Since the US-led invasion four years ago,
the fifth estate has covered Iraq and the war
on terror from virtually every angle--the military, media, intelligence,
politics--revealing aspects of the story that you didn't find anywhere
else. Now, as the White House warns about the latest threat in the
region, this time from Iran, it's worthwhile looking back to examine the
deception, suspect intelligence, even lies, that convinced the world of
the rightness of targeting Saddam Hussein.
The political decisions behind the invasion
The Lies
That Led To War is drawn from these
stories: In 2003's The Forgotten People,
the fifth estate examined the human rights
arguments used to make a case for war. We looked at the sale of
technology by the US to Iraq during the 1980's despite the fact that this
equipment could be, and was used eventually, in military operations by
Saddam Hussein against Kurdish civilians. After the gassing of the Kurds
in 1988, American business with Iraq actually increased.
In Act of Faith,
which aired that same year, the fifth estate
examined how George Bush and Tony Blair struck a deal that would lead to
the invasion of Iraq. It was a deal struck while UN diplomats worked to
avert conflict in the weeks and months leading up to March 19, 2003.
In the widely acclaimed Conspiracy Theories
and the Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney,
which aired in 2003 and 2004 respectively, we looked at intelligence
failures leading up to 9/11, Dick Cheney's power within the White House
and his Halliburton connections, as well as the links between the Bush
family, the Saudi Royal family and the Bin Ladens.
In 2005's Sticks and Stones,
we turned our attention to the American media and how they covered the
ongoing war in Iraq, public dissent, as well as the increasingly hostile
tone between left and right in American discourse.
Now, The Lies That Led To War
provides context to the events of the previous six years, showing
how political, diplomatic, media spin – which sometimes crossed the line
into outright lies - have been used by the those in power to further
their own agendas.
More…
The US
role in Mideast travails: Extremists' rise are traced in part to Bush policy,
analysts say.
By Howard LaFranchi
The Christian
Science Monitor
June 17, 2007
(Excerpt)
For a growing number of analysts, if
the past year has brought any clarity, it is that US policy has largely
backfired and added to the region's downward spiral of violence and
economic troubles.
"The drift
toward empowerment of the region's more radical forces is not the sole
responsibility of US policy, but it has been a contributing factor
that really kicked in with the abandonment of the [Israeli-Palestinian]
peace process," says Daniel Levy, a senior fellow at the Century
Foundation, a public-policy institute in Washington.
Recent events leave little doubt that
extremist elements are making headway while the region's more moderate –
and pro-Western – options are under attack…
More…
NO
CONFIDENCE: Bush, Congress hit new lows in polls
THE ISRAEL
LOBBY: Strident Warmongering Against Iran By Senator Joseph “The
Lieberator” Lieberman Outrages Constituents
Connecticut Post
June 16, 2007
(Excerpt)
U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's call to attack Iran has been
anticipated by the international law and human rights academic
communities for a long time. These scholars conclude that the
neoconservatives believe that any attack on Iran will compel it to
retaliate with sufficient force to justify a U.S.-Israeli response with
nuclear weapons on the pretext of protecting U.S. troops, leading to a
subsequent U.S. occupation of Iran and a wider Western-Muslim war. All of
these acts would, in effect, precipitate World War III — a clash of
cultures.
Lieberman
does not respect international law, or moral justice. If so, he would
acknowledge that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is illegal, as have
objective jurists around the globe. He would not support further
violations of U.S. treaties, at least 11 of which, including the United
Nations Charter, have been broken by the U.S. invasion and occupation of
Iraq alone.
Iran
pressed for a second round of U.S.-Iran talks after recent ones concluded
in Baghdad. Despite Lieberman's threats, Iran should continue to seek
such talks. It should continue to demand that Lieberman and the neocons
prove allegations of Iranian attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, as should
Congress and the American people. Lieberman and his neocon friends lied
us into Iraq. They cannot be permitted to lie us into WWIII.
