Free Iraq
The US's occupation of Iraq will see to it that the Lion of Babylon rises again .. سنـُبعـَث ُ من جَديد ، وإلى ضَـيـرِِهِـم
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| Unrevealed Milestones in the Iraqi National Nuclear Program: 1981-1991 | معالم وأحداث غير مكشوفة في البرنامج النووي الوطني العراقي 1981-1991 | 
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Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Mongols, Romans and American soldiers
"As an American citizen, I cannot understand why our military is behaving like Mongol terrorists in Iraq.
Why are they massacring civilians, terrorizing cities, pretending that ordinary citizens are "terrorists," bombing wedding parties and then justifying them by saying that they "appeared to be congregating and were a threat because of that," and "we shot him because he was taking dangerous pictures that could have been used against us," and when speaking of killing a Reuters cameraman, "he was in the way, taking pictures."
How has our country and our military sunk to such a low level of morality?
How have our military boys and girls been taught to be beasts? How have they been transformed from caring, Christian kids into brutes who kill and are happy they killed men, women and children? Who taught them that Iraqis were animals to be hunted and killed? Who taught them that it was o.k. to go in and terrorize a city like Fallujah, bombing mosques and killing men and boys because they protested the American brutality? Who taught them to go in and terrorize a city like Tel Afar and laugh about it and say it was because of "terrorists"--when it was ordinary citizens they were attacking and killing--often people who were huddled in their homes with fright?The only answers I have are GW Bush, the devil Dick Cheney, the brute Donald Rumsfeld and the evil pusher, Wolfowitz.
If you have any better answers, please let me know.
Dr. Sam Hamod, editor, www.todaysalternativenews.com 09/11/2005 (1)(2484)
How Did Americans Become Mongol Terrorists? September 11, 2005
"A masked teenager in an Iraqi army uniform walked slowly through a crowd of 400 detainees captured Monday, studying each face and rendering his verdict with a simple hand gesture, like a Roman emperor deciding the fate of gladiators.
A thumb pointed down meant the suspect was not thought to be an insurgent and would be released by U.S. soldiers. A thumb pointed up meant a man would be removed from the concertina wire-encased pen, handcuffed with tape or plastic ties and taken by truck to a military base to be interrogated.
"Another bad guy right here," an American interpreter shouted ...
... Many of the informants are residents of this city of more than 200,000 who now serve in the Iraqi army. Others had family members who were killed by the insurgents and said they wanted to help purge them from their neighborhoods. The U.S. soldiers who work with them acknowledge knowing little about their backgrounds and motives -- or even their names -- (emphasis added) and admit that their reliability varies widely. Some of those named by sources have in turn said their accusers were carrying out tribal or sectarian vendettas, a charge they also level at Iraqi security forces.
... As in the past several days, Iraqi soldiers drawn primarily from the Kurdish pesh merga militia led the operation, joined as always by U.S. Special Operations soldiers, distinctive with their unkempt hair and facial stubble.
... U.S. commanders have praised the performance of the Kurdish forces during the operation, while privately expressing concern that their tactics sometimes verge on being heavy-handed. The pesh merga supports Kurdish rebels fighting the government of neighboring Turkey, and for many years the militiamen were targets of the Sunni Arab-dominated Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The majority of Tall Afar's residents are Sunni Turkmens, ethnic relatives of the Turks.
Informants Decide Fate of Iraqi Detainees September 13, 2005
Note the Liberators' spreading of due process of law and civil war.
Training in Camp Ain Al-Assad, December 20, 2004, before the onslaught on Fallujah in January 2005
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Diversity in "al heras al-wathani", a US goal.
"Iraqi soldiers this week began chanting "Long live [Grand Ayatollah Ali] Sistani!" the clerical leader of Iraq's Shiites, as soon as they were handed control of the Shiite shrine city of Najaf, south of Baghdad."...
..."Iraq's Sunni Arabs fear the new armed forces will be used against their communities. Sunnis often make a play on words, referring to the U.S.-trained national guard as "heras al-wathani," which in Arabic means the guardians of the pagans."....
..."Lt. Gen. Dempsey denied published reports that the United States had refrained from giving the Iraqis sophisticated military equipment because of fears of a civil war. He said Iraqi troops aren't yet sufficiently trained to use certain types of equipment."
Diversity in Iraq's Armed Services Is General's Goal
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-diversity9sep09,1,3991252.story?coll=la-iraq-complete
"Iraqi soldiers this week began chanting "Long live [Grand Ayatollah Ali] Sistani!" the clerical leader of Iraq's Shiites, as soon as they were handed control of the Shiite shrine city of Najaf, south of Baghdad."...
..."Iraq's Sunni Arabs fear the new armed forces will be used against their communities. Sunnis often make a play on words, referring to the U.S.-trained national guard as "heras al-wathani," which in Arabic means the guardians of the pagans."....
..."Lt. Gen. Dempsey denied published reports that the United States had refrained from giving the Iraqis sophisticated military equipment because of fears of a civil war. He said Iraqi troops aren't yet sufficiently trained to use certain types of equipment."
Diversity in Iraq's Armed Services Is General's Goal
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-diversity9sep09,1,3991252.story?coll=la-iraq-complete
12 Explosions in Iraq Kill at Least 152: "Wednesday's worst bombing killed at least 88 people and wounded 227 in the heavily Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah where the day laborers had gathered shortly after dawn.
"The carnage was the worst single day of bloodshed since March 2, 2004, when coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives hit Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad, killing at least 181 and wounding 573."
Baghdad hospital corridors fill with dead, wounded
"The carnage was the worst single day of bloodshed since March 2, 2004, when coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives hit Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad, killing at least 181 and wounding 573."
Baghdad hospital corridors fill with dead, wounded
Kurt Nimmo, Local Neighborhood Cops as Militarized Thugs: "New Orleans is the paradigm of what America will soon be: a militarized police state where the Constitution is a dead letter and the citizenry is considered the enemy."
(Note: Wayne Madsen's articles, packed with info. often unavailable elsewhere, are not date linked.)
September 14, 2005, Wayne Madsen Report -- Is Urban Moving Systems chief back in US? There are indications that Israeli national Dominik Suter, the former head of Urban Moving Systems in Weehawken, NJ is back in the United States, this time in south Florida and may be using his actual name. Suter ran the Weehawken, NJ-based moving company on 9-11 when a number of Urban Moving Systems vans were spotted around north Jersey before and after the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center. One Urban Moving van was seen at Liberty State Park in Jersey City as the first plane hit the towers. The five occupants, all Israeli nationals, were seen videotaping and celebrating the attack and were dressed in Arab clothing. The five were later arrested near Giant Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. One of the Israelis told police they were at Liberty State Park to "document the event."
