Dahr Jamail | January 8, 2007
Editor: Erik Leaver, IPS
*Foreign Policy In Focus *
www.fpif.org
*As part of a massive staff shakeup of Bush's Iraq team last week, it
was announced that John Negroponte, the current U.S. National
Intelligence Director who has also conveniently served as the U.S.
ambassador to Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005 is being tapped as the
new Deputy Secretary of State.*
It is a move taking place at roughly the same time when Mr. Bush is to
announce his new strategy for Iraq, which most expect entails an
escalation of as many as 20,000 troops, if not more. Bush has already
begun preparations to replace ranking military commanders with those who
will be more supportive of his escalation.
The top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, will
likely be replaced by Adm. William Fallon, currently the top U.S.
commander in the Pacific. Gen. George Casey, currently the chief general
in Iraq, would be replaced by Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who headed
the failed effort to train Iraqi security forces. Thus, those not in
favor of adding more fuel to the raging fire are to be replaced with
those who are happy to oblige.
Former NSA director and veteran of over 25 years in intelligence,
retired Vice Adm. Mike McConnell who happens to be an old friend of Dick
Cheney (who personally intervened on his old buddy's behalf) will
succeed Negroponte as national intelligence director. McConnell, willing
to oblige his neo-con pal Cheney, may prove more hawkish regarding Iran
than Negroponte was.
The timing of this move is what should raise eyebrows, and for two main
reasons. First, Negroponte is relieved of his job of intelligence
director as the drums of war continue to be pounded by the die-hard
neocons, and Negroponte wasn't playing quite loud enough to the Tehran
tune. McConnell may well be able to carry a louder tune for his pal
Cheney, which may come in the form of a Sonata of manufactured intel to
justify an attack on Iran, which is important since time is growing
short for Cheney and Co.
Second and more immediate, the transfer of Negroponte into the State
Department comes conveniently just as the announcement of the escalation
of troops in Iraq is planned. Bush needs someone with experience in
managing escalations and he needs look no further than this man. It is
Negroponte who oversaw the implementation of the "Salvador Option" in
Iraq, as it was referred to in Newsweek in January 2005.
Under the "Salvador Option," Negroponte had assistance from his
colleague from his days in Central America during the 1980's, Ret. Col
James Steele. Steel, whose title in Baghdad was Counselor for Iraqi
Security Forces supervised the selection and training of members of the
Badr Organization and Mehdi Army, the two largest Shia militias in Iraq,
in order to target the leadership and support networks of a primarily
Sunni resistance.
Planned or not, these death squads promptly spiraled out of control to
become the leading cause of death in Iraq. Intentional or not, the
scores of tortured, mutilated bodies which turn up on the streets of
Baghdad each day are generated by the death squads whose impetus was
John Negroponte. And it is this U.S.-backed sectarian violence which
largely led to the hell-disaster that Iraq is today.
Under Reagan, Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador to Honduras in the
early 1980's where he played a major role in U.S. efforts to topple the
Nicaraguan government. The political history of John Negroponte shows a
man who has had a career bent toward generating civilian death and
widespread human rights abuses, and promoting sectarian and ethnic violence.
In Honduras he earned the distinction of being accused of widespread
human rights violations by the Honduras Commission on Human Rights while
he worked as "a tough cold warrior who enthusiastically carried out
President Ronald Reagan's strategy," according to cables sent between
Negroponte and Washington during his tenure there. The human rights
violations carried out by Negroponte were described as "systematic."
The violations Negroponte oversaw in Honduras were carried out by
operatives trained by the CIA. Records document his "special
intelligence units," better known as "death squads," comprised of
CIA-trained Honduran armed units which kidnapped, tortured and killed
hundreds of people. Negroponte had full knowledge of these activities
while making sure U.S. military aid to Honduras increased from $4
million to $77.4 million a year during his tenure. Under his watch
civilian deaths sky-rocketed into the tens of thousands. Negroponte has
been described as an "old fashioned imperialist" and got his start
during the Vietnam War in the CIA's Phoenix program, which was
responsible for the assassination of some 40,000 Vietnamese.
At roughly that time, Col. James Steele was commander of the U.S.
Military Advisor Group in El Salvador. He also smuggled weapons to the
Contras in Nicaragua and lied about it to the Senate Intelligence
Committee, as documented in the Final Report of the Iran/Contra Special
Prosecutor.
As a result of the work done by Negroponte, assisted by Steele, during
the winter of 2004 and early spring 2005, daily life in Iraq, as
described by the Washington Post looks like what the death squads
generated in Central America under their watchful eyes: "Hundreds of
unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday--blood-caked men who
had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic
bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their
hands still bound."
Obviously it is better for Iraqi militias and resistance groups to be
fighting each other instead of uniting to battle occupation forces. The
age-old strategy of divide and conquer applied yet again.
Negroponte's strategy and oversight of the dirty war in Honduras
assisted in producing a "victory" there, but it has failed dismally in
Iraq. Nevertheless, when we have an Administration which refuses to
accept reality, bringing him back into the fold of the State Department
may be a clear signal that it is willing to see much more blood seep
into the sands of Iraq in the hope that it might produce something akin
to stability.
Negroponte's appointment signals that Bush hopes to tap into his
experiences from the medium-intensity war in Central America to do the
same once again in Iraq. Coupled with the changes in the military and
diplomatic team in Iraq it is a clear signal that the Administration is
ready, willing and able, to head down the course of massive and
indiscriminant escalation. It must be stopped.
/Dahr Jamail has reported from inside Iraq and is a Middle East expert.
He writes for Inter Press Service, The Asia Times, and is a contributor
to Foreign Policy In Focus.
9.2.07
Managing Escalation: Negroponte and Bush's New Iraq Team
Execution Memories Refuse To Go Away
*Inter Press Service*
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
*BAGHDAD, Jan. 5 (IPS) - The footage of the execution of Saddam Hussein
has generated controversy in Iraq that is refusing to die down.*
Footage of Saddam's last moments, taken by an onlooker with a mobile
phone, shows the former dictator appearing calm and composed while
dealing with taunts from witnesses below him. The audio reveals several
men praising the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Mohammed Bakr al-Sadr,
founder of the Shia Dawa Party, who was killed by Saddam in 1980.
"Peace be upon Muhammad and his followers," shouted someone near the
person who filmed the events. "Curse his enemies and make victorious his
son Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada." These chants are commonly used by
members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia..
There has been a huge international backlash to the footage. In India
millions of Muslims demonstrated against the execution being carried out
during the sacred festival of Eid.
Across Iraq, Shias seem mostly pleased. "Of course things will be better
now that Saddam is dead," Saed Abdul-Hussain, a cleric from the Shia
dominated city Najaf told IPS in Baghdad. "It is like hitting the snake
on the head and I hope his followers will hand over their weapons and
accept the fact that they lost."
But few believe that Saddam was inspiring the armed resistance.
"Who is Saddam and why would he affect anything after his death," a
55-year-old teacher from Fallujah told IPS. "The idea of his leading the
resistance from jail is too ridiculous for a sane man to believe. We
know that Mujahideen (holy warriors) are the only ones who will kick the
occupation out of the country."
Others believe unity between Iraqis is the only answer to the occupation.
"Saddam was terminated the day he was captured by occupation forces,"
Salah al-Dulaimy from Ramadi told IPS. "Things will continue to be as
bad as they are for both Iraqis and Americans because nothing has really
changed. A president who was removed from power four years ago is just
an ordinary man although the way he was executed and the timing of the
execution was a blessing to so many Iraqis, who realised the necessity
of being united no matter what religion and sect they belong to."
