May 21, 2005

Boltons Reality

And here we have more of the arrogance that we've come to expect from the neocons. In fact, what he is saying is that regardless of the opinion of those persons who make their living and who's entire career and reputation depends on interpreting the veracity and meaning of intelligence, that he...Bolton.....should be able to act independant of what they say about any given situation, if the reality of the situation interferes with the neocon agenda. As they themselves previously stated, they create reality, and we... the peasants, merely respond to the world in the way it has been presented to us through their con-men, the shills in mega-media corporations . Mycos ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bolton Asserts Independence On Intelligence By DOUGLAS JEHL (NYT) ABSTRACT - John R Bolton tells Senate Foreign Relations Committee that policy maker should maintain right to 'state his own reading of the intelligence' even when it differs from that of intelligence agencies; statement comes in written response to written query from Sen John Kerry, and is disclosed by Democratic legislators opposed to Bolton's nomination as ambassador to United Nations; they cite it as evidence that Bolton would adopt loose standard for accuracy in making statements based on intelligence; several former senior intelligence officials say when policy makers state their own views about inteligence matters they have obligation to be accurate and to make explicit when they are stating personal opinions; Senate committee will meet on May 12 to debate conclusions that should be drawn from more than 30 interviews and thousands of pages of documents as part of extraordinarily exhaustive review into Bolton's career and opinions;

May 20, 2005

Bush: Worst President Ever?

"Bush: Worst President Ever?

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted May 20, 2005.

Herbert Hoover may have triggered the Great Depression, but he didn't invade another nation on false pretenses, authorize torture of prisoners, or try to stack the courts.

For the record, I don't like George Bush. And I don't like most of the people who work for George Bush. So, diehard Republicans can just brush aside my remarks as so much partisan blather.

But by now I suppose very few diehard Republicans ever read what I write. So do me a favor -- e-mail this to the diehards in your family and circle of friends. Ask them to tell me why I am wrong about this:

George Bush is the worst president of the United States of America, ever. Hands down.

And here are just a few reasons why I believe that statement is true."

cont.....

Guess Who Hired Paul Cellucci:: Belinda Stronach!

http://cpcml.ca/tmld

Magna's Annexationist Interest: Guess Who Hired Paul Cellucci Magna's Annexationist Interest: Guess Who Hired Paul Cellucci Belinda Stronach is an annexationist. Her defection to the Liberals reveals that secret deals are being made behind the scenes in order to further annex Canada to the United States. She advocates for Canada's integration into a "North American Security Perimeter." Behind all her talk about stability are attempts to smash the organized resistance of Canadian workers, especially in the auto sector, to the demands of the monopolies to turn them into slave labour in the name of the greater good. Her agenda on Canada-U.S. relations serve the narrow anti-national aim of Magna International, the company which is hers by blood.

In this regard, it is interesting that on May 1 Magna Entertainment Corporation -- involved in gambling and horse racetracks -- officially hired the hated former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci as its Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development. Cellucci was the mouthpiece of U.S. imperialist President George W. Bush in Canada. As Ambassador his role was to organize forces such as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives to push for the annexation of Canada by the United States, Canada's participation in U.S. aggression against Iraq and its violations of international rule of law. As a representative of the Bush administration in Canada, he deliberately violated the norms of diplomatic relations between nations and on numerous occasions interfered in Canadian internal affairs calling for increased spending on the military and chastising Canadians for not supporting the war in Iraq, threatening consequences as a result.

"Mr. Cellucci has an outstanding record of public service and will make an enormous contribution to (Magna Entertainment) and he will play a leadership role in our efforts to bring about regulatory reform at the state level aimed at modernizing the horse racing and pari-mutuel industry," Frank Stronach said in a release.