After the Israelis were detained for several months in Brooklyn as terrorist suspects, they were quickly deported to Israel. After the FBI questioned Suter on September 11, he fled the United States on September 14, 2001. The FBI was due to question Suter again before he fled the country. Later, Federal law enforcement agents discovered pipes, caps, explosive chemical materials, and traces of anthrax at the Weehawken warehouse. Suter's name and those of some of his moving employees turned up in a CIA database of foreign intelligence agents. Suter's name also appeared on an FBI 9-11 terrorism suspect list. Suter's year of birth is listed as 1970 with a social security number of 129-78-0926. His addresses before 9-11 are listed as 28 Harlow Crescent Rd., Fairlawn, NJ 07410; 312 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07302; and 15000 Dickens, Suite 11, Sherman Oaks CA. If Suter has been permitted to re-enter the United States, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and its chief Michael Chertoff have a lot of explaining to do.
September 14, 2005, Wayne Madsen Report -- Is Urban Moving Systems chief back in US? There are indications that Israeli national Dominik Suter, the former head of Urban Moving Systems in Weehawken, NJ is back in the United States, this time in south Florida and may be using his actual name. Suter ran the Weehawken, NJ-based moving company on 9-11 when a number of Urban Moving Systems vans were spotted around north Jersey before and after the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center. One Urban Moving van was seen at Liberty State Park in Jersey City as the first plane hit the towers. The five occupants, all Israeli nationals, were seen videotaping and celebrating the attack and were dressed in Arab clothing. The five were later arrested near Giant Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. One of the Israelis told police they were at Liberty State Park to "document the event."
After the Israelis were detained for several months in Brooklyn as terrorist suspects, they were quickly deported to Israel. After the FBI questioned Suter on September 11, he fled the United States on September 14, 2001. The FBI was due to question Suter again before he fled the country. Later, Federal law enforcement agents discovered pipes, caps, explosive chemical materials, and traces of anthrax at the Weehawken warehouse. Suter's name and those of some of his moving employees turned up in a CIA database of foreign intelligence agents. Suter's name also appeared on an FBI 9-11 terrorism suspect list. Suter's year of birth is listed as 1970 with a social security number of 129-78-0926. His addresses before 9-11 are listed as 28 Harlow Crescent Rd., Fairlawn, NJ 07410; 312 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07302; and 15000 Dickens, Suite 11, Sherman Oaks CA. If Suter has been permitted to re-enter the United States, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and its chief Michael Chertoff have a lot of explaining to do.
Saddam erased from Iraqi school syllabus: "The events of 2003 are described only as a 'major shake-up' of Iraq."
(Twice, stage managed death; first, by textbook, then by 'legal' execution.)
(Twice, stage managed death; first, by textbook, then by 'legal' execution.)
Tal Afar; crackdown in the Sunni Heartland: "The siege of Tal Afar follows a familiar pattern of brutal American incursions into densely populated areas under the pretense of fighting terrorism. It is a ritual that is repeated endlessly despite the dismal results. The Pentagon seems to prefer these grand displays of military strength to anything that might produce a political solution. It brings to mind the old saw, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again; expecting a different result.' This appears to be the guiding principle of the Defense Dept. with Tal Afar serving as the most recent example.
"In the present case, a city of 250,000 has been almost entirely evacuated following weeks of artillery bombardment, aerial bombing raids, downed power-lines and water-system, and house-to-house searches.
"Ho-hum. Such paltry events never even reach the front page of American newspapers where the ceremony of American suffering is the only topic of interest.
"The remaining occupants of the city have reported the killing and maiming of innocent women and children, the use of chemical weapons, and the predictable destruction of Mosques and holy sites. In Tal Afar the Pentagon's 'Hearts and Minds' program seems to be running at high-gear.
"There was no doubt that Donald Rumsfeld would use the cover of Hurricane Katrina to mount a massive attack in Iraq, and he didn't disappoint. The military conducted a 10,000 man invasion only to find that the city had been abandoned and that the Iraqi resistance had slipped away without incident. Not one foreign fighter was captured during the siege despite claims that the city was a haven for foreign terrorists.
"Iraq's Prime Minister Al Jaafari has shown a surprising enthusiasm for the Rumsfeld's blitzkrieg against the Sunnis. He gave the siege of Tal Afar his personal blessing and said that the hostilities were being conducted 'on his orders'. He also announced that he was contributing thousands of newly-graduated Iraqi soldiers to the war-effort, even though his decision is bound to be unpopular among the Iraqi public. Al-Jaafari has now put himself in the same position as his predecessor, Iyad Allawi, who lost all credibility when he authorized the invasion of Falluja."
"In the present case, a city of 250,000 has been almost entirely evacuated following weeks of artillery bombardment, aerial bombing raids, downed power-lines and water-system, and house-to-house searches.
"Ho-hum. Such paltry events never even reach the front page of American newspapers where the ceremony of American suffering is the only topic of interest.
"The remaining occupants of the city have reported the killing and maiming of innocent women and children, the use of chemical weapons, and the predictable destruction of Mosques and holy sites. In Tal Afar the Pentagon's 'Hearts and Minds' program seems to be running at high-gear.
"There was no doubt that Donald Rumsfeld would use the cover of Hurricane Katrina to mount a massive attack in Iraq, and he didn't disappoint. The military conducted a 10,000 man invasion only to find that the city had been abandoned and that the Iraqi resistance had slipped away without incident. Not one foreign fighter was captured during the siege despite claims that the city was a haven for foreign terrorists.
"Iraq's Prime Minister Al Jaafari has shown a surprising enthusiasm for the Rumsfeld's blitzkrieg against the Sunnis. He gave the siege of Tal Afar his personal blessing and said that the hostilities were being conducted 'on his orders'. He also announced that he was contributing thousands of newly-graduated Iraqi soldiers to the war-effort, even though his decision is bound to be unpopular among the Iraqi public. Al-Jaafari has now put himself in the same position as his predecessor, Iyad Allawi, who lost all credibility when he authorized the invasion of Falluja."
Marines Question The Sophistication Of Latest Attacks (Check this one out. Will just take a minute to scroll down. Interesting.)