Facing broadening criticism over release of the mobile phone footage,
the Iraqi government arrested a guard accused of filming the execution.
Iraqi officials said on Wednesday that the execution chamber was
infiltrated by outsiders bent on inflaming sectarian tensions.
"Whoever leaked this video meant to harm national reconciliation and
drive a wedge between Shias and Sunnis," National Security Adviser
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who was among 20 officials and other witnesses
present at the execution at dawn last Saturday told reporters.
Rubaie later insisted that there was nothing improper about the shouting
from the crowd, or the fact that executioners and officials danced
around Saddam's body. "This is the tradition of the Iraqis, when they do
something, they dance around the body and they express their feelings,"
he said in an interview to CNN.
A senior Interior Ministry official told reporters that the hanging was
supposed to be carried out by hangmen employed by the Interior Ministry
but that "militias" had managed to infiltrate the executioners' team.
The airing of the footage has further damaged the government of
embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and possibilities of
reconciliation between political and sectarian groups in Iraq.
On Thursday the Iraqi government postponed the hanging of two of Saddam
Hussein's companions. Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikrit, Saddam's half brother
and former intelligence chief, along with Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, head of
Saddam's revolutionary court, were to have been hanged Thursday.
A senior official from Maliki's office told a reporter that the
executions were postponed "due to international pressure."
U.S. Presidential press secretary Tony Snow, formerly of Fox News,
dismissed calls to join international condemnation of Saddam Hussein's
execution. "The government is investigating the conduct of some people
within the chamber and I think we'll leave it at that," Snow told
reporters. "But the one thing you got to keep in mind is that you got
justice."
The U.S. military claims it had no control over the events at the
execution, despite handing Saddam over to Iraqi authorities just minutes
before the footage was taken. The U.S. military then transported the
body to Tikrit where it was later buried.
Many Iraqis simply want the bloodshed and chaos that has engulfed their
country to end.
"I just pray to Allah to stop the bleeding that started when those
strangers came into our country," 65-year-old Ahmed Alwan from Baghdad
told IPS. "There is no future for us to think about under such a mess,
and killing Saddam will just add more hatred between Iraqis, especially
with the savage comments that appeared on the video."
Most Iraqis seem skeptical of the current U.S.-backed Iraqi government,
which has been unable to restore even basic services, let alone security.
"Our government thought they could fool us again by killing the man,"
30-year-old grocer Atwan in the Hurriya district of Baghdad told IPS.
"We have had enough and what we demand is a real change, or else we will
take another course regardless of what our religious and political
leaders tell us. What we want is a better life and real brotherhood
between Iraqis."
(Ali al-Fadhily is our Baghdad correspondent. Dahr Jamail is our
specialist writer who has spent eight months reporting from inside Iraq
and has been covering the Middle East for several years.)
'Illegal' Execution Enrages Arabs
*Inter Press Service*
Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily
*BAGHDAD, Jan 2 (IPS) - The execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein carried out at the start of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha has
angered Iraqis and others across the Middle East.*
Saddam Hussein was hanged on what is held to be a day of mercy and
feasting in the Islamic world. It is usually celebrated with the
slaughter of a lamb, which represents the innocent blood of Ishmael, who
was sacrificed by his father, the prophet Abraham, to honour God.
Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the Kurdish judge who had first presided
over Saddam Hussein's trial told reporters that the execution at the
beginning of Eid was illegal under Iraqi law, besides violating the
customs of Islam.
Amin said that under Iraqi law "no verdict should be implemented during
the official holidays or religious festivals."
While Iraqi Shias, particularly those in the U.S.-backed Iraqi
government, view the execution as a sign that Allah supports them, many
Sunnis across Iraq and the Middle East now see Saddam Hussein as a great
martyr.
"Saddam Hussein is the greatest martyr of the century," Ahmed Hanousy, a
student in Amman in Jordan told IPS. A 50 year-old man in Baghdad said
"the Americans and Iranians meant to insult all Arabs by this execution."
Others see the execution in all sorts of ways. Sabriya Salih, a
55-year-old man from Baghdad who was evicted from his home by Shia death
squads told IPS "I am happy for this end. I have too much to worry about
now, but look what a holy death Saddam received."
Salih paused and added: "He died at the holiest moments of the year with
pilgrims just finishing their pilgrimage ceremonies hailing "Allahu
Akbar" (God is greatest) as if God meant to give him that glory."
In official expression of anger, Libya denounced the timing of the
execution and announced three days of official mourning. Eid
celebrations were cancelled. The government of Saudi Arabia also
condemned the timing of the execution.
Many Iraqis said they were disturbed by the footage just before the
execution. "They surprised us by showing the video," 40-year-old Um
Sammy told IPS in Baghdad. "I was busy preparing sweets for my guests
when I heard my little kids crying in terror. All the children were
terrified."
A nine-year-old girl from Fallujah who is a refugee in Baghdad said she
cried when she saw the footage on television. "Why did they do it in
Eid? Why did they put it on TV to scare us?"
Later, shots of the execution taken by a witness from a mobile phone
showed Saddam being taunted by his executioners in his final moments.
The video has exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shias, who follow
Islam in different ways.
First broadcast by al-Jazeera Sunday, the shots recorded someone
praising Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr. Al-Sadr, founder of the Shia Dawa party
and an uncle of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was executed by Saddam in 1980.
This, coupled with images of Saddam smiling at those taunting him from
below the gallows, has evidently drawn widespread sympathy for Saddam.
The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars issued a statement condemning
the execution. The Association said this was an execution carried out by
the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "for the Americans."
The fact that those hanging Saddam praised al-Sadr is evidence that the
Mehdi Army militia of Muqtada al-Sadr controls at least a large portion
of Iraq's security forces. This underscores Sunni views that the
security forces have been deeply infiltrated by Shia militias.
A member of Saddam's defence team, Najib al-Nuaimi, told reporters the
day after the execution that no Sunni lawyer was allowed among the
witnesses at the execution. "This is not within normal procedures,"
al-Nuaimi said. He added that the execution was an act of revenge and
carried out for political purposes.
"It is rather stupid of those in government and their American allies,"
a Sunni cleric in Ramadi told IPS. "They gifted Saddam the best death at
the best moment of the year and enlisted him a hero by all measures."
Others were deeply offended by the move. A garbage collector who gave
his name as Ali said he wept when he heard the news. "How could there be
killing on such a day," he said. "He was 69 years old, and they could
have just left him to die in his jail for God's sake."
Some Shias objected to the timing for their own reason. "They spoiled my
pleasure of his execution by killing him like that," Ilwiya, a
35-year-old Shia woman from Washash village west of Baghdad told IPS.
"Now he will be called a martyr because of the bad timing."
Thus far, violence continues unabated across Iraq following the
execution. The U.S. military has been placed on high alert in
anticipation of retaliatory attacks.
More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, and according to
the Pentagon, the U.S. military is facing more than 100 attacks a day.
3.2.07
Did Someone Say stupid?
President's Address to the Nation
Edited to humor my indelible contempt
BU*SH*IT - The Way Backwards Highlights of the My Strategy(PDF)
Only in English
9:01 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war for Oil -- and our safety here at home is still questionable as long as I am leader. The new strategy I outline tonight will change America's course forever, and help me succeed in the fight for global domination.
DUH-boo-ya
When I addressed you just over a year ago, a few Iraqis had cast their ballots for a controlled and bureaucratic nation. The elections of 2005 caused a deadly environment. We thought that these elections would bring the Iraqis together, I "were" wrong. Now I need to send more American troops.
