:: Has the whole world gone mad or is it just me. ::

:: Saturday, March 15, 2003 ::

An Administration Out of Touch? March 15, 2003

An Administration Out of Touch?

o the Editor:

Re "U.S. May Abandon U.N. Vote on Iraq, Powell Testifies" (front page, March 14):

It's increasingly evident that the likely invasion of Iraq is only secondarily about the variously offered objectives, from weapons of mass destruction to "liberation." Rather, it represents a historic change in United States foreign policy: the establishment of an American garrison to carry out policy goals in western Asia by military means.

The president should come clean on the administration's true intentions, and it is the Senate's duty to debate the issue. Yet there's not a word.

New York's senators, having voted for the resolution last year authorizing the use of force in Iraq, appear to have lost their voices entirely.

History will record that when the country effected a sea change in its posture toward the world, Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles E. Schumer were nowhere to be found.

SUSANNA MARGOLIS
New York, March 14, 2003

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 7:07 AM [+] ::
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Yet another lie by W's handlers. W probably killed more of his own ( the criminal class) by injection while Gov of TexAss.

Los Angeles Times: Iran Is Blamed for Gassing of Kurds http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-holland13mar13,1,7743885.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dletters

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Iran Is Blamed for Gassing of Kurds

March 13, 2003
Re Michael Ramirez's cartoon about the deaths of Kurds in Halabja, Iraq (Commentary, March 11): Ever since then-President George H.W. Bush decided he wanted to wage war on Iraq, government officials have referred to these tragic 1988 deaths from chemical weapons, saying that Saddam Hussein had "gassed his own people." Readers may be surprised to know that a Marine Corps report concluded in 1990 that those deaths resulted from Iranian weapons, not Iraqi weapons. The condition of the bodies indicated cyanide gas was the likely agent. Iran was well known for using cyanide agents, but Iraq was not.
The deaths occurred during the Iran-Iraq War in an area where battles were being waged. The 1990 report (U.S. Marine Corps historical document FMFRP 3-203, Appendix B) states, " ... we conclude that the Iranians perpetrated this attack."
David Holland
Northridge

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 5:40 PM [+] ::
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Only a scum like W could make a scum like Saddam look good. It appears Saddam's people back him more than we do Bush.

Los Angeles Times: In Iraq, Life Revolves Around an Omnipresent Leader http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nosaddam13mar13004424,1,1585579.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dworld%2Dmanual

In Iraq, Life Revolves Around an Omnipresent Leader

For his people, Hussein defines -- and is -- the nation. They find it difficult to imagine their country without him at the helm.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer

March 13, 2003
BAGHDAD -- From the top of the 14-story Al Rashid Hotel in this war-threatened capital, one can look out on a fanciful array of glass, concrete and steel monuments that are extensions of the mind of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

There is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, shaped like a flying saucer, sized like a football stadium and crowned with a ziggurat in the colors of the Iraqi flag.

Nearby are oversized sculptures of Hussein's hands holding crossed scimitars, at either end of a mile-long military parade ground. To the right is the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party, resurrected after it was leveled by a U.S. cruise missile four years ago, and a four-sided Hussein clock.

In the distance is a new Republican Palace, with busts of the president dressed as the medieval warrior Saladin on each of its four pediments. And there is the grand Rahman Mosque, a nest of domes rising like a mountain out of the flat green earth.

This extravagant architecture -- the president is said to approve every design -- illustrates how Hussein has taken the clay of this fabled Middle Eastern country and shaped it to reflect his gargantuan ambitions.

Hussein has been, in effect, leader of Iraq for more than three decades -- longer than Josef Stalin ran the Soviet Union -- and has been president since 1979. He has commanded total loyalty and adulation from his country. If he is deposed in a U.S.-backed war, it will take years, maybe generations, to erase his imprint on the country.

For ordinary Iraqis, Hussein defines Iraq -- is Iraq -- and they find it difficult to believe that this is all about to end. What, they wonder, would it mean for a country in which Hussein's image is more of an icon than the Iraqi flag and children chant his name like an alphabet song?

