DRANT 234 and 235 discussed and revealed the truth about how the USA has funded and fomented "Islamic Terrorism," "sectarian violence" and "civil war" in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and Bosnia. (and -- for that matter in Sudan as well.)
DRANT 235:
Here is the real story on Lebanon, Fatah al-Islam, and the ongoing and escalating massacre at the Palestinian refugee camp Narh al-Bared.
You will have read the pimp media's blatant disinformation about an Al Qaeda-connected fanatical group, about a bank robbery, and about how The USA has gloriously come to the rescue of the beleaguered legitimate democratic government of Lebanon.
It's a perfect mirror image of what the USA and its co-conspirators in Israel and around the Middle East and the planet, have been perpetrating for years.
As I have been bleating lo these many months- chaos and disorder is their most important product. Sunni against Shiia. Fatah against Hamas. Arab Sudanese against African Sudanese. As always, the victims are helpless children, old women, the most profoundly disenfranchised and hopelessly poor refugees.
And always, the bodies pile up in the streets, the profits explode at the biggest US arms suppliers, and its WE, (the group formerly known as) THE PEOPLE who are funding it, complicit in it, and letting it all go down.
DRANT 234:
For anyone who believes the "civil war" crap being strewn around by our pimp AIPAC bought media-
Here's the scoop.
"...It is no coincidence that the brain behind this plan is none other than Elliott Abrams with the Central American experience of toppling governments, arming and financing of death squads and Contra forces, and campaigns of assassinations and terror. Abrams has put together a similar plan for the Palestinians and the U.S. Congress has appropriated the funds for this plan. Unlike the Iran-Contra deal, this is not secret and we have read its details in the papers. We know that at least $84 millions have been allocated by the Congress. We also know that the U.S. is openly training, with the assistance of its two client regimes in Jordan and Egypt, the Palestinian Contras. We even know where they are being trained!..."
Here is a brilliant summary of the bigger picture by Michel Chossudovsky.
This is the real deal.
But make no mistake- the U S of A has been doing all this same kind of stuff since Thomas Jefferson's presidency --
This is nothing new, it's just much more extensive and more murderous than any of the previous perps could ever have dreamed.
So many people sadly decry how our great American Heritage has been lost, or gone astray under Bush and Cheney.
The truth is, it's the same as it ever was, just a lot worse.
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"Islamic Terrorists" supported by Uncle Sam: Bush Administration "Black Ops" directed against Iran, Lebanon and Syria
by Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, May 31, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20070531&articleId=5837
The Bush administration has admitted that covert actions of an aggressive nature were applied against Iran and Syria. The stated objective was to wreck the countries' economies and currency systems. The infamous Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group created in early 2006, integrated by officials from the White House, the State Department, the CIA and the Treasury Department, had a mandate to destabilize Syria and Iran, and bring about "Regime Change" :
"The committee, the Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group [ISOG], met weekly throughout much of 2006 to coordinate actions such as curtailing Iran's access to credit and banking institutions, organizing the sale of military equipment to Iran's neighbors and supporting forces that oppose the two regimes." (Boston Globe, 25 May 2007)
ISOG had also been providing undercover assistance to Iranian opposition groups and dissidents. The group's propaganda ploy consisted in feeding disinformation into the news chain and "building international outrage toward Iran". (Boston Globe 2, January 2007)
About-Turn in Iran-Syria Policy?
Washington has recently announced an apparent about-turn: no more treacherous covert ops directed against "rogue enemies" in the Middle East. The Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG) has been disbanded on the orders of President Bush. The US will no longer be involved in "[covert] aggressive actions against Iran and Syria", according to State Department officials.
"The group had become the focus for administration critics who feared that it was plotting covert actions that could escalate into a military conflict with Iran or Syria. The air of secrecy surrounding the group when it was established in March 2006, coupled with the fact that it was modeled after a similar special committee on Iraq, contributed to those suspicions.
A senior State Department official,... said the group [ISOG] was shut down because of a widespread public perception that it was designed to enact regime change. State Department officials have said the focus of the Iran-Syria group was persuading the two regimes to change their behavior, not toppling them." (Ibid)
Believe it or not?
Foreign policy analysts have described Washington's decision as proof of a welcome "softening" of US strategy in the Middle East. The Bush administration is said to have discarded " regime change" in favor of a more flexible approach, consisting of constructive dialogue with Tehran and Damascus. Aggressive covert actions, we are told, have been swapped for bona fide international diplomacy:
The [dissolution of ISOG] comes as the Bush administration has embarked on a significant new effort to hold high-level meetings with Iran and Syria.
...
Shortly before the Iran-Syria group was shut down, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched a major initiative to engage Iran and Syria in a regional effort to stabilize Iraq, reversing longstanding U.S. policy against high-level contact with the countries.
For years, the Bush administration has shunned meetings with Syria. ...But Rice met this month with Syria's foreign minister in Egypt, the first such high-level meeting between the two countries since 2004, and on Monday, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, is scheduled to meet his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad.
Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the U.S. Congress, said he did not think it was a coincidence that the Iran-Syria group was disbanded at the same time the State Department began its diplomatic outreach.
"I think the rationale for that group was promoting regime change, and Rice is going in a much different direction from that," Katzman said. "The regime-change school within the administration has really gotten quite a bit weaker." (Ibid)
The decision to dismantle ISOG is largely cosmetic. Most of these intelligence operations remain intact. ISOG was one among several covert initiatives to destabilize Iran and Syria. Regime change and outright war are still part of the Administration's agenda. Destabilizing covert intelligence operations directed against Iran and Syria have been stepped up in the course of the last four years.
Moreover, these operations are closely coordinated with Israeli and NATO war plans, which constitute an integral part of the US sponsored military operation directed against Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
The covert ops have been synchronized with the military road map, including the various US war scenarios envisaged since the launching of " Theater Iran Near Term" (TIRANNT) in May 2003, barely a month after the invasion of Iraq. These war-like scenarios explicitly envisage regime change:
... Under TIRANNT, Army and U.S. Central Command planners have been examining both near-term and out-year scenarios for war with Iran, including all aspects of a major combat operation, from mobilization and deployment of forces through postwar stability operations after regime change." (William Arkin, Washington Post, 16 April 2006)
The US is on a war footing and the various covert operations and Psy-Ops --which routinely feed despicable images of the Iranian head of State into the news chain--, are an integral part of the military-intelligence and propaganda arsenal.
In turn, the covert ops are coordinated with US, Israeli and NATO military deployments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf including the conduct of major war games, which have been carried out almost continuously since Summer 2006.
CIA " Black Ops" directed against Iran
Coinciding with the announcement on the closing down of ISOG, "The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, according to current and former officials in the intelligence community... " (ABC News Report 22 May 2007). This parallel CIA sponsored initiative, which "received approval by White House officials and other officials in the intelligence community", has broadly the same mandate as that of the defunct ISOG:
"The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.
"I can't confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime," said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.
A National Security Council spokesperson, Gordon Johndroe, said, "The White House does not comment on intelligence matters." A CIA spokesperson said, "As a matter of course, we do not comment on allegations of covert activity." (ABC News Report 22 May 2007)
The CIA plan was apparently "designed to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program and end aid to insurgents in Iraq." The covert operation, according to US officials, was a softer alternative to that of a military strike on Iran, an option which was favored by Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawks within the administration:
"Current and former intelligence officials say the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran.
"Vice President Cheney helped to lead the side favoring a military strike," said former CIA official Riedel, "but I think they have come to the conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides." (Ibid)
The covert intelligence operations directed against Iran and Syria is not an alternative to military action. Quite the opposite. The CIA plan was designed to support Washington's strategy to destabilize Iran and Syria, through both military action and non-military means including covert intelligence operations.
Unleashing The Islamic Brigades Inside Iran
In relation to Iran, US intelligence has been supporting a Pakistani based terrorist group, Jundullah (Soldiers of God), that has conducted terrorist raids inside Iran. The group operates "from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan 'tri-border region'." According to a report by ABC News:
"A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.
The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran.
It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials." (ABC News, 2 April 2007)
Abd el Malik Regi, the leader of Jundullah, commands a force of several hundred guerrilla fighters "that stage attacks across the border into Iran on Iranian military officers, Iranian intelligence officers, kidnapping them, executing them on camera, ... Most recently, Jundullah took credit for an attack in February that killed at least 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard riding on a bus in the Iranian city of Zahedan." (Ibid)
US government sources have acknowledged that Jundullah's leader "had regular contact with US officials" but denies any "direct funding" of Jundullah by US intelligence.
Inherent in CIA covert operations, the Agency never grants funding "directly". It invariably proceeds through one of its proxy organizations including Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), which historically, since the Soviet-Afghan war, has provided support to Islamic terror groups, including the funding of the training camps and the madrassahs, always acting on behalf of the CIA. In fact this insidious role of Pakistan's ISI (on behalf of the the CIA) is candidly acknowledged by US intelligence:
"American intelligence sources say Jundullah has received money and weapons through the Afghanistan and Pakistan military and Pakistan's intelligence service. Pakistan has officially denied any connection." ( Brian Ross and Christopher Isham, The Secret War Against Iran, April 03, 2007
Other channels used by US intelligence in funding terrorism is through Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, where foundation money is funneled to various militant Islamic groups on behalf of Uncle Sam. "Some former CIA officers say the arrangement is reminiscent of how the U.S. government used proxy armies, funded by other countries including Saudi Arabia, to destabilize the government of Nicaragua in the 1980s." (Ibid)
Consistent Pattern: Historical Origins of "Islamic Terrorism"
Ironically, the Islamic groups are portrayed as working hand in glove with Tehran. Iran, a predominantly Shia country, is accused of harboring Sunni Islamic terrorists, when in fact these Islamic terrorists are " intelligence assets" of the United States, supported indirectly by Washington.
This role of US intelligence in support of "Islamic terrorists" is well established. The covert op applied in Iran are part of a consistent pattern
The not so hidden agenda of US intelligence, applied throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, is to trigger political instability and foment ethnic strife by supporting "Islamic terrorist organizations", ultimately with a view to weakening the Nation State and destabilizing sovereign countries.
From the onslaught of the Soviet-Afghan war and throughout the 1990s, a central feature of CIA activities has consisted in providing covert support to " Islamic terrorist organizations":
In 1979 "the largest covert operation in the history of the CIA" was launched in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in support of the pro-Communist government of Babrak Kamal.(See Fred Halliday, "The Un-great game: the Country that lost the Cold War, Afghanistan, New Republic, 25 March 1996): Ahmed Rashid, The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, Foreign Affairs, November-December 1999. See also Michel Chossudovsky, America's "War on Terrorism", Global Research, 2005, Ch. 2.)
With the active encouragement of the CIA and Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, "some 35,000 Muslim radicals from 40 Islamic countries joined Afghanistan's fight between 1982 and 1992. Tens of thousands more came to study in Pakistani madrasahs. Eventually more than 100,000 foreign Muslim radicals were directly influenced by the Afghan jihad." (See Chossudovsky, op cit)
These covert operations in support of the "Islamic Brigades" continued in the post-Cold war period. The ISI's extensive intelligence military-network was not dismantled in the wake of the Soviet-Afghan war. The CIA continued to support the Islamic "jihad" out of Pakistan. New undercover initiatives were set in motion in Central Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans. Pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus essentially "served as a catalyst for the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of six new Muslim republics in Central Asia." (Ibid). "Meanwhile, Islamic missionaries of the Wahhabi sect from Saudi Arabia established themselves in the Muslim republics of the Former Soviet Union as well as within the Russian federation encroaching upon the institutions of the secular State." (Ibid)
A similar pattern emerged in the Balkans. Starting in the early 1990s, the Clinton Administration supported the recruitment of Al Qaeda Mujahideen to fight in Bosnia alongside the Bosnian Muslim Army. Ironically, it was the Republican Party in a document published by the Republican Party Committee of the US Senate which accused Clinton not only of a "''hands-on' involvement with the Islamic network's arms pipeline" but also of collaborating with the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), "a Sudan-based, phony humanitarian organization believed to be connected with such fixtures of the Islamic terror network as Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (the convicted mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) and Osama Bin Laden,... " (The original document can be consulted on the website of the US Senate Republican Party Committee (Senator Larry Craig), at http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1997/iran.htm )
Since the launching of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) in the wake of September 11, 2001, many of the official documents, which single out the insidious relationship of US intelligence to the "Islamic terror network", have been carefully removed from the public eye.
US Sponsored "Islamic Terrorists" inside Lebanon
The recent killings of civilians in Palestinian refugee camps in northern Lebanon, resulted from the confrontation between Fatah Al Islam and the Lebanese armed forces. Fatah al-Islam is a predominantly non-Palestinian Sunni fundamentalist group, operating inside the refugee camps. Fatah Al Islam is also inspired by the Wahabi sects of Saudi Arabia, which were part of the CIA's covert operations since the onslaught of the Soviet-Afghan war.
The Lebanese armed forces have been involved in raids on the camps, leading to the uprooting of the Palestinians refugees. The number of Fatah al Islam militants (made up of Saudi, Syrian, Yemeni and Moroccan fighters), inside the camp was of the order of 150-200 according to press reports. The Lebanese military offensive has been disproportionate, resulting in countless civilian casualties.
"Yet, the massively disproportionate assault on the camp has been unconditionally endorsed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “The Siniora government is fighting against a very tough extremist foe,” Rice said. “But Lebanon is doing the right thing to try to protect its population, to assert its sovereignty and so we are very supportive of the Siniora government and what it is trying to do.”
Lebanon has used the police action against this tiny group to ask the US for $280 million in military assistance to help put down what it grandiosely calls an “uprising.” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the request for funds, $220 million of which would go to the Lebanese Armed Forces and another $60 million to security forces, was being considered by Washington. The US gave $40 million in military aid to Lebanon last year and an additional $5 million so far this year. (Chris Marsden, 27 May 2007)
Fatah Al Islam has been presented in media reports, in an utterly twisted logic, as an organization linked to the Fatah movement in Palestine, a secular organization, founded by Yaser Arafat. From an ideological standpoint, Fatah al Islam, is similar to Al Qaeda, which is known to financed out of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States and supported by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in liaison with its US counterpart.
According to Seymour Hersh, Saudi Arabia is providing funding as well as covert support to Fatah Al Islam, in close consultation with the Bush administration
Hersh points to a "private agreement" between top NeoCon officials and Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, who worked closely with CIA Director George Tenet, when he was Saudi Ambassador in Washington. The Lebanese government is also involved in this intelligence operation:
“The key player is the Saudis. What I [Hersh] was writing about was sort of a private agreement that was made between the White House, we’re talking about Richard—Dick—Cheney and Elliott Abrams, one of the key aides in the White House, with Bandar [Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national security adviser]. And the idea was to get support, covert support from the Saudis, to support various hard-line jihadists, Sunni groups, particularly in Lebanon, who would be seen in case of an actual confrontation with Hezbollah—the Shia group in the southern Lebanon—would be seen as an asset, .as simple as that.. We're in the business now of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shia, against the Shia in Iran, against the Shia in Lebanon, that is Nasrullah. Civil war. We're in a business of creating in some places, Lebanon in particular, a sectarian violence..”(CNN Interview with Seymour Hersh, CNN International's Your World Today, 21 May 2007)
The pattern of Saudi support to Fatah Al Islam is part of a US sponsored covert operation similar to those conducted by the CIA in the 1980s in support of Al Qaeda.
