeli spy Larry Franklin.|Finally the fingers are pointing in the right direction...and right toward the top of the political food chain. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/feith-franklin.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1088.htm|Fingers Pointing at Douglas Feith and top neocons at Pentagon|Douglas Feith, Senior Official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, with alleged Israeli spy Larry Franklin.|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. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/8/1089.htm|Doug Feith and the new Israeli Spy Scandal - MER Exclusive|Key Washington Jewish Neocons all associated with Ariel Sharon and Israel|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 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/nyc-9-01-04.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/01/politics/campaign/01protest.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=|1000+ Arrested All over NYC protesting Bush Policies|Protestors were arrested all over New York City during the Republican Convention at Madison Square Garden.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/aljazeera.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/28D17F9C-5204-4514-8D92-C5F192492445.htm|Aljazeera Closed by U.S. Baghdad Regime|Aljazeera has become a thorn in the side for both the U.S. and the Arab 'client regimes' it sponsors in the region.|"Police attacked our office this afternoon, took photographs and sealed it up... We are outraged." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonlaughing.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1093.htm|ISRAELGATE!|Ariel Sharon has guided Israel to its current dangerous moment in history.|Now that the new Israeli spy scandal has broken into public view, the top-level connections between the Jewish neocons at the Pentagon and the National Security Council -- among them Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and Elliott Abrams -- the following and associated stories first published earlier this year deserve much more than a second look. They should in fact be the basis for a full-fledged journalistic investigation into what could yet be called ISRAELGATE. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/pollard.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1094.htm|IsraelGate +|Jonathan Pollard - Spy for Israel arrested in 1985 but it took 13 years for the Israelis to end their coverup and admit he was their spy.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bush-guard.jpg|http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/08/bush_fell_short_on_duty_at_guard/|Bush Didn't Do All His National Guard Duty| National Guard records show that George W. Bush didn’t meet the commitments, or face the punishment. Boston Globe - 8 Sept 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sabanclinton.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/05sab.html|Saban of Israel Peddles Money and Influence for Israel in U.S.|Haim Saban, who turned cartoons into a multibillion-dollar fortune, has an office overlooking Los Angeles, but his world view centers on Israel. Saban was a frequent guest in the Clinton White House, and soon after Al Gore's defeat paid the Brookings Institution a considerable sum to turn its Middle East program, now renamed for him, over to long-time Israeli lobbyist Martin Indyk. |Israeli influence-peddling in the U.S. - both in politics and the media, both in Washington and Hollywood so to speak - is the additional story beyond Israeli spying and lobbying. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bush-guard.jpg|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/60II/main641984.shtml|CBS '60-minutes' story on Bush and his 'service'| National Guard records show that George W. Bush didn’t meet the commitments, or face the punishment. Boston Globe - 8 Sept 2004|How interesting the timing on this one. Just a few days after CBS broke the story about Israeli spying in Washington, and a major FBI investigation that includes the Israeli Lobby on Capitol Hill, it now appears someone may have set up CBS with bogus documents concerning President Bush's National Guard service in the early 1970s. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/pentagon-israel.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1098.htm|Israeli Spying in USA FOX Series Spiked and Covered-Up|Israel and the Pentagon have become more intertwined than ever during the Bush/Cheney Administration| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/powellkillergohome.jpg|http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2790432|They Knew At the Top Charges Hersh in new book|Secretary of State Colin Powell was forced at the last moment to cancel his visit to Athens to attend the closing ceremonies at the 2004 Olympics.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces.jpg||Powell Calls Neocons 'Fucking Crazies'|Key Washington Jewish Neocons all associated with Ariel Sharon and Israel|Colin Powell in four-letter neo-con 'crazies' row

Martin Bright
Sunday September 12, 2004
The Observer

A furious row has broken out over claims in a new book by BBC broadcaster James Naughtie that US Secretary of State Colin Powell described neo-conservatives in the Bush administration as 'fucking crazies' during the build-up to war in Iraq.

Powell's extraordinary outburst is alleged to have taken place during a telephone conversation with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. The two became close friends during the intense negotiations in the summer of 2002 to build an international coalition for intervention via the United Nations. The 'crazies' are said to be Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz.

Last week, the offices of Powell and Straw contacted Public Affairs, the US publishers of Naughtie's book, to say they would vigorously deny the claims if publication went ahead. But as no legal action was threatened, the US launch of the book, The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency, will proceed as planned this week.

Naughtie stands by his claims and is said to be privately delighted that Powell and Straw have reacted so violently to the suggestion that the former US general had fallen out with the 'neo-cons'.

Provocatively, the phrase 'fucking crazies' will be quoted on the jacket of the book, according to a source at the publisher. 'We were surprised to receive calls from the offices of Jack Straw and Colin Powell within 24 hours of each other,' the source said.

Naughtie claims that Powell and Straw spoke on an almost daily basis. Powell's concerns were said to have chimed with Straw's and those of Blair himself - that if America acted without UN sanction, allies would be lost.

Cheney and his allies were preparing for a spring war and did not wish to be deflected by the UN inspection process. Powell is thought to have been terrified that the strategy of the 'crazies' would alienate the Blair government, which believed it needed UN backing to win over Parliament and the British public.

John Kampfner, political editor of the New Statesman and author of Blair's Wars, said Naughtie's characterisation of the feverish political atmosphere of the summer of 2002 was entirely accurate. 'The British government saw Powell as the most significant voice of sanity in the US administration. At different times during this very difficult period, the Brits used Powell to get across their point of view to the White House. But, bizarrely, Powell sometimes also used Blair to pass messages to Bush.'

Kampfner's book, which covers the Blair government's military adventures in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, reported that in July 2002 Blair sent his foreign policy adviser David Manning on a secret mission to Washington to deliver a letter hinting that, without a second UN resolution, Britain would not be able to join a war in Iraq. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/baghdad-9-12-04-1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1105.htm|SLAUGHTER in BAGHDAD - Eyewitness Report|U.S. Helicopter Gunships Attacked a crowd in Baghdad on 12 Sept 2004.|On Sunday as the details of this murderous U.S. attack on a Baghdad crowd were first being reported, MER asked an officer on Commanding U.S. General Abizaid's staff how could the U.S. be using attack helicopters to fire on crowds in Baghdad and still think Iraqis wouldn't hate the Americans. He suggested it must have been to protect troops still in the damaged vehicle. A few hours later when told that was not the case, that the troops had already been rescued, he suggested maybe there was a need to destroy the vehicle for 'intelligence' reasons. When told the vehicle was already destroyed and on fire he could only shrug... How telling... This unusually gripping first-hand report from the exploding streets of Baghdad: http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/blackhawkdowniraq.jpg|http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040917/D855JFG80.html|Big U.S. Troop Call-Up Coming along with selective draft|U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division soldiers look at burning Black Hawk helicopter on same day rockets almost killed Paul Wolfowitz in the Rashid Hotel - 10-26-2003|It's not only Iraq on the target list for more U.S. troops. Iran and North Korea are also being targeted as are Syria and Lebanon if they don't comply with U.S. demands to stop aiding the insurgency in occupied Iraq and the Intifada in occupied Palestine. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/neocons.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1110.htm|The 'Fucking' Crazy and Stupid Washington Neocons|A list of the top 50 neocons associated with the Bush Administration|Of course they only talk this way when they've really had it and when they think the befuddled largely ignorant general public won't hear. But the reality is these two top American Generals who have been saluting to power their whole lives, and who themselves are very much a part of the terrible corrupted system, are known to feel the senior neocons empowered by Bush and Cheney are out of control and sometimes a little fucking out of their minds! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/chainofcommand.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1111.htm|Jounalists and Academics With Chilling Warnings|The book that further exposes 9/11, Iraq, and the Neocons - Chaim of Command by Seymour Hersh|"Every generation has its test of principle in which people of good faith can no longer remain silent in the face
of authoritarian ambition. If we cannot join together to fight the abomination of American camps, we have already lost what we are defending."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/seymourhersh.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1112.htm|Sy Hersh in Washington - Israeli Disinformation and Cover-Up?|Washington investigative journalist Seymour Hersh|The more one thinks about this, the more one reaches the possible conclusion that while Hersh is on target (though incomplete) when it comes to the torture scandal, when it comes to the geostrategic, especially when it comes to matters relating to Israel, Hersh may well be being used for disinformation and continually engages in a kind of self-censorship and cover-up. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bunkerbusting.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1114.htm|Iran - US and Israel Prepare to Attack|Large Quantities of Bunker Busting Bombs Sold by U.S. to Israel in Sept 2004.|The new massive arms sale of 'bunker busting' bombs to Israel has two major purposes at this point in addition to furthering the Bush/Cheney election campaign -- to prepare for real war with Iran sooner rather than later, while at the same time attempting to further intimidate one more time those in Tehran to 'comply, resistance is futile'. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/chomsky.gif|http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FI22Aa02.html|Chomsky on U.S. Pre-emption and Military Force|Professor Noam Chomsky| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishhate.jpg|http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0915/p03s01-ussc.html|Growing Anti-Jewish Attitudes in USA|CLEANING UP SIGNS OF HATE: Rabbi Stanley Wagner of Denver's BMH-BJ Synagogue wiped a swastika from the synagogue's wall this spring. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the US has risen this year. |It's just what the Zionists, especially those rallied around Ariel Sharon, want...a controlled but growing level of anti-Jewishness in the U.S. and Europe. They know they can use and manipulate it all to their advantage; and they are in fact doing so more and more all the time. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/waronfreedom.jpg|http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20040921-093107-8762r.htm|New Military Command to Guard Washington, DC|The 'War on Terror' Has Additionally Morphed Into a 'War on Freedom'|Gradually the Military and the CIA are pushing more and more into 'domestic' American life. This latest step seems innocuous...but as with so many others the creeping control is felt only gradually. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqcrying.jpg|http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092404I.shtml|HELL in Iraq|Iraq Exploding in Anguish As American Military Occupation Expands| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/childrencoffin.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1120.htm|No Real Palestinian State Now Possible - Maps tell the Real Story 'on the ground' where it counts|Palestinian children carry a mock coffin with Arabic writing that reads, "The killer: Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," and chant anti-Israeli slogans while others carry Palestinian flags and pictures of children who were killed in the latest clashes|The Israelis now control all Palestinian areas through hundreds of military Checkpoints, No-go zones, By-pass 'Jews only' Roads, Settlements, Outposts, and in recent years Fences, Walls, and Electronic Monitoring systems throughout the West Bank similar to what was done in the past to Gaza. In addition all Palestinians must even receive Israeli military permission to travel from one city and village. The situation is today far worse than Apartheid was in South Africa. As a result, no real, contiguous, and even minimally sovereign Palestinian State is possible any longer in the area that was Palestine in 1947. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/liebermansharon.jpg|http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/fc/World/iran/news_stories/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=2074&e=1&u=/afp/20040923/pl_afp/us_iran_nuclear_040923185058|Joe Lieberman Calls For Confronting Iran|Senator Lieberman with Prime Minister Sharon - Dec 2002|It shouldn't come as much of a surprise; Senator Lieberman has been a long-time front-man for the Israelis and a friend of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But this is a very serious game now; for the international order and the peace of the world are now riding on whether the international community can contain the U.S. and Israel from further aggression. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/irannextcover.jpg|http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1114/|Iran Next?|Is Iran Next? Cover of In These Times, 28 Sept 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/irannextcover.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/9/1126.htm|Iran and Syria now Targeted|Is Iran Next? Cover of In These Times, 28 Sept 2004|The Pentagon neocons who brought you the
war in Iraq have a new targets - Iran and Syria. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushpraying.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/arts/03rich.html?ex=1097533598&ei=1&en=ea164b8edeec4183|Bush and Christ - Now on DVD|The president praying in a scene from "Faith in the White House" first shown at Republican Convention in September 2004.|Now on DVD: The Passion of the Bush


You can run but you can't hide: Oct. 5 will bring the
perfect storm in this year's culture wars. It's on that
strategically chosen date, four Tuesdays before the
election, that the DVD of "Fahrenheit 9/11" will be
released along with not one but two new Michael Moore
books. It's also the release date of the equally
self-effacing Ann Coulter's latest rant, of a new DVD
documentary, "Horns and Halos," that revisits the Bush
mystery year of 1972, and of an R.E.M. album, "Around the
Sun," that gets in its own political licks at the state of
the nation.

When Dick Cheney and John Edwards debate in Cleveland that
night, Bruce Springsteen will be barnstorming in another
swing state, as the Vote for Change tour hits St. Paul. All
that's needed to make the day complete is a smackdown
between Kinky Friedman and Teresa Heinz Kerry on "Imus in
the Morning."

Of the many cultural grenades being tossed that day,
though, the one must-see is "George W. Bush: Faith in the
White House," a DVD that is being specifically marketed in
"head to head" partisan opposition to "Fahrenheit 9/11."
This documentary first surfaced at the Republican
convention in New York, where it was previewed in tandem
with an invitation-only, no-press-allowed "Family, Faith
and Freedom Rally," a Ralph Reed-Sam Brownback jamboree
thrown by the Bush campaign for Christian conservatives.
Though you can buy the DVD for $14.95, its makers told the
right-wing news service WorldNetDaily.com that they plan to
distribute 300,000 copies to America's churches. And no
wonder. This movie aspires to be "The Passion of the Bush,"
and it succeeds.

More than any other campaign artifact, it clarifies the
hard-knuckles rationale of the president's
vote-for-me-or-face-Armageddon re-election message. It
transforms the president that the Democrats deride as a
"fortunate son" of privilege into a prodigal son with the
"moral clarity of an old-fashioned biblical prophet." Its
Bush is not merely a sincere man of faith but God's
essential and irreplaceable warrior on Earth. The stations
of his cross are burnished into cinematic fable: the
misspent youth, the hard drinking (a thirst that came from
"a throat full of Texas dust"), the fateful 40th-birthday
hangover in Colorado Springs, the walk on the beach with
Billy Graham. A towheaded child actor bathed in the golden
light of an off-camera halo re-enacts the young George
comforting his mom after the death of his sister; it's a
parable anticipating the future president's miraculous
ability to comfort us all after 9/11. An older Bush
impersonator is seen rebuffing a sexual come-on from a
fellow Bush-Quayle campaign worker hovering by a Xerox
machine in 1988; it's an effort to imbue our born-again
savior with retroactive chastity. As for the actual
president, he is shown with a flag for a backdrop in a
split-screen tableau with Jesus. The message isn't subtle:
they were separated at birth.

"Faith in the White House" purports to be the product of
"independent research," uncoordinated with the Bush-Cheney
campaign. But many of its talking heads are official or
unofficial administration associates or sycophants. They
include the evangelical leader and presidential confidant
Ted Haggard (who is also one of Mel Gibson's most fervent
P.R. men) and Deal Hudson, an adviser to the Bush-Cheney
campaign until August, when he resigned following The
National Catholic Reporter's investigation of accusations
that he sexually harassed an 18-year-old Fordham student in
the 1990's. As for the documentary's "research," a film
positioning itself as a scrupulously factual "alternative"
to "Fahrenheit 9/11" should not inflate Mr. Bush's early
business "success" with Arbusto Energy (an outright bust
for most of its investors) or the number of children he's
had vaccinated in Iraq ("more than 22 million," the movie
claims, in a country whose total population is 25 million).


"Will George W. Bush be allowed to finish the battle
against the forces of evil that threaten our very
existence?" Such is the portentous question posed at the
film's conclusion by its narrator, the religious
broadcaster Janet Parshall, beloved by some for her
ecumenical generosity in inviting Jews for Jesus onto her
radio show during the High Holidays. Anyone who stands in
the way of Mr. Bush completing his godly battle, of course,
is a heretic. Facts on the ground in Iraq don't matter.
Rational arguments mustered in presidential debates don't
matter. Logic of any kind is a nonstarter. The president -
who after 9/11 called the war on terrorism a "crusade,"
until protests forced the White House to backpedal - is
divine. He may not hear "voices" instructing him on policy,
testifies Stephen Mansfield, the author of one of the
movie's source texts, "The Faith of George W. Bush," but he
does act on "promptings" from God. "I think we went into
Iraq not so much because there were weapons of mass
destruction," Mr. Mansfield has explained elsewhere, "but
because Bush had concluded that Saddam Hussein was an
evildoer" in the battle "between good and evil." So why
didn't we go into those other countries in the axis of
evil, North Korea or Iran? Never mind. To ask such
questions is to be against God and "with the terrorists."

The propagandists of "Faith in the White House" argue, as
others have, that the president's invocation of religion in
the public sphere, from his citation of Jesus as his
favorite "political philosopher" to his incessant
invocation of the Almighty in talking about how everything
is coming up roses in Iraq, is consistent with the civic
spirituality practiced by his antecedents, from the
founding fathers to Bill Clinton. It's not. Past presidents
have rarely, if ever, claimed such godlike infallibility.
Mr. Bush never admits to making a mistake; even his
premature "Mission Accomplished" victory lap wasn't in
error, as he recently told Bill O'Reilly. After all, if you
believe "God wants me to be president" - a quote attributed
to Mr. Bush by the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern
Baptist Convention - it's a given that you are incapable of
making mistakes. Those who say you have are by definition
committing blasphemy. A God-appointed leader even has the
power to rewrite His texts. Jim Wallis, the liberal
evangelical author, has pointed out Mr. Bush's habit of
rejiggering specific scriptural citations so that, say, the
light shining into the darkness is no longer God's light
but America's and, by inference, the president's own.

It's not just Mr. Bush's self-deification that separates
him from the likes of Lincoln, however; it's his chosen
fashion of Christianity. The president didn't revive the
word "crusade" idly in the fall of 2001. His view of faith
as a Manichaean scheme of blacks and whites to be acted out
in a perpetual war against evil is synergistic with the
violent poetics of the best-selling "Left Behind" novels by
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and Mel Gibson's cinematic
bloodfest. The majority of Christian Americans may not
agree with this apocalyptic worldview, but there's a big
market for it. A Newsweek poll shows that 17 percent of
Americans expect the world to end in their lifetime. To
Karl Rove and company, that 17 percent is otherwise known
as "the base."

The pandering to that base has become familiar in countless
administration policies, starting with its antipathy to
stem-cell research, abortion, condoms for H.I.V. prevention
and gay civil rights. But ever since Mr. Bush's
genuflection to Bob Jones University threatened to shoo
away moderates in 2000, the Rove ruse is to try to keep the
most militant and sectarian tactics of the Bush religious
program under the radar. (Mr. Rove even tried to deny that
the wooden lectern at the Republican convention was a
pulpit embedded with a cross, as if a nation of
eyewitnesses could all be mistaken.) The re-election
juggernaut has not only rounded up the membership rosters
of churches en masse but quietly mounted official Web sites
like kerrywrongforcatholics.com as well. (Evangelicals and
Mormons have their own Web variants on this same theme, but
not the Jews, who are apparently getting in Kerry just what
they deserve.) Even the contraband C-word is being revived
out of sight of most of the press: Marc Racicot, the
Bush-Cheney campaign chairman, lobbed a direct-mail
fund-raising letter in March describing Mr. Bush as
"leading a global crusade against terrorism."

In this spring's classic "South Park" parody, "The Passion
of the Jew," in which Mr. Gibson's movie tosses the
community into a religious war, one of the kids concludes:
"If you want to be Christian, that's cool, but you should
focus on what Jesus taught instead of how he got killed.
Focusing on how he got killed is what people did in the
Dark Ages, and it ends up with really bad results." He has
a point. It's far from clear that Mr. Bush's eschatology
and his religious vanity are leading to good results now.
The all-seeing president who could pronounce Vladimir Putin
saintly by looking into his "soul" is now refusing to
acknowledge that the reverse may be true. The general in
charge of tracking down Osama bin Laden, William G. Boykin,
has earned cheers in some quarters for giving speeches at
churches proclaiming that Mr. Bush is "in the White House
because God put him there" to lead the "army of God"
against "a guy named Satan." But all that preaching didn't
get his day job done; he hasn't snared the guy named Osama
he was supposed to bring back "dead or alive."

"George W. Bush: Faith in the White House" must be seen
because it shows how someone like General Boykin can stay
in his job even in failure and why Mr. Bush feels divinely
entitled to keep his job even as we stand on the cusp of an
abyss in Iraq. In this pious but not humble worldview,
faith, or at least a certain brand of it, counts more than
competence, and a biblical mission, or at least a
simplistic, blunderbuss facsimile of one, counts more than
the secular goal of waging an effective, focused battle
against an enemy as elusive and cunning as terrorists. That
no one in this documentary, including its hero,
acknowledges any constitutional boundaries between church
and state is hardly a surprise. To them, America is a
"Christian nation," period, with no need even for the
fig-leaf prefix of "Judeo-."

Far more startling is the inability of a president or his
acolytes to acknowledge any boundary that might separate
Mr. Bush's flawed actions battling "against the forces of
evil" from the righteous dictates of God. What that level
of hubris might bring in a second term is left to the
imagination, and "Faith in the White House" gives the
imagination room to run riot about what a 21st-century
crusade might look like in the flesh. A documentary
conceived as a rebuke to "Fahrenheit 9/11" is nothing if
not its unintentional and considerably more nightmarish sequel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/arts/03rich.html?ex=1097533598&ei=1&en=ea164b8edeec4183 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushpraying.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1128.htm|The Passion of the Bush|The president praying in a scene from "Faith in the White House" first shown at Republican Convention in September 2004.|As the modern-day American-Israeli led Christian-Jewish crusade to remake the Middle East in the name of 'democracy and freedom' proceeds, this new documentary is telling indeed. It was first shown at the Republican Convention in New York a few weeks ago; and now, as a kind of Bush-loving counter to Fahrenhite 9/11, the DVD is being rushed out in advance of the upcoming election. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon3.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1134.htm|Israeli AIPAC Spy Scandal - Update|President Bush and Ariel Sharon at the White House - 14 April 2004|It was just a month ago that the latest Washington spy scandal involving the very heart of the Israeli-Jewish Lobby had everyone buzzing. Then it faded from view as the corporate media moved on, as CBS News which originally broke the story found itself under assault, and as the election campaign and debates took center stage. Interesting, not one question from the PBS moderators about Israeli spying, nor even about the U.S. veto of the Security Council resolution condemning Israel, nor the International Court of Justice decision doing the same. Here's an update -- however inadequate -- from yesterday's L.A.Times. Though the real heart of the story should be AIPAC and the influence, tactics, and status of the Israeli-Jewish lobby; instead they focus on just the individual and not as they should on the large group of support persons and organizations. This should especially include, of course, the current cabal of largely Jewish neocons in top positions...including the one who hired Larry Franklin (Douglas Feith), and the ones who hired him (Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle). http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iranmissile3.jpg||Israel Prepares to Attack Iran - Gordon Thomas|BIG FLOAT: Iran's Shahab-3 missile is shown at a Tehran military parade in 2000. Iran tested an upgraded Shahab-3 Aug. 11, two weeks after Israel tested its Arrow II antimissile.|ISRAEL TO DEAL WITH IRAN’S NUCLEAR THREAT

by Gordon Thomas

Israel is prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. It regards the Islamic regime as its greatest threat.

Last weekend Iran’s defence minister, Ali Shamkhani, announced his country had test fired a North Korean-designed missile capable of carrying a one tonne warhead 900 miles – putting Israel well within range.

And Mossad discovered that Shamkhani is in secret discussions with Syria to move eleven Iraqi nuclear scientists from Damascus to Tehran. They arrived in Syria shortly before the collapse of the Saddam regime.

“Syria’s president, Bashir Asad, has made one stipulation for the transfer – that Iran shares its nuclear research with Syria”, said a senior Mossad officer.

The Iraqis brought with them CDs of research on Saddam’s nuclear programme. The scientists were given new identities and hidden away in a Syrian military base north of Damascus.

Both the CIA and MI6 have already expressed concern that the Iraqis may have been helping Syria produce weapons of mass destruction.

“Asad is anxious to get the Iraqi scientists out of his country before Israel uses them as an excuse to launch an attack”, said an MI6 officer in London.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already sent Israel’s three Dolphin-class nuclear submarines to the Gulf of Oman – within striking distance of Iran.

German built, each has recently been fitted with the latest US Navy “over the horizon” software. Called Promis, it allows the submarines to destroy with pinpoint accuracy targets in Iran up to 900 miles away.

These include nuclear plants at Natanz and Arak, sited in the remote fastness of Central Iran. A third plant is at Arkadan, near the historic city of Isfahan.

The plant at Natanz is the largest. Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have confirmed the accuracy of a report from Mossad undercover agents in Aran that the Natanz complex has an underground system of bunkers where nearly 1,000 scientists and technicians work.

A still confidential IAEA report states: “there are already 1,000 gas centrifuges and components for the manufacture of a further 50,000 centrifuges in the Natanz complex”.

Centrifuges are essential to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

Thirty feet below ground, the complex has 8-feet thick concrete walls.

Under its military aid treaty with Israel, the Pentagon is sending Tel Aviv 500 “bunker buster” warheads in November. The delivery date is set for the day after the US election.

“With President Bush expected to win, we regard this as positive support for any action against Iran which poses a threat to Israel and American interests in the region”, said a senior Mossad officer.

The bunker busters have BLU-109 warheads capable of penetrating the Natanz underground facilities.

An assault against Iranian targets will also involve Israel’s Airforce three squadrons of F-15 fighter-bombers.

To reach the gulf of Oman, the Dolphin submarines will have completed an 8,000-mile journey from their pens in Haifa. Each submarine carries 20 Cruise missiles. They also have 200kg warheads, each containing 5kg plutonium.

Israel last launched a pre-emptive strike against a nuclear facility when it destroyed Saddam’s Hussein’s nuclear reactor in 1981. That attack was praised by Washington and London as “a model of pre-emptive action”.

Last week, MI6 chief John Scarlett warned Prime Minister Tony Blair that a similar attack by Israel could be only weeks away.

Mossad hardline chief, Meir Dagan, has told Prime Minister Sharon that Iran is now “further advanced” in developing its nuclear weapons than recent checks by IAEA inspectors have believed.

Mossad has learned that Iran’s nuclear processing plants also possess what is called “inevitable waste product”.

This can provide groups like al Qaeda with the basis to make a dirty bomb.

A senior intelligence officer in Tel Aviv revealed that President Bush “is now firmly convinced that Iran poses a greater threat to Israel than Iraq did”. And a senior Pentagon official has further confirmed that a number of Department of Defence planners have recently travelled to Tel Aviv to discuss plans to attack Iran.

Meanwhile the Iran regime continues to threaten its own pre-emptive strike against Israel.

A military parade through Tehran has displayed a range of military missiles. On a Shabab-2 missile – capable of hitting Tel Aviv or Jerusalem – a banner proclaimed: “Israel must be wiped off the map.” Another missile carried a banner warning: “We will crush Israel under our might”. A third missile boasted: “With this weapon we can hit the American fleet in the Mediterranean and the Gulf”.

But any pre-emptive attack by Israel is unlikely to come until the IAEA deadline for Tehran to stop all work on Uranium enrichment. This expires a few days after the US November election. So far Tehran has refused to agree to meat the deadline.

Its nuclear facilities are continuing to convert 37 tonnes of yellow-cake – milled uranium oxide – into uranium hexafloride, the basis for uranium enrichment.

The Tehran regime insists the process is to provide fuel for its electricity generating reactors and bring power to small villages throughout the country.

Israel has also developed an ultra sophisticated range of electronic weapons. These are capable of:

Totally disabling communications between Iran’s regional military commanders.

Closing down the countries banking system.

Wrecking its internal transport system.

“The systems are so specific they would not disrupt hospitals. They are designed only to take out military targets. Infowar has a great advantage. It can freeze all the hardware with out the loss of life that comes with conventional war”, confirmed a Tel Aviv intelligence officer.

5 October 2004 - globe-intel.net

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jibjab1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1140.htm|Debates - Fixed and Controlled|Bush and Kerry Complete to take Power in Washington - Compliments of Jibjab.com|The moderators -- both from the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) -- could have, and should have, asked hard, probing, unexpected questions like this:

"Mr. President and Senator Kerry:
Recently the International Court of Justice nearly unanimously ruled about the illegality of Israeli policies
in occupying the Palestinians. And recently still another Israeli spy scandal erupted in Washington. Isn't it time to reevaluate the massive financial and military support the U.S. alone provides yearly to Israel"?

"Mr. Vice-President and Senator Edwards:
Today the U.N. Security Council passed, but the U.S.
vetoed, another resolution about Israel. Only the U.S. voted Against. How can there be a real peace between Israel and the Arabs if nearly the whole world sees tings one way and only the U.S. and Israel always seem to see things and do things otherwise?"
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iranmissile2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1141.htm|IRAN - Next Target|Iran's Shahab missile at a military parade in Tehran. |You would think after the Iraq debacle that the ability of the U.S. to blackball, sanction, and then attack, occupy and regime-change another country would be considerable reduced. Not so however as this article in Z Magazine helps explain with regard to Iran. Indeed, soon after the American election the situation will quickly escalate. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1143.htm|Secret Iraqi debt 'forgiveness' forced on IMF by U.S.|Bush and Kerry Complete to take Power in Washington - Compliments of Jibjab.com|While the U.S. has been noticeably unsuccessful getting other countries to send troops to Iraq -- even after considerable political threats and financial bribes have been used -- when it comes to 'forgiving' Iraq's huge international debt to other countries the U.S. is making much more progress. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawiprotected.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1143.htm|Secret Iraqi debt 'forgiveness' forced on IMF by U.S.|Iyad Allwai, with his long-time connections to the American CIA, was installed by the U.S. to take power in Baghdad in the summer of 2004.|While the U.S. has been noticeably unsuccessful getting other countries to send troops to Iraq -- even after considerable political threats and financial bribes have been used -- when it comes to 'forgiving' Iraq's huge international debt to other countries the U.S. is making much more progress. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushnude.jpg|http://www.wftv.com/news/3799845/detail.html|Nude Bush Pulled From Washington Museum|WASHINGTON -- Washington artist Kayti Didriksen's painting "Man of Leisure, King George" depicts President Bush in the well-known style of Manet's "Olympia", as he is presented with his crown by a depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney. The cartoonish painting has been taken down from the wall at the City Museum of Washington, awaiting a more welcoming venue. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushbuldge.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18734-2004Oct8.html?sub=AR|Presidential Buldge Has People Wondering| A slightly raised square patch appeared on President Bush's back in the first debate.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=495&ncid=762&e=3&u=/ap/20041011/ap_en_mu/music_video_prince|Prince Rocks Terrorism|Washington artist Kayti Didriksen's painting "Man of Leisure, King George" depicts President Bush in the well-known style of Manet's "Olympia", as he is presented with his crown by a depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney. But the Washington Museum closed down the display shortly after it opened.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/allawiprotected.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4563975,00.html|US Iraqis Try to Blame U.N.|US Iraqis Already Blaming UN| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushnude.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer19oct19,1,6762967.column?coll=la-util-op-ed|White House Keeps Secret CIA Report to Congress|WASHINGTON -- Washington artist Kayti Didriksen's painting "Man of Leisure, King George" depicts President Bush in the well-known style of Manet's "Olympia", as he is presented with his crown by a depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney. The cartoonish painting has been taken down from the wall at the City Museum of Washington, awaiting a more welcoming venue. |It's one more example of the gross deception and manipulation of which the Bush/Cheney/neocon adminstration is more guilty than any before. Also explains of course why the White House rushed to put their man, Peter Goss, over at CIA Headquarters in Langley. But then of course the Democratics have only themselves to blame. They could have held up on Goss; or at the very least they could have required him to promise the report the Congress had itself demanded be produced would finally be released to them as soon as he was confirmed. Everyone in Washington failed the public and the truth...once again. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/|http://www.sensibleforeignpolicy.net/letter.html|'Security Scholars' Vote for Kerry|Washington artist Kayti Didriksen's painting "Man of Leisure, King George" depicts President Bush in the well-known style of Manet's "Olympia", as he is presented with his crown by a depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney. But the Washington Museum closed down the display shortly after it opened.|It's an old Washington game now being played out by various groups of foreign policy positions seeks, analysts, consultants, political operatives, and former spooks. And now the stakes are much higher than usual; though there are still those in Washington who remember the very dangerous 'Cold War' days, the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 1967 and 1973 wars... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/palestinianwomensons.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1147.htm|The Next Generation of Palestinians|Palestinian women with pictures of their killed or arrested sons |If what has happened in Gaza in recent years would have happened in the USA (adjusted for population size) more than
100,000 Americans would have been killed and more than a quarter million homes destroyed by a foreign occupying army
using battle tanks and attack helicopters against small resistance
groups in cities and towns. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/kerryflags.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/glennreynolds/story/0,15140,1332330,00.html|Fears of Kerry from those who hate Bush|John Kerry campaigning in Florida in October 2004.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/irannextcover.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1154.htm|IRAN ATTACK Imminent?|Is Iran Next? Cover of In These Times, 28 Sept 2004|Though few in the world may fully realize it, international society is now at a historic moment and the future, even a potential World War III, is in the balance. Hence the leaks coming from Washington from those trying to warn, and to prevent, what the top neocons and Israeli operatives are pushing hard to bring about. Hence last month's extremely unusual 'Israeli Spy Scandal' which had officials in the FBI charging people working on the Iranian attack in coordination with the Israeli-Jewish lobby with espionage for Israel. Hence, as this article by a former National Security Council operative suggests: "Intelligence circles report that both intelligence agencies (CIA and Pentagon) are in open revolt against the Bush White House." It appears to have been quickly written and then quickly internet published using LebanonWire in the Middle East. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/statuelibertywalking.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1156.htm|Bush Uncensored; Cheney Unauthorized|The French-gift Statue of Liberty is often caricatured at home and abroad in modern times|MAKE SURE TO WATCH THESE TWO VIDEOS
ABOUT GEORGE BUSH and DICK CHENEY http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1159.htm|Fahrenheit 9/11 - Watch It On Your Computer This Weekend|World Trade Centre|Who would have imagined on 9/11 more than three years ago now that the top front-page story in the Washington Post Saturday before the 2004 election would be a picture of Osama Bin Laden addressing the American people! Reality keeps trumping fiction time after time in our era! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/target-iran.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/10/1161.htm|Iran Next - Part 1|The U.S. and Israel have been publicly warning and secretly preparing to attack Iran|In a few days the American election itself will be history. The likelihood is the Bush/Cheney/neocon regime will remain in power; hard as that still is for so many to imagine and understand. Should the Democrats win the White House Middle East policies will be largely in the hands of the neoliberals and the super money-men like Haim Saban who when it comes to the Middle East and Israel have far more in common with the neocons than has yet been realized by many who will vote for them. Whatever happens on Tuesday next the build-up to attacking and if at all possible regime changing Iran is well underway and the showdown increasingly imminent.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iran-next.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1162.htm|Iran Next - Part 2|The U.S. and Israel have been publicly warning and secretly prepa|Tomorrow the American election itself will become history. The likelihood is the Bush/Cheney/neocon regime will remain in power; hard as that still is for so many to imagine and understand. But should the Democrats win the White House Middle East policies will be largely in the hands of the neoliberals and the super money-men like Israeli-Sharon-connected Haim Saban who have far more in common with the neocons than has yet been realized by many who will vote for them. Whatever happens tomorrow the build-up to attacking and if at all possible 'regime changing' Iran is well underway and the showdown increasingly imminent. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/binladenspeech.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1163.htm|Osama Bin Laden's 'October Surprise'|Osama Bin Laden addressed the American people just days before the American election.|Osama Bin Laden: "I am amazed at you. Even though we are in the fourth year
after the events of September 11th, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real causes. And thus, the reasons are still there for a repeat of what occurred.
So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall
tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/us-election-juggler.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1166.htm|Democratic Disaster|Others see the U.S. far differently than do the Americans themselves.|Even as Americans voted and the world watched considerably now in shock, one of the world's most famous scientists, Stephen Hawking, was declaring the U.S. invasion of Iraq a 'war crime' at a protest in London. Now the aftermath of that history-making invasion, of the new Crusade led by the United States and based on major historic deceptions and manipulations, will return to center stage. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushcheneyelection.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1167.htm|America, Arafat, and the 'New World Order'|George W. Bush is re-elected President of the United States|The crusading Christian armies of the modern-day Western World, in close coordination with the Jewish armies of modern-day Israel, are on the march everywhere. Indeed the West and Israel now not only totally dominate the once Holy Land, but one way or another they now control or have rendered into submission most Arab countries and most Muslim holy sites from Jerusalem to Iraq to Saudi Arabia. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/witharafat.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1172.htm|MER Experts available on Arafat's Legacy and the 'Peace Process'|MER Publisher Mark Bruzonsky and Palestinian journalist Muna Hamzeh at dinner with Yasser Arafat in 1985 at Kubba Palace near Cairo.|Please feel free to pass this information on to persons in the media. Bruzonsky, Hamzeh, and others associated with MER including Palestinians living in occupied Palestine will be available throughout the weekend for radio and TV interviews. The link to this email is: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1172.htm

MER can now be reached at all times, 24-hours daily, at MER@MiddleEast.Org and (202) 362-5266.

Persons in the media can reach MER at all times on a special media number -- 202 Number1 (202 686-2371) and Press@MiddleEast.Org http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/witharafat.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1174.htm|MER Experts on Arafat's Death (assassination?), Burial, and Legacy|MER Publisher Mark Bruzonsky and Palestinian journalist Muna Hamzeh at a private dinner with Yasser Arafat at Kubba Palace near Cairo in 1985.|Please pass this information on to persons in the media. Bruzonsky, Hamzeh, and others associated with MER including Palestinians living in occupied Palestine will be available throughout the weekend for radio and TV interviews. The link to this email is: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1174.htm

MER can now be reached at all times, 24-hours daily, at MER@MiddleEast.Org and (202) 362-5266.

Persons in the media can reach MER at all times on a special media number -- 202 Number1 (202 686-2371) and Press@MiddleEast.Org
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arafatgaza2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1183.htm|ARAFAT Update|Palestinian artists work on a large banner in support of leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2004. |Yasser Arafat has been all but legally dead for many days now. He has been kept 'between life and death' in a very 'complex situation' for financial and political reasons rather than for medical reasons... By a preponderance of the circumstances and the evidence Yasser Arafat has effectively been stealth assassinated by the Israelis as MER first reported and explained last Saturday. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/witharafat.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1186.htm|ARAFAT - Assassination Covered Up as Death Finally Announced|Mark Bruzonsky at dinner with Yasser Arafat in 1985 at Kubba Palace near Cairo.|**MER was first, was right, was most insightful**

Days before it was finally officially announced early this morning in the Middle East MER reported that Yasser Arafat was all but legally dead. Even as leading media organizations were parroting contrary and purposefully deceptive information MER not only reported the real news but the important realities. In this case that Yasser Arafat had been 'Stealth Assassinated' by the Israelis with help from as yet undisclosed Palestinians and an American OK. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/witharafat.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1186.htm|ARAFAT - Assassination Covered Up as Death Finally Announced|American journalist Mark Bruzonsky and Palestinian journalist Muna Hamzeh at dinner with Yasser Arafat in 1985 at Kubba Palace near Cairo. Both journalists are available for media interviews and commentary and can be reached at 202 NUMBER1 (202 686-2371) and Press@MiddleEast.Org.|**MER was first, was right, was most insightful**

Days before it was finally officially announced early this morning in the Middle East MER reported that Yasser Arafat was all but legally dead. Even as leading media organizations were parroting contrary and purposefully deceptive information MER not only reported the real news but the important realities. In this case that Yasser Arafat had been 'Stealth Assassinated' by the Israelis with help from as yet undisclosed Palestinians and an American OK. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arafatshotbysharon.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1187.htm|Sharon Kills Arafat? Assassination Coverup Succeeds?|A cartoon can be worth a thousand words as well...|The message is rather clear: "You Arab and Palestinian 'leaders' have much more to fear from us (Israel and the U.S.) if you don't play ball than you do from your own people. On top of all the other leaders we have killed off or imprisoned one way or another, we can even pull off a 'Stealth Assassination' of Nobel Peace Prize winner, former most frequent foreign guest to the White House, and international famed Yasser Arafat because he refused to do as we told him he must. So beware: COMPLY, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arafatpictures2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1191.htm|Arafat Assassination Coverup as quick and limited funeral and burial proceed|Yasser Arafat - State Funeral in Cairo, Burial in Ramallah - 12 November 2004|They are racing now to get the funeral over with very quickly and with no real opportunity for the public outpouring of grief and anger that would result if everything were not so closed and controlled by the military. And they are racing as well to get him quickly buried in a rock tomb. His 'wife' has received a huge payoff, $22 million yearly, for her silence. The top 'new leadership' of the Palestinians that has approved these arrangements are all known to be persons closely connected with the Israelis and supported by the U.S. -- Nabil Sha'ath, Abu Mazen, and Abu Ala -- and all known themselves to be politically and financially corrupt. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arafatshotbysharon.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1196.htm|Arafat - Assassination and Cover Up - Compendium of Exclusive MER Articles|A cartoon can be worth a thousand words as well...|Five critical days before it was officially announced that Yasser Arafat was actually dead -- even as leading media organizations were repeatedly parroting officials to the contrary -- MER not only reported the real news that Arafat was all but legally dead but the important news that he had been 'Stealth Assassinated' by blood poisoning by the Israelis. Below are links to MER articles published from 4 to 12 November about the assassination of Yasser Arafat and the cover up that followed. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushandbananas.jpg|http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia1114,0,707331.story?coll=ny-top-headlines|Historic Purge of CIA Underway|Cartoon in The Guardian, 10 June 2004, as the G-8 Sea Island Georgia Summit came to a close with a U.S.-inspired Statement about the Middle East|The new purged CIA will be one safe for the neocons, for the Evangelicals, and for new versions of the 'Patriot Act'. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon3.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1199.htm|The Great Sharon and Bush Deception|President Bush and Ariel Sharon at the White House - 14 April 2004|"Deception and lies have been a corner stone in Israeli policy, brought to a
new level of perfection since Oslo. While the world believed that Rabin
promised to eventually end the occupation and dismantle the settlements, the number of Israeli settlers actually doubled during his rule. At the same time that Barak declared he intends to dismantle the Golan Heights settlements, in 1999, he actually poured money into their expansion. As Sharon promised to dismantle at least the illegal settlement posts in the West Bank, their number kept increasing. Still, none of this is ever remembered. Each new lie is received with welcome cheers by the Israeli peace camp, and by European governments. Since Oslo, every Israeli
government knows that all it takes, to ease diplomatic pressure, is to
come up with a new 'peace plan'."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/onceuponatimeinrafah.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1201.htm|US and Israeli Deceptions...over and over again|Throughout the world the U.S. and Israel are much reviled for what they have done over decades of warfare and deceit.|Even as Yasser Arafat was being buried last Friday the American President and the British Prime Minister purposefully tried to immediately dim his memory and twist the headlines by holding an unusual joint press conference at the White House. What Bush and Blair spewed forth grabbing TV time that evening from Arafat's Cairo funeral and Ramallah burial twisted and distorted history further beyond recognition. This extraordinary and urgently needed corrective was published by Robert Fisk earlier this week in The Independent. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1205.htm|ISRAELI Influence-Peddling on top of all the spying and lobbying|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.|Now he, Haim Saban, didn't quite literally buy it, The Brookings Institution, all. He just kicked in some super-big bucks and got himself a new Institute dealing with the Middle East in Washington with both his own name and that of Brookings on the door... Now read the details about Haim Saban keeping all this crucial perspective and context in mind which the nation's 'newspaper of record' largely ommitted.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/chile-11-21-04.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63839-2004Nov19.html|Many Protestors Greet Bush in Chile|Demonstrators angry over U.S. policy in Iraq protest in Santiago, Chile, as world leaders attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/chile-11-21-04.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1207.htm|Fearing Bush Assassination - The Extraordinary Weekend in Chile|Demonstrators angry over U.S. policy in Iraq protest in Santiago, Chile, as world leaders attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. |Over the weekend during Bush's short visit to Chile there was an extraordinary double display of this concern. First Bush himself got man-handled in a crowd of security people literally having to pull his senior protective body man after him through a small blocking crowd of Chilean security. Later the elaborate State Dinner the Chilean President was putting on was abruptly canceled when the American's demanded that every one of the two hundred carefully selected guests go through metal detectors and possible body frisks. The Chileans said not very dignified, no need; the Americans said too bad, no dinner. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NYPost8-07-02.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1214.htm|Washington's Military-Industrial-Government Complex|US War Plans|They could have sub-titled this excellent 48 minute Dutch documentary "Cesspool Washington" for it exposes a significant aspect of how the American capital has incestuously and unethically entertwined big business, big money, and government. Exposed in this documentary is a major part of the U.S. war-making and war-profiteering scene of which few Americans are aware. These realities goe a long way to explain how and why U.S. war policies are what they are. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalestinianChildrenGaza.jpg|http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5366150|Turk lawmaker says US in Iraq worse than Hitler|Palestinian Children in Gaza Protesting Israeli Ghettoization|Turk lawmaker says US in Iraq worse than Hitler

By Gareth Jones

ANKARA (Reuters - 11-27-04) - The head of Turkey's parliamentary human rights group has accused Washington of genocide in Iraq and behaving worse than Adolf Hitler, in remarks underscoring the depth of opposition in Turkey to U.S. policy in the region.

The United Sates embassy said the comments were potentially damaging to Turkish-U.S. relations.

"The occupation has turned into barbarism," Friday's Yeni Safak newspaper quoted Mehmet Elkatmis, head of parliament's human rights commission, as saying. "The U.S. administration is committing genocide...in Iraq.

"Never in human history have such genocide and cruelty been witnessed. Such a genocide was never seen in the time of the pharoahs (of ancient Egypt), nor of Hitler nor of (Italy's fascist leader Benito) Mussolini," he said.

"This occupation has entirely imperialist aims," he was quoted as telling the human rights commission on Thursday.

Elkatmis does not speak for Turkey's government but he is a prominent member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a centre-right grouping with Islamist roots which has become increasingly critical of U.S. actions in Iraq.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul played down Elkatmis's comments but defended Turks' right to speak freely.

"In open societies everybody can say what they want," Gul told reporters.

"Regarding U.S.-Turkey relations we can comfortably discuss any subject," he added.

The U.S. embassy in Ankara rejected Elkatmis's accusations.

"EXAGGERATED CLAIMS"

"Such unfounded, inaccurate, exaggerated claims are not good for relations, especially at a time of strain when Turkish public opinion is so critical of what the United States is trying to do in Iraq," one U.S. diplomat told Reuters.

Tellingly, Elkatmis's comments, which might have sparked outrage in many Western countries, drew barely a flicker of interest in Turkey, where opinion polls point to a growing tide of anti-American sentiment.

Turkey has been especially disturbed by the recent U.S. offensive against insurgents in the city of Falluja in which civilians also died and mosques were damaged.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan relayed Turkish concerns over the Falluja offensive in two recent telephone calls to U.S. President George W. Bush and to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Elkatmis accused U.S. forces of deliberately targeting mosques and schools in Falluja.

Washington says the Falluja campaign was necessary to bring the Sunni Muslim city back under the control of the central Baghdad government ahead of planned Iraqi elections in January.

The U.S. diplomat said Elkatmis had overlooked the fact that Iraqi insurgents like those in Falluja had abducted and beheaded a number of Turkish truck drivers in recent months.

Underlying Turkish criticism of U.S. policy in Iraq is the fear that Kurds in the north of the country may use the general turmoil as an excuse to seek independence from Baghdad, a move which could reignite separatism among Turkey's own Kurds.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/fallujah_guernica.jpg|http://www.aztlan.net/fallujah_guernica.htm|America's Guernica|Picasso made Guernica in Spain live on in haunting memory. Now the imagery is reborn in the devastation of Fallujah in Iraq|Picasso's haunting famous painting gave Guernica a lasting meaning for humanity. By invoking that memory this author has raised a startling moral historical context whose implications are immense. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/condirice.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/11/1217.htm|Condi Rice - Weakest and Worst Sec State in Washington Memory|Condeleeza Rice Heads the National Security Council|Those not totally cowered by the powers that be, and certainly those wanting to better understand just what is really happening in Washington these days, should carefully read this transcript from the NOW program focusing specifically on Ms. Rice's actual record and all but declaring her both incompetent and incredible (tongue in cheek). It's a devastating record Condi Rice actually has as National Security Adviser in the Bush first term. But as Moyers concludes, "Her credibility and competence aside, Condoleezza Rice has never wavered in her loyalty to George W. Bush, and this week he rewarded that loyalty by naming her Secretary of State, the highest post in his cabinet."

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/fourisraelissubpoenaed1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/12/1222.htm|FBI and Israeli-Jewish Lobby Gingerly Confront Each Other|When four American Jews working for the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) lobby on Capitol Hill were subpoenaed by the FBI on 2 December 2004, some news organizations mistakenly said the American Jews were 'Israelis'.|You'd think that when the Capitol Hill offices of the most important foreign policy/Middle East 'lobby' are invaded by the FBI, computers and files seized and subpoenas served against top officials, this would be important news in Washington. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/stopbushmirror.jpg|http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1205-09.htm|Myopia and Fear of Power on Capitol Hill|'There is a lunatic with weapons of mass destruction 'ramping up' for a war that will imperil the whole world. Stop Bush! '| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NoGuerra.jpg|http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB25Ak01.html|America's Half Trillon Dollar Crusade|Demonstrators Dressed as Suicide Bombers at Anti-War Demo in Madrid - 9/28/2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf34.jpg|http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/184mgmxz.asp|PNAC Neocons Want Bigger US Military for More War| A U.S. special operations sniper locks on a target near the cemetery in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004. |Open Letter

A bipartisan group urges the congressional leadership to substantively increase the size of the Army and the Marines.
01/28/2005 12:00:00 AM

Dear Senator Frist, Senator Reid, Speaker Hastert, and Representative Pelosi:

The United States military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume. Those responsibilities are real and important. They are not going away. The United States will not and should not become less engaged in the world in the years to come. But our national security, global peace and stability, and the defense and promotion of freedom in the post-9/11 world require a larger military force than we have today. The administration has unfortunately resisted increasing our ground forces to the size needed to meet today's (and tomorrow's) missions and challenges.

So we write to ask you and your colleagues in the legislative branch to take the steps necessary to increase substantially the size of the active duty Army and Marine Corps. While estimates vary about just how large an increase is required, and Congress will make its own determination as to size and structure, it is our judgment that we should aim for an increase in the active duty Army and Marine Corps, together, of at least 25,000 troops each year over the next several years. There is abundant evidence that the demands of the ongoing missions in the greater Middle East, along with our continuing defense and alliance commitments elsewhere in the world, are close to exhausting current U.S. ground forces. For example, just late last month, Lieutenant General James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, reported that "overuse" in Iraq and Afghanistan could be leading to a "broken force." Yet after almost two years in Iraq and almost three years in Afghanistan, it should be evident that our engagement in the greater Middle East is truly, in Condoleezza Rice's term, a "generational commitment." The only way to fulfill the military aspect of this commitment is by increasing the size of the force available to our civilian leadership.

The administration has been reluctant to adapt to this new reality. We understand the dangers of continued federal deficits, and the fiscal difficulty of increasing the number of troops. But the defense of the United States is the first priority of the government. This nation can afford a robust defense posture along with a strong fiscal posture. And we can afford both the necessary number of ground troops and what is needed for transformation of the military.

In sum: We can afford the military we need. As a nation, we are spending a smaller percentage of our GDP on the military than at any time during the Cold War. We do not propose returning to a Cold War-size or shape force structure. We do insist that we act responsibly to create the military we need to fight the war on terror and fulfill our other responsibilities around the world.

The men and women of our military have performed magnificently over the last few years. We are more proud of them than we can say. But many of them would be the first to say that the armed forces are too small. And we would say that surely we should be doing more to honor the contract between America and those who serve her in war. Reserves were meant to be reserves, not regulars. Our regulars and reserves are not only proving themselves as warriors, but as humanitarians and builders of emerging democracies. Our armed forces, active and reserve, are once again proving their value to the nation. We can honor their sacrifices by giving them the manpower and the materiel they need.

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution places the power and the duty to raise and support the military forces of the United States in the hands of the Congress. That is why we, the undersigned, a bipartisan group with diverse policy views, have come together to call upon you to act. You will be serving your country well if you insist on providing the military manpower we need to meet America's obligations, and to help ensure success in carrying out our foreign policy objectives in a dangerous, but also hopeful, world.

Respectfully,


Peter Beinart - Jeffrey Bergner - Daniel Blumenthal - Max Boot - Eliot Cohen

Ivo H. Daalder - Thomas Donnelly - Michele Flournoy - Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

Reuel Marc Gerecht - Lt. Gen. Buster C. Glosson (USAF, retired) - Bruce P. Jackson

Frederick Kagan - Robert Kagan - Craig Kennedy - Paul Kennedy

Col. Robert Killebrew (USA, retired) - William Kristol - Will Marshall

Clifford May - Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (USA, retired) - Daniel McKivergan

Joshua Muravchik - Steven J. Nider - Michael O'Hanlon

Mackubin Thomas Owens - Ralph Peters - Danielle Pletka - Stephen P. Rosen

Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales (USA, retired) - Randy Scheunemann - Gary Schmitt

Walter Slocombe - James B. Steinberg http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NoGuerra.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21849-2005Mar9.html|Latin American AlJazeera On The Way?|Demonstrators Dressed as Suicide Bombers at Anti-War Demo in Madrid - 9/28/2002|There is a backlash growing against the Americans in many places and many ways. Soon, if these media plans go forward, the Americans will not so easily be able to manipulate the news and the message in the Spanish and Portugese speaking countries of Latin and South America. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/beirut1.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21599-2005Mar9.html|Egyptian Diplomat Rebuts Bush's Views on Mideast|Massive Demonstrations sponsored by Hezbollah in Beirut on 8 March 2005|How unusual this increasingly public back-bitting. Egypt after all is the country that has received more than $50 billion from the Americans since the Camp David 1 agreement the U.S. coerced Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to sign. And if this is going on in public; imagine what must be going on behind the scenes. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gallowaycoleman.jpg|http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/18/oil.food/index.html|Galloway Victorious Over Senate|British MP George Galloway Made A Full-Scale One-Man Assault on U.S. Policies and the U.S. Congress on 17 May 2005|Rarely has there been such a spectacle on Capitol Hill. Indeed, not since the waning days of Senator Joseph McCarthy, then the head of the same Senate Committee now chaired by Senator Norm Coleman of neighboring State Minnesota, has the chairman of this committee been so rebuffed and charged. And without pushing the comprison with old Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin any further, and rightly so. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GallowayColeman.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1616578,00.html|Galloway Vs U.S. - Full Transcript|British M.P. George Galloway Blasted the U.S. Congress in a most unusual upstaging not often scene in Washington.|It's not often that a single individual can stand up to the former investigative commission once headed by Joe McCarthy and to the policies and fabrications of the world's only superpower in just a few hours of blistering rhetoric. This one is a classic. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/3.jpg|http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050617/D8AP15I81.html|Impeach Bush for Lying to Congress?|U.S. President George W. Bush appeared to give a Hitler-like salute when he spoke at the 2005 President's Dinner, a Republican Party fundraiser, in Washington D.C. on June 14, 2005. |The evidence is really quite overwhelming actually. But...ahummm...it seems there isn't anything quite as incriminating as a little blue semen-stained dress kept secretly in a Watergate apartment closet... Get the drift? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-102755-6408r.htm|UPI - Fomer Senior Bush Admin Official Says WTC Collapse on 9/11 by 'Controlled Demolition'|World Trade Centre|What is the world is going on here. Talk of this kind has been circulating for some time; but never from such a credible former Bush Administration source, and never on the UPI wire. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ricetoutsdemo.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2005/6/1280.htm |Controlling the Middle East in the 21st Century - The Rhetorical Veneer|The Neocon Sec of State, the Evangelical Pres, and the Jewish Zionists, have teamed up for a crusade to dominate and control the Middle East in the 21st Century.| "...the Secretary of State attempted to articulate a simplistic sound-bite veneer to the crusading neocon/Evangelical/Zionist vision of the new Middle East the U.S -- in close coordination with Israel, the U.K., and some of the Arab 'client-regimes' -- is using the Pentagon and the CIA to force into being against considerable resistance and at tremendous cost." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iransurrounded.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2005/6/1281.htm|CIA, PENTAGON ALREADY HAVE BEGUN IRAN WAR|The U.S., and Israel, now have Iran militarily surrounded.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonwhitehouse.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2005/6/1282.htm |Fingers Pointing At Israeli Complicity| Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leaves the West Wing of the White House in Washington, October 16, 2002.|As for the crucial charge that Israel was at least partly behind it all coming from such a ranking former CIA official who use to brief non other than George Bush the Senior at the White House -- well...that is buried in the story and not presented in a very serious way as it surely deserves to be. And indeed, just the next day none other than the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, rushed forth to blanketly condemn all those who dare point the finger at Israel, no matter how informed, no matter what the facts, as "Anti-Semitic"...and that is supposed to be that. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/3.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2005/6/1287.htm |Time to get much more Frightened - The German Nazi Hitler Comparison from the Republican Insiders|U.S. President George W. Bush appeared to give a Hitler-like salute when he spoke at the 2005 President's Dinner, a Republican Party fundraiser, in Washington D.C. on June 14, 2005. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/judithmillerchalabi.jpg|http://www.maximsnews.com/2005russbaker27june.htm|The Sins of Judith Neocon Miller and the NYTimes|Judith Miller, working with the Washington Neocons, and writing in the New York Times, considerably helped build up public opinion for the invasion of Iraq| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/stopbush.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2005/6/1287.htm |Time to get much more Frightened - The German Nazi Hitler Comparison from the Republican Insiders|STOP BUSH - London Demo 9/28/2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/americanjewscapitolhill.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2005/6/1289.htm |Washington Extremists, including many Jewish Neocons, preach 'TOTAL WAR'|The Israeli-Jewish Lobby is well-known as the most powerful and fear creating foreign policy lobby in the American Capital.|"On no issue is the JINSA/CSP hard line more evident than in its relentless campaign for war--not just with Iraq, but 'total war'.... For this crew, 'regime change' by any means necessary in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority is an urgent imperative. Anyone who dissents...is committing heresy against articles of faith that effectively hold there is no difference between US and Israeli national security interests, and that the only way to assure continued safety and prosperity for both countries is through hegemony in the Middle East."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/usforcesreadytomove.jpg|http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050911-094105-7732r|Wash Times Calls for WINNING IN IRAQ|US Forces Now Dominate the Middle East as never before in History| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rovewanted1.jpg|http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051018/18whwatch.htm|Rumors Sweep Washington of Cheney Resignation and Rice Elevation!|The Washington Underground's Approach To 'Bush's Brain' Karl Rove| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharontransplant.jpg|http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/10/28/vice_president/| All the Vice President's Men|The alliance between the U.S.and Israel,and between George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon, is remaking the world for good or bad.|One of the best short round-ups of what has been really happening, with a little daring to bring in the Israeli and Jewish Neocon role...


