An article found on the website of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan decries the violence perpetuated 'in our name' by The Northern Alliance. A description in the article entitled "No surprise at rumours of atrocities by our 'foot-soldiers' of one of those atrocites underscores the point.
Meanwhile at this juncture the alliance seems to be breaking down into two factions - the Russian-Indian=Iranian versus the Pakistani-American-British. By successfully taking Kabul, the Northern Alliance, clients of the Russians, has upset the Americans, the British and the Pakistanis. They just got there too fast. It seems Pakistan intelligence overestimated the time it would take to eject the Taleban, who are beating it back to the south or else to the hills, from which, according to Stratfor they will continue their campaign into the foreseable future. Another version has Pakistan double-crossed by London and Washington, who back the Northern Alliance.
Either way is bad for Pakistan, who wanted a broad based government in Afghanistan, one over which they would have some influence. Instead the rumor is circulating that bin Laden is headed back to Pakistan. Could this be a set-up for an invasion, especially if Pashtun in Pakistan are accused of supplying the Taleban from their side of the border?
November 13, 2001 Does He Or Doesn't He?
Fact is stranger than fiction. Now it's beginning to sound like a Robert Ludlum novel. Osama says he's got nukes, Dubya says no he doesn't. What's with the role reversal? Meanwhile the Italian mafia are missing their uru are these guys doing with uranium? Dubya goes to Britain and complains to Blair about the British press exercising their freedom of speech. Bloody, cheeky those Brits, don't you think? Interestingly enough, an article appears in The Guardian a few days later pursuing the Atta-Anin meeting in Czechoslavia. All this happens as another plane falls out of the sky over New York. This one is not being dubbed "a terrorist act" but due rather to 'catastrophic technical failure'. Still it makes you wonder if it isn't time for someone to start shipping out Prozac instead of anthrax so the rest of us could get dome sleep.
American TV news focuses with great intent on the tactical maneuvers of the Taleban and the Northern Alliance. Photographs do not include any of the bomb damage just of troops on the move. As of Sunday evening the Taleban are said to be losing the northern part of Aghanistan to The Northern Alliance. Several days ago, the German government was near a collapse as Fischer, the Foreign Minister, threatened to quit over his Green Party's reluctance, to support the war. Iran is calling back some 700 military advisors from other countries.
And gold comes back as the markets slump.
Global turns to the Islamists for their point of view, rather late in the game, too. They are after all the ones being targetted.
Cui Bono? Not Sonny Bono but cui bono or who benefits? See two articles under Konspiracy Korner on this subject. Interestingly, one of the authors, died in the last couple of days.
November 9, 2001
Afghanis get daisy cutters. Daisy cutters are 15,000 lb. fuel air explosives that explode just above ground level and cover a mile wide area with a cloud burning at 10,000F. It is a savage weapon. Iraqis get an ultimatum. And Ariel Sharon makes an announcement that he plans to bring 1 million new Jews to Israel. His announcment is neatly timed with Bush's annnoncment that he will not see Arafat at the UN. Another interesting case of timing is that of three headlines in the Times Of India. The first states that "FBI has no clues on anthrax source", but the Indian press evidently does by stating that "Pakistan may be source of anthrax attacks". On that same day another Times headline reads " PM, Bush to put shine back in Indo-US ties". Now it may be a stretch to read that series of headlines as a form of "You scratch, I'll scratch yours" and it may not. Another coincidence is the Iraqi defectors, names withheld, who tell of a training camp in Iraq, Salman Pak on the Tigris river, that is a terrorist traing camp. It just so happens that on Wednesday of this week Powell made a public statement that the US may have to turn its attention to Iraq.
The US also hit a hydro-electric plant near a dam in Afghanistan. The loss of electricity and possible destruction of the dam itself with further bombing could wreck havoc on irrigation farming in a country full of people already on the verge of starvation. Although, the US is doing the vast majority of the warring, it is getting nominal support from its allies. Italy signs up for the heroic war effort and pledges 3000 troops as well as a pro-American parade on the tenth of November. Germany announces that it is entering its biggest war campaign since World War II with 3900 troops for the war on terrorism. Oh say can you see how strange it really is. The former axis powers of World War II are all now allowed to participate in the war on terrorism and join forces with the former enemies of the Cold War - the U.S, Russia and China in going to war with one guy. Thanks Osama for bringing us all together.
Blair requests that the US not bomb Iraq while he calls fellow Europens together for a Council of War. The American media keeps up its steady stream of allegations about 'terrorist plans' without actually proving them. See "US strong on theory, weak on evidence" from The Irish Times under Freedom of the Press and "Troubling Questions in Troubling Times" by James S. Adam under Konspiracy Korner. This website tries to stick to pieces that are signed by their authors, which is difficult for those who take on conventional wisdom and the mainstream American media. Although the mainstream media do quote all sorts of sources who refuse to be named, for anyone opposing them such a practice would be considered suspect.
November 6, 2001
Several nights ago on CNN, John McCann said "We (the U.S.) are fighting for our survival". This remark is so over the top it beggars description. Perhaps Mr. McCann meant to say the Afghanis are fighting for their survival. With winter on the doorstep, the outlook for the millions of Afghanis trapped in Afghanistan are beyond bleak, they are desperate. Two million Afghanis have fled to Pakistan, 100,000 of whom did so since September 11, 2001. Six million face possible starvation; 10,000 children are in immiment danger of starving. (See Taleban demand UN aid under the Afghanistan heading).