'Absolute Faith'

"We have absolute faith in God and in Saddam Hussein. He has given us everything," said Sheik Sebe Nadawi, the traditional leader of Rashdiya village, just north of Baghdad.

Defeat in war has not deterred Hussein. Neither have 12 years of choking economic sanctions. Nor the condemnations in much of the world of him as a cruel, bloodthirsty tyrant.

Each defeat, in fact, somehow has made him larger at home, and sometimes abroad. The liquid wealth beneath the sand has provided the means. And the people of Iraq have, for the most part, gone along, perhaps out of fear or a kind of shared pride in the ruthless reach for greatness.

Before a disastrous 1980-88 war with Iran, which started Iraq's long downward spiral, people remember a good life paid for by the government. Many were sent abroad to study for free, health-care standards were comparable to those of Europe, and Iraqis were the envy of their Middle Eastern neighbors for their learning and modernity.

Since then, sanctions have driven the country down. But Hussein has continued to boost his image, with streets, bridges and shopping centers named after him and even after his birthday. His picture is on the wall of every office and business and on every lavender-colored bill in people's pockets.

Hussein's devoutly loyal Baath Party, meanwhile, reaches into every neighborhood, reinforcing cohesion, dispensing advice and providing military training to defend the country.


:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 5:37 PM [+] ::
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This is worth blogging the whole article.

Welcome to WorkingForChange

The glorious Bush program: sign me up!

Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate

03.13.03 - AUSTIN, Texas -- OK, sign me up for the Bush program. I'm aboard. Who else can we insult, offend, bribe, blackmail, threaten, intimidate, wiretap or otherwise infuriate?

Getting the Canadians, who are famous for their phlegm, seriously mad at us took real work. Our latest ploy in that direction was to contemptuously reject their compromise that had a few more days' delay in it than the British-U.S. version. Then, when our version didn't fly, we decided on a few more days' delay ourselves -- without, of course, the contempt.

Then, to add to the festivities of "Let's Tick Off the Next-Door Neighbors Week," we started leaning on Vicente Fox of Mexico. Our ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, said: "Will American attitudes be placated by half-steps or three-quarter steps? I kind of doubt it." An unnamed American "diplomat" was quoted as saying it could "stir up feelings" here if Mexico voted against us, and does Mexico "want to stir the fires of jingoism during a war?"

President Bush said, "I don't expect there to be significant retribution from the government (what's significant?), but there might be a reaction like the interesting phenomena taking place here in America about the French, a backlash against the French, not stirred up by anybody except the people." For those who oppose the United States, "there will be a certain sense of discipline."

George W. Bush in chains and black leather. Why should we care that the overwhelming majority of the Mexican people are opposed to this war? To hell with democracy in Mexico -- we're for democracy in Iraq. That's us: If you don't give us everything we want, you're with the terrorists. Anyone who questions anything we do is supporting Saddam Hussein, and dissent is treason. I love it.

Next up, Tony Blair, the first casualty of the war. How very smart to fall out with our closest ally. Nice going by Donald Rumsfeld, suggesting that we can't count on the Brits. They've already got 45,000 troops in the Middle East.

We've already ticked off the Pope, and now a tiff with Israel -- outstanding. But we haven't done anything to Paraguay yet. How about doing something to annoy the Paraguayans?

We could have Rumsfeld make one his statesmanlike remarks such as, "Nyah, nyah, Asuncion sucks." And why leave out Mali? Mali is a silly name for a country. This is fun. Let's go insult some goobers in the South Pacific, too -- say, Tonga. Don't leave out the Scots. Their guys wear skirts. Burkina Faso, now there's a dump. Only morons would name their capital Ouagadougou. Hee-hee. This is more fun than junior high school.

A French journalist observed in horrified wonder Tuesday: "Mon Dieu, Bush has made Jacques Chirac into a hero. Jacques Chirac!" What a little miracle-man that George W. Bush is. He has that wonder-working power.

One can hardly say enough about the courageous action of the U.S. House Administration Committee in renaming French fries "Freedom Fries" at the House cafeteria. In these critical times, it's good to know we can count on House Republicans. They'll teach those cheese-eating surrender monkeys a thing or two. (Guys, did you really have to just hand the French this one? That has to be the slowest pitch on record.)