All the Vice President's Men
By Juan Cole
Salon.com

Friday 28 October 2005

The ideologues in Cheney's inner circle drummed up a war. Now their zealotry is blowing up in their faces.

As Washington waits on pins and needles to see if special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald hands down indictments, the focus falls on Dick Cheney's inner circle. This group, along with that surrounding Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made up what Colin Powell's top aide, Lawrence Wilkerson, called "a cabal" that "on critical issues ... made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made." Cheney is the first vice president to have had, in effect, his own personal National Security Council. This formidable and unprecedented rump foreign policy team, composed of radical hawks, played a key role in every aspect of the war on Iraq: planning for it, gathering "evidence" to justify it and punishing those who spoke out against it. It is not surprising that members of that team, and Cheney himself, have now also emerged as targets in Fitzgerald's investigation of the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson to the press, along with Bush advisor Karl Rove.

Although the investigation has focused on Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a number of other Cheney staffers have been interviewed. Who are these shadowy policymakers who played such a major role in shaping the Bush administration's foreign policy?

Most of the members of Cheney's inner circle were neoconservative ideologues, who combined hawkish American triumphalism with an obsession with Israel. This does not mean that the war was fought for Israel, although it is undeniable that Israeli concerns played an important role. The actual motivation behind the war was complex, and Cheney's team was not the only one in the game. The Bush administration is a coalition of disparate forces - country club Republicans, realists, representatives of oil and other corporate interests, evangelicals, hardball political strategists, right-wing Catholics, and neoconservative Jews allied with Israel's right-wing Likud party. Each group had its own rationale for going to war with Iraq.

Bush himself appears to have had an obsession with restoring family honor by avenging the slight to his father produced by Saddam's remaining in office after the Gulf War. Cheney was interested in the benefits of a war to the oil industry, and to the military-industrial complex in general. It seems likely that the Iraq war, which produced billions in no-bid contracts for the company he headed in the late 1990s, saved Halliburton from bankruptcy. The evangelicals wanted to missionize Iraqis. Karl Rove wanted to turn Bush into a war president to ensure his reelection. The neoconservatives viewed Saddam's Iraq as a short-term danger to Israel, and in the long term, they hoped that overthrowing the Iraqi Baath would transform the entire Middle East, rather as Kamal Ataturk, who abolished the offices of Ottoman emperor and Sunni caliph in the 1920s, had brought into being a relatively democratic Turkey that was allied with Israel. (This fantastic analogy was suggested by Princeton emeritus professor and leading neoconservative ideologue Bernard Lewis.) This transformation would be beneficial to the long-term security of both the United States and Israel.

None of these rationales would have been acceptable across the board, or persuasive with Congress or the American public, so the various factions focused on the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately for them, this rationale was discovered to be a mirage. And in the course of trying to punish those who were pointing out that the emperor had no clothes - or, in this case, that the dictator had no weapons of mass destruction - Cheney and Bush's underlings went too far. Ironically, their attempt to silence critics succeeded only in turning a harsh light on their own actions and motivations.

"Cheney Assembles Formidable Team," marveled a Page One article in the Feb. 3, 2001, edition of the New York Times. It turns out that Cheney had 15 military and political advisors on foreign affairs, at a time when the president's own National Security Council was being downsized. The number of aides who counseled Cheney on domestic issues was much smaller. In contrast, Al Gore had been advised by a single staffer on security affairs.

The leader of the team was Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. Libby had studied at Yale with Paul Wolfowitz, who brought him to Washington. He co-authored a hawkish policy document with Wolfowitz in the Department of Defense for its head, Dick Cheney, after the Gulf War in 1992. When it was leaked, it embarrassed the first President Bush. Libby was a founding member of the Project for a New American Century in 1997 during the Clinton years, when many neoconservatives were out of office. The PNAC attempted to use the Republican-dominated Congress to pressure Clinton to take a more belligerent stance toward Iraq, and it advocated significantly expanding military spending and using US troops as "gendarmes" in the aftermath of wars to "shape" the international security environment.

Cheney was also a PNAC member, and his association with this group from 1997 signaled a shift from his earlier hard-nosed realism, as he allied himself with the neoconservatives, who dreamed of transforming other societies. The James Baker branch of the Republican Party had long been critical of Israel for causing trouble for the United States in the Middle East with its expansionist policies and unwillingness to stop the settlement of the West Bank, and Baker was well aware that the vast majority of American Jews do not vote Republican.

Although a staunch defender of Israel, Cheney at one time was at least on speaking terms with this wing of the Republican Party. (The sense of betrayal felt by his old colleagues was summed up by Bush I's national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, who told the New Yorker he considered Cheney a friend, "But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." As time went on, however, he increasingly chose to ally with neoconservatives and the Jewish right in the US and Israel, accepting them as powerful allies and constituents for his vision of a post-Cold War world dominated by an unchallenged American hegemony that would be backed by a vast military-industrial establishment fed by US tax dollars. He continually promised skeptical Jewish audiences that a democratic Iraq would benefit Israel. His choice of advisors when he became vice president demonstrated a pronounced preference for the neoconservatives.

But Cheney's alliance with the neocons was probably driven more by his Manichaean, Cold War-inspired worldview - in which the US battled an evil enemy - and his corporate ties, than by an obsession with Israel or remaking the Middle East. Islamist terror provided a new version of the Soviet "evil empire." And the neocons' dynamic foreign policy vision, their "liberalism with guns," offered more opportunities for the military-industrial complex than did traditional Republican realism in a post-Soviet world, where peer states did not exist and no credible military threat menaced the US Only a series of wars of conquest in the Middle East, dressed up as a "defense" against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, could hope to keep the Pentagon and the companies to which it outsourced in the gravy.

Such wars could no longer be fought in East Asia, given Chinese and North Korean nuclear capabilities, and there were no US constituencies for such wars in most other parts of the world. The Middle East was the perfect arena for a renewed American militarism, given that the US public held deep prejudices against the Arab-Muslim world, and, after Sept. 11, deeply feared it.

A key, but less well-known, Cheney advisor on the Middle East is John Hannah, a former Soviet expert. He had been part of a policy group assembled by Cheney when he was secretary of defense, in 1989, under the direction of Paul Wolfowitz. Hannah was distinguished for his distrust of Soviet reformist Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, according to the New Republic.

Hannah then came to head the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a stridently pro-Israel think tank that has gained enormous influence in Washington. WINEP had been founded in the 1980s with the backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the legendarily powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. The initial impetus for it was that think tanks like the Brookings Institution were felt to be insufficiently pro-Israel. Initially WINEP tended to support the government in power in Israel, but in the past 15 years it has increasingly been drawn into the orbit of the right-wing, expansionist Likud Party.

WINEP wields enormous influence, to the point where it almost functions as a governmental entity. The director of a private consulting firm with a contract from the Department of Defense that involved trying to think about the future of the main political parties in Iraq told me in 2004 that he was specifically instructed, as part of his contract, to depend on the material at the WINEP Web site. State Department officials and US military officers are detailed to WINEP to learn about the Middle East and are indoctrinated into a pro-Likud point of view at taxpayers' expense. Despite its highly political activities, WINEP has the status for tax purposes of a nonprofit charitable foundation.

When Hannah was at WINEP, he was still deeply concerned with post-Soviet Russian foreign policy toward the Middle East. The Soviets had been major patrons of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Syria and Iraq, all of whom Hannah viewed as enemies. In a 1993 interview with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, another pro-Israel, right-wing organization, Hannah expressed anxiety about the rise of Russian nationalists who, he claimed, sought to undermine United Nations sanctions against Libya and to position Russian companies to invest in Iraq should the sanctions on that country begin to slip. For figures such as Hannah, Russian nationalism and Middle Eastern rogue states like Libya and Iraq represented unfinished business left over from the Cold War. For the Israeli hawks and their American supporters, the Cold War was not really over as long as the former Soviet allies in the Middle East continued to express enmity to Israel.

As former Secretary of State Warren Christopher once remarked, the US State Department probably owes WINEP a finder's fee for providing it with key personnel. From the institute, Hannah came to work for Christopher (who served from 1993 to 1997). During this period, Hannah cultivated ties with Ahmad Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress, an expatriate group funded by the CIA and the State Department to overthrow Saddam. One of the things that made Chalabi attractive to Hannah and other neocons was that he promised them that if he came to power he would recognize Israel and take Iraq in the same direction as Turkey, a Muslim country allied with the Zionist state.

We next meet Hannah as an aide to John Bolton. Bolton, a curmudgeonly lawyer who helped stop the Florida recount in 2000, was rewarded by Bush by being made undersecretary of state for arms control and international proliferation. Bolton detailed Hannah to Cheney's office as chief adviser on the Middle East. (Hannah actually knew little about the Middle East and knows no Arabic, being primarily an old Russia hand.)

Cheney's other major advisor besides Libby on Middle East affairs is David Wurmser, a Johns Hopkins Ph.D. in international relations. He served as project officer at the congressionally funded US Institute of Peace, from 1988 to 1994. He then moved for two years to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he was director of institutional grants until 1996. In the latter year he co-authored, with Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and others, a now-famous policy paper for incoming Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," that advocated a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein and install a Hashemite monarchy in Iraq as a way of moderating the Shiites of the region and securing "the realm" of Israel. Since post-Khomeini Shiites despise monarchy as un-Islamic, and since the Hashemites, who used to rule Iraq before 1958 and still rule Jordan, are Sunni Muslims, this plan was worse than science fiction. Science fiction is coherent and often involves some actual knowledge.

The neoconservatives were actually more concerned with Syria initially than Iraq, since it more directly threatened Israeli security. Indeed, "A Clean Break" advocated the removal of Saddam Hussein mainly as a way of pressuring Damascus. The policy paper said, with astonishing ignorance, "Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq - an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right - as a means of foiling Syria's regional ambitions. King Hussein may have ideas for Israel in bringing its Lebanon problem under control. The predominantly Shia population of southern Lebanon has been tied for centuries to the Shia leadership in Najf [sic] Iraq rather than Iran. Were the Hashemites to control Iraq, they could use their influence over Najf to help Israel wean the south Lebanese Shia away from Hizballah, Iran, and Syria. Shia retain strong ties to the Hashemites: the Shia venerate foremost the Prophet's family, the direct descendants of which - and in whose veins the blood of the Prophet flows - is King Hussein."

This paragraph must be the most absurd, ill-informed and frankly lunatic pieces of prose ever produced by any policy advisor anywhere. It is full of false premises and ignorant assumptions. Saddam Hussein's branch of the Baath Party was a rival of the Syrian Baath Party, not a supporter. Syria had joined Bush I's coalition against Iraq, allying with the Americans in 1990-91. Removing the Iraqi Baath would more likely strengthen Syria than weaken it. As for the Shiites in Iraq and southern Lebanon, they had been deeply influenced by the ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini, who preached that monarchy is incompatible with Islam. The idea that the old Hashemite monarchy could be revived and reinstalled in revolutionary Iraq was itself absurd. That a Sunni king in Baghdad might have any appeal to the Shiites of southern Lebanon, who favored Hezbollah and Khomeinism, would only occur to someone completely ignorant of the actual politics of Tyre and Nabatiya. The tragedy is that this sort of hallucination appears actually to have underpinned real policy moves by the neoconservatives as they became powerful in Washington under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Wurmser is married to Meyrav Wurmser, director of Middle East programs at the right-wing Hudson Institute. She was listed as a co-author of "A Clean Break." She had also co-founded, with a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence, the MEMRI translation service, which cherry-picks Arabic newspapers for the more outrageous articles and political cartoons, and translates them into English for the purpose of creating a negative view of the Arab world.

In 1999 David Wurmser published "Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein." In 2000, Wurmser authored a paper urging the US government to push Syria out of Lebanon and to refuse to engage with Damascus that was published by the Middle East Forum of Daniel Pipes. The Middle East Forum advisory board is primarily composed of leaders of right-wing organizations such as the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and the Zionist Organization of America.

Wurmser was picked by fellow neoconservative and Undersecretary of Defense for Planning Douglas Feith (whom the departing Colin Powell denounced to George W. Bush as a "card-carrying member of the Likud") after Sept. 11 to form part of the notorious Office of Special Plans in the Near East and South Asia division of the Department of Defense. That unit cherry-picked intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Saddam's alleged links to al-Qaida, singling out unreliable, single-sourced accounts and stripping them of any context that would show where they came from. These were then stove piped to Libby and Hannah in Cheney's office, so as to go directly to Bush and make an end run around the professional intelligence agencies. When allegations emerged that corrupt Iraqi businessman and longtime expatriate politician Ahmad Chalabi had been given classified information about US intelligence efforts against Iran, and had promptly passed it on to Tehran, Wurmser was among the officials the FBI interviewed searching for the leak.

When the OSP was dissolved after the Iraq war, Wurmser went back to work for Bolton. Although Wurmser only came to Cheney's shadow national security council in September 2003, after the Plame leak, he had been in close contact with Libby and Hannah all along. Close observers noted a distinct turn toward belligerency against Syria in White House pronouncements soon after Wurmser's advent. (He replaced old Soviet hand Eric Edelman, who was sent as ambassador to Turkey.)

On Sept. 10, 2002, the Boston Globe had reported that ascendant hawks in the Bush administration saw the overthrow of Saddam as a first step toward democratizing and transforming the Middle East. John Donnelly and Anthony Shadid wrote, "The argument for reshaping the political landscape in the Mideast has been pushed for years by some Washington think tanks and in hawkish circles. It is now being considered as a possible US policy with the ascent of key hard-liners in the administration - from Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith in the Pentagon to John Hannah and Lewis Libby on the vice president's staff and John Bolton in the State Department, analysts and officials say."

Cheney and other advocates of this policy promised that an Iraq war would break the deadlock between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Donnelly and Shadid quote Meyrav Wurmser, "Everyone will flip out, starting with the Saudis ... It will send shock waves throughout the Arab world ... But if we can get a democracy in the Palestinian Authority, democracy in Iraq, get the Egyptians to improve their human rights and open up their system, it will be a spectacular change. After a war with Iraq, then you really shape the region." Since both Wurmsers and their circle had argued forcefully for the destruction of the Oslo peace process and against the surrender by Israel of any of the Palestinian territories captured in 1967, it seems most likely that they hoped that getting the US to produce chaos in the Middle East by undermining its allies would give hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a free hand to annex most of the West Bank, and perhaps other Arab lands, rather than that it would lead to a just peace. Weakened by the loss of their backers in Baghdad and Damascus, the Palestinians would be forced to make peace on Sharon's terms.

Libby, Hannah and Wurmser were at the center of the production and purveying of bad intelligence on alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Hannah received intelligence directly from the Iraqi National Congress, according to a leaked memo from that organization. He was also a liaison with Wurmser when the latter was in the Office of Special Plans.

According to a Newsweek article of Dec. 15, 2004, "a June 2002 memo written by INC lobbyist Entifadh Qunbar to a US Senate committee lists John Hannah, a senior national-security aide on Cheney's staff, as one of two 'US governmental recipients' for reports generated by an intelligence program being run by the INC and which was then being funded by the State Department." The article explains that the program arranged for the raw information coming from defectors and other sources to be "reported to, among others, 'appropriate governmental, non-governmental and international agencies.'" The memo explicitly mentioned Hannah as "a principal point of contact" for the program. The other point of contact, according to Newsweek, was William Luti, who headed the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon under Feith. (Luti, also known as "uber-Luti," was such a zealot that he denounced retired Gen. Anthony Zinni as a "traitor" for expressing reservations about the impending Iraq war.) Chalabi's lie factory thus had two main customers, both of them wholesalers to Cheney. (These alleged contacts are an apparent violation of the National Security Act, which prohibits federal officials from engaging in unauthorized intelligence gathering.)

These, then, were the key neocon players gathered around Cheney. Cheney's office was key to the manufacturing of the bogus case for Iraq being close to having a nuclear bomb (it had no nuclear weapons program at all after the mid-1990s) and for it having a biological weapons program on wheels (biological weapons labs require clean rooms and cannot be mounted in Winnebagos). Cheney's office was among the originators of the smears against critics of such allegations, such as Joseph Wilson. Wilson's attack on the integrity of their intelligence gathering deeply threatened them. At the time he began speaking out, no high US government official had dared name their fantasy for what it was - a tissue of innuendo and falsehoods fed to them by the ambitious and swallowed by the greedy and the gullible. That he was connected to the CIA's own unit on weapons proliferation through his wife, Valerie, made him all the more dangerous in their eyes, once Cheney had ferreted out that link.

The New York Times reported on Oct. 24, 2005, that it was Cheney who told Libby that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. White House chief of staff Karl Rove also learned of Plame's identity, although it is not known how. Both of them shared the information with the press, including Matt Cooper of Time magazine, Robert Novak of CNN and Judith Miller of the New York Times. Their aim was to discredit Wilson in official Washington as a tool of CIA disinformation, someone determined to make the White House the fall guys in the intelligence scandal, so as to spare the Company criticism. Some have a dark suspicion that they may also have wished to disrupt the CIA unit on anti-proliferation, which continued to doubt the case they were making about the rogue Middle East states. When confronted by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Libby and Rove seem to have claimed that they did not reveal the name of Valerie Plame Wilson. In fact, they had called her "Joe Wilson's wife." This denial, however, is strikingly disingenuous and unconvincing.

Clearly Cheney's men had powerful domestic political reasons to try to destroy Wilson. But considering the larger geopolitical ambitions of the neocons in Cheney's inner circle, and their combination of ignorance and arrogance, it could be argued that Iraq and Iraqi weapons were all along a mere pied-à-terre. Syria, Iran and the rest of the Middle East were in the cross hairs, and Wilson and Plame were getting in the way of the next projects.

With the war in Iraq a disaster, possible indictments looming and polls showing that 80 percent of Americans believe that revealing Plame's identity was either illegal or unethical, those dreams of world domination have crumbled to dust.

------- http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf61.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102901396.html|Kurds Creating Kurdistan in all but full sovereignty|An Iraqi militiaman, loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, looks through the scope of his sniper rifle during clashes with coalition and Iraqi forces in the southern city of Basra August 22, 2004. U.S. tanks advanced to within 800 yards of the Imam Ali mosque in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Sunday after talks on surrendering control of the shrine at the center of an 18-day siege ran into trouble. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=griffin+latimes+david&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dd9e2f15e19ac5ca9%26clickedItemRank%3D2%26userQuery%3Dgriffin%2Blatimes%2Bdavid%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.911truth.org%252Farticle.php%253Fstory%253D20050826125021191%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPToolbarNS%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.911truth.org%2Farticle.php%253Fstory%253D20050826125021191|LATimes Interview with David Ray Griffin|World Trade Centre| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/borderarmor.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051103-115741-1048r.htm|Mexico Fence + End to 'Birthright' Citizenship|Armored vehicles from a reconnaissance squadron based in Fort Lewis, Wash., were stationed along a 20-mile stretch of highway 9 between Columbus and Playas, N.M., watching for illegal immigrants. Wash Times - 4 Nov 2005|As both economic and 'security' considerations deteriorate many in the U.S. are looking inward and to more fences, laws, and restrictions. 'Gated communities' is now giving way to a Gated Country. And with future considerations likely to deteriorate further these restrictions and insular attitudes are likely to only increase further. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClashOfCivilizations-Blankley.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050912-122024-9420r.htm|Wash Times Screams: 'An Islamist threat like the Nazis'|Winning the 'Clash of Civilizations' - Wash Times Editor Screams| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushthumbsup.jpg|http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/04/1532222|Finally Kerry and Friends Say 'Election Stolen'|President Bush on Election Night 2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/akkaddaughter.jpg|http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12681767.htm|Akkad Returns After 5 Decades in Hollywood for Burial in Syria Tomorrow|Mustapha Akkad was killed in the Amman bombings in November 2005| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NYPost8-07-02.jpg|http://novakeo.com/?p=315|Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre|US War Plans|A year after the horrible destruction of Fallujah, Iraq, suicide bombers targeted U.S.-owned hotels in Amman, Jordan. This Italian Television documentary contains far more information and details than anything that has appeared on American T.V. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NYPost8-07-02.jpg|http://novakeo.com/?p=315|The Hidden Massacre of Fallujah|US War Plans|It was a year ago that Fallujah was attacked with so much terrible death and destruction. It was on the first anniversary of the Fallujah massacre that American hotels in Amman were bombed. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ramboosama.jpg|http://novakeo.com/?p=299|The Destruction of Fallujah|Rambo Stallone To Make Movie Going After Osama Al-Qaeda| It was a year ago that Fallujah was attacked with so much terrible death and destruction. It was on the first anniversary of the Fallujah massacre that American hotels in Amman were bombed. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/alltheshahsmen.jpg|http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2005/11_15/1.asp|Invading Iran On The Washington Table|1953 - How the US Helped Spark the 'War Against Terrorism'| Specialist: Invading Iran not a big deal, militarily

WASHINGTON — A leading analyst told Congress that any U.S.-led military force would not face a major challenge from Iran's air force and navy. As a result, the invading force would require a relatively small fighter-jet and naval component to counter any Iranian threat.

"Whether some ground forces were needed as a prudent deterrent against overland Iranian aggression would also have to be considered, but the numbers here would presumably not have to reach into the major theater war magnitudes," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

O'Hanlon told the House Armed Services Committee on Oct. 26 that a U.S. invasion of Iran could be necessary to protect the flow of oil from Gulf Cooperation Council states to the West. He also cited a U.S. operation to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons infrastructure.

Over the past decade Iran has not fulfilled Western forecasts regarding weapons procurement, O'Hanlon said. He told the House committee that Iran could resort to asymmetrical warfare, including mining the Straits of Hormuz.

"[U.S.] Reconnaissance and rapid-strike capabilities could be provided either via sea-based assets or land-based capabilities," O'Hanlon said.

"Aerial and sea reconnaissance, as well as quick-strike capabilities, would be needed. Submarines would probably be desired to keep a constant track on Iranian submarines. And, of course, ships to protect convoys would likely be required as well."

O'Hanlon said a U.S.-led force would not require more than 20 submarines to face Iran's fleet of three diesel underwater vessels. The United States would require 200 aircraft to maintain air space dominance in the Gulf, he said. Iran has 200 aircraft capable of any operations.

In addition, the U.S.-led force would require up to 10 early-warning and surveillance aircraft. O'Hanlon also cited the need to deploy a fleet of Aegis-class naval vessels with ballistic missile defense systems.

"Taken together, the above assets resemble the air and naval components of what has commonly been considered a one-war force package in recent times," O'Hanlon said.

South Africa offers yellowcake, enrichment tech to Iran's nuclear program

South Africa has offered to be a supplier of nuclear material and technology to Iran.

Iranian officials said Pretoria has offered to transfer material and technology to help Teheran's nuclear program. They said the South African offer would be restricted to activities permitted by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We are in the process of negotiating on the modalities of this participation," said Javad Vaidi, an official from Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

On Nov. 5, Iran approved a resolution that would enable foreign companies to participate in that nation's uranium enrichment program. The resolution, which requires parliamentary approval, would allow the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization to invite domestic and foreign investors to the Natanz enrichment facility.

Vaidi told Iranian state television on Nov. 7 that South Africa has offered to immediately supply Iran with U308, or yellowcake. Yellowcake could be converted to uranium hexafluoride gas, or UF6, the feed material for gas centrifuges required to produce enriched uranium.

Under the program, Pretoria would deliver yellowcake to Iran's uranium conversion plant in Isfahan. In the second stage, he said, South Africa would participate in the actual uranium enrichment, a leading requirement for nuclear weapons.

Officials said Iran and South Africa have been discussing nuclear cooperation for more than a year. The two countries have exchanged nuclear delegations amid international pressure on Iran to resume its suspension of uranium enrichment.

Vaidi said Russia and South Africa have accepted Iran's right to complete the nuclear fuel cycle. The two countries have opposed U.S.-led efforts to submit the Iranian nuclear file to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.

Western intelligence agencies have monitored the flow of South African nuclear technicians and scientists to Iran over the last two years. South Africa operated a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s and 1980s, but said it was dismantled in 1989.

In Washington, UN Director-general Mohammed El Baradei said the IAEA was progressing in efforts to determine the extent of Iran's nuclear program. On Nov. 7, El Baradei told a conference sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that his inspectors were examining a military facility at Lavizan suspected of conducting nuclear weapons tests.

"We are moving in the right direction," El Baradei said. "We are making good progress with Iran."

Israel: Iran-backed Islamic Jihad has 12 cells in West Bank

TEL AVIV — The Iranian-sponsored Jihad has formed and operates at least a dozen cells, Israeli military sources said. Most of the cells are located in the northern West Bank around such cities as Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm.

Brig. Gen. Yair Golan, commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, said the Jihad cells were responsible for many of the suicide bombing attempts in Israel this year. Golan cited a suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Hadera in October in which five people were killed.

In all, Jihad operates more than 100 insurgents — funded by Iran — in the West Bank, the sources said. Each cell usually contains between eight and 12 fighters.

The most active Jihad cell is one in the Jenin area that was responsible for a series of suicide bombings in Israeli cities, including Hadera, Netanya and Tel Aviv.

The cell has been the target of Israeli special operations forces in the Jenin area. Golan said many of the cell members were captured or killed over the past week.

"We killed two of the most prominent figures in this terrorist net," Golan said in a briefing on Nov. 2. "We captured a few other suspects. We harmed this terrorist cell quite significantly, but this is not the end."

Israeli military sources said Jihad is the most active insurgency group in the West Bank, particularly in the northern area. They said that in some cases Fatah and Hamas insurgents have joined Jihad for attacks against Israeli targets.

"In any case, we see in all the groups a process to build the infrastructure with weapons and organization so that if this truce ends we will face an operational challenge," Golan said. "We can see a clear escalation since last August." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wewillnukeyou.gif|http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4421812.stm| Ambassador turns on Blair over Iraq|'We'll Nuke You!' - New York Post, 11 Dec 2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/hillaryclingon.jpg|http://villagevoice.com/news/0546,lombardi,70022,6.html|Hillary Seduces Even Her Haters|Hillary Clinton Wants To Climb Her Way Back to the White House|What a woman this Hillary Clinton. More and more it becomes more clear why she and Bill are such a pair, far more alike than many thought just a few years ago. No wonder she has overlooked so much of Bill's doings, in her own way, minus a bit of his sexual excesses as befits a 'woman', she is the mirror image of her husband and becoming President would in fact be her ultimate triump over him and all of her many detractors. No wonder then she is putting every and any thing into that still long-shot goal...but admittedly far less a long-shot than just a few years ago. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushjesus1.jpg|http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11029.htm|Evidence Mounts That Bush Wants New Wars|George Bush is certainly the most evangelical, born-again, crusading American President of modern times.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ciakilledfalluja.jpg|http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_197.shtml|Confessions of a repentant Republican|Body of man said to be CIA agent killed in Falluja, Iraq - 11 April 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf16.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/weekinreview/20burns.html|Iraq Remains Mystery For Americans|The 'rebellion' escalates in Iraq from Najaf to Basra - 14 Auust 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/target-iran.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/international/middleeast/20cnd-iran.html|Preemptive Iran Strke on Security Council |The U.S. and Israel have been publicly warning and secretly preparing to attack Iran| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushDoorChina.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112001257.html|Embarrassing George - Trying to Escape the Media While Jet-Lagged|A jet-lagged President Bush tries unsuccessfully to exit a Beijing news conference during his Asian economic summit trip. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPlotAJ.jpg|http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16397937%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=exclusive%2d%2dbush%2dplot%2dto%2dbomb%2dhis%2darab%2dally-name_page.html|EXCLUSIVE: BUSH PLOT TO BOMB HIS ARAB ALLY|Bush/Cheney Wanted to Bomb Al-Jazeera HQ headlines the Daily Mirror on 22 Nov 2005|As crazy as it sounds, it's probably true. And now...back to what really happened on 9-11 and afterwards... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ciaguardian.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111702070.html?sub=AR|CIA All Around The World Now|CIA Failures Rock Washington As Iraqi War Goes Sour| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CheneyGlobe.jpg|http://www.itv.com/news/index_1447362.html|Cheney is 'Vice-President for Torture' - Former CIA Head|Dick Cheney is considered by may the Rasputin of Washington in the era of the neocons and the evangelicals| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg|http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7650.shtml|Burn in hell, Mr. President|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPlotAJ.jpg|http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,1648591,00.html|UK Editors and Newspapers Threatened by Govt as Never Before|Bush/Cheney Wanted to Bomb Al-Jazeera HQ headlines the Daily Mirror on 22 Nov 2005|If we need a kind of proof that the Bush regime in the US was planning to bomb the Al Jazeera Headquarters last year we get it not so much from yesterday's cover story in the Daily Mirror but from the urgent and frantic way the British Government is responding with unprecedented threats of jailing editors and secret trials. Read this one carefully and remember as you do that the White House dismissed all this as 'outlandish' and the Washington Post has been playing it down as a kind of 'joke'. Seems the joke is on the American people who are never given the truth information and analysis they need and deserve to understand what is really going on. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPlotAJ1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1885279,00.html|Editors are threatened over TV station bombing claim|Bush Wanted To Bomb Al-Jazeera HQ last year according to the British| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/UKLegalRow.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/171A7C64-F5C0-41EF-A613-EBA745ACEF7A.htm|British Paper Muzzled By Official Secrets Act as rarely before over Bush Aljazeera Bombing Exposee|The story of Bush wanting to bomb AlJazeera HQ has created an unprecedented threatening and gagging of the media in Britain.|Lets cut through all the crap here. If the transcript which was about to be published were totally damning of Bush, and maybe Blair as well, this wouldn't be happening. So much for 'democracy' and 'freedom' when the powers that be decide to muzzle like a politicd state in addition to cajoling, intimidating, and manipulating. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CheneyGlobe.jpg|http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/11/24/cheney/|Dick Cheney's Long March for Power|Dick Cheney is considered by may the Rasputin of Washington in the era of the neocons and the evangelicals|It has been a long march indeed and this articles gets to some of it, but hardly all of it. Protecting friends and sources in Washington is not just something done by the big corporate newspapers. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPsycho.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20051124/bs_prweb/prweb314382_1|Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations||Now if you really want to understand just how much American Neocons and Evangelicals have gotten people worried, read this one! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushcrusader.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4475594.stm| Arabic press anger at al-Jazeera 'plot'|A caricature that appeared in the Village Voice soon after the 20 January 2005 Bush Inaugural| Americans never really heard very much about this White House Plot to bomb the headquarters of Al-Jazeera. But in the U.K, Europe, and the Arab world, where it was front-page news, the stench of crazy militarism, rampant deception, and growing government censorship for 'national security reasons', will longer for a long time to come...just as does the torture from Abu Ghraib... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iran-next.jpg|http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=20327|Syriana: A hollywood tale of the CIA's man in the Middle East|The U.S. and Israel have been publicly warning and secretly prepa| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rumsfeldcrosshairs.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/29/AR2005112901405.html|Pentagon Rumsfeld Ends 'Insurgency' Unilaterally|Donald Rumseld brought the nation's top Israeli Lobby Jewish neocons to top positions in the Pentagon.|Those in the top positions of power in Washington sometimes are so full of themselves they actually seem to be doing a paradigm of 'the Daily Show' rather than the other way around.

At 7am this morning it was Bill OReilly on NBC's Today Show going so wacky the hosts joked about a 'small padded room' that Bill goes to next.

Then the Pres went out to make another major speech about 'freedom', 'democracy', 'security', and Iraq -- full of his usual non-connecting and non-truthful slogans.

And in the Washington Post there is a review of Pentagon Chief Rumsfeld and his new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff tripping all over each other and hemselves. You've got to read this onw!
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GirlNextDoorSuicideBomber.jpg|http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051201125309990013|First Western Woman Suicide Bomber|Murielle Degauque was, by all accounts, a normal child. A typical girl next door in Belgium. But she became the first Western 'Suicide Bomber',| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/OReillyTodayShow.jpg|http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/30/oreilly-murtha-hitler/|O'Reilly Rants Crazily on Today Show|Bill O'Reilley Screamed Out on Today Show as hosts joked about a little 'padded room' and caffein craziness|These pin-heads running around going, “Get out of Iraq now” don’t know what they are talking about. These are the same people before Hitler invaded in WWII that were saying, “He’s not such a bad guy.” They don’t get it. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PentagonClandestineJournalism.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/politics/02propaganda.html?ex=1291179600&en=667411952a92b0fd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss|Senate Summons Pentagon to Explain Effort to Plant News Stories in Iraqi Media||As usual key persons in Congress and the government will work together to cover-up what's really been going on. For if they really dug into this seriously among other things they would find out that key persons in what is called 'The Lincoln Group' have close ties to the CIA and hired quite a few persons, including attractive women, to come to Baghdad and seduce, in one way or another, oh so many with oh so much money and deception. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PentagonClandestineJournalism1.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/politics/02propaganda.html?ex=1291179600&en=667411952a92b0fd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss|Senate Summons Pentagon to Explain Effort to Plant News Stories in Iraqi Media||As usual key persons in Congress and the government will now work together to cover-up what's really been going on. They pretend to investigate but the realities are their real purpose is to smooth over, obfuscate, blow over, and bury. The senior Senator from Virginia, Senator Warner, is indeed one who specializes in such cover-ups no matter how much his word and tone are oh-so-deceptively otherwise. Now if the powers that be really dug into this latest Pentagon scandal seriously, among other things they would quickly find out that key persons in what is called 'The Lincoln Group' have close ties to the CIA and went on a hiring splurge shortly after the invasion, which included some super attractive women by the way, to go to Baghdad to seduce, in one way or another, oh so many with all that Pentagon slush fund of multi-millions. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/pentagon-israel.gif|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html|Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran|Israel and the Pentagon have become more intertwined than ever during the Bush/Cheney Administration| ISRAEL readies forces for strike
on nuclear IRAN

Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah
Baxter, Washington

The Sunday Times December 11, 2005



ISRAEL'S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.

Iran's stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.

The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was "losing patience" with Iran.

A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: "What next?" That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said.

Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the "point of no return" after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years.

"Israel - and not only Israel - cannot accept a nuclear Iran," Sharon warned recently. "We have the ability to deal with this and we're making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation."

The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that "G" readiness - the highest stage - for an operation was announced last week.

Gholamreza Aghazadeah, head of the Atomic Organisation of Iran, warned yesterday that his country would produce nuclear fuel. "There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment," he said.

He promised it would not be done during forthcoming talks with European negotiators. But although Iran insists it wants only nuclear energy, Israeli intelligence has concluded it is deceiving the world and has no intention of giving up what it believes is its right to develop nuclear weapons.

A "massive" Israeli intelligence operation has been underway since Iran was designated the "top priority for 2005", according to security sources.

Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA.

Since Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, "it has been understood that the lesson is, don't have one site, have 50 sites", a White House source said.

If a military operation is approved, Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran's nuclear programme for years, according to Israeli military sources.

It is believed Israel would call on its top special forces brigade, Unit 262 - the equivalent of the SAS - and the F-15I strategic 69 Squadron, which can strike Iran and return to Israel without refuelling.

"If we opt for the military strike," said a source, "it must be not less than 100% successful. It will resemble the destruction of the Egyptian air force in three hours in June 1967."

Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the Israeli military intelligence chief, stepped up the pressure on Iran this month when he warned Israel's parliament, the Knesset, that "if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course".

The March deadline set for military readiness also stems from fears that Iran is improving its own intelligence-gathering capability. In October it launched its first satellite, the Sinah-1, which was carried by a Russian space launcher.

"The Iranians' space programme is a matter of deep concern to us," said an Israeli defence source. "If and when we launch an attack on several Iranian targets, the last thing we need is Iranian early warning received by satellite."

Russia last week signed an estimated $1 billion contract - its largest since 2000 - to sell Iran advanced Tor-M1 systems capable of destroying guided missiles and laser-guided bombs from aircraft.

"Once the Iranians get the Tor-M1, it will make our life much more difficult," said an Israeli air force source. "The installation of this system can be relatively quick and we can't waste time on this one."

The date set for possible Israeli strikes on Iran also coincides with Israel's general election on March 28, prompting speculation that Sharon may be sabre-rattling for votes.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the frontrunner to lead Likud into the elections, said that if Sharon did not act against Iran, "then when I form the new Israeli government, we'll do what we did in the past against Saddam's reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquillity".

TEHRAN MINISTER MET MILITANTS BEFORE NEW OFFENSIVE

Iran's foreign minister met leading figures from three Islamic militant groups to co-ordinate a united front against Israel days before a recent escalation of attacks against Israeli targets shattered fragile ceasefires with Lebanon and the Palestinians, writes Hugh Macleod in Damascus.

The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held talks with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in Damascus on November 15.

Among those who attended the meeting were Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, and a deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last Monday's suicide bombing of a shopping mall in Netanya that killed five Israeli citizens.

Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, was also present. "We all confirmed that what is going on in occupied Palestine is organically connected to what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Lebanon," said Jibril.

Seven days after the talks, Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, sparking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon five years ago.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg|http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051212ta_talk_kolbert|GLOBAL WARNING!|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.|While we are all focused on things closer to our time and closer to home this GLOBAL WARNING! is catching up with all of us and represents, along with biological pandemic disease and future nuclear warfare, the truly great dangers and challenges of our time. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USTortureFlag.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/world/20051215-121629-7398r.htm|Secret Vote Truce in Iraq - U.S. Negotiating With Insurgents||It's secret to the extend that General Casey isn't talking about it in all the interviews he is rushing to do these days. But it's hardly secret when it appears on the front page of the Wash Times today. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PinterNobel1.jpg|http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=518&id=2369392005|Nobel Laureaute Calls for Prosecution of Bush and Blair|Harold Pinter Delivered His Scathing Nobel Prize Lecture in December 2005|Ah, if only the sensitive playwrights and intellectuals had more than rhetorical and moral power. Not only should there be a way to 'prosecute' those who grossly violate international law but command state superpower for such things as the invasion of Iraq. What about the environmental damage, potentially cataclysmic and soon to be 'irreversible' we have been warned, that the U.S. especially is responsible for and refuses to even 'talk about'...i.e., Kyoto and most recently Montreal. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RenditionDestinations1.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051219/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_051219130238|Americans Release Baathists Hoping to Court Favor With Insurgents and Hostage Holders|Masked and black-gloved secret agents of the US have snatched people in Europe and the Middle East and 'rendered' them to secret prisons and foreign countries for tortuous 'integration'| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PressAttacksSpying.jpg|http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/18/bush.transcript/index.html|Bush Speech from Oval Office on Iraq - 18 Dec 2005|A torrent of criticism and charges erupted when secret domestic spying became known in December 2005.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/inauguration5.jpg|http://www.observer.com/politics_joeconason.asp|Bush’s Abuse of Power Deserves Impeachment|Inauguration Day in Washington, DC - 20 January 2005| Now we've been saying this for quite some time. Nice to get some company from some of the big boys. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushblair.jpg||Iraq - Election Defeat for the USA|Bush and Blair lead US and UK to War|December 21, 2005

"The election, billed by Mr Bush and Mr Blair, as the birth of a new Iraqi state may in fact prove to be its funeral."
Iraq Election Spells Total Defeat for US

By PATRICK COCKBURN in Baghdad

Iraq is disintegrating. The first results from the parliamentary election last week show that the country is dividing up between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated.

The Shia religious coalition has won a total victory in Baghdad and the south of Iraq. The Sunni Arab parties who openly or covertly support armed resistance to the US are likely to win large majorities in Sunni provinces.

The election marks the final shipwreck of American and British hopes of establishing a pro-western secular democracy in a united Iraq. Islamic fundamentalist movements are ever more powerful in both the Sunni and Shia communities. "In two-and-a-half years Bush has succeeded in creating two new Talibans in Iraq," said Ghassan Attiyah, an Iraqi commentator.

The success of the United Arab Alliance, the coalition of Shia religious parties, has been far greater than expected according to preliminary results from last Thursday's election. It won 58 per cent of the vote in Baghdad, while Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister whom Tony Blair has strongly supported, got only 14 per cent of the vote. In the second city of Iraq, Basra, 77 per cent of voters supported the Alliance and only 11 per cent Mr Allawi.

The election was portrayed by President George W. Bush as a sign of success for US policies in Iraq, but in fact means the triumph of America's enemies inside and outside the country. Iran will be pleased that the Shia religious parties whom it has supported, often for decades, have become the strongest political force.

Ironically Bush is more than ever dependent within Iraq on the goodwill of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for all his maverick reputation. It is the allies of Iran who are growing in influence by the day and have now triumphed in the election. The US will hope that Tehran will be satisfied with this. Iran may be happier with a weakened Iraq in which it is a predominant influence rather than see the country entirely break up.

Another victor in the election is the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose Mehdi Army militia fought fierce battles with US troops last year. The US military said at the time it intended "to kill or capture him." Mr Bush cited the recapture of the holy city of Najaf from the Mehdi Army in August 2004 as an important success for the US army. Al-Sadr will now be one of the most influential leaders within the coalition.

All the parties which did well in the election have strength only within their own community. The Shia coalition succeeded because the Shia make up 60 per cent of Iraqis, but won almost no votes among the Kurds or Sunni each of whom is about 20 per cent of the population. The Sunni and the Kurdish parties won no support outside their own communities.

The highly-regarded US ambassador in Baghdad, Zilmay Khalilzad, sounded almost despairing yesterday as he reviewed the results of the election. "It looks as if people have preferred to vote for their ethnic or sectarian identities," he said. 'But for Iraq to succeed there has to be cross-ethnic and cross-sectarian co-operaton."

The election also means a decisive switch from a secular Iraq to a country in which, outside Kurdistan, religious law will be paramount. Mr Allawi, who ran a well-financed campaign with slick television advertising, was the main secular hope but this did not translate into votes. The other main non-religious candidate Ahmed Chalabi received less than one per cent of the vote in Baghdad and will be lucky to win a single seat in the new 275-member Council of Representatives.

"People underestimate how religious Iraq has become," said one Iraqi observer. He added: "Iran is really a secular society with a religious leadership, but Iraq will be a religious society with a religious leadership." Already most girls leaving schools in Baghdad wear headscarves. Women's rights in cases of divorce and inheritance are being eroded.

Sunni Arab leaders were aghast yesterday at the electoral triumph of the Shia, claiming fraud. Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the Sunni Arab alliance, the Iraqi Accordance Front, said that if the electoral commission did not respond to their complaints "we will demand that the elections be held again in Baghdad."

Mr Allawi's Iraqi National List also protested. Ibrahim al-Janabi, a party official, said: "The elections commission is not independent. It is influenced by political parties and by the government."

But while there was probably some fraud and intimidation the results of the election mirror the way in which the Shia majority in Iraq are systematically taking over the levers of power. They already control the Ministry of the Interior with 110,000 police and paramilitary units. Most of the troops in the 80,000 strong army being trained by the US army are Shia.

Mr Khalilzad said yesterday that "you can't have someone who is regarded as sectarian, for example as minister of the interior." This is a not so-veiled criticism of the present minister, Bayan Jabr, a leading member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest Shia party. He is accused of running death squads and torture centres whose victims are Sunni Arabs.

But it is unlikely that the Shia religious parties and their militias will tolerate any roll back in their power. "They feel their day has come," said Mr Attiyah. For six months they have ruled Iraq in an alliance with the Kurds. The Kurdish leaders are not very happy with the way this government has worked saying that Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the prime minister, has broken cooperation agreements.

The Kurds, supported by the US, will now try to dilute Shia control of government by bringing in Sunni ministers and Mr Allawi. But one Kurdish leader said: "We have a strategic alliance with the Shia religious parties we would be unwise to break." The Shia will also be averse to giving powerful posts to politicians like Mr Allawi who have done so poorly at the polls.

The elections are also unlikely to see a diminution in armed resistance to the US by the Sunni community. Insurgent groups have made clear that they see winning seats in parliament as the opening of another front. The US is trying to conciliate the Sunni by the release of 24 top Baathist leaders without charges.But the main demand of the Sunni resistance is a time table for a US withdrawal without which they are unlikely to agree a ceasefire ­ even if they had the unity to negotiate such an agreement.

The new constitution Iraq, overwhelmingly approved in a referendum on October 15 , already creates two super-regions, one Kurdish and the other Shia, which will have quasi-independence. Local law will be superior to national law. They will own newly discovered oil reserves. They will have their own armed forces. They envisage an Iraq which will be a loose confederation rather than a unified state.

The break up of Iraq has been brought closer by last week's election. The great majority of people who went to the polls voted as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The forces pulling Iraq apart are stronger than those holding it together. The election, billed by Mr Bush and Mr Blair, as the birth of a new Iraqi state may in fact prove to be its funeral. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushcrusader.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24spy.html?ei=5094&en=efaa31928aa6c87b&hp=&ex=1135400400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print|Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report|A caricature that appeared in the Village Voice soon after the 20 January 2005 Bush Inaugural|Bush Lied Again Big Time - most publicly at his press conference last week where he insisted the 'domestic spying' was very narrow and limited and only involved those with 'known ties to Al Qaida'... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon.jpg|http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000043176&fid=942|US Sends Israel 1/2billion more in 'military assistance'|Sharon in Oval Office With Bush - October 2002|Call it a kind of Christmas present for the Jewish State. And note that the Congress increased it $150million over what the Bush/Cheney Administration 'requested'. And chalk it up in the end for war preparations against Iran, though of course that's not quite in the news...not yet anyway. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/target-iran.jpg|http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m18965&l=i&size=1&hd=0|Israel and U.S. Now Target Iran|The U.S. and Israel have been publicly warning and secretly preparing to attack Iran| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gulfwarposter.jpg|http://rawstory.com/news/2005/After_domestic_spying_reports_U.S._spying_1227.html|Rice Ordered for Bush Bugging of U.N. HQ, Sec-Gen Office, International Embassies and Consulates|Coming Soon - Gulf War II Starring George Bush, Condi Rice, Don Rumseld, and Saddam; supporting roles by George Bush I and Colin Powell| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/yassinrpg.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5508835,00.html|US Threatens PA In Advance of Upcoming Partial Election|Palestinians in Gaza on day of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, assassination|Now the Americans, and their chums, want to determine not only who can vote and when and how, but who can be elected and who can have any power and influence. It's really too much...and it also isn't even working. Indeed, the backlash is being felt against U.S. and Israeli policies from Baghdad to Cairo to Occupied Palestine. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/faces2005.jpg|http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060101%2F0652125879.htm&sc=1107&photoid=20060101BAG108&ewp=ewp_news_1205iraq_deaths&floc=NW_1-T|Iraq Begins 2006 Exploding|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel-IranMap.jpg|http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/conspiracy_theory/fullstory.asp?id=285|Washington has been holding talks with allies in preparation of an air assault on Iran|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/faces2005.jpg|http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/12/29/year_in_politics/|Georgie, You Didn't Do Such A Heck of a Job in 2005|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/dontbuyit.gif|http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=797553|Despised Shaath made Palestinian 'care-taker' PM|The WAR - Don't Buy It!| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/flagonsaddam.jpg||A Gestapo Administration|One of those classic historic pictures that captures so much.|The remarkable thing about this article beyond the truth-telling and the starting title is that it comes for a major former Republican insider who held ranking positions in government and was a senior member of the Republican Conservative think-tank community.
---------------------------------

Bush's Witchhunt Against Truth-Tellers

A Gestapo Administration

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Caught in gratuitous and illegal spying on American citizens, the Bush administration has defended its illegal activity and set the Justice (sic) Department on the trail of the person or persons who informed the New York Times of Bush's violation of law. Note the astounding paradox: The Bush administration is caught red-handed in blatant illegality and responds by trying to arrest the patriots who exposed the administration's illegal behavior.

Bush has actually declared it treasonous to reveal his illegal behavior! His propagandists, who masquerade as news organizations, have taken up the line: To reveal wrong-doing by the Bush administration is to give aid and comfort to the enemy.

Compared to Spygate, Watergate was a kindergarden picnic. The Bush administration's lies, felonies, and illegalities have revealed it to be a criminal administration with a police state mentality and police state methods. Now Bush and his attorney general have gone the final step and declared Bush to be above the law. Bush aggressively mimics Hitler's claim that defense of the realm entitles him to ignore the rule of law.

Bush's acts of illegal domestic spying are gratuitous because there are no valid reasons for Bush to illegally spy. The Foreign Intelligence Services Act gives Bush all the power he needs to spy on terrorist suspects. All the administration is required to do is to apply to a secret FISA court for warrants. The Act permits the administration to spy first and then apply for a warrant, should time be of the essence. The problem is that Bush has totally ignored the law and the court.

Why would President Bush ignore the law and the FISA court? It is certainly not because the court in its three decades of existence was uncooperative. According to attorney Martin Garbus (New York Observer, 12-28-05), the secret court has issued more warrants than all federal district judges combined, only once denying a warrant.

Why, then, has the administration created another scandal for itself on top of the WMD, torture, hurricane, and illegal detention scandals?

There are two possible reasons.

One reason is that the Bush administration is being used to concentrate power in the executive. The old conservative movement, which honors the separation of powers, has been swept away. Its place has been taken by a neoconservative movement that worships executive power.

The other reason is that the Bush administration could not go to the FISA secret court for warrants because it was not spying for legitimate reasons and, therefore, had to keep the court in the dark about its activities.

What might these illegitimate reasons be? Could it be that the Bush administration used the spy apparatus of the US government in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election?

Could we attribute the feebleness of the Democrats as an opposition party to information obtained through illegal spying that would subject them to blackmail?

These possible reasons for bypassing the law and the court need to be fully investigated and debated. No administration in my lifetime has given so many strong reasons to oppose and condemn it as has the Bush administration. Nixon was driven from office because of a minor burglary of no consequence in itself. Clinton was impeached because he did not want the embarrassment of publicly acknowledging that he engaged in adulterous sex acts in the Oval Office. In contrast, Bush has deceived the public and Congress in order to invade Iraq, illegally detained Americans, illegally tortured detainees, and illegally spied on Americans. Bush has upheld neither the Constitution nor the law of the land. A majority of Americans disapprove of what Bush has done; yet, the Democratic Party remains a muted spectator.

Why is the Justice (sic) Department investigating the leak of Bush's illegal activity instead of the illegal activity committed by Bush? Is the purpose to stonewall Congress' investigation of Bush's illegal spying? By announcing a Justice (sic) Department investigation, the Bush administration positions itself to decline to respond to Congress on the grounds that it would compromise its own investigation into national security matters.

What will the federal courts do? When Hitler challenged the German judicial system, it collapsed and accepted that Hitler was the law. Hitler's claims were based on nothing but his claims, just as the claim for extra-legal power for Bush is based on nothing but memos written by his political appointees.

The Bush administration, backed by the neoconservative Federalist Society, has brought the separation of powers, the foundation of our political system, to crisis. The Federalist Society, an organization of Republican lawyers, favors more "energy in the executive." Distrustful of Congress and the American people, the Federalist Society never fails to support rulings that concentrate power in the executive branch of government. It is a paradox that conservative foundations and individuals have poured money for 23 years into an organization that is inimical to the separation of powers, the foundation of our constitutional system.

September 11, 2001, played into neoconservative hands exactly as the 1933 Reichstag fire played into Hitler's hands. Fear, hysteria, and national emergency are proven tools of political power grabs. Now that the federal courts are beginning to show some resistance to Bush's claims of power, will another terrorist attack allow the Bush administration to complete its coup?

Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University of California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01022006.html http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wewillnukeyou.gif|http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10338|British TV program uncovers Israel’s secret nuclear plans|'We'll Nuke You!' - New York Post, 11 Dec 2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraqmap.gif|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200370.html?nav=most_emailed|U.S. Backs Away From 'Rebuilding' Iraq|Iraq is centrally located at the heart of the Arab and Muslim worlds.|TOP MAJOR FRONT PAGE STORY - WP - 2 Jan 06

Having destroyed Iraq and lead it to the bring of Civil War with Kurdanistan in the North functioning independently and the Shiite Areas of the south functioning independently in coordination with Iran, the Americans are backing away from everyting...and repositioning for Iran, et. al. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DailyMirror-11-22-05.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136102663985&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Call it a 'Crocodile Plea' from Bush to Sharon|Bush/Cheney Wanted to Bomb Al-Jazeera HQ headlines the Daily Mirror on 22 Nov 2005| First of all if Bush really meant it he would publicly and loudly say it himself. Second of all the game of good cop / bad cop is well-known in the region these days...even if it still works with much of the corporate media. As for our term 'crocodile plea'...of course it is a cousin of 'crocodile tears'. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/palestinedivided.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136102663985&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|Bush urges Israel to allow e. J'lem vote - Crocodile Plea|The Israelis have divided and chopped even what is left of Palestinian Palestine into divided and controlled pieces - it's a modern-day neo-apartheid with Palestinians more and more living in surrounded ghettos and concentration camps.|ROCODILE PLEA

First of all if Bush really meant it he would publicly and loudly say it himself. Second of all the game of good cop / bad cop is well-known in the region these days...even if it still works with much of the corporate media. As for our term 'crocodile plea'...of course it is a cousin of 'crocodile tears'. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wewillnukeyou.gif|http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20CH20060103&articleId=1714|Nuclear War against Iran|'We'll Nuke You!' - New York Post, 11 Dec 2002| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/13550392.htm|Sharon Now Quickly Passing From the Complicated International Scene|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPsycho.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060104-114052-6606r.htm|NSA whistleblower asks to testify|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonbushshake.jpg|http://nytimes.com/2006/01/06/politics/06diplo.html?hp|U.S. Is Hoping Israelis Keep Sharon's Plan a Top Priority|President Bush greets Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Oval Office, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002.|Having no plan of its own and wanting to pretend there is still a 'peace process' of sorts and something other than total failure of even the discredited 'road map', this is what is coming out of Washington and finding its way to public consciousness in the NYTimes. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushGathersPast.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/politics/06prexy.html|Visited by a Host of Administrations Past, Bush Hears Some Chastening Words|President Bush with present and former secretaries of state and defense. From left: Harold Brown, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, James A. Baker III, Colin L. Powell, James R. Schlesinger, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, George P. Shultz, Melvin R. Laird, Robert S. McNamara, Madeleine K. Albright, Alexander M. Haig Jr., Frank C. Carlucci, William J. Perry and William S. Cohen.|Today Bush gathered a large Cabinet Table full (I almost wrote fool) of past Secretaries of State and Defense, 13 in all with a few no-shows - WP, NYT. It was billed as the President consulting with and listening to the past leaders of both parties as if he is really capable of such. But as with most things it's really all in the details and in this case the photo op. Much of the time was actually spent listening to Ambassadl Zal (as he is known) who was on a conference hookup from Baghdad and to top military briefers pushing their Bush-inspired Plan for Victory. And then, with all those senior top people gathered in the room as never before having so much to say the entire meeting was over in 40 minutes - sans the photos of course which is what it was really all about (just watch the way the evening news programs played it and click on the NYT story for the panoramic still). Colin Powell, whose former State Department Chief of Staff has been lambasting Bush/Cheney to no end, adn who himself was so badly used, just sat there not uttering a word. But fair enough, just maybe Powell was sending the requisite message here -- doesn't matter what you say to these guys and this isn't for real anyway. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/americanflagme.jpg||US Plans Super Embassy and Super Bases for Iraq|This Illustration Used In Israeli Newspaper Haaretz With Article by Former Mossad Chief about Pax Americana|This is why the American President refuses to make the simple public statement that there are no U.S. plans for permanent military bases in Iraq.
The deal is to prop up the Shiite-Kurdish Iraqi regime the Americans have put in place, and to allow a just-short-of-sovereignty Kurdistan in the North and a Shiite autonomous region in the south, all in return for a permanent albeit somewhat disguised U.S. political, economic, and military hold on the country for its own geostrategic reasons
------------------------------

U.S. plans $1.8 billion Baghdad embassy
Four massive military "superbases" also planed

Chris Hughes
The Mirror (UK)
January 3, 2006

AMERICA is to spend £1billion ($1.77 billion US dollars) on an embassy in Baghdad "more secure than the Pentagon".

Plans for the hi-tech complex are being kept secret because of the terrorist threat in Iraq.

The exact location is not being released until later this year but it is likely to be built in the heavily fortified Green Zone area where the Iraqi government and US military command is based.

The embassy will be guarded by 15ft blast walls and ground-to-air missiles and the main building will have bunkers for use during air offensives.

The grounds will include as many as 300 houses for consular and military officials.

And a large-scale barracks will be built for Marines who will protect what will be Washington's biggest and most secure overseas building.

A US source in the Middle East said last night: "Plans for the embassy building are being kept behind closed doors because of the terrorist threat.

"It will be more secure than The Pentagon because it will be under constant threat from attack." The Green Zone is the safest part of Baghdad, surrounded by concrete blast walls and checkpoints.

The US also wants to build four massive military superbases around Iraq's capital.

The plans will fuel speculation they want to keep a firm foothold in Iraq for many years.

An Iraqi security source said last night: "The plans for the embassy building will make it the largest and best protected diplomatic building overseas for the US.

"You may as well move the Pentagon to Iraq. It will be amazingly secure but it also flies in the face of claims American is preparing to leave Iraq to be policed and governed by Iraqis.