More…
Warmongers Wage Coordinated Assault:
Zionists and Neocons in Full Squall!
·
Neocon Daniel Pipes Details Israeli
Attack Against Iran[Profile]
·
Neocon Norman Podhoretz: Bush
To Bomb Iran Before Leaving Office[Profile]
·
More
Warmongering from Neocon John (The Mouth) Bolton and FOX News [Profile]
|
Lying Us Into War, Again
by Charley Reese
AntiWar.com
June 16, 2007
The drumbeat for war against Iran has
begun again, led by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from
Connecticut, and the usual pro-Israel crowd. Lieberman seems to be under
the impression that the U.S. can bomb Iran and not get into a
full-fledged war.
Well, we know all
about cakewalks and how they turn into long, bloody and dreary marches.
We learned nothing from Vietnam, and apparently some of the
people have learned nothing from Iraq, now a cakewalk war that has
lasted longer than World War II, though not with the same intensity and
mass.
If the senator, who seems to be
one of those who loves war as long as he doesn't have to fight it,
really believes that we can attack Iran without Iranian retaliation,
then he's naive. If he knows better, he's a liar, and to lie the
American people into a second war before the other lied-into war in
Iraq is even over is despicable. He should be shunned by all decent
people.
I don't see how
any honest man can believe that Iran is a threat to the United States
or its neighbors. Iran has not invaded anyone in the past 100
years. Iran has from the beginning insisted that its nuclear program is
for peaceful energy purposes, and there has been no evidence – I repeat, no evidence – to the contrary. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty explicitly authorizes countries to enrich uranium. In other
words, Iran has not done anything illegal.
Iran has no intercontinental
missiles, and the only country in the Middle East with nuclear
weapons is Israel. Please note that the United States flatly refuses to
endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East. Iran has signed the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel has refused to sign it. Iran
admits international inspectors. Israel flatly refuses to allow
international inspectors. The only country in today's Middle East with
weapons of mass destruction and a history of invading and occupying
other people's countries is Israel.
As for Iran's alleged threat to
"wipe Israel off the map," that is propaganda based on a mistranslation. Nobody in
Iran has ever threatened to attack Israel militarily. The accurate quotes
from Iranians have been simply that Israel as a Zionist state will
eventually collapse, just as the Soviet Union as a communist state did.
Iranian officials have even explicitly said they have no desire or
intention of attacking Israel.
You should ask
yourself, What is the
real motive of people who deal in lies? What is the real agenda of
people who wish to paint Iran as a threat to the world? (Remember what
a threat they said Iraq was?) Why, if the United States is really
concerned about preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, has it
steadfastly refused to endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East – something Iran and the Arab countries have proposed
time and again?
Finally, of course, there is the
matter of deterrence. Deterrence worked against the Soviet Union's 30,000
nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. Anybody who says Iran
would not be deterred from using a handful of nuclear weapons – assuming it even developed them – is a fool or a liar.
Furthermore, Iran would gain
nothing by attacking Israel, the U.S. or Europe. Americans might disagree with how Iranians choose to
run their country, but that doesn't mean that Iran's leaders are
insane. They are, in fact, intelligent and well-educated.
As for the United
States' latest claim that Iran is supplying weapons to the Taliban, I simply don't believe it. The U.S. government has
lied and lied to the American people. It has zero credibility. Iran is
a Shi'ite country; the Taliban are a fanatical Sunni sect. Iran
volunteered its assistance during the initial American attack on
Afghanistan. Why would Iran suddenly change its mind?
|
“The Biggest Lie Ever
Sold” British MP George
Galloway Refutes The Media-Repeated Slander That Iranian president
Ahmadinejad Called for Israel to be “Wiped
Off the Map”
(Scroll down within story to listen
to Galloway actual commentary)
A Tortured
State Of Affairs: Abu Ghraib Major-General Investigator Says He Was
Forced Out
International Herald Tribune
June 17, 2007
Original
Storylink
(Excerpt)
WASHINGTON – The Army general who
investigated the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal has said civilian
Pentagon officials forced him into retirement because he had been
“overzealous.”