Well, the United States was deeply involved. This was a covert operation that Bandar ran with us. Don't forget, if you remember, you know, we got into the war in Afghanistan with supporting Osama bin Laden, the Mujahideen back in the late 1980s with Bandar and with people like Elliott Abrams around, the idea being that the Saudis promised us they could control -- they could control the jihadists so we spent a lot of money and time, ... in the late 1980s using and supporting the jihadists... And we have the same pattern, ... using the Saudis again to support jihadists [Fatah Al Islam], Saudis assuring us they can control these various group, the groups like the one that is in contact right now in Tripoli with the government. (CNN Interview with Seymour Hersh, CNN International's Your World Today, 21 May 2007)
Staged Event in Lebanon? Building a Humanitarian Justification for Military Intervention
Fatah Al Islam is an "intelligence asset" financed by Saudi Arabia. While the Bush administration accuses Damascus of supporting Fatah Al Islam, there are indications that the killings in the Palestinian refugee camps were the result of a carefully staged military intelligence operation..
Since the Summer 2006 following the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, NATO forces are present inside Lebanon as well as off Syrian-Lebanese coastline. The UN Security Council Resolution allowing for the deployment of NATO peace-keeping forces was the first step in this process, which followed the 2005 withdrawal and Syrian forces from Lebanon.
The objective of the military roadmap, is to create sectarian violence inside Lebanon which will provide a pretext "on humanitarian grounds" for a stepped up military intervention by NATO forces under a formal UN mandate. This humanitarian military NATO intervention in liaison with Israel, is envisaged as a sequel to the withdrawal of Syrian troops in 2005 and the Israeli bombings of 2006. If it were to be launched it could lead to a situation of de facto foreign occupation of Lebanon as well as the enforcement of a economic blockade directed against Syria.
The pretext for these stepped up military actions are Syria's alleged support of Fatah Al Islam and Damascus' supposed involvement in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. The timely "investigation" into Hariri's assassination and the setting up of a kangaroo court are being used by the coalition to foment anti-Syrian sentiment in Lebanon. From a military and strategic standpoint, Lebanon is the gateway into Syria. The destabilization of Lebanon supports the US-NATO-Israeli military agenda directed against Syria and Iran. US intelligence sets loose its Islamic brigades, while also accusing the enemy of sponsoring terrorist groups, which are in fact covertly supported and financed by Uncle Sam.
Read more!!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
DRANT #237: WE AIN'T GOIN' ANYWHERE
As the Pimp Congress twirls laboriously in its collusive shadow-dance of death with their fellow war-mongers from Big Business and its hired accomplices in Government-- many of us chant for ending the War, for immediate withdrawal, for bringing our boys home.Let's be clear.
This "war" is a global never-ending continuation of all the wars that American Business and Government have partnered, perpetrated and perpetuated for hundreds of years. It is and always has been the endless war. This war is not going to be over.
By framing the debate in terms of withdrawal from Iraq, or ending the Iraq War, or "stopping" what is merely the current exercise of historical American colonialism, imperialism and domination by extreme force, we are not only missing the point, but ourselves colluding in the perpetuation of America's murderous policies.
Take a look at the soon-to-be-completed US (ahem) Embassy -- being built in The Green Zone right now.
Ladeez an gennamen, we ain't going ANYWHERE.
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U.S. Embassy in Iraq to be biggest ever
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070519/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/world_s_largest_embassy;_ylt=Ahk.mv6lVWBSwXeHuVkRjdWs0NUE
U.S. Embassy site: http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iraq/
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic WriterSat May 19, 7:27 PM ET
The new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be the world's largest and most expensive foreign mission, though it may not be large enough or secure enough to cope with the chaos in Iraq.
The Bush administration designed the 104-acre compound — set to open in September in what today is a war zone — to be an ultra-secure enclave. Yet it also hoped that downtown Baghdad would cease being a battleground when diplomats moved in.
Over the long term, depending on which way the seesaw of sectarian division and grinding warfare teeters, the massive city-within-a-city could prove too enormous for the job of managing diminished U.S. interests in Iraq.
The $592 million embassy occupies a chunk of prime real estate two-thirds the size of Washington's National Mall, with desk space for about 1,000 people behind high, blast-resistant walls. The compound is a symbol both of how much the United States has invested in Iraq and how the circumstances of its involvement are changing.
The embassy is one of the few major projects the administration has undertaken in Iraq that is on schedule and within budget. Still, not all has gone according to plan.
The 21-building complex on the Tigris River was envisioned three years ago partly as a headquarters for the democratic expansion in the Middle East that President Bush identified as the organizing principle for foreign policy in his second term.
The complex quickly could become a white elephant if the U.S. scales back its presence and ambitions in Iraq. Although the U.S. probably will have forces in Iraq for years to come, it is not clear how much of the traditional work of diplomacy can proceed amid the violence and what the future holds for Iraq's government.
"What you have is a situation in which they are building an embassy without really thinking about what its functions are," said Edward Peck, a former top U.S. diplomat in Iraq.
"What kind of embassy is it when everybody lives inside and it's blast-proof, and people are running around with helmets and crouching behind sandbags?"
The compound will have secure apartments for about 615 people. The comfortable but not opulent one-bedrooms have offered hope for State Department staff now doubled up in tinny trailers.
Morale is at an ebb among the embassy staff, most of whom rarely leave the heavily fortified Green Zone during their one-year tours in Iraq. The barricaded zone houses both the current, makeshift U.S. Embassy and the new compound about a mile away. A recent string of mortar attacks has meant further restrictions.
On Saturday, three mortar shells or rockets slammed into a Green Zone compound where British Prime Minister Tony Blair was meeting with Iraqi leaders. The attack wounded one person. One round hit the British Embassy compound.
The new U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker, is reviewing staffing and housing needs, and fielding complaints about any suggestion employees either double up again or live elsewhere.
"We do believe that the embassy compound was right-sized at the time that it was presented to the Congress," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Senate panel this month. "There have been some additional issues since that time. "
Rice's senior adviser on Iraq, David Satterfield, said the embassy is not disproportionately expensive and will serve U.S. interests for years. The second-most expensive embassy is the smaller $434 million U.S. mission being built in Beijing.
"We assume there will be a significant, enduring U.S. presence in Iraq," Satterfield said.
The Baghdad Embassy will open in September and be fully staffed by the end of the year, Satterfield said. U.S. diplomats will move from a dogeared Saddam Hussein-era palace they have occupied since shortly after the 2003 invasion, to the growing irritation of many Iraqis.
The International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization that seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, has identified the complex as the world's largest embassy. The organization notes that the embassy is a sore point with Iraqis who are fed up with war, violence and roadblocks and chafing under the perception the U.S. still calls the shots more than four years after Saddam's ouster.
The embassy also is a prime target.
The area around the construction site was hit with mortar fire this month. Other areas of the U.S.-controlled Green Zone were hit on consecutive days last week.
The increase in mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone has raised concern, especially because they are occurring during a U.S.-led security crackdown in Baghdad.
The embassy has ordered its staff to wear flak jackets and helmets while outdoors or in unprotected buildings. The order was issued one day after a rocket attack killed four Asian contractors in the Green Zone this month.
It is unclear who is responsible for the recent attacks. Some barrages came from Shiite-dominated areas in eastern Baghdad. But the Green Zone also is within range of Sunni militant strongholds to the south.
The State Department and Congress have tussled this year over a $50 million request for additional blast-resistant housing. The department says it did not anticipate needing so many fortified apartments when the embassy was in the planning stages three years ago and Iraq was a less violent place.
The new Democratic-controlled Congress has grumbled about the approximately $1 billion annual cost of embassy operations in Iraq and told the administration the embassy is overstaffed at roughly 1,000 regular employees. Add security contractors, locally hired staff and others and the number climbs to more than 4,000.
"This is another case where poor planning, skyrocketing costs and security concerns are colliding in the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, and we need to make adjustments," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate panel that pays for State Department operations.
"They want hundreds of additional embassy staff who they cannot safely house within the new embassy compound. It's time for a reality check," said Leahy, D-Vt.
Read more!!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
DRANT #236: COLLUSION
This says it.
Its not about the "War on Iraq"
Its not about "Terrorism"
Its Us against Them: The Democrats, The Republicans, The CEOS and their whores, The People Who Run Things, The Takers.
We must see it for what it is- and that will lead us to What We Must Do.
No more marches, no more "demonstrations," no more witty slogans, signs, t shirts.
No more Blogs, no more polite indignation.
And no more calls to Congress, no more begging the co-conspirators for deliverance from the Conspiracy.
Impeachment is a waste of time, relying on Them to wreak Justice on Themselves, and Who the President is or is not, changes nothing.
We must rely on no one but ourselves -- it is our right and our duty...
"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..."
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Global Research Feature Article
URL of this article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20070526&articleId=5780
www.GlobalResearch.ca
Iraq war funding bill fiasco masks collusion between Bush and Democrats
Expansion of Middle East oil war is a bipartisan imperative
by Larry Chin
Global Research, May 26, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca
On May 22, 2007, Washington’s Democrats obediently capitulated to the Bush administration, handing Bush a war spending bill completely stripped of conditions that would, in any way, slow the administration’s relentless Middle East conflagration. In fact, the new bill is an even more egregious blank check for a massive “surge” of Bush administration violence throughout the region, opening the door for a war with Iran. New Iraq “benchmarks” pushed by the Democrats themselves will result in new atrocities and more bloodshed, funded by the Democrats themselves.
In refusing to definitively corner a scandalized Bush administration, the Democratic Party leadership has earned itself a tidal wave of rage, vitriol and disgust from Americans who harbor any illusions that the Democrats have any intention of ending the war, or “bringing the troops home”.(see Entire US government failed us on Iraq by Keith Olbermann, and Funding Iraq occupation without deadlines or time lines is a travesty)
The Democrats’ open betrayal of their own constituents, their resounding slap in the face to the vast majority of the American people (70% of whom oppose the war) lays bare the true nature of the Democratic Party, and the US government itself. Dick Cheney stated with smug confidence weeks ago that the Democrats would surrender. Now, the Democrats have not only tossed away their own credibility, and their dreams of future political gain. They have fully revitalized Bush-Cheney and the Republicans.
Bipartisan criminal consensus confirmed
The US political and economic system, ruled by consensus, is deeply criminalized. It thrives on war and oppression. It is an elite racket, sustained by resource conquest, collusion, fraud, lies, cover-up, and the indoctrination and manipulation of minds. “The people”, whose votes never count, are viewed with contempt.
The Republicans and Democrats are factions of the same criminal New World Order, funded by the same criminal interests, beholden to the same think tanks, foundations, corporations and military-intelligence-industrial interests, following the same geopolitical script, written by bipartisan consensus.
Given this reality, it is no surprise that the Democratic leadership has kept its promise to keep the impeachment of Bush and Cheney “off the table” and reach “across the aisle”. Consensus interests are at stake.
The vast majority of the Democrats, particularly the corrupt Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), want the war and bloodshed to continue.
The vast majority of Democrats are, and have always been, enthusiastic and willing partners in the “war on terrorism” and are co-architects of an ever-expanding "homeland security" apparatus.
The vast majority of Democrats do not oppose the war in the Middle East. They support its expansion and the deepening of the occupation, as long as it is “managed” properly, and under the control of a US-led international consensus.
As Michel Chossudovsky wrote in America's "War on Terrorism":
“The Democrats are not opposed to the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Nor are they opposed to the militarization of civilian institutions, as evidenced by their 1996 initiative to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act [which has now been completely obliterated by the Bush administration, the Patriot Act, and other post-9/11 acts]. Moreover, their perspective and understanding of 9/11 and the “war on terrorism” is broadly similar to that of the Republicans.
“This ongoing militarization of America is not a Republican project. The ‘war on terrorism’ is part of a bipartisan agenda. Furthermore, successive US administrations since Jimmy Carter have supported the Islamic brigades and have used them in covert intelligence operations.”
The vast majority of Democrats do not want the troops to come home. They support the permanent presence of the US in the Middle East, as much as the Bush administration does. The largest embassy/military base in the world is being built in Iraq as you read this.
The Democrats want Iraq’s oil, as much as their neocon partners do.
The Democrats and Iraq oil
Perhaps most telling of all, the vast majority of Democrats want to steal Iraq’s oil as much as the Bush administration does. They, too, understand Peak Oil and Gas and energy depletion, and the imperial need to seize and control what little is left.
In a glaring development unreported by the mainstream media, the Democrats’ spending bill specifically forces the privatization of Iraqi oil to multinational corporations, and other strongarm measures that further strip Iraq of its sovereignty.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the very few Democrats (along with Mike Gravel, another presidential candidate) who have been willing to denounce their own party’s venality, courageously exposed this aspect of the bill, on the floor of the House. (See Kucinich claims war masks real objective: Iraqi oil; Has Anyone in Congress or Mainstream Media Actually Read Bill?; Kucinich reveals Dem funding bill includes privatization of Iraq oil)
The Democrats worked very hard with the Bush administration and the Republicans to make sure these key provisions were written into the bill. So much for the liberal/progressive rhetoric.
The next phase of the “war on terrorism”
The new blank war check, this massive rejuvenation for Bush’s neocons, at the same time that Bush has quietly written a presidential directive giving himself dictatorial powers , in the event of a “catastrophic 9/11-style event”. Both the Bush administration and the Democrats are actively planning this event, and preparing for ways to consolidate their powers in its aftermath.
Bush-Cheney has also written a new directive for the destabilization of Iran, which will be fully supported by the Democrats.
An attack on Iran, delayed from the original spring date, is simply being pushed to the summer or fall of this year, when the destabilization program “bears fruit”.
The small minority of Democrats who actually oppose the war, and have truly opposed the Bush administration have been politically neutered, and rendered insignificant. Others have been blackmailed and intimidated, forced to cooperate.
The congressional Democrats have, in the course of numerous “probes”, exposed a variety of the Bush administration’s crimes since being given the majority of the Congress. But these investigations are limited hangouts that pose no real threat to the Bush “crime family”, that have come nowhere near exposing Bush, Cheney, Rove, etc. The mass murder of 9/11, and the “war on terrorism” remain the focus of purposeful and tight-as-a-drum consensus cover-up. Individuals who should have long ago been jailed and subjected to capital punishment for treason and murder are, instead, continue to rule the planet, and commit crimes at will.
The eternal blank war check
Any illusions that the Democrats will ever “end the war” or “bring the troops home” were erased months ago, when the (then-confident) Democrats floated a deceptive policy “limiting US forces in Iraq to fighting ‘Al-Qaeda’”. This itself was the recipe for endless, eternal war.
The “Al-Qaeda” and 9/11 fictions are bipartisan products. Neoliberals, progressives, and neocons alike have uniformly embraced and promoted the propaganda that all opposition to the US war and occupations, all insurgencies and resistance, is “sectarian violence’ linked to “Al-Qaeda”. Any “enemy” of US interests are connected to “Al-Qaeda”, or eventually transformed into “Al-Qaeda”.
