posted 03-23-2003 10:28 PM            

Spotless...Good conduct award, NUC, MUC, many awards and commendations.1 from the former Captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. I had a good tour of duty. The only thing that made me leave was the red tape.

Dubya and his admin. is the only insult to all servicemembers past and present.

posted 03-23-2003 10:51 PM            

Whitewashing the PNAC.. Project for a New American Century: "If You Can't Beat It Feature It" - Part I
http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_johannsen_031103_pnac.html

By Tom Johannsen

Until recently few Americans knew the curious details of the 1997 plan to inject an American military presence into the Persian Gulf. The "Project for a New American Century" the admitted brainchild of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz amongst others; remained absent from the 2000 Presidential debates and the eyes of the American public.

You can find the ABC transcript on the subject here: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ThePlan.htm

Ted Koppel, a master of the Hegelian dialect technique "problem-reaction-solution," frames the viewers thoughts by stating, "You can watch our story tonight on at least two levels. One, the conspiracy theory, as in this excerpt from a Scottish newspaper, the Glasgow "Sunday Herald". "A secret blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure regime change even before he took power in January 2001." And a similar, if slightly more hysterical version from a Russian paper, the "Moscow Times". "Not since Mein Kampf has a geopolitical punch been so blatantly telegraphed, years ahead of the blow." Mr. Koppel shrewdly defines two "conspiratorial" extremes to consider. Allowing the third "viewing level" of the PNAC representatives to take the seemingly moderate ground.

Mr. Koppel further states: "Take away the somewhat hyperbolic references to conspiracy, however, and you're left with a story that has the additional advantage of being true."

Mr. Koppel later presents his own somewhat hyperbolic statement: "Hardly a conspiracy, the proposal was out there for anyone to see" to further comfort and distract his viewers. This "journalistic" technique slams the door on a multitude of other facts that are quite pertinent. Facts that Mr. Koppel suggests should not be considered germane to the subject at hand. Facts to be discarded by simple omission primarily because they are "conspiracy theories" even if they are true.

Jackie Judd of ABC News now joins the fray by appearing to ask a probing question. "Inside this building, behind this door, is the brain trust that some suspect has led the US to the brink of war." No kidding Jackie you really think so?

Gary Schimtt spokesman for the PNAC responds "I think we've had a lot of influence because I think we've set the terms of kind of a way to think about the world that, in fact, has been picked up in some measure by this Administration" Picked up by in "some measure"? These guys designed PNAC from the start and they openly admit it. They are the current US Administration.

Here is where Jackie Judd tips her "journalistic" hand; instead of pursuing the obvious, Judd becomes an apologist for the PNAC setting up Schmitt's next statement by not asking a question but instead stating: "The Project for the New American Century is a loose collection of mostly Republicans who came together out of frustration in 1997."

PNAC's Schmitt replies: "I think the principles are those of Ronald Reagan. A strong America. A morally-grounded foreign policy. As well as a foreign policy that defended American security and American interests. And understanding that American leadership was key to, not only world stability, but any hope for spreading democracy and freedom around the world." Too bad we can't ask Mr. Reagan what his views are. Instead; we are forced to rely on Schmitt's personal opinion.

I have one question for Mr. Schmitt: Where does the United States Constitution say America should spread "Our morality, democracy or freedom around the world"?

ABC's Judd then journalistically strips naked before the world and leads the audience to the Democrats vs. Republicans by stating: "With a Democrat in the White House, these were people in the political wilderness". ABC's Judd encourages viewers to embrace the fraud that there is the slightest measurable difference between Democrats and Republicans. There isn't. The only political wilderness around here is the one "We the People" have been relegated to. Bush equals Clinton without the fat girl fetish. Bush has a war fetish instead. Everyone knows it.

And Judd Continues: "Now, Cheney is Vice President. Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary. Wolfowitz, his deputy. Of the 40 people who signed the Project's letters, sent to then-president Clinton in 1998, ten are now in the Bush Administration". Only 25% of the letters signers are in the present Administration? This should make all Americans feel much better about the PNAC.

Another PNAC representative William Kristol responds: "We didn't finish the job in 1991 against Saddam. So, our sense was that lots of lives were being lost, lots of instability was being loosed upon the world. Lots of terrible things were really being loosed upon the world because America was being too timid and too weak and too unassertive in the post-Cold War era".

Kristol conveniently diminishes Great Britain and America having propped up numerous murderous dictators in the middle east i.e. Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran over the last century. A minor "Faustian" detail. An unfortunate mistake. Perhaps Mr. Kristol really meant to say: if you want the job done right; do it yourself. The job in this case: Seizing control of geographical advantage and resource of the Persian Gulf in the name of liberty. Here's some background on William Kristol. http://www.spectacle.org/1002/hogan.html

Then it gets more nauseating: Judd openly states: "In the blueprint, it says, the process of transformation is likely to be a long one. Absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor. Was 9/11, your Pearl Harbor"?

Remember: Judd is reading the PNAC blueprint that says: "the process of transformation is likely to be a long one. Absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor" "Was 9/11, your Pearl Harbor?"

Let's let Ms. Judd's first genuine question sink in a bit. Read this while the facts seep into your mind: http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_louise_022403_pearl.html

PNAC's Schimtt responds to ABC's Judd with "I think it was the country's Pearl Harbor. I think it was the President's Pearl Harbor. Wow the "Presidents Pearl Harbor"! A rather timely coincidence to say the least.