"Plans for four superbases across the country will only reinforce the view that the US is here to stay for the duration."

The move comes despite Donald Rumsfeld revealing last week that US troop numbers in Iraq are to be reduced by 7,000 to 153,000.

Tony Blair has also predicted British troops could start pulling out this May.

Backing among the American public for President Bush's action in Iraq has fallen. Despite the opposition a Kuwait-based construction company has already been handed £175million ($300 million) of the building deal.

Plans for four huge military bases placed strategically around Baghdad are also being drawn up.

The superbases will be in central Iraq, close to the capital, and also to the north, west and east of Baghdad.

Several other Middle Eastern and American building firms are tendering for the remaining budget.

Funding will probably come from Iraqi oil revenues channelled into redeveloping the country.

America has a string of 'secret' military bases throughout the Gulf states, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.

The huge desert complexes, including airstrips and aircraft hangars, are up to 20 miles square and are not featured on civilian maps.

They started to appear after the first Gulf War 15 years ago, infuriating Islamic extremists and the al-Qaeda terror network. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushflags.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601005.html|USAID Paper Details Security Crisis in Iraq|President Bush Speaking about 'Democacy' as America's Top New Goal in the Middle East - 6 Nov 2003| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces.jpg|http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/672973.html|PENTAGON AIPAC Spy Gets 12 Years|Key Washington Jewish Neocons all associated with Ariel Sharon and Israel|Remember now, this fellow was hired by and worked for one of the top long-time Israeli lobby people in Washington who was at the time the #3 civilian at the Pentagon, Douglas Feith. Remember also that Douglas Feith was the protege of and hired by the #2 civilian then at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, who was selected personally for the job by the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. And these were the prime operators who brought about the invasion/occupation of Iraq. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel-IranMap.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/politics/24diplo.html|West's Push to Refer Iran to U.N. Hits Snags||Of course the Americans knew all along these 'snaps' were ahead. But even so the climate of public opinion and public fear is being set for what the Americans and the Israelis want to do, and plan to do one way or another, through CIA intrique and military strikes. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HamasWins.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article341137.ece|Hamas Claims VICTORY|The Islamic Party Hamas captured a large majority of seats in Palestinian election on 25 January 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/arafatyassin.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A272F3EC-91C3-4411-A8E9-5F64BA7CD8B6.htm|Special - PALESTINIAN ELECTION|Yasser Arafat and Ahmed Yassin| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ChristianeAmanpour.jpg|http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/30/lkl.01.html|BLACK HOLE Disaster - CNN's Ammanpour on Iraq War|| Now that the disaster has happened and is devouring their own fellow journalists, people like Amanpour (married by the way to a former State Department Deputy Secretary of State) are coming forward. But where were they when we needed them? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon3.gif|http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060201/pl_nm/iran_nuclear_bush_dc_8|Bush Declares Unilateral Military Treaty-Like Alliance With Israel|President Bush and Ariel Sharon at the White House - 14 April 2004| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/lifelongcaptivity.jpg|http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester|
The End of the Internet?|An illustration of the extra-legal U.S. plans for indefinite imprisonment and 'interrogation' without sufficient evidence for trial and without any legal process.|
The End of the Internet?

by JEFF CHESTER

[posted online on February 1, 2006]

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.

Under the plans they are considering, all of us--from content providers to individual users--would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.

To make this pay-to-play vision a reality, phone and cable lobbyists are now engaged in a political campaign to further weaken the nation's communications policy laws. They want the federal government to permit them to operate Internet and other digital communications services as private networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight. Indeed, both the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are considering proposals that will have far-reaching impact on the Internet's future. Ten years after passage of the ill-advised Telecommunications Act of 1996, telephone and cable companies are using the same political snake oil to convince compromised or clueless lawmakers to subvert the Internet into a turbo-charged digital retail machine.

The telephone industry has been somewhat more candid than the cable industry about its strategy for the Internet's future. Senior phone executives have publicly discussed plans to begin imposing a new scheme for the delivery of Internet content, especially from major Internet content companies. As Ed Whitacre, chairman and CEO of AT&T, told Business Week in November, "Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment, and for a Google or Yahoo! or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!"

The phone industry has marshaled its political allies to help win the freedom to impose this new broadband business model. At a recent conference held by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a think tank funded by Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and other media companies, there was much discussion of a plan for phone companies to impose fees on a sliding scale, charging content providers different levels of service. "Price discrimination," noted PFF's resident media expert Adam Thierer, "drives the market-based capitalist economy."

Net Neutrality

To ward off the prospect of virtual toll booths on the information highway, some new media companies and public-interest groups are calling for new federal policies requiring "network neutrality" on the Internet. Common Cause, Amazon, Google, Free Press, Media Access Project and Consumers Union, among others, have proposed that broadband providers would be prohibited from discriminating against all forms of digital content. For example, phone or cable companies would not be allowed to slow down competing or undesirable content.

Without proactive intervention, the values and issues that we care about--civil rights, economic justice, the environment and fair elections--will be further threatened by this push for corporate control. Imagine how the next presidential election would unfold if major political advertisers could make strategic payments to Comcast so that ads from Democratic and Republican candidates were more visible and user-friendly than ads of third-party candidates with less funds. Consider what would happen if an online advertisement promoting nuclear power prominently popped up on a cable broadband page, while a competing message from an environmental group was relegated to the margins. It is possible that all forms of civic and noncommercial online programming would be pushed to the end of a commercial digital queue.

But such "neutrality" safeguards are inadequate to address more fundamental changes the Bells and cable monopolies are seeking in their quest to monetize the Internet. If we permit the Internet to become a medium designed primarily to serve the interests of marketing and personal consumption, rather than global civic-related communications, we will face the political consequences for decades to come. Unless we push back, the "brandwashing" of America will permeate not only our information infrastructure but global society and culture as well.

Why are the Bells and cable companies aggressively advancing such plans? With the arrival of the long-awaited "convergence" of communications, our media system is undergoing a major transformation. Telephone and cable giants envision a potential lucrative "triple play," as they impose near-monopoly control over the residential broadband services that send video, voice and data communications flowing into our televisions, home computers, cell phones and iPods. All of these many billions of bits will be delivered over the telephone and cable lines.

Video programming is of foremost interest to both the phone and cable companies. The telephone industry, like its cable rival, is now in the TV and media business, offering customers television channels, on-demand videos and games. Online advertising is increasingly integrating multimedia (such as animation and full-motion video) in its pitches. Since video-driven material requires a great deal of Internet bandwidth as it travels online, phone and cable companies want to make sure their television "applications" receive preferential treatment on the networks they operate. And their overall influence over the stream of information coming into your home (or mobile device) gives them the leverage to determine how the broadband business evolves.

Mining Your Data

At the core of the new power held by phone and cable companies are tools delivering what is known as "deep packet inspection." With these tools, AT&T and others can readily know the packets of information you are receiving online--from e-mail, to websites, to sharing of music, video and software downloads.

These "deep packet inspection" technologies are partly designed to make sure that the Internet pipeline doesn't become so congested it chokes off the delivery of timely communications. Such products have already been sold to universities and large businesses that want to more economically manage their Internet services. They are also being used to limit some peer-to-peer downloading, especially for music.

But these tools are also being promoted as ways that companies, such as Comcast and Bell South, can simply grab greater control over the Internet. For example, in a series of recent white papers, Internet technology giant Cisco urges these companies to "meter individual subscriber usage by application," as individuals' online travels are "tracked" and "integrated with billing systems." Such tracking and billing is made possible because they will know "the identity and profile of the individual subscriber," "what the subscriber is doing" and "where the subscriber resides."

Will Google, Amazon and the other companies successfully fight the plans of the Bells and cable companies? Ultimately, they are likely to cut a deal because they, too, are interested in monetizing our online activities. After all, as Cisco notes, content companies and network providers will need to "cooperate with each other to leverage their value proposition." They will be drawn by the ability of cable and phone companies to track "content usage...by subscriber," and where their online services can be "protected from piracy, metered, and appropriately valued."

Our Digital Destiny

It was former FCC chairman Michael Powell, with the support of then-commissioner and current chair Kevin Martin, who permitted phone and cable giants to have greater control over broadband. Powell and his GOP majority eliminated longstanding regulatory safeguards requiring phone companies to operate as nondiscriminatory networks (technically known as "common carriers"). He refused to require that cable companies, when providing Internet access, also operate in a similar nondiscriminatory manner. As Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig has long noted, it is government regulation of the phone lines that helped make the Internet today's vibrant, diverse and democratic medium.

But now, the phone companies are lobbying Washington to kill off what's left of "common carrier" policy. They wish to operate their Internet services as fully "private" networks. Phone and cable companies claim that the government shouldn't play a role in broadband regulation: Instead of the free and open network that offers equal access to all, they want to reduce the Internet to a series of business decisions between consumers and providers.

Besides their business interests, telephone and cable companies also have a larger political agenda. Both industries oppose giving local communities the right to create their own local Internet wireless or wi-fi networks. They also want to eliminate the last vestige of local oversight from electronic media--the ability of city or county government, for example, to require telecommunications companies to serve the public interest with, for example, public-access TV channels. The Bells also want to further reduce the ability of the FCC to oversee communications policy. They hope that both the FCC and Congress--via a new Communications Act--will back these proposals.

The future of the online media in the United States will ultimately depend on whether the Bells and cable companies are allowed to determine the country's "digital destiny." So before there are any policy decisions, a national debate should begin about how the Internet should serve the public. We must insure that phone and cable companies operate their Internet services in the public interest--as stewards for a vital medium for free expression.

If Americans are to succeed in designing an equitable digital destiny for themselves, they must mount an intensive opposition similar to the successful challenges to the FCC's media ownership rules in 2003. Without such a public outcry to rein in the GOP's corporate-driven agenda, it is likely that even many of the Democrats who rallied against further consolidation will be "tamed" by the well-funded lobbying campaigns of the powerful phone and cable industry. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/inauguration5.jpg|http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001957194|Gallup: More Than Half of Americans Feel Bush Deliberately Misled Country on Iraq WMD |Inauguration Day in Washington, DC - 20 January 2005| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/2/1341.htm|Colin Powell 'Anniversary' - The Mother of all Hoxes|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PowellSC1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/2/1341.htm|Colin Powell 'Anniversary' - The Mother of all Hoxes|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/princetonforum.jpg|http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1139389543130710.xml&coll=5|Princeton Debate Puts Dean in the Spotlight|Princeton University Forum featured Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter, Prof Cornell West, and Journalist Mark Bruzonsky| Princeton University criticized as `pro Bush'
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
By ELIZABETH LANDAU
Special to The Times

PRINCETON BOROUGH -- In a heated debate last night, journalist Mark Bruzonsky and Princeton professor Cornel West slammed the Woodrow Wilson School for inviting exclusively government and military officials to its 75th anniversary celebration, and not engaging these speakers in critical questioning.

The event put Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter on the spot in front of over more than 200 students, faculty and area residents in the university's McCosh Hall. Students who wrote a petition about the issue in October organized last night's discussion, which consisted of two hours of controversy.

Bruzonsky, a Princeton alumnus, accused Slaughter of using the university as a "stepping stone for future political positions in Washington, should the opportunity arise."

He said the lineup of government officials, but no independent journalists or analysts, led to a "parade" that does not reflect the real world.

"This is not, in my view, in the nation's service; it is in the government's service," he said. "This is a limiting, nationalistic approach which further cuts off Princetonians from our world as it really is."

Slaughter said she is unashamed to aspire to work in government, particularly in foreign policy, but denied that she used the university in the service of ambition. She called the accusation "very serious indeed."

Slaughter said her original intention was not to provide a preponderance of pro-Bush Republicans, including Condoleezza Rice, Gen. David Petraeus, and Michael Chertoff, at the 75th Anniversary event. Among those who were invited were Madeline Albright, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., to speak, but none was able to attend, she said.

"If you look at overall whom we invite, it is a very broad spectrum of people and we want it that way," she said.

Still, West and some students would like to see more "Socratic" dialogue at Princeton, especially with non-government intellectuals.

"When we want high dialogue to challenge our students, if you look to government bureaucrats, it's going to be difficult," West said. "That's what's intellectuals do -- they're suspicious of these folk who tell lies."

Bruzonsky repeatedly challenged Slaughter to do a content analysis of all foreign policy forums the school has sponsored since 2001. He predicted she would find a trend of pro-government speakers. Slaughter said she accepts the challenge, though Bruzonsky said he doubts the analysis will occur.

Audience members criticized Slaughter for her statement in October that Rice exemplifies the values of the Woodrow Wilson School. Slaughter said she stands by that remark.

"Like Woodrow Wilson, she took expertise from the academy and put it to work in service for her government," Slaughter said. "What the motto (`Princeton in the nation's service, and in the service of all nations') means is that we take our knowledge and energy and we put it to work in the service for the nation and all nations."

There could have been more opportunities for dialogue with officials such as Rice if their schedules had permitted it, Slaughter said. Rice wanted to spend eight hours at Princeton, mostly speaking with students in roundtable discussions, but unexpectedly had to return to Washington immediately after her address, Slaughter said.

Slaughter also was criticized for her lighthearted introduction of Petraeus when he spoke in October. "He e-mailed me while in the Battle of Fallujah," she had said. The audience wanted to know last night why she didn't question him more directly about his actions in Iraq during that speech.

Slaughter agreed that this could have been misconstrued. Though she did question Petraeus about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, she said she sees now how her introduction of Petraeus might have looked to others.

"It was missed opportunity, but more importantly it made light of something that is not to be made light of," she said.

At the end of the debate, Slaughter said she heard a lot she had not heard before and that it may change her behavior, but even if it doesn't, she learned something.

Bruzonsky insisted that little will change, but West remained hopeful. "There's still a chance that some kind of transformation can come about," West said. "There's still a chance that Anne-Marie Slaughter, as dean of the Woodrow Wilson School, can bring that about." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/princetonforum.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1343&month=2&year=2006&standalone=0|Speech at Princeton University by MER Publisher Mark Bruzonsky |Princeton University Forum featured Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter, Prof Cornell West, and Journalist Mark Bruzonsky| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranTargets.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/12/wiran12.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/12/ixnewstop.html| US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites|The U.S. along with Israel and other countries is preparing a military assault if Iran does not yield| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranTargets.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/2/1344.htm|TARGET IRAN!|The U.S. along with Israel and other countries is preparing a military assault if Iran does not yield| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WeeklyStandardCartoons.jpg|http://www.weeklystandard.com/|Jewish Neocon Weekly Standard Fans 'Clash of Civilizations' Flames|The Neocon WEEKLY STANDARD in the U.S. with close ties to the Israeli-Jewish Lobby first published the 'Clash of Civilizations' Mohamed Cartoons in the U.S.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iran-next.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/2/1347.htm |TARGET IRAN! Preparations By All|The U.S. and Israel have been preparing to take down Iran for some time -- yet the dangers of doing so are historic.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AbuGhraib2006-1.jpg|http://smh.com.au/news/world/the-photos-america-doesnt-want-seen/2006/02/14/1139890737099.html|The photos America doesn't want seen|More Damning Photos of Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq were finally published in Australia in February 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USTortureFlag.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1711833,00.html|British Judge Lambasts U.S. Over Gitmo and Torture|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/princetonforum.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/puspeech.htm|Princeton University Speech by Mark Bruzonsky|Princeton University Forum featured Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter, Prof Cornell West, and Journalist Mark Bruzonsky| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranTargets.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1710699,00.html|Bush plans huge propaganda campaign in Iran |The U.S. along with Israel and other countries is preparing a military assault if Iran does not yield| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf32.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1713411,00.html|Sadr Upsets Americans in Iraq Again| Iraqis loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hoist pictures of al-Sadr as they rally in the Imam Ali mosque complex as clashes take place between U.S. and Iraqi soldiers with Sadr's militia in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, Monday Aug. 16, 2004.|The American Ambassador in Iraq went on American TV this weekend threatening to stop the billions, no doubt on top of all the CIA help, to the Iraq government if it doesn't do what the Americans want. Of course the same thing is going on in other ways with regard to the Palestinians...and no doubt other countries and regimes as well. Sooner or later though the Americans are going to run out of money and blood just as they already have when it comes to credibility. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4731670.stm| US issues aid warning to Iraqis|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.|The Americans throw their money around much as they do their propaganda, their military, and their CIA. When things don't go their way they step up the threatening, badgering, and subverting. And when things are about to be pursued independently and contrary to American insistance they step up their demands and threats in all kinds of way, including in public. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/inauguration5.jpg|http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/opinions/story/3182465p-11895302c.html|'Time to Impeach Bush' - Bonnie Erbe in Sacramento Bee|Inauguration Day in Washington, DC - 20 January 2005| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AmbZal1.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4736394.stm|Washington's 'Power Broker' in Iraq|Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is the current American power-broker in Iraq and the region.|Ambassador Khal, as they nickname him in Washington, usually gets good press but the underlying reality is he has manuevered for short-term American gain at the expense of everything beginning to unravel from Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq. He may be good at manipulating people and groups in the Middle East but his fingers in the dikes aren't likely to be sufficient for much longer. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?version=0.9.93&category=Magazine&num=1366&month=2&year=2006&function=text&standalone=0|Washington: Paid Junkets to Israel to Continue|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.|"U.S. lawmakers took 163 privately funded trips to Israel; more than one in five current members of Congress have
traveled there. That compares with 139 to Mexico, the next most popular foreign destination, 97 to Italy and 87 to Germany... Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/protests_in_kashmir_10-27-01.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/WebResources-Arab-IsraeliConflict.htm|Arab-Israeli Conflict -- Web Resources|Crackdown on Protests in Kashmir, Oct 2001| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://www.st911.org/|Scholars for 9/11 Truth Keep on Writing and Talking|World Trade Centre|Remember now these guys are 'scholars'. That means rumpled soups, confused introductions, a tin-ear when it comes to big-time politics and the ways of the media. There presentation may be obtuse, long-winded, heavily foot-noted; and their groupings may be rather incestuous and for the rest of us not very vibrant or polished. BUT even so what they have to say is very important and when it comes to the whole 9/11 imbroglio they may be uncovering dark and deep secrets and realities that one can only hope the big media will at least now much more seriously investigate. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://www.st911.org/|Scholars for 9/11 Truth Keep on Writing and Talking|World Trade Centre|Remember now these guys are 'scholars'. That means rumpled suits, long-winded confused introductions, a tin-ear when it comes to real-time high politics and the ways of the big media. Their presentation may be obtuse, convoluted, heavily footnoted; and their groupings may be rather incestuous and for the rest of us not very vibrant, polished or even digestibly understandable. BUT even so what they have to say just may be very important; and when it comes to the whole 9/11 imbroglio they may be uncovering dark and deep secrets and realities that one can only hope the someone in the big polished media will at least now much more seriously investigate. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPoll.jpg|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/27/opinion/polls/main1350874.shtml|Bush at all time low - Cheney even much lower|George Bush's Poll Numbers were the lowest in history in February 2006|Bush - 34% approve
Cheney - 18% approve http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NKoreaMissiles.jpg|China condemns scrapping of Taiwan unification body|China's Pres Warns both Taiwan and the U.S.|North Korean Missiles Can Strike Regionally...Maybe continentally| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/cronkite2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/2/1373.htm |The Warnings of World War III|Walter Cronkite Warns of WWIII|As the preparations for the Iraqi invasion/occupation were underway early in the Bush/Cheney first term, long-time journalist Walter Cronkite decided to speak up with a big warning -- a warning that World War III itself could be in the balance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WeeklyStandardCartoons.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_bridging_the_gap;_ylt=AgRXkIMY9xVOgq2SGSUz09ILewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--|Tutu: Muslim Anger Not Just About Cartoons|The Neocon WEEKLY STANDARD in the U.S. with close ties to the Israeli-Jewish Lobby first published the 'Clash of Civilizations' Mohamed Cartoons in the U.S.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushFoot.jpg|http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060301/D8G2QMNO0.html|Bush Visit Protested by large vocal crowds in India| Muslim protesters stamp on a photograph of U.S. President George W. Bush during a demonstration in Hyderabad, India on 1 March 2006. Bush headed for India after a 'surprise' visit to Afghanistan for talks on a landmark U.S.-Indian nuclear pact and as large numbers of Indians rallied in New Delhi to protest his visit. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JohnNegroponte.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/intelligence_congress;_ylt=At7mDLQjWRNYk3UaZAPlcrKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--|The Whole Middle East Could Explode - Negroponte Tells Senate|National Intelligence Director John Negroponte testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill on Feb. 28, 2006, on national security threats. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Pakistan-3March06.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060303/ap_on_re_as/bush|Bush's Stealth Arrival into Islamabad|George Bush Visited An Enragged Pakistan in early March 2006|With all lights out and shades pulled down tight the Presidential plane landed in Islamabad. From there no one knew if the president took one of the two Helicopters or the motorcade to the heavily fortified American Embassy. Meanwhile the Pakistani crowds around the country were burning him in effigy and declaring him 'Vampire Bush' and other not so respectful names. During his visit the President toasted the military dictator who seized power seven years ago even as he pursued his quite nonsensical 'democracy' theme. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GeneralPeterPace1.jpg||General Peter Pace - Things Going Very Well in Iraq!|Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Americans on Meet The Press on 5 March 2006 that things are going "very well in Iraq in every way."|Things in Iraq are going very well...from every way you look at it."

"We are not getting the goodness out to the American people in the right way."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Marine General Peter Pace http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Poll5March06.jpg|http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002115227|Gallup: 2 Out of 3 Americans Want U.S. Pull Out from Iraq |Lowest Ever Public Support for the Bush/Cheney Administration was reported in March 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/americanjewscapitolhill.jpg|http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/fc/World/mideast_conflict/opinion___editorials/SIG=11h8ftioe;_ylt=AgfSij5_8gejehC0mnflDZsUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--/*http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/690417.html|Israelis Thank AIPAC in pages of Ha'aretz|American Jews Have the Most Powerful Foreign Policy Lobby in Wasington|Even with its former top staff people under indictment essentially for spying for Israel, AIPAC rolls on just concluding its latest annual conference where just about all the senior officials from the Bush/Cheney regime came to speak and find out what they need do to keep this powerful lobby on their side at this critical time. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/americanjewscapitolhill.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/690417.html|Israelis Thank AIPAC in pages of Ha'aretz|American Jews Have the Most Powerful Foreign Policy Lobby in Washington|Even with its former top staff people under indictment essentially for spying for Israel, AIPAC rolls on just concluding its latest annual conference where just about all the senior officials from the Bush/Cheney regime came to speak and find out what they need do to keep this powerful lobby on their side at this critical time. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranThreatens.jpg|http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1699387|Iran Threatens U.S. With 'Harm and Pain'|Immediately after Vice-President Cheney PubliclyThreatened Iran before the annual convention of the powerful Israeli-Jewish Lobby, AIPAC, the Iranians made some new threats of their own.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Oscar.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/3/1379.htm|JEWISH HOLLYWOOD: PARADISE NOW as well as MUNICH both lost and 'minimized'|Both 'Paradise Now' and 'Munich' were shut out at the 2006 Oscars in largely Jewish and Israeli-oriented Hollywood.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CheneyRetire.jpg|http://news.ft.com/cms/s/aaf675ba-afb6-11da-b417-0000779e2340.html|Arabs Realize Bush No Longer in Control in Washington|Reuters Ran This Picture of Vice-President Cheney in March 2006| With the Republican Congress nearly panicked about the upcoming November mid-term election, and with the Bush/Cheney White House aware that even Impeachment is now possible, the likelihood of something major being provoked and pursued in the Middle East by Washington in tandem with Israel is growing fast. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SandraDayO'Connor.jpg|http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002903.html|Justice O'Connor Rips into Neocons and Warms of 'Beginnings of Dictatorship'|Soon after retirning former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ripped into the Washington Neocons and warned of 'the beginnings of dictatorship'| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SandraDayO'Connor.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seery/pomona-college-professor-_b_17062.html|American 'Gestapo' Visits Another Professor for a little chat|Soon after retiring former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ripped into the Washington establishment and warned of 'the beginnings of dictatorship'| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CheneyRetire.jpg|http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS01/603090376/1006|Dan Rather: American Journalism In Need of 'Spine Transplant'|Reuters Ran This Picture of Vice-President Cheney in March 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MuqtadaAl-Sadr.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395579454&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|U.S., U.K, and Israel - The 'Triad of Evil' Says Top Iraqi Leader|Popular Iraqi Leader Muqtada Al-Sadr calling the U.S., U.K, and Israel the 'triad of evil' at a press conference in early March 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GeneralPeterPace1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1387&month=3&year=2006&function=text&standalone=0|Greatest Air Assault Since Invasion Under Way in Iraq as Preparations to strike Iran escalate|Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Americans on Meet The Press on 5 March 2006 that things are going "very well in Iraq in every way."|Nothing less than ongoing subjugation and control of the region through a combination of military force, super technology, CIA ops, gigantic money expenditures, hated Arab 'client regimes', and Israel of course is currently underway more than ever -- all disguised from gullible Americans with simplistic and to say the least dishonest 'democracy' and 'freedom' rhetoric. The Pentagon's Top General, Peter Pace, went public the other evening obliquely threatening Iran in public with overwhelming U.S. military force. And the 'doctrine of preemption' is being dusted off and re-assserted today in imperial Washington in order to provide the justification for the under-preparation U.S./Israel/NATO strike on Iran. All this even as the largest air assault since the Iraqi invasion three years ago is now underway in occupied under siege Iraq. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/dontbuyit.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/3/1388.htm|Another 9/11 Looming - By Provocation or 'Black Op'|The WAR - Don't Buy It!| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/pentagon-israel.gif|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/3/1389.htm|The Powerful Washington Jewish-Israeli Lobby|Israel and the Pentagon have become more intertwined than ever during the Bush/Cheney Administration|This is a vital subject, The Jewish-Israel Lobby, but it is one rarely paid the attention it is due and one hardly ever discussed as openly and thoughtfully, and as honestly and 'candidly', as it should be. These two well-known American academics, one from the University of Chicago the other from Harvard, make a limited stab at doing so in this nevertheless quite important article. But they glose over far too much, almost totally overlook far more, and at the end of the day pull far too many punches in view of the unique sensitivities this subject arouses within American society and American Jewry. Furthermore the article comes only now, it seems, because two of the most important long-time AIPAC figures are under indictment -- not as 'spys' which in other settings could and would be the charge, but for improperly handling 'classified' information which in the end got to the Israelis. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DOD-IsraelShadows.jpg|http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/conspiracy_theory/fullstory.asp?id=303|THE DANCING ISRAELIS: An unprecedented honest analysis of 9/11 and Bush’s war on terror” || http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WTTFlame.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/3/1397.htm|9/11 and all the Growing Doubt, Skepticism, Disbelief||When Hollywood celebrity Charlie Sheen came out last week the events of 9/11 and since have come under a greater 'credibility gap' than ever. This review of all the doubt from the current issue of New York Magazine is a very useful and interesting article, even if the skepticism is considerable, some parts quite incomplete, and the focus not always clear. But it sure makes for good weekend reading! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TIME-BeVeryWorried.jpg|http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176081,00.html|BE WORRIED, VERY WORRIED!|TIME Magazine - March 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/March06andback.jpg|http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176959,00.html|Republican Panic - And Impeachment Fears|Bush's Big Public Approval Slide | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/najaf26.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/3/1385.htm|NYTimes Top Reporter Back from Baghdad Predicts U.S. will 'fail' in Iraq|Iraqi supporters of radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr (pictures) demonstrate against US occupation in front of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest religious sites for Shiite Muslims.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/stopbushmirror.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html?incamp=article_popular|Bush, Cheney, and the Zionist Neocons Had War in Mind Right from the Get-Go|'There is a lunatic with weapons of mass destruction 'ramping up' for a war that will imperil the whole world. Stop Bush! '| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranBanner.jpg|http://news.ft.com/cms/s/357292b2-c01c-11da-939f-0000779e2340.html|Big powers fail to agree next move on Iran|"Israel should be wiped out of the face of the world" reads a banner at a rally in Iran.|This was inevitable of course, and everyone has known there would be this U.N. Security Council 'big power' deadlock when it comes to sanctioning Iran. What now comes is not inevitable, but the U.S. and Israel have already set in motion plans to continue hard with the 'regime change' approach while preparing military action to devastate Iran's military capabilities. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush_with_star.jpg|New http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=11027|New Christian pro-Israel lobby powerful than AIPAC|Israel: the 51st state?| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/aipac1.jpg|http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=10831|Where does AIPAC stand from U.S. interests?|The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the lead organization lobbying for Israel on Capitol Hill in Washington| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/UncleNuclearSmall.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,,1746244,00.html|Iranian Crisis Traced To Israeli Nukes and U.S.-Europe Policies|| These kinds of historical realities don't often make it to the newspapers or daily television; but they are the backdrop to what is happening today and to the dangerous world these policies of the past have stimulated. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wewillnukeyou.gif|http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nuke6apr06,0,5989419.story?coll=la-home-headlines|Bush - We Need More Nukes!|'We'll Nuke You!' - New York Post, 11 Dec 2002| Even as the Americans are declaring others cannot have any major weapons systems, they are racing ahead building more ever-more-sophisticated nuclear weapons, high-tech 'conventional' weapons, and still increasing their military budget which is larger than the rest of the world's all combined! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPlanningNukeIran1.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=C3HY5I431EHHRQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/04/09/wbush09.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/04/09/ixportaltop.html| Bush 'is planning nuclear strikes on Iran's secret sites'|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPlanningNukeIran1.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/09/wbush09.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/04/09/ixportaltop.html| Bush 'is planning nuclear strikes on Iran's secret sites'|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mushroomcloud.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2763-2125564,00.html|Bush plans strike on Iran's nuclear sites|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NBC-4-14-06.jpg|http://newsbusters.org/node/4856|Lauer Lays Low as Carville Claims US Military "Almost in a State of Rebellion"|Overwhelming Vote for Bush Impeachment in the online 'unscientific' NBC Poll on 14 April 2006| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Don'tDoIran-ACCover.jpg|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12313869/|Six former senior officers have publicly called for change due to Iraq|Cover of the 10 April 2006 issue of THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranWomanSoldiers.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/15/060415084241.xdv0o3w3.html|Iran issues stark military warning to United States|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/UnknownMao.jpg|http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-04-15T001712Z_01_N14358593_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-HU-DINNER.xml&rpc=22|Microsoft Chairman, Not U.S. President, to hose 'State Dinner' || http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AirForceOneIran.jpg|http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=kinsley+iran&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D7632283c84c33ac2%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3Dkinsley%2Biran%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fslate.msn.com%252Fid%252F2139843%252F%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPToolbarNS%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fslate.msn.com%2Fid%2F2139843%2F|* Setting IRAN Straight - Michael Kinsley|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mushroomcloud.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060416-103032-8779r.htm|Global storm warning|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RollingStoneBushCover.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RollingStoneBushCover.jpg|Worst President in History? Leading American Historian at Princeton Univ Gives His Conclusions in Rolling Stone|Worst President in History? Leading American Historian at Princeton Univ Gives His Conclusions in Rolling Stone| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wwe_logo.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FEE6E1E5-DCC0-4E8A-80CF-FFCCA2BC4C2A.htm|Bin Laden: West waging a crusade|War Without End| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ifonlyihadabrain.jpg|http://www.vanityfair.com/features/general/articles/060417fege07|Global Warming Crisis - While Washington Slept|Satirical Fun poked at the intelligence-challenged American President during the 2004 campaign.|The Queen of England is afraid. International C.E.O.'s are nervous. And the scientific establishment is loud and clear. If global warming isn't halted, rising sea levels could submerge coastal cities by 2100. So how did this virtual certainty get labeled a "liberal hoax"? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushcrusader.jpg|http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060421.html|If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President|A caricature that appeared in the Village Voice soon after the 20 January 2005 Bush Inaugural| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg||Breaking the Last Taboo - The United States of Israel?|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.|Breaking the Last Taboo
The United States of Israel?
By ROBERT FISK

Stephen Walt towers over me as we walk in the Harvard sunshine past Eliot Street, a big man who needs to be big right now (he's one of two authors of an academic paper on the influence of America's Jewish lobby) but whose fame, or notoriety, depending on your point of view, is of no interest to him. "John and I have deliberately avoided the television shows because we don't think we can discuss these important issues in 10 minutes. It would become 'J' and 'S', the personalities who wrote about the lobby - and we want to open the way to serious discussion about this, to encourage a broader discussion of the forces shaping US foreign policy in the Middle East."

"John" is John Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago. Walt is a 50-year-old tenured professor at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. The two men have caused one of the most extraordinary political storms over the Middle East in recent American history by stating what to many non-Americans is obvious: that the US has been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of Israel, that Israel is a liability in the "war on terror", that the biggest Israeli lobby group, Aipac (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), is in fact the agent of a foreign government and has a stranglehold on Congress - so much so that US policy towards Israel is not debated there - and that the lobby monitors and condemns academics who are critical of Israel.

"Anyone who criticises Israel's actions or argues that pro-Israel groups have significant influence over US Middle East policy," the authors have written, "...stands a good chance of being labelled an anti-Semite. Indeed, anyone who merely claims that there is an Israeli lobby runs the risk of being charged with anti-Semitism ... Anti-Semitism is something no-one wants to be accused of." This is strong stuff in a country where - to quote the late Edward Said - the "last taboo" (now that anyone can talk about blacks, gays and lesbians) is any serious discussion of America's relationship with Israel.

Walt is already the author of an elegantly written account of the resistance to US world political dominance, a work that includes more than 50 pages of references. Indeed, those who have read his Taming Political Power: The Global Response to US Primacy will note that the Israeli lobby gets a thumping in this earlier volume because Aipac "has repeatedly targeted members of Congress whom it deemed insufficiently friendly to Israel and helped drive them from office, often by channelling money to their opponents."

But how many people in America are putting their own heads above the parapet, now that Mearsheimer and Walt have launched a missile that would fall to the ground unexploded in any other country but which is detonating here at high speed? Not a lot. For a while, the mainstream US press and television - as pro-Israeli, biased and gutless as the two academics infer them to be - did not know whether to report on their conclusions (originally written for The Atlantic Monthly, whose editors apparently took fright, and subsequently reprinted in the London Review of Books in slightly truncated form) or to remain submissively silent. The New York Times, for example, only got round to covering the affair in depth well over two weeks after the report's publication, and then buried its article in the education section on page 19. The academic essay, according to the paper's headline, had created a "debate" about the lobby's influence.

They can say that again. Dore Gold, a former ambassador to the UN, who now heads an Israeli lobby group, kicked off by unwittingly proving that the Mearsheimer-Walt theory of "anti-Semitism" abuse is correct. "I believe," he said, "that anti-Semitism may be partly defined as asserting a Jewish conspiracy for doing the same thing non-Jews engage in." Congressman Eliot Engel of New York said that the study itself was "anti-Semitic" and deserved the American public's contempt.

Walt has no time for this argument. "We are not saying there is a conspiracy, or a cabal. The Israeli lobby has every right to carry on its work - all Americans like to lobby. What we are saying is that this lobby has a negative influence on US national interests and that this should be discussed. There are vexing problems out in the Middle East and we need to be able to discuss them openly. The Hamas government, for example - how do we deal with this? There may not be complete solutions, but we have to try and have all the information available."

Walt doesn't exactly admit to being shocked by some of the responses to his work - it's all part of his desire to keep "discourse" in the academic arena, I suspect, though it probably won't work. But no-one could be anything but angered by his Harvard colleague, Alan Dershowitz, who announced that the two scholars recycled accusations that "would be seized on by bigots to promote their anti-Semitic agendas". The two are preparing a reply to Dershowitz's 45-page attack, but could probably have done without praise from the white supremacist and ex-Ku Klux Klan head David Duke - adulation which allowed newspapers to lump the name of Duke with the names of Mearsheimer and Walt. "Of Israel, Harvard and David Duke," ran the Washington Post's reprehensible headline.

The Wall Street Journal, ever Israel's friend in the American press, took an even weirder line on the case. "As Ex-Lobbyists of Pro-Israel Group Face Court, Article Queries Sway on Mideast Policy" its headline proclaimed to astonished readers. Neither Mearsheimer nor Walt had mentioned the trial of two Aipac lobbyists - due to begin next month - who are charged under the Espionage Act with receiving and disseminating classified information provided by a former Pentagon Middle East analyst. The defence team for Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman has indicated that it may call Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley to the stand.

Almost a third of the Journal's report is taken up with the Rosen-Weissman trial, adding that the indictment details how the two men "allegedly sought to promote a hawkish US policy toward Iran by trading favours with a number of senior US officials. Lawrence Franklin, the former Pentagon official, has pleaded guilty to misusing classified information. Mr Franklin was charged with orally passing on information about a draft National Security Council paper on Iran to the two lobbyists... as well as other classified information. Mr Franklin was sentenced in December to nearly 13 years in prison..."

The Wall Street Journal report goes on to say that lawyers and "many Jewish leaders" - who are not identified - "say the actions of the former Aipac employees were no different from how thousands of Washington lobbyists work. They say the indictment marks the first time in US history that American citizens... have been charged with receiving and disseminating state secrets in conversations." The paper goes on to say that "several members of Congress have expressed concern about the case since it broke in 2004, fearing that the Justice Department may be targeting pro-Israel lobbying groups, such as Aipac. These officials (sic) say they're eager to see the legal process run its course, but are concerned about the lack of transparency in the case."

As far as Dershowitz is concerned, it isn't hard for me to sympathise with the terrible pair. He it was who shouted abuse at me during an Irish radio interview when I said that we had to ask the question "Why?" after the 11 September 2001 international crimes against humanity. I was a "dangerous man", Dershowitz shouted over the air, adding that to be "anti-American" - my thought-crime for asking the "Why?" question - was the same as being anti-Semitic. I must, however, also acknowledge another interest. Twelve years ago, one of the Israeli lobby groups that Mearsheimer and Walt fingers prevented any second showing of a film series on Muslims in which I participated for Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel - by stating that my "claim" that Israel was building large Jewish settlements on Arab land was "an egregious falsehood". I was, according to another Israeli support group, "a Henry Higgins with fangs", who was "drooling venom into the living rooms of America."

Such nonsense continues to this day. In Australia to launch my new book on the Middle East, for instance, I repeatedly stated that Israel - contrary to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists - was not responsible for the crimes of 11 September 2001. Yet the Australian Jewish News claimed that I "stopped just millimetres short of suggesting that Israel was the cause of the 9/11 attacks. The audience reportedly (and predictably) showered him in accolades."

This was untrue. There was no applause and no accolades and I never stopped "millimetres" short of accusing Israel of these crimes against humanity. The story in the Australian Jewish News is a lie.

So I have to say that - from my own humble experience - Mearsheimer and Walt have a point. And for a man who says he has not been to Israel for 20 years - or Egypt, though he says he had a "great time" in both countries - Walt rightly doesn't claim any on-the-ground expertise. "I've never flown into Afghanistan on a rickety plane, or stood at a checkpoint and seen a bus coming and not known if there is a suicide bomber aboard," he says.

Noam Chomsky, America's foremost moral philosopher and linguistics academic - so critical of Israel that he does not even have a regular newspaper column - does travel widely in the region and acknowledges the ruthlessness of the Israeli lobby. But he suggests that American corporate business has more to do with US policy in the Middle East than Israel's supporters - proving, I suppose, that the Left in the United States has an infinite capacity for fratricide. Walt doesn't say he's on the left, but he and Mearsheimer objected to the invasion of Iraq, a once lonely stand that now appears to be as politically acceptable as they hope - rather forlornly - that discussion of the Israeli lobby will become.

Walt sits in a Malaysian restaurant with me, patiently (though I can hear the irritation in his voice) explaining that the conspiracy theories about him are nonsense. His stepping down as dean of the Kennedy School was a decision taken before the publication of his report, he says. No one is throwing him out. The much-publicised Harvard disclaimer of ownership to the essay - far from being a gesture of fear and criticism by the university as his would-be supporters have claimed - was mainly drafted by Walt himself, since Mearsheimer, a friend as well as colleague, was a Chicago scholar, not a Harvard don.

But something surely has to give.

Across the United States, there is growing evidence that the Israeli and neo-conservative lobbies are acquiring ever greater power. The cancellation by a New York theatre company of My Name is Rachel Corrie - a play based on the writings of the young American girl crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 - has deeply shocked liberal Jewish Americans, not least because it was Jewish American complaints that got the performance pulled.

"How can the West condemn the Islamic world for not accepting Mohamed cartoons," Philip Weiss asked in The Nation, "when a Western writer who speaks out on behalf of Palestinians is silenced? And why is it that Europe and Israel itself have a healthier debate over Palestinian human rights than we can have here?" Corrie died trying to prevent the destruction of a Palestinian home. Enemies of the play falsely claim that she was trying to stop the Israelis from collapsing a tunnel used to smuggle weapons. Hateful e-mails were written about Corrie. Weiss quotes one that reads: "Rachel Corrie won't get 72 virgins but she got what she wanted."

Saree Makdisi - a close relative of the late Edward Said - has revealed how a right-wing website is offering cash for University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) students who report on the political leanings of their professors, especially their views on the Middle East. Those in need of dirty money at UCLA should be aware that class notes, handouts and illicit recordings of lectures will now receive a bounty of $100. "I earned my own inaccurate and defamatory 'profile'," Makdisi says, "...not for what I have said in my classes on English poets such as Wordsworth and Blake - my academic speciality, which the website avoids mentioning - but rather for what I have written in newspapers about Middle Eastern politics."

Mearsheimer and Walt include a study of such tactics in their report. "In September 2002," they write, "Martin Kramer and Daniel Pipes, two passionately pro-Israel neo-conservatives, established a website (www.campus-watch.org) that posted dossiers on suspect academics and encouraged students to report behaviour that might be considered hostile to Israel... the website still invites students to report 'anti-Israel' activity."

Perhaps the most incendiary paragraph in the essay - albeit one whose contents have been confirmed in the Israeli press - discusses Israel's pressure on the United States to invade Iraq. "Israeli intelligence officials had given Washington a variety of alarming reports about Iraq's WMD programmes," the two academics write, quoting a retired Israeli general as saying: "Israeli intelligence was a full partner to the picture presented by American and British intelligence regarding Iraq's non-conventional capabilities."

Walt says he might take a year's sabbatical - though he doesn't want to get typecast as a "lobby" critic - because he needs a rest after his recent administrative post. There will be Israeli lobbyists, no doubt, who would he happy if he made that sabbatical a permanent one. I somehow doubt he will.

Robert Fisk writes for the Independent.
April 27, 2006


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2006/4/1415.htm|'The Israel Lobby' Paper Keeps On Ticking|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.| It's hard to remember any 'academic paper' that has unleashed such a firestore of interest, applause, and vilification. The two highly respected academic authors no doubt knew they were walking on eggshells and about to hit sensitive political/social nerves, but it's doubtful they realized how abusive, slanderous, and sustained the mudslinging would become. Originally commissioned by The Atlantic Monthly, which now has taken an oath of silence and apparently gotten the Professors to agree it seems, the article didn't find a major publisher in the States where it is most relevant and timely. It ended up in a late March issue of The London Review of Books, but in the age of the Internet it quickly got extraordinary circulation far beyond. Robert Fisk takes it from there in his insightful article published today: http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/U.S-Israel-Flags-Capital.jpg|http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-05-02T172208Z_01_L02627060_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml&rpc=22|Iran threatens Israel if US acts "evil"|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/02/060502135044.qjynk2dl.html|Hollywood star Robbins blasts US media ignorance of 'high crimes' in Iraq|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iransurrounded.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050800141.html|Officials: Iran's President Writes to Bush|The U.S., and Israel, now have Iran militarily surrounded.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNukeAmbitions.jpg|http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12983.htm|And We Think We Are Free - Part 2|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranPres.jpg|http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12984.htm|Full Text : The President of Iran's Letter To President Bush|Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to President Bush in early May 2006 - the first time direct contact has been made since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushIsraelFlag.jpg|http://www.forward.com/articles/7764|Groups to Bush: Drop Iran-Israel Linkage|| The Jewish-Israel Lobby is showing increased signs of nervousness and insecurity in Washington, as this article from THE FORWARD demonstrates. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNukeAmbitions.jpg|| Full Text: The President of Iran's Letter to President Bush || Full Text: The President of Iran's Letter to President Bush
Translated by Le Monde

Tuesday 09 May 2006

Mr. George Bush,
President of the United States of America

For sometime now I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena - which are being constantly debated, specially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hopes that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them.

Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ (PBUH), the great Messenger of God, Feel obliged to respect human rights, Present liberalism as a civilization model, Announce one's opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs, Make War and Terror his slogan, And finally, Work towards the establishment of a unified international community - a community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern, But at the same time, Have countries attacked; The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the ... of a ... criminals in a village city, or convoy for example the entire village, city or convey set ablaze. Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around one hundred thousand people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps fifty years. At what price? Hundreds of billions of dollars spent from the treasury of one country and certain other countries and tens of thousands of young men and women - as occupation troops - put in harms way, taken away from family and love ones, their hands stained with the blood of others, subjected to so much psychological pressure that everyday some commit suicide ant those returning home suffer depression, become sickly and grapple with all sorts of aliments; while some are killed and their bodies handed of their families.

On the pretext of the existence of WMDs, this great tragedy came to engulf both the peoples of the occupied and the occupying country. Later it was revealed that no WMDs existed to begin with.

Of course Saddam was a murderous dictator. But the war was not waged to topple him, the announced goal of the war was to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction. He was toppled along the way towards another goal, nevertheless the people of the region are happy about it. I point out that throughout the many years of the ... war on Iran Saddam was supported by the West.

Mr. President,

You might know that I am a teacher. My students ask me how can theses actions be reconciled with the values outlined at the beginning of this letter and duty to the tradition of Jesus Christ (PBUH), the Messenger of peace and forgiveness.

There are prisoners in Guantanamo Bay that have not been tried, have no legal representation, their families cannot see them and are obviously kept in a strange land outside their own country. There is no international monitoring of their conditions and fate. No one knows whether they are prisoners, POWs, accused or criminals.

European investigators have confirmed the existence of secret prisons in Europe too. I could not correlate the abduction of a person, and him or her being kept in secret prisons, with the provisions of any judicial system. For that matter, I fail to understand how such actions correspond to the values outlined in the beginning of this letter, i.e. the teachings of Jesus Christ (PBUH), human rights and liberal values.

Young people, university students and ordinary people have many questions about the phenomenon of Israel. I am sure you are familiar with some of them.

Throughout history many countries have been occupied, but I think the establishment of a new country with a new people, is a new phenomenon that is exclusive to our times.

Students are saying that sixty years ago such a country did no exist. The show old documents and globes and say try as we have, we have not been able to find a country named Israel.

I tell them to study the history of WWI and II. One of my students told me that during WWII, which more than tens of millions of people perished in, news about the war, was quickly disseminated by the warring parties. Each touted their victories and the most recent battlefront defeat of the other party. After the war, they claimed that six million Jews had been killed. Six million people that were surely related to at least two million families.

Again let us assume that these events are true. Does that logically translate into the establishment of the state of Israel in the Middle East or support for such a state? How can this phenomenon be rationalized or explained?

Mr. President,

I am sure you know how - and at what cost - Israel was established: Many thousands were killed in the process.

Millions of indigenous people were made refugees.

Hundred of thousands of hectares of farmland, olive plantations, towns and villages were destroyed.

This tragedy is not exclusive to the time of establishment; unfortunately it has been ongoing for sixty years now.

A regime has been established which does not show mercy even to kids, destroys houses while the occupants are still in them, announces beforehand its list and plans to assassinate Palestinian figures and keeps thousands of Palestinians in prison. Such a phenomenon is unique - or at the very least extremely rare - in recent memory.

Another big question asked by people is why is this regime being supported? Is support for this regime in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ (PBUH) or Moses (PBUH) or liberal values? Or are we to understand that allowing the original inhabitants of these lands - inside and outside Palestine - whether they are Christian, Muslim or Jew, to determine their fate, runs contrary to principles of democracy, human rights and the teachings of prophets? If not, why is there so much opposition to a referendum?

The newly elected Palestinian administration recently took office. All independent observes have confirmed that this government represents the electorate. Unbelievingly, they have put the elected government under pressure and have advised it to recognise the Israeli regime, abandon the struggle and follow the programs of the previous government.

If the current Palestinian government had run on the above platform, would the Palestinian people have voted for it? Again, can such position taken in opposition to the Palestinian government be reconciled with the values outlined earlier? The people are also saying why are all UNSC resolutions in condemnation of Israel vetoed?

Mr. President,

As you are well aware, I live amongst the people and am in constant contact with them -many people from around the Middle East manage to contact me as well. They dot not have faith in these dubious policies either. There is evidence that the people of the region are becoming increasingly angry with such policies.

It is not my intention to pose to many questions, but I need to refer to other points as well.

Why is it that any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East regions is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime? Is not scientific R&D one of the basic rights of nations.

You are familiar with history. Aside from the Middle Ages, in what other point in history has scientific and technical progress been a crime? Can the possibility of scientific achievements being utilized for military purposes be reason enough to oppose science and technology altogether? If such a supposition is true, then all scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, engineering, etc. must be opposed.

Lies were told in the Iraqi matter. What was the result? I have no doubt that telling lies is reprehensible in any culture, and you do not like to be lied to.

Mr. President,

Don't Latin Americans have the right to ask, why their elected governments are being opposed and coup leaders supported? Or, why must they constantly be threatened and live in fear?

The people of Africa are hardworking, creative and talented. They can play an important and valuable role in providing for the needs of humanity and contribute to its material and spiritual progress. Poverty and hardship in large parts of Africa are preventing this from happening. Don't they have the right to ask why their enormous wealth - including minerals - is being looted, despite the fact that they need it more than others?

Again, do such actions correspond to the teachings of Christ and the tenets of human rights?

The brave and faithful people of Iran too have many questions and grievances, including: the coup d'etat of 1953 and the subsequent toppling of the legal government of the day, opposition to the Islamic revolution, transformation of an Embassy into a headquarters supporting, the activities of those opposing the Islamic Republic (many thousands of pages of documents corroborates this claim), support for Saddam in the war waged against Iran, the shooting down of the Iranian passenger plane, freezing the assets of the Iranian nation, increasing threats, anger and displeasure vis-à-vis the scientific and nuclear progress of the Iranian nation (just when all Iranians are jubilant and collaborating their country's progress), and many other grievances that I will not refer to in this letter.

Mr. President,

September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies.

All governments have a duty to protect the lives, property and good standing of their citizens. Reportedly your government employs extensive security, protection and intelligence systems - and even hunts its opponents abroad. September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services - or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren't those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?

All governments have a duty to provide security and peace of mind for their citizens. For some years now, the people of your country and neighbors of world trouble spots do not have peace of mind. After 9.11, instead of healing and tending to the emotional wounds of the survivors and the American people - who had been immensely traumatized by the attacks - some Western media only intensified the climates of fear and insecurity - some constantly talked about the possibility of new terror attacks and kept the people in fear. Is that service to the American people? Is it possible to calculate the damages incurred from fear and panic?

American citizen lived in constant fear of fresh attacks that could come at any moment and in any place. They felt insecure in the streets, in their place of work and at home. Who would be happy with this situation? Why was the media, instead of conveying a feeling of security and providing peace of mind, giving rise to a feeling of insecurity?

Some believe that the hype paved the way - and was the justification - for an attack on Afghanistan. Again I need to refer to the role of media. In media charters, correct dissemination of information and honest reporting of a story are established tenets. I express my deep regret about the disregard shown by certain Western media for these principles. The main pretext for an attack on Iraq was the existence of WMDs. This was repeated incessantly - for the public to, finally, believe - and the ground set for an attack on Iraq.

Will the truth not be lost in a contrive and deceptive climate? Again, if the truth is allowed to be lost, how can that be reconciled with the earlier mentioned values? Is the truth known to the Almighty lost as well?

Mr. President,

In countries around the world, citizens provide for the expenses of governments so that their governments in turn are able to serve them.

The question here is what has the hundreds of billions of dollars, spent every year to pay for the Iraqi campaign, produced for the citizens?

As your Excellency is aware, in some states of your country, people are living in poverty. Many thousands are homeless and unemployment is a huge problem. Of course these problems exist - to a larger or lesser extent - in other countries as well. With these conditions in mind, can the gargantuan expenses of the campaign - paid from the public treasury - be explained and be consistent with the aforementioned principles?

What has been said, are some of the grievances of the people around the world, in our region and in your country. But my main contention - which I am hoping you will agree to some of it - is: Those in power have specific time in office, and do not rule indefinitely, but their names will be recorded in history and will be constantly judged in the immediate and distant futures.

The people will scrutinize our presidencies.

Did we manage to bring peace, security and prosperity for the people or insecurity and unemployment? Did we intend to establish justice, or just supported especial interest groups, and by forcing many people to live in poverty and hardship, made a few people rich and powerful - thus trading the approval of the people and the Almighty with theirs'? Did we defend the rights of the underprivileged or ignore them? Did we defend the rights of all people around the world or imposed wars on them, interfered illegally in their affairs, established hellish prisons and incarcerated some of them? Did we bring the world peace and security or raised the specter of intimidation and threats? Did we tell the truth to our nation and others around the world or presented an inverted version of it?

Were we on the side of people or the occupiers and oppressors? Did our administration set out to promote rational behaviour, logic, ethics, peace, fulfilling obligations, justice, service to the people, prosperity, progress and respect for human dignity or the force of guns. Intimidation, insecurity, disregard for the people, delaying the progress and excellence of other nations, and trample on people's rights? And finally, they will judge us on whether we remained true to our oath of office - to serve the people, which is our main task, and the traditions of the prophets - or not?

Mr. President,

How much longer can the world tolerate this situation? Where will this trend lead the world to? How long must the people of the world pay for the incorrect decisions of some rulers? How much longer will the specter of insecurity - raised from the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction - hunt the people of the world? How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people's houses destroyed over their heads? Are you pleased with the current condition of the world? Do you think present policies can continue?

If billions of dollars spent on security, military campaigns and troop movement were instead spent on investment and assistance for poor countries, promotion of health, combating different diseases, education and improvement of mental and physical fitness, assistance to the victims of natural disasters, creation of employment opportunities and production, development projects and poverty alleviation, establishment of peace, mediation between disputing states and distinguishing the flames of racial, ethnic and other conflicts were would the world be today? Would not your government, and people be justifiably proud? Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger? And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever increasing global hatred of the American governments?

Mr. President, it is not my intention to distress anyone.

If prophet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishmael, Joseph or Jesus Christ (PBUH) were with us today, how would they have judged such behavior? Will we be given a role to play in the promised world, where justice will become universal and Jesus Christ (PBUH) will be present? Will they even accept us?

My basic question is this: Is there no better way to interact with the rest of the world? Today there are hundreds of millions of Christians, hundreds of millions of Moslems and millions of people who follow the teachings of Moses (PBUH). All divine religions share and respect on word and that is monotheism or belief in a single God and no other in the world.

The holy Koran stresses this common word and calls on an followers of divine religions and says: [3.64] Say: O followers of the Book! Come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught. With Him and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah, but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims. (The Family of Imran).

Mr. President,

According to divine verses, we have all been called upon to worship one God and follow the teachings of divine prophets. To worship a God which is above all powers in the world and can do all He pleases. The Lord which knows that which is hidden and visible, the past and the future, knows what goes on in the Hearts of His servants and records their deeds. The Lord who is the possessor of the heavens and the earth and all universe is His court planning for the universe is done by His hands, and gives His servants the glad tidings of mercy and forgiveness of sins. He is the companion of the oppressed and the enemy of oppressors. He is the Compassionate, the Merciful. He is the recourse of the faithful and guides them towards the light from darkness. He is witness to the actions of His servants, He calls on servants to be faithful and do good deeds, and asks them to stay on the path of righteousness and remain steadfast. Calls on servants to heed His prophets and He is a witness to their deeds. A bad ending belongs only to those who have chosen the life of this world and disobey Him and oppress His servants. And A good and eternal paradise belong to those servants who fear His majesty and do not follow their lascivious selves.

We believe a return to the teachings of the divine prophets is the only road leading to salvations. I have been told that Your Excellency follows the teachings of Jesus (PBUH), and believes in the divine promise of the rule of the righteous on Earth.

We also believe that Jesus Christ (PBUH) was one of the great prophets of the Almighty. He has been repeatedly praised in the Koran. Jesus (PBUH) has been quoted in Koran as well; [19,36] And surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serves Him; this is the right path, Marium.

Service to and obedience of the Almighty is the credo of all divine messengers.

The God of all people in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the Pacific and the rest of the world is one. He is the Almighty who wants to guide and give dignity to all His servants. He has given greatness to Humans.

We again read in the Holy Book: The Almighty God sent His prophets with miracles and clear signs to guide the people and show them divine signs and purity them from sins and pollutions. And He sent the Book and the balance so that the people display justice and avoid the rebellious.

All of the above verses can be seen, one way or the other, in the Good Book as well.

Divine prophets have promised: The day will come when all humans will congregate before the court of the Almighty, so that their deeds are examined. The good will be directed towards Haven and evildoers will meet divine retribution. I trust both of us believe in such a day, but it will not be easy to calculate the actions of rulers, because we must be answerable to our nations and all others whose lives have been directly or indirectly effected by our actions.

All prophets, speak of peace and tranquility for man - based on monotheism, justice and respect for human dignity.

Do you not think that if all of us come to believe in and abide by these principles, that is, monotheism, worship of God, justice, respect for the dignity of man, belief in the Last Day, we can overcome the present problems of the world - that are the result of disobedience to the Almighty and the teachings of prophets - and improve our performance?

Do you not think that belief in these principles promotes and guarantees peace, friendship and justice?

Do you not think that the aforementioned written or unwritten principles are universally respected?

Will you not accept this invitation? That is, a genuine return to the teachings of prophets, to monotheism and justice, to preserve human dignity and obedience to the Almighty and His prophets?