Beyond the rhetoric and posturing, the true bipartisan agenda, captured in the language of all of the war legislation, is crystal clear. No limits to the war. No limit to troop strength. No limit in scope. No change in US policy. No opposition, but absolute knowing cooperation, with the Bush administration.
So brazen is the Bush administration, that George W. Bush continues to retell debunked criminal lies over and over, on camera, into microphones, years later. Just yesterday, Bush devoted an entire speech at the US Coast Guard Academy to the lie that 9/11 and Iraq were connected.
Following Bush’s goose-stepping lead, Republicans immediately fell in lockstep behind their dictator, issuing flatulent repeats of the original 9/11 falsehoods and reiterations of Bush’s own 9/11-Iraq connection. Republican Congressman John Boehner stupidly weeped, “3,000 of our fellow citizens died at the hands of these extremists, when are we going to get them?”
In another reach into the old playbook, Bush “declassified” intelligence fabrications about Osama bin Laden, "Al-Qaeda", and Zarqawi. In the new fiction, Bush-Cheney places this Al-Qaeda “super terror cell” is placed in the middle of Iraq.
With this propaganda, Iraq conveniently is magically transformed into the “hotbed” of Al-Qaeda, and the staging ground for operations within the United States.
Bush boasted:
“In the minds of Al-Qaeda leaders, 9/11 was just a down payment on violence yet to come. It is tempting to believe that the calm here at home after 9/11 means that the danger to our country has passed.”
Given the fact that Al-Qaeda (including Osama bin Laden, and Zarqawi) is a creation and a military-intelligence asset of Anglo-American interests, and given the fact that the US government planned and executed 9/11 (using these assets as its front), Bush is simply promising that his administration intends to ratchet up its attacks against the American populace, and the world. He is confident that the masses, particularly the dumbed-down and acquiescent American populace, will never figure it out.
The danger posed by the Washington consensus has never been greater.
Read more!!
Its not about the "War on Iraq"
Its not about "Terrorism"
Its Us against Them: The Democrats, The Republicans, The CEOS and their whores, The People Who Run Things, The Takers.
We must see it for what it is- and that will lead us to What We Must Do.
No more marches, no more "demonstrations," no more witty slogans, signs, t shirts.
No more Blogs, no more polite indignation.
And no more calls to Congress, no more begging the co-conspirators for deliverance from the Conspiracy.
Impeachment is a waste of time, relying on Them to wreak Justice on Themselves, and Who the President is or is not, changes nothing.
We must rely on no one but ourselves -- it is our right and our duty...
"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Global Research Feature Article
URL of this article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20070526&articleId=5780
www.GlobalResearch.ca
Iraq war funding bill fiasco masks collusion between Bush and Democrats
Expansion of Middle East oil war is a bipartisan imperative
by Larry Chin
Global Research, May 26, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca
On May 22, 2007, Washington’s Democrats obediently capitulated to the Bush administration, handing Bush a war spending bill completely stripped of conditions that would, in any way, slow the administration’s relentless Middle East conflagration. In fact, the new bill is an even more egregious blank check for a massive “surge” of Bush administration violence throughout the region, opening the door for a war with Iran. New Iraq “benchmarks” pushed by the Democrats themselves will result in new atrocities and more bloodshed, funded by the Democrats themselves.
In refusing to definitively corner a scandalized Bush administration, the Democratic Party leadership has earned itself a tidal wave of rage, vitriol and disgust from Americans who harbor any illusions that the Democrats have any intention of ending the war, or “bringing the troops home”.(see Entire US government failed us on Iraq by Keith Olbermann, and Funding Iraq occupation without deadlines or time lines is a travesty)
The Democrats’ open betrayal of their own constituents, their resounding slap in the face to the vast majority of the American people (70% of whom oppose the war) lays bare the true nature of the Democratic Party, and the US government itself. Dick Cheney stated with smug confidence weeks ago that the Democrats would surrender. Now, the Democrats have not only tossed away their own credibility, and their dreams of future political gain. They have fully revitalized Bush-Cheney and the Republicans.
Bipartisan criminal consensus confirmed
The US political and economic system, ruled by consensus, is deeply criminalized. It thrives on war and oppression. It is an elite racket, sustained by resource conquest, collusion, fraud, lies, cover-up, and the indoctrination and manipulation of minds. “The people”, whose votes never count, are viewed with contempt.
The Republicans and Democrats are factions of the same criminal New World Order, funded by the same criminal interests, beholden to the same think tanks, foundations, corporations and military-intelligence-industrial interests, following the same geopolitical script, written by bipartisan consensus.
Given this reality, it is no surprise that the Democratic leadership has kept its promise to keep the impeachment of Bush and Cheney “off the table” and reach “across the aisle”. Consensus interests are at stake.
The vast majority of the Democrats, particularly the corrupt Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), want the war and bloodshed to continue.
The vast majority of Democrats are, and have always been, enthusiastic and willing partners in the “war on terrorism” and are co-architects of an ever-expanding "homeland security" apparatus.
The vast majority of Democrats do not oppose the war in the Middle East. They support its expansion and the deepening of the occupation, as long as it is “managed” properly, and under the control of a US-led international consensus.
As Michel Chossudovsky wrote in America's "War on Terrorism":
“The Democrats are not opposed to the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Nor are they opposed to the militarization of civilian institutions, as evidenced by their 1996 initiative to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act [which has now been completely obliterated by the Bush administration, the Patriot Act, and other post-9/11 acts]. Moreover, their perspective and understanding of 9/11 and the “war on terrorism” is broadly similar to that of the Republicans.
“This ongoing militarization of America is not a Republican project. The ‘war on terrorism’ is part of a bipartisan agenda. Furthermore, successive US administrations since Jimmy Carter have supported the Islamic brigades and have used them in covert intelligence operations.”
The vast majority of Democrats do not want the troops to come home. They support the permanent presence of the US in the Middle East, as much as the Bush administration does. The largest embassy/military base in the world is being built in Iraq as you read this.
The Democrats want Iraq’s oil, as much as their neocon partners do.
The Democrats and Iraq oil
Perhaps most telling of all, the vast majority of Democrats want to steal Iraq’s oil as much as the Bush administration does. They, too, understand Peak Oil and Gas and energy depletion, and the imperial need to seize and control what little is left.
In a glaring development unreported by the mainstream media, the Democrats’ spending bill specifically forces the privatization of Iraqi oil to multinational corporations, and other strongarm measures that further strip Iraq of its sovereignty.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the very few Democrats (along with Mike Gravel, another presidential candidate) who have been willing to denounce their own party’s venality, courageously exposed this aspect of the bill, on the floor of the House. (See Kucinich claims war masks real objective: Iraqi oil; Has Anyone in Congress or Mainstream Media Actually Read Bill?; Kucinich reveals Dem funding bill includes privatization of Iraq oil)
The Democrats worked very hard with the Bush administration and the Republicans to make sure these key provisions were written into the bill. So much for the liberal/progressive rhetoric.
The next phase of the “war on terrorism”
The new blank war check, this massive rejuvenation for Bush’s neocons, at the same time that Bush has quietly written a presidential directive giving himself dictatorial powers , in the event of a “catastrophic 9/11-style event”. Both the Bush administration and the Democrats are actively planning this event, and preparing for ways to consolidate their powers in its aftermath.
Bush-Cheney has also written a new directive for the destabilization of Iran, which will be fully supported by the Democrats.
An attack on Iran, delayed from the original spring date, is simply being pushed to the summer or fall of this year, when the destabilization program “bears fruit”.
The small minority of Democrats who actually oppose the war, and have truly opposed the Bush administration have been politically neutered, and rendered insignificant. Others have been blackmailed and intimidated, forced to cooperate.
The congressional Democrats have, in the course of numerous “probes”, exposed a variety of the Bush administration’s crimes since being given the majority of the Congress. But these investigations are limited hangouts that pose no real threat to the Bush “crime family”, that have come nowhere near exposing Bush, Cheney, Rove, etc. The mass murder of 9/11, and the “war on terrorism” remain the focus of purposeful and tight-as-a-drum consensus cover-up. Individuals who should have long ago been jailed and subjected to capital punishment for treason and murder are, instead, continue to rule the planet, and commit crimes at will.
The eternal blank war check
Any illusions that the Democrats will ever “end the war” or “bring the troops home” were erased months ago, when the (then-confident) Democrats floated a deceptive policy “limiting US forces in Iraq to fighting ‘Al-Qaeda’”. This itself was the recipe for endless, eternal war.
The “Al-Qaeda” and 9/11 fictions are bipartisan products. Neoliberals, progressives, and neocons alike have uniformly embraced and promoted the propaganda that all opposition to the US war and occupations, all insurgencies and resistance, is “sectarian violence’ linked to “Al-Qaeda”. Any “enemy” of US interests are connected to “Al-Qaeda”, or eventually transformed into “Al-Qaeda”.
Beyond the rhetoric and posturing, the true bipartisan agenda, captured in the language of all of the war legislation, is crystal clear. No limits to the war. No limit to troop strength. No limit in scope. No change in US policy. No opposition, but absolute knowing cooperation, with the Bush administration.
So brazen is the Bush administration, that George W. Bush continues to retell debunked criminal lies over and over, on camera, into microphones, years later. Just yesterday, Bush devoted an entire speech at the US Coast Guard Academy to the lie that 9/11 and Iraq were connected.
Following Bush’s goose-stepping lead, Republicans immediately fell in lockstep behind their dictator, issuing flatulent repeats of the original 9/11 falsehoods and reiterations of Bush’s own 9/11-Iraq connection. Republican Congressman John Boehner stupidly weeped, “3,000 of our fellow citizens died at the hands of these extremists, when are we going to get them?”
In another reach into the old playbook, Bush “declassified” intelligence fabrications about Osama bin Laden, "Al-Qaeda", and Zarqawi. In the new fiction, Bush-Cheney places this Al-Qaeda “super terror cell” is placed in the middle of Iraq.
With this propaganda, Iraq conveniently is magically transformed into the “hotbed” of Al-Qaeda, and the staging ground for operations within the United States.
Bush boasted:
“In the minds of Al-Qaeda leaders, 9/11 was just a down payment on violence yet to come. It is tempting to believe that the calm here at home after 9/11 means that the danger to our country has passed.”
Given the fact that Al-Qaeda (including Osama bin Laden, and Zarqawi) is a creation and a military-intelligence asset of Anglo-American interests, and given the fact that the US government planned and executed 9/11 (using these assets as its front), Bush is simply promising that his administration intends to ratchet up its attacks against the American populace, and the world. He is confident that the masses, particularly the dumbed-down and acquiescent American populace, will never figure it out.
The danger posed by the Washington consensus has never been greater.
Read more!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
DRANT #235: TRUTH FROM INSIDE NARH AL-BARED
Here is the real story on Lebanon, Fatah al-Islam, and the ongoing and escalating massacre at the Palestinian refugee camp Narh al-Bared.
You will have read the pimp media's blatant disinformation about an Al Qaeda-connected fanatical group, about a bank robbery, and about how The USA has gloriously come to the rescue of the beleaguered legitimate democratic government of Lebanon.
But read the stuff below, and it will ring so true and so loud, you'll send it everywhere, because you'll know its the serious no kidding veraciousness.
It's a perfect mirror image of what the USA and its co-conspirators in Israel and around the Middle East and the planet, have been perpetrating for years.
As I have been bleating lo these many months- chaos and disorder is their most important product. Sunni against Shiia. Fatah against Hamas. Arab Sudanese against African Sudanese. As always, the victims are helpless children, old women, the most profoundly disenfranchised and hopelessly poor refugees.
And always, the bodies pile up in the streets, the profits explode at the biggest US arms suppliers, and its WE, (the group formerly known as) THE PEOPLE who are funding it, complicit in it, and letting it all go down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"...Given Bush administration debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan and its encouragement for Israel to continue its destruction of Lebanon this past summer, the situation in Lebanon mirrors, in some respects, the early 1980's when groups sprung up to resist the US green lighted Israeli invasion and occupation. But rather than being Shia and pro-Hezbollah, today's groups are largely Sunni and anti-Hezbollah. Hence they qualify for US aid, funneled by Sunni financial backers in league with the Bush administration which is committed to funding Islamist Sunni groups to weaken Hezbollah..."
"...To understand what is going on with Fatah al-Islam at Nahr el-Bared one would want a brief introduction to Lebanon's amazing, but shadowy 'Welch Club'.
The Club is named for its godfather, David Welch, assistant to Secretary of State Rice who is the point man for the Bush administration and is guided by Eliot Abrams. Key Lebanese members of the Welch Club (aka: the 'Club') include:..."
"...The billionaire, Saudi Sheikh and Club president Saad Hariri leader of the Sunni Future Movement (FM) (which) started setting up Sunni Islamist terrorist cells...to serve as a cover for (anti-Hezbollah) Welch Club projects. The plan was that actions of these cells, of which Fatah el-Islam is one, could be blamed on al Qaeda or Syria or anyone but the Club..."
"...Things started to go very wrong quickly for the Club last week. FM "stopped" the payroll of Fateh el-Islam's account at the Hariri family owned back. Fateh-al-Islam, tried to negotiate at least 'severance pay' with no luck and they felt betrayed. (Remember many of their fighters are easily frustrated teenagers and their pay supports their families). Militia members knocked off the bank which issued their worthless checks..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Who's Behind the Fighting in North Lebanon?
Inside Narh al-Bared and Bedawi Refugee Camps
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17763.htm
By Franklin Lamb
Tripoli, Lebanon.
05/24/07 "Counterpunch" -- --- Wearing a beat-up ratty UNCHR tee-shirt left over from Bint Jbeil and the Israeli-Hezbollah July probably helped. As did, I suspect, the Red Cross jersey, my black and white checkered kaffieyh and the Palestinian flag taped to my lapel as I joined a group of Palestinian aid workers and slipped into Nahr el-Bared trying not to look conspicuous.
Our mission was to facilitate the delivery of food, blankets and mattresses, but I was also curious about the political situation. Who was behind the events that erupted so quickly and violently following a claimed 'bank robbery'? A heist that depending on who you talked to, netted the masked bandits $ 150,000, $ 1,500 or $ 150!
It seems that every Beirut media outlet has a different source of 'inside information' based on which Confession owns it and 'knows' the real culprits pulling the strings. But then, even we who are particularly obtuse have realized, as the late Rafic Hariri often counseled: "In Lebanon, believe nothing of what you are told and only half of what you see!"
My friends made we swear out loud that I would claim to be Canadian instead of American if Al Qaeda types stopped us inside the Camp. My impression was that they were not so worried about my safety but for their own if they got caught with me. It would not be the first time that I relied on my northern neighbors to get me out of a potential US nationality jam in the Middle East, so I ditched my American ID.
We were advised as we approached the Fatah al Islam stronghold that we would be in the cross-hairs of Lebanese army snipers from outside of Nahr el-Bared Camp as well as Fatah al-Islam snipers from the inside, and that any false move or bad luck could prove fatal.