(Book Review) - What went wrong: "Without their consent, we freed them from one nightmare only to plunge them into another one. They have suffered for far too long."
THE BUILDUP TO THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR: "Today, 25 years after the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War, we hear almost unanimous opinions that Iraq started the conflict. The late Jude Wanniski, former assistant editor of the Wall Street Journal, calls this thought process the 'rewriting of history.' A few months ago, he eloquently put forth an article taking us back to 1979 and 1980 and describing incidents of the day. He was outspoken about this subject and criticized those who have fallen into the 'Iraq started the Iran-Iraq War' sphere.
"Prior to Iraq firing its first shot, Iran had sabotaged Iraqi interests and had shelled Iraqi border towns. This was all documented and presented by Iraq during that period.
"Recently, I found a small pamphlet among my boxes of papers that was distributed by the Iraqi Embassy in Washington D.C. in 1985. It tells the Iraqi side of the story.
"Ironically, Iran spent eight years in a bloody war to accomplish two goals: the overthrow of the Iraqi regime and the implementation of an Islamic state in Iraq. At the war’s end, neither had occurred.
"Let’s look at today’s Iraq. Iran belatedly won the Iran-Iraq War, albeit 17 years after the 1988 cease-fire. This time, however, Iran did not have to fire a shot or lose one combatant. The Ba’athist regime has been overthrown, and last week, some members of the Iraqi stooge parliament proudly called Iraq 'the Islamic State of Iraq.'
"The U.S. thought by invading Iraq, it would keep the secular look to the country and have a bulwark against Iran. However, Iranian influence is at an all-time high in Iraq today and the U.S. is trapped between various factions.
"Let’s go back to 1985 and see some of the similarities of then and today.
HOW THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR STARTED . . .
"Prior to Iraq firing its first shot, Iran had sabotaged Iraqi interests and had shelled Iraqi border towns. This was all documented and presented by Iraq during that period.
"Recently, I found a small pamphlet among my boxes of papers that was distributed by the Iraqi Embassy in Washington D.C. in 1985. It tells the Iraqi side of the story.
"Ironically, Iran spent eight years in a bloody war to accomplish two goals: the overthrow of the Iraqi regime and the implementation of an Islamic state in Iraq. At the war’s end, neither had occurred.
"Let’s look at today’s Iraq. Iran belatedly won the Iran-Iraq War, albeit 17 years after the 1988 cease-fire. This time, however, Iran did not have to fire a shot or lose one combatant. The Ba’athist regime has been overthrown, and last week, some members of the Iraqi stooge parliament proudly called Iraq 'the Islamic State of Iraq.'
"The U.S. thought by invading Iraq, it would keep the secular look to the country and have a bulwark against Iran. However, Iranian influence is at an all-time high in Iraq today and the U.S. is trapped between various factions.
"Let’s go back to 1985 and see some of the similarities of then and today.
HOW THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR STARTED . . .
Kurt Vonnegut's (partial) list of "LIBERAL CRAP I NEVER WANT TO HEAR AGAIN" (Jon Stewart's "Daily Show", 13 Sept. 05)
- Blessed are the meek.
- Blessed are the merciful. (You mean we can't use torture?)
- Love your enemies (Arabs?)
- Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (The hell I can't! Look at the Reverend Pat Robertson. And He is as happy as a pig in sh*t.)
Preceded by -
"George Bush is not the stupidest man in government.
"The Secretary of Defense is."
- Blessed are the meek.
- Blessed are the merciful. (You mean we can't use torture?)
- Love your enemies (Arabs?)
- Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (The hell I can't! Look at the Reverend Pat Robertson. And He is as happy as a pig in sh*t.)
Preceded by -
"George Bush is not the stupidest man in government.
"The Secretary of Defense is."
Chris Floyd, "Panic Attack: A Blank Check for Tyranny": (Originally published in The Moscow Times on September 21, 2001. Now featured in the book, Empire Burlesque: High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, 2001-2005.)
"It's a cold, brutal fact, hard to face, hard to stomach, but impossible to deny: We are all living in a world of lies - lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and the grandchildren of lies."
"It's a cold, brutal fact, hard to face, hard to stomach, but impossible to deny: We are all living in a world of lies - lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and the grandchildren of lies."
The Twenty First Century Freedom Is Dying: "The police state tactics being foisted on the citizens of New Orleans are a disgrace. American soldiers are forcing private citizens to evacuate their homes (for their own good of course) at the point of a gun. Many of these homes have never been flooded and are being kept clean and habitable. One is reminded of the propaganda meted out at Waco. Before they all died in the fire, they were being evicted for their own good because of the sexual abuse. I wonder how many of the dispossessed New Orleans residents will ever see their homes again.
"Now in the Twenty First Century we have begun another imperialistic conquest in the Middle East. Similar to the protracted conflict of the Spanish American War in the Philippines we are now bogged down in Iraq in the midst of 200 million Arabs many of whom will never concede to an American occupation. Our casualties have been relatively light but the toll on Iraqi citizens is in the hundreds of thousands. The injustice of the American invasion of Iraq will result in the same strife that has been fifty-year fare for the Nation of Israel. It can only end with the unthinkable annihilation of millions of Arabs.
Five percent of the Twenty First Century has seen changes more drastic than those of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration. The Constitutional Republic known as the 'land of the free and the home of the brave' is no longer recognizable. Instead America has become an unpredictable, secular behemoth being used as an instrument of the invisible power structure to bring about world government.
"The ruthless monster is about to throw off the filthy blanket!"
"Now in the Twenty First Century we have begun another imperialistic conquest in the Middle East. Similar to the protracted conflict of the Spanish American War in the Philippines we are now bogged down in Iraq in the midst of 200 million Arabs many of whom will never concede to an American occupation. Our casualties have been relatively light but the toll on Iraqi citizens is in the hundreds of thousands. The injustice of the American invasion of Iraq will result in the same strife that has been fifty-year fare for the Nation of Israel. It can only end with the unthinkable annihilation of millions of Arabs.
Five percent of the Twenty First Century has seen changes more drastic than those of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration. The Constitutional Republic known as the 'land of the free and the home of the brave' is no longer recognizable. Instead America has become an unpredictable, secular behemoth being used as an instrument of the invisible power structure to bring about world government.
"The ruthless monster is about to throw off the filthy blanket!"
