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Iraq: Dahr Jamail On Iraq As A Living Hell - The situation in Iraq has reached such a point of degradation and danger that I've been unable to return to report - as I did from 2003 to 2005 - from the front lines of daily life. Instead, in these last months, I have found myself in a supportive role, facilitating the work of some of my former sources, who remain in their own war-torn land, to tell their hair-raising tales of the new Iraq. While relying on my Iraqi colleagues to report the news, which we then publish at Inter Press Service and my website, I continue to receive emails from others in Iraq, civilian and soldier alike. See... Dahr Jamail: "Today Is Better Than Tomorrow" 
Iraq: Bush Stumbles As ISG Proposes Pullout & Piratisation - While the Washington press corps chased the nine wise men (and one wise woman) of the Iraq Study Group as they scampered from the White House to Capitol Hill to press conferences to a multitude of talk show appearances in their efforts to pull Dubya's chestnuts from the Iraq fire, some journalists seem to have missed some of its most important findings. See... William Fisher: Three Years Too Late
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MORE REACTION TO THE ISG REPORT:
Iraq: Bringing Iraq's 655,000 Casualties Back To The White House - Two years ago, a team of epidemiologists at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath in Baltimore published a study in the Lancet estimating that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq had led to approximately one hundred thousand excess deaths. While the study caused a storm of outrage among supporters of the war, its methodology and conclusions were generally regarded as robust and repeatable. The authors of the study have now done exactly that, repeating their sampling with a greater number of clusters. Their midpoint estimate for the number of excess deaths is now 655,000 . See... No Right Turn: Pyramid Of Skulls MORE ON THE IRAQ CASUALTY CALCULATIONS:
Scoop Doco: Jihad Battle Mounts Against West's Propaganda - The United States dominion over 'psy-ops' and propaganda is no longer unchallenged. Islamic insurgents throughout the Muslim world are producing digital video clips with ever-increasing sophistication. The products of this technological revolution carry a double-edged message of 'glory' for youthful 'martyrs' and vengeance against the West. Scoop has obtained video footage - delivered via underground networks and otherwise - originating from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Turkistan, Algeria and Palestine. The propaganda's message suggests the Islamic fight against U.S. imperialism and that of the West is spreading - becoming more sophisticated. See... Psy-Ops Countered By Islamic Digital PropagandaALSO:
Scoop Audio: Scoop's Selwyn Manning and 95bFM's Simon Pound discuss: the Scoop doco " Psy-Ops - The War On Your Opinions" and how NZ's intel agencies failed regarding Timor Leste.
Scoop Link: Kidnappers Release Video Of Harmeet Sooden & Other Hostages - Aljazeera reports that kidnappers holding four Western peace activists hostage in Iraq, including Harmeet Sooden, have said they are giving US-led forces one final chance to free Iraqi prisoners or they would kill their hostages. In a new video shown by Aljazeera on Saturday and dated 21 January, the four hostages were shown standing against a wall in an unknown location. The hostages include: Canadian citizen, New Zealand resident and Auckland University student, Harmeet Sooden (32). See... Iraqi Group Releases New Video Of Harmeet SoodenALSO:
Al-Jazeera Video: Captors Release Hostage Video Dated Jan 21 2006.Scoop Audio: Selwyn Manning speaks on RadioLive regarding video being released of Harmeet Sooden and other hostages.BACKGROUND:
Scoop Video: Peace Vigil Asks Captors To Release HarmeetScoop Video:Captors Release Second Hostage VideoScoop Video: First Release Of Video Showing Hostages
Video: Palestinian Groups' Vigil Asks Captors To Free Harmeet Sooden - Palestine groups held a vigil in Aotea Square in central Auckland, New Zealand, on Monday to show the world that Harmeet Sooden (pictured left) and his fellow captors are peaceful men. Harmeet Sooden was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and a friend to many in the group. SJP are calling on his captors to be merciful and release him and the other peace workers without harm. Harmeet is in Iraq solely for peaceful purposes and is passionate about taking an active role in giving humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people.Scoop Video: Peace Vigil Asks Captors To Release HarmeetScoop Video:Captors Release Second Hostage Video Scoop Video: First Release Of Video Showing HostagesScoop Audio: Rockin' the Boat: CPT Peace Activists Held Hostage. Interview w/ Cliff Kendi, a CPT member who's spent many mos. in Iraq. Then, Huwaida Arraf of ISM on solidarity demos in Palestine.
Dahr Jamail: White Phosphorous In Fallujah - Revisited - Nearly a year after they occurred, a few of the war crimes committed in Fallujah by members of the US military have gained the attention of some major media outlets (excluding, of course, any of the corporate media outlets in the US). See... Dahr Jamail: Fallujah Revisited MEANWHILE ? Pentagon Admits To White Phosphorous Misinformation - US used white phosphorus in Iraq: Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 23:57 GMT BBC News - The Pentagon has confirmed that US troops used white phosphorus during last year's offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Falluja. "It was used as an incendiary weapon ... See... Link: White Phosphorous Use As Weapon Confirmed
Jason Leopold: 2001 CIA Testimony Rediscovered - President George W. Bush's attempt Friday to silence critics who say his administration manipulated prewar intelligence on Iraq is undercut by congressional testimony given in February 2001 by former CIA Director George Tenet, who said that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the United States or other countries in the Middle East. Details of Tenet's testimony have not been reported before. See... '01 CIA Testimony Suggests Iraq Intel Manipulation 
William Rivers Pitt On Iraq's Winnebagos of Death - I've been digging into one of the justifications for invading Iraq proffered by the Bush crew over the last two years. Bear with me, as this gets into chemistry. Let's take a look at the Winnebagos of Death. You will remember these as the mobile biological weapons laboratories in Iraq so dramatically described by Colin Powell before the UN in February of 2003. "We have firsthand descriptions," said Powell, "of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails. The trucks and train cars are easily moved and are designed to evade detection by inspectors. See... William Rivers Pitt: Winnebagos of Death U.S. Military Used White Phosphorus Offensively In Fallujah
A March '05 publication by the US Army confirms that US soldiers used white phosphorus offensively in the Battle of Fallujah. This directly contradicts statements made by the U.S. Department of Defense and by the US State Department. The new discovery also backs up the allegations made in an Italian documentary concerning the use of white phosphorous in Fallujah. The broadcast shows video of a U.S. helicopter repeatedly raining down a bombardment of white phosphorus across Fallujah at night. The U.S. State Department had previously released a statement categorically denying all use of white phosphorus... See... US Army Article On Fallujah White Phosphorous UseVIDEO: Sigfrido Ranucci Doco - Fallujah The Hidden Massacre
Jason Leopold: Cheney Lies While Soldiers Die - Months after Plame?s identity was disclosed by conservative columnist Robert Novak, Cheney continued to hide the fact that he and his aides were intimately involved in disseminating classified information about her to journalists. See... VP Lied As White House Sought To Defuse Leak Inq. 
PLAMEGATE: Will Pitt Rejoins The Rhetorical Melee - Mr. Libby is in deep dung. Fitzgerald absolutely nailed his hide to the shed, detailing lie after lie after lie. From what I am given to understand, Libby intends to offer a "faulty memory" defense when he gets dropped into the skillet. Given the incredibly detailed breakdown offered by Fitzgerald in the indictment, however, one wonders how far any kind of "Duh, I forgot" argument will fly. The ball starts rolling on Thursday, when Scooter gets arraigned. See... Will Pitt: Nothing Shakin' on Shakedown Street? MORE:
See also... FULL COVERAGE: White House Plamegate Indictments
PLAMEGATE: ? & Democrats Take Libby Indictment To The Senate Floor - Senator Harry Reid's Statement Before Taking The Senate Into A Closed Session To Discuss Iraq Intelligence Matters In Light Of The Libby Indictment. Tuesday 01 November 2005 Remarks, as prepared for delivery - See... Sen. Reid's Statement Before Closed Intel. Session
Michel Chossudovsky: More On The Basra Breakout Mystery - Captain Ken Masters, British chief police investigator in Basra died under mysterious circumstances. The cause of death was not mentioned. According to a Ministry of Defense spokesman, his death was "not due to hostile action" nor to natural causes. See... Basra Prison Break Investigator Mysteriously Dies. Earlier: Were British SAS Soldiers Planting Bombs in Basra? & Ghali Hassan: Iraq - Resort to Deception
Ivan Eland On Iraq After The Referendum - The incompetence of the U.S. government?s policy in Iraq was demonstrated by this weekend?s referendum on the Iraqi Constitution. The Constitution, written by the Shi?a and Kurds, has passed, over the objections of many Sunnis. Yet it symbolizes one of the U.S. government?s biggest errors in Iraq: confusing democracy with liberty. See... The Iraq Constitution: And They Call This Victory? MORE:
MEDIA RELEASES:
U.S. Soldiers Trade Images Of Iraqi Dead For Pornography - Scoop contributor Richard Ehrlich reports that U.S. troops in Iraq have traded hundreds of images of mutilated corpses in exchange for free online pornography. The owner of the pornography website justifies the trade citing ideals of freedom of expression. The Pentagon is investigating. But what does this practice really reveal about what is happening in Iraq? Scoop Editor?s note: content will likely offend. See... U.S. Soldiers Trade Images Of Iraqi Dead For PornBACKGROUND:
Dahr Jamail Reports On The Deteriorating Situation In Iraq - The mayhem continues in Iraq, with today at least 40 people dead, including five US soldiers in Diyala province as the meltdown of the failed US-led occupation continues. See... Dahr Jamail: Things Are Getting Worse By The Day and Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches: Sketchy Details Michel Chossudovsky Assembles Papers On Intelligence Fix - Phony intelligence was created and fed into the news chain with a view to justifying the invasion of Iraq. The balance-sheet of lies and fabricated intelligence presented in this selection of articles provides detailed and overwhelming evidence. See... Fabricating Intelligence as Justification for War MORE:
More on this below...
Dahr Jamail Returns To Baghdad - It?s coming apart at the seams now in Iraq. We saw on the news today that members of the Mehdi Army in the south, the militia of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, exchanged gunfire with members of the ING (Iraqi National Guard) who in the south are primarily, if not entirely composed of members of the Badr Army, also a Shia group. So now we have Shia fighting Shia. See... Dahr Jamail: Daily Life in Baghdad, from Afar and Dahr Jamail: Coming Home "?The Intelligence And Facts Were Being Fixed Around The Policy." - Journalists typically condemn attempts to force their colleagues to disclose anonymous sources, saying that subpoenaing reporters will discourage efforts to expose government wrongdoing. But such warnings seem like mere self-congratulation when clear evidence of wrongdoing emerges, with no anonymous sources required-- and major news outlets virtually ignore it. See... Fair.Org: Smoking Gun Memo? EARLIER:
Scoop Photo Essay and Report Auckland: Police Square Off With 300 Anti-U.S. Occupation Protesters - Auckland - Selwyn Manning reports that a march against the United States' occupation of Iraq (and ANZ bank's involvement in Iraq banking) led to a stand off between several hundred protesters and police in Auckland on Saturday (March 19 05). Three people were arrested by police for allegedly blocking Queen Street. See... Anti-U.S. Occupation Protest Faces Off With Police
ALSO:
INTERNATIONAL:
Singer-Songwriter Stephan Smith Tells of His Iraqi Relatives' Experiences Under U.S. Occupation and War - Interview with Stephan Smith, singer and songwriter, conducted by Melinda Tuhus See... On Iraqi Relatives Living Under Occupation And War
William Fisher Discovers The Whitehouse Webmaster Behind The Game - It's a pity that all the Bush Administration cabinet-level posts have been filled, because there is at least one undiscovered candidate: The White House Webmaster. See... William Fisher: Cyberspin
Iraq Eyewitness: Dahr Jamail Reports From Baghdad - The onslaught of Mosul has begun, as occupation forces are launching attacks into Iraq?s third largest city. While there are mass resignations of police and elections polling staff there, yet another new police chief has been awarded control of the ... See... Dhar Jamail: Dispatches From Iraq ? Jan 14-16
The US War On Terror Torture Saga Continues - Here is a sure-fire nomination for the most outrageous quote of the week: '' Accusations that we are torturing people tend to be mythology.'' See... William Fisher: The Moral High Ground?
MORE:
- W. David Jenkins: We Are Really, Really Sorry
EARLIER:
- Thom Hartmann: First They Came For The Terrorists?
- Ivan Eland: Will the U.S. Senate Endorse Torture?
- Marjorie Cohn: Dear Mr. Gonzales
- Between The Lines - Documents Show Widespread Torture Pentagon Prisons
- Steve Weissman: Torture in the Senate & Gonzales and the Horse He Rode In On
Bernard Weiner: Remembering The Last Quagmire - When analysts refer to the quagmire in Iraq as analogous to Vietnam, we assume that readers are well-acqainted with that earlier war. See... A Quagmire Primer: The Iraq & Vietnam Debacles
MORE IRAQ WAR COMMENT:
- Doug Giebel: Blood Will Have Blood
Back From Iraq Rumsfeld Talks Death Squads - In these times of snap, crackle and pop journalism, major news stories dissolve into each other and melt away all too quickly. See... Bill Berkowitz: Rumsfeld's Bloody Paths Of Glory
Sonia Nettnin: Overseas Voting In Iraq's Election - Beginning January 17th, Iraqis who live abroad can register to vote in Iraq?s January elections. See... Sonia Nettnin: Iraq Out-of-Country Voting Program and Iraqis Abroad Petition Iraq OCV Program
Dhar Jamail's Latest Eyewitness Report From Iraq - ''My list is now 32,'' says Salam as he arrives at the hotel, ''Now 32 of my friends have been killed.'' He still has tears in his eyes, even though he?s being stoic. Another of his friends has been shot and killed. See... Dahr Jamail: Respite
Sonia Nettnin Considers Who Will Lead Palestine To Peace - January 9th is Election Day for Palestinians. They will vote for their new President, who will represent the people at a crucial, historical crossroads. See... Sonia Nettnin: Checkpoint Violence & Free Movement
David Miller's Christmas Thoughts - The expression ?it will all be over by Christmas? has ringed out numerous times throughout the history of war. The most famous example was at the onset of the First World War when the peoples of the warring European nations claimed that their armies would ... See... David Miller: 'It will not be over by Christmas'
Is Fallujah To Now Become A Concentration Camp? - According to the International Organization on Migration, at least 210,600 Fallujans - more than 35,000 families - have been turned into refugees. See... William Kulin: Fallujah, an American Gulag
Images Of The Dead Of Fallujah Circulate In Iraq - Two weeks ago someone was allowed into Fallujah by the military to help bury bodies. They were allowed to take photographs of 75 bodies, in order to show pictures to relatives so that they might be identified before they were buried. See... Dahr Jamail: Dispatches From Iraq Dec 8, 9 2004
How Many People Does It Take To Fill A Mass Grave? - No, this is not joke, because although I don't know the ''official'' answer, the one thing I do know about mass extermination is that it's typically not a subject that lends itself well to humor. See... Mark Drolette: Are We There Yet?
Ernest Partridge: The Indelible Evil of this War - Like Shakespeare?s Brutus, I am sick of many griefs. An incurious, narcissistic psychopath sits in the Oval Office ? an office he did not legitimately win four years ago ? an office that he may have seized last month through massive, many-faceted electoral ... See... Ernest Partridge: The Indelible Evil of this War
Ivan Eland: Bogged Down In Iraq - Triumphant after his ''mandate'' from the people, President Bush, to date, has announced the retirement of eight cabinet members. Although many of these government officials were lackluster at best, the cabinet?s worst performer is still in his seat. See... Ivan Eland: Rumsfeld?s Muddy Quagmire
William Kulin: Victory At Fallujah - Yeah Right - A senior American commander made the mistake of telling reporters that the military offensive that eventually captured a largely depopulated and destroyed Fallujah had ''broken the back of the insurgency'' across Iraq. It did not, of course. It could not. See... William Kulin: Victory At Fallujah!
Nobel Peace Nominee Kathy Kelly Talks War In Iraq - Kathy Kelly is a major figure in the peace and anti-war movement. She is a co-coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness, an organization that campaigned to end U.N. and U.S. sanctions. See... Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Speaks About Iraq
Sonia Nettnin On The Forgotten People Of Nineveh - The U.S. media does not report about the Chaldo-Assyrians of Iraq. They live in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, and numerous towns north and east of Mosul -- around the ancient ruins of Nineveh. See... Sonia Nettnin: Chaldo-Assyrian Community of Iraq
James Petras: Covering Up US War Crimes In Iraq -
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary , a journalist's account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930s, as I watch the US ?news? reports of the violent assault on Fallujah. See... James Petras: Covering Up US War Crimes In Iraq MORE ON THE FALLUJAH AFTERMATH:
- William Kulin: The American Way of War
- OAS Petition Filed Against US For Fallujah Attacks
- Scoop Link: Rumsfeld Sued for Alleged War Crimes
- US Lawyers Sue Rumsfeld In Karlsruhe Germany
- Fintan Dunne: Fallujah's 9/11 - US Used WMDs
- Scoop Link: Daily Mirror - Fallujah Napalmed
Chuckman Cartoons: What Would Jesus Do In Iraq? - Two cartoons by John Chuckman? See... Chuckman Cartoons: America's Jesus
Rumsfeld & Top Officials Sued For War Crimes In Germany -
Alleging responsibility for war crimes and torture at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, a human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top US officials. See... Scoop Link: Rumsfeld Sued for Alleged War Crimes and US Lawyers Sue Rumsfeld In Karlsruhe Germany ? Meanwhile Indymedia Asks Has Fallujah Been Witness To WMDs? - November 9th, 2004 was Fallujah's 9/11 Tuesday. It marked the peak of three days of indiscriminate bombing of Fallujah by US forces. See... Fintan Dunne: Fallujah's 9/11 - US Used WMDs and Scoop Link: Daily Mirror - Fallujah Napalmed
Norman Solomon: Iran As The New Iraq - Top officials in Washington are now promoting jitters about Iran's nuclear activities, while media outlets amplify the message. A confrontation with Tehran is on the second-term Bush agenda. So, we're encouraged to obliquely think about the unthinkable. See... News Media In The 60th Year Of The Nuclear Age
Iraq Eyewitness Reports: Lord Of The Flies - Together with Americans the flies invaded the city. They are millions. The whole city seems to be under their power. The flies cover the corpses. The older is corpse, the more flies are upon it. First they cover a corpse as by some strange rash. See... Fallujah Eyewitness Report: Lords Of The Flies
MORE:
- Dahr Jamail: This Time Last Year...
William Kulin: Iraqi Police Quitting En Masse - Unfortunately for DoD planners, ''Iraqification'' isn't working. The US has made ''essentially no progress in increasing the number of Iraqi forces during the year 2004'', according to GlobalSecurity.org. See... William Kulin: 50% Of Iraqi Police Have Deserted
More Going On In Fallujah Than Simple U.S. Victory - Now that the smoke over Fallujah has cleared, and victory declared, let?s review: War is wrong. Always has been, always will be. See... More Going On In Fallujah Than Simple U.S. Victory
GLW: When War Crimes Make The Nightly News - The NBC TV footage of a US marine executing a wounded and unarmed Iraqi resistance fighter in a Fallujah mosque was a rare crack in the facade that Washington, with the complicity of most of the corporate media, has tried to present to the world of its brutal assault on the rebel Iraqi city. See... GLW: Political Blowback From Fallujah Begins
Eyewitness Reports From Iraq: Fallujah Refugees - ''Doctors in Fallujah are reporting there are patients in the hospital there who were forced out by the Americans,'' said Mehdi Abdulla, a 33 year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad, ''Some doctors there told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the doctors away and left the patient to die.'' He looks at the ground, then away to the distance. See... Dahr Jamail: Fallujah Refugees and Dahr Jamail: From Inside The Mosque
William Kulin: Counting The Casualties - In the strictest terms of a tactical scorecard, the body count of casualties would appear to support that claim. An estimated total of 1200 Iraqi resistance fighters were reported killed so far, while the US military admits that their own forces suffered about 50 battlefield fatalities. See... William Kulin: Alamo on the Euphrates
Another Eyewitness Report From Iraq - It never fails to get my adrenaline flowing when my hotel rumbles from a car bomb detonating in central Baghdad. See... Dogs Eating Bodies in the Streets of Fallujah
Steven Hass: Speaking Of War Crimes - Kevin Sites is a freelance journalist on assignment with NBC News in Iraq, and he is currently acting as the imbedded journalist covering the fighting in Fallujah. His video report, which was released this week and shows a U.S. Marine killing an insurgent. See... Steven Hass: Speaking Of War Crimes
Green Left Weekly On War Crimes In Fallujah - On November 8, the US military launched its long-anticipated second attempt to recapture the rebel Iraqi city of Fallujah, located 55 kilometres west of Baghdad. See... GLW: US Launches Mass Slaughter In Fallujah Iraq
MORE COMMENT ON FALLUJAH:
- William Rivers Pitt: His Red Right Hand
- Fallujah Eyewitness Account: Tragedy Engulfs City
- Sheila Samples: Haunted Empire
Between The Lines: The Struggle Against War Rejoined - Anti-War Groups Prepare for Post-Election Strategies to End U.S.-Iraq Occupation - Interview with Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United of Peace and Justice, conducted by Scott Harris See... Anti-War Groups Prepare Post-Election Strategies
USA Announces Details Of Phantom Fury - Iraqi, U.S. Troops Begin 'Phantom Fury' in Fallujah Submitted by: American Forces Press Service Story by Mr. Jim Garamone See... Iraqi, U.S Troops Op 'Phantom Fury' in Fallujah
ALSO: Iraq: UN Head Annan Meets to Discuss Fallujah
MORE:
- Images - A Close Up View Of The Streets Of Fallujah
- Scoop Editorial - Is An All Out Assault On Fallujah A War Crime?