After three days of shelling and more than 100 dead and with no electricity or water, Nahr el-Baled reeks of burned and rotting flesh, charred houses with smoldering contents, raw sewage and the acrid smell of exploded mortars and tank rounds.
Press figures of 30,000-32,000 are not accurate. 45,000 live in Bared! Contrary to some reports food and water still not being allowed in.
15 to 70 percent of some areas destroyed. Some light shooting this morning and afternoon. Army shelling at rate of 10-18 shells per minute from 4:30 am to 10 am on Tuesday. Army will not allow Palestinian Red Crescent to move out civilians because they don't trust them. Only the Lebanese Red Cross is allowed. It is possible to enter Bared from the back (east side). The Army taking cameras of journalists they catch. The Lebanese government is controlling the information and don't want extent of damage known yet. Still unrecovered bodies. 40 per cent of the camp population have been evacuated. The rest don't want to leave out of fear of being shot or that they are losing their homes for the 5th time or more for some.
No electricity and cell phone batteries are dying. Relatives who fled are telling families to stay because there are not enough mattresses at Bedawi Camp. Bared evacuees are living up to 25 in one room in Badawi schools etc. 3,000 evacuees in one school in Bedawi. UN aid is starting to arrive at Badawi but workers not able so far to deliver it to Bared due to attack on relief convoy on Tuesday.
I met Abdul Rahman Hallab famous for Lebanese candy factory in Tripoli. Helped him unload 5,000 meals to evacuees from Bared staying in Badawi. He is Lebanese not Palestinian.
The camp population all say that Fatah Al-Islam came in September-October 2006 and have no relatives in the camp. They are from Saudi, Pakistan, Algeria, Iraq, and Tunisia and elsewhere. No Palestinians among them except some hanger ons. Most say they are paid by the Hariri group.
Reports that Fateh al-Islam helps people in Bared are denied. " All they do is pray, one woman told me..and do military training.. They are much more religious than the Shia" she said.
Population of Badawi camp was 15,000 and as of of this morning it is 28,000. Four bodies arrived this morning at Safad, the only Palestinian Red Crescent Hospitals in north Lebanon.
I was told the army will have to destroy every house in Bared to remove Fateh al Islam.
I expect to stay in Bared tonight with aid workers. Some say FAI with die fighting others than a settlement could be negotiated. I may try the latter with NGO from Norway here. Not sure if anyone in government is interested. One minute ago a member of Fateh at_Islam walked into the medical office I am using at Safed Hospital and said they want a permanent ceasefire and do not want more people killed or injured.
They claim to have no problem with the army.
Now some background about Nahr el-Bared. Like the other Palestinian camps in Lebanon, it is inhabited by Palestinians who were forced from their homes, land, and personal property in 1947-48, in order to make room for Jews from Europe and elsewhere prior to the May 15, 1948 founding of Israel.
Of the original 16 Refugee camps, set up to settle the more than 100,000 refugees crossing the border into Lebanon from Palestine during the Nakba, 12 official ones remain. The camp at Tal El-Za`tar was ethnically cleansed by Christian Phalange forces at the beginning of the 1975-1990, Lebanese Civil War and the Nabatieh, Dikwaneh and Jisr el-Basha camps were destroyed by Israeli attacks and Lebanese militia and not rebuilt. Those remaining include the following which currently house more than half of Lebanon's 433,276 Palestinian refugees:
Al-Badawi, Burj El-Barajna, Jal El-Bahr, Sabra and Shatilla, Ain El-Helwa, Nahr El-Bared, Rashidieh, Burj El Shemali, El-Buss, Wavel, Mieh Mieh and Mar Elias.
Nahr el-Bared is 7 miles north of Tripoli near the stunning Mediterranean coast and is home to more than 32,000 refuges many of whom were expelled from the Lake Huleh area of Palestine, including Safed. Like all the official Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, plus several 'unofficial' ones, Nahr el-Bared suffers from serious problems including no proper infrastructure, overcrowding, poverty and unemployment.
Tabulated at more than 25%, Nahr el-Bared has the highest percentage of Palestinian refugees anywhere who are living in abject poverty and who are officially registered with the UN as "special hardship" cases. Its residents, like all Palestinians in Lebanon are blatantly discriminated against and not even officially counted. They are denied citizenship and banned from working in the top 70 trades and professions (that includes McDonald's and KFC in downtown Beirut) and cannot own real estate. Palestinians in Lebanon have essentially no social or civil rights and only limited access to government educational facilities. They have no access to public social services. Consequently most rely entirely on the UNRWA as the sole provider for their families needs.
It is not surprising that al-Qaeda sympathies, if not formal affiliations, are found in the 12 official camps as well as 7 unofficial ones. Groups with names such as Fateh al-Islam, Jund al-Shams (Soldier of Damascus) , Ibns al-Shaheed" (sons of the martyrs) Issbat al-Anssar which morphed into Issbat al-Noor - "The Community of Illumination" and many others.
Given Bush administration debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan and its encouragement for Israel to continue its destruction of Lebanon this past summer, the situation in Lebanon mirrors, in some respects, the early 1980's when groups sprung up to resist the US green lighted Israeli invasion and occupation. But rather than being Shia and pro-Hezbollah, today's groups are largely Sunni and anti-Hezbollah. Hence they qualify for US aid, funneled by Sunni financial backers in league with the Bush administration which is committed to funding Islamist Sunni groups to weaken Hezbollah.
This project has become the White House obsession following Israel's July 2006 defeat.
To understand what is going on with Fatah al-Islam at Nahr el-Bared one would want a brief introduction to Lebanon's amazing, but shadowy 'Welch Club'.
The Club is named for its godfather, David Welch, assistant to Secretary of State Rice who is the point man for the Bush administration and is guided by Eliot Abrams.
Key Lebanese members of the Welch Club (aka: the 'Club') include:
The Lebanese civil war veteran, warlord, feudalist and mercurial Walid Jumblatt of the Druze party( the Progressive Socialist Party or PSP)
Another civil war veteran, warlord, terrorist (Served 11 years in prison for massacres committed against fellow Christians among others) Samir Geagea. Leader of the extremist Phalange party and its Lebanese Forces (LF) the group that conducted the Israel organized massacre at Sabra-Shatilla (although led by Elie Hobeika, once Geagea's mentor, Geagea did not take part in the Sept. 1982 slaughter of 1,700 Palestinian and Lebanese).
The billionaire, Saudi Sheikh and Club president Saad Hariri leader of the Sunni Future Movement (FM).
Over a year ago Hariri's Future Movement started setting up Sunni Islamist terrorist cells (the PSP and LF already had their own militia since the civil war and despite the Taif Accords requiring militia to disarm they are now rearmed and itching for action and trying hard to provoke Hezbollah).
The FM created Sunni Islamist 'terrorist' cells were to serve as a cover for (anti-Hezbollah) Welch Club projects. The plan was that actions of these cells, of which Fatah el-Islam is one, could be blamed on al Qaeda or Syria or anyone but the Club.
To staff the new militias, FM rounded up remnants of previous extremists in the Palestinian Refugee camps that had been subdued, marginalized and diminished during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Each fighter got $700 per month, not bad in today's Lebanon.
The first Welch Club funded militia, set up by FM, is known locally as Jund-al-Sham (Soldiers of Sham, where "Sham" in Arabic denotes Syria, Lebanon, Palestine & Jordan) created in Ain-el-Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon. This group is also referred to in the Camps as Jund-el-Sitt (Soldiers of the Sitt, where "Sitt" in Sidon, Ain-el-Hilwa and the outskirts pertain to Bahia Hariri, the sister of Rafiq Hariri, aunt of Saad, and Member of Parliament).
The second was Fateh-al-Islam (The name cleverly put together, joining Fateh as in Palestinian and the word Islam as in Qaeda). FM set this Club cell up in Nahr-al-Bared refugee camp north of Tripoli for geographical balance.
Fatah el-Islam had about 400 well paid fighters until three days ago. Today they may have more or fewer plus volunteers. The leaders were provided with ocean view luxury apartments in Tripoli where they stored arms and chilled when not in Nahr-al-Bared. Guess who owns the apartments?
According to members of both Fatah el-Islam and Jund-al-Sham their groups acted on the directive of the Club president, Saad Hariri.
So what went wrong? "Why the bank robbery" and the slaughter at Nahr el-Baled?
According to operatives of Fatah el-Islam, the Bush administration got cold feet with people like Seymour Hersh snooping around and with the White House post-Iraq discipline in free fall. Moreover, Hezbollah intelligence knew all about the Clubs activities and was in a position to flip the two groups who were supposed to ignite a Sunni Shia civil war which Hezbollah vows to prevent.
Things started to go very wrong quickly for the Club last week.
FM "stopped" the payroll of Fateh el-Islam's account at the Hariri family owned back.
Fateh-al-Islam, tried to negotiate at least 'severance pay' with no luck and they felt betrayed. (Remember many of their fighters are easily frustrated teenagers and their pay supports their families). Militia members knocked off the bank which issued their worthless checks. They were doubly angry when they learned FM is claiming in the media a loss much greater than they actually snatched and that the Club is going to stiff the insurance company and actually make a huge profit.
Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (newly recruited to serve the bidding of the Club and the Future Movement) assaulted the apartments of Fatah-al-Islam Tripoli. They didn't have much luck and were forced to call in the Lebanese army. Within the hour, Fatah-al-Islam retaliated against Lebanese Army posts, checkpoints and unarmed, off-duty Lebanese soldiers in civilian clothing and committed outrageous killings including severing at four heads. Up to this point Fatah-al-Islam did not retaliate against the Internal Security forces in Tripoli because the ISF is pro-Hariri and some are friends and Fatah al-Islam still hoped to get paid by Hariri. Instead Fatah al Islam went after the Army.
The Seniora cabinet convenes and asks the Lebanese Army to enter the refugee camp and silence (in more ways than one) Fatah-al-Islam. Since entrance into the Camps is forbidden by the 1969 Arab league agreement, the Army refuses after realizing the extent of the conspiracy against it by the Welch Club. The army knows that entering a refugee camp in force will open a front against the Army in all twelve Palestinian refugee camps and tear the army apart along sectarian cracks.
The army feels set up by the Club's Internal Security Forces which did not coordinate with the Lebanese Army, as required by Lebanese law and did not even make them aware of the "inter family operation" the ISF carried out against Fatah-al-Islam safe houses in Tripoli.
Today, tensions are high between the Lebanese army and the Welch Club. Some mention the phrase 'army coup'.
The Club is trying to run Parliament and is prepared to go all the way not to 'lose' Lebanon. It still holds 70 seats in the house of parliament while the Hezbollah led opposition holds 58 seats. It has a dutiful PM in Fouad Siniora.
The club tried to seize control of the presidency and when it failed it marginalized it. Last year it tried to control of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee, which audits the government's policies, laws and watch dogs their actions. When the Club failed to control it they simply abolished the Constitutional Committee. This key committee no longer exists in Lebanon's government.
The Welch Club's major error was when it attempted to influence the Lebanese Army into disarming the Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah. When the Army wisely refused, the Club coordinated with the Bush Administration to pressure Israel to dramatically intensify its retaliation to the capture of the two soldiers by Hezbollah and 'break the rules' regarding the historically more limited response and try to destroy Hezbollah during the July 2006 war.
The Welch Club now considers the Lebanese Army a serious problem. The Bush administration is trying to undermine and marginalize it to eliminate one of the last two obstacles to implementing Israel's agenda in Lebanon.
If the army is weakened, it can not protect over 70% of the Christians in Lebanon who support General Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement. The F.P.M. is mainly constituted of well educated, middle class and unarmed Lebanese civilians. The only protection they have is the Lebanese Army which aids in maintaining their presence in the political scene. The other type of Christians in Lebanon is the minority, about 15% of Christians associated with Geagea's Lebanese Forces who are purely militia. If the Club can weaken the Army even more than it is, then this Phalange minority will be the only relatively strong force on the Christian scene and become the "army" of the Club.
Another reason the Club wants to weaken the Lebanese Army is that the Army is nationalistic and is a safety valve for Lebanon to ensure the Palestinian right of return to Palestine, Lebanese nationhood and the resistance culture led by Hezbollah, with which is has excellent relations.
For their part, the Welch Club wants to keep some Palestinians in Lebanon for cheap labor, ship others to countries willing to take them (and be paid handsomely to do so by American taxpayers) and allow at most a few thousand to return to Palestine to settle the 'right of return' issue while at the same time signing a May 17th 1983 type treaty with Israel with enriches the Club members and gives Israel Lebanon's water and much of Lebanon's sovereignty.
Long story short, Fatah el-Islam must be silenced at all costs. Their tale, if told, is poison for the Club and its sponsors. We will likely see their attempted destruction in the coming days.
Hezbollah is watching and supporting the Lebanese army.
Franklin Lamb's recent book, The Price We Pay: A Quarter Century of Israel's use of American Weapon's against Lebanon (1978-2006) is available at Amazon.com.uk. Hezbollah: A Brief Guide for Beginners is expected in early summer.
Dr. Lamb can be reached at fplamb @ gmail.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hersh: Bush administration arranged support for militants attacking Lebanon
http://rawstory.com/printstory.php?story=6188
05/22/2007 @ 12:19 pm
Filed by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
In an interview on CNN International's Your World Today, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh explains that the current violence in Lebanon is the result of an attempt by the Lebanese government to crack down on a militant Sunni group, Fatah al-Islam, that it formerly supported.
Last March, Hersh reported that American policy in the Middle East had shifted to opposing Iran, Syria, and their Shia allies at any cost, even if it meant backing hardline Sunni jihadists.
A key element of this policy shift was an agreement among Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national security adviser, whereby the Saudis would covertly fund the Sunni Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon as a counterweight to the Shia Hezbollah.
Hersh points out that the current situation is much like that during the conflict in Afghanistan in the 1980's – which gave rise to al Qaeda – with the same people involved in both the US and Saudi Arabia and the "same pattern" of the US using jihadists that the Saudis assure us they can control.
When asked why the administration would be acting in a way that appears to run counter to US interests, Hersh says that, since the Israelis lost to them last summer, "the fear of Hezbollah in Washington, particularly in the White House, is acute."
As a result, Hersh implies, the Bush administration is no longer acting rationally in its policy. "We're in the business of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shia. ... "We're in the business of creating ... sectarian violence." And he describes the scheme of funding Fatah al-Islam as "a covert program we joined in with the Saudis as part of a bigger, broader program of doing everything we could to stop the spread of the Shia world, and it just simply -- it bit us in the rear."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/22/ywt.01.html
HALA GORANI: Well, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported back in March that in order to defeate Hezbollah, the Lebanese government supported a Sunni militant group, the same ones they're fighting today. Seymour joins us live from Washington. Thanks for being with us. What is the source of the financing according to your reporting on these groups, such as Fatah al-Islam in these camps of Nahr el Bared, for instance? Where are they getting the money and where are they getting the arms?