Perhaps Ms. Judd and ABC NEWS should take a quick look at this: http://www.prisonplanet.com/911.html

Judd goes on to say: "The Project, agitating outside and now inside the Administration, seized an opportunity after 9/11, which made war inevitable, argues Professor Ian Lustick of the University of Pennsylvania."

Professor Lustick responds: "Before 9/11, this group was in the position it is in but could not win over the President to this extravagant image of what foreign policy required. After 9/11, it was able to benefit from the gigantic eruption of political capital, combined with the supply of military preponderance in the hands of the President. And this small group, therefore, was able to gain direct contact and even control, now, of the White House". Does Lustick realize the obvious conclusion drawn by his statement regarding Bush's ability to lead his own staff.? I think so.

Does ABC's Judd? Not completely; Judd instead quotes the book "Bush At War," by Bob Woodward, it was only 30 hours after the 9/11 attacks, that Rumsfeld asked the President, why shouldn't the US go against Iraq, not just al-Qaeda? At the Pentagon on September 13th, Wolfowitz, for the first time, alluded to that broader goal. Frankly: I believe Bob Woodward should have named the Book "Karl Rove at War". Again Judd lets the issue slide to one of credibility by association with Paul Woflowitz; Deputy secretary of Defense who says: "It will be a campaign, not a single action. And we're gonna keep after these people and the people who support them until this stops. It has to be treated that way". Thus we begin America's 100 year war. A war ABC's Judd chooses to ignore; not explore.

Judd continues to pander to the PNAC's agenda providing Kristol opportunity to garner credibility by citing "Magazine articles, faxed memoranda, longer reports" as proof. The same methodology of some conspiracy theorists but unquestionably acceptable for Washington think tanks.

Judd suggests that only those outside the USA are considering such "conspiracy theory" Simply not true.

ABC News appears determined to take the "If you can't beat it feature it" approach to PNAC. ABC NEWS appears more engaged in damage control than News reporting.

ABC's Judd does a fine job of skimming over the pertinent facts of the PNAC while appearing to distract the viewer with rationale that leaks like a sieve.

Jackie Judd and ABC NEWS Ignore:

1.The outrageous coincidence of PNAC's need of a Pearl Harbor like event to catalyze PNAC's objective. Not to mention the timely occurrence of just such an attack on 911.

2. The fact that many historians now agree FDR was well aware of the Japanese plans to attack. FDR allowed it to occur.

3. In depth discussion of these so-called conspiracy theories. Since they are so crazy. How could it hurt to give them a listen? Wouldn't this be the ultimate "reality show"? Think of the ratings.

4. Bushâ's apparent weakness as a leader. Deferring instead to a PRIVATE Washington think tank to lead the American people into a never ending war. A 100 year war that will spill the blood of millions: including that of America's finest young adults. Sent on a mission devised by the very people who will fiscally profit from just such a plan.

5. The absence of real information regarding how 911 happened and why NORAD failed to protect the busiest air corridor in the world. Just how did Osama Bin Laden pull that one off?

By ignoring all of the above: ABC NEWS appears to whitewash the real issues regarding PNAC. Ironically leaving the report as initially described by Mr. Koppel. Which is: you may view our story tonight on at least two other levels: A Blatant Whitewash or a Crock of Excrement.

In part two: Mr. Koppel seeks to lend credibility to the PNAC agenda by tossing about spelling bee champion Dan Qualye's name .

posted 03-23-2003 11:50 PM            

mech's iraq body count gets it's numbers from mainstream media...and ABC news....

shills shills shills !

snort !

posted 03-24-2003 12:26 AM            

3/17/03
>The GRU chief reported that due to the current international situation it is unlikely that the US will seek a vote in the UN Security Council on the new Iraq resolution. Doing so will inevitably lead to a failure to gain necessary support, which is most undesirable for the US. Therefore, the Bush administration will prefer to act using the previous UN resolution as an excuse for starting the war.

It seems likely that the combat operations will begin on 19-22 of March at around 2-4 am local time.
< http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/news066.htm

3/22/03
>The coalition commander Gen. Tommy Franks demanded from the Air Force a maximum possible increase in the close air support of the ground forces. During a "radio-bridge" with the commanders of all units Gen. Franks expressed his concern with the mounting casualties and the stubborn Iraqi resistance. "We've just spent three days trying to capture one small town, so we can only guess what awaits us in Baghdad!" - angrily said the commander and demanded better aviation support to soften up the defending Iraqi forces ahead of the advancing coalition units.

For the past day the coalition losses ar up to 30 killed and around 40 wounded. Ten coalition armored vehicles were destroyed my land mines. At least two armored vehicles were destroyed by anti-tank weapons.

Iraqi losses are estimated in the range of 250-300 killed and up to 500 wounded. So far it is not possible to determine the damage from the night bombing raids. However, more than 500 people have been taken to hospitals in Baghdad - all of them were civilians.
<
>March 22, 2003, 1300hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - Additional information about the situation in the primary combat areas in southern Iraq became available by 1300hrs (Moscow time, GMT +3). The US command reports about the supposed surrender of the entire Iraqi 51st Infantry Division turned out to be a complete fabrication. According to our sources the 51st Division continues to fight on the approaches to Basra and we can only talk about individual cases of Iraqi soldiers being captured in combat.<

>By 1100hrs MSK Iraqi units advanced into the US attack front by 10-15 kilometers and Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of the coalition forces, ordered his troops to switch entirely to defensive operations. At the same time he issued orders to the forward-deployed coalition tank units to halt their reconnaissance operations in the directions of Es-Samaba and An-Najaf and to move immediately to support the defending US forces. <
>Currently the US and the Iraqi tank forces are engaged in mobile head-on combat approximately 70-90 kilometers to the south of An-Nasiriya. Combat orders have been received by the carrier borne aviation in the Persian Gulf, which until now did not take part in this battle. At the same time orders were issued to all available coalition strike aircraft in Qatar to scramble in support of the defending coalition forces.