- Daniel Patrick Welch - Arma-geddon Sick of You
- Scoop Link - NY Times: Fallujah Invasion Begins
Marjorie Cohn: The Legalities Of Brutality - Associate United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal. In his report to the State Department, Justice Jackson wrote: ''No political or economic situation can justify'' the crime of aggression. See... Aggressive War: Supreme International Crime
Between The Lines Presents A Role Of Honour - An alphabetical, annotated list of several prominent government insiders -- many of them Republicans -- who have spoken out against President Bush's decision to launch the Iraq war his administration's conduct in managing the conflict. See... Insiders Who Have Criticized Bush's Iraq Policy
Lancet Estimates Iraq War's Civilian Death Toll - ''Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children. The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher (95% CI 8?1-419) than in the period before the war.'' See... 100k Civilians Killed In Iraq By Coalition Forces
David Miller On The Black Watch Baghdad Deployment - Whatever Tony Blair tells the British public and the House of Commons there is certainly a political motivation to his government?s decision to deploy forces closer to Baghdad. The case that he and his ministers have given for the move is that it is what is ... See... The Dilemma Of The British Deployment To Baghdad
Steve Weissman: Bin Laden and Zarqawi's October Surprise - Osama bin Laden finally voted for president. So did Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of ''Monotheism and Holy War,'' alleged beheader of Western hostages in Iraq, and the U.S. target of choice in and around embattled Fallujah. See... Weissman: Bin Laden and Zarqawi's October Surprise
Paul Buchanan Analyses The US Gambit In Iraq - Once again the US has a self-made problem in Iraq. It has staked the ethereal timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops on holding ?free and fair? elections in January 2005. See... Paul Buchanan: The Election Gambit In Iraq
Four Stooges Of U.S. Neo-Colonial Enterprise - The original architects of the U.S. empire?long before its celebration by today?s neoconservatives?understood the importance of legitimacy in the neo-colonialist enterprise. See... William Marina: The Three Stooges in Iraq
Weissman Receives A Letter From A Soldier's Grieving Mum - We had never talked, but I knew who she was. ''Dear Steve, My son, Spc Casey Austin Sheehan, died on 04/04/04 in Sadr City. He died saving the lives of fellow soldiers. This is what his soul is crying out to me from heaven: '' See... Steve Weissman: When the Fallen Refuse to Salute
William Rivers Pitt On The Weapons That Weren't - The release of the report by Charles Duelfer and the Iraq Survey Group, which involved 1,625 U.N. and U.S. inspectors searching 1,700 sites in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction over two years at a cost of more than $1 billion, told me what I have known for more than two years. See... William Rivers Pitt: Bearing Bloody Witness
MORE:
- Official U.S. Report Finds Saddam Had No WMDs
- Scoop Reader Opinion - No WMD Existed; A Global Apology Is Needed
Robert Higgs: The Costs Of War - In 1795, James Madison observed that ''of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. . . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual ... See... Benefits and Costs of the U.S. Govt. War Making
Ivan Eland: War Lies Are Piling Up - Even though a mound of evidence keeps accumulating that the Bush administration exaggerated the threat to fulfill its obsession to invade Iraq, administration officials keep standing by?in Goebbels-like repetition of the ?big lie??the need for war. See... Ivan Eland: War Lies Are Piling Up
An Assessment Of The Full Costs Of The Iraq War - 1. U.S. Military Casualties Have Been Highest During the "Transition": U.S. military casualties (wounded and killed) stand at a monthly average of 747 since the so-called "transition" to Iraqi rule on June 28, 2004. See... Undernews Special: Costs Of The Iraq War
Ray McGovern: Digging In Deeper - It's not an ''if''. It's a ''when''. Pentagon officials have indicated that they plan to send as many as 15,000 additional troops during the first four months of 2005, and the President George W. Bush continues to insist ''we will stay the course'' ... See... McGovern: More Troops To Iraq...After The Election
MORE IRAQ COMMENT:
- Marjorie Cohn - Bush at UN - Sugarcoating Failure
- William Marina - The Russians Are Coming! To Iraq?
Former Officials Call On Govt. Employees To Blow Whistle On War Deceptions - Interview with Daniel Ellsberg, former government employee who released the "Pentagon Papers," conducted by Scott Harris. See... Between The Lines Interview with Daniel Ellsberg
D-Uranium Use In Iraq Making Population & Soldiers Sick.
Bush & Co.: War Crimes and Cover-Up - As the election approaches, we are bombarded with stories about swift boats, dereliction of duty, and who's the most macho leader. Missing from the discourse is a critical examination of why George W. Bush failed to heed warnings before September 11, why he sat paralyzed for 7 minutes after being informed of the attacks, how he subsequently turned Iraq into a deadly cauldron, and committed - then covered up - war crimes in Afghanistan, Guantᮡmo and Iraq. See... Marjorie Cohn: Bush & Co.: War Crimes and Cover-Up
Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting For Europe To Engage In Iraq - Should John Kerry become America's next president, most Europeans will rejoice. According to recent polls, the Democratic candidate has overwhelming support here in the Old World. See... Steve Weissman: Don't Count On Europe In Iraq
Ivan Eland: What Price Cheap Gas? - The tragic milestone of 1,000 U.S. deaths in the Iraqi quagmire should cause introspection about why the United States really went to war and whether it has been worth it. While the Bush administration?s public justifications never really added up, evidence exists that there was a hidden agenda behind the invasion of Iraq: securing oil. See... Ivan Eland: Have 1,000 U.S. Souls Died for Oil?
Military Families Campaign to Bring Troops Home - Interview with Charlie Richardson, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, conducted by Melinda Tuhus See... Military Families Campaign to Bring US Troops Back
Johnson & Walrath: The Fantasy Vs. The Reality Of Iraq - Turning Iraq over to the Iraqis, known as ''giving them back their sovereignty'' as the Spin from the White House puts it, is a ploy to get the war off the front pages of newspapers and off the TV screen. See... Johnson & Walrath: Fantasy vs. Reality
Steve Weissman: The Lessons Of Vietnam - Though never more than a C-student, George W. Bush has made the same classic blunder that far smarter presidents - Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon - made in Southeast Asia. See... Steve Weissman: Will Bush Learn from Vietnam?
Iraqi Prisoners Seek Compensation in U.S. Courts - When the media exposed the photographs of Abu Ghraib prisoners, the international community showed outrage. Soon afterward, the U.S. Army released the investigative Taguba Report, written by Major General Antonio Taguba, which details the U.S. prison ... See... Iraqi Prisoners Seek Compensation in U.S. Courts
A US Soldier In Iraq Objects To Working For Halliburton - I am a soldier stationed in Iraq concerned about the role of private contractors in this war, and would like to ask for your help. How can you who are way over there help me way over here? Well, let me tell you how. See... US Soldiers Asked To Protect Halliburton Profits
Jay Shaft : An Interview With A Dead US Soldiers Mum - Sue Niederer is from Hopewell Township, New Jersey. She has been very vocal and active in the anti-war movement and has participated in numerous peace marches and actions. See... Jay Shaft IV - President Bush, You Killed My Son!
Is Kerry Too Wishy-Washy Regarding Iraq? - Kerry's Ambiguous Position on Iraq Alienates Progressive Voters - Interview with Matthew Rothschild, editor of the Progressive Magazine, conducted by Scott Harris. See... Kerry's Ambiguous Iraq Position Alienates Voters
Marc Ash: Mindless Slaughter In Najaf - There is a human catastrophe looming at The Shrine of Ali in Najaf, Iraq. See... Marc Ash: Alternatives To Mindless Slaughter
Reality Is The First Casualty Of War - It haunts us still. Three-and-a-half decades later, America cannot stop picking the scab of Vietnam. The wound has never healed and has now grown infected and poisoned. Plato said: ''Only the dead have seen the end of war.'' See... John Cory: The Ghosts of War
Anti-war Message Banned at Democratic National Convention - Interview with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and Code Pink Women for Peace, conducted by Scott Harris See... The Democratic Party Leadership's ''Disconnect''
Al-Jazeera Booted Out Of Baghdad - The announcement to close the Baghdad office of Al-Jazeera was made by Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib during a news conference on August 7, 2004. See... When The Press Can?t Tell Us, Who Will?
William Rivers Pitt: What US Soldier's Really Think - I sat with a photographer from Reuters who had just returned from a six-month tour of Iraq. He had been tagging along with the Kellogg Brown & Root operation, subsidiary of Halliburton, and saw everything there was to see. See... UQ Wire: The Writing on the Latrine Walls
Dennis Hans: 16 Stinky Words From The POTUS - We are now told that the controversial 16-word sentence in the January 28, 2003 State of the Union address (hereafter ''SOTU'') about alleged Iraqi efforts to procure unenriched uranium from Africa was ''truthful'' (William Safire) and ''well-founded'' (Britain?s Butler Committee report). Alas, it is neither. See... Dennis Hans: Those 16 Words Still Smell
Skeptical Views On Senate Iraq Intelligence Review - The Bush administration has been let off the hook by the Senate Intelligence Committee?s skewering of U.S. intelligence agencies for providing unfounded or overstated conclusions on Iraq?s ''weapons of mass destruction'' (WMD). See... Ivan Eland: Senate Lets Bush Admin Off Iraq Hook. See also? Ray McGovern: The CIA and Iraq
Ivan Eland: What Planet Was Paul Bremer On? - According to former U.S. proconsul Paul Bremer, the transfer of power to Iraqis will launch Iraq on the road to peace, prosperity and democracy. If Bremer is not cynically spouting the Bush administration?s party line, he is in a parallel universe. See... Ivan Eland: Morning in Iraq?
Condi Rise Scribbles Fiction - ''Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign.'' With a simple handwritten note, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice made her bid to author one of the biggest and most brazen lies of our lifetimes. No, Iraq is not sovereign, far from it. See... Marc Ash: At War
Steve Weissman: Iraq's Premature Handover - Poor Mr. Bush. Like bad sex, his hurried consummation of Iraq's mini-sovereignty left everything to be desired. Only a handful of people celebrated the occasion, while his Baghdad stand-in Jerry Bremer could hardly wait to jet away from the chaos ... See... Steve Weissman: Embracing Saddam-Lite
Bernard Weiner: Bush's Torture Deceit - You know the drill: Bush&Co. are so secretive that they will not, repeat NOT, release internal decision-making documents to the public. Never, ever. See... Bush's Torture Deceit: Depends on What "Is" Is
A Song To Commemorate Iraqi Independence - (To the tune of America the Beautiful) in honor of the US 'handover' of Iraq --to George's Dad's oil buddies! Independence Day, 2004 See... Daniel Patrick Welch: Happy Independence Day Daddy
Annan Welcomes Handover To Iraq Interim Government - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed Iraq back into the family of independent and sovereign nations and urged the country's people to consolidate stability and foster understanding. See? UN Head Welcomes Iraq Back To Family of Nations
ALSO: UN Security Council on Handover to Iraq - Bush and Blair Speak On Iraq Sovereignty - White House Press Briefing on Iraq Transition
EARLIER:
Scoop Story: Bush Gains EU Support ? Eyes NATO Commitment
William Rivers Pitt: Getting Used To Failure - The American people are not comfortable dealing with words like ''total failure'' and ''ruined credibility'', but these are words that all of us are going to have to become accustomed to. See... William Rivers Pitt: Tuck Tail And Run
Michel Chossudovsky This War Is Criminal - It violates the Nuremberg Charter, the US Constitution and the UN charter. Lawrence Mosqueda in an article published in March 2003, shortly before the onslaught of the US-led invasion of Iraq provided the following advisory: See... Michel Chossudovsky: Abandon The Battlefield!
Torture Memos: Bush Reaps What Kennedy Sowed - New photos of American soldiers raping and killing Iraqis will likely emerge in the coming days, as Secretary Rumsfeld obliquely warned us weeks ago. See... Steve Weissman: Bush Reaps What Kennedy Sowed
Dennis Hans: How The New York Times Helped Cheney Lie To America - How our newspaper of record and the vice president, with an assist from NBC?s Tim Russert, teamed up to spread the myth of the Iraqi connection to 9-11. See... New York Times And Cheney Once Were Sweethearts
Green Left Weekly: Bush Vs Latham - It's no surprise that the US government is leaning heavily on the ALP federal leader Mark Latham to back down on his promise to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq ''by Christmas''. See... Green Left Weekly: Iraq - Bush Bullies Latham
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Beheadings Murdering The Name Of Islam - In light of the criminal beheading of Lockheed-Martin engineer Paul Johnson, it's time for the Muslim world to take a stand and clearly say enough is enough. Murder in the name of Islam is actually murdering the good name of Islam. See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: Enough Is Enough
Ivan Eland: Bush Is Sticking To His Story - Incredible as it may seem, despite the 9/11 commission?s conclusion that Al Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein had no ''collaborative relationship,''President Bush and Vice President Cheney continue to insist that there was a ''relationship.'' See... Ivan Eland: Bush Continues the ''Big Lie''
William Rivers Pitt: Freedom, Incorporated - The June 30 deadline for the delivery of 'sovereignty' to the people of Iraq is right around the corner. If the talk coming out of the administration is to believed, this will be an historic moment: The United States of America will deliver freedom to a people long oppressed by a brutal dictator. See... William Rivers Pitt: Freedom, Incorporated
Torture Memos: IV With Center for Constitutional Rights - Bush Administration Memos on Torture Policy Reveal Official Complicity in Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners - Interview with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, conducted by Scott Harris See... Memos on Torture Policy Reveal Official Complicity
Torture Memos: Bush's Teflon Chipping Off - The teflon that has enveloped George W. Bush is chipping off. Arriving in office with the promise of a "humble" foreign policy, Bush was sitting pretty at the beginning of his term. But George?s honeymoon has turned sour. See... Marjorie Cohn: The Torturer-in-Chief
MORE:
- Full Text: The US DoD Torture Memo - Scoop
- LINK: The Gonzales Memo - Washington Post
MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY ON THE TORTURE MEMOS:
- William Rivers Pitt: Nuremberg Revised
- No Right Turn: Non-Denial Denials
- Steve Weissman: Torturing Mr. Bush
- Weiner: Torture Memos Reveal Fascist Mentality
- Torture Inc. - Oliver North Joins the Party
Bernard Weiner: The Legalities Of Torture - There's only one issue to discuss right now: the extra-constitutional rules and philosophy of the Bush Administration, as revealed in the legal briefs and memos drafted for Rumsfeld and Ashcroft and Bush on the torture question. See... The Bush Dictatorship Revealed: L'etat C'est Moi
Ron Callari: Neo-Con-Artist - Bush may have taken his combat show on the road, but critics aren?t exactly wowed! Although the 9-11 travesty catapulted him into the big time early on in his stage career, his performance is vaudevillian at best. See... Ron Callari: Neo-Con-Artist
Ivan Eland Looks Forward To Some Heads Rolling In The Pentagon - The resignation of CIA Director George Tenet comes on the eve of a Senate committee?s release of a very critical report on intelligence gathering surrounding Iraq?s pre-war ''weapons of mass destruction.'' See... Ivan Eland: Tenet Now, Rummy and Wolfie Soon
Introducing Iraq's New (alleged) Government- When Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary General on Iraq, was invited to Iraq in February 2004 by the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority, the purpose of the trip was to advise the possibility ... See... Who?s Who In Ihe Iraqi Interim Government
Between The Lines: The Realities Of Iraq - Bush "Stays Course" on Iraq Plan But Confronts Difficult Military and Political Reality - Interview with Wayne Madsen, investigative reporter, formerly with the National Security Agency, conducted by Scott Harris See... Wayne Madsen - Bush's Military & Political Reality
Ivan Eland: Courting Disaster In Iraq - President Bush?s strategy in Iraq is now clear. And I don?t mean the five-point rehash of existing platitudes found in his recent ''major'' speech at the Army War College. I?m talking about the real, behind-the-scenes plan. See... Ivan Eland: Bush's Real Strategy In Iraq
William Rivers Pitt Decides Chalabi Really Is An Iranian Spy - My article from last week, ' The Iranian Spy in the House of Bush,' which took a close look at accusations leveled at the White House's favorite Iraqi Ahmad Chalabi, generated a number of interesting responses from truthout readers. See... UQ Wire: The Deep Game & UQ Wire: The Iranian Spy in the House of Bush
Robert Higgs: Do You Remember Nuremberg? - After World War II, the U.S. government, in cooperation with the governments of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and France, established an International Military Tribunal to bring to justice the leaders of the European Axis regimes. See... Robert Higgs: US War Crimes In Iraq & Afghanistan?
When Full Sovereignty Is Something Less - On what grounds does the Neocon/Bush Regime assume the right to "give" sovereignty to any other nation-state? How can Mr. Bush pledge "complete and full sovereignty" when simultaneously 14 U.S. Military bases are currently under construction in Iraq? See... Analysis: Bush Pledge To Give Sovereignty To Iraq
Green Left Weekly: Cracks In The US Empire - The failure of US troops' bloody attempts to crush the Iraqi people's armed rebellions in Fallujah and Najaf ? and the public outrage across the world sparked by the revelations of the systematic torture of Iraqi prisoners by US guards at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib ... See... GLW: Iraq War Causes Cracks In The US Empire
Global Research: Who is Ahmed Chalabi? - On the 19th of May, US forces raided the Baghdad home of the head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) Ahmed Chalabi. The media in chorus, without further investigation, described the raid as an effort to silence Chalabi's condemnation of the US-led occupation: See... Michel Chossudovsky: Who is Ahmed Chalabi?