Love Canal-type landfill submerged in New Orleans floodwaters: "Overlooked in many news reports about the unfolding storm disaster in the southern United States, especially in the City of New Orleans, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, is a potentially dramatic pollution issue related to a toxic landfill that sits under the flood waters right in the city's downtown, according to map overlays of the flooded area. The situation could exacerbate the already dire threat to human health and the environment from the flood waters."
Perils of Normalization with Israel: "There should be no doubt regarding the centrality and intensity of the relationship between the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the internal and external politics of Arab and Muslim nations, regardless of their geographic immediacy and level of involvement. By ignoring this intrinsic connection, one also forfeits a chief component in fathoming, thus remedying the entrenched sentiment of anti-Americanism (as a political, rather than a cultural sentiment), reverberating throughout the Muslim world.
(All the "in-between" paras. omitted)
"Israel and the US must understand that arm-twisting, political intimidation and bribery might achieve a few more 'historic' meetings and treaties with self-imposed juntas, but will not invite and sustain lasting peace. The continued deflation of national aspirations and the undermining of the spiritual value that Arabs and Muslims hold toward Palestine will most likely result in further alienation of the masses, who are in fact the principal sustainer of anti-Americanism throughout the world, and whose consent can't be bought or sold."
(All the "in-between" paras. omitted)
"Israel and the US must understand that arm-twisting, political intimidation and bribery might achieve a few more 'historic' meetings and treaties with self-imposed juntas, but will not invite and sustain lasting peace. The continued deflation of national aspirations and the undermining of the spiritual value that Arabs and Muslims hold toward Palestine will most likely result in further alienation of the masses, who are in fact the principal sustainer of anti-Americanism throughout the world, and whose consent can't be bought or sold."
"You got the wrong Texan": "Sydney demonstration against the arrest and pending deportation of US anti-war activist Scott Parkin"
(Check link for wonderful photos)
(Check link for wonderful photos)
US-led troops go house to house in 'rebel' Iraq town: "Iraqi negotiators meanwhile announced that they hoped to be able to deliver a final draft of a new constitution to the United Nations by Wednesday for distribution to voters ahead of a referendum scheduled for next month.
"Members of the drafting committee said they were locked in talks on last-minute changes to the wording of some articles to appease the ousted Sunni Arab elite after months of tortuous discussions.
"Two-thirds of committee members took part in the talks on 'three possible modifications', Shiite MP Abboud Wahid al-Issawi said.
"One proposed amendment touched on references in the charter to the 'Arab' identity of Iraq, a bone of contention between the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds.
"'The amended article will include words stating that Iraq is a founding and active member of the Arab League and respects its charter," Issawi said.
"The Kurds had earlier rejected a proposal that Iraq be referred to as 'part of the Arab nation'."
"Members of the drafting committee said they were locked in talks on last-minute changes to the wording of some articles to appease the ousted Sunni Arab elite after months of tortuous discussions.
"Two-thirds of committee members took part in the talks on 'three possible modifications', Shiite MP Abboud Wahid al-Issawi said.
"One proposed amendment touched on references in the charter to the 'Arab' identity of Iraq, a bone of contention between the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds.
"'The amended article will include words stating that Iraq is a founding and active member of the Arab League and respects its charter," Issawi said.
"The Kurds had earlier rejected a proposal that Iraq be referred to as 'part of the Arab nation'."
Yes, for another glorious year, America is selling more military equipment around the world, than all the other major exporters put together.
Good to know that there is still something that Americans make, that somebody wants to buy.
Because in every other area (cars, commercial aircraft, electronics, softwood lumber, cell phones, rice, sugar, etc.), their economy can't compete and has to turn to protectionism to even compete within its own domestic market.
But in death machines, America is Number One!
PS: If this was your only remaining competitive (comparative) economic advantage, would you or wouldn't you be interested in having "peace break out"?
I think the answer is pretty straightforward, don't you?
Good to know that there is still something that Americans make, that somebody wants to buy.
Because in every other area (cars, commercial aircraft, electronics, softwood lumber, cell phones, rice, sugar, etc.), their economy can't compete and has to turn to protectionism to even compete within its own domestic market.
But in death machines, America is Number One!
PS: If this was your only remaining competitive (comparative) economic advantage, would you or wouldn't you be interested in having "peace break out"?
I think the answer is pretty straightforward, don't you?
Why don't our papers print these horrid pictures?
Putting on a "Play" on a break from the fighting, indeed !!
Our soldiers are being dehumanized, as are the Iraqis.
Our soldiers are being turned into MONSTERS.
The War on Iraq has broken the back of our Army. The only arsenal left for the monsters are AIR and SEA. God help us all.
Putting on a "Play" on a break from the fighting, indeed !!
Our soldiers are being dehumanized, as are the Iraqis.
Our soldiers are being turned into MONSTERS.
The War on Iraq has broken the back of our Army. The only arsenal left for the monsters are AIR and SEA. God help us all.
Palestinian refugees give $10,000 to Katrina victims
(I had seen this story earlier in the day. The generosity of the Palestinian gesture made me feel so ashamed that I couldn't bring myself to post this link. Having now received this story from a friend, I am too ashamed NOT to post it. That people who suffer so much still are moved to reach out. . .)
(I had seen this story earlier in the day. The generosity of the Palestinian gesture made me feel so ashamed that I couldn't bring myself to post this link. Having now received this story from a friend, I am too ashamed NOT to post it. That people who suffer so much still are moved to reach out. . .)
Naturally the defence industry is a motor of US economy. It also sells many weapons, but will it do so also in future? The customers are watching new options.
The more USA bullies, threatens and blocks others in military and political aspects, the more active the other countries have to became in their defence. US public has a rosy picture of their country’s military superiority. What makes US “defence” forces unique is that it is designed to operate all over the world. The other countries armies are mostly designed to defend their own area. Well times are chancing.
The size of China’s economy in 2004 ($7.262 trillion) was 62 percent of US GNP ($11.75 trillion). CIA world fact book gives rather confusing numbers of China’s military expenditures - percent of GDP 4.3 or $67.49 billion (2004). The equal numbers for USA are 3.3 percent and $370.7 billion. Well - if the percentage of China’s military spending is right then the amount in dollars is wrong. 4.3 percent of 7.2 trillion is $312 billion, not $67.5 billion. Or the other solution is that China uses to military expenditure 0.9 percent of its GNP. What ever figure is true it is evident, that China has soon the same kind of muscles to keep up an equal or even bigger army than USA. Bigger not only in man power.