Mr. President,

History tells us that repressive and cruel governments do not survive. God has entrusted The fate of man to them. The Almighty has not left the universe and humanity to their own devices. Many things have happened contrary to the wishes and plans of governments. These tell us that there is a higher power at work and all events are determined by Him.

Can one deny the signs of change in the world today? Is this situation of the world today comparable to that of ten years ago? Changes happen fast and come at a furious pace.

The people of the world are not happy with the status quo and pay little heed to the promises and comments made by a number of influential world leaders. Many people around the world feel insecure and oppose the spreading of insecurity and war and do not approve of and accept dubious policies.

The people are protesting the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots and the rich and poor countries.

The people are disgusted with increasing corruption.

The people of many countries are angry about the attacks on their cultural foundations and the disintegration of families. They are equally dismayed with the fading of care and compassion. The people of the world have no faith in international organisations, because their rights are not advocated by these organizations.

Liberalism and Western style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the liberal democratic systems.

We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point - that is the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My question for you is: Do you not want to join them?

Mr. President,

Whether we like it or not, the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty and justice and the will of God will prevail over all things.

-------

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051106A.shtml http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IraqDollars.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1778041,00.html|Italy's Prodi condemns Iraq war as 'grave mistake' || http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/statuelibertywalking.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060521/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/prosecuting_reporters|Bush Cheney Threaten to Arrest Journalist Who Publish 'Secrets'|The French-gift Statue of Liberty is often caricatured at home and abroad in modern times| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MEMapColorful.jpg|http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33348|IRAN offered talks and peace with Israel in 2003 - vetoed by hard-line Washington neocons and Israelis||What's outlined here is likely to be true though in this world of subterranean politics and political/media manipulations it's harder than ever to know what is real and what is camaflouge and what is being twisted by whom for what reason. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushjesus2.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-2200170-524,00.html|My Lai IRAQ||Recalling the horrible massacres of the Vietnam War, the American Marines have now done it again, worse than ever, with repeated attempts to lie and cover it up that the world will find hard to forget for some time to come. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USTortureFlag.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/26/AR2006052601578.html?nav=most_emailed|KILLING FIELDS - Iraq Is the Republic of Fear||This is what the Americans have done to Iraq, turned it into a Killing Field far worse than it was in the past days of the Baathist regime. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/inauguration5.jpg|http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen|Was the 2004 Election Stolen?|Inauguration Day in Washington, DC - 20 January 2005| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gulfwarepisodeII.jpg|http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8777.shtml|Poll picks Bush as worst President in last 61 years|The Washington Crusaders satirized on a movie poster| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/antiwar.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR2006060400780.html|Iran's China Syndrome|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HumansSpace.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=390810&in_page_id=1770|Archbishop attacks 'toxic time in which we live'||It was just last month that long-time Georgetown in Washington hostess, and former Secretary of State,Madelein A lbright, declared Washington itself a 'Toxic' awful place to be. Now the word 'toxic' gets applied not just to Washington, but to our world and our times. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/inauguration5.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1799717,00.html|America's problem is again a usurping king called George|Inauguration Day in Washington, DC - 20 January 2005| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg||A Memoir of Life in George W Bush's America - Kurt Vonnegut|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.|Custodians of chaos

In this extract from his forthcoming memoirs, Kurt Vonnegut is horrified by the hypocrisy in contemporary US politics

By Kurt Vonnegut

06/17/06 -- "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." A lot of people think Jesus said that, because it is so much the sort of thing Jesus liked to say. But it was actually said by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, five hundred years before there was that greatest and most humane of human beings, named Jesus Christ.

The Chinese also gave us, via Marco Polo, pasta and the formula for gunpowder. The Chinese were so dumb they only used gunpowder for fireworks. And everybody was so dumb back then that nobody in either hemisphere even knew that there was another one.

We've sure come a long way since then. Sometimes I wish we hadn't. I hate H-bombs and the Jerry Springer Show

But back to people like Confucius and Jesus and my son the doctor, Mark, each of whom have said in their own way how we could behave more humanely and maybe make the world a less painful place. One of my favourite humans is Eugene Debs, from Terre Haute in my native state of Indiana.

Get a load of this. Eugene Debs, who died back in 1926, when I was not yet four, ran five times as the Socialist party candidate for president, winning 900,000 votes, almost 6 percent of the popular vote, in 1912, if you can imagine such a ballot. He had this to say while campaigning:

"As long as there is a lower class, I am in it.

"As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it.

"As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools, or health insurance for all?

When you get out of bed each morning, with the roosters crowing, wouldn't you like to say. "As long as there is a lower class, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

How about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

And so on.

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly George W Bush, Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld stuff.

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

"Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

It so happens that idealism enough for anyone is not made of perfumed pink clouds. It is the law! It is the US Constitution.

But I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened instead is that it was taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d'état imaginable.

I was once asked if I had any ideas for a really scary reality TV show. I have one reality show that would really make your hair stand on end: "C-Students from Yale".

George W Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka Christians, and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or PPs, the medical term for smart, personable people who have no consciences.

To say somebody is a PP is to make a perfectly respectable diagnosis, like saying he or she has appendicitis or athlete's foot. The classic medical text on PPs is The Mask of Sanity by Dr Hervey Cleckley, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia, published in 1941. Read it!

Some people are born deaf, some are born blind or whatever, and this book is about congenitally defective human beings of a sort that is making this whole country and many other parts of the planet go completely haywire nowadays. These were people born without consciences, and suddenly they are taking charge of everything.

PPs are presentable, they know full well the suffering their actions may cause others, but they do not care. They cannot care because they are nuts. They have a screw loose!

And what syndrome better describes so many executives at Enron and WorldCom and on and on, who have enriched themselves while ruining their employees and investors and country and who still feel as pure as the driven snow, no matter what anybody may say to or about them? And they are waging a war that is making billionaires out of millionaires, and trillionaires out of billionaires, and they own television, and they bankroll George Bush, and not because he's against gay marriage.

So many of these heartless PPs now hold big jobs in our federal government, as though they were leaders instead of sick. They have taken charge. They have taken charge of communications and the schools, so we might as well be Poland under occupation.

They might have felt that taking our country into an endless war was simply something decisive to do. What has allowed so many PPs to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. They are going to do something every fuckin' day and they are not afraid. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they don't give a fuck what happens next. Simply can't. Do this! Do that! Mobilise the reserves! Privatise the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody's telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield! Fuck habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times, and kiss my ass!

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: only nut cases want to be president. This was true even in high school. Only clearly disturbed people ran for class president.

The title of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is a parody of the title of Ray Bradbury's great science-fiction novel Fahrenheit 451. Four hundred and fifty-one degrees Fahrenheit is the combustion point, incidentally, of paper, of which books are composed. The hero of Bradbury's novel is a municipal worker whose job is burning books.

While on the subject of burning books, I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than have to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.

And still on the subject of books: our daily news sources, newspapers and TV, are now so craven, so unvigilant on behalf of the American people, so uninformative, that only in books do we learn what's really going on.

I will cite an example: House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, published in early 2004, that humiliating, shameful, blood-soaked year.

In case you haven't noticed, as the result of a shamelessly rigged election in Florida, in which thousands of African-Americans were arbitrarily disenfranchised, we now present ourselves to the rest of the world as proud, grinning, jut-jawed, pitiless war-lovers with appallingly powerful weaponry - who stand unopposed.

In case you haven't noticed, we are now as feared and hated all over the world as Nazis once were.

And with good reason.

In case you haven't noticed, our unelected leaders have dehumanised millions and millions of human beings simply because of their religion and race. We wound 'em and kill 'em and torture 'em and imprison 'em all we want.

Piece of cake.

In case you haven't noticed, we also dehumanised our own soldiers, not because of their religion or race, but because of their low social class.

Send 'em anywhere. Make 'em do anything.

Piece of cake.

The O'Reilly Factor.

So I am a man without a country, except for the librarians and a Chicago paper called In These Times.

Before we attacked Iraq, the majestic New York Times guaranteed there were weapons of mass destruction there.

Albert Einstein and Mark Twain gave up on the human race at the end of their lives, even though Twain hadn't even seen the first world war. War is now a form of TV entertainment, and what made the first world war so particularly entertaining were two American inventions, barbed wire and the machine gun.

Shrapnel was invented by an Englishman of the same name. Don't you wish you could have something named after you?

Like my distinct betters Einstein and Twain, I now give up on people, too. I am a veteran of the second world war and I have to say this is not the first time I have surrendered to a pitiless war machine.

My last words? "Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse."

Napalm came from Harvard. Veritas

Our president is a Christian? So was Adolf Hitler. What can be said to our young people, now that psychopathic personalities, which is to say persons without consciences, without senses of pity or shame, have taken all the money in the treasuries of our government and corporations, and made it all their own?

© 2005 Kurt Vonnegut Extracted from A Man Without a Country: : A Memoir of Life in George W Bush's America.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13659.htm http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/womanhamasyassin.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1444&month=6&year=2006&function=text&standalone=0|Israel and US Arm, Finance, Prepare Palestinians For Civil War|Hamas Is On the March in Occupied Palestine - This Woman With Picture of Assassinated Hamas Founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wwe_logo.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/06/12/DI2006061201204.html?sub=AR|Cheney - The Dark Side|War Without End| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iserael Warns.jpg|http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C20867%2C19645805-601%2C00.html|Israel warns: free soldier or PM dies|On 30 June 2006 the Israelis Issued This Stark Unprecedented Warning| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StephenHawkings.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-People-Hawking.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|Hawking Seeks Answers on Humanity's Future|Physicist Stephen Hawkings Has Questioned If Humanity Will Survive the next Hundred Years| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TIME Cover-9July06.jpg|http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/09/coverstory.tm.tm/index.html|Bush and the Neocon/Evangelical/Zionist Plan for the 'New World Order' Find Many Roadblocks|The Neocon/Evangelical/Zionist Plan for the 'New World Order' Is Running Into Many Roadblocks|Bush is just the front-man in this historical drama. Behind him are not only VP Dick Cheney but the powerful apparatus of the Christian Evangelicals and the largely Jewish Neocons and the more extensive Israeli/Jewish lobby. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TIMECover-EndCowboyDiplomacy.jpg|http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/09/coverstory.tm.tm/index.html|Bush and the Neocon/Evangelical/Zionist Plan for the 'New World Order' Find Many Roadblocks|The Neocon/Evangelical/Zionist Plan for the 'New World Order' Championned by the Americans Finding Many Roadblocks|Bush is just the front-man in this historical drama. Behind him are not only VP Dick Cheney but the powerful apparatus of the Christian Evangelicals and the largely Jewish Neocons and the more extensive Israeli/Jewish lobby. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HaniyehSpeakToWorld.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071001108.html|Aggression Under False Pretenses - By Ismail Haniyeh|Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh speaking during Friday prayers at a mosque in Gaza City on 30 June 2006.|It's a relative well-written Op Ed coming at a critical time. But as usual the Palestinians are attempting to substitute thoughful dialogue and historical realities for political power. It is the proversial too little coming too late and the Palestinians are nearly as defensely in the public relations sphere as they are on the battlefield. The Israelis have big tanks and attack helicopters to kill; and the Jewish/Israeli lobby to do something similar in the political and media arenas. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AbbasPNA.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885973812&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Abbas Tries to Press Americans By Threatening to Resign and Dissolve PA|Mahmoud Abbas Continues to head the Palestinian National Authority even with Hamas voted to power overwhelmingly|If only Abbas were serious and credible in his threats. In the end what he does now matters far less than it could have some time ago. Going back to his signing the Oslo agreement on the White House lawn Abbas and his corrupted Fateh 'leadership' are responsible for having brought the Palestinian people to their terrible and desperate state today. Consequently the resignation of Abbas and his dissolution of the US/Israeli-sponsored 'Palestinian Authority' that he nominally heads is now a good idea in fact. Taking this step would give lie to the constant Israeli attempts to recast the occupation onto the Palestinians themselves turning so many of their leaders, including Abbas, into collaborators, quislings, and, to use the old term from holocaust days, Kapos. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/abbasarafat.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885973812&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Abbas Tries to Press Americans By Threatening to Resign and Dissolve PA|A Palestinian artist paints murals of late the President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) (R) and Palestine Liberation Organization (news - web sites) leader Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza, December 10, 2004.| If only Abbas were serious and credible in his threats. In the end what he does now matters far less than it could have some time ago. Going back to his signing the Oslo agreement on the White House lawn Abbas and his corrupted Fateh 'leadership' are responsible for having brought the Palestinian people to their terrible and desperate state today. Consequently the resignation of Abbas and his dissolution of the US/Israeli-sponsored 'Palestinian Authority' that he nominally heads is now a good idea in fact. Taking this step would give lie to the constant Israeli attempts to recast the occupation onto the Palestinians themselves turning so many of their leaders, including Abbas, into collaborators, quislings, and, to use the old term from holocaust days, Kapos. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AbbasPNA.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885973812&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull| Abbas Tries to Press Americans By Threatening to Resign and Dissolve PA|Mahmoud Abbas Continues to head the Palestinian National Authority even with Hamas voted to power overwhelmingly| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/U.S-Israel-Flags-Capital.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?version=0.3.4&category=Magazine&num=1456&month=7&year=2006&function=text&standalone=1|Boycott Israel Say South Africans||If there are any people in our world who intimately understand racism and apartheid it is the South Africans. And though some of their leaders have not done so well over the years when it comes to the plight of the Palestinians the people of South Africa are now calling out not just to their own government but to the world. The call to boycott and ostracize Israel, a la the tactic that was applied to the apartheid South Africa of old, is right on the money, albeit rather late in history when it comes to this long-running terrible tragedy still ominously threatening the peace of the entire globe. But rather than heeding the call to justice and law the Americans have once again today violated all of their own principles by vetoing once again a Security Council resolution trying to restrain the Israelis. Shame on the Americans. Cheers for South Africa.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushLadyLiberty1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?version=0.9.93&category=Magazine&num=1454&month=7&year=2006&function=text&standalone=1|* SECRET WARS - BLACK OPS AGAINST IRAN AND NORTH KOREA UNDERWAY ||The American media -- cowered by the Washington politicians and on the take from the corporate money-men -- doesn't focus on these kinds of very important and insightful stories. But it was featured in the UK in the Sunday Times last weekend:
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BoycottIsrael.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?version=0.3.4&category=Magazine&num=1456&month=7&year=2006&function=text&standalone=1|Boycott Israel Say South Africans||If there are any people in our world who intimately understand racism and apartheid it is the South Africans. And though some of their leaders have not done so well over the years when it comes to the plight of the Palestinians the people of South Africa are now calling out not just to their own government but to the world. The call to boycott and ostracize Israel, a la the tactic that was applied to the apartheid South Africa of old, is right on the money, albeit rather late in history when it comes to this long-running terrible tragedy still ominously threatening the peace of the entire globe. But rather than heeding the call to justice and law the Americans have once again today violated all of their own principles by vetoing once again a Security Council resolution trying to restrain the Israelis. Shame on the Americans. Cheers for South Africa.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/9.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738315.html|War Escalation Coming - Syria Threatened, Iran Threatened|Headlines aAs the Dubai Port Deal|This war isn't about Lebanon, nor about Gaza. It's not about Hamas or Hezbollah. It is about IRAN, the only country in the region capable and determined to challenge Israel and the U.S.

And the War with IRAN is now well underway. Covert military actions are underway against IRAN. Many economic and financial actions, most covert, are also underway. Israeli intelligence is pointing the finger at IRAN for supplying weapons and funds to Lebanon and the Palestinians; as if the US isn't doing this for them in a far more massive way. And the Israeli lobby is the US is working overtime to target IRAN. AIPAC's annual convention last March at the Washington Convention Center has as it's theme: GET IRAN. Last evening Martin Indyk appeared on CBS News with the 'Get Iran' message which is also being pushed from other leading Israeli Lobby operatives both on the air as well as in all kinds of surreptitious ways. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel-IranMap.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/15/AR2006071500957_pf.html|Strikes Are Called Part of Broad Strategy||It ususally takes the Washington Post and the 'mainstream' corporate media awhile to really report what is going on in the larger context; and then when they do they are constantly holding back and pulling their punches afraid of the political and economic powers that be in the US. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/15/AR2006071500957_pf.html|Strikes Are Called Part of Broad Strategy|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.|It ususally takes the Washington Post and the 'mainstream' corporate media awhile to really report what is going on in the larger context; and then when they do they are constantly holding back and pulling their punches afraid of the political and economic powers that be in the US.

Among the things being held back, specific focus on those Arab 'client regimes' who are under-the-table actually backing what the US and Israel are doing. For more than anything else they are trying to stay in power and on top. And they fear the growing power of Iran, the resurgent Muslim groups throughout the Arab world including in their own countries, and what has long been termed 'the Arab street'. So we'll name the names of these client-regimes: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and many in the Christian side of the Lebanon divide. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/aipac.jpg|http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/18/dobbs.july19/index.html|Lou Dobbs Attacks U.S. Policies in the Middle East...and U.S. 'Smarts'|AIPAC is the powerful Israeli-Jewish Lobby in Washington|"In the Middle East, where is our sense of proportion? Where is our sense of perspective? Where is our sense of decency? And, finally, just how smart are we?"

Lou Dobbs sure ain't no 'lefty' or 'terrorist sympathizer'. But without focusing his rhetoric on 'The Israel Lobby' (remember now whom he works for) he sure has put the American alliance with Israel in critical focus. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushIsraelFlag.jpg|http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=11783|U.S. sends Israel bunker buster bombs to kill Nasrallah||What's really going on here is preparations for taking down Iran. The U.S. is rushing the very latest high-tech deep-penetration bombs to Israel and they will essentially be tested in Lebanon IF the Israelis can get away with doing so. Yes the bombs may be used to target and kill Nasrallah himself; but at the same time this is really about preparations to take on the big target which is Iran and maybe Syria at the same time. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AIPAC-Hillary-Condi.jpg|http://www.insightmag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=5D3B38F8A2584DB5A77BA05660C6045C&nm=Free+Access&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=67FCCAE52C43431D9C29EE0625389784|De Borchgrave: Israel’s actions will only spur anti-U.S. crusade||From one of the old-timers, now in his 80s, who understands the 'crazy' neocons and wants to stop them in their tracks before it's too late. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bush-personaNonGrata.jpg|http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives19.html|TIME TO TAME SYRIA - Begin-Sadat Center||The big push from the propagandists and the 'think-tanks' and the intelligence operatives is on -- the real targets are Syria and Iran!
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The current Israeli operation in Lebanon focuses on removing the threat posed to Israel by Hizballah missiles and on destroying Hizballah’s military infrastructure. Israel's use of force is fully justified and proportionate, considering the magnitude of the threat. However, Israel's employment of force is strategically misdirected. Israel should be targeting Damascus. Subduing Syria is the key to resolving the Lebanese crisis, to rolling back Hizballah, and to weakening Iran and its radical Islamist influence in the Middle East. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,,1830177,00.html|The LETHAL MISTAKES of Bush and Company Now On Display in the Middle East|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?version=&category=Magazine&num=1471&month=7&year=2006&function=text&standalone=1|Israel's QANA Massacres - 1996 and 2006|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.|THE ISRAELIS did it in 1996, lied about it, covered it up, badgered the U.N., and with the help of the Americans fired the Secretary-General. Now...2006... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranWomanSoldiers.jpg|http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=11799|World War III imminent?|| Of course those who are crying out and warning will be maligned and slandered and put down by the powers that be. But we are closer now to a world conflagration and to a true 'Clash of Civilizations' than we have ever been in the era of super weapons. And the cry should go out loud and clear to STOP THIS MADNESS before it is too late. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,,1835906,00.html|9/11 Commission Discussed Criminal Charges against Pentagon et. al. for Lying about 9/11|World Trade Centre|The credibility of the 9/11 Commission Report, essentially a government coverup whitewash according to many experts, was already in great doubt. Now, years later, comes this damning revelation that even may on the Commission wanted to bring criminal charges against government officials for purposefully deceiving and lying about what really happened on 9/11. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Hillary-Condi-AIPAC.jpg|http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/08/03/mideast/?source=whitelist|The neocons' next war||What's happening in the Middle East -- the U.S./Israel War of 2006 on top of the now disastrous civil war in Iraq -- is no accident. It has been planned in Washington and Israel for some time. And the goal is not simply to vanquish the Palestinians and bloody Hezbollah. This war is about nothing less than control of the region and for the U.S., Israel, and the Arab client regimes in be with Washington this is really about taking down Iran and Syria as well if it won't remove itself from the fight by acquiescing to American and Israeli demands. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Kean-Hamilton.jpg|http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060805/D8JA0FDG0.html|9/11 Commission Heads Trying to Regain Credibility|Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, Republican and Democrat, headed up the very questionable 9/11 Commission|Looks like the heads of the 9/11 Commission are hedging their bets about the veracity of their report. With their new rushed book they can claim the government itself -- the same government that set up the Commission -- lied to them and thus their Report was not really on the mark after all. Of course they are taking this step only now when poll after poll shows that what might be a majority of Americans don't believe their official 9/11 Report; and just a few days after even C-Span broadcast parts of a Scholars Conference that took place in L.A. in June not only challening the report but providing considerable evidence that one way or another the U.S. government itself was in on 9/11. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushadmits-ani.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5996198,00.html|Senator Edwards Wants Immediate Iraq Withdrawal|At a new conference in May 2006 with British Prime Minister Tony Blair President Bush Finally Admitted to Making Serious Mistakes in how he has spoken about Iraq.|With former Vice-Presidential Candidate Joe Lieberman fighting for his political life because of his unstinting support for the Iraq War, another former VP Candidate who wants to run for the top office in 2008 has his finger in the wind and as of today is calling for an immediate start to getting out of Iraq. By doing so of course former Senator Edwards if outflanking current Senator Clinton attempting to become the champion of the Democratic Party. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/UNIsraelVictory.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746632.html|Israel hails, Lebanon pans UN truce draft|After Major U.S. Efforts the UN Security Council Steps in largely on the Israeli Side| The U.S. is doing Israel's work at the U.N. -- throwing repeated political smoke bombs the biggest of which is the upcoming U.N. Security Council resolution which the U.S. has crafted to coordinate with Israeli designs. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/UNIsraeliTank.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1219241.ece| America's one-eyed view of war: Stars, stripes, and the Star of David|| There are two sides to every conflict - unless you rely on the US media for information about the battle in Lebanon. Viewers have been fed a diet of partisan coverage which treats Israel as the good guys and their Hizbollah enemy as the incarnation of evil. Andrew Gumbel reports from Los Angeles http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IraqIran.jpg|http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3291791,00.html|ISRAELIS TARGET IRAN MORE AND MORE|In late July 2006 the world appears sliding into some kind of much more serious quasi World War|ISRAELIS TARGET IRAN MORE AND MORE:

Shimon Peres rushed again to Washington where both privately and publicly he is loudly calling for nothing less than 'Preventing an Iranian Take-over of the Middle East.' 'The War is hardly over' says Peres; and the focus is clearly now more than ever on Iran http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushPsycho.jpg|http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/08/the_uk_terror_p.html|The Alleged UK Terror Plot...|| I wonder if Lieberman's defeat, the resilience of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the emergence of a Hezbollah-style government in Iraq had any bearing on the decision by Bush and Blair to pre-empt the British police and order this alleged plot disabled. I wish I didn't find these questions popping into my head. But the alternative is to trust the Bush administration. Been there. Done that. Learned my lesson.
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In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms. What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year - like thousands of other British Muslims. And not just Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushfinger1.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1219716.ece| Deputy PM criticises US handling of Middle East, condemning 'cowboy' President at private meeting|President George Bush Letting Out His Frustrations as his political fortunes deteriorated in 2005.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushjesus2.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525888240&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|World Council of Churches: Israel planned to destroy Lebanon||Every once and a while the World Council of Churches and other Christian groups seem to get it and try to say, and even sometimes do, something... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/antiwar.jpg|http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/FBI_Brooklyn_HDTV_company_provided_users_0824.html|FBI Arress TV cable man for offering Al-Manar from Lebanon|| The proverbial 'slippery slope' has come to American 'freedom' and 'democracy'. When the government not only creates and subsidizes media of its own, and then blocks and outlaws media it doesn't like, we are already well on the way to neo-facist realities, no matter how much many Americans just don't seem to get it or prefer to look the other way.


a neo-facist http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/U.S-Israel-Flags-Capital.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525933028&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Israel may 'go it alone' against Iran|| The Israelis really can't do it alone; no matter what is done it will be with very careful and close U.S. coordination and the proverbial 'green light'. Plus of course the U.S. provides the super bombs and billions of dollars in the latest high-tech weapons that the Israelis use for whatever they do. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MEMapColorful.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2340486,00.html|Israel Prepares Itself as well as US for War with Iran and Syria - IL||This is what is really going on behind-the-scenes. And this is what the war with Hezbollah, the destruction of Lebanon, and the intellectual debate about the Israel Lobby, are all really about... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/US-IsraelFlags.jpg|http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/06/giyus_megaphone/|Israel Lobby Targets OnLine Polls With Special 'Influence' Software - IL|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNuclear2.jpg|http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/iran/nuclearprogram.html|IRAN - History and Background - CBC Interactive|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MiddleEast1.jpg|http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=Iran+%E2%80%98accepts+two-state+answer%E2%80%99+in+Mideast&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3De8cc6ca71f189bae%26clickedItemRank%3D2%26userQuery%3DIran%2B%25E2%2580%2598accepts%2Btwo-state%2Banswer%25E2%2580%2599%2Bin%2BMideast%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ft.com%252Fcms%252Fs%252Ffca13716-3c69-11db-9c97-0000779e2340.html%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPToolbarNS%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2Ffca13716-3c69-11db-9c97-0000779e2340.html|FT interview: Mohammad Khatami - IRAN Accepts Settlement With Israel If Palestinians Do||There is a public relations battle royale under way between Iran and it's Arab/Muslim allies on the one side, the U.S., Israel, and some of the Europeans on the other side. It will culminate in a sense at the United Nations on 19 September when both the Iranian President and the American President are to speak -- separately of course and they will not be crossing paths. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-e-jackson-jr/the-hidden-agenda-of-abc_b_29150.html|Bush/Cheney/Rummie Agenda in ABC's '9/11' Docudrama|World Trade Centre| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/wtc.jpg|http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=9181676883393469552&q=griffin|David Ray Griffin Interviewed About 9/11|World Trade Centre| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush-AIPAC.jpg|http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6057969&ft=1&f=1001|Bush Speech on 9-11 2006 - 5th Anniversary - NPR||What timing. The ABC Network, owned by Disney, contracting with a right-wing production company, showed on 10 and 11 Sept a two-part 'docu-drama' clearly designed to whip up American patriotism and determination...at the least. And then, right in the middle of the highly emotional feature film (admittedly 'fictional' but that hardly changes the impact), the President of the United States addressed the nation calling on everyone to sacrifice and stand stead-fast to defeat the terrorists at any cost. It's the challenge and confrontation of our life-time, so insists the President in prime time and the 'right' time. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WTTFalling.jpg|http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=9181676883393469552&q=griffin|David Ray Griffin Interviewed About 9/11|Free fall: The speed at which the towers came down—they were almost in free fall—suggests controlled demolition rather than catastrophic collapse. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WTTFalling.jpg|http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=9181676883393469552&q=griffin|BBC - Distinguished Professor David Ray Griffin Interviewed About 9/11|Free fall: The speed at which the towers came down—they were almost in free fall—suggests controlled demolition rather than catastrophic collapse. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WTTFalling.jpg|http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=9181676883393469552&q=griffin|BBC - Distinguished Professor David Ray Griffin Interviewed About 9/11|Free fall: The speed at which the towers came down—they were almost in free fall—suggests controlled demolition rather than catastrophic collapse. - New York Magazine March 2006 (Photo: Jim Collins/AP)| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/|http://newsbusters.org/node/7649|Sean Penn: Bush Caused 'Enormous Damage to Mankind,' May Bring Fascism to U.S.||Every once and awhile someone decides to speak up, and the news establishment either allows them to be heard, or it's a live program and they sneak things through (at the cost of not being invited so easily again). http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WorstPresEver-Blinks.jpg|http://newsbusters.org/node/7649|Sean Penn: Bush Caused 'Enormous Damage to Mankind,' May Bring Fascism to U.S.|Many Americans - from leading Academics to people on the street -- think George W. Bush is the worse American President of all time.|Every once and awhile someone decides to speak up, and the news establishment either allows them to be heard, or it's a live program and they sneak things through (at the cost of not being invited so easily again). http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Time-Ahmadinajad.jpg|http://rds.yahoo.com/S=53720272/K=iran/v=2/SID=w/l=NSR/R=15//SIG=120p6mer2/EXP=1159139682/*-http%3A//www.payvand.com/news/06/sep/1267.html|Quakers Try Their Hand at IRAN Diplomacy|As He Prepares to Address the World in Front of the General Assembly - on the same day George Bush will do the same - the Iranian President makes the cover of TIME Magazine.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushClearLink.jpg|http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003156137|For Americans Killed in Iraq: A Period, Not a Comma ||Bush's 'comma' not only shows his own stupidity (historic as well as political), but illustrates how crazed this man must be when because of his 'comma' hundreds of thousands are dead, a country destroyed, the world filled with anti-American hatred, and nearly a half trillion dollars (so far) expended!



In a report here at E&P, we observed that in this exchange, Blitzer asked about the latest setbacks in Iraq and indications that civil war may be at hand. Bush, with a slight smile, replied, "Yes, you see — you see it on TV, and that’s the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there’s also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people…. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is — my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StatueLibertyEvil.jpg|http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002914055|Press Overlooks U.S. Role as Arms Merchant in Mideast Conflict || http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/FlagsBurning.jpg|http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/fc/World/iran/opinion___editorials/SIG=1222dnoms;_ylt=AnqlmrdiBL4lqUKUNtsaq74UewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--/*http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1882501,00.html|Subterranean shift in US foreign policy ||As usual these days the best analysis of what is happening in the U.S., and in Washington, come from others who are at least somewhat insulated from the pressures and tensions 'inside the beltway'.

As the author of this insightful commentary concludes: "At this pivotal moment, we who live in the rest of the world, beyond the Washington beltway, also face a choice. We can watch like spectators in the cinema, as a real-life Terminator 4 unfolds before our eyes, and then walk home, at once titivatingly appalled and self-huggingly reassured in the certainty of our own moral superiority - until, that is, we are blown up by a jihadist bomb. Or we can try to reinforce the nascent shift in Washington by ourselves helping to develop better ways than guns and missiles of dealing with a militant Iran, the awful consequences of the misbegotten Iraq war, home-grown terrorist cells and the other real dangers that threaten us even more directly than they do the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush_with_star.jpg|http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2454010.8805555557.html|US Gives Israelis Half Billion More for 'Missile Defense'|Israel: the 51st state?|As war with Iran, Syria, and others in the Middle East looms, it is understandable that the U.S. is pouring more money and arms into Israel. Some we know about because the Congress has to make a special allocation; much we don't know about. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush-PlanVictory.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2388886,00.html|** Iraq: the only solution left - UN Protectorate|In March 2006 President Bush Once Again Took His Case for War on a Roadshow Around The Country|A very interesting and thoughtful approach from the other side of the pond. First the US admits its policy has failed; then the US teams up with the international community through the UN to set up a UN protectorate sans all the military force and disguised permanent military bases. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushjesus.jpg|http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601009_bushs_nuclear_apocalypse/|BUSH'S NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE! - from the former Middle East Bureau Chief of the New York Times||Freed from the 'constraints' of what use to be Judith Miller's New York Times, and aware of the crisis moment in history we now face, the former Middle East Bureau Chief of the New York Times is playing the role of Paul Revere and we should all be alarmed! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StatueLibertyEvil.jpg|http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/bookclub/2006/oct/10/woodrow_wilson_rides_again|Woodrow Wilson Rides Again - Stephen Walt||It's good to see the academic establishment having a few swipes at each other. In this case it's Harvard versus Princeton. Just wait till the rest us and the rest of the world get involved in this debate! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Blair-Bush-Flag.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061013/ap_on_re_eu/britain_iraq;_ylt=AgUA145OB36UnnXd6T5bCDys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-|U.K. army head said to seek Iraq pullout||Very unusual move by the head of the British Army in Iraq. And it takes place just weeks after British P M Tony Blair announced he'd be leaving his job sooner rather than later. Furthermore it takes places just a month or two before the Baker-Hamilton 'Iraq Independent Commission' is to issue its 'recommendations' how the Americans can extricate themselves from the bloody mess they have created in Iraq. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/U.S-Israel-Flags-Capital.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/774653.html|Israel Targets Journalists - With Visas This Time||Intimidating, repressing, and controlling the media has been an Israeli goal for many years now. They use all kinds of subtle tactics, now being stepped up further. In fairness Israel isn't the only country that puts various kinds of pressures and restrictions on journalists, academics, and intellectuals. The US has in recent decades developed quite a list of subtle but increasingly repressive techniques itself. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/aipac1.jpg|http://www.observer.com/20061016/20061016_Suzy_Hansen_pageone_coverstory1.asp|Judt at War - And the Jewish/Israeli Lobby at Work|The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the lead organization lobbying for Israel on Capitol Hill in Washington| Even as the Jewish/Israeli Lobby is finally being discussed in public, even as former top officials of AIPAC are to be tried as spied, the many branches of 'the lobby' are out there doing their thing. This time they are after one of their own big fishes, Professor Tony Judt at New York University -- a most distinguished, talented, and brave soul. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GodBlessIsraelUSA.jpg|http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2006d/110306/110306j.php|Christian Zionists rally in San Antonio - Speakers say Islam is the enemy and advocate attacking Iran||The Israelis, including Netanyahu and Peres, ane whipping up the Christian Evanglicals whose numbers, money, and power are major. And of course the Jewish/Israeli Lobby is right in their with the heavy-hitters as well. Read this slowly...and try to understand the major implications for our country and our world:

From the article: “I’ve never been in any placed that called itself a Christian setting where there was such hatred,” Ives said. “If I were a Muslim, I would have been very, very afraid at the end of those four hours. They were depicting Islam as a hateful religion at the very least, especially the two Arab speakers. But almost every single one of them talked about Islam as a religion of liars.
“It has to be a real wake-up call for people who do not buy into this theology,” Ives said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush-Victory-HomeFront.jpg|http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5450|“There has never been an American army as violent and murderous as the one in Iraq”|In mid-March 2006, his poll numbers and Washington powers lower than ever, President George Bush took to the country for a 'Victory' tour focusing on Iraq, himself, and the upcoming mid-term election.|
“In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said.
Hersh hinted that the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq lies with eight or nine members of the administration who have a “neo-conservative agenda” and dictate the U.S.’s post-September 11 foreign policy.
“You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. The military is going to do what the President wants,” Hersh said. “How fragile is democracy in America, if a president can come in with an agenda controlled by a few cultists?” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/iraq-base-map.jpg|http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5450|There has never been an American army as violent and murderous as the one in Iraq - Seymour Hersh|The Americans Are Building Permanent Bases Throughout Iraq|“In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said.
Hersh hinted that the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq lies with eight or nine members of the administration who have a “neo-conservative agenda” and dictate the U.S.’s post-September 11 foreign policy.
“You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. The military is going to do what the President wants,” Hersh said. “How fragile is democracy in America, if a president can come in with an agenda controlled by a few cultists?” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BombIraq-IranPresPic.jpg|http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3597|How to Make a Nuke Bomb at Home - Foreign Policy Mag Gives Away the Store||Do you think 'the terrorists' use the Internet. For a $24.95 yearly subscription they don't even have to buy the magazine but can read this and pass it on to all their friends online:

Osama bin Laden has not yet succeeded in launching a nuclear attack. But it isn’t because he can’t. With enriched uranium, a handful of military supplies available on the Internet, and a small team of terrorists, he could assemble a nuclear bomb in a matter of months. This is how it will happen.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bell-BushStand.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,1938626,00.html|Bush on Holloween 2006|It was on Trick or Treat Day 2006 that President George Bush made it known he will always stand by his men Cheney and Rumsfeld|"I'll always stand by you Rummie and Dickie" http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/FlagsBurning.jpg|http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-11-13T132012Z_01_BLA337621_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAN-USA.xml&WTmodLoc=vidarticle-l2-alsoin-4|Iran, Israel, and US Dancing while Preparing for Battle||As the American President and the Israeli Prime Minister huddle at the White House, primarily about what to do about Iran, and as political turmoil in Washington over Iraq grows, the Iranians put this little teaser into the news cycle today:


Iran said on Monday it was ready to consider any official U.S. request to hold talks after U.S. allies called on Washington to engage the Islamic Republic. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NeoCons-NEO.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1948667,00.html|The neocons' last stand||They scurried off Bush's sinking ship, but are still trying to stop a reversal of his Middle East policy http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MEMapColorful.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2459780,00.html|SAUDIS Panicked Over British Pay-off Investigation||The Saudis royals, and the few Saudi elite at the top who serve them, have been involved in all kinds of things of this kind for quite a long time. But they are desperate what they have done, and what they are really all about, not
find its way into the news -- and certainly not onto Al-Jazeera. For the Saudis have also spend until millions and billions buying up and coopting journalists and as much of the media as they could manage to neutralize. This then is the backdrop to their insisting at all costs on covering up this latest explosive exposee of how they live and play. It is but the tip of the iceberg. But it is a tip so tintillating and so outrageous that it has the potential under today's conditions to bring the whole Royal family and "Saudi" Arabia finally tumbling down; and they know it.
And that's also why the Saudis are very busy at the moment strengthening their U.S. connection with the CIA and the Pentagon -- for it is the alliance with the Americans they expect will keep them in power one way or another.

From the article: "SAUDI ARABIA is threatening to suspend diplomatic ties with Britain unless Downing Street intervenes to block an investigation into a £60m “slush fund” allegedly set up for some members of its royal family.
A senior Saudi diplomat in London has delivered an ultimatum to Tony Blair that unless the inquiry into an allegedly corrupt defence deal is dropped, diplomatic links between Britain and Saudi Arabia will be severed, a defence source has disclosed.
The Saudis, key allies in the Middle East, have also threatened to cut intelligence co-operation with Britain over Al-Qaeda."

They have repeated their threat that they will terminate payments on a defence contract that could be worth £40 billion and safeguard at least 10,000 British jobs.

The Saudis are furious about the criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into allegations that BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence company, set up the “slush fund” to support the extravagant lifestyle of members of the Saudi royal family. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/worldass.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq|Jordan king warns on Mideast civil wars||Jordan's King Abdullah said Sunday the problems in the Middle East go beyond the war in
Iraq and that much of the region soon could become engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly.
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"We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands," he said, citing conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the decades-long strife between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Abdullah said it is natural that Americans, with troops fighting in Iraq, view that war as the major problem in the Middle East.

"But, for the majority of us living in this part of the world, it has always been the Israeli-Palestinian, Israeli-Arab problem. I fear that if we do not use the next couple of months to really be able to push the process forward, I don't believe that there will be anything to talk about."

Unless something is done soon to lower the tension, he said, the two-state solution of
Israel and an independent Palestinian state existing side by side becomes less a possibility.

"If we don't solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem then how can we ever solve the Israeli-Arab problem?" he said. "Do we resign this whole region to another decade or two of violence?" http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SurrenderMonkeys.jpg|http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003495325| Iraq Study Group and Its 'Bogus' Proposals |On 7 Dec 2006 the front page of the New York Post depicted the two chairman of the Iraq Study Group as "surrender monkeys," suggesting that the bipartisan independent panel has urged the U.S. to "give up" and admit defeat in the war in Iraq.|This analysis, ironically published in the newspaper once known as Judith Miller's war tabloid, is more on the mark about the Iraq Study Group and President George W. Bush than so much of the rest that passes for analysis.

From the Article: Rich concludes by predicting that Bush "will stay the course, with various fake-outs along the way to keep us from thinking we’ve 'lost,' until the whole mess is deposited in the lap of the next president." But he adds that it is a "reckless flight from reality to suppose that the world will stand still while we dally. The Iraq Study Group’s insistence on dragging out its deliberations until after Election Day for the sake of domestic politics mocked and undermined the urgency of its own mission. Meanwhile the violence metastasized. Eleven more of our soldiers were killed on the day the group finally put on its show."

Rich then noted the Iraq-Vietnam parallels, with President Johnson's new Pentagon chief, Clark Clifford, ordering up a commission to study the faltering war effort in 1968: "In March, a bipartisan group of wise men (from Dean Acheson to Omar Bradley) was summoned to the White House, where it seconded the notion of disengagement.

"But there the stories of Vietnam and Iraq diverge. Those wise men, unlike the Iraq Study Group, were clear in their verdict. And that Texan president, unlike ours, paid more than lip service to changing course. He abruptly announced he would abjure re-election, restrict American bombing and entertain the idea of peace talks. But as Stanley Karnow recounts, it was already too late, after some 20,000 casualties and three years of all-out war, for an easy escape: 'The frustrating talks were to drag on for another five years. More Americans would be killed in Vietnam than had died there previously. And the United States itself would be torn apart by the worst internal upheavals in a century.' http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalestineHamas.jpg|http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003494656&&&imw=Y|Jimmy Carter Says Newspapers Ignoring Book -- Or Hitting It As 'Anti-Israel' | A Palestinian flag waves as people rally in support of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government in front of the Legislative Council in Gaza City, Friday Dec. 8, 2006. |At his advanced age and already talking about where he will be buried -- i.e., his legacy -- the former naive President is following Judeo/Christian tradition and atoning for his mistakes. After all it was Jimmy Carter whose serious missteps in office helped propel the Middle East in the direction of the chaos and hatred that is today exploding throughout the region. Even so...by using the word "Apartheid" in the title of his book, Carter has gone further in truth-telling than many expected, and along with Professors Mearsheimer and Walt, has opened up in 2006 a new front in the political wars within the U.S. and between the U.S. and Israel.




NEW YORK Former President Jimmy Carter's new book is an instant bestseller and also something of a lightning rod. "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," published last month by Simon & Shuster, has drawn praise as well as considerable criticism from pundits and reviewers who claim it is "anti-Israel."

Carter, in return, has charged that the media is unwilling to tackle criticism of Israel, and essentially is biased in this area. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel USFlags.jpg|http://www.slate.com/id/2155277/|Kinsley at Slate attacks Carter - Jimmy Carter's moronic new book about Israel.||"Where is their Mandela" the Jewish Zionist Kinsley appologist asks (gee, couldn't SLATE have found someone a little less biased?). Whatever, poor fellow this Kinsley. Either he is ignorant or he is dissembling. Unlike the South Africans who kept Mandela alive the Israelis have assassinated one after another of the possible Palestinian Mandelas, including Arafat. Alive in their prisons though is still one possible person that could possibly be turned to -- that's Marwan Barghouti, and the Israelis could still be grooming him. Maybe Kinsley ought to go pay Barghouti a visit, learn a little since he is clearly in need, and maybe publish the interview. Verbatim, though Mr. Kinsley, for your veracity is rather in question at this point.

From the article: And the most tragic difference: Apartheid ended peacefully. This is largely thanks to Nelson Mandela, who turned out to be miraculously forgiving. If Israel is white South Africa and the Palestinians are supposed to be the blacks, where is their Mandela? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel USFlags.jpg|http://www.slate.com/id/2155277/|Kinsley at Slate attacks Carter - Jimmy Carter's moronic new book about Israel.||"Where is their Mandela" the Jewish Zionist Kinsley appologist asks (gee, couldn't SLATE have found someone a little less biased?). Whatever, poor fellow this Kinsley. Either he is ignorant or he is dissembling. Unlike the South Africans who kept Mandela alive the Israelis have assassinated one after another of the possible Palestinian Mandelas, including Arafat. Alive in their prisons though is still one possible person that could possibly be turned to -- that's Marwan Barghouti, and the Israelis could still be grooming him. Maybe Kinsley ought to go pay Barghouti a visit, learn a little since he is clearly in need, and maybe publish the interview. Verbatim, though Mr. Kinsley, for your veracity is rather in question at this point.

From the article: And the most tragic difference: Apartheid ended peacefully. This is largely thanks to Nelson Mandela, who turned out to be miraculously forgiving. If Israel is white South Africa and the Palestinians are supposed to be the blacks, where is their Mandela? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalestinianChildrenGaza.jpg|http://www.slate.com/id/2155277/|Kinsley at Slate attacks Carter - Jimmy Carter's moronic new book about Israel.|Palestinian Children in Gaza Protesting Israeli Ghettoization|"Where is their Mandela" the Jewish Zionist Kinsley appologist asks (gee, couldn't SLATE have found someone a little less biased?). Whatever, poor fellow this Kinsley. Either he is ignorant or he is dissembling. Unlike the South Africans who kept Mandela alive the Israelis have assassinated one after another of the possible Palestinian Mandelas, including Arafat. Alive in their prisons though is still one possible person that could possibly be turned to -- that's Marwan Barghouti, and the Israelis could still be grooming him. Maybe Kinsley ought to go pay Barghouti a visit, learn a little since he is clearly in need, and maybe publish the interview. Verbatim, though Mr. Kinsley, for your veracity is rather in question at this point.

From the article: And the most tragic difference: Apartheid ended peacefully. This is largely thanks to Nelson Mandela, who turned out to be miraculously forgiving. If Israel is white South Africa and the Palestinians are supposed to be the blacks, where is their Mandela? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel USFlags.jpg|http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/12/putin_mad_at_bu.php|In the End US Paid Israel In Full For War on Lebanon|Time's Manof the Year 2006 - The New Media Ourselves|The Americans and the Israelis have found all kinds of way to smokescreen what they are doing in the Middle East. How the Americans encouraged, armed, and funded the Israelis to attack Lebanon, and additionally to bring the Palestinians to civil war, is something few Americans understand and few in the American media are willing to even seriously discuss.


From the Article: "The American Congress gave Israel financial and security encouragement when the Senate and the House of Representatives gave their approval to double the emergency equipment the United States stores in Israeli stockpiles. Within the next two years the Americans will fill the military emergency stockpiles in Israel with double the equipment they now hold.
In addition, the US will allow Israel to use the remainder of the US's monetary guarantees given to them that have not been used yet, and add up to USD 4.5 billion, by 2011. The emergency stockpiles are meant to store American military equipment in the Middle East in case of an emergency. However, in case of an emergency, Israel is allowed to use the stockpiles. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/U.S-Israel-Flags-Capital.jpg|http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/12/putin_mad_at_bu.php|How US Paid Israel In Full For War on Lebanon...and Preparations For New Wars Racing Ahead||The Americans and the Israelis have found all kinds of way to smokescreen what they are doing in the Middle East. How the Americans encouraged, armed, and funded the Israelis to attack Lebanon, and additionally to bring the Palestinians to civil war, is something few Americans understand and few in the American media are willing to even seriously discuss.


From the Article: "The American Congress gave Israel financial and security encouragement when the Senate and the House of Representatives gave their approval to double the emergency equipment the United States stores in Israeli stockpiles. Within the next two years the Americans will fill the military emergency stockpiles in Israel with double the equipment they now hold.
In addition, the US will allow Israel to use the remainder of the US's monetary guarantees given to them that have not been used yet, and add up to USD 4.5 billion, by 2011. The emergency stockpiles are meant to store American military equipment in the Middle East in case of an emergency. However, in case of an emergency, Israel is allowed to use the stockpiles. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SuperCruise.jpg|http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/12/21/x-51-hypersonic-cruise-missile-attack-anywhere-in-the-world-in-less-than-an-hour/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popularmechanics.com%2Ftechnology%2Fmilitary_law%2F4203874.html&frame=true|Pentagon Wants Super Cruise Missiles To Attack Anywhere Within One Hour|Launched from a B-52, the proposed X-51 hypersonic cruise missile could travel 600 miles in 10 minutes to strike elusive, fleeting targets. |Hypersonic Cruise Missile: America's New Global Strike Weapon
The American military and CIA are on a rampage, even as they are nowhere near victory in either Afghanistan or Iraq. Many more billions are now about to be spent to 'beef-up' US ground forces. But high-tech super weaponry remains at the top of the Pentagon's planning and wish list as well.

From the article: The mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour. But is the Pentagon's bold program a critical new weapon for hitting elusive targets, or a good way to set off a nuclear war? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/worldass.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881949783&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Israel - 'Only military action can stop Iran'||The Israelis have been pushing to attack Iran for some time now as has their powerful lobby in Washington. It was just last March in fact that AIPAC held was at the Washington Convention Center hosting the rich and powerful all shouting 'Get Iran!'

And now the Saudis too are pushing much more strongly, and practically in public, to 'Get Iran!'; however more conflicted the Royal Family may be at this point.

Meanwhile the largely Jewish and right-wing Zionist Washington Neocons are salivating at the prospect that striking Iran is within view...even as they perspire a bit that the larger war is still not a definite certainty.

Meanwhile, even as the Israelis continue to ratchet up the pressure and publish studies and articles of this kind, CNN this afternoon has broadcast an alarming program focusing on the unprecedented US/UK naval build-up near Iran and specifically saying that build-ups of this kind are what usually proceed the outbreak of real war. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/worldass.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881949783&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter|Israel - 'Only military action can stop Iran'||The Israelis have been pushing to attack Iran for some time now as has their powerful lobby in Washington. It was just last March in fact that AIPAC held was at the Washington Convention Center hosting the rich and powerful all shouting 'Get Iran!'

And now the Saudis too are pushing much more strongly, and practically in public, to 'Get Iran!'; however more conflicted the Royal Family may be at this point.

Meanwhile the largely Jewish and right-wing Zionist Washington Neocons are salivating at the prospect that striking Iran is within view...even as they perspire a bit that the larger war is still not a definite certainty.

Meanwhile, even as the Israelis continue to ratchet up the pressure and publish studies and articles of this kind, CNN this afternoon has broadcast an alarming program focusing on the unprecedented US/UK naval build-up near Iran and specifically saying that build-ups of this kind are what usually proceed the outbreak of real war. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArchbishopCanterbury.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=424721&in_page_id=1770|Archbishop warns of a future full of dread for the Middle East|The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.|The Christian churches, most especially the retarded Vatican, move very slowly in this age of instant communications and jet travel. But at least they do move. And now the Archbishop of Canterbury whom we have slightly chastised in the past for not facing up to the situation is finally coming forward and having his say. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CarterBook.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164882001334&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|Provisional State with Provisional Boundaries Provisionally|Jimmy Carter pictured with his latest book - Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid|With no real policies they can actually pursue for real with the Palestinians, the Americans and the Israelis are now planting the seeds for pursuing a 'Provisional' Palestinian State, with 'Provisional' Boundaries, that will be even less than virtual as it will also have provisional unmeetable conditions attacked to the provisions! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/FateOfSaddam.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2112555.ece|Robert Fisk: A dictator created then destroyed by America|Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik gives finishing touches to a sand sculpture titled Fate Of Saddam, in the Indian state of Orissa on 28 Dec 2006.|The Americans built him up and used him to try to topple the very young Iranian revolution - millions died. Then the Israelis bombed him. Then the U.S., probably with Israeli help, tricked him into marching to Kuwait. The sordid tale of deception and blood-letting goes on and on.

Meanwhile Iraq was destroyed -- turned from one of the most secular, progressive, and powerful of the Arab states into an orgy of death and destruction that is now coming apart.

This is the legacy of US Imperial involvement in the contemporary Middle East -- all in alliance with Israel as well as the Arab 'client regimes' of the region. There will be serious future ramifications. There may be an awful price to paid in the history of rhe region, and of the world, yet to come.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SaddamNoose.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?ei=5090&en=99480f4b18172c3a&ex=1325307600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print|'Mr. Hussein appeared dignified'...his executioners appeared 'like bullying street thugs'...|As the NYTimes was to write two days later...Mr. Hussein appeared dignified, his executioners appeared like bullying street thugs.|None of the Iraqi officials were able to explain why Mr. Maliki had been unwilling to allow the execution to wait. Nor would any explain why those who conducted it had allowed it to deteriorate into a sectarian free-for-all that had the effect, on the video recordings, of making Mr. Hussein, a mass murderer, appear dignified and restrained, and his executioners, representing Shiites who were his principal victims, seem like bullying street thugs...

“Saddam is dead! Instead of weeping for him, think of ways we can take revenge on the Iranian enemy,” Sunni parlance for the Shiites now in power. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CondiMissing.jpg|http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003501934_militarypoll30.html|Condi Missing as Poll of military finds dimmer view of Iraq war|The Seattle Times published this photo on 30 Dec with a caption unaware that the Secretary of State, Condi Rice, was 'missing'. Caption: President Bush stands with, from left, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace on Thursday in Crawford, Texas.|Condi Rice is there...or is she. The caption omits her completely. But look carefully and you can see her leg just barely visible between those of the President. What a double metaphor for the situation Condi Rice finds herself in as the Bush/Cheney Administration faces political and war challenges greater than ever. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CondiMissing.jpg|http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003501934_militarypoll30.html|Condi Missing as Poll of military finds dimmer view of Iraq war|The Seattle Times published this photo on 30 Dec with a caption unaware that the Secretary of State, Condi Rice, was 'missing'. Caption: President Bush stands with, from left, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace on Thursday in Crawford, Texas.|Condi Rice is there...or is she. The caption omits her completely. But look carefully and you can see her leg just barely visible between those of the President. What a double metaphor for the situation Condi Rice finds herself in as the Bush/Cheney Administration faces political and war challenges greater than ever. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Rahm3Jan.jpg|http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241137,00.html|Rahm Fronts for Democrats in Congress - Sheehan Takes His Mike|Rahm Emmanuel jumped outfront on 3 Jan 2007 to be the visible public spokesman of the Democratic Party which has taken over both branches of Congress|Rahm, himself nearly wholely owned and controlled by the notorious Israeli Lobby, has become the Democratic Party's front-man about 'lobbying and ethics reform'. He's one crafty guy, trained well both by the Israelis and in the Clinton White House compliments of their Lobby. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Natanz.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/nuclearalert.htm|NUCLEAR ALERT!|Satellite image showing the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran.|Check out the articles in the MER World section and check back here as we will update immediately when there is additional information, reaction, and opinion. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Independent-SpoilsOfWar.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece| Future of Iraq: The spoils of war - How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches||The tycoons from the huge oil monopolies and the military industrial complex are really behind the American imperial policies. 'Democracy' and 'freedom' are the slogans. Conquest and looting are the realities.

From the Article: The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. "So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/kerryhillary.jpg|http://townhall.com/Columnists/RobertDNovak/2007/01/20/pelosi_power_play|Dick Morris's Appeal - Political LowLife Rides Again|John Kerry and Hillary Clinton - 14 April 2004|Dick Morris's Appeal

Persons on Republican mailing lists this week received an appeal for funds from Dick Morris, President Bill Clinton's political strategist in 1995-1996, asking for a contribution between $25 and $100 or more to finance a critical film documentary of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Signing the letter as "Former Clinton Adviser," Morris wrote: "If you liked how the Swift Boat Veterans turned the tide against John Kerry, you understand how a top Clinton aide can turn the tables and stop a Clinton-style liberal from becoming the next president of the United States."

Morris's appeal was made through The Presidential Coalition, run by conservative activist Dave Bossie. The letter described Morris as dedicated to electing presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Since 1996, Morris has been an author, columnist and television commentator. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushsharon2.jpg|http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041004/dreyfuss|Israeli Agents Pushing for War Then and Now?|President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met at the White House for the 9th time on 14 April 2004.|Answer: Yes they did before with regard to Iraq; and not only in 2002, go back to 1990. And yes they are doing so now...this time with regard to Iran. And it's not just a matter of Sharon or some individual, it's all about Mossad and how the Israeli government has operated for some time in many way and in many places.

From the article: Did Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, run a covert program with operatives in high-level US government positions to influence the Bush Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq? The FBI wants to http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StopWarOnIran.jpg|http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3354983,00.html|Iran motivated by fear - Unusual Truth-Telling About Iran from Israel||How refreshing, a little sanity and truth-telling from the Israelis. But don't expect George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Neocon/Evangelical Chorus to be listening. They've already decided what they are going to do, one way or another:

From the article: Tehran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities stems from fear, not hatred... The Iranians have always displayed political wisdom and a realistic understanding of the limits of power. Moreover, besides Israel and Turkey, Iran is the closest to being a democratic country in the Middle East. Iran is not an absolute dictatorship, and its rulers are also subjected to the rule of law....

The Israeli government should make a proposal to the international community whereby it would be willing to place its nuclear program under international inspection for 20 years, at the end of which it would reexamine the issue. This would be subject to all states in the region, including Iran and Pakistan, accepting the same rules of supervision without limitation, and halting development of any nuclear weapons. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CarterSigns.jpg|http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070125-112710-7481r.htm|Carter apologizes for 'stupid' book passage|Former US president Jimmy Carter signs books at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena, California, 11 December 2006.|Poor Jimmy Carter. He just can't manage to stand his ground. The Israelis and Israel's minion in the Democratic Party are well aware there's already blood in the water and they will persist whittling away at Carter's credibility and sanity more and more as they go.

Carter was right of course, even though now he has humbly on-his-knees appolgized for it:
"It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel."

Mr. Carter's appearance at the Brandeis campus in Boston was followed by an appearance by Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, who has been critical of the book. Although Mr. Carter refused to debate him and even to appear with him, Mr. Dershowitz told the students in attendance that he appreciated the former president's apology.
"You heard the Brandeis Jimmy Carter today, and he was terrific," Mr. Dershowitz said. "I support almost everything he said. But if you listen to the Al Jazeera Jimmy Carter, you'll hear a very different perspective." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iranleaders.jpg|http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=IVA20070124&articleId=4581|
Iran Must Get Ready to Repel a Nuclear Attack|Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during Friday prayers at a university in Tehran October 20, 2006. Ahmadinejad said on Friday Iran's enemies could not do a 'damn thing' to stop its nuclear program.|The rest of the world is really talking. From the Herzliya conference organized by a former top Mossad official, to Europe, to this article coming from a top Russian General, the war with Iran is the real focus of geostrategic attention now. This even as in the U.S. many of the facts are out there; but critically lacking is the big picture and perspective and truly independent expert commentary on the popular broadcast and in the popular print media. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CrusadersIraq11.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2201103.ece|FLASH! Massacre Rather Than Victory!||It was all a little too hard to believe in the first place. Suppposedly there they were just waiting to be killed -- Hundreds of heavily armed fighters out in a field awaiting attack from overwhelming ground and air firepower. And it just happened to be happening just in advance of a critical Congressional vote about the war.