Chuckman Cartoon: Barbara "Marie Antoinette" Bush
Torture Scandal: Ramzy Baroud - ''Iraqis shall covet the day when Saddam or someone like him is back in power,'' declared a colleague of mine in a dissolute coffee shop in some Arab capital. I quivered at the cruel sound of his words, yet held my peace. See... Iraq: A Ring of Hell of Our Own Creation
MORE NEW NEWS & COMMENT:
- Statewatch - Expulsions By US Agents, Men Tortured In Egypt
SEE ALSO SCOOP FULL COVERAGE:
- Full Coverage: Abu Ghraib Torture Scandal (5) - (4) - (3) - (2) - (1)
- Full Coverage: Nicolas Berg Beheading
NZer Detained And Interrogated In Iraq - Green MP Keith Locke wants answers from the Government over the long detention of a New Zealander, Andreas Schafer, in a US jail in Iraq. See... NZ should challenge US over Schafer detention
Renan Talieva: The Death Of Dr David Kelly Revisited - On 16 March 2004, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner announced that he would not reopen the inquest into scientist David Kelly's death. See... Renan Talieva: The Coroner and David Kelly
Marc Ash Takes Stock 400 Days Into The Iraq War - I write this at the beginning of May 2004. Now, more than four hundred days have passed since the decision by the Bush administration to invade Iraq. As of today, 772 U.S. soldiers - men and women - have given their lives for their country, or ... See... Marc Ash: Man Down
Doug Giebel: The Weapons That Weren't - Ever since the Bush Administration began publicly spinning out its catalog of reasons for invading Iraq, this writer has questioned and written about the alleged existence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. See... Doug Giebel: Someone Knew There Were No WMDs
Manuel Valenzuela: The Human Hell and the Demons of War - The pages of history, those monuments to humankind?s brief rule over the planet, are replete with violence, death and destruction. Indeed, it can be argued successfully that war, genocide, ethnic cleansing and human violence against each other have defined humanity?s tumultuous existence on Earth. See... Valenzuela: Never Again? Try Again and Again (1) and Valenzuela: Never Again? Try Again and Again (2)
Bush Doth Protest Too Much - A Brief History Of U.S. Torture - The official word from the Bush administration is that the torture and sexual abuse in Iraq?s Abu Ghraib prison is not ''systematic''. If we ignore all of the facts in the public record over the last four decades, this would be a plausible explanation. See... Fitrakis: A Truth Commission For The United States
MORE NEW COMMENT ON TORTURE:
Ivan Eland: Torturing Iraq in an Unnecessary War
John Chuckman: The Thing With No Brain
EARLIER:
- M. Valenzuela - The Bubble Burst: Replacing Tyranny with Tyranny
- Scoop Full Coverage: A Coalition's Shame - Abusing POWs
- Cartoon - Chuckman Cartoon: Rumsfeld Clears The Air
- Russell Brown - Public Address 04/05/04 - Mutton Chops & Martinis
Sonia Nettnin: Highlights From Rumsfeld In The Senate - Now that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, here are some of the highlights. Afterward is a response to some of the statements made at Friday?s hearing. See... Sonia Nettnin: U.S. Humiliation, Global Community
- Cartoon - Chuckman Cartoons: Rumsfeld & Responsibility
FULL COVERAGE:
- Full Coverage: Bush Says Sorry For Prisoner Abuse
- Full Coverage: Comment On Iraq Torture Scandal
Cartoon: Fallujah - Cartoon by John Chuckman See... Chuckman Cartoon: U.S. Marines Fallujah Memorial
Green Left Weekly: Will US Withdrawal Lead To Civil War? - If the US troops leave Iraq, ?violence will fill the vacuum as groups struggle for political power, and we risk all-out civil war?, John McCain, a leading Republican member of the US Senate armed services committee, declared in a April 22 speech to ... See... GLW: Iraq - Will US Withdrawal Lead To Civil War?
Between The Lines: US Occupation Of Iraq Sours - White House Extends Deployment of Troops Serving in Iraq as Violence Shakes U.S. Occupation - Interview with Nancy Lessin and Charlie Richardson of the group Military Families Speak Out, conducted by Scott Harris See... White House Extends Deployment of Troops in Iraq
Steve Weissman: Colin Powell & The Pottery Barn Rule - Colin Powell, who plays the soft, sensitive shill in Washington's globally ambitious cop shop, used to quote what he mistakenly called the Pottery Barn rule: See... Weissman: Why Should the UN Buy the Iraq We Broke?
Iraq - A Dishonorable And Murder-Laden Failure - President Bush boosts we will ''stay the course'' in Iraq. But his course, dubbed ''Operation Iraqi Freedom,'' is a dishonorable and murder-laden failure; the Bush course is an endless minefield that yields nothing but the death and maiming of innocent ... See... Iraq: Suggestions For An Endgame With Honor
Rowena Thursby Writes To The Oxford Coroner Re: David Kelly - This eleven-page letter (see below) sent to Nicholas Gardiner, the Oxfordshire coroner in January this year, was produced after months of painstaking research. See... Unexamined Anomaliies In The Dr David Kelly Case
William Marina: John Steinbeck & Iraq - Art, films and literature often offer insights that help to explain human situations perhaps better than does history. See... William Marina: Iraq - The Moon Is Down, Again!
Martin LeFevre: An Alternative (Better) Future - Does the slow-motion collapse of the international order, greatly accelerated by America?s opening up a black hole in Iraq, present an opportunity to prepare and build a true world order? See... Martin LeFevre: Beyond Bush and American Power
William Rivers Pitt: The Worst Of Iraq Is Still To Come - Anyone who believes that April has been the cruelest month of this Iraq war - 111 Americans killed with the total dead now at 718, hundreds upon hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed - should gird themselves for the reality that the worst, the very ... See... Falluja, Najaf & the First Law of Holes
Thom Hartmann: Jeffersonian Views On Democratisation - Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon thought they could bomb Vietnam into accepting democracy. George W. Bush thinks he can do it with Iraq. See... Bush Fails History... Jefferson Predicted Iraq
Satire: People Of Iraq Now The Target - In a departure from the strategy of year ago, the Iraqi people, not Saddam's evil regime, are now the target of the U.S. military.See... Pentagon At War With The People Of Iraq, Not Govt.
Yellowtimes: A Proposal For Peace In Iraq- "So what do you propose?" That is the question hurled at us critics of the war. Presumably, being right about the war so far is "irrelevant" now. We must be judged by giving sound, practical advice that can make the best of a bad fix. See... The Disaster In Iraq And Constructive Criticism
Anthony Gregory: Re: The Real Meaning Of Handover - In the wake of the embarrassing Shiite uprising and Fallujah catastrophe, George W. Bush said at his April 13 press conference that the United States must use ?decisive force? in Iraq, and yet he also maintained his promise to hand over power on June 30, as initially planned by the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council. See... Anthony Gregory: The "Iraqization" Scam
Fitrakis: Fresh Reasons For Indicting The Shrub - The new revelations in Bob Woodward?s book, Plan of Attack, provide further evidence to convict President George W. Bush of war crimes. See... Again, Why Bush Must Be Tried As A War Criminal
Les Blough: Supporting The Enemy - Recently a man and his wife moved from another city to Boston and contacted me through Axis of Logic. We invited them to have dinner with us in our home. See... Revolution Is In The Air: It Is Also On The Ground
More Than A Quagmire - A Full-Blown Disaster - Every day we open the newspaper, read reports from online news services, or listen to the news on radio or TV and hear about the total number of American soldiers that have been killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. For some reason our news comes in bits and pieces... See... Patricia Johnson: Operation Bring ?Em On
Top Dog Reflects On The Road To Iraq Circa 2004 - I think today is a good time to examine some of the things that were said during the run-up to the Iraq war, and in it's early days. See... Dog Skin Report: Back To The Future
Doug Giebel: Annexing Iraq - Is Uncle Sam about to sew a fifty-first star on Old Glory? See... Doug Giebel: The State of Iraq
Bush Faces The Media On Iraq
President Bush Holds A Very Rare Press Conference - Q: "Mr. President, April is turning into the deadliest month in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad, and some people are comparing Iraq to Vietnam and talking about a quagmire. Polls show that support for your policy is declining and that fewer than half Americans now support it. What does that say to you and how do you answer the Vietnam comparison?" See?. President Bush Prime Time Press Conference Apr. 13
Stan Goff: Building A Bridge To Sanity - The United States government has initiated a chain reaction that it can no longer control. The stalled vengeance assault on Fallujah is merely a symptom. See... Stan Goff: The Bridge - A Rant
Cartoon: Bush Vows To Finish His Job - A cartoon by John Chuckman See... Chuckman Cartoon: Finishing The Job
...STORY OF THE WEEK COVERAGE CONTINUES
The War In Iraq Heats Up, Horribly - COMMENTARY
- Manuel Valenzuela - Bodies that have ceased to breathe lie motionless on the streets of Fallujah, becoming stiff now that energy no longer flows through them. Everywhere they lay, dropping where they were killed by American forces. See... Manuel Valenzuela: Fallujah Crusade, Iraq Escapade
- Between The Lines - Iraq Explodes in Violence as Sunnis and Shiites Rise up to Oppose U.S. Occupation - Interview with Mel Goodman, former CIA analyst, conducted by Scott Harris See... Sunnis and Shiites Rise up to Oppose US Occupation
- No Right Turn - I didn't have access to a TV while I was away (in fact, due to a screwup by the power company, I didn't even have electricity on my first night), so I had to get all my news on the uprising in Iraq from the Net. See... No Right Turn: Shock, Elation, Horror And Hope
- John Chuckman - Cartoon, see... Chuckman: The Children Of Fallujah
- Robert Higgs - President George W. Bush has said on many occasions that he seeks to ''bring to justice'' those responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States. See... Can Bullets and Bombs Establish Justice in Iraq?
Bush Ends Sectarian Conflict In Iraq - United Iraq-- Within just a year of invading and occupying Iraq, President Bush has succeeded in a task most experts thought impossible, uniting the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, bringing an end to 1,400 years of sectarian war. See... Satire: Bush A Uniter, Not A Divider.. .In Iraq
Marines Look To WWII For Iraq Combat Guidance - The Wall Street Journal, the official cheerleader publication for the neo-conservative effort to rejuvenate the U.S. Empire?s interventionist agenda around the world, carried a page one article April 7, 2004, entitled ''For Guidance in Iraq, Marines Rediscover A 1940s Manual.'' The volume mentioned is the Marine Corps? Small Wars Manual. See... The Marines? ''How To'' Handbook for Empire
Ivan Eland: America's Nightmare Comes True In Najaf - The worst nightmare for the American occupation has occurred. Portions of the Iraqi Shiite majority have risen in revolt. Full-scale civil war may be just around the corner. See... Ivan Eland: The Slide to Defeat in Iraq
MORE IRAQ COMMENTARY:
- GNN: Introducing America's New War In Iraq
- Firas Al-Atraqchi: Will Falluja Be Leveled?
- Despite Fallujah The World Still Needs Mercenaries
- The Hidden Unseen War: The Reality of Bush's Iraq
Jason Leopold: In Search Of Condi Comment On Al Qaeda - Richard Clarke was right. So was Paul O?Neill. During the six months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks the Bush administration paid little attention to the threat from al-Qaeda and instead set the stage for a war with Iraq. See... Rice Never Spoke About Al-Qaeda Before 9/11
Chuckman: Comparing Iraqi Atrocities - Two current events cartoons by John Chuckman? Chuckman Cartoons: Iraqi Atrocities & Airplanes
Robert Higgs: The War Justification Revisited - One year ago the United States unleashed its armed forces in an invasion of Iraq. For everyone except those blinded by partisan loyalty to the Bush administration, the truth is now all too obvious. The administration was wrong and the critics were right. See... Robert Higgs: Taking Stock One Year After The War
Green Left Weekly: The War One Year On - One year since US President George Bush announced the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, the plans for an imperial ''new American century'' have come seriously unhinged. See... Iraq One Year On: Has Washington Won?
Kelly Suicide Skeptics Keep Up Pressure On Coroner - Following the coroner's decision to disregard expert medical opinion on Dr David Kelly's death..... See... Coroner Will Not Conduct Dr David Kelly Inquest
A Kiwi Blogger Ponders The Worth Of The Iraq War - It's been a year since the US invaded Iraq. In that year, the official justification for the war has changed almost daily, from WMD to "overthrowing a tyrant" to "building a democracy" to "fighting terrorism". None of those reasons has been convincing. See... No Right Turn: Iraq - Was It Worth It?
Writing To The Coroner About David Kelly - The Coroner for Oxfordshire is to hear representations from interested parties on March 16 as to whether or not there is an ''exceptional reason'' for resuming the inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly. See... Correspondence On The David Kelly Inquest
Between The Lines In Iraq - Christian Peacemaker Team Criticizes Military Detention of Thousands of Men in Iraq - Interview with Kara Speltz, member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, conducted by Melinda Tuhus, see... Military Detention of 1000s of Iraqi Men Decried
ITV News Addresses The Kelly Suicide Question - In the Channel 4 news item two surgeons, David Halpin FRCS and John Scurr FRCS; Professor of Forensic Toxicology, A R Forrest; Professor of Forensic Pathology, Chris Milroy; & QC Dr Michael Powers express their views on whether there are "exceptional reasons" to reopen the Coroner's Inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly. See... Dr Kelly's Death: TV Discussion (Channel 4 News)
Daily Mail Investigates The Dr Kelly Suicide - "On the surface, it seems utterly far-fetched. But experts, including top doctors, have written to the coroner expressing doubts over Dr Kelly's 'suicide'. And indeed, there ARE several worrying inconsistencies in this tragic and mysterious saga." See... UK's Daily Mail: Was Dr. Kelly Murdered?
Kelly Suicide Unlikely To Receive An Inquest Hearing - Below is the full text of a newspaper article entitled, "David Kelly.... it was suicide says coroner" which appeared in the Mail on Sunday on 29 February 2004. The coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, implies that the lack of "fresh evidence" does not warrant re-opening the inquest. However lack of fresh evidence is not the real problem here. See... Rowena Thursby: No Inquest For Dr Kelly - Coroner
Tariq Ali: The Price Of Deceit - The whole world knows that US President George Bush and British PM Tony Blair lied to justify the war, but do they know the price being paid on the ground in Iraq? See... Tariq Ali: The Price Of Occupying Iraq
Questions For The Coroner On The Death Of Dr Kelly - With the release of his report in January, Lord Brian Hutton pronounced the death of scientist David Kelly a suicide. But the evidence given at the inquiry does not substantiate the finding. It is not yet known exactly how he died. See... The Suicide of Dr Kelly: Questions for the Coroner
Jason Leopold: Spying On Kofi Just Part Of The Story - More evidence emerged Thursday about the United States and Britain?s underhanded tactics aimed at undermining the United Nations Security Council as it considered a U.S.-backed resolution in launching a preemptive strike against Iraq last year. See... Spying On UN Sec. General Part Of Larger Campaign
Scott Ritter Interviewed On Between The Lines - Bush Evades Accountability in Iraq-WMD Blame Game - Interview with Scott Ritter, former chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq, conducted by Scott Harris See... Bush Evades Accountability in Iraq-WMD Blame Game
Dennis Hans: How Whitewash Inquiries Are Born - A president, prime minister or publisher can largely determine the outcome of an investigation or the content of a newspaper by who he puts in charge. See... Dennis Hans: Appointment Determinism
Pathologists Debate Dr Kelly Suicide Verdict In The Guardian - Professor Chris Milroy had this letter - "Fantasists and Dr Kelly" - published in the Guardian (see below, top) hot on the heels of a letter - "Medical Evidence Does Not Support Suicide by Kelly" - by medical specialists from the Kelly Investigation ... See... Dr Kelly's Death: We're After The Truth
Ivan Eland On The Rising Iraq Body Count - During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military released body counts of enemy and friendly dead to the media, which reported them voraciously. Invariably, the military?s data?showing more enemy than friendly dead?was designed to give the illusion that the United States was winning the war. See... Ivan Eland: Body Count Redux
Ramzy Baroud: Seeking Arab Action Not Reaction - Weapons of mass destruction scandals are gaining momentum in the United States as well as Britain. The two major war allies, who violated Iraq?s sovereignty without an international mandate last year, are now scrambling to show that they were simply behaving with honorable motives when they marched to Baghdad, leaving behind uncounted corpses of innocent Iraqis. See... WMD Scandal: The Arab Silence Perplexing
Manuel Valenzuela: Iraq Ready To Blow - The brewing cauldron that has been simmering for nearly a year is ready to blow its lid. The quagmire called Iraq is near civil war, anarchy and Balkanization. See... Manuel Valenzuela: The Coming Iraq Debacle
John Kaminsky: America's Poor Dying For What? - Do you remember how many U.S. soldiers died in the first Gulf War? On television at the time, they told you it was around 64. Later, as news agencies recalculated the total from a variety of sources, it became 146. But now, some 13 years later, ... See... John Kaminski: Uncle Sam Wants You ... Dead!
MORE ON US CASUALTIES:
- Les Blough: At What Price the Bush Wars?
- Jay Shaft: A Letter From A Soldier's Mother
- Jay Shaft: A US Soldier Writes From Iraq
Doctors Disagreeing With David Kelly's Cause Of Death - No fewer than SIX MEDICAL SPECIALISTS wrote to the Guardian today (see letter in full below), contending that the medical evidence, as presented at the Hutton Inquiry, does not support the cause of death cited by forensic pathologist, Dr Nicholas Hunt. ... See... Letter: Medical Evidence Does Not Support Suicide
Ivan Eland: The President Unplugged - Only in the U.S. can the halftime show at the Super Bowl cause more public outrage than a president?s floundering attempts to justify getting more than 500 American soldiers killed and more than 3,000 wounded in an unnecessary invasion and occupation on the other side of the globe. See... Ivan Eland: U.S. Iraq Policy Uncovered
MORE:
- Muqtedar Khan - Intelligence Crisis And Bush Admin?s Immorality
- Washington File - Saddam Posed Threat Through Ability to Produce WMD
- White House - President Bush Appears On NBC's Meet The Press
President Bush Calls Orders Iraq Intelligence Review
See also?Press Briefing by Scott McClellan February 2, 2004 & President Bush Discusses Budget After Cabinet
Green Left Weekly: The Protestors Were Right About Iraq - On February 14-16 last year, at least 12 million people took to the streets to oppose the war on Iraq. Now, twelve months later, the warmongers in Canberra, London and Washington are desperate to justify their murder ? but it won?t wash. See... GLW: The Global Anti-War Movement Was Right
Jay Shaft Interviews A US Troop Commander - The following interview was conducted with a US Army high level commander who has been back from Iraq less than two weeks. See... Sometimes It Is A Soldiers Duty To Tell The Truth
Aussie GitMo Prisoner Should Be Freed Now - Australian David Hicks has been held without charge in the US military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for more than two years. In November, US Major Michael Mori was appointed as his military ''defence counsel''. See... Green Left Weekly: Free David Hicks!
The Hutton Whitewash
David Miller: Blair's Kelly Stain Remains The Hutton report gave an immediate political victory to the Blair government. But the all-embracing nature of the whitewash means that a spectre is haunting the Blair government. See... Hutton Whitewash Leaves Blair In Dock
MORE COMMENTARY:
- Who is Lord Hutton? - Ireland, Pinochet, M15...
- Public Address 30/01/04: Jumbo Hutton's Bonus Pack
- Greg Palast: BBC At War
Hutton Inquiry: The Findings & Reaction
- LINK: Hutton Inquiry Report Released - Contents
- Hutton's Findings Regarding Dr Kelly's Suicide
- UK PM Tony Blair's statement on Hutton report
- Statement by Lord Hutton - Inquiry Report Released
Jay Shaft Interviews Gulf Veterans At Christmas - Over the Christmas holidays I managed to find two US soldiers who were back from Iraq. They were both somewhat willing to be interviewed and describe their time in Iraq in their own words. See... When Will We Stop Dying Senselessly? ? US Soldiers
Ivan Eland: WMDs Are Overrated - David Kay, the president?s handpicked weapons of mass destruction snoop in Iraq, has resigned and criticized U.S. intelligence for not realizing that Iraqi weapons programs were in disarray. See... WMDs Are Overrated as a Threat to America
How Civilians Claim Compensation In Iraq (Or Not) - Two human rights groups have issued a searing indictment of the U.S. military's system for compensating Iraqi civilians victimized by American troops. See... Iraq Civilian Claims Process as ''Kafkaesque''
Will The Hutton Report Tell Us How Dr David Kelly Died? - On the eve of publication of the Hutton Report, medical specialists are making public their doubts over how Dr David Kelly died. Items found with his body suggested suicide, but a UK surgeon and a specialist anaesthesiologist from South Africa believe the case may not be so clear-cut. See... Medical Professionals Dispute How David Kelly Died
Election Views Differ Across The Continents - Iowans seem pretty happy with their quadrennial caucuses. The results are now in and the 2004 presidential election season has been kicked off. Half a world away, however, Iraqi Shiites have launched massive demonstrations against the Bush administration?s plan for caucuses to elect an interim national assembly. Why do Iowans love what Iraqi Shiites hate? See... Ivan Eland: Why Don't Iraqis Like To Caucus
Scoop Cartoon: A Weapons Of Mass Deception Crossfire
English Tabloid Reports Saddam Really Captured By Kurds - A series of stories have been published today , so far in Europe, Australia and Asia, casting the capture of Saddam Hussein in an entirely new light. If the stories are confirmed true it would appear that the spider-hole story is another piece of pure United States Military psy-ops propaganda. See... Links: Widespread Claims Kurds Got Saddam First
Audio: Will The Real Hussein Please Stand Up!
