Ik begon vorige week zo'n beetje misselijk te worden bij alle wierook die verspreid werd n.a.v. het overlijden van Ronny Reagan... 'Van de doden niets dan goeds' is één zaak, de levenden die met de lijken blijven zitten een andere...
Gelukkig kreeg ik net op het juiste moment van een vriendin een mail met onderstaand artikel...


Remembering Reagan
By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

Ronald Reagan was a paradigm shifter.

He was what Charles Derber in his new book, Regime Change Begins at
Home, calls a "regime-changer," moving decisively to end the flagging
New Deal era and launching the modern period of corporate rule.

Reagan changed the framework of expectations. He called into question a
lot of things that had been taken for granted (such as the obligation of
the government of the richest country in history to take care of its
poorest people), and made it possible to consider things which had
previously seemed unthinkable (for example, cutting the knees out from
the powerful U.S. labor movement.)

Reagan was indeed a historic figure, and his death deserves the massive
media attention it is receiving. But the odes to his cheerfulness and
optimism should be replaced with reflections on how his policies
destroyed lives. Pacifica's Amy Goodman has appropriately titled her
retrospective coverage of the Reagan era "Remembering the Dead."

The standard commentaries recall Iran-contra as a blotch on the end of
Reagan's presidency, but the incident was trivial compared to the long
list of administration crimes and misdeeds, among them:

1. Cruelly slashing the social safety net. Reagan cuts in social
spending exacerbated a policy of intentionally raising the unemployment
rate. The result was a huge surge in poverty. With homelessness
skyrocketing, Reagan defended his administration's record: "One problem
that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who
are sleeping on grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by
choice."

2. Taking the world to the brink of nuclear war. Reagan's supposed
contribution to the downfall of the Soviet Union was a military spending
contest that drove the USSR into economic collapse. Neglected in most
present-day reminiscences is that this military spending spree nearly
started a nuclear war. Development and deployment of a host of nuclear
missiles, initiating Star Wars, acceleration of the arms race -- these
led the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move its Doomsday Clock in
1984 to three minutes to midnight.

3. A targeted tax cut for the rich. The 1981 tax cut was one of the
largest in U.S. history and heavily targeted toward the rich, with major
declines in tax rates for upper-income groups. The tax break helped
widen income and wealth inequality gaps. As David Stockman admitted, one
of its other intended effects was to starve the government of funds, so
as to justify cuts in government spending (for the poor -- the cash
crunch didn't restrain government spending on corporate welfare).

4. Firing striking air traffic controllers. Reagan's decision to fire
1,800 striking air traffic controller early in his term sent a message
that employers could act against striking or organizing workers with
virtual impunity.

5. Perpetrating a bloody war in Central America. The Reagan-directed
wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua submerged Central America
in a climate of terror and fear, took tens of thousands of lives,
destroyed a democratic experiment in Nicaragua, and entrenched narrow
elites who continue to repress the poor majorities in the region.

6. Embracing South Africa's apartheid regime (Said Reagan in 1981, "Can
we abandon this country [South Africa] that has stood beside us in every
war we've ever fought?" He followed up in 1985 with, "They have
eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country.") and
dictators worldwide, from Argentina to Korea, Chile to the Philippines.

7. Undermining health, safety and environmental regulation. Reagan
decreed such rules must be subjected to regulatory impact analysis --
corporate-biased cost-benefit analyses, carried out by the Office of
Management and Budget. The result: countless positive regulations
discarded or revised based on pseudo-scientific conclusions that the
cost to corporations would be greater than the public benefit.

8. Slashing the Environmental Protection Agency budget in half, and
installing Anne Gorsuch Burford to oversee the dismantling of the agency
and ensure weak enforcement of environmental rules.

9. Kick-starting the era of structural adjustment. It was under Reagan
administration influence that the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank began widely imposing the policy package known as structural
adjustment -- featuring deregulation, privatization, emphasis on
exports, cuts in social spending -- that has plunged country after
country in the developing world into economic destitution. The IMF chief
at the time was honest about what was to come, saying in 1981 that, for
low-income countries, "adjustment is particularly costly in human terms."

10. Silence on the AIDS epidemic. Reagan didn't mention AIDS publicly
until 1987, by which point AIDS had killed 19,000 in the United States.
While the public health service advocated aggressive education on
prevention, Reagan moralists like Secretary of Education Bill Bennett
insisted on confining prevention messages to abstinence.


It's important to remember Reagan all right, but let's remember him for
what he did, not for his ability to deliver a scripted line. Ronald
Wilson Reagan played up and exacerbated economic and racial divisions,
and he left the country, and the world, meaner and more dangerous.


Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter, http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com. Robert Weissman is
editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor,
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org. They are co-authors of Corporate
Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe,
Maine: Common Courage Press; http://www.corporatepredators.org).

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 18:09:58 -0400

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

BUSH IN CIJFERS(*)

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed
0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq
100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003
10 million: Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, all-time record for simultaneous protest
9.2: Average number of American soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the invasion in March last year
1.6: Average number of American soldiers killed in Iraq per day since hostilities began
10,000: Approximate number of Iraqi civilians killed since the beginning of the conflict on a total of 16,000 killed Iraqis
$100 billion: Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the end of 2003
$13 billion: Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq (much of it in loans) as of 24 October
36%: Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999
92%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago
60%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that have access to drinkable water today
32%: Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not precision-guided
45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US
$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001
$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003
1st: This year's deficit is on course to be the biggest in United States history
$1.58 billion: Average amount by which the US national debt increases each day
1st: The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) was set in 2002
1st: Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita
$200 million: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004, setting a record in American electoral history
$40 million: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003
28: Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)
13: Number of vacation days the average American worker receives each year
1st: As Governor of Texas, George Bush executed more prisoners (152) than any governor in modern US history
1st: This administration is on its way to becoming the 1st since ‘29 (H. Hoover) to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office
9 million: Number of US workers unemployed in September 2003
80%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce now unemployed
55%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce unemployed before the war
43.6 million: Number of Americans without health insurance in 2002
130: Number of countries (out of total of 191 recognised by the United Nations) with an American military presence
40%: Percentage of the world's military spending for which the US is responsible
$10.9 million: Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet
88%: % of American citizens who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes
$42,000: Average savings members of Bush's cabinet are expected to enjoy this year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes
$42,228: Median household income in the US in 2001
1st: G.W Bush became the 1st Am. president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war
+6%: Percentage change since 2001 in the number of US families in poverty
1st: First president to execute a federal prisoner in the past 40 years. Executions are typically ordered by separate states and not at federal level
9: Number of members of Bush's defence policy board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor
$300 million: Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes
58 million: Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging and drilling
200: Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has attempted to downgrade or weaken
29,000: Number of Am. troops to have either been killed, injured or become so ill as to require evacuation from Iraq, according to the Pentagon
53%: Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 16 January, 2004

(*)Sources: Vanity Fair magazine, Harper's Index, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Army (Washington), US Department of Defence, Iraqbodycount.net, Citizens for Tax Justice, Bureau of Economic Analysis (Washington), New York Times/CBS News Poll (NYC), US Department of Commerce, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (NYC), Coalition Provisional Authority (Baghdad), World Health Organisation (Geneva), Office of Management and Budget (Washington), Centre for Responsive Politics (Washington), Bush-Cheney '04, Inc (Arlington, Va), Election Systems & Software (Omaha), US Central Command (Tampa) - Numbers relevant up till 22/01/2004.

