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US death toll in Iraq passes 3500

June 8, 2007

Tuesday: 1 GI, 59 Iraqis Killed; 103 Iraqis Wounded

Wednesday: 25 Iraqis Killed, 42 Wounded

DC Notes: Disability claims from Iraq, Afghanistan vets top 176,000

NOAM CHOMSKY

In 2001 HOTPOLITICS reported on this massive, $2 Billions, long-range, U.S. bomber sale(?) to Israel. We were amazed that such a large and portentous ‘transaction’ went virtually un-reported by the U.S. corporate media - ow

WELCOME TO AMERIKKKA!

FBI Proposes Building Network of U.S. Informants

ABC NEWS – Justin Rood Reports

7.25.07

(Excerpt)

The FBI said the push was driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush ordering the bureau to improve its counterterrorism efforts by boosting its human intelligence capabilities.

The aggressive push for more secret informants appears to be part of a new effort to grow its intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. Other recent proposals include:

· expanding its collection and analysis of data on U.S. persons,

· retaining years' worth of Americans' phone records and even

· increasing so-called "black bag" secret entry operations.

Judges Irked By Site Helping Informants Get Ratted On

PAKISTAN: America's next big blunder

By Eric Margolis

The Toronto Sun – Canada

7.22.07

(Excerpt)

In best British imperial tradition, Washington pays Musharraf $100 million monthly to rent his sepoys (native soldiers) to fight Pashtun tribesmen.

As a result, Pakistan is fast edging towards civil war.

The anti-communist Taliban movement is part of the Pashtun people. Taliban fighters move across the artificial Pakistan-Afghanistan border, to borrow a Maoism, like fish through the sea. Osama bin Laden is a hero in the region.

The U.S. just increased its reward for bin Laden to $50 million and plans to shower $750 million on the tribal region to try to buy loyalty.

Can't be bought

Bush/Cheney & Co. do not understand that while they can rent President Musharraf's government in Islamabad, many Pashtun value personal honour far more than money, and cannot be bought.

Any U.S. attack on Pakistan would be a catastrophic mistake.

First, air and ground assaults will succeed only in widening the anti-U.S. war and merging it with Afghanistan's resistance to western occupation.

Second, Pakistan's army officers who refuse to be bought may resist a U.S. attack on their homeland, and overthrow the man who allowed it, Gen. Musharraf. A U.S. attack would sharply raise the threat of anti-U.S. extremists seizing control of strategic Pakistan and marginalize those seeking return to democratic government.

Third, a U.S. attack on the tribal areas could re-ignite the old movement to reunite Pashtun parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan into independent "Pashtunistan." That could begin unravelling fragile Pakistan, leaving its nuclear arsenal up for grabs.

The U.S. military has grown used to attacking small, weak nations like Grenada and Iraq. Pakistan, with 163 million people, and a poorly equipped, but very tough 550,000-man army, will offer no easy victories.

Those Bush administration and Harper government officials who foolishly advocate attacking Pakistan are playing with fire.

· Pakistan Warns US Not to Invade in Qaeda Chase

· 50 Casualties in Pakistan Rocket Attacks

Neocons Set Stage for Washington Attack on Nuclear Armed Pakistan

By Kurt Nimmo

Another Day In The Empire

Sunday July 22nd 2007, 12:38 pm

(Excerpt)

Back in the day, when the CIA and ISI [Pakistani Intelligence] collaborated to create a large cadre of strident and murderous militants, this fundamentalism was fine and dandy. But now that it threatens to escape the castle and prey on villagers, the “U.S. would consider military force if necessary to stem Al Qaeda’s growing ability to use its hideout in Pakistan to launch terrorist attacks,” in other words attack the militants, the Frankenstein, ready to depose the U.S. supported dictator Musharraf, quite naturally expendable.

Such behavior was acceptable when General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq seized power in Pakistan in a 1977 coup and declared himself president. Soon after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, that is to say they were tricked into invading by Zbigniew Brzezinski (see Brzezinski’s interview with Le Nouvel Observateur), Zia forced through pro-Islamic legislation, introduced Islamic banking systems, created Islamic courts, and imposed a religious tax used to create tens of thousands of madrassas or religious schools, primarily out of Peshawar, and basically set-up to act as “jehadi” recruiting centers funded lavishly by the CIA. “One of his most fateful decisions was to turn many of the country’s madrasas, or religious colleges, into factories of jihad,” the BBC notes. In addition to creating both the Taliban and “al-Qaeda,” Zia’s “Islamization” effort spawned “a ‘culture of jihad’ within Pakistan itself—a culture the current military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, is struggling to uproot.”

White House preparing to stage new September 11, warns Reagan official

Novosti - Russia

July 20, 2007

(Excerpt)

WASHINGTON, July 20 (RIA Novosti) - A former Reagan official has issued a public warning that the Bush administration is preparing to orchestrate a staged terrorist attack in the United States, transform the country into a dictatorship and launch a war with Iran within a year.

Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, blasted Thursday a new Executive Order, released July 17, allowing the White House to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies and giving the government expanded police powers to exercise control in the country.

Roberts, who spoke on the Thom Hartmann radio program, said: "When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order], there's no check to it. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule."

Cooking the Intelligence, Again
The latest government estimate of the terrorist threat is just a rehash of the same old script, produced under pressure to support the president's efforts to sell the Iraq war.

by Sidney Blumenthal
Salon

Bush tells the CIA to torture at will

Capitol Hill Blue

Created 07/21/2007 – 2:53pm

(Excerpt)

Once again, President George W. Bush proves he believes he is above the law and immune to the restriction of the Geneva Convention as well as the laws of God and morality. Bush has set new guidelines that for the Central Intelligence Agency to follow in torturing suspects. Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be that the President has established new ways for the agency to ignore now only the law but the rule of simple human decency. Bush Approves New CIA Methods [1] - President Bush set broad legal boundaries for the CIA's harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects yesterday, allowing the intelligence agency to resume a program that was suspended last year after criticism that it violated U.S. and international law. [Washington Post Political News [2]]

America, Where is Your Conscience?

Facing the Truth

By Monica Benderman

Counterpunch.org

July 21/22, 2007

(Excerpt)

It's about time Americans faced the truth. Today a Marine not only convicted of conspiring to commit kidnapping, larceny, and making false statements; but the murder--MURDER--of an innocent Iraqi man, was given his sentence. He is to receive a reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge.

THIS is what America has become.

It is now considered "bad conduct" to murder an unarmed man, knowingly return to the scene to fabricate the appearance of self-defense and hide the facts after the fact.

Murdering an innocent Iraqi is now considered "Bad Conduct." In 2004 my husband, a ten-year US Army veteran, made a conscious decision to no longer participate in war--he spoke openly of the bad conduct of his commanders in giving orders to soldiers in his unit which not only jeopardized the lives of innocent Iraqis, and children, but also those of the soldiers he served with.

For his decision to no longer be part of the destruction, wanton killing, and unjust, immoral action this war has shown itself to be, my husband was accused of being a deserter, faced trumped up, fabricated charges of intentionally missing his unit's movement, and when the first court-martial attempt failed, was handed additional trumped up charges of larceny for combat pay his command erroneously placed in his paycheck. During a second court-martial attempt he was found guilty of missing movement or not getting on a plane and was sentenced to 15 months in prison, loss of all pay, reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge.

A veteran with ten years of honorable service, who took a stand to no longer participate in an action in which murdering innocents is acceptable is now considered "Dishonorable."

How low do you intend to go, America ?

How far are you going to let your values dip before you stop the slide?

We don't need to see the documents "executive privilege" is denying us the right to see. Their content is evident in the actions of our military courts--Justice in America no longer has a conscience, and the travesty continues as Americans sleep through the reality of what it is they are about to lose.

The United States Congress spent an entire night--wasted an entire night--in a public display of ridiculous bantering over a war which has now caused the deaths of almost 4000 US military personnel and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians--CHILDREN are dying every day in Iraq because of what this country has allowed to happen, and our Congress has the foresight to remember to place cots in the Senate chambers in case one of the illustrious elite might grow weary of their repetitious "pillow talk" and need a rest.

I am weary of the talk--the Iraqis are weary of the talk--and I know for a fact that American soldiers are weary of the talk.

There are some who, while wearing our nation's uniform, have committed horrendous crimes in this war, and in a great many instances have received little more than a slap on the hand for their actions. Hundreds of thousands more soldiers have served honorably under the most horrendous conditions, fighting against their instincts for survival to maintain morality in their actions in the most difficult circumstances. They deserve better than to see those who cannot control themselves face so little consequence for their lack of character.

The administration that sent our military to war has become nothing more than a dictatorship in emperor's clothing and our congress is clearly displaying how little backbone they have when it comes to defending the truth in the hallowed halls within which our Constitution is supposed to still matter.

Why German's Supported Hitler, Part 1

By Jacob G. Hornberger

Future of Freedom Foundation

Lies, More Lies, and Damn Lies - Are Americans Delusional, or Just Plain Stupid?
By Eric Margolis

The Toronto Sun

July 17, 2007

(Excerpt)

When marketers want to change the name of an existing product, they first place a new name in small type below the existing one. They gradually shrink the old name, and enlarge the new one until the original name vanishes.

That’s what’s been happening in Iraq. When the US invaded, Iraqis who resisted were initially branded "Saddam loyalists," "die-hard Ba’athists," or, in Don Rumsfeld’s colorful terminology, "dead-enders." Next, the Pentagon and US media called the Iraqi resistance, "terrorists" or "insurgents." The reason for invading Iraq, the White House insisted, was all about removing the tyrant Saddam, seizing weapons of mass destruction, defending humans rights and implanting democracy.

Then, a tiny, previously unknown Iraqi group that had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden appropriated the name, "al-Qaida in Mesopotamia."