SEYMOUR HERSH: The key player is the Saudis. What I was writing about was sort of a private agreement that was made between the White House, we're talking about Richard -- Dick -- Cheney and Elliott Abrams, one of the key aides in the White House, with Bandar. And the idea was to get support, covert support from the Saudis, to support various hard-line jihadists, Sunni groups, particularly in Lebanon, who would be seen in case of an actual confrontation with Hezbollah -- the Shia group in the southern Lebanon -- would be seen as an asset, as simple as that.
GORANI: The Senora government, in order to counter the influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon would be covertly according to your reporting funding groups like Fatah al-Islam that they're having issues with right now?
HERSH: Unintended consequences once again, yes.
GORANI: And so if Saudi Arabia and the Senora government are doing this, whether it's unintended or not, therefore it has the United States must have something to say about it or not?
HERSH: Well, the United States was deeply involved. This was a covert operation that Bandar ran with us. Don't forget, if you remember, you know, we got into the war in Afghanistan with supporting Osama bin Laden, the mujahadin back in the late 1980s with Bandar and with people like Elliott Abrams around, the idea being that the Saudis promised us they could control -- they could control the jihadists so we spent a lot of money and time, the United States in the late 1980s using and supporting the jihadists to help us beat the Russians in Afghanistan and they turned on us. And we have the same pattern, not as if there's any lessons learned. It's the same pattern, using the Saudis again to support jihadists, Saudis assuring us they can control these various group, the groups like the one that is in contact right now in Tripoli with the government.
GORANI: Sure, but the mujahadin in the '80s was one era. Why would it be in the best interest of the United States of America right now to indirectly even if it is indirect empower these jihadi movements that are extremists that fight to the death in these Palestinian camps? Doesn't it go against the interests not only of the Senora government but also of America and Lebanon now?
HERSH: The enemy of our enemy is our friend, much as the jihadist groups in Lebanon were also there to go after Nasrullah. Hezbollah, if you remember, last year defeated Israel, whether the Israelis want to acknowledge it, so you have in Hezbollah, a major threat to the American -- look, the American role is very simple. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, has been very articulate about it. We're in the business now of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shia, against the Shia in Iran, against the Shia in Lebanon, that is Nasrullah. Civil war. We're in a business of creating in some places, Lebanon in particular, a sectarian violence.
GORANI: The Bush administration, of course, officials would disagree with that, so would the Senora government, openly pointing the finger at Syria, saying this is an offshoot of a Syrian group, Fatah al-Islam is, where else would it get its arms from if not Syria.
HERSH: You have to answer this question. If that's true, Syria which is close -- and criticized greatly by the Bush administration for being very close -- to Hezbollah would also be supporting groups, Salafist groups -- the logic breaks down. What it is simply is a covert program we joined in with the Saudis as part of a bigger broader program of doing everything we could to stop the spread of the Shia, the Shia world, and it bit us in the rear, as it's happened before.
GORANI: Sure, but if it doesn't make any sense for the Syrians to support them, why would it make any sense for the U.S. to indirectly, of course, to support, according to your reporting, by giving a billion dollars in aid, part of it military, to the Senora government -- and if that is dispensed in a way that that government and the U.S. is not controlling extremist groups, then indirectly the United States, according to the article you wrote, would be supporting them. So why would it be in their best interest and what should it do according to the people you've spoken to?
HERSH: You're assuming logic by the United States government. That's okay. We'll forget that one right now. Basically it's very simple. These groups are seeing -- when I was in Beirut doing interviews, I talked to officials who acknowledged the reason they were tolerating the radical jihadist groups was because they were seen as a protection against Hezbollah. The fear of Hezbollah in Washington, particularly in the White House, is acute. They just simply believe that Hassan Nasrallah is intent on waging war in America. Whether it's true or not is another question. There is a supreme overwhelming fear of Hezbollah and we do not want Hezbollah to play an active role in the government in Lebanon and that's been our policy, basically, which is support the Senora government, despite its weakness against the coalition. Not only Senora but Mr. Ahun, former military leader of Lebanon. There in a coalition that we absolutely abhor.
GORANI: All right, Seymour Hersh of "The New Yorker" magazine, thanks for joining us there and hopefully we'll be able to speak a little bit in a few months' time when those developments take shape in Lebanon and we know more. Thanks very much.
HERSH: glad to talk to you.
Read more!!
You will have read the pimp media's blatant disinformation about an Al Qaeda-connected fanatical group, about a bank robbery, and about how The USA has gloriously come to the rescue of the beleaguered legitimate democratic government of Lebanon.
But read the stuff below, and it will ring so true and so loud, you'll send it everywhere, because you'll know its the serious no kidding veraciousness.
It's a perfect mirror image of what the USA and its co-conspirators in Israel and around the Middle East and the planet, have been perpetrating for years.
As I have been bleating lo these many months- chaos and disorder is their most important product. Sunni against Shiia. Fatah against Hamas. Arab Sudanese against African Sudanese. As always, the victims are helpless children, old women, the most profoundly disenfranchised and hopelessly poor refugees.
And always, the bodies pile up in the streets, the profits explode at the biggest US arms suppliers, and its WE, (the group formerly known as) THE PEOPLE who are funding it, complicit in it, and letting it all go down.
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"...Given Bush administration debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan and its encouragement for Israel to continue its destruction of Lebanon this past summer, the situation in Lebanon mirrors, in some respects, the early 1980's when groups sprung up to resist the US green lighted Israeli invasion and occupation. But rather than being Shia and pro-Hezbollah, today's groups are largely Sunni and anti-Hezbollah. Hence they qualify for US aid, funneled by Sunni financial backers in league with the Bush administration which is committed to funding Islamist Sunni groups to weaken Hezbollah..."
"...To understand what is going on with Fatah al-Islam at Nahr el-Bared one would want a brief introduction to Lebanon's amazing, but shadowy 'Welch Club'.
The Club is named for its godfather, David Welch, assistant to Secretary of State Rice who is the point man for the Bush administration and is guided by Eliot Abrams. Key Lebanese members of the Welch Club (aka: the 'Club') include:..."
"...The billionaire, Saudi Sheikh and Club president Saad Hariri leader of the Sunni Future Movement (FM) (which) started setting up Sunni Islamist terrorist cells...to serve as a cover for (anti-Hezbollah) Welch Club projects. The plan was that actions of these cells, of which Fatah el-Islam is one, could be blamed on al Qaeda or Syria or anyone but the Club..."
"...Things started to go very wrong quickly for the Club last week. FM "stopped" the payroll of Fateh el-Islam's account at the Hariri family owned back. Fateh-al-Islam, tried to negotiate at least 'severance pay' with no luck and they felt betrayed. (Remember many of their fighters are easily frustrated teenagers and their pay supports their families). Militia members knocked off the bank which issued their worthless checks..."
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Who's Behind the Fighting in North Lebanon?
Inside Narh al-Bared and Bedawi Refugee Camps
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17763.htm
By Franklin Lamb
Tripoli, Lebanon.
05/24/07 "Counterpunch" -- --- Wearing a beat-up ratty UNCHR tee-shirt left over from Bint Jbeil and the Israeli-Hezbollah July probably helped. As did, I suspect, the Red Cross jersey, my black and white checkered kaffieyh and the Palestinian flag taped to my lapel as I joined a group of Palestinian aid workers and slipped into Nahr el-Bared trying not to look conspicuous.
Our mission was to facilitate the delivery of food, blankets and mattresses, but I was also curious about the political situation. Who was behind the events that erupted so quickly and violently following a claimed 'bank robbery'? A heist that depending on who you talked to, netted the masked bandits $ 150,000, $ 1,500 or $ 150!
It seems that every Beirut media outlet has a different source of 'inside information' based on which Confession owns it and 'knows' the real culprits pulling the strings. But then, even we who are particularly obtuse have realized, as the late Rafic Hariri often counseled: "In Lebanon, believe nothing of what you are told and only half of what you see!"
My friends made we swear out loud that I would claim to be Canadian instead of American if Al Qaeda types stopped us inside the Camp. My impression was that they were not so worried about my safety but for their own if they got caught with me. It would not be the first time that I relied on my northern neighbors to get me out of a potential US nationality jam in the Middle East, so I ditched my American ID.
We were advised as we approached the Fatah al Islam stronghold that we would be in the cross-hairs of Lebanese army snipers from outside of Nahr el-Bared Camp as well as Fatah al-Islam snipers from the inside, and that any false move or bad luck could prove fatal.
After three days of shelling and more than 100 dead and with no electricity or water, Nahr el-Baled reeks of burned and rotting flesh, charred houses with smoldering contents, raw sewage and the acrid smell of exploded mortars and tank rounds.
Press figures of 30,000-32,000 are not accurate. 45,000 live in Bared! Contrary to some reports food and water still not being allowed in.
15 to 70 percent of some areas destroyed. Some light shooting this morning and afternoon. Army shelling at rate of 10-18 shells per minute from 4:30 am to 10 am on Tuesday. Army will not allow Palestinian Red Crescent to move out civilians because they don't trust them. Only the Lebanese Red Cross is allowed. It is possible to enter Bared from the back (east side). The Army taking cameras of journalists they catch. The Lebanese government is controlling the information and don't want extent of damage known yet. Still unrecovered bodies. 40 per cent of the camp population have been evacuated. The rest don't want to leave out of fear of being shot or that they are losing their homes for the 5th time or more for some.
No electricity and cell phone batteries are dying. Relatives who fled are telling families to stay because there are not enough mattresses at Bedawi Camp. Bared evacuees are living up to 25 in one room in Badawi schools etc. 3,000 evacuees in one school in Bedawi. UN aid is starting to arrive at Badawi but workers not able so far to deliver it to Bared due to attack on relief convoy on Tuesday.
I met Abdul Rahman Hallab famous for Lebanese candy factory in Tripoli. Helped him unload 5,000 meals to evacuees from Bared staying in Badawi. He is Lebanese not Palestinian.
The camp population all say that Fatah Al-Islam came in September-October 2006 and have no relatives in the camp. They are from Saudi, Pakistan, Algeria, Iraq, and Tunisia and elsewhere. No Palestinians among them except some hanger ons. Most say they are paid by the Hariri group.
Reports that Fateh al-Islam helps people in Bared are denied. " All they do is pray, one woman told me..and do military training.. They are much more religious than the Shia" she said.
Population of Badawi camp was 15,000 and as of of this morning it is 28,000. Four bodies arrived this morning at Safad, the only Palestinian Red Crescent Hospitals in north Lebanon.
I was told the army will have to destroy every house in Bared to remove Fateh al Islam.
I expect to stay in Bared tonight with aid workers. Some say FAI with die fighting others than a settlement could be negotiated. I may try the latter with NGO from Norway here. Not sure if anyone in government is interested. One minute ago a member of Fateh at_Islam walked into the medical office I am using at Safed Hospital and said they want a permanent ceasefire and do not want more people killed or injured.
They claim to have no problem with the army.
Now some background about Nahr el-Bared. Like the other Palestinian camps in Lebanon, it is inhabited by Palestinians who were forced from their homes, land, and personal property in 1947-48, in order to make room for Jews from Europe and elsewhere prior to the May 15, 1948 founding of Israel.
Of the original 16 Refugee camps, set up to settle the more than 100,000 refugees crossing the border into Lebanon from Palestine during the Nakba, 12 official ones remain. The camp at Tal El-Za`tar was ethnically cleansed by Christian Phalange forces at the beginning of the 1975-1990, Lebanese Civil War and the Nabatieh, Dikwaneh and Jisr el-Basha camps were destroyed by Israeli attacks and Lebanese militia and not rebuilt. Those remaining include the following which currently house more than half of Lebanon's 433,276 Palestinian refugees:
Al-Badawi, Burj El-Barajna, Jal El-Bahr, Sabra and Shatilla, Ain El-Helwa, Nahr El-Bared, Rashidieh, Burj El Shemali, El-Buss, Wavel, Mieh Mieh and Mar Elias.
Nahr el-Bared is 7 miles north of Tripoli near the stunning Mediterranean coast and is home to more than 32,000 refuges many of whom were expelled from the Lake Huleh area of Palestine, including Safed. Like all the official Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, plus several 'unofficial' ones, Nahr el-Bared suffers from serious problems including no proper infrastructure, overcrowding, poverty and unemployment.
Tabulated at more than 25%, Nahr el-Bared has the highest percentage of Palestinian refugees anywhere who are living in abject poverty and who are officially registered with the UN as "special hardship" cases. Its residents, like all Palestinians in Lebanon are blatantly discriminated against and not even officially counted. They are denied citizenship and banned from working in the top 70 trades and professions (that includes McDonald's and KFC in downtown Beirut) and cannot own real estate. Palestinians in Lebanon have essentially no social or civil rights and only limited access to government educational facilities. They have no access to public social services. Consequently most rely entirely on the UNRWA as the sole provider for their families needs.
It is not surprising that al-Qaeda sympathies, if not formal affiliations, are found in the 12 official camps as well as 7 unofficial ones. Groups with names such as Fateh al-Islam, Jund al-Shams (Soldier of Damascus) , Ibns al-Shaheed" (sons of the martyrs) Issbat al-Anssar which morphed into Issbat al-Noor - "The Community of Illumination" and many others.
Given Bush administration debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan and its encouragement for Israel to continue its destruction of Lebanon this past summer, the situation in Lebanon mirrors, in some respects, the early 1980's when groups sprung up to resist the US green lighted Israeli invasion and occupation. But rather than being Shia and pro-Hezbollah, today's groups are largely Sunni and anti-Hezbollah. Hence they qualify for US aid, funneled by Sunni financial backers in league with the Bush administration which is committed to funding Islamist Sunni groups to weaken Hezbollah.
This project has become the White House obsession following Israel's July 2006 defeat.
To understand what is going on with Fatah al-Islam at Nahr el-Bared one would want a brief introduction to Lebanon's amazing, but shadowy 'Welch Club'.
The Club is named for its godfather, David Welch, assistant to Secretary of State Rice who is the point man for the Bush administration and is guided by Eliot Abrams.
Key Lebanese members of the Welch Club (aka: the 'Club') include:
The Lebanese civil war veteran, warlord, feudalist and mercurial Walid Jumblatt of the Druze party( the Progressive Socialist Party or PSP)
Another civil war veteran, warlord, terrorist (Served 11 years in prison for massacres committed against fellow Christians among others) Samir Geagea. Leader of the extremist Phalange party and its Lebanese Forces (LF) the group that conducted the Israel organized massacre at Sabra-Shatilla (although led by Elie Hobeika, once Geagea's mentor, Geagea did not take part in the Sept. 1982 slaughter of 1,700 Palestinian and Lebanese).
The billionaire, Saudi Sheikh and Club president Saad Hariri leader of the Sunni Future Movement (FM).
Over a year ago Hariri's Future Movement started setting up Sunni Islamist terrorist cells (the PSP and LF already had their own militia since the civil war and despite the Taif Accords requiring militia to disarm they are now rearmed and itching for action and trying hard to provoke Hezbollah).
The FM created Sunni Islamist 'terrorist' cells were to serve as a cover for (anti-Hezbollah) Welch Club projects. The plan was that actions of these cells, of which Fatah el-Islam is one, could be blamed on al Qaeda or Syria or anyone but the Club.