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

20 Lies About the War

Falsehoods Ranging from Exaggeration to Plain Untruth Were Used to Make the Case for War. More Lies are Being Used in the Aftermath.

1. Iraq was responsible for the 11 September attacks

A supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the 11 September hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official was the main basis for this claim, but Czech intelligence later conceded that the Iraqi's contact could not have been Atta. This did not stop the constant stream of assertions that Iraq was involved in 9/11, which was so successful that at one stage opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Americans believed the hand of Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks. Almost as many believed Iraqi hijackers were aboard the crashed airliners; in fact there were none.

2. Iraq and al-Qa'ida were working together

Persistent claims by US and British leaders that Saddam and Osama bin Laden were in league with each other were contradicted by a leaked British Defense Intelligence Staff report, which said there were no current links between them. Mr Bin Laden's "aims are in ideological conflict with present-day Iraq", it added.

Another strand to the claims was that al-Qa'ida members were being sheltered in Iraq, and had set up a poisons training camp. When US troops reached the camp, they found no chemical or biological traces.

3. Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa for a "reconstituted" nuclear weapons program

The head of the CIA has now admitted that documents purporting to show that Iraq tried to import uranium from Niger in west Africa were forged, and that the claim should never have been in President Bush's State of the Union address. Britain sticks by the claim, insisting it has "separate intelligence". The Foreign Office conceded last week that this information is now "under review".

4. Iraq was trying to import aluminum tubes to develop nuclear weapons

The US persistently alleged that Baghdad tried to buy high-strength aluminum tubes whose only use could be in gas centrifuges, needed to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Equally persistently, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the tubes were being used for artillery rockets. The head of the IAEA, Mohamed El Baradei, told the UN Security Council in January that the tubes were not even suitable for centrifuges.

5. Iraq still had vast stocks of chemical and biological weapons from the first Gulf War

Iraq possessed enough dangerous substances to kill the whole world, it was alleged more than once. It had pilotless aircraft which could be smuggled into the US and used to spray chemical and biological toxins. Experts pointed out that apart from mustard gas, Iraq never had the technology to produce materials with a shelf-life of 12 years, the time between the two wars. All such agents would have deteriorated to the point of uselessness years ago.

6. Iraq retained up to 20 missiles which could carry chemical or biological warheads, with a range which would threaten British forces in Cyprus

Apart from the fact that there has been no sign of these missiles since the invasion, Britain downplayed the risk of there being any such weapons in Iraq once the fighting began. It was also revealed that chemical protection equipment was removed from British bases in Cyprus last year, indicating that the Government did not take its own claims seriously.

7. Saddam Hussein had the wherewithal to develop smallpox

This allegation was made by the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in his address to the UN Security Council in February. The following month the UN said there was nothing to support it.

8. US and British claims were supported by the inspectors

According to Jack Straw, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix "pointed out" that Iraq had 10,000 liters of anthrax. Tony Blair said Iraq's chemical, biological and "indeed the nuclear weapons program" had been well documented by the UN. Mr Blix's reply? "This is not the same as saying there are weapons of mass destruction," he said last September. "If I had solid evidence that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction or were constructing such weapons, I would take it to the Security Council." In May this year he added: "I am obviously very interested in the question of whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction, and I am beginning to suspect there possibly were not."

9. Previous weapons inspections had failed

Tony Blair told this newspaper in March that the UN had "tried unsuccessfully for 12 years to get Saddam to disarm peacefully". But in 1999 a Security Council panel concluded: "Although important elements still have to be resolved, the bulk of Iraq's proscribed weapons programs has been eliminated." Mr Blair also claimed UN inspectors "found no trace at all of Saddam's offensive biological weapons program" until his son-in-law defected. In fact the UN got the regime to admit to its biological weapons program more than a month before the defection.

10. Iraq was obstructing the inspectors

Britain's February "dodgy dossier" claimed inspectors' escorts were "trained to start long arguments" with other Iraqi officials while evidence was being hidden, and inspectors' journeys were monitored and notified ahead to remove surprise. Dr Blix said in February that the UN had conducted more than 400 inspections, all without notice, covering more than 300 sites. "We note that access to sites has so far been without problems," he said. : "In no case have we seen convincing evidence that the Iraqi side knew that the inspectors were coming."

11. Iraq could deploy its weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes

This now-notorious claim was based on a single source, said to be a serving Iraqi military officer. This individual has not been produced since the war, but in any case Tony Blair contradicted the claim in April. He said Iraq had begun to conceal its weapons in May 2002, which meant that they could not have been used within 45 minutes.

12. The "dodgy dossier"

Mr Blair told the Commons in February, when the dossier was issued: "We issued further intelligence over the weekend about the infrastructure of concealment. It is obviously difficult when we publish intelligence reports." It soon emerged that most of it was cribbed without attribution from three articles on the internet. Last month Alastair Campbell took responsibility for the plagiarism committed by his staff, but stood by the dossier's accuracy, even though it confused two Iraqi intelligence organizations, and said one moved to new headquarters in 1990, two years before it was created.

13. War would be easy

Public fears of war in the US and Britain were assuaged by assurances that oppressed Iraqis would welcome the invading forces; that "demolishing Saddam Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk", in the words of Kenneth Adelman, a senior Pentagon official in two previous Republican administrations. Resistance was patchy, but stiffer than expected, mainly from irregular forces fighting in civilian clothes. "This wasn't the enemy we war-gamed against," one general complained.

14. Umm Qasr

The fall of Iraq's southernmost city and only port was announced several times before Anglo-American forces gained full control - by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, among others, and by Admiral Michael Boyce, chief of Britain's Defense staff. "Umm Qasr has been overwhelmed by the US Marines and is now in coalition hands," the Admiral announced, somewhat prematurely.

15. Basra rebellion

Claims that the Shia Muslim population of Basra, Iraq's second city, had risen against their oppressors were repeated for days, long after it became clear to those there that this was little more than wishful thinking. The defeat of a supposed breakout by Iraqi armour was also announced by military spokesman in no position to know the truth.

16. The "rescue" of Private Jessica Lynch

Private Jessica Lynch's "rescue" from a hospital in Nasiriya by American special forces was presented as the major "feel-good" story of the war. She was said to have fired back at Iraqi troops until her ammunition ran out, and was taken to hospital suffering bullet and stab wounds. It has since emerged that all her injuries were sustained in a vehicle crash, which left her incapable of firing any shot. Local medical staff had tried to return her to the Americans after Iraqi forces pulled out of the hospital, but the doctors had to turn back when US troops opened fire on them. The special forces encountered no resistance, but made sure the whole episode was filmed.