It would be laughable if it wasn't a deliberate attempt to disinform the public to hear Belinda Stronach talk about the need to defend the "unity of Canada" when she and Magna are at the forefront of all the arrangements being put in place to create a United States of the North American Monopolies capable of overwhelming the competition from Europe and Asia. What kind of Canadian unity is she talking about when she sees the Canadian border and a sovereign Canada as an impediment to the global ambitions of the monopoly interests she represents? One wonders what is going on when traitors to the Canadian nation such as Stronach are condemning the Bloc Quebecois of trying to "break up Canada." Is the Bloc calling for the annexation of Canada or Quebec to serve U.S. imperialism? Is the Bloc in bed with the Canadian fifth column of U.S. imperialism? No, the Bloc is calling for the affirmation of Quebec sovereignty and it is up to the people to make sure a sovereign Quebec opposes U.S. annexation of both Quebec and Canada. This would put a spoke in the plans of the annexationists in Canada who want to hand over a Canada holus bolus to U.S. imperialism as a strategic asset for its war preparations.

No one should be fooled by the disinformation which attempts to paint a traitor to the Canadian nation as a principled person who is rising above partisan politics. The politics she represents are those which are partisan to the U.S. imperialist war preparations in which the automotive sector is involved up to its ears. The monopoly interests Stronach represents are very partisan to the enemies of the Canadian working class and people.

Tears of Rage, Tears of Grief: A Nation Brought Low

Tears of Rage, Tears of Grief: A Nation Brought Low In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates' Deaths.

The unspeakable brutality detailed in this story stems directly -- absolutely directly -- from George W. Bush himself. It is George W. Bush who lifted the protection of the Geneva Conventions from all those he has rounded up in his 'war on terror,' including the literally thousands of innocent people (as confirmed by the Red Cross) devoured by his gulag. It is George W. Bush -- this sniveling, smirking, shirking little coward, this cosseted little pipsqueak trying to prove his manhood with macho bluster and aggressive war -- who is directly responsible for establishing this world-wide system of inhuman degradation and pig-ignorant bullying. It is his direct orders, his implications, his rhetoric and his will -- passed down along the entire chain of command -- that have instigated these crimes, these bloody stains on the national honor. Yet who among the high command -- from Rumsfeld on down -- has resigned in protest over these outrages? No one. They are all complicit, they have all played 'cover your ass,' passing the buck, and the blame, down to the lower ranks. And these lower ranks they have perverted with a relentless drumbeat of hate-speech and propaganda, deliberately fomenting a thirst for revenge that sweeps up every single Muslim in its blind wrath.

If you are an American with even one drop of genuine love for the country in your soul, you cannot read this story without shedding 'tears of rage, tears of grief,' in Bob Dylan's haunting words. What have they done to us, these snarling apes in their thousand-dollar suits? What have they done to us, these sanctimonious killers, mouthing the name of God through teeth flecked with human guts?

What quadrant of hell is hot enough for such men?"

U.S. Claims Over Siege Challenged

U.S. Claims Over Siege Challenged<BR><BR>

Inter Press Service<BR> Dahr Jamail <BR><BR> *As with the siege of Fallujah six months back, U.S. claims over the siege of the Iraqi town Al Qa'im are being challenged now by independent sources.*<BR><BR><BR>

AMMAN, May 19 (IPS) - As with the siege of Fallujah six months back, U.S. claims over the siege of the Iraqi town Al Qa'im are being challenged now by independent sources.<BR><BR>

The U.S. military claims a ”successful” end to the weeklong operation earlier this month around Al-Qa'im, a town about 320km west of Baghdad close to the Syrian border. The operation was launched against what the U.S. military saw as the presence of Al-Qaeda fighters in the town.<BR><BR>

Iraqi civilians and doctors in the area say no foreign fighters were present in the town. Al Qa'im and surrounding areas have suffered great destruction, and many in the town population of 110,000 were killed, they say.<BR><BR>

Abu Ahmed, a resident of Al-Qa'im, told IPS on telephone that ”all the fighters here are Iraqis from this area.”<BR><BR>

He said continuing violations by U.S. soldiers had provoked people into confronting the occupying forces. He said troops had been raiding homes, sending women into the streets without their hijabs and entering areas where women sleep.<BR><BR>