To staff the new militias, FM rounded up remnants of previous extremists in the Palestinian Refugee camps that had been subdued, marginalized and diminished during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Each fighter got $700 per month, not bad in today's Lebanon.
The first Welch Club funded militia, set up by FM, is known locally as Jund-al-Sham (Soldiers of Sham, where "Sham" in Arabic denotes Syria, Lebanon, Palestine & Jordan) created in Ain-el-Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon. This group is also referred to in the Camps as Jund-el-Sitt (Soldiers of the Sitt, where "Sitt" in Sidon, Ain-el-Hilwa and the outskirts pertain to Bahia Hariri, the sister of Rafiq Hariri, aunt of Saad, and Member of Parliament).
The second was Fateh-al-Islam (The name cleverly put together, joining Fateh as in Palestinian and the word Islam as in Qaeda). FM set this Club cell up in Nahr-al-Bared refugee camp north of Tripoli for geographical balance.
Fatah el-Islam had about 400 well paid fighters until three days ago. Today they may have more or fewer plus volunteers. The leaders were provided with ocean view luxury apartments in Tripoli where they stored arms and chilled when not in Nahr-al-Bared. Guess who owns the apartments?
According to members of both Fatah el-Islam and Jund-al-Sham their groups acted on the directive of the Club president, Saad Hariri.
So what went wrong? "Why the bank robbery" and the slaughter at Nahr el-Baled?
According to operatives of Fatah el-Islam, the Bush administration got cold feet with people like Seymour Hersh snooping around and with the White House post-Iraq discipline in free fall. Moreover, Hezbollah intelligence knew all about the Clubs activities and was in a position to flip the two groups who were supposed to ignite a Sunni Shia civil war which Hezbollah vows to prevent.
Things started to go very wrong quickly for the Club last week.
FM "stopped" the payroll of Fateh el-Islam's account at the Hariri family owned back.
Fateh-al-Islam, tried to negotiate at least 'severance pay' with no luck and they felt betrayed. (Remember many of their fighters are easily frustrated teenagers and their pay supports their families). Militia members knocked off the bank which issued their worthless checks. They were doubly angry when they learned FM is claiming in the media a loss much greater than they actually snatched and that the Club is going to stiff the insurance company and actually make a huge profit.
Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (newly recruited to serve the bidding of the Club and the Future Movement) assaulted the apartments of Fatah-al-Islam Tripoli. They didn't have much luck and were forced to call in the Lebanese army. Within the hour, Fatah-al-Islam retaliated against Lebanese Army posts, checkpoints and unarmed, off-duty Lebanese soldiers in civilian clothing and committed outrageous killings including severing at four heads. Up to this point Fatah-al-Islam did not retaliate against the Internal Security forces in Tripoli because the ISF is pro-Hariri and some are friends and Fatah al-Islam still hoped to get paid by Hariri. Instead Fatah al Islam went after the Army.
The Seniora cabinet convenes and asks the Lebanese Army to enter the refugee camp and silence (in more ways than one) Fatah-al-Islam. Since entrance into the Camps is forbidden by the 1969 Arab league agreement, the Army refuses after realizing the extent of the conspiracy against it by the Welch Club. The army knows that entering a refugee camp in force will open a front against the Army in all twelve Palestinian refugee camps and tear the army apart along sectarian cracks.
The army feels set up by the Club's Internal Security Forces which did not coordinate with the Lebanese Army, as required by Lebanese law and did not even make them aware of the "inter family operation" the ISF carried out against Fatah-al-Islam safe houses in Tripoli.
Today, tensions are high between the Lebanese army and the Welch Club. Some mention the phrase 'army coup'.
The Club is trying to run Parliament and is prepared to go all the way not to 'lose' Lebanon. It still holds 70 seats in the house of parliament while the Hezbollah led opposition holds 58 seats. It has a dutiful PM in Fouad Siniora.
The club tried to seize control of the presidency and when it failed it marginalized it. Last year it tried to control of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee, which audits the government's policies, laws and watch dogs their actions. When the Club failed to control it they simply abolished the Constitutional Committee. This key committee no longer exists in Lebanon's government.
The Welch Club's major error was when it attempted to influence the Lebanese Army into disarming the Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah. When the Army wisely refused, the Club coordinated with the Bush Administration to pressure Israel to dramatically intensify its retaliation to the capture of the two soldiers by Hezbollah and 'break the rules' regarding the historically more limited response and try to destroy Hezbollah during the July 2006 war.
The Welch Club now considers the Lebanese Army a serious problem. The Bush administration is trying to undermine and marginalize it to eliminate one of the last two obstacles to implementing Israel's agenda in Lebanon.
If the army is weakened, it can not protect over 70% of the Christians in Lebanon who support General Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement. The F.P.M. is mainly constituted of well educated, middle class and unarmed Lebanese civilians. The only protection they have is the Lebanese Army which aids in maintaining their presence in the political scene. The other type of Christians in Lebanon is the minority, about 15% of Christians associated with Geagea's Lebanese Forces who are purely militia. If the Club can weaken the Army even more than it is, then this Phalange minority will be the only relatively strong force on the Christian scene and become the "army" of the Club.
Another reason the Club wants to weaken the Lebanese Army is that the Army is nationalistic and is a safety valve for Lebanon to ensure the Palestinian right of return to Palestine, Lebanese nationhood and the resistance culture led by Hezbollah, with which is has excellent relations.
For their part, the Welch Club wants to keep some Palestinians in Lebanon for cheap labor, ship others to countries willing to take them (and be paid handsomely to do so by American taxpayers) and allow at most a few thousand to return to Palestine to settle the 'right of return' issue while at the same time signing a May 17th 1983 type treaty with Israel with enriches the Club members and gives Israel Lebanon's water and much of Lebanon's sovereignty.
Long story short, Fatah el-Islam must be silenced at all costs. Their tale, if told, is poison for the Club and its sponsors. We will likely see their attempted destruction in the coming days.
Hezbollah is watching and supporting the Lebanese army.
Franklin Lamb's recent book, The Price We Pay: A Quarter Century of Israel's use of American Weapon's against Lebanon (1978-2006) is available at Amazon.com.uk. Hezbollah: A Brief Guide for Beginners is expected in early summer.
Dr. Lamb can be reached at fplamb @ gmail.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hersh: Bush administration arranged support for militants attacking Lebanon
http://rawstory.com/printstory.php?story=6188
05/22/2007 @ 12:19 pm
Filed by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
In an interview on CNN International's Your World Today, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh explains that the current violence in Lebanon is the result of an attempt by the Lebanese government to crack down on a militant Sunni group, Fatah al-Islam, that it formerly supported.
Last March, Hersh reported that American policy in the Middle East had shifted to opposing Iran, Syria, and their Shia allies at any cost, even if it meant backing hardline Sunni jihadists.
A key element of this policy shift was an agreement among Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national security adviser, whereby the Saudis would covertly fund the Sunni Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon as a counterweight to the Shia Hezbollah.
Hersh points out that the current situation is much like that during the conflict in Afghanistan in the 1980's – which gave rise to al Qaeda – with the same people involved in both the US and Saudi Arabia and the "same pattern" of the US using jihadists that the Saudis assure us they can control.
When asked why the administration would be acting in a way that appears to run counter to US interests, Hersh says that, since the Israelis lost to them last summer, "the fear of Hezbollah in Washington, particularly in the White House, is acute."
As a result, Hersh implies, the Bush administration is no longer acting rationally in its policy. "We're in the business of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shia. ... "We're in the business of creating ... sectarian violence." And he describes the scheme of funding Fatah al-Islam as "a covert program we joined in with the Saudis as part of a bigger, broader program of doing everything we could to stop the spread of the Shia world, and it just simply -- it bit us in the rear."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/22/ywt.01.html
HALA GORANI: Well, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported back in March that in order to defeate Hezbollah, the Lebanese government supported a Sunni militant group, the same ones they're fighting today. Seymour joins us live from Washington. Thanks for being with us. What is the source of the financing according to your reporting on these groups, such as Fatah al-Islam in these camps of Nahr el Bared, for instance? Where are they getting the money and where are they getting the arms?
SEYMOUR HERSH: The key player is the Saudis. What I was writing about was sort of a private agreement that was made between the White House, we're talking about Richard -- Dick -- Cheney and Elliott Abrams, one of the key aides in the White House, with Bandar. And the idea was to get support, covert support from the Saudis, to support various hard-line jihadists, Sunni groups, particularly in Lebanon, who would be seen in case of an actual confrontation with Hezbollah -- the Shia group in the southern Lebanon -- would be seen as an asset, as simple as that.
GORANI: The Senora government, in order to counter the influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon would be covertly according to your reporting funding groups like Fatah al-Islam that they're having issues with right now?
HERSH: Unintended consequences once again, yes.
GORANI: And so if Saudi Arabia and the Senora government are doing this, whether it's unintended or not, therefore it has the United States must have something to say about it or not?
HERSH: Well, the United States was deeply involved. This was a covert operation that Bandar ran with us. Don't forget, if you remember, you know, we got into the war in Afghanistan with supporting Osama bin Laden, the mujahadin back in the late 1980s with Bandar and with people like Elliott Abrams around, the idea being that the Saudis promised us they could control -- they could control the jihadists so we spent a lot of money and time, the United States in the late 1980s using and supporting the jihadists to help us beat the Russians in Afghanistan and they turned on us. And we have the same pattern, not as if there's any lessons learned. It's the same pattern, using the Saudis again to support jihadists, Saudis assuring us they can control these various group, the groups like the one that is in contact right now in Tripoli with the government.
GORANI: Sure, but the mujahadin in the '80s was one era. Why would it be in the best interest of the United States of America right now to indirectly even if it is indirect empower these jihadi movements that are extremists that fight to the death in these Palestinian camps? Doesn't it go against the interests not only of the Senora government but also of America and Lebanon now?
HERSH: The enemy of our enemy is our friend, much as the jihadist groups in Lebanon were also there to go after Nasrullah. Hezbollah, if you remember, last year defeated Israel, whether the Israelis want to acknowledge it, so you have in Hezbollah, a major threat to the American -- look, the American role is very simple. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, has been very articulate about it. We're in the business now of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shia, against the Shia in Iran, against the Shia in Lebanon, that is Nasrullah. Civil war. We're in a business of creating in some places, Lebanon in particular, a sectarian violence.
GORANI: The Bush administration, of course, officials would disagree with that, so would the Senora government, openly pointing the finger at Syria, saying this is an offshoot of a Syrian group, Fatah al-Islam is, where else would it get its arms from if not Syria.
HERSH: You have to answer this question. If that's true, Syria which is close -- and criticized greatly by the Bush administration for being very close -- to Hezbollah would also be supporting groups, Salafist groups -- the logic breaks down. What it is simply is a covert program we joined in with the Saudis as part of a bigger broader program of doing everything we could to stop the spread of the Shia, the Shia world, and it bit us in the rear, as it's happened before.
GORANI: Sure, but if it doesn't make any sense for the Syrians to support them, why would it make any sense for the U.S. to indirectly, of course, to support, according to your reporting, by giving a billion dollars in aid, part of it military, to the Senora government -- and if that is dispensed in a way that that government and the U.S. is not controlling extremist groups, then indirectly the United States, according to the article you wrote, would be supporting them. So why would it be in their best interest and what should it do according to the people you've spoken to?
HERSH: You're assuming logic by the United States government. That's okay. We'll forget that one right now. Basically it's very simple. These groups are seeing -- when I was in Beirut doing interviews, I talked to officials who acknowledged the reason they were tolerating the radical jihadist groups was because they were seen as a protection against Hezbollah. The fear of Hezbollah in Washington, particularly in the White House, is acute. They just simply believe that Hassan Nasrallah is intent on waging war in America. Whether it's true or not is another question. There is a supreme overwhelming fear of Hezbollah and we do not want Hezbollah to play an active role in the government in Lebanon and that's been our policy, basically, which is support the Senora government, despite its weakness against the coalition. Not only Senora but Mr. Ahun, former military leader of Lebanon. There in a coalition that we absolutely abhor.
GORANI: All right, Seymour Hersh of "The New Yorker" magazine, thanks for joining us there and hopefully we'll be able to speak a little bit in a few months' time when those developments take shape in Lebanon and we know more. Thanks very much.
HERSH: glad to talk to you.
Read more!!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
DRANT #234: CONTRAS IN PALESTINE
For anyone who believes the "civil war" crap being strewn around by our pimp AIPAC bought media-
Here's the scoop.
"...It is no coincidence that the brain behind this plan is none other than Elliott Abrams with the Central American experience of toppling governments, arming and financing of death squads and Contra forces, and campaigns of assassinations and terror. Abrams has put together a similar plan for the Palestinians and the U.S. Congress has appropriated the funds for this plan. Unlike the Iran-Contra deal, this is not secret and we have read its details in the papers. We know that at least $84 millions have been allocated by the Congress. We also know that the U.S. is openly training, with the assistance of its two client regimes in Jordan and Egypt, the Palestinian Contras. We even know where they are being trained!..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is it really just an Inter-Palestinian Fight?
TONY SAYEGH, Palestinian Pundit
www.uruknet.info?p=32956
Pinochet Dahlan's Force 17, attend a training session in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 17, 2007. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK)
May 17, 2007
It has become fashionable for friends and foes of the Palestinians to decry what they refer to as the inter-Palestinian fighting. Some have gone as far as calling it a civil war. Hamas and Fatah are equally blamed in what passes as astute observation and wisdom in various commentaries.
In this blessed age of the "new Middle East" brought to us courtesy of the American benevolence and zeal for democracy, we have been manipulated by the spin machines to believe that civil wars are breaking out spontaneously in Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and now Palestine. What more proof do we need that we are primitive, uncivilized savages who need the big stick of the kind, civilized Western occupiers to keep us from each other’s throat? Therefore the American occupation of Iraq can’t end, for fear of a "full blown civil war." Now some Israelis are saying only re-occupying Gaza would restore "peace."
Focusing on the Palestinian arena, and notwithstanding my strong criticisms of Hamas, I have to state unequivocally that I can’t consider both Hamas and Fatah as equally culpable. Further, it should be stated that what is taking place is not only not a civil war, but also not a Palestinian fight between Fatah and Hamas. Rather, it is obvious by now that a faction within Fatah as represented by the notorious Dahlan and with the acquiescence of the stooge Abbas is leading a Contra-style effort to impose a reign of terror and a police "state" on the Palestinians in order to force a "settlement" favorable to Israel on them and to physically snuff out any opposition.
It is no coincidence that the brain behind this plan is none other than Elliott Abrams with the Central American experience of toppling governments, arming and financing of death squads and Contra forces, and campaigns of assassinations and terror. Abrams has put together a similar plan for the Palestinians and the U.S. Congress has appropriated the funds for this plan. Unlike the Iran-Contra deal, this is not secret and we have read its details in the papers. We know that at least $84 millions have been allocated by the Congress. We also know that the U.S. is openly training, with the assistance of its two client regimes in Jordan and Egypt, the Palestinian Contras. We even know where they are being trained!