17. Troops would face chemical and biological weapons

As US forces approached Baghdad, there was a rash of reports that they would cross a "red line", within which Republican Guard units were authorized to use chemical weapons. But Lieutenant General James Conway, the leading US marine general in Iraq, conceded afterwards that intelligence reports that chemical weapons had been deployed around Baghdad before the war were wrong.

"It was a surprise to me ... that we have not uncovered weapons ... in some of the forward dispersal sites," he said. "We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there. We were simply wrong. Whether or not we're wrong at the national level, I think still very much remains to be seen."

18. Interrogation of scientists would yield the location of WMD

"I have got absolutely no doubt that those weapons are there ... once we have the co-operation of the scientists and the experts, I have got no doubt that we will find them," Tony Blair said in April. Numerous similar assurances were issued by other leading figures, who said interrogations would provide the WMD discoveries that searches had failed to supply. But almost all Iraq's leading scientists are in custody, and claims that lingering fears of Saddam Hussein are stilling their tongues are beginning to wear thin.

19. Iraq's oil money would go to Iraqis

Tony Blair complained in Parliament that "people falsely claim that we want to seize" Iraq's oil revenues, adding that they should be put in a trust fund for the Iraqi people administered through the UN. Britain should seek a Security Council resolution that would affirm "the use of all oil revenues for the benefit of the Iraqi people".

Instead Britain co-sponsored a Security Council resolution that gave the US and UK control over Iraq's oil revenues. There is no UN-administered trust fund.

Far from "all oil revenues" being used for the Iraqi people, the resolution continues to make deductions from Iraq's oil earnings to pay in compensation for the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

20. WMD were found

After repeated false sightings, both Tony Blair and George Bush proclaimed on 30 May that two trailers found in Iraq were mobile biological laboratories. "We have already found two trailers, both of which we believe were used for the production of biological weapons," said Mr Blair. Mr Bush went further: "Those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons - they're wrong. We found them." It is now almost certain that the vehicles were for the production of hydrogen for weather balloons, just as the Iraqis claimed - and that they were exported by Britain.

© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0713-01.htm

__________________

typical

"Shame on You, Mr. Bush, Shame on You!"(Michael Moore)


http://www.costofwar.com

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Instead, we could have fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for
4
years.

Trailer Fahrenheit 9/11

http://www.fahrenheit911.com/trailer/windows/large.php

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

De Groene Amsterdammer | 8 mei 2004

Muiterij in Irak

door Naomi Klein


Kunnen we misschien ophouden het een modderpoel te noemen? De Verenigde Staten zitten niet vast in het slijk of in een moeras in Irak (de letterlijke betekenis van modderpoel); ze tuimelen in vrije val van een klif af. Nu is de enige vraag: wie zal de Bush-clan volgen van deze steile rotswand naar beneden, en wie zal weigeren te springen?

Er zijn, godzijdank, steeds meer mensen die de tweede optie kiezen. De laatste maand van explosieve VS-agressie in Irak heeft veroorzaakt wat alleen kan worden omschreven als muiterij: plotseling weigeren golven soldaten, arbeiders en politici onder commando van de Amerikaanse bezettingsautoriteit bevelen op te volgen en verlaten hun posten. Eerst kondigde Spanje aan dat het zijn troepen zou terugtrekken, en vervolgens Honduras, de Dominicaanse Republiek, Nicaragua en Kazachstan. Zuid-Koreaanse en Bulgaarse troepen werden teruggeroepen naar hun bases, terwijl Nieuw-Zeeland zijn genieofficieren terugtrekt. El Salvador, Noorwegen, Nederland en Thailand zijn hoogstwaarschijnlijk de volgende.

En dan heb je nog de muitende leden van het door Amerika gecontroleerde Iraakse leger. Sinds het begin van de laatste golf van gevechten hebben ze hun wapens gedoneerd aan verzetsstrijders in het Zuiden en geweigerd te vechten in Fallujah: ze waren niet in het leger gegaan om andere Irakezen te doden. Eind april rapporteerde Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, bevelhebber van de 1st Armored Division, dat «ongeveer veertig procent [van de Iraakse veiligheidsofficieren] zijn post verliet als gevolg van intimidatie. En zo’n tien procent werkte ons daadwerkelijk tegen.»

En het zijn niet alleen de soldaten van Irak die zijn gedeserteerd uit de bezetting. Vier ministers van de Iraakse Bestuursraad hebben hun ambt neergelegd uit protest. De helft van de Irakezen met een baan in de veilige «groene zone» — als tolken, chauffeurs, schoonmakers — verschijnt niet op zijn werk. En dat is beter dan een paar weken geleden, toen 75 procent van de Irakezen in dienst van de Amerikaanse bezettingsautoriteit thuisbleef (dat verbluffende cijfer komt van Adm. David Nash, die toezicht houdt op het toekennen van wederopbouwcontracten).
Bescheidener tekenen van muiterij komen zelfs aan de oppervlakte binnen de gelederen van het Amerikaanse leger: de soldaten Jeremy Hinzman en Brandon Hughey hebben de vluchtelingenstatus aangevraagd in Canada als gewetensbezwaarden, en Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia staat de krijgsraad te wachten nadat hij weigerde naar Irak terug te gaan op grond van het feit dat hij niet meer wist waar de oorlog om ging.

In opstand komen tegen de Amerikaanse autoriteit in Irak is geen verraad, noch het bieden van «valse geruststelling aan terroristen», zoals George W. Bush onlangs de nieuwe minister-president van Spanje berispte. Het is een volkomen rationele en principiële reactie op een beleid dat iedereen die leeft en werkt onder Amerikaans commando in ernstig en onaanvaardbaar gevaar heeft gebracht. Dat is een opvatting die wordt gedeeld door 52 voormalige Britse diplomaten, die recentelijk een brief stuurden aan premier Tony Blair met de boodschap dat hoewel ze zijn pogingen steunden om het Amerikaanse Midden-Oosten-beleid te beïnvloeden, «er geen reden is om achter beleid te staan dat gedoemd is te mislukken».

En na een jaar lijkt de Amerikaanse bezetting van Irak op alle fronten gedoemd te zijn: politiek, economisch en militair. Op het politieke front is het idee dat de Verenigde Staten werkelijke democratie zouden kunnen brengen in Irak onherstelbaar in diskrediet gebracht: te veel familieleden van leden van de Bestuursraad hebben fantastische banen en doorgestoken kaart-contracten in de wacht gesleept; te veel groepen die directe verkiezingen eisten is de mond gesnoerd; te veel kranten zijn gesloten, en te veel Arabische journalisten zijn vermoord terwijl ze hun werk probeerden te doen. De recentste slachtoffers waren twee medewerkers van de tv-zender Al Iraqiya, die werden doodgeschoten door Amerikaanse soldaten toen ze een checkpoint in Samarra filmden. De ironie wil dat Al Iraqiya het door de Verenigde Staten gecontroleerde propaganda netwerk is dat werd geacht de macht van Al Jazeera en Al Arabiya te verzwakken, de zenders die allebei het afgelopen jaar eveneens verslaggevers hebben verloren aan Amerikaanse geweren en raketten.