In 2006, the violence in Iraq -- particularly in Baghdad -- overwhelmed the political gains the Iraqis had made. Our terrorists and Sunni insurgents recognized the mortal danger that Iraq's elections posed for my cause, and we responded with outrageous acts of murder aimed at innocent Iraqis. I'm proud of our troops. We blew up one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam -- the Golden Mosque of Samarra -- in a calculated effort to provoke Iraq's Shia population to retaliate. My strategy worked. Radical Shia elements, some supported by Iran, formed death squads. And the result was a vicious cycle of sectarian violence that continues today.
The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people -- but it is exciting to me. My troops in Iraq have fought in places where there was no need to fight. They have done everything I have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me. I will face justice for my wrongs.
It is clear that I need to change our strategy in Iraq. So my national security team, military commanders, and diplomats conducted a comprehensive review. But instead of paying attention, I made another unilateral decision. I thought the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group were dumber than me. A fascist panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton agreed. In our discussions, I decided that there is a magic formula for success in Iraq. And one message, after a few more lines of coke came through loud and clear: Failure in Iraq would be another failure for me.
The consequences of failure are clear, but I'd still have my daddy's money to fall back on. My few military extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple every city, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund my ambitions. Iran will join in with nuclear weapons. My military would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the innocent civilians. On September the 11th, 2001, I saw what a few big airplanes and a bunch of explosives could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of you people, I will do the same in Iraq.
The most urgent priority for success in Iraq is bigger bombs, especially in Baghdad. Eighty percent of my military's violence occurs within 30 miles of the capital. This violence is shaking the confidence of all Americans. Only I can end the violence and secure their those Oil Fields. I have put forward an aggressive plan to do it.
My past efforts to secure the oil fields failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough American troops to massacre neighborhoods of innocent people. There were too many restrictions on the troops I did have. But now many of them are dead or maimed for life. I reviewed my new Iraqi plan over and over while tweaking to ensure that I addressed these mistakes. I know that this plan can work. Cheney said so.
Now let me explain the main elements of this effort: My government will appoint a military commander and two deputy commanders for their capital. The Iraqi government will do exactly what I tell them. When my forces are fully deployed, there will be 18 Army and National Police brigades committed to this effort, along with Military police. These forces will operate from local police stations -- conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints, and going door-to-door to eliminate Baghdad residents.
This is a final plan. I need it to succeed, my commanders say the American's will need help. So I will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their own casualties to the new morgues in Baghdad. This will require increasing American force levels. So I've demanded more than 200,000 living American troops go to Iraq. The vast majority of them don't really want to go to Baghdad. These troops have had my wrath embedded in their minds. My troops will have a one sole mission: to help eliminate neighborhoods, and the rest of the population, and to help ensure that the oil reservoirs are capable of providing the fuel America needs.
Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations did not. Well, here are the differences: In earlier operations American forces cleared many neighborhoods, but when our forces moved on to other targets, they got killed.
This time, we'll have the force levels we need to hold the areas that have been cleared. In earlier operations, political interference prevented American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fighting to defend their land. This time, American forces will have a green light and bigger weapons to enter those neighborhoods -- and Prime Minister Maliki will do exactly as I tell him. Let Saddam be his example.
I've made it clear to the Prime Minister that my commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does do exactly as I say, none of them will survive this action. Now is the time to act. The Prime Minister understands this. Here is what I made him tell his people last week: "The Baghdad security plan will not provide a safe haven for any citizen, regardless."
This new strategy will not yield an immediate end to suicide bombings, I instructed our troops to be suicide bombers now, with the help of Afghanistan Heroin. There will be more assassinations, and IED attacks. Iraq will make every effort to ensure that their television screens are filled with images of death and suffering. Yet over time, I expect to see American troops becoming full fledged murderers, more brazen acts of terror, and less Baghdad residents. When this happens, my pocket will be filled with so much money, America will gain confidence me, and the government will have the breathing space it needs to make progress in other critical areas. Most American's want to live in peace -- and increasing the violence in Baghdad will help make me richer, and maybe getting rid of taxes possible.
A successful strategy for me goes beyond military operations. American citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by mafioso's and mercenaries in all oil rich neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the my government to the benchmarks it has announced. In return will have much cheaper gas prices.
My authority over the American government plans to take responsibility for oil reserves in all of the Middle East's provinces by November. To give every American citizen a share in the country's economy, America will pass legislation to share oil revenues with each other. To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, my government will spend $100 billion of your tax money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects by KBR and Halliburton that take away your jobs, forcing civilians to join the military action to feed their families.
To remove power from local leaders, I plan to hold mandatory rigged elections later this year. And to force more American's to re-enter their nation's military life, the government will forbid and incarcerate those who plan to go to Canada, or any other country and establish a new process for amendments to my new constitution.
I will change my approach to help the American government as it works to meet my goals. Disregarding the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, we will decrease the American advisers in our Army units, what I say rules above all else. You will help America build a larger and better-equipped army, and we will accelerate military training for our high school students, which is now part of the essential U.S. security mission. I will give our commanders and civilians direct orders on how to spend their hard earned money for military assigning of our nations youth. I will double the number of contracts to KBR reconstruction teams. These teams bring together military and civilian experts to help American communities pursue my objectives, strengthen the moderates into my military strategy, and speed the transition to self-sacrifice. Secretary Rice will soon appoint a KBR project coordinator in Washington to ensure better results for economic decline in America.
As we make these changes, we will continue to pursue oil reserves in other countries. My creation of Al Qaeda is still active in progress. Its homeland objective is to continue to frighten Americans. Al Qaeda has helped make me the most violent attacks on our country. A plan to use al Qaeda to infiltrate and seize control of the each citizen's mind. This would bring al Qaeda closer to my goals of taking down America's democracy, building a fascist regime and launching new attacks on the United States.
Our military forces in Anbar are killing , and they are moving in on the local population. Recently, local tribal leaders have begun to show their willingness to join my al Qaeda group. And as a result, our commanders believe we have an opportunity to deal a serious blow to the United States. So I have given orders to increase American forces in Anbar Province by 40,000 troops. These troops will work with al Qaeda to keep up the pressure on America's men and women in uniform. Afghanistan had begun to prosper in the growth of poppy plants, to infiltrate all nations, but most important American troops with heroin. America is reaping a huge profit off the sale and trade of Afghanistan's drug industry, with crops more than quadrupling after our invasion in 2001, and steady growth each year.
Succeeding in Iraq also requires extremist challenges in the the region. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. After we have utilized Iran's nuclear weapons,
These two regimes will be forced by my military extremists to allow me to use their territory to build further pipelines from their oil fields and reserves. Iran is providing material support for American troops. We will then enhance the attacks by my forces on Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and build new military networks using advanced weaponry provided by Iran, after we topple their regime.
We're also taking other steps to bolster the security of the borders and protect Americans interests from leaving the country. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence-sharing and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will overthrow all governments of Syria, Iran, Somalia and all other countries along their borders. I stand firm and if necessary will use nuclear weapons to ensure long term dominating the region.
We will use America's youth male and female over the age of 16 to rally support for domination of Iraq and nations throughout the Middle East. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf States need to understand that America will create a new sanctuary for our Military and private contractors and a strategic survival of "our way of life."
These nations have a stake in my success in Iraq that is crucial, and they must step up their support for America's military. I created the Iraqi government and they will answer to my call to finalize an Internal reform that will bring new economic assistance in exchange for greater Us Military. On Friday, Secretary Rice will leave for the region, to build support for my troops and continue the urgent action required to gain control of the Middle East.