The real surprise is that the various Palestinian groups were not up in arms after finding out these details. The Palestinian street was also complacent about all of this as if this plan does not concern it. Of course the blockade and the empty stomachs were intended to minimize opposition to the plan. Still not many Palestinian voices, even in the Diaspora, were raised. A certain fog seemed to surround what is being planned, even though none of it was secret. It was as if the Palestinians did not want to face up to the fact that among them, as with any other people, there are those who would work against the interests of their people and actually work for U.S. and Israeli interests.
What is happening now is that the order has been given by Usrael for this Palestinian Contra faction to forcefully implement the plan. We read in Haaretz, for example, about Condoleezza’s plan with precise dates for implementation, which Abbas accepted within 24 hours. We also know that a part of the plan calls for Dahlan to submit and implement a plan on how to disarm the resistance and stop the launching of rockets from Gaza. The deadline for the implementation of this "security" plan is June 21; only a month away. Is it not clear now why the so-called "Presidential Guard" has been deployed in the north and the east of Gaza? Is it not clear now why about 500 of the Palestinian Badr Brigade, based and trained in Jordan were allowed through the Rafah crossing (which is closed for Palestinian civilians most of the time) from Egypt? Is it not clear why large arms shipments were sent through Jordan and Egypt to the Palestinian Contras?
With all of my criticisms of Hamas, it is the only major force standing up to the Contras and their dark plans. That much we have to recognize. If the Contras succeed in crushing Hamas there will be no resistance left and Palestinian rights will be liquidated. This is what all the client Arab regimes are waiting for to normalize relations with Israel over the wreckage of the Palestinians using the "peace plan" fig leaf.
Realizing all of these very ominous dimensions of what has been planned and is being executed, makes it unconscionable for any Palestinian to just blame both parties equally and to portray what is happening as a power struggle. The picture is clear and all Palestinians need to expose and to stand up to the Contras in their middle.
Read more!!
Friday, May 18, 2007
DRANT #233: SPIRITUAL REGRESSIVES
"Under the influence of politicians, masses of people tend to ascribe the responsibility for wars to those who wield power at any given time. In World War I it was the munitions industrialists; in World War II it was the psychopathic generals who were said to be guilty. This is passing the buck.
The responsibility for wars falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these same masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anyone else. To stress this guilt on the part of the masses of people, to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom fighters; the latter that attitude held by power-thirsty politicians."
Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rabbi Michael Lerner and his posse of well-intentioned Dupes called, "The Network of Spiritual Progressives," have spent many many thousands of dollars and months of toil on what they promise will be a series of full-page print ads in major newspapers, starting yesterday (Thursday) in The New York Times. (Please access the actual ad here: http://www.tikkun.org/PeaceAd)
Some of the signatories are so shocking that I can only assume they had forgotten their consciences and their history books, or were finally so deeply pessimistic that they were grasping at any straw, even proposals as wrong-headed as those proffered in the ad. We can excuse show bizzers like Jill Clayburgh, Peter Coyote and (!) Martha Stewart, and various Rabbis and Revs-- but
When I expressed shock that Howard Zinn had signed it (I still can't believe it) Rabbi Lerner wrote me that he had done so despite disagreement with "some of the nuances." I revere Zinn more than most men on this earth, I have seen him speak countless times, been at marches, pickets, demos with him.
I have read his books and his speeches, and have sent his People's History to numerous people who needed a true perspective on the real History of our country. I have seen his film, and attended theatrical performances of his work. What could have induced him to sign this ? And what about the amazing Medea Benjamin of Code Pink ?
I was just in jail with a whole group of CPers, at the action in DC to shut down Congress -- and of course she was the brilliant organizer. How could she sign this ? Wait 'til you read it. Then you'll understand my shock and sense of betrayal.
The preface reads:
The war will not end until we, you and I, put an end to it.
The suggestion that we rely on Congress to do our job is an insidious, counter-productive, self-defeating and complicitous repetition of everything that has not worked before. It serves only to prolong the killing -- just the same as the actions of "Congress" so far.
It could not be more clear----"Congress" is not going to end anything. WE must. Begging the conspirators to end the conspiracy is insane, and worse- it robs We The People of our power, and serves only to allow us to blame others, avoiding true self-responsibility.
We must NOT depend on what Congress does or does not do.
The time has come for each one of us, each and every one, to stand up and take personal responsibility for what WE have done. WE can not rely on OTHERS to do it for us. Congress has done nothing, and will do nothing.
Congressional "resolve ?"
"Congress" just proposed that taking Iraq's oil be MANDATORY as part of its new appropriations bill. "Congress" works for the people who are making stupefying profits from this war and all war, and "Congress" has always -- that is to say evrrrrry sinnnnngle tiiiiime in our history- voted FOR War.
The "War" is not ending. It will not end when "our troops are safely home..."
ALL of our troops are NEVER coming home. Tens of thousands of them will always be there, manning the monstrous new PERMANENT US "Embassy" inside the fortified "Green Zone, and tens of thousands of "private contractors" like the barbarous Blackwater Security forces, will remain as well, with no oversight, under no laws, protecting the oil fields and refineries for U.S. big oil.
The problem is NOT "The War in Iraq."
"Ending" this one "war" will do nothing to change the fundamental, historical course of the USA - the employment of coercive force in the pursuit of profit for our global commerce, and the imposition of our world view on all those too weak to resist --- that is to say-- to invade, overthrow, occupy and dominate by ruthless violence, at the cost of millions of lives. This phase of this particular war has been visited upon the Iraqi people since Poppa George, all the way through Clinton's lethal infanticidal bombing and embargos, and of course for the past years of Bush II. For the USA, this is business as usual. It is not an anomaly nor particularly unique.
Note also the absurd mind-reading and imposition of values on "many Americans," as if the authors of this ad know what "they" are thinking and why.
Here's what "they" -- what ALL Americans know- beyond doubt -
WE are killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people, man woman and child, WE are jailing and torturing hundreds of thousands of innocent people, WE are torturing people, WE are poisoning with Depleted Uranium, WE are destroying an ancient civilization, WE are creating a massive barely describable refugee crisis, WE are stealing the resources of another nation.
While "many Americans" ponder what happens next, thousands more are dying.
And as for the hope you may have felt when you read the last sentence, ("new ethical and spiritual vision") -- wait til you see what form that takes.
The headline is:
AN ETHICAL WAY TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ
Generosity Beats Domination as a Strategy for Homeland Security
So tell me Rabbi, is there an UNethical way to end the War in Iraq ?
What, the A bomb ?
Ending the War IS the only ethical act, and prolonging it in any way is un-ethical.
Now catch the phrase "Homeland Security."
Is that what this is about ? US feeling safe ?
Proliferating this Goebbelsdigook spreads the worst propaganda and fear-mongering.
It is exactly, precisely, wrong.
Then it says- Let's do the generous thing here- as a "strategy" to make us feel safe.
As any Ethicnician will tell ya- you don't do things to get things.
Ask any Taoist, Buddha, Hillel, Allah, even JC.
But not, apparently, The Network of Spiritual Progressives.
They propose doing good stuff so we get "security."
Fie.
Now on to article #1:
A lot of it is good-hearted, and at least declares that We did it, and we need to beg forgiveness, and make reparations.
Alas, it is put in religious terms, as if we need the Bible to tell us right from wrong.
As if we have no way to take responsibility for that decision every moment of our lives.
Here is the last part:
Can you STAND it ? We are supposed have others to do what WE need to do.
We urge "Congress" to do our job, yet again. More off the hookism.
WE must take responsibility, WE must confront our guilt, and repent, and make amends.
This means WE must sacrifice our own comfort and the luxuries of daily life, and make reparation.
Deliverance from wrong doing requires #1 Take responsibility #2 Repent #3 Repair that which can be repaired
#4 Do everything possible to make amends.
Note to the Bible quoters: Sacrifice is also a biblical requirement for repentance and cleansing.
Forget the President, Congress and the UN. WE must do this, not THEM.
It is We The People who must humble ourselves- US --
each and every single one of us, one at a time.
Waiting for politicians to do this, handing it to them, is a total waste of time, and everyone knows it.
Forget Congress. Forget putting it on OTHERS.
Every one of US must confess, repent, make reparations and to make amends- we must all give up the idea of force and coercion as a means.
We each must resolve, and act on that resolution, and work tirelessly -- to build our lives, and a nation and a world where force and coercion are abjured and eliminated.
We each must take individual responsibility and commit to true generosity and selfless reparation.
This means sacrifice.
As Paul Rieckoff says- the American People have had no war.
We have experienced no loss, had no pain, have had to sacrifice nothing.
It is the troops and their families who have felt this war.
And of course, it is the Iraqis and Afghanis and the countless hundreds of thousands of victims -
The only road to "salvation" is to take individual responsibility to stop our history of endless domination and war- now and forever.
Now- here it gets much worse.
So far its been philosophical.
Now it gets to plans of action.
II. REPLACE U.S. AND BRITISH FORCES IN IRAQ WITH AN INTERNATIONAL PEACE FORCE ACCEPTABLE TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE.
Now do you see why I was so amazed that Zinn and Medea B signed this ?
The Iraqis don't want ANY FOREIGNERS in Iraq -- no police force, no peacekeepers, no soldiers.
There must be NO FORCES in Iraq. NONE. The UN "peacekeepers" have committed unspeakable crimes in Haiti, East Timor, and many other places where they have been deployed, where their presence has been disastrous, violently misogynistic, and murderous.
We must NOT buy into the idea that what is needed is more coercion. What is needed is unstinting generosity, giving, and sacrifice by each one of us.
We can all go, and re build Iraq, and Palestine, and Afghanistan -- and not wait for others, especially governmental institutions, to do it for us.
Let us all, each of us, contribute as we can and as we MUST - but -- in the Rabbi's terms- even The Torah requires sacrifice- our actions must constitute sacrifice if they are to begin to cleanse us. Its gotta HURT, and not be easy.
We must go and re build homes and hospitals and schools, and make it safe for all to return. Again, as The Torah says- we must act individually, not as a society.
Doctors and accountants and cooks and roadbuilders and electricians must go.
Babysitters and therapists and teachers.
If we leave it to the USA and Congress and UN, we will have another disaster.
Sending armed Saudis or Danes or Martians into Iraq is guaranteed to bring more chaos and killing.
Everyone needs to GET OUT, except those acting from individual conscience, who represent NO government, only individuals personally trying to make amends, and personally make reparation. To GIVE. One person at a time.
This proposal to send in troops is not merely misguided, it is destructive and evil in the worst possible ways. Shame on them.
And now- the final idiocy.
This proposes to use the vilest villains, the ones who caused this and virtually all such wars, who create them and profit by them-- to use these bastards to go into Iraq and develop a "new Marshall Plan." And once again, aid is being suggested as a way to get something back- "homeland security." Wrong wrong wrong.
Even the use of the term Marshall Plan is disgusting. The MP was one of the myriad projects concocted by the WW2 winners, like the World Bank, The Security Council, and Israel, to impose and insure hegemony over the world and its most crucial resources. Like the WB, The Marshall Plan was a devious giant step forward for Globalization and Capitalism, and came with enormous strings attached.
Reparations, making Amends, plans for Justice for the Victims-- of course. But using this as another means to spread Capitalism and Globalism in the world, and to put it in the hands of the very worst perpetrators of the war ? If this isn't innocent idiocy, then it's the foulest form of complicity. Howard ? Medea ? How could you sign this?
Americans must embrace making personal amends and reparation, not cause the Western Nations (white people) to build ANOTHER western style capitalist globalized little USA in Iraq. And we must -- we MUST keep the filthy bloody hands of American Business and Corporations OFF it.
As far as the "Abrahamic" religions, and their generosity -
we are seeing quite enough of their largesse in Gaza right now, but thanks anyway- I'll pass.
Giving as a % of GDP ? Have the money handled by our government and not by all of us individually ? Wrong again. We cannot have others do it.
Given the new Oil Law now just being forced on and passed in Iraq, and "Congress" insisting on it being part of any stoppage of funding, and given the clear truth that the USA, American corporations and "contractors, and numerous Iraqi traitors have embezzled billions, the truest and most direct way to re build is to have individuals do it. Small companies, shop owners, construction workers, union members, musicians. It is also the only way to engender trust in the Iraqis.
Tens of thousands of real people, individuals, each acting from personal conscience. No governmental involvement. No reward expected.
This is the only way the Iraqis will even begin to trust it.
The US Government, and their corporate capitalist bosses can NOT be involved if there is to be trust, and can NOT be involved if the values and goals are truly to be altruistic and ecumenical.
Only people.
WE - each one of us, if we are to find redemption, cannot depend on nor expect anyone other than ourselves to do this for us, and must have no expectation for reward.
Rabbi Lerner, and his fellow dupes, have proposed actions that can serve only to prolong the very root causes of war, violence, and domination.
They have proposed a religious and utilitarian base for giving-- giving to receive.
They have proposed sending in Troops to re-invade and re-occupy Iraq.
They have proposed Globalizing and Capitalizing Iraq using the worst and most evil practices and people among us.
And for this they should be condemned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For your information: I sent my objections to Rabbi Lerner, and we had a dialog about them.
He basically said it was "too late" to make any changes.
That was two MONTHS ago.
You can write to him and tell him what you think of his ideas and his ad.
RabbiLerner@tikkun.org
Read more!!
The responsibility for wars falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these same masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anyone else. To stress this guilt on the part of the masses of people, to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom fighters; the latter that attitude held by power-thirsty politicians."
Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rabbi Michael Lerner and his posse of well-intentioned Dupes called, "The Network of Spiritual Progressives," have spent many many thousands of dollars and months of toil on what they promise will be a series of full-page print ads in major newspapers, starting yesterday (Thursday) in The New York Times. (Please access the actual ad here: http://www.tikkun.org/PeaceAd)
Some of the signatories are so shocking that I can only assume they had forgotten their consciences and their history books, or were finally so deeply pessimistic that they were grasping at any straw, even proposals as wrong-headed as those proffered in the ad. We can excuse show bizzers like Jill Clayburgh, Peter Coyote and (!) Martha Stewart, and various Rabbis and Revs-- but
When I expressed shock that Howard Zinn had signed it (I still can't believe it) Rabbi Lerner wrote me that he had done so despite disagreement with "some of the nuances." I revere Zinn more than most men on this earth, I have seen him speak countless times, been at marches, pickets, demos with him.
I have read his books and his speeches, and have sent his People's History to numerous people who needed a true perspective on the real History of our country. I have seen his film, and attended theatrical performances of his work. What could have induced him to sign this ? And what about the amazing Medea Benjamin of Code Pink ?
I was just in jail with a whole group of CPers, at the action in DC to shut down Congress -- and of course she was the brilliant organizer. How could she sign this ? Wait 'til you read it. Then you'll understand my shock and sense of betrayal.
The preface reads:
The war will not end until we, you and I, put an end to it.
The suggestion that we rely on Congress to do our job is an insidious, counter-productive, self-defeating and complicitous repetition of everything that has not worked before. It serves only to prolong the killing -- just the same as the actions of "Congress" so far.