Saddam Capture: What Price Saddam? - Agence France Press reports that Saddam was, for purposes of revenge for a rape by his son, held prisoner by the Kurds then drugged and stashed, as a prisoner, in a "spider hole" he couldn't escape from. See... Did Bush Sell Out Iraqis as Part of Saddam Deal?
Saddam Capture: Greg Palast Interview On Between The Lines - Interview with Greg Palast, BBC-TV investigative reporter, conducted by Scott Harris See... Greg Palast: Saddam Capture & Iraqi Insurgence
COMPLETE SCOOP SADDAM CAPTURE COMMENT:
- Cartoon: Rumsfeld & The Ghosts Of Christmas
- Uri Avnery: Send Saddam to The Hague!
- Ramzy Baroud: Is The Capture Of Saddam Really Over
- Chuckman Cartoon: Saddam Vs Bush
- Kidd Millennium Cartoon: Iraqnid Celebration
- Insurgents Celebrate Capture With Suicide Bombings
- Is US Govt. Capable Of Lying About Saddam Hussein?
- One Autocratic Belligerent Deposed, One to Go
- Ernest Partridge: "We Got Saddam!" - So What?
- Meditations (Politics): Evil Trying Evil
- World Sighs With Relief As Saddam Is Rescued
- Top 10 Comments Made By Saddam On Capture
- UQ Wire: We Caught The Wrong Guy
- Scoop Link: TIME: Notes from Saddam in Custody
- Saddam Flushed WMD Stash Down Toilet
- Firas Al-Atraqchi: Saddam Must be Tried in Iraq
- Public Address 15/12/03 - History Pivots
- Stateside with Rosalea: I Really Think So
The Crisis Papers: A Call For Intimigate Whistleblowers - Journalists do not reveal sources. It's what gives the Fourth Estate some of its clout: Officials, and lower-level whistleblowers, trust us to receive sensitive information and not get them in trouble by ratting on them. See... It's Time for Plame-Case Reporters to Out Leakers
Flashback: Where Saddam Got His WMDs From - On August 18, 2002, the New York Times carried a front-page story headlined, "Officers say U.S. aided Iraq despite the use of gas". See... How The US Armed Saddam Hussein With Chemicals
AxisOfLogic Link: Analysis Of Bush Military Strategy - Read this unprecedented, penetrating analysis of the failures of U.S. Military Strategy the reasons for those failures. See... Scoop Link: Bush Misunderstood Military Doctrine
An Open Letter to US Military Spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty - Dear Bryan, We have never met. Still, I hope you do not mind that I have dispensed with your formal title. See... On Killing Children: Open Letter to US Military
Green Left Weekly: Is It Vietnam Yet? - ''It is not Vietnam, and there is no way you can make the comparison'', Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US general in Iraq, snapped at a reporter during a November 11 Pentagon press briefing in Baghdad. See... Green Left Weekly: Iraq - Vietnam Replayed
How Getting Tough Creates A Rod For The GIs Back - The Bush administration?s recent ''get tough'' approach to the chaos in Iraq is predictable and will likely make things worse there in the long-term. See... Winning Over Arabs Using Israeli Tactics
Chuckman: A Pyrrhic Victory In Samarra - Front-page stories announced the greatest battle since the end of combat in Iraq with fifty-four insurgents killed and not an American soldier lost. See... John Chuckman: The Parable Of Samarra
Mingus Casey: The Wages Of Terror - There is growing evidence that some proportion of the attacks on American and coalition forces in Iraq are being funded by an external source. American intelligence has found that people are being paid to make and plant ieds (improvised explosive devices). See... Mingus Casey: Who Funds The Iraqi Attacks?
Green Left: Gloss Comes Off The Invincible US Army - Seven months ago, when the US army rolled into Baghdad, the US war machine seemed invincible. The US rulers seemed to be in reach of realising their goal of conquering Iraq and using it as a secure base from which to establish imperial domination throughout the oil-rich Persian Gulf region. See... Green Left Weekly: Is The US Empire Invincible?
Iraq: Bush Feeds Turkey To U.S. Troops
The Turkey Has Landed ? A Feast Of Commentary - The embedded corporate media is still crowing over the details of George W. Bush's Thanksgiving flight to Baghdad. The Shrub spinmeisters have branded it a "home run." See... Was Bush Turkey Trip Aimed At Hillary Clinton?
EARLIER:
- Ivan Eland: Let Them Eat Turkey
- Guest Opinion: A Coward Goes to Baghdad
- Stateside: Still Raining Cats And Doggerel
- Satire: New Big Boom in Iraq - Jobs
- Chuckman Cartoon: A Turkey Scoots Into Iraq & Chuckman Cartoon: Turkey Is Served
Pentagon's Iron Hammer In Iraq Likely To Blowback - Pentagon's Operation Iron Hammer in Iraq Could Foster More Support for Anti-U.S. Insurgency - Interview with Rahul Mahajan, author of "Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond," conducted by Scott Harris See... Iraq Iron Hammer Likely to Foster More Insurgency
Iraq: Scoop Columnist Firas Al-Atraqchi Cites Why U.S. Troops Must Leave - Today is a sad day in Iraq as dozens of Iraqi families mourn the dead who were caught in blasts against police stations in Ramadi and Ba?qubah over the weekend. See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: Send the Americans Home
US Policy In Iraq ? Terrorise The Terrorists - A November 19 press release from the US military's Central Command was headlined, ''Operations Make Iraq Safer, Improve Quality of Life''. It was referring to the renewed offensive by US occupation forces against Iraqi resistance fighters. See... Green Left Weekly: US Terrorises Iraqi Civilians
Ivan Eland: Capitalising On Cleaning Up Your Own Mess - President Bush?s first political ad for the 2004 campaign indicates that he will play on post-September 11 public fear to attempt to convince voters not to change presidents in the middle of a national security ''crisis.'' See... Generating Crises and Pretending to Solve Them
William Rivers Pitt: The Cost Of War Mounts Ever Higher - About a month into the Iraq invasion, Congress set aside $79 billion in funds for the military. Recently, Bush requested another $87 billion because the occupation was dragging on far longer, and was costing more in men and materiel, than the rosy pre-war forecasts had indicated. In total, this comes to $166 billion spent on Iraq by the Bush administration. ... See... UQ Wire: Donkeys of Mass Destruction
Iraq: The War That Will Not (& Cannot) End - It appears the Iraqi Resistance Forces will continue to badger and attack the occupation forces for as long as the creative properties of the human mind can invent new methods. See... Les Blough: Iraqi Resistance & Exit Strategy and David Jenkins: Prisoners of War
Ivan Eland: ?Turning Point? in the War in Iraq - As Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, unleashed a more aggressive plan to pulverize the intensifying insurgency, he declared that the war was at a turning point and was breaking America?s way. The divergence of that statement from reality is much like a blind man with an assault rifle insisting that he has killed all the gophers under his lawn. See... Ivan Eland: Which Way Is Iraq Turning?
Green Left: Washington?s Unpopular War - For the first time since the US began its war to conquer Iraq and turn its oil resources over to US corporations, a majority of US voters disapprove of the way US President George Bush is handling the situation in Iraq according to the latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll. See... Unpopular War: Americans Turn Against Bush
David Miller: Introduction To New Book On Iraq Propaganda- Since September 11 2001 the propaganda machine in the US (and UK) has been cranked up to levels not seen outside the 1939-45 war. See... Lies Propaganda & Media Distortion in Iraq
Satire: Bush Outlines Obstacles To Progress In Iraq - Washington, D.C.-- President Bush conducted an emergency meeting with top coalition civilian administrator Paul Bremer Tuesday and Wednesday to plan the next misstep in the occupation of Iraq. See... Iraqi Freewill A Hinderance To Democracy ? Bush
Military Families With Loved Ones in Iraq Oppose the War - Interview with Larry Syverson, member of Military Families Speak Out, conducted by Scott Harris. See... Families With Loved Ones in Iraq Oppose the War
Robert S. Rodvik: The "Liberation" of Cuba & Iraq - With the ''weapons of mass destruction'' charade exposed like the bare bones on an X-ray film the Armageddon gang running the White House reverted to that pathetically over-used justification: ''liberation''. See... Robert S. Rodvik: On "Liberation" and Lies
Tom Flocco: Tort Reform To Protect The Purveyors Of Death - Medical indications raise questions over whether the Pentagon misled Congress and families of dead soldiers by employing 'pneumonia' and 'cigarette-smoking' claims to cover-up depleted uranium related deaths. See... Link: Symptoms Of Military Tort Reform In Iraq
William Rivers Pitt: The Rising Toll Of Death In Iraq - Very nearly 40 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the month of November began. 33 more were killed in October, and 16 more died in September. The total losses, to date, creep towards 400. See... UQ Wire: William Rivers Pitt - Without Honor
Green Left Weekly: Is It Vietnam Yet? - ''The more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react'', US President George Bush commented after the coordinated detonation of car bombs at four different targets in Baghdad on October 27. See... GLW: US elite fears Bush is losing Iraq war
Ivan Eland: Is It Vietnam Yet? - As the insurgency in Iraq gets bolder, more sophisticated and more deadly, the hawks are falling all over themselves to pooh-pooh comparisons of Iraq to the debacle in Vietnam. See... Ivan Eland: Is Iraq Another Vietnam?
From Arizona to Baghdad: Will Geronimo Ever Surrender? - United States military genius has evolved enormously since the nostalgic days of the so-called Indian Wars. See... Ramzy Baroud: Turning A Nation Against Itself
Bush Complains About Insufficiently Compliant Media - In case you haven?t been following the news of the news lately, President Bush recently finished a PR/campaign fundraising tour, courtesy of the American Taxpayers, in which he complained in key red and swing state radio and TV markets that he wasn?t getting a fair shake from the big media news outlets on the Iraqi, ahem, reconstruction. See... Bill Grigsby: What Almost Rhymes With Iraqi? Happy
Ray McGovern: Civilian Whiz Kids vs. Military Professionals - The killing of 18 U.S. troops and the wounding of 21 others in Iraq on Nov. 2 brings to mind the successful attack by Viet Cong guerrillas on U.S. forces in Pleiku, Vietnam on February 7, 1965. See... Ray McGovern: Helicopter Down
Ivan Eland: Time To Leave Iraq - The brazen missile attack on the Rashid hotel in Baghdad and a recent spate of suicide bombings illustrate that anti-American violence is increasing in frequency, sophistication and deadliness. See... Ivan Eland: Cut Losses - Leave Iraq
Muqtedar Khan: When Imperial Ambition Becomes A Problem - American foreign policy and its global concerns have been central to the emergence of the world?s present multilateral order. However, American foreign policy has now become of concern to the global order. See... Lessons From The Imperial Adventure In Iraq
US Peace Movement Mobilising Against War Again - Protesters Once Again Fill the Streets to Oppose Bush Iraq War and Occupation - Interview with Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, conducted by Scott Harris See... Groups Gearing Up For Massive Antiwar Protests
Ivan Eland: Time To Prepare For Quagmire Iraq - After a rocket attack on the Rashid hotel in Baghdad landed only one floor away from a clearly shaken Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Paul Bremer, the American viceroy for Iraq, stated the obvious?that the U.S. occupation forces had had a bad day. Both the Bush administration and the American people better get ready for many more. See... Ivan Eland: Having a Bad Day, Wolfie?
NZ's UN Blast Casualty - Major Todd Hart
William River's Pitt Writes To The CIA - This morning?s front page of the Washington Post carried a story entitled, ?Inquiry Faults Intelligence on Iraq.? The story described statements by the Republican-dominated Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. See... UQ Wire: Memo to Central Intelligence Agency
The Ramadan Offensive: Is It Vietnam Yet? - History loves to repeat itself. On January 31, 1968, soldiers from North Vietnam launched what has become known as the Tet Offensive. See... UQ Wire: The Ramadan Offensive
.. Meanwhile Wolfowitz Spins Like A Top (Satire) - Deputy Secretary of Defense says US won't be deterred by attack, but that he's getting the f*** out of Baghdad. See... Wolfowitz Says Attack Proves Iraqis Want Freedom
Dennis Hans: The Gloss Comes Of Seymour Hersh - Seymour Hersh has been had by a CIA has-been. A ''former senior CIA officer'' has gotten him to credit and peddle a preposterous tale about the Niger-uranium forgeries. See... Dennis Hans: Seymour Hersh?s Pipedream
More On The Murder Of Dr David Kelly - In 1984 Dr. Kelly was invited by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to take the position of chief microbiologist at its secret facility at Porton Down. See... The Murder of David Kelly - Part Two of Two.
MORE:
The Murder Of Dr. David Kelly - Part One of Two
Dark Actors at the Scene of David Kelly's Death
David Guyatt: Dr David Kelly And Group 13
Dennis Hans: The Exploding Dossier - Brits had African-uranium intelligence from only two sources and about only one nation ? Niger. Worse, only one of the sources directly supported the uranium statement in Blair?s dossier cited by Bush in the State of the Union address: the source that gave the Brits believeable summaries of laughable forgeries. See... Dossier Blows Up in Faces of Blair and Bush
Jay Shaft Talks To Two More Gulf Veterans - The following interview is with another Sergeant who is not really happy about the fact that he feels it is necessary to have to question his commander in chief and chain of command. See... US Soldiers to America: Bring Us Home Now (Pt. 4) and US Soldiers to America: Bring Us Home Now (Pt. 5)
Jay Shaft: Talking To Iraq's Veterans (Part 3) - This interview is written in his own words and I have tried to leave it as intact as possible so that his pain and anger can come through to you the reader. I will warn you that the language is very rough and the grammar is not always correct. See... US Soldiers to America: Bring Us Home Now (Pt. 3). See also? (Pt. 2) and (Pt. 1)
Former CIA Operative On The Plame Incident - Critics Question Credibility of FBI Investigation into White House Leak Exposing CIA Operative - Interview with Ray McGovern, retired CIA analyst, conducted by Scott Harris See... CIA Officer Speaks Out Against White House Leak
Dennis Hans On Novak's Role In Intimigate - As a thoughtful fellow whose politics are a tad left of center, I don?t agree too often with Robert Novak, the staunchly conservative syndicated columnist and CNN talking head. See... Dennis Hans: In (Partial) Praise of Robert Novak. See also...Ben Tripp: CIA Fu
Guest Opinion: Look And You Will See - It would be impossible for me to overstate or exaggerate the devastation that has been imposed on Iraq, and the most troubling, consistent, and unacceptable reason for this devastation has been the failure of the international community, over long decades, to see the Iraqi people. See... Guest Opinion: Seeing the Iraqi People
Washington Wives Now "Fair Game" - Officials within the United States government have determined that attacking the wife of a vocal critic in order to silence that critic, and to silence the hundreds of other analysts who know full well the breadth and scope of the lies that have been told, is acceptable behavior. In other words, wives are now ?fair game.? See... UQ Wire: Fair Game
Eco-Economy: The Selling Of Iraq Vs Versailles - The United States of America, having invaded Iraq, is faced with a political quagmire and a commercial opportunity. Recent efforts to enroll the United Nations to help pay the costs of the occupation and ?reconstruction? are disingenuous. See... Eco-Economy: Iraq?s Oil Industry
Streets Of London: The Hutton Inquiry - In the Inquiry today no witnesses were called. It was the day for the closing statements from legal Counsel. The star of the day's proceedings, as he had been since the Inquiry resumed, was Jeremy Gompertz QC, counsel for the Kelly Family. See... Streets Of London: Hutton Inq. Closing Statements
MORE:
Hutton Inquiry Update - Day 22 - Day 21 - Day 20 - Day 19 - Day 18 - Day 17
- Streets Of London: Hutton Inquiry Resumed
Streets Of London: Tony Blair At The Hutton Inquiry - Scoop's London Correspondent William Moloney is filing blow by blow coverage from the Hutton inquiry. See... SOL: Hutton Inquiry Update - Week 4 Day 1 and SOL: Hutton Inquiry - Monday 15th September
SCOOP HUTTON INQUIRY COVERAGE
SOL WEEK THREE: PM Tony Blair's Evidence - Week 3 Day 2 - Week 3 Day 1
SOL WEEK TWO: Week 2 Day 4 - Week 2 Day 3 - Week 2 Day 2 - Week 2 Day 1
SOL WEEK ONE: Streets Of London: Looking the Other Way
COMMENTARY:
- Dennis Hans - Passive Deceit & the Death of David Kelly
- Dennis Hans - African Uranium, The Scarlett Dossier
- Dennis Hans - British Intelligence Is an Oxymoron
LINK: INQUIRY REVEALS CAMPBELL ORDERED DOSSIER REWRITE - SCOTSMAN
John Pilger: The Big Lie - Proof - 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. See... Scoop Link: John Pilger "The Big Lie" - UK Mirror
Between The Lines: Scott Ritter Interview - Former UN Weapons Inspector Charges Bush Launched Iraq War to Pursue Agenda of 'Global Hegemony' - Interview with Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine and U.N. weapons inspector, conducted by Scott Harris See... Scott Ritter Charges Iraq War for Global Hegemony
Jason Leopold: Nothing To See There, Move On - Democrats in Congress have abandoned their efforts to investigate the White House?s use of questionable intelligence information about Iraq?s alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, saying the issue has been ?eclipsed? by President Bush?s request for US$87 billion. See... Dems Scrap Probe Into WH Intel. On Iraqi Threats
Satire: Al Qaeda's Latest Moves Panned by Critics - Pakistan/Afghanistan? --The much anticipated third video in the popular terrorism series starring Islamic fundamentalist icon and cold-blooded murderer Osama bin Laden has met with jeers from critics even while enjoying broad appeal in target markets. See... "Return Of The Taliban" Panned By Film Critics
Let The Looting Of Iraq Begin - The executive order from President Bush that follows expands upon executive order 13303, and appears to be an asset grab under the guise of funding the Iraqi reconstruction, placing Iraq's state assets under control of the U.S. Treasury. See... Exec. Ord. 13315: The Official Looting of Iraq
On Who Should Be Fighting This War - Today is just another day and another major bombing against US and US-affiliated targets in Iraq. Our garrison troops continue under attack daily and the oil pipelines continue to explode and burn. Why the heck are we there and isn't it time to take the false neocon propaganda and the neocon advisors and put them where they have placed our American men and women in uniform? See... Ron Holland: Bring Troops Home, Send In Neocons
Dennis Hans: Britain?s Top Spooks Are Mightily Confused - Suppose you wrote what you claim to be the ''definitive biography'' of George Washington. In the Introduction you say that it is your ''judgment'' that George Washington chopped down the cherry tree. See... Dennis Hans: African Uranium, The Scarlett Dossier
We Want Our Kids To Come Home! - Military Families Call for End to Iraq Occupation and Return Home of U.S. Troops Interview with Susan Schuman, Military Families Speak Out, conducted by Scott Harris See... Military Families Call for End to Iraq Occupation
Meditations: The Death Of A Peacemaker - Pause and reflect for a moment on this astounding fact: a suicide bomber in a new cement mixer blew up the United Nations headquarters in Iraq and killed Kofi Annan?s special representative, perhaps the most respected and loved man in the UN community. See... They Work For The Devil And Call Him Jesus
Fintan Dunne: UN Blast Raises Frightening Spectre - Some elements in the Iraq conflict may have determined to give those opposed to the invasion a signal taste of the same medicine they have been dishing out. See... Assasination May Lead To Mid-East WWIII
Kiwi UN Blast Casualty Moved To Kuwait -NZ Army officer, Major Todd Hart, who was injured in the explosion at the UN building in Baghdad early Wednesday morning (NZ time) has now been moved to a US military hospital in Kuwait. See... ANZAC Support For Injured NZ Officer and New Zealand Officer Injured In Baghdad Explosion -
REACTION:
- Hard News 20/08/03 - Darkness
- HRC: Death Of Human Rights Defender Mourned
- NZ Prime Minister Pays Tribute To Sergio Vieira De Mello
- NZ Defence Minister: UN Bombing Cowardly And Tragic
- Includes Video: Top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello killed
- Iraq: Annan Mourns Envoy's Death As ?Bitter Blow?