Plannen van het Witte Huis om Irak te transformeren tot een model-vrijemarkteconomie zijn in een vergelijkbaar slechte staat, geplaagd door corruptieschandalen en de woede van Irakezen die weinig voordeel hebben gezien — noch in dienstverlening noch in banen — van de wederopbouw. Bedrijfsbeurzen zijn overal in Irak afgelast, investeerders verkassen naar Amman en de minister van Volkshuisvesting van Irak schat dat meer dan vijftienhonderd buitenlandse aannemers het land zijn ontvlucht. Ondertussen geeft Bechtel toe dat het niet langer kan opereren op de «hot spots» (er zijn zeer weinig «koude» plekken), vrachtwagenchauffeurs zijn bang om de weg op te gaan met waardevolle lading, en General Electric heeft werk aan essentiële krachtcentrales opgeschort. De timing had niet slechter kunnen zijn: de zomerhitte komt eraan en de vraag naar elektriciteit rijst binnenkort de pan uit.

De invasie van Irak begon met een oproep tot muiterij — een oproep door de Verenigde Staten. In de weken voor de invasie van vorig jaar bombardeerde het Amerikaanse Centrale Commando legermensen en politici met telefoontjes en e-mails om ze aan te sporen weg te lopen uit de gelederen van Saddam. Gevechtsvliegtuigen wierpen acht miljoen flyers af die Iraakse soldaten aanspoorden hun posten te verlaten en beloofden dat ze geen haar zou worden gekrenkt...

Vanzelfsprekend werden die soldaten direct ontslagen toen Paul Bremer de macht overnam en ze worden nu panisch opnieuw in dienst genomen als onderdeel van de omkering van het de-Baathificatie-beleid. Het is het zoveelste voorbeeld van dodelijke incompetentie dat alle resterende voorstanders van het Amerikaanse beleid in Irak naar een onontkoombare conclusie zou moeten leiden: het is tijd voor muiterij.


© The Nation/Vertaling: Rob van Erkelens

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

http://www.stopesso.com/funstuff/nose.html

What's wrong with Esso?

The company that has done more than any other to keep the US hooked on oil is Esso (known as ExxonMobil in the USA). This addiction is causing global warming.

Esso has spent the last decade sabotaging international action on climate change and directing US climate and energy policy. Esso paid the Republicans $1.2 million up to the 2000 elections - and sure enough President George W Bush pulled the US out of the international global warming treaty, the Kyoto Protocol.

Esso has consistently questioned the accepted scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels like oil is causing global warming. It is still misleading the US public and policymakers over the economic implications of tackling the problem.

It funds 'industry front groups@ to lobby on its behalf. In turn, they promote climate sceptic scientists to question the science of global warming.

If Bush was acting on climate change, he'd be curbing the US addiction to oil.

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Hitler duikt op in Amerikaanse verkiezingscampagne


WASHINGTON - Adolf Hitler is vrijdag opgedoken in een verkiezingsspot van de Republikeinse campagne voor de Amerikaanse presidentsverkiezingen van november. De video werd verspreid via de internetsite van de herverkiezingscampagne van de Amerikaanse president George W. Bush en maakt een gelijkenis tussen de Democratische kandidaat John Kerry en zijn medestanders. Die medestanders zijn onder meer de filmmaker Michael Moore, voormalig vice-president Al Gore en Adolf Hitler.


Hitler is te zien op een rode achtergrond terwijl hij een menigte toespreekt, kort nadat Al Gore en Michael Moore aan bod komen. Volgens Phil Singer, woordvoerder van de Democratische campagne, proberen de Republikeinen een vergelijking te maken tussen senator Kerry, de Democraten en Hitler. Singer eist de onmiddellijke verwijdering van de beelden, evenals verontschuldigingen. Het feit dat Bush het gepast vindt beelden van Hitler te gebruiken in zijn verkiezingscampagne roept volgens Singer serieuze vragen op over zijn bekwaamheid om opnieuw vier jaar in het Witte Huis door te brengen. Volgens Terry Holt, een woordvoerder van het Republikeinse kamp, drukt de spot de woede en het pessimisme uit die de Democraten gebruiken om president Bush aan te vallen. De gebruikte beelden en woorden komen volgens Holt van mensen en organisaties die banden hebben met de Democratische partij. De beelden van Hitler zijn ontleend van MoveOn, een organisatie die de Democraten steunt en die de beelden in het begin van het jaar korte tijd heeft gebruikt op zijn internetsite. Toen werd Bush vergeleken met Hitler, benadrukte Holt.


28/06/2004

©Copyright De Standaard

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Let vooral ook op de 'suicide attempts'...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-sr...ynum_050104.htm

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

VS willen raketbasis in Polen


MOET OOSTELIJKE FLANK WORDEN VAN RAKETAFWEERSCHILD
BRUSSEL - De Verenigde Staten zitten in een vroeg stadium van onderhandelingen met Polen over de vestiging van een raketbasis die deel moet uitmaken van een ,,afweerschild'' tegen raketten. Dat bericht van de Britse krant ,,The Guardian'' is gisteren bevestigd door Poolse en Amerikaanse bronnen.



HET raketafweerschild, dat is geïnspireerd op het meer ambitieuze Star Wars-project van wijlen president Ronald Reagan, is een van de paradepaardjes van de regering-Bush. Ongerust over de nucleaire en chemische bedreiging door schurkenstaten als Noord-Korea, wil Washington een peperduur systeem opzetten van onderscheppingsraketten die vijandelijke tuigen uit de lucht moeten halen.

De tests met de onderscheppingsraketten zijn totnogtoe geen succes, maar het onderzoek gaat verder. Cruciaal voor een efficiënt afweerschild zijn radarbases die de tuigen kunnen opsporen en raketbases die de onderscheppingsraketten moeten afschieten.

De VS plannen zelf twee bases op eigen bodem: vanuit Californië en Alaska moet een scherm worden opgetrokken tegen raketten die, bijvoorbeeld, over de Stille Oceaan uit Noord-Korea zouden komen.

Voor radarbases rond de Atlantische Oceaan kreeg Washington al de instemming van de Deense regering, bevoegd voor het noordelijke Groenland, en van de Britse. Amerikaanse en Poolse ambtenaren bevestigden gisteren aan The Guardian dat er al acht maanden gesprekken lopen om behalve een radarbasis eventueel een raketbasis op Pools grondgebied te vestigen.

Die raketbasis zou tot Amerikaans grondgebied worden verklaard en gericht zijn tegen eventuele verre aanvallen vanuit het Midden-Oosten. Of, op langere termijn, vanuit Rusland?