This was such a breathtakingly convenient gift to the Bush Administration, many cynics suspected a false-flag operation created by CIA and Britain’s wily MI6. Soon after, the White House and Pentagon began calling most of Iraq’s 22 plus resistance groups, "al-Qaida."

The US media eagerly joined this deception, even though 95% of Iraq’s resistance groups had no sympathy for bin Laden’s movement. Watch any US network TV news report on Iraq and you will inevitably hear reporters parroting Pentagon handouts about US forces "launching a new offensive against al-Qaida."

Al-Qaida in Mesopotamia didn’t even exist before 9/11, but that didn’t stop President Bush from trying to gull credulous voters. He simply ignored the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate that found US-occupied Iraq had become an "incubator" for violent anti-American groups.

If the US were to withdraw from Iraq tomorrow, the nation would be split between warring Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties. The fake Al-Qaida in Iraq would end up at the bottom of the totem pole, or be wiped out by other Iraqis. Even Osama bin Laden and his number two, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, have blasted the phony al-Qaida in Iraq and called for an end to its attacks on Iraqi civilians.

Polls show that in spite of a mountain of evidence to the contrary, White House disinformation strategy has worked. Today, an amazing 60% of Americans still believe Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks

Recruiter Sexual Abuse: Friendly Fire at Home?

by Aimee Allison

7.24.07

(Excerpt)

More money than ever is being spent to convince girls to join the military. I was one of them. The promise of school tuition and job training was attractive to me at the time, but it was just a small part of what it meant to enlist in "this man's army."

To girls seeking a future, recruiters present themselves as a father/friend/guide. But as I, and many other girls discover, these confidants cannot be trusted. Girls become victims of sexual assault at the hands of recruiters even before they take their military oath of allegiance.

But this isn't a story about a few unlucky recruits and a couple of sickos in an otherwise healthy recruitment process. There is a deeper problem of widespread abuse and a system that protects the criminals.

Recently, the Marine Corps announced a court settlement in a suit brought by two Ukiah, Calif., teenage girls who were raped by recruiters during a 2004 military-sponsored event.

The recruiters, Sgts. Joseph Dunzweiler and Brian Fukushima, were court-martialed and demoted but nevertheless acquitted of serious wrongdoing.

Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms

Has the UN Finally Caved to the Israel Lobby?

(Excerpt)

Despite the charade of Israeli compliance with UNSCR 425, Israel’s May 24, 2000 ‘withdrawal’ [Lebanon] was hailed as an ‘amazingly generous and high minded humanitarian act’ by it’s amen chorus in the US Congress led on this issue by Congressman Tom Lantos, the founder and chair of the notorious House Human Rights Caucus.

The House Human Rights Caucus, active for more than 27 years as a tool of the Israeli lobby has actively sought out and found hundreds of human rights violations around the World but so far they have not found one suspected human rights violation with respect to Israel or any of its occupations and aggressions

Israel’s Primal Myth: A Barrier to Peace

By Barry Lando

Truthdig.com

7.21.07

(Excerpt)

The myth goes like this: In 1948, when the Arabs attacked the newly declared state of Israel, the Arab population fled by the hundreds of thousands. They left not because of attacks by Israeli soldiers but because of the calls of their own Arab leaders, who guaranteed them a speedy return once the Arab armies had triumphed over the upstart Jewish state. Indeed, they fled despite the attempts of many Israelis—as was movingly portrayed in the film “Exodus”—to convince their Palestinian neighbors to remain. Why should such treacherous people have the right to return? Not to mention the fact that their return by the millions would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish state.

This is the story that Israel’s leaders and Jews throughout the Diaspora have clung to for more than half a century. But since the early 1990s a new generation of Israeli historians and investigative journalists—drawing on formerly classified documents as well as recollections of Israeli leaders of the War of Independence—has demolished the traditional Israeli position. According to their research, the Palestinians fled their villages not in response to a call from Arab leaders but because of a concerted campaign of terror—including massacres and rape—perpetrated by military units of the newly declared Israeli state.

As Gideon Levy, a leading columnist from Haaretz, put it, “1948 was Israel’s finest hour, the culmination of a mad dream: the formation of an independent Jewish state.” At the same time he declared, “it was our darkest hour, in which we committed war crimes on a large scale. And did so in all good conscience.”

The key point, often overlooked, is that in 1948, Resolution 181 of the U.N. General Assembly didn’t just call for the creation of the single state of Israel from the British mandate of Palestine. In fact, it recommended dividing Palestine into two separate countries—one predominately Arab, the other Jewish—to be joined by an economic union.

According to Sylvain Cypel, a leading correspondent for Le Monde, the full version of that U.N. resolution was never published in its entirety in Hebrew. The reason for that may be simple. From the beginning Israel’s future leaders were determined that the Jewish state, carved out of the British mandate, would be just a first step toward the eventual takeover of all the land of Palestine. As David Ben Gurion, who would become Israel’s first prime minister, confided to Labor Party members in 1941, “As soon as we gain power, once our state is established we’ll annul [the partition] and will spread out over all the territory of Israel.”