In the end once more time the big lie machine in Washington has been caught in the act. But when will there be accountability? When will there be justice? When will those responsible for such horrible and ongoing killing and pillaging in Iraq and elsewhere be tried and convicted for what they have wrought?
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SharonBushBowling.jpg||Molly Ivins on THE ISRAEL LOBBY and the NUTJOBS||The irreverant but irresisably charismatic Molly Ivins died yesterday. Few remembered her for this commentary less than a year ago:



Israel Lobby Nutjobs on the Loose
By Molly Ivins, April 26, 2006

One of the consistent deformities in American policy debate has been challenged by a couple of professors, and the reaction proves their point so neatly it's almost funny.

A working paper by John Mearsheimer, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, called "The Israel Lobby" was printed in the London Review of Books earlier this month. And all hell broke loose in the more excitable reaches of journalism and academe.

For having the sheer effrontery to point out the painfully obvious -- that there is an Israel lobby in the United States -- Mearsheimer and Walt have been accused of being anti-Semitic, nutty and guilty of "kooky academic work." Alan Dershowitz, who seems to be easily upset, went totally ballistic over the mild, academic, not to suggest pretty boring article by Mearsheimer and Walt, calling them "liars" and "bigots."

Of course there is an Israeli lobby in America -- its leading working group is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It calls itself "America's Pro-Israel Lobby," and it attempts to influence U.S. legislation and policy.

Several national Jewish organizations lobby from time to time. Big deal -- why is anyone pretending this non-news requires falling on the floor and howling? Because of this weird deformity of debate.

In the United States, we do not have full-throated, full-throttle debate about Israel. In Israel, they have it as a matter of course, but the truth is that the accusation of anti-Semitism is far too often raised in this country against anyone who criticizes the government of Israel.

Being pro-Israel is no defense, as I long ago learned to my cost. Now I've gotten used to it. Jews who criticize Israel are charmingly labeled "self-hating Jews." As I have often pointed out, that must mean there are a lot of self-hating Israelis, because those folks raise hell over their own government's policies all the time.

I don't know that I've ever felt intimidated by the knee-jerk "you're anti-Semitic" charge leveled at anyone who criticizes Israel, but I do know I have certainly heard it often enough to become tired of it.

And I wonder if that doesn't produce the same result: giving up on the discussion.

It's the sheer disproportion and the vehemence of the denunciations of those perceived as criticizing Israel that make the attacks so odious. Mearsheimer and Walt are both widely respected political scientists -- comparing their writing to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is just silly.

Several critics have pointed out some flaws in the Mearsheimer-Walt paper, including a too-broad use of the term "Israel lobby" -- those of us who are pro-Israel differ widely -- and having perhaps overemphasized the clout of the Israel lobby by ignoring the energy lobby.

It seems to me the root of the difficulty has been Israel's inability first to admit the Palestinians have been treated unfairly and, second, to figure out what to do about it. Now here goes a big fat generalization, but I think many Jews are so accustomed (by reality) to thinking of themselves as victims, it is especially difficult for them to admit they have victimized others.

But the Mearsheimer-Walt paper is not about the basic conflict, but rather its effect on American foreign policy, and it appears to me the authors' arguments are unexceptional. Israel is the No. 1 recipient of American foreign aid, and it seems an easy case can be made that the United States has subjugated its own interests to those of Israel in the past.

Whether you agree or not, it is a discussion well worth having and one that should not be shut down before it can start by unfair accusations of "anti-Semitism." In a very equal sense, none of this is academic. The Israel lobby was overwhelmingly in favor of starting the war with Iraq and is now among the leading hawks on Iran.

To the extent that our interests do differ from those of Israel, the matter needs to be discussed calmly and fairly. This is not about conspiracies or plots or fantasies or anti-Semitism -- it's about rational discussion of American interests. And, in my case, being pro-Israel. I'm looking forward to hearing from all you nutjobs again.

Molly Ivins writes about politics, Texas and other bizarre happenings.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HillaryAIPAC.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/821284.html|Hillary Does AIPAC (again...and more on top than ever)|Shortly after announcing she's in the Presidential race Hillary Clinton took her campaign to the Jewish and Zionist powers that be in AIPAC and the Israeli/Jewish Lobby.|Bill and Hillary have been essentially in the pocket of AIPAC for decades. But in view of the new situation in the Middle East, and the hits AIPAC has taken in the year just past, Hillary didn't have to do this total alignment. But she did. And she will.

The full story of Bill Clinton's near total sell-out to AIPAC while he was in office has yet to be told. But it's a sad tale of political prostitution to the Jewish and Zionist powers that be in the Democratic Party; just as George Bush sold his sole to the Zionists Neocons and Israeli/rapture Christian Evangelicals who dominate when it comes to the Middle East in the Republican Party.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelEnlarged.jpg||Iranian nuclear scientist 'assassinated by Mossad'||The WAR with IRAN is already quite underway. The assassination, and gloating about it, of key players and scientists is an Israeli weapon with considerable history and 'accomplishments'. The Americans are very much on board even if they don't know about all the details, for legal reasons back home. Will the Iranians take counter-actions? And if so will that only play into the Israeli and U.S. hands just waiting for sufficient 'provocation' to get away with the major military strike they have planned now for some time?

---------------------


Iranian nuclear scientist 'assassinated by Mossad'

Sarah Baxter, Washington
The Sunday TimesFebruary 04, 2007

A PRIZE-WINNING Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious
circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the US State
Department and broadcasts to Iran.

An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear
physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service.

Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is
produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz
which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear
weapons.

According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour's death emerged on
January 21 after a delay of six days, giving the cause as "gas poisoning".
The Iranian reports did not say how or where Hassanpour was poisoned but his
death was said to have been announced at a conference on nuclear safety.

Rheva Bhalla of Stratfor, the US intelligence company, claimed on Friday
that Hassanpour had been targeted by Mossad and that there was "very strong
intelligence" to suggest that he had been assassinated by the Israelis, who
have repeatedly threatened to prevent Iran acquiring the bomb.

Hassanpour won Iran's leading military research prize in 2004 and was
awarded top prize at the Kharazmi international science festival in Iran
last year.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to announce next Sunday - the 28th
anniversary of the Islamic revolution - that 3,000 centrifuges have been
installed at Natanz, enabling Iran to move closer to industrial scale
uranium enrichment.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency say that hundreds of
technicians and labourers have been "working feverishly" to assemble
equipment at the plant.



www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2583167,00.html http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GeorgeCryingSmall.jpg|http://www.bushflash.com/idiot.html|Music - The Idiot Son of an Asshole||Now whatever one thinks of respect for the Office of the Presidency, and for the way the United States of America has conducted itself in our world...there are many around the world who hate George Bush and what his country has done and is doing. Watch this with such awareness; and no, it comes from within the U.S., not from any of America's many enemies. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CrusadersIraq.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/16/070216154712.mfivb2lt.html|Now hear this! Iraq PM tells Bush of 'dazzling successes' in Baghdad||Now hear this (say Bush/Cheney)...

On the very day the House is to vote about Iraq, and just before a rare Saturday Senate session on Iraq, we hear of 'Dazzling Successes' and the 'wounding but not capture or kill' of the current al-Quida leader in Iraq. Right!

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2311307.ece| How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place|28 February 2007|Primarily the US and Israel have done it. But headlines and analysis of this kind don't ever appear in the grey New York Times or the red-white-blue Washington Post.

How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place
New figures show dramatic rise in terror attacks worldwide since the invasion of Iraq http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Independent-28Feb071.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2311307.ece| How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place|28 February 2007 - The Independent (London)|Primarily the US and Israel have done it. But headlines and analysis of this kind don't ever appear in the grey New York Times or the red-white-blue Washington Post.

How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place
New figures show dramatic rise in terror attacks worldwide since the invasion of Iraq http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Independent-28Feb071.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101497.html|Former Sec State Condemns new Baghdad Embassy as NUTS!|28 February 2007 - The Independent (London)|"I defy anyone to tell me how you can use that many people. It is nuts . . . it's insane and it's counterproductive . . . and it won't work." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GrandmotherSuicider1.jpg|http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3373013,00.html|Bishops Charge Israel Acting Like Nazis of Old|The First Palestinian Grandmother Suicide Bomber was on 24 November 2006 as Americans Celebrated Thanksgiving Day|"Hours after historic visit to Jerusalem holocaust museum, group of German bishops tour Palestinian Authority, say Israel behaving like Nazis."

More and more there are some at least willing to speak up. The Israelis have used all kinds of threats and pressures to enforce silence for many years. It is becoming more difficult for them to do so all the time now. Last year it was Professors Walt and Mearsheimer publishing about the Israel Lobby in the London Review of Books (after all American publications cowered). This year so far it is Jimmy Carter charging 'apartheid', though he actually did so in a very muted way and many years after others have paved the way. Two years ago the Presbyterians attempted a quasi boycott of Israel, though they backed away under emmense pressure. Various activists groups have gone much further, but their voices have hardly been heard beyond their own circles... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BloodySharon1.jpg|http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3373013,00.html|Bishops Charge Israel Acting Like Nazis of Old||"Hours after historic visit to Jerusalem holocaust museum, group of German bishops tour Palestinian Authority, say Israel behaving like Nazis."

More and more there are some at least willing to speak up. The Israelis have used all kinds of threats and pressures to enforce silence for many years. It is becoming more difficult for them to do so all the time now. Last year it was Professors Walt and Mearsheimer publishing about the Israel Lobby in the London Review of Books (after all American publications cowered). This year so far it is Jimmy Carter charging 'apartheid', though he actually did so in a very muted way and many years after others have paved the way. Two years ago the Presbyterians attempted a quasi boycott of Israel, though they backed away under emmense pressure. Various activists groups have gone much further, but their voices have hardly been heard beyond their own circles... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BaghdadConf.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031000180.html|US and Iran Can't Even Agree If They Actually Met in Baghdad|The Baghdad conference included countries neighboring Iraq, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and three international groups. 10 March 2007|in the end the U.S. and Iran couldn't even agree if they had met...and couldn't agree whether the next round of the Iraqi Conference should even be held in Iraq!

From the article: Khalilzad said he had spoken to the Iranians "directly and in the presence of others." But Araghchi said: "We didn't have any direct contact. If the Americans are interested, there is a proper channel for that."

Furthermore, even with all the extra security, two mortar rounds could be heard in the hall shortly after the conference started, with one actually hitting a building nearby! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DavidPetraeus.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2032022,00.html|US plans Iraq withdrawal if 'surge' fails|General David Petraeus, the new top US commander in Iraq in February 2007. |General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, publicly said in March 2007 that he may need even more troops and they will have to stay a long time. Petraeus is now playing the role of one of the few government officials with any remaining personal credibility. General Colin Powell, then the Secretary of State, played this role in 2002 in order to bring about the war in the first place. Powell now knows how badly he was used at the time. And Petraeus seems to know what happened to Powell and the position in which he has been placed. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Pentagon - 17March07.jpg|http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20011|Scandals of Higher Education - NYRB|A Sea of Protestors and Signs for the 2007 March On The Pentagon| While the killing wars rage in the Middle East, and while the political wars rage in Washington, both government and the military-industrial complex are busy coopting and controlling everything from the major media to the universities. The mechanisms are diverse and complicated. This information from the New York Review of Books gives a glimpse into the state of 'Higher Education' in the new America. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GeorgeW-MtVernon1.jpg|http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/03/22/attorneys/|RoveGate? BushGate? The Plot to Totally Politicize the 'Justice' Department| President George W. Bush shakes hands with General George Washington (actor) following President Bush’s address at the Mount Vernon Estate on the 275th Birthday of the first American President.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Pentagon - 17March07.jpg|http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20011|Scandals of Higher Education - NYRB|A Sea of Protestors and Signs for the 2007 March On The Pentagon| While the killing wars rage in the Middle East, and while the political wars rage in Washington, both government and the military-industrial complex are busy coopting and controlling everything from the major media to the universities. The mechanisms are diverse and complicated. This information from the New York Review of Books gives a glimpse into the state of 'Higher Education' in the new America. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCannonDick.jpg|http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20011|Scandals of Higher Education - NYRB|| While the killing wars rage in the Middle East, and while the political wars rage in Washington, both government and the military-industrial complex are busy coopting and controlling everything from the major media to the universities. The mechanisms are diverse and complicated. This information from the New York Review of Books gives a glimpse into the state of 'Higher Education' in the new America. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DontBuyBushWar.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/interview|Mark Bruzonsky talks with Ray McGovern about war with Iran, what's gone wrong with Washington, and the critical historical moment|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CongressSoldier.jpg||OPERATION BITE: APRIL 6 attack on IRAN planned by US Russians Warn. Listen to Mark Bruzonsky discussion with Ray McGovern (select below)||Hard to know what to believe these days. This story dateline Russia seems to come straight from a scare episode of '24'.
But there are many puzzle pieces that seem to fit:

* Two Strike Groups conducting war games off coast of Iran
* Israelis 'practicing' Civil Defense
* Congress removed prohibition against attacking IRAN from war funding under great pressure from Jewish/Israeli Lobby
* Assassinations and kidnappings underway on both sides
* Reports senior Pentagon Generals threatening to resign
* Senior Neocons telegraphing the war with IRAN is coming
*
We at MER are not in a position to know for sure just what is being specifically planned and for when. We are however in a position to know that these reports are all-too-possible and should not be just dismissed as too far out.

--------------------------

OPERATION BITE: APRIL 6 SNEAK ATTACK BY US FORCES AGAINST IRAN PLANNED, RUSSIAN MILITARY SOURCES WARN

GENERAL IVASHOV CALLS FOR EMERGENCY SESSION OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO WARD OFF LOOMING US AGGRESSION

By Webster G. Tarpley

Washington DC, March 25 --

The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track
for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April
6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the
well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow
weekly "Argumenty Nedeli." Uglanov cites Russian military
experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.

The attack is slated to last for twelve hours, according to
Uglanov, lasting from 4 AM until 4 PM local time. Friday is
a holiday in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named
Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the
list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers,
and laboratories.

The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where
Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from
destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian
air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships
to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and the for the most important
headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.

The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including
the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia
is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff
missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval
aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as
from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional
cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian
Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is
allegedly to set back Iran's nuclear program by several years,
writes Uglanov, whose article was re-issued by RIA-Novosti in
various languages, but apparently not English, several days
ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German
blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.

Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level
orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning,
which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian
intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with
the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.

Asked by RIA-Novosti to comment on the Uglanov report, retired
Colonel General Leonid Ivashov confirmed its essential features
in a March 21 interview: "I have no doubt that there will
be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against
Iran." Ivashov, who has reportedly served at various times as
an informal advisor to Putin, is currently the Vice President
of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.

Ivashov attributed decisive importance to the decision of the
Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives to
remove language from the just-passed Iraq supplemental military
appropriations bill which would have demanded that Bush come
to Congress before launching an attack on Iran. Ivashov pointed
out that the language was eliminated under pressure from AIPAC,
the lobbing group representing the Israeli extreme right,
and of Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni.

"We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation
will take place," said Ivashov. In his opinion, the US planning
does not include a land operation: " Most probably there will
be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the
goal of annihilating Iran's capacity for military resistance,
the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and
quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least
part of it," he continued.

Ivashov noted that it was not to be excluded that the Pentagon
would use smaller tactical nuclear weapons against targets
of the Iranian nuclear industry. These attacks could paralyze
everyday life, create panic in the population, and generally
produce an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty all over Iran,
Ivashov told RIA-Novosti. "This will unleash a struggle for
power inside Iran, and then there will be a peace delegation
sent in to install a pro-American government in Teheran,"
Ivashov continued. One of the US goals was, in his estimation,
to burnish the image of the current Republican administration,
who would now be able to boast that they had wiped out the
Iranian nuclear program.

Among the other outcomes, General Ivashov pointed to a partition
of Iran along the same lines as Iraq, and a subsequent carving
up of the Near and Middle East into smaller regions. "This
concept worked well for them in the Balkans and will now be
applied to the greater Middle East," he commented.

"Moscow must expert Russia's influence by demanding an emergency
session of the United Nations Security Council to deal with
the current preparations for an illegal use of force against
Iran and the destruction of the basis of the United Nations
Charter," said General Ivashov. "In this context Russia could
cooperate with China, France and the non-permanent members of
the Security Council. We need this kind of preventive action
to ward off the use of force," he concluded.

http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070319/62260006.html
http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070321/62387717.html http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iran-Target.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879220977&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|Israelis Highlight Report US Ready to Strike IRAN; Blair Says 48-hour deadline||Readers of MER will know that we have for months warned the U.S./Israeli plan to strike IRAN is very much for real. And more than a week ago MER Readers read of the specific Russian Intelligence reports that the date of 6 April had been chosen, and for what reasons. Now, on 1 April, the Israeli Jerusalem Post is picking up on the 6 April date and throwing it out there. And no...it's not April fool's timing. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iran-Target.jpg|http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/abc_news_exclus.html|The Secret War Against Iran||Kidnappings, assassinations, terrorist attacks... These are all going on in the Middle East but hardly exclusively by the 'insurgents', al-Quada, and the Muslims. The U.S. and Israel are very much active with such pursuits including considerable black ops by both the CIA and Mossad. IRAN is now the main target. Indeed the Pentagon's own former 4-Star General Wesley Clark has just revealed that the "Five Year Plan" to attack and take over "Seven Countries"...the final biggest prize of all IRAN...was already circulating Top Secret in the Pentagon just weeks after 9/11! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/US-Israel-Flags1.jpg|http://www.indiaenews.com/middle-east/20070404/45848.htm|US and Israeli IRAN ATTACK Plans Progress|| The signs are all there...this is no bluff. The Bush Administration, buttressed by the Zionist Neocons, the Israeli/Jewish Lobby, and the Raptured Evangelicals, is about to make this leap into the unknown. The goal is indeed to set the world on this conflict course and make it all but impossible to get off it for decades to come. This is precisely the warning Zbig Brzezinski has been making for weeks now; also the warning coming from former 4-star General Wesley Clark. The clock is ticking; the American public remains largely lethargic, confused, betrayed, and impotent. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushWindow.jpg|http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070406-124129-1462r.htm|Liberals Push to Impeach Bush||Unusually, this from Page 1 of the Washington Times on 6 April 2007. Pressure is coming from the heartland, from the grassroots. And if Bush/Cheney do expand the Middle East war with an attack on IRAN the Impeach Bush Movement is likely to grow into a real roar. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Pentagon - 17March07.jpg|http://story.news.ask.com//article/20070408/D8OCG4QO0.html|Muktadr Tells Followers To Push The American 'archenemy' Out of IRAQ|A Sea of Protestors and Signs for the 2007 March On The Pentagon|The statement, stamped with al-Sadr's official seal, was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday - a day before a large demonstration there, called for by al-Sadr, to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. "You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Pentagon - 17March07.jpg|http://story.news.ask.com//article/20070408/D8OCG4QO0.html|Muktadr Tells Followers To Push The American 'archenemy' Out of IRAQ|A Sea of Protestors and Signs for the 2007 March On The Pentagon|The statement, stamped with al-Sadr's official seal, was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday - a day before a large demonstration there, called for by al-Sadr, to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. "You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Demo-17March07.jpg|http://story.news.ask.com//article/20070408/D8OCG4QO0.html|Muktadr Tells Followers To Push The American 'archenemy' Out of IRAQ|March on the Pentagon - 17 October 2007|The statement, stamped with al-Sadr's official seal, was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday - a day before a large demonstration there, called for by al-Sadr, to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. "You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/9AprilIraq.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2053176,00.html|Huge Throngs at Anti-US Rally in IRAQ|Iraqi Shia supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr wave the Iraqi national flags during an anti-US rally in Najaf on 9 April 2007. | http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TheCaseForImpeachment.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/interview/4-10-07/index2.htm|THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT - Mark Bruzonsky discusses this critical issue with author Dave Lindorff|THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT by Dave Lindorf and Barbara Olshansky was published by St. Martin's Press in March 2006.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Independent-SpoilsOfWar1.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece|Future of Iraq: The spoils of war - How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches ||The rhetoric smokescreens are "democracy" and "freedom". The actual realities are military occupation, neo-imperialism, huge numbers of dead, tremendous suffering, and think-masked economic exploitation. Such headlines adn articles are published abroad, such as this last January in The Independent in London, but rarely make it to the corporate mass media in the U.S.

Bottom Line: The tycoons from the huge oil monopolies and the military industrial complex are really behind the American imperial policies. 'Democracy' and 'freedom' are the slogans. Conquest and looting are the realities.

From the Article: The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. "So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CongressSoldier.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8OF1KGG0&show_article=1|Parliament Building and Major Bridge Bombed Today in Iraq||It's just a few days now since the 4th anniversary of the "Fall of Baghdad"...and indeed it has turned out to be far more a fall than a "liberation".

A few days before that we saw and heard Senator John McCain and Commanding General David Petraeus telling us how they could now stroll around Baghdad and help out the Iraqi economy with a steal-purchase of a few carpets for the price of dinner for two on K Street. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WalterMurphy1.jpg|http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Professor_who_criticized_Bush_added_to_0409.html|Top Princeton Prof Critical of Bush Put on 'Watch for Terrorist' List|Princeton Professor Walter F. Murphy, a top Constitutional scholar who gave a televised speech slamming President Bush's policies, was recently told that he had been added to the secret terrorist watch list. |

Princeton's Professor Murphy is a decorated Marine who served in the Korean War and was a reservist for 19 years. Now he's on the "Watch" list as someone suspected of having some kind of "terrorist" leanings... No...this is not the 1st of April slightly delayed! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNuclearRight1.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2056301,00.html|As we are led towards crisis over Iran - John Pilger| An Iranian student sets on fire representations of a U.S and a British flag during a gathering to show their support to their country's nuclear activities in front of the Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in Tehran, Iran - April 9, 2007. |
Bush and Blair have spent four years preparing an onslaught that is about oil, rather than non-existent nuclear weapons http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PaulWolfowitz.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/18b3bad0-e914-11db-a162-000b5df10621.html|Wolfowitz Must Be Forced Out! FT and MER|President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, has quite a controversial past - lead architect of the Iraq debacle and close associate of the most-hard line Israeli and Jewish Zionist organizations.|-- http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PaulWolfowitz.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2007/4/1485.htm|Editorial - WOLFOWITZ MUST GO!|President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, has quite a controversial past - lead architect of the Iraq debacle and close associate of the most-hard line Israeli and Jewish Zionist organizations.|
Yes very straight talk and harsh words here. Unusual for today's Washington where there is so much hesitancy, so much fear, and so many on one kind of gravy train or another. But after considerable experience, investigation and reflection this is the appropriate and needed talk. For those who think otherwise, and for those who have doubts, let the serious and detailed investigations begin...both in the media and in the Congress.

And meanwhile, it's beyond time, far beyond time, for Paul Wolfowitz to go! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIRAN.jpg|http://www.newstatesman.com/200704160013|IRAN: WAR Looms! Greatest Crisis of Modern History May Be Upon Us.|This screaming headline from THE NEW STATESMAN in London in mid-April 2007.|These are critical changes in the way the sane world thinks - again, thanks to the Reich of Blair and Bush. However, we live in the most dangerous of times. On 6 April, Blair accused "elements of the Iranian regime" of "backing, financing, arming and supporting terrorism in Iraq". He offered no evidence, and the Ministry of Defence has none. This is the same Goebbels-like refrain with which he and his coterie, Gordon Brown included, brought an epic bloodletting to Iraq. How long will the rest of us continue looking from the side?

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PaulWolfowitz.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2007/4/1487.htm|WOLFOWITZ - Why He Must DEFINITELY GO!|President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, has quite a controversial past - lead architect of the Iraq debacle and close associate of the most-hard line Israeli and Jewish Zionist organizations.|There's more leaking out now! His girlfriend years ago, without the Bank knowing or approving, also worked for a major Pentagon Defense contractor while Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of Defense. Then in 2005 she got sent over to the State Department -- her boss Vice-President Cheney's daughter! Then she got hooked up with a new foundation that has done little other than to start spending the $56 million it must have been Cheney and Wolfowitz got the Congress to give it!! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2007/4/1487.htm|WOLFOWITZ - Why He Must DEFINITELY GO!|Paul Wolfowitz has long been considered one of the most pro-Israeli Zionist operatives in Washington. Here is is pictured with Ariel Sharon and other leading American Jews who played important parts in bringing about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.|There's more leaking out now! His girlfriend years ago, without the Bank knowing or approving, also worked for a major Pentagon Defense contractor while Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of Defense. Then in 2005 she got sent over to the State Department -- her boss Vice-President Cheney's daughter! Then she got hooked up with a new foundation that has done little other than to start spending the $56 million it must have been Cheney and Wolfowitz got the Congress to give it!! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2007/4/1487.htm|WOLFOWITZ - Why He Must DEFINITELY GO!|Paul Wolfowitz has long been considered one of the most pro-Israeli Zionist operatives in Washington. Here he is pictured with Ariel Sharon and other leading American Jews who played important parts in bringing about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.|There's more leaking out now! His girlfriend years ago, without the Bank knowing or approving, also worked for a major Pentagon Defense contractor while Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of Defense. Then in 2005 she got sent over to the State Department -- her boss Vice-President Cheney's daughter! Then she got hooked up with a new foundation that has done little other than to start spending the $56 million it must have been Cheney and Wolfowitz got the Congress to give it!! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MELogo.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/flash/world/israel/IsraelHistory.htm|One Land Two Peoples - Wash Post Interactive Guide|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCannonDick11.jpg|http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3266.aspx|Collection of Charges Why Wolfowitz Must Go|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/jewishfaces2.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/bb7d97d6-ee9b-11db-8f38-000b5df10621.html|CIVIL WAR at the WORLD BANK - Wolfowitz Departure Now Likely|Paul Wolfowitz has long been considered one of the most pro-Israeli Zionist operatives in Washington. Here he is pictured with Ariel Sharon and other leading American Jews who played important parts in bringing about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.|This is bigger than Paul Wolfowitz. It's a first step in bringing the Neocon Cabal responsible for the Iraq War and with intimate connections with Israel, to account. But there's a very long way to go even as Wolfowitz is about to fall.

From the article: In the forefront of the rebellion against Mr Wolfowitz are career bank staffers and people appointed by his predecessor, Jim Wolfensohn.

Mr Wolfowitz still has his loyalists, in particular at senior ranks. About half the bank’s vice-presidents were brought in or appointed to that rank by Mr Wolfowitz, and most of these remain sympathetic to him.

But not all are fierce partisans, and some are voicing concerns about the state of the bank – blurring the Wolfensohn/Wolfowitz divide....

If the bank as a whole is not yet divided into openly warring factions it is largely because support for Mr Wolfowitz has eroded so broadly that there is not a large Wolfowitz camp other than at the senior level – only different degrees of anti-Wolfowitz activism.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TheCaseForImpeachment.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/interview/4-10-07/index2.htm|THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT - Mark Bruzonsky talks with Dave Lindorff about his book and the growing movement to Impeach President Bush - click to listen. |THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT by Dave Lindorf and Barbara Olshansky was published by St. Martin's Press in March 2006.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/beachimpeach3.jpg|http://www.a28.org|APRIL 28 - IMPEACH Day|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/EarthBall.jpg|http://www.livescience.com/environment/070419_earth_timeline.html|Bleak Forecast for Planet Earth||While our 'elected leaders' are miserably squandering our resources and our legacy...the very fate of Planet Earth is now hanging in front of us all...

Future generations, indeed the one now being born, will judge us harshly... Eco criminals, hedonistic materialists, death agents... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCannonDick11.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f9c1ed74-ef6a-11db-a64e-000b5df10621.html|'Devastating' Bill Moyers Probe of Press and Iraq Coming This Week ||THE 'PATRIOTISM POLICE' did it!

Walter Isaacson is pushed hard by Moyers and finally admits, "We didn't question our sources enough." But why? Isaacson notes there was "almost a patriotism police" after 9/11 and when the network showed civilian casualties it would get phone calls from advertisers and the administration and "big people in corporations were calling up and saying, 'You're being anti-American here.'"

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Earth.jpg||Climate: Time Is Short||April 22, 2007 (Earth Day)


Climate: Time Is Short

By Ted Glick

April 14th was without doubt a turning point in the movement to prevent catastrophic climate change. Many tens of thousands of people in all 50 states took action on Step It Up day. We demanded that Congress move now to cap and begin reducing the carbon emissions that are dangerously heating up the earth, toward the goal of 80% reductions by 2050.



I actively supported these actions. I was a leader of the N.J. Climate March April 13-16 which supported them. Bill McKibben and the young people from Middlebury College who called for and coordinated this campaign deserve tremendous praise.



However, I've been thinking all week about this fact: despite the tremendous upsurge in consciousness about and activism on the climate crisis over the past year and a half in the USA, those greenhouse gas emissions just keep going up. Despite everything that is being done by the tens of thousands of grassroots activists, many mayors and city councils, students and college administrators, businesses and state governments, famous politicians and movie stars, and individuals and families in their homes, when it comes to an actual capping of emissions and the beginnings of a downwards turn, it just isn't happening.



This is not surprising, given the pervasiveness of fossil fuel use throughout the economies of the world, the maddening intransigence of the Republicans and the timidity until very recently of most national Democratic leaders. But it is not something to be sanguine about.



We don't have the luxury of time on this issue. Scientists like James Hansen have said we have less than 10 years to fundamentally alter our energy policies, and that was a year and a half ago. A small number of scientists think we may have already reached the point of no return. Other scientists think that we are fast approaching it.



What is that "point of no return?" Climate scientists say that it's when there is so much carbon and heat in the atmosphere that the world's forests, oceans and soil-currently carbon "sinks," absorbers and storers of carbon-are so saturated with it that they cannot absorb any more and become actual sources of carbon. There is a chance that this point will be reached when we get to 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We're currently at 382, and each year brings an additional two and a half parts per million (ppm).



According to the Potsdam Institute, as reported in George Monbiot's Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, with the "equivalent of 440 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, there is a 67% chance of holding the temperature rise" to a point which will avoid catastrophic climate change. And as Monbiot explains, when you add in the other greenhouse gases-methane, nitrous oxide, several fluorocarbons-we are right around that "equivalent of 440 ppm" right now.



As study of the earth's climate history demonstrates, if we reach a point where the earth's carbon sinks become sources of carbon, it is virtually certain that we will enter a period in the world's history that can best be described as climate hell. James Hansen believes that, under these circumstances, eventual sea level rise of 80 feet is a distinct possibility, probably inevitable.



Each year that passes without action to seriously reduce carbon emissions is one more year that we are rolling the dice for ourselves, our children and future generations.



We need to do more. We as a country need to lead the world on this issue. We need to provide an example in action that we get it. We need to operate as if we were on a war footing, a nonviolent war against anything which prevents the rapid and urgent unfolding of a clean energy revolution.

Can we actually reverse course, undertake the social and economic transformations in enough time? Yes, we can make the necessary transformations. How do we know this? Because we've done it before! In his book, Plan B 2.0, author and visionary Lester Brown looks at what happened in the United States right after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack:

"The year 1942 witnessed the greatest expansion of industrial output in the nation's history. A sparkplug factory was among the first to switch to the production of machine guns. Soon a manufacturer of stoves was producing lifeboats. A merry-go-round factory was making gun mounts. . . The automobile industry was converted to such an extent that from 1942-1944, there were essentially no cars [for commercial sale] produced in the United States.

"This mobilization of resources within a matter of months demonstrates that a country and, indeed, the world can restructure the economy quickly if it is convinced of the need to do so. In this mobilization, the scarcest resource of all is time. With climate change, for example, we are fast approaching the point of no return. We cannot reset the clock. Nature is the timekeeper."



But let's get real. We know the Bush Administration will never lead this kind of campaign. And neither will the Democratic Congress, absent a continuing (after Step It Up) and escalating grassroots campaign that will not take no for an answer. A grassroots campaign that demands:



-A capping and mandatory reduction of carbon emissions, as fast and as deep as possible.

-A moratorium on any new coal plants. Coal is the worst of the fossil fuels. We need to get off it as quickly as possible.

-A mandated increase in fuel efficiency standards for all vehicles produced in the USA. Support to a crash program to increase the production of high miles-per-gallon hybrid cars, particularly plug-in hybrids that can dramatically decrease oil use.

-An immediate allocation of at least $25 billion, to be increased annually, to go towards effective energy efficiency programs and clean, safe renewable energy from the wind, the sun, the tides, the currents and the earth.



All of this is technically possible. The USA has the resources for it, especially if we end the war on Iraq and work collaboratively with the nations of the world in a campaign to rewire the world's energy system. What is missing is the visible and nonviolently aggressive grassroots political movement that will refuse to take anything other than yes for an answer.



What is missing is people willing to sit in, to get arrested, to refuse to eat until action is taken, to spearhead and motivate the more traditional forms of political protest and pressure that will also need to be taken, but by many more people.



This is not a new issue for the climate movement. For the last two years I have been part of organized discussions with other leaders of that movement about either a long fast/hunger strike or a campaign of nonviolent direct action. Two years ago in July about 40 people did fast for three days across from the White House at the same time as a Group of 8 meeting in Scotland which had climate change at the top of the agenda. There was serious consideration of a two week fast prior to the December, 2005 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Montreal. In early 2006 there was serious consideration of a long fast during that summer's G-8 summit. Neither of these long fasts materialized.



There have been a handful of small civil disobedience actions in the last year or so, at Penn State University, in a Montana U.S. Senator's office, in the West Virginia coal fields, at the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in D.C. and, just recently, at a big car show in New York City.



This is not enough. Climate activists cannot be seduced into believing that the main thing they should be doing is to get the candidates running for President to speak out on this issue. That's OK as a way to build up pressure, but we can't accept that nothing of substance can come from the federal government until there's a new President in the White House two years from now.



What are the political realities right now? We have a Congress controlled by Democrats, a majority of whom more-or-less get it on this issue, at least giving lip service to it. You have a seriously weakened Republican President and Vice-President and Republicans who are fearful that they could lose large numbers of seats in Congress in next year's election if they're on the wrong side of popular issues. And you have a large majority of the U.S. American people wanting action on the climate crisis.



The conditions are ripe for a political offensive directed at Congress on this issue, demanding that they move now, pass strong legislation and refuse to give in if Bush vetoes. We should make it clear to Congressional Democrats and Republicans who say they care about this issue that we expect them to "go to the mat" with Bush in defense of our ecosystem, our economy, our children and future generations.



I'm prepared for a long fast. I'm ready to get arrested, again. Is there anyone else who feels the same?





Ted Glick is the Coordinator of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council and co-founder of the Climate Crisis Coalition. His Future Hope columns are archived at www.ippn.org. He can be contacted at indpol@igc.org or P.O. Box 1132, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003 http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIRAN.jpg|http://www.MiddleEast.Org/world/generalhaor.htm|Interview with 4-star General Joseph Hoar |This screaming headline from THE NEW STATESMAN in London in mid-April 2007.|This is an advance copy of interview to be released on 28 April 2007 in the Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/eye.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cyberwar1may01,1,3624381.story|Pentagon Takes to YOUTUBE to Show Its Stuff||Hey. They've already got the Voice of American, al-hurrah, USAID, and all kinds of recognizeable brands...not to mention all the others they fund and or manipulate in one way or another. So why should we be surprised that they are also now taking to YouTube and Cyberspace...both overtly and covertly no doubt...


From the article: In one video, a U.S. soldier blasts insurgent gunmen with a heavy sniper rifle as the room fills with smoke. In another, members of an Iraqi family throw their arms around soldiers, weeping and rejoicing, after learning that their kidnapped relative has been freed.

The U.S. military has opened a new front in the Iraq war: cyberspace.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/LibertyMilitary.jpg|http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2007/05/08/bush-cheney_impeachment_might_be_idle_talk,_but_numbers_show_true_trouble|Large Minority Favors Impeaching Bush and Cheney||If Bush/Cheney should do something major, like work with Israel to attack Iran, it is quite reasonable to conclude a majority of the American public would favor impeaching both the President and the Vice-President in this sui generis case. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/UncleSamOilNose.jpg|http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2658330320070508?feedType=RSS&rpc=22|New Info: France Aided Israel Greatly in Developing Nuke Bombs|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CheneyPlaneFlag.jpg|http://debka.com/headline.php?hid=4193|Major 'War Games' Underway in Israel|The American Vice-President Clearly Warmed IRAN again from an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf: "We'll stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region."|This is not bluffing or posturing. This is part of the very real preparations for war with IRAN and all the anti-US anti-Israel forces throughout the region:

From the article: From May 14-17 participants will practice full-scale war scenarios, including extreme contingencies such as crippling attacks on strategic centers and mass casualties, prepared by the IDF General Staff. The game will encompass all levels of command up to prime minister, defense minister and his deputy under the direction of the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi. Most elements of the exercise have not been released, but it is reported that stress will be laid on improving communication between the civilian and military command levels and dialog among the commands in crisis situations. The scenarios correct some of the mishaps of last year’s Lebanon War, but the general scale of the exercise is broader. Experienced reserve generals have been mobilized to support the incumbent officers heading the various commands.

Last year, the national command war game, an annual event, was postponed by the Lebanon conflict.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MiddleEastMap.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2079828,00.html|Bush doesn't want detente. He wants to attack Iran||The US has swept aside repeated overtures from Tehran. Is it any wonder if the Islamic Republic now wants the bomb?
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WEFJordan.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070520/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_mideast;_ylt=AqTDqiNYn37l.VE5H9.RPjsLewgF|Israel to twist Arab League 'peace plan' for political and propaganda purposes|From left: Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah Al-Khatib, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa take part in session during the third day of the World Economic Forum in South Shuneh, 35 Kilometers west of Amman, Jordan - May 20, 2007. |There's a long long history to this kind of thing. The Israelis will attempt to draw the Arab League into 'negotiations', and the 'negotiations' will serve three great Israeli purposes. First the Israelis will get a kind of recognition from the Arab League, something they have sought for a long time. Second these 'negotiations' will supplant those directly with the Palestinians, previously a cornerstone for the Arabs ever since the days of Yasser Arafat creating the PLO back in the 1970s. And third the Israelis and the Americans will give the world the 'impression' that something is happen diplomatically even as Israeli settlements continue to expand, the Palestinians continued to be ruthlessly attack and permanently occupied, and a greater Middle East war with Iran is being planned by the U.S., Israel, and some of the Arab 'client regimes'...most especially the Saudis, the Egyptians and the Jordanians. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PChildrenMap.jpg|http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=KAR20070516&articleId=5670|US sponsored Gaza Warlord Dahlan - Palestinian Pinochet Making His Move?|Palestinian children hold maps of the Palestinian territories that includes Israel as they attend a rally to mark the 59th anniversary of the Naqba, or "The catastrophe" in the West Bank city of Nablus - May, 15, 2007|The leader to whom they answer is Mohammed Dahlan, the Gaza warlord who has long been Washington’s anointed favorite to play the role of a Palestinian Pinochet. And while Dahlan is formally subordinate to Abbas, whom he supposedly serves as National Security Adviser, nobody believes that Dahlan answers to Abbas — in fact, it was suggested at the time that Abbas appointed Dahlan only under pressure from Washington, which was irked by the Palestinian Authority president’s decision to join a unity government with Hamas.

If Dahlan takes orders from anyone at all, it’s certainly not from Abbas. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BaghdadFortress.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2084288,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12|Fortress American Size of Vatican in Baghdad|The American Fortress Embassy on the Tigress the size of the Vatican and build like a bunker. It is scheduled to open before the end of 2007.| "What kind of embassy is it when everybody lives inside and it's blast-proof, and people are running around with helmets and crouching behind sandbags?"

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNextWar2.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2085195,00.html|Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq||The greater likelihood here is that the U.S. and Israel are preparing to attack IRAN this summer...and leaked reports of this kind are a major part of the preparation of public opinion for the far greater war ahead...

From the article: "Iran is fighting a proxy war in Iraq and it's a very dangerous course for them to be following. They are already committing daily acts of war against US and British forces," a senior US official in Baghdad warned. "They [Iran] are behind a lot of high-profile attacks meant to undermine US will and British will, such as the rocket attacks on Basra palace and the Green Zone [in Baghdad]. The attacks are directed by the Revolutionary Guard who are connected right to the top [of the Iranian government]." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TurksIraq.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8PJEPP80&show_article=1|Turks 'Test' Invade IRAQ|On 6 June 2007, just as the G8 Summit began in Germany, Turkish Forces Crossed into Northern Iraq to battle the PKK|The 'test' invasion comes after weeks of getting ready, including public warnings, and just as the G8 Leaders are meeting in Germany. If there are no serious protests from the G8 and no counteractions taken the Turks will have established their 'right' to go into Northern Iraq and they will use the situation to intimidate and threaten the Kurds as they have in the past. Down the road a more robust invasion may be the result... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanGaza.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868017.html|US, Arab Countries, Israel all Colluding to Arm Fateh Against Hamas||It's the civil war the Israelis have worked strenuously for years to bring about. The amazing thing is that even with so many arms, so much money, and so much help from the CIA and Pentagon, the American-Israeli-Arab regimes connected forces of Fateh still are having major problems holding their own against the forces of Hamas. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNextWar.jpg|http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2127275,00.html|IRAN Again Warns U.S. || "In case of an American attack against Iran, the interests of this country around the world and in the region will be endangered," Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr, a deputy Interior Minister for security affairs, was quoted as saying.

"Today, all American bases in the region are within the reach of our medium-range weapons," said Zolghadr, former deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"Today, if the slightest disorder in the region's security and in the security of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf is created, oil prices will reach $250 a barrel and this will lead to the death of European countries and America in terms of economy and security," he added.

Worries about any supply disruption from the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, Iran, have been one of the factors helping to prop up oil prices. US crude is now around $65 a barrel.

"Maybe the start of an evil act (could) be in America's hand but its continuation and end won't be (in its hands)," he said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelPalFlagsMap.jpg|http://www.ft.com/indepth/arabisrael|The Arab-Israel Crisis in Depth||From the Financial Times: The prospects for progress in the Arab-Israeli ‘peace process’ in the current climate are remote. The political fall-out from Israel’s month-long war in Lebanon last summer has weakened the Israeli coalition government, perhaps fatally, and hostility between Israel and the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority shows little sign of abating. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IraqCrisis.jpg|http://www.ft.com/indepth/iraq|Iraq In Crisis|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SoldiersColor.jpg|http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=1|Abu Ghraib - More Damning Details including about Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz|| “The whole idea that Rumsfeld projects—‘We’re here to protect the nation from terrorism’—is an oxymoron,” Taguba said. “He and his aides have abused their offices and have no idea of the values and high standards that are expected of them. And they’ve dragged a lot of officers with them.”

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranThreat1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1942875.ece|From Palestine to Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Beyond - Israel and US Prepare for Historic Regional War|A major regular section in the Jerusalem Post is "The Iranian Threat"|There are many strange allies in wartime, and, if Hamas has anything to do with it, the covert British and American alliance with Palestinian “moderates” is about to be made embarrassingly public.

Ransacking Fadi’s office, the masked gunmen will have found a treasure trove of intelligence files. “We’ve discovered documents that will shock the world when published,” the movement proclaimed. The propaganda war, at least, has already started.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HamasGaza4.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1225&month=12&year=2004&function=text|Ziad Asali - Washington's Newest Palestinian Quisling|Hamas militants storm the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, from Fatah, in Gaza City. 15 June 2007| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush-Olmert.jpg|http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,330040059-119093,00.html|Palestine - Israeli and U.S. Duplicity Runneth Over|At the White House on 19 June 2007|The reality is that the only people who are really behind Salam Fayyad are the European and US diplomats who have long sung his praises behind the scenes to any journalist prepared to listen.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AbbasGaza.jpg|http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,489898,00.html|A Visit to Fatah's Torture Chamber|Palestinian militants from Hamas stand at the desk of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas inside Abbas' personal office after it was taken over by Hamas in fighting in Gaza City on June 15, 2007. Fatah forces collapsed under the onslaught by Hamas, which showed superior organization and motivation.|Eyewitnesses last Thursday reported that the Fatah members who were defending the building were shot in the head, one after another, when, with their shirts removed and their hands held above their heads, they had attempted to surrender. "We didn't kill a single one of them," counters Abu Mohammed. "That would be un-Islamic."

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/earth1.jpg|http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8604030340|PRESS TV 24-Hours Coming from IRAN|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ZionismCapitol.jpg|http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/20070323_calling_out_idiot_america/|Scott Ritter: Calling Out Idiot America|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SoldiersColor.jpg|http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007290279,00.html|Iran bombers attack Our Boys||Of course this is how it starts. Accusations, threats, counter-threats, black ops. No way for average people to figure it out. After all most Americans still think Saddam and Iraq were involved in 9/11! Quite clearly the Americans have decided to prepare the political conditions for war with IRAN. The military preparations, including a Naval Admiral in charge of all American forces in the region and another Navy man about to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are already in place and ready to go. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranNextWar.jpg|http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007290279,00.html|Escalating Charges and Threats: Iran bombers attack Our Boys!||Of course this is how it starts. Accusations, threats, counter-threats, black ops. No way for average people to figure it out. After all most Americans still think Saddam and Iraq were involved in 9/11! Quite clearly the Americans have decided to prepare the political conditions for war with IRAN. The military preparations, including a Naval Admiral in charge of all American forces in the region and another Navy man about to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are already in place and ready to go. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/capitol-fourth.jpg|http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/070307.html| The Libby Cover-up Completed||President George W. Bush’s decision to spare former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from jail marks the final act of a crime and cover-up that began four years ago when Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials launched a campaign to discredit a critic of the Iraq War....

By commuting Libby’s 30-month jail sentence on July 2 – and dangling the possibility of a full pardon later – Bush has moved to ensure that Cheney’s former chief of staff keeps his mouth shut and that the full story is never told. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush-AnyQuestions1.jpg|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19719435/|CIA said Iraq instability seemed ‘irreversible’|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Bush-AnyQuestions2.jpg|http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/2007/07/gut_feeling_of.php|A Different 'Gut Feeling': Israel Attacking Iran||Congress is off in August; as is much of Washington. Half of the U.S. warfleet is now near Iran; and the airforce has quietly sent large numbers of attack planes to Iraq and the region...covered thinly by all the talk about 'the surge'. And the propaganda machine about al-Qaeda and alleged Iranian 'involvement' and responsibility has been working overtime. The big one may well be coming...and soon... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/colorwarnings.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402263_pf.html|Bush: Most Unpopular President Ever||

Carter and Reagan at their worst moments did not face a public as hostile as the one confronting Bush. Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of Vietnam had the disapproval of 52 percent of the public. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Gerald R. Ford never had disapproval ratings reach 50 percent.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/InsurgentShades.jpg|http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/blst/index.htm|ISRAEL and PALESTINE - CHINAVIEW||More and more information is becoming diverse and foreigners are becoming more adept both at substance and presentation. This from emerging China... http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WashingtonLightning.jpg|http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage|September 15|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/God.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2811628.ece|Tension and Fear in Beirut|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCannonDick11.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2816666.ece|Greatest Refugee Crisis in Middle East History!|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelMoney.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=332835&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y|Israelis Want Iraqi Oil!||This has been a part of the end-game from the beginning -- an Iraqi oil grab, along with stragegic military bases, that includes great benefits for the Israelis. Now, in an election year when none of the big candidates will dare oppose, the Israelis are pushing again to get what they have conspired to get all along. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JerusalemWallDome.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/889312.html|Regional War Looms as Israel and the Arabs Dance With Rice Orchestrating||Kessler's main argument is that in her current position, as the top diplomat of the United States, Rice is mainly occupied with repairing the damage she did during her term as national security adviser. "The invasion of Iraq, the missed opportunities with Iran, the breach in relations with Europe, the NK [North Korean] nuclear breakout, the creation of secret CIA prisons in Europe, the Arab anger at a perceived bias against the Palestinians - all of these problems were the direct result of decisions she helped make in the White House. Now, as secretary of state, she has tried mightily - and with limited success - to unravel the Gordian knots she tied in GWB's [President Bush's] first term," Kessler writes. He is similarly critical of the wrongheaded decision to allow Hamas to take part in the Palestinian elections, in which Rice was involved as secretary of state. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/capitol-fourth.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2816666.ece| Iraq: One in seven joins human tide spilling into neighbouring countries|| The United States, with considerable Israeli and Israel/Jewish lobby encouragement and assistance, has effectively destroyed the country of Iraq. This basic reality and terrible human tragedy will have major ramifications for years maybe decades to come. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/censoring.jpg|http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/|Attention Democrats: GOP fear-mongering does not work - also about Saban Center and Ken Pollack||Working with Israel Lobby II at the Saban Center/Brookings, the White House and the Pentagon got their view bigtime onto the pages of the NYTimes...all with a pretense that it was coming from 'independent analysts'... what a joke!


MA: The military organized the O'Hanlon-Pollack tour, and I didn't know until I read your interview with Mike O'Hanlon that they'd had an interview with General Petraeus . . . . http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DriveOut.jpg|http://consortiumnews.com/Print/2007/072707a.html|Dangers of a Cornered George Bush - CIA Professionals|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DCNight1.jpg|http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSL2155053720070821?feedType=RSS&feedName=inDepthNews&rpc=22&sp=true|Congress Approval Rating Matches Historical Low||Looks like the American people are aware that things are not only very wrong at the White House but also very wrong at the Big House on Capitol Hill. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NeoconNazi.jpg|http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1654188,00.html|Prelude to an Attack on Iran||And what do we do if just the opposite happens — a strike on Iran unifies Iranians behind the regime? An Administration official told me it's not even a consideration. "IRGC IED's are a casus belli for this administration. There will be an attack on Iran." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BloodyHandSaddam.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/897169.html| Ex-MK Bishara says will head bid to try U.S., Israeli 'war criminals'|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BloodyHandSaddam.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/washington/01rice.html?ei=5090&en=78e5f04156801c36&ex=1346299200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print|As Her Star Wanes, Rice Tries to Reshape Legacy||UNBELIEVABLE - Condi actually seems to believe this!

“I watched the president standing in front of an American and Afghan flag, and I thought, the American president can now stand in front of an American and Iraqi flag, an American and Lebanese flag, and American and Palestinian flag,” she said. “I think in six years to have helped to foster those changes, even if they’re incomplete, even if they’re tough, even if there’s still work to be done — just think about those pictures. Those are pretty dramatic changes,” she said.

---------------------------

“Please go away, Rice. We don’t want someone who is responsible for the slaughter of an entire nation teaching at our school.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranImpeachment.jpg|||| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushFlags.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece|Massive 3-Day Strike on IRAN Planned!||Last Friday Bush and Cheney went into the Pentagon's "Tank" purportedly to talk about Iraq and preview General Petraeus's upcoming Report to Congress. But there are signs all over that this was really about preparations to strike IRAN; and if done that will change the Middle East and our world irrevocably making it all but impossible for whomever is elected the next American President next November to do anything other than 'stay the course' and fight the 'War of Civilizations' (as escalated from the former 'Clash of Civilizations'. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranImpeachment.jpg|||| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranImpeachment.jpg|http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/1/183018/1527|'We Are Going To Hit Iran. Bigtime!'|Furious Impeachment Demands May Result - Grass-Roots Orgs Preparing|"We Are Going To Hit Iran. Bigtime"
by Maccabee

Sat Sep 01, 2007

I have a friend who is an LSO on a carrier attack group that is planning and staging a strike group deployment into the Gulf of Hormuz. (LSO: Landing Signal Officer- she directs carrier aircraft while landing) She told me we are going to attack Iran. She said that all the Air Operation Planning and Asset Tasking are finished. That means that all the targets have been chosen, prioritized, and tasked to specific aircraft, bases, carriers, missile cruisers and so forth.

I asked her why she is telling me this.

Her answer was really amazing.

Maccabee's diary :: ::
She started in the Marines and after 8 years her term was up. She had served on a smaller Marine carrier, and found out through a friend knew there was an opening for a junior grade LSO in a training position on a supercarrier. She used the reference and the information and applied for a transfer to the United States Navy. Since she had experience landing F-18Cs and Cobra Gunships, and an unblemished combat record, she was ratcheted into the job, successfully changing from the Marines to the Navy. Her role is still aligned with the Marines since she generally is assigned to liason with the Marine units deploying off her carrier group.

Like most Marines and former Marines, she is largely apolitical. The fact is, most Marines are trigger pullers and most trigger pullers could care less who the President is. They simply want to be the tip of the sword when it comes to defending the country. She voted once in her life and otherwise was always in some forward post on the water during election season.

Something is wrong with the Navy and the Marines in her view. Always ready to go in harms way, Marines rarely ever question unless it’s a matter of tactics or honor. But something seems awry. Junior and senior officers are starting to grumble, roll their eyes in the hallways. The strain of deployments is beginning to hit every jot and tittle of the Marines and it’s beginning to seep into the daily conversation of Marines and Naval officers in command decision.

"I know this will sound crazy coming from a Naval officer", she said. "But we’re all just waiting for this administration to end. Things that happen at the senior officer level seem more and more to happen outside of the purview of XOs and other officers who typically have a say-so in daily combat and flight operations. Today, orders just come down from the mountaintop and there’s no questioning. In fact, there is no discussing it. I have seen more than one senior commander disappear and then three weeks later we find out that he has been replaced. That’s really weird. It’s also really weird because everyone who has disappeared has questioned whether or not we should be staging a massive attack on Iran."

"We’re not stupid. Most of the members of the fleet read well enough to know what is going on world-wise. We also realize that anyone who has any doubts is in danger of having a long military career yanked out from under them. Keep in mind that most of the people I serve with are happy to be a part of the global war on terror. It’s just that the touch points are what we see since we are the ones out here who are supposedly implementing this grand strategy. But when you liason with administration officials who don’t know that Iranians don’t speak Arabic and have no idea what Iranians live like, then you start having second thoughts about whether these Administration officials are even competent."

I asked her about the attack, how limited and so forth.

"I don’t think it’s limited at all. We are shipping in and assigning every damn Tomahawk we have in inventory. I think this is going to be massive and sudden, like thousands of targets. I believe that no American will know when it happens until after it happens. And whatever the consequences, whatever the consequences, they will have to be lived with. I am sure if my father knew I was telling someone in a news organization that we were about to launch a supposedly secret attack that it would be treason. But something inside me tells me to tell it anyway."

I asked her why she was suddenly so cynical.

"I have become cynical only recently. I also don’t believe anyone will be able to stop this. Bush has become something of an Emperor. He will give the command, and cruise missiles will fly and aircraft will fly and people will die, and yet few of us here are really able to cobble together a great explanation of why this is a good idea. Of course many of us can give you the 4H Club lecture on democracy in the Mid East. But if you asked any of the flight officers whether they have a clear idea of what the goal of this strike is, your answer would sound like something out of a think tank policy paper. But it’s not like Kosovo or when we relieved the tsunami victims. There everyone could tell you in a sentence what we were here doing."

"That’s what’s missing. A real sense of purpose. What’s missing is the answer to what the hell are we doing out here threatening this country with all this power? Last night in the galley, an ensign asked what right do we have to tell a sovereign nation that they can’t build a nuke. I mean the table got EF Hutton quiet. Not so much because the man was asking a question that was off culture. But that he was asking a good question. In fact, the discussion actually followed afterwards topside where someone in our group had to smoke a cigarette. The discussion was intelligent but also in lowered voices. It’s like we aren’t allowed to ask the questions that we always ask before combat. It’s almost as if the average seaman or soldier is doing all the policy work."

She had to hang up. She left by telling me that she believes the attack is a done deal. "It’s only a matter of time before their orders come and they will be sent to station and told to go to Red Alert. She said they were already practicing traps, FARP and FAST." (Trapping is the act of catching the tension wires when landing on the carrier, FARP is Fleet Air Combat Maneuvering Readiness Program- practice dogfighting- and FAST is Fleet Air Superiority Training).

She seemed lost. The first time in my life I have ever heard her sound off rhythm, or unsure of why she is doing something. She knows that there is something rotten in the Naval Command and she, like many of her associates are just hoping that the election brings in someone new, some new situation, or something.

"Yes. We're gong to hit Iran, bigtime. Whatever political discussion that are going in is window dressing and perhaps even a red herring. I see what's going on below deck here in the hangars and weapons bays. And I have a sick feeling about how it's all going to turn out."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IraqSoldiers.jpg|http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/counterexplanation.html|Details - 1million+ IRAQI Civilians Killed by U.S. Invasion|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushEmail.jpg|http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/bush-e-mail-mys.html|More WHITE HOUSE Coverup and Scandal - Bush E-Mail Mystery Deepens: White House Won't Name Tech Contractor||The "private contractor" is paid with funds authorized by Congress and paid by American citizens. The contractor is being blamed for not doing the job right and for essentially allowing Bush/Cheney to go around the law. And yet the White House tells Congress they won't even tell them who the contractor is. On this one the smell of lies and scandal is getting harder and harder to mask.



From the Article:
The White House will not identify a private company which appears to be involved in the disappearance of potentially millions of White House e-mails. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHitlerMorph.jpg|http://openyourmindseye.blogspot.com/2007/09/olbermann-reveals-bushs-true-agenda-for.html|Keith Olbermann - Special Comment - BUSH LYING ABOUT IRAQ - 5 Sept 07||Listen to this. Watch this. Shake about this. Most of all...Do Something About This! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/colorwarnings.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402263_pf.html|Bush - Most Unpopular President Ever in Modern Times||Carter and Reagan at their worst moments did not face a public as hostile as the one confronting Bush. Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of Vietnam had the disapproval of 52 percent of the public. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Gerald R. Ford never had disapproval ratings reach 50 percent.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushKippaTorah.jpg|http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/06/white-house-celebrates-rosh-hashanah-a-week-early/|White House celebrates Rosh Hashanah a week early.||Last night, President Bush issued a statement wishing “greetings” to those “celebrating Rosh Hashanah“:

The sound of the Shofar heralds the beginning of a new year and a time of remembrance and renewal for the Jewish people. During these holy days, men and women are called to reflect on their faith and to honor the blessings of creation.