And the hype goes on. As popular fervor for this war begins to wan, Bush issues warnings of nuclear danger from Osama to leaders of 17 East European nations. (Under the USA heading). Anthrax was last discovered in an American consulate in the Urals in yet another case of convenient timing.
Under the History Channel find more informative histories of the Taleban, the US and resouirces of Central Asia as well as a piece on the seemy history of US-Saudi relations. It seems Ms. Albright's concern for the violation of women's rights in Afghanistan came to the fore only after the Taleban lost an important battle and were not seen as likely to be able to conrol the country. In addition, there are some very informative articles on the actual history of the founding of the state of Israel.
Why Afghanistan? is an excellent Muslim site on the events of September 11 and some preceding history.
And for those who thought the security state was solely an American phenomenon look more carefully. The EU, Russia, China, India, Eastern European states are falling into line with anti-terrorist legislation, increased "security" spending and across the border police and judicial cooperation.
And finally a little something for everyone. For India, US resumes arms sales. And Pakistan is going to get some coaching on their nuclear program. Gee isn't that swell? Oh yes, and Iraq gets 'smart sanctions'.
October 31, 2001 Happy Halloween!
Tonight is the night picked by the ancients as the one the evils ghosts come out to wreck havoc on the lives of the innocent here on earth. I don't know how many innocents there are left here on earth but today was a good day for some of the not so innocent to come out in their true colors. Blair visited Syria to deliver a few threats about 'harboring terrorists'. The Syrians pointed out that Israelis have inflicted the Palestinians to a reign of terror. Meanwhile an article in The London Times points out that Israel has killed some 65 Palestinians leaders in its 'targetted killings' which stand in direct contrast to the 'assassination' of Tour Minister Ze'evi. "Targetted killings" are good and necessary because they are done by the Israeli state while 'assassinations' are bad because they are done by Palestinians. I guess it is because they are so good that the the ratio of targetted killings to assassinations is more than 50 to 1.
The Taleban say 1500 people have been killed in US raids since they started 25 days ago. "There is no independent confirmation of of the casualty figures given by the Taleban." states the BBC. There usually isn't. Could this be because very few western journalists have the desire to be blown up with the latest "enemy"?
Their figures are usually unconfirmed while ours are overstated. Did the good news that the actual figures of the World Trade Center Attack are closer to 3000 than over 6000 make it into any American papers? My guess is no.
Japan, which was given the privilege of shelling out $13 billion for the Gulf War, is now demanding a chance to participate militarily in the war against Afghanistan. I wasn't aware that Japan was in any immediate danger of attack by the Taleban. Secret information, no doubt. Although there is probably someone in Washington who has done a policy analysis that makes the case.
And India's defense minister "expresses concern that Pakistan's decision to work with the US may create 'civil and military disturbances' in that country." In light of the fact that India is only to anxious to get rid of the Taleban, that seems a curious statement, perhaps even a tad hypocritical. Debilitating Pakistan will only work to India's advantage as they are rivals, won't it?
A report from 7am news has China helping the Taleban, which sort of contradicts their anti-terrorism stance, doesn't it?
And for a little late night reading, a little history of the Us and the Taleban under The History Channel.
October 30, 2001 Just What is This Civilisation?
Things don't seem to be slowing down. China signs on to the International Convention for Supression of Terrorist Bombings. This makes for interesting reading when coupled with the piece entitled, Is There a China Israel Connection? listed with The Enemy is Within the Gates, which is interesting in its own right. Reflecting back on the triggering event, 911 and the WTC Attack, it contains the thoughts of numerous pilots on "the event". Russia will be providing a missile shield for India as the situation in Kashmir continues to deteriorate. Seems Lockheed, too, is in the money, $200b worth of new contracts for producing the F-15. See Konspiracy Korner. "Just What is this Civilisation?" is a thoughtful reflection on Western civilization on October 28, 2001.
October 29, 20001
A few words from the man about whom so many words have now been printed. Global leads off with a translation of the video message that Osama Bin Laden delivered to the world via Al-Jazeera immediately afther the attack on Afghanistan began. The entire speech is posted. The day starts with lots of developments. Pakistan is now faced with a possible two front war. The western border is busy with Afghan refugees still trying to stream into the country in the thousands while thousands of young Afghni men trying to move west over the border to sign up with the Taliban as the U.S. steps up its aerial bombardment over numerous cities in Afghanistan. Meanwhile Musharraf is trying to meet with India on the Kashmir question while India plans for a meeting with Russia and the U.S., and Musharraf himself is scheduled to go to Washington. Militants in Pakistan have taken control of a major trade route, part of the Silk Road, while The Dawn tells us that US and Israeli commandos are training to take over Pakistani nukes should Musharraf fall from power. Russia drops its objections to tests of the national missile defense system. In Britain Straw warns the public that the war could last indefinitely while in Iraq Tariq Aziz warns the US against making Iraq a target of military action. Back in D.C. Bush tries to distance himself from the criticism being leveled at Saudi Arabia in the US media. One piece of good news, that the deaths in the World Trace Center attack are closer to three thousand than six, will surely get lost in the shuffle.