Intercepted radio communications indicate that during the morning period of March 22 the US forces lost 10-15 tanks destroyed or disabled and up to 30 other armored vehicles. Medevac helicopters flew more than 30 search-and-rescue missions, which suggests heavy coalition losses.

Our sources report that during the early morning hours in southwestern Iraq in the vicinity of Akashat the Iraqi forces have engaged and surrounded a tactical paratroop unit of the 101st Airborne Division. Some of the surrounded paratroopers were able to break out into the desert, where they request air support and finally lost their Iraqi pursuers. However, up to 30 US troops were killed or captured in this engagement. Additionally, [Russian] radio intercept units report that one the US attack helicopters providing close air support was shot down.
<
>March 23, 2003, 1200hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - The situation in southern Iraq can be characterized as unstable and controversial. Heavy fighting is taking place in the Umm-Qasr-An-Nasiriya-Basra triangle. Satellite and signals intelligence show that both sides actively employ armored vehicles in highly mobile attacks and counterattacks. Additionally, fighting is continuing near the town of An-Najaf.

As of this morning the Iraqi defenses along the Basra - An-Nasiriya - An-Najaf line are holding.
<
>During the last day of fighting the Iraqis lost up to 20 tanks, up to 2 artillery batteries, and around 100 troops.

Yesterday's US losses are estimated at 10 destroyed or disabled tanks, several armored personnel carriers and up to 15 troops killed in action.
<
>[Russian] radio intercept units have reported the loss of two coalition planes. One of the planes was a "Tornado" strike aircraft and the other one was believed to be an F-16 fighter-bomber. The F-16 was shot down over Baghdad and is believed to have crash-landed in a desert in southern Iraq. A coalition search-and-resque unit was immediately dispatched to this area.

A CIA referent in the combat area Col. Davis (likely to be a pseudonym) and the US DoD Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) regional director were demoted due to their inadequate performance in estimating the strength of Iraq's forces and their combat readiness.

Eyewitnesses report that Gen. Tommy Franks looks extremely exhausted and irritated. Gen. Franks has cancelled the meeting with journalists planned for this morning.
<
>All reports coming from the journalists attached to the coalition units are now being strictly censored by the military. All live broadcasts, as those seen during the first day of the war, are now strictly prohibited by a special order from the coalition command. The required time delay between the time news video footage was shot and the time it can be broadcast has been increased to a minimum of 4 hours.

More accurate information became available regarding the losses sustained by both sides during the first three days of the war. The coalition has officially acknowledged the deaths of some 25 servicemen. However, intercepted radio communications show that the actual number of coalition casualties is at least 55-70 troops killed and no less than 200 wounded. The emergency dispatch of the "Comfort" medical ship closer to the combat zone is a direct indication of serious casualties. The "Comfort" is expected to arrive to the southern tip of the Fao peninsula later tonight.

posted 03-24-2003 12:40 AM            

and unfortunately this is a war...death is a bitter by-product of the greater good...

btw you said you moderated several forums...lets have a look at them shatoga....

posted 03-24-2003 01:01 AM            

Actually read it and pay attention & you find the link.

Members' only forums:
Even if you had a link, casual visitors only see General.
Membership is via invitation and vote of current members.
Administrators may get the link on request.

Try FreeRepublic Seeker.
You'll fit right in.

Try to figure out whom I might be there.
http://www.freerepublic.com/
Newtspeak translation: >trashing our constitution/censoring freedom of speech<

Accusations of propagandizing considered.

Of course you know this one already:
>GOP Team Leader Recruits Nearly 2,000
New Activists in First 2 Weeks<

>April 8, 2002 - WASHINGTON, DC - The Republican National Committee, with the technological expertise of The Bivings Group, has launched a new Internet program<
GOP Going 'Amway' to Spread Agenda
"The GOP has launched an Internet-based campaign that includes a points-for-products system to spread its agenda throughout the country."
"The Web site http://www.gopteamleader.com
-- features interactive pages with links to radio and television stations, and partisan talking points that users can personalize and e-mail directly to Democrats in Washington and in their state."
"The site also features a data-sharing "Got Info?" page where "leaders share intelligence with the GOP, acting as our 'eyes-and-ears' on the ground."
<
>The Republican National Committee, with the technological expertise of The Bivings Group, has launched a new Internet program<

posted 03-24-2003 02:08 AM            

I do not participate in exclusionary forums...personally I consider it a diluted form of racism...also I think at this point it is clear that you feel those who do not carry you opinion...are trolls...

trolls are liars

trolls are spammers

trolls use multiple log-in's

trolls are racists

trolls use profanity atleast once in every sentence

under my criterian those people don't deserve to post in forums...everyone else should...

there's my slam at the strawman...now go tell your click about it...

grins

posted 03-24-2003 09:59 AM            

The "Muslim fragger" and the iraq war.

By Sherman H. Skolnick
http://www.gooff.com/NM//templates/Breaking_News.asp?articleid=504&zoneid=20

March 23, 2003

The following may possibly be related to my 3/22/3 story "The Overthrow of the American Republic", Part 30: http://www.skolnicksreport.com

A U.S. airman, reportedly a Muslim, serving at a highly secure rear airbase in Kuwait, was arrested as a suspect in having fired guns and hurled hand grenades into the tents of his commanding officers, wounding several of them.