The enduring traditions of Rosh Hashanah remind us of the deep values of faith and family that strengthen our Nation and help guide us each day. As Jewish people around the world come together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, it is a chance to look to the new year with hope and faith.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed Rosh Hashanah and shanah tovah.

Unfortunately for the White House, Rosh Hashanah does not start until next week — sunset on Sept. 12. (Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. President!) http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RearsNoToBush.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6983027.stm|Poll of Iraqis - Bad News for Bush/Cheney/Neocons|Fifty Protesters Moon Bush In Australia - 7 Sept 2007| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushAnbarSheik1.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070913/iraq/|Top Sunni American Sheik Killed today in "Anbar" IRAQ|Ten Days After Shaking Hands in this Photo taken in Iraq, Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was assassinated. 13 Sept 2007| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushAnbarSheik1.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070913/iraq/|Top Sunni Sheik Killed today in Anbar Province in IRAQ - Shook Hands With Bush in Iraq Just 10 Days Ago.|Ten Days After Shaking Hands in this Photo taken in Iraq, Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was assassinated. 13 Sept 2007|Just ten days after his picture was flashed around the world smiling and shaking hands with President Bush during a short surprise visit to Iraq, the leading Sunni Sheik working with the Americans was assassinated on 13 September 2007. This was just two days after General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker continually declared "Anbar Province" a big success story demonstrating how the "New Strategy" was working.

From the article: Islamic extremist Web sites praised the killing in a flurry of postings, one of which called Abu Risha "one of the biggest pigs of the Crusaders," meaning the Americans. Another said Abu Risha would spend the Muslim holy month of Ramadan "in the pits of hell." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushEvil.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?type=audio&file=media/audio/14Sept07.rpm&title=CIA+Veteran+Ray+McGovern+on+Bush,+Iraq,+Iran,+Israel,+and+America|CIA Veteran Ray McGovern tells is like it is about Bush, Iraq, Iran, Israel, and America in a candid, insightful 45-minute discussion.||Listen to Ray McGovern -- former CIA Veteran who gave the morning briefings to President Bush '41 at the White House years ago -- now tells it like it is really is about Bush '43, Iraq, Iran, Israel, and America. McGovern warns a U.S./Israeli attack on IRAN is likely, Bush and Cheney should be impeached, and Americans should resist becoming "Good Germans"! Listen carefully! McGovern discusses all these issues with Mark Bruzonsky, publisher of MiddleEast.Org http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Walt-Mearsheimer1.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2169839,00.html|'The Jewish Lobby' Professors - in The Guardian|Professors Stephen Walt (Harvard) and John Mearsheimer (Univ Chicago)| With their new book THE ISRAEL LOBBY they are getting more attention even in the U.S. But not on the big talk shows...still too fearful to deal with this explosive yet critical subject. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NextWarIran.jpg|http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=8469|IRAN WAR DRUMS from the Leading Neocons and Israelis|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iraq-Iran1.jpg|http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=8469|IRAN WAR DRUMS from the Leading Neocons and Israelis|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushSaddamMacLeansBig.jpg|http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/controversial-c.html|BUSH = SADDAM - Cover Article in Canada's Top Maclean's Magazine|The Cover of Canada's #1 Magazine, Macleans, in September 2007|Canada's top news magazine has caused a stir with a provocative cover depicting an image of President George W. Bush dressed as Saddam Hussein -- complete with the former Iraqi dictator's mustache and beret.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushNuke.jpg|http://www.worldcantwait.net/images/ads/iranquiz_nyu.pdf|World Can't Wait Portrays Bush as Nuclear Threat|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushNuke.jpg|http://www.worldcantwait.net/images/ads/iran%20quiz_nyu.pdf|World Can't Wait Portrays Bush as Nuclear Threat||World Can't Wait Portrays Bush in Nuclear Mushroom Cloud and asks a few key questions. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JohnEdwards.jpg|http://search.netscape.com/search/redir?src=websearch&requestId=ea9bc09dcb2db399&clickedItemRank=3&userQuery=john+edwards+dartmouth+debate+iran&clickedItemURN=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhCREp_ZiLSo&title=YouTube+-+John+Edwards%3A+Iran-NH+Debate&moduleId=matchingsites.jsp.M&clickedItemPageRanking=3&clickedItemPage=1&clickedItemDescription=WebResults|John Edwards: Iran - Dartmouth NH Debate|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIran1.jpg|http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=63561&v=8825621911|Attack on Iran Said To Be Imminent - Print Version|| "A report sent to the Elysée — Putin tells Tehran: They're going to bomb you!" The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, also expressed concerns to reporters in New York that an attack on Iran might be imminent. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DebraCagan.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=484762&in_page_id=1770|Pentagon Bush Official: I HATE ALL IRANIANS!|Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. Paul Wolfowitz, and Doug Feith, and Dov Zakheim, et. al, may be out, but there are many other hard-line Neocons who remain.|Ms Cagan, whose job involves keeping the coalition in Iraq together, also criticised Britain for pulling out troops.

"She said if we leave the south of Iraq, the Iranians will take it over," said one MP.

Another said: "She is very forceful and some of my colleagues were intimidated by her muscular style." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHitlerMorph.jpg|http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/3201|The Bush Hitler Thing||The Bush Hitler Thing

t r u t h o u t http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelLobbyBooks.jpg|http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec07/israel_10-09.html|Dueling Books Reignite Debate Over Israeli Lobby in United States||Two books examining the Israeli lobby in the U.S., "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," and "The Deadliest Lies," present opposing views on Israel's influence among U.S. policymakers. Authors John Mearsheimer and Abraham Foxman detail their stances. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHitlerMorph.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?type=audio&file=media/audio/14Sept07.rpm&title=CIA+Veteran+Ray+McGovern+on+Bush,+Iraq,+Iran,+Israel,+and+America|Exclusive Interview - CIA Veteran Ray McGovern Says Bush Imbalanced and Strike on Iran More Likely Than Not||This is an exclusive interview with Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst who use to brief the first President Bush at the White House. But these days he is more likely to be arrested in ongoing peaceful civil disobedience efforts to prevent the U.S. and Israel from attacking IRAN. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushEvil.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?type=audio&file=media/audio/14Sept07.rpm&title=CIA+Veteran+Ray+McGovern+on+Bush,+Iraq,+Iran,+Israel,+and+America|Exclusive Interview - CIA Veteran Ray McGovern Says Bush Imbalanced and Strike on Iran More Likely Than Not||This is an exclusive interview with Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst who use to brief the first President Bush at the White House. But these days he is more likely to be arrested in ongoing peaceful civil disobedience efforts to prevent the U.S. and Israel from attacking IRAN. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PopeFire.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=487764&in_page_id=1811|Catholics Claim Pope Paul in Fire from Heaven!|Vatican Officials Claim to see Pope Paul in this Fire from Heaven!|This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave.

The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland to mark the second anniversary of his death.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GeneralAbizaid.jpg|http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/15/abizaid-middle-east-gas-station/|Abizaid: ‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’|Genreal John Abizaid, Retired Command of U.S. Troops Throughout the Middle East.|“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Abbas-Olmert.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380607901&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Abbas 'Threatens' U.S. as 'Meeting' Plans Remain Murky at Best|Israeli Prime Minister Olmert with Palestinian Territories 'President' Abbas|However, they pointed out that Abbas was "very disappointed" by the results of Rice's last shuttle tour in the region.

Because of the tensions, Abbas and Rice refrained from holding a joint press conference after the meeting, they added.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda quoted a top PA official as saying that Abbas also warned that the US and Israel would have to deal with al-Qaida and a third intifada if the conference failed.

"It was a very tough meeting," the official said. "President Abbas threatened to resign and to deliver a public speech that would cause the US political difficulties and earthquakes not only in the Palestinian territories, but among US allies throughout the world as well." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Neocons.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2701350.ece|IRAQ Disaster - From the Start Says Top UK General||For the first time, the British general at the heart of postwar planning for Iraq tells Heidi Kingstone of the chaos in London and Washington http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iran-USFlags.jpg|http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/holt01_.html|IRAQ! It’s the Oil! Maybe 1/4 of the world's oil||WHO WILL GET THE OIL? $30 TRILLION WORTH AND GROWING, COUNTING!

If these estimates are anywhere close to the mark, US forces are now sitting on one quarter of the world’s oil resources. The value of Iraqi oil, largely light crude with low production costs, would be of the order of $30 trillion at today’s prices. For purposes of comparison, the projected total cost of the US invasion/occupation is around $1 trillion. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ZiadAsali.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1225&month=12&year=2004&function=text|All About Ziad Asali and the QUISLING PALESTINIANS in Washington|American Task Force on Palestine President Ziad Asali congratulates US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after her speech at the ATFP's inaugural gala, October 2006. |In mid-October 2007, as the Palestinians in the 'territories' are starving and suffering worse than ever, Ziad Asali and company put on their black ties, eat and drank themselves merry, and toasted once again top U.S. officials who keep crying crocodile tears for the Palestinians while pulverizing the Iraqis and preparing to bomb the Iranians. It's a very sordid show. The terms quislings and collaborators were made for these types. And make no mistake about it they are annointed by Abbas back in occupied Palestine, himself annointed by the U.S. and Israel after they got rid of both the head of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, and the head of the PLO, Yasser Arafat. This from MER in the past -- how right we were. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ZiadAsali.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/world/AsaliOct07.html|Ziad Asali and the Palestinian Collaborators in Washington, DC|American Task Force on Palestine President Ziad Asali congratulates US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after her speech at the ATFP's inaugural gala, October 2006. |--- http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushIranB2.jpg|http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.var.1792035.0.0.php|Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans||The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/siren1.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SLN3H80&show_article=1|Breaking News: RICE and HADLEY to be called in ISRAEL LOBBY Spy Case||Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior intelligence will be subpoenaed to discuss their discussions with pro-Israel lobbyists, a federal judge ruled Friday in an espionage case.

Lawyers for two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists facing espionage charges have subpoenaed Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and several others to testify at their trial next year. Prosecutors had challenged the subpoenas in federal court.

Lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman have argued that the Israeli interest group played an unofficial but sanctioned role in crafting foreign policy and that Rice and others can confirm it. If they ultimately testify in court, the trial in federal court in suburban Alexandria, Va. could offer a behind-the-scenes look at the way U.S. foreign policy is crafted. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SLN3H80&show_article=1|Breaking News: RICE and HADLEY to be called in ISRAEL LOBBY Spy Case||Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior intelligence will be subpoenaed to discuss their discussions with pro-Israel lobbyists, a federal judge ruled Friday in an espionage case.

Lawyers for two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists facing espionage charges have subpoenaed Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and several others to testify at their trial next year. Prosecutors had challenged the subpoenas in federal court.

Lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman have argued that the Israeli interest group played an unofficial but sanctioned role in crafting foreign policy and that Rice and others can confirm it. If they ultimately testify in court, the trial in federal court in suburban Alexandria, Va. could offer a behind-the-scenes look at the way U.S. foreign policy is crafted. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HamasDome.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,,2203897,00.html|Saudis signal doubts over Middle East peace talks called by US||"We have been negotiating for 70 years and we are still at first base," said Prince Saud. "This is now the oldest conflict in the world. It is becoming more rather than less complicated over time. We need to move expeditiously in a reasonable amount of time." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Sarkozy.jpg|http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/868/in2.htm|Sarkozy of Israel?|Nicolas Sarkozy - Now President of France, long-time part-time "spy" for Israel?|He's been the beit noir of the Arabs and Muslims of France. He's been a champion of Israel. Now he's a champion of the Neocons and helping the Americans plot the already started but soon to explode war on IRAN. Even as the upcoming trial of top Israel Lobby officials as spies finally gets ready to begin in the U.S., now these revelations, about the past, and maybe the present as well, of the new President of France.

From the article: The influential French daily Le Figaro last week revealed that the French leader once worked for -- and perhaps still does, it hinted -- Israeli intelligence as a sayan (Hebrew for helper), one of the thousands of Jewish citizens of countries other than Israel who cooperate with the katsas (Mossad case-officers). http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AirForcePlanes.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380718519&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|US and Israel Jointly Bombed Syria|A US Air Force F-22 Raptor, an F-117 Nighthawk, an F-4 Phantom and an F-15 Eagle fly over Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.|The September 6 raid over Syria was carried out by the US Air Force, the Al-Jazeera Web site reported Friday. The Web site quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that two US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons carried out an attack on a suspected nuclear site under construction. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AirForcePlanes.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380718519&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|US and Israel jointly struck Syrian nuclear site|A US Air Force F-22 Raptor, an F-117 Nighthawk, an F-4 Phantom and an F-15 Eagle fly over Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.|The September 6 raid over Syria was carried out by the US Air Force, the Al-Jazeera Web site reported Friday. The Web site quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that two US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons carried out an attack on a suspected nuclear site under construction. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AirForcePlanes.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380718519&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter|US and Israel Jointly Attacked Syria|A US Air Force F-22 Raptor, an F-117 Nighthawk, an F-4 Phantom and an F-15 Eagle fly over Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.|The September 6 raid over Syria was carried out by the US Air Force, the Al-Jazeera Web site reported Friday. The Web site quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that two US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons carried out an attack on a suspected nuclear site under construction. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIran2.jpg|http://www.newstatesman.com/200704160013|'We Are Being Led Into the Most Serious Crisis in Modern History'...||We are being led towards perhaps the most serious crisis in modern history as the Bush-Cheney-Blair "long war" edges closer to Iran for no reason other than that nation's independence from rapacious America. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MusharafCaricature.jpg|http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=11889|Pakistan and America's Lies and Self-Deceptions||And, of course, the notion that Bush is the least bit sincere in his protestations that his relentless desire to intervene in the affairs of other countries has the slightest relationship to promoting democracy in anything other than an incantatory sense is now in shreds. From now on invoking the desire to spread democracy can only provoke sneers and guffaws. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DebraCagan.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=484762&in_page_id=1770|I hate all Iranians, US aide tells MPs|Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. Paul Wolfowitz, and Doug Feith, and Dov Zakheim, et. al, may be out, but there are many other hard-line Neocons who remain.|"She seemed more keen on saying she didn't like Iranians than that the US had no plans to attack Iran," said one MP. "She did say there were no plans for an attack but the tone did not fit the words."

Another MP said: "I formed the impression that some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran. It was very alarming."

Tory Stuart Graham, who was on the ten-day trip, would not discuss Ms Cagan but said: "It was very sobering to hear from the horse's mouth how the US sees the situation."

Ms Cagan, whose job involves keeping the coalition in Iraq together, also criticised Britain for pulling out troops.

"She said if we leave the south of Iraq, the Iranians will take it over," said one MP.

Another said: "She is very forceful and some of my colleagues were intimidated by her muscular style." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ZiadAsali.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/world/AsaliOct07.html|Ziad Asali and Washington's Palestinian Quislings|American Task Force on Palestine President Ziad Asali congratulates US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after her speech at the ATFP's inaugural gala, October 2006. |A few days ago at the oppulent Ritz-Carleton in downtown Washington, as the Palestinians in the 'territories' are starving and suffering worse than ever, Ziad Asali and company put on their black ties, ate and drank themselves merry, and toasted once again top U.S. officials who keep crying crocodile tears for the Palestinians while pulverizing the Iraqis and preparing to bomb the Iranians on top of the Lebanese and Syrians.

It's a very sordid quite despicable show. The terms 'quislings' and 'collaborators' were coined precisely for these types of on-the-make and on-the-take personalities.

And make no mistake about it Asali and his little band are annointed in the end by the U.S. and Israel themselves working through their self-appointed Palestinian regime back in occupied Palestine now titularly headed by Mahmoud Abbas.

After getting rid in recent years of both the head of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, and the head of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, the U.S. and Israel are now intent on using Abbas to sign away what little remains of Palestinian rights and what little hope remains for any kind of dignified Palestinian independence.

This telling exclusive article from MER in the past a few years ago -- how right we were!
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CaspianRegion.jpg|http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/holt01_.html|It’s the Oil - London Review of Books||Iraq has 115 billion barrels of known oil reserves. That is more than five times the total in the United States. And, because of its long isolation, it is the least explored of the world’s oil-rich nations. A mere two thousand wells have been drilled across the entire country; in Texas alone there are a million. It has been estimated, by the Council on Foreign Relations, that Iraq may have a further 220 billion barrels of undiscovered oil; another study puts the figure at 300 billion. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelLobbyBooks.jpg|http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec07/israel_10-09.html|Dueling Books Reignite Debate Over Israeli Lobby in United States||
Two books examining the Israeli lobby in the U.S., "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," and "The Deadliest Lies," present opposing views on Israel's influence among U.S. policymakers. Authors John Mearsheimer and Abraham Foxman detail their stances. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushSaddamMacLeansBig.jpg|http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070920_100442_7900&source=srch&page=1|How George Bush became the new Saddam! Cover Article in Canada's Macleans Magazine|The Cover of Canada's #1 Magazine, Macleans, in September 2007|Back in 2002 George Bush was heard to rant: FUCK SADDAM, WE'RE TAKING HIM OUT!
A few years later about a million Iraqis are dead, 4 million refugees, and a country destroyed. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranSurrounded.jpg|http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/15/abizaid-middle-east-gas-station/|Abizaid: ‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’|| “Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHitlerMorph1.jpg|http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/3201| The Bush Hitler Thing|Geordolf W. Bushler|

There isn't much doubt in my mind - anyone who compares the history of Hitler's rise to power and the progression of recent events in the US cannot avoid the parallels. It's incontrovertible. Is Bush another Hitler? Maybe not, but with each incriminating event, the parallel grows -it certainly cannot be dismissed. There's too much evidence already. Just as Hitler used American tactics to plan and execute his reign, it looks as if Karl Rove is reading Hitler's playbook to plan world domination - and that is the stated intent of both. From the Reichstag fire to the landing at Nuremberg to the motto of "Gott Mit Uns" to the unprovoked invasion and occupation of Iraq to the insistence that peace was the ultimate goal, the line is unbroken and unwavering. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel-US.jpg||Abbas Threatens to Resign And Spill The Beans||Don't look for the article any longer at the Jerusalem Post website -- it was pulled a few days after publishing it was published. But we saved it:


Abbas: I'll resign if Annapolis fails
Source: JERUSALEM POST


Published: Oct 20, 2007
Author: By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is reported to have threatened to resign if the upcoming peace conference in Annapolis fails, paving the way for another round of violence and for the emergence of al-Qaida in the Palestinian territories.

Abbas made the threat during his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah last Wednesday.

PA officials in Ramallah would neither confirm nor deny the report.

However, they pointed out that Abbas was "very disappointed" by the results of Rice's last shuttle tour in the region.

Because of the tensions, Abbas and Rice refrained from holding a joint press conference after the meeting, they added.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda quoted a top PA official as saying that Abbas also warned that the US and Israel would have to deal with al-Qaida and a third intifada if the conference failed.

"It was a very tough meeting," the official said. "President Abbas threatened to resign and to deliver a public speech that would cause the US political difficulties and earthquakes not only in the Palestinian territories, but among US allies throughout the world as well."

The PA official also quoted Abbas as telling Rice that the absence of his "moderate" policies would force Washington to deal with a "third intifada."

The US, Abbas added, would also have to face the threat of al-Qaida, whose members, he claimed, had secretly infiltrated the Gaza Strip.

The official added that Abbas made it clear during the meeting that had it not been for his Fatah security forces in the West Bank, Iranian, Hizbullah and al-Qaida operatives would have infiltrated Israeli cities.

"You would have heard about hundreds of civilians killed every day in Israel had it not been for our efforts," Abbas was quoted as saying.

The official told the newspaper that he had never witnessed Abbas in such a mood.

He said Abbas emphasized during the talks that he was not prepared to go the peace conference simply to bolster Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity among the Israeli public.

Abbas also insisted that an agreement on all the "core" issues be reached with Israel ahead of the conference.

URL Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1192380607901&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Abbas-Olmert.jpg||Abbas Threatens to Resign And Spill The Beans|Israeli Prime Minister Olmert with Palestinian Territories 'President' Abbas|Don't look for the article any longer at the Jerusalem Post website -- it was pulled a few days after publishing it was published. But we saved it:


Abbas: I'll resign if Annapolis fails
Source: JERUSALEM POST


Published: Oct 20, 2007
Author: By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is reported to have threatened to resign if the upcoming peace conference in Annapolis fails, paving the way for another round of violence and for the emergence of al-Qaida in the Palestinian territories.

Abbas made the threat during his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah last Wednesday.

PA officials in Ramallah would neither confirm nor deny the report.

However, they pointed out that Abbas was "very disappointed" by the results of Rice's last shuttle tour in the region.

Because of the tensions, Abbas and Rice refrained from holding a joint press conference after the meeting, they added.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda quoted a top PA official as saying that Abbas also warned that the US and Israel would have to deal with al-Qaida and a third intifada if the conference failed.

"It was a very tough meeting," the official said. "President Abbas threatened to resign and to deliver a public speech that would cause the US political difficulties and earthquakes not only in the Palestinian territories, but among US allies throughout the world as well."

The PA official also quoted Abbas as telling Rice that the absence of his "moderate" policies would force Washington to deal with a "third intifada."

The US, Abbas added, would also have to face the threat of al-Qaida, whose members, he claimed, had secretly infiltrated the Gaza Strip.

The official added that Abbas made it clear during the meeting that had it not been for his Fatah security forces in the West Bank, Iranian, Hizbullah and al-Qaida operatives would have infiltrated Israeli cities.

"You would have heard about hundreds of civilians killed every day in Israel had it not been for our efforts," Abbas was quoted as saying.

The official told the newspaper that he had never witnessed Abbas in such a mood.

He said Abbas emphasized during the talks that he was not prepared to go the peace conference simply to bolster Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity among the Israeli public.

Abbas also insisted that an agreement on all the "core" issues be reached with Israel ahead of the conference.

URL Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1192380607901&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iraq-Petraeus-Crocker.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2701350.ece|IRAQ: Disaster From The Start Says Top UK General||For the first time, the British general at the heart of postwar planning for Iraq tells Heidi Kingstone of the chaos in London and Washington http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MusharafCaricature.jpg|http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/|Blogging from Martial Law Pakistan - Students Rise to the Challenge||An Independent Pakistani Student Initiative Against Injustice And Oppression. Providing Regular Updates On The Emergency Situation http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1290331.ece|Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran||These realities have largely been overlooked by the American media. Israel and the Israeli Lobby are working overtime to bring about an attack on IRAN in coordination with the U.S. The so-called upcoming 'Peace Conference' in Annapolis is a duplicitous smokescreen which has the additional purpose of allowing top American officials to repeatedly visit the Middle East to coordinate with both Israel and Arab 'client regimes' - most especially the Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, and Gulf countries.

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IraqCrisis1.jpg|http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/67346/|Will 'Armloads' of U.S. Cash Buy the Loyalty of Iraq's Sunni Leaders?||The administration talks a lot about support from Sunni tribal leaders; here's the rest of the story. ...

And paying tribes to keep the peace is nothing new. It was one of Mr. Hussein's tools in his selective patronage system designed to weaken and control all institutions outside his Baath party. The British also tried it when they ruled Iraq last century.

But the strategy is fraught with risks, including the serious potential for wars among the tribes themselves and the creation of militias in die-hard Sunni Arab lands where many continue to question the legitimacy and authority of the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad.

"[The US military] threw money at [the sheiks]," says Col. David Hsu, who heads a team advising Iraq's armed forces in Salahaddin, Saddam's home province. He shows recent digital photographs he captured of smiling sheikhs holding bundles of cash as they posed with US military officers. "You are basically paying civilians to turn in terrorists. Money was an expedient way to try to get results."

US military officers on the ground say there is tremendous pressure from high above to replicate the successes of the so-called "awakening" against Al Qaeda in the western Anbar Province. The drive reached its apex in the run-up to the September testimonies to Congress by the top US military commander and diplomat in Iraq, US officers say. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MusharafCaricature.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/11/09/dl0902.xml|Musharraf: 'Our Sonofabitch'||If that ever comes to pass, it will bring together a soldier whose popularity has plummeted and a politician whose standing has been undermined by her willingness to cut a deal with him. And the prospects for its lasting are slim: Miss Bhutto and the military are like oil and water....

In the old parlance, General Pervez Musharraf is "our sonofabitch". He has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis. And he has sacked independent-minded judges for fear that the Supreme Court declare illegal his re-election as president last month.

Yet, despite this combination of incompetence and brutality, America and Britain continue to back him as head of what has a strong claim to be the most dangerous country in the world. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIran2.jpg|http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071112_at_the_mercy_of_our_military/|In the Hands of the Military - Ironically it is the Pentagon Blocking the Neocon/Israel War on IRAN||The last, best hope for averting a war with Iran lies with the United States military. The Democratic Congress, cowed by the Israel lobby and terrified of appearing weak on defense before the presidential elections, will do nothing to halt an attack. The media, especially the electronic press, is working overtime to whip up fear of a nuclear Iran and tar Tehran with abetting attacks against American troops in Iraq. The American public is complacent, unsure of what to believe, knocked off balance by fear and passive. We will be saved or doomed by our generals.

The last wall of defense that prevents the Bush administration from targeting Iran, an attack that could ignite a regional conflagration and usher in apocalyptic scenarios in the Middle East, runs through the offices of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Adm. William Fallon , the head of the Central Command (CENTCOM); and Gen. George Casey, the Army’s new chief of staff. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AchtungStop.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_politics;_ylt=Ag_6FrMxGHzxKv5PP.y86PcLewgF|Palestinian Super Businessmen Connected to Americans Steps In||This is the way the Americans are hedging their bets should Mahmoud Abbas not make it and Fateh come apart. Al-Masri, with deep and long-time connections to the Americans and Israelis, is being used to try to create a 'third way' -- another potential co-opted group of Palestinian politicians including many who have been working with Fateh for many years. It's all of course a reaction to Hamas and the growing sentiments that the Palestine elite are corrupt, co-opted, and surely not to be trusted. And it's all in anticipation that the so-called 'Annapolis Meeting' won't really bring about a peace agreement but will resurrect the 'roadmap' and plug the dike for a little longer. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/LawrenceBankNote.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071118034937.mrt7xha8&show_article=1|Britain's army chief warns of overstretch and "Iraq fatigue"|| Sir Richard Dannatt said that the present level of operations was "unsustainable", the army is "undermanned" and troops are feeling "devalued, angry and suffering from Iraq fatigue", the Sunday Telegraph said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClashOfWorldsPalestine.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/world/cowpalestine.htm|VIDEO - Clash of Worlds, Palestine - BBC|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CaspianRegion.jpg|http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071210/hedges|WARNING WARNING - IRAN ATTACK LOOMS||Annapolis is not really about Palestine. Palestine is fractured into pieces and behind multiple walls and barriers for the foreseeable future. Annapolis is about the big elephant not to be in the room...IRAN.

Meanwhile, in a not fully complete way,
CHRIS HEDGES DOES IT AGAIN! He has become a kind of PAUL REVERE of Modern America! In a sense he is our own voice of conscience like Desmund Tutu and Nelson Mandela were to the old South Africa. And a journalist, former New York Times Bureau Chief in the Middle East for seven years, he has joined Robert Fisk in crying out with his pen and providing both knowledge, expertise, and leadership all combined.

FROM THE ARTICLE:
I will not pay my income tax if we go to war with Iran. I realize this is a desperate and perhaps futile gesture. But an attack on Iran--which appears increasingly likely before the coming presidential election--will unleash a regional conflict of catastrophic proportions. This war, and especially Iranian retaliatory strikes on American targets, will be used to silence domestic dissent and abolish what is left of our civil liberties. It will solidify the slow-motion coup d'état that has been under way since the 9/11 attacks. It could mean the death of the Republic. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Abbas-Olmert.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raghida-dergham/the-conference-to-release_b_73970.html|Shame on Huffington: Arab Lobby Journalists Tout ANNAPOLIS|Israeli Prime Minister Olmert with Palestinian Territories 'President' Abbas|It's a shame to watch a publication like HUFFINGTON POST be hustled like this. Just as the Israelis and the Jewish organizations have their kept journalists, so to the Arabs these days. One of those long on the make and long on the take is Raghida Dergham. And shortly after her Arab benefactors and paramours announced their visit to Annapolis Dergham had to rush this babble into print; and she found willing takers at Huffington Post.

From the article: "The Annapolis Conference is not a miracle conference; but the mere gathering of world leaders to think about Palestine and lay the cornerstone of the establishment of a Palestinian state makes it a conference that demolishes the wall of international marginalization and isolation of the Palestinians." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArchBishopCanterbury.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2937068.ece|Britain's top Christian: US is‘worst’ imperialist: archbishop|The Archbishop of Canterbury|THE Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the United States wields its power in a way that is worse than Britain during its imperial heyday.

Rowan Williams claimed that America’s attempt to intervene overseas by “clearing the decks” with a “quick burst of violent action” had led to “the worst of all worlds”.

In a wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim magazine, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the United States to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of western civilisation.

Williams went beyond his previous critique of the conduct of the war on terror, saying the United States had lost the moral high ground since September 11. He urged it to launch a “generous and intelligent programme of aid directed to the societies that have been ravaged; a check on the economic exploitation of defeated territories; a demilitarisation of their presence”.

He went on to suggest that the West was fundamentally adrift: “Our modern western definition of humanity is clearly not working very well. There is something about western modernity which really does eat away at the soul.”

Williams suggested American leadership had broken down: “We have only one global hegemonic power. It is not accumulating territory: it is trying to accumulate influence and control. That’s not working.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Carter-Sadat-Begin-CD.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?file=media/video/1.rpm&title=MER+Program+#1|PEACE PROCESS REALITIES! Watch MERTV Program #1 to understand the complicated history of what is called the "Middle East Peace Process"|Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, left, shakes hands with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin as President Carter looks on at Camp David in September 1978.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CarterBeginSadat1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?file=media/video/1.rpm&title=MER+Program+#1|PEACE PROCESS REALITIES! Watch MERTV Program #1 to understand the complicated history of what is called the 'Middle East Peace Process'|| In 1977 in Cairo Mark Bruzonsky met alone for an hour with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and helped convince him to make his historic visit to Israel. In 1982 Mark Bruzonsky authored 'The Paris Declaration' signed the founders of the World Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress -- and published across the whole top of the front page of Le Monde -- calling for the first time for a Palestinian State. In 1993 Mark Bruzonsky provided the live commentary on CTV throughout the Arafat-Rabin-Clinton White House ceremony, explaining even then why it would not hold and was likely to erupt in greater violence. Bruzonsky can be contacted at 202 320-6275 and Mark@Bruzonsky.com. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Carter-Sadat-Begin-CD.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?file=media/video/mertv2.rpm&title=mertv2|PEACE PROCESS REALITIES! Watch MERTV Program #2 to understand the complicated history of what is called the 'Middle East Peace Process'|Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, left, shakes hands with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin as President Carter looks on at Camp David in September 1978.|In 1977 in Cairo Mark Bruzonsky met alone for an hour with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and helped convince him to make his historic visit to Israel. In 1982 Mark Bruzonsky authored 'The Paris Declaration' signed the founders of the World Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress -- and published across the whole top of the front page of Le Monde -- calling for the first time for a Palestinian State. In 1993 Mark Bruzonsky provided the live commentary on CTV throughout the Arafat-Rabin-Clinton White House ceremony, explaining even then why it would not hold and was likely to erupt in greater violence. Bruzonsky can be contacted at 202 320-6275 and Mark@Bruzonsky.com. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClashOfWorldsPalestine.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/world/cowpalestine.htm|VIDEO - Clash of Worlds, Palestine - MUST WATCH to put ANNAPOLIS in HISTORICAL CONTEXT||VIDEO - Clash of Worlds, Palestine.

This is a MUST WATCH 1-hour historical documentary absolutely vital to put the 2007 ANNAPOLIS 'Conference' in HISTORICAL CONTEXT. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Carter-Sadat-Begin-CD.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/popup.cgi?file=media/video/mertv2.rpm&title=mertv2|PEACE PROCESS REALITIES! Watch MERTV Program #2 to understand the complicated history of what is called the 'Middle East Peace Process'|Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, left, shakes hands with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin as President Carter looks on at Camp David in September 1978.|In 1977 in Cairo Mark Bruzonsky met alone for an hour with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and helped convince him to make his historic visit to Israel. In 1982 Mark Bruzonsky authored 'The Paris Declaration' signed by the founders of the World Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress and welcomed by Yasser Arafat! It was published across the entire front page of Le Monde and dubed 'The Balfour Declaration for Palestine' by the leading PLO Representative in Europe. In 1993 Mark Bruzonsky provided the live commentary on CTV throughout the Arafat-Rabin-Clinton White House ceremony, explaining even then on that historic day why the agreement would fail and greater violence would likely result. Bruzonsky can be contacted at 202 320-6275 and Mark@Bruzonsky.com. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Book-DayofReckoning.jpg||America Self-Destructing Says Former Top White House Speech Writer||NEW BUCHANAN BOOK DECLARES 'END OF AMERICA'


"America is coming apart, decomposing, and...the likelihood of her survival as one nation...is improbable -- and impossible if America continues on her current course," declares Pat Buchanan. "For we are on a path to national suicide."

The best-selling author and former presidential candidate is on the eve of launching his new epic book: DAY OF RECKONING: HOW HUBRIS, IDEOLOGY AND GREED ARE TEARING AMERICA APART.

[The book's release date has been moved up to this week. It ranked #237 on AMAZON's hitparade Monday morning.]

This time, Buchanan goes all the way:

"America is in an existential crisis from which the nation may not survive."

The U.S. Army is breaking and is too small to meet America’s global commitments.

The dollar has sunk to historic lows and is being abandoned by foreign governments.

U.S. manufacturing is being hollowed out.

The greatest invasion in history, from the Third World, is swamping the ethno-cultural core of the country, leading to Balkanization and the loss of the Southwest to Mexico.


The culture is collapsing and the nation is being deconstructed along the lines of race and class.

A fiscal crisis looms as the unfunded mandates of Social Security and Medicare remain unaddressed.

All these crises are hitting America at once -- a perfect storm of crises.

Specifically, Buchanan contends:

• Pax Americana, the era of U.S. global dominance, is over. A struggle for global hegemony has begun among the United States, China, a resurgent Russia and radical Islam

• Bush’s invasion of Iraq was a product of hubris and of ideology, a secular religion of “democratism,” to which Bush was converted in the days following 9/11

• Torn asunder by a culture war, America has now begun to break down along class, ethnic and racial lines.

• The greatest threat to U.S. sovereignty and independence is the scheme of a global elite to erase America’s borders and merge the USA, Mexico and Canada into a North American Union.

• Free trade is shipping jobs, factories and technology to China and plunging America into permanent dependency and unpayable debt. One of every six U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished under Bush

• “Sovereign Wealth Funds,” controlled by foreign regimes and stuffed with trillions of dollars from U.S. trade deficits, are buying up strategic corporate assets vital to America’s security

• As U.S. wages are stagnant, corporate CEOs are raking in rising pay and benefits 400 to 500 times that of their workers

• The Third World invasion through Mexico is a graver threat to our survival as one nation than anything happening in Afghanistan or Iraq

* European-Americans, 89% of the nation when JFK took the oath, are now 66% and sinking. Before 2050, America is a Third World nation

• By 2060, America will add 167 million people and 105 million immigrants will be here, triple the 37 million today.

• Hispanics will be over 100 million in 2050 and concentrated in a Southwest most Mexicans believe belongs to them

Buchanan’s Recommendations:

• A new foreign-defense policy that closes most of the 1000 bases overseas, reviews all alliances, and brings home U.S. troops

• A purge of neoconservative ideology and the “Cakewalk” crowd” from national power.

• To avert a second Cold War, the United States should “get out of Russia’s space and get out of Russia’s face,” and shut down all U.S. bases on the soil of the former Soviet Union

• To reach a cold peace in the culture war, Buchanan urges a return to federalism and the overthrow of our judicial dictatorship by Congressionally mandated restrictions on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

• To end the trade deficits and save the dollar, Buchanan urges a Hamiltonian solution: a 20% Border Equity Tax on imports, with the $500 billion raised to be used to end taxation on American producers

• To prevent America becoming “a tangle of squabbling nationalities” Buchanan urges: No amnesty for the 12-20 million illegal aliens; a border fence from San Diego to Brownsville; Congressional declarations that children born to illegal aliens are not citizens and English is the language of the United States; and a “timeout” on all immigration.


DrudgeReport **Exclusive** on 25 Nov 2007
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushIranB2.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/world/IranAnnapolis.htm|IRAN Dominates Annapolis!||The morning after the 'historic' Annapolis 'Peace Conference', even as Bush Olmert and Abbas met at the White House, it was the IRANIANs dominating the news. This from the DrudgeReport the morning of 28 November 2007 was a telling illustration of just how powerful the Iranians have already becoming and how Annapolis is more about taking them down than building the Palestinians up. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AnnapolisPhoto.jpg|http://middleeast.org/documentary/index2.htm|WHITE HOUSE Arafat-Rabin-Clinton - Watch Live Commentary on CTV by Mark Bruzonsky on that date|ANNAPOLIS - NYTimes Page1: Officials from 49 nations gathered at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., for a one-day conference on Middle East peace on 27 November 2007.| Annapolis is a politically choreographed event in 2007 designed to mislead and confuse. But it takes serious experts aware of both the moment and history to explain what is really going on. Watch Mark Bruzonsky, publisher of MER, live on CTV during the Rabin-Arafat White House extravaganza years ago -- how right he turned out to be. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushOlmertAbbas.jpg|http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/06/africa/06palestinians.php|Just say NO to Abbas||The Palestinian people are suffering badly. Those responsible are Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. at the top of the list. The 'international community' should tell Abbas NO. Subsidizing Israeli apartheid and American imperialism should not be the role of the international community. Let the Israelis and the Americans and the Brits pay for what they have done and stop trying to hoodwink adn browbeat everybody else. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BigBrotherUncleSam.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79bxVgzgKkQ&eurl=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18847.htm|"You, Mr.. Bush, are a bald-faced liar." Keith Olbermann - 6 Dec 07||
There are few choices more terrifying than the one Mr.. Bush has left us with tonight.

We have either a president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from invoking World War Three about Iran at least six weeks after he had to have known that the analogy would be fantastic, irresponsible hyperbole -- or we have a president too transcendently stupid not to have asked -- at what now appears to have been a series of opportunities to do so -- whether the fairy tales he either created or was fed, were still even remotely plausible. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClashOfWorldsPalestine.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/world/cowpalestine.htm|MUST WATCH VIDEO DOCUMENTARY - CLASH OF WORLDS, PALESTINE||This extraordinary documentary focuses on the relationship between Britain and Palestine from 1916 to 1948,
the resulting foundation of the state of Israel, and the sense of betrayal and hatred felt to this day.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article3037440.ece|UN chief: act now on climate or face oblivion||NOW HEAR THIS!!

Humanity faces oblivion if it fails to reach agreement on global warming, Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, said yesterday as the US and the European Union continued to scuffle over a successor to the ten-year-old Kyoto treaty on climate change. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MetroTimesIRAN.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847289613&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|WAR With IRAN maybe UNAVOIDABLE says top Israeli Amb||It must be clear that if Iran does not cooperate with the West on the nuclear issue, military confrontation will be unavoidable, incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, was quoted as saying Sunday. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article3037440.ece|Act now on climate change or face OBLIVION Warns UN chief||NOW HEAR THIS!

Humanity faces oblivion if it fails to reach agreement on global warming, Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, said yesterday as the US and the European Union continued to scuffle over a successor to the ten-year-old Kyoto treaty on climate change. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MetroTimesIRAN.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847289613&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|WAR WITH IRAN MAYBE UNAVOIDABLE says top Israeli Amb||The Israelis and their Neocon Minions and Evangelical Zealots in the US are intent on controlling the Middle East; and that means bring the Iranians and all who oppose them down or into submission one way or another.

From the Article: It must be clear that if Iran does not cooperate with the West on the nuclear issue, military confrontation will be unavoidable, incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, was quoted as saying Sunday. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Israel-US.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071215/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_us_iran|Israelis Keep Beating Wardrums for IRAN...now blaming Americans!||The Israelis and the lobby of Neocons and Evangelical Zealots are intent on bringing IRAN into submission, one way or another. If the Americans won't war on IRAN for and with them, then they will blame the Americans and find one way or another to ignite the war.

From the Article:

"The American misconception concerning Iran's nuclear weapons is liable to lead to a regional Yom Kippur where Israel will be among the countries that are threatened," Dichter said in a speech in a suburb south of Tel Aviv, according to his spokesman, Mati Gil. "Something went wrong in the American blueprint for analyzing the severity of the Iranian nuclear threat."

Dichter didn't elaborate on the potential scenario but seemed to imply that a world that let its guard down regarding Iran would be more vulnerable to attack by the Islamic regime.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushOlmertAbbas.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1196847334572&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|NO CAMERAS Fearful Palestinians Insist||Mahmoud Abbas and company are so branded collaborators and traitors now, not to mention all the years of terrible corruption of so many kinds, that they live in fear more of their own people than anything else. Annapolis couldn't have been such a disaster without Abbas; the same man who actually signed the 'Oslo accords' at the White House which propelled the Palestinians from crisis to crisis.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Still, there was one more problem. How could PA negotiators be seen sitting with Israeli government officials at a fancy hotel in Jerusalem while the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were burying those killed during the IDF operation?

So the PA negotiators decided that they would attend the meeting in Jerusalem on condition that no camera crews or journalists were permitted to cover the event. The last thing negotiators Ahmed Qurei and Saeb Erekat wanted was to be seen embracing Israelis and posing for photos in public only hours after major TV networks showed Israelis and Palestinians fighting each other in the Gaza Strip. ...

Some officials in Abbas's office are convinced that Israel was deliberately trying to undermine the status of the PA on the eve of the beginning of the "final status" talks. They believe that Tuesday's military campaign in the Gaza Strip and the decision to build new apartments in Har Homa were part of a "conspiracy" aimed at embarrassing the PA leadership and damaging its credibility among Palestinians. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsralTailDog.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402214.html|Sealed Off by Israel, Gaza Reduced to Beggary||It's a long running Israeli Plot, a major historical conspiracy if you will. The godfather is Ariel Sharon; but in reality the Israeli establishment has bought into it. Gaza is the world's largest prison camp. What's left of Palestine has been turned into surrounded and controlled Bantustans...prisons as well. This from the front page of the Sunday Washington Post on 16 Dec 2007.

FROM THE ARTICLE: This punishing seal has reduced Gaza, a territory of almost 1.5 million people, to beggar status, unable to maintain an effective public health system, administer public schools or preserve the traditional pleasures of everyday life by the sea. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USFlagIsraelStar.jpg|http://www.leftlink.com/4151/On-IsraelPalestine/Donors-Could-Care-Less-About-Palestinians-In-Gaza|Little $ for Elected Palestinians; Billions for the Collaborating Palestinians|| This has been going on for some years now but never so blatantly, never so hypocritically, never so totally unjustly. The elected Palestinians are bottled up a Gaza concentration camp. Those Palestinians collaborating with the U.S. and Israel are treated as VIPs and provided ever more money and guns. But their 'legitimacy' has never been more marginal than it is today. And the day of reckoning and payback is yet to come. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1196847398265&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Ex-CIA official: ISRAEL WILL ATTACK IRAN on its own||This former CIA fellow is now employed by a off-shoot of the Israeli Lobby. Bruce Reidel works at the Saban Center, the latest think-tank set up (actually bought as it is part of the Brookings Institution) by the Israelis and their friends in Washington -- however 'indirectly'. With such 'credentials' he has considerable access to important Israelis, among them long-time hard-line Mossad operative and Bibi adviser Uzi Arad.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Uzi Arad, a former Mossad official and adviser to opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, told Newsweek that on a recent trip to Moscow, a Russian general poked fun at the naiveté of the NIE, commenting that if the Iranians had halted weapons development in 2003 it was partly because they were satisfied with progress there and wanted to devote investment to harder parts of the nuclear equation, like enrichment.

"The irony is that the effect of this report may be self-negating - by itself it will accelerate Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons," Arad told the magazine.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847398265&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter|Ex-CIA official: ISRAEL WILL ATTACK IRAN on its own||This former CIA fellow is now employed by a off-shoot of the Israeli Lobby. Bruce Reidel works at the Saban Center, the latest think-tank set up (actually bought as it is part of the Brookings Institution) by the Israelis and their friends in Washington -- however 'indirectly'. With such 'credentials' he has considerable access to important Israelis, among them long-time hard-line Mossad operative and Bibi adviser Uzi Arad.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Uzi Arad, a former Mossad official and adviser to opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, told Newsweek that on a recent trip to Moscow, a Russian general poked fun at the naiveté of the NIE, commenting that if the Iranians had halted weapons development in 2003 it was partly because they were satisfied with progress there and wanted to devote investment to harder parts of the nuclear equation, like enrichment.

"The irony is that the effect of this report may be self-negating - by itself it will accelerate Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons," Arad told the magazine.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847398265&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter|Ex-CIA official: ISRAEL WILL ATTACK IRAN on its own||This former CIA fellow is now employed by a off-shoot of the Israeli Lobby. Bruce Reidel works at the Saban Center, the latest think-tank set up (actually bought as it is part of the Brookings Institution) by the Israelis and their friends in Washington -- however 'indirectly'. With such 'credentials' he has considerable access to important Israelis, among them long-time hard-line Mossad operative and Bibi adviser Uzi Arad.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Uzi Arad, a former Mossad official and adviser to opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, told Newsweek that on a recent trip to Moscow, a Russian general poked fun at the naiveté of the NIE, commenting that if the Iranians had halted weapons development in 2003 it was partly because they were satisfied with progress there and wanted to devote investment to harder parts of the nuclear equation, like enrichment.

"The irony is that the effect of this report may be self-negating - by itself it will accelerate Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons," Arad told the magazine.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AtomicBomb.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847416688&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|ISRAEL SURVIVES IRAN DESTROYED in Nuke War - Prediction from CSIS Study||CSIS has long and deep ties to the CIA, U.S. Military, as well as the Israelis. Published at this time it may well be designed to take the pressure off both Bush and Olmert to strike at IRAN; or it could be alternatively interpreted that the time to preemptively strike is now and closing.

FROM THE ARTICLE: If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives - as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which is headed by Anthony H. Cordesman, formerly an analyst for the US Department of Defense. The document, which is largely theoretical due to the lack of verified knowledge in some areas - specifically in terms of Israel's nuclear capability - paints various scenarios and attempts to predict the strategies of regional powers, as well as the US. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHitlerMorph.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3087293.ece|Top CIA Man May Implicate both White House and VP||Who knows what real details and scandals are now lurking. Will the Congress have the guts to actually push hard to find out? Will the few who really know have the guts to tell the truth or risk perjuring themselves knowing a President pardon looms if need be? The recent backlash from the 'intelligence community', on top of long-rumored resistance from top military to the neocon agenda, both suggest it's just possible much of what has been going on in this Neocon-Evangelical-Zionist Administration may yet become known even before they possibly depart. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushEvil.jpg|http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS/712190374/-1/rss02|Ex-CIA man predicts U.S. war with Iran||Listen to the MiddleEast.Org exclusive interview with Ray McGovern (select on top row).

FROM THIS ARTICLE: Former Central Intelligence Agency analyst Ray McGovern said Monday night that he fears the United States will go to war with Iran before the next American presidential election.

McGovern alleged that a joint U.S. and Israeli war on the Arab nation would likely come despite a recent National Intelligence Estimate suggesting that Iran has not had a functioning nuclear weapons program since 2003. He cited the close American relationship with Israel, which he said considers Iran a threat, as a driving force behind a potential strike. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RobotSex.jpg|http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5414020.html|Getting Your Kid Into Ivy League U|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GlobeNice.jpg|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3298364.ece|2008 - CHINA REBORN AS SUPERPOWER||Here comes the world's newest superpower. The rest of the world is gloomily contemplating economic slowdown and even recession. Not in Beijing. China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn Olympic Games. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushOlmertHalves.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137521.ece|Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike||Is the Bush trip to Israel and other key Middle East countries a masked way of allowing secret discussions at the highest levels for upcoming war with IRAN? You can bet there is much taking place in secret. This article in the London SUNDAY TIMES may expose at least a bit of what is really going on.

FROM THE ARTICLE: ISRAELI security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programme - and how it could be destroyed - when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week.

Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared.

Last month it was revealed that the US National Intelligence Estimate report, drawing together information from 16 agencies, had concluded that Iran stopped a secret nuclear weapon programme in 2003.

Israeli intelligence is understood to agree that the project was halted around the time of America’s invasion of Iraq, but has “rock solid” information that it has since started up again. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaWorld.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f46f618a-bd41-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html|Barack Obama’s message to the world||Mr Obama and the other Democrats know that they cannot afford to sound weak. But an Obama victory would suggest that America now wants a new, less militarised approach to the world. It would show that the Republicans’ mantra that “the world is a dangerous place” is the beginning of the discussion, not the end of it. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PenSwords.jpg|http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7810.html|Press and Pollsters Embarrassed Big Time in NH|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USFlagIsraelStar.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3164679.ece|THICK FOG as Bush Claims Middle East deal in 2008 but warns Israel over 'Swiss cheese' solution||Hmmm...the headline seems to be:
BUSH SAYS NO CHEESY SOLUTIONS as THICK FOG Envelopes Region.

"Thick fog covered Ramallah and nearby Jerusalem from early morning, grounding plans for Mr Bush to land in Ramallah aboard his Marine One helicopter and forcing him to go by road instead. Taking no chances with the safety of the American leader, authorities issued an order banning locals from climbing on to rooftops to watch his arrival.
....

"President Bush declared today that a Middle East peace treaty would be signed before he leaves the White House in January next year - but warned Israel against a "Swiss cheese" solution for the borders of an independent Palestinian state.

“I believe it’s possible - not only possible - I believe it’s going to happen, that there’ll be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office. That’s what I believe," Mr Bush told a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah after meeting Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.MiddleEast.Org/Haaretz-BushChristians-11Jan08.html|Bush Departs Israel Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures and Calling for 'Occupation to End'|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 10 Jan 08|Quite a photo for the born-again American Evangelical Christian President as he departs Israel to visit the Arab States working overtime to create an anti-Iran alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.MiddleEast.Org/Haaretz-BushChristians-11Jan08.html|Bush Departs Israel Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures and Calling for 'Occupation to End'|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 11 Jan 08|Quite a photo for the born-again American Evangelical Christian President as he departs Israel to visit the Arab States working overtime to create an anti-Iran alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.MiddleEast.Org/Haaretz-BushChristians-11Jan08.html|Bush Departs Israel Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures and Calling for 'Occupation to End'|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 11 Jan 08|The words are tricky and slightly nuanced. But the bottom-line is the same as always - the U.S. and Israel are aligned and the Palestinians must give up their struggle and settle for scraps of Palestine all controlled by Israel and the Americans.

And get the photo! Quite a picture for the history books as the Christian Born-Again American Evangelical President departs Israel on his way to the U.S.-sponsored 'Arab Client Regimes' creating an anti-Iran anti-Shia pro-Israel alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.Middleeast.org/bush1-11-08.htm|Pres. Bush Departed Israel on 11 Jan 2008 Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures and Calling for an 'End to the Occupation'|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 11 Jan 08|The words are tricky and slightly nuanced. But the bottom-line is the same as always - the U.S. and Israel are aligned and the Palestinians must give up their struggle and settle for scraps of Palestine all controlled by Israel and the Americans.

And get the photo! Quite a picture for the history books as the Christian Born-Again American Evangelical President departs Israel on his way to the U.S.-sponsored 'Arab Client Regimes' creating an anti-Iran anti-Shia pro-Israel alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/bushchristians.html|Pres Bush Departed Israel on 11 Jan 2008 Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures and Calling for an 'End to the Occupation'|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 11 Jan 08|The words are tricky and slightly nuanced. But the bottom-line is the same as always - the U.S. and Israel are aligned and the Palestinians must give up their struggle and settle for scraps of Palestine all controlled by Israel and the Americans.

And get the photo! Quite a picture for the history books as the Christian Born-Again American Evangelical President departs Israel on his way to the U.S.-sponsored 'Arab Client Regimes' creating an anti-Iran anti-Shia pro-Israel alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/bushhaaretz.jpg|Pres Bush Departed Israel on 11 Jan 2008 Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures and Calling for an 'End to the Occupation'|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 11 Jan 08|The words are tricky and slightly nuanced. But the bottom-line is the same as always - the U.S. and Israel are aligned and the Palestinians must give up their struggle and settle for scraps of Palestine all controlled by Israel and the Americans.

And get the photo! Quite a picture for the history books as the Christian Born-Again American Evangelical President departs Israel on his way to the U.S.-sponsored 'Arab Client Regimes' creating an anti-Iran anti-Shia pro-Israel alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushHaaretz.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/bush1-11-08.htm|George Bush Departed Israel 11 Jan 08 Surrounded by Christian Religious Figures|Bush Surrounded by Christian Figures As He Visits Israel - 11 Jan 08|The words are tricky and slightly nuanced. But the bottom-line is the same as always - the U.S. and Israel are aligned and the Palestinians must give up their struggle and settle for scraps of Palestine all controlled by Israel and the Americans.

And get the photo! Quite a picture for the history books as the Christian Born-Again American Evangelical President departs Israel on his way to the U.S.-sponsored 'Arab Client Regimes' creating an anti-Iran anti-Shia pro-Israel alliance. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MetroTimesIRAN.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080113/bush-mideast/|Bush Says US, Allies Must Confront Iran||President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.

"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact _ an accord he said whose "time has come." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MetroTimesIRAN.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080113/bush-mideast/|Bush Says US, Allies Must Confront Iran "Before It Is Too Late!"||President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.

"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact _ an accord he said whose "time has come." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MetroTimesIRAN.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080113/bush-mideast/|BUSH Says US, Arab Allies Must Confront Iran 'Before It Is Too Late!'||President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.

"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact _ an accord he said whose "time has come." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushME.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943342.html|CRUSADES 101 - The Israelis Get It!||The person who is waking up this morning in the presidential suite of the King David Hotel is a God-fearing man. A man who believes that a hidden hand brought him from Texas to the presidency in order to carry out a Divine mission. The president cannot say so publicly, but since September 11, 2001 it has been clear to him that the role assigned him is both historic and religious: to save America from the new barbarians; to defend the West from the Huns who are attacking it from the East. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushBruised.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-burns19jan19,1,3139196.story?coll=la-middleeast&ctrack=3&cset=true|Rice aide, architect of U.S. diplomacy, resigns|By mid-Dec 2007 one of the Iranian Internet Services Showed This Picture of Battered Bush|"Nick loves the limelight; Bill hates it," said Bulent Aliriza, a foreign policy specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Because of Nicholas Burns' skill at explaining U.S. goals, Aliriza said, "I'm sure Rice is going to feel his loss big time." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/DomeOfTheRock.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3238615.ece|GAZA - Major Hamas Success, However Temporary. ||As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the audacious operation that brought down a hated border wall and handed the Islamist group Hamas what might be its greatest propaganda coup. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/siren1.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/18/AR2008011802873.html|IRAQ: SURGE TO NOWHERE||This featured in a big way on Page 1 of the Sunday Outlook Section of the Washington Post on 20 Jan 08 ....

FREOM THE ARTICLE: As the fifth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom nears, the fabulists are again trying to weave their own version of the war. The latest myth is that the "surge" is working.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushME.jpg|http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Default.aspx?src=home&context=overview&id=945|U.S. Lies That Led to IRAQ Invasion||Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WestBank-Gaza.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TocjkugWEEc|Video - Al Jazeera - Gaza Prison Jailbreak||"Sooner or later they have to break out."
It's the world's largest jailbreak. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Kenya2008.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/world/asia/27sherpao.html?scp=1&sq=doomsday&st=nyt|'Doomsday' Pakistan Now Possible||“Doomsday scenarios are being discussed, especially the way things have gone in the last three to four months,” he said.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/goldberg-map.jpg|http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/goldberg-mideast|THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST - in The Atlantic - Jan 2008||There are big changes coming in the USA with a critical election in November 2008. Already the various forces are pushing hard to set the stage for the next President, and next Administration's, critical Middle East policies. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gfalogo.jpg.jpg|http://www.goalsforamericans.org|A Project of The Goals for Americans Foundation|A Project of The GOALS FOR AMERICANS Foundation| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/McCainLieberman2.jpg|http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/02/04/lieberman/|Lieberman and McCain - Kissing Cousins|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JihadForPeace.jpg|http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10601243|How jihad went freelance||Al-Qaeda has evolved from a single group to an amorphous movement. Does that make it less dangerous or more so? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/McCainLieberman2.jpg|http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_02_11/buchanan.html|McCain: More Wars Coming!||Offering more “straight talk” on the Sunday before the Florida primary, John McCain made an arresting prediction: “It’s a tough war we’re in. It’s not going to be over right away. There’s going to be other wars. I’m sorry to tell you, there’s going to be other wars. We will never surrender but there will be other wars.”