”The fighters are just local people who refuse to be treated like dogs,” he said. ”Nobody wants the Americans here.”<BR><BR>

Abd al-Khaliq al-Rawi, head of communications for the local government in Al-Qa'im said on Al-Jazeera television that the fighters were all local Iraqis. ”We have not seen any outsiders. The fighters are from the area. They are resisting the occupation.”<BR><BR>

Al Qa'im and surrounding areas were besieged by U.S. forces for a week by about 1,000 troops backed by warplanes, tanks and helicopters as a part of 'Operation Matador'. The U.S. military claims the operation was a success in that 125 ”militants” were killed in an effort to search for followers of the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.<BR><BR>

But accounts of the operation from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Iraqi doctors and civilians differ greatly from those put forward by the military.<BR><BR>

”Qa'im is still surrounded by the MNF (Multinational Forces), and we've yet to get any humanitarian workers into the city,” Daunia Pavone, programme manager for the Italian NGO consortium Solidarity told IPS in Amman, Jordan. The bombing had stopped, she said, but they did not know when it might resume and were unable therefore to send aid workers into the area.<BR><BR>

”The Americans said they could not get inside the city,” Pavone said. ”Once the Americans surrounded the city nobody was able to get out. So we are very concerned that there are a large number of civilian casualties inside the city.”<BR><BR>

Pavone said that about 12,000 Iraqis had left Al-Qaim, and that the rest had remained trapped inside. ”I think there will be lots of civilian casualties,” she said.<BR><BR>

At least nine soldiers were killed and more than 40 wounded during the siege, according to the U.S. military.<BR><BR>

The U.S. military has made no statement on civilian casualties, but witnesses say scores of innocent Iraqis were killed.<BR><BR>

The city centre ”has been almost completely destroyed,” the director of Al-Qa'im hospital Dr. Hamdi Al-Alusi told Al-Jazeera television. He said the casualties included many women, children and elderly people, and appealed to humanitarian organisations to intervene quickly.<BR><BR>

”Ambulances were prevented from moving and the medical teams have left the city centre because it has been destroyed,” Al-Alusi said during the siege. Water and electricity networks have been destroyed and ”there are scores of wounded people and scores of victims who cannot reach the hospital or anywhere else. We pray to god and implore the whole world to look into what happened to Al-Qa'im and adjacent cities.”<BR><BR>

Rafa Asahab, a Syrian who lives in Abu Kemal village on the Syrian border told IPS he saw some of the effects of the siege. ”At least 100 civilians in Al-Qa'im have been killed,” he said. U.S. warplanes also entered Syrian airspace many times, he said.<BR><BR>

Eyewitnesses said U.S. jets and helicopters also attacked surrounding Al-Karabilah, Al-Jazirah and Al-Quaydat towns. ”Medical staff confirmed the killing of civilians by helicopter gunfire,” Dr. Muhammad Abud reported on Al-Sharqiyah television. He said ambulance crews had difficulty retrieving some bodies that had been ripped apart.<BR><BR>

Adil al-Rawi, an eyewitness in Al-Qa'im said on Al-Arabiya television during the siege that U.S. forces had shelled the hospital. ”They are using warplanes, mortar shells and tanks to shell the city indiscriminately, hurt citizens and bomb the houses with warplanes.”<BR><BR>

Many people in the towns need medical aid, and the thousands of residents who fled need water, food, tents and blankets, Pavone said.<BR><BR>

The siege came as violence and bloodshed continue to escalate in Iraq amidst rising opposition to U.S. forces. Tensions rose further when anti-occupation Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr made another demand Monday that the United States withdraw from Iraq. Al-Sadr had launched a bloody Intifadah (militant uprising) against occupation forces last summer in Najaf, Hilla and the Sadr City area of Baghdad.<BR><BR>

Last week the new Iraqi government announced a continuation of the state of emergency (excepting in the Kurdish region in the north). Emergency was declared on Nov. 7, 2004. Most of the country has remained under martial law ever since, despite elections in January this year.<BR><BR>

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