Russia has a very strong defence industry and the recent US policy has made it even stronger. The customers are lining on the doors. The Russians do not have the same kind of resources than USA, because the Russian economy is one tenth of USA, but it has a huge potential.
EU is already a bigger economical power than USA. EU has a fragmented but in principal a rather strong defence industry. If EU decides to build its own defence system to replace NATO it would give an enormous boost to EU’s economy. That is also one of the many US nightmares.
The period of Anglo-American military dominance will soon be over. The US policy against Iraq, Iran and in other parts of the centre of Eurasia has shown to the other players that they have to activate their defence and make it more "moveable". After ten years the Chinese and Indian aircraft carrier groups will “train” in Persian Gulf and in the coasts of Americas.
PS.
What is worrisome is the “doctrine” or way of how US soldiers are trained and demanded to behave. It was rather astonishing to see that even in New Orleans the US soldiers operated like they are in a war zone. Has anybody seen equal behaviour after the tsunamis, floods and earthquakes around the world? Yes there are soldiers helping and building, but never so heavy armed as in the streets of New Orleans. If US soldiers treat their own countrymen like what we just did see, how do they treat the “others”.
The more USA bullies, threatens and blocks others in military and political aspects, the more active the other countries have to became in their defence. US public has a rosy picture of their country’s military superiority. What makes US “defence” forces unique is that it is designed to operate all over the world. The other countries armies are mostly designed to defend their own area. Well times are chancing.
The size of China’s economy in 2004 ($7.262 trillion) was 62 percent of US GNP ($11.75 trillion). CIA world fact book gives rather confusing numbers of China’s military expenditures - percent of GDP 4.3 or $67.49 billion (2004). The equal numbers for USA are 3.3 percent and $370.7 billion. Well - if the percentage of China’s military spending is right then the amount in dollars is wrong. 4.3 percent of 7.2 trillion is $312 billion, not $67.5 billion. Or the other solution is that China uses to military expenditure 0.9 percent of its GNP. What ever figure is true it is evident, that China has soon the same kind of muscles to keep up an equal or even bigger army than USA. Bigger not only in man power.
Russia has a very strong defence industry and the recent US policy has made it even stronger. The customers are lining on the doors. The Russians do not have the same kind of resources than USA, because the Russian economy is one tenth of USA, but it has a huge potential.
EU is already a bigger economical power than USA. EU has a fragmented but in principal a rather strong defence industry. If EU decides to build its own defence system to replace NATO it would give an enormous boost to EU’s economy. That is also one of the many US nightmares.
The period of Anglo-American military dominance will soon be over. The US policy against Iraq, Iran and in other parts of the centre of Eurasia has shown to the other players that they have to activate their defence and make it more "moveable". After ten years the Chinese and Indian aircraft carrier groups will “train” in Persian Gulf and in the coasts of Americas.
PS.
What is worrisome is the “doctrine” or way of how US soldiers are trained and demanded to behave. It was rather astonishing to see that even in New Orleans the US soldiers operated like they are in a war zone. Has anybody seen equal behaviour after the tsunamis, floods and earthquakes around the world? Yes there are soldiers helping and building, but never so heavy armed as in the streets of New Orleans. If US soldiers treat their own countrymen like what we just did see, how do they treat the “others”.
They behave lke mangolian because they are afraid from everything and from every one they have trust no one and believe no one so they kill any one try to reach them and the fear make the people to do everything uncontrolled
Baghdad Bombings: Order out of Chaos: "Since the United States cannot 'win' the Iraqi 'war' militarily (because invaded and occupied people always resist) the idea here is to spread violence and thus 'conquer and divide,' as British imperialists have done for centuries. Call it Order out of Chaos (Ordo ab Chao), a technique of staged events. It is also the Hegelian Dialect in action and for the Iraqis will ultimately result in a splintered and ineffectual Iraq along ethnic and religious lines, precisely as the neoliberal globalists would have it."
Iron fist in Tal Afar: "Those who were allowed to leave were 'screened' as possible insurgents in U.S.-run camps before receiving food and water. According to press accounts, there at least 100,000 refugees--a crisis that led the Turkish Red Crescent, the Muslim equivalent of the Red Cross, to dispatch emergency aid across the borders.
"Those who remained are being forced to endure house-to-house searches by U.S. troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry, as huge M-1 Abrams tanks crash through the narrow streets of the ancient city.
"A Washington Post reporter embedded with the troops--one of the only U.S. reporters in Tal Afar--described the horror of the U.S. assault. As soldiers used a sledgehammer to knock down the door of a house, the reporter wrote, 'A woman wearing a purple abaya, or full-length cloak, and holding a baby ran toward them. ‘Already, my husband is dead, and you are breaking my house!’ she shouted. “When shots rang out in the streets, she clutched her baby close to her chest. As a series of explosions grew closer, she sat down, rocked her baby and began to cry.'"
"Those who remained are being forced to endure house-to-house searches by U.S. troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry, as huge M-1 Abrams tanks crash through the narrow streets of the ancient city.
"A Washington Post reporter embedded with the troops--one of the only U.S. reporters in Tal Afar--described the horror of the U.S. assault. As soldiers used a sledgehammer to knock down the door of a house, the reporter wrote, 'A woman wearing a purple abaya, or full-length cloak, and holding a baby ran toward them. ‘Already, my husband is dead, and you are breaking my house!’ she shouted. “When shots rang out in the streets, she clutched her baby close to her chest. As a series of explosions grew closer, she sat down, rocked her baby and began to cry.'"
John Pilger, NEWS FROM BEHIND THE FACADE: Before the moment passes, and Bush's atrocities and lies in Iraq are again allowed to proceed, it is worth connecting his disregard for the suffering in New Orleans with other truths behind The Facade. The unchanging nature of the 500-year western imperial crusade is exemplified in the unreported suffering of people all over the world, declared enemies in their own homes. The people of Tal Afar, a northern Iraqi town now in the news as "an insurgent stronghold", refused to be expelled from their homes, and as you read this, are being bombed and shelled and strafed, just as the people of Fallujah were, and the people of Najaf, and the people of Hongai, a "stronghold" in Vietnam, once the most bombed place on earth, and the people of Neak Loeung in Cambodia, one of countless towns flattened by B-52s. The list of such places consigned to notoriety, then oblivion, is seemingly endless. Why?