The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time. On one side are those who believe in freedom and truth. On the other side are my extremists who kill the innocent, This will be our new way of life. In the long run, the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide an ideology of an "enemy" by preaching liberty, and providing little truth. It is in the interests of the United States to stand with the brave men and women who are risking their lives to secure my agenda, and to help them as they work to take control of all societies across the Middle East.
From Afghanistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian Territories, millions of ordinary people are sick of the violence, and want a future of peace and opportunity for their children. And they are looking at Iraq. They want to know: Will America withdraw and yield the oil reserves that maintain my choice of freedom?
The changes I have outlined tonight are aimed at ensuring the survival of a young dictatorship that is fighting for its life in American security. Let me be clear: The Military Men are without conscience, and they will make the year ahead bloody and violent. If my new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue -- and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties. The question is whether our new strategy will bring us closer to my success. I hope that it will.
Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship. But victory will bring something new in my world -- a dysfunctional task I have that polices its territory, upholds the rule of my law, respects American Power, and answers to its people. A fascist America will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights anyone who helps bring a future of peace and security for our children and our grandchildren.
This new approach comes after no valid consultations with Congress. Many are concerned that the Iraqis are becoming too dependent on the United States, and therefore, our policy should focus on pwning Iraq's borders and hunting down all who try to flee. Congress's solution is to scale back America's efforts in Baghdad -- or announce the phased withdrawal of our combat forces were not an option for me or Dick. We laughed at these proposals. We concluded that Rumsfeld had to go, or we will tear the country apart, and result in mass killings on an more unimaginable scale than 9/11. Such a scenario would result in another country being used as a scapegoat. My troops will be forced to stay in Iraq forever, and confront another imaginary enemy that is even more lethal. If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the US Military break the current cycle of violence, we can allow for one day our troops to come home. Should this happen, my long range plan is that they would pull straws. Just not the one from my nose.
In the days ahead, my national security team will fully brief Congress on our new strategy. If Dick has improvements that can be made, we will make them. If circumstances change, we will adjust.
Honorable people have different views, and they will voice their criticisms. It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny. And all involved have a responsibility to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to succeed. Not being honorable, I will still proceed as planned.
Acting on the good advice of Senator Joe Lieberman and other key members of Congress, we will form a new, Zionist working group that will help us come together across party lines to win my war for oil. This group will meet regularly with me and my administration; it will help strengthen our relationship with Israel. We can begin by working together to increase the size of the active Army and Marine Corps, so that America has the Armed Forces we need for the 21st century. We also need mobilize American civilians to deploy overseas, where they can help build my nation of tyranny.
In these dangerous times, the United States must utilize all men and women regardless of their willingness to step forward and defend us. These young Americans will be forced to understand by any means that our cause in Iraq is necessary -- and that the advance of oil depletion is the calling of our time. They serve far from their families, who make the expected sacrifices on holidays and empty chairs at the dinner table. They have watched their children die to serve my purpose. You may mourn the loss of your children -- but we owe it to them to give them a chance to become cold blooded killers, which I believe is worthy of their sacrifice.
Fellow citizens: The year ahead will test your patience, sacrifice your children to resolve our oil crisis. It can be tempting to think that America can create new forms of fuel and energy. Yet there is good oil to be gained out there for my nation. Throughout recent history, Americans have defied the power of an illegally profitable government. Now America is engaged in a new struggle that will set the course for a New World Order. I can, and will, prevail.
We go forward with trust that the Author of Corruption will guide us through these trying hours. We may not all share the same values, but I will see to it that each and every one of you shares my vision. Thank you and good night.
1.2.07
Making Sense of the Bush Doctrine
by Karen Kwiatkowski
Deciphering the directions and aims of America’s current foreign policy has become an obsessive pastime for people around the world. Strangely, Bush’s presidency has done more to transform the average ugly American into a global citizen than the efforts of one-worlders and the United Nations combined.
Americans of all political stripes join the rest of the world in observing George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from a distance, curiously wondering what these unimaginative, tone-deaf, but institutionally-empowered men will say or do next. Like concerned virologists, we watch for signs that their political pathogen is mutating into something more deadly, or if we are lucky, into something safer and less threatening.
We watch, wonder, and wait. As we do, people in foreign lands, and our own children and spouses, suffer and die in ever-increasing numbers because of the decisions and commands of the Bush administration. The forgotten catastrophe of Afghanistan is matched today by Somalia, an even more forgotten catastrophe. In the middle, we have Iraq, with all of the heartbreak that this uniquely American debacle has produced, and continues to deliver dripping fresh each and every morning.
Armchair detectives know that when a crime of passion is committed, the prime suspect is easy to identify. A friendship turned sour, a love rejected or betrayed, or pursuit of economic gain – we all know where to look for the murderous culprit. Even as the logical suspect loudly claims that we should be looking for an evil stranger, an unknown drifter, the black carjacker in the knit hat, or those guys that killed Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman – we quickly see through those claims and rarely give them credence – except as damning evidence after the fact.
In the case of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia, the relationship we’ve had is long standing and well documented. The crimes of passion being committed against these people and countries can be understood as the acts of the strong lustful partner against the weak, yet still desired partner. When confronted with the evidence, stories are woven, and intentions claimed, and alibis put forth. In the case of the Bush doctrine applied in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia today, and Iran and Syria tomorrow – that story is democracy, the intentions honorable and self-sacrificing (but never crusading, of course), the alibi is "doing our job as the world’s greatest nation." We are killing terrorists in self-defense and for the good of the world, you see. We are taking over foreign countries, setting them up with our favorite puppets "in charge," controlling their economy, their movements, their dress codes, their defensive projects, and their dreams, solely because we love them, and apparently can’t live without them.
The Bush doctrine as employed today would make a great movie. It wouldn’t star Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry reprise. Instead, it would star Julia Roberts in a remake of Sleeping with the Enemy, or perhaps Jennifer Lopez in Enough, Part Two. Because to understand the Bush doctrine is to understand the psychology of violence and abuse. To understand the Bush doctrine, we must recognize that it is about relationships founded on unrealistic and purely imagined constructs, and then using violence, threats and destruction in an attempt to stave off reality.
Under ideal conditions, America’s relationships with the rest of the world would be guided by compassion and constrained by respect. The relationships would model that beautiful ideal of America of which Jefferson spoke when he advocated "Peace, commerce and friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none."
Not every man, nor every government, is ideal or perfect. They are not always moral, or rational, or compassionate. George W. Bush’s America has become an abusive father and stepfather, an angry and vindictive husband, a spurned and incensed lover. Not to imply any undeserved masculinity to George W. Bush, his America, as Chris Floyd powerfully articulates, is a proud "black widow" intent on harvesting great wealth from the decomposing carcass of a once-nurtured spouse. The Bush doctrine is angry, irrational, immoral, and merciless.
Imagine the Bush doctrine as a personal philosophy. If a man or woman were acting on that philosophy by taking the battle to imagined enemies, destroying their homes, their economies, labeling whole groups with the real or imagined misdeeds of a member of that group, shaping cowed friends and lovers into submissive and numbing caricatures of the "ideal" partner, murdering at will and hiding the consequences – if we actually lived the Bush doctrine in our daily lives we would be hospitalized, imprisoned or both. More importantly, we would be universally ridiculed, condemned, and required to reform, restitute, and apologize to our victims.