An article in Al Ahram entitled The Roots of Anti-Muslim Rage puts the shoe on the other foot for Westerners who are so used to hearing about Islamic rage at the West. Another entitled Give and Take, American Style details the precarious situation Musharraf finds himself in at the present moment. The article, Alliances Rocked by War on terrorism, in the South China Morning Post, describes the global strategic alliances and how they are being shifted as a result of the War on Terrorism. And The New Europe discusses the alliances in Central Asia and US designs on the region as a sphere of influence given the big pot of oil in Kazakhstan and recent Iranian inroads into the region politically. These counries, too, find themselves between a rock and a hard place, or rather caught in the middle of American, Russian, Chinese, and Iranian maneuvering.
October 24, 2001 The war widens as Israel expands the occupation of Palestine and attacks Hizbullah positions in Lebanon and the Alliance continues the attack in Afghanistan. The Sunday bombing of Kabul is repeated with sustained bombing overnight to which the Taliban return fire. Washington denies targetting ciilians. Yesterday India denied Washington reports that it had attacked a Pakistani nuclear site while Pakistan warned India aganst "adventurism". Anti-American riots and demonstrations have now taken place in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Palestine and Nigeria as well as in the United Kingdom and Germany. In Washington, Rumsfeld goes public with his idea to create a global command center for a war on terrorism that he says could take years. Christian fundamentalists warn that Armageddon is a whole lot closer than that. Baghdad denies anthrax link. D.C. denies everything and Tel Aviv tells D.C. to kiss off. That's it in a nutshell.
Freedom of the press in the U.S. may include the right to make things up out of whole cloth. See the interesting piece on the Bin Laden interview. He always did seem a little anemic for a wild eyed terrorist. Bombs for beginners is a good article as an introduction to the subject. It seems that American bombs do kill people. Well, what do you know?
Meanwhile China celebrates the recent APEC meeting with Dubya in attendance. Another coincidence?
October 23, 2001
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
But not too hard for the recently proposed alliance of Russia, China and India. The intimation that just such an alliance would have to be created in the face of the double American threat of missile defense and the abrogation of the ABM treaty evidently had these former friends reconsidering the good old days. Now, each in their own way has been convinced that joining the Alliance is a better option. The big bear is lumbering on board. Russia is now seriously considering joining NATO. Actually Putin suggested the ideas months ago. In addition, they get to even the score with the Taliban who ejected them from their country. And, of course, they get to continue their own "war against terrorism" in Chechnya.
The Chinese, ever anxious to join the WTO, came up with their own "terrorist experts" recently ( See the article in Asia Times under China). One enduring if not endearing characteristic of the human race is the tendency to let someone else take the heat when the big guns roles into town.
India gets on board with newly enhanced laws on terrorism. Pakistan is warning them against going to the border. Will we see a border war between these two countries soon? The Alliance seems to be encouraging both at once (look at headlines from The Dawn under India and Pakistan), which should come as no surprise. Powell almost simultaneously supports India's "war against terrorism" (read Pakistan) while acknowledging Pakistan's stance on Kashmir. A war between India and Pakistan could be very de-stabilizing for China as well, which the Chinese have noted. Maybe that's the idea.
In the early days of this Administration sanctions against Iran and Libya were lifted - part of the carrot to induce Iran to sign up as well as the destruction of their enemy, the Taliban. Nonetheless they have to weigh that off against the increased military presence of the Alliance in their part of the world. My guess is that Cheney would seriously like to cut a deal with Iran and use their pipelines to move Kazakh oil. Moving oil through Afghanistan poses all sorts of economic and technical, not to say military problems. Also this too would be a very juicy carrot for the present Iranian government. Still they are short of totally endorsing the effort.
By occupying the oil fields of Kazakhstan, the Alliance keeps the Russians, the Chinese or the Iranians from doing the same. And by blowing up Afghanistan, notice is served to all in the region that a bomber is just a stone's throw away as is the Stone Age itself. Remember Iraq? Included is an interesting letter from Saddam Hussein.
One of the conflicts between this Administration and the last was over pipelines and oil, particulary the oil rich fields of Kazakhstan (See Caspian complexities in the Archives). The Gore Group wanted to bring the oil out via Georgia and Turkey, which would have benefitted Turkey and Israel. The Cheney Group wanted to take the short route and use pre-existing pipelines, saving millions, i.e. use the pipelines in Iran. Seems they got their way. Although as I noticed earlier, they are blackmail-able as this Administration is seen as, for obvious reasons, as having lied its way into office.
A few interesting tidbits. First some quotes from Ms. Condoleezza Rice:
WE NEED A COMMON ENEMY TO UNITE US.
WE NEED A NEW THREAT AS A MARKER HERE WE WILL LEAD.
SEPARATION OF POWERS IS A PROBLEM FOR FOREIGN POLICY.
See Condoleezza Rice and the New World Order.