This was in addition to Republicans trading tasteless anti-French jokes publicly during a hearing with Colin Powell. Just for the record, there are 6,000 French troops currently serving as peacekeepers in Afghanistan and the Balkans. As they keep watch in places they'd rather not be, I'm sure they all appreciate your gestures. Likewise, the Germans -- described by Rumsfeld as a "pariah state" -- have 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Have you ever seen such amazing arrogance wedded to such awesome incompetence?

Chickens coming home to roost all around. Turns out the reason some of the African nations are sticking with the French is because they get more in foreign aid from the French than they do from us. Thank you, Jesse Helms, for your many years of work destroying American aid programs.

Of course, we don't need the United Nations. Why should we worry about peacekeeping, nation-building or international cooperation on global problems when we can buy our friends, bully our allies and bomb everybody else? What a glorious future.

? 2003 Creators Syndicate


URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=14648&CFID=5814857&CFTOKEN=66639955




:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 5:27 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - DON'T SUPPORT OUR TROOPS DON'T SUPPORT OUR TROOPS
1 hour, 25 minutes ago

Add Op/Ed - Ted Rall to My Yahoo!

By Ted Rall

Win or Lose, War on Iraq (news - web sites) is Wrong

?

NEW YORK--Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, opposes war with Iraq. Despite this stance, he suggests that Americans should set aside their political differences once the Mother of All Bombs starts blowing up munitions dumps and babies in Baghdad.


"When the war begins, if the war begins," says Kerry, "I support the troops and I support the United States of America winning as rapidly as possible. When the troops are in the field and fighting--if they're in the field and fighting--remembering what it's like to be those troops--I think they need a unified America that is prepared to win."


Fellow presidential candidate Howard Dean, who calls Bush's foreign policy "ghastly" and "appalling," is the Democrats' most vocal opponent of a preemptive strike against Iraq. But once war breaks out, he says, "Of course I'll support the troops."


This is an understandable impulse. As patriots, we want our country to win the wars that we fight. As Americans, we want our soldiers--young men and women who risk too much for too little pay--to come home in one piece. But supporting our troops while they're fighting an immoral and illegal war is misguided and wrong.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 5:38 PM [+] ::
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W to world"Imma gonna count to three and then you better look out 1 - 2- 21/2 -23/4
(Well you know)
Yahoo! News - DON'T DITHER! Op/Ed - New York Post
DON'T DITHER!
Wed Mar 12, 3:49 AM ET

Add Op/Ed - New York Post to My Yahoo!


The Bush administration yesterday suggested that its hitherto firm deadline for disarmament of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is slipping.


:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 8:01 AM [+] ::
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Coincidence my ass!

Los Angeles Times: Gauging Promise of Iraqi Oil http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/battle/la-fi-iraqoil12mar12,1,3118441.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

Gauging Promise of Iraqi Oil

U.S. and British firms could gain access Iraq's reserves if Hussein is ousted. Some experts question motives.
By Warren Vieth and Elizabeth Douglass
Times Staff Writers

March 12, 2003
WASHINGTON -- Maybe it's a coincidence, but American and British oil companies would be long-term beneficiaries of a successful military offensive led by the United States and Britain to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Industry officials say Hussein's ouster would help level the playing field for U.S. and British firms that have been shut out of Iraq as Baghdad has negotiated with rivals from other countries -- notably France, Russia and China, three leading opponents of war.

A post-Hussein Iraq also would be a bonanza for the U.S.-dominated oil-services industry, which is in the business of rehabilitating damaged infrastructure, reversing declining output from aging fields and providing essential support work to drillers and explorers. A leader in that industry is Halliburton Co., where Dick Cheney was chief executive before becoming vice president.


:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 10:30 PM [+] ::
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Whose War? Copyright, The American Conservative. March 24, 2003



Whose War?