But when our nation conducts its business abroad this way, many in this country – Democrats and Republicans alike – instead become huffily patriotic. They do not condemn or ridicule, or demand reform and restitution. They go along with it, perhaps believing the endlessly charming stories told by the violent nitwits holding court in the White House. Those in Congress don’t tend to believe the President, but they go along with it in most cases because they are in on the benefits, including financial support from various pro-war lobbies, [and] promises of post-congressional and post-bureaucratic positions in the grand defense-industrial enterprise so empowered in the last century. They go along with it because of that toxic combination of delusion and cowardice that seems to cloak most politicians like a cheap aftershave.
Mr. Bush made stupid threats last week, and while he indeed looked stupid saying them, we prudently ought to assume he intends to make them good. He will do those stupid things, unless, as in the case of a violent husband or boyfriend, someone takes the keys, locks up the guns, hides the baseball bats, protects the next victim, and slaps a restraining order on the offender. We would do no less for our neighbors, our friends, our children. We’ve all seen it before, and we know what needs to be done to protect our community, to stand up for the weak, to do the right thing.
America herself is currently at great risk from a violent, angry man with illusions of grandeur, and outrageous demands for total submission to his will. Congress has the power and responsibility to shut him down, and to prevent more death, more destruction, more delusion. If they understand the Bush doctrine for what it is, and American actions in the Middle East for what they truly are, the Congress will have no choice but to stop all funds for this war, withdraw any support for this president in terms of foreign policy, and begin impeachment proceedings immediately.
If they do not do their duty, might I suggest to Congress two other sequels that could be coming soon to a government institution near them. In the original version, The Burning Bed features a woman, who after enduring years of abuse and getting no help, sets the old man on fire. He dies a horrible death, and she gets off on a verdict of temporary insanity. The other is Extremities. This one has a happier ending – the abuser is captured by his victim, sprayed with mace, locked in a fireplace, taunted, beaten and berated for hours. In the end, he is turned in to the authorities for arrest and incarceration – a fate he welcomes most enthusiastically.
As a political scientist and patriot, I can easily imagine political sequels to these films. The only question is whether I’ll be watching them at 8, and again at 10, on Lifetime for Women, or around the clock on CNN.
January 15, 2007
How does one make sense of Bush nonsense? Yet frighteningly there are still a small minority that do.
I can not help but reflect back to Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience".
"A common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?"
Oil, Guns and Drugs – The Money Triangle
Oil, Guns and Drugs – The Money Triangle
From Adolf Hitler to George Bush Jr, US Capitalism's Unbroken Link
Pre-amble:
When I started putting this essay together, it started out as investigation of Richard Armitage as a typical example of the kind of people employed to run the United States on behalf of their imperialist masters. Then I came across a piece written in 2000 by Michael Ruppert of Beyond the Wilderness, that broadened my inquiries as the article links Kellog Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton to the worldwide distribution of drugs via the global network that Halliburton owns or operates on behalf of the US government and various corporations including major oil companies. A network that evolved over time initially through the CIA's connection to the drug trade in the Golden Triangle but which has its roots in Nazi Germany over thirty years earlier and its connection to US big business. And in the post-war period, Brown Brothers Harriman were also involved in laundering Nazi money through a Dutch-based bank.
And then synchronicity kicked in, as in the middle of writing this piece, I get emailed an article in the New Hampshire Gazette that expands on the piece I included in the ‘Bush Family Saga’ on Prescott Bush, Avril Harriman and Brown Brothers Harriman Bank and its connections to the Nazi Party that it now emerges continued until 1951. What the new information reveals is that the financial connections between US and German capitalism extended even further than had been known until the new documents were released.
A central player in the US/Nazi big business connection was Standard Oil of New Jersey, the Rockefellar-owned corporation that during the 1930s merged with IG. Farben, one of the major backers of Hitler's National Socialist Party and supplier of the infamous gas Cyklon B used in the extermination camps. Standard Oil (now Exxon) also owned the oil concessions in Saudi Arabia (later to be renamed Aramco). Other major players involved in the Nazi business connection include General Motors, Ford and ITT.
The Bush regime is part of an unbroken link that extends back to the founding of Hitler’s National Socialist Party through the funding it received from Brown Brothers Harriman Banking, Prescott Bush's bank and the subsequent link between this bank and Kellog Brown and Root, now a subsidiary of Halliburton and its connections to Bush through the Rumsfeld/Cheney connection and their connection to Halliburton. Brown Brothers Harriman Bank owned Dresser Industries, one of the world’s largest oil drilling companies that in 1998, under urging from Dick Cheney was purchased by Halliburton in an $8.1 billion dollar deal. The link is complete. And yes, it is the same Brown in Brown and Root as the Brown Brothers Harriman Bank.
The point is, a clique of key big business interests extending back over several generations runs the US. And that if anyone doubted that, putting it down to wild ideas of a conspiracy, you have to be blind not see it now. That Bush’s wealth descends directly from backing the Nazi Party is incontrovertible and that the Bush family’s involvement in the trade in drugs and weapons as an intrinsic part of the 'war on communism', later to become the 'war on terror' that extends back thirty years is also incontrovertible.
But why has the current Bush administration hired so many key individuals from the Reagan/Bush years including Richard Armitage, Colonel ‘Ollie’ North, Michael Ledeen, Otto Reich and others? What was so special about a bunch of guys at the centre of the Iran-contra scandal, money laundering operations, drug smuggling and other dirty dealings going back forty years? Enter Ruppert’s article.
Ruppert’s piece illustrates the central role that Brown and Root/Halliburton have played as a global conduit for drugs and the central role that Halliburton/Brown and Root play in Bush’s imperial grab for power. In this context, Armitage suddenly looks like small fry, but consider this; the people who have carried out the imperial policies of subsequent US administrations that extend back to Roosevelt in the 1930s, are people like Armitage, without whom, executing the imperium’s plans could well be severely compromised. Why? A close-knit group of people, all with intimate ties to US intelligence services including the DEA, the CIA and the DIA as well as connections to the banking, oil and defense industries, are also people who are intimately connected to the global trade in drugs, weapons and laundered money. Links that extended to the Vatican Bank, (Banco Lavorno Nationale), BCCI and Nugan Hand. Key players in Iran-contra were also officers or had connections to these banks. Some were involved in laundering money for the CIA. The notorious S&L banking crashes of the 1980s also involved Bush family members.
Deputy under-secretary of state Richard Armitage, the man who "enjoys killing"
"[Richard] Armitage, a former Navy SEAL, who reportedly enjoyed combat missions and killing during covert operations in Laos during the Vietnam War, has never been far from the Bush family's side. Throughout his career, both in and out of government, he has been perpetually connected to CIA drug smuggling operations. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a 1995 Washington Post story, called Armitage, "my white son." In 1990, then President Bush dispatched Armitage to Russia to aid in its "transition" to capitalism. Armitage's Russian work for Bush has been frequently connected to the explosion of drug trafficking under the Russian Mafias, which became virtual rulers of the nation afterwards. In the early 1990s Armitage had extensive involvement in Albania at the same time that the Albanian ally, Kosovo Liberation Army was coming to power and consolidating its grip, according to The Christian Science Monitor, on 70% of the heroin entering western Europe."
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/oct152001.html
Strictly speaking, when dealing with politics, the personalities of the people involved are supposedly less important than the context, the power relations, money, class and so forth. But when it comes to the cabal of individuals grouped around the Bush presidency, many of whom have a history of involvement with assassinations, terrorism, drugs, money laundering and other illegal activities, the motivations, the psychology of the individuals involved has a direct bearing on the nature of the activities. Such is the case with people like Richard Armitage although there are others such as Otto Reich, Michael Ledeen and Colonel ‘Ollie’ North. In fact, the list is so big, and stretches back through the administrations of several successive US presidents, that the relationship between the policies and the individuals has to be viewed as inseparable. One could justifiably argue that breaking the law in order to further US policies is now inseparable part of ‘doing business’.