Ike promised to “go to Korea” and ended that war. Nixon pledged to end Vietnam with honor. McCain says we may be in Iraq a hundred years and warns, “there’s going to be other wars.” Take the man at his word.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AmericanFlagSwastica.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/951761.html|Israeli Arab lecturer told to say he respects students' right to wear IDF uniform||Now imagine this: What if a Jewish teacher somewhere, maybe right here in the USA, told a student wearning a Nazi swastica to remove it or leave class. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/McCainLieberman2.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/952712.html|McCain finds a tool to woo conservatives: Israel ||McCain's speech Thursday, at the Conservative Political Action Conference here in Washington, was designed to hammer this point home in an even more forceful way: "Those [Democratic] senators won't recognize and seriously address the threat posed by an Iran with nuclear ambitions to our ally Israel in the region," McCain said. He meant: If you conservatives really care about Israel as you often say you do, I'm your man. Here's some more: "I intend to make unmistakably clear to Iran we will not permit a government that espouses the destruction of the State of Israel as its fondest wish and pledges undying enmity to the United States to possess the weapons to advance their malevolent ambitions."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080209175746.yzhlvcyb&show_article=1|Obama will be assassinated if he wins: Nobel winner Lessing||If Barack Obama becomes the next US president he will surely be assassinated, British Nobel literature laureate Doris Lessing predicted in a newspaper interview published here Saturday.
Obama, who is vying to become the first black president in US history, "would certainly not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would murder him," Lessing, 88, told the Dagens Nyheter daily.

Lessing, who won the 2007 Nobel Literature Prize, said it might be better if Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton were to succeed in her bid to become the first woman president of the United States.

"The best thing would be if they (Clinton and Obama) were to run together. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she were to win, and not Obama," she said.


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIran2.jpg|http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/18349197/the_chicken_doves|The Democrats - The Chicken Doves ||Elected to end the war, Democrats have surrendered to Bush on Iraq and betrayed the peace movement for their own political ends
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/antiwar1.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-schwarz/lie-after-lie-what-colin_b_85058.html|Colin Powell - Lie After Lie||As much criticism as Powell has received for this--he calls it "painful" and something that will "always be a part of my record"--it hasn't been close to what's justified. Powell was far more than just horribly mistaken: the evidence is conclusive that he fabricated evidence and ignored repeated warnings that what he was saying was false.

Unfortunately, Congress has never investigated Powell's use of the intelligence he was given. Even so, what's already in the public record is extremely damning. So while the corporate media has never taken a close look at this record, anyone can go through Powell's presentation line by line to examine the chasm between what he knew, and what he told the world. As you see below, there's quite a lot to say about it.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Obama2.jpg|| FINALLY DC VOTES FOR PRESIDENT!|Washington DC, Van Ness & Connecticut Ave - 9 February 2008 with the Primary 3 days away| FINALLY DC VOTES FOR PRESIDENT!

Before 1964 residents of the District of Columbia, DC, couldn't vote for President. It took Amendment #23 to the U.S. Constitution to make that possible. Partial justice, finally! (but still no voting represention in the Congress though for DC's citizens)

But then it's never really been a contest in Washington all these years for never ever have the good in-the-know citizens of the District of Columbia ever voted for the Republican candidate.

That's right, never ever!

The last go around in fact it was 89% of DC residents for John Kerry;
more than in any of the 50 States.

But finally next Tuesday there is a choice for DC's Democrats. Fifteen Delegates to the Convention are going to be decided between Hillary and Obama...or is it Obama and Hillary.
And Sunday the honkers for Obama were out in force in the upscale Van Ness neighborhood where this photo was taken, and around other parts of DC. There's wasn't any honking for Hillary by the way. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Clemons Levy.jpg|http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/11/tom_lantos_israelpalestine_shi/|New America Keeps On Fronting for 'Liberal' wing of Jewish/Israel Lobby - On the Death of Tom Lantos Says Steve Clemons|Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the New America Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration in...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Clemons Levy.jpg|http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/11/tom_lantos_israelpalestine_shi/|New America Keeps On Fronting for 'Liberal' wing of Jewish/Israel Lobby - On the Death of Tom Lantos Says Steve Clemons|Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the New America Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration in...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/11/tom_lantos_israelpalestine_shi/|New America Keeps On Fronting for 'Liberal' wing of Jewish/Israel Lobby - On the Death of Tom Lantos Says Steve Clemons|Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the New America Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration in...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/11/tom_lantos_israelpalestine_shi/|"New America" Keeps On Fronting for 'Liberal' wing of Jewish/Israel Lobby - On the Death of Tom Lantos Says Steve Clemons|Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the New America Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration ...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/launch/redirect.cgi?c=2&num=283&a=73|Steve Clemons of 'New America' keeps right on fronts for Tom Lantos and the tricky dishonest Israeli/U.S 'Peace Process' - On the Death of Tom Lantos|Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the "New America" Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably for sure does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration ...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/launch/redirect.cgi?c=2&num=283&a=73|Steve Clemons of 'New America' keeps right on fronts for Tom Lantos and the duplicitous Israeli/U.S 'Peace Process' |Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the "New America" Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably for sure does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration ...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/launch/redirect.cgi?c=2&num=283&a=73|Steve Clemons of 'New America' keeps right on fronts for Tom Lantos and the duplicitous Israeli/U.S 'Peace Process' |Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the "New America" Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably for sure does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration ...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/11/tom_lantos_israelpalestine_shi/|Steve Clemons of 'New America' keeps right on fronts for Tom Lantos and the duplicitous Israeli/U.S 'Peace Process' |Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the "New America" Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably for sure does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration ...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClemonsLevy.jpg|http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/11/tom_lantos_israelpalestine_shi/|Steve Clemons of 'New America' keeps right on fronting for 'liberal' Israel/Jewish Lobby - This time on the death of Tom Lantos|Steve Clemons of New America With Israeli Daniel Levy and Israeli-U.S.-approved Palestinian|Since the "New America" Foundation in Washington has sold out much of it's Middle East agenda to the 'liberal' wing of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, this toast to now deceased Tom Lantos should come as no surprise. Considerable American Jewish money has been flowing into New America for some time now from Rita Hauser, Bernard Schwartz, and George Soros, among others. Plus a crafty and well-funded full-blown Israeli operative, Daniel Levy, has been tasked to New America to make sure they are kept in line, playing their assigned role, and in may cases blind-sided.

Even so...Steve Clemons really should know better. In fact Steve Clemons probably for sure does know better. But then he along with so many other very capables are all twisting in the wind lining up for the big policy jobs soon to be available in the next Administration ...but of course he denies it all just as he refuses to understand that the 'Palestinian State' he is now fronting for is one of Israeli and American imperial design, at best a cripled monstrosity the Palestinians themselves are now fighting hard to quite understandably reject.

FROM THE ARTICLE: but recently, in several discussions that I was privileged to have with him -- Lantos had really shifted his rhetoric and his thinking somewhat away from an Israel-centric filter when looking at Middle East affairs and towards a position that supported robust American diplomacy in the region -- with Iran, with Israel-Palestine, and with the contingent parts of the Middle East puzzle in the broadest sense. I think many of Lantos' detractors have not given him credit he probably deserves for finally seeing the need to achieve a different kind of equilibrium between Israel and its neighbors than he had advocated in the past.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushIraq2007.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/is-the-us-really-bringing-stability-to-baghdad-782425.html|Is the US really bringing stability to Baghdad?|President George W. Bush waves after arriving at Al Asad Airbase, Al Anbar Province, Iraq, Monday, September 3, 2007. The greeting party from left are Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, Commanding General, Multi-National Corps, General David Petraeus, Commander, Multi-National Force Iraq, Admiral William Fallon, Commander US Central Command, General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary State Condoleezza Rice. |To judge from the talk in Washington, the 'surge' that put 30,000 more US troops on the ground in Iraq has succeeded in bringing stability to a nation still riven by ethnic, religious and tribal conflict. Life, the Pentagon boasts, is returning to normal. But the truth is a very different story....

But for millions of Iraqis like Bassim, the war has robbed them of their homes, their jobs and often their lives. It has brought them nothing but misery and ended their hopes of happiness. It has destroyed Iraq.


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BloodyHandSaddam.jpg|http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/partisan-retreat|Our inevitable withdrawal from Iraq could poison American politics for a generation||VIETNAM bitterly devided America; but in the end all the predictions of what would happen if we withdrew failed to materialize on the international geopolitical stage. IRAQ has also bitterly divided the nation -- but this time much more along party and ideological lines. And the price the U.S. will pay in the years ahead is likely to be very considerable not only in more blood and treasure, but in the very fabric of American politics.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Unless we are betrayed from within? Unpack that phrase, and then unpack the bland reaction to it, and you have a glimpse of one of the ugliest potential outcomes of an already plenty ugly war: a long-term, low-level, persistent civil conflict—not in Iraq, but in America.

In the annals of modern polling, the Iraq War has been unique in the degree to which it has split America along party lines. “There’s nothing even close,” says Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIran2.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203343700031&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|U.S. and Israel together On IRAN||The Israeli letter will note that Jafari's remarks convey an expectation of the destruction of the State of Israel and that it is an anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic and racist statement of the worst kind, the Foreign Ministry said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3415632.ece|Turks Invade Northern Iraq!||The Middle East region is in the throes of political sickness and eventual reconfiguration. The ramifications of what is now happening from Pakistan to Lebanon, from Iran to Iraq to Palestine, are bound to be of historical significance to the region and to the world. The possibility of a much expanded conflict, even one becoming a more full-scale regional war, is now greater than for decades. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HillaryObamaPointing.jpg|http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html|Michelle Obama's Princeton 'Rare' Thesis|Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the CNN Debate on 21 Feb 2008.|The thesis, titled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community" and written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, in 1985, has been the subject of much conjecture on the blogosphere and elsewhere in recent weeks, as it has been "temporarily withdrawn" from Princeton's library until after this year's presidential election in November. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaWorld.jpg|http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/fallows-chinese-dollars/4|CHINA AND THE U.S. - The Financial Balance of Terror||A Balance of Terror

Let’s take these fears about a rich, strong China to their logical extreme. The U.S. and Chinese governments are always disagreeing—about trade, foreign policy, the environment. Someday the disagreement could be severe. Taiwan, Tibet, North Korea, Iran—the possibilities are many, though Taiwan always heads the list. Perhaps a crackdown within China. Perhaps another accident, like the U.S. bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade nine years ago, which everyone in China still believes was intentional and which no prudent American ever mentions here.

Whatever the provocation, China would consider its levers and weapons and find one stronger than all the rest—one no other country in the world can wield. Without China’s billion dollars a day, the United States could not keep its economy stable or spare the dollar from collapse.

Would the Chinese use that weapon? The reasonable answer is no, because they would wound themselves grievously, too. Their years of national savings are held in the same dollars that would be ruined; in a panic, they’d get only a small share out before the value fell. Besides, their factories depend on customers with dollars to spend.

But that “reassuring” answer is actually frightening. Lawrence Summers calls today’s arrangement “the balance of financial terror,” and says that it is flawed in the same way that the “mutually assured destruction” of the Cold War era was. That doctrine held that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union would dare use its nuclear weapons against the other, since it would be destroyed in return. With allowances for hyperbole, something similar applies to the dollar standoff. China can’t afford to stop feeding dollars to Americans, because China’s own dollar holdings would be devastated if it did. As long as that logic holds, the system works. As soon as it doesn’t, we have a big problem.

What might poke a giant hole in that logic? Not necessarily a titanic struggle over the future of Taiwan. A simple mistake, for one thing. Another speech by Cheng Siwei—perhaps in response to a provocation by Lou Dobbs. A rumor that the oil economies are moving out of dollars for good, setting their prices in euros. Leaked suggestions that the Chinese government is hoping to buy Intel, leading to angry denunciations on the Capitol floor, leading to news that the Chinese will sit out the next Treasury auction. As many world tragedies have been caused by miscalculation as by malice.

Or pent-up political tensions, on all sides. China’s lopsided growth—ahead in exports, behind in schooling, the environment, and everything else—makes the country socially less stable as it grows richer. Meanwhile, its expansion disrupts industries and provokes tensions in the rest of the world. The billions of dollars China pumps into the United States each week strangely seem to make it harder rather than easier for Americans to face their own structural problems. One day, something snaps. Suppose the CIC makes another bad bet—not another Blackstone but another WorldCom, with billions of dollars of Chinese people’s assets irretrievably wiped out. They will need someone to blame, and Americans, for their part, are already primed to blame China back.

So, the shock comes. Does it inevitably cause a cataclysm? No one can know until it’s too late. The important question to ask about the U.S.–China relationship, the economist Eswar Prasad, of Cornell, recently wrote in a paper about financial imbalances, is whether it has “enough flexibility to withstand and recover from large shocks, either internal or external.” He suggested that the contained tensions were so great that the answer could be no.

Today’s American system values upheaval; it’s been a while since we’ve seen too much of it. But Americans who lived through the Depression knew the pain real disruption can bring. Today’s Chinese, looking back on their country’s last century, know, too. With a lack of tragic imagination, Americans have drifted into an arrangement that is comfortable while it lasts, and could last for a while more. But not much longer.

Years ago, the Chinese might have averted today’s pressures by choosing a slower and more balanced approach to growth. If they had it to do over again, I suspect they would in fact choose just the same path—they have gained so much, including the assets they can use to do what they have left undone, whenever the government chooses to spend them. The same is not true, I suspect, for the United States, which might have chosen a very different path: less reliance on China’s subsidies, more reliance on paying as we go. But it’s a little late for those thoughts now. What’s left is to prepare for what we find at the end of the path we have taken.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HillaryObamaPointing.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article3412540.ece|Obama: is America ready for this dangerous leftwinger?|Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the CNN Debate on 21 Feb 2008.|It's a provocative headline coming from London. And it's just a taste of the kind of thing the Republicans and the Evangelicals, and the Neocons too, are going to be dishing out to Barack and Michele Obama. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ISRAELMAPYnet.jpg|International Learning Systems|Israel Declares Greater War on Hamas - All Now Targets|This Map of Israel Is Displayed one one of Israel's most Popular News Services|"No one in Hamas, not the low-level officials nor the highest echelon, will be immune against this war." ...

The situation is now so bleak and explosive that even the U.S./Israel-annointed Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has been forced to say in public that 'armed struggle' may have to be a 'future' policy.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HillaryObamaPointing.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=958700&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=2#article958700|Obama and U.S. Jews - Warm and Warming|Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the CNN Debate on 21 Feb 2008.|However, this week was remarkable for those following the story of Obama and the Jews. This is the week in which the story became national news. Not that there's anything new to report. It is just the fact that the national media is suddenly paying more attention (it is an interesting story to watch, as readers of this column already know). Newsweek wrote about it this week. CNN had a short segment (I know because I was in it). And tonight, at the Democratic debate, a fairly long slice of the evening was dedicated to this issue.

Tim Russert started the debate by pressing Obama on the endorsement he got from the anti-Semitic African-American leader Louis Farrakhan. Obama said: "I have been very clear in my denunciations of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I did not solicit this support."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ISRAELMAPYnet.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958799.html|Israelis War Hamas of Greater War and Killing of Top Leaders|This Map of Israel Is Displayed one one of Israel's most Popular News Services|"No one in Hamas, not the low-level officials nor the highest echelon, will be immune against this war."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MEMAP-Small.jpg|http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080229/POLITICS/802290353/1020/NATION|Economist: War to cost $3.5 trillion!||The Iraq war will cost Americans between $3 trillion and $5 trillion, including military spending, broader economic costs and decades of benefits and medical care for combat veterans, a Nobel prize-winning economist told the Joint Economic Committee on Thursday.

The upper end of the estimate is nearly double what the same economist, Joseph Stiglitz, projected two years ago. He attributed the dramatic increase to the continuing intensity of the war, which began five years ago next month, and the likelihood that operations there would continue for at least another year.

The war's gravest toll has been paid in blood. Fighting in Iraq has so far taken the lives of 3,973 U.S. troops and left nearly 29,300 wounded. Its staggering expense, however, has dwarfed the 2003 White House war estimate of $60 billion, and the price is rising.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CaspianRegion.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/29/afghanistan.terrorism|Afghanistan mission close to failing - US||After six years of US-led military support and billions of pounds in aid, security in Afghanistan is "deteriorating" and President Hamid Karzai's government controls less than a third of the country, America's top intelligence official has admitted.

Mike McConnell testified in Washington that Karzai controls about 30% of Afghanistan and the Taliban 10%, and the remainder is under tribal control.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelFlagStar.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080304120710.ad7gm7i6&show_article=1|Finally The Explanation: Moses Was High on DRUGS!||As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a clasic phenomenon," he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see music."

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCondiIraq.jpg|http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804|TOPPLE HAMAS! Vanity Fair Exposee|As Soon as Hamas Won, the U.S., Israel, and the rival Palestinians Began Plotting A Coup to Topple Them.|After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VBDUF01&show_article=1|Top Military Commander Resigns - IRAN WAR at Stake||He said it publicly when he took the job: War with IRAN wasn't going to take place on his watch. Now his watch is over just as Neocon-in-chief Cheney is about to head to the Middle East. The Winds of War are howling even louder today than just yesterday. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MetroTimesIRAN.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031101623.html|Bush Preparing the Country for Greater WARS?||"These are vicious people who know no bounds of humanity," Bush said, referring to insurgents in Iraq. "They would not hesitate to murder. It's essential for our citizens to understand this. And that is why this war must be fought and that is why this war, this enemy must be defeated."

Appearing here before a friendly audience of religious-themed broadcasters who greeted the president with a prolonged ovation, Bush also insisted he would not be swayed by the 2008 presidential campaign as he nears a decision on how many troops to leave in Iraq for his successor.

"I want to assure you, just like I assure military families and the troops: The politics of 2008 is not going to enter into my calculation. It is the peace of the years to come that will enter into my calculation," Bush said to rousing applause.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iraq-Petraeus-Crocker.jpg|http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-14-al-qaeda_N.htm|U.S. commanders: Al-Qaeda in Iraq to stay||t's not a conclusion the White House talks about much when denouncing the shadowy group, known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, that used the U.S. invasion five years ago to develop into a major killer.

The militants are weakened, battered, perhaps even desperate, by most U.S. accounts. But far from being "routed," as Defense Secretary Robert Gates claimed last month, they're still there, still deadly active and likely to remain far into the future, military and other officials told the Associated Press.

Commanders and the other officials commented in a series of interviews and assessments discussing persistent violence in Iraq and intelligence judgments there and in the U.S.

Putting the squeeze on al-Qaeda in Iraq was a primary objective of the revised U.S. military strategy that Gen. David Petraeus inherited when he became the top commander in Baghdad 13 months ago. The goal — largely achieved — was to minimize the group's ability to inflame sectarian violence, which at the time was so intense that some characterized Iraq as trapped in a civil war.

However, the militants are proving they can survive even the most suffocating U.S. military pressure.

"They are not to be underestimated. That's one thing I've seen over and over," said Col. John Charlton, commander of the Army's 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. His unit has fought al-Qaeda for the past 14 months in a portion of Anbar province that includes the provincial capital of Ramadi.

"I'm always very amazed at their ability to adapt and find new vulnerabilities," Charlton said in a telephone interview this week from his headquarters outside of Ramadi. "They are very good at that," even though they have largely lost the support of local citizens. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCondiIraq1.jpg|http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/stiglitz200804|The $3 Trillion War||After wildly lowballing the cost of the Iraq conflict at a mere $50 to $60 billion, the Bush administration has been concealing the full economic toll. The spending on military operations is merely the tip of a vast fiscal iceberg. In an excerpt from their new book, the authors calculate the grim bottom line. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SayNoToWar.jpg|http://iraq.reuters.com/|Reuters BEARING WITNESS - 5 Years of War in Iraq|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/goldberg-map.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/martin_samuel/article3549033.ece|IRAQ invasion was the greatest foreign policy mistake since 1945||You want a debate, though, we'll have a debate. Is the region safer? No. Is the world safer? No. Is the West safer? No. Are the Iraqi people safer? No. Have we made a bad situation worse? Yes. Has our international standing improved? No. Did we find any weapons? No. Did we find Osama bin Laden? No. Will it be over soon? No. Is it a recruitment poster for al-Qaeda? Yes. Did we at least get some cheap petrol out of it? No. Well, I think that about wraps it up for this one, folks. Read my lips. Worst. Decision. Ever. Now here's Jim with the travel. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushCondiIraq.jpg|http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804|The Gaza Bombshell|As Soon as Hamas Won, the U.S., Israel, and the rival Palestinians Began Plotting A Coup to Topple Them.|After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushWarFrontline.jpg|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/|FRONTLINE - Bush's WAR - 9PM Tonight (24 March and 25 March)|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Independent-GreatDepression.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/usa-2008-the-great-depression-803095.html|USA 2008: The Great Depression||Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive – a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USFootball1.jpg|http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10924123| American foreign policy - All Change?||Whether it is Clinton, McCain or Obama, the world will still quarrel with America's foreign policy
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RiceBlood.jpg|http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9370.html|Pelosi warns Petraeus on Iraq testimony|Screaming 'War Criminal' And Waving Red Hands in her Face a protestor got up close to Rice at Congressional Hearing today, 24 Oct 2007.| Pelosi held a press conference Thursday morning with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) to preview their message ahead of the visit from Petraeus and Crocker.

The Democrats hammered two themes: The war in Iraq has stretched the military dangerously thin, and the enormous cost of the war is threatening the health of the U.S. economy.

"The stretch and strain on our military is like never before," said Skelton. "I am terribly worried about this."
Underscoring the Democrats’ economic points, Pelosi asked why the U.S. military in Iraq and Americans back home are paying more for gasoline than the Iraqis are.

“Our troops in Iraq are paying about $3.25 a gallon for gas in Iraq, comparable to what we pay here, while the Iraqis are paying $1.36 a gallon,” Pelosi said. “This is a raw deal for the American taxpayer.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gfalogo.jpg.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/arts/design/11news.html?ref=todayspaper|New Newseum Finally Makes It To Pennsylvania Ave|A Project of The GOALS FOR AMERICANS Foundation|It's a monument by the establishment media to themselves; largely overlooking everyone else and the 'alternate' stories that call so much of what is known as history into question. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gfalogo.jpg.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-is-depicted-as-foulmouthed-frat-boy-in-new-oliver-stone-movie-806333.html|GEORGE W The Movie Coming This Year!|A Project of The GOALS FOR AMERICANS Foundation -- www.GoalsForAmericans.Org|Oliver Stone's new film,W, portrays George Bush as a foul-mouthed, dried-out drunk with a baseball obsession and a difficult relationship with his father.

Filming is expected to begin any day in Louisiana. The movie should be in cinemas before Mr Bush leaves office next January. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USFootball1.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-eyuFBrWHs|VIDEO - FOX ATTACKS: Iran|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MEMAP-Small.jpg|http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/gates_iran_nuclear/2008/04/21/89837.html|Gates: Iran Hell Bent on Getting Nukes||Manufacturing Consent For An Attack On Iran: Gates: Iran Hell Bent on Getting Nukes : Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes Iran is "hell bent" on acquiring nuclear weapons, but he warned in strong terms of the consequences of going to war over that. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/goldberg-map.jpg|http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-33157320080421|Iraq's Sadr cannot be defeated by force: experts||"The Sadrists represent a strong popular movement with deep roots in Iraqi society, and it is entirely unrealistic to deal with them through military solutions alone." ....

If elections were held today, Sadr's movement would stand a good chance of winning control of some provinces, towns and cities from Maliki's supporters, especially in southern Iraq. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Kenya2008.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/opinion/22abramowitz.html?ref=todayspaper|A ‘Surge’ for Refugees||It's about time! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushAirhead.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=a4ee1c89d3b31d22&ex=1208923200|Pentagon PsyOps - The Modern-Day Military-Industrial-Media Complex|| “I’m an old intel guy,” said one analyst. (The transcript omits speakers’ names.) “And I can sum all of this up, unfortunately, with one word. That is Psyops. Now most people may hear that and they think, ‘Oh my God, they’re trying to brainwash.’ ”

“What are you, some kind of a nut?” Mr. Rumsfeld cut in, drawing laughter. “You don’t believe in the Constitution?” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/north-korea-iran-pakistan1.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303128.html?nav=hcmodule|Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With U.S.||A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president's efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.

Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza.

U.S. officials say no such agreement exists, and in recent months Rice has publicly criticized even settlement expansion on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which Israel does not officially count as settlements. But as peace negotiations have stepped up in recent months, so has the pace of settlement construction, infuriating Palestinian officials, and Washington has taken no punitive action against Israel for its settlement efforts. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HillaryGoesNuclear.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/58b5295e-121a-11dd-9b49-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1|Hillary Clinton goes nuclear - Obama and IRAN!|| First things first. She has yet to dispose of Mr Obama. Of course, Mrs Clinton’s reinvention of herself as the mad general in Dr Strangelove is not unconnected to this ambition. Her comments on Iran were all of a piece with the effort to undermine Mr Obama’s national security credentials....

Mrs Clinton’s mistake – shared with Mr McCain – is to pose a simple choice for America and its allies: a military strike to delay Tehran’s present programme, or a policy of deterrence once it has acquired the bomb. Mr Obama happens to be right. There is a third option: talks.



http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/north-korea-iran-pakistan1.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303128.html?nav=hcmodule|Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With U.S.||A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president's efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.

Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza.

U.S. officials say no such agreement exists, and in recent months Rice has publicly criticized even settlement expansion on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which Israel does not officially count as settlements. But as peace negotiations have stepped up in recent months, so has the pace of settlement construction, infuriating Palestinian officials, and Washington has taken no punitive action against Israel for its settlement efforts. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StateDeptGaining1.jpg|http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=87353|'Former Terrorists' Speak at CU at warn America to 'Wake Up!'|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MEMAP-Small.jpg|http://ipsnews.net/text/news.asp?idnews=42241|Pentagon Foreign Policy: Change the Middle East...Get Iran, Lebanon, Palestine as well as Iraq and Afghan||Three weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, former U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld established an official military objective of not only removing the Saddam Hussein regime by force but overturning the regime in Iran, as well as in Syria and four other countries in the Middle East, according to a document quoted extensively in then Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith's recently published account of the Iraq war decisions.

Feith's account further indicates that this aggressive aim of remaking the map of the Middle East by military force and the threat of force was supported explicitly by the country's top military leaders.

Feith's book, "War and Decision", released last month, provides excerpts of the paper Rumsfeld sent to President George W. Bush on Sep. 30, 2001 calling for the administration to focus not on taking down Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network but on the aim of establishing "new regimes" in a series of states by "aiding local peoples to rid themselves of terrorists and to free themselves of regimes that support terrorism."

In quoting from that document, Feith deletes the names of all of the states to be targeted except Afghanistan, inserting the phrase "some other states" in brackets. In a facsimile of a page from a related Pentagon "campaign plan" document, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein regimes are listed as "state regimes" against which "plans and operations" might be mounted, but the names of four other states are blacked out "for security reasons". http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JewishStarPeople.jpg|http://ipsnews.net/text/news.asp?idnews=42288|Israelis Celebrate 60th...and Prepare for Bigger War||As Israel marks its 60th anniversary, Israelis are deeply pessimistic about the prospects of peace with their neighbours, with an overwhelming majority believing they will be at war again within the next five years.

According to the April issue of Tel Aviv University's monthly War and Peace Index, 70 percent of the Jewish public in Israel does not hold out hope for an agreement with the Palestinians, while 66 percent expressed similar sentiments regarding a deal with Syria. Some 75 percent of the Jewish public said they thought Israel would find itself at war with "one or more Arab states" in the next five years. The survey found similar attitudes among Israel's Arab population. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushWarFrontline.jpg|http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21431|IRAQ: Will We Ever Get Out? NYReview|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JewishStarPeople.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080513122249.m3ds3b6j&show_article=1|Belief in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter||"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house's managing director Rupert Powell.


In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said.

"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."

And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushOlmertHalves.jpg|http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/05/15/text-video-president-bushs-speech-israeli-knesset|Bush Video and Transcript - Speech to Israeli Knesset, 15 May 2008||Comment by Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a brief angry interview just off the Senate floor:

"This is bullshit. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BinLaden1.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080516/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden_israel| Bin Laden: Palestinian cause fuels war||Bin Laden: Palestinian cause fuels war

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer - Fri May 16, 6:48 AM ET

Osama bin Laden said in a new audio recording released Friday that al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine.

The terrorist leader's third statement this year came as President Bush was wrapping up his visit to Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.

Bin Laden said the fight for the Palestinian cause was the most important factor driving al-Qaida's war with the West and fueled 19 Muslims to carry out the suicide attacks against the U.S. on September 11.

"To Western nations ... this speech is to understand the core reason of the war between our civilization and your civilizations. I mean the Palestinian cause," said bin Laden in the close to 10 minute audiotape.

"The Palestinian cause is the major issue for my (Islamic) nation. It was an important element in fueling me from the beginning and the 19 others with a great motive to fight for those subjected to injustice and the oppressed," added bin Laden.

Al-Qaida has been stepping up its attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al-Qaida activity in Palestinian territory, though the terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.

The authenticity of the message could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used by al-Qaida and the voice resembled the one in past bin Laden audiotapes. Though it was unknown exactly when the audio was recorded, but it referenced Israel's 60th anniversary, which began May 8.

IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors al-Qaida message traffic, said the audio message was accompanied by a photo of bin Laden wearing a white robe and turban next to a picture of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It was unclear when the photo of bin Laden was taken.

The al-Qaida leader said the Western media managed to brainwash people over the past 60 years by "portraying the Jewish invaders, the occupiers of our land, as the victims while it portrayed us as the terrorists."

"Sixty years ago, the Israeli state didn't exist. Instead, it was established on the land of Palestine raped by force," said bin Laden. "Israelis are occupying invaders whom we should fight."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel dismissed bin Laden's new message.

"We do not relate or pay attention to the words of this terrorist lunatic," he said. "The time has come for him to be apprehended and pay for his crimes."

Bin Laden criticized Western leaders like Bush who participated in Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. Bush feted Israel on Thursday and predicted that its 120th birthday would find it alongside a Palestinian state and in an all-democratic neighborhood free of today's oppression, restrictions on freedom and extremist Muslim movements.

Delivering this rosy forecast for the Middle East in 2068 during a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Bush made no acknowledgment of the hardship Palestinians suffered when hundreds of thousands were displaced following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, a counterpoint to Israel's two weeks of jubilant celebrations.

Though Bush has set a goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian deal before the end of his term in January, he did not mention the ongoing negotiations or how to resolve the thorniest disputes.

Bin Laden said Western leaders were insincere in their expressed desire for Israeli-Palestinian peace and failed to criticize Israel.

"Peace talks that started 60 years ago are just meant to deceive the idiots," said bin Laden. "After all the destruction and the killings ... your leaders talk about principles. This is unbearable."

The terrorist leader mentioned former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who he said ordered a Jewish militia to attack the Arab village of Deir Yassin in 1948. The attack during Israel's push for statehood killed more than 100 Arabs and forced the rest of the village to flee.

"Instead of punishing him (Begin) over his crimes ... he was awarded a Nobel prize," said bin Laden.

Begin won the Nobel peace prize for negotiating a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, Israel's first with an Arab nation. The Israeli leader shared the prize with former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who was Begin's negotiating partner. Israel has only signed one other peace treaty with an Arab nation, Jordan.

"We will continue our struggle against the Israelis and their allies," said bin Laden. "We are not going to give up an inch of the land of Palestine."

Bin Laden's message Friday followed an audiotape released in March in which he lashed out at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel.

The March audiotape was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been fighting with militants who fire rockets into southern Israel. Israel has been battling Hamas in Gaza since the Islamic militant group took control of the strip last June from followers of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewIsraelLobby.jpg|http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90483751|Bush Speaks to Knesset|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/goldberg-map.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html|Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control||Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors....

The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/USIsrael.jpg|http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE28Ak01.html|US Attack on IRAN Approaching||The proposed air strike on Iran would have huge implications for geopolitics and for the ongoing US presidential campaign. The biggest question, of course, is how would Iran respond?
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StatueOfLibertyBlood.jpg|http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=1929769365635576415&q=mistressLBJ|LBJ Mistress Reveals JFK Killed in Plot and because of Israel||This is Robert Gaylon Ross interview with Lyndon Johnson’s mistress, Madeleine Duncan Brown. She claims that LBJ told her that he had John F. Kennedy killed. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3552955,00.html|Israel to CONQUER Gaza and Put P.A. Back in Power||The report said Israel is looking to re-conquer Gaza, annihilate the Palestinian resistance groups, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and then gradually transfer control over the Strip to Abbas. However, the newspaper said, the Palestinian president is wary of regaining control in Gaza following an Israeli operation. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SayNoToWar.jpg|http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1587&updaterx=2008-06-02+15%3A03%3A26|Iraqi clerics against US bases - US Increases pressures and bribes||Clerics call for referendum on proposal to indefinitely station US troops in Iraq http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Iraq-Petraeus-Crocker.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/05/majority-of-iraqi-legisla_n_105427.html|Majority Of Iraqi Legislators Call For Timetable For U.S. Withdrawal||We, the undersigned members of the council, wish to confirm your concerns that any international agreement that is not ratified by the Iraqi legislative power is considered unconstitutional and illegal, in accordance with the current rulings and laws of the Iraqi Republic. Furthermore, any treaty, agreement or "executive agreement" that is signed between Iraq and the United States will not be legal and will not enter the stage of implementation without first being ratified by the Council of Representatives, in accordance with Article 61 of Section Four of the Iraqi constitution, which gives the Iraqi government's legislative power, represented by the Council of Representatives, the exclusive right to ratify international treaties and agreements.


Likewise, we wish to inform you that the majority of Iraqi representatives strongly reject any military-security, economic, commercial, agricultural, investment or political agreement with the United States that is not linked to clear mechanisms that obligate the occupying American military forces to fully withdraw from Iraq, in accordance with a declared timetable and without leaving behind any military bases, soldiers or hired fighters. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SirenTwo2.jpg|http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/20/america/20iran.php|Israelis Train For and Telegraph ATTACK ON IRAN||With the Israel Lobby whipping up tensions against IRAN, including pushing for a naval blockade of the country, the Israeli military is preparing the attack and the Israeli propaganda machine has gone into hyperdrive. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/McCain-WWIII0Draft.jpg|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/eveningnews/main4206201.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4206201|Israel Pushing Hard for U.S. Attack on IRAN|This headline from the Huffington Post online on 25 June 2008|(CBS) Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran's nuclear complex.

CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn't want to wait for a new administration.

"The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize," Oren said. "Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran."

Israel's message is simple: If you don't, we will. Israel held a dress rehearsal for a strike earlier this month, but military analysts say Israel can not do it alone.

"Keep in mind that Israel does not have strategic bombers," Oren said. "The Israeli Air Force is not the American Air Force. Israel can not eliminate Iran's nuclear program."

The U.S. with its stealth bombers and cruise missiles has a much greater capability. Vice President Cheney is said to favor a strike, but both Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates are opposed to an attack which could touch off a third war in the region.

U.S. intelligence estimates Iran won't be able to build a weapon until sometime early in the next decade. But Israel is operating on a much shorter timetable.

"The Iranians, according to Israeli security sources, will have an operable nuclear weapon by 2009. That's not a very long time," Oren said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JamesHansen.jpg|http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-06-23-globalwarming_N.htm?csp=34|NASA warming scientist: 'This is the last chance' or "WE'RE TOAST"!|"We're Toast" if we don't make major environment changes quickly top NASA Scientist James Hansen Warned in a Congressional Hearing on 24 June 2008|Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.

"We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Vanunu Poster.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214132686901&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Israeli At Harvard Says Yes Prepare to Attack IRAN - Naval Blockade First||MILITARY ACTION will incur costs for the US, but far from being "disastrous," or even heavy, they will probably be limited. Whether justified, is a strategic and normative judgment call, to be weighed against the dangers of a nuclear Iran. Instead of unwarranted, self-deterring risk aversion, let us not forget who wields the incalculably greater "stick": Iran certainly will not.

Iran is far more likely to respond against Israel, indeed, to open up with everything it, Hizbullah and Hamas have - large scale terror, rocket attacks blanketing Israel, ballistic missiles. Israel may pay a heavy price and there is a significant danger of confrontation with Hizbullah, Hamas and, conceivably, Syria. It is a price Israel should be willing to pay. The real issue regarding military action is the operational outcome. Iran has dispersed and hardened its nuclear sites and may have a parallel covert program. Thus, even a fully "successful" strike would only destroy the known program and Iran, having largely mastered the technology, might be able to reconstitute it. The question is how long a delay is worthwhile: two years, maybe not, five, probably yes. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/gfalogo.jpg.jpg|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/eveningnews/main4206201.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4206201|Israel Pushing Hard for U.S. Attack on IRAN|A Project of The GOALS FOR AMERICANS Foundation -- www.GoalsForAmericans.Org|(CBS) Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran's nuclear complex.

CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn't want to wait for a new administration.

"The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize," Oren said. "Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran."

Israel's message is simple: If you don't, we will. Israel held a dress rehearsal for a strike earlier this month, but military analysts say Israel can not do it alone.

"Keep in mind that Israel does not have strategic bombers," Oren said. "The Israeli Air Force is not the American Air Force. Israel can not eliminate Iran's nuclear program."

The U.S. with its stealth bombers and cruise missiles has a much greater capability. Vice President Cheney is said to favor a strike, but both Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates are opposed to an attack which could touch off a third war in the region.

U.S. intelligence estimates Iran won't be able to build a weapon until sometime early in the next decade. But Israel is operating on a much shorter timetable.

"The Iranians, according to Israeli security sources, will have an operable nuclear weapon by 2009. That's not a very long time," Oren said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AmericanFlagSwastica.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/2182070/Israel-%27will-attack-Iran%27-before-new-US-president-sworn-in,-John-Bolton-predicts.html|Israel 'will attack Iran' before new US president sworn in, John Bolton predicts||The Arab world would be "pleased" by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

"It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there'll be public denunciations but no action," he said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rice.jpg|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIefxPxr_Gw8&refer=worldwide|Condoleezza Rice Says She's `Proud' of Decision to Invade Iraq || July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she's ``proud'' of the U.S. decision to wage the Iraq war and insisted that the world is not more dangerous than it was when George W. Bush took office.

``We're now beginning to see that perhaps it's not so popular to be a suicide bomber. We're beginning to see that perhaps people are questioning whether Osama Bin Laden ought to really be the face of Islam,'' Rice, 53, said in an interview to be broadcast this weekend on Bloomberg Television's ``Conversations with Judy Woodruff.''

``And I am proud of the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein,'' said Rice, who was Bush's national security adviser at the time of the March 2003 invasion. As of yesterday, 4,107 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq and more than 30,000 were wounded. She said the Iraq war has been ``tougher than any of us really dreamed.''

Rice, who backs the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, said she ``thought it was great'' when the Democratic race came down to a woman and a black man. ``I didn't think it was surprising,'' she said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelFlagGuns.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2008/jul/09/guardian.weekly.israel.security.wall|AUDIO REPORT - Guardian Weekly: Special focus on West Bank barrier||The barrier in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that separates Israelis from Palestinians continues to divide them – and not just in a physical sense. Israelis believe it is vital to their security, while Palestinians say it is a land-grab that cuts them off from their livelihoods. The Guardian's Rory McCarthy reports from Jayyus, a Palestinian village, and from Alfe Menashe, an Israeli settlement.
Al Ram, on the main route between Ramallah in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, was once a thriving market town. But it has been transformed by the wall into a ghost town, as Toni O'Loughlin reports for the Guardian.
The barrier hasn't prevented all violence; the two major attacks in Jerusalem in recent months were carried out by Palestinians from East Jerusalem, on the Israeli side of the wall. But as the Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, explains, the barrier has made Israelis feel safer. Lior Ben Dor, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London, tells me what it means for Israelis' security.
The leaders of the G8 – the world's richest countries – are meeting this week in Japan. On the agenda: tackling rising food and fuel prices and global poverty. On Tuesday a breakthrough on climate change was announced. Larry Elliott, the Guardian's economics editor, reports from Hokkaido.
Old Etonian mercenary Simon Mann was sentenced to 34 years in prison in Equatorial Guinea for his role in an attempted coup in the oil-rich west African dictatorship. The Guardian's David Pallister reports. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sirenTwo.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4322508.ece|Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran - London Sunday Times||President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities...
Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times. “Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewStatesmanIran2.jpg|http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2008071311721|The Iranian Oil Bomb - Major Step Toward Greater WAR!||As War with IRAN approaches the Americans and Israelis are already secretly shooting and publicly threatening. Now IRAN is making a major economic shot back and the results could be calamitous economically further tempting the U.S. and Israel to strike. From the article:

Now you see why Iran’s President is “the most dangerous man in the world”? It has nothing to do with the damned nuclear bomb. It has to do with the detonation of the oil bomb that has detonated the dollar bomb.
For America this is war, literally, because having left the Gold Standard in 1971 it had, de facto, made oil the commodity on which the dollar is based by ensuring that oil is sold mostly in dollars. (When Saddam said in April 2002 that he was considering selling some Iraqi oil in Euros he signed his death warrant)....

The fall in the dollar’s value was one of the triggers of the oil price rise. Three other triggers contributed heavily too: the greed-driven speculation of oil brokers and hedge funds, the Iraq war and the new Iranian oil bourse that caused a further decline in the dollar, raising oil prices even more, like a self-sustaining upward spiral.
Now add a fourth trigger: the increasing probability of some kind of strike against Iran. Estimates are that the Iraq war alone trebled the cost of oil. By May the world had spent an extra $6 trillion on higher energy prices alone since the Iraq war. Else the price would have been $40 - even less but for greedy speculators and hedge funds. Oil has been trading on two dollar-denominated oil bourses, NYMEX and IPE, both privately owned by US citizens. They play a huge role in determining crude oil prices. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/israel-and-america1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4322508.ece|Israel and U.S. Prepare to Attack IRAN - 'Different Middle East ' coming within 3 months Olmert Declares||In Israel, Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, has his own domestic problems with a corruption scandal that threatens to unseat him and the media have been rife with speculation that he might order an attack on Iran to distract attention from his difficulties. According to one of his closest friends, Olmert recently warned him that “in three months’ time it will be a different Middle East”. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/goldberg-map.jpg|http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2008071311721|The Iranian Oil Bomb - Major Step Toward Greater WAR!||As War with IRAN approaches the Americans and Israelis are already secretly shooting and publicly threatening. Now IRAN is making a major economic shot back and the results could be calamitous economically further tempting the U.S. and Israel to strike. From the article:

Now you see why Iran’s President is “the most dangerous man in the world”? It has nothing to do with the damned nuclear bomb. It has to do with the detonation of the oil bomb that has detonated the dollar bomb.
For America this is war, literally, because having left the Gold Standard in 1971 it had, de facto, made oil the commodity on which the dollar is based by ensuring that oil is sold mostly in dollars. (When Saddam said in April 2002 that he was considering selling some Iraqi oil in Euros he signed his death warrant)....

The fall in the dollar’s value was one of the triggers of the oil price rise. Three other triggers contributed heavily too: the greed-driven speculation of oil brokers and hedge funds, the Iraq war and the new Iranian oil bourse that caused a further decline in the dollar, raising oil prices even more, like a self-sustaining upward spiral.
Now add a fourth trigger: the increasing probability of some kind of strike against Iran. Estimates are that the Iraq war alone trebled the cost of oil. By May the world had spent an extra $6 trillion on higher energy prices alone since the Iraq war. Else the price would have been $40 - even less but for greedy speculators and hedge funds. Oil has been trading on two dollar-denominated oil bourses, NYMEX and IPE, both privately owned by US citizens. They play a huge role in determining crude oil prices....

The only way America can strengthen the dollar is by creating a trade surplus. Impossible. They would mean reducing their workers to near-slavery to compete with Chinese wages and other inputs. “What will happen in the US?” asks The Voice. “Chaos for sure. Maybe a workers revolution, but looking at the situation as it is now, it is more likely to be a re-run of Germany post-1929, and some form of an extreme right wing movement will emerge.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/LaraLogan.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/cbss-lara-logan-slams-ame_n_107914.html|DBS Lara Logan Says U.S. TV News Bad - She'd 'Blow Her Brains Out' If She Had To Watch Daily|'I'd Blow My Brains Out' If I Watched American TV News!| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranPresNuclear1.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/opinion/18morris.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bennymorris&st=cse&oref=slogin|Israel's Benny Morris Threatens IRAN with nuclear obliteration in NYTimes||This frightening and threatening Op Ed rushed into print by those in power in both Israel and the U.S. the day before a critical meeting with the Iranians in Europe, the U.S. attending for the first time. From the article:

Iran’s leaders would do well to rethink their gamble and suspend their nuclear program. Bar this, the best they could hope for is that Israel’s conventional air assault will destroy their nuclear facilities. To be sure, this would mean thousands of Iranian casualties and international humiliation. But the alternative is an Iran turned into a nuclear wasteland. Some Iranians may believe that this is a worthwhile gamble if the prospect is Israel’s demise. But most Iranians probably don’t. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/StopIranWarWhiteHouse.jpg|http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/obama-to-house.html|Obama Tells Dems ISRAEL Likely to STRIKE IRAN||Note...no outrage, no opposition, no sense of let's stop this... Is Obama being used by AIPAC and the Israelis? Is Obama just naive not realizing the impact of what he has said...and what what he has not said and is not doing? http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WestBankAnimatedMap.jpg|http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1677.pdf|ICJ Ruling on Israel's Wall - 9 July 2004|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IsraelFlagGuns.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/candidate-who-wants-olmerts-job-once-sought-deaths-of-70-palestinians-a-day-882628.html|Kill 70 Palestinians A Day Order Top Israeli||The two prominent journalists say in the book that the chief of staff at one stage of the Jerusalem meeting – "in an exceptional act" – ordered the person customarily responsible for recording the pronouncements of the military's top officer on such occasions to stop doing so. The general then warned, says the book, without placing his remarks in direct quotes, that there would be "no more messages to the Palestinian Authority so that it will act". The authors say that Mr Mofaz instead laid down that they call "a price to be set exactly". The authors say that he said he wanted "10 slain Palestinians" in each territorial brigade area.

The book goes on to record that one senior officer then whispered to the Central Command commander, Yitzhak Eitan, that he would be well advised to ask for such an order in writing and added: "It comes to 70 killed a day".

It then says that General Eitan convened the same group of officers the following day and "made clear that what Mofaz said [was] not to be understood as an order and should not be treated as a directive for action."

But it adds that one officer, the brigade commander in the Hebron area, Colonel Yehuda Albek, "preferred the Mofaz version" to that of General Eitan. The next day, he began an action near Dahariya against Palestinian police "who had not committed any hostile acts". A policeman was killed and several wounded. When the colonel was summoned to command HQ to explain the operation to his concerned superiors, he said that it was in line with the remarks made earlier by the chief of staff, says the book. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GazaFulbright3.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1008866.html|Why did the U.S. turn away Gaza Fulbright scholars? |The Saga of the Fulbright Students Imprisoned in Gaza has Thriller Twists You Just Won't Believe|"In addition to the particular students who did not receive visas for technical reasons or unexplained security reasons, there are hundreds of students in the Gaza Strip who were accepted by universities abroad and have valid visas," said Gisha executive director Sari Bashi. But, she added, "Israel issues a comprehensive ban on students from Gaza going abroad, as part of its policy of collective punishment toward Gaza residents, thereby impinging on the right to education of hundreds of talented young people who want to study, develop and create a better future in our region."
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Target_Iran.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1009944.html|Israel Prepares for SECOND IRAN WAR||Although in the summer of 2006 there was fighting in Lebanon, as far as Israel was concerned it was not the Second Lebanon War, but the First Iran War: A limited war, via a proxy, Hezbollah, which embarked on a hasty path without its dispatcher's permission. Next time around, in the Second Iran War, which is years rather than weeks away, the arena will not be limited to Lebanon. ...


In the final analysis, there will be no escaping a belligerent operation against Iran, but now it is essential to concentrate on Iraq and Afghanistan and stabilize the troops returning home from these war zones. This would prevent them from feeling bitter and guarantee a constant stream of enlistees. For the Americans, Iran is currently fourth in the order of priorities, so the Pentagon is emphasizing defense preparations, including radar deployment and launchers for anti-missile defense in Europe, rather than a policy of attack. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SirenTwo2.jpg|http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2008/08/27/fears-of-conflict-as-tensions-rise-around-the-black-sea/|Fears of conflict as tensions rise around the Black Sea||Ukrainian leaders say they fear they might be next on Russia’s hit list, a concern echoed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. He told France’s Europe 1 radio: ”I repeat that it is very dangerous, and there are other objectives that one can suppose are objectives for Russia, in particular the Crimea, Ukraine and Moldova.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama.jpg|http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20626.htm|Israel and Coopted Media Taking U.S. to Nuclear War - Paul Craig Roberts|Cartoon published in the Saudi newspapers Al-Watan and Arab News in July 2008|War With Russia Is On The Agenda

By Paul Craig Roberts

26/08/08 "ICH" -- -- Thinking about the massive failure of the US media to report truthfully is sobering. The United States, bristling with nuclear weapons and pursuing a policy of world hegemony, has a population that is kept in the dark--indeed brainwashed--about the most important and most dangerous events of our time.

The power of the Israel Lobby is an important component of keeping Americans in the dark. Recently I watched a documentary that demonstrates the control that the Israel Lobby exercises over Americans’ view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary is available here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14055.htm

As a result of the US media’s one-sided coverage, few Americans are aware that for decades Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homes and lands under protection of America’s veto in the United Nations. Instead, the dispossessed Palestinians are portrayed as mindless terrorists who attack innocent Israel.

If one reads Israeli newspapers, such as Haaretz, or publications from Israeli organizations, such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, one gets a radically different view of the situation than the propagandistic version delivered by US media and evangelical pulpits.

Most Americans know of the 2000 attack by Muslim terrorists on the USS Cole in Aden harbor that resulted in 17 dead and 39 wounded American sailors. But few have heard of Israel’s 1967 attack on the USS Liberty that left 34 American sailors dead and 174 wounded. Pressured by the Israel Lobby, President Johnson ordered Admiral McCain, father of the Republican presidential nominee, to cover up the attack. To this day there never has been a congressional investigation.

The failure of the American media is again evident in the coverage of the Georgian-Russian conflict. The US media presented the conflict as a Russian invasion of Georgia, whereas in actual fact the American and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian military launched a sneak attack to kill and to drive the Russian population out of South Ossetia, a separatist province.

Russian peacekeepers, together with Georgian ones, had been stationed in South Ossetia since the early 1990s. On orders from Mikheil Saakashvili, the American puppet “president” of Georgia, the Georgian peacekeepers turned their weapons on the unsuspecting Russian peacekeepers and murdered them.

This action by Saakashvili, elected with money from the neoconservative National Endowment for Democracy, an election-rigging tool of US hegemony, was a war crime. In truth, the Russians should have hung Saakashvili, as he is far more guilty than was Saddam Hussein. But it is Russia, not Saakashvili, that the US media has demonized.

Americans have become perfect subjects for George Orwell’s Big Brother. They sit stupidly in front of the TV news or the New York Times or Washington Post and absorb the lies fed to them. What is wrong with Americans? Why do they put up with it? Are Americans the nation of sheep that Judge Andrew P. Napolitano says they are? Americans flaunt “freedom and democracy” and live under a Ministry of Propaganda.

Two decades ago, President Reagan reached agreement with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to end the dangerous cold war. But every one of Reagan’s successors has sought to pick a new fight with Russia. In violation of the agreement, NATO has been taken to Russia’s borders, and the US is determined to put former constituent parts of Russia herself into NATO. In an effort to neutralize Russia’s nuclear deterrent and compromise her independence, the US is putting anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia’s borders.

The gratuitously aggressive US military policy toward Russia will lead to nuclear war. I am confident that if Americans elect John McCain, or the Republicans steal another presidential election, there will be nuclear war in the second decade of the 21st century. The neocon lies, propaganda, macho flag-waving, and use of US foreign policy in the interests of a few military-security firms, oil companies, and Israel are all leading in that direction.

The November election is perhaps the last chance to avoid nuclear war. But the opportunity might already have been missed. The Republicans have chosen as their candidate one of the most ignorant warmongers alive. The Democrats’ choice was between one of the most divisive women in America and a man of mixed race with a funny name. Considering American’s taste for war, the Democratic candidate could fail to defeat the GOP war candidate.

Many Americans will vote against Obama because he is black. Why does mixed ancestry confer the black label? If America’s population was predominantly black, would Obama be considered white?

Race and propaganda are more likely to determine the outcome of the November election than any awareness or consideration of real issues by voters.

The real issues are suffocated by the media. The American middle class is being destroyed by jobs offshoring and work visas for foreigners, while the incomes of the super rich are soaring. The US dollar’s reserve currency status is eroded. The US is massively in debt at home and abroad. Health insurance is unaffordable for the vast majority of the population. Injured veterans are being nickeled and dimed, while Halliburton’s profits escalate. Americans are losing their homes, while the US government bails out banks. Wars with Iran, Russia, and China are being planned in order to secure US hegemony.

Americans no longer have a government that is for the people and by the people. They have a government for and by special interests and an insane ideology.

But Americans have war, which lets them take out all their frustrations, resentments, and disappointments on “Muslim terrorists” and “Russian aggressors.” Few Americans are disturbed that 1.25 million Iraqis and an unknown number of Afghans have died as a result of American invasions based on Bush regime lies and deceptions. Even Americans, like Senator Biden, Obama’s selection for vice president, who understand that the wars are based on lies, still want the US to win. So, it was all a mistake and a deception, but let’s win anyway and keep on killing.

I know people who still complain that the US did not nuke North Vietnam. When I ask why Vietnam should have been nuked, they reply, “if we had nuked them we would have won.”

What would America have won? The answer is world loathing and the loss of the cold war.

For many Americans, war is like a sports contest in which they take vicarious pleasure and cheer on their side to victory. Millions of Americans are still bitter that “the liberal media” and war protesters caused America to lose the Vietnam war, and they are determined that this won’t happen again. These Americans have no realization that there was no more reason for the US to be fighting in Vietnam 40 years ago than to be fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan or tomorrow in Iran.

Obama, if elected, is no guarantee against nuclear war. Obama has shown that he is as much under the Israel Lobby’s thumb as McCain. Obama’s foreign affairs advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, is not a neocon, but he was born in Warsaw, Poland, and has the Pole’s animosity toward Russia. The Bush administration has already changed US war doctrine to permit preemptive nuclear attack. With the US government determined to ring Russia with puppet states and military bases, war is inevitable.

Presidential appointees face confirmation in the Senate. Any of Obama’s appointees who might be out of step with plans for US and Israeli hegemony could expect opposition from large corporations and the Israel Lobby. There is no assurance that an Obama administration would not be positioned on “the issues” by the same special interests that have positioned the Bush administration.

Americans are filled with hubris, not with knowledge. They have no awareness of the calamity that their government’s pursuit of hegemony is bringing to themselves and to life on earth.
Dr. Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury in the Reagan Administration. He is a former Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal, a 16-year columnist for Business Week, and a columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service and Creator’s Syndicate in Los Angeles. He has held numerous university professorships, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by the President of France and the US Treasury’s Silver Medal for “outstanding contributions to the formulation of US economic policy.”


http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GlobeSpinning2.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016497.html|Abie Nathan laid to rest; Peres: 'he was greatest freedom fighter' ||"Shalom, salaam and peace to all our listeners," Nathan declared in his maiden broadcast in 1973. "The Peace Ship is a project of the people. We hope through this station we will help relieve the pain and heal the wounds of many years of suffering of the people of the Middle East."

Over the next 20 years, The Voice of Peace became especially popular among youth. It was the only radio station in the Middle East that broadcast music from the world's Top 40 charts and used English as its primary language, yet offered both Israeli and Arabic news. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SirenTwo2.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016530.html|Top Iran general says attack on Tehran would ignite 'world war' ||"Any aggression against Iran will start a world war," deputy chief of staff for defence publicity, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, said in a statement carried by IRNA.

The general also lashed out at "the unrestrained greed of the U.S. leadership and global Zionism," accusing Jerusalem and Washington of "gradually leading the world to the edge of a precipice." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama.jpg|http://www.forward.com/articles/14105/|The Jewish Crew That Helped Pave the Way to John McCain’s Nomination|Cartoon published in the Saudi newspapers Al-Watan and Arab News in July 2008|The small Jewish elite seem to be everywhere. They have considerable control of the Dem party...so much so that former Pres Carter wasn't even allowed to speak at the Denver convention. And others among them are pushing hard now for neo-connected McCain to be the Pres and Joseph Lieberman, most recently connected to Pastor John Hagee, to be the Secretary of State. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/TomDine.jpg|http://www.forward.com/articles/14109/|TOM DINE, Former AIPAC Head and Stealth Neocon Zionist Leads Push for American-Syrian Rapprochement|Tom Dine - Israeli, Neocon, and AIPAC operative to be watched out for.| It's not as much about SYRIA as it is about IRAN and by extension Hezbollah and Hamas. As preparations for the big war proceed with IRAN the main target the Syrians are being offered various incentives and bribes to at the least get out of the way and at the most to switch sides. Various former State Department officials are in on this, including those associated with the Middle East Institute and it's so-called Foundation for Middle East Peace. The Syrians are being woed and threatened at the same time. Tom Dine is the out-front operative trusted by AIPAC and the Israelis and the Neocons. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalinUSCover.jpg|http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/sarah-palins-preacher-problem-end-times-coming/|Sarah Palin’s Preacher Problem. End Times Coming?|Just a few days after Americans first heard about Sarah Palin, this cover greeted them in the grocery stories.|PALIN at Church: “Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.”