In an interview with Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker, Maj. Gen.
Antonio Taguba’s first since
retiring in January, he said that former Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and other senior civilian and military officials had treated him
brusquely after the investigation into the formerly American-run prison
outside Baghdad was completed in 2004.
He also said that in early 2006 he was ordered, without
explanation, to retire within a year.
“They always
shoot the messenger,” Taguba
told the magazine. “To be
accused of being overzealous and disloyal – that cuts deep into me. I was ostracized for
doing what I was asked to do.”
More…
After
Gaza, Some Question Who Was Overthrowing Whom
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! U.S. And Israel Successfully Destabilize The
Palestinians By Fomenting A Civil War (Divide
and Conquer, Sound Familiar?)
Reuters
June 18, 2007
|
“We’re [U.S.]
in the business of creating Sectarian violence.”
~Seymour Hersh~
|
(Excerpt)
Western,
Israeli and Palestinian official sources said over the weekend that, far
from being an ad hoc response to Hamas's offensive, Abbas's declaration
of a state of emergency and his replacement of a Hamas prime minister
with Western favourite Salam Fayyad marked the culmination of months of
backroom deliberations, planning and U.S. prodding.
In
the end, pressure on Abbas to act against Hamas was as great -- if not
greater -- from within his own Fatah faction as
from Washington, which is seeking to play down its own role.
Only the
triggering event, resulting in total Hamas control of the Gaza Strip, can
be said to have come as a nasty surprise to the Americans. It left in tatters plans by U.S. and Arab allies to
build up Abbas's own forces in Gaza against Hamas.
Many Western
officials and analysts see the offensive as a pre-emptive strike by
Hamas before Washington could build up Fatah. Hamas says it made its move
against a U.S.-backed "coup".
"(Hamas
leaders) knew what was going on," one senior Western diplomat said. "They
knew Abbas was going to try to establish his authority. They read it in
the paper like everyone else."
Exactly who was
overthrowing whom is a fair question, said International Crisis Group
analyst Mouin Rabbani.
"Hamas
would argue they were merely defending their election victory whereas
Abbas would claim he's defending the legitimacy of Palestinian
institutions," he said. "You had powerful elements within Hamas
who thought time was against them."
Edward Abington,
Abbas's long-time adviser and Washington lobbyist, said the Bush
administration made its intentions known to the president soon after
Hamas was elected in early 2006. Abbas was told "Hamas is an
illegitimate organisation and that they are doing everything they can to
force it out of power".
Abington
recounted a meeting as long ago as July last year at which "(Abbas)
said to me that the Americans were urging him to kick out the government,
to form an emergency government".
"He
refused to do it because it would lead to civil war.
"(Abbas) did
not want to get into a confrontation," said Abington. But in the
end, he said, "it was forced on him."
More…
Do not be confused by the feckless, dissembling U.S. Corporate
media. Washington’s Neocons and Israel’s Ultra-Zionist achieved virtually
the outcome they desired in Palestine.
“Interventions” A Review of Noam Chomsky’s New Book
Civil Liberties in Wartime, Part 1 of 4 (Video)
Andrew
Napolitano
Future of Freedom Foundation
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4
How Wars of the Future
May Be Fought Just to Run the Machines That Fight Them
Tomgram
By
Michael Klare
(Excerpt)
Sixteen gallons of oil. That's how much the average American
soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan consumes on a daily basis -- either
directly, through the use of Humvees, tanks, trucks, and helicopters, or
indirectly, by calling in air strikes.
Multiply this figure by 162,000 soldiers in Iraq, 24,000 in
Afghanistan, and 30,000 in the surrounding region (including sailors
aboard U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf) and you arrive at approximately
3.5 million gallons of oil: the daily petroleum tab for U.S. combat
operations in the Middle East war zone.