South East Asia, oil, guns and drugs; Nicaragua guns and drugs; Iran, oil and guns; Israel, guns and oil; Iraq, guns and oil; Saudi Arabia, guns and oil; Albania, drugs and oil; Russia oil and drugs, Central and South America, guns, drugs and oil. In all of these situations the name Richard Armitage crops up time and again over more than thirty years of loyal service to US capitalism.
Outrageous? The global trade in cocaine and heroin is estimated at around $500 BILLION and no doubt this is an under-estimate. The US is the major market for drugs just as it is for oil and in turn it is the world’s number one seller of weapons. Is it any wonder that the three commodities go hand in hand and that the US should be at centre of the global trade in these three valuable commodities.
"Noting the indiscreet arrogance of Wall Street in engaging in criminal behavior, I wrote in May's issue, after Citigroup's brazen acquisition of Mexico's drug money-laundering bank, Banamex, "It doesn't matter anymore whether the American public chooses to notice. The fait accompli is that drug money and criminal money are now out of the closet as the most important determinants of economic success for the US financial system. The careless arrogance of these moves only reveals the utter confidence in Washington, on Wall Street and in the banking system that no voices from the wilderness can stop it." Michael Ruppert
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/oct152001.html
What started out as an intrinsic component of the ‘war on Communism’ has its logical conclusion in the ‘war on terror' and oil, guns and drugs are the threads that tie the current Bush administration to over three decades of international piracy and terrorism that forms the backdrop for the current policies of the Bush regime.
That the US uses the tactics that it accuses its enemies of using should come as no surprise, especially when we consider that the supposed enemies of the US are more often than not its creatures, some of whom have returned to haunt it and especially the cocaine barons. It should also come as no surprise that the corporate media in both the US and the UK have a vested interest in covering up this shameful past, for to do otherwise would expose the cosy relationship that exists between the media and corporate capitalism. Exposing it now would also expose the hypocrisy of the 4th estate and its complicity in deceiving us all. And even as I write, the BBC quotes Armitage as he calls for intensifying the ‘war on terrorism’ as though he were ‘just a diplomat’, completely ignoring the man’s past record and the total airbrushing of history in the classic Stalin mode that goes completely unchallenged.
The same names crop up with tedious regularity and raise the issue that far from being the odd ‘bad apple’ or lose cannon, the individuals who now constitute the core of the Bush cabal, have been breaking the law, both domestic and international, in order to further the interests of US capitalism. But what we see now, is way beyond the ‘normal’ practices of furthering US foreign policy. What it formerly chose to hide, it is now brazenly advocates, indeed it forms the core of its policy as outlined in the PNAC and other strategic documents.
But it’s the corporations that these individuals have or had an interest in such as Halliburton, Unocal, Boeing, Chevron, Enron before its demise, and a host of other defence, electronics and pharmaceuticals corporations, that have been the principal beneficiaries of the policies of the Bush regime and of previous US administrations, especially Halliburton and the subsidiary, Brown and Root, have both been connected to the drug trade:
"A closer look at available research, including an August 2, 2000 report by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) at www.public-i.org, suggests that drug money has played a role in the successes achieved by Halliburton under Cheney's tenure as CEO from 1995 to 2000. This is especially true for Halliburton's most famous subsidiary, heavy construction and oil giant, Brown and Root. A deeper look into history reveals that Brown and Root's past as well as the past of Dick Cheney himself, connect to the international drug trade on more than one occasion and in more than one way.
This June the lead Washington, D.C. attorney for a major Russian oil company connected in law enforcement reports to heroin smuggling and also a beneficiary of US backed loans to pay for Brown and Root contracts in Russia, held a $2.2 million fund raiser to fill the already bulging coffers of presidential candidate George W. Bush. This is not the first time that Brown and Root has been connected to drugs and the fact is that this "poster child" of American industry may also be a key player in Wall Street's efforts to maintain domination of the half trillion dollar a year global drug trade and its profits. And Dick Cheney, who has also come closer to drugs than most suspect, and who is also Halliburton's largest individual shareholder ($45.5 million), has a vested interest in seeing to it that Brown and Root's successes continue."
Moreover, it’s the connection between war, oil, drugs and US corporations that is the key to the Bush imperium, for without war, or preparing for one where would corporations like Halliburton be? Ever since 9/11 the profits of Halliburton have literally shot through the roof. Indeed, ever since 1990, with no country or entity to curb the ambitions of US imperialism, profits from wars of one kind or another have seen the rise of the warfare state that makes the profits made out of the Vietnam War pale into insignificance. And without the 'war on drugs', the US would not be in the position to use its economic and military clout to subvert the governments and economies of so many countries around the world. The line between the 'war on drugs' and the 'war on terror' has effectively dissolved. Linking the two wars is oil, the 'drug of choice' for US capitalism.
"[E]verywhere there is oil there is Brown and Root. But increasingly, everywhere there is war or insurrection there is Brown and Root also. From Bosnia and Kosovo, to Chechnya, to Rwanda, to Burma, to Pakistan, to Laos, to Vietnam, to Indonesia, to Iran to Libya to Mexico to Colombia, Brown and Root's traditional operations have expanded from heavy construction to include the provision of logistical support for the U.S. military. Now, instead of U.S. Army quartermasters, the world is likely to see Brown and Root warehouses storing and managing everything from uniforms to rations to vehicles.
"As described by the Associated Press, during "Iran-Contra" Congressman Dick Cheney of the House Intelligence Committee was a rabid supporter of Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North. This was in spite of the fact that North had lied to Cheney in a private 1986 White House briefing. Oliver North's own diaries and subsequent investigations by the CIA Inspector General have irrevocably tied him directly to cocaine smuggling during the 1980s and the opening of bank accounts for one firm moving four tons of cocaine a month. This, however, did not stop Cheney from actively supporting North's 1994 unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate from Virginia just a year before he took over the reins at Brown and Root's parent company, Dallas based Halliburton Inc. in 1995.
…
"As the Bush Secretary of Defense during Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-91), Cheney also directed special operations involving Kurdish rebels in northern Iran. The Kurds' primary source of income for more than fifty years has been heroin smuggling from Afghanistan and Pakistan through Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Having had some personal experience with Brown and Root I noted carefully when the Los Angeles Times observed that on March 22, 1991 that a group of gunmen burst into the Ankara, Turkey offices of the joint venture, Vinnell, Brown and Root and assassinated retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant John Gandy.
"In March of 1991, tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees, long-time assets of the CIA, were being massacred by Saddam Hussein in the wake of the Gulf War. Saddam, seeking to destroy any hopes of a successful Kurdish revolt, found it easy to kill thousands of the unwanted Kurds who had fled to the Turkish border seeking sanctuary. There, Turkish security forces, trained in part by the Vinnell, Brown and Root partnership, turned thousands of Kurds back into certain death. Today, the Vinnell Corporation (a TRW Company) is, along with the firms MPRI and DynCorp (FTW June, 00) one of the three pre-eminent private mercenary corporations in the world. It is also the dominant entity for the training of security forces throughout the Middle East. Not surprisingly the Turkish border regions in question were the primary transhipment points for heroin, grown in Afghanistan and Pakistan and destined for the markets of Europe."
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/bush-cheney-drugs.html
These extracts are from an article written in 2000, three years before the US invaded Iraq and before Bush the smaller stole the election. It’s clear from the connections between all the players including Colin Powell, whose links to Iran-Contra and who is a close pal of Armitage, and the guns for drugs scandal, Halliburton, Brown and Root, Dyncorp, Vinnell Corporation go all the way back to old man Prescott Bush and his links to financing the German Nazi Party via Brown Brothers Harriman Bank that owned Dresser Industries that is now owned by Halliburton. Dresser built oil platforms in key drug routes around the world including the Gulf of Mexico. What better offloading location could one have than an oil platform.