The answer largely is that so much of western scholarship has taken the humanity out of the study of nations, of people, congealing it with jargon and reducing it to an esotericism called "international relations", the grand chess game of western power that scores nations as useful or not, expendable or not. (Listen to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw talk about "failed nations": the pure invention of Anglo-American IR zealots.) It is this rampant orthodoxy that determines how power speaks and how its historians and reporters report.
Such orthodoxy, says Richard Falk, professor of International Relations at Princeton and a distinguished dissenter, "which is so widely accepted among political scientists as to be virtually unchallengeable in academic journals, regards law and morality as irrelevant to the identification of rational policy." Thus, western foreign policy is formulated "through a self-righteous, one-way, moral/legal screen [with] positive images of western values and innocence portrayed as threatened, validating a campaign of unrestricted political violence..." This is the filter through which most people get their serious news. It is the reason why the most obvious truths, such as the dominance of western state terrorism over the minuscule al-Qaeda variety, is never reported. It is the reason why America's destruction of 35 democracies in 30 countries (historian William Blum's latest count), is unknown to the American public.
More urgently, it is the reason why the historic implications of Bush's and Blair's assaults on our most basic freedoms, such as habeas corpus, are rarely reported. On 9 September, the American federal appeals court handed down a judgement against Jose Padilla, an alleged witness to an alleged "plot" inmate of Guantanamo Bay, allowing the US military to hold him without charge, indefinitely. Even though there is no case against him, the Supreme Court is unlikely to overturn this travesty, which means the end of the Bill of Rights and of the "very core of liberty... freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive", as an American jurist once famously wrote.
Behind The Facade, the destruction of democracy has been a long-term project. The millions of poor, like most of the people of New Orleans, have no place in the American system, which is why they don't vote. The same is happening under Blair, who has achieved the lowest voter turnouts since the franchise. Like Bush, this is not his concern, for his horizons stretch far. Selling weapons and privatisation deals to India one day, preparing the ground for attacking Iran the next. Under Blair, the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, ran Operation Mass Appeal, a campaign to plant stories in the media about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Under Blair, young Pakistanis living in Britain were trained as jihadi fighters and recruited for the first of his wars - the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in 1999. According to the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, they joined this terrorist network "with the full knowledge and complicity of the British and American intelligence agencies."
The answer largely is that so much of western scholarship has taken the humanity out of the study of nations, of people, congealing it with jargon and reducing it to an esotericism called "international relations", the grand chess game of western power that scores nations as useful or not, expendable or not. (Listen to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw talk about "failed nations": the pure invention of Anglo-American IR zealots.) It is this rampant orthodoxy that determines how power speaks and how its historians and reporters report.
Such orthodoxy, says Richard Falk, professor of International Relations at Princeton and a distinguished dissenter, "which is so widely accepted among political scientists as to be virtually unchallengeable in academic journals, regards law and morality as irrelevant to the identification of rational policy." Thus, western foreign policy is formulated "through a self-righteous, one-way, moral/legal screen [with] positive images of western values and innocence portrayed as threatened, validating a campaign of unrestricted political violence..." This is the filter through which most people get their serious news. It is the reason why the most obvious truths, such as the dominance of western state terrorism over the minuscule al-Qaeda variety, is never reported. It is the reason why America's destruction of 35 democracies in 30 countries (historian William Blum's latest count), is unknown to the American public.
More urgently, it is the reason why the historic implications of Bush's and Blair's assaults on our most basic freedoms, such as habeas corpus, are rarely reported. On 9 September, the American federal appeals court handed down a judgement against Jose Padilla, an alleged witness to an alleged "plot" inmate of Guantanamo Bay, allowing the US military to hold him without charge, indefinitely. Even though there is no case against him, the Supreme Court is unlikely to overturn this travesty, which means the end of the Bill of Rights and of the "very core of liberty... freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive", as an American jurist once famously wrote.
Behind The Facade, the destruction of democracy has been a long-term project. The millions of poor, like most of the people of New Orleans, have no place in the American system, which is why they don't vote. The same is happening under Blair, who has achieved the lowest voter turnouts since the franchise. Like Bush, this is not his concern, for his horizons stretch far. Selling weapons and privatisation deals to India one day, preparing the ground for attacking Iran the next. Under Blair, the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, ran Operation Mass Appeal, a campaign to plant stories in the media about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Under Blair, young Pakistanis living in Britain were trained as jihadi fighters and recruited for the first of his wars - the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in 1999. According to the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, they joined this terrorist network "with the full knowledge and complicity of the British and American intelligence agencies."
Faiza, A Family in Baghdad: الخميس 15 أيلول
صباح الخير...
يوم امس كان يوم الجحيم في بغداد..
انفجرت 11 سيارة مفخخة في مختلف مناطق بغداد , بين الواحدة والأخرى دقائق..
ومئات القتلى والجرحى من المدنيين...ولا ندري كم من قوات الشرطة العراقية او قوات الإحتلال...
لكن ثمة أخبار تقول انها مسؤولية تنظيم القاعدة في العراق حيث يثأرون لمقتل جماعتهم في تلعفر...
لا احد يعلم ما يحدث في تلعفر وما حولها..ثمة حملة عسكرية منذ اكثر من اسبوع تحاصر المدينة واخبار عن قصف طيران, وتهديم بيوت وقتل مسلحين وتشريد اهالي من بيوتهم ..نفس قصة الفلوجة تعاد في اماكن مختلفة
صباح الخير...
يوم امس كان يوم الجحيم في بغداد..
انفجرت 11 سيارة مفخخة في مختلف مناطق بغداد , بين الواحدة والأخرى دقائق..
ومئات القتلى والجرحى من المدنيين...ولا ندري كم من قوات الشرطة العراقية او قوات الإحتلال...
لكن ثمة أخبار تقول انها مسؤولية تنظيم القاعدة في العراق حيث يثأرون لمقتل جماعتهم في تلعفر...
لا احد يعلم ما يحدث في تلعفر وما حولها..ثمة حملة عسكرية منذ اكثر من اسبوع تحاصر المدينة واخبار عن قصف طيران, وتهديم بيوت وقتل مسلحين وتشريد اهالي من بيوتهم ..نفس قصة الفلوجة تعاد في اماكن مختلفة
Looting By Any Other Name; The Profit-Driven War: ". . .There are companies that help break things, by making the tools for violence and destruction, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. There are companies that fix what gets broken, such as Bechtel and Halliburton. There are companies that protect people as they break things and as they fix what's broken, such as Blackwater and Vinnell Corp. There are companies that want our government to smash across borders so they may bring new products and infrastructure, companies that we will see set up shop in that country. There are companies that want our government to smash across other countries' borders so they may suck the resources out from underneath the people there, such as the big oil companies. There are companies that like the US to attack other countries so they may have something entertaining to tell their audiences in the time between commercials: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN.