A neoconservative clique seeks to ensnare our country in a series of wars that are not in America?s interest.

by Patrick J. Buchanan


The War Party may have gotten its war. But it has also gotten something it did not bargain for. Its membership lists and associations have been exposed and its motives challenged. In a rare moment in U.S. journalism, Tim Russert put this question directly to Richard Perle: ?Can you assure American viewers ... that we?re in this situation against Saddam Hussein and his removal for American security interests? And what would be the link in terms of Israel??

Suddenly, the Israeli connection is on the table, and the War Party is not amused. Finding themselves in an unanticipated firefight, our neoconservative friends are doing what comes naturally, seeking student deferments from political combat by claiming the status of a persecuted minority group. People who claim to be writing the foreign policy of the world superpower, one would think, would be a little more manly in the schoolyard of politics. Not so.

Former Wall Street Journal editor Max Boot kicked off the campaign. When these ?Buchananites toss around ?neoconservative??and cite names like Wolfowitz and Cohen?it sometimes sounds as if what they really mean is ?Jewish conservative.?? Yet Boot readily concedes that a passionate attachment to Israel is a ?key tenet of neoconservatism.? He also claims that the National Security Strategy of President Bush ?sounds as if it could have come straight out from the pages of Commentary magazine, the neocon bible.? (For the uninitiated, Commentary, the bible in which Boot seeks divine guidance, is the monthly of the American Jewish Committee.)

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 10:18 PM [+] ::
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Los Angeles Times: When Bombs Fall, U.S. Will Join Ranks of War Criminals http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer11mar11,1,4272819.column?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions

COMMENTARY

When Bombs Fall, U.S. Will Join Ranks of War Criminals
Robert Scheer

March 11, 2003
The maiming or killing of a single Iraqi civilian in an attack by the United States would constitute a war crime, as well as a profound violation of the Christian notion of just war. That is because the recent report of the U.N. inspectors has made indelibly clear that disarmament is working and that Iraq at this time poses no direct threat to the well-being of the American people.
Of course, we are not talking about one or two casualties. In seriously considering such war strategies as bringing a city- destroying firestorm down upon a population half made up of children, the U.S. is planning to disarm a nation of its weapons of mass destruction by using weapons that cause mass destruction.
Brutal, preemptive and unilateral war under such circumstances is -- by the standards of any great civilization or religion -- morally indefensible and also seriously damages the reputation of free societies, the principles of which we are trying to market to the rest of the world.
To distract us from this essential truth, the president has shamefully frightened the American people, first with his baseless attempt to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11 and then with unproven claims that Iraq's government and weapons pose an immediate danger to Americans.

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 5:01 AM [+] ::
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The Observer | Special reports | UN launches inquiry into American spying UN launches inquiry into American spying

Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy in New York and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 9, 2003
The Observer

The United Nations has begun a top-level investigation into the bugging of its delegations by the United States, first revealed in The Observer last week.

Sources in the office of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan confirmed last night that the spying operation had already been discussed at the UN's counter-terrorism committee and will be further investigated.

The news comes as British police confirmed the arrest of a 28-year-old woman working at the top secret Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) on suspicion of contravening the Official Secrets Act.

Last week The Observer published details of a memo sent by Frank Koza, Defence Chief of Staff (Regional Targets) at the US National Security Agency, which monitors international communications. The memo ordered an intelligence 'surge' directed against Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea with 'extra focus on Pakistan UN matters'. The 'dirty tricks' operation was designed to win votes in favour of intervention in Iraq.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 4:54 AM [+] ::
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THIS is , of course, why we must go to war.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US firms set to cash in on reconstruction of Iraq US firms set to cash in on reconstruction of Iraq

Danny Penman and agencies
Tuesday March 11, 2003

The American government is on the verge of awarding construction contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild Iraq once Saddam Hussein is deposed.
HALLIBURTON, one of the companies in the running for the highly profitable deals, was formerly headed by the US vice-president, DICK CHENEY. Halliburton has already been awarded a lucrative contract to resurrect the Iraqi oilfields if there is a war.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 4:49 AM [+] ::
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Just got a new posting thingy. I wonder if it works.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 5:49 AM [+] ::
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