And clearly, the illegal nature of the activities of the Armitages of this world, mixing with drug smugglers, assassins, money launderers, covert arms dealers and the like, means that their actions are already thoroughly compromised. And this is critically important to my analysis because it exposes the so-called morality that the imperialists like to espouse as fundamental to their policies of supposedly supporting human rights, democracy and the like as a complete fraud.
So who is Richard Armitage and why is Armitage and his peers — with involvements stretching back to the Vietnam War era and even before — suddenly back in ‘favour’? What is it that they bring to the Bush administration that makes them so important to have onboard?
Power, drugs, guns, money and the connections that come with it are at the top of the list and as I hope to show, they go to the very heart of the totally corrupt regime that now runs America. Most important of all, it exposes the ruthless nature of the capitalist system, a system that takes ends justifying the means to the ultimate conclusion, that in order to preserve the system anything goes including the use of drugs as an integral part of projecting US economic and political power.
Armitage is, I suppose, typical of the kind of person who does the dirty work of imperialism, whether it’s for money, prestige or personal satisfaction. (For a complete listing of Armitage’s financial investments see http://www.public-i.org/cgi-bin/WhosWhoSearch.asp?Display=Details&Person_ID=1007)
The CIA’s involvement in drug running that started during the Vietnam War with Project Phoenix is perhaps the key to the current situation as the connections made during that period set the scene for later US involvement with the sale of drugs as means to further US foreign policy, whether as a source of finance for the illegal purchase and sale of weapons or as a means of destabilising countries and communities, or winning friends and influencing people. Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Afghanistan, Albania, Russia are just some of the countries whose economies and cultures have been taken over through the US policy of the ‘war on drugs’.
"Project Phoenix…was financed in part with opium money. It has been alleged that the close relationship with SE Asian drug dealers continued after the US withdrawal from Vietnam, with Iran used as a conduit for drugs and money. It has also been reported that, as a sequel to Project Phoenix, an off-the-books assassination program was established in Iran.
"The Phoenix or Phuong Hoang Operation was originally designed to "neutralize," that is assassinate or imprison, members of the civilian infrastructure of the [Vietnamese] National Liberation Front. Phoenix offices were set up from Saigon down to the district level. Their functions were to: (1) collate intelligence about the "Vietcong Infrastructure"; (2) interrogate civilians picked up at random by military units carrying out sweeps through villages; (3) "neutralize" targeted members of the NLF . . . The original Phoenix concept was quickly diluted, for two main reasons: (1) pressure from the top to fill numerical quotas of person to be neutralized; (2) difficulties at the bottom of identifying NLF civilian infrastructure, who were often indistinguishable from the general population, and the near impossibility of proving anyone membership in the NLF. The result was vastly to increase the numbers of innocent persons rounded up and imprisoned, indiscriminately murdered, and brutally tortured in an effort to show results . . . Between 1968 and 1972 hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese civilians were rounded up and turned over to the Vietnamese police for questioning. Such interrogation has usually been marked by brutal torture.
http://www.vicpeace.org/stories/03/1070.html
"After four tours with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam, Armitage joined the U.S. Defense Attaché's Office in Saigon in 1973, just in time to play a key role in "preparing" the botched evacuation of friendly South Vietnamese. Tens of thousands of loyal partners who had worked with the Americans were abandoned to advancing North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces.
Never one to admit failure or duplicity, Armitage covered his own posterior by accusing the Central Intelligence Agency of wrongly predicting that a deal for an orderly pullout could be arrived at with the advancing communists and then failing to provide enough notice that Saigon was about to fall.
Fresh from the debacle in Southeast Asia, Armitage went to work as a consultant for the Defense Intelligence Agency, where the quality of his work, to say the least, did not improve."
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=673
Following the US withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, Armitage joined the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was posted to Tehran where he excelled at not predicting the overthrow of the Shah (the man he had been assigned to keep on the throne) and even went as far as accusing the Ayotollah Khomeini of being a friend of the Soviets.
"Armitage became…a special consultant to the Department of Defense, working out of Bangkok and dealing with unrepatriated prisoners and the missing in action. Armitage also started a mysterious business called the Far East Trading Company. Meanwhile, from 1976 to 1979 in Iran, Richard Secord was supervising the sale of US military aircraft and weapons to Middle Eastern nations. During this same period, there are reports that Shackley, Clines, Secord, and Armitage set up several curious corporations and subsidiaries around the world including Lake Resources, Stanford Technology Trading Group, Compa[g]nie de Services Fiduciaria, CSF Investments and Udall Research Corporation."
http://www.vicpeace.org/stories/03/1070.html
In fact all the companies referred to above, were and those that still exist, are so-called proprietaries of the CIA, a fact that further reinforces the belief that during this period Armitage was in the employ of the CIA, and although we can only speculate as to his role during this period, it is generally believed that the front companies were used for CIA covert actions in Southeast Asia and later in Afghanistan and it's been suggested that the idea of using heroin as a weapon in the 'war against communism' in both Indo-China and Afghanistan was Armitage's idea.
"His critics had alleged in the past that he was the author of the idea of using heroin to weaken the fighting capability of the communists in Indo-China and then in Afghanistan though the late Le Comte de Marenches, the head of the French External Intelligence Agency under Presidents George Pompidou and Giscard d'Estaing, had claimed that it was he who had given this idea to the Americans with specific reference to Afghanistan."
http://www.saag.org/papers5/paper473.html
1978 saw him (officially) rejoining government when he joined the staff of Senator Robert Dole and then as an advisor to Reagan election campaign who rewarded his services in 1981 by appointing him Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs and then in 1983 he became Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs until 1989. His speciality was special forces operations and 'counter-terrorism'. Under George Bush Snr he was made 'Special Emissary' to King Hussein of Jordan during the 1991 Gulf War.
But it's Armitage's role in the 'Secret Team' that was at the heart of the Iran-contra scandal during this period that kept him out of government until Bush the smaller grabbed the throne of state when Armitage was rewarded for his loyalty by being appointed as deputy secretary of state under his old friend Colin Powell.
"Armitage…under investigation for his role in the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra scandal. Though he testified that he didn't know about the administration's secret sale of arms to Iran until November 1986, when they became public knowledge, independent counsel Lawrence Walsh's report laid out extensive evidence that he knew about them a year earlier.
In fact, Armitage apparently opposed the arms sales as early as December 1985, on the grounds that Iranians were "sleazebags." Secord later testified that he met with Armitage then in an effort to change his mind. Armitage claimed not to remember meeting with Secord, though Armitage's own meeting logs show that he did. Armitage kept a December 6, 1985 document describing the legal ramifications of the Iran arms sales, entitled "Possibility for Leaks," locked in his Pentagon safe until June 1987, when it was belatedly turned over to Walsh and the congressional Iran-Contra committee.
Armitage also attended a Pentagon meeting in August 1986 in which Oliver North outlined the covert activities in support of the Contras that he had been supervising through the National Security Council. Armitage denied remembering anything about this meeting as well. In his final report, Walsh said he declined to prosecute Armitage for his numerous dubious statements on these issues because he could not prove they were knowingly false."