- UK Condemns Bomb Attack At Baghdad's UN HQ
- Iraq: Deep Feeling Of Loss Over De Mello's Death
- Iraq: Amnesty Condemns Attack On UN Headquarters
- Coalition Int. Criminal Court Mourns Deaths of UN Personnel
- Peace Action Wellington: NZ troops should not go
Scoop Link: Oliver Twist In Baghdad -- Karar Ali works each day in the molten 125-degree heat of Baghdad's summer amid a giant mound of discarded ammunition. He starts his job most days about 6 a.m. and often works until 5 p.m. See... Scoop Link: Iraqi Kids' Dickensian Toil
Vets Demand Answers On Mystery Iraq Haulage Deaths - The father stated that his 20-year-old healthy son, a former track star and non-smoker, had written home on June 26th explaining that he would be going on a 30-hour ?hauling? mission, but that he could not disclose what they would be hauling. The son had stated that he had been to the Palace of Sadaam Hussein, and it was later learned that he was ?hauling? at the Baghdad Airport. See... Gulf War Vets Seek Secret Haulage Mission Answers
Dennis Hans: Willingly Whitewashed In The White House - Unless, that is, you?re the president addressing the nation or senior aides explaining the Niger gaffe to dim, servile Washington journalists. See... Dennis Hans: Know Means Know, Unless?
Dig Deeper: FAIR Calls For Corporate Media Probity Corporate Media Must Widen Iraq-Gate Investigation Beyond the ''16 Words'' - Interview with Steve Rendall, senior analyst with Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, conducted by Melinda Tuhus See... Corporate Media Must Widen Iraq-Gate Investigation
William Rivers Pitt Talks To Veterans For Peace - I must begin by saying that standing here before you is, simply, one of the greatest honors of my life. I have never served in the armed forces in any capacity. My father, however, did. See... UQ Wire: William Rivers Pitt - We Stand Our Ground
The Deaths Of Saddam's Sons Have Ongoing Repercussions - The deaths of the sons of Saddam Hussein in a high profile "shoot-out" in the northern city of Mosul arrive at a most opportune moment for President Bush and his entourage. See... Story on Deaths of Saddam's Sons "Wags the Dog"
MORE:
- Cartoon - Bush Caught In A Playful Moment
- Satire - Uday & Qusay And Udai & Qusai Dead Or At Large
How Ahmed Chalabi Got His Mits On The SOTU - Last weekend, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz explained that the United States at times relied on ''murky'' intelligence in trying to link Iraq to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, but the war against Iraq was justified despite the fact that the White House is now being dogged by questions about the accuracy of its prewar intelligence. See... White House Used Iraqi Exile Info In SOTU
Streets Of London: The Rapidly Revolving David Kelly Story - There is an old adage in British Politics, when you are in trouble, attack the BBC. There have been numerous examples of this and the war of words over Andrew Gilligan?s reports is simply the latest. See... William Moloney: Doctor David Kelly And Other WMDs
What Do Iraqi's Think Of Their Occupation- Poll The Editor of the Spectator in the UK, Boris Johnson, who is also a Conservative MP, commissioned a polling firm called YouGov to do a poll of Iraqi's which they did and the results are published in the Spectator dated 19 July. See... Polling The Iraqi's
The Cons And Cons Of Depleted Uranium - Recent flap highlights administration?s different standards of accuracy, depending on the speaker, setting and audience - By Dennis Hans See... Undeleted Uranium And The Highest Standard
William River's Pitt: It's The Coverup That Counts - The scandal axiom in Washington states that it is not the crime that destroys you, but the cover-up. Today in Washington you can hear terms like 'Iraqgate' and 'Weaponsgate' bandied about, but such obtuse labels do not provide an explanation for the profound movements that are taking place. See... UQ Wire: The Crime and the Cover-Up
MORE ON THE NIGER ROW:
- Jason Leopold - Tenet - Wolfowitz Ctte. Gave Dubious Intelligence
- Not In Our Name - NION Demands Bush Admin. Be Held Accountable
DEATH OF A SCIENTIST - DR DAVID KELLY
- Brian Cloughley - Blood On Their Hands
- Hard News - Hard News 22/07/03 - Dark Actors .
- Scoop - Dr Kelly's Final Hours Did Not Indicate Suicide
- BBC - BBC Statement On Death Of David Kelly
- David Kelly - Examination Of Dr David Kelly July 15
- LINK: Gulufuture - The Kelly Suicide? Naming The Elephant
- Aim.org - Vincent Foster Murder Evidence Released
For MUCH more on this issue see? STORY OF THE WEEK: The Niger Row (Week 1)
Kidd Millennium Comment: The Commander In Speech - It's a shame, but true. Our Commander in Speech is sometimes left to his own devices. After all, his writers can only work so much overtime. See... Kidd Millennium: Bring 'Em On - Arm-Chair Machismo
Is It Vietnam Yet? - Interview with former California state Senator. Tom Hayden, long-time anti-war activist, conducted by Scott Harris See... Iraq War is Looking Increasingly Like a Quagmire
Cheney Plans Iraq Carve Up Well Before The War - Cheney Energy task force documents... contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and ''Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.'' See... Cheney Task Force Docs: Maps Of Iraqi Oilfields
Bring 'Em On? No, Bring 'Em Back - Even for him it was an astonishingly crass statement. On July 2 when Bush was speaking about the shambles that he, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have created in Iraq, he went on the political offensive. See... Brian Cloughey: Bring 'Em On? No, Bring 'Em Back
Naomi Klein Interview On Iraq Reconstruction - U.S. Plan to Privatize Iraqi Industry May Signal New 'Bomb Before You Buy' Doctrine - Interview with Naomi Klein, author and columnist, conducted by Scott Harris See... Naomi Klein On Plans to Privatize Iraqi Industry
Chuckman: Big Lies, Smaller Lies - A few years sometimes make a big difference in human affairs. A few years ago an American President was put through the 18th century ordeal of impeachment, a vast, expensively-staged comic opera of white manes waving and grave baritones intoning, over a dribble on a dress and the lie he told to save himself embarrassment. See... John Chuckman: The Worst Kind Of Lie
Techniques Of Deceit Seep Close To Home - Back in February, when I began cataloging the ''techniques of deceit'' the Bush administration was employing to sell the public on the need to invade and occupy Iraq, I never would have thought that the administration would stoop to stealing one of my own. See... Dennis Hans: Bushies Stole My Con!
Pros And Cons Of Bringing It On - Things aren?t going well for the White House lately. The economy?s lost 2.5 million jobs. Unemployment at a 10-year high. The budget deficit passed $400 billion without breaking a sweat. What were Saddam?s weapons o? mass destruction a few months ago ... See... Niche Marketing The President
Losing Peace In Iraq - The United States and Britain may have won the war in Iraq but they are in danger of losing the peace. Since President Bush declared major hostilities over two months ago, the casualty rate for the Coalition forces has been steadily rising. See... David Miller Online: America?s Failing War
Putting The "Con" In NeoConservative - So if the NeoConservative view of the world truly lives up to its billing as an engine for generating wealth, why would its marketing require such sophisticated, organized and well-funded deception, just to maintain an electoral balance? Why would it need marketing at all? See... Bill Grigsby: The NeoCon. See also... Dennis Hans: Of Mice and (Con) Men
Jason Leopold: They Say That History Repeats Itself - Two years ago the Central Intelligence Agency released reams of intelligence documents on the former Soviet Union that had been classified for nearly 30 years. The findings were damning: the CIA for more than 10 years greatly exaggerated the nuclear threat the communist country posed to the world. See... Like Iraq, CIA Exaggerated Soviet Nuclear Threat
Leopold: Manufacturing Fear - Seven months before two-dozen or so al-Qaida terrorists hijacked three commercial airplanes and flew two of the aircrafts directly into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killing 3,000 innocent civilians, CIA Director George Tenet, testified before Congress that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the United States or to other countries in the Middle East. See... Seven Months Before 9/11 Said Iraq Posed No Threat
Reader Opinion: Be Very Afraid Of These Castor Beans - Stop the presses!!!! "The most promising find, yet, in the hunt for WMDs has been located", according to Meg Alexander of NBC's Oklahoma City affiliate, KFOR. See... Holy Farce! WMD Castor Beans Seized by DoD
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Cultural Insensitivity In Baghdad - They just don't get it. Honestly, can there be a more culturally insensitive and brazen lot than the U.S. and U.K. forces in Iraq? See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: Iraq: Stay Out Of Our Homes
Leopold: Wolfowitz's Pre-emptive Strike Against Hans Blix - Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, was so eager to see the United States launch a preemptive strike against Iraq in early 2002, that he ordered the CIA to investigate the past work of Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, who in February 2002, was asked to lead a team of U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction, in an attempt to undermine the scientist. See... Jason Leopold: Wolfowitz Sought To Undermine Blix
Dennis Hans: Pundits Too Quick To Give Bush Benefit Of Doubt - Here?s the problem with all the euphemisms mainstream commentators use in their strenuous efforts not to brand President George W. Bush a liar: He?s not entitled to a single one. See... Dennis Hans: Lily Gilder Or Liar?
Trans-Atlantic Relativity On The Value Of Death - Many innocent lives have been lost recently in Iraq and Afghanistan due to US bombs and weapons. There has been little or no outcry over this. In this article I will examine why it seems American lives are more valued and have more importance. See... Some Lives Seem More Important In War on Terror
Between The Lines: Is It Vietnam Yet? (1) Armed Opposition to the U.S. Occupation of Iraq Could Signal a Protracted Guerilla War - Interview with Chris Toensing, executive director and editor of Middle East Report, conducted by Scott Harris See... Armed Opposition to the U.S. Occupation of Iraq
Firas Al Atraqchi: Is It Vietnam Yet? (2) - Somewhere in America, someone is itching to say "told you so". Elsewhere in the world, millions of people laugh, scoff, mock, and launch vitriol and hyperbole when discussing America's role in the world. All of a sudden, the so-called victory in Iraq, which was neither a military nor a popular victory, is beginning to look like a public relations disaster. See... Iraqi Fighters "We Will Send Them Back The Bodies"
Scoop Links: Galloway Bribery Accusations Withdrawn By CSM ? Telegraph Sticks To Guns
- Galloway papers deemed forgeries Iraq experts, ink-aging tests discredit documents behind earlier Monitor story. See... Scoop Link: CSM - Galloway Papers Deemed Forgeries
- Galloway rejects apology over newspaper claims - Scoop Link: Galloway Rejects CSM Apology, Scotsman
- "What's happening with George Galloway, then?" people ask me, and I find that many of them think that The Daily Telegraph has long since received a libel writ from the Labour MP. Scoop Link: Galloway Not In Clear Yet, Telegraph
NZers In The Gulf Of Oman
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Now The Media Is Questioning Bush On WMDs? - North American media have recently embarked on another search for the holy journalistic grail in their questioning of the gathered intelligence on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) - or lack thereof. Very strange. See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: Gospel Versus Garbage
MORE ON THE MISSING WMD'S
- Rep. Henry Waxman: Forged Evidence
- Sludge Report #152: George W's Revisionist History
- Harley Sorensen: The War Built On A Lie
- White House Under Fire Over WMDs
- Kidd Millennium: Free the Fourth Estate
- UQ Wire: The Dog Ate My WMDs
- Scoop Feedback: Revisionism, Feminism & God
Bush's Diary Reveals Views On His Impeachment - Dear Diary: The war went well. We licked those Iraqi towelheads real quick. We didn't get Saddam, though, which is more than a little embarassing, since we also didn't get Osama in Afghanistan. Makes me look bad. See... Bernard Weiner: A Peek Inside Bush's PostWar Diary
The Natives Are Restless - A real resistance movement seems to be starting up in Iraq. Although the Pentagon and Donald Rumsfeld are blaming attacks against US troops on Saddam supporters and Baath Party members, it looks like a countrywide uprising is starting. See... Major Iraqi Uprising Looming In Near Future
How The Bush Admin Silenced The Truth About WMDs - Six months before the United States was dead-set on invading Iraq to rid the country of its alleged weapons of mass destruction, experts in the field of nuclear science warned officials in the Bush administration that intelligence reports showing Iraq was stockpiling chemical and biological weapons was unreliable and that the country did not pose an imminent threat to its neighbors in the Middle East or the U.S. See... Experts Questioning Iraq Intel Silenced Before War
Islam & Iraq (1): What Are The US Plans? Recent comments made by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz further articulate the Bush administration's less prominent reasons for removing from power the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. See... PINR: Washington Aims To Isolate Militant Islam
Islam & Iraq (2): Democracy Vs Theocracy - Two powerful forces are at work in Iraq. How they are handled will determine whether they blend harmoniously or collide in conflict. See... Opinion: Islam, Democracy, & Human Rights In Iraq
Did Saddam and His WMDs Take Refuge at Augusta? - Sources within the New York Times say Howell Raines would still be executive editor if only he had refrained from pressuring publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to sign off on a major investigative story that, it turned out, simply was not fit to print. See... How Saddam Brought Down the Mother of All Editors
Green Left: Western Leaders Lies About WMDs - On May 30, US President George Bush told Polish television that the US military had found Iraq's ?weapons of mass destruction? (WMD). Well, sort of. Remember the three (some media outlets have inaccurately reported two) trailers the US found. See... Iraq: How Bush, Howard and Blair lied about WMD
Iraqi Nuclear Scientist On George's Trailers Of Mass Destruction - As the swelter of anger bubbles from the machination of misinformation that led to the faltering WMD casus belli for invading Iraq, the retreat and half-baked excuses of Bush, Blair, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Powell further expose the sharp edge of their deceit. See... Imad Khadduri: Mobile Lies
Leopold: Powell's WMD Denials Fail To Convince - The evidence, or lack thereof, speaks for itself. In the months leading up to the war in Iraq, the Bush administration produced hundreds of pages of intelligence for members of Congress and for the United Nations that showed how Iraq's President Saddam Hussein possessed tons of chemical and biological weapons and was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons program. See... Evidence Doesn?t Hold Up In Powell Denials On WMDs
Let U.S. Shower You With Gifts Of War n Oppression - As a writer I never quite know where the conversations in my head leave off and the paper begins. The internet, moreover, has turned writing into one big conversation, kind of like hip hop, where writers bounce and riff off each others' stuff, constantly ... See... Occupation: Our Gift To The World
Lifting The Veil On An Admin Under Siege - Secretary of State Colin Powell?s recent use of the B-word (''bullshit'') during a practice session at the CIA for his February 5 presentation at the United Nations has lifted the veil, if ever so slightly, on a question that every administration ... See... Bull Poop: How Much Is Too Much When Selling War?
George W. Christ & Disciples
A Tangled Web Of Iraq WMD Lies Unravels - Here?s what we know so far about Iraq?s alleged weapons of mass destruction: of the 600 or so sites identified by United States intelligence and Iraqi officials as places where the country biological weapons may be hidden, about 100 of these sites have been searched over the past six weeks and not a single spec of anthrax or other WMD has been uncovered. See... War Based On Shaky Evidence & Wrong Intelligence
MORE:
- William Rivers Pitt ? UQ Wire: We Used To Impeach Liars
- Dennis Hans - Greatest Hits On Iraq Shows Up Corporate Media
- A List Of Lies - Best Of The Blogs: What a Tangled Web We Weave...
- UK PM - Tony Blair says he is '100 %' behind Iraq evidence
- White House - White House's Ari Fleischer On The Search For WMDs
- Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich - Kucinich Demands Intelligence That Led To War
The War That Was Always Going To Be - While the hawks in the Bush administration attempt to justify the logic behind a pre-emptive strike against Iraq now that its become clear the country?s alleged weapons of mass destruction are nowhere to be found, the true reasons for going to war are finally coming to light. See... Iraq War Planned Two Days After 9-11- Wolfowitz and Wolfowitz Interview with Vanity Fair's Tannenhaus
Between The Lines On War Profiteering - Well before the Bush administration launched its war against Baghdad, U.S. corporations were lining up to win lucrative contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq, a nation devastated by war and 12 years of economic sanctions. Between The Lines: War Profiteering &Halliburton
Imad Khadduri: Nuclear Idiocy In And Over Iraq - There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This apparently became the case a few months after the end of the 1991 war when Hussain Kamel, the man in charge of the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, ordered the destruction of the chemical and biological materials and their warheads. See... Imad Khadduri: Iraq's Free Fall
CNN Confronts DoD On The Saving Private Lynch Story - Its a script straight out of Hollywood and the story that gave America an injection of patriotism. A raid in the dead of night under enemy lines where US soldiers daringly rescued one Private Jessica Lynch held captive in an Iraqi hospital. But a BBC reporter here in Britain is challenging the Pentagons version of the story. See... Whitman Interview with CNN On Saving Private Lynch
How Stealing Iraqi Oil Revenue Begins At Home - It hasn?t been reported in the press ? until now ? but Milan, Italy's chief prosecutor has obtained thousands of documents that show how for more than 20 years Saddam Hussein used the Western bank and corporate secrecy system to launder bribes skimmed from oil revenues to pay his security forces and buy Western arms during international embargoes. See... Rumsfeld Queried On Offshore Banking Reform
Jay Shaft: Killing Iraq's Future - Half of Iraq's population of 24.5 million are children. - 1 in 8 children die before age 8. - One in every four children under five is malnourished. - 70% of all child deaths are from diarrhea or respiratory illnesses. - Preventable disease has risen 100% since 1990. See... Iraq: the Children are Dying - More Now Than Ever
SPECIAL FEATURE:
Damning Doco Of U.S. Afghanistan Atrocities Broadcast Stateside - This film provides eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops massacred thousands of Taliban prisoners during the Afghan War. It's an account of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the U.S., were herded into trucks and suffocated... See... Doco - USA's Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death
Security Council Lifts Sanctions Against Iraq - The United Nations Security Council today adopted a new resolution on Iraq granting wide interim governing powers to the United States and its coalition partners, including a role for a UN Special Representative working with this provisional authority, and ... See... UN Agrees To US-UK Resolution on Iraq
ALSO:
- UN - Text of Security Council Resolution 1483
- US State Dept: Washington File - Iraq: UN Security Council Ends Economic Sanctions
- UN - UN Radio: Security Council Lifts Iraq Sanctions
- UN -UN supports Iraqis to regain national sovereignty
- Amnesty Int. - Iraq: UN cannot ignore human rights now
- NATO - NATO Participation in Iraq Stabilization Force
World Vision?s James Addis Reports From Iraq - After suffering bombing raids and the deprivations of war, Mustafa returned to school only to find it looted and vandalised. See... Back to School in Iraq - but what a mess!
Hard News Is There! - So rumours of the demise of al-Qaeda have, clearly, been greatly exaggerated . Barely has victory been claimed in Iraq than murderous millennial terrorism is back on the agenda. See... Hard News 14/05/03: Very Big Mess for the latest compendium of links to Public Addreess see? Hard News 14/05/03 - A Feast of Blogs
Iraq Children Malnutrition Rates Now Worse Than Ever - UNICEF today released troubling findings from a rapid nutrition assessment undertaken in Baghdad, which has found that acute malnutrition rates in children under five have nearly doubled since a previous survey in February 2002. See... UNICEF: Iraq survey finds child health sliding .
John Chuckman: Seeing What Is Not Through The Fog - Everyone, not attached by threadbare ideology or plain old war profiteering to President Bush's War on Terror, knows that even on its own terms, it can only fail miserably in a great waste of lives and substance. See... Policy Through Rose-Colored Pilot's Goggles. See also... Guest Opinion: The Devil In The Details
Jason Leopold: Halliburton War Profits Stitched Up Months Before The War - Months before the United States military showered Iraq with bombs and missiles, the Department of Defense was secretly working with Vice President Dick Cheney?s old company, Halliburton Corp., on a deal that would give the world?s second largest oil services company total control over Iraq?s oil fields, according to interviews with Halliburton?s most senior executives. See... Halliburton "Tapped" On Iraq Oil Industry In Nov.