Conspiracy theorists take heart. The Follow the Money story is this. It seems that an analyst on one of the cable shows on finance said that 90 times the normal amount of puts purchased ( the stock option that bets the price of the stock will fall) were purchased in American and United Airlines as as well as businesses in the World Trade Center that were severely impacted by the attack on September 11 on the DAY BEFORE THE ATTACK! Meanwhile Afghanis find themselves scrambling through mine fields to grab food tossed to them by generous Americans. The new method of delivery do not meet a fraction of the need. To quote Mr. Rusfeld: "It's quite true that 37,000 rations a day do not feed millions of human beings. On the other hand, if you were one of the starving people who got the rations,you'd be appreciative." Swell kinda guy that Mr. Rumsfeld. Even before the bombing, only 900 tons of food were reaching the country daily, less than half required to feed the population.
The Taliban say that a thousand civilians have been killed in the two weeks since the bombing began. The U.S. denies it. The Brits say they weren' there. Home for tea, no doubt. And the Afghanis, they die.
October 2, 2001
Global Gangbang
As of this afternoon NATO is officially in the pack. It invoked the "mutual defense clause" after viewing US evidence on Osama Bin Laden.
At this date the Saudis are demurring or more likely, working out a deal with the U.S. government that does not make their acquiescence too visible to their own population. Adverserial relations with China and Pakistan have warmed up. Pakistan has a lot to lose, including a region of their own country that is largely Pashtun, the same ethnic group as the Taliban, if the Taliban remain in power.
China's muted approval- it has agreed to join in the "fight against terrorism" but not to military intervention - may have come about as the result of several things. One is the threat of de-stabilizing the western province of Xinjiang, which is majority Muslim. With Afghanistan divided into four provinces, this presumably is less a threat. As noted in the Washington Post of September 27, 2001, "US Shifts Foreign Policy Tone From Chechnya to Middle East", the US and China cooperated in arming Afghan rebels in the early 1980s to defeat Russia. It is interesting that the recent spyplane confrontation with China took place at the same time AOL-Time Warner was negotiating business. Was this a little good guy, bad guy game on the part of US interests? China also wants into the WTO and may have negotited a long term understanding as far as Taiwan goes.
The American right seems convinced that China has intentions to land on US soil and invade, which seems odd as China has rarely strayed beyond its own continent. The left is inclined to think China will be conquered or broken militarily by the US's outsized military budget. It may be that neither is necessary and that the powers of East and West have more to be gained by a tacit alliance in the long run, all evidence to the contrary. With the world's largest markets and biggest labor pool, the dragon need only sit and wait.
China raised no objection to Japan's more direct military participation in this latest war. All sorts of "bad guys" of recent history- Germany, Russia, China and Japan- are getting a political facelift though this operation.
White House and media protestations aside, is there anyone who doesn't think this a war against the Muslim world?
Will this be another Vietnam for the US? Real victory can only come at the expense of real fighting, something the U.S. has been carefully avoiding since Vietnam. The eagle may prefer to fight from the air but bombing will only kill innocents not conquer the country. Meanwhile the stalling continues.
And finally, who else is blackmail-able? Non other than Dubya, with his dubious election win. And who would blackmail him? Maybe the other half of the Dem-Repubs- the Gore faction.
September 29, 2001
ALL Against None
Inventing the "war against terrorism" was a masterful stroke. It creates the war of all against none, which is chaos. With an enemy as amorphous as 'terrorism", the door is now open to waging war against anyone who isn't on the bus. So who's on the bus? Mostly chickens and who ain't chicken?
Blackmail-able Me, Blackmail-able You
Those desperately signing up with the war effort are those who can most easily be blackmailed or intimidated into joining up. Anybody in a position of weakness or any parties who have compromised themselves can be blackmailed. But first: the enemy.
The enemy is the Taliban, which requires the destruction of Afghanistan. This amounts -as a war effort - to stirring up the dust. Unlike the Gulf War where the "allies" bombed Iraq back to the Stone Age, the destruction of Afghanistan has already been achieved. The country is little more than rubble. See "A humanitarian catastrophe is the making in Afghanistan." From WSWS. The idea here is to sign up most of the world's nations to destroy a country utterly incapable of defending itself. In other words, the powers that be have engineered another wholesale slaughter. UN fans might want to take note that on September 12 the UN World food Program announced that it was suspending food shipments to the country.
Indonesia is on the bus. Notice there was a change of leadership in that country recently from Muslim cleric Gus Dar to Megawati. A headline in the Jakarta Post on September 25, 2001 reads, " New US envoy wants to cultivate RI's anti-terrorism". September 29, 2001
Russia and the Saudis are being brought into the fold. Making Osama Bin Laden the enemy is also a masterful stroke as it brings both of these weak allies on board. Without the CIA's support the Taliban would never have been able to drive Russia out of Afghanistan ten years ago. Now they can get even, not with the US - wouldn't dare- but with the as good as dead "Taliban". Another Washington Post headline states that "Moscow Eager to Tie Rebels in Chechnya to Bin Laden" or in other words, you can use the bases if you ignore me as I slaughter off the Chechens. Dishonor among mass murderers.
The Saudis also have to show their patriotic colors now aa they desperately seek to disassociate themselves from the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, a son of their Royal House. OPEC is as good as finished, not they they ever had any real power. See Moscow Times headline, OPEC Balks at Cutting Oil Supplies. A Washington Post editorial (September 25, 2001)entitled "Protect our Oil Supply" by David Goldwyn of the Clinton Administration suggests that OPEC be required to fill up US oil reserves at cheap rates. How convenient!