"This is war profiteering, but with a twist. Historically, war profiteering amounted to this: when there was a war, people tried to profit from it. A company making clothes might also start making uniforms and sell them to the army and make them as cheaply as possible and sell for the highest price possible. Now, though, companies are making war for profit. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Vinnell and Blackwater, such companies would not exist as we know them without war.
". . .Many Americans believe that violence is a simple and quick solution to diplomatic and social problems. You don't have to learn Arabic to bomb Iraq, for example. But we've seen that bombing doesn't solve much of anything. We must educate people about the success of diplomacy, peace work, exchanges, nonviolent movements. Our country's faith in weapons and war is based on our culture's faith in violence. Our fellow citizens must be encouraged to drop this faith, to become freethinkers, heretics. And to declare a war on their own terror, to rigorously question those who warn that our nation is in enormous danger from various enemies."
"This is war profiteering, but with a twist. Historically, war profiteering amounted to this: when there was a war, people tried to profit from it. A company making clothes might also start making uniforms and sell them to the army and make them as cheaply as possible and sell for the highest price possible. Now, though, companies are making war for profit. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Vinnell and Blackwater, such companies would not exist as we know them without war.
". . .Many Americans believe that violence is a simple and quick solution to diplomatic and social problems. You don't have to learn Arabic to bomb Iraq, for example. But we've seen that bombing doesn't solve much of anything. We must educate people about the success of diplomacy, peace work, exchanges, nonviolent movements. Our country's faith in weapons and war is based on our culture's faith in violence. Our fellow citizens must be encouraged to drop this faith, to become freethinkers, heretics. And to declare a war on their own terror, to rigorously question those who warn that our nation is in enormous danger from various enemies."
(The first 2 paras. only)
September 15, 2005 Wayne Madsen Report -- The Constant Gardener: A movie gets it right about Africa and international conspiracies to hurt and kill the innocent. The screen adaptation of John Le Carre's thriller, The Constant Gardener, gets two thumbs up from this veteran of covering Africa's victimization by multinational corporations, weapons smugglers, and the "misery industry." The movie's main plot is a scheme by a consortium of international pharmaceutical companies to use AIDS and tuberculosis-infected Africans as human guinea pigs: plying them with untested drugs with fatal side effects. The conspiracy is sanctioned by the highest levels of the British government, professional "do-gooder" aid organizations, and corrupt African government officials in Kenya and Zimbabwe. There is even a reference to a Mossad agent who is apparently involved in the conspiracy with a Kenyan government minister. The Constant Gardener finally tells the true story of what is happening in Africa.
As Americans continue to bury their dead from what has been a series of government sanctioned errors of commission and omission with the Hurricane Katrina disaster, it cannot be overstated that similar wanton indifference to and involvement in Africa's suffering has been the unofficial policy of the United States and Britain for decades. Africa's Holocaust has propelled the names Darfur, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Niger, Somalia, Zaire/Congo, and Angola to front pages around the world. The Constant Gardener reminds us that these actual human catastrophes were not born in Africa but crafted and engineered from corporate board rooms, private millionaire clubs, and government executive offices from Washington, DC and New York to London and Houston. John LeCarre's writings are not mere speculation, they are based on years of dealing with the significant movers and shakers in the world's official and unofficial intelligence networks. In other words, he knows what he's writing about.
September 15, 2005 Wayne Madsen Report -- The Constant Gardener: A movie gets it right about Africa and international conspiracies to hurt and kill the innocent. The screen adaptation of John Le Carre's thriller, The Constant Gardener, gets two thumbs up from this veteran of covering Africa's victimization by multinational corporations, weapons smugglers, and the "misery industry." The movie's main plot is a scheme by a consortium of international pharmaceutical companies to use AIDS and tuberculosis-infected Africans as human guinea pigs: plying them with untested drugs with fatal side effects. The conspiracy is sanctioned by the highest levels of the British government, professional "do-gooder" aid organizations, and corrupt African government officials in Kenya and Zimbabwe. There is even a reference to a Mossad agent who is apparently involved in the conspiracy with a Kenyan government minister. The Constant Gardener finally tells the true story of what is happening in Africa.
As Americans continue to bury their dead from what has been a series of government sanctioned errors of commission and omission with the Hurricane Katrina disaster, it cannot be overstated that similar wanton indifference to and involvement in Africa's suffering has been the unofficial policy of the United States and Britain for decades. Africa's Holocaust has propelled the names Darfur, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Niger, Somalia, Zaire/Congo, and Angola to front pages around the world. The Constant Gardener reminds us that these actual human catastrophes were not born in Africa but crafted and engineered from corporate board rooms, private millionaire clubs, and government executive offices from Washington, DC and New York to London and Houston. John LeCarre's writings are not mere speculation, they are based on years of dealing with the significant movers and shakers in the world's official and unofficial intelligence networks. In other words, he knows what he's writing about.
Baghdad: The bloodiest day: "'We gathered and suddenly a car blew up and turned the area into fire and dust and darkness,' said Hadi, a worker who survived the blast. Along with some 1,500 others he had gone at dawn to the square where labourers traditionally wait to be hired. Most of those who died were impoverished Shia workers from Iraq's deep south who have come to Baghdad for jobs and sleep rough or in squalid hotels around Aruba."
Heidi, who dances on graves - you seem to be paranoid with your white dominating thoughts. Well take your bike and hit a tree like Bush does, maybe it helps to clear your head.
Soldiers are not social workers nobody says that. But soldiers are also not indented to be only killing machines in the modern world. US soldiers have watched too much Rambo films and that is why other nations soldiers do not like to operate with them in the peace keeping operations or in other operations. Friendly US fire has killed many Canadians and Brits in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraq and Afghanistan are no military success stories for USA, not in any way. Americans control only the circle of 150 meters radius where they stand. They do not control the country, the warlords and resitance leaders do it in reality.