Guest Opinion: Why We Still Need The UN - Confronted with a major escalation of high-tech weapons, including new nuclear bombs and the planned militarization of space, humanity stands at a pivotal juncture in history. See... Douglas Mattern: Save The United Nations
Guest Opinion: What Bin Laden Wants - Though I am utterly opposed to his methodology, I am in total support of Bin Laden?s three demands on the U$A. See... Guest Opinion: Agreeing With Bin Laden
MORE:
- NewsFlash: Car Bomb In Riyadh Targets Americans
William Rivers Pitt: What We Are Up Against - "We?re proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who?s physical, who?s not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who?s president. Women like a guy who?s president. Check it out. The women like this war." - Chris Matthews, 'Hardball' on MSNBC. See... UQ Wire: The Women Like This War
Scoop Poems: Democratic Amputation - Two poems written prior to the end of the recent war in Iraq. They are reproduced here in anticipation of the next war. See... Scott Kendrick: Two War Poems
At Last Some Illegal WMDs Have Been Found ? In Baltimore - The United States Army has developed and patented a new grenade that it says can be used to wage biowarfare. See... US Army Patents Illegal WMD Delivery System
Between The Lines: Disposing of Iraq's Wealth - Interview with Michael Renner, a senior researcher with World Watch Institute, conducted by Scott Harris. See... Iraq Oil Wealth May Be Headed Toward Privatization
Kaminsky: Building The Perfect Enemy -For endless war, you must have an enemy who cannot be caught, who is completely vaporous, therefore necessitating nonstop aggressive emergency measures, variously colored alerts and tough talk for those who are unable to understand words. See... John Kaminski: The Perfect Enemy
The Profits Of Terror ? Halliburton Shows How - Halliburton Corp., the second largest oil services company in world, is the poster child for corporate greed and terror. And it seems that nothing will stop Vice President Dick Cheney?s old company from repeatedly breaking the law to save and earn mountains of cash. See... Halliburton Breaks Law While Profiting From Terror
Firas Al-Atraqchi: The Battle For The Souls Comes Next - In the early weeks of 2003, a team of American, Jordanians, Iraqis and British charity workers quietly slipped into Jordan and anxiously awaited the opening salvo of the war in Iraq. See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: A New War Shaping Up In Iraq?
A Pentagon Insider Talks About Depleted Uranium - In three separate interviews a U.S. Special Operations Command Colonel admitted that the U.S. and Great Britain fired 500 tons of D.U. munitions into Iraq. See... US Colonel Admits 500 Tons of DU Were Used In Iraq
Senator Byrd On The Top-Gun President - As I watched the President's fighter jet swoop down onto the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, I could not help but contrast the reported simple dignity of President Lincoln at Gettysburg with the flamboyant showmanship of President Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. See... Making the Military a Stage Prop for Politics
MORE:
- Captions: The Mother Of All Photo Opportunities
- William Rivers Pitt: George W. Christ?
- Chuckman Cartoon: George W. Christ
- Bush Speech - Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Ended
Eco-Economy: Colonisation By Currency - They who control the credit of the nation direct the policy of governments, said Rt Hon Reginald McKenna (1928) ? a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and one time director of the Bank of England. Today, such a claim is today highly relevant to the future relationship between Iraq and the United States ? the world?s only super power. See... The Colonisation Of Iraq's Monetary System
James Addis Reports From Inside Iraq - World Vision correspondent, James Addis is now in Iraq, with an assessment team of World Vision aid experts. He filed this report: See... James Addis Is Inside Iraq
The "Making Of" The Most Wanted Deck Of Cards - The faces of Saddam Hussein's defeated regime on the now-famous "most wanted" card deck have become ever familiar with more than 1 million decks printed and sold. See... The Faces Behind the Faces on the Most Wanted Deck
The Iraqis Will Have To Learn Democracy Someplace Else - Tired of killing Muslims, we are now trying to teach their survivors some democracy. There are a number of practical problems with this, among them being that the curriculum is in the hands of the most authoritarian, deceitful, anti-democratic, and constitution-wrecking administration we've ever had. See... Sam Smith: The Coalition of the Shilling
Between The Lines: Opposition In Iraq Intensifies - As the Bush administration works to pacify and restructure post-war Iraq, continuing violence and power struggles between various factions are creating an unstable and dangerous situation. Interview with Mansour Farhang, professor of political science at Bennington College, Vt. conducted by Scott Harris See... Opposition to Occupation Threatens Bush Agenda
Parental Warning: Do You Remember The Hitler Youth? - This is a note to parents. You could consider it a warning, but it's really just a congratulatory note, reminding you what you have done to your children, by not paying sufficient attention to the world around you. See... John Kaminski: Horror In Your Own Home
Homefront: Rumsfeld's Bid For Absolute Power And Zero Accountability - Below are a series of links to recent articles concerning the latest legal developments in the War on Terror on the U.S. home-front. See... Scoop Links: CIA & Pentagon Push For Total Control and Congress Begins DoD Civil Service Overhaul Debate
Homefront Opinion: It's Time To Restore Civil Liberties To Americans - During this lull in the fighting between the 2002 election cycle Iraq conflict and the soon-to-come 2004 election cycle conflict, it's a good time to (anonymously) sit in a library or bookstore and browse "The Turner Diaries" and Gore Vidal's "Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace." See... Thom Hartmann: The Crime Of The Century
Homefront Opinion: Sane Intelligence Veterans Weigh In On WMD Hunt - The Bush administration's refusal to allow UN inspectors to join the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in U.S.-occupied Iraq has elicited high interest in foreign news media. See... Weapons of Mass Distraction: Where? Find? Plant?
No Joy For George Yet - Update On The WMD Hunt - Despite the U.S. having secured military control in Iraq, the Bush administration has not yet uncovered Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. See... No Sign of Alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction
Why The NYT's Thomas Friedman Is Like A Hamster - If you ever had a pet hamster when you were young, you know what I mean about hearing its regular scrambling and spinning on the exercise wheel. The squeak-squeak sound becomes an amusing background noise of everyday life. See... John Chuckman: Friedman's Life As A Pet Hamster
Legal U-Turn By Slave Trading Company Awarded Iraq Law&Order Contract - Dyncorp, the US company, which dealt with the contracts of American officers working for the international police force in Bosnia and who has recently won the contract to supply police officers to Iraq, has withdrawn their appeal against Southampton Employment Tribunal?s decision that they unfairly dismissed Kathryn Bolkovac. See... Dyncorp Last Minute U-turn In Whistleblowing Case
Kidd Millennium: The Joker In The Pack - Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the former Information Minister of Iraq delivered mega doses of comic relief offsetting a war filled with images of bedlam and mayhem. See... Kidd Millennium: Joker?s Wild
Iraqi Nuclear Scientist On The Search For Iraqi Nukes - In late August 2002, I listened with trepidation to President Bush's burgeoning false allegations about Iraq's nuclear military capability. See... The Mirage Of Iraq's Weapons Of Mass Destruction
U.S. Indispensable Possibly, But Hated Almost Certainly - The vision espoused by the Bush administration and other American elites is one in which the United States plays the role of the "indispensable nation," needed by the global community to preserve world order. See... Ash Pulcifer: The U.S. Should Not Rule By Force
A Beginners Guide To The Iraq War Aftermath - What with Shia and Sunni and Ba'ath and imams and Syria and Abu Mazer and WMDs, it's no wonder many are confused in this post-Iraq-war period. Time once again to turn to that franchised series of books for easy-to-comprehend answers to difficult questions. See... Bernard Weiner: U.S. Iraq Policy for Dummies
A Better Class Of Playing Cards Released - In the wake of the U.S.'s "pre-emptive" destruction of Iraq, her people, and her culture, the Trade Regulation Organization is issuing a "55 most wanted" playing-card deck similar to the one that the Pentagon issued two weeks ago. See... Playing Card Deck Shows Way To Regime Change In The West
Judith Miller Super-Reporter Scoops Again - Editor?s Note: We are grateful to Dennis Hans for bringing to our attention the latest blockbuster scoop by Judith Miller, the embedded super-reporter of the New York Times. This story was filed back on February 7, several weeks before Miller traveled to Iraq to expose the WMD programs of the deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. It?s publication was delayed until today, for reasons explained in the article. See... Judith Miller reveals Raiders won 2003 Super Bowl
Scoop Cartoon: G.I. Joe Millionaire - Cartoon by kiddmillennium.com? See... Scoop Cartoon: G.I. Joe Millionaire. See also links: Army recovers $13.1m allegedly taken by US troops in Iraq and US Forces Make Iraqi Theives Strip and Walk Naked in Public
Incompetence Ignorance Ethnocentricity And Why The US Foreign Plan?s Flawed - U.S. foreign policy is as astounding in its fallibility as it is in its short sightedness. The Bush administration's plans for Iraq are faltering primarily due to incompetence, cultural ignorance, and ethnocentricity. See... Short-sighted U.S. Foreign Policy - Trouble Ahead
A Hard Sell Forecast For U.S. Imperialism - The United States has failed to persuade the world to support its quest for global hegemony. The belief that America is the "indispensable nation" that needs to continually expand its sphere of influence has been met with resistance from many, both inside and outside its borders. See... U.S. Hegemony: The Dynamics Of Global Power
How Bush And Rumsfeld Traded American $, Citizenship And Residency In The US For The Capitulation Of Baghdad. - One day after the start of the war against Iraq American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared on American television screens to say something that the press interpreted as some sort of American propaganda. In reality, though, it was the basis for what was later to take place. See... The Surrender Deal Of Iraq's Republican Guard
Catherine Fitts On Dyncorp - Unanswered questions regarding the U.S. sole source contract awarded to CSC DynCorp for police, judiciary and prisons management in Iraq. See... Real Deal: DynCorp & the Economics of Lawlessness
Iraq Rises Against It's New Colonial Masters - Disorder, Protests Challenge U.S. Occupation of Iraq, Undermining White House Triumphalism - Interview with Roger Normand, executive director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, conducted by Scott Harris See... Disorder, Protests Challenge US Occupation of Iraq
Kaminsky: Conversations Over The Easter Meal - We are trapped in a poison fog of patriotism, and don't dare to question the motives and actions of our so-called leaders. America as a country has held us together and gives us a good life in which to prosper and relax. See... John Kaminski: Trapped In A Poison Fog
The UN Moves Back Into The Frame - Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed for a healing of the rifts within the United Nations Security Council that marked the run-up to the war in Iraq as the international community now seeks to help that country return to normalcy and rejoin the family of nations. See... Annan moves to heal Security Council rifts on Iraq
MORE:
- Three-week extension of Oil-for-Food programme
- IAEA should return to Iraq ASAP
- Blix's case for return of UN weapons inspectors
Firas Al-Atraqchi: The War Is Far From Over - Iraq is likely to remain in the headlines and front pages of international media for quite some time; the war is far from over. See... Saddam's Legacy Or Interventionism Gone Wrong? and Firas Al-Atraqchi: Before You Cheer...
Comment & Links: The Massacre In Mosul - A number of innocent Iraqis were killed and many more injured by the U.S. troops in Mosul in an incident that has been generally downplayed by the U.S. media. See... Sam Smith: What Happened In Mosul?
Who is Zalmay Khalilzad? - George Bush has named the disease: Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. But rest easy. He has also named the cure: Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad. See... Who is Zalmay Khalilzad, Special Envoy for Iraq
STATE OF IT: Why Bush Wants Syria And Lebanon - Fear and loathing of terrorism and WMDs brought an American public to heel as its president secured Iraqi oil. Today the same line is trotted out to justify waging war against Syria. Deciphering the rhetoric Scoop displays why Bush wants a passage from Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. See... Is idiocy driving the USA to an Arab-Zionist war?. See also... David Miller Online: Bush?s Syrian Dilemma
Exploring The New Millennium?s Thieves - Iraq was pilfered and plundered by two distinct types of thieves ? the local proletariat and the professional art thief. The latter, the more astute and world savvy burglar, the caliber one might find in an Indiana Jones flick ? went unnoticed however ? See... Kidd Millennium: Robbing The cradle
Fear-Em Scare-Em In the US-of-A - There is a fear welling in the belly of our country. A fear that we never thought - in our wildest imaginings - we'd actually ever experience. See... The Day Democracy Was Put on Hold Part II
Of Those Who Dared To Hope - After 9/11, I also dared to hope, as did Tim Robbins, that some great good might come from the horrors of that day. I imagined that our leaders finally might begin to listen rather than pontificate; that my generation might finally be roused from ... See... Laurie Manis: Talking 'Bout My Generation ALSO: Transcript of the speech given by actor Tim Robbins to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2003. See... A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...
U.S. Meets Iraqis - Report - 13 Point Plan
STATE OF IT: Why Bush Wants Syria And Lebanon - Fear and loathing of terrorism and WMDs brought an American public to heel as its president secured Iraqi oil. Today the same line is trotted out to justify waging war against Syria. Deciphering the rhetoric Scoop displays why Bush wants a passage from Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. See... Is idiocy driving the USA to an Arab-Zionist war?. See also... David Miller Online: Bush?s Syrian Dilemma
Stated Objectives Of US Troops Are Immense? With the fall of Saddam Hussein from power, the United States government is busy preparing for its postwar occupation. Current plans call for putting U.S. officials in charge of Iraq under the name of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq led by former U.S. general Jay Garner. See... PINR: Postwar Objectives In Iraq
"There's No Business Like War Business, No Business So Low" - We are now in the third year of the new century and we stand bewildered by what happened to the wonderful expressions of hope and joy that were expressed in the millennium celebrations. See... Guest Opinion: The War Business
Keith Rankin: Golbal Policing - It has been long evident that the United States' invasion and conquest of Iraq has been neither a quest for weapons of mass destruction (whatever that phrase means) nor a selfless exorcism of an evil regime. The United States was always too eager. See... Keith Rankin: Do We Need A Global Police Force?
PM Must Voice Concerns Over US Syria Rhetoric - The Green Party has called upon the Prime Minister to join other nations in criticising the Bush administration for wanting to broaden the Iraq conflict into Syria. See... PM must speak out against US belligerence
Profiteering From War And Terror At Cheney's Alma Mater - Kellogg Brown & Root, the company chosen last month by the Pentagon to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq, has a long history of supporting the same terrorist regimes vilified by the Bush administration and on at least one occasion defrauded the United States government to the tune of $2 million, according to public documents. See... Halliburton's History Supporting Terrorist Regimes
Report From An Iraqi Refugee Camp - A distribution of clothes from Australian donors is greeted with delight by refugees, condemned to wear the same thing for weeks. World Vision staff James Addis and Andrea Swinburne-Jones help distribute in Jordan. See... Dressing the wounded: Iraq / Jordan
Centcom Briefing On The War - GEN. BROOKS: Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Today is the 26th day since coalition forces entered Iraq to initiate Operation Iraqi Freedom. And we're moving ahead with our efforts to return Iraq to the Iraqi people. See... CENTCOM Operation Iraqi Freedom Briefing 15 April
Friendly Iraqis Discuss The Future With U.S. Envoy In An Nasiriyah - Delegates travel, attend and listen to remarks at the opening of the US-sponsored meeting on post-war Iraq 15 April, 2003 at the Tallil Air Base, north of Nasiriyah, in the southern Iraqi desert. See... Images: U.S. Iraqi Meeting DiscussesThe Future, Meeting At An Nasiriyah - 13 Point Statement and. Pool Report: U.S. Iraqi Meeting At An Nasiriyah
Unfriendly Iraqis Die At American Hands In Mosul - US forces have denied responsibility for the deaths of at least 10 people in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, after a shooting incident there on Tuesday. Scoop Links: US denies troops fired on crowd - BBC - Google News Headlines
One Way To Oppose War - Don't Pay For It - I thought I'd go back to just one column a week, as otherwise I'd be doing a war diary all the rest of my life. But, just in passing, today is the last day to submit taxes here in the US, so here is a link to the petition the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee has on-line. See... Stateside with Rosalea: Rotate the State
Expansion Team
The 26 Day War - Rosalea's War Diary - Many aspects of Operation Iraqi Fiefdom have shocked me. Its very existence is as if my host's dog, Lassie - which I've been trying to understand and like and thought I was friends with, even after discovering it was a pitbull - has turned around and ripped off half my face.
See... OK, so who's got the ace of peace? (related link? Deck of Cards Helps Identify Regime's Most Wanted)
EARLIER ROSALEA:
Friday -Turning to very ugly custard indeed
Wednesday - Stateside with Rosalea: Custard, anyone?
Tuesday - Tie a digital ribbon round the old oak tree
Monday - That and that were then and then; this is now
Sunday - Cherry tree, Washington
Saturday - A little something to read over the weekend
- April 3 - April 2 - April 1 - March 30th - March 29th - March 28th -March 27th - March 26th - March 25th - March 24th - March 23rd - March 22nd - March 21 - March 20 - March 19 - March 18 - March 17
John Chuckman Awards A Propaganda Pulitzer - There are scores of candidates for the distinction of trashiest war propaganda in a mainstream publication, and readers outside Canada may not recognize my nominee's name, but I am confident readers will recognize the merit of Margaret Wente's column. See... The Iraq War's Trashiest Piece Of Propaganda
William Rivers Pitt: How The U.S. Lost The War - Television news stations, along with newspapers from coast to coast, have been showing scenes of celebration in Baghdad. The dictator, Saddam Hussein, has been removed from power. See... UQ Wire: How America Lost the War
On What We Are Expected To Believe - Talk about revisionist history. It's as if the whole world is Winston Smith, the main character of George Orwell's book "Nineteen Eighty-Four." We are being asked to forget what we know to be true in order to remain loyal to the United States government's official version of reality. See... Brent Flynn: Keep Your Eye On The Ball
An Interview From The Homefront Barricades ?Here in the U.S., tens of thousands of opponents of the Bush administration's war continue their campaign of street protests and increasingly, since the war began -- employed in the tactic of nonviolent civil disobedience. See... Thousands Engage in Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
Uri Avnery: .. Meanwhile In Israel, The Hangover - The next war. It is now fashionable to talk about "the day after". Let's talk about the night after. After the end of hostilities in Iraq, the world will be faced with two decisive facts: First, the immense superiority of American arms can beat any people in the world, valiant as it may be. Second, the small group that initiated this war - an alliance of Christian fundamentalists and Jewish neo-conservatives - has won big, and from now on it will control Washington almost without limits. See... Uri Avnery: The Night After
Bankruptcy Incorporated ? Who's Paying For This War - A table on page six called ?The Big Picture? puts this matter as starkly as one could imagine. Total U.S. government liabilities less assets were more than $31 trillion (that is, over $31 thousand billion) or more than 295% of GDP on September 30, 2002. See... SRA Commentary: A Failure of Imagination
Bernard Weiner: Where Next For The New American Century - From: Paul Wolfowitz - To: Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Don Rumsfeld, Bill Kristol, Jim Woolsey - In re: PNAC's next moves (**For Your Eyes Only**) See... Wolfowitz's Confidential Memo on Post-Iraq Plans
Neville Bennett: Investing On A War Footing The recent past, from September 11 to the storming of Baghdad, has more than likely caused enduring changes in global investment psychology. See... Neville Bennett: Wealth & Baghdad
Anti-War March Targets State Television Bias
Mainstream Media US-Bias Riles Auckland Peaceniks - "We are deeply disgusted at the extent to which TVNZ has - through its news service - become a mouthpiece and visual portal for an unrelenting stream of bald US/UK propaganda and blatant lies.? See... Thousands Outraged At TVNZ's Pro-US Bias See also... GPJA Letter To TVNZ?s Ian Fraser
SCOOP IMAGES: - Photo-Essay 1: NZ Marches Against US War Machine - Photo-Essay 2 - Photo-Essay 3
Video Link: Protest And Comments On Media Bias By Chloe (Indymedia Auckland) - QUICKTIME VIDEO CLIP (1.9 MB - 1 minute clip) At a 1000 strong march today in Auckland against the US war and occupation of Iraq, protesters commented on media coverage of the war so far. Interviewees include Selwyn Manning (SCOOP), Maire Leadbeater (Peace Activist) and John Minto (GPJA)). See? Indymedia Auckland?s report and DOWNLOAD the clip directly by clicking here?