Now Cheney had made it clear that he wanted to do business with Iran before the election. The Clinton administration had bowed to the Israeli-Turkish faction and pushed for impossibly expensive pipelines through Azerbaijan and Turkey, a policy to which the oil companies objected strenuously. Now Cheney gets his deal with Iran ( and on his terms of course), see IRNA headline, "Straw denies carrying US request to Iran and "Khatami, Putin agree on need to uproot terrorism". As of this writing, the Iranians are not taking the bait. Israel gets what they want too as Iran has to promise to stop support of Hizbollah in order to get on the bus.
For Israel this move has been beneficial in many ways. Before the "Attack on America" support had been flagging for American-backed, Israeli abuse of the Palestinians across the globe, which can now continue unabated. And, as well as getting rid of the Iranian support of the Hizbollah, Israel rehabilitates itself in the eyes of the world, forces an American identification with "beleaguered Israel", and helps America identify itself as the faultless victim. "We will never forget" reads the banner hanging off what was one a World Trade Center tower, eerily evocative of the We will never forget, We will never forgive" theme of the Holocaust. IDF and the PA are cooperating says the Jerusalem Post, i.e. the Palestinians are back in the police state.
"Germany to lead new Nato force in Macedonia" reads a headline in The Independent. Germany, rehabilitated in the 'family of nations" can continue to pursue its agenda in the Balkans with its NATO partners, of course.
"US targets banks in war against terrorism" (London Times). Any remnant of privacy rights has been neatly eliminated. "A nuclear response?" asks a headline in the Argument section of the Independent of Great Britain. Not only are we being prepped to give up privacy rights, and live in a security state (and not only in the U.S), we are being prepared to accept a nuclear war. You've got to hand it to the masterminds, one deft stroke has achieved so much.
Pakistan is painfully blackmail-able. A country run by a military junta who seized power illegally and whose populace is in the streets is in no position to resist leverage. See the article on the World Bank and Pakistan in The Dawn.
"Hunt for terrorists turns to Kenya says the The Nation of Kenya. All it will take is the accusation of harboring terrorists in the future to bring any smaller country to its knees begging for mercy.
Burying the Hatchet The Republican right and the U.N. internationalists crowd have buried the hatchet as Tom Delay stops delaying (conspiracy as word game?) the President's request to fund the U.N. (See Washington Post "House Approves U.N. Payment, September 25, 2001.) Note that it is a Republican administration that pushes for U.N. funding.
Religions on Board
"Vatican Says Use of Force by U.S. Can Be Justified" says Washington Post, (September 25, 20001), or to paraphrase, Pope Knuckles Under. Il Papa, whatever happened to the sanctity of human life? Even the Justified War argument has been subtly perverted. The US has the right to self-defense and "can use force against terrorists as a last resort to protect its people from harm". A large coalition of powerful nations arrayed against a country that exists on the edge of despair is thus justified as "self-defense".
The Pope and Arafat are two "world leaders" who have to give one pause. It is obvious with the advanced state of poor health of each man that neither is in full charge of his faculties, let alone of a world church or of a nation.
The Adventist Today features a Special Section on their website entitled "The Hidden Manipulators Behind the Middle East Crisis," who they claim is the Roman Catholic Church. There are several factions in the Christian camp which are big Israel supporters. One are the self-described Calvinist, anti-Papists who are convinced that the Roman Catholic Church is behind everything, and is hell bent on taking over the United States. Maybe. But the fact that not one item of the Church's agenda, its stance on Abortion, the Death Penalty, a livable wage, consumerism, or Iraq has been advanced, would seem to contradict that assertion. See The Hidden Manipulators Behind the Middle East Crisis on the Adventist's website, Adventist Today, which targets the RCC as the "real Zionists".
The other group, the Racing Towards Armageddon crowd of the Evangelical movement seem desperate to insure Israel's survival or ultimate destruction as the case may, in order to bring on the Apocalypse and shoot straight to heaven. Those Christians advocating the go slow approach, that is act right and you'll get there eventually, seemed to have been drowned out.
Hal Lindsey, TV Evangelist, has a website. One headline states that "Israel prepares for war", another headline says "Drums up anti-Israeli feeling as a diplomatic device," referring to Jack Straw's (British Foreign Secretary) visit to Iran. These Christian sites seem to be a lot more pro-Israel than the Jerusalem Post or the New York Times. This site blames the Popes secret alliance with the PLO as the underlying cause of trouble in the Middle East. In house fighting among Christian is extensive, could make up a WebPage in itself.
The Set-Up
Every crime has to have a set-up to establish the identity ofhe fall guy by the real criminal so the jury can be sold the "evidence". The vilification of the Arab and of Muslim culture has been a staple of American culture for years now. See Sam Husseini's piece in Image and Word in the archives. Americans unconsciously hate Middle Easterners. It makes pinning the crime on them so much easier. Osama Bin Laden was fingered as the culprit on the major networks by one o'clock PM on September 11, 2001 before the second tower had even collapsed. One would have thought everyone would be too stunned to even bring it up that early. The actual culprit always points the fingers the patsy early in the game in novels. How similar this is.
Is it the Oil, Stupid?