About tights to US soldiers - maybe they deserve them when they have to meet man against man or one man against ten. Slaughtering civilians or men with “bows and arrows” with a superior war machine is not heroic. Can US soldiers keep their pants dry when they some times inexorably encounter a superior enemy? Only then real men can be separated from boys.
Heidi read the history of the last 100 years and take a look at the US's role in that. You should pray that in the next 100 years the Chinese or Indians will not behave as Americans have done. Empires fall and rise, that is a law of nature. The new empire rises along the sun from the east and the old empire in the west withers away were the sun goes down.
Soldiers are not social workers nobody says that. But soldiers are also not indented to be only killing machines in the modern world. US soldiers have watched too much Rambo films and that is why other nations soldiers do not like to operate with them in the peace keeping operations or in other operations. Friendly US fire has killed many Canadians and Brits in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraq and Afghanistan are no military success stories for USA, not in any way. Americans control only the circle of 150 meters radius where they stand. They do not control the country, the warlords and resitance leaders do it in reality.
About tights to US soldiers - maybe they deserve them when they have to meet man against man or one man against ten. Slaughtering civilians or men with “bows and arrows” with a superior war machine is not heroic. Can US soldiers keep their pants dry when they some times inexorably encounter a superior enemy? Only then real men can be separated from boys.
Heidi read the history of the last 100 years and take a look at the US's role in that. You should pray that in the next 100 years the Chinese or Indians will not behave as Americans have done. Empires fall and rise, that is a law of nature. The new empire rises along the sun from the east and the old empire in the west withers away were the sun goes down.
(An article high on information, many links)
Corporations of the Whirlwind; The Reconstruction of New Oraq: ". . .Iraq and New Orleans now seem to be morphing into a single entity, New Oraq, to be devoured by the same limited set of corporations, let loose and overseen by the same small set of Bush administration officials. In George Bush's new world of globalization, first comes the destruction and only then does one sit down at the planetary table to sup."
Corporations of the Whirlwind; The Reconstruction of New Oraq: ". . .Iraq and New Orleans now seem to be morphing into a single entity, New Oraq, to be devoured by the same limited set of corporations, let loose and overseen by the same small set of Bush administration officials. In George Bush's new world of globalization, first comes the destruction and only then does one sit down at the planetary table to sup."
(Permanent link to FULL Wayne Madsen article - 12:56 PM comment)
'The Constant Gardener' - Film Gets It Right About Africa
'The Constant Gardener' - Film Gets It Right About Africa
Bush, God and Katrina: "In 1785, Thomas Jefferson, reflected on slavery. 'I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. His justice cannot sleep forever.' Was Jefferson's God defining justice as sardonic revenge not only by inflicting us with Katrina, but placing George W. Bush as chief administrator of its aftermath?"
"The Red Cross and its cohorts are letting lazy, incompetent and corrupt politicians off the hook, and so are their donors. . . . For our leaders the optional war against Iraq is such a priority, which the Congressional Budget Office expects to cost $600 billion by 2010. That's four or five Katrinas right there. "
Saddam?
This was the man who engaged in massive ethnic cleanse on several native Iraqi ethnic groups, as well as on the Kurds. He using methods from using chemical weapons to eliminate entire villages and draining natural marshes, he all the time murdered and oppresed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis over the last three decade. Don't forget to add the thousands of Iraqi and Iranian soldiers who died in eight-year conflict following Saddam invasion of Iran and the casualties from the first Gulf War - all deaths not very hard to pin on the dictator's territorial desires.
This man has been - and still is - one of the most feared people in the world. Weeks after his disappearance, several construction companies in Baghdad declined to bid for the right to remove the giant statues from the Republican Palace - they feared retribution from their former overlord. An anecdote helps demonstrate the state of fear the Iraqi people have lived in since Hussein seized power in 1979. Years ago, a European interviewer nervously asked the leader if rumors that the Baghdad authorities had, on occasion, tortured and killed opponents of the regime, were true. The dictator seemed surprised by the naivete of the question. "Of course," he replied. "What do you expect if they oppose the regime?"
Hussein's combination of egomania, violence and paranoia won't be missed in Iraq in the long run. With several ethnic and geographic divisions, and millions of citizens, Iraq doesn't lend itself to easy governance. The ironclad rule of Saddam kept the diverse nation unified, even if the impetus for that unification was fear. This period during his absence will be grueling - vacuums of power are troublesome by their very nature.
There were, and always will be, better ways to enact change in the world than force. However, there is no turning back now; so we must look for the silver lining on this dark cloud that has been thrust upon us. A despicable despot has been removed from power and the door has been opened for eventual peaceful government in the ravaged nation. True and complete change likely won't occur under the Bush administration, and might not come under the next few administrations, but eventually Iraqi children will grow up in a place where they don't have to be afraid anymore.
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This was the man who engaged in massive ethnic cleanse on several native Iraqi ethnic groups, as well as on the Kurds. He using methods from using chemical weapons to eliminate entire villages and draining natural marshes, he all the time murdered and oppresed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis over the last three decade. Don't forget to add the thousands of Iraqi and Iranian soldiers who died in eight-year conflict following Saddam invasion of Iran and the casualties from the first Gulf War - all deaths not very hard to pin on the dictator's territorial desires.
This man has been - and still is - one of the most feared people in the world. Weeks after his disappearance, several construction companies in Baghdad declined to bid for the right to remove the giant statues from the Republican Palace - they feared retribution from their former overlord. An anecdote helps demonstrate the state of fear the Iraqi people have lived in since Hussein seized power in 1979. Years ago, a European interviewer nervously asked the leader if rumors that the Baghdad authorities had, on occasion, tortured and killed opponents of the regime, were true. The dictator seemed surprised by the naivete of the question. "Of course," he replied. "What do you expect if they oppose the regime?"
Hussein's combination of egomania, violence and paranoia won't be missed in Iraq in the long run. With several ethnic and geographic divisions, and millions of citizens, Iraq doesn't lend itself to easy governance. The ironclad rule of Saddam kept the diverse nation unified, even if the impetus for that unification was fear. This period during his absence will be grueling - vacuums of power are troublesome by their very nature.
There were, and always will be, better ways to enact change in the world than force. However, there is no turning back now; so we must look for the silver lining on this dark cloud that has been thrust upon us. A despicable despot has been removed from power and the door has been opened for eventual peaceful government in the ravaged nation. True and complete change likely won't occur under the Bush administration, and might not come under the next few administrations, but eventually Iraqi children will grow up in a place where they don't have to be afraid anymore.
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