Multiply that daily tab by 365 and you get 1.3 billion
gallons: the estimated annual oil expenditure for U.S. combat operations
in Southwest Asia. That's greater than the total annual oil usage of
Bangladesh, population 150 million -- and yet it's a gross underestimate
of the Pentagon's wartime consumption.
More…
BILL MOYERS: Begging
For Scooter’s Pardon
Truthout.org
By
Bill Moyers
June 15, 2007
(Excerpt)
"We
have yet another remarkable revelation of the mindset of Washington's
ruling clique of neoconservative elites - the people who took us to war from
the safety of their Beltway bunkers," writes Bill Moyers.
"Even as Iraq grows bloodier by the day, their passion of the week
is to keep one of their own from going to jail," Moyers continues.
More…
Government
Always Has A Place For The ‘Big Lie’ Expert: Case-In-Point, Bush’s
Disgraced ‘Enabler’ and ‘Lap Poodle’ Tony Blair Is Being Pushed For New EU
Presidency
The Financial Times
Blair: The Great Charlatan's
poisoned farewell gift
Current News & Views
·
General Pace, Head of US Military, 'forced out'
·
US: 60% of Baghdad Not Controlled
·
US troops could be in
Iraq for a decade
·
Private Warriors:
Washington’s Iraq Mercenaries Face Mounting Losses
·
Launch
with secret payload reported in US
·
At Least 35 Slain in Afghan Bus Blast
·
NATO ” Image” Problem: Civilian Deaths
·
The Afghans Are Sick of Our Armies Killing Their People
by Leo Docherty The Guardian-UK
1. At Least Seven Afghan Children Killed
in US Airstrike
2. 10
Killed in Taliban Attack on Afghan-Iran Border
3. 35 Dead in Worst Attack Since Ousting
of Taliban
4. Roadside
Bomb Kills 3 US Soldiers in Afghanistan
·
Britain
feared US would 'nuke' Afghanistan: ex-diplomat... Britain joined the United States' invasion to oust the
Taliban in 2001 because it feared America would "nuke the shit"
out of Afghanistan, the
former British ambassador to Washington reportedly told a television
documentary to be screened Saturday. In comments printed in
advance in the Daily Mirror tabloid on Monday, Christopher Meyer said
that fear explained why Prime Minister Tony Blair chose to stand with US President George
W. Bush in his decision to invade Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath
of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks -- to temper his aggressive
battle plans.
·
"Islamic
Terrorists" supported by Uncle Sam: Bush Administration "Black
Ops" directed against Iran, Lebanon and Syria
·
The
Morality of the Iraq War by Laurence M. Vance LewRockwell.com
·
US Military
Prepared for 'Worst' With China
1. China
slams Bush's "Cold War thinking" in anti-communism speech
2. China
says U.S. remarks on its military irresponsible
3. China
slams Taiwan for UN membership bid
4. China
Rejects U.S. Pressure on Currency
5. China's
Yuan hits high as U.S. showdown looms
6. China
overtaking US for fast Internet access
7. China
halts biofuels drive over food shortage fears
·
Russia to sell submarines to Venezuela
·
Bulgaria: Kosovo must not make unilateral
declaration of independence
·
Let Rule of Law Apply to Detainees Editorial Detroit Free Pres
·
A Ruling for Justice Editorial New York Times
·
FBI
Terror Watch List 'Out of Control’ A ‘terrorist’ watch list compiled
by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million
names. Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing
uncontrollably, threatening its usefulness in the war on terror.
·
Judge
Orders FBI to Turn Over Thousands of Patriot Act Abuse Documents Just
one day after a news that an internal audit found that FBI agents abused a
Patriot Act power more than 1000 times, a federal judge
ordered the agency Friday to begin turning over thousands of pages of
documents related to the agency's use of...
·
Judge
orders former Cheney aide Lewis Libby to begin serving prison sentence
·
US
Navy hospital ship to visit Latin America, Caribbean
·
Bird Flu takes Life of a
Young Vietnamese Man
|
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)
|