This is based on several radio reports of BBC London heard in the U.S., 3/22/3, several times on the network, National Public Radio.

Also a possibly related historical note: As anti-war sentiment and peace parades escalated in the United States during the Viet Nam War, there were reports of numerous incidents of disgruntled U.S. soldiers in Viet Nam, throwing hand grenades into the tents of their commanding officers, calculated to murder top officers blamed for keeping the war going. At that time, it was called "fragging".

To wind down that growing unpopular war, and to extricate the American aristocracy from being blamed for starting the war for profit by a fraudulent "Gulf of Tonkin" incident, the American CIA had government-paid supposed peacenik leaders highly publicized by the spy-riddled monopoly press. So-called "peace leaders" were promoted and installed to direct the conclusion of the war as to evade mentioning how the major war-mongers, tied to the press-fakers, profited from the terrible bloodshed in a seemingly endless conflict.

These peace-fakers included Rennie Davis, part of the notorious "Chicago Seven", whose father was a strategist and consultant to pro-war Richard Nixon in the White House. To misdirect dissent, Rennie, part of the Chicago Seven, created staged riots with the Chicago Police, in 1968, during the Democrat Presidential Convention. The upshot and purpose? To discredit Democrat Presidential candidates and assist Nixon taking over the Presidency and continuing the war.

As I documented at the time, Rennie Davis, Tom Hayden (more recently in the California State Assembly), Abbie Hoffman (whose family were in the pharmaceutical business and Abbie liked to make jokes to popularize dope), and Jerry Rubin (another dope promoter) and other supposed peacenik leaders were heavily and secretly financed by the Roger Baldwin Foundation. In 1967, that Foundation quietly took over the American Civil Liberties Union which as an actual entity does not continue thereafter to exist although the name continues to be used to mislead the public. In the 1970s, I taught seminars at various colleges in Chicago and across the nation and at a radio broadcast school in Chicago, as to the methods of tracing funds from the American CIA to fake "for sale" leaders and government-paid agents-provocateurs. A favorite trick, for example, of Rennie Davis, was to lead poorly informed, good-hearted peace marchers into the bayonets of national guards troops guarding military facilities and weapons armories. Rennie would peal off from the peace marchers and disappear two blocks or so from the confrontation.

In 1972, Rennie was on a live television show broadcast in Chicago. I was a spectator in the audience. As a paraplegic, I got up on my braces and crutches, and haltingly got myself onto the live tv set. I confronted Rennie Davis with the specific details of how he was secretly financed through CIA-linked foundations, such as the Roger Baldwin Foundation which took over the ACLU. The tv station went blank on the program. To protect Rennie, 18 heavily armed police were called in to take me away to jail on charges of alleged trespass.

The United Press International wire service photo of me confronting Rennie Davis on the live television show appeared in many newspapers without adequate explanations as to what it was about. During my jury trial on the trespass charges, I defended myself, being self-educated in law, and subpoenaed the Chicago Station Chief of the American CIA, a person and title of domestic U.S. operations forbidden to exist under the CIA Charter. (I had previously located the secret office of the CIA official in the federal courthouse building.) The resulting jury trial commotion enabled me to be turned loose and freed from the trespass charges.

Many years later, Rennie's CIA-financed gang members, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, were killed or found dead under circumstances strongly indicating they were murdered to shut them up. In 1988, at the 20th anniversary of the 1968 events of the Chicago Seven, I attempted to tape an interview with Abbie. He fled from my tape recorder. A friend of his told me Abbie had just survived getting almost killed when his vehicle was in a sabotaged crash situation.

Unlike Rennie Davis and his CIA-financed white-washers who protected big business from being fingered as war-profiteers, I spoke in the 1970s at numerous peace rallies with specific details of the war-mongering industries, interwoven with top level Federal banker-judges and press-fakers, and activities of America's secret political police and their domestic units. At the time, I greatly angered media celebrities and hotshots by fingering some of them with their CIA connections. And, since 1991, through my public access Cable TV weekly show, I continue from time to time with the same.

In the 1970s, at student-sponsored seminars, I taught a several week course to large audiences at the University of Illinois, Chicago campus. My subjects included details of CIA-linked foundations misdirecting and limiting dissent by installing and buying supposed "leaders" of dissent movements. As to the CIA foundations, visit my website story, by scrolling all the way down my Home Page list of stories, to my story, first posted in 1999, "A Short History of Reported CIA Fronts".

We have a limited number of self-printed leaflets, a little shelf-worn, left-over from those we distributed at anti-war rallies in the early 1970s, as to the CIA's involvement with the Chicago Seven. To get that, send one dollar and a stamped, self-addressed BUSINESS size envelope [ #10 envelope, 4-1/8 x 9-1/2 ], to Citizen's Committee to Clean Up the Courts, Sherman H. Skolnick, Chairman, 9800 So. Oglesby Ave., Chicago IL 60617-4870. The heavily detailed leaflets tell a rather complete story of CIA involvement.

posted 03-24-2003 10:19 AM            

Battles Rage in Iraqi Cities, Bodies Litter Desert

Sun March 23, 2003 11:17 PM ET
By Luke Baker and Rosalind Russell
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=IOV0O1IAZQX3MCRBAEOCFEY?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2433522

SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) - Charred Iraqi corpses smolder in burned-out trucks. Black smoke hangs over bombed cities where U.S. troops battle Iraqi soldiers. Youths greet British tanks with smiles, then sneer when they have passed.