PALIN'S MINISTER: "What you see in a terrorist — that’s called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what’s going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. … We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. … Jesus called us to die. You’re worried about getting hurt? He’s called us to die. Listen, you know we can’t even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. … I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say “war mode.” Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he’s like the good shepherd, he’s loving all the time and he’s kind all the time. Oh yes he is — but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalinIsraelFlag.jpg|http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9701#comment-1579|Palin is an Evangelical Zionist and Christian Crusader.|When Alaska HDTV PodShow host Scott Slone interviewed Governor Sarah Palin in February 2008 he captured a telling political detail -- the footage showed that the governor keeps a small Israeli flag by her office window.|She's never been there, in fact she had never had a passport or visited any country abroad (maybe Canada) until last year. But Sarah Palin, like many Christian Evangelical zeolots a la John Hagee (whom Joe Lieberman has also championned this year as a keynoter) are totally with the Israelis. It's a Biblical thing in case you don't get it. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/NewYorkerObamas.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/us/politics/06web-healy.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|The Real ’08 Fight: Clinton v. Palin?|Cover of prestigious NEW YORKER MAGAZINE - 21 July 2008|The question is, will Mrs. Clinton fight Ms. Palin to help her former rival, Mr. Obama? Clinton advisers say that Mrs. Clinton wants to do everything she can to elect Mr. Obama, so that she cannot be blamed if he loses — yet she also does not want to be too closely associated with him if he does lose, nor to tarnish her own image by taking on a rookie national politician like Ms. Palin and possibly coming up short. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama1.jpg|http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/dershowitz/entry/democrats_diss_jimmy_carter_posted|Lobby Jews and Dems Sideline Carter and Gloat About It||The Democratic Party, and its leaders, made a deliberate decision not to invite Jimmy Carter precisely because they so fundamentally disagree with the bigotry toward Israel and its Jewish supporters that he displayed both in his mendacious book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid and in his subsequent television appearances. They decided that they, as a party, did not want to be associated with Jimmy Carter's despicable views. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GlobeSpinning2.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cleared-jury-decides-that-threat-of-global-warming-justifies-breaking-the-law-925561.html|Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law||The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/McCainFlags.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c2f69ce-8031-11dd-99a9-000077b07658.html|Democrats on Capitol Hill fear Obama fallout||“There is a growing sense of doom among Democrats I have spoken to . . . People are going crazy, telling the campaign ‘you’ve got to do something’.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/RollingStoneObamaCover.jpg||URGENT MESSAGE TO SENATOR OBAMA|Obama on the Cover of Rolling Stone Magazine| URGENT MESSAGE TO SENATOR OBAMA:

"It's time to break out of the mold and show real leadership now before it is too late, Barack.

It's time to show that you are not just a younger more street-smart and more colorful Democratic party politician after all!

"McCain sunk to Palin for obviously crass political and ideological reasons, recklessly endangering
the future of the country he claims to love so much and totally negating his whole "experience" theme that is...now was....his main claim to power. But even so in some ways his gamble is working!

"So now you've got to both regain the momemtum and take the high-road gamble -- even if all those Washington-insider advisers are going to keep telling you...gee...this has never really been done before.

"You need to show bold leadership right now and get ALL of the following people out there on the campaign trail 24/7 in all the key battleground states. Stop wavering on this, act now! Not tomorrow, today! Time is no longer your friend. The choice of Palin is awful and dangerous for the future of the country, but amazingly crafty in view of the miserable state of political affairs we have to live with. So here's how you regain the momentum and demonstrate bold vision and leadership now!

"At the top of my list for Secretary of State is Hillary Clinton.

At the top of my list for Secretary of Defense is Sam Nunn.

At the top of my list for the critical National Security Adviser position in the White House is General Anthony Zinni.

At the top of my list for Attorney General of the United States is Senator Chuck Hagel.

At the top of my list for the new Cabinet Department I will immediately ask the Congress to establish is Al Gore, Secretary for Global Environment Affairs.

At the top of my list for Secretary of Energy is Bill Richardson.

And I have some really terrific people in mind for the Supreme Court, just trust me on that, I have quite a bit of legal experience myself.

And in the days and weeks ahead I may just have a few other key people joining me so that on January 20th we'll be running at full speed not just celebrating!

We've got to save this country from what the selfish, corrupt and in some cases criminal current leaders have done to it.

We've got to save this country from what some of their friends and cronies and lobbyists want to do to it."


Go to each of these people today and get them to say they're with you!
Get them all standing with you as you make this speech! With this language and this approach you're not totally locking yourself in but at the same time you are committing yourself.
Get them out there campaigning Full-time now in Ohio, in Michigan, in Virginia, you know where!

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Target_Iran.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020702.html|U.S. to supply Israel with Super Bombs Needed to Attack IRAN||Despite reservations in Washington regarding a possible Israeli strike on Iran, the American administration will supply Israel with sophisticated weapons for heavily fortified targets, the U.S. administration announced.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced it would sell the Israel Air Force 1,000 new smart bombs, rumored to significantly enhance the IAF's military capabilities. The deal was approved amid public and secret messages from Washington, with the Americans expressing their reservations about a possible Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic's suspected nuclear sites.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalinMatrix.jpg|http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/09/when-sarah-pali.html|Careless, Reckless, Paylin and the Man Who Wanted RFK Splattered Dead|| Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in pubic premises before the snow flies."

It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/sharonbush.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4718626.ece|Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ‘could be kidnapped by Mossad’ ||Ahha. The Iranian President warned about just such a thing when he visited Iraq earlier in the year, and changed his schedule accordingly. Seems he's more in the know than many give him credit for. And seems the Israelis are far more reckless and dangerous than many give them credit for. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/PalinMatrix.jpg|http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/09/when-sarah-pali.html|Careless, Reckless, Palin and the Man Who Wanted RFK Splattered Dead|| Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in pubic premises before the snow flies."

It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4811646.ece|Ahmadinejad blames George Bush and Zionists for financial woe||But even by his standards, this year’s appearance was extraordinary. The Iranian President successfully upstaged Mr Bush’s speech with a flurry of media interviews.

As last year both American and Israeli delegations staged a walk-out as he took to the stage to deliver his speech. “The great Iranian people will resist the bullying and has defended and will defend its rights,” he said...

“The dignity, integrity and rights of American and European people are played with by a deceitful group of people called Zionists,” he said.

The global financial crisis was the fault of “a small number of acquisitive and evasive people” who had taken control of the whole world order, he said, but predicted that this would soon change.

“Today, the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse, and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters,” he said. He called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to turn its attentions to disarming the world’s legitimate nuclear powers....

The day’s developments came as a devasting blow for international efforts, led by the US, to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. President Bush’s attempts to focus minds on the Iranian threat at the final general assembly of his presidency had already been overshadowed by deep concern over the state of the global economy. In a low-key farewell address Mr Bush urged the world body to get tough on Iran’s violations of the “noble pledge” enshrined in the UN Charter; a late embrace of multilateralism from a President long reviled in these hallways as a lone cowboy on the world stage.

The remarks prompted a thumbs down from a grinning Mr Ahmadinejad, who spent much of the address smiling and waving to other delegates. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, looked up startled to hear his country named alongside Syria and North Korea as another violator of the UN’s core values when it invaded Georgia last month. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Ani-BreakingNews.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4813620.ece|Syrians Preparing to Intervene in Northern Lebanon?||Mr Assad has also likened the situation between Syria and Lebanon to that of Russia and Georgia. His comments sparked speculation in Beirut that Damascus could be contemplating a military incursion into northern Lebanon to protect the Alawite community from the Sunni militants. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushNixon.jpg|http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2008/09/24/bush-speech-to-un-terror-32-climate-0/|Bush speech to U.N.: “terror” 32, “climate” 0||U.S. President George W. Bush upset some delegates by failing to mention “climate change” or “global warming” in his final speech to the United Nations — in which he referred to terrorism 32 times.

Exactly a year ago, the United Nations held a special summit about climate change – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls fighting global warming his “signature issue” and many governments see it as the biggest long-term challenge. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/mccain-not-comm.html|Political Chaos! Debate On or Off? Financial Cat 5 Hurricane Looming?||There's never been anything like this in Washington. It's bigger than Watergate and more complicated than Iran-Contra. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Palin-McCain.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4824196.ece|Video shows Sarah Palin being blessed 'against witchcraft'||A grainy YouTube video has surfaced showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft" as she prepared to seek higher office.

The video shows Ms Palin, John McCain's surprise pick as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft”.

“Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan,” Bishop Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Ms Palin’s shoulders.

“Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. ... Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WestBankAnimatedMap.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017397107&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|UN to hold session on settlements||The UN Security Council has agreed to hold a high-level open debate Friday on the ongoing Israeli settlement building in disputed territory.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Target_Iran.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017398238&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|'US refused to support Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites'|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/north-korea-iran-pakistan1.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/iran.israelandthepalestinians1|Guardian Exclusive: Israel Tried to Get U.S. To OK Attack on IRAN|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GlobeSpinning2.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4833037.ece|COLD WAR II - Russia to build missile defence shield and renew nuclear deterrence||Russia is to build new space and missile defence shields and put its armed forces on permanent combat alert, President Medvedev announced yesterday. In a sharp escalation of military rhetoric
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Palin-McCain.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4837644.ece|McCain camp prays for Palin wedding||The marriage of the vice-presidential candidate’s pregnant teenage daughter could lift a flagging campaign http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaBiden.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/01/battleground-polls-show-s_n_131039.html|Election Swinging Big to Obama/Biden||Barack Obama has opened up significant leads in virtually every key battleground state, according to multiple polls released Wednesday. The size of the shift towards the Democratic nominee may indeed be historic.

"It is difficult to find a modern competitive presidential race that has swung so dramatically, so quickly and so sharply this late in the campaign."

....."In the last 20 days, Sen. Barack Obama has gone from seven points down to eight points up in Florida, while widening his leads to eight points in Ohio and 15 points in Pennsylvania."

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Olmert-AIPAC.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017420774&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|Olmert's Political Death Bed Conversion||"Anyone who says he was mistaken for 35 years cannot be believed," Eldad said. "He is just saying it to find favor with the left-wing judges so that his hanging will be easier."

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3141428/Germany-takes-hot-seat-as-Europe-falls-into-the-abyss.html|Global Financial Disintegration Possible Within Days!||We face extreme danger. Unless there is immediate intervention on every front by all the major powers acting in concert, we risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared, unless they own gold bars. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Target_Iran.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/iran.israelandthepalestinians1|Guardian Exclusive: Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran||BUSH and CHENEY were themselves blocked by senior military and intelligence professionals who were near rebellion and resignation but have not yet gone public.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama1.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1026341.html|ISRAELI Attack on IRAN Still Possible||All the indicators noted above can also be read the other way around: Israel is planning and preparing to attack Iran and is simply trying to achieve a surprise. The Iranians are also aware that the window of opportunity for an attack is closing, and that the moment they acquire enough fissionable material for a bomb or two, they will be immune. In that situation, it is better to lull them with reassuring statements than threaten them and prompt them to take countermeasures, such as strengthening their air defenses or armoring their nuclear facilities. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SattueLibertyTorch.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4904476.ece|Judge Finally Orders Quantanamo Prisoners Released Within Days!||In a stern rebuke of the US government, District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would be wrong to continue holding the detainees since they no longer are considered enemy combatants. The must be released by Friday, he ruled. He said: “I think the moment has arrived for the court to shine the light of constitutionality on the reasons for the detention.” His words drew cheers and applause from local Uighur residents in Washington and from human rights activists packed into the US District courtroom.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/MusharafCaricature.jpg|http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/30/1469342.aspx|THE ‘TALIBANIZATION’ OF PAKISTAN’S BIGGEST CITY||But I was in Karachi, a giant city on the Indian Ocean. If Karachi is being ‘Talibanized,’ Pakistan is in real trouble, and so is everyone else. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/bushFaceIraq.jpg|http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?ref=world|Major Anti-U.S. March in Baghdad||If the "Agreement" is rammed through in one way or another it is setting the stage for what might become an even worse IRAQI CIVIL WAR and/or the breakup of the country with the Kurds going further their own way and the rest of the country fracturing into pro and anti-U.S. factions. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IraqSoldiers.jpg|http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122433105660347635.html|Huge IRAQ Rally Condemns New U.S. Pact||"If they tell you that the agreement ends the presence of the occupation, let me tell you that the occupier will retain its bases. And whoever tells you that it gives us sovereignty is a liar," Mr. Sadr said. "I am confident that you brothers in parliament will champion the will of the people over that of the occupier ... Do not betray the people." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaCommander.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-fg-pakeconomy14-2008oct14,0,4579514.story|PAKISTAN IN CRISIS||But consumer confidence has eroded steadily. In Karachi, Islamabad and other major cities, there has been a run in recent days on foreign-currency accounts held in Pakistani banks. On Monday, small-business owner Ayoub Assaf was crestfallen after his bank told him it did not have sufficient funds on hand for the large withdrawal he had hoped to make from his dollar account. Nervously fingering his BlackBerry, he shook his head.

"I left it too late," he said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/JudyMiller1.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/judith-miller-joins-fox-n_n_136075.html|Ms. RunAMuck Joins FOX News|She's a Neocon (thinly masked), she's Jewish, she's Zionist and Israeli centric, she helped start the Iraq war, she disgraced the NYTimes and the journalism profession, she went to jail (attempting to rehabilitate herself), and now she's where she belongs (LOL), joining FOX NEWS! |She's a Neocon (thinly masked), she's Jewish, she's Zionist and Israeli centric, she helped start the Iraq war, she disgraced the New York Times and the journalism profession, she went to jail (not so much to protect her sources but to attempt to rehabilitate herself), and now she's where she belongs (LOL), joining FOX NEWS! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/McCainWomen.jpg|http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/563913.html|JOE McCain (yes another JOE) Calls 911 to Make Traffic Complaint near DC!|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Palin-McCain.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5010491.ece|‘John McCain was never tortured in my jail’, says Tran Trong Duyet. And he's no "War Hero" either!||“In Vietnam we are taught to honour the whole unit, rather than the individual but I know it is different in America. Even so, I really don’t think that McCain qualifies as a hero. The truth of that day is that he failed and I succeeded. He failed to destroy what he was supposed to bomb and just killed some fish. That is not a hero.” http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/GazaWB.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031212.html|BIBI Coming Again In Israel -- Shas betting on its renewed alliance with Netanyahu ||In a gushing interview which was published in the official Shas bulletin Yom L'yom on the eve of the holiday of Sukkot, Netanyahu declared that Shas would be the first party he intends to invite to join his government following the elections. The former premier also hailed the historic alliance and shared values between the two factions. ....

Netanyahu has zeroed in on Shas because he realizes it is the key to early elections. Throughout the party's negotiations with Livni, Netanyahu did not let up, keeping his finger on the pulse of internal developments within the party. Did Netanyahu promise or hint to Ovadia Yosef that he would restore child allowances that he himself slashed as finance minister?

There is no proof of this, though it is clear that Netanyahu has managed to cast a wide safety net for Shas. He will bring it into a government that he plans to form following his victory in elections. The lone risk Shas is taking is that Livni will be the one to form a government without Shas, thus relegating the ultra-Orthodox faction to the opposition. Such a scenario is unacceptable to the rabbi who prefers seeing Shas in the government.

The growing ties with Netanyahu and Yishai's realization that it would behoove Shas to position itself as an ideologically social party in the run-up to early elections eventually led to Friday morning's decision to cut ties with Kadima. Shas officials are convinced Livni will not be able to form a government without them. In this scenario, Shas' presence in the Olmert government and its future place in a Netanyahu-led coalition ensures the party maintains its hold on the seats of power.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaMEMap.jpg|http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=206893|LATEST SCURILOUS SLANDER OF OBAMA. The Twisted Hook Headline: LA Times Refuses to Release Video of Obama Toasting Ex-PLO Operative||This is one of the worst examples of twisted slanderous "journalism". Of course it's FOX News, Daniel Pipes, Drudge Report, and in this case Breitbart TV, all teaming up to thrust this craziness forward. Someone has spent a lot of time and money to create this hodgepodge of scare-mongering and "terrorist" labeling, with the intention of throwing it out in the final days of the campaign. One can see the hands of the furthest right-wing elements of the Israeli lobby and the Jewish Zionist Republican Neocons in this. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Saban-Pollack-Ross-Indyk.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/29/mccain-making-last-ditch_n_138969.html|McCain's Last Ditch Effort: Tying Obama To Muslim World||John McCain's campaign is making what appears to be a final, full-throated effort to paint Barack Obama as a sympathizer with the Muslim world. In the process they are putting out into the public domain as many images as possible of Obama's face cast over a map of the Middle East.

The latest salvo came Wednesday afternoon, when the Republican nominee released a web ad placing Obama's visage in front of an outline of Iran, and presenting aspects of the Senator's foreign policy alongside music traditionally associated with a Muslim call to prayer. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaBiden.jpg|http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/erica-jong-tells-italians-obama-loss-will-spark-second-american-civil-war-blood-will-r|Erica Jong Tells Italians Obama Loss 'Will Spark the Second American Civil War. Blood Will Run in the Streets'||She also says that her friends Jane Fonda and Naomi Wolf are extremely worried that Obama will be sabotaged by Republican dirty tricks, and that if an Obama loss indeed comes to pass, the result will be a second American Civil War. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama.jpg|http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0611120215nov12,0,2221283.story|Rahm Emanuel: The House Rahm Built|Cartoon published in the Saudi newspapers Al-Watan and Arab News in July 2008|This is the man Obama is likely to name Chief of Staff in th White House.

It's a crafty but dangerous political move. RAHM EMANUEL started out as an Israel Lobby plant in the Clinton White House, then was pushed hard by AIPAC to be right next to Pelosi in the Congress, and now is being pushed hard by the Israel Lobby to be the top man in the White House. Makes much sense in terms of American politics for Obama. But he will also be allowing himself to be boxed in when it comes to critical policies in the Middle East that Israel always wants to be in charge of and in a position to both guide and veto.

FROM THE ARTICLE: How Chicago's profane, ruthless, savvy operative, remade the Democrats in his image http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SattueLibertyTorch.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/30/election-results-electora_n_139361.html|ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE || http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rahmbo1.jpg|http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=7796602|Rahm - and that Means Israelis and Powerful Jews - will be in Charge at the Obama White House|RAHMBO - Former Fixer, Money-Man, and Israeli, Rahm Emanuel Will Be In Charge in the Obama White house|Last time it was Bill Clinton who offered his big-time Jewish and Israeli supporters a "Kosher Kitchen" in the White House. Immediately he brought in Israeli-Jewish Lobby players - Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, and a younger just back from fighting in the Israeli Army Rahm Emanuel. Now it's deju vu in the Obama White House. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rahmbo1.jpg|http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=7796602|Rahm - and that Means Israelis and Powerful Jews - will be in Charge at the Obama White House|RAHMBO - Former Fixer, Money-Man, and Israeli, Rahm Emanuel Will Be In Charge in the Obama White house|Last time it was Bill Clinton who offered his big-time Jewish and Israeli supporters a "Kosher Kitchen" in the White House. Immediately he brought in Israeli-Jewish Lobby players - Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, and a younger just back from fighting in the Israeli Army Rahm Emanuel. Now it's deju vu in the Obama White House.

Bush/Cheney brought in the hardline Zionist Neocons -- nearly all Jewish and including Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Abrams, and many others. The Dems, Obama included, bring in the more Peres and former Labor Party oriented American Jewish Zionists themselves in political opposition on many issues to their Neocon Breathren.

But make no mistake about it. In both cases it's Israel first, Arabs and Muslims to the rear. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rahmbo1.jpg|http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=7796602|Rahm - and that means power Zionist American Jews and Israelis - will be in Charge at the Obama White House|RAHMBO - Former Fixer, Money-Man, and Israeli, Rahm Emanuel Will Be In Charge in the Obama White house|Rahm himself is the son of an Israeli "terrorist" father who fought in Begin's Irgun that bombed the King David Hotel and assassinated the first U.N. negotiators.

At age 18 Rahm gave up his dual citizenship with Israel. But that didn't stop him from going to fight with the Israelis in 1991, with rumors (unsubstantiated as he doesn't want to talk about any of this) that he was a Captain in the Israeli army at the time.

Last time the Dems were in charge it was Bill Clinton who offered his big-time Jewish and Israeli-oriented supporters a "Kosher Kitchen" in the White House. Immediately he brought in Israeli-Jewish Lobby players - Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, and a younger just back from fighting in the Israeli Army Rahm Emanuel. Now it's deju vu in the Obama White House.

Bush/Cheney brought in the hardline Zionist Neocons -- nearly all Jewish and including Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Abrams, and many others. The Dems, Obama included, bring in the more Peres and former Labor Party oriented American Jewish Zionists themselves in political opposition on many issues to their Neocon Breathren.

But make no mistake about it. In both cases it's Israel first, Arabs and Muslims to the rear. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HamasObama.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-fg-afghanelect5-2008nov05,0,2941139.story|AFGHAN - PAK WAR - Obama's Dilemma |Obama Spoke to AIPAC's Annual Conference on 4 June 2008 to a Standing Ovation.|President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a war in Afghanistan that is certain to play a central role in his presidency, a conflict whose cost in blood and money is escalating even as many Afghans speak of a growing sense of peril in their daily lives.

Seven years on, Western military commanders are saying aloud what most were unwilling to acknowledge publicly even a few months ago: that they are struggling as never before to find a winning strategy against an insurgency that has amply proved its determination and durability. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Kenya2008.jpg|http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-fg-afghanelect5-2008nov05,0,2941139.story|AFGHAN - PAK WAR - Obama's Dilemma ||President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a war in Afghanistan that is certain to play a central role in his presidency, a conflict whose cost in blood and money is escalating even as many Afghans speak of a growing sense of peril in their daily lives.

Seven years on, Western military commanders are saying aloud what most were unwilling to acknowledge publicly even a few months ago: that they are struggling as never before to find a winning strategy against an insurgency that has amply proved its determination and durability. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaBiden.jpg|http://timesonline.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx|LONDON TIMES online special - HOW CHANGE CAME TO AMERICA|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rahmbo1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/launch/redirect.cgi?a=82&num=107|ISRAELGATE - When Rahm First Became Chief of Staff, Acting, in the White House|RAHMBO - Former Fixer, Money-Man, and Israeli, Rahm Emanuel Will Be In Charge in the Obama White house|CALL IT "ISRAELGATE" - IF YOU DARE!

MID-EAST REALITIES - WASHINGTON - 5/8/00: At this critical time when both the Americans and the Israelis are desperately pushing to get Yasser Arafat to sign-on to the "final settlement", it's vital to remember just who is really in charge and who is really pulling the strings.
And for those who are looking into to all the Israeli spying on official Washington, this article published by MER three years ago might help them understand the whole situation much better.

IN CHARGE AT THE WHITE HOUSE: FORMER ISRAELI ARMY CAPTAIN
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaWorld.jpg|http://www.cnbc.com/id/27641538|US May Lose Its 'AAA' Rating ||In order to solve or stem the economic slowdown, Hennecke suggested the US would have to radically reduce spending across all sectors and recall all its troops from around the world. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rahmbo1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5142557.ece|Syria to be offered sweeteners to come to heel|RAHMBO - Former Fixer, Money-Man, and Israeli, Rahm Emanuel Will Be In Charge in the Obama White house|They broke Egypt away from the Arabs decades ago; and President Anwar Sadat got assassinated. Then they got Jordan into a formal but difficult peace agreement; then when King Hussein died the CIA got Abdullah on the Hashemite Throne rather than Hassan. They tried and tried to get Arafat to sign a formal peace and establish a rump but imprisoning 'Palestinian State'; and when he refused they essentially imprisoned and then killed him. And for some time now the U.S. and Israel have been trying to find some way to co-opt and turn Syria; and with Israel's man in the White House (that's Rahm Emanuel of course) expect a full-court-press on Syria and soon' http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaRahm.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037256.html|Rahm Emanuel apologizes for father's disparaging remarks about Arabs |Immediately Upon Election Obama Appointed to the Top Job in the White House his antithesis in both style and Iraq War policies. Emanuel, an orthodox Jew, is well known for his Zionist and Israeli connections. He is in effect the lead Democratic Party Neocon when it comes to the MIddle East.|Immediately upon become the appointed President - i.e., the critical Chief of Staff at the White House position - Rahm Emanuel talked about his father. Then his Israeli father in Israel was interviewed creating a mini-scandal right off the bat, and Rahm twisted to:

"From the fullness of my heart, I personally apologize on behalf of my family and me. These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family," the group quoted him as saying. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama1.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404745738&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|OBAMA Says About "Peace Process"... No Opps Israel/Jewish Lobby Dennis Ross Steps in to Speak for OBAMA||Below is the story from THE JERUSALEM POST as originally report on 16 Nov 08. But hours later if people used the link to the original story it took them to an updated version of the story in which the opposite conclusion was reached - the Israeli/Jewish Lobby's Dennis Ross having stepped in on Sunday to "correct" things and speak for Obama. Obama and others have said nothing, thus letting Ross's "correction" stand.

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'Obama to endorse Arab Peace Plan'

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Talkbacks for this article: 43

US President-elect Barack Obama is planning to base his peacemaking efforts in the Middle East on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday, quoting sources close to Obama.

US President-elect Barack Obama
Photo: AP

Slideshow: Pictures of the week

The Arab Peace Initiative, based on the Saudi peace plan of February 2002, calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories taken in the Six Day War, including east Jerusalem, in exchange for normalizing ties with the Arab world.

Quoting an adviser to Obama, the report states that during his visit to the Middle East in July, the President-elect said Israel would be "crazy" to refuse a deal that could "give them peace with the Muslim world."

According to the paper, Obama's advisers feel that the time is right for such a deal as Arab countries fear rising radical Islamic movements and a potentially nuclear Iran. They have reportedly told Obama he shouldn't lose time and must begin pushing his policies within his first year in office while he still enjoys maximum goodwill.

Senior Jerusalem officials last month dismissed a sudden surge of interest both in Israel and abroad in the initiative, saying it was a function of both a diplomatic process that has stalled and the transition periods in Israel, the US and the Palestinian Authority.

"Whenever the process stalls, there will be those who will pull out the Saudi plan," one senior official said. "And the Saudis have an interest in pushing this out there now, to put on a 'constructive face' with which to greet the new US president."

Herb Keinon contributed to this report. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama1.jpg|http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404745738&pagename=JPostJPArticleShowFull|OBAMA Says About 'Peace Process'... No Opps Israel/Jewish Lobby Dennis Ross Steps in to Speak for OBAMA||Below is the story from THE JERUSALEM POST as originally report on 16 Nov 08. But hours later if people used the link to the original story it took them to an updated version of the story in which the opposite conclusion was reached - the Israeli/Jewish Lobby's Dennis Ross having stepped in on Sunday to "correct" things and speak for Obama. Obama and others have said nothing, thus letting Ross's "correction" stand.

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'Obama to endorse Arab Peace Plan'

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Talkbacks for this article: 43

US President-elect Barack Obama is planning to base his peacemaking efforts in the Middle East on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday, quoting sources close to Obama.

US President-elect Barack Obama
Photo: AP

Slideshow: Pictures of the week

The Arab Peace Initiative, based on the Saudi peace plan of February 2002, calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories taken in the Six Day War, including east Jerusalem, in exchange for normalizing ties with the Arab world.

Quoting an adviser to Obama, the report states that during his visit to the Middle East in July, the President-elect said Israel would be "crazy" to refuse a deal that could "give them peace with the Muslim world."

According to the paper, Obama's advisers feel that the time is right for such a deal as Arab countries fear rising radical Islamic movements and a potentially nuclear Iran. They have reportedly told Obama he shouldn't lose time and must begin pushing his policies within his first year in office while he still enjoys maximum goodwill.

Senior Jerusalem officials last month dismissed a sudden surge of interest both in Israel and abroad in the initiative, saying it was a function of both a diplomatic process that has stalled and the transition periods in Israel, the US and the Palestinian Authority.

"Whenever the process stalls, there will be those who will pull out the Saudi plan," one senior official said. "And the Saudis have an interest in pushing this out there now, to put on a 'constructive face' with which to greet the new US president."

Herb Keinon contributed to this report. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Rahm - Observer.jpg|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703672_pf.html|Obama - Filling the Mall and Washington as Never Before?|He's the antithesis of Obama in Temperament and Style, a strong supporter of the Iraq war, a former Israel with a father who was a Jewish 'terrorist', and the man who Barack Obama annointed his Chief of Staff in the White House|"The parade route will be completely filled way before the inaugural speech even happens," said Fenty, who was a D.C. Council member in 2005, the most recent inauguration. "That's something people will have to think about, whether they want to see the parade firsthand or see the inaugural swearing-in and speech. You can't do both." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Kenya2008.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/18/iraq-us-foreign-policy|Top Brit Judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion||One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante".

Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/boycott-israel-anim.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039394.html|Nobel laureate: UN should suspend Israel membership ||Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire said Thursday the United Nations should suspend or revoke Israel's membership.

Maguire said Israel should be punished for ignoring a series of United Nations resolutions over the years.

Maguire won the 1976 peace prize for her work with Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/CapitolObama.jpg|http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122722409603545965.html|Washington Woodstock Ahead - Biggest Inaugural EVER||But for many attendees, parties will take a back seat to witnessing to history, Mr. Midkiff says. "As long as they're on the Mall, their story will be how they felt it. It won't matter that they saw it on a Jumbotron, what will matter will be that they were there." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BloodyHandSaddam.jpg|http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AF0GY20081121|Big Protest in Iraq against U.S. troops pact||Thousands of demonstrators chanted and waved Iraqi flags in Baghdad's Firdos square, where U.S. forces pulled down a statue of the ousted Iraqi dictator when they took the city in 2003. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushNixon.jpg|http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21358.htm|George W. Bush Belongs in Prison||I want President Obama soon after taking office to go on television and announce the formation of a special group of outstanding jurists and attorneys to make a recommendation whether or not the US Justice Department should bring criminal charges against George W. Bush. Based on earlier analyses, including work by the American Bar Association, I have no doubt they will recommend indictment. .....



George W. Bush Belongs in Prison

By Joel S. Hirschhorn

November 30, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" -- Electing Barack Obama president was the first step in redeeming American democracy. The second step must be indicting ex-president George W. Bush, giving him a fair trial, finding him guilty of many criminal acts and putting him in prison. Forget revenge. Think rule of law and justice.

I want President Obama soon after taking office to go on television and announce the formation of a special group of outstanding jurists and attorneys to make a recommendation whether or not the US Justice Department should bring criminal charges against George W. Bush. Based on earlier analyses, including work by the American Bar Association, I have no doubt they will recommend indictment.

If moral honesty and courage have any meaning, then the nation must take seriously the concept that no president can ever be allowed to be above the law. How can President Obama not strongly support this? Surely no president must be allowed to disrespect and dishonor the US Constitution. George W. Bush broke his oath of office. His behavior was treasonous. Instead of defending the Constitution he disgraced it. Instead of protecting constitutional rights, including privacy, he sullied them. He asserted his right to ignore or not enforce laws so he could break them. Respect for the office of the presidency must never be allowed to trump truth and justice.

Millions and millions of Americans and people worldwide know that George W. Bush made 9/11 the trigger for initiating an illegal war in Iraq that has killed and maimed so many thousands of people. What Vincent Bugliosi, author of “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" called “the most serious crime ever committed in American history.” I say convict Bush of myriad counts of criminally negligent homicide related to both Iraq and the Katrina disaster and put him in prison. A former president in prison would not disgrace the presidency. It would restore honor to the office and the Constitution.

Surely millions more people now understand that George W. Bush bears responsibility for creating the conditions that encouraged greed-driven capitalism to rape and murder the middle class and push us into the current global economic meltdown. By removing government oversight and regulation he committed the greatest acts of fraud in the history of mankind. After he made American democracy delusional he made prosperity delusional.

We the people are paying the price for George W. Bush’s criminal acts and so must he. When George W. Bush is sent to prison everyone will see that American democracy has earned the respect of the world. Everyone will better understand that evil comes in many forms and that even an elected president of the United States of America can and must be recognized as a perpetrator of horrendous criminal acts.

Please President-elect Obama, make it so. Be the principled person we want you to be. Make the USA the nation it is supposed to be. Have the courage to do what Congress refused to do when it did not impeach George W. Bush. Change history by showing the world that American justice applies as equally to the president as it does to anyone else. Do not let George W. Bush escape the justice and prison sentence he deserves. Do not let respect for the presidency trump respect for justice. If we do not bring George W. Bush to justice that probably only you can make happen, then surely we do not restore respect for the office that you worked so hard to achieve.

To ensure that no future president behaves like George W. Bush we must punish him. Not merely through the words of historians, but through the physical punishment that he has inflicted on so many millions of people. In previous eras citizens would have demanded “off with his head.” Now we must demand “lock him up.” How poetic for a pro-torture ex-president. As summed up at www.imprisonbush.com : “Bush must be made accountable to the law, to serve as a lesson to all those who would attempt to destroy the American system of laws and liberty for the sake of their own power.” This is a test for both President Obama and American democracy.

If there is any kind of God in the universe, then George W. Bush must go to prison. When he does, then and only then should God bless America.

Formerly a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association, Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of nonfiction books, including Prosperity Without Pollution, Sprawl Kills and Delusional Democracy.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaMEMap1.jpg|http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/8448|IRAN - Israel Lobby Strikes Again||This time the Israeli Lobby has slightly masked itself in the guise of a new "Bipartisan Policy Center". Make no mistake about it -- this is part of the Israeli push, now sans hardline neocons in the era of Obama, to take down IRAN and prevent any kind of "Grand Bargain" or rapproachment. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IranBomb-12-02-08.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5275647.ece|Experts warn Barack Obama of 'hornet's nest' in Middle East|Big Scare Headline on the Drudge Report - 2 Dec 2008|Just look at who these "experts" are! All organized by the extended Israeli Lobby in Washington and the associated Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/israel-and-america1.jpg|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/3551079/Israel-willing-to-go-it-alone-on-Iran-attack.html|Israel Steps Up Preparations to Attack IRAN||ISRAEL-U.S.-EU - ALL ARE BEHIND IT

Of course the Americans are deeply involved in this. They have supplied the weapons, they provide the Israelis with everything including backup should anything go wrong. BUT the Americans are desperate to make it appear to the world that 'it's not us'; a claim that should be rejected by everyone, not just the Iranians. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaIRAN.jpg|http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/8448|IRAN - Israel Lobby Strikes Again||This time the Israeli Lobby has slightly masked itself in the guise of a new "Bipartisan Policy Center". Make no mistake about it -- this is part of the Israeli push, now sans hardline neocons in the era of Obama, to take down IRAN and prevent any kind of "Grand Bargain" or rapproachment. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/IRAN-MeetingTheChallenge.jpg|http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/8448|Israeli Lobby and Connected Groups Pushing Hard To Take Charge of Obama Middle East Policies. TARGET IRAN Top of Hit List.|Numerous Reports and Policy Studies about IRAN and the Middle East have been published in the aftermath of the Obama Election. Most have the fingerprints (disguised or wiped clean in various ways) of the Israeli/Jewish Lobby, more powerful than ever with their man Rahm Emanual appointed Chief of Staff in the White House.|This time the Israeli Lobby has slightly masked itself in the guise of a new "Bipartisan Policy Center". Make no mistake about it -- this is part of the Israeli push, now sans hardline neocons in the era of Obama, to take down IRAN and prevent any kind of "Grand Bargain" or rapproachment. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Fatima.jpg|http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/12/civilian-government-pakistan|Dear Dave of UK and 'The West' - from Fatima Bhutto in THE NEW STATESMAN|“Criminals shouldn’t run countries” - Fatima Bhutto on the new 'Civilian Democratic' Government of Pakistan|By next July, according to the stipulations of the IMF, subsidies for electricity, gas and petroleum products will be eliminated. Agricultural subsidies will most likely be cut, and by 2015 the ratio of tax to GDP will increase from less than 10 to more than 15 per cent. The poor will have to pay for Pakistan's corrupt governance, Dave. The poor, already burdened by extreme food inflation and power and water shortages, will bear the brunt of our civilian government's "reformist zeal". http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaRahm1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5276010.ece|Obama Grandfather Imprisoned and Tortured by Brits||Hmmm. Might this make President Obama, if not his Chief of Staff Emanuel, more understanding and sympathetic of the Palestinian struggle against the British, and now the Israelis and the USA? Not likely. The Israelis in fact will twist this to make it appear it was they whom the British were jailing and torturing!

FROM THE ARTICLE: Barack Obama’s grandfather was imprisoned and brutally tortured by the British during the violent struggle for Kenyan independence, according to the Kenyan family of the US President-elect.

Hussein Onyango Obama, Mr Obama’s paternal grandfather, became involved in the Kenyan independence movement while working as a cook for a British army officer after the war. He was arrested in 1949 and jailed for two years in a high-security prison where, according to his family, he was subjected to horrific violence to extract information about the growing insurgency. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/rahmbo1.jpg|http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2008/11/iraq-companies-fainaru|Iraq's Secret Army of American Mercenary and Contractors|RAHMBO - Former Fixer, Money-Man, and Israeli, Rahm Emanuel Will Be In Charge in the Obama White house|MERCENARIES, CONTRACTORS, AND SECRET OPS NOW DOMINATE IRAQ and are SPREADING TO AFGHANISTAN, PALESTINE, PAKISTAN, et. al.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Secrecy still surrounds the thousands of contracted soldiers who protect anything from US Ambassadors to shipments required for the rebuilding effort as they operate outside both Iraqi and US law.

The number of companies and the number of employees being paid by the US government to operate in Iraq are unknown though Steve Fainaru, who wrote Big Boy Rules, a book about the mercenaries, estimates there are currently more than 300.

There is almost no governmental oversight and no record of how many injuries or deaths the companies cause or incur. When hired soldiers are killed on the job, the companies are not required to follow the same procedures the military does; investigations are unofficial and the families are often not informed, Fainaru claims. Nor is financial compensation mandatory. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushSaban.jpg|http://www.brookings.edu/projects/saban-cfr.aspx|Israel Lobby II Tells Obama What New Middle East Policy Should Be|President Bush speaks at the Brookings Institution's Saban Forum on 5 Dec 2008 at the Newseum in Washington.|In Washington things are rarely what they seem. Israel Lobby I, AIPAC and the Near East Institute, have a much longer history. Saban at Brookings is less than a decade old, but well qualified to be called Israel Lobby II.

FROM SABAN: This project marks the first time in the history of the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations that a group of their experts are partnering to develop a Middle East strategy for the next president http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushShoe.jpg|http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081214183648.9zmc87b1&show_article=1|Two Shoes Nearly Hit Bush in Baghdad. 'You Dog' Journalists Shouts!|Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tries to block US President George W. Bush after an Iraqi man threw his shoes at Bush during a joint press conference and signing ceremony at Maliki's private office. An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes and an insult at Bush, without hitting him, as the US president was shaking hands with the Iraqi premier at his Baghdad office on Sunday, 14 Dec 2008.|You Dog!’ Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at President Bush! And Dana Perino, the White House Press Secretary, has a Black Eye Hit During the Scuffle to get the Journalist.

Playing down the incident, the President later added: "I don't know what the guy's cause is... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushShoe.jpg|http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=241123|VIDEO - You Dog!’ Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at President Bush|Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tries to block US President George W. Bush after an Iraqi man threw his shoes at Bush during a joint press conference and signing ceremony at Maliki's private office. An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes and an insult at Bush, without hitting him, as the US president was shaking hands with the Iraqi premier at his Baghdad office on Sunday, 14 Dec 2008.|You Dog!’ Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at President Bush! And Dana Perino, the White House Press Secretary, has a Black Eye Hit During the Scuffle to get the Journalist http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ShoeInsult.jpg|http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/15/mideast/shoe.php|Shoe insult against Bush resounds in Arab world|Anti-American protesters in Baghdad a day after Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference.|A day after an Iraqi television journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush at a news conference here Sunday, his act of defiance toward the American commander in chief reverberated throughout Iraq and across the Arab world. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ShoeInsult1.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7783608.stm|Bush Shoe Thrower Declared HERO by Many in Middle East|The 'Shoe Insult' Image Will Go Down In History As Part of the Bush Legacy in the Middle East - "Final Kiss You Dog!"|Throwing shoes is particularly insulting in the Middle East, as was shown when crowds of Iraqis used their shoes to whack a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ClintonHeadress.jpg|http://www.nypost.com/seven/12192008/news/politics/bubba_sheik_ing_the_money_tree_144977.htm|BUBBA CLINTON SHEIK-ING THE MONEY TREE||DESERT DESPOTS GIVE CHARITY MILLIONS
HEADACHE FOR HILLARY'S CABINET BID http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushShoe5.jpg|http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=242663|VIDEO - Palestinians In Gaza Demonstrate In Support Of Shoe-Thrower|Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi hurled his shoes at George W. Bush and sparked a wave of support in the Arab world. Dozens of Palestinians took in a rally in the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Iraqi journalist.|Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi hurled his shoes at US President George W. Bush and sparked a wave of support in the Arab world. Dozens of Palestinians took part in a rally in the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Iraqi journalist. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048553.html|U.S. Jews Put Top Obama Confidant at Top|Cartoon published in the Saudi newspapers Al-Watan and Arab News in July 2008|Key Obama backer, confidante Alan Solow tipped to head U.S. Jewry's top body http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Obama ME.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/916c0e72-b4c0-11dd-b780-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid=f98b03ba-4d11-11da-ba44-0000779e2340.html|Is Obama a Middle East ‘splitter’? Whatever, the Israeli/Jewish Lobby has him firmly in their grasp.||Obama, like all American Presidents before him when it comes to matters Israel, is firmly held in check by the powerful and multi-faceted Israel/Jewish Lobby in the U.S. The Israelis know this very well. And this time they've got one of their own, Rahm Emmanuel, right there literally at the President's side and a close friend of Obama's now taking over the President's Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama.jpg|http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1047173.html|The Madoff betrayal: Life imitates anti-Semitism |Cartoon published in the Saudi newspapers Al-Watan and Arab News in July 2008|For the true anti-Semite, Christmas came early this year.

The anti-Semite's new Santa is Bernard Madoff. The answer to every Jew-hater's wish list. The Aryan Nation at its most delusional couldn't have come up with anything to rival this:

The former chairman of Nasdaq turns out, also, to be treasurer of the board of trustees at Yeshiva University and chairman of the university's business school. Rich beyond human comprehension, he handles fortunes for others, buying and selling in a trading empire that skirts investment banks and other possible sources of regulation. He redefines avarice, knowingly and personally bilking charities and retirees in the most classic of con games.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Obama ME.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/916c0e72-b4c0-11dd-b780-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid=f98b03ba-4d11-11da-ba44-0000779e2340.html|Is Obama a Middle East ‘splitter’? Whatever, the Israeli/Jewish Lobby has him firmly in their grasp.||Obama, like all American Presidents before him when it comes to matters Israel, is firmly held in check by the powerful and multi-faceted Israel/Jewish Lobby in the U.S. The Israelis know this very well. And this time they've got one of their own, Rahm Emmanuel, right there literally at the President's side and a close friend of Obama's now taking over the President's Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaSplitter.jpg|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/916c0e72-b4c0-11dd-b780-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid=f98b03ba-4d11-11da-ba44-0000779e2340.html|Is Obama a Middle East ‘splitter’? Whatever, the Israeli/Jewish Lobby has him firmly in their grasp.||Obama, like all American Presidents before him when it comes to matters Israel, is firmly held in check by the powerful and multi-faceted Israel/Jewish Lobby in the U.S. The Israelis know this very well. And this time they've got one of their own, Rahm Emmanuel, right there literally at the President's side and a close friend of Obama's now taking over the President's Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/AhmadinejadFlag.jpg|http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3643776,00.html|Ahmadinejad to make UK Christmas broadcast||THANK YOU CHANNEL 4! Someone has to for others are probably going to come down on you even harder than you imagined, and not necessary immediately, maybe later when you are least expecting!

"As the leader of one of the most powerful states in the Middle East, President Ahmadinejad's views are enormously influential. As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative world view," (said the Channel 4 spokesperson).

"If Christ was on earth today undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over," Ahmadinejad said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Target_Iran.jpg|http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081224/D9592MD00.html|Iran's Ahmadinejad to make UK Christmas broadcast||Can You Imagine Any American Broadcaster Doing this?

FROM THE ARTICLE: Britain's Channel 4 says Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will deliver the TV channel's annual Christmas broadcast.
A spokeswoman for Channel 4 said on Wednesday that Ahmadinejad's recorded message will be shown on Christmas Day.
Since 1993, the channel has screened a message from a controversial public figure as an alternative to the traditional message broadcast by Queen Elizabeth II. A previous broadcast featured the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The channel says it picked Ahmadinejad because relations between Iran and the West are likely to be a key global issue in 2009.

http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/SayNoToWar.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2765041.stm|'Million' + Pinter March against IRAQ WAR in London in Feb 2003||'BLATANT STATE TERRORISM!' "HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU HAVE TO KILL BEFORE YOU QUALIFY TO BE DESCRIBED AS A MASS MURDERER AND A WAR CRIMINAL". That was Harold Pinter in his finished hour crying to the world about Western 'Leaders' George, Dick, and tony as he received the Nobel Prize in 2005. Printer will be missed for his political brilliance and courage as much as for his stage and literary uniqueness.

FROM THIS 2003 ARTICLE:
Playwright Harold Pinter made a rare public speech, saying America was "a country run by a bunch of criminal lunatics with Tony Blair as a hired Christian thug". http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/HaroldPinter11.jpg|http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/30/israelandthepalestinians|HAROLD PINTER - Telling the Truth Against Power and Odds|In 2003 Harold Pinter let it be known he considers Prime Minister Blair a "deluded idiot" and thinks that Blair and Bush should be tried as war criminals. He declared that "The United States is a monster out of control.... The country is run by a bunch of criminal lunatics, with Blair as their hired Christian thug", and he called the war against Iraq "a bandit act." In 2005 Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Liberature. In 2008 Pinter and other British Jews publicly declared they would not celebate Israel's 60th Birthday.|He considers Prime Minister Tony Blair a "deluded idiot" and thinks that Blair, Bill Clinton, and Bush should be tried as war criminals. In 2003, he declared that "The United States is a monster out of control.... The country is run by a bunch of criminal lunatics, with Blair as their hired Christian thug." He calls the war against Iraq "a bandit act." http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/16Feb03.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2765041.stm|Harold Pinter - 2003 - BIGGEST DEMO EVER IN BRITISH HISTORY! Harold Pinter who just died was there. He received the Nobel Prize two years later.|The Biggest Demonstration in British History - on 16 February 2003 - was against the upcoming US/UK invasion of IRAQ|...Police said it was the UK's biggest ever demonstration with at least 750,000 taking part, although organisers put the figure closer to two million.

...Playwright Harold Pinter made a rare public speech, saying America was "a country run by a bunch of criminal lunatics with Tony Blair as a hired Christian thug". http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/hamas211.jpg|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7800985.stm|Israelis Attack Gaza with F-16s, 100+ killed|Hamas celebrated its 21st anniversary with a mass rally in December 2008|Just last week Hamas celebrated its 21st Birthday, birth during the first Intifada struggling against the Israel/U.S. occupation. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Targethamas.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/27/israel-launches-air-strik_n_153664.html|U.S. Equivalent of 30,000 Massacred in PALESTINE Today||Do the simple math. It would be as if an occupying power used the most lethal weapons of war against a trapped population in the U.S. killing 30,000+ and injuring 100,000+ in ONE DAY! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/hamas211.jpg|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/27/israel-launches-air-strik_n_153664.html|U.S. Equivalent of 30,000 Massacred in PALESTINE Today! HAMAS LEADERS TO BE KILLED and CAPTURED in ground assault!|Hamas celebrated its 21st anniversary with a mass rally in December 2008|Do the simple math. It would be as if an occupying power used the most lethal weapons of war against a trapped population in the U.S. killing 30,000+ and injuring 100,000+ in ONE DAY! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/israel-and-america1.jpg|http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081227193910425276.html|DEATH and DESTRUCTION Everywhere in GAZA - US Equivalent 30,000+ killed, 100,000+ injured on ONE DAY!||Do the simple math. It would be as if an occupying power used the most lethal weapons of war against a trapped population in the U.S. killing 30,000+ and injuring 100,000+ in ONE DAY! http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Gaza2008.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1102951/Shhhh-As-world-waits-Obama-voice-opinion-Gaza-Americas-President-elect-hits-golf-course.html|Shhhh! As the world waits for Obama to voice his opinion on Gaza, America's President-elect hits the golf course |The last week of 2008 the Israelis Launched a Brutal Assault on Palestinian Gaza - The Worst Since the Conquest in 1967.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ObamaShh.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1102951/Shhhh-As-world-waits-Obama-voice-opinion-Gaza-Americas-President-elect-hits-golf-course.html|Shhhh! As the world waits for Obama to voice his opinion on Gaza, America's President-elect hits the golf course |As U.S. planes and bombs rain down on Palestinian Gaza, the American Pres elect says nothing. So much for 'Change' when it comes to the Middle East!| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Gaza2008.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5425659.ece|Hamas unveils arsenal of long-range missiles|The last week of 2008 the Israelis Launched a Brutal Assault on Palestinian Gaza - The Worst Since the Conquest in 1967.| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1103314/Britain-vetoes-UN-motion-Gaza-attacks.html|New Year 2009 - US and UK VETO UN Resolution to Stop ISRAELI Attacks|| http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1103314/Britain-vetoes-UN-motion-Gaza-attacks.html|New Year 2009 - US and UK VETO UN Resolution to Stop ISRAELI Attacks|| It wasn't a formal veto because the US prevented a formal vote. But as this British newspaper reports it was rejection by both the Brits and the Americans that amounted to Veto and it is they who should be held responsible. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1103314/Britain-vetoes-UN-motion-Gaza-attacks.html|New Year 2009 - US and UK effective Veto UN Resolution to Stop ISRAELI Attacks||It wasn't a formal veto because the US prevented a formal vote. But as this British newspaper reports it was rejection by both the Brits and the Americans that amounted to Veto and it is they who should be held responsible. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1103314/Britain-vetoes-UN-motion-Gaza-attacks.html|New Year 2009 - US and UK effective Veto UN Resolution to Stop ISRAELI Attacks||It wasn't a formal veto because the US prevented a formal vote. But effectively the US and UK blocked with their veto threat a UN resolution thus giving the Israelis not only more time but a kind of OK to do what they will.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/BushShoe1.jpg|http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50212820090103|U.S.-installed Iraqi ex-PM says Bush "utter failure"|'You Dog' Reporter Shouts Condemning Bush For Killing so many Iraqis|"Yes, Bush's policies failed utterly," said Allawi, describing the U.S. administration that once backed him. "Utter failure. Failure of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, including fighting terrorism and economic policy."

"His insistence on names like 'democracy' and 'open elections', without giving attention to political stability, was a big mistake. It cast shadows on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt, and I believe this will be remembered in history as President Bush's policy," he said. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/WarsawGhetto.jpg|http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10110.shtml|The Gaza Ghetto Uprising of 2008|Famous Photo Shows German Nazi troops round up Polish Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in May 1943. |While Hashemite-Zionist relations and Maronite Church-Zionist relations have always been known and documented, there has been less documentation of the services that Israel has provided and continues to provide to Arab regimes over the decades. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34678|Massacre: 42 killed by Israeli shelling at UN school in Jabaliya Refugee Camp||The school is operated by UNRWA, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA has been using its schools to house some of the 15,000 Gazans who have fled their homes due to Israel's ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which began on Saturday.

UNRWA says it handed over the GPS coordinates of all UN installations throughout the Gaza Strip to the Israeli military. The school was clearly marked as a UN facility. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5454671.ece|‘We’re wading in death, blood and amputees. Pass it on – shout it out’ ||“We are wading in death, blood, and amputees. Many children. A pregnant woman. I have never experienced anything so terrible. Now we hear tanks. Pass it on, send it around, shout it out. Anything. DO SOMETHING! DO MORE! We are living in a history book now, all of us.” It was signed Mads Gilbert, one of two Norwegian doctors toiling relentlessly alongside exhausted Palestinian medics. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mab-mertv1.jpg|http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5459435.ece|MERTV Program #1 - More Relevant Now Than Ever|Mark Bruzonsky was the live commentator on CTV throughout the historic White House cremony with Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and President Clinton. He can be reached at Mark@Bruzonsky.com and phone 202 686-2371|It was back in 1994 - just a year after the White-House ceremony with Arafat, Rabin, and Clinton, that MERTV was born. Just a few months ago Mark Bruzonsky had been the live guest on CTV's "Good Morning Canada" program commenting throughout the White House ceremony. Practically alone among network commentators on that day Bruzonsky explained why the "Oslo Agreement" would not last and that the world had been hoaxed into attending this "Marriage of the oddest of the odd couples". Sure enough, how right he was then...and now. To reach Mark Bruzonsky email to Mark@Bruzonsky.com or call 202 506-8656. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mab-mertv1.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/mertv|MERTV Program #1 - More Relevant Now Than Ever|Mark Bruzonsky was the live commentator on CTV throughout the historic White House cremony with Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and President Clinton. He can be reached at Mark@Bruzonsky.com and phone 202 686-2371|It was back in 1994 - just a year after the White-House ceremony with Arafat, Rabin, and Clinton, that MERTV was born. Just a few months ago Mark Bruzonsky had been the live guest on CTV's "Good Morning Canada" program commenting throughout the White House ceremony. Practically alone among network commentators on that day Bruzonsky explained why the "Oslo Agreement" would not last and that the world had been hoaxed into attending this "Marriage of the oddest of the odd couples". Sure enough, how right he was then...and now. To reach Mark Bruzonsky email to Mark@Bruzonsky.com or call 202 506-8656. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mab-mertv1.jpg|http://mertv.blogspot.com/2006/12/2.html|MERTV Program #1 - More Relevant Now Than Ever|Mark Bruzonsky was the live commentator on CTV throughout the historic White House cremony with Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and President Clinton. He can be reached at Mark@Bruzonsky.com and phone 202 686-2371|It was back in 1994 - just a year after the White-House ceremony with Arafat, Rabin, and Clinton, that MERTV was born. Just a few months ago Mark Bruzonsky had been the live guest on CTV's "Good Morning Canada" program commenting throughout the White House ceremony. Practically alone among network commentators on that day Bruzonsky explained why the "Oslo Agreement" would not last and that the world had been hoaxed into attending this "Marriage of the oddest of the odd couples". Sure enough, how right he was then...and now. To reach Mark Bruzonsky email to Mark@Bruzonsky.com or call 202 686-2372. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/KillOlmertBush.jpg|http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-west-bank-were-all-hamas-now--supporters-of-fatah-unite-behind-enemy-1242606.html|The West Bank: We're all Hamas now - supporters of Fatah unite behind enemy|From Jakarta to London, a wave of protest erupted across the world on 2 Jan 09 against Israel’s assault on Gaza. More than 10,000 marched through the Indonesian capital and Israeli flags were burnt and trampled upon.| Even if Israel wins on the battlefield or in the diplomatic corridors it is already paying the price of its Gaza onslaught in intensified hatred in the hearts of its Palestinian neighbours in the West Bank. The campaign also appears to be increasing public scepticism about the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's chosen path of negotiations as the way to establish an independent state alongside Israel. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/1-10-09.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7RQHC7w3qk|"Resistance Is Justifed When People Are Occupied" - In front of the Whtie House on 10 January 2009|Tens of Thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 08, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd.|Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. Tens of thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/1-10-09-1.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B_l6ewgJpc|Video2 - 'Resistance Is Justifed When People Are Occupied' - In front of the Whtie House on 10 January 2009|Tens of Thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 08, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd.| Tens of thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/1-10-09.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7RQHC7w3qk|'Resistance Is Justifed When People Are Occupied' - In front of the Whtie House on 10 January 2009|Tens of Thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 08, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd.|Tens of thousands loudly protested on Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where President-elect Obama was staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/1-10-09-1.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B_l6ewgJpc|Video2 - 'Resistance Is Justifed When People Are Occupied' - In front of the Whtie House on 10 January 2009|Tens of Thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 08, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd.| Tens of thousands Loudly Protestors in Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where Obama and Family are Staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/ArabCartoonMcCainObama1.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXvwA3XzET0|Video 3 - 'Resistance Is Justifie When People Are Occupied' - In front of the Whtie House on 10 January 2009||Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. Tens of thousands loudly protested on Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where President-elect Obama was staying.. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/1-10-09-3.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB4JydsQ6qE|'No More Money for Israel's Crimes' - Tens of Thousands of Protestors at the White House on 10 Jan 2009|Tens of Thousands Came to Washington to Protest the U.S. Israeli War Against The People of Palestine - 10 Jan 2009|Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. Tens of thousands loudly protested on Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where President-elect Obama was staying. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/1-10-09-4.jpg|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwVdY-aKEHU|'U.S. Out of the Middle East!' Tens of Thousands Protested at the White House on 10 Jan 2009.|Tens of Thousands Came to Washington to Protest the U.S. Israeli War Against The People of Palestine - 10 Jan 2009|Washington, DC - 10 Jan 2009. Tens of thousands loudly protested on Saturday, 10 Jan 09, in Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay Adams Hotel where President-elect Obama was staying.. Israel, Congress, Bush, and Obama were all singled out for condemnation by a very pro-Palestinian and pro-Justice crowd. Among the major speakers were Ralph Nader and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/Siren2-New.jpg|http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_un_gaza_emergency_session;_ylt=Agf5WfsS8xukiSlm51WUNoILewgF|UN assembly holds 'emergency' session on Gaza||D'Escoto countered that the Security Council resolution, approved by a 14-0 vote with the U.S. abstaining, called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Instead, Gaza "has been turned into a real burning hell," he said, and Israel has been "so disdainful" of the resolution. http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mertvbanner11.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/mertvprograms.htm|Critical History of the Middle East Peace Process ||The unique weekly MER TV program began in 1994 and showed weekly until 2003 on all the major cable TV systems in the Greater Washington, DC area as well as occasionally on other cable and satellite TV Channels. In these first two programs now available Mark Bruzonsky provides critical history and context for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. On the historic day when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the Peace Agreement on the White House lawn with President Clinton, Bruzonsky provided live TV commentary throughout the ceremony on Canada's CTV network, and that will be available here soon at MiddleEast.org.
http://www.middleeast.org/pictures/mertv11.jpg|http://www.middleeast.org/mertvprograms.htm|Critical History of the Middle East Peace Process||The unique weekly MER TV program began in 1994 and showed weekly until 2003 on all the major cable TV systems in the Greater Washington, DC area as well as occasionally on other cable and satellite TV Channels. In these first two programs now available Mark Bruzonsky provides critical history and context for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. On the historic day when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the Peace Agreement on the White House lawn with President Clinton, Bruzonsky provided live TV commentary throughout the ceremony on Canada's CTV network, and that will be available here soon at MiddleEast.org.