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/07/naureckas2507.html
"The Bush cabinet is a virtual who's who of oil, defense and pharmaceutical bigwigs.1 The Bush family is itself closely tied financially to the bin Ladens.2 , 3 Both families are involved in the Carlyle Group.4 Bush Sr. sits on the board of Carlyle, a 12 billion Equity company with oil holdings and defense contracts.5 Dick Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton Oil. Colin Powell is a major stockholder in several defense contractors. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice sat on the board of Chevron. Andrew Card, the Chief of Staff is from General Motors. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, was CEO of Searle Pharmaceuticals. Dick Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has ties to the Russian mafia and is a board member of Carlyle. Robert Jordan, the Saudi ambassador, was a member of Baker Botts, a legal firm specializing in oil and defense (the Baker in Baker Botts is James Baker). Tony Principi, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, comes from Lockheed Martin. Gordan England, Secretary of the Navy, is tied to General Dynamics. James Roche, Secretary of the Air Force, is from Northrop Grumman. Gen. Thomas White, retired, Secretary of the Army, is from Enron Energy. Donald Evans, the Commerce Secretary, owns Colorado Oil Company. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice sat on the board of Exxon. And Mr. Carlucci, the Chief of Carlyle, sits on the Middle East Policy Council. 6
""Several western oil companies [some represented by Richard Armitage] including Occidental, Shell and British Petroleum had their eyes riveted on Albania's abundant and unexplored oil deposits. Western investors were also gawking [at] Albania's extensive reserves of chrome, copper, gold, nickel and platinum""
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/regional/KLA1.html
So we've come full circle, from the earliest days of the Bush family's involvement with Nazi Germany via Brown Brothers Harriman Bank and Standard Oil/IG Farben and later, Saudi Arabia (Aramco), through to the Vietnam War and the Golden Triangle where the trade in drugs started, and then to Iran and Iran-contra and the South American drug connection, and then onto Afghanistan and finally Iraq where Dresser Industries (Brown Brothers), Brown & Root, all come together under the aegis of the Bush emperium with Halliburton as the final link. Throughout it all, key individuals have played important roles in linking together oil, guns and drugs as part of a web of business and political connections designed to further the interests of big capital. The question is, how much longer can this web of deceit be kept hidden from the public? How much longer can the mass media ignore the crimes of a dynasty that extends back through three-quarters of a century?
Neocons deliver report to Israel: Remove Saddam
1996. Neocons deliver report to Israel:
Remove Saddam
| The "Clean Break" report, from IASPS in Washington to the Prime Minister of Israel, explains why several neocons thought it was in Israel's interest to have Saddam removed. (Quotes and Details) On July 8, 1996 Richard Perle delivered the "Clean Break" report from IASPS to Israel's prime minister. The report does not push for American involvement in Iraq; that idea was added in a later report from Wurmser / IASPS (see below).
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| From the "Clean Break" Report: (Full Report) Srategic Objective: “Israel can shape its strategic environment, ... This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right." “Iraq's future could affect the strategic balance in the Middle East profoundly, it would be understandable that Israel has an interest in supporting the Hashemites in their efforts to redefine Iraq” How to protect Israel from its three worst enemies. "Were the Hashemites to control Iraq, they could use their influence over Najf to help Israel wean the south Lebanese Shia away from Hizballah, Iran, and Syria." How to “manage and constrain” U.S. reactions: “To anticipate U.S. reactions and plan ways to manage and constrain those reactions, Prime Minister Netanyahu can formulate the policies and stress themes he favors in language familiar to the Americans by tapping into themes of American administrations during the Cold War.” |
| Coping with Crumbling States: A Western and Israeli Balance of Power Strategy for the Levant —Wurmser (www.israeleconomy.org/strat2.htm) A second report from IASPS, December, 1996. One of the crumbling states is Iraq, and the problem is not that Saddam is a threat, but rather that Iraq is so weak that Iran or Syria (enemies of Israel) might take over. This report by Wurmser, who became Cheney's Mid-East Adviser, focuses entirely on removing Hussein and on the post-Saddam situation but in 30 pages does not once mention WMD or terrorist threats to the U.S. It is just concerned with Syria and Iran taking over Iraq. This is the real reason why the neocons wanted the U.S. to remove Saddam. From the Report. "The Levant [Mid-East] now resembles Europe of 1914: crumbling states, like Syria, locked in bitter rivalries over a collapsing entity (Iraq). ... Iraq, a nation of 18 million, occupies some of the most strategically important and well-endowed territories of the Middle East. ... Thus, whoever inherits Iraq dominates the entire Levant strategically. |
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12.1.07
Face the Music Duh-bya
Bush to Face Street Protests over Iraq Escalation Plan |
| by Haider Rizvi |
The Bush administration's plan to beef up the U.S. military presence in Iraq is likely to create a new wave of protests across the United States in the coming days. As Bush is expected to announce his plans Wednesday to send approximately 20,000 more troops to Iraq, anti-war groups say they will hold rallies and sit-ins in dozens of cities across the nation to press the U.S. Congress to thwart any troop escalation. Within 24 hours of Bush's announcement, there will be protests all over the country, according to Tom Andrews, former Congressman and director of Win Without War, one of the largest anti-war coalitions. Andrews' group, which is working closely with United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), another major anti-war umbrella group, has planned a series of protests, including a Web-based campaign to push Congress to block Bush's plans for Iraq. In addition to rallies and sit-ins, the campaign includes personal YouTube.com appeals and photos calling for legislators in Washington to reject Bush's strategy for Iraq and call for an end to the occupation. Those participating in the Web-based campaign have already begun to download "No" signs, with petitions urging Congress to exercise its powers of the purse to block any escalation of war in Iraq. "It is unbelievable that after the voters and the Iraqis said they want and end to this war, Bush is going to escalate it," said Leslie Cagan of UFPJ. "He was wrong to begin the war and he is wrong to prolong it even one more day." Cagan called the Iraq war "outrageous," and demanded that Bush recall all U.S. troops from Iraq. For his part, however, Bush has made clear that he not only intends to increase the size of the U.S. army in Iraq, but would also seek further funding for the war. Some reports suggest that next month Bush is likely to ask Congress for emergency funding for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and what he calls the "war on terror" that would bring total military spending for fiscal year 2007 to more than $110 billion. The expected request for increased funding, if approved, would bring total spending on the war to more than $500 billion. But given the changed political climate on Capitol Hill, indications are that Bush's effort to boost funding and troop levels may not succeed. Now that they hold leadership positions in both houses of Congress, many Democrats are becoming increasingly critical of Bush's Iraq policy. Calling the previous Congress a "rubber stamp" for Bush's Iraq policy, senior Democratic senator Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), in a speech Tuesday, said the Democrats would strongly oppose any further military escalation in Iraq. "It would be another mistake," he told reporters in Washington. "We must change course in Iraq, not escalate. American people voted for change. We have a solemn obligation to say we have heard their voices." In response to Bush's perceived plan for sending more troops, Nancy Pelosi, the new Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, took a similar stance. "Congress is ready to use its authority of oversight to question what is the justification for this spending, what are the results we are receiving," she told the CBS television program Face the Nation. Like Kennedy, Pelosi made it clear that Democrats would not accept military escalation, but said they were not in support of reducing funding for troops already in Iraq. Last week, Pelosi sent a letter to Bush saying there should be no increase in troops, while emphasizing the need for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, tens of thousands--and by some estimates hundreds of thousands--of Iraqi civilians have died while U.S. forces have also lost more than 3,000 troops. Anti-war groups said this week's campaign against the military escalation would culminate in a major national march on Washington on January 27. That event will be followed by a series of activities, including an interfaith peace service and a day-long program to educate legislators about the devastating consequences of the war. Copyright © 2007 OneWorld.net. |
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