Reuters correspondents in southern Iraq -- some with U.S.-led forces, some operating independently -- watched the war to topple Saddam Hussein unfold on Sunday as U.S. convoys advanced on Baghdad and battles raged for control of key cities. In the desert near the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, just 100 miles south of Baghdad, correspondent Luke Baker traveled through a plain littered with Iraqi bodies and gutted vehicles after U.S. forces fought a seven-hour battle against militiamen desperately trying to halt their advance.

Some vehicles were still smoldering, and charred ribs were the only recognizable part of three melted bodies in a destroyed car lying in the roadside dust.

"It wasn't even a fair fight. I don't know why they don't just surrender," said Colonel Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group. "When you're playing soccer at home, 3-2 is a fair score, but here it's more like 119-0."

U.S. troops showed reporters a hideout said to have been used by an Iraqi militiaman. The soldier who had used the hideout had only a filthy blanket to protect him from the cold desert nights, and just a plastic bag of raw meat for food.

When he fled, he left behind a picture of his two children.

Southeast of Najaf, Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire saw explosions and huge plumes of smoke over Nassiriya, a strategic city on the Euphrates river where U.S. forces have been fighting to secure bridges to allow them to advance toward Baghdad.

"It looks like artillery, or possibly air strikes," said Maguire, traveling with the U.S. 1st Marine Division.

BLACK SMOKE, WHITE FLAGS

In the southeastern city of Umm Qasr, Iraq's only deep-water port, U.S. and British forces used planes and tanks in a battle to dislodge at least 120 Iraqi Republican Guards.

Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft said British Harrier jets had dropped 500-pound bombs on the city, sending columns of black smoke curling into the air. When the bombing ended, some Iraqis could be seen waving white flags and surrendering.

As night fell U.S. soldiers were still using machinegun, artillery and mortar fire in an attempt to flush out another group of Iraqi fighters from a hideout.

Civilians streamed out of Umm Qasr and the city of Basra. Reuters correspondent Rosalind Russell, south of Basra, watched dozens of trucks and battered cars pass, crammed full with household belongings.

Machinegun and artillery fire echoed behind them.

"There is fighting in the center, on the streets. It is terrible," said Hussein, a 24-year-old engineer who works for the state-run southern oil company in Basra.

"We don't want Americans here. This is Iraq."

One group of Iraqi boys on the side of the road smiled and waved as a convoy of British tanks and trucks rolled by.

But once it had passed, leaving a trail of dust and grit in its wake, their smiles turned to scowls.

"We don't want them here," said 17-year-old Fouad, looking angrily up at the plumes of gray smoke rising from Basra.

He pulled a piece of paper from the waistband of his trousers. Unfolding it, he held up a picture of Saddam, showing the Iraqi leader sitting on a throne with a benign smile.

posted 03-24-2003 10:31 AM            

A nice "surgical", clean war?

THE men in suits assured us it would be swift, precise and decent. Those in khaki, such as General Tommy Franks, boasted the military machine was so efficient it would be "a campaign like no other in history".
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12770628&method=full&siteid=50143

But, as we have seen in the images thrown up by the most televisual war ever, it's the same old dirty, nasty game.

The elderly riddled with shrapnel and drenched in blood, babies with half their faces burned and mutilated soldiers lying in the trenches, expose how Baghdad and Basra today are simply modern equivalents of Dresden and Coventry.

No matter how smart your bombs are, war is about laying waste to cities and people. It is about pain and suffering and the kind of blind panic that has you firing into a river to kill what you think is a stricken pilot.

And this time the world is seeing it played out 24 hours a day on a dozen TV channels. Which might be not only the undoing of Bush and Blair but also the fuse which sets the anger of the Arab world alight.

Because this highly-addictive TV coverage has exploded the myth of the precise and blood-free war. It has reminded us that war should always be a last resort - and in this case it is nowhere near it.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The propagandists at Allied command gave unprecedented access to journalists and camera crews in the hope of showing how merciful their mission was.

But the many sickening sights we have seen have only strengthened the belief held by the majority of the world, that this is a futile and immoral attack on people who currently threaten no outsiders. Where are the chemical attacks? Where are Saddam's weapons of mass destruction?

Where are the links to international terrorists? Where are the millions of oppressed Iraqis defecting en masse to their liberators? Where are all the Iraqi lies?

BAGHDAD has been as honest or dishonest as Washington. Following Friday's cataclysmic attack you might have expected them to claim hundreds of dead civilians.

Instead they said there were three.

What of our side? The Americans claimed to have taken Umm Qasr two days ago, with their sickeningly triumphal raising of the Stars and Stripes. Yesterday they were still fighting. We were told the people of the south, Shi'ite Muslims who despise Saddam, would surrender without resistance. Some have. But many others are trying to repel the invaders.

We are not being given the full truth. We see screaming babies in ramshackle hospitals, stripped bare of supplies by a dozen years of medicine sanctions, and we despair at the lie that this war is a humanitarian mission to help a stricken people.

We see innocent civilians killed and maimed in their dilapidated homes, and we just don't know why it is happening in our name.

All we can conclude, especially after the astonishing blitz of Baghdad, is that Iraq is the testing ground for a devastating show of American might, aimed at warning enemies that if they step out of line they will be next. You cannot understate how dangerous this situation is for the leader of a Labour government. If Tony Blair loses the propaganda war it will destroy his credibility and possibly his career. The British will be tough on his war crimes and tough on the causes of them.