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Operation Iraqi Chaos - For two days running, mainstream media has bombarded the viewing public with the same images of Saddam Hussein's toppling statue, filmed from numerous angles. Cheering Iraqis stomping on, ripping, or burning pictures of Saddam seemed to portray that the war in Iraq had come to an end; victory, freedom, liberty - all at arm's reach. See... Operation Iraqi Chaos. See also... Image: A Wider Angle View Of The Fall Of Baghdad
Guest Opinion: How It Feels To Be An American - Here's a first: I'm at a loss for words. I just don't know what to say about the senseless murdering rampage that America, my America, has inflicted upon yet another all-but-defenseless third-world country. So many already have said it so well. See... Guest Opinion: "Feelings" By Edgar J. Steele
How Things Will Be For Iraqi Natives From Here On - Now that you have been liberated from your oppressors, we at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) look forward to our future relationship with you. As one of the oldest of American governmental agencies, we have a good deal of experience in assimilating people of other cultures to the American way of life. See... Letter To Iraq From BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs)
Embedded Journalists: Sleeping With The Enemy - Embedded journalists are the greatest PR coup of this war. Dreamt up by the Pentagon and Donald Rumsfeld the 'embeds', as they are now routinely described, are almost completely controlled by the military. See... David Miller: Embed With The Military
Does This Look Like The Fall Of The Berlin Wall?
The 25 Day War - Rosalea's War Diary - Many aspects of Operation Iraqi Fiefdom have shocked me. Its very existence is as if my host's dog, Lassie - which I've been trying to understand and like and thought I was friends with, even after discovering it was a pitbull - has turned around and ripped off half my face.
See... OK, so who's got the ace of peace? (related link? Deck of Cards Helps Identify Regime's Most Wanted)
EARLIER ROSALEA:
Friday -Turning to very ugly custard indeed
Wednesday - Stateside with Rosalea: Custard, anyone?
Tuesday - Tie a digital ribbon round the old oak tree
Monday - That and that were then and then; this is now
Sunday - Cherry tree, Washington
Saturday - A little something to read over the weekend
- April 3 - April 2 - April 1 - March 30th - March 29th - March 28th -March 27th - March 26th - March 25th - March 24th - March 23rd - March 22nd - March 21 - March 20 - March 19 - March 18 - March 17
John Chuckman: A One-eyed View Of The Rights Of Man - The U.S. is claiming a "sovereign right" to try Iraqi officials as war criminals. I thought it was a nice touch, including, as it does, an allusion both to Bush's scholarly observations on Nazis and an assertion of rights. See... America's Right To Do Whatever It Pleases
A History Lesson In Fascism ? Lest We Forget - Nazism was a form of government that restricted personal freedom but permitted private ownership of property. It called for aggressive nationalism, militarism and expansion of Germany's spheres of control through military conquest. See... Laurie Manis: Lest We Forget
SRA Commentary: War Is An Expensive Business - Theodore Roosevelt's admonition to "walk softly and carry a big stick" appears to have been replaced by the Bush doctrine: shout loudly and hope someone else pays. See... SRA Comment: So How Will America Pay For The War?
Christiaan Briggs: Enjoy The Celebrations While You Can - Saddam's regime is on the brink, a joyous occasion to be sure, after years of tyranny, supported by the US, UK and other western governments while committing his worst crimes, and then 12 years of sanctions which made his regime stronger and ordinary Iraqi people weaker. See... Soak Up That Propaganda
USA Says Baghdad Is ?Liberated? - The United States today secured its position in Baghdad to applause and jubilation in both the ancient city and in waves across the USA. Hundreds of the 'liberated' paraded about Baghdad streets, clearly orchestrated, clearly a PR exercise, clearly happy the slaughter had seemingly ended... See... Invaders ?Liberate? Baghdad ? Counting The Cost
ALSO:
- Scoop Photo-Essay - Photo-Essay : White House ?Liberation? Images See also... Scoop?s War Images Feature Page?
Scoop Feedback: Where Are Scoop?s ?Liberation? Reports? - In this edition of Scoop Feedback a Scoop Reader takes issue with the absence of celebratory coverage on Scoop today concerning the fall of Baghdad. Following this you will see a reply from the Scoop Editor explaining why this is so. See... Scoop Feedback: Missing Coverage?
Northern Ireland Welcomes Bush
Now That'll Learn 'Em Good - Teach them a lesson they'll never forget. So goes the thinking in Texas-on-the-Potomac. And what a lesson it has been! They'll never mess with us again, nosirree Bob! See... Daniel Patrick Welch: Don't Mess With Texas
A Q&A On Total War With Noam Chomsky - Q: Does the present aggression on Iraq represent a continuation of United States' international policy in recent years or a qualitatively new stage in that policy? See... Iraq Is A Trial Run ? Noam Chomsky
The Road To Liberation Was Paved In Iraqi Blood - On March 31, soldiers from the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division stationed at a roadblock near the Iraqi towns of Najaf and Karbala opened fire on a car, killing 11 of the civilians inside. See... Green Left: Iraq - US Invaders Massacre Civilians
A Re-Run of Afghanistan Would Mean A Nightmare In Baghdad - When the United States "wins" the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and war advocates, ranging from the naively idealistic neocons to former pseudo-lefties like Nat Hentoff, better hope it's not the kind of victory enjoyed in Afghanistan. See... Matthew Riemer: Winning Isn't Everything
William Rivers Pitt: The Longest Winter - There is a US Army chaplain in Iraq named Josh Llano, hailing originally from Houston, who is tending his flock in the desert outside Najaf.. He has in his possession a 500-gallon pool of pure, clean water. See... UQ Wire: The Longest Winter
Fear And Chaos Worsens Situation For Iraq?s Children - AMMAN/ NEW YORK - UNICEF issued a warning today that despite significant progress in humanitarian cross-border trucking operations, early attempts by UNICEF to reach Iraqi children and women were being significantly hampered by what it called "a residue of fear and chaos." See... UNICEF: worsening situation for Iraqi children
Russian Iraq War Site Ends Transmission - Many Internet readers have till now enjoyed the uncensored reports from the Russian GRU. The following is their final bulletin. See... Iraq War Info from Russian GRU EndsTransmissions
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Iraq's Future Govt. Heading For Disaster - Leading Democrat on the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee Delaware Senator Joe Biden warned America that the Bush administration's post-war Iraq scenario is "a prescription for disaster". See... No Representative Government in Future Iraq
NZ Journalists Condemn USA Fatal Attacks - New Zealand journalists have joined the international condemnation of United States attacks which have left independent journalists dead and wounded. See... NZ journos protest to US over deaths
Hard News Is There - "Jesus!" exclaimed Peter Arnett as the dull whoomp of an explosion sounded. Then, whoomp , again. Arnett was in a media centre in central Baghdad, waiting to deliver a report by satellite to someone called Eric. I know, because he was near a live webcam ? Hard News: Humming 'Que Sera Sera'
for the latest links to Public Address blogs ses.. Hard News 08/04/03 - If Everybody Had Cameras
Dennis Haliday On The Pentagon As Aid Agency - Iraqi People Facing Humanitarian Crisis as Pentagon Controls Aid Distribution, Excluding Relief Agencies - Interview with Denis Halliday, former United Nations Under-Secretary General and coordinator of Iraq's Oil for Food Program conducted by Scott Harris See... Pentagon Controls Aid Distribution in Iraqi Crisis
David Miller: Why Are The Kurds Fighting? - As the war in Iraq draws to a conclusion it is succeeding in presenting more questions than it is providing solutions. There is now a growing debate as to the fate of Saddam Hussein and the United States is already making plans for the reconstruction of Iraq?s economy and political structure once the fighting ends. See... What is in this war for the Kurds?
Have The People Or Congress Okayed World War IV? - This report from CNN is chilling in its audacity. Ex-CIA Director James Woolsey is a Bush insider who is tipped to become the overseer of Iraq once this war is over. Here Woolsey openly talks of a much bigger war, what he calls World War IV. See... Is The Iraq War The Beginning Of World War IV?
RELATED LINKS:
- Slate - The PowerPoint That Rocked the Pentagon (See particularly the final slide)
- NewsWeek - Beyond Baghdad: Expanding The Target List
The Path That Leads to Bush's Downfall - Let's talk about a subject that remains mostly hidden in American social discourse: depression. And, in particular, where personal depression meets economic and political depression -- and, even more specifically right now, when all these states meet at the nexus of the U.S. war on Iraq. See... Depression - And Its Activism Antidote
Kaminsky Sees A Bleak Future If U.S. Wins War - If the out-of-control United States war machine wins its "war" against the hapless population of Iraq, it signals a new era of war without end, war without reason as one imagined enemy country after another becomes scheduled for high-tech demolition and poisoning until the real possibility of doomsday becomes reality. See... John Kaminski: A Prayer For Iraq
Carving Up The Spoils (1): On U.S. Plans For Its 51st State - George W. Bush has taken the United States to war in contempt of the U.S. Constitution and in criminal defiance of the UN Charter. As a result, a horrifying majority of the world's population now views America as the single greatest threat to world peace. See... Reconstruction of Iraq Must Be Led By the UN
Carving Up The Spoils (2): Only Friends Of George And Unka Dick Need Apply - Who will be the next King of the Road in Baghdad, when the dusty maelstrom settles and the oil starts flowing West? That question should not shock those that understand the path of war from aggression to occupation. See... Kidd Millennium: Iraq For Sale Or Rent. See also... Wartime Contracts Favor Bush's Corporate Cronies
Carving Up The Spoils (3): Destroying Iraq To Save It The Anglo-American coalition has maintained that they only invaded Iraq for the sake of the Iraqi people. The coalition?s spokesmen still maintain this, and even manage to keep a straight face while doing so. This is no mean achievement. See... NITA: No Honour Among Thieves
On The Homefront Old Glory Becomes A Battleground - The residents of an unassuming house, tucked away in a quiet corner of a small New England college campus, have found themselves at the center of a disturbing fight for the basic right to express their opinion as Americans. See... UQ Wire: Our Flag, Too
Explaining America Is Not An Easy Thing To Do - It is a sad time in my country, as it is around the world. A few days ago I went with a few friends to see the Costa-Garvas film "Amen." Set in the second world war, the action centers around an officer in the hated SS and a Jesuit priest who try to convince the Vatican, Allied governments and the Germans themselves to intervene against the slaughter of Jews and others in the camps. See... Daniel Patrick Welch: The Road to Hell
Hard News Is There! -More than ever, the West and the rest of the world seem to be seeing very different wars in Iraq. While the western media fusses over the operational details of the war and a creepy - and possibly premature - note of triumphalism comes through America reports, the Islamic world is seeing, hearing and reading about dead and dismembered children. HARD NEWS 04/04/03: Our War And Theirs For the latest links to Public Address blogs see... HARD NEWS 04/04/03 - Strange World
Scoop Link: Russian Iraq News Site - Twenty-seven people were killed and another 193 were injured in Baghdad and its suburbs on Thursday morning, Iraqi Information Minister Muhammad Sa'id al-Sahhaf told a news briefing. See... Comprehensive coverage of the USUK Invasion
Dennis Kucinich: A Call To Stop The War On Capitol Hill - "Stop the war now. Before we send our troops into house-to-house combat in Baghdad, a city of five million people. Before we ask our troops to take up the burden of shooting innocent civilians in the fog of war." See... Kucinich Calls In US Congress For End to The War.
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Invasion?s Sinister Twist Intensifies - "You just [expletive] killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!" the Washington Post quotes Captain Ronny Johnson as telling his platoon leader. Includes Al-Jazeera broadcast images. See... Shedding No Tears for Iraqi Civilians
Sam Smith: Decoding DC - Things have not been going so well on Planet Potomac. The two most powerful subcultures here consist of the Clingons and the Process People. See... The Clingons &The Process People On Planet Potomac
Hard News Is There!- I'm taking a break from war-blogging for a few days: securing my supply-lines and all that. It is perhaps also time to stand back and consider what's happening in this war. Writes Russell Brown. See? Hard News 01/04/03: Standing Back
Peace Camp Outside Wellington's U.S. Embassy
EYEWITNESSES: Human Shields on USUK Created Carnage - We visited the Yarmouk Hospital this morning. A woman, who had been wounded in the bombing of the Sha'ab district in North Baghdad, was lying in a ward weeping uncontrollably. When I first saw her she looked up at me. See... Human misery and suffering courtesy of US/UK/Aust
Propaganda Central Asks Where's Saddam? ? It's Day 12 of "Where's Saddam?" Since Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and other senior DoD officials have noted that no one has seen Saddam Hussein since the operation to open the war. See... Saddam a No-Show on Iraqi Television and Saddam Has Not Been Seen Since First Strike, Pace
U.S. Moves Against United Nations Peace Resolution - Greenpeace today called on all members of the United Nations to reject moves by the US to block a resolution in the UN General Assembly condemning the invasion of Iraq and calling for a ceasefire and withdrawal of US British and Australian armed forces. See... United States tries to block UN peace-bid
SATIRE: Many A True Word?s Spoken In? - US President George Bush has given the green light to a plan put forth by the foremost religious mystic within his administration, John Ashcroft. See... Scoop Satire: Green Light to Children?s Crusade
Is Shock And Awe Shuck And Jive?
A Brief History Of American Imperialism - With the benefit of a half century of hindsight, it seems that the Act of 1947 is as good a place as any to peg the apogee of the American Empire. 1947 is a good choice for several reasons. First, we now know thanks to the miracle of time and declassified documents that the Soviet Union was never the threat that it was made out to be. See... Lockheed's War, or Dreaming of Byzantium
Peter Arnett Finds A New Home At The Daily Mirror - Veteran Kiwi newsman Peter Arnett, star of CNN in Gulf War I, was axed by NBC yesterday accused of being a Saddam stooge. He told state-run Iraqi TV the conflict was not going to plan because of fierce resistance and said his Baghdad reports ?help those who oppose war?. Today he has joined the staff of the staunchly anti-war Daily Mirror. See... Yank-Sacked Peter Arnett Hired By Daily Mirror
Jason Leopold: Rumsfeld's Big Mistake - Last October, the New York Times reported that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered the military?s regional commanders to rewrite all of their war plans to capitalize on precision weapons, better intelligence and speedier deployment in the event the United States decided to invade Iraq. That war plan, which Rumsfeld helped shape, has now failed and has led to deep divisions between military commanders and the defense secretary, according to news reports. See... Rummy's War Plan & The Casualties That May Result
Between The Lines: The Public Duty To Oppose - As President Bush ordered the first air attacks against Iraq's cities, protesters took to the streets in legal and civil disobedience actions around the U.S. and abroad to express their opposition to a war that much of the world views as unjust and unnecessary. See... Dissent Essential When Govts. Engage in Conflict
Brent Flynn: The Propaganda War Taking Place In Your Inbox - If you're like me, you've received emails from conservative friends, co-workers and family members that tell of some outrage perpetrated by a pacifist, tree-hugger or all around bleeding heart (Clinton and celebrity bashing enjoy their own distinct categories). See... Brent Flynn: You've Got Propaganda!
William Rivers Pitt: Mistakes Piled On Mistakes - It is becoming difficult to tally all of the decisions made by the Bush administration that have turned out to be dead wrong. Walking away from North Korea at the outset of the administration has blossomed into an embarrassing tactical and diplomatic imbroglio with nukes prominently on the table. See... UQ Wire: The Miscalculations of Yes-Men
David Miller: The Plan That May Have Come Unstuck - Just over a week into the war in Iraq, the briefings that are being given by the US Central Command and the Pentagon insist that the operation is proceeding according to schedule and both Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair claim to be pleased with the progress of the Coalition assault. See... Is the Coalition War Strategy Going to Plan?
Dennis Hans: President And "Trusted" Aide As Phony As Niger Documents - A mere three weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency demonstrated conclusively that letters between Iraq and Niger about the purchase of uranium were forgeries, the U.N. body is about to prove an even more startling claim: President George W. Bush is fake. See... IAEA labels Bush "fake", Powell "inauthentic"
Bernard Weiner: Anyone Detect a Familiar Odor in the Air? - Is it just me or is there a smell of Vietnam in the desert air? Once again, in its haste to get its war on, the U.S. has gone into a foreign land, ignorant of its culture, believing that its technological might would lead to a swift victory, forgetting the force of nationalism when a people believe themselves to be invaded. See... Bernard Weiner: The Vietnam Connection
David Miller: A War Built On A Web Of Lies - Throughout the build up to the war in Iraq the US and UK governments tried to show that Iraq had weapons of Mass Destruction and that Hussein was a threat. Within days and sometimes hours these lies were exposed to the world, leading to unprecedented public opposition to war. See... News Consumers Beware: You Are Being Lied To and The Development Of War Propaganda
When War Propaganda Meets Mind Control - Something?s been bothering me lately. My fear stems from the awareness that a successful campaign is being waged through much of the media to shut down logic and critical thinking in the minds of most Americans. See... Wartime Mind Control Tactics ? A Survivor Speaks
John Chuckman: A War Of Many Inconsistencies - The title could be the name of a television quiz show, although I doubt the subject matter would attract a large audience, especially in that key market of the United States. See... Favourite Contradictions & Absurdities Concerning The Iraq War
Scoop Cartoon/Column: Waiting To Be Shocked And Awestruck - Well, it?s been a couple of weeks since the US?s first pre-emptive strike on Iraq and still no sign of that new boy band ?Shock ?Nawe?. American patriots and war protestors alike have been glued to their TV sets like moths to a flame to catch a glimpse of this new ultimate Reality Show. See... Kidd Millennium: Shock 'N Awe
Warning These War Images Will Disturb...
Chalk Richard Perle's Scalp Up To Seymore Hersh - Richard Perle?s resignation Thursday as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a Pentagon advisory group, is long overdue. Perle quit the board because he was hired to help bankrupt telecommunications firm Global Crossing win approval from the Department of Defense to sell the company to a Hong Kong billionaire and lawmakers questioned whether Perle?s dual roles was a conflict-of-interest. See... Jason Leopold: Richard Perle - Enterprising Hawk
MORE:
- Perle Resignation Letter
- Secretary Of Defense Accepts Perle's Resignation
- Link - Untenable position / Richard Perle is too conflicted to stay
Investigative Report Examines Rumsfeld's Relationship With Saddam - Examining recently released government and corporate sources, researchers at the Institute for Policy Studies have uncovered new evidence that oil has long been the driving concern behind US-Iraqi relations. See... Rumsfeld Ignored WMDs In Pursuit Of Oil Pipeline
Sights And Sounds Of A War Refugee Camp - Images and Impressions from World Vision's James Addis' first day at third country national (TCN) camp close to Jordan's Iraqi border. See... First Impressions at a Border Refugee Camp
More On The Peace Protestor Dick Cheney Cannot Ignore - The United Arab Emirates leading semi-official daily newspaper, Alittihad, reported on Thursday that a US government delegation had arrived in Amman, Jordan, on its way to Baghdad for negotiations with the Iraqi government about an immediate ceasefire. See... Cheney's Daughter To Be Human Shield In Baghdad?
Kaminsky: It Would Be Comical If It Weren't For The Blood - It would be comical if the very president whose whole pretext for existing was predicated on hyping up the U.S. military to unnecessarily scary levels turned out to be the loser who revealed to the world that American defenses were nothing but disoriented kids no match for desert tough guys ? plus mighty machines that don't work in bad weather and a sleazy symphony of finely tuned money-consuming BS that was usually false. See... John Kaminski: Alas, Babylon
A Welcome and a Roasting For Te Kaha
Protestors Welcome Home Te Kaha From The Gulf - Photo-Essay - The crew of HMNZS Te Kaha was this afternoon given contrasting messages : a ministerial welcome home, and a roasting from New Zealand's anti-war movement that NZ's presence in the Gulf is abhorrent. See... A Welcome and a Roasting For Te Kaha and Protest Planned At Te Kaha Return
NZ Calls For End To War At United Nations - While we acknowledge the endeavour to avoid civilian casualties, the loss of life on both sides is of deep concern. It is also essential that the Geneva Conventions be adhered to by all parties. See... NZ statement on Iraq to UN Security Council
REACTION:
- National - Frost thickens between Washington and Wellington
- Greens - Greens applaud NZ Call for end to hostilities
- ACT - Clark Further Insults Coalition of the Willing
Intelligence Failure In Iraq (1) - It was a lesson learned by the Russians in their campaign against the Wehrmacht that the way to defeat a blitzkrieg (essentially a modern cavalry raid) was to trade space for time ? where the theatre offered sufficient operational depth to facilitate this - and to allow the spearheads? momentum to exhaust itself before counterattacking their vulnerable flanks in force. See... Battlefield Questions - Who Said It Would Be Easy?