It could not be more clear----"Congress" is not going to end anything. WE must. Begging the conspirators to end the conspiracy is insane, and worse- it robs We The People of our power, and serves only to allow us to blame others, avoiding true self-responsibility.
We must NOT depend on what Congress does or does not do.
The time has come for each one of us, each and every one, to stand up and take personal responsibility for what WE have done. WE can not rely on OTHERS to do it for us. Congress has done nothing, and will do nothing.
Congressional "resolve ?"
"Congress" just proposed that taking Iraq's oil be MANDATORY as part of its new appropriations bill. "Congress" works for the people who are making stupefying profits from this war and all war, and "Congress" has always -- that is to say evrrrrry sinnnnngle tiiiiime in our history- voted FOR War.
The "War" is not ending. It will not end when "our troops are safely home..."
ALL of our troops are NEVER coming home. Tens of thousands of them will always be there, manning the monstrous new PERMANENT US "Embassy" inside the fortified "Green Zone, and tens of thousands of "private contractors" like the barbarous Blackwater Security forces, will remain as well, with no oversight, under no laws, protecting the oil fields and refineries for U.S. big oil.
The problem is NOT "The War in Iraq."
"Ending" this one "war" will do nothing to change the fundamental, historical course of the USA - the employment of coercive force in the pursuit of profit for our global commerce, and the imposition of our world view on all those too weak to resist --- that is to say-- to invade, overthrow, occupy and dominate by ruthless violence, at the cost of millions of lives. This phase of this particular war has been visited upon the Iraqi people since Poppa George, all the way through Clinton's lethal infanticidal bombing and embargos, and of course for the past years of Bush II. For the USA, this is business as usual. It is not an anomaly nor particularly unique.
Note also the absurd mind-reading and imposition of values on "many Americans," as if the authors of this ad know what "they" are thinking and why.
Here's what "they" -- what ALL Americans know- beyond doubt -
WE are killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people, man woman and child, WE are jailing and torturing hundreds of thousands of innocent people, WE are torturing people, WE are poisoning with Depleted Uranium, WE are destroying an ancient civilization, WE are creating a massive barely describable refugee crisis, WE are stealing the resources of another nation.
While "many Americans" ponder what happens next, thousands more are dying.
And as for the hope you may have felt when you read the last sentence, ("new ethical and spiritual vision") -- wait til you see what form that takes.
The headline is:
AN ETHICAL WAY TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ
Generosity Beats Domination as a Strategy for Homeland Security
So tell me Rabbi, is there an UNethical way to end the War in Iraq ?
What, the A bomb ?
Ending the War IS the only ethical act, and prolonging it in any way is un-ethical.
Now catch the phrase "Homeland Security."
Is that what this is about ? US feeling safe ?
Proliferating this Goebbelsdigook spreads the worst propaganda and fear-mongering.
It is exactly, precisely, wrong.
Then it says- Let's do the generous thing here- as a "strategy" to make us feel safe.
As any Ethicnician will tell ya- you don't do things to get things.
Ask any Taoist, Buddha, Hillel, Allah, even JC.
But not, apparently, The Network of Spiritual Progressives.
They propose doing good stuff so we get "security."
Fie.
Now on to article #1:
A lot of it is good-hearted, and at least declares that We did it, and we need to beg forgiveness, and make reparations.
Alas, it is put in religious terms, as if we need the Bible to tell us right from wrong.
As if we have no way to take responsibility for that decision every moment of our lives.
Here is the last part:
Can you STAND it ? We are supposed have others to do what WE need to do.
We urge "Congress" to do our job, yet again. More off the hookism.
WE must take responsibility, WE must confront our guilt, and repent, and make amends.
This means WE must sacrifice our own comfort and the luxuries of daily life, and make reparation.
Deliverance from wrong doing requires #1 Take responsibility #2 Repent #3 Repair that which can be repaired
#4 Do everything possible to make amends.
Note to the Bible quoters: Sacrifice is also a biblical requirement for repentance and cleansing.
Forget the President, Congress and the UN. WE must do this, not THEM.
It is We The People who must humble ourselves- US --
each and every single one of us, one at a time.
Waiting for politicians to do this, handing it to them, is a total waste of time, and everyone knows it.
Forget Congress. Forget putting it on OTHERS.
Every one of US must confess, repent, make reparations and to make amends- we must all give up the idea of force and coercion as a means.
We each must resolve, and act on that resolution, and work tirelessly -- to build our lives, and a nation and a world where force and coercion are abjured and eliminated.
We each must take individual responsibility and commit to true generosity and selfless reparation.
This means sacrifice.
As Paul Rieckoff says- the American People have had no war.
We have experienced no loss, had no pain, have had to sacrifice nothing.
It is the troops and their families who have felt this war.
And of course, it is the Iraqis and Afghanis and the countless hundreds of thousands of victims -
The only road to "salvation" is to take individual responsibility to stop our history of endless domination and war- now and forever.
Now- here it gets much worse.
So far its been philosophical.
Now it gets to plans of action.
II. REPLACE U.S. AND BRITISH FORCES IN IRAQ WITH AN INTERNATIONAL PEACE FORCE ACCEPTABLE TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE.
Now do you see why I was so amazed that Zinn and Medea B signed this ?
The Iraqis don't want ANY FOREIGNERS in Iraq -- no police force, no peacekeepers, no soldiers.
There must be NO FORCES in Iraq. NONE. The UN "peacekeepers" have committed unspeakable crimes in Haiti, East Timor, and many other places where they have been deployed, where their presence has been disastrous, violently misogynistic, and murderous.
We must NOT buy into the idea that what is needed is more coercion. What is needed is unstinting generosity, giving, and sacrifice by each one of us.
We can all go, and re build Iraq, and Palestine, and Afghanistan -- and not wait for others, especially governmental institutions, to do it for us.
Let us all, each of us, contribute as we can and as we MUST - but -- in the Rabbi's terms- even The Torah requires sacrifice- our actions must constitute sacrifice if they are to begin to cleanse us. Its gotta HURT, and not be easy.
We must go and re build homes and hospitals and schools, and make it safe for all to return. Again, as The Torah says- we must act individually, not as a society.
Doctors and accountants and cooks and roadbuilders and electricians must go.
Babysitters and therapists and teachers.
If we leave it to the USA and Congress and UN, we will have another disaster.
Sending armed Saudis or Danes or Martians into Iraq is guaranteed to bring more chaos and killing.
Everyone needs to GET OUT, except those acting from individual conscience, who represent NO government, only individuals personally trying to make amends, and personally make reparation. To GIVE. One person at a time.
This proposal to send in troops is not merely misguided, it is destructive and evil in the worst possible ways. Shame on them.
And now- the final idiocy.
This proposes to use the vilest villains, the ones who caused this and virtually all such wars, who create them and profit by them-- to use these bastards to go into Iraq and develop a "new Marshall Plan." And once again, aid is being suggested as a way to get something back- "homeland security." Wrong wrong wrong.
Even the use of the term Marshall Plan is disgusting. The MP was one of the myriad projects concocted by the WW2 winners, like the World Bank, The Security Council, and Israel, to impose and insure hegemony over the world and its most crucial resources. Like the WB, The Marshall Plan was a devious giant step forward for Globalization and Capitalism, and came with enormous strings attached.
Reparations, making Amends, plans for Justice for the Victims-- of course. But using this as another means to spread Capitalism and Globalism in the world, and to put it in the hands of the very worst perpetrators of the war ? If this isn't innocent idiocy, then it's the foulest form of complicity. Howard ? Medea ? How could you sign this?
Americans must embrace making personal amends and reparation, not cause the Western Nations (white people) to build ANOTHER western style capitalist globalized little USA in Iraq. And we must -- we MUST keep the filthy bloody hands of American Business and Corporations OFF it.
As far as the "Abrahamic" religions, and their generosity -
we are seeing quite enough of their largesse in Gaza right now, but thanks anyway- I'll pass.
Giving as a % of GDP ? Have the money handled by our government and not by all of us individually ? Wrong again. We cannot have others do it.
Given the new Oil Law now just being forced on and passed in Iraq, and "Congress" insisting on it being part of any stoppage of funding, and given the clear truth that the USA, American corporations and "contractors, and numerous Iraqi traitors have embezzled billions, the truest and most direct way to re build is to have individuals do it. Small companies, shop owners, construction workers, union members, musicians. It is also the only way to engender trust in the Iraqis.
Tens of thousands of real people, individuals, each acting from personal conscience. No governmental involvement. No reward expected.
This is the only way the Iraqis will even begin to trust it.
The US Government, and their corporate capitalist bosses can NOT be involved if there is to be trust, and can NOT be involved if the values and goals are truly to be altruistic and ecumenical.
Only people.
WE - each one of us, if we are to find redemption, cannot depend on nor expect anyone other than ourselves to do this for us, and must have no expectation for reward.
Rabbi Lerner, and his fellow dupes, have proposed actions that can serve only to prolong the very root causes of war, violence, and domination.
They have proposed a religious and utilitarian base for giving-- giving to receive.
They have proposed sending in Troops to re-invade and re-occupy Iraq.
They have proposed Globalizing and Capitalizing Iraq using the worst and most evil practices and people among us.
And for this they should be condemned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For your information: I sent my objections to Rabbi Lerner, and we had a dialog about them.
He basically said it was "too late" to make any changes.
That was two MONTHS ago.
You can write to him and tell him what you think of his ideas and his ad.
RabbiLerner@tikkun.org
Read more!!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
DRANT #232: THE IDIOT BUSH VS. MICHAEL MOORE
You all remember when Moore's last picture came out ? And The Bush government colluded with Jack Valenti (r.i.p.), the MPAA, Disney Pictures and other and sundry film and media pimps to stifle it ?
Well, they're trying again.
Here is Michael Moore's actual letter to Henry Paulson regarding the upcoming and totally predictable persecution and attempt at censorship.
The funny thing is that last time, the pre-publicity guaranteed that Fahrenheit 9-11 would be the biggest grossing Documentary ever, and explode onto the international consciousness.
In udder woids, the idiot Bushacks- as usual- made things much worse by attempting coercion.
Annnnd- the same is about to happen here.
Check it out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 13 2007
By MWC NEWS
http://mwcnews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14479&Itemid=42
Open Letter from Michael Moore to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Secretary Henry Paulson
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20220
May 11, 2007
Secretary Paulson,
ImageI am contacting you in light of the document sent to me dated May 2, 2007, which was received May 7, 2007 indicating that an investigation has been opened up with regards to a trip I took to Cuba with a group of Americans that included some 9/11 heroes in March 2007 related to the filming of my next documentary, on the American Healthcare system. SiCKO, which will be seen in theaters this summer, will expose the health care industry's greed and control over America's political processes.
I believe that the decision to conduct this investigation represents the latest example of the Bush Administration abusing the federal government for raw, crass, political purposes. Over the last seven years of the Bush Presidency, we have seen the abuse of government to promote a political agenda designed to benefit the conservative base of the Republican Party, special interests and major financial contributors. From holding secret meetings for the energy industry to re-writing science findings to cooking the books on intelligence to the firing of U.S. Attorneys, this Administration has shown time and time again that it will abuse its power and authority.
There are a number of specific facts that have led me to conclude that politics could very well be driving this Bush Administration investigation of me and my film.
First, the Bush Administration has been aware of this matter for months (since October 2006) and never took any action until less than two weeks before SiCKO is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and a little more than a month before it is scheduled to open in the United States.
Second, the health care and insurance industry, which is exposed in the movie and has expressed concerns about the impact of the movie on their industries, is a major corporate underwriter of President George W. Bush and the Republican Party, having contributed over $13 million to the Bush presidential campaign in 2004 and more than $180 million to Republican candidates over the last two campaign cycles. It is well documented that the industry is very concerned about the impact of SiCKO. They have threatened their employees if they talk to me. They have set up special internal crises lines should I show up at their headquarters. Employees have been warned about the consequences of participating in SiCKO. Despite this, some employees, at great risk to themselves, have gone on camera to tell the American people the truth about the health care industry. I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions -- President Bush -- would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience.
And, third, this investigation is being opened in the wake of misleading attacks on the purpose of the Cuba trip from a possible leading Republican candidate for president, Fred Thompson, a major conservative newspaper, The New York Post, and various right wing blogs.
For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community. These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me -- I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide.
I demand that the Bush Administration immediately end this investigation and spend its time and resources trying to support some of the real heroes of 9/11.
Sincerely,
Michael Moore`
Read more!!
Well, they're trying again.
Here is Michael Moore's actual letter to Henry Paulson regarding the upcoming and totally predictable persecution and attempt at censorship.
The funny thing is that last time, the pre-publicity guaranteed that Fahrenheit 9-11 would be the biggest grossing Documentary ever, and explode onto the international consciousness.
In udder woids, the idiot Bushacks- as usual- made things much worse by attempting coercion.
Annnnd- the same is about to happen here.
Check it out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 13 2007
By MWC NEWS
http://mwcnews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14479&Itemid=42
Open Letter from Michael Moore to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Secretary Henry Paulson
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20220
May 11, 2007
Secretary Paulson,
ImageI am contacting you in light of the document sent to me dated May 2, 2007, which was received May 7, 2007 indicating that an investigation has been opened up with regards to a trip I took to Cuba with a group of Americans that included some 9/11 heroes in March 2007 related to the filming of my next documentary, on the American Healthcare system. SiCKO, which will be seen in theaters this summer, will expose the health care industry's greed and control over America's political processes.
I believe that the decision to conduct this investigation represents the latest example of the Bush Administration abusing the federal government for raw, crass, political purposes. Over the last seven years of the Bush Presidency, we have seen the abuse of government to promote a political agenda designed to benefit the conservative base of the Republican Party, special interests and major financial contributors. From holding secret meetings for the energy industry to re-writing science findings to cooking the books on intelligence to the firing of U.S. Attorneys, this Administration has shown time and time again that it will abuse its power and authority.
There are a number of specific facts that have led me to conclude that politics could very well be driving this Bush Administration investigation of me and my film.
First, the Bush Administration has been aware of this matter for months (since October 2006) and never took any action until less than two weeks before SiCKO is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and a little more than a month before it is scheduled to open in the United States.
Second, the health care and insurance industry, which is exposed in the movie and has expressed concerns about the impact of the movie on their industries, is a major corporate underwriter of President George W. Bush and the Republican Party, having contributed over $13 million to the Bush presidential campaign in 2004 and more than $180 million to Republican candidates over the last two campaign cycles. It is well documented that the industry is very concerned about the impact of SiCKO. They have threatened their employees if they talk to me. They have set up special internal crises lines should I show up at their headquarters. Employees have been warned about the consequences of participating in SiCKO. Despite this, some employees, at great risk to themselves, have gone on camera to tell the American people the truth about the health care industry. I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions -- President Bush -- would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience.
And, third, this investigation is being opened in the wake of misleading attacks on the purpose of the Cuba trip from a possible leading Republican candidate for president, Fred Thompson, a major conservative newspaper, The New York Post, and various right wing blogs.
For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community. These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me -- I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide.
I demand that the Bush Administration immediately end this investigation and spend its time and resources trying to support some of the real heroes of 9/11.
Sincerely,
Michael Moore`
Read more!!
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