But that is the least of our worries. You see, we are not the only ones following this war through a close-up lens. So too are the Arabs.

And they saw something the other day that our propagandists do not yet admit to. The carnage in Basra's Jumhuriya hospital following coalition bombing which Iraq claims killed 77 civilians.

Al Jazeera TV beamed images across the Arab world of the dead and wounded, including a child with the back of its skull blown off. "It was a massacre," wailed one woman.

Imagine what effect that had on an already raging Arab world. Then imagine what future images of shock and awe we might soon see on our own doorstep.

posted 03-24-2003 11:09 AM            

War Could Be Big Business for Halliburton

Sun March 23, 2003 12:04 PM ET
By Carolyn Koo
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SIL4OT1REG5ZWCRBAEOCFEY?type=businessNews&storyID=2431755

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When it comes to making money from a war in Iraq, few can match the firepower of the company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Houston-based Halliburton Co. HAL.N can build roads and bridges and camps for American forces. It can transport personnel and provide other logistics. It can fight any fires Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein might set. And after the war, assuming a U.S. victory, it can help restore Iraq's infrastructure and oil production.

While questions remain over how much the work will boost the company's stock price, Halliburton's KBR engineering and construction division "is basically the 'corps of engineers' to the U.S. military," said Jim Wicklund, an analyst at Banc of America Securities. "It is expected that the occupying army's infrastructure could in large part be supplied by KBR."

At the same time, the company's oilfield services business, which is second only to Schlumberger Ltd. SLB.N , is likely to supply most of the heavy equipment to fight fires that Iraqi forces could set to oil wells and oil fields, as they did in Kuwait during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

And should the U.S. emerge victorious, Halliburton -- which develops oil fields and drills for oil all over the world -- has the connections and businesses to play a major role in rebuilding Iraq and ramping the nation's oil production capacity back up to pre-1991 Persian Gulf War levels.

"They have the businesses. They have the government relationship already well-established, and, as we all know, Cheney was the CEO, so it makes logical sense," said Denis Walsh, an equity analyst who covers the energy sector for State Street Research and Management.

NO COMMENT ON CONTRACTS

A Halliburton spokeswoman declined to speculate on "what may or may not happen with regards to Iraq."

She referred all queries to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which both said that contracts for fighting fires and rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure have yet to be awarded. Neither agency would disclose whether Halliburton had submitted any bids.

Other companies that could bid for firefighting contracts include Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc. WEL.A , Canada's Safety Boss Inc., RPC Inc.'s RES.N Cudd Pressure Control and Superior Energy Services Inc.'s SPN.N Wild Well Control Inc.

Reports earlier this month said that Halliburton won a contract to oversee firefighting in Iraq's oilfields but that has not been confirmed by either the company or the DOD.

"It is our information that a contract framework has already been signed," said Wicklund, who rates Halliburton a "buy" and does not own any of its shares.

This wouldn't be the first time Halliburton has played an important role in a U.S. war. Years before Cheney's stint at the helm, a predecessor company built the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station and several warships during World War II. It also helped build the Phan Rang Air Base in Vietnam in 1965.

More recently, after the Persian Gulf War, Halliburton helped put out oil well fires and repaired damaged buildings in Kuwait. It also provided food, laundry, transportation and other services to U.S. peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary during the Balkans conflict in the 1990s.

Estimates of how much Halliburton and other companies could reap from the infrastructure and restoration work vary, but analyst Michael Urban of Deutsche Bank said it could be as much as a total of $3 billion.

DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB

How much Halliburton would get is difficult to gauge, though any contracts it wins would certainly generate revenue, cash flow and earnings.

The potential contracts come at a time when Halliburton is contending with its liability for asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits, though the company made progress last December with a $4 billion settlement deal.

"The stock price would reflect that they have had investor concern over the ultimate (asbestos) liability," said Pierre Conner, an analyst with Hibernia Southcoast Capital who rates Halliburton a "buy" and does not own any of its shares.

The contracts also may not do much for the company's stock price, since the firefighting business is not a recurring one and the profit margins of the construction business are not typically high.

"While both would be positives to Halliburton, they aren't in our opinion overriding reasons to buy the stock," Wicklund said.

"I would think if you got any jump in the stock, it would be short-lived and somewhat muted by history. It's like winning a $3 lottery ticket. It beats not winning, but you can't quit your day job."

posted 03-24-2003 12:01 PM            

By Henry Makow Ph.D.
March 24, 2003
http://www.gooff.com/NM/templates/Breaking_News.asp?articleid=508&zoneid=2

Manipulation

Something very worrisome is happening. Some of Rockefeller's best toadies oppose the Iraq war. But Rockefeller and his ilk are responsible for this war. What gives?

It appears the global elite is dividing its minions into two "house teams" again. The last time this happened we had the Fascist-Communist slugfest called World War Two. The same satanic cabal controlled both sides and picked Germany to take the fall.

This time, the U.S., Britain and the "coalition of the willing" are on one side. On the other are France, Germany, Russia and China. The centre of global power is moving to China, Europe and Russia. I see a world war over Korea, or more likely Iran and control of Middle East oil. The U.S., overextended from Kuwait to Korea, will come up short.

My guess is that the US will find itself increasingly isolated and vilified as a result of the Iraq war. I suspect the hidden agenda is to bring down the world's last superpower; to replace the UN with a new instrument of "world government"; to kill a lot of people, and to wean Americans off democracy and their high standard of living.

GLOBALISTS AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR?

Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, George Soros, Mikail Gorbachev and Walter Cronkite are all globalist elder statesmen-for-hire. Curiously, they all oppose the Iraq war.

Jimmy Carter, a creation of Rockefeller's "Trilateral Commission" publicly supported more UN inspections. Mikhail Gorbachev said the war is a big mistake. Nelson Mandela called it a "tragedy" and warned Bush was plunging "the world into a holocaust."

Financial maven George Soros said:" The Bush doctrine is grounded in power; legality and legitimacy are decorations." Finally, Walter Cronkite, who is linked to Rockefeller's CFR warned:

"We are going to be in such a fix when this war is over, or before this war is over. Our grandchildren's grandchildren are going to be paying for this war. I look at our future as, I'm sorry, being very dark."

The leaders of Russia, France, Germany and China also voiced opposition with uncharacteristic bluntness. They must have the OK of the global money masters. "Military action ... is a big mistake," Vladimir Putin said. " Iraq has presented no danger..." China urged the US and Britain to halt their military actions.

France, Russia and Germany all refused a U.S. request to close their Iraqi embassies. North Korea apparently is preparing for war.

Even in England, major newspapers like The Mirror have been scathing in their criticism of Tony Blair. British newspapers belong to the same clan. I suspect England will defect to Europe's side before this fiasco is over.

PARALLELS TO WORLD WAR TWO

Before World War Two, a faction of the British elite built up Hitler. This was known as the "policy of appeasement." After Hitler fell into the trap of attacking Poland, they did a "sleight of hand" and replaced the accommodating Chamberlain with the defiant Churchill.

Iraq is a similar trap. The United States has squandered the sympathy and good will it earned on Sept 11. The images of the World Trade Centre have been replaced in the world's mind by the spectacular explosions in Baghdad.

The US comes across as a bully too cowardly to pick on anyone its own side. Notch this victory up beside its thrashings of Grenada, Panama and Serbia. The gloating by US TV commentators is particularly distasteful to the outside world

The damage to America's moral authority is incalculable. After this war, who will have sympathy for Americans if Chinese atomic bombs rain down on Los Angeles and New York? The devil degrades his victims before he destroys them.

ELITE TREASON

For almost 100 years, the American leadership class has belonged to an international cabal that is determined to dissolve all human loyalties, including the nation state, and establish a global tyranny. George Bush, who is part of this cabal, has led the American people into a trap.

Who in their right mind would deliberately alienate 1.3 billion Muslims? Of course Hussein is a bad man but this is not the motive. The U.S. is acting as gofer for the Zionists and the oil cartels, two leading parts of the cabal. They will come out ahead while Americans will foot the bill and take the brunt of Muslim indignation.

Can the U.S. even count on Israel? At his trial, Israeli Spy Jonathon Pollard was called "the greatest traitor in the history of the United States" (Gordon Thomas, Seeds of Fire, p.31-32). In the words of CIA Director George Tenet, Pollard, an American Jew, stole "every worthwhile intelligence secret we have." In the year prior to his arrest in Nov. 1986, Pollard transmitted "over 360 cubic feet of top secret paper to Israel," his trial was told.

According to Thomas, Israel's Mossad routinely trades information and technology with China's Secret Intelligence Service. (482) Pollard's information could have commanded a pretty price. Thomas says the theft from Los Alamos of the last 50 years of US nuclear research was also a joint Mossad-Chinese operation (33). He says an Israeli team inspected the American EP-3 spy plane the Chinese forced down in April 2001. (487)

But Israeli espionage must be seen in the context of the treachery of the American political elite in general. During the Clinton Administration, there was massive transfer of critical military technology to China. For example, in late 1994 the Chinese bought and dismantled a McDonnell Douglas plant in Columbus OH that allowed them to produce ultra-modern airplanes and silkworm cruise missiles.

This technology transfer is continuing under the Bush Administration. Consider the recent sale to China of a GM plant in Valparaiso IN, laying off hundreds of workers and moving sophisticated equipment used for making smart bombs. This transfer of nuclear and other technology to China is reminiscent of what took place after World War Two when secrets of the atom bomb were provided to Russia. (See George Jordan USAF (ret) From Major Jordan's Diaries 1952.)

Can you see the pattern? Russia and China belong the cabal and are being used to subjugate the United States. China is to be the new hub because its people are already used to tyranny. In another parallel with the past, American industry is relocating to China and other low-cost countries. At least 3.3 million US white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages will shift there by 2015. (See The New American magazine, March 10, 2003). Similarly, Wall Street invested heavily in Nazi Germany in the 1930's. Standard Oil (through subsidiary I.G. Farben), General Motors, Ford, ITT and IBM were mainstays of the Nazi war machine.

In conclusion, while Americans are distracted by jingoism and jiggle, they are being set up for a nasty fall. The leadership class has already "left the building" as it were. The end of the Iraq war will find the United States isolated and reviled. As the Bush cabal tries to push its advantage, it will come into conflict with China and other nuclear powers. A major confrontation will ensue and an overextended US will be humbled. Americans will take a greatly reduced place in a new world order.

Americans should direct their anger not at their country but against their political and cultural elite, which is corrupt, cowardly, and traitorous.

posted 03-24-2003 01:31 PM            

Seeking to provide truth about trolls:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
>Internet troll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

On the Internet, a troll is a person who posts messages that create controversy or an angry response without adding content to the discussion, often intentionally. Though technically different from flaming which is an unmistakable direct personal attack, trolls often resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objective, which is to create controversy for its own sake, discredit those with whom they disagree, or sabotage discussion by creating an intimidating atmosphere.