Favorite rallying cries of the left are that "It's the Oil, Stupid" or No Blood for OIl". The assumption is that the Alliance is out to get the oil reserves of the Middle East. The only response to the argument would hav to be "Been There =Done That." With 40,000 US troops in Saudi Arabia, Iraq under sanctions and under fire and Israel's military supremacy in the region (the strongest military provided by the U.S plus the 200 nukes) there is little doubt as to who conrols the Middle East. This latest military adventure on the part of the British-Israeli-American partnership may further consolidate that control.
September 21, 2001
Every war has required a precipitating event to get it off the ground. And every single one was either a lie, i.e. the Maine or the Gulf of Tonkin incident; a carefully laid trap to bait the other side into making the first move such as Pearl Harbor and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; obvious provocation, sending the Lusitania into enemy German waters; or an inside job, which is most likely to be the case with the assassination of ArchDuke Ferdinand. ( Read Phil Agee and John Stockwell on this web page.) This one - who can tell with the amount of contradictory reports coming out. With all the pieces in place a terrorist attack was obviously in the offing. Conspiracy or no, this tragedy was bound to take place. The media has been hyping terror for years. Now of course, we are being warned about more to come - airports, subways, buses, cars, no place is safe, the threat of biological weapons is now being circulated. The government evidently wants to reduce us to terrified, blithering idiots, who will, of course, go out and exact revenge on Arabs.
The official version of the story is changing at least as presented by the Washington Post. Now it seems that the perpetrators were trained pilots and could possibly have been living in the United States for years with jobs, homes and families. The psychological impact of that particular piece of information, or disinformation as the case may be, is obvious. Not only are foreign Arabs dangerous even the ones living in the country for years are suspect. Next step concentration camps? Last year's movie The Siege "foretold" of such an event complete with the rationalization of concentration camps for Arabs. The offical posturing is one againt terrorism, the real agenda is apparent.
It seems that after years of hyping the dangers of terrorism in the mainstream media, there is still lax security on an airplane. The cockpit is not secured with anything but a very flimsy door. We are now being sold on the need for suspension of civil liberties while the most basic precautions have never been put in place to prevent this. I can't help but wonder why.
While we are naturally concerned that our civil liberties are being suspended, there is even a more massive redefinition of war being engineered at this point. Previous to this juncture war was always an event between countries and not waged by a country against an individual or groups of individuals. As America has grown more powerful its "enemies' seem to be majically shrinking in size. Germany, Russia, Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, not to mention all the wars by proxy. The coalition being hurriedly assembled to "fight terrorism" includes amongst its ranks such champions of human rights as Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon. What is this coalition against terrorism? Well it includes the stange marriage between the Zionist Lobby of the United States and the Bush Republicans, the Jewish-Cowboy connection. It also includes a former KGB chief, an organization which has pioneered such new lows in human behavior as the torture of children in Chechnya in order to extract confessions from their mothers. It of course includes Ariel Sharon, who, as I write, has the green light to brutalize Palestinians as the world is distracted with "Attack on America". In addition there is Tony Blair, head of the British government who with our own has maintained a policy of starvation of the Iraqi population for ten years. The French connection includes a government previously headed by both Chirac and Mitterand, who despite being political rivals have the illegal marketing of weapons in Africa to their credit. Well that's the lunch bunch, the crowd who are going to defend the rest of us against 'terrorists'.
To quote Mr. Cheney:
It is also important for people to understand that this is a long term proposition. It's not like, well, Desert Storm, where we had a build-up of a few months, four days combat and it was over with. This is the kind of work that will probably take years, because the focus has to be not just on any one individual."
So there you have it. Instead of investigating and arresting and trying those suspected of perpetrating this crime, or even more to the point, changing the barbaric American foreign policy in the Middle East, we are going to war against the rest of the world indefinitely. We have, in violation of international law, the U.S. Constitution and human decency, undertaken a policy of extermination of anyone our government tells us is bad. This policy is not going to endear the American people to the rest of the planet. It will guarantee waves of real terrorism.
But even Cheney cautioned against making Bin Laden the sole focus, painting a frightening picture of the enemy with more tentacles, and more hiding places, than many Americans may understand- a notion with grave implications for the military actions that lie ahead.
Lurid descriptions striking terror in the heart of every American. More hysteria. More emotional manipulation. Prozac nation. It's time to snap out of it. You're being had.
Another proposal is to lift the 25 year ban on US involvement in foreign assasinations as well as loosening restrictions on FBI surveillance. Kind of makes you wonder what the FBI and CIA have been up to all these years?
September 15, 2001
As America readies for what is called war, it would be wise for us to stop and think about just how it is we have arrived at this point. The shock and the horror of what happened in the United States three days ago is still numbing most of us. It makes us so vulnerable to the powers that be and their agenda. And so it is meant to be.
But who is it that masterminded this hideous act?
Two hours after the last of the suicide airdives and while the human race was still reeling from the shock it was announced that the perpetrator of the attack was none other than Osama Bin Laden. This was much too son in the unfolding of events not to have been predetermined.