Intelligence Failure In Iraq (2) - Remember all those "intelligence sources" who promised that Iraqis would be cheering as the U.S. and U.K. armies rolled into Basra or Nasiriyah or any major town in southern Iraq? Apparently, in day 7 of the invasion of Iraq, these intelligence sources and their data are proving to be fallible.See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: What You Aren't Being Told
Firas Al-Atraqchi: The Civilian Casualties That Aren't - The images of carnage and severed bodies are quite telling. On Wednesday, coalition fighter jets bombed what they claimed were missile launchers located 'near' civilian areas in Baghdad. Instead, they hit a bustling marketplace in the heart of Baghdad. See... When the Coalition Kills and CNN Lies
War Propaganda And Asylum Seekers - 'They Were All Asylum Seekers': The Propaganda Campaign To Link Iraq To Terrorism At The Expense Of Refugees. By David Miller - Stirling University See... Linking Iraq To Terrorism At Expense Of Refugees
Someone Doesn't Like Arab TV Broadcasts - Al-Jazeera the internet wing of the Arab Satellite news agency has suffered an organised ?hack attack? blasting it off the face of cyber-space. See... Al Jazeera Is Brought Down By Hack Attackers
The Tui Billboard Bandits Are Disappointed!
Matthew Reid: Embarrassed In Iraq - The Iraqi people have a long and celebrated history. Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization, has been subjugated by the most uncivil of regimes. Saddam Hussein and, to borrow a favorite phrase of the Iraqi Minister of Information, his criminal gang have left a shameful stain on the Iraqi name. See... Matthew Reid: Embarrassing Your Nation
Hard News Is There! - Official Iraqi information on the war seems to have been a mixture of the familiar grand fantasy and apparently reliable body counts. The coalition side, meanwhile, seems desperately keen to reassure us that it's all going to plan, when in some respects it quite clearly isn't. See... HARD NEWS 26/03/03 - What The Russians Are Seeing - EARLIER - The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines actuality as "reality; realism", or, in plural, "existing conditions". This, said the communications manager of the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera, Jihad Ali Ballout, to Paul Holmes last night, is the essence of al-Jazeera's job... See... HARD NEWS 25/03/03 - Factualities
The Homefront: How To Take Back America - Marching in the streets is important work, but wouldn't we have greater success if we also took control of the United States government? It's vital to point out right-wing-slanted reporting in the corporate media, but isn't it also important to seize enough political power in Washington to enforce anti-trust laws to break up media monopolies? See... Thom Hartmann: How To Take Back America
MORE ON THE U.S. HOMEFRONT:
- William Rivers Pitt - The Lords of Vengeance
- Bernard Weiner - A Vietnam-era Dad Talks to His Protesting Son
- Norma Sherry - The Real American Peace Movement
John Kaminsky: Iraq War Is A Rerun Of Waco - Has anybody but me noticed that this tragic and needless Iraq operation is just like Waco? See... Iraq And Waco: Same Op., Larger Scale ? Same End?
A Peace Activist Whom Dick Cheney Cannot Ignore - The London based Arabic daily Al Quds Al Arabi reported on Tuesday, March 25 that the American vice president, Dick Cheney, would soon head to the Jordanian capital, Amman to convince his daughter, who was in the Jordanian capital, to back down her decision to go to Baghdad within a group of volunteers who want to form human shields against the US led attacks on Iraq. See... Scoop Link: Dick Cheney's Daughter A Human Shield?
John Cory: The Used And Abused War Media - Have you noticed? The media? Used and abused by Rumsfeld and still breathlessly sucking the exhaust pipe of war that left them at the starting gate. See... John Cory: Your Media At Work
One Of The Televised POWs Is A Kiwi! - A USA based news agency has named one of the American POW?s as Sgt. James Riley, who also holds New Zealand citizenship. Riley is reported as having lived in New Zealand until the age of ten years. See... US POW Has New Zealand Citizenship
100,000 Kids Under 5-Years Risk Death in Basra: UN - In Basra, Iraq, child deaths are very real from this war, but also from disease, diarrhoea and dehydration. In this region of Iraq alone, the UN estimates 100,000 children under the age of five are at risk. See... What UNICEF said at today?s UN briefing
U.S. Prisoners Shown On Arab TV
The War Pictures You Are Not Supposed To See - Somebody doesn't like hearing the truth. Okay, for a second, lets scratch that and choose a slightly less politically charged term. Someone doesn't like to be disputed with alternative views, counterclaims, research and fact. Someone wants you, the reading public, to only gather one-sided, monotone, Orwellian dispatch. News the way they "fashion" it. See Scoop Columnist Firas Al-Atraqchi's report?. War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down, Again and the images causing all the trouble.. Scoop Images: U.S. POWs Shown On Al Jazeera TV Link: Truthout.org's Version Of Images (Very Graphic)
FULL COVERAGE:
- Scoop Link - Grisly Images Stoke Media Debate
- Amnesty Intl. - Iraq: Treatment of POWs
- ADF Advisory - Identifying prisoners of war
- DoD Advisory - On Coverage of POWs and Deceased
- Recovered History - Al Qaeda Prisoners At Camp X-Ray
War Is Not Like A Basketball Mis-match -I hope the stock market gets hammered. I hope the Iraqis set fire to as many oil fields as possible. I hope oil prices in the United States surge and shortages persist. I hope the antiwar protestors become disobedient. I hope the economy never recovers. I hope Iraq doesn?t have weapons of mass destruction. I hope our troops make it home alive. See... Jason Leopold: The Reality of War Sinks In
Priest Paints Cross Of His Blood On US Consulate Floor - Anti-War Action - Today in Auckland two Christians, a Dominican priest and a member of the Catholic Worker movement, made a cross with their own blood on the floor of the U.S. Consul?s office, after reading to him the following statement. See... Priest Crosses US Consul Office With His Blood. See also plans for similar actions in the U.S. Capital? Civil Disobedience Action by Religious Leaders
David Miller: It's Time To Think About The Aftermath - It is interesting to see that even after the onset of hostilities in Iraq, many people are still protesting about the war, even in Christchurch. See... David Miller : What happens After the War?
Barb Sumner Delivers Both Barrels To A War Supporter - Point of View: After taking time out to finish her first novel, Bathing Naked, Barbara Sumner Burstyn couldn?t resist returning to print to reply to this letter from an LA based American acquaintance. See... POV: Friends and Acquaintances and Borders Defined
All News Is Lies - Even by the standards of dishonesty which one has come to expect from London and Washington, the eight-month long Anglo-American political campaign against Iraq has been brazen. See... All News Is Lies With SRA's John Laughland
The Illegality Of The Iraq War & A Way Out- A U.S. War on Iraq Violates U.N. Charter - 'Uniting for peace' resolution may be last option to stop conflict - Interview with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights conducted by Scott Harris See... BTL: A U.S. War on Iraq Violates U.N. Charter
New Outbreak Of Gulf War Syndrome Feared - Concerns for the health of UK troops in Iraq was expressed by Green the Party today, at fears that another outbreak of "Gulf War Syndrome" may be imminent. See... DU threat to UK troops very real - top scientist
Tony Blair Sells His War To The UK Parliament - Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that the campaign in Iraq will be carried out to minimise the suffering of its people and to safeguard the wealth of the country for their future prosperity. See... Blair: A war not of conquest but of liberation
St Molesworth Listens To Saddam's Answerphone - 1. "Hi, I've always been a big admirer. Kia kaha. It's Keith Locke here." 2. "Mike Hosking here. Your hair always looks great - what product do you use?" See... Top 10 Messages On Saddam Hussein's Answer Phone
Four Biting Anti-War Cartoons From John Chuckman - Four web-only cartoons from Canadian commentator and cartoonist John Chuckman ? See... Chuckman Cartoons: The Ugly Side Of War
Scoop Feedback: Swiss Police Respond To Tear Gas Report - Hi! The police of Geneva is looking for the dead person it is supposed to have killed, according to your web site. Can you help us? See... Scoop Feedback: Looking For A Dead Person . See also... Scoop Photo-Essay: Swiss Police Attack School-Kids
Watching War On The Telly Critiqued - And now the news models at CNN lift up the shell and - whadayaknow? - it's not Adolph Hitler under there at all but just some dispirited, ill-trained and ill- motivated Iraqis in soldiers' uniforms looking to surrender. See... Undernews: Following The War
MORE:
- UQ Wire: Mr. Bush's War
- Dennis Hans: Wednesday Night Warfare
This In Baghdad Brings...
This In Wellington....
Wellingtonians March For Peace - Four or five thousand Wellingtonians took to the streets on a beautiful day today to protest against the war currently underway in Iraq. See... Scoop Images: Wellington Marches Against War - M22 and Scoop Panorama: March 22nd
Auckland Marches Against USA-Led War - Photo-Essay: [Part 1] Approximately 10,000 people of all ages and races took part in a protest march against the USA-UK-Australia-Spain?s decision to begin killing Iraqi people in this latest US-Led War against Iraq. See... 10,000 People in Auckland March In Disgust of USA [Part 1] and [Part 2]
MORE:
- Placards: 10,000 People in Auck March Against War
- Photo-Essay: Children Say USA Stop Killing Kids
- Cops Gather Intelligence at Anti-War Protest. Peace Protest At Parlt.
William Rivers Pitt: Burning Baghdad - The city of Baghdad, founded in 762 A.D. under the name Madinat as-Salam ? 'City of Peace' ? is this day a lake of fire. The opening stage of the Bush administration's "Shock and Awe" attack plan began as night fell on Iraq, and lived terribly up to its terrible name. See... UQ Wire: Now, I Am the Terrorist
Marc Ash: Paris In WWII Compared Baghdad 2003 - If you thought that a classic German blitzkrieg was a history lesson, stay tuned. What is happening in Baghdad right now will make the invasion of Poland look reasonable by comparison. See... Marc Ash: Is Baghdad Burning?
Firas Al-Atraqchi: Here Comes The Islamic Backlash - Feelings of anger and outrage in the Arab world are becoming more vocal as the first day of military action winds down. See... Firas Al-Atraqchi: Disillusion, Anger on Arab St.
Eco-Economy: A War To Enforce The Almighty US Dollar - Why is George Bush so hell bent on war with Iraq? Why does his administration reject every positive Iraqi move? It all makes sense when you consider the economic implications for the USA of not going to war with Iraq. The war in Iraq is actually the US and Europe going head to head on economic leadership of the world. See... Eco-Economy: Economic Perspective On The War
MORE ON THE ECONOMICS OF WAR:
- The Truth About War And U.S. Oil Stocks
- SRA Commentary: Dictate, Dependence and Deficits
- Neville Bennett: Last Days
Japanese Admit What The Americans Will Not ? The Markets Are Rigged - Not content with moves to restrict short selling, to allow companies to break rules applying to share buybacks, to sell their currency, and to mobilize state pension monies massively to move the Nikkei off yet another 20-odd year low, the Japanese let slip that they'd cut a deal with the U.S. authorities to provide a little mutual assistance in their attempt at subverting markets. See... He Really Shouldn't Have Said That, Should He?
Peace Protestors Shot At And Tear Gassed In Geneva
Scoop Broke The News ? Swiss Police Shoot Anti-War Kids ? Here is photo-coverage of hundreds of Swiss school children being fired upon by riot police outside the US Mission in Geneva. The attack, witnessed by workers from the nearby World Health Organization, was unprovoked. See... Scoop Photo-Essay: Swiss Police Attack School-Kids and the Scoop report? Swiss Police Attack Anti-War Protesting Children. See also... Photo-Essay: March 20 Protests in Auckland
Dennis Hans And William Pitt: War On The Telly -The television in the other room is filled with purposeful, strident music. All sorts of well-coifed 'journalists' on CNN and MSNBC are parading across the screen in stylishly-cut desert gear from Banana Republic. Graphics sail by periodically, describing whatever sort of bomb is striking a faraway city of five million innocent civilians. See... UQ Wire: Mr. Bush's War and Dennis Hans: Wednesday Night Warfare
Analysis On The Reasons For This War - On March 20, the United States began its military campaign against Iraq. The self-stated goal of this action is to remove the current Iraqi government and replace it with a U.S.-friendly regime. Washington has also expressed its desire to occupy Iraq until the Middle Eastern state is stable enough for self-government. See... PINR: U.S. Government Objectives In Iraq
Scoop Poem: An Antidote To Feelings Of Powerlessness - This is a perfect moment. It's a perfect moment for many reasons, but especially because you and I are waking up from our sleepwalking thumbsucking dumbclucking collusion with the masters of illusion and destruction. See... Painful Blessings - This Is A Perfect Moment
U.S. Community Columnist Lost His Column For This! I would say that people who hold up the First Amendment as an example of America?s greatness but then disparage those who exercise that right to peaceably assemble are the real, useful idiots. See... Guest Opinion: Who Are The Real, Useful Idiots?
The Fire Ground From Space
Images Confirm Oil Wells Are Alight
US Senator Robert Byrd On The Arrogance of Power - " I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength. But Senator Robert Byrd: Today, I Weep for my Country"
George Secures The Spoils Of War - I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby determine...that it is in the interest of the United States to confiscate certain property of the Government of Iraq and its agencies, instrumentalities, or controlled entities, and ... See... Confiscating and Vesting Certain Iraqi Property and U.S. Confiscates Iraqi Bank Balances
With War Underway The Hawks Talk
- White House - President Meets with Cabinet - Remarks And Image and Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer - March 20, 2003
- UK Govt. - Iraq: the Military Campaign Objectives and UK Prime Minister's Address to the Nation
- DoD - Photo-Essay: USA Attacks Iraq and DoD News Briefing March 20 - Rumsfeld & Gen. Myers
Indonesia Condemns The Invasion - The Government and the people of Indonesia strongly deplores the unilateral action taken by the Government of the United States of America and its allies that have decided to go to war against Iraq. See... Indonesia Strongly Deplores Unilateral Action
MORE INTERNATIONAL REACTION:
- Russia - Putin on Iraq at a Kremlin Meeting
Peace Pope Prays For Iraqi People - After learning of the outbreak of war, John Paul II offered his Mass this morning for the Iraqi people, ZENIT learned from Vatican sources. See... Pained by War, John Paul II Prays for Iraqi People and Pope Requests Prayers for "Precious Gift" of Peace
Meanwhile On The Western Front?. Israel Invades Nablus - Before dawn this morning the Israeli Army of Occupation invaded the Old City with tanks and motorised infantry for the fifth time in the past month. See... ISM Update of 20 March 2003: Nablus
Auckland U.S. Consulate Emergency Peace Protest (1) - (2)
THE WAR HAS STARTED - The White House has announced that operations to invade Iraq have begun. For the full text of U.S. President George Bush's announcement that the attack on Iraq had commenced. See... NewsFlash: President Bush Announces Gulf War II
War May Not Be The Walkover Everybody Is Expecting - The actual tactical situation, never terribly auspicious because of the Kurdish wild card that receives far too little attention, has deteriorated for the US. The denial of a ground front from both Saudi Arabia and Turkey has completely reshuffled the tactical deck, and caused many a sleepless night for harried commanders from Task Force Headquarters all the way down to lonely infantry platoon leaders. See... UQ Wire: The Idiot Prince Will Have His War
Prime Minister Regrets War Has Begun - The government reiterates its profound regret that the diplomatic process being conducted in the Security Council and through the inspection and disarmament process was unable to run its course. See... PM Statement to the House on military action
MORE:
- Govt - Avoid travel to Middle East, warns Goff and $3.3 million to assist humantarian relief in Iraq
- Young Labour Condemns Approach of War
- National pushes for immediate Govt action on Iraq
- Greens - Greens MPs join Wellington peace march and Bush's day of shame
- Matt Robson -Military Invasion of Iraq
War Has Begun: Vigil 5pm US Consulate - The war has started. Bombing reported in Baghdad. There is an emergency protest from 5pm today at the US Consulate, Citibank Building, Customs St. Mass protest this Saturday, assemble 12 noon QE2 Square. See... War Has Begun ? Vigil 5pm
ALSO:
- Peace Movement Aotearoa - War begins: emergency response details
- Direct Action - Smash The US Embassy Today At 5pm.
- Canterbury Students - Canterbury Students to Rally Against War
- Scoop Link: Anti-war Flash
Greenpeace Calls For Immediate Ceasefire - Greenpeace deplores this illegal unilateral war on Iraq and calls for an immediate ceasefire and UN General Assembly negotiations for peace and disarmament. See... Statement On War In Iraq
Baghdad Attacked. Image courtesy of German Federal Government.
Who Is On The Side Of This War? - The U.S. "Coalition Of The Willing" has finally been named. In naming it U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell observed that it was a bigger group than that arrayed to support the first Gulf War in 1991. The facts indicate otherwise. See... The Coalition Of The Willing [/Killing] Is Named
Yeah Right! - Images supplied by a Scoop reader of modified Tui Beer billboards in Wellington? See... Scoop Images: Wellington's Anti-War Tui Billboards
Where's The Money For Civilian Victims Of War? - According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, Britain is spending hundreds of millions on the war with Iraq but has pledged only $1million in response to a desperate appeal for money to shelter an estimated 3.5 million Iraqi's predicted to be forced from their homes during the conflict. This is a crime against humanity. Maree Howard writes. See... Military Receives Billions, Civilian's Only Crumbs
Stateside: Rosalea's War Diary - Good morning, good morning, good morning! Well, possums, I hope you don't mind if I write to you every day - sharing all the endearing little details of life Stateside. See... Stateside with Rosalea: VE Day
EARLIER ROSALEA:
- Wednesday - Stateside with Rosalea: Eureka!
- Tuesday - Stateside with Rosalea: Faith and gomorrah
- Monday - Stateside with Rosalea: Fries with that?
UNSG Kofi Annan Outlines The Responsibilities Of The Invader - "Under international law, the responsibility for protecting civilians in conflict falls on the belligerents; in any area under military occupation, responsibility for the welfare of the population falls on the occupying power." See... Kofi Annan Statement To The Security Council
UNMOVIC's Hans Blix On What Might Have Been - Top United Nations arms inspector Hans Blix today presented a work programme (SEE BELOW) to the Security Council on the key remaining tasks for disarming Iraq, expressing also his sadness that inspections had run out of time. See... Outlining disarmament tasks for Iraq - Blix, Council Hears Report of Chief UN Weapons Inspector and UNSC discusses Iraqi disarmament, relief aid
War Approaches & Gold And Oil Prices Fall! Go Figure - It has been suggested that we are experiencing a rigged gold and stockmarket in advance of war in Iraq, the following clearly suggests we are also experiencing a rigged oil market. See... The Truth About War And U.S. Oil Stocks
MORE ON THE ECONOMICS OF WAR:
- SRA Commentary: Dictate, Dependence and Deficits
- Neville Bennett: Last Days
Could ICBMs Be Used To Induce "Shock & Awe"
Two quotes from CNN today One U.S. official said Bush has no problem with letting the Iraqi military "stare up at the sky for a little bit." Earlier, Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, said allied forces were prepared to carry out an "unprecedented" campaign: "If we go, the plans we have are unlike anything anyone has ever seen before."
One Way To Bring Shock And Awe To Iraq ? Via ICBMs -The attack on Iraq may begin with the firing of 5-10 conventionally-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles from the US mainland on Saddam Hussein "strongholds" in and around Baghdad and perhaps Tikrit. See... Possible Use Of ICBMs Against Iraq ? 8 Reasons Why. See also... New Research Exposes "Shock and Awe" War Plans
Martin LeFevre - Meditations: What Being “Inward Looking” Really Means
Binoy Kampmark: Blinken Atrocious In A Dangerous World
Jim Mikoz: Look Out Rocks … Oops Too Late
Peter Dunne: Dunne’s Weekly - National And Labour Combine To Shut Out Greens
Ramzy Baroud: Voting Against Genocide - How Gaza Defeated The Democratic Establishment 
Alastair Thompson: Google's Support For Democracy And Media In NZ | Part 2