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AS THE WORLD SQUIRMS Friday – December 15, 2006
ARCHIVE
“Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful
and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure
wind.” ~George Orwell~
  90% of Iraqis Say 'Worse Off Than Under Saddam' Al-Jazeera.net 12.14.06 (Excerpt) More than 90 per cent of Iraqis
believe the country is worse off now than before the war in 2003, according
to new research obtained by Al Jazeera. A
survey of 2,000 people by the Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies
found that 95 per cent of respondents believe the security situation has
deteriorated since the arrival of US forces. The findings follow a poll by NBC News and
the Wall Street Journal that found that less than one in four Americans
approves of George Bush's administration’s handling of the conflict in Iraq. It also comes as armed men attacked the
convoy of Iraq's vice-president and as up to 30 Iraqis were kidnapped in Baghdad on Thursday. NBC reported that
only 23 per cent of respondents backed the president's strategy, representing
an 11-point drop since the last NBC poll in October.  Survey:
US Losing Arab Allies' Hearts and Minds Jim Lobe Antiwar.com (via
Inter Press Service) 12.15.06 (Excerpt) Attitudes toward the United States reached new lows through
most of the Arab world over the past year, according to the findings of a major new
survey [.pdf]
of five
Arab countries released here Thursday by Zogby International and the Arab
American Institute (AAI). Based on 3,500 face-to-face
interviews of randomly selected adult respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco,
Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon, the survey found
that the continuing deterioration in Washington's image
was due primarily to U.S. policies in the region, particularly with respect
to Iraq, Palestine, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Lebanon. But it also found that attitudes toward U.S. cultural and
political values have also become increasingly negative, compared to previous
years' surveys, although not nearly as negative as Arab views of specific
policies. Particularly remarkable, negative
opinions toward the United States have skyrocketed in two key Arab monarchies
long considered close allies of Washington, according to the survey. Nine of 10 Jordanian respondents said they held
predominantly negative views of the U.S., up from only 32 percent on early
2005. Likewise 87 percent of Moroccans said their views of the U.S. were
unfavorable, up from 64 percent last year. At least as worrisome to U.S.
policymakers, a major beneficiary of growing Arab
anger at Washington appeared to be Iran, according to AAI president James
Zogby, who also acted as a consultant to Zogby International. "As
America's numbers go down, Iran's goes up," he told reporters.
"That's the reality, and we're playing right into it."  Rice Rejects Overture to Iran and Syria Glenn Kessler and
Robin Wright (Excerpt) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
yesterday rejected a bipartisan panel's recommendation that the United States
seek the help of Syria and Iran
in Iraq,
saying the "compensation" required by any deal might be too high.
She argued that neither country should need incentives to foster stability in
Iraq.  Putin reported 'furious' over US
payment for Lebanon war, CIA Egypt terror ring Pravda-Moscow 12.14.06 (Excerpt) Reports from the Kremlin today are portraying President
Putin as being 'furious' with the American War Leader Bush over his breaking
of a promise to the Russian President to not provide US funding to
the Israelis for their Lebanese War. Less than 3
weeks after making this promise the United States used a little known provision
in their security agreements with Israel to fully pay for the war, and as we
can read as reported by Israel's Ynet News Service in their article
titled "US to double
emergency equipment stored in Israel",
and which says: "The
American Congress gave Israel financial and security encouragement when the Senate and the House of Representatives gave
their approval to double the emergency equipment the United States stores in Israeli
stockpiles. Within the next two years the
Americans will fill the military emergency stockpiles in Israel with double
the equipment they now hold…” In addition, the US will allow Israel to use the
remainder of the US's monetary guarantees given to them that have not been
used yet, and add up to USD 4.5 billion, by 2011. The
emergency stockpiles are meant to store American military equipment in the
Middle East in case of an emergency. However, in case of an emergency,
Israel is allowed to use the stockpiles. The bill was approved by the Senate
and House and it renewed authority to transfer equipment to be stored in
Israel. A great portion of the American equipment stored in
Israel last was used for combat in the summer war in Lebanon. In an even greater affront to Russia, and its supposed
Middle Eastern ally Egypt, these
reports also accuse the United States of operating a CIA/French
Intelligence backed terror ring on Egyptian territory for the
recruitment of foreign fighters to be deployed in the Iraqi and Afghanistan
wars, but which Egyptian authorities
had infiltrated and arrested the American and French Ringleaders, and as we can
read as reported by the Forbes News Service in their article titled "Egypt Releases
Details on American Man", and which
says: "Security
officials in Egypt released new details Monday about an American man in their
custody on suspicion of links to a terror network which allegedly recruits
Muslims to fight the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. In
Washington, the admin-istration said Monday it expected an American detained
in Egypt as a suspected terrorist to be freed…”  Top Israeli
Court Upholds Assassination Policy
MARK LAVIE, Associated
Press Writer (Excerpt) The
Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Israel's policy of targeted killings
of Palestinian militants, allowing the army to maintain a
practice that has drawn widespread international condemnation. The
unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel fixed some legal limits, but it did not insist on
prior court approval for the attacks, leaving the limits only theoretical and
endorsing the killings in practice. Israel
has defended the practice as necessary to prevent terror attacks, including
suicide bombings. But the original justification of stopping
"ticking bombs" has been expanded over the years to targeting
militant leaders, including field commanders and the founder of Hamas.  Is
James Baker a Match
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An extraordinarily prescient TV interview with General Norman
Schwarzkopf and Robert Gates - Deputy National Security Advisor to Former
President George Bush Sr. Why Invading Iraq Was A Very Stupid Idea…
(Click on blinking dot above for video)
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