You might want to ask yourself a few questions. What is the likelihood of 'three to six',( the cover story can't even come up with a number of hijackers) overtaking the crews of four jumbo jets, two Boeing 767s and two Boeing 757s with knifes and wire cutters. Each cockpit was successfully taken over. Not one attempt was successfully foiled despite having anywhere from 64 to 97 passengers on board as well as a crew. ( The numbers are from the Washington Post, September 12, 2001) Not one cockpit door was locked in time. So obviously some of them had to be in the cockpit at the beginning of the flight, and someone inside had to have let them in. Unless you think the hijackers settled into the co-pilots seat and said "Hi! I'm an Arab extremist. Mind if I smoke?" Even Hollywood can come up a more plausible scenario. The proof offered that the Arabs on the manifest were the hijackers of the plane is and I quote from the USA Today,
U.S. officials said they believe that they have identified all of the hijackers and that there were three to six aboard each jet. (So if you 've identified them all, how many is it? Ed.) Among them, law enforcers said,( which law enforcers was that?) were Mohamed Atta 33, Marwan al Shehhi, 23. Both were students last year at a flight school in Venice, Fla. where they learned to fly planes much smaller than the commercial jets used in Tuesday's attacks. Both men had temporary certificates from the Federal Aviation authority to fly small planes, and investigators were checking reports that the pair had trained on jet simulators at another school.
As everyone knows it takes years to learn to fly a jumbo jet, and yet, not only were these graduates of 'small plane piloting" able to hijack the planes, they were able to fly them without benefit of tower assistance and exactly locate their targets hundreds of miles away. Not only will we in this haven of diversity, politically correct America have to stop referring to Arabs and Americans of Arab descent as 'sandniggers' and 'ragheads', we will have to admist that, well hell, they are a lot smarter than we are. Shucks.
The four planes were in the air for the following lengths of time. The numbers are from The Washington Post.
United Airlines 93 Departed Newark, 8:01 AM, Crashed Stoneybrook, Pa. 10:01 AM, which means it was in the air for two hours.
United Airlines 175, left Boston Logan at 7:58AM and crashed into the World Trade Center South at 9:05AM, which means it was n the air for 1 hour and 7 minutes.
American Airlines 11, left Logan at 7:59Am, crashed into The World trade Center North at 8:45AM, which means it was in the air for 46 minutes.
American Airlines 77 left Dulles at 8:10AM and crashed into the Pentagon at 9:40AM, which menat it ws in the air for 1 hour and a half.
Despite being in the air for anywhere from 46 minutes to two hours, no attempt was made to to intercept and shoot down any of these airplanes hurtling toward their targets.
Someone on board Flight 77 had turned off the transponder, the device that sends a plane's airline identification, flight number, speed and altitude to controller's radar screens. But soon after losing contact, Dulles controllers spotted an unindentified aircraft speeding directly for the restricted airspace that surrounds the White House. ....controllers had time to warn the White House was aimed directly at the president's mansion and was travelling at gut-wrenching speed-full throtle.
But just as the plane seemed to be on a suicide mission into the White House, the unidentified pilot executed a pivot so tight that it reminded observers of a fighter jet maneuver. The plane circled 270 degrees to the right to approach the Pentagon, from the west, whereupon the plane fell below radar level, vanishing from controller's screens, the sources said.
Notice that the plane was on radar screen until the final descent and yet, despite the fact that Andrews Air Force Base is a 15 minute cab ride from the Pentagon, no F-16s were sent up to encounter it. My understanding, although I am not a trained pilot, is that an F-16 travels at a greater rate of speed than a D.C. cab. What gives?
Please, this story has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.
As a nation we have always felt ourselves invulnerable. Foreign friends tell me that the most striking impression they have of America is the intense "patiotism" of this country. This patriotism is a peculiar part of the American psyche. It is a good thing to love your country. It is a profoundly evil thing to let yourself be manipulated into thinking that your country is somehow superior to others or has some peculiar mission to "make the world safe for democracy" when it is in fact be used by the power elite to commit mass genocide, today in the Muslim world, tomorrow who knows where?
Don't think for a minute that this summer's release of Pearl Harbor and the current hype of Band of Brothers is a coincidence. They are propaganda as is the ongoing assault on the American psyche that is being conducted over the airwaves. And I would also ask you to consider tht the sale of 50 F-16s to Israel several months ago, the Cole incident and the resultant increase of American troops in the Gulf were hardly accidental. Don't forget that the Taliban in Afghanistan were originally funded by the CIA. In the past year the U.S. has switched its alliance from Pakistan to India. Afghanistan is tied to Pakistan, who have recently been accused in the press of supplying and supporting the Taliban. Several things are achieved by extending the war theater this far east. Military presence on the China border to be used to intimidate China. With Israel's forces in the East, American troops in the Gulf, consolidating power over the Afghanistan and Pakistan will effectively seal off the Middle East and bring it under military occupation.
Who's winning? FEMA. With the proper crisis in place the Emergency Powers granted to FEMA under the Nixon and Clinton Administrations over transportation and communications are being put in place. "Hill allocates $20 billion for security and aid" says a Washington Post headline of Thursday, September 13, 2001. The Security State. Airports closed, borders sealed, the stock exchange shut down and of course, privacy rights gone. "Privacy Trade-Offs Reassed" says another Washington Post headline.
"As much as I don't like the intrusive nature of online surveillance technology, I really want to find the guys that did this," said a security officer at a mid-size Internet access provider who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing. The emphasis is mine. There will be lots of quotes from anonymous sources pushing the war agenda. And this one I love. The office in the Security and Exchange commission investiating insider trading scandals lost their papers in the collapse of the towers. How convenient! A capital gains break for the Wall Street firms is suggested as a way of recuperating. What would have taken months has taken 24 hours to achieve.