Met Tsjechië, Bulgarije en Roemenië zou eveneens worden gepraat over eventuele radarbases.

Het Poolse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken liet aan de Britse krant echter ook weten dat Warschau enkel zal deelnemen als dat de ,,stabiliteit van de regio'' niet verstoort. Moskou moet er dus akkoord mee gaan, en daar moet Washington voor zorgen. Rusland toonde zich eerder erg ontgoocheld toen de regering-Bush, precies met het oog op zo'n rakettenschild, het ABM-verdrag opzei.

,,De Amerikanen moeten het pad met de Russen effenen en een consensus bereiken, voor we hiermee verdergaan'', aldus een woordvoerder van Buitenlandse Zaken in Warschau in TheGuardian.

Grzegorz Holdanowicz, de hoofdredacteur van het Poolse defensiemagazine Raport, zei gisteren aan het persbureau Associated Press dat de gesprekken met de Verenigde Staten nog in een ,,preliminair stadium'' verkeren.

,,We hebben al gediscussieerd over honderden thema's en maar enkele daarvan zijn in de praktijk omgezet'', aldus Holdanowicz. ,,Polen zal geen voorstel aanvaarden dat de onzekerheid in de regio vergroot.''

In de Verenigde Staten zijn ook de Democraten tegen de plannen voor het raketschild. Ze vinden het schild een overmatig duur project dat geen succes belooft en het geld afleidt van efficiëntere militaire middelen tegen aanvallen.


14/07/2004 (jdc)

©Copyright De Standaard

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Bush wil ,,vredespresident'' zijn

CEDAR RAPIDS (reuters) - ,,Ik ben een oorlogspresident'', zei George Bush in februari. ,,Ik wil een vredespresident zijn'', zei hij gisteren terwijl hij campagne voerde in Iowa.


Sinds februari is de steun voor de oorlog in Irak gevoelig gedaald. Bush stelt zichzelf nu voor als een onwillige strijder, maar een die Amerika veiliger maakte. Hij gebruikte de woorden ,,vrede'' en ,,vreedzaam'' wel twintig keer in één speech.

,,De vijand verklaarde ons de oorlog. Niemand wil een oorlogspresident zijn. Ik wil de vredespresident zijn. De volgende vier jaar zullen vreedzaam zijn'', beloofde hij. Bush houdt vol dat hij Amerika veiliger maakte, ook al waarschuwde zijn regering dat Al-Qaeda een nieuwe grote aanslag tegen Amerikanen beraamt en ook al houdt het geweld in Irak aan.

,,Nog vier jaar en Amerika zal veiliger zijn en de wereld vreedzamer'', zei Bush. Tenzij, voegde hij er in een andere speech in Missouri aan toe, ,,Amerika zich zwak toont. Dan zal de wereld op een tragedie afstevenen''.

Zowel in Iowa als Missouri staan Bush en Kerry haast even sterk. De jongste nationale peiling geeft Kerry een lichte voorsprong.


©Copyright De Standaard, 22/07/2004

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Onder contract - Het Amerikaanse bedrijfsleven verdient goed aan Irak.


'Go fuck yourself!' Deze gevleugelde woorden zullen de Amerikaanse vice-president Dick Cheney nog lang achtervolgen. Cheney riep ze naar een journalist die had gevraagd hoeveel 'Iraakse' contracten het bedrijf Halliburton al had gesloten. Cheney was topman van Halliburton.


Het aantal contracten voor de wederopbouw in Irak en Afghanistan, dat Amerikaanse bedrijven in de wacht slepen, stijgt nog steeds sterk. Volgens een rapport van de Amerikaanse onderzoeksorganisatie Center for Public Integrity (CPI) gebeurt dat niet altijd even transparant. Tot nu toe hebben ruim 150 Amerikaanse bedrijven contracten voor de wederopbouw van de door oorlog geteisterde landen verworven, ter waarde van 48,7 miljard dollar. Het CPI registreert via het onderzoeksprogramma 'Windfalls of War project' hoe de enorme budgetten die de regering-Bush van het Congres mag uitgeven aan de wederopbouw, worden verdeeld en beheerd. Sinds de eerste evaluatie van 30 oktober vorig jaar, kwamen er tachtig gecontracteerde bedrijven bij. Een stijging van 40 miljard dollar.

Het CPI vraagt voortdurend informatie aan verschillende ministeries via de 'Freedom of Information Act', om een goed beeld te krijgen van wat er in Afghanistan gebeurt (heel onduidelijk) en van 'Operation Iraqi Enduring Freedom'. Volgens het CPI is de overheid al iets opener, maar blijft het nog steeds moeilijk om informatie te krijgen. Een kentering kwam er nadat Congresleden en media meer vragen gingen stellen na het Abu Ghraib-schandaal. Uit het onderzoek bleek immers dat er ook personeelsleden van gecontracteerde bedrijven, Titan Corporation en CACI, bij de martelingen aanwezig waren. Het CPI mocht de contracten van deze bedrijven echter nooit inkijken. Dat de bedrijven in Irak zaten, bleek pas nadat een commissie van het Congres onderzoek deed naar de Abu Ghraib-affaire. Het wijst volgens het CPI op ondoorzichtigheid, deels ontstaan doordat de verdeling van overheidscontracten en belastinggeld door heel veel overheidsinstanties tegelijk gebeurt.

Intussen wacht de Iraakse bevolking ongeduldig tot de wederopbouw zijn vruchten afwerpt. Een jaar na de aankondiging van een 'Marshallplan voor Irak' zijn nog maar 140 van de 2300 beloofde reconstructieprojecten gestart. Zij zouden volgens Paul Bremer, hoofd van het voorlopige Amerikaanse bestuur, 50.000 Irakezen een baan opleveren. Het werden er amper 20.000. Het is een kwestie van tijd voor politici en media zullen vragen waar al het geld blijft. Volgens The New York Times bespoedigde het Pentagon onlangs alvast het overmaken van grote bedragen om het proces van wederopbouw te versnellen.

H.V.S., Knack, 28/07/2004

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Kloof arm en rijk steeds dieper in V.S.


BRUSSEL (Belga) - Het gemiddelde inkomen uit arbeid in de Verenigde Staten is de voorbije twee jaar met 5,7 procent gedaald, maar het gemiddelde loon van een Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is in 2003 met 15 procent gestegen. Twintig jaar geleden verdiende een CEO gemiddeld 40 keer meer dan de arbeider op de werkvloer. Vorig jaar was dat 400 keer meer en nu gaat het naar het 500-voudige.


De krant The Washington Times, die het over ingrediënten voor een guerilla-oorlog tussen de klassen heeft, haalde de cijfers bij de Internal Revenue Service, de Amerikaanse belastingdienst. Besluit waar men volgens de krant nog moeilijk om heen kan: de kloof tussen rijk en arm wordt in de VS met de jaren groter. Kaderleden onder het niveau van de algemeen directeur hadden in 2003 ook niet te klagen. Zij zagen hun inkomsten met bijna tien procent stijgen.