Trolling mostly maintains its earlier meaning of posting messages specifically in order to elicit a particular response, usually anger or argument.
<

Nor convinced by facts and evidence either.

To divert discussion away from the topic under discussion?
In this case an illegal war of agression:

american hero (cho put his career on the line) at Oscars:
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
Michael Moore and Michael Donovan
>I have invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us, and we would like to - they're here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you very much. <

http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
>An Internet "troll" is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. He (and it is usually he) tries to start arguments and upset people.

Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their bizarre game. For some reason, they don't "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their 'achievement' (as they see it). At the moment, the relative anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish.

Trolls are utterly impervious to criticism (constructive or otherwise). You cannot negotiate with them; you cannot cause them to feel shame or compassion; you cannot reason with them. They cannot be made to feel remorse. For some reason, trolls do not feel they are bound by the rules of courtesy or social responsibility.

posted 03-24-2003 01:47 PM            

Funny how Mike Moore is against the war but wants my guns to be in the hand of big government.Why is it the left thinks the solution to our problems is taking rights away along with the Neo-cons? They are really no different.

Things like this give the Neo-Cons a field day saying..."See....it's those pinko lefties that are against the war."

posted 03-24-2003 05:16 PM            

Mike Moore exposed some honest truths:
"Gun violence went down 10 percent while reporting on gun violence went up 600 per cent." source "Bowling for Columbine"

IMHO Moore exposed the media's campaign of lies to support disarming law abiding citizens.

Never found anyone I could agree with on everything.

HMMM?
ahh!
Here's that quote:

"We're all Americans,
We all believe in our system of government.
We're just arguing over the details."- Jack Kemp
"Dole/Kemp 96"
(Of course when he said that, both sides still supported actually counting votes.)

Unfortunately Kemp evaded service in my war.
Kemp played pro football while deferred from the draft because of a bad leg.
(played pro football though; on that leg he couldn't march on)
At least he's not a draftdodger chickenhawk like Rush.

posted 03-24-2003 06:20 PM            

a troll is a person who posts messages that create controversy or an angry response without adding content to the discussion, often intentionally. Though technically different from flaming which is an unmistakable direct personal attack, trolls often resort to innuendo or misdirection

touchy feely liberal PC guidelines for behavior...you walk in lock step eh shatoga ! (right over the cliff)

I don't need any one or institution to tell me what or how to think shatoga...continue being a pawn...with my blessing....

back to topic !

http://www.msnbc.com/news/889289_asp.htm?0cv=CB10

CANNED SADDAM

posted 03-24-2003 06:30 PM            

(Mech smiles)

posted 03-24-2003 07:02 PM            

Oh I see...

Veterans are pawns.

You've shown your true colors.

You support veterans ONLY when it suits YOU and your Neo-conservative agenda.

posted 03-24-2003 07:15 PM            

I live it and you complain about it...

still waiting for a list of actual names of these evil globalists that you speak of...who they are where they work and live...

btw mech how's the iraqbodycount.com going today...the info they collect comes from mainstream government controlled media...OUCH !

does it bother you that I expose your belief systems as lies ?

posted 03-24-2003 07:28 PM            

On the Internet, a troll is a person who posts messages that create controversy or an angry response without adding content to the discussion, often intentionally. Though technically different from flaming which is an unmistakable direct personal attack, trolls often resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objective, which is to create controversy for its own sake, discredit those with whom they disagree, or sabotage discussion by creating an intimidating atmosphere.

Trolling mostly maintains its earlier meaning of posting messages specifically in order to elicit a particular response, usually anger or argument.

Gee, sounds like the pot calling the kettle black again.

posted 03-24-2003 08:03 PM            

furthermore...for one year I spent every sunday at the veterans hospital...I have seen veterans...and I would like to see you go there too...and say your peace...more importantly, I'd like to see if you would walk or crawl back out after saying it...

posted 03-24-2003 08:23 PM            

90% of what I post here is facts...not lies. 10% speculation at best. Even alternative media gets some resource material from the big SUPERFUNDED media conglomerates so pluck your panties out of your @$$...claiming hypocricy.

posted 03-24-2003 08:39 PM            

how about 100% truth mech...

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.

A protest raged on a courthouse lawn, Round a makeshift stage they charged on, Fifteen hundred or more they say, Had come to burn a Flag that day.

A boy held up the folded Flag, Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag. An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd, With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.

His uniform jacket was old and tight, He had polished each button, shiny and bright. He crossed that stage with a soldier's grace, Until he and the boy stood face to face.

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH," the OLD MAN said, "Is worth dying for, good men are dead, So you can stand on this courthouse lawn, And talk us down from dusk to dawn, But before any Flag gets burned today, This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!

My father died on a foreign shore, In a war they said would end all war. But Tommy and I wasn't even full grown, Before we fought in a war of our own. And Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach, In the shadow of a hill he couldn't quite reach, Where five good men raised this Flag so high, That the WHOLE WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.

I got this bum leg that I still drag, Fighting for this same old Flag. Now there's but one shot in this old gun, So now it's time to decide which one, Which one of you will follow our lead, To stand and die for what you believe? For as sure as there is a rising sun, You'll burn in Hell 'fore this Flag burns, son"

Now this riot never came to pass The crowd got quiet and that can of gas, Got set aside as they walked away To talk about what they had heard this day. And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag," Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.

So the battle of the Flag this day was won By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun, Who for one last time, had to show to some, THIS FLAG MAY FADE, BUT THESE COLORS DON'T RUN.