Predictions of chaotic trading on the world markets will no doubt come true, combine that with the information that investigation of insider deals is hampered and you have that old scenario. the big bucks are made and consolidated as the little guys flee a collapsing market.
The ludicrously excess coverage of the Chandra Levy disappearance helped to avert America's gaze from Israel's stepped up campaign of genocide of the Palestinians and the events in Genoa, where the police not only brutalized peaceful demonstrators but started the violence themselves. The strange new world order is kicking in with a vengeance.
________________________________________________________________________ Remember The Maine. The Lusitania. Pearl Harbor. The Gulf of Tonkin. April Glaspie ________________________________________________________________________ September 14, 2001
Every war has required a precipitating event to get it off the ground. And every single one was either a lie, i.e. the Maine or the Gulf of Tonkin incident; a carefully laid trap to bait the other side into making the first move such as Pearl Harbor and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; obvious provocation, sending the Lusitania into enemy German waters; or an inside job, which is most likely to be the case with the assasination of ArchDuke Ferdinand. ( Read Phil Agee and John Stockwell on this webpage.) This one - who can tell with the amount of contradictory reports coming out. With all the pieces in place a terrorist attack was obviously in the offing.
Conspiracy or no, this tragedy was bound to take place. The media has been hyping terror for years. Now of course, we are being warned about more to come - airports, subways, buses, cars, no place is safe, the threat of biological weapons is now being circulated. The government evidently wants to reduce us to terrified, blithering idiots, who will, of course, go out and exact revenge on Arabs. The official version of the story is changing at least as presented by the Washington Post. Now it seems that the perpetrators were trained pilots and could possibly have been living in the United States for years with jobs, homes and families. The psychological impact of that particular piece of information, or disinformation as the case may be, is obvious. Not only are foreign Arabs dangerous even the ones living in the country for years are suspect. Next step concentration camps? Last year's movie The Siege "foretold" of such an event complete with the rationalization of concentration camps for Arabs. The offical posturing is one againt terrorism, the real agenda is apparent.
It seems that after years of hyping the dangers of terrorism in the mainstream media, there is still lax security on an airplane. The cockpit is not secured with anything but a very flimsy door. We are now being sold on the need for suspension of civil liberties while the most basic precautions have never been put in place to prevent this. I can't help but wonder why.
While we are naturally concerned that our civil liberties are being suspended, there is even a more massive redefinition of war being engineered at this point. Previous to this juncture war was always an event between countries and not waged by a country against an individual or groups of individuals. As America has grown more powerful its "enemies' seem to be majically shrinking in size. Germany, Russia, Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, not to mention all the wars by proxy.
The coalition being hurriedly assembled to "fight terrorism" includes amongst its ranks such champions of human rights as Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon. What is this coalition against terrorism? Well it includes the stange marriage between the Zionist Lobby of the United States and the Bush Republicans, the Jewish-Cowboy connection. It also includes a former KGB chief, an organization which has pioneered such new lows in human behavior as the torture of children in Chechnya in order to extract confessions from their mothers. It of course includes Ariel Sharon, who, as I write, has the green light to brutalize Palestinians as the world is distracted with "Attack on America". In addition there is Tony Blair, head of the British government who with our own has maintained a policy of starvation of the Iraqi population for ten years. The French connection includes a government previously headed by both Chirac and Mitterand, who despite being political revals have the illegal marketing of weapons in Africa to their credit. Well that's the lunch bunch, the crowd who are going to defend the rest of us against 'terrorists'.
To quote Mr. Cheney:
It is also important for people to understand that this is a long term proposition. It's not like, well, Desert Storm, where we had a build-up of a few months, four days combat and it was over with. This is the kind of work that will probably take years, because the focus has to be not just on any one indvidual."
So there you have it. Instead of investigating and arresting and trying those suspected of perpetrating this crime, or even more to the point, changing the barbaric American foreign policy in the Middle East, we are going to war against the rest of the world indefinitely. We have, in violation of international law, the U.S. Constitution and human decency, undertaken a policy of extermination of anyone our government tells us is bad. This policy is not going to endear the American people to the rest of the planet. It will guarantee waves of real terrorism.
But even Cheney cautioned against making Bin Laden the sole focus, painting a frightening picture of the enemy with more tentacles, and more hiding places, than many Americans may understand- a notion with grave implications for the military actions that lie ahead.
Lurid descriptions striking terror in the heart of every American. More hysteria. More emotional manipulation. Prozac nation. It's time to snap out of it. You're being had.
Another proposal is to lift the 25 year ban on US involvement in foreign assasinations as well as loosening restrictions on FBI surveillance. Kind of makes you wonder what the FBI and CIA have been up to all these years?
Little nations are obviously being blackmailed with the threat of harboring terrorists or having their World Bank funds cut off if they don�t go along with the program.
Who wins? The Security State. Arms dealers. The Pentagon. Banks. The American-Israeli Political Action Committee.
Who loses? Small nations. Young men going to �war�. Arabs. Americans of Arab descent. Americans. Ultimately everybody.