Vier Amerikaanse topbedrijven, met Apple Computer, Oracle, Yahoo en Colgate-Palmolive, verhoogden het loon van hun CEO in 2003 nog met meer dan duizend procent, aldus de studie. Het verschil tussen het loon van een algemeen directeur en een doorsnee werknemer is vandaag het hoogste in de geschiedenis, zo staat te lezen op www.onlinejournal.com.

Het aantal werklozen dat niet meer naar werk zoekt, steeg volgens het Bureau voor Arbeidsstatistieken (Bureau of Labor Statistics) sind juni 2000 met 4,4 procent tot 66,6 miljoen. Deze ontmoedigde mensen zijn niet in de officiële werkloosheidscijfers opgenomen, zoniet zou het cijfer 22,5 procent bedragen in plaats van de 5,5 procent waar president George W. Bush het op houdt.

(c)De Standaard, 09-08-2004

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Duizenden christenen weg uit Irak

door Judit Neurink


Met een kleine duizend gezinnen per week verlaten christenen Irak. Al voor de aanslagen op hun kerken in Bagdad en Mosoel van vorige week hadden ze de hoop op een toekomst in hun land verloren.


AMSTERDAM - ,,Mensen vertrekken omdat ze voelen dat ze geen toekomst meer hebben'', zegt de Assyrische priester Ken Joseph, even op bezoek in Nederland uit Bagdad. De afgelopen twee tot drie weken zijn zeker tweeduizend christelijke families uit Irak vertrokken, rekent hij voor.

Dagelijks melden zich tientallen Irakezen bij hun Assyrische, Chaldese, Syrisch-orthodoxe, Syrisch-katholieke en Armeense kerken om een doopbewijs op te vragen. Dat is nodig voor een uitreisvisum.

Voor velen waren de bomaanslagen van vorige week op verschillende christelijke kerken de druppel, zegt Joseph. ,,Ik ben in Europa omdat we de bomaanslagen zagen aankomen, en ertegen wilden waarschuwen. Maar niemand luisterde.'' Joseph schetst een somber beeld van de situatie van christenen in Irak. Ze zijn het slachtoffer van ontvoering en aanslagen. Vrouwen worden bedreigd als ze geen hoofddoek dragen. In Basra leidde de moord op christelijke winkeliers die alcohol verkochten tot een uittocht naar naburige dorpen.

Nu gaat die uittocht naar Syrië en Jordanië. In Syrië, voor Irakezen zonder visum toegankelijk, schat men het aantal Iraakse christenen die sinds april vorig jaar gevlucht zijn op zeker 10000, 90 procent van het totaal. De meesten blijven in Syrië als pogingen stranden om bij westerse ambassades visa te krijgen.

Volgens Joseph blijft het echter niet bij de dreiging van radicale moslims. Veel erger is dat christenen in het Irak van vandaag worden genegeerd, zegt hij. Onder Saddam Hoessein werd hun aantal nog op 2,5 miljoen gehouden, Joseph houdt dat nu zelf op 1,2 miljoen, maar de overheid gaat uit van slechts 750000. Op basis daarvan mogen ze maar twaalf afgevaardigden sturen naar de Nationale Conferentie, waar duizend Irakezen volgende week een interim-parlement moeten kiezen. Bij lokale verkiezingen in Noord-Irak zouden vier zetels voor christenen bestemd zijn, maar kregen zij er geen, aldus Joseph. En dan is er nog de kwestie van die ene christen in de interim-regering: ,,Weet u op welke post? Migratie! De boodschap was duidelijk: Pak aan, en vertrek.''

Dat leidt ook op andere gebieden tot achterstelling, zegt hij. ,,Er zijn 291 dorpen in Noord-Irak waar vroeger christenen woonden die herbouwd moeten worden. Maar hulp gaat alleen naar moslims, naar de Koerdische dorpen die ook onder Saddam vernield zijn.''

Volgens Joseph is de voorlopige grondwet, die begin dit jaar van kracht werd, bij de overdracht van de macht eind juni niet geratificeerd door de nieuwe regering, en daarom ongeldig. In die grondwet zijn de rechten vastgesteld van de verschillende groepen, en het recht op regionale autonomie. Niet alleen belangrijk voor de Koerden, maar ook voor christenen die zich onder zien sneeuwen in een Irak waarin de islam de staatsgodsdienst is.

Voeg dat bij het gevoel van veel Iraakse christenen dat die overdracht te vroeg is gekomen. ,,Op 28 juni, de dag van de overdracht was er geen vreugde. Veel Irakezen zijn bezorgd dat ze in de steek worden gelaten, dat Irak verandert in een radicale islamitische staat.''

Trouw, 09-08-2004

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Het zoveelste bewijs van het feit dat de oorlog winnen lang niet betekent dat men ook de vrede wint... Eigenlijk is het tegendeel veel meer het geval: net een boek gelezen over het ontstaan van WOI; ook daar van hetzelfde laken een broek: de machtsgeilheid van keizer Wilhelm II van Duitsland - in Versailles(!de ultieme vernedering voor de Fransen) tot keizer verheven na de overwinning van Bismarck -, gekoppeld aan pure onnozelheid (lees: protserigheid, domheid, eigenwaan en dergelijke meer) en het opleggen van compleet onredelijk oorlogsbetalingen (vgl. het V.N.-embargo tegen Irak gedurende de jaren negentig), lijkt blijkbaar toch een soort van standaardrecept om de zaak richting oorlog te laten uitdraaien. Maar ik pikte uit het gelezen werk ook nog volgend citaat mee, bij monde van de Britse dichter Wilfrid Owen bij het beschrijven van een gasaanval in zijn gedicht 'Dulce et decorum est' (Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori was een geliefde kreet op rekruteringsposters en betekende: 'Het is heerlijk om voor je vaderland te sterven'):

"Gas! Gas! Snel jongens! - haastig en verwoed gefrommel, opzetten van onhandige maskers, net op tijd: Een man schreeuwde echter nog en door zijn gestommel en gewaggel leek hij te branden of door kalk te lopen. Vaag, door mistige gaten in het dikke groene licht, als op de bodem van een groene zee, zag ik hem verdrinken voor mijn hulpeloze ogen, alsof ik ellendig droomde. Hij viel op me, dronken schokkend, luchthappend, stikkend. In beklemmende en verstikkende trance liep je achter de wagen waarin we hem gooiden, en keek naar zijn witte ogen draaiend in hun kassen, zijn hangende gezicht, diabolisch alsof vol zonde. Alsof je bij iedere schok het bloed kon horen, gorgelend opwellend uit zijn tot schuim verworden longen, weerzinwekkend als kanker, bitter als herkauwde gal, ongeneeslijke zweren op onschuldige tongen. Mijn vriend, kom niet vol vuur aan bij kinderen verlangend naar ellendige glorie, met die oude leugen: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Yankee go home!
Bij de duizendste Amerikaanse dode in Irak.


Echt voorpaginanieuws was het niet in de Verenigde Staten. Het bericht haalde het niet bij de open- hartoperatie van Bill Clinton of de capriolen van de orkaan Frances. Maar in Irak werd vorige week de duizendste Amerikaanse dode geteld - 868 van hen sneuvelden ná de triomfantelijke aankondiging van George W. Bush, op 1 mei 2003, dat 'de missie geslaagd was' en de vijandelijkheden beëindigd. Het aantal Iraakse doden heeft niemand geteld: volgens de meest voorzichtige schattingen zijn het er twintigduizend.

Sinds de Amerikaanse proconsul Paul Bremer in Irak op 28 juni de macht overdroeg aan het interimbewind van Iyad Allawi, is de toestand alleen maar verslechterd. De Iraakse veiligheidstroepen slagen er niet in de rust te herstellen en de Amerikanen zagen zich verplicht hun troepensterkte op te voeren van 115 tot 140 duizend man. De Amerikanen vechten nu op twee fronten: na hun vergeefse poging om de aanhangers van de sjiitische leider Moqtada Al-Sadr uit de heilige stad Najaf te verdrijven, hebben ze nu ook de controle verloren over een aantal belangrijke soennitische bolwerken als Falluja, Ramadi en Samarra. Zelfs in de hoofdstad Bagdad zijn er wijken, zoals Sadr City met zijn twee miljoen inwoners, waar de Amerikanen zich niet meer kunnen vertonen.

Vanuit zijn ziekenhuiskamer adviseerde Bill Clinton de Democratische presidentskandidaat John Kerry wat minder over Vietnam en wat meer over, bijvoorbeeld, gezondheidszorg te praten. Maar de situatie in Irak begint meer en meer op die in Vietnam te lijken. Ook in Vietnam installeerden de Amerikanen een marionettenregime - om nog maar eens een oude term uit de kast te halen. Ze probeerden de oorlog te vietnamiseren. Dat pakte faliekant uit, en de Amerikanen werden meegezogen in het Vietnamese 'moeras'. Het Q-woord (quagmire) duikt weer op in commentaren, en de Republikeinse senator John McCain voorspelt zelfs dat de Amerikaanse troepen nog minstens tien jaar in Irak zullen moeten blijven.

De regering van president Bush blijft intussen stug volhouden dat er in januari in Irak vrije verkiezingen zullen worden gehouden. VN-secretaris-generaal Kofi Annan is daar minder optimistisch over. Het geweld en het gewapende verzet zullen doorgaan tot de laatste Amerikaanse soldaat uit Irak is vertrokken, al dan niet in een body bag.

Piet Piryns, Knack 15-09-2004

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Iraq war illegal, says Annan


09/16/04 "BBC" --The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter.
He said the decision to take action in Iraq should have been made by the Security Council, not unilaterally.


The UK government responded by saying the attorney-general made the "legal basis... clear at the time".

Mr Annan also warned security in Iraq must considerably improve if credible elections are to be held in January.

The UN chief said in an interview with the BBC World Service that "painful lessons" had been learnt since the war in Iraq.

"Lessons for the US, the UN and other member states. I think in the end everybody's concluded it's best to work together with our allies and through the UN," he said.

"I hope we do not see another Iraq-type operation for a long time - without UN approval and much broader support from the international community," he added.

He said he believed there should have been a second UN resolution following Iraq's failure to comply over weapons inspections.

And it should have been up to the Security Council to approve or determine the consequences, he added.

When pressed on whether he viewed the invasion of Iraq as illegal, he said: "Yes, if you wish. I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal."

Mr Annan's comments provoked angry suggestions from a former Bush administration aide that they were timed to influence the US November election.

"I think it is outrageous for the Secretary-General, who ultimately works for the member states, to try and supplant his judgement for the judgement of the member states," Randy Scheunemann, a former advisor to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the BBC.

"To do this 51 days before an American election reeks of political interference."

A UK foreign office spokeswoman said: "The Attorney-General made the government's position on the legal basis for the use of military force in Iraq clear at the time".

Australian Prime Minister John Howard also rejected Mr Annan's remarks, saying the legal advice he was given was "entirely valid".

The BBC's Susannah Price at UN headquarters in New York says Mr Annan has made similar comments before.

He has said from the beginning the invasion did not conform with the UN charter - phrasing that was seen as a diplomatic way of saying the war was illegal.

Our correspondent says Mr Annan's relationship with the US might be made a little uncomfortable for a while following his comments, but both sides are likely to want to play it down.

US President George W Bush is due to speak at the UN General Assembly next week...


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/...ast/3661134.stm

Published: 2004/09/16 09:21:31 GMT

© BBC MMIV

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

The enemy is us
By Sam Gardiner


In war, you deny information, spread lies and use psychological warfare. An expert on military information operations explains how Bush has mastered this technique -- and used it against the American people.


09/22/04 "Salon.com" -- On Thursday, Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, will speak before a joint meeting of Congress, and from what he said in London on his way to the United States, it looks like Americans are going to be getting more of the strategic information operations that have been crucial to Bush's policy on Iraq from the beginning.

On Monday, Allawi said at a press conference: "Terrorists are coming and pouring into Iraq to try to undermine the situation in Iraq ... And God forbid, if Iraq is broken or the will of Iraq is broken, then London will be a target, Washington will be a target." In those sentences, Allawi employed the basic doctrine of strategic information operations: Influence emotions, motive and objective reasoning. Use repetition to create a collective memory in the target audience. And the recurrent message of both Allawi and the Bush administration is: Iraq = terrorists = 9/11.

The Army Field Manual describes information operations as the use of strategies such as information denial, deception and psychological warfare to influence decision making. The notion is as old as war itself. With information operations, one seeks to gain and maintain information superiority -- control information and you control the battlefield. And in the information age, it has become even more imperative to influence adversaries.

But with the Iraq war, information operations have gone seriously off track, moving beyond influencing adversaries on the battlefield to influencing the decision making of friendly nations and, even more important, American public opinion. In information denial, one attempts to deceive one's adversary. Since the declared end of combat operations, the Bush administration has orchestrated a number of deceptions about Iraq. But who is its adversary?

In August 2003, the administration's message was that everything in Iraq was improving. The White House led the information effort and even published a paper on the successes of the first 100 days of the occupation. By October the message had shifted: Things were going well in Iraq, but the media was telling the wrong story.

Then, toward the end of 2003, the message was that the whole problem in Iraq was "dead-enders" and "foreign fighters." If it weren't for them, the situation would be fine. Then, after Saddam Hussein was captured in December, the message shifted again: The coalition had discovered along with the former dictator documents revealing the insurgent network, which now would be broken. Once again, everything would be fine.

At the approach of the hand-over to Iraq's interim government in late June, the administration said the event represented the worst fears of the insurgents, who did not want any movement toward democracy. The White House warned that there would be increased violence as the insurgents tried to prevent the interim government from assuming its proper role in running the country. In fact, violence did increase before the transfer, but there was even more violence afterward. But the administration's information about the situation in Iraq sharply declined.

Denying information to adversaries is one way of maintaining information dominance. (According to the Army Field Manual, this dimension involves "withholding information that adversaries need for effective decision-making.") In the case of Iraq, this has meant eliminating press releases and press briefings. Since the hand-over of power, the U.S. Embassy in Iraq has issued only six releases, including one on the new Iraqi environment minister's visit to a landfill project. The most recent press release, on Aug. 12, was about a boxer on Iraq's Olympics team. The last press briefing by the Multi-National Force in Iraq was June 25. The interim Iraqi government does not hold press conferences.

The White House Web site also reflects the strategy of withholding information. It used to actively provide content on Operation Iraqi Freedom (or as the Web site now says, "Renewal in Iraq"), but the last new entry is dated Aug. 5.

The effect of the White House's control of information has been dramatic. The chart shows how English-language press coverage of Iraq has fallen off since July. Early in July, it was typical to find almost 250,000 articles each day mentioning Iraq. That number has dropped to 150,000. The goal of denying the adversary access to information is being realized. But, again, who is the adversary?

Before, during and immediately after the war, the White House orchestrated an intensive program of press briefings and releases to saturate media time and space, stay on message, keep ahead of the news cycle and manage expectations. The White House conference call set the daily message. The press briefings from the Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar, were designed to dominate the morning and afternoon press coverage, while the afternoon press briefing by the Pentagon was intended for the evening news.

The White House is also using psychological warfare -- conveying selected information to organizations and individuals to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning and ultimately behavior -- to spread its version of the war. And the administration's message is obviously central to the process. From the very beginning, that message, delivered both directly and subtly, has been constant and consistent: Iraq = terrorists = 9/11.

The president tells us that we are fighting terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to fight them here in the United States. But I know of no one with a respectable knowledge of the events in Iraq who shares that view. My contacts in the intelligence community say the opposite -- that U.S. policies in fact are creating more terrorism.

Still, the administration has made its case for the 9/11 terrorism and Iraq connection with some sophistication. For example, on March 25, 2003, the United States renamed the Iraqi fighters in civilian clothes known as the Fedayeen Saddam. Either the Office of the Secretary of Defense or the White House (I have been told it was both) directed that they now be called "terrorist death squads" -- promoting the overarching message: Iraq = terrorists = 9/11.

Recently, the purported terrorist connection was reinforced by another change in terminology. When coalition forces bomb a house in Fallujah, the Multi-National Force press releases now announce that they bombed a "safe house." But Marines don't come to that phrase naturally. Marines hit enemy positions. They strike targets. The implication is fairly obvious. Since terrorists use "safe houses," the insurgents in Fallujah must be terrorists. And some of us thus come to believe that we are in Iraq to fight the "global war on terrorism."

Appealing to the emotions aroused by 9/11 is classic psychological warfare. And repetition of the terrorist argument is utterly consistent with the theory that one can develop collective memory in a population through repetition.

Images are also essential in psychological warfare, so negative images must be defeated as quickly as possible. That's why the images of the contractors killed in Fallujah were so worrisome to the administration. Government intelligence sources told me there was fear they would have an impact like the images of dead U.S. Army Rangers being dragged through the streets in Somalia did in 1993, causing rapid erosion in support for that war.

Although we don't know all the facts yet, it's almost certain that the White House or the Pentagon ordered the Marine attack on Fallujah to fight those negative images. Five U.S. soldiers were killed on the same day as the private contractors when their Bradley fighting vehicle was destroyed. But there was almost no official reaction to their deaths, no pictures; their deaths did not pose an image problem.

Now, the New York Times reports that military operations to open up the no-go areas in Iraq will not occur until November or December. The official line is that the administration wants to wait until Iraqi security forces are better trained.

My military mind only hurts when I hear this argument. The United States has been trying to train the Iraqis to take over for almost two years now. The effort began with the training camp in Hungary before the war, but that program failed. The robust training program that began in the early stages of the occupation was declared a failure with the onset of the insurgents' offensive in April. The administration has not been able to staff the headquarters tasked to direct the training. Nor is it even certain who among those being trained are on our side. The Marines around Fallujah joke that after they take a member of the Iraqi National Guard to the firing range for practice, the sniper who shoots at them that night shows a remarkable improvement in his aim.

It's clear the Americans will bear the major brunt of the attack on Fallujah. What could possibly be behind the administration's decision to wait until November or December to launch it? There's certainly no commander in the field saying, "Let's give the bad guys another 60 days to operate freely inside their sanctuaries before we attack." Such a decision would be particularly bizarre when attacks against coalition forces are more frequent than ever, attacks on oil pipelines are on the rise, and the United States is suffering increased casualties.

Any military officer would say that you have to take the fight to the enemy. So what can we conclude about this decision? There is only one conceivable answer -- the White House is delaying military operations until after the Nov. 2 election for political reasons. In the meantime, information-denial operations must be ratcheted up to control the story. But that is becoming more difficult.

During the early part of the war, there was more deception than truth in the comments and press briefings of the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Among the fabricated stories was the early surrender of the commander and the entire 51st Iraqi mechanized division. We were told of an uprising in Basra -- it did not happen. We were told Iraqis had stolen U.S. uniforms to commit atrocities -- this was not true. We were told on White House and State Department Web sites that the Iraqi military had formed units of children to attack the coalition -- untrue. We were told of a whole range of agreements between the French and Iraq before the war over weapons -- false. We were told Saddam had marked a red line around Baghdad and that when we crossed it Iraq would use chemical weapons -- completely fabricated.

We were told of an elaborate scheme by Saddam's forces to ambush U.S. Marines on March 23 as they fought toward Baghdad. The president mentioned this incident many times. It turns out what really happened that day is that the Marines were repeatedly attacked by a U.S. Air Force A-10. It was a friendly-fire incident, not an Iraqi ruse. But building on the theme of Iraqi evil was more important than the truth.

Military intelligence officials' prewar assertion when no WMD were found that Iraq had moved its weapons to Syria is another example of information denial. But although the Iraq Survey Group report to be released at the end of this month will announce once and for all that Iraq did not have WMD, the WMD argument already served its purpose in garnering support for the invasion. The important message now remains: Iraq = terrorists = 9/11.

The fog of war has not yet lifted. But when the strategy is to hide the war from the American people, rather than to get them to approve its instigation, fabrication is more difficult to sustain.

Karl von Clausewitz, the Prussian theorist of war, wrote, "War is an extension of politics by other means." When I taught Clausewitz to students at various military war colleges, I told them that he meant international politics. But I may have been wrong -- I fear war has become an extension of domestic politics, moving beyond influencing adversaries on the battlefield to influencing the decision making of friendly nations and, even more important, American public opinion. Why have the American people become the adversary?

About the writer
Sam Gardiner is a retired Air Force colonel who has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